The History of England - Vols. 1 to 6 (202 page)

determined, from views both of honour and of interest, to defend him against the

invader.n
They fortified themselves in all those vallies of the Alps, through which, they thought, the French must necessarily pass;

and when Francis, with great secrecy, industry, and

Progress of Francis I.

perseverance, made his entrance into Piedmont by another

passage, they were not dismayed, but descended into the plain, though unprovided with cavalry, and opposed themselves to the progress of the French arms. At Marignan near Milan, they fought with Francis one of the most furious and best contested battles,

that is to be met with in the history of these later ages; and it 13th Sept.

required all the heroic valour of this prince to inspire his troops with courage sufficient to resist the desperate assault of those mountainiers. After a bloody action in the evening, night and darkness parted the combatants; but next morning, the Swiss renewed the attack with unabated ardour; and it was not till they had lost all their bravest troops that they could be prevailed on to retire.

The field was strowed with twenty thousand slain on both sides; and the mareschal Trivulzio, who had been present at eighteen pitched battles, declared that every engagement, which he had yet seen, was only the play of children; the action of Marignan was a combat of heroes.
o
After this great victory, the conquest of the Milaneze was easy and open to Francis.

The success and glory of the French monarch began to excite Jealousy of Henry.

jealousy in Henry; and his rapid progress, though in so distant a country, was not regarded without apprehensions by the English ministry. Italy was, during that age, the seat of religion, of literature, and of commerce; and as it possessed alone that lustre, which has since been shared out among other nations, it attracted the attention of all Europe, and every acquisition, which was made there, appeared more important than its weight in the balance of power was, strictly speaking, entitled to. Henry also thought, that he had reason to complain of Francis for sending the duke of Albany into Scotland, and undermining the power and credit

of his sister, the queen dowager.p
The repairing of the fortifications of Teroüenne was likewise regarded as a breach of treaty. But above all, what tended to alienate the court of England, was the disgust which Wolsey had entertained against the French monarch.

Henry, on the conquest of Tournay, had refused to admit Lewis Gaillart, the bishop elect, to the possession of the temporalities, because that prelate declined taking the oath of allegiance to his new sovereign; and Wolsey was appointed, as above related, administrator of the bishopric. As the cardinal wished to obtain the free and undisturbed enjoyment of this revenue, he applied to Francis, and desired him to bestow on Gaillart some see of equal value in France, and to obtain his resignation of Tournay. Francis, who still hoped to recover possession of that city, and who feared, that the full establishment of Wolsey in the bishopric would prove an obstacle to his purpose, had hitherto neglected to gratify the haughty prelate; and the bishop of Tournay, by applying to the court of Rome, had obtained a bull for his settlement in the see. Wolsey, who expected to be indulged in every request, and who exacted PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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respect from the greatest princes, resented the slight put upon him by Francis; and he pushed his master to seek an occasion of quarrel with that monarch.
q

Maximilian, the emperor, was ready to embrace every overture for a new enterprize; especially if attended with an offer of money, of which he was very greedy, very prodigal, and very indigent. Richard Pace, formerly secretary to cardinal Bambridge, and now secretary of state, was dispatched to the court of Vienna, and had a commission to propose some considerable payments to Maximilian:
r
He thence made a journey into Switzerland; and by like motives engaged some of the cantons to furnish troops to the emperor. That prince invaded Italy with a considerable army; but being repulsed from before Milan, he retreated with his army into Germany, made peace with France and Venice, ceded Verona to that republic for a sum of money, and thus excluded himself, in some measure, from all future access into Italy. And Henry found, that, after expending five or six hundred thousand ducats, in order to gratify his own and the cardinal’s humour, he had only weakened his alliance with Francis, without diminishing the power of that prince.

There were many reasons, which engaged the king not to proceed farther at present in his enmity against France: He could hope for assistance from no power in Europe.

Ferdinand, his father-in-law, who had often deceived him, was declining through age and infirmities; and a speedy period was looked for to the long and prosperous reign of that great monarch. Charles, prince of Spain, sovereign of the Low Countries, desired nothing but peace with Francis, who had it so much in his power, if provoked, to obstruct his peaceable accession to that rich inheritance, which was awaiting him.

The pope was overawed by the power of France, and Venice was engaged in a close alliance with that monarchy.
s
Henry therefore was constrained to remain in tranquillity during some time; and seemed to give himself no concern with regard to the affairs of the continent. In vain did Maximilian endeavour to allure him into some expence, by offering to make a resignation of the imperial crown in his favour. The artifice was too gross to succeed even with a prince so little politic as Henry; and Pace, his envoy, who was perfectly well acquainted with the emperor’s motives and character, gave him warning that the sole view of that prince, in making him so liberal an offer, was to draw money from him.

While an universal peace prevailed in Europe, that event

1516.

happened, which had so long been looked for, and from which such important consequences were expected, the death of Ferdinand the Catholic, and the succession of his grandson, Charles, to his extensive dominions. The more Charles advanced in power and authority, the more was Francis sensible of the necessity he himself lay under of gaining the confidence and friendship of Henry; and he took at last the only method by which he could obtain success, the paying of court, by presents and flattery, to the haughty cardinal.

Bonnivet, admiral of France, was dispatched to London, and he 1518.

was directed to employ all his insinuation and address, qualities in which he excelled, to procure himself a place in Wolsey’s good graces. After the ambassador had succeeded in his purpose, he took an opportunity of expressing his master’s regret, that, by mistakes and misapprehensions, he had been so unfortunate PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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as to lose a friendship, which he so much valued as that of his eminence. Wolsey was not deaf to these honourable advances from so great a monarch; and he was thenceforth observed to express himself, on all occasions, in favour of the French alliance. The more to engage him in his interests, Francis entered into such confidence with him, that he asked his advice even in his most secret affairs; and had recourse to him in all difficult emergencies as to an oracle of wisdom and profound policy. The cardinal made no secret to the king of this private correspondence; and Henry was so prepossessed in favour of the great capacity of his minister, that, he said, he verily

believed he would govern Francis as well as himself.t

When matters seemed sufficiently prepared, Bonnivet opened to the cardinal his master’s desire of recovering Tournay; and Wolsey immediately, without hesitation, engaged to effect his purpose. He took an opportunity of representing to the king and council, that Tournay lay so remote from Calais, that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, in case of war, to keep the communication open between these two places: That as it was situated on the frontiers both of France and the Netherlands, it was exposed to attacks from both these countries, and must necessarily, either by force or famine, fall into the hands of the first assailant: That even in time of peace, it could not be preserved without a large garrison, to restrain the numerous and mutinous inhabitants, ever discontented with the English government: And that the possession of Tournay, as it was thus precarious and expensive, so was it entirely useless, and afforded little or no means of annoying, on occasion, the dominions either of Charles or of Francis.

These reasons were of themselves convincing, and were sure of meeting with no opposition,

when they came from the mouth of the cardinal. A treaty

Tournay ceded to

therefore was entered into for the ceding of Tournay; and in France.

order to give to that measure a more graceful appearance, it was agreed, that the dauphin and the princess Mary, both of them infants, should be betrothed, and that this city should be considered as the dowry of the princess. Such kinds of agreement were then common among sovereigns, though it was very rare, that the interests and views of the parties continued so steady as to render the intended marriages effectual. But as Henry had been at considerable expence in building a citadel at Tournay, Francis agreed to pay him 600,000 crowns at twelve annual payments, and to put into his hands eight hostages, all of them men of quality, for the performance of the article.
u
And lest the cardinal should think himself neglected in these stipulations, Francis promised him a yearly pension of twelve thousand livres, as an equivalent for his administration of the bishopric of Tournay.

The French monarch having succeeded so well in this negociation, began to enlarge his views, and to hope for more considerable advantages, by practising on the vanity and self-conceit of the favourite. He redoubled his flatteries to the cardinal, consulted him more frequently in every doubt or difficulty, called him in each letter,
father,
tutor, governor,
and professed the most unbounded deference to his advice and opinion. All these caresses were preparatives to a negociation for the delivery of Calais, in consideration of a sum of money to be paid for it; and if we may credit Polydore Virgil, who bears a particular ill-will to Wolsey, on account of his being PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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dispossessed of his employment and thrown into prison by that minister, so extraordinary a proposal met with a favourable reception from the cardinal. He ventured not, however, to lay the matter before the council: He was content to sound privately the opinion of the other ministers, by dropping hints in conversation, as if he

thought Calais a useless burthen to the kingdom:w
But when he found, that all men were strongly riveted in a contrary persuasion, he thought it dangerous to proceed any farther in his purpose; and as he fell, soon after, into new connexions with the king of Spain, the great friendship between Francis and him began gradually to decline.

The pride of Wolsey was now farther encreased by a great

Wolsey appointed

accession of power and dignity. Cardinal Campeggio had been legate.

sent as legate into England, in order to procure a tithe from the clergy, for enabling the pope to oppose the progress of the Turks; a danger which was become real, and was formidable to all Christendom, but on which the politics of the court of Rome had built so many interested projects, that it had lost all influence on the minds of men. The clergy refused to comply with Leo’s demands: Campeggio was recalled; and the king desired of the pope, that Wolsey, who had been joined in this commission, might alone be invested with the legantine power; together with the right of visiting all the clergy and monasteries, and even with suspending all the laws of the church during a twelvemonth. Wolsey, having obtained this new dignity, made a new display of that state and parade, to which he was so much addicted. On solemn feast-days, he was not content without saying mass after the manner of the pope himself: Not only he had bishops and abbots to serve him; he even engaged the first nobility to give him water and the towel. He affected a rank superior to what had ever been claimed by any churchman in England. Warham, the primate, having written him a letter, in which he subscribed himself,
your loving brother,
Wolsey complained of his presumption, in thus challenging an equality with him. When Warham was told what offence he had given, he made light of the matter. “Know ye not,” said he, “that this man is drunk with too much prosperity.”

But Wolsey carried the matter much farther than vain pomp and His manner of ostentation. He erected an office, which he called the legantine exercising that office.

court; and as he was now, by means of the pope’s commission and the king’s favour, invested with all power, both ecclesiastical and civil, no man knew what bounds were to be set to the authority of his new tribunal. He conferred on it a kind of inquisitorial and censorial powers even over the laity, and directed it to enquire into all matters of conscience; into all conduct which had given scandal; into all actions, which, though they escaped the law, might appear contrary to good morals. Offence was taken at this commission, which was really unbounded; and the people were the more disgusted, when they saw a man, who indulged himself in pomp and pleasure, so severe in repressing the least appearance of licentiousness in others.

But to render his court more obnoxious, Wolsey made one John Allen judge in it, a person of scandalous life,
x
whom he himself, as chancellor, had, it is said, condemned for perjury: And as it is pretended, that this man either extorted fines from every one whom he was pleased to find guilty, or took bribes to drop prosecutions, men concluded, and with some appearance of reason, that he shared with the cardinal those wages of iniquity. The clergy, and in particular the monks, were exposed to this tyranny; and as the libertinism of their lives often gave a just handle against them, PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)