Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/244

208 Readings in European History which covered the face of the earth like locusts. When the count of Flanders saw the king's army, that it was very great and strong, his spirit was troubled, and the hearts of his people became as water, so that they sought safety in flight. Then the count took counsel with his own, and sent messengers to call to his presence Theobald, count of Blois, chief of the king's knights and seneschal of France, and William, archbishop of Rheims both uncles of the king, to whom the direction of affairs had been intrusted at this time because they were faithful to the king. The count of Flanders used them as intermediaries and through them addressed the king in this wise : " Let thine anger toward us cease, Lord. Come to us in peaceful guise, and use our service as shall be pleasing in thy sight. The land which thou desirest, my lord king, Vermandois, with all the castles and vills belonging to it, I will restore to thee, my lord king, in its entirety, freely, and without delay. But if it shall please your royal majesty, I beg that the castle of St. Quentin and the castle of Peronne may be granted to me as a kingly gift to be held so long as I live. After my death they shall, without controversy, devolve upon thee or thy successors, the kings of the French." When Philip, most Christian king of the French, had heard this message, he called together all the archbishops, bishops, abbots, counts, viscounts, and all the barons who had come with one accord to subdue the insolence of the count of Flanders and to humble his pride. He took coun- sel with them, and they answered as with one voice that this which the count of Flanders proposed to the king should be done. When this decision had been reached, the count of Flanders was introduced, and before all the nobles and the throng gathered there, he restored to Philip, the law- ful king, the land he had so long wrongfully held ; and then and there, after he had restored the land before them all, he put the king in possession of it. Further, he promised the king upon his oath to make good, without delay, and according to the king's will, all the losses he had inflicted upon Baldwin, count of Hainault, and other