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CHARLES THE BOLD
LAST DUKE OF BURGUNDY
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PREFACE
The
admission of Charles, Duke of Burgundy into the series of Heroes of the
Nations, is justified by his relation to events rather than by his national or
his heroic qualities. "Il n'avait pas assez de sens ni de malice pour
conduire ses entreprises," is one phrase of Philip de Commines in
regard to the master he had once served. Render sens by genius and malice by diplomacy and the words are not far wrong. Yet in
spite of the failure to obtain either a kingly or an imperial crown, the story
of those same unaccomplished enterprises contains the germs of much that has
happened later in the borderlands of France and Germany where the projected
"middle kingdom" might have been erected. A sketch of the duke's
character with its traits of ambition and shortcomings may therefore be placed,
not unfitly, among the pen portraits of individuals who have attempted to
change the map of Europe.
The
materials for an exhaustive study of the times, and of the participants in the
scenes thereof, are almost overwhelming in quantity. Into this narrative, I
have woven the words of contemporaries when these related what they saw and
thought, or at least what they said they saw or thought, about events passing
within their sight or their ken. The veracity attained is only that of a mosaic
of bits, each with its morsel of truth. And the rim in which these bits are set
is too slender to contain all the illumination necessary. The narrative is, of
necessity, partial and fragmentary, for a complete story would require a series
of biographies presented in parallel columns. My own preliminary chapter to
this book—a mere explanation of the presence of the dukes of Burgundy in the
Netherlands—grew into an account of a sovereign whom they deposed and was published
under the title of A Mediæval Princess.
John
Foster Kirk gave 1713 pages to his record of Charles the Bold, Duke of
Burgundy. Forty years have elapsed since that publication appeared and a mass
of interesting material pertinent to the subject has been given out to the
public, while separate phases of it have been minutely discussed by competent
critics, so that at every point there is new temptation for the biographer to
expand the theme where the scope of his work demands brevity.
In
using the later fruit of historical investigation, it is delightful for an
American to find that scholars of all nations do justice to Mr. Kirk's accuracy
and industry even when they may differ from his conclusions. It has been my
privilege to be permitted free access to this scholar's collection of books,
and I would here express my deep gratitude to the Kirk family for their
generosity and courtesy towards me.
After
some preliminary reading at Brussels and Paris
and in England, the work for this volume has been completed in America, where
the opportunity of securing the latest results of research and criticism is
constantly increasing, although these results are still lodged under many
roofs. I have had many reasons to thank the librarians of New York, Boston, and
Washington, and also those of Harvard, Columbia, and Cornell universities for
courtesies and for serviceable aid; and just as many reasons to regret the
meagreness of what can be put between two covers as the gleanings from so rich
a harvest.
One
word further in explanation of the use of Bold. The adjective has been
retained simply because it has been so long identified with Charles in English
usage. I should have preferred the word Rash as a better equivalent for
the contemporary term, applied to the duke in his lifetime,—le téméraire.
R.P.
WASHINGTON, D.C., 1908.
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