v.] THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. 71 Burgundy supported his nephew, Humfrey gave up the struggle, and «took another wife. Jacquehne, left to her fate, let her claims be bought off by pension from the Duke of Burgundy. Namur was also purchased by him from the last count in 1428, and the line of Brabant became extinct in 1430 ; so that the house of Burgundy possessed the greater number of the principalities of the Low Countries. Most of these were fiefs of the Empire, while Flanders and Artois were fiefs of France, alto- gether the most wealthy inheritance in Europe. Indeed PhiHp was the chief power at that period, his weak point being that his duchy and county of Burgundy were divided from his possessions in the Netherlands by the duchy of Lorraine. To unite these two great groups became thenceforth the great object of the dukes of Burgundy, who hoped to form a middle kingdom like the old kingdom of Lotharingia. 26. The Constable of Richmond, 1425.- — At Verneuil the Constable Buchan was slain, and the Scots totally defeated. Many of them still came to fight in the French army, and were formed into a special body-guard of the king as the archers of the Scottish guard. The constable's sword was given to Arthur, count of Ricltemonf, brother of the Duke of Britanny, and husband of a sister of the Duke of Burgundy, one of the captives taken at Agin- court. He was a stern, harsh, and overbearing man, who forced on the king the truth that he could not prevail until he parted with the murderers of John the Fearless. Duchatel had patriotism enough to allow himself to be bought off with the seneschalship of Beaucaire, and to carry off the rest of his party. Richemont then took the mastery, allowing the king a favourite with whom to amuse himself at Bourges, while he, with the Count of Dunois, an illegitimate son of the murdered Duke of Orleans, made head against the English. Two of these favourites no sooner showed themselves disposed to interfere with the constable's power than they were put to death ; but the third, Lewis de la Tremouille, shut the constable out of Bourges, and forced him to Britanny. Meanwhile Charles lived an idle, careless life, heedless whether his kingdom were lost or won. 27. The Maid of Orleans, 1429. — It seemed to the English a fit time for pushing beyond the Loire, and they began by besieging Orleans. The national spirit was roused, and Dunois with all the best captains hurried
