Among the minor pieces of business discussed was the disposition of the scarlet mantles now discarded by the chevaliers.  It was decided after deliberation that they should be sold and the proceeds applied to the purchase of tapestries for the chapel of Dijon, and the treasurer was deputed to see about it.  Perhaps it was in this connection that the discussion turned on the wide-spread use, or rather abuse of gold and velvet.  It tended to depreciate the Order and the state of chivalry.  But the sovereign thought it best to defer this point until his return from his proposed journey to Guelders.  Lengthy, too, were the discussions upon the exact usage in respect to wearing the collar and insignia of the Order.]

[Footnote 3:  The first sum named was three hundred thousand.]

[Footnote 4:  The Paston Letters, iii., 79..]

[Footnote 5:  See Memoires Couronnes, xlix., 180.]

[Footnote 6:  Toutey, p. 42; Lenglet, ii., 207.  August 14th the Duke of Burgundy crossed the Rhine and made his way to Nimwegen where the ambassador of the emperor visited him.]

[Footnote 7:  This instruction, printed by Lenglet (iii., 238) from the Godefroy edition of Commines, has no date and has been referred to 1472.  From internal evidence it seems fair to conclude that it belongs rather to 1470.  The question of the marriage comes in at the end of the paper, the first part being devoted to Swiss affairs.]

[Footnote 8:  Toutey, p. 36.]

[Footnote 9:  Lenglet, iii., 192.]

[Footnote 10:  Toutey, p. 44; Chmel, Monumenta Habsburgica, I, 3.]

[Footnote 11:  Toutey, p. 46.]

CHAPTER XVII

THE MEETING AT TREVES

1473

On Wednesday, September 28th, Emperor Frederic made his entry into the old Roman city on the dancing Moselle.  Two days later, the Duke of Burgundy arrived and was welcomed most pompously outside of Treves, by his suzerain.

After the first greetings, ensued an argument about the etiquette proper for the occasion, an argument similar to those which had absorbed the punctilious in the Burgundian court, when the dauphin made his famous visit to Duke Philip.  For thirty minutes, the emperor argued with his guest before feudal scruples were overcome and the vassal was induced to ride by his chief’s side into the city.

The entry was a grand sight, and crowds thronged the streets, more curious about the duke than about the emperor.  Charles was then in the very prime of life.  His personality commanded attention, but there were some among the onlookers who found it more striking than attractive.  One bystander thought that the very splendour of his dress, wherein cloth of gold and pearls played a part, only brought into high relief the severity of his features.  His great black eyes, his proud and determined air failed to cast into oblivion a certain effect of insignificance given by his square figure, broad shoulders, excessively stout limbs, and legs rather bowed from continuous riding.[l]