Her disheartened knights rallied around her, and, following the
impetuous girl, they wielded axe and lance for the final
struggle. The result came quickly. The ponderous battle-axe of
the knight of Leyenburg crashed through the helmet of the Lord of
Arkell, and as the brave young leader fell to the ground, his
panic-stricken followers turned and fled. The troops of
Jacqueline pursued them through the streets of Gorkum and out
into the open country, and the vengeance of the countess was
sharp and merciless.
But in the flush of victory wrath gave way to pity again, and the
young conqueror is reported to have said, sadly and in tears:
"Ah! I have won, and yet how have I lost!"
But the knights and nobles who followed her banner loudly praised
her valor and her fearlessness, and their highest and most
knightly vow thereafter was to swear "By the courage of our
Princess."
The brilliant victory of this girl of sixteen was not, however,
to accomplish her desires. Peace never came to her. Harassed by
rebellion at home, and persecuted by her relentless and
perfidious uncles, Count John of Bavaria, rightly called "the
Pitiless," and Duke Philip of Burgundy, falsely called "the
Good," she, who had once been Crown Princess of France and Lady
of Holland, died at the early age of thirty-six, stripped of all
her titles and estates.
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