Louis knew that his end was near. He had summoned François the thaumaturgus of Paula from the depths of Calabria to beseech him on bended knees for a few days' respite, and the saint had given him no hope. 'Set thy house in order,' he had said, 'for thou wilt die and not live.' Presently, towards the close of the year, it became clear to the King's physicians that there was no hope of further prolonging his life. Louis had strictly forbidden that any one should pronounce in his presence _le cruel mot de la mort_, his approaching end must be euphoniously announced to him by the sentence, '_Parlez peu_;' but Olivier le Dain, erst barber of Thielt, now Count of Meulan, who had for thirty years past been in the King's service--ever since the days when Louis was in exile at Bruges--with brutal levity hurled these words at his dying benefactor: '_C'est fait de vous pensez à votre conscience_,' and a few hours afterwards the old King passed quietly away. The news of Louis's death found Maximilian elated by an easy and unexpected triumph over his Dutch rebels. Men wiser and more wicked than he had little difficulty in persuading the weak and vacillating prince that fortune herself had cancelled the bond of Hoogstraeten, and he lost no time in revoking the powers therein granted anent the government of Flanders. Nor were the Regents slow to reply. On the 15th of October they sent in a long memorial: in virtue of the marriage treaty of 1477, the right of _mainbournie_ did not appertain to the Duke of Austria, his assumption of the arms of the county of Flanders was altogether illegal, he had overwhelmed the land with taxes, pledged the Sovereign's domain, sold the crown jewels and given ear to the perfidious counsel of strangers--let France, the suzerain, judge betwixt them. To all of which Maximilian replied with reproaches and insult: he in no way recognized the right of the Regents to speak in the name of the country--men of little weight, headstrong, proud, who desired more their own profit than the welfare of the realm. Gruthuise and his comrades responded no less warmly: Adrien Villain, William Rym and the rest were men of as great weight as by far the larger number of the Duke's friends, some of whom, alike Germans and Burgundians, were in a very small way before they came to Flanders; for the rest, they had in no wise usurped the government of the county, no prince had ever been acknowledged in Flanders save by the consent of the 'three members,' and in the absence of the Sovereign, or during his minority, it was for the Estates to provide for the government of the county, and after all, justice was better administered in Flanders than in Brabant, where Maximilian still retained about his person the murderers of Myn Heer van Dadizeele. Further declaration from Maximilian: whilst he in no way recognized the right of tradesmen to put themselves on a par with the gentlemen of his Court, he begged leave to