“The perron on the market-place of the said town shall be taken down, and then Monseigneur the duke shall treat it according to his pleasure.  The city may not remake the said perron, nor replace another like it in the market-place or elsewhere in the city.  Nor shall the said perron appear in the coat-of-arms of Liege."[8]

This was a terrible indignity for the city and a clear proof of their fear of their bishop’s friend.

The episode impressed the citizens of Ghent with the duke’s power, and made the more timorous anxious to erase the event of 1467 from his mind.  The peace party finally prevailed in their arguments, but the scene of abnegation and self-humiliation crowning their apology was not enacted until eighteen months after the events apologised for, when the new duke had still further proven his metal.

[Footnote 1:  Gachard, Doc. ined., i., 210, etc.]

[Footnote 2:  Some authorities make this five A.M., but the Rapport is probably correct.]

[Footnote 3:  Chastellain, v., 260 et passim.]

[Footnote 4:  So say some historians.  But it seems probable that the drapery of St. Lievin’s shrine was hastily used as a flag.]

[Footnote 5:  Chastellain, v., ch. 7, etc.]

[Footnote 6:  These are Chastellain’s words to be sure, but the sober Rapport is similar in purport.]

[Footnote 7:  Gachard, Doc. ined., i., 212. ]

[Footnote 8:  Gachard. Doc. ined., ii., 462, “Instrument notarie.”]

CHAPTER X

THE DUKE’S MARRIAGE

1468

For many months before Philip’s death there had been negotiations concerning Charles’s marriage with Margaret of York.  Always feeling a closer bond with his mother than with his father, Charles’s sympathy had ever been towards the Lancastrian party in England, the family to whom Isabella of Portugal was closely related.  Only the necessity for making a strong alliance against Louis XI. turned him to seek a bride from the House of York.  It was on this business that La Marche and the great Bastard were engaged when Philip’s death interrupted the discussion, which Charles did not immediately resume on his own behalf.

Pending the final decision in regard to this important indication of his international policy, the duke busied himself with the adjustment of his court, there being many points in which he did not intend to follow his father’s usage.[1] Philip’s lavishness, without too close a query as to the disposition of every penny, was naturally very agreeable to his courtiers.  There was a liberal air about his households.  It was easy to come and go, and it was pleasant to have the handling of money and the giving of orders—­orders which were fulfilled and richly paid without haggling.  Charles had other notions.  He was willing to pay, but he wanted to be sure of an adequate return.  How he started in on his administration with reform ideas is delightfully told by Chastellain.[2]