im from the tutelage of his sister, he was
arrested, and put in one of his old master's iron cages at Loches. In
1489 he was banished to one of his own estates for ten years, and made
to give bail to the amount of 10,000 crowns of gold for his good
behaviour. Recalled to the council in 1492, he strenuously opposed the
Italian expedition of Charles VIII., in which, however, he took part,
notably as representing the king in the negotiations which resulted in
the treaty of Vercelli. During the rest of his life, notwithstanding the
accession of Louis XII., whom he had served as duke of Orleans, he held
no position of importance; and his last days were disturbed by lawsuits.
He died at Argenton on the 18th of October, probably in 1511. His wife
Helene de Chambes survived him till 1532; their tomb is now in the
Louvre.

The _Memoirs_, to which Commines owes his reputation as a statesman and
man of letters, were written during his latter years. The graphic style
of his narrative and above all the keenness of his insight into the
motives of his contemporaries, an insight undimmed by undue regard for
principles of right and wrong, make this work one of the great classics
of history. His portrait of Louis XI. remains unique, in that to such a
writer was given such a subject. Scott in _Quentin Durward_ gives an
interesting picture of Commines, from whom he largely draws.
Sainte-Beuve, after speaking of Commines as being in date the first
truly modern writer, and comparing him with Montaigne, says that his
history remains the definitive history of his time, and that from it all
political history took its rise. None of this applause is undeserved,
for the pages of Commines abound with excellences. He analyses motives
and pictures manners; he delineates men and describes events; his
reflections are pregnant with suggestiveness, his conclusions strong
with the logic of facts.

The _Memoirs_ divided themselves into two parts, the first from the
reign of Louis XI., 1464-1483, the second on the Italian expedition and
the negotiations at Venice leading to the Vercelli treaty, 1494-1495.
The first part was written between 1489 and 1491, while Commines was at
the chateau of Dreux, the second from 1495 to 1498. Seven MSS. are
known, derived from a single holograph, and as this was undoubtedly
badly written, the copies were inaccurate; the best is that which
belonged to Anne de Polignac, niece of Commines, and it is the only one
containing