INTRIGUES OF CHARLES V., FRANCIS I., AND CLEMENT VII.,
AROUND CATHERINE.
(WINTER 1532-1533.)
When the emperor was informed of these matters, he began to knit his
brows. A flash of light revealed to him the ingenious plans of his
rival, and he took immediate steps to prevent the dangerous union.
Charles V., Francis I., Henry VIII., and the pope were all in commotion
at the thought of this marriage, and little Catherine was the Briseis
around whom met and contended the greatest powers of the world.
[Sidenote: DOUBTS INSINUATED BY CHARLES.]
At first the emperor endeavoured to instil into the pope's mind
suspicions of the good faith of the King of France. That was no
difficult matter. 'Clement dared not feel confident,' says Du Bellay,
'that the king really wished to do him such great honour.'[368]—'The
Orleans marriage would certainly be very honourable and advantageous,'
said Charles V. and his ministers; 'but his holiness must not rely upon
it; the king makes the proposal only with the intention of _befooling_
him and using him to his own benefit.'[369] And when the pope repeated
the promises of Albany, Gramont, and Tournon, the ministers of Charles
kept silence, and replied only by a slight smile. The blow had told.
Clement, who always tried to deceive, was naturally inclined to believe
that the king was doing the same.
When the emperor and the diplomatists saw that they had made a breach,
they attempted a new assault. Charles asked the young lady's hand for
Francis Sforza, Duke of Milan. This scheme was worthy of that exuberant
genius which Charles always displayed in the invention of means
calculated to secure the success of his policy. This union would, in
fact, have the double advantage of wresting Catherine and the Milanese
from France at one blow. Charles hinted to her uncle that he would do
much better to accept for his young relative a _real_ marriage than to
run after a shadow. 'It is a great offer, and the match is a good one,'
said Clement; 'but the other is so grand and so honourable for my house,
regard being had to dignities, that I never could have hoped for such
honour ... and so much progress has been made, that I cannot listen to
any other proposal without offending the king.'[370]
Clement had become hard to please. If the Medici were the descendants of
a merchant, the Sforzas came from a peasant, a leader of free troops, a
_condottiere_. Clement looked down upon the Duke of Milan. 'Besides,'
says Guiccardini, 'he burnt with desire to marry his niece to the second
son of Francis I.'[371] This is what he always came back to. Charles
told him that Francis wanted, by this offer, to break up the Italian
league, and when that was done, the marriage would be broken off
too.[372] But Clement maintained that the king was sincere in his offer.
'Good!' said the emperor to the pope; 'there is a very simple means of
satisfying yourself on that point. Ask the two cardinals to procure
immediately from France the powers necessary for settling the marriage
contract. You will soon see whether his proposal is anything better than
base money which they want to palm off upon you.'[373]
The emperor's remarks were not without their effect upon Clement: he was
thoughtful and uneasy. The French ambassadors had been lavish of words,
but there was nothing written: _verba volant_. The pope caught at the
idea suggested by Charles. If the full powers do not arrive, the king's
treachery is unveiled; if they arrive, the game is won. Clement asked
for them. 'Nothing is more easy,' said Tournon and Gramont, who wrote to
their master without delay.[374]
[Sidenote: THE KING'S HESITATION.]
Francis I. was startled when he received their despatch. His proposal
was sincere, for he thought it necessary to his policy; but the remarks
of Charles V. and Henry VIII. about the daughter of the Florentine
merchant, and the astonishment of Europe, which unanimously protested
against 'such great disparity of degree and condition,'[375] had sunk
into his mind. He, so proud of his blood and of his crown ...
countenance a misalliance! He hesitated; he would only proceed slowly ...
step by step ... and with a long interval after each.[376] If
Charles, who was impatient to return to Spain, should leave Italy
without banding it against France ... then ... new facts, new counsel ...
he would consider. But now he was driven to the wall: the question
must be answered. Shall Catherine de Medici come and sit on the steps of
the throne of St. Louis, or shall she remain in Italy? Shall she
continue to receive abominable lessons from her relative Alexander de
Medici, a detestable prince who exiled and imprisoned even the members
of his own family, and confiscated their property, and was addicted to
the most scandalous debauchery? ... or shall she come to France to put
in practice those lessons among the people of her adoption? The king
must make up his mind: the courier was waiting. One thing decided him.
His old gaoler, the emperor, said that this marriage proposal was a
trick. If Francis refused what the pope asked, Charles would triumph,
and turn against him both pope and Italy. The king's ambition was
stronger than his vanity, and coming to a desperate resolution, he had
the full powers drawn up, signed, and sent off.[377]
They arrived at Bologna about the middle of February. Albany, Gramont,
and Tournon carried them in triumph to the pope, who immediately
communicated them to the emperor. The latter read the procuration, which
contained 'an express clause for settling the marriage of the Duke of
Orleans with the Duchess of Urbino,' and was greatly surprised.[378]
'You see,' said Clement, 'there is no hole by which he can creep out.'
Charles could not believe it. 'The king has only sent this document for
a _show_,' he said to Clement; 'if you press the ambassadors to go on
and conclude the treaty, they will not listen to you.'[379] A little
while ago there had been nothing but words, and now there was only a
piece of _paper_.... The new propositions were communicated to the duke
and the two cardinals, who replied: 'We offer to stipulate forthwith the
clauses, conditions, and settlements that are to be included in the
contract.'[380]
[Sidenote: THE EMPEROR'S NEW MANŒUVRES.]
Clement breathed again, and believed in the star of the Medici. If that
star had placed his ancestors the Florentine merchants at the head of
their people, it might well raise Catherine, the niece of two popes, the
daughter and grand-daughter of dukes, to the throne of France. He
informed the emperor that everything was arranged, and that the terms of
the contract were being drawn up. Clement's face beamed with joy. The
emperor began to think the matter serious, 'and was astonished and vexed
above all,' says Du Bellay, 'at the frustration of his plan, which was
to excite the holy father against the king.' Charles saw that the
impetuosity of Francis had been too much for his own slowness; but he
knew how to retrace his steps, and the fecundity of his genius suggested
a last means of breaking up 'this detestable cabal.'—'Since it is so,'
he said, 'I require your holiness at least to include among the
conditions of the contract now drawing up, the four articles agreed to
between us, the first time you spoke to me of this marriage.' Clement
appeared surprised, and asked what articles they were. 'You promised
me,' said Charles, 'first that the king should bind himself to alter
nothing in Italy; second, to confirm the treaties of Cambray and Madrid;
third, to consent to a council; and fourth, to get the King of England
to promise to make no innovations in his country until the matter of his
divorce was settled at Rome.' The King of France would never agree to
such conditions; the pope was dismayed. Would he be wrecked just as he
had reached the harbour?—'I made no such promises,' he exclaimed
eagerly. 'The holy father,' says Du Bellay, 'formally denied ever having
heard of these matters.'[381] The altercation between the two chiefs of
christendom threatened to be violent. Which of them was the liar?
Probably the pope had said something of the kind, but only for form's
sake, in order to pacify Charles, and without any intention of keeping
his promise. He was the first to recover his calmness; he detested the
emperor, but he humoured him. 'You well know, Sire,' he said, 'that the
profit and honour accorded by the king to my family in accepting my
alliance, are so great, that it belongs to him and not to me to propose
conditions.'[382] He offered, however, to undertake that everything
should remain in 'complete peace.' The emperor, a master in
dissimulation, tried to conceal his vexation, but without success; this
unlucky marriage baffled all his plans. Francis had been more cunning
than himself.... Who would have thought it? The King of France had
sacrificed the honour of his house, but he had conquered his rival.
Confounded, annoyed, and dejected, Charles paced up and down with his
long gloomy face, when an unexpected circumstance revived his hopes of
completely embroiling the pope and the King of France.
We have witnessed the conferences that took place between Clement and
Charles on the subject of a general council. The emperor had asked for
one in order 'to bring back the heretics to union with the holy faith,
and he observed that if it were not called, it was to be feared that the
heretics would unite with the Turks; that they would fancy themselves
authorised to lay hands upon the property of the Church, and would
succeed in living in that liberty which they called _evangelical_, but
which,' added Charles, 'is rather _Mahometan_, and would cause the ruin
of christendom.'[383] The pope, who thought much more of himself and of
his family than of the Church, had rejected this demand. He had smiled
at seeing the great potentate's zeal for the religious and evangelical
question.... Clement never troubled himself about the Gospel:
Machiavelli was the gospel of the Medici. They cherished it, and
meditated on it day and night; they knew it by heart, and put it into
admirable practice. Clement and Catherine were its most devoted
followers and most illustrious heroes.
[Sidenote: A LAY COUNCIL PROPOSED.]
The policy of the King of France was quite as interested, but it was
more frank and honest. Even while politically uniting with the pope, he
did not mean to place himself ecclesiastically under his guardianship.
He had, like Henry VIII., the intention of emancipating kings from the
pontifical supremacy, and desired to make the secular instead of the
papal element predominate in christian society. For many centuries the
hierarchical power had held the first rank in Europe: it was time that
it gave way to the political power. Francis, having come to a knowledge
of the opposite opinions of the pope and the emperor touching the
council, slipped between the two and enunciated a third, which filled
the emperor with astonishment and the pontiff with alarm. It was one of
the greatest, most original, and boldest conceptions of modern times: we
recognise in it the genius of Du Bellay and the aspirations of a new
era. 'It is true, as the holy father affirms,' said the King of France,
'that the assembling of a council has its dangers. On the other hand,
the reasons of the emperor for convoking it are most worthy of
consideration; for the affairs of religion are reduced to such a pass
that, without a council, they will fall into inextricable confusion, and
the consequence will be great evils and prejudice to the holy father and
all christian princes. The pope is right, yet the emperor is not wrong;
but here is a way of gratifying their wishes, and at the same time
preventing all the dangers that threaten us.[384] Let all the christian
potentates, whatever be their particular doctrine (the King of England
and the protestant princes of Germany and the other evangelical states,
were therefore included), first communicate with one another on the
subject, and then let each of them send to Rome as soon as possible
ambassadors provided with ample powers to discuss and draw up by common
accord all the points to be considered by the council. They shall have
full liberty to bring forward anything that they imagine will be for the
unity, welfare, and repose of christendom, the service of God, the
suppression of vice, the extirpation of heresy, and the uniformity of
our faith. No mention shall be made of the remonstrances of our holy
father, or of the decisions of former councils; which would give many
sovereigns an opportunity or an excuse for not attending.[385] When the
articles are thus drawn up by the representatives of the various states
of christendom, each ambassador will take a duplicate of them to his
court, and all will go to the council, at the time and place appointed
by them, well instructed in what they will have to say. If those who
have separated from the Roman Church agree with the others, they will in
this way take the path of salvation. If they do not agree, at least they
will not be able to deny that they have been deaf to reason, and refused
the council which they had called for so loudly.'[386]
This is one of the most remarkable documents that we have met with in
relation to the intercourse between France and Rome, and it has not
attracted sufficient attention. In it Francis makes an immense stride.
Convinced that the new times ought to tread in a new path, he
inaugurates a great revolution. He emancipates the political power, so
far as regards religious matters, and desires that it shall take
precedence of the pontifical power in everything. If his idea had been
carried out, great ecclesiastical questions would no longer have been
decided in the Vatican, but in the cabinets of princes. This system,
indeed, is not the true one, and yet a great step had been taken in the
path of progress. A new principle was about to influence the destinies
of the Church.
Up to this time the clerical element had reigned in it alone; but now
the lay element claimed its place. The new society was unwilling that
priests alone should govern christians, just as shepherds lead their
flocks. But this system, we repeat, was not the true one. Christian
questions ought not to be decided either by pope or prince, but by the
ministers of the Church and its members, as of old in Jerusalem by the
_apostles_, _elders_, and _brethren_.[387] For this we have the
authority of God's Word. That evangelical path is forbidden to the
Roman-catholic Church; for it is afraid of every christian assembly
where the opinions of believers are taken into account, and finds itself
miserably condemned to oscillate perpetually between the two great
powers—the pope and the king.
[Sidenote: THE LAY COUNCIL REJECTED.]
It was very near the end of February when the emperor received at
Bologna this singular opinion of the French king. Having failed in his
attempts to prevent the Orleans marriage, he was busy forming the
Italian league, and preparing to leave for Spain. Charles instinctively
felt the encroachment of modern times in this project of Du Bellay's. To
deprive the pope and clergy of their exclusive and absolute authority
would lead (he thought) to taking it away from kings also. It seemed to
him that popery rendered liberty impossible not only in the Church but
also among the people. Francis, or rather Du Bellay, had imagined that
Charles would say (as one of his successors said[388]): 'My trade is to
be a king,' and that he would grasp at the institution of a _diplomatic_
papacy. But whether Charles wished to profit by this opportunity 'to
fish up again' the pope who had plunged into French waters, or simply
yielded to his Spanish catholic nature and the desire he felt for
unlimited power, he rejected Francis's proposal. 'What!' he exclaimed,
'shall the ambassadors of christian kings and potentates lay down
beforehand the points to be discussed in the council?... That would be
depriving it of its authority by a single stroke. Whatever is to be
discussed in the council ought to depend entirely on the inspiration of
the Holy Ghost and not on the appetites of men.'[389]
[Sidenote: SECULARISATION OF THE POPEDOM.]
This answer vexed Francis considerably. His proposition failing, it
became a weapon in the hands of his rival to destroy him. He therefore
sought to justify himself. 'I cannot help being surprised,' he said,
'that, with a view to calumniate me, my opinion has been misrepresented
to the emperor. Is it not more reasonable to have this business managed
by ambassadors who can arrive speedily in Rome, than to wait for a
council which at the soonest cannot meet within a year?... And as for
everything depending upon the Holy Ghost, assuredly my proposal has been
wickedly and malignantly interpreted; for as we shall send ambassadors
guided by a sincere affection for the Church, is it not evident that
this assembly cannot be without the Holy Ghost?'[390] Thus the king, in
defending himself, took shelter under the _inspiration_ of his
diplomatists. We may well admit that the Holy Ghost was less with the
pope than with the king; but He was really with neither of them.
Thus for a moment the idea of Francis I. fell to the ground; it was
premature, and only began to be realised in after days by the force of
circumstances and in the order of time. It was in 1562, when the council
which had been so much discussed, and which opened at Trent in 1545, met
for the third time, that this new fashion was introduced into Roman
catholicism. The prelates could not come to an understanding, the
Italian deputies wishing to maintain everything, while the French and
German deputies demanded important concessions with a view to a
reconciliation between the princes and their subjects. There were
struggles, jests, and quarrels: they came to blows in the streets. The
majority of the council were angry because the Roman legates regularly
delayed to give their opinions until the courier arrived from Rome.
'Their Inspiration,' said the French, who were always fond of a joke,
'their Inspiration comes to Trent in a portmanteau.' The meeting was
about to be broken up, when the papacy, being obliged to choose between
two evils, resolved to come to an understanding with the princes. The
pope agreed that all important questions should be previously discussed
in the secular courts, and the secondary questions be left to the
council, provided that all proper respect was shown to the papacy. Rome
triumphed within the walls of Trent, but she ceased to be a pure
hierarchy. From that hour the political element has had the precedence,
and the papacy has become more and more dependent on the secular power.
The scheme of Francis I. has been partly realised. There remains,
however, one step more to be taken. Instead of the interested decisions
of kings, it is the sovereign and unchangeable Word of God which ought
to be placed on the throne of the Church.
Charles V. hoped that the singular opinion of the King of France would
incline Clement to enter into the Italian league; but the pope was not
very susceptible in religious matters. Still, as the emperor was
impatient, Clement resolved to give him this trifling satisfaction. Why
should he refuse to enter into a league whose object was to exclude
Francis I. from Italy? As at that very time he was signing secret
articles by which he bound himself to give to France Parma, Piacenza,
Urbino, Reggio, Leghorn, Pisa, Modena, and even Milan and Genoa, there
was no reason why the worthy uncle of Catherine should not sign another
treaty with Charles which stipulated exactly the contrary. Francis would
not be alarmed at the pontiff's entering the league; he would understand
that it was simply an honorary proceeding, a diplomatic measure. The
marriage of the pope's niece caused the poor emperor so much annoyance,
that he deserved at least this consolation. Besides, when the pope gave
his signature to Charles V., he was doing (as he thought) a very honest
thing, for he had not the least intention of keeping the solemn promises
he had made to Francis.[391]
It was now the 28th of February, and the imperial equipage was ready:
horses, mules, carriages, servants, officers, noblemen, were all waiting
the moment of departure. The ships that were to convey the mighty
Charles and his court to Spain were in the harbour of Genoa, ready to
weigh anchor. This very day had been fixed for signing the act of the
Italian league. The high and mighty contracting powers met in the palace
of Bologna. The document was read aloud before the delegates of the
princes and sovereigns of Italy included in it. Every one assented, the
signatures were affixed, and Clement eagerly added his name, promising
himself to sign another contract very shortly with the King of France.
[Sidenote: CARDINALS' HATS ASKED AND GIVEN.]
Everything seemed as if it would pass off in a regular way, without
Charles allowing his vexation to break out. That prince, who knew so
well how to restrain himself, raised a sensation, however, among the
great personages around him. Addressing the pope, he demanded a
cardinal's hat for three of his prelates: it was a trifling compliment
(he thought) which Clement might well concede him; but the pope granted
one hat only. The ambassador of France then came forward, and, on behalf
of his master, demanded one for John, Bishop of Orleans and uncle of the
Duke of Longueville, which was granted. Then the same ambassador,
growing bolder, begged, _on_ _behalf of the King of England_, a
cardinal's hat for the Bishop of Winchester. This was too much for
Charles. 'What! ask a favour for a king who has put away my aunt
Catherine, who is quarrelling with the pope and rushing into schism!'...
'The emperor took this request,' says Du Bellay, 'in very bad part.'—'We
can see clearly,' said Charles to those around him, 'that the affairs of
these two kings are in the same scales; that one does not less for the
other than for himself.' Then, throwing off his usual reserve, he openly
expressed his disapprobation. 'This request of a hat for England,' said
he, 'displeases me more than if the ambassador of France had asked
_four_ for his master.'[392] The diplomatists there present could not
turn away their eyes from that face, usually so placid, and now so
suddenly animated; they were secretly delighted at seeing any feeling
whatever, especially one of ill-humour, on the features of that powerful
monarch, all whose words and actions were the result of cold reflection
and calculated with the nicest art. But no one was so rejoiced as
Hawkins, the English ambassador: 'The emperor departed from hence
evil-contented,' he wrote to Henry forthwith, 'and satisfied in nothing
that he came for. All he did was to renew an old league, lest he should
be seen to have done nothing.'[393] Charles was eager to leave the city
where he had been duped by the pope and checkmated by the king, and
already he repented having shown his displeasure. He descended the steps
of the palace, threw himself into his carriage, and departed for Milan,
where he had some business to settle before going to Genoa and Spain. It
was, as we have said, Friday, the 28th of February.[394]
[Sidenote: MEETING OF FRANCIS AND CLEMENT.]
The pope remained ten days longer at Bologna. There was a talk of an
interview between him and the King of France, to whom he had written
with his own hand. The papal nuncio had proposed to the king that the
emperor should be present also. 'Provided the King of England be the
fourth,' answered Francis.[395] 'We should be unwilling, the King of
England and I,' added he, 'to be present at the interview except with
forces equal to those of the emperor, for fear of a surprise.... Now it
might happen that, the escorts of these _not very friendly_ princes
being together, we should begin a war instead of ratifying a
peace.'[396] They accordingly fell back upon the conference of _two_,
pending which the marriage should be completed. Nice was at first
selected as the place of meeting; but the Duke of Savoy, who did not
like to see the French at Nice, objected. 'Well, then,' said the pope,
'I will go to Antibes, to Fréjus, to Toulon, to Marseilles.' To ally
himself with the family of France, he would have gone beyond the columns
of Hercules. Francis, on his side, desired that the pope, who had waited
for the emperor in Italy, should come and seek him in his own kingdom.
The pope thus showed him greater honour than he had shown Charles—on
which point he was very sensitive. Marseilles was agreed upon.
At last all was in proper train. The blood of the Valois and of the
Medici was about to be united. The clauses, conditions, and conventions
were all arranged. The marriage ceremony was to be magnificently
celebrated in the city of the Phocæans. The pope was at the summit of
happiness, and the bride's eyes sparkled with delight. The die was cast;
Catherine de Medici would one day sit on the throne of France; the St.
Bartholomew was in store for that noble country, the blood of martyrs
would flow in torrents down the streets of Paris, and the rivers would
roll through the provinces long and speechless trains of corpses, whose
ghastly silence would cry aloud to heaven.
But that epoch was still remote; and just now Paris presented a very
different spectacle. It is time to return thither.
[Footnote 368: Du Bellay, _Mémoires_, p. 179.]
[Footnote 369: Ibid. p. 180.]
[Footnote 370: Du Bellay, _Mémoires_, p. 180. Guicciardini, _Wars of
Italy_, ii. bk. xvi. pp. 894-897.]
[Footnote 371: Guicciardini, _ibid._]
[Footnote 372: 'Cæsar arbitratus illud conjugium quasi per simulationem
a rege oblatum.'—Pallavicini, _Hist. Concil. Trid._ lib. iii. cap. ii.
p. 274.]
[Footnote 373: 'Adulterinam esse monetam qua rex ipsum commercari
studebat.'—Ibid.]
[Footnote 374: Du Bellay, _Mém._ p. 180. Pallavicini, _ibid._
Guicciardini, _Wars of Italy_, ii. p. 898.]
[Footnote 375: Guicciardini, ii. p. 898.]
[Footnote 376: 'Quo fortasse magis dubitanter ac pedetentim
processisset.'—Pallavicini, _Hist. Concil. Trid._ i. p. 274.]
[Footnote 377: 'Gallus explorato æmuli consilio, ut ipsum eluderet, eo
statim properavit.'—Ibid. Du Bellay, _Mémoires_. Guicciardini, _Wars of
Italy_.]
[Footnote 378: Du Bellay, _Mém._ p. 182.]
[Footnote 379: Ibid.]
[Footnote 380: Ibid. Guicciardini. Pallavicini.]
[Footnote 381: Du Bellay, _Mém._ p. 182.]
[Footnote 382: Ibid. pp. 182, 183.]
[Footnote 383: Du Bellay, _Mém._ p. 186.]
[Footnote 384: Du Bellay, _Mém._ p. 185.]
[Footnote 385: The protestant sovereigns.]
[Footnote 386: Du Bellay, _Mém._ pp. 186, 187.]
[Footnote 387: Acts xv. 23.]
[Footnote 388: The Emperor Joseph II.]
[Footnote 389: Du Bellay, _Mém._ p. 189.]
[Footnote 390: Du Bellay, _Mém._ p. 187.]
[Footnote 391: Guicciardini. Du Bellay.]
[Footnote 392: Du Bellay, _Mém._ p. 189.]
[Footnote 393: _State Papers_, vii. p. 439.]
[Footnote 394: 'The 28th the emperor departed from hens' (_State
Papers_, viii. p. 438), 'and went to Milan' (p. 447).]
[Footnote 395: Du Bellay, _Mém._ p. 189.]
[Footnote 396: Ibid.]