DEUXIÈME PARTIE. NOTES

of Guienne, Lescun fled to Brittany, and charged Louis with poisoning his brother. However, in 1473 Lescun went over to Louis again, and was made Count of Comminges and goremor of Guienne.

1. 32. fort commun alors, Almost eveiy death of every important personage which could not be explained by the médical skill of the time was attributed to poison. But poisoning was far more often suspected tban practised, and was probably, owing to lack of chemical knowledge, often practised without effect.

!• 33* Mahomet II, the Sultan of the Turks who took Constantinople, 1453.

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1. 15. il avait perdu P alliance d'Ecosse, Scotland and France were as a xule closely alUed, but Edward IV. had made peace with Scotland.

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1. 27. Howard et Stanley. John, Baron Howard, was afterwards made Duke of Norfolk by Richard III., and was killed fighting for him at Bosworth. Thomas, Lord Stanley, went over to Henry of Richmond at that battle, and was afterwards made Earl of Derby.

1. 32. " un varlet,** Variât and valet are the same word, but varlet only meant a servant, a person of low station.

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L I. il le fit endoctriner, " he had him taught hîs part."

L 3. la cotte de héraut, ** the herald*s tabard."

1. 13. pour rançon de Marguerite d Anjou* Margaret of Anjou, widow of Henry VI., had been a prisoner since her capture at Tewkesbury in 1471.

1. 19. à table ouverte, Comines gives an amusing description of the way the English flocked into Amiens, till their numbers became a danger.

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1. 8. Pecquignyt or Picquigny, a place on the Somme, where Louis XI. and Edward IV. met on the bridge and concluded the peace. Sept. 13, 1475.

1. II. antichevaleresque s*il en fut, **an unchivalrous âge, if there ever was one."

1. 16. ayant tat*t son bien chez lui, Not ail, for Comines deposited a large sum at Tours, as a préparation for his désertion of Charles the Bold. Louis XL, finding Comines delaying, confiscated the money, and thus brought him over. Comines* Burgundian possessions were seized by Charles, but nevertheless he profited largely by the change.

1. 19. qu'il les mît à fin, "that he would bring them to a successful end,