illiam had received a sum of money, with promise of more, for putting
the King to death in any such manner as he might find possible. (4)

3 This is Louis II., Sire de la Tremoille, Viscount of
Thouars and Prince of Talmont, born in 1460. The son of
Louis I. de la Tremoille and of Margaret d'Amboise, he
became one of the most remarkable men of his time. Favoured
by Anne de Beaujeu, who arranged his marriage with Gabrielle
de Bourbon, he commanded the royal troops at the battle of
St. Aubin du Cormier, in Brittany (1488), at which the
rebellious Duke of Orleans (afterwards Louis XII.) and the
Prince of Orange, with a large number of the nobles, their
partisans, were made prisoners. They were all invited to La
Tremoille's table after the engagement, and, according to
Godefroi's Latin history of Louis XII., at the close of the
repast two Franciscan monks entered the hall, whereupon La
Tremoille rose and said: "Princes, I refer your judgments to
the King, but as for you, Knights, who have broken your
faith and falsified your knightly oath, you shall pay for
your crime with your heads. If you have any remorse on your
consciences, here are monks who will shrive you." The hall
resounded with lamentations, but the unhappy nobles were
promptly dragged into the courtyard, and there put to death;
both Orleans and Orange being too terror-stricken to
intercede for them. When the former came to the throne, he
forgave La Tremoille for his conduct in this affair, and
showed him great favour, appointing him Governor of Burgundy
in 1501. La Tremoille also became Admiral of Guienne and
Brittany, and figured conspicuously in the various Italian
campaigns of the period. He was killed at Pavia in 1525.
Jean Bouchet, a contemporary, wrote a curious life of this
remarkable man, entitled _Panegyric du Chevalier sans
reproche_. It will be found in Michaud and Poujoulat's
_Collection de Mitnoires_,--L. and Ed.

4 It has been suggested that the instigator of this plot
was Charles V.'s famous minister, Cardinal Granvelle.--Ed.

The Lord de la Tremoille failed not to give speedy notice of the affair
to the King, and further made it known to the King's mother, Louise of
Savoy, who, forgetting that she and this German were akin, begged the
King to banish him forthwith. But the King b