XXIX. CHAP. ever was respectable in modesty, or sacred in religion, seemed but the more to provoke the insults of the 1527. soldiery. Virgins suffered violation in the arms of their parents, and upon those very altars to which they had fled for protection. Aged prelates, after enduring every indignity, and even every torture, were thrown into dungeons, and menaced with the most cruel death, in order to make them reveal their secret treasures, or purchase liberty by exorbitant ransoms. Clement himself, who had trusted for protection to the sacredness of his character, and neglected to make his escape in time, was taken captive; and found that his dignity, which procured him no regard from the Spanish soldiers, did but draw on him the insolent mockery of the German, who, being generally attached to the Lutheran principles, were pleased to gratify their animosity by the abasement of the sovereign pontiff. When intelligence of this great event was conveyed to the emperor, that young prince, habituated to hypocrisy, expressed the most profound sorrow for the success of his arms; he put himself and all his court in mourning: he stopped the rejoicings for the birth of his son Philip and knowing that every artifice, however gross, is able, when seconded by authority, to impose upon the people, he ordered prayers, during several months, to be put up in the churches for the pope's liberty; which, all men knew, a letter under his hand could in a moment have procured. The concern expressed by Henry and Francis for the calamity of their ally was more sincere. These two monarchs, a few days before the sack of Rome, had concluded a treaty" at Westminster, in which, besides renewing former alliances, they agreed to send ambassadors to Charles, requiring him to accept of two millions of crowns as the ransom of the French princes, and to repay the money borrowed from Henry; and in case of refusal, the ambassadors, attended by heralds, were ordered to denounce war against him. This war it was agreed to prosecute in the Low Countries, with an army of thirty thousand infantry, and fifteen hundred men at arms, two-thirds to be supplied by Francis, the rest by n 30th April. 1527. Henry. And, in order to strengthen the alliance be- CHAP. tween the princes, it was stipulated that either Francis XXIX. or his son, the Duke of Orleans, as should afterwards be agreed on, should espouse the Princess Mary, Henry's daughter. No sooner did the monarchs receive intelligence of Bourbon's enterprise, than they changed, by a new treaty, the scene of the projected war from the 29th May. Netherlands to Italy; and hearing of the pope's captivity, they were farther stimulated to undertake the war with vigour for restoring him to liberty. Wolsey himself 11th July. crossed the sea, in order to have an interview with Francis, and to concert measures for that purpose; and he displayed all that grandeur and magnificence with which he was so much intoxicated. He was attended by a train of a thousand horse. The Cardinal of Lorraine, and the Chancellor Alençon met him at Boulogne; Francis himself, besides granting to that haughty prelate the power of giving, in every place where he came, liberty to all prisoners, made a journey as far as Amiens to meet him, and even advanced some miles from the town, the more to honour his reception. It was here stipulated, that the Duke of Orleans should espouse the Princess Mary; and as the emperor seemed to be taking some steps towards assembling a general council, the two monarchs agreed not to acknowledge it; but, during the interval of the pope's captivity, to govern the churches in their respective dominions by their own authority. Wolsey made some attempts to get his legatine power extended over France, and even over Germany; but finding his efforts fruitless, he was obliged, though with great reluctance, to desist from these ambitious enterprises. The more to cement the union between these princes, 18th Sept. a new treaty was, some time after, concluded at London; in which Henry agreed finally to renounce all claims to the crown of France; claims, which might now indeed be deemed chimerical, but which often served as a pretence for exciting the unwary English to wage war upon the French nation. As a return for this concession, League Francis bound himself and his successors to pay for ever fifty thousand crowns a year to Henry and his • Burnet, book 3. coll. 12, 13. succes with France. XXIX. 1527. CHAP. sors; and that greater solemnity might be given to this treaty, it was agreed that the Parliaments and great nobility of both kingdoms should give their assent to it. The Mareschal Montmorency, accompanied by many persons of distinction, and attended by a pompous equipage, was sent over to ratify the treaty; and was received at London with all the parade which suited the solemnity of the occasion. The terror of the emperor's greatness had extinguished the ancient animosity between the nations; and Spain, during more than a century, became, though a more distant power, the chief object of jealousy to the English. This cordial union between France and England, though it added influence to the joint embassy which they sent to the emperor, was not able to bend that monarch to submit entirely to the conditions insisted on by the allies. He departed, indeed, from his demand of Burgundy, as the ransom of the French princes; but he required, previously to their liberty, that Francis should evacuate Genoa, and all the fortresses held by him in Italy; and he declared his intention of bringing Sforza to a trial, and confiscating the duchy of Milan, on account of his pretended treason. The English and French heralds, therefore, according to agreement, declared war against him, and set him at defiance. Charles answered the English herald with moderation; but to the French he reproached his master with breach of faith, reminded him of the private conversation which had passed between them at Madrid before their separation, and offered to prove, by single combat, that he had acted dishonourably. Francis retaliated this challenge, by giving Charles the lie; and after demanding security of the field, he offered to maintain his cause by single combat. Many messages passed to and fro between them; but though both princes were undoubtedly brave, the intended duel never took place. The French and Spaniards during that age zealously disputed which of the monarchs incurred the blame of this failure; but all men of moderation every where lamented the power of fortune, that the prince the more candid, generous, and sincere, should, by unhappy incidents, have been reduced to so cruel a situation, that nothing but his violation of treaty could preserve his people, and that he must ever after, without being able to make a proper reply, bear to be reproached with breach of promise by a rival, inferior to him both in honour and in virtue. But though this famous challenge between Charles and Francis had no immediate consequence with regard to these monarchs themselves, it produced a considerable alteration on the manners of the age. The practice of challenges and duels, which had been part of the ancient barbarous jurisprudence, which was still preserved on very solemn occasions, and which was sometimes countenanced by the civil magistrate, began thenceforth to prevail in the most trivial incidents; and men, on any affront or injury, thought themselves entitled, or even required in honour, to take revenge on their enemies, by openly vindicating their right in single combat. These absurd, though generous maxims, shed much of the best blood in Christendom during more than two centuries; and notwithstanding the severity of law, and authority of reason, such is the prevailing force of custom, they are far from being as yet entirely exploded. CHAP. XXIX. 1527. Scruples CHAPTER XXX. SCRUPLES CONCERNING THE KING'S MARRIAGE. -THE KING ENTERS INTO THESE CHAP. NOTWITHSTANDING the submissive deference paid to XXX. papal authority before the reformation, the marriage of 1527. Henry with Catherine of Arragon, his brother's widow, concerning had not passed without much scruple and difficulty. the king's The prejudices of the people were in general bent against marriage. a conjugal union between such near relations; and the late king, though he had betrothed his son when that prince was but twelve years of age, gave evident proofs of his intention to take afterwards a proper opportunity of annulling the contract. He ordered the young prince, as soon as he came of age, to enter a protestation against the marriage; and on his deathbed he charged him, as his last injunction, not to finish an alliance so unusual, and exposed to such insuperable objections. After the king's accession, some members of the privy council, particularly Warham, the primate, openly declared against the resolution of completing the marriage; and though Henry's youth and dissipation kept him during some time from entertaining any scruples with regard to the measure which he had embraced, there happened incidents sufficient to rouse his attention, and to inform him of the sentiments generally entertained on that subject. The states of Castile had opposed the Emperor Charles's espousals with Mary, Henry's daughter; and among other objections, had insisted on the illegitimate birth of the young princess. And when the negotiations were afterwards opened with France, and mention was made of betrothing her to Francis or a Morison's Apomaxis, p. 13. b Morison, p. 13. Heylin's Queen Mary, p. 2. c Lord Herbert. Fiddes's Life of Wolsey. |