YOLANDA MAID OF BURGUNDY _By_ CHARLES MAJOR WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHARLOTTE WEBER DITZLER _MCMV_ 1905. CONTENTS CHAPTER I A CASTLE AMONG THE CRAGS CHAPTER II KNIGHTS-ERRANT CHAPTER III YOLANDA THE SORCERESS CHAPTER IV DOWN THE RHINE TO BURGUNDY CHAPTER V WHO IS YOLANDA? CHAPTER VI DUKE CHARLES THE RASH CHAPTER VII A RACE WITH THE DUKE CHAPTER VIII ON THE MOAT BRIDGE CHAPTER IX THE GREAT RIDDLE CHAPTER X THE HOUSE UNDER THE WALL CHAPTER XI PERONNE LA PUCELLE CHAPTER XII A LIVE WREN PIE CHAPTER XIII A BATTLE IN MID AIR CHAPTER XIV SIR KARL MEETS THE PRINCESS CHAPTER XV THE CROSSING OF A "T" CHAPTER XVI PARTICEPS CRIMINIS CHAPTER XVII TRIAL BY COMBAT CHAPTER XVIII YOLANDA OR THE PRINCESS? CHAPTER XIX MAX GOES TO WAR CHAPTER XX A TREATY WITH LOUIS XI ILLUSTRATIONS MAX AND YOLANDA KARL AND MAX AT HAPSBURG CASTLE MAX THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY MAX AT THE GATE OF THE LISTS YOLANDA CHAPTER I A CASTLE AMONG THE CRAGS Like the Israelites of old, mankind is prone to worship false gods, and persistently sets up the brazen image of a sham hero, as its idol. I should like to write the history of the world, if for no other reason than to assist several well-established heroes down from their pedestals. Great Charlemagne might come to earth's level, his patriarchal, flowing beard might drop from his face, and we might see him as he really was--a plucked and toothless old savage, with no more Christianity than Jacob, and with all of Jacob's greed. Richard of England, styled by hero-worshippers "The Lion-hearted," might be re-christened "The Wolf-hearted," and the famous Du Guesclin might seem to us a half-brutish vagabond. But Charles of Burgundy, dubbed by this prone world "The Bold" and "The Rash," would take the greatest fall. Of him and his fair daughter I shall speak in this history. At the time of which I write Louis XI reigned over France, Edward IV ruled in England, and his sister, the beautiful Margaret of York, was the unhappy wife of this Charles the Rash, and stepmother to his gentle daughter Mary. Charles, though only a duke in name, reigned as a most potent and despotic king over the fair rich land of Burgundy. Frederick of Styria was head of the great house of Hapsburg, and Count Maximilian, my young friend and pupil, was his heir. Of the other rulers of Europe I need not speak, since they will not enter this narrative. They were all bad enough,--and may God have mercy on their souls. * * * * * Most of the really tragic parts in the great drama of history have been played by women. This truth I had always dimly known, yet one does not really know a fact until he feels it. I did not realize the extent to which these poor women of history have suffered in the matter of enforced marriages, until the truth was brought home to me in the person of Mary, Princess of Burgundy, to whose castle, Peronne La Pucelle, my pupil, Maximilian of Hapsburg, and I made a journey in the year 1476.