MARGARET'S CORRESPONDENCE
After a reign of twenty-three years Henry VII. died at Richmond on the
21st of April 1509, and the whole aspect of affairs was suddenly
changed. He, like his rival Ferdinand, had been avaricious from
deliberate policy; and his avarice was largely instrumental in
founding England's coming greatness, for the accumulated riches he
left to his son lent force to the new position assumed by England as
the balancing power, courted by both the great Continental rivals. The
new king, Henry VIII., was a very different man from his father. From
the time when he ascended the throne, at the age of eighteen, he
adopted an opposite policy.
Ambitious and incautious, and immeasurably vain, he courted rather
than evaded diplomatic complications. The death of Henry VII. had
indeed cleared away many obstacles; Ferdinand had profoundly
mistrusted him, but with the younger Henry as king affairs stood
differently. Even before his father's death Ferdinand had taken pains
to assure him of his love, and had treated him as a sovereign over the
old king's head.
The news of Henry VII.'s death was longer in reaching Spain than might
have been expected. First a courier arrived from Flanders, who had met
another Spanish courier in France, who came from England, and informed
him that King Henry was dead. Thus King Ferdinand remained for some
time in uncertainty whether his adversary was dead or alive. He did
not wait for the arrival of positive news, but at once ratified the
treaty of marriage between Prince Charles and the Princess Mary. King
Ferdinand may have preferred a Portuguese alliance for his grandson,
or a marriage with the Princess of Bohemia; but the chief advantage
was that no immediate danger was attached to the English marriage. As
Prince Charles was only nine years old, King Ferdinand could trust to
time, and felt tolerably sure to find more than one pretext for
breaking off the engagement before the betrothal could become an
indissoluble union.
On the 3rd of June 1509 Henry VIII. married Princess Katharine of
Aragon, his brother Arthur's widow, and on the 24th of the same month
their coronation took place at Westminster.
On the 17th of July the new king wrote to his father-in-law, King
Ferdinand, to inform him that he and Queen Katharine had been solemnly
crowned on the day of St. John the Baptist. He mentions that his
father died a good Catholic, after having received the holy Sacrament;
and that his burial had been magnificent.
Henry adds that 'he diverts himself with jousts, birding, hunting, and
other innocent and honest pastimes, also in visiting different parts
of his kingdom; but does not on that account neglect affairs of
state.'
In the meanwhile Maximilian had gone to Trent, and from there had
written to thank Louis XII. for having helped him to recover his
former territories. As a proof of his eternal gratitude he mentions
that he has burnt his 'red book,' which was kept at Spire, in which he
entered all his grievances against France. As a sign of friendship
Louis sent the Cardinal of Amboise to meet Maximilian at Trent with
promises to provide him with four thousand men. The emperor in return
conferred upon Louis a new investiture of the duchy of Milan,
including the newly won towns and territories.
A day was fixed for a meeting between the emperor and the French king
near the border town of Garde. Louis kept the rendezvous, but
Maximilian did not go farther than Riva di Trento; after staying there
for two hours, he abruptly returned to Trent and sent word to Louis
that he had been recalled on matters of urgent business, but begged
for another interview at Cremona, which he promised faithfully to
attend. The indecision shown by Maximilian in this instance has been
attributed to suspicions he entertained as to his old enemy's good
faith. But Louis was naturally annoyed at these marks of distrust, and
being anxious to recross the Alps, he returned to Milan without
waiting any longer for his ally.
It was fortunate for King Ferdinand that Henry VII. had been excluded
from the League of Cambray, as it left his son (Henry VIII.) free to
act as he thought convenient. The Spanish king resolved to make use of
his son-in-law's liberty, and wrote a letter to his daughter Katharine
on the 13th of September in which he spoke in general terms of the
affairs of Venice, and referred her to an accompanying letter in
cipher, in which his views on the subject were fully detailed. In
replying on the 1st of November, King Henry thanked his father-in-law
for having communicated to him his views on Venetian affairs, praised
his wisdom and moderation in rejecting his confederates' iniquitous
proposal to entirely destroy Venice, and enlarged on the necessity of
preserving the republic, which formed a wall against the Turks. Before
the month was out Henry was a zealous advocate of the Venetian
republic, and interfered in its behalf in Rome, in France, and with
the emperor, furnishing King Ferdinand at the same time with an
excellent pretext for advising his allies to reconsider the question
whether Venice should be destroyed or not. The voice of England was,
after a long interruption, heard once more in the councils of Europe
on a measure of general policy. The King of France seems to have
regarded the unexpected audacity of his young neighbour with a feeling
of surprise mingled with contempt. King Louis' answer was very
uncivil, and Frenchmen boasted openly that they would soon make war
upon England in order to punish her for her arrogance. As for these
threats King Ferdinand truly observed that France was not in a
position to attack England.
In 1509 the Venetians, taking advantage of Maximilian's vacillation,
recaptured Padua. The surrounding population and peasantry immediately
rose in favour of the republic, which recovered the town and fortress
of Legnago. Padua's capitulation did not prevent Louis XII. from
recrossing the Alps after he had concluded a new treaty with Pope
Julius II. at Biagrassa, in which they mutually promised to help each
other. Maximilian now decided to crush the republic by a decisive blow
in laying siege to the capital. But although Louis seemed to agree
with this plan, the Pope disapproved, and Ferdinand formally opposed
it.
The emperor finding it impossible to lay siege to Venice without help
from his allies, prepared to retake Padua; but after sixteen days of
firm resistance from the Venetian garrison, he withdrew to Limini, on
the way to Treviso. From there he went to Vicenza and Verona, bitterly
complaining of the treatment he had received from the Pope and the
King of France, because the former had consented to receive the
Venetian ambassadors, and the latter had caused the loss of Padua
through his delay in sending help. Having failed to retake Legnago,
Maximilian seemed inclined to make a truce with Venice, but the
republic turned a deaf ear to his advances, and he returned to Trent
discontented with himself and his allies.
Julius II.'s changeable policy increased the dissensions which
undermined the League. In spite of remonstrances from Maximilian's and
Louis' envoys, Julius wished to receive the Venetian ambassadors and
pardon the republic. He was secretly encouraged in this by the King of
Aragon and openly by the Archbishop of York, representing Henry VIII.
Julius thought he could save the republic by overthrowing the French
rule in Italy, and for this reason he made friends with England, and
encouraged the Swiss in their discontent with France.
In a long letter to his daughter Queen Katharine, written on November
18th, 1509, King Ferdinand says 'that he has touched on the subject of
the preservation of Venice in his negotiations with the King of
France, but very cautiously and without discovering his plans, his
intention being to keep his negotiations secret until he has won over
Maximilian. He tells Katharine that a short time ago Madame Margaret
sent her secretary to him. The secretary spoke about the alliance, but
he (Ferdinand) intends to make a further communication to Madame
Margaret, who is the person who has the greatest influence with her
father, and she would think herself honoured if so important a
business as the conclusion of the alliance were intrusted to her
hands. He begs Katharine to see that the English envoy who is sent to
Madame Margaret is an honest, intelligent, and discreet man,' and
adds, 'he must go alone and not be accompanied by any other person,
and it is necessary that he should be able to speak and express
himself well on the subject he has in hand.'[39]
[39] _Calendar of Spanish State Papers_, vol. ii.
In the following December Miguel Perez Almazan, King Ferdinand's First
Secretary of State, wrote to Margaret's secretary to inform him that
news had arrived that the King of France intended seizing the cities
of Verona and Vicenza; and that he was also making preparations to
besiege Venice on every side. 'If he should carry out his designs he
would probably become master of Italy and perhaps of Christendom,
unless the emperor and King Ferdinand take prompt means to stop him,
which they ought to do for the sake of their common grandson, Prince
Charles.' Almazan goes on to state that Henry VIII. had sent a letter
to King Ferdinand, in which he expressed a wish to enter into a close
alliance with Spain and the emperor. If such an alliance were
concluded the King of France would be kept from injuring the allies.
'This letter,' he says, 'is sent in order that the secretary may use
his influence with Madame Margaret, and induce her to help forward the
alliance between the emperor, Spain, and England; a task which is
certainly not difficult for her, and the execution of which would
secure her lasting fame.'[40]
[40] _Ibid._
Whilst Maximilian was trying to extract a subsidy for the continuance
of the Venetian war from the Diet at Augsburg, Julius II. was maturing
his plans. When the Venetian ambassadors accepted his proposed treaty
(24th of February 1510), he took them back into favour, and solemnly
gave them absolution.
Subjects and vassals of the Church were bidden to help the republic,
and Julius openly quarrelled with the Duke of Ferrara, who wished to
remain faithful to the League of Cambray. He urged Henry VIII. to
declare war against France, and King Ferdinand secretly did the same.
As the Pope observed, the object of the League of Cambray ceased to
exist.
At this crisis Louis XII. lost his faithful friend and able Minister,
Cardinal d'Amboise. He was succeeded by Florimond Robertet, who had
none of his predecessor's great qualities. The Cardinal died at Lyons
on the 26th of May 1510. André de Burgo was then Austrian ambassador
at the French Court, and writing to inform Margaret of the Cardinal's
death, he says, 'I assure you your House has suffered a great loss.'
Encouraged by the death of Georges d'Amboise, the Pope continued to
make preparations, and declared that God had chosen him to be the
Liberator of Italy. In spite of his age and infirmities he was present
at the siege of Mirandola, in January 1511, and entered the town by a
breach.
In 1512 he concluded a treaty with King Ferdinand and the Venetian
republic, which the allies called the 'Holy League.' The apparent
object of this League was to defend the unity of the Church, and
restore the ecclesiastical state; but the real object was directed
against France.
Julius II.'s designs were helped by the Swiss, who entered Italy more
than sixteen thousand strong, determined to re-establish Maximilian
Sforza in the duchy of Milan; but the Pope and his allies received a
check when a new general appeared at the head of the French army.
Louis XII. had made his nephew, Gaston de Foix, Duke of Nemours,
Governor of Lombardy. This young general of twenty-three soon
distinguished himself by winning three victories in three months. By a
well-planned march he brought help to the town of Milan, which was
left without means of defence; and forced the Swiss to recross the
mountains. He then obliged the Army of the League to raise the siege
of Bologna. After reconquering Brescia, which was occupied by the
Venetians, he marched on Ravenna, garrisoned by papal and Spanish
soldiers. But his troops had hardly begun the attack when the Army of
the League arrived with reinforcements. A battle took place on Easter
Sunday, April 11th, 1512, outside the walls of Ravenna. Gaston de
Foix, in the moment of victory, was surrounded, thrown from his horse
and killed, as he was charging the retreating Spaniards. His death was
disastrous to the French cause in Italy.
When Julius II. heard of Gaston's victories it is reported that he
tore his beard with rage. One of Margaret's correspondents writes:
'Madame, there is news from Rome... that after the Pope heard that
the Venetians had taken Brescia, he expressed the greatest joy
imaginable, and ordered the bells of Rome to be rung, fireworks, and
many other rejoicings; but since he heard that his people and the
Spaniards had retired from Bologna, he was much displeased, and caused
a strong and furious letter to be written to the Viceroy of Naples,
captain of the said Spaniards, ordering them to return to Bologna at
once, and on no account to leave; and, moreover, when he heard that
the French had retaken Brescia and slaughtered the Venetians, they say
he tore his beard with rage.'
During this struggle the emperor remained passive. Although he agreed
to Louis' proposed reforms, he evaded his promise to send German
bishops to the Council the French king had convoked at Lyons. The
truth was that Margaret had forbidden the bishops to attend. Louis
naturally complained, and threatened the princess with his
Government's displeasure. Margaret replied to his threats by
reproaching him with his conduct in reference to the Duke of Gueldres.
He protested that he had neither furnished the duke with men or money,
but she would not accept his excuses, and soon after successfully
formed a league between her father and the Kings of Spain and England,
which league she said represented the mystery of the Holy Trinity.
Julius II. died on the 21st of February 1513. He had been one of the
chief promoters of Italian independence, and through his warlike
policy had considerably enlarged the papal states.
On the 11th of March 1513 Cardinal John de Medicis, then in his
thirty-sixth year, was unanimously elected Pope by the twenty-four
Cardinals assembled in conclave. The new Pope (Leo X.), who was of a
peaceful and diplomatic nature, refused to ratify a treaty concluded
at Malines on the 5th of April in the same year between Margaret,
acting for her father, and Henry VIII.'s ambassadors; a treaty which
would have forced him to send the papal troops to invade Provence or
Dauphiny. He arranged a truce with Louis XII., who, after Gaston de
Foix's death, had lost most of his Italian possessions. The Sforzas
were reinstated in Milan, the Medicis in Florence, and Genoa became
once more a free republic; the king's army was beaten by the Swiss at
Novara, and by the English at Guinegate. A treaty signed at Blois, on
the 28th of March, was ratified at Venice on the 11th of April. The
Venetian republic agreed to help Louis to regain Milan and Genoa, and
the king promised to assist the Venetians to recover their territories
on the mainland, which were occupied by Maximilian's troops. The
political balance of Europe now depended entirely on the goodwill of
Henry VIII. On the 25th of May 1513 Jean le Veau wrote to Margaret
that 'the time had come to be firm, and that she ought to imitate the
English, who always showed their enmity against France.'
A treaty was concluded through Margaret's intervention in 1513 between
the emperor and Henry VIII., which aimed at humbling France, but only
resulted in the battle of Guinegate, where Maximilian served as a
volunteer in the English army, and received a hundred crowns a day as
pay. It was on this occasion that Margaret ordered the town of
Therouenne on the borders of France and Belgium to be completely
destroyed. Whilst he was with the English army Maximilian sent a
messenger to Margaret asking her to join him at Tournay. In reply she
says: 'Monseigneur, I have received the message that you have been
pleased to send me by Marnix, my secretary, about my going to Tournay.
As for me, Monseigneur, if you think that my going there is necessary,
and can be of service to you, I am ready in this and in all else that
it may please you to command me; but otherwise, it is not fitting for
a widow to be trotting about and visiting armies for pleasure....' But
a little later, after the reduction of Tournay, Margaret met her
father and Henry VIII. at Lille.
In June of the same year King Ferdinand wrote to his ambassador in
Flanders 'to tell Madame Margaret that before and after he concluded
the truce with France in his own name as well as in the name of the
emperor, the King of England, and Prince Charles, he wrote to his
ambassador, Don Pedro de Urea, and ordered him to explain all his
reasons to the emperor.... Having concluded the truce from pure
necessity, he is forced to observe it this year.' King Ferdinand tells
his ambassador to beg Madame Margaret to use her influence with the
emperor, and to show him that the policy he has hitherto adopted can
have only one result, viz. 'that of making the King of France master
of the world; whilst if the emperor follows his (Ferdinand's) advice,
nothing will be lost.'
He writes that 'Madame Margaret is willing to deliver Don Juan Manuel
up to him as prisoner. She is to be told that Don Juan has not only
behaved badly to King Ferdinand, but also speaks so ill of her that
for this alone he deserves punishment.'[41]
[41] _Calendar of Spanish State Papers_, vol. ii.
And when, a little later, Margaret has asked Maximilian's permission
to arrest Don Juan Manuel, because he had spoken against King
Ferdinand, Maximilian answers that 'if Don Juan has committed a crime
which is punishable according to law, he may be arrested; if not, it
will be sufficient to banish him from the Court.'
But although Margaret as Governess of the Netherlands took part in the
greatest events of her century, yet her private life in her home at
Malines was of the simplest and most domestic kind. We get a very good
idea of the way she spent her days from her interesting correspondence
and from her father's letters which have, fortunately, been preserved.
These letters are in French, but Maximilian's spelling is chiefly
euphonical, and the meaning often obscure. In spite of the quaint
style, these letters form an interesting history of Europe at the dawn
of the Renaissance. Beginning with the drama which opens at the League
of Cambray, in which England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy,
and Spain all play their parts, and ending with the disaster of Pavia,
the humbling of France, and the triumph of the House of Austria, there
is not a negotiation, war, or treaty, whose secret cause and real
origin is not disclosed. Although the correspondence comprises a
comparatively short period, and does not go much beyond the first
quarter of the sixteenth century, still the age was one of thrilling
interest and brilliant personality. Amongst the illustrious personages
who pass in review before us are Louis XII., Anne of Brittany, Francis
I., Louise of Savoy, Margaret of Angoulême, the Cardinal of Amboise,
and the Chevalier Bayard, Ferdinand of Aragon, Gonzalva of Cordova,
and Ximenes, Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Cardinal Wolsey, Charles V.,
and Luther.
Margaret's correspondents included most of the sovereigns of Europe
and their various ambassadors. Besides the personages already
mentioned, we come across the names of Raulin, Carondelet, Alberto
Pio, the Cardinal of Gurk, Caulier, and Laurent de Gorrevod, to whose
conferences and intrigues we are introduced, and sometimes to the
snares they laid for their best friends. Amongst them we find André de
Burgo, Maximilian's 'faithful councillor' and ambassador in France,
whose despatches to Malines are masterpieces of finesse and diplomacy.
The pages in which he describes the events of which Julius II. is the
hero are full of interest. In a witty and delightful manner he records
the ambitions, cabals, and various factions which hastened the end of
this warrior pontiff who was 'always dying but never buried.' He
frequently announces that the Holy Father is the victim of a violent
fever, and that the doctors hardly hope to save him--it is whispered
that he will be 'in paradise before a year and a half is out.' The
Cardinals prepare to 'choose a good and holy Pope,' but before they
can do so, the dying Pope recovers, or at least he is 'so much better
that he thinks himself cured and has lost his fever.'
Then there is André de Burgo's successor, Chancellor Perrenot, the
father of Cardinal de Granvelle. Also the Granvelles' enemy, Mercurin
de Gattinare, a skilled diplomatist and picturesque writer. More than
once we read of his reminding Margaret of the respect she owes him,
and he tells her, not without pride, that she does not deserve to have
a servant like himself, and when she gave him some unmerited rebuke,
he replied: 'These words should be addressed to a stranger and an
unknown man, not to me, whom you have known and tried.'
In Margaret's time Malines was a flourishing commercial city, whose
manufactures were exported to all parts of Europe. Commerce,
industries, and navigation had made great progress under her wise
rule. Her palace was the centre of life in the old city and the
meeting-place of many illustrious families and learned men who came
from all parts of the Netherlands to visit her Court. Jean Second,
Erasmus, Cornelius Agrippa, Jean Lemaire, Mabuse, Coxcie, and Van
Orley were amongst her frequent guests.
One of her chief ladies was the Countess of Hochstrate, who had charge
of her maids of honour and the women of her household. Her husband,
Count Hochstrate, was the princess's chevalier d'honneur, and
commanded her bodyguard of twenty-seven noblemen, whose duty it was to
attend her wherever she went. He also was in charge of the stewards,
cooks, pastrycooks, bakers, cupbearers, carvers and the other
servants, besides the keeper of Prince Charles's lions and rare birds,
so that his post was no sinecure.
Margaret took great pride in keeping up an establishment worthy of her
rank. She lived in great luxury, and her table was always furnished
with the choicest wines, and every kind of fish, fowl, and game in its
season. In spite of her habitual melancholy, she took part in the
usual amusements of her time. We read of her attending many feasts,
dances, and jousts; and it was seldom she did not have music during
her meals, either fife, tambourin, or violin players, or sometimes the
choristers of Notre-Dame de Sablon, or Monsieur de Ravestein's
singers, who played and sang songs before her. Another day we read of
her watching the performance of 'two large and powerful bears' brought
by some strolling Hungarian players; or sitting in the vast hall,
silent and dreamy, listening to old airs of German minstrelsy.
Maximilian occasionally visited his daughter, and then Malines was _en
fête_. Sometimes he invited his young granddaughters to spend a few
days with him at Brussels, 'to see the park and enjoy themselves.'[42]
[42] Le Glay, _Correspondance de l'Empereur Maximilian I._
But Margaret's favourite occupation was superintending the education
of her nephew Charles. She had a wonderful aptitude for teaching, and
was not satisfied that he should excel in manly sports, which was
usually all that was required of princes, but she insisted on his
studying history, languages, and science. She also found time for more
domestic employments. From the letters we find that she spun flax, and
amongst the objects mentioned in her inventory are a spindle, distaff,
and winding reels. She was accustomed to work with her needle, and
once she surprised her father by sending him 'good linen shirts,'
which she had made herself, and Maximilian, delighted with this
present, hastened to thank her: 'I have received by this bearer some
beautiful shirts and "huves" which you have helped to make with your
own hand, with which I am delighted.... Our skin will be comforted
with meeting the fineness and softness of such beautiful linen, such
as the angels in Paradise use for their clothing.' Margaret also sent
her father receipts for various dishes which pleased her, and we find
her recommending him to eat some preserves during the heat of summer
which she has tried herself and found excellent. 'I have a good
apothecary,' she says, 'called Countess de Horne, who takes care to
supply me every year with the best preserves in the world, which she
makes with her own hands, and as I find them good, it seems to me that
you will also, even in this great heat.'
Margaret took much interest in her maids of honour, and when necessary
did not spare them either advice or punishment. She warned them
especially to avoid gossiping or foolish conversation. During the long
winter evenings she played chess, or when summer came with long fine
days, she rode with them through the forests of Scheplaken,
Groenendael, and Boisfort, followed by her greyhounds. If one of her
maids married, Margaret took care to prepare the trousseau. Sometimes
she put aside a certain sum for this purpose from her privy purse, and
often begged a post from Maximilian for the girl's future husband.
Thus she dowered and provided for many maidens whose names are
mentioned in the Archives of Lille.
As a rule, Margaret and her father treated each other with the
greatest confidence. Maximilian took a fatherly interest in whatever
concerned his daughter's happiness. He would like to have seen her
married to Henry VII., for then, as he said, she would not have been
'a person lost and forgotten.' Sometimes he made her small presents,
'a carbuncle which his father the Emperor Frederick had valued,' or a
haunch of venison off which she could 'feast at some dinner or
supper.' On another occasion he sent her the plan of a triumphal arch
before 'having it erected, so that it might remain for ever as a
monument to their perpetual glory.'
One day, in a fit of rare generosity (for he was very impecunious), he
made her a present of 100,000 crowns. Margaret will be ungrateful, he
says, 'if she is not well pleased with him.' He tells her his most
secret thoughts... that he intends soliciting the papal tiara, for
the Pope 'cannot live long.' He wishes to be nominated coadjutor of
the Sovereign Pontiff, so as 'to be assured of having the Papacy and
becoming a priest and afterwards made holy.' With this intention he
begins to 'win over the cardinals' with two or three thousand ducats,
and he sends 'a messenger to the King of Aragon, begging him to help
him to get what he wants.'
But this confidence between the emperor and his daughter was often
broken. Maximilian sometimes complains that she treats him badly and
'takes him for a Frenchman!' She was not always his 'good daughter;'
she sometimes speaks too plainly and asks him when he intends sending
an answer to the English ambassadors, who have been kept waiting for
eight months, and reminds him ironically 'that it is time to move in
this business.' On another occasion she writes these words in a letter
which he calls 'rude and ungracious': 'I know that it is not my
business to interfere in your said affairs, as I am an inexperienced
woman in such matters, nevertheless the great duty I have towards you
emboldens me to... beg of you... to take care whilst there is yet
time.'
But in spite of these small recriminations each tried to help the
other, as we see from the numerous requests they constantly made to
each other in favour of various persons in whom they were interested.
In spite of the Netherlands' general prosperity, both Margaret and her
father suffered greatly from lack of funds, as is shown in nearly
every page of the correspondence. Maximilian hardly writes a letter
without mentioning that he has need of 'a sum of money.' One day he
humbly begs for 10,000 florins, another time for 70,000 or 80,000,
which he must have. He knows, he says, that the States complain that
he only thinks of 'knavery and taking their money for nothing,' but
all the same he begs Margaret to do all in her power to find him the
sum he requires. His lamentations, resources, and importunity in
begging are most pitiable. 'We must,' he says, 'in order to raise
money quickly, pawn two gold chains set with many valuable and
precious stones, one (chain) being larger than the other.' Sometimes
Margaret was as hardly pressed for funds as her father, and several of
her letters have this sad ending, 'The treasurer does not know where
to turn for money; he has no "deniers" (old Roman coins) left.' The
Swiss and German infantry were unpaid, and Maximilian for this reason
kept out of the way, and fled to the Tyrolese mountains on the pretext
of hunting. His daughter wrote to him severely: 'I hoped that you
would have come here, but from what I see, you are going further and
further away, which displeases me, for it was very necessary that you
should come here.' At another time she tells him that she will be
forced to become 'bankrupt' if she cannot quickly raise '24,000
florins from the King of England.' She has appealed to the States in
vain; for some 'cannot agree,' whilst others 'have settled nothing yet
... for they are obstinate and disagreeable.'
Even the ambassadors were hampered by lack of means. André de Burgo
could not go to Lyons, where he was afraid to stay for want of money.
'It is a pity,' he says, 'for so good and loyal a servant of your
house to have so often to beg and ask for the wherewithal to live, as
God's poor do... he is ashamed not to be able to pay his creditors,
and shall be reduced to sell half his plate to some Jew.'
Even Mercurin de Gattinare had to give up an important journey, and
states he will have to go 'bankrupt' if he cannot sell a gold chain.
For Anne of Brittany's accouchement the other ambassadors had ordered
coloured clothes; he alone has to appear in black garments, and is
much distressed. 'I have only black,' he writes in Italian, 'and have
no means of buying colours.'
Besides these oft-recurring complaints, the correspondence is full of
the hatred which Margaret and her father still felt for France.
Maximilian never liked the French, and his letters abound in
maledictions against them. He tries to stir up his daughter's
aversion, and congratulates her 'on the goodwill and diligence she has
shown in resisting them. We have,' he says, 'more experience of the
French than you have... and we would rather you were deceived by
their fair speeches than ourselves, so that you would take more care
in future.' He knows their 'treachery and falseness,' for they only
act by abuse, dissimulation, and deceit, as they have done for the
last hundred years past, and will still be doing a hundred years
hence.
Maximilian himself served as a private soldier in the King of
England's army on the Continent, and advised Henry VIII. to land at
Crotoy, where he proposed meeting him 'on condition that his said
brother gave him the money he had promised, and that he sent the
second portion with the first.' Margaret certainly shared her father's
aversion for all things French, although she disguised it in writing
to Louis XII. She secretly rejoices at every French defeat, and when
she hears of the victory of Guinegate, 'she is more happy than she can
say.' She also reminds Maximilian of old wrongs to rouse up his wrath,
and ironically recalls 'the good faith and loyalty of the French.'
Several times she points out how easy it would be to conquer their
hereditary enemy: 'There is no boundary between our country and
France, and you know the deep inveterate hatred the French bear us.'
These words express all Margaret's hatred and ambition, and show one
of the reasons why she took such a special care of Prince Charles's
education. In him she hoped to see realised all her dreams of the
future greatness of Austria and Burgundy. With infinite trouble she
directed his masters and mistresses, was herself present at their
lessons, and often interceded with Maximilian on their behalf. Thus
she recommends Anne de Beaumont 'for the first vacant post over the
ladies of the household... or a good annual pension, as a reward for
her past services, which ought to be noticed'; she also praises Louis
Vacca 'for great and worthy service which he has daily rendered as
tutor for eight years, teaching Monseigneur with such great care and
diligence, as a good and loyal servitor should.'
We read of the child's rapid progress in his lessons, and also of a
fever he caught after attending his sister Isabel's wedding, at which
'he behaved as a good brother, accompanying his sister in the dances
so perfectly, and perhaps rather more than was good for him.' A few
days later 'he began to get better,' and it is hoped that he 'will
soon be restored to health,' as he has such a good appetite 'that now
it is difficult to satisfy him.' He is learning to shoot, but it is
dangerous for the passers-by, as he shot a man by mistake, 'when
Monseigneur, my nephew, went to play at Wure. On Whit-Monday he fired
off his gun, and had the misfortune to kill a workman of this town, a
drunkard and ill-conditioned man... which has caused my said Lord and
me much sorrow and regret, but there is no help for it.'
When the boy went hunting near Malines Maximilian wrote joyfully: 'We
are well pleased that our son Charles takes so much pleasure in
hunting,' but at the same time he recommends, 'when the weather is
mild, to send him to Anvers and Louvain to take the air, and to pass
the time, to ride on horseback for his health and strength.'
Maximilian then goes on to describe his own sport. He has taken 'at
least four large stags in the morning, and after dinner five herons.
Ducks and kites we catch daily without number; even to-day we got four
herons besides, and thirteen ducks or river birds in twelve flights in
one half league. Every day we get three kites, for here there is any
amount, and all in the most beautiful country....'
These few quotations will show that the letters are more or less
memoirs of Margaret's life for about twenty-five years, and give us a
good idea of the part she played in the stirring events of her time.