Part 40 (1/2)
This execution was one of those arbitrary acts condemned by public opinion as contrary to the code of warfare. Intense indignation among the Lorrainers and the Swiss forced Rene to retaliatory measures, and he ordered the execution of all the Burgundian prisoners. One hundred and twenty bodies hung on the gibbets, each bearing an inscription to the effect that their death was the work of _le temeraire_. The rancour of the proceedings became terrible. No quarter was given in any engagements. Slaughter was the only thought on either side.
Towards the end of December, one Thierry, a draper of Mirecourt, proved more successful than Baschi in reaching Nancy. His information, that Rene's army would leave Basel on December 26th, put heart into the beseiged and the bells rang out joyfully.
Just at this epoch, there was an attempt at mediation between the combatants. The King of Portugal,[13] nephew of Isabella, appeared at his cousin's camp and implored him to put an end to the carnage, and in the name of humanity to stop a war that was horrible to all the world. In spite of his own stress, Charles managed to give his kinsman a splendid reception, but he waved aside his pet.i.tion, and simply invited him to join him in his campaign.
A week sufficed for the Swiss contingent to march from Basel to Nancy, across the plains of Alsace. Meantime Rene had rallied about four thousand men under Lorraine captains, and to this was added an Alsatian force which had joined him by way of St.-Nicolas-du-Port.
They were a rude, pitiless crowd, as they soon evinced by routing a few Burgundians out of the houses where they had hidden, and ma.s.sacring them publicly. A reconnaissance, sent out by Charles, was easily put to flight.
On January 4th, Charles learned that fresh troops had reached St.
Nicolas. He showed a.s.surance, arrogance, and negligence. His belief in his star was fully restored. He actually did not take the trouble to try once more to ascertain the exact strength of the enemy. He had commissioned the Bishop of Forli to negotiate for him at Basel, and refused to credit the statement that the Swiss were throwing in their fortunes with Rene. He thought that ”the Child,” as he contemptuously termed his adversary, had simply gone right and left to hire mercenaries, and he rather ridiculed the idea of taking such _canaille_ seriously, saying that it was a host unworthy of a gentleman. Still he resolved to meet and finish them once for all.[14]
It is a fact that the Swiss reinforcements were a different and far less efficient body than the volunteers of Granson and Morat had been.
French gold, scattered freely, had done its work in exciting the cupidity of every man who could bear arms. There were some staunch leaders, like Waldemar of Zurich and Rudolph de Stein, but their kind was in the minority. Berne aided with money rather than with men, but she was not a generous ally as she insisted on having hostages to ensure her repayment. A venal spirit was evident in every quarter. As the troops made their way over the Jura their behaviour showed that the late splendid booty had affected them. Plunder was their aim. When Rene reviewed these fresh arrivals from Basel, one of his attending officers was Oswald von Thierstein, late governor of Alsace.[15]
Disgraced by Sigismund he had pa.s.sed over to the Duke of Lorraine, who appointed him marshal.
On that January 4th, a Sat.u.r.day, Charles held a council meeting. The opinion of the wisest, already given on previous occasions, was urged again:
”Do not risk battle. Rene is poor. If there are no immediate engagements, his mercenaries will abandon him for lack of pay.
Raise the siege and depart for Flanders and Luxemburg. The army can rest and be increased. Then at the approach of spring it will be easy to fall upon Rene deprived of his troops.”
Charles was absolutely deaf to these arguments. He was determined on facing the issue at once. Leaving a small force to sustain the siege, he ordered the camp to be broken on the evening of the 4th and a movement made towards St.-Nicolas. He selected a ground favourable for the manipulation of a large body, and placed his artillery on a plateau situated between Jarville and Neuville. It was not a good position, being hedged in on the right and in front by woods which could conceal the movements of a foe without impeding them. Only one way of retreat was open--towards Metz, whose bishop was Charles's last ally. But to reach Metz, it was necessary to cross several small streams and deceptive marshes, half frozen as they were, besides the river Meurthe, a serious obstacle with the garrison of Nancy on the flank. In short, there was ample reason to dread surprise, while in case of defeat a terrible catastrophe was more than possible.
Curiously, the precise kind of difficulties which beset the field of Morat were repeated here--proof that Charles had not the qualities of a general who could learn by experience.[16]
The exact force at his disposal on this occasion has been variously estimated. Considering the ravages of the sanguinary skirmishes during the siege, and of the cold, it is probable that the actual combatants did not number more than ten thousand, all told. And only half of these were of any value--two thousand men under Galeotto, and three thousand Burgundians commanded by Charles and his immediate lieutenants. The remainder were unreliable mercenaries and the still more unreliable troops of Campoba.s.so already pledged to the foe. La Marche estimates Rene's force at twelve thousand and adds: ”The Duke of Burgundy was far behind, for, on my conscience, he had not two thousand fighting men.”[17]
The allies adopted a plan of battle proposed by a Lorrainer, Vautrin Wuisse. The first manoeuvre was to divert the foe and turn him towards the woods, and then to attack his centre, which would at the same time be pressed at the front by the Lorraine forces, headed by Rene himself. The plan succeeded in every point. Surprised that they dared take the offensive, Charles was alert to the harsh cries of the ”bull”
of Uri and the ”cow” of Unterwalden, which were heard across the woods. A sudden presentiment saddened him. Putting on his helmet, he accidentally knocked off the lion bearing the legend _Hoc est signum Dei_. He replaced it and plunged into the melee.
The onslaught was terrific. Galeotto's troops and the duke's were the only ones to make st.u.r.dy resistance. The right wing of the army gave way under the fierce a.s.sault of the Swiss. The cry, ”_Sauve qui pent_!” raised possibly by Campoba.s.so's traitors, produced a terrible rout. Three quarters of the troops were in flight, while the duke still fought on with superhuman ferocity.
Galeotto, seeing that the day was lost, protected his own mercenaries as best he could, while Campoba.s.so completed the treason that he had plotted with Rene, which had been partially accomplished four days previously, and calmly took up his position on the bridge of Bouxieres on the Meurthe, to make prisoners for the sake of ransom. Then the besieged made a sudden sortie which increased the disorder. The battle proper was of short duration, with little bloodshed, but the pursuit was sanguinary in the extreme, because the Burgundian army had left no loophole open for retreat.
The Swiss pursued the fugitives hotly as far as Bouxieres and inflicted carnage right and left on the route. It was easy work. The mora.s.ses were traps and the Burgundians, enc.u.mbered with their arms, found it impossible to free themselves, when they once were entangled.
They fell like flies before the fury of the mountaineers. The Lorrainers and Alsatians were more humane or more mercenary, for they took prisoners instead of killing indiscriminately. Charles fought desperately to the very end. There is no doubt that he plunged into the thick of the fight and risked his life in a reckless manner, but there is absolute uncertainty as to how he met his death. It is generally accepted that the last person to see him alive was one Baptista Colonna, a page in the service of a Neapolitan captain. This lad, with an extra helmet swung over his shoulder, found himself close to the duke. He saw him surrounded by troops, noticed his horse stumble, was sure that the rider fell. The next moment, Colonna's attention was diverted to himself. He was taken prisoner and knew no more of the day's events. The figure of Charles of Burgundy disappears from the view of man. A curtain woven of vague rumour hides the closing scenes of his life.
At seven o'clock the victorious Duke of Lorraine rode into the rescued city and re-entered his palace. At the gates was heaped up a ghastly memorial of the steadfastness of the burghers in their devotion to his cause. This was a pile of the bones of the foul animals they had consumed when other food was exhausted, rather than capitulate to their liege's foe. To ascertain the fate of that foe now became Rene's chief anxiety, and he despatched messengers to Metz and elsewhere to find out where Charles had taken refuge. The reports were all negative. The first positive a.s.surance that the duke was dead came from young Baptista Colonna, whom Campoba.s.so himself introduced into Rene's presence on Monday evening. The page told his tale and declared that he could point out the precise place where he had seen the Duke of Burgundy fall. Accordingly, on Tuesday morning, January 7th, a party went forth from Nancy to the desolate battlefield and were guided by Colonna to the edge of a pool which he a.s.serted confidently was the very spot where he had seen Charles. Circ.u.mstantial evidence went to give corroboration to his word, for the dozen or more bodies that lay strewn along the ground in the immediate vicinity of the pool were close friends and followers of the duke, men who would, in all probability, have stayed faithfully by their master's person, a volunteer bodyguard as long as they drew breath. These bodies were all stripped naked. Harpies had already gathered what plunder they could find, and no apparel or accoutrements were left to show the difference in rank between n.o.ble and page. But the faces were recognisable and they were identified as well-known n.o.bles of the Burgundian court.
Separated from this group by a little s.p.a.ce at the very edge of the pool, was another naked body in still more doleful plight. The face was disfigured beyond all semblance of what it might have been in life. One cheek was bitten by wolves, one was imbedded in the frozen slime. Yet there was evidence on the poor forsaken remains that convinced the searchers that this was indeed the mortal part of the great duke. Two wounds from a pick and a blow above the ear--inflicted by ”one named Humbert”--showed how death had been caused. The missing teeth corresponded to those lost by Charles, there was a scar just where he had received his wound at Montl'hery, the finger nails were long like his, a wound on the shoulder, a fistula on the groin, and an ingrowing nail were additional marks of identification,--six definite proofs in all. Among those who gazed at this wretched sight, on that January morning, were men intimately acquainted with the duke's person.
”There were his physician, a Portuguese named Mathieu, and his valets, besides Olivier de la Marche[18] and Denys his chaplain who were taken thither and there was no doubt that he was dead. It has not yet been decided where he will be buried, and to know it better it [the body] has been bathed in warm water and good wine and cleansed. In that state it was recognisable by all who had previously seen and known him. The page who had given the information was taken to the king. Had it not been for him it would never have been known what had become of him considering the state and the place where he was found.”[19]
Before the body could be freed from the ice in which it was imbedded, implements had to be brought from Nancy. Four Lorraine n.o.bles hastened to the spot, when they heard the tidings, to show honour to the man who had been their accepted lord for a brief period, and they acted as escort as the burden was carried into the town and placed in a suitable chamber in the home of one George Marquiez. There seems to have been no insult offered to the fallen man, no lack of deference in the proceedings. The very spot where the bier rested for a moment was marked with a little black cross.
As the corpse was bathed, three wounds became evident--a deep cut from a halberd in the head, spear thrusts through the thighs and abdomen--proofs of the closeness of the last struggle. When all the dignity possible had been given to the miserable human fragment and the chamber hung with conventional mourning, Rene came thither clad in black garments. Kneeling by the bier, he said: ”Would to G.o.d, fair cousin, that your misfortunes and mine had not reduced you to the condition in which I see you.”
For five days the body lay in state before the high altar of the church of St. George, and the obsequies that followed were attended by Rene and his n.o.bles, and the coffin was honourably placed among the ducal dead.
Yet doubt of the man's existence was not buried with the bones to which his name was given. When the Swiss turned their way homeward, their farewell words to Rene were: ”If the Duke of Burgundy has escaped and should reopen war, tell us.” ”If he has a.s.sured his safety,” Rene answered, ”we will fight again when summer comes.” There was no delay, however, in the division of the spoils. The Burgundian treasure was distributed among Rene's allies, and the ignorant soldiers received articles worth many times their pay, which they, in many cases, disposed of for an infinitesimal part of their value.