THE ENGLISHMEN IN PARIS
On Monday, September 28, before the marriage, Montjoye, the French
Herald, had carried the French challenge to England, and the jousts had
been proclaimed at Canterbury by the Garter King at Arms. The date now
had been definitely fixed for November 13, and nothing else was talked
of in Paris, while the Dauphin was and had been so busy with the
arrangements that he had not attended any councils, nor taken part in
any of the deliberations with the English ambassadors.[341] The Earl of
Dorset had no very exalted opinion of him as a jouster, and he told
Wolsey that "we found him and his company not like as they have been
named; for though they do run trimly and handle themself well [enough]
with their small and light staves, they could not well trim themselves
in their harn[ess but] be content to have our poor advices."[342] But if
he knew little about harness he took delight in organizing the
ceremonies of the occasion, and erected an arch triumphant at Les
Tournelles, in the rue St Antoine, on which four shields were to be
placed, and the rules were "that he who would touch any of them must
first enter his name and arms. That he who touched the first which was
silver should run at tilt according to the articles, who touched the
golden should run at Randon as above mentioned. He that touched the
black shield should fight on foot with hand spears or swords for the one
hand: six foynes with the hand spear, and then eight strokes to the most
advantage (if the spear so long held), and after that twelve strokes
with the sword. He that touched the tawny shield should cast a spear on
foot with a target on his arm and after fight with a two-handed
sword."[343] The weather made the preparations difficult. It poured
constantly, and the floor of the lists was every day a serious question,
for the sand strewn upon it was daily washed away.[344] Francis was
determined that the tourney should outshine in all things the tales he
had heard of English magnificence, and money flowed like water, "une
véritable débauche d'or et d'argent." Armourers, painters and tailors
were all reaping a golden harvest, and he borrowed and bought horses
wherever he could.[345] It was all for a woman's eyes too, for the
Dauphin's passion for his mother-in-law was becoming notorious, and the
story goes that he had even arranged to surprise Mary one night in her
room, but was prevented by a friend of his own, whose reasoning was too
forcible to be disregarded.[346] His mother also remonstrated, and it
was possibly at this time that Suffolk had "words" with him. Francis had
to content himself with outdoing his rival in millinery, for it was
absurd that he should have even hoped to overcome him in the lists, and
for this he had no opportunity, though Suffolk had hoped and longed to
come to strokes with the French King, and, failing him, with Francis.
Suffolk and Dorset rode with the Dauphin's other _aides_, and wore, like
the rest, cloth of gold covered with cloth of silver with trappings of
cloth of gold and crimson satin for their horses. The officers of the
lists, the musicians, and all connected with the fête were glittering in
the same stuffs. At last the longed-for Monday arrived. Louis was so
feeble that he was carried in a litter and lay on a couch in the royal
stand, while Mary sat beside him. She was received, as usual, with
acclamation. From the very opening of the jousts the English champions
were the heroes of the crowd, especially Suffolk, whose prowess easily
placed him first. All the chivalry of France was there: Bourbon,
Lorraine, St Pol, Aragon [the bastard], Lautrec, Bayard, Bonnivet,
Montmorency; and the Marquis of Dorset modestly described the English
fortunes to Wolsey. On Monday, the 13th inst., the jousts began, and
continued three days. The Duke of Suffolk and he ran three days and lost
nothing. One Frenchman was slain at the tilt and divers horses. "On
Saturday, the 18th, the tourney and course in the field began as roughly
as ever I saw, for there were divers times both horse and man
overthrown, horses slain and one French man hurt that he is not like to
live. My lord of Suffolk and I ran the first day thereat, but put our
_aides_ thereto because there was no nobleman to be put unto us; but
poor men of arms and Scots, many of them, were hurt on both sides, but
no great hurt, and of our Englishmen none overthrown nor greatly hurt
but a little of their hands." On Tuesday, the 21st, the fighting on foot
began, "to the which they brought an Almayn that never came into the
field before and put him to my lord of Suffolk to have us put to shame,
but advantage they gat none of us, but rather the contrary. I forbear
to write more of our chances because I am party therein. I ended without
any manner hurt. My lord of Suffolk is a little hurt in his hand."[347]
The overwhelming superiority of his rival roused all that was meanest in
Francis. He had been slightly wounded in the hand, a mere nothing, which
sent his mother into convulsions, and therefore not being present, he,
as Dorset said above, "brought a man secretly which in all the court of
France was the tallest and strongest man; and he was an Almayn; and put
him in the place of another person to have had the Duke of Suffolk
rebuked. The same great Almayn came to the bars fiercely with face hid,
because he would not be known, and bare his spear to the Duke of Suffolk
with all his strength, and the Duke him received, and for all his
strength put him by strong strokes from the barriers, and with the butt
end of the spear strake the Almayn that he staggered; but for all that
the Almayn strake strongly and hardly at the Duke, and the judges
suffered many more strokes to be foughten than were appointed; but when
they saw the Almayn reel and stagger then they let fall the rail between
them."[348] "Then they took some breath and returned to fight again;
when the Duke so pommelled the Almayn about the head that blood gushed
from his nose, which being done the Almayn was conveyed away
secretly."[349] And so Francis was hoist with his own petard, and gained
neither fight nor mistress, for Mary's feelings, national and personal,
were roused to scorn by this attempt to steal her lover's glory. She had
already complained to the English ambassadors of his attentions as
would seem by Suffolk's letter of November 18, when he said the Queen
had disclosed to him and to Dorset divers things which they felt they
could not wholly repeat to their fellow ambassadors or write safely in a
letter, but which made them anxious to leave her in the hands of good
friends.[350] Louis, in his love for his wife, his hatred of his
successor, and his honest appreciation of a good fight, was entirely in
sympathy with his wife, and told her, she repeated exultingly to the
Englishmen, that they had shamed all France and that they would carry
the prize into England.[351] Francis was for the moment eclipsed, and
Louis consulted him no more, but transacted business in his bedroom with
Mary by his side. But the Dauphin was of that enviable band who never
feel the shame of defeat and never allow mere personal feelings to
interfere with their future, and he gave up for the moment his pursuit
of his mother-in-law and threw himself just as ardently into his
intrigue with Madame de Châteaubriant.
[341] La Maulde Clavière, _op. cit._ 370.
[342] L. and P. H. VIII., i. 5569; Calig. D. vi. 188.
[343] Herbert's Life of Henry VIII., p. 51 _et seq._
[344] La Maulde Clavière, _op. cit._ 377.
[345] _Ibid._
[346] _Ibid._, 383.
[347] L. and P. H. VIII., i. 5606; Calig. D. vi. 192.
[348] Hall's Chronicle, ed. 1809, p. 572.
[349] Herbert's Life of Henry VIII., p. 51 _et seq._
[350] L. and P. H. VIII., i. 5590; Calig. D. vi. 156.
[351] _Ibid._, i. 5606; Calig. D. vi. 192.
The Earl of Dorset and the other ambassadors, all pensioners of the
French treasury, were to return to England on the 27th or 28th, but
Suffolk, who had received a large sum of money and also a pension,
remained to transact some secret business for the recovery of Navarre.
The departure of the English marked practically the close of the
marriage festivities, for with the exception of another "repas
pantagruélique" at the Hotel de Ville, given by the city to the Queen
and Court, followed by a florid oration from a deputation from the
University, Mary lived quietly with her husband at St Germains-en-Laye,
whither the Court had retired on the 23rd.
[Illustration: FRANCIS I
FROM THE PAINTING IN THE LOUVRE (FRENCH SCHOOL)]
The French chroniclers, who suggest that Mary's one idea was to have a
son, and to give an heir to France, go certain lengths in their
inferences which are not borne out by such contemporary papers as are to
be found. Above all, they presuppose that the Queen was capable of a
subtle policy to supplant the Dauphin with his own bastard, or failing
that with Suffolk's. Against the first possibility has to be put the
fact that she was in love with Suffolk, and that this constantly overlay
her attitude to Francis, for she was always more woman than queen;
against the second, that Suffolk's career depended entirely on his
master's pleasure and his happiness on the famous water-side promise, so
that it would have been sheer madness in him to have risked either, when
before his eyes Death was preparing to do his part in his future
felicity. Why should he be the lover of his master's sister and heir,
when a few months might see him her husband? He was also ambitious. The
judgment of French writers falls short of the events, and is bound up
with the sentiment of Francis' couplet,
"Souvent femme varie
bien fol qui s'y fie.--"
Above all, Mary had no political genius, and one suspects her of being
mentally incapable of either conceiving or carrying out such a plan.
The second week in December saw Suffolk depart, carrying with him the
good wishes of Louis, who said he had seldom seen a man he liked better,
and wrote to Henry that his "virtues, manners, politeness, and good
condition" deserved the greatest honours.[352] The secret business had
been dispatched. Henry, to revenge himself on Spain and Flanders,
revived his father's policy, and wanted to claim the throne of Castile
in the right of his wife, and he asked Louis to co-operate in Navarre.
On this subject the King and the Duke mutually groped at one another
with pleasant words, till they arrived at the conclusion that Louis was
willing to join Henry, but in return pressed his own claims on Milan,
and asked for help towards the recovery of that duchy. Suffolk also bore
the news that the King of France was desperately ill, for it was easily
seen that the doctors had been right and that Louis would never recover
the strength shattered by his marriage. The change from methodical
sobriety to fêtes and late hours; he used to go to bed at six, and now
it was generally midnight; the constant excitement and movement were too
much for his feeble health, and, as has been seen, he had spent much of
the time since his marriage in bed or on a couch. Fleurange's
contemporary account of these last days is worth quoting: "Le roi partit
du palais (S. Germain-en-Laye) et s'en vint loger aux Tournelles à Paris
parce-que le lieu est en meilleur air, et aussi ne se sentait pas fort
bien, car il avait voulu faire du gentil compagnon avec sa femme; mais
il s'abusait, car il n'était pas homme pour ce faire: car de longtemps
il était fort malade et spécialement des gouttes, et avoir déjà cinq ou
six ans qu'il en avait cuidé mourir, car il fut abandonné par les
médecins et vivait d'un merveilleusement grand régime lequel il rompit
quand il fut avec sa femme; et lui disaient bien les médecins que s'il
continuait il en mourrait pour se jouir. Ceux de la basoche à Paris
disaient que le roi d'Angleterre avait envoyé une hacquenée au roi de
France pour le porter bientôt et plus doucement en enfer ou au paradis.
Toutefois lui étant malade envoya quérir Monsieur d'Angoulême, et lui
dit qu'il se trouvait fort mal et que jamais n'en échaperait; de
laquelle chose le dit sieur le reconfortait à son pouvoir, et qu'il
faisait ce qu'il pouvait. Et fit le dit seigneur Roi à sa mort tout
plein de mines; Nonobstant quand il se fut bien défendu contre la mort
il mourut par un premier jour de l'an, sur lequel jour fit le plus
horrible temps que jamais on vit."[353]
[352] L. and P. H. VIII., i. 5717; Calig. D. vi. 146.
[353] Fleurange, _op. cit._, xlv. 271 _et seq._
The traditional picture of Mary during these days shows her at his
bedside, amusing him by singing and playing, and the last letter of
Louis XII., written a few days before his death to Henry VIII., is in
praise of his wife, "who has hitherto conducted herself, and still does
every day towards me in such a manner that I cannot but be delighted
with her, and love and honour her more and more each day."[354]
Tradition also says that she was kept in ignorance of her husband's
hopeless condition, and that on the night of his death she had gone off
to bed as usual, believing that this was only a rather worse
attack.[355] But the young Queen had eyes in her head and could use
them, and that she was expecting the event and that Suffolk had gone
home prepared for it is seen by Wolsey's letter of the last days of
December, or the early days of January, wherein he offers his
consolation in the danger, and perhaps death, of the King, for "in
likelihood or this time he is departed to the mercy of God," and though
she was not there at midnight when the long struggle ended, her
representatives were.
[354] L. and P. H. VIII., i. 5717; Calig. D. vi. 146.
[355] "Epitre de la reine Marie: Epitres Morales et Familières,"
J. Bouchet.
Thus, on New Year's Day, 1515, the Dauphin's lucky day, Francis I. began
to reign at Paris, while the same day Brussels saw her Prince also take
up the reins of government.