Charles the Bold Part 33

"We were present there in the city of Treves, attached to the suite of neither prince, not serving or pretending to serve either of them. But we ascertained nothing either then or later, although we made many inquiries, about the cause of this sudden departure and we are still ignorant of the truth. When the day broke after the emperor's departure, and the duke was informed of the fact, he was also a.s.sured that the vessel in which the emperor sailed was opposite the monastery of St. Mary Blessed to the Martyrs. So he sent messengers hastily to beg the emperor to stay for a very brief interview with the duke, a.s.suring him that the very least delay possible should occur if he did the favour. But no attention was paid to the signals from the sh.o.r.e and the course was continued."

The bishop wrote these words some time after the event. There are other accounts preserved, actual letters written within a few days or weeks of November 25th, wherein is evinced similar ignorance of what had actually pa.s.sed. The following gives several suggestions of difficulties not mentioned elsewhere. A certain Balthasar Cesner, secretary, writes to Master Johannes Gelthauss and others in Frankfort, from Cologne, on December 6th.[16] He was attached to the imperial service, and possibly was one of the few attendants on Frederic in the hasty journey from Treves. After touching on Cologne affairs he proceeds:

"I must inform your excellencies how the Duke of Burgundy came with all pomp for his coronation as king of the kingdom of Burgundy and Friesland with twenty-six standards besides a magnificent sceptre and crown. He also wished to take his duchy and territories in Savoy[17] and Guelders and others in fief from him [the emperor] and not from the empire.[18] This and other extraordinary demands his imperial grace did not wish to grant, and on that account he has broken off the interview and gone away.

Everything was prepared for the coronation, the chair for the taking.[19] It is said that he is to be crowned in Aix. It may be hoped not [_non speratur_]. You can understand me as well as your faithful servant.

"Dear Master Hans I hope that you will not laugh at me. I can please my gracious lord and be worthy of praise if you will only trust me.

"Despatched from Cologne on St. Nicholas Day itself.

"To the Jurisconsult Master Johannes Gelthauss, Distinguished advocate, master, preceptor of the city of Frankfort."

The two kingdoms are also mentioned by Snoy:

"Two realms, namely Burgundy and Frisia; in the second, Holland, Zealand, Guelders, Brabant, Limburg, Namur, Hainaut, and the dioceses of Liege, Cambray, and Utrecht; in the first, Burgundy, Luxemburg, Artois, Flanders, and three bishoprics."

The chronicler adds that this plan was discussed in secret conference.[20]

Again the rumour that the final straw that broke the emperor's resolution was the duke's desire to take Savoy and Guelders from his hand alone, is suggestive. On the duke's part, this wish might indicate an attempt to separate a portion of territory from the empire in a way to deceive his contemporaries into thinking that his kingdom was an imperial fief, while, in reality, it was an independent realm, as he or his successors could declare at a convenient moment. But this seems at variance with his attested desire for electoral support.

It was a curious tangle and never fully unravelled. Yet, considering the emperor's personal characteristics, his last action does not seem inexplicable. As his visitor showed the intensity of his will, Frederic became restive. Phlegmatic, obstinate, yet conscious of his own weakness, personal conflicts with a nature equally obstinate and much more vigorous were exceedingly unpleasant. The collision made him writhe uneasily and prefer to slip out of his embarra.s.sment as quietly as he could.

The proposed leave-taking was to be very magnificent, and the magnificence again was significant of Burgundian wealth. Whether the duke would surely keep his pledge of sharing that wealth with the archduke if the emperor went so far that he could not draw back, was a consideration that undoubtedly may have affected Frederic. Had Mary of Burgundy accompanied her father, had the wedding of the daughter and invest.i.ture of the new king been planned for the same day, had the promises been exchanged simultaneously, the leave-taking might have pa.s.sed, indeed, as a third ceremonial in all stateliness.

If Frederic doubted the surety of his bargain, it is not surprising.

It was notorious how the duke had played fast and loose with his daughter's hand, withdrawing it from the grasp of a suitor as the greater advantages of another alliance were presented to him, or as the mere disadvantage of any marriage at all became unpleasantly near.

Vigorous man of forty that he was, Charles had no personal desire to see a son-in-law, _in propria persona_, waiting for his shoes--a fact perfectly patent to the emperor, as it was to the rest of the world.

The task of making the imperial adieux was entrusted to the imperial chamberlain, Ulrich von Montfort, who duly presented his master's formal excuses to the duke, on the morning of November 25th.

"Important and urgent affairs had necessitated his presence elsewhere.

The arrangement discussed between them was not broken but simply postponed until a more convenient occasion rendered its execution possible," etc.

The Strasburg chronicles report that Charles was in a towering rage on receiving this communication. He clinched his fists, ground his teeth, and kicked the furniture about the room in which he had locked himself up.[21] But by the time these words were penned, these authors were better informed than Charles about the ultimate result of the emperor's intentions. The duke may have been angry, but he certainly controlled himself sufficiently to give several audiences in the course of the day--to envoys from Lorraine among others--and was ready to take his own departure by evening, not doubting that the crown and sceptre, carefully packed with the mountain of his valuable treasure, would a.s.suredly fulfil their destiny in the near future. Treves was left to its pristine repose, and Charles was the last man to realise that in its silence were entombed for ever his chances of wearing the prematurely prepared insignia.

[Footnote 1: This comment of the Strasburg chronicler, Trausch, is quoted by De Bussiere in his _Histoire de la Ligue contre Charles le Temeraire_, p. 64. Kirk (ii., 222) points out that this contemporary had a peculiar hostility towards Charles.]

[Footnote 2: Guillaume Faret or Farrel. His _Hist. de Rene II._ is lost. This citation from it is found in _La Guerre de Rene II. contre Charles le Hardi_, by P. Aubert Roland.]

[Footnote 3: He had been made knight of the Golden Fleece at the May meeting. From this time on some member of the Na.s.sau family was prominent in Burgundian affairs.]

[Footnote 4: Gachard, _Doc. inedits_, i., 232. Letter from Treves, October 4, 1473.]

[Footnote 5: About this time Louis XI. made strenuous efforts to unravel the mystery of his brother's death. (Letter to the chancellor of Brittany, _Lettres de Louis XI_., v., 190.)]

[Footnote 6: Gachard could not explain this phrase. It might easily refer to the desired invest.i.ture.]

[Footnote 7: Chmel, _Mon. Habs_., i., lxxvii., 50, 51: Toutey, p. 50.]

[Footnote 8: Toutey, p. 53.]

[Footnote 9: Toutey bases this statement on three letters (October 30, 31, and November 7, 1473) written by the envoys of the elector of Brandenburg, Ludwig von Eyb and Hertnid von Stein.]

[Footnote 10: Basin, _Histoire des regnes de Charles VII. et de Louis XI._, ii., 323. Between Nov. 6th and this ceremony there had been new ruptures. Hugonet had gone back and forth many times between the chiefs and "all the world had wondered."]

[Footnote 11: Albert of Brandenburg to the Duke of Saxony. (Muller, _Reichstag Theatrum_, p. 598.]

[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 57.]

[Footnote 13: Toutey, p. 60, note.]

[Footnote 14: In this account, differing from the current tradition, Toutey has followed Bachmann's conclusions (_Deutsche Reichsgeschichte,_ ii., 435).]

[Footnote 15: Basin, ii., 325.]

[Footnote 16: Preserved in the munic.i.p.al archives in Frankfort (nr.

5808 or ch. lit. clausa c. sig in verso impr.). This is published by Karl Sch.e.l.lha.s.s in _Deutsche Zeitschrift fur Geschichtewissenschaft,_ (1891) pp. 80-85. The language is a queer mixture of German and Latin.]

[Footnote 17: Charles asked on October 23d, through his chancellor, for invest.i.ture into Savoy. (Note by Sch.e.l.lha.s.s.)]

[Footnote 18: Under this head is meant Lorraine, which he alleged had lapsed to the emperor at the death of Nicholas of Calabria.]

[Footnote 19: This means the throne from which Charles was to step down to receive the fief.]

[Footnote 20: "Loquitur etiam ferunt de regnis Frisiae et Burgundiae sibi const.i.tuendes quae audissimis auribus accepta visus non tam negare imperator quam dissimulare.

"Nam et ad eam [majestatem regiam] aspirare et ditiones suas velle in duo regna partiri visue Burgundiae et Frisiae: in hoc Hollandia, Zelandia, Gelria, Brabantia, Limburgum, Namureum, Hannonia et dioceses Leodiensis, Cameracensis et Trajectina: altero Burgundia, Luxemburgum, Arthesia, Flandria, ecclesaeque cathedrales Sadunensis, Tullensis Verdunensis essent." (P. 1131.)

Renier Snoy was born the year of Charles's death, so that his statement is tradition but founded on what he might have heard from eye-witnesses.]

[Footnote 21: Chmel, i., 49-51; Toutey, p. 59.]

CHAPTER XVIII

COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE

1473-1474

Late as it was in November, the weather was still very mild, and as the emperor and duke travelled in opposite directions, neither the former as he went down to Cologne, nor the latter as he pa.s.sed up the valley of the Moselle to that of the Ell, was hindered by autumn storms. The summer of 1473 had been marked by unprecedented heat and a prolonged drouth.[1] Forest fires raged unchecked on account of the dearth of water and, for the same reason, the mills stood still.

The grape crops, indeed, were prodigious, but the vintage was not profitable because the wine had a tendency to sour. Gentle rains in September prepared the ground for an untimely fertility. Trees blossomed and, though some fruits withered prematurely, cherries actually ripened. Thus the Rhinelands presented a pleasant appearance as Charles rode to Lorraine.

His first pause was at Thionville in Luxemburg, where he stayed about a fortnight and received amba.s.sadors from Hungary, Poland, Venice, England, Denmark, Brittany, Ferrara, the Palatinate, and Cologne.[2]