d in good case.' Then they began to shout, 'Come down, and
preach not to us from such a height; we would have account and reckoning
of the great treasure of Flanders which you have too long had under
control without rendering an account, which it appertaineth not to any
officer to do.' When Artevelde saw that they would not cool down, and
would not restrain themselves, he closed the window, and bethought him
that he would escape by the back, and get him gone to a church adjoining
his hostel; but his hostel was already burst open and broken into behind,
and there were more than four hundred persons who were all anxious to
seize him. At last he was caught amongst them, and killed on the spot
without mercy. A weaver, called Thomas Denis, gave him his death-blow.
This was the end of Artevelde, who in his time was so great a master in
Flanders. Poor folk exalted him at first, and wicked folk slew him at
the last."

[Illustration: Statue of James Van Artevelde----296]

It was a great loss for King Edward. Under Van Artevelde's bold
dominance, and in consequence of his alliance with England, the warlike
renown of Flanders had made some noise in Europe, to such an extent that
Petrarch exclaimed, "List to the sounds, still indistinct, that reach us
from the world of the West; Flanders is plunged in ceaseless war; all the
country stretching from the restless Ocean to the Latin Alps is rushing
forth to arms. Would to Heaven that there might come to us some gleams
of salvation from thence! O Italy, poor father-land, thou prey to
sufferings without relief, thou who wast wont with thy deeds of arms to
trouble the peace of the world, now art thou motionless when the fate of
the world hangs on the chances of battle! "The Flemings spared no effort
to re-assure the King of England. Their envoys went to Westminster to
deplore the murder of Van Artevelde, and tried to persuade Edward that
his policy would be perpetuated throughout their cities, and "to such
purpose," says Froissart, "that in the end the king was fairly content
with the Flemings, and they with him, and, between them, the death of
James Van Artevelde was little by little forgotten." Edward, however,
was so much affected by it that he required a whole year before he could
resume with any confidence his projects of war; and it was not until the
2d of July, 1346, that he embarked at Southampton, taking with him,
besides his son, the Prince of Wales, hardly sixteen ye