ed to forgive us; since, for our part, if ever in any matter he
hath offended us, we do affectionately pray the Divine Majesty to forgive
him, and with good courage and good will do we on our part forgive him."
The Duke of Guienne at the same time appointed the king executor of his
will. If we acknowledge, however, that Louis was not incapable of such a
crime, it must be admitted that there is no trust-worthy proof of his
guilt. At any rate his brother's death had important results for him.
Not only did it set him free from all fresh embarrassment in that
direction, but it also restored to him the beautiful province of Guienne,
and many a royal client. He treated the friends of Prince Charles,
whether they had or had not been heretofore his own, with marked
attention. He re-established at Bordeaux the parliament he had removed
to Poitiers; he pardoned the towns of Pdzenas and Montignac for some late
seditions; and, lastly, he took advantage of this incident to pacify and
satisfy this portion of the kingdom. Of the great feudal chieftains who,
in 1464, had formed against him the League of the common weal, the Duke
of Burgundy was the only one left on the scene, and in a condition to put
him in peril.

But though here was for the future his only real adversary, Louis XI.
continued, and with reason, to regard the Duke of Burgundy as his most
formidable foe, and never ceased to look about for means and allies
wherewith to encounter him. He could no longer count upon the
co-operation, more or less general, of the Flemings. His behavior to the
Liegese after the incident at Peronne, and his share in the disaster
which befell Liege, had lost him all his credit in the Flemish cities.
The Flemings, besides, had been disheartened and disgusted at the idea of
compromising themselves for or against their Burgundian prince. When
they saw him entering upon the campaign in Lorraine and Switzerland, they
themselves declared to him what he might or might not expect from them.
"If he were pressed," they said, "by the Germans or the Swiss, and had
not with him enough men to make his way back freely to his own borders,
he had only to let them know, and they would expose their persons and
their property to go after him and fetch him back safely within his said
borders, but as for making war again at his instance, they were not free
to aid him any more with either men or money." Louis XI., then, had
nothing to expect from the Flemings