On the side of Belgium the danger of irruption through neutral territory, which has for many years been foreseen, is provided against by the fortresses of Lille, Valenciennes and Maubeuge, but (with a view to tempting the Germans to attack through Luxemburg, as is stated by German authorities) the frontier between Maubeuge and Verdun is left practically undefended.
Louis of Nassau, with a small force raised in France with the connivance of Charles IX., made a sudden dash into Hainault (May 1572) and captured Valenciennes and Mons.
A copy of an epitaph originally at Valenciennes states that he died on the 10th of March 1474-5 aged seventy.
He was continually employed on diplomatic errands until 1455, when, owing apparently to ill-health, he received apartments in the palace of the counts of Hainaut at Salle-le-Comte, Valenciennes, with a con siderable pension, on condition that the recipient should put in writing "choses nouvelles et morales," and a chronicle of notable events.
He died at Valenciennes on the 13th of February (according to the treasury accounts), or on the 10th of March (according to his epitaph) 1475.