Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/674

618 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE Beneath the pomp Charles was a hard-working executive and methodical man of business. Born in 1433, he was Charles elected a knight of the Golden Fleece when only the Bold twenty days old, two years before he was able to ride horseback on a wooden steed constructed for him by a saddler of Brussels. He was betrothed at six, and often as a mere child, when his father happened to be busy elsewhere, had been dispatched to this or that Flemish town to ask for a money grant. In the last two or three years of the life of Philip the Good, Charles was already the real head of the Burgundian State. He was frank, just, and impartial, but stern and severe to wrongdoers or to any of his subjects who resisted his commands and power. His epithet, the "Bold" or "Rash," indicates his impetuosity and military daring. He was somewhat lacking in tact and knowledge of human nature, and was too inclined to speak out his mind. Charles made an effort to consolidate his scattered pos- sessions into a compact and independent kingdom, but met His relations with many obstacles. In the Low Countries re- Netherlands v °l ts m the cities of Ghent, Dinant, and Liege and England distracted him for a time. Liege, with a popula- tion of over 120,000 and a very democratic suffrage, was an especially hard nut to crack. There the gilds of artisans had an equal voice with the richer organizations, and apprentices who were over fifteen years of age could vote in the annual city elections. The town lay in an ecclesiastical principality and in bygone days had made its bishop no end of trouble. Now that the Dukes of Burgundy controlled the appoint- ment of its bishop, it resisted them. Charles, however, crushed its revolt. He also succeeded in adding another province in the Netherlands, Guelders, to his possessions. Charles protected himself from the side of England by marry- ing Margaret of York, the sister of Edward IV. Louis XI of France, who was Charles's chief enemy, therefore had to content himself with an alliance with the losing Lancastrian side in England. Charles and Louis from the beginnings of their reigns were either openly at war or secretly plotting against each other.