But at that juncture a large body of the French issued forth through the gate of the lower battery. By aid of pickaxes and crowbars they had succeeded, after filling up the ditch with fascines, in enlarging the openings of two of the embrasures, already broken down by the cannon; then, throwing into these openings lighted bundles of straw and tar mixed with gunpowder so as to drive away the defenders, they had made their way into the interior at the risk of being themselves suffocated by the smoke, and rushing towards the gate, killing the few that had remained in the battery, they had forced the doors and made an entrance for their comrades by the same road. Issuing forth into the town they ascended the incline at full speed.[See [Fig. 50].] The cry Of victory on the part of the Burgundians was answered by cries of "France! d'Amboise!" These shouts revived the courage of the French who had remained on the rampart, and they renewed the attack. The Sire de Montcler despatched his last reserves against the new comers, but they continued to pour out on level ground and fought valiantly. Their number was increasing every moment, and they succeeded in driving back the reserves to the retrenchment. The Burgundians, cooped up on the platform of the tower, surrendered after having lost half their men. Messire Charles d'Amboise ordered that they should be honourably treated. The tower of the north-west salient was in the power of the enemy, as well as the whole of the curtain stretching from this tower to the north gate.
Day was breaking when the combat ceased, and some hours' repose were needed on both sides. The corner tower was lost to the besieged; the governor strongly barricaded the adjoining tower opening on to the curtain, and placed a number of small cannon in the upper story of this tower. He had done the same on the broken summit of the western tower of the gate. He wished to hinder the enemy from gaining ground on the curtains, and outflanking—particularly on his right—the retrenchment connected with the old wall surrounding the abbey, and meeting the tower on the north-east corner.[See [Fig. 48].]
A short time before the end of the struggle, the two bodies destined for the sorties were on their return, the foot soldiers through the abbey postern, and the men-at-arms, not through the east gate, but through that near the castle on the west. The foot soldiers brought in a hundred prisoners; the horse had lost a third of their party. The fortune of these two bodies had been as follows:—The foot soldiers, operating on the left, had come upon the enemy unawares, making their way through the brushwood of the western slope of the plateau as far as the gorge of the enemy's battery, C,[See [Fig. 56].] had fallen on the guard, spiked the guns, and, taking advantage of the confusion, had taken the attacking column in flank, had entered the battery, A, whose pieces they had also spiked, but, seeing themselves too far advanced, had beat a retreat, descending the slopes straight towards the west. As they were not vigorously pursued, they had entered the lower town, surprised and captured two bodies of guards, set fire to some huts erected by the besiegers, and regained the town. Charles d'Amboise, at first surprised by the audacity of the attack, but quickly perceiving that it could do him no serious damage, had given the strictest orders that nothing should divert his men from the assault, and had contented himself with sending against the troops of the besieged two or three hundred men to keep them back and compel them to seek the slopes, without troubling to pursue them. The men-at-arms had followed the governor's instructions, had fallen upon the small encampment above the mills, and, leaving the coutilliers there to complete their commission (the latter had re-entered about two o'clock in the morning by the east gate), they had pursued the road indicated as far as the base of the plateau, and had arrived without hindrance at the boundary of the French camp, charging the posts in a direct line at full speed.
This attack had thrown confusion into that part of the camp which was occupied by the baggage, the carts, and camp servants. Stacks of forage had caught fire amid the disorder thus occasioned. But the assailants had soon observed three or four hundred horsemen close upon them; they had then made straight for the north, and buried themselves in the thick woods upon their right; they next wheeled towards the left, reached the banks of the stream, whose left bank they followed without interruption, but with the loss of a third of their comrades, who had strayed, or been captured or killed. They supposed they had fallen in with a body of the French in the lower town, and were preparing to pass it at a gallop, but they turned out to be the Burgundian foot soldiers.
Charles d'Amboise, at the first report of this attack on the rear of the camp, had been much disquieted, supposing that succour had arrived; but being soon correctly informed, had sent out men-at-arms to cut off this body of adventurers, and was only the more eager for the assault.
Messire Charles d'Amboise was accustomed (in this respect differing from the warriors of the time) to surround himself with young captains of intelligence and energy, who kept him constantly informed of all that took place in the army, during the march and on the field. When the information furnished was found to be exact, and was reported in cool discretion and without exaggeration, Charles d'Amboise would praise these young officers in presence of all his captains, and recompense them liberally. If, on the contrary, the reports were false or tainted with exaggeration, or incomplete, he would inflict severe and public censure on the reporters, and assign them some subaltern and humiliating duty, such as guarding the baggage or superintending the camp servants.
When Charles d'Amboise learned next morning the damage caused on the border of the camp by a few Burgundian men-at-arms, the loss of his men encamped at the mill and in the lower town, and the spiking of six of his pieces of ordnance, he was much annoyed, but could not refrain from saying to his captains: "We have to do with brave men, who defend themselves valiantly. I beg you, gentlemen, to take care that their wounded and prisoners be treated with all the respect due to soldiers who do their duty." Then about the second hour of the day he sent a herald to the retrenchment of the besieged, to ask a parley with the governor. The Sire de Montcler having ascended the terrace, the herald spoke as follows: "Sir Governor! Monseigneur Charles d'Amboise, commanding the army of our lord the king of France, sends me to you to require of you to render up the town and castle of Roche-Pont, which you are withholding contrary to the treaties and defending against their lawful lord. Henceforward the said cité is in the power of the army of our lord the king of France, and a longer resistance will only cause the useless loss of a great number of brave men. In consideration of your brave and noble defence, Monseigneur Charles d'Amboise will let you go forth—you and your men—with your lives and property. May God have you in his keeping and guide you to a wise decision." "Sir messenger," replied the governor, "Messire Charles d'Amboise is a captain too well acquainted with war to think himself master of the town and castle of Roche-Pont because he has got possession of a tower and a curtain. He knows what it has cost him to advance even so far; and there is still a considerable space between this retrenchment and the castle, and the castle is good and defensible. I acknowledge no other lawful lords of Burgundy, and of this city in particular, than the Duchess of Burgundy, daughter of the noble and puissant Duke Charles, and her illustrious husband Maximilian. I am here to defend their property against all comers, and I will defend it as long as I have a sword in my hand. Nevertheless, tell Messire Charles d'Amboise that if he is willing to exchange prisoners, man for man, I am prepared to do so. If he prefers to leave things as they are, I give him my word of honour that his people are being well treated."
"Well, then," said Charles d'Amboise, when the herald had conveyed this answer to him, "this cité will be damaged for a long time to come!"
During the 24th of September, the rain did not cease to fall in torrents. Besiegers and besieged were at a hundred paces from each other. They were employed in burying the dead, whose numbers were especially great on the side of the French, and both were preparing for a fresh struggle, though the bad weather greatly impeded the workers. Figure 58 shows the position of the besieged and the besiegers.[18]
