Donat
in Bruges, there to repose until it could be taken to Burgundy to be
buried at Dijon with his ancestors. La Marche dismisses the funeral
with a brief phrase as he was not himself present at Bruges, being
busied in Brittany. There was a memorial service there, the finest
he ever saw. The arms of Burgundy were inserted in the chapel
decorations, not merely pinned on,[2] a fact that impressed the
chronicler. No nobles, not even those from Flanders, were permitted to
put on mourning. The Duke of Brittany declared that none but him was
worthy of the honour for so high a prince.
"So he alone wore mourning. At the end of the service I went to
thank him for the reverence he had shown the House of Burgundy,
and he responded that he had only done his duty. Then I finished
my business as quickly as I could and crossed the sea again and
returned to my new master."
In his treatise on the eminent deeds of the Duke of Burgundy,[4]
Chastellain recounts, more at length than La Marche, all that his
great master had accomplished. Then he proceeds to describe the duke
as he knew him.
He was medium in height, rather slight but straight as a rush,
strong in hip and in arm, his figure well-knit. His neck was
admirably proportioned to his body, his hand and foot were
slender, he had more bone than flesh, but his veins were
full-blooded. Like all his ancestors, his face was long, as was
his nose, his forehead high. His complexion was brunette, his hair
brownish, soft, and straight, his beard and eye-brows the same
colour, but the former curly, the latter were bushy and inclined
to stand up like horns when he was angry. His mouth was
well-proportioned, his lips full and high-coloured; his eyes were
grey, sometimes arrogant but usually amiable in expression.
His personality corresponded perfectly to his appearance. His
countenance showed his character, and his character was a witness
to the truth of his physiognomy. Nothing was contradictory,
perfect was the harmony between the inner and the outer man,
between the nobility of thought and the simple dignity,
well-poised and graceful. Among the great ones of this earth, he
was like a star in heaven. Every line proclaimed "I am a prince
and a man unique."
It was for his bearing rather than his beauty that he commanded
universal admiration. In a stable he would have looked like an
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