The duke, in answer, bade him surrender the castle to the king’s officers, and come to him at Bourges, which was done. In like manner, all the places in the county of Eu, and in the territory of Gamaches, were surrendered to the king; and the officers who had been placed in them by their lords were dismissed, and others of the king’s servants put in their room.
During this time, very large sums of money were raised in Paris and elsewhere, to pay the english troops who had come to serve the duke of Burgundy by permission of the king of England. On receiving their payment, the earl of Arundel, with his men, returned to England by way of Calais; but the earl of Kent[79] and his troops remained in the service of the duke of Burgundy.
At this moment, the Orleans-party were in great distress, and knew not where to save themselves; for the instant any of them were discovered, whether secular or ecclesiastic, they were arrested and imprisoned, and some executed,--others heavily fined. Two monks were arrested at this time, namely, master Peter Fresnel, bishop of Noyon, who was taken by sir Anthony de Craon, and carried from Noyon to the castle of Crotoy; the other, the abbot of Foresmoustier, was made prisoner by the lord de Dampierre, admiral of France. They were soon delivered on paying a large ransom, when each returned to his bishoprick and monastery.
The lord de Hangest, still calling himself grand master of the french cross-bows, being attached to the Orleans-party, had, after the retreat from St Denis, secretly retired to the castle of Soissons. Having a desire to attempt regaining the king’s favour, he sent a poursuivant to demand a safe conduct from Troullart de Moncaurel, bailiff and governor of Senlis, for him to come and reside in that town. The safe conduct was sent to him, and he came to Senlis; but, because there was no mention of his return in this permission, Troullart made him and fifteen other gentlemen prisoners in the king’s name. Shortly after, they were carried to the Châtelet in Paris, to his great displeasure, but he could not prevent it.
The count de Roussy also had retired, after the retreat from St Denis, to his castle of Pont á Arsy sur Aine; but it was instantly surrounded by the peasants of the Laonnois, who increased to about fifteen hundred, and made most terrible assaults on the castle,--and, in spite of its deep moat and thick walls, they damaged it very much. These peasants called themselves the king’s children. Sir Brun de Barins, knight, bailiff of the Vermandois, and the provost of Laon, came to assist and to command them,--when the count, perceiving the danger he was in, to avoid falling into the hands of these peasants, surrendered himself and his castle to the bailiff of the Vermandois, on condition that his own life, and the lives of all within it, should be spared. The bailiff accepted the terms, and, having re-garrisoned it with the king’s troops, carried the count and his men prisoners to Laon, where they remained a long time; but at length, on paying a heavy ransom, they obtained their liberty.