eeing the English now so close to the gates of Paris, the Burgundian and Armagnac factions finally realised that their quarrels were only delivering their country into the hands of the English. The first steps towards reconciliation had come at the Treaty of Saint-maur-des-Fosses in September 1418. However, one of the terms of the Treaty required the Dauphin to return to Paris where he would have to come into the power of John the Fearless. The Dauphin therefore repudiated the Treaty and sent emissaries to the English, proposing a Joint alliance against the untrustworthy Duke, which the English rejected. After the fall of Rouen, more urgent meetings between Armagnacs and Burgundians followed, until in September 1419 the time was judged right for the Duke of Burgundy and the Dauphin Charles to meet in person and attempt to resolve their differences. It is perhaps worth mentioning here that the Dauphin was now just 16 and the Duke 48.
Such was the hatred and suspicion between the Dauphinist and Burgundian parties that it proved exceptionally difficult to agree on meeting place, but on 10th September 1419, the two leaders finally met on the middle o the bridge at Montereau which spans the confluence of the Sienne and Yonne, Southeast of Paris. Frank words led to heated exchanges, a scuffle broke out and one of Charles's knights, the Breton Tanguay du Chatel, beat out the Duke's brains with his battle-axe. No one has ever explained why anyone would take a battle-axe to a peace conference, but the results of this murder were far-reaching. The new Duke of Burgundy, Philippe, hastened to throw in his lot with the Plantagenets and with his help the English army began an inexorable advance. Years later, a French monk pointed out Duke John's shattered skull to some visitors at the ducal mausoleum in Dijon, and told his guests, 'Through that hole, gentlemen, the English entered into France'.
The murder of John the Fearless at Montereau was the act that united the Burgundians with the English, but this was never a firm alliance. However, the power of Burgundy was crucial to the English position in France from 1419 until 1435.