VII. 1543. May. BOOK occasions. These extraordinary supplies enabled him to make such additions to his forces in Spain, that he could detach a great body into the Low-Countries, and yet reserve as many as were sufficient for the defence of the kingdom. Having thus provided for the security of Spain, and committed the government of it to his son, he sailed for Italy, in his way to Germany. But how attentive soever to raise the funds for carrying on the war, or eager to grasp at any new expedient for that purpose, he was not so inconsiderate as to accept of an overture which Paul, knowing his necessities, artfully threw out to him. That ambitious Pontiff, no less sagacious to discern, than watchful to seize opportunities of aggrandizing his family, solicited him to grant Octavio his grandchild, whom the Emperor had admitted to the honour of being his son-in-law, the investiture of the dutchy of Milan, in return for which he promised such a sum of money as would have gone far towards supplying all his present exigencies. But Charles, as well from unwillingness to alienate a province of so much value, as from disgust at the Pope, who had hitherto refused to join in the war against France, rejected the proposal. His dissatisfaction with Paul at that juncture was so great, that he even refused to approve his alienating Parma and Placentia from the patrimony of St. Peter, and settling them on his son and grandson as a fief to be held of the Holy See. As no other expedient for raising money among the Italian states remained, he consented to withdraw the garrisons which he had hitherto kept in the citadels of Florence and Leghorn; in consideration for which, he received a large present from Cosmo di Medici, who by this means secured his own independence, and got possession of two forts, which were justly called the fetters of Tuscany. The empe ciations BUT Charles, while he seemed to have turned his whole ror's nego- attention towards raising the sums necessary for defraying with Hen- the expenses of the year, had not been negligent of objects more distant, though no less important, and had concluded a ry VIII. g Ferreras, ix. 238. 241. Jovii Hist. lib. xlii. 298. 6. h Adriani Istoria. i. 195. Sleid. 312. Jovii Hist. lib. xliii. p. 301. Vita di Cos. Medici di Baldini, p. 34. VII. 1543. rupture Scotland. league offensive and defensive with Henry VIII. from which BOOK he derived, in the end, greater advantage than from all his other preparations. Several slight circumstances, which have already been mentioned, had begun to alienate the affections of that Monarch from Francis, with whom he had been for some time in close alliance; and new incidents of greater moment had occurred to increase his disgust and animosity. Henry, desirous of establishing an uniformity Henry's in religion in both the British kingdoms, as well as fond of with making proselytes to his own opinions, had formed a scheme France and of persuading his nephew the King of Scots to renounce the Pope's supremacy, and to adopt the same system of reformation, which he had introduced into England. This measure he pursued with his usual eagerness and impetuosity, making such advantageous offers to James, whom he considered as not over-scrupulously attached to any religious tenets, that he hardly doubted of success. His propositions were accordingly received in such a manner, that he flattered himself with having gained his point. But the Scottish ecclesiastics, foreseeing how fatal the union of their Sovereign with England must prove both to their own power, and to the established system of religion; and the partizans of France, no less convinced that it would put an end to the influence of that crown upon the public councils of Scotland; combined together, and by their insinuations defeated Henry's scheme at the very moment when he expected it to have taken effecti. Too haughty to brook such a disappointment, which he imputed as much to the arts of the French as to the levity of the Scottish Monarch, he took arms against Scotland, threatening to subdue the kingdom, since he could not gain the friendship of its King. At the same time, his resentment against Francis quickened his negociations with the Emperor, an alliance with whom he was now as forward to accept as the other could be to offer it. During this war with Scotland, and before the conclusion of his negociations with Charles, James V. died, leaving his crown to Mary his only daughter, an infant a few days old. Upon this event, Henry altered at once his whole system with re VII. 1543. BOOK gard to Scotland, and abandoning all thoughts of conquering it, aimed at what was more advantageous as well as more practicable, an union with that kingdom by a marriage between Edward his only son and the young Queen. But here, too, he apprehended a vigorous opposition from the French faction in Scotland, which began to bestir itself in order to thwart the measure. The necessity of crushing this party among the Scots, and of preventing Francis from furnishing them any effectual aid, confirmed Henry's resolution of breaking with France, and pushed him on to put a finishing hand to the treaty of confederacy with the Emperor. Feb. 11. Alliance between Charles and Henry. In this league were contained, first of all, articles for securing their future amity and mutual defence; then were enumerated the demands which they were respectively to make upon Francis; and the plan of their operations was fixed, if he should refuse to grant them satisfaction. They agreed to require that Francis should not only renounce his alliance with Solyman, which had been the source of infinite calamities to Christendom, but also that he should make reparation for the damages which that unnatural union had occasioned; that he should restore Burgundy to the Emperor; that he should desist immediately from hostilities, and leave Charles at leisure to oppose the common enemy of the Christian faith; and that he should immediately pay the sums due to Henry, or put some towns in his hands as security to that effect. If, within forty days, he did not comply with these demands, they then engaged to invade France each with twenty thousand foot and five thousand horse, and not to lay down their arms until they had recovered Burgundy, together with the towns on the Somme, for the Emperor, and Normandy and Guienne, or even the whole realm of France, for Henryk. Their heralds, accordingly, set out with these haughty requisitions; and though they were not permitted to enter France, the two Monarchs held themselves fully entitled to execute whatever was stipulated in their treaty. k Rym. xiv. 768. Herb. 238. VII. tions with FRANCIS, on his part, was not less diligent in preparing в O O K for the approaching campaign. Having early observed symptoms of Henry's disgust and alienation, and finding all 1543. his endeavours to sooth and reconcile him ineffectual, he Francis's knew his temper too well not to expect that open hostilities negociawould quickly follow upon this cessation of friendship. For Solyman. this reason he redoubled his endeavours to obtain from Solyman such aid as might counterbalance the great accession of strength which the Emperor would receive by his alliance with England. In order to supply the place of the two am bassadors who had been murdered by Guasto, he sent as his envoy, first to Venice, and then to Constantinople, Paulin, who, though in no higher rank than a captain of foot, was deemed worthy of being raised to this important station, to which he was recommended by Bellay, who had trained him to the arts of negociation, and made trial of his talents and address on several occasions. Nor did he belie the opinion conceived of his courage and abilities. Hastening to Constantinople, without regarding the dangers to which he was exposed, he urged his master's demands with such boldness, and availed himself of every circumstance with such dexterity, that he soon removed all the Sultan's difficulties. As some of the Bashaws, swayed either by their own opinion, or influenced by the Emperor's emissaries, who had made their way even into this court, had declared in the Divan against acting in concert with France, he found means either to convince or silence them. At last he obtained orders for Barbarossa to sail with a powerful fleet, and to regulate all his operations by the directions of the French King. Francis was not equally successful in his attempts to gain the Princes of the Empire. The extraordinary rigour with which he thought it necessary to punish such of his subjects as had embraced the Protestant opinions, in order to give some notable evidence of his own zeal for the Catholic faith, and to wipe off the imputations to which he was liable from his confederacy with the Turks, placed an insuperable barrier between him and such of the 1 Sandov. Histor. tom. ii. 346. Jovii Hist. lib. xli. 285, &c. 300, &c. Brantome. VII. 1543. BOOK Germans as interest or inclination would have prompted most readily to join him ". His chief advantage, however, over the Emperor, he derived on this, as on other occasions, from the contiguity of his dominions, as well as from the extent of the royal authority in France, which exempted him from all the delays and disappointments unavoidable wherever popular assemblies provide for the expenses of government by occasional and frugal subsidies. Hence his domestic preparations were always carried on with vigour and rapidity, while those of the Emperor, unless when quickened by some foreign supply, or some temporary expedient, were extremely slow and dilatory. Operations Countries. LONG before any army was in readiness to oppose him, in the Low Francis took the field in the Low-Countries, against which he turned the whole weight of the war. He made himself master of Landrecy, which he determined to keep as the key to the whole province of Hainault; and ordered it to be fortified with great care. Turning from thence to the right, he entered the dutchy of Luxembourg, and found it in the same defenceless state as in the former year. While he was thus employed, the Emperor having drawn together an army, composed of all the different nations subject to his government, entered the territories of the Duke of Cleves, on whom he had vowed to inflict exemplary vengeance. This Prince, whose conduct and situation were similar to that of Robert de la Mark in the first war between Charles and Francis, resembled him likewise in his fate. Unable, with his feeble army, to face the Emperor, who advanced at the head of forty-four thousand men, he retired at his approach; and the Imperialits being at liberty to act as they pleased, immediately invested Duren. That town, though. gallantly defended, was taken by assault; all the inhabitants were put to the sword, and the place itself reduced to ashes. dutchy of This dreadful example of severity struck the people of the August 24. country with such general terror, that all the other towns, even such as were capable of resistance, sent their keys to the Emperor; and before a body of French, detached to his The emperor be. comes mas ter of the. Cleves, m Seck. lib. iii. 403. |