HENRY VII.
{1488.} The king acquired great reputation throughout Europe by the
vigorous and prosperous conduct of his domestic affairs; but as some
incidents about this time invited him to look abroad, and exert himself
in behalf of his allies, it will be necessary, in order to give a
just account of his foreign measures, to explain the situation of
the neighboring kingdoms, beginning with Scotland, which lies most
contiguous.
The kingdom of Scotland had not yet attained that state which
distinguishes a civilized monarchy, and which enables the government, by
the force of its laws and institutions alone, without any extraordinary
capacity in the sovereign, to maintain itself in order and tranquillity.
James III., who now filled the throne, was a prince of little industry
and of a narrow genius; and though it behoved him to yield the reins of
government to his ministers, he had never been able to make any choice
which could give contentment both to himself and to his people. When he
bestowed his confidence on any of the principal nobility, he found that
they exalted their own family to such a height as was dangerous to the
prince, and gave umbrage to the state: when he conferred favor on any
person of meaner birth, on whose submission he could more depend,
the barons of his kingdom, enraged at the power of an upstart minion,
proceeded to the utmost extremities against their sovereign. Had Henry
entertained the ambition of conquests, a tempting opportunity now
offered of reducing that kingdom to subjection; but as he was probably
sensible that a warlike people, though they might be overrun by reason
of their domestic divisions, could not be retained in obedience without
a regular military force, which was then unknown in England, he rather
intended the renewal of the peace with Scotland, and sent an embassy to
James for that purpose. But the Scots, who never desired a durable peace
with England, and who deemed their security to consist in constantly
preserving themselves in a warlike posture, would not agree to more than
a seven years’ truce, which was accordingly concluded.[*]
* Polyd. Virg. p. 575.
The European states on the continent were then hastening fast to the
situation in which they have remained, without any material alteration,
for near three centuries; and began to unite themselves into one
extensive system of policy, which comprehended the chief powers of
Christendom. Spain, which had hitherto been almost entirely occupied
within herself, now became formidable by the union of Arragon and
Castile in the persons of Ferdinand and Isabella, who, being princes
of great capacity, employed their force in enterprises the most
advantageous to their combined monarchy. The conquest of Granada from
the Moors was then undertaken, and brought near to a happy conclusion.
And in that expedition the military genius of Spain was revived; honor
and security were attained; and her princes, no longer kept in awe by a
domestic enemy so dangerous, began to enter into all the transactions of
Europe, and make a great figure in every war and negotiation.
Maximilian, king of the Romans, son of the emperor Frederick, had, by
his marriage with the heiress of Burgundy, acquired an interest in
the Netherlands; and though the death of his consort had weakened his
connections with that country, he still pretended to the government
as tutor to his son Philip, and his authority had been acknowledged
by Brabant, Holland, and several of the provinces. But as Flanders and
Hainault still refused to submit to his regency, and even appointed
other tutors to Philip, he had been engaged in long wars against that
obstinate people, and never was able thoroughly to subdue their spirit.
That he might free himself from the opposition of France, he had
concluded a peace with Lewis XI., and had given his daughter Margaret,
then an infant, in marriage to the dauphin; together with Artois,
Franche Compte, and Charolois, as her dowry. But this alliance had
not produced the desired effect. The dauphin succeeded to the crown of
France by the appellation of Charles VIII.; but Maximilian still found
the mutinies of the Flemings fomented by the intrigues of the court of
France.
France, during the two preceding reigns, had made a mighty increase in
power and greatness; and had not other states of Europe at the same time
received an accession of force, it had been impossible to have retained
her within her ancient boundaries. Most of the great fiefs, Normandy,
Champagne, Anjou, Dauphny, Guienne, Provence, and Burgundy, had
been united to the crown; the English had been expelled from all their
conquests; the authority of the prince had been raised to such a height
as enabled him to maintain law and order; a considerable military force
was kept on foot, and the finances were able to support it. Lewis XI,
indeed, from whom many of these advantages were derived, was dead, and
had left his son, in early youth and ill educated, to sustain the weight
of the monarchy: but having intrusted the government to his daughter
Anne, lady of Beaujeu, a woman of spirit and capacity, the French power
suffered no check or decline. On the contrary, this princess formed the
great project, which at last she happily effected, of uniting to the
crown Brittany, the last and most independent fief of the monarchy.
Francis II., duke of Brittany, conscious of his own incapacity for
government, had resigned himself to the direction of Peter Landais,
a man of mean birth, more remarkable for abilities than for virtue or
integrity. The nobles of Brittany, displeased with the great advancement
of this favorite, had even proceeded to disaffection against their
sovereign; and after many tumults and disorders, they at last united
among themselves, and in a violent manner seized, tried, and put to
death the obnoxious minister. Dreading the resentment of the prince for
this invasion of his authority, many of them retired to France; others,
for protection and safety, maintained a secret correspondence with the
French ministry, who, observing the great dissensions among the Bretons,
thought the opportunity favorable for invading the duchy; and so
much the rather as they could cover their ambition under the specious
pretence of providing for domestic security.
Lewis, duke of Orleans, first prince of the blood, and presumptive
heir of the monarchy, had disputed the administration with the lady of
Beaujeu; and though his pretensions had been rejected by the states, he
still maintained cabals with many of the grandees, and laid schemes
for subverting the authority of that princess. Finding his conspiracies
detected, he took to arms, and fortified himself in Beaugeune;
but as his revolt was precipitate, before his confederates were ready to
join him, he had been obliged to submit, and to receive such conditions
as the French ministry were pleased to impose upon him. Actuated,
however, by his ambition, and even by his fears, he soon retired out of
France, and took shelter with the duke of Brittany, who was desirous of
strengthening himself against the designs of the lady of Beaujeu by the
friendship and credit of the duke of Orleans. This latter prince
also, perceiving the ascendant which he soon acquired over the duke of
Brittany, had engaged many of his partisans to join him at that court,
and had formed the design of aggrandizing himself by a marriage with
Anne, the heir of that opulent duchy.
The barons of Brittany, who saw all favor engrossed by the duke of
Orleans and his train, renewed a stricter correspondence with France,
and even invited the French king to make an invasion on their country.
Desirous, however, of preserving its independency, they had regulated
the number of succors which France was to send them, and had stipulated
that no fortified place in Brittany should remain in the possession of
that monarchy; a vain precaution, where revolted subjects treat with a
power so much superior! The French invaded Brittany with forces three
times more numerous than those which they had promised to the barons;
and advancing into the heart of the country, laid siege to Ploerrnel. To
oppose them, the duke raised a numerous but ill-disciplined army, which
he put under the command of the duke of Orleans, the count of Dunois,
and others of the French nobility. The army, discontented with this
choice, and jealous of their confederates, soon disbanded, and left
their prince with too small a force to keep the field against his
invaders. He retired to Vannes; but being hotly pursued by the French,
who had now made themselves masters of Ploermel, he escaped to Nantz;
and the enemy, having previously taken and garrisoned Vannes, Dinant,
and other places, laid close siege to that city. The barons of Brittany,
finding their country menaced with total subjection, began gradually to
withdraw from the French army, and to make peace with their sovereign.
This desertion, however, of the Bretons discouraged not the court
of France from pursuing her favorite project of reducing Brittany to
subjection The situation of Europe appeared favorable to the execution
of this design. Maximilian was indeed engaged in close alliance with the
duke of Brittany and had even opened a treaty for marrying his daughter;
but he was on all occasions so indigent, and at that time so disquieted
by the mutinies of the Flemings, that little effectual assistance could
be expected from him. Ferdinand was entirely occupied in the conquest of
Granada; and it was also known, that if France would resign to him
Roussillon and Cerdagne, to which he had pretensions, she could at any
time engage him to abandon the interests of Brittany. England, alone,
was both enabled by her power, and engaged by her interests, to support
the independency of that duchy; and the most dangerous opposition was
therefore, by Anne of Beaujeu, expected from that quarter. In order to
cover her real designs, no sooner was she informed of Henry’s success
against Simnel and his partisans, than she despatched ambassadors to the
court of London, and made professions of the greatest trust and
confidence in that monarch.
The ambassadors, after congratulating Henry on his late victory, and
communicating to him, in the most cordial manner, as to an intimate
friend, some successes of their master against Maximilian, came in
the progress of their discourse to mention the late transactions in
Brittany. They told him that the duke having given protection to French
fugitives and rebels, the king had been necessitated, contrary to his
intention and inclination, to carry war into that duchy; that the honor
of the crown was interested not to suffer a vassal so far to forget
his duty to his liege lord; nor was the security of the government less
concerned to prevent the consequences of this dangerous temerity: that
the fugitives were no mean or obscure persons; but among others,
the duke of Orleans, first prince of the blood, who, finding himself
obnoxious to justice for treasonable practices in France, had fled
into Brittany; where he still persevered in laying schemes of rebellion
against his sovereign: that the war being thus, on the part of the
French monarch, entirely defensive, it would immediately cease, when the
duke of Brittany, by returning to his duty, should remove the causes of
it: that their master was sensible of the obligations which the duke,
in very critical times, had conferred on Henry; but it was known also,
that, in times still more critical, he or his mercenary counsellors
had deserted him, and put his life in the utmost hazard: that his sole
refuge in these desperate extremities had been the court of France,
which not only protected his person, but supplied him with men and
money, with which, aided by his own valor and conduct, he had been
enabled to mount the throne of England; that France in this transaction
had, from friendship to Henry acted contrary to what, in a narrow view,
might be esteemed her own interest; since, instead of an odious tyrant,
she had contributed to establish on a rival throne a prince endowed with
such virtue and abilities; and that, as both the justice of the cause
and the obligations conferred on Henry thus preponderated on the side
of France, she reasonably expected that, if the situation of his affairs
did not permit him to give her assistance, he would at least preserve a
neutrality between the contending parties.[*]
* Bacon, p. 589.
This discourse of the French ambassadors was plausible; and to give
it greater weight, they communicated to Henry, as in confidence, their
master’s intention, after he should have settled the differences with
Brittany to lead an army into Italy, and make good his pretensions to
the kingdom of Naples; a project which, they knew, would give no umbrage
to the court of England. But all these artifices were in vain employed
against the penetration of the king. He clearly saw that France had
entertained the view of subduing Brittany; but he also perceived, that
she would meet with great, and, as he thought, insuperable difficulties
in the execution of her project. The native force of that duchy, he
knew, had always been considerable, and had often, without any foreign
assistance, resisted the power of France; the natural temper of
the French nation, he imagined, would make them easily abandon any
enterprise which required perseverance; and as the heir of the crown
was confederated with the duke of Brittany, the ministers would be
still more remiss in prosecuting a scheme which must draw on them his
resentment and displeasure. Should even these internal obstructions be
removed, Maximilian, whose enmity to France was well known, and who now
paid his addresses to the heiress of Brittany, would be able to make a
diversion on the side of Flanders; nor could it be expected that France,
if she prosecuted such ambitious projects, would be allowed to remain in
tranquillity by Ferdinand and Isabella. Above all, he thought the French
court could never expect that England, so deeply interested to preserve
the independency of Brittany, so able by her power and situation to give
effectual and prompt assistance, would permit such an accession of force
to her rival. He imagined, therefore, that the ministers of France,
convinced of the impracticability of their scheme, would at last embrace
pacific views, and would abandon an enterprise so obnoxious to all the
potentates of Europe.
This reasoning of Henry was solid, and might justly engage him in
dilatory and cautious measures: but there entered into his conduct
another motive, which was apt to draw him beyond the just bounds,
because founded on a ruling passion. His frugality, which by degrees
degenerated into avarice, made him averse to all warlike enterprises and
distant expeditions, and engaged him previously to try the expedient
of negotiation. He despatched Urswic, his almoner, a man of address and
abilities, to make offer of his mediation to the contending parties;
an offer which, he thought, if accepted by France, would soon lead to
a composure of all differences; if refused or eluded, would at least
discover the perseverance of that court in her ambitious projects.
Urswic found the lady of Beaujeu, now duchess of Bourbon, engaged in the
siege of Nantz, and had the satisfaction to find that his master’s
offer of mediation was readily embraced and with many expressions of
confidence and moderation. That able princess concluded, that the duke
of Orleans, who governed the court of Brittany, foreseeing that every
accommodation must be made at his expense, would use all his interest to
have Henry’s proposal rejected; and would by that means make an apology
for the French measures, and draw on the Bretons the reproach of
obstinacy and injustice. The event justified her prudence. When the
English ambassador made the same offer to the duke of Brittany, he
received for answer, in the name of that prince, that having so long
acted the part of protector and guardian to Henry during his youth and
adverse fortune, he had expected from a monarch of such virtue more
effectual assistance in his present distresses than a barren offer of
mediation, which suspended not the progress of the French arms: that if
Henry’s gratitude were not sufficient to engage him in such a measure,
his prudence, as king of England, should discover to him the pernicious
consequences attending the conquest of Brittany, and its annexation to
the crown of France: that that kingdom, already too powerful, would be
enabled, by so great an accession of force, to display, to the ruin of
England, that hostile disposition which had always subsisted between
those rival nations: that Brittany, so useful an ally, which, by its
situation, gave the English an entrance into the heart of France, being
annexed to that kingdom, would be equally enabled from its situation to
disturb, either by piracies or naval armaments, the commerce and
peace cf England: and that if the duke rejected Henry’s mediation, it
proceeded neither from an inclination to a war, which he experienced to
be ruinous to him, nor from a confidence in his own force, which he knew
to be much inferior to that of the enemy; but, on the contrary, from a
sense of his present necessities, which must engage the king to act the
part of his confederate, not that of a mediator.
When this answer was reported to the king, he abandoned not the plan
which he had formed; he only concluded that some more time was requisite
to quell the obstinacy of the Bretons, and make them submit to reason.
And when he learned that the people of Brittany, anxious for their
duke’s safety, had formed a tumultuary army of sixty thousand men, and
had obliged the French to raise the siege of Nantz, he fortified himself
the more in his opinion, that the court of France would at last be
reduced, by multiplied obstacles and difficulties, to abandon the
project of reducing Brittany to subjection. He continued, therefore, his
scheme of negotiation, and thereby exposed himself to be deceived by
the artifices of the French ministry; who, still pretending pacific
intentions, sent Lord Bernard Daubigni, a Scotchman of quality,
to London, and pressed Henry not to be discouraged in offering his
mediation to the court of Brittany. The king, on his part, despatched
another embassy, consisting of Urswic, the abbot of Abingdon, and Sir
Richard Tonstal, who carried new proposals for an amicable treaty. No
effectual succors, meanwhile, were provided for the distressed Bretons.
Lord Woodville, brother to the queen dowager, having asked leave
to raise underhand a body of volunteers, and to transport them into
Brittany, met with a refusal from the king, who was desirous of
preserving the appearance of a strict neutrality. That nobleman,
however, still persisted in his purpose. He went over to the Isle of
Wight, of which he was governor, levied a body of four hundred men; and
having at last obtained, as is supposed, the secret permission of
Henry, sailed with them to Brittany. This enterprise proved fatal to the
leader, and brought small relief to the unhappy duke. The Bretons rashly
engaged in a general action with the French at St. Aubin, and were
discomfited. Woodville and all the English were put to the sword,
together with a body of Bretons, who had been accoutred in the garb of
Englishmen in order to strike a greater terror into the French, to whom
the martial prowess of that nation was always formidable.[*] The duke of
Orleans the prince of Orange, and many other persons of rank were taken
prisoners; and the military force of Brittany was totally broken. The
death of the duke, which followed soon after, threw affairs into
still greater confusion, and seemed to threaten the state with a final
subjection.
Though the king did not prepare against these events, so hurtful to the
interests of England, with sufficient vigor and precaution, he had not
altogether overlooked them. Determined to maintain a pacific conduct,
as far as the situation of affairs would permit, he yet knew the warlike
temper of his subjects, and observed that their ancient and inveterate
animosity to France was now revived by the prospect of this great
accession to her power and grandeur. He resolved, therefore to make
advantage of this disposition, and draw some supplies from the people,
on pretence of giving assistance to the duke of Brittany. He had
summoned a parliament at Westminster;[**] and he soon persuaded them
to grant him a considerable subsidy.[***] But this supply, though
voted by parliament, involved the king in unexpected difficulties.
The counties of Durham and York, always discontented with Henry’s
government, and further provoked by the late oppressions under which
they had labored, after the suppression of Simnel’s rebellion, resisted
the commissioners who were appointed to levy the tax. The commissioners,
terrified with this appearance of sedition, made application to the
earl of Northumberland, and desired of him advice and assistance in
the execution of their office. That nobleman thought the matter of
importance enough to consult the king; who, unwilling to yield to
the humors of a discontented populace, and foreseeing the pernicious
consequence of such a precedent, renewed his orders for strictly levying
the imposition. Northumberland summoned together the justices and chief
freeholders, and delivered the king’s commands in the most imperious
terms which, he thought, would enforce obedience, but which tended only
to provoke the people, and make them believe him the adviser of those
orders which he delivered to them. [****]
* Argentré Hist, de Bretagne, liv. xii.
** 9th November, 1487.
*** Polyd. Virg. (p 579) says, that this imposition was a
capitation tax; the other historians say, it was a tax of
two shillings in the pound.
**** Bacon, p. 595.
They flew to arms, attacked Northumberland in his house, and put him to
death. Having incurred such deep guilt, their mutinous humor prompted
them to declare against the king himself; and being instigated by John
Achamber, a seditious fellow of low birth, they chose Sir John Egremond
their leader, and prepared themselves for a vigorous resistance. Henry
was not dismayed with an insurrection so precipitate and ill supported.
He immediately levied a force, which he put under the command of the
earl of Surrey, whom he had freed from confinement and received into
favor. His intention was to send down these troops, in order to check
the progress of the rebels; while he himself should follow with a
greater body, which would absolutely insure success. But Surrey thought
himself strong enough to encounter alone a raw and unarmed multitude;
and he succeeded in the attempt. The rebels were dissipated; John
Achamber was taken prisoner, and afterwards executed with some of his
accomplices; Sir John Egremond fled to the duchess of Burgundy, who gave
him protection; the greater number of the rebels received a pardon.
Henry had probably expected, when he obtained this grant from
parliament, that he should be able to terminate the affair of Brittany
by negotiation, and that he might thereby fill his coffers with the
money levied by the imposition. But as the distresses of the Bretons
still multiplied, and became every day more urgent, he found himself
under the necessity of taking more vigorous measures, in order to
support them. On the death of the duke, the French had revived some
antiquated claims to the dominion of the duchy; and as the duke of
Orleans was now captive in France, their former pretence for hostilities
could no longer serve as a cover to their ambition. The king resolved
therefore to engage as auxiliary to Brittany; and to consult the
interests, as well as desires of his people, by opposing himself to
the progress of the French power. Besides entering into a league with
Maximilian, and another with Ferdinand, which were distant resources,
he levied a body of troops, to the number of six thousand men, with an
intention of transporting them into Brittany.
{1489.} Still anxious, however, for the repayment of his expenses, he
concluded a treaty with the young duchess, by which she engaged to
deliver into his hands two seaport towns, there to remain till she
should entirely refund the charges of the armament.[*]
* Du Tillet, Recueil des Traités.
Though he engaged for the service of these troops during the space of
ten months only, yet was the duchess obliged, by the necessity of her
affairs, to submit to such rigid conditions, imposed by any ally so
much concerned in interest to protect her. The forces arrived under the
command of Lord Willoughby of Broke; and made the Bretons, during some
time, masters of the field. The French retired into their garrisons;
and expected by dilatory measures to waste the fire of the English, and
disgust them with the enterprise. The scheme was well laid, and met with
success. Lord Broke found such discord and confusion in the counsels of
Brittany, that no measures could be concerted for any undertaking; no
supply obtained; no provisions, carriages, artillery, or military stores
procured. The whole court was rent into factions: no one minister had
acquired the ascendant: and whatever project was formed by one, was
sure to be traversed by another. The English, disconcerted in every
enterprise by these animosities and uncertain counsels, returned home
as soon as the time of their service was elapsed, leaving only a small
garrison in those towns which had been consigned into their hands.
During their stay in Brittany, they had only contributed still further
to waste the country; and by their departure, they left it entirely at
the mercy of the enemy. So feeble was the succor which Henry in this
important conjuncture afforded his ally, whom the invasion of a foreign
enemy, concurring with domestic dissensions, had reduced to the utmost
distress.
The great object of the domestic dissensions in Brittany was the
disposal of the young duchess in marriage. The mareschal Rieux, favored
by Henry, seconded the suit of the lord D’Albret, who led some forces to
her assistance. The chancellor Montauban, observing the aversion of the
duchess to this suitor, insisted that a petty prince, such as
D’Albret, was unable to support Anne in her present extremities; and
he recommended some more powerful alliance, particularly that of
Maximilian, king of the Romans.
{1490.} This party at last prevailed; the marriage with Maximilian was
celebrated by proxy; and the duchess thenceforth assumed the title of
queen of the Romans. But this magnificent appellation was all she
gained by her marriage. Maximilian, destitute of troops and money, and
embarrassed with the continual revolts of the Flemings, could send
no succor to his distressed consort; while D’Albret, enraged at the
preference given to his rival, deserted her cause, and received the
French into Nantz, the most important place in the duchy both for
strength and riches.
The French court now began to change their scheme with regard to the
subjection of Brittany. Charles had formerly been affianced to Margaret,
daughter of Maximilian; who, though too young for the consummation of
her marriage, had been sent to Paris to be educated, and at this time
bore the title of queen of France. Besides the rich dowry which she
brought the king, she was, after her brother Philip, then in early
youth, heir to all the dominions of the house of Burgundy; and seemed in
many respects the most proper match that could be chosen for the young
monarch. These circumstances had so blinded both Maximilian and Henry,
that they never suspected any other intentions in the French court; nor
were they able to discover that engagements, seemingly so advantageous
and so solemnly entered into, could be infringed and set aside. But
Charles began to perceive that the conquest of Brittany, in opposition
to the natives, and to all the great powers of Christendom, would prove
a difficult enterprise; and that even if he should overrun the country
and make himself master of the fortresses, it would be impossible for
him long to retain possession of them. The marriage alone of the duchess
could fully reannex that fief to the crown; and the present and certain
enjoyment of so considerable a territory, seemed preferable to the
prospect of inheriting the dominions of the house of Burgundy; a
prospect which became every day more distant and precarious. Above all,
the marriage of Maximilian and Anne appeared destructive to the grandeur
and even security of the French monarchy; while that prince, possessing
Flanders on the one hand, and Brittany on the other, might thus, from
both quarters, make inroads into the heart of the country. The only
remedy for these evils was therefore concluded to be the dissolution of
the two marriages, which had been celebrated, but not consummated; and
the espousal of the duchess of Brittany by the king of France.
It was necessary that this expedient, which had not been foreseen by any
court in Europe, and which they were all so much interested to oppose,
should be kept a profound secret, and should be discovered to the
world only by the full execution of it. The measures of the French
ministry in the conduct of this delicate enterprise were wise and
political. While they pressed Brittany with all the rigors of war, they
secretly gained the count of Dunois, who possessed great authority with
the Bretons; and having also engaged in their interests the prince of
Orange, cousin-german to the duchess, they gave him his liberty, and
sent him into Brittany. These partisans, supported by other emissaries
of France, prepared the minds of men for the great revolution projected,
and displayed, though still with many precautions, all the advantages
of a union with the French monarchy. They represented to the barons
of Brittany, that their country, harassed during so many years with
perpetual war, had need of some repose, and of a solid and lasting peace
with the only power that was formidable to them: that their alliance
with Maximilian was not able to afford them even present protection;
and, by closely uniting them to a power which was rival to the greatness
of France, fixed them in perpetual enmity with that potent monarchy:
that their vicinity exposed them first to the inroads of the enemy; and
the happiest event which, in such a situation, could befall them, would
be to attain a peace, though by a final subjection to France, and by the
loss of that liberty transmitted to them from their ancestors: and that
any other expedient, compatible with the honor of the state and their
duty to their sovereign, was preferable to a scene of such disorder and
devastation.
These suggestions had influence with the Bretons: but the chief
difficulty lay in surmounting the prejudices of the young duchess
herself. That princess had imbibed a strong prepossession against the
French nation, particularly against Charles, the author of all the
calamities which, from her earliest infancy, had befallen her family.
She had also fixed her affections on Maximilian; and as she now deemed
him her husband, she could not, she thought, without incurring the
greatest guilt, and violating the most solemn engagements, contract a
marriage with any other person.
{1491.} In order to overcome her obstinacy, Charles gave the duke of
Orleans his liberty; who, though formerly a suitor to the duchess, was
now contented to ingratiate himself with the king, by employing in his
favor all the interest which he still possessed in Brittany. Mareschal
Rieux and Chancellor Montauban were reconciled by his mediation; and
these rival ministers now concurred with the prince of Orange and the
count of Dunois, in pressing the conclusion of a marriage with Charles.
By their suggestion, Charles advanced with a powerful army, and invested
Rennes, at that time the residence of the duchess; who, assailed on all
hands, and finding none to support her in her inflexibility, at last
opened the gates of the city, and agreed to espouse the king of France,
She was married at Langey, in Touraine; conducted to St. Denis, where
she was crowned; thence made her entry into Paris, amidst the joyful
acclamations of the people, who regarded this marriage as the most
prosperous event that could have befallen the monarchy.
The triumph and success of Charles was the most sensible mortification
to the king of the Romans. He had lost a considerable territory, which
he thought he had acquired, and an accomplished princess, whom he had
espoused; he was affronted in the person of his daughter Margaret, who
was sent back to him, after she had been treated during some years as
queen of France; he had reason to reproach himself with his own supine
security, in neglecting the consummation of his marriage, which was
easily practicable for him, and which would have rendered the tie
indissoluble: these considerations threw him into the most violent rage,
which he vented in very indecent expressions; and he threatened France
with an invasion from the united arms of Austria, Spain, and England.
The king of England had also just reason to reproach himself with
misconduct in this important transaction; and though the affair had
terminated in a manner which he could not precisely foresee, his
negligence, in leaving his most useful ally so long exposed to the
invasion of superior power, could not but appear on reflection the
result of timid caution and narrow politics. As he valued himself on his
extensive foresight and profound judgment, the ascendant acquired over
him by a raw youth, such as Charles, could not but give him the highest
displeasure, and prompt him to seek vengeance, after all remedy for
his miscarriage was become absolutely impracticable. But he was further
actuated by avarice, a motive still more predominant with him
than either pride or revenge; and he sought, even from his present
disappointments, the gratification of this ruling passion. On pretence
of a French war, he issued a commission for levying a “benevolence”
on his people;[*] a species of taxation which had been abolished by a
recent law of Richard III.
* Rymer, vol. xii. p. 446. Bacon says that the benevolence
was levied with consent of parliament, which is a mistake.
This violence (for such it really was) fell chiefly on the commercial
part of the nation, who were possessed of the ready money. London
alone contributed to the amount of near ten thousand pounds. Archbishop
Morton, the chancellor, instructed the commissioners to employ a
dilemma, in which every one might be comprehended: if the persons
applied to lived frugally, they were told that their parsimony must
necessarily have enriched them; if their method of living were splendid
and hospitable, they were concluded to be opulent on account of their
expenses. This device was by some called Chancellor Morton’s fork, by
others his crutch.
So little apprehensive was the king of a parliament on account of his
levying this arbitrary imposition, that he soon after summoned that
assembly to meet at Westminster; and he even expected to enrich himself
further by working on their passions and prejudices. He knew the
displeasure which the English had conceived against France on account of
the acquisition of Brittany; and he took care to insist on that topic,
in the speech which he himself pronounced to the parliament. He told
them, that France, elated with her late successes, had even proceeded to
a contempt of England, and had refused to pay the tribute which Lewis XI
had stipulated to Edward IV.: that it became so warlike a nation as
the English to be roused by this indignity, and not to limit their
pretensions merely to repelling the present injury: that, for his part,
he was determined to lay claim to the crown itself of France, and to
maintain by force of arms so just a title, transmitted to him by his
gallant ancestors: that Crecy, Poictiers, and Azincour were sufficient
to instruct them in their superiority over the enemy; nor did he despair
of adding new names to the glorious catalogue; that a king of France
had been prisoner in London, and a king of England had been crowned at
Paris; events which should animate them to an emulation of like glory
with that which had been enjoyed by their forefathers: that the domestic
dissensions of England had been the sole cause of her losing these
foreign dominions; and her present internal union would be the effectual
means of recovering them: that where such lasting honor was in view, and
such an important acquisition, it became not brave men to repine at the
advance of a little treasure: and that, for his part, he was determined
to make the war maintain itself; and hoped by the invasion of so opulent
a kingdom as France, to increase rather than diminish the riches of the
nation.[*]
* Bacon, p. 601.
Notwithstanding these magnificent vaunts of the king, all men of
penetration concluded, from the personal character of the man, and still
more from the situation of affairs, that he had no serious intention of
pushing the war to such extremities as he pretended. France was not now
in the same condition as when such successful inroads had been made
upon her by former kings of England. The great fiefs were united to
the crown; the princes of the blood were desirous of tranquillity; the
nation abounded with able captains and veteran soldiers; and the general
aspect of her affairs seemed rather to threaten her neighbors, than to
promise them any considerable advantages against her. The levity and
vain-glory of Maximilian were supported by his pompous titles; but
were ill seconded by military power, and still less by any revenue
proportioned to them. The politic Ferdinand, while he made a show of
war, was actually negotiating for peace; and rather than expose himself
to any hazard, would accept of very moderate concessions from France.
Even England was not free from domestic discontents; and in Scotland,
the death of Henry’s friend and ally, James III., who had been murdered
by his rebellious subjects, had made way for the succession of his son,
James IV., who was devoted to the French interest, and would surely be
alarmed at any important progress of the English arms. But all these
obvious considerations had no influence on the parliament. Inflamed by
the ideas of subduing France, and of enriching themselves by the spoils
of that kingdom, they gave into the snare prepared for them, and voted
the supply which the king demanded. Two fifteenths were granted him; and
the better to enable his vassals and nobility to attend him, an act was
passed, empowering them to sell their estates, without paying any fines
for alienation.
{1492.} The nobility were universally seized with a desire of military
glory; and having credulously swallowed all the boasts of the king, they
dreamed of no less than carrying their triumphant banners to the
gates of Paris, and putting the crown of France on the head of their
sovereign. Many of them borrowed large sums, or sold off manors, that
they might appear in the field with greater splendor, and lead out their
followers in more complete order. The king crossed the sea, and arrived
at Calais on the sixth of October, with an army of twenty-five thousand
foot and sixteen hundred horse, which he put under the command of the
duke of Bedford and the earl of Oxford: but as some inferred, from
his opening the campaign in so late a season, that peace would soon be
concluded between the crowns, he was desirous of suggesting a contrary
inference. “He had come over,” he said, “to make an entire conquest of
France, which was not the work of one summer. It was therefore of no
consequence at what season he began the invasion; especially as he had
Calais ready for winter quarters.” As if he had seriously intended this
enterprise, he instantly marched into the enemy’s country, and laid
siege to Boulogne: but notwithstanding this appearance of hostility,
there had been secret advances made towards peace above three months
before; and commissioners had been appointed to treat of the terms. The
better to reconcile the minds of men to this unexpected measure, the
king’s ambassadors arrived in the camp from the Low Countries, and
informed him, that Maximilian was in no readiness to join him; nor was
any assistance to be expected from that quarter. Soon after, messengers
came from Spain, and brought news of a peace concluded between that
kingdom and France, in which Charles had made a cession of the counties
of Roussillon and Cerdagne to Ferdinand. Though these articles of
intelligence were carefully dispersed throughout the army, the king was
still apprehensive lest a sudden peace, after such magnificent promises
and high expectations, might expose him to reproach. In order the more
effectually to cover the intended measures, he secretly engaged the
marquis of Dorset, together with twenty-three persons of distinction,
to present him a petition for agreeing to a treaty with France. The
pretence was founded on the late season of the year, the difficulty of
supplying the army at Calais during winter, the obstacles which arose
in the siege of Boulogne, the desertion of those allies whose assistance
had been most relied on: events which might, all of them, have been
foreseen before the embarkation of the forces.
In consequence of these preparatory steps, the bishop of Exeter and Lord
Daubeney were sent to confer at Estaples with the mareschal de Cordes,
and to put the last hand to the treaty. A few days sufficed for that
purpose: the demands of Henry were wholly pecuniary; and the king of
Franco, who deemed the peaceable possession of Brittany an equivalent
for any sum, and who was all on fire for his projected expedition into
Italy, readily agreed to the proposals made him. He engaged to pay Henry
seven hundred and forty-five thousand crowns, near four hundred thousand
pounds sterling of our present money; partly as a reimbursement of
the sums advanced to Brittany, partly as arrears of the pension due to
Edward IV. And he stipulated a yearly pension to Henry and his heirs
of twenty-five thousand crowns. Thus the king, as remarked by his
historian, made profit upon his subjects for the war, and upon his
enemies for the peace.[*] And the people agreed that he had fulfilled
his promise, when he said to the parliament that he would make the war
maintain itself. Maximilian was, if he pleased, comprehended in Henry’s
treaty; but he disdained to be in any respect beholden to an ally, of
whom, he thought, he had reason to complain: he made a separate peace
with France, and obtained restitution of Artois, Franche Compte, and
Charolois, which had been ceded as the dowry of his daughter when she
was affianced to the king of France.
* Bacon, p. 605. Polyd Virg. p. 586.
The peace concluded between England and France was the more likely to
continue, because Charles, full of ambition and youthful hopes, bent
all his attention to the side of Italy, and soon after undertook the
conquest of Naples; an enterprise which Henry regarded with the greater
indifference, as Naples lay remote from him, and France had never, in
any age, been successful in that quarter. The king’s authority was
fully established at home; and every rebellion which had been attempted
against him, had hitherto tended only to confound his enemies, and
consolidate his power and influence. His reputation for policy and
conduct was daily augmenting; his treasures had increased even from the
most unfavorable events; the hopes of all pretenders to his throne were
cut off, as well by his marriage as by the issue which it had brought
him. In this prosperous situation, the king had reason to flatter
himself with the prospect of durable peace and tranquillity; but his
inveterate and indefatigable enemies, whom he had wantonly provoked,
raised him an adversary, who long kept him in inquietude, and sometimes
even brought him into danger.
The duchess of Burgundy, full of resentment for the depression of her
family and its partisans, rather irritated than discouraged by the ill
success of her past enterprises, was determined at least to disturb that
government which she found it so difficult to subvert. By means of
her emissaries, she propagated a report that her nephew, Richard
Plantagenet, duke of York, had escaped from the Tower when his elder
brother was murdered, and that he still lay somewhere concealed: and
finding this rumor, however improbable, to be greedily received by the
people, she had been looking out for some young man proper to personate
that unfortunate prince.
There was one Osbec, or Warbec, a renegade Jew of Tournay, who had been
carried by some business to London in the reign of Edward IV., and had
there a son born to him. Having had opportunities of being known to
the king, and obtaining his favor, he prevailed with that prince, whose
manners were very affable, to stand godfather to his son, to whom
he gave the name of Peter, corrupted, after the Flemish manner, into
Peterkin, or Perkin. It was by some believed that Edward, among his
amorous adventures, had a secret commerce with Warbec’s wife; and people
thence accounted for that resemblance which was afterwards remarked
between young Perkin and that monarch.[*]
* Bacon, p. 606.
Some years after the birth of this child, Warbec returned to Tournay;
where Perkin, his son, did not long remain, but by different accidents,
was carried from place to place, and his birth and fortunes became
thereby unknown, and difficult to be traced by the most diligent
inquiry. The variety of his adventures had happily favored the natural
versatility and sagacity of his genius; and he seemed to be a youth
perfectly fitted to act any part, or assume any character. In this light
he had been represented to the duchess of Burgundy, who, struck with the
concurrence of so many circumstances suited to her purpose, desired to
be made acquainted with the man, on whom she already began to ground
her hopes of success. She found him to exceed her most sanguine
expectations; so comely did he appear in his person, so graceful in his
air, so courtly in his address, so full of docility and good sense in
his behavior and conversation. The lessons necessary to be taught him,
in order to his personating the duke of York, were soon learned by a
youth of such quick apprehension; but as the season seemed not then
favorable for their enterprise, Margaret, in order the better to conceal
him, sent him, under the care of Lady Brampton into Portugal, where he
remained a year unknown to all the world.
The war, which was then ready to break out between France and England,
seemed to afford a proper opportunity for the discovery of this new
phenomenon; and Ireland, which still retained its attachments to
the house of York, was chosen as the proper place for his first
appearance.[*] He landed at Cork; and immediately assuming the name of
Richard Plantagenet, drew to him partisans among that credulous people.
He wrote letters to the earls of Desmond and Kildare, inviting them to
join his party: he dispersed every where the strange intelligence of
his escape from the cruelty of his uncle Richard: and men, fond of every
thing new and wonderful, began to make him the general subject of their
discourse, and even the object of their favor.
The news soon reached France; and Charles, prompted by the secret
solicitations of the duchess of Burgundy, and the intrigues of one
Frion, a secretary of Henry’s, who had deserted his service, sent Perkin
an invitation to repair to him at Paris. He received him with all the
marks of regard due to the duke of York; settled on him a handsome
pension, assigned him magnificent lodgings, and in order to provide at
once for his dignity and security, gave him a guard for his person,
of which Lord Congresal accepted the office of captain. The French
courtiers readily embraced a fiction which their sovereign thought
it his interest to adopt: Perkin, both by his deportment and personal
qualities, supported the prepossession which was spread abroad of his
royal pedigree: and the whole kingdom was full of the accomplishments,
as well as the singular adventures and misfortunes, of the young
Plantagenet. Wonders of this nature are commonly augmented at a
distance. From France the admiration and credulity diffused themselves
into England: Sir George Nevil,[*] Sir John Taylor, and above a hundred
gentlemen more, came to Paris, in order to offer their services to the
supposed duke of York, and to share his fortunes: and the impostor had
now the appearance of a court attending him, and began to entertain
hopes of final success in his undertakings.
* Polyd Virg. p. 589.
When peace was concluded between France and England at Estaples, Henry
applied to have Perkin put into his hands; but Charles, resolute not
to betray a young man, of whatever birth, whom he had invited into his
kingdom, would agree only to dismiss him. The pretended Richard retired
to the duchess of Burgundy, and craving her protection and assistance,
offered to lay before her all the proofs of that birth to which he laid
claim. The princess affected ignorance of his pretensions; even put
on the appearance of distrust: and having, as she said, been already
deceived by Simnel, she was determined never again to be seduced by
any impostor. She desired before all the world to be instructed in his
reasons for assuming the name which he bore; seemed to examine every
circumstance with the most scrupulous nicety; put many particular
questions to him; affected astonishment at his answers; and at last,
after long and severe scrutiny, burst out into joy and admiration at
his wonderful deliverance, embraced him as her nephew, the true image of
Edward, the sole heir of the Plantagenets, and the legitimate successor
to the English throne.
{1493.} She immediately assigned him an equipage suited to his pretended
birth; appointed him a guard of thirty halberdiers; engaged every one to
pay court to him; and on all occasions honored him with the appellation
of the White Rose of England. The Flemings, moved by the authority which
Margaret, both from her rank and personal character, enjoyed among them,
readily adopted the fiction of Perkin’s royal descent: no surmise of his
true birth was as yet heard of little contradiction was made to the
prevailing opinion: and the English, from their great communication with
the Low Countries, were every day more and more prepossessed in favor of
the impostor.
It was not the populace alone of England that gave credit to Perkin’s
pretensions. Men of the highest birth and quality, disgusted at Henry’s
government, by which they found the nobility depressed, began to turn
their eyes towards the new claimant; and some of them even entered into
a correspondence with him. Lord Fitzwater, Sir Simon Mountfort, Sir
Thomas Thwaites, betrayed their inclination towards him: Sir William
Stanley himself, lord chamberlain, who had been so active in raising
Henry to the throne, moved either by blind credulity or a restless
ambition, entertained the project of a revolt in favor of his enemy.[*]
* Bacon, p. 608.
Sir Robert Clifford and William Barley were still more open in their
measures: they went over to Flanders, were introduced by the duchess of
Burgundy to the acquaintance of Perkin, and made him a tender of their
services. Clifford wrote back to England, that he knew perfectly the
person of Richard, duke of York, that this young man was undoubtedly
that prince himself, and that no circumstance of his story was exposed
to the least difficulty. Such positive intelligence, conveyed by a
person of rank and character, was sufficient with many to put the matter
beyond question, and excited the attention and wonder even of the most
indifferent. The whole nation was held in suspense; a regular conspiracy
was formed against the king’s authority, and a correspondence settled
between the malecontents in Flanders and those in England.
The king was informed of all these particulars; but agreeably to
his character, which was both cautious and resolute, he proceeded
deliberately, though steadily, in counterworking the projects of his
enemies. His first object was to ascertain the death of the real duke of
York, and to confirm the opinion that had always prevailed with regard
to that event. Five persons had been employed by Richard in the murder
of his nephews, or could give evidence with regard to it; Sir James
Tyrrel, to whom he had committed the government of the Tower for that
purpose, and who had seen the dead princes; Forrest, Dighton, and
Slater, who perpetrated the crime; and the priest who buried the bodies.
Tyrrel and Dighton alone were alive, and they agreed in the same story;
but as the priest was dead, and as the bodies were supposed to have
been removed by Richard’s orders from the place where they were first
interred, and could not now be found, it was not in Henry’s power to put
the fact, so much as he wished, beyond all doubt and controversy.
He met at first with more difficulty, but was in the end more
successful, in detecting who this wonderful person was that thus boldly
advanced pretensions to his crown. He dispersed his spies all over
Flanders and England; he engaged many to pretend that they had embraced
Perkin’s party; he directed them to insinuate themselves into the
confidence of the young man’s friends; in proportion as they conveyed
intelligence of any conspirator, he bribed his retainers, his domestic
servants, nay, sometimes his confessor, and by these means traced up
some other confederate; Clifford himself he engaged, by the hope of
rewards and pardon, to betray the secrets committed to him; the more
trust he gave to any of his spies, the higher resentment did he feign
against them, some of them he even caused to be publicly anathematized,
in order the better to procure them the confidence of his enemies: and
in the issue, the whole plan of the conspiracy was clearly laid before
him; and the pedigree, adventures, life, and conversation of the
pretended duke of York. This latter part of the story was immediately
published for the satisfaction of the nation: the conspirators he
reserved for a slower and surer vengeance.
{1494.} Meanwhile he remonstrated with the archduke Philip, on account
of the countenance and protection which was afforded in his dominions
to so infamous an impostor; contrary to treaties subsisting between the
sovereigns, and to the mutual amity which had so long been maintained
by the subjects of both states. Margaret had interest enough to get his
application rejected; on pretence that Philip had no authority over the
demesnes of the duchess dowager. And the king, in resentment of this
injury, cut off all commerce with the Low Countries, banished the
Flemings, and recalled his own subjects from these provinces. Philip
retaliated by like edicts; but Henry knew, that so mutinous a people as
the Flemings would not long bear, in compliance with the humors of their
prince, to be deprived of the beneficial branch of commerce which they
carried on with England.
He had it in his power to inflict more effectual punishment on his
domestic enemies; and when his projects were sufficiently matured, he
failed not to make them feel the effects of his resentment. Almost
in the same instant he arrested Fitzwater, Mountfort, and Thwaites,
together with William Daubeney, Robert Rateliff, Thomas Cressenor, and
Thomas Astwood. All these were arraigned, convicted, and condemned
for high treason, in adhering and promising aid to Perkin. Mountfort,
Ratcliff, and Daubeney were immediately executed: Fitzwater was
sent over to Calais, and detained in custody; but being detected in
practising on his keeper for an escape, he soon after underwent the same
fate. The rest were pardoned, together with William Worseley, dean of
St. Paul’s, and some others, who had been accused and examined, but not
brought to public trial.[*]
* Polyd. Virg. p. 592.
Greater and more solemn preparations were deemed requisite for the
trial of Stanley, lord chamberlain, whose authority in the nation, whose
domestic connections with the king, as well as his former services,
seemed to secure him against any accusation or punishment. Clifford was
directed to come over privately to England, and to throw himself at the
king’s feet while he sat in council; craving pardon for past offences
and offering to atone for them by any services which should be required
of him. Henry then told him, that the best proof he could give of
penitence, and the only service he could now render him, was the full
confession of his guilt, and the discovery of all his accomplices,
however distinguished by rank or character. Encouraged by this
exhortation, Clifford accused Stanley, then present, as his chief
abettor; and offered to lay before the council the full proof of
his guilt. Stanley himself could not discover more surprise than was
affected by Henry on the occasion. He received the intelligence as
absolutely false and incredible; that a man, to whom he was in a great
measure beholden for his crown, and even for his life; a man, to, whom,
by every honor and favor, he had endeavored to express his gratitude;
whose brother, the earl of Derby, was his own father-in-law; to whom
he had even committed the trust of his person, by creating him lord
chamberlain: that this man, enjoying his full confidence and affection,
not actuated by any motive of discontent or apprehension, should engage
in a conspiracy against him. Clifford was therefore exhorted to weigh
well the consequences of his accusation; but as he persisted in the same
positive asseverations, Stanley was committed to custody, and was soon
after examined before the council.[*] He denied not the guilt imputed to
him by Clifford; he did not even endeavor much to extenuate it; whether
he thought that a frank and open confession would serve as an atonement,
or trusted to his present connections and his former services for pardon
and security. But princes are often apt to regard great services as
a ground of jealousy, especially if accompanied with a craving and
restless disposition in the person who has performed them. The general
discontent also, and mutinous humor of the people, seemed to require
some great example of severity. And as Stanley was one of the most
opulent subjects in the kingdom, being possessed of above three thousand
pounds a year in land, and forty thousand marks in plate and money,
besides other property of great value, the prospect of so rich a
forfeiture was deemed no small motive for Henry’s proceeding to
extremities against him.
* Bacon, p. 611 Polyd. Virg. p. 593.
{1495.} After six weeks’ delay, which was interposed in order to show
that the king was restrained by doubts and scruples, the prisoner
was brought to his trial, condemned, and presently after beheaded.
Historians are not agreed with regard to the crime which was proved
against him. The general report is, that he should have said in
confidence to Clifford, that if he were sure the young man who appeared
in Flanders was really son to King Edward, he never would bear arms
against him. The sentiment might disgust Henry, as implying a preference
of the house of York to that of Lancaster; but could scarcely be the
ground, even in those arbitrary times, of a sentence of high treason
against Stanley. It is more probable, therefore, as is asserted by some
historians, that he had expressly engaged to assist Perkin, and had
actually sent him some supply of money.
The fate of Stanley made great impression on the kingdom, and struck
all the partisans of Perkin with the deepest dismay. From Clifford’s
desertion, they found that all their secrets were betrayed; and as
it appeared that Stanley, while he seemed to live in the greatest
confidence with the king, had been continually surrounded by spies, who
reported and registered every action in which he was engaged, nay, every
word which fell from him, a general distrust took place, and all mutual
confidence was destroyed, even among intimate friends and acquaintance.
The jealous and severe temper of the king, together with his great
reputation for sagacity and penetration, kept men in awe, and quelled
not only the movements of sedition, but the very murmurs of faction.
Libels, however, crept out against Henry’s person and administration;
and being greedily propagated by every secret art, showed that there
still remained among the people a considerable root of discontent, which
wanted only a proper opportunity to discover itself.
But Henry continued more intent on increasing the terrors of his people,
than on gaining their affections. Trusting to the great success which
attended him in all his enterprises, he gave every day more and more a
loose to his rapacious temper, and employed the arts of perverted law
and justice, in order to exact fines and compositions from his people.
Sir William Capel, alderman of London, was condemned on some penal
statutes to pay the sum of two thousand seven hundred and forty-three
pounds, and was obliged to compound for sixteen hundred and fifteen.
This was the first noted case of the kind; but it became a precedent,
which prepared the may for many others. The management, indeed, of these
arts of chicanery, was the great secret of the king’s administration.
While he depressed the nobility, he exalted, and honored, and caressed
the lawyers; and by that means both bestowed authority on the laws, and
was enabled, whenever he pleased, to pervert them to his own advantage.
His government was oppressive; but it was so much the less burdensome,
as, by his extending royal authority, and curbing the nobles, he became
in reality the sole oppressor in his kingdom.
As Perkin found that the king’s authority daily gained ground among the
people, and that his own pretensions were becoming obsolete, he resolved
to attempt something which might revive the hopes and expectations of
his partisans. Having collected a band of outlaws, pirates, robbers, and
necessitous persons of all nations, to the number of six hundred men,
he put to sea, with a resolution of making a descent in England, and of
exciting the common people to arms, since all his correspondence with
the nobility was cut off by Henry vigilance and severity. Information
being brought him that the king had made a progress to the north, he
cast anchor on the coast of Kent, and sent some of his retainers ashore,
who invited the country to join him. The gentlemen of Kent assembled
some troops to oppose him; but they purposed to do more essential
service than by repelling the invasion: they carried the semblance of
friendship to Perkin, and invited him to come himself ashore, in order
to take the command over them. But the wary youth, observing that they
had more order and regularity in their movements than could be supposed
in new levied forces who had taken arms against established authority,
refused to intrust himself into their hands; and the Kentish troops,
despairing of success in their stratagem, fell upon such of his
retainers as were already landed; and besides some whom they slew, they
took a hundred and fifty prisoners. These were tried and condemned and
all of them executed, by orders from the king, who was resolved to use
no lenity towards men of such desperate fortunes.[*]
* Polyd. Virg. p. 595.
This year a parliament was summoned in England, and another in Ireland;
and some remarkable laws were passed in both countries. The English
parliament enacted, that no person who should by arms, or otherwise
assist the king for the time being, should ever afterwards, either by
course of law or act of parliament, be attainted for such an instance of
obedience. This statute might be exposed to some censure, as favorable
to usurpers; were there any precise rule, which always, even during
the most factious times, could determine the true successor, and render
every one inexcusable who did not submit to him. But as the titles of
princes are then the great subject of dispute, and each party pleads
topics in its own favor, it seems but equitable to secure those who act
in support of public tranquillity, an object at all times of undoubted
benefit and importance. Henry, conscious of his disputed title, promoted
this law, in order to secure his partisans against all events; but as
he had himself observed a contrary practice with regard to Richard’s
adherents, he had reason to apprehend that, during the violence which
usually ensues on public convulsions, his example, rather than his law,
would, in case of a new revolution, be followed by his enemies. And the
attempt to bind the legislature itself, by prescribing rules to future
parliaments, was contradictory to the plainest principles of political
government.
This parliament also passed an act, empowering the king to levy, by
course of law, all the sums which any person had agreed to pay by way
of benevolence; a statute by which that arbitrary method of taxation was
indirectly authorized and justified.
The king’s authority appeared equally prevalent and uncontrolled in
Ireland. Sir Edward Poynings had been sent over to that country, with
an intention of quelling the partisans of the house of York, and of
reducing the natives to subjection. He was not supported by forces
sufficient for that enterprise: the Irish, by flying into their woods,
and morasses, and mountains, for some time eluded his efforts; but
Poynings summoned a parliament at Dublin, where he was more successful.
He passed that memorable statute, which still bears his name, and which
establishes the authority of the English government in Ireland. By this
statute, all the former laws of England were made to be of force in
Ireland; and no bill can be introduced into the Irish parliament, unless
it previously receive the sanction of the council of England. This
latter clause seems calculated for insuring the dominion of the English;
but was really granted at the desire of the Irish commons who intended,
by that means, to secure themselves from the tyranny of their lords,
particularly of such lieutenants or deputies as were of Irish birth.[*]
* Sir John Davis, p. 236.
While Henry’s authority was thus established throughout his dominions,
and general tranquillity prevailed, the whole continent was thrown into
combustion by the French invasion of Italy, and by the rapid success
which attended Charles in that rash and ill-concerted enterprise. The
Italians, who had entirely lost the use of arms, and who, in the midst
of continual wars, had become every day more unwarlike, were astonished
to meet an enemy that made the field of battle, not a pompous
tournament, but a scene of blood, and sought, at the hazard of their own
lives, the death of their enemy. Their effeminate troops were dispersed
every where on the approach of the French army: their best fortified
cities opened their gates: kingdoms and states were in an instant
overturned; and through the whole length of Italy, which the French
penetrated without resistance, they seemed rather to be taking quarters
in their own country, than making conquests over an enemy. The maxims
which the Italians during that age followed in negotiations, were as
ill calculated to support their states, as the habits to which they were
addicted in war: a treacherous, deceitful, and inconsistent system of
politics prevailed; and even those small remains of fidelity and honor,
which were preserved in the councils of the other European princes, were
ridiculed in Italy, as proofs of ignorance and rusticity. Ludovico, duke
of Milan, who invited the French to invade Naples, had never desired
or expected their success; and was the first that felt terror from the
prosperous issue of those projects which he himself had concerted. By
his intrigues, a league was formed among several potentates, to oppose
the progress of Charles’s conquests, and secure their own independency.
This league was composed of Ludovico himself, the pope, Maximilian, king
of the Romans, Ferdinand of Spain, and the republic of Venice. Henry too
entered into the confederacy; but was not put to any expense or trouble
in consequence of his engagements. The king of France, terrified by so
powerful a combination, retired from Naples with the greater part of
his army, and returned to France. The forces which he left in his new
conquest were, partly by the revolt of the inhabitants, partly by the
invasion of the Spaniards, soon after subdued; and the whole kingdom
of Naples suddenly returned to its allegiance under Ferdinand, son to
Alphonso, who had been suddenly expelled by the irruption of the
French. Ferdinand died soon after, and left his uncle Frederick in full
possession of the throne.