There were at that time two persons that pretended a right to the bishopric of Cologne: one of them was brother to the Landgrave of Hesse[398]; and the other was the Count Palatine of the Rhine.[399] The Duke of Burgundy sided with the Palatine, and undertook to establish him by force in that dignity; and (in hopes of gaining some of the towns thereabout for himself) he besieged Nuz[400] (which is a town not far from Cologne) in the year 1474. And the Landgrave of Hesse[401] was there with a good number of men. The duke, however, had so many things upon the anvil at once, and so many enterprises and designs in his head, that he sank beneath the burden of them. He would fain have persuaded Edward, King of England, to have brought over a great army, which (upon his solicitation) he had raised at that time, to favour his designs in Germany, which were as follows:—If he took Nuz, he designed to have put a strong garrison into it, and two or three towns more in that neighbourhood (by which means Cologne would have been blocked up), and then to have marched up the Rhine as far as the county of Ferrette, which was then under his jurisdiction[402]; by which means all the Rhine, as far as Holland, would have been under his dominion; which space of ground contains more fortified towns and castles than any kingdom in Christendom, except France. The truce which the Duke of Burgundy had made with the king, had been prolonged for six months[403]; and the greatest part of it being expired, the king desired it might be renewed, that the duke might have enough of the war in Germany; but the duke, because of his promise to the English[404], would not consent to it. I would willingly have omitted this siege of Nuz, as an affair not absolutely necessary to my history; and, besides, I was not at it; but I am obliged to mention it on account of some matters which depend on it. The town of Nuz was strongly fortified, and in it there were the Landgrave of Hesse, and many of his relations and friends, with a body of 1800 horse, as I was informed, all choice troops (as they proved afterwards), and as many foot as they thought needful for the defence of the place. This landgrave, as I said before, was brother to the bishop, who was chosen in opposition to that person whom the Duke of Burgundy would have advanced. Upon which, being highly disgusted, he laid siege to Nuz in the year 1474.