the hottest about his person. After the battle of Nanci, and the death
of the Duke of Burgundy, by the sword of Charles de Beaumont, the latter
is said to have died of regret, when he became aware whom it was he had
slain, and the loss he had sustained of a ducal ransom.

Before quitting this subject, it may be observed that the value of a
prisoner's liberty was a regularly transferable property. Coeur de Lion
was sold to the emperor Henry; Philip Augustus bargained for him; and
his ransom reduced England, from sea to sea, to the utmost distress.
Louis XI. bought the bastard of Burgundy from Renè, Duc de Lorrain,
for 10,000 crowns, and also William of Chalons, Prince of Orange, for
20,000, from Sieur de Grosté. Joan of Arc was sold to the English for
10,000 livres, and a pension of 300. In the case of the Earl of
Pembroke, who became the property of Du Guescelin, as part of the
purchase-money for some estates in Spain, he had sold to Henry, King of
Castile, the constable lost his expected 120,000 livres by the death of
his prisoner; as this nobleman was in a bad state of health, his bankers
at Bruges wisely declined paying the money until he became _sound and
in good condition_. (_Quand il serait sain, et en bon point._)
The earl dying before he left France, Du Guescelin lost both his estates
and money. One of the family of the Blois was presented to his
favourite, the Duke of Ireland, by Richard II., who disposed of his
master's bounty to Oliver de Clisson for 120,000 livres. Zizim, the
brother of Bajazet, Emperor of the Turks, after being defeated by his
brother in an attempt to seize the throne, fled to the Knights of Rhodes
for succour. They, fearing the vengeance of the Sultan, transferred him
to Louis XI. who fulfilled his trust faithfully, and kept him for the
knights, though offered all the relics that the east abounded with, and
even the kingdom of Jerusalem, by Bajazet, for his prisoner. After being
given into the custody of the Pope by Louis, and a six years' residence