, and splendidly attired. Louis was small and mean-looking, and
clad in an old blue suit, with a hat decorated with little leaden images
of the saints, but his smooth tongue quite overcame the duller intellect
of Edward; and in the mean time the English soldiers were feasted and
allowed their full swing, the French being strictly watched to prevent
all quarrels. So skilfully did Louis manage, that Edward consented to
make peace and return home.

4. The Fall of Charles the Bold (1477).--Charles had become entangled
in many difficulties. He was a harsh, stern man, much disliked; and his
governors in Elsass were fierce, violent men, who used every pretext for
preying upon travellers. The Governor of Breisach, Hagenbach, had been
put to death in a popular rising, aided by the Swiss of Berne, in 1474;
and the men of Elsass themselves raised part of the sum for which the
country had been pledged, and revolted against Charles. The Swiss were
incited by Louis to join them; Rene of Lorraine made common cause with
them. In two great battles, Granson and Morat, Charles and all his
chivalry were beaten by the Swiss pikemen; but he pushed on the war.
Nancy, the chief city of Lorraine, had risen against him, and he
besieged it. On the night of the 5th of January, 1477, Rene led the
Swiss to relieve the town by falling in early morning on the besiegers'
camp. There was a terrible fight; the Burgundians were routed, and after
long search the corpse of Duke Charles was found in a frozen pool,
stripped, plundered, and covered with blood. He was the last of the male
line of Burgundy, and its great possessions broke up with his death. His
only child, Marie, did not inherit the French dukedom nor the county,
though most of the fiefs in the Low Countries, which could descend to
the female line, were her undisputed portion. Louis tried, by stirring
up her subjects, to force her into a marriage with his son Charles; but
she threw herself on the protection of the house of Austria, and
marrying Maximilian, son of the Emperor Frederick III., carried her
border lands to swell the power of his family.

5. Louis's Home Government.--Louis's system of repression of the
nobles went on all this time. His counsellors were of low birth (Oliver
le Daim, his barber, was the man he most trusted), his habits frugal,
his manners reserved and ironical; he was dreaded, hated, and
distrusted, and he became constantly more bitter, suspicious, and
merciless. T