tly gained the count of Dunois, who possessed great authority with
the Bretons; and having also engaged in their interests the prince of
Orange, cousin-german to the duchess, they gave him his liberty, and
sent him into Brittany. These partisans, supported by other emissaries
of France, prepared the minds of men for the great revolution projected,
and displayed, though still with many precautions, all the advantages
of a union with the French monarchy. They represented to the barons
of Brittany, that their country, harassed during so many years with
perpetual war, had need of some repose, and of a solid and lasting peace
with the only power that was formidable to them: that their alliance
with Maximilian was not able to afford them even present protection;
and, by closely uniting them to a power which was rival to the greatness
of France, fixed them in perpetual enmity with that potent monarchy:
that their vicinity exposed them first to the inroads of the enemy; and
the happiest event which, in such a situation, could befall them, would
be to attain a peace, though by a final subjection to France, and by the
loss of that liberty transmitted to them from their ancestors: and that
any other expedient, compatible with the honor of the state and their
duty to their sovereign, was preferable to a scene of such disorder and
devastation.

These suggestions had influence with the Bretons: but the chief
difficulty lay in surmounting the prejudices of the young duchess
herself. That princess had imbibed a strong prepossession against the
French nation, particularly against Charles, the author of all the
calamities which, from her earliest infancy, had befallen her family.
She had also fixed her affections on Maximilian; and as she now deemed
him her husband, she could not, she thought, without incurring the
greatest guilt, and violating the most solemn engagements, contract a
marriage with any other person.

{1491.} In order to overcome her obstinacy, Charles gave the duke of
Orleans his liberty; who, though formerly a suitor to the duchess, was
now contented to ingratiate himself with the king, by employing in his
favor all the interest which he still possessed in Brittany. Mareschal
Rieux and Chancellor Montauban were reconciled by his mediation; and
these rival ministers now concurred with the prince of Orange and the
count of Dunois, in pressing the conclusion of a marriage with Charles.
By their suggestion, Charles advanced