52, note 1.] In 1429 the English occupied the bailiwick of Chaumont and garrisoned several fortresses in Bassigny.

Messire Robert, Lord of Baudricourt and Blaise, son of the late Messire Liebault de Baudricourt, was then captain of Vaucouleurs and bailie of Chaumont for the Dauphin Charles.
He might be reckoned a great plunderer, even in Lorraine.

In the spring of this year, 1420, the Duke of Burgundy having sent an embassy to the Lord Bishop of Verdun, as the ambassadors were returning they were taken prisoners by Sire Robert in league with the Damoiseau of Commercy.

To avenge this offence the Duke of Burgundy declared war on the Captain of Vaucouleurs, and the castellany was ravaged by bands of English and Burgundians.[239] [Footnote 239: S.Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, ch.

iii.] In 1423 the Duke of Lorraine was waging war with a terrible man, one Etienne de Vignolles, a Gascon soldier of fortune already famous under the dreaded name of La Hire,[240] which he was to leave after his death to the knave of hearts in those packs of cards marked by the greasy fingers of many a mercenary.