lebrated at Bruges. Our Burgundian
Chastellain is not pleased with this marriage. That Charles inclined
towards England at all was due to the French king, whom both he and
his father had found untrustworthy. Again, had there been any other
eligible _partie_ in England Charles would never have allied himself
with King Edward when all his sympathies were with the blood of
Lancaster. But when King Louis forsook his cousin Margaret of Anjou,
whose woes should have commanded pity, simply for the purpose of
undermining the Duke of Burgundy, the latter felt it wise to make
Edward his friend.

"That it was sore against his inclination he confessed to one who
later revealed it to me, but he decided that it was better to
injure another rather than be down-trodden and injured himself.[6]

"For a long time there had been little love lost between him and
the king. The monarch feared the pride and haughtiness of his
subject, and the subject feared the strength and profound subtilty
of the king who wanted, he thought, to get him under the whip. And
all this, alas, was the result of that cursed War of Public Weal
cooked up by the French against their own king. When Charles was
deeply involved in it he was deserted by the others and the whole
weight of the burden fell on his shoulders, so that he alone was
blamed by the king, and he alone was forced to look to his own
safety and comfort. It is a pity when such things occur in a realm
and among kinsfolk."

[Illustration: CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A CHAPTER OF
THE GOLDEN FLEECE

FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE REPRODUCED IN LENGLET DU FRESNOY
EDITION OF COMINES]

Louis was busied with his own affairs in Touraine when news came to
him that the marriage was to take place immediately. "If he mourned,
it is not marvellous when I myself mourn it for the future result. But
the king used all kinds of machinations to break off the alliance....
God suffered two young proud princes to try their strength each at
his will, often in ways that would have been incompatible in common
affairs."

The fullest account of the wedding is given by La Marche, an
eyewitness of the event[7]:

"Gilles du Mas, maitre d'hotel du Duc de Bretagne--to you I
recommend myself. I have collected here roughly according to my
stupid understanding what I saw of the said festival, to send it
to you, beseeching you as earnestly as