ere many matters in its regard which demanded his urgent
attention in 1473. It, too, was a pleasant territory, and conveniently
adjacent to Burgundian lands. A natural means of annexation had been
considered by Charles in the proposed marriage between Nicholas, Duke
of Lorraine, and Mary of Burgundy. When that project was abandoned to
suit Charles's pleasure, he retained the friendship of his rejected
son-in-law until the latter's death in the spring of 1473. So
unexpected was this event, that there was the usual suspicion of
poisoning, and this crime, too, was charged to the account of Louis
XI., apparently without foundation. Certainly that monarch reaped
no immediate advantage from the death, for the family to whom the
succession passed was more friendly to Burgundy than to France.

The heir to the childless Nicholas was his aunt Yolande of Anjou,
daughter of old King Rene of Anjou, sister to the unfortunate
Margaret, late Queen of England, and widow of the Duke of Vaudemont.
The council of Lorraine lost no time in acknowledging Yolande as their
duchess. She hastened to Nancy, the capital, with her son Rene, aged
twenty-two, where they were received hospitably, and then Yolande
formally abdicated in favour of the young man, who was duly accepted
as Duke of Lorraine.

Now there was a large party of Burgundian sympathisers in Nancy, and
it was probably owing to their pressure that very strong links were at
once forged between Charles and the new sovereign of the duchy. The
apprehension lest the former should protect the land as he had the
heritage of his namesake, little Charles of Guelders, was expressed by
the timorous, but their counsels were overweighted, and, on October
15th, Rene accepted a treaty whose terms were very favourable to
Burgundy. In exchange for being "protector,"--an office that the
emperor had already been asked to change into suzerainty,--Rene
cemented an alliance, offensive and defensive, with Charles, giving
the latter full permission to march his forces across Lorraine.
Further, he pledged himself to appoint as officials in all important
places on the route "men bound by oath to the Duke of Burgundy." Yes,
more, these were discharged from fidelity to Rene in case he abandoned
Burgundian interests.

Yolande of Vaudemont endorsed these articles by adding her signature
to that of her son. Charles feared, however, that the provisions
might not be adhered to by the Lorrainers--so humiliating were