At that time,--in the beginning of the sixteenth century,--shortly
after the battle of Marignano, and the great awakening at Wittenberg,
there brooded over creation a sultry atmosphere, in which the thoughts
and feelings of men frothed and raved with unbridled wantonness,
stimulated by the storm-ridden air.
King Francis had brought back with him to his native land, after his
sojourn in Italy and his conference with Pope Leo, a highly cultivated
artistic taste, united with a certain subtle depravity of morals.
Henceforth his court became an open field for the fine arts, and an
arena for the most debauched, sensual orgies. And not merely owing to
his high position, but also because he maintained in the midst of his
wildest excesses the prestige of a magnanimous chivalry, his example
influenced all the young people of France directly and irresistibly.
It was in the zenith of this regal frivolity and regal favour that
Henri's voluptuous life was interrupted by the above-related intermezzo
of sincere, honest love for this child of Montalme. But it was at the
very time when King Francis, basely deserting his noble wife, the good
Queen Claude, at the head of a jolly troupe of knights, accompanied by
the most beautiful women of France, was roving from city to city, from
castle to castle, from forest to forest, making the air resound with
the clang of cymbals, the blowing of horns, and the baying of dogs; in
summer dropping down on the fairest flower-strewn meadows, or near
mossy-green woods to hold their revels, and in winter pelting each
other with snowballs and filling the various castles with shouts and
laughter.
Now here--now there--he appeared as in a fairy tale--like a vision--the
impersonation of joy. Where one hoped to find him he had just vanished,
and where he was not expected he came. This constant change of
residence frequently embarrassed his ministers or those immediately
responsible for affairs of state, as well as the foreign ambassadors.
And whilst the most serious problems were perplexing their heads, he,
with his knights and the "petite bande," was ranging all over the
country in search of adventure, and when needed was never to be found.
It was as difficult to prevent one's self from being infected with the
frivolity of the king's court--if living in the midst of it--as to keep
one's health intact in a plague lazaretto. To have done it, one must
have been peculiarly organised, and Henri de Lancy was not peculiarly
organised.