THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OE CALIFORNIA 
 
 RIVERSIDE
 
 
 
 iro
 
 THE 
 
 COURT AND REIGN 
 
 ling nf /rattrt 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 LONDON ! 
 R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.

 
 DESIGNED -BY LE GROS Sc EN &RA.VED BY JOS. BROWN, AFTER THE PORTRAIT BY TITIAN 
 
 London Ric~ha,r 3 BentLey.1849.
 
 
 THE 
 
 COURT AND REIGN 
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST, 
 
 ling of /rnnre, 
 BY MISS PARDOE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "LOTTIS xiv." "THE CITY OF THE SULTAN," TC. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 RICHARD BENT'LEY, 
 
 in Ortrinarg to 
 
 M.DCCC.XLIX.
 
 TO 
 
 MY BELOVED FATHEE, 
 
 THE PROTECTOR OF MY INFANCY, 
 
 THE GUIDE OF MY GIRLHOOD, 
 
 THE FRIEND OF MY RIPER YEARS, 
 
 ARE VERY AFFECTIONATELY 
 
 INSCRIBED.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN attempting a record of the Court and Reign of Francis I, 
 I did not for a moment seek to blind myself to the extreme 
 difficulty of the task which I was about to undertake. The 
 successor of Louis XII. has been so universally quoted as the 
 most chivalrous Monarch who ever filled an European throne, 
 that those who are only superficially acquainted with his 
 history cannot fail to anticipate a succession of brilliant 
 actions, generous self-sacrifices, refined gallantries, and noble 
 feats of arms. Time and truth have, however, alike tended 
 to place his character in a less elevated point of view ; and 
 the truth may well be said to have been born of time, for it 
 is only of late years that any French historian has been per- 
 mitted to allow that a sovereign of France could err. 
 
 Who, that is acquainted with the anecdote, can have for- 
 gotten the caution given by the Cardinal de Richelieu to an 
 honest and conscientious chronicler, whose zeal had betrayed 
 him into sundry animadversions on a crowned head long laid 
 in the royal mausoleum of St. Denis ? 
 
 " Sir ;" said the minister sternly to the scholar, whom he 
 had summoned to his presence ; " you must revise your work. 
 You have been guilty of treason ; you have dared to vilify 
 a king."
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 " I have only recorded well-authenticated facts, your 
 Eminence." 
 
 "Perhaps so; but those facts were not your property. 
 The person and fame of a monarch are alike sacred." 
 
 " Monseigneur will permit me to remind him that Louis XI. 
 has been dead two centuries." 
 
 " And what of that, Sir ? " retorted the Cardinal sharply ; 
 " Understand that it is treason to discuss the actions of a 
 king who has only been dead two centuries." 
 
 Upon the principle here educed, most of the ancient 
 French historians appear to have scrupulously acted ; and 
 thus it is only by a reference to the more confidential records 
 and correspondence of the period, that a modern writer can 
 hope to arrive at a just estimate of the character and motives 
 of the sovereign whom he seeks to portray " in his habit as 
 he lived." 
 
 There can be little doubt that much of the prestige which 
 attaches to the name of Francis I. may be attributed to this 
 circumstance. To the great mass of readers, alike French 
 and English, he is necessarily known only through the 
 medium of the old and well-tutored chroniclers, or rather, 
 through the modern histories which have been compiled 
 exclusively upon their authority; and thus, thanks to the 
 timid and time-serving policy of those writers, the " divinity 
 that doth hedge a king" has protected his renown throughout 
 the lapse of centuries. For this impunity Francis I. is con- 
 sequently mainly indebted to the scarcity of familiar chro- 
 nicles during an age in which, the whole of Europe being 
 almost perpetually in a state of warfare, few cared to 
 register the mere domestic events of the period. Fortunately, 
 however, for the after-labourers in the same vineyard, the 
 love of court-gossipry was not altogether extinct, and thus 
 some glimpses are afforded of the man as well as of the 
 monarch.
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 It was with the witty and accomplished Marguerite de 
 Valois, his sister, that the taste originated of perpetuating 
 by the pen the current of passing circumstances ; and it is to 
 her example that posterity is indebted for that courtly cacoethes 
 scribendi by which the annals of subsequent reigns have been 
 so greatly enriched. 
 
 In this paucity of authentic detail has consisted, as I was 
 aware that it must do, the great difficulty of iny task ; but, 
 as I resolved not to insert a single incident into the Work for 
 which I had not competent authority, the court scenes scat- 
 tered through the following pages may all be accepted as 
 facts ; and the reader will be enabled from them to form his 
 own estimate of the claim which Francis I. could arrogate to 
 himself of being considered as the chivalric monarch par 
 excellence. The glorious day of Marignano saw the rising, 
 and that of Pavia the setting of his fame as a soldier; so 
 true it is that the prowess of the man was shamed by that of 
 the boy. The early and unregretted death of one of his 
 neglected queens, and the heart-broken endurance of the 
 other, contrasted with the unbounded influence of his first 
 favourite, and the insolent arrogance of his second, will suffi- 
 ciently demonstrate his character as a husband. His open and 
 illegal oppression of an over-taxed and suffering people, to 
 satisfy the cravings of an extortionate and licentious court, 
 will suffice to disclose his value as a monarch; while the 
 reckless indifference with which he falsified his political 
 pledges, abandoned his allies in their extremity in order to 
 further his own interests, and sacrificed the welfare of his 
 kingdom, and the safety of his armies, to his own puerile 
 vanity, will complete a picture by no means calculated to 
 elicit one regret that his reign was not prolonged. 
 
 Despite this drawback, however, the period was one of 
 great and absorbing interest. The fierce and continual 
 struggle for power between Francis and Charles V ; the well-
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 earned renown of the several generals on both sides ; the 
 names of the Connetable-Duke de Bourbon, Bayard, Pescara, 
 Da Leyva, Doria, Gaston de Foix, Lautrec, and a host of 
 others equally brave ; the bright galaxy of beauty which 
 adorned the court ; the fair and gentle Madame de Chateau- 
 briand, the haughty and voluptuous Duchess d'Etampes, the 
 magnificent Diane of Poitiers, the mature, but still attractive, 
 Louise de Savoie, the strong-minded and intellectual Mar- 
 guerite de Valois, and the beautiful Catherine de' Medici ; all 
 combine to invest the age with a charm and a romance totally 
 independent of the personal character of the monarch ; while 
 the fact of its having been the period of the mission of 
 LUTHER, and the crowning work of the REFORMATION, 
 suffices of itself to render it the greatest landmark on the 
 whole highway of history. 
 
 Never, perhaps, did the reign of any European sovereign 
 present so many, and such varying phases. A contest for 
 empire, a captive monarch, a female regency, and a religious 
 war ; the poisoned bowl and the burning pile alike doing their 
 work of death amid scenes of uncalculating splendour and 
 unbridled dissipation ; the atrocities of bigotry and intoler- 
 ance, blent with the most unblushing licentiousness and the 
 most undisguised profligacy ; such are the materials offered 
 to the student by the times of Francis I. 
 
 Here, as was the case in a former Work, I have commenced 
 my volumes by a brief glance at the conclusion of the pre- 
 vious reign; and, although censured by one of my critics 
 upon that occasion for the introduction of retrospective 
 matter, I have in this instance advisedly pursued the same 
 system, from a conviction that the book must fall into the 
 hands of many individuals, who, from want of time or op- 
 portunity, must necessarily be unacquainted with the precise 
 position of the French nation on the accession of Francis I. 
 To the historical student this preliminary sketch will be, of
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 course, supererogatory ; but as this is not a period at which 
 any author can feel justified in writing only for a class, I 
 believe that a succinct narrative of preceding events will tend 
 to render the Work more generally acceptable ; and I have, 
 consequently, not suffered myself to be deterred from acting 
 upon that conviction. The scholar will therefore forgive 
 me, if, in seeking to augment the gratification of the less 
 learned reader, I have dwelt for a time upon persons and 
 events which, although living and occurring before he 
 ascended the French throne, were destined to exert a 
 powerful influence over the court and reign of Francis 
 himself. 
 
 THE SHRUBBERY, NORTHFLEET, KENT, 
 August, 1849.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Accession of Francis I. Misgivings of Louis XII. Prudence of Louis XII. 
 His Marriage with Jeanne de France His Attachment to Anne de Bretagne 
 Betrothal of the Dauphin, afterwards Charles VIII. His romantic Passion 
 for Anne de Bretagne Love of Madame de Beaujeu for the Duke d'Orleans 
 Accession of Charles VIII. Eevolt of the Duke d'Orleans His Imprison- 
 ment Restored to Liberty at the Intercession of his Wife Charles refuses 
 to marry Marguerite d'Autriche Indignation of the Emperor Proposals of 
 Marriage from Charles VIII. to Anne de Bretagne Reluctance of the young 
 Duchess She yields Her Coronation Death of Charles VIII. Anne pro- 
 mises her Hand to Louis XII. Marriage of Louis XII. to Jeanne de France 
 annulled by Alexander VI. Death of Jeanne de France Marriage of 
 Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne Birth of Francis I, Count d'Angoule'me 
 Jealousy of the Countess d'Angouleme and the Queen Countess d'Angou- 
 le'me exiled to Amboise Margchal de Gie appointed Governor to the young 
 Prince Accomplishments of Francis Attachment of M. dc Gie to Madame 
 d'Angoul^me Arrival of the Court at Amboise Household of the Queen 
 Her Ostentation Conflicting Politics Departure of the Court Charles de 
 Montpensier His Passion for Marguerite de Valois Her Education Jea- 
 lousy of Gauffier The Count de Montpensier quarrels with the Prince 
 Leaves Amboise M. de Vandenesse Intrigue of Louise de Savoie M. de 
 Vandenesse dismissed by M. de Gie Illness of the King Anxiety of Anne 
 de Bretagne The Queen enters into a Treaty of Marriage between her 
 Daughter and the Archduke Charles Revenge of M. de Gie He seizes the 
 Queen's Property at Namur His Trial His Exile Treaty of Blois Mor- 
 tification of Madame d'Angoulfime PAGE 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 15047. 
 
 Marguerite de Valois asked in Marriage by Henry VII. Refusal of Louis XII. 
 Marguerite married to the Duke d'Alen9on Her Reluctance Motives of
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 the King Her Writings Relapse of Louis XII. Death of Isabella of Spain 
 Marriage of Germaine de Foix with Ferdinand of Castile The States- 
 General assembled Francis betrothed to the Princess Claude Death of 
 the Archduke Philip Jeanne la Folle The Pope determines on War 
 Character of Julius II. Louis sends an Army to Bologna Genoa revolts 
 Wanton Cruelties perpetrated by the Genoese Louis proceeds to Italy at 
 the Head of a large Army Genoa capitulates Louis XII. takes possession 
 of the City A Court Festival Dancing Bishops Interview between 
 Louis XII. and Ferdinand Gonsalvo de Cardova Refusal of the Pope to 
 meet Louis XII 37 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 150812. 
 
 Julius II. endeavours to subjugate Venice The Venetians attempt to propi- 
 tiate Germany and Spain Treaty between the Four great Powers The 
 French Army re-enters Italy Battle of Agnadello Success of Louis XII. 
 Despair of the Venetians Weakness of Maximilian The Venetians take 
 Padua The Swiss desert Flight of the Emperor Louis returns to France 
 Hostility of the Pope towards France Defection of Ferdinand Louis 
 threatened with Excommunication The Pope proceeds with his Army to 
 Mirandola Heroic Defence of the Countess Francesca Pico Death of the 
 Cardinal d'Amboise The Pope enters into a League with England and 
 Spain Gallantry of Gaston de Foix Victory of Ravenna Death of Gaston 
 de Foix The French return to the Milanese 59 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 1513. 
 
 Effects of the Battle of Ravenna Religious Scruples of the Queen The Pope 
 raises a Force in Switzerland The Emperor withdraws his Subjects from 
 the French Army Maximilian Sforza enters Milan The Genoese revolt 
 Lord Dorset lands in Spain Is disgusted, and withdraws Intrigues of Fer- 
 dinand Louis XII. invests Francis with the Command of the Army of the 
 Milanese The Spanish General declines his Challenge The French raise 
 their Camp before Pampeluna, and repass the Alps Light-heartedness of 
 Francis A Prince and an Advocate Licentiousness of Francis Ancient 
 Notions of Piety France enters into a League with the Venetian States 
 Treaty of Marriage between the Archduke Charles and the Princess 
 Re"ne"e Union of Venice with France Death of Julius II. Accession of 
 Leo X. His Enmity to France Louis XII. endeavours to propitiate 
 him, but fails He concludes a Truce with Ferdinand and the Venetians 
 The Swiss take up Arms against France Ferdinand and Henry VIII. join 
 the Cause of the Pope Louis again invades the Milanese Takes the prin- 
 cipal Cities Battle of Vivegano The French are driven from the Milanese 
 Louis mortgages a Portion of the Crown Land. Henry VIII. invades France 
 and besieges Terouenne Louis proceeds to Calais Bayard captures an
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 English Gun Famine in the City Maximilian joins the English King 
 The Battle of the Spurs Bayard wins his Ransom Honours rendered to 
 Bayard by Maximilian and Henry VIII. Louis withdraws his Army into 
 Picardy 79 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 151314. 
 
 Divisions among the French Generals Francis appointed to the Command of 
 the new Army TSrouenne capitulates, and is destroyed by Henry VIII. 
 Burgundy revolts The Swiss determine to invade France They are worsted 
 at Dijon, and enter into a Treaty with the French General The Treaty is 
 disavowed by Louis Dismal Prospects of France Henry VIII. enters 
 Tournay, and returns to England A Twelvemonths' Truce signed by the 
 European Sovereigns Death of Anne de Bretagne Grief of the King 
 Marriage of the Princess Claude and Francis The Court Mourning Louis 
 urged to take a third Wife The Duke de Longueville negotiates for the 
 Hand of the Princess Mary of England Misunderstanding between the two 
 Monarchs The Treaty is renewed Betrothal of the contracting Parties 
 Mary and Brandon, Duke of Suffolk Arrival of the young Queen in France 
 Anne Boleyn The Royal Marriage Court Festivities Mary becomes 
 enamoured of Francis Position of the Princess Claude A Courtier's Cau- 
 tion Accusation of Brantdme Illness of Louis XII. His last Interview 
 with Francis Death of Louis XII 109 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1515. 
 
 The Queen cedes her Estates to her Husband The Bretons disallow her Right 
 Enthusiasm of the French People on the Accession of Francis His Corona- 
 tion His Interview with Queen Mary His Caution to Suffolk Brandon 
 marries the widowed Queen is reproached by Francis for his Perfidy but 
 reconciled to Henry at the Entreaty of his Wife, and returns to England 
 Francis makes his public Entry into Paris His Profusion His romantic 
 Tastes His high Spirit He forms his Government Charles de Bourbon 
 created Constable of France Marriage of Mademoiselle de Bourbon with 
 the Duke de Lorraine The King and the Wild Boar The Court of Madame 
 d'Angouldme Her Maids of Honour Circle of the Queen Her love of 
 Retirement Francis resolves to recover the Milanese The Archduke 
 Charles sends Ambassadors to France is promised the Hand of the Princess 
 R4n6e, the Queen's Sister Henri de Nassau He marries Claudine de 
 Chalon State of Europe Treaty between France and England Francis 
 endeavours to conciliate the Swiss They threaten to invade France Francis 
 marches a strong Force towards Burgundy Ferdinand endeavours to alarm 
 the Pope and the Emperor Francis removes to Amboise, and sends an 
 Embassy to Rome 133
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1515. 
 
 Francis organizes his Army The Queen's farewell Reception Magnificence 
 of Bourbon Emotion of Marguerite cle Valois Jealousy of Bonnivet Their 
 Parting Indiscretion of Bonnivet Difficulty in replenishing the Treasury 
 Discontent of the Parliament Madame d'Angoulfime appointed Regent 
 Character of Louise de Savoie Amount of the French Army Its Distribu- 
 tion Difficulty in passing the Alps Perseverance of the Troops The Van- 
 guard enters Italy Surprise of Prosper Colonna His Capture Delivers 
 his sword to Bayard Alessandria and Tortona taken by the French Alarm 
 of the Pope Retreat of the Swiss Francis endeavours to conciliate them, 
 but fails through the Agency of the Cardinal of Sion The Swiss Troops 
 attempt to seize the Public Chest at Buffaloro Their Leaders apprise Lautrec 
 of the Project They evacuate Italy Bayard solicits the King's Permission 
 to attack the Enemy, but is refused Francis marches upon Turin He is 
 joined by the Duke de Gueldres The French Head-Quarters are established, 
 at Marignano Cardona refuses to pass the Po D'Alviano reaches Lodi 
 Indignation of Francis against the Swiss The Cardinal of Sion harangues 
 the mercenary Troops Fleuranges alarms the Garrison The Swiss Troops 
 march upon Marignano The King is apprised of their Approach Battle of 
 Marignano Francis narrowly escapes Capture Bayard is unhorsed, but 
 effects his Retreat The Battle-Couch of Francis The Attack is resumed at 
 Daybreak The Swiss Troops retreat, and return to Milan, whence they pro- 
 ceed Homeward, pursued by D'Alviano The Price of Victory Francis receives 
 Knighthood on the Field at the Hands of Bayard, and confers it upon Fleu- 
 ranges The French march to Milan The Swiss revolt against the Cardinal 
 of Sion, who secures his Safety by Flight Reception of the French King by 
 the Citizens of Milan Maximilian Sforza surrenders to Francis Generosity 
 of the Conqueror The Milanese take the Oath of Allegiance to France . 161 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 151517. 
 
 Leo X. proposes a Treaty with France, which is ratified at Viterbo His Tergi- 
 versation Francis proceeds to Bologna to meet the Pope Policy of the 
 Pontiff A League is formed between the two Potentates Francis agrees to 
 abandon his Designs on Naples The Question of the Pragmatic Sanction is 
 discussed Discontent of the University of Paris Leo X. endeavours to 
 induce Francis to undertake a Crusade against the Turks The Concordat is 
 signed Exultation of the French People Ferdinand of Aragon endeavours 
 to arouse the Jealousy of Henry VIII. against France The Emperor raises 
 a powerful Army Lautrec besieges Brescia ; but is repulsed ; and compelled 
 to retire to Milan The Duke de Bourbon destroys the Faubourgs of the
 
 CONTENTS. xvii 
 
 City, and disbands the Swiss Troops The Emperor threatens to raze the 
 City of Milan The Swiss refuse to act Maximilian escapes by night from 
 the Camp The Siege of Milan is raised The Swiss Troops are recalled by 
 the Diet The Imperialists evacuate the Milanese Disgrace of Maximilian 
 Brescia capitulates Death of Ferdinand of Aragon He bequeaths his 
 Kingdom to the Archduke Charles Francis issues several Edicts which are 
 unfavourably received by his Subjects Arrogance of the Chancellor Edu- 
 cation of Charles of Aragon His Prospects He endeavours to conciliate 
 Francis Jealousy of M. de Chievres against the Cardinal Ximenes Charles 
 send* an Ambassador to France The two Monarchs enter into a Treaty of 
 Alliance The Hand of the Infant Princess Louise promised to the Spanish 
 King The Peace of Noy on Maximilian accedes to the Treaty State of the 
 Venetian Territories Francis opens a Negotiation with the Helvetic States, 
 and concludes a Treaty of Amity with Switzerland 201 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 151517. 
 
 Domestic Life of Francis The Court of Queen Claude Anticipated Birth of 
 a Dauphin Circle of Madame d'Angouleme Licentiousness of the young 
 King He resolves to form a distinct Court The Countess de Chateaubriand 
 Her Birth and Girlhood Her Marriage The Count is summoned to 
 Court His Forebodings The Mystic Rings Mistaken Confidence Recep- 
 tion of the Count by Francis Treachery of a Confidant The Countess 
 arrives at Chambord Displeasure of her Husband A Misunderstanding 
 The Queen's Reception Presentation of the Countess to the King The 
 Queen and the Countess Mistaken Violence of M. de Chateaubriand The 
 Influence of a Court Atmosphere Policy of Louise de Savoie M. de Cha- 
 teaubriand retires from the Court 225 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 151718. 
 
 Francis forms Projects for the Embellishment of his Kingdom and the Encou- 
 ragement of Literature Birth of a Dauphin Francis invites Leo X. to 
 become Sponsor to the young Prince The Royal Christening Resignation 
 of Queen Claude Marriage of Lorenzo de' Medici and Madelaine de la Tour- 
 d'Auvergne Munificence of the Pope A Fancy Ball in the Sixteenth Cen- 
 tury The Bridal Banquet Increasing Influence of Madame de Ch&teau- 
 briand Louise de Savoie becomes jealous of her power over the King For- 
 bearance of the Queen The Countess pushes the Fortunes of her Brothers 
 The Hunting-Party Lautrec appointed Governor of the Milanese The 
 Recall of Bourbon Indignation of the Duchess-MotherBourbon arrives at 
 Court Love-visions Jealousy of Francis The Chancellor endeavours to 
 
 VOL. r. b
 
 XVlll CONTENTS. 
 
 effect the Recognition of the Concordat Perplexity of the King Magiste- 
 rial Corruption Pertinacity of Francis Dismissal of the Delegates Regis- 
 tration of the Concordat Demonstration of the University Unpopularity of 
 the King 241 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 1518. 
 
 The Progress of Literature Leonardo da Vinci Native Talent Tact of 
 Francis An Italian Charlatan Erasmus invited to France He refuses to 
 leave England Cupidity of Leo X. Martin Luther Increasing Favour of 
 Madame de Chateaubriand Unbounded Authority of Louise de Savoie 
 Arrogance of the French King His Profusion Lautrcc disgusts the 
 Milanese The Margchal Trivulzio Intrigues of the Favourite Trivulzio 
 is declared a Traitor He Demands an Audience of the King is refused, 
 and dies broken-hearted The vacant Baton is conferred upon M. de 
 Lescun 267 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1518. 
 
 Increasing Popularity of Charles of Spain Bonnivet is sent on a Mission to 
 England A League is proposed by Francis to Henry against the Turks 
 and the Marriage of the Infant Dauphin with the Princess Mary The 
 Reception of the Embassy at the Court of England Bonnivet secures the 
 Interest of Wolsey Francis enters into a Correspondence with the Cardinal 
 Wolsey resigns the Bishopric of Tournay Suspicions of Henry VIII. 
 The Treaty is concluded The Hostages The Betrothal at St. Paul's The 
 French Embassy leaves England The Earl of Worcester arrives in France 
 Reluctance of the Earl of Worcester to deliver up the City of Tournay 
 Indignation of M. de Chatillon The Betrothal is repeated at St. Denis 
 The Ambassadors leave France Francis fortifies Tournay and Terouenne 
 The French King endeavours to conciliate Charles of Castile The Turks 
 threaten Italy Francis declares his Intention of joining the Crusade 
 Death of the Sultan Charles aspires to be elected Emperor of Germany 
 Rivalry of Charles and Francis Maximilian demands the Crown of Rome 
 Intrigues of Leo X. Chivalric Diplomacy Bonnivet is despatched to 
 Frankfort Precarious Position of Germany Death of Maximilian Its 
 Effect upon the Affairs of Europe Francis bribes the Electoral Princes . 285 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1519. 
 
 A Struggle for Empire Contrast between Charles and Francis Able Govern- 
 ment of the Cardinal Ximen6s He is displaced, and dies The Germans 
 favour the Pretensions of Francis Tergiversation of the Pope Duplicity of
 
 CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 \ 
 
 Henry VIII. Supineness of the Petty Princes Wily Policy of Charles 
 Germaine de Foix Francis offends the Prejudices of the Flemish Eobert 
 de la Mark Seckingen His Introduction to the French King Mutual 
 Misgivings The Duke de Gueldres is disgraced at the Instigation of Louis 
 de Savoie Her Double-dealing M. de la Mark and the Bishop of Liege 
 join the Cause of Charles Disgust of Seckingen He joins the Princes of 
 Bouillon Charles of Austria attacks the Turkish Galleys ..... 307 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 151920. 
 
 The Electoral Diet convened at Frankfort Death of M. de Boissy Charles 
 proclaimed Emperor of Germany Mortification of the French Ministers 
 Self-command of Francis Birth of a Prince Henry VIII. becomes his 
 Sponsor Progress of the Lutheran Faith Louise de Savoie establishes 
 herself at the Tuilleries Francis resolves to rebuild the Louvre Bonni- 
 vet excites the King to enter upon a new War Francis bribes Wolsey 
 Henry and Francis arrange a personal Interview The N"avarrese Question 
 is revived between the Emperor and the French King Critical Position of 
 Charles V. The Field of the Cloth of Gold The Banquet -The Treaty 
 The Tournay Fearlessness of Francis An Exchange of Visits The two 
 Queens The parting Mass Confirmation of the Treaty Departure of 
 Henry VIII. for Gravelines Francis returns to France 327 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 152021. 
 
 The Differences between England and Scotland submitted to the Arbitration 
 of Wolsey and Louise de Savoie Wolsey is brought over to the Cause of 
 the Emperor Charles V. and Henry VIII. meet at Gravelines Charles 
 proceeds to Aix-la-Chapelle for his Coronation Narrow Escape of the French 
 King Charles convokes a Diet at Worms Luther defends his Doctrines 
 is outlawed and protected by the Elector of Saxony Francis is reluctant 
 to commence the War Ingratitude of Charles V. to Robert de la Mark 
 La Mark returns to his Allegiance, and defies the Emperor Policy of the 
 Pope The Spaniards revolt Arrogance of Charles V. The Navarrese 
 solicit Henri d'Albret to claim his Crown Francis supplies him with 
 Troops Defence of the Citadel of Pampeluna Ignatius Loyola Surrender 
 of Pampeluna to the French Imprudence of the French General He enters 
 Spain The Castilians rise against him Lespare is defeated and made 
 Prisoner The Emperor marches an Army against the Duke de Gueldres 
 The rival Sovereigns appeal to Henry VIII. The Duke de Gueldres sues 
 for a Truce Francis fortifies his Frontiers Duplicity of the Emperor 
 The Count de Nassau takes Mouzon A Conference opened at Calais The 
 Pope and Wolsey meet at Bruges Bad Faith of Leo X. Indignation of 
 Francis against the English King His Self-reliance Bayard defends
 
 XX CONTENTS. 
 
 Mezieres Fraueis encounters the Enemy near Valenciennes, but sufl'ers 
 them to escape The Count de Nassau summons Bayard to surrender 
 Spirited Reply of the Good Knight A Ruse de Guerre The Imperialists 
 raise the Siege The Bottle of Wine The Recompense of Bayard Grati- 
 tude of the Citizens of Mezieres to the Good Knight Francis marches upon 
 Picardy Charles joins his Army at Valenciennes Francis confers the 
 Command of the Van-guard upon the Duke d'Alen9on Indignation of 
 Bourbon Francis returns to France, and disbands his Army . . . 363 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 1522. 
 
 Lautrec returns to France The temporary Command of the Army in the 
 Milanese is confided to Lescun Its Insubordination Despair of the Milanese 
 Citizens Prosper Colonna strengthens the Imperialist Army Lautrec 
 demands Supplies Exhausted State of the Treasury The enamelled Orna- 
 ments Louise de Savoie undertakes to raise the Supplies The Finance- 
 Minister Lautrec returns to Milan The Supplies are withheld The Pope 
 declares War against France The confederated Army threaten Parma 
 Imprudence of Lautrec Disgust of his Troops The Swiss desert The 
 French retire to Milan are attacked by the Enemy, and driven out 
 Lautrec retreats to Como, is pursued by Pescara, and takes up his Winter 
 Quarters at Cremona Lescun proceeds to France .rith Despatches Indig- 
 nation of Francis Anxiety of Leo X. His Exultation at the Capture of 
 Milan His Death . .. 397 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 1522. 
 
 Discontent of the Duke de Bourbon A Summons to Amboise A mature 
 Passion Louise de Savoie offers her Hand to Bourbon He rejects it A 
 mutual Hatred Marguerite de Valois and Bonnivet The Palace of a 
 Parvenu Ostentation of the Duke de Bourbon The Law-suit Accession 
 of Adrian VI. Francis resolves to attempt the Recovery of the Milanese 
 He levies a Tax on the States of Languedoc Charles V. visits England 
 The two Sovereigns agree to invade France Francis sends Reinforcements 
 to the Army of Lautrec The French take Novarra but are repulsed 
 before Pavia Prosper Colonna establishes himself at Bicocca The Swiss 
 under Lautrec mutiny, and insist upon meeting the Enemy Lautrec 
 marches on Bicocca Disorderly Charge of the Swiss Mercenaries They 
 desert Lautrec retreats to Cremona and proceeds to France Lescun 
 assumes the Command, is attacked by Colonna, and compelled to capitu- 
 late The Venetian Senate decline to enter into a Treaty with France 
 Lescun evacuates Lombardy Pescara marches against Genoa The City is 
 taken by Treachery Cruelty of the Imperialist Generals The French lose 
 Italy 413
 
 CONTENTS. XXI 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 1522. 
 
 Louise de Savoie urges on her Law-suit against Bourbon The Parliament 
 refuses to ratify the Decision of the Judges The Estates of Bourbon are 
 placed under Sequestration Unguarded Violence of the Duke The Em- 
 peror despatches M. de Beaurain to Bourbon The Price of Rebellion 
 Bourbon negotiates with Wolsey A double Treason Improvidence of 
 Francis Excesses of the French Soldiery The Plague in Paris Mob Riots 
 Ineffective Precautions Discontent of Adrian VI. He endeavours to 
 alienate the Venetian States from France The Venetians enter into the 
 European League Lautrec arrives at Court Irritation of Francis The 
 Marechal is refused an Audience Waning Influence of Madame de Cha- 
 teaubriand Bourbon espouses the Cause of Lautrec A stormy Interview 
 Lautrec pleads his Cause boldly The Finance-Minister and the Regent 
 Louise de Savoie accused of appropriating the Public Moneys Truth and 
 Treachery Reconciliation of the King and Lautrec The two Factions 
 Queen Claude urges the Marriage of the Princess Rgnee and Bourbon The 
 Princess is dissuaded by the Regent The French succour Fontarabia 
 Death of the Marquis de Ch&tillon Charles V. lands at Dover and meets 
 Henry VIII. Unjust Demands of the English King Dignified Reply of 
 Francis Arrogant Declaration of Bonnivet Charles confers the Protector- 
 ate of the Low Countries upon Henry VIII. War declared against France 
 by England The Earl of Surrey and the Count de Buren attack the French 
 Frontiers The Duke de Vendome proceeds to the Seat of War Francis 
 coins the Silver Screen of St. Martin's Tomb to pay his Troops Imprudent 
 Futility of Francis The Earl of Surrey returns to England Francis 
 despatches an Army to invest Milan Francis is apprised of the intended 
 Rebellion of Bourbon The Queen's Dinner Bourbon leaves the Court 
 The Count de St. Vallier Pertinacity of Bourbon He retires to Moulins. 435 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 1523. 
 
 Bourbon is suspected by the King Francis determines on his Arrest Visits 
 him at Moulins Double Dissimulation Francis returns to Amboise 
 Bourbon's Sick-chamber M. le Wartz abandons his Post Bourbon escapes 
 to Chantille The Hunting-party First Misunderstanding between the 
 King and Madame Chateaubriand Mediation of Marguerite de Valois 
 A Conspirator The King and M. de Pompe'rant M. de Pompe'rant leaves 
 Amboise Arrest of the Count de St. Vallier Indignation of Francis He 
 despatches Troops against Bourbon Bourbon escapes to Mantua Fate of 
 his Adherents The English and Spanish invade France are compelled to 
 retire The Command of the Army of Italy is conferred upon Bonnivet 
 Confiscation of Bourbon's Estates A Gasconnade Trial of the Conspirators
 
 XX11 CONTENTS. 
 
 Diane of Poitiers Her Marriage Her new Home She arrives at Court 
 to intercede for the Life of her Father Has an Audience of Francis The 
 commuted Sentence Diane and her Biographers 473 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 152324. 
 
 Mortifications of Bourbon Francis endeavours to restore him to his Alle- 
 giance Bourbon rejects his Overtures His Estates are sequestrated Bad 
 Faith of Charles V. Jealousy of the Imperialist Generals France attacked 
 on all sides The Duke de Vendome recalled for the Defence of Paris 
 Brion Chabot despatched to the Capital to reassure the Citizens A second 
 Gasconnade The Retort Courteous The English Troops withdraw from 
 France Discontent of the Nation at the Appointment of Bonnivet Con- 
 trast between Bourbon and Bonnivet as Generals Gallant Defence of 
 Cremona by M. d'Herbouville Death ( of the Pope Pescara driven back to 
 Milan Bonnivet blockades the City Able Defence of Colonna Bayard 
 detached to Vigevano Bonnivet raises the Siege Death of Colonna De 
 Lannoy and Pescara enter Milan Accession of Clement VII. Bonnivet 
 besieges Arona, but is repulsed Bayard defends Rebec is attacked by 
 Pescara, and compelled to fly Indignation of Bayard against Bonnivet 
 Bourbon declines to come to an Engagement with Bonnivet Retreat of the 
 French Army Bonnivet is wounded Bayard and Vandenesse assume the 
 Command of the Troops Vandenesse and Bayard mortally wounded The 
 last Moments of the Good Knight Grief of the Soldiery Homage to 
 Heroism A dying Rebuke Death of Bayard His Funeral Cortege 
 Regretful Exclamation of Francis A Soldier's Monument .... 503
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 TO 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 Anne de Montfort 
 Marguerite d'Autriche .. 
 Pierre de Bourbon 
 Louis, Sire de la Tremouille 
 
 PAGE 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 8 
 9 
 
 Philippe de la Clite, Sire de Corn- 
 
 mines ......... 12 
 
 Louise de Savoie ...... 17 
 
 Pierre de Kohan, Seigneur de Gi6 19 
 
 Charles de Montpensier ... 23 
 Jean de Chabannes, Seigneur de 
 
 Vandenesse ....... 23 
 
 Jacques de Chabannes, Seigneur 
 
 de la Palice ...... : 23 
 
 Guillaume Gouffier, Seigneur de 
 
 Bonnivet ........ 23 
 
 George, Cardinal d'Amboise . . 42 
 
 Gui de Kochefort ..... 46 
 
 Guillaume de Croy, Seigneur de 
 
 Chievres ........ 47 
 
 Charles d'Amboise, Seigneur de 
 
 Chaumont ....... 52 
 
 Pierre du Terrail, Seigneur de 
 
 Bayard ....... 54 
 
 Jean Jacques Trivulce, Marquis 
 
 de Vigevano ...... 56 
 
 Francisco-Maria de la Rovera . 65 
 
 Raymond de Cardona .... 73 
 
 Fabrizio Colonna ...... 73 
 
 Pietro da Navarro ..... 74 
 
 Alphonso d'Este ...... 75 
 
 Ludovic-Maria Sforza .... 82 
 
 Duke de Longueville . . . . 85 
 
 Messire Robert de la Mark . . 97 
 Adrian de Brimeu, Marquis d'lm- 
 
 bercourt . , 99 
 
 Sire Imbaud de Fontrailles . .100 
 
 Eleanora of Austria 120 
 
 Louis de Luxembourg, Count de 
 
 Saint-Pol 143 
 
 Odet de Foix, Sire de Lautrec . 144 
 
 Antoine Duprat 145 
 
 Anne de Montmorenci .... 145 
 Philippe de Chabot, Sire de Brion 146 
 Henry, Count de Nassau . . .151 
 
 Robert d'Aubigny 154 
 
 Guillaume Budee 158 
 
 Rene", the Bastard of Savoy . .166 
 
 Prosper Colonna 174 
 
 Marco- Antonio Colonna . . .214 
 Don Francisco Ximgnes . . .218 
 
 Henri d'Albret II 220 
 
 Madelaine de la Tour-d'Auvergne 247 
 
 Pierre Dane's 270 
 
 Pierre du Chatel 270 
 
 Guillaume Cop 270 
 
 Etienne Poucher 270 
 
 Andre" Alcyat 271 
 
 Philippe de Hesse 317 
 
 Jer&mio Aleandro 322 
 
 Ugo de Moncada 326 
 
 Clement Marot 338 
 
 Francisco-Maria Sforza .... 375 
 Adrian, Bishop of Tortosa . . . 376 
 Seigneur de Montmoreau . . . 382 
 
 Antoine de Crequi 429 
 
 Jacques de Daillon, Seigneur de 
 
 Lude 457 
 
 Captain Franget 459 
 
 Jean de Poitiers, Count de Saint- 
 
 Vallier . . 471
 
 ENGRAVED PORTRAITS. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 FRANCIS I To face Title. 
 
 MARGARET OF VALOIS . 28 
 
 THE CHEVALIER BAYARD 106 
 
 THE CONSTABLE DUKE or BOURBON 143 
 
 THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. 309 
 
 KING HENRY VIII. 352 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 DIANE OF POITIERS To face Title. 
 
 DUCHESS D'ETAMPES 149 
 
 QUEEN ELEONORA 192 
 
 CATHERINE DE' MEDICI 266 
 
 THE CONSTABLE MONTMORENCI 364
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ACCESSION OP FRANCIS I. MISGIVINGS OF LOUIS XII. PRUDENCE OF LOUIS 
 
 XII. HIS MARRIAGE WITH JEANNE DE FRANCE HIS ATTACHMENT TO 
 
 ANNE DE BRETAGNE BETROTHAL OF THE DAUPHIN, AFTERWARDS 
 CHARLES VIII. HIS ROMANTIC PASSION FOR ANNE DE BRETAGNE LOVE 
 OF MADAME DE BEAUJEU FOR THE DUKE D*ORLEANS ACCESSION OF 
 CHARLES VIII. REVOLT OF THE DUKE D'ORLEANS HIS IMPRISON- 
 MENT RESTORED TO LIBERTY AT THE INTERCESSION OF HIS WIFE 
 CHARLES REFUSES TO MARRY MARGUERITE D'AUTRICHE INDIGNATION 
 OF THE EMPEROR PROPOSALS OF MARRIAGE FROM CHARLES VIII. TO 
 ANNE DE BRETAGNE RELUCTANCE OF THE YOUNG DUCHESS SHE YIELDS 
 HER CORONATION DEATH OF CHARLES VIII. ANNE PROMISES HER 
 HAND TO LOUIS XII. MARRIAGE OF LOUIS XII. TO JEANNE DE FRANCE 
 ANNULLED BY ALEXANDER VI. DEATH OF JEANNE DE FRANCE MAR- 
 RIAGE OF LOUIS XII. AND ANNE DE BRETAGNE BIRTH OF FRANCIS I 
 COUNT D'ANGOULEME JEALOUSY OF THE COUNTESS D'ANGOULEME AND 
 THE QUEEN COUNTESS D'ANGOULEME EXILED TO AMBOISE MARECHAL 
 DE GIE APPOINTED GOVERNOR TO THE YOUNG PRINCE ACCOMPLISH- 
 MENTS OF FRANCIS ATTACHMENT OF M. DE GIE TO MADAME D'ANGOU- 
 LEME ARRIVAL OF THE COURT AT AMBOISE HOUSEHOLD OF THE 
 QUEEN HER OSTENTATION CONFLICTING POLITICS DEPARTURE OF 
 THE COURT CHARLES DE MONTPENSIER HIS PASSION FOR MARGUERITE 
 DE VALOIS HER EDUCATION JEALOUSY OF GAUFFIER THE COUNT DE 
 MONTPENSIER QUARRELS WITH THE PRINCE LEAVES AMBOISE M. DE 
 VANDENESSE INTRIGUE OF LOUISE DE SAVOIE M. DE VANDENESSE DIS- 
 MISSED BY M. DE GIE ILLNESS OF THE KING ANXIETY OF ANNE DE 
 BRETAGNE THE QUEEN ENTERS INTO A TREATY OF MARRIAGE BETWEEN 
 HER DAUGHTER AND THE ARCHDUKE CHARLES REVENGE OF M. DE GIE 
 HE SEIZES THE QUEEN'S PROPERTY AT NAMUR HIS TRIAL HIS EXILE 
 TREATY OF BLOIS MORTIFICATION OF MADAME D'ANGOULEME. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 THE COUBT AND EEIGN 
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IN the person of Louis XII. of France expired the 
 elder branch of the House of Orleans. Only three months 
 subsequent to his nuptials with the young and beautiful 
 Mary of England, (the sister of Henry VIII,) his third 
 wife, he was seized with fever and dysentery at the 
 palace of Les Tournelles in Paris ; and breathed his last 
 in the seventeenth year of his reign and the fifty-fourth 
 of his age, leaving the vacant throne to Francis, Comte 
 d'Angouleme, the husband of his daughter Claude. 
 
 The extreme personal beauty of this prince, combined 
 with his fearless and engaging qualities, his eloquence, 
 courtliness of demeanour, and unbounded liberality, 
 dazzled alike the courtiers and the people ; and the 
 dying king was probably the only individual in the nation 
 who had reflected with misgiving upon the possible, and 
 indeed inevitable, results of the uncalculating profusion 
 and ungovernable ambition of his successor. In him- 
 self a model of integrity, and well deserving the title of 
 
 B2
 
 4 THE COURT AND REIGN OF 
 
 the Father of his People, from his constant and zealous 
 watchfulness over the interests of his subjects, he could 
 not witness without anxiety the brilliant but dangerous 
 qualities of the young Count ; and it was consequently 
 with earnestness and care, that he applied himself before 
 his death to the execution of such public measures as 
 might at least tend to mitigate, even if they could not 
 altogether avert, the evils which he deprecated. Although 
 occasionally the dupe of his own kindheartedness and the 
 treachery of his neighbours, Louis XII. never lost his 
 confidence in human nature ; and constantly sought to 
 remedy rather than to revenge the wrongs to which he 
 was subjected by others ; while, carrying his prudence to 
 an extreme which was on many occasions stigmatized by 
 the young and inconsiderate with the name of penurious- 
 ness, he was accustomed, when this fact was hinted to 
 him, to reply that " the justice of a monarch should 
 teach him to render to every one his due, rather than 
 to suffer his generosity to induce him to display too 
 great a profusion." It was therefore natural that the 
 opposite qualities, which he early discovered in his son- 
 in-law, should cause him to look with distrust into the 
 future. " Ce gros garqonnous gdtera tout" he was wont 
 to exclaim whenever any instance of the improvidence of 
 Francis was forced upon him ; but not even the most 
 serious of his delinquencies sufficed to diminish his affec- 
 tion, or to excite his anger towards the offender. 
 
 Moreover, it is certain that if Francis I. became not 
 only a chivalric, but also, for the age in which he lived, 
 an accomplished sovereign, his predecessor may never- 
 theless be justly styled the Father of letters in France ;
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 5 
 
 learning having been greatly encouraged during his 
 reign, and learned men especially honoured. Cicero was 
 his favourite author among the ancients ; and his collec- 
 tion of autographs was of considerable extent and value. 
 He employed many Italian scholars at his court and in 
 the public offices ; and his directions to his judges were 
 stringent, that they should upon all occasions decide 
 such causes as came before them according to the dictates 
 of their conscience ; and utterly disregard, under every 
 circumstance, even any orders to the contrary which 
 might be wrung from himself during the progress of the 
 proceedings. He also discouraged, in so far as he found 
 it possible, the inordinate taste of his nobility for costly 
 studs and extravagant establishments of hounds ; declar- 
 ing that, like Actseon, they were devoured by their dogs 
 and horses. Nevertheless, he was accomplished in all 
 feats of joust and tournay ; and so brave in the field, 
 that upon one occasion, when his immediate attendants, 
 who considered their own lives endangered by his im- 
 petuosity, ventured to expostulate with him, and besought 
 him not to expose his sacred person with so little pre- 
 caution, he replied disdainfully : " Let all who are afraid 
 stand behind me !" 
 
 Neither would he, however great the provocation, 
 ever suffer himself to be betrayed into an undue intem- 
 perance of speech or bearing, by which his kingly dignity 
 might be compromised; and to such an extent did he 
 carry this difficult self-government, that when, during the 
 wars of Italy, d'Alviano, the general of the Venetian 
 army, was brought before him a captive, and replied to 
 his courteous and considerate greeting with an insolence
 
 6 THE COURT AND REIGN OF 
 
 which overpassed all bounds, Louis magnanimously con- 
 trolled every symptom of indignation, and contented 
 himself with directing his removal to the quarters which 
 had been assigned to the other prisoners ; simply 
 remarking to those about him, as the arrogant soldier 
 was led away : " I have done well to dismiss him, as I 
 might have lost my temper, which I should have regret- 
 ted. I have conquered him ; and it is no less essential 
 that I should learn to conquer myself." 
 
 No wonder then, that when he expired, the watchmen 
 of Paris announced the fatal event to the inhabitants of 
 the city in these touching words : " Frenchmen ! we de- 
 clare to you the most fatal news that you have ever heard. 
 The good King Louis, the Father of his People, is dead ! 
 Pray to GOD for the repose of his soul." 
 
 The greatest blot which rests upon the memory of 
 Louis XII. is his repudiation of his first wife, the un- 
 fortunate Jeanne de France, daughter of Louis XI, for 
 the purpose of marrying Anne de Bretagne, 1 the widow of 
 Charles VIII ; and even in this act there are extenuating 
 points. Compelled by the last-named monarch to 
 affiance himself while yet a mere youth, and Duke 
 d' Orleans, to Jeanne ; and subsequently to complete 
 an alliance which was repugnant to him, when he 
 
 1 Anne de Montforfc, Duchesse de Bretagne, was the daughter and 
 heiress of Duke Francois II. Born in 1476, she married, in 1491, 
 Charles VIII. king of France, and governed the kingdom during 
 his expedition in Italy. On his death, she became the wife of 
 Louis XII, over whom she exercised extraordinary influence. She 
 was the first queen who had a separate body-guard ; and also the first 
 who adopted black as mourning, white having previously been the 
 conventional colour. She died in 1514.
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 7 
 
 had already bestowed his affections elsewhere, he had 
 the additional mortification of seeing himself united to 
 a princess deformed in person, and totally deficient in 
 beauty ; although her meekness of temper and gentleness 
 of disposition might perhaps have ultimately reconciled 
 him to this fact, had he been heart-free at the period of 
 his marriage ; but with his imagination full of the splendid 
 beauty, and courtly fascinations of the heiress of Brittany, 
 his dislike to his enforced bride soon grew into disgust. 
 
 Unfortunately for the timid and neglected duchess, 
 Louis had been a guest at the court of Duke Francois at 
 a period anterior to their union ; when Anne, although 
 also affianced to the Archduke Maximilian of Austria, 
 whom she had never seen, was in the first bloom of her 
 maidenly beauty. As yet fettered by no definitive ties 
 (for she was aware that her marriage treaty could be 
 annulled as readily as it had been contracted), she was by 
 no means insensible to the evident passion of the gallant 
 and handsome Duke d' Orleans ; and it was, consequently, 
 with increased irritation and chagrin that he saw himself 
 unable to profit by a preference which would have secured 
 his happiness. 
 
 The Dauphin, afterwards Charles VIII, had been, in his 
 turn, at the age of thirteen years, betrothed to Marguerite 
 of Austria, 1 the daughter of Maximilian, after his hand 
 
 1 Marguerite d'Autriche was the daughter of the Emperor Maxi- 
 milian and Mary of Burgundy, and was born at Ghent, in 1480. 
 Affianced to the Dauphin (Charles VIII.), and subsequently sent 
 back to the court of her father, she was again betrothed, in the year 
 1497, to the Infant John, son of Ferdinand the Catholic and 
 Isabella; and in 1508, after the death of Don John, she married 
 Philibert le Beau, Duke of Savoy, whom she lost in 1512 ; and who
 
 THE COURT AND REIGN OF 
 
 had been successively declined by the Princess Marie and 
 Elizabeth of England ; and powerless and timid as he 
 was, he revolted at the idea of being thus fettered by an 
 engagement to a child who had scarcely entered her 
 fourth year. According to the command of the king his 
 father, Charles had been reared in the most perfect retire- 
 ment, in the fortress-palace of Amboise, under the united 
 guardianship of Madame Anne de France, his elder sis- 
 ter, and the Sire de Beaujeu, 1 her husband. The feeble 
 health of the young prince, who was very delicate, and of 
 slight frame, but gentle and kind in disposition, was 
 the plausible pretext of Louis for thus secluding him 
 from the world, and maintaining him in profound igno- 
 rance of all public affairs ; the ferocious and jealous mon- 
 arch remembering, in all probability, that the example of 
 filial turpitude which he had himself exhibited, might, 
 should he suffer the physical and mental strength of his 
 son to attain their just dimensions, be followed in the 
 person of the Dauphin. 
 
 Thus Louis XI. had found it difficult to secure such a 
 wife for the young prince as he deemed worthy to share 
 the throne of France ; and it was not without considerable 
 difficulty that Maximilian had at length been induced to 
 grant to him the hand of his infant daughter, who was 
 to remain under the immediate guardianship of the queen 
 until she should attain a marriageable age. 
 
 The apparently profound indifference with which 
 
 left her, as her first husband had done, a childless widow. Her father 
 appointed her governante of the Low Countries ; and she ultimately 
 died at Malines, in 1530. 
 
 1 Pierre de Bourbon, Constable of France.
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 9 
 
 Charles went through the ceremony of his betrothal, had, 
 however, a deeper source than was suspected by those 
 around him ; for he also, although only by report, had 
 suffered his boyish fancy to become captivated by the 
 charms of Anne de Bretagne. Again and again did he 
 question his cousin d'Orleans, and M. de la Tremouille, 1 
 by whom he had been accompanied to the Court of 
 Brittany, of all they had seen and heard in that brilliant 
 circle ; constantly, but as if unconsciously, directing their 
 reminiscences to the young duchess, and crowding his 
 imagination with scenes of pageantry and pleasure in 
 which she was always the most prominent object. To 
 him, debarred as he was from all the pastimes suited to 
 his age and rank, the bare outline of such festivities 
 would have been attractive ; but blent as they thus were 
 with the image of the beautiful young heiress, they were 
 the greatest luxury of his dull and weary existence. No 
 
 1 Louis, Sire de la Tremouille, prince de Talmont, and Vicomte 
 de Thouars, born in 1460, was the representative of an ancient and 
 illustrious family of Poitou ; and acquired, by his talents and courage 
 the appointment of gen eral-in- chief of the army of Charles VIII. 
 against Francois II. Duke of Brittany. He achieved a splendid 
 victory over the enemy at St. Aubin-de-Cormier, in 1488, and made 
 prisoners of both the Duke d'Orleans, afterwards Louis XII, and 
 the Prince of Orange. He also contributed, in a great degree, to the 
 reunion between the two countries, by facilitating the marriage of 
 the Duchess Anne and Charles. His services were rewarded by the 
 post of first-chamberlain to the king, and the lieutenancy of Poitou, 
 Anjou, Angoumais, Aunis, and the Marches of Brittany. Appointed 
 by Louis XII. to the command of his armies in Italy, he effected 
 the conquest of Lombardy, and was made Governor of Burgundy 
 and Admiral of Guienne (1502), and subsequently of Brittany also. 
 Worsted by the Swiss at Novara in 1513, he revenged his defeat 
 upon them at Marignano, at the fearful price, however, of his only 
 sou ; and was ultimately killed at the battle of Pavia in 1525.
 
 10 THE COURT AND REIGN OF 
 
 wonder, then, that after the death of his father, who had 
 confided the government of the kingdom during his 
 minority to his sister and guardian, Madame de Beaujeu, 
 he soon began to cherish hopes which had hitherto seemed 
 more than chimerical. 
 
 Other, and more immediate matters of interest, how- 
 ever, in some degree withdrew the attention of the 
 young monarch from this cherished secret. Madame 
 Anne de Prance, who had hitherto preserved her purity 
 of heart and rigid sense of morality, without one back- 
 sliding, even in thought, had been unable to resist the 
 manly graces of the Duke d' Orleans, and had even per- 
 mitted him to see the hold which he had obtained upon 
 her affections, flattering herself that the attachment was 
 reciprocal ; but Louis, warned by the Count de Dunois 
 not to allow himself to be dazzled by the blandishments 
 of his royal sister-in-law, who was only anxious to en- 
 slave his feelings in order to divert him from prosecuting 
 his claim to the regency after the demise of Louis XL 
 a warning which was overheard by Madame de Beaujeu, 
 and never afterwards forgotten caused the young duke 
 to withdraw, with marked coldness, from her advances ; 
 and converted a fond woman into an implacable enemy. 
 When, therefore, Louis d'Orleans, who had taken up 
 arms in support of the right which he claimed as first 
 prince of the blood, to govern the kingdom during the 
 minority of Charles, was defeated and captured at St. 
 Aubin, in Brittany, by the Sire de la Tremouille ; remem- 
 bering only the slight which had been offered to her, and 
 anxious to revenge, under cover of political expediency, 
 the affront which she had sustained, she caused him to
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 11 
 
 be confined in the prison-tower of Bourges, where, during 
 three long and weary years, he was treated with the 
 greatest harshness and indignity. At the termination of 
 this period, however, his wife, whom even his neglect 
 and coldness had failed to wean from the deep and 
 earnest affection which she bore him, threw herself at the 
 feet of the young king, her brother, and besought him, 
 in the most heart-touching terms, to restore the duke to 
 liberty. Her tears moved Charles, who had always felt 
 a strong affection for his gallant relative ; yet for a while 
 he remained irresolute. The period at which his sister's 
 control was legally to cease had already passed away ; 
 but, although by the death of her husband's brother, 
 Anne de France had become Duchess de Bourbon, she 
 did not appear disposed to relinquish her authority ; and 
 Charles had never ventured to oppose her will. The 
 tears and entreaties of the unhappy Jeanne, however, 
 ultimately overcame his constitutional timidity, although 
 not so thoroughly as to induce him to give a public order 
 for the liberation of the duke ; for he was so well aware 
 of the inflexible hatred which his elder sister bore to- 
 wards the captive, that he bad not courage to contend 
 against the remonstrances which he was conscious must 
 ensue from such a course. In order to escape the watch- 
 fulness of Madame de Bourbon, therefore, he affected to 
 set forth upon a hunting party ; and, directing his course 
 towards Bourges, he sent forward two of his chamber- 
 lains to liberate the umwhile rebel. 
 
 Anne, deeply wounded by this sudden assumption of 
 authority on the part of her late ward, at once withdrew 
 herself from all share in the government, and assumed
 
 1.0 THE COURT AND REIGN OF 
 
 towards the Duke d' Orleans an attitude of haughty 
 animosity, which was as idle as it was innoxious. 
 
 Anxious to liberate himself from the trammels which 
 had been cast about him, Charles lost no time in causing 
 the young Princess Marguerite, his affianced bride, to be 
 reconducted to Flanders, with great honour indeed, and 
 attended by a magnificent retinue; but this parade of 
 respect did not reconcile the pride of the mortified 
 girl to so degrading a dismissal, nor calm the anger of 
 her justly irritated father. The resentment of Maximilian 
 was, however, of slight importance to France ; and, con- 
 sequently, the prospect of his commencing a war in 
 order to revenge his wounded honour, did not induce 
 Charles to renounce his hopes of a marriage upon which 
 his heart had long been fixed ; and which, moreover, 
 promised to be so advantageous to the nation. Dunois, 
 De la Tremouille, De Commines, 1 and ah 1 the principal 
 advisers of Louis d' Orleans, had incurred the disgrace 
 of Madame de Beaujeu, and sought to gain the favour of 
 the young king by forwarding his union with Anne; 
 which was rendered the more desirable from the fact 
 
 1 Philippe de la Clite, Sire de Commines, was born in 1445, and 
 passed his youth at the court of Charles the Bold, whose service he 
 abandoned for that of Louis XI. in 1472. His new master made 
 him a counsellor, chamberlain, and seneschal of Poitiers, and admit- 
 ted him to the limited circle of his intimate advisers. At the death 
 of Louis XL he was appointed a member of the council of regency ; 
 but, being accused of favouring the faction of the Duke d'Orleans, 
 he was confined by Anne de Beaujeu in the castle of Loches. After 
 having undergone two years of captivity, he was employed by the 
 court in several negotiations ; and died in 1509, at the age of sixty- 
 four. His '' Memoires pour 1'IIistoire de Louis XL et de Charles VIII." 
 obtained for him the appellation of the French Tacitus.
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 13 
 
 that her father and younger sister being dead, she had 
 become sole heiress of the noble duchy of Brittany, 
 which would thus be reunited to the crown of France. 
 
 Their chief difficulty lay, however, with the young 
 duchess herself. Pretexting her betrothal to Maximilian, 
 and voluntarily overlooking the fact that, after having 
 espoused her by proxy, he had never made any effort to 
 remove the obstacles which had prevented their definitive 
 union ; and that his age, habits, and temper were, more- 
 over, in complete discordance with her own ; she affected 
 to cover her distaste to the alliance now offered to her, 
 by asserting her determination to fulfil the pledge that 
 she had given. But Anne was ambitious ; and ere long 
 she remembered that the frail and feeble Charles VIII. 
 was King of France, Louis d'Orleans the husband of 
 the Princess Jeanne, and Maximilian lukewarm, and in 
 the decline of life. Her most zealous friends urged her 
 to accept the crown which she was so well fitted to 
 adorn ; and ultimately she consented to solicit from the 
 pope a dispensation which might enable her to yield her 
 hand to the French monarch. 
 
 Shortly after her marriage with Charles VIII, which 
 took place with great pomp at Langeais, she was crowned 
 at St. Denis ; and her exulting husband then conducted 
 her to Amboise, to which, as his birth-place, he was ex- 
 ceedingly attached, and which he proposed to embellish. 
 An expedition to Italy, whence he had fondly flattered 
 himself that he should return a conqueror, retarded, 
 however, the execution of this project ; but on his return 
 to France he hastened to put it into execution ; various 
 plans were submitted to him, and he commenced the
 
 14 THE COURT AND REIGN OF 
 
 construction of a new edifice which was destined to be 
 regal in its decorations. But a fatal accident once more 
 rendered his design abortive. As he was one day con- 
 ducting the queen to the tennis-court, to reach which it 
 was necessary to traverse a dark and low-roofed gallery, 
 he struck his head against the archway of a door ; and 
 although he affected to treat the accident lightly, and 
 even joined in the game, it soon became evident that he 
 had received his death-blow ; for on again entering the 
 gallery to pass into his apartments, he was seized with a 
 sudden giddiness, and fell to the ground senseless. In 
 the agitation and terror of the moment his attendants 
 made no effort to remove him from the close and gloomy 
 spot where he had fallen, but laid him upon a squalid 
 mattrass which had been flung down there by some 
 menial of the castle, and on which he expired during the 
 night in his twenty-eighth year. 
 
 The frightful nature of his death may perhaps account 
 in some degree for the excessive grief displayed by the 
 queen, for a husband of whose infidelities she had 
 frequent and flagrant proofs, and whom she had never 
 professed to love. Certain it is that, as if in order 
 to render her affliction more conspicuous, she assumed 
 the deepest sables as her mourning garb, although white 
 had hitherto been the habitual dress of all royal widows 
 in France. Despite these outward demonstrations, how- 
 ever, Anne received with undisguised pleasure the con- 
 solations tendered to her by the new king, through the 
 medium of two of his confidential nobles, who played 
 their part so well that they mingled their tears with her's, 
 and prepared the way for their royal master ; who, when
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 15 
 
 her first burst of grief had subsided, hastened to assure 
 her of his deep sympathy in her affliction. By his com- 
 mand, and at his cost, a funeral service of extraordinary 
 magnificence was celebrated in the chapel of Amboise for 
 the repose of the soul of Charles VIII ; and this duty was 
 no sooner performed than he endeavoured to turn her 
 thoughts from the husband whom she had lost, to the days 
 in which, at the court of her father, they had first met, and 
 yielded to an attachment which neither had yet forgotten. 
 
 " Obtain the dissolution of your marriage with Jeanne 
 de France;" had ultimately whispered the new-made 
 widow ; " and I abandon my hand to you." 
 
 Louis XII. needed no second bidding; and while 
 Anne hastened to conceal her present sorrows and her 
 future hopes in the castle of Loches, the husband of the 
 unhappy Jeanne took instant measures for effecting that 
 divorce which was to be the last trial of her married life. 
 
 Only nine months after the death of Charles, Caesar 
 Borgia, the nephew of Alexander VI, delivered to the 
 French monarch the bull by which the sovereign pontiff 
 declared null and void the union contracted between 
 Louis d' Orleans and Jeanne de France ; and upon its 
 receipt the dissolution of the marriage was publicly 
 announced in the church of St. Denis at Amboise. The 
 unfortunate daughter of Louis XI, whose meek virtues 
 and devoted affection had been unable to obtain for her 
 the heart of the man on whom she had been taught to 
 look from her earliest childhood as the companion and 
 protector of her future life, roused herself from the 
 dejection and apathy into which she had fallen, and made 
 one faint struggle while the divorce was still pending, to
 
 10 THE COURT AND REIGN OF 
 
 maintain her right; but she was unable to contend 
 against her destiny ; and when the fatal dissolution was 
 announced, she retired to Bourges, and passed the re- 
 mainder of her piteous life in works of piety and bene- 
 volence. Among other good deeds she founded the 
 convent of the Annunciation, visited the sick, and fed the 
 hungry; and when, in 1504, she breathed out her 
 peaceful soul, her body was followed to the grave by the 
 tears and blessings of the poor. 
 
 The marriage of Anne de Bretagne with Louis XII. 
 followed immediately upon the divorce which had broken 
 the heart of the forsaken Jeanne ; but the new queen did 
 not revisit Amboise until the following year ; when, 
 although the monarch added to its attractions by the 
 vast and magnificent plantation known as the royal 
 garden, and made other improvements calculated to ren- 
 der it a more agreeable residence for his beautiful and 
 idolized wife, Anne soon discovered that she had too 
 many displeasing and still recent memories connected 
 with the spot, willingly to become its habitual occupant ; 
 and thus the royal pair, after a short stay in the antique 
 castle, abandoned it, and held their court successively at 
 Blois, Loches, Chinon, and Paris. 
 
 The second marriage of Louis XII. was the first shadow 
 cast over the brilliant prospects of the young Count 
 Francis. The alleged sterility of Jeanne de France, and 
 the feeble constitution of Charles VIII, had alike tended 
 hitherto to raise the hopes of those who were interested in 
 his succession to the throne ; but those hopes now became 
 much less sanguine as they reflected that Anne de Bretagne 
 was not only still young, but also tenderly beloved by her
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 17 
 
 husband ; and that there was, consequently, every reason 
 to anticipate the birth of a Dauphin. Nevertheless, the 
 queen herself looked upon the heir-presumptive with a 
 jealous eye ; all the children whom she had borne to 
 Charles had died in their infancy, and the continual pre- 
 sence of the young prince at court was irksome to her. 
 
 Francis Count d'Angouleme was born at Coignac on 
 the 12th of September, 1494, an event which Louise de 
 Savoie, 1 his mother, has recorded, in her somewhat hete- 
 rogeneous journal, with true maternal exultation. 2 He 
 was only two years of age when he lost his father, and 
 became the ward of his kinsman the Duke d' Orleans, 
 who at once evinced the sincerity of his affection for his 
 
 1 Louise de Savoie was the daughter of Philippe, duke de Savoie, 
 and Marguerite de Bourbon. She was born at Bresse, in 1476, and in 
 1488 married Charles d'Orleans, duke d'Angouleme. She died in 1532. 
 
 2 This journal, which, brief and unsatisfactory as it is, yet con- 
 tains some important statistical facts, was discovered in the original 
 MS. by a monk named Hilarion de Costa, in the library of M. de 
 Hardy, a counsellor of the Chatelet, by whom it was given to 
 M. Guichenon. The latter gentleman published it, among other 
 papers of interest, at the termination of his " Histoire Genealogique 
 de la Maison de Savoie ;" and the Abbe Lambert subsequently ap- 
 pended it to his translation of the " Memoires de Du-Bellay," in 
 1753. 
 
 One of the entries which it contains is so startling, and, were it 
 not that the subject is unfitted for a jest, would be so ludicrous, that 
 it must not be passed over without notice ; particularly as the moral 
 character of the princess, when placed in juxtaposition with her 
 office, renders the whole transaction doubly disgraceful ; and exposes, 
 in a marked manner, the venality and corruption of the Romish 
 Church. We give it in the original: " L'an 1519, le 5 Juillet, 
 frfere Fra^ois de Paule, des freres mendians evangelistes, fut par moi 
 canonise ; & tout le moins, j'en ai paye la taxe." All comment 
 would be idle. 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 IS THE COURT AND REIGN OF 
 
 young charge by selecting as his tutor the learned Artus 
 de Gouffier Boisy, a gentleman of Poitou, who laboured 
 assiduously to render both the mind and character of the 
 boy-prince worthy of the eminent station which he might 
 one day be called upon to fill. Madame d'Angouleme 
 had passed the first years of her widowhood at Romo- 
 rantin, where she devoted herself to the education of her 
 son Francis, and her daughter Marguerite ; until she was 
 summoned to the court by the monarch, who was anxious 
 to promote a close friendship between his queen and the 
 mother of his young ward. In this endeavour, however, 
 he signally failed. Anne de Bretagne and Louise de 
 Savoie had too many conflicting jealousies at heart long 
 to maintain even the semblance of friendship. Both 
 were young, both eminently beautiful, and both eager to 
 give a king to France ; and thus a mutual distrust and 
 dislike was engendered, which ere long increased to such 
 an extent that they mutually threw off all disguise, and 
 harassed alike the sovereign and his ministers by the 
 cabals into which they severally entered. Time, instead 
 of softening, served only to increase this unhappy ani- 
 mosity ; and on the successive death of two infant sons, 
 in each of whom Anne had for a few brief weeks fondly 
 believed that she beheld the inheritor of the French 
 crown, the exultation of Louise was so unbounded as to 
 assume the character of insult ; while the queen, irritated 
 by a display of triumph which doubled the bitterness of 
 her disappointment, became only more confirmed in her 
 hatred of both mother and son. 
 
 Under these circumstances Louis XII. resolved to with- 
 draw Madame d'Angouleme once more from the court ;
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 19 
 
 and in the year 1504, he appointed Amboise as her place 
 of residence ; and confided to Pierre de Rohan, Marechal 
 de Gie, whom he greatly esteemed, the important office 
 of governor to the young prince. 1 
 
 The selection was a happy one : as during his sojourn 
 in Italy, when general of the king's armies, M. de Gie had 
 devoted himself to literature and the arts ; which, together 
 with his other manly accomplishments, had conduced to 
 render him one of the most distinguished nobles of the 
 age. He was, moreover, the descendant of one of the 
 first families of Brittany, very wealthy, and celebrated for 
 the loyalty and frankness of his character. Under the 
 guidance of such a man as Pierre de Rohan, Louis con- 
 sequently felt assured that his ward would never suffer 
 from the want of his own superintendence; and the 
 result justified his confidence ; for the zealous efforts of 
 the governor were soon apparent in the rapid progress 
 of the pupil ; who under his auspices imbibed that refine- 
 ment of taste, and that manly bearing, for which he was 
 afterwards so famous. Not content, however, with mak- 
 ing him a scholar, M. de Gie sought also to render the 
 very defects of the young prince subservient to his future 
 greatness ; and early observant of the impetuosity of his 
 character, as well as the quickness of his intellect, he 
 
 1 Pierre de Rohan, Seigneur de Gie, was one of the most powerful 
 nobles at the court of Louis XI, who created him Marshal of France 
 in 1475. He governed the kingdom conjointly with three other 
 individuals of high rank during the dangerous illness of that mon- 
 arch at Chinon, and commanded the vanguard of the army at the 
 battle of Fornoue in 1495. Louis XII. appointed him Chief of the 
 Council, Lieutenant-general in Brittany, and General of his forces in 
 Italy. He was also Commandant of Anjou and Amboise. 
 
 C 2
 
 20 THE COURT AND REIGN OF 
 
 spared no pains to inculcate the necessity of his ac- 
 quiring that most difficult of all lessons, the art of self- 
 government. 
 
 As regarded his martial exercises, Francis required 
 little tuition ; for, addicted from his earliest boyhood to 
 manly and chivalrous pastimes, and gifted by nature with 
 a person at once tall, robust, and graceful, he soon ex- 
 celled all his companions, alike in the noble accom- 
 plishment of brilliant horsemanship, and in the use 
 of weapons of every description ; while by his natural 
 cheerfulness, urbanity, and frankness of deportment, he 
 effectually secured the affection of the friends of his boy- 
 hood, who subsequently became alike the ornament and 
 the support of his throne. 
 
 Unfortunately, while devoting himself to the education 
 of his royal pupil, the marechal suffered himself to be 
 captivated by the attractions of Madame d'Angouleme ; 
 who, far from scrupulous in her conduct, encouraged 
 his evident admiration by her coquettish blandishments. 
 It is probable that Louise de Savoie, deprived in her 
 honourable exile of those opportunities of seduction of 
 which she was so perfect a mistress, did not reflect upon 
 the possible consequences of her imprudence upon the 
 mind and heart of such a man as the Marechal de Gie ; 
 for it is certain that she sought only to beguile the time 
 which hung so heavily upon her hands, when she suffered 
 him to believe that he was daily possessing himself of her 
 affections, and had no inclination to return a passion 
 which she regarded only with contempt. Thus the de- 
 luded noble was ultimately beguiled into a declaration, 
 which was repulsed with a disdain so haughty and so
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 21 
 
 undisguised, that he uttered an internal vow that the 
 scornful princess should one day bitterly repent the 
 indignity which she had cast upon him. 
 
 Just at this juncture a letter reached the castle inform- 
 ing M. de Gie that the court had left Chinon for Blois, 
 and would remain for a few days at Amboise ; upon 
 Avhich the marechal gave the necessary orders, and then, 
 with his accustomed deference, hastened to communicate 
 the king's intention to Madame d'Angouleme ; whom 
 he did not again meet until the arrival of the king and 
 queen, with their brilliant retinue. 
 
 Anne de Bretagne was the first female sovereign of 
 France who had ever conceived the idea of enhancing her 
 dignity by the formation of a regularly organized house- 
 hold of ladies ; and Brantome expatiates with enthusiasm 
 upon this novel addition to the court circle, so well cal- 
 culated to increase the attraction of those receptions 
 where heretofore all had been stately tedium ; while he 
 also asserts that so earnest was Anne in the accomplish- 
 ment of her object, that she never refused to admit into 
 her service any dame or damsel who was authorized to 
 aspire to it by gentle birth; but, on the contrary, 
 frequently questioned the nobles by whom she was ap- 
 proached, as to the extent of their families ; and author- 
 ized them to invite their wives or daughters in her name 
 to join the royal suite. Thus she soon accumulated a 
 train of eight-and-twenty maids-of-honour, at salaries 
 varying from thirty-five to one hundred annual livres ; 
 and sixteen ladies, either princesses, or the wives of men 
 of the highest quality in the kingdom, all of whom were 
 likewise salaried ; and her court soon became the school
 
 22 THE COURT AND REIGN OF 
 
 in which the noble youth of both sexes, who were per- 
 mitted to study it, sought to fashion themselves. 
 
 Nor did even this new splendour satisfy the magnificent 
 tastes of Anne, who felt that while she was thus increas- 
 ing her own personal consequence, she was at the same 
 time humiliating her haughty rival, Louise de Savoie ; for 
 her female circle was no sooner organized than she asked 
 and obtained of the king that she should be permitted to 
 increase the number of the body-guard which he had 
 already conceded to her, to two hundred ; most of whom 
 were well-born gentlemen of Brittany, who were accus- 
 tomed, when she left the palace of Blois, either to attend 
 mass, or for the purpose of exercise, to await her upon the 
 terrace, which was accordingly soon known as the "Bretons' 
 Perch," from the fact that when she reached the door 
 which led to her apartments, she never failed to remark, 
 " There are my Bretons on their perch awaiting me." 
 
 Thus brilliantly attended, therefore, did she arrive at 
 the castle of Amboise ; and among her graceful suite two 
 lovely young princesses were equally conspicuous the 
 one was Germaine de Foix_, the niece of the king, and 
 the sister of the brave and accomplished Gaston, who 
 perished in the bloom of youth at the battle of Ravenna; 
 and the other, Suzanne de Bourbon, the only child of 
 Anne de Prance and the Sire de Beaujeu. 
 
 The train of the king was less numerous, as most of 
 the young nobles who were of an age to encounter the 
 fatigues of a campaign had sought and obtained per- 
 mission to join the army in Italy, where Louis still 
 maintained the disastrous struggle which had been 
 commenced by his predecessor Charles VIII.
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 23 
 
 Nevertheless, he numbered in his retinue more than 
 one scion of the most illustrious families of France ; 
 among others the Duke d'Alencon, then considered as 
 the future husband of Mademoiselle de Bourbon, but 
 who subsequently married Marguerite d'Angouleme, the 
 sister of Francis ; the Count Charles de Montpensier j 1 
 M. de Vandenesse 2 the younger brother of the Marquis 
 de la Palice; 3 and Guillaume Gouffier, Seigneur de 
 Bonnivet. 4 
 
 M. de Gie had arranged a series of festivities for the 
 amusement of the court during their residence at Am- 
 
 1 Charles de Montpensier, Due de Bourbon, afterwards so celebra- 
 ted as Connetable de Bourbon, was the second son of Gilbert, Count 
 de Montpensier, and was born in 1489. He was made Constable in 
 1515, and subsequently became Viceroy of Milan. He acquired 
 great renown at the battle of Marignano ; but, compelled by the 
 injustice of the queen-mother, who disputed his claim to his do- 
 mains, to leave France, he offered his services to Charles V, and 
 commanded his forces during the wars of Italy. He was killed in 
 1527, at the siege of Rome, and died without issue. 
 
 2 Jean de Chabannes, Seigneur de Vandenesse, who was sub- 
 sequently captain of a thousand foot soldiers at the battle of Ravenna. 
 He was killed at the retreat of Rebec. 
 
 3 Jacques de Chabannes, Seigneur de la Palice, Marshal of France, 
 Governor of Bourbon, Auvergne, Forez, Beaujolais, and Lyons, was 
 the most distinguished member of a family celebrated for the num- 
 ber of great men which it has produced, and one of the most 
 renowned generals of his time. He served in Italy under both 
 Charles VIII. and Louis XII, and was killed at the battle of Pavia 
 in 1525. 
 
 4 Guillaume Gouffier, Seigneur de Bonnivet, was subsequently 
 Admiral of France, and General-in-chief of the armies of Francis I. 
 in Italy. He distinguished himself in several engagements ; but 
 having, by his imprudence, caused the loss of the battle of Pavia, 
 he threw himself in despair into, the ranks of the enemy, and was 
 killed.
 
 24 THE COURT AND REIGN OF 
 
 boise, but the health of the king had become so much 
 shaken by the unfavourable intelligence which daily 
 reached him from Italy, and by the obstinate opposition 
 of Anne to various resolutions with which a wise policy 
 had inspired him, that he was incapable of the exertion 
 which they would have required. Devotedly attached to 
 her person, he had accustomed himself to yield to her 
 wishes, not only in every instance wherein she considered 
 that her personal interests or dignity as queen of Prance 
 were in any way involved, but even on points of more 
 importance ; and so anxious had he shown himself to 
 maintain by every means in his power the respect and 
 deference which he considered as her due, that no 
 ambassador or foreigner of rank who visited the court, 
 after he had been received by the king himself, was 
 exempted from the necessity of proceeding at once to 
 the queen's apartments with the same ceremony, in 
 order that it might be understood how completely he 
 identified her in all the honours of his own regality. 
 
 Naturally arrogant and ambitious, this new innovation 
 upon the accustomed etiquette of the court sufficed to fill 
 up the measure of her self-appreciation ; but the measure, 
 nevertheless, proved to be one of sound policy ; for the 
 extreme grace and courtesy of manner which distin- 
 guished Anne de Bretagne, coupled with an erudition 
 which, if it failed to be profound, was at least remark- 
 able at that period, and a superficial knowledge of several 
 languages, in which she constantly laboured to perfect 
 herself, enabled her to address the various strangers who 
 presented themselves in their own native idiom ; and 
 thus to secure to herself a popularity which increased the
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 25 
 
 charm of her conversation, and admirably assisted her 
 views. 
 
 Although she had lost her sons, she had become the 
 mother of a princess, whom Louis was anxious to affiance 
 to the young Count d'Angouleme, his heir-presumptive ; 
 but this project met with the most resolute opposition on 
 her part. Duchess of Brittany in her own right ; and 
 permitted, through the affectionate indulgence of her 
 royal husband, an absolute control over all the affairs of 
 the duchy, she openly avowed her desire to render it an 
 independent government ; and, probably instigated as 
 much by her dislike of the Countess d'Angouleme as 
 by any more political consideration, she was no sooner 
 made aware that Louis was already meditating a mar- 
 riage for the infant princess, than she proceeded to nego- 
 tiate an alliance with the Duke de Luxembourg, the 
 grandson of the Archduke Maximilian, to whom she had 
 herself been betrothed, and of which the principal condi- 
 tion was to be the cession of Brittany as a portion of the 
 bride's dowry. The monarch, actuated at once by his 
 affection for his consort, which rendered him averse to 
 oppose her wishes, and by his desire not to aggravate the 
 animosity between herself and Louise de Savoie, suffered 
 the negotiation to proceed ; and thus encouraged her to 
 interfere in the differences which existed between himself 
 and Pope Julius II. Anne, who was deeply tinctured 
 with the superstition of the time, affected, or perhaps 
 felt, the greatest horror upon seeing her husband in open 
 animosity against the sovereign-pontiff; and regardless 
 of the fact that Julius was the enemy of the king, and 
 the sworn foe of France, she so warmly and pertinaciously
 
 20 THE COURT AND REIGN OF 
 
 supported the cause of the Holy See, that Louis was 
 once surprised into exclaiming ; " By heaven ! my Bre- 
 ton dame, any one, to hear you so decidedly condemn 
 what the most celebrated universities have approved, 
 would imagine that you esteem yourself more learned 
 than the age ! Have your confessors never told you that 
 women have no voice in the church ?" 
 
 The reproof came, however, too late. Anne had be- 
 come accustomed to follow the dictates of her own will ; 
 and notwithstanding this remonstrance, she availed her- 
 self of her right of sovereignty over Brittany, which was 
 secured to her by her marriage contract, to forbid the 
 attendance of all the bishops of that province at the 
 council which was about to assemble at Pisa, with inten- 
 tions evidently hostile to Julius. Addicted both to 
 political and social intrigue, she seldom suffered either 
 to become conspicuous ; and it was only when her pride 
 or her vanity was outraged, that she was betrayed into 
 a vehemence that revealed the true extent of the pas- 
 sions by which she was governed. 
 
 On the departure of the court from Amboise, the king, 
 at the request of Madame d'Angouleme (who had ful- 
 filled her duties of hostess with a composure and courtesy 
 which considerably diminished the anticipated triumph 
 of the queen), consented to leave at the castle three of 
 the young nobles of his suite, as companions to her son. 
 These were Charles deMontpensier, Guillaume de Gouffier, 
 and M. de Vandenesse. The latter, by his handsome per- 
 son and courtly manners, had attracted the attention of 
 Louise de Savoie, and in her desire to retain him at Am- 
 boise, had originated the idea of making this application.
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 27 
 
 Of the new inmates of the castle, all of whom were 
 several years older than the young count, Francis soon 
 learnt to prefer Gouffier, whose joyous temperament and 
 supple nature admirably adapted him for the companion- 
 ship of princes. The proud, self-centred, and reserved 
 temper of Charles de Montpensier, at once chilled and 
 irritated him ; while de Vandenesse appeared absorbed 
 rather by his mother than himself. 
 
 The only person towards whom Charles de Montpen- 
 sier wholly unbent, was Mademoiselle d'Angouleme. Al- 
 though she had scarcely attained her thirteenth year, her 
 grace, intellect, and acquirements were remarkable ; and 
 ere long the heart of the proud and reserved young noble 
 was at her feet. Two years the senior of Francis, she 
 was born on the llth of April, 1492, in the old castle of 
 the city of Angouleme. The early death of her father 
 affected her interests but little ; as, although " one of the 
 best men among the princes of the blood," according to 
 the declaration of Charles VIII, he committed the educa- 
 tion of his children entirely to his wife, whose stronger 
 mind and higher attainments rendered her more com- 
 petent to such a charge. The nurture of the young, and 
 beautiful, and high-spirited Marguerite differed in almost 
 every particular from that of the pious and gentle prin- 
 cess Claude, whom Anne de Bretagne was rearing in the 
 most absolute seclusion. The audacious, unscrupulous 
 and ambitious spirit of Louise de Savoie, did not even 
 seek to leaven itself by religion ; and thus the atmosphere 
 breathed by the young countess, from her earliest girl- 
 hood, was redolent of gallantry, pleasure, and intrigue. 
 Nature had richly endowed her both in mind and person ;
 
 28 THE COURT AND REIGN OF 
 
 and the extraordinary aptitude and perseverance with 
 which she devoted herself to study even from her infancy, 
 was, probably, her best safeguard against corruption. As 
 she emerged from girlhood, her proficiency as a linguist 
 excited universal astonishment ; while in philosophy and 
 poetry she delighted ; and such of her compositions as are 
 still in existence, however grievously and painfully they 
 may be wanting in morality, are yet distinguished by an 
 ease and grace of expression which contrasts in a marked 
 manner with the inflated and extravagant style of contem- 
 porary writers. 
 
 The mutual affection which subsisted between herself 
 and her brother became a proverb among all who wit- 
 nessed it. The whole soul of the boy-count appeared to 
 be wrapped up in his graceful and richly endowed sister, to 
 whom he referred his tastes, his wishes, and his pursuits ; 
 while, on her side, Marguerite guided him by her coun- 
 sels, assisted him by her riper attainments, and gladdened 
 him by her love. Both in person and in mind they resem- 
 bled each other greatly : in each existed the same marked 
 and commanding features, the same quickness of intellect, 
 and the same thirst for knowledge. Nor were they less 
 similar in their love of pleasure, and we use the word in 
 its most comprehensive sense. No wonder, therefore, 
 that Francis idolized his sister, whom he was accustomed 
 to call his j^, the Marguerite of Marguerites, and the 
 pearl beyond price. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the caution of Montpensier, the 
 secret of his attachment for Mademoiselle d'Angouleme 
 was soon discovered by Gouffier, who had become equally 
 enslaved by her attractions ; and from that moment com-
 
 ENGBAVED BY S KRE EMAN , FROM A PORTRAIT PDB1ISHBD IN NIElls 
 "iLLVSTRES FRAHCAIS DU 16 S1ECJJE* 
 
 Lonaon:Rac>ia.ra Bendey, 1849
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 29 
 
 menced a hatred between the two young nobles, which 
 was destined to endure throughout their lives. Mar- 
 guerite, still a mere girl, and hitherto engrossed by her 
 studies, knew nothing of love save in theory, and was 
 consequently some time ere she was able fully to com- 
 prehend the devotion of the Count Charles ; but she had 
 no sooner done so, than she returned his passion with all 
 the ardour of her young and guileless heart. With the 
 natural timidity of an inexperienced girl, she, however, 
 shrank from confiding the state of her newly awakened 
 feelings to her boy-brother ; who, instigated by Gouffier, 
 his favourite companion, soon evinced a decided distaste 
 to the young Montpensier, which at length obtained such 
 a mastery over him, that, after a quarrel in the Tennis- 
 court, Francis, whose warlike temper revealed itself upon 
 all occasions, declared his determination to meet him in 
 single combat ; nor was it without considerable difficulty 
 that M. de Gie succeeded in calming him. The habitual 
 authority of the Marechal over the proud spirit of the 
 prince assured him, however, of an ultimate, even if a 
 hardly-won triumph ; but it was far otherwise when he 
 sought to pacify Charles de Montpensier ; who, although 
 infinitely less demonstrative in his indignation than his 
 antagonist, felt far more deeply. He replied briefly to 
 the expostulations of M. de Gie ; evinced no disposition 
 to make the slightest concession ; and, after having asked 
 a parting interview with Madame d'Angouleme and her 
 gifted daughter, left the castle the same day ; but instead 
 of proceeding to Blois, where the king almost immediately 
 upon his arrival, had complained of serious indisposition ; 
 he at once directed his steps to Paris, where he rejoined
 
 30 THE COURT AND REIGN OF 
 
 his relative and god-mother, Madame de Bourbon, from 
 whom he had been separated when the court left Amboise. 
 
 His sudden and abrupt departure inflicted upon Mar- 
 guerite the first heart-pang that she had ever experienced ; 
 but by her mother it was scarcely remembered beyond the 
 hour. The passion which Louise de Savoie had permitted 
 herself to encourage for M. de Vandenesse, had created 
 an ideal world about her which shut out all that it did 
 not involve within its own vortex ; while the young noble, 
 flattered by the love of so great and handsome a princess, 
 not content with the favours which she lavished upon 
 him, had the extreme imprudence to assume her colours ; 
 and, discarding the grey and green in which he had 
 formerly appeared, to assume the blue and silver in 
 which she usually attired herself. This change did not 
 escape the keen eye of the marechal, who felt that his 
 hour of revenge was come ; and he accordingly kept so 
 strict a watch upon the movements of his favoured rival, 
 that he at length surprised him as he was stealthily 
 making his way through an obscure gallery which led to 
 the apartments of Madame d'Angouleme. 
 
 " Sir ;" said the vigilant M. de Gie sarcastically ; "I 
 am aware that this corridor leads only to the chambers 
 occupied by the female attendants of the countess ; I 
 will not, therefore, demand to know, as I have every right 
 to do in my capacity of governor of this castle, upon what 
 errand you are bound at so unusual an hour. I will con- 
 fine myself simply to the request that you will immediately 
 retrace your steps, and leave Amboise by dawn to-mor- 
 row ; as I can allow no one to remain within these walls 
 whose example may prove pernicious to my royal pupil."
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 31 
 
 M. de Vandenesse, fearing to compromise the princess 
 by a resistance which would, moreover, have proved use- 
 less, as he could not successfully contend against the 
 official authority of the marechal, made no reply ; but, 
 bowing respectfully, returned to his own chamber ; where, 
 having summoned his valet, and made the necessary 
 arrangements, he remained until daylight, when he 
 mounted, and rode from the castle of Amboise without 
 even having an opportunity of paying his parting respects 
 to his late hostess. 
 
 Louise de Savoie, on ascertaining the hurried and 
 unceremonious departure of the young noble, was in- 
 stantly convinced that he had retired at the instigation 
 of M. de Gie, who had thus seized the first opportunity 
 of revenge for his own dismissal ; and even amid the 
 bitterness of her annoyance, she smiled a haughty smile 
 as she reflected that the time might yet come when she 
 would make him rue his interference ; nor did she once 
 condescend to allude to the circumstance. Madame 
 d'Angouleme, unlike the generality of her sex, rarely 
 sought her vengeance in words. 
 
 The malady of the king soon assumed the most alarm- 
 ing aspect ; and as, notwithstanding her habitual self- 
 sufficiency, Anne de Bretagne was by no means insensible 
 to the affection which her royal husband had so constantly 
 lavished upon her, she devoted herself to him in this 
 emergency with the most exemplary solicitude, seldom 
 absenting herself from the sick-room, save when compelled 
 to do so by her public duties. For a time, however, her 
 cares were vain. The disease daily acquired strength ; and 
 the court physicians at length reluctantly confessed their
 
 32 THE COURT AND REIGN OF 
 
 inability to arrest its progress. This declaration fell like 
 a thunderbolt upon the anxious queen. At one glance 
 she saw and appreciated all the difficulty of her position 
 when Louise de Savoie should become the mother of 
 the reigning monarch ; and resolved riot to subject her- 
 self to the insults of a triumphant enemy, she determined 
 to retire into Brittany the moment that the king had 
 ceased to live; as there she could still maintain her 
 sovereign state, and enjoy the undivided power which 
 had always been the dream of her ambition. Thus, while 
 she still continued to bestow the most affectionate atten- 
 tions upon her royal consort, his apparently desperate 
 condition by no means absorbed the whole of her reflec- 
 tions ; and she lost no time in causing all her most 
 costly furniture, jewels, and every other article of value 
 which, from having been devoted to her use, she con- 
 sidered as her own property, to be hastily packed up, 
 and despatched to Nantes by the Loire. 
 
 " By St. Yves !" exclaimed the indignant Marechal de 
 Gie, when he learnt the somewhat premature measures 
 adopted by Anne ; " the Breton Dame never loses her 
 wits where her interests are concerned ; but, vrai Dicu ! 
 I will show her that I am Breton too ; and that I know 
 how to perform the duties of the office that has been 
 intrusted to me. She is a trifle too hasty in her move- 
 ments, and has acted like the wife of a trader, rather 
 than that of a great monarch. Our good and well- 
 beloved king and master is not yet, perhaps, upon his 
 death-bed, as she imagines ; and it is somewhat of the 
 earliest for Madame la Reine to remove, upon her own 
 authority, and from the royal palaces, effects which the
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 33 
 
 successor of her husband may reclaim as the property of 
 the crown." 
 
 These impolitic and somewhat intemperate words 
 were, unfortunately for the fiery Pierre de "Rohan, uttered 
 in the presence of several individuals ; and, among others, 
 in that of Madame d'Angouleme, and M. de Pontbriant, 
 the chamberlain of the young prince ; but, as his zeal 
 had been awakened by his anxiety to protect the inte- 
 rests of his pupil, and that Pontbriant was his protege, 
 and indebted to him for the very appointment which he 
 then held, M. de Gie could not anticipate that either 
 would be guilty of a breach of trust. 
 
 His threat was speedily followed up ; for, leaving the 
 apartment with the mien of a chafed lion, he gave im- 
 mediate orders for stopping the boats which the queen 
 had freighted, upon their passage ; but he had received 
 his information too late to render this practicable, as 
 they had passed Amboise before the news reached him ; 
 when, resolved not to be thwarted in his design, he no 
 sooner ascertained the fact, than he despatched his 
 mounted men-at-arms to seize their lading at Namur. 
 The haughty spirit of the queen, on being apprised of 
 this bold proceeding, was instantly aroused ; and when, 
 contrary to all expectation, Louis XII. began slowly to 
 recover from his malady, she availed herself of the in- 
 creased influence which she had obtained over him during 
 his sufferings, to represent the conduct of the governor 
 of Amboise in the darkest colours ; carefully avoiding 
 the main subject of her displeasure, and basing her accu- 
 sations upon the fact that the marechal had indulged 
 in insulting reflections, not only upon herself personally, 
 VOL. i. D
 
 34 THE COURT AND REIGN OF 
 
 but also upon the king ; and treated with contemptuous 
 disapprobation many public acts of his government. 
 The great regard which Louis had long felt for M. de 
 Gie rendered him reluctant to give credence to this 
 report ; but Anne met his doubts by affirming that she 
 could produce witnesses to the truth of what she had 
 advanced ; and thus the king found himself compelled to 
 put the marechal upon his trial. 
 
 Numerous witnesses appeared against him, when he was 
 cited before the parliament of Toulouse on the charge of 
 lese-majeste ; and among the rest, Madame d'Angouleme; 
 who, in her thirst for vengeance, was arrested neither 
 by the consideration that the marechal had fallen under 
 the displeasure of Anne in order to protect the interests 
 of her own son, nor even by the fact that in her eager- 
 ness to injure M. de Gie, she was furthering the views of 
 a woman whom she hated. 
 
 The marechal treated alike the accusation and the 
 witnesses with haughty contempt ; and the only reproach 
 which he uttered to Louise de Savoie, when he perceived 
 that the most virulent of his accusers were herself and 
 Pontbriant, was contained in words which cannot fail to 
 remind the reader of the dying exclamation of Wolsey : 
 " And you too, Madam ? Had I only served my God 
 as I have served you, I should have little to regret upon 
 my death-bed." 
 
 After numerous deliberations and delays, the parlia- 
 ment ultimately acquitted M. de Gie of the crime of 
 lese-majeste ; but, by a singular inconsistency, which 
 savoured strongly of extraneous influence an inference 
 which is, moreover, strengthened by the fact that Anne,
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 35 
 
 whose natural cupidity was notorious, had employed no 
 less a sum than thirty-two thousand livres in urging his 
 judges to greater severity and despatch pronounced 
 that for certain excesses and other delinquencies, the 
 Marechal de Gie should be deprived of the title and 
 office of Governor of the Count d'Angouleme, and his 
 command of the castles of Amboise and Angers ; and 
 that for the space of five years he should abstain from 
 the exercise of his functions as Marshal of France, during 
 which period he should be exiled from the residences of 
 the court. 
 
 M. de Gie bore his disgrace as philosophically as he 
 had borne his prosperity ; and resigning his forfeited 
 dignities, retired to Anjou, where he lived surrounded 
 by splendour, and totally indifferent to the exultation of 
 those who had conspired against him. 
 
 The implacable nature of Anne de Bretagne displayed 
 itself upon this occasion in a marked manner. When 
 urged by Pontbriant to suggest that the culprit should 
 be subjected to the question, in order to compel him to a 
 confession of his crime, she declared that she had no 
 wish to see him condemned to die, as were he to lose his 
 head he would soon be unconscious of the degradation to 
 which he was now subjected ; but that, on the contrary, 
 her desire was that he should live, in order that he 
 might contrast his present disgrace and insignificance 
 with his former greatness ; and amid regret, suffering, 
 and mortification, endure a lasting agony, which to his 
 proud spirit would be more bitter a hundredfold than 
 death itself. 
 
 Meanwhile her late alarm had rendered her only the 
 
 D 2
 
 30 
 
 COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 
 
 more determined to accomplish her project regarding the 
 disposal of Brittany, and to crush the hopes of Louise 
 de Savoie that her son would one day inherit her beloved 
 duchy ; and she accordingly urged on the secret corre- 
 spondence into which she had already entered with the son 
 of the Archduke Philip with increased eagerness ; and with 
 so much success, that this prince, in conjunction with 
 Maximilian, finally opened a negotiation with Louis XII, 
 which terminated in the treaty of Blois, by which it was 
 stipulated that the Princess Claude, with the present 
 possession of the counties of Ast, Boulogne, and Blois, 
 and the duchy of Brittany in perspective, upon the death 
 of her mother, should be given in marriage to the young 
 Duke de Luxembourg. 
 
 This matrimonial compact was a fatal blow to the 
 ambition of Louise de Savoie, and the prospects of her 
 son. Madame d'Angouleme had, until that moment, 
 never ceased to flatter herself that upon a point so vital 
 to the interests of the nation, as well as so interesting to 
 his own feelings, the will and wishes of the king must 
 ultimately prevail ; and now she was fated to witness the 
 failure of her anticipations ; while Francis, who had long 
 considered the infant princess as his destined wife, not 
 only found himself robbed of his bride, but saw his 
 future kingdom shorn of some of its most important and 
 valuable provinces.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 [1504-7.] 
 
 MAKGUE1UTE DE VALOIS ASKED IN MARRIAGE BY HENRY VII. REFUSAL 
 OF LOUIS XII. MARGUERITE MARRIED TO THE DUKE D'ALENCON HER 
 RELUCTANCE MOTIVES OF THE KING HER WRITINGS RELAPSE OF 
 LOUIS XII. DEATH OF ISABELLA OF SPAIN MARRIAGE OF GERMAINE 
 DE FOIX WITH FERDINAND OF CASTILE THE STATES-GENERAL ASSEM- 
 BLED FRANCIS BETROTHED TO THE PRINCESS CLAUDE DEATH OF THE 
 ARCHDUKE PHILIP JEANNE LA FOLLE THE POPE DETERMINES ON WAR 
 CHARACTER OF JULIUS II. LOUIS SENDS AN ARMY TO BOLOGNA 
 
 GENOA REVOLTS WANTON CRUELTIES PERPETRATED BY THE GENOESE 
 
 LOUIS PROCEEDS TO ITALY AT THE HEAD OF A LARGE ARMY GENOA 
 CAPITULATES LOUIS XII. TAKES POSSESSION OF THE CITY A COURT 
 FESTIVAL DANCING BISHOPS INTERVIEW BETWEEN LOUIS XII. AND 
 FERDINAND GONSALVO DE CARDOVA REFUSAL OF THE POPE TO MEET 
 LOUIS XII.
 
 1501-7.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 39 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 [1504-7.] 
 
 WHEN the failing health of Louis XII. induced the 
 belief that his life was drawing to its close, the hand of 
 Marguerite d'Angouleme, the sister of the heir-presump- 
 tive to the throne, was asked by Henry VII. of England ; 
 but after mature deliberation the Grand Council declined 
 to sanction the marriage, being apprehensive, as they 
 affirmed, that it would involve the two countries in 
 perpetual warfare, and tend to undermine the salic law 
 in France. A second proposition of the same nature 
 was also declined from similar motives ; while the king 
 himself opposed her union with Charles of Austria, and 
 declared his determination to bestow her in marriage 
 upon Charles III. duke d'Alencon ; a decision at which the 
 high and already matured spirit of Marguerite revolted ; 
 perceiving, as she at once did, the intellectual inferiority 
 of the man to whom she should thus be compelled to pro- 
 mise obedience and respect. It was, consequently, with 
 bitter tears that she submitted to the commands of the 
 monarch, and the wishes of her mother ; for she foresaw 
 how little suited they were to each other, and how 
 cheerless was the prospect thus opened before her. The 
 duke was deficient in all the brilliant qualities for which 
 Marguerite was herself distinguished, nor did he even pos- 
 sess the negative merit of appreciating them in another ;
 
 40 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1504-7. 
 
 and thus the young princess perceived that she must be 
 sufficient to herself, while the bright illusion was for ever 
 vanished which had led her to believe that she should be 
 valued at her own hearth for the acquirements which it 
 had cost her so much labour to attain. 
 
 The only apparent motive by which Louis XII. had 
 been impelled to insist upon this ill-assorted marriage, was 
 his desire to terminate a process then pending between 
 the Duke d'Alencon and the Count d'Angouleme as 
 the conflicting heirs of Marie d'Armagnac ; and it was 
 accordingly arranged that on its celebration, the latter 
 should abandon his claim in favour of his sister, whose 
 dowry thus amounted to 450,000 livres. 
 
 No pecuniary consideration could, however, reconcile 
 Marguerite to so repugnant an union; and, when she 
 found it inevitable, she declared that thenceforth she 
 gave her heart to God, as she could never bestow it upon 
 her husband ; an engagement which it was, perhaps, 
 beyond her power to fulfil ; for it is certain that however 
 actually innocent she may have been, she was neverthe- 
 less morally guilty, inasmuch as she carried her predi- 
 lections beyond the due bounds of female delicacy and 
 warrantable friendship, although she may never wholly 
 have forgotten her dignity as a woman and a princess. 
 Her attachment to Charles de Montpensier militated 
 moreover against that perfect self-abnegation which she 
 professed ; while her disgraceful adventure with Bon- 
 nivet, which she has triumphantly recorded in the fourth 
 tale of the Heptameron, is so far from redounding to her 
 honour either as a woman or a wife, that the reader 
 involuntarily feels the utter impossibility of its occurrence
 
 1504-7.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 41 
 
 without a previous levity on her part which appeared to 
 sanction the indignity to which she was subjected. 
 Moreover, even her panegyrist Brantome is betrayed into 
 the confession that " En fait de joyeusetes et de galan- 
 teries, elle montrait quelle en savait plus gue son pain 
 quotidien." No marvel, however, when it is remembered 
 that she was reared by Louise de Savoie, and became 
 the willing confidante of her brother's gallantries. 
 Among other frivolities unworthy of so superior a mind, 
 the Duchesse d'Alencon originated the custom between 
 friends of opposite sexes, which, by authorizing them to 
 style each other allied brothers and sisters, gave them the 
 privilege of openly declaring their mutual attachment, to 
 which, whatever might really be its nature or extent, it 
 was understood that no scandal was to be attached. 
 
 Even with all due consideration of the lax state of 
 society in that age, the mind and heart which could 
 suggest and share in so unseemly a folly, and so 
 immodest an exhibition as this, must have been per- 
 verted at the core ; and, as we read, we cease to wonder, 
 and to mourn over the prostitution of her fine talents, 
 when we remember that so polluted a stream could 
 produce no current of pure and healthful fancy. 
 
 In other respects the character of the princess Mar- 
 guerite did credit to her mother's training. With all 
 the natural energy of Madame d'Angouleme, she had 
 more self-government; and it was only in moments of 
 great excitement that she suffered herself to be betrayed 
 into any exhibition of unwomanly vehemence ; while her 
 devotion to those she loved was almost chivalric. But 
 her moral profligacy casts a dark shadow over the
 
 1 .! THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1501-7. 
 
 brilliancy of her other and more estimable qualities, by 
 which they must ever be clouded in the eyes of posterity. 
 
 The treaty of marriage between Claude de France and 
 Charles de Luxembourg had scarcely been concluded, 
 when the king suffered a relapse of the same malady to 
 which he had so nearly fallen a victim during the pre- 
 ceding year ; and the Cardinal d'Amboise, 1 who foresaw 
 the most dangerous results, should it be accomplished, 
 absolved the king from the fulfilment of his pledge, and 
 induced him to execute a will, by which he directed that 
 the Princess Claude should become the wife of her cousin 
 Francis, Count d'Angouleme, so soon as their respective 
 ages should render their marriage practicable; and ap- 
 pointed the queen and Louise de Savoie joint regents of 
 the kingdom in the interim. This testamentary docu- 
 ment was drawn up on the 31st of May, 1505, and 
 contained the following passage : " Item. We very 
 expressly will and command that our said daughter make 
 her residence within our kingdom, without departing 
 hence, until her marriage with our very dear and beloved 
 nephew, the Duke de Valois, Count d'Angouleme, be 
 duly solemnized." 
 
 The recovery of the king however, which shortly super- 
 vened, rendered the will nugatory ; and thus this extra- 
 ordinary regency was not fated to take effect. It will, 
 
 1 George, Cardinal d'Amboise, was born in 1460, in the castle of 
 Chauraont-sur-Loire, near Montauban ; and was successively bishop 
 of Montauban, archbishop of Narbonne, archbishop of Rouen, and, 
 finally, cardinal and first minister of Louis XII. from 1499 to 1510, 
 the period of his death. It was by his advice that Louis undertook 
 the conquest of the Milanese. He made strenuous efforts to obtain 
 the tiara, but was defeated by the Cardinal of Rovera.
 
 1504-7.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 43 
 
 at the first glance, appear extraordinary that Anne de 
 Bretagne should offer no opposition upon this second oc. 
 casion to the betrothal of her daughter with Francis, after 
 having so strenuously laboured hitherto to prevent it ; 
 but those whom she admitted to her intimacy were well 
 aware that, although apparently passive, she was as much 
 averse to it as ever, and as firmly resolved to dis- 
 countenance their actual marriage; a fact which her 
 inconsequent contribution of 100,000 crowns to the 
 dowry of the princess sufficed ultimately to prove. The 
 truth was, that she had by no means lost confidence in 
 her final success ; she had not yet relinquished the hope 
 of again becoming a mother ; and she had every reason 
 to conclude that Louis XII, having so unhesitatingly 
 released himself from his solemn obligation towards 
 Charles de Luxembourg, would, should he find it 
 expedient to shake off the trammels of this second 
 engagement, be even less scrupulous than before; and 
 she, therefore, continued to pursue her negotiations with 
 Austria, as though the betrothal determined by the 
 monarch was to have no influence over the ultimate 
 disposal of her daughter. 
 
 The death of Isabella of Spain, which took place 
 during this year, induced Ferdinand to make overtures 
 of peace to France ; and, in order to effect this object, 
 he demanded of Louis the hand of his beautiful niece, 
 Germaine de Foix, the daughter of his sister Mary, who 
 had married Jean de Foix, Vicomte de Narbonne ; and 
 the same time that he gave his ambassadors authority to 
 make this demand, he also accredited them to Francis 
 the heir-presumptive to the throne, believing that Louis
 
 44 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1504-7. 
 
 was then near his end. The proposition was accepted ; 
 and by a treaty signed at Blois, on the 1 2th of October, 
 and destined on this occasion to prove valid, Louis ceded 
 to his niece his claim to the kingdom of Naples ; on 
 the condition, however, that should the princess die 
 without issue, the Neapolitan territories should return 
 to the crown of France. Ferdinand, on his part, pledged 
 himself to pay to the French king 100,000 ducats 
 annually for the space of ten years ; while the two 
 monarchs were to ally themselves and their respective 
 interests so closely as to form, according to their own 
 expression, " two souls in one body ;" and to render to 
 each other reciprocal assistance in every emergency with- 
 out exception ; Louis XII. to furnish a thousand lances, 
 and Ferdinand three thousand foot. The Spanish king 
 moreover bound himself to grant a free pardon to all the 
 Neapolitans who had embraced the French cause, and to 
 restore their property. 
 
 The marriage was accordingly solemnized ; and Ferdi- 
 nand immediately left Spain, and proceeded to Naples. 
 
 Delivered for a time from all prospect of foreign 
 aggression, Louis applied himself to the internal economy 
 of his kingdom ; and more desirous than ever to accom- 
 plish the union of his daughter with Francis, from having 
 discovered the secret, and therefore more irritating 
 opposition of the queen, he caused an assembly of the 
 States- General to be convened at Tours, which was 
 understood to originate with the nobles themselves, but 
 where the counsellors of the king instructed them before- 
 hand in the role which they were expected to enact ; and 
 directed them to enforce upon the monarch the expe-
 
 1504-7.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 45 
 
 diency of annulling the treaty to which he had previously 
 bound himself by oath. This done, Louis repaired to 
 Tours, to give them the audience they had demanded ; 
 and received the deputies in the great hall of Plessis-les- 
 Tours. On the right hand of the throne were stationed 
 the Cardinals of Amboise and Narbonne, the chancellor, 
 and a number of bishops ; and on the left, Francis, 
 Count d'Angouleme, upon whom he had already be- 
 stowed the title of Duke de Valois, the princes of the 
 blood, the principal nobles of the kingdom, the president 
 of the parliament of Paris, and some of the members of 
 the council. 
 
 Thomas Bricot, a canon of Notre Dame, and senior 
 deputy of Paris, was selected to open the proceedings, 
 which he did with considerable eloquence ; and after 
 having expressed to his royal hearer the gratitude of the 
 nation for all the benefits which his subjects had ex- 
 perienced under his rule the reduction effected in the 
 public taxes the cessation of the formerly unrestrained 
 licentiousness of the soldiery and the reformations which 
 had taken place in the courts of justice, alike in Paris 
 and in the provinces, he concluded his harangue thus : 
 " For all these reasons he should be called Louis XII, 
 the Father of his People!" 
 
 Loud acclamations greeted this burst of loyal affection ; 
 and the king was so much moved by the general enthu- 
 siasm that he could not control his tears. 
 
 When silence was restored, the orator sank upon his 
 knee, an example which was followed by the whole of the 
 deputies ; and, in this position, he resumed : " Sire, we 
 are here by your good pleasure, in order to proffer to you
 
 40 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1504-7. 
 
 a request which involves the general good of your king- 
 dom ; and this is, that your very humble subjects beseech 
 you to bestow Madame, your only daughter, in marriage 
 upon Monsieur Fra^ois here present, who is in all 
 respects a Frenchman." 
 
 By order of the king, the Chancellor Gui de Rochefort 1 
 replied to the States' deputies, informing them that his 
 majesty would confer with the princes of the blood upon 
 the subject of the proposed alliance ; and the assembly 
 was then adjourned to the following day ; when Louis, 
 with a feigned reluctance which he was far from feeling, 
 announced that " he condescended to their demand and 
 request," and desired that the betrothal of the two 
 children should take place on the second day from that 
 time, which was the Feast of the Ascension. The youth- 
 ful pair were accordingly solemnly affianced by the 
 Cardinal d'Amboise in the presence of the whole court ; 
 and, previous to the ceremony, the chancellor read aloud 
 the marriage articles, which secured to the Princess 
 Claude, even in the event of sons being subsequently 
 born to the king, the counties of Ast and Blois, the 
 lordships of Soissons and Coucy, and 100,000 crowns, 
 given, as we have already stated, by the queen. 
 
 Thus, long after she had despaired of such a triumph, 
 Madame d'Angouleme witnessed her son's betrothal to 
 the daughter of his sovereign, and saw him publicly re- 
 cognised as heir-presumptive to the crown ; and, had she 
 
 1 Gui de Rochefort, Seigneur de Pleuvant in Burgundy, was the 
 chamberlain and counsellor of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, 
 and afterwards passed into the service of Louis XL Charles VIII. 
 made him chancellor of France.
 
 1504-7.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 47 
 
 not been compelled to look through so long a perspective 
 of time for, at this period, Francis had only attained his 
 fourteenth and Claude her fourth year even her restless 
 ambition would have been satisfied. 
 
 The bad faith exhibited by Louis XII. in this un- 
 compromising violation of a solemn treaty, and the 
 ambiguous manner in which he sought to excuse himself 
 to the Austrian court, in an autograph letter which he 
 addressed to Guillamne de Croy, Sire de Chievres, 1 to 
 whom Philip had confided the government of the Low 
 Countries during his absence in England, and in which he 
 declared that he had liberated himself from his engage- 
 ment " for reasons which would be too long to relate," 
 convinced its recipient that a war must necessarily ensue 
 between France and his own sovereign ; and he accord- 
 ingly took instant measures to fortify his frontier ; but 
 Philip, whose position in Spain was precarious, and who 
 feared to engage in foreign hostilities while still contend- 
 ing with his father-in-law for the possession of Castile, 
 replied evasively to the announcement which he received 
 of the betrothal of the Princess Claude to the Duke 
 Francis ; asserting that he could not express any senti- 
 ment upon the subject " until he had first communicated 
 
 1 GuillaumedeCroy, Seigneur de Chievres, Duke deSoria,and Knight 
 of the Golden Fleece, was the descendant of an ancient family, which 
 derived its name from the village of Croy, in Picarcly. He became 
 celebrated for his military prowess, during the reigns of Charles VIII. 
 and Louis XII. He was the governor of Charles of Austria, after- 
 wards Emperor of Germany. Having allied himself to the fortunes 
 of that prince, he was sent to Spain in the quality of viceroy ; but, 
 while holding that important trust, he tarnished his reputation by 
 the most extortionate exactions. He died at Worms in 1521.
 
 48 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [150-1-7. 
 
 ;uul consulted with tlic king his father, and the king of 
 Aragon his father-in-law, whom it concerned." The 
 letter terminated with fervent expressions of attachment 
 to the person of the Trench monarch, but afforded no 
 clue to the real feelings of the writer upon the point in 
 question. 
 
 The death of the Archduke Philip, who perished of 
 pestilential fever at Burgos, on the 25th of September, 
 1506, at the age of twenty-eight years, and only three 
 months after his entry into Castile, suspended for a 
 time all the warlike demonstrations which were beginning 
 to develop themselves. The miserable and morbid state 
 of mind of his widow, Jeanne la Folle, elder daughter of 
 Isabella the Catholic, in right of whom she inherited the 
 kingdom, necessitated the election of a more efficient 
 governor. The condition of Queen Joanna was indeed 
 deplorable ; and forbade all hope of her ever again being 
 enabled to assume the functions of a sovereign. Weak and 
 suspicious, as well as jealous to a fearful excess, she had 
 seldom, during the lifetime of her husband, left the suite 
 of apartments appropriated to her use ; where, incapable 
 of pursuing any occupation or amusement, she passed 
 her time in wandering through the rooms, uttering inco- 
 herent menaces, and occasionally indulging in still more 
 incoherent bursts of grief. The death of Philip had con- 
 firmed this incipient madness. She caused his body to 
 be embalmed, and laid upon a bed of state in her own 
 chamber, dressed in the most magnificent manner ; while 
 she sat beside it, with her eyes fixed upon the motionless 
 countenance, waiting for the first sign of that returning
 
 1504-7.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 49 
 
 life which she believed was by some miracle to be restored 
 to him. Her jealousy still continued as great as ever ; 
 and from the period of the embalmment of the corpse, she 
 suffered no female to enter the room in which he lay. 
 Nor did she falter in her task even for an instant ; it 
 was in vain that she was entreated to open despatches, 
 authorize orders, or sign state documents ; she an- 
 swered every appeal by pointing with her attenuated 
 finger towards the lifeless body, and briefly uttering, 
 "Wait!" 
 
 The helpless condition of her children awakened all the 
 best sympathies of Louis XII ; and he caused a letter to 
 be written to Marguerite of Austria, in which he declared 
 that he was willing to treat the sons of Philip as though 
 they were his own. Maximilian, however, asserted that 
 to him alone belonged the guardianship of his grandson, 
 Charles de Luxembourg, who, in default of his mother, 
 must be recognised as King of Castile ; while Ferdinand, 
 who had learnt the death of his son-in-law at Genoa, 
 continued his route to Naples, calculating that the con- 
 fusion which must exist in the kingdom at such a 
 juncture, would materially conduce to his own popularity 
 and welcome. 
 
 The calm was not, however, destined to be of long 
 continuance ; for while Spain, Germany, and France were 
 passively awaiting the progress of events, Julius II, who 
 filled the pontifical see, and who, in addition to his 
 restless and warlike tastes, felt, or affected, as much 
 contempt as dislike towards the two latter nations, 
 which he qualified with the title of " barbarians," re- 
 solved to take the initiative ; and to restore to the 
 
 VOL. i. E
 
 50 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1504-7. 
 
 dominion of the Church all the domains which had from 
 time to time been wrested from it. His first object was 
 the subjugation of Venice, as the most arrogant and the 
 most powerful of those states which had openly declared 
 their independence ; but the cause which he had most 
 at heart was the destruction of the French interest 
 throughout Italy. 
 
 The costume which had been adopted by the sovereign 
 pontiff, his flowing beard, and bent figure, gave him an 
 appearance of extreme old age, although, according to 
 one of his historians, he had at this period only reached 
 his sixty-third year ; but his mind was still strong and 
 clear, and his passions violent. Haughty, irascible, and 
 unscrupulous, he was nevertheless brave, judicious, and 
 full of love for his country ; but the clerical habit sat 
 loosely upon him, while his fingers clutched firmly the 
 hilt of the sabre, or the bridle of the war-horse. As a 
 warrior Julius II. would have been a hero ; as a pope he 
 was only a licentious and grasping churchman. 
 
 Having raised both money and troops, the chagrin of 
 Julius was excessive upon finding that a treaty into 
 which he had induced Louis XII. to enter with Maxi- 
 milian, for their joint invasion of the Venetian territory 
 a treaty which had, moreover, been subsequently renewed 
 at Cambray was set aside by the more recent alliance 
 formed between the French king and Ferdinand ; a cir- 
 cumstance which compelled him to abandon for a time the 
 reduction of the Venetians, and the recovery of the cities 
 of Faenza and Rimini, of which, upon the death of Cassar 
 Borgia, they had possessed themselves. Nevertheless 
 he resolved not to delay the punishment of other delin-
 
 1504-7.] FRANCIS THE- IIRST. 51 
 
 quents, who had flung the yoke of the papal government 
 from their necks ; and the first against whom he directed 
 his arms were Jean Paul Baglioni, the hereditary sove- 
 reign of Perousa, and Jean Bentivoglio, who held a 
 similar sway over Bologna, two of the most powerful 
 cities of the pontifical states. The latter had purchased 
 the protection of France by the payment of a consider- 
 able tribute, and might therefore justly anticipate the aid 
 of that country in an emergency like the present ; the 
 rather, moreover, that Bologna, over which his family had 
 reigned for more than a century, was esteemed essential 
 to the defence of the Milanese ; but Julius was not to 
 be deterred by this consideration ; and, resolved at once 
 to assert his own will and the authority of the Church, 
 he called upon Louis to furnish him with troops, and 
 upon the Venetians to remain neuter. 
 
 Taken by surprise, both the one and the other agreed 
 to his demands against their better judgment; and the war- 
 like pontiff left Rome on the 27th of August at the head 
 of four hundred men-at-arms, and with a suite of twenty- 
 four cardinals. He found no enemy to combat, however, in 
 Baglioni, who, terrified at his approach, advanced as far as 
 Orvieto to meet him, and placed himself in his hands ; a 
 confidence which was repaid by the pope on his entrance 
 into Perousa on the 13th of September, by the restora- 
 tion of his patrimonial property, with permission to 
 reside as a private citizen in the city which he had 
 hitherto ruled ; while to the city itself he restored its 
 republican administration under the control arid direc- 
 tion of the holy see. The Prince Bentivoglio proved less 
 amenable to the pontifical pleasure, and calculated upon 
 
 E 2
 
 52 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1504-7. 
 
 that assistance from France for which he had paid so 
 heavy a price ; nor is it doubtful that Louis himself, on 
 recovering from his first panic at the unforeseen move- 
 ment of the pope, would have willingly afforded it ; as 
 on hearing that Julius had announced in public that he 
 could calculate upon the support of the French monarch 
 in his attack upon Bologna, Louis vehemently denied that 
 he had given any pledge to that effect. The Cardinal 
 d'Amboise, however, who was anxious to avoid a rupture 
 with the pope, so worked upon his mind that, once more 
 falsifying a solemn engagement, he gave orders to M. de 
 Chaumont, 1 his lieutenant-general in the Milanese, to 
 march upon Bologna with a force of six hundred lances, 
 and three thousand Swiss ; and thus pressed on the one 
 hand by the army of the pope, and on the other by that 
 of his anticipated ally, Bentivoglio had no resource save 
 to take refuge with his family in the French camp ; to 
 abandon a principality which he had inherited from his 
 ancestors ; and ultimately to accept an asylum in Milan ; 
 which, together with a guarantee for the preservation of 
 
 1 Charles d'Amboise, Seigneur de Chaumont, lieutenant-general of 
 the army in the Milanese at the age of twenty-five years, and 
 grand-master, was the nephew of the Cardinal d'Amboise, by whom 
 he was entirely governed. Naturally brave, he never ceded an inch 
 of the territory confided to his charge, but made several conquests 
 both in that kingdom and Venice. He nevertheless committed 
 two serious errors : the one in permitting Chapin Vitelli and the 
 Venetian reinforcement to enter Bologna, while he wasted a day in 
 endeavouring to negotiate a peace ; and lost the opportunity of 
 occupying the city, and reinstating the Bentivogli ; and the other, 
 when he suifered Miranda to be taken, in spite of the resolute 
 defence which it was making, and from motives of avarice dissolved 
 the Italian bands. He died at the age of thirty-eight years.
 
 1501-7.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 53 
 
 his property, was tendered to him by Chaumont. 
 Julius II. established at Bologna, as he had previously 
 done at Perousa, a government which was almost re- 
 publican, and which continued to support itself in all its 
 integrity until the close of the 18th century. 
 
 The revolt of Genoa, which had been annexed to the 
 crown of France at the same time as the duchy of Milan, 
 immediately supervened ; and Chaumont had no sooner 
 interdicted all communication between that city and 
 Lombardy, while Yves d'Allegre inarched upon Monaco 
 in order to compel the Genoese to raise the siege of the 
 fortress ; than the rebels, thus driven to engage in an 
 open and decided warfare with France, calculated upon 
 the assistance of their allies to enable them to sustain so 
 unequal a conflict. The Pope was their countryman, and, 
 as they well knew, favourable to their interests ; while 
 Maximilian had already warned Louis not to molest the 
 Genoese, whom he regarded as members of the em- 
 pire : thus, believing themselves secure, they threw off 
 the authority of France ; and in compliance with their 
 ancient custom, elected a new doge from among their 
 own citizens, one Paul de Novi, a silk dyer by trade, and 
 a man of extraordinary judgment, vigour, and decision. 
 
 Louis Xll, enraged by the wanton and barbarous cruel- 
 ties exercised against the French prisoners who fell into 
 the hands of the enemy, and whom they crucified, muti- 
 lated, and tortured, without distinction of age or sex ; and 
 moreover, convinced that he owed the revolt to the machi- 
 nations of the emperor Maximilian and the Pope, at once 
 placed himself at the head of an army of 50,000 men ; 
 and, accompanied by the Dukes of Bourbon, Alencon,
 
 54 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1501-7. 
 
 :ind Lorraine, proceeded in person to attack the rebels. 
 The royal forces had no sooner reached the entrance of 
 the mountains of Genoa, than the troops whom Paul de 
 Novi had intrusted with the defence of the defiles, fled 
 before them, and the French encamped without opposi- 
 tion in the valley of Polsevera. Still, however, the city 
 itself was enabled to offer a formidable resistance ; its na- 
 tural resources being so great as to render it impregnable 
 at a period when war had not yet become a science ; and 
 the generals of Louis XII. were prepared for a long and 
 murderous campaign. But Genoa was already divided 
 against herself; intestine contentions had sapped her 
 strength ; the wealthy citizens, apprehensive that should 
 the city be captured it would be delivered over to pillage, 
 refused to offer any resistance ; while the lower orders, 
 who had eagerly taken up arms in the hope of profit, upon 
 finding themselves forsaken by their leaders, lost courage ; 
 and although one body of men fought bravely on the 
 height of the Belvidere, and had even, by their prepara- 
 tions for defence, caused considerable anxiety to Louis, it 
 was a solitary effort ; which was frustrated through the 
 valour and intrepidity of Bayard, 1 who having been ap- 
 pointed equerry to the king, had accompanied him in this 
 expedition, while still suffering from the effects of a wound 
 received at Garigliano. 
 
 The defeat of this outpost, upon which great hopes had 
 
 1 Pierre du Terrail, Seigneur de Bayard, surnamed " The Knight 
 without fear and without reproach," was born near Grenoble, in 
 1476. This brave and loyal captain distinguished himself greatly 
 during the wars of Italy. He defended Mezieres, and died on the 
 retreat from Romagnano, in 1525.
 
 1504-7.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 55 
 
 been based, was so complete and so rapid that it struck 
 terror into the garrison of the citadel, who immediately 
 abandoned their post ; and although the Genoese made a 
 vigorous attempt to re-take it, they were repulsed ; and 
 thus found themselves compelled to send deputies to the 
 French king, to announce their submission ; while Paul de 
 Novi evacuated the city with a strong body of his com- 
 panions in arms. 
 
 On the 29th of April, Louis entered the conquered 
 city on horseback, with his drawn sword in his hand ; 
 while the magistrates and people received him on their 
 knees, holding olive branches, and uttering loud cries for 
 mercy. They were answered by a promise of pardon, 
 but that pardon was far from unconditional : seventy -nine 
 individuals having been exempted from the amnesty, and 
 hanged upon gibbets erected in the public streets ; while 
 the city, although protected from pillage, was condemned 
 to a fine of 300,000 florins, equal to half the amount of 
 the national taxes of France ; 100,000 of which were, 
 however, remitted, in consequence of the utter inability of 
 the citizens to meet the demand; but in lieu thereof a 
 strong fortress named Codifa was constructed near the out- 
 works at their expense ; all their privileges, as well as their 
 treaty with France, were committed to the flames ; and a 
 new municipality was finally established ; while, on the 
 5th of June following, Paul de Novi, who had taken re- 
 fuge in Corsica, and Demetrius Giustiniani, another of 
 their generals, were also executed. Louis then disbanded 
 his army, and with a small suite proceeded to Milan ; 
 " where," says ' the Loyal Servant/ " Gian Giacopo Tri- 
 vulzio, called by the French, the Sire Jean Jacques de
 
 :,C) THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1504-7. 
 
 Trivulce, 1 gave him one of the grandest feasts that ever 
 was beheld in the house of a private nobleman ; for, from 
 all one can learn, there were present at it more than five 
 hundred guests, not including ladies, of whom there were 
 an hundred or an hundred and twenty ; and it was im- 
 possible to be better entertained than they were, with 
 dishes of the first, and of the second course, with farces, 
 plays, and other pastimes." Moreover, another historian 
 informs us that, at this entertainment, " the king opened 
 the ball with the Marchioness of Mantua, and that the 
 Cardinals of Narbonne and St. Severiu were among the 
 dancers." 
 
 Such an assurance appears startling until we remember 
 that the higher churchmen of that period emancipated 
 themselves without scruple from all the trammels of 
 their holy calling ; and thus while the cardinals above 
 named joined in the bransle, the Bishop of Liege, an- 
 
 1 Jean Jacques Trivulce, Marquis de Vigevano, was the represen- 
 tative of an ancient Milanese family, and embraced the profession of 
 arms. He entered the service of Ferdinand I. of Aragon, king of 
 Naples ; and afterwards passed into that of Charles VIII. of France, 
 when that prince undertook the conquest of the Milanese. It was 
 he who delivered up Capua iu 1495, and who shared the command 
 of the vanguard with the Marechal de Gie at the battle of 
 Fernoua. Appointed lieutenant-general of the French army in Lom- 
 bard y, he took Alessandrie, and defeated the forces of Louis Sforza, 
 Duke of Milan. He followed Louis XII. to the conquest of the 
 Milanese in 1499, and distinguished himsel by his bravery. The 
 king confided to him the government of that duchy in 1500, and 
 conferred upon him the baton of Marechal de France. Trivulce 
 fought with honour at the battle of Agnadello ; but, by his unpar- 
 donable negligence, caused the defeat of Novara. He was of great 
 assistance to Francis I. during the war of Italy in 1515, and was in 
 the field at Marignano. He died in 1518.
 
 1504-7.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 57 
 
 other of the thirty prelates who had accompanied the 
 monarch to Genoa, was studying the art of war, which 
 he afterwards practised so skilfully in the cause of 
 Charles V. 
 
 From Milan Louis XII. proceeded to Savona, in order 
 to have an interview with Ferdinand, who was about to 
 resume the government of Castile, vacant by the early 
 death of the Archduke Philip. The Spanish sovereign was 
 accompanied by his young wife, by Germaine de Foix, and 
 Gonsalvo di Cordova, of whose popularity he had become 
 so jealous that he feared to leave him at Naples. The 
 admiration and respect which Louis entertained for this 
 great captain were shown in the reception which he gave 
 him; nor did he appear to remember how greatly he 
 had suffered through the very qualities which elicited 
 his regard. At his request, the highest honour which 
 could then be accorded to a subject was conceded to 
 Gonsalvo, who was permitted to occupy a seat at the 
 royal table ; while towards his niece the French king 
 exhibited a warmth of affection, which, however it might 
 tend to advance the interests of her husband, was far 
 from pleasing to his nobility, towards whom she conducted 
 herself with singular haughtiness and disrespect, not even 
 excepting her brother, the young Duke de Nemours ; 
 showing herself, upon every occasion, as inimical to the 
 French as though she had been born of another and an 
 antagonistic nation. 
 
 Louis had been desirous, during his sojourn in Italy, 
 to secure an interview with the pope ; but although the 
 restless and ambitious prelate had availed himself of the 
 French arms to subdue Bologna, and was even contem-
 
 53 COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. [1504-7. 
 
 plating a fresh demand upon their services for the reduc- 
 tion of the Venetians, he affected to feel aggrieved and 
 degraded by what he denominated the introduction of 
 the barbarians into Italy ; and, consequently, when the 
 Cardinal d'Amboise solicited him to remain at Bologna 
 in order to receive the French king, he immediately 
 departed for Rome ; it being no part of his policy to 
 conciliate, where it was liis ambition to command.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 [1508-12.] 
 
 JULIUS II. ENDEAVOURS TO SUBJUGATE VENICE THE VENETIANS AT- 
 TEMPT TO PROPITIATE GERMANY AND SPAIN TREATY BETWEEN THE 
 FOUR GREAT POWERS THE FRENCH ARMY RE-ENTERS ITALY BATTLE 
 OF AGNADELLO SUCCESS OF LOUIS XII. DESPAIR OF THE VENETIANS 
 WEAKNESS OF MAXIMILIAN THE VENETIANS TAKE PADUA THE SWISS 
 DESERT FLIGHT OF THE EMPEROR LOUIS RETURNS TO FRANCE HOS- 
 TILITY OF THE POPE TOWARDS FRANCE DEFECTION OF FERDINAND 
 LOUIS THREATENED WITH EXCOMMUNICATION THE POPE PROCEEDS 
 WITH HIS ARMY TO MIRANDOLA HEROIC DEFENCE OF THE COUNTESS 
 FRANCESCA PICO DEATH OF THE CARDINAL D'AMBOISE THE POPE EN- 
 TERS INTO A LEAGUE WITH ENGLAND AND SPAIN GALLANTRY OF GASTON 
 1>E FOIX VICTORY OF RAVENNA DEATH OF GASTON DE FOIX THE 
 FRENCH RETURN TO THE MILANESE.
 
 1508-12.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. Ol 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 [1508-12.] 
 
 INTENT upon the subjugation of Venice, Julius II, con- 
 scious of the unpopularity of that republic with the other 
 European states, craftily endeavoured to increase the 
 general feeling of dislike and suspicion which had been 
 excited by her arrogance and prosperity, into jealousy 
 and disgust ; nor was it difficult for him to attain his 
 object. By her downfall, every other neighbouring king- 
 dom became more or less aggrandized ; and thus, having 
 previously demanded from the senate the restoration of 
 the possessions of the Church in Romagna, a demand 
 \vith which he was aware they would not comply, and 
 thus, by their refusal, secured the pretext which he 
 desired for commencing hostilities ; he addressed himself 
 simultaneously to Louis, Maximilian, and Ferdinand, 
 pointing out the several advantages to be secured by each, 
 when they should have conquered the haughty republic 
 against which they were leagued. His proposition was 
 eagerly accepted ; ambition and cupidity alike tended to 
 render it palatable ; plenipotentiaries were appointed ; 
 and on the pretext of arranging the settlement of the 
 Low Countries, they met at Cambray, in October, 1508, 
 and in the course of December, the stipulations of the 
 treaty were concluded.
 
 (iO THE COURT AND IlliIGN OF [1508-12. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Venetians, who had been made ac- 
 quainted that a league was forming against them, de- 
 spatched an ambassador to Louis to expostulate with him 
 upon this breach of faith ; while they endeavoured to 
 propitiate both Maximilian and Ferdinand, and solicited 
 help on all sides, but ineffectually ; and they at length 
 boldly resolved to brave the danger unaided, even peril- 
 ous as it appeared. 
 
 One of the conditions of this treaty stipulated that the 
 French king should enter the Venetian territories forty 
 days before any of the other sovereigns took the field ; 
 an arrangement which, however suspicious it appeared, 
 did not deter Louis XII. from his project ; and imme- 
 diately (at the close of Easter, 1 509) he placed himself once 
 more at the head of his finest mounted troops, amount- 
 ing to a force of 20,000 men, an equal number of Swiss, 
 and a strong body of infantry, and descended into Italy. 
 The first division of his army was commanded by Trivulzio 
 and Chaumont ; the second, by the king in person ; and 
 the third, or rear-guard, by Francis Duke de Longueville ; 
 while a number of the most distinguished captains of 
 France, either in that or any subsequent age, followed 
 his banner. It was, indeed, a gathering of her best 
 chivalry ; for they numbered among them Charles de 
 Bourbon, the future Connetable ; Gaston de Foix, fated 
 to die so early and so honourably ; Robert de la Mark, 
 the Marquis de la Palice, the Scottish hero d'Aubigny, 
 Bayard, and many other individuals of note ; including 
 the Seigneurs de Molart, Richemont, Vendenesse, and La 
 Crote, the Comte de Roussillon, the Captain Odet, and
 
 1508-12.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 03 
 
 the Cadet de Duras, who were each accompanied by their 
 separate band of followers. 
 
 The royal army passed the Adda without molesta- 
 tion, but were compelled to retreat before the Count of 
 Pitigliano, who drove out the French garrisons of Trevi 
 and Rivolta, and sacked both those cities ; a fact which 
 decided Louis immediately to force the Venetians to an 
 engagement. The rashness of their general, d'Alviano, 
 seconded his wishes, despite the opposition of Pitigli- 
 ano, who refused to act in concert with him, and 
 actually retreated with a portion of his cavalry. The 
 admirable position of d'Alviano's troops enabled him to 
 make a very successful attack, the nature of the ground 
 not permitting the French horse to lend any efficient aid ; 
 and, for a brief interval, the main body, or battle as it 
 was then called, which was led by Louis in person, was 
 in considerable jeopardy ; when a skilful movement of the 
 rear-guard, commanded by Bayard, robbed the enemy 
 of their advantage, and enabled the cavalry to advance 
 to their support. D'Alviano fought with desperation, 
 and was severely wounded several times during the con- 
 flict ; but it was not until he saw fourteen or fifteen 
 thousand of his best troops lying dead upon the field, 
 that he suffered himself to be made prisoner by the 
 young Seigneur de Vandenesse, and conducted to the 
 lodging of the king. This battle, so glorious to the 
 French arms, took place in a village called Agnadello, on 
 the 14th of May, 1509. 
 
 vSuccess continued to attend the French army ; and 
 although Louis remained a couple of days upon the field, 
 he had, within a fortnight, possessed himself of the dis-
 
 (11 THE COURT AND REIGN OK [i:>OS-l:?. 
 
 tricts of Ghiara d'Adda and Caravaggio. On the 17th 
 of May, Bergamo sent the keys of the city, and laid them 
 at his feet, while the citadel only held out three days 
 longer. Caravaggio was taken by assault, its inhabit- 
 ants hanged from the battlements ; and not only the 
 garrison, but even the citizens of Peschiera, which 
 had attempted to defend itself, were put to the sword 
 without exception, although some among them oifered 
 a heavy ransom for their lives. Louis XII, exasperated 
 by their opposition, refused all mercy, declaring that he 
 would, by striking terror into his enemies, preserve him- 
 self from all future attempts at rebellion j a resolution 
 which was received with much dissatisfaction by his 
 nobility, who were indignant to see gentle blood thus 
 wantonly spilled by the desecrating hand of the execu- 
 tioner. Brescia, Crema, and the fortress of Pizzighet- 
 tona, were his next conquests ; and, finally, the citadel 
 of Cremona, having held out for fifteen days after the 
 city had surrendered, capitulated in its turn. Thus, before 
 the termination of the month, Louis XII. once more 
 found himself in possession of all that portion of the 
 Venetian territory which had been apportioned to him 
 by the treaty of Cambray ; and which augmented the 
 royal revenues of the duchy of Milan by the enormous 
 sum of two hundred thousand ducats. 
 
 The haughty republic, reduced to utter despair, used 
 every effort to propitiate the powers which were 
 leagued against her ; and Louis, although his own task 
 was ended, remained two months longer in Italy, in 
 order to watch the progress of events. The Pope at 
 once rejected the overtures of the humbled senate ; and
 
 1508-12.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 65 
 
 only replied to their petition by sending an army into 
 Romagna, under the command of his nephew, Francisco- 
 Maria de la Rovera, 1 Duke d'Urbino, who in the 
 course of a few days made himself master of Faenza, 
 Rimini, Ravenna, and Cervia; while Maximilian, who 
 had hitherto been delayed by want of funds from ag- 
 gressive measures, prepared to attack Trevisa ; which 
 had, however, through his enforced tardiness, secured 
 time for resistance. The king of Spain obtained by ces- 
 sion both Brindici and Otranto in his own kingdom of 
 Naples ; and the keys of Verona, Vicenza, and Padua, 
 which had been delivered to Louis, were by him transferred 
 to the emperor. The Duke of Ferrara, who had joined 
 the invading armies on the 30th of May, possessed 
 himself without resistance of Polesina de Rovigo, Este, 
 Montagnaua, and Monselica, the ancient patrimony of 
 his family ; and the Marquis of Mantua occupied Asola 
 and Lunato, which had been adjudged to him. Finally, 
 Ferdinand had at last undertaken the siege of Trani ; and 
 the Venetians had ordered their generals to deliver up 
 to the Spaniards all the territory which they still held in 
 the kingdom of Naples. 
 
 Venice, thus dismembered, was considered to be totally 
 
 1 Francesco-Maria de la Rovera was one of the greatest captains of 
 the age, and was the representative of an illustrious Italian family, 
 which owed its original celebrity to the fact that it gave two popes 
 to Rome, viz. Sixtus IV. and Julius II ; the latter of whom 
 obtained for his brother the hand of the daughter of the Duke 
 d'Urbino ; and caused his nephew, the subject of the present note, 
 to be adopted by the last Duke d'Urbino, of the family of Montefel- 
 tro. He married Eleonora Hippolyta de Gonzago ; and died by 
 poison in 1538, aged 48 years. 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 06 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1508-12- 
 
 subjugated. The weakness and vacillation of Maximilian, 
 however, tended once more to give them hope. He had 
 no army ; all his monetary resources, great as they had 
 recently been, were utterly exhausted; while, too suspicious 
 to entrust his ministers with the conduct of public affairs, 
 and professing to be sufficient to himself, no one could 
 fathom his ultimate designs, and thus all his measures 
 were futile and perplexed ; and he spent his time in 
 hurrying from one frontier to the other, harassing his 
 attendants, and accomplishing nothing. On receiving the 
 keys of Padua he had sent only eight hundred lansquenets 
 to form its garrison, a force totally inadequate to such a 
 duty, the city being six miles in circumference ; and the 
 Venetians were no sooner apprised of this fact, than 
 they determined to retake it, which they did by stra- 
 tagem, and with great bloodshed, the lansquenets de- 
 stroying about fifteen hundred of the citizens and soldiery, 
 before they were themselves killed to a man. 
 
 The Count de Pitigliano was immediately apprised of 
 this event; and, with the survivors of Agnadello, hastened 
 to throw himself into the city, exerting all his energies to 
 repair and fortify it, and resolving to defend it to the last; 
 a resolution which enraged the tardy Maximilian, who 
 vowed to go thither in person, and avenge himself : but 
 when he arrived before the gates, he found himself with- 
 out men, money, or courage to undertake such a task 
 single-handed ; and accordingly he applied to Louis for 
 assistance ; who, being on the point of recrossing the 
 Alps on his return to France, did not allow the tem- 
 porary prosperity of the Venetians to delay his journey ; 
 but contented himself with leaving on the frontier of
 
 1508-12.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 67 
 
 Verona, five hundred French lances, under the command 
 of the Marquis de la Palice, with orders to march to the 
 succour of the emperor, should he require their aid ; a 
 concession to which he was influenced by the hope that 
 Maximilian, crippled for want of money, might be in- 
 duced to seh 1 to him Verona and its dependent territory 
 to the banks of the Adige, which he was desirous to 
 secure as a safe frontier to the duchy of Milan. 
 
 Chancing to encounter Bayard as he was quitting the 
 castle to obey these orders, M. de la Palice invited him to 
 join the expedition ; to which he joyfully consented. The 
 departure of Louis had, however, inspired the Venetians 
 with new confidence; they materially strengthened the 
 garrison of Padua, retook Vicenza, and were marching 
 upon Verona, when the French general compelled them 
 to retreat, and once more to evacuate Vicenza ; but the 
 courage and success of the French captains was neu- 
 tralized by the imbecile conduct of Maximilian, who, full 
 of great projects, suffered present opportunity to escape 
 him. Moreover, the Swiss mercenaries, who formed a 
 very considerable portion of his force, deserted in great 
 numbers ; and he at length abandoned all further effort, 
 and, with a pusillanimity which disgusted his whole 
 army, decamped suddenly in the night, with a few of his 
 personal attendants ; leaving his generals to raise the 
 siege, and retreat as they best could. 
 
 On the return of Louis XII. to France, the queen ad- 
 vanced as far as Grenoble to welcome him, accompanied 
 by Francis, duke de Valois, and his sister Marguerite ; 
 an attention to which she was the rather urged by the 
 peculiarity of her position, which enabled her to render
 
 OS THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1508-12. 
 
 it the more marked and welcome to Louis ; for Anne de 
 Bret ague was once more full of hope. She was about 
 again to become a mother ; and she was anxious to rejoin 
 her royal husband before her hour of trial and, as she 
 trusted, of triumph also, should arrive. The result, how- 
 ever, offered only a new disappointment in the birth of 
 a second princess, Madame Renee de France. The king 
 did not, as had been anticipated, take up his residence 
 in the capital, but proceeded at once to Blois; and 
 merely visiting Paris at long intervals, held his court at 
 the former place, or at Tours, Bourges, and Lyons ; occa- 
 sionally making a brief sojourn in Normandy or Brittany. 
 Nor had he long returned to his own kingdom before he 
 began to experience great inconvenience and uneasiness 
 from the effects of the treaty of Cambray. The pope, 
 whom he had in some degree constrained to second his 
 views, had never forgiven what he considered as the 
 undue and excessive exercise of his power ; while he was 
 compelled to perceive that he had destroyed the equili- 
 brium of Italy by subjecting the Neapolitans to the 
 supremacy of Spain, and putting the Germans in posses- 
 sion of Venice. The Swiss had, moreover, demanded 
 from Louis an increase of pay, to which he was unwilling 
 to accede; a circumstance which encouraged Julius to 
 make an effort to detach them from his service; and 
 in this attempt he readily succeeded through the me- 
 dium of a crafty churchman, named Matthew Scheiner, 
 the nephew of the bishop of Sion, whom he created 
 cardinal under the same title; and whose impassioned 
 eloquence and martial spirit soon enabled him to induce 
 a belief among them that a war with Louis XII. would
 
 1508-12.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. CD 
 
 be as acceptable in the eyes of Heaven as a crusade 
 against the infidels. It was not long, therefore, ere they 
 consented to make a descent upon Italy, as the servants 
 of the church ; and thus the French king saw himself 
 not only deprived of their assistance, but even called 
 upon to include them among his enemies. 
 
 Ferdinand, true to his treacherous and truckling cha- 
 racter, having made his profit of the treaty of Cambray, 
 renounced it without a single scruple ; and entered into 
 a league with the pope, urging upon his son-in-law the 
 king of England the expediency of following his example; 
 and accepting from the warlike pontiff a full investiture 
 of the kingdom of Naples. 
 
 Thoroughly awakened to a sense of the evil which 
 threatened him on all sides, Louis would gladly have 
 taken the field, and defied the pope and his allies, with 
 the single aid of Maximilian ; but the instability of that 
 prince rendered such a measure hazardous, and he con- 
 sequently resolved, as a more judicious medium, to call 
 a council of his own prelates at Tours ; and to demand of 
 them if Julius II. had the right to levy a war of which 
 neither religion nor the interests of the church were the 
 ostensible objects ; or if opposition to a conflict purely 
 secular in its interests might not be righteously opposed. 
 The reply of the council was favourable to his wishes ; 
 the king was authorized by its unanimous voice to act on 
 the offensive as well as the defensive; and was, more- 
 over, assured that any papal excommunication which the 
 war might induce would be null and void; while, in 
 addition to this solemn decision, they raised a large sub- 
 sidy on the church possessions in furtherance of his views.
 
 70 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1508-12. 
 
 Meanwhile the pope, who appeared to disregard both his 
 age and his infirmities where his ambition was enlisted, 
 and who was extremely anxious to repossess himself of 
 the duchy of Ferrara, assembled a considerable army ; 
 and in the midst of one of the most severe winters which 
 had ever been experienced in Italy, proceeded in person 
 to Mirandola, where he forgot for a time the church- 
 man in the soldier; encouraged and superintended 
 the labourers in the trenches ; and to the dismay of 
 the cardinals by whom he was accompanied, not only 
 directed the planting of the artillery, but even com- 
 manded the assaults, and exposed himself with the 
 greatest recklessness until a breach was effected, which, 
 owing to the moat being deeply frozen, rendered all 
 further defence on the part of the besieged impossible. 
 On arriving at Santo Felice, a large village near Miran- 
 dola, Julius had despatched a herald to the Countess 
 Francesca, the natural daughter of Gian Giacopo Tri- 
 vulgio, and widow of Ludovico Pico, to summon her to 
 deliver up the city into his hands ; but she resolutely 
 refused to betray her trust ; nor was it until the breach 
 was effected that she surrendered. 
 
 From Mirandola the pope turned his arms against 
 Ferrara, and again attacked Bologna ; but failing in his 
 attempt, returned to Ravenna. 
 
 The death of the Cardinal d'Amboise, which occurred 
 at Lyons on the 25th of May, 1510, where Louis XII. 
 was then holding his court in order to keep a strict eye 
 upon the events transpiring in Italy, was a heavy blow 
 to the French monarch, who resolved thenceforward to 
 govern in his own person ; a determination which proved
 
 1512.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 71 
 
 fatal to his administration ; and meanwhile the pope 
 perfected a league which he dignified with the title of 
 " Holy," and in which he prevailed upon Ferdinand to 
 join, and on Henry VIII. to accede ; while the Swiss 
 were engaged to attack the Milanese. 
 
 Louis XII. met this emergency with a kingly spirit : 
 his army in Italy was augmented, and he made every 
 preparation for resisting the combination which had been 
 formed against him. Gaston de Foix, Duke de Nemours, 
 his nephew, was appointed general of his forces, although 
 yet a mere youth who had not attained his twenty-third 
 year ; and the result justified the confidence which had 
 been placed in him. He saved Bologna, which the papal 
 troops were about to besiege ; and had not his little army 
 been exhausted by forced marches in the most inclement 
 weather, would have had an opportunity of utterly de- 
 feating the combined forces of the league. He had, 
 however, scarcely taken possession of Bologna when he 
 learnt that the city of Brescia had been treacherously 
 delivered over to the Venetians, and that the garrison 
 was incapable of long resistance ; upon which, with in- 
 credible exertion and fatigue, he hastened to the rescue 
 of that place ; fought two battles, achieved two victories, 
 and on arriving before the gates, summoned the city 
 to surrender, being anxious if possible to avoid further 
 slaughter. The summons was, however, disregarded, 
 although the citizens were desirous that it should be 
 complied with ; the attack commenced, and the carnage 
 which ensued was fearful. The Venetians fought despe- 
 rately, but in vain. The city was taken ; the garrison
 
 , .' THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1512. 
 
 and population put to the sword, and the town delivered 
 up to all the horrors of pillage and violence. Bayard 
 fell wounded by a pike through the thigh, which broke 
 in the wound, and was borne to the rear by two archers ; 
 the citizens, women, and children harassed the invading 
 troops by hurling bricks and stones, and even pouring 
 boiling water from the windows of the houses ; but ulti- 
 mately, between seven and eight thousand of the Vene- 
 tians fell in action, or were butchered as they attempted 
 to escape ; while the loss of the French did not exceed 
 fifty men. Unhappily, these no sooner saw them- 
 selves masters of the city than the most brutal excesses 
 supervened. Monasteries and convents were invaded, 
 private families were ruined and disgraced, and the gross 
 booty secured by the conquerors was estimated at three 
 millions of crowns ; a circumstance which ultimately 
 proved the destruction of the French cause in Italy ; 
 numbers of the individuals thus suddenly enriched for- 
 saking their posts and returning to their homes ; en- 
 feebling the army of De Foix, and conducing to the 
 fatal termination of the battle of Ravenna. 
 
 Apprehensive, despite the brilliant commencement of 
 this campaign, that the coalition formed against him 
 might prove too powerful to admit of his ultimate success, 
 Louis XII. forwarded instructions to the young prince 
 to compel the enemy to a speedy engagement before the 
 impression produced by his recent good fortune had 
 time to become weakened ; and, in obedience to this 
 command, the duke advanced upon Ravenna by Finale 
 and Modena ; but his eagerness to engage the army of 
 the league was not greater than the determination of
 
 1512.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 73 
 
 Raymond de Cardona, the Viceroy of Naples, 1 to evade 
 the encounter. Near Bologna he was joined by the 
 Duke of Ferrara, whom he appointed, in conjunction 
 with La Palice, to the command of the vanguard ; and 
 this arrangement made, he advanced to Castel St. Piero, 
 where he was met by the combined armies of the pope 
 and the King of Spain. The Cardinal de' Medici (after- 
 wards Leo X.) was the supreme head of the adverse 
 forces, of which the military command was entrusted to 
 Cardona, Fabrizio Colonna, 2 and the Marquis de Pescara. 
 " They formed one of the finest armies for its size," 
 says the Loyal Servant, " that hath ever been seen, and 
 one of the best appointed. Don Raymunda de Cardona, 
 Viceroy of Naples, was at the head of it, and had with 
 him twelve or fourteen hundred gendarmes, whereof 
 eight hundred rode barbed horses. They were all gold 
 and azure, and mounted on the best chargers and 
 Spanish horses that were ever beheld. Moreover, for the 
 space of two years, they had enjoyed the free range of 
 Romagna, a good and fertile land, where they had pro- 
 visions to their hearts' desire. There were only twelve 
 thousand foot; two thousand foot under the charge of 
 a Captain Ramassot, and ten thousand Spaniards, 
 Biscay ens, and Navarrese, conducted by the Count Pietro 
 
 1 Raymond de Cardona was a man of great personal beauty and 
 insinuating address, but devoid of both courage and experience. The 
 pope generally spoke of him as Madame Cardona. 
 
 2 Fabrizio Colonna was a celebrated general. He was the son of 
 Edvardo Colonna, Duke d'Amalfi, and served in the armies of the 
 king of Naples, by whom he was appointed Constable. He com- 
 manded the vanguard at the battle of Ravenna, where he was taken 
 prisoner. He died in 1520.
 
 74 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1512. 
 
 da Navarro, 1 who was captain-general of the whole body 
 of infantry. He had formerly led his men into Barbary 
 against the Moors, and with them had gained two or 
 three battles. In short, they were all men experienced 
 in war, and skilled to a marvel in the exercise of arms." 
 
 This brilliant army waited under the walls of Faenza 
 until the French general should take the initiative, 
 which he speedily did ; and, after having despatched 
 Bayard to reconnoitre the enemy's position, he at once 
 prepared to give them battle. Cardona, acting upon the 
 advice of Pietro da Navarro, had resolved to keep within 
 the entrenchments, but the guns of the French soon 
 compelled him to abandon this attempt ; and they were 
 no sooner forced than the engagement became general. 
 For eight weary hours the work of carnage went on ; but 
 the Viceroy of Naples, soon losing faith in the success of 
 his troops, took flight early in the day, with a number of 
 his cavalry; and never drew bit until he had reached 
 Ancona, a distance of nearly thirty leagues. 
 
 The Duke de Nemours was no sooner apprized of this 
 
 1 Pietro da Navarro was born in Biscay, and was originally a 
 sailor; he afterwards served as valet-de-pied to the Cardinal of Aragon ; 
 and finally enlisted in the Florentine army, where he became con- 
 spicuous for his bravery. Gonsalvo de Cordova employed him in the 
 Neapolitan war, with the rank of Captain ; and the emperor recom- 
 pensed him for his services, at the taking of the capital, with the 
 title of Count d'Alveto, and the proceeds of that property. He failed 
 in a naval expedition against the Moors in Africa ; and was taken 
 prisoner at the battle of Ravenna. Two years subsequently, he 
 entered into the service of Francis I, and distinguished himself upon 
 several occasions until 1522, at which period he was made captive by 
 the imperial troops. Retaken a second time by the same enemies in 
 1528, he died at the Chateau d'(Euf, in which he was confined.
 
 1512.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 75 
 
 fact than he sent the Sire Louis d'Ars and Bayard in 
 pursuit of the fugitives, many of whom were overtaken 
 and cut to pieces. The infantry, meanwhile, remained 
 firm ; but after having received the murderous fire of the 
 artillery of the Duke of Ferrara, as well as that of the 
 French themselves, they became shaken ; although not 
 until the French foot, which had been exposed through- 
 out the whole action, while their enemies were partially 
 covered by the ditch, had lost thirty-eight out of the 
 forty captains who accompanied them to the field. 
 
 When he saw them waver, the impetuosity of Fabrizio 
 Colonna could no longer be controlled; he beheld not 
 only his own safety, but also that of the brave men who 
 followed him, perilled by the cowardice of the recreant 
 Cardona, whom he stigmatized as the " Miscreant Moor ;" 
 and, disregarding the orders of Navarro, he passed out of 
 the camp with a small body of cavalry, and entered the 
 open plain, boldly charging the centre of the French 
 forces. It was, however, too late ; his troops were 
 already enfeebled, and the enemy were masters of the 
 field. After a desperate but hopeless conflict, during 
 which the archers of the guard, being unable in the 
 melee to make use of their legitimate weapons, availed 
 themselves of the small axes which they carried in their 
 belts, and with which they made fearful havoc, the 
 fortune of the day was soon decided. Colonna himself 
 was made prisoner by Alphonso d'Este, 1 who, subse- 
 
 1 Alphonso d'Este succeeded his father in 1505. His first wife 
 was Anne, sister of Galeas Sforza, duke of Milan ; and his second, 
 the celebrated Lucretia Borgia, daughter of pope Alexander VI. He 
 was a member of the League of Cambray, when Julius II. appointed 
 him standard-bearer of the Roman Church. He retook the Pole- 
 sina de Rovigo from the Venetians, and never would adopt their
 
 7(5 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1512. 
 
 qucntly, granted him both liberty and life ; and among 
 the other captives of note were the Cardinal de' Medici, 
 Count Pietro da Navarro, the Marquises de la Paluda 
 and Pescara, with many others of less mark ; while their 
 slain amounted to nearly sixteen thousand men, among 
 whom were many of their bravest leaders. 
 
 Nevertheless the victory of Ravenna was a melancholy 
 triumph for the French arms, and bought by some of the 
 best blood of the nation. Two companies of the enemy 
 who had been successfully engaged with some Gascon 
 and Picardy troops, and who were anxious to make their 
 way to Ravenna, were encountered by the Bastard du 
 Tay, and compelled to retreat along the canal. During 
 this movement some of the number fled ; one of whom 
 chancing to pass near the Duke de Nemours, and anxious 
 to escape from this new danger, answered his inquiry by 
 declaring that the Spaniards had beaten them ; an 
 announcement which maddened the young prince, who 
 had long ere this considered the victory no longer doubt- 
 ful; and who, rendered desperate by his fears, sprang 
 upon the causeway by which the two bands were retreat- 
 ing, accompanied only by fourteen or fifteen gendarmes. 
 Unfortunately the fugitives had reloaded their firelocks, 
 which they instantly discharged, and then rushed upon 
 the little party with their pikes. The position of the 
 duke and his followers did not admit of their defending 
 themselves with any effect, the causeway being narrow, 
 
 interests. Excommunicated, and declared dispossessed of the princi- 
 pality of Ferrara, he only escaped the vengeance of Julius II. by a 
 timely flight. He died in 1534, after having reconquered Bondeno, 
 Finale, San-Felice, Garfagnano, Lugo, Bagnacavallo, Reggio, Rubiera, 
 and Modena. He was immortalized by Ariosto.
 
 1512.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 77 
 
 and bordered on one hand by the canal, and on the other 
 by an impassable ditch ; but they, nevertheless, struggled 
 bravely to the last ; nor did they yield until every man 
 was either killed or disabled. The duke's horse was 
 hamstrung ; upon which he flung himself to the ground^ 
 and continued the fight on foot ; Adet de Foix, Sire de 
 Lantrec, who was beside him, defended him with his own 
 body until he fell covered with wounds ; and he then 
 exerted all his remaining strength in calling out to the 
 Spaniards to spare the life of the prince, who was the 
 brother of their queen. The appeal, however, was made 
 in vain ; and the unhappy young hero fell covered with 
 wounds. " From the chin to the forehead," says the 
 Loyal Servant with affectionate simplicity ; " he had 
 fourteen or fifteen; clear proof that the gentle prince 
 had never turned his back." 
 
 Thus, in his twenty -third year fell the brave Gaston 
 de Foix, by the hands of a small band of fugitives, in 
 whom his very name inspired terror. Within three 
 months he had gained four battles ; the future was bright 
 before him ; he was the idol of the army which he led ; 
 and secret treaties had already been set on foot to secure 
 to him the kingdom of Naples. But now all was over ; 
 and the maimed and disfigured corpse was borne through 
 the camp, amid the tears and lamentations of those who 
 had so lately thrilled at his battle-cry. 
 
 The brave young Sire de Viverots, the only son of the 
 Seigneur Yves d'Allegre, who was in the train of the 
 prince, fell mortally wounded into the canal, where he 
 perished miserably ; and his father also perished during a 
 charge of infantry. Lantrec, although grievously wounded, 
 ultimately recovered ; but the slaughter in the French
 
 78 COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. [1512. 
 
 army was estimated at six thousand men ; among whom 
 were many great and noble names. Well might Louis 
 XII, when congratulated upon the conquest of Ravenna, 
 exclaim, in the regret and sadness of his spirit : " Wish 
 my enemies such victories ! " 
 
 On the day after the battle, the French adventurers 
 and lansquenets pillaged the ill-fated city, despite the 
 opposition of the Sire de la Palice, who had been unani- 
 mously elected general-in-chief of the army after the 
 death of Gaston de Foix. Ravenna had capitulated ; 
 and he had consequently been anxious to spare to its 
 inhabitants the horrors of a sack ; his anxiety was, how- 
 ever, unavailing ; the volunteers and mercenaries of his 
 army entered the gates by stratagem, and the unhappy 
 and conquered citizens were outraged and despoiled. 
 
 At this juncture intelligence reached the French army 
 from the Seigneur Trivulzio, that the Venetians and Swiss 
 were contemplating a descent upon the duchy of Milan, 
 and that suspicions were entertained of the good faith of 
 the emperor ; upon which it was decided that they should 
 immediately return to the Milanese, carrying with them 
 the body of Gaston, which was interred within the Dome 
 with regal pomp ; upwards of ten thousand mourners fol- 
 lowing it to the grave, the greater number mounted, 
 and in deep sables ; while forty standards, which had 
 been captured from the enemy, were borne before him 
 trailing in the dust, and his own banners held aloft im- 
 mediately in the rear, as emblematic of their triumph 
 over these prostrate trophies. 
 
 The battle of Ravenna cost Louis XII. one of the 
 brightest jewels of his Crown.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 [1513.] 
 
 EFFECTS OF THE BATTLE OF RAVENNA RELIGIOUS SCRUPLES OF THE QUEEN 
 THE POPE RAISES A FORCE IN SWITZERLAND THE EMPEROR WITH- 
 DRAWS HIS SUBJECTS FROM THE FRENCH ARMY MAXIMILIAN SFORZA 
 ENTERS MILAN THE GENOESE REVOLT LORD DORSET LANDS IN SPAIN 
 IS DISGUSTED, AND WITHDRAWS INTRIGUES OF FERDINAND LOUIS XII. 
 INVESTS FRANCIS WITH THE COMMAND OF THE ARMY OF THE MILANESE 
 THE SPANISH GENERAL DECLINES HIS CHALLENGE THE FRENCH RAISE 
 THEIR CAMP BEFORE PAMPELUNA AND REPASS THE ALPS LIGHT-HEART- 
 EDNESS OF FRANCIS A PRINCE AND AN ADVOCATE LICENTIOUSNESS OF 
 FRANCIS ANCIENT NOTIONS OF PIETY FRANCE ENTERS INTO A LEAGUE 
 WITH THE VENETIAN STATES TREATY OF MARRIAGE BETWEEN THE ARCH- 
 DUKE CHARLES AND THE PRINCESS RENEE UNION OF VENICE WITH 
 FRANCE DEATH OF JULIUS II. ACCESSION OF LEO X. HIS ENMITY TO 
 FRANCE LOUIS XII. ENDEAVOURS TO PROPITIATE HIM, BUT FAILS HE 
 CONCLUDES A TRUCE WITH FERDINAND AND THE VENETIANS THE SWISS 
 TAKE UP ARMS AGAINST FRANCE FERDINAND AND HENRY VIII. JOIN THE 
 CAUSE OF THE POPE LOUIS AGAIN INVADES THE MILANESE TAKES THE 
 PRINCIPAL CITIES BATTLE OF VIVEGANO THE FRENCH ARE DRIVEN 
 FROM THE MILANESE LOUIS MORTGAGES A PORTION OF THE CROWN 
 LAND HENRY VIII. INVADES FRANCE, AND BESIEGES TEROUENNE LOUTS 
 PROCEEDS TO CALAIS BAYARD CAPTURES AN ENGLISH GUN FAMINE IN 
 THE CITY MAXIMILIAN JOINS THE ENGLISH KING THE BATTLE OF THE 
 SPURS BAYARD WINS HIS RANSOM HONOURS RENDERED TO BAYARD 
 BY MAXIMILIAN AND HENRY VIII. LOUIS WITHDRAWS HIS ARMY INTO 
 PICARDY.
 
 1513.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 81 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 [1513.] 
 
 THE consternation created in France by the dearly- 
 bought victory of Ravenna, was not less deep in Rome. 
 The holy conclave saw, in the success of the French 
 arms, the ultimate subjugation of Italy ; and were alarmed 
 accordingly. Bitter as the concession could not fail to 
 be, they urged the pope to offer terms to Louis, which 
 might avert the evil; and Julius appeared inclined to 
 satisfy their wishes ; but at that precise juncture, the 
 arrival of Giulio de' Medici at Rome once more deter- 
 mined him to pursue his own designs. He came on a 
 mission from his cousin the captive cardinal, whom he 
 had visited in his prison, after having himself fled from 
 the field with Cardona ; and now hastened to see the 
 pope, in the name of his relative, and to represent to 
 him the crippled condition of the French army, bereft of 
 its general. He found instant attention. Julius had 
 already secured the support of the vacillating Maximi- 
 lian ; he was aware that Louis, continually harassed by 
 the pious scruples of the queen who, never having re- 
 gained her health after the birth of the princess Renee, 
 either felt, or affected to feel, that her sufferings were a 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513. 
 
 consequence of the unholy and sacrilegious warfare in 
 which he was engaged would gladly terminate the 
 struggle ; and, accordingly, he refused all overtures to- 
 wards a reconciliation ; and instructed the cardinal of 
 Sion to raise as many Swiss troops as might offer 
 themselves, in order to effect a descent into the Milanese, 
 under the specious pretext of restoring the duchy to the 
 young Maximilian Sforza, the son of Ludovic the Moor. 1 
 
 The Swiss answered readily to the call of the pope, 
 and engaged themselves to the number of twenty thou- 
 sand in his service ; while Maximilian, although still con- 
 sidered as the ally of France, and the enemy of the 
 Venetians, did not hesitate to accord to the latter, on the 
 receipt of an equivalent in money, a truce of ten months ; 
 with permission for the Swiss to march through his terri- 
 tories, in order to join them in their attack upon the 
 army of Louis. 
 
 La Palice, who had succeeded to the command on the 
 death of the Duke de Nemours, made every preparation 
 
 1 Ludovic-Maria Sforza, surnamed the Moor, in consequence of his 
 dark complexion, put to death Simonetta, the tutor of his nephew, 
 Gruan-Galeazo, and exiled the regent, Bona de Savoie, in order to govern 
 in the name of his young relative. Irritated by the threats of the 
 king of Naples, the father-in-law of the duke, he invited Charles VIII. 
 to enter Italy, hoping to retain the Milanese by a promise to support 
 him in his attempt at the conquest of Naples. Guan-Galeazo having 
 died by poison in 1494, Ludovic caused himself to be recognised as 
 duke of Milan, to the prejudice of the son of that prince ; but, ere 
 long, alarmed by the successes of the French, he leagued himself 
 with the other Italian states against them, and compelled them to 
 repass the Alps. A second invasion of the French under Louis XII. 
 dispossessed him of his duchy. He was taken prisoner before 
 Novara, and conveyed to France, where he lived ten years a captive 
 in the castle of Loches. He died in 1510.
 
 1513.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 83 
 
 for resistance ; but his exertions were rendered nugatory 
 by the fact that, on the day which succeeded his occupa- 
 tion of the fortress of Pontevico, as a central position 
 whence he could communicate with the other divisions of 
 his army, a letter arrived from the emperor, commanding 
 all his subjects to withdraw from the French service ; 
 and as a considerable portion of his troops were German 
 lansquenets, M. de la Palice at once saw himself rendered 
 powerless, and was enabled with difficulty to retreat to 
 Ast. The young archduke Maximilian entered Milan with- 
 out opposition ; the Genoese revolted, and elected as their 
 doge one of the Fregosi, a declared enemy to France ; 
 and the vaunt of Julius, that he would expel the barba- 
 rians from Italy, was at length accomplished. 
 
 Nor was the loss of the Milanese the only subject of 
 disquietude to which Louis was at this period exposed. 
 Ferdinand of Spain, who was anxious to possess himself of 
 Navarre, had entered into a negotiation with Henry VIII, 
 in which he pretexted a desire to regain Guienne, to 
 which England still affected a claim ; and solicited a 
 passage through the kingdom of Navarre, which was 
 refused, upon the plea that the king had resolved to 
 observe a strict neutrality. The Marquis of Dorset, 
 who had already landed in Spain with a force of fifty 
 thousand men, and marched towards the French frontier, 
 was no sooner apprised of this circumstance, than he 
 applied to the Spanish king for further instructions; when 
 Ferdinand, who had only sought for help from England 
 in order to effect the conquest of Navarre, of which Jean 
 d'Albret was the sovereign in right of his wife, the 
 spirited but unfortunate Catherine de Foix, endeavoured 
 
 02
 
 81 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513. 
 
 to impress upon the English general the necessity of 
 conquering that country before the attempt upon Gui- 
 enne could be accomplished ; a proof of perfidy which so 
 disgusted the marquis, that he at once abandoned his 
 cause, and withdrew with his troops, who had already 
 suffered severely from the effects of the climate. 
 
 Nevertheless Ferdinand pursued his purpose, and 
 demanded from the Navarrese sovereigns that they 
 should place in his hands either the Prince de Viane 
 their son, or all the fortified places throughout their 
 dominions, as a guarantee that they would offer no as- 
 sistance to Prance against the Holy League ; but Jean 
 d'Albret, aware that he could place no reliance upon the 
 word of the Spanish king, after having in vain protested 
 his intention of remaining neuter, and perceiving that 
 the Duke of Alba was advancing into his territories at the 
 head of the Aragonnese army, caused his queen to retire 
 to Beam, and threw himself into Pampeluna, where he 
 awaited in vain for a time the arrival of succour from 
 France. Nor did he even find support from his own 
 subjects, who, far from taking up arms in defence of 
 their country, talked only of submission ; and he at 
 length found himself compelled to retreat beyond the 
 Pyrenees, when Pampeluna opened its gates to the Duke 
 of Alba, an example which was followed by all the cities 
 of Spanish Navarre, within the space of a few days. 
 
 Louis XII, even disheartened as he was by a series 
 of reverses which had overthrown all the previous glory 
 of the French arms; driven from Italy; shorn of 
 his allies, all of whom had suffered like himself; and 
 menaced upon his frontiers, by the Emperor, the Swi&s,
 
 1513.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 85 
 
 the Low Countries, England, and Spain ; could not, 
 however, see the King of Navarre, whose allegiance to 
 himself had been the alleged pretext for his overthrow, 
 thus made the spoil of his treacherous enemy ; and he 
 accordingly marched an army to his assistance, under the 
 joint command of the dukes of Bourbon and Longue- 
 ville ; l but as these two powerful nobles could not agree 
 upon points of precedence, and their misunderstand- 
 ing was likely to injure the interests of the expedition, 
 Louis decided upon investing the young Duke de Valois 
 with the supreme command. 
 
 Inflamed by the glorious example of the youthful 
 Gaston de Foix, his predecessor, Francis eagerly assumed 
 the post thus tendered to him; and had no sooner 
 reached the camp than he marched the French forces to 
 Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, of which Colonel Villalva had 
 possessed himself, and where the Duke of Alba had 
 shortly afterwards taken up his position with the whole of 
 his army. The troops, which had lately evacuated Italy, 
 joined the forces of the Duke de Valois ; and La Palice, 
 their most experienced general, became his counsellor. 
 
 On arriving near the position of the enemy, Francis 
 endeavoured to force them to an engagement ; and for 
 this purpose sent a message of defiance to the Spanish 
 general, which was, however, declined ; whereupon La 
 Palice seized the pass of the valley of Roncal, one of 
 the mediums of communication between Navarre and 
 
 1 The Duke de Longueville was a descendant of the famous ille- 
 gitimate branch of the house of Orleans, originating in the bravn 
 Jehan, Count de Dunois, the natural son of Louis, Duke d'Orleans, 
 brother of Charles VI.
 
 86 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513. 
 
 Beam ; and in the course of the month of October, 
 conducted one of the three divisions of the French 
 army by this defile within two leagues of Pampeluna, 
 under the nominal command of the King of Navarre; 
 while the Duke de Bourbon overran Guipuscoa, taking 
 and demolishing several fortified places ; and the re- 
 maining division held the Duke of Alba in check at 
 Saint -Jean-- Pied -de -Port. Nevertheless, the Spanish 
 general succeeded in occupying Roncevaux a few hours 
 before La Palice, and thence marched into Pampeluna, 
 where he was besieged by the French troops. It was, 
 however, too late to retrieve the fatal mistake which had 
 been made in suffering him to reach the city. The 
 weather had become severe, snow had fallen to a great 
 depth, provisions were scarce and uncertain, and the roads 
 almost impassable for artillery. Moreover the Aragon- 
 nese were advancing on all sides to support the besieged 
 city; and after a few inconsequent skirmishes, the 
 French were compelled to strike their camp, and to 
 demolish the battery which they had raised, in order to 
 repass the Pyrenees : an effort which they only accom- 
 plished at the expense of their heavy baggage, and 
 thirteen cannon taken by the Spaniards during their 
 retreat. 
 
 Unpropitious as the campaign had proved, it had 
 at least enabled the young prince to display alike the 
 talent and the courage which gave earnest of his future 
 prowess ; and he was received on his return with all 
 the honour due to a more successful general. The 
 gloom which overhung the nation could not quell the 
 animal spirits consequent upon his youth and tempera-
 
 1513.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 87 
 
 inent ; and while his royal uncle was absorbed in anxiety 
 and irresolution as to the new alliance which it had 
 become imperative upon him to form either with the 
 Emperor or the Venetians, in order to make head against 
 the enemies by whom he was threatened, Francis entered 
 with enthusiasm into all the amusements of the capital ; 
 and at the head of a reckless band of young nobles, 
 indulged himself in every species of dissipation. 
 
 The extreme youth of his affianced wife offering no 
 check to his libertine propensities, they soon became 
 uncontrollable ; and it was at this period that he formed a 
 liaison which affords upon several points so perfect an 
 insight into his character that it cannot be passed over 
 in silence. 
 
 A certain advocate in Paris, whose professional acumen 
 and skill had secured to him an immense reputation, 
 had married, in the decline of life, a beautiful young girl 
 of eighteen or nineteen years of age, whose parents, 
 dazzled by the wealth and station of the suitor, had 
 induced her to bestow her hand upon him. Unfor- 
 tunately for both parties, she acted only up to the strict 
 letter of her bond ; and, although surrounded by luxury 
 and indulgence, rather tolerated than loved the husband 
 who had thus been forced upon her. Nevertheless, 
 although fond of pleasure and admiration, her conduct 
 had been sufficiently circumspect to satisfy the worthy 
 advocate ; who, conscious that he was no longer of an age 
 to command the devotion of a young and pretty woman, 
 suffered her to participate in all the amusements which 
 were offered to her acceptance without objection or mis- 
 trust. It chanced, however, that at a marriage festival
 
 88 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513. 
 
 she was remarked by the young Duke de Valois, who, 
 although only in his sixteenth year, had already began to 
 yield to that passionate admiration of female beauty, 
 which throughout life formed one of the distinguishing 
 features of his character ; and who, despite the indulgent 
 testimony of Madame d'Alenon and Brantome, his 
 uncompromising panegyrists, sacrificed to this licentious 
 propensity, not only his sense of personal dignity, but 
 even his respect for religion, the semblance of which he 
 did not scruple to assume in order to veil his irregu- 
 larities. Upon the occasion just named, the prince made 
 the acquaintance of the fair citizen ; nor did he hesitate 
 before the close of the evening to declare to her the 
 passion with which she had inspired him. The young 
 beauty listened without displeasure, for she was aware of 
 the rank of her new admirer, and her vanity was flattered 
 by such a conquest ; nor was it long ere she yielded to his 
 passionate protestations so far as to consent to receive him 
 under the roof of her husband when that husband should 
 be from home. Accordingly a rendezvous was appointed ; 
 and the prince, disguised in order that the honour of the 
 lady might not be unnecessarily compromised, directed 
 his steps towards her residence, accompanied by certain 
 of his gentlemen, whom he quitted at the entrance of the 
 street ; directing them, should they hear no noise within 
 a quarter of an hour, to retire where they pleased, but 
 to return during the course of the night in order to con- 
 duct him back to the palace ; after which he proceeded to 
 the house of the advocate, where he found the door un- 
 fastened, as had been previously arranged ; and hastened 
 to ascend the staircase to the apartment of the lady. It
 
 1513.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 89 
 
 appeared, however, that the husband, from some cause 
 or other, had returned home unexpectedly; and the 
 young prince had not reached the first floor ere he 
 encountered him, taper in hand, and was aware that 
 retreat had already become impossible. In this emer- 
 gency the precocious presence of mind of Francis did 
 not desert him for an instant ; but courteously greeting 
 the man of law with a smile upon his lips, he said in his 
 blandest tone : 
 
 " M. 1'Advocat, you know the confidence which I, 
 and all the princes of my house, have ever placed in 
 your probity, and that I have ever considered you to be 
 one of my best and most faithful servants : I have, in 
 consequence, come privately to visit you, in order to 
 request that you will be careful of my interests ; and also 
 to beg that you will give me a draught of wine, of which 
 I stand greatly in need ; be careful, however, not to suffer 
 any one to know that you have seen me, as I am going 
 hence to a place where I do not wish to be recognised." 
 
 The worthy advocate, delighted that the prince should 
 confer upon him so great a mark of condescension and 
 esteem, was profuse in his professions and acknowledg- 
 ments ; and, leading the way, conducted his unexpected 
 guest to his best apartment, where he desired his wife to 
 set forth the best collation of fruits and sweetmeats 
 she could collect ; an order which was promptly and 
 efficiently obeyed ; and while she was thus engaged the 
 young duke continued to converse with his host upon 
 his private and pecuniary business, without once turning 
 his eyes upon her after the first courtesies had been 
 exchanged. At length, however, the lady dropped upon
 
 90 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513. 
 
 her knee as she presented to him the refreshment he 
 had required ; and while her husband was pouring out a 
 goblet of wine at the sideboard, whispered to him not to 
 leave the house, but to conceal himself in a wardrobe on 
 the right hand of the gallery, where she would soon join 
 him. When he had swallowed the wine, the young- 
 prince made his acknowledgments to the advocate, took 
 an indifferent leave of the lady, and rose to depart ; 
 but as the unsuspicious lawyer prepared to escort him, 
 taper in hand, on his return, he stopped him with a 
 gesture of his hand, declaring that he required no 
 attendance, and would rather gain the street alone in 
 darkness. Then, turning to the lady, he said courteously : 
 " Moreover, Madam, I will not deprive you of the com- 
 panionship of your good husband, who is one of my 
 oldest servants, and whom you are very happy to pos- 
 sess ; a happiness for which you should praise God, and 
 both cherish and obey him ; for should you do other- 
 wise you would be very blamable." Having said 
 these words, he withdrew, carefully closing the door 
 behind him, in order not to be detected in his purpose ; 
 and, once enclosed in his place of retreat, awaited the 
 promised summons of his frail conquest, who did not 
 fail to fulfil her engagement. 
 
 Had the adventure ended here and thus, we would not 
 have sullied our pages with its record ; but such was far 
 from being the case; the beauty and devotion of the 
 handsome citizen had enthralled the heart of Francis ; 
 and as their liaison lasted for a considerable period, he 
 became anxious to abridge the distance between them, 
 and for this purpose passed habitually through the clois-
 
 1513.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 91 
 
 ters of a monastery ; with whose prior he ultimately ren- 
 dered himself so great a favourite that the porter was 
 instructed to leave the gates open for him until midnight, 
 and to give him egress at any hour when he might 
 be required to do so. As the house of the advocate was 
 situated in the immediate neighbourhood of this monas- 
 tery, he always entered the holy pile unattended ; and 
 although he traversed it rapidly on his way to his 
 appointment, he never failed on his return fresh from 
 the pollution of his orgy, and yet flushed with the fever 
 of his sin to remain for a considerable period in prayer 
 in the silent chapel, to the marvel and edification of the 
 community, who, on entering the sacred fane for matin 
 service, constantly found him on his knees before the 
 altar ! 
 
 Divided, as we have already stated, between Maxi- 
 milian and the Venetians, Louis was unable to decide 
 upon his course of action ; but, strongly urged by his 
 council rather to trust to the good faith of the latter than 
 to place any trust in the emperor, he at length consented ; 
 and a league defensive and offensive was entered into by 
 France with the state of Venice, at the urgent entreaty 
 of Trivulzio. Nevertheless, Louis, in his secret heart, 
 still inclined towards Maximilian. He was dazzled by the 
 imperial dignity ; and influenced by Anne de Bretagne, 
 who was ambitious to unite her second daughter, as she 
 had previously been to marry her first, to Charles of 
 Austria, in whom she saw a future emperor. A treaty 
 to this effect was consequently commenced, in which it 
 was stipulated that the Princess Renee should convey to 
 her husband, as her dowry, all the rights of France over
 
 92 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513. 
 
 the kingdom of Naples, the duchy of Milan, and the re- 
 public of Genoa. To these conditions the emperor affected 
 to consent; but he exacted, as a preliminary, that the 
 young princess should be consigned to his charge, and 
 be educated at his court ; a precaution in which he 
 was undoubtedly authorized, when he remembered how 
 his own marriage with Anne de Bretagne, and those of 
 his daughter Marguerite and his grandson Charles, had 
 been unceremoniously set aside by France. The French 
 monarch, however, refused to accede to such terms ; nor 
 could Anne be induced, even when her ambition was 
 aroused, to separate herself from her infant daughter. 
 
 Meanwhile the treaty with the Venetians was accom- 
 plished ; and those who had so lately met as enemies 
 were collected under the same banners. La Tremouille 
 was appointed to the command of the forces, with which 
 Louis still hoped to re-conquer the Milanese ; and 
 d'Alviano, who had been retained a captive since the 
 battle of Agnadello, was restored to liberty, and placed 
 at the head of the Venetian army. 
 
 While the approaching war was thus still in abeyance, 
 and that it was as yet impossible to decide who would act 
 as allies, and who as enemies, during the next campaign, 
 Julius was indefatigable in undermining the interests of 
 France ; while he menaced, each in their turn, the Duke 
 of Ferrara, the republics of Venice, of Lucca, of Sienna, 
 and of Genoa ; Ferdinand of Spain, the Medici at Flo- 
 rence, and the Baglioni at Perousa ; in short, ah 1 the 
 powers who were not sufficiently pliable in his hands, and 
 who disputed his entire supremacy. But in the midst 
 of an arrogance by which the general peace of Europe
 
 1513.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 93 
 
 was threatened, he was seized in the spring of 1513 with 
 a fever, followed by dysentery, which soon assumed a 
 serious aspect ; notwithstanding which, the restless and 
 ambitious old man, so soon to be called before a tribunal 
 from which he, even as the sovereign pontiff, had no ap- 
 peal, laboured to the last in the partial completion of the 
 work which he had so zealously commenced ; and having 
 assembled all the cardinals about him to confirm a bull 
 which he had fulminated ; and secured, so far as he was 
 able to do so, the independence of the conclave which 
 was to name his successor, he expired on the evening of 
 the 21st of February, exclaiming, in his last moments ; 
 " Out with the French from Italy ! Out with Alphonso 
 d'Este !" 
 
 Although the death of Julius II. had, undoubtedly, 
 delivered France from an implacable enemy, it still re- 
 mained questionable in how far she would profit by the 
 rule of his successor. The Cardinal de' Medici, who 
 assumed the triple crown under the title of Leo X, was 
 a man of high birth and acknowledged acquirements ; 
 but although on ascending the papal chair he had de- 
 clared his anxiety to maintain the peace of Europe, it 
 could not fail to be remarked that he had chosen for the 
 ceremony of his coronation the anniversary of the very 
 day upon which he had been made prisoner by the French 
 at the battle of Ravenna ; and that he had even rode the 
 same horse which carried him upon that occasion. More- 
 over, he had not been indebted for his liberty to any 
 respect felt by his enemies for his sacred character, as he 
 had been rescued from the hands of Trivulzio by some 
 insurgent peasantry; while the revolution, which had
 
 94 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [ir>13. 
 
 restored to his family their rule in Florence, had been 
 undertaken in hatred towards the French. Nevertheless 
 Louis XII. was anxious to effect a reconciliation with the 
 Holy See ; while the queen, still more eager than himself 
 to make her peace with the church, urged him continu- 
 ally to propose such terms to Leo as might tend to that 
 result. Accordingly, the French king offered to submit 
 the arrangement of a peace to the judgment and justice 
 of the sovereign pontiff, on condition that no opposition 
 should be made to his designs on Milan ; however, the 
 concession was met with evasive coldness ; and Louis 
 became at once aware that Leo X. was bent, like his 
 predecessor, upon the expulsion of the French from Italy. 
 He, therefore, hesitated no longer; but, concluding a 
 treaty of peace for twelve months with Ferdinand of 
 Spain, and ratifying that into which he had entered with 
 the Venetian states, endeavoured once more to induce the 
 Swiss to enter into his interests. Here, however, he was 
 destined to disappointment ; they would scarcely listen to 
 the proposals of his ambassador ; and would concede no 
 more than that they would continue favourable to Louis 
 so long as he attempted nothing against either the pope 
 or the Duke of Milan, whom they had, as they affirmed, 
 taken under their protection ; and when they discovered 
 that the French monarch, undismayed by their opposi- 
 tion, was resolved to enforce his claims, they at once 
 took up arms to oppose his entrance into Italy. 
 
 Leo, meanwhile, had not been idle. With little diffi- 
 culty he induced the hollow-hearted Ferdinand once more 
 to break his faith with the French king, and even to 
 induce Henry VIII, his son-in-law, to invade France,
 
 1513.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 95 
 
 and to secure the cooperation of Maximilian, by the pay- 
 ment of 100,000 crowns for the maintenance of his 
 army. Yet Louis still persevered. Indignant at the bad 
 faith of his false allies ; exasperated by the cool impassi- 
 bility of the pope ; and more than ever anxious to regain 
 the supremacy of the Milanese ; he marched a formidable 
 army into Italy, under the command of La Tremouille, 
 who, fourteen years previously, had taken Milan, and 
 made prisoner Ludovico Sforza. Nor was his confidence 
 misplaced, for that general crossed the Alps before 
 the Swiss were cognisant of his design, relieved Milan, 
 and took possession of Ast and Alessandria. The star of 
 Louis was once more in the ascendant. His fleet made 
 themselves masters of Genoa ; the Venetians attacked 
 and gained Cremona ; and everything appeared to favour 
 the French arms, and to promise a speedy and glorious 
 termination to the war. Ultimately La Tremouille 
 arrived before Novara, and commenced the attack, but 
 soon discovered that he had been premature ; a breach 
 had been effected, but at the moment when he was 
 about to avail himself of it, he received intelligence that 
 a strong reinforcement was coming up; when, convinced 
 too late of the error which he had committed, and for- 
 getting that it could now only be retrieved by pursuing 
 the advantage he had gained, he withdrew to Vivegano, 
 a distance of about two miles, and thus enabled the 
 enemy to enter Novara during the night, where a 
 council was immediately called, by which it was decided 
 to attack the French camp. This bold resolution was 
 acted upon without delay, and the Swiss accordingly com- 
 menced their march before midnight. Well acquainted
 
 i)0 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513. 
 
 with the nature of the ground, and aware that the 
 troops of La Tremouille were surrounded by marshy 
 land, where their cavalry would be crippled and almost 
 useless, they formed their own force, consisting entirely 
 of foot soldiers, into two divisions, one of which was 
 instructed to prevent the approach of the mounted troops, 
 and the other to attack the French artillery. As daylight 
 dawned they had taken up their position ; and La Tre- 
 inouille, unprepared as he was to anticipate such a demon- 
 stration, at once made every arrangement to receive them. 
 He soon perceived that the enemy, whose success had 
 depended upon their celerity, had not brought a single 
 gun into the field; and he accordingly advanced his 
 artillery, consisting of two-and-twenty pieces, to the front 
 of his line, under a guard of German lancers. His first 
 fire committed great ravages among the Swiss ranks ; 
 but as the foremost men fell, their vacancies were instantly 
 filled up from the rear ; and they dashed forward gallantly 
 to the very mouths of the cannon, and engaged with the 
 lansquenets by whom they were supported. Tor two 
 hours the battle waged fiercely ; but at the termination 
 of that period, the Germans, bravely as they had borne 
 themselves, gave way; and the Swiss, having obtained 
 possession of the guns, turned them against their former 
 owners, and committed terrible slaughter. Meanwhile 
 the cavalry had been compelled to total inaction, being 
 hemmed in on one side by a dense wood, and on the 
 other by a bog deeply trenched, in which the horses 
 buried themselves to their knees at every plunge. In one 
 instance only did they succeed in taking any share in the 
 fortunes of the day, but that one must not. pass unre-
 
 1513.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 97 
 
 corded. Robert de la Mark, 1 who commanded the 
 lansquenets, and who was accompanied to the field by 
 his two sons, the Seigneur de Fleuranges, and the Sei- 
 gneur de Jamets, having lost sight of them in the melee, 
 feeling convinced that they must be either slain or captive 
 thus to fail him at such a moment, leaped the trenches 
 at the head of a hundred of his own troop, and charged 
 the Swiss so vigorously that he broke their ranks, 
 reached the spot where his sons had been engaged, both 
 of whom were lying on the ground disabled by their 
 hurts, and carried them off in safety ; having himself 
 received nearly fifty wounds. 
 
 The capture of the cannon had, however, decided 
 the issue of the battle; and La Tremouille, himself 
 severely wounded, was compelled to order a retreat, 
 which was not effected without great sacrifice of life. 
 The gendarmes suffered little, as their enemies had no 
 mounted force with which to pursue them ; but the 
 infantry were slain on all sides. The Gascons, who were 
 the first to fly, were allowed to escape almost unimpeded ; 
 for the Swiss concentrated all their fury upon the lans- 
 quenets, the objects of their most bitter hatred, whom 
 
 1 Messire Robert de la Mark was a soldier of distinction, sur- 
 named the " Great Boar of the Ardennes," from the position of his 
 estates, and his constant habit of laying waste all the territory of 
 the emperor, and other princes in the vicinity. He was the original 
 cause of the war between Maximilian and Louis XII, who supported 
 him in his forays. He had adopted as his device a figure of St. Mar- 
 garet, with a dragon at her feet, representing the great principle of 
 evil ; and was in the habit, when he made hig orisons to this his 
 patron saint, of burning two candles before her shrine, one of which 
 was dedicated to herself, and the other to the dragon, declaring that 
 " if God would not aid him, the devil would not fail to do so." 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 .N THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513 
 
 they considered as their rivals in the mercenary trade 
 Avhich they had so long exercised alone. Five thousand 
 of these wretched men perished upon the field, and 
 the remainder were compelled to surrender. A similar 
 number of French were killed, either in action or during 
 the retreat ; for many of the Gascons, whom the Swiss 
 had spared, were murdered by the peasantry. The loss 
 of the victors was nearly as great, and their leader, 
 Mottino, was among the slain ; but their triumph was 
 complete ; and after remaining for an hour or two upon 
 the scene of their success, they returned to Novara, carry- 
 ing with them the twenty-two pieces of ordnance, as 
 well as all the draught-horses and baggage of the French 
 army. 
 
 Once more the troops of Louis XII. were driven out 
 of Italy. All the places which they had taken opened 
 their gates to the conquerors ; and public rejoicings were 
 held in Rome, where the pope congratulated the Swiss 
 upon their victory; while he flattered himself that the 
 defeat at Novara would so undermine the energies and 
 cripple the strength of the French king, that he would 
 be unable to contend against any new enemy. And, in 
 truth, the prospects of Louis were anything rather than 
 encouraging. Invaded upon every one of his frontiers, 
 he saw himself compelled to recal the remnant of his 
 army from the Riotta ; he could place no faith in Fer- 
 dinand, and he anticipated an attack from the English 
 upon Normandy ; while, despite all his caution, the 
 national treasury was exhausted. The campaign in 
 Italy had been at once disastrous and expensive ; Paris 
 had been heavily taxed, and he had no resource save
 
 1513.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 99 
 
 in mortgaging a portion of his territory. Meanwhile 
 Henry VIII. had raised an army of twenty-five thousand 
 men, under the command of the Earl of Shrewsbury arid 
 Lord Talbot, in the month of May, of which the French 
 fleet had founcl it impossible to impede the landing ; and 
 himself embarked to join them at the end of June, pro- 
 ceeding immediately from Calais to the frontier town of 
 Terouenne, before which he sat down with fris troops. 
 The city was well fortified, and garrisoned by two hun- 
 dred horse and two thousand foot, under Francois de 
 Teligny, Senechal de Rouergue, and Antoine de Crequi, 
 Seigneur de Pondormy ; but it was ill-provisioned for a 
 siege, and its position was consequently very precarious. 
 Louis XII, during his period of suspense as to the 
 point upon which he should be attacked, had resided 
 alternately at Paris and at Blois ; but on learning that the 
 English had landed in great strength at Calais, although 
 suffering painfully from gout, he caused himself to be 
 conveyed to Amiens in a litter, in order to be nearer to 
 Louis de Hallwin, Seigneur de Piennes, who was his 
 lieutenant-general in Picardy ; and hastened to issue a 
 stringent order to his generals not to hazard an engage- 
 ment with the enemy, which, should it prove disastrous 
 in its result, might tend to involve the ruin of the king- 
 dom. Meanwhile the French array condensed itself at 
 Blangy near Hesdiu, where it was successively joined by 
 M. de la Palice, Imbercourt, 1 Bayard, Aymar de Prie, 
 
 1 Adrian de Brimeu, Marquis d'Imbercourt, was a descendant of 
 the celebrated house of Brimeu, from which the Counts of Megen in 
 the Low Countries derive their origin. He was greatly distinguished 
 for his valour, and served both Louis XII. and Francis I. with zeal 
 and loyalty. 
 
 H 2
 
 100 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1.>13. 
 
 Bonnivet, Bonneval, La Fayette, Fontrailles, 1 with his 
 Albanian light-horse, and Fleuranges with his lans- 
 quenets ; while they still awaited the Duke of Suffolk, 
 who had espoused the cause of Louis against Henry VIII, 
 whom he regarded as the destroyer of his brother ; a 
 Lancasterian ; and an usurper. 
 
 The English king left Calais on the 1st of August with 
 nine thousand infantry, to join his army at Terouenne, 
 and was encountered by all the French horse, amounting 
 to twelve hundred lances ; when, as he had no cavalry with 
 him, the two armies had no sooner approached within 
 cannon shot than he became apprehensive of treachery ; 
 and, dismounting, placed himself in the centre of the 
 lansquenets. Bayard, whose gallant and impetuous 
 spirit ill brooked the restraint which the orders of Louis 
 had imposed upon the French troops, eagerly requested 
 permission to attack the advancing column ; declaring 
 that, if the line were once forced, the English must be 
 defeated ; or, at the worst, as they had no horsemen, 
 they could not follow up any transient advantage ; and, 
 in order to offer a proof of what he asserted, he broke 
 
 1 The Sire Imbaud de Fontrailles, the representative of an ancient 
 Gascon family, was the Colonel-General of the Albanian light-horse : 
 a force at that period still unattempted in the French army, which 
 was always supplied by foreigners ; the gendarmes being their only 
 national cavalry. It was from these Albanian troops that the French 
 learnt and adopted the duties of light-horsemen. At Fornoua these 
 troops received from the Venetians the name of Estradiotz, or Cor- 
 vals, while the Spaniards called them Genetaires. M. de Fontrailles 
 was also captain of a company of fifty men-at-arms ; and was fre- 
 quently the associate of Bayard in the skirmishes for which he was 
 so famous.
 
 1513.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 101 
 
 through the rear-guard of the enemy with his own 
 troop, and carried off one of the twelve cannon which 
 Henry VIII. had named the twelve apostles. The Sire 
 de Piennes, whose heart was with him, but who was too 
 good a general to disobey orders, reminded him that the 
 king his master had strictly forbidden all aggressive 
 measures, and, therefore, reluctantly summoned him to 
 desist ; but Bayard did not relinquish his prize, which 
 was safely conveyed to the French camp. 
 
 When, on the 2d of August, Henry joined his army 
 before Terouenne, he was received with loud acclama- 
 tions ; and a few days subsequently he was joined by 
 the Emperor Maximilian, with some thousands of 
 Hainaulters and Burgundians ; nor had a week elapsed 
 ere a number of Flemish and other nobles from the Low 
 Countries, despite the neutrality declared by Marguerite, 
 flocked to his banners as volunteers. 
 
 Meanwhile, moreover, the garrison of the besieged 
 city saw themselves threatened by famine ; their pro- 
 visions were nearly exhausted, and Louis XII, aware of 
 this circumstance, instructed M. de Piennes that Terou- 
 enne must be victualled at any risk. Surrounded as it 
 was on all sides by the enemy, this enterprise was, how- 
 ever, one of immense difficulty and certain danger ; and, 
 after mature consideration, it was decided that the Sire 
 de Piennes and the Duke de Longueville should march a 
 body of fourteen hundred horsemen to the heights of 
 Guinegatte, to distract the attention of the enemy ; while 
 Fontrailles, with his Albanian light-horse (or stradiots) 
 should charge the English troops at a particular point, 
 and fling into the moat of the city the salted provisions
 
 102 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513. 
 
 and powder which they carried before them. The 
 attempt was skilfully made and vigorously carried out. 
 At the head of eight hundred men, the young com- 
 mander charged so resolutely that he broke through the 
 ranks of the besiegers ; and, riding directly to the fosse, 
 each man cast down the bag of powder and the pork 
 which he bore upon his horse ; and then, making face 
 upon tbe enemy, succeeded in regaining the main body 
 with a gallantry as daring as it was successful. This 
 was, however, the only favourable moment for the French 
 arms; and even this had met its counterpoise on the 
 heights of Guinegatte, which the gendarmes had no 
 sooner attained than they saw in their rear ten thousand 
 English archers, four thousand lansquenets, and eight 
 pieces of artillery. Maximilian had been apprised of 
 their intended stratagem by his spies, numbers of whom 
 were employed in both the adverse camps ; while, in 
 many instances, there were double traitors among them, 
 who alternately served or betrayed either, as their 
 interest prompted. 
 
 The French soldiery, who were aware that they had 
 not been ordered to that point to come to an engagement 
 with the enemy, retrograded at the command of their 
 leaders, but so confusedly, that, from a trot, they soon 
 broke into a gallop, and threw themselves pell-mell upon 
 a rearguard of cavalry, headed by the Duke de Longue- 
 ville and the Marquis de la Palice, which they scattered ; 
 and, passing through the midst, continued to fly until 
 they reached Blandy, where the infantry were encamped, 
 who were nearly driven, in their turn, from their position 
 by the impetuosity of this unexpected charge. An attempt
 
 1513.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 103 
 
 was made by a few of their leaders to make head, with 
 a handful of men, against the German cavalry, who were 
 in pursuit of the fugitives ; and among these the foremost 
 were the Sire de la Palice and the Duke de Longueville. 
 In vain, however, did the former shout, " Turn, men-at- 
 arms, turn ; this is flothing ! " The alarm had spread 
 through the whole body; the terrified troops passed on, 
 regardless of his cry ; and, although he still strove to 
 cover the disorderly retreat of the infatuated troops, sup- 
 ported by some of the most gallant spirits of the army, 
 his self-devotion, although it tended to save the French 
 army, was unfortunate for himself and his friends, as 
 they were nearly all taken prisoners ; among others, 
 Longueville, La Palice, Bayard, La Fayette, Clermont 
 d'Anjou, and Bussy d'Amboise. 
 
 This flight from Guinegatte, which took place on the 
 15th April, 1513, obtained for the encounter the name 
 of the Battle of the Spurs ; these having been the only 
 efficient weapons made use of by the hostile armies ; 
 very few lives were sacrificed on either side ; but of the 
 principal prisoners, M. de la Palice alone succeeded in 
 effecting his retreat ; while Bayard won his ransom in so 
 gallant a manner that we must, to do it ample justice, 
 give the episode in the very words of his biographer : 
 " The good knight without fear and without reproach 
 retired very sorrowfully, and ever and anon turned upon 
 his enemies with fourteen or fifteen gendarmes who had 
 stood by him. In retreating he came to a little bridge, 
 whereon no more than two men could pass abreast ; and 
 there was a great ditch, full of water, which came from a 
 distance of more than half a league, and turned a mill
 
 10-t THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513- 
 
 three furlongs further on. When he was upon the 
 bridge he said to those that were with him : ' Gentle- 
 men, let us stop here ; for the enemy will not gain this 
 bridge from us in the space of an hour.' Then he 
 called one of his archers, and said to him : ' Hie you 
 to our camp, and tell my Lord de'la Palice that I have 
 stopped the enemy short for at least half-an-hour ; that 
 during that interval he must make the forces draw up in 
 order of battle ; and let them not be alarmed, but march 
 hither slowly ; for, should the adversaries advance to the 
 camp, and find them in this confusion, they would 
 infallibly be defeated.' 
 
 " The archer goes straight to the camp, and leaves the 
 good knight with the inconsiderable number of men by 
 whom he was accompanied, guarding that little bridge, 
 where he did all that prowess could achieve. The Bur- 
 gundians and Hainaulters arrived, but were obliged to 
 fight on the hither side of the bridge, as they could not 
 very easily effect a passage. This gave the French, who 
 had returned to their camp, leisure to place themselves in 
 order, and in a posture of defence, in the event of its 
 proving necessary. When the Burgundians found them- 
 selves withstood by such a handful of men, they cried out 
 that archers should be sent for with all speed, and some 
 went to hasten them. Meanwhile about two hundred 
 cavaliers followed the course of the stream until they dis- 
 covered the mill, by which they crossed. The good 
 knight, thus enclosed on both sides, then said to his peo- 
 ple : ' Sirs, let us surrender to these gentlemen, for all 
 the daring we might display would avail us nothing. 
 Our horses are weary ; our adversaries are ten to one
 
 FROM A PRINT BY DE MARCENAY AFTER AN ORIGINAL PORTRAIT IN 
 
 IN POSSESSION OF THK MARQUIS DE BRANCAS
 
 1513.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 105 
 
 against us, and our forces full three leagues off; so that, 
 if we tarry but a short while longer, and the English 
 archers come up, they will cut us to pieces.' At these 
 words the aforesaid Burgundians and Hainaulters arrived, 
 shouting, ' Burgundy ! Burgundy !' and made a mighty 
 onset upon the Trench, who, having no further means of 
 resistance, surrendered, one here, another there, to those 
 of most seeming consideration. While each was endea- 
 vouring to take his prisoner, the good knight espied, 
 under some dwarf trees, a gentleman in goodly attire, 
 who, by reason of the excessive heat he was in, whereby 
 he was completely overcome, had taken off his helmet, 
 and was so turmoiled and weary that he cared not to be 
 at the trouble of taking prisoners. He spurred straight 
 up to this person, grasping his sword, which he pointed 
 at the other's throat, and exclaimed, ' Surrender, cava- 
 lier, or you die.' Terribly dismayed was this gentleman, 
 for he thought that his whole company were made 
 prisoners, and being in fear of his life, he said, ' I give 
 myself up, then, since I am taken in this manner : but 
 who are you ?' ' I am Captain Bayard ;' replied the 
 good knight ; ' who surrender to you. Here is my 
 sword ; I pray you be pleased to carry me away with you. 
 But do me this kindness : should we meet with any 
 English on the road who may offer to take our lives, let 
 me have it back again.' This the gentleman promised 
 and fulfilled ; for, as they drew towards the camp, they 
 were both obliged to use their weapons against certain 
 English who sought to slay the prisoners ; whereby they 
 gained nothing.
 
 106 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513. 
 
 " Then was the good knight conducted to the camp of 
 the King of England, and into the tent of the gentleman 
 by whom he had been captured, who entertained him 
 very well for three or four days. On the fifth, the good 
 knight said to him, ' My worthy Sir, I should be right 
 glad if you would have me conveyed in safety to the 
 king, my master's camp ; for I am already weary of 
 being here.' 'How say you?' asked the other; "we 
 have not yet treated of your ransom.' ' My ransom?' 
 said the good knight ; ' your oivn, you mean, for you are 
 my prisoner. And if, after you gave me your word, 
 I surrendered to you, it was to save my life, and for no 
 other reason.' Great was the amazement of the gentle- 
 man, especially when the good knight added : ' Sir, if 
 you do not keep your word, I am confident that I shall 
 make my escape by some means or other ; but be assured 
 that I shall insist upon doing battle with you afterward.' 
 The gentleman knew not what reply to make, for he had 
 heard a great deal about Captain Bayard, and by no 
 means relished the idea of fighting with him. However, 
 being a very courteous knight, he at length said : c My 
 Lord of Bayard, I am desirous of dealing fairly with you ; 
 I will refer the matter to the captains.' ' 
 
 The brave but disconcerted captor scrupulously kept 
 his word ; and as the arrival of Bayard in the hostile 
 camp soon got bruited abroad, Maximilian caused him 
 to be summoned to his tent, and, as he entered, ex- 
 claimed gaily ; " Captain Bayard, I am delighted to see 
 you. Would to God that I had many men like yourself; 
 for, if I had, I should not be long ere I requited the
 
 1513.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 107 
 
 king your master for the good offices which he did me 
 in times past. I believe that we formerly fought 
 together, and I think it was then said that Bayard never 
 fled." 
 
 " If I had done so upon this occasion, Sire ;" was the 
 proud reply ; " I should not now have been here." 
 
 At this moment Henry VIII. entered the tent, to 
 whom the emperor presented the good knight, who 
 received their courtesies with respect and modesty ; after 
 which the peculiarity of his position was discussed ; and 
 it was decided that he should be restored to liberty un- 
 ransomed, on condition that he should not bear arms for 
 six weeks, during which time he should remain on 
 parole, but free to reside in such Flemish cities as he 
 should desire to visit. Bayard bent the knee in acknow- 
 ledgment of this concession ; and a few days subse- 
 quently took leave of the allied sovereigns, and pro- 
 ceeded to Flanders, where he amused himself by giving 
 fetes, and endearing himself to the people by the chivalry 
 and courtesy of his deportment. In such pursuits the 
 period of his probation rapidly wore away ; and he once 
 more girt on his armour, and joined his standard. 
 
 Meanwhile Louis had profited by the supineness of 
 his enemies, who, instead of pursuing their advantage 
 after the history of Terouenne, had allowed the favourable 
 moment to escape them ; and withdrew his army from 
 Blangy into Picardy, while Henry and Maximilian 
 returned each to his own territories.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 [1513-14.] 
 
 DIVISIONS AMONG THE FRENCH GENERALS FRANCIS APPOINTED TO THE 
 COMMAND OF THE NEW ARMY TEROUENNE CAPITULATES, AND IS DE- 
 STROYED BY HENRY VIII. BURGUNDY REVOLTS THE SWISS DETERMINE 
 TO INVADE FRANCE THEY ARE WORSTED AT DIJON, AND ENTER INTO A 
 TREATY WITH THE FRENCH GENERAL THE TREATY IS DISAVOWED BY 
 LOUIS DISMAL PROSPECTS OF FRANCE HENRY VIII. ENTERS TOURNAY, 
 AND RETURNS TO ENGLAND A TWELVE-MONTHS* TRUCE SIGNED BY THE 
 EUROPEAN SOVEREIGNS DEATH OF ANNE DE BRETAGNE GRIEF OF THE 
 KING MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS CLAUDE AND FRANCIS THE COURT 
 MOURNING LOUIS URGED TO TAKE A THIRD WIFE THE DUKE DE LONGUE- 
 VILLE NEGOTIATES FOR THE HAND OF THE PRINCESS MARY OF ENGLAND 
 MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE TWO MONARCHS THE TREATY IS 
 RENEWED BETROTHAL OF THE CONTRACTING PARTIES MARY AND 
 BRANDON, DUKE OF SUFFOLK ARRIVAL OF THE YOUNG QUEEN IN FRANCE 
 ANNE BOLEYN THE ROYAL MARRIAGE COURT FESTIVITIES MARY 
 BECOMES ENAMOURED OF FRANCIS POSITION OF THE PRINCESS CLAUDE 
 A COURTIER'S CAUTION ACCUSATION OF BRANTOME ILLNESS OF LOUIS 
 XII. HIS LAST INTERVIEW WITH FRANCIS DEATH OF LOUIS XII.
 
 1513-14.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. Ill 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 [1513-H.] 
 
 UNHAPPILY it was not alone against foreign animosity 
 that Louis XII. had, at this period, to contend. Constant 
 misunderstandings, which were even said to have influ- 
 enced the late defeat, had taken place between the Duke 
 de Longueville and M. de Piennes ; and the king be- 
 came so seriously alarmed for their consequences, upon 
 finding that the troops were split into factions, each 
 siding with their favourite commander, that he determined 
 to confide to the young Duke de Valois the conduct of 
 the forthcoming campaign ; his prowess at Navara hav- 
 ing given him confidence alike in his personal courage 
 arid his judgment, only insisting upon a continuance of 
 the same system of defensive operations of which he had 
 already ascertained the policy. 
 
 Francis eagerly embraced this new opportunity of dis- 
 tinguishing himself; and, notwithstanding his youth, 
 carried out the wishes of his royal uncle with great for- 
 bearance. He marched the army back to Encre on the 
 Somme, where he could effectually resist any attack, 
 while he protected the frontier; and the enemy soon 
 convinced him of the prudence of this first measure by 
 capitulating with the defenders of Terouenne upon more
 
 112 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513-14. 
 
 favourable terms than had previously been anticipated ; 
 after which Henry VIII, acting upon the selfish sugges- 
 tion of Maximilian, who had on former occasions been 
 frequently kept in check by that fortress, utterly de- 
 molished the fortifications for whose possession he had 
 exhausted a large amount both of human life and 
 treasure ; and then proceeded to lay siege to Tournay. 
 
 The French monarch had, however, another enemy to 
 contend against. The peace of Burgundy, which pro- 
 vince the emperor had never ceased to reclaim as the 
 inheritance of Marie de Bourgogne, his first wife, and the 
 mother of his children, was threatened with a new inva- 
 sion ; and although the bulk of the population were de- 
 cidedly favourable to the rule of Louis, the nobility, from 
 old association, pecuniary interest, or national vanity, 
 leant generally to their ancient independence, and the 
 sway of their hereditary dukes ; while, aware of this fact, 
 the Swiss, whose dislike to the Trench monarch had 
 never abated, and who were flushed, even to arrogance, 
 by their recent success at Novara, resolved to carry the 
 war into Burgundy. Some trifling insurrections had 
 broken out in Switzerland, and the magistrates had 
 affected to believe that they were instigated by French 
 agents; although they might have been readily traced 
 to the immense booty gained by the troops in the late 
 struggle, whence resulted every description of licentious- 
 ness and disorder, naturally ending in insubordination 
 and misrule. The Helvetic diet, whose tranquillity was 
 disturbed by these outbreaks, was not slow in dis- 
 covering an escape-valve for the heated and restless 
 spirits who thus opposed its authority; and conse-
 
 1513-14.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 113 
 
 quently determined at once to release itself by organizing 
 a distant expedition, and at the same time to recruit 
 its treasury by the pillage of France. A force of 
 eighteen thousand Swiss was accordingly collected in 
 the different cantons, which were reviewed on the 9th of 
 August at Zurich, and marched on the following day, 
 under the command of Jacques de Watteville, an advo- 
 cate of Berne, supported by a council formed of the 
 chiefs of the several divisions. They traversed Franche- 
 Comte as far as Gray, where they were met, on the 27th 
 of the month, by the Duke Ulrich de Wirtemburg, who 
 was awaiting their arrival at the head of the German 
 and Comtois cavalry ; and thence they proceeded to 
 Dijon, which they reached on the 7th of September. 
 
 The city was ill calculated for resistance ; and M. de 
 la Tremouille had, with very indifferent success, endea- 
 voured to put it into such a state of defence as might 
 enable him at least to guard against any surprise. He 
 therefore resolved to temporise ; and, if possible, to con- 
 ciliate an enemy against which he was totally unable, 
 with his inadequate force, to contend. By a lucky 
 chance, he made prisoners of several Swiss officers in a 
 sally which he ventured beyond the walls, and he 
 availed himself of this circumstance to impress upon 
 them the policy of renewing the old attachment which 
 had formerly subsisted between the two countries; expa- 
 tiating on the value which his own monarch attached 
 to their alliance, and his earnest wish to renew the good 
 understanding which had been lately broken. As some 
 among them evinced no reluctance while listening to 
 these arguments, he concluded by lauding their late 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513-14. 
 
 bravery, distributing a few presents which were well 
 received, and finally restoring them to liberty without 
 exacting any species of ransom ; a courtesy to which they 
 were by no means insensible, and of which the good 
 effect became soon apparent, by the arrival at Dijon of a 
 safe-conduct, and an invitation for him to pay a visit to 
 their chiefs. He at once accepted this overture ; and was 
 so successful during the interview, as to induce his late 
 adversaries to conclude a negotiation which was not a 
 mere capitulation for the beleaguered city, or a momentary 
 truce, but a definitive treaty, involving not only the 
 interests of France and Switzerland, but also those of 
 all Europe. By this treaty it was arranged that he should 
 pay over upon the instant the sum of 400,000 crowns 
 (part of which was immediately raised among the officers 
 of his little army, and deposited in the hands of the 
 council) ; pledge himself to the liquidation of ah 1 arrears 
 of pension due to the Swiss from France for former 
 services performed to the restitution of all cities, 
 strongholds, or territory held by Louis XII. which were 
 appurtenances to the Holy See to the speedy evacuation 
 of the castles of Milan, Cremona, and Asti ; and also 
 guarantee that the French king should renounce all 
 future pretensions, both for himself and his successors, to 
 the duchy of Milan, and the lordships of Cremona and 
 Asti ; and that none of the individuals who had joined 
 the Swiss in their expedition to Burgundy should suffer 
 any damage in such properties as they might possess 
 within the kingdom of France. 
 
 On these conditions peace and amity was to be sworn 
 between Louis XII, the Swiss League, Franche-Comte,
 
 1513-14.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 115 
 
 the Duke de Wirtemburg, and the Sire de Vergy. The 
 pope was to be at liberty to accede to this treaty, should 
 he see fit to do so, as were also the emperor and the holy 
 Roman empire ; and finally, M. de la Tremouille pledged 
 himself that the confederates should, on their return to 
 their own country, receive the sum of 400,000 crowns, 
 payable at Zurich, one moiety within a fortnight after 
 their arrival, and the remainder at the ensuing festival 
 of Saint Martin. As the whole amount of forfeit-money 
 claimed could not be collected upon the spot, they con- 
 sented to receive 20,000 crowns on account ; but as 
 surety for the remainder, they carried away with them, 
 in the character of hostages, the Baron de Mezieres, the 
 nephew of M. de la Tremouille ; Rochefort, the Senechal 
 of Dijon, and four citizens. The former having been, 
 however, forewarned by his relative that the treaty 
 would not, in all probability, be ratified, took the first 
 opportunity of effecting his escape. 
 
 Louis XII. either felt or affected the greatest indigna- 
 tion at the concessions made by his general, and refused 
 to fulfil conditions which he declared to be degrading 
 and unfavourable to himself. He even addressed an 
 autograph letter to M. de la Tremouille ; in which he 
 asserted that he considered such a treaty as that to 
 which he had given his assent to be marvellously strange ; 
 a truth which was admitted in the reply; " But, by my 
 faith, Sire;" added the straightforward soldier; "I was 
 constrained to give it, by the wretched provision which 
 had been made for the preservation of your kingdom." 
 
 The displeasure of the king was of short duration ; 
 and although he stih 1 adhered to his resolution of resist- 
 
 i 2
 
 116 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513-14. 
 
 ing the conditions of the treaty, he nevertheless endea- 
 voured to conciliate the Swiss ; and empowered M. de la 
 Tremouille to raise a loan of 50,000 crowns in Bur- 
 gundy, to satisfy the most importunate of their demands; 
 he even condescended to dissimulate, and sought to gain 
 time, but he could not deceive the Swiss, who, already 
 prejudiced against him, felt that they were overreached ; 
 and vowed a vengeance which they fearfully executed 
 during the succeeding reign. 
 
 Fortune had declared itself adverse to Louis ; nor were 
 his allies exempted from their own share of disaster. 
 The Venetians were signally defeated by the Spaniards ; 
 and the unhappy James IV. of Scotland lost his life at 
 Flodden Field. The French king had however no time 
 to indulge regret for the reverses of others. On the 15th 
 of September, Maximilian and Henry had, as we have 
 already stated, sat down before Tournay, which, situated 
 within the boundary of the Low Countries, had enjoyed 
 a government almost republican under the protection of 
 France, and considered as one of its most precious privi- 
 leges, its exemption from the necessity of admitting a 
 garrison within its walls. Consequently, when at the 
 commencement of the campaign Louis had offered to 
 send them troops for their defence, they arrogantly 
 replied, that " Tournay had never yet turned, and would 
 not turn now ;" a vaunt which left them in the power of 
 their enemies, who treated with contempt the undisciplined 
 citizens by whom they were opposed ; and in the course 
 of a few hours, stormed their walls, and compelled them 
 to a capitulation, wherein, however, Henry VIII. gua- 
 ranteed to them the continuance of their privileges.
 
 1513-14.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 117 
 
 After having made his entrance into the city with a 
 puerile ostentation totally disproportioned to the circum- 
 stances, and which tended to excite the ridicule of all by 
 whom it was witnessed, Henry, satisfied with the result 
 of a campaign which, had it been efficiently conducted, 
 must have tended to enhance both his own honour and 
 the interests of his kingdom, returned at once to Eng- 
 land, and thus relieved the French king from an enemy 
 who might at any moment have become formidable. 
 
 On the 13th of March, 1514, a treaty was signed at 
 Orleans by the several sovereigns who had been engaged 
 in the wars of Italy, by which a truce of twelve months 
 was determined on ; while the Swiss, who were not in- 
 cluded in the negotiation, laid down their arms in accord- 
 ance with that of Dijon. Louis XII. had acceded to all 
 the demands of the pope, and no longer possessed any 
 portion of the papal states ; a circumstance which afforded 
 great relief to the mind of Anne de Bretagne : but which 
 was nevertheless so far from conducing, as she had an- 
 ticipated, to the restoration of her shattered health, that, 
 although she eagerly watched the progress of events which 
 were rapidly working out this result, she was not destined 
 to witness it ; for, at the close of the previous campaign, 
 when her royal husband, after having distributed his 
 forces in the fortified places of Picardy, returned to Blois 
 for the winter, he found her sinking under the disease 
 to which she had long been a victim, and which finally 
 terminated her life on the 9th of January. 
 
 The grief of the king was unbounded when he became 
 convinced that she had really ceased to exist ; and when, 
 on the following Friday, her body had been conveyed
 
 118 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513-14. 
 
 with great magnificence to St. Denis, and there pomp- 
 ously interred, he immediately retired to the Bois de 
 Vincennes, where, during eight days, he shut himself into 
 his private apartments, forbidding all access to his person, 
 in order that he might give free course to his grief. He 
 not only assumed a sable habit himself, in conformity 
 with the taste of his lost wife, but he compelled his whole 
 court to do the same; nor would he, when he again 
 appeared in public, receive any foreign ambassador who 
 was not similarly attired. Nevertheless, he did not fail 
 in the pledge which he had given to the States- General at 
 Tours ; and on the 10th of May the Princess Claude was 
 publicly married, at St. Germain-en -Lay e, to her cousin 
 Francis, Duke de Valois. But, even upon this occasion, 
 the king would not permit that the mourning garments 
 of his court should be laid aside; and accordingly an old 
 chronicler quoted by Brantome, declares that " when he 
 gave his daughter to M. d'Angouleme, afterwards the 
 king Francis, the mourning was not remitted by his 
 court ; and, on the day of the espousals in the chapel of 
 St. Germain-en-Laye, the bridegroom and the bride were 
 simply attired in black cloth, handsomely, and in funereal 
 fashion, for the death of the before-mentioned queen, 
 Madame Anne de Bretagne, in the presence of the king 
 her father, accompanied by all the princes of the blood, 
 and noble lords, and prelates, and princesses, and ladies, 
 each dressed in a mourning robe of black/* 
 
 How evil an omen was this for the gentle-hearted 
 princess Claude J 
 
 The marriage was no sooner accomplished than Louis 
 XII. invested his son-in-law with the administration of
 
 1513-14.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 119 
 
 the duchy of Brittany ; somewhat, as the Breton his- 
 torians declare, contrary to his wishes ; but although 
 Madame Claude de France, who was its heiress, had 
 espoused the presumptive heir to the crown, the contract 
 by which they were united contained no clause which 
 assured to her husband the actual possession of the coveted 
 duchy ; while this circumstance was rendered still more 
 unpalatable to the young prince by the fact, that about 
 the same period, Louis was himself induced by his coun- 
 sellors to entertain the project of a third marriage, than 
 which no step could have been more inimical to the 
 prospects of Francis ; while the selection, ultimately made 
 by the king and his advisers, was probably as little cal- 
 culated to ensure his own happiness, had the union been 
 fated to be of long duration. 
 
 Still newly widowed, and deeply attached to the 
 memory of Anne de Bretagne, for whose sake he had 
 repudiated his first wife, state policy on the one hand, 
 and on the other his anxiety to become the father of a 
 son to whom he might bequeath his crown, induced the 
 French king to lend a willing ear to the suggestions of 
 those about him ; and although in his fifty-third year, 
 when his constitution had become seriously undermined 
 by severe and constant attacks of gout, to give a new 
 queen to France. The Austrian party formed by Anne 
 de Bretagne, fearing the future influence of Louise de 
 Savoie when her son should attain the throne, having 
 been unable to prevent the marriage of Francis with the 
 Princess Claude, assailed the king with perpetual expos- 
 tulations ; and proposed to him, in the first place, the 
 hand of Marguerite of Austria, governaute of the Low
 
 120 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513-14. 
 
 Countries ; but although this princess, owing to her 
 betrothal to the dauphin, had been educated at the court 
 of France, and had, at that period, interested the affec- 
 tions of Louis, then duke d'Orleans, she had now attained 
 her thirty-fourth year, and was the childless widow of 
 two husbands; a sterility which he declared to be an 
 insuperable objection to their alliance. Ferdinand of 
 Spain then offered to him Eleanora of Austria, 1 the nieec 
 of Marguerite, and sister of the archduke Charles, at 
 that time in the very bloom of youth. To this union 
 Louis advanced no objection, and the rather as it was to 
 form the pledge of a reconciliation between himself, 
 Maximilian, and Ferdinand ; nor did the three monarchs 
 lose any time in deciding on the outline of a treaty to 
 be executed at the expense of their ancient allies the 
 English, the Venetians, and the Swiss. 
 
 This project was, however, rendered abortive by the 
 suspicions of Henry VIII, which suggested some occult 
 and important reason for the delay of Maximilian in con- 
 cluding the nuptials of the archduke Charles with the 
 Princess Mary of England, his own sister. Nor was it 
 long ere they were confirmed through the agency of the 
 Duke de Longueville, who had been taken prisoner at 
 the " Battle of the Spurs," and whom the pleasure-loving 
 
 1 Eleanora of Austria was the daughter of Philip I. of Spain, and 
 the sister of the Emperor Charles V. Born at Louvain in 1498, 
 she married, in 1519, Emmanuel, king of Portugal ; and, after his 
 death, which occurred in 1530, she became Queen of France by 
 .her second marriage with Francis I. This union was extremely 
 unhappy, owing to the passion of the monarch for the beautiful 
 Duchesse d'Etampes. When once more left a widow in 1547, she 
 withdrew to Spain, and died in 1558, without issue.
 
 1513-14.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 121 
 
 king had admitted to his intimacy, and favoured so 
 greatly, that he was in the habit of playing tennis with 
 him, and permitting him to win until he had gained 
 the sum appointed for his ransom, which amounted to 
 50,000 crowns. 
 
 The resentment of the English monarch upon finding 
 himself duped both by Maximilian and Ferdinand, 
 encouraged the duke during their frequent conversa- 
 tions to introduce upon every favourable occasion some 
 well-timed allusion to the injury sustained by both 
 France and England from the continuation of a war 
 which exhausted the resources of both without benefit 
 to either ; and to propose a peace which he was aware 
 would be highly welcome to his own sovereign. As 
 Henry listened without any manifestation of displeasure 
 to these frequent hints, De Longueville became in time 
 still more explicit ; and at length insinuated that the 
 death of Anne de Bretagne had opened up a medium 
 of union between the two nations which might tend to 
 their mutual advantage ; declaring, at the same time, 
 that although the marriage of a princess of sixteen 
 with a sovereign of fifty-three might appear in some 
 respects unsuitable, yet that this inequality in years 
 would find its compensation in many circumstances 
 too obvious to be overlooked, arid of which he would 
 consequently adduce but one ; namely, that Henry would, 
 by acceding to an alliance between his sister and the 
 French king, withdraw himself from the perfidious Fer- 
 dinand, upon whose faith he could no longer rely, and 
 connect himself and his interests for life with those of a 
 prince whose probity and honour were above suspicion.
 
 122 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513-14 
 
 The English monarch listened, and was convinced. 
 Broken faith and a harassing war on the one side, and a 
 firm ally and a speedy peace on the other, left little oppor- 
 tunity for hesitation ; and, accordingly, about two months 
 subsequent to the death of Anne de Bretagne, Louis XII, 
 who readily welcomed the prospect of an union which 
 would convert a formidable enemy into a fast friend, 
 deputed De Longueville, whose ransom had been paid 
 in English crowns, and whose liberty had been thus 
 easily acquired, to ask for him the hand of the young 
 and beautiful princess Mary, the affianced but unclaimed 
 bride of Charles of Austria. 
 
 The articles were concluded, after some difficulties, 
 originating in the desire of Louis to hasten the decision 
 of his brother-monarch by a hostile demonstration, on 
 the pretext that Henry had not yet ratified the treaty of 
 Orleans ; which he effected by marching eight thousand 
 men and a brigade of artillery against the castle of 
 Guines, near Calais; a want of tact of which he was 
 immediately made conscious by the indignant retort of 
 the English sovereign, who at once resented the practical 
 threat by declaring that he had an army of twenty 
 thousand men ready to cross the channel in defence of 
 his stronghold, should need be. 
 
 This mutual defiance necessarily caused a temporary 
 suspension of the negotiations of marriage ; but the Duke 
 de Longueville, unwilling to see all his exertions rendered 
 nugatory, addressed himself at this delicate juncture to 
 Wolsey, then Bishop of Lincoln ; and, authorized by his 
 royal master, made such proposals to the English minis- 
 ter as induced him to espouse his cause. The anger of
 
 1513-14.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 123 
 
 Henry gave way before the flattering overtures of the 
 French plenipotentiary ; and it was ultimately agreed 
 that the marriage should take place, upon condition that 
 Tournay should remain in the hands of the English ; that 
 Richard de la Pole, 1 then an exile in France, and who 
 affected to revive the pretensions of the house of York, 
 should be banished to Metz, and remain a pensioner of 
 the French king ; that Henry should receive the payment 
 of a million of crowns, being the arrears due by treaty 
 to his father and himself ; and that the royal bride should 
 be portioned with four hundred thousand crowns, and 
 enjoy as large a jointure as any previous queen of France, 
 not even excepting her immediate predecessor, Anne de 
 Bretagne, although the latter had been heiress of Brittany. 
 Not only were the respective ages of the contracting 
 parties wholly disproportioned, but the previous educa- 
 tion of Mary had rendered her in every respect ill-suited 
 to perform the duties which she was thus called upon 
 so suddenly to fulfil. Her heart had, moreover, already 
 been bestowed elsewhere ; while, as she afterwards 
 proved, her affections were by no means so stable as to 
 hold out any rational hope that she would attach her- 
 self in earnest and good faith to her mature husband ; 
 although she had been so well tutored in courtly dissimu- 
 lation as effectually to conceal her real feelings. Having 
 lost her mother when she was only five years of age, she 
 had been allowed a greater licence of thought and action 
 than was compatible with her sex and rank ; and although 
 scarcely sixteen at the period of her marriage, she had 
 
 1 Richard de la Pole was the fourth son of Elizabeth, sister of 
 Edward IV.
 
 124 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513-14. 
 
 already encouraged the attentions of Charles Brandon, 
 Duke of Suffolk, the foster-brother and favourite of 
 Henry VIII, whose comparatively obscure birth had been 
 concealed, even if not forgotten, under the splendour of 
 his new title. The partiality of the king, and his own 
 universal popularity, rendered the new-made duke bold ; 
 while the evident admiration of Mary, upon whom his 
 great personal beauty and manly bearing had not failed 
 to produce their effect, combined with the constant 
 opportunities which were afforded to him of prosecuting 
 his ambitious suit, would probably have insured its ulti- 
 mate success, had not the overtures of Louis at once 
 opened the eyes of the English monarch to the impolicy 
 of such a concession. 
 
 Thus far, Mary was beyond all doubt more to be 
 commiserated than condemned ; and, had she more per- 
 fectly fulfilled her mission as a wife and a queen, every 
 heart must have sympathised in the cruel constraint 
 to which she had been subjected ; but she was vain, 
 reckless, and careless of that dignity which would have 
 compelled respect, and taught those who approached her 
 to overlook the young and blooming woman in the self- 
 governed and virtuous sovereign. 
 
 Before the ratification of the marriage treaty, the 
 princess declared in the presence of a notary and wit- 
 nesses, that she had pledged her faith by compulsion to 
 the Archduke Charles, who was to have married her by 
 proxy on attaining his fourteenth year, which he had 
 failed to do; and she further asserted that she had 
 received assurances to the effect that his counsellors and 
 confidential friends had exerted all their influence to
 
 1513-14.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 125 
 
 infuse into his mind a spirit of resentment against, and 
 dislike to, her royal brother. 
 
 The treaty was then completed, and the months of 
 August and September were spent in making the neces- 
 sary preparations for the voyage of the young queen ; 
 one of the conditions agreed upon having been that 
 Henry should defray all the outlay of her journey to 
 Abbeville ; and that one moiety of her dower should be 
 expended in jewels. 
 
 On the 13th of August the marriage took place by 
 proxy at Greenwich, the Duke de Longueville repre- 
 senting his royal master ; after which the princess 
 crossed to Boulogne, attended by a splendid retinue, 
 where she was received upon her landing by the Duke 
 de Vendome, who a day or two subsequently conducted 
 her to Abbeville. The king, whose impatience had been 
 excited by the florid descriptions which he had heard of 
 her beauty, and who was anxious to ascertain their truth, 
 had already arrived in that city ; but, unable to control 
 his desire to see her at the earliest moment, he mounted 
 his horse and proceeded to a village upon the road, 
 where they were privately introduced, and he remained 
 for a few moments in conversation with his bride and 
 the triumphant ambassador. Fascinated and elated, 
 he then returned to Abbeville as unostentatiously as 
 he had left it ; while the princess continued her stately 
 progress to the city gates, where she was welcomed 
 according to the prescribed ceremonial by the Duke de 
 Valois, and greeted by a succession of the most costly 
 and magnificent pageants that human ingenuity and 
 knightly courtesy could invent.
 
 126 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513-14. 
 
 We have already alluded to the brilliancy of the young 
 queen's retinue, which was worthy the sister of one 
 sovereign and the bride of another; but perhaps the 
 most interesting circumstance connected with it exists 
 in the fact that the fair and unfortunate Anna Boleyn, 
 then in her first girlhood, was one of her four maids of 
 honour, and of the thirty-six female attendants by whom 
 she was accompanied. 
 
 Even at that early age, however, it would appear, from 
 the testimony of a contemporaneous historian, that the 
 court beauty had already imbibed that thirst for admi- 
 ration, and that baneful ambition which were fated to be 
 her downfall ; for even when by her grace and beauty, 
 and above all by the seductive attraction of her manner, 
 and the vivacity of her intellect, she had captivated the 
 mind of the Princess Claude to such an extent that she 
 caused her to be attached to her own household, she soon 
 wearied of the wholesome restraints to which she was 
 there subjected, and passed into the suite of the Duchess 
 d'Alenon; where she became the idol of the courtiers by 
 whom she was surrounded, and whose attentions she 
 encouraged until she felt that they were likely to inter- 
 fere with her more serious projects. 
 
 The impression produced upon the feelings of 
 Louis XII. by the extraordinary loveliness of his new 
 consort, has been duly recorded by all contemporary 
 historians ; but the emotions of the young and blooming 
 princess, thus abruptly compelled to receive to her heart 
 and arms the mature and already infirm monarch, have 
 no where been registered. Suffice it, that the mar- 
 riage was once more celebrated at Abbeville on the
 
 1513-14.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 127 
 
 llth of October; and that an alliance, which had 
 originally been dictated by state policy, was at once 
 cemented by the charms of the girl-queen ; while it was 
 rendered as welcome to the nation as to its monarch by 
 the fact that it put a termination to a disastrous war 
 with England, and to some difficult negotiations with 
 Austria. 
 
 The ceremony was not performed in the cathedral, 
 but in a vast saloon of the palace, which was hung 
 throughout with cloth of gold, and so spacious that all 
 present could command a view of the contracting parties. 
 The king and queen were seated side by side under a 
 canopy at the upper end of the apartment ; and the 
 royal bride, with her hair totally unconfined, and scat- 
 tered over her shoulders, wore a small hat above the 
 luxuriant tresses which were unanimously declared to 
 be unrivalled throughout Christendom, in lieu of the 
 crown which could be assumed only when her coronation 
 took place at St. Denis. The Duke d'Angouleme offici- 
 ated as bridesman, and the Princess Claude was the 
 principal attendant of the bride, although her fair brow 
 was clouded as she remembered the recent death of her 
 
 
 
 mother. A splendid banquet, followed by a ball, con- 
 cluded the ceremony; after which the court proceeded 
 to St. Denis, where, on the 5th of November, the cere- 
 monial of Mary's coronation took place with great pomp 
 in the cathedral ; and on the succeeding day she made 
 her entry into Paris as Queen of France, accompanied 
 not only by all that was great and noble in the country, 
 but also by her English suite, and a number of foreigners 
 of distinction ; all of whom were entertained during the
 
 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513-14. 
 
 marriage festivities at the expense of the king. These 
 tourneys and banquets were continued for the space of 
 six weeks ; after which the English retinue of the young 
 queen returned home, laden with valuable presents, 
 leaving the Duke of Suffolk as ambassador at the French 
 court ; a short-sighted piece of policy, of which Henry 
 VIII. in after-life would assuredly never have been 
 guilty. 
 
 The advent of the new sovereign at once changed the 
 mourning of the court into festivity and splendour : nor 
 was it long ere the fancy, if not the heart, of Mary 
 became thralled by the handsome person and chivalric 
 accomplishments of the young Duke de Valois; while not 
 even the recollection that he was the husband of her 
 step-daughter sufficed to compel her to that self-control 
 which might have concealed her weakness. Suffolk him- 
 self was forgotten in this new passion ; and by her own 
 levity and want of caution it ere long became a subject 
 of comment to the whole court. In the tilts and joust- 
 ings which daily succeeded each other for her entertain- 
 ment, Francis was, unhappily, always the most prominent 
 figure ; thus affording a dangerous contrast to her royal 
 husband, who, despite the efforts which he made to 
 assimilate himself in prowess with the young and gallant 
 cavaliers about him, soon evinced unequivocal symptoms 
 of his inability to persevere in such a career of dissipa- 
 tion and fatigue. 
 
 The natural result supervened; Louis in a short 
 time fell into a state of languor and exhaustion, 
 which betrayed that over-taxed nature was revenging 
 herself for these untimely excesses; and the hopes of
 
 1513-14.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 129 
 
 Francis once more became buoyant. Meanwhile, how- 
 ever, he succeeded in establishing a closer intimacy 
 between his young step-mother and his gentle wife, by 
 which he was enabled to enjoy the society of the former 
 without any apparent effort, and at the same time 
 to secure himself against any new rival in her affec- 
 tions. 
 
 To the Princess Claude such a friend was doubly 
 welcome, from the fact that she already suffered severely 
 under the rigorous rule of Louise de Savoie, who, pro- 
 fiting by her timid and yielding nature, revenged upon 
 the daughter her old hatred of the dead parent; and 
 condemned her to a life of almost perfect seclusion, in 
 which she was wholly dependent for amusement upon 
 the nun-like court which had been formed for her, her 
 breviary, and her spinning-wheel. Little did the pure- 
 hearted and neglected wife of the brilliant Francis ap- 
 prehend, when she received with sisterly affection the 
 beautiful young queen, that she was daily undermining 
 her in the affections of a husband whom she idolized. 
 But this, according to Brantome, did not fail to come 
 to pass. Mary was, on her side, as much dazzled by 
 the showy qualities of Francis, as he was enthralled by 
 her surpassing beauty ; nor was it long ere she listened 
 without displeasure to an avowal of his passion, rendered 
 doubly culpable as it was from their relative position. 
 The same author even ascribes to the young queen the 
 still more odious desire of securing an heir to the throne, 
 of which she already despaired in her marriage, through 
 the medium of her step- daughter's husband ; but 
 his evidence is scarcely to be received in so extreme 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1513-14. 
 
 a case, based as it is upon the single fact that M. de 
 Grignaud, a noble of Perigord, who had been chevalier 
 tl'honneur to Anne de Bretagne, and then held the same 
 office under Mary, considered it necessary to warn the 
 Duke de Valois against the possible consequences of 
 so undue an intimacy ; and upon finding his remon- 
 strances disregarded, subsequently informed Louise de 
 Savoie of the peril to her son's interests which must 
 supervene, in order that she might keep a strict watch 
 over the progress of their attachment. 
 
 That Mary should ever have contemplated so heinous 
 a crime is, however, more than improbable. Guilt 
 is -ever prone to assume a veil of caution, and to garb 
 itself in the robe of prudery and dissimulation, while 
 there was nothing bordering upon these in her com- 
 mon deportment. On the contrary, she constantly 
 addressed the duke as "my son-in-law " and admitted 
 him publicly to all the privileges of so near a connexion ; 
 openly evincing the preference which she felt for his 
 society, and exceeding on many occasions the limits 
 which a more delicately constituted mind would have 
 conceded even to the claim of so intimate a relationship. 
 That she not only admired Francis, but also loved him, 
 is her reproach ; and that reproach should surely suffice, 
 (for it was a heavy one !) without attributing to a mere 
 girl, who had only attained her sixteenth year, an excess 
 of moral turpitude which the heart withers even to con- 
 template. 
 
 The subsequent attempt imputed to her by the same 
 authority, to impose a surreptitious heir upon the nation, 
 is deserving of quite as little credit ; for Mary, who had
 
 1513-14.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 131 
 
 already given proof of her aptitude in conforming herself 
 to circumstances in the almost affectionate letters which 
 she had addressed to Louis XII. before their marriage, 
 and who, on the demise of the king, saw herself closely 
 surrounded by the very individuals who were the most 
 vitally concerned in unmasking such a deception, was not 
 likely to degrade alike herself and her high station by so 
 base and shallow an artifice ; while her almost immediate 
 union with the Duke of Suffolk, however much it tended 
 to confirm the previous opinion of her levity, is never- 
 theless also the best refutation of the coarse and unmanly 
 slander. That she was eminently imprudent during the 
 brief period of her royalty, is unfortunately undeniable ; 
 but from imprudence there is, happily, a long step to 
 flagrant culpability. In any case, she was not long 
 destined to retain the dignity of Queen of France j for 
 she had been but eighty-two days a wife ere she became 
 a widow. The first symptoms of the languor which 
 proved fatal to Louis XII. manifested themselves, as we 
 have already stated, before the festivities consequent upon 
 his marriage had yet terminated. An alarming attack 
 of gout supervened ; and he became so much enfeebled 
 by its violence, that he was at length compelled to attend 
 the jousts and tourneys upon a litter ; while so rapidly 
 did the disease progress, that ere long he was unable to 
 leave his bed. Nevertheless, his physicians, unwilling to 
 believe that he was really sinking, continued to declare 
 that he would rally ; but Louis himself repudiated the 
 idea. He too surely felt that the grasp of death was 
 upon him, and met his fate with a calmness worthy of a 
 great monarch and an honest man. 
 
 K 2
 
 132 COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. [1513-14. 
 
 When he became conscious that his end was near, he 
 summoned the young Duke de Valois to his bed-side ; 
 and having, with considerable difficulty, raised himself 
 to a sitting posture, flung his arms about his neck, and 
 embracing him with affectionate emotion, said feebly, but 
 firmly ; " Francis, I am dying ! I consign our subjects to 
 your care." The prince burst into tears, and implored 
 him to dismiss such gloomy thoughts, as his physicians 
 augured more favourably. The dying king, however, 
 only shook his head; he was aware that earthly help 
 could avail him no longer ; and as his weeping successor 
 established himself beside his pillow, he exerted his last 
 remaining powers to impress upon him the awful extent 
 of the responsibility with which he would, in a few hours, 
 be invested. Acute suffering at length terminated his 
 efforts ; and he expired in the arms of his royal nephew, 
 with a smile of gratified affection upon his lips. 
 
 Thus, while yet deeply enamoured of his fair young 
 wife, surrounded by worldly grandeur and festivity, and 
 meditating, in his graver moments, future expeditions 
 against Italy, Louis XII, whose hurried journey to receive 
 his bride, and whose exertions during the subsequent re- 
 joicings to assume, the semblance of a youth and vigour 
 which he no longer possessed, had overtaxed his physical 
 powers, fell a victim to his imprudence about midnight 
 of the 1st of January, 1515.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 [1515.] 
 
 THE QUEEN CEDES HER ESTATES TO HER HUSBAND THE BRETONS DIS- 
 ALLOW HER RIGHT ENTHUSIASM OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE ON THE ACCES- 
 SION OF FRANCIS HIS CORONATION HIS INTERVIEW WITH QUEEN MARY 
 HIS CAUTION TO SUFFOLK BRANDON MARRIES THE WIDOWED QUEEN 
 IS REPROACHED BY FRANCIS FOR HIS PERFIDY BUT RECONCILED TO 
 HENRY AT THE ENTREATY OF HIS WIFE, AND RETURNS TO ENGLAND 
 FRANCIS MAKES HIS PUBLIC ENTRY INTO PARIS HIS PROFUSION HIS 
 ROMANTIC TASTES HIS HIGH SPIRIT HE FORMS HIS GOVERNMENT 
 CHARLES DE BOURBON CREATED CONSTABLE OF FRANCE MARRIAGE OF 
 MADEMOISELLE DE BOURBON WITH THE DUKE DE LORRAINE THE KING 
 AND THE WILD BOAR THE COURT OF MADAME D'ANGOULEME HER 
 MAIDS OF HONOUR CIRCLE OF THE QUEEN HER LOVE OF RETIREMENT 
 FRANCIS RESOLVES TO RECOVER THE MILANESE THE ARCHDUKE 
 CHARLES SENDS AMBASSADORS TO FRANCE IS PROMISED THE HAND OF 
 THE PRINCESS RENEE, THE QUEEN'S SISTER HENRI DE NASSAU HE 
 MARRIES CLAUDINE DE CHALON STATE OF EUROPE TREATY BETWEEN 
 FRANCE AND ENGLAND FRANCIS ENDEAVOURS TO CONCILIATE THE SWISS 
 THEY THREATEN TO INVADE FRANCE FRANCIS MARCHES A STRONG 
 FORCE TOWARDS BURGUNDY FERDINAND ENDEAVOURS TO ALARM THE 
 POPE AND THE EMPEROR FRANCIS REMOVES TO AMBOISE, AND SENDS 
 AN EMBASSY TO ROME.
 
 1515.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 135 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 [1515.] 
 
 FRANCIS I. was no sooner proclaimed king, than queen 
 Claude, in consideration of the pledge which he had 
 given to provide the dowry of the Princess Renee, 
 her sister, formally ceded to him the duchy of Brittany, 
 and the counties of Nantes, Blois, Etampes, and Mont- 
 fort, to be enjoyed and governed during his life, as 
 veritable Duke of Brittany. 
 
 This first cession took place on the 22d of April ; but 
 on the 28th of June following, as it did not by any 
 means secure to her royal husband the whole extent of 
 the desired benefit, the queen was induced to execute a 
 new deed, by which she conferred these privileges upon 
 him for ever, in failure of her own children, should 
 they die before him. This wife-like divestiture was, how- 
 ever, only partially valid ; as the marriage-contract of 
 Anne de Bretagne had distinctly endowed her second 
 son with the possession and sovereignty of the duchy ; 
 while, as there had been a failure of male issue, and the 
 clause had never been revised, the Bretons, who were 
 anxious to throw off the yoke of French supremacy, and 
 who contended that the crowns of Brittany and France 
 could not legally be united upon the same head, unless
 
 136 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 it were that of an only son, would not admit the claim 
 of Claude ; but declared the right of -succession to be 
 in favour of her younger sister; this alienation and 
 disposal having been, moreover, stipulated when nego- 
 tiations were pending for a marriage between Madame 
 Claude and the Count de Luxembourg. In this opinion 
 they were supported by another clause, which bestowed 
 the duchy upon the second child, were it male or female; 
 and in virtue of the said contract, the Bretons declared 
 that the Princess Renee was the legitimate heiress. 
 
 Consequently, the donation made by the queen of 
 Francis I. met with no ratification from the Bretons 
 themselves ; and the rather that there still existed certain 
 families in the duchy, who possessed collateral claims to 
 the succession ; but who, seeing the king already the 
 father of a young family, every individual of which must 
 inherit before them, remained passive, and awaited future 
 events. 
 
 The acclamations of the army, the lays of the most 
 distinguished national poets, the tumultuous shouting of 
 the vassals, and the congratulations of all the feudatory 
 nobles, were the welcome of Francis as he ascended the 
 throne of France. His first act of royalty was to pro- 
 claim a suspension of arms ; and once more the country 
 for a brief space breathed freely. On the 25th of 
 January, he was crowned with great pomp at the 
 cathedral of Rheims, by Robert de Lenoncourt, Arch- 
 bishop of Paris ; and never had either of those two great 
 cities made so profuse a display of magnificence as upon 
 that occasion ; while previously, as if to refute the most 
 heinous slander of Brantome on Queen Mary, a contem-
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 137 
 
 porary writer asserts that Francis waited upon her daily 
 to condole with her upon her bereavement, accompanied 
 by Madame Claude his wife, during the lapse of six 
 weeks the period assigned for the royal widows of 
 France to remain in their beds, seeing no light save that 
 of the wax tapers by which their apartments were illu- 
 minated and that he then and there formally demanded 
 to know whether he might consider himself as the legiti- 
 mate sovereign of France, a question which she alone was 
 competent to answer ; when the young widow at once 
 and unhesitatingly replied that such he was ; that she 
 knew of no king save himself; and that she was unaware 
 of any cause in herself which could destroy his right to 
 the succession. 
 
 Moreover, Francis had long been cognisant of the 
 attachment which had formerly existed between Mary 
 and Suffolk, and formally warned the latter against any 
 proceeding which might excite the displeasure of the 
 English monarch. 
 
 " I am aware, duke " he said gravely ; " of your whole 
 history, of your affection for the queen of Louis XII, of 
 the influence which you possess in England, and of much 
 more than you can be prepared to suppose. I am anxious 
 that nothing should occur to dishonour me, nor to cause 
 umbrage to my brother, the King of England, towards 
 whom I desire to exhibit the same friendship and cor- 
 diality which were felt by the late king, my father-in- 
 law ; I, therefore, entreat of you not to take any steps 
 which may involve our good understanding ; and should 
 a promise have been exchanged between yourself and 
 the queen, to be careful of my dignity, by taking
 
 138 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [151.5. 
 
 immediate measures to secure the approval of the king 
 your master; and by inducing him to inform me in 
 writing of his good pleasure, at which I shall rejoice 
 should it be favourable to your wishes. But, if it prove 
 otherwise, I warn you on your life to beware of what 
 you do; for, should you disobey me, I will make you 
 bitterly repent your imprudence." 
 
 This caution the duke received without evincing the 
 slightest resentment, declaring on oath that he would 
 attempt nothing derogatory to his own honour, or to 
 the will of the king his master ; a pledge which he, 
 however, falsified almost on the instant, urged, as some 
 historians declare, by the representations and entreaties 
 of Mary herself; for only four or five days subsequently 
 to this interview, a secret marriage took place, and the 
 dowager-queen of France became Duchess of Suffolk. 
 
 Francis, indignant at this want of faith, summoned 
 the duke to his presence, and reproached him vehemently 
 for his perfidy; he even concluded his remarks by saying; 
 " If I were strictly to perform my duty, I should, this 
 very hour, strike your head from your shoulders, for you 
 have violated your oath." 
 
 The duke, terrified by the menace, hastened to justify 
 himself: "I beseech of you, Sire;" he exclaimed; " to 
 pardon me. I confess that I have erred ; but I entreat 
 your majesty to remember the strength of the affection 
 by which I have been misled, and to extend your 
 mercy in so extreme a case." 
 
 " Sir;" was the stern reply ; " you require more than 
 I am disposed to grant ; for you appear on your part to 
 have forgotten that the lady whom you have induced to
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 139 
 
 become your wife, was not only a princess of England, 
 but also the dowager-queen of France. Let the king 
 your master only require it of rne, and I shall at once 
 know how to avenge alike his dignity and my own." 
 
 But however the young king might have felt it in- 
 cumbent upon him to exhibit this display of indignation, 
 it is not the less certain that the clandestine marriage 
 of Mary with one of her brother's subjects, was by no 
 means unwelcome to him, as it precluded the possibility 
 of her hand being hereafter bestowed upon some 
 prince who might be at enmity with France, and 
 induce the English monarch to espouse his interests j a 
 consideration which decided him, in accordance with 
 the request of the queen-duchess, to intercede with 
 Henry VIII, and to procure the pardon of the culprits. 
 In this undertaking he easily succeeded, the influence 
 of the favourite being still great over the mind of his 
 royal master; and he then lost no time before, 
 governed by the same policy, and, moreover, instigated 
 beyond all doubt by the human weakness which, what- 
 ever might be his own line of conduct, led him to conceal 
 the mortification that a nature so vain as his could not 
 fail to experience, on perceiving the facility with which 
 Mary had cast off the yoke of his fascinations, and restored 
 her wavering affection to its first object, Francis hastened 
 to repay to the princess the dowry which she had brought 
 to Louis XII, and to expedite her return to England 
 with her new bridegroom. 
 
 The solemn entry of the young king into his good 
 city of Paris was hailed with delight. His commanding 
 person, splendid horsemanship, and urbane deportment
 
 11 THE COURT AND HEIGN OF [1515. 
 
 won all hearts, and made his progress one unbroken 
 triumph. All the princes and noble ladies of the kingdom, 
 as well as many foreigners of rank, were in his train. 
 Jousts and tourneys occupied the succeeding days, at the 
 whole of which the high-born dames and damsels of the 
 court were present; as well as at the balls and banquets, 
 which filled the streets with equipages and torch-light 
 throughout the entire nights. Above twelve hundred 
 princes, dukes, counts, and eavaliers assisted at these 
 memorable festivities, which were rendered still more 
 brilliant by the presence of the queen, the Countess 
 d'Angouleme, Madame de Bourbon, and all the ladies of 
 their respective suites. Nor did even this magnificence 
 suffice to satisfy the superb tastes of Francis ; for he no 
 sooner felt the crown firmly fixed upon his brow, than 
 he became anxious to exhibit his splendour to the whole 
 of his people ; and accordingly, as if to form as startling 
 a contrast as possible with the staid and sober state of 
 his predecessor, the court galas were divested of their 
 exclusiveness, and not only the whole of the nobility, but 
 even the bourgeoisie were admitted ; a popular measure, 
 which for a time blinded all ranks to the enormous 
 outlay that they involved ; and it was not, consequently, 
 until it was found necessary to increase the national taxes 
 in order to supply the exhausted treasury, that the more 
 prudent of the citizens began to question the expediency 
 of thus impoverishing the revenues of the country for the 
 the mere purposes of amusement. 
 
 The young king no sooner found himself at liberty 
 to regulate his own studies, than he laid aside all books, 
 save those chivalrous romances in which, from his
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 141 
 
 earliest boyhood, he had delighted, and upon which he 
 sought to model his own character. Nor was it long ere 
 he infected all the young nobles about his person with 
 the same extravagant and romantic fancy. The Knights 
 of the Round Table became the models of the French 
 courtiers, and the palace of Charlemagne their ideal 
 habitation ; while the beauties of the court eagerly wel- 
 comed a state of society in which they were outwardly 
 worshipped as goddesses, despite the concealed contempt 
 which the frailties of too many among them might induce. 
 Moreover, Louise de Savoie, who idolized her son, and 
 was proud of his personal beauty and accomplishments, 
 in order to retain her power over his mind, encouraged 
 him in every caprice which could flatter his vanity, or 
 consolidate her own influence ; and she, consequently, 
 offered rather furtherance than objection to a puerile 
 ambition beneath the dignity of a great monarch, who 
 soon learned to consider animal courage as the highest 
 virtue to which a sovereign could attain ; and to neglect 
 the more important tactics of modern warfare, while he 
 attached an undue value to mere personal prowess. 
 
 Nor was this vital mistake in the field compensated by 
 prudence in the internal economy of the nation; for, 
 already constitutionally enamoured of whatever was mag- 
 nificent and striking, the favourite studies of Francis led 
 him to suppose that all minor considerations should give 
 way before the regal state by which it was his passion to 
 surround himself; a fatal error, which was destined to 
 be expiated by his subjects ; while, in order the more 
 thoroughly to embody the personage of his excitable 
 imagination, he taught himself to believe that a monarch
 
 142 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 who was also a true knight should neither give battle, 
 nor retreat before a superior force. His leading ambi- 
 tion was to be at once a great king and a preux chevalier; 
 courteous and liberal towards the other sex, and absolute 
 with his own. To him the members of the national 
 parliaments, the most powerful of his nobility, and the 
 bulk of his people, were alike as regarded his sovereign 
 will and rule ; he admitted no opposition to his power, 
 recognised no right of opinion save his own, and brooked 
 neither dissent nor delay when once his pleasure was 
 made known. 
 
 These were sufficiently dangerous elements in the 
 nature of one called at so early an age to govern a great 
 nation ; but the redeeming quality of Francis was an 
 elevation of character that led him to emulate both the 
 physical and moral heroism of which he had made his 
 idol ; and thus, his very errors wore an aspect of kingly 
 splendour, which dazzled even those who were capable 
 of appreciating their danger ; and which has subsequently 
 served as their palliation with the majority of his his- 
 torians. Moreover, the young monarch, reared in the 
 midst of an admiring court, had imbibed no prejudices, 
 and nourished no jealousies. The liberality of Louis XII, 
 who had been too high-minded to treat him with distrust 
 because he was destined to succeed to the crown, had 
 effectually prevented the existence of all cabals and party- 
 spirit ; and thus his first act of royal power was not, as 
 is so frequently the case on an accession, to displace, but 
 to confirm, the ministers of the late king in their several 
 offices ; while he was equally regardful of his personal 
 friends.
 
 CMAKJLE , 
 
 BTUK1E IP 
 
 FH.OM A SCARCE FR11IT AFTEH. TITIAN . ENGRAVED 3Y VORSTEKKfAN-
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 143 
 
 Upon his mother Francis bestowed the title of duchess, 
 with an increased revenue, and the palace of Amboise as 
 a residence. His sister Marguerite was invested with 
 the dignity of Madame, and was thenceforward called 
 both Madame de France, and Madame de Valois ; while 
 two years subsequently she was created Duchess- de 
 Berri. : The vacant office of Constable of France was, at 
 her earnest request, bestowed upon Charles de Mont- 
 pensier, who had, by his marriage with his cousin 
 Suzanne, daughter and heiress of the Sire de Beaujeu 
 and Madame Anne de France, become Duke de Bourbon ; 
 a marriage in which, notwithstanding the amiable quali- 
 ties possessed by both parties, no happiness could be 
 anticipated, from the fact that bride and bridegroom had 
 alike already bestowed their affections elsewhere ; and to 
 which a desire to escape from certain disagreeable dis- 
 cussions which might have arisen from sundry clauses in 
 the will of a common ancestor of the two contracting 
 parties, had alone induced Charles to consent. 
 
 In conferring the dignity of constable upon the duke, 
 Francis I. had made a great concession to his affection 
 for Marguerite ; for he had never forgotten the quarrel 
 which had taken place between them ten years previously 
 at the castle of Amboise ; and the favour was enhanced 
 by the fact, that, since the treason of Saint -Pol, 1 in the 
 
 1 Louis de Luxembourg, Count de Saint-Pol, was born about 1430. 
 He at first took up arms for the English, but subsequently made his 
 submission to Charles VII. of France. He became the constant 
 companion of the dauphin, and assisted at the taking of the Nor- 
 man toM-ns from the English in 1449. He commanded the van- 
 guard at the battle of Montlhery ; and Louis XI, in order to detach
 
 144 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 reign of Louis XI, this, the highest official dignity in the 
 kingdom, had only been granted long subsequently to 
 the death of that noble, by Anne de France, then Dame 
 de Beaujeu, to the Duke Jean de Bourbon, her hus- 
 band's elder brother; while, since that period, the post 
 had remained vacant, and was supposed to be virtually 
 annulled, although not formally abolished; neither 
 Charles VIII. nor Louis XII. having appointed a suc- 
 cessor to Jean de Bourbon. The Count de Ven- 
 dome became Governor of the Isle of France; M. de 
 Lautrec 1 was invested with the government of Guienne ; 
 Bonnivet was created Admiral of the Fleet ; the Sire de 
 
 him from the Duke of Burgundy, to whose interests he leaned, made 
 him Constable of France. Saint-Pol took the cities of Saint-Quen- 
 tin and Amiens from Charles the Bold ; but, impelled by the spirit 
 of intrigue with which he was possessed, he endeavoured to create 
 discord between the two princes; who, \iltimately perceiving that he 
 was betraying them both, agreed to render him the victim of his own 
 duplicity. An opportunity of doing this soon presented itself, by 
 his proposing to open the gates of the fortresses on the Somme to 
 Edward of England, while at the same time he renewed his offers of 
 service to Louis. Seized as a traitor, he was committed to the Bas- 
 tille, and finally beheaded in the Place de Greve in 1475. 
 
 1 Odet de Foix, Sire de Lautrec, Marshal of France, accompanied 
 Louis XII. in his expedition in Italy, and entered Genoa with him 
 in 1507. The cousin and comrade-in-arms of Gaston de Foix, who 
 was killed at the battle of Ravenna, in 1512, he defended him cou- 
 rageously until he himself fell covered with wounds, none of which, 
 however, proved mortal. In 1521, Lautrec was appointed Lieu- 
 ten ant-General of Francis I. in Italy. Compelled by his troops to 
 engage the enemy, he was vanquished at Bicocca ; and returned to 
 Paris, after having lost the Milanese. He returned to Italy in 1525, 
 and retook Genoa, Alexandria, and Pavia ; and in 1528 fell a victim 
 to a fever engendered by the excessive heat to which he had been 
 exposed during the campaign.
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 145 
 
 la Palice made Marshal of France ; M. de Boissy, who 
 had completed the education of the young king, received 
 the appointment of Grand Master, vacated by the pro- 
 motion of M. de la Palice, as well as the superintendence 
 of affairs ; and Anthony Duprat, 1 the protege of Madame 1 
 d'Angouleme, was, at her earnest request, created Chan- 
 cellor of the Kingdom. 
 
 This was the most unfortunate of all the appointments 
 made by Francis ; as to the machinations of this unworthy 
 minister, many of the subsequent calamities of his reign 
 have been universally attributed. Rendered far-sighted 
 by his ambition, Duprat had, pending the misunderstand- 
 ing which existed between Anne de Bretagne and Louise 
 de Savoie, (at which period he was first president of the 
 parliament of Paris,) attached himself to the party of the 
 latter during her temporary exile from the court, assisted 
 her with his advice and support, and finally secured her 
 unbounded gratitude. 
 
 As an equivalent for this unhappy selection of a chan- 
 cellor, Francis, however, distinguished by his most marked 
 affection and favour, Anne, Seigneur de Montmorency, 2 
 
 ' Antoine Duprat was born at Issoire, in Auvergne, in 1463. It 
 was by his advice that Francis I. abolished the pragmatic sanction, 
 and offered judicial appointments for sale, as well as imposing rents 
 upon the Hotel de Ville. After the death of his wife, he embraced 
 the ecclesiastical profession, and became, first Archbishop of Sens, 
 and subsequently a cardinal. He died in 1535. 
 
 2 Anne de Montmorency, one of the great captains of the six- 
 teenth century, was born in 1493, at Chantilly. He served his first 
 campaign in Italy, in 1512 ; and in 1521 defended the city of 
 Mezieres conjointly with Bayard. His prowess at La Bicocca was 
 rewarded by a marshal's baton (1522) when he was already Captain- 
 General of the Swiss troops. Taken prisoner at Pavia, and after- 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 and Philippe Chabot, Sire de Brion j 1 two young nobles 
 who subsequently made themselves famous by the ser- 
 vices which they rendered to their country. 
 
 In the month of May, Francis, probably somewhat 
 alarmed by the deficit which had already betrayed itself 
 in the national exchequer, removed his court to Amboise, 
 whither Madame d'Angouleme had preceded him, for the 
 purpose of celebrating at that castle the marriage of 
 Mademoiselle de Bourbon, the sister of the connetable, 
 with the Duke de Lorraine ; and it is upon record that, 
 on this occasion, being desirous to give some variety to 
 the festivities, which were limited in their nature by the 
 fact that, in a private residence, the etiquette of mourning 
 for the late king did not permit either balls or masque- 
 rades, the young monarch caused a wild boar, which had 
 been taken alive in the neighbouring forest, to be turned 
 
 wards liberated, he obtained, in consideration of his eminent services, 
 the rank of Grand Master, and the government of Languedoc. The 
 campaign of 1536 gained for him the sword of Connetable in 1538 ; 
 and from that period to his disgrace in 1541, he was the soul of the 
 councils of Francis I. Recalled by Henry II. in 1547, he conquered 
 the Bolognese in 1550; caused his barony of Montmorency to be 
 elevated to a duchy-peerage in 1551 ; and lost the battle of Saint- 
 Quentin, where he was taken prisoner in 1557. Once more exiled 
 from the court in 1559, he was again recalled on the accession of 
 Charles IX. in 1560 ; declared himself against the Calvinists, and 
 gained the battle of Dreux in 1562, and that of St. Denis in 1567, 
 where, however, he was mortally wounded, and expired two days 
 afterwards. 
 
 1 Philippe de Chabot, Sire de Brion, the descendant of an illus- 
 trious family of Poitou, was an Admiral of France, Governor of Bur- 
 gundy and Normandy, and was taken prisoner at the battle of Pavia 
 with Francis I. He commanded the Piedmontese army in 1535. 
 Accused of malversation, he was disgraced, and condemned to a fine 
 of 70,000 crowns. He died in 1543.
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 147 
 
 loose in the great court-yard of the castle, having pre- 
 viously ordered every issue by which the savage denizen 
 of the woods might escape, to be carefully closed. This 
 being, as it appeared, fully accomplished, the courtly 
 company then assembled at Amboise stationed them- 
 selves at the windows, whence they amused themselves 
 by casting darts and other missiles at the enraged and 
 bewildered animal. 
 
 Highly excited by this novel pastime, bets ran high 
 between the young nobles on their respective skill ; and 
 bright eyes watched anxiously the flight of every weapon 
 as it was hurled from the respective casements. Sud- 
 denly, however, shrieks of terror echoed through the 
 spacious apartments. The boar, tortured beyond en- 
 durance, had made a furious plunge at the door which 
 opened upon the great staircase ; had dashed it in, and 
 was rapidly ascending the steps which led to the state 
 rooms, and which were protected only by a hanging 
 drapery of velvet; when the king, rushing from the 
 apartment where the horror-stricken ladies were crowd- 
 ing about the queen, and thrusting aside the courtiers 
 who endeavoured to impede his passage, threw himself 
 full in the path of the maddened animal, and adroitly 
 avoiding his first shock, stabbed him to the heart. 
 
 The Duchess d'Angouleme lived in sovereign style in 
 the castle of Amboise. Like Anne de Bretagne, she 
 retained a numerous household, and it was one more 
 calculated than that of her predecessor to increase the 
 attraction of a season of display and festivity ; for, while 
 her female attendants had been selected for their per- 
 sonal beauty, they were totally untrammelled by the 
 
 L 2
 
 1 l> THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 wholesome and decent restraints which Anne had laid 
 upon her ladies ; and already had the licentious tastes of 
 the prince her son corrupted the little court which she 
 had collected about her, and which had become the focus 
 of intrigue, gallantry, and imprudence. For a time, 
 indeed, the pollution of the heart was not suffered pub- 
 licly to pollute the lips ; but ere long even this tacit 
 observance of propriety was disregarded ; and, as it is 
 always easy for a woman to be witty when she lays aside 
 her modesty, so the circle of Madame d'Angouleme soon 
 became renowned as the centre of gay humour and 
 sprightly fascination. 
 
 And in the midst of this polluted court lived on the 
 meek and pious Queen Claude, surrounded, like her 
 step-mother, with a band of high-born dames and dam- 
 sels ; but, unlike her, giving to those about her person 
 an example of virtue and self-respect which was strictly 
 imitated ; conscious of the irregularities of her husband 
 for where is the royal personage long permitted to 
 remain in happy ignorance of her own wrongs ? but 
 uncomplaining and patient ; a martyr to that keenest of 
 all woman's suffering, a despised and neglected affection. 
 The abandoned conduct of Louise de Savoie, far from 
 vitiating r,he pure nature of her son's wife, tended 
 only to strengthen her in her own better principles ; and 
 like the moon which can look down upon pollution with- 
 out sullying the purity of its beams, so did the unhappy 
 young queen witness on all sides the degrading progress 
 of licentiousness without losing one virtue, or imbibing 
 one vice. Trained in the most delicate reserve by her 
 mother Anne de Bretagne, she could not condescend to
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 149 
 
 pander to the dissipated tastes of Francis, who soon 
 wearied of her circle, and found a fertile subject of sar- 
 casm in the austere restraint to which she subjected the 
 ladies of her suite ; who, although they were permitted to 
 share in the festivities of the court, were compelled to be 
 so guarded in their conduct and deportment that they 
 were never sullied by its impurities. " Her circle," says 
 Brantome, " was a paradise on earth, a school of honour 
 and virtue, and the ornament of France, as foreigners 
 were wont to declare when they were admitted within 
 it ; for they ever met a courteous reception ; and when 
 they were expected, it was the queen's express command 
 that her ladies should attire themselves richly, and exert 
 all their talents for the entertainment of her guests, with- 
 out absenting themselves in the pursuit of other amuse- 
 ments." It was at Amboise, on the 19th of August, that 
 the queen gave birth to her eldest born, the Princess 
 Louise ; whose sex, although doubtless a bitter disap- 
 pointment to both parents, was not fated to affect the in- 
 terests of the succession, as she died in her infancy. 
 
 The first and greatest anxiety of Francis was the 
 recovery of the Milanese ; a design which had been 
 delayed by the death of Louis XII ; and, in order to 
 supply the necessary funds for this expedition, he was 
 induced by the advice of his chancellor to renew all the 
 taxes which his predecessor had abolished, and even to 
 expose the offices of the crown for sale ; thus endeavour- 
 ing to replenish his treasury by the most impolitic and 
 arbitrary measures. His claim to the duchy of Milan 
 was declared openly and boldly, as he considered his 
 honour to be involved in its recovery. Louis XII. had
 
 150 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 based his presumed right upon the title of a female, and 
 had transferred it to his daughter, the princess Claude, 
 as a portion of her dowry ; but Francis, in order to 
 secure it more effectually, caused his wife, as we have 
 already stated, to make over to him her sovereignty of 
 the duchy ; and thus to enable him to advance a personal 
 and legitimate claim to its possession. 
 
 Charles of Austria, the sovereign of the Low Countries, 
 at the instigation of M. de Chievres, his governor who 
 was anxious to preserve a peace with France upon 
 which the prosperity of Flanders was so greatly de- 
 pendent, as well as to secure to his royal pupil, who was 
 by five years and a half the junior of the French king, 
 the support of that monarch against Ferdinand the 
 Catholic, his maternal grandfather had already sent 
 ambassadors to congratulate him upon his accession, and 
 to request his friendship ; which was not only accorded, 
 but coupled with the promise that Francis would accord 
 to him the hand of his sister-in-law, the Princess Renee. 
 Her extreme youth, however for at this period she had 
 only just attained her sixth year rendering the im- 
 mediate celebration of the marriage inexpedient, it was 
 stipulated between the two princes that the ceremony 
 should be deferred until she should have reached the age 
 of twelve years, when she was to become the wife of 
 Charles, with a dowry of 200,000 silver crowns in money, 
 and the duchy of Berri, estimated at 400,000 more. 
 A treaty of alliance, both offensive and defensive, was also 
 signed by the contracting parties; and Charles of Austria, 
 although numbering Ferdinand among his allies, pledged 
 himself not to assist him in any attempt which he might
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 151 
 
 make against France, if he did not, within the space of 
 six months, terminate the misunderstanding existing 
 between the two courts on the subject of the kingdom 
 of Navarre. This treaty was executed at Paris, on the 
 24th of March. 
 
 The ostensible object of the Flemish envoys had 
 been merely to do homage for the counties of Artois and 
 Flanders, which were held by the archduke of the 
 crown of France ; and it was so far fortunate for Francis 
 that they should have selected that precise period to 
 visit his court, as it rendered Charles unable to unite 
 with the emperor in any designs which might have 
 proved inimical to the French interest. The mission 
 was entrusted to Count Henri de Nassau, 1 who arrived 
 at Paris splendidly attended, having both nobles and 
 prelates in his train ; and it was through his agency 
 that the Archduke, who had already been affianced to 
 half the princesses of the civilized world, was once more 
 engaged in a matrimonial compact, destined, like so 
 many others, never to be ratified. Moreover, it is 
 probable that Francis himself never contemplated its 
 
 1 Henry, Count de Nassau, was the representative of the cele- 
 brated ducal family of that name, which traced its origin from 
 Robert, Count de Larenburg and Nassau, in 1124. His descend- 
 ants, Waleran and Otho, divided their ancestral patrimony in 1255. 
 From the former are descended the present reigning dukes of Nas- 
 sau ; while the latter founded the branch of Nassau-Dillenbourg, 
 now on the throne of Holland. By the marriage of Henry de Nas- 
 sau, son of Count William III, with Claudine de Challon, Princess 
 of Orange, that principality devolved upon their son Rene, who 
 dying without issue, bequeathed it to William the Taciturn, his 
 cousin; who thus became the ancestor of the princes of Orange-Nas- 
 sau, whose descendants occupy the thrones of England and Holland.
 
 152 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1516. 
 
 completion ; while it is certain that the ministers of the 
 young prince had been urged to effect a friendly alliance 
 with France, from their suspicion that Ferdinand the 
 Catholic purposed to bequeath the crown of Spain to his 
 other grandson and namesake, who had been educated 
 in that country : while Charles, who had passed his 
 youth between Germany and the Low Countries, was 
 comparatively unknown to him. 
 
 Nor was the errand of M. de Nassau destined to be 
 a bootless one for himself; it being secretly stipulated 
 that he should receive the hand of Claudine de Challon, 
 sister of the Prince of Orange, who had been educated 
 with the young Queen of France ; and the marriage was 
 accordingly celebrated with a magnificence worthy of so 
 renowned a court. 
 
 The state of Europe at this time offered nothing 
 sufficiently alarming to induce the young king to aban- 
 don his design upon the Milanese. Spain was for the 
 moment tranquil. The death of the Archduke Philip 
 had restored to Ferdinand his dominion over Castile ; 
 while his title to Naples, Roussillon and Cerdagne was 
 not sufficiently valid to enable him to take the initiative 
 with safety in any aggressive measures towards France. 
 Germany was also at peace ; and so divided and sub- 
 divided into petty and independent states, as well as kept 
 in check by the moral and commercial strength of her 
 free towns, and the impotence of her emperor who, al- 
 though the head of the Germanic body, by which, in the 
 national diets, the laws were passed, was a mere shadow- 
 king, despised both at home and abroad, that she was in 
 no condition to volunteer a war of which the issue, under
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 153 
 
 > 
 
 such circumstances, must at the best be doubtful ; while 
 England, who had upon Flodden Field delivered herself 
 from her most threatening and mischievous enemy, had 
 already gained sufficient experience of the bad faith and 
 perfidious vacillation of both Maximilian and Ferdinand, 
 to induce Henry VIII. to shun any alliance with either 
 against the interests of Francis, who, in the late ne- 
 gotiations between them, had Avon his good will alike 
 by his frankness and courtesy. 
 
 Thus the pope and the Swiss were the only formidable 
 enemies against whom the young monarch of France 
 could be called upon to contend ; and the arrival of the 
 several embassies to compliment him upon his accession, 
 afforded a favourable opportunity for consolidating his 
 friendly relations with such of the different powers as 
 were already on terms of amity with France ; and also 
 of ascertaining, and providing against, the possible 
 hostility of those whose alliance was still doubtful. 
 
 To the English envoys he suggested that the treaty of 
 peace concluded between Louis XII. and Henry VIII. 
 should be renewed ; and that Scotland, did the necessity 
 arise, should be included in the negotiations ; that the 
 most perfect liberty of commerce should be assured to 
 both nations ; that no vessel of war intended to threaten 
 either should be admitted into any of the ports of the 
 other kingdom ; and that they should mutually respect 
 each other's allies ; but that Milan and Genoa, which 
 Francis was about to invade, should be exempted from 
 this arrangement. To all these conditions Henry ac- 
 ceded at once with the exception of that which con- 
 cerned Scotland ; the jealousy of the English monarch
 
 154 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 being awakened by the circumstance that the Duke 
 d'Aubigny, 1 the cousin of the late King of Scots, and 
 the subject of Francis, had been invited thither as 
 regent. He accordingly called upon the young sovereign 
 to pledge himself that D'Aubigny, who was well known 
 to be inimical to the English interests, should abandon 
 his intention of visiting Scotland ; and declared that 
 should this concession be made, he would at once affix 
 his signature to the treaty. Francis, however, would 
 not consent to withdraw his plighted word to the 
 Scotch ; but offered himself as surety for the loyalty of 
 his general; and agreed, that if in the space of three 
 months d'Aubigny did not succeed in reconciling the 
 adverse factions, he should be recalled. 
 
 Henry accepted the offered terms ; and the treaty was 
 concluded in the month of April. 
 
 The Swiss cantons, excepting only the Grisons, still 
 maintained their hostile position towards France. Dur- 
 ing the reigns of Louis XL and Charles VIII. they had 
 considered themselves as an integral portion of the 
 French armies ; and had conduced, in no trifling degree, 
 to their success in the field. Even under Louis XII. 
 they had done good service, and proved their efficiency; 
 while the benefit was rendered mutual by the fact that 
 the poverty of their over-populated country was lessened 
 by the escape-valve thus afforded ; and that support and 
 employment were obtained for considerable bodies of 
 
 1 Robert d'Aubigny was of Scotch extraction, and of the family 
 of Stuart, but was by birth a French subject, and commanded the 
 company of Scotch gendarmes who were perpetually about the per- 
 son of the monarch, and who possessed extraordinary privileges.
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 155 
 
 men who must otherwise have diminished its already 
 scanty resources. Conscious of their importance in 
 European warfare from their high state of discipline and 
 undaunted courage, the Switzers had, however, by pre- 
 suming upon these advantages, excited the indignation 
 of Louis XII ; who, anxious to emancipate himself from 
 pretensions and demands which ultimately exceeded all 
 due bounds, declined their further assistance ; and sub- 
 stituted for them a large body of German infantry, or 
 lansquenets, who, while they were utterly free from the 
 insolence and waywardness of the Swiss, were from the 
 first their equals in courage, and soon worthily rivalled 
 them both in order and discipline. This was at once an 
 affront to the honour, and an injury to the interests, of the 
 mountaineers, which they vowed never to forgive. They 
 forgot that even if they had twice assisted the French 
 king to subdue Italy, they had twice also, in order to 
 gratify their own dislike, lent their aid to divest him of his 
 conquest ; and although they had amply revenged their 
 supposed wrongs both at Novara and Dijon, they bore in 
 remembrance only the refusal of Louis to ratify the treaty 
 of La Tremouille ; and suffered the relentless Cardinal 
 of Sion to keep them in a state of perpetual and unyield- 
 ing animosity to France. Thus the attitude which they 
 assumed could not be utterly disregarded by Francis, 
 although, with the chivalrous feeling natural to him, he 
 looked upon them with contempt as mere mercenaries, 
 and did not suffer their demonstrations to interfere with 
 his darling project ; although he deemed it expedient 
 to make an effort to regain their alliance; and accord- 
 ingly sent the Sire de Jamets, one of the sons of
 
 156 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 Robert de la Mark, as his envoy to the diet of the 
 Cantons, in order that an accommodation might if 
 possible be effected with them, and the differences 
 adjusted which had arisen out of the non-fulfilment of 
 the treaty of Dijon. This concession was, however, 
 far from conducing to the object which he had in 
 view. Rendered insolent by their recent successes, the 
 Swiss ascribed to fear an overture which had been 
 dictated simply by policy, and arrogantly refused to 
 admit the envoy of France ; threatening, moreover, that 
 if the conditions of that treaty were not immediately 
 performed to the letter, they would forthwith invade the 
 provinces of Burgundy and Dauphiny. 
 
 Francis treated the insolent menace with contempt; 
 and contented himself by marching a strong body both 
 of native and foreign troops towards Burgundy ; osten- 
 sibly to defend that province from aggression, but 
 actually to bring them nearer to the point where they 
 were to be employed. 
 
 Consequently this movement, ominous as it was, 
 created no alarm either in the pope, or the Italian states 
 which were in his interest. They looked upon the French 
 king as a mere youth, devoted to pleasure, who would not 
 hazard an encounter with the papal forces ; nor could even 
 the representations of Ferdinand induce them to alter 
 their opinion. In vain did he represent that Francis had 
 suggested a treaty with himself and Maximilian, which 
 had failed to take effect owing to the refusal of the young 
 monarch to forego his claim upon the Milanese; and 
 that he had already confirmed that which Louis 
 XII. had formerly made with the Venetians. Leo X.
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 157 
 
 disregarded the caution ; and even declined to join 
 a league which had been secretly formed between Maxi- 
 milian, Ferdinand, the Swiss, and the Duke of Milan, 
 for the defence of Italy ; declaring that he was urged 
 by his holy office to promote peace rather than war, and 
 would not provoke, or even appear to anticipate, hostili- 
 ties from any European power. 
 
 In confirming the treaty with the Venetians to 
 which Ferdinand had alluded, Francis had secretly 
 induced Ottavio Fregosa, the doge of Genoa, to give a 
 pledge that he would abdicate, and place himself under 
 the protection of France, whenever the presence of a 
 French army sufficiently strong to protect him from the 
 indignation of the other powers should be assembled in 
 Italy ; a promise which the young king hailed with joy, 
 as Genoa commanded the passage into the Milanese by 
 sea, and was consequently of great importance to his 
 design. This done, he pursued his negotiation with the 
 Pope, who at length consented to remain neuter ; but 
 who, at the same time, entered into an engagement with 
 Maximilian, Ferdinand, and the Swiss, to assist them in 
 protecting the duchy of Milan. 
 
 In the meantime Francis had continued quietly but 
 diligently to strengthen the forces requisite for his in- 
 tended expedition. While he himself left Paris, and 
 took up his abode at Amboise, his army was gradually 
 advancing to the frontiers of Dauphiny. It consisted 
 of a band of ten thousand lansquenets, raised in Ger- 
 many by the Sire de Sedan, and the Duke of Suffolk ; 
 six thousand foot, furnished by the Duke de Gueldres ; 
 and a like number levied in Gascony and Languedoc
 
 158 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 by Pietro da Navarro, whom the ingratitude and bad 
 faith of the King of Spain had driven into the service 
 of France ; four thousand volunteers ; two thousand five 
 hundred lances ; a strong body of artillery, which had 
 already been sent forward to Lyons ; and six thousand 
 Gascon foot- soldiers, led by Pietro da Navarro, who 
 had formerly commanded the Spanish infantry; com- 
 posing altogether an army of between thirty and forty 
 thousand men. 
 
 While this force was unostentatiously in progress of 
 organization, Francis who, however little he deprecated 
 the hostility of the pope, whom he knew to be more 
 occupied in the aggrandizement of his family than in 
 that of his states, thought it wise to conciliate his 
 alliance sent an embassy to Rome to open a negotiation 
 between them, which he entrusted to Guillaume Budee, 1 
 the contemporary and friend of Erasmus, and one of the 
 most accomplished scholars in France. Already aware of 
 the particular ambition of Leo X, who was anxious to se- 
 cure the supreme rule in Florence to his nephew Lorenzo 
 de' Medici ; and to his brother Giulio a principality com- 
 pounded of the states which his predecessor Julius II. had 
 wrested from the Duke de Ferrara and the Milanese ; 
 Budee offered on the part of his royal master to assist 
 His Holiness in effecting the marriage between his brother 
 
 1 Guillaume Budee was born in Paris in 1467, and distinguished 
 himself by his extraordinary attainments. He was Master of the 
 Court of Requests, and Librarian to the King ; and was remarkable 
 for his proficiency in the classics and archaeology. His most cele- 
 brated work among students is his treatise, De Asse et partibus ejus, 
 which was published at Venice in 1522. It was at his instiga- 
 tion that Francis I. founded the College of France. He died in 1 540.
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 159 
 
 Giulio and Marguerite de Savoie, the aunt of the French 
 king, which had already been mooted, and which must 
 have tended to convert the two sovereigns into firm allies ; 
 but the pope could not willingly resign his own darling 
 scheme ; and amiable and learned as he was, and fully 
 competent to appreciate the compliment paid to him by 
 Francis in the person and through the medium of so cele- 
 brated an ambassador, he was nevertheless possessed of all 
 the craft peculiar to his nation ; and hesitated between 
 this amicable proposition and that of Maximilian and 
 Ferdinand, which he believed would be ultimately more 
 advantageous to his house. He consequently amused 
 Budee for a time with objections, exactions, and mystifi- 
 cations so obviously unmeaning and insincere, that the 
 frank and straightforward scholar at length resolved to 
 request his recal; alleging that he was unable to cope 
 with the diplomatic cunning of the sovereign pontiff; 
 and humbly praying his majesty to release him from a 
 responsibility to which he was unequal. He was, how- 
 ever, instructed to remain at the papal court, and to 
 continue the negotiation, whatever might be its probable 
 issue, in order to divert the attention of Leo from an 
 intrigue in which his interests were involved, and which 
 was then pending.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 [1515.] 
 
 FRANCIS ORGANIZES HIS ARMY THE QUEEN'S FAREWELL RECEPTION 
 MAGNIFICENCE OF BOURBON EMOTION OF MARGUERITE DE VALOIS 
 JEALOUSY OF BONNIVET THEIR PARTING INDISCRETION OF BONNIVET 
 DIFFICULTY IN REPLENISHING THE TREASURY DISCONTENT OF THE 
 PARLIAMENT MADAME D'ANGOULEME APPOINTED REGENT CHARACTER 
 OF LOUISE DE SAVOIE AMOUNT OF THE FRENCH ARMY ITS DISTRIBU- 
 TION DIFFICULTY IN PASSING THE ALPS PERSEVERANCE OF THE 
 TROOPS THE VAN-GUARD ENTERS ITALY SURPRISE OF PROSPER COLONNA 
 HIS CAPTURE DELIVERS HIS SWORD TO BAYARD ALESSANDRIA AND 
 TORTONA TAKEN BY THE FRENCH ALARM OF THE POPE RETREAT 
 OF THE SWISS FRANCIS ENDEAVOURS TO CONCILIATE THEM, BUT 
 FAILS THROUGH THE AGENCY OF THE CARDINAL OF SIGN THE SWISS 
 TROOPS ATTEMPT TO SEIZE THE PUBLIC CHEST AT BUFFALORO THEIR 
 LEADERS APPRISE LAUTREC OF THE PROJECT THEY EVACUATE ITALY 
 BAYARD SOLICITS THE KING'S PERMISSION TO ATTACK THE ENEMY, BUT 
 IS REFUSED FRANCIS MARCHES UPON TURIN HE IS JOINED BY THE 
 DUKE DE GUELDRES THE FRENCH HEAD-QUARTERS ARE ESTABLISHED 
 AT MARIGNANO CARDONA REFUSES TO PASS THE PO D'ALVIANO REACHES 
 LODI INDIGNATION OF FRANCIS AGAINST THE SWISS THE CARDINAL OF 
 SIGN HARANGUES THE MERCENARY TROOPS FLEURANGES ALARMS THE 
 GARRISON THE SWISS TROOPS MARCH UPON MARIGNANO THE KING IS 
 APPRISED OF THEIR APPROACH BATTLE OF MARIGNANO FRANCIS NAR- 
 ROWLY ESCAPES CAPTURE BAYARD IS UNHORSED, BUT EFFECTS HIS 
 RETREAT THE BATTLE-COUCH OF FRANCIS THE ATTACK IS RESUMED 
 AT DAYBREAK THE SWISS TROOPS RETREAT, AND RETURN TO MILAN, 
 WHENCE THEY PROCEED HOMEWARD, PURSUED BY D'ALVIANO THE PRICE 
 OF VICTORY FRANCIS RECEIVES KNIGHTHOOD ON THE FIELD AT THE 
 HANDS OF BAYARD^ AND CONFERS IT UPON FLEURANGES THE FRENCH 
 MARCH TO MILAN THE SWISS REVOLT AGAINST THE CARDINAL OF SION, 
 WHO SECURES HIS SAFETY BY FLIGHT RECEPTION OF THE FRENCH 
 KING BY THE CITIZENS OF MILAN MAXIMILIAN SFORZA SURRENDERS 
 TO FBANCIS GENEROSITY OF THE CONQUEROR THE MILANESE TAKE THE 
 OATH OF ALLEGIANCE TO FRANCE. 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 1515.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 163 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 [1515.] 
 
 MEANWHILE the warlike preparations of Francis were 
 completed ; and he formally assisted the queen and his 
 mother to receive at Amboise the parting compliments 
 of his generals in the presence of the whole court. The 
 queen had a public reception on the day upon which 
 the Constable-duke de Bourbon, who was to take the 
 chief command of the invading army, arrived at the 
 castle. His advent had been already announced ; and 
 it chanced that either by accident or design the Duchess 
 d'Alencon, who had accompanied her husband to the 
 castle, there to remain while he was absent with the 
 king in Italy, was standing in the deep bay of a window 
 in the apartment of her royal sister-in-law, conversing 
 with some of the courtiers, at the moment when the 
 connetable galloped into the court-yard, attended by 
 an escort of gentlemen and pages very richly attired. 
 At the noise made by the horsemen every eye was turned 
 upon the brilliant spectacle which thus suddenly pre- 
 sented itself, and was instantly riveted on the person 
 of Bourbon himself. He was attired for war ; and wore 
 over his mail a sash of cloth of silver ; a diamond-stud- 
 ded poniard flashed in his belt beside the golden pom- 
 
 M 2
 
 164 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 mel of his sword, and his casque was surmounted by a 
 plume of white and crimson feathers. In such a costume 
 the fine person of the duke was necessarily more than 
 usually striking ; and the beautiful sister of Francis, 
 after gazing for an instant, like those around her, upon 
 the majestic and noble figure of the only man whom she 
 had ever loved, turned away with a shuddering sigh, and 
 involuntarily glanced with a look of superb contempt 
 upon the insignificant prince to whom the policy of her 
 uncle Louis XII. had given her unwilling hand. 
 
 Neither the sigh, the shudder, nor the glance, brief as 
 each had been in its duration, had, despite all her cau- 
 tion, passed unobserved. Among those immediately 
 about her was Bon ni vet, who had neither forgiven nor 
 forgotten the past, and whose jealousy of Bourbon con- 
 tinued as lively as ever, although the marriage of the 
 duchess had rendered the suit of both alike hopeless. 
 A bitter whisper reached her ear : " Monsieur le Connet- 
 able ;" said the voice ; " whose haughty spirit has become 
 a proverb throughout the country, might to-day be 
 pardoned his presumption were he to learn the effect 
 produced by his arrival." 
 
 Marguerite blushed deeply, frowned haughtily, and 
 turned away ; but the arrow had stricken home, and 
 she could not encounter the mocking eye that she felt 
 was turned upon her. 
 
 By this time the connetable had ascended the great 
 staircase ; had been announced by the usher on duty ; 
 and had entered the royal apartment, still attended by 
 the gentlemen of his suite, superbly attired in vests of 
 velvet heavily embroidered with gold. It was now the
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 165 
 
 king's turn to frown. It was true that by his marriage 
 with the daughter of Anne of France, Bourbon had 
 become the most wealthy, as well as the most powerful 
 noble of the kingdom ; but Francis could not endure that 
 his own magnificence should be eclipsed by that of a sub- 
 ject, and his reception was more chilling than the occasion 
 seemed to warrant. The duke did not, however, appear 
 to remark the discomposure of his sovereign ; and the 
 warm greeting of Madame d'Angouleme, who was by no 
 means insensible to the attractions of her new guest, was 
 returned with grace and composure. Nor did even the 
 stately coldness of the Duchess d'Alencon bring a shade 
 upon the brow of Charles de Bourbon : he could appre- 
 ciate her real feelings, for he judged them by his own ; 
 and as he raised her fingers respectfully to his lips, he 
 did not detain them there a moment. 
 
 Bonnivet, however, who had watched both parties 
 closely, was not to be deceived. He had marked the 
 slight flush which mounted to the brow of the duke, and 
 the deadly paleness that had overspread the features of the 
 princess ; and as, after this act of homage, Bourbon moved 
 away to join the circle which was formed about the king, 
 he turned to the Count de Saint Valier, the captain of 
 the royal guard, and in a tone of mysterious confidence 
 bade him remark the agitation of Madame d'Angouleme, 
 and the constraint of her daughter. 
 
 " It is sufficiently evident ; " was the reply ; " but why 
 do you draw my attention to the circumstance ?" 
 
 " To initiate you into a state secret. The mother and 
 the daughter have the same passion in their hearts." 
 
 The quick-sighted Bonnivet was correct in his con- 
 jecture; but he was unable to discriminate the very
 
 100 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 different nature of the passion which Bourbon had 
 awakened in the breasts of those two royal ladies. The 
 love of Louise de Savoie for the gallant and handsome 
 prince was, like all her other attachments, alike sensual 
 and selfish ; while that of Marguerite was an affection 
 compounded of memory, regret, and self-pity, without 
 one stain of earth. The duke had been the first love of 
 her girlhood, and had peopled the past with associations 
 of happiness and hope, both of which had proved falla- 
 cious, but were still dear. Whatever may have been the 
 errors of Marguerite, it is certain that she loved Bourbon 
 well and worthily j with that womanly affection which 
 forgets self in the object beloved, and can endure in all 
 its intensity alike through time and trial. 
 
 In the utterance of her murmured farewell to the 
 brilliant connetable, the Duchess d'Alencon had ex- 
 hausted all her regrets; and it was consequently with 
 courteous composure, that she afterwards received the 
 parting compliments of Francois, Duke de Chatellerault, 
 his brother ; the Marshals de la Palice and Trivulzio ; the 
 Dukes of Lorraine, Vendorne, Gueldres, and D'Aubigny ; 
 the Bastard of Savoy, the king's uncle, 1 the veteran Louis 
 
 1 Ren6, the Bastard of Savoy, was the son of Philip of Savoy 
 and Bona da Romagnano, a Piedmontese lady, and the brother of 
 Charles III. and Madame d'Angouleme ; and had been legitimized 
 by the Duke Philibert, who married Marguerite d'Autriche, the 
 daughter of the emperor. Maximilian having, however, refused to 
 ratify his legitimization, Rene accused Marguerite of having pri- 
 vately instigated him to do so ; and, indignant at the affront put 
 upon him, abandoned the court of Savoy, and withdrew to the castlt 
 of Amboise, where he resided with his sister, Madame d'Angouleme, 
 and obtained great influence over Francis I. Whether his suspicion, 
 were well or ill founded, it is certain that the hatred which Marguerite 
 felt for him caused as much injury to Savoy, as that of Madame d'An-
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 167 
 
 de Breze, Grand Senechal of Normandy ; the Counts of 
 Saint-Pol and Guise ; La Tremouille, and his son the 
 Prince de Talmont, Imbercourt, Teligny, Beam, Sancerre, 
 Orval, Lautrec, Bayard ; and, in fine, all that was noble 
 and chivalrous in France. 
 
 The necessity of raising money to meet the exigencies 
 of so formidable an undertaking as the recovery of the 
 Milanese, was the first difficulty to which Francis had been 
 exposed since his accession to the throne ; and it is probable 
 that, at so important a moment, he regretted the immense 
 sums which had been wasted upon mere courtly magnifi- 
 cence ; but Duprat, ever equal to every emergency, at 
 once suggested the dangerous and impolitic measure of 
 increasing the number of judicial offices for sale. The 
 young king, eager to carry out his plans, thoughtlessly 
 welcomed the suggestion; and a new chamber of par- 
 liament was created, consisting of twenty councillors, all 
 of whom purchased their places; while the provincial courts 
 
 gouleme against the Connetable de Bourbon occasioned to France. 
 "Through Marguerite d'Autriche, the wife of the duke;" says the 
 President Renault ; " commenced that hatred which has perpetuated 
 itself between the houses of France and Austria." The fact is, how- 
 ever, doubtful ; for the feelings of the emperor her father had bsen 
 for years quite as hostile as her own ; and it is asserted that he every 
 day nourished them by a perusal of what he entitled his red book, 
 which was simply a register of all the real or imaginary wrongs to 
 which he had been subjected by France, and which yet remained 
 unavenged ; not the least being the humiliation to which his daugh- 
 ter had been exposed when her hand was refused by Charles VIII. 
 Rene strikingly resembled his father : his form was athletic, and his 
 countenance fine and commanding. He was a brave soldier, but 
 both haughty and vindictive. Francis I, his nephew, made him 
 Comptroller of the Household. He was taken prisoner at Pavia, 
 and died of his wounds. From him is derived the family of Villar?.
 
 168 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 throughout the kingdom were augmented in the same 
 manner. For a time the parliament of Paris refused to 
 sanction so glaring an innovation upon their rights, and 
 declined to register the royal edict ; nor was it without 
 considerable and avowed reluctance that they were ulti- 
 mately induced to do so ; the measure being regarded as 
 one of great injustice and impolicy, tending to dimmish 
 the national confidence in the monarch, and to excite dis- 
 trust towards the minister by whom it had been proposed. 
 Their objections were, however, disregarded ; and 
 Francis, satisfied that he was about to place himself at 
 the head of the finest army which had ever been raised 
 in France, made instant preparations for crossing the 
 Alps. The number and resources of his enemies, con- 
 centrated by the powerful confederacy formed against 
 him by Maximilian, Leo X, and the Swiss, served only 
 to stimulate his ardour; and, on the 15th of July, at 
 Lyons, he issued an ordinance, by which he appointed 
 his mother, the Duchess d'Angouleme, regent of the 
 kingdom during his absence. " Considering ;" thus ran 
 the document ; " that it will be necessary to leave in our 
 kingdom some personage representing ourselves, whose 
 affection towards our person is undoubted, and to whom 
 our subjects may have recourse as to ourselves ; consider- 
 ing also that all the princes and nobles of our blood 
 accompany us on our enterprise ; we have decided to con- 
 fide this charge and power to our very dear and well- 
 beloved lady and mother, the Duchess d'Angouleme and 
 d' Anjou, as to the person in whom we have full and perfect 
 confidence ; and of whom we know, for a surety, that she 
 will wisely and virtuously acquit herself of the same."
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 169 
 
 In how far Francis could answer to his conscience for 
 such a declaration, it is not for us to decide. Certain it 
 is that the over-weening indulgence and undiminished 
 influence of his mother may have blinded him in a great 
 degree to her defects : but it is no less true that he pos- 
 sessed sufficient shrewdness and discrimination to be 
 aware that, with so vehement and vindictive a character 
 as her's, there was not that perfect assurance for his sub- 
 jects which his words were intended to convey. 
 
 Although, upon the accession of her son, she had 
 reached her fortieth year, Louise de Savoie was still one 
 of the handsomest women at court. The peculiar charms 
 of her face and person were scarcely diminished by 
 time, and she possessed, physically, all the elements of 
 popularity. She was, moreover, eminently qualified for 
 government in so far that she did not lack courage, 
 either personal or political ; and was gifted with penetra- 
 tion, decision, and a self-possession which no adversity 
 could shake : but these essential qualities were counter- 
 balanced by an ambition and thirst of power absolutely 
 insatiable ; while her better reason was frequently over- 
 whelmed by the impetuous torrent of her passions ; a 
 circumstance which sullied her administration with all 
 the faults and weaknesses of her sex. Greedy of admi- 
 ration, and vain to an inordinate excess, she was at the 
 same time a bitter enemy, implacable in her resentments, 
 impatient of control, actuated by the most malign 
 jealousy, and covetous of the national treasures to such 
 an extent, that the wisest projects were disconcerted, 
 and the most important enterprises baffled, by her insa- 
 tiate rapacity.
 
 170 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 The regency being thus definitely arranged, Francis 
 turned his whole attention to the organisation and dis- 
 tribution of his army, which, after the new levies were 
 completed, consisted of two thousand five hundred men- 
 at-arms ; amounting, in fact, from the peculiar constitu- 
 tion of the " lances," as they were then termed, to a force 
 of nearly fifteen thousand horse ; each member of the 
 compagnies d'ordonnance, or regular cavalry, having in 
 immediate attendance upon him, three archers, an esquire, 
 or knife-bearer, whose name was derived from a short 
 dirk which he carried in his belt, and a page ; the whole 
 of whom were mounted ; and thus fifteen hundred 
 " lances," fully equipped, comprised a strength of nine 
 thousand horse; while in addition to this conventional 
 suite, they were generally accompanied by a strong body 
 of volunteers, similarly followed, who served without 
 remuneration of any kind, and who were invariably indi- 
 viduals of good family, like the gendarmes themselves, 
 and frequently entered the regular army after having 
 gone through a campaign upon their own resources. 
 
 The command of the vanguard was confided to the 
 Connetable de Bourbon, and in it were to serve his 
 brother the Duke de Chatellerault, La Palice, Trivulzio, 
 Talmond, Bonnivet, Iinbercourt, and Teligny; while 
 Pietro da Navarro, with his Gascons, Basques, and 
 pioneers, were also attached to this division of the army. 
 The rearguard was committed to the Duke d'Alencon, 
 the husband of Marguerite : and the king himself com- 
 manded the main-body or "battle;" having about his 
 person the Dukes of Vendome and Lorraine, the Sei- 
 gneur d'Aubigny, the Bastard of Savoy, the Sire d'Orval,
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 171 
 
 La Tremouille, Lautrec, recently advanced to the rank of 
 Marshal of France, Bayard, newly appointed Lieutenant- 
 general of Dauphiny, the Duke de Gueldres, and Claude 
 de Guise. 
 
 But when this powerful army, amounting in the aggre- 
 gate to upwards of 40,000 men, with a strong train of 
 artillery, was completed, the greatest difficulty was yet to 
 be surmounted, by accomplishing its passage into Italy. 
 The month of August had arrived, the snow had dissolved 
 in the mountain-gorges, it is true ; but some unforeseen 
 circumstance might impede the march, and subject the 
 troops to a scarcity of provisions, while it was moreover 
 imperative that they should penetrate into the Milanese 
 before the rainy season set in. "A safe but circuitous 
 route presented itself ;" says Bacon ; " by which one part 
 of the army might penetrate to Savona, and the other 
 might march by the county of Tende, towards Montferrat, 
 but the delay which would ensue rendered this plan in 
 eligible." The passes between Mont Cenis and Mont 
 Genievre were so strongly guarded by the Swiss, as to 
 render it highly inexpedient to expose the army to the 
 inevitable losses which must accrue from any attempt to 
 force them, and thus weaken its resources ; and conse- 
 quently great doubt existed as to the practicability of 
 making good the passage of horsemen and ordnance 
 across the Alps. The difficulty was, however, happily 
 overcome by the proposal of a Piedmontese peasant, a 
 vassal of the Count de Moreto, the cousin of Bayard 
 whose perfect acquaintance with all the intricacies of the 
 mountain-chain rendered him an admirable guide to 
 point out a path which was comparatively unknown, and
 
 172 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 of which the Swiss had evinced their entire ignorance by 
 leaving it totally unprotected. For a time the count 
 treated the suggestion with indifference, declaring that 
 it was impassable for a large army ; but the pertinacity of 
 his follower at length induced him to explore it, when 
 his doubts were shaken ; and having waited upon the 
 Duke of Savoy to solicit his permission to profit by the 
 discovery, he immediately started for Lyons to commu- 
 nicate to the king the result of his investigation. The 
 proposition was submitted to the council, who, after some 
 deliberation, decided that if, after a careful survey of the 
 pass, the attempt appeared practicable, it should be made ; 
 and as a preliminary measure, the Sire de Lautrec and 
 Pietro da Navarro, who were esteemed the most com- 
 petent judges upon such a subject the one from his 
 fondness for adventure and boldness in confronting dif- 
 ficulties, and the other from his mechanical skill and 
 knowledge were despatched to examine the pass, and to 
 report upon its practicability. They were accompanied 
 by the Marechals Trivulzio and La Palice, the Count de 
 Moreto, and his vassal ; and the whole extent of the for- 
 midable pass was strictly surveyed ; when it was ascer- 
 tained that the difficulties, although great and various, 
 were nevertheless not insurmountable if effectual mea- 
 sures were taken ; and, upon the delivery of this opinion, 
 it was at once resolved that the attempt should be 
 made. 
 
 Detachments were marched towards Mont Cenis and 
 Mont Genievre to distract and mislead the attention 
 of the enemy; and, all being in readiness, the van- 
 guard of the Trench army forded the Durance ; and,
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 173 
 
 followed by the remainder of the troops, entered the 
 mountain-chain on the Guillestre side, and commenced 
 their gigantic undertaking. Never had the zeal and 
 skill of Navarro availed so much. Under his directions 
 roads were levelled, ravines filled up, trees felled, and 
 rocks rent from their bases ; bridges thrown over torrents, 
 and the cannon dragged by hand across precipitous 
 heights, and along narrow ledges, where it was impossible 
 to entrust their safety to other than human strength. 
 
 No one who has not traversed the Alps not by the 
 roads now formed, but among the wild and rugged 
 ravines known only to the mountain hunter, who even 
 to this day reveals them grudgingly to the inquisitive 
 and adventurous traveller can for an instant compre- 
 hend, and far less appreciate, all the labour, danger, 
 and uncertainty of such an enterprise as that now 
 undertaken by the French army. As the troops 
 advanced upon their perilous way, their difficulties in- 
 creased. Nature, in all the majesty of her most formid- 
 able horrors, appeared to frown upon their audacity. 
 The roaring of the winds that growled through the 
 deep arid dark gullies by which they were surrounded ; 
 the hollow crashing of the tools with which the pioneers 
 seemed to be cleaving into the very heart of the rocky 
 mountains ; the avalanches which, disturbed by this 
 unwonted intrusion, came thundering down with an 
 impetuosity that mocked the most steady gaze ; the 
 cataracts which leapt from ledge to ledge until they 
 poured their vexed and boiling tide into some unseen 
 depth below ; the perpetual loss of life which was occa- 
 sioned by the sudden dislodgement of loosened masses
 
 174 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 that rolled into the abyss, and ultimately fell with a crash 
 which sounded like the ruin of a world ; all these impedi- 
 ments failed to discourage the ardour of the French 
 soldiery. Conquest was before them, and they toiled 
 on uncomplainingly until the mighty task was accom- 
 plished, and they descended safely into the valley of 
 Stura, near the town of Coni, in the territories of the 
 Marquis de Saluzzo, a firm ally of the French crown, with 
 all their heavy cavalry, and seventy pieces of ordnance. 
 All the estates of Saluzzo had been invaded by the enemy, 
 and all his strongholds taken, save the castle of Ravello, 
 which, owing to its extreme strength, had been enabled 
 to make an effectual resistance ; while the other fort- 
 resses, whence his troops had been driven out, were 
 occupied by Swiss garrisons, and his lands harried and 
 aid waste by the forces of Prosper Colonna, 1 an able and 
 experienced general, who commanded the army of the 
 coalition, and to whom the Duke of Milan had entrusted 
 the passes of the Alps, which were defended by a force 
 of 20,000 Swiss. 
 
 Courageous as he was, however, the personal bravery 
 of Colonna was not more conspicuous than his arro- 
 gance ; and while he awaited the approach of the French 
 army, he affected the utmost contempt for the enemy 
 against which he was to contend ; even carrying his pre- 
 sumption so far as to appropriate to himself the county 
 of Carmagnola, after having arranged with the Swiss to 
 
 1 Prosper Colonna was the son of Antonio, Prince of Salerno. He 
 defeated the French army at the battle of La Bicocca, in 1522, and 
 died in the course of the succeeding year, with the reputation of aii 
 able general.
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 175 
 
 dispossess the Duke of Savoy of his dominions, as the 
 forfeit which he was to pay for aiding and abetting his 
 nephew, Francis I, in his designs on the Milanese. 
 
 The vanguard of the French army had scarcely de- 
 scended into the plain of Stura, when they were in- 
 formed that Colonna had established his quarters in the 
 fortress of Carmagnola, where, confident in his security, 
 he had even disdained to take such precautions as a 
 better policy would have prompted. The spirit of French 
 chivalry was at once aroused by this intelligence ; and 
 La Palice, D'Aubigny, Imbercourt, Bayard, Montmo- 
 rency, and Bussy d'Amboise, resolved to make an attempt 
 to surprise him in his stronghold. They accordingly 
 advanced towards Carmagnola at the head of a body of 
 men-at-arms carefully selected for the purpose; and 
 while the Roman general was watching the progress of 
 the main army over a pass which he considered as the 
 most hazardous that could be contemplated, he never 
 anticipated that a little band of adventurers would make 
 their way by that of Rocca Sparviera, which he believed 
 to be utterly impracticable for cavalry. 
 
 Such an attempt was however made, and successfully 
 accomplished; but, on their arrival at Carmagnola, the 
 courageous party found that Colonna was no longer there, 
 but was moving towards Villa Franca, a small town 
 upon the Po, where he frequently halted, and, as they 
 ascertained, was that day to dine, before he proceeded to 
 Pignerol, where he had convened a council of war. 
 
 Bayard earnestly proposed an immediate pursuit ; 
 which being acceded to by his companions, the Count de 
 Moreto was despatched, disguised as a peasant, to hang
 
 17C THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 upon the skirts of the enemy's army, consisting of 
 three hundred mounted gendarmes, and some troops of 
 light horse, and to ascertain the order of their march. 
 Upon his return he confirmed the intelligence they 
 had already received, that in full assurance of his secu- 
 rity, Colonna was advancing leisurely towards his desti- 
 nation, rather like a private traveller riding through his 
 own territories, than a general who was prepared to 
 encounter an enemy. 
 
 Once assured of this fact, their arrangements were 
 speedily completed, and they were forthwith in move- 
 ment. Irnbercourt led the van with a hundred archers, 
 supported by Bayard with a like number of picked men, 
 about an arrow's flight behind; while the rear was 
 closed by La Palice and D'Aubigny. But although they 
 advanced silently and with great precaution, they did 
 not succeed in escaping observation ; and Colonna was 
 soon apprised by one of his spies that a French force 
 was tracking his footsteps. He however treated the 
 matter lightly ; and being at the moment on his way to 
 attend mass, he merely remarked that it could only be 
 Bayard and his band, unless the remainder of the army 
 had flown over the mountains ; and contented himself, 
 as he was entering the church, by despatching a second 
 emissary to ascertain the real strength of the advancing 
 party. 
 
 On the conclusion of the service he was informed by his 
 messenger that he was pursued by more than a thousand 
 French cavalry ; but, although startled by the intel- 
 ligence, he was still doubtful of the fact, declaring that 
 the man's fears had exaggerated the number of the
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 177 
 
 enemy, but that he would, nevertheless, ere long repay 
 Bayard for the inconvenience to which he was subjected 
 through his agency, by taking him like a pigeon in a 
 trap ; and as he seated himself at table, he impatiently 
 desired one of his gentlemen to put himself at the head 
 of a score of horse, to ride back a mile or two on the 
 road to Carmagnola, and to inform him if any danger 
 of a surprise really existed. 
 
 He then quietly commenced his repast ; but he was 
 not long destined to retain his arrogant tranquillity, for 
 the meal was not concluded when a cry of alarm became 
 audible, and shouts of " France ! France ! " echoed 
 through the narrow streets of the little town. 
 
 The reconnoitering party had come in sight of the 
 French troops, long ere they anticipated an encounter 
 for which they were totally unprepared, and on witness- 
 ing their numbers they at once turned and fled. Im- 
 bercourt, however, followed them up so closely that he 
 entered the gates of Villa Franca simultaneously with 
 the fugitives, and before the sentinels, who were fearful 
 of injuring their own comrades, had time to fire a shot. 
 The post once gained, he retained it, although wounded 
 in the face, until he was joined by Bayard ; nor could 
 all the after-attempts of the garrison enable them to 
 retake it. 
 
 For a brief time the conflict was a severe one ; but 
 the arrival of La Palice and D'Aubigny soon rendered 
 all further opposition on the part of the papal forces 
 utterly hopeless. Both the gates were secured to present 
 their egress, and only two Albanian soldiers escaped 
 over the plank adjoining the drawbridge, who fled 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [151.',. 
 
 wildly towards a strong body of Swiss, encamped within 
 three miles of Villa Franca, with intelligence of the 
 disaster. 
 
 Surprised, but not subdued, Colonna made a futile 
 attempt to defend himself ; but the house which he occu- 
 pied was surrounded, his garrison made prisoners, and 
 all escape rendered impracticable. In this strait, he de- 
 manded to be informed who were his captors, and he no 
 sooner ascertained their names than, with all the vehe- 
 mence of his nation, he abandoned himself to the most 
 violent grief, cursing his fate, and lamenting that God 
 had not permitted him to meet them in the field. 
 
 Bayard received the sword which he at length re- 
 luctantly and sullenly resigned, with a courtesy and 
 respect which, in a calmer moment, must have gone far 
 to console him ; but he could remember only the morti- 
 fication to which he had subjected himself by his own 
 want of caution, and continually exclaimed ; " Would to 
 God that I had met them in a fair field, even if I had 
 perished there !" 
 
 Many other prisoners of rank were taken, and among 
 the rest the Count de Policastro, Piero Morgante, and 
 Carolo Cadamosto. all good and approved soldiers ; while 
 the booty exceeded even the wildest hopes of the victors. 
 " Had it been well managed;" says the Loyal Servant, in 
 the true chapman spirit of the age, when it is certain that 
 all ranks of the army thought nearly as much of the 
 ransom to be obtained for their prisoners as of the glory 
 of defeating them ; " it might have been made to yield a 
 hundred and fifty thousand ducats." Suffice it, that by 
 the capture of Villa Franca the French secured, besides
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 179 
 
 other spoils, seven hundred horses, of which about four 
 hundred were of pure Andalusian race ; while Colonna 
 himself lost on that disastrous day more than fifty 
 thousand ducats in gold and silver plate, jewels, and 
 money. 
 
 Nor was this the only success with which the cam- 
 paign opened for Francis. A body of troops had been 
 despatched to Genoa by sea, under the command of 
 Aimar de Prie, the grand master of the cross-bow men, 
 and intelligence was received a short time subsequently to 
 the capture of Colonna, that they had reached their desti- 
 nation in safety, had been warmly welcomed, and that 
 their strength had been augmented by a force of four 
 thousand Genoese who had enlisted under their banner, 
 and with whose co-operation they had surprised and taken 
 Alessandria and Tortona, and possessed themselves of 
 the whole of the Milanese on that bank of the Po. 
 
 The discomfiture of Colonna had, meanwhile, discon- 
 certed all the measures taken by the allied sovereigns to 
 secure the defence of Lombardy. The pope hastily issued 
 an order to his nephew, Lorenzo de' Medici, to halt the 
 pontifical army within the frontiers of Modena ; and at 
 the same time despatched a trusty messenger to assure 
 the French king of his neutrality ; while Raymond de 
 Cardona, who had concentrated the Spanish forces in 
 the neighbourhood of Verona, awaited in vain the money 
 which had been promised to him by Ferdinand, and the 
 German troops with which he was to have been rein- 
 forced by Maximilian ; and meanwhile, closely pressed 
 by the Venetian general, who occupied the Polesino de 
 Rovego, he could neither advance nor retreat. 
 
 N 2
 
 180 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 Thus the Swiss found themselves, at a most critical 
 moment, abandoned by their allies. Moreover, their 
 arrears of pay, amounting to forty thousand florins, had 
 not reached them ; they considered themselves disgraced 
 by the success of the French army in crossing the Alps, 
 which they had undertaken to prevent ; and were ex- 
 asperated by the contempt with which they were re- 
 garded by the better disciplined and more soldier-like 
 forces of a nation towards which their hatred was un- 
 mitigated : but the wound which rankled the most 
 deeply in the hearts of the mercenary mountaineers was 
 the non-arrival of their salary, which so enraged them 
 against both the pope and the Viceroy of Naples, that 
 they robbed the chest of the pontifical commissary, and 
 retired in disorder to Verceil. 
 
 At this precise moment the French generals were 
 pressing forward to Milan, without any other impedi- 
 ment to their entrance into that city than these same 
 Switzers, who, at Galerata, on the road from Milan to 
 the Simplon, appeared to be about to abandon the 
 defence of Italy. Anxious to effect a reconciliation 
 with these mischievous antagonists, Francis, who had 
 never entertained towards them the same dislike which 
 had been manifested by his predecessor, and who was 
 aware that several of their most esteemed leaders were 
 in his interest, particularly Jean de Diesbach, Albert de 
 la Pierre, and George de Supersax Valaisan, caused 
 them to be followed to Galerata by commissaries who 
 were empowered to accord to them whatever sum they 
 might demand, on condition that they would lay down 
 their arms. Aware of their value in the field, he was
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 181 
 
 anxious to purchase their friendship, and to repay their 
 allegiance to himself at their own price ; and, as the 
 proposition met with no repulse, and they thus saw 
 an opportunity of at once satisfying their rapacity and 
 their revenge, M. de Lautrec and the Bastard of Savoy 
 ultimately agreed to promise them seven hundred thou- 
 sand crowns. 
 
 Meanwhile the coalesced princes, desirous as soon 
 as they witnessed the formidable attitude assumed by 
 Francis, to consolidate by a treaty of peace the few days 
 of truce which were rapidly waning to a close, and if 
 possible to induce the king to withdraw to a greater 
 distance from Milan, entered into a negotiation with him 
 to that effect ; but so certain did it appear that the 
 young monarch would, should he comply with their 
 wish for a cessation of hostilities, be enabled to dictate 
 his own terras, that the Duke de Gueldres, whose 
 presence was needed in his own dominions to check the 
 aggressions of the Brabanters, withdrew from the army ; 
 leaving his troops under the command of his nephew, 
 Claude de Lorraine, Duke de Guise, brother of the 
 reigning prince. He was, however, premature ; for while 
 the negotiations were still pending, and before the 
 arrangement could be concluded, a reinforcement of ten 
 thousand Switzers who had just crossed the Alps to 
 share the fortunes of their countrymen, and the powerful 
 exhortations of the celebrated Cardinal of Sion, the 
 sworn enemy of France, sufficed to dissuade the merce- 
 naries from their purpose, and to put an end to the 
 treaty altogether. The new comers, resolved not to 
 have made a bootless journey, declared that they would
 
 182 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 not return home empty-handed while those who had 
 preceded them were gorged with booty ; and proposed 
 that the money which the French king had deposited at 
 Buffaloro for the payment of his troops should be carried 
 off. The scheme was a tempting one to the avaricious 
 mountaineers, and met with almost universal welcome ; 
 but Jean de Diesbach and Albert de la Pierre, who had 
 hitherto possessed great influence, finding themselves 
 unable to dissuade their followers from so disgraceful 
 an enterprise, returned to their own countiy with six 
 or seven thousand men ;- and, it is believed, warned 
 Lautrec of the contemplated attack. 
 
 Inspired by the eloquence of the Cardinal, the Swiss 
 were once more eager to meet those in arms to whom 
 they had been about to sell their services ; and their old 
 hatred against France was again revived by the voice of 
 the unholy churchman, who, as the troops defiled before 
 him, shouted exultingly ; " Grasp your spears, beat your 
 drums, and let us march without loss of time to glut our 
 hate upon them, and to quench our thirst with their 
 blood." 
 
 Under this sanguinary influence the Swiss made their 
 attack upon Buffaloro, where, as we have already shown, 
 they failed in their object; and thence marched from 
 Monza towards Milan, plundering alike friends and foes, 
 quarrelling among themselves, and spreading desolation 
 upon their path. 
 
 The impatient spirit of Bayard chafed at the inso- 
 lence of the ill-governed mercenaries, who were thus 
 impeding the progress of the French arms ; and aware 
 that they were weakened by internal divisions, and that
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 183 
 
 the opportunity was not one to be neglected, he wrote 
 to the king, who was then at Lyons, to solicit his per- 
 mission to attack them with that portion of the army 
 which was then upon the spot, and which he declared 
 to be sufficient to ensure success. Francis, however, 
 would not listen to the suggestion, but gave stringent 
 orders that no engagement should be hazarded until the 
 whole of the troops could be brought into the field. He 
 .however hastened his own departure from France, and 
 proceeded with all speed to Turin, where he was warmly 
 greeted by his uncle, Charles III, Duke of Savoy, that 
 wavering prince, who had ever a ready reception for every 
 successful sovereign. Several strong places were taken on 
 his way without an effort at defence ; and many a bronzed 
 cheek flushed as the keys of Novara were delivered up. 
 At this point he was joined by the Duke de Gueldres, 
 the ever faithful and loyal servant of France, with six 
 thousand lansquenets ; and while the Swiss entered 
 Milan with their whole army, amounting to a force of 
 thirty-five thousand men, Francis established his head 
 quarters at Marignano, a small village about two leagues 
 from the city gates, pushing his vanguard to San- 
 Donato and Santa Brigitta, which diminished the dis- 
 tance between the hostile troops about one- half. 
 
 To prevent any junction between the Swiss and the 
 papal and Spanish armies, was now an object of the 
 utmost importance ; and accident effected for the young 
 king what must otherwise have been hopeless. The 
 Spaniards had made prisoner a confidential messenger 
 of the pope, and affecting not to credit the account which 
 he gave of his character and mission, they took posses-
 
 184 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 sion of his despatches, and discovered from their contents 
 that not only was Leo in treaty with Francis, but that 
 his nephew had also addressed to him a letter of compli- 
 ment and congratulation. This discovery naturally created 
 a mutual jealousy and distrust, and Cardona refused 
 to pass the Po unless the papal general were in his com- 
 pany; a resolution which, by the delays which it pro- 
 duced, prevented any co-operation with the Swiss, and 
 moreover gave D'Alviano time to reach Lodi, ten miles 
 further forward, with a large body of mounted troops ; 
 while Cardona himself, with the papal and Spanish 
 armies, was at Placenza, beyond the Po, twenty miles 
 further off in the rear of the French forces. 
 
 Indignant at the sordid treachery of the Swiss, Francis 
 was now as eager to attack them, as he had previously 
 been to conciliate; while the Cardinal of Sion was 
 equally desirous that they should meet the enemy single- 
 handed, without either papal or Spanish interference ; a 
 suggestion which aroused alike the vanity and the enthu- 
 siasm of the excited mountaineers, who had begun to 
 esteem themselves invincible. From an elevated spot he 
 harangued the restless host, calling upon them to do 
 themselves justice, to remember their late successes, and 
 the pledge which they had given to restore the young 
 Duke of Milan to his lawful rights. He reminded them 
 how much and how often they had themselves contributed 
 to the glory of the French arms ; and bade them recollect 
 that in return for their services France had broken her 
 treaties, violated her most solemn pledges, and insulted 
 them in their honour, by opposing to them the lans- 
 quenets of Germany, who now sought to arrogate to
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 185 
 
 themselves a fame which the Swiss had purchased with 
 their blood in many a well-fought field. He spoke with 
 contempt of the superior force to which they would be 
 opposed, declaring that the remembrance of Novara 
 should be sufficient to render such a consideration idle ; 
 and he terminated his impassioned address by calling 
 their attention to the fact that should they conquer, not 
 only all the glory, but all the spoil would be their own ; 
 an argument which revealed how perfectly he was master 
 of the art of eloquence. 
 
 A wild shout of applause welcomed his words ; but, ere 
 he could resume his speech, the young Marquis de Eleur- 
 anges, who had approached the city gates to reconnoitre 
 with more boldness than caution, was seen and recognised 
 by Mutio Colonna, who instantly gave the alarm; the Swiss 
 flew to arms, and on Thursday the 13th of September, 
 at three o'clock in the afternoon, they marched out of 
 Milan, still under the excitement of the words to which 
 they had been listening, and burning with the thirst of 
 gold and hatred, advanced to Marignano to attack the 
 enemy. Disdaining to delay the moment of their charge 
 by any precautionary measure, they moved forward in a 
 compact body along the direct road, flanked on either 
 side by a deep ditch ; and the fire of the artillery which 
 was turned upon them, produced no other effect on 
 their order of march, than to cause them to draw their 
 ranks closer, and to fill up with celerity and steadiness 
 the gaps which were made from time to time in their 
 column ; and ere the twilight fell they had overthrown 
 the first body of lansquenets, who had been entrusted by 
 the Connetable de Bourbon with the guard of the guns.
 
 186 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 The king was conversing with D'Alviano, previously to 
 seating himself at table, when Fleuranges galloped into 
 the camp with information from M. de Bourbon that the 
 Swiss were approaching. All was immediately in move- 
 ment; and while Francis assumed his arms, he urged 
 D'Alviano to join him with all speed with the Venetian 
 army; and this done, he sprang into the saddle, and 
 hastened towards the enemy, followed by his body-guard ; 
 while D'Alviano hurried back to Lodi, to bring up such 
 troops as he could collect upon the instant. 
 
 History scarcely affords an example of a battle disputed 
 with greater obstinacy than that of Marignano. The 
 Swiss, intoxicated with vanity, hate, and greed, fought as 
 though all their renown as soldiers were to be staked 
 upon this one die; while Francis was surrounded by 
 able and experienced generals, and although ignorant of 
 the art of war, was full of intrepidity and courage. When 
 the young king reached the field, the action had, as we 
 have stated above, already commenced ; and although 
 the connetable had taken every precaution to strengthen 
 his position, the serried attack of the enemy placed the 
 French troops at a disadvantage, from the impractica- 
 bility of their acting simultaneously. A large ditch had 
 been dug to protect the guns, which were flanked by the 
 cavalry ; but although a murderous fire continued to be 
 turned upon them, the mountaineers did not swerve or 
 hesitate for an instant. On they moved in silence, dark- 
 ening the causeway with their numbers, filling up the 
 places of their dead, and marching straight upon the 
 guns. Not even the appearance of the cavalry, destitute 
 as they were of such a force, appeared to startle them ;
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 187 
 
 but still they pressed forward, concentrating all their 
 efforts against their detested rivals, the lansquenets, and 
 apparently regardless of the mounted troops. This fact, 
 unfortunately, aroused the suspicious of the Germans, 
 who, perceiving that they were the sole objects of attack, 
 began to apprehend treachery; and as this fatal idea gained 
 ground, they wavered and gave way, ultimately retreat- 
 ing in disorder behind the ditch, where the Swiss followed 
 them so closely as to gain possession of four of the guns. 
 The rapid eye of the connetable detected the truth at a 
 glance ; and, resolved to convince his startled allies of the 
 fallacy of their suspicion, he caused the cavalry to attack 
 the flank of the Swiss column ; which they did with con- 
 siderable effect, although from the nature of the ground 
 they were unable to manoeuvre, and could only advance 
 by five hundred at a time. Meanwhile Francis him- 
 self advanced at the head of the Black Bands, 1 and made 
 a vigorous attack upon the opposite flank ; when the 
 lansquenets, at once convinced of their error, attempted 
 to regain the advantage they had lost, and, after a des- 
 perate struggle, succeeded in driving the enemy beyond 
 the ditch, and once more turning the guns against them. 
 The dauntless courage of the young monarch, who 
 fought on foot, pike in hand, like the force which he 
 led, animated the enthusiasm of the troops, and, for a 
 moment, shook the arrogant tranquillity of the Swiss ; 
 but nevertheless, nothing important had been accom- 
 plished. Still the very sky seemed to bristle with their 
 
 1 These were the forces contributed by the Duke de Gueldres, who, 
 during the long wars of their sovereign against the emperor, having 
 always fought under a black banner, had acquired this appellation.
 
 188 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 long pikes, and their ranks were as dense as at the com- 
 mencement of the action. In vain did the connetable 
 and his generals exert the most desperate valour ; in vain 
 did the panting horses press closely upon the foremost 
 files, while their riders endeavoured to cut their way 
 through the thick-clinging mass ; again and again they 
 returned to the charge, only to be foiled ; and at length, 
 exhausted by their unsuccessful efforts, they were com- 
 pelled to fall back in some disorder upon the infantry ; 
 when the king suddenly charged one of the Swiss wings, 
 consisting of four thousand men, with two hundred 
 gendarmes, so opportunely and so vigorously, that the 
 division was completely routed, and with a cry of 
 " France ! France !" laid down their arms. 
 
 The similarity of uniform that existed between the 
 two armies, each of which bore the white cross, was a 
 serious disadvantage to the French, as amid the clouds 
 of dust raised by the horses and artillery, and the 
 deepening twilight, it was difficult for them to distin- 
 guish friends from enemies, a circumstance which had 
 nearly led to the capture of the young king ; who, 
 while at the head of his gendarmes, imagined that he 
 was approaching a body of lansquenets, and galloped 
 towards them shouting his rallying cry ; when instantly 
 a score of pikes were levelled at him, and he was com- 
 pelled to make a hasty retreat with his squadron. The 
 Swiss, on the other hand, having no cavalry of their 
 own, could direct their weapons fearlessly against the 
 mounted force, nor did they fail to profit by such an 
 opportunity whenever it occurred ; but still, conscious 
 that they were indebted to the same manoeuvre for their
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 1S9 
 
 success at Novara, they made every other object subser- 
 vient to the capture of the artillery, and were never for 
 an instant diverted from their purpose. 
 
 As the moon rose, less difficulty was experienced by 
 the French, who were once more enabled to distinguish 
 friends from foes ; and Francis having rallied a body of 
 lansquenets, joined the French infantry, led by the con- 
 netable, and succeeded in driving back the battalion which 
 was marching upon the guns. This was the most fearful 
 moment of the battle ; the two armies became intermixed, 
 the ditches were filled with dead, and no longer offered 
 an impediment to the passage of either party ; La Tre- 
 mouille, who yet writhed at the remembrance of Novara, 
 and his' son, the Prince de Talmont, who was equally 
 anxious to avenge the honour of the French arms, re- 
 mained throughout the whole conflict upon this one spot, 
 feeling that here, and only here, would the fortunes of 
 the fight be decided ; while Bayard, who was close beside 
 them, having had his own war-horse killed under him, 
 mounted a second just previously to the last charge ; and 
 more intent upon the enemy than his own safety, suffered 
 the bridle to escape from his hand ; when the spirited 
 animal, excited by the clashing of weapons and the shrill 
 battle-cries which resounded on every side, no sooner 
 found itself freed from restraint, than it galloped madly 
 towards the Swiss lines, broke through the foremost ranks, 
 and would inevitably have carried its rider into the very 
 thick of the enemy's forces, had not its feet become en- 
 tangled in some trailing vines, which checked its headlong 
 career. The position of the good knight was perilous, but 
 not for a moment losing his presence of mind, he threw
 
 190 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 himself from the saddle, cast off his helmet and tasses, 
 and crept along one of the ditches on his hands and knees, 
 until the shouts of " France ! France ! " which pealed out 
 close beside him, gave him assurance that he had reached 
 the French lines. 
 
 The Duke de Lorraine, by whom he was immediately 
 recognised, supplied him with a third horse, and he 
 obtained another helmet from a comrade in the field. 
 Little more, however, could for the present be accom- 
 plished. Before midnight the moon went down, and 
 darkness compelled both hosts to pause in a confusion 
 which promised them ample work for the morrow. The 
 two armies were completely entangled ; several batteries 
 had been taken ; and one Swiss battalion was so close 
 upon the artillery, beside which the king had taken up 
 his post, that it was found necessary to extinguish the 
 matches in order that the enemy might not discover how 
 slenderly he was attended. No signal of retreat having 
 been sounded by either party, the confusion was com- 
 plete, each corps or detachment being compelled to make 
 its bivouac where it had been surprised by the darkness ; 
 and thus friends and enemies, the living and the dead, 
 lay side by side, sharing one common couch, until the 
 daylight should once more call the survivors to recom- 
 mence their struggle. The young king spent the 
 remainder of the night stretched on a gun-carriage, 
 completely armed, where he snatched a few intervals 
 of broken rest; and having complained of thirst, and 
 demanded a draught of water, it was brought to him in 
 a helmet, but so discoloured with blood, that, exhausted 
 as he was, he put it from him with loathing.
 
 1.515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 191 
 
 The hours of seeming rest were not, however, suffered 
 by the French leaders to pass in total inaction. An Italian 
 trumpeter, who was stationed near the person of the 
 king, and the sounds of whose brazen instrument at in- 
 tervals broke upon the stillness of that field of blood like 
 the trump of the archangel, rousing the dying and awaken- 
 ing the requiem of the dead, gave out signals to the 
 different French regiments, who one by one approached 
 the royal person ; and thus, when the day broke, Francis 
 found himself once more surrounded by a force of twenty 
 thousand lansquenets, and all his horse ; while at the 
 same time the horns of the mountaineers were heard as 
 if in response or defiance, although no corresponding 
 movement took place among their forces. 
 
 At break of day the Swiss renewed the attack, the 
 artillery was impetuously assaulted, and the Germans 
 who defended it were driven back ; but the present 
 disposition of the French army enabled it to withstand 
 this first shock without any apparent discomfiture ; and 
 the weU-directed fire of the guns opened a passage for the 
 cavalry through the hostile ranks, and turned the tide in 
 favour of the assailed. The Swiss soon became aware 
 that they could not successfully contend against the 
 enemy upon this point; and accordingly detached a 
 strong force to attack the French in the rear ; but in this 
 attempt they were also destined to be foiled ; as the 
 troops of the Duke d'Alencon, which had hitherto taken 
 no part in the conflict, and the cross-bowmen of De 
 Prie, having discovered the manoeuvre, charged them 
 with vigour, and totally routed the whole body. 
 
 It soon became evident that the star of Francis was in
 
 [0'2 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515- 
 
 the ascendant ; the Swiss began to give way, but slowly, 
 reluctantly, and with unbroken ranks, contending for 
 every inch of ground with a tenacity which was heroic ; 
 but at length they abandoned all hope and retreated 
 undisguisedly, although still with their faces turned 
 towards their enemies. When the victory was complete 
 the young king called a council to decide upon the 
 expediency of pursuit, but the project was ultimately 
 abandoned ; even Bayard, ever the foremost where glory 
 was to be won, declaring that the day might yet come 
 when the co-operation of the Swiss would be valuable to 
 France; and the most adventurous remembering that 
 the number and rank of their own wounded demanded 
 their first attention. The fugitives were consequently 
 permitted to re-enter Milan without opposition, where 
 they passed the remnant of the eventful day which 
 had witnessed their defeat; and at dawn the following 
 morning marched out in mortified silence on their way 
 towards their own mountains. 
 
 D'Alviano, who, by forced marches, had reached Mari- 
 gnano with some Venetian cavalry, only arrived in time 
 to attack the Swiss upon their homeward path ; but the 
 exertion which he had undergone proved, nevertheless, 
 fatal to his shattered constitution, and soon brought him 
 to his grave. The Swiss had suffered enormous loss, 
 computed at from twelve to fifteen thousand men ; nor 
 had the French, conquerors though they were, unalloyed 
 cause for rejoicing. They also had paid a heavy price 
 for their victory. Six thousand of their troops had fallen, 
 and among them were some of the most chivalrous blood 
 of the nation : Francois de Bourbon had been killed by
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 193 
 
 his brother's side ; the brave young Prince de Talmond, 
 who had so nobly supported his father, was struck 
 down before his eyes ; Pierre de Gouffier Boisy, the 
 gallant D'Imbercourt, the Count de Sancerre, the Sire de 
 Mouy, Bussy, the nephew of the Cardinal d'Amboise, 
 La Meilleraye, the king's standard bearer, De Roye, and 
 the young Count de Petigliano, were ah 1 among the 
 slain ; while the list of wounded was even more appall- 
 ing ; and Bourbon owed his life to the intrepidity of a 
 squadron of his own cavalry. Even Francis himself, as 
 we have already shown, barely escaped capture ; while, 
 true to his knightly tenets, he had exposed his person 
 throughout the whole conflict so unsparingly that he was 
 on more than one occasion in imminent peril, and had a 
 portion of his dress transfixed by the blow of a pike. 
 
 The letter addressed by the young monarch to his 
 mother immediately after the battle, is highly character- 
 istic alike of his personal courage, and his total want of 
 power to understand, even at its close, by what precise 
 strategy the victory had been secured to his own arms. 
 "Because the avenue j" he says; "by which the said 
 Swiss were approaching was rather narrow, it was not so 
 possible to place our gendarmes in the vanguard, as 
 though we had been in the open country, which threat- 
 ened to throw us into great disorder. . . . And however 
 well and gallantly these men-at-arms charged, the Conne- 
 table, the Marechal de Chabannes, Imbercourt, Teligny, 
 Pont-Remy, and others who were there, they were thrown 
 back upon their foot-soldiers, so that, owing to the great 
 dust, they could scarcely see each other, especially as the 
 night was coming on, and there was some slight con- 
 
 VOL. i. o
 
 194 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 fusion ; but God did me the favour to guide me to the 
 side of those who were pushing them so hotly ; I thought 
 it well to charge them, and so they were, and I promise 
 you, Madame, however well led and brave they were, our 
 two hundred gendarmes overcame four thousand Swiss, 
 and routed them rudely enough, making them throw 
 down their pikes, and cry France! . . . And you must 
 understand that the conflict of that night lasted from 
 three o'clock in the afternoon until between eleven and 
 twelve, when the moon failed us. And I assure you, 
 Madame, that I saw the lansquenets measure pikes with 
 the Swiss, the lances with the gendarmes ; and it can 
 no longer be said that the gendarmes are mounted hares, 
 for, without fail, it was they who did the business ; and 
 I do not believe that I lie when I say that by five hun- 
 dred and five hundred at a time, thirty fine charges were 
 made before the battle was won." 
 
 The entire letter is long, often playful, and occasionally 
 even flippant, when the gravity of the subject is con- 
 sidered ; but Francis was still young, greedy of renown, 
 and, consequently, almost careless of the means and 
 price at which it was acquired ; while the generosity of 
 his character is apparent in the fact that he speaks of 
 his own exploits as though they were mere matters of 
 course, while he withholds no praise from those by whom 
 he was surrounded. 
 
 On the Friday evening, the same upon which this 
 letter was written, the whole camp was loud with re- 
 joicing, and the bearing of each separate leader was 
 warmly discussed ; when it was generally admitted that 
 Bayard was the hero of the two days, as he had ever
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 195 
 
 been in the field of honour; and Francis himself was 
 so fully impressed with the same conviction, that before 
 the night set in, he resolved, previously to creating 
 knights with his own hand, to receive knighthood him- 
 self at that of Bayard : the romantic tastes in which he 
 loved to indulge having caused him to overlook the fact 
 that every monarch of France was necessarily understood 
 to be a knight even from the cradle. 
 
 Nevertheless the ceremony must have been an im- 
 posing one, as the young king stood upon the battle-field 
 where he had subdued his enemies, in the midst of the 
 brave and devoted chivalry of a great nation ; the dead, 
 who had fallen in his cause, yet unearthed ; the living 
 who had fought beside him, still at their post ; the 
 gallant men who survived the conflict marshalled about 
 him, girding with their strength the proud group clus- 
 tered about their youthful, and fearless, and victorious 
 sovereign ; the banners of their beloved France streaming 
 upon the air, and the weapons which had so well and so 
 recently done their duty gleaming on all sides ; feathers 
 streaming, proud war-horses champing the bit, and the 
 artillery-men leaning upon their guns, now dark and silent. 
 
 Mistaken as the act may have been, and worse than 
 supererogatory in a powerful monarch, the scene must, 
 nevertheless, have been one to make high hearts leap, 
 and bold brows flush, as Francis called Bayard to his 
 side, and with the noble and endearing courtesy fami- 
 liar to him, declared his intention of being there and 
 then knighted, by the hand of a warrior esteemed 
 one of the most renowned, not only of his own 
 nation, but of all Christendom ; and, despite the dis- 
 
 o 2
 
 10G THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 clainiers of his astonished subject, he persisted in his 
 determination. 
 
 " In good sooth, Sire ;" then exclaimed Bayard, who 
 would have held further objections to the command of his 
 sovereign as discourteous and irreverent ; " since it is 
 your royal pleasure that this should be, I arn ready to 
 perform your will, not once, but many times, unworthy 
 as I am of the high office to which you have appointed 
 me;" and grasping his sword proudly and firmly, he 
 continued, as the young king bent his knee ; " May 
 my poor agency be as efficacious as though the cere- 
 mony were performed by Oliver, Godfrey, or Baldwin; 
 although, in good truth, you are the first prince whom 
 I have ever dubbed a knight ; and God grant that you 
 may never turn your back upon an enemy." Then 
 brandishing his good weapon, and glancing sportively at 
 it, as the last rays of evening flashed upon its polished 
 blade, he apostrophized it as though it were a thing 
 of life, which could participate in his own hilarity of 
 spirit, exclaiming ; " Thou art fortunate indeed to-day 
 that thou hast been called upon to confer knighthood 
 upon so great and powerful a monarch ; and certes, my 
 trusty sword, thou shalt henceforth be carefully guarded 
 as a relic, honoured above all others; and shalt never 
 be unsheathed again, save it be against the Infidel!" 
 Then, lowering the point with reverence, he thrust it 
 back into its scabbard, amid the enthusiastic shouts of 
 the excited army. 
 
 Many of the French officers, among whom one of the 
 most distinguished was the gallant young Marquis de 
 Fleuranges, then received the honour of knighthood in
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 197 
 
 their turn by the hand of Francis himself; and three 
 days having been consumed in these ceremonies, and in 
 the burial of those who had fallen upon that memorable 
 field, the French struck their tents, and marched towards 
 Milan. 
 
 The Cardinal of Sion had already taken refuge in the 
 coveted city, trusting still to retrieve the disasters of 
 Marignano ; but he was soon undeceived by the bearing 
 of the fugitives, who poured through the gates after their 
 defeat. So far from acknowledging his authority, the 
 mortified Swiss bitterly reproached him with the result 
 of his pernicious counsels, upbraiding him with the blood 
 which had been spilt, and the disgrace of which he had 
 been the author ; and so fierce was their resentment, 
 that he was wholly indebted to the sacredness of his 
 character for his escape from the vengeance of the 
 infuriated troops, who saw all their previous glory and 
 power annihilated by their present overthrow. Nor did he 
 long venture to trust even to this safeguard ; for, having 
 convinced himself that his influence was at an end, he 
 found it expedient to escape by stealth from the city, 
 carefully carrying with him, however, the young Francesco 
 Sforza, the brother of the reigning duke, upon whom he 
 looked as the earnest of future dissension. 
 
 Milan gladly opened its gates to the conquerors, for 
 the terror which the battle of Marignano had inspired 
 forbade any further effort at resistance on the part of its 
 citizens ; but the citadel into which Maximilian Sforza had 
 retired still held out. Although by the late defeat of his 
 mercenary allies he was rendered almost powerless, the 
 duke had been encouraged to defy his enemies to the last
 
 198 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515. 
 
 extremity, by the fact that ere they vacated the city the 
 Swiss had encouraged him to defend the fortress, declaring 
 that they would shortly return in increased force to effect 
 his deliverance. Unfortunately, however, the promise was 
 accompanied by a demand of their arrears of pay, which 
 Maximilian, who in losing his duchy had lost all, was 
 no longer in a position to satisfy ; and thus, with a dis- 
 play of magnanimity at the outset, they were finally 
 enabled to secure what they had become anxious to 
 obtain a plausible pretext for abandoning the weak 
 prince to his fate. 
 
 Dissensions had, moreover, broken out among the 
 Italian subjects of the duke, and the small force of Swiss 
 who had determined to share his fortunes; and thus 
 besieged from without, and weakened by jealousies and 
 differences within, the citadel with its slender garrison of 
 two thousand men was unable to withstand the ardour 
 of the French led on by the Duke de Bourbon ; and it 
 accordingly surrendered, twenty days after the battle of 
 Marignano, together with the city of Cremona ; the only 
 portion of Sforza's territories which were not already in 
 the possession of the French king. 
 
 Francis proved himself, however, a generous conqueror ; 
 conceded honourable conditions to the conquered; suf- 
 fered the entire garrison to evacuate the citadel without 
 molestation ; and offered to Sforza himself a safe asylum 
 in France, with a pension of thirty thousand crowns. 
 Destitute alike of talent and ambition, Maximilian 
 eagerly embraced these terms ; and gladly retired from 
 a position to which he was unequal, and to which he 
 would in all probability never have aspired, had he
 
 1515.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. * 199 
 
 not listened to the advice of pretended friends whose 
 interests were served by his advancement, rather than to 
 the promptings of his own inclination. He accordingly 
 renounced his ducal rights in favour of the French king, 
 passed into France, and, after lingering through fifteen 
 years of insignificance, ultimately died in Paris, on the 
 10th of June, 1530. 
 
 Francis was now master of the whole of the Milan- 
 ese; and a few days subsequent to the completion 
 of the treaty, made his ceremonious entry into the cap- 
 tured city at the head of his army, attended by five 
 princes of the blood, when the oath of allegiance was 
 once more taken by the authorities as readily and as 
 glibly as though it had not already been pledged and 
 violated on many previous occasions ; congratulations, 
 equally unmeaning, poured in from all sides ; and the 
 young king saw himself at last sovereign of Milan.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 [1515-17.] 
 
 LEO X. PROPOSES A TREATY WITH FRANCE, WHICH IS RATIFIED AT VITERBO 
 HIS TERGIVERSATION FRANCIS PROCEEDS TO BOLOGNA TO MEET THE 
 POPE POLICY OF THE PONTIFF A LEAGUE IS FORMED BETWEEN THE TWO 
 POTENTATES FRANCIS AGREES TO ABANDON HIS DESIGNS ON NAPLES 
 THE QUESTION OF THE PRAGMATIC SANCTION IS DISCUSSED DISCONTENT 
 OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS LEO X. ENDEAVOURS TO INDUCE FRANCIS TO 
 UNDERTAKE A CRUSADE AGAINST THE TURKS THE CONCORDAT IS SIGNED 
 EXULTATION OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE FERDINAND OF ARAGON ENDEA- 
 VOURS TO AROUSE THE JEALOUSY OF HENRY VIII. AGAINST FRANCE THE 
 EMPEROR RAISES A POWERFUL ARMY LAUTREC BESIEGES BRESCIA ; BUT IS 
 REPULSED ; AND COMPELLED TO RETIRE TO MILAN THE DUKE DE BOURBON 
 DESTROYS THE FAUBOURGS OF THE CITY, AND DISBANDS THE SWISS TROOPS 
 THE EMPEROR THREATENS TO RAZE THE CITY OF MILAN THE SWISS 
 REFUSE TO ACT MAXIMILIAN ESCAPES BY NIGHT FROM THE CAMP THE 
 SIEGE OF MILAN IS RAISED THE SWISS TROOPS ARE RECALLED BY THE 
 DIET THE IMPERIALISTS EVACUATE THE MILANESE DISGRACE OF MAXI- 
 MILIAN BRESCIA CAPITULATES DEATH OF FERDINAND OF ARAGON HE 
 BEQUEATHS HIS KINGDOM TO THE ARCHDUKE CHARLES FRANCIS ISSUES 
 SEVERAL EDICTS WHICH ARE UNFAVOURABLY RECEIVED BY HIS SUBJECTS 
 ARROGANCE OF THE CHANCELLOR EDUCATION OF CHARLES OF ARAGON 
 HIS PROSPECTS HE ENDEAVOURS TO CONCILIATE FRANCIS JEALOUSY 
 OF M. DE CHIEVRES AGAINST THE CARDINAL XIMENES CHARLES SENDS 
 AN AMBASSADOR TO FRANCE THE TWO MONARCHS ENTER INTO A TREATY 
 OF ALLIANCE THE HAND OF THE INFANT PRINCESS LOUISE PROMISED TO 
 THE SPANISH KING THE PEACE OF NOYON MAXIMILIAN ACCEDES TO 
 THE TREATY STATE OF THE VENETIAN TERRITORIES FRANCIS OPENS A 
 NEGOTIATION WITH THE HELVETIC STATES, AND CONCLUDES A TREATY OF 
 AMITY WITH SWITZERLAND. 
 
 .
 
 1515-17.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 203 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 [1515-17.] 
 
 LEO X, versed in all the refinements of Italian policy, 
 abandoned with their success the cause of his allies ; and 
 as the victory of Marignano had secured the ascendency 
 of Francis in Italy, he lost no time in seeking to obtain 
 his friendship. A nuncio was despatched immediately 
 that the result of the battle became known, ostensibly 
 to congratulate the French monarch, but the real object 
 of whose mission was to propose a treaty, by which the 
 sovereign pontiff volunteered to relinquish his pretensions 
 to Parma and Piacenza, and to withdraw the papal 
 troops which were serving under the emperor ; on condi- 
 tion that, as a compensation for these territories, Bologna 
 should be ceded to him, as well as a monopoly of the 
 commerce in salt from Cervia. 
 
 To this proposition Francis acceded, and the treaty 
 was ratified at Viterbo, on the 13th of October. The 
 two forfeited cities opened their gates, the garrisons 
 marched out, and they were left at the disposal of the 
 French. In the second clause of the treaty Leo was, 
 however, less honest j for instead of recalling the troops 
 who were serving under the standard of Maximilian, he 
 simply disbanded them ; thus leaving each individual 
 free to re-engage himself in the same army; while he
 
 204 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515-17. 
 
 acted with the same prudent reserve when proposing to 
 Francis that ere he left Italy they should meet and con- 
 fer together upon such subjects as might concern their 
 mutual interests. Having once given his assent to this 
 arrangement, the young king prepared to proceed to 
 Rome ; but the wily pope had already imbibed a suspi- 
 cion that the conqueror of Marignano had designs 
 against Naples ; and, resolved not to smooth his path 
 towards this new object of ambition, he affected to de- 
 precate the idea of his undergoing the inconvenience 
 and fatigue which such a journey must involve, and sug- 
 gested Bologna as the more desirable point of meeting. 
 Thither, therefore, Francis repaired brilliantly at- 
 tended, and was met on the confines of the ecclesias- 
 tical states by a body of thirty cardinals, who welcomed 
 him with every demonstration of respect and regard ; 
 and by whom he was at once conducted to the con- 
 sistory in great state, in order that he might without 
 loss of time, pay that spiritual homage to the pontiff 
 which was enforced from every Christian monarch by 
 whom he was approached. The French king entered 
 the church supported by two cardinal-bishops, and fol- 
 lowed by his chancellor and barons, habited in vests and 
 haut-de-chausses of cloth of gold; himself holding the train 
 of the pope's robe until he approached the altar, when 
 he took his seat upon a low stool beside him, rising 
 and kneeling with the assembled cardinals. When the 
 pontiff communicated, the king presented the water 
 and napkin with which he washed his hands ; while the 
 former was warned not to raise his hand to his cap, 
 as he was in the habit of doing upon such occasions,
 
 1515-17.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 205 
 
 lest the action should be observed, and construed into 
 an intentional courtesy towards his royal assistant, which 
 it would be indecorous in the vicar of Christ to exhibit 
 in public towards any temporal monarch. 
 
 The great ambition of Francis having been for some 
 time a reconciliation with the sovereign-pontiff, he was 
 at once fascinated by the urbane bearing and specious 
 sophistry of his host, who, although he had nearly 
 reached his fortieth year, possessed all the tastes and 
 habits of a younger man ; and enamoured rather of 
 military glory than ecclesiastical probity, spent his life 
 in dreams of conquest, and a round of pleasure and dis- 
 sipation. Having by his reckless extravagance exhausted 
 the immense treasures accumulated by his predecessor, 
 Leo X. was desirous of subjecting additional provinces 
 to the authority of the Holy See, in order that he might 
 be enabled to levy new tributes ; and he accordingly 
 felt it expedient to conciliate his most dangerous rival in 
 this game of warfare, by every means in his power. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the brilliancy of the festivals given 
 in honour of the young conqueror. The streets through 
 which he passed were draped with silks and tapestry, 
 and strewn with leaves and flowers ; while, equally de- 
 voted to splendour and pleasure, the two potentates 
 passed several days in the most magnificent dissipation, 
 before they proceeded to the more serious business 
 which had induced the meeting. 
 
 These days were not however lost to the crafty Leo ; 
 who, sufficiently skilled in physiognomy to discern at a 
 glance the principal failing of his princely guest, assailed 
 him by an excess of flattery which he was consti-
 
 206 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515-17. 
 
 tutionally unable to withstand ; and, this point gained, 
 induced him to purchase his reconciliation with the 
 church, by conditions which were degrading alike to a 
 sovereign and a conqueror. 
 
 While the two contracting parties formed a league of 
 strict alliance, not only between themselves personally, but 
 also between their separate states, Francis, in addition, 
 conceded his guarantee of protection to all the ecclesi- 
 astical possessions ; and pledged himself not only to 
 assist the pope to recover all the properties of the 
 church to which he could advance a valid right, but 
 even to place implicit trust in the word of the pontiff, 
 whenever these claims might be disputed. He likewise 
 promised not to receive under his protection any vassal, 
 feudatory, or churchman of his holy ally, who might 
 have rendered, or should hereafter render himself ob- 
 noxious to his spiritual sovereign ; and to withdraw his 
 favour from all such as he should have already provided 
 with an asylum in France. He assured to the pope, as 
 we have stated above, the commerce in salt, which, in 
 point of fact, secured to him a monopoly of the whole 
 trade in that essential article throughout the Milanese ; 
 and promised to the Florentine republic, or, in other 
 words, to the house of Medicis, by whom it was governed, 
 the same guarantees as to the church itself; and he 
 especially pledged himself to support the power of Giu- 
 liano and Lorenzo de' Medici, the former of whom had 
 been constantly associated in all public measures of the 
 pontiff, and to grant to them titles of honour in France, 
 and large pensions. 
 
 Meanwhile, in return for all these important con-
 
 1515-17.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 207 
 
 cessions, Leo did no more than promise to support the 
 king in his sovereignty of the duchy of Milan, such as 
 he then held it; and to restore the cities of Parma 
 and Piacenza, which he had himself detached from that 
 province. 
 
 Three days were consumed in this unequal, and, to 
 Francis, unfavourable conference ; during the course of 
 which the Italian pontiff succeeded, moreover, in inducing 
 him to abandon all present designs upon Naples repre- 
 senting to him that the health of Ferdinand was becoming 
 sufficiently precarious to justify the anticipation of 
 his early demise, at which period he should himself be 
 freed from his engagements towards that monarch, and 
 at liberty to assist the views of France. Anxious to 
 retain the newly acquired friendship of the pope, Francis 
 was induced to comply with this request also, although 
 not altogether unconditionally. He could not overlook 
 the fact that the Duke of Ferrara, who was a feudatory 
 of the Holy See, had forfeited, through his fidelity to his 
 own cause, the territories of Modena and Reggio ; or 
 that the Duke d'Urbino, a kinsman of the previous pope, 
 had been deprived of the estates which he held of the 
 see of Rome, for having fought throughout the recent 
 war under the French banner ; and he accordingly stipu- 
 lated that the former should be reinstated in his posses- 
 sions, and the domains of the latter restored to him. 
 
 The first proposition was, after some difficulty, ac- 
 cepted by Leo X ; but even then only upon the con- 
 dition that he should personally be reimbursed in certain 
 sums which he declared that the defalcation of the duke 
 had caused him to expend ; to the latter he merely
 
 208 THE COURT AND REIGN OF 1515-17. 
 
 replied that he would give all necessary consideration to 
 the subject ; and with this equivocal answer Francis 
 suffered himself to be satisfied. 
 
 The question of the Pragmatic Sanction, involving 
 as it did more serious and important consequences, was 
 deputed to the investigation and discussion of commis- 
 sioners, who were empowered to examine and to decide 
 upon the conflicting interests which must be affected by 
 its arrangement. This was ultimately accomplished by 
 a mutual concession, and the terms being carefully 
 arranged and specified, the treaty received the name of 
 Concordat ; the pope granting to the French king the 
 privilege of nominating to all the vacant benefices in his 
 kingdom ; and Francis, on his side, engaging to pay 
 to the pontiff the year's revenue of benefices so bestowed. 
 
 The university of Paris, however, saw with a jealous 
 eye the project of an arrangement which annihilated the 
 freedom of ecclesiastical elections ; and refused either to 
 register, or to recognise, the right of the monarch thus 
 to limit the powers of the Gallican church, and to 
 divert its revenues ; accusing him of having bartered its 
 unalienable rights in order to further his personal inter- 
 ests. Having, by an assembly at Bourges in 1438, 
 liberated themselves in a great degree from all inter- 
 ference with the internal economy of their church on 
 the part of the pope, and released themselves from his 
 exactions, the French clergy were naturally averse to feel 
 the yoke of papal despotism once more upon their necks; 
 and thus this, one of the most unpopular measures of 
 Francis, became at once a source of heart-burning and 
 suspicion.
 
 london Richa.TdBentLey.T.849
 
 1515-17.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 209 
 
 The next attempt of the wily pontiff was to induce 
 the young sovereign to undertake a crusade against the 
 Turks ; a project which he considered as eminently suited 
 at once to excite the ardent and chivalrous nature of 
 Francis, and to deliver himself for a time from a dangerous 
 neighbour ; while in order the more to please his fancy 
 and to arouse his ambition in favour of such an expedi- 
 tion, he proposed to bestow upon him the title of Emperor 
 of the East. Francis accepted the courtesy, but regarded 
 the whole transaction as nothing more; declining to assume 
 a dignity which he was conscious that his host had no 
 power to confer ; and confining his ambition to other and 
 more feasible enterprises. Nor were the two high con- 
 tracting parties the only ones who were, at this important 
 crisis, occupied in the furtherance of their individual 
 interests at Bologna. All who directly, or indirectly, 
 assisted in the negotiations put forth their several claims ; 
 money, pensions, honours, and ecclesiastical benefices, 
 were lavishly distributed among the adherents of the 
 pope. The hand of Philiberte de Savoie, the sister of 
 Madame d'Angouleme, but two-and-twenty years her 
 junior, was promised to Giuliano de' Medici, with the 
 duchy of Nemours as her dowry ; while Adrian de 
 Boissy, the brother of the grand-master, received a car- 
 dinal's hat. 
 
 Altogether the negotiations became ere their close so 
 lengthy and complicated, that the Concordat, by which 
 they were finally terminated, was not signed until the 
 18th of August, 1516. 
 
 The conquest of Milan assured, and that of Naples sus- 
 pended for a time, Francis proceeded to disband his army, 
 
 VOL. i. p
 
 210 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515-17. 
 
 retaining only seven hundred lances, six thousand lans- 
 quenets, and four thousand Basques, whom he placed 
 under the command of the Connetable de Bourbon, as 
 his lieutenant-general in the Milanese, for the protection 
 of that duchy ; and he then departed for France, where 
 he arrived in February 1516, and was welcomed at 
 Lyons by the queen, and the duchess his mother, sur- 
 rounded by a brilliant court, composed of all that was 
 fairest and noblest in his dominions. 
 
 The whole kingdom rang with acclamations. All was 
 for the moment at peace both within and without ; and 
 although clouds might lower upon the political horizon, 
 they had not yet burst. The Swiss had been pacified, if 
 not thoroughly conciliated, by the payment of their 
 claims ; the Venetians, with the assistance of Lautrec and 
 his little army, were still occupied in endeavouring to 
 repossess themselves of their former territories ; but 
 Francis soon became aware that Ferdinand, alarmed at 
 his success, had, (feeble and failing as he was,) endea- 
 voured, with a view of distracting his attention from 
 Naples, to excite against him the jealousy of Henry VIII ; 
 and had already succeeded in forming a cabal at the 
 English court, with the assistance of Wolsey, in which 
 the French monarch was accused of a secret enmity to- 
 wards England ; an intrigue which had already attained 
 to a height that threatened an approaching war between 
 the two powers. This evil was, however, averted, through 
 the sound judgment and good policy of the English 
 council; but Henry had been sufficiently prejudiced 
 by the representations that were made to him, to 
 furnish the emperor secretly with a considerable sum of
 
 1515-17.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 211 
 
 money, in order to assist him in a new attempt to 
 recover the Milanese, and to place Francesco Sforza, the 
 brother of Maximilian, upon the ducal throne. 
 
 The subsidies which he had recently received from 
 both Henry VIII. and Ferdinand, and which he had not 
 yet dissipated, enabled the emperor to raise a formidable 
 army of sixteen thousand German cavalry, fifteen thousand 
 Swiss, and ten thousand Spanish foot-soldiers. The French 
 troops, under Lautrec, were at that period (March, 1516) 
 besieging Brescia, in conjunction with the Venetians, and 
 considered themselves secure of taking the city, the gar- 
 rison having determined to surrender in thirty days, 
 should they not receive succour from without. Before 
 that time had elapsed, however, a force of six thousand 
 Germans succeeded in introducing themselves into the 
 fortress ; while the emperor appeared in the field at the 
 head of his army ; and the besiegers found themselves 
 compelled to retreat, first beyond the Mincio, and sub- 
 sequently to abandon not only that river, but also those 
 of the Oglio and Adda ; and to shut themselves up in 
 Milan, which the Duke de Bourbon hastily fortified as 
 well as circumstances would permit, destroying for that 
 purpose the extensive and populous faubourgs. 
 
 Fortunately for the French, Maximilian did not pursue 
 his advantage with the promptitude which would have 
 ensured his ultimate success ; and time was accordingly 
 secured for the arrival of a reinforcement of thirteen 
 thousand Swiss, raised by Albert de la Pierre in the 
 eight cantons which had accepted the peace proffered by 
 Francis I. the preceding year, as well as of a considerable 
 body of troops from France. The former, however, were 
 
 p2
 
 212 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515-17. 
 
 not destined to prove serviceable to Bourbon, the influence 
 of the Bishop of Sion, who was in the enemy's camp, 
 being once more exerted to separate them from the cause 
 of France; in which he so far succeeded as to induce them 
 to declare that they would not take the field against their 
 own countrymen. In vain did the duke expostulate ; 
 they remained firm in their determinations, and he at 
 length indignantly disbanded the whole force, with the 
 exception of the company commanded by Albert de la 
 Pierre, which also stipulated that it should only be 
 employed against the Germans, and the army of merce- 
 naries marched out of the garrison ; an event which 
 greatly rejoiced the emperor, who now conceived the suc- 
 cess of his enterprise secure ; and sat down before Milan, 
 declaring that he would raze the city to the earth, and 
 strew its site with salt, unless it instantly capitulated. 
 
 This threat was, however, disregarded by the French 
 general, and the siege proceeded ; but unfortunately for 
 Maximilian, the Genoese bankers to whom Henry VIII. 
 had confided the sum promised to the emperor, having 
 failed before it was transmitted, he found himself unable 
 to fulfil his engagements with his mercenary allies, who 
 began to murmur, and to demand the immediate pay- 
 ment of their stipends. Maximilian strove to pacify them 
 by promises, but they had already experienced the fallacy 
 of similar pledges upon his part, and refused to listen to 
 any compromise. He pointed to Milan, the plunder of 
 which city would, as he anticipated, shortly enable him 
 to pay up the arrears of his whole army ; but the Swiss 
 reminded him that the town was not yet taken ; and, 
 with the knowledge of his helplessness, their insolence
 
 1515-17.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 213 
 
 soon exceeded all bounds, and they threatened, should 
 he not satisfy their claims upon the instant, to offer them- 
 selves in a body to the Connetable de Bourbon, by whom 
 they should be paid for their services. In this strait 
 Maximilian found himself compelled to send sixteen thou- 
 sand crowns to their leaders, by the Cardinal of Sion, 
 desiring him to assure them that he would immediately 
 proceed to Trent to obtain a further supply in order to 
 liquidate all their claims ; but this was no sooner done, 
 than fearing he should in his turn be abandoned, or even 
 delivered over to his enemies, as Ludovico Sforza had 
 formerly been by these very troops, he left the camp in 
 the night, accompanied only by two hundred horsemen ; 
 and escaped into Germany, leaving his army without a 
 leader. 
 
 His flight was no sooner ascertained than the troops 
 disbanded themselves ; the siege of Milan was raised ; 
 and a few days subsequently the Swiss of both armies 
 received an order from the diet immediately to return 
 home, which they obeyed in their usual manner 
 plundering, as they went, every town and village which 
 was not strong enough to venture upon resistance, and 
 thus indemnifying themselves for the non-payment of 
 their salary. About three thousand German and Spanish 
 mercenaries joined the army of the Duke de Bourbon ; 
 while the confederated troops retired rapidly from the 
 country, harassed in their retreat by the French, whom 
 they left once more in undisputed possession of the 
 Milanese ; and Maximilian found himself in ignoble 
 security, having forfeited the military reputation which 
 he had acquired in his youth by a pusillanimity perhaps 
 unequalled.
 
 214 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515-17. 
 
 Brescia was once more besieged, and capitulated ; but 
 Verona still refused to admit the French troops, and as 
 its means of defence were great, and the abilities of its 
 military governor Antonio Colonna 1 well known, the 
 siege promised to become interminable. At this parti- 
 cular period the death of Ferdinand of Aragon delivered 
 France from her most formidable enemy, and removed 
 from the path of Francis himself the only monarch whose 
 long experience, subtil arts, and numerous resources, he 
 had reason to apprehend. 
 
 Contrary to the previsions of all around him, who were 
 aware of his jealousy of his grandson Charles, and equally 
 at variance with his previous resolve, which had been to 
 constitute the younger of the brothers heir to the crown, 
 only on the day which preceded his death Ferdinand 
 had executed a new will, by which he bequeathed his 
 kingdom to the elder ; an act of justice which had been 
 reluctantly wrung from him even at the eleventh hour 
 by his most faithful counsellors, who had induced him thus 
 to gainsay his own wishes by representing that as Charles 
 was already heir-apparent to the throne of Austria, the 
 union of that kingdom with the crown of Spain would 
 tend to weaken the power of France ; a consideration 
 which absorbed all others. Thus, the accession of the 
 Archduke Charles united under one sovereign the 
 Netherlands and Franche-Comte, the kingdoms of Cas- 
 tile, Aragon, and Naples, with the newly discovered trea- 
 sures of the western world ; but that sovereign had as 
 
 1 Marco-Antonio Colonna distinguished himself greatly in the 
 wars of Italy against the French, to which cause he was, however, 
 subsequently won over by Francis I. He was killed at the siege of 
 Milan, in 1522, at the age of forty- nine years.
 
 1515-17.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 215 
 
 yet scarcely emerged from boyhood; his dominions lay 
 distant and disjointed ; the various people over whom he 
 was called upon to rule, were unconnected by laws, by 
 customs, and by language, and regarded each other with 
 jealousy and distrust ; while many of the states, attached 
 to their ancient rights and privileges, and apprehensive 
 of their subversion, were inimical to his interests, and 
 considered Francis as their most natural ally. Never- 
 theless, the French king suffered the favourable moment 
 to escape him ; and even while he foresaw the gathering 
 storm, neglected the measures by which it would pro- 
 bably have been averted; and, instead of attacking 
 the infant power of his rival, permitted it peaceably to 
 attain to maturity and strength, trusting to the delusive 
 arts of negotiation to effect that which a wiser policy 
 might have compelled. 
 
 Thus, while the evil gained ground apparently unap- 
 preciated, Francis, withdrawing his attention from sub- 
 jects of more vital importance, turned it upon the 
 internal organization of the kingdom; and profited by 
 the momentary calm to issue several new ordinances, 
 some of which were highly unpalatable to his subjects. 
 His first edict, prompted by Duprat, had already 
 awakened murmurs, which although ultimately silenced, 
 were not altogether suppressed; but in March, 1516, he 
 published a new ordinance at Lyons, purporting to pro- 
 tect the forest-rights of himself and his nobles, which 
 roused the indignation of both parliament and people. 
 The. young king, says Isambert ; " angered by the 
 fact that many persons, not having the right of chase, 
 do take certain brown and black animals, such as hares
 
 216 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515-17. 
 
 pheasants, partridges, and other game, thus committing 
 felony, and impeding and curtailing our pastime," ful- 
 minated the most severe threats against all poachers 
 and unlicensed sportsmen ; condemning them, according 
 to the flagrancy of their crime, to fines, floggings, ban- 
 ishment under pain of the gibbet, confiscation of pro- 
 perty, the galleys, and even death itself. He, moreover, 
 inflicted severe punishment on those who within the 
 limits of the royal forests, possessed arms suited either to 
 war or sport ; and, finally, he gave to all the princes of the 
 blood, nobles, and proprietors of forest-lands or warrens 
 throughout the kingdom, the right of maintaining the 
 exclusive privilege of sporting upon their property, 
 which was guaranteed to them by punishments equally 
 severe against all intruders. 
 
 The parliament at once refused to register such an 
 ordinance ; and presented a remonstrance to the monarch, 
 entreating him to mitigate the extreme stringency of this 
 new edict, which must tend to exasperate such of his faith- 
 ful subjects as not only paid the tax, but also supported 
 all the burthen of the state. Its representations were, how- 
 ever, received with indifference and disregard ; and the 
 chancellor declared that the king was both indignant and 
 surprised that the parliament should presume to oppose 
 his will, when it must be aware that the sovereign alone 
 had the right to regulate the administration of his king- 
 dom. " Obey;" he concluded ; " or the king will recognise 
 in you only rebels, whom he will punish like the meanest 
 of his subjects." The parliament nevertheless resisted 
 during twelve months ; but, at the termination of that 
 period, the unrighteous ordinance was registered.
 
 1515-17.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 217 
 
 Charles had scarcely attained his sixteenth year when 
 he succeeded to the Spanish crown ; but, young as he 
 was, the rigid training to which he had been subjected 
 by the prudent foresight of his governor, M. de Chievres, 
 had long accustomed him to the transaction of public 
 business and the duties of a monarch. Every despatch 
 which arrived from the provinces, even during the course 
 of the night, was immediately presented to him; and 
 when he had informed himself of its contents, he per- 
 sonally communicated them to his council, where they 
 were discussed in his presence. A remonstrance having 
 been made to the Seigneur de Chievres on this subject 
 upon one occasion, by the French ambassador, who 
 testified his surprise that he should inflict such an 
 amount of tedious and frequently untimely labour upon 
 a mere boy when he might so easily relieve him from it ; 
 the wise preceptor replied firmly : " Cousin, I am the 
 tutor and guardian of his youth, and I wish that, when 
 I die, he may be independent of all extraneous help ; 
 whereas, if he were unacquainted with public business, 
 he must, after my decease, have a new guardian, from 
 his ignorance of his own affairs." 
 
 Thus, even from his boyhood, Charles had acquired 
 habits of thoughtfulness and foresight which gave him 
 throughout his whole life a great advantage over the 
 volatile and romantic Francis I, who seldom suffered 
 more serious subjects to interfere with his personal 
 gratification. The moment of his accession was, however, 
 critical ; he had to fear that Spain would persist in be- 
 stowing her dual crown upon his younger brother 
 Ferdinand ; who, unlike himself, had been entirely edu-
 
 218 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515-17. 
 
 cated under the eye of the late king, and who had long 
 been regarded as his destined successor. By the will so 
 tardily destroyed the junior prince had been declared 
 grand-master of the military orders of Spain, and en- 
 dowed with revenues and power well constituted to 
 render him an effective leader in any civil contention : 
 and a cabal existed in Aragon in favour of his claims to 
 the sovereignty which he had been led to expect ; while 
 even in Castile, doubts were expressed as to the right of 
 Charles to assume the crown before the death of his 
 mother, whose hopeless derangement nevertheless pre- 
 cluded her from ascending the throne. 
 
 At the decease of Ferdinand, Charles was in Flanders ; 
 and, although naturally desirous to take possession of 
 his new dominions, he was detained by powerful 
 obstacles in the Low Countries. The war in Italy was 
 not yet terminated ; and, with the crown of his grand- 
 father, the young king inherited his love of enterprise 
 and thirst for conquest ; but he could not inspire the 
 Flemish people with his military ardour; they shrank, 
 on the contrary, from a prospect of hostilities with 
 France which must tend to injure their commercial_ inte- 
 rests ; and Charles was not in a position to enforce his 
 views. He had, therefore, no alternative, save to seek 
 the friendship and alliance of Francis, to which he was 
 urged by the representations of M. de Chievres, who im- 
 pressed upon him the imperative necessity of conciliating 
 his new subjects before he attempted any foreign aggres- 
 sion ; the Cardinal Ximenes, Archbishop of Toledo, 1 who 
 
 1 Don Francisco Ximenes was born at Torrelaguna, in Old Cas- 
 tile, in 1437, and studied at Alcala and Salamanca, where he after-
 
 1515-17.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 219 
 
 had, by the will of the late king, been appointed regent 
 of the kingdom until the arrival of his grandson, having, 
 despite his great age, rigorously commenced the dis- 
 charge of his trust ; and already began to interfere with 
 the privileges of the nobles, and to enhance those of the 
 citizens and municipalities. Moreover, M. de Chievres 
 was anxious to avoid, in so far as it might be practicable, 
 any familiar intercourse between his royal pupil and the 
 powerful prelate of whose influence he was apprehensive. 
 Thus Charles, upon his accession, found himself sur- 
 rounded by difficulties ; and at once became aware that 
 his wisest policy would be to conciliate the friendship of 
 France, and thus secure an efficient ally in case of need, 
 as well as a safe passage into Spain. 
 
 To effect this important object, Charles despatched the 
 Sire de Ravenstein as his ambassador to the French 
 
 wards became a tutor of laws. He then obtained a canonry in the 
 diocese of Siguenza, and subsequently the post of Grand- Vicar. Dis- 
 gusted with the world, he first took the vows as a Cordelier in the 
 convent of Toledo ; but, still dissatisfied with the enforced contact 
 with his fellow-men, he withdrew from the cloister to the solitude 
 of Castanel. Isabella the Catholic, hearing the report of his talents 
 and austerities, selected him as her confessor, and in 1495 presented 
 him with the archbishopric of Toledo. Julius II. afterwards called 
 him to the conclave, and Ferdinand in his turn confided to him 
 the administration of public affairs. Ximenes then resolved to 
 engage in an African war, and himself headed the troops, and took 
 Oran in 1509. Ferdinand, when dying, appointed him, as we have 
 shown, regent of the kingdom of Castile (1516). In this capacity 
 he reduced to obedience the haughty nobility who refused to recog- 
 nise Charles V. as their king ; and, in order to humble them further, 
 he permitted the citizens to bear arms, and accorded to them nume- 
 rous privileges. He reformed and reorganized the governments of 
 the towns, armies, and monasteries, and punished with great severity 
 both theft and assassination. He died in 1517.
 
 220 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515-17. 
 
 court, who on the part of his master requested Francis 
 to appoint some convenient spot where the delegates of 
 the two sovereigns might confer together, for the purpose 
 of terminating any differences which existed either 
 between themselves or their allies. The proposal was 
 an acceptable one to the French king, who on his side 
 was desirous to establish by a peace his recent con- 
 quests in Italy ; and accordingly commissioners were 
 appointed in the persons of Arthur Gouffier, Seigneur 
 de Boissy, and Antoine de Croy, Seigneur de Chievres, 
 the ex-governors of the two young monarchs, while 
 Noyon was selected as their place of meeting. 
 
 On the 1st of August they entered the city; and on 
 the 13th of the same month a treaty of alliance between 
 Charles and Francis was signed, by which they sepa- 
 rately bound themselves to assist each other, not only in 
 reciprocal defence, but also in the attainment of such con- 
 quests as they might legitimately attempt. The question 
 still pending on the subject of Navarre was arranged by 
 the pledge of M. de Chievres that Charles should, so soon 
 as he had secured peaceable possession of the Spanish 
 crown, carefully investigate the claims of Henri d'Albret, 1 
 and render him ample justice ; or that Francis should be 
 left free to give him whatever assistance he might deem 
 fitting. The pretensions of the French king to Naples, 
 based upon the treaty of Ferdinand on his marriage 
 with Germaine de Foix, were undeniable; and conse- 
 quently engaged the more serious attention of the pleni- 
 potentiaries, by whom it was ultimately decided, that 
 
 1 Henri d'Albret II, King of Navarre, and Count de Foix. He 
 died in 1555.
 
 1515-17.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 221 
 
 in order to reconcile the interests of the two sovereigns, 
 Charles should pledge himself to espouse the infant 
 princess Louise, the daughter of Francis, then about 
 twelve months old ; receiving as her dowry all the claims 
 of her father to the Neapolitan dominions ; but as it was 
 stipulated that the baby-bride should remain under the 
 guardianship of Queen Claude until her eighth year, and 
 that the marriage should not be solemnized until she 
 had attained her twelfth, Charles, who was at that 
 moment in possession of Naples, was to pay the annual 
 sum of a hundred thousand crowns to the King of 
 France until the period of the union ; and one-half the 
 amount yearly, so long as the princess should continue 
 childless. 
 
 Such were the conditions of the peace of Noyon, which 
 afforded a transient season of repose to the respective sub- 
 jects of both potentates, and was accordingly welcome to 
 all ; but it is nevertheless certain that the more able diplo- 
 macy of M. de Chievres had rendered the treaty infi- 
 nitely more favourable to his master than it would have 
 been had the actual position of Francis been brought 
 more skilfully to bear upon the several questions at issue. 
 Charles could command no sure ingress to his Spanish 
 territories ; party spirit was strong against him ; he was 
 inexperienced in war, and had yet to establish the reputa- 
 tion as a soldier which Francis had already acquired ; 
 while even his claim upon Naples was a divided one. 
 Yet no real advantage was secured to the French king 
 by the league into which he had just entered ; the 
 project of marriage was a mere chimera, advanced as 
 a pretext rather than considered as a condition ; which,
 
 222 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515-17. 
 
 however well it served to disguise the fact that Charles 
 was in truth paying, or about to pay, an annual tribute 
 to his brother-monarch for that moiety of the crown of 
 Naples which was thus ceded to him, by no means 
 enhanced the interests of Francis, to whom such an 
 equivalent was altogether inadequate. The Navarrese 
 question, moreover, was virtually still as undecided as 
 ever ; for while Charles had bound himself vaguely to 
 see justice done, he had been careful not to specify any 
 particular point upon which his intentions might at once 
 be brought to bear ; while Francis had retained his right, 
 in the event of this not being accomplished, not only 
 to assist the interests of the queen of Navarre against 
 Charles himself, but even to uphold the Venetians in 
 their opposition to Maximilian. 
 
 As this latter privilege, however, threatened to over- 
 throw the designs of Charles, he prevailed upon the 
 emperor to join in the league; and His Imperial Majesty 
 was induced to acquiesce in the suggestion by the offer 
 of a hundred thousand crowns from the state of Venice, 
 and a conviction that Verona could not longer resist the 
 combined attacks of the army of Lautrec, and the famine 
 by which the garrison was already exposed to great and 
 hopeless privations. The accession of Maximilian to the 
 treaty hushed the tempest of war which had so long agi- 
 tated Europe ; for although Francis restored the evacuated 
 city to the Venetians, who once more saw themselves in 
 possession of nearly all the provinces which Louis XII. 
 had endeavoured to wrench from them in 1508, they 
 were still so despoiled and depopulated, that they were 
 deprived of all the elements of self-defence; while the
 
 1515-17.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 223 
 
 continued animosity of the Swiss towards France had 
 weakened the resources of Francis himself; a fact of 
 which he was so well aware, that the league was no 
 sooner formally completed than he took instant measures 
 to conciliate all the neighbouring nations ; and despatched 
 his uncle, the Bastard of Savoy, Louis de Forbins, and 
 Charles du Plessis to Fribourg, to open a fresh negotia- 
 tion with the whole Helvetic body ; and to propose to 
 them an extension of the peace which had been concluded 
 between himself and eight of their cantons during the pre- 
 vious year. This treaty of " perpetual amity " between 
 France and Switzerland, was discussed, framed, and 
 signed on the 29th of November, 1517 ; and the pledge 
 then given by the Swiss never again to bear arms against 
 the French was strictly observed, save in the case of a 
 few adventurers, who incited by the prospect of greater 
 gain, or influenced by the violent and undying hatred 
 of the Cardinal of Sion, occasionally enrolled themselves 
 in the ranks of the enemy. 
 
 By the same document the Swiss recognised the claim 
 of Francis I. to the Milanese ; while he agreed to accord 
 a free amnesty to all the natives of that province who 
 had taken refuge in Switzerland ; and to pay off the 
 demands of the troops for past services by the sum of 
 seven hundred thousand golden crowns ; with other dona- 
 tions and privileges, which were all clearly defined.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 [1515-17.] 
 
 DOMESTIC LIFE OF FRANCIS THE COURT OF QUEEN CLAUDE ANTICIPATED 
 BIRTH OF A DAUPHIN CIRCLE OF MADAME D 3 ANGOULEME LICENTIOUS- 
 NESS OF THE YOUNG KING HE RESOLVES TO FORM A DISTINCT COURT 
 
 THE COUNTESS DE CHATEAUBRIAND HER BIRTH AND GIRLHOOD HER 
 MARRIAGE THE COUNT IS SUMMONED TO COURT HIS FOREBODINGS 
 THE MYSTIC RINGS MISTAKEN CONFIDENCE RECEPTION OF THE COUNT 
 BY FRANCIS TREACHERY OF A CONFIDANT THE COUNTESS ARRIVES AT 
 CHAMBORD DISPLEASURE OF HER HUSBAND A MISUNDERSTANDING 
 THE QUEEN'S RECEPTION PRESENTATION OF THE COUNTESS TO THE KING 
 THE QUEEN AND THE COUNTESS MISTAKEN VIOLENCE OF M. DE 
 CHATEAUBRIAND THE INFLUENCE OF A COURT ATMOSPHERE POLICY 
 OF LOUISE DE SAVOIE M. DE CHATEAUBRIAND RETIRES FROM THE COURT. 
 
 VOL. r. a
 
 15I5-17.J COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 227 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 [1515-17.] 
 
 THUS far the rapid march of more important events 
 has compelled us to pass over in silence the domestic, or 
 rather the private, avocations of Francis ; who finding 
 himself at length enabled by a temporary peace to in- 
 dulge in those libertine pursuits to which he was so 
 painfully addicted, soon wearied of the staid and 
 rigorous circle which his virtuous queen had gathered 
 about her, as well as of the strict retirement to which 
 she was at this moment compelled by the delicate con- 
 dition of her health, which gave renewed hope of the 
 birth of a dauphin ; and for a time he passed all his 
 leisure hours in the lighter court of his mother, where 
 beauty and licentiousness alike attracted him. Unlike 
 Anne de Bretagne, who had stringently discountenanced 
 the presence of ladies at the public festivities, and only 
 suffered them to appear upon occasions of ceremony, 
 where they might serve to enhance her own dignity and 
 that of the royal circle, Madame d'Angouleme had urged 
 upon her son the expediency of including them in all the 
 amusements and pageantries which were constantly re- 
 curring ; and of permitting them to assume their station 
 as an integral portion of his court ; a recommendation to 
 
 Q2
 
 223 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515-17. 
 
 which he at once gave his unhesitating assent ; and thus 
 the wives and daughters of all the principal nobility 
 found themselves emancipated from the shackles of that 
 severe etiquette to which they had previously been sub- 
 jected ; and unfortunately soon overstepped in their 
 pride of freedom the limits of that decorum which 
 should have been their greatest charm. 
 
 Soon, however, the young monarch wearied of the fair 
 and frail beauties of his mother's circle, and aspired to still 
 wider conquests. It did not suffice that he had sacrificed 
 the honour, and blighted the home happiness, of many of 
 the brave men who had fought beside him ; France still 
 contained much that was at once lovely and high born ; 
 . and he ere long resolved to form a court for himself which 
 should surpass all those of the rest of Europe, alike in 
 grace and magnificence, and in which women should 
 reign supreme; declaring that a " court without ladies was 
 a year without a spring, or rather a spring without roses." 
 
 In furtherance of this design, he summoned about him 
 all the wealthy nobles who habitually resided in their an- 
 cestral castles, and who eagerly responded to the call of 
 their Sovereign, and arrived at Amboise accompanied by 
 the females of their families, many of whom were both 
 beautiful and accomplished, and all flattered by so signal 
 a mark of royal favour. One, however, failed him ; and 
 that one was precisely the individual whom he had been 
 the most anxious to attract ; the young and brilliant Fran- 
 9oise de Foix, Countess de Chateaubriand, whose extraor- 
 dinary attractions, despite the retirement in which she 
 lived, had been a frequent subject of discourse among 
 his courtiers.
 
 1515-17.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 229 
 
 This beautiful woman was the daughter of Phebus de 
 Foix, Viscount de Lautrec, and of Jeanne d'Aydie, elder 
 daughter and heiress of Odet d'Aydie, Count de Com- 
 minges, and was born about the year 1495. The family 
 of Foix was both ancient and illustrious, and recognised 
 no superiors save the princes of the blood, although so 
 much impoverished from the number of its male descen- 
 dants as to leave the lovely and only daughter of the house 
 without a portion consistent with her rank. Her extreme 
 beauty, however, sufficed to overrule even this consider- 
 ation, so important in all ages to eligible marriage in 
 France, and brought to her feet the young and ac- 
 complished Jean de Laval de Montmorency, Seigneur 
 de Chateaubriand, when she had barely attained her 
 fourteenth year. In 1509 she became his wife ; and, 
 happy in an union which left her young and affectionate 
 nature nothing to desire, accompanied him to his castle 
 in Brittany, where she passed the first period of her 
 wedded life in peace and seclusion, without a wish or 
 a care beyond the narrow circle of her home. 
 
 This tranquillity was not, however, destined to endure. 
 The Count de Chateaubriand could not evade compliance 
 with the expressed will of his sovereign ; but, tenderly 
 attached to his young wife, he was anxious before he 
 suffered her to appear in the circle of the king, to form 
 his own judgment as to the safety with which he might 
 permit her presentation. The known morals of Francis I. 
 were not calculated to inspire confidence ; and in the 
 fair, and graceful, and gifted partner of his home, the 
 count had garnered up his all of hope and happiness. 
 Thus then he revolved in his mind, with all the jealousy
 
 230 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515-17. 
 
 of deep affection, every method by which he might 
 secure to himself the treasure of whose value he was so 
 keenly conscious ; and so great was his apprehension that 
 some of the profligate companions of the king might 
 devise a method of wiling his wife to court, that he 
 finally decided upon causing two rings of curious work- 
 manship to be made precisely similar ; and on the eve of 
 his departure he placed one of them upon her finger, 
 which he enjoined her carefully to examine, and on no 
 account to follow him to Amboise, even should he write 
 and direct her to do so, unless the letter contained 
 another precisely similar. The young countess, over- 
 whelmed by grief at his departure, totally unacquainted 
 with the court, and who desired no greater splendour 
 than that by which she was already surrounded, at once 
 promised obedience ; and M. de Chateaubriand, saddened 
 by her tearful caresses, and satisfied that he had made 
 " assurance doubly sure," at length tore himself from her 
 encircling arms, and, leaving her to preside over his stately 
 and gloomy castle, proceeded on his ill-omened journey. 
 Unfortunately for the count, his heart was too full to 
 be subservient to his reason ; and as he saw the distance 
 increase between himself and the beautiful young creature 
 who had so lately wept upon his bosom, his caution gave 
 way before his jealousy, and he entrusted his secret to an 
 old servant, of whose fidelity he believed himself secure. 
 On his arrival at Amboise he was courteously received by 
 the king, who greeted him with half-jesting and half- 
 ironical reproaches that he had come alone to a court 
 where grace and beauty were estimated at their full 
 value ; an address to which he gravely replied, by assuring
 
 1515-1 7.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 231 
 
 the disappointed monarch that the countess had remained 
 in Brittany at her own request ; volunteering, moreover, to 
 prove the fact of his assertion by writing in the royal pre- 
 sence, should his majesty desire him to do so, an urgent 
 invitation for her to join him. Francis accepted the offer, 
 which necessarily produced no effect ; and again and again 
 the experiment was renewed at his request, but always with 
 the same result ; until the faithless varlet, to whom the 
 count had confided his cherished secret, won over by the 
 gold of M. de Guise, (who at once conjectured that there 
 was a mystery attached to the unnatural persistence of 
 the lady,) and his lavish promises of the king's favour and 
 protection to the delinquent, betrayed the trust which 
 had been reposed in him, and told the whole story of the 
 mystic ring. 
 
 The result of such a discovery may be conjectured. 
 The lacquey was easily bribed to possess himself of the 
 important talisman, which was placed in the hands of an 
 able craftsman, who in a very short time manufactured 
 a third, precisely similar to the duplicate provided by the 
 count. The stolen trinket was then carefully replaced in 
 its usual receptacle, and the counterfeit introduced into a 
 new letter which the duped husband was induced to 
 write ; and which, in affectionate and urgent terms, in- 
 vited the young and innocent recluse to repair without 
 further delay to the court, of which she was constituted 
 to form so bright an ornament. 
 
 On the receipt of the important jewel, the countess 
 did not hesitate to obey the summons ; nor can it be 
 doubted that she did so with alacrity. Buried in an old 
 castle, with no other society than that of her confessor and
 
 2'.\'2 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515-17. 
 
 her maids, and with no occupation save what she derived 
 from her breviary and her tapestry-work ; separated for 
 the first time from a husband to whom she was fondly 
 attached ; and not without some of those vague yearnings 
 after novelty so natural to her age and sex ; it can scarcely 
 be matter of surprise that her leave-taking of the sombre 
 residence which she had so long occupied was rendered 
 as brief as possible, and that she was soon upon her road 
 to that court whence she had been hitherto shut out. 
 
 At this period the royal circle had removed to Cham- 
 bord, a locality to which Francis was greatly attached. 
 The chateau, standing about four leagues from Blois, on 
 the vast plain of Sologne, and between the extensive 
 forests of Boulogne and Bussy, had originally been a 
 mere country house of the Counts of Blois; and was, 
 even at the time of which we write, rather a hunting 
 rendezvous than an actual residence. Situated in the 
 near neighbourhood of the Castle of Romorantin, so 
 long the abode of Louise de Savoie, it had been the 
 scene of many of the boyish sports of the young king ; 
 and was, to him, full of agreeable associations, for it was 
 there that he had enjoyed the pleasures of the chase 
 during the banishment of his mother from the court; 
 and he still retained his partiality for the old spot 
 endeared to him by so many delightful recollections. 
 
 It was to Chambord, therefore, that Francoise de Foix 
 hastened on the receipt of the treacherous trinket, never 
 doubting for an instant that in so doing she was 
 implicitly obeying the will of her husband; and this 
 very fact was only another link in the luckless chain of 
 the count's misfortunes ; as, had the court been assem-
 
 1515-17.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 233 
 
 bled either in Paris or at Amboise, the arrival of the 
 countess might have passed unobserved, and time have 
 been thus afforded for an explanation which would have 
 enabled him to effect her instant return to Brittany; 
 but the comparative solitude of Chambord rendered 
 every new event of importance as matter of momentary 
 amusement; and, consequently, the fan* traveller no 
 sooner reached the chateau, attended by her escort, than 
 the news of her advent became universally known ; and 
 the astonished and mortified husband found himself 
 utterly unable to avert the evil against which he had 
 believed himself to be so securely guarded. 
 
 Cold and constrained, however, was the welcome with 
 which he greeted his beautiful young wife ; and they had 
 no sooner retired to his apartments than he upbraided 
 her bitterly for her want of good faith. The countess, 
 bewildered in her turn by such a reception, sank into a 
 chair, overcome by terror and distress ; and extending her 
 hand to her irritated husband, displayed upon one of her 
 slender fingers the two rings by which he had himself 
 desired that she should govern her conduct. More and 
 more astonished, the count flew to the casket in which his 
 treasure had been concealed, and there, in its velvet enve- 
 lope, still lay the ring in which he had confided for safety. 
 
 "Are you now convinced, Jean ?" asked the weeping 
 countess, who had anxiously watched his movements. 
 
 " I am, madam ;" was the stern reply ; " and I have 
 learnt that to your other accomplishments you add that 
 of a duplicity and talent for intrigue of which I had 
 assuredly never suspected you to be possessed. Hence- 
 forward we shall better comprehend each other."
 
 234 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515-17. 
 
 " Count !" exclaimed the agonized wife, wringing her 
 hands ; " Explain to me what you mean. Have I done 
 wrong in coming here ? Did you not yourself summon 
 me? Have I not remained contentedly in Brittany 
 until the ring reached me, which was to assure me that 
 I acted in obedience to your wishes by rejoining you ? 
 Speak ! In what have I failed in my duty as a wife ?" 
 
 " The question is now needless, madam ;" was the re- 
 joinder ; " and a few weeks hence you will, in all proba- 
 bility, no longer have the courage to ask it ;" and he 
 turned to leave the room. 
 
 " Nay, Jean, you shall not leave me in anger ;" cried 
 TYancoise springing from her seat, and grasping his 
 arm ; " only let me understand my fault, and repair it." 
 
 " It is too late ;" said the count moodily ; " the evil is 
 now, as you must have foreseen, totally irreparable. 
 I never sent that ring, as you well know ; I have been 
 deceived in you ; but from this hour I shall be enabled to 
 estimate your affection at its proper value." 
 
 "You never sent that ring?" echoed the young 
 countess, upon whom the remainder of his words had 
 been lost ; " Whence came it then ?" and she looked 
 earnestly upon the hand which bore it. 
 
 " Nay, nay ; this is idle, madam ;" replied the count 
 with a bitter laugh. " From whom could it have come 
 save from him, who through your courteous and in- 
 dulgent agency was enabled to have it made ? But let us 
 bandy words no longer. You have taken your destiny into 
 your own hands. You are now at court, and have duties 
 to perform with which even your husband will have no 
 right to interfere. Dry your eyes, therefore, for within
 
 1515-17.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 235 
 
 an hour you must wait upon the queen, and you have 
 little time to spare. I will order your women to attend 
 you." And shaking off her grasp, he strode coldly from 
 the apartment. 
 
 But even yet the young and pure mind of Francoise 
 de Foix was unable to fathom the meaning of her 
 husband. She only felt that he was changed ; how 
 changed ! She only comprehended that he had ceased 
 to love her ; for she could not estimate the force of that 
 engrossing and jealous affection which thus played the 
 traitor to its own interests, and converted an attached 
 husband into an ungenerous tyrant. But she had, as he 
 had just declared, few moments to spare to such reflec- 
 tions. The queen held a reception-circle that very evening, 
 at which it was necessary that she should be presented ; 
 and accordingly, with a sick and trembling heart, she 
 resigned herself to the hands of her women ; and when 
 at length the count reappeared in order to conduct her to 
 the queen's apartments, he shuddered as his eye fell 
 upon her, radiant in youth and beauty, and sparkling 
 with jewels. 
 
 The opposition which had been offered to his wishes, 
 had, as a natural consequence, only heightened the 
 curiosity of the young monarch ; and accordingly, the 
 countess had no sooner paid her respects to the queen, 
 than, waving back the courtiers by whom he was imme- 
 diately surrounded, he advanced a step forward, and 
 with a courteous smile awaited her approach. 
 
 " Nay, nay ;" he said graciously, as she would have 
 bent her knee before him ; "It is not for the fair 
 Countess de Chateaubriand to kneel even to a king.
 
 236 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515-17. 
 
 You are welcome, madam, even although your advent 
 has been a somewhat tardy one." 
 
 " Sire," commenced the lady with a burning blush. 
 
 " We know all, madam ;" interposed Francis with a 
 gay laugh, through which pierced a triumph he was 
 unable altogether to conceal ; " You are a votary of soli- 
 tude ; a lover of silent streams and hoary mountains ; 
 but, believe me, these are not the only objects for bright 
 eyes to dwell upon. We must make a convert of you, 
 madam, or it will be said that our court has lost its 
 charm. M. de Chateaubriand ;" and his lip curled for 
 an instant as he addressed the count, whose moody brow 
 sufficiently betrayed his secret annoyance, and formed a 
 singular contrast with the curious and supercilious looks 
 which were turned upon him ; "we depend on you to 
 inspire your charming wife with less gloomy tastes : 
 you have already done this most loyally by letter, and 
 must now complete your work. Once more, madam, 
 you are welcome. In a few days your fitting post at court 
 shall be assigned to you. And now, gentlemen, to our 
 games." And without awaiting the acknowledgment 
 of the count, he turned upon his heel, and approached a 
 table covered with dice and playing-cards, which had 
 been originally introduced into France in the reign of 
 Charles VI, by the beautiful and devoted Odette de 
 Champdivers, for the amusement of that monarch during 
 his paroxysms of insanity. 
 
 In a few moments all the nobles of the court circle 
 were absorbed by the chances of the different games in 
 which they were engaged, save only M. de Chateaubriand, 
 who stationed himself behind the chair of the queen,
 
 1515-17.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 237 
 
 while his wife, at her desire, seated herself on a cushion 
 at her feet. The gentle Claude, accustomed to the 
 triumphant demeanour and coquettish bearing of those 
 beauties whom Francis, on their first presentation, had 
 honoured by his particular notice, and totally unaware of 
 the unworthy intrigue by which the young countess had 
 been allured to the court, found herself singularly at- 
 tracted by the timid and lovely woman, from whose 
 cheek the blush had not yet faded ; and, as if to com- 
 plete the discomfiture of the count, added her own 
 courteous reproaches to those of her royal husband. 
 
 " But you have a child ;" she said, suddenly checking 
 herself with a fond smile of maternal love ; " and I can 
 understand your reluctance. We must endeavour to 
 compensate to you for such a sacrifice." 
 
 For a moment the brow of the count cleared. His 
 wife might yet be saved if attached to the circle of the 
 pure-minded queen ! But again he glanced at her, as 
 her beaming eyes were raised in gratitude to her royal 
 mistress, and he felt the utter futility of such a hope ; 
 for the conviction fell cold upon his heart, that amid all 
 the galaxy of beauty by which he was surrounded, he 
 must look in vain for loveliness like hers. 
 
 Nor was Francis, who from the first moment of his 
 meeting with the young countess, was, or believed 
 himself to be, deeply enamoured of her personal charms, 
 and attracted by her graceful timidity, much more at 
 ease than the count himself. Unaccustomed to oppo- 
 sition, and habituated, when it chanced to present itself, 
 to overrule it by such extreme measures as tended to 
 prove that neither his chivalry towards the weaker sex,
 
 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1515-17. 
 
 nor his gratitude towards the most zealous of his 
 subjects, could turn him from his purpose, he was well 
 aware that M. de Chateaubriand was likely to prove less 
 plastic in his hands than most of those yielding husbands 
 with whom he had hitherto been brought into contact ; 
 while, conscious that the countess herself was as yet 
 wholly unaware of the deception to which she had fallen 
 a victim, and detecting in her proud, although simple 
 bearing, a sense of personal dignity which could not fail 
 to delay, even should it not eventually altogether thwart 
 his projects ; he was, for the first time, almost at a loss 
 how to proceed ; and it is extremely probable that had 
 not the count, blinded by his ungenerous suspicions, 
 himself alienated the affections of his young wife, 
 Fran9oise de Foix might have escaped the snare which 
 had been laid for her. As it was, however, the occasional 
 privacy of M. and Madame de Chateaubriand was 
 embittered by tears and reproaches ; and as every fresh 
 courtesy of Francis towards his wife furnished the count 
 with a new subject of invective and violence, it was not 
 long ere the unhappy countess began to sigh for the 
 hour which would summon her to the circle of the king, 
 and thus release her from invective and contempt. 
 
 On the return of the court to Amboise, Madame de 
 Chateaubriand was welcomed with especial courtesy by 
 Louise de Savoie, who had already ascertained the 
 feelings of her son towards the young and brilliant 
 stranger, whose eyes were even thus early learning to 
 forget the use of tears ; and whose cheek flushed, perhaps, 
 but no longer burnt, under the gaze of the king. The heart 
 soon loses its bloom beneath the language of flattery;
 
 1515-17.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 239 
 
 had a sovereign at her feet ; the atmosphere of 
 a licentious court was around her, and evil advisers at 
 her side ; while a deeply -rooted terror of the resentment 
 of a husband whom she had unwittingly offended, un- 
 happily combined with these to dazzle, bewilder, and 
 subdue her. She still trembled, but she did not turn 
 away from the abyss which yawned before her eyes. 
 Suspected by the man on whom she had lavished all the 
 affection of her girlhood ; and separated from her infant, 
 whose purity might have enfolded her as with the wings 
 of an angel, and saved her from herself, she sickened at 
 her utter helplessness ; and at length forgetting all, save 
 her own vacuity of heart, and dreading lest in some 
 moment of exasperation her husband should brave the anger 
 of the king, and immure her once more in his ancestral 
 castle, with himself as her sole companion, she yielded to 
 the dishonour which had been prepared for her, and added 
 another to the list of those victims whom the licentiousness 
 of Francis had already sacrificed to his selfishness. 
 
 Madame de Chateaubriand, however, fallen as she 
 was, still shrank from the publicity of vice hi which 
 some of her predecessors had discovered the proudest 
 result of the king's attachment ; and for a time the 
 unfortunate liaison was carefully concealed ; although 
 this could not be so skilfully accomplished as to deceive 
 the anxious and watchful husband, or the experienced 
 Louise de Savoie ; who discerning nothing more 
 dangerous in the countess than her beauty, and satisfied 
 that she had little to apprehend from her ambition, 
 affected not to remark the devotion of the king, and con- 
 tinued to lavish upon the new favourite all the graceful
 
 10 COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. [1515-17. 
 
 courtesies which could encourage her in her precarious 
 and sinful career. 
 
 Far otherwise was it, however, with the injured count ; 
 who no sooner ascertained that his dishonour was accom- 
 plished, than he instantly withdrew from the theatre of 
 his disgrace, and retired to that peaceful home in Brit- 
 tany which the absence of his wife's affection had ren- 
 dered a desert. He vouchsafed neither expostulation 
 nor reproach ; the past, as he bitterly remembered, could 
 never be recalled : his child was motherless, and she was 
 now his only earthly link ; he had done with the world, 
 and the world with him. Others who had been sub- 
 jected to the like indignity might haunt the saloons of 
 royalty, and sweep the earth with their plumed hats 
 before the spoiler of their homes ; M. de Chateaubriand 
 was not of these ; he could suffer, but he could not 
 stoop to kiss the hand that smote him ; and thus, with- 
 out a word, without a sign, he departed from the court, 
 and his existence was ere long forgotten.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 [151718.] 
 
 FRANCIS FORMS PROJECTS FOR THE EMBELLISHMENT OF HIS KINGDOM AND 
 THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF LITERATURE BIRTH OF A DAUPHIN FRANCIS 
 INVITES LEO X. TO BECOME SPONSOR TO THE YOUNG PRINCE THE ROYAL 
 CHRISTENING RESIGNATION OF QUEEN CLAUDE MARRIAGE OF LORENZO 
 DE 1 MEDICI AND MADELAINE DE LA TOUR-D'AUVERGNE MUNIFICENCE OF 
 THE POPS' A FANCY BALL IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY THE BRIDAL 
 BANQUET INCREASING INFLUENCE OF MADAME DE CHATEAUBRIAND 
 LOUISE DE SAVOIE BECOMES JEALOUS OF HER POWER OVER THE KING 
 FORBEARANCE OF THE QUEEN THE COUNTESS PUSHES THE FORTUNES OF 
 HER BROTHERS THE HUNTING-PARTY LAUTREC APPOINTED GOVERNOR 
 OF THE MILANESE THE RECALL OF BOURBON INDIGNATION OF THE 
 DUCHESS-MOTHER BOURBON ARRIVES AT COURT LOVE-VISIONS JEA- 
 LOUSY OF FRANCIS THE CHANCELLOR ENDEAVOURS TO EFFECT THE 
 RECOGNITION OF THE CONCORDAT PERPLEXITY OF THE KING MAGIS- 
 TERIAL CORRUPTION PERTINACITY OF FRANCIS DISMISSAL OF THE 
 DELEGATES REGISTRATION OF THE CONCORDAT DEMONSTRATION OF 
 THE UNIVERSITY UNPOPULARITY OF THE KING. 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 1517-18.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 243 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 [151718.] 
 
 FRANCIS having at this period repaired, in so far as it 
 was possible, the error of which his predecessor had been 
 guilty, by conciliating the Swiss ; and believing himself 
 to be at once free from any immediate risk of foreign 
 aggression, and secure of the Milanese, in whose conquest 
 he had alike consumed the revenues of the state and the 
 first years of his reign, began to turn his attention to the 
 embellishment of his kingdom, and the interests of 
 literature. Himself, as we have already shown, but a 
 superficial scholar, he was, nevertheless, fully aware of 
 the importance of introducing and encouraging a taste 
 for polite learning among his subjects ; and although his 
 mind, when not engrossed by his passion for Madame de 
 Chateaubriand, which soon ceased to be a secret to the 
 court, was occasionally disturbed by doubts of the accept- 
 ance of the concordat, he amused himself in forming 
 splendid projects, both as regarded the public edifices, 
 and the establishment of a great national college. 
 
 Eor a brief period he was, however, diverted from this 
 new and worthy ambition by the birth of a dauphin, 
 
 R2
 
 244 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1517-18. 
 
 an event which was hailed alike by the young king 
 and his subjects with enthusiastic delight. The infant 
 prince was born at Amboise on the 28th of February, 
 1517; and he had scarcely seen the light before Francis 
 despatched M. de Saint-Mesme, a nobleman of his 
 household, to Rome, at once formally to communicate 
 this intelligence to the sovereign pontiff, and privately to 
 invite him to become sponsor to the royal infant, and 
 thus consolidate the friendly alliance which existed 
 between them. 1 The envoy was most graciously received, 
 nor did the pope attempt to conceal the satisfaction 
 which he experienced from the proposition ; and, after 
 having sumptuously entertained M. de Saint-Mesme 
 during several days while the baptismal presents were in 
 preparation, he finally dismissed him with great honour ; 
 and he left the Holy City, accompanied by Lorenzo de' 
 Medici, the nephew of the pontiff, who was appointed 
 to officiate as his proxy, and the Florentine ambassadors. 
 On the arrival of the illustrious party at Amboise, they 
 were met beyond the gates of the city by all the princes 
 of the blood, and great nobles of the court, by whom they 
 were conducted to the king. The other sponsors selected 
 by Francis to assist at the august ceremony were the 
 Duke de Lorraine and Madame de Bourbon ; 2 and there 
 
 1 Bacon, in his "Life and Times of Francis I," attributes the 
 overture to Leo X ; but as the Memoirs of Fleuranges and Du Bellay 
 alike assert it to have been the act of the French king, I have deemed 
 it expedient to follow their authority. 
 
 2 The " Loyal Servant " states the godmother of the royal infant 
 to have been the Duchess d'Alenson ; but it is to be presumed that 
 the authority of Fleuranges, who assisted at the ceremony, is the 
 more correct of the two.
 
 1517-18.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 245 
 
 was a smile upon every tip save that of the meek mother 
 of the new idol, who at length found her last hope of 
 regaining the affections of her volatile husband extin- 
 guished for ever. She had trusted with all a woman's 
 confidence that the birth of a son would restore him to 
 her; but in the very tone of his address, as he coldly 
 thanked her for the present which she had made to 
 France, she read all her lone and loveless future ; and 
 as her pale cheek fell back upon the pillow, she closed 
 her heavy eyelids to conceal the tears which would not 
 be suppressed, and humbled herself in prayer. 
 
 None, however, save her immediate attendants, were 
 conscious, amid the general joy, that there was a burst- 
 ing and a bleeding heart beneath the proud roof of the 
 palace of Amboise. Princes and nobles feasted at the 
 table of the king ; the silvery sound of women's laughter 
 echoed through the vast apartments ; the guards were 
 merry at their posts, and the varlets at their toil. 
 France at length boasted a dauphin ; and every other 
 consideration was swallowed up in that one joyous 
 conviction. 
 
 The ceremony of baptism was invested with all the 
 splendour of which it was susceptible. Plumed hats 
 and jewelled vests were mingled with brocades and laces ; 
 the fairest and noblest of France were grouped with 
 distinguished individuals of other nations, among- whom 
 one of the most remarkable was the Prince of Orange, 
 who arrived, attended by a magnificent retinue, to offer 
 his congratulations to the king ; but was so coldly received 
 as to retire in disgust, and to volunteer his services to 
 Charles V, by whom they were eagerly and courteously
 
 Old THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1517-18. 
 
 accepted. The altar of the palace-chapel blazed with 
 precious stones, and its aisles were heavy with the fumes 
 of frankincense ; gorgeously attired prelates lined the 
 sanctuary, and majestic women filled the galleries of 
 the tribune ; harmonious voices pealed out the hymn of 
 praise ; and the infant prince, shrouded in ermine and 
 velvet, received the name of Francis from the courtly lips 
 of Lorenzo de' Medici. The service once concluded, 
 the brilliant crowd swept onward from the chapel 
 towards the great court-yard, which had been entirely 
 enclosed both above and around with party-coloured 
 draperies, in order to protect the guests from the weather 
 during the banquet ; the grand-saloon of the palace 
 having been found inadequate to afford accommodation 
 to so numeious an assemblage. After the repast, which 
 was prolonged until a late hour, this magnificent tem- 
 porary hall was illuminated by torches ; and dancing, 
 lotteries, and dice occupied the remainder of the night. 
 
 Nor were the baptismal festivities confined to Amboise, 
 for throughout the whole realm of France the people 
 vied with each other in testifying their joy at the birth 
 of a dauphin. The streets of Paris were filled with 
 revellers, who were entertained at the expense of the 
 authorities ; and at Orleans two temporary fountains 
 were erected in front of the Hotel de Ville, which poured 
 forth white and red wine from sunrise to sunset. The 
 glad shouting of the populace responded to the pealing 
 of the cannon from the fortresses ; and for several days 
 all business was suspended. 
 
 Accustomed as he had been to the pontifical splendour 
 of his uncle's court, Lorenzo de' Medici was dazzled by
 
 1517-18.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 247 
 
 the magnificence of all around him. The chivalric cour- 
 tesies of the king, the gracious smiles of the regent, 1 the 
 lavish profusion of the great nobles, and the extreme 
 beauty of the fair women who thronged the palace, so 
 far exceeded all his previous experience, that he at once 
 became reconciled to the will of his uncle, by whom 
 he had been charged to propose a treaty of marriage 
 between himself and Madelaine de la Tour-d'Auvergne, 
 the younger daughter of the Count de Boulogne and 
 Auvergne, whose sister had married the Duke d'Aubigny. 
 This lady, who was young and extremely beautiful, was 
 connected with the royal family through her mother, who 
 had been a princess of Bourbon ; 2 and it was not without 
 considerable disappointment that some of the wealthiest 
 nobles in the kingdom saw her hand bestowed upon 
 a foreigner. 
 
 Francis, however, effected a sagacious stroke of policy 
 by the concession ; as he required in return a pledge 
 from Lorenzo, that both he and all his family should 
 bind themselves to uphold the interests of France, with 
 which this marriage would tend so closely to unite them. 
 The Florentine at once acceded to this arrangement ; 
 but, even enamoured as he was of the fair girl who was 
 about to become his wife, he was still wary enough to 
 stipulate in return, that the French king should with- 
 draw his protection from the Duke d'Urbino, whose ally 
 
 1 Madame d'Angouleme was commonly so called after her tempo- 
 rary regency. 
 
 2 Madelaine de la Tour-d'Auvergne was the daughter and co- 
 heiress of Jean, Count de Boulogne, and Joanna, the daughter of 
 Jean, Duke de Vendome.
 
 248 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1517-18. 
 
 he then was, and offer no impediment to his own attempt 
 to possess himself of the duchy. To this proposition 
 Francis, after some demur, in his turn consented ; and 
 preparations were forthwith commenced for the celebra- 
 tion of this ill-omened marriage, which was fated to exert 
 so mighty an influence on the destinies of France, by 
 giving birth to Catherine de' Medici. 
 
 Once more the halls of Amboise were loud with fes- 
 tivity, and radiant with splendour ; and, on the return 
 of the bridal party from the chapel, Francis invested the 
 bridegroom with the cross of St. Michael, having pre- 
 viously presented him with an annual revenue of ten 
 thousand crowns ; and lavished upon the bride presents 
 of the most costly description. 
 
 In this munificence he was, however, even exceeded 
 by the pope ; who, in the height of his self-gratulation at 
 the new aggrandisement of his family, despatched both to 
 the Queen of France, and to the bride, gifts of so costly 
 a nature as to excite universal astonishment; among 
 which, (probably the most remarkable at the period) was 
 a state-bed, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, tortoise-shell, 
 and ivory ; while so great was his profusion, that a train 
 of thirty-six horses were required to convey all these 
 treasures to the capital. 
 
 The most novel feature of the court-festival at this mar- 
 riage, was the introduction of distinct character dances, 
 executed entirely by the youngest and most beautiful 
 women of the royal circle ; who, divided into parties of 
 twelve, each assumed some national costume, of which the 
 illusion was further heightened by the accompaniment of 
 corresponding instruments. As the number of these
 
 1517-18.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 
 
 courtly coryphees amounted to seventy, the whole of the 
 morning was consumed in witnessing their performances; 
 after which the king conducted the bride to the banquet- 
 ing table, followed by her new-made husband leading 
 Madame d'Angouleme ; and having in their suite all the 
 princes of the blood, foreign ambassadors, and nobles, 
 each according to his order of precedence. As the last 
 of the guests passed the threshold, the trumpets sounded, 
 and the king, advancing to the upper end of the hall, 
 placed his mother upon his right hand ; and then, raising 
 his feathered hat for an instant, motioned to the courtly 
 party to take their seats. With the exception of the 
 Duchess d'Angouleme and the bride, no lady had a place 
 at the royal table ; Madame de Chateaubriand herself, 
 upon this stringent occasion of court etiquette, being 
 compelled to forego her ordinary privilege. As the 
 several courses were removed, the trumpets again pealed 
 out, and, during the intervals, the royal musicians kept 
 up an uninterrupted stream of harmony. At the close 
 of the banquet dancing was resumed, and continued until 
 an hour past midnight, amid a blaze of flambeaux and 
 torches which rivalled the light of day. 
 
 On the morrow the festivities were resumed; and 
 jousts, skirmishes, sham-fights, sieges, and other manly 
 sports, were varied by balls, mysteries, hunting-parties, 
 and such pastimes as might be shared by the young 
 beauties of the court, during several weeks ; after which 
 the king took leave of the newly-married pair, who 
 departed for Italy accompanied by the Duke d'Aubigny, 
 the brother-in-law of the bride, whom he had appointed 
 his ambassador to the pope ; and who, in that capacity,
 
 250 THK COURT AND REIGN OF [1517-18. 
 
 acquitted himself so admirably as to insure the lasting 
 jilliaiuv of the Medici with France. 
 
 Never again, however, was the unfortunate Madelaine 
 de la Tour-d'Auvergne destined to visit her beloved 
 country, to whose interests she had been a passive 
 although a reluctant victim. In little more than a 
 year, she had become the mother of Catherine de' 
 Medici, and was in her grave ; whither she was followed 
 in the short space of five days by her husband, both 
 having fallen martyrs to a contagious disease in April, 
 1519. 
 
 As the court slowly subsided into tranquillity, after 
 the long effervescence of almost delirious dissipation in 
 which it had been immersed, the increasing influence of 
 Madame de Chateaubriand became more and more appa- 
 rent. She assumed no personal consequence, it is true ; 
 but, urged on by her family, she evinced the most anxious 
 desire to enrich her three brothers; and, in order to 
 accomplish this project, began to interfere in the affairs 
 of state with a pertinacity which aroused all the jealousy 
 of Louise de Savoie, who had been so long accustomed to 
 mould her son to her will, that she could ill brook the 
 rivalry of power which was thus forced upon her. Nor 
 was it long ere she became painfully aware that the 
 contest was altogether unequal ; and that the indulgence 
 with which she had, from his very boyhood, visited, or 
 rather encouraged, the passions of her son, was destined 
 to prove her own punishment. Hitherto she had been 
 all in all to him; for the patient and neglected queen 
 had put forth no claim to popularity ; and had shrunk 
 alike from every cabal which had been formed about her;
 
 1517-18.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 251 
 
 devoting herself entirely to her children, of two of whom 
 she was so soon to be bereaved ; and to those works of 
 charity and acts of devotion by which she hoped one 
 day to purchase the affections of her husband. The 
 previous intrigues of the young king had been merely 
 the result of a passing fancy, and, as such, incapable of 
 weakening the influence of his mother ; and even in her 
 first judgment of Francoise de Foix the sagacious duchess 
 had not deceived herself; but she had committed the 
 grievous and irreparable error of forgetting, that little 
 as the young countess might seek or estimate self-aggran- 
 disement, there were those about her, who, unlike her 
 high-hearted husband, would not disdain to make her 
 dishonour the pedestal of their own fortunes ; and this 
 was precisely that which came to pass. 
 
 It has been already stated, that noble as they were 
 by birth, the family of Fraii9oise de Foix were by no 
 means wealthy ; and it was consequently inevitable that, 
 having once accustomed themselves to look upon the 
 dishonour of their sister with indifference, her three 
 brothers, Messieurs de Lautrec, de Lascun, and de 
 Lespare, should regard her as the destined architect 
 of their fortunes ; and thus involve her in intrigues and 
 cabals, for which she was totally unfitted by nature. 
 The first glaring instance of her unbounded influence 
 over her royal lover, was exhibited in the recall of 
 the Connetable de Bourbon from Milan, where he had 
 remained since its conquest as the Lieutenant- General of 
 the king; and the substitution of the Marechal de Lautrec, 
 whose ambition could be satisfied only by the highest 
 and most honourable charge in the army.
 
 252 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1517-18. 
 
 It was during a hunting-party in the forest of Bussy, 
 when, fatigued and heated with the chase, Francis reined 
 up his panting horse beside the palfrey of the young 
 countess ; and with one hand caressing its silken mane, 
 received with a fond smile her whispered compliments 
 upon his prowess, that this great and eventful change 
 was fated to be arranged. Long as she had meditated 
 upon it, and anxious as she had become to insure its 
 success, a certain timidity had hitherto restrained her 
 from entering formally upon the subject ; but on this 
 occasion, a single question from the enamoured monarch 
 liberated her at once from her difficulty. They were 
 alone, and secure for a time from all interruption; the 
 hunt having led the whole of the royal suite to another 
 and a distant quarter of the forest ; the sunlight fell in 
 living mosaics upon the mossy turf, when the quivering 
 leaves afforded it a momentary passage ; and the low 
 sweet wind, as it wandered past, swept the long ringlets 
 of the countess almost to the cheek of her companion as 
 he leant towards her. 
 
 " On the faith of a gentleman !" l exclaimed Francis ; 
 " you have followed the hunt bravely to-day, and have 
 shamed many a cavalier, who will nevertheless vaunt 
 
 1 Foy de Gentil-Homme was the habitual oath of Francis I, and, 
 indeed, the only one which he permitted to pass his lips. Brantome 
 informs us that the three preceding kings of France had likewise 
 each his favourite ejaculation ; and that a quatrain was written in 
 commemoration, thus : 
 
 " Quand la ' Pasque Dieu,' deceda .... Loujs XL 
 
 ' Par le Jour-Dieu,' luy succeda Charles VIII. 
 
 ' Le Diable m'emporte,' s'en tint pres . . Louys XII. 
 ' Foy de Gentil-Homme ' vint apres. . . Francois I."
 
 1517-18.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 253 
 
 of his prowess at the banquet erewhile. But where were 
 your thoughts, ma mie? I could not watch them as 
 I did your bright eyes, and your slender figure." And 
 he looked tenderly in her face, as though he already 
 anticipated the flattering answer. 
 
 " I need surely not inform your majesty that they 
 were, as ever, fixed upon yourself ; but, alas ! not with 
 undivided happiness ;" said the lady. 
 
 " And why so ? " demanded the king abruptly : " These 
 are strange words from the lips of Francoise de Foix." 
 
 " They are, Sire ; but they are at least truthful. 
 Are you not all the world to me? And can I reflect 
 upon any possible injury to your august name without 
 dismay?" 
 
 " You speak in enigmas, Madame ; I scarcely know 
 you in this new character. Explain your meaning, and 
 let us once more understand each other." 
 
 " My duty is obedience ;" said the beautiful countess, 
 as she suffered her large lustrous eyes to rest for a 
 moment upon the hand which was still plunged amid 
 the mane of her palfrey, and then raised them timidly 
 and tearfully to the face of the king ; " With your image 
 was blended that of the Connetable de Bourbon." 
 
 "Ha! our good cousin Charles de Montpensier;" 
 smiled Francis ; " and what of him, fair dame ? " 
 
 " Simply, Sire, that your royal favour has rendered 
 him too arrogant for the subject of such a master ; and 
 that I have certain advices from Milan, which lead me 
 to suspect his loyalty. Already the most wealthy and 
 powerful noble of France, he has nothing to anticipate 
 at home ; and his ambition is no secret."
 
 ;.V> 1 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1517-18. 
 
 Francis started, and sat erect in his saddle. 
 
 " The duchy of Milan ;" pursued the countess; " would 
 be a tempting exchange for the sword of Connetable ; 
 and M. de Bourbon has already secured the hearts of 
 his vice-regal subjects." 
 
 "Ha, indeed!" exclaimed her listener vehemently; 
 "Is it so? Tn good truth this must be looked to. But 
 in whom can we trust, if Charles de Montperisier, whom 
 we have raised to the highest dignity in the realm, turn 
 traitor to our interests ? " 
 
 " One for whom your majesty has done less ;" said 
 Frangoise steadily ; " One who still remembers at whose 
 hands he holds his favour ; and who has already afforded 
 proof both of his loyalty and his devotion." 
 
 " True ;" replied the king thoughtfully, and with a 
 moody brow ; " doubtless there are many such in our 
 good kingdom of France ; but the choice will be no easy 
 one. Besides, Marguerite loves Bourbon like a brother, 
 and will reproach me should I offer him an affront." 
 
 " The loss of the Milanese would be an affront to 
 your majesty which no reproach could reach ;" retorted 
 the favourite. 
 
 " On the faith of a gentleman, you are right, madam !" 
 almost shouted Francis, who was stung to the very core 
 by the bare supposition of such an indignity ; " The 
 Connetable shall be recalled. And now, since you have 
 become a counsellor, and plunged into the stormy sea of 
 state affairs, you must complete your work, and help 
 me to select his successor." 
 
 { Your majesty has not forgotten Ravenna?" asked 
 the countess with her most sunny smile.
 
 1517-18.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 255 
 
 The eye of the young king brightened. " Ha ! I read 
 the meaning of that fair plotting face. No, ma mie, 
 I have forgotten neither Ravenna, nor the brilliant 
 services of your brother ; but you should also remember 
 that he is already a Marshal of France." 
 
 "The Duke de Bourbon is Constable;" said the 
 countess boldly ; " and, like Lautrec, owes his dignity 
 to your majesty." 
 
 " Why ! you have suddenly become as uncompro- 
 mising as Duprat himself!" laughed Francis, as he 
 touched her cheek lightly with his fringed glove ; 
 " Enough, however, for the present ; this shall be con- 
 sidered." 
 
 " You will not consult the duchess, Sire ?" asked 
 Franchise anxiously. 
 
 " Not if you forbid it ; but here come the hunt, with 
 De Guise and Fleuranges in the van. Ha ! on the faith 
 of a gentleman, they have lost their quarry ! " 
 
 " And I my cause, Sire the first which I have ever 
 undertaken. Pardon me ; I overrated my influence 
 with your majesty." And the spoilt beauty burst into 
 tears, half of mortification and half of disappointment. 
 
 "Francoise!" exclaimed the young king, hurriedly 
 extending his hand, which she clasped in her slender 
 fingers ; " dear Francoise, dry your eyes, or you will 
 unman me. Your cause is won. Lautrec shall have 
 the Milanese." 
 
 The countess had no time for thanks. In another 
 instant all the sportsmen were grouped about the king, 
 the plumes of their hats mingling with the manes of 
 their horses, as they were respectfully withdrawn ; the 
 
 /JM.S. li -v t "-vti IV-iCvUj v. c vcviv -v evT v 
 
 <?,, i^ruV iir* W-K 
 
 ; o rwt*v , -
 
 256 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1517-18. 
 
 details of the unsuccessful hunt were rapidly given ; 
 and then, with tightened reins, the whole noble party 
 galloped back to Chambord. 
 
 Francis redeemed his pledge. The Connetable was 
 recalled, and the Marechal de Lautrec formally invested 
 with the government of the Milanese ; to the great disgust 
 of Bourbon, who received with undisguised coldness the 
 assurances of the king that he could not longer forego 
 the gratification of his presence in France. In how far 
 the arguments of Madame de Chateaubriand had wronged 
 this haughty noble cannot be ascertained ; although from 
 the almost regal state which he affected while at Milan, 
 and the facility with which he afterwards transferred his 
 services to a hostile sovereign, it appears probable that 
 his loyalty might have failed before his ambition, had he 
 once felt himself assured of success in seizing the sove- 
 reignty of the duchy ; an inference which is, moreover, 
 strengthened by his resolute and undisguised hostility to 
 Leo X, the ally of his own monarch. Suffice it, however, 
 that whatever might have been his ulterior projects, 
 they were now overthrown for ever ; and he found him- 
 self compelled to exchange his quasi-royalty for a less 
 exalted station. 
 
 Meanwhile, the indignation of Madame d'Angouleme 
 exceeded all bounds when she discovered that so impor- 
 tant a measure had been effected without her sanction ; 
 and as the identity of the new viceroy sufficiently explained 
 by whose influence his elevation had been accomplished, 
 her hatred towards the favourite became more apparent. 
 It was not, however, for the compulsatory return of the 
 Connetable that Louise de Savoie felt exasperated against
 
 1517-18.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 257 
 
 the countess, but simply because the event demonstrated 
 the immense power which she had obtained over the 
 mind of Francis, and the assurance that thenceforward 
 she must content herself with sharing the supremacy 
 which had once been entirely her own. The arrival of 
 Charles de Bourbon at the court was, on the contrary, a 
 source of satisfaction ; for, as we have already hinted, she 
 had suffered herself to conceive a passion for that prince 
 to which, despite the maturity of her age, she still trusted 
 that he would not ultimately prove insensible. She was 
 ignorant of his attachment to her daughter; and con- 
 scious that she was still one of the handsomest women 
 in France, as well as the mother of the Sovereign, she 
 pleased herself with the belief that opportunity alone was 
 wanting to bring him to her feet. 
 
 Strange, however, are the mysteries of the human 
 heart. Never for an instant had Bourbon forgotten 
 Marguerite ; he still worshipped her as his first love ; 
 and when he crossed the frontiers, her image rose as 
 freshly before him as on the day when her murmured 
 farewell had fallen upon his ear like muffled music in 
 the saloon of Amboise ; yet, nevertheless, he no sooner 
 encountered the smile of the Countess de Chateaubriand, 
 his active enemy against whom he had vowed an 
 undying enmity, than he became her slave. Francoise, 
 whose heart had, as a natural consequence, become 
 vitiated by a career of avowed profligacy, did not view 
 with indifference the effect produced by her beauty ; 
 and the prejudices and suspicions of the king, already 
 awakened against the duke by her own representations, 
 acquired strength from the interest which she suddenly 
 
 VOL. i. s
 
 258 THE COURT AND KEIGN OF [151 7-1 S. 
 
 and unexpectedly took in all that concerned him. Herein, 
 however, Francis wronged the Connetable ; who, thralled 
 as he might be, and undoubtedly was, by the charms of 
 the young countess, was too proud to volunteer a rivalry 
 with the Admiral de Bonnivet ; and he had not passed 
 eight-and-forty hours at court ere he heard the name 
 of that noble coupled with that of the king's favourite 
 in a manner which reflected no honour upon either party. 
 Some rumour of the same nature had also reached the 
 ear of Francis himself, and he had even mentioned the 
 circumstance to the countess with an asperity which might 
 have satisfied her that she had little indulgence to expect 
 should he prove the truth of the report ; but Francoise 
 had only found food for mirth in the accusation, and 
 even mimicked with such charming talent the amorous 
 looks and gestures of the suspected courtier, that the 
 wrath of the king was converted into amusement. Bran- 
 tome asserts, that in order the better to hoodwink her 
 royal paramour, she did not disdain to make sport of the 
 credulity of the admiral, in supposing that one who was 
 loved by Francis could for a moment be induced to listen 
 to his own suit ; declaring that she permitted his fami- 
 liarities only because his conversation entertained her, 
 and that he made her merry even when her heart was 
 sad ; and by these devices she turned away the attention 
 of the young monarch, and directed his jealousy to 
 a wrong quarter in order the better to pursue her 
 intrigue. Be this as it may, it is certain that the distaste 
 of Francis for the Duke de Bourbon increased daily ; 
 while the passion of Bonnivet for the fair favourite, which 
 had become sufficiently notorious to furnish matter for
 
 1517-18.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 259 
 
 the gossips of the court, never for an instant affected 
 his favour. His early attachment to the Duchess d'Alen- 
 9on had been no secret to the king; and as he still 
 affected the same hopeless devotion, Francis, convinced by 
 the arguments of the countess, learnt to regard his atten- 
 tions to herself as the mere chivalric services of a true 
 knight to the most beautiful woman of his acquaintance. 
 Amid all these intrigues the chancellor continued his 
 efforts to secure the recognition of the Concordat by the 
 parliament of Paris. Francis had solemnly pledged his 
 word to the pope that he would compel its observance, 
 and was necessarily anxious to see his promise fulfilled ; 
 not only because it involved his good understanding with 
 the sovereign-pontiff himself, but because upon that 
 understanding hinged his tranquil possession of the 
 duchy of Milan. The debates upon the Pragmatic Sanc- 
 tion had also tended to increase the previous difficulties 
 under which he laboured to a fearful extent. His per- 
 sonal influence in the elections had sensibly declined ; the 
 morals of the clergy had degenerated, and serious abuses 
 had arisen in the religious houses ; the most sacred con- 
 siderations were sacrificed to party-feeling; all such 
 individuals as were known to be in favour of rigid dis- 
 cipline were rejected, and men of more than suspicious 
 morals were elevated to the highest ecclesiastical dig- 
 nities. No unanimous suffrage could be secured even 
 for the most eligible candidate ; at every election there 
 was a division of votes ; and as no final arrangement 
 could be effected without rancour and vindictiveness, 
 the one party insisting upon their majority of voices, 
 and the other accusing their opponents of simony, .the 
 
 s 2
 
 200 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1517-18. 
 
 most disgraceful processes at law ensued, in which 
 neither exposure nor invective were spared. 
 
 Although the conditions of the Concordat had never 
 been officially promulgated, it had nevertheless created 
 universal discontent. The magistrates, indignant that 
 their privileges had been invaded, and wilfully over- 
 looking the fact that the church could not exist in its 
 primitive state in the sixteenth century, loudly accused 
 both their own monarch and the pope of having assumed 
 to themselves a power to which they had no pretension ; 
 and, as a natural consequence, this bold assertion coming 
 from a body of men deeply versed in ecclesiastical law, 
 and basing their arguments upon the maxims of the two 
 great councils of Constance and Bale, produced a strong 
 effect upon the minor clergy and the middle classes, who 
 had long been accustomed to regard the decisions of 
 those councils as their code of action. 
 
 Nevertheless, Francis urged forward the recognition of 
 the Concordat with the pertinacity of a monarch who will 
 tolerate no opposition to his will. In the month of 
 June it was presented for registration to the parliament 
 of Paris, where it occasioned the most stormy discussions ; 
 and was openly opposed by M. de Sievre, the advocate- 
 general ; which so enraged the king that he despatched 
 the Bastard of Savoy, his uncle, during one of the 
 sittings, to insist upon its immediate recognition and 
 acceptance; instructing him, moreover, to remain until 
 the registration had taken place. The first president 
 expostulated warmly upon this innovation; represent- 
 ing to M. de Savoie that he could not be present at 
 the deliberations of the chamber without taking the oath
 
 151 M 8.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 261 
 
 as a member of its body ; and requested him to retire, 
 which he was compelled reluctantly to do, leaving his 
 mission unaccomplished. The parliament, in their turn, 
 sent their president, M. de la Haye, to remonstrate 
 with the monarch ; alleging that as M. Rene de Savoie 
 was not a member of their body, his interference was 
 illegal ; an expostulation to which Francis only replied 
 by the reiterated exclamation : " He shall be there ! 
 He shall be there ! I will no longer tolerate the cavillers 
 who oppose my pleasure ; I can replace them by better 
 men who are ready to do their duty like loyal subjects." 
 
 The delegates then ventured respectfully to remind 
 him of the deference with which his predecessor had 
 invariably received every remonstrance offered by his 
 good and faithful deputies ; but they had soon reason to 
 repent their boldness. Francis was at this period at 
 Nempont, near Montreuil, where he was engaged in 
 strengthening the fortresses of Picardy, and in no mood 
 to be controlled by forms, or schooled into submission to 
 his own subjects. He was piqued, moreover, by the 
 inferred distinction between himself and the late king, 
 and had no sooner heard the president to an end than he 
 exclaimed haughtily : " I am aware that there are men 
 in my parliament who are both wise and worthy ; but I 
 know also that there are others who are audacious, tur- 
 bulent, and mischievous. I am not ignorant either of 
 their identity or their arguments. You expatiate to me 
 upon the justice of Louis XII, I am just also ; but like 
 him I shall know how to compel obedience." 
 
 M. de la Haye would still have remonstrated, but the 
 anger of Francis, who ill brooked opposition at any time,
 
 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1517-18. 
 
 only became more and more violent ; and he finally 
 dismissed his unwelcome visitor with a threat that he 
 would send all who opposed his will to Toulouse or 
 Bourdeaux. 
 
 Nevertheless, when he became more cool, he suffered 
 the parliament to delay the registration of the Concordat 
 under divers pretexts, lest by too great a precipitation he 
 should increase the distaste of the nation to a law which 
 he considered necessary to insure the welfare of the 
 church, and the tranquillity of the kingdom. The dis- 
 cussions accordingly continued from the 13th of July 
 until the 24th of the same month, in the presence of 
 M. de Savoie ; at the expiration of that period the whole 
 body came to the decision that they could not register 
 the Concordat, its provisions being at variance with the 
 Pragmatic Sanction, which they were compelled to 
 observe ; declaring at the same time that in order to 
 enact an affair of such paramount importance, it was 
 necessary to convene a national council. 
 
 Renewed negotiations were then opened between the 
 court and the parliament, but no satisfactory result could 
 be obtained; and on the 13th of January, 1518, the 
 counsellors, Messrs, de Soy en and Verjus, were deputed 
 to wait upon the king, for the purpose of presenting to 
 him a document in which they represented that he would 
 compromise the independence and dignity of his crown 
 by such a submission to the pope, and at the same time 
 diminish the public revenues. 
 
 The court was then sojourning at Amboisc ; and 
 although apprised of the arrival of the delegates, Francis 
 gave no orders for their reception or accommodation, nor
 
 1517-18.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 263 
 
 was it until the 24th of the month that he condescended 
 to receive them ; when in reply to their communication 
 he coldly and haughtily remarked, that his chancellor 
 had overruled all their objections in a document which 
 he considered as peremptory and conclusive. The 
 two counsellors respectfully requested a copy of this 
 important paper, upon which the king lost his temper, 
 and angrily declared that he would not consent to have 
 an interminable process created out of a subject upon 
 which his pleasure should suffice. " It would appear ;" 
 he added sternly; " that my parliament desires to consti- 
 tute itself a second Venetian senate ; but I will let them 
 know that I am King of France, and that my will is law. 
 The ecclesiastics who form a portion of your body, listen 
 to nothing save what affects their own personal interests; 
 they have become counsellors only the more readily to 
 possess themselves of bishoprics and abbeys, and to 
 delude themselves with the belief, that under cover of 
 certain privileges they are no longer my subjects, and that 
 I cannot take their heads should such be my royal plea- 
 sure. They are deceived, however, as some among them 
 may ere long discover to their cost. I will have no more 
 of them in my parliament ; that they were ever admitted 
 there at all was the act of my predecessors ; and my 
 power is equally great to expel them, and to establish a 
 contrary law. The whole body has become over arro- 
 gant, and shall in future confine itself to the administra- 
 tion of justice, which is now worse dispensed than it has 
 been for the last hundred years." 
 
 It was at the close of the evening banquet that this 
 unsatisfactory interview took place ; and Francis finally
 
 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1517-18. 
 
 dismissed the discomfited delegates with an order to 
 leave Amboise by six o'clock on the following morning, 
 warning them that if they did not obey, he would cause 
 them both to be flung into the castle moat. 
 
 After an audience of this description all further 
 attempt at remonstrance was abandoned by the parlia- 
 ment, although they still pursued their discussions upon 
 the question ; but the patience of the king being finally 
 exhausted, on the 12th of March M. de la Tremouille, 
 the grand chamberlain, presented himself to the chamber 
 during one of its sittings, and commanded its members, 
 in the name of the monarch, to proceed immediately to 
 the registration of the contested Concordat, and to waste 
 no more time in deliberating upon a subject which was 
 already decided. As they still hesitated, some of his 
 followers warned them to beware of further exasperating 
 the anger of Francis, who had declared that should they 
 persist in their contumacy, not only their own lives 
 should be the forfeit of their disloyalty, but that he 
 would annihilate the parliament, and destroy the city. 
 This threat proved successful, and the parliament con- 
 sented to withdraw its opposition. 
 
 The fact was no sooner promulgated, than the uni- 
 versity issued an order that solemn services should be 
 performed in the churches, and penitential processions 
 traverse the streets, as on occasions of public calamity ; 
 while the parliament protested on oath that its liberties 
 had been infringed, and that it had only yielded by 
 compulsion to the will of the king. This done, the 
 Concordat was, eventually registered on the 1 6th of March, 
 in the presence of M. de la Tremouille, with this final
 
 1517-18.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 265 
 
 clause, which was a last and useless protest against the 
 act : " By the very express command of the king several 
 times repeated." 
 
 Nor was the opposition of the university less strongly 
 demonstrated; the most popular preachers denounced 
 the new law from their pulpits, and the most learned 
 professors from their chairs. All the printers of 
 the capital were forbidden to put the obnoxious 
 document into type; and so intemperate were some 
 of the speeches made by members of both bodies, and 
 so gross the strictures passed upon the king and his 
 court, that Francis at length found himself compelled to 
 imprison several of the most distinguished of the orators, 
 and to keep them in close confinement until the popular 
 ferment had subsided ; passing meanwhile an edict con- 
 demnatory of the proceedings of the whole university, 
 whose members were forbidden under heavy penalties 
 thenceforward to discuss this or any other decree which 
 had received the royal sanction. 
 
 Thus the Concordat became a portion of the national 
 law ; but although all open opposition was necessarily at 
 an end, it had to encounter evasions and quibbles so 
 artfully conceived and skilfully executed, that Francis 
 derived little benefit from its enforcement ; while he was 
 made painfully aware that by his pertinacity he had 
 sacrificed his popularity, and estranged the affections 
 of his people.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 [1518.] 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF LITERATURE LEONARDO DA VINCI NATIVE TALENT TACT 
 OF FRANCIS AN ITALIAN CHARLATAN ERASMUS INVITED TO FRANCE 
 HE REFUSES TO LEAVE ENGLAND CUPIDITY OF LEO X. MARTIN LUTHER 
 INCREASING FAVOUR OF MADAME DE CHATEAUBRIAND UNBOUNDED 
 
 AUTHORITY OF LOUISE DE SAVOIE ARROGANCE OF THE FRENCH KING 
 
 HIS PROFUSION LAUTREC DISGUSTS THE MILANESE THE MARECHAL 
 TRIVULZIO INTRIGUES OF THE FAVOURITE TRIVULZIO IS DECLARED A 
 TRAITOR HE DEMANDS AN AUDIENCE OF THE KING IS REFUSED, AND 
 DIES BROKEN-HEARTED THE VACANT BATON IS CONFERRED UPON M. DE 
 LESCUN.
 
 1518.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 269 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 [1518.] 
 
 IT has been already stated that the early studies of 
 Francis I, however judiciously planned and admirably 
 conceived, had failed to render him an accomplished 
 scholar ; but they had nevertheless taught him to estimate 
 at their true value those more highly gifted than himself ; 
 and to render him eager to assemble about him all who 
 Were most distinguished in literature and art throughout 
 Europe. Accordingly the Concordat was no sooner 
 registered than he turned his attention to this important 
 point ; and the first celebrated man whom he invited to 
 his court was Leonardo da Vinci, who had founded the 
 schools of Florence and Milan ; and through whom he 
 entered into correspondence with the most famous archi- 
 tects of Italy, in order to secure their advice and 
 assistance in the construction of the public monuments 
 which he was anxious to erect. The Royal College, to 
 which allusion has already been made, was, however, the 
 principal object that occupied his mind. The encourage- 
 ment afforded to literature by Louis XII, and the ser- 
 vices rendered to oriental learning by the Greek savant
 
 270 mi: COURT AND REIGN OF [1518. 
 
 John Lascaris, during the same reign, had given an 
 impetus to native talent, which had already produced 
 most beneficial effects in the persons of Budee, Danes, 1 
 Du Chatel, 2 Cop, 3 arid many other distinguished students; 
 while the amiable and accomplished Etienne Poucher, 4 
 bishop of Paris, Guillaume Petit, Jacques Colin, Guillaume 
 Pelissier, and several more individuals of equal reputation 
 for talent and erudition, formed a nucleus worthy of the 
 great names which ere long gathered about them from all 
 the European nations. Gifted with extraordinary facility 
 and a correct taste, Francis soon supplied, or rather con- 
 cealed, his own mental deficiencies by the aptitude with 
 
 1 Pierre Danes was born in Paris in 1497, was appointed by 
 Francis I. professor of Greek at the Royal College, and became 
 the tutor of many illustrious men. He was subsequently preceptor 
 and confessor of the Dauphin, afterwards Francis II. Deputed 
 to attend the Council of Trent in 1546, he produced a powerful 
 effect by his extraordinary eloquence ; and in 1557 was made 
 bishop of Lavaur. He resigned his see in 1576, and died in 1577. 
 He is believed to have been the author of the famous treatise, 
 De Ecclesice Hitibus, published under the name of the president 
 Duranti. 
 
 2 Pierre Du Chatel, or Castellanus, one of the most learned pre- 
 lates of the sixteenth century, was born at Arc-en-Barrois. He was 
 reader and librarian to Francis I, who gave him the bishopric of 
 Tulle in 1539, and that of Magon in 1544. Created great-almoner 
 of France in 1548, he became bishop of Orleans in 1551, and died 
 the following year. He was intimately versed in the oriental lan- 
 guages. 
 
 3 Guillaume Cop was the most eminent physician of his time, and 
 the original translator of the works of Galen, Paulus jEginetus, 
 and Hippocrates. 
 
 4 Etienne Poucher had been chancellor during the reign of 
 Louis XTI, but had voluntarily sent in his resignation. He subse- 
 quently became archbishop of Sens ; and died in 1524, at the age 
 of seventy- eight years.
 
 1518.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 271 
 
 which he appropriated the ideas of those about him ; and 
 as he passed every moment which was not devoted to 
 Madame de Chateaubriand, or some one of her temporary 
 rivals, in the society of the learned men who ere long 
 thronged his court, and whom he skilfully and unweariedly 
 questioned upon the particular subjects for which they 
 were especially celebrated, he succeeded in obtaining a 
 vague and general idea of every branch of literature, which 
 deluded the unlearned into a belief of his scholarship ; 
 while it even deceived himself sufficiently to persuade 
 him that he could acquire by this erratic system of study 
 all the results which had only been attained by his inter- 
 locutors through long and weary years of labour and 
 application. That he had thoroughly convinced himself 
 of so flattering a fact is rendered evident, by the naivete 
 with which he on one occasion remarked, while speaking 
 of M. Du Chatel, " He is the only man the whole of 
 whose science I have not fathomed in a couple of years." 
 As a natural consequence, the anxiety of Francis to 
 attract about him all those celebrities by whose assistance 
 he could either illustrate his reign, or increase his own 
 slender stock of knowledge, exposed him to the artifices 
 of many pretenders ; and among the rest an anecdote is 
 related by Alcyat 1 in one of his letters, of an Italian 
 charlatan named Julio Camilla, who boasted to the 
 monarch that he could render him a proficient both in 
 
 1 Andre Alcyat was a celebrated lawyer, born near Milan, in 1492, 
 and was invited to Bourges by Francis I, who was anxious to raise 
 the character of the university of that city, where he introduced the 
 system of combining the study of the law with that of polite lite- 
 rature. He was the author of several works of considerable talent ; 
 and died in 1550.
 
 272 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1518. 
 
 Greek and Latin in the short space of a single month, 
 provided that he would devote an hour daily to that par- 
 ticular study. He, however, exacted that no third person 
 should be present, declaring that so important a secret 
 must be divulged only to crowned heads ; while the 
 remuneration which he claimed in the event of success, 
 was a yearly income of two thousand crowns. Francis 
 consented to these terms, and received the impostor alone 
 in his cabinet ; but having, before the close of the second 
 lesson, satisfied himself of the audacious presumption 
 and utter incompetency of his master, he ordered him 
 to leave the palace, and never more to appear in his 
 presence, a command which was promptly obeyed ; and 
 the more readily that, instead of punishing the offender, 
 he presented him with the sum of six hundred crowns, 
 "to remind him that he had been closeted with a king 
 of France." 
 
 Other deceptions of a similar nature, to which he was 
 occasionally exposed, did not, however, deter Francis 
 from pursuing his great and laudable purpose. The 
 object nearest his heart was still the foundation of the 
 Royal College ; and by the advice of Budee, whose 
 modesty was as remarkable as his learning, he resolved to 
 confide its direction to the celebrated Erasmus, who was 
 universally recognised as the most erudite individual of the 
 age. After having for a time adopted England as his 
 country, where he had been entrusted with the education 
 of the Prince of Wales, afterwards Henry VIII, Erasmus 
 had made the tour of Italy, and resisted all the efforts 
 of Jean de' Medici, subsequently Pope Leo X, to retain 
 him in Florence ; preferring to return to the land of his
 
 1518.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 273 
 
 predilection, which he declared to be the most advan- 
 tageous and honourable sojourn for men of genius ; but 
 again wearying for change, he had ultimately taken up 
 his abode in the Low Countries of which he was a native, 
 and whither he had been invited by the princess-regent 
 Marguerite, who was a zealous and liberal patron of 
 letters. 
 
 Erasmus had been recently invested by his royal mistress 
 with the dignity of honorary counsellor, when Francis I. 
 decided upon offering him the presidentship of the Royal 
 College through the medium of Budee, whom his brother 
 student was accustomed to distinguish by the honourable 
 appellation of " the prodigy of France ;" and who was 
 authorized to accede to the terms of the learned Hol- 
 lander, even should they include a bishopric. Dazzling 
 as such offers were, however, Erasmus requested time for 
 reflection ; and the negotiation extended over the space 
 of eighteen months ; a delay which increased the anxiety 
 of the king to such a height, that he ultimately declared 
 himself ready to subscribe to any conditions upon which 
 Erasmus might insist. 
 
 Nevertheless, the offers of Francis were ultimately 
 definitively, although respectfully, declined, with every 
 becoming expression of gratitude for the distinction which 
 had been conferred upon him, by the gratified scholar ; 
 who, it was ascertained, had determined, should he again 
 leave the Low Countries, to return to England once 
 more, where Henry VIII. was urging him, by offers as 
 brilliant as those of Francis himself, to establish his 
 permanent abode. 
 
 This disappointment, which had been utterly unfore- 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 /" I THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1518. 
 
 seen by the French king, necessarily delayed the organi- 
 zation of the college ; but more serious considerations 
 diverted his mind for a time even from this engrossing 
 project, and compelled him to turn his attention to a 
 subject of more immediate and vital importance to the 
 welfare of his kingdom. 
 
 The court of Rome having triumphed over the 
 councils of Constance and Bale, through the submission 
 of the parliament and university of Paris, Leo X. 
 hastened to profit by his advantage, and to degrade 
 religion into a mere matter of financial speculation. 
 Empoverished by his love of splendour and dissipation, 
 and believing himself to be above all further opposition 
 or worldly responsibility, he had authorized the mendi- 
 cant monks of the order of St. Dominic to disperse 
 themselves over all the nations of Christendom, and to 
 remit sins for certain stipulated sums, as well as to 
 announce certain indulgences from the pulpit, which were 
 to be secured by the same venal means. As a natural 
 consequence, his instructions were not only implicitly 
 obeyed, but so perverted, through the anxiety of the com- 
 munity to find favour in his eyes by their success, that 
 the people, scandalized by such an abuse of authority, 
 revolted against what they justly considered as a violation 
 of the most sacred privileges ; and while the parliament 
 of Paris and the wisdom of the Sorbonne alike continued 
 passive; while the Council of the Lateran, having abdicated 
 its authority, offered no protest against enormities which 
 struck at the root of the religion they had been entrusted 
 to uphold ; and worldly prelates, sold to a corrupt and 
 venal court, looked on unmoved ; a nobler and a purer
 
 1518.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 275 
 
 spirit was aroused in an obscure class of the community, 
 at which the proud sneered, and the powerful scoffed. 
 
 A poor monk of St. Augustin, the child of needy 
 parents, himself vowed to poverty and privation, MARTIN 
 LUTHER, already celebrated even in his comparative 
 obscurity for the lucidity of his judgment, the extraordi- 
 nary energy of his mind, and the unpretending piety of 
 his character, scandalized at the dishonour brought upon 
 the religion to which he had devoted himself, by the 
 unblushing extortions of Leo X, Luther, careless of the 
 danger to which he was exposed by so hazardous a pro- 
 ceeding, first inveighed from the pulpit against the 
 demoralizing and mischievous tendencies of these indis- 
 criminate indulgences ; and then, perceiving how little 
 effect was produced upon the passions of his auditors, 
 who were all, more or less, interested in securing for 
 themselves what, despite their disgust, their old asso- 
 ciations led them to believe were a guarantee of impunity 
 for their misdeeds, he abandoned the pulpit for the desk ; 
 and with equal rapidity and skill composed no less than 
 ninety-nine brief propositions, which he first read in 
 the church of St. Wittemberg, and afterwards affixed to 
 the door of the same church, inviting discussion, and 
 declaring himself ready to maintain the position which 
 he had assumed. He appealed to the authority of the 
 Holy writings ; he contrasted these with the fallible and 
 interested testimony of human beings ; and finally, with 
 the eloquence of inspired truth, he called upon the 
 people of Christendom to release themselves from the 
 shackles of a superstition which degraded their most 
 sacred associations, prostrated their most divine hopes, 
 
 T 2
 
 J/~<! THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1518 
 
 and rendered them the slaves of a deception which they 
 must hereafter expiate by an eternity of unmitigated 
 and immitigable repentance. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the objections thus sud- 
 denly and boldly advanced by 
 
 " The solitary monk who shook the world," 
 
 had long been germinating in his mind, and were thus 
 abruptly called forth by the exigencies of the moment 
 which opened up an extraordinary opportunity for their 
 demonstration. It is at least certain that they produced, 
 under the force of existing circumstances, an effect ten- 
 fold greater than they could possibly have done at any 
 preceding period. The reason of ah 1 , and the consciences 
 of many, were offended by so open and undisguised an 
 exhibition of papal profligacy ; while the character, 
 talents, and even defects of the reforming monk, secured 
 for him a sympathy and an attention which gave weight 
 and authority to his arguments. His impetuous and 
 uncompromising spirit disdained all restraint, while his 
 extraordinary and colloquial eloquence carried conviction 
 with it. For a time, in ah 1 probability even himself 
 unconscious of the extreme lengths to which his desire 
 to abolish certain abuses must inevitably lead, he equally 
 blinded his disciples to the fact that he was rapidly and 
 surely undermining the foundations of that faith of which 
 he had hitherto professed himself the humble follower ; 
 but, as in an ill-constructed edifice the removal of one 
 prop loosens the tenure of the whole building, so did 
 the energetic denunciations and objections of Luther, 
 fed by the opposition which he experienced, shake the
 
 1518.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 277 
 
 entire fabric of Romanism to its very base ; and as his 
 capacious mind grasped the whole system of papal 
 supremacy, he each hour discovered fresh reasons for 
 a secession which changed the face of Christian Europe, 
 and was prolific of the most important results. 
 
 For a considerable time both the pope and the superior 
 clergy regarded with contempt what they considered 
 as the heretical but impotent endeavour of a vicious 
 and powerless monk to reorganize the religious world ; 
 a mere ebullition of vanity and verbal licence which 
 could be suppressed at any hour, but which might be 
 more fittingly allowed to perish of its own insignificance 
 in the little city which had witnessed its birth. They 
 had miscalculated alike the nature and the talents of 
 Martin Luther. Obstacles had no power to deter him 
 from his purpose ; contempt passed him by unheeded ; 
 conscious of a mighty mission, he despised the suffrages 
 of the powerful; and still, in that quiet town, and 
 within the hoary walls of its silent monastery, the work 
 of God went on, to be emblazoned thereafter in cha- 
 racters of never-dying light. 
 
 Meanwhile, the favour of Madame de Chateaubriand 
 continued unbounded, and she was recognised as the 
 channel through which all court favour might the most 
 readily be secured. Louise de Savoie was, it is true, 
 still at the head of a party, who, aware of the volatile 
 character of Francis, were confidently anticipating the 
 early disgrace of the favourite; but although they secretly 
 predicted, and even desired her downfall, they were not 
 the less assiduous in their services. Her beauty, far 
 from decreasing, appeared only to augment by time,
 
 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1518. 
 
 and the passion of the king kept pace with it. Her 
 smile was a sufficient recompense for the greatest con- 
 cession ; and her wish was a law which he implicitly 
 obeyed. Stern and unyielding towards his ministers, 
 in her hands he was plastic as wax, and she moulded 
 him to her pleasure. Her ambition, as a natural con- 
 sequence, increased with her consciousness of power; 
 and so completely did she contrive to thrall the reason 
 of her royal lover, that although her liaison with Bon- 
 nivet had become notorious, and her advances to the 
 Duke de Bourbon had long been a theme of sarcasm 
 to the whole court, her influence over the infatuated 
 monarch was stronger than ever. 
 
 Nevertheless, either from indolence, or from habit, 
 Francis permitted his mother to take an active share 
 in the affairs of government, and to treat with the 
 legates and ambassadors who visited his court; her 
 splendid person, insinuating manners, and powerful 
 understanding, enabling her to bring to his councils 
 the most efficient aid. Equally indulgent to her own 
 social vices and to those of her son, she troubled him 
 by none of those representations or reproaches of which 
 he was so impatient; and he consequently felt for her 
 a deferential affection which secured her lasting supre- 
 macy. The queen, who, on the 28th of February in the 
 preceding year, had become the mother of a third 
 daughter, having at length abandoned all hope of 
 enjoying the domestic happiness to which she was so 
 admirably constituted to contribute, had ceased to evince 
 the slightest interest in the events which were taking 
 place around her, and was seldom seen in public, save
 
 1518.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 279 
 
 on occasions of court-ceremonial ; while the wily Duprat, 
 anxious to maintain himself in the exalted post to which 
 he had attained, encouraged the libertine propensities 
 of the young king, and surrounded him with companions 
 little calculated to enhance his moral character. 
 
 Francis had, at this period, reached his twenty-fourth 
 year; and to his naturally dissipated tastes he added 
 a supreme contempt for all classes of his subjects, save 
 such as blindly lent themselves to his single will. He 
 refused to assemble the States- General, or to recognise 
 their right of opinion upon any public measure adopted 
 by himself; nor would he suffer them to have a voice in 
 the financial concerns of the kingdom. If Louis XIV, 
 in the plenitude of his satisfaction upon finding himself 
 King of France, was betrayed into the arrogance of 
 exclaiming, " L'Etdt, cest Moil" it is certain that the 
 same sentiment had previously been stringently enacted 
 by Francis I. 
 
 Nevertheless, however he might despise the opinions 
 or the prejudices of his people, it is not the less 
 certain that the young king avoided as much as 
 possible any lengthened sojourn in the capital, where 
 his immediate circle was exposed to the scrutiny and 
 comments of the citizens ; and, contenting himself by 
 inhabiting the palace of the Tournelles during the 
 winter months, he commonly spent the remainder of 
 the year in travelling from castle to castle, accompanied 
 by his whole court ; generally selecting the western 
 provinces ; and issuing his orders in turn from Blois, 
 Amboise, Ancenis, Verger, St. Germain-en-Laye, and 
 even occasionally from some obscure hunting rendezvous.
 
 i>80 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1518. 
 
 The enormous outlay necessitated by this perpetual 
 migration may be imagined, when it is stated that 
 Francis exacted under all circumstances the same cere- 
 monious magnificence ; and according to Brantome, 
 his establishment exceeded all parallel ; " nothing," says 
 the quaint old chronicler, " could approach it ; for there 
 was his own table, that of the grand-master, that of 
 the grand-chamberlain and chamberlains, of the gentle- 
 men of the chamber, of the gentlemen on duty, of the 
 valets de chambre, and many others ; all so well provided 
 that nothing was wanting ; and what was most remarkable 
 is, that in a village, or in the forests, or at a meeting, all 
 were as well provided for as though they had been in Paris." 
 
 Nor was this the only species of profusion in which 
 Francis indulged. Careless of the calamities which he 
 caused by overwhelming his people with taxation, he was 
 lavish of the money thus obtained to all by whom he 
 was approached ; and this to so extreme a degree, that 
 the same writer from whom we have just quoted, proceeds 
 to say : " Every one was astonished how he could 
 sustain and furnish the outlay of such immense sums in 
 war, and in gifts, above all to the ladies, for he made 
 them great presents, and in such pomps, sumptuous- 
 nesses, magnificences, and superb buildings. No great 
 weddings were celebrated at his court which were not 
 solemnized either by tournaments, or combats, or masque- 
 rades, or rich vestments, both male and female, or suits 
 of state liveries. I have seen the chests and wardrobes 
 of some of the ladies of that period so full of dresses 
 which the king had given to them at different fetes and 
 ceremonies, that they were a fine fortune of themselves."
 
 1518.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 281 
 
 It will be readily understood that it was not amid such 
 a career as this that Francis was likely to recall to mind 
 the duties which he owed to the people over whom he had 
 been called to govern ; or to disentangle himself from the 
 shackles of an unholy attachment ; yet, nevertheless, the 
 favour of Madame de Chateaubriand, had it been less 
 steadfastly founded, might have sustained a perilous shock 
 from the unbridled arrogance of her brother, the Marechal 
 de Lautrec, who at this period had by his extortions and 
 assumption so disgusted the Milanese as to create great 
 discontent, and to aggravate their dislike to their con- 
 querors to a pitch which threatened the most serious 
 consequences. He had, moreover, given great umbrage 
 to the court of Rome, by subjecting all ecclesiastical 
 affairs to a species of military ordeal; while his demeanour 
 towards the veteran Marechal de Trivulzio, who had 
 formerly held the government of Milan, and now shared 
 it with himself, completed the exasperation of the 
 people. 
 
 Trivulzio was descended, as we have elsewhere stated, 
 from one of the noblest of the Lombard families, 
 and had been induced to join the French army in 
 order to assist in the extirpation of the tyrannical 
 Ludovico Sforza : nor had his services ended there ; for he 
 had subsequently devoted himself to the interests both of 
 Charles VIII. and Louis XII. with a valour and fidelity 
 which was not exceeded by those of any of their own 
 subjects. Age had, however, tamed his gallant spirit, 
 and he had retired to Milan in order to pass the short 
 remainder of his days amid the friends of his early years. 
 Unfortunately, his universal popularity, and his great
 
 282 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1518. 
 
 wi-alth, which enabled him to maintain a magnificent 
 style of living, offended the vanity and aroused the jealousy 
 of Lautrec, who could not brook to see himself eclipsed 
 upon the very theatre of his triumph ; and who, finding 
 himself powerless to injure the brave old man at his own 
 hearth, could invent no other method of gratifying his 
 selfish malice than that of representing him in his letters 
 to the court as a dangerous and intriguing individual, 
 who, profiting by his knowledge of the internal economy 
 and resources of the French nation, had placed himself 
 at the head of a faction hostile to the authority of 
 Francis, which, should it be permitted to mature its 
 plans, might endanger the tenure of the Milanese. 
 
 Urged on the one hand by the wishes of the pope to 
 recal Lautrec from his government, and apprehensive on 
 the other that, should his report of the defalcation of 
 Trivulzio prove correct, he should be favouring the views 
 of the disaffected portion of the duchy by removing the 
 man who had detected their intrigue, Francis wavered. 
 His irresolution was not, however, long fated to endure, 
 for Madame de Chateaubriand was near him at all hours, 
 to silence his doubts, to strengthen his decision, and to 
 stifle his remorse. Lautrec triumphed; his acts of 
 government were justified ; and the grey -haired Trivulzio 
 declared a traitor to his adopted country. 
 
 This accusation, uttered by Francis in a moment of 
 passion, was soon communicated to the veteran marechal ; 
 who, jealous of his honour, could not brook so foul an 
 insult, but forgetting his age and his infirmities, (for he 
 had attained his eighty-second year,) made immediate 
 preparations for leaving Milan in order to justify himself
 
 1518.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 283 
 
 in person to the Sovereign by whom he had been so 
 cruelly misjudged. 
 
 The summer was at its height; and, thus compelled 
 to travel slowly alike from physical weakness and the 
 sultriness of the season, it was not until the beginning 
 of October that the heart-stricken old man reached 
 Ancenis, where the court were then residing ; but, worn 
 and suffering as he was, he lost no time in soliciting an 
 audience both of Francis and his mother. Madame 
 d'Angouleme, who had personal reasons for siding with 
 the Countess de Chateaubriand in this emergency, 
 peremptorily refused to receive him ; and although the 
 king permitted his presentation, he simply addressed him 
 with a few cold and civil words of welcome, and then 
 turning upon his heel continued a conversation which 
 the reception of the unwelcome visitor had apparently 
 interrupted. Again and again did the veteran warrior 
 entreat only to be heard ; Francis was inexorable; and at 
 length, finding that it was in vain to hope for a formal 
 audience, and learning that the king was to pass on a 
 certain day through the town of Arpajon, where he was 
 then residing, Trivulzio being too much enfeebled to 
 stand, caused himself to be carried in a chair to the 
 centre of the street; and as Francis approached, addressed 
 him with the noble and touching entreaty of " Sire, 
 condescend to listen for one moment to a man who has 
 risked his life in seventeen battles for you and your 
 ancestors." 
 
 Francis looked towards him for an instant, but the 
 influence of Madame de Chateaubriand was too powerful ; 
 his better nature sank before it ; and withdrawing his 
 eyes, he passed on in silence.
 
 284 COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. [1518. 
 
 " Sire ! oh, sire ! only one word ;" again uttered the 
 failing voice, but the king coldly pursued his way ; and 
 the wretched old man, throwing himself back into the 
 arms of his attendants, suffered them to carry him once 
 more to his bed, whence he never rose again. His heart 
 was broken, and he had done with life. Francis was no 
 sooner apprised that the brave old marechal was dying, 
 than a feeling of remorse for the harshness which he 
 had displayed, awoke him to a sense of his own cruelty ; 
 and he despatched one of the gentlemen of his chamber 
 to express his regret that he should have exhibited so 
 much rigour to one who had so nobly served the French 
 nation. 
 
 " I feel the kindness of the king ;" said the expiring 
 veteran ; " but I have felt his harshness still more 
 deeply. It is now too late." 
 
 In another hour he had breathed his last sigh ; and 
 nothing remained of the noble victim of a licentious 
 woman, and an envious and unworthy rival, save the 
 affecting epitaph which by his own direction was en- 
 graven upon his tomb : /. ./. Trivultius, Antonii jilius, 
 qni nunquam quievit, quiescit ; face! 
 
 Whatever might have been the feelings of Francis 
 when he learnt that the brave old soldier had ceased to 
 exist, they were unable to resist the blandishments of 
 the favourite ; for, to the indignation of many who had 
 fought beside Trivulzio, the baton of marechal which he 
 had so long wielded with honour to himself and to the 
 Sovereign whom he served, was bestowed upon Lesciin, 
 her second brother. 
 
 Truly vice was at a premium in France in the six- 
 teenth century !
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 [1518.] 
 
 INCREASING POPULARITY OF CHARLES OP SPAIN BONNIVET IS SENT ON 
 A MISSION TO ENGLAND A LEAGUE IS PROPOSED BY FRANCIS TO HENRY 
 AGAINST THE TURKS AND THE MARKIAGE OF THE INFANT DAUPHIN WITH 
 THE PRINCESS MARY THE RECEPTION OF THE EMBASSY AT THE 
 COURT OF ENGLAND BONNIVET SECURES THE INTEREST OF WOLSEY 
 FRANCIS ENTERS INTO A CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE CARDINAL WOLSEY 
 RESIGNS THE BISHOPRIC OF TOURNAY SUSPICIONS OF HENRY VIII. THE 
 TREATY IS CONCLUDED THE HOSTAGES THE BETROTHAL AT ST. PAUL'S 
 THE FRENCH EMBASSY LEAVES ENGLAND THE EARL OF WORCESTER 
 ARRIVES IN FRANCE RELUCTANCE OF THE EARL OF WORCESTER TO 
 DELIVER UP THE CITY OF TOURNAY INDIGNATION OF M. DE CHATILLON 
 THE BETROTHAL IS REPEATED AT ST. DENIS THE AMBASSADORS LEAVE 
 FRANCE FRANCIS FORTIFIES TOURNAY AND TEROUENNE THE FRENCH 
 KING ENDEAVOURS TO CONCILIATE CHARLES OF CASTILE THE TURKS 
 THREATEN ITALY FRANCIS DECLARES HIS INTENTION OF JOINING THE 
 CRUSADE DEATH OF THE SULTAN CHARLES ASPIRES TO BE ELECTED 
 EMPEROR OF GERMANY RIVALRY OF CHARLES AND FRANCIS MAXIMILIAN 
 DEMANDS THE CROWN OF ROME INTRIGUES OF LEO X. CHIVALRIC 
 DIPLOMACY BONNIVET IS DESPATCHED TO FRANKFORT PRECARIOUS 
 POSITION OF GERMANY DEATH OF MAXIMILIAN ITS EFFECT UPON THE 
 AFFAIRS OF EUROPE FRANCIS BRIBES THE ELECTORAL PRINCES.
 
 1518.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 287 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 [1518.] 
 
 THE increasing power and popularity of Charles of Spain 
 beginning about this period to awaken the apprehensions 
 of the Trench king, he became anxious to secure the 
 closer alliance of Henry VIII, whose defection from his 
 interests would effectually have destroyed the balance 
 of Europe, and involved the political ruin of France. 
 Moreover, Henry was at best a doubtful ally under 
 existing circumstances, for his jealousy of Francis was no 
 secret, and his thirst for conquest rendered him a dan- 
 gerous neighbour, possessed as he was of the strongly- 
 fortified town of Tournay, which at all times afforded 
 him easy ingress to the French territories. 
 
 Desirous at once to ransom the city, and to secure 
 a more complete and satisfactory understanding with his 
 brother-monarch, Francis accordingly despatched to 
 England the friend of his childhood, Bonnivet, on whose 
 good faith and zeal he implicitly relied ; and upon whose 
 insinuating manners and courtly tact he calculated to 
 effect a purpose which might never have been accom- 
 plished through the ordinary medium of state diplomacy.
 
 Till* COURT AND REIGN OF [1518. 
 
 Conscious, moreover, of the vain and avaricious character 
 of Wolsey, who had at this period become all-powerful 
 with his royal master, Francis instructed his envoy to 
 be profuse to the minister both in presents and promises 
 before he ventured to open the negotiation on the subject 
 of Tournay; and meanwhile to represent to Henry, as 
 the object of his mission, his own desire to associate 
 him with himself in the honourable privilege of forming 
 a league for the preservation of Christendom from the 
 Turks ; who had in fact assumed an attitude which 
 rendered such a precaution highly necessary. This 
 effected, he was further authorized to propose a matrimo- 
 nial alliance between the Dauphin, then an infant of only 
 a few months old, and the princess Mary, the daughter of 
 Henry ; and above all to suffer no opportunity to escape 
 of conciliating the haughty cardinal, without whose 
 assistance Francis was fully aware that nothing satis- 
 factory could be achieved; and whose personal pique 
 against him was, as he also knew, sufficient of itself to 
 bring about a war between the two nations. 
 
 The city of Tournay had remained in possession of the 
 English since the Battle of the Spurs ; but they could place 
 little reliance upon its aid in the event of a frontier war, 
 being highly unpopular with the inhabitants, and sur- 
 rounded on all sides by both the French and the Flemish, 
 who were equally interested in compelling them to vacate 
 a fortress of that importance. Moreover, from its isolated 
 position it was rendered useless, either for attack or 
 defence ; but, despite all these drawbacks, Wolsey had, 
 nevertheless, caused himself to be appointed to its 
 bishopric, and displaced for that purpose Louis Gaillart,
 
 1518.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 
 
 the prelate elected by the chapter of Tournay, who, on 
 his demission, had retired to the court of Trance ; greatly 
 to the displeasure of the English cardinal, who considered 
 himself aggrieved by the protection extended by Francis 
 to an individual whom he had deposed. 
 
 The first clause of the mission was, as may be readily 
 understood, a mere pretext for the introduction of the more 
 important objects which the French king was eager to at- 
 tain ; for the pope, from the ridicule and disgust which he 
 had brought upon religion by the indiscriminate and venal 
 sale of indulgences before cited, had rendered the success of 
 an European league for such a purpose as a crusade almost 
 impossible ; and in selecting Francis as the Sovereign by 
 whom it was to be organized, he had been only actuated by 
 a desire to arouse the romance of his nature, and to induce 
 him to absent himself for a time from his own dominions. 
 
 Bonnivet, so soon as he was fully apprised of the 
 wishes of his royal master, did not lose an instant in 
 endeavouring to conciliate the English cardinal; whom 
 he assured, in the letter by which he announced to him 
 his intended visit to the court of Henry, that the regret 
 felt by the French king at the recent misapprehensions 
 on the subject of the Duke d'Aubigny and the ex-Bishop 
 of Tournay, by which he had lost the confidence of so 
 distinguished a person as His Eminence, exceeded all 
 bounds ; adding, that he trusted, when he should have 
 the honour of a conference, that all would be explained 
 to his satisfaction ; and that he would restore to the 
 French monarch a friendship which he highly valued. 
 
 Wolsey, flattered by these overtures, returned a cour- 
 teous reply ; and immediate preparations were made for 
 
 VOL. i. u
 
 290 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1518. 
 
 the departure of the embassy, which was one of exceed- 
 ing magnificence. 
 
 Not only did it comprise Bonnivet himself, and a 
 number of great nobles and members of the council, but 
 also Gouffier de Boisy, and Poncher, bishop of Paris, all 
 superbly appointed; and attended by so enormous a 
 suite, that on their arrival at Greenwich where the court 
 were then sojourning, on the 30th of September, their 
 appearance created to the full as much astonishment as 
 admiration. 
 
 Their reception even exceeded their hopes. The social 
 qualities of Bonnivet, the calm judgment of Boisy, and 
 the meek dignity of the metropolitan bishop, alike pro- 
 duced their effect ; and Henry and his minister emulated 
 each other in their efforts to render the sojourn of the 
 embassy in England a period of unalloyed satisfaction. 
 Every amusement which could be devised was put into 
 requisition ; banquets, tournays, balls, hunting-parties, 
 tiltings at the ring, and all the various sports peculiar to 
 the age and nation, alternately occupied the time and 
 gratified the tastes of the courtly guests ; and amid all 
 this dissipation Bonnivet was busily and skilfully em- 
 ployed in advancing the interests of his Sovereign. 
 
 Respectful and earnest with the king himself, he 
 became obsequious and almost affectionate with Wolsey, 
 whom he justly considered as the actual monarch of the 
 country ; and accordingly the cardinal, whose vanity was 
 flattered by the distinction, and to whom it immediately 
 became apparent, grew daily more attached to the society 
 of the French ambassador, and more anxious to favour 
 his views. All, consequently, progressed to the entire
 
 1518.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 291 
 
 satisfaction of Bonnivet, who lost no opportunity o 
 vaunting the liberality and accomplishments of his young 
 monarch, and at the same time of impressing upon the 
 cardinal the weight which he attached to the good 
 opinion and admirable counsels of so great a minister. 
 Wolsey listened so greedily to these perpetual plaudits, 
 uttered as they were, sometimes in the deep bay of a 
 window during the intervals of a dance ; sometimes in 
 his barge, as the indefatigable envoy accompanied him to 
 Westminster; and sometimes in the quiet shades of 
 Hampton, where the cardinal was then erecting the 
 famous palace which outvied in its time those of royalty 
 itself, and expatiating to his attentive listener upon the 
 architectural glories which he meditated ; that at length 
 Bonnivet ventured to hint how anxiously his sovereign 
 desired the advice and assistance of His Eminence upon 
 a subject in which he was deeply interested. 
 
 After a little diplomatic coquetry, Wolsey declared him- 
 self ready to aid the French king in any way not incon- 
 sistent with his duty to his own monarch ; upon which 
 the ambassador entreated him to place himself in direct 
 correspondence with Francis, who would, as a natural 
 consequence, express himself more confidentially to His 
 Eminence through such a medium, than he could con- 
 descend to do through any third person, however trust- 
 worthy. This was, after a time, also conceded; and 
 forthwith letters were exchanged between the French king 
 and the English cardinal which soon tended to secure the 
 interests of Francis ; although all was so skilfully contrived 
 that Wolsey was enabled to communicate each missive as 
 it reached his hands to Henry himself; who, as he read 
 
 u2
 
 292 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1518. 
 
 the earnest appeals made by his brother-monarch to his 
 own minister for advice and support, laughingly remarked 
 that His Eminence must indeed be an extraordinary 
 person if he could contrive to govern two kingdoms at 
 the same time; but that he personally entertained no 
 doubt of his capability even for such an undertaking, 
 difficult and onerous as it was. 
 
 Meanwhile the letters of Francis were accompanied by 
 the most costly gifts, to which Bonnivet affected to 
 attach no importance, assuring the gratified cardinal, that, 
 should he continue his good offices to France, its sove- 
 reign would know how to recompense them in a far more 
 efficient manner. The united flattery of the young king 
 and his envoy proved irresistible ; and at length Wolsey 
 was induced to listen to the proposition with which Bon- 
 nivet was charged ; and not only agreed to exchange his 
 distant and unproductive bishopric of Tournay for a life- 
 pension of twelve thousand livres, but, in return for this 
 munificence, also to exert all his influence over the mind 
 of Henry to induce him to accede both to this arrange- 
 ment, and likewise to the alliance proposed by Francis. 
 
 These preliminaries having been privately adjusted, 
 Wolsey forthwith began to recant all his former argu- 
 ments upon the importance of retaining the city of 
 Tournay ; and represented to the king, that, upon mature 
 reflection, he had arrived at the conclusion that the 
 immense outlay necessitated by the support of a strong 
 garrison in so isolated a position, more than counter- 
 balanced the contingent advantages to be derived from 
 its possession ; its distance from Calais, in the event of a 
 rupture between the two nations, rendering it impossible
 
 1518.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 293 
 
 to defend it, when it must eventually be lost to England, 
 either through force or famine. He therefore strenu- 
 ously advised Henry to accept the offers of Francis, who 
 had proposed to purchase back from the English crown 
 Tournay, Mortaigne, and Saint Amand, at the enormous 
 sum of six hundred thousand crowns of gold, payable 
 in twelve years ; and to deliver into his keeping four 
 gentlemen of his chamber and four of the royal pages as 
 hostages, until the whole amount should be liquidated. 
 
 As the king, only half convinced, and somewhat 
 startled by this sudden change in the opinion of his 
 minister, still hesitated, Wolsey reminded him that, 
 should he refuse to lend himself to the wishes of Francis 
 upon this point, the French monarch would in all pro- 
 bability recant his offer of the hand of the dauphin; 
 which was, with the sole exception of that of Charles 
 of Spain, the only alliance worthy of the Princess of 
 England ; and that, moreover, Henry might deduct what- 
 ever should remain unpaid at the period of the marriage 
 from the dowry of the bride, with whom the sum of 
 three hundred and thirty -three thousand crowns had been 
 demanded. He also expatiated earnestly upon the im- 
 mense advantages which must accrue to England from a 
 marriage which would strengthen the friendship already 
 existing between the two nations, and enable them to 
 oppose the increasing power of the house of Austria; 
 which being already possessed not only of the Empire, 
 but also of Spain, the Low Countries, and the kingdoms 
 of Naples and Sicily, was rapidly assuming an attitude 
 that threatened the peace of Europe, and the inde- 
 pendence of individual nations.
 
 294 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1518. 
 
 After some slight objections on the part of Henry VIII. 
 which were ultimately overruled by the arguments of the 
 cardinal and the representations of the French ambassa- 
 dor, the treaty was definitively concluded ; and Bounivet 
 bound himself to deliver into the hands of the English 
 monarch the promised pledges, in the persons of Fra^ois 
 de Montmorency, Seigneur de la Rochefort, Charles de 
 Mouy, Seigneur de la Meilleraye, Antoine des Pres, 
 Seigneur de Montpesat, and Charles de Souliers, 
 Seigneur de Morette in Piedmont ; as well as the four 
 pages of the presence, one of whom was the elder son 
 of the Seigneur de Hugueville, the younger representative 
 of the family of Mortemart ; and of the three remaining 
 two were scions of the noble houses of Melun and Gri- 
 mault. These important measures had been accomplished 
 in the short period of six weeks ; and at the termination 
 of that time, the ceremony of the betrothal was performed 
 on the part of the princess in the cathedral of St. Paul's, 
 where the English and French nobility vied with each 
 other in magnificence, and the most lavish protestations 
 of friendship were exchanged. 1 
 
 The leave-taking followed ; and with the same 
 pompous retinue as they had landed, the ambassadors of 
 Francis quitted the shores of England, amid the acclama- 
 tions of the dazzled multitude. 
 
 Shortly afterwards Henry despatched, in his turn, the 
 Earl of Worcester, the Bishop of Ely, Lord St. John, 
 Sir Nicholas Vaux, Sir John Pechy, Sir Thomas Boleyn, 
 and a retinue rivalling that of Bonnivet, to Paris ; as 
 
 1 The treaty of marriage between the two royal children was 
 signed in London on the 14th of October, 1518.
 
 1518.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 295 
 
 witnesses to the corresponding ceremony on the part of 
 the dauphin, which was celebrated with equal grandeur in 
 the metropolitan church of Notre Dame ; and at the same 
 time to receive the hostages, and to deliver up the city of 
 Tournay, according to the stipulations of the treaty. 
 The mission was an ungracious one to the earl, who 
 had been present at the taking of Tournay, and saw 
 with regret so brilliant a trophy once more lost to 
 England ; nor would he consent to yield up the city 
 until Gaspard de Coligny, Duke de Chatillon and 
 Marechal of France, who had been despatched with a 
 body of two hundred men-at-arms to take possession, 
 transmitted to him his authority to receive it, together 
 with a written acknowledgment, that he claimed the 
 place not as a right, but as a gift; a demand which 
 excited much indignation among the French officers. 
 
 Nevertheless, fearful of incurring the displeasure of 
 Francis, they resolved to comply ; and, accordingly, the 
 required documents were delivered to the earl on the 
 following morning ; and Chatillon no sooner ascertained 
 that they had reached his hands, than he advanced at 
 the head of his troop with drums beating and colours 
 flying, in order to make a triumphant entry into the 
 citadel. To this arrangement, however, the English 
 earl, already sufficiently chafed by the cession of the 
 city, would by no means consent ; and he immediately 
 despatched a gentleman-at-arms to the quarters of the 
 marechal, declaring that, as the city had neither yielded 
 nor been taken, but simply transferred by a marriage 
 treaty, he could not consent to suffer that it should be 
 entered after the fashion of conquerors; and that the
 
 200 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1518. 
 
 banners which had been so prematurely displayed must 
 be furled before he would permit the French troops to 
 pass the gates. 
 
 This new affront was ill brooked by M. de Chatillon 
 and his captains ; but once more they found themselves 
 compelled to submit; the obnoxious standards were 
 covered, and they marched forward " with drums and 
 minstrelsy" to the walls, where they were met by the 
 Earl of Worcester and his companions ; the papers which 
 they had transmitted to him read aloud ; and possession 
 of the town, and citadel, together with all the artillery 
 and ammunition that it contained, formally delivered 
 over to them ; after which the English nobles took their 
 departure for Paris, to be present at the second ceremony 
 of affiance. 
 
 They reached the capital at the commencement of 
 December; and such was the anxiety evinced both by 
 Louise de Savoie and her son to secure the goodwill of 
 Henry VIII. that no seduction was spared in order to 
 induce them to prolong their stay. The most beautiful 
 women of the court were their constant companions ; and 
 festival succeeded festival with a rapidity which left them 
 little time to devote to public business. The most superb 
 horses and the richest jewels were profusely distributed 
 among the nobles, while their followers were regaled 
 with equal magnificence. At length, however, they were 
 compelled to take their leave; and Francis had once 
 again leisure to turn his attention to more important 
 objects. 
 
 His first care was to restore the fortresses of Tournay 
 and Terouenne, which latter had been destroyed by the
 
 1518.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 297 
 
 English in 1513, to their original state of defence; and 
 to increase the strength of the fortifications of Havre ; 
 while he was no less anxious to conciliate the pope and 
 the King of Castile than he had been to secure the 
 alliance of Henry VIII. Even Lorenzo de' Medici was 
 not overlooked ; and Francis so far committed himself as 
 to promise his assistance, should it be required, in any 
 future attempt which the Florentine might make to 
 augment his territories, notwithstanding that he had 
 already unjustly possessed himself of the duchy of 
 Urbino. The death of this prince in the foil owing year, 
 however, released the monarch from so dishonourable a 
 compact. 
 
 The pope conciliated, Maximilian for a time at least 
 powerless, and the alliance of Henry VIII. secured by 
 the betrothal of the dauphin to his daughter, neither 
 Francis nor his mother spared any pains to win the 
 friendship and confidence of Charles of Castile, even 
 while they were secretly engaged in frustrating his 
 schemes of ambition. The Princess Louise, to whom he 
 had been betrothed, had died in her third year; thus 
 a link was broken which they were desirous to renew ; 
 and in order to effect this, they proposed to him her 
 sister Charlotte, who was still an infant ; while, impos- 
 sible as it was to speculate upon a marriage which could 
 not possibly take place for many years, Francis still 
 persisted, in order to keep up the illusion, in addressing 
 Charles as his son-in-law ; and in overwhelming him with 
 professions of regard and affection, which were intended 
 to blind him to the efforts that he was in reality making 
 to curb his power, and to counteract his projects.
 
 298 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1518. 
 
 Meanwhile the young king had not forgotten the 
 mission with which he had been intrusted by the pope, 
 and in which he had urged Henry VIII. to participate ; 
 although there can be little doubt that neither the one 
 nor the other, when they professed themselves willing to 
 undertake the expedition, was prepared to redeem his 
 pledge. It was true that Selim, the reigning sultan, was 
 equipping a prodigious naval force on the coast opposite 
 Otranto ; and that should the Moslem, newly flushed as 
 they were with conquest, turn their arms against Italy 
 or Germany, those countries might become an easy prey, 
 and all Christendom in its turn be threatened ; but at 
 this precise crisis it was rather the pope himself and 
 Maximilian who were in jeopardy than either Francis or 
 Henry, both of whom were more apprehensive of the 
 European enemy beyond their frontier than of the infidel 
 who might never dream of invading their territories. 
 
 Nevertheless, the French king considered it expedient as 
 a measure of policy, to declare himself ready to redeem 
 his word; and accordingly, on the 6th of December, 
 1518, he convoked an assembly of all the princes of the 
 blood, the marshals of France, the captains of his army, 
 the grand council, and the presidents of Paris, and 
 announced his intention of joining the crusade. He also 
 caused prayers to be offered up in the Churches ; and 
 despatched information of his design to the emperor, and 
 the kings of England and Castile ; but although the 
 whole nation were aware that the project had been pend- 
 ing for a considerable period, and that it was the result 
 of a long negotiation with the sovereign-pontiff, this 
 demonstration created little sensation in France, as a
 
 1518.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 299 
 
 general conviction was felt that it would never be 
 carried into execution. A few hot-headed young men, 
 weary of inaction, volunteered to join the crusading army, 
 but their enthusiasm met vrith no serious response ; 
 and the death of Selim, which occurred before any steps 
 had been taken to commence the expedition, at once put 
 an end to the enterprise. 
 
 Meanwhile, Charles of Castile was not idle. The health 
 of Maximilian, his grandfather, was failing, and he aspired 
 to succeed him as emperor of Germany. For several years 
 Maximilian, ever needy, had been endeavouring to extort 
 money both from Francis and Henry VIII. by an offer to 
 transfer to them what he somewhat questionably denomi- 
 nated his claims on Italy; and which consisted simply in a 
 project that he had mentally formed of uniting all the states 
 of that country and Germany under one sovereign. His 
 demands were of course disregarded; and he was conse- 
 quently irritated against both monarchs, and readily induced 
 to favour the views of his ambitious grandson. As a pre- 
 liminary measure, Charles had applied to the pontiff for a 
 grant of the investiture of Naples, of which Leo X. claimed 
 to be the feudal sovereign ; and not content with this 
 attempt, had also prayed to be recognised as King of the 
 Romans ; while Maximilian, who was anxious to secure 
 to him the empire of Germany, in his turn negotiated 
 with the electors, 1 many of whom promised him their 
 votes ; but a legal impediment rendered the election one 
 
 1 These electors were Albert de Brandebourg, Archbishop of 
 Mayence ; Hermand, Count de Vied, and Archbishop of Cologne ; 
 Richard de Greiffenklau, Archbishop of Treves ; Louis, King of 
 Bohemia ; Louis, Count- Palatine of the Rhine ; Frederic, Duke de
 
 300 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1518. 
 
 of considerable difficulty, a circumstance of which the 
 pope skilfully availed himself. He had lost no time in 
 apprising Francis of the requirements of Charles, and 
 the jealousy of the French king being immediately 
 aroused, he had urged the pontiff to withhold his com- 
 pliance ; and not, by an ill-placed condescension, to peril 
 the safety of the holy see ; reminding him that as Maxi- 
 milian had never received the imperial crown in Rome, 
 he could claim no higher title than that of King of the 
 Romans ; while he should have been crowned emperor, 
 before, according to the Germanic constitution, he could 
 assume a right to call upon the electors to recognise his 
 presumptive heir as successor to the empire. Moreover, 
 as he adduced, the grandson of Maximilian was king of 
 the Two Sicilies ; and by the decrees of the church, 
 which had existed in full vigour during two centuries 
 and a half, the crown of the empire and that of Naples 
 could not lawfully be united on the same head. 
 
 The pope replied to the application of Charles by 
 representing these impediments, which he declared to be 
 insuperable ; but the young King of Spain was as perti- 
 nacious as his rival, and urged the emperor to announce 
 to the court of Rome that his election was secured in 
 Germany ; and to request from the sovereign-pontiff a 
 dispensation which would set aside the constitutions of 
 the church. Francis, however, denied that such was the 
 case, declaring that Charles had not been elected, and 
 never would be so; and that, moreover, he had been 
 
 Saxe, surnamed the Wise ; and Joachim, Marquis de Brandebourg. 
 The Archbishop of Mayence was in favour of Charles, while the 
 prelate of Treves defended the interests of Francis.
 
 1.518.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 301 
 
 himself urged to advance his own pretensions to the 
 contested dignity; and he therefore in his turn prayed 
 His Holiness to be cautious how he endangered the 
 permanent interests of the church by setting aside her 
 decrees, which had not only been the result of profound 
 wisdom, but had now become doubly sacred from their 
 antiquity. 
 
 Maximilian then pressed the pope to send the imperial 
 crown to Vienna by a nuncio, authorized by his holiness 
 to perform the ceremonial of his coronation ; while 
 Charles was betrayed into the injudicious measure of 
 endeavouring to engage the French king to use his 
 interest with Leo to induce him to consent to this 
 arrangement ; a request which was necessarily evaded by 
 Francis, who counselled the pontiff to decline a measure 
 which tended to lower the dignity of the holy see ; and to 
 propose that Maximilian should proceed to Rome to 
 receive the crown of empire from his own sacred hands. 
 
 " Let His Holiness," he added to the legate, " be under 
 no apprehension, for assuredly he will not undertake such 
 a journey without being well guarded ; and if he were 
 even able to perform it at the head of an army, which 
 is not probable, still let His Holiness remain passive, 
 and allow the King of France to act ; for as Maximilian 
 will be compelled to traverse the territories of Milan or 
 Venice, the king will immediately pass into Italy to 
 protect his possessions, and so well accompanied that he 
 will pledge himself that Maximilian shall not reach 
 Rome, but will be satisfied to retrace his steps." 
 
 Leo X, however, could not overcome his reluctance to 
 venture on so hazardous an experiment; and it would
 
 302 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1518. 
 
 appear from a letter of the Cardidal de Bibbiena, that he 
 had already prepared a bull by which Charles was autho- 
 rized to unite the imperial crown with that of Sicily, 
 although he concealed the fact carefully from Francis until 
 the result of the election should be declared. Moreover, 
 he laboured assiduously to dissuade the French king from 
 advancing his claim to the empire ; declaring that the 
 interests of Europe would be better secured were some 
 petty German prince invested with this high sounding 
 title than the monarch of so powerful a nation as France ; 
 and reminding him that Henry VIII, who had originally 
 expressed his resolution of contesting the dignity, had 
 already abandoned the project. 
 
 In the first instance Francis had opposed the King of 
 Spain with an apparent frankness and generosity which 
 were consistent with his reputation for chivalry ;| de- 
 claring that the contest need in no degree affect the 
 regard which subsisted between Charles and himself, 
 but that, on the contrary, they had only to consider 
 themselves in the same position as two young cavaliers, 
 who, enamoured of the same mistress, even while using 
 their best efforts to win her favour, avoided all occasion 
 of quarrel, and continued true and loyal friends. It was 
 impossible, however, that so momentous a struggle could 
 be carried on without bitterness : the very consciousness 
 which existed on both sides, that each was strenuously 
 labouring to undermine the interests of the other, ren- 
 dered such an attempt incompatible ; and while Charles 
 was urging his grandfather to undertake the journey 
 to Rome, and thus to remove one of the most serious 
 objections of the pope to his own succession, Francis
 
 1518.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 303 
 
 despatched Bonnivet, whose successful embassy to Eng- 
 land had inspired him with the most perfect confidence 
 in his diplomatic talents, in disguise to Frankfort, 
 with large sums of money, to purchase the votes of such 
 of the electors as had not yet declared in his favour. 
 Bonnivet was subsequently followed by the Marquis de 
 Fleuranges, and the Seigneur Albret d'Orval, who were 
 also commissioned to forward by every means in their 
 power the interests of their sovereign; but neither of 
 these envoys acted with sufficient circumspection ; and 
 all their proceedings were immediately known and 
 thwarted by Charles, whose early habits of caution and 
 prescience had rendered him a formidable antagonist to 
 inferior diplomatists. Moreover, the position of Ger- 
 many was at that moment extremely critical ; the attitude 
 of the Turks was still hostile ; and the nation was begin- 
 ning to feel the shock of a mighty religious schism. 
 Thus menaced both externally and internally, she re- 
 quired a prince whose firmness and power might enable 
 her not only to maintain herself, but also to recover from 
 the prostration to which she had been subjected by the 
 wavering and imbecile rule of Maximilian ; who, full of 
 great projects, none of which he ever accomplished, had, 
 by his inordinate vanity and thirst for a renown which 
 he was utterly incapable of acquiring, by his uncal- 
 culating love of splendour, and his absurd pretensions, 
 only succeeded in rendering the first monarchy in Chris- 
 tendom both helpless and insignificant. 
 
 The two rival sovereigns were, it is true, alike brave and 
 powerful ; but Charles had in this contest the advantage of 
 his German extraction, his intimate acquaintance with the
 
 304 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1518. 
 
 principles of the Germanic constitution, and a stability 
 of character which, unlike the volatile nature of Francis, 
 inspired at once respect and confidence. 
 
 Thus were matters situated, when the sudden and unex- 
 pected death of Maximilian, at Lintz upon the Danube, on 
 the 15th of January, 1519, from fatigue and repletion, at 
 the age of sixty-three years, gave a new impetus to the 
 exertions of the contending potentates. " His death," 
 says Meuranges in his memoirs, with a bonkommie which 
 is irresistible ; " was a great pity, as he was a good prince, 
 and kept all Christendom awake ; for when he could not 
 accomplish anything himself, he showed the way to other 
 people, and therefore, all fighting men ought to grieve 
 at his death." One circumstance connected with his 
 decease is worthy of mention. During the last four 
 years of his existence he had caused a large and heavy 
 chest to be carried with him wherever he went, and 
 despite his improvident habits there were those about 
 him who fully expected one day to reap a rich harvest 
 from its contents, never doubting that it was freighted 
 with treasure. He had no sooner expired, however, 
 than the illusion was dispelled by the discovery that it 
 was simply his coffin, which he had thus prepared against 
 an emergency that he foresaw must soon occur. 
 
 His demise was fated to exert an influence over the 
 destinies of Europe which no action of his life had been 
 able to elicit. Henry VIII. had, as we have already 
 stated, withdrawn from the contest for empire, to which 
 he had been originally urged by Maximilian himself, 
 who, forgetting all other interests in the old hatred 
 which he bore to France, had even offered to resign his
 
 1518.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 305 
 
 own claim to the imperial crown, if the English king 
 would possess himself of Milan, and then accompany 
 him to Rome to receive it. It is asserted that Henry 
 subsequently repented the prudence which had led him 
 to decline this offer, from a distrust not only of the sin- 
 cerity, but also of the stability of Maximilian, whose 
 magnificent beginnings generally ended in failure; and 
 that he would willingly, when it was too late, have 
 recanted his resolution. The delay had, however, been 
 fatal to him; he could neither compete with the policy of 
 Charles, nor with the gold of Francis, who had distri- 
 buted the enormous sum of four hundred thousand 
 crowns among the electoral princes through the medium 
 of his agents ; and Henry accordingly remained neuter. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 [1519.] 
 
 A STRUGGLE FOR EMPIRE CONTRAST BETWEEN CHARLES AND FRANCIS 
 ABLE GOVERNMENT OF THE CARDINAL XIMENES HE IS DISPLACED, AND 
 DIES THE GERMANS FAVOUR THE PRETENSIONS OF FRANCIS TERGI- 
 VERSATION OF THE POPE DUPLICITY OF HENRY VIII. SUPINENESS OF 
 THE PETTY PRINCES WILY POLICY OF CHARLES GERMAINE DE FOIX 
 FRANCIS OFFENDS THE PREJUDICES OF THE FLEMISH ROBERT DE LA 
 MARK. SECKINGEN HIS INTRODUCTION TO THE FRENCH KING MUTUAL 
 MISGIVINGS THE DUKE DE GUELDRES IS DISGRACED AT THE INSTIGATION 
 OF LOUISE DE SAVOIE HER DOUBLE-DEALING M. DE LA MARK AND 
 THE BISHOP OF LIEGE JOIN THE CAUSE OF CHARLES DISGUST OF SECK- 
 INGEN HE JOINS THE PRINCES OF BOUILLON CHARLES OF AUSTRIA 
 ATTACKS THE TURKISH GALLEVS. 
 
 x 2
 
 1519.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 309 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 [1519.] 
 
 THUS the struggle was entirely between the sovereigns of 
 France and Spain; and, perhaps, two monarchs more 
 dissimilar both in physical and moral attributes could 
 not have placed themselves in competition. Francis, full 
 of ambition, courage, and enthusiasm, gifted by nature 
 with a person of remarkable majesty and beauty, had 
 already won a reputation for valour which had become 
 European. Moreover, he had been eminently successful 
 in all his undertakings, had encouraged literature, had 
 patronised art, and had, by his extraordinary munificence, 
 blinded the multitude to those defects in his character 
 which were a source of uneasiness to the more reflective 
 portion of his subjects. 
 
 Charles, on the contrary, was cold and phlegmatic, 
 prudent, and calculating. Born and educated in Flan- 
 ders, he was almost entirely a stranger to the electors, 
 with whom he had made no effort to ally himself since 
 his accession to the Spanish crown ; as a soldier he was 
 utterly unknown ; and his diplomacy had as yet been
 
 310 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519. 
 
 limited to mere self-security. In person he was insigni- 
 ficant and unprepossessing. Of middle height and weak 
 health, he possessed no energy either of voice or gesture, 
 his under lip was heavy and pendant, his eyes cold and 
 colourless, his face long, and melancholy in its expres- 
 sion ; and nothing in his appearance tended to reveal the 
 extent of that genius, and strength of character, by which 
 he was subsequently distinguished. Unable, even as 
 king of Spain, to liberate himself from the yoke of his 
 governor, M. de Chievres, and accustomed to obey im- 
 plicitly all his directions, he had so thoroughly abnegated 
 his own powers of volition that his subjects already 
 began to look upon him with disdain and distrust ; and to 
 murmur among themselves that the malady of his mother, 
 (Jeanne la Folle,} was hereditary. During the year which 
 succeeded the treaty of Noyon, he had entirely absented 
 himself from Spain ; nor had he visited Austria until 
 September, 1517, as he shrank from encountering the 
 Cardinal Ximenes, who first recovered, and then had 
 established order and obedience throughout these king- 
 doms in the short space of twenty months ; and had even, 
 at the instigation of M. de Chievres, written to him coldly 
 and ungraciously, advising him to retire to his diocese, 
 and repose himself after the labour of his administration. 
 The aged cardinal, whose health was already broken, 
 died on the very day upon which the letter reached 
 him (the 8th Nov. 1517), although not, as some his- 
 torians declare, by fair means. This event aroused the 
 indignation of the Spaniards, whose respect and attach- 
 ment for their primate had been extreme ; nor was 
 their irritation lessened by the fact, that his vacant arch-
 
 1519.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 311 
 
 bishopric of Toledo was bestowed upon a nephew of 
 M. de Chievres, who was still a youth. Other causes of 
 dissatisfaction had also arisen ; and Castile, Aragon, Cata- 
 lonia, and Valencia, alike continued to dispute his claim to 
 the sovereignty ; while several of the free towns formed a 
 coalition to resist by force of arms the usurpation of his 
 Flemish advisers ; and these were still at Barcelona, 
 engaged in opposing the Cortes of Catalonia, who had 
 at length consented to recognise him as joint-sovereign 
 with his mother, when the imperial electors assembled 
 at Frankfort to decide the question of the Germanic 
 succession. 
 
 Nothing, therefore, under such circumstances as these, 
 was likely to induce the Germans to elect as their 
 emperor a youth who had shown so little inclination 
 to conciliate the subjects over whom he already ruled, 
 and who had exhibited such marked contempt for their 
 national rights and prejudices ; while, on the other hand, 
 Francis, as sovereign of the kingdom of Aries and the 
 duchy of Milan, was already a member of the empire, 
 popular in his own country, and cited throughout Europe 
 as a model of chivalry and justice. 
 
 It is not, consequently, matter of surprise, that the 
 French king looked forward to a signal triumph over 
 his unprepossessing rival ; or that he should be sufficiently 
 unguarded to betray the confidence that he felt. More- 
 over, he trusted, and not without reason, to the effect 
 of the enormous sums which he had caused to be dis- 
 tributed among the electors ; and which, from the poverty 
 of some, and the rapacity of others, had been unhesi- 
 tatingly accepted.
 
 312 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519. 
 
 It was not, however, according to Fleuranges, with 
 money only that the French envoys were indiscreet 
 enough to pursue their purpose ; for while they were 
 scattering gold on all sides, and backing it by promises 
 which were forgotten as soon as uttered, they also gave 
 magnificent banquets to the German nobility, where the 
 greatest excesses were encouraged; and ultimately, in 
 order to intimidate the electors, they contemplated taking 
 into their pay the army of the confederated cities of 
 Suabia ; but in this latter resolution the wary and cal- 
 culating Charles had already forestalled them. 
 
 While the electors were preparing to assemble at the 
 diet which was to decide the future destinies of Europe, 
 neither of the candidates were idle. In reply to an appli- 
 cation to the pope for his support, Francis received from 
 the wily pontiff the warmest protestations of gratitude and 
 attachment ; while he skilfully contrived to evade any 
 pledge by which he might be compromised ; and occu- 
 pied himself in undermining the interests of both sove- 
 reigns, in the hope that the imperial crown might devolve 
 to some less powerful prince, from whose ambition Italy 
 would have nothing to apprehend. From Henry VIII. 
 the French king experienced even greater duplicity ; for 
 while he unequivocally promised him his support, he 
 secretly gave it to his adversary. With the King of 
 Poland he had no better success, that sovereign frankly 
 declaring that he should adopt the views of Louis of 
 Hungary, who at once expressed his intention of sup- 
 porting the claims of Charles of Castile ; while the other 
 powers of Europe, who had no personal or political 
 interest in either candidate, forgetting the importance of
 
 1519.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 313 
 
 which such an event must necessarily prove to the future 
 interests of their respective kingdoms, declined to involve 
 themselves in the responsibility of declaring their senti- 
 ments. Meanwhile, Charles, with less ostentation, was 
 silently and incessantly occupied in strengthening his 
 party ; and quietly profiting by every false move into 
 which his adversary was betrayed. One of these, and 
 that a fatal one, enabled him to advance his interests in 
 an unlooked-for manner. 
 
 Germaine de Foix, the Dowager-Queen of Spain, and 
 niece of Louis XII, wearied by the neglect and insignifi- 
 cance to which she was condemned, and apprehensive that, 
 on the return of Charles to his dominions, she should be 
 subjected to still greater annoyance, from the fact that, 
 being childless, her death would revive the claim of France 
 to the kingdom of Naples ; had addressed letters both to 
 Madame d'Angouleme and her son, entreating them to 
 afford her their protection in the event of her appre- 
 hensions proving well founded. These overtures had 
 been coldly received ; Louise de Savoie, whose pride 
 could ill brook the necessity of yielding precedence even 
 to her daughter-in-law, at once opposing the return of 
 Ferdinand's widow to France, which she foresaw would 
 be the result, should any such pledge be given on the 
 part of Francis. Not only, indeed, was her pride involved 
 in the question, but also her vanity ; for she had not 
 forgotten that the favourite niece of Louis XII. had been 
 one of the handsomest women of the court, and was 
 many years her junior. To Francis himself, the subject 
 was altogether uninteresting : he did not calculate upon 
 the advantage which might accrue to Charles, should he
 
 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [i;19. 
 
 profit by this supineness ; and accordingly, by the advice 
 of his mother, very discouraging answers were returned 
 to the dowager-queen, who became at length so impatient 
 of the ceremonious restraints of Spanish etiquette, and 
 the solitude of a court devoid alike of splendour and 
 amusement, that her temper gave way before her dis- 
 appointment ; and even to the French ambassador she 
 permitted herself to speak in the most unmeasured 
 terms of the selfishness and bad feeling of the monarch 
 and his mother, in thus forgetting that she was a 
 princess of France, and their own kinswoman. 
 
 In so rigid a court as that of Spain, not a word could 
 be uttered by a person of her rank which was not over- 
 heard and registered ; and accordingly, Charles was soon 
 informed of the irritation of the offended queen against 
 Francis and his mother, as well as her weariness of the 
 restraints to which she was subjected ; when, delighted 
 at once to secure her good will, and to further his 
 personal views, he lost no time either in surrounding 
 her with attention, or in presenting to her such in- 
 dividuals as were at once able to advance his own 
 fortune, and to interest her feelings ; and consequently 
 it was not long ere he succeeded in negotiating a 
 marriage between herself and Casimir, Marquis de 
 Brandebourg, the brother of the Elector Joachim, and 
 of the Bishop of Mayence, whose suffrages were thus 
 secured to him in the diet. 
 
 In the Low Countries Francis had also suffered his 
 popularity to become diminished by the impolitic mea- 
 sures that he had adopted towards the recovered city 
 of Tournay ; which, entirely surrounded by the territories
 
 1519.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 315 
 
 of Charles of Austria, had so long maintained its fidelity 
 to Trance, simply from the fact that the preceding 
 sovereigns had never sought to interfere with its form 
 of government, which was that of a free republican 
 city. Their authority recognised by the payment of an 
 annual tribute, they had neither interfered in its internal 
 administration, nor garrisoned the citadel, but had 
 recognised, as their own lieutenants, the municipal 
 officers chosen by the citizens ; whereas, Francis had 
 no sooner become master of the city, than he refused 
 to confirm the ancient privileges, which, according to 
 his view of the subject, rendered its inhabitants too 
 independent of his own authority, although they had 
 been respected even by the English, who, as conquerors, 
 might have been excused had they disregarded them. 
 The natural consequence ensued ; a considerable num- 
 ber of the citizens emigrated, feeling that their commer- 
 cial interests must suffer from the restraints imposed 
 upon their transactions; while the operative classes, thus 
 deprived of the means of existence formerly secured by 
 their industry, did not submit without murmurs to the 
 new thrall by which they were impoverished ; and 
 although the constant and novel presence of an armed 
 force compelled them to assume a semblance of submis- 
 sion, they were all ready to cast off the yoke of France 
 upon the first opportunity which might present itself; 
 and, adds a quaint old chronicler : " Many a tall yoman 
 that lacked livy'mg fel to robyng, which would not labor 
 after their return." 
 
 Unfortunately this was not the only piece of bad policy 
 of which Francis was guilty in the same province ; for it
 
 :H<) TI1H COURT AND REIGN OF [1519. 
 
 M ;H not long ere he alienated from his interests the brave 
 Robert de la Mark, the sovereign prince of Bouillon and 
 Sedan, and duke de Gueldres, who, it may be remem- 
 bered, did such good service at Novara ; and, together 
 with his valiant sons Fleruanges and Jamets, levied and 
 organized the lansquenets who superseded the Swiss 
 mercenaries in the armies of both Louis XII. and 
 Francis himself. 
 
 Nor was the house of La Mark distinguished only in 
 the field, having given several prelates to the see of 
 Liege ; while Evrard, the younger brother of Robert, still 
 held the bishopric of that city, whose spiritual govern- 
 ment he had directed since the year 1506. Moreover, 
 the Marquis de Fleuranges, who had been one of the 
 favourite companions of Francis in his youth, was still 
 actively employed in his service, and entirely devoted to 
 his interests ; and his brother, the Seigneur de Jamets, 
 filled an important post in the royal army. 
 
 While levying the troops above-mentioned, M. de la 
 Mark had formed a close intimacy with Francois de Seck- 
 ingen, a German adventurer who had acquired a great 
 reputation and considerable influence throughout the 
 empire ; and by whose assistance he was enabled to secure 
 the services of the before-named troops to the French 
 cause. Seckingen was one of those extraordinary men 
 who occasionally appear like landmarks, to point out the 
 path of fame to less gifted and enterprising natures. Of 
 somewhat obscure family, and small fortune, but pos- 
 sessed of indomitable energy and the most seductive 
 
 Oi/ 
 
 manners, he had succeeded in rendering himself popular 
 with many of the petty princes of Germany, some of whom
 
 1519.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 317 
 
 occasionally afforded him very efficient assistance in time 
 of need. Although not a soldier by profession, he was 
 enthusiastically attached to the pursuit of arms ; and had 
 organized a small force, with which he carried on an irre- 
 gular but harassing war against the emperor, and such of 
 the minor states as had neglected or refused to secure his 
 alliance. The very lean-ideal of a knight of romance, 
 he was no sooner seen in one place than he was heard of 
 at another many leagues distant ; and while he was 
 believed to be at one extremity of the empire, he made 
 an attack upon some hostile sovereign at the other. The 
 Duke de Lorraine, the citizens of Metz, and the Land- 
 grave of Hesse 1 alike incurred his displeasure, and were 
 each compelled to purchase his forbearance by a heavy 
 tribute ; the former, moreover, not only in ready money, 
 but by a life-pension of five hundred florins ; while so 
 great was the influence of his good fortune, which 
 attracted to his standard many of the bravest youths of 
 Germany, that the Duke de Gueldres had at length 
 advised Francis if possible to attach him to his own inte- 
 rests, no individual throughout the empire being enabled 
 to render to France services of equal value. 
 
 The proposition had been at once accepted, and the 
 duke was requested to bring him to Amboise with all 
 possible courtesy and honour, and to present him in 
 person to the French king ; while Seckingen, whose 
 attachment to Robert de la Mark was as warm as that of 
 a brother, no sooner ascertained that the duke was 
 
 ' Philippe de Hesse, who subsequently embraced the Lutheran 
 faith, and took a prominent part in the religious troubles of Ger- 
 many.
 
 Ml s THE COURT AND KEKiN OF [1519. 
 
 :in\ious to effect the alliance, than he hastened to Sedan, 
 accompanied by twelve German gentlemen of his troop, 
 and declared himself ready to espouse the interests of 
 Francis. 
 
 Little time was lost in commencing the journey ; and 
 as full powers had been given to M. de la Mark to effect 
 it in any manner likely to prove agreeable to his compa- 
 nion, he added his son Fleuranges to the party, and 
 proceeded by Chateau-Thierry and other fine cities 
 towards the capital, in order to impress the adventurer 
 with a becoming wonder and admiration of the great 
 kingdom of which he was about to become the ally. 
 
 On his arrival at Amboise, Seckingen was at once 
 introduced into the royal presence, where the king 
 received him with a marked courtesy well calculated to 
 gratify his vanity; nor did Madame d'Angouleme fail, 
 " obscure gentleman" as he was, to overwhelm him with 
 civility. His conversational powers delighted the king, 
 who was never weary of questioning him upon his 
 exploits, or in making merry at their success ; and while 
 the terms of their future alliance were under considera- 
 tion, all the seductions of the most brilliant court in 
 Europe were put forth to captivate his senses, and to 
 amuse his leisure. Francois, however, even while he 
 bandied compliments with a king of France, and found 
 himself the temporary idol of some of the most beautiful 
 women in the world, never for an instant lost his self- 
 possession, or suffered himself to overlook the real design 
 of all these attentions, or, above all, to forget that amid 
 all his social familiarity Francis had never reposed suffi- 
 cient confidence in his good faith to entrust to him the
 
 1319.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 319 
 
 real motive which had induced him to desire his friend- 
 ship. He had simply stated that he desired his assist- 
 ance in Germany, but he had said nothing of his intention 
 to contend for the empire ; and Seckingen, who was as 
 proud as he was daring, resented this idle show of reserve. 
 Meanwhile, however, all was carried on with a great 
 affectation of openness and confidence between them ; 
 and Francis agreed to settle upon his new ally a yearly 
 pension of three thousand francs ; in return for which 
 grant, Seckingen bound himself to protect and uphold 
 the interests of the Trench king in Germany and else- 
 where, as might be required of him ; and this affair con- 
 cluded, he took leave of the court with great honour, and 
 received at the hands of Francis a gold chain valued at 
 three thousand crowns, besides other presents; while 
 each of the gentlemen of his suite was also presented with 
 a chain of less value, but still worthy of the munificence 
 of the monarch by whom it was bestowed. Nevertheless, 
 the want of frankness which he had detected in the king 
 left in the heart of Seckingen an irritation that he 
 could not conceal ; and as he quitted the palace with 
 Fleuranges, who had been present at the leave-taking, 
 he observed, that courteous and liberal as Francis had 
 proved himself, and worthy as he appeared of the emi- 
 nent station which he filled, he, for his part, would 
 gladly have dispensed with the richest of his gifts, to 
 have felt that his own intentions were better appreciated ; 
 and to have been treated with somewhat less courtesy, 
 and more confidence. 
 
 " The king mistakes his own interest by this ill-timed 
 caution ;" he said warmly ; " and does not understand
 
 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519. 
 
 the man with whom he has to deal. Why could he not 
 at once acknowledge that he aspired to the empire ? He 
 would have told me nothing of which I was not already 
 well aware, and I should have felt more desire to further 
 his purpose. Tell him, however, I pray you, from me, 
 that I am ready to serve him according to the pledge 
 which I have given, against all Christendom, save only 
 your own house ; and that when I asked of him the 
 men-at-arms which he saw fit to refuse, it was not that 
 they might add to my own consequence, or serve my 
 own purposes, but solely with the intention of gaining 
 over some of the German gentlemen to his interests. 
 I and mine will, however, loyally redeem our pledge, 
 as he shall hereafter acknowledge ; and you may also 
 tell him that the princes in whom he places a faith 
 which he has not condescended to extend to a simple 
 gentleman like myself, will deceive him ; while I, whom 
 he has not deigned to trust, shall, with your good help, 
 be enabled to revenge him of their perfidy." 
 
 On his return to Germany, Seckingen resumed the 
 free system of warfare to which he had been so long 
 accustomed ; and meanwhile events occurred at the 
 court of France which were destined to shake his alliance 
 with Francis. The king, since his reconciliation with 
 the Swiss cantons, had ceased to feel the same interest 
 in his German auxiliaries ; and, no longer relying upon 
 their aid in case of necessity, even relaxed in the re- 
 gard which he had previously evinced for the Duke de 
 Gueldres himself, who was especially obnoxious to 
 Madame d'Angouleme from the fact that he had, during 
 her exile from the court in the reign of Louis XII, been
 
 1519.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 32] 
 
 a firm and zealous adherent of Anne de Bretagne, for 
 whom he was suspected of a regard which exceeded the 
 mere attachment of a subject to his queen. 
 
 Believing, therefore, that her son was now independent 
 of his services, Louise de Savoie suffered her pent-up 
 hatred to appear ; and urged Francis to disband the com- 
 pany of a hundred men then under the command of the 
 duke, on the pretext of their inefficient state of discipline, 
 and to discontinue the regular payment of his pensions ; 
 while she privately committed a still more glaring act of 
 treachery towards his brother the Prince-Bishop of Liege, 
 who was a candidate for a seat in the conclave, and to 
 whom Francis had definitively promised the first vacant 
 cardinalate, which had been left at his disposal by the pope. 
 The avarice of Louise de Savoie being as insatiable as 
 her enmity, she was easily induced by the offer of a con- 
 siderable sum of money, to address a private letter to 
 the pontiff; in which she declared that the application 
 about to be made to His Holiness by the French king 
 in favour of the Bishop of Liege was a mere measure of 
 policy enforced upon him by circumstances, while he was 
 in reality anxious to secure the coveted dignity for Boyer, 
 Bishop of Bourges, the brother of Thomas Bahier, 
 Lieutenant-general of Normandy and Treasurer of the 
 Savings-chest, one of her own creatures ; nor was she 
 deterred from this unworthy action by the fact that she 
 had been present when Francis placed in the possession of 
 the Marquis de Fleuranges a despatch to his uncle, signed 
 both by himself and his mother, in which they informed 
 M. de Liege of his promotion, and congratulated him on 
 his new dignity ; neither did her hand tremble as it was 
 
 * VOL. i. Y
 
 322 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519. 
 
 pressed to the lips of the young courtier, on his departure 
 from Araboise, to convey the happy tidings to his vener- 
 able relative, although she knew that he must prove the 
 messenger of lasting and bitter disappointment. Leo, 
 never doubting that Francis was cognisant of the con- 
 tents of his mother's letter, did not hesitate for an 
 instant ; Boyer was created cardinal ; and the price of this 
 nefarious transaction duly reached the coffers of the 
 unprincipled duchess. 
 
 Aleandro, 1 the Chancellor of Liege, who was then at 
 Rome, where he was exerting himself to secure the 
 election of his master, no sooner learnt that M. de 
 Bourges had obtained the cardinalate which had been 
 promised to his own diocesan by the king, than, appre- 
 hending treachery, he strained every nerve to ascertain 
 the truth ; and at length, through the instrumentality of 
 the pontifical secretary, he obtained a copy of the letter 
 addressed by Madame d' Angouleme to the pope, which 
 he immediately forwarded to the Duke de Gueldres. 
 The indignation of Robert de la Mark was unbounded 
 when he learnt the deception which had been practised 
 upon his brother ; and he reproached the monarch bit- 
 terly for so glaring a breach of veracity and good faith ; 
 representing that he had already suffered sufficiently 
 in his own person and fortunes from some groundless 
 prejudice, and that it was a gratuitous injustice to 
 involve his relatives in the same ruin. 
 
 1 Jeromio Aleandro was a celebrated Italian scholar, who had 
 been invited to France by Louis XII, by whom he was appointed 
 professor of literature in the University of Paris. He was subse- 
 quently chancellor to Evrard de la Mark, Prince-Bishop of Liege ; 
 and ultimately became a cardinal, during the pontificate of Paul III.
 
 1519.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 323 
 
 Deeply moved by an accusation which affected his 
 honour, Francis strenuously and at once denied all know- 
 ledge of the intrigue ; when the duke laid before him 
 the duplicate letter he had received from Rome, and 
 even hinted at his expectation of redress ; whereupon the 
 king became irritated, and high words passed between 
 them, the effects of which M. de la Mark evaded by 
 retiring immediately from the court to his own territories, 
 accompanied by his brother ; and their arrival no sooner 
 became known to Marguerite of Austria, the regent, than 
 she hastened to engage them to embrace the cause of her 
 nephew Charles ; assuring to M. de Liege the cardinal's 
 hat through his influence, and urging the duke to return 
 to Francis the collar of St. Michael, and to trust to his 
 new master for the honours, to which, by a career like 
 his, he was so justly entitled. Exasperated by the treat- 
 ment which they had received at the court of France, the 
 brothers at once consented ; and thus Francis not only 
 lost two of his most zealous adherents, but by the same 
 fatal mistake strengthened the hands of his adversary. 
 
 The surprise of both Louise de Savoie and the king 
 was extreme when they learnt that M. de Liege had 
 actually deserted their cause ; as from the fact that he 
 held the bishopric of Chartres, one of the richest in 
 France, they believed themselves secure of his allegiance ; 
 never supposing that he would voluntarily resign so 
 important and valuable a benefice. They had, however, 
 overlooked the extent of the provocation he had received ; 
 and discovered, when it was too late, that where he had 
 felt his honour wounded, he scorned to sacrifice his sense 
 of dignity to considerations of interest.
 
 324 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519. 
 
 The defection of the princes of Bouillon tended, more- 
 over, greatly to diminish the zeal of Seckingen, who, 
 having been apprised that some German traders had 
 been grievously Avronged by certain Milanese merchants, 
 at once adopted their quarrel; and by force of arms 
 seized property belonging to the aggressors, valued at 
 twenty-five thousand francs, on its transit through the 
 German states. The merchants immediately appealed to 
 Francis for redress, complaining that they had been thus 
 pillaged by troops in his own pay ; whereupon the king 
 called upon Seckingen to declare upon what authority he 
 had coerced his good subjects of Milan, and impeded 
 their commerce ; to which the German leader boldly 
 replied by declaring that he had only acted on this 
 occasion in conformity with the vow which he had made 
 on first taking up arms, that he would redress the 
 wrongs of the oppressed, and revenge them upon their 
 oppressors. That accordingly, as the German citizens had 
 been wronged, and were too weak to defend themselves, 
 he had done justice for them ; and trusted that in future 
 the Milanese would know better than to assume to them- 
 selves an impunity to which they were in no wise entitled. 
 
 Francis was unable to brook the fearlessness of such a 
 reply ; and becoming apprehensive that he had rather 
 raised up an antagonist than secured a friend in the 
 person of an individual who thus dared to brave his 
 authority, he discontinued the pension which he had 
 conferred upon Seckingen ; who, finding himself freed 
 by this impolitic measure from his engagements to 
 France, lost no time in joining the Duke de Gueldres 
 and his brother, and in transferring his services, as they
 
 1519.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 325 
 
 had previously done, to Charles of Spain ; whose cause he 
 materially assisted during the election, by putting himself 
 at the head of the Suabian troops, (whom the envoys of 
 Francis had been improvident enough to overlook until it 
 was too late,) and occupying the neighbourhood of Frank- 
 fort ; pacifically to ah 1 appearance, it is true, but in reality 
 in readiness for any adventure which might offer itself to 
 his quixotic spirit in the interest of his new master ; a 
 fact which was so evident to the electors themselves that 
 it was believed to have exerted considerable power upon 
 their decision. 
 
 An evil influence appeared, indeed, to preside over all 
 the movements of Francis at this period ; for alike by 
 supineness and action he equally lost ground ; while 
 Charles, who was far too wary to make enemies at such a 
 juncture, held himself prepared to take advantage of every 
 circumstance by which he might augment his popularity. 
 The German princes, ready as they were to profit by the 
 profuse generosity of the French king, were yet revolted 
 by the ostentation with which it was proffered ; while the 
 quiet and unobtrusive manner in which Charles, with 
 equal liberality, distributed his treasure, enabled them to 
 avoid the mortification of considering that he had put a 
 price upon their services. Conscious, also, of the ambitious 
 character of Francis, they shrank from the idea of eleva- 
 ting to the imperial dignity a monarch who might here- 
 after consider them rather as vassals than as sovereigns ; 
 while, ignorant of the real nature of Charles, they deluded 
 themselves with the belief that he would never seek to 
 arrogate to himself a greater amount of power than they 
 might be willing to concede to him.
 
 32G COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. [1510. 
 
 When endeavouring to obtain the suffrage of Henry 
 VIII, Francis had expressed himself determined to 
 make war upon the Turks ; although, as we have already 
 shown, there is every reason to believe that he never for 
 an instant seriously entertained such an idea. Suffice 
 it that he had assured Sir Thomas Boleyn, the English 
 ambassador, that, should he succeed in becoming Em- 
 peror of Germany, " three years should not elapse ere 
 he would be in Constantinople, or die by the way ; and 
 that he would spend three millions in gold but he would 
 succeed ;" but nevertheless, when some Turkish corsairs 
 who were infesting the Mediterranean, and impeding the 
 commerce of the Italian states, were bold enough to 
 make a demonstration which alarmed not only the popu- 
 lation generally, but even the pope himself, he was so 
 tardy in fitting out an expedition to attack them, that, 
 before his vessels were ready for sea, Charles had des- 
 patched his galleys under the command of Ugo de 
 Moncada, 1 the Viceroy of Sicily, and dispersed their 
 whole fleet. This delay on the part of the Erench 
 monarch, and activity on that of Charles, had a powerful 
 effect on the electors ; and, beyond all doubt, gave the 
 ast blow to his hopes. 
 
 1 Ugo de Moncada was the representative of an ancient and 
 illustrious family of Catalonia, who were at one period sovereigns of 
 Beam. He first attached himself to the fortunes of Charles VIII, 
 and subsequently to those of Caesar Borgia ; after which he entered 
 the Spanish army. He distinguished himself greatly against the 
 pirates of the Levant, and continued to render important services to 
 Charles V, while viceroy of Sicily. Made prisoner by Andrea Doria, 
 in 1524, he recovered his liberty at the peace of Madrid. He took 
 Rome in 1527, and was killed in the following year, at the naval 
 engagement of Capo d'Orso.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 [1519-20.] 
 
 THE ELECTORAL DIET CONVENED AT FRANKFORT DEATH OF M. DE BOISSY 
 CHARLES PROCLAIMED EMPEROR OF GERMANY MORTIFICATION OF THE 
 FRENCH MINISTERS SELF-COMMAND OF FRANCIS BIRTH OF A PRINCE 
 HENRY VIII. BECOMES HIS SPONSOR PROGRESS OF THE LUTHERAN 
 FAITH LOUISE DE SAV01E ESTABLISHES HERSELF AT THE TUILERIES 
 FRANCIS RESOLVES TO REBUILD THE LOUVRE BONNIVET EXCITES THE 
 KING TO ENTER UPON A NEW WAR FRANCIS BRIBES WOLSEY HENRY 
 AND FRANCIS ARRANGE A PERSONAL INTERVIEW THE NAVARRESE QUES- 
 TION IS REVIVED BETWEEN THE EMPEROR AND THE FRENCH KING 
 CRITICAL POSITION OF CHARLES V. THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD 
 THE BANQUET THE TREATY THE TOURNAY FEARLESSNESS OF FRANCIS 
 AN EXCHANGE OF VISITS THE TWO QUEENS THE PARTING MASS 
 CONFIRMATION OF THE TREATY DEPARTURE OF HENRY VIII. FOR GRAVE- 
 LINES FRANCIS RETURNS TO FRANCE.
 
 1519-20.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 329 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 [1519-20.] 
 
 THUS were things situated, when, in the middle of June, 
 the electoral diet was convened in the usual form in the 
 city of Frankfort ; but, before its proceedings commenced, 
 Francis had sustained an irreparable loss in the death 
 of M. de Boissy his ancient governor, who had been 
 busied at Montpelier, in conjunction with M. de 
 Chievres the minister of Charles, in endeavouring to 
 reconcile the interests of the rival sovereigns, and thus 
 preserving Europe from the horrors of an universal war. 
 They had already been engaged for two months in this 
 momentous undertaking, and had begun to entertain 
 some hopes of ultimate success, when M. de Boissy, who 
 had long been an invalid, experienced a renewed and 
 more severe attack of his malady, to which he fell a victim. 
 This event was a serious one to Francis, whose natural 
 impetuosity and recklessness had been frequently checked 
 by the wise and prudent admonitions of the grand- 
 master ; and at this particular crisis it was doubly un- 
 fortunate, leaving him, as it did, to the mercy of more 
 interested and less judicious counsellors ; and, above all,
 
 830 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1510-20. 
 
 to the influence of his mother, who ere this period had 
 succeeded, with more or less difficulty, in bending to her 
 imperious will all the ministers of the crown with the 
 exception of Boissy himself, whose earnest devotion to 
 the interests of his former pupil rendered him invul- 
 nerable alike to threats, bribes, and flattery. 
 
 Nor was the death of M. de Boissy the only fatal 
 privation experienced by the young king during the 
 course of the present year, for the veteran Leonardo d;i 
 Vinci, a month or two subsequently, terminated his 
 earthly career at the ripe age of seventy-five. Francis 
 was affectionately attached to his distinguished protege, 
 whom he had loaded with honours ; and he no sooner 
 ascertained that his end was approaching, than he 
 hastened to the death-chamber. Da Vinci had just 
 received the last consolations of religion when he dis- 
 covered the presence of the king; and, despite his 
 exhaustion, he endeavoured to rise in his bed, in order 
 to express his sense of the favour which was thus shown 
 him ; but the effort was too great, and before he had 
 uttered more than a few sentences expressive of his 
 regret that he had not used his talents more profitably 
 for religion, he was seized with a paroxysm which ren- 
 dered him speechless. As he fell back upon his pillow, 
 the king sprang forward and raised his head upon his 
 arm ; and thus, upon the bosom of the young monarch, 
 Leonardo da Vinci drew his last breath. The good 
 effects of his sojourn at the French court did not, how- 
 ever, expire with him. Although he had declined, owing 
 to his advanced age, to undertake any new work, he had 
 given public lessons and lectures which had awakened an
 
 1519-20.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 331 
 
 emulation in art destined to produce the most beneficial 
 results ; and the three famous artists, Cousin, Janet, and 
 Limoges, were alike his pupils. 
 
 Towards the close of June the diet at length assem- 
 bled ,- when the deliberations were opened by the Arch- 
 bishop of Mayence, who, in a speech of great length, 
 consummate tact, and extraordinary eloquence, pleaded 
 the cause of Charles. He argued that, should the electors 
 invest Francis with the imperial dignity, he would in- 
 evitably endeavour to annihilate the liberties of Germany, 
 even as he was now endeavouring to subjugate those of 
 Italy ; and that he would also, beyond all doubt, exert 
 his influence to render the crown hereditary, and thus 
 aggrandize his successors by the prostration of the pri- 
 vilege at present enjoyed by the electors. " How little 
 can it be expected " he pursued ; " that he will continue 
 either to the princes, or to the free territories, the liberty 
 they have so long enjoyed, when experience has shown 
 us that even in France, where formerly the great nobles 
 dispensed justice, and executed judgment within their 
 own provinces, not one princely personage is now to be 
 found who does not quail before the slightest gesture of 
 the king, or who dares do otherwise than applaud all 
 which it may be his royal pleasure to say or do." He 
 next warned the electors not to be misled by the pro- 
 mises of the French ambassadors, who had stated that 
 their sovereign, immediately that he should have attained 
 the imperial crown, was prepared to direct the whole 
 strength of his kingdom against the Infidels ; reminding 
 them that an opportunity had recently occurred in which 
 he might have proved his good faith and zeal in a cause
 
 332 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1.319-20. 
 
 so important to all Christendom, and in which he had 
 failed ; leaving to the King of Castile, who had made no 
 protestations upon the subject, the noble task of sweep- 
 ing the seas of the first Mahomedan fleet which had 
 dared to menace the shores of Italy. " No ! " he con- 
 cluded energetically ; " It is not in order to subjugate 
 the Infidels that the King of France covets the throne of 
 Germany ; it is that he may slake the thirst of that 
 ambition by which he is known to be possessed. It is 
 that he may secure alike to himself and to his children 
 the proudest diadem in Europe. It is, in short, that he 
 may be enabled through this accession of strength, to 
 possess himself of the inheritance of Charles in the Low 
 Countries and Spain, and involve all Europe in a ruinous 
 and interminable war, which would be alike costly and 
 degrading to the German empire." 
 
 The Archbishop of Treves argued in reply, that the 
 King of Castile was as thoroughly a foreigner as Francis ; 
 that he had been both born and educated in the Low 
 Countries, and that, consequently, the German people 
 could have neither sympathies nor prejudices in common 
 with a prince of whose habits, tastes, and tendencies they 
 were wholly ignorant. He laid, moreover, great stress 
 upon the fact that the geographical position of the French 
 king's dominions rendered him the most eligible candidate 
 for the imperial dignity, as France might be conveniently 
 united with both Germany and Italy, and thus form a 
 compact portion of the empire ; whereas Spain, separated 
 from Germany by France, would necessarily oppose her 
 national antipathies to the common interest, and either 
 refuse to suffer her monarch to absent himself from her
 
 1519-20.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 333 
 
 own territories, or encourage his views of domination in 
 Italy, which were no less to be deprecated than those of 
 Francis. 
 
 It will be obvious on reviewing the arguments of both 
 orators that they were rather objective than laudatory ; 
 each found tangible reasons for opposing his adversary, 
 while neither could advance very valid ones for support- 
 ing his own candidate ; and it was probably from this 
 cause that the electors, after having patiently listened to 
 the discussion, resolved to maintain their independence 
 by rejecting both, and placing the imperial authority in 
 the hands of one of their own body. In pursuance of 
 this determination, the empire was offered, on the 4th of 
 July, to Frederic, Duke of Saxony ; and it is certain that 
 the mental and moral qualifications of that prince 
 reflected honour on their judgment ; but Frederic was 
 too wise to indulge his ambition at the expense of his 
 true interests, and he at once felt that he was not strong 
 enough to brave the animosity of two powerful monarchs. 
 He, therefore, firmly withstood the temptation, recom- 
 mending the electors who had evinced such confidence in 
 himself, to elevate to the imperial throne the grandson of 
 Maximilian, whose interests were identified with those of 
 Germany, and whose prompt courage and judicious zeal 
 had already been displayed in his late expedition against 
 their common enemy, the Infidel. The King of Bohemia, 
 the Marquis of Brandenbourg, and the Prelates of Cologne 
 and Mayence, supported the proposition ; and ultimately, 
 on the 5th of July, Charles was proclaimed Emperor of 
 Germany in the church of St. Barthelemy, by the 
 universal suffrages of the assembly.
 
 334 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519-20. 
 
 A solemn embassy was despatched to Barcelona where 
 Charles was then residing, to announce his election, and 
 to invite him to repair with all possible speed to his new 
 dominions ; greatly to the displeasure of his Spanish 
 subjects, who had vainly endeavoured to dissuade him 
 from prosecuting his attempts at empire ; and who 
 being already irritated by the authority arrogated by 
 the Flemish favourites of the monarch, very naturally 
 anticipated equal mortification from the Germans, so 
 soon as Charles should find it necessary to his interests 
 to invest them with office, or to conciliate them by 
 honours and emoluments wrested from themselves. 
 
 The young monarch, however, disregarded their 
 arguments ; and, after having given the ambassadors a 
 magnificent reception, accepted the new dignity with 
 which he had been invested by the electoral college, 
 pledging himself religiously to observe the conditions 
 which were annexed to it. 
 
 While this ceremony was going forward in Spain, 
 the French ministers hastened to return to their own 
 country, deeply mortified by their defeat, and full of 
 regret for the enormous sums which they had so use- 
 lessly lavished. Bonnivet alone was still in possession 
 of some portion of the treasure which had been confided 
 to him, and he lost no time in making his escape in 
 order to place it in security ; a precaution which proved 
 to have been well-founded, as it narrowly escaped falling 
 into the hands of Seckingen, who had organized a plan 
 for possessing himself of the state-chest, and diminishing 
 the responsibility of the baffled favourite. 
 
 Francis bitterly felt his defeat. It was not alone the
 
 1519-20.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 335 
 
 loss of the empire which galled him, but the conviction 
 that he had been worsted by an adversary whom he had 
 been ill advised enough to despise, because ignorant of 
 his real character and resources. Now, however, he was 
 at once made aware of his error ; the skilful measures 
 and quiet perseverance of Charles had triumphed over 
 his own profusion and previsions ; and in their first 
 struggle for preeminence he had been signally worsted. 
 Nevertheless, stung as he was, he disdained to betray the 
 excess of his mortification and disappointment ; and he 
 even controlled his real feelings so far as to write to the 
 pope at the close of the election, declaring that he 
 rejoiced to have failed in a chimerical project which had 
 been put into his head by certain of the German princes, 
 particularly as he had ascertained from his uncle, M. de 
 Savoie, that it was most unpalatable to his subjects ; 
 who were apprehensive that the obligations which would 
 have been imposed on him had he succeeded, would 
 have interfered with the interests of France. 
 
 On the 31st of March in this year (1519), the 
 queen had given birth to a second son, at St. Germain- 
 en-Laye ; and Francis had, in anticipation of the event, 
 already instructed Sir Richard Wingfield to solicit 
 Henry VIII, in the event of his hope being realized by 
 the birth of a prince, to stand sponsor for the child, and 
 to give him his own name. 
 
 To this proposition Henry at once acceded ; and the 
 ceremony was performed on the 4th of June, Sir Thomas 
 Boleyn officiating as proxy for his Sovereign, in con- 
 junction with the Duke d'Alencon and the Duchess de 
 Nemours. At the termination of the baptismal service,
 
 330 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519-20. 
 
 Francis expressed to the English ambassador his sense of 
 the great honour which had been conferred upon him by 
 the " king's highnesse," and the gratification which he 
 should feel, when in his turn Henry should become the 
 father of a son, to do the like for him j declaring that, 
 meanwhile, the child who now bore his name should no 
 sooner have attained to an age qualifying him for such a 
 privilege, than he would forthwith send him to the 
 king's grace in England to do him service. 
 
 The Lutheran party had profited by the late interreg- 
 num to increase their influence, and to propagate their 
 dogmas, which they had been enabled to do with little 
 molestation. It is true that Maximilian had endeavoured 
 near the close of his life to suppress the new sect, from 
 which he began to apprehend danger ; but the two vicars of 
 the empire, the Duke of Saxony and the Elector-Palatine, 
 who assumed the imperial authority immediately after 
 his death, had already become converts to the reformed 
 tenets, and protected Luther from all persecution ; while 
 Charles, who owed his new dignity to the former, whose 
 German territories were not safe from the incursions of 
 the Turks, and who already detected the germs of revolt 
 in Spain, wilfully closed his eyes to the religious troubles 
 in Saxony, and left the care of suppressing them to the 
 pope. As the immediate interests of the French king 
 were not, however, involved in the controversy, we shall 
 abstain from a recapitulation of circumstances already 
 familiar to all our readers, and which have been re- 
 peatedly detailed much more ably than we could hope to 
 relate them; and confine ourselves to matters more 
 strictly within our own province.
 
 1.519-20.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 337 
 
 Early in this year Louise de Savoie, finding herself 
 inconvenienced by the closeness of the apartments which 
 she occupied in the palace of the Tournelles during her 
 occasional residence in the capital, had induced her son 
 to purchase for her a residence on the banks of the 
 Seine with an extensive garden, and commanding the 
 most varied and delightful views of the surrounding 
 country; in exchange for which the proprietor, Nicolas 
 de Neuville, Seigneur de Villeray, received the estate of 
 Chanteloup near Montlhery. Large sums of money 
 were expended on the embellishment of this house, 
 where Francis frequently visited his mother, and where 
 he indulged that passion for magnificence for which he 
 had always been distinguished. Costly hangings of 
 Flanders tapestry, inlaid furniture, panelled mirrors, 
 and vessels of gold and silver, were to be seen on 
 every side; and such was the origin of the palace of 
 the Tuileries, which Catherine de' Medici subsequently 
 converted at once into a royal abode and a national 
 monument. The young king was so enchanted by the 
 capabilities of the spot that he forthwith resolved to 
 rebuild the Louvre, a work which he accordingly com- 
 menced, but of which he was not destined to do more 
 than lay the foundation. 
 
 Meanwhile he found it agreeable to escape from the 
 gloomy apartments of his own palace, or from the 
 rigid circle of his wife, to wander over the smooth 
 lawns and among the dense shrubberies of the gardens 
 of the Tuileries, with the bright-eyed and light-headed 
 ladies of the more indulgent duchess ; to glide over 
 the calm current of the Seine in a gilded barge, with 
 
 VOL. i. /
 
 338 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519-20. 
 
 Madame de Chateaubriand by his side; or to angle 
 under the shade of a silken pavilion, while Marot ' recited 
 to him his last new poem, or eulogised the somewhat 
 indifferent effusions of the monarch himself ; who, believ- 
 ing that he could at will become a poet, as he imagined that 
 he had already become a scholar, was constantly amusing 
 himself by the composition of lyrical and amatory verses, 
 which, as a matter of course, delighted the whole court. 
 It is probable that the jealousy which existed between 
 the new emperor and the king of France might have 
 slumbered for a time, had not the death of M. de Boissy 
 occurred at so unfortunate a moment ; for, conscious 
 how much the nation had already become impoverished 
 by the Milanese expedition and the contest for the 
 imperial crown, that upright and prudent minister 
 had left no measure untried to dissuade Francis from 
 undertaking a new war. The people already murmured 
 at the increased taxation which these speculations had 
 rendered imperative; and while Duprat, anxious at 
 once to enrich himself and Madame d'Angouleme, 
 affected to believe that the nation still possessed many 
 resources which would suffice to meet any new de- 
 
 1 Clement Marot was born at Cahors in 1495 ; and succeeded his 
 father Jehan Marot as valet- de-chambre to Francis I, whom he accom- 
 panied to the battle of Pavia. Being accused of heresy, he was 
 imprisoned, but afterwards liberated by the Queen of Navarre. He 
 was one of the most correct and elegant of the French prose writers, 
 and the first poet of his day. His Epistle to Francis I, his Rondeaux, 
 his Sonnets, his Epigrams, his Elegies, and his Ballads, have obtained 
 for him a lasting reputation. His Translation of the Psalms of 
 David, continued by M. de Beze, were long used in the Protestant 
 churches. He also wrote a poem entitled Hell, which was a biting 
 satire upon the legal profession. He died in 1544.
 
 1519-20.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 339 
 
 mand upon its revenues, Gouffier de Boissy looked 
 with a steady eye at present discontents, and foresaw the 
 moment when the sovereign would come into a contact 
 with his overburthened people, which might prove fatal 
 to both. The outlay of the court was in itself excessive ; 
 but with the prescience of a wary statesman he preferred 
 to encourage an evil to which he felt that he could apply 
 a remedy, rather than weakly to permit a greater which it 
 might be beyond his skill to counteract ; and thus, during 
 his life, he had been enabled by the great influence he 
 possessed over the king, to keep his belligerent tastes in 
 check, and to make him comprehend and appreciate the 
 perils upon which he was so eager to rush. 
 
 His death, however, opened the floodgates of the king's 
 ambition, or rather removed the dam by which it had been 
 hitherto pent in ; and Francis found in the arguments of 
 Bonnivet, who panted for revenge upon Charles, and 
 whose romantic imagination found equivalent food only in 
 conquest and victory ; in his mother, who was anxious for 
 the aggrandizement of her son, and who never permitted 
 herself to dream of failure ; and in the entreaties of 
 Madame de Chateaubriand, who for the moment coin- 
 cided in the sentiments of Louise de Savoie, because 
 she trusted in the event of a war to see her third brother 
 Lespare acquire high military rank, more than the incen- 
 tives which he required to recommence a struggle that must 
 necessarily involve all the highest interests of his kingdom. 
 
 He no sooner determined upon hostilities toward his 
 victorious rival than he first turned his thoughts to 
 England. He was united to Henry VIII. by close and 
 intimate bonds. The British monarch had not only 
 
 22
 
 340 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519-20. 
 
 affianced his daughter to the dauphin, but he had also be- 
 come sponsor to the younger French prince ; and although 
 he had maintained a sullen neutrality during the struggle 
 for empire, Francis either felt, or affected to feel, that he 
 had been as much injured as himself by the result of the 
 election, and consequently spared no pains to inspire 
 him with the same sentiments. Moreover, he was urged 
 to this policy by a desire to put his Belgian frontiers into 
 an efficient state of defence ; and, above all, to prevent 
 an alliance between Henry and Charles, which must have 
 destroyed the balance of power in Europe. He was aware 
 that the noble hostages whom he had delivered over 
 to England were unwearied in their endeavours to effect 
 a still closer alliance between himself and his brother- 
 monarch, and that they were constantly assuring Henry 
 that he required only a personal knowledge of their own 
 sovereign to render them firm allies ; and he lost no 
 time in strengthening their arguments by using every 
 means in his power to secure the good-will of Wolsey, 
 whose anxiety to attain to the papacy made him on his 
 side desirous of gaining the friendship of such of the 
 continental princes as were the most likely to forward 
 his design. 
 
 To attain this end Francis lavished upon the English 
 minister the most costly gifts and the most magnificent 
 promises ; all of which were received in a manner which 
 served to strengthen his hopes, and to buoy him up with 
 an anticipation of ultimate success ; while the cardinal, 
 who never suffered himself to be misled by present 
 advantages, was calmly weighing in his mind the pro- 
 bable results of the impending struggle, and at length
 
 1519-20.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 341 
 
 came to the conclusion that the emperor of Germany 
 must ere long command more influence at the court of 
 Rome than the king of Prance. Henry, however, it is 
 certain, had more personal sympathies with Francis 
 than with his rival; they were of the same age, were 
 addicted to the same pleasures, and swayed by the same 
 impulses ; and thus, unsuspicious that the gold and the 
 pledges of Charles to his ambitious and avaricious 
 minister had already outweighed those of the French 
 king, he was induced to consent to the celebrated inter- 
 view between Francis and himself, which the former had 
 suggested to Sir Thomas Boleyn at the christening of 
 his son. 
 
 Meanwhile there existed many causes for discontent 
 between the emperor and the king of France. Charles 
 had failed to fulfil his engagement relatively to the king- 
 dom of Navarre, despite the pledge which he had given 
 at Noyon. Both the king and queen, Jean and Cathe- 
 rine were dead ; while their son Henry II, at this period 
 only fifteen years of age, was the ward of Alain Albret 
 his uncle, and resided in the French provinces, the only 
 territories he had inherited from his father, who had held 
 the kingdom of Navarre by right of his wife ; and who, 
 when he demanded the restoration of the Spanish 
 portion of the country, was opposed by the minister 
 Chievres, who negatived the claim of Germaine de Foix, 
 declaring that she had made a donation of it to Ferdinand 
 the grandfather of Charles. This arrangement had, for a 
 time, been admitted by France; but on the second mar- 
 riage of the dowager-queen the parliament of Paris had 
 declared the donation to be no longer valid, and had 
 admitted the right of Henry II. to the succession. Not
 
 342 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519-20. 
 
 satisfied with denying this claim, the emperor had at 
 the same time revived all the old discontents of his 
 ancestors against the predecessors of the French king ; 
 and while he contested the right of Francis to the 
 Milanese, he also insisted on the restoration of the duchy 
 of Burgundy, which he declared to have been unjustly 
 wrested from his grandmother Mary, the daughter of 
 Charles the Bold ; while in reply to these demands 
 Francis once more renewed his own to the kingdom of 
 Naples, which Ferdinand had usurped from Louis XII ; 
 and reclaimed the homage which was due to him from 
 Charles as Count of Flanders. 
 
 Nevertheless, bitter as the contention soon became, 
 the young emperor shrank from the responsibility which 
 must be entailed upon him by a new and doubtful war. 
 Every province of Spain was in partial revolt; the 
 Germans were full of discontent; and he had been so 
 long absent from the Low Countries that he began to 
 feel his influence even there on the decline; while Francis, 
 although he had less reason for uneasiness, suffered him- 
 self so weakly to be engrossed by pleasure and dissi- 
 pation that he also lost the favourable moment; and 
 lavished the immense sums which were extorted from 
 the people under the pretence of state emergencies, in 
 the most puerile and senseless outlay. 
 
 Thus were things situated when preparations were 
 commenced for the interview between Henry and Francis 
 which had been at length agreed upon ; and they were 
 of so costly a description that they were not terminated 
 until the spring of the following year (1520). The 
 French king, who was more anxious to accomplish a 
 lasting alliance with his brother- monarch than to enter
 
 1519-20.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 343 
 
 iiito a rivalry of magnificence, had, as it would appear 
 from a letter still extant, addressed by Sir Richard 
 Wingfield to Cardinal Wolsey, been desirous on this 
 occasion to dispense with all save the necessary cere- 
 monial. Aware that his oft-replenished treasury would 
 not do more than suffice for the war which he meditated, 
 he even controlled his natural love of splendour and dis- 
 play so far as to suggest to the English courtier that 
 Henry and himself should meet rather as fast friends 
 than as rival sovereigns ; but the suggestion was overruled 
 both by Henry VIII. and his minister ; the former being 
 anxious to dazzle Francis by his profusion, and the latter 
 to impress him with a sense of his own importance. 
 Piqued by the indifference displayed on the part of the 
 English monarch to an outlay from which he had him- 
 self shrank, Francis accordingly indulged himself in the 
 most lavish expenditure ; while in emulation of their 
 sovereign, all the nobles of his court, impoverished as 
 many of them were by the late struggle at Frankfort, 
 vied with each other in an uncalculating profusion which 
 was destined to cripple their resources for many subse- 
 quent years. " The great outlay that was made," says 
 Du Bellay ; " cannot be estimated ; but many carried 
 their mills, their forests, and their meadows, upon their 
 backs." 
 
 The details of the ceremony were entirely regulated 
 by Wolsey, such having been the proposition of Francis, 
 who hoped by this display of confidence further to con- 
 ciliate the haughty minister ; and they were arranged with 
 a punctilious minutia which savoured more of suspi- 
 cion than of that friendship and good- will which each
 
 344 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519-20. 
 
 monarch professed for the other. It was decided that 
 the meeting should take place on the boundary of 
 the English possessions in France, in requital of the 
 courtesy, or rather as an equivalent for the condescension, 
 of Henry in having crossed the channel to effect it ; and 
 ultimately an open plain was selected situate between 
 Guisnes and Ardres. But, before the two sovereigns met, 
 Charles, anxious to weaken any favourable impression 
 which might be produced on the mind of Henry VIII. 
 by a personal interview with the French king, resolved, 
 when on his way from Spain to Aix-la-Chapelle where 
 he was to be invested with the imperial crown, to 
 visit England, under the pretext of a desire to present 
 his respects to Katherine of Aragon his aunt, whom 
 he had never seen. Henry was already on his way 
 to Dover when the intelligence of the emperor's arrival 
 reached him, and he immediately despatched the Car- 
 dinal-minister with a brilliant retinue to give him 
 welcome. A dead calm which had delayed the arrival of 
 Charles in the port, compelled him to have recourse to 
 his boats, and it was only towards evening that he was 
 enabled to land ; when he was met by the reverend 
 envoy, who greeted him in the name of his royal master, 
 and received him with all the honour due to his exalted 
 rank. 
 
 The disembarkation was conducted with extreme 
 magnificence. The emperor moved forward under a 
 canopy on which the black eagle was displayed upon 
 a ground of cloth of gold ; followed by a train of 
 princes, princesses, and nobles, splendidly attired ; and 
 in this state he proceeded to the castle, where a sump-
 
 1519-20.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 345 
 
 tuous banquet was served up, amid the acclamations 
 of the multitude who had collected to witness the 
 landing. 
 
 While at Canterbury the king was apprised of the 
 fact that Charles had already reached Dover castle; upon 
 which he again mounted in all haste, travelled by torch- 
 light, and arrived at the castle towards midnight with 
 his train of attendants, creating so much disturbance 
 as to awaken the emperor ; who, upon being informed of 
 its cause immediately left his bed, and flinging his 
 mantle about him hastened to meet his royal host 
 whom he encountered upon the stairs; where, says the 
 old chronicler, "eche embraced other right louingly," 
 and the king conducted the emperor back to his apart- 
 ment, conversing gaily with him, and welcoming him 
 heartily to England. 
 
 On the Whitsunday following, the two sovereigns rode 
 together to Canterbury, where they were received by 
 the queen at the head of her court, composed of all that 
 was fairest and noblest in the realm ; and ultimately, on 
 the 31st of May, the imperial visitor, having succeeded 
 in ingratiating himself with Henry, weakened the interest 
 felt by the English monarch for Francis, and arranged 
 a future meeting in which their several interests were to 
 be discussed and united, took leave of the king and 
 queen with the most emphatic and courteous expressions 
 of gratitude and regard ; and, profiting by a favourable 
 wind, once more embarked for Flanders. 
 
 Charles had, moreover, during this brief sojourn 
 in England, effected more than even Henry was aware 
 of; for, conscious that the English monarch was ruled
 
 346 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519-20. 
 
 by the cardinal in all matters of state policy, he had lost 
 no opportunity of impressing upon him the great admi- 
 ration which he felt for his talents, and his desire to 
 secure the friendship of one whom he foresaw would ere 
 long fill the most sacred throne in Europe ; while these 
 honied words were accompanied by promises so un- 
 reserved, and by presents so magnificent, that the vanity 
 and cupidity of the minister soon rendered him as 
 anxious to serve the interests of the emperor as he had 
 previously declared himself desirous to further those 
 of Francis. His insatiable ambition, which ever pointed 
 to the triple crown, blinded him to his bad faith ; 
 and while Charles expatiated on his determination to 
 second his views by every means within his power 
 a promise which he made the more readily from 
 the fact that Leo X. being still in the prime of life, 
 it was improbable that he should for many years be 
 called upon to redeem his pledge Wolsey, as he 
 listened, became a convert to all his views, and readily 
 undertook to negative the attempts of the French king 
 to secure an alliance with his master. 
 
 The intelligence of this extraordinary and unlooked- 
 for visit excited the apprehensions of Francis, who had 
 already become aware that Charles made no important 
 movement without a corresponding motive; and he 
 accordingly hastened to complete his preparations, in 
 order to counteract as speedily as possible the evil 
 influence which had been exerted against him. 
 
 In preparation for the meeting the French king had 
 caused three buildings to be erected j two of which were 
 of solid materials, and within the walls of the town ;
 
 1519-20.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 347 
 
 the first was appropriated to the queen and the ladies of 
 her suite, and the other to the state banquets which 
 were to be given to Henry and his court ; while a third, 
 without the walls, was built in the form of a Roman 
 coliseum, the chambers, saloons, and galleries being of 
 wood on a foundation of stone, and the whole covered in 
 with cloth. Moreover, as the two monarchs had agreed 
 to meet in the plain, Francis also prepared tents and 
 pavilions of the most magnificent description. The more 
 costly of these were hung with cloth of gold, draped 
 within and without in every compartment, and others 
 were of plain cloth of gold, or cloth of gold and silver 
 interwoven. They were all surmounted, moreover, by 
 devices or globes of the same precious materials, save 
 that of the king himself, over which, in order to dis- 
 tinguish it from the rest, was placed a figure of St. 
 Michael of beaten gold ; " but ;" says Fleuranges, with 
 his accustomed persiflage ; "it was hollow." 
 
 All this magnificence was, however, even upon the 
 testimony of the French courtier himself, eclipsed by 
 the solitary, and, in so far as externals went, inferior 
 edifice prepared for Henry, and which was erected at the 
 gates of Guisnes, near the castle. It was an immense 
 square building, composed simply of wood, canvass, and 
 glass ; but the latter was used with such profusion that 
 one portion of the colossal pile resembled a gigantic lan- 
 tern, a luxury which at that period created great astonish- 
 ment. The whole structure formed a quadrangle of 
 princely proportions, enclosing a court, in the centre of 
 which, and facing the principal entrance, were two fine 
 fountains each of which had three jets, playing hypocras,
 
 348 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519-L>0. 
 
 water, and wine, into spacious basins. The chapel, 
 which was of imposing size, and richly hung with 
 tapestry, was adorned with the most costly plate and the 
 most valuable relics ; while the cellars and butteries were 
 worthy of the building to which they appertained ; both 
 kings welcoming all comers, and vying with each other 
 in an hospitality that was boundless. 
 
 What most excited the admiration of the French was, 
 however, the fact that this enormous edifice had been con- 
 structed entirely in England, and brought over piecemeal ; 
 arid that, while from the circumstance of its being entirely 
 covered with canvass painted to resemble stone-work, 
 and lined throughout with tapestry, it had an appearance 
 of solidity which would have deceived the eye into a 
 belief that it was intended to endure for centuries, the 
 two kings had no sooner parted than it was once more 
 disjointed, re-embarked, and conveyed back to England ; 
 " without any cost," as Du Bellay expresses it ; " save 
 that of the carriage." 
 
 The arrangements made for the two queens and their 
 respective suites were gorgeous in the extreme ; pearls 
 and jewels were lavished, not only upon the canopies 
 above their chairs of state, but also upon the very foot- 
 cloths by which they were approached; while their 
 garments were of piled velvet, or cloth of gold and silver, 
 embroidered with gems and coloured silks in large 
 masses ; or Lyons damasks, studded with silver stars, or 
 traversed by broad bars of gold. Nor were the fair 
 and noble ladies by whom they were attended much less 
 magnificently attired than themselves ; although, as a con- 
 temporaneous chronicler declares, the " English dames
 
 1519-20.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 349 
 
 wore the richest and the costliest habits, but the French 
 ones arranged theirs with more taste and elegance, so 
 that their visitors soon began to adopt the mode of the 
 country, by which they lost in modesty what they gained 
 in comeliness." 
 
 It is to be supposed that the rigid circle of Claude 
 were not among those against whom this reproach was 
 registered. 
 
 At length the important day of meeting was decided 
 on, and the ceremonial savoured at once of the suspicion 
 and arrogance of the cardinal-minister; who, amid the 
 pompous display which he had induced Henry to make, 
 had been even more mindful of his own dignity than 
 that of his master ; his train of bishops, priests, deacons, 
 pages, and men-at-arms being rather those of a sovereign- 
 prince than of any subject, however elevated his rank. 
 
 It was arranged that the king of England should 
 advance half-a-mile beyond the Castle of Guisnes, 
 towards Ardres, but still within his own territories, 
 where he should halt in the open plain; and that the 
 French monarch should progress precisely the same 
 distance from Ardres towards the same spot, at the same 
 day and hour, which would bring him within the limits 
 of Henry's domain of Guisnes. " In the whiche ;" 
 proceeds Hall, generally so punctiliously correct in his 
 details ; " there shall not bee set nor dressed any pauil- 
 lions or tentes, and there the said twoo kinges beyinge 
 on horsebacke, with their retinue, shall se the one thother, 
 and salute eche other, and speake together familiarly and 
 common in that sort and maner, and so long as shall 
 seme to them good."
 
 350 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519-20. 
 
 Herein, however, he has committed an error, as both 
 Du Bellay and Fleuranges assert that a pavilion had 
 been expressly erected for the interview, into which the 
 two sovereigns were to adjourn after they had exchanged 
 compliments and congratulations. 
 
 Warning guns having been fired from both Ardres 
 and Guisnes, the rival processions set forward at the 
 same instant : Francis, mounted upon a splendid horse, 
 whose housings flashed in the sunlight like living fire, 
 so thickly were they studded with precious stones and 
 gold ; and followed by all the chivalry of France. The 
 suspicious jealousy of Wolsey had determined him, how- 
 ever, to regulate the number of attendants by whom 
 the two sovereigns were to be severally accompanied to 
 the tent of audience; and he decided upon two on 
 either side, while he himself as minister of England, 
 and Robertet as that of France, should await them at 
 the entrance. The nobles selected by Francis to be 
 present at the interview, were the Connetable de Bour- 
 bon and the Chancellor Duprat ; while Henry conferred 
 the same honour upon the Dukes of Norfolk and 
 Suffolk. 
 
 Francis arrived first upon the field ; but in a few instants 
 the English king appeared at about the distance of an 
 arrow's flight, riding a Spanish charger of great strength 
 and beauty, and magnificently caparisoned. Here the 
 English party suddenly paused ; Lord Abergavenny 
 assuring the king that the number of the French exceeded 
 that of his own followers, as he had ascertained from 
 having already been among them ; when the Earl of 
 Shrewsbury, angered at so puerile a terror, hastened in
 
 1519-20.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 351 
 
 his turn to put an end to a delay which if not abso- 
 lutely suspicious was at least discourteous, by declaring 
 that he also had paid a visit to the rival camp. " And, 
 Sir;" he said firmly ; " the Frenchmen are more in fear 
 of your grace and of your subjects than your subjects 
 are of them ; wherefore, if I might venture to offer my 
 opinion, I would counsel your highness to proceed." 
 
 "So we intend, my lord ;" was the instant reply of 
 Henry ; whereupon the officers-at-arms gave the word : 
 " On, afore ;" and once more the glittering cavalcade was 
 in motion towards the bank of the Adern, where every 
 noble and gentleman fell into his proper place, and the 
 whole party halted with their faces towards the valley. 
 
 The Duke de Bourbon, as Connetable of France, bore 
 his drawn sword in front of his sovereign, which 
 Henry VIII. no sooner remarked than he desired the 
 Marquis of Dorset, who carried his own sword of state, 
 to unsheathe it in like manner ; and this done, the 
 monarchs rode into the valley, where they at length met 
 face to face at the head of two of the most brilliant 
 assemblages of nobility which had ever been seen in 
 Europe. For a brief instant both paused, as they sur- 
 veyed each other with astonishment and admiration ; for 
 they were at that period, beyond all parallel, the two most 
 comely princes in Christendom. Francis was the taller 
 and the more slender of the two ; and was attired in 
 a vest of cloth of silver damasked with gold, and edged 
 with a border of embossed work in party-coloured silks. 
 Over this he wore a cloak of brocaded satin, with a scarf 
 of gold and purple crossing over one shoulder, and but- 
 toned to the waist, richly set with pearls and precious 
 stones ; while his long hair escaped from beneath a coif
 
 352 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519-20. 
 
 of damasked gold set with diamonds, and gave him 
 a noble and graceful appearance which his splendid 
 horsemanship, and handsome, although strongly defined 
 features, his bushy whiskers, and ample moustache, 
 tended to enhance. Henry, on his side, wore a vest of 
 crimson velvet slashed with white satin, and buttoned 
 down the chest with studs composed of large and 
 precious jewels ; and his round velvet toque or hat was 
 surmounted by a profuse plume which floated on the 
 wind, save where it was confined by a star of brilliants. 
 His figure, although more bulky than that of his brother 
 monarch, was still well-proportioned; his movements 
 were elastic and unembarrassed ; and his face attractive 
 from the frankness of its expression, the singular bright- 
 ness of his eyes, and the luxuriance of his hair and 
 beard, which he wore in a dense fringe beneath his 
 chin, and which was at that period less red than 
 golden. 
 
 The mutual scrutiny of the two young sovereigns 
 lasted only a moment ; in the next they were in 
 each other's arms, each straining from the saddle to 
 embrace his brother-monarch. The horse of Henry 
 swerved for an instant impatient of the impediment, but 
 the hand of Francis firmly grasped the rein which its 
 rider had suffered to escape him ; and after a renewed 
 exchange of courtesies, the attendant equerries were 
 summoned to hold the stirrups of their royal masters 
 as they alighted. On gaining their feet the two kings 
 exchanged another embrace; and then, arm-in-arm, 
 they proceeded to the pavilion of audience, followed 
 each by his selected witnesses. On their entrance 
 the Lord-Cardinal of York was presented to Francis,
 
 1519-20.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 353 
 
 and M. de Robertet to the English king, during which 
 time the whole of the respective guards and retinues 
 halted at the entrance of the camp, about a stone's 
 throw from the pavilion ; comprising, besides the train 
 of nobles on either side, four hundred body guards in 
 state uniforms. Nor had they cause of weariness as 
 they awaited the royal leisure, for as they reined up 
 their horses beside the barrier, the whole magnificence 
 of the camp burst upon them, with its frail but costly 
 tenements gleaming in the sun like some fairy creation ; 
 and winning by its gorgeousness the admiration of 
 the spectators, and the enduring appellation of The 
 Field of Cloth of Gold. 
 
 A splendid banquet had been prepared for the 
 princely guests ; and as they pledged each other in the 
 generous wine of the country, Francis, grasping the hand 
 of his royal companion, said courteously and emphati- 
 cally ; " Thus far, with some fatigue, my dear brother and 
 cousin, have I travelled in order to enjoy a personal inter- 
 view with you ; and I think that you will put faith in 
 my sincerity when I say that I believe you esteem me 
 on your side, and feel convinced of my readiness as well 
 as ability to aid you should need be ; which my kingdom 
 and my principalities will alike enable me to do." 
 
 " Sir ;" replied Henry with equal suavity and 
 emphasis ; " I regard not either your realm or its depen- 
 dencies, but rather the stedfast and loyal observance of 
 the treaties into which we have conjointly entered ; and 
 should you strictly observe these, then do I not hesitate 
 to affirm that my eyes have never looked upon a prince 
 whom my heart could better love ; and glad I am that 
 
 VOL. I. A A
 
 354 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519-20. 
 
 in order to secure your affection I was induced not 
 only to cross the seas, but also to ride to the further- 
 most boundary of my kingdom in order to meet you 
 here." 
 
 These courteous speeches exchanged, and the banquet 
 removed, the articles of the proposed treaty were laid 
 before the sovereigns by their respective ministers ; upon 
 which the English king drew the papers towards him, 
 and began by reading aloud those containing the pro- 
 positions of Francis; and these concluded, he opened 
 
 his own, and was commencing, " I, Henry, king of " 
 
 The document ran, " king of France and England," 
 but he at once felt the futility and impropriety of such 
 an assumption on the present occasion, and suddenly 
 pausing, he looked with a smile towards his royal 
 auditor, and said gaily ; " I shall not insert all that I see 
 here, for as you are present, I should lie." After which 
 he resumed his task, saying steadily, " I, Henry, king 
 of England" and then continued without further inter- 
 ruption to the close of the document. 
 
 " And well drawn-up and written were those articles ;" 
 says Fleuranges ; "had they only been observed'' 
 
 This important labour accomplished, the two sove- 
 reigns decided upon the spot where the lists and scaf- 
 foldings should be erected for a tournament, being alike 
 resolved to spend the time which they should pass toge- 
 ther in pleasure and amusement ; leaving their respective 
 counsellors to negotiate all public business, and to report 
 to them each evening the progress they had made 
 towards a mutual acceptance of the terms of the treaty. 
 This being finally agreed, they parted with mutual expres-
 
 1519-20.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 355 
 
 sions of affection and regard ; and while Francis returned 
 to Ardres, Henry rode back into the town of Guisnes, 
 where he passed the night, reserving the monster build- 
 ing we have described for the exigencies of the day. 
 
 At the fall of evening Cardinal Wolsey, accompanied 
 by one of the English members of council, waited upon 
 the French king by desire of his master, to arrange 
 measures by which they might frequently meet without 
 distrust or apprehension on either side ; and it was 
 finally settled that the kings should fete the queens, and 
 the queens the kings; and thus when Henry should 
 arrive at Ardres to visit the Queen of France, Francis, 
 previously apprised of his intention, should at the same 
 moment set forth for Guisnes to share the hospitality of 
 the Queen of England; by which means each would 
 become hostage for the other. 
 
 All that was requisite when this irksome and ungra- 
 cious matter had been decided on, was to prepare for the 
 tournay, which had been appointed for the following 
 morning. A large space was accordingly enclosed by 
 rails and ditches, beside which platforms were erected 
 for the spectators ; and at one end a lofty mound was 
 raised, upon which a hawthorn tree and a raspberry 
 bush, intended to represent the devices of the two kings, 
 were conspicuously displayed. On the right side of the 
 lists a velvet canopy was erected, under which the queens 
 were seated with a numerous train of ladies, all richly 
 attired, and awaiting with impatience the commencement 
 of the sports. At the principal entrance of the enclo- 
 sure were two lodges, appropriated to the knights 
 who guarded the barrier; and beside these were two 
 
 A A 2
 
 356 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519-20. 
 
 spacious cellars, which were amply provided with wine 
 for the refreshment of all comers. 
 
 As the sovereigns entered the arena, their respective 
 shields were attached to the symbolic trees upon the 
 mount ; and the young monarchs, at the head of their 
 noble followers, then engaged in the warlike pastime, 
 and encountered all combatants who presented them- 
 selves ; when many a rude combat took place, as was to 
 be expected where the flower of the youth and chivalry 
 of the two first nations in Europe met to sustain the 
 honour of their several countries. These sports conti- 
 nued for twelve or fifteen days, and were diversified by 
 balls, banquets, and other festivities in which the sister- 
 queens and their ladies could bear a part ; but long before 
 their cessation, Francis, whose open and generous spirit 
 was vexed by the suspicious and unnecessary restraints 
 which had been put upon a free and unconstrained in- 
 tercourse between the two courts, rose one morning at 
 an unusually early hour, and accompanied only by two 
 gentlemen and a page, mounted an ungroomed horse, 
 and with no other preparation than that of throwing a 
 Spanish cloak across his shoulders, galloped over to the 
 castle of Ardres to pay a visit to the English king. 
 
 When he reached the drawbridge, the guards, astonished 
 by such an apparition, were at a loss how to act ; and the 
 governor of the citadel who was stationed at the spot with 
 two hundred archers was even more amazed than his men. 
 As the young monarch passed among them he laughingly 
 commanded them to surrender, declaring that he intended 
 to make all the garrison prisoners ; after which he desired 
 to be shown to the chamber of Henry, and despite the
 
 1519-20.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 357 
 
 remonstrance of the bewildered governor, who ventured to 
 suggest that his royal master still slept, he knocked loudly 
 at the door, awoke his brother potentate, and entered. 
 The English monarch was as much amazed as his 
 men-at-arms by this bold proceeding ; but meeting his 
 visitor in the same spirit, he raised himself in his bed, 
 and said joyously; "Brother, you have played me the 
 cleverest trick that one man could do to another, and 
 have shown me the whole extent of the confidence which 
 I ought to place in you ; as for myself, I surrender at 
 discretion, and am your prisoner from this moment." 
 
 As he spoke he unclasped a collar from his neck 
 valued at fifteen thousand angels, and placed it in the 
 hand of Francis, praying him to accept and wear it for 
 the love of his captive; whereupon Francis, who had 
 already designed to offer a pledge of friendship to his 
 new ally at this their first unconstrained meeting, 
 unclasped from his wrist a bracelet of twice the same 
 amount, and besought him to receive it as a token 
 of the love he bore him. The exchange was frankly 
 made; and while Henry fastened the costly manacle 
 upon his arm, his visitor adjusted the collar about his 
 neck ; after which, amid laughter and jests, the English 
 king sprang from his bed, and was assisted at his toilette 
 by his unbidden but welcome guest, who declared that 
 for that day at least he should have no other attendant ; 
 and when with infinite merriment the one had tendered, 
 and the other had accepted, his services, Francis took 
 leave in order to return to Ardres ; despite the entreaties 
 of Henry, who would have detained him in order to 
 prepare for the joust of the afternoon.
 
 358 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519-20. 
 
 On his way back to his own camp, Francis encountered 
 a number of his nobles who had come to meet him, 
 alarmed for his safety; and among the foremost was 
 FJeuranges, who reproached him bitterly for the 
 unnecessary peril in which he had placed himself; 
 but the young king only jested at their uneasiness, 
 declaring that henceforward the two nations would be 
 better friends than ever, and themselves enabled to 
 enjoy with a higher zest the pleasures by which they were 
 surrounded; a prediction whose correctness was con- 
 firmed on the following morning, when Henry returned 
 the visit of his brother monarch in the same manner in 
 which it had been made ; and after a new interchange of 
 presents and professions, rode home in his turn to 
 Guisnes without guard or weapon. 
 
 Meanwhile the two queens profited even more greatly 
 than their royal consorts by thiswell-conceived confidence ; 
 for, although they had felt a mutual esteem from the 
 first moment in which they met, their intercourse had 
 hitherto been constrained and ceremonious; whereas 
 after this exchange of visits they found themselves at 
 once released from the trammels of etiquette and caution, 
 and were enabled to cultivate each other's society without 
 impediment. The gratification was great on both sides, 
 for each was well able to appreciate the other. It is 
 true that at this period the unfortunate Katherine of 
 Aragon was still happy in the love of her husband, 
 while Claude was already a neglected wife; but the 
 gentle melancholy of the English queen, a melancholy 
 which almost seemed a foretaste of the future, harmo- 
 nized well with the heart-stricken sadness of her new
 
 1519-20.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 359 
 
 friend. The one was already sated with gaud and 
 glitter, and the other had never loved them. The 
 happiest hours which they passed together were con- 
 sequently those when they could converse freely and 
 confidentially. Both were mothers, and both also had 
 lost some of the fair children whom they had borne, in 
 their first infancy ; thus they never needed a subject of 
 sympathy and interest, but as they mutually mingled 
 their tears and communicated their sorrows, those 
 sorrows of the heart which torture alike the lofty head 
 that wears a royal diadem, and the lowly brow that is 
 shaded by a linen coif, their esteem grew into friend- 
 ship, and they anticipated with regret the hour of their 
 separation. 
 
 Nor did the nobles and ladies of the two courts fail 
 to profit by the cordiality which existed between their 
 respective monarchs. All distrust had vanished; and 
 they mingled freely with each other, frequently even 
 passing the night in the rival city, and careless in what 
 number or in what guise they came and went. 
 
 To the tournament succeeded wrestling matches, in 
 which the English proved the victors ; and to these again 
 archery, at which noble pastime Henry VIII. himself dis- 
 tanced all competitors, and astonished those who witnessed 
 his feats, both by his strength and skill. At the close of 
 the day's sport the two kings retired to their pavilion, 
 where, after they had pledged each other, Henry, elated 
 by his success, suddenly seized Francis by the collar, 
 exclaiming ; " Come, brother, I must have a fall with 
 you ; " when the King of France who was an able 
 wrestler, after a short struggle, threw him with great
 
 300 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1519-20. 
 
 force. On regaining his legs, Henry would fain have 
 renewed the attack, but some of the nobles of both 
 countries, who were more prudent than their masters, 
 dissuaded him from the attempt ; and, still with un- 
 dirninished cordiality, the two monarchs sat down 
 together at the supper-table. 
 
 Nothing appears, indeed, more creditable to both 
 parties than the perfect order, courtesy, and good temper 
 exhibited on either side throughout the whole of the 
 exciting sports in which they were engaged. No single 
 misunderstanding marred the harmony of the two courts ; 
 while this perfect good-feeling extended even to the 
 men-at-arms, who vied with their leaders in acts of 
 reciprocal cordiality and kindness. 
 
 During the tournament the king of England gave a 
 grand banquet to Francis and his court in the temporary 
 palace without the gates of Guisnes, where no magnifi- 
 cence was spared to do honour to his royal and noble 
 guests. The two kings were seated side by side in the 
 centre of the upper table, while their queens occupied 
 the space immediately in front of them ; the English 
 cardinal having a stool on the right hand of Francis, and 
 the Connetable de Bourbon a similar place of honour on 
 the left of the English king. On the following day 
 Francis played the host. He had caused to be erected 
 for the occasion, also without the walls of Guisnes, a 
 splendid pavilion fifty feet square, covered and draped 
 with cloth of gold, and lined with blue velvet, studded 
 with fleurs-de-lis embroidered in Cyprus gold, having 
 four smaller pavilions at the angles similarly adorned; 
 the whole supported by ropes of gold Cyprus thread and
 
 1519-20.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 361 
 
 blue silk. But this costly erection was not fated to 
 answer the purpose for which it had been intended, a sud- 
 den storm of wind having arisen which wrenched away 
 the tent-pins, broke the cords, and overthrew the whole 
 fabric. Orders were instantly issued to prepare another 
 banquet hall with all speed in one of the faubourgs of 
 the town ; and this was accomplished to the great delight 
 of the citizens, who forthwith christened it the Faubourg 
 of the Festival, a name which it still bears. 
 
 At the close of these banquets, Wolsey, desirous in 
 his turn to display his magnificence, performed a high 
 and solemn mass in a sumptuous chapel which he had 
 caused to be constructed during the previous night, and 
 which was so richly covered, both within and without, by 
 tapestry, that the material of which it was built could 
 not be distinguished. The altar blazed with light and 
 gems ; the choristers of both courts assisted in the cere- 
 mony ; while the haughty prelate himself stood upon the 
 steps of the shrine, clad in his pontifical robes, and 
 surrounded by a crowd of bishops, priests, and lay 
 attendants. On the right of the altar knelt the two 
 monarchs, having behind them the great nobles of their 
 respective nations, promiscuously grouped together ; and 
 on the left their royal consorts, attended by the principal 
 ladies of their several suites. When he had himself 
 communicated, Wolsey, followed by a train of mitred 
 bishops, bore the Eucharist with great solemnity to the 
 prostrate sovereigns ; after which he advanced towards 
 the sister-queens, who, before they received it, embraced 
 each other with tears. To them it was at once a 
 holy and a parting pledge ; and surely there was no
 
 362 COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. [1519-20- 
 
 irreverence in the intrusion of a feeling so pure and 
 sinless even at such a moment. 
 
 At the conclusion of the mass the treaty was confirmed, 
 and peace between England and Prance proclaimed by 
 the heralds of both nations. The betrothal of the 
 dauphin with the princess Mary, the daughter of Henry, 
 was duly solemnized; several more days were spent in 
 jousts and banquets ; and, finally, on the 24th of June, 
 the two kings parted as publicly and formally as they 
 had met ; and while the English monarch advanced to 
 Guisnes, in order to proceed to Calais and Gravelines, 
 where he had appointed to meet the Emperor after his 
 interview with Francis, that sovereign returned to France, 
 with the full, but erroneous, conviction that thencefor- 
 ward Henry of England was his firm ally for life.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 [152021.] 
 
 THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND SUBMITTED TO THE 
 ARBITRATION OF WOLSEY AND LOUISE DE SAVOIE WOLSEY IS BROUGHT 
 OVER TO THE CAUSE OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. AND HENRY VIII. 
 MEET AT GRAVELINES CHARLES PROCEEDS TO AIX-LA-CHAPELLE FOR HIS 
 CORONATION NARROW ESCAPE OF THE FRENCH KING CHARLES CON- 
 VOKES A DIET AT WORMS LUTHER DEFENDS HIS DOCTRINES IS OUT- 
 LAWEDAND PROTECTED BY THE ELECTOR OF SAXONY FRANCIS IS 
 RELUCTANT TO COMMENCE THE WAR INGRATITUDE OF CHARLES V. TO 
 ROBERT DE LA MARK LA MARK RETURNS TO HIS ALLEGIANCE, AND 
 DEFIES THE EMPEROR POLICY OF THE POPE THE SPANIARDS REVOLT 
 ARROGANCE OF CHAHLES V. THE NAVARRESE SOLICIT HENRI D'ALBRET TO 
 CLAIM HIS CROWN FRANCIS SUPPLIES HIM WITH TROOPS DEFENCE OF 
 THE CITADEL OF PAMPELUNA IGNATIUS LOYOLA SURRENDER OF PAM- 
 PELUNA TO THE FRENCH IMPRUDENCE OF THE FRENCH GENERAL HE 
 ENTERS SPAIN THE CASTILIANS RISE AGAINST HIM LESPARE IS 
 DEFEATED AND MADE PRISONER THE EMPEROR MARCHES AN ARMY 
 AGAINST THE DUKE DE GUELDRES THE RIVAL SOVEREIGNS APPEAL TO 
 HENRY VIII. THE DUKE DE GUELDRES SUES FOR A TRUCE FRANCIS 
 FORTIFIES HIS FRONTIERS DUPLICITY OF THE EMPEROR THE COUNT DE 
 NASSAU TAKES MENZON A CONFERENCE OPENED AT CALAIS THE POPE 
 AND WOLSEY MEET AT BRUGES BAD FAITH OF LEO X. INDIGNATION OF 
 FRANCIS AGAINST THE ENGLISH KING HIS SELF-RELIANCE BAYARD 
 DEFENDS MEZIERES FRANCIS ENCOUNTERS THE ENEMY NEAR VALEN- 
 CIENNES, BUT SUFFERS THEM TO ESCAPE THE COUNT DE NASSAU SUM- 
 MONS BAYARD TO SURRENDER SPIRITED REPLY OF THE GOOD KNIGHT 
 A RUSE DE GUERRE THE IMPERIALISTS RAISE THE SIEGE THE BOTTLE 
 OF WINE THE RECOMPENSE OF BAYARD GRATITUDE OF THE CITIZENS 
 OF MEZIERES TO THE GOOD KNIGHT FRANCIS MARCHES UPON PICARDY 
 CHARLES JOINS HIS ARMY AT VALENCIENNES FRANCIS CONFERS THE 
 COMMAND OF THE VAN-GUARD UPON THE DUKE D'ALEN9ON INDIGNATION 
 OF BOURBON FRANCIS RETURNS TO FRANCE, AND DISBANDS HIS ARMY.
 
 1520-21.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 305 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 [1520-21.] 
 
 No public business of importance had after all been 
 transacted between the two sovereigns at the gorgeous 
 meeting of the Golden Camp, for the preliminaries 
 of the negotiation which was signed at Ardres on the 
 6th of June in the previous year, had already been 
 arranged between the ministers on either side ; and it was 
 consequently only the specious pretext for an outlay 
 which exhausted the treasuries of both nations, and left 
 the nobles impoverished with debt. The betrothal of 
 the dauphin and the princess Mary was, as we have 
 elsewhere stated, solemnized ; but this only added 
 another opportunity of display to those by which it had 
 been preceded. The engagement of France to pay to 
 England the sum of a million of crowns, at a hundred 
 thousand francs yearly, until the period of the marriage, 
 was ratified ; and the differences between England and 
 Scotland were submitted to the arbitration of Madame 
 d'Angouleme and Wolsey. 
 
 Francis had, however, miscalculated the effect which 
 had been produced upon the mind of his brother-monarch 
 during the three weeks they had passed together ; for he
 
 300 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1520-21. 
 
 was not aware how craftily Charles, even in the brief 
 visit which he had recently made to England, had 
 worked upon the mind of the Cardinal-legate, alike 
 through his avarice and his ambition. Although con- 
 siderably the senior of Leo X. in years, Wolsey, accus- 
 tomed to see all things bend before his will, never 
 appeared to apprehend that he might be outlived by that 
 pontiff; and accordingly, aware that from his position 
 as Emperor of Germany Charles must necessarily exer- 
 cise considerable influence over the petty princes through- 
 out the empire, he lent a greedy ear to his assurances 
 that he would do all in his power to secure his acces- 
 sion to the popedom ; while, as a guarantee of his 
 sincerity, Charles, in addition to many rich presents, 
 conferred upon the prelate the two bishoprics of Badajoz 
 and Valencia, in Castile ; and, this done, informed him 
 of the uneasiness which he experienced at the probable 
 effects of the meeting at Ardres. Wolsey, however, who 
 well knew that Henry, in his love of pleasure and dis- 
 play, would leave all important measures in his own 
 hands, soon succeeded in relieving the mind of the 
 emperor of this apprehension ; and, moreover, induced 
 him to arrange a second interview with Henry before the 
 return of the latter to England. 
 
 It was, consequently, in accordance with this promise 
 that Charles embarked at Cologne and proceeded to 
 Gravelines, accompanied by the Lady-regent of the Low 
 Countries, Marguerite de Savoie, where he made such 
 hasty preparations for the reception of his royal guest as 
 were practicable; and was joined on the 10th of July by 
 Henry VIII. and a portion of his court, among whom the
 
 1520-21.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 367 
 
 cardinal was prominent. Neither Madame de Savoie 
 nor himself spared care or flattery in order to gain over 
 both the legate and his royal master. With the first 
 they had, however, little difficulty, for all Wolsey's 
 dreams were now full of the triple crown ; while Henry 
 had so long accustomed himself to refer all state ques- 
 tions to his minister, that he was soon induced to violate 
 the pledges which he had given to the unsuspicious 
 Francis, and to ally himself to the interests of the 
 emperor. His vanity was, moreover, flattered by the 
 assurance of Charles that he considered him to be en- 
 trusted with the preservation of the peace of Europe; 
 and by his offer to accept him as his arbitrator in all 
 differences which might arise between himself and the 
 French king, as Francis had already done. 
 
 After having remained the guest of the emperor and 
 his aunt during several days, the English monarch urged 
 them to return with him to Calais, and to pay a visit to 
 Queen Katherine, who was awaiting them there with her 
 court. The invitation was accepted ; and while Margue- 
 rite de Savoie used all her blandishments to secure the 
 same influence over the mind of the English queen which 
 her imperial relative had effected over that of Henry, 
 Charles, even while he appeared to be entirely engrossed 
 by the festivities which were taking place about him, was 
 cautiously and unobtrusively maturing his plans and 
 strengthening his interests. Before his departure, a 
 grand entertainment took place in his honour and that 
 of Madame de Savoie, at which the whole of the two 
 courts were to be present ; and in order to give all 
 possible brilliancy to the festival, the king had caused a
 
 308 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1520-21. 
 
 spacious amphitheatre to be erected, lined with blue velvet, 
 and studded with stars of silver ; while above the thrones 
 destined to the three sovereigns, and the fauteuil of the 
 regent, a sun of burnished gold blazed out in the lustre 
 of hundreds of tapers of pink wax, a moon of frosted 
 silver facing the dais upon which they were placed. 
 
 By a curious coincidence, however, the same accident 
 occurred to this building as to the banqueting-pavilion of 
 Francis at Ardres ; for, just as the preparations were con- 
 cluded, and the guests about to assemble, a violent tem- 
 pest supervened which overthrew the whole fabric, and 
 rendered it of no avail. The revellers consoled them- 
 selves as best they might for this disappointment ; and 
 after a few days more had been consumed in covert 
 business and open pleasure, the sovereigns once more 
 parted ; Henry returning to England, and Charles pro- 
 ceeding through Flanders and Brabant to Aix-la-Chapelle; 
 where his coronation as King of the Romans and Emperor 
 of Germany took place on the 23d of October, with a 
 pomp exceeding any which had before been witnessed 
 upon such an occasion. 
 
 Francis, on removing his camp from the Field of Cloth 
 of Gold, had hastened to Amboise to inform Madame 
 d'Angouleme of the supposed success of his expedition, 
 and thence removed with his court to Romorantin to 
 celebrate the remaining winter festivities; when an 
 accident befel him on the evening of Twelfth Night 
 (1521), which had nearly put an end to his existence. 
 Having ascertained that the king-cake 1 had been cut at 
 
 1 It was the fashion in Prance to cause a bean to be concealed in 
 a large cake, which was divided and distributed among the guests,
 
 1520-21.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 
 
 the house of the Count de St. Pol, and that the mimic 
 sovereign had been elected, Francis arranged with those 
 about him that they would despatch a formal defiance to 
 the hotel of the count, and declare their intention of doing 
 battle against the usurper. The message was received in 
 the same spirit of mirth that it had been sent ; and as the 
 snow lay deep upon the ground, the besieged party 
 lost no time in supplying their garrison with the means 
 of repelling the attack. Immense snowballs, eggs, and 
 apples, were laid in heaps after the fashion of ammuni- 
 tion ; and for a time, the assailants being armed with the 
 same missiles, the sport went gaily on; but, unfortu- 
 nately, before its close, as the king's followers, pursuing 
 a temporary advantage, were about to force the door of 
 the hotel, some individual within was ill-advised enough 
 to throw a burning brand which he had snatched from the 
 hearth through one of the windows, which fell upon the 
 head of Francis, and inflicted a deep and serious wound. 
 For several days his life was in great danger, and his 
 surgeons found it necessary to remove the whole of his 
 hair, of which, from its extreme beauty and luxuriance, 
 he had been very vain ; but despite this mortification he 
 withstood all the remonstrances of his mother, who was 
 anxious to punish the author of this misfortune, and 
 would not permit his identity to be ascertained; de- 
 claring, with a generosity which did him honour, that 
 the blow, heavy as it was, had not only been inflicted in 
 sport, but that it was the mere effect of accident which 
 
 the fortunate finder of the bean being declared king for the evening 
 ceremoniously attended whithersoever he went, and his commands 
 implicitly obeyed. 
 
 VOL. I. B B
 
 370 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1520-21. 
 
 rendered him the sufferer ; and reminding her that when 
 a sovereign condescended to engage in the pastimes of a 
 child, like that child he must be content to pay the 
 penalty of his folly. 
 
 From this period he never again suffered his hair to 
 grow, but wore it clipped close ; a fashion which was 
 immediately adopted by the whole of the courtiers. 
 
 Despite the increasing jealousy of Francis and the 
 emperor, neither the one nor the other was as yet 
 anxious to terminate the peace. Charles in addition 
 to the discontent which he had to encounter in Spain, 
 where his subjects had declared themselves resolved to 
 support their political claims was, moreover, called 
 upon to contend against a formidable fermentation in 
 Germany, occasioned by the rapid progress of the 
 Lutheran doctrines. The pope had fulminated a bull of 
 excommunication against the bold and zealous reformer 
 on the 15th of June of the previous year, and a great 
 portion of his writings had been condemned as heretical ; 
 a proceeding which Luther had retorted by publicly 
 burning the papal document ; while Charles himself had 
 no sooner assumed the silver crown, than he had, in his 
 turn, convoked a diet of the empire at Worms, in order, 
 as he declared, " to occupy himself in suppressing the 
 progress of the new and dangerous opinions which 
 disturbed the peace of Germany, and threatened to 
 overthrow the religion of their ancestors." But, not- 
 withstanding this measure, it is not the less certain that 
 he sent an honourable safe-conduct to Luther, and invited 
 him to Worms ; where he met with a cordial reception, 
 not only from the bulk of the people, but also from
 
 1520-21.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 371 
 
 many of the greatest persons of the empire ; a proof that 
 his principles had already planted themselves deeply in 
 the public mind. He was even permitted to declare and 
 defend them before the diet, which he did with a calm- 
 ness and courage that sufficiently demonstrated the 
 righteousness of his cause ; after which he was permitted 
 to return under the protection of the same herald-at- 
 arms by whom he had been conducted to the city; 
 although the diet saw fit after his departure to fulminate 
 against him a condemnation declaring him an outlaw, as 
 being an excommunicated heretic ; from the consequences 
 of which severity he was saved by the Elector of Saxony, 
 who caused him to be carried off by a party of men in 
 masks, and conducted to the fortress of Wartburg, 
 where he remained in safety for nine months, although 
 his friends were as ignorant of his retreat as his 
 enemies. 
 
 Francis was not unaware of the difficulties with which 
 the new emperor had to contend; and satisfied by 
 what he had already seen, that should he be enabled to 
 adjust them, he must inevitably become a dangerous 
 rival, he could not restrain his desire to curtail his 
 power; but he was still unwilling to be the first to 
 declare an hostility which must, as its first and inevitable 
 consequence, separate him for a time from the society of 
 Madame de Chateaubriand, and exhaust the resources 
 which he required to meet the more personal expenses 
 necessitated by the expensive pleasures in which he loved 
 to indulge ; and accordingly, instead of taking high 
 ground, and meeting his adversary in a catholic spirit, 
 he compromised with his pride by subjecting him to 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1520-21- 
 
 petty annoyances which could only ultimately tend to 
 engender an European warfare. 
 
 Charles had doubly falsified his royal word ; first as re- 
 garded Navarre, where he had failed to redeem the pledge 
 almost voluntarily given ; and secondly as to Naples, which 
 kingdom he still held, without evincing the slightest dis- 
 position to abandon any portion of his tenure ; while 
 M. de la Mark, Duke de Gueldres, the old and faithful 
 ally of France, who had been for a season diverted from 
 his allegiance, made loud and bitter complaints of the 
 disloyalty of the emperor in neglecting to fulfil his pro- 
 mises ; and at length entreated the support of France in 
 his attempt at self-defence. He considered himself deeply 
 aggrieved, inasmuch as his right to the Duchy of Bou- 
 illon, which he inherited from an ancestor, had been 
 disputed ; and the Sieur d'Emery had taken one of the 
 cities by force of arms without any remonstrance from 
 Charles, who, moreover, refused to interfere in his behalf 
 further than by promises which he afterwards neglected ; 
 even permitting the Chancellor of Brabant, who had been 
 bribed to that effect, to declare against his claim ; where- 
 upon De la Mark proceeded to Sedan, and demanded an 
 audience, wherein he declared that if justice was not done, 
 he would abandon the cause of a sovereign who had so 
 ill repaid his services during his election. 
 
 The emperor, indignant at this threat, heightened the 
 misunderstanding by retorting that the Duke de 
 Gueldres was at perfect liberty to act as he saw fit, his 
 adhesion being of small importance to either party ; and 
 Louise de Savoie was no sooner informed of this out- 
 break than she wrote an autograph letter to the discon-
 
 1520-21.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 373 
 
 tented noble, inviting him to return to his allegiance to 
 Francis. The proposal was at once accepted, to the 
 great regret of Marguerite de Savoie, who estimated at 
 its real value the friendship of so brave and zealous a 
 noble, and who spared no exertions to induce him to 
 retract his resolution. 
 
 The duke was, however, firm; his pride had been 
 wounded and his dignity compromised ; and he accord- 
 ingly presented himself at Romoraritin, where Francis 
 was still confined by his wound ; and after expressing 
 his regret for his momentary defalcation, ultimately 
 placed in his hands not only his person but also his pos- 
 sessions ; entreating him to afford him help, succour, and 
 assistance to revenge the grievous wrong which he had 
 experienced from the emperor ; a step which he had no 
 sooner taken than Charles, who became convinced of his 
 error, endeavoured to regain him by representing that 
 what had been done was effected without his authority, 
 and that all might yet be rectified ; but the concession 
 came too late ; the duke had suffered more than he was 
 ready to forgive, and was resolved to regain by force 
 what he had lost by fraud. 
 
 This was the last drop which caused the vase of the 
 French king's patience to overflow ; or, perhaps, it was 
 the first plausible pretext he could seize upon to justify a 
 commencement of those hostilities which he had previously 
 deferred. He consequently accepted the renewed assur- 
 ances of fealty proffered by the duke ; and so soon as the 
 latter had effected the reconciliation, he sent an envoy to 
 the emperor who was then at Worms attending the diet 
 which he had invoked of all the princes and delegates
 
 374 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1520-21. 
 
 from the free towns of Germany, to suppress the doc- 
 trines of Luther to defy him before the assembly ; a 
 proceeding which, instituted as it was by a subject, was 
 treated with disdain alike by Charles and his nobility. 
 Nevertheless, the duke lost no time in following up his 
 demonstration ; and the Marquis de Fleuranges, his elder 
 son, in opposition to the express commands of Francis, 
 levied in France and the neighbouring nations a force 
 of four or five thousand infantry, and between fourteen 
 and fifteen hundred mounted troops, and besieged Vire- 
 ton, a small town in Luxembourg, on the confines of 
 Lorraine. He was subsequently, however, induced to 
 raise the siege, and to disband his little army, at the 
 request of Francis, to whom Henry VIII. despatched an 
 envoy, entreating him not to enter into hostilities with 
 the emperor, but to submit to his arbitration any mis- 
 understanding which might have arisen. 
 
 The sovereign-pontiff was, meanwhile, less pacifically 
 disposed than the sovereigns of Germany, France, and 
 England. He affected to smile at the uneasiness evinced 
 by Charles at the progress of the religious schism, 
 declaring that after all it was a mere monkish quarrel, 
 which might be easily and effectually terminated ; and, 
 anxious only for the aggrandizement of the Holy See, he 
 continued to exert his utmost efforts to weaken the 
 power of the rival monarchs by turning them against 
 each other, although himself undecided for the time 
 whose interests he should adopt. His profuse expendi- 
 ture had compelled him to levy exorbitant subsidies on all 
 sides ; and his ultimate ambition was, either to re-unite 
 to the States of the Church the provinces of Parma and
 
 1520-21.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 375 
 
 Placenza, now held by the French as a portion of the 
 duchy of Milan, or to obtain the cession of some part of 
 the Neapolitan kingdom from the Spaniards. 
 
 The crafty pope was for the moment careless in which 
 measure he succeeded, but in order to secure either the one 
 or the other, he commenced a secret negotiation with both 
 monarchs ; proposing to Charles to enter into a league 
 with him for driving the French from Italy, on condition 
 that the duchy of Milan should be restored to Francisco 
 Sforza, 1 and Parma, Placenza and Ferrara ceded to the 
 Holy See ; and a treaty to this effect was signed actually 
 between the contracting parties of the 8th of May ; while 
 at the same time he suggested to Francis the expediency 
 of their conjointly attacking the Spaniards in the kingdom 
 of Naples, expelling them thence, and then dividing the 
 country by attaching all that portion of Campania Felix 
 which extended to the Garigliano, to the States of the 
 Church ; and securing the remainder of the kingdom to 
 the second son of Francis, subject to the guardianship of 
 an apostolical legate until his majority. In this propo- 
 sition he was equally successful, and a second treaty was 
 signed between himself and the French king; M. de 
 Lautrec permitting six thousand Swiss troops in the pay 
 of the pope to traverse the territories of the Milanese, on 
 the understanding that they were to be employed in 
 the execution of the said treaty. Although these nego- 
 tiations had been pursued with the greatest secresy, 
 
 1 Francisco-Maria Sforza, the brother of Maximilian duke of 
 Milan, was restored to his possessions by Charles V ; and died in 
 1535, without issue. At his death the emperor took possession of 
 the duchy of Milan, which passed to his own successors.
 
 376 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1520-21. 
 
 Lautrcc, who had always been upon bad terms with the 
 court of Rome, nevertheless began ere long to suspect 
 the sincerity of the pope ; and induced Francis, to whom 
 he communicated his misgivings, to delay the ratifica- 
 tion of the league. 
 
 Meanwhile the revolt in Spain spread far and fast; 
 and the emperor accused the French king of secretly 
 encouraging these intestine troubles by sheltering his 
 enemies. He also reiterated his demand for the restitu- 
 tion of the duchy of Burgundy, which he affected to 
 declare had descended to himself through the princess 
 Mary, and had only been usurped by Louis XI ; claiming 
 a sovereign right over the province, and declaring that 
 Francis held no title there beyond that of his feudatory. 
 While, however, he put forward these pretensions, he was 
 unable to maintain his authority in Spain ; tumult and 
 misrule existed on all sides ; the jealousy which subsisted 
 between his Flemish and his Spanish subjects was daily 
 aggravated by new outrages ; and he found his influence 
 almost at an end throughout the kingdom. 
 
 Under these circumstances Henri d'Albret, king of 
 Navarre, began once more to indulge the hope of recover- 
 ing his crown. The disaffected party in Spain had applied 
 to Francis to allow the young sovereign to enter Navarre, 
 assuring him that it would prove an easy conquest, the 
 cardinal-governor, Adrian, Bishop of Tortosa, 1 having 
 
 1 Adrian, Bishop of Tortosa, was a Dutchman by birth ; and was 
 subsequently Pope under the designation of Adrian VI. He 
 succeeded Leo X. in 1522 ; and died in the following year. He had 
 been preceptor to Charles V ; and shared the regency of Spain with 
 the Cardinal de Ximens.
 
 1520-21.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 377 
 
 withdrawn all the troops from that province to the in- 
 terior of Spain. At the same time the Navarrese them- 
 selves invited their legitimate monarch to vindicate his 
 rights, and to relieve them from the tyranny of an 
 usurper; assuring him that if he would only appear 
 among them, " the very stones, mountains, and trees, 
 would take up arms in his cause." 
 
 Thus Francis was, without any belligerent demonstra- 
 tion on his own part, suddenly furnished with a plausible 
 pretext for indulging his jealousy of Charles ; but still, 
 conscious of the immense responsibility of taking the 
 initiative in a war which might, before its conclusion, 
 convulse all Europe, he desired that the expedition 
 should be undertaken in the name of Henri d'Albret 
 himself, and that he should not be held personally 
 responsible for its results. To these terms the young 
 king, eager to repossess his territories, gladly assented ; 
 and an army, under the command of Madame de 
 Chateaubriand's second brother, the marquis de Lesparre, 
 who as a relative of the deposed sovereign was supposed 
 to act only in his name and by his authority, was 
 speedily organized, in which M. de Guise, the brother of 
 the Duke de Lorraine, took the command of the lans- 
 quenets. No time was lost in marching upon Navarre, 
 where the first efforts of the Marquis proved eminently 
 successful ; and he proceeded without any important 
 check until he reached Pampeluna, where he was received 
 with transport by the citizens, but repulsed by the garri- 
 son of the citadel ; which, although the viceroy had con- 
 sidered it impossible to inarch a sufficient force to its 
 relief to insure its safety, held out during several clays,
 
 378 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1520-21. 
 
 through the extraordinary courage of a young officer, 
 who in this moment of peril assumed the command, and 
 infused new energy into the failing hearts of the soldiery. 
 
 Ignatius Loyola, whose name was destined to become 
 so famous as the founder of the Jesuits, was at that 
 period a military hero ; and it was only when those over 
 whom he had assumed the command insisted upon 
 a capitulation that he was reluctantly obliged to yield ; 
 but even then he could not be brought to consent to 
 a measure against which his high and martial spirit 
 revolted, until he obtained the consent of his companions 
 that he should be present when the terms of the capitu- 
 lation were adjusted ; and he had no sooner found that 
 they were so arbitrary and severe as to involve the 
 honour of his cause, than he abruptly terminated the 
 conference, declaring that he would rather be buried 
 under the ruins of the citadel than lend his countenance 
 to such a compromise. 
 
 Hostilities were consequently resumed by the French, 
 against which merely individual valour could not con- 
 tend ; and during an assault which he headed in person, 
 Loyola had one leg broken by a cannon shot, and the 
 other crushed by a stone from the walls. As he fell, the 
 hopes of his followers fell with him ; they attempted no 
 further resistance ; and Pampeluna surrendered, involving 
 in its capture the whole kingdom of Navarre. 
 
 Had Lesparre been as prudent as he was bold, he 
 might have followed up his advantage, and secured his 
 conquest ; but, eager to extend his triumph, he was rash 
 enough to enter Spain, upon which the great nobles of 
 Castile became alarmed, and urging the people to forego
 
 1520-21.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 379 
 
 for a time their intestine quarrels in order to expel the 
 common enemy, succeeded in organizing a powerful force, 
 with which they marched to Logrogno, already in a state 
 of siege through the headlong impetuosity of Lesparre ; 
 attacked his army, weakened by the disbanding of 
 a portion of its infantry, which an ill-timed economy had 
 induced him to dispense with, under the impression that 
 he should not encounter greater difficulties in Spain than 
 those which he had just so happily overcome in Navarre ; 
 and, moreover, rendered less efficient by a want of disci- 
 pline engendered by success. 
 
 The attack of the Spaniards, however, infuriated by 
 the dread of a new tyrant in the person of the French 
 king, who was even less bound to their national interests 
 than Charles ; and the fact that they came fresh into the 
 field against a body of harassed and toilworn men, soon 
 caused the marquis to repent his error. An engagement 
 ensued which terminated in the total rout of the French 
 forces, who were not only compelled to abandon the siege 
 of Pampeluna, but even to meet the enemy a second time 
 in the plain of Squiros, where their fate was decided, 
 and Lesparre himself about to be made prisoner, when, 
 resolved not to survive a disgrace he had so little appre- 
 hended, he abandoned all further authority over his 
 bewildered army, and spurred his horse into the very 
 thickest of the enemy's ranks, in order to die upon the 
 field. He was not, however, fated to succeed even in 
 this melancholy attempt ; for, although covered with 
 wounds, and with his casque beaten into his face by 
 a blow from a mace which deprived him of his sight for 
 ever, he was made captive by his enemies, together with
 
 380 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1520-21. 
 
 most of his principal officers ; and thus again he was 
 condemned to feel that Navarre was lost. 
 
 Meanwhile, enraged by the insolence of the Duke de 
 Gueldres, the emperor despatched the Count de Nassau 
 to invade and devastate his territories ; a command which 
 was obeyed and executed with a barbarity revolting to 
 every principle of dignity and humanity. Both the 
 emperor and Francis at this juncture appealed to 
 Henry VIII, each declaring the other to be the 
 aggressor, and calling upon him to assist in revenging 
 their wrongs ; but the English king, who was not 
 sorry to see them thus mutually undermining their 
 strength without any exertion on his own part, contented 
 himself by entreating both the one and the other not 
 lightly to involve themselves in so serious a war, and to 
 leave everything to his mediation. As the two monarchs 
 could hope for no more efficient assistance they agreed to 
 this proposition, and accordingly consented to open a 
 conference at Calais on the 4th of August, under the 
 presidence of Wolsey ; Francis only demanding that the 
 pontifical legates should be present, who would, as he 
 believed, (unconscious as he was that Leo X. had aban- 
 doned his interests,) compel justice for him, should any 
 necessity arise for their intervention. The French king, 
 moreover, enjoined the Duke de Gueldres to lay down 
 his arms ; a command which was obeyed, not because 
 Robert de la Mark had forgotten the wrong which he 
 had experienced from Charles, but because he believed 
 that all intention of hostility towards him had now been 
 abandoned by the emperor. He, however, fearfully de- 
 ceived himself ; for he had no sooner disbanded a great
 
 1520-21.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 381 
 
 portion of his army, and rendered himself defenceless, than 
 the Count de Nassau pursued his advantage with merciless 
 ferocity, and he found himself compelled to sue for a truce, 
 which was granted because it served only to involve him 
 in still greater ruin ; for so soon as it expired Charles lost 
 no time in seizing the whole of his territories, and in 
 marching a division of his army to the French frontier. 
 
 Before this movement was effected, however, Francis 
 had felt the imperative necessity of placing his king- 
 dom in an efficient state of defence; and, after having 
 strengthened the frontier of Burgundy, had turned his 
 attention to those of Champagne and Picardy which 
 were totally unguarded. He conferred the government 
 of the former upon the Duke d'Alencon, the husband of 
 his sister ; and that of the latter upon the Duke de 
 Vendome ; and this done, he commanded the Admiral 
 Bonnivet to lead a new force into Navarre, to revenge 
 the insult received by Lesparre ; and then he began assi- 
 duously to recruit and organize an army to resist the 
 reprisals of the emperor which he was aware must be 
 the result of such a measure. 
 
 Meanwhile the Count de Nassau had been apprised of 
 the approach of the Duke d'Alencon with a force of 
 twenty thousand men ; while, having passed the French 
 frontier, (despite all the asseverations of his imperial 
 master, that he had no hostile intentions towards France,) 
 he was laying siege to the city of Mouzon ; yet, not- 
 withstanding this practical illustration of his insincerity, 
 Charles, who was then at Brussels, on learning that the 
 French had in their turn intruded on his own territories, 
 had the duplicity to exclaim :
 
 382 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1520-21. 
 
 " Thank God that it was not I who commenced this 
 war, and that it is the King of France who seeks to 
 aggrandize me ; for in a short time I will be a pauper 
 emperor, or he shall be a pauper monarch." 
 
 M. de Nassau began his invasion under fortunate 
 auspices, for Mouzon possessing neither provisions, 
 ammunition, nor garrison, was totally unable to resist so 
 formidable an enemy ; its whole armed force consisting 
 only of a single company of infantry, under the com- 
 mand of the Seigneur de Montmoreau ; l who, hopeless 
 as was the contest, declared that he would die within 
 the walls rather than surrender; but finding that neither 
 his troops nor the citizens themselves would make an 
 effort to save the town, he was compelled to capitulate ; 
 and after having received a solemn pledge that the lives 
 of all should be spared, he suffered the gates to be 
 opened, and delivered up the citadel. 
 
 During this time the Chancellor Duprat, the Marechal 
 de Chabannes, and Jean de Selve, had reached Calais, 
 where they were to meet the ambassadors of the em- 
 peror, in order, through the mediation of Wolsey, to 
 effect, if possible, a reconciliation between their two 
 sovereigns. The cardinal was, however, aware that 
 Leo X. had abandoned the cause of Francis for that of 
 Charles ; and not content with furthering his own inter- 
 ests by consulting those of the latter, he even so far laid 
 aside all disguise as to visit him at Bruges during the 
 conference, where he was received with the same state 
 and splendour as though he had been the sovereign of 
 
 1 The Seigneur de Montmoreau was Master of the Horse in Brit- 
 tany, and Governor of Mouzon.
 
 1520-21.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 383 
 
 England instead of its minister ; while he on his part 
 declared that all he required to ascertain was, which of 
 the parties had been the original aggressor, as Henry 
 VIII. must, in conformity to the treaties into which he 
 had entered, declare against the first who had disregarded 
 them. M. de Chievres was recently dead, and had in 
 his last moments expressed his regret at the renewal of 
 hostilities; but the imperial ministers, disregarding the 
 league of Noyon which he had negotiated, nevertheless 
 advanced claims which were so exorbitant that they 
 amounted to a declaration of war, and were at once 
 repulsed by the French envoys. 
 
 Charles was supported in these arrogant pretensions 
 by a consciousness of the partiality of the mediators, a 
 bias in his favour of which he did not fail to take advan- 
 tage; and thus once more he was bold enough to 
 require the restitution of the Duchy of Burgundy, which, 
 had it been conceded, would have given him entrance 
 into the heart of France; and to demand to be freed 
 from the homage which his ancestors had done to the 
 French sovereigns for Flanders and Artois ; and which, 
 by the treaty of Noyon, he had personally pledged him- 
 self to continue. Nothing overt was consequently 
 accomplished ; but the crafty cardinal availed himself 
 of the opportunity to give a secret pledge to the 
 emperor that Henry should declare in his favour, and 
 assist him during the course of the following year with a 
 force of forty thousand men. He, moreover, betrothed 
 Charles to the Princess Mary, who still being the only 
 child of Henry, began to be considered as the probable 
 heir to the crown ; utterly regardless of the fact that he
 
 384 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1520-21. 
 
 had in person previously performed the ceremony of affi- 
 ance between her and the dauphin of France at Ardres. 
 Charles was dazzled by the prospect of a new crown, 
 and eagerly entered into the arrangement ; while Wolsey 
 himself saw in it another bond to knit more closely his 
 own interests and those of his imperial ally. 
 
 Francis was not deceived by the result of this con- 
 ference ; but at once discovered that he had been duped, 
 and must prepare to defend himself against other ene- 
 mies than the emperor. Of the bad faith of Henry and 
 his minister he no longer entertained a doubt, while his 
 suspicion of the double-dealing of the pope increased 
 from day to day. Nevertheless, the spirit of the king 
 rose with the difficulties by which he saw himself 
 surrounded. 
 
 " All the European sovereigns conspire against me ;" 
 he said haughtily ; " but I shall find means to answer 
 them. I care little either for the emperor, or for iny 
 cousin of England; my frontier of Picardy is fortified, 
 and the Flemish are poor soldiers. As for Italy, I will 
 take charge of that; while I pay the Swiss they will 
 fight for me, and I have sent to summon them here with 
 their pikes." 
 
 Among the most important places which were likely 
 to be first attacked by the enemy was Mezieres, which 
 many of the king's advisers counselled him to burn 
 down, and by destroying the environs to starve out the 
 army of M. de Nassau, whose supplies would thus be 
 cut off. This measure was justified, as they declared, 
 by the impossibility of introducing a sufficient garrison 
 within the walls before it was besieged ; an event which
 
 1520-21.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 
 
 the proximity of the imperial troops rendered every hour 
 probable. Bayard, however, seeing that Francis hesitated 
 to sanction so extreme a measure, seized the fortunate 
 moment, and energetically discountenanced such a pro- 
 ceeding. 
 
 " You are told that the place is too weak to resist, 
 Sire ;" he said boldly ; " no place is weak which is de- 
 fended by brave men. Let the old walls stand, and 
 permit me to assist in their defence." 
 
 " To yourself, I will confide the city ;" replied Francis, 
 struck with the confidence of the good knight; "take 
 with you whom you will, and strike for the honour of 
 France, and the dignity of your monarch." 
 
 Without losing another instant he then instructed the 
 
 Duke d'Alengon to supply the little army of Bayard 
 
 with all which he might require, and despatched 
 
 M. de Lorge to provision and arm the city, while the 
 
 brave Pierre Terrail summoned about him all his chosen 
 
 comrades ; but as his name ever acted like a spell upon 
 
 the chivalry of France, he soon found himself moreover 
 
 surrounded by a host of gallant men who were anxious to 
 
 acquire glory by fighting at his side. All pride of rank 
 
 was for the time forgotten by these noble volunteers ; 
 
 arid Bayard, with natural self-gratulation, welcomed to 
 
 his ranks some of the haughtiest blood throughout the 
 
 kingdom. Among the first who presented themselves 
 
 were the Seigneur de Montmoreau, arid his lieutenant 
 
 M. de Boncar, each with a thousand lances, and both 
 
 eager to avenge their defeat at Mouzou. The flower of 
 
 the nobility of Dauphiny followed ; and even Anne de 
 
 Montmorency, the favourite of Francis, did not disdain 
 
 VOL. i. c c
 
 386 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1520-21. 
 
 to swell the list of his subordinates. The city was no 
 longer defenceless ; its walls bristled with spears ; and its 
 strength lay not so much in the glittering breast-pieces 
 which flashed in the sunlight, as in the bold hearts that 
 beat beneath them. 
 
 While the garrison of Mezieres was thus assembling, 
 Francis who had been sojourning at Rheims, where his 
 army was daily reinforced by the arrival both of horse 
 and foot, including several strong parties of Swiss mer- 
 cenaries proceeded by Guise into the Carnbresis ; and on 
 the 22d of October overtook the forces of the Count de 
 Nassau between Cambray and Valenciennes, on their way 
 to the latter city, where the imperialist general was about 
 to retire for a time to rest and refresh the troops who 
 were suffering greatly from fatigue. La Tremouille and 
 Chabannes were eager to attack the imperialists, and 
 strongly urged this measure upon the king ; reminding 
 him that the enemy had still three leagues to travel over 
 the plain before they could shelter themselves behind the 
 walls of a fortress; but Francis, by some strange per- 
 versity, refused to listen to the suggestion until the whole 
 of his army should have crossed the river, and the thick 
 fog which then hung over them, be dispersed. -It was in 
 vain that they implored him to recant his resolution ; he 
 remained firm, and M. de Nassau was consequently 
 enabled to make good his escape with his whole force. 
 
 It is certain, according to Du Bellay, that had the king 
 authorized the proposed attack he would easily have 
 defeated the retreating force, and thus materially crippled 
 the resources of the emperor ; a fact of which he became 
 subsequently so conscious that he was overwhelmed with
 
 1520-21.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 387 
 
 grief, and during the night most imprudently departed for 
 Flanders, attended by a hundred horse, thus abandoning 
 the rest of the army. " That day;" says the same chroni- 
 cler, in a burst of patriotic grief; "God had delivered 
 our enemy into our hands, and we would not accept the 
 offering; a refusal which has since cost us dear." 
 
 Bayard was, meanwhile, less supine. He caused all 
 the inhabitants of Mezieres who could not be rendered 
 available in case of siege to retire beyond the walls ; 
 after which he demolished the drawbridge, and convoked 
 an assembly of the sheriffs, whom he compelled to make 
 oath that they would never urge a surrender, but defend 
 the town even to the death. " And if our provisions 
 should fail us, gentlemen ;" he said gaily ; " we will 
 devour our horses and our boots." 
 
 The calm confidence of the good knight inspired the 
 citizens with new courage, and they all swore to perish 
 rather than capitulate. He then turned his attention to 
 the walls, and busied himself in repairing the old 
 breaches, which had been suffered to remain in a state 
 of daily increasing dilapidation, not only working him- 
 self, but even distributing among the labourers the sum 
 of six thousand crowns from his own purse. He appeared 
 to be ubiquitous, for while one asserted that he saw him 
 at the gate of the town, another declared that he was 
 upon the rampart ; while a third affirmed that he had 
 passed him in one of the streets of the city. He felt that 
 the preservation of the place had been entrusted to him ; 
 and while he was indulgent to all under his command, 
 he was inexorable towards himself. 
 
 Bayard, in fact, felt a conviction that not a moment 
 c c 2
 
 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1520-21. 
 
 must be lost, and his prescience had not deceived him ; 
 the city was shortly afterwards invested ; and while 
 Seckingen at the head of fifteen thousand men attacked 
 it on one bank of the Meuse, the Count de Nassau with 
 twenty thousand more threatened it from the other. 
 
 Ere long, however, a herald-at-arms appeared before 
 the gates and summoned Bayard to surrender, declaring 
 that the place could not hold out against the imperial 
 forces ; and that, in consideration of the high and noble 
 chivalry which was contained within its walls, the 
 imperial generals were reluctant to take it by assault, and 
 thus tarnish his personal honour and that of his noble 
 companions ; while they moreover feared for the life of 
 one like himself, who, should he perish defeated, would 
 by such a death efface the memory of all his great and 
 heroic deeds ; while, on the contrary, they were willing 
 to concede to him such honourable terms as must tend 
 to satisfy his self-respect. 
 
 Bayard with some difficulty compelled himself to hear 
 this harangue to an end ; after which he declared that 
 he was astounded by the great courtesy of the besieging 
 generals, of whom he himself knew nothing ; and then, 
 assuming a more haughty attitude, he added : " Friend 
 Herald, return to your camp, and tell your leaders that 
 the king my sovereign could have sent many more efficient 
 persons than myself to defend his city and his frontier ; 
 but that since he has seen fit to honour me with the 
 trust, I hope, by the help of God, to keep it for him 
 for such a length of time that your masters will be more 
 weary of maintaining the siege than I shall be of defend- 
 ing my post. I am no longer a child to be deluded by
 
 1520-21.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 389 
 
 high-sounding phrases ; and therefore say to them, more- 
 over, that if I ever leave the city which has been confided 
 to me, it shall be over a bridge of their own bodies, 
 and those of their followers." 
 
 This fearless answer to his summons exasperated 
 M. de Nassau, who immediately issued an order for the 
 attack. His artillery was pointed against the walls upon 
 two separate sides, but the fire was steadily and unceas- 
 ingly returned ; when suddenly the volunteers who had 
 been brought to Mezieres by M. de Montmoreau, being 
 inexperienced in warfare, became panic struck, wavered, 
 and fled. Some of the French soldiery endeavoured to 
 rally them, but Bayard instantly ordered that they should 
 be allowed to escape over the walls without molestation. 
 " Let them go " he said calmly ; "we shall be stronger 
 without them ; for cravens such as these are not worthy 
 to win glory by the side of braver men." 
 
 Meanwhile the good knight became conscious that the 
 division of troops under Seckingen, having secured a more 
 elevated position, harassed his own followers more than 
 those upon the other bank, and he resolved to have 
 recourse to stratagem in order to induce him to change 
 his ground ; a measure which he was the more anxious 
 to adopt from the fact that his provisions were rapidly 
 decreasing, and that his garrison was beginning to suffer 
 from sickness. 
 
 He had ascertained from one of his emissaries that 
 altercations had arisen in the enemy's camp, where the 
 Count de Nassau and Seckingen were contending 
 against each other for the supreme command of the 
 besieging army ; and in order to aggravate this mis-
 
 390 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1520-21. 
 
 understanding he addressed a letter to the Duke de 
 Gueldres, in which he stated that, aware of his regard 
 for the Sire de Seckingen, he had thought it advisable to 
 inform him that if his friend did not speedily shift his 
 position he and all his camp would be cut to pieces within 
 four-and-twenty hours, as a force of twelve thousand Swiss 
 and eight hundred horsemen would fall upon him at 
 dawn ; while he should himself make a sally from the 
 town, by which means he would be enclosed, and could 
 have no hope of escape ; adding, moreover, that as the 
 duke had assured him some months back that M. de 
 Seckingen might be induced to join the cause of France, 
 he should be glad to see so desirable a measure accom- 
 plished, and to welcome so brave a soldier to the banner 
 of the lilies. This done, he committed the letter to the 
 care of a peasant, to whom he gave a crown, desiring 
 him to carry it forthwith to Messire Robert de la Mark at 
 Sedan, and to tell him that it was sent by Captain Bayard. 
 As a natural consequence the letter fell into the hands 
 of one of Seckingen's followers, who forthwith conveyed 
 the messenger to the tent of his general ; when the par- 
 tizan, believing that the Count de Nassau meant to sacrifice 
 him, immediately struck his tents, and abandoned the 
 advantageous position which he had hitherto occupied. 
 This movement could not be effected without attracting 
 the attention of the Count, who instantly despatched a 
 messenger to represent to Seckingen the probable effect 
 of such a proceeding, endangering as it did the total 
 failure of their operations ; but he received only a haughty 
 answer. "Tell M. de Nassau ;" was the reply; "that 
 I shall act as I see fit, having no inclination to remain
 
 1520-21.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 391 
 
 and be butchered for his pleasure ; but that I shall take 
 up my quarters beside his own, and we shall see after 
 we have met who will remain master of the field." 
 
 The count, who after this message of defiance felt per- 
 suaded that his late comrade Seckingen was in fact passing 
 the Meuse with the intention of attacking him, drew out 
 his troops in order of battle; an attitude which was 
 immediately imitated by the irritated Seckingen, and 
 an engagement was about to ensue, when the assembled 
 officers on both sides interfered, and prevented the 
 collision. Nevertheless the two generals continued 
 implacable ; they haughtily refused to condescend to any 
 explanation ; mutually distrustful, each looked upon the 
 other as a covert enemy ; and on the following day they 
 separately raised the siege. 
 
 During an entire week the officers of Charles found it 
 impossible to reconcile the two adversaries, but at 
 length they were induced to forego their quarrel ; upon 
 which Seckingen entered Picardy, burning and devastat- 
 ing all that he encountered on his way until he reached 
 Guise, where he halted ; while M. de Nassau on his side 
 shaped his course northward, carrying terror wherever 
 he encamped, putting to death such of his soldiers as had 
 served under his rival, betraying his suspicion of every one 
 about him, and committing a thousand acts of idle and 
 undiscriminating cruelty. His army resembled a be- 
 leaguered city ; a secret police was organized, and his 
 spies invaded even the tents and private correspondence 
 of his officers ; executions were of daily occurrence, and 
 a spirit of terror and consternation pervaded the whole 
 of the troops. The sword of Damocles hung suspended
 
 392 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1520-21. 
 
 above the camp, and none knew upon whose head it 
 would next fall. 
 
 During this panic Bayard had made a sortie which 
 proved highly successful, as it increased the confusion in 
 the ranks of M. de Nassau, while at the same time it 
 afforded an opportunity for a powerful reinforcement to 
 be introduced into the beleaguered city, and the approach 
 of M. d'Alencon to within three leagues of the gates. 
 Nevertheless the imperial general, reluctant to abandon 
 an enterprise in which he had flattered himself with 
 success, was unwilling to raise the siege until he could 
 by some method convince himself that the garrison were 
 no longer in danger of famine ; upon which a veteran 
 captain, an old companion in arms of Bayard, who had 
 spent his whole life in the service of the French in Italy, 
 but who had now been gained over to the cause of the 
 emperor, volunteered to despatch a trumpet to the fortress 
 to request a bottle of wine from the commandant for the 
 sake of their ancient friendship. 
 
 " Tell the good knight ;" he said to the messenger, as 
 he was preparing to set forth ; " that it is for captain 
 Gros-Jean of Picardy, who will drink health and long 
 life to him in his own wine, whether it be old or new." 
 
 To this application Bayard replied by sending two 
 bottles, one of each description named, which he caused 
 the envoy himself to fetch from the cellar, where he 
 showed him huge casks all filled ; desiring him to assure 
 his master that he was welcome to repeat the pledge 
 whenever he needed to do so, as the garrison of Mezieres 
 had enough and to spare during the time that the siege 
 was likely to hold out.
 
 1520-21.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 393 
 
 The envoy returned, and by reporting what he had 
 seen and heard, fully convinced M. de Nassau that the 
 city was as impregnable as ever ; little suspecting that 
 the barrels in the fortress cellar were merely water-casks, 
 and that the wine so freely given had been part of the 
 lading of three wagons, which the French had only the 
 previous evening succeeded in introducing within the gates. 
 
 In consequence of this conviction he at once struck 
 his tents, leaving Bayard master of the city after a 
 resistance of three weeks ; during which time, although no 
 battle had been fought, the good knight had, nevertheless, 
 evinced so much courage and military science, and had 
 caused so great a loss among the imperial troops, that 
 Francis at once felt he could no longer leave such 
 eminent merit unrecompensed, and forthwith conferred 
 on him the collar of the order of Philip Augustus, and 
 gave him the command of a hundred men-at-arms ; a 
 prerogative hitherto monopolised by individuals of 
 princely rank. 
 
 When the imperial troops had withdrawn, Bayard, 
 who had no further occupation within the walls whence 
 he had driven his assailants, prepared for his return to 
 the royal camp, amid the shouts and benedictions of 
 the citizens whom he had saved from plunder and 
 outrage ; the people crowded about him, the bells of the 
 churches and convents rang out a joyous peal ; and 
 thenceforward the whole population of Mezieres religi- 
 ously observed with prayer and festivity the anniversary 
 of their deliverance. 
 
 The letter in which Francis announced to his mother 
 the relief of Mezieres was even more inconsequent than
 
 :l!M THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1520-21. 
 
 a former one to which we have already made allusion ; 
 while not content with expressing himself in terms 
 wholly inconsistent with his kingly dignity, he even so 
 far forgot his respect for sacred things as to entreat his 
 mother to cause thanksgivings to be offered up to the 
 Almighty, with the irreverend addition, "car sans poynt 
 de fote, il a montre ce coup quyl est bon Francois." 
 After so blasphemous and presumptuous an expression 
 as this, our wonder ceases that there should have been a 
 blight upon his arms ! 
 
 The siege of Mezieres once happily terminated, the 
 French king proceeded in pursuit of the imperial troops ; 
 who, baffled in Champagne, were ravaging Picardy, and 
 spreading terror in every direction. The fortresses 
 which they had destroyed on the frontier of the former 
 province were hastily repaired; and while the Duke 
 d'Alencon retook Mouzon, the Duke de Vendome effected 
 an entrance into both Artois and Hanault ; repaying 
 with usury upon the enemy the enormities of which they 
 had been guilty on the French territories. 
 
 Having made himself master of Bapaume and Lan- 
 drecies, to the latter of which the imperialists set fire 
 previous to their retreat, M. d'Alencon found his task 
 accomplished ; while on the Spanish frontier, Bonnivet, 
 towards the close of September, possessed himself of 
 several fortresses in Biscay ; and, ultimately, of Font- 
 arabia. 
 
 During these proceedings the emperor had joined his 
 retreating army near Valenciennes, having with him a 
 strong body of troops ; and Francis no sooner ascer- 
 tained that he was present in person than he became
 
 1520-21.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 395 
 
 eager to attack him. In furtherance of this design he 
 threw a bridge across the Scheldt, and the Count de 
 Nassau who had advanced to reconnoitre, was only 
 enabled to escape with his followers through the aid of a 
 dense fog, which had rendered his approach invisible. 
 Bourbon, La Palice, and Tremouille, vehemently urged 
 the king to an immediate onslaught, arid had their advice 
 been followed, the army of Charles must have been 
 destroyed ; but once more the evil star of Francis pre- 
 vailed, and he suffered himself to be influenced by 
 the counsels of the Marechal de Chatillon, who urged 
 caution, and thus suffered the favourable moment to 
 escape. 
 
 Nor was this his only imprudence ; for, still strongly 
 prejudiced by his mother against Bourbon, he conferred 
 the command of the van-guard, a distinction claimed by 
 the duke as Constable of France, upon M. d'Alencon. 
 The effect of this affront upon a man of so fiery a 
 temperament as Bourbon, and who was moreover jealous 
 of his honour, was terrible. For a moment he remained 
 stupified by surprise ; and then, recovering his self- 
 possession, he refused to believe that the messenger had 
 not mistaken the meaning of the king. " I am Conne- 
 table of France;" he said haughtily; " and by virtue of 
 that dignity I have a right to lead her army to the field. 
 What will be the opinion of the troops when they learn 
 that my privilege has been invaded, and my authority 
 transferred to a general without experience, and a soldier 
 who has yet even a name to win ?" 
 
 " The whole army resents the insult which is thus 
 offered to you;" said M. de Pomperant, his ancient
 
 396 COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS 1. [1520-21. 
 
 governor ; " and are convinced to a man that it is not 
 the spontaneous act of the king himself." 
 
 " Who then is ray enemy ?" he asked fiercely. 
 
 " One upon whom you cannot revenge yourself 
 Madame d'Angouleme." 
 
 " Ah ! is it so ?" exclaimed the duke ; " But no 
 the thing is impossible. She has always professed her- 
 self my friend; why then should she thus assail my 
 honour? Perhaps she covets the sword of connetable 
 for her minion Bonnivet. It would be well bestowed 
 upon an upstart whose ancestors were honoured when 
 they acted as equerries to mine ! Let the king beware, 
 however, how he seconds such a project." 
 
 " Duke ;" said M. de Pomperant firmly ; " no subject 
 has a right to threaten his sovereign." 
 
 " I shall not revenge myself by words ;" retorted 
 Bourbon gloomily ; " let the nerveless husband of Mar- 
 guerite de France lead the troops of her brother to battle. 
 The future is still before me, and I shall know how 
 to use it." 
 
 Meanwhile, Charles V. had been compelled, as we 
 have shewn, to retreat once more to Valenciennes ; the 
 hopes of the allied sovereigns had been falsified, and they 
 had gained nothing by the blood spilt and the desolation 
 created by their arms, save a few provinces which they 
 were not destined long to retain. 
 
 The flag of France once more waved above her for- 
 tresses ; and Francis, having conducted his army to 
 Amiens, where he disbanded a great portion of the 
 troops, entered his capital at the head of the remaining 
 force amid a tumult of joyous welcome.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 [1522.] 
 
 LAUTREC RETURNS TO FRANCE THE TEMPORARY COMMAND OF THE ARMY 
 IN THE MILANESE IS CONFIDED TO LESCTJN ITS INSUBORDINATION 
 DESPAIR OF THE MILANESE CITIZENS PROSPER COLONNA STRENGTHENS 
 THE IMPERIALIST ARMY LAUTREC DEMANDS SUPPLIES EXHAUSTED STATE 
 OF THE TREASURY THE ENAMELLED ORNAMENTS LOUISE DE SAVOIE 
 UNDERTAKES TO RAISE THE SUPPLIES THE FINANCE-MINISTER LAU- 
 TREC RETURNS TO MILAN THE SUPPLIES ARE WITHHELD THE POPE 
 DECLARES WAR AGAINST FRANCE THE CONFEDERATED ARMY THREATEN 
 PARMA IMPRUDENCE OP LAUTREC DISGUST OF HIS TROOPS THE SWISS 
 DESERT THE FRENCH RETIRE TO MILAN ARE ATTACKED BY THE ENEMY, 
 AND DRIVEN OUT LAUTREC RETREATS TO COMO, IS PURSUED BY PESCARA, 
 AND TAKES UP HIS WINTER QUARTERS AT CREMONA LESCUN PRO- 
 CEEDS TO FRANCE WITH DESPATCHES INDIGNATION OF FRANCIS ANXIETY 
 OF LEO X. HIS EXULTATION AT THE CAPTURE OF MILAN HIS DEATH.
 
 1522.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 399 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 [1522.] 
 
 UNFORTUNATELY for Francis matters wore a less favour- 
 able aspect in Lombardy, where Lautrec, who had re- 
 turned to France in order to negotiate an advantageous 
 and wealthy marriage with the daughter of the Count 
 Albret d'Orval at the instigation of Madame de Chateau- 
 briand, had confided to his brother, M. de Lescun, the 
 temporary command of the army ; which, from its having 
 been left unpaid throughout the whole of the preceding 
 year, had been compelled to exist by plunder and rapine, 
 and had, accordingly, created a revolt among the peasantry, 
 who were driven to exasperation, not only by the daily 
 and hourly exactions of the invading troops, but also from 
 the fact that a great portion of the native nobility had 
 emigrated in order to save the remnant of their property, 
 and to escape from the tyrannous persecution of the French 
 general; while Prosper Colonna, the general appointed 
 both by the emperor and the pope, had profited by the 
 discontent in the French ranks, to invite to his standard 
 the formidable Spanish bands who arrived from Naples, 
 and to incorporate them with the German men-at-arms
 
 400 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 sent to his assistance by Charles, and the Orisons and 
 Swiss in the pay of the holy see. 
 
 Under these circumstances Lautrec had awaited with 
 impatience the return of Francis to his own dominions, 
 in order to impress upon him the utter impracticability 
 of pursuing the war, and defending the Milanese with 
 any chance of success, unless he could carry back with 
 him the sum of four hundred thousand crowns, with 
 which to settle all arrears among his own troops, and to 
 subsist a force of eight thousand Swiss whom his 
 brother had hastily recruited. 
 
 Francis, angered as he was by this first and heavy check 
 upon his desire to plunge once more into pleasure and 
 dissipation, was, nevertheless, unable to deny the justice 
 of such a claim ; but although the war had only recently 
 commenced, the treasury was as usual already exhausted ; 
 the return of the king having been the signal for a 
 succession of courtly festivities, hunting parties, and 
 lavish expenditure of every description. The favour of 
 Madame de Chateaubriand had, moreover, become in- 
 creased by their temporary separation ; and it was the 
 pleasure of Francis, who loved magnificence in every 
 shape, to overwhelm her with the most precious jewels 
 he could obtain, and of which the costliness was 
 enhanced by the marvellous fashion of their setting, 
 which had inspired such emulation among the court 
 jewellers, that every ornament became a work of art, 
 rendered even more gratifying to the vanity of the 
 favourite by the fact that the chasing, enamelled with 
 small gems, was formed on each into some gallant 
 device, or entertwining of the two FF. which preceded
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 401 
 
 alike the Christian name of the king and her own ; and 
 that these were invented at the desire of the enamoured 
 monarch, by the Duchess d'Alencon his sister ; who, 
 rejoiced that her husband had not, during the late brief 
 campaign, utterly sunk into an insignificance which 
 would have increased the contempt that she already 
 entertained for him, willingly lent herself to the wishes 
 of her brother by evincing both affection and deference 
 towards his fair and frail favourite. 
 
 Tastes of so ruinous a description as these had neces- 
 sarily diminished the resources of the royal coffer ; and, 
 indisposed as he was to forego them, Francis nevertheless 
 found himself equally powerless to refute the arguments 
 of Lautrec, and to supply his necessities. 
 
 Madame d'Angouleme, however, who was fertile in 
 expedients, did not hesitate to promise that she would 
 devise means to liberate him from this new difficulty ; and 
 he gladly left an affair in her hands which distracted his 
 mind from other and more pleasant pursuits. 
 
 Thus authorized to act as she saw fit, the duchess at 
 once summoned M. de Semblanpay, the finance-minister, 
 to her presence ; and after assuring him in her most 
 insinuating manner that she felt convinced so good and 
 zealous a servant of her son would leave no means untried 
 to save him from the affront of being once more driven 
 from the Milanese, she urged him to consider seriously 
 if he could not suggest a method of averting such a cala- 
 mity. For a time the old statesman only shook his head 
 despondingly, and recapitulated the numerous sources of 
 expense by which he was already surrounded ; but 
 Madame d'Angouleme was not to be so silenced. 
 
 VOL. I. D D
 
 402 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 " We are not met, my good friend ;" she said with a 
 playful smile; "to enumerate our difficulties, but to 
 discover an expedient which may preserve us from a 
 great danger. We must have money; and surely, in 
 so terrible an emergency as this, you cannot wish your 
 sovereign to suppose that such a realm as Trance is 
 utterly bankrupt ! We must have many resources." 
 
 " We had, Madam." 
 
 " Look at the wars which were sustained by former 
 kings, when the nation was less flourishing than in the 
 present day ; and yet they were nobly and royally 
 sustained." 
 
 " But those kings to whom you allude, Madam, did 
 not resemble Francis I." 
 
 " No, Sir ; " replied the duchess with well-acted 
 exultation, and wilfully overlooking the real drift of the 
 minister's remark. " The greater the dishonour to 
 France, therefore, should she suffer such a sovereign to 
 be crippled by want of funds." 
 
 " The annual outlay of the court is enormous, 
 Madam ;" persisted M. de Semblancay, in his turn 
 evading a direct reply ; " more, far more in amount than 
 would sustain a war." 
 
 " You refuse, then, to serve me, Sir ? You, on whose 
 loyalty and attachment I have hitherto relied with such 
 blind confidence." 
 
 " By no means, Madam ; but I dare not give a pledge 
 which I may find myself unable to redeem. How am 
 I to raise this money ?" 
 
 " I think that even I could suggest a method;" said 
 the pertinacious duchess, as she laid her small hand
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 403 
 
 lightly upon the arm of her companion, and looked up 
 into his face with an expression of almost affectionate 
 trustfulness. 
 
 " Madam " said the old man, moved by this con- 
 descension ; " you know that I have already loyally served 
 three sovereigns. Judge, therefore, if I am likely to 
 fail in my duty to a fourth. Be gracious enough to 
 explain your meaning, and trust to my poor efforts if 
 they can avail." 
 
 " I do, M. de Semblancay, I do ;" replied the duchess 
 energetically ; "we cannot at this moment look for 
 further help from our good city of Paris ?" 
 
 " The citizens already murmur, Madam." 
 
 " And yet the king is so indulgent " said Madame 
 d'Angouleme half reproachfully ; " when had the bour- 
 geoisie such easy access to the court ? But it is ever so ; 
 the people love pleasure, but do not care to pay its price. 
 Let us not, however, waste time, which is now precious, 
 upon their idle discontent. We were speaking of our 
 alternative. Well, then, we will ask nothing of Paris ; 
 that is agreed. Nay more, we will ask nothing near 
 home. But what say you to the southern provinces, 
 M. de Semblan9ay ? Surely we have a right to look for 
 succour from the south?" 
 
 " The measure will be difficult." 
 
 " Perhaps so, but not impossible. I have put the 
 card into your hand. You have now only to play out 
 the game." 
 
 Although only half convinced, the minister was dis- 
 armed ; and the duchess obtained his promise to levy 
 four hundred thousand crowns upon the provincial 
 
 n D 2
 
 404 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 chests of the south. This point gained, she hastened 
 to inform her son of her success ; who, in his turn, con- 
 fided it to Lautrec, the anxiety of the Marechal having 
 been greatly increased by a letter from his brother, 
 calling upon him to return with all speed to Milan, and 
 to resume a government which he was himself utterly 
 unable longer to sustain. 
 
 The advice of Madame de Chateaubriand, however, 
 determined him against a haste which might tend to 
 frustrate all his plans, for she had no sooner explained 
 to him the extent of the jealousy which her influence 
 had excited in the heart of the duchess -mother, than he 
 became convinced that Louise de Savoie, extreme in all 
 her feelings, would not hesitate to sacrifice, not only the 
 favourite herself, but all who were connected with her, 
 should she secure an opportunity of revenge ; and 
 accordingly he respectfully intimated to the king, that, 
 despite the urgency of the letter from Milan, he could not 
 leave the court until the money had been confided to him. 
 
 But Madame d'Angouleme, who was anxious to be rid 
 of his importunity for reasons of her own, had resolved 
 otherwise ; and she represented to her son at once the 
 impossibility of procuring so. large a sum without some 
 delay, and the danger which the obstinate resistance of 
 Lautrec might bring upon his government offering to 
 pledge both her own word and that of the finance-minister 
 that immediately the money had reached Paris it should 
 be despatched to its destination without loss of time. 
 With this arrangement Lautrec was, therefore, compelled 
 to appear satisfied, supported as it was by the king's 
 command that he should risk no further delay; and
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 405 
 
 accordingly, having taken a brief leave of the sovereign 
 and his court, he returned to the unfortunate duchy 
 which had suffered so bitterly from his arrogance and 
 cruelty, with the confident expectation of being ere long 
 enabled to silence the murmurings of his army, and to 
 establish his position. 
 
 As, however, after his arrival at Milan he received no 
 intelligence of the advent of the funds which were to 
 liberate him from his difficulties, he immediately levied 
 new contributions upon the most wealthy inhabitants of 
 the desolated duchy, and punished those who resisted 
 with the most uncompromising barbarity ; the scaffold 
 was his argument, and the confiscation of private property 
 his vengeance. The dungeons had already been peopled 
 by his equally inexorable brother ; and one of his first 
 victims was the Signor Cristoforo Pallavicini, whose only 
 crime was the extent of his property, and whom he 
 condemned to lose his head; a sentence which he 
 carried into effect, although the judge before whom 
 his cause was tried, in order if possible to give a sem- 
 blance of justice to the proceeding, refused to append 
 his signature to so unholy a sacrifice. Pallavicini, the 
 scion of a noble house, was destined to expatiate the sin 
 of possessing an income of twenty-five thousand crowns ; 
 and he perished accordingly, in order that the work of 
 war might be carried on, threatened as it was with 
 immediate cessation from the failure of the receipts anti- 
 cipated by the French marshal. 
 
 Day after day passed by, and yet the promised sup- 
 plies were withheld, but Lautrec had become desperate ; 
 he remembered the formidable enemy whom he had left
 
 400 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 at court ; an enemy, moreover, who could at all hours 
 command the ear, and influence the resolutions of the 
 monarch. He felt that not only his own interests, but 
 those of his whole family were at stake ; and he resolved 
 to persevere. He was deficient neither in talent nor 
 decision, but he was occasionally wanting in energy and 
 presence of mind ; and while he possessed the tact of 
 enforcing obedience both from his troops and the people 
 whom he governed, he nevertheless occasionally failed 
 to profit by the most brilliant opportunities of signalizing 
 himself; an excess of precaution which irritated those 
 who served under his command. Unpaid and dissatisfied, 
 the Swiss mercenaries whom his brother had recruited 
 deserted by whole companies at a time, and left a void 
 in his ranks which he was unable to supply ; while 
 on the contrary, those who had joined the banner 
 of Leo X. remained faithful to his cause, although 
 repeatedly recalled by the Helvetic diet. 
 
 The confederated party threatened to besiege Parma, 
 and the situation of the marshal was critical. The pope 
 had, on the 1st of August, declared war against France, 
 and his troops had even marched upon that city; but 
 a quarrel for precedence which arose between Prosper 
 Colonna, and Ferdinand d'Avalos, Marquis of Pescara, 
 (who, as imperial general, claimed to share the com- 
 mand upon equal terms with the generalissimo of the 
 pope,) occasioned so much confusion that Lautrec found 
 himself enabled, during the delay occasioned by this 
 misunderstanding, to adopt such efficient measures for 
 the defence of the threatened fortress as sufficed to check 
 the progress of the enemy ; who after having possessed
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 407 
 
 themselves of a portion of the city at the commencement 
 of September, were compelled to relinquish their capture 
 by the arrival of the marechal in person, accompanied 
 by several officers of rank, and a reinforcement of troops, 
 which although not sufficiently powerful to encounter their 
 opponents at a disadvantage, still contributed to paralyse 
 their movements. An entire month was then lost by 
 the opposing generals, each anticipating succours which 
 might enable him to overcome his antagonist. These, 
 however, failed equally on either side ; and at length, 
 although not without discussion and dissension among 
 the confederate leaders, the siege was raised. 
 
 Upon this occasion M. de Lautrec was guilty of one 
 of those acts of hyper- caution to which we have already 
 alluded. His troops, flushed by their advantage, would 
 gladly have pursued it; but the marechal, alarmed by the 
 partial revolt in the Milanese, and the aversion with 
 which he was personally regarded throughout the coun- 
 try, was unwilling to risk such an attempt as a pursuit 
 of the retiring and disheartened besiegers ; and he con- 
 sequently permitted Prosper Colonna to pass the Po 
 unimpeded, and to secure a position which enabled him 
 to command the help of which he might by an effort have 
 been deprived, and thus to carry war into the heart of 
 Cremona. Nevertheless his first error might not have 
 proved fatal, had he not followed it up by refusing, despite 
 the remonstrances of those about him, to attack the impe- 
 rialist general who occupied a disadvantageous position at 
 Rebecco, upon the banks of the Aglio, and under the very 
 guns of the Venetian fortress of Pontevico, by which his 
 own demonstration would have been effectively seconded.
 
 408 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 This double opportunity wilfully disregarded disgusted 
 his troops, who henceforward lost faith in their leader ; 
 and the influence of the Cardinal of Sion operated 
 so powerfully upon the Swiss mercenaries who had 
 hitherto remained faithful to his cause, that they once 
 more deserted in such numbers as to leave barely a force 
 of four thousand in the ranks of France. Those who 
 remained, moreover, murmured loudly, and demanded 
 the recompense which was habitually conceded to them 
 after every engagement ; declaring that if they had not 
 been placed in contact with the enemy under circum- 
 stances which rendered success inevitable, the fault lay 
 with the marechal, who had not afforded them an 
 opportunity of conquest, and not with themselves, 
 who were willing and even eager to be led to battle. 
 
 Lautrec was destined most bitterly to expiate his fault. 
 The supplies of money were still withheld : he was 
 distrusted by his troops ; detested by the citizens ; alike 
 feared and execrated by the people : he had lost the 
 prestige which his former military renown had cast 
 about him ; and even those who shared his command 
 murmured loudly at an enforced inaction which perilled 
 their own honour. He had no longer, however, an 
 alternative; his army was enfeebled by desertion, and 
 his position rendered precarious by private animosity. 
 The sun of his glory had set; and, no longer able to 
 threaten, he found himself compelled to act only on the 
 defensive, and even to retreat within the walls of 
 Milan ; a shelter which he had scarcely gained ere he 
 was in his turn assailed by the confederated generals, 
 who made so vigorous a night attack, that, aided by the
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 409 
 
 citizens, they took possession of the town ; and the dis- 
 comfited marechal, who was awakened from his sleep 
 by the tumult, had scarcely time to retreat to Como, 
 leaving a portion of his troops to garrison the citadel. 
 
 Even there, however, he was not destined to remain 
 in safety, but being pursued by the Marquis de Pescara, 
 was compelled to enter the Venetian territory ; where, at 
 the end of a few days, his mortification reached its climax 
 by the information which was conveyed to him, that not 
 only had Como surrendered to the imperialists, but that 
 the city of Cremona was also in their power, although 
 the citadel still held out. Enraged at the overthrow of 
 all his brilliant anticipations, Lautrec no sooner learnt 
 these ill tidings than he made a last and desperate 
 effort, introduced some troops into the town, and by 
 a vigorous attack upon the walls succeeded in wresting 
 it once more from the enemy, and in establishing his 
 winter quarters in the only portion of his late govern- 
 ment which now acknowledged his authority, or afforded 
 a safe asylum for his person. 
 
 In this emergency the marechal despatched his brother 
 Lescun to the French court with despatches, which, 
 being of so disastrous an import, could not have arrived 
 at a more unpropitious moment. A second conference 
 had taken place at Calais between the ministers of 
 Charles and Francis, at which Wolsey presided as the 
 representative of his sovereign, with a state and dignity 
 even hyper-monarchical ; presents of the most costly 
 description had once more been lavished upon the ava- 
 ricious cardinal, and no pains spared to conciliate his 
 favour; but the whole of the proceedings had been
 
 410 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 carried on with a levity and carelessness which convinced 
 the French statesmen that no good result could be an- 
 ticipated upon their parts. The terms proposed by 
 Wolsey were such as their dignity did not permit them 
 to accept ; and Francis had now gained a perfect convic- 
 tion of the perfidy and double-dealing of the English 
 monarch and his minister. 
 
 He was consequently ill prepared to receive the tidings 
 from Milan with either patience or temper; and he 
 accordingly overwhelmed the unfortunate messenger 
 with the most bitter reproaches ; accusing his brother of 
 being deficient both in skill and courage ; of having so 
 misconducted his government as to render the name of 
 his sovereign odious to the Milanese ; and of ultimately 
 completing by cowardice what he had commenced by 
 cruelty. 
 
 Lescun shrank abashed before a storm of accusation 
 which he was not permitted to palliate. He was aware 
 that one of its brightest jewels had been rent from the 
 crown of Francis ; and with consummate judgment he 
 bowed before this tempest of royal wrath, and left it to 
 time and to Madame de Chateaubriand to justify both 
 himself and the absent marechal. 
 
 While these disastrous events were taking place in the 
 Milanese, Leo X. was a prey to the most violent anxiety. 
 The reverses of Charles in the Low Countries he had 
 never anticipated; and his apprehension that the arms 
 of Francis, towards whom he had falsified all his pledges, 
 and whose friendship he could never again hope to 
 regain, would prove equally fortunate in Italy, filled him 
 with constant forebodings. His exultation on learning
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 411 
 
 the capture of Milan and the recovery of Parma and 
 Piacenza was consequently extravagant ; and he imme- 
 diately declared his intention of commanding public 
 thanksgivings to be offered up in every church in Rome, 
 in gratitude for such unhoped-for success. The surprise 
 had, however, affected his health ; and having given the 
 necessary directions he retired to his chamber com- 
 plaining of slight indisposition. In the first instance 
 this illness excited little uneasiness, being attributed by 
 some to excessive emotion, and by others to the effects of 
 cold or malaria; but it was, nevertheless, fated to 
 be his last; and on Sunday the 1st of December he 
 expired so suddenly as to deprive him of the habitual 
 ceremonies of the Church, after the brief suffering of 
 a week. Suspicions of poison well or ill founded were 
 rife in Rome ; and it is asserted that not only the 
 appearance of the body after death tended to justify 
 them, but that a post mortem examination removed all 
 doubt.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 [1522.] 
 
 DISCONTENT OP THE DUKE DE BOURBON A SUMMONS TO AMBOISE A 
 MATURE PASSION LOUISE DE SAVOIE OFFERS HER HAND TO BOURBON 
 HE REJECTS IT A MUTUAL HATRED MARGUERITE DE VALOIS AND BON- 
 NIVET THE PALACE OF A PARVENU OSTENTATION OF THE DUKE DJB 
 BOURBON THE LAW-SUIT ACCESSION OF ADRIAN VI. FRANCIS RESOLVES 
 TO ATTEMPT THE RECOVERY OF THE MILANESE HE LEVIES A TAX ON 
 THE STATES OF LANGUEDOC CHARLES V. VISITS ENGLAND THE TWO 
 SOVEREIGNS AGREE TO INVADE FRANCE FRANCIS SENDS REINFORCE- 
 MENTS TO THE ARMY OF LAUTREC THE FRENCH TAKE NOVARRA BUT 
 ARE REPULSED BEFORE PAVIA PROSPER COLONNA ESTABLISHES HIMSELF 
 AT BICOCCA THE SWISS UNDER LAUTREC MUTINY, AND INSIST UPON 
 MEETING THE ENEMY LAUTREC MARCHES ON BICOCCA DISORDERLY 
 CHARGE OF THE SWISS MERCENARIES THEY DESERT LAUTREC RETREATS 
 TO CREMONA AND PROCEEDS TO FRANCE LESCUN ASSUMES THE COM- 
 MAND, IS ATTACKED BY COLONNA, AND COMPELLED TO CAPITULATE 
 THE VENETIAN SENATE DECLINE TO ENTER INTO A TREATY WITH FRANCE 
 LESCUN EVACUATES LOMBARDY PESCARA MARCHES AGAINST GENOA 
 THE CITY IS TAKEN BY TREACHERY CRUELTY OF THE IMPERIALIST 
 GENERALS THE FRENCH LOSE ITALY.
 
 1522.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 415 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 [1522.] 
 
 MEANWHILE the Duke de Bourbon, who had become 
 a widower, and who could not forget the affront to 
 which he had been subjected by the king at Valen- 
 ciennes, instead of joining the court at Amboise had 
 established himself at his hotel in Paris, where he lived 
 in almost complete seclusion, receiving only a few of his 
 most intimate friends and followers ; apparently absorbed 
 by some dark and engrossing thought, and occupied in 
 taking measures to protect himself against the preten- 
 sions of Madame d'Angouleme ; who, on the pretext of 
 being herself a Bourbon, had instituted a claim to inherit 
 from his late wife the large property which he had 
 received as her dowry. 
 
 Unaware of the secret motive by which Louise de 
 Savoie was thus urged to an attempt which would, if 
 successful, reduce him from one of the most wealthy 
 to one of the most needy nobles of the court, Bourbon 
 saw only in the obstinate rigour with which she pro- 
 secuted her suit the open demonstration of an impla- 
 cable enmity; and the iron which before had already 
 entered his heart, corroded there.
 
 416 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 Thus it was with more surprise than alacrity that he 
 obeyed her summons to Amboise, although it reached 
 him in an autograph letter couched in the most courteous 
 terms ; nor was he less astonished when he found him- 
 self welcomed with the same warmth and urbanity. 
 
 Madame d'Angouleme, although she had now attained 
 her forty-seventh year, was still a superb woman ; and 
 her mirror only reflected the flatteries of the courtiers. 
 Her gallantries were as unrestrained and as numerous as 
 ever ; and she did not care to remember that time was 
 passing rapidly over her which she could never redeem. 
 We have already hinted at her passion for the conne- 
 table ; and that passion, although it had been suffered to 
 slumber for a time, had never been suppressed. The 
 very litigation into which she had entered had been under- 
 taken rather as a means than as a result ; and satisfied 
 that she had now awakened the fears of the duke, she 
 simply sought to complete her work by awakening alike 
 his ambition and his softer feelings. Nothing had been 
 omitted to strengthen the spell : her attire, on his recep- 
 tion, was both graceful and gorgeous; her manner at 
 once dignified and gentle ; her arguments at the same 
 time reproachful and reluctant : but still Bourbon stood 
 his ground, and maintained his rights. 
 
 "You are obdurate, duke;" she said at length, with 
 a smile which was half smothered in a sigh ; " You do 
 not, or you will not, understand me. At a former 
 period, and under the same circumstances, this very 
 question which we are now discussing was argued 
 between yourself and Madame Anne de France ; and 
 finally arranged in a manner which we should perhaps, 
 in our turn, do well to imitate."
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 417 
 
 ' Would that it were possible, Madam ; " replied 
 Bourbon gloomily ; " but M. d'Alencon has been fated 
 to thwart me in my path through life. He has lately 
 robbed me of my honour and he married Madame 
 Marguerite." 
 
 " True ;" said the duchess biting her lip ; " the king's 
 sister is beyond your reach but the king's mother, 
 M. de Bourbon, is a widow." 
 
 " Do I understand you rightly, Madam ? " asked the 
 duke as a cloud gathered upon his brow ; " Do not jest 
 with me. Recent events have rendered me a poor 
 courtier." 
 
 "I am sincere, Connetable;" said Louise de Savoie 
 energetically ; " I am ready to make our separate inter- 
 ests one and indivisible." 
 
 "I thank you, Madam;" was the cold rejoinder; 
 " you have conferred upon me an honour which I could 
 not anticipate, and by which I regret that I cannot profit. 
 I shall never contract a second marriage ; and if this be 
 the alternative of your forbearance I must brave the 
 worst. If our law-suit is to proceed, so be it; I am 
 prepared to uphold my claim." 
 
 " As you will, Monsieur de Bourbon ; " said the 
 duchess rising haughtily from her seat; "our inter- 
 view is at an end, and henceforth we are strangers to 
 each other." 
 
 The connetable attempted no rejoinder; but with a 
 ceremonious salutation he quitted the apartment, and 
 left the haughty Louise de Savoie to her reflections. 
 
 It was the first occasion upon which, during a long 
 career of vice, she had been made to feel that she was 
 VOL. i. E E
 
 418 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 scorned, and for a time she was half suffocated by con- 
 flicting emotions. In so far as her corrupted heart was 
 capable of such a feeling she had loved Bourbon ; she, 
 the mother of a king, with one foot upon the steps of 
 the throne, she had loved a subject, and had been 
 repulsed ! But Louise de Savoie could hate as vehe- 
 mently as she had loved. 
 
 Nor was Bourbon less decided in his aversion to 
 Madame d'Angouleme than he had by this interview 
 rendered her towards himself. It was to her interfer- 
 ence that he attributed the marriage of her daughter 
 to the Duke d'Alen^on, at a period when he could no 
 longer entertain a doubt that had the princess been per- 
 mitted to follow her own inclination, she would have 
 become his wife; and, subsequently, his disgust was 
 deepened by her undisguised protection of Bonnivet, 
 whose passion for Marguerite was well known ; and a dis- 
 gust which was heightened by the fact that the Admiral 
 was accused during a visit made by the court to his 
 chateau in Poitou, of having adopted such measures to 
 possess himself, if not of the affections, at least of the 
 person of the princess, as must have cost him his head, 
 favourite as he was, had not the principal attendant of 
 Madame d'Alericon ventured to remind her imprudent 
 mistress, (who in the first burst of her indignation was 
 about to communicate the whole transaction to the king,) 
 that affairs of so delicate a nature would not bear 
 handling ; and that there were evil tongues about the 
 court which would not hesitate to imply that M. de Bon- 
 nivet must have received more than ordinary encourage- 
 ment before he could have dared so much.
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 419 
 
 Nevertheless, the trustworthiness of the same lady may 
 well be suspected, as a whispered version of the disgrace- 
 ful tale soon spread among the courtiers, and at length 
 reached the ears of the connetable, whose indignation was 
 unbounded ; and who, with the natural haughtiness which 
 was inherent in him, considered himself doubly aggrieved 
 that such an outrage should remain unpunished, when the 
 aggressor was a vassal of his own, who did homage to him 
 for his estates, and moreover a man of comparatively 
 humble birth. So great indeed was his contempt for the 
 sudden rise of Bonnivet, whom he saw daily increasing in 
 arrogance, and affecting a magnificence with which he 
 could not himself compete, that as he was pacing the 
 marble hall of the favourite beside the king, who was 
 warmly expatiating upon the taste and splendour of the 
 whole edifice, he continued resolutely silent, until Francis, 
 struck by the circumstance, turned towards him sud- 
 denly with the exclamation : "You amaze me, M. le 
 Connetable 1 You who delight in all that is rich and 
 great you have not bestowed even one word of praise 
 upon this splendid pile. And yet, you cannot deny that 
 it is a noble residence. Be candid what think you of it ? " 
 
 "That the cage is too large for the bird;" was the 
 dogged reply, as the duke paused in front of a window 
 overlooking his own chateau of Chatellerault, which 
 appeared like a mere villa from the spot on which he 
 stood. 
 
 The king made no comment upon the abruptness of 
 his companion, nor did he affect to comprehend the 
 movement by which it was accompanied; although he 
 was probably reminded at that instant of the feeling 
 
 E E 2
 
 420 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522 
 
 which he had himself experienced, when in the year 1517, 
 he had stood sponsor to the infant son of the duke, who 
 received him and his court at Moulins with a magnificence 
 that was almost regal. On that occasion both the cere- 
 mony and the banquet by which it was succeeded, were 
 gorgeous in the extreme; and several days were con- 
 sumed in tournays, masquerades, balls, and other pas- 
 times ; during the whole of which time the guests were 
 waited on by five hundred gentlemen of good family, 
 attired in rich suits of velvet, and each wearing about 
 his neck a triple chain of gold ; a decoration, which at 
 that period was not only esteemed as one of excessive 
 magnificence, but also implied the rank of the entertainer. 
 
 Although he saw fit to display so much splendour at 
 the christening of his son, M. de Bourbon had, from the 
 hour of his birth, felt convinced that the infant would not 
 survive ; his mother, Suzanne de Bourbon, being not only 
 infirm in health, but also slightly deformed in person ; 
 and his foreboding proved correct; for not only did 
 the child die within a few months, but was followed 
 by the mother at the commencement of the following 
 year. 
 
 We have already stated, early in the work, that it was 
 to avoid a weary and uncertain law-suit that the conne- 
 table had been induced to accept the hand of his cousin, 
 while his heart was wholly given to the princess Mar- 
 guerite ; and, accordingly, he had by his marriage with 
 Suzanne, united ah 1 the possessions of the several branches 
 of the Bourbon family, which rendered him at once the 
 most wealthy and the most powerful noble in France. 
 The death of his wife was succeeded in the following
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 421 
 
 year by that of her mother, Madame Anne de France ; 
 and thus the duke found himself, as he believed, the sole 
 legitimate claimant to enormous possessions ; and became 
 anxious for an heir to his proud name and ample for- 
 tunes. The Duchess d'Alencon was lost to him; and 
 after some lingering regrets, he had so far overcome his 
 repugnance to a second marriage with another, as to ask 
 of Francis the hand of the Princess Renee, the sister of 
 Queen Claude. 
 
 The king, however, who saw in this proposal only 
 a new proof of the soaring ambition of his already too 
 powerful subject, and Madame d'Angouleme, for still 
 more personal reasons, were alike regardless both of the 
 claims of Bourbon, and of the entreaties of the princess, 
 who, endowed with remarkable intellect and a sound 
 judgment, was well able to appreciate the noble qualities 
 of her suitor. 
 
 The interference of the duchess-mother was not, as 
 we have seen, favourable to her own interests ; but only 
 served to add another to the long list of injuries which the 
 duke attributed to her influence ; and thus, when she so 
 far forgot the dignity of her station and the modesty of 
 her sex, as to offer to him her own hand, he revenged 
 himself not only by rejecting the proposal, but by detail- 
 ing the whole scene to his chosen friends, accompanying 
 his recital by terms so offensive to the character of the 
 duchess as to exasperate Francis ; who, it is even said, 
 upon one occasion, raised his hand to strike him. 
 
 Under these circumstances Louise de Savoie vowed 
 his ruin ; and unfortunately her authority over the 
 chancellor had long been so unbounded, that she urged
 
 422 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 forward the threatened law-suit with an acrimony and 
 perseverance which betrayed her perfect confidence in 
 its result. 
 
 While this important cause was pending, the college 
 of cardinals was engrossed by the necessity of electing 
 a new pope; and meanwhile the confederated sovereigns, 
 who had lost in Leo X. a powerful and sure ally, 
 suspended their proceedings, uncertain as to what might 
 be the views and principles of his successor. Among 
 the numerous competitors for the vacant dignity it 
 was, however, universally believed that the choice of 
 the conclave would fall either on the Cardinal de' Medici, 
 the nephew of the deceased pontiff, or Wolsey, the 
 English minister. The one relied upon the efforts made 
 by Leo X. to secure his election, and the other upon the 
 often repeated pledges of the emperor. Both were, 
 nevertheless, fated to disappointment; and great was 
 the astonishment, not only of the two candidates them- 
 selves, when, despite all the intrigues of their several 
 parties, they found themselves unsuccessful, but also 
 that of all Christendom, when it was ascertained that 
 a man whose very name had hitherto been almost un- 
 heard in Rome, and who had apparently made no effort 
 to attain the triple crown, was called to the chair 
 of St. Peter. The influence of the Medici, and the 
 crooked policy of Wolsey, who had not scrupled to 
 sacrifice the honour of his monarch and the interests 
 of his country to his own wild dream of ambition, had 
 succumbed beneath the superior craft of the wily Charles ; 
 and on the 9th of January 1522, Adrian, Cardinal of 
 Tortosa, the former preceptor of the emperor, and his
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 423 
 
 present governor in Spain, was elected by an overwhelm- 
 ing majority. 
 
 Francis did not for a moment deceive himself as to 
 the probable results of this new triumph on the part of 
 his enemy ; for not only had Charles, by influencing the 
 conclave to elect one of his own devoted servants to the 
 papal see, given him an immediate and powerful interest 
 in Italy, but it had also convinced all who were attached 
 to his cause that he was both able and willing to promote 
 their fortunes. This new mortification rankled deeply 
 with the French king ; and it served to arouse him for a 
 time from his trance of pleasure, and to decide him to 
 make another and a strenuous effort to reinstate himself 
 in the Milanese. The power of Charles had become for- 
 midable to all Europe. The whole of Germany acknow- 
 ledged him as its emperor ; every European sovereign was 
 either his ally or his dependent; his sway was now 
 colossal; and Francis saw himself called upon to contend 
 single-handed against a hydra-headed enemy. Of the 
 growing hostility of England moreover he had long ceased 
 to entertain a doubt, and he accordingly anticipated from 
 day to day a declaration of war, which had been hitherto 
 delayed rather from policy than from inclination. 
 
 Nor were his home prospects more cheering. His 
 frontiers were for the most part unfortified, and his 
 treasury empty ; his subjects already overwhelmed with 
 taxation, and the citizens of Paris full of discontent. 
 Even the very courtiers about him, although they were 
 not insensible to pleasure, were still greedy of glory ; 
 and many a noble brow darkened as the shadow of 
 coming events loomed over their country. In this
 
 424 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 emergency, his first measures were to levy a tax of twenty- 
 live thousand livres on the states of Languedoc, for 
 the purpose of repairing the fortifications of Narbonne 
 and the fortresses of the eastern Pyrenees ; to renew 
 the sale of judicial offices ; and finally, to institute per- 
 petual rents on the Hotel-de-Ville. These arrangements 
 were not made, however, without considerable opposition. 
 Strong in his sense of the royal prerogative, Francis 
 disdained to explain to his subjects in the more distant 
 provinces the fearful emergency in which he was in- 
 volved; and thus, what through personal alarm or 
 national pride might have been conceded to him without 
 serious difficulty, was withheld from a resolution to resist 
 the mere dictates of an arbitrary will. 
 
 While the French king was engaged in these financial 
 operations, the emperor paid a second visit to England, 
 and remained the guest of Henry VIII. during six 
 weeks ; where he employed his time so successfully as to 
 induce his royal host to ratify in person the betrothal 
 secretly concluded at Bruges by the cardinal-legate 
 between himself and the Princess Mary, who was to 
 receive a dowry of four hundred thousand crowns ; 
 and to obtain his pledge that he would enter France 
 simultaneously with himself before the end of May 
 1524, accompanied by an army of forty thousand 
 infantry, and ten thousand horse ; each declaring the 
 several provinces over which he affected to have a claim, 
 and receiving the promise of the other that he should 
 be permitted to retain them in the event of their 
 subjugation. 
 
 The treasury of France was no sooner replenished
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 425 
 
 than Francis lost no time in providing for the restoration 
 of the Milanese ; and despatched for that purpose a sup- 
 ply of money to the Marechal de Lautrec by the Bastard 
 of Savoie, M. de Chabannes, and the Count de Mont- 
 morenci, to whom he moreover gave authority to levy 
 a force of sixteen thousand Swiss. The effect of this 
 reinforcement was electrical; the flagging spirit of the 
 French troops revived ; and Lautrec, eager to revenge his 
 late defeat, displayed an energy which, had it been more 
 seasonably developed, might have saved the duchy. 
 Several of the minor towns were retaken ; and, flushed 
 with hope, the marechal pushed forward to Milan, where 
 he was gallantly opposed by the garrison, but never- 
 theless commenced an attack upon the city, to whose 
 capture however, the hatred with which he had inspired 
 the inhabitants proved an equally formidable obstacle. 
 
 Weary of his iron rule, they defended themselves 
 with an energy that baffled all his eiforts ; and at 
 length, convinced that his attempt to reduce Milan was 
 hopeless, he was reluctantly compelled to abandon it, 
 and to march upon Novarra, which having yielded, 
 enabled him to form a junction with some troops which 
 his brother had brought to his assistance, and among 
 whom were Pietro da Navarro who had for a time 
 abandoned the cause of France, but whose sword was 
 once more unsheathed in her defence and the redoubt- 
 able Bayard. He then made an attack upon Pavia ; but 
 Prosper Colonna had not only succeeded in reaching 
 that city before him, but had also enabled Francisco 
 Sforza to join him with his troops ; an event which 
 prevented its capture.
 
 426 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 Having relieved Pavia, Colonna took up his quarters 
 at Bicocca, a castle seated in an extensive park, and 
 surrounded by deep ditches, about a league from Milan, 
 where he hastily threw up outworks, and rendered the 
 place so strong as to deter Lautrec from any attempt to 
 dislodge him. The situation of the Marechal was embar- 
 rassing ; for not only did Colonna hold him at bay in this 
 stronghold, but Anchiso Visconti with a body of Milanese 
 troops blockaded Arona, where a portion of the money 
 which had arrived for the pay of the army was thus 
 rendered unattainable. The French cavalry were already 
 eighteen months in arrear, but they nevertheless bore their 
 privations with patience, although they were both badly 
 equipped and still worse armed; while the Venetians, 
 who in accordance with the recent treaty had joined the 
 French forces for the defence of the Milanese, were 
 supine and cowardly, and resolutely refused either to 
 advance far from their own frontiers, or to risk their 
 safety in any engagement by which they could not in- 
 dividually profit. Finally the Swiss, wearied by a war 
 which afforded them no opportunity of pillage, and of a 
 general who preferred strategy to action, murmured 
 loudly when they found that the attack upon Bicocca 
 was relinquished; and had no sooner ascertained that 
 the long-expected supplies had reached Arona, than they 
 collected tumultuously about the tent of the marechal, 
 declaring that he should immediately satisfy their 
 demands or give battle to Colonna. 
 
 In vain did the French general explain to them the 
 impossibility of procuring the money during the blockade 
 of the town where it was deposited, and the impregnable
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 427 
 
 nature of the papal general's position ; they were deaf to 
 his reasonings, and persisted that they would be paid, 
 brought hand to hand with the enemy, or disband 
 themselves. 
 
 The alternative was difficult, as the departure of the 
 mercenaries would have been equivalent to a defeat, and 
 Lautrec was painfully convinced that it would be imme- 
 diately followed by that of the Venetians, already weary 
 of the service in which they were engaged. In this 
 
 / O O 
 
 emergency he consulted the feelings of his troops, who 
 were all eager for action, and although against his own 
 judgment and that of M. de Savoie and the Marquis de 
 la Palice, he ultimately left Monza on the 29th of 
 April, (1523,) at daybreak, having committed the charge 
 of the vanguard to Montmorenci, that of the rear to the 
 Duke d'Urbino, and reserved to himself the command 
 of the main body. He had consented that the Swiss 
 should, as they had demanded, attack the enemy in 
 front, while his brother, the Marechal de Foix, should 
 march to the left upon the bridge, and effect an entrance 
 into the enclosure ; a third division, whom he caused to 
 substitute the red cross for the national one of white, in 
 the hope that they might be mistaken by Colonna for 
 a body of his own troops, were ordered to the right ; 
 while the Black Bands and the Venetians were to 
 support the Swiss and to act as a reserve. 
 
 In order to secure the success of this combined attack, 
 however, it was necessary that the three divisions should 
 arrive on the ground simultaneously; and that the Swiss 
 who were in advance should move slowly, in order to 
 give time to the other bodies to come up with them ;
 
 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 a circumstance which was strenuously explained by 
 the anxious general, who was aware that the fortunes 
 of the day hinged mainly upon this manoeuvre. His 
 eloquence, however, availed nothing ; arrogant and head- 
 strong, the mercenaries affected to despise the enemy 
 against whom they were about to contend, and com- 
 plained that too much time had already been lost in 
 futile calculations ; and accordingly, Montmorenci had 
 no sooner halted in a defile under cover of the entrench- 
 ments, for the purpose of awaiting the arrival of the 
 artillery, than they openly opposed his authority; and 
 asserting that they did not require the assistance of the 
 French guns, rushed tumultuously forward, exposing 
 themselves to the fire of the enemy which swept them 
 off in files as they advanced, without themselves losing a 
 single man, protected as they were by entrenchments so 
 loftily constructed that the Swiss could scarcely attain 
 the summit with their pikes. 
 
 It was a butchery rather than a conflict. Three 
 thousand of them fell before they would retreat, and 
 among others their celebrated leader Albert de la Pierre; 
 while Montmorenci was so desperately wounded that he 
 was carried from the field. At the precise moment 
 when they at length gave way, Lautrec had reached the 
 right wing of Colonna's army ; but the papal general 
 fearing some stratagem on the part of his adversary, had 
 negatived the ruse of the Marechal by causing his men to 
 add a green bough to the red cross on their uniform, and 
 the imperialist troops consequently fell upon the French 
 whom they at once recognised, without fear of mistake. 
 As the engagement commenced M. de Lescun passed the
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 429 
 
 bridge, but it was already too late. Colonna, relieved 
 from the attack of the Swiss, who were totally routed, 
 had full leisure to turn his whole strength against 
 the two marshals, and to compel their retreat. 
 
 The position attained by the Marechal de Foix, who 
 had succeeded in forcing an entrance to the enemy's 
 entrenchments, had inspired him for a time with the 
 hope that he might be enabled to hold his ground, and 
 to redeem the imprudence of the van-guard ; but unfor- 
 tunately for the French cause, he had also under his 
 command a number of Swiss troops, who instead of 
 supporting the gallant charge made by his cavalry, reso- 
 lutely refused to act ; and thus his whole brigade was 
 cut to pieces, while he himself had a narrow escape, his 
 horse having been killed under him, and a second with 
 difficulty secured to carry him from the field. This cir- 
 cumstance at once became evident to Colonna, who 
 attempted to profit by it on the instant, and for that 
 purpose ordered a sally to be made, by which the supine 
 mercenaries might be taken in flank ; but the manoeuvre, 
 rapidly as it was executed, was rendered abortive by 
 M. de Pontdormy, 1 who, suspecting the object of their 
 movement, attacked the advancing party with his cavalry 
 so resolutely, that before they could accomplish their 
 retreat the greater portion of them were destroyed. 
 
 1 Antoine de Crequi was the son of Jean de Crequi, the sixth of the 
 name, Seigneur de Crequi and Canaples. The original name of the 
 family was Pont-de-Remy, which had ultimately been corrupted into 
 Pontdormy. M. de Pontdormy was a brave general, and highly 
 esteemed, not only by his sovereign, but by all the army, who placed 
 the greatest faith in his intrepidity and judgment.
 
 430 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 Baffled, but not beaten, the French forces were still 
 formidable; and Lautrec, whose energy continued un- 
 abated, determined to renew the attack on the following 
 day ; but aware of the great importance of retaining the 
 Swiss troops, he exerted all his eloquence to induce them 
 to remain within sight of Bicocca, and even pledged 
 himself that his own men should sustain the brunt of 
 the battle, if they would promise to support them. 
 
 Conscious, however, that they had by their own im- 
 prudence trammelled his proceedings, they maintained a 
 sullen silence ; refused to communicate their intentions ; 
 and assumed the position of persons who considered 
 themselves aggrieved. Had they possessed sufficient 
 temper to be influenced by the arguments of the marechal, 
 and remained true to their engagements, all might still 
 have been retrieved, and their own sullied glory restored; 
 but the representations of the Cardinal of Sion, who from 
 the opposite camp had never ceased his efforts to estrange 
 them from the cause of France, combined with their 
 mortification, rendered them invulnerable to persuasion ; 
 and on the morrow they not only commenced their 
 retreat, but even effected it in so tumultuous and dis- 
 orderly a manner, that Lautrec saw himself compelled to 
 detach the whole of his cavalry to cover their rear in 
 order to preserve them from total annihilation ; and thus 
 sheltered, they made their way to Bergama, and thence 
 returned to their mountains. 
 
 Nor was this the only serious defalcation with which 
 the French general had to contend; for his prescience 
 as regarded the Venetians had not deceived him. Their 
 inertness and disaffection became so evident after the
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 431 
 
 departure of the mercenaries that he found himself 
 reduced to the necessity of sending M. de Montmorenci 
 at once to Venice, in order to effect a better understanding 
 with the only Italian state which still remained friendly 
 to France, and to abandon all further idea of attacking 
 Colonna in his stronghold. Once more, therefore, he 
 strengthened the few fortresses which still maintained 
 their allegiance to Francis ; and leaving the command of 
 his exhausted and harassed army to his brother, the 
 Marechal de Foix, he started for Paris, to explain in 
 person to the king the causes which had conduced to his 
 defeat, and to secure more efficient aid both in money 
 and troops. 
 
 Lautrec had not only lost a great number of men, but 
 many of his bravest officers had fallen ; while his whole 
 remaining force was dispirited, and ill able to contend 
 against the formidable enemy to which it was opposed. 
 Colonna profited by his knowledge of these circum- 
 stances, and abandoning his position at Bicocca, he at once 
 marched upon Cremona, which he invested, aware that 
 the Marechal de Foix had retired there with the remnant 
 of his army, accompanied by Giovanni de' Medici at the 
 head of about sixteen hundred Italians, to whom one of 
 the gates of the city was confided. This reinforcement had 
 inspired the French general with new courage, and he 
 made immediate preparations for defence, trusting still to 
 redeem the disasters of the late engagement ; but once 
 more he was destined to prove the danger and incon- 
 venience attendant upon the command of an army 
 without either political or national sympathies. Could 
 he have secured in lieu of this Florentine force an equal
 
 432 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 number of his own countrymen, there is no doubt that he 
 might have held the important place which he then occu- 
 pied ; but, with true Italian guile, de' Medici no sooner 
 saw Colonna before the walls than he made an applica- 
 tion for the immediate payment of the arrears due to 
 his followers, and even threatened to open the gate of 
 which he had possession, to the imperialist general, if his 
 claim were not cancelled upon the instant. Impoverished 
 as he was, it was with extreme difficulty that M. de 
 Lescun raised the sum demanded, and silenced the 
 clamours of his soi-disant allies, with the help of his 
 principal officers ; but the ill-timed pertinacity of the 
 Florentine at once convinced him that he must place no 
 reliance upon the sincerity of his assistance ; and under 
 this impression he saw no other alternative than that of a 
 capitulation with the enemy, by which he bound himself 
 to deliver up the city at the expiration of three months 
 unless troops should in the interval arrive from France 
 to reinforce him. Colonna accepted the offered terms, 
 which, by relieving him from the necessity of employing 
 his troops before Cremona, afforded him an opportunity 
 of besieging Genoa. 
 
 The Venetian senate, moreover, no sooner ascertained 
 this proof of weakness on the part of the French general, 
 than, although upon the point of acceding to the treaty 
 proposed by Montmorenci, they wavered, hesitated, and 
 finally declined to sign it, under the conviction that no 
 army could reach Italy in time to release the French 
 marshal from his engagements ; and thus, reduced to 
 rely upon their own attenuated strength, and unable to 
 make head against an overpowering enemy, the army of
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 433 
 
 Francis successively lost Lodi and Pizzighettona, the first 
 by siege, and the latter by a capitulation ; and finally, 
 Lescun saw himself, on the 21st of May, reduced to 
 sign an agreement, by which he was bound to evacuate 
 the whole of Lombardy save the three fortresses of Cre- 
 mona, Novara, and Milan, if he did not receive succour 
 within forty days; Andreo Gritti, the general of the 
 Venetians, having meanwhile retired with all his troops 
 to the frontier of his own country, and making no effort 
 beyond that of defending the post of which he had 
 possessed himself. 
 
 The whole of Italy was once more lost to France with 
 the exception of the solitary province of Genoa, which had 
 not been included in the capitulation of the Marechal de 
 Foix ; and even that was soon to follow, the Marquis de 
 Pescara having marched against it at the head of all the 
 Spanish foot, and a division of the Italian army, whose 
 natural rapacity was heightened by his promise that the 
 capture of the city would enable him to satisfy all their 
 demands, and to enrich them with the spoils of the 
 enemy against whom they were leagued. An immediate 
 capture of the place was, however, prevented by the 
 arrival of Pietro da Navarro with a couple of galleys and 
 two hundred French infantry, although his influence was 
 insufficient to prevent a parley between Pescara and the 
 Genoese burgesses, who sent a deputation to the Spanish 
 general to endeavour to effect favourable terms for them- 
 selves. During this conference it was clearly understood 
 on both sides that all hostilities were to be suspended ; 
 and the French soldiers gladly took advantage of the 
 interval to relax for a time in that rigour of disci- 
 
 VOL. i. F F
 
 434 COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. [1522. 
 
 pline which they had hitherto maintained. Fearless of 
 treachery, the guard of the city was diminished, and 
 many of the sentinels were withdrawn from their posts ; 
 a fearful and mistaken trust, which was fatally expiated ; 
 for some of Pescara's skirmishers having detected a 
 breach in the walls, communicated the discovery which 
 they had been heedlessly permitted to make, and pro- 
 fiting by this circumstance, effected an entrance into 
 the city, whither they were immediately followed by a 
 considerable force, and encountered only by Pietro da 
 Navarro and his little band of followers, who were at 
 once overpowered ; when despite the assistance rendered 
 by the citizens who treacherously welcomed the be- 
 siegers, Genoa the superb was pillaged with a cold- 
 blooded ferocity disgraceful to its captors. 
 
 This event sealed the ruin of the French cause. The 
 stipulated period for the release of Cremona had expired ; 
 and although reinforcements were sent from France 
 headed by the Duke de Longueville, they only arrived 
 in time to learn that no further hope existed of any suc- 
 cessful attempt, and consequently returned to Picardy, 
 where their services might still prove available, accom- 
 panied by the cavalry of the unfortunate Lescun.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 [1522.] 
 
 LOUISE DE SAVOIE URGES ON HEE LAW-SUIT AGAINST BOURBON THE PARLIA- 
 MENT REFUSES TO RATIFY THE DECISION OF THE JUDGES THE ESTATES 
 OF BOURBON ARE PLACED UNDER SEQUESTRATION UNGUARDED VIOLENCE 
 OF THE DUKE THE EMPEROR DESPATCHES M. DE BEAURAIN TO BOURBON 
 THE PRICE OF REBELLION BOURBON NEGOTIATES WITH WOLSEY 
 A DOUBLE TREASON IMPROVIDENCE OF FRANCIS EXCESSES OF THE 
 FRENCH SOLDIERY THE PLAGUE IN PARIS MOB RIOTS INEFFECTIVE 
 PRECAUTIONS DISCONTENT OF ADRIAN VI. HE ENDEAVOURS TO ALIEN. 
 ATE THE VENETIAN STATES FROM FRANCE THE VENETIANS ENTER INTO 
 THE EUROPEAN LEAGUE LAUTREC ARRIVES AT COURT IRRITATION OF 
 FRANCIS THE MARECHAL IS REFUSED AN AUDIENCE WANING INFLUENCE 
 OF MADAME DE CHATEAUBRIAND BOURBON ESPOUSES THE CAUSE OF 
 LAUTREC A STORMY INTERVIEW LAUTREC PLEADS HIS CAUSE BOLDLY 
 THE FINANCE-MINISTER AND THE REGENT LOUISE DE SAVOIE ACCUSED 
 OF APPROPRIATING THE PUBLIC MONIES TRUTH AND TREACHERY- 
 RECONCILIATION OF THE KING AND LAUTREC THE TWO FACTIONS QUEEN 
 CLAUDE URGES THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS RENEE AND BOURBON 
 THE PRINCESS IS DISSUADED BY THE REGENT THE FRENCH SUCCOUR 
 
 FONTARABIA DEATH OF THE MARQUIS DE CHATILLON CHARLES V. LANDS 
 AT DOVER AND MEETS HENRY VIII. UNJUST DEMANDS OF THE ENGLISH 
 KING DIGNIFIED REPLY OF FRANCIS ARROGANT DECLARATION OF BON- 
 NIVET CHARLES CONFERS THE PROTECTORATE OF THE LOW COUNTRIES 
 UPON HENRY VIII. WAR DECLARED AGAINST FRANCE BY ENGLAND THE 
 EARL OF SURREY AND THE COUNT DE BUREN ATTACK THE FRENCH FRON- 
 TIERS THE DUKE DE VENDOME PROCEEDS TO THE SEAT OF WAR 
 FRANCIS COINS THE SILVER SCREEN OF ST. MARTIN'S TOMB TO PAY HIS 
 TROOPS IMPRUDENT FUTILITY OF FRANCIS THE EARL OF SURREY 
 RETURNS TO ENGLAND FRANCIS DESPATCHES AN ARMY TO INVEST MILAN 
 FRANCIS IS APPRISED OF THE INTENDED REBELLION OF BOURBON 
 THE QUEEN'S DINNER BOURBON LEAVES THE COURT THE COUNT DE 
 ST. VALLIER PERTINACITY OF BOURBON HE RETIRES TO MOULINS. 
 
 F F 2
 
 1522.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 437 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 [1522.] 
 
 DESPITE these reverses, involving as they did the 
 honour of the French crown, and in themselves so 
 disastrous as to have claimed the whole attention of 
 Louise de Savoie, she had continued, with the assistance 
 of Duprat, to pursue her suit against the Duke de 
 Bourbon with an acrimony which betrayed the whole 
 extent of the hatred that she bore him. The possessions 
 which had formed the dowry of his wife, and had been 
 secured to her by the assent of her mother Madame Anne 
 de France, proceeded, as we have elsewhere stated, from 
 a twofold source. A portion of them descended in the 
 Bourbon family by inheritance ; and Madame d'Angou- 
 leme, who was the niece of the two last dukes of the 
 elder branch, became their legitimate heiress in the event 
 of her being enabled to set aside the donation made by 
 the duchess Suzanne to her husband; while the re- 
 mainder were appanages which the crown was competent 
 to reclaim at pleasure, and to reincorporate in the royal 
 domains. 
 
 It was upon the hereditary inheritance that Louise de 
 Savoie founded her pretensions, assuming that Madame
 
 43S THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 Suzanne de Bourbon had acted illegally in disposing of 
 the family property during her own lifetime and without 
 her sanction ; while the advocate-general, anxious still 
 further to second her views, to which he was no stranger, 
 demanded that all the titles by which M. de Bourbon 
 held his estates should be communicated to him in order 
 that he might be enabled to form his opinion upon the 
 legitimacy of his several claims ; declaring at the same 
 time that he was strongly inclined to believe that the whole 
 inheritance belonged by right of law to the monarch. 
 
 This judgment he speedily followed up by asserting 
 that no valid claim could be advanced to such portions of 
 the domains of the duke as had been secured to the 
 family of Bourbon during the reigns of Charles VII. and 
 Louis XI, such concessions having been sanctioned 
 rather by favour than by justice ; while those which had 
 been granted by Louis XII. were still more questionable 
 from the fact of their having encroached upon the rights 
 of the crown. Thus, and upon these arguments, he 
 reclaimed the county of La Marche, and the confiscated 
 lordships of the Duke de Nemours, settled upon his 
 daughter by Louis XI ; and he had no sooner procured a 
 decree of the parliament declaring the donation of non- 
 avail, and restoring these possessions to the king, than 
 he proceeded upon other grounds to attack the right of 
 M. de Bourbon to the duchies of Auvergne and Bour- 
 bonnais, and the county of Clermont. Here, however, 
 the parliament refused to ratify his decision ; alleging 
 that in all transfers of territory made among different 
 members of the reigning family, the law had always been 
 subordinate to the will of the monarch, and that the
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 439 
 
 precedent of setting aside the acts of the four preceding 
 sovereigns would have a tendency so dangerous, that 
 they could not immediately decide a point of such im- 
 portance. Enough had, however, been done to convince 
 M. de Bourbon that the Duchess d'Angouleme was 
 determined to effect his ruin ; a conviction in which he 
 was strengthened by the fact, that all his public revenues 
 were stopped upon the pretence of necessities of state ; 
 while the duchies and counties which were still objects 
 of litigation, were placed under sequestration until the 
 final sentence should be pronounced. 
 
 The indignation of the connetable accordingly exceeded 
 all bounds ; nor did he make an effort to conceal the 
 nature of his feelings, either towards Louise de Savoie 
 herself, or against the king, who was weak enough to 
 submit to the arbitrary will of a woman without dignity 
 or character. This unguarded vehemence of language 
 was quickly conveyed to the ears of Madame d'Angou- 
 leme, who revenged herself by urging on the reluctant 
 parliament to a decision ; and by overlooking, either 
 wilfully or blindly, the possible consequences of an 
 animosity which she had carried to persecution. 
 
 So important a struggle became, as a natural con- 
 sequence, known and canvassed at every European 
 court ; and the emperor no sooner ascertained the pitch 
 of reckless exasperation at which Bourbon had arrived, 
 than he despatched to France the Count de Beaurain, his 
 lieutenant-general in the Low Countries, and a cousin of 
 M. de Chievres, his late minister, who arrived in the 
 spring of 1523 at Moulins, where the duke was then 
 residing, and exhibiting an ostentatious display of magni-
 
 440 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 ficence better calculated to deepen the dislike of Francis 
 and his mother than to propitiate their favour. The 
 imperial envoy found him in precisely the temper which 
 Charles had anticipated. He had become careless to the 
 interests of France ; regardless of her claims upon him 
 as a citizen ; disgusted alike with her laws, her policy, 
 and her honours ; chafed at the insult which had been 
 put upon him at the head of his troops, and irritated by 
 the injustice which was stripping him of his civil privi- 
 leges. Adrien de Croi, Sire de Beaurain, was no stranger 
 to Bourbon, having been his prisoner two years pre- 
 viously at Hesdin, where, during the brief captivity of 
 the former, a mutual regard had been engendered ; and 
 thus the duke did not scruple to lay before him the 
 extent of his grievances, or to admit that he should not 
 hesitate to adopt any measure by which he might revenge 
 himself upon his persecutors. 
 
 This opportunity now presented itself ; and with all the 
 bitterness of desperation, Bourbon listened to the terms 
 proposed by the emperor, who offered, in the event of his 
 abandoning the cause of Francis for his own, to assist 
 him in the recovery of the estates which had been wrested 
 from him, and, moreover, to give him the hand of his 
 sister Eleanora, the widowed Queen of Portugal, with the 
 province of Beaujolois as her dower. These proposals 
 were however insufficient to satisfy the vengeance of the 
 connetable ; who declared that, in return for his allegiance 
 to Charles, he demanded, not only what the emperor had 
 shown himself ready to concede, but also that Henry VIII. 
 should be admitted to a league whereby France should 
 be dismembered, Languedoc, Burgundy, Champagne,
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 441 
 
 and Picardy, be relinquished to Charles himself ; Provence 
 and Dauphiny annexed to his own appanage of the 
 Bourbonnais and Auvergne, and erected into a kingdom ; 
 and the remainder of France delivered over to Henry. 
 
 The terms of the duke, monstrous as they were, were 
 accepted by M. de Beaurain without hesitation ; and it 
 was then concluded that Bourbon, in order to facilitate 
 the success of the project, should endeavour to take pos- 
 session of the king's person, on his passage through some 
 of the provinces ; or, in the event of his failing to accom- 
 plish this object, should, so soon as Francis had crossed 
 the Alps to rejoin the army in Italy, raise a force of a 
 thousand nobles with their followers, and six thousand 
 infantry, and uniting his troops with twelve thousand 
 lansquenets whom the emperor would march through 
 Franche-Comte, impede the French king on his return. 
 
 From Moulins M. de Beaurain at once proceeded to 
 England to negotiate for his imperial master ; and he was 
 immediately followed by the Seigneur de Chateaufort, 
 the chamberlain of the connetable, charged with a letter 
 from the duke to Wolsey, and authorized to proffer upon 
 his part such terms to Henry as were calculated to 
 remove every objection which he might otherwise have 
 felt to embark in so extreme and treacherous an under- 
 taking. The result was such as Bourbon had anticipated. 
 The English monarch, dazzled by the prospect of a 
 second throne, by an act dated May the 17th, 1523, 
 gave full powers to two of his counsellors to treat with 
 the connetable, under the title of " Most Serene Prince ;" 
 and also authorized his ambassadors in Spain to negotiate 
 with him, upon his swearing homage and fealty to him-
 
 442 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 self as King of France ; and a short time subsequently he 
 despatched a disguised envoy to Bourg-en-Bresse, (where 
 the connetable was residing for a time, in order to be in 
 the more immediate neighbourhood of his new allies,) to 
 receive his pledge that he would fulfil the conditions of 
 the compact which he had made, without reservation. 
 This pledge was instantly given by the duke, and pre- 
 parations were made without further delay by Henry and 
 his minister for the advance of an English army upon 
 Normandy. 
 
 While these secret negotiations were thus progressing, 
 Francis, notwithstanding his recent reverses in Italy, the 
 menacing position of the enemy, the helplessness of his 
 frontiers, and the impoverished state of his army which 
 was still suffering from need of the long-withheld sup- 
 plies, was wasting alike both time and money in the 
 most reckless extravagance. The expenses of his court 
 amounted to the enormous sum of a hundred and fifty 
 thousand livres monthly. Balls, banquets, tilting matches, 
 and hunting parties, absorbed all his attention ; and 
 meanwhile, the kingdom was thrown into a state of 
 fearful disorder by the troops, who, having no other 
 means of sustaining life, were existing upon the pillage 
 of the inhabitants ; at first confining their outrages to the 
 scattered villages, and contenting themselves with rapine ; 
 but ultimately even entering the towns, and committing 
 enormities of every description. Nor was the capital 
 exempt from its own horrors, the plague having declared 
 itself in a form so fearful that hundreds fell victims to 
 its ravages ; and continued, month after month, with a 
 virulence which palsied the energies of the faculty.
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 443 
 
 Street tumults were of continual occurrence ; and, as 
 upon all similar occasions, the people murmured loudly, 
 attributing their sufferings to human agency ; while 
 assassinations became so frequent, that, in order to 
 appease the popular fury, Francis found himself com- 
 pelled, early in the spring, to take up his abode in the 
 palace of the Tournelles, and endeavour to calm the ex- 
 cited spirit of the mob by showing himself among them. 
 The effort was, however, unavailing; and as he soon 
 wearied of a position as useless as it was dangerous, he 
 threatened to withdraw to Amboise, when the senechal 
 of the palace caused two gibbets to be erected at the 
 entrance, in order to inspire more respect for the king's 
 person ; but even this extreme demonstration failed in its 
 effect, for they were removed during the night by a body 
 of men armed to the teeth ; and Francis, indignant at 
 the insult which had been offered to him in his own 
 capital, after having held a bed of justice on the 30th 
 of June, and declared his firm determination to punish 
 the authors of these outrages, left the capital; and, as 
 we have already stated, was soon immersed once more 
 in pleasure and dissipation. 
 
 By a fortunate combination of circumstances, the only 
 frontiers on the north of France which it was necessary 
 to defend at this juncture were those of Champagne and 
 Picardy ; but even near these, exposed as they were to 
 the double attack of the English and the Flemish, Francis 
 neglected to assemble an army ; contenting himself by 
 ordering the Duke de Vendome, who was governor of 
 the latter province, to distribute his forces between the 
 several fortresses, and instructing M. de la Treinouille, who
 
 Ill THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 had charge of the former with five hundred lances, to 
 raise ten thousand infantry, which he effected ; but as 
 he obtained them from the plough, and other agricultural 
 pursuits, they were ill-fitted to encounter and contend 
 successfully with well-disciplined and experienced troops. 
 
 Adrian VI. had laboured, from the moment at which 
 he ascended the papal throne, to re-establish the peace of 
 Europe, and had even avoided an interview with the 
 emperor ; but he had nevertheless felt aggrieved that the 
 French king should persevere in his pretensions, and con- 
 sequently make a chilling reply to his advances. His 
 natural prejudices were in favour of Charles; and although 
 he had succeeded in reconciling the Dukes of Urbino and 
 Ferrara with the Holy See, he had nevertheless detached 
 them from the interests of France ; and the French 
 troops had no sooner evacuated Italy than he addressed 
 to the Venetian senate a letter in which he urged them 
 to renounce an alliance which could only tend to involve 
 the papal dominions in renewed bloodshed, by encou- 
 raging the French in a fresh attempt to effect the con- 
 quest of Lombardy. 
 
 The appeal was not without its effect; Venice, 
 separated as she was from France, and menaced by all 
 Europe, was in no position to maintain so unequal 
 and precarious a warfare; but, still the senate were 
 anxious to gain time. They were aware that they had 
 already lost much, and gained nothing by their French 
 alliance ; while Francis had recently despatched envoys to 
 inform them that in the spring of 1523 he should enter 
 Lombardy with a powerful army ; and they were fearful 
 of committing themselves. Their indecision was, how-
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 445 
 
 ever, terminated by a letter from their ambassador at 
 Paris, who assured them that the French king was no 
 longer an enemy to be feared, for that he had so entirely 
 abandoned himself to sensuality and dissipation, that he 
 expended on his own selfish gratification the principal 
 portion of the national revenue ; while his whole thoughts 
 were so absorbed by these pursuits that he seldom, and 
 even then at the most inopportune moments, ever suffered 
 a serious reflection or representation to divert him from 
 his mistresses or his amusements ; and that in order to 
 organize an army he must either sell or mortgage the 
 royal domains, or exhaust the kingdom by the most 
 fearful exactions ; that all France accused his supineness 
 for the misfortunes which had recently supervened ; and 
 that, moreover, there were reasons for suspecting that 
 a powerful prince of his family was about to abandon his 
 allegiance. 
 
 This communication at once determined the Venetian 
 senators. Aware that they could place implicit trust in 
 the report of their representative, they announced to the 
 pope their readiness to abandon the cause of a monarch 
 who was thus careless of his own interests ; and on the 3d 
 of August, a general European league was signed against 
 France, whereby the several sovereigns bound themselves 
 to mutual support in their respective aggressions or 
 reclaimers. 
 
 A new cause of anxiety, moreover, presented itself 
 at this time, in the jeopardy of the island of Rhodes, 
 where the knights of St. John of Jerusalem had esta- 
 blished themselves for the avowed purpose of carrying 
 on a warfare against the Turks; in which they had for
 
 440 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 some time been eminently successful under the brave and 
 skilful guidance of their grand-master Villiers de 1'Isle- 
 Adam. Soliman, who had been elected to the sovereignty 
 of Turkey during the preceding year, and who had 
 already evinced his belligerent propensities by the in- 
 vasion of the Hungarian frontiers, and the capture of 
 Belgrade, had recently turned his attention towards 
 Rhodes ; and the grand-master, on becoming apprised 
 of his hostile intentions, had hastened to fortify his 
 stronghold, and had collected about him a number of 
 his bravest knights in order to repel the attack. The 
 Turkish force proved, however, to be overwhelming; 
 no less than three hundred vessels, with two hundred 
 thousand troops, being despatched against the Chris- 
 tians, which were shortly followed by the sultan himself, 
 to whom the capture of this stronghold was important 
 alike as a matter of safety and of religion. 
 
 The defence of the knights was worthy of their repu- 
 tation ; and for six entire months they held out against 
 the gigantic enemy to whom they were opposed, in the 
 full reliance that the princes of Christendom would not 
 allow the declared champions of their holy faith to be 
 defeated from lack of help. But in this trust they were 
 unfortunately deceived ; the jealous animosity which ex- 
 isted between the emperor and the French king rendering 
 them severally averse to act in concert even in a cause 
 which involved one of their dearest interests. In vain 
 did the pope conjure them to lay aside their personal 
 differences for the time, and to unite in protecting the 
 safety of the church. They remained deaf to his appeal ; 
 and, ultimately, the total exhaustion both of provisions
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 447 
 
 and ammunition compelled the gallant grand-master to 
 capitulate, and to retire with the slender remnant of 
 his noble followers from the island which they had so 
 bravely defended, (and whose ruined citadel and crumb- 
 ling walls attested the perseverance with which they had 
 been defended,) to Viterbo, where the pope offered them 
 an asylum, until they could again establish themselves in 
 a manner more befitting the dignity of their order ; and 
 where they ultimately remained, until, some years sub- 
 sequently, Charles V, who was anxious to secure their 
 services, made them a grant of the island of Malta. 
 
 Thus were things situated when the Marechal de 
 Lautrec arrived at court; and he had been sufficiently 
 long absent to enable his enemies to enhance in the 
 mind of the king every cause, or supposed cause, of 
 complaint which could be adduced against him. The 
 generals who had assisted in the taking of the Milanese, 
 and who now saw all their prowess rendered unavailing, 
 were loud in their censures, and joined the faction 
 of the Duchess d'Angouleme in pouring out upon the 
 head of the unlucky commander the full vial of their 
 wrath; while the king himself, mortified by a defeat 
 which afforded such just cause of triumph to his enemies, 
 and incensed by this new cause of heart-burning and 
 difficulty, did not attempt to oppose the reasonings 
 of those who counselled him to refuse all communication 
 with the marechal, but immediately that his return to 
 France was made known to him, preremptorily declared 
 his determination to deny him all access to his presence. 
 
 M. de Lautrec, he coldly remarked to the few faithful 
 adherents of the unsuccessful general who still ventured
 
 -1 1> THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 to urge the expediency of his not denying an audience 
 to one who had served him long and faithfully before 
 these last reverses, M. de Lautrec could have nothing 
 to communicate to his sovereign, save that he had basely 
 betrayed the trust which had been reposed in him ; and 
 by his supineness or ignorance suffered the glory of 
 France to be tarnished, not only in his own person, 
 but in that of her king. In vain, for the first time, did 
 even Madame de Chateaubriand implore, and weep ; the 
 love of the monarch for the fair Francoise de Foix was 
 waxing old ; and he had began to discover that the court, 
 and even the city, contained many beauties no less 
 attractive than the frail wife of M. de Chateaubriand. 
 The chain already hung more loosely about him ; and 
 he was, moreover, awakened from a dream of pleasure 
 by the apparition of one who came only to recal him 
 to reflections ill-suited to the life of festivity and splendour 
 in which he was indulging at the moment. 
 
 The favourite was not, however, to be thus baffled. 
 Lautrec had relied upon her promise to reconcile him 
 with the king ; and she no sooner found her personal 
 efforts to effect this reconciliation unavailing, than she 
 turned for aid to the Duke de Bourbon, over whom her 
 influence has been already stated. The moment was an 
 inauspicious one for the connetable to interfere in so 
 delicate a question, but he was aware that the Duchess 
 d'Angouleme was untiring in her efforts to ruin not only 
 the young countess herself, but all her family ; and this 
 consciousness sufficed to decide him. Since the com- 
 mencement of his secret negotiations with the emperor 
 he had considered it expedient to appear more frequently
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 449 
 
 in the circle of the king, where he affected entirely to 
 overlook the coldness with which he was received, and 
 revenged himself by an exhibition of splendour which 
 was gall and wormwood to the spirit of Louise de Savoie; 
 and the more so that his general popularity had been 
 rather increased than diminished since the commence- 
 ment of their legal struggle. Bourbon was aware also of 
 the primary cause of the disasters in Milan, and he well 
 knew the anxiety of the duchess-mother to prevent all 
 confidential communications between her son and the 
 marechal ; and thus doubly urged, on the one side by his 
 passion for Franyoise de Foix, and on the other by his 
 desire to humble Madame d'Angouleme, he at once 
 promised to make the cause of Lautrec his own, and to 
 obtain for him the desired and important interview. 
 
 It was not, however, without considerable difficulty that 
 he succeeded ; and that he eventually did so is probably 
 to be ascribed to the conviction of Francis that it would be 
 dangerous to incur the further resentment of so powerful 
 a noble. The audience was therefore granted, but the 
 king's reception of the marechal was stern and un- 
 gracious. 
 
 " You come to tell me, Sir, that you are beaten ;" he 
 commenced, without replying to the profound salutation 
 of M. de Lautrec, who had paused at the very threshold 
 of the apartment ; " that through your carelessness and 
 want of zeal you have sacrificed many of my bravest 
 generals, victimized a gallant army, and lost one of her 
 finest provinces to France. You might have spared 
 both me and yourself so dishonourable a recital. Your 
 despatches have told me more than enough already ; and 
 
 VOL. i. o G
 
 450 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 my time will be better spent in endeavouring to repair 
 the fault of which you have been guilty, than in listening 
 to your excuses." 
 
 " I am at a loss to know by what act of my own 
 I have merited such a reception from your majesty ;" said 
 the marechal firmly. 
 
 " How, Sir ! " exclaimed Francis with increasing vehe- 
 mence ; " do you ask the reason of a displeasure which 
 you might have anticipated? Have you not lost the 
 Milanese? Have you not tarnished the glory of the 
 French arms? Have you not " he paused for an 
 instant; and before he could resume his reproaches, 
 Lautrec interposed proudly 
 
 " No, Sire ; I am guiltless of each and all of these 
 accusations. That the Milanese is in the hands of your 
 majesty's enemies, is unfortunately too certain ; but the 
 loss is to be attributed rather to your majesty than to 
 myself. Your cavalry were eighteen months in arrear of 
 pay ; and I had already warned both your majesty and 
 your ministers, that unless I received a supply of money 
 within a given period, it would be impossible for me to 
 enforce obedience, or to prevent desertion. If, there- 
 fore, I was thus apprehensive of the effect of this de- 
 stitution upon the troops of France, fighting under the 
 banners of their own king, and jealous of their own 
 glory, your majesty may believe that I had small faith in 
 the fidelity of the Swiss, who, eager only for gain, were 
 little likely to sacrifice their individual interests to those 
 of a foreign sovereign ; nor did I over-rate the danger. 
 By those mercenaries, clamorous to replace by rapine the 
 wages which had been withheld from them, I was fated
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 45] 
 
 to endure the mortification of being compelled to give 
 battle to the enemy at a disadvantage ; and to see my 
 authority disregarded at the moment of danger, only to 
 find myself abandoned by the very troops to whom I 
 owed this jeopardy, and who might have been secured 
 to our cause had I been enabled to satisfy their claims. 
 You will pardon my warmth, Sire ; but my only fault 
 and I admit it to have been a grievous one was my 
 weakness in according faith to promises which I now 
 find were made only to betray me." 
 
 " And the four hundred thousand crowns, M. le 
 Marechal ? " exclaimed the king somewhat less sharply ; 
 " Surely they might, had they been properly dispensed, 
 have silenced these clamours for a time." 
 
 " They would have done more ; " replied Lautrec ; 
 " they would have saved the duchy ; but no portion of 
 that promised supply ever crossed the Alps." 
 
 " Let M. de Semblancay be instantly summoned ; " 
 cried Francis with a kindling eye to the usher on duty ; 
 " It may be that we have done you injustice, M. le 
 Marechal ; and yet there must be some mistake : the 
 Baron de Semblanfay is an old and tried subject ; he 
 has never yet failed either me or my predecessors. None 
 knew better than he the difficulty with which so large a 
 sum was raised, nor the importance of its immediate 
 transmission. Come forward, father, come forward;" he 
 continued, as the old Minister of Finance, whom he was 
 accustomed thus to address, and for whom he affected an 
 attachment exceeding even that of a sovereign towards 
 his most favoured subject, made his appearance at the 
 threshold. " What is this which M. de Lautrec tells us ? 
 
 o o '2
 
 452 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 He asserts that the four hundred thousand crowns raised 
 by my order for the supply of the army of Italy, never 
 reached his camp ! Through what channel were they 
 transmitted? " 
 
 " M. le Marechal has rightly informed your majesty ; " 
 said de Semblancay. "Her highness the duchess claimed 
 the money as I was about to expedite it, by virtue of her 
 authority as regent of the kingdom ; and I hold her 
 receipt for the whole sum." 
 
 " My mother ! " murmured Francis, as a red spot rose 
 to his brow ; " there must be some mistake ; but she 
 can doubtlessly explain it. Follow me, M. le Ministre." 
 
 The usher threw back the heavy tapestry which veiled 
 the door of the audience-chamber, and the king dis- 
 appeared behind it with a rapid step, followed by M. de 
 Semblancay. 
 
 When they reached the private apartments of Madame 
 d'Angouleme, she rose with a smile to welcome her son, 
 but Francis was too much excited to waste time in 
 empty courtesies : "Do you know what you have done, 
 Madam?" he exclaimed, as he threw himself upon a 
 seat ; " You have lost me the Milanese." 
 
 The duchess raised her fine eyes in astonishment. 
 " Your majesty is in error ; " she said with a slight 
 sneer ; " that was a feat reserved for M. de Lautrec for 
 the brother of Madame de Chateaubriand." 
 
 " I repeat, Madam, that you have lost me the Milanese, 
 by withholding the supplies which I had destined for my 
 troops." 
 
 " I deny the charge ; " said the duchess haughtily ; 
 "Who dares to accuse me of this ? "
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 453 
 
 " M. de Semblancay is my informant ; " was the 
 reply of the king, as he glanced alternately at his mother 
 and the venerable minister. 
 
 " How, Sir ! " exclaimed Louise de Savoie, with a 
 frown which might have paralysed a less firm spirit than 
 that of the old baron ; " dare you assert that I have held 
 back the monies of the state ? " 
 
 " It is at least certain, Madam ; " replied M. de Sem- 
 blancay ; " that the sum of four hundred thousand crowns, 
 destined by his majesty for the service in the Milanese, 
 was paid over by me into your hands, at your express 
 command; and that I hold your receipt, which I de- 
 manded at the time." 
 
 " But that sum, M. le Ministre ; " said the duchess, 
 fixing her eyes steadily upon those of the old statesman, 
 as if to prompt his answer ; " that sum, you are aware, 
 was due to me, and was the amount of the savings of 
 many years, placed in your hands for better security, 
 and of which I chanced at that particular moment to 
 stand in need. You should have explained this matter 
 to the king." 
 
 The minister was silent. 
 
 "Why did you not inform me of so important a 
 circumstance, M. de Semblancay ? " asked Francis im- 
 patiently. " We might then have applied some remedy ; 
 whereas the evil is now beyond recal. Why did you not 
 at once acquaint me with the whole of the affair ? " 
 
 " I was not aware, Sir ;" was the steady reply ; " that 
 her highness believed herself to have any claim upon the 
 money in question, or that she had been in the habit of 
 limiting her outlay within her means."
 
 454 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 " Do you intend the king to understand that I had 
 not entrusted you with that sum ? " asked Louise de 
 Savoie emphatically. 
 
 " Assuredly, Madam. It is my first duty to justify 
 myself to my sovereign ; and I therefore, with all due 
 respect for your highness, religiously declare that I have 
 never held in my hands monies which were your private 
 property." 
 
 " Have a care, Sir 1 " exclaimed the duchess, in a 
 tone of menace; but before she could proceed to give 
 utterance to the threat that quivered on her lips, the 
 young king had sprung up ; 
 
 " Enough, enough ! " he said, with an emotion which 
 he was unable to control; " we need not aggravate an 
 evil which is already too great. Let this subject never 
 be renewed ; and may we in future better understand 
 how to uphold our common interests." 
 
 The upright old minister was not, however, to be thus 
 silenced, and he forthwith insisted that commissioners 
 should be appointed to examine the public accounts, and 
 to report the result of their labours to the king ; thus 
 forcing upon him the conviction of his own honesty and 
 the treachery of his mother; a pertinacity which was 
 never forgiven by the vindictive duchess, who felt that 
 the confidence which had hitherto been placed in her by 
 her son must be seriously shaken by s^ch an exposure. 
 
 Nevertheless, she did not hesitate to complain that she 
 had been subjected to an affront which it was the duty of 
 Francis to avenge ; and she even urged him to displace 
 M. de Semblancay : but the annoyance to which he had 
 been subjected through her avarice, and her desire to
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 455 
 
 injure the Marechal de Lautrec even at the expense of his 
 own honour, was too galling and too recent to render 
 her expostulations successful, and he firmly refused to 
 commit so flagrant an act of injustice. A vengeance like 
 that of Louise de Savoie could, however, afford to wait. 
 She was aware of the fickle nature of Francis, who, 
 unlike herself, was incapable of nourishing a lasting 
 passion either of love or hate ; and she felt that death 
 alone could deprive her of her victim. Nor had the 
 venerable minister a less inveterate enemy in the Chan- 
 cellor Duprat, who was continually thwarted in his mea- 
 sures by the uncompromising probity of his colleague ; 
 and who gladly made common cause with Madame d'An- 
 gouleme when he ascertained her enmity against him. 
 
 Once more Madame de Chateaubriand triumphed. 
 The king, on his next interview with Lautrec, assured 
 him that he was perfectly exonerated from all blame ; 
 and a fresh struggle commenced between the mother 
 and the mistress. The court was thus divided into two 
 separate factions ; at the head of one was Louise de 
 Savoie, M. de Savoie her brother, the chancellor, and 
 Bonnivet ; who, despite his passion for the fair favourite, 
 could not resist the blandishments of the duchess, but 
 who laboured assiduously to secure her interest in the 
 furtherance of his own views of ambition and aggran- 
 dizement, and who was further bound to her through 
 their mutual hatred of Bourbon. It was at her instiga- 
 tion, and with her assistance, that he had built the 
 magnificent chateau to which we have already alluded as 
 so great a mortification to the connetable ; with her 
 sanction that he encouraged the profligacy of the king
 
 456 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 the more readily, perhaps, because he was not sorry to 
 detach him from Madame de Chateaubriand, although 
 Francis either had, or affected to have, remained blind to 
 their mutual attachment, even when it had long ceased 
 to be matter of surmise ; and by her influence that he was 
 enabled to pursue a course of reckless and extravagant 
 ostentation, which rendered him the wonder and the envy 
 of all the less fortunate courtiers ; while to the party of the 
 duchess- mother were also attached the young and idle 
 nobility, to whom the freedom of her circle, and the beauty 
 of the women whom she collected about her, formed a 
 greater attraction than they could find elsewhere. 
 
 The faction of Madame de Chateaubriand was less 
 numerous, but still formidable. Her own brothers, and 
 all the most celebrated generals of the time, were in her 
 train ; and while in the licentious court of Madame 
 d'Angouleme nothing was discussed save love and 
 pleasure ; honour and renown were the leading topics 
 among the customary guests of Fra^oise de Foix. 
 
 And amid all this rivalry and bitterness of spirit, the 
 patient queen lived on in purity and piety, weeping over 
 the evil that she saw, and thankful for the peace which 
 she was enabled to preserve about her. Attached, even 
 from her childhood, to the Duke de Bourbon, as to a 
 loved and honoured brother, she could not forego the hope 
 of still claiming him by a title which he had long borne 
 in her heart, and consequently continued her efforts to 
 unite him with the princess Renee. Nor was the duke 
 insensible to her regard, or to the pain which she evinced 
 at the persecution to which he was subjected. She was 
 the one bond which yet linked him to his country ; the
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 457 
 
 one and only object which aroused a feeling of remorse 
 within him as he reflected upon the enormity of his 
 revenge. But to his other mortifications had been added 
 that of learning that the king's mother had obtained so 
 great an influence over the inind of the princess, as to 
 induce her to declare that she could no longer entertain 
 the idea of an alliance with a noble, who must, should the 
 legal proceedings instituted against him prove fatal to 
 his claims, become one of the poorest princes in Europe. 
 Yet still the good queen trusted to overcome these diffi- 
 culties ; and whenever the duke appeared at court, he 
 found his warmest welcome ever proceed from her lips. 
 
 Fresh demands were at this period made on the 
 attention of the French king, by the reduced and 
 famished state of the garrison which, under Jacques de 
 Daillon, Seigneur de Lude, 1 had during the space of an 
 entire year kept the Spanish army in check before Font- 
 arabia, but which had now become so utterly exhausted 
 by fatigue and famine that he announced the impossi- 
 bility of further resistance unless he could be imme- 
 diately relieved. The fortress was surrounded on all 
 sides by the enemy; and although numerous attempts 
 
 1 Jacques de Daillon, Seigneur de Lude, was senechal of Anjou, 
 and captain of fifty men-at-arms. He distinguished himself greatly 
 in the defence of Bresse against the Venetians, during the reign of 
 Louis XII, by whom he had been entrusted with the government of 
 that province ; having maintained himself for ten days in the 
 citadel, after the enemy, by effecting an entrance through one of the 
 great sewers, had obtained possession of the town. He was also 
 celebrated for his gallantry throughout the wars of Italy, Lombardy, 
 and Ferrara. He was the son of the governor and favourite of 
 Louis XI ; and the father of Guy de Daillon, governor of Poitou, 
 who in his youth had been standard-bearer to the Duke de Nemours.
 
 458 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 had already been made to convey supplies to him by sea, 
 all had failed through the vigilance of the Spanish 
 privateers who guarded the coast ; and disease and 
 want were making hourly havoc among the already 
 diminished troops. 
 
 In this emergency, although once more dreaming the 
 conquest of the Milanese, and anxious to collect a powerful 
 army for that expedition, Francis lost not a moment in 
 despatching M. de Chatillon at the head of a large force 
 to the relief of the besieged garrison ; but this reinforce- 
 ment was delayed by the sudden and serious illness of its 
 commander, which soon terminated fatally, and rendered 
 it necessary to halt the troops upon their march until 
 another general could arrive to take the command ; a cir- 
 cumstance which had nearly proved fatal to the success 
 of the enterprise. The Marquis de la Palice, however, by 
 whom M. de Chatillon was replaced, hastened to repair 
 the evil, and at once advanced to Fontarabia, although 
 the arrival of a force which had been despatched by sea 
 to cooperate with him, had been prevented by contrary 
 winds. 
 
 As he approached the beleaguered city he found the 
 Spanish army encamped upon the river-bank, and pre- 
 pared to dispute his passage ; but, resolved to effect, if 
 possible, the immediate rescue of the unfortunate gar- 
 rison, he would not suffer the inequality of numbers to 
 delay his purpose, and accordingly commenced a heavy 
 fire of artillery upon the enemy's lines from the opposite 
 side of the stream. The guns were skilfully worked, and 
 created so much havoc, that the Spaniards gave way, and 
 under cover of the smoke he succeeded in crossing ;
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 459 
 
 when being opposed by Count William de Furstemberg 
 at the head of six thousand lansquenets, he made so 
 desperate a charge that they were completely routed, and 
 despite their numerical superiority were compelled to 
 retreat in disorder to the mountains. 
 
 The enemy thus driven back, the marquis entered the 
 city in triumph, with his supplies both of provisions and 
 arms ; and having restored the garrison to its former 
 strength, replaced the exhausted but gallant Count de 
 Lude in his command by M. Franget, 1 who had been 
 the lieutenant-general of the Count de Chatillon, and in 
 whose arms he had died. The sufferings of the little 
 garrison which had so pertinaciously held out month 
 after month, had been of the most frightful descrip- 
 tion. After having for some time subsisted upon their 
 horses, the troops were compelled to have recourse to 
 every species of vermin, such as cats, rats, and dogs ; 
 and ultimately, when even these failed, to devour the 
 skins of the animals they had slain, and the parch- 
 ments in the public offices, which they boiled down as 
 the general food of both officers and men. The appear- 
 ance of the survivors was consequently wretched in the 
 extreme ; and M. de Lude hastened, immediately upon 
 
 1 Captain Franget was a soldier of experience and tried valour; 
 who, however, suffered himself to tarnish his military reputation by 
 delivering up Fontarabia to the enemy, after a brief siege of eight 
 days. Francis I. was so indignant at this act of cowardice, that he 
 condemned him to lose his head ; but was dissuaded from carrying 
 out his threat by the entreaties of M. de Lude, who pleaded the 
 gallantry of his former achievements. The sentence was conse- 
 quently commuted to expulsion from the service. His sword was 
 broken, his military rank annulled, and himself exiled from the 
 court.
 
 460 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 the appointment of his successor, to pay his respects to 
 his sovereign, by whom he was cordially and honourably 
 received, and thence to his estates, in order to recruit 
 his strength, and to recover from the effects of his long 
 and melancholy privation. 
 
 The intelligence of the relief of Fontarabia somewhat 
 tempered the exultation of the emperor, whose recent 
 successes in Italy had led him to anticipate equal good 
 fortune beyond the Pyrenees ; and he at once determined 
 to counteract the partial triumph of Francis by urging 
 forward the compact into which, through the medium 
 of the Duke de Bourbon, he had already entered with 
 Henry VIII. He soon, however, discovered from the 
 tone of the correspondence into which he entered for 
 this purpose, palpable evidence of the changed feelings 
 of the English cardinal, who had never forgiven Charles 
 for the falsification of his pledges regarding the papacy, 
 and the substitution of the comparatively obscure Car- 
 dinal of Tortosa for himself upon the throne of St. Peter ; 
 a substitution which, as he was well aware, had been 
 effected through his sole agency. Nevertheless Charles 
 did not despair ; he had studied the nature of the man 
 with whom he had to deal ; and once more he revived 
 the question of the triple crown, assuring the English 
 minister that the age and infirmities of Adrian VI. ren- 
 dered it impossible that he should long enjoy the dignity 
 to which he had attained, while Wolsey himself, still in 
 the prime of life, was his only fitting successor; and 
 pledging himself that should the cardinal exert his in- 
 fluence to induce the English king to accept his proposi- 
 tion of a treaty of alliance against France, he might
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 461 
 
 himself depend on his own support upon the decease 
 of the reigning pope. 
 
 This correspondence, which was carried on throughout 
 a couple of months, ultimately so changed its character, 
 that Charles, satisfied his point was gained with the 
 minister, resolved once more to visit England in person, 
 and explain in detail his views and projects to the sove- 
 reign ; a piece of consummate policy which he carried 
 into effect by landing at Dover near the end of May ; 
 where he was received by Henry VIII. with as much 
 cordiality as heretofore ; and soon succeeded in render- 
 ing him equally anxious with himself for the invasion 
 of the French territories. Mutual courtesies were ex- 
 changed between the two monarchs ; Charles conferring 
 upon the Earl of Surrey the commission of admiral in 
 his dominions ; and Henry investing his imperial guest 
 with the order of the garter. Nor did the politic em- 
 peror fail, by every means in his power, to remove the 
 mistrust of the cardinal legate, to whom he affected to 
 explain the imperative reasons which had compelled him 
 to favour the election of Adrian VI ; and whose con- 
 fidence he once more purchased by a life-pension of nine 
 thousand golden crowns. 
 
 As a declaration of war against France became 
 inevitable on the part of the English king after this 
 compact with Charles, it was necessary to discover some 
 pretext sufficiently plausible to justify a step which must 
 necessarily involve the interests of all Europe ; and 
 eventually neither Henry nor his minister could devise 
 any excuse more rational than a presumed indignity 
 shown to the former as arbitrator between Francis and
 
 462 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 the emperor, by the refusal of the French sovereign to 
 give up Fontarabia at his suggestion ; and the fact that 
 Francis had permitted the Duke d'Aubigny to visit 
 Scotland, where he had, as they alleged, excited an ill 
 feeling against both Henry VIII. and his sister. 
 
 The latter argument was, perhaps, less flimsy than the 
 first, inasmuch as it is certain that Francis, who had 
 long suspected the bad faith of Henry, had, with a view 
 of regaining the same influence over the Scotch which 
 had been exercised by his predecessors, instead of leaving 
 the regency of the kingdom during the minority of James 
 V. in the hands of his mother Marguerite, the sister 
 of Henry VIII, desired John, Duke d'Aubigny, the 
 nephew of James III, to return at once to Scotland, 
 and to claim his part in the government. 
 
 Although born a subject of France, the Scotch par- 
 liament at once recognised the right of the duke to share 
 the regency with the queen-mother; and d'Aubigny, 
 whose prejudices were all in favour of his native country, 
 exerted himself to induce the nation to declare war 
 against England ; by which means, although he did not 
 succeed in his attempt, he created considerable com- 
 motion on the border. Francis, meanwhile, deemed it 
 expedient to write to the English monarch, asserting that 
 the duke had acted without any authority from himself, 
 and had even left France without his permission ; but the 
 reply of Henry VIII. not only denied his belief of the 
 fact, but was, moreover, so studiously offensive in the 
 terms of that denial, that every doubt as to the hostility 
 which he bore him was removed from the mind of the 
 French king.
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 463 
 
 Sir Thomas Clieyne, the English ambassador in 
 France, received instructions in the month of May, to 
 urge once more upon Francis the cession of Fontarabia, 
 and to remonstrate with him upon his interference in 
 Scotland ; and as the king was at that moment absent 
 from Paris, the minister demanded an audience of the 
 Duchess d'Angouleme, to whom he declared the nature of 
 the instructions which had reached him from his court ; 
 when Louise de Savoie expressed the strongest desire to 
 effect a pacification between the two monarchs, reminding 
 the ambassador of the confidence and good feeling which 
 had existed between them so recently ; and declaring that 
 her son was anxious for its continuance. She, moreover, 
 undertook to acquaint the king with what had passed 
 dnring the interview, and to use all her influence to pre- 
 serve a friendly understanding between the two countries. 
 
 In a subsequent audience of Francis himself, Sir 
 Thomas Cheyne reiterated the demands and remon- 
 strances of his sovereign, to which the French king 
 replied as he had previously done by letter ; and on an 
 intimation from the ambassador, that, in the event of his 
 declining to comply with the terms proposed by his 
 master, and persisting in hostilities against the emperor, 
 the English monarch would consider himself bound in 
 conscience to declare against him, Francis proudly re- 
 plied, that so long as Henry acted according to a sense 
 of right and justice, he could ask no more ; that the 
 emperor had been the first aggressor, but that he had 
 long seen with how little favour his own interests had 
 been regarded by England during the conferences which 
 had taken place at Calais ; and that, unless Henry were
 
 464 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 determined to award more even-handed justice for the 
 future, he would do well to leave Charles and himself to 
 settle their own differences. The emperor, he moreover 
 declared, had no more right to the Milanese than he him- 
 self could advance to the kingdom of Spain ; and that he 
 esteemed himself the equal of Charles upon all points ; 
 and would have been both glad and able to serve Henry 
 for his love alone, more heartily than his rival would do 
 for both his love and his treasures. All he now asked, 
 therefore, he said, was to be left free to follow out his 
 own measures, and if this were conceded without foreign 
 interference, he did not despair of rendering Charles 
 " one of the poorest princes in Christendom." 
 
 The English ambassador, chagrined by the conviction 
 that his errand was one of injustice, and convinced by 
 the resolute attitude of the French king that he would 
 not willingly make the required concessions, and thus 
 involve himself in a peril of which the consequences 
 might prove fatal to his throne, endeavoured to induce 
 the admiral Bonnivet, who was present at the con- 
 ference, to prevail upon his sovereign to accept the pro- 
 position for a truce which he was authorized to make ; 
 but the haughty favourite at once replied that he would 
 rather see his master in his grave than urge him to a 
 measure which involved his honour. 
 
 Thus foiled on all hands, Sir Thomas Cheyne next 
 informed the king that the emperor, who was about to 
 depart for Spain, had entrusted the protection of the 
 Low Countries during his absence to the English monarch, 
 a charge which he had agreed to undertake. But even 
 this insidious measure did not bend the spirit of Francis,
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 465 
 
 who replied in a tone of biting sarcasm, that the emperor 
 had resolved wisely, as there could be no doubt that 
 Henry VIII. was far more capable of defending the 
 realm than its own sovereign, while the arrangement 
 afforded clear evidence of the political bias of both parties. 
 "Thus much, however;" he added; "I will still say; 
 that I have in nowise deserved that your king should 
 take part against me with my enemy ; from our past 
 friendship I looked for help rather than hindrance at his 
 hands ; but if there be no remedy, and that the king's 
 highness will have it thus, I have no fear but that I shall 
 be able to defend both myself and my realm with God's 
 help ; although, for his sake, I shall never again put 
 faith in any prince living. Moreover, if he loses me 
 now, :I vow that henceforth he hath lost me for ever. 
 But" and^ for the first time his voice quivered for an 
 instant " I will not believe that he can play me false ; 
 for of myself I may truly declare that the extremity of 
 this war doth not grieve me half so much as to lose a 
 friend whom I esteemed beyond all others." 
 
 At the termination of the interview Francis returned 
 to Lyons ; and on the 29th of May, the English herald 
 who had been despatched for that purpose, repaired 
 thither, and in the palace of the archbishop, where the 
 king had taken up his abode, made a formal declaration 
 of war on the part of his royal master, to which Francis 
 replied coldly and proudly; and hostilities forthwith 
 commenced. The Earl of Surrey, at the head of the 
 combined fleets of England and Spain, commenced his 
 operations by destroying several of the coast towns of 
 Normandy and Brittany ; and then, abandoning his ships, 
 VOL. i. H ii
 
 4(56 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 took the command of the troops on land, and proceeded 
 to operate upon the French frontier ; when he was joined 
 by the Count de Buren, the lieutenant-general of the 
 emperor in the Low Countries, their joint army amount- 
 ing to eighteen thousand men. 
 
 Nevertheless, Francis evinced no uneasiness. He 
 trusted that the strength of his frontier of Picardy, 
 whose fortresses were efficiently armed and garrisoned, 
 would suffice to arrest the progress of both the English 
 and Flemish troops, while the Pyrenees defended him 
 from the attacks of the Spaniards ; and he still proceeded 
 with the organization of the army with which he once 
 more anticipated the conquest of the Milanese. The 
 care of the seat of war was meanwhile confided to the 
 Duke de Vendome ; and Francis availed himself of the 
 threatened invasion to remove a silver screen erected by 
 Louis XI. round the tomb of St. Martin, and to coin it 
 into money for the payment of the troops. 
 
 While he was thus engaged he received intelligence 
 that his generals had drawn the Duke d'Aerschott, and 
 a strong party of the imperial troops, into a snare, from 
 which they were not likely to escape, through the means 
 of a soldier of the garrison of Guise, who was instructed 
 by the Seigneur de Longueval, the governor, to volunteer 
 to effect the entrance of the Flemish commander through 
 a gate of the city which he was appointed to guard. 
 Aerschott, having closely questioned the man, who pro- 
 fessed great discontent with his position, and weariness of 
 the service in which he was engaged, fell into the trap 
 that had been laid for him; and arrangements were made, 
 immediately after Easter, for profiting by the supposed
 
 1522.J FRANCIS THE FIRST. 467 
 
 treason. The duke was to approach the city with a force 
 of picked men on whom he could depend ; while the Mar- 
 quis de Fiennes, the governor of Flanders, was to make a 
 demonstration against Terouanne, with a strong body of 
 troops, in order to distract the attention of the French ; 
 and meanwhile, precautions had been taken that when 
 Aerschott advanced upon the city, the Duke de Vendome, 
 the Marquis de Fleuranges, and Richard de la Pole, should 
 cut off his retreat, and compel him to lay down his arms. 
 
 Had Vendome executed this manoeuvre without in- 
 forming the king of his design, there is every reason 
 to suppose that it would have proved successful ; but 
 Francis had no sooner learnt his purpose, and been con- 
 vinced of its feasibility, than he determined to assist in 
 person at the capture of the duke, and despatched orders 
 that no steps should be taken in the business under any 
 pretext until he could arrive upon the spot; an object 
 which he effected by travelling post, on the very evening 
 before the enterprise was to take place. The mere fact, 
 however, of his sudden appearance with the army, when 
 he was known to have been at Blois only two days 
 previously, sufficed to arouse the suspicions of the im- 
 perialists ; and, although Aerschott had already com- 
 menced his march, he immediately halted, and abandoned 
 the undertaking, convinced that some ambush had been 
 prepared for him; and thus, through his own puerile 
 vanity, Francis lost an opportunity of seriously weakening 
 the strength of his adversaries. 
 
 Mortified by a failure which he had himself induced, 
 the king then directed M. de Vendome to advance with 
 his forces, and relieve Terouanne, before which Ficnncs 
 
 H H 2
 
 4GS THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 had sat down, little anticipating so formidable an enemy ; 
 the militia of Ghent, moreover, who formed a portion of 
 his force, and who now saw themselves threatened by 
 a peril upon which they had not calculated, immediately 
 abandoned his camp, and retreated beyond the Lys ; 
 thus creating a disorder of which the Duke de Vendoine 
 was about to take advantage, when M. de Brion, gallop- 
 ing up to the lines, once more commanded him to 
 retard the attack until the arrival of the king, who was 
 preparing to join in the battle. Mortified as he was, the 
 duke was compelled to obey ; and before Francis reached 
 the field M. de Fiennes had time to extricate himself, 
 and to secure a safe position. 
 
 Notwithstanding these failures, the French king had 
 as yet experienced no positive check ; and Surrey, dis- 
 heartened by the slow and unsatisfactory progress of the 
 \var, in which he had reaped neither honour nor success, 
 while he had sustained severe loss, proceeded to lay 
 siege to the town of Hesdin, of which he thought him- 
 self secure, as the fortifications were imperfect, and the 
 garrison comprised only thirty gendarmes, and about 
 seventeen hundred foot soldiers. Herein, however, he 
 deceived himself, as the Sire du Bier, by whom it was 
 commanded, made so gallant a resistance with his slender 
 garrison, that after he had spent a fortnight before the 
 walls he was compelled to raise the siege ; the incessant 
 rains having seriously affected his troops, while they had 
 gained no evident advantage over the enemy ; and thus 
 foiled in an enterprise which he had originally regarded as 
 insignificant, he abandoned the attempt, and marched 
 homeward with his army, disgracing both himself and
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 469 
 
 his cause by the wanton and needless cruelties that 
 were committed on their route. 
 
 Under these circumstances Francis considered himself 
 once more at liberty to pursue his measures against 
 Milan, and to detach from the army of M. de Vendome 
 the Duke of Suffolk, known in France as the White 
 Rose, the pretender to the throne of England, whose 
 claims he now openly espoused, with his lansquenets and 
 two or three thousand Picards, and to despatch them to 
 Lyons, where the army, destined to invade Italy, were to 
 assemble in the month of August. Bonnivet, with six 
 thousand French troops, was at the same time to cross 
 Mount Cenis, and to establish himself at Suza; while 
 Montmorency was to join him there with twelve thou- 
 sand infantry, which he was commissioned to raise in 
 Switzerland. Francis himself was to join the army 
 near Turin ; and meanwhile Prosper Colonna, who had 
 been appointed general of the Italian league, was busied 
 in fortifying the passes of Tesino, in order to defend the 
 entrance of the Milanese. 
 
 The French king had not, however, reached Lyons 
 when he was met by Louis de Breze, the Senechal of 
 Normandy, who apprised him that his person was in 
 danger from a plot which had been formed against him, 
 and which involved the safety of his kingdom. 
 
 Startled, but not convinced, Francis desired to be 
 more fully informed of its nature and extent; upon 
 which De Breze confided to him that he had gained his 
 intelligence from two Norman gentlemen who had been 
 tampered with by a powerful prince of his own family, 
 who had endeavoured to induce them to facilitate the
 
 470 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1522. 
 
 entrance of the English troops into their province ; a 
 fact which the king had no sooner ascertained than he 
 determined to delay his departure from France until he 
 had fathomed the whole conspiracy. 
 
 Before he again reached Amboise the Duchess 
 d'Angouleme had summoned the two informers to her 
 presence, when, throwing off their previous reserve, 
 they openly accused the Duke de Bourbon of treason, 
 and revealed all they knew. The consternation of 
 Francis was unbounded. He saw too late the error 
 which he had committed, when he drove so proud a 
 spirit to exasperation ; but, nevertheless, he as yet pos- 
 sessed no proof of the truth of the accusation, and he 
 resolved to judge for himself of its plausibility. 
 
 The opportunity soon presented itself. The duke 
 was, as we have already stated, the frequent guest of 
 Queen Claude ; and a day or two after his own return to 
 Amboise, Francis was apprised that he was at table with 
 her ; upon which he entered the apartment abruptly, 
 and when Bourbon would have risen, desired him to 
 resume his seat, saying sarcastically ; "So, our cousin of 
 Bourbon is about to take a second wife. Is it not so ?" 
 
 The duke calmly replied in the negative. 
 
 " Nay, deny it not ;" persisted the king sharply ; " we 
 know all your plans, Sir, even those which you have 
 concocted with the emperor ; nor are we likely to over- 
 look them." 
 
 Upon this the connetable once more rose, exclaiming : 
 " You threaten me, Sir, when I have done nothing to 
 deserve it. Suffer me to withdraw ;" and as he spoke 
 he made a low obeisance, and left the apartment. In
 
 1522.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 471 
 
 another moment he mounted and rode from the palace 
 attended by all the noblemen of the court, and on the 
 following day he retired to one of his palaces. 
 
 Convinced that he was suspected, he lost no more 
 time in rallying about him those friends and adherents 
 upon whom he felt that he could depend. He knew 
 that his life was no longer safe, and that he was 
 indebted even for the present reprieve to an indiscretion 
 on the part of Francis of which he had not calculated the 
 consequences. It was in vain that many of those who 
 were attached to his interests, especially the Count de 
 St. Vallier, 1 the father-in-law of M. de Breze, (who in his 
 old age had married his daughter, the young and beautiful 
 Diana of Poitiers,) represented to him that by bearing 
 arms against his sovereign he was not only about to 
 sacrifice all that was dearest to him country, kindred, 
 and friends ; but also, in the event of failure, to subject 
 himself to an ignominious death ; to make common 
 cause with an enemy who had hitherto trembled at his 
 name ; and to tarnish the glory which it had been the 
 labour of his whole life to secure. They admitted the 
 persecution to which he had been subjected, but 
 reminded him that it was the result of a hatred induced 
 by the passion which he had inspired in the breast of a 
 vindictive woman; that the king himself was well dis- 
 posed towards him, and had only been rendered harsh 
 by circumstances ; and that when the kingdom was 
 threatened with invasion, it had a right to look to him 
 as one of its strongest bulwarks. 
 
 1 Jean de Poitiers, Count de St. Vallier, was captain of the 
 king's archers.
 
 472 COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. [1522. 
 
 In reply to these expostulations Bourbon bitterly ex- 
 patiated upon the wrong and indignity of which he had 
 been made the victim ; and bade them remember that he 
 had been despoiled of his estates, thwarted in his projects, 
 injured even in his affections, and that no alternative was 
 left to him. He declared that he no longer placed confi- 
 dence in the king, who had no will save that of his 
 mother ; and no hope for himself while she retained her 
 influence in France. "Better, far better;" he exclaimed 
 vehemently ; "to trust to a prince who is his own ruler, 
 to live a man among men, than to be subjected to the 
 wayward fancies of a licentious woman, who knows no 
 law but her own vices. You weep, De Vallier ; you, my 
 friend and my kinsman ; but I can weep no longer. 
 I have not shaped my own destiny it has been hewn 
 out for me, and I have only to follow it to the end. 
 I know that none of you will betray me ; I believe that 
 many of you will be willing to share my fortunes ; and 
 I say to all, that let them lead to which point they may, 
 be it a throne or a scaffold, I shall never cease to re- 
 member with gratitude and affection those who not only 
 felt my wrongs, but helped me to avenge them." 
 
 The tone of his address was so impassioned, the 
 grievances of which he complained so notorious, and his 
 person so popular, that it is scarcely wonderful that all 
 who heard him should at once make common cause in 
 his behalf; and this effected, he proceeded for the 
 moment to his estate at Moulins, feigning severe illness, 
 in order that he should not be summoned to attend the 
 king to Italy ; a command which he would have been 
 unable to evade.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 [1523.] 
 
 BOURBON IS SUSPECTED BY THE KING FRANCIS DETERMINES ON HIS ARREST 
 VISITS HIM AT MOULINS DOUBLE DISSIMULATION FRANCIS RETURNS 
 TO AMBOISE BOURBON'S SICK-CHAMBER M. LE WARTZ ABANDONS HIS 
 POST BOURBON ESCAPES TO CHANTILLE THE HUNTING-PARTY FIRST 
 MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE KING AND MADAME CHATEAUBRIAND 
 MEDIATION OF MARGUERITE DE VALOIS A CONSPIRATOR THE KING AND 
 M. DE POMPERANT M. DE POMPEHANT LEAVES AMBOISE ARREST OF THE 
 COUNT DE ST. VALL1ER INDIGNATION OF FRANCIS HE DESPATCHES 
 TROOPS AGAINST BOURBON BOURBON ESCAPES TO MANTUA FATE OF 
 HIS ADHERENTS THE ENGLISH AND SPANISH INVADE FRANCE ARE COM- 
 PELLED TO RETIRE THE COMMAND OF THE ARMY OF ITALY IS CONFERRED 
 UPON BONNIVET CONFISCATION OF BOURBON'S ESTATES A GASCONNADE 
 TRIAL OF THE CONSPIRATORS DIANA OF POITIERS HER MARRIAGE HER 
 NEW HOME SHE ARRIVES AT COURT TO INTERCEDE FOR THE LIFE OF HER 
 FATHER HAS AN AUDIENCE OF FRANCIS THE COMMUTED SENTENCE 
 DIANA AND HER BIOGRAPHERS.
 
 1323.1 COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 475 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 [1523.] 
 
 BOURBON had not miscalculated the intentions of the king, 
 whose suspicions of his loyalty becoming hourly stronger, 
 had resolved to possess himself of his person ; but, as 
 Francis could effect nothing against him in a province 
 where the will of the duke was the only law, and as he was 
 himself about to travel with an escort too weak to under- 
 take his capture, he resolved to await the arrival of the 
 troops, which, under the command of De la Pole, were on 
 their way to Lyons. In the mean time remembering, 
 perhaps, the provocation which the duke had received, 
 and anxious to ascertain if it were yet possible to regain 
 him, he determined to deviate from his direct route, 
 and to visit him at Moulins, where he might be enabled 
 to judge for himself of the probability of such an event. 
 On his arrival he was received with every demonstra- 
 tion of respect and deference, and introduced into the 
 chamber of his host by M. de Pomperant, where he found 
 him in bed, complaining of severe and painful indisposi- 
 tion. The king condoled with him upon his sufferings, 
 and asked various questions as to the nature of the attack,
 
 470 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [l3i'S. 
 
 which were calmly and readily answered by the duke ; 
 after which, seating himself beside his pillow, he said 
 gently and kindly ; " I am informed, cousin of Bour- 
 bon, that you have been harassed and annoyed by 
 recent circumstances ; but you are wrong to let them 
 weigh upon your mind, for whatever may be the result of 
 the suit, and the decision of the parliament, so long as 
 you serve me loyally, you shall not be despoiled. I have 
 heard, moreover, that you have been in treaty with the 
 emperor, forgetting your allegiance as a French subject, 
 and the duty which you owe to your sovereign ; but in 
 this rumour I place no faith. Your rank as a prince of 
 the blood, and, still more, the great deeds which you 
 have already accomplished, render such treachery im- 
 possible; and I no more credit the report, than you, 
 on your side, should believe that I could see you de- 
 prived of your possessions." 
 
 Bourbon was not, however, to be duped with words. 
 He had instantly comprehended the purpose of the king 
 in thus visiting him ; and he accordingly replied with 
 equal dissimulation ; admitting that he had indeed re- 
 ceived offers from the emperor through one of his agents, 
 of which he had resolved to inform his majesty when he 
 could do so personally ; but that, situated as he had 
 lately been, he had not chosen to entrust a secret of that 
 importance to a third person, and had, consequently, 
 awaited the arrival of the king himself in order to com- 
 municate it. He followed up this assurance by dis- 
 closing so much of what had passed as proved the 
 anxiety of Charles to attach him to his interests, but was 
 careful to avoid every thing which might tend to com-
 
 1523.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 477 
 
 promise either himself or his friends; and, finally, he 
 bewailed his misfortune in thus being overtaken by sick- 
 ness at a moment when he should have been by the 
 side of his sovereign ; concluding, however, by assuring 
 Francis that his physicians, notwithstanding the severity 
 of the attack, had decided that it would not prove of 
 long duration ; and that, in the course of a week or ten 
 days, he would be able to travel as far as Lyons, by 
 easy stages in a litter. 
 
 The suspicions of the king were in a great degree dis- 
 sipated. The manner of the connetable was so calm and 
 self-possessed, and his account of the transaction between 
 himself and the emperor so simple and unembarrassed, 
 that, as he rose to take his leave, he urged him to be 
 cautious of his health, and told him that he should await 
 with impatience his arrival at Lyons. 
 
 Having, however, decided to return to Amboise to 
 have a parting interview with his mother, whom he had 
 again appointed regent of the kingdom during his 
 absence, Francis took the precaution to send a confi- 
 dential person, M. Perrot de la Bretonniere, Seigneur 
 de Wartz, to Moulins, ostensibly for the purpose of 
 ascertaining the progress of the duke towards conva- 
 lescence, but with strict orders not to lose sight of him 
 after he was able to leave his bed, and to bring him to 
 Lyons with all speed. This new attention on the part of 
 the king was perfectly appreciated by Bourbon, who was 
 aware that De Wartz was merely sent as a spy, of whom 
 he must rid himself at the first convenient opportunity ; 
 and he consequently affected to suffer under constant 
 relapses of his malady, although he expressed his earnest,
 
 478 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523. 
 
 hope that he should ere long be enabled to join the army ; 
 iind evinced the greatest interests in its movements, lie 
 constantly complained bitterly of the restraint of a sick- 
 room ; and, on one occasion, even ventured to leave the 
 house leaning upon the arm of his unwelcome guest, 
 expressing his belief that the effect of the fresh air would 
 restore his strength. On the following day he, however, 
 complained of increased illness ; and when left for a 
 moment alone with M. de Wartz, told him gloomily that 
 he began to perceive that his physicians had concealed 
 the truth, and that his disease was likely to prove fatal. 
 
 The royal emissary was thoroughly deceived ; and 
 believing that his attendance upon a death-bed could in 
 no way serve the king, he took his leave, and returned to 
 Lyons, whence he forwarded a despatch, informing Francis 
 that the duke was in extremity. Eresh and convincing 
 proofs had, however, by this time reached the ears of the 
 monarch of the intended treason of the connetable, and 
 his reply to the communication was a stringent order to 
 his agent to return immediately to his post ; but when 
 the letter reached Lyons, although it was obeyed upon 
 the instant, M. de Wartz was already too late, for he 
 found, upon his arrival at Moulins, that the duke had 
 retired to his castle of Chantelle, a strong fortress, in 
 which he was perfectly secure. To add to his mortifica- 
 tion, he was moreover informed by a peasant whom he 
 encountered on his way, that Bourbon had passed Varennc 
 on horseback, apparently in good health ; and he thus 
 found that his mission had signally failed. 
 
 Meanwhile such of the nobles as were implicated in 
 the conspiracy had remained at court, in order to avert
 
 1523.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 479 
 
 suspicion ; and Francis had no sooner reached Amboise, 
 where the queen, the regent, and the Duchess d'Alencon 
 were then residing, than he determined before his return 
 to Lyons to give a hunting-party in the forest of Bussy ; 
 it being a marked feature in his character never to 
 suffer public affairs, whatever their importance, to 
 interfere with his private pleasures. The royal circle, 
 consequently, removed to Chambord ; but even in this, 
 his favourite residence, it was apparent to those about 
 him that the king was ill at ease. There was a cloud 
 upon his brow ; and occasionally he glanced round him 
 with a searching expression, as though he sought to read 
 the hearts of the gay and glittering courtiers who crowded 
 the saloons. 
 
 The morning which had been fixed for the hunt was 
 brilliant, and a numerous bevy of fair dames, all attired 
 for the sport, were flitting through the great hall, or 
 surrounding the chair of the queen, who sat in the centre 
 of her ladies, engaged upon some tapestry work ; for the 
 birth of her third son, the Prince Charles, was yet too 
 recent to admit of her taking part in the fatiguing plea- 
 sures of the day, even had her tranquil tastes led her to 
 desire it. The young nobles, eager for the sport, were 
 glancing impatiently from time to time into the court- 
 yard, to watch the progress of the preparations; and, 
 meanwhile, Francis himself stood in the deep recess of a 
 bay window, conversing with the Countess de Chfiteau- 
 briand, who, in her ample riding-dress and richly plumed 
 hat, looked even more lovely than was her wont. But 
 still it was evident that the flattery which she would 
 have prized the most deeply did not meet her ear upon
 
 480 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523. 
 
 this occasion. The whole air and attitude of the king 
 were cold and repelling ; and, although none were in- 
 discreet enough to approach the recess, still the name of 
 Lautrec, frequently and bitterly repeated by the king, 
 and the tears which stood in the eyes of the countess, 
 sufficed to convince those who overheard a passing word, 
 or looked for an instant towards their retreat, that the 
 vexation of spirit by which the young monarch was 
 oppressed had induced him to utter some allusion to 
 the disastrous war in Italy, which he was about to make 
 an effort to redeem. 
 
 Francoise de Eoix was still the perfection of loveliness, 
 but she had already become aware that she was rapidly 
 losing her power over the volatile monarch, whom her 
 charms had hitherto enslaved ; and as she stood beside 
 him on that sunny morning, and saw that her smile 
 had no longer power to dispel the shadow which had 
 gathered upon his countenance, she felt her spirit sicken, 
 although her courage did not fail. 
 
 " Nay, Sire ;" she said gently, raising her large blue 
 eyes appealingly to his, as the king paused after an out- 
 break of indignant anger; "surely you are too harsh. 
 Consider the difficulties with which he had to contend, 
 the privations which he was called upon to suffer. You 
 know his zeal, his loyalty, and his devotion ; do not, I 
 beseech you, attribute to him the reverses which would 
 with more justice be visited elsewhere." 
 
 " You talk glibly, Madam ;" was the stern reply ; 
 " and I have, perhaps, given you licence to do so, by 
 countenancing the madness of a man to whom, at your 
 entreaty, I gave the government of the Milanese; a
 
 1523.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 481 
 
 weakness which has cost me the friendship of the Duke 
 de Bourbon, the most powerful of my subjects a man 
 who has requited me by the loss of the duchy which was 
 entrusted to him." 
 
 " But who would have saved it, Sire, and even aug- 
 mented its importance ;" said the countess, with that 
 bold eloquence which women can always command in 
 defence of those who are dear to them ; " if the promised 
 supplies had not been intercepted." 
 
 "Enough, Madam, enough;" said the king, as he 
 turned away ; " the real criminal is yet to be detected ; 
 neither you nor I can decide where the blame may lie. 
 Let it suffice that it is not too late to punish the guilty." 
 
 Madame de Chateaubriand had presumed too much 
 upon her favour. A single year back, and she might 
 have hazarded such an allusion ; but now she saw her 
 error. Only when blinded by passion can the great 
 brook or forgive any insinuation against their peers ; and 
 Francis had passed this point with the fair accuser of his 
 mother. Conscious, also, that he could not maintain his 
 position, he was irritated by a pertinacity which com- 
 pelled him to stand on the defensive ; and being unac- 
 customed to conceal his feelings, his contracted brow and 
 flashing eye betrayed to the fair favourite the whole 
 extent of her imprudence. 
 
 Trembling and terrified, the countess in her turn 
 averted her face, and endeavoured to conceal the tears 
 which were rolling over her blenched cheeks ; while 
 Francis, either unconscious or careless of the emotion 
 he had excited, leaned listlessly over the balcony, and 
 affected to gaze out upon the chase beyond. 
 
 VOL. i. i i
 
 482 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523. 
 
 The entrance of Madame d'Alen9on aroused the king 
 from his reverie, and when she had paid her respects to 
 the queen, he beckoned her to his side. " You have 
 arrived at a fortunate moment, Marguerite ;" he said, 
 making an effort to throw off the gloom by which he was 
 oppressed ; " I am weary of waiting, and have been 
 amusing myself by a project which will, I think, delight 
 you." 
 
 " And yet neither yourself nor Madame de Chateau- 
 briand appeared to me to be particularly joyous when I 
 glanced towards you ;" said the duchess playfully ; " but 
 what is this charming project ?" 
 
 "I will, should my life be spared, pull down this 
 gloomy fortress, which is a blot upon so fair a landscape, 
 and erect a palace better suited to the loves and graces 
 than a mass of old gray towers and battlemented walls. 
 We want gardens, too, and we will have them of regal 
 dimensions ; while, instead of the insignificant stream 
 which now disfigures the domain, we will turn the 
 waters of the Loire, and compel them to lend their aid 
 in its embellishment." 
 
 " The design is indeed magnificent ! " exclaimed 
 Marguerite ; " and it will be glorious to celebrate in the 
 new palace the recovery of the Milanese." 
 
 " Which is the more probable, mignonne, as I shall, 
 on this occasion, undertake it myself;" said Francis; 
 " and I trust that for the future I may be able to hold 
 what I have gained." 
 
 The duchess, struck by the remark, glanced towards 
 the favourite, and at once became convinced that she was 
 not unconnected with the evident irritation of the king.
 
 1523.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 483 
 
 The nature of her education had rendered her very in- 
 dulgent to the errors of her sex ; and, conscious that the 
 disgrace of Francoise de Foix would only involve a new 
 and perhaps a more dangerous liaison, she hastened to 
 avert the impending storm, by sundry flattering com- 
 ments upon the costume and beauty of the countess. 
 
 " Madame de Chateaubriand has to-day excelled her- 
 self;" she said admiringly, as she swept aside the 
 clustering feathers of her riding-hat, and passed her 
 fingers caressingly through one of the long fair ringlets 
 which they overshadowed ; " She will be the very Dian 
 of the woods !" 
 
 " Madame de Chateaubriand is always charming ;" 
 said the king, still gazing through the open window ; 
 " But we shall do well to pay our parting compliments 
 to the queen at once, in order that no further time may 
 be lost when the hunt is ready ;" and as he spoke, he 
 offered his hand to his sister, and led her to the upper 
 end of the hall. 
 
 Francoise de Foix followed them with a glance which 
 betrayed all the agony of her spirit ; and then, feeling 
 that she could no longer conceal her agitation, rapidly 
 withdrew through a side-door. 
 
 She had scarcely left the recess when the Count de 
 St. Vallier approached the window, and folding his arms 
 upon the balcony, leaned out, apparently buried in deep 
 and painful thought : he was not, however, long suffered 
 to indulge his reverie ; for ere many moments had elapsed, 
 a noble, not attired in the fanciful costume of the hunt, 
 but in a close travelling dress, placed himself at his side, 
 and whispered anxiously ; "My time grows short on 
 what have you determined?" 
 
 i i 2
 
 484 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523. 
 
 " I will share his fortunes, be they what they may ;" 
 said the captain of the king's archers. 
 
 " I expected no less. No friend of the duke would 
 desert him at such a moment ; far less one whom he 
 loves as he does M. de St. Vallier." 
 
 " Are you about to return at once?" 
 
 " Instantly : you have pledged your word, and my 
 mission is accomplished." 
 
 " M. de Pomperant ;" said the king, as he crossed 
 the hall ; " you have adopted a strange costume for the 
 forest. Do you not hunt the stag with us this morning?" 
 
 " Your majesty does me honour ;" replied the com- 
 panion of St. Vallier, bowing respectfully ; " but I trust 
 that I may be excused, having last night received a letter 
 from M. de Bourbon, in which he urges me to return to 
 him without delay/' 
 
 A frown gathered upon the brow of Francis ; "I am 
 aware, Sir ;" he said coldly ; " that you belong to the 
 household of the connetable, and that you owe him all 
 fitting obedience ; yet if I, alike his sovereign and yours, 
 condescend to invite you to remain at Chambord, how 
 then?" 
 
 " Then, Sire ;" replied the noble, bowing still more 
 profoundly ; "I shall be compelled to delay my depar- 
 ture for Chantelle." 
 
 " How, Sir !" exclaimed Francis sharply ; " Do I 
 understand you? Has M. de Bourbon left Moulins to 
 shut himself up in a fortress ?" 
 
 " Sire, Chantelle is also a seigneurial residence." 
 " So I have heard ;" pursued the king with a wither- 
 ing frown; "and doubtlessly as magnificent as it is 
 secure. M. de Bourbon is an able tactician."
 
 1523.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 485 
 
 " The duke is sick both in body and mind, Sire." 
 
 " He travels promptly for an invalid;" was the sar- 
 castic reply : " only a few days back he declared himself 
 to be upon his death-bed, and now I learn that he has 
 performed a journey. He may recover his mental suf- 
 ferings as readily as his bodily ailments, Sir, if such be 
 his will ; for I myself condescended to be the physician 
 of his mind, and to pledge my royal word that, by virtue 
 of my sovereign authority, and on the honour of a gentle- 
 man, his sequestrated estates should be restored to him. 
 Consequently he can need no better cure. But we are 
 summoned to the chase ; and now, Sir, I leave it to 
 your own discretion to choose between us. You may 
 join our sport, or retire, as you think best." 
 
 As he ceased speaking, Francis bowed to the queen, 
 who rose as he withdrew ; and strode from the hall 
 attended by the courtly crowd which was to accompany 
 him to the forest. M. de Pomperant shortly followed ; 
 but availing himself of the equivocal permission he had 
 received, he mounted his horse in the inner court ; and 
 as the glittering party made their way towards Bussy, 
 hastened in the direction of Chantelle with all the speed 
 of his good steed. 
 
 This little outbreak of temper had apparently restored 
 Francis to equanimity, for he not only reined up his 
 horse beside that of Madame de Chateaubriand, but even 
 exerted himself to dispel the effects of his late coldness ; 
 an attempt which was ere long successful; while the 
 Duchess d'Alencon, who was passionately attached to the 
 chase, galloped hither and thither over the green sward, 
 until she contrived without observation to detach herself 
 from the group immediately about the king.
 
 486 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523. 
 
 " Ride on, ladies, ride on ;" she said gaily, to some of 
 her suite who were endeavouring to follow her erratic 
 course ; " the soul of the green wood is freedom from 
 constraint ;" and then, as she saw them successively obey, 
 she beckoned to her side the venerable Count de St. Val- 
 lier, whom she affected to address in a loud voice. 
 
 " M. de Poitiers ;" she said ; " you are strangely 
 churlish for a courtier. You know how long we have all 
 been anxious to welcome your fair daughter, Madame 
 la grande Seneschale, to Amboise, and yet you do not 
 summon her from her retreat in Normandy. How is 
 this?" 
 
 " Diana is young and beautiful, Madame, while M. 
 de Breze is very old, very ugly, and but newly married." 
 
 " An admirable reason ;" laughed the duchess as she 
 shook back her streaming hair, and reined in her im- 
 patient palfrey ; " while his sovereign is very young, very 
 handsome, and am I right, M. le Comte?" 
 
 St. Vallier bowed in silence. 
 
 " A truce, however, to this idle discourse ;" said 
 Madame d'Alencon suddenly, after a rapid glance about 
 her. " You are ill at ease, M. de Poitiers." 
 
 " I, Madame ! " exclaimed the count anxiously; " Why 
 should I be so ? How could I be so in your presence ?" 
 
 "Disentangle the bridle of my horse;" said Mar- 
 guerite de Valois ; and as St. Vallier bent forward to 
 obey, she murmured in his ear ; " You are the old and 
 tried friend of M. de Bourbon." 
 
 " He has few older, Madame, and none more sincere." 
 
 " You are also in his confidence " 
 
 " Such an admission at such a moment might be 
 perilous, Madame."
 
 1523.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 
 
 " Not when made to me ;" persisted the duchess ; 
 " you are aware that I also have a great regard for the 
 connetable ; and I confess to you that I am anxious on 
 his account. And yet, even angered as he may be by 
 recent events, I will not believe that the suspicion which 
 now attaches to him can be justified. Bourbon is so 
 great even in his failings, that although he may be quick 
 to resent an injury, I am convinced that he would never- 
 theless be slow to revenge it." 
 
 " The duke is as just as he is generous, Madame ;" 
 stammered St. Vallier, at a loss how to reply. 
 
 " Oh, yes ; he is incapable of treason : I know it, I feel 
 
 it ;" exclaimed Marguerite enthusiastically. " But 
 
 whom have we here?" 
 
 The person who had attracted the attention of the 
 princess was a courier, who was scouring across the plain 
 at the utmost speed of his horse, and approaching the 
 royal party. As he halted, he delivered into the hands of 
 Bonnivet a sealed packet which was immediately given 
 to the king. The first emotion of Francis was one of 
 impatience at this new intrusion upon his pleasures ; but 
 as he read the contents of the paper, a frown gathered on 
 his brow, and his lip blenched. He bent forward at its 
 conclusion, and said a few words in a low tone to Bon- 
 nivet, who immediately wheeled his horse to the side 
 of St. Vallier, and said audibly ; " Sir, deliver up your 
 sword ; I claim it in the name of the king." 
 
 For a moment Jean de Poitiers hesitated, but in- 
 stantly recovering himself, he withdrew his hat with one 
 hand, and with the other presented the weapon, without 
 uttering a syllable.
 
 488 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523. 
 
 " Brother, I beseech you, what means this ?" asked 
 the duchess, who had suddenly become as pale as death. 
 
 " Treason, Madame " said Francis coldly, as he again 
 moved forward ; while Bonnivet, with an escort of armed 
 men, in the midst of whom he placed his prisoner, re- 
 traced his steps to Chambord. 
 
 Before the return of the hunting party the captain of 
 the king's archers had been conveyed to the dungeons 
 of Loches. 
 
 The despatch thus inopportunely received had been 
 forwarded by the Marechal de Lautrec, who had obtained 
 proofs of the intended treachery of Bourbon, and the 
 complicity of St. Vallier, and who had hastened to 
 apprise the king of the circumstance. The indignation 
 of Francis was extreme ; and as he pursued his way, 
 he expatiated bitterly to M. de Savoie, the Marquis de 
 Chabannes, the Duke de Guise, and M. de Montmorenci, 
 who rode beside him, upon the deception which had been 
 practised on him by the duke. " My frankness and 
 plain dealing ;" he said angrily ; " should have produced 
 more effect ; but since he has seen fit to turn traitor, he 
 must abide his fate." 
 
 An expedition was immediately despatched against the 
 attainted duke, under the command of M. de Savoie and 
 Chabannes ; but he had, meanwhile, entrusted to the 
 Bishop d'Autun a letter to the king, in which he offered 
 to return to his allegiance, on condition that all his for- 
 feited estates should be restored to him, and that none of 
 his friends should suffer for their adherence to his inter- 
 ests. This appeal was, in fact, an open avowal of his 
 contemplated rebellion ; and the king's troops, having
 
 1523.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 489 
 
 encountered the prelate near Lyons, at once seized his 
 person, and forwarded all his papers to Francis ; whose 
 utmost indignation was excited no less by the contents 
 than by the tone of the letter, in which Bourbon proposed 
 terms to him rather with the authority of an equal than 
 the deference of a subject. 
 
 Information was, however, conveyed to Chantelle by 
 one of Bourbon's agents, of the approach of the royal 
 troops ; when the duke saw that he had not a moment to 
 lose unless he would incur the risk of being besieged in 
 his fortress, a hazard of which the result was scarcely 
 doubtful ; and he, consequently, took instant measures to 
 effect his retreat. Assuming the livery of M. de Pompe- 
 rant, and acting as his valet, he left Chantelle without any 
 other attendant, while Montagnac Tauzannes, another of 
 his devoted adherents, put on his own dress, and, mount- 
 ing his favourite hackney, pursued a contrary route, with 
 three or four followers, in order to deceive the emissaries 
 of the king. Having thus ridden throughout the night 
 without a suspicion on the part of those by whom he was 
 accompanied, that they were not actually escorting their 
 master, Tauzannes found himself compelled, when the 
 day dawned, to dismiss them, after having explained his 
 purpose, and thanked them for the sympathy which they 
 expressed for the misfortunes of their chief; and while 
 silently and sorrowfully they retraced their steps, he pur- 
 sued his way alone, and proceeded by bye-roads to the 
 Bourbonnais, where he concealed himself, shaved off his 
 hair and his beard, and, disguising himself as a priest, 
 once more set forth to join the fugitive connetablc. 
 
 The determination of the duke and his companion was,
 
 490 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523. 
 
 if possible, to gain Franche Comte ; and as it was neces- 
 sary to adopt every available method of baffling their 
 pursuers, they caused the shoes of their horses to be 
 reversed, and made their way directly towards the frontier. 
 After innumerable dangers, and more than one narrow 
 escape from detection, they reached Auvergne, and thence 
 proceeded by Le Forez and Dauphiny to Savoy, intending 
 to take the post at Chambery for Italy. This plan proved, 
 however, impracticable, the troops under the Count de 
 St. Pol having crossed the Alps, and occupying the passes; 
 and they were consequently compelled to retrace their 
 steps, and to take refuge at St. Claude, where they were 
 joined by about sixty gentlemen devoted to the interests 
 of the connetable, who had, like himself, succeeded in 
 making their escape. With their assistance he was 
 enabled to raise a small body of horsemen ; and thus 
 accompanied, he effected his retreat two months subse- 
 quently through Germany to Mantua, where he took up 
 his abode with the marquis, who was his kinsman. 
 
 Many of his adherents had been less fortunate. Jean 
 de Poitiers was still a prisoner at Loches, and the Bishop 
 of Autun at Lyons, and Aymard de Prie, Franois 
 Descars, Seigneur de la Vanguyon, who had married 
 Isabelle de Bourbon-Carency, a relative of the duke ; 
 Bertrand Brion, Pierre de Popillon, chancellor of the 
 Bourbonnais ; the Count de St. Bonnet, Gilbert Baude- 
 manche, and the Bishop of Puy, were arrested, and put 
 upon their trials as traitors. 
 
 This formidable conspiracy created a consternation 
 throughout the whole kingdom, which was heightened 
 by an invasion on the frontiers of Picardy and Chain-
 
 1523.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 491 
 
 pagne, and the advance of the English and Flemish 
 armies to within eleven leagues of Paris. The Duke de 
 Vendome, who, despite his relationship with the con- 
 netable, had nevertheless continued faithful to the king, 
 and the Marquis de la Tremouille with whom he acted in 
 concert, succeeded, however, in beating back the im- 
 perialists ; but Francis, finding himself surrounded by 
 peril at home, was reluctantly compelled to abandon for 
 a time his intention of passing into Italy, and was in- 
 duced to confide the command of that army to Bonnivet. 
 The next measure of the king was the confiscation of 
 the whole of the estates of the attainted duke, whose 
 adherents were brought to trial before commissioners 
 specially delegated for that purpose; but as their dis- 
 closures involved many other individuals, and the affair 
 became every day more complicated, it was ultimately 
 referred to the parliament of Paris. It soon became 
 apparent that the judges placed no faith in the reality of 
 the plot as it had been originally represented to them, 
 but regarded Bourbon as the victim of the duchess- 
 mother, and were inclined to screen the criminals from 
 this conviction ; in which they were strengthened by the 
 idle exaggerations of Brian Chabot, who had been sent 
 to the capital by the king immediately after the flight of 
 the connetable, with intelligence of the conspiracy ; and 
 who, not satisfied with detailing plain facts, declared 
 that proof had been obtained that its object had been 
 to deliver up Francis to the King of England, to " make 
 mince-meat " of the children of France, to imprison the 
 Duchess d'Angoulerne, and to exterminate every branch 
 of the reigning family. The common sense of the parlia-
 
 492 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523. 
 
 ment revolted at so improbable a tale ; they were aware 
 that Bourbon had many wrongs to avenge, but they 
 remembered that he was a brave man, and not an 
 assassin; and thus the ill-judged eloquence of the favourite 
 made them suspicious, and it was with a decided bias in 
 favour of the accused that they proceeded to the trial. 
 
 The Bishop of Puy was unhesitatingly acquitted ; 
 for it was shown that although he, as well as the Bishop 
 of Autun, was attached to the household of the duke, 
 they were inveterate enemies who never could have been 
 induced to act in common, and that their jealousies 
 and quarrels had occasionally called for the interference 
 of Bourbon himself. Gilbert de Baudemanche, who 
 was accused of having raised troops in the name of the 
 connetable, brought witnesses to prove that the said 
 troops had been levied for the service of the king. 
 St. Bonnet was also released after a brief examination, 
 during which nothing tended to implicate him ; to 
 others were awarded an imprisonment of longer or 
 shorter duration ; nineteen, who had effected their 
 escape, were condemned to death by contumacy ; and 
 the only rigorous sentences pronounced against any of 
 the accused, were those upon the Count de St. Vallier, 
 and M. de Vauguyon ; the first of whom was found 
 guilty of lese-majeste, and condemned to degradation, 
 torture, and ultimately death upon the scaffold ; and the 
 latter to the application of " the question ;" upon the 
 presumption that being allied to the duke, he must be 
 better informed upon the subject and extent of the con- 
 spiracy than his associates. His vehement entreaty, 
 however, that he might lose his head at once, and be
 
 1523.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 493 
 
 spared the agony of undergoing sufferings which, from 
 his utter ignorance of the whole affair, could lead to no 
 result, induced his judges to grant such a delay as 
 enabled his family to intercede in his behalf ; and he was 
 ultimately banished to Orleans for two years, and then 
 obtained a free pardon. The Bishop of Autun was also 
 imprisoned for a time, and after the death of Bourbon 
 reinstated not only in the king's grace, but also in his 
 possessions; and thus the venerable Jean de Poitiers, 
 who, of all his friends, had laboured the most assi- 
 duously to dissuade the duke from his rebellion, was 
 the only one of his adherents who was left for execu- 
 tion. 
 
 It is asserted that Francis either was, or affected to 
 be, highly displeased at the leniency of the judges toward 
 a crime which not only involved the safety of the 
 country, but even the liberty of the sovereign ; declaring 
 that every one of the conspirators richly deserved death, 
 and that he was at a loss to imagine upon what pretext 
 their impunity could be justified. He moreover ap- 
 pointed new commissioners, and once more the whole of 
 the suspected persons were put upon their trial. It would 
 appear, however, that this extraordinary pertinacity upon 
 his part merely served to strengthen the original impres- 
 sion that the hatred of Madame d'Angouleme against 
 the connetable was the real motive of such severity ; and, 
 accordingly, the verdict of the second court only tended 
 to ratify that of its predecessor; an obstinacy on the 
 part of the parliament which drew forth a threatening 
 letter from the king ; in which he asserted that since 
 they were determined to persist in their error, and to
 
 494 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523. 
 
 prefer their own pleasure to the duty which they owed 
 alike to himself and to the nation, he would take such 
 steps as should render them an example to others. 
 
 In all probability, however, he became convinced that 
 by this display of temper he had been led into a great 
 and dangerous error ; it is at least certain that the letter 
 had no results. 
 
 We have already stated that the daughter of St. 
 Vallier had, in her thirteenth year, been given in mar- 
 riage to Louis de Breze, Count de Maulevrier, Grand 
 Seneschal of Normandy. The marriage took place in the 
 year 1514, when the bridegroom had already attained the 
 age of fifty -five, and bore about him many honourable 
 scars, which, however they might tend to enhance his 
 glory as a soldier, were by no means calculated to in- 
 crease his personal attractions in the eyes of a young and 
 beautiful woman. Unfortunately, moreover, Louis de 
 Breze was perfectly aware of the discrepancies which 
 existed between himself and his bride ; but, enslaved by 
 her extraordinary attractions, he had wilfully closed his 
 eyes against the excess of his imprudence, until the fearful 
 jealousy of which he became the victim so soon as he had 
 made Diana his wife, exposed to him the whole extent of 
 his error. 
 
 Nor was the home to which he conveyed the new- 
 made countess more consistent with her age and habits 
 than its master. The gloomy castle of Anet, (pompously 
 designated the palace of the kings of Navarre, because 
 the domain had originally formed a portion of the terri- 
 tories appertaining to those sovereigns,) admirably as it 
 was situated in a fertile valley, watered by the rival rivers
 
 1523.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 495 
 
 of the Eure and the Vesgre, and backed by the magni- 
 ficent forest of Dreux, was in itself dark, melancholy, and 
 isolated. It consisted of a heavy square mass of masonry, 
 pierced on each of its sides by two rows of lancet win- 
 dows, deeply sunk in the stone-work ; and was flanked 
 at either corner by strong and lofty towers ; the whole of 
 the edifice being surrounded by a battlemented wall, and 
 encircled by a moat ; and the only mode of access being 
 through the medium of a drawbridge, which communi- 
 cated with a single entrance gate, opening upon the 
 court within. The interior of Anet was consistent with 
 its outward appearance; dark oaken panellings, grim 
 time-touched portraits of departed worthies, long and 
 chill galleries where the lightest foot-fall awoke myste- 
 rious echoes, these were the unattractive features of the 
 bridal-house of the mere girl whom the grand seneschal 
 had won from her smiling birth-place in Dauphiny. 
 
 Diana, who was destined hereafter to play so promi- 
 nent a part during two successive reigns, was, as we 
 have said, the daughter of the Count de St. Vallier, the 
 representative of one of the most ancient families of 
 Dauphiny, and of Jeanne de Batarnay; and was born 
 on the 3d of September, 1499 ; while her husband, Louis 
 de Breze, was the grandson on the mother's side of 
 Charles VII. and Agnes Sorel; a circumstance which 
 at that period was considered greatly to enhance his 
 personal dignity, whatever prejudice might be attached 
 to it in our own times. At the period of her father's 
 condemnation Diana had consequently passed her twenty- 
 third year, but she had spent her early life in an un- 
 broken calm which still invested her with all the charms
 
 490 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523. 
 
 of youth and ingenuousness. Looking upon the Count 
 de Maulevrier rather with the respect of a child than the 
 fondness of a wife, she had soon accustomed herself to 
 the gloomy etiquette by which she was surrounded ; 
 and knowing nothing of a world of which she was one 
 day to become the idol, she passed her time among her 
 maids, her flowers, and her birds, without one repining 
 thought. 
 
 Diana possessed all the graces that attract, and all the 
 charms which enslave. Nature had endowed her alike 
 with beauty and with intellect ; and as she moved 
 through the sombre saloons of Anet like a spirit of 
 light, the gloomy seneschal blessed the day upon which 
 he had secured such a vision of loveliness to gladden his 
 monotonous existence. 
 
 It may therefore be supposed with what bitter and self- 
 upbraiding reflections he discovered that his betrayal to 
 the king of the treachery of the Duke de Bourbon had 
 involved the life of his father-in-law. Fain would he 
 have concealed such a secret from Diana, but her filial 
 affection rendered the attempt impossible; and little 
 aware of the firm nature of the woman who had hitherto 
 made his will her law, he was astonished to find that, 
 when her first passionate burst of grief had subsided, so 
 far from abandoning herself to a vain and idle sorrow, 
 she wiped away her tears, and declared that his unfor- 
 tunate revelation must be immediately repaired, and the 
 life of her father saved. In vain did de Breze represent 
 to her that he had been condemned by the parliament, 
 and that all hope was consequently over. Diana was 
 not to be convinced.
 
 1523.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 497 
 
 " Tell me not;" she said vehemently ; " that there is 
 no remedy. Do you remember, Sir, that should no 
 intercession be made, not only will my father suffer 
 a painful death, but that disgrace will evermore attach 
 itself to the name of our family ? He must be saved." 
 
 Louis de Breze shook his head mournfully. 
 
 " You would dissuade me in vain ;" she persisted ; 
 " he must, and he shall be saved." 
 
 "But how?" 
 
 " I will save him." 
 
 " You, Madam ! You are not even known at 
 court." 
 
 " What care I for that ? My misfortunes will at 
 once enable me to take my fitting place. I will throw 
 myself at the feet of the king. He cannot refuse to 
 listen to a child pleading for the life of her father." 
 
 " And meanwhile, Diana ;" cried the seneschal in 
 a voice of agony ; " what will become of me?" 
 
 " You must pray, Sir : pray that the miserable effects 
 of your mistaken loyalty may be counteracted ; pray 
 that the efforts of your wretched wife may be crowned 
 with success. I will not delay a day not an hour. 
 A head may fall in an instant." 
 
 Louis de Breze was overcome by the energy which 
 she displayed. Hitherto she had been gentle and com- 
 pliant, but he suddenly found himself overawed by 
 the power of her will, as by something new and 
 strange; and although gloomy forebodings, to which 
 he dared not lend a definite form, arose before him, 
 he suffered her to hasten the preparations for her de- 
 parture without one effort to impede her purpose. 
 
 VOL i. K K
 
 498 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523. 
 
 When the moment came, however, in which she was 
 to leave Anet, the young wife found to her astonishment 
 that she was to set forth alone upon her melancholy mis- 
 sion. " I cannot meet your father ;" was the only reason 
 which the count would assign for this singular supine- 
 ness. " Be speedy in your return, Diana, for you know 
 that the better part of my existence goes with you." 
 
 No time was lost upon the road ; yet when Madame 
 de Breze reached the city, the scaffold was already erected 
 upon which her father was to suffer. Unaware, however, 
 of this ghastly fact, she at once sought an audience of the 
 king, who was informed, while surrounded by a bevy of 
 his nobles, among whom he was endeavouring to forget 
 the impending tragedy, that a lady solicited permission 
 to enter his presence. 
 
 " Who is she?" he inquired with some curiosity of 
 the usher on duty ; " whence does she come?" 
 
 " It is the Grande Seneschale of Normandy, Sire ; and 
 she has come post from Anet." 
 
 " Ah, on the faith of a gentleman ! " exclaimed Francis ; 
 " she has chosen an unhappy moment to present herself 
 at court. This is the far-famed beauty, Diane de Poitiers, 
 my lords, of whom we have all heard so much, and 
 whom none of us have seen, as I believe, since her 
 childhood. She has come on a woful errand truly, for it 
 is easy to guess the purport of her visit. Admit her 
 instantly." 
 
 " The lady is anxious to be permitted to see your 
 majesty alone ;" said the usher respectfully. 
 
 The monarch glanced rapidly about him with a slight 
 inclination of the head, and in a moment the apartment
 
 1523.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 499 
 
 was cleared ; while as the retreating steps of the courtiers 
 were heard in the gallery, a lateral door fell back, and, 
 closely veiled, and enveloped in a heavy mantle, Diana 
 rushed into the saloon, and threw herself at the feet of 
 the king, screaming breathlessly ; " Mercy ! mercy ! " 
 
 " Rise, madame;" said Francis, as the suppliant would 
 have clasped his knees : " remember that you are the 
 wife of a loyal subject, and that your father is very 
 guilty." 
 
 " He is old, Sire ; he has grown old in the service of 
 his sovereigns ;" and as she spoke she raised her droop- 
 ing head, from which the hood fell back, thus revealing 
 all the beauty of her pale and agonized countenance. 
 " You will not, you cannot allow the memory of a long 
 life of fidelity to be obliterated by one fault. Oh ! if you 
 knew how strenuously he exhorted M. de Bourbon not to 
 persist in his error ; if you could have seen the brave old 
 man, tortured by premature remorse for his off-falling 
 from his king, and yet shrinking from the accusation 
 that he could abandon his nearest and dearest friend at 
 the moment of peril, you, Sire, you, who know so well 
 how to appreciate all that is great and noble, you would 
 have held him absolved." 
 
 " You are an eloquent advocate, madame." 
 
 " I am not only pleading for my father, Sire, but for 
 myself; for my own honour, and for the peace of mind 
 of my husband ; for surely you cannot have forgotten that 
 the grand seneschal, by revealing the designs of the 
 connetable, involved the safety of him for whom I sue, 
 and that, should he perish, M. De Bn'ze will have been 
 his murderer !" 
 
 K K 2
 
 500 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523. 
 
 " I pity you, madame, from my very heart ;" said 
 Francis, as he lifted her from the ground, and placed 
 her upon a seat. 
 
 " Do more, Sire j" exclaimed Diana, rising and stand- 
 ing erect, her beautiful figure relieved by the sombre 
 drapery which she had flung aside in the effort. " You 
 are a great and powerful sovereign. Do more. Forget 
 that Jean de Poitiers was the friend of Charles de 
 Bourbon, and remember only that he was the zealous 
 and loyal subject of Francis I. The most noble, the 
 most holy of all royal prerogatives, is mercy." 
 
 "Madame " 
 
 "Ah, you relent! My father is saved!" exclaimed 
 the grande seneschale ; " I knew it I felt it you could 
 not see those venerable grey hairs soiled by the hands of 
 the executioner." 
 
 What more passed during this memorable interview is 
 not even matter of history. The writers of the time put 
 different interpretations upon the clemency of the king. 
 Suffice it that the Count de St. Vallier was reprieved 
 upon the very scaffold; and that Madame de Breze 
 remained at court, where she became the inspiring spirit 
 of the muse of Clement Marot, who has succeeded by 
 the various poems which he wrote in her honour, and of 
 which the sense is far from equivocal, in creating a 
 suspicion that she was not long ere she became reconciled 
 not only to the manners, but also to the vices of the 
 licentious court, in which thereafter she made herself so 
 unfortunately conspicuous. Some historians acquit her 
 of having paid by the forfeiture of her innocence for the 
 life of her father, from the fact that in the patent by
 
 1523.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 501 
 
 which his sentence was remitted, no mention is made of 
 her personal intercession, and that his pardon was attri- 
 buted to that of the grand seneschal himself, and others 
 of his relatives and friends ; but it appears scarcely pro- 
 bable that Francis would, under any circumstances, have 
 been guilty of the indelicacy of involving her name in 
 public disgrace, aware, as he necessarily must have been, 
 of the suspicion which was attached to every young and 
 beautiful woman to whom he accorded any marked favour 
 or protection. 
 
 Had her after life, moreover, been pure and exemplary, 
 and had she, after obtaining the pardon of her father, 
 withdrawn once more into retirement, posterity would 
 have been at no loss to form a correct and worthy judg- 
 ment of her conduct ; but the vain and willing idol of 
 a depraved poet, and the voluntary seductress of a prince 
 who had scarcely reached half her own age, must be 
 content to leave her memory at least clouded by doubt 
 and darkened by suspicion. 
 
 Diane de Poitiers, pleading at the feet of the king for 
 the life of a parent, succeeding in her sublime mission, 
 and subsequently dedicating her youth to the solace of 
 that parent's sufferings, would have ranked among the 
 noblest examples of female virtue and heroism ; but 
 Diane de Poitiers, the frivolous votary of courtly plea- 
 sures, and the mature mistress of a boy-prince, excites 
 only disgust, distrust, and contempt ; and as we trace 
 her downward course, step by step, we scarcely care to 
 ascertain by whom she was first led into the path of 
 evil.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 [1523-24.] 
 
 MORTIFICATIONS OF BOURBON FBANCIS ENDEAVOURS TO RESTORE HIM TO 
 HIS ALLEGIANCE BOURBON REJECTS HIS OVERTURES HIS ESTATES ARE 
 SEQUESTRATED BAD FAITH OF CHARLES V. JEALOUSY OF THE IMPE- 
 RIALIST GENERALS FRANCE ATTACKED ON ALL SIDES THE DUKE DE 
 VENDOME RECALLED FOR THE DEFENCE OF PARIS BRION CHABOT 
 DESPATCHED TO THE CAPITAL TO REASSURE THE CITIZENS A SECOND 
 GASCONNADE THE RETORT COURTEOUS THE ENGLISH TROOPS WITH- 
 DRAW FROM FRANCE DISCONTENT OF THE NATION AT THE APPOINTMENT 
 OF BONNIVET CONTRAST BETWEEN BOURBON AND BONNIVET AS GENERALS 
 GALLANT DEFENCE OF CREMONA BY M. D'HERBOUVILLE DEATH OF THE 
 POPE PESCARA DRIVEN BACK. TO MILAN BONNIVET BLOCKADES THE CITY 
 ABLE DEFENCE OF COLONNA BAYARD DETACHED TO VIGEVANO 
 BONNIVET RAISES THE SIEGE DEATH OF COLONNA DE LAUNOY AND 
 PESCARA ENTER MILAN ACCESSION OF CLEMENT VII. BONNIVET APPLIES 
 FOR REINFORCEMENTS BONNIVET BESIEGES ARONA, BUT IS REPULSED 
 BAYARD DEFENDS REBEC IS ATTACKED BY PESCARA AND COMPELLED TO 
 FLY INDIGNATION OF BAYARD AGAINST BONNIVET BOURBON DECLINES 
 TO COME TO AN ENGAGEMENT WITH BONNIVET RETREAT OF THE FRENCH 
 ARMY BONNIVET IS WOUNDED BAYARD AND VANDENESSE ASSUME THE 
 COMMAND OF THE TROOPS VANDENESSE AND BAYARD MORTALLY WOUNDED 
 THE LAST MOMENTS OF THE GOOD KNIGHT GRIEF OF THE SOLDIERY- 
 HOMAGE TO HEROISM A DYING REBUKE DEATH OF BAYARD HIS 
 FUNERAL CORTEGE REGRETFUL EXCLAMATION OF FRANCIS A SOLDIER'S 
 MONUMENT.
 
 1523-24.] COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. 505 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 [1523-24.] 
 
 WHILE the friends of Bourbon were thus suffering the 
 penalties of their adherence to his cause, the duke him- 
 self was scarcely more fortunate. He had already expe- 
 rienced with bitterness of feeling, that he was no longer 
 the powerful noble before whom all save royalty bowed 
 down ; the idol of the devoted soldiery, and the object of 
 universal popularity. Nothing was left to him but his 
 great name, and the weapon which he had never yet 
 wielded, save in the cause of his country, but which was 
 now to be unsheathed against her ; and it is probable 
 that the very excess of his despair rendered him despe- 
 rate ; for Francis, urged, as it is asserted, by his mother, 
 who discovered too late the fatal mistake of which she 
 had been the author, was induced at this period to 
 make a last effort to restore him to his allegiance ; and 
 for this purpose commissioned a gentleman of his house- 
 hold to offer to him a free pardon, and the restitution of 
 all his estates and pensions, if he would forthwith acknow- 
 ledge his error, and return to France.
 
 506 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523-24. 
 
 When he received the royal envoy, Bourbon was sur- 
 rounded by such of his adherents as had succeeded in 
 effecting their escape ; and as he glanced about him, and 
 remembered that for his sake they had been proscribed 
 and condemned, all his original indignation was aroused. 
 
 "It is too late, Sir;" he said haughtily; "the king 
 your master had probably forgotten that others have 
 been involved in my misfortune. Do you bring me an 
 assurance of equal impunity for all my gallant friends?" 
 
 " I am authorized simply to treat with yourself, my 
 lord duke ;" was the reply. 
 
 " In that case our interview need not be prolonged ;" 
 said Bourbon ; " neither do they nor I ask for any favour 
 at the hands of Francis of France. I will not detain 
 you from more urgent duties." 
 
 "You are resolved, Monseigneur?" 
 
 " You have my answer, Sir." 
 
 " I am then compelled to complete my mission, M. de 
 Bourbon, by demanding, in the name of my sovereign, 
 the sword which you bore as Connetable of France, and 
 the collar of St. Michael with which you were invested." 
 
 The duke smiled bitterly. " That sword," he said ; 
 " I cannot deliver to you. It was taken from me at the 
 passage of the Scheldt, and transferred to the brother-in- 
 law of the king ; at his hands therefore you must seek it. 
 The collar of St. Michael must be already in the posses- 
 sion of the sovereign, since I learn that Chantelle has 
 been garrisoned by his troops, and the property found 
 there confiscated to his use. I left it suspended at the 
 head of my bed, and doubtlessly it was found there." 
 
 "And this, Monseigneur, is your final answer?"
 
 1523-24.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 507 
 
 The connetable bowed in silence, and the royal envoy 
 withdrew. 
 
 The total sequestration of Bourbon's estates to the 
 crown followed swiftly upon this ill-omened interview; 
 he was declared guilty of lese-majeste, and degraded 
 from all his offices and dignities ; thus becoming a pro- 
 scribed and penniless outlaw ; while he was made con- 
 scious, by the coldness of his new master, of the change 
 which had been effected by this reverse of fortune upon 
 the selfish monarch through whose insidious counsel he 
 had been betrayed. 
 
 Charles had believed that by securing Bourbon he 
 should induce a great portion of France to rise against its 
 sovereign, but no such result ensued; and mortified by 
 the disappointment, he forgot the value of the individual 
 in his annoyance at the failure of his hopes. Instead of 
 reiterating the promise which he had made of conferring 
 the hand of his sister upon the duke, and of assisting him 
 to regain his sequestrated estates, he even suffered a con- 
 siderable time to elapse before he replied to his applica- 
 tions for employment ; and when he at length found it 
 expedient to do so, he contented himself by leaving it at 
 his discretion either to return to Spain, or to assume the 
 command of the imperial army in Italy as lieutenant- 
 general ; while situated as he was at the moment Bour- 
 bon was fain to accept the latter alternative. 
 
 The defection of the connetable had meanwhile para- 
 lysed the strength of the French army. Suspicions arose 
 among the soldiery that the evil would not end where it 
 had begun. A rallying point was lost ; and there was 
 no longer that unity among the troops which had tended
 
 508 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523-24. 
 
 to render them so formidable to their enemies. Never- 
 theless, by a singular coincidence, the same absence of 
 a settled, or rather simultaneous purpose, proved the 
 salvation of France; for had the several attacks which 
 the king was called upon to repel, been directed at one 
 and the same moment against him, there can be little 
 doubt that he must have sunk under so unequal a con- 
 flict. Such, however, was far from being the case ; the 
 jealousy that existed between the rival generals, and 
 especially that which Pescara bore to Bourbon, rendered 
 all sincere co-operation impossible; and thus Spain, 
 Germany, and England acted independently, and by this 
 defective policy afforded breathing time to Francis. 
 The Germans were repulsed from Franche-Comte by the 
 Duke de Guise ; Lautrec defended Bayonne against the 
 Spaniards during four days, and compelled them to raise 
 the siege, when they fell back upon Fontarabia, which, 
 as we have elsewhere stated, was delivered to them by 
 Captain Franget ; a success which did not, however, 
 encourage them to pursue their advantage. 
 
 The progress of the English army we have already 
 recorded ; and the alarm excited by the approach to the 
 capital was so great that it overcame the mistrust of 
 Francis towards the Duke de Vendome, whom, as a kins- 
 man of the connetable, he had hitherto feared to invest 
 with an authority which might enable him to assist the 
 fugitive in his supposed designs against Paris. The Duke 
 of Norfolk at the head of fifteen thousand men, had been 
 joined at Calais by the Count de Beaurein; and their 
 combined strength amounted to between six and seven 
 thousand horse, a strong body of artillery, and nearly
 
 1523-24.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 509 
 
 thirty thousand foot; while La Tremouille, who was called 
 upon to oppose them, could scarcely muster a sufficient 
 force to garrison his fortresses. The month of September 
 had, however, commenced; and he calculated upon the 
 rainy season which was rapidly approaching, the difficulty 
 which the invading armies must necessarily experience 
 in victualling their troops, and above all on the well-tried 
 valour of his superior officers. Nevertheless, his force 
 was so insufficient for such an emergency, that, according 
 to Du Bellay, he was compelled whenever the enemy 
 withdrew from before a fortified place to remove the 
 garrison into another which was liable to attack. 
 
 Under these circumstances Francis recalled the Duke 
 de Vendome from his government of Champagne to the 
 defence of Paris, at the head of four hundred men-at- 
 arms ; and at the same time despatched Brion Chabot to 
 assure the citizens that assistance was at hand. The 
 embassy was precisely one which flattered the vanity of 
 the young count, who, strong in his consciousness of the 
 royal favour, although naturally brave, was arrogant, 
 thoughtless, and self-sufficient ; and he had no sooner 
 called a meeting than, omitting altogether to mention the 
 immediate arrival of Vendome with his troops, he made 
 a flowery harangue, in which he bade the inhabitants of 
 the metropolis divest themselves of all uneasiness, as the 
 king had taken every precaution to ensure the safety of 
 the city, and had sent him to defend it. 
 
 Baillet, a shrewd and practical man, who was second 
 president of the parliament, when the young courtier, 
 flushed with his own eloquence paused for a reply, calmly 
 rose, and glancing about him with a look of grave irony,
 
 510 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523-21. 
 
 answered by assuring the royal envoy that he was welcome 
 to the capital as the messenger of their sovereign lord the 
 king, and that there could be little doubt that, should need 
 be, he would demean himself in a manner worthy of his 
 mission ; but that, nevertheless, none of his co-citizens 
 could have forgotten that when Louis XL was anxious 
 to convince his good city of Paris that the invasion of 
 Charles of Burgundy should not affect their safety, he 
 had not sent a solitary courtier by post, but a French 
 marshal with four hundred armed men ; a better security 
 than himself, whatever might be his personal qualities, or 
 his court favour, for the preservation of a metropolis ; and 
 that, consequently, he felt it incumbent on him to con- 
 gratulate his fellow-townsmen upon the fact that M. de 
 Vendome, with a body of troops, was already on the 
 road to reinforce M. de Briori Chabot. 
 
 This intelligence soon reached the enemy's camp also ; 
 and the English duke, apprehensive that he might be 
 enclosed between the armies of Tremouille and Vendome, 
 determined on retiring to Calais, the Germans and 
 Flemings having already insisted upon a retreat. He 
 accordingly withdrew by Nesle, Ham, and Bohain, and 
 ultimately sailed for England in the month of December, 
 with a mere skeleton of the fine army which he had led 
 into France, having effected nothing. 
 
 We have already stated that the conspiracy of Bourbon 
 had induced Francis to forego his intention of heading 
 his troops in the Milanese, and that he had temporarily 
 confided the command to Bonnivet ; who, rash, inconside- 
 rate, and comparatively inexperienced, had only his reck- 
 less courage to recommend him. This ill-fated selection
 
 1523-24.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 511 
 
 had been made at the suggestion of Madame d'Angou- 
 leme, and was intended as the last indignity which she 
 could show to Bourbon ; who, considering the favourite 
 as his vassal, would necessarily feel himself outraged by 
 such an arrangement, when France could have opposed 
 him by a Vendome, a Chabannes, or a Montmorenci. 
 
 Its effect was, however, to the full as unfavourable 
 upon the nation at large ; the French people, and 
 above all, the French army, had no confidence in the 
 light-hearted and libertine favourite of the duchess- 
 mother; and public opinion seldom errs. His agency 
 had been traced throughout the disgrace of the con- 
 netable, not only the first noble, but also the first 
 soldier of France; and while a hope was entertained 
 that the duke, after the bitter paroxysm of his indigna- 
 tion had passed over, might still become reconciled to 
 his sovereign, the more wary of those who watched the 
 progress of events felt a melancholy conviction that 
 should it be otherwise, and Bourbon be indeed induced 
 to bear arms against his country, the contest would be 
 fearfully unequal. Bonnivet had merely the uncalcu- 
 lating courage of a soldier, while Bourbon possessed the 
 tried prudence of a commander; the spoiled favourite 
 was presumptuous, disdaining all advice from those about 
 him, whatever might be the amount of their experience ; 
 while the attainted duke sought, on the contrary, for 
 counsel, calculated every chance, was an adept in the 
 whole science of warfare, and was ever ready to profit 
 by any oversight on the part of his adversary. But 
 Bourbon, proscribed and despoiled, now possessed only 
 his proud name and his good sword ; while Bonnivet, at
 
 512 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523-24. 
 
 the very moment when his sovereign contented himself 
 by sending a prince of the blood at the head of four 
 hundred men to protect the capital of his kingdom, 
 found himself invested with the command of sixteen 
 hundred lances, the flower of the French cavalry, six 
 thousand Swiss, two thousand troops from the Valais, as 
 many from the Grisons, six thousand lansquenets, three 
 thousand Italians, and twelve thousand French volun- 
 teers. 
 
 The moment of the invasion was, however, an unpro- 
 pitious one for France. The solitary fortress which she 
 still possessed, that of Cremona, was garrisoned only by 
 eight brave men, the remnant of a garrison of forty, to 
 whom, under the command of M. d'Herbouville, it had 
 been entrusted eighteen months previously; arid who, 
 although they continued to hold the place, had long 
 despaired of help, and been cut off from all commu- 
 nication with their countrymen ; while the pope had 
 joined the confederation, believing that he should thus 
 ensure the peace of Italy, and had confided the com- 
 mand of his troops to the Duke of Mantua, who was as 
 anxious as himself to avoid a collision with the enemy. 
 
 The sudden death of the pontiff, moreover, which took 
 place on the 14th of September, the very day upon which 
 the campaign commenced, rendered the papal general 
 still more averse to an encounter with the French forces 
 upon his own responsibility ; the confederated army was 
 still scattered; while Prosper Colonna, the general-in- 
 chief, who was entrusted with the defence of the Milanese, 
 was a confirmed invalid, and was, moreover, trammelled 
 for want of means to pay his troops. Charles de Launoy,
 
 1 523-24. J FRANCIS THE FIRST. 513 
 
 Viceroy of Naples, who in the event of his demise was to 
 succeed to his command, had halted in the South of 
 Italy, in order not to arouse any suspicion of his pur- 
 pose and Pescara, whose jealous animosity towards him 
 no personal success of his own had been able to appease, 
 had left the army for Valladolid, where the emperor was 
 then residing, in order to pour out all his complaints 
 against his rival. Nevertheless, despite extreme old age, 
 bodily suffering, and mental anxiety, Colonna was still 
 true to his reputation ; and contrived to harass the 
 enemy, and to impede their progress by all practicable 
 means. As they advanced, although unable to mount his 
 horse, he caused himself to be conveyed in a litter to the 
 bank of the Ticino opposite Vigevano, in order to dispute 
 their passage ; but on his arrival there he found that the 
 extreme drought which had prevailed throughout the 
 summer had so decreased the volume of water that the 
 river could be forded from every point; and he was 
 consequently compelled to make a rapid retreat to 
 Milan. 
 
 Had Bonnivet pursued his advantage on the instant, 
 there can be little doubt that he might have become 
 master of the city ; for thirty years of intermittent war- 
 fare had impoverished the citizens, and the walls of the 
 town were still in ruins ; while, as we have already 
 stated, the confederated army was dispersed over a large 
 extent of territory. By the forced march of one day the 
 French general might have reached the city ; but anxious 
 to convince those who had hitherto accused him of rash- 
 ness, that he could exert a prudence equal to their own, 
 he lingered for three days on the shores of the Ticino ; 
 
 VOL. T. L L
 
 514 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523-24. 
 
 and thus gave the imperialist general time to repair his 
 fortifications, and to strengthen his garrison. 
 
 Bonnivet was accordingly compelled to have recourse 
 to a blockade; and to attempt, by turning the water- 
 courses and breaking up the roads which led to the city, 
 to reduce the fortress by famine ; a stratagem which he 
 followed up by taking Monza, Lodi, and Cremona, the 
 latter town having been in the possession of the Duke 
 d'Urbino while the French held the citadel ; thus cutting 
 off the supplies, and exposing the beleaguered city to all 
 the horrors of want. By diverting the canals from their 
 course, and destroying the water-mills in the neighbour- 
 hood, the French general had taken the most efficient 
 steps to starve out the garrison ; but for a time the want 
 of the former was supplied by the springs within the 
 walls, and that of the latter by windmills which Colonna 
 speedily caused to be constructed ; and meanwhile the 
 French troops suffered little less in their own camp, the 
 overflowing of the canals, which broke over their dams 
 and flooded the low grounds about them, and the scarcity 
 of forage for the horses and cattle, rendering it necessary 
 that they should be perpetually on the alert ; a circum- 
 stance of which Colonna took advantage, by means of 
 skirmishing parties, to harass and fatigue the troops 
 day and night. 
 
 So unremitting, indeed, were his attacks for he had 
 succeeded in collecting within the walls of Milan no less 
 a force than sixteen hundred horse and fourteen thousand 
 foot that Bonnivet became apprehensive lest he should, 
 in conjunction with Antonio du Leyva, who held Pavia, 
 take possession of a bridge which he had caused to be
 
 FRANCIS THE FIRST. 515 
 
 constructed at Vigevano, for the convenience of conveying 
 provisions into his camp, and thus starve him in his 
 turn ; and he accordingly desired Bayard and the Sire 
 de Hence, who were then holding Monza, to take up 
 their quarters in the village of Vigevano, in order to 
 defend the bridge ; a fatal error, of which he was soon 
 destined to appreciate the extent, as Colonna by re- 
 capturing the city of Monza was at once enabled to 
 secure an abundance of all the necessaries of life, and 
 to recruit the failing strength of his garrison. 
 
 Under these circumstances Bonnivet soon wearied of 
 a warfare which, perilous and fatiguing as it was, con- 
 duced to no result ; and which was rendered tenfold 
 more trying to his troops from the extreme rigour of the 
 weather, and the perpetual and severe snow storms 
 which for the last four months had almost choked up 
 his camp. He consequently proposed a truce, which 
 however was declined by Colonna ; and thus he found 
 himself obliged, on the 27th of November, to strike 
 his tents under the very eyes of the enemy. He never- 
 theless succeeded in effecting his retreat in good order ; 
 and in condensing his troops on an island between the 
 Ticinello and the Ticino, near Biagrasso and Rosat, 
 where he took up his winter quarters, and disbanded 
 a portion of his infantry, which he proposed to replace 
 in the spring by a new levy in Switzerland. 
 
 On the 30th of December the brave Colonna breathed 
 his last in Milan, full of years and honour. Although 
 he had already reached the advanced age of eighty, and 
 had long been the victim of a painful and hopeless 
 disease, he had never suffered his spirit to be quenched 
 
 LL 2
 
 510 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1523-21. 
 
 by the sufferings of his body ; and although both Lannoy 
 and Pescara entered the capital of Lombardy on the very 
 day of his decease, it is questionable whether either, or 
 both combined, could have replaced him. 
 
 But, unfortunately for France, private animosity and 
 party feeling had raised up against her a still more for- 
 midable enemy; and the ashes of the brave Colonna were 
 scarcely cold in their sepulchre, ere Charles de Bourbon, 
 at the head of six thousand lansquenets whom he had 
 raised in Germany, appeared in the arena. It is true 
 that the coldness of the emperor no longer permitted 
 him to present himself as a prince about to combat for 
 his own interests, and to lend his aid in dismembering the 
 nation, and possessing himself of a separate and inde- 
 pendent kingdom ; but still his name was a watchword of 
 strength, and his influence over the troops so unbounded, 
 that the pride of Pescara revolted at a rivalry which he 
 had believed must have terminated with the death of 
 Colonna ; and nothing short of their common desire to 
 revenge their real or imagined wrongs against France 
 could have induced the two generals to fight under the 
 same banner. 
 
 The contest before Milan had not, meanwhile, been 
 the only one which engaged the attention of Europe ; 
 the death of Pope Adrian the Sixth having necessitated 
 a new election which convulsed the Vatican with cabals 
 and intrigue. The English ambassadors in Rome had 
 been busy in forwarding the interests of Wolsey, who 
 had also applied to the emperor for his support, and 
 looked with confidence to the result. But Charles, even 
 while he pledged himself to the cardinal to uphold his
 
 1523-24.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 517 
 
 pretensions, had private reasons for desiring his failure ; 
 and exerted himself so strenuously to secure it, that his 
 name was no sooner mentioned in the conclave than it 
 was unanimously rejected ; and after six weeks of agita- 
 tion and intrigue between the powerful factions of the 
 cardinals of Medicis and Colonna, the election of the 
 former was secured, and he assumed the popedom under 
 the title of Clement VII. Like his predecessor the new 
 pontiff secretly favoured the league, and was desirous for 
 the expulsion of the French from Italy ; and thus Francis 
 reaped no benefit from the change which had taken place. 
 Bonnivet, when once he had secured his winter quar- 
 ters, so far from feeling his confidence diminished by the 
 check which he had experienced under the walls of 
 Milan, cradled himself in the belief that the arrival of 
 adequate reinforcements from France, and the pecuniary 
 pressure to which the enemy were exposed, must tend to 
 his ultimate success so soon as the rigorous season 
 should be terminated; but he deceived himself. 
 
 Francis, once more satisfied of the immediate safety 
 of his kingdom, had no time to spare from his pleasures, 
 and totally overlooked the precarious circumstances of the 
 absent general ; while the appearance of Bourbon with 
 the confederated army tended to condense their measures, 
 and to increase their activity. Moreover, it was essen- 
 tial to Bonnivet that he should maintain a communication 
 with Switzerland and La Yalais by means of Lago Majore ; 
 and for this purpose he found himself compelled to 
 detach Renzo de Ceri, one of the Orsini family, who was 
 a general of the Italian army, with a strong force to 
 besiege Arona, a powerful fortress which defended the
 
 518 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1524. 
 
 passage between Milan and the Simplon on the western 
 side of the lake. His command consisted of seven thou- 
 sand of his countrymen, but they were for the most part 
 worn-out veterans, who had wasted their strength in the 
 intestine wars of Italian independence, and who were 
 now brought together under the same banner without a 
 sympathy in common, save that which grew out of the 
 memory that they had each in their turn been indebted 
 for help to the arms of France. These disjointed troops, 
 nevertheless, held out gallantly during the space of thirty 
 days, and harassed the garrison of the place by their 
 indomitable resolution ; but at the termination of that 
 period they were driven from their post with consider- 
 able loss by Anchiso Visconti, who held the citadel, and 
 compelled them to raise the siege. 
 
 The great anxiety of Bonnivet, when foiled upon this 
 point, was to prevent the introduction of provisions into 
 Milan ; where he was aware that from the great strength 
 of the garrison, and the multitude of peasantry who had 
 taken refuge within the walls, the consumption must be 
 immense ; and having ascertained that supplies not only 
 of food, but also of money, were on their way to the 
 city, he resolved to despatch Bayard to a small village 
 called Rebec for the purpose of intercepting them on 
 their passage. The good knight was never backward 
 where hard blows were to be exchanged, but even he 
 hesitated to undertake so hazardous an enterprise; for 
 Rebec was an open hamlet without walls or defences of 
 any description, and was situated within rifle-shot of the 
 enemy's camp.
 
 1524] FRANCIS THE FIRST 519 
 
 " It is to you, my lord of Bayard, that I offer this 
 command ;" said Bonnivet courteously ; " because it 
 cannot be in better hands than yours. Take with you 
 two hundred horse, and the infantry of Lorges ; and we 
 shall be enabled by these means not only to cut off 
 the supplies of the city, but also to obtain unerring 
 intelligence of the movements of the imperialists." 
 
 " Both the one measure and the other are desirable no 
 doubt ;" was the calm reply of the good knight ; " but 
 to effect either I should require the aid of at least a 
 moiety of your whole force. Rebec stands in the midst 
 of the open fields, we have a vigilant enemy to deal with, 
 and our standard will require to be well guarded. Are 
 you prepared to give me the troops I require?" 
 
 " Your prudence is ill-timed ;" said the arrogant 
 favourite ; " Had I not been assured of the perfect safety 
 of the expedition, I should not have devised it. Even 
 now, not a mouse can stir in Milan but I am instantly 
 apprised of its movements. If you decline, however, 
 there are others " 
 
 " Had my personal honour alone been involved in our 
 failure, Monseigneur ;" broke in Bayard haughtily ; " I 
 should have spared both you and myself so many words ; 
 but I fight for France, and her glory is dearer to me 
 than my own. I will, however, since such is your good 
 pleasure, march to Rebec at dawn." 
 
 " Do so ;" replied Bonnivet ; " and within eight and 
 forty hours I will provide you with such a reinforce- 
 ment as shall form a living citadel in your new govern- 
 ment."
 
 520 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [152-1. 
 
 " I shall look for it, my lord ;" said Bayard coldly ; 
 " and will instantly make my preparations." 
 
 Accordingly, just as the day broke, the good knight, 
 with a cheerful countenance but a foreboding heart, left 
 Biagrasso at the head of two hundred horsemen and two 
 thousand foot soldiers ; but so certainly did he foresee 
 the result of such an improvident enterprise, that he took 
 with him only a second charger, leaving his mules and his 
 baggage at Novara. His first care on arriving in his 
 new quarters was to defend the village in so far as it was 
 susceptible of defence ; but when he had ridden through 
 the straggling and unprotected streets and lanes of 
 which it was composed, he found that he could effect 
 nothing beyond erecting barricades at the entrance of 
 the several thoroughfares ; and perceiving that in the 
 event of an attack it would be utterly impossible for him 
 to hold out longer than a few hours, he despatched an 
 urgent letter to Bonnivet, describing the extreme peril of 
 his situation, and entreating him not to lose a moment 
 in forwarding the promised reinforcements. But when 
 messenger had succeeded messenger to the main camp, 
 and no answer was returned, Bayard became convinced 
 that he must rely entirely upon his own little band; 
 and a bitter conviction grew upon him that the jeopardy 
 in which he was thus placed had been premeditated. 
 He had long been aware of the jealousy borne towards 
 him by the favourite, by whom the renown of every 
 military leader in the French armies had invariably 
 been considered as a personal injustice; although in 
 the frankness of his nature he had never suffered himself
 
 1524.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 52 L 
 
 to suspect that he would be guilty of leading one of 
 his sovereign's officers into an ambush so hopeless as 
 that in which he now found himself entrapped; and 
 he made a solemn vow that should his life be spared he 
 would demand satisfaction at the sword's point. 
 
 Days and nights passed on during which the good 
 knight never put off his armour, and even deprived him- 
 self of sleep until fatigue had so seriously undermined 
 his health that he could not rise from his bed ; and thus 
 found himself constrained to delegate his authority to 
 some of his superior officers. These, however, having 
 since their arrival seen no cause for alarm, proved less 
 stringent than himself, and having satisfied themselves 
 upon their midnight round that all was silent in the 
 enemy's camp, they retired to their quarters, after en- 
 joining the sentinels to vigilance. 
 
 The Marquis de Pescara had, meanwhile, ascertained 
 with how small a force Bayard had occupied the hamlet, 
 and resolved to surprise him ; while, in order to prevent 
 any mistake during the darkness, his men were in- 
 structed to wear their shirts over their armour; and 
 thus, guided by a couple of peasants who were familiar 
 with all the outlets of the village, the Spaniards, to the 
 number of six thousand foot and five hundred horse, 
 moved noiselessly towards Rebec, where all was so silent 
 that for a time they suspected the French troops had 
 retired. 
 
 At length, however, they reached the advanced sen- 
 tinels, who immediately commenced a rapid retreat, 
 raising an alarm as they fell back upon the barricades ;
 
 522 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1524. 
 
 while, as the first cry echoed through the streets, the good 
 knight sprang from his sick-bed, and seizing his lance, 
 rushed towards the barrier, followed by De Lorges and 
 half-a-dozen men at arms, when he encountered a body 
 of the emperor's troops, who were clamorously demand- 
 ing to be led to his quarters, and offering a reward to 
 whomsoever would enable them to take him. With his 
 own hand, enfeebled as he was by sickness, he overthrew 
 the foremost ; upon which his gallant little band, re- 
 assured by his sudden apparition among them, seconded 
 him bravely; but he had no sooner ascertained the 
 number of the enemy than he became convinced that 
 all opposition was fruitless ; and beckoning De Lorges to 
 his side he bade him instantly retreat with his infantry 
 to Biagrasso. 
 
 " Go ;" he said rapidly ; " save all the lives you can 
 before the whole body of the imperialists pass the 
 barrier. All else must be abandoned ; do not lose a 
 moment. I will cover your retreat with my gendarmes . 
 and follow you, should it be God's will." 
 
 This order was promptly executed; and while the 
 Italian troops withdrew by an opposite avenue, the good 
 knight and his cavalry so resolutely repulsed the ad- 
 vancing enemy, that they had ultimately time to wheel 
 their horses in their turn towards the main camp, having 
 lost only nine men throughout this gallant defence. 
 
 On reaching Biagrasso Bayard at once proceeded to 
 the quarters of Bonnivet, whom he upbraided vehe- 
 mently for his treachery and bad faith ; and the quarrel 
 proceeded to such a length that a personal combat must
 
 1524.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 523 
 
 have been inevitable, had not the menacing aspect of 
 public affairs induced both leaders to defer for a time 
 the settlement of their private differences. 
 
 The imperial army had received a reinforcement of six 
 thousand lansquenets levied by the Venetian states; 
 and Bourbon, who had hitherto been passive, now occu- 
 pied Milan, and began to act on the offensive. Per- 
 petual skirmishes weakened the ranks of Bonnivet with- 
 out acquiring for him the slightest advantage ; sickness 
 had declared itself among his troops; while the Swiss 
 refused to remain longer partakers of these perpetual 
 and unprofitable disasters, and, according to their usual 
 custom, marched out of the city, and returned home. 
 In this extremity, determined to achieve at least some 
 glory before he abandoned the enterprise upon which 
 he had entered without a single misgiving, Bonnivet 
 made use of every stratagem he could devise for pro- 
 voking the Duke de Bourbon to an engagement; the 
 haughty connetable, however, disdained to encounter one 
 of whom he still affected to speak as his vassal; and 
 while he pertinaciously harassed his troops by continual 
 sallies, he gave him no opportunity of meeting his own 
 army in the open field. 
 
 At length intelligence reached the French camp that 
 six thousand Swiss were marching to their aid by Sessia, 
 and a like number by Bergamo, upon which Bonnivet 
 determined to fall back upon Novara ; and he had no 
 sooner accomplished this movement than Bourbon, in 
 order to prevent the junction which it was intended to 
 facilitate, inarched his main body to a convenient spot 
 between Sessia and Novara to oppose the passage of the
 
 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1524. 
 
 first, while Giovanni de' Medici crossed the Ticino, and 
 by this movement impeded the progress of the other. In 
 addition to this disaster the French general had no sooner 
 evacuated Biagrasso, the only strong fortress which still 
 remained in his power, than it was besieged and taken 
 by Sforza ; nor did the evil end there, for it was dis- 
 covered that the plague which was raging in the city 
 had extended to his troops, who were daily dying in 
 great numbers, while the scarcity of provisions, from 
 which they had been suffering for several weeks, tended 
 to give added virulence to the disease. 
 
 Thus enclosed between two divisions of the hostile 
 army, and disappointed of the anticipated reinforce- 
 ments, Bonnivet called a council of war, at which it was 
 decided that, as effectual resistance had now become im- 
 possible, a retreat should be attempted. In accordance 
 with this arrangement, the French troops left Novara at 
 midnight, and marched upon Romagnano, a hamlet 
 situated upon the left bank of the Sessia ; and before 
 daylight they succeeded in passing the river, ere they 
 were overtaken by the enemy. Here they joined their 
 Swiss allies, and then proceeded towards Ivrea, with the 
 intention of entering France by Lower Valais. They 
 had now only ten leagues to march ere they reached a 
 place of safety, and already the flagging spirits of the 
 harassed soldiery began to revive. Bonnivet had, more- 
 over, taken the precaution to erect a field-battery upon 
 the river-bank to impede the passage of the enemy, 
 and great confidence was felt in the sagacity of this 
 arrangement. It proved, however, ineffectual, as the im- 
 perialists discovered a ford lower down the stream upon
 
 1521.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 525 
 
 which the guns could not be brought to bear, and they 
 consequently continued their pursuit without impediment, 
 keeping up a brisk attack upon the rear of the retreating 
 column. Bonnivet, who commanded the rear-guard, 
 returned their fire with considerable effect, and steadily 
 continued his march ; while Bayard at the head of his 
 gendarmes maintained a skirmishing warfare, which pro- 
 tected the main body. At length, a musket ball broke 
 the sword-arm of the French general, and compelled him 
 to retire from the hazardous position he had hitherto 
 resolutely held ; upon which he summoned to his side 
 the good knight and the Count de Vandenesse, the 
 brother of La Palie : 
 
 " I pray and conjure you;" he said to Bayard ; " for 
 the sake of your own honour, and the glory of the 
 French name, to defend, as you so well know how to do, 
 the standards which I am now compelled to entrust to 
 your tried valour and fidelity. M. de Vandenesse will 
 command the artillery, but I leave the troops in your 
 charge." 
 
 " I thank you, my lord, for the confidence which you 
 express in my loyalty;" replied the good knight; "Had 
 you always done me the same honour heretofore, both 
 my country and my sovereign might have profited by my 
 exertions, and my own safety have been better secured. 
 In any case, however, I shall do my duty ; and so long 
 as I have life, our standards shall never fall into the 
 hands of the enemy." 
 
 He then assumed the command of the retreating 
 forces ; and he had scarcely placed himself at the head of
 
 526 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1524. 
 
 the gendarmes, when a stone from a hacquebouse 1 struck 
 the Count de Vandenesse, and inflicted a mortal wound, 
 of which he died three days afterwards. 
 
 As he fell, Bayard turned upon the enemy, and made 
 so vigorous a charge that he compelled them for a time 
 to retreat upon their main body ; but as he was about 
 to rejoin his own force, he was in his turn smitten by 
 a similar missile, which struck him across the loins, and 
 fractured his spine. As he felt the blow, he reeled 
 in his saddle, exclaiming ; " Jesus, my God, I am 
 killed!" He then, with some difficulty, raised to his 
 lips the hilt of his sword which was in the form of a 
 cross, kissed it, recommended his soul to God, and 
 fainted. In an instant a dozen hands were outstretched 
 to support him; and while he was led into a place of 
 safety, he rallied, and besought those about him to set 
 him with his back against a tree to which he pointed, 
 and to place him with his face towards the imperialists. 
 
 " I feel ; " he gasped out j " that I have but a few 
 moments to live, and I will not, for the first time, 
 turn my back upon the enemy. Comrades, to the 
 charge ! the Spaniards are advancing. Let me once 
 more see the gleaming of our lances." 
 
 The sobs of his maitre-d'hotel, who was supporting 
 his head, again recalled him to himself. " Jacques, my 
 friend ; " he murmured affectionately ; " be comforted. 
 It is the will of God that I should now leave this world, 
 
 1 A weapon similar in construction to a harquebuss but of much 
 larger calibre, which launched stones instead of shot.
 
 1524.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 527 
 
 in which he has blessed me far beyond my deserts. His 
 will be done ! " 
 
 As no priest was on the field to receive his confession, 
 he sent to summon the Seigneur d'Alegre, the Provost 
 of Paris, whom he entreated to act as his chaplain, and 
 to whom he humbly declared his sins ; after which, he 
 besought him to bear his last vows of fidelity to the king 
 his master, and to assure him that the most bitter pang 
 which he experienced in dying existed in the conscious- 
 ness that he could never again wield a lance in his service. 
 
 " And now;" he said, glancing round upon the soldiers 
 who were thronging about him, regardless of the peril 
 by which they were momentarily threatened ; " and now, 
 my friends and comrades, leave me, I entreat you ; and 
 do not let me suffer the misery of seeing you fall into the 
 hands of your enemies ; your care can avail me nothing ; 
 go, and pray for my soul." 
 
 For the first time, however, he was disobeyed. Still 
 the imperialists advanced, and still the weeping soldiers 
 stood motionless, gazing upon their expiring idol. Not 
 another blow was struck by the French ; and as the 
 enemy came up they heard only one long wail of grief, 
 coupled with the name of Bayard. 
 
 Pescara was in the van of the army, and at once 
 apprehending the truth, he made his way to the spot 
 where the good knight was still struggling with the death- 
 agony. As his eye fell upon him, the Spanish general 
 dropped his sword ; and then bending down, he raised 
 the hand of his erewhile enemy respectfully to his lips. 
 
 "Would to God, my good lord of Bayard ;" he said ; 
 " that at the cost of a quart of my own blood, so death
 
 528 THE COURT AND REIGN OF [1524. 
 
 had not ensued, I might have met you in good health, 
 and as my prisoner, that so I might have proved how 
 much I honour the exalted prowess that is in you; 
 knowing as I do that the emperor my master has never 
 had a braver or a bolder enemy ; and, may God be my 
 help ! I would rather have given half of all that I am 
 worth, than that this should have chanced." 
 
 As Pescara turned away, the Duke de Bourbon ad- 
 vanced in his turn, and withdrawing his helmet, bent 
 bare-headed over his old companion in arms. "Alas, 
 Bayard !" he said in an accent of deep emotion ; " how 
 do I grieve to see you, whom I have always loved and 
 honoured, expiring before my eyes!" 
 
 " Monseigneur," replied the good knight, making an 
 effort to subdue the agony under which he writhed ; 
 " I thank you for your sympathy, but I desire no pity 
 at your hands ; I die like a true man, in the service of 
 my king and my country. Rather save your pity for 
 yourself, who are bearing arms against your faith, your 
 sovereign, and your nation." 
 
 Bourbon turned away in silence : the iron had entered 
 into his heart. 
 
 During this brief interview Pescara had caused a 
 magnificent marquee to be pitched upon the field, and 
 the wounded man was conveyed upon the crossed lances 
 of some of his own followers to a camp-bed beneath it, 
 beside which he found a priest, to whom he once more 
 confessed himself. The imperialist general then took 
 up his station beside him, and remained at his post, 
 until slightly raising himself upon his pillow, the dying 
 man once more pressed his sword to his lips, and faintly
 
 1524.] FRANCIS THE FIRST. 529 
 
 murmuring his war cry of " God and my country !" sank 
 back, and expired. 
 
 A guard of honour was immediately stationed at the 
 entrance of the tent, and the body embalmed; after 
 which all the gentlemen and equerries of his household, 
 who had surrendered on the sole condition that they 
 should be permitted to see him once more before his 
 interment, were indiscriminately admitted, although the 
 same privilege was refused to individuals of higher rank 
 in the opposite army; and as they retired they were 
 severally informed that they were free, as the generals of 
 the emperor had no desire that they should expiate by 
 captivity the performance of a high and sacred duty. 
 
 The body of Bayard was then borne to the church by 
 a party of his own gendarmes ; and solemn services were 
 performed during two days ; after which it was delivered 
 over to the principal officers of his household to be con- 
 veyed to the family vault in Dauphiny according to his 
 request. As the funeral procession traversed Savoy, the 
 duke caused similar honours to be shown to the manes 
 of the departed hero as he would have rendered to those 
 of a kinsman ; Piedmont paid him the same respect ; 
 and in Dauphiny every house was closed, and the belfry 
 of every church rang a burial-peal. But the greatest 
 triumph of the deceased warrior was the mournful cry of 
 the bereaved army ; the sob of the scarred veteran in his 
 tent, and the sigh of the ardent young adventurer by thu 
 fire of his bivouac. Even the mournful exclamation of 
 Francis, when the fatal news of the death of his famous 
 knight was communicated to him, was less touching ; for 
 he thought of himself rather than of his faithful warrior 
 
 VOL. I. MM
 
 530 COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I. [1524. 
 
 as he exclaimed : " Alas ! I have lost a great captain. 
 He carries with him into the grave many of the brightest 
 jewels which might have been added to my crown." 
 
 And the hardy soldiers, seated in groups about their 
 camp-fires, forgot their own prowess forgot their own 
 renown and only murmured among themselves when 
 peril was approaching, or honour was to be gained ; 
 " Bayard should have been here ! but Bayard is in his 
 grave !" 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 K. CLAY, PRINTER, UKEAD STREET HILL.
 
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