"Done at Angers, June 19th.

"P.S.--If the said place had been destroyed and rased as I ordered
this never would have happened. Therefore, see to it that all such
places be rased to the ground, for if this be not done the people
will be ruined and there will be an increase of dishonour and
damage to me."[24]

One fact stated by Louis in this letter was true. Charles of Burgundy
broke the truce when it had but two weeks to run, and thus put
himself in the wrong. The death of Guienne made him wild with anger.
Apparently he had not believed in the imminence of the danger,
although he had been constantly informed of the progress of the
prince's illness. But to his mind, it was the hand of Louis, not the
judgment of God, that ended the life of the prince.

"On the morrow, which was about May 15, 1472, so far as I remember
[says Commines] came letters from Simon de Quingey, the duke's
ambassador to the king, announcing the death of the Duke of
Guienne and that the king had recovered the majority of his
places. Messages from various localities followed headlong one on
the other, and every one had a different story of the death.

"The duke being in despair at the death, at the instigation of
other people as much concerned as himself, wrote letters full of
bitter accusations against the king to several towns--an action
that profited little for nothing was done about it.[25]... In this
violent passion the duke proceeded towards Nesle in Vermandois,
and commenced a kind of warfare such as he had never used before,
burning and destroying wherever he passed."

It is interesting to note how smoothly Commines sails by the capital
charges against the king. He neither accepts nor denies the king's
crime, while frankly admitting that Guienne's decease was an opportune
circumstance for Louis. He apologises for mentioning any evil report
of either king or duke, but urges his duty as historian to tell the
truth without palliation.

Nesle was a little place on a tributary of the Somme which refused
the duke's summons to surrender, sent to it on June 10th. It seems
possible that there was a misunderstanding between the citizens
and the garrison which resulted in the slaughter of the Burgundian
heralds. Whereupon, the exasperated soldiers rushed headlong upon the
ill-defended burghers and wreaked a terrible vengeance on the town.

When the duke arrived on the spot,