o had married his two sisters,
had weight; and he finally determined to unite himself to the royal
family of France, from which his own was descended.

{1435.} For this purpose, a congress was appointed at Arras under the
mediation of deputies from the pope and the council of Basle: the duke
of Burgundy came thither in person: the duke of Bourbon, the count of
Richemont, and other persons of high rank, appeared as ambassadors from
France: and the English having also been invited to attend, the cardinal
of Winchester, the bishops of Norwich and St. David's, the earls of
Huntingdon and Suffolk, with others, received from the protector and
council a commission for that purpose.[*]

The conferences were held in the abbey of St. Vaast, and began with
discussing the proposals of the two crowns which were so wide of each
other as to admit of no hopes of accommodation. France offered to cede
Normandy with Guienne, but both of them loaded with the usual homage
and vassalage to the crown. As the claims of England upon France were
universally unpopular in Europe, the mediators declared the offers of
Charles very reasonable, and the cardinal of Winchester, with the
other English ambassadors, without giving a particular detail of their
demands, immediately left the congress. There remained nothing but to
discuss the mutual pretensions of Charles and Philip. These were easily
adjusted: the vassal was in a situation to give law to his superior; and
he exacted conditions which, had it not been for the present
necessity, would have been deemed, to the last degree, dishonorable
and disadvantageous to the crown of France. Besides making repeated
atonements and acknowledgments for the murder of the duke of Burgundy,
Charles was obliged to cede all the towns of Picardy which lay between
the Somme and the Low Countries; he yielded several other territories;
he agreed that these and all the other dominions of Philip should be
held by him, during his life, without doing any homage, or swearing
fealty to the present king; and he freed his subjects from all
obligations to allegiance, if ever he infringed this treaty.[**] Such
were the conditions upon which France purchased the friendship of the
duke of Burgundy.

* Rymer, vol. x. p. 611, 612.

** Monstrelet, vol ii. p. 112. Grafton, p. 565.

The duke sent a herald to England with a letter, in which he notified the
conclusion of the treaty of Arras, and apologized for his departure