The first suggestion made by Charles was for a compromise between father and son.  “Let Duke Arnold retain the nominal sovereignty in Guelders, actual possession of one town, and a fair income, while to Adolf be ceded the full power of administration.”  The latter was emphatic in his refusal to consider the proposition.  “Rather would I prefer to see my father thrown into a well and to follow him thither than to agree to such terms.  He has been sovereign duke for forty-four years; it is my turn now to reign.”  Arnold thought it would be a simple feat to fight out the dispute.  “I saw them both several times in the duke’s apartment and in the council chamber when they pleaded, each his own cause.  I saw the old man offer a gage of battle to his son."[1] The senior belonged to the disappearing age of chivalry.  A trial of arms seemed to him an easy and knightly fashion of ending his differences with his importunate heir.

No settlement was effected before the French expedition, but Charles was not disposed to let the matter slip from his control, and when he proceeded to Amiens, the two dukes, still under restraint, were obliged to follow in his train.  At a leisure moment Charles intended to force them to accept his arbitration as final.  Before that moment arrived, the more agile of the two plaintiffs, Adolf, succeeded in eluding surveillance and escaping from the camp at Wailly.  He made his way successfully to Namur disguised as a Franciscan monk.  Then, at the ferry, he gave a florin when a penny would have sufficed.  The liberality, inconsistent with his assumed role, aroused suspicion and led to the detection of his rank and identity.  He was stayed in his flight and imprisoned in the castle of Namur to await a decision on his case by his self-constituted judge.  This was not pronounced until the summer of 1473.

By that time, Charles was resolved on another course of action than that of adjusting a family dispute in the capacity of puissant, impartial, and friendly neighbour.  Adolf’s behaviour towards his father had been extraordinarily brutal and outrageous.  Public comment had been excited to a wide degree.  It was not an affair to be dealt with lightly by Duke Charles.  The young Duchess of Guelders was Catharine of Bourbon, sister to the late Duchess of Burgundy, and Adolf himself was chevalier of the Golden Fleece.  In consideration of these links of family and knightly brotherhood, Charles desired that the case should be tried with all formality.

[Illustration:  ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS (FROM THE ENGRAVING BY PINSSIO, AFTER THE DRAWING BY J. ROBERT)]