At this time also, the holy father the pope ordered a croisade to be undertaken against Bohemia; the leaders of which were the archbishop of Cologne, the bishop of Liege, the archbishop of Treves, the bishop of Mentz, count Louis du Rhin, and many other great lords of upper Germany, and from the adjoining parts. They entered the country near Prague, where they committed great devastations, and took a strong castle, called Nansonne[6], and the well fortified town of Culhue[6], as well as some others. However, great numbers of this army quitted it and returned home, because it seemed to them that their leaders were too avaricious.
The cardinal duke of Bar, with his nephew Réné d'Anjou, son of his sister and the late king Louis of Sicily, whom he had declared his heir to the duchy of Bar, having already given him the marquisate du Pont, besieged with a powerful force the town and castle of Ligny en Barrois, the principal town of that country, because John of Luxembourg had not performed his duty as guardian to the young count de St Pol, by doing homage, neither had it been done by duke John of Brabant, brother to the count. Those within the town were partisans of the Burgundy faction, while the cardinal and his country were of the opposite party. When the siege had been continued some time, the place submitted to the obedience of the cardinal, who placed therein his own garrison and officers.
Nevertheless, by some negotiations between the parties, the town, castle and country, were afterward restored to the young count de St Pol, who again garrisoned it with his own people.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] I have looked into L'Enfant's 'Guerre des Hussites,' but cannot find mention made of these places, or any of similar sound.
CHAP. XLII.
THE TOWN OF MELUN IS CLOSELY BESIEGED.—THE CAPTURE OF THE COUNT DE CONVERSAN.—THE DEPARTURE OF THE YOUNG KING OF SICILY FOR ROME.
We must now return to the kings of France and England, and the duke of Burgundy, who having conquered Montereau advanced to Melun, to lay siege thereto, as it held out for the dauphin. They surrounded it on all sides with their army; and the king of France, accompanied by the two queens, went to fix his residence at Corbeil.
King Henry, with his brothers, the duke of Bavaria, surnamed le Rouge, his brother in law, and his other princes were encamped toward the Gâtinois: duke Philip of Burgundy, with all his men, the earl of Huntingdon and some other english captains were encamped on the opposite side toward Brie.
The besiegers exerted themselves to the utmost to annoy the enemy, and pointed various engines of war, cannons, bombards and such like, to batter down the walls of the town, which was commanded by the lord de Barbasan, a noble vassal, subtle, expert, and renowned in arms. He had with him sir Pierre de Bourbon, lord de Prèaulx, and another of the name of Bourgeois, with a garrison of from six to seven hundred combatants. They shewed every appearance of making a vigorous defence against all the attacks of the besiegers; but notwithstanding their exertions, the town was approached by the enemy to the very walls, by means of mines and other subtleties of war, so that their fortifications were much damaged.