It was late in the evening when the Bastard of Burgundy marched in. At
first he held the incoming troops well under control, but the stores
of wine were easy to reach, and by the morning there were wild scenes
of disorder. When Charles arrived, however, on the morrow, Tuesday,
just a week after the beginning of the siege, lawlessness was checked
with a strong hand. Any ill treatment of women was peculiarly
repugnant to him, and he did not hesitate to execute the sternest
justice upon offenders.[22]

[Illustration: ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY AFTER HANS MEMLING. DRESDEN
GALLERY]

His entry into the fallen town was made with all the wonted Burgundian
pomp. Nothing in the proceedings occurred in a headlong or passionate
manner. A council of war was held and the proceedings decided upon.
The cruelty that was exercised was used in deliberate punishment,
not in savage lawlessness. The personal insults to his mother and to
himself rankled in the count's mind. As one author remarks[23] with
undoubted reason, it is not likely that any of those responsible for
the insult were among those punished. After the siege, "pitiable it
was to see, for the innocent suffered and the guilty escaped."

Certain rich citizens bought their lives with large sums, others _were
sold as slaves,_[24] or were hanged or beheaded, or were thrown into
the Meuse.[25] In the monasteries, life was conceded to the inmates
but that was all. All their property was confiscated. The Count of St.
Pol, now Constable of France, tried to intercede for the citizens with
Philip who remained at Bouvignes, but to no result. It might have been
chance or it might have been intentional that at last flames completed