HENRY VIII.
{1509.} THE death of Henry VII. had been attended with as open and
visible a joy among the people as decency would permit; and the
accession and coronation of his son, Henry VIII., spread universally
a declared and unfeigned satisfaction. Instead of a monarch jealous,
severe, and avaricious, who, in proportion as he advanced in years,
was sinking still deeper in those unpopular vices, a young prince of
eighteen had succeeded to the throne, who, even in the eyes of men of
sense, gave promising hopes of his future conduct, much more in those of
the people, always enchanted with novelty, youth, and royal dignity.
The beauty and vigor of his person, accompanied with dexterity in
every manly exercise, was further adorned with a blooming and ruddy
countenance, with a lively air, with the appearance of spirit and
activity in all his demeanor.[*] His father, in order to remove him from
the knowledge of public business, had hitherto occupied him entirely in
the pursuits of literature; and the proficiency which he made gave
no bad prognostic of his parts and capacity.[**] Even the vices of
vehemence, ardor, and impatience, to which he was subject, and which
afterwards degenerated into tyranny, were considered only as faults
incident to unguarded youth, which would be corrected when time had
brought him to greater moderation and maturity. And as the contending
titles of York and Lancaster were now at last fully united in his
person, men justly expected, from a prince obnoxious to no party, that
impartiality of administration which had long been unknown in England.
* T. Mori. Lucubr. p. 182.
** Father Paul, lib. i.
These favorable prepossessions of the public were encouraged by the
measures which Henry embraced in the commencement of his reign. His
grandmother, the countess of Richmond and Derby, was still alive; and
as she was a woman much celebrated for prudence and virtue, he wisely
showed great deference to her opinion in the establishment of his
new council. The members were, Warham, archbishop of Canterbury and
chancellor; the earl of Shrewsbury, steward; Lord Herbert, chamberlain;
Sir Thomas Lovel, master of the wards and constable of the Tower; Sir
Edward Poynings, comptroller; Sir Henry Marney, afterwards Lord Marney;
Sir Thomas Darcy, afterwards Lord Darcy; Thomas Ruthal, doctor of laws;
and Sir Henry Wyat.[*] These men had long been accustomed to business
under the late king, and were the least unpopular of all the ministers
employed by that monarch. But the chief competitors for favor and
authority, under the new king, were the earl of Surrey, treasurer, and
Fox, bishop of Winchester, secretary and privy seal. This prelate, who
enjoyed great credit during all the former reign, had acquired such
habits of caution and frugality as he could not easily lay aside; and
he still opposed, by his remonstrances, those schemes of dissipation
and expense, which the youth and passions of Henry rendered agreeable to
him. But Surrey was a more dexterous courtier; and though few had borne
a greater share in the frugal politics of the late king, he knew how
to conform himself to the humor of his new master; and no one was so
forward in promoting that liberality, pleasure, and magnificence,
which began to prevail under the young monarch.[**] By this policy, he
ingratiated himself with Henry; he made advantage, as well as the other
courtiers, of the lavish disposition of his master; and he engaged
him in such a course of play and idleness as rendered him negligent of
affairs, and willing to intrust the government of the state entirely
into the hands of his ministers. The great treasures amassed by the late
king were gradually dissipated in the giddy expenses of Henry. One party
of pleasure succeeded to another: tilts, tournaments, and carousals
were exhibited with all the magnificence of the age; and as the present
tranquillity of the public permitted the court to indulge itself in
every amusement, serious business was but little attended to. Or, if
the king intermitted the course of his festivity, he chiefly employed
himself in an application to music and literature, which were his
favorite pursuits, and which were well adapted to his genius.
* Herbert, Stowe, p. 486. Holingshed, p. 799.
** Lord Herbert.
He had made such proficiency in the former art, as even to compose
some pieces of church music, which were sung in his chapel.[*] He was
initiated in the elegant learning of the ancients. And though he was so
unfortunate as to be seduced into a study of the barren controversies of
the schools, which were then fashionable, and had chosen Thomas Aquinas
for his favorite author, he still discovered a capacity fitted for more
useful and entertaining knowledge.
The frank and careless humor of the king, as it led him to dissipate the
treasures amassed by his father, rendered him negligent in protecting
the instruments whom that prince had employed in his extortions. A
proclamation being issued to encourage complaints, the rage of the
people was let loose on all informers, who had so long exercised an
unbounded tyranny over the nation: [**] they were thrown into prison,
condemned to the pillory, and most of them lost their lives by the
violence of the populace. Empson and Dudley, who were most exposed to
public hatred, were immediately summoned before the council, in order to
answer for their conduct, which had rendered them so obnoxious.
* Lord Herbert.
** Herbert, Stowe, p. 486. Holingshed, p. 799. Polyd. Virg.
lib, xxvii.
Empson made a shrewd apology for himself, as well as for his associate.
He told the council, that so far from his being justly exposed to
censure for his past conduct, his enemies themselves grounded their
clamor on actions which seemed rather to merit reward and approbation:
that a strict execution of law was the crime of which he and Dudley were
accused; though that law had been established by general consent,
and though they had acted in obedience to the king, to whom the
administration of justice was intrusted by the constitution: that it
belonged not to them, who were instruments in the hands of supreme
power, to determine what laws were recent or obsolete, expedient or
hurtful; since they were all alike valid, so long as they remained
unrepealed by the legislature: that it was natural for a licentious
populace to murmur against the restraints of authority; but all wise
states had ever made their glory consist in the just distribution of
rewards and punishments, and had annexed the former to the observance
and enforcement of the laws, the latter to their violation and
infraction; and that a sudden overthrow of all government might be
expected where the judges were committed to the mercy of the criminals,
the rulers to that of the subjects.[*]
Notwithstanding this defence, Empson and Dudley were sent to the Tower,
and soon after brought to their trial. The strict execution of laws,
however obsolete, could never be imputed to them as a crime in a court
of judicature; and it is likely that, even where they had exercised
arbitrary power, the king, as they had acted by the secret commands of
his father, was not willing that their conduct should undergo too
severe a scrutiny. In order, therefore, to gratify the people with
the punishment of these obnoxious ministers crimes very improbable,
or indeed absolutely impossible, were charged upon them: that they had
entered into a conspiracy against the sovereign, and had intended, on
the death of the late king, to have seized by force the administration
of government. The jury were so far moved by popular prejudices,
joined to court influence, as to give a verdict against them; which was
afterwards confirmed by a bill of attainder in parliament,[**] and, at
the earnest desire of the people, was executed by warrant from the king,
Thus, in those arbitrary times, justice was equally violated, whether
the king sought power and riches, or courted popularity.
* Herbert, Holingshed, p. 804.
** This parliament met on the 21st January, 1510. A law was
there enacted, in order to prevent some abuses which had
prevailed during the late reign. The forfeiture upon the
penal statutes was reduced to the term of three years. Costs
and damages were given against informers upon acquittal of
the accused: more severe punishments were enacted against
perjury: the false inquisitions procured by Empson and
Dudley were declared null and invalid. Traverses were
allowed; and the time of tendering them enlarged. 1 Henry
VIII. c. 8, 10, 11, 12.
Henry, while he punished the instruments of past tyranny, had yet such a
deference to former engagements as to deliberate, immediately after his
accession, concerning the celebration of his marriage with the infanta
Catharine, to whom he had been affianced during his father’s lifetime.
Her former marriage with his brother, and the inequality of their years
were the chief objections urged; against his espousing her but, on the
other hand, the advantages of her known virtue, modesty, and sweetness
of disposition were insisted on; the affection which she bore to the
king; the large dowry to which she was entitled as princess of Wales;
the interest of cementing a close alliance with Spain; the necessity
of finding some confederate to counterbalance the power of France; the
expediency of fulfilling the engagements of the late king When these
considerations were weighed, they determined the council, though
contrary to the opinion of the primate, to give Henry their advice for
celebrating the marriage. The countess of Richmond, who had concurred
in the same sentiments with the council, died soon after the marriage of
her grandson.
The popularity of Henry’s government, his undisputed title, his
extensive authority, his large treasures, the tranquillity of his
subjects, were circumstances which rendered his domestic administration
easy and prosperous: the situation of foreign affairs was no less happy
and desirable. Italy continued still, as during the late reign, to be
the centre of all the wars and negotiations of the European princes; and
Henry’s alliance was courted by all parties; at the same time that he
was not engaged by any immediate interest or necessity to take part with
any. Lewis XII. of France, after his conquest of Milan, was the only
great prince that possessed any territory in Italy; and could he have
remained in tranquillity, he was enabled by his situation to prescribe
laws to all the Italian princes and republics, and to hold the balance
among them. But the desire of making a conquest of Naples, to which he
had the same title or pretensions with his predecessor, still engaged
him in new enterprises: and· as he foresaw opposition from Ferdinand,
who was connected both by treaties and affinity with Frederick of
Naples, he endeavored by the offers of interest, to which the ears of
that monarch were ever open, to engage him in an opposite confederacy.
He settled with him a plan for the partition of the kingdom of Naples,
and the expulsion of Frederick; a plan which the politicians of that,
age regarded as the most egregious imprudence in the French monarch,
and the greatest perfidy in the Spanish. Frederick, supported only by
subjects who were either discontented with his government or indifferent
about his fortunes, was unable to resist so powerful a confederacy, and
was deprived of his dominions: but he had the satisfaction to see Naples
immediately prove the source of contention among his enemies. Ferdinand
gave secret orders to his general, Gonsalvo, whom the Spaniards honor
with the appellation of the “great captain,” to attack the armies of
France, and make himself master of all the dominions of Naples. Gonsalvo
prevailed in every enterprise, defeated the French in two pitched
battles, and insured to his prince the entire possession of that
kingdom. Lewis, unable to procure redress by force of arms, was obliged
to enter into a fruitless negotiation with Ferdinand for the recovery of
his share of the partition; and all Italy, during some time, was held in
suspense between these two powerful monarchs.
There has scarcely been any period when the balance of power was better
secured in Europe, and seemed more able to maintain itself without any
anxious concern or attention of the princes. Several great monarchies
were established; and no one so far surpassed the rest as to give any
foundation or even pretence for jealousy. England was united in domestic
peace, and by its situation happily secured from the invasion of
foreigners. The coalition of the several kingdoms of Spain had
formed one powerful monarchy, which Ferdinand administered with arts,
fraudulent indeed and deceitful, but full of vigor and ability. Lewis
XII., a gallant and generous prince, had, by espousing Anne of Brittany,
widow to his predecessor, preserved the union with that principality,
on which the safety of his kingdom so much depended. Maximilian, the
emperor, besides the hereditary dominions of the Austrian family,
maintained authority in the empire, and, notwithstanding the levity of
his character, was able to unite the German princes in any great plan of
interest, at least of defence. Charles, prince of Castile, grandson to
Maximilian and Ferdinand, had already succeeded to the rich dominions of
the house of Burgundy; and being as yet in early youth, the government
was intrusted to Margaret of Savoy, his aunt, a princess endowed with
signal prudence and virtue. The internal force of these several powerful
states, by balancing each other, might long have maintained general
tranquillity, had not the active and enterprising genius of Julius II.,
an ambitious pontiff, first excited the flames of war and discord among
them. By his intrigues, a league had been formed at Cambray,[*] between
himself, Maximilian, Lewis, and Ferdinand; and the object of this great
confederacy was to overwhelm, by their united arms, the commonwealth of
Venice.
* In 1508.
Henry, without any motive from interest or passion, allowed his name to
be inserted in the confederacy. This oppressive and iniquitous league
was but too successful against the republic.
The great force and secure situation of the considerable monarchies
prevented any one from aspiring to any conquest of moment; and though
this consideration could not maintain general peace, or remedy the
natural inquietude of men, it rendered the princes of this age more
disposed to desert engagements, and change their alliances, in which
they were retained by humor and caprice, rather than by any natural or
durable interest.
{1510.} Julius had no sooner humbled the Venetian republic, than he was
inspired with a nobler ambition, that of expelling all foreigners from
Italy, or, to speak in the style affected by the Italians of that age,
the freeing of that country entirely from the dominion of barbarians.[*]
He was determined to make the tempest fall first upon Lewis; and in
order to pave the way for this great enterprise, he at once sought for
a ground of quarrel with that monarch, and courted the alliance of other
princes. He declared war against the duke of Ferrara, the confederate
of Lewis. He solicited the favor of England, by sending Henry a sacred
rose, perfumed with musk and anointed with chrism.[**] He engaged in his
interests Bambridge, archbishop of York, and Henry’s ambassador at Rome,
whom he soon after created a cardinal. He drew over Ferdinand to
his party, though that monarch at first made no declaration of his
intentions. And what he chiefly valued, he formed a treaty with the
Swiss cantons, who, enraged by some neglects put upon them by Lewis,
accompanied with contumelious expressions, had quitted the alliance of
France, and waited for an opportunity of revenging themselves on that
nation.
* Guicciard. lib. viii.
** Spel. Concil. vol. ii. p. 725.
{1511.} While the French monarch repelled the attacks of his enemies, he
thought it also requisite to make an attempt on the pope himself, and to
despoil him as much as possible of that sacred character which chiefly
rendered him formidable. He engaged some cardinals, disgusted with
the violence of Julius, to desert him; and by their authority he was
determined, in conjunction with Maximilian, who still adhered to his
alliance, to call a general council, which might reform the church, and
check the exorbitances of the Roman pontiff. A council was summoned
at Pisa, which from the beginning bore a very inauspicious aspect, and
promised little success to had adherents. Except a few French bishops,
who unwillingly obeyed the king’s commands in attending the council, all
the other prelates kept aloof from an assembly which they regarded as
the offspring of faction, intrigue, and worldly politics. Even Pisa, the
place of their residence, showed them signs of contempt; which engaged
them to transfer their session to Milan, a city under the dominion
of the French monarch; Notwithstanding this advantage, they did not
experience much more respectful treatment from the inhabitants of Milan;
and found it necessary to make another remove to Lyons.[*] Lewis himself
fortified these violent prejudices in favor of papal authority, by the
symptoms which he discovered of regard, deference, and submission to
Julius, whom he always spared, even when fortune had thrown into his
hands the most inviting opportunities of humbling him. And as it was
known that his consort, who had great influence over him, was extremely
disquieted in mind on account of his dissensions with the holy father,
all men prognosticated to Julius final success in this unequal contest.
The enterprising pontiff knew his advantages, and availed himself of
them with the utmost temerity and insolence. So much had he neglected
his sacerdotal character, that he acted in person at the siege of
Mirandola, visited the trenches, saw some of his attendants killed by
his side, and, like a young soldier, cheerfully bore all the rigors of
winter and a severe season, in pursuit of military glory:[**] yet was he
still able to throw, even on his most moderate opponents, the charge of
impiety and profaneness. He summoned, a council at the Lateran: he put
Pisa under an interdict, and all the places which gave shelter to the
schismatical council: he excommunicated the cardinals and prelates who
attended it: he even pointed his spiritual thunder against the princes
who adhered to it: he freed their subjects from all oaths of allegiance,
and gave their dominions to every one who could take possession of them.
* Guicciard. lib. x.
** Guicciard. lib. ix.
Ferdinand of Arragon, who had acquired the surname of Catholic, regarded
the cause of the pope and of religion only as a cover to his ambition
and selfish politics: Henry, naturally sincere and sanguine in his
temper, and the more èo on account of his youth and inexperience, was
moved with a hearty desire of protecting the pope from the oppression to
which he believed him exposed from the ambitious enterprises of Lewis.
{1512.} Hopes had been given him by Julius, that the title of “most
Christian king,” which had hitherto been annexed to the crown of France,
and which was regarded as its most precious ornament, should, in reward
of his services, be transferred to that of England.[*] Impatient also
of acquiring that distinction in Europe, to which his power and opulence
entitled him, he could not long remain neuter amidst the noise of arms;
and the natural enmity of the English against France, as well as their
ancient claims upon that kingdom, led Henry to join that alliance which
the pope, Spain, and Venice had formed against the French monarch.
A herald was sent to Paris, to exhort Lewis not to wage impious war
against the sovereign pontiff; and when he returned without success,
another was sent to demand the ancient patrimonial provinces, Anjou,
Maine, Guienne, and Normandy. This message was understood to be a
declaration of war; and a parliament, being summoned, readily granted
supplies for a purpose so much favored by the English nation.[**]
* Guicciard. lib. xi. P. Daniel, vol ii. p. 1893. Herbert.
Holingshed, p. 831.
** Herbert. Holingshed, p. 811.
Buonaviso, an agent of the pope’s at London, had been corrupted by the
court of France, and had previously revealed to Lewis all the measures
which Henry was concerting against him. But this infidelity did the
king inconsiderable prejudice, in comparison of the treachery which he
experienced from the selfish purposes of the ally on whom he chiefly
relied for assistance. Ferdinand, his father-in-law, had so long
persevered in a course of crooked politics, that he began even to value
himself on his dexterity in fraud and artifice; and he made a boast of
those shameful successes. Being told one day, that Lewis, a prince of a
very different character, had complained of his having once cheated
him: “He lies, the drunkard!” said he; “I have cheated him above twenty
times.” This prince considered his close connections with Henry only as
the means which enabled him the better to take advantage of his want of
experience. He advised him not to invade France by the way of Calais,
where he himself should not have it in his power to assist him: he
exhorted him rather to send forces to Fontarabia, whence he could easily
make a conquest of Guienne, a province in which it was imagined the
English had still some adherents. He promised to assist this conquest
by the junction of a Spanish army. And so forward did he seem to promote
the interests of his son-in-law, that he even sent vessels to England,
in order to transport over the forces which Henry had levied for that
purpose. The marquis of Dorset commanded this armament, which consisted
of ten thousand men, mostly infantry; Lord Howard, son of the earl of
Surrey, Lord Broke, Lord Ferrars, and many others of the young gentry
and nobility, accompanied him in this service. All were on fire to
distinguish themselves by military achievements, and to make a conquest
of importance for their master. The secret purpose of Ferdinand, in this
unexampled generosity, was suspected by nobody.
The small kingdom of Navarre lies on the frontiers between France and
Spain; and as John d’Albert, the sovereign, was connected by friendship
and alliance with Lewis, the opportunity seemed favorable to Ferdinand,
while the English forces were conjoined with his own, and while
all adherents to the council of Pisa lay under the sentence of
excommunication, to put himself in possession of these dominions. No
sooner, therefore, was Dorset landed in Guipiscoa, than the Spanish
monarch declared his readiness to join him with his forces, to make with
united arms an invasion of France, and to form the siege of Bayonne,
which opened the way into Guienne:[*] but he remarked to the English
general how dangerous it might prove to leave behind them the kingdom of
Navarre, which, being in close alliance with France, could easily give
admittance to the enemy, and cut off all communication between Spain
and the combined armies. To provide against so dangerous an event, he
required that John should stipulate a neutrality in the present war; and
when that prince expressed his willingness to enter into any engagement
for that purpose, he also required that security should be given for the
strict observance of it.
* Herbert, Holingshed, p. 813.
John having likewise agreed to this condition, Ferdinand demanded that
he should deliver into his hands six of the most considerable places of
his dominions, together with his eldest son as a hostage. These were not
terms to be proposed to a sovereign; and as the Spanish monarch expected
a refusal, he gave immediate orders to the duke of Alva, his general, to
make an invasion on Navarre, and to reduce that kingdom.
Alva soon made himself master of all the smaller towns; and being ready
to form the siege of Pampeluna, the capital, he summoned the marquis of
Dorset to join him with the English army, and concert together all their
operations.
Dorset began to suspect that the interests of his master were very
little regarded in all these transactions; and having no orders to
invade the kingdom of Navarre, or make war any where but in France, he
refused to take any part in the enterprise. He remained therefore in his
quarters at Fontarabia; but so subtle was the contrivance of Ferdinand,
that even while the English army lay in that situation, it was almost
equally serviceable to his purpose, as if it had acted in conjunction
with his own. It kept the French army in awe, and prevented it from
advancing to succor the kingdom of Navarre; so that Alva, having full
leisure to conduct the siege, made himself master of Pampeluna, and
obliged John to seek for shelter in France. The Spanish general applied
again to Dorset, and proposed to conduct with united counsels the
operations of the “holy league,” (so it was called,) against Lewis: but
as he still declined forming the siege of Bayonne, and rather insisted
on the invasion of the principality of Bearne, a part of the king of
Navarre’s dominions which lies on the French side of the Pyrenees,
Dorset, justly suspicious of his sinister intentions, represented that,
without new orders from his master, he could not concur in such an
undertaking. In order to procure these orders, Ferdinand despatched
Martin de Ampios to London; and persuaded Henry that, by the refractory
and scrupulous humor of the English general, the most favorable
opportunities were lost; and that it was necessary he should on all
occasions act in concert with the Spanish commander, who was best
acquainted with the situation of the country, and the reasons of every
operation. But before orders to this purpose reached Spain, Dorset had
become extremely impatient; and observing that his further stay served
not to promote the main undertaking, and that his army was daily
perishing by want and sickness, he demanded shipping from Ferdinand to
transport them back into England. Ferdinand, who was bound by treaty
to furnish him with this supply whenever demanded, was at length, after
many delays, obliged to yield to his importunity; and Dorset, embarking
his troops, prepared himself for the voyage. Meanwhile the messenger
arrived with orders from Henry, that the troops should remain in Spain;
but the soldiers were so discontented with the treatment which they had
met with, that they mutinied, and obliged their commanders to set sail
for England. Henry was much displeased with the ill success of this
enterprise; and it was with difficulty that Dorset, by explaining the
fraudulent conduct of Ferdinand, was at last able to appease him.
There happened this summer an action at sea, which brought not any more
decisive advantage to the English. Sir Thomas Knevet, master of horse,
was sent to the coast of Brittany with a fleet of forty-five sail; and
he carried with him Sir Charles Brandon, Sir John Carew, and many other
young courtiers, who longed for an opportunity of displaying their
valor. After they had committed some depredations, a French fleet of
thirty-nine sail issued from Brest, under the command of Primauget, and
began an engagement with the English. Fire seized the ship of Primauget;
who, finding his destruction inevitable, bore down upon the vessel of
the English admiral, and grappling with her, resolved to make her share
his fate. Both fleets stood some time in suspense, as spectators of
this dreadful engagement; and all men saw with horror the flames which
consumed both vessels, and heard the cries of fury and despair which
came from the miserable combatants. At last the French vessel blew up;
and at the same time destroyed the English.[*] The rest of the French
fleet made their escape into different harbors.
The war which England waged against France, though it brought no
advantage to the former kingdom, was of great prejudice to the latter;
and by obliging Lewis to withdraw his forces for the defence of his own
dominions, lost him that superiority which his arms in the beginning of
the campaign had attained in Italy. Gaston de Foix, his nephew, a young
hero, had been intrusted with the command of the French forces; and in
a few months performed such feats of military art and prowess, as were
sufficient to render illustrious the life of the oldest captain.[**] His
career finished with the great battle of Ravenna, which, after the most
obstinate conflict, he gained over the Spanish and papal armies. He
perished the very moment his victory was complete; and with him perished
the fortune of the French arms in Italy.
* Polyd. Virg. lib. xxvii. Stowe, p. 490. Lanquet’s Epitome
of Chronicles, fol. 273.
** Guicciard. lib. x.
The Swiss, who had rendered themselves extremely formidable by their
bands of disciplined infantry, invaded the Milanese with a numerous
army, and raised up that inconstant people to a revolt against the
dominion of France. Genoa followed the example of the duchy; and thus
Lewis in a few weeks entirely lost his Italian conquests, except some
garrisons; and Maximilian Sforza, the son of Ludovic, was reinstated in
possession of Milan.
{1513.} Julius discovered extreme joy on the discomfiture of the French;
and the more so as he had been beholden for it to the Swiss, a people
whose councils he hoped he should always be able to influence and
govern. The pontiff survived this success a very little time; and in his
place was chosen John de Medicis, who took the appellation of Leo X.,
and proved one of the most illustrious princes that ever sat on the
papal throne. Humane, beneficent, generous, affable; the patron of every
art, and friend of every virtue;[*] he had a soul no less capable of
forming great designs than his predecessor, but was more gentle, pliant,
and artful in employing means for the execution of them. The sole
defect, indeed, of his character was too great finesse and artifice; a
fault which, both as a priest and an Italian, it was difficult for
him to avoid. By the negotiations of Leo, the emperor Maximilian was
detached from the French interest; and Henry, notwithstanding his
disappointments in the former campaign, was still encouraged to
prosecute his warlike measures against Lewis.
Henry had summoned a new session of parliament,[**] and obtained a
supply for his enterprise. It was a poll-tax, and imposed different
sums, according to the station and riches of the person. A duke paid ten
marks, an earl five pounds, a baron four pounds, a knight four marks;
every man valued at eight hundred pounds in goods, four marks. An
imposition was also granted of two fifteenths and four tenths.[***]
By these supplies, joined to the treasure which had been left by his
father, and which was not yet entirely dissipated, he was enabled to
levy a great army, and render himself formidable to his enemy. The
English are said to have been much encouraged, in this enterprise, by
the arrival of a vessel in the Thames under the papal banner. It carried
presents of wine and hams to the king and the more eminent courtiers;
and such fond devotion was at that time entertained towards the court
of Rome, that these trivial presents were every where received with the
greatest triumph and exultation.
* Father Paul, lib. i.
** November 4, 1512.
*** Stowe.
In order to prevent all disturbances from Scotland while Henry’s arms
should be employed on the continent, Dr. West, dean of Windsor, was
despatched on an embassy to James, the king’s brother-in-law; and
instructions were given him to accommodate all differences between
the kingdoms, as well as to discover the intentions of the court of
Scotland.[*] Some complaints had already been made on both sides. One
Barton, a Scotchman, having suffered injuries from the Portuguese, for
which he could obtain no redress, had procured letters of marque against
that nation; but he had no sooner put to sea than he was guilty of
the grossest abuses, committed depredations upon the English, and
much infested the narrow seas.[**] Lord Howard and Sir Edward Howard,
admirals, and sons of the earl of Surrey, sailing out against him,
fought him in a desperate action, where the pirate was killed; and they
brought his ships into the Thames. As Henry refused all satisfaction for
this act of justice, some of the borderers, who wanted but a pretence
for depredations, entered England under the command of Lord Hume,
warden of the marches, and committed great ravages on that kingdom.
Notwithstanding these mutual grounds of dissatisfaction, matters might
easily have been accommodated, had it not been for Henry’s intended
invasion of France, which roused the jealousy of the Scottish
nation.[***]
* Polyd. Virg. lib. xxvii.
** Stowe, p. 489. Holingshed, p. 811.
*** Buchanan, lib. xii. Drummond in the Life of James IV.
The ancient league which subsisted between France and Scotland was
conceived to be the strongest band of connection; and the Scots
universally believed, that were it not for the countenance which they
received from this foreign alliance, they had never been able so long to
maintain their independence against a people so much superior. James was
further incited to take part in the quarrel by the invitations of Anne,
queen of France, whose knight he had ever in all tournaments professed
himself, and who summoned him, according to the ideas of romantic
gallantry prevalent in that age, to take the field in her defence, and
prove himself her true and valorous champion. The remonstrances of
his consort and of his wisest counsellors were in vain opposed to the
martial ardor of this prince. He first sent a squadron of ships to the
assistance of France; the only fleet which Scotland seems ever to
have possessed. And though he still made professions of maintaining a
neutrality, the English ambassador easily foresaw that a war would
in the end prove inevitable; and he gave warning of the danger to his
master, who sent the earl of Surrey to put the borders in a posture of
defence, and to resist the expected invasion of the enemy.
Henry, all on fire for military fame, was little discouraged by this
appearance of a diversion from the north; and so much the less, as he
flattered himself with the assistance of all the considerable potentates
of Europe in his invasion of France. The pope still continued to thunder
out his excommunications against Lewis and all the adherents of the
schismatical council: the Swiss cantons made professions of violent
animosity against France: the ambassadors of Ferdinand and Maximilian
had signed with those of Henry a treaty of alliance against that power,
and had stipulated the time and place of their intended invasion: and
though Ferdinand disavowed his ambassador, and even signed a truce for a
twelvemonth with the common enemy, Henry was not yet fully convinced of
his selfish and sinister intentions, and still hoped for his concurrence
after the expiration of that term. He had now got a minister who
complied with all his inclinations, and flattered him in every scheme to
which his sanguine and impetuous temper was inclined.
Thomas Wolsey, dean of Lincoln, and almoner to the king, surpassed in
favor all his ministers, and was fast advancing towards that unrivalled
grandeur which he afterwards attained. This man was son of a butcher at
Ipswich; but having got a learned education, and being endowed with an
excellent capacity, he was admitted into the marquis of Dorset’s family
as tutor to that nobleman’s children, and soon gained the friendship and
countenance of his patron.[*] He was recommended to be chaplain to Henry
VII.; and being employed by that monarch in a secret negotiation, which
regarded his intended marriage with Margaret of Savoy, Maximilian’s
daughter, he acquitted himself to the king’s satisfaction, and obtained
the praise both of diligence and dexterity in his conduct.[**]
* Stowe, p. 997.
** Cavendish. Fiddes’s Life of Wolsey. Stowe.
That prince, having given him a commission to Maximilian, who at that
time resided in Brussels, was surprised, in less than three days after,
to see Wolsey present himself before him, and supposing that he had
protracted his departure, he began to reprove him for the dilatory
execution of his orders. Wolsey informed him that he had just returned
from Brussels, and had successfully fulfilled all his majesty’s
commands. “But on second thoughts,” said the king, “I found that
somewhat was omitted in your orders; and have sent a messenger after you
with fuller instructions.” “I met the messenger,” replied Wolsey, “on my
return: but as I had reflected on that omission, I ventured of myself
to execute what I knew must be your majesty’s intentions.” The death of
Henry soon after this incident retarded the advancement of Wolsey, and
prevented his reaping any advantage from the good opinion which that
monarch had entertained of him: but thence forwards he was looked on at
court as a rising man; and Fox, bishop of Winchester, cast his eye upon
him as one who might be serviceable to him in his present situation.[*]
This prelate, observing that the earl of Surrey had totally eclipsed
him in favor, resolved to introduce Wolsey to the young prince’s
familiarity; and hoped that he might rival Surrey in his insinuating
arts, and yet be contented to act in the cabinet a part subordinate to
Fox himself, who had promoted him.
* Antiq. Brit. Eccles. p. 309. Polyd. Virg. lib. xxvii.
In a little time, Wolsey gained so much on the king, that he supplanted
both Surrey in his favor, and Fox in his trust and confidence. Being
admitted to Henry’s parties of pleasure, he took the lead in every
jovial conversation, and promoted all that frolic and entertainment
which he found suitable to the age and inclination of the young monarch.
Neither his own years, which were near forty, nor his character of a
clergyman, were any restraint upon him, or engaged him to check, by any
useless severity, the gayety in which Henry, who had small propension
to debauchery, passed his careless hours. During the intervals of
amusement, he introduced business, and insinuated those maxims of
conduct which he was desirous his master should adopt. He observed to
him that while he intrusted his affairs into the hands of his father’s
counsellors, he had the advantage indeed of employing men of wisdom and
experience, but men who owed not their promotion to his favor, and who
scarcely thought themselves accountable to him for the exercise of their
authority: that by the factions, and cabals, and jealousies which had
long prevailed among them, they more obstructed the advancement of his
affairs, than they promoted it by the knowledge which age and practice
had conferred upon them: that while he thought proper to pass his time
in those pleasures to which his age and royal fortune invited him, and
in those studies which would in time enable him to sway the sceptre with
absolute authority, his best system of government would be, to intrust
his authority into the hands of some one person who was the creature
of his will, and who could entertain no view but that of promoting his
service: and that if this minister had also the same relish for pleasure
with himself, and the same taste for science, he could more easily,
at intervals, account to him for his whole conduct, and introduce
his master gradually into the knowledge of public business; and thus,
without tedious constraint or application, initiate him in the science
of government.[*]
* Cavendish, p. 12. Stowe, p. 499.
Henry entered into all the views of Wolsey; and finding no one so
capable of executing this plan of administration as the person who
proposed it, he soon advanced his favorite, from being the companion of
his pleasures, to be a member of his council; and from being a member
of his council, to be his sole and absolute minister. By this rapid
advancement and uncontrolled authority, the character and genius
of Wolsey had full opportunity to display itself. Insatiable in his
acquisitions, but still more magnificent in his expense: of extensive
capacity, but still more unbounded enterprise: ambitious of power, but
still more desirous of glory: insinuating engaging, persuasive; and, by
turns, lofty, elevated, commanding: haughty to his equals, but affable
to his dependants: oppressive to the people, but liberal to his friends;
more generous than grateful; less moved by injuries than by contempt; he
was framed to take the ascendant in every intercourse with others, but
exerted this superiority of nature with such ostentation as exposed him
to envy, and made every one willing to recall the original inferiority,
or rather meanness, of his fortune.
The branch of administration in which Henry most exerted himself, while
he gave his entire confidence to Wolsey, was the military; which, as it
suited the natural gallantry and bravery of his temper, as well as the
ardor of his youth, was the principal object of his attention. Finding
that Lewis had made great preparations both by sea and land to resist
him, he was no less careful to levy a formidable army and equip a
considerable fleet for the invasion of France. The command of the fleet
was intrusted to Sir Edward Howard; who, after scouring the Channel for
some time, presented himself before Brest, where the French navy
then lay; and he challenged them to a combat. The French admiral, who
expected from the Mediterranean a reënforcement of some galleys under
the command of Prejeant de Bidoux, kept within the harbor, and saw with
patience the English burn and destroy the country in the neighborhood.
At last Prejeant arrived with six galleys, and put into Conquet, a place
within a few leagues of Brest; where he secured himself behind some
batteries, which he had planted on rocks that lay on each side of him.
Howard was, notwithstanding, determined to make an attack upon him; and
as he had but two galleys, he took himself the command of one, and gave
the other to Lord Ferrars. He was followed by some row-barges and some
crayers under the command of Sir Thomas Cheyney, Sir William Sidney,
and other officers of distinction. He immediately fastened on Prejeant’s
ship, and leaped on board of her, attended by one Carroz, a Spanish
cavalier, and seventeen Englishmen. The cable, meanwhile, which fastened
his ship to that of the enemy, being cut, the admiral was thus left in
the hands of the French; and as he still continued the combat with great
gallantry, he was pushed overboard by their pikes.[*] Lord Ferrars,
seeing the admiral’s galley fall off, followed with the other small
vessels; and the whole fleet was so discouraged by the loss of their
commander, that they retired from before Brest.[**] The French navy came
out of harbor, and even ventured to invade the coast of Sussex. They
were repulsed, and Prejeant, their commander, lost an eye by the shot of
an arrow. Lord Howard, brother to the deceased admiral, succeeded to the
command of the English fleet; and little memorable passed at sea during
this summer.
* It was a maxim of Howard’s, that no admiral was good for
any thing that was not brave even to a degree of madness. As
the sea service requires much less plan and contrivance, and
capacity, than the land, this maxim has great plausibility
and appearance of truth; though the fate of Howard himself
may serve as a proof, that even there courage ought to be
tempered with discretion.
** Stowe, p. 491. Herbert.
*** Holingshed, p. 816.
Great preparations had been making at land, during the whole winter,
for an invasion on France by the way of Calais; but the summer was well
advanced before every thing was in sufficient readiness for the intended
enterprise. The long peace which the kingdom had enjoyed had somewhat
unfitted the English for military expeditions; and the great change
which had lately been introduced in the art of war, had rendered
it still more difficult to inure them to the use of the weapons now
employed in action. The Swiss, and after them the Spaniards, had shown
the advantage of a stable infantry, who fought with pike and sword, and
were able to repulse even the heavy-armed cavalry, in which the great
force of the armies formerly consisted. The practice of firearms was
become common; though the caliver, which was the weapon now in use, was
so inconvenient, and attended with so many disadvantages, that it had
not entirely discredited the bow, a weapon in which the English excelled
all European nations. A considerable part of the forces which Henry
levied for the invasion of France consisted of archers; and as soon as
affairs were in readiness, the vanguard of the army, amounting to eight
thousand men, under the command of the earl of Shrewsbury, sailed over
to Calais. Shrewsbury was accompanied by the earl of Derby, the lords
Fitzwater, Hastings, Cobham, and Sir Rice ap Thomas, captain of the
light horse. Another body of six thousand men soon after followed under
the command of Lord Herbert the chamberlain, attended by the earls of
Northumberland and Kent, the lords Audley and Delawar, together with
Carew, Curson, and other gentlemen.
The king himself prepared to follow with the main body and rear of
the army; and he appointed the queen regent of the kingdom during his
absence. That he might secure her administration from all disturbance,
he ordered Edmond de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, to be beheaded in the
Tower, the nobleman who had been attainted and imprisoned during the
late reign. Henry was led to commit this act of violence by the dying
commands, as is imagined, of his father, who told him that he never
would be free from danger while a man of so turbulent a disposition as
Suffolk was alive. And as Richard de la Pole, brother of Suffolk, had
accepted of a command in the French service, and foolishly attempted
to revive the York faction, and to instigate them against the present
government, he probably by that means drew more suddenly the King’s
vengeance on this unhappy nobleman.
At last, Henry, attended by the duke of Buckingham and many others of
the nobility, arrived at Calais, and entered upon his French expedition,
from which he fondly expected so much success and glory.[*] Of all those
allies on whose assistance he relied, the Swiss alone fully performed
their engagements. Being put in motion by a sum of money sent them by
Henry, and incited by their victories obtained in Italy and by their
animosity against France, they were preparing to enter that kingdom with
an army of twenty-five thousand men; and no equal force could be opposed
to their incursion. Maximilian had received an advance of one hundred
and twenty thousand crowns from Henry, and had promised to reënforce the
Swiss with eight thousand men, but failed in his engagements. That
he might make atonement to the king, he himself appeared in the Low
Countries, and joined the English army with some German and Flemish
soldiers, who were useful in giving an example of discipline to Henry’s
new-levied forces. Observing the disposition of the English monarch
to be more bent on glory than on interest, he enlisted himself in his
service, wore the cross of St. George, and received pay, a hundred
crowns a day, as one of his subjects and captains. But while he
exhibited this extraordinary spectacle, of an emperor of Germany serving
under a king of England, he was treated with the highest respect by
Henry, and really directed all the operations of the English army.
* Polyd. Virg. lib. xxvii. Bellarius, lib. xiv.
Before the arrival of Henry and Maximilian in the camp, the earl of
Shrewsbury and Lord Herbert had formed the siege of Terouane, a town
situated on the frontiers of Picardy; and they began to attack the place
with vigor. Teligni and Crequi commanded in the town, and had a garrison
not exceeding two thousand men; yet made they such stout resistance as
protracted the siege a month; and they at last found themselves more in
danger from want of provisions and ammunition than from the assaults of
the besiegers. Having conveyed intelligence of their situation to Lewis,
who had advanced to Amiens with his army, that prince gave orders to
throw relief into the place. Fontrailles appeared at the head of eight
hundred horsemen, each of whom carried a sack of gunpowder behind him,
and two quarters of bacon. With this small force he made a sudden
and unexpected irruption into the English camp, and, surmounting all
resistance, advanced to the fosse of the town, where each horseman threw
down his burden. They immediately returned at the gallop, and were so
fortunate as again to break through the English and to suffer little or
no loss in this dangerous attempt.[*]
But the English had, soon after, full revenge for the insult. Henry
had received intelligence of the approach of the French horse, who had
advanced to protect another incursion of Fontrailles; and he ordered
some troops to pass the Lis, in order to oppose them. The cavalry of
France, though they consisted chiefly of gentlemen, who had behaved with
great gallantry in many desperate actions in Italy, were, on sight of
the enemy, seized with so unaccountable a panic, that they immediately
took to flight, and were pursued by the English. The duke of
Longueville, who commanded the French, Bussi d’Amboise, Clermont,
Imbercourt, the chevalier Bayard, and many other officers of distinction
were made prisoners.[**] This action, or rather rout, is sometimes
called the battle of Guinegate, from the place where it was fought; but
more commonly the “battle of spurs,” because the French that day made
more use of their spurs than of their swords or military weapons.
* Hist. de Chev. Bayard, chap. 57. Mémoires de Bellai.
** Mémoires de Bellai, liv. i. Polyd. Virg. liv. xxvii.
Holingshed, p. 822. Herbert.
After so considerable an advantage, the king, who was at the head of a
complete army of above fifty thousand men, might have made incursions to
the gates of Paris, and spread confusion and desolation every where. It
gave Lewis great joy when he heard that the English, instead of pushing
their victory, and attacking the dismayed troops of France, returned to
the siege of so inconsiderable a place as Terouane. The governors were
obliged soon after to capitulate; and Henry found his acquisition of so
little moment, though gained at the expense of some blood, and what, in
his present circumstances, was more important, of much valuable time,
that he immediately demolished the fortifications. The anxieties of the
French were again revived with regard to the motions of the English. The
Swiss at the same time had entered Burgundy with a formidable army, and
laid siege to Dijon, which was in no condition to resist them. Ferdinand
himself, though he had made a truce with Lewis, seemed disposed to lay
hold of every advantage which fortune should present to him. Scarcely
ever was the French monarchy in greater danger, or less in a condition
to defend itself against those powerful armies which on every side
assailed or threatened it. Even many of the inhabitants of Paris, who
believed themselves exposed to the rapacity and violence of the enemy,
began to dislodge, without knowing what place could afford them greater
security.
But Lewis was extricated from his present difficulties by the manifold
blunders of his enemies. The Swiss allowed themselves to be seduced into
a negotiation by Tremoille, governor of Burgundy; and without making
inquiry whether that nobleman had any powers to treat, they accepted of
the conditions which he offered them. Tremoille, who knew that he should
be disavowed by his master, stipulated whatever they were pleased to
demand; and thought himself happy, at the expense of some payments and
very large promises, to get rid of so formidable an enemy.[*]
The measures of Henry showed equal ignorance in the art of war with that
of the Swiss in negotiation. Tournay was a great and rich city, which,
though it lay within the frontiers of Flanders, belonged to France,
and afforded the troops of that kingdom a passage into the heart of the
Netherlands. Maximilian, who was desirous of freeing his grandson from
so troublesome a neighbor, advised Henry to lay siege to the place; and
the English monarch, not considering that such an acquisition nowise
advanced his conquests in France, was so imprudent as to follow this
interested counsel. The city of Tournay, by its ancient charters,
being exempted from the burden of a garrison, the burghers, against the
remonstrance of their sovereign, strenuously insisted on maintaining
this dangerous privilege; and they engaged, by themselves, to make a
vigorous defence against the enemy.[**] Their courage failed them
when matters came to trial; and after a few days’ siege, the place was
surrendered to the English. The bishop of Tournay was lately dead; and
as a new bishop was already elected by the chapter, but not installed
in his office, the king bestowed the administration of the see on his
favorite Wolsey, and put him in immediate possession of the revenues,
which were considerable.[***]
* Mémoires du Mareschal de Fleuranges. Bellarius, lib. xiv.
** Mémoires de Fleuranges.
*** Strype’s Memorials, vol. i. p. 5, 6.
Hearing of the retreat of the Swiss, and observing the season to be far
advanced, he thought proper to return to England; and he carried the
greater part of his army with him. Success had attended him in every
enterprise; and his youthful mind was much elated with this seeming
prosperity, but all men of judgment, comparing the advantages of his
situation with his progress, his expense with his acquisitions, were
convinced that this campaign, so much vaunted, was, in reality, both
ruinous and inglorious to him.[*]
* Guicciardini.
The success which, during this summer, had attended Henry’s arms in the
north, was much more decisive. The king of Scotland had assembled the
whole force of his kingdom; and having passed the Tweed with a brave,
though a tumultuary army of above fifty thousand men, he ravaged those
parts of Northumberland which lay nearest that river, and he employed
himself in taking the Castles of Norham, Etal, Werke, Ford, and other
places of small importance. Lady Ford, being taken prisoner in her
castle, was presented to James, and so gained on the affections of that
prince, that he wasted in pleasure the critical time which, during the
absence of his enemy, he should have employed in pushing his conquests.
His troops, lying in a barren country, where they soon consumed all the
provisions, began to be pinched with hunger; and as the authority of
the prince was feeble, and military discipline during that age extremely
relaxed, many of them had stolen from the camp, and retired homewards.
Meanwhile, the earl of Surrey, having collected a force of twenty-six
thousand men, of which five thousand had been sent over from the king’s
army in France, marched to the defence of the country, and approached
the Scots, who lay on some high ground near the hills of Cheviot. The
River Till ran between the armies, and prevented an engagement: Surrey
therefore sent a herald to the Scottish camp, challenging the enemy to
descend into the plain of Milfield, which lay towards the south; and
there, appointing a day for the combat, to try their valor on equal
ground. As he received no satisfactory answer, he made a feint of
marching towards Berwick; as if he intended to enter Scotland, to lay
waste the borders, and cut off the provisions of the enemy. The Scottish
army, in order to prevent his purpose, put themselves in motion; and
having set fire to the huts in which they had quartered, they descended
from the hills. Surrey, taking advantage of the smoke, which was blown
towards him, and which concealed his movements, passed the Till with his
artillery and vanguard at the bridge of Twisel, and sent the rest of his
army to seek a ford higher up the river.
An engagement was now become inevitable, and both sides prepared for it
with tranquillity and order.[*] The English divided their army into
two lines: Lord Howard led the main body of the first line, Sir Edmond
Howard the right wing, Sir Marmaduke Constable the left. The earl of
Surrey himself commanded the main body of the second line, Lord Dacres
the right wing, Sir Edward Stanley the left. The front of the Scots
presented three divisions to the enemy: the middle was led by the king
himself; the right by the earl of Huntley, assisted by Lord Hume; the
left by the earls of Lenox and Argyle. A fourth division under the earl
of Bothwell made a body of reserve. Huntley began the battle, and, after
a sharp conflict, put to flight the left wing of the English, and chased
them off the field: but on returning from the pursuit, he found the
whole Scottish army in great disorder. The division under Lenox and
Argyle, elated with the success of the other wing, had broken their
ranks, and, notwithstanding the remonstrances and entreaties of La
Motte, the French ambassador, had rushed headlong upon the enemy. Not
only Sir Edmond Howard, at the head of his division, received them with
great valor, but Dacres, who commanded in the second line, wheeling
about during the action, fell upon their rear, and put them to the sword
without resistance. The division under James and that under Bothwell,
animated by the valor of their leaders, still made head against the
English, and throwing themselves into a circle, protracted the action,
till night separated the combatants. The victory seemed yet undecided,
and the numbers that fell on each side were nearly equal, amounting to
above five thousand men: but the morning discovered where the advantage
lay. The English had lost only persons of small note; but the flower
of the Scottish nobility had fallen in battle, and their king himself,
after the most diligent inquiry, could nowhere be found. In searching
the field, the English met with a dead body which resembled him, and was
arrayed in a similar habit; and they put it in a leaden coffin, and sent
it to London. During some time it was kept unburied; because James died
under sentence of ex-communication, on account of his confederacy
with France, and his opposition to the holy see:[**] but upon Henry’s
application, who pretended that this prince had, in the instant before
his death, discovered signs of repentance, absolution was given him, and
his body was interred.
* Buchanan, lib. xiii. Drummond. Herbert. Polyd. Virg. lib.
xxvii. Stowe, p. 493. Paulus Jovius.
** Buchanan, lib. xiii. Herbert.
The Scots, however, still asserted that it was not James’s body which
was found on the field of battle, but that of one Elphinston, who had
been arrayed in arms resembling their king’s, in order to divide the
attention of the English, and share the danger with his master. It was
believed that James had been seen crossing the Tweed at Kelso;* and some
imagined that he had been killed by the vassals of Lord Hume, whom that
nobleman had instigated to commit so enormous a crime. But the populace
entertained the opinion that he was still alive, and having secretly
gone in pilgrimage to the Holy Land, would soon return and take
possession of the throne. This fond conceit was long entertained among
the Scots.
The king of Scotland and most of his chief nobles being slain in the
field of Flouden, (so this battle was called,) an inviting opportunity
was offered to Henry of gaining advantages over that kingdom, perhaps
of reducing it to subjection. But he discovered on this occasion a mind
truly great and generous. When the queen of Scotland, Margaret, who
was created regent during the infancy of her son, applied for peace, he
readily granted it; and took compassion of the helpless condition of
his sister and nephew. The earl of Surrey, who had gained him so great
a victory, was restored to the title of duke of Norfolk, which had been
forfeited by his father for engaging on the side of Richard III.
{1514.} Lord Howard was honored with the title of earl of Surrey.
Sir Charles Brandon, the king’s favorite, whom he had before created
Viscount Lisle, was now raised to the dignity of duke of Suffolk.
Wolsey, who was both his favorite and his minister, was created bishop
of Lincoln. Lord Herbert obtained the title of earl of Worcester; Sir
Edward Stanley, that of Lord Monteagle.
Though peace with Scotland gave Henry security on that side, and enabled
him to prosecute in tranquillity his enterprise against France, some
other incidents had happened, which more than counterbalanced this
fortunate event, and served to open his eyes with regard to the rashness
of an undertaking, into which his youth and high fortune had betrayed
him.
Lewis, fully sensible of the dangerous situation to which his kingdom
had been reduced during the former campaign, was resolved, by every
expedient, to prevent the return of like perils, and to break the
confederacy of his enemies. The pope was nowise disposed to push the
French to extremity; and provided they did not return to take possession
of Milan, his interests rather led him to preserve the balance among the
contending parties. He accepted, therefore, of Lewis’s offer to renounce
the council of Lyons; and he took off the excommunication which his
predecessor and himself had fulminated against that king and his
kingdom. Ferdinand was now fast declining in years, and as he
entertained no further ambition than that of keeping possession of
Navarre, which he had subdued by his arms and policy, he readily
hearkened to the proposals of Lewis for prolonging the truce another
year; and he even showed an inclination of forming a more intimate
connection with that monarch. Lewis had dropped hints of his intention
to marry his second daughter, Renée, either to Charles, prince of Spain,
or his brother Ferdinand, both of them grandsons of the Spanish monarch;
and he declared his resolution of bestowing on her, as her portion, his
claim to the duchy of Milan. Ferdinand not only embraced these proposals
with joy, but also engaged the emperor Maximilian in the same views, and
procured his accession to a treaty which opened so inviting a prospect
of aggrandizing their common grandchildren.
When Henry was informed of Ferdinand’s renewal of the truce with
Lewis, he fell into a violent rage, and loudly complained, that his
father-in-law had first, by high promises and professions, engaged him
in enmity with France, and afterwards, without giving him the least
warning, had now again sacrificed his interests to his own selfish
purposes, and had left him exposed alone to all the danger and expense
of the war. In proportion to his easy credulity, and his unsuspecting
reliance on Ferdinand, was the vehemence with which he exclaimed against
the treatment which he met with; and he threatened revenge for this
egregious treachery and breach of faith.[*] But he lost all patience
when informed of the other negotiation, by which Maximilian was also
seduced from his alliance, and in which proposals had been agreed to
for the marriage of the prince of Spain with the daughter of France.
Charles, during the lifetime of the late king, had been affianced to
Mary, Henry’s younger sister; and as the prince now approached the
age of puberty, the king had expected the immediate completion of the
marriage, and the honorable settlement of a sister for whom he had
entertained a tender affection. Such a complication, therefore, of
injuries gave him the highest displeasure, and inspired him with a
desire of expressing his disdain towards those who had imposed on his
youth and inexperience, and had abused his too great facility.
* Petrus de Angleria, Epist. 545, 646.
The duke of Longueville, who had been made prisoner at the battle of
Gumegate, and who was still detained in England, was ready to take
advantage of all these dispositions of Henry, in order to procure a
peace, and even an alliance, which he knew to be passionately desired
by his master. He represented to the king, that Anne, queen of France,
being lately dead, a door was thereby opened for an affinity, which
might tend to the advantage of both kingdoms, and which would serve to
terminate honorably all the differences between them: that she had left
Lewis no male children; and as he had ever entertained a strong desire
of having heirs to the crown, no marriage seemed more suitable to him
than that with the princess of England, whose youth and beauty afforded
the most flattering hopes in that particular: that though the marriage
of a princess of sixteen with a king of fifty-three might seem
unsuitable, yet the other advantages attending the alliance were more
than a sufficient compensation for this inequality; and that Henry, in
loosening his connections with Spain, from which he had never reaped
any advantage, would contract a close affinity with Lewis, a prince
who, through his whole life, had invariably maintained the character of
probity and honor.
As Henry seemed to hearken to this discourse with willing ears,
Longueville informed his master of the probability which he discovered
of bringing the matter to a happy conclusion; and he received full
powers for negotiating the treaty. The articles were easily adjusted
between the monarchs. Louis agreed that Tournay should remain in the
hands of the English; that Richard de la Pole should be banished to
Metz, there to live on a pension assigned him by Lewis; that Henry
should receive payment of a million of crowns, being the arrears due
by treaty to his father and himself; and that the princess Mary should
bring four hundred thousand crowns as her portion, and enjoy as large
a jointure as any queen of France, even the former, who was heiress of
Brittany. The two princes also agreed on the succors with which they
should mutually supply each other, in case either of them was attacked
by an enemy.[*]
In consequence of this treaty, Mary was sent over to France with a
splendid retinue; and Lewis met her at Abbeville, where the espousals
were celebrated. He was enchanted with the beauty, grace, and numerous
accomplishments of the young princess; and being naturally of an amorous
disposition, which his advanced age had not entirely cooled, he was
seduced into such a course of gayety and pleasure, as proved very
unsuitable to his declining state of health.[**]
* Du Tillet.
** Brantome, Eloge de Louis XII.
{1515.} He died in less than three months after the marriage, to the
extreme regret of the French nation, who, sensible of his tender concern
for their welfare, gave him with one voice the honorable appellation of
“father of his people.”
Francis, duke of Angoulême, a youth of one and twenty, who had married
Lewis’s eldest daughter, succeeded him on the throne; and, by his
activity, valor, generosity, and other virtues, gave prognostics of a
happy and glorious reign. This young monarch had been extremely
struck with the charms of the English princess; and even during his
predecessor’s lifetime, had paid her such assiduous court, as made some
of his friends apprehend that he had entertained views of gallantry
towards her. But being warned that, by indulging this passion, he
might probably exclude himself from the throne he forbore all further
addresses; and even watched the young dowager with a very careful eye
during the first months of her widowhood. Charles Brandon, duke of
Suffolk, was at that time in the court of France, the most comely
personage of his time, and the most accomplished in all the exercises
which were then thought to befit a courtier and a soldier. He was
Henry’s chief favorite; and that monarch had even once entertained
thoughts of marrying him to his sister, and had given indulgence to the
mutual passion which took place between them. The queen asked Suffolk,
whether he had now the courage, without further reflection, to espouse
her; and she told him that her brother would more easily forgive him for
not asking his consent, than for acting contrary to his orders. Suffolk
declined not so inviting an offer; and their nuptials were secretly
celebrated at Paris. Francis, who was pleased with this marriage, as
it prevented Henry from forming any powerful alliance by means of
his sister,[*] interposed his good offices in appeasing him: and even
Wolsey, having entertained no jealousy of Suffolk, who was content to
participate in the king’s pleasures, and had no ambition to engage in
public business, was active in reconciling the king to his sister and
brother-in-law; and he obtained them permission to return to England.
* Petrus de Angleria, Epist. 544.