The city and castle of Roche-Pont were again subjected to King Louis XI. The Sire de Montcler had but five hundred fighting men left; and even of these there were a full third wounded. Messire Charles d'Amboise gave them a safe-conduct, ordered that they should be supplied with provisions, and entertained the Sire de Montcler and his captains at his table. Two days afterwards they took their departure for Flanders with the foreign troops that were still with them.
FOOTNOTES:
[16] See the topographical map, [Fig. 1].
[17] In this figure the parts coloured red indicate the works occupied by the besieger and the direction of his fire.
[18] The black lines show the part of the defence still occupied by the besieged, the red lines the parts gained by the besiegers.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE CITÉ OF LA ROCHE-PONT IS FORTIFIED BY ERRARD DE BAR-LE-DUC, ENGINEER TO THE MOST CHRISTIAN KING OF FRANCE AND OF NAVARRE.
In 1606, Henry IV. had succeeded in subjugating the religious and feudal factions that had imperilled France for more than thirty years. He cherished great designs which his skilful policy, his patriotic soul, his military talents and the advantageous alliances he was able to form, promised to render successful. But Henry IV. left nothing to chance, and would not embark in any enterprise after his accession to the throne, till he had made every preparation to insure its success.
When he saw the moment arriving at which he could effectually intervene in the affairs of Germany—a part of which had its eyes directed to France, and was only waiting for a signal from the Louvre to escape from the incessant rivalries of the princes and from religious contentions—he took measures not only to facilitate a successful intervention abroad, but to strengthen his frontiers and establish depôts and centres for provisioning his troops. Assured of the good-will of the Swiss and tranquil as regarded Italy—thanks to the alliances he had formed in that Peninsula—and wishing to act at once in the east, and on the Pyrenean side, he turned his attention to the defences of Roussillon and of the line which unites Burgundy with Champagne.