On the 29th he sat down before Neuss, which had again emphatically refused entry to him and his troops.  Three days the duke gave himself for the reduction of the town, but there he remained encamped for nearly a whole year!  Neuss was resolved to resist to the last extremity, while Bonn, Andernach, and Cologne contributed their assistance by worrying and harassing the besiegers to the best of their ability.  It was a period when Charles seemed to have only one sure ally, and that was Edward of England, whose own plans were forming for a mighty enterprise—­no less than a new invasion of France.

On July 25th, the very day that Charles was on his march up to Neuss, his envoys signed at London a treaty wherein the duke promised Edward six thousand men to aid him to “reconquer his realm of France.”  Nothing loth to dispose of his future chickens, Edward, in his turn, pledged himself to cede to Charles and his heirs, without any lien of vassalage, the duchy of Bar, the countships of Champagne, Nevers, Rethel, Eu, and Guise, all the towns on the Somme, and all the estates of the Count of St. Pol.  Other territories of Charles were to be exempt from homage.  Yes, and by June 1, 1475, Edward would land in France and set about his conquests.  Nor were commercial interests forgotten; “to the duchess his sister (to the Flemings) is accorded permission, to take from England wool, woollen goods, brass, lead, and to carry thither foreign merchandise.”

The year when Charles was waiting before the gates of Neuss was full of many abortive diplomatic efforts on the part of both the duke and Louis XI, and it was the latter who managed to save something even from broken bargains.  The Swiss not only counted on his friendship, but were constantly encouraged by his money, which emboldened them to send a letter of open defiance to Charles:  “We declare to your most serene highness and to all of your people, in behalf of ourselves and our friends, an honourable and an open war.”  To the herald who delivered this document Charles answered:  “O Berne, Berne!"[12] He felt that he had been betrayed.

This was on October 26th.  The defiance was followed by a descent of the mountaineers upon Alsace, which Charles had not yet released from his grasp.  Stephen von Hagenbach prepared to defend Burgundian interests at Hericourt, a good strategic position on the tiny Luzine.  Here, the Swiss were about to besiege him, when the Count of Blamont arrived with two bodies of Italian mercenaries, aggregating more than twelve thousand men, and attempted to draw off the besieging force.  His plan failed—­the tables were turned.  It was the Burgundians who were fiercely attacked and who lost the day.  Hagenbach was forced to surrender, obtaining honourable terms, however, and Sigismund put a garrison into Hericourt on November 16th.

This was a tremendous surprise to Charles.  That cowherds could repulse his well-trained troops was a thought as bitter as it was unexpected.  But he put aside all idea of punishing them for the moment, and continued to “reduce Neuss to the obedience of the good archbishop,” and Hermann of Hesse continued to aid the town in its determined resistance.