Two leagues further the ambassador took leave of me, and followed another road to return to the duke of Milan, his lord. I took that leading to Vienna, where I arrived after five days' journey. On my entering the town no one would lodge me, supposing I was a Turk. At last, by accident, some one pointed out to me an inn, where I was received. Fortunately my servant, whom I had hired at Pest, knew the Hungarian and high German languages. He desired that the merchant to whom I had a letter might be sent for. On seeking him he came, and not only offered me every service in his power, but went to inform my lord duke Albert[518], cousin-german to my lord, of my arrival, who instantly despatched to me a poursuivant-at-arms, and shortly after Sir Albrech de Potadorf. Not two hours after my arrival I saw Sir Albrech dismount at the gate of my inn, and, hearing him ask for me, I thought myself undone. A little before my departure for the Holy Land, I, with some others, had arrested him between Flanders and Brabant, because we thought him a subject of Frederic of Austria[519], who had challenged my lord; and I now doubted not but that he was come, in his turn, to arrest me, and perhaps do worse. He told me, however, that his lord, duke Albert, having learned that I was attached to the duke of Burgundy, had sent him to me to offer, on his part, every service that was in his power; that he desired me to ask whatever I might want as boldly from him as from my own lord; for that he wished to treat his servants in the same manner as he would his own. Sir Albrech then spoke for himself. He presented me with money, and offered me horses or any thing else. In short, he rendered me good for evil; although, after all, I had not done any thing to him but what honour permitted and even obliged me to do.
Two days after duke Albert sent to say he wished to speak with me; and Sir Albrech again came to conduct me to him. I presented myself to him the moment he came from mass, attended by eight or ten old knights of a respectable appearance. Scarcely had I made my reverence when he took me by the hand, and would not suffer me to speak to him on my knees. He asked many questions, particularly about my lord, which induced me to think he had a great affection for him.
He was of a tolerably good size, brown complexion, good-humoured, affable, valiant, and generous, and was said to possess every good quality. Among the persons who accompanied him were some lords from Bohemia, whom the Hussites had expelled from that country because they would not be of their religion. At the same time a great lord of that country, called Paanepot, was presented to him, who had come with several others, on the part of the Hussites, to treat with him and establish peace. These last proposed to march to the assistance of the king of Poland, against the lords of Prussia, and made, as I heard, great offers to duke Albert, if he would second them; but he replied, according to my information, that, until they submitted themselves to the religion of Jesus Christ, he would never make truce nor peace with them as long as he should live. In fact, at this very time, he had twice beaten them in battle; had conquered from them all Moravia; and, by his conduct and valour, had aggrandized himself at their expense.
On quitting his presence, I was conducted to that of the duchess, a tall, handsome woman, daughter to the emperor, and heiress, after him, to the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia and their dependencies. She had just been brought to bed of a daughter, which had occasioned festivals and tournaments, that were the more numerously attended because, hitherto, she had not had any children.
On the morrow the duke sent Sir Albrech to invite me to dinner, and made me sit at his table with an Hungarian lord and another, an Austrian. All his attendants are on board wages, and no one dines with him unless invited by the master of his household. The table was square; and the custom is, for one dish to be brought at a time, and for him who is nearest to eat of it, which supplies the place of a taster[520]. Fish and flesh were served; and, above all, a quantity of meat, strongly seasoned, but always dish by dish. After the dinner I was carried to see the dancing in the apartments of the duchess. She gave me a bonnet of gold thread and silk, a ring, and a diamond to wear on my head, according to the fashion of the country. There were present many nobles of each sex; and I saw there some very handsome women, with the finest heads of hair that can be conceived. When I had remained in these apartments some time, a gentleman named Payser, who, though but a squire, was a chamberlain and keeper of the jewels of the duke of Austria, came, by his orders, to show them to me. I saw the crown of Bohemia, which has some very fine diamonds, and the largest ruby I ever saw. It seemed bigger than a full-sized date; but it is not clear, and there are some cavities toward the bottom that show a few black spots. The keeper then carried me to see the wague-bonnes[521], which the duke of Austria had constructed to combat the Bohemians. I perceived none that could hold more than twenty men; but he assured me there was one that would contain three hundred, and did not require more than eighteen horses to draw it.
I met at this court the lord de Valse, a gallant knight, and the greatest baron in Austria after the duke. I saw there, also, Sir Jacques Trousset, a handsome Swabian knight; but there was another, named Le Chant, hereditary cup-bearer to the emperor, who having lost his brother and many friends at the battle of Bar, and hearing that I belonged to my lord of Burgundy, caused me to be watched, to know the day of my departure, that he might seize me as I was travelling through Bavaria. Luckily for me, the duke of Austria was informed of his intentions, and sent him away, making me stay longer at Vienna than I intended, to wait for the departure of the lord de Valse and Sir Jacques Trousset, that I might accompany them.
During my stay I witnessed three of the tournaments I mentioned, with small horses and low saddles. One took place at court, the others in the streets; but at the last several were unhorsed so heavily that they were dangerously wounded.
The duke of Austria made me, in private, offers of money. I received similar offers from Sir Albert and Sir Robert Daurestoff, a great lord in Austria, who, the preceding year, had travelled in disguise through Flanders, and had there seen my lord duke, and spoke very handsomely of him. In short, I received very pressing ones from a poursuivant of lower Brittany, named Toutseul, who, after having served under the admiral of Spain, was now in the service of the duke of Austria. This Breton called on me every day to go to mass, and attended me wherever I wished to go. Persuaded that I must have expended on my journey all the money I had, a little before my departure he presented me with the value of fifty marcs in enamels, and insisted that I should sell them for my profit; but, as I equally refused to accept them or to borrow, he protested that no one should ever know any thing of it.
Vienna is a tolerably large town, well inclosed with deep ditches and high walls, inhabited by rich merchants and all sorts of tradesmen. The Danube washes its wall on the north side. The surrounding country is pleasant and good; and it is a place of amusement and pleasure. The natives are better dressed than those of Hungary, although they all wear coarse doublets, very thick and wide. In war they cover the doublet with an haubergeon, a glaçon[522], a large hat of iron, and other armour usual in that country. They have many crennequiniers, for such is the name given in Austria and Bohemia to those called archers in Hungary. Their bows are like those of the Turks, but not so good nor so strong; and they do not use them so well as they do. The Hungarians pull the string with three fingers, and the Turks with the thumb and ring.