84 HISTORY OF PRANCE. [chap. liim Lorraine and Provence. But these, having come to Ren^ through females, were the clear right of his only heir, Rend of Vaudemont, son of his daughter Yolande and of Antony, heir of Lorraine, in the male line. Most unjustly therefore Charles not only seized Lorraine, but imprisoned young Rene, until forced by Lewis XL to release him. 43. Invasion of Edward IV., 1474. — So vast and reck- less was Charles's ambition that he formed a scheme with Edward IV. of England for such a division of France as had been planned by his father and Henry V. Every- one watched him with alarm, and his stern fierce justice was hated, especially in the lately obtained lands. In Elsass, his bailiff, Peter of HagenbacJi, a rough, harsh, violent man, was greatly hated for his manner of exacting toll. In a sudden rising of the people of Breisach, assisted by the Swiss, he was seized, tried, and put to death. The men of Elsass taxed themselves to pay the loan and return to Sigismund. Charles was greatly angered, and as the city of Neiiss, which belonged to the Archbishop of Koln, had revolted and joined the league of Elsass, he took up arms expecting to reduce it easily. It held out for eleven months, and while he was still detained before it Edward IV. had landed at Calais with a magnificent army. Lewis advanced with all his force, but not to fight, only to send messages, to render Edward distrustful of the absence of the Duke of Burgundy, and at last to induce him to with- draw. His daughter Elizabeth was betrothed to the dau- phin, and large pensions were promised to Edward and his courtiers. The two kings sealed their friendship by a meeting on the bridge oi Picqtiigny on the Somme, where they kissed one another through a wooden barrier for fear of treachery, and Lewis could hardly restrain his contempt for the mighty warrior he had so easily cajoled. Angered, and feeling liimself deserted, Charles was forced to make a tru;e, and yield to his vengeance the Constable of St. Pol, who from his little town of St. Quintin was playing the king and duke off one against the other, and making both distrust him. His city was taken, and he himself tried before the Parliament of Paris, and executed in the December of 1475. 44. Fall of Charles the Bold, 1477. — Lewis had many schemes at work against Charles. He still upheld young Rcnt5 of Lorraine, and by his influence with the leading men of Bern he gradually contrived to involve the whole of the Confederate cantons in the war. Charles' chief re-
