Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/436

424 more in Swabia, and then checked Massena in Switzerland. After this he was forced by ill-health to retire from service. He was appointed governor of Bohemia ; but it was not long before he had again to oppose his old enemy Moreau, with whom he made terms which were afterwards taken as the basis of the peace of Lune ville. His popu larity was now such that the Diet of Ratisbon, which met in 1802, resolved to erect a statue in his honour, and to give him the title of Saviour of his Country ; but Charles refused both distinctions. He was for some time president of the council of war, but in 1805 he was once more in Italy, where he won the victory of Caldiero over Massdna. On his return to Austria he became commander-in-chief and again president of the aulic council of war. He employed his time in organizing the army and establish ing a strong reserve force, till in 1809 he took the field against the French army commanded by Napoleon in person. He carried on the conflict for five days, and fought with great gallantry ; but at last, being wounded and overpowered, he retreated in good order. At the end of the campaign he gave up all his military offices, and spent the rest of his life in retirement, with the exception of a short time, when on the return of Napoleon from Elba, he became governor of Mayence. He published Grundsdtze der Strategic (1814), and Geschichte des Fddzugs von 1799 in Deutschland und der Schiceiz (1819).  CHARLES, the Bold (H33-1477), duke of Bur gundy, born in 1433, was the son of Philip the Good of Burgundy and Isabella of Portugal. Remarkable both for his personal qualities and also for his position as the leader of the last great struggle of the feudal lords against royalty in France, and as the life-long enemy of crafty Louis XT., Charles was the last great figure of the Middle Ages. His physical strength and energy were extraor dinary. He was full of the most lofty ambition, and capable of the most obstinate determination. He never forgot an injury. His passion was terrible and frequent. His boldness amounted to the rashness of fury. He was careless of luxury, though, in imitation of the ancient con querors about whom he loved to read, he delighted to surround himself with magnificent display ; and he pre sented an example of conjugal fidelity most remarkable in the society in which he lived. As Charles rose to manhood, he found his father under the .control of the Croys, whose usurpation of what he regarded as his own rightful function he deeply resented : and he allowed himself to be banished rather than take one of the family into his household. Soon after he was at this time count of Charolais he joined the duke of Brittany in forming a great confederation of the French nobles against King Louis. The confederates, calling themselves the League of the Public Weal, declared that their object was to get rid of bad ministers, to abolish taxes, and relieve the people from oppression. They maintained good discipline, paid for all they consumed, and consequently were opposed neither by the townsmen nor by the country-folk, while the gentry with their dependants flocked to their standard. In 1465 Charles met the royal army in the battle of Montlhery, which was decided by the retreat of the latter during the following night. Paris was besieged ; and Louis was forced to surrender Normandy to the duke of Berry, the towns on the Somme and the counties of Boulogne and Guienne to the count of Charolais, and other territory to other of the nobles. Charles s next exploit was the conquest of Lie ge, which, hitherto ruled democratically under the constitu tional control of its bishop, was now struggling against the encroachments of Burgundy. The town of Dinant alone he excepted from the peace which he granted to the rest of the principality; and a year later he returned to take ven- 1 geance upon it. Its crime was that some of its apprentices had insulted himself and his mother by burning him in effigy as a bastard, and its punishment was an extravagant revenge. It was burned to the ground ; of its men numbers were butchered, and the rest remained the unfortunate prisoners of the rude soldiery. The women were spared to be exposed to the extremes of cold and hunger, but were saved from worse treatment by the stem regard for female honour, which was Charles s most admir able characteristic. At the age of thirty-four (14G7) Charles became duke of Burgundy. Immense changes were at once effected. He permitted none of the gay festivity and wasteful pro fusion which had been common in his father s time, but the court was directed with a stately and splendid cere mony, in which the duke took his full share. Everything was arranged, though liberally, yet with strict order and economy ; the state of the finances was carefully examined, and the amount in the treasury was largely increased by unusual demands from the Estates. Every petitioner, how ever humble, was heard ; the duke shirked no details of business, was present at every council, and sharply rebuked or punished with a fine any absence or inattention on the part of the courtiers. A strict system of administering justice was instituted, and the law was carried out impartially even in the case of the most popular of the nobles. Soon after his accession Charles increased his political influence by taking as his second wife Margaret the sister of Edward IV. of England. It was not long before he required all his power; for soon Louis again took possession of Normandy, and contrived to detach the duke of Brittany from his alliance with Burgundy. But Charles at once made ready for war, and the king in alarm took the daring step of requesting a meeting, and placing himself in the duke s hands at Peronne. Unfortunately for Louis, he had been for some time inciting the people of Lie^ge to rebellion, and they chose this moment for an outbreak. Charles was mad with indignation, and with great difficulty restrained himself from taking vengeance upon the person of the king. After three days of irrepressible passion his wrath was so far spent that he contented himself with requiring Louis to undergo the ignominy of witnessing tlie punishment ofpo00 the revolt which he had himself instigated, and with extracting from him a treaty, which, among other most important concessions, confirmed to the duke the possession of the territory which he then held, sanctioned the alliance with England, and took away the right ot appeal from the courts of Flanders to the Parliament of Paris. In case of violation of this compact, the king invoked upon himself the curse of excommunication and the loss of the fealty of Burgundy ; and a letter, signed by Louis, was despatched to each of the princes of the blood, requiring them in that event to take up arms against him. Soon after this Lie ge was burned, like Dinant, and its inhabitants nearly exterminated, the fighting-men being mostly butchered, and the aged, the women, and the children exposed to the terrible cold ; and the powerful city of Ghent, whose mob had forced from the duke the abolition of the hated cueillote and certain other concessions during his passage through the city before his coronation, was fain to avert his anger by giving up all, and allowing its charter to be annulled. Charles had now reached the height of his power, but his greatness was unsubstantial. His subjects were becoming much estranged from him. The placid trade-loving Netherlander found it hard to bear his arbitrary and haughty passion. The courtiers became weary of the stiff ceremonial of the court and the constant toil they were 