Chapter 166: Burgundy
August, 1463
Philip, Duke of Burgundy fought back a shiver as the draft came in. He was getting old and as such, that meant that everything was making him feel cold, or too hot. It was damnably annoying.
He looked at his Chancellor and said. “Speak.”
Guillaume Hugonet, Lord of Saillant, had a large nose, small eyes, and a mop of hair. He wasn’t as capable as Philip’s previous chancellor Nicolas, but he was capable. “The French have backed down from their threat of attacking our merchant ships, Sir.”
Philip raised an eyebrow, the King of France was an arrogant little brat who’d barely stopped soiling himself, so to hear he’d stopped his threats was surprising. “What convinced him to do that?”
“A word in the right ear, Sir.” Hugonet replied.
Philip laughed. “Whose ear?” Hugonet had men everywhere, something he’d picked up from Nicolas no doubt.
“The Chancellor of France, Sir.” Hugonet said.
Philip laughed. The Chancellor of France was a greedy man; Philip had had him on the payroll since the man had been a junior minister in the Chancellery during the reign of King Charles VII. “I see.” Was all he said.
“So, what happens now?” Philip’s son, Charles asked.
Philip looked at the boy and frowned, there were lines under his eyes, and he was unshaven. Had he been drinking again? “Now we see if we can drive a hard bargain.”
“Sir?” Charles asked sounding confused.
Philip took a deep breath, his son was still coming to terms with everything that politics involved, he had to remember that he too had been like this at that age. “We’re going to consider the English proposal.”
“Even though the French have backed down?” Charles replied. “I suppose it makes sense, see who we can get the best deal from.”
“Exactly.” Philip said, nodding approvingly. “Plus the English bring a bride with them.” His son needed a bride, he’d been a widow for some time now, and the bastards he’d sired were starting to pile up.
“English trade would benefit the merchants of Flanders, Sir.” Hugonet said.
“Indeed, and the dowry they are offering is not something to be sniffed at.” Philip said.
“And the French? They do not have anyone to offer, and they might well take the marriage as a sign of hostility.” Charles pointed out.
“Indeed, they might, but that is all the more reason to go through with it. The boy sitting in Paris is inexperienced, and if our spies are right, he is alienating a great many of his great nobles through his displays.” Philip said, apparently, the King had taken some nobleman’s daughter as a mistress and then got her pregnant before discarding her for someone else, without even recognising the child from the previous union. “I do not know whether they would be quite so willing to fight for him, if it came down to it.”
Especially if Phil kept the fighting to the north and the north west, closer to Burgundy and away from areas that the French would definitely care about.
“So, we go for this alliance, and see whether the French bite, if they do then we play on their fears, and if they don’t then the King looks weak?” Charles surmised.
“Exactly.” Philip said. “Either way, we come out of this on top.” And that was something that he cared about the most. Burgundy would not be a pawn anymore.
“I see.” Charles replied.
Philip grinned at his son, then looked at the Chancellor. “Let the English ambassador know that we shall speak with him regarding terms.”
“Sir.” The Chancellor said.
