g the Croys of their ascendency over
the Duke of Burgundy, but when that long desired victory was attained,
the towns had one and all accepted their transfer and were under
French sovereignty. When the count joined the league, the hope of
ultimate restoration was undoubtedly prominent among the motives for
his own course of action, though his intimacy with the chief leader of
the revolt, the Duke of Brittany, might easily have led to the same
result.

Towards Francis of Brittany, Louis XI. had been especially wanting in
tact during the first months of his reign. The king treated him as a
vassal of France, while the duke held that he and his forbears owed
simple homage to the crown, not dependence. Therefore, in order to
resist being subordinated, the Duke of Brittany resolved not to leave
his estates except in a suitable manner. His messages to the king
were sent in all ceremony, he rendered proper homage, declared his
readiness to serve him as a kinsman and as a vassal for certain
territories, but demanded freedom to exercise his hereditary rights
and to enjoy his hereditary dignities.[8]

"Rude and strange" were the terms employed by the king in response to
these statements, and then he proceeded to encroach still farther on
the duke's seigniorial rights by attempts to dispose of the hands of
Breton heiresses in unequal marriages, and to arrogate to himself
other rights--all sufficient provocation to justify Francis of
Brittany in becoming one of the chiefs in the league. Very delightful
is Chastellain's colloquy with himself[9] as to the difficulty of
maintaining perfect impartiality in discussing the cause of this
Franco-Burgundian war, but unfortunately the result of his patient
efforts is lost.

Olivier de La Marche and Philip de Commines, however, were both
present in the Burgundian army and their stories are preserved. La
Marche had reason to remember the first actual engagement between the
royal and invading forces at Montl'hery, "because on that day I was
made knight." He does not say, as does Commines, that this battle was
against the king's desire. Louis had hoped to avoid any use of arms
and to coerce his rebellious nobles into quiescence by other methods.
Not that they characterised themselves as rebellious, far from it.
Clear and definite was their statement that in their obligation

"to give order to the estate, the police and the government of the
kingdom, the princes of the blood as chief