CHAP. XCI.
THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY SENDS THE LORD DE CROY TO THE COUNTY OF NAMUR AGAINST THE LIEGEOIS.
WHEN the duke of Burgundy learnt that the bishop of Liége and the Liegeois were preparing to invade his county of Namur, he determined with his council to send thither the lord de Croy to guard and defend the town and castle of Namur, and the whole of that country. The lord de Croy, in consequence, departed from before Compiègne, having about eight hundred men under his command, and entered Namur, where the Liegeois had already commenced the war, by taking of Beaufort and setting fire to it.
The lord de Croy remained inactive in Namur, for about ten days: after this, he began his operations, by the storming of the town of Fosse, which he burnt, with the exception of the monastery. On the ensuing day, from forty to eighty Liegeois were put to death at Florennes, and forty made prisoners.
With the lord de Croy were his brother sir John de Croy, the lords de Mainsnèe, de Rambures, de Fauquemberg and de d'Juselle, le Galois de Roly, the lord de Framesant, Robert de Neufville and other nobles. The lord de Rambures was ordered to Polvache, where in a sally, he was mortally wounded and made prisoner. The lord de Senlis was then sent thither, who surrendered the place to the Liegeois, and they set fire to and burnt it.
The Liegeois were led by their bishop, and amounted to fifty thousand men. When they had gained Polvache, they laid siege to Bouvines, and took and burnt Golesme. While they were thus engaged, the lord de Croy made frequent attacks on them, and in these different skirmishes slew and took from seven to eight hundred.