supports of the crown,
by whose advice and not by that of others, the business of the
king and of the state ought to be directed, are ready to risk
their persons and their property, and in this laudable endeavour
all virtuous citizens ought to aid."[10]

Thus wrote Charles to the citizens of Amiens, and the words were
typical of similar appeals made in every quarter of the realm by the
various feudal chiefs to their respective subjects. In truth this war,
ostentatiously called that of the Public Weal, was but a struggle on
the part of the great nobles for local sovereignty. The weal demanded
was home rule for the feudal chiefs. The War of Public Weal was a
fierce protest against monarchical authority, against concentration. A
king indeed, but a king in leading strings was the ideal of the peers.

Thus matters stood in June, 1465. Louis almost alone, deserted by his
brother the Duke of Berry, and his nobles banded together in apparent
unity, hedged in by their pompous and self-righteous assertions that
all their thoughts were for the poor oppressed people whose burdens
needed lightening. Of all the great vassals, Gaston de Foix was the
single one loyal to the king.

The part of the great duke fell entirely to the share of the Count of
Charolais. A small force was levied for him within the Netherlands,
and he started for Paris where he hoped to meet contingents from the
two Burgundies and his brother peers of France with their own troops.
His men were good individually but they had not been trained to act as
one, and there was no coherence between the different companies.

July, 1465, found Charles at St. Denis, the appointed rendezvous. He
was first in the field. While he awaited his allies, his little army
became restive at the situation in which they found themselves, fifty
leagues from Burgundian territory with no stronghold as their base. It
was urged again and again upon the count that his first consideration
ought to be his men's safety. His allies had failed him. He should
retreat. "I have crossed the Oise and the Marne and I will cross the
Seine if I have but a single page to follow me," was the leader's firm
reply to these demands.

The leaguers were slow to keep their pledges, and Charles decided that
it was his mission to prevent Louis from entering his capital, to
which he was advancing with great rapidity from the south. To carry
out this purpose Charles disregarded all protests, crossed