The duke, nevertheless, was in good spirits, and only regretted that he had not the rest of his troops to give combat to these bruges men, now in absolute rebellion. Those with him were very uneasy, and those without much vexed at their situation: the last heard from some of their companions the disagreeable state their lord was in, and also saw eight or ten of their fellow-soldiers, pursued by the townsmen, leap from the ramparts to save themselves in the ditches wherein they were drowned.
This confusion and affray, in the town of Bruges, lasted a full hour and half when the duke was informed that the mob were preparing to fall on him in immense numbers, and with artillery, so that resistance would be vain. He was advised to make a desperate attempt to gain possession of the gate, cost what it would, before this mob should arrive. He advanced, therefore, to the gate, with all the men he now had; and the enemy, as before, retreated from it. Large hammers were got from a smith's house hard by, with which the bolts and bars were broken,—and on opening the gate the army rushed out with a hearty good will; but the duke, mounted on a handsome courser, had remained steady in the midst of the tumult, though nearly approached by the enemy, and, like a good shepherd, saw all his men out of the gate before him, and then took the road to Rousselaire, whence he had marched that morning, much hurt that affairs had turned out so ill, and sincerely grieved at the loss of the lord de l'Isle-Adam and others of his people.
The greater part of the army were so panicstruck with what had happened that it was with difficulty they could be marched in any order. Neither sir Roland de Hautekirk nor sir Colart de Comines had entered the town with the duke, who lost that day in killed upward of a hundred of his men. They were all interred together in a grave in the hospital church-yard, except the lord de l'Isle-Adam, who was buried apart,—and his body was afterward removed, with great solemnity, into the church of St Donât at Bruges.
Two hundred prisoners were made by the townsmen, and on the Friday following thirty two of them were beheaded; the rest had their lives saved by the intercessions of the churchmen and foreign merchants, who earnestly exerted themselves in the business. At the end of eight days, they set at liberty all the attendants of the duke, with their baggage; but they hung and quartered the blacksmith, for having given hammers to break down the gates: his name was Jacob van Ardoyen.
On the side of the townsmen, there were not more than twelve killed; and among the Picards, none of name but the lord de l'Isle-Adam and an usher of the apartments to the duke, named Herman. The bruges men remained night and day under arms and in very great bodies, not only within the town but through all parts of their jurisdiction. They shortly after pulled down the house of a citizen called Gerard Reubs.
With regard to the duke of Burgundy, he went to Rousselaire, and thence to Lille, where many councils were held to consider how he could reduce the town of Bruges to his obedience. It was proposed, in order to accomplish this the sooner, to have it proclaimed through all the adjoining towns and villages, that no persons should carry any provisions to Bruges under pain of being reputed an enemy to the prince. This was done; and the men of Bruges, though surprised and fearful of the consequences, did not relax in continuing the business they had begun.
CHAP. IV.
THE BASTARD DE LA HIRE MAKES AN EXCURSION THROUGH THE COUNTRIES OF PERONNE, ROYE, AND MONDIDIER, WHERE HE COMMITS GREAT WASTE.