Presented to the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY
by the
ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE
LIBRARY
1980
THE
COURT AND REIGN
OF
FRANCIS I
King of
Diana of Poitiers
,
\
The g gj
Court and
of
Francis the First
King of France
- By
Julia Pardoe
With a Preface
By Adolphe Cohn
Volume III.
New York
James Pott & Company
Mcmi. \ ;nON
Copyrighted, 1901,
by
JAMES POTT & COMPANY
PO
(lot
CONTENTS OF VOL. III.
gj
CHAPTER i. (Dutado,
1527-30.
Francis Sends Ambassadors to Henry VIII. Magnificence
of the Cardinal-Minister The Monarchs of France and
England Declare War against the Emperor Reply of
Charles V. The Defiance The Imperial Ambassador
Retires from France Intemperate Bearing of Francis
I. The Royal Letter The Imperial Cartel Burgundy,
the Herald-at-arms of the Emperor, Arrives on the
French Frontier He is Detained by the Governor of
Bayonne Burgundy Follows the King to Paris He
Refuses to Remove His Coat of Mail at the Gates of the
Capital Francis Grants Him an Audience, but Refuses
to Let Him Deliver His Message Burgundy Leaves
France The Regal Duel is not Fought The Rival
Sovereigns Endeavour to Evade a War Andrea Doria
Transfers His Allegiance from the French King to the
Emperor Lautrec Makes a Last Effort to Defend Ge-
noa The Plague Attacks the French Army Death of
Lautrec The Siege of Genoa is Raised Pietro da Na-
varro and Saluzzo Die of Their Wounds The Comte
de St. Pol is Defeated in the Milanese Italy is Lost
to the French Exhausted State of Europe Clement
VII. Makes Terms with the Emperor Francis Nego-
tiates with Charles V. Madame d'Angouleme and
Margaret d'Autriche Meet at Cambray, and Effect a
Treaty La Paix des Dames Undignified Concessions
vi Contents
HACK
of Francis I. The French King Abandons His Allies
Anne de Montmorenci is Despatched to Ransom the
Young Princes Duprat Endeavours to Defraud the
Emperor Queen Eleonora and the Princes Land in
France The King and His Betrothed Bride Meet at
Mont-de-Marsan The Royal Marriage Francis and
His Suite Proceed to Bordeaux Coronation of the
Queen Her Solemn Entry into the Capital Public
Rejoicings Melancholy of the Royal Bride The Wife
and the Mistress Infatuation of Francis I. for Madame
d'Etampes The Fortunes of a Favourite's Family
The Duchesse d'Etampes Protects Men of Letters
The Queen and the Princess Insolent Ostentation of
Madame d'Etampes I
CHAPTER II.
1530-31.
Francis I. and the Royal College He Establishes Pro-
fessorships Illustrious Scholars Duprat Dissuades the
King from Founding the College The Jealousy of
Francis is Excited by the Progress of the Reformation
Jean le Clerc is Burnt Alive at Meaux for Heresy
An Effigy of the Virgin is Desecrated at Paris Super-
stition of Francis I. The Silver Image A Regal Pro-
cession The King Persecutes the Lutherans Louis de
Berguin is Burnt Alive in the Place de Greve The Ec-
clesiastical Tribunals Judge and Condemn the Protes-
tants The Queen of Navarre Intercedes in Vain for the
Victims Cruelty of Francis I. Symptoms of Renewed
Hostilities Meeting between the Pope and the Em-
peror They Conclude a Treaty Charles V. Restores
the Milanese to Francisco Sforza Indignation of Fran-
cis Terror of the French Queen Eleonora Invites a
Nobleman of Her Brother's Court to France An In-
terview is Arranged between the Emperor and Francis
Death of Louise de Savoie Her Treasure-chest
Contents vii
PAGE
The French King Liberates the Territories of the Low
Countries Death of Marguerite d'Autriche Contrast
between the Two Princesses 26
CHAPTER III.
1532.
Francis Endeavours to Annex the Duchy of Brittany to
the French Crown The Bretons Resist His Claim
Louis des Desserts Undertakes to Secure Their Consent
The States of Brittany are Assembled at Vannes
Francis Proceeds to Chateaubriand Reconciliation of
the Count and Countess Francis Presents Two Estates
to His Old Favourite The Dauphin is Proclaimed
Duke of Brittany Francis Erects New Palaces The
Chateau of Madrid The Queen Dowager of Hungary
is Appointed Governante of the Low Countries Henry
VIII. and Francis I. Enter into a Defensive Alliance
Clement VII. Refuses to Sanction the Divorce of
Henry VIII. and Katherine of Aragon Unpopularity
of Henry VIII. Diet of Spires Ferdinand of Austria
is Elected King of the Romans Contempt Evinced by
Charles V. towards the German Protestants The
League of Smalkalden The Protestant Princes Apply
to France and England for Support Courteous Reply
of Francis The King of Hungary Sends Ambassadors
to the French Court Policy of Francis The French
Ambassadors to England Negotiate a Meeting between
the Two Monarchs The Royal Interview A Treaty is
Signed by which both Sovereigns Bind Themselves
to a Crusade against the Turks Indignation of Henry
VIII. against the Pope Caution of the French King
Jealousy of Charles V. Francis is Summoned by the
Emperor to Despatch an Army against Solyman He
Refuses Charles V. Compels the Turks to Retreat
Francis Deceives Henry VIII. Francis Offers the
Hand of the Due d'Orleans to Catherine de' Medici
viii Contents
FAGB
Incredulity of the Pope He Consults Charles V. The
Emperor and the Pope Meet at Bologna Alarm of
Francis Two French Bishops are Despatched to
Threaten Clement VII. Henry VIII. Returns to Eng-
land 45
CHAPTER IV.
1533-34-
The Pope Desires to Conciliate the French King His Per-
sonal Ambition A Meeting is Arranged between the
Pope and Francis Francis Makes Overtures to the
Duke of Milan Untoward Affair at Milan Maraviglia
His Arrogance Awakens the Suspicions of Charles V.
Treason of Sforza A Lacquey of Maraviglia Chal-
lenges the Milanese Count Castiglione Murder of
Maraviglia Indignation of the French King Duplicity
of Sforza The Duke's Envoy is Dismissed with Ig-
nominy Charles V. Bestows the Hand of the Princess
Christina on the Duke of Milan Death of the Duke
The Duke of Wirtemberg Solicits the Support of Fran-
cis against the Emperor Du Bellay Intercedes for the
Young Duke Confirmation of the Peace of Nurem-
berg The Pope Proceeds to Marseilles to Meet the
French King He is Received with Great Pomp Hom-
age is Rendered by Francis to the Pontiff The Latin
Oration Henry VIII. Despatches Bishop Bonner to
the Pope Charles V. Endeavours to Prevent the Mar-
riage of Catherine de' Medici The Marriage is Sol-
emnized by the Pope The Boy-Cardinal The Pope
Returns to Italy 62
CHAPTER V.
1534-
The Female Court of Francis I. The Queen of Navarre
Madame de Chateaubriand Queen Eleonora The
Contents ix
PAGE
Duchesse d'Etampes Fleeting Favouritism Cather-
ine de' Medici The King's Household Lax Morality
of the Royal Circle The Rival Roues Resignation of
Queen Eleonora Montmorenci Conceives a Passion for
the Queen He Declares it, and is Haughtily Repulsed
An Eccentric Compact Mirth of the Courtiers
Marriage of Henry VIII. and Anna Boleyn He is
Excommunicated by the Pope Death of Katherine of
Aragon Henry VIII. Persecutes the Romanists
Death of Clement VII. Accession of Paul III. Fran-
cis Re-organizes His Army Charles V. Takes Tunis
Francis is Accused of Maintaining an Intelligence with
Solyman Barbarity of Francis towards the Reformists
The Silver Image Frightful Executions . . .83
CHAPTER VI.
1535-36.
The Persecution of the Protestants is Continued Francis
Abolishes Printing Throughout His Kingdom The
League of Smalkalden Declares against the French
King Francis Invites Melancthon to France Francis
Declares War against the Duke of Savoy Chabot
Overruns the Duchy The Duke Urges the Emperor
to Assist Him Death of Sforza Charles V. Restores
Alessandro de' Medici to the Sovereignty of Florence
Death of the Chancellor Duprat The Queen of Na-
varre at Amboise Ostentation and Profligacy of Ma-
dame d'Etampes The Tournament A Street Brawl
Narrow Escape of the Due d'Angouleme Removal
of the Court to Chambord The King and Diana of
Poitiers A Moral Mission Diana Resolves to Attempt
the Conquest of the Due d'Orleans Her Personal
Attractions Her Ambition A Poem of the Sixteenth
Century Jealousy of the Duchesse d'Etampes She
Demands the Exile of Diana from the Court Charles
V. Offers to Concede the Duchy of Milan to the Due
Contents
PACK
d'Angouleme Francis Demands it for the Due
d'Orleans Tergiversation of the Emperor Charles V.
Renews His Alliance with the Venetians The Negotia-
tion Concerning the Milanese is Renewed The Empe-
ror Proceeds to Rome The French Ambassador Urges
Him to Perform His Promises Charles V. Harangues
the Conclave, and Insults Francis He Temporizes with
the French Ambassadors The Pope Endeavours to
Pacify Them The Address to the Conclave is Garbled
and Forwarded to France Moderation of Francis The
Cardinal de Lorraine is Despatched to the Emperor to
Terminate the Affair of the Milanese, and Fails Im-
perial Superstition Treason of the Marquis de Saluzzo
The Pope Declares His Neutrality Charles V. Ex-
cites the German Protestants against Francis The
Army in Savoy is Disarmed Montmorenci Insures the
Safety of the Frontier Francis Proceeds to Lyons
Charles V. Declares Himself Suzerain of Provence
Francis Prepares for an Invasion 102
CHAPTER VII.
1536.
The Emperor Besiges Turin The Fortress of Fossano is
Entrusted by Francis I. to the Marquis de Saluzzo He
Impedes the Progress of the Works The French Of-
ficers Suspect His Good Faith He Retires to Ravel
He Betrays His Trust Antonio da Leyva Invests
Fossano The Marquis de Saluzzo is Appointed the
Emperor's Lieutenant Beyond the Alps Charles V.
Invades Provence M. de Montejan is Surprised and
Made Prisoner by the Imperialists Empty Boasting of
the Emperor Death of the Dauphin by Poison Trial
and Execution of Montecuculli Francis Accuses the
Imperialists of Instigating the Murder Indignation of
Charles V. and His Generals Catherine de' Medici is
in Her Turn Accused by Da Leyva Progress of the
Contents xi
PAGE
Imperial Army The Emperor Enters Aix Prince
Henry Joins the French Camp Marseilles Successfully
Resists the Imperialists Francis Determines to Head
the Army in Person He is Dissuaded by His Generals
Doria Supplies the Emperor's Camp Retreat of
Charles V. The Tower of Muy The Imperial Forces
Establish Themselves in Savoy The Emperor Pro-
ceeds to Spain Is Overtaken by a Storm The Victor
and the Vanquished 132
CHAPTER VIII.
1536-38.
Consternation of the Italian Princes The Siege of Turin
is Raised The Imperial Troops Enter Picardy Hero-
ism of the Women of St. Regnier Capitulation of Guise
The Imperialists Besiege Peronne They are Re-
pulsed by Fleuranges Death of Fleuranges Alarm in
Paris Annebaut and Burie Defend Turin Burie is
Made Captive at Casal Francis Strengthens the
Frontiers of Provence James V. of Scotland Meets
the King at Lyons James V. is Married to the Princess
Marguerite Jealousy of Henry VIII. Knight-er-
rantry of James V. Death of the Princess Marguerite
James Demands the Hand of Marie de Guise Feud
between the Royal Favourites Virulence of the
Duchesse d'Etampes Disunion in the Royal Family
Infatuation of Francis I. Apprehensions of Madame
d'Etampes Her Passion for Montmorenci Francis
Lays Claim to Flanders, Artois, and Charlerois Con-
vocation of the Parliament Charles V. is Cited to Ap-
pear before the French Tribunals The Emperor Disre-
gards the Summons The French Enter Artois They
Take Hesdin The Imperialists Invest St. Pol The
City is Taken by De Buren De Buren Marches upon
Terouenne Annebaut Relieves the City A Fatal
Skirmish A Truce is Effected between France, Picar-
xii Contents
PAGE
dy, and the Low Countries Francis Openly Avows His
Alliance with the Sultan Solyman Enters Albania
Del Guasto Successfully Pursues the War in Piedmont
M. d'Humieres is Appointed to the Chief Command
of the French Army in Italy The Marquis de Saluzzo
Assists Del Guasto in the Siege of Carmagnole He is
Killed by a Musket-ball Carmagnole Surrenders
Cruelty of the Imperialist General The Dauphin and
Montmorenci March to Lyons, and are Followed by
the King Del Guasto Fortifies the Pass-de-Suze, which
is Forced by the French The Imperialists Raise the
Siege of Pignerol, and Encamp at Montcalier The
Dauphin Compels Them to Retreat, and Takes the City
Francis Resolves to Take the Field in Person The
Truce is Extended to Piedmont The Duke of Savoy
Retires to Nice Charles V. Endeavours to Effect an
European Peace, and Offers the Hand of His Niece to
the Due d'Orleans Francis Objects to the Proposed
Conditions Montmorenci is Created Connetable
Death of the Chancellor du Bourg 148
CHAPTER IX.
1538.
Paul III. Endeavours to Effect a Reconciliation between
the Emperor and the French King A Meeting of the
Three Potentates is Proposed at Nice Alarm of the
Duke of Savoy He Appeals to the Emperor His En-
voy is Coldly Received The Populace of Nice Close
Their Gates against the Pope Peril of Queen Eleonora
The Pope Mediates between the Two Sovereigns
The Truce is Renewed for a Period of Ten Years
The Three Potentates Separate Destitution of the
Duke of Savoy The Emperor Despatches an Ambassa-
dor to Francis The Two Sovereigns Meet at Aigues-
Mortes La Belle Feronniere Illness of the French
King Increasing Power of Montmorenci Revolt of
Contents xiii
PACK
Ghent Charles V. Obtains Permission to Traverse the
French Territories Madame d'Etampes and the Con-
netable A Court Intrigue A Court Buffoon The
Enamelled Chain Montmorenci Loses the Favour of
the King ; . . 178
CHAPTER X.
1539-40.
The Emperor Arrives at Bayonne He Refuses to Receive
Hostages The Two Sovereigns Meet at Chatellerault
Triumphant Reception of Charles V. Distrust of the
Emperor Unfortunate Coincidences The Imperial
Retinue A Court Ball The Diamond Ring The Em-
peror Enters Paris The French Princes and Mont-
morenci Accompany Him to Valenciennes Charles Re-
fuses to Ratify the Cession of the Milanese Francis
Becomes Suspicious of His Counsellors Arrest of the
Marechal de Brion Chabot Chabot is Tried and Con-
demned to Death Cruel Policy of Poyet Chabot is
Pardoned by the King Arrest of Poyet Female In-
fluence at Court Death of Chabot The Emperor Pro-
poses an Alliance between His Son Philip of Spain and
the Princess of Navarre And that of His Own Daugh-
ter and the Ducd'Orleans Refusal of Francis to Com-
ply with the Required Conditions Disappointment of
the King and Queen of Navarre The Negotiation is
Pursued Marriage of the Due de Cleves and the
Princess of Navarre Madame d'Etampes and the Cap-
tain of the King's Guard Exile of Montmorenci from
the Court The Marriage Festivities The Due de
Cleves Leaves France Benvenuto Cellini Arrives at the
French Court Exile of the Cardinal de Lorraine . . 200
xiv Contents
CHAPTER XI.
1541-42.
PACK
Changed Aspect of the French Court Favour of the
Marechal d'Annebaut The Emperor Invests His Own
Son with the Duchy of Milan The Venetians Threaten
to Form an Alliance with Solyman Charles V. and
Francis Despatch Ambassadors to Venice They are
Coldly Received Murder of Fregosa and Rincon Du
Bellay-Langei Accuses the Imperialists of the Crime
The Assassins are put to Death by the States of Venice
Francis Summons the Emperor to Make Reparation
Contemptuous Reply of Charles V. Francis Arrests
the Archbishop of Valence Charles Enters into a
Truce with the Protestant Princes Benda Taken by
the Turks Charles V. Conducts an Expedition against
the Algerines His Fleet is Dispersed by a Tempest
The Imperialists Return to Spain Francis Resolves to
Declare War against the Emperor The French Armies
Open Their Campaign The Marechal de Gueldres At-
tacks the Flemish Frontiers Alarm of the Dowager-
Queen of Hungary Treachery of the Duchesse
d'Etampes D'Annebaut Seconds Her Views Sus-
picion of the King The Due d'Orleans Takes Luxem-
bourg D'Annebaut Supersedes Langei in His Com-
mand in Piedmont Death of Langei D'Annebaut is
Appointed Admiral of France Exile of Montpezat
Growing Enmity of the Two Princes Female Policy
The Court of Catherine de' Medici The " Light Bri-
gade " Revolt of La Rochelle Francis Proceeds
Thither Suppresses the Insurrection and Pardons the
Citzens 234
Contents xv
CHAPTER XII.
1542-43.
PACK
Francis Persecutes the Lutherans He Despatches an Am-
bassador to the Sultan The French Army Marches
Northward D'Annebaut Takes Landrecies The
French Besiege Binche The Dauphin is Compelled to
Raise the Siege Francis Fortifies Landrecies The
French Court Arrive at Rheims Charles V. Effects a
Rupture between England and France The Emperor
Organizes a New Army He Attacks Dueren The Citi-
zens Refuses to Surrender The City is Taken by As-
sault The Due de Cleves Throws Himself on the
Mercy of the Emperor He is Restored to the Imperial
Favour The Marriage of the Due de Cleves and
Jeanne de Navarre is Annulled The Emperor Besieges
Luxembourg He Raises the Siege, and Establishes a
Blockade The Imperialists Take Cambray, and Estab-
lish Their Winter-quarters at Guise Solyman De-
spatches a Fleet under Barbarossa to the Assistance of
Francis The Comte d'Enghien Takes the Command
of the War Galleys at Marseilles The Combined Fleets
Attack Nice, and are Repulsed D'Enghien Returns to
Landrecies The European Powers are Indignant at
the Alliance Formed by Francis with the Turks
Enormities Perpetrated by Barbarossa Termination of
the Campaign of 1543 ....... 260
CHAPTER XIII.
1544-
Renewal of Hostilities Financial Embarrassments of
Francis Sale of Judicial Offices The French King
Raises a New Army D'Enghien Blockades Carignano
Blaise de Montluc Proceeds to Court to Demand
Supplies, and Permission to Engage the Enemy Suc-
cessful Eloquence of Montluc Victory of Carignano
xvi Contents
PAGE
The Citizens of Ast Close Their Gates against the
Imperialists Mortification of Del Guasto at Milan
The Jewelled Watch The Emperor and Henry VIII.
Invade France Siege of St. Dizier Renewed Treach-
ery of the Duchesse d'Etampes St. Dizier Surrenders
Mutual Distrust of Charles V. and Henry VIII.
The English King Besieges Boulogne and Montreuil
The Two Potentates Cease to Act in Concert Charles
V. Advances to Chalons 282
CHAPTER XIV.
1544-45-
Effects of the Resistance of St. Dizier Charles V. En-
deavours to Effect a Peace The Queen and Madame
d'Etampes Induce the King to Enter into a Negotiation
with the Emperor The Dauphin Demands the Recall
of Montmorenci The Comte de Furstemberg is Made
Prisoner by the French Charles V. Determines on a
Retreat to the Low Countries Madame d'Etampes
Enables Him to Possess Himself of Epernay and Cha-
teau Thierry Alarm of the Parisians Prudent Meas-
ures of the Dauphin Henry VIII. Takes Boulogne
Francis Concludes a Treaty with the Emperor The
Negotiation of Marriage between the Due d'Orleans
and the Daughter of the Emperor is Renewed Discon-
tent of the Dauphin He Protests against the Treaty
The French Army Marches into Picardy The Dau-
phin Makes a Night-attack upon Boulogne The French
are Repulsed Gallantry of Montluc Termination of
the Campaign of 1544 The Emperor Resolves to Sup-
press the League of Smalkalden Charles V. Deter-
mines to Bestow the Hand of His Daughter upon the
Due d'Orleans The Emperor Endeavours to Conciliate
the Pope Persecution of the Flemish Reformers
Massacre of the Vaudois Imprudence of the Dauphin
A Court Banquet Disgrace of the Dauphin Francis
Contents xvii
Raises a Naval Armament against England He Sends
Succour to the Dowager-Queen of Scotland An Army
is Despatched to Picardy The Banquet on Board the
Carraquon D'Annebaut Sails with the French Fleet
Operations on the English Coast The French Land
in Sussex Destroy Brighton, and New Haven, and
Take Possession of the Isle of Wight The French
Fleet Returns to Havre 307
CHAPTER XV.
1545-
Military Operations before Boulogne The Comte d'Au-
male is Seriously Wounded The German Levies of
Henry VIII. Arrive at Liege Francis I. Opposes Their
Passage Death of the Due d'Orleans Invasion of the
Terre d'Oye A Treaty of Peace is Concluded between
England and France The Emperor Refuses to Cede
the Duchy of Milan to the French Crown Francis
Strengthens His Frontiers Death of Luther The
Emperor Makes War upon the Protestant Princes
Horrible Persecution of the Lutherans in France
Francis I. as a Monarch and a Man Death of Henry
VIII. Last Illness of Francis I. Death of Francis I.
The Chamber of the Dauphiness Accession of
Henry II 340
THE
COURT AND REIGN OF FRANCIS I
CHAPTER I.
Francis Sends Ambassadors to Henry VIII. Magnificence of
the Cardinal-Minister The Monarchs of France and Eng-
land Declare War against the Emperor Reply of Charles V.
The Defiance The Imperial Ambassador Retires from
France Intemperate Bearing of Francis I. The Royal Let-
ter The Imperial Cartel Burgundy, the Herald-at-arms of
the Emperor, Arrives on the French Frontier He is De-
tained by the Governor of Bayonne Burgundy Follows the
King to Paris He Refuses to Remove His Coat of Mail at
the Gates of the Capital Francis Grants Him an Audience,
but Refuses to Let Him Deliver His Message Burgundy
Leaves France The Regal Duel is not Fought The Rival
Sovereigns Endeavour to Evade a War Andrea Doria
Transfers His Allegiance from the French King to the Em-
peror Lautrec Makes a Last Effort to Defend Genoa The
Plague Attacks the French Army Death of Lautrec The
Siege of Genoa is Raised Pietro da Navarro and Saluzzo
Die of Their Wounds The Comte de St. Pol is Defeated
in the Milanese Italy is Lost to the French Exhausted
State of Europe Clement VII. Makes Terms with the Em-
peror Francis Negotiates with Charles V. Madame d'An-
gouleme and Margaret d'Autriche Meet at Cambray, and
VOL. III. i i
Reign of
Effect a Treaty La Paix des Dames Undignified Conces-
sions of Francis I. The French King Abandons His Allies
Anne de Montmorenci is Despatched to Ransom the Young
Princes Duprat Endeavours to Defraud the Emperor
Queen Eleonora and the Princes Land in France The King
and His Betrothed Bride Meet at Mont-de-Marsan The
Royal Marriage Francis and His Suite Proceed to Bordeaux
Coronation of the Queen Her Solemn Entry into the
Capital Public Rejoicings Melancholy of the Royal Bride
The Wife and the Mistress Infatuation of Francis I. for
Madame d'Etampes The Fortunes of a Favourite's Family
The Duchesse d'Etampes Protects Men of Letters The
Queen and the Princes Insolent Ostentation of Madame
d'Etampes.
QHORTLY after the departure of Wolsey from
vJ France, Francis in his turn despatched an em-
bassy to Henry VIII. , to ratify in his name the treaty
which had been concluded between the two powers ;
and to convey to him the Collar of St. Michael. Anne
de Montmorenci, to whom the mission was entrusted,
was accompanied by a number of the first nobles of
the kingdom, and a body of six hundred horse; and
was received at Dover by numerous prelates and men
of rank, by whom he was accompanied to the capital.
A guard of honour exceeding a thousand men formed
his escort, and great crowds followed him to the very
gates of the residence which had been prepared for his
reception. Two days subsequently he was conducted
to the castle of Greenwich, where the King was then
residing, and welcomed with regal magnificence, both
by the monarch and his minister. A succession of
brilliant ^entertainments were given; and the Prin-
cess- Mary performed in several of the comedies
Francis I 3
which were enacted for the amusement of the French
courtiers.
At the close of these royal festivities, the French
envoys were conveyed in the state barges to the palace
at Hampton Court, which was at that period com-
pleted, and where they remained for several days,
amazed and bewildered by a pomp which outvied that
of the King himself. Gorgeous services of plate,
hangings of precious tapestry, mirrors of almost fabw-
lous dimensions, and glorious works of art, crowded
the interior of the building ; while its immense extent
and graceful architecture, together with the spacious
and elaborately designed gardens by which it was sur-
rounded, with their stately terraces, numerous foun-
tains, and the variety of foreign birds which peopled
the gilded aviaries, excited their admiration, and in-
creased their wonder. Hence they returned to Green-
wich, where, after a farewell banquet, they took their
leave of the King and the Cardinal, leaving Jean de
Bellay, Bishop of Bayonne, as the ambassador of
Francis at the court of England.
On the 22d of January, 1528, Guienne, the French
King-at-arms, and Clarencieux, who bore the same
rank in England, each carrying his heraldic badge
upon his left arm, in order to assume it while uttering
his defiance, presented themselves before the Emperor
at Burgos, who awaited their appearance in the midst
of his barons ; and having invoked the immunities ac-
corded to their office, they proceeded to read aloud
their several declarations of war, which were, although
firm and definitive, nevertheless couched in temperate
and even courteous terms. A*' V *\
j
(Ontario
4 Reign of
The Emperor listened throughout in dignified but
moody silence, never betraying, either by word or
gesture, the slightest irritation or impatience ; but the
ceremony was no sooner concluded than he replied
with scornful irony, that he could not comprehend how
the King of France, who had made war upon him
during six or seven years without any formal declara-
tion to that effect, should now see fit to send him a
defiance, when, as his prisoner, he was no longer free
to do so ; and instructed Guienne to remind his sover-
eign, that if he were, indeed, as tenacious of his honour
as he would fain have it appear, he would do well to
remember and reply to a message which he had sent
to him two years previously through M. de Calvimont,
his ambassador. The defiance of Henry VIII. he
declared himself ready to accept, although he was
aware that it had emanated from the Cardinal-legate,
who had never forgiven him for not having, by force
of arms, secured his elevation to the Popedom, as both
he and the King his master, at his instigation, had
urged him to do. He then delivered to the two
heralds his written replies to their respective sov-
ereigns. That which was addressed to Francis was
merely a recapitulation of their mutual misunderstand-
ings, and the several negotiations into which they
had entered ; but the bitterness of feeling, and the
jealous animosity which it betrayed, were well cal-
culated to exasperate the proud spirit of the French
King.
In reply to the defiance of Henry, and the reasons
he advanced for the extreme step which he had taken,
Charles reproached him with his intention of divorcing
Francis I 5
his aunt, Katharine of Aragon, and thus bastardizing
his daughter Mary, to whom he was himself betrothed ;
and declared that little confidence could be placed in
the zeal which the English monarch affected for the
Pope, when he thus disregarded the principles of re-
ligion.
The allusion to a message which he had never re-
ceived, but which had been purposely withheld from
him by his ambassador, who had shrunk from the
invidious task of repeating to his royal master so gross
an implication upon his honour, aroused the haughty
nature of Francis ; and he forthwith wrote to M. de
Calvimont, who was still in Spain, demanding an im-
mediate explanation. Calvimont was, however, too
good a courtier to commit himself; and he, conse-
quently, affected to have forgotten the exact purport
of the words addressed to him by the Emperor, plead-
ing the length of time which had elapsed since the
interview; and wrote a respectful request to Charles
himself, that he would repeat them, in order that
he might be enabled to submit their purport to his
sovereign.
The reply of the Emperor was speedy and disdainful.
He had, he said, asserted upon that occasion, as he was
still prepared to do, that the King of France had basely
and wilfully violated the pledge which he had given at
Madrid ; and that, should he affect to deny that such
was the case, he would maintain the truth of his
accusation to his teeth, and with his sword. And,
moreover, that he had then and there declared, that
while Christian Europe was exposed to aggression on
all sides, the sovereigns to whom were entrusted the
6 Reign of
lives and welfare of their subjects, had no right to
involve them in merely personal quarrels, which might
be better and more fitly terminated by their own in-
dividual prowess; an opinion which he still main-
tained.
On the receipt of this intelligence the exasperation
of Francis exceeded all bounds ; and in his first
paroxysm of passion, he caused Perenot de Grand-
velle, the imperial ambassador, to be arrested, as
Charles had previously done those of France, and
the other confederated powers; but on ascertaining
that they had been again set at liberty, he revoked
the order; and on the 28th of March, gave him his
farewell audience, in the presence of the assembled
court.
On requesting a safe-conduct, the ambassador ex-
pressed his regret at the renewed misunderstanding
that had arisen between the two countries; and while
thanking the King for the consideration and courtesy
which he had experienced during his sojourn in
France, begged his Majesty to pardon him, if, in the
exercise of his duties, he had ever been unfortunate
enough to incur his displeasure.
Francis replied by testifying his regret, that recent
circumstances had compelled him to act with severity
towards a person whom he so much esteemed, and
whom he should always be ready to serve when occa-
sion offered ; and then, recurring to public business, he
desired him to convey his answer to the challenge of
the Emperor.
From this dangerous service M. de Grandvelle,
however, excused himself, alleging that his official
Francis I 7
functions had ceased ; whereupon the King com-
manded Robertet, the Secretary of State, to read
aloud the cartel which he had caused to be drawn
up.
This document was at once unkingly and undigni-
fied. Passion had supplanted alike prudence and
courtesy in its compilation. It evinced no trace of
the chivalrous feeling upon which the French mon-
arch prided himself, but betrayed a coarse and bitter
violence that was ill suited to the exalted rank of the
writer : " If you have sought to charge us," ran one
passage, " with having acted towards you in any way
unbefitting to a man of honour, we say that you have
lied in your throat ; and that each time you repeat it,
you will lie. Being resolved to defend our honour so
long as we have life, and having been by you falsely
accused, henceforward we shall write to you no more ;
you have only to name the place, and we will meet
you in arms."
Nor was even its coarseness the only reproach which
must be visited upon the cartel of Francis, for it is
certain that he condescended to a quibble, where he
elsewhere remarked : " You have accused us, by de-
claring that we had pledged our faith, and that in
default of that pledge we withdrew from your custody
and power." An assertion which he must have been
aware could never have been made by the Emperor,
who had publicly recognized his conditional departure
from his dominions.
Charles V. was not slow to detect the imprudence of
which his adversary had been guilty ; for after having
in his reply specified the bank of the Bidassoa as the
8 Reign of
place of meeting, he remarked in allusion to this accu-
sation : " Such words were never uttered by us ; we
never pretended to have received your pledge not to
leave Spain, but only your promise that you would
again return according to our prescribed agreement ;
and had you done so, you would not have been want-
ing either to your children or to your honour. The
spot which I have named," he added with cold sar-
casm, " must be familiar to you, as it was there I re-
stored you to liberty, and received your children at
your hands as pledges for the performance of the treaty
which you have so shamefully violated. You can ad-
vance no reasonable objection to such a place of meet-
ing, as it is equally the boundary of both kingdoms ;
a single second on each side shall make the necessary
preparations, and select the weapons ; and if you indeed
value your honour, you can no longer advance any
pretext for failing to keep the appointment."
Charged with this missive, a herald-at-arms was at
once despatched to France by the Emperor ; who was
so far from apprehending that his adversary would
evade the duel which he had himself provoked, that he
applied to the celebrated Balthasar Castiglione, the
author of // Cortegiano, to become his second; and, in
order to induce his compliance, forwarded to him a
copy of the treaty of Madrid, to convince him of the
justice of his cause.
The precaution was, however, unnecessary; for,
from some cause, of which even the panegyrists of
Francis can give no explanation, every expedient that
could be invented to delay the progress of the impe-
rial herald was resorted to. He was detained at Font-
Francis I 9
arabia by the non-arrival of his safe-conduct ; the Gov-
ernor of Bayonne, after having inquired whether he
were the bearer of the Emperor's reply to the cartel
of the King, and authorized to name the place of
meeting, and received an affirmative answer, affect-
ed to suspect that his mission had some ulterior ob-
ject, and refused to furnish him with a passport until
he should receive an order to that effect from the
sovereign.
Burgundy (the herald) had reached Fontarabia on
the 3 ist of June, and was detained there upon the most
frivolous pretexts until the iyth of August, when his
safe-conduct was at length delivered to him, accom-
panied by an autograph letter, in which Francis re-
proved the Governor for having impeded his entrance
into France. Once furnished with this important
document, Burgundy lost no time in journeying to
Etampes, which he reached on the 7th of September;
but on his arrival there he was met by Guienne, who
informed him that the King was hunting at Montfort
d'Amaury, and that he had received an order to con-
duct him to Longjumeau, where he would be apprised
of the day upon which the monarch would receive his
message.
At Longjumeau he was again detained for several
days, until, becoming indignant at the contemptuous
neglect shown to his imperial master, he insisted upon
proceeding forthwith to the capital, whither Francis
had removed. He accordingly set forth, still accom-
panied by the French herald; but on arriving at the
gates of the city, Guienne insisted upon his removing
the tabard which he wore, and on which were blazoned
io Reign of
the arms of the province of Burgundy. The imperial
herald, however, peremptorily refused to make any
such concession, declaring that it involved the dig-
nity of his sovereign, who claimed the said province
as a portion of his territories; upon which Guienne
skilfully attempted to excite his fears, by declaring
that his personal safety was involved in an exhibi-
tion which would be regarded by the populace as a
premeditated insult alike to the King and to the
nation.
To this representation Burgundy haughtily replied,
that he was ready to incur any danger which might
ensue; and as the French herald soon became con-
vinced that further opposition would be useless, the
imperial envoy was at length permitted to enter the
city in his official garb, and at once conducted to the
presence of the King, who had assembled about him
in the hall of the palace all the Princes of the blood,
the prelates, and the great officers of state.
A cloud was on the brow of Francis, and a red spot
had risen to his cheek which betrayed his irritation;
nor did he suffer the herald to complete his obeisance,
ere he haughtily demanded if he were come to fix the
place of combat.
" Sire," was the respectful but firm rejoinder, " I
entreat your Majesty to permit me to perform the
duties of my office, and to deliver the message with
which I have been entrusted by my imperial master."
" I will hear nothing, Sir, until you have replied to
my question," exclaimed the King vehemently. " Give
me the letter of the Emperor, and then you may
harangue as long as you see fit to do so."
Francis I n
" Sire," caid Burgundy, with a composure which
only tended to increase the violence of Francis, " my
orders were first to read the cartel, and afterwards to
deliver it." And, unfolding the letter as he spoke, he
commenced in a loud firm tone " His Most Sacred
Majesty " but he was not suffered to proceed further :
the passion of the King could no longer be controlled,
and springing from his seat, he struck his hand vio-
lently upon the hilt of his dagger, as he shouted in an
imperious tone " How now, Sir? Does your master
seek to prescribe new laws to me in my own kingdom,
and to introduce new customs at my court? Is this
some fresh trick of his cunning? Give me the cartel,
or leave the presence as you came. I will not listen
to another sentence until you have declared the place
of combat."
Alarmed by the intemperate bearing of the King,
Montmorenci made an effort to calm his anger, but
he was instantly silenced; upon which Burgundy re-
spectfully requested that as his Majesty declined to
afford him an opportunity of fulfilling his mission, he
might receive that refusal in writing, and a passport
to Spain.
" Let both be furnished to him forthwith," was the
immediate retort of Francis, as he turned away; and
after a second obeisance, more deliberate and more
profound than that which he had made upon his en-
trance, the imperial herald withdrew.
Two days afterwards he received his safe-conduct,
and a document which purported to be a report of the
interview; but which on perusal he declined to accept,
declaring that it conveyed no impression of the violent
12 Reign of
conduct of the King, and that his own replies had been
garbled. As no attention was, however, paid to his
objections, he left Paris on the i6th of September, and
returned to Spain to report to Charles V. the issue of
his mission.
Thus absurdly terminated an affair which had ex-
cited the attention and anxiety of all Europe; and in
which it will be at once apparent that the King of
France had forfeited all claim to his pretensions as the
most chivalric monarch of Christendom. That he was
constitutionally brave there can be no doubt, but it is
nevertheless certain that many a gallant soldier would
make but a sorry duellist; and that in provoking a
personal conflict Francis had miscalculated his own
strength. A dangerous example had, meanwhile, been
afforded to the more hotheaded of the nobility, who
thenceforth began to decide all their differences by
single combat; a pernicious fashion, which obtained so
greatly throughout France, that even the edicts which
were during several subsequent reigns fulminated
against it, failed to effect its suppression; while it
spread by degrees over the whole of Europe, and has
not to the present day ceased to be recognized, al-
though the strong arm of ridicule has, in a great
degree, robbed it of its prestige.
Charles, on his side, made no efforts to revenge
the affront offered to himself in the person of his
herald, but quietly suffered the whole proceeding to
fall into oblivion; nor did either of the hostile sover-
eigns, confirmed as their hatred had now become,
display any increase of vigour in their warlike opera-
tions.
Francis I 13
Lautrec, despite the jealousy of the Italian states,
had been eminently successful in the Milanese, and
had, by his interference, compelled the Emperor into
a capitulation with the Pope, who, after making sun-
dry concessions, again saw himself at liberty, and took
up his abode at Orvieto, where he once more offered
his services as mediator between the belligerent par-
ties; while the Comte de St. Pol, after retaking Pavia,
was suddenly paralysed in his operations, as all the
former generals of Francis had previously been, by
the failure of supplies.
A still more important check was, moreover, given
to the French arms by the alienation of Andrea Doria,
who had so essentially served France throughout the
wars, but who at length became indignant at the
neglect and injustice by which he had been requited,
and transferred his allegiance to the Emperor. His
first exploit against his late allies was the maritime
defence and revictualling of Naples, which was be-
sieged by Lautrec; in whose camp the plague was at
that critical juncture making fearful ravages, thinning
his ranks daily, and carrying off many of his ablest
officers. As the Genoese galleys appeared in the bay,
and he ascertained that they were commanded by his
old friend and companion in arms, the Marechal was
made painfully aware of the error committed by his
sovereign in so wilfully disregarding the value of such
an ally; but like a brave man he only redoubled his
exertions; and even when himself attacked by the
pestilence, persisted in visiting the hospitals, and en-
couraging the troops with assurances that their mon-
arch would not suffer them to remain long exposed
14 Reign of
to such a complication of dangers without affording
them help.
And Lautrec was sincere when he thus addressed
them; for he believed firmly and loyally that Francis
would never sacrifice, by a negligence at once heart-
less and impolitic, the advantages which had been so
dearly earned; and strong in this conviction he re-
fused to raise the siege, even when the increased viru-
lence of the disease confined him to his bed. Still the
plague decimated his troops, and still the promised
reinforcements failed; when, amid the paroxysms of his
agony, suspecting that he was wilfully deceived by
those about him, who declared that the epidemic had
ceased its ravages, he privately questioned two of his
pages, whose reluctance to reveal the truth he over-
came by a threat that they should be scourged to death
if they attempted to misrepresent it; and learned that
the camp was one wide scene of terror and despair;
that the water-springs had been poisoned, and that the
grain was similarly infected which was brought in by
the peasants.
Already debilitated by the fearful disease under
which he was suffering, and overcome by the terrible
tidings of the trembling youths, the Marechal clasped
his hands upon his forehead for a moment, and then,
uttering a deep groan, sank back, and instantly ex-
pired
The fact was no sooner ascertained than the siege
was raised; and the army, under the command of the
Marquis de Saluzzo, retired to Averso; but, during
the retreat, Pietro da Navarro was made prisoner, and
Saluzzo himself so severely wounded that he was com-
Francis I 15
pelled to capitulate. All the fortresses which had been
taken by the French in the Neapolitan territories were
surrendered, and both Navarro and Saluzzo died of
their wounds.
The Coriite de Saint Pol, in the spring of the follow-
ing year, (1529,) was equally unfortunate in the Milan-
ese; and after a protracted struggle during which he
narrowly escaped being taken by the enemy, his army
was totally routed, and once more Italy was entirely
evacuated by the French.
Europe was at this period weary of warfare. The
several nations were exhausted by a struggle in which
neither had triumphed. The treasury of the Emperor
was as empty as that of his rival. Their subjects were
alike crushed to the earth by taxation, and sickened
by disappointment. Italy could no longer be made
the granary whence each drew the necessary pro-
visions for a large body of armed men, for years of
extortion and tyranny had made her fertile plains
desolate, and her prolific valleys barren; and both
potentates were consequently compelled to maintain at
least a semblance of peace, which afforded breathing
time to their respective kingdoms.
The Pope, satisfied that he could no longer antici-
pate any effectual aid from France, and aware that he
was too weak to contend against the Emperor without
extraneous support, made proposals of peace, which
were accepted by Charles V., and the treaty was rati-
fied at Barcelona on the 2pth of June; while Francis,
whose recent discomfiture in Italy had convinced him
that he must fail in an attempt to liberate his sons by
force of arms, no sooner ascertained the existence of
1 6 Reign of
this treaty than he resolved, if possible, to effect his
object by more pacific measures; and accordingly,
entered into negotiations, by which it was subsequently
determined that Louise de Savoie on his own part,
and Marguerite d'Autriche on that of the Emperor,
should meet at Cambray, and arrange the conditions
upon which the French Princes were to obtain their
release.
The 7th of July was the day appointed for the meet-
ing of the two Princesses, who, by the marriage of the
Governante of the Low Countries (then a widow) with
Philibert II., Duke of Savloy, had become sisters-in-
law.
Each of the female diplomatists was fully equal to
the task which had thus devolved upon her. The
Duchess-mother had, since the accession of her son,
been the actual sovereign of France, and could act
without fear of contradiction or dissent, whatever
might be the measures which she saw fit to adopt;
while Marguerite, who, as it may be remembered, had
been educated at the French court, and betrothed to
Charles VIII., was not only a woman of extreme tact
and intelligence, but was also well acquainted with the
prejudices and feelings of the country which had so
long been her home; and possessed the entire confi-
dence of the Emperor her cousin.
On their arrival at Cambray, the two Princesses
were lodged in contiguous houses; but not content
with this arrangement, and anxious to confer together
without interruption, they caused a communication to
be opened between their respective dwellings, in order
that they might meet at all hours without witnesses,
Francis I 17
or the irksome ceremonial attendant upon an official
conference.
The prudence and judgment of this measure soon
became manifest, for, thus released from the conflicting
arguments of interested individuals, they were enabled
to effect a peace, which was, owing to their agency,
known as La Paix des Dames. Equally anxious to
effect their object, they made mutual concessions; and
on the 5th of August the articles were drawn up and
the treaty signed by both parties: the Duchess-mother
agreeing on the part of her son, that he should relin-
quish Artois and Flanders to the Emperor; withdraw
his claim to Italy; espouse without further delay the
Queen Eleonora; and secure to their male issue the
contested duchy of Burgundy. He was, moreover, to
pay, as ransom-money for the young Princes, the sum
of two millions of golden crowns, and to discharge the
debt of the Emperor to England ; as well as to revoke
the attainder of the Due de Bourbon; to authorise the
succession of his heirs, and to reinstate in their posses-
sions all the French subjects who had been involved in
his rebellion; while Charles, on his part, was engaged
to recognise the claim of Francis to the duchy of Bur-
gundy, with the solitary exception of Charolois, which
was to remain the property of Madame Marguerite, and
was, after her demise, to become a life-tenure of the
Emperor, at whose death it was again to revert to the
French crown.
The characters of the two contracting parties were
strikingly exhibited in this treaty. In renouncing
Italy no attempt was made on the part of Louise de
Savoie to secure favourable terms for the states of
VOL. III. 2
1 8 Reign of
Florence and Venice, which had during so long a
period been the faithful allies of France; but on the
contrary, she engaged that, within the space of four
months, the former should swear allegiance to the
Emperor, and the latter make restitution of all the
territory of which they had possessed themselves with-
in the kingdom of Naples; or, in default of such
restitution, be compelled by force of arms to fulfil the
obligation. The interests of the Due de Gueldres
were also abandoned, as well as those of Robert de la
Mark; and, in fine, the King was pledged to desert
all his allies upon his northern frontier, not even
excepting Henri of Navarre, the husband of his sister.
Thus, the brave men who had shared his dangers, and
to whom he owed the success of many a well-fought
field, were recklessly left to the mercy of the sovereign
against whom they had so often appeared in arms;
while Marguerite d'Autriche refused to accede to
every suggestion which threatened to involve the safety
of the Emperor's foreign adherents, and made the resti-
tution of Bourbon's honour one of the salient features
of the treaty.
Nor was the humiliation to which Francis was thus
subjected confined to these ignoble concessions; for,
after the publication of the treaty, when Montmo-
renci was despatched to the Spanish frontier with
the money necessary to ransom the young Princes,
it was discovered that the Chancellor Duprat had
further disgraced his royal master, by endeavour-
ing to defraud the Emperor both in the weight and
value of the specie destined for that purpose. This
false dealing was, however, at once detected, and
Francis I 19
the mortified and indignant Marechal found himself
compelled to delay his errand until the deficiency was
supplied.
The exchange was then effected precisely as that of
Francis himself had previously been. From the Span-
ish bank of the Bidassoa the Queen of Portugal,
accompanied by the Dauphin and his brother, and
attended by the Constable of Castile and her personal
suite, embarked at the same moment that Montmo-
renci left the shore of Navarre with the sealed cases
containing the treasure. The several parties then
ascended the barge which was moored in the centre
of the stream, where the Queen, having taken leave
of her escort, entered the boat which was awaiting her,
and landed in France with the Princes. M. de Mont-
pezat was then despatched to inform the King of her
arrival, who was awaiting the intelligence at Bordeaux,
and who immediately set forth to meet her. The
interview took place in the convent of Verrieres, near
Mont-de-Marsan, where Francis, having briefly wel-
comed his betrothed wife, withdrew with his sons, in
order that she might be enabled to prepare herself for
their marriage, which was celebrated on the morrow
an hour before dawn, with a haste and absence of all
attempt at magnificence, strangely at variance with the
usual habits of the French court.
At the close of the ceremony the royal bride was
conducted to her litter, and the bridal train entered
Bordeaux, whence they proceeded by Coignac, Am-
boise, and Blois, to St. Germain-en-Laye, where they
sojourned during the necessary preparations for the
coronation of the Queen, and her solemn entry into
2O Reign of
the city of Paris ; which events took place, the first on
the 5th of March, at St. Denis, and the second on the
1 5th of the same month, when she at length received
the honours due to her distinguished rank.
Once more the palace of the Tournelles and the villa
of the Tuileries were loud with festivity. Banquets
and tournaments succeeded each other by day, while
balls and receptions occupied the night hours. The
royal saloons blazed with jewels, and beamed with
beauty; illuminated barges rode on the ripple of the
Seine, and invisible musicians made one wide or-
chestra of the lamp-lit gardens; the citizens, de-
lighted to find themselves once more in security, wel-
comed their new Queen as the visible earnest of their
safety; and the same nobles who had knelt in hom-
age before the meek and sainted Claude, were now
equally assiduous in striving to obtain the smiles of
her successor.
But even amid all the splendour by which she was
surrounded, the Queen could not conceal her melan-
choly. She had been deeply wounded by the nature
of her reception in France, incompatible as it was with
all the rumours which had reached her of the gallantry
and magnificence of her enforced bridegroom; but,
although stung by the indignity to which she had been
subjected, she had felt little surprise; as even during
his captivity at Madrid, Francis had exhibited towards
her a marked coldness, that appeared intended to pre-
pare her for the neglect to which she would be con-
signed after her marriage. Nor had her presenti-
ment been unfounded ; for although he never violated
the respect due to her as Queen of France, his indiffer-
Francis I 21
ence was, even at this early period, so undisguised,
and his levity so unrestrained, that she experienced a
sense of desolation even when she formed the centre
of a crowd. Still her Spanish pride upheld her; and
if, at times, the tears welled unbidden, she drove them
back, and assumed a composure that she was far from
feeling. But moments were not wanting in which all
her indignation was aroused ; and one of these occurred
even in the midst of the festivities consequent upon
her coronation.
At her first official reception, she occupied the centre
of the da'is, having the Duchess-mother on her right
hand, and the Queen of Navarre, who had come to
France to welcome her, upon her left ; while the King,
who should have afforded her the support of his pres-
ence, was engaged in an animated conversation with
Madame d'Etampes; who, stiff with brocade, and
sparkling with jewels, was standing negligently near a
window, and turning at intervals a curious and almost
contemptuous glance towards her new sovereign. At
length, however, the name of the favourite was an-
nounced by the Mistress of the Household, and she
advanced to the step of the dais with the mien and de-
portment of an empress; but Eleonora had already
comprehended her position, and, outraged by an au-
dacity for which she had been unprepared, instead of
presenting her hand as the proud Duchess knelt before
her, she suddenly turned her head aside, and entered
into conversation with the Queen of Navarre, leaving
the arrogant beauty to retire at her leisure. For a
moment even Anne de Pisseleu felt embarrassed;
but she quickly recovered her self-possession; and as
22 Reign of
she rose slowly from her knee, she murmured, in
a tone sufficiently audible to reach the ear of the
Queen : " Ha ! is it so ? You disdain to offer me
your hand. It is to be a trial of strength between us,
and I accept the challenge. Your husband shall re-
venge me."
And that he did so there can exist no doubt ; for his
excessive passion for the artful favourite had blinded
him to her vices. Already had she taught him that
her love was to be retained only by an entire devo-
tion; and even while he suffered her to become the
arbiter of his own actions, she betrayed him with a
recklessness as bold as it was degrading. Nothing,
moreover, could satisfy her rapacity; and while dis-
tress, which amounted almost to famine, oppressed the
lower classes of the citizens, she greedily seized upon
every opportunity of enriching herself and aggrandiz-
ing her family.
It is curious to trace the extent to which she suc-
ceeded in effecting the latter object, and the digression
will accordingly be pardoned. Within a few years,
her maternal uncle, Antoine Sanguin, became the
Abbot of Fleury-sur-Loire, Bishop of Orleans, a Car-
dinal and Archbishop of Toulouse ; Charles, her elder
brother, was made Abbot of Bourgueil and Bishop of
Condom; Francis, the second, received the Abbey of
Saint Corneille de Compiegne, and the Bishopric of
Amiens; and William, the youngest, was elevated to
the See of Pamiers. Nor were her sisters forgotten;
two of them became the abbesses of wealthy convents,
and the other three were married into the noble
families of Barbanc,on-Cauny, Chabot-Jarnac, and Ver-
Francis I 23
tus. Numerous, also, were the cousins and distant
connections for whom she provided no less liberally;
and, as is ever the case with individuals suddenly ag-
grandized, their ramifications were ere long endless;
nor did one of them, even although many were, as we
have shown, in holy orders, hesitate for a moment to
profit by her disgrace.
One merit must, however, be conceded to Anne de
Pisseleu ; and as throughout her whole career we have
been unable to trace any other good quality which she
possessed, it cannot be passed over in silence. Edu-
cated highly for the period, she loved study for its own
sake, and afforded protection to men of letters; al-
though it must be admitted that, wherever her passions
or her vanity were brought into play, she abandoned
them and their interests without hesitation or scruple.
Nevertheless, it is certain that she co-operated, not
only willingly, but even zealously, with the King In
attracting to the court of France all the distinguished
talent of Europe ; and was moreover able to appreciate
the excellence of which it soon became the focus. But
the ostentation with which she assumed to herself the
attitude of a patroness was calculated to arouse the
indignation of the Queen, who witnessed with sup-
pressed but deep displeasure this usurpation of her
privileges.
It was not long, indeed, ere the unhappy Eleonora
discovered that she was a mere cypher at her husband's
court. It is true that when she was seen in public on
the occasion of some gorgeous procession to St. Denis
or Notre Dame, attired in velvet and cloth of gold,
and sparkling with jewels, the delighted populace
24 Reign of
lustily shouted Noel for their stately Queen ; but this
empty and boisterous homage was the only tribute
offered to her exalted rank.
The courtiers had little time beyond that exacted
by the strict ceremonial of the court to spare to one
so powerless; and as it had been the pleasure of her
royal husband that she should dismiss the greater
number of her Spanish attendants, her solitude was
seldom invaded save by the young Princes, the two
elder of whom had become sincerely attached to her
during their detention at Madrid ; an affection which
she returned with equal warmth. Of these the Dau-
phin was her peculiar favourite; for, young as he
was, his calm, self-possessed and temperate disposi-
tion was almost Spanish in its character, and she
never feared from him the wild and ungoverned sallies
into which his younger brothers were occasionally be-
trayed.
Isolated as she was, however, Eleonora scorned to
complain; and, although she ill brooked the insults
to which she was daily subjected, she uttered no re-
monstrance.
By slow degrees she withdrew herself from the
more public circles of the court, and, as the unhappy
Claude, her predecessor, had previously done, she
sought in works of piety to stifle the murmurs of her
heart. Often as she sat at her open casement she
watched with swimming eyes the gorgeous litter of the
favourite, with its draperies of pale blue velvet, and
its train of pages, as it issued from the palace gates
with almost regal pomp ; but not even to her mother-
in-law, who, from motives of policy, treated her with a
Francis I 25
courtesy for which she was in a great degree indebted
to the fact of her utter powerlessness to thwart her
measures, or to undermine her influence, did she vent-
ure to complain of the insolence under which she
writhed.
CHAPTER II.
Francis I. and the Royal College He Establishes Professor-
ships Illustrious Scholars Duprat Dissuades the King
from Founding the College The Jealousy of Francis is Ex-
cited by the Progress of the Reformation Jean le Clerc is
Burnt Alive at Meaux for Heresy An Effigy of the Virgin
is Desecrated at Paris Superstition of Francis I. The Sil-
ver Image A Regal Procession The King Persecutes the
Lutherans Louis de Berguin is Burnt Alive in the Place de
Greve The Ecclesiastical Tribunals Judge and Condemn
the Protestants The Queen of Navarre Intercedes in Vain
for the Victims Cruelty of Francis I. Symptoms of Re-
newed Hostilities Meeting between the Pope and the Em-
peror They Conclude a Treaty Charles V. Restores the
Milanese to Francesco Sforza Indignation of Francis Ter-
ror of the French Queen Eleonora Invites a Nobleman of
Her Brother's Court to France An Interview is Arranged
between the Emperor and Francis Death of Louise de
Savoie Her Treasure-chest The French King Liberates the
Territories of the Low Countries Death of Marguerite
d'Autriche Contrast between the Two Princesses.
THE pacification of Europe once more enabled
Francis I. to turn his attention to the internal
economy of his kingdom, and to revert to his original
project of establishing a royal college ; for which pur-
pose he invited to his court the most learned men of
the age, to whom he offered the several professor-
26
Francis I 27
ships, with each a magnificent stipend. In addition
to the eminent scholars to whom we have elsewhere
alluded, a number of the Italian literati, who had been
proscribed by the Emperor for the share which they
had taken in the late wars, found a ready and an
honourable refuge under his protection. Among
these illustrious exiles were Luigi Alamanni,* a Flor-
entine poet, who soon became so great a favourite of
the King as to be not only admitted to his intimacy,
but even employed upon several embassies ; Bruto, the
Florentine historian ; Niccolo dell' Abbate ; and Rosso
del Rosso, f who, in conjunction with Primaticcio,
executed the paintings and statues of the palace of
Fontainebleau ; Tagliacarno, who became the pre-
ceptor of his sons, and upon whom he bestowed the
Bishopric of Grasse ; and a number of other celebrated
scholars, as well as a crowd of capitalists, merchants,
and craftsmen, who established themselves in France,
and exercised in their adopted country those talents
* Luigi Alamanni was born in 1493. Having entered into a conspiracy
against Julio de' Medici, subsequently Clement VII., he took refuge in
France. Henry II. continued to him the same protection and favour
which he had experienced from Francis I. He left behind him a col-
lection of poems, a didactic poem entitled Opere Toscane, the Cultivaeione,
drone il Cortese, a heroic poem, and the Avarchide, a Florian comedy.
He died in 1556.
t Rosso del Rosso, familiarly known as Maitre-Roux, was born at
Florence, in 1496; and by the mere strength of his genius, and his close
study of Michael Angelo and Parmesan (Mazsuoli), became one of the
most famous painters of his time. The grand gallery of Fontainebleau
was built after his designs, which were rewarded by Francis I. with a
canonry at Notre Dame. His great success at the court of France
created a dissension between himself and Primaticcio, who was jealous
of the favour shown to him by the King ; and this hatred continued un-
abated until the death of Rosso, who poisoned himself in the year 1541,
from remorse at the torments endured by his friend Pelligrino, whom
he had unjustly accused of theft. Great skill in the management of his
lights, grandeur of conception, fertility of imagination, and remarkable
richness of colouring, are the characteristics of his style.
28 Reign of
to which her manufactories have since been indebted
for their superiority.
Nor was it only to foreigners that Francis proved
himself a munificent patron ; for, excited by the en-
couragement suddenly held out throughout Europe
to every species of science and scholarship, and
anxious to secure the success of his new foundation by
placing it under the supervision of the most learned
men of the time, he spared no pains in collecting about
him, and in conciliating the friendship of, every indi-
vidual in France who had by his erudition rendered
himself worthy of such a distinction.
Francis was not, however, singular in his laudable
ambition, for all Europe, wearied of war, had simul-
taneously adopted the same taste. In Italy, even the
political convulsions to which the country had been
subjected, had failed to quench the thirst for knowl-
edge ; and thus her scholars, her artists, her sculptors,
and her architects were the most celebrated in the
world, and were competent to teach where others were
only beginning to learn. In Florence especially, every
species of art and every branch of literature had at-
tained to marvellous perfection ; and now, when di-
plomacy and warfare had ceased to engross the minds
of the European sovereigns, each became desirous to
render his court celebrated by the presence of the
learned. England, France, and Germany, at length
aware of the importance of intellectual cultivation,
vied with each other in their efforts to accomplish this
desirable end ; and thus the painter's easel, the scholar's
desk, and the sculptor's studio were soon established
within the walls of palaces, hftherto inaccessible to
such occupants.
Francis I 29
Fortunately for Francis, the Italian refugees with
few exceptions turned towards France, of which they
had so long been the allies ; while even in his own king-
dom he possessed many men of eminence, to whom he
had shown favour from the very commencement of
his reign. Foremost among these were the three
noble brothers, Du Bellay,* Bude, Guillaume Petit,
his confessor, Cope, his physician, Duchatel, Pillicier,
Danes, De Selve, and many other men of mark, who
soon obtained for him the reputation which he coveted.
It was principally to encourage the study of the
classics that Francis had conceived the idea of the
royal college, of which it may be remembered that he
had offered the presidency to Erasmus so early as the
year 1517; but, notwithstanding his great anxiety to
cultivate this essential branch of knowledge, he had
contented himself with selecting the site of the build-
ing, which was to be sufficiently capacious to accommo-
date six hundred students, and then suffered himself
to be dissuaded by the remonstrances of the Chancellor
Duprat, who being a man totally without erudition,
and consequently unable to appreciate its value, repre-
sented to him the impolicy of diverting the public
moneys from their legitimate uses in order to foster a
love of enlightenment which might tend to interfere
with higher objects.
It is probable that this narrow-sighted view of the
* The family of Du Bellay, which produced alike brave soldiers and
able diplomatists, were natives of Anjou. The most famous of its mem-
bers were the three brothers, Guillaume Du Bellay, one of the generals
of Francis I. who died in 1565; Jean Du Bellay, who died in 1560; and
Martin Du Bellay, who at his death, which occurred in 1559, left behind
him his celebrated Memoirs. A relative of these distinguished men,
Joachim Du Bellay, acquired great reputation as a poet,
3 Reign of
case was not without its effect upon the mind of the
King; for even in 1530, the period upon which we are
now engaged, Francis, after having elected the several
professors, left them dependent upon the University,
without either a hall of study, a corporation, or even
any security for the payment of their salaries ; nor was
the erection of the edifice even commenced until eight
years after his death.
That the insinuation of the crafty Duprat had not
failed in its effect is moreover made apparent by the
sudden distaste evinced by the King to his darling
project, so soon as he discovered that as the study of
the ancient languages obtained among the learned, so
did the tenets of reform gain ground, and the exaspera-
tion of the monks become uncontrollable.
For a time, however, he continued to exhibit the
same friendship for the studious and the scientific as
ever; and refused to abandon their interests at the
instigation of the sensual and indolent communities
who suddenly beheld all their darling prejudices
threatened, and all their ignorance revealed, by the
new flood of light which was pouring in upon them ;
and whose only resource was to raise the cry of heresy,
and to fulminate alike against the reformed scholars
and their protectors all the thunders of the Church.
The truth, nevertheless, made way; and the same
opinions which only twelve years before had been
promulgated in Germany, spread themselves steadily
over France, and became widely diffused among that
portion of the people, perhaps of all others the best
calculated to insure their ultimate triumph. We allude
to the lower classes not only of the cities, where the
Francis I 31
mere desire to free themselves from a priestly thral-
dom of which they had become weary, doubtlessly
urged many to espouse the new doctrines but also of
the villages ; for the purity, the peace, and the simplic-
ity of the reformed tenets spoke to the hearts and the
convictions of those whose reason had been bewildered,
and whose faith had been enfeebled, by the mysterious
superstitions of their fathers. And while the good
work was thus progressing among the humble and the
unlearned, it made itself felt also among the more in-
telligent of the citizens, who could not remain blind
to the vices and excesses of a depraved and grasping
priesthood, whose habits of life, and whose modes of
teaching, were alike repugnant to good sense and good
feeling.
No wonder, then, that when the learned began to
examine and to compare the two systems, a general
alarm pervaded the whole body of the Romish
Church ; for although many of them still remained
within the pale of their original religion, yet all, with-
out exception, expressed an equal disgust at the ig-
norance and imposture of the monks. Among the
number of those who still nominally adhered to their
ancient faith, while they were, in point of fact, rapidly
undermining its foundations, may be mentioned the
celebrated Rabelais ;* who, after having abandoned a
monastic life for the profession of medicine, became
* Francois Rabelais was born at Chinon in 1483. Originally a monk
of the order of the Cordeliers, he subsequently became a Benedictine;
and then, weary of the cowl, established himself as a physician; in which
capacity he accompanied the embassy of the Cardinal Du Bellay to
Rome. During his sojourn in that city, he obtained, through the inter-
cession of the Cardinal, an absolution from the Pope for the rupture of
his vows; and it was to the same generous patron he was indebted for
the clerical preferment which he afterwards enjoyed.
32 Reign of
the physician of the Cardinal du Bellay during his
sojourn at Rome as the ambassador of Francis; and
published in the year 1533 his novel of " Pantagruel,"
and in 1535 that of " Gargantua," in both of which he
attacked with unequalled audacity alike the religion
that he professed and the civil authority to which he
was subservient. But while he thus overwhelmed,
with a pungency of ridicule at once impious and in-
decent, the abuses to which no one was more keenly
alive than himself, he was nevertheless too worldly-
wise to withdraw from beyond the pale of a church
which he was enabled to render subservient to his in-
terests; and despite all his offences against religion
and morality, he ultimately died prebendary of Saint
Maur-des-Fosses, and curate of Meudon.
In like manner Clement Marot, the poet, although
he rejected for a time the Romish tenets, did not hesi-
tate on two distinct occasions to return to them ; not,
as in the case of Rabelais, from motives of self-interest,
but from causes still more degrading ; for even while,
in his first enthusiasm for the reformed faith, he aban-
doned the composition of worldly poetry in order to
translate the Psalms, he could not, or sought not to
control the licentiousness of his nature ; and finding
the restraints imposed by his adopted creed alike in-
convenient and embarrassing, unblushingly recurred
to his old professions in order to pursue the libertine
habits to which he was addicted. Erasmus, although
less reprehensible in his motives, was equally incon-
sistent in his conduct ; for while he pursued the Romish
clergy with unsparing sarcasm, he refused to abandon
the observances of their church.
Francis I 33
Many there were, however, who having conscien-
tiously and sincerely attached themselves to Prot-
estantism, were true even to the death, and sealed
their convictions by enduring with unflinching and
heroic firmness the agonies of martyrdom.
Among those observances of the Romish Church
against which the people had first openly revolted was
that of image-worship; and so early as the year 1525,
a wool-comber, named Jean le Clerc, a native of
Meaux, had carried his zeal so far as to destroy sev-
eral figures of saints ; for which sacrilegious offence
he was publicly whipped, branded with a hot iron, and
subsequently burned at the stake. This event, how-
ever, created little sensation beyond the city in which
it occurred; nor was it until in 1528 a discovery was
made in the capital than an effigy of the Virgin in the
Rue des Rosiers had been torn from its niche, defaced,
and dragged through the mud of the street, that
Francis abandoned the cause of the Reformers.
But even then it was rather from policy, than from
any religious scruple, that he did so. The state of
Paris had already been, as we have shown, sufficiently
alarming; and this new and open violation of the law
threatened an increase of the evil. Jealous of his au-
thority, the King began to regard the Lutherans with
a suspicious eye ; and while he had tranquilly permitted
their attacks upon the Church, he at once resented
their presumed defiance of himself. Moreover, Fran-
cis, although destitute of religion, was as superstitious
as the most ignorant of his subjects. Like them he
had witnessed rather with satisfaction than annoyance
the persecutions to which the clergy had been sub-
,*A3C - s s
VOL. III. 3 f \&\ _ -;';-,>
?* '
O M'tJ >.*
(Ontario.
34 Reign of
jected by their new opponents, but, also like them, he
held in reverence the ancient symbols of the faith
which he professed ; and thus, in order at once to
appease the murmurs of the populace, and to tran-
quillize his own misgivings, he caused a statue of silver
of the same dimensions as that which had been de-
stroyed to be erected in the same spot, and himself
walked in procession, attended by his whole court, to
witness the ceremony of its installation.
His next care was to discover the authors of the
outrage ; but failing in this attempt, he turned the
whole tide of his wrath upon the Lutherans as a body,
declaring that the profanation which had been com-
mitted must have originated with them ; and the first
evidence which he gave of his determination to sacri-
fice every other consideration to that of maintaining
his personal authority, was afforded by the re-arrest
of Louis de Berguin,* who had some time previously
been denounced to the Sorbonne by their syndic, and
imprisoned in the dungeons of the college ; whence he
had been liberated by the express order of the King,
and restored to liberty.
Now, however, although no further accusation had
been brought against him, the unhappy student was
once more consigned to a prison, and put upon his
trial before twelve commissaries of the Parliament,
who, anxious to conciliate at once the Church and the
* Louis de Berguin was a gentleman of Artois, and the friend of Eras-
mus. Of eminent talents, and zealous for the progress of learning, he
wrote vehemently and powerfully against the cupidity, ignorance, and
intolerance of the monastic communities, and thus drew upon himself
the vengeance of the Romish Church. He was burnt at the stake in his
fortieth year, in 1529.
Francis I 35
sovereign, after a hurried investigation condemned
him to witness the public burning of all his writings
in the Place de Greve ; to make the amende honorable,
to abjure his heretical opinions on the same spot, and
afterwards to have his tongue pierced by a hot iron,
and to suffer perpetual imprisonment. Without com-
ment upon the remainder of his sentence, Berguin
positively refused to utter the abjuration, and forth-
with appealed both to the King and the Pope ; upon
which the commissaries, by an abuse of power alike
unprecedented and arbitrary, denounced his appeal as
a new offence, and revoking their former award, con-
demned him to be burnt alive ; an iniquitous sentence
which was actually carried into effect on the 22d of
April, 1529, without any effort on the part of Francis
to save the victim from so cruel and unmerited a fate.
The death of Berguin was succeeded by a general
persecution of the Reformists. At Toulouse the tri-
bunal of the Inquisition condemned no less than thirty-
two Lutherans to punishments of different degrees of
severity ; including imprisonment for life, confiscation
of property, and death at the stake. At Lyons they
were treated with equal harshness ; while at Bourges
they were judged and sentenced with similar severity,
and even confounded with sorcerers and magicians in
order to excite against them the indignation and hatred
of the populace ; and at the same time the Chancellor
convened a council in the capital, which included all
the Bishops of the diocese of Sens, in which the doc-
trines of Luther were not only condemned, but all the
Princes of Christendom were exhorted to assist in the
extermination of his disciples.
36 Reign of
Neither genius nor scholarship longer availed to
save the suspected ; and Francis, who had so recently
arrogated to himself the proud title of Protector of
Letters, looked coldly on while some of the noblest
spirits and brightest intellects of his kingdom were
quenched in the unholy flames of bigotry and super-
stition.
In vain had Marguerite of Navarre pleaded for
mercy; in vain had she represented the irreparable
injury which the King was inflicting, not only upon
Europe at large by thus impeding the growth of
knowledge, but even upon his own fame, by afford-
ing his sanction to enormities so monstrous ; her warn-
ing whispers were silenced by the sterner voice of
Louise de Savoie ; who, having by a transition rapid
and easy at that period abandoned her former licen-
tious pursuits for a violent and ostentatious display of
religious fervour, and resolved to second the selfish
designs of her favourite and confidant, Duprat, (who
on his side was eager to conciliate the clergy, and to
purchase oblivion for the excesses of the past,) urged
him on to acts of rigour and injustice as impolitic as
they were cruel.
Such was the real patronage afforded by Francis I.
to men of letters : alternately his idols and his victims,
he suffered them to minister to his vanity, to celebrate
his greatness, to record his victories, and to throw a
halo of refinement and civilization over his court ;
while they were not only forbidden to worship the
Eternal and the True according to the dictates of their
own hearts, but were even subjected to the most
odious persecution, and to the most painful and ig-
Francis I 37
nominious death, for presuming to eschew bigotry
and error, and to work out the salvation of their own
souls.
In the darker ages King Robert had indeed pun-
ished religious schism by the stake, and Saint Louis
had followed the fearful example of his predecessor;
but since the death of the latter monarch, the law,
although still unannulled, had never been put into
force, and was forgotten when it was thus revived by
Francis I. Even his panegyrist Brantome is com-
pelled to admit that " it was he who first led the way
to the burning of heretics." A melancholy fact to
record against a Christian King; and one, moreover,
who affected an earnest zeal to promote civilization
and general enlightenment.
Meanwhile the tranquillity of Europe was far from
being so well assured as it appeared ; and although the
late lingering and costly wars had exhausted the re-
sources of both Charles V. and Francis, there were
many reasons which co-operated against a lengthened
peace. To say nothing of the mutual jealousy that
existed between the two monarchs, each had legiti-
mate causes for discontent which neither was likely
to overlook ; nor were there wanting bold and advent-
urous spirits about the persons of both sovereigns,
who sought to fan the smouldering embers of their
old hatred into a new and fiercer flame.
To the Emperor it was represented that Francis,
whosepride he had humbled, and whose vanity he had
wounded, would never forgive the humiliations en-
tailed upon him by the treaty of Cambray ; but would
eagerly seize the first opportunity to recover by vio-
38 Reign of
lence the territories of which he had been deprived ;
and that should he succeed in once more rendering
himself master of the Milanese, he would not fail to
extend his conquests to Naples and Sicily. In order
to avert this calamity, it was suggested by the coun-
sellors of Charles that he should invest Francisco
Sforza with the duchy of Milan, by which measure he
would not only secure to himself a large amount of
money, but would also conciliate the other Italian
states, who would necessarily welcome this restoration
as a guarantee against the invasion of a monarch of
whom past experience had rendered them suspicious,
and even against the authority of the Emperor him-
self, whose power was too formidable and overwhelm-
ing to admit of their feeling secure under his rule;
while by inducing the other Princes of Italy to enter
into a league with Sforza, of whom they could enter-
tain no jealousy, he would become possessed of allies
all the more valuable that they were thus divorced
from the cause of France.
Many other similar arguments were adduced which
were not without their influence upon the mind of
Charles V., who had already been urged to reinstate
Sforza in the sovereignty of the duchy alike by the
Pope and the Venetian Senate. Shortly after the
peace he had visited Italy with great pomp, and ef-
fected his reconciliation with the Pontiff, towards
whom he had evinced a respect and regard which were
wholly incompatible with his former bearing ; and who
met him in the same spirit, being anxious to secure the
support of so powerful an ally in his meditated ven-
geance upon the Florentines, by whom the Medici,
Francis I 39
his relatives, and all their adherents had been driven
from their territories.
The re-establishment of his family was accordingly
one of the principal articles of the treaty between the
two potentates insisted upon by the Pope. Alessandro
de' Medici was to be reinstated in the government of
Florence ; Ravenna, Modena, and Reggio were to be
restored to the Holy See; and the Emperor was
pledged not only to assist Clement against the Duke
of Ferrara, but also to aid him in restoring the power
and splendour of the Church, which had been greatly
weakened and deteriorated by the events of the late
war; as well as in checking the progress of the
Reformation.
The recompense of these concessions was to be the
crown of empire which had been refused to Charles
by his predecessor ; and the treaty was no sooner con-
cluded than his coronation took place with great
splendour (on the 22d of February, 1530), in the
Church of San Petronio at Bologna. After the cere-
mony, the Emperor proceeded with the same magnifi-
cence to Barcelona, where he embarked for Genoa;
and in the latter city he received the congratulations
of the Papal legates, and the representatives of the sev-
eral Italian princes. He then pursued his way to
Placenza, where he gave audience to Francisco Sforza,
and fulfilled his promise to the Pontiff by insuring to
the Duke the restoration of his duchy, on condition
that he should pay the sum of nine hundred thousand
ducats as compensation-money, and leave the for-
tresses of Milan and Cremona in the hands of the
imperial generals until the whole of the debt should
4 Reign of
be discharged. In order to secure the fidelity of his
new vassal, Charles moreover promised him the hand
of his own niece, the daughter of the King of Den-
mark, who had been deprived of his kingdom ; and a
few months subsequently the marriage was solemn-
ized.
Thus it will be seen that Francis had tangible cause
for displeasure. The Emperor had entered into two
several treaties, both of which seriously affected the
interests of France. He had secured the alliance of
the Pope, the Venetian states, the Italian provinces,
and, above all, the Milanese; and he had also,
through his agents, tampered with the Swiss and the
Grisons, and weakened their allegiance to the French
crown.
But of all these injuries, that which rankled the most
deeply in the heart of Francis was the cession of Milan
to Francisco Sforza, a man without honour or probity,
and of mean extraction ; while he was himself the hus-
band of the Emperor's sister, the monarch of a power-
ful nation, and, as Charles was well aware, coveted
the possession of that duchy, which he considered as
a portion of his own territories. Had the Emperor
retained the Milanese under his own authority, the
French King could only have complained of his in-
justice in thus withholding from his children their
legitimate inheritance; but in thus transferring its
sovereignty to a petty Italian Prince, he had subjected
Francis to the greatest indignity which it was in his
power to inflict; and which wounded him the more
deeply that he had been totally unprepared for so,
wanton and gratuitous an insult.
Francis I 4 1
Nor was this the only evidence afforded by Charles
of the indifference with which he regarded the claims
of the French crown ; for he had, in like manner, ceded
the countyship of Ast to the Duke of Savoy, although
aware that it was the ancient patrimony of the house
of Orleans ; while in addition to these glaring demon-
strations of his contempt for the weakened power of
his late prisoner, he had failed to redeem the pledge
that he had given for the restoration of several of the
attendants of the young Princes during their detention
at Madrid, whom he had sent to the galleys, and who
still remained prisoners.
Yet, despite all these provocations, Francis was
anxious to avoid a renewal of hostilities, and once
more sought to avert aggression by diplomacy ; an
attempt in which he was encouraged both by Louise
de Savoie, whose health at this period began to fail,
and by the Queen, who was overwhelmed with terror
at the prospect of a war between her husband and her
brother. It was consequently arranged that Eleonora
should request the presence of Courbaron, a gentle-
man of the Emperor's court, in France, ostensibly to
conclude a commercial treaty between the French and
the Genoese; but actually, through her influence, to
induce a meeting between the two sovereigns.
After repeated interviews Courbaron accepted the
mission, and the Emperor affected to accede to the
solicitations of his sister; but it soon became evident
that he had no intention of affording to Francis the
advantage of a personal interview ; a fact of which the
French King felt so well assured that he availed him-
self of the death of his mother, which occurred during
4 2 Reign of
the progress of the negotiations, to suggest the post-
ponement of the meeting.
In the spring of the year 1531 the health of Madame
d'Angouleme had become extremely precarious, and
some cases of plague having occurred during the sum-
mer at Fontainebleau, where she was then residing, she
determined to proceed to Romorantin ; but on her
arrival at the village of Gretz in Gratinois, her illness
increased so alarmingly that she was compelled to
abandon all idea of her projected journey, and to sum-
mon her physicians. A short time before her death
she was startled by an extraordinary light in her cham-
ber, and reprimanded her attendants for their careless-
ness in making so large a fire ; when they assured her
that what she saw was merely the reflection of the
moon through the curtained window. Still uncon-
vinced, she desired that the hangings might be drawn
aside, and on raising herself upon her bed to ascertain
the truth, she discovered that the glare by which she
had been inconvenienced proceeded from a comet
which was at that moment traversing the heavens.
As she gazed wildly upon the brilliant meteor, she fell
back despairingly upon her pillow, declaring that it
was the harbinger of her death, and desiring that her
confessor might be immediately introduced. In vain
did her physicians expostulate, assuring her that the
virulence of her disease had abated, and that they had
confidence in her recovery ; they could not shake her
conviction, or overcome the superstition by which
she was prostrated. The confessor accordingly ap-
proached her bed, and administered to her the last
sacraments of the Church; a few hours of calm sue-
Francis I 43
ceeded, and then, towards evening on the 2pth of Sep-
tember, she expired, in her fifty-fourth year.
The embalmed body was conveyed to St. Denis,
where it was laid in a superb mausoleum which the
King had caused to be constructed ; the heart and the
entrails were carried to Notre Dame, and deposited
under a plate of metal ; and all that remained of Louise
de Savoie, so long the sovereign of France in all save
the mere name, were the treasures which she had
accumulated during her career of power. But what
a fearful tale did they tell of extortion, injustice, and
selfishness ! The Milanese had been lost for want of
supplies; the energies of the whole army paralysed;
the blood of thousands sacrificed ; the dignity of her
son insulted; and the nation prostrated by famine;
and her private chest was found to contain the enor-
mous sum of fifteen hundred thousand golden crowns !
The captivity of Francis had been her work, but she
had forgotten while gloating over her ill-gotten hoards
that she was a mother. The victims of the sword and
the pestilence had alike been the offerings which she
had immolated at the altar of her sordid deity ; avarice
and hatred had enabled her to do the office of the
destroying angel, and she had heaped up curses where
she might have garnered blessings.
At the death of his mother Francis found himself
more wealthy than he had ever been since his accession
to the throne ; and one of the first uses to which he
applied a portion of his unexpected inheritance, was
to liberate the territories of the Low Countries, which
had been mortgaged to the Emperor in part payment
of his ransom.
44 Francis I
In the brief period which had elapsed since the con-
clusion of the treaty of Cambray, Louise de Savoie
had already been preceded to the tomb by Marguerite
d'Autriche, the Governante of Flanders, who died at
Malines on the ist of December in the previous year,
only fifteen months after the completion of that un-
happy and ill-omened negotiation.
The daughter of Maximilian left no treasure with
which to enrich her heirs, but tears were wept above
her bier that gold could not have bought; and her
memory was embalmed in the hearts of those to whom
she had been alike a firm friend and an indulgent
protectress.
CHAPTER III.
Francis Endeavours to Annex the Duchy of Brittany to the
French Crown The Bretons Resist His Claim Louis des
Desserts Undertakes to Secure Their Consent The States
of Brittany are Assembled at Vannes Francis Proceeds to
Chateaubriand Reconciliation of the Count and Countess
Francis Presents Two Estates to His Old Favourite
The Dauphin is Proclaimed Duke of Brittany Francis
Erects New Palaces The Chateau of Madrid The Queen
Dowager of Hungary is Appointed Governante of the Low
Countries Henry VIII. and Francis I. Enter into a De-
fensive Alliance Clement VII. Refuses to Sanction the
Divorce of Henry VIII. and Katherine of Aragon Un-
popularity of Henry VIII. Diet of Spires Ferdinand of
Austria is Elected King of the Romans Contempt Evinced
by Charles V. towards the German Protestants The League
of Smalkalden The Protestant Princes Apply to France
and England for Support Courteous Reply of Francis
The King of Hungary Sends Ambassadors to the French
Court Policy of Francis The French Ambassadors to Eng-
land Negotiate a Meeting between the Two Monarchs
The Royal Interview A Treaty is Signed by* which both
Sovereigns Bind Themselves to a Crusade against the Turks
Indignation of Henry VIII. against the Pope Caution of
the French King Jealousy of Charles V. Francis is Sum-
moned by the Emperor to Despatch an Army against Solyman
He Refuses Charles V. Compels the Turks to Retreat
Francis Deceives Henry VIII. Francis Offers the Hand of
the Due d'Orleans to Catherine de' Medici Incredulity
45
46 Reign of
of the Pope He Consults Charles V. The Emperor and the
Pope Meet at Bologna Alarm of Francis Two French
Bishops are Despatched to Threaten Clement VII. Henry
VIII. Returns to England.
THE persecution of the Reformists and the negotia-
tion with the Emperor were not, however, the
only subjects by which the mind of Francis was ab-
sorbed during the year 1532. One of the darling
projects both of himself and his mother had for several
years past been the annexation of the duchy of Brit-
tany to the throne of France ; to which they adhered
still more stringently from the fact that Queen Claude
had, by her will, devised it to her elder son, the Dau-
phin, with the reservation of its revenues to the King
her husband during his life. The legality of this will
was nevertheless disputed by the Bretons, who affirmed
that she had no right to make such a disposition, in-
asmuch as a clause in the marriage-contract of Anne
de Bretagne distinctly set forth that it was to become
the inheritance of the younger, instead of the elder of
her children ; and, jealous of their privileges, they de-
manded the maintenance of their independence, re-
fusing to allow the King to govern them in any other
capacity than that of their Duke, and in conformity
with their own constitution ; reserving to themselves,
moreover,* the right, should an opportunity present
itself, of separating the duchy from the crown, by either
causing it to devolve upon the last-born of the Princes,
or of maintaining the claims of the female line.
Francis, who foresaw that the attitude thus assumed
by the Bretons might hereafter cause the province to
become a fruitful subject of. contention, was anxious
Francis I 47
to secure its tranquil possession ; and to this end many
suggestions had been made, the whole of which were
successively abandoned, from a dread of awakening
their alarm. But still, even although the advice and
influence of Louise de Savoie were now lost to them,
neither the King nor his Minister was willing to aban-
don so essential a measure; and at length the wily
Duprat succeeded in securing the confidence of Louis
des Desserts, the President of the Breton Parliament,
who possessed immense influence over the minds of
his compatriots ; and who, dazzled by the bribes and
promises of the Chancellor, consented to exert all his
energies to induce the result at which he aimed.
Duprat had little difficulty in convincing the King
of the absolute necessity of completing the arrange-
ment during the minority of his sons ; who, then aged
respectively only thirteen and fourteen years, would
not venture to interfere with any measures which he
might see fit to adopt ; while, should the affair remain
in abeyance until they reached maturity, it might in-
volve a conflicting interest dangerously antagonistic
to his views ; and should the younger Prince be en-
abled to induce the Bretons to sustain his pretensions,
would, in all probability, originate a civil war, or even
foreign interference, after his death, a consideration
to which Francis was no sooner aroused, than he gave
the astute Minister full powers to act in his name, and
upon his authority, as he might deem best suited to
insure success. Thus empowered, Duprat at once ac-
quainted his royal master with the influence which he
had obtained over Des Desserts ; and as no better or
more feasible alternative presented itself, it was re-
48 Reign of
solved that his services should be secured at any cost.
Nor did the Breton President disappoint the hopes
that he had raised ; for by his eloquence in represent-
ing the extreme peril to which the duchy was exposed
by the perpetual wars that were devastating Italy, and
the consequences entailed upon their own province,
together with heavy bribes, and prospects of court
favour to the most influential of the ducal nobles, he
succeeded in prevailing upon the States themselves
to propose their annexation to the King.
This object was no sooner attained than they were
convened at Vannes (in August, 1532) ; while in order
to receive their overtures more courteously, and to
render himself popular in their immediate neighbour-
hood, Francis proceeded to the castle of the Comte de
Chateaubriand ; who, having at length become recon-
ciled to his erring wife, gave him such a welcome as
was due to a sovereign from his subject; an act of
loyalty for which the King royally repaid him, by pre-
senting to his old favourite the valuable estates of
Rhuis and Sucinio.
The result of the assembly was the proclamation of
the Dauphin as Duke of Brittany under the title of
Frangois III. ; and a declaration that thenceforward
the duchy was irrevocably united to the French throne,
without retaining, upon any pretext, the power of
future separation ; but, in order still to preserve some
shadow of the privileges which they had thus volun-
tarily resigned, letters-patent were previously drawn
up, by which Francis bound himself to confirm all the
ancient rights of the province, and guaranteed that no
levy of specie should be made within its boundaries,
Francis I 49
which had not been formally sanctioned by the States
themselves.
The temporary peace enabled the King to pursue all
his favourite avocations, among which that of build-
ing new palaces, and embellishing old ones, was con-
spicuous. Magnificent commencements were mani-
fest at the Louvre ; Fontainebleau was daily increasing
in splendour; St. Germain was a favourite residence
of majesty, and was enriched by many precious pro-
ductions of art ; the little chateau of La Muette, in its
silent valley, had invaded one of the sweetest solitudes
in nature ; the hunting-seat of Chalnau, in the Gatinois,
rose amid the stately and overarching trees of the
forest ; the graceful pavilion of Follembray, in Picardy,
was the retreat of pleasure and intrigue; Chambord
was truly regal alike in its dimensions and its decora-
tions ; Villars-Coteret was erected to indulge a caprice
of Madame de Chateaubriand during her period of
favour; and even the Bois de Boulogne, at the very
gates of the capital, was embellished by an extraordi-
nary edifice, to which Francis gave the name of the
Chateau of Madrid.
The purpose of the King in building this eccentric
retreat was never clearly defined ; although it gave rise
to much conflicting conjecture. Some of the old
chroniclers affirm that it was constructed upon the
model of the castle to which he was transferred after
his betrothal to Eleonora, and his removal from the
Escurial ; and that to this circumstance it owed its
designation. The fallacy of this assertion is, however,
easily proved, the whole aspect of the chateau dis-
countenancing such an idea. It stood in the centre of
Vol.. III. 4
50 Reign of
an inclosed park, about two leagues in circumference,
and was laden with ornaments. Statuary and pictures
abounded within; while the whole of the exterior was
incrusted with glazed and painted bricks, the work of
the celebrated Bernard Palissis,* which produced an
effect rather dazzling than regal. The building was in
form a solid square mass ; but it was so skilfully dis-
tributed within, that it presented several distinct sets
of apartments, which rendered each of its occupants
totally independent of the interference and surveillance
of the other inhabitants. This circumstance gave rise
to a second assertion, that the King had erected it, and
afterwards bestowed upon it a name which could
scarcely have been to him altogether devoid of certain
distasteful associations, because in the entire privacy
which it afforded, it bore a striking resemblance to his
Spanish prison. Others, again, averred that it was
intended as an architectural sarcasm, or, as it might
more properly have been called, an undignified and
contemptible subterfuge of Francis ; who, upon sev-
eral occasions during his frequent visits to his su-
burban palace, when expatiating upon the pertinacity
of the Emperor in urging his return to Madrid in
* Bernard Palissis, or Palissy, was born in the diocese of Agen, in
1500, of parents whose extreme poverty deprived him of all means of
acquiring even the most slender education. He became a house-porter
at Saintes, where he invented the art of enamelling earthenware, and
moreover acquired, unaided, an amount of knowledge which soon drew
upon him the attention of his townsmen. His fame having reached the
ears of Francis I., he was invited to Paris, where he ultimately became
Steward of the Tuileries. He was an ardent Reformist, and resisted
all the efforts made by Henry III. for his conversion to the Romanist
faith. He died in 1590, leaving behind him two remarkable works, which
have now become extremely rare: Le Moyen dc dcvenir riche par I' Agri-
culture, and Ii f la Nature des eaux et fontaines, dts metaux, sels tt salines,
des picrrcs, dcs tcrres, du feu, et dcs cmau.v.
Francis I 51
accordance with the pledge that he had given, was
wont to say with a bitter smile : " His reproaches are
alike unjustifiable and misplaced ; for, on the faith of a
gentleman, I am at Madrid at this very moment."
Meanwhile Charles V., feeling the necessity of ap-
pointing a successor to Marguerite d'Autriche, as
Governante of the Low Countries, decided on con-
ferring the vacant dignity upon his sister Mary, the
widowed Queen of Hungary ; and he accordingly pro-
ceeded to Flanders, to effect her installation ; but as he
sojourned there for a greater length of time than such
a ceremony appeared to demand, both Henry VIII.
and Francis I. became alarmed, and on the 23d of
June they concluded a treaty of mutual defence, and
arranged the preliminaries for a personal interview
towards the close of the same year, in order that they
might severally decide upon such measures as should
appear necessary to their own safety.
His mistrust of the intentions of the Emperor did
not, however, deter the English King from thwarting
all the measures of the Pope ; and although he entered
into a personal controversy with Luther, and even
produced a work which obtained for him the title of
Defender of the Faith, he nevertheless had learnt in
the course of his researches, to entertain doubts of the
Papal infallibility ; and he no sooner became convinced
that Clement VII., at the persuasion of the Emperor,
had resolved definitively to refuse to sanction his
divorce from Katherine of Aragon, than he openly
denied it ; although he nevertheless continued to per-
secute the Reformists. The arrest of Wolsey tended
effectually to alienate the Romanist party from his
5 2 Reign of
interests ; while the virulence with which he pursued
the Lutherans made them also his enemies ; and thus
he became more than ever anxious to secure the alli-
ance and friendship of the French King ; who, although
totally free from religious scruples, felt his dignity also
offended by the pretensions of the Pontiff to a su-
premacy which involved the rights of his own crown ;
and consequently, in order to widen the breach be-
tween Henry VIII. and the Emperor, he advised him
to make Anna Boleyn his wife, without any reference
to the assumed authority of the Church.
Meanwhile Charles V. had completed the exaspera-
tion of the German Reformists, shortly after his return
from Italy, by convening a diet at Spires, which he
caused to be presided over by his brother Ferdinand,
who had recently through his influence been elected
King of the Romans ; and at which a decree was passed
insisting upon the observance of a former one made at
Worms, and stringently enforcing the observance of
the mass, and every other ceremonial of the Church,
until the Pope should have held a formal council, and
deliberated upon the final measures to be adopted.
Upon the promulgation of this decree, the independ-
ent Princes of Germany had immediately assembled,
uttered a solemn protest against his authority, and ex-
changed a pledge not to assist the Emperor in any
war, either offensive or defensive, which he might
undertake, until the edict was revoked.
The Protestants, as all Reformists were thencefor-
ward indiscriminately designated, next sent deputies
to Charles, to explain alike their motives and the de-
cision at which they had arrived; but their remon-
Francis I 53
strances were treated with contempt; and in 1530, the
Emperor held a diet at Augsburg, where Melancthon
was employed by the Reformists to embody in writing
the immortal profession of their faith, known as the
Confession of Augsburg, which having received the
signatures of the several Princes, was delivered to
Charles; who, although he still affected to disregard
their coalition, had nevertheless taken instant meas-
ures to weaken the power and to destroy the authority
of its members, by depriving them of all their religious
and judicial privileges ; moreover threatening those
who refused to recur to their original faith with con-
fiscation, exile, and even death.
Ferdinand of Austria had been proclaimed King of
the Romans on the 5th of the following January, not-
withstanding the opposition of the Protestant electors,
who immediately became convinced that they should
thereafter have to contend against another and an
equally virulent enemy; and they accordingly assem-
bled in person at Smalkalden, a petty town in Fran-
conia, whither the Emperor had already convened
their deputies, and entered into a treaty of defensive
alliance; entreating by letter both Henry. VIII. and
Francis to assist them in the maintenance of their
rights, and the defence of their liberties.
To this request the French King had not only ac-
ceded, but had also assured them that he entertained
no doubt of the co-operation of his brother of Eng-
land ; and about the same time he had also received
with marked courtesy the ambassadors despatched to
his court by John Zapolsky,* Count of Sepus, whom
* John de Zapolsky, Vayvode of Transylvania, was appealed to by the
Hungarian nobility to suppress the brigands who infested their country;
54 Reign of
the Hungarians had elected as their King, and who
was anxious to form an alliance with one of the Prin-
cesses of France, as well as to obtain a loan. Their
embassy was successful ; for Francis, with sundry pro-
fessions of friendship towards the new sovereign, not
only consented to bestow upon him the hand of
Madame Isabeau, the sister of the King of Navarre,
but also forwarded to him a sum of money, on condi-
tion that he should not invade the territories of any
of the allies of France, or make war upon them ; or in
any extremity, or under any provocation, avail himself
of the assistance of the Turks, as by countenancing the
entrance of the Infidels into Christendom, he would
draw down upon himself the vengeance of the French
nation.
By this subtle stroke of policy Francis succeeded in
rendering the Hungarian monarch powerless, for he
was well aware that his only enemy was Ferdinand,
King of the Romans, and that the Sultan was his fast
friend ; while it is moreover asserted by Gamier that at
the very moment in which he insisted on these terms,
to the extreme edification of his subjects, he was al-
ready himself in secret correspondence with the Mus-
sulmans.
Towards the end of the summer Guillaume du Bel-
lay, (Seigneur de Langes,) and M. de la Pommeraye,
and in recompense of his prompt and effective services, had been elected
as the successor of Louis II. in 1526. His election was opposed by Ferdi-
nand of Austria, who was also ambitious of the crown; and after a war
which lasted for several years, the two rivals entered into a treaty (1536),
by which each remained in undisturbed possession of the territories
which he had conquered during the feud. Zapolsky died in 1540, without
bequeathing the kingdom to his son John-Sigismond, who inherited only
the sovereignty of Transylvania, and who died without issue in 1571.
Francis I 55
the two French ambassador?, at the court of London,
arranged with Henry VIII. the period and place at
which the meeting should be held which had already
been decided on between himself and their own sov-
ereign. Montmorenci on the one side, and the Duke
of Norfolk on the other, were entrusted with the ar-
rangement of the ceremonial ; and when all was duly
prepared, Henry proceeded to Calais, while Francis
took up his temporary residence at Boulogne. On
the 2oth of October the two Kings met on the boun-
dary of their respective territories, where the French
monarch presented the Dauphin and the Due d'Or-
leans to his royal ally. Henry was attended by the
Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, the Earl of Richmond,
and a splendid suite of nobles and gentlemen ; while
the Due de Vendome, and the Comtes de Saint-Pol
and de Guise, with all the first nobility of France, were
in the train of Francis.
So soon as the first greetings were over, the French
King conducted his royal guest to Boulogne, where
he was received with a salute of artillery ; and thence
the courtly party proceeded to the abbey, an immense
and majestic pile, having two wings connected by a
stately hall which served as the refectory of the monks,
but which was on this occasion hung with costly
draperies of tapestry, and roofed with scarlet silk.
One of the wings of the building was appropriated to
the English monarch, while the other was occupied
by Francis himself. The two Kings dined apart ; after
which they retired to a private cabinet, where they
remained closeted together for a considerable time.
On the morrow the magnificent hall was prepared for
56 Reign oi
the banquet, with a profuse display of gold vessels,
richly inlaid with jewels; and throughout the enter-
tainment both the sovereigns were served by their
respective officers on their knees. At the termination
of the repast they attended mass in great state ; after
which Francis presented to his royal guest six superb
horses ; and the English King transferred to the young
Princes the three hundred thousand crowns which
were due to him by their father. The Dukes of Nor-
folk and Suffolk then received from the hands of their
distinguished host the Collar of St. Michael ; a courtesy
which Henry returned by conferring upon the Mare-
chal de Montmorenci, and Philippe de Brion-Chabot,
Grand Admiral of Boulogne, the Order of the Garter.
At the end of several days, divided between busi-
ness and festivity, the two courts removed to Calais,
where Francis became, in his turn, the guest of his
brother monarch, and where the same profuse mag-
nificence was exhibited ; and, finally, a treaty was con-
cluded, and immediately rendered public, by which
they bound themselves to supply an army of eighty
thousand men, wherewith to resist the invasion of
Christendom by the Turks. The result of their pri-
vate conferences was, however, more intimately con-
nected with their own interests. Henry, irritated at
the attitude assumed by Clement VII., frankly de-
clared his indignation, affirming that his marriage was
invalid, as he had the authority of the Gospel for what
he had decided, and that the Pope had no legitimate
claim to the supremacy which he assumed. Well
aware, also, of the besetting weakness of his listener,
he conjured him never again to condescend to the
Francis I 57
humiliation of kissing the toe of a Bishop of Rome ;
and represented how much the dignity of a crowned
King suffered from so great a concession. He, more-
over, complained bitterly of the pride of Clement VII.,
who had endeavoured to compel him either to proceed
to Rome in person to solicit a Papal dispensation for
the divorce he sought, or to despatch thither an ac-
credited plenipotentiary, authorized to act in his name ;
and, finally, he proposed that a general council should
be immediately convened, to which the Pontiff should
be summoned by ambassadors from England and
France, and called upon to redress the grievances of
which the Princes of Christendom had now such
serious reasons to complain.
Francis, however, was careful not to commit him-
self. He had been apprised by the Cardinal de Gram-
mont that the Pope was desirous to secure an inter-
view with him either at Nice or Avignon, immediately
the Emperor should have returned to Spain; while
the Cardinal, moreover, urgently entreated that he
would not take any definitive step until he should have
informed himself of the dispositions of the Pontiff.
Nevertheless, he admitted, in reply to the representa-
tions of Henry, that he also had great cause of com-
plaint against Clement VII., and expatiated largely
upon the interference of the Pontiff with the internal
economy of the French Church ; his failure in fulfilling
his pledges; and the exorbitant outlay to which his
government was compelled by the fees which he was
required to give to all the ushers, chamberlains, and
prothonotaries of Rome, whenever he found it neces-
sary to ask any favour at the hands of the Pope. After
58 Reign of
which, reverting to his more personal injuries, he ex-
pressed his indignation that Clement should so readily
have credited the report that he was secretly allied
with the Turks, while he had, on the contrary, spared
no pains to justify His Holiness on every occasion
where blame had been attached to him by other
Princes; and, finally, he expatiated in no measured
terms upon the menaces, the intrigues, and the secret
cabals by which the court of Rome had endeavoured
to detach from his interest the most faithful of his
allies.
Charles V., who had been apprised of the reception
given to the Hungarian envoys, as well as of the reply
which Francis had addressed to the Protestant Princes,
became, in his turn, suspicious that a conspiracy was
forming against himself ; a suspicion which the present
meeting between the two Kings, his declared enemies,
tended to strengthen ; and as it had become known
that Solyman II. was about to attempt an invasion of
Germany, he resolved to satisfy himself of the truth,
by testing, without further delay, the sincerity of the
French monarch. With this view he consequently
summoned Francis to furnish an army against the
Turks ; a demonstration to which he was solemnly
bound by the treaty of Madrid, which he had repeat-
edly declared his readiness to make, and to which he
had, moreover, just newly pledged himself in the
treaty effected with the King of England ; but in reply
to the imperial requisition, the French sovereign, after
numerous assertions of his zeal for religion, and his
eagerness to assist in so noble and pious an enterprise,
contented himself by offering to march a force of fifty
Francis I 59
thousand men to Italy for the protection of that coun-
try, while the Emperor secured the safety of Germany ;
the Hungarian frontier being, as he affirmed, too dis-
tant from France to render it expedient for him to
despatch a body of troops to that point.
His proposal was, as he had foreseen that it would
be, instantly and definitively declined; and the Em-
peror, convinced of the utter futility of anticipating any
available assistance from France, immediately took the
field in person, and succeeded in compelling the retreat
of Solyman without even a hostile meeting.
There can be little doubt that the engagement made
by Henry and Francis to join the crusade against the
Infidels, was merely intended to avert the odium which
their supineness was calculated to draw down upon
them, and to delude the other Christian Princes into a
belief that they were ready to sacrifice more intimate
interests to the defence of their religion ; for it is cer-
tain that they never evinced the slightest intention of
fulfilling their voluntary compact.
Never, perhaps, was the bad faith of Francis more
conspicuous than throughout the whole period of his
conferences with the English King ; for, even while he
promised his support to the Reformists, and induced
Henry VIII. to follow his example, he had already
entered into a correspondence with the Pope, request-
ing that they might meet in order to confer on the
affairs of Christendom ; and offering the hand of
Henry, Due d'Orleans, his second son, to. Catherine
de' Medici, the daughter of Lorenzo II., Due d'Urbino,
the niece of the Pontiff.
Startled by the prospect of an alliance so infinitely
60 Reign of
above his hopes, Clement hesitated how to reply, for
he doubted its sincerity, and suspected some covert
treachery; and while under the influence of this dis-
trust, he communicated the proposal of Francis to
the Emperor, who, equally convinced that it was in-
tended only as a lure, advised him to follow up the
negotiation, and thus entangle the French King in his
own toils. But Charles was unaware of the policy
which had dictated the offer. Francis still coveted the
possession of Italy; and regarding the Pope as the
pivot of Italian politics, he looked upon his friendship
and alliance as the corner-stone of success. To secure
these he consequently considered no sacrifice too
great ; and hence the proposal which had been received
with so much suspicion both by the Pontiff and the
Emperor. As, however, even while pursuing the
negotiation, Clement VII. had evinced no anxiety to
bring it to a conclusion, Francis resolved to maintain
his friendly intelligence with the English King; and
to secure his assistance in extorting from the fears of
the Pope what he could not obtain from his favour.
An opportunity soon presented itself of effecting
this stroke of policy ; for the two monarchs were still
at Calais when intelligence reached them, thai Charles
V., having terminated his campaign against the Infi-
dels, was about to leave Germany, and to repair to
Spain through Italy, where he was to be met at Bo-
logna by the Pope. Alarmed at the consequences of
such a meeting at that particular juncture, it was
immediately proposed by Francis, and agreed by
Henry, that the Cardinals of Tournon and Grammont
should be despatched to accompany the Sovereign
Pontiff, an attendance which he could not refuse from
Francis I 61
two Princes of the Church; and that they should be
authorised to inform him that the Kings of England
and France were prepared to demand a general coun-
cil, in default of which they would convene distinct
assemblies within their own kingdoms ; when, in the
event of this measure being forced upon them, they
should prohibit their subjects from forwarding money
to Rome. That, moreover, should the Pontiff persist
in pursuing with his censure the Most Christian King
and his realm, and his Majesty find it expedient to
repair to Rome in order to obtain his absolution, he
would do so with such a train of followers that His
Holiness would easily be induced to satisfy his de-
mand ; and they were also instructed to remind him
of the religious anarchy which existed not only in
Germany and the Helvetic states, but throughout the
the whole of Christian Europe, and to bid him reflect
upon the diminished influence of the Romish Church ;
as well as upon the fact, that, should two of the most
powerful sovereigns of Christendom forsake his in-
terests because they had been denied the justice which
they demanded, they would infallibly find so many
other Princes ready to make common cause with them,
that the result must be fatal to his authority.
After this combined declaration the two Kings took
leave of each other on the 3Oth of October, on the
same spot where they had met, and with every demon-
stration of cordiality and affection ; M. de Montpezat,
the fortunate adventurer, who, after the battle of
Pavia, had officiated as valet-de-chambre to Francis
in his captivity, and who had been appointed one of
his chamberlains, accompanying Henry VIII. to Eng-
land as the ambassador of his sovereign.
CHAPTER IV.
The Pope Desires to Conciliate the French King His Per-
sonal Ambition A Meeting is Arranged between the Pope
and Francis Francis Makes Overtures to the Duke of Milan
Untoward Affair at Milan Maraviglia His Arrogance
Awakens the Suspicions of Charles V. Treason of Sforza
A Lacquey of Maraviglia Challenges the Milanese Count
Castiglione Murder of Maraviglia Indignation of the
French King Duplicity of Sforza The Duke's Envoy is
Dismissed with Ignominy Charles V. Bestows the Hand
of the Princess Christina on the Duke of Milan Death of
the Duke The Duke of Wirtemberg Solicits the Support
of Francis against the Emperor Du Bellay Intercedes for
the Young Duke Confirmation of the Peace of Nuremberg
The Pope Proceeds to Marseilles to Meet the French King
He is Received with Great Pomp Homage is Rendered
by Francis to the Pontiff The Latin Oration Henry VIII.
Despatches Bishop Bonner to the Pope Charles V. En-
deavours to Prevent the Marriage of Catherine de' Medici
The Marriage is Solemnized by the Pope The Boy-Cardi-
nal The Pope Returns to Italy.
THE two French Cardinals did not reach Bologna,
whither the Pope and the Emperor had already
preceded them, until the 4th of January, 1533; and
they soon became aware that all the menaces with
which they were charged might be left unuttered, as
the Pontiff was avowedly anxious to secure the friend-
ship of their royal master, even declaring that he
62
Francis I 63
should scarcely consider any sacrifice too great by
which he might regain it. And there can be no doubt
that he was sincere when he made this assertion ; for,
infirm as he might be in purpose, and timid in the
maintenance of his privileges and power, when he was
required to support his pretensions by force, he was
by no means deficient in the more subtle science of
diplomacy ; and readily comprehended that, should
Francis, in reality, hold himself bound to fulfil the
contract into which he had entered, he could anticipate
no equivalent advantage at the hands of the Em-
peror.
Clement VII., like his kinsman and predecessor in
the Papal dignity, Leo X., was devoted to the interests
of his family, and his ruling passion was the aggran-
dizement of the house of Medici. He had seen, with
an anguish which he could not always conceal, the
apparently rapid extinction of his line ; for in that light
he regarded only the elder branch, who were the direct
descendants of Cosmo; and of whom none remained
save Catherine, the Duchesse d'Urbino, whose father
was the great-grandson of Cosmo ; and who, although
she bore the title of his niece, was in point of fact the
grand-daughter of his own cousin-germain. The re-
mainder, consisting of himself and his brothers, were
illegitimate, and of these the Pope was the eldest;
Alessandro, upon whom he had conferred the duchy
of Florence, the second ; and Hyppolito, whom he had
created a Cardinal, the third. It will, therefore, readily
be believed that Clement reflected with exultation
upon the alliance of his niece with a Prince of the
blood royal of France ; and the two .Cardinals were
64 Reign of
earnest in their assurances of the good faith of their
sovereign. It is true that Charles V. had previously
promised to Alessandro the hand of his daughter Mar-
guerite, but the same stain was affixed to her birth
which rested upon his own ; whereas, the Due d'Or-
leans was the legitimate descendant of a line of
princes.
The more, therefore, the Pontiff reflected upon the
proposal of Francis, and the more closely and care-
fully he compared the advantages which he should
secure from his adhesion to either sovereign, the more
he became convinced that the period for hesitation
was at an end ; and having arrived at this conclusion,
the French Cardinals had no sooner requested his de-
cision with regard to the meeting proposed by their
monarch, than he declared his readiness, notwithstand-
ing his advanced age and failing strength, to undertake
a journey to Savoy for the purpose of a personal con-
ference. To this place of meeting, Francis, however,
instantly objected, as, since the death of his mother,
he had ceased to maintain any friendly intercourse
with her family, who had been enriched and protected
by the Emperor. Clement then proposed Nice ; but
from the same motive the French King equally re-
fused to enter that city, unless he were permitted to
garrison both the town and the citadel with his own
troops. From this concession the Due de Savoie was
dissuaded by Charles V., who was anxious to prevent
the meeting; and ultimately the Pope, who dreaded
the failure of his brilliant hopes, declared his willing-
ness even to proceed to France, and selected Marseilles
as the place of rendezvous.
Francis I 65
Two events had, however, occurred at Milan and
Wirtemberg, which were calculated to retard the good
understanding between the Sovereign Pontiff and the
French King, which each were so anxious to estab-
lish. Francis, in utter disregard of the treaty of Cam-
bray, had never ceased his intrigues, either in Italy or
in Germany. He could not forego his desire to secure
once more the possession of Milan ; and even while in
treaty with the Pope to accomplish the invasion of the
duchy, he had endeavoured to renew his alliance with
the Duke himself.
Lorenzo Sforza, who had suffered severely from the
enmity of the Spaniards during the war, had for some
time past found himself a mere puppet in their hands.
He possessed nothing of sovereignty save the name.
He was a mere vassal to the Emperor, by whose
exorbitant demands he was impoverished ; and more-
over subjected to the surveillance of Antonio da Leyva,
between whom and himself there existed an enmity of
long standing, and who took a savage delight in ex-
posing him to the most constant and bitter humilia-
tions.
Under these circumstances, it will be readily under-
stood that Sforza did not reject the overtures of the
French King ; for he was too well aware of his inabil-
ity to protect himself against the exactions of the
Emperor, to lose so favourable an opportunity of se-
curing the alliance of a powerful monarch ; and it was
consequently without any hesitation that he consented
to permit the return of a Milanese emigrant, who, dur-
ing the reign of Louis XII. had followed the Grand
Equerry Galeaz San Severino, to France, where he
VOL. III.-5
$ ufa no.
66 Reign of
had accumulated a large fortune; and even allowed
him to act as the secret agent of Francis at his court.
His immense wealth enabled Maraviglia, the indi-
vidual in question, to entertain the nobles of Milan
with a profuse liberality, by which he soon attained
great popularity ; and although many of the courtiers
and foreigners who were then sojourning in the duchy,
were not without suspicion that his favour with Sforza
was not altogether unconnected with interests beyond
a mere personal regard, the precautions which had
been adopted on both sides proved so efficient as to
baffle, for a time, the curiosity of those who sought to
elucidate the mystery.
Maraviglia had, on his departure from France, been
furnished with letters of credence, which were to be
kept secret unless circumstances should imperatively
demand their recognition on the part of the French
King ; while a second document, which merely recom-
mended him to Sforza as a person worthy of his favour
and protection, was also delivered to him, which he
was instructed to present to the Duke, in the presence
of his court.
Francis was, however, equally unfortunate in his
selection of an agent and an ally; for the vanity of
Maraviglia was so inflated by the fact of his having
become the accredited envoy of a crowned head, that
it was not long ere he assumed an authority and im-
portance wholly incompatible with his station as a
mere Milanese citizen ; and, adopting a custom which
had been introduced into Italy by the Spaniards, sur-
rounded himself by a set of attendants who recognised
no law beyond his pleasure, and were ever ready to
Francis I 67
seek and even to provoke quarrels, in which they af-
fected to uphold the honour of their master, with which
Maraviglia soon taught himself to believe that that of
the French nation was involved.
The arrogance of the parvenu gentleman ere long
aroused the ever watchful distrust of the Emperor,
who complained to Sforza of the insults to which his
subjects were exposed by the countenance he had seen
fit to afford to an individual who could advance no
claim to such a distinction, unless he were aware that
he was supported by a higher power ; while it was
equally evident that should such a power exist, it could
only be derived from the King of France; in which
case he, the Emperor, as the suzerain of the Duke of
Milan, demanded the immediate dismissal of Mara-
viglia from the court ; adding, that should Sforza hesi-
tate to comply with his commands, the projected mar-
riage between himself and the Princess of Denmark
was thenceforward at an end.
The faithless ally, upon this threat, proved even a
more dangerous confidant than the ostentatious agent ;
for he did not scruple, while forwarding to the Em-
peror the letter of recommendation which had been
given to Maraviglia, to declare that he simply recog-
nised in him a Milanese citizen to whom Francis had
requested him to show favour; and that, in acting as
he had done, he had merely sought to give a worthy
welcome to a person presented to him by one of the
most powerful monarchs of Christendom. Charles V.
was not, however, to be so deceived ; he still urged the
removal of the obnoxious and mysterious recipient of
the Duke's favour ; and, ultimately, Sforza assured him
68 Reign of
that if he would only grant him the respite of a few
days, he would convince him of the error of his sus-
picions.
Precisely at this period, one of the lacqueys of Mara-
viglia, pretending to consider that words had been
uttered by the Count Castiglione, a Milanese noble-
man, which affected the honour of his master, imme-
diately resented the affront in very unmeasured terms ;
but the Count, probably considering the menial as too
low in rank to permit him to reply to his intemperate
address, silently shrugged his shoulders and passed on ;
when a second attendant of Maraviglia, either more
courageous or more insolent than his comrade, fol-
lowed up the defiance by pursuing the retiring noble,
and declaring that he could not suffer such assertions
to be made against the master whose livery he wore,
and whom all the Milanese, whatever might be their
station, were bound to respect. Castiglione, who felt
that his dignity would be involved by a brawl with the
lacquey of an adventurer, bade him put up his sword,
which he had already unsheathed, asserting that it was
not for him to measure weapons with a hired depend-
ent ; and, with a haughtiness and self-possession which
only tended to aggravate the passion of his self-consti-
tuted opponent, referred him to a couple of his own
followers, to whom he delegated the task of arranging
the quarrel.
This richly merited but unpalatable check by no
means tended to diminish the rage of the bully by
whom he had been defied; while, on the other hand,
the individuals of the Count's suite were justly indig-
nant at the disrespect evinced towards their lord ; and
Francis I 69
accordingly, the two whom, as he proceeded on his
way, he left behind him to discuss the merits of the
affair, at once flung themselves upon the offender, and
would have sacrificed him on the spot had they not
been prevented by the bystanders.
When the circumstances of this outbreak were com-
municated to the Duke, he insisted that no further
notice should be taken of an affair which had evidently
originated in a mistake, and which could profit neither
party ; a decision in which Maraviglia instantly ac-
quiesced, declaring that he was unconscious of having
a single enemy in Milan, where he had sought to con-
ciliate all with whom he came into contact. But it
would appear that Castiglione had received other and
more secret instructions ; for it is certain that he after-
wards adopted a habit of constantly passing and re-
passing in front of the residence of Maraviglia, attended
by a dozen armed attendants, and even attacked some
of his people on one occasion without provocation of
any sort. The unfortunate agent, becoming alarmed
for his personal safety, at once appealed to the magis-
trature for protection, but the interference of the civic
authorities produced no satisfactory result. Castig-
lione persisted in his system of annoyance and aggres-
sion ; and ultimately lost his life in an attack which he
made upon the retainers of Maraviglia, who no sooner
saw him fall than they totally routed his followers.
This murder, committed in open daylight, and in a city
where such enormities were unknown, excited uni-
versal indignation. Maraviglia was arrested on the
following morning, as well as the whole of his house-
hold ; he was tried without delay, and three days after-
wards he was decapitated.
70 Reign of
The indignation of Francis was unbounded when he
was made acquainted with the fate of his equerry and
agent; and he forthwith wrote to the Pope, the Em-
peror, and the Duke of Milan, complaining that he had
suffered a crying indignity in the person of his am-
bassador, the sacred character of whose mission, hith-
erto respected throughout Europe, had been grossly
violated. He also addressed letters of a similar tenor
to Ferdinand, King of the Romans, to Henry VIIL,
and to the Helvetic States, as well as to all the petty
European Princes, representing the mischievous effect
of such a precedent, should it be suffered to remain
unchastised, and calling upon them to avenge the in-
sult offered to his kingly station and authority.
Sforza, in reply to this expostulation, at once de-
spatched Francesco Taverna, his Chancellor, to
France, to offer his apologies for what had occurred ;
and even carried his audacity so far as to instruct his
envoy to declare to the King that he had never re-
garded Maraviglia in any other light than that of a
simple citizen, and that, consequently, he was totally
unprepared to expect that his Majesty could feel so
great an interest in his fate. He also authorized him
to state that he was unaware of his holding official
employment, which rendered his person sacred, hav-
ing always been led to believe that Maraviglia had been
induced to return to Milan, simply by a desire to ex-
pend the money which he had amassed abroad among
his own countrymen, although he was cognisant of
the fact that his Majesty had honoured him with the
arrangement of some private business totally uncon-
nected with considerations of policy ; but that, had he
Francis I 7 1
entertained the most remote idea that the unfortunate
gentleman had been officially employed by so great a
Prince, to whom he himself owed so deep a debt of
gratitude and respect, he would have watched over
his days with a solicitude which must have averted a
catastrophe that he should now never cease to deplore ;
while, recognising only in the accused gentleman a
subject of his own, he had deemed it his duty to avenge
upon him the blood of Count Castiglione, who was
one of the officers of his household.
Francis indignantly refused to receive so hypocriti-
cal an explanation ; and in the presence of the members
of the privy council, at which Taverna had delivered
the exculpatory message of the Duke, he sternly as-
serted that he was able to produce letters which would
suffice to show that the Duke had individually recog-
nised the official character of the man whom he had,
in defiance of the law of nations, subjected to an igno-
minious death. This declaration, for which he was
wholly unprepared, startled the Milanese Chancellor;
and when the King proceeded to inquire how it was,
if the Duke his master had indeed recognised in Mara-
viglia only a simple subject, that he had been led to
violate in his case the usual forms of law ; and, instead
of affording him time and opportunity to refute the
accusations brought against him, or, in default of his
being able to do this, of causing him publicly to suffer
death under the eyes of the assembled citizens of Milan,
he had deprived him of all intercourse with the friends
by whom he might have been justified, extorted false
accusations from his servants under the influence of
torture, and finally executed him during the night
72 Reign of
within the precincts of his prison ; the embarrassed
envoy, although esteemed one of the most able advo-
cates of his day, replied falteringly, that the arrange-
ment had originated in the deep respect entertained
by the Duke towards his Majesty, whom he was un-
willing to expose to the indignity which the public
execution of one of his recognised agents would have
appeared to sanction.
" Enough," said Francis, with a stern gesture :
" Your reply is a sufficient admission that the official
character of my murdered ambassador was fully recog-
nised by the Duke of Milan. And now, Sir, bear to
your master the plain assurance that if he do not afford
to me the satisfaction which I shall not be slow in
demanding, I shall know how to render justice to my-
self."
As the reward of his unmanly and treacherous con-
descension, the Emperor rulfilled his promise to
Sforza; and notwithstanding the weak state of his
health, and the premature decrepitude which compelled
him to lean upon a staff throughout the whole dura-
tion of the nuptial ceremony, he bestowed on him, in
April, 1534, the hand of his niece Christina.* From
the period of his marriage, however, Sforza rapidly
declined until he became totally infirm, and on the
24th of October in the following year he died. As he
was the last representative of the Sforza family, Don
Antonio da Leyva took possession of the duchy in the
name of the Emperor, and the young widow returned
to Spain.
* The Princess Christina was the daughter of the Archduchess Eliza-
beth of Austria, and of Christiern II., King of Denmark.
Francis I 73
Meanwhile Ferdinand, King of the Romans, to
whom his brother Charles V. had entrusted the gov-
ernment of Germany during his own sojourn in Italy
and Spain, had renewed a long-enduring quarrel with
the young Christophe, Duke of Wirtemberg ; and this
Prince applied to Francis for his support against the
aggressions of the Emperor ; representing that for more
than seventeen years the Duke Ulric, his father, had
been dispossessed of his inheritance, and reminding
him that by his marriage with the Dowager-Queen of
Portugal, the sister of the Emperor and the King of
the Romans, who had taken possession of his duchy,
he had the honour to be allied to his Majesty through
the Princess Sabine, his mother, who was the niece of
Maximilian.
Francis at first refused to interfere in a misunder-
standing which he declared to be more personal than
political; but Martin du Bellay, who felt a lively in-
terest in the young and princely applicant, suffering
as he was from a spoliation entailed upon him by an
ancient feud, with which he had been totally uncon-
nected, conceived an expedient by which he was en-
abled to assist him without compromising his sov-
ereign ; and accordingly agreed to lend him a hundred
thousand crowns on the security of the county of
Montbelliard, ostensibly as its purchaser, but in reality
to enable him to pay his troops, and to raise new levies.
With this assistance, and the aid of the Protestant
Princes, whose faith he had openly embraced, the Duke
was enabled to possess himself of Lauffen ; and ulti-
mately, with little delay, to make himself master of the
duchy of Wirtemberg, where one of his first acts of
sovereignty was to establish the reformed religion.
74 Reign of
Nevertheless, the war in Germany, which had been
considered as an inevitable result of these events, was
still delayed. Ferdinand, instead of resenting a de-
feat which he must have keenly felt, availed himself of
the opportunity to enter into a fresh treaty with the
league of Smalkalden ; and on the 29th of June, 1534,
the peace of Nuremberg was confirmed.
This arrangement was not, however, yet concluded
when the Pope commenced his journey to Marseilles;
and had not his personal ambition been involved in the
interview to which he had so readily acceded, the two
events here detailed were calculated to render it of a
less pacific character than he had originally anticipated.
But Clement VII. was already an old man, and still
more aged by infirmity than by years. His ambition
had out-lasted his susceptibility, and in the advance-
ment of his family he forgot all more politic considera-
tions. He was aware of the support which had been
afforded to the Protestants of Germany by the mon-
arch with whom he was about to treat ; he had been
apprised that he had already threatened to invade Lom-
bardy in order to avenge the death of Maraviglia ; nor
was he ignorant of the close alliance which Francis had
formed with Henry VIII., and which threatened the
annihilation of the Papal supremacy; but he cast off
these memories to reflect only upon the brilliant alli-
ance which had been offered to his niece. The evil
effects likely to result from the political measures of the
French King failed to turn him from his purpose, they
regarded rather his successors than himself; whereas
the marriage of Catherine was a personal triumph with-
in his very grasp, and almost independent of the future.
Francis I 75
Under the influence of this all-absorbing passion
Clement VII. accordingly persisted in his purpose,
and embarked at Pisa for Marseilles on the 4th of
October, accompanied by a fleet of French galleys
under the command of the Due d'Aubigny. The Duke
himself had, however, preceded him by several days,
and had already landed with Catherine de' Medici,
whom papal etiquette did not permit to travel with
her uncle. This delicate and honourable mission had
consequently been entrusted to the Due d'Aubigny,
not only as a proof of the personal regard and confi-
dence of the King, but also because that noble had
married her maternal aunt, and had thus become her
relative.
The arrival of the Pontiff in the port was announced
by the discharge of three hundred cannon from the
batteries, and the salute was returned by the guns of
the vessels. The Marechal de Montmorenci received
him on his landing, and conducted him in a costly litter,
surrounded by pages and men-at-arms, to the splendid
residence which had been prepared for him in one of
the faubourgs ; and on the following morning he made
his public entry into the city with great pomp and
ceremony. At the gate he was met by all the ecclesi-
astics of the diocese headed by their prelate; by the
Abbot of St. Victor and his community ; by the judicial
authorities ; by the great nobles who had been assem-
bled to welcome him ; and he was immediately followed
by the King himself, who had arrived at Marseilles only
a few hours previously, by the Queen, and by all the
principal members of the court. The houses in the
streets traversed by the two potentates were hung with
76 Reign of
tapestry and silks of gorgeous colours, and the pave-
ment was thickly strewn with rich autumnal flowers
and branches of odoriferous shrubs.
Delighted to co-operate with her royal husband in
every measure likely to ensure the peace of Europe,
and equally so at the prospect of welcoming to her
affection a new friend and daughter, the reception given
by Eleonora to the beautiful girl, who, on descending
from her litter at the approach of the royal party,
knelt to make her obeisance to her future stepmother,
was full of dignified and unaffected kindness ; and she
had no sooner, on withdrawing her hand from the lips
of Catherine, impressed a kiss upon her brow, than she
compelled her to enter her own litter, and thus side by
side they proceeded to the residence which had been
prepared for the reception of the Queen, and where a
suite of apartments had been reserved for the young
Duchess and her attendants.
The Pope and the King occupied two houses di-
rectly opposite to each other, and of the same dimen-
sions, which were connected by a temporary gallery
flung across the street, and converted into a magnifi-
cent saloon hung with tapestry and cloth of gold, which
afforded them private access to each other at all hours.
Nor was the triumph of Clement VII. merely a pub-
lic one; for Francis had no sooner introduced him
into the splendid hall in which their conferences were
to be held, than, notwithstanding the pledge which he
had given to Henry VIII., that, like himself, he would
never again recognize in the person of the Pope any
higher dignity than that of Bishop of Rome, he humbly
bent the knee before him, and kissed in succession his
Francis I 77
foot, his hand, and his cheek ; after which he presented
to him his eldest son, who in like manner knelt and
saluted him. The Dauphin was replaced in his turn
by the two younger Princes, who kissed his feet and his
hands ; and they were followed by the great dignitaries
of the court, who kissed his feet only.
At the conclusion of the ceremony the Bishop of
Paris declared, in the name of his sovereign, " that the
very Christian King, as the elder son of the Church,
recognised His Holiness in all humility and devotion
as the Pontiff and true Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ ;
revering him as the successor of St. Peter, and offering
him obedience and fidelity ; pledging himself with all
his power to uphold the safety of His Holiness and of
the holy Apostolical See, as all his predecessors had
done before him."
It had been originally intended that this address
should be delivered by the President Poyer, afterwards
Chancellor of France; but this dignitary, although
recognised as the most eloquent speaker of his time,
was comparatively ignorant of the Latin language,
and could not undertake the duty until by close study
he had rendered himself able to repeat the discourse
which had been prepared for him. As it was, how-
ever, necessary to ascertain the feeling of the Pontiff
with regard to the subjects which were to be mooted
in this public address, the master of the court cere-
monies waited upon him for instructions, when all the
preparatory labour of the unhappy President was ren-
dered useless by the declaration of Clement that he was
anxious to avoid, on such an occasion, every allusion
either to the Emperor or any other Christian Prince
78 Reign of
which might be construed into an affront ; and that he
should prefer not being called upon to listen to any
save a purely theological oration.
In this dilemma Jean du Bellay, Bishop of Paris,
was nominated to replace him ; which he did upon the
instant with an eloquence and ability worthy of his
reputation.
A splendid banquet was then served ; after which the
Pope and the King retired to confer together on the
various subjects of importance which they were met
to discuss ; and during their interview Francis warmly
urged the Pontiff to recognise and sanction the divorce
of Henry VIII. ; assuring him that the English mon-
arch was actuated only by motives of conscience in
seeking to repudiate a Princess whose conduct alike as
a wife and a mother had been irreproachable. Clement,
however, refused to lend himself to what he stigmatized
as an act of tyranny and injustice ; for, satisfied as he
was that he had secured the friendship of Francis, he
was still unwilling to incur the enmity of the Emperor ;
while the royal intercessor, on his side, considered it
equally inexpedient to inform his guest that he had
pledged himself to the English monarch not to consent
to the marriage of his son with Catherine de' Medici un-
til he had wrested from the Pope a consent to his own
divorce. From this difficulty Francis was, however,
extricated in an unexpected manner, for in an audience
granted by the Pontiff to Bishop Bonner, who had
been despatched to France by Henry VIII. for that
purpose, the prelate boldly announced that his sov-
ereign had appealed from the decision of His Holiness
to that of the general council ; upon which the French
Francis I 79
King, rejoiced to be emancipated from the perform-
ane of his promise, and to find himself relieved from a
responsibility by which his personal views were frus-
trated, immediately declared that he could not sanction
the affront which had been offered to the head of the
Church by such a determination ; and that, although
he should ever regard the English monarch as a
brother, he could not uphold him, or any other Prince,
in a matter which involved the interests of the religion
that he professed.
Thus unexpectedly liberated from his engagement,
Francis found himself free to negotiate the prelimi-
naries of the marriage of his son Henry, Due d'Orleans
with Catherine de' Medici, which, for the misfortune
of France, was finally arranged at this period; the
Prince not having yet attained his fifteenth year, and
the niece of the Pope being his junior by eighteen
months. The apparent dowry of the bride was by no
means a splendid one to bring to a royal house ; for it
consisted only of a hundred thousand crowns, and the
French estates which she inherited from her mother,
Madelaine de la Tour d'Auvergne, which were of about
equal value. This fact furnished abundant amusement
to the French courtiers; who, little foreseeing the
frightful effects which were to result from this ill-
omened alliance, dwelt only upon the paucity of her
portion, and the extraordinary infatuation of the King,
who might have commanded for his son the hand of
a Princess with a duchy for her dowry. Some among
them even went so far as to express to sundry of the
Papal officers their astonishment that the niece of a
sovereign Pontiff should possess no greater fortune
vv}3>^ .' .V
(Ontario.
8o Reign of
than the heiress of a French finance minister; but they
were speedily and agreeably silenced by Philippo
Strozzi, the ambassador of Clement, who, in reply to
a remark of this nature said with a quiet smile, " You
appear to forget, gentlemen, that she also adds to the
crown of France three jewels of inestimable value;
Genoa, Milan, and Naples."
The Emperor subsequently heard and registered this
incautious and ill-judged rejoinder; but even before
he was apprised of its having been made, he had be-
come alarmed, and wrote to the Pontiff entreating him
not to consent to a marriage so inimical to the interests
of Italy ; or, in the event of his persisting in the alliance,
urging him to oblige the King to give a pledge not to-
make any fresh attempts upon that country ; to confirm
the treaties of Madrid and Cambray; and to consent
to the convocation of the council. Furthermore, he
exhorted him to interfere in the matter of the English
divorce, representing the extent of the injury which
was meditated against his own aunt ; but Clement, in
reply, declined to commit himself by making such a
promise, declaring that the French King had done
him so much honour by offering the hand of his second
son to a member of his own house, that he was not in
a position to impose conditions upon him; although
he was ready to exert all his influence to secure the
peace of Italy.
With this answer the Emperor was compelled to rest
satisfied; although he would doubtlessly have used
more strenuous arguments, had he been aware that
when the Due d'Aubigny had been commissioned to
negotiate the marriage, the exultation of the Pope was
Francis I 81
so great, that in addition to the dowry in specie to
which allusion has already been made, he agreed to
include in the marriage portion of his niece the prov-
inces of Reggio, Modena, Rubeira, Pisa, Livorna,
Parma, and Placenza ; to unite his own army with that
of Francis to regain for her the duchy of Urbino,
which had been wrested from the Medici after the
death of Leo X. ; to assist him in the recovery of the
Milanese; and, finally, to unite all these important
territories upon the heads of the Due d'Orleans and
his bride. Of this private arrangement Charles was,
however, totally ignorant ; and feeling that the French
King must have had some powerful motive for propos-
ing so disproportionate an alliance, he did not hesitate
to attribute the concession to a projected invasion of
the Milanese.
Presents of great value having been exchanged, and
the necessary preparations completed, the marriage
was eventually solemnized by the Pope himself, on the
29th of October, with a splendour which formed a
strong contrast to the hurried and undignified cere-
mony that had so recently made the gentle Eleonora,
Queen of France. The extreme personal beauty of
the young couple, aged respectively fifteen and thir-
teen years, the magnificence of their apparel, the
sumptuousness of the monarch, his Queen, and the
united courts, the ecclesiastical pomp, the flashing of
jewels under the glare of innumerable tapers, and the
presence of the Supreme Pontiff himself, all tended to
render this, destined to be a fatal day to France, one
of the greatest brilliancy and gorgeousness.
On the return of the illustrious bridal party to the
VOL. III.-- 6
82 Francis I
temporary palace of the King, whither they were fol-
lowed by the acclamations of the populace, who ener-
getically shouted Noel for their young Prince and his
fair bride whom they little suspected w r as one day
fated to become the curse of the nation over which
she was called to rule a presentation was held in the
hall of tapestry, at which the King invested four of the
Papal dignitaries with the Order of St. Michael ; while
Clement, at his express request, created four new
French Cardinals, among whom was Odet de Chatil-
lon, the nephew of Anne de Montmorenci, who had
only just attained his thirteenth year; and who, not-
withstanding this extraordinary elevation, subsequently
embraced the reformed religion.
The marriage festivities were prolonged until the
I2th of November; when the Pope and his suite, hav-
ing taken leave of the French court, departed from
Marseilles for Civita Vecchia, on board the same vessels
by which they had been conveyed thither; but on his
arrival in that port, Clement dismissed the Due d'Au-
bigny and his fleet with a profusion of both gifts and
protestations, and on the 6th of December embarked
in the galleys of Andrea Doria, who was still in the
service of the Emperor ; a stroke of policy by which he
hoped to disarm the jealousy of Charles.
The departure of the Pontiff from the city was fol-
lowed by that of the King and Queen ; and in the
course of a few days the whole of the royal train were
on their way to Amboise, and Marseilles was once
more shorn of its temporary splendour.
CHAPTER V.
The Female Court of Francis I. The Queen of Navarre-
Madame de Chateaubriand Queen Eleonora TheDuchesse
d'Etampes Fleeting Favouritism Catherine de' Medici
The King's Household Lax Morality of the Royal Circle
The Rival Roues Resignation of Queen Eleonora Mont-
morenci Conceives a Passion for the Queen He Declares it,
and is Haughtily Repulsed An Eccentric Compact Mirth
of the Courtiers Marriage of Henry VIII. and Anna
Boleyn He is Excommunicated by the Pope Death of
Katherine of Aragon Henry VIII. Persecutes the Roman-
ists Death of Clement VII. Accession of Paul III. Fran-
cis Re-organizes His Army Charles V. Takes Tunis
Francis is Accused of Maintaining an Intelligence with Soly-
man Barbarity of Francis towards the Reformists The
Silver Image Frightful Executions.
TWO years only had elapsed since Francis had been
emancipated by death from the domination of
Louise de Savoie, and already in the person of Cath-
erine de' Medici a new power had arisen, by which
he was to be equally thralled. Of all the female mem-
bers of his family, his wives alone had failed to influ-
ence either his affections or his actions. Alike gentle
and unambitious, they shrank before his coldness, and
trembled at his frown ; while women of meaner rank,
and of more than questionable virtue, braved his dis-
pleasure, and moulded him to their will. In the Queen
83
84 Reign of
of Navarre he had recognised at once a companion and
a friend ; he was conscious of her superiority of intel-
lect, and grateful for her tenderness; and had Mar-
guerite exerted the power which she really possessed
over his mind, to wean him from those habits of profli-
gacy by which his memory is disgraced, instead of
treating the most sacred duties with disregard, when
by such a concession she felt that she was ministering
to his temporary gratification, it is probable that he
would have become more estimable both as a monarch
and a man. But the daughter of Louise de Savoie had
been reared in a school little likely to render her a
moral monitress ; and the author of the Heptameron,
or " all the naughty tricks played by women on the
poor men," as she describes it in her preface, could
scarcely be expected to afford any efficient aid in the
reformation of his character. Of the Duchesse d'An-
gouleme, both as a mother and as a guide, we have
already said enough. Of the influence of Madame de
Chateaubriand, during her period of favour, many
baneful effects remained ; although, when the oppor-
tunities of evil which she had once possessed are taken
into consideration, even her career may be deemed
comparatively harmless; but at the period of Cath-
erine's advent to France, the full-blown vices of
Madame d'Etampes were the marvel and the anathema
of the nation.
The Queen, conscious that she possessed no power
sufficiently great to counteract that of the favourite,
had ceased even to strive against it ; and thus the only
pure-hearted woman who would have loved him for his
own sake, and who might eventually have restored him
Francis I 85
to a more fitting sense of the duties which he owed
alike to himself and to society, was reduced to weep
over the errors that she was unable to eradicate.
We pass over, for obvious reasons, the minor influ-
ences, each perhaps insignificant in itself, but in the
aggregate fearfully mischievous, which were exercised
by the fair and frail maids of honour ; each, or nearly
each, being in her turn the " Cynthia of the minute ; "
and more than one of whom owed her temporary
favour to the Duchesse d'Etampes herself; whose
secret intrigues and undisguised ambition absorbed
more of her time than could have been left at her dis-
posal, had she not provided the inconstant but never-
theless exacting monarch with some new object of
interest; and the tact with which she selected these
facile beauties was not one of the least of her talents.
Never, upon any occasion, did she direct the attention
of the King to a woman whose intellect might have
secured his conquest after the spell of her beauty had
ceased to thrall him ; the young and the lovely were her
victims, only where their youth and their loveliness
were their sole attractions. She was ever ready to
supply her royal lover with a new mistress, but never
with a friend, a companion, or a counsellor ; and thus,
as she had rightly foreseen, the French Sardanapalus
soon became sated by the mere prettiness of his female
satellites, and returned to his allegiance to herself,
wearied, and more her slave than ever.
Such was the state of the court in which the Duchesse
d'Orleans was called to assume her station as a Prin-
cess of the blood ; and, mere girl as she was, she at
once appreciated alike the difficulties and advantages
86 Reign of
of her position. A King whose leading passions were
dissipation and magnificence; a Queen who shrank from
publicity of all kinds, and who had neither inclination
to upbraid, nor energy to resist injustice; a Dauphin
staid and serious beyond his years; a powerful and
insolent favourite ; a licentious nobility ; a morose and
careless husband; such were the elements out of
which she had to construct a future for herself; and
Catherine de' Medici did not fail to prove herself
worthy of the name she bore.
Nature had admirably fitted her for the part which
she was about to enact. De Thou describes her as a
woman of " immense mind, and superb magnificence ; "
while Brantome expatiates with more voluptuousness
than delicacy upon her personal attractions, and her
feminine accomplishments ; to which, however, were
superadded the masculine attainments of riding, play-
ing at tennis, shooting with a cross-bow, and boar-
hunting.
No less ambitious and intriguing than Louise de
Savoie, Catherine, even from the very period of her
marriage, possessed a power of dissimulation which
enabled her to veil her vices under a mask of fascina-
tion that few were able to resist ; and thus she became
at once not only the idol of the whole court, but also
that of Francis himself ; and it soon required the most
finished art on the part even of Madame d'Etampes to
counteract her daily-increasing influence.
Although a girl in years, Catherine was already old
in heart ; and her unexpected elevation, instead of sat-
isfying, had merely served to excite the love of power
and domination which her after-career so fatally de-
fe*c~v
^/C)
Francis I 87
veloped. Haughty and imperious in spirit, she pos-
sessed sufficient command over not only her words
and actions, but even her very looks, to render the real
sentiments of her heart subservient to her ambition ;
and to conceal her most serious designs under a playful
carelessness of manner, by which those who sur-
rounded her were duped into a belief that she was
occupied only by the passing pleasure of the hour.
Thus constituted, the young Princess could not but
prove a dangerous rival, even to the astute and experi-
enced Madame d'Etampes; but this was not the only
peril to which her favour was at that moment exposed.
On the decease of Louis de Breze, Grand Senechal of
Normandy, his young and lovely widow, Diana de
Poitiers, had taken up her residence at the court, where
she was warmly welcomed by the King, who treated
her upon all occasions with a marked distinction well
calculated to arouse the apprehensions of the jealous
Duchess. The impression produced upon the heart,
or perhaps more properly speaking upon the fancy of
Francis, by the extraordinary personal attractions of
la Grande-Senechale on her first appearance before
him, had long been matter of notoriety ; and, as the
twelve years which had since elapsed had only tended
to change the lovely and graceful girl into a dignified
and dazzling woman, not a few among the courtiers
began to indulge themselves in a spirit of prophecy,
little calculated to flatter the vanity of the reigning
favourite. Meanwhile Catherine de' Medici became
ere long the fast friend of the beautiful young widow ;
and thus the position of Madame d'Etampes was ap-
parently rendered tenfold more precarious. 4 .
* - v -
88 Reign of
Such was the circle in which Francis I. passed his
leisure moments; and they, as we have shown, com-
prised no small portion of his entire existence; while
the manner in which his household was constituted
tended rather to increase than to diminish the per-
nicious effects of such an association. The principal
officers of whom the royal household had formerly
been composed, were at the same time officers of the
crown ; great nobles, representing the highest and most
ancient families in the kingdom; and who held this
dignity as an hereditary and unalienable right. They
possessed authority not only over the subordinates in
their several departments, but also over all the private
citizens who were in the employment of the court ; and
were, in short, while fulfilling their duties to the sov-
ereign, in the position of feudal barons, their service
being more honourable to the throne than agreeable
to the monarch ; the tenacity with which they insisted
upon the observance of their privileges, and the punc-
tilious parade with which they performed the cere-
monials of their several offices, rendering them more
frequently the opponents than the instruments of their
royal master's will. Francis, as it may be readily
imagined, could ill brook the partial subserviency to
which he was reduced by such a system ; and, accord-
ingly, he confined the grand officers of the crown to
the crown itself; and formed a personal household
totally distinct from these dignitaries; selecting for that
purpose such of the nobles and courtiers as he con-
sidered the most calculated to contribute to the mag-
nificence and brilliancy of his own circle.
This arrangement revolutionized the whole court;
Francis I 89
neither birth nor extent of territory any longer en-
sured to its possessor the right of attendance upon the
person of the sovereign. Wealth failed where wit tri-
umphed; the uncle of the favourite became Grand
Almoner of France ; and the minor appointments were
made upon the same principle. Younger brothers,
who, under a different reign, would have despaired of
figuring in the immediate circles of royalty, saw their
elders compelled to yield to their better fortune ; and
obscure abbes, celebrated for their gallantry, or patron-
ised by a frail beauty, found themselves on a level with
mitred bishops and lordly abbots. In a court so con-
stituted, it is not wonderful that every species of
amusement, splendour, and profligacy, soon abounded ;
the haughtiest of the nobility devoured their mortifica-
tion, and laid aside their morgue, in order to obtain an
entrance within the magic circle; while even the
church dignitaries did not disdain to follow their ex-
ample. Ambition as well as inclination led to this
result ; for it soon became apparent that court favour
was the only avenue to personal advancement, and thus
prelates of the highest rank soon taught themselves to
participate in frivolous and degrading pursuits, ill
suited alike to their sacred calling, or to the example
which they were bound to offer to the laity.
And in the midst of this vain, and eager, and volupt-
uous throng of sycophantic courtiers, who acknowl-
edged no law save the will of the monarch, and no
religion save his pleasure, were congregated the most
noble and the most beautiful women of whom France
could boast. The circle of the Queen had been formed
from that of Louise de Savoie ; the court of Marguerite
90 Reign of
de Navarre, during her frequent visits to her royal
brother, was comprised of wit, fascination, and gal-
lantry; Catherine de' Medici had been followed to
France by a train of ladies equally attractive and
equally facile ; and thus it will cease to be subject of
surprise, that ere long purity and virtue were not only
disregarded, but even made the common theme of
sarcasm and contempt.
We dare not comment upon this frightful feature of
the reign of Francis I. ; but as faithful chroniclers we
are compelled to record, that while the highest honours
of profligacy were unanimously awarded to the King
himself, the second were conceded to the Cardinal of
Loraine,* one of the first prelates of the kingdom.
Turn we rather to the one fair oasis in this desert
of corruption to the pure if not peaceful solitude of
the forsaken Queen. On one at least of the giddy
throng by whom Francis was surrounded, the meek
but dignified resignation of Eleonora had made a pro-
found impression ; and that one was the Marechal de
Montmorenci. High in the favour of the King, and
as upright as he was brave, the godson of Anne de
Bretagne could not, nevertheless, contemplate the un-
happy position of the Queen without experiencing a
deep interest in her fate, which soon grew into a warmer
feeling. He knew the pride of her Spanish spirit, and
he was, consequently, well aware of the daily and
* Charles, Cardinal de Lorraine, was the younger brother of Francois,
Due de Guise, who was shot at the siege of Orleans, in 1563, by Poltrot
de Mere, after having obtained the reputation of being the ablest sol-
dier of his time, and the appointment of Lieutenant-General of the king-
dom. Charles de Guise, Cardinal de Lorraine, more celebrated for his
dissipation than his sanctity, and accounted one of the handsomest nobles
in France, became Finance Minister under Francis II.
Francis I 91
hourly struggle to which she was condemned; and
although he had hitherto remained insensible to
the blandishments of beauty and the fascinations of
coquetry, he suffered himself to be betrayed into a
passion for the wife of his sovereign. Conscious, how-
ever, of the enormity of his error, he strove for many
months to conceal from Eleonora the state of his af-
fections ; while she, utterly unsuspicious of the feeling
which she had elicited in the breast of the stern soldier,
continued to welcome him to her presence with a
warmth and kindness which only tended to increase the
evil. It was under his protection that she had entered
France ; he had known her in her own sunny Spain,
where she was honoured and happy ; she could con-
verse with him upon the past, and, for a time at least,
forget the present. He alone cared to remember that
she was neglected and desolate ; no wonder, therefore,
that even in her most melancholy moments she had
ever a smile and a gentle greeting for the gallant
marshal.
The moment came at last, however, in which Mont-
morenci could no longer maintain his self-command.
The court were hunting in the woods of Chambord.
The Queen of Navarre, and Catherine de' Medici, had
followed in the train of the King; the blue litter of
Madame d'Etampes had passed the gates, and pro-
ceeded apparently in the same direction ; and the palace
of Amboise was deserted by all save Eleonora and the
Marechal, who, on a pretext of indisposition, had been
permitted to absent himself from the royal sport.
The wife of Francis I. was seated at an open case-
ment overlooking the bright current of the Loire. Her
9 2 Reign of
head rested upon her hand, and an expression of acute
suffering was visible on her fine features ; but her eyes
were tearless as they followed unconsciously the
course of the sparkling ripples upon which they lin-
gered. She started, however, from her reverie when
Montmorenci was announced, and extended towards
him her hand, which he raised respectfully to his lips.
" You here, M. le Marechal ! " she exclaimed with
undisguised astonishment ; " I heard that the whole
court were at Chambord."
" Your Majesty is at Amboise," was the abrupt
reply.
" True," said the poor Queen, forcing a smile ; " I, as
you are aware, am unequal to such an exertion either
of strength or skill as that of a royal hunt. But you,
Monsieur ? Can it be that you have lost taste for this
courtly diversion? or, what I should much more de-
plore, that the King"
" No, Madame, no," interposed Montmorenci ; " his
Majesty did not decline my attendance ; and I am as
keen a sportsman as even your august husband him-
self ; but, nevertheless, I have not followed the hunt."
" And wherefore ? " demanded Eleonora absently, as
she passed her hand across her brow, and endeavoured
to arouse herself more thoroughly from her reverie.
" I will tell you, Madame," said the Marechal, with
an unsteady voice, as he fixed his eyes earnestly upon
her ; " because your unhappiness is destroying my
existence because you are at once the most admirable
and the most ill-used of your sex because ay, wither
me if you will, Madame, with your frown, but I have
already suffered for months, and I must now speak or
Francis I 93
die because I love you, and would rather expire here,
at your feet, than live on longer in the same torment."
" Do you know to whom you speak, sir ? " asked the
Queen, rising from her seat as the Marechal sank on
his knee before her. " Can you, too you have for-
gotten that I am the Queen of France, the wife of your
sovereign ? "
" That you are Queen of France may the saints
be praised ! " murmured Montmorenci ; " that you are
the wife of Francis, I live only to deplore."
" Sir," said Eleonora haughtily, as she seized the
small rattle of polished steel, which was at that period
the substitute for a bell, and which lay on a table at her
side, " will you compel me to summon my attendants,
and to dishonour you? Do you seek to dishonour
mef "
" Heaven forbid, Madame," said the Marechal, ris-
ing from the floor ; " I have already sinned more than
enough. That I love you is my misfortune; do not
make it my crime. I will deserve your forbearance.
Neither commands nor threats can compel me to do
otherwise than regard you as the most perfect of your
sex. Say or do what you will, that fact must remain
unaltered ; but I will never again intrude it upon you.
Grant me only one favour, and I am yours in life and
death."
"And that favour, sir?"
" Is simple enough, your Majesty. Only allow me,
whenever I have the honour to approach your person,
to pronounce the words ' Good morrow, Madame,' that
when they meet your ear they made remind you of the
humble and obedient lover, whom even your contempt
could not alienate."
94 Reign of
" So be it, M. le Marechal," said the Queen, striving
to suppress the smile elicited by so extraordinary a
request ; " thus much I may in honour concede ; but I
rely on your good faith."
" Nor shall you repent the trust, Madame," was the
reply of the supplicant, as he made his parting saluta-
tion ; " but should you ever want a hand to support, or
an arm to avenge you, remember Montmorenci."
In another instant the Marechal had disappeared ;
and while the brilliant train which followed Francis
through the woods of Chambord filled the echoes of
the forest-paths with the clamours of their joyous rev-
elry, his deserted wife flung herself back upon her seat ;
and, with her face buried in her hands, wept the hot
tears of mortification, wounded pride, and that un-
utterable anguish which not even tears can solace.
Montmorenci religiously adhered to the compact
into which he had voluntarily entered ; and from
thenceforward never omitted, while respectfully per-
forming his obeisance to the Queen, to say, in a slow
and melancholy tone, " Good morrow, Madame,"
without on any occasion adding a single word of hom-
age or of compliment. This peculiarity soon attracted
the attention of the court, to whom the " audiences "
of M. de Montmorenci became a perpetual source of
curiosity and amusement ; but neither the sneers of
some, nor the smiles of all, disturbed for a moment
the gravity of the Marechal ; although at times even
the lip of Eleonora herself quivered with a transient
expression of mirth.
It is certain, moreover, that the self-command and
good faith of her eccentric admirer made a gradual
Francis I 95
impression upon the feelings of the Queen ; her
womanly vanity was flattered, and her gratitude ex-
cited by a constancy of devotion to which she had
long been unaccustomed ; and whereas she originally
replied to his address only by a grave bow, she ere long
relented so far as to repay his perseverance by a more
gracious gesture ; although she still received his greet-
ing with dignified reserve.
The marriage of Henry VIII. with Anna Boleyn had
meanwhile taken place, despite the refusal of the Pope
to recognise the divorce of Katherine ; and although
it had been solemnized in the presence of not more
than half a dozen witnesses, the fact soon transpired,
and excited the indignation of both the Pontiff and
the Emperor to so high a degree, that despite the
entreaties of Francis, who earnestly endeavoured to
avert such a calamity, sentence of excommunication
was fulminated against the English monarch. This
extreme step had only been taken a couple of days,
when a courier arrived in Rome, empowered by Henry
to declare his willingness to abide the judgment of the
Holy See for his disobedience, provided that certain
of the Cardinals, who were inimical to him, should not
be included in the council. It was, however, too late.
The Pope had suffered his passion to betray him into a
precipitation as unwise as it was irremediable ; and the
English King was no sooner informed that the walls of
the Eternal City were placarded with the bull which
had been fulminated against him, than he openly
avowed himself as the head of the Reformed Church,
and declared both himself and his kingdom inde-
pendent of all Papal interference or control.
96 Reign of
The unfortunate Katherine of Aragon expired in
the January of 1534, an event which rendered the im-
politic haste of Clement still more conspicuous ; and
there is little doubt that the annoyance and regret to
which he was subjected by a consciousness of the
serious error into which he had been betrayed, and the
perpetual remorse induced by the reports that reached
him of the virulence to which Henry, in order to
avenge the insult offered to his own dignity, was per-
secuting the Romanists in England, accelerated his
own end. He died on the 24th of September in the
same year, and was succeeded by Alessandro Farnese,
who assumed the title of Paul III.*
A short time subsequently, the Comte de Nassau,
with his son the Prince of Orange, visited the French
court on their way from Spain into Flanders, and were
entrusted by Charles V. with proposals of friendship
and alliance, in which he represented to Francis the
importance of a perfect understanding between the two
most powerful monarchs of Christendom ; who, were
they to combine their strength and their resources with
mutual faith and good-will, might defy and control the
whole of Europe. In order, as he moreover asserted,
to prove his own sincerity in this belief, he offered the
hand of one of his nieces to the Dauphin, and that of
his son to a Princess of France ; and, in return for his
thus taking the initiative, he requested that the French
King, should he decline this double alliance, would at
* Pop* Paul III. (Alessandro Farnese) was a native of Rome, Bishop
of Ostia, and Dean of the Holy College. When unanimously elected by
the Conclave, he had already attained his sixty-eighth year. He had,
previously to entering into holy orders, become the father of two chil-
dren: a daughter who married Bosio Sforza, and a son, Pietro Luigi
Farnese, whom he made Duke of Parma.
Francis I 97
least abstain from invading his territories during his
absence on a campaign against the Infidels which he
was about to undertake ; but the moment was an un-
propitious one for the success of such a negotiation.
The death of Clement VII. was a severe blow to the
previsions of Francis, who Had depended upon the
exertions of the Medici to insure to the Due d'Orleans a
powerful sovereignty in Lombardy. The late peace,
brief as it was, had nevertheless sufficed to weary him
of inaction. The treaty of Cambray was an undying
source of irritation ; the nation was relieved from civil
discord, and had ceased to oppose the system of taxa-
tion which he had introduced; the bequest of his
mother, and the public revenues, had once more replen-
ished his treasury ; he was surrounded by a young and
impetuous nobility, eager for adventure and distinction,
and looking back restlessly upon their past successes ;
he believed himself secure of the alliance of Henry
VIII. in whose cause he had so strenuously exerted his
influence with the late Pope ; and who had, by his re-
pudiation of Katherine of Aragon, so exasperated the
Emperor, that he was anticipating a descent of the
imperialists upon England; and he calculated, more-
over, that he could rely not only upon the assistance
of the Protestant Princes, in the event of his engaging
in a new war, but also upon that of the Sultan.
No wonder then that, eager at once for excitement
and revenge, Francis soon found a pretext for the re-
newal of hostilities against his old rival. He accord-
ingly busied himself in the re-organization of his army ;
and formed a militia upon the model of the ancient
Roman legions, which was composed entirely of his
VOL. III. 7
9<3 Reign of
own subjects, and in which no individual of either the
German or Swiss troops who were in his pay was per-
mitted to serve. This force amounted to forty-two
thousand men ; and in May, 1534, he made a progress
through the seven provinces, each of which had sup-
plied its quota of six thousand troops, accompanied
by his whole court, and passed the several legions
successively in review.
Charles V. was meanwhile actively engaged against
the pirates of Africa; his success was signal; and in
little more than two months he had landed in that
country, defeated Barbarossa before Tunis, reinstated
Muley Hassan, taken possession of all the seaports of
Barbary, and released upwards of twenty thousand
Christian slaves, whom he conveyed to their several
countries to bless and extol the name of their deliverer.
All Christendom rang with the praises of the Em-
peror. To every nation in Europe he had restored
some of its lost subjects; and the voice of gratitude
was loud on every side ; while, on the other hand, the
intelligence which the French King was known to
maintain with the Infidels, had excited universal in-
dignation and distrust. In vain did Francis deny the
accusation, and denounce the Emperor as his enemy
for having suffered it to gain credence. It was known
that Solyman had secret agents at his court ; he felt that
his reputation was shaken throughout the whole Chris-
tian world, and he was conscious that he dare not
attempt to attack the power of Charles while he was
engaged in protecting religion and humanity from the
barbarity of the Moslem.
But the year 1534 was, nevertheless, not fated to
Francis I 99
terminate without its own peculiar tragedy. Alarmed
by the evil feeling which existed against him, Francis
pursued with redoubled animosity the professors of
Protestantism within his own kingdom. The tenets
of Calvin were already beginning to rival those of
Luther, and were promulgated throughout France and
the Low Countries by his disciples ; placards, denying
the truth of the doctrine of transubstantiation, were
scattered in the streets, and even pasted upon the walls
of the Louvre ; and the King eagerly availed himself
of this circumstance to regain the influence which he
had lost over Papal Europe.
He first instituted a rigid search for the authors of
these obnoxious documents, and his agents succeeded
in discovering six individuals who were declared to be
implicated in the crime. He then instructed Jean du
Bellay, the Bishop of Paris, to order a solemn proces-
sion, in public reparation of the insult which had been
offered to the Most Holy Sacrament of the Church;
and not only travelled from Blois to Paris to assist at
it in person, but was also accompanied by the Queen
and his three sons. The procession proceeded from
the Church of St. Germain 1'Auxerrois to the Cathedral
of Notre Dame ; and the Eucharist was borne by the
Bishop attired in full pontificals, attended by a number
of priests laden with relics. The King followed, with
a lighted taper in his hand ; the three Princes and the
Due de Vendome supported the canopy; and all the
foreign ambassadors, cardinals, prelates, and nobility
then resident in the capital, closed the cortege. Nor
did the King satisfy himself with this tacit demonstra-
tion of devotion ; for, before the ceremonial was at an
ioo Reign of
end, he publicly declared that, if his right arm were
infected with the cancer of the new heresy, he would
with his left hand lop it from his body ; and that, in like
case, he would not spare his own children.
Our next paragraph we must transcribe verbatim et
literatim from Le Pere Daniel, for we should be unable
to find words of our own in which to record so horrible
a butchery.
" The evening of the same day, the six culprits were
conveyed to the public square, where fires had been
prepared to burn them. There was, in the centre of
each pyre, a sort of tall pulley, to which they were at-
tached; the flames were then lighted beneath them,
and the executioners, gently loosening the cord, al-
lowed these wretches to descend sufficiently near to
the fire for them to feel all its agony ; then they were
once more hoisted up; and after having made them
suffer this cruel torment several times, they were flung
into the midst of the flames, where they expired."
Sismondi (quoting from Jo. Sleidani) gives a some-
what different, although equally terrible, description
of the instrument of torture. He says, speaking of the
victims : " Had the people torn them to pieces, they
would have shown them mercy; their ferocity would
not have equalled that of the King. He had com-
manded that these unfortunates should be attached to
a lofty machine ; which was a beam so nicely balanced
that, as it descended, it plunged them into the blaze of
the pyre, but rose again almost instantly, in order to
prolong their sufferings, until, the flame seizing upon
the cords by which they were bound, they fell into the
middle of the fire."
Francis I 101
" Six," says Mezeray, " were burnt at Paris, and
more than twice as many in several other places ; but
for two who were put to death, a hundred others rose
from their ashes."
God be praised that it was so ! For such enormities,
perpetrated by such agents a profligate King, a licen-
tious prelacy, a venal and corrupted court were as-
suredly more than enough to turn the hearts of the
right-minded and the prayerful from a faith in which
as there was no mercy, so also there could be no hope.
CHAPTER VI.
The Persecution of the Protestants is Continued Francis
Abolishes Printing Throughout His Kingdom The League
of Smalkalden Declares against the French King Francis
Invites Melancthon to France Francis Declares War
against the Duke of Savoy Chabot Overruns the Duchy
The Duke Urges the Emperor to Assist Him Death of
Sforza Charles V. Restores Alessandro de' Medici to the
Sovereignty of Florence Death of the Chancellor Duprat
The Queen of Navarre at Amboise Ostentation and Proflig-
acy of Madame d'Etampes The Tournament A Street
Brawl Narrow Escape of the Due d'Angouleme Removal
of the Court to Chambord The King and Diana of Poitiers
A Moral Mission Diana Resolves to Attempt the Con-
quest of the Due d'Orleans Her Personal Attractions
Her Ambition A Poem of the Sixteenth Century Jealousy
of the Duchesse d'Etampes She Demands the Exile of Diana
from the Court Charles V. Offers to Concede the Duchy
of Milan to the Due d'Angouleme Francis Demands it
for the Due d'Orleans Tergiversation of the Emperor
Charles V. Renews His Alliance with the Venetians The
Negotiation Concerning the Milanese is Renewed The Em-
peror Proceeds to Rome The French Ambassador Urges
Him to Perform His Promises Charles V. Harangues the
Conclave, and Insults Francis He Temporizes with the
French Ambassadors The Pope Endeavours to Pacify
Them The Address to the Conclave is Garbled and For-
warded to France Moderation of Francis The Cardinal
de Lorraine is Despatched to the Emperor to Terminate the
Francis I 103
Affair of the Milanese, and Fails Imperial Superstition
Treason of the Marquis de Saluzzo The Pope Declares His
Neutrality Charles V. Excites the German Protestants
against Francis The Army in Savoy is Disarmed Mont-
morenci Insures the Safety of the Frontier Francis Pro-
ceeds to Lyons Charles V. Declares Himself Suzerain of
Provence Francis Prepares for an Invasion.
HPHE year 1535 commenced by a new persecution
I of the Reformists. By order of the King, all
those who had been arrested were put upon their trial,
and many of them perished by the swinging beam
described in the last chapter.
Francis was desirous to make his peace with the
Church; and notwithstanding the ambition which he
still retained to be considered as the protector of letters,
he was no sooner accused by Beda of favouring the
new faith in compliance with the entreaties of his sister,
than, after having, in the first burst of his indignation,
caused him to be arrested, and imprisoned in the eccle-
siastical dungeons, he condemned him to make the
amende honorable before the Church of Notre Dame,
and to avow that he had spoken against the truth and
the King. He, however, subsequently became alarmed
lest this act of severity might fail to remove the im-
pression produced upon the minds of those before
whom Beda had asserted his heresy ; and availing him-
self of the circumstance of the placards, to which we
have alluded above, he the proposed founder of the
royal college, the correspondent of Erasmus, and the
successor of Louis XII. issued letters patent abolish-
ing the use of the press, and forbidding the printing
of any book, be it what it might, within the confines of
IO4 Reign of
the kingdom of France, upon pain of death! This
retrogressive measure paralysed, as a natural conse-
quence, the energies of all the learned men who had
sought his court as an assured asylum ; and it also
produced another and very fatal result ; for while Fran-
cis, by the blow which he thus struck at the very root
of civilization, pacified the priesthood, the court of
Rome, and the more fanatical of his subjects, he most
imprudently and recklessly overlooked the probable
effect of such proceedings upon the minds of the Prot-
estant Princes, whose continued alliance had become
doubly valuable to him since he had resolved upon
renewing the war against the Emperor.
The conviction of his error was soon forced upon
him. The enormous cruelties which he had perpe-
trated upon their co-religionists excited the horror and
indignation of the members of the league of Smal-
kalden, who openly declared that the interests of their
faith would be less endangered by their adherence to
the house of Austria, than to those of a monarch whose
barbarity had already sacrificed so many valuable lives.
In vain did Francis, anxious to regain the confidence
of the German Princes, address each separately, as-
serting that the culprits had suffered rather as political
than as religious delinquents ; in vain did he write to
Melancthon with his own hand, entreating him to re-
pair to France, and to discuss the subject of his faith
with the doctors of the Sorbonne ; assuring him that
he did not consider it impossible to unite the French
and German churches; the league were not to be de-
luded by a subterfuge; and consequently, although
when urged to the step by Luther, Melancthon con-
Francis I 105
sented to undertake the journey to France, in order,
if possible, to prevent a recurrence of the butchery
of the past months, the Elector of Saxony positively
refused to permit him to take a step of such importance
without the sanction of the Emperor.
While thus occupied at home, Francis still main-
tained his resolution of once more invading the Mila-
nese ; and having authorized the Count Guillaume de
Furstemberg to levy troops in Germany, he despatched
the President Poyet to Savoy, to request from the Duke
a free passage for the French army through his terri-
tories. Charles of Savoy, however, at the instigation
of his wife, refused to hearken to such a proposition,
and his refusal so exasperated the King that he imme-
diately declared war against him ; upon which, Admiral
de Brion Chabot, who, having entered Brescia, had
taken possession of all the towns, none of which were
garrisoned, thence proceeded to Savoy, where he made
himself master of Chambery and Montmelian, with all
the territory on that side of Mont Cenis.
The Duke of Savoy, alarmed by a promptitude of
hostilities for which he was thoroughly unprepared,
urged the Emperor to lose no time in coming to his
succour ; and his ambasadors encountered Charles V.
at Naples, where he had just disembarked amid the
acclamations of the people, with the laurels recently
gained at Tunis fresh upon his brow. The envoys of
the Duke were instructed to propose to the conqueror,
with a view of inducing him to espouse at once the
interests of their master, the exchange of Nice, and
other territories then in the possession of the Duke
on the French side of the Alps, against such as might
io6 Reign of
be aftenvards agreed upon between them ; an offer
which augmented at once the anger and the alarm of
Francis, as the cession of these particular portions of
the duchy of Savoy opened up a way into his own
kingdom, of which the Emperor could avail himself at
his pleasure, by invading Dauphiny and Provence, and
thus securing an entrance into the very heart of
France.
This negotiation was, however, abandoned, the death
of Francisco Sforza, which occurred just at this period,
having arrested the proceedings of Chabot; who, as
well as the King his master, anticipated that the Duke
having died without issue, the claim of the French
Princes would no longer be disputed by the Emperor;
and that, consequently, it would be mere wanton
cruelty to take cities by force which must ere long
recognise their legitimate sovereign in the person of
Francis. Both the one and the other had, however,
forgotten that ambition was no less the ruling passion
of Charles than of his rival ; and that he was little likely,
at the very proudest moment of his life, to detach one
gem from the coronal which he wore with so much
jealousy.
Nor did the feeling evinced by the Neapolitans when,
by the death of Sforza, they saw the duchy of Milan
about to fall once more into his hands, and ascertained
that the same distrust and dissatisfaction had mani-
fested itself throughout the whole of the Italian states,
tend to render the Emperor more compliant. He had
entered Naples as the protector of Christendom against
the Infidels ; his train had been swelled by the ambassa-
dors of all the Princes of Italy, who had submitted to
Francis I 107
him, as to a supreme arbitrator, their several subjects
of dispute and misunderstanding; the Florentine
patriots had appealed to him to re-establish them as a
republic, and they had yielded passively to his will
when he insisted upon confirming Alessandro de'
Medici * in his sovereignty, stained as he was with
crime; and moreover, as an earnest of his favour,
guaranteed to him, in accordance with a pledge al-
ready given, the hand of his natural daughter Mar-
guerite ; to whom the Duke was subsequently married
on the 28th of February, 1536.
On the 8th of July of the year which we are now
recording (1535), France was delivered from an unjust
Minister in the person of the Chancellor Duprat, who
expired of pityriasis, at his chateau at Nantouillet,
in intense suffering, not less of mind than of body ; the
agony of the hideous disease to which he fell a victim
being even exceeded by the torments of a guilty and
remorseful conscience, which vented itself in tears and
groans, but to which he had listened too late. He was
succeeded in the Chancellorship by Antoine du Bourg,
the President of the Parliament of Paris.
The court was at this period sojourning at Amboise,
where the Queen of Navarre was on a visit ; and her
* Alessandro de' Medici was the son of Lorenzo II., Duke of Urbino,
or, as some historians assert, the natural son of Clement VII. He was
forced upon the Florentines by Charles V., in 1532, as their Duke, and
the succession secured to his children. His tyranny and extortion caused
him to be universally detested, while his cruelty made him the scourge
of the duchy, and the terror of all by whom he was surrounded. He
caused the death, by poison, of the Cardinal Hyppolito de' Medici, the
son of Julio II., and grandson of Lorenzo I., surnamed the Great. He
married Marguerite d'Autriche, the natural daughter of Charles V.,
in 1536, and was assassinated in the following year, by Lorenzino de'
Medici, the son of Lorenzo III., and grandson of Pietro Francisco.
io8 Reign of
arrival had been hailed as the occasion for a succession
of festivities, at which the Duchesse d'Etampes openly
presided. The favour of Anne de Pisseleu had now
reached its extreme point. She had enriched and en-
nobled her family; she had seen herself powerful
enough to assume the place, and almost to usurp the
dignity, of the wife of the sovereign ; she had secured
the friendship of Catherine de' Medici ; and she had be-
come the dispenser of all the royal bounties. Many
a noble courtier assumed her colours in the lists, and
many a titled abbot was content to stand beside her
at her toilette. None cared to remember that her life
was one of the most unblushing licentiousness; and
while the rabble of the Pre-aux-Clercs bandied her
name among them like that of the vilest of her sex, and
made her profligate adventures the theme of their ribald
gossipry, there was neither prince nor prelate at the
court who did not obey her behest as though it had
been that of an oracle.
Among other entertainments ostensibly provided for
the amusement of the King's sister, a tournament was
held in the great court of the castle, at which all the
nobles and gentlemen then resident at Amboise were
invited to assist. Not only the Princes, but even the
King himself, had in turn taken their place in the lists,
and the Due d'Angouleme had particularly distin-
guished himself by his prowess. Of all his children,
Charles d'Angouleme, his younger son, was the espe-
cial favourite of Francis, whom he greatly resembled
both in person and temperament. Impulsive, reckless,
and daring, he despised alike danger and difficulty;
while, even although yet a boy in years, he had already
Francis I 109
seriously attached himself to one of the most beautiful
women of the court. Unlike the Dauphin, he was fair
with a profusion of light hair, and dark blue eyes, one
of which he had, however, lost at an early age from the
effects of smallpox. His ardent love of all warlike
amusements and field sports ; his frankness, courage,
and gallant bearing, had greatly endeared him to the
King, who was repelled by the cold stateliness of the
Dauphin, and irritated by the heavy and unsocial man-
ners of the Due d'Orleans. Nevertheless, Francis oc-
casionally endeavoured to restrain the impetuosity of
the young Prince, but with little effect ; and his feeling
of exultation on the occasion to which we are now
referring, was so unbounded when he found himself
the hero of the day, that it betrayed him into an impru-
dence which had nearly cost him his life.
The fatigue that he had undergone in the lists, and
his consequent exhaustion, induced the young Prince
to swallow a large goblet of spiced wine a few moments
before the King rose from the supper-table ; and this
insidious draught acted the more potently upon him
from the fact that he had previously pledged the flat-
terers, by whom he was surrounded, with more than
sufficient vigour. In this state of excitement he no
sooner ascertained from one of the chamberlains that
the monarch had retired to his apartment, than he rose
abruptly from his seat, exclaiming to a group of wild
young courtiers who were in attendance upon him:
" Now then, gentlemen, his Majesty is safe for the
night, and we are the lords of Amboise. Let us go
and take the air upon the bridge, and see if we cannot
thrash some of the rascally lacqueys who amuse them-
no Reign of
selves by stopping up the thoroughfare, and striking
those who thrust them aside."
This proposal met with unanimous applause; and
the hot-headed young Prince, and his equally wild
companions, at once sallied from the palace, and rushed
upon the lounging group on the bridge, who, being
in the service of the court, and many among them even
in that of the King himself, all carried arms. The
darkness of the night rendered it impossible for them
to recognise their assailants ; and, consequently, when
the Due d'Angouleme, at the head of his little party,
fell upon them sword in hand, they defended them-
selves vigorously; while, as he persisted in retaining
his position, he soon became the principal object of
their attack ; until at length a stroke was aimed at him
with so sure a hand, that M. de Castelnau, a Gascon
noble, and one of his favourite companions, had only
time to throw himself between the Duke and his an-
tagonist, and to receive the blow intended for his
master, at whose feet he fell dead upon the instant.
At once sobered and heart-stricken at the result of his
imprudence, the young Prince shouted imperiously:
" Put up your swords, gentlemen ; I am the Due d'An-
gouleme."
At this startling announcement every weapon was
withdrawn ; and in a few seconds the bleeding body of
the faithful and devoted Castelnau, the victim of this
ignoble broil, was surrounded only by the Prince and
his followers. Charles d'Angouleme, as he bent over
him, shed tears of unaffected sorrow, as sincere as they
were unavailing ; he did not even seek to ascertain by
whose hand his friend had fallen, for he was self-con-
Francis I 1 1 1
victed ; and he could not disguise from himself that he
had been more guilty than the actual murderer.
In order to dissipate the annoyance which he felt at
this disgraceful adventure, and if possible to overcome
the gloom which the fate of a friend to whom he had
been greatly attached, had shed over the spirits of the
young Prince, the King, after having severely repri-
manded his son, removed with the court to Chambord ;
and it was, probably, the dread which he felt lest the
hitherto lively youth should belie the promise of his
boyhood, that led him to observe, even more closely
than ever, the demeanour of his other sons. On one
occasion, as he was leaning over the balcony of the
great hall, watching the three Princes who were en-
gaged at tennis in the court below, he turned suddenly
towards the Grande Senechale who was standing near
him, and motioning to her to advance, he directed her
attention to the listlessness with which the Due d'An-
gouleme was pursuing the game.
" I scarcely recognise him," he said with a sigh ;
" his natural enthusiasm is quenched. Even the Dau-
phin exhibits more excitement."
" Give him time, Sire," replied Diana de Poitiers
soothingly ; " he is young, and he has lost a friend.
His Royal Highness loved M. de Castelnau."
" Doubtlessly you are right, Madame," acquiesced
the King. " At least you are an admirable consoler,
and I dare not doubt your words. He is young, and
we know that time cures all evils."
" Not all, Sire."
Francis looked at her steadfastly. " You are right
again, Madame ; not all. There are certain evils which
112 Reign of
time and memory can only canker; and others for
which it affords no hope. You see the Dauphin.
Time fails to make a Frenchman of the Spaniard."
" Monseigneur is grave beyond his years, assuredly,
Sire," said Madame de Breze ; " but his mind is all
nobleness."
" And Henry, Madame ? what will you say of
Henry ? " asked the King almost peevishly. " For my
own part, I despair of him. Since his marriage he has
become more unsocial and impracticable than ever."
" Surely your Majesty did not anticipate that a wife
would render him more frank and joyous," said Diana
with a slight accent of sarcasm ; " for the Due d'Orleans
there was no cure but love."
" Aha ! is it so, fair Diana ? " asked Francis, suddenly
roused into excitement ; " then we have committed a
fatal error, for I fear that love and marriage are almost
incompatible."
The beautiful widow was silent.
" Catherine is, however, handsome enough to ani-
mate a statue," pursued the King ; " it can scarcely be
difficult to love her."
" True," said Madame de Breze, with an arch look ;
" but love cannot be compelled ; make it a duty, and it
turns to loathing."
"He is, then, irreclaimable?"
" By no means. A sincere and ardent passion would
arouse him from his present apathy ; for none love more
deeply than those who resist moral coercion."
" On the faith of a gentlemen, you possess more wis-
dom, Madame, handsome as you are," exclaimed Fran-
cis energetically, " than all the doctors of the Sorbonne.
Francis I 113
I only wish that some one as fair and as fascinating as
yourself would undertake his conversion. I should be
her debtor beyond all requital."
" The experiment might at least be tried," murmured
Diana twisting her pearl chatelaine about her taper
fingers.
" But by whom ? " asked the King ; " for such an
undertaking it would require a miracle to ensure suc-
cess. If, indeed, you could be prevailed upon to sacri-
fice yourself "
" Your Majesty does not possess a more devoted
servant than Diana de Poitiers."
" I know it, Madame ; I know it," said Francis, as a
strange expression passed over his face ; " and I am
equally aware that you at least could not fail ; but per-
haps, the past "
" Do you fear, Sire," asked the Grande Senechale
with an ironical smile, " that the memory of M. de
Breze "
The King forced an uneasy laugh, as he hastily re-
plied, without awaiting the conclusion of her inquiry,
" I have no such apprehension, fair lady ; therefore let
the old Senechal rest in peace. We will revert no more
to bygone years ; nothing is so idle as retrospection ;
while as regards the future I do not for a moment doubt
your power, and only wish that it could be successfully
exerted."
" Your wishes are my law, Sire," was the rejoinder
of the fair widow, as her rich lips parted in affected
merriment ; " but Madame d'Etampes is approaching,
and I will no longer intrude upon your Majesty."
" The Duchess is jealous," said the royal libertine, as
VOL. III. 8
U4 Reign of
he acknowledged her parting curtsey ; " and we must
not violate the proprieties at Chambord. I will not
detain you, Madame la Grande Senechale," and as
Diana moved away, the favourite advanced to the bal-
cony ; a liberty upon which the neglected Queen would
have feared to venture.
At this period the widow of Louis de Breze had
already attained her thirty-first year, while the Prince
Henry was only in his seventeenth ; and at the first
glance it would appear as though so formidable a dis-
parity of age must have rendered any attempt on her
part to engage the affections of so mere a youth alike
abortive and ridiculous ; but so perfectly had she pre-
served even the youthful bloom which had added so
much to her attractions on her first appearance at court,
that she appeared ten years younger than she actually
was. Her features were regular and classical; her
complexion faultless ; her hair of a rich purple black,
which took a golden tint in the sunshine; while her
teeth, her ankle, her hands and arms, and her bust,
were each in their turn the theme of the court poets.
That the extraordinary and almost fabulous duration
of her beauty was in a great degree due to the precau-
tions which she adopted, there can be little doubt, for
she spared no effort to secure it; she was jealously
careful of her health, and in the most severe weather
bathed in cold water ; she suffered no cosmetic to ap-
proach her, denouncing every compound of the kind
as worthy only of those to whom nature had been so
niggardly as to compel them to complete her imperfect
work ; she rose every morning at six o'clock, and had
no sooner left her chamber than she sprang into the
Francis I 115
saddle, and after having galloped a league or two re-
turned to her bed, where she remained until midday
engaged in reading. The system appears a singular
one, but in her case it undoubtedly proved successful,
as, after having enslaved the Due d'Orleans in her
thirty-first year, she still reigned in absolute sover-
eignty over the heart of the King of France when she
had nearly reached the age of sixty! It is certain,
however, that the magnificent Diana owed no small
portion of this extraordinary and unprecedented con-
stancy to the charms of her mind and the brilliancy of
her intellect.
The short dialogue between Francis and herself
which we have given above, inspired the ambitious
widow with new ideas and aspirations. Hitherto she
had been content to await a reaction in the heart of
Francis himself. She did not believe that Madame
d'Etampes could long conceal from him the extent of
her profligacy ; and well aware that should the favour-
ite be disgraced, her successor would soon be de-
termined, she contented herself by exerting all Tier
fascinations against the facile heart of the monarch,
and watching for the hour of her own triumph.
The few sentences which had passed in the balcony,
however, had sufficed to open up a new career before
her. That the King had spoken rather in bitter mirth
than in sober seriousness, she was well aware ; but this
conviction failed to shake her purpose. The saturnine
and forbidding nature of the Due d'Orleans moreover
rendered the task which she was about to undertake
one of no common difficulty, but this very conscious-
ness piqued her vanity, and determined her to perse-
vere.
u6 Reign of
The Prince was at first annoyed, and even abashed,
at the undisguised preference exhibited towards him
by the most beautiful woman at court ; but Diana soon
succeeded in subjugating his heart through his vanity.
Conscious that he possessed neither the dignity of the
Dauphin, nor the frank gracefulness of his younger
brother, Henri d'Orleans had hitherto carefully avoided
the society of the opposite sex ; and had even received
the hand of his wife with a marked repugnance which
had drawn down upon him the displeasure of the King ;
but he soon found that there was no resisting the se-
ductions of a siren, who while she looked into his face
with the brightest smile and the most brilliant eyes in
the world, discovered in himself a thousand estimable
qualities and personal attractions to which he had never
dreamt he could advance any claim.
That he did not long combat his growing passion is
evident from a poem addressed to him by his fair and
frail conquest only a few weeks subsequently ; and this
production, extracted from the MSS. of the Biblio-
theque Royale, is so characteristic alike of the taste
and the morals of the time, that we offer no apology
for its insertion.
" Voicy vraisment qu'Amour un beau matin
S'en vint m'offrir flourette tresgentille,
La, se prit-il, a ournez vostre teint
Et vistement violiers et jonquille
Me rejetoit, a tant, que ma mantille
En estoit pleine, et mon coeur se pasmoit ;
(Car, voyez-vous, flourette si gentille
Estois gar$on frais, dispos, et jeunnet).
-
: .,-
Francis I 117
Ains tremblottante et destournant les yeux ....
Nenni . . . disois-je . . . Ah, ne serez degue,
Reprit Amour, et soudain a ma vue
Va presentant un laurier merveilleux.
Mieux vault, lui dis-je, estre sasge que Royne
Ains me sentis et fraimir et trembler,
Diane faillist, et comprendrez sans peine
Duquel matin je praitends reparler."
What effect the triumph of Madame de Breze over
the heart of the Prince produced upon the mind of the
King, the old chronicler, who dilates complaisantly
upon all the preceding details, does not inform us;
but the impression which it made upon Madame
d'Etampes soon became apparent, and was destined
to exert a most unhappy influence over the fortunes
of the nation. The first weapon which t4ie haughty
favourite wielded against the mature mistress of the
young Duke was that of ridicule. She affected to dis-
credit the report that M. d'Orleans could be enthralled
by the antiquated charms of a " wrinkled old woman ; "
and in support of her argument, amused herself by as-
serting that she was born in the same year in which the
daughter of St. Vallier had espoused the Grand Sene-
chal of Normandy. Of course she found many and
attentive auditors, not one of whom attempted to dis-
prove her words, although all were aware that Madame
de Breze was the senior of the Duchess only by seven
years. She next attacked the person of her victim,
forewarning those who were bold enough to uphold
her claims to admiration, that the beauty of which she
was so vain was known to be the result of sorcery,
and that they would ere long see it vanish as mysteri-
ii8 Reign of
otisly as it had been bestowed. Diana, however, was
not to be conquered by means so puerile as these ; and,
secure of the affections and support of the Prince, she
treated the calumnies of her persecutor with proud
and silent disdain.
The nature of Madame d'Etampes was ill calculated
to brook this tacit assumption of superiority; and
foiled in her efforts to rid herself of the intrusive beauty
by her own agency, she carried her vindictiveness so
far as to demand of the King that he should exile
Madame de Breze from the court; but Francis, \vho
had already began to congratulate himself upon the
altered deportment of the Duke, which he attributed
entirely to the influence exerted over him by Diana,
refused to accede to her wishes; reminding her that
while the Duchesse d'Orleans uttered no complaint,
and continued to exhibit towards the Grande Senechale
the same consideration and regard as ever, it was im-
possible that he could interfere to prevent the progress
of the liaison. Not even this declaration could, how-
ever, discourage the pertinacious favourite, who
thenceforward studiously avoided all reference to Diana
herself, but strenuously endeavoured to disparage the
Duke in the eyes of his royal father ; drawing invidious
comparisons between that Prince and the Dauphin;
and seeking by every means in her power to crush his
rapidly increasing favour.
It must not, nevertheless, be supposed, that although
Madame de Breze possessed sufficient self-command
to exhibit nothing save contempt towards the vindic-
tive Duchess, she did not acutely feel, and bitterly re-
sent the sarcasms of which she had been made the
Francis I 119
subject. Jealous of the superior power of the royal
mistress, and exasperated by her insults, even while
she displayed worldly wisdom enough patiently to
abide her time of vengeance, her heart was to the full
as much agitated by hatred as that of Anne de Pisseleu
herself ; and a conviction that such must in reality be
the case once more divided the court into two separate
factions, which the doubtful aspect of public affairs
alone tended to render for a time innocuous.
Anxious if possible to avoid a war with Francis,
while still apprehensive of a Turkish invasion, and
awaiting a favourable opportunity to subjugate the
Princes of the Protestant league, whom he regarded as
rebels alike against his own authority and that of the
Church; and, moreover, alarmed by the rapid spread
of Lutheranism in the Low Countries, Charles deter-
mined rather to temporize with his rival on the subject
of the duchy of Milan, than by an abrupt rejection of
his claim to excite him to hostilities ; and accordingly
he informed the Sieur de Velly, who was awaiting him
at Naples with the congratulations of the French King
upon his victories in Africa, that he was willing to cede
the Milanese to one of the sons of Francis, on con-
dition that the duchy should remain a distinct sover-
eignty, and that Germany and France should become
so closely allied by marriage as to prevent the possi-
bility of future aggression on either side.
He declared, moreover, that he was so sincere in this
declaration, that he should take no steps towards the
disposal of the province until he received the reply of
the King upon three points on which he was anxious
to ascertain his intentions. Namely, whether he were
I2O Reign of
prepared to lend his assistance against the Turks ; to
compel the Protestant Princes to revert to the Roman-
ist religion ; and to co-operate with him in the pacifica-
tion of all Christendom. Should Francis accede to
these terms, he asserted that he was ready to bestow
the duchy upon Charles, the younger of the three
Princes, on condition that the Due d'Orleans should
accompany him to the siege of Algiers.
As he had anticipated, however, Francis, while he
consented to the three points upon which he had first
insisted, refused to comply with those which regarded
his sons ; and he instructed M. de Velly to explain to
the Emperor that he desired the Milanese for the Due
d'Orleans, and that he was ready to offer four hun-
dred thousand crowns of gold for the investiture ; di-
recting him at the same time to press for a reply.
When this decision was made known to him, Charles
contented himself by vague declarations of his good
faith, and evaded a direct answer ; while the measures
which he meanwhile adopted augured ill for the suc-
cess of the negotiation. He had not only purchased
the fealty of Alessandro de' Medici by a marriage
which at once flattered his vanity and secured his sov-
ereignty, but he also entered into a new league with
the Venetians ; who, dazzled by his triumphs in Africa,
and induced by the persuasions of the Due d'Urbino,
once more declared themselves his allies; while he
directed the Dowager-Queen of Hungary, who had
succeeded to the government of the Low Countries on
the death of Marguerite of Austria, as well as his
lieutenants in Spain, to make levies both of men and
money ; while he was himself occupied in raising sup-
Francis I 121
plies throughout Naples and Sicily, and in the rein-
forcement of his African army.
Francis, nevertheless, deluded himself with the be-
lief, that as the Emperor had spontaneously offered the
duchy of Milan to his third son, (a concession which
he could only attribute to his reluctance to renew the
war,) he would, when he became convinced that he
had no other alternative, ultimately consent to transfer
it to the Due d'Orleans ; or even, should he insist upon
such an arrangement, to himself. He was at this period
suffering from severe illness at Dijon ; and was totally
unprepared for the communication which he received
from De Velly, to the effect that the Emperor had de-
clared, that had he been aware of the rigorous treat-
ment which the Duke of Savoy had experienced at
the hands of the French King, he should never have
condescended to the proposition which he had made,
but that having mooted the subject he would not re-
tract his offer; while he trusted that his forbearance
would induce Francis to arrange matters in Savoy, and
to act with similar consistency.
The negotiation was consequently continued, but
the position of the two potentates was no longer the
same. Charles had by this clever policy gained a su-
premacy far greater than it at first appeared to be ;
and he continued to make strenuous exertions to pro-
tect himself in the event of any aggressive measures
on the part of his rival. He revealed to the Pope the
correspondence into which he had entered with the
French King, and made the same overtures to him
which he had made to Francis ; while he, moreover,
volunteered to renew his old friendship with Henry
122 Reign of
VIII, alleging that the death of his aunt had removed
the cause of dissatisfaction which had induced him to
abandon the interests of England for those of France ;
and that he, consequently felt himself at liberty to
recur to his former and more genial associations.
These important steps once taken, he proceeded to
Rome with great pomp, where he remained for thir-
teen days, holding constant conferences with the Pon-
tiff; and finally requested him to summon the Cardi-
nals and foreign ministers, before whom, bareheaded,
and with his plumed hat in his hand, he indulged in
the most unmeasured invectives and menaces against
Francis ; recapitulating all the grievances of which
he had to complain ; accusing him of constantly in-
fringing the peace upon frivolous pretexts, of falsifying
his word, of troubling the tranquillity of both Italy and
Germany, and of persecuting the Duke of Savoy ; and
ultimately concluding his harangue, by declaring that
the French King must either consent to accept the
duchy of Milan for his younger son upon the condi-
tions which he had stipulated, or meet him in single
combat with sword and dagger, on the recognised and
solemn pledge that the successful combatant should,
with all the resources he could command, and under
the orders of the sovereign Pontiff, undertake a cru-
sade against the Infidels, or engage in a war which
could end only in the total ruin of one of the two
powers.
At this period of his speech, he also suffered his irri-
tation to betray him into an insult toward the French
army as unjust as it was offensive ; for, in alluding to
the result of the late hostilities, he exclaimed, " If I
Francis I 123
had no better soldiers than those of Francis, I would
forthwith go with my hands tied, and a halter about
my neck, and implore the mercy of my enemy."
This address having been delivered in the Spanish
language was very imperfectly understood by either
M. de Velly, or the Bishop of Macon, the French am-
bassador at the Papal court; but the extraordinary
and unaccustomed vehemence of Charles, and the few
sentences which they were enabled to collect, ren-
dered them suspicious that a public affront had been
offered to their sovereign ; whereupon they demanded
an audience of the Emperor on the following morning,
and required to be informed if they had rightly inter-
preted his words, and if they were empowered to in-
form their master that his imperial majesty had defied
him to single combat. Charles, in reply, assured them
that he had in no way assailed the honor of their sov-
ereign, although he had justified himself; and de-
clared that he should be deeply hurt were his words
misconstrued, as he had a great esteem for the King
his brother, and had never had cause of complaint
against him.
De Velly had, a day or two previously urged him
afresh upon the subject of the negotiation, when he be-
came irritated, and demanded impetuously : " And
you who are so importunate, have you authority to
conclude the treaty ? "
The royal envoy admitted that he was invested with
no such powers ; but added that the Admiral Brion de
Chabot and the Cardinal de Lorraine were already on
their way, and fully accredited.
" Such being the case," broke in Charles, " as you
124 Reign of
have no power to act, by what right do you tell me
that I give you nothing but words, when in point of
fact it is your own case towards me ? But of those I
have already given you so many, that I shall waste
no more until you are authorized to complete the nego-
tiation."
On ascertaining the result of their audience, the
Pontiff frankly declared to the French ambassadors,
that he saw no prospect whatever of a successful issue
to so intricate an affair ; and that he was satisfied the
Emperor was merely amusing them by words in order
to gain time, for that he never would be induced to
cede Milan to the Due d'Orleans, who, in the event
of his surviving the Dauphin, would thus merge the
duchy in the crown of France.
Moreover, there could be no doubt that the sudden
violence betrayed by Charles in the assembly, when
his previous policy had been to temporize, was oc-
casioned by the intelligence which had just reached
him, that Francis, wearied by his procrastination, had
authorized his generals to pursue their operations in
Piedmont, which they had done so successfully as to
compel his brother-in-law the Duke of Savoy to fly.
That he instantly repented is sufficiently evident
however from his conduct on the morrow, when he
endeavoured once more to cajole the French ambas-
sadors as he had previously done ; but the time for
forbearance, as was evident to all the foreign ministers
who had been present at the meeting, was now past;
and they accordingly did not lose a moment in writing
to their several courts to prepare them for the war
which appeared inevitable; and that the impression
Francis I 125
produced upon the mind of the sovereign-pontiff was
precisely similar, was made apparent by the fact that
he summoned M. de Velly and the Bishop of Macon
to his presence the same evening, and endeavoured by
every argument he could advance to dissuade them
from any act of impetuosity which might tend to aug-
ment the animosity of their sovereign against the Em-
peror, and thus disturb a peace of which Europe had
only just begun to reap the benefit. He did not con-
ceal his own displeasure at the intemperate language
uttered by Charles ; but he entreated them to palliate
it in their report; and, if possible, to avert the peril
by which the whole of Christendom was threatened.
In reply, the French envoys respectfully but firmly
represented to His Holiness, that they had no alterna-
tive save to render a faithful account to their sovereign
of all that had occurred, the insult having been too
public to afford a chance of its concealment ; but they,
nevertheless, willingly consented to use the greatest
circumspection, and to abstain from all comment which
might aggravate the evil ; reminding the Pope, more-
over, that his own neutrality would tend more power-
fully to secure the maintenance of peace than any
other measure. This the Pope at once promised to
observe ; and the ambassadors so far complied with
his request as to modify certain expressions uttered by
the Emperor, while they omitted no portion of his
after-explanation ; and as, upon their application for
a copy of the address which he had delivered in the
assembly, they were informed by the imperial min-
isters that it had been already forwarded to Leide-
kerke, the ambassador of Charles V. at the French
126 Reign of
court, by whom it was to be presented to the King,
they felt assured that the more temperate language
they had adopted would not be gainsaid by the official
document.
Such indeed proved to be the case, for the ameliora-
tions which had been made by all parties had so much
weakened the offensive character of the Emperor's
address, that the reply of Francis was extremely tem-
perate. He declared the treaty of Madrid to be invalid,
inasmuch as he had acted under constraint ; while as
regarded the renewed proposal of the duel, he asserted
that he did not consider himself to have received a
challenge, the Emperor having stated that his words
had been misconstrued, and that he had no such inten-
tion ; although, had he not been dissuaded by his min-
isters, he would have accepted it with pleasure if it
could have tended to spare the blood of his subjects.
This answer, which astonished as much as it dis-
appointed those who believed that he was too high-
hearted to brook a second affront of so marked and
unmeasured a nature, Francis communicated to all the
foreign courts whose ministers had been present at
the harangue of the Emperor ; and at the same time
he despatched the Cardinal de Lorraine to Piedmont
in order to stay the progress of his army, that Charles
might have no plausible pretext for entering upon hos-
tilities. Thence the prelate proceeded to Sienna, where
the Emperor was at that period sojourning ; and hav-
ing obtained an audience, he respectfully reminded
him of his promise to cede the duchy of Milan to the
French Prince.
The demeanour of Charles V. was cold and calm.
Francis I 127
He said that he had only made the concession under
certain conditions, which had been infringed by the
invasion of the territories of his vassal the Duke of
Savoy ; but that he was, nevertheless, willing to per-
form his promise in favour of Charles d'Angouleme;
and to give him, moreover, one of his nieces in mar-
riage.
The Cardinal in reply stated that his instructions
were to demand the investiture of the Due d'Orleans ;
and that should his imperial majesty withhold his as-
sent to that arrangement, he was commanded to pro-
ceed to Rome to acquaint the sovereign-pontiff with
the failure of the negotiation.
Charles, with a faint smile, which conveyed more of
contempt than courtesy, merely retorted by bidding
him farewell, and assuring him that he should see him
with pleasure on his return ; and thus civilly dismissed,
M. de Lorraine at once proceeded on his journey to
Rome. Late events had rendered the Emperor more
impracticable than ever; and since he had seen the
armies of the Sultan and Barbarossa flee before him,
he had begun to entertain the idea that he was des-
tined to be invincible ; a delusion in which he was
strengthened by the predictions of the astrologers, who
early in the present year (1536) had put forth the most
extraordinary statements concerning him. What some
had merely advanced from a desire of flattering his
vanity, others soon affected to confirm in order to fur-
ther their personal interests; and these extravagant
fallacies were industriously circulated throughout
Europe, where they produced an impression difficult
to understand in the present day.
128 Reign of
Among others who were infected with the weakness
of believing that it was useless to contend against one
whose destiny had been declared by the stars, was the
Marquis de Saluzzo ; who, not content with the mere
treachery which he meditated, remained for some time
with the French troops, in order to ascertain their
proposed plan of operations, and thus to render him-
self more welcome to the new master, to whom he had
resolved to transfer his services.
The mission of the Cardinal de Lorraine to the Pope
meanwhile produced no effect upon the timid nature of
Paul III ; who admitted the justice of his representa-
tions and the bad faith of the Emperor, but persisted
in declaring that he should content himself by remain-
ing neuter, and would not engage either himself, or
the Roman states, in a war which he deprecated. With
this unsatisfactory reply the French Cardinal was ac-
cordingly compelled to quit Rome ; nor did he fare
better upon his parting interview with Charles V, who
affected great moderation and an earnest desire for
peace; but who had, in fact, matured his plans, and
was about to put them into operation.
In addition to the astrological predictions to which
we have already alluded, the Emperor had been care-
ful to circulate throughout Germany exaggerated ac-
counts of the cruelties which Francis had committed
against the Protestants within his kingdom, already
sufficiently atrocious without the aid of fiction ; and
the detail was rendered the more revolting to his Ger-
man subjects by the assertion that all the victims were
of their own nation ; that all Germans were banished
from France, and that the French King had entered
* * '
V
; ~,
Francis I 129
into a league with the Infidels, by whom he was to be
assisted in the invasion of their empire. As the ne-
cessity of disabusing the German people soon became
fearfully apparent, Francis deputed Guillaume du Bel-
lay Langei to explain to them the fallacy of these mis-
chievous misrepresentations ; and that wise and up-
right minister ultimately succeeded, although not with-
out great difficulty, in convincing them that their cre-
dulity had been abused.
Meanwhile, the Cardinal de Lorraine, on his return
to France, had an interview with the King on the l/th
of May, in which he assured him that there could no
longer exist a doubt, from the preparations made by
the Emperor, that he meditated the invasion not only
of Piedmont, but even of France itself.
By a singular and unaccountable fatality, Francis
only a short time previously, when he snould have be-
come more than ever suspicious of an enemy by whom
he had been so frequently deceived ; who had wantonly
insulted him in the face of all Europe ; and who had
spent the last few months in the most active prepara-
tions for war; had persisted, in defiance of his coun-
sellors, in disarming his troops in Savoy, as though
by such means he could compel a peace; but Mont-
morenci, justly alarmed by an imprudence which he
foresaw might involve the safety of the kingdom of
France, having earnestly represented the peril of such
a measure, the King was at length reluctantly induced
to authorize him to direct Brion Chabot, if he desired
really to serve his sovereign, to fortify some of the
strongest places which he then held, in order that his
troops might be secure of a refuge in the event vQfctbe.
Emperor's descent upon Piedmont. .'^V ~ -'f"
VOL. III. 9 C'f j^ -' -I
'*
Ontario.
13 Reign of
Thus forewarned, Chabot lost no time in fortifying
Turin, garrisoning Ivree with a force of two thousand
men, and planning a camp on the P6 ; after which
he wrote to entreat Francis not to terminate his nego-
tiation with the Emperor for the space of another
month, as he should require that time to complete his
defensive operations ; and the King being anxious to
render Charles the aggressor, convinced as he now
was that he could no longer avoid a renewal of hostili-
ties, at once acceded to this arrangement ; instructing
Chabot at the same time to abandon all idea of form-
ing an encampment, and to confine himself to the com-
pletion of his fortifications, which were to be further
strengthened by an immediate reinforcement of fifteen
thousand infantry, and certain squadrons of horse, and
brigades of artillery, each under the command of its
particular chief, and in readiness to march against the
imperialists at an hour's notice.
He also despatched instructions to the governors of
Picardy and Champagne to garrison their frontier-for-
tresses with a force of fourteen thousand men, who
were to await within the walls such orders as he might
find it expedient hereafter to issue. The defence of
Guyenne was intrusted to the King of Navarre ; that
of Dauphiny to M. d'Humieres, a tried and brave gen-
eral; Barbesieux* was sent to Marseilles to protect
that city against the anticipated attack of the Genoese
admiral, Doria ; and Francis himself, once more awak-
ened from his dreams of pleasure and intrigue, repaired
* Antoine de la Rochefoucauld, Seigneur de Barbesieux, General of
the Galleys in 1528, was a descendant of the Langeac branch of that
distinguished family. He died in 1537.
Francis I 131
in person to Lyons with the main body of his army,
to resist the attempt of the Emperor to invade Prov-
ence, of which he had declared himself the sovereign
by virtue of a cession that he affirmed to have been
made to him of that province by the Connetable de
Bourbon, as well as by other rights which he did not
condescend to explain.
Unaware that his descent upon this particular point
had been anticipated, Charles V. was prepared for an
easy conquest. He had or feigned to have, emissaries
in all the principal cities ; and confidently asserted that
the consternation of the inhabitants, the weakness of
the several garrisons, and the dilapidated condition
of the fortifications, rendered his success certain. The
precautions which had been hastily but efficiently
taken were, however, destined to convince him of his
error. The French King, warned by past experience,
had left nothing to chance which could be secured by
prudence. Marseilles, Aries, Tarascon, and Beaucaire
were all strongly defended. The minor cities, which
were unprovided with the means of resistance, were
swept of their inhabitants ; the adjacent country was
laid waste; the mills, the grain, and every agrarian
edible which could not be conveyed away, was burnt,
and all supplies cut off against the arrival of the enemy.
An encampment was then formed near Cavaillon, be-
tween the Rhone and the Durance, of which the Mare-
chal de Montmorenci took the command, while with
the other moiety of his army Francis established his
own quarters at Valence; and thus prepared, he
awaited the advent of the imperial forces.
CHAPTER VII.
The Emperor Besieges Turin The Fortress of Fossano is
Entrusted by Francis I. to the Marquis de Saluzzo He
Impedes the Progress of the Works The French Officers
Suspect His Good Faith He Retires to Ravel He Betrays
His Trust Antonio da Leyva Invests Fossano The Marquis
de Saluzzo is Appointed the Emperor's Lieutenant Beyond
the Alps Charles V. Invades Provence M. de Montejan
is Surprised and Made Prisoner by the Imperialists Empty
Boasting of the Emperor Death of the Dauphin by Poison
Trial and Execution of Montecuculli Francis Accuses
the Imperialists of Instigating the Murder Indignation of
Charles V. and His Generals Catherine de' Medici is in
Her Turn Accused by Da Leyva Progress of the Imperial
Army The Emperor Enters Aix Prince Henry Joins the
French Camp Marseilles Successfully Resists the Impe-
rialists Francis Determines to Head the Army in Person
He is Dissuaded by His Generals Doria Supplies the Em-
peror's Camp Retreat of Charles V. The Tower of Muy
The Imperial Forces Establish Themselves in Savoy
The Emperor Proceeds to Spain Is Overtaken by a Storm
The Victor and the Vanquished.
THESE measures were by no means premature ; as
Charles, having engaged to re-establish the
Duke of Savoy in his dominions, had already de-
spatched an army under the command of Antonio da
Leyva to besiege Turin, while Francis had instructed
his generals to abandon all their other conquests in
132
Francis I 133
Piedmont, and to confine their operations to ensuring
the security of that city, and the fortresses of Coni and
Fossano ; the latter of which places he confided to the
keeping of the Marquis de Saluzzo, with strict direc-
tions to increase its strength and means of resistance
to the utmost extent of his abilities.
We have already recorded the meditated treachery of
the Marquis; who accordingly no sooner found him-
self in a position to serve his new sovereign, than he
commenced his operations by impeding the exertions
of the engineers, preventing the entrance of provisions
and ammunition into the town, and delaying by every
subterfuge which he could invent, the efforts of the
French officers to complete the defence of the place.
Suspicions of his good faith, however, were soon en-
tertained ; and, alarmed by the hostile demonstrations
of those about him, he abruptly withdrew to his estate
at Raval, declaring that, as his authority was not recog-
nised, he would not be responsible for the result.
Baffled at Turin, he no sooner found himself beyond
the vengeance of the French officers than he wrote to
apprise the imperialist general of the unprotected state
of Fossano, and to urge him to take possession of the
fortress before the enemy had time to strengthen it.
Antonio da Leyva did not hesitate for an instant ; but
availing himself of this unexpected and welcome in-
telligence, he left a force of ten thousand horse and a
few squadrons of cavalry before Turin, under the com-
mand of his lieutenant, and marched upon the betrayed
city, before which he sat down, in the full conviction
that it would become an easy prey.
Ill-supplied and unprepared as they were, however,
134 Reign of
the garrison defended themselves with great courage
and pertinacity ; and even when they were compelled
to capitulate, from the utter hopelessness of overcom-
ing a force which quadrupled their own, and which was
moreover well provided both with provisions and ar-
tillery, they stipulated that they should hold the for-
tress for the space of a month longer, at the termina-
tion of which time they were to vacate it if they failed
to receive succour from without. As he believed all
external aid to be impossible at the moment, Da Leyva
consented to these terms, and meanwhile attempted
the conquest of the two other towns in the neighbour-
hood, but without success ; and a few days before that
which had been named for the surrender of Fossano,
the Emperor arrived in person at Savillano, where he
accepted the fealty of the Marquis de Saluzzo, and
appointed him his lieutenant beyond the Alps.
Then and there it was that Charles V., intoxicated
by his late successes, imparted to his generals the de-
sign which he had formed of invading Provence ; nor
would he be turned from his purpose either by their
sober arguments or their vehement expostulations.
In vain did Antonio da Leyva even kneel at his feet,
imploring him not to endanger his military reputation
by so dangerous a measure ; he remained deaf to every
persuasion, and made immediate preparations for car-
rying his intention into effect. His army consisted of
ten thousand horse, and between forty and fifty thou-
sand infantry ; a force with which, as we have already
stated, he anticipated that he should be enabled with-
out difficulty to possess himself of the whole province,
and thus secure ingress to the very heart of the French
Francis I 135
dominions. He accordingly passed the Var on the
25th of July, and at the head of his troops marched to
Saint Laurent, the first town on the French frontier,
where he planted his standards, and took up his resi-
dence for a short time, in order to await the arrival of
the fleet under Andrea Doria, which was freighted
with ample supplies for the invading army.
After his temporary halt at Saint Laurent, the Em-
peror pursued his march to Provence, and advanced
without encountering the slightest opposition until he
reached the village of Tourbes, situated between Brig-
nolles and St. Maximin, where he surprised a small
force under M. de Montejan,* and Boisy, the son of
the late Admiral Bonnivet, who being unprepared for
his immediate approach, and unable to contend against
an enemy so formidable, were, after a bold but inef-
fectual struggle, during which the whole of their little
band amounting to no more than five hundred men
were cut to pieces, themselves made prisoners by the
imperialists. This mischance was rendered the more
mortifying from the fact, that these two imprudent
young nobles, wearied of inaction, had obtained the
reluctant consent of Montmorenci to indulge that taste
for adventure so prevalent at the time, and so destruc-
tive of good discipline, and to sally forth in search of
* The Marechal de Montejan was an officer of great courage, but vain
and impetuous; and who was, in consequence, frequently compared to
M. de Lautrec. Having occasion, while acting as the King's lieutenant
in Piedmont, to carry on a negotiation with the Marquis del Guasto, he
pushed his arrogance so far as to propose that they should treat through
the medium of ambassadors, an arrangement which was carried into
effect, to the great indignation of Francis I., who reprimanded him
severely for assuming the state and privilege of a crowned head; nor,
although he availed himself of his courage and experience as a general,
did he ever again restore him to favour.
136 Reign of
adventures ; their object being to harass the skirmish-
ing parties of the enemy, and, if possible, to gain the
first laurels won during the campaign ; and thus,
through their own idle folly, they forfeited all future
hope of assisting in the war.
The intelligence of their capture was a source of
great annoyance to the King, who immediately fore-
saw that his vainglorious adversary would profit by
the circumstance to assert that he had beaten the
French on their first encounter; but the event even
exceeded his previsions, as Charles, anxious to main-
tain the prestige which had attached to him since his
recent triumphs, caused it to be reported throughout
Europe that he had slaughtered or driven back the
whole vanguard of the French army.
This comparatively unimportant incident was, how-
ever, fated to be soon obliterated from the mind of
Francis, by the deepest calamity which had yet be-
fallen him. The Dauphin, after an illness of only four
days, had ceased to exist. This Prince, then only in
his nineteenth year, had already, by the urbanity of his
disposition, his literary attainments, and his calm and
lofty courage, greatly endeared himself to all by whom
he was approached. The only defect which he had
inherited from his royal father was an inordinate love
of dissipation ; and besides his accredited mistress, the
beautiful Mademoiselle de Lestrange, he indulged in
other intrigues less public. This error was, however,
counterbalanced by so many amiable qualities that it
did not avail to weaken his popularity ; and even Fran-
cis himself had begun to express his satisfaction that
the Spaniard had at length been converted into a
Francis I 137
Frenchman. The Dauphin had recently joined the
army at Lyons, where he had been welcomed with en-
thusiasm ; and the rejoicings consequent on his arrival
were not yet over when he was attacked by the illness
which terminated his existence.
His death was at first attributed to his imprudence
in having, when heated at tennis, drunk a copious
draught of water ; but he had no sooner expired than
symptoms of poison became apparent which awoke
the most sinister suspicions. He was, moreover, in
the constant habit of drinking water almost to excess,
under circumstances which would have rendered such
an indulgence fatal to most constitutions ; and this
propensity was so well known, that Donna Anna
Beatrix de Pacheco, one of the maids of honour to
Queen Eleonora, had presented to him an earthen vase,
of a peculiar clay which induced an effervescence in
the water without divesting it of its coolness, and which
she had brought with her from Portugal.
The unhappy Dauphin had, as we have mentioned
above, been engaged at tennis ; and the weather being
sultry, he suffered so severely from the heat, that the
moment the game was concluded he desired one of
his pages to bring him a draught of water. The youth
hastened to obey his commands, and as there chanced
to be a well in the meadow which had been selected
for the sport, he at once lowered the bucket, placing
the vase from which the Prince constantly drank upon
the margin of the well, while he drew up the water.
The weight causing him to be somewhat tardy in this
operation, it was soon remembered that the Comte
Sebastian de Montecuculli, a nobleman of Ferrara,
138 Reign of
who had been appointed sewer in the household of the
Dauphin, had approached the spot as if with the in-
tention of hastening his movements, but without inter-
fering to assist him ; and as no other individual was
near the spring at the time, the fatal event which after-
wards took place was attributed to his agency by all
who were aware of this circumstance.
Having drawn the water, the page without waiting
to rinse the vase plunged it into the bucket, and carried
it to the Prince, who in accordance with his usual habit
emptied it at a draught. In a few seconds he com-
plained of giddiness and intense pain; frightful con-
vulsions supervened; nor could all the science of his
physicians afford him the slightest relief. It had been
previously arranged that he should leave Lyons early
on the following morning for Tournon, in order to
join the King who had halted in that city on his way to
Valence ; nor could the entreaties of his friends dis-
suade him from persisting in his purpose. The only
concession which they could obtain was, that he would
abandon the idea of pursuing his journey on horse-
back, and proceed by water; but this exertion, miti-
gated as it was, probably hastened his death, for he had
scarcely reached the presence of his father, when he
sank exhausted into the arms of his attendants, and in
a few hours expired.
During the first paroxysm of his anguish none dared
to inform the King of the peculiar symptoms exhibited
by the disorder of the Prince ; but ere long the exist-
ence of arsenic, which was discovered in his body,
rendered all further prospect of concealment hopeless ;
still, even when the fact was ascertained beyond all
Francis I 139
doubt, each of the attendants shrank from revealing
the fatal truth. It was soon evident, however, that
Francis had himself become suspicious that his son
was the victim of an assassin ; and the hesitation of the
court physicians was terminated by his vehement ques-
tionings ; for as during their passage up the Rhone,
they had strictly watched every phase of the disease,
and conferred together upon its nature, they deemed
it expedient at length to request the Cardinal de Lor-
raine to communicate to the King their solemn convic-
tion that the Dauphin had died by poison.
At this confirmation of his own misgivings the an-
guish of the parent yielded to the indignation of the
sovereign; and averting his face from the death-bed,
Francis sternly commanded all who were present, as
they valued their heads, to point out to him the sus-
pected author of the crime. Thus adjured, more than
one of the Dauphin's attendants were prepared to ac-
cuse Montecuculli ; and the King had no sooner heard
the grounds upon which the accusation was based than
he made instant preparations for his return to Lyons.
Montecuculli was immediately arrested ; and, under
the agony of the question, the wretched man admitted
his guilt ; but whether from compunction, or in order
to escape the torments to which he was subjected, it
would be now impossible to decide. Thus much is
certain, however, that he not only confessed to the mur-
der of the Prince, and declared that while the page
was drawing up the water, he had flung arsenic into
the vase, but even added, that it was his intention to
destroy the King himself and his two remaining sons
by the same means.
140 Reign of
When questioned as to his motive for committing
such deadly crimes, he replied that he had been insti-
gated to them by Antonio da Leyva and Ferdinand de
Gonzaga;* asserting, moreover, that they had, like
himself, acted under superior authority. Although the
miserable culprit (if such, indeed, he were) never once
directly accused the Emperor by name, as the author-
ity to which he alluded, he nevertheless left no doubt
of his meaning, by entering into details which tended
to implicate him in the crime. Among other circum-
stances, he stated that on one occasion when he had an
audience of Charles V. that monarch had expressed
considerable curiosity as to the diet of the French
King, and his habits at table ; an assertion which ac-
quired additional importance from the fact that, only
a short time previous to the death of the Dauphin, Don
Lopez de Soria, the imperial Ambassador at Venice,
had inquired who would become King of France in the
event of the demise of the reigning sovereign and his
sons.
Francis convened a council, before whom the con-
fession of the culprit was read, and by whom his con-
demnation was instantly pronounced. He was sen-
* Ferdinand de Gonzaga was the representative of a. noble family of
Parma, whose ancestor, Louis I., became, on the death of Passerino
Buonacolsi (in the I4th century), Count of Mantua; Jean-Francois, the
great-grandson of Louis, was created Marquis of Mantua in 1503; and
finally, the marquisate was erected into a duchy for Ferdinand in 1530.
This Prince commanded the Spanish troops at the siege of Florence ;
was Colonel-General of the light-horse under the Due de Bourbon;
became viceroy of Sicily ; accompanied the Emperor on his invasion of
France, as his lieutenant-general ; and was finally appointed prime min-
ister to the son of his sovereign in Flanders, whom he served as faith-
fully as he had previously served his father. He died full of years and
honours, with the proud boast of having gained many battles, and never
lost a fortress.
Francis I 141
tenced to be first scourged, and then torn to pieces by
horses.
Thus far, even barbarous as such a sentence un-
doubtedly was after the fearful tortures which the
wretched culprit had already undergone, some excuse
may be found for the King in the fact that he had not
only been deprived of his first-born son by the most
cruel means, but that his own life, and those of the two
younger Princes, had likewise been menaced and
this, moreover, by an agent of his most hated enemy ;
but surely nothing can extenuate the fact, that, not
content with a description of the dying agonies of the
victim of his vengeance, he resolved to become a spec-
tator of the hideous scene, and even commanded the
attendance of the Princes of the blood, the prelates, the
foreign ambassadors, and all the men of rank then resi-
dent in Lyons. Nay more, if the evidence of Rcederer
is to be credited, the court ladies themselves were not
exempted from this revolting spectacle; nor was the
vengeance of the King appeased until he had seen the
mangled remains of the culprit torn into fragments by
the infuriated populace.
At the close of the execution, Francis addressed cir-
culars to the Protestant Princes, informing them of all
the details of the murder, and the fate of the murderer ;
and in these letters he openly accused the two imperial-
ist generals of having instigated Montecuculli to the
commission of the crime for which he had suffered.
Charles V. resented, with the deepest indignation, an
accusation which he could not but feel was directed
against himself ; and declared that he would rather have
forfeited his empire than have had his name implicated
142 Reign of
in so heinous and revolting a crime ; while Gonzaga
and Da Leyva, with still more vehemence, protested
that were Montecuculli still alive, they would prove
their innocence by meeting him in arms, as they were
now willing and anxious to do all those who should
dare to affix so foul a stain upon their honour. Nor
were they satisfied with mere self-exculpation ; for,
after demanding to know what benefit could have
accrued either to their imperial master or themselves
by the extirpation of the royal family of France, they
retorted by throwing the guilt of the assassination upon
Catherine de' Medici, who, by the death of the elder
Prince, became Dauphiness, and stood upon the very
step of the throne.
In ordinary cases such an accusation would have
been as incredible as it was monstrous ; but her early
education, her known subtlety, and her undisguised
ambition, rendered the niece of the Pontiff, young as
she was, so obnoxious to suspicion, that there were
not wanting many, even in France, who believed her
to be guilty.
Throughout the whole commencement of its march,
the imperial army had been enabled to subsist upon
the hoards made by the inhabitants of the several vil-
lages devastated by order of the French marshal, in
order to arrest its progress by famine; the unhappy
peasantry having hidden away their stores of grain
and wine in the caves and forests, in the vain hope of
securing them until the contending armies should have
vacated their immediate neighbourhood; but these
secret depositories, which had escaped the hurried re-
searches of the French troops, owing to their eager-
J
~.
Francis I H3
ness to lay all waste before the advent of the enemy,
did not succeed in eluding the more anxious eyes of
the imperialists ; who, having once discovered that the
agrarian wealth of the province had been rather dis-
placed than destroyed, instituted a perpetual survey,
which, as we have stated, rendered them independent
of the precautions of Montmorenci.
Doria had, moreover, taken possession of the port
of Toulon ; and had even announced to the Emperor
the practicability of navigating the Rhone with his
galleys, and of assuring to the invading army all the
supplies of which it might stand in need. In this
endeavour he, however, found himself frustrated ; and
as the French troops persisted in remaining within
their entrenchments, and the cachettes of the peasantry
became exhausted, Charles no sooner found himself
in the plain, surrounded by dismantled cities aban-
doned villages, and a devastated country, with the ene-
my entrenched at Avignon, and no chance of supplies
save from Toulon, (which he was aware must be cut
off before they could reach him,) than he resolved to
avert the famine which stared him in the face by com-
pelling an engagement.
He consequently encamped in the middle of August
before Aix, where the increasing necessities of his
troops induced him to enter the city, which he did,
asserting that as the suzerain of Aries and Provence,
he took possession of the capital by that right. He,
however, found only a desert where he had looked to
possess himself of a flourishing and wealthy popula-
tion. Not only the Archbishop and his clergy had
abandoned the place, but also the judicial officers and
1 44 Reign of
the principal inhabitants; and although by virtue ol
the claim he had advanced he summoned them to re-
turn, as they made no response to his citation, he de-
livered over the town to pillage; and before its final
abandonment on the I3th of September, issued an
order for the destruction by fire of the Palace of Jus-
tice, at the request of the Duke of Savoy, who accom-
panied his army, and who was anxious to revenge the
excesses of which the French troops had been guilty
in Piedmont.
Baffled in his hopes of establishing his permanent
headquarters at Aix, and of securing by such means
the revictualling of his army, Charles discovered that
he had no alternative save to possess himself of Aries
or Marseilles. The camp of Montmorenci was too well
defended to encourage an attack; and although the
position of Aries was favourable to his enterprise,
should the siege prove tardy he was aware that the
famine which had already commenced in his ranks
must inevitably militate against his success, while, even
should he make himself master of the city, he might
find it as utterly devastated as Aix; whereas in the
event of his taking Marseilles, the fleet of Andrea
Doria could in a few hours arrive to his relief.
Henry, Due d'Orleans, now Dauphin of France, had
meanwhile joined the French army at Valence, and was
no sooner apprised that the Emperor had caused his
light-horsemen to reconnoitre the camp at Avignon,
than he earnestly entreated the King to allow him to
join the Marechal de Montmorenci, and to share in
the honours of the engagement which appeared inevit-
able. But Francis, who had been so lately bereft of
Francis I 145
one son, trembled at the prospect of losing a second ;
and for a considerable time he firmly refused to allow
the Prince to separate himself from his own person.
His importunities were, however, so vehement and
so unceasing, that the King at length yielded, only
enjoining him with great earnestness to obey under
all circumstances the dictates of Montmorenci; who
would, as he declared, while he guarded the honour
of the Dauphin as jealously as his own, be even more
careful of his safety. Moreover, with a prudence
which, in so haughty and despotic a monarch as Fran-
cis I, sufficiently revealed his anxiety, he bade the
enthusiastic young Prince remember that he held no
official rank in the army which he was about to join ;
but that he would be a mere volunteer, who could as-
sume no authority whatever, and who must be con-
tented to obey, in order that he might hereafter be
competent to command.
Satisfied with his success, the Dauphin promised all
that his royal father required ; and attended by several
of his personal friends, he at once took leave of the
King, and proceeded to the camp, where he was re-
ceived with the same enthusiasm which had only a
few weeks previously greeted the appearance of his
murdered brother.
As we have shown, however, the Emperor aban-
doned all idea of attacking Montmorenci ; and the total
pillage of a supply which had been landed at Toulon
by Doria, and which became the prey of the impov-
erished peasantry, convinced him that he must at once
compel an engagement, or abandon his hitherto abor-
tive enterprise.
VOL. III. to
146 Reign of
He first, therefore, proceeded to Marseilles; but
after two or three hostile demonstrations, he discov-
ered that all attempts to take the city would prove
utterly vain. In addition to a garrison of seven thou-
sand men, there were thirteen galleys in the port; while
his own troops, famished for want of proper and whole-
some nourishment, threw themselves eagerly upon the
grapes, and even the immature fruits by which they
were surrounded, and soon added to the horrors of
famine the sufferings of dysentery. Within one month
a third of his army perished, and among the rest his
brave and faithful general Antonio da Leyva; while
the forces of the French King were augmented by a
reinforcement of twenty thousand Swiss and six thou-
sand Germans.
He was next compelled to abandon the siege of
Aries; for although its position, in the midst of
heights by which it was commanded, appeared at the
first glance to afford great facilities to a besieging
army, the Emperor soon ascertained that it was not
only strongly and efficiently fortified, but that it con-
tained within its walls some of the first chivalry of
France.
Nothing was consequently left for Charles save an
open battle or a precipitate retreat ; while as no one
for a moment suspected that he would adopt the lat-
ter alternative, the enthusiasm in all ranks of the
French army was excited to the highest pitch ; and
the King himself, who had hitherto remained at Val-
ence, in compliance with the advice and entreaties of
his generals, summoned a council, at which he ex-
pressed his determination to join the main body at
Francis I 147
Avignon, in order to be present at the forthcoming
engagement.
In vain did Montmorenci, so soon as he was apprised
of this resolution, entreat Francis not to expose his
person unnecessarily; and implore him not to incur
the risk of involving the kingdom in inevitable con-
fusion in the event of his death or capture, while by
remaining at Valence the result of a victory must be
equally honourable to him, without involving the same
contingencies ; in vain did he represent that the pres-
ent opportunity was unusually favourable for the first
essay in arms of the Dauphin; and express his con-
viction that the young Prince, with the assistance of
his own experience and that of the principal generals,
would win honour to himself and to the French name
by convincing the Emperor that the subjects of his
Majesty were invincible upon their own soil ; the reso-
lution of the King remained unshaken.
Equally unavailing were the assurances of the Mare-
chal that the Emperor was no longer in a position to
maintain his ground ; and that, decimated as his camp
had become by disease and famine, he must of neces-
sity retreat should their own troops refuse to give him
immediate battle. The hour of forbearance was past,
and Francis refused to defer to his arguments. Du
Bellay added his entreaties to those of Montmorenci,
but with no better success. Still, however, the Mare-
chal ventured to insist ; and he was prompted to this
pertinacity by the fact that a superstitious feeling had
grown up in the French army that the presence of the
King upon any field of battle would inevitably entail
defeat; an unfortunate and mortifying belief which
the monarch was naturally anxious to eradicate.
148 Reign of
" Enough, my lords, enough," exclaimed Francis
impatiently, " On the faith of a gentleman ! it shall
never be said that while my arch-enemy is at the head
of his armies, sword in hand, I am content to remain
cooped up within the walls of Valence, as though I
feared to beard him on my own territories. No, Sirs ;
harangue as you may, I will go forth to meet him ;
and perchance the duel of which he hath made such
loud bruits throughout all Christendom, may chance to
be foughten when he least expects it. I am well
aware that many among you who are endeavouring to
dissuade me from what I hold to be a right royal duty,
are infected by a frivolous superstition, to which, as a
Christian King, I cannot yield my faith. My con-
fidence is in GOD: he alone rules the destinies alike of
individuals and of armies."
On the following morning, Francis, after having at-
tended the early mass, accordingly embarked upon the
Rhone, and proceeded to Avignon, having left a strong
garrison for the protection of Valence; and despite
the disparaging apprehensions of his army, he was
received with joyous acclamations, and entered the
camp with a brilliant staff, escorted by the whole of
the gendarmerie, who had hastened to meet him.
At this period Doria had succeeded in landing and
forwarding supplies to the Emperor, which enabled
him to silence the murmurs of his troops, and to in-
spire them in some degree with renovated hope ; but
the evil had taken too deep a root; and while the
French were hourly expecting the engagement for
which they had long panted, Martin du Bellay Langei,
who had been sent to reconnoitre the movements of
Francis I 149
the enemy, returned with the astounding intelligence
that the imperialists were in full retreat ; and that, in
order to facilitate their march, they had abandoned all
their sick and wounded.
The accuracy of this statement was soon proved ;
for, on the entrance of Francis and his troops into the
deserted camp, a most frightful spectacle presented it-
self. Nevertheless, Montmorenci refused to pursue the
retreating enemy; he dreaded lest the hunted lion
should turn to bay, and that in the extremity of his
despair he should sacrifice himself rather than not
wreak his fury on his enemy. Peronne was moreover
menaced, and he was compelled to detach a strong
force to its assistance. He consequently contented
himself, so soon as he had ascertained that the Em-
peror was on his march towards Flanders, by despatch-
ing the light-horse under the command of the Comte
de Tende,* Du Bellay Langei, and Bonnivet, to harass
his rear-guard, by which means a great slaughter of
the imperialists took place, as the flank squadrons cut
off all the foraging parties that were detached from the
main body, sparing neither men nor horses ; until the
road between Aix and Frejus was strewn with arms
and baggage, the wounded and the dead.
This was not the only impediment, however, which
the Emperor experienced to his retreat; for, as his
* The Comte de Tende was a gallant soldier, who was Colonel of the
Swiss troops in Naples; and subsequently Governor of Provence, where
he rendered good service to the King, until he became suspected of
Lutheranism, which faith his wife openly professed. The Provencals
then rebelled against his authority, and caused hint to be replaced by
his son, the Comte de Sommerive; declaring that Provence was de-
stroyed by three equal plagues ; the winds, the Durance, and the Comtesse
de Tende; the first overthrowing everything, the second flooding every-
thing, and the third perverting everything.
150 Reign of
troops were defiling beneath a tower of the village of
Muy, which he had supposed to be abandoned, some
peasants who had taken refuge there, upon seeing the
splendid train of the Spanish leader Garcilasso de la
Vega,* the first poet of his day and nation, whom,
from the magnificence of his appearance, they mistook
for Charles himself, simultaneously fired a volley, by
which they mortally wounded De la Vega, and killed
several of his immediate suite. Enraged by this ir-
reparable loss, the Emperor, careless of the danger to
which he might be exposed by such a delay, instantly
halted his army, stormed the tower, which was unable
to withstand so formidable an attack, and having se-
cured the miserable men within, hung them from the
portal of the tower, and then pursued his march, leav-
ing this ghastly memorial of his passage as his last
legacy of vengeance.
Mortified and disappointed, with a diminished and
discontented army, and an exhausted exchequer,
Charles despatched his troops, under the command of
the Marquis del Guasto, into the Milanese, where he
quartered them in the cities of the Duke of Savoy (who
thus, invaded alike by his friends and his enemies,
found himself dispossessed of all his territories, save
the city and fortress of Nice, into which he had re-
tired) ; and this arrangement effected, he himself pro-
* Garcilasso de la Vega, otherwise Garcias Lasso, the celebrated Span-
ish poet, was born at Toledo in 1503. He served in the army of Charles
V., as a volunteer, in Germany, Italy, and France, and died of a wound
received in the retreat of Frejus, at Nice, in 1536. He was the head
of a new school of poetry; and enriched his native language by the
introduction of the most elegant of the foreign idioms. He was prin-
cipally famous, however, for his odes, his eclogues (among which the
most popular were Nemoroso and Salicio), his elegies, his sonnets, and
bis ballads.
Francis I 151
ceeded to Genoa, where his galleys were awaiting him,
and where he remained for a fortnight before he em-
barked for Spain. His whole expedition was, how-
ever, fated to be unfortunate ; for he was no sooner
at mid-sea than he was overtaken by so terrific a storm,
that not only were six of his galleys sunk, but also two
larger vessels, one of which was freighted with his plate,
and the other with his stud.
Never was failure more complete or more disastrous.
The loud boastings with which Charles had undertaken
his campaign were yet ringing in the ears of all Europe ;
for only two months had elapsed from the period of his
embarkation for France, and of his retreat thence as a
fugitive, who had not even met the enemy whom
he went forth to defeat. To Francis his triumph was
bloodless, while to the Emperor his failure was a blot
which could never be effaced. The prestige of his mili-
tary glory was gone ; the conqueror of Solyman and
Barbarossa was shorn of his laurels ; and his keenest
pang arose from the consciousness that he had been
compelled to fly before the very troops whom he had
affected to despise.
CHAPTER VIII.
Consternation of the Italian Princes The Siege of Turin is
Raised The Imperial Troops Enter Picardy Heroism of
the Women of St. Regnier Capitulation of Guise The Im-
perialists Besiege Peronne They are Repulsed by Fleu-
ranges Death of Fleuranges Alarm in Paris Annebaut
and Burie Defend Turin Burie is Made Captive at Casal
Francis Strengthens the Frontiers of Provence James V.
of Scotland Meets the King at Lyons James V. is Married
to the Princess Marguerite Jealousy of Henry VIII.
Knight-errantry of James V. Death of the Princess Mar-
guerite James Demands the Hand of Marie de Guise
Feud between the Royal Favourites Virulence of the
Duchesse d'Etampes Disunion in the Royal Family Infatu-
ation of Francis I. Apprehensions of Madame d'Etampes
Her Passion for Montmorenci Francis Lays Claim to
Flanders, Artois, and Charlerois Convocation of the Parlia-
ment Charles V. is Cited to Appear before the French
Tribunals The Emperor Disregards the Summons The
French Enter Artois They Take Hesdin The Imperialists
Invest St. Pol The City is Taken by De Buren De Buren
Marches upon Terouenne Annebaut Relieves the City A
Fatal Skirmish A Truce is Effected between France, Picar-
dy, and the Low Countries Francis Openly Avows His Al-
liance with the Sultan Solyman Enters Albania Del
Guasto Successfully Pursues the War in Piedmont M.
d'Humieres is Appointed to the Chief Command of the
French Army in Italy The Marquis de Saluzzo Assists Del
Guasto in the Siege of Carmagnole He is Killed by a
Musket-ball Carmagnole Surrenders Cruelty of the Im-
152
Francis I 153
perialist General The Dauphin and Montmorenci March to
Lyons, and are Followed by the King Del Guasto Fortifies
the Pass-de-Suze, which is Forced by the French The Im-
perialists Raise the Siege of Pignerol, and Encamp at Mont-
calier The Dauphin Compels Them to Retreat, and Takes
the City Francis Resolves to Take the Field in Person
The Truce is Extended to Piedmont The Duke of Savoy
Retires to Nice Charles V. Endeavours to Effect an Eu-
ropean Peace, and Offers the Hand of His Niece to the
Due d'Orleans Francis Objects to the Proposed Condi-
tions Montmorenci is Created Connetable Death of the
Chancellor du Bourg.
THE sensation created throughout Italy by the pro-
posed invasion of France had meanwhile been
intense. The petty Princes of that country, aware that
should the Emperor be successful, the preservation of
their independence could only be secured by a univer-
sal coalition, made instant preparations for a league;
and not daring to declare their purpose openly, entered
into secret negotiations to that effect with the more
powerful states. The French King, anxious to second
their efforts, had appointed as their general the Comte
Guy de Rangon, under whose command they placed
a force of ten thousand men, with which they attempted
to possess themselves of Genoa, but a reinforcement of
imperialists which had just reached that city rendered
this attack abortive. They next marched upon Ast,
when the Spaniards raised the siege of Turin, and al-
lowed them to take Carignano, Raconis, Carmagnoles,
and, with slight exceptions, the whole marquisate of
Saluzzo.
During the invasion of Provence by the Emperor,
the Comte de Nassau, and Adrian de Croy, Comte de
154 Reign of
Rceux, had entered Picardy at the head of twenty thou-
sand foot and seven thousand horse ; and after laying
waste the open country and pillaging all the villages
upon their route, had made themselves masters of
Bray-sur-Somme, and several other places of less im-
portance. Encouraged by this success, they next en-
deavoured to reduce St. Rignier ; but the town being
well garrisoned, and the walls furnished with artillery,
they received a check for which, from the apparent
insignificance of the place, they were totally unpre-
pared. They had, moreover, in this attempt, to com-
bat not only the troops but also the citizens, and even
the women, who in many instances ascended the ram-
parts, and assisted in repelling the besiegers, by pour-
ing hot water and boiling tar upon their heads ; while
others, with a courage which should have immortalized
their memory as heroines, however incompatible it
might be with their nature as women, assumed the
garb of their husbands, and fought bravely with sword
and spear until they succeeded in wresting two stan-
dards from the enemy.
Thence the imperialists had directed their march
towards the city of Guise ; where the Due de Vendome,
who despaired of making an effectual resistance, had
issued orders to the garrison to shut themselves up in
the citadel ; they had not time, however, to effect this
arrangement before the enemy was upon them, and
they were accordingly compelled to capitulate. Nas-
sau then proceeded to attack Peronne, which was even
less capable than Guise of sustaining an assault ; and so
great was the alarm of the inhabitants when they be-
came apprised of the approach of the imperialist army,
Francis I 155
that they resolved to save themselves by flight ; a de-
termination which was only abandoned when they were
recalled to a more prudent line of conduct by the
courageous example of a wealthy landholder in the
neighbourhood, M. d'Estourmel, who, instead of flying
from the city, caused all his grain and other edibles to
be transported within the walls, and himself took up
his abode there with his family. The example so
boldly given was immediately followed ; and the un-
expected appearance of Fleuranges, at the head of a
small force, restored them in some degree to confidence.
Their means of defence were, however, so scanty, and
the operations of the enemy so vigorous, that hope soon
began to fail; their ammunition became exhausted,
their fortifications were dilapidated, and their provi-
sions were inadequate for the supply of the inhabitants.
The Emperor's artillery had told fearfully within the
first four-and-twenty hours, and several large breaches
were made in the walls. Nassau, moreover, opened a
mine under the old tower of Peronne, (an historical pile
famous as the prison of Charles the Simple and Louis
XL), which overthrew it to half its height, and buried
in its ruins the Comte de Dammartin who shared the
command with Fleuranges. Notwithstanding this mis-
fortune, however, the gallant little band still held out ;
and just as they were about to become the prey of the
enemy, the Due de Guise, who had been apprised by
Fleuranges of the extremity to which they were re-
duced, no longer possessing either food or powder, suc-
ceeded in supplying them with both ; as well as in re-
inforcing them by four hundred crossbow men, whom
he introduced into the town across the marshes, which
156 Reign of
being considered impassable, were less carefully
guarded than the other avenues to the city. Although
this fact was ascertained too late by the imperialists,
they nevertheless continued the siege, and made two or
three more assaults upon the outworks ; but they were
soon compelled to abandon the enterprise, leaving their
ladders and a number of their bravest troops in the
ditches. On the loth of September, finding all their
efforts to take the place unavailing, while the loss of
life became daily greater, they raised the siege; and
thus abandoned their enterprise the very day before
that on which the Emperor had commenced his own
retreat from Provence.
The enemy had no sooner withdrawn his forces than
Fleuranges hastened to meet the King, who was on
his march homeward, and to report the result of his
courageous defence. He was not long destined, how-
ever, to enjoy the triumph which he had so nobly
earned, for only a short time subsequently he received
intelligence of the death of his equally brave father at
Sedan ; and while on his way to pay the last tribute of
respect to his remains, he fell a victim to a malignant
fever, and France was thus deprived of one of her best
and noblest soldiers.
When it became known in Paris that Peronne was
in a state of siege, the alarm was universal ; little hope
being entertained that the enemy would be arrested in
their march towards the capital by a city so ill prepared
against aggression ; and it was entirely owing to the
zealous and judicious exertions of the Cardinal du
Bellay, the metropolitan Bishop, that confidence was
ultimately restored. The King on his departure for
Francis I 157
the south had, in addition to his ecclesiastical rank,
appointed Du Bellay lieutenant-general of the capital ;
and he had lost no time in conveying all the wheat and
wine which could be obtained within a round of six
leagues into the storehouses of the city ; both of which
proved to be so abundant in quantity as to suffice not
only for the supply of the whole population during the
space of an entire year, but also for that of a garrison
of thirty thousand men. The energy of the Parisians
on this occasion equalled his own ; for they no sooner
became convinced of his power as well as of his will to
protect them, than they volunteered to give him a
brigade of artillery and ten thousand troops, to be
maintained at their own cost so long as the enemy
should occupy the frontier. The gallantry of Fleur-
anges and his little garrison soon relieved them, how-
ever, from their apprehensions, and the fortifications
which they were hastily constructing were accordingly
abandoned.
Meanwhile the Admiral d'Annebaut,* and M. de
Burie.f who commanded at Turin, not only defended
* M. d'Annebaut was a celebrated general, who made his first cam-
paign under the Marechal de Montmorenci at Mezieres, where he ac-
quired a reputation which he never subsequently forfeited. He was
Colonel of the Light-Horse under the Comte de Saint-Pol in Italy, and
narrowly escaped sharing his captivity, when that Prince was made
prisoner by Antonio da Leyva at Milan. He was afterwards appointed
Governor of Turin; and was rewarded for his bravery and judgment
while holding that dignity, by the vacant baton of the Mare'chal de
Montejan.
t M. de Burie commenced his career as a simple bowman, but soon
distinguished himself so much as to attain to high military rank. He
was a man of good family, but so poor that the first horse which he
was compelled to provide while serving under the Grand-Master of
Savoy, was presented to him by the Comte de Bordeille, who was aware
that he was unable to purchase one. His personal prowess, however,
soon enabled him to attain the grade of a colonel of infantry, and he
158 Reign of
that place with the greatest zeal, but harassed the enemy
by frequent and daring sallies beyond the walls, con-
tinually making prisoners, and securing booty. On
one of these occasions, however, Burie, whom his pre-
vious successes had rendered less cautious than before,
was surrounded by the troops of the Marquis del
Guasto in Casal, which town he had just taken, and
was made prisoner after a vigorous resistance, to-
gether with the remnant of his men who survived. M.
d'Humieres was forthwith despatched to replace him
with a reinforcement of ten thousand lansquenets ; and
the French King, having thus provided for the safety
of Turin, proceeded to Marseilles, where he confirmed
the municipal privileges both of that city and of Aix,
although he refused to remit the taxes until the de-
vastations to which they had been subjected could be
repaired ; declaring that however deeply he felt the
hardships to which they had been subjected, the out-
lay necessary for the defence of the kingdom at that
period would not permit him to accede to their request.
He then strengthened all the frontier fortresses of Prov-
ence and Languedoc ; and having thus secured the
safety of his southern territories, and the season being
adverse to all further operations, he once more set forth
for the capital.
At Lyons he was met by James V. of Scotland, who,
was so accomplished an engineer, that he was the rival in that science
of Pietro da Navarro, previously considered the first engineer of the
age. He next obtained the government of Guyenne, where he acquitted
himself with so much honour that the King conferred upon him the order
of St. Michael. During the intestine commotions which succeeded he
was suspected of Lutheranism, from the reluctance which he evinced to
put to death such of the Reformists as fell into his hands. He died
poor, never having enriched himself by the spoils of the provinces over
which he had been called to rule, as was too much the fashion of that day.
Francis I 159
eager to prove his sense of the alliance which had so
long existed between his own ancestors and the French
sovereigns, and doubtlessly also anxious to secure the
support of Francis against England, had voluntarily
embarked with a force of sixteen thousand men to
assist him in his campaign. Nor had the Scottish King
persisted in his purpose without considerable difficulty,
as the fleet which conveyed his little army was three
times driven back by adverse winds; but so soon as
he was enabled to land at Dieppe with a portion of his
troops, he had hastened to make his way to the theatre
of war ; when, as we have already stated, he encoun-
tered the King on his return.
Francis was not slow to express his gratitude for so
signal an act of friendship and good-will; and upon
his expressing his desire to requite it, James replied by
reminding him that he had already led him to hope for
the hand of Madame Marguerite, his eldest daughter,
and warmly urging him now to fulfil his promise. At
such a moment, and under such circumstances, the
French monarch did not hesitate, although James was
already affianced to a daughter of the Due de Ven-
dome; and accordingly the Scottish King accompanied
the royal train to the capital as the future son-in-law
of the sovereign.
On the ist of January, 1537, the marriage was sol-
emnized with great magnificence at the episcopal
palace; and it sufficed to alienate the friendship and
confidence of Henry VIII. , who looked with extreme
jealousy upon this alliance. His own position was at
the moment so embarrassing, however, that he con-
160 Reign of
tented himself by turning his back upon M. de la
Pommeraye,* the Ambassador who had been sent by
Francis to announce it to him ; the unfortunate Anne
Boleyn having just fallen a victim to his ruthless
caprice, while he had already become the husband of
Jane Seymour. In obedience to his passions he had
alternately persecuted both the Protestants and the
Romanists, and was, consequently, distrusted by both
parties; the alliance of James V. with a French Prin-
cess destroyed, as he was well aware, the balance of
the two kingdoms, and rendered his position more
onerous than before ; nor could he overcome his morti-
fication when he remembered that the hand of his own
daughter Mary, whom he had recently bastardized,
had been twice offered to the Scottish King; once by
the Emperor, who had pledged himself that, although
thus legally disinherited by her father, she should
nevertheless succeed to the throne of England ; and on
another occasion by himself, as a pledge of alliance
between the two countries ; on the sole condition that
James should, like himself, become the avowed pro-
tector of the Reformed religion.
The Scottish King, whose Romanist principles were
averse to this concession, but who was nevertheless
desirous to form an alliance which would enable him
to counteract the devices of the enemies by whom he
was beset in his own nation, went incognito, in the
first instance, as some historians assert, to Vendome,
in order to obtain a sight of his affianced bride; and
being dissatisfied upon finding that she was less at-
tractive than he had been led to suppose, departed as
/ '.>>,< M. de la Pommeraye was steward of the King's household.
--
Francis I 161
secretly as he had gone, and at once resolved to de-
mand the hand of the Princess Marguerite, then in her
seventeenth year.
The fair and delicate character of her beauty at once
fascinated James; and the languor which incipient
consumption had already cast over her person, added,
in his romantic eyes, to the charms of her appearance.
It would seem, moreover, according to Buchanan, that
the attraction was mutual, and that Marguerite be-
stowed not only her hand, but also her heart, upon
her enamoured suitor ; a most uncommon case in royal
marriages.
Whether James in reality played the knight-errant,
as thus represented, must for ever remain question-
able ; thus much, however, is certain, that, after pass-
ing three or four months of constant festivity at the
French court, he finally departed with his bride for
Scotland, where they landed on the 28th of May ; and
that on the 7th of the July ensuing, the young Queen,
unable to withstand the fluctuations of a climate to
which she was unaccustomed, fell a victim to the in-
sidious disease under which she had long laboured.
Her amiability had already, however, endeared her
alike to the court and to the people, who mourned her
loss as that of one who would not easily be replaced ;
although her excessive attachment to her aunt, the
Queen of Navarre, had alarmed the priesthood, who
dreaded her influence over the mind of the King, and
who consequently urged James to take another wife
at the termination of his mourning.
To the surprise of all who had witnessed his exces-
sive affection for his young bride, the widowed^jfcbi^
VOL. III. i i
(Ontario.
1 62 Reign of
arch at once consented to comply with their advice;
and, at the expiration of that period, despatched am-
bassadors to France to solicit the hand of Marie de
Guise, the widow of the Due de Longueville, with
whom he had made acquaintance at the French court.
It is probable that Francis, the father of the deceased
Queen, regarded the demand as somewhat premature ;
for although from considerations of policy it was con-
ceded, Marie de Guise did not reach Scotland until
the I4th of June in the ensuing year, when her nuptials
with the Scottish King were immediately solemnized.
During the festivities consequent upon the marriage
of the Princess Marguerite, the court of France was,
to all appearance, entirely occupied by gaiety and
splendour ; but such was far from being in reality the
case. The death of the elder Prince, and the conse-
quent succession of Henry his brother to the rank of
Dauphin of France, had effected so great a change in
the position of the two royal favourites, that the schism
to which we have already made allusion became every
day more apparent and more alarming. The separate
factions had, in fact, virtually declared themselves;
and they were so nicely balanced, that none could de-
cide upon the ultimate triumph of either. At the head
of one of these parties were the Duchesse d'Etampes,
Charles, now Due d'Orleans, and Brion de Chabot;
at that of the other, Diana de Poitiers, the Dauphin,
and the Connetable de Montmorenci; while Catherine
de' Medici, with a dissimulation as profound as it was
politic, remained resolutely neutral ; affecting the
greatest regard for both the ambitious rivals, and even
honouring Madame de Breze, who had forever alien-
Francis I 163
ated from her the affection of her husband, injured her
interests, and wounded her vanity, with a display of
confidence and attachment wholly incompatible with
their relative position. Although perpetually urged
by both parties to declare her real sentiments, the wily
Italian resolutely refused to side with either. Like
Louise de Savoie, she was content to " bide her time ; "
and for twenty long and weary years she so far con-
trolled herself as never to remove the mask which she
had assumed towards the mistress of her husband.
The rivalry of the favourites was productive, mean-
while, of the most disastrous results to the kingdom ;
and its first fruits were to promote disunion in the
family of the King ; who, influenced by the representa-
tions and prejudices of the unscrupulous Duchesse
d'Etampes, soon began to treat the Dauphin with a
marked coldness, which contrasted painfully with the
favour and indulgence which he" evinced towards the
younger Prince ; and a feeling of jealousy and distrust
consequently sprang up between the two brothers
which threatened to overwhelm France with anarchy
and confusion. The birth of a daughter had rendered
Diana more than ever dear to the Dauphin; and, se-
cure of his affection, she ceased to conceal the hatred
which she had long harboured against Madame
d'Etampes, and to repay in kind every affront to which
she was subjected by the arrogant favourite.
In the magnificence of her establishment, the Grande
Senechale was already enabled to vie with the Duchess,
and she did so with an ostentation as insolent as it was
reckless; but meanwhile her rival, aware that the
health of the King was rapidly failing, exerted all her
164 Reign of
energies to undermine the interests of the Dauphin,
through whose disgrace alone she could hope to ruin
the prospects of Diana prospects which were, more-
over, based upon her own overthrow and at the same
time to enrich herself.
How completely she succeeded in the latter attempt
the public treasury bore only too ample testimony.
Splendid residences in the capital, and estates and
chateaux in the country, passed rapidly into her pos-
session ; and even while Francis was engaged in new
intrigues, she had become so necessary to his home-
happiness that all her wishes remained, as before, a
law to the infatuated monarch. So jealous, indeed,
did he prove himself of securing her society by every
possible method, that, on discovering the preference
she evinced for a stately hotel which he had presented
to her in the Rue de 1'Hirondelle, he caused a small
palace to be built at the angle of that street where it
is connected with the Rue Git-le-Cceur, which, com-
municating with her residence, he fitted up in the
most costly manner. The frescoed walls, the pictures,
the groups of statuary, the tapestried hangings, and
all the embellishments of the apartments, were made
subservient to the display of a passion which was dis-
honourable alike to both parties ; the gilded cornices
were ornamented with carvings, in which a heart,
whence flame was issuing, was placed between the
words alpha and omega; while the salamander, the de-
vice of the King, surmounted the large mirrors, and
held back the draperies that veiled the windows.
And amid all this magnificence, guilty and heart-
sick, she saw the health of the King gradually declin-
Francis I 165
ing; and was aware that on his demise Madame de
Breze would dispossess her of all her ill-acquired in-
fluence. For Francis, as an individual, it was evident
that she felt no affection ; while even her gratitude for
the benefits which he had so profusely showered upon
her was extremely questionable. To the most inordi-
nate personal vanity she had ever been so notoriously
a victim, that she considered him as still her debtor;
nor did the slavish adulations of the courtiers, who
saw in her only the favourite of the monarch, tend to
weaken her self-appreciation. Powerful by her attrac-
tions, her riches, and her position, she found herself
perpetually surrounded by homage; and the terror
with which she contemplated the probable loss of these
advantages deprived her of all peace. Nor did she
escape other and keener feelings of mortification and
disappointment ; the only noble of high rank at court
who had remained totally insensible to her fascina-
tions was Montmorenci, who, between his chivalric
adoration of the Queen, and a violent passion for
Madame de Breze, had coldly withstood all her blan-
dishments, and at length so piqued her vanity, that even
her callous heart had yielded itself, although unsought ;
while the constant terror which she felt lest her more
ignoble intrigues might become known to the King,
kept her in a perpetual state of unrest.
Fortunately, however, for the frail favourite, the re-
cent successes of Francis, and his desire to increase
their effect by still further humiliating the pride of the
Emperor, sufficed to distract his attention from her
disgraceful irregularities. After having secured the
safety of Picardy, he determined to reclaim the coun-
166 Reign of
ties of Flanders, Artois, and Charlerois, which, al-
though they formed a portion of the patrimonial
estates of Charles, had been held alike by himself and
his ancestors as fiefs of the French crown. This pro-
ceeding, which was in point of fact utterly futile, was
rather intended by Francis to mark his contempt for
the power of the Emperor, than to aggrandize his own ;
but having once resolved upon the measure, it was
not long ere his counsellors furnished him with a suf-
ficient pretext for its enforcement, which was supplied
by the assertion, that, from his having declared war
against France without any provocation, Charles had
violated the treaty of Cambray, and thereby annulled
the cessions made by France in that negotiation ;
among the rest, the homage and cognizance of the
counties of Artois and Flanders, by which he was, as
his predecessors had previously been, the vassal of
the crown.
In order to issue an official edict to this effect, Fran-
cis assembled the Parliament, and proceeded to hold
a bed of justice, surrounded by the Princes of the blood,
the King of Navarre, the Peers, and between forty and
fifty Bishops; and at which Jacques Cappel, the King's
advocate, read upon his knees a long statement pre-
viously prepared by the Chancellor, wherein the Em-
peror was merely styled Charles of Austria. In this
document, with a sophistry as shallow as it was high-
sounding, he attempted to prove that the Emperor
was a feudatory of the French King for the three coun-
ties in question, while he had, nevertheless, frequently
taken up arms against his suzerain ; an act of rebellion
which, as it set forth, justified the reclamation of these
Francis I 167
fiefs, and their consequent confiscation to the crown.
No allusion was made to the treaty of Madrid, by which
Francis had relinquished his title to the sovereignty
he now asserted, and no discussion was permitted by
the chambers; but so soon as the speech was termi-
nated, the Chancellor collected the votes of the assem-
bly, commencing with those of the Dauphin and the
other Princes of the blood, and concluding with those
of the Parliament themselves ; after which it was
decreed that heralds should be sent to the frontiers of
the Low Countries, to summon the Emperor to appear
in person, or by deputy, to answer within a given time
to the charges brought against him.
To this citation Charles V, as a natural consequence,
vouchsafed no attention ; and the Parliament accord-
ingly decreed the forfeiture of the three counties to the
French crown; an empty act of bombast which only
tended to degrade the judicial authority of the coun-
try, without affecting the tenure of the Emperor, who
continued to hold the reclaimed counties as though
no such edict had ever been promulgated. Exas-
perated by the silent contempt of his adversary, Fran-
cis resolved to enforce his self-constituted claim ; and
towards the end of March he entered Artois with a
force of twenty-six thousand infantry and a few squad-
rons of cavalry, and took the city of Hesdin by siege ;
after which he attacked the castle, a post of consider-
able importance as a frontier-fortress. This success,
however, was dearly bought, as it cost him the lives
of Antoine de Mailli, and Charles de Beuil the young
Comte de Sancerre, as well as those of many other
brave men. Saint-Pol, Saint- Venant, Lillers, and sev-
1 68 Reign of
eral other towns of less strength, fell successively into
his hands; after which he placed a portion of his
troops in cantonment upon the frontier, establishing
his head-quarters at Pernes; and then marched the
remainder into Piedmont, where the enemy was col-
lecting a large force.
The latter division was, however, soon recalled, in-
telligence having reached the French lines that d'Eg-
mond, Comte de Buren,* the lieutenant-general of the
Emperor, had already invested Saint- Pol. As this city
was of the greatest importance to Francis, he had no
sooner entered the gates than he issued stringent
orders for its immediate and efficient defence ; but be-
fore his commands could be obeyed, the imperialists
appeared before the walls. The engineer to whom the
King on his departure for Saint- Venant had entrusted
the reparation of the fortifications, had assured him
that they should be completed within the space of
three weeks; but before the expiration of that time,
and while they were still in an unfinished state, they
were, as we have said, assaulted by the enemy. The
garrison was, however, strong ; and many able officers
were assembled within the walls under the command of
Jean d'Estouteville, Seigneur de Villebon,f who had
been appointed governor of the city ; and thus, while
* Maximilian d'Egmond, Comte de Buren, was a descendant of the
Dues de Gueldre, Knight of the Golden Fleece, and General of the
armies of Charles V. At the head of 30,000 infantry and 8,000 horse he
retook the city of Saint-Pol from the French, and subsequently burnt it.
He died at Brussels, in 1548.
t Jean d'Estouteville, Seigneur de Villebon, was descended from an
ancient and illustrious family of Normandy, and counted among his
other distinguished ancestors the celebrated Guillaume d'Estouteville,
Archbishop of Rouen, famous for his diplomatic services under Charles
VII. and Louis XI. The family became extinct in 1566.
Francis I 169
the pioneers continued their labours under the very
fire of the imperialists, the attack was met by the
troops with such tenacious courage, that they were
enabled to hold out until the I5th of the month, when
Buren took the place by assault, and slaughtered the
whole of the inhabitants, as well as the greater por-
tion of the garrison. Many of the bravest of the
French officers shared the fate of their followers ; and
Martin du Bellay was only saved by being dragged
from under a heap of dead by a German officer whose
prisoner he became, together with M. de Villebon.
The two nobles were forthwith conveyed to Gravelines,
where the ransom of the former was fixed at three thou-
sand crowns, and that of the latter at ten thousand,
which, having been immediately paid, they were per-
mitted to return to France.
This intelligence reached the Dauphin and Mont-
morenci as they were on their march to relieve the city ;
and although their assistance came too late to save
Saint-Pol, they continued to advance rapidly in order
to reinforce the other frontier towns in the event of
their being attacked ; while the Comte de Buren, find-
ing his position untenable from the near neighbour-
hood of so large an army as that which was approach-
ing, set fire to the city and razed the citadel ; he then
abandoned his fruitless conquest, and marched upon
Terouenne, where his appearance would have excited
no alarm had not a scarcity of powder rendered the
garrison unable to protect their ramparts.
The great importance of this place determined the
Dauphin and the Marechal de Montmorenci, who were
assembling their army at Amiens, to attempt its relief ;
170 Reign of
and d'Annebaut was entrusted with the perilous duty
of introducing the necessary ammunition within the
walls. He accordingly placed himself at the head of
a corps of gendarmerie, a regiment of light horse, and
four hundred harquebusiers, each of whom bore at
his saddle-bow a bag of powder ; and his arrangements
were so skilfully carried out, that under cover of the
darkness the whole supply reached the beleaguered
garrison in safety ; but just as he had commenced his
retreat with the same caution as he had evinced on
his approach, he was startled by the sound of musketry,
and discovered that a party of the young nobles who
were serving with the army as volunteers, had, with-
out his knowledge, joined the expedition, and thus
imprudently given the alarm to the enemy's camp.
He immediately sent an order that they should re-
tire on the instant, and waited for some time to enable
them to rejoin him ; but as the morning was just break-
ing, and Buren had kept his cavalry on the alert
throughout the night, that wary general was not only
enabled to charge those who had lingered behind, but
also to take possession of a bridge across which the
whole of the French force must necessarily pass in
their retreat. Annebaut thus found himself opposed
to a strong body of cavalry, which he was enabled
for a time to repulse ; but the imperialists have scat-
tered themselves on all sides, he was ultimately sur-
rounded, his horse was shot under him, and he was
taken prisoner together with Piennes,* d'O,f San-
* The Seigneur de Piennes was the representative of a noble and an-
cient family, and was one of the favourites of Francis I. He was
present at Fornoiie, and at the Battle of the Spurs, and was ultimately
appointed Governor of Picardy.
t The Count d'O, Seigneur de Gresner, was descended from an illus-
trious Norman family, which became extinct in 1734.
Francis I 171
sac,* the Marquis de Villars,f and several other men of
high rank.
Nevertheless, the city had received the necessary
supplies ; and although by an act of the most reckless
imprudence the French had sustained an irreparable
loss, the temporary safety of the place was secured.
But the Dauphin, who had lost several of his personal
friends in the skirmish, at once resolved, with the sanc-
tion of Montmorenci, to compel Buren, who was still
besieging Terouenne with a pertinacity which threat-
ened its ultimate destruction, to a general engagement.
On the very eve of his contemplated attack, however,
a herald despatched by Mary, the Dowager-Queen of
Hungary and governante of the Low Countries,
reached his camp, with the intelligence that the Em-
peror had proposed a truce to which the French King
had acceded, and that the negotiation was entrusted
to herself. All hostilities were consequently to termi-
nate on the frontier; and M. de Buren had already
received orders to discontinue the siege of Terouenne.
* Louis Revot, Baron de Sansac, was of a noble house of Angoumois;
;he was page to the Mar6chal de Montmorenci, and commenced his
career in arms under Bonnivet. After the battle of Pavia, where he
was made prisoner, he succeeded in effecting his escape, and in return-
ing to France; whence he was several times despatched by Louise de
Savoie to Madrid, with confidential messages to her son during his
captivity. He acquired great renown by his conduct at Mirandola, in
J554i where he compelled the enemy to raise the siege. He was the
first equestrian of his time, and instructed Francis in the noble science
of equitation. He subsequently became governor of the sons of Henry
II.; and died in 1570.
t The Marquis de Villars was the son of Re'ne, the Bastard of Savoy,
and Grand-Master of France; and brother of the Cotnte de Tende. He
was a brave and experienced soldier; but was unfortunate enough to be
made prisoner, not only at Terouenne, but subsequently also at the
battle of St. Quentin, where he was, moreover, severely wounded. Hav-
ing been appointed to the government of Guyenne, he established at
Bordeaux a society for the suppression of the Protestants.
172 Reign of
Commissioners were appointed on both sides, who met
at the village of Bommy ; and on the 3Oth of July a
suspension of the war in Picardy and the Low Coun-
tries was concluded for the space of ten months.
Francis had at this period entered into an open al-
liance with Solyman, by which he had excited the in-
dignation of all the Christian Princes; and when, ac-
cording to the conditions of the truce, he withdrew his
army from the Low Countries while Buren raised the
siege of Terouenne, it was suspected that he contem-
plated entering Italy, in accordance with the treaty
that he had signed with the Turks, who were at the
same time to make a descent upon Naples. The Sul-
tan had, in fact, already marched a hundred thousand
men into Albania upon the faith of this treaty ; and was
daily awaiting there the appearance of his ally, when
he ascertained that he was engaged in a war with Flan-
ders, upon which he withdrew his own army and aban-
doned the enterprise.
In Piedmont, the affairs of France were progressing
even less satisfactorily; the Italian officers having
quarrelled among themselves, the lansquenets muti-
nied, and the French troops deserted in great numbers ;
while the Marquis del Guasto, profiting by the anarchy
of the enemy, was strengthening the cause of the Em-
peror by overrunning the marquisate of Saluzzo.
In this extremity Francis appointed M. d'Humieres
to the chief command of his Italian army, and directed
Du Bellay Langei, upon whose zeal and discretion he
was aware that he could rely with safety, to effect a
reconciliation between the contending parties. This,
however, proved to be impossible, as the virulence of
Francis I 173
Italian hate was proof against the cool and dispassion-
ate arguments of the royal envoy ; who consequently
urged the King to lose no time in despatching a strong
force to Piedmont, if he wished to retain his posses-
sions in that country. With this advice, judicious as
it was, Francis could not at the moment comply ; and
the French troops, unable to cope with the superior
force of their adversaries, were gradually driven from
their fortresses until they retained only that of Car-
magnole, which was in its turn besieged by the im-
perialist general.
The Marquis de Saluzzo, whose treason towards
Francis we have already recorded, and who was con-
versant with the weak points of the citadel, undertook
the command of the artillery ; and in his eagerness to
drive the French from his territories, even worked one
of the guns with his own hands. Having blown up
a couple of houses in order to cover his position, he
fired two successive vollies against the city, and was
in the act of directing a third, when he was shot dead
by a musket-ball. The Marquis del Guasto, who feared
that the fall of the Marquis might discourage his
troops, hastily threw a cloak over the body, and once
more summoned the besieged to surrender ; promising
not only to spare their lives, but to allow them to de-
part unmolested. The garrison, which consisted only
of two hundred men, who had resisted while a hope
remained of their ultimate success, were compelled to
accede to the offered terms ; upon which the gates
were thrown open, and the Marquis entered the town,
warmly expressing his admiration of the courage with
which it had been defended ; and desiring that the in-
174 Reign of
dividual might be pointed out to him who had been on
duty at a particular window of the fortress. The sol-
dier who had occupied the post indicated, unsuspicious
of the motive of this inquiry, and moreover uncon-
scious that he had shot Saluzzo, immediately stepped
forward, when Del Guasto caused him to be seized,
and hanged from the same spot.
On the 8th of June, M. d'Humieres reached Pig-
nerol, where he established his head-quarters, and re-
iterated the demand of Du Bellay for a reinforcement
of troops ; when, in reply to his requisition, the King
sent him an assurance that he would himself join him
during the month of October, with a large force ; and
meanwhile the Dauphin and Montmorenci proceeded
to Lyons, at the head of a small body of men, to join
a levy of 15,000 Swiss, who were appointed to meet
them in that city for the purpose of continuing the
operations in Italy.
In order to secure the safety of the kingdom during
his absence. Francis appointed Charles, Due d'Orleans,
his second son, lieutenant-general in Picardy, Nor-
mandy, the Isle of France, and Paris ; and attached
Martin du Bellay to his person as his chief councillor.
Burgundy and Champagne were entrusted to the Due
de Guise ; the King of Navarre was declared Governor
of Giiienne, Languedoc, and Chateaubriand in Brit-
tany; and these arrangements completed, on the 6th
of October Francis in accordance with his promise
arrived in his turn at Lyons, with a strong and efficient
army, well prepared to resume the campaign.
His approach was no sooner communicated to the
Marquis del Guasto, than that general proceeded to
Francis I 175
lay waste the whole of the country through which the
French troops must pass; and transported all the
provisions and forage which could be accumulated into
the different fortresses of which he had possessed him-
self; while at the same time he detached Cesare da
Napoli with a force of 10,000 men to guard the Pas-de-
Suze, by which pass he anticipated that the enemy
would attempt to enter Italy. Upon the entrench-
ments which were hastily thrown up at this point,
(already a formidable obstacle in itself to the passage
of a strong army,) the devastation of the lower lands,
and the near approach of the winter season, Del Guasto
confidently trusted for the defence of Piedmont ; but
as this design could not be concealed from the French
scouts, Francis no sooner ascertained his intention,
than he hastened to provide for the victualling of his
troops, and impressed a large number of horses, which
he loaded with the produce of the adjacent provinces,
for the supply of the camp.
As, however, the greatest difficulty against which
the army had to contend was the passage of the Suze,
he at once issued orders for the march of his vanguard
under the Dauphin and Montmorenci; who, on arriv-
ing at the entrance of the pass, found the imperialists
already awaiting them behind their intrenchments. As
the Marechal instantly perceived that it would be
vain to attack them in front, it was decided that a por-
tion of the troops should endeavour to ascend the two
precipitous heights, hitherto considered to be inacces-
sible, which shut in and commanded the defile.
Notwithstanding the extreme difficulty and danger
of such an enterprise, it was successfully accomplished
176 Reign of
during the night, and with so much caution, that Cc-
sare da Napoli never once had cause to suspect that his
position was hopelessly forced ; nor was it until dawn
that he became aware of the perilous emergency in
which he was placed. But when, as morning broke,
the imperialists found themselves exposed to a heavy
fire of musketry from the rocks, against which they
could neither shelter nor defend themselves, while
their intrenchments were vigorously assailed in front
by the main body of the troops under the Dauphin and
the Marechal, they were not long ere they discovered
that the post which they had hitherto believed to be
impregnable was not even tenable; and accordingly
they fled in such haste and confusion, that they aban-
doned not only their baggage, but also the store of
provisions which they had housed in the town of Suze.
Montmorenci at once hastened to possess himself of
the important pass thus abruptly deserted ; and having
strongly garrisoned both the town and the fortress,
descended into the valley to await the arrival of the
King and the main body of the army.
Del Guasto was no sooner apprised that the French
had made themselves masters of the pass, than he
raised the siege of Pignerol, which, but for this fortu-
nate occurrence, would have been shortly compelled
to surrender from famine; and immediately marched
his army towards Turin, with the intention of taking
that city while the enemy were engaged in securing
their new conquest. Montmorenci had, however, fore-
seen this contingency, and willingly yielded to the so-
licitations of the Dauphin, who pursued the imperialist
general so vigorously, that he compelled him to pass
Francis I 177
the Po, and to encamp at Montcalier. As the Prince
subsequently, however, relaxed in his march in order
to possess himself of some small fortresses in the
neighbourhood, as well as to relieve Turin, where the
garrison were exposed to such severe privation that
they had been reduced to subsist on horses, rats, and
even food of a still more revolting description, the Mar-
quis resolved to re-cross the river, and intrench him-
self at the entrance of the bridge; but the Dauphin
no sooner became aware of this movement, than he
pressed forward in the hope of forcing him to an en-
gagement. In this expectation he was, however, dis-
appointed ; as Del Guasto immediately returned to
his camp, and finally took shelter under the guns of
Ast; while, on his reaching Montcalier, the Prince
found himself in possession not only of the town, but
also of an enormous mass of grain, which sufficed for
the support of the garrison of Turin throughout the
entire year.
The French troops, having strengthened the town,
where they found the inhabitants zealous in seconding
their measures, next encamped at Villedestellon, near
Guiers, which was strongly garrisoned by the enemy.
Constant skirmishes consequently took place, and
Montmorenci had determined at once to commence
the siege, when his operations were suddenly arrested
by a courier from the King, who conveyed to the Mare-
chal his express commands that he should not enter
into any further hostilities until he was himself at the
head of his army.
The mortification alike of the Dauphin and his gen-
eral exceeded all bounds when this order reached them,
VOL. III. 12
178 Reign of
but they were compelled to obey; Francis, still un-
taught by experience, was jealous of the successes of
his own son; and he was, moreover, apprehensive
that his enemies might attribute his diligence in over-
running Piedmont to his desire of forming a coalition
with Solyman which would have ensured the destruc-
tion of Italy, and rendered his name odious to all
Christendom; it being matter of notoriety that the
Sultan was at that moment engaged in the formation
of a more formidable army than any with which he had
previously menaced Europe, and that his fleet was
already prepared for their conveyance to the Italian
shores. Under these circumstances, therefore, the
French King preferred the alternative of terminating
the war by a negotiation ; and pretexting the pledge
which he had given to the Queen of Hungary, he not
only renewed the truce already accorded to the Low
Countries for three additional months, but, at the so-
licitation of the Pope and the Venetians, extended it
to Piedmont.
The document authorizing this prolonged cessation
of hostilities, was signed on the i6th of November, in
the presence of the King himself, with orders that it
should be published on the 27th of the same month,
and that immediately after its promulgation the two
armies should be simultaneously disbanded. The ar-
rangement was favourable to the interests of both
powers, as it was decreed that each should retain the
territory of which he had possessed himself during the
campaign, with liberty to garrison the fortresses, and
strengthen the cities ; its only victim was the unfortu-
nate Duke of Savoy, whose interests were thus sacri-
Francis I 179
fied by both monarchs, and who saw himself despoiled
of all his ducal inheritance save the city and citadel of
Nice.
The truce was no sooner officially concluded, than
Francis, having disbanded the costly army which he
had experienced so much difficulty in raising, re-
passed the Alps, and established himself at Montpel-
lier ; having appointed M. de Montejan his lieutenant-
general in Piedmont, and bestowed upon Guillaume
du Bellay the governorship of Turin. He then de-
spatched the Cardinal de Lorraine and the Marechal
de Montmorenci to Leucate, to meet the imperial en-
voys, who were authorized on the part of the Emperor
to enter into negotiations for effecting a permanent
peace between the two hostile sovereigns.
The proposals that were transmitted by Charles were
no longer couched in the arrogant terms which he had
formerly adopted. He offered to bestow the hand of
his niece, the elder daughter of the King of the Ro-
mans, with the duchy of Milan as her dowry, upon
Charles, Due d'Orleans, on condition that the French
King would confirm the treaties of Cambray and Mad-
rid, restore Hesdin and the territories of the Duke of
Savoy, co-operate with himself in effecting the entire
pacification of Europe, and consent that the Due d'Or-
leans should reside at the imperial court for three
years after his marriage; or, failing this concession,
that he should retain the fortresses of Milan in his own
possession during the same period.
Although, in order to second the Emperor in the
re-establishment of a general peace, Francis was re-
quired not only to join in a league against the Turks,
180 Reign of
but also to abandon the German Protestants, he raised
no objection to this clause of the treaty. He had al-
ready proved that, in order to ensure his own interests,
he could desert those of his allies without compunc-
tion; and at this particular period nothing could be
more desirable to him than a cessation of hostilities;
but the demand respecting the sojourn of his son in
Spain, or his cession of the Milanese cities, appeared
to imply some covert design on the part of Charles, to
which he at once demurred. On the loth of January,
1538, he accordingly replied to the effect that he held
his claim to the duchy to be indefeasible, although he
was willing to receive it as the dowry of the Emperor's
niece, and to effect a marriage between her and his
son ; but that he considered it only just that he should
either retain his fortresses, or receive those of Milan
simultaneously with their evacuation.
As neither power appeared disposed to yield this
point, the ministers on both sides agreed to prolong
the truce until the ist of June ; and at the close of the
congress the French ambassadors hastened to rejoin
Francis at Moulins, where he was awaiting the result
of the negotiation, in order to acquaint him with the
obstacles which opposed themselves to the project of
peace that had been mooted by the Emperor.
At this period the favour of Montmorenci had
reached its culminating point. He was, as we have
shown, already a marshal and grand-master of France ;
but there was still a higher dignity to be attained ; and
it was precisely at Moulins, the capital of Bourbon's
'" t apfpanage, at Moulins, where the King had once con-
descended to visit the rebel Duke, on what was af-
. ... V '
> -
O
"*:.<;
Francis I 181
firmed to be a bed of sickness, that he conferred the
sword of Connetable (which had remained unappropri-
ated since the defection of that Prince), upon Montmo-
renci, as a reward for the valuable services which he
had rendered to France during the war in Italy ; while
at the same time he confided to him the absolute dis-
posal of his finances. This ceremony took place on
the loth of February, with extreme magnificence, in
the presence of the Princes and all the great nobles of
the state; and when the new Connetable had been duly
invested with the insignia of his exalted office, the
baton of Marechal, vacant by his promotion, was be-
stowed upon the Admiral d'Annebaut; and that of
Fleuranges, who had fallen at Peronne, upon M. de
Montejan.
In the spring of this year, the Chancellor Antoine du
Bourg, who was following in the train of the King on
his return to Lyons, was thrown from his mule ; and,
owing to the density of the crowd, was so severely
trampled upon by the horses of the royal retinue, that
he expired before he could be removed from the spot.
He was succeeded in his office by Guillaume Poyet,
the president of the Parliament, who had rendered him-
self conspicuous from the part which he had taken in
the process sustained by Louise de Savoie against the
Due de Bourbon.
DCP
CHAPTER IX.
Paul III. Endeavours to Effect a Reconciliation between the
Emperor and the French King A Meeting of the Three
Potentates is Proposed at Nice Alarm of the Duke of
Savoy He Appeals to the Emperor His Envoy is Coldly
Received The Populace of Nice Close Their Gates against
the Pope Peril of Queen Eleonora The Pope Mediates be-
tween the Two Sovereigns The Truce is Renewed for a
Period of Ten Years The Three Potentates Separate
Destitution of the Duke of Savoy The Emperor Despatches
an Ambassador to Francis The Two Sovereigns Meet at
Aigues-Mortes La Belle Feronniere Illness of the French
King Increasing Power of Montmorenci Revolt of Ghent
Charles V. Obtains Permission to Traverse the French
Territories Madame d'Etampes and the Connetable A
Court Intrigue A Court Buffoon The Enamelled Chain
Montmorenci Loses the Favour of the King.
'T'HE menacing position assumed by the Sultan, and
1 the consequent jeopardy of the Italian states,
had excited the apprehensions of Paul III. ; who, aware
that he could effect nothing so long as the Emperor
and the French King remained at enmity, took ad-
vantage of the momentary pause afforded by the truce
to attempt their reconciliation. In order to accomplish
this object, he despatched a legate to each sovereign,
through whom he entreated them to meet at some
182
Francis I 183
convenient spot on the frontiers of Provence; volun-
teering, should they accede to his request, despite his
great age, (for he had already attained his seventy-fifth
year,) to join them there, and to act as a mediator be-
tween them. In conclusion, he proposed Nice as an
eligible place for the conference ; a suggestion which
filled the Duke of Savoy with consternation, that city
being the sole portion of his duchy which still remained
to him.
Such a proposal, coming as it did not only from the
head of the Church, but also from an aged man whose
infirmities rendered so long a journey a fatiguing and
even dangerous undertaking, admitted of no hesitation
on the part of either monarch ; although the French
King, after he had declared his readiness to meet His
Holiness whensoever and wheresoever he should see
fit to appoint, hesitated to fulfil his promise when he
was apprised that the Pontiff hoped during his inter-
view with the Emperor, to obtain the imperial consent
to a marriage between his nephew Ottavio Farnese,
the elder son of the Duke of Parma, and Marguerite
d'Autriche, the natural daughter of Charles; whose
husband, Alessandro de' Medici, had been assassinated
during the previous year. The French ambassador at
the papal court, and the Cardinal de Macon, having
ventured to hint to His Holiness that this project was
displeasing to their sovereign, Paul III. answered with
considerable asperity ; and then, after a moment's re-
flection, he inquired with a slight shade of sarcasm if
it were forbidden for a Pope to ally his family with
that of a sovereign prince; adding, that the King of
France might, should he so will it, confer the same
184 Reign of
honour upon the house of Farnese as the Emperor,
by admitting one of its members into his own.
Meanwhile the Duke of Savoy, who, as we have
already shown, began to apprehend that he should lose
the last remnant of his territories if he permitted the
conference of the three potentates to be held at Nice,
despatched an envoy to Charles V. to entreat that he
would not compel him to resign his citadel to the Pope ;
and while awaiting his reply, he declared to a chamber-
lain whom the Pontiff had sent to make the request,
that he could not take so important a step without the
consent of the Emperor. The messenger met Charles
at Villa Franca, where he communicated the request
of his master; but in answer to the entreaties of the
Duke, the Emperor coldly remarked that he would
advise M. de Savoie to comply with the request of His
Holiness without further delay.
Before this mortifying intelligence was made known
to him, the Duke received a visit from the Vicomte de
Martigues and the Bishop of Lausanne, who strongly
urged him to refuse the use of the citadel to the
Pope ; and assured him, on the part of the Connetable
de Montmorenci, that in the event of his desiring to
form a closer alliance with France, either in his own
person, or that of his son the Prince of Piedmont, the
King would readily consent to his wishes. The Duke,
however, had long learnt to mistrust the promises of
his selfish allies ; and he accordingly answered without
hesitation, that he was grateful for the honour which
was proposed to him, but that having so recently lost
his wife, he had no intention of contracting a second
marriage, while his son was too young to avail himself
Francis I 185
of the proffered privilege ; but that if, instead of so high
an alliance, his Majesty would graciously reinstate him
in his possessions, he should consider himself his debtor
to the last hour of his life.
Finding from the reply of the Emperor that he had
no other resource, the Duke, who was still as unwilling
as before to admit the two belligerent sovereigns with-
in his last stronghold, and who was, at the same time,
too timid openly to oppose his imperial master, de-
termined to have recourse to the citizens, to whom he
represented the inevitable consequences of introducing
a foreign garrison into the citadel; and, as he had
anticipated, his arguments were so ably seconded by
their own fears, that when the officers of the Pope's
household arrived to prepare the apartments allotted
to him for his reception, all the population rose en
masse, declaring that the entrance of foreign troops
into their city was an infringement upon their privi-
leges to which they would never consent ; and having
announced this determination, they proceeded without
further delay to close their gates. The Pope, who soon
after reached Nice, was accordingly compelled to take
up his residence at the monastery of San Francisco in
the suburbs ; while the Emperor cast anchor at Villa
Franca, a little port in the states of Monaco, where he
remained on board his galley; and Francis, accom-
panied by Queen Eleonora, the Queen of Navarre, the
Dauphiness, and his two sons, established himself at
Villa Nuova, about two miles distant.
Before the conference was opened, the French Queen
proceeded to Villa Franca by sea to visit her brother,
who had caused a wooden pier to be constructed for
1 86 Reign of
her accommodation from the point at which she must
cast anchor to the port ; and as she left her galley he
advanced along this pier to receive and conduct her on
shore, when the frail fabric gave way beneath their
weight, and they were both precipitated into the sea,
with several of their attendants. Fortunately, prompt
assistance being at hand, the whole party were quickly
rescued from their perilous situation.
Although the two sovereigns had thus become close
neighbours, the Pope could not prevail upon them to
consent to a personal interview ; and he consequently
expressed his willingness to negotiate between them.
A marquee was accordingly pitched in the court of the
convent, in which he twice received the Emperor, and
subsequently the French King and his sons ; while the
royal ladies by whom Francis was accompanied, in
their turn made visits both to Charles and the Pontiff.
During these interviews Paul III. endeavoured by
every argument in his power to reconcile the jarring
interests of the two jealous potentates, and proposed
sundry conditions and concessions by which the peace
which he so earnestly desired might be concluded ; but
while he was enabled to overrule every other objection
on both sides, he found himself powerless on the sub-
ject of the Milanese ; and he was finally compelled to
content himself with effecting a renewal of the truce
for ten years, during which time he hoped to carry into
execution the offensive league into which he had en-
tered with the Emperor and the Venetian states against
the Infidels.
The truce was no sooner signed than Francis left
Villa Nuova for Avignon, while the Pope returned to
Francis I 187
Rome, and the Emperor proceeded by sea to Barce-
lona ; and meanwhile the ill-fated Duke of Savoy, who
had incurred the displeasure of both potentates, by each
of whom he was openly charged with having excited
the revolt of the citizens of Nice, found himself even
more powerless than ever, the whole remaining por-
tion of his territories being possessed by the two bellig-
erent sovereigns, who were severally fortifying their
strongholds within his dominions with a deliberate
caution which rendered him hopeless of their ultimate
recovery. He was, moreover, fated to undergo
another and a crowning mortification a few months
subsequently, when the Connetable, on the part of
Francis, proposed to him to exchange the county of
Nice for lands in France to the value of twenty thou-
sand annual crowns. The despoiled Duke could ill
brook this last degradation, and declined the offer with
an asperity and vehemence unusual to him ; declaring
that he had already been victimised sufficiently both by
his friends and by his enemies ; and that although he
now held little of his duchy save the empty title which
it had conferred upon him, he would, nevertheless, at
least live and die Count of Nice. He, moreover, as if
to give additional weight to this declaration, imme-
diately adopted a new device, which consisted of a
naked arm grasping a sword, with the motto Spoliatis
anna supersunt; but, as he had never been remarkable
for his prowess in the field, this empty vaunt only ex-
cited the contempt of his oppressors.
Contrary winds having compelled the Emperor,
while on his return to Spain, to cast anchor at the
island of St. Marguerite, he despatched from thence a
1 88 Reign of
nobleman to Avignon to greet the French monarch,
and to express his desire to have an interview with
him ; for which purpose he offered, should his proposal
be accepted, to land at Aigues-Mortes.
Francis, equally surprised and gratified, eagerly ac-
ceded to the proposition ; and, in order to show his
confidence in the good faith and friendly intentions of
his imperial visitor, he proceeded without further de-
lay to Marseilles, where he rowed off in his barge to
the galley of Charles to bid him welcome. As he
reached the vessel, the Emperor extended his hand to
assist him in gaining the deck, and responded by an
affectionate salutation to his smiling address of
" Brother, here I am once more your prisoner." This
proof of confidence, as it subsequently appeared, was
fully appreciated by the Emperor; for when, at the
close of a long and friendly conference, during which
he had requested the French King to admit Doria to
his presence, and the Genoese admiral had been cour-
teously received, the latter requested permission to set
sail with Francis on board, and thus terminate the war,
his proposition was indignantly rejected.
On the following day the Emperor landed at Aigues-
Mortes, where he was received with great magnifi-
cence; and the two courts vied with each other in
courtesy and friendliness. Every appearance of jeal-
ousy or hostility was at an end, and the most complete
confidence was exhibited on both sides. But perhaps
the most happy individual of that courtly circle was the
Queen, who, after having Ipflg despaired of a recon-
ciliation between her brother and her husband, now
saw them seated side by side in the most familiar con-
Francis I 189
versation. The principal officers of both sovereigns
were admitted to the presence ; and every allusion to
former meetings of a less amicable nature was mutually
avoided. The Dauphin and Dauphiness, the Queen of
Navarre, and the Duchesse d'Etampes were severally
presented to the Emperor, who expressed his admira-
tion of the galaxy of beauty by which his brother-
monarch was surrounded. None would have sup-
posed, while gazing on the brilliant group assembled in
that obscure seaport, that it included the two enemies
who had so long troubled the peace of Europe, and
made all the interests of Christendom subservient to
their ambition.
The festivals continued for four days ; and while the
nobles and ladies of the two courts were occupied by
pleasure and gallantry, several long and secret inter-
views took place between the sovereigns to which none
were admitted save the Queen, the Cardinal of Lor-
raine, and the Connetable on the part of France ; and
Granvelle, the keeper of the seals, and the Grand Com-
mander Gouvea, on that of the Emperor. The sub-
ject of their discussions was not made public, but they
nevertheless tended to increase the alarm of the Duke
of Savoy, who hastened to ratify the truce by which he
was despoiled of his territories, and which he had
hitherto refused to do ; lest he should draw down upon
himself the further hostility of the two sovereigns, thus
suddenly and inexplicably reconciled.
On his return to his capital, Francis plunged once
more into an abyss of dissipation ; and regardless alike
of his failing health and his regal dignity, vied in
profligacy with his arrogant mistress. Satiated with
Reign of
the affectations of the court beauties, and the cere-
monious restraints of his own circle, he at this period
sought his conquests in a more humble sphere of so-
ciety; and, in order the more readily to pursue his
intrigues, adopted the habit of disguising himself as an
archer of the royal guard, in which guise he was ac-
customed at twilight to perambulate the streets of the
city. On one of these excursions he was attracted by
the extreme loveliness of a fair citizen, the wife of an
armourer, who chanced as he passed to be standing
at the door of her dwelling, conversing with a neigh-
bour ; and after having remained for a moment stead-
fastly gazing upon her animated face and graceful
figure, he beckoned as he moved on to a chamberlain
by whom he was accompanied, and with a significant
gesture drew his attention to the unconscious beauty.
" You will recognise the house ? " he said in a low
voice.
" Readily, Sire."
" Enough. The day after to-morrow I shall be at
the chateau of Madrid."
His attendant bowed in silence; and ere long the
King returned to the palace of the Tournelles.
The royal confidant had no sooner been dismissed
than he mounted his horse and retraced his steps to
the Rue de Fer ; where, pretexting business, he entered
the shop of the armourer, during whose absence from
home his beautiful partner was accustomed to superin-
tend the commercial interests of the house. The ap-
pearance of such a customer, even at that somewhat
untimely hour, failed to excite any suspicion of his
motive in La belle Feronniere; nor was it until he
Francis I 191
changed the discourse from the casques and corselets
amid which they stood, to a more tender subject, that
she discovered the imprudence of which she had been
guilty. After having exhausted himself in the most
hyperbolical admiration of her attractions, he pro-
ceeded to appease her indignation at his impertinence,
by declaring that she totally misapprehended the pur-
pose of his visit ; which was, as he asserted, to inform
her that the Queen, who was desirous to retain about
her person the most beautiful women of the kingdom,
having chanced to see her during one of her progresses
through the city, had been struck by her appearance,
and desired to establish her in her household.
For a time the young and timid woman stood
abashed, assuring the messenger that he must be mis-
taken, as neither her birth nor her position entitled her
to so much honour ; but the reiterated assurances and
dazzling promises of the royal emissary at length pro-
duced their effect, and she consented to accompany him
to the palace of the Tournelles, where he declared that
she would be instantly admitted to the presence of the
Queen.
Having closely enveloped herself in her hood and
mantle, the fair citizen finally permitted herself to be
lifted upon the pillion with which her treacherous com-
panion had come provided; but it was not long ere
she discovered that, instead of proceeding towards the
palace, they were travelling in a totalfy different di-
rection ; and they had consequently no sooner reached
the gate by which they were about to leave the city,
than she called loudly for help, when a party of the
night-watch, alarmed by her cries, hastily seized their
192 Reign of
arms, and attempted to arrest the progress of her
ravisher. We have, however, already shown that the
civic guard of Paris was composed of men who cared
little to expose themselves to danger; and, accordingly,
they no sooner saw two of their number cut down by
the undaunted horseman, than they fell back, and
abandoned the terrified victim to her fate.
Whatever might have been the original scruples of
La belle Feronnicre, it is certain that she soon became
reconciled to her fate; and that the splendour of a
royal palace, and the prestige of a royal lover, sufficed
to blind her to her moral degradation ; but this liaison,
which soon became the fable of all Paris, was not des-
tined to be of long endurance, the increasing infirmi-
ties of the King compelling him to restore her to her
family at the expiration of three months, at once en-
riched and disgraced.
The extreme beauty of this woman, whose real
station in life has never been thoroughly ascertained ;
and of whose rank and position we have, consequently,
been compelled to adopt the most popular version, was
so remarkable, that although an intrigue of such brief
duration might well have been passed over in silence,
her name has become matter of history; and the life
of Francis I. would, consequently, be incomplete were
the episode of La belle Feronniere omitted. Her por-
trait, which adorns the Musee at Paris, is one of sur-
passing loveliness; the forehead is high and smooth,
the eyes large, dove-like, and expressive, the nose
finely shaped, the mouth faultless, and the whole out-
line of the face full of feminine grace and dignity.
About this period Francis was attacked by so severe
Francis I 193
an indisposition, that he was for a considerable time
unable to attend to the business of the state, the whole
of which devolved upon Montmorenci, who assumed
an authority to which no former Connetable had ever
aspired. His avowed admiration of the Emperor, and
his equally undisguised aversion to Henry VIII.,
awoke the misgivings of many of the higher nobility,
especially those of the ambassadors at the several
European courts, who still felt the same mistrust of
the motives of Charles V., as they had previously en-
tertained ; and who were loud in their regrets that
France should for his sake deprive herself of the allies
which it had cost her so much blood and gold to
secure. Montmorenci, however, haughtily disre-
garded their representations, and thus unconsciously
laid the foundation of his own overthrow.
The policy of the Emperor in thus suddenly, and
with such apparent inconsistency, seeking the friend-
ship of the French monarch, soon revealed itself. The
expenses of the war having compelled him to levy new
imposts upon his subjects, he had, in 1536, directed
Queen Marie, the governante of the Low Countries,
to raise a sum of money in Flanders, by taxation or
otherwise, which might enable him to pursue his opera-
tions. In compliance with this command she pro-
ceeded to levy a subsidy of one million two hundred
thousand florins on the Flemish provinces, of which
the city of Ghent was to furnish the sum of four hun-
dred thousand. To this imposition the citizens reso-
lutely refused to submit ; alleging that by the ancient
privileges conceded to their city, they were exempted
from the payment of all taxes ; and as they persisted
VOL. III. 13
194 Reign of
in their refusal, the Queen, in order to terrify them
into submission, caused several of the principal in-
habitants to be arrested, and declared her determina-
tion to retain them as prisoners until her orders were
obeyed. Firm in their resistance, the Ghentese dis-
regarded her menaces ; and for nearly a year, during
which their relatives and townsmen remained her cap-
tives, they contested the point ; and, finally, in August,
1537, they presented a petition to the governante, in
which they set forth in detail the privileges which had
been accorded to them by former sovereigns, and by
virtue of which they were, as they had stated, exempted
from taxation.
In reply to this document the Queen-dowager in-
formed them that she would cause their claims to
exemption to be duly investigated, either by her own
council, or by the Parliament of Malines, but that
meanwhile they must furnish their quota to the general
subsidy ; a decision by which they were so much exas-
perated, that they immediately determined to revolt
against her authority. The citizens, accordingly flew
to arms, compelled the imperial officers to leave the
city, and took possession of several fortified places in
the environs, declaring that they recognised no sov-
ereign save the King of France ; to whom they at the
same time appealed for protection, pledging them-
selves, should he afford them his support, to render
him master of the whole of the Low Countries.
The opportunity was tempting; and there can be
little doubt that had the Emperor received such a
proposition from a revolted province of France, he
would have evinced no hesitation in acceding to the
Francis I 195
request ; but Francis, with a more generous policy, (in
which he was strengthened by the advice of Mont-
morenci and the entreaties of the Queen,) not only
refused to accept an allegiance extorted by fear, but
even hastened to apprise his brother-monarch of the
menacing attitude assumed by his Flemish subjects.
Charles V. was no sooner made aware of the extent
of the emergency than he resolved to proceed to the
Low Countries, and to effect the immediate suppres-
sion of the rebellious faction, which was becoming daily
more formidable ; but however judicious such a project
could not fail to prove, there were serious obstacles
to its accomplishment. In order to reach this portion
of his dominions it was necessary that the Emperor
should either make his way through Italy into Ger-
many, where the animosity of the Protestant Princes
would render it necessary for him to be accompanied
by a strong army, in which case he might be sub-
jected by casualties to a delay that would enable the
Ghentese to strengthen their position, and thus frus-
trate the object of his journey; or by sea, where, in
the event of contrary winds, he might be cast upon the
English coast, and so fall into the hands of Henry
VIII. , with whom he was at that moment at open
enmity ; or, finally, through France, which was at once
the shortest and surest route. Had Charles V. been
possessed of less skill in physiology than he displayed
upon this occasion, it is probable that this would never-
theless have been his last alternative ; but he was so
well acquainted with the peculiar disposition of the
French King, that he unhesitatingly determined to
confide in his generosity. He had, moreover, as he
196 Reign of
was aware, a warm partisan in the then all-powerful
Connetable ; nor did he fail to calculate upon the in-
fluence of his sister, although he had long known that
her position at the court was at once onerous and
unhappy.
Having made this resolution, he directed the Bishop,
of Tarbes, who was at that period the French ambassa-
dor at his court, to write to Montmorenci, requesting
him to obtain the consent of Francis to his traversing
the French territories, in order to reach the Low Coun-
tries with greater expedition; and pledging himself
that, should this be accorded, he would, in requital of
so signal a favour, at once meet the wishes of the
French King by investing either himself or one of his
sons with the sovereignty of the duchy of Milan, on
condition that no further concessions should be de-
manded of him.
Francis, having convened his council, decided upon
acceding to the request ; but while every other member
of the assembly insisted that, before he was permitted
to pass the frontier, Charles should be compelled to
give good sureties of his peaceable intentions, and de-
clare in writing that he traversed the French soil only
upon sufferance, Montmorenci alone protested against
such an exhibition of distrust, which he declared to
be unworthy of so great a monarch as Francis, and
calculated to lessen his dignity in the eyes of the very
sovereign upon whom he was about to confer a signal
and important benefit.
A warm discussion took place, but it was finally
decided by the King that the advice of the Connetable
should be adopted; and that the Emperor should be
Francis I 197
invited to enter France, not only unconditionally, but
also that hostages should be offered in the persons of
the two Princes for his safety during his sojourn in the
country.
This was fated to be the last occasion upon which
Montmorenci was enabled to prove to the other nobles
of the court the extent of his influence over the mind
of the monarch. We have already alluded to his ro-
mantic passion for the Queen ; and Francis had no
sooner passed from the council-chamber to the apart-
ments of the Duchesse d'Etampes to announce to her
the approaching advent of the Emperor, than the mine
was sprung which was to accomplish his overthrow.
As the King entered, the beautiful favourite was
seated before her toilette, wrapped in a robe of silver
brocade, and almost buried in the cloud of luxuriant
hair which one of her women was preparing to bind
up. On his appearance the whole of the attendants
withdrew, and the enamoured monarch hastened to
impart his tidings.
" And this, Sire, if I understand aright," said the
Duchess with a supercilious smile, " was the advice of
the Connetable ? "
" Even so, ma mie," replied Francis, as he passed
his fingers fondly through the dark tresses which fell
from the tapestried coffer upon which Anne de Pisseleu
was seated, to the ground. " And it appeared to me
to be so chivalrous, and so high-hearted, that I resolved
at once to follow it. You will be glad to see our
brother Charles again, shall you not ? On the faith of
a gentleman! he esteemed your beauty at its just
value."
198
" Her Majesty must be enraptured at such a pros-
pect," said the insolent mistress with the same equivo-
cal expression, and totally regardless of the question
put by the King. " Montmorenci is an able cour-
tier."
" Doubtlessly it will afford her pleasure," replied the
monarch, with a languid yawn ; " I will desire him to
acquaint her that she owes this gratification in some
degree to his agency."
" He has, in all probability, already accomplished so
agreeable an errand ; " spitefully retorted the Duchess.
" Our good Connetable is assuredly enamoured of
Charles of Austria ; " replied Francis, as he listlessly
unlocked a costly casket of inlaid sandal-wood which
stood upon the toilet, and began to examine the jewels
it contained.
" His imperial Majesty is the Queen's brother," said
Madame d'Etampes, still maintaining the tone of bitter
sarcasm in which she had hitherto indulged ; " but, re-
member, Sire," she added more emphatically, " that,
although he be the brother of your Queen, he has ever
proved himself your own enemy ; nor do I anticipate
that you will henceforward find him other than he has
been to this day. It is not yet too late; recall your
dangerous resolution, and do not risk the safety alike
of your person and your kingdom in order to afford
to M. de Montmorenci the privilege of extending the
4 good morrows ' for which he is so famous."
A cloud rose to the brow of the King, which was
rapidly succeeded by a smile. " You are truly, at this
moment, refuting those calumniators, Anne," he said
tenderly, " who accuse you of too great a sensibility for
the Connetable."
Francis I 199
A gesture of proud disdain was the only reply vouch-
safed by the haughty favourite.
" We must afford our imperial guest a splendid wel-
come," pursued Francis after a pause ; " we must give
him good reason to remember his visit to our do-
minions."
" And you will do well, Sire," said the Duchess
eagerly. " Remember Pavia, remember Madrid. Let
him come, since such is your will ; but once in France,
suffer him not to repass the frontier until you are
revenged. You have dungeons as secure as those of
the Escurial, and jailors as sure and as zealous as
M. de Lannoy."
Francis started. " You cannot be serious, Madame,"
he said incredulously.
" At least, Sire," persisted Madame d'Etampes, " I
shall not be unsupported in my advice, like the Conne-
table ; you will find that all the best and noblest spirits
in France will counsel you as I do."
As she uttered this assurance, Triboulet, the King's
jester, a misshapen dwarf who was permitted to intrude
upon his privacy at all hours, and to whom rumour
assigned an office about the monarch's person infinitely
more degrading than that which he ostensibly filled,
quietly entered the apartment ; and approaching a buf-
fet, pouring out a goblet of Malvoisie, which he carried
to his royal master.
" Nevertheless, I am resolved," said Francis, in reply
to his fair companion ; " Charles has asked for a safe
passage through our dominions, and he shall depart as
freely as he comes."
These words had scarcely passed the lips of the King,
2oo Reign of
when Triboulet, replacing the yet untasted wine upon
the buffet, drew an ivory tablet from the pocket of his
pourpoint, and deliberately inscribed some characters
upon it.
" What have you there, maitre-fouf " asked the mon-
arch, amused by the assumed solemnity of his manner.
" I am making a fresh entry in my journal, which is
filling rapidly," was the calm reply. " Men have called
me ' fool,' but I have my revenge daily ; I am busied
upon a catalogue of madmen, and I shall ere long be
short of space."
" Let me see this famous list," said the King, ex-
tending his hand for the tablets. " Why, how now,
Sir ! " he exclaimed angrily ; " when did you venture
to add the name of my imperial brother to such a
record as this ? "
" Only a moment back," answered the dwarf per-
fectly unmoved ; " when I heard you tell fair Madame
Anne that he was about to visit France."
The Duchess laughed triumphantly, and threw a
golden coin into the hand of the jester.
" And when he has returned to his own dominions,
sirrah, what will you next do ? " inquired Francis.
" Then," said Triboulet, " if, indeed, Charles should
ever live to see the day you mention, I shall efface his
name, and insert yours."
" The fool speaks wisdom," said Madame d'Etampes.
" It may be so," was the reply of the monarch, " but
it is mere worldly wisdom, and unworthy of a great
sovereign. I will not recall my pledge."
During this interview, another had taken place be-
tweeirtbe Queen and the Connetable, which was des-
' '.: * '
- u
Francis I 201
tined to involve important consequences. Montmo-
renci had related in detail to his royal mistress the
proceedings that had taken place in the council, and
she had warmly expressed her gratitude for the emi-
nent service which he had so boldly rendered to the
Emperor. With true feminine tact she at once dis-
covered the motive of his conduct ; but she, neverthe-
less, carefully abstained from betraying any symptom
of such a conviction; and as the manner of Montmo-
renci became more impassioned, she gradually assumed
a coldness of demeanour which was foreign to her
feelings.
At the close of the interview, however, conscious
that she had ill responded to the zeal and devotion he
had displayed, and relieved, by his absence, from the
terror of misapprehension which his presence never
failed to inspire, she became anxious to convince him
that she was less insensible to his good offices than she
had striven to appear; and after revolving many proj-
ects in her mind, unable to overcome her reluctance
to address him in writing, she resolved to send to him,
by one of her pages, a rich chain of amber set in
enamelled gold, which had been wrought for her in
Florence, and was of great value.
It chanced upon this particular occasion that a slight
indisposition caused the Queen to receive her evening
circle in her own apartments ; and as she had hesitated
for a long time ere she could decide on the propriety
of conferring upon the Connetable so marked a token
of her favour, the company were already assembling
when she confided the chain to her messenger. It
happened also, that by a singular coincidenced3:a<Wis> ..
'
(Ontario
Off"
2O2 Reign of
who had never hitherto visited the Queen save by the
state gallery, was induced, by some sudden caprice, to
avail himself of a private staircase, in ascending which
he encountered the page, who from boyish vanity had
flung the costly chain about his neck, and thus deco-
rated was proceeding to perform his errand.
The quick eye of the King enabled him at a glance
to recognise the ornament; and as the startled youth
drew back to allow him to pass, he laid his hand upon
the chain, and inquired how he became possessed of
so costly a jewel. The page, who was totally uncon-
scious of the necessity of concealment, and who only
apprehended a reprimand for his presumption in hav-
ing availed himself of such an opportunity to gratify
his ostentatious tastes, unhesitatingly replied that he
had been entrusted by the Queen to convey it to the
Conn,etable ; at the same time accounting for the fact
of its being suspended from his own neck, by declaring
that, in his dread of losing it by the way, he had adopted
that method as the most secure ; and imploring the
King to pardon a liberty which had been suggested by
caution.
" Fear nothing," said Francis composedly ; " you are
both prudent and trustworthy ; but such a responsibil-
ity is too great for your age. Give me the chain. I
will myself deliver it to M. le Connetable."
The page obeyed, and the amber chain was placed
in the hands of the King, who at once threw it about
his own neck, and then pursued his way to the Queen's
apartments.
The amazement and alarm of Eleonora may be con-
ceived, when as she rose to receive her royal husband,
Francis I 203
the first object upon which her eye rested was the
amber chain, rendered unusually conspicuous by the
fact that Francis wore a plain pourpoint of maroon-
coloured velvet, without embroidery of any description.
He, however, approached her in his usual courteous,
but cold manner; and, after having made a few civil
inquiries regarding her health, without any allusion to
the obnoxious decoration, turned away to converse
with Madame de Breze.
The anticipated arrival of the Emperor furnished
ample subject for conversation throughout the even-
ing ; but the spirits of the poor Queen, which had been
greatly elated at the prospect of again seeing her im-
perial brother, were painfully subdued by her appre-
hensions of the misconstruction which the King could
not fail to put upon the motive of her present to the
Connetable ; and when Montmorenci, a short time sub-
sequently, drew near to her with his unvarying " good
morrow," she replied by a bow so chilling as to excite
still further the suspicions of Francis, who had jeal-
ously watched the meeting. The inferences of the
Duchesse d'Etampes were now explained; and al-
though the monarch was too proud to betray that he
was conscious of a rival in one of his own subjects, and
too indifferent to his royal consort to feel wounded in
his affections, he, nevertheless, conceived a hatred
towards the Connetable which was ere long fated to
produce its effect.
CHAPTER X.
The Emperor Arrives at Bayonne He Refuses to Receive
Hostages The Two Sovereigns Meet at Chatellerault
Triumphant Reception of Charles V. Distrust of the Em-
peror Unfortunate Coincidences The Imperial Retinue
A Court Ball The Diamond Ring The Emperor Enters
Paris The French Princes and Montmorenci Accompany
Him to Valenciennes Charles Refuses to Ratify the Ces-
sion of the Milanese Francis Becomes Suspicious of His
Counsellors Arrest of the Marechal de Brion Chabot
Chabot is Tried and Condemned to Death Cruel Policy of
Poyet Chabot is Pardoned by the King Arrest of Poyet
Female Influence at Court Death of Chabot The Emperor
Proposes an Alliance between His Son Philip of Spain and
the Princess of Navarre And that of His Own Daughter
and the Due d'Orleans Refusal of Francis to Comply with
the Required Conditions Disappointment of the King and
Queen of Navarre The Negotiation is Pursued Marriage
of the Due de Cleves and the Princess of Navarre Madame
d'Etampes and the Captain of the King's Guard Exile of
Montmorenci from the Court The Marriage Festivities
The Due de Cleves Leaves France Benvenuto Cellini Ar-
rives at the French Court Exile of the Cardinal de Lor-
THE Emperor commenced his journey without
further delay; and the French King no sooner
learnt that he was on his way to the frontier, than,
being unable from illness to undertake so long a jour-
204
Francis I 205
ney, he commanded the two Princes and the Conne-
table to proceed to Bayonne, giving them express in-
junctions to receive the imperial visitor with every
demonstration of respect and affection, and to escort
him in like manner to the capital.
In accordance with these instructions the Dauphin,
the Due d'Orleans, and Montmorenci, accompanied
by a great number of the court nobles sumptuously
mounted and apparelled, set forth in time to reach the
city before the arrival of Charles ; and the Dauphin had
no sooner greeted him in the name of the King, than
he hastened, according to the directions he had re-
ceived, to offer himself and his brother as hostages to
the Emperor until he should have reached the Low
Countries. Of this proposition, however, Charles
under the circumstances found it inexpedient to avail
himself; and he consequently replied, that, after the
important service which had just been conferred upon
him by the King his brother, he should be inexcusable
did he entertain the slightest suspicion of his good
faith. The august party accordingly proceeded in
company to Bordeaux, where they were welcomed with
acclamation, and entertained with a magnificence
worthy of their illustrious rank. During a long so-
journ in that city the favour of the Connetable daily
increased with the Emperor, who also lavished upon
the young Princes the most marked tokens of regard
and affection ; nor was it without apparent reluctance
that he at length resumed his progress through Xain-
tonge and Poitiers to Chatelleraut, where Francis was
in person awaiting his imperial guest; and whence,
after a few days passed in splendid festivity, and re-
2o6 Reign of
ciprocal assurances of friendship and confidence, the
two sovereigns and their brilliant train finally set for-
ward to the capital.
Throughout the whole of their journey, (which oc-
cupied a considerable time in consequence of the prep-
arations that had been made in the several cities by
which they approached Paris, to render due honours to
the Emperor,) all the local nobility and militia ac-
companied the royal travellers to the limits of their
respective communes; and although Charles had
reached Bayonne in the month of October, he halted
for so long a time at Bordeaux, at Lusignan, and at
several other places upon his route, for the purpose
of enjoying the sports of the field, that he did not ar-
rive at Poitiers until the Qth of December. His re-
ception in that city exceeded in splendour and cere-
monial all that he had hitherto experienced. As he
arrived at the gates he was met by the whole nobility
of the province, and was conducted into the town by
five hundred cavaliers superbly habited, and followed
by two thousand of the citizens dressed in velvet and
satin, laced with gold and silver. At Orleans, which
he reached on the 2Oth of December, his escort was
composed not only of all the local nobility and militia,
but also of a guard of " ninety-two young merchants
of the city, mounted upon fine horses, all attired in
overcoats of black velvet, with doublets of white satin,
fastened by gold buttons; velvet caps, covered with
precious stones, and edged with goldsmith's work ;
and boots of white Spanish leather, with golden spurs.
One of these caps was estimated at two thousand
crowns ; nor was there an individual among them who
: *"*.
U* -W
- .
Francis I 207
did not carry upon his person the value of more than
two thousand francs in jewellery."
From this description the enormous aggregate ex-
penditure consequent upon the reception of the Em-
peror in France may be inferred. At that period it
was calculated at two millions of livres ; which, when
the relative value of money in those days and our own
is remembered, presents an amount amply sufficient
to have supplied the French army throughout an en-
tire campaign. In every city upon his passage the
doors of the prisons were opened in his presence, and
the prisoners liberated in his name, without any re-
gard to the nature of their offences ; and no opportu-
nity was permitted to escape which could afford the
means of convincing Charles that his visit was intended
to make one wide holiday throughout the country.
At Chatellerault a magnificent banquet awaited him ;
and the two sovereigns, after an interview in which
they vied with each other in expressions of affection
and regard, repaired to the stately hall where it had
been served up, followed by the Princes of the blood
and the Cardinals. On reaching the table, Francis in-
sisted that the Emperor should occupy the upper seat,
and after he had with extreme difficulty induced him
to do so, he still further testified his respect for his
imperial guest by causing a large space to intervene
between them.
But still, despite the flattering nature of his recep-
tion, Charles V. was ill at ease. He was aware that
he had little deserved such a display of confidence and
hospitality at the hands of the French King, and ac-
customed to practise deceit in his own person, he 4
(DttfacUi.
208 Reign of
unable, with all his efforts, entirely to conceal the alarm
which he occasionally felt. This apprehension was,
moreover, during his sojourn in France, heightened
by several circumstances, each, perhaps, trivial in it-
self, but so ill-timed as to arouse his suspicions that
they were not altogether accidental. On one occasion
the Due d'Orleans, who, as we have already stated,
was of a gay and thoughtless disposition, and who was
moreover extraordinarily active, sprang upon the crup-
per of the horse which the Emperor had just mounted,
and flinging his arms about his waist, exclaimed gaily :
" Your imperial Majesty is my prisoner." Although
he recovered his self-possession in an instant, it was
remarked by those near him that Charles turned pale,
and that it was only by a powerful effort he was en-
abled to reply to the jest of the young Prince.
A short time subsequently, as the Chancellor Poyet
approached to pay his respects while the Emperor was
at table, the skirts of his robes becames entangled
among the wood which had been piled in a corner of
the apartment for the supply of the stove ; and as he
sought to disengage them, he so disturbed the heap,
that a large log upon the summit lost its balance, and
fell upon the head of Charles, who remained stunned
for several minutes ; and although he partially recov-
ered from the blow, and affected to make light of the
accident to the discomfited minister, he was never-
theless compelled to be bled before he could overcome
its effects.
At Amboise, which he subsequently visited, he was
destined to encounter two other perils, as easily ex-
plained, but equally startling at the moment. On one
Francis I 209
occasion the tapestried hangings of his bed were fired
by an attendant ; and on the other he was nearly suf-
focated by the vapours engendered by a foreign per-
fume, intended to fill his apartment with an agreeable
and refreshing odour. When the latter occurrence
took place, the King, irritated by these repeated acci-
dents, and anxious to convince his imperial guest that
they were not premeditated, caused the arrest of the
unlucky perfumer, and commanded that he should im-
mediately be put to death ; a fate which he would in-
evitably have incurred had not the Emperor strenu-
ously demanded his pardon, declaring that he had not
visited France to become the cause or witness of a
criminal execution.
The imperial retinue was rather elegant than either
numerous or magnificent. The great-grandson of
Charles the Bold was accompanied only by a hundred
men-at-arms, chosen for their personal beauty and
dexterity in warlike exercises ; by a body of Spanish
grandees, whose ambition appeared limited to a desire
to excel in the splendour of their costume the nobles
of the French court ; and by four-and-twenty pages,
habited in costumes of orange, grey, and violet velvet,
which were at that period his peculiar colours. He
himself was clad in a complete suit of polished armour,
girt about the waist by a sash of cloth of gold ; and
rode an Andalusian horse of extraordinary strength
and symmetry. His cap was of black velvet, embroid-
ered with gold and jewels, and his weapons were of the
same costly description.
From Chattellerault the illustrious party proceeded
to Amboise, where the alarm of the Emperor was fated
VOL. III. 14
2io Reign of
to reach its climax. Assured as he was of the devo-
tion of the Connetable, he had not sojourned so long
in France without detecting certain indications of his
unpopularity with the mass, not only of the nobles,
but also of the citizens, which rendered him anxious to
pursue his journey to the Low Countries, so soon as
this measure could be effected without giving umbrage
to his royal entertainer. Meanwhile, however, he dis-
sembled his misgivings, and entered into all the amuse-
ments of the court with apparent zest and enjoyment.
On the occasion of a ball which he had opened with
the Queen his sister, and which took place by daylight,
as was the common custom of the period, the royaks
and gaillards, which were the state dances, were exe-
cuted with infinite grace and dignity by the Dauphiness,
the Duchesse d'Etampes, and Madame de Breze ; and
at their termination the Emperor, who had carefully
abstained from resenting the neglect that was evinced
towards his royal relative, and the supremacy of the
favourite who openly usurped her privileges, ap-
proached the haughty Duchess, and expressed his ad-
miration of the consummate elegance with which she
had acquitted herself of her arduous duties. They were
still engaged in conversation, when the King, flattered
by the deference shown to his cherished mistress, has-
tily approached them, and laying his hand upon the
arm of Charles V, said gaily :
" Be sparing of your compliments, good brother ; for
permit me to assure you that the fair lady who is now
bending beneath their weight, was bold enough to ad-
vise me to make you my prisoner until you had con-
sented to the revocation of the treaty of Madrid."
Francis I 211
A shadow gathered upon the brow of the Emperor,
and his features assumed a stern expression, as turn-
ing from the discomfited favourite he said coldly, " If
the advice seem good, your Majesty will do well to
follow it."
This reply for a moment silenced the whole group ;
but the King soon rallied, and the amusements re-
sumed their course.
The warning was, however, opportune ; for Charles
was aware that he could not have a more dangerous
enemy than the fascinating and unscrupulous Duch-
ess; but he was also conversant with her real char-
acter ; and, accordingly, a few days afterwards, when
he was about to seat himself at table, and that Madame
d'Etampes, who assumed to herself the office which
should by the rules of etiquette have devolved upon a
royal Princess, presented a napkin, he adroitly drew
a magnificent brilliant from his finger, and suffered it
to fall to the ground.
The Duchess immediately stooped, picked up the
jewel, and with a low curtsey presented it on her open
palm to its imperial owner.
" Nay, Madame," said Charles, with an obeisance
as profound as her own, " the bauble looks so much
more attractive in your hands than in mine that I dare
not reclaim it."
" Your Imperial Majesty surely jests," was the reply
of the favourite, as she still tendered the ring; " I am
unworthy of so precious a gift."
"Of what are you not worthy, Madame?" said
Charles in an accent of gallantry, as he possessed him-
self of her hand, and passed the gem over one of her
212 Reign of
slender fingers ; " you, who have won the heart of one
monarch, need feel no compunction in wearing the
jewel of another."
It is needless to explain that the offering was ac-
cepted; or that from that moment the avaricious
favourite ceased to exhibit any hostility towards the
politic donor.
From Amboise the Emperor was conducted to Blois,
and thence to Fontainebleau, where the fetes recom-
menced ; but the crowning triumph was his entry into
the capital, which took place on the ist of January,
1540.
The Dauphin and the Due d'Orleans, the Princes of
the blood, the French Cardinals, the Parliament, and
all the officials of the government met him at the gates ;
where the two Princes took their places upon his right
and left hand, while the Connetable preceded him with
his sword of office unsheathed, as though he were
escorting his own sovereign, and so accompanied him
through the city. The keys of the several prisons were
delivered to him, as they had previous been in the
provinces; and before he entered the palace of the
Tournelles, he declared the freedom of their occupants.
When he reached the Hotel de Ville he found all the
sheriffs assembled before the portal of the building to
compliment him; and at the close of their harangue
they presented, as the offering of the city of Paris to
its august visitor, a Hercules in silver the size of life,
with the lion skin in which he was draped richly gilt
and chased. Thence he proceeded in the same state to
Notre Dame, where a solemn Te Deum was chanted ;
after which he was conducted to the palace and took
Francis I 213
possession of the magnificent suite of apartments that
had been newly decorated for his use ; and throughout
the whole of the eight days during which he remained
the guest of the French King, the most splendid festi-
vals were -given in his honour.
On his departure, when he had taken leave of the
Queen his sister, the Queen of Navarre, the Dauphin-
ess, and their respective courts, he left the city with
the same pomp as he had entered it, accompanied by
his royal host and the two Princes, and proceeded to
Chantilly, where he was entertained in the most costly
manner by the Connetable.
It is asserted by some historians, that the Dauphin,
the King of Navarre, and the Due de Vendome had
entered into a conspiracy to arrest him in the chateau
of Montmorenci ; and that the latter was only enabled
to dissuade them from their purpose by representing
the odium which he should personally incur through-
out Europe, were he to permit such an outrage to be
committed beneath his roof. Be this as it may, how-
ever, it is certain that, after having passed the night
at Chantilly, the Emperor on the following day pur-
sued his journey to St. Quentin without molestation ;
and having taken leave of the King in that city, pro-
ceeded to Valenciennes, still attended by the two
Princes and the Connetable.
On their arrival at Valenciennes, Montmorenci re?
spectfully reminded the Emperor of his promise rela-
tive to the duchy of Milan, and requested him to ap-
point a given time for its fulfillment; upon which
Charles with some bitterness replied that all the cour-
tesy displayed towards him by his royal brother had
214 Reign of
been counterbalanced by the perpetual annoyance to
which he had been subjected upon that question ; and
that he was at the moment so engrossed by the affairs
of Ghent, that he could not afford time for the consid-
eration of any other and less pressing interest.
As the Connetable, however, persisted in urging
him to a decision, he at length declared that he should
refer the matter to his council, as he did not feel him-
self justified in alienating so important a portion of his
empire without previously obtaining the sanction of
his brother the King of the Romans; but that he
should no sooner have done so than he would be care-
ful to make such an arrangement as could not fail to
prove agreeable to the French monarch.
With this equivocal assurance Montmorenci was
compelled to content himself; and having taken his
final leave of the imperial dissembler, he returned to
court with the two Princes. The Emperor meanwhile
proceeded to Ghent, where he succeeded in a few days
in suppressing the revolt, by an exhibition of severity
which effectually terrified the rebels info submission ;
and this was no sooner accomplished than the Bishop
of Lavaur again demanded the promised investiture on
the part of his sovereign ; when Charles, who had se-
cured his own safety, and who had no longer anything
to fear from the enmity of his late lavish host, unblush-
ingly asserted that he had given no pledge, and had
no intention of making so serious a sacrifice.
This shameless tergiversation of the Emperor pro-
duced the most baneful effects upon the moral nature
of Francis I. Hitherto, amid all his faults, he had
been unsuspicious of those about him, and frank and
Francis I 215
open-hearted to all in whom he believed that he could
confide; but the deceit practised by Charles was so
monstrous, and his ingratitude so glaring, that he lost
confidence even in his best and truest friends; and
eagerly listened to all the whispers which were circu-
lated against those in whom he had hitherto reposed
the greatest trust.
The first victim of this morbid feeling was the Mare-
chal de Brion Chabot, the playmate of his boyhood,
the companion of his youth, and, moreover, the near
relative of Madame d'Etampes, who, incensed by the
coldness of Montmorenci, exerted all her influence to
undermine his interests with the King, and to second
those of her cousin. For a considerable time Francis
had confided the direction of public affairs to the Con-
netable, whose power had become so notorious, that,
with the exception of the monarch himself, and the
Cardinal de Lorraine, all who were in correspondence
with him addressed him by the title of Monseigncnr.
Between the Cardinal and Montmorenci an aversion
had long existed which was no secret to the court ;
and it was, consequently, without any suspicion of their
new alliance, that they reconciled their differences in
order to meet a common danger, when they discovered
the energy displayed by Madame d'Etampes in the
cause of Chabot.
In the life of a public man it is always easy to dis-
cover some foundation for blame. Human nature is
ever fallible; and where great power has been en-
trusted to an individual, it is rare indeed to find that
it has never been abused. Nevertheless, Chabot felt
so convinced of his own general uprightness, that when
216 Reign of
he became aware that through the machinations of
some unexpected enemy he was accused of having mal-
administered the affairs of the King in Piedmont, he
merely smiled at what he considered as an abortive
attempt to injure him.
Such, however, it was not destined to prove ; for he
had not only excited the indignation of Montmorenci
by his ostentatious display of the wealth and power
for which he was indebted to the partiality of the mon-
arch, but he had also aroused the jealousy of Francis
himself by the extreme interest which Madame
d'Etampes undisguisedly evinced in his advancement,
and wounded his vanity by presuming upon a famil-
ilarity which had commenced in their boyhood, and
which no after events had diminished in the manner
of the presumptuous favourite.
The train thus laid, it was easy for the King to dis-
cover an opportunity of offence; and, accordingly,
when upon some trivial occasion, Chabot ventured as
usual to dissent from his opinion, he turned sternly
toward the astonished Marechal, declaring that he
could no longer tolerate his insolence ; and threatened
that, should he persist in so unbecoming a course as
that which he had thus arrogantly adopted, he would
put him upon his trial.
Indignant at this menace, Chabot, intead of quailing
before the displeasure of his royal master, which the
latter had anticipated that he would do, answered in as
high a tone, that his Majesty was quite at liberty to
arrest him upon the instant, should such be his pleas-
ure, as he felt so secure that neither his life nor his
honour could be touched, that he should feel no un-
easiness regarding the result of the investigation.
Francis I 217
This boldness, which appeared to Francis to be in-
tended as an open defiance of the authority of which
he was so jealous, at once decided the fate of the im-
prudent Chabot ; who with his usual impetuosity, had
not paused to remember that the friendship of a sov-
ereign cannot be enjoyed upon equal terms ; and that
it must always be received as a boon, rather than
claimed as a right, whatever may have been the obliga-
tions incurred by that sovereign towards his subject.
It is, however, evident from the result, that the old
affection of Francis for the Marechal was still too
powerful to permit him to contemplate any ultimate
injury to his favourite ; and that all he sought was to
humble his vanity, and to diminish his pretensions;
but he, nevertheless, gave an order to the Chancellor
Poyet to appoint commissaries from the several Parlia-
ments of France, and to proceed at once to the trial.
Chabot was arrested, imprisoned in the castle of Melun,
and several times interrogated by the Chancellor him-
self, who presided over the proceedings, contrary to
all precedent, as his jurisdiction did not extend to the
criminal courts. But Poyet, who was at this period
the creature of the King, as blindly and unscrupulously
as he had formerly been that of Louise de Savoie,
boldly set all legal conventionalities at defiance; and
pursued his undertaking with such overweening zeal,
that he ere long announced to Francis that he had con-
victed the Marechal of no less than five-and-twenty
crimes, any one of which merited the pain of death.
Such had not, however, been the opinion of the com-
missaries ; who, upon acquainting themselves with the
extreme puerility of the several accusations, declared
218 Reign of
that they saw nothing in the conduct of the prisoner
which could subject him to any penalty beyond that
of a brief imprisonment; but, believing that Francis
wished to rid himself of an importunate courtier of
whom he had become weary, Poyet no sooner found
that the other members of the court disregarded alike
his arguments and his expostulations, than he pro-
ceeded to threats, which proved more efficacious ; and
thus sentence of death was ultimately signed against
the unfortunate noble by his venal and profligate
judges.
The result was, however, no sooner communicated
to the King, than he expressed his indignation at the
absurdity of which both the Chancellor and his sub-
ordinates had been guilty, in thus condemning a man
to die for errors not one of which amounted to a crime ;
and having so done, he desired that the Marechal
might immediately be summoned to his presence. As
Chabot entered the apartment, already aware of the
decision of the court, he met the eye of the King re-
spectfully but firmly, and having made a deep obeis-
ance, stood silently before him awaiting the event.
" You see, Sir," commenced Francis sternly, " to
what a pass your arrogance has brought you ; and
that it ill became you to challenge your sovereign to
so dangerous a proof as he has now given you of his
power."
" I admit my error, Sire," said the Marechal, " but at
least your judges have been unable to convict me of
any want of zeal or fidelity in your service."
" Do you then still consider you r self irreproach-
able ? " asked the monarch hastily.
Francis I 219
" By no means, Sire," was the calm and pointed re-
ply ; " I have learnt in my prison that before God and
his sovereign no man can call himself innocent."
" It is well, Sir, that you have been awakened to a
sense of your indiscretion," said the King, but less
sternly than before ; " we will, however, spare your life.
Whatever may have been your faults, you have ere
now done us good service which we care not to forget.
Let the remembrance of the latter cheer your exile, as
that of the former cannot fail to sadden it."
The Marechal attempted no remonstrance; and a
sentence of perpetual banishment was recorded against
him, to which was superadded a fine of a hundred and
fifty thousand livres ; but, believing that he had now
sufficiently humbled the vanity of his old and faithful
servant, whose presumption had been fostered by the
extreme familiarity to which he had been admitted by
himself; wearied by the remonstrances of Madame
d'Etampes ; and aroused once more to his old jealousy
of the Connetable by her representations, Francis had
no sooner thus cruelly suffered his victim to experience
all the bitterness of anticipated ruin and disgrace, than
he once more set aside the decree of the court, and
restored him unrestrictedly to his former property and
honours.
The vanity of the sovereign had, however, miscal-
culated the character of the subject. Chabot was a
man of quick and sensitive feelings, and he had been
wounded to the very core. The pardon which had been
granted to him as a boon, failed to satisfy his self-re-
spect ; and he accordingly declined to resume his of-
ficial functions until he had undergone a second trial
22O Reign of
before the regular tribunal; a favour which was at
length reluctantly accorded to him. The result of this
second investigation was an unqualified acquittal ; and
it was no sooner promulgated than he returned to
court, where he was welcomed by no one more warmly
than by Marguerite of Navarre; who, aware that
Montmorenci had been the original instigator of his
disgrace, and remembering only too keenly the insult
which he had offered to herself on the subject of her
religious tenets, hastened to assure him of her lively
satisfaction at the triumph which he had obtained over
his enemies; a triumph in which she was ere long
destined to share.
To the Marechal it was, however, of small avail ; for
the mortification to which he had been exposed, and
the anxiety that he had suffered during his imprison-
ment, had acted so injuriously upon his health that
he never recovered from their effects ; and in little more
than a year Francis was deprived by death of one of
the most attached and devoted of his subjects.
The next arrest which took place was that of his
persecutor Poyet; who, although his disgrace was
well merited, nevertheless owed it less to his crimes
than to the vengeance of Madame d'Etampes, and the
wounded dignity of Marguerite de Navarre.
Jean de Bary la Renaudie, a gentleman of Perigord,
was engaged in a lawsuit against M. du Tillet, the
registrar-civil of the Parliament of Paris, which had
already extended over several years ; and being anx-
ious to see it terminated, he had applied for letters of
evocation which the Chancellor upon sundry pretexts
refused to sign, although he had been expressly urged
Francis I 221
to do so by the favourite ; who at length, irritated by
his opposition, obtained an order from the King by
which he was compelled to immediate obedience. It
chanced that when this order arrived he was closeted
with the Queen of Navarre, who was soliciting his in-
terest in favour of an individual of her family who had
recently been convicted of eloping with an heiress;
and he had no sooner run his eye over the missive of
the King, than taking up the letters of La Renaudie,
he held them towards his royal petitioner, exclaiming
bitterly :
" There, Madame, is a proof of the purposes to which
the ladies of the court apply their influence. Not sat-
isfied with confining themselves to their legitimate
sphere of action, they undertake even to violate the
laws, and to give lessons to the most experienced
magistrates."
The sister of the King, who apprehended that this
taunt, which there can be little doubt simply applied
to Madame d'Etampes, was intended as an insult to
herself, immediately rose, refusing to resume with the
minister the subject upon which she had been induced
to visit him ; and she had no sooner reached the palace
than she hastened to communicate to the favourite the
insolence of the fated Poyet.
On the 2d of August the French Chancellor was a
prisoner in the Bastille, where he remained until the
conclusion of his trial on the 23d of April, 1545, which
had been constantly prolonged by the charges that
poured in against him from all directions. Found
guilty of malversation, peculation, and legal corrup-
tion, he was sentenced " to be deprived of the dignity
222 Reign of
of Chancellor, declared incapable of holding office
under the crown, and condemned to a fine of a hun-
dred thousand livres, as well as five years' imprison-
ment in whatsoever fortress the King might see fit to
select." He was then removed to the town of Bourges,
where he was detained until he had surrendered the
whole of his property in payment of the fine ; and he
ultimately died in Paris in a state of the most squalid
poverty, without a home or a friend.
Despite the unworthy requital which had been made
by Charles V. to the impolitic hospitality of the French
King, he was anxious to avoid an open rupture be-
tween the two countries ; and after his return to Spain
he accordingly hastened to propose to Francis a double
alliance between their families which might ensure
their lasting friendship, and by such means invest
them with a supremacy over the whole of Europe.
For this purpose he declared his readiness to accept
for his son Dom Philippe, the hand of Jeanne d'Albret,
the daughter of Henry of Navarre and Marguerite, the
King's sister; pledging himself to permit Francis to
redeem the principalities of Beam and Lower Navarre,
both of which were situate within the French territo-
ries, for two millions of livres; and to give his own
daughter, the Princess of Spain, in marriage to Charles,
Due d'Orleans, with either the duchy of Milan, or the
Low Countries and the counties of Burgundy and
Charolois, as her dower, on condition that the King
should increase the appanage of his son.
To this proposition Francis, however, refused to ac-
cede, although a more brilliant alliance could not have
presented itself for the young Prince. He declared in
Francis I 223
reply, that he could not consent to receive the duchy
of Milan as the dowry of the Princess of Spain, inas-
much as such a concession would tend to invalidate his
just claims to that sovereignty, to which he considered
that he had an undisputed right, either in his own
person or in that of one of his sons; while he was
equally indisposed to accept the Low Countries and
the provinces specified on the condition assigned, that
should the Prince die before his wife these territories
were to revert to the Emperor himself ; while he more-
over declined to give any definite reply as. to the mar-
riage of Jeanne d'Albret with Dom Philippe.
Charles V, who had anticipated a very different re-
sult, was extremely chagrined by this unexpected ob-
stacle. He declared that while Francis was exacting
in his own demands, he avoided all personal sacrifice ;
but he, nevertheless, abstained from any demonstration
of hostility, believing that upon mature deliberation
the French King would accede to his proposals.
The policy of Francis upon this occasion meanwhile
caused severe disappointment to the King and Queen
of Navarre, who saw their wildest dreams of ambition
realized in the alliance proposed for their daughter;
but the idea of a union between this Princess and the
son of the German Emperor alarmed alike the King
and his ministers ; who foresaw, should it be effected,
the almost certain usurpation of the kingdom of Na-
varre by the Spaniards, as well as that of a considerable
portion of territory at the base of the Pyrenees ; and,
consequently, not all the importunities of his much-
loved sister could induce Francis to yield. Either, as
he asserted, both the marriages must take place, or
224 Reign of
neither ; adding, moreover, that nothing should induce
him to dismember his kingdom in order to increase the
territories of Charles V.
The negotiation was, however, continued, but list-
lessly and indifferently until the arrival in France of the
Due de Cleves and Juliers,* who having been disap-
pointed in his hope of obtaining the duchy of Gueldres
(to which both Antoine de Lorraine and himself laid
claim as the near relatives of the deceased Duke Will-
iam), at the hands of Charles V, who was anxious to
retain its sovereignty and to merge it in that of the
Low Countries; at once proceeded to the court of
Francis to solicit his assistance and protection. It hap-
pened, unfortunately for the interests of the young
Princess, that a short time previously the Cardinal de
Grammont, Archbishop of Bordeaux and Lieutenant-
Governor of Guienne, had succeeded in intercepting a
secret correspondence between the Emperor and the
King of Navarre on the subject of the proposed mar-
riage of their children; and this letter having been
forwarded to the King, he became so incensed by this
daring opposition to his will, that he forthwith offered
to the Duke of Cleves, as an earnest of his friendship,
the hand of his niece; an offer which was gratefully
accepted. In vain did Henri de Navarre remonstrate,
* Guillaume de la Mark succeeded his father, Jean III., in the duchies
of Cleves, Berg, and Juliers. On the 2?th of January, 1538, he was also
summoned by the States of Gueldres and Zutphen, then assembled at
Nimeguen, to inherit the sovereignty of their aged Duke, Charles d'Eg-
mont, who was at that period seventy-one years of age, and childless;
and who died on the 3oth of June following. An old and close friendship
united the two families; and the Gueldrians refused to recognise a treaty
into which their Duke had been compelled to enter, and by virtue of
which his duchy passed, upon his death, into the house of Austria.
Francis I 225
and his sister weep ; Francis remained immovable, de-
claring that he would not retract a pledge voluntarily
given ; and despite the opposition of both parents, he
accordingly made known to the Duke that his mar-
riage would be solemnized at Chatellerault on the I5th
of July.
On that day the ceremony accordingly took place,
with a magnificence which excited much murmuring
among the people, upon whom a new tax was levied in
order to liquidate the outlay consequent upon this de-
mand on the treasury; and the only consolation ex-
perienced by the disappointed mother was afforded by
the fact, that as the poor child, who had only just at-
tained her eleventh year, was so overloaded with jewels,
and gold and silver damask, that she had not strength
to walk under their weight, the King commanded
Montmorenci to take her in his arms, and carry her
to the altar ; an order which startled the whole court,
such an office being derogatory to the exalted rank of
the Connetable, and obviously intended as an affront.
Montmorenci, however, obeyed in silence; but as
he lifted the little Princess, who was clinging to the
side of her mother, his cheek flushed upon hearing
Marguerite remark scornfully to Madame d'Etampes :
" Is it not amusing? Here is the man who would fain
have ruined me in the good graces of my royal brother,
now playing the part of lacquey to my daughter." A
taunt which had no sooner reached his ear, than he in
turn exclaimed to one of his friends : " My season of
favour is over, and I bid it farewell forever."
The event proved the justice of his previsions, for
at the close of the banquet it was announced to him
VOL. III. 15
226 Reign of
that the King authorized his retirement to one of his
estates, and would dispense with all leave-taking.
The next morning the once-powerful Connetable
was on his way to his chateau at Chantilly.
The positive cause of his disgrace was never pub-
licly ascertained ; many ascribed it to the evil counsels
by which Francis was induced to allow the Emperor a
free passage through his kingdom, an act of impolicy
which he had since repented ; and others, to the jeal-
ousy felt by the King at the excessive attachment ex-
isting between him and the Dauphin ; but its undoubted
motive was revealed by the fact, that while that Prince
was on one occasion repeating his entreaties for the re-
call of his first tutor in arms, the King exclaimed bit-
terly : " No more of this, Sir. Never again mention
to me the name of that dispenser of ' Good-morrows ! ' '
The Duchesse d'Etampes was revenged. No one
thenceforward dared to plead the cause of the outraged
Connetable; and his enforced exile terminated only
with the death of the ungenerous monarch who had so
ill requited his brilliant services.
The departure of Montmorenci was no impediment
to the gaiety of the court ; which on the occasion of the
marriage of Mademoiselle de Navarre, drank deep of
every species of dissipation. Superb banquets and
magnificent tournaments daily took place ; and at the
latter a number of knights-errant presented themselves
in the lists, who rigorously observed all the traditional
ceremonies of the Knights of the Round Table. The
most costly gifts were showered upon the bride ; and
at the conclusion of the festivities, the Due de Cleves
took his leave of the royal circle, and returned to Aix-
la-Chapelle, whither his young wife was to follow him
Francis I 227
when she should have attained her fourteenth year.
This arrangement, however, was never completed ; as
Marguerite and her husband, against whose consent
the alliance had taken place, caused it to be annulled
a short time afterwards ; nor was the Princess finally
married until the year 1548, when she became the wife
of Antoine de Bourbon, Due de Vendome, who suc-
ceeded his father-in-law as King of Navarre.
From Chatellerault Francis removed with his court
to the capital, where an incident occurred which oc-
casioned considerable amusement to the idle and licen-
tious circle. The monarch, soon wearied by the
gloomy palace of the Tournelles, proceeded with a few
chosen courtiers to the chateau of Madrid ; an arrange-
ment which afforded great satisfaction to the favourite,
who, whatever contempt she affected to feel for the
forsaken Queen, evinced on all occasions the utmost
anxiety to escape from her vicinity. The royal party
had no sooner arrived at the villa, than the King com-
manded a grand hunt in the Bois de Boulogne ; from
which, however, the Duchess, being slightly indis-
posed, absented herself. It is true that the gallant and
handsome Christian de Nangay, the captain of the
body-guard, had been prevented by his duties from
joining in the sport; and it was well known that
Madame d'Etampes had long ceased to conceal her
passion for this noble young soldier. Suffice it, that
while she sat musing in her own apartment, De Nan-
gay, leaning from the balcony of the outer gallery,
was watching the shades of evening as they thickened,
in as deep a reverie as her own.
At length the great clock of the chateau struck
seven; and De Nangay, starting from his waking
228 Reign of
dream, adjusted his helmet and coat-of-mail, and has-
tened to his post to arrange his pikemen ; after which
he returned to the gallery, whence he proceeded to the
private apartments ; and having traversed the arched
corridor by which they were approached, suddenly
stopped before a hanging curtain of blue silk, richly
fringed with gold, and embroidered all over with the
royal salamander in the same costly bullion. A deep
flush rose to his cheek, and for a moment his eyes fell
before the significant device ; but he was young, bold,
and fully conscious of his personal advantages. It was
not, consequently, from any dread of personal danger
that he paused ; but only one short year had elapsed
since he had been a personal attendant of the sovereign,
who, in requital of his services, had permitted him to
exchange the plumed cap and embroidered pour-
point of the page for the helm and halberd of the sol-
dier ; and he was conscious that, by his meditated in-
trusion, he was about to violate the respect which he
owed to his royal master.
Behind that mystic curtain was an apartment into
which no one had a right to penetrate, save the King
himself the apartment of the Duchesse d'Etampes;
who, dear as she might be to the monarch, the enthu-
siastic youth believed could be loved by no one so de-
votedly as by himself. As we have said, he paused for
a moment ; but as he apprehended no severity on the
part of the fair favourite herself, he soon forgot all
save his mad and ungovernable passion. With a
desperate clutch he drew back the folds of the frail bar-
rier, and cautiously entered the forbidden chamber.
The room was of small dimensions, oval-shaped,
and imperfectly lighted by the faint flame which was
Francis I 229
confined within a lamp of ground glass, placed upon a
precious secretaire of ebony, inlaid with sandal-wood,
ivory, and coral; rich hangings of purple damask
veiled the walls, and were looped back at intervals by
hands wrought in polished steel; a noble Venetian
mirror faced the portal; and a gorgeous sofa, upon
which were scattered cushions of gold-coloured satin,
tasselled with pearls, stood immediately beneath it.
Two of the velvet-covered coffers, which were at that
period the ungraceful and inconvenient substitutes for
chairs, were placed near it ; while the only window by
which the daylight was admitted into the apartment
was flung open, its draperies drawn aside, and its space
partially occupied by the slight figure of a woman,
whose head was bowed over her bosom, and whose
hands rested upon the sill.
The breath of De Nangay came thick and fast, as he
stood with his eyes riveted upon the dimly-traced out-
line of the solitary muser ; he could neither speak, nor
move a limb; he felt like one who is deprived of all
power of volition. How long this trance might have
continued, is uncertain, had not Madame d'Etampes
suddenly started, swept back her dishevelled hair, and,
moving from the window, approached a table on which
lay the miniature rattle destined to summon her at-
tendants, when, as she reached the centre of the floor,
the rays of the lamp, feeble though they were, glinted
over the armour of the intruder, upon which she ut-
tered a faint scream, and sank fainting on the sofa.
" It is only I Christian most adored of women,"
murmured De Nangay, as he hastened to reassure her.
" It is only I, your worshipper. Will you not pardon
me?"
230 Reign of
" You mad boy ! " gasped out the terrified favourite ;
" do you seek your own destruction ? "
" What could I do, Anne? " urged the impassioned
youth. " I knew that you were here here, and
alone."
" But the King "
" The King ! " echoed De Nanc,ay petulantly ; " can
you not forget him at such a moment as this ? He is
still in the forest. The stag has afforded him right
royal sport, and he cannot return hither for hours."
" Nevertheless, you have acted with great impru-
dence," said the Duchess tenderly, as she wreathed her
slender fingers in his clustering curls ; " you may have
been suspected even seen."
" I thought only of you, sweet Anne."
" I dare not trust you. You will involve both your-
self and me."
"Spare your reproaches," said Christian impatiently;
" for I have exercised more discretion than you seem
willing to believe. The King, I repeat, cannot be here
for two happy, blissful hours."
" From whom did you ascertain that fact ? "
" From the Comte de Saint-Pol, who has this mo-
ment returned from the hunt."
" Enough," said the Duchess with a smile ; " the boy
is, I see, fast ripening into the man, and must not be
idly chidden." Then, springing her small rattle, a
summons which was instantly answered by the en-
trance of one of her women, she made a significant
gesture, and the attendant departed as silently as she
had appeared.
Scarcely had an half hour elapsed when a great noise
was heard in the court-yard. The archers and pike-
Francis I 231
men flew to their arms ; and the suivante, who had
slumbered upon her watch, rushed into the apartment
exclaiming hurriedly : " Madame, you have not a
moment to lose. His Majesty has returned."
In an instant both the Duchess and De Nangay
sprang to their feet ; the clatter of horses' hoofs, and
the baying of hounds, became every instant more
audible. There was no longer time either for conceal-
ment or for flight, and moreover the captain of the
royal guard was absent from his post. Meanwhile the
King had sprung from his horse ; and booted, spurred,
and muddy as he was, had hurriedly entered the cha-
teau, and ascended by a private staircase which led
immediately to the apartments of the Duchess, in order
to allay her uneasiness by assuring her of his safety.
Already the clanking of his spurs echoed sharply
through the arched gallery. The Duchess had recog-
nised his footstep, and the young guard had resigned
himself to his fate. The silken curtain of the portal
was flung back, and in another instant Franois ap-
peared upon the threshold of the apartment, preceded
by two pages bearing flambeaux. On discovering De
Nan<;ay in the saloon of Madame d'Etampes, the King
suddenly stopped short, and his eyes flashed with rage ;
but he nevertheless maintained sufficient control over
his feelings to suppress his indignation. Christian
stood, with bowed head, in the centre of the floor, and
beside him knelt a female, whose face was buried in her
hands, and whose whole frame quivered with emo-
tion.
" You here, Sir ! " said Francis sternly.
Christian replied only by a respectful bow.
" And apparently in good company," pursued the
232 Reign of
King bitterly. " Who is this woman ? Let her stand
up."
The recumbent figure slowly rose from her Mag-
dalen-like attitude.
" You are indeed over-bold, young Sir," thundered
the indignant monarch ; " would no light-o'-love serve
your turn save one of the attendants of the Duchesse
d'Etampes ? and no place of rendezvous suffice except
her private chamber ? Hola ! guards ! seize your pris-
oner."
De Nanc.ay respectfully drew his sword from its
scabbard, and in silence laid it at the feet of his irritated
master ; after which, with a profound obeisance, he sur-
rendered himself to the royal archers who awaited him
at the entrance of the apartment.
About a month subsequently, Francis summoned
the delinquent to his presence. " M. de Nanc,ay," he
said, " I have been induced to pardon the crime of
which you were lately guilty, at the powerful interces-
sion of the noble lady to whom you offered so deep
an insult that she might well have been excused had
she rather solicited your lasting disgrace ; but who,
with a generosity for which you can never sufficiently
prove your gratitude, condescends to overlook the
outrage committed upon her dignity, and in consid-
eration of your youth, freely forgives you. It is to
her, and her alone, I repeat, that you owe your escape
from a fate which, to a young and proud spirit like
yours, would have been worse than death. Do not
suffer the lesson you have now received to prove un-
profitable. Return to your duty. Here is your sword,
sir ; and endeavour to guard it better in time to come."
Christian knelt, and having dutifully kissed the knee
Francis I 233
of the sovereign, once more took possession of his
forfeited weapon ; pledging himself, upon the honour
of a soldier, that he would never again be guilty of
the enormity of pursuing with his addresses any of
the attendants of the outraged favourite.
The clever Duchess was saved. She had, indeed,
sacrificed the fair fame of one of her women, buF she
had succeeded in securing her own immunity. And,
after all, what was the value of character to the daugh-
ter of a citizen, or to an inmate of the court of Fran-
cis I?
During the course of this year, that maddest of all
mad geniuses, Benvenuto Cellini, was introduced to
Francis by the Cardinal de Ferrara, where he soon
drew upon himself the % enmity of the Duchesse
d'Etampes; and although he enriched the collection
of the King by several of the finest specimens of his
art, he was compelled, notwithstanding the partiality
evinced towards him by Francis himself, to request
permission to leave the country a short time after-
wards, feeling unequal to cope with so dangerous an
adversary.
The exile of Montmorenci from the court was
speedily followed by that of the profligate Cardinal
de Lorraine, who was accused of having accepted an
annual revenue of six thousand crowns from the
Emperor, on the Archbishopric of Saragossa; an
equivocal meanness in which he was countenanced by
several of his colleagues, but to which the King af-
fected to attach a suspicion of treachery in his case,
in order to escape from the continual importunities
rendered necessary by the enormous outlay in which
he indulged.
CHAPTER XI.
Changed Aspect of the French Court Favour of the Marechal
d'Annebaut The Emperor Invests His Own Son with the
Duchy of Milan The Venetians Threaten to Form an Al-
liance with Solyman Charles V. and Francis Despatch Am-
bassadors to Venice They are Coldly Received Murder
of Fregosa and Rincon Du Bellay-Langei Accuses the Im-
perialists of the Crime The Assassins are put to Death by
the States of Venice Francis Summons the Emperor to
Make Reparation Contemptuous Reply of Charles V.
Francis Arrests the Archbishop of Valence Charles Enters
into a Truce with the Protestant Princes Benda Taken by
the Turks Charles V. Conducts an Expedition against the
Algerines His Fleet is Dispersed by a Tempest The Im-
perialists Return to Spain Francis Resolves to Declare War
against the Emperor The French Armies Open Their Cam-
paign The Marechal de Gueldres Attacks the Flemish
Frontiers Alarm of the Dowager-Queen of Hungary
Treachery of the Duchesse d'Etampes D'Annebaut Seconds
Her Views Suspicion of the King The Due d'Orleans
Takes Luxembourg D'Annebaut Supersedes Langei in His
Command in Piedmont Death of Langei D'Annebaut is
Appointed Admiral of France Exile of Montpezat Grow-
ing Enmity of the Two Princes Female Policy The Court
of Catherine de' Medici The " Light Brigade " Revolt of
La Rochelle Francis Proceeds Thither Suppresses the In-
surrection and Pardons the Citizens.
234
Francis I 235
THE exile of Montmorenci and M. de Lorraine,
and the death of de Brion-Chabot, had mean-
while changed the whole aspect of the French
court. The Connetable had no sooner retired to
Chantilly than Francis transferred to the Marechal
d'Annebaut, all the confidence which he had formerly
bestowed upon his old favourite ; but it was not long
ere he was destined to feel his error, for the moment
in which he had deprived himself of his two most
zealous and devoted friends was pregnant with men-
ace, and the nation could ill afford to sustain so seri-
ous a loss.
The Emperor, after having awaited for some
months a renewal of the negotiations into which he
had entered with the French King, was no sooner ap-
prised that a marriage was about to take place be-
tween the Due de Cleves and Jeanne d'Albret, whose
hand he had demanded for his own son, than, feeling
the futility of anticipating any satisfactory result to
his propositions, on the nth of October, 1540, he had
at Brussels invested Dom Philippe with the duchy of
Milan; and this important step once taken, his next
care was to promote a rupture between the courts of
Paris and Constantinople; and at the same time to
excite the suspicions of the Christian Princes as to
the good faith of Francis.
The Sultan was already prepared to view the policy
of the French King with a jealous eye ; first from his
having failed him in Piedmont, and still more recently
from the fact of his having suffered the passage of
Charles V. through his dominions; while the Vene-
tians, conscious that they had narrowly escaped de-
236 Reign of
struction, and convinced by experience that they had
more to fear from the enmity of the Infidels than they
had to hope from the support of the Emperor, had
determined to effect an alliance with Solyman. This
was a catastrophe which had not been foreseen by
Charles V. ; and one so formidable that all his meas-
ures were at once arrested by the necessity of main-
taining the semblance of a perfect amity with the
French King. In order to accomplish so desirable
an object, he therefore at once wrote to request of
Francis that he would permit the Marechal d'Anne-
baut to proceed to Venice in the company of the
Marquis del Guasto, to assure the States that their
apprehensions were unfounded, and to endeavour to
include them in their league against the Infidels. His
request was immediately complied with, but the Vene-
tians had been so frequently deceived by statements
of the same nature, that they received the envoys very
coldly, declaring that no real friendship could exist
between their several sovereigns until the Milanese
were ceded to France ; an event which had now be-
come more improbable than ever. Del Guasto argued
and remonstrated in vain; the States civilly declined
to declare themselves convinced ; and it was not long
ere they concluded a truce with the Ottomans, which
was subsequently ratified by a treaty of peace.
This open demonstration of contempt on the part
of the Venetians aroused the indignation of Francis;
who, not without cause, attributed the affront to
which he had thus been subjected, to the double deal-
ing of the Emperor ; and he at once resolved to justify
himself in the opinion both of the Sultan and the states
Francis I 237
of Venice, by imparting to them without reserve a
detail of all that had taken place between himself and
Charles V. For this purpose, he despatched as his
ambassadors to the council of Venice a gallant officer
named Caesar Fregosa, a knight of the order of St.
Michael, who had done him good service in Piedmont,
and Antoine Rincon, one of the gentlemen of his bed-
chamber, who was invested with the like dignity, and
instructed to proceed to Constantinople by the same
route, and, consequently, to accompany his colleague
to his allotted post. Rincon, however, having some
private business to arrange at Lyons, first visited that
city, where he was detained for a short time; while
Fregosa advanced as far as Suza, to inspect a troop
of gensdarmes of which the command had recently
been confided to him. Du Bellay-Langei, who had
been appointed lieutenant-general in Piedmont after
the death of Chabot, was at that period residing at
Turin ; and the delay of the two ambassadors afforded
him an opportunity of discovering a treacherous plot
which had been laid by the Marquis del Guasto for
their destruction.
The extreme corpulency of Rincon rendering him
unable to attempt the exertion of riding, it had been
decided that the envoys and their suite should avail
themselves of the barges upon the P6, which, by virt-
ue of the then existing truce, was considered to be
an equally safe and convenient method of performing
the journey. Del Guasto had, however, no sooner
ascertained this arrrangement, than, disregarding the
sacredness of the pledge given by his imperial master,
he hired assassins, who were stationed at different
238 Reign of
points along the river, for the purpose of intercepting
their progress, and possessing themselves of their
despatches, with strict orders to secure them at all
hazards, even should the lives of the envoys be sac-
rificed in the struggle, or their destruction rendered
necessary to ensure the secrecy of their mission.
On the ist of July the two ambassadors reached
Rivoli, where they were met by the vigilant Langei,
who strongly urged them to abandon the river, and at
any sacrifice to pursue a different route; but Rincon,
who, as we have stated, could ill brook the saddle, and
who had, moreover, been long accustomed to travel in
uncivilized countries, disregarded the advice, declar-
ing that, whatever might be the determination of his
companion, he should himself proceed by water ; nor
was it without extreme difficulty that Du Bellay finally
induced him to entrust his despatches to his own care,
pledging himself for their safe delivery in Venice.
Fregosa, who had not the same reasons for exposing
himself to gratuitous danger, hesitated for a time as
to which measure he should adopt ; but he soon per-
mitted himself to be won over by the confident assur-
ances of his colleague ; and, despite the persevering
expostulations of the more prudent Langei, the ill-
fated envoys left the city at twilight, on the 2d of July,
in two swift boats, each pulling eight oars.
At midday on the morrow, when they were within
three miles of the mouth of the Ticino, and about the
same distance from Pavia, they were suddenly at-
tacked by a couple of barges full of armed men, who
immediately cut off all communication between the
two boats ; and they had no sooner boarded that con-
Francis I 239
taining the ambassadors, than a desperate encounter
took place, in which both Fregosa and Rincon lost
their lives; when their rowers were immediately se-
cured, and conveyed to the dungeons of Pavia.
Meanwhile the boat which conveyed their attend-
ants, forgotten for the instant by the miscreants who
were intent upon their principal prey, was enabled to
reach the opposite bank, where all its occupants sprang
to land, and escaped into the forest ; whence they made
their way to the quarters of Du Bellay, and gave him
a detailed account of the frightful catastrophe. With
his usual caution, however, that able general, until he
could succeed in securing the most irrefragable proofs
of the delinquency of Del Guasto, forbore all com-
plaint; and even compelled himself to receive with
civility the affected condolences of the Marquis, and
to appear to give credit to his assurances that the
crime had been committed by brigands; but lie had
no sooner possessed himself of sufficient evidence of
the guilt of the imperalist assassin, than he formally
accused Del Guasto of the outrage which had been
offered to his sovereign in the persons of his accred-
ited ambassadors, and challenged him to prove his
innocence.
This was, however, impossible, as Langei, resolved
to leave no method unattempted to unmask the whole
conspiracy, upon learning from the fugitives that the
rowers of the captured boat had been made prisoners
and conveyed to Pavia, soon found means to bribe
a servant of the governor of that citadel, who secretly
provided the boatmen with files, by which they were
enabled to effect their escape; and from whom he
obtained all the information which he could desire.
240 Reign of
The reply of Del Guasto to this overt accusation was
the puerile expedient of challenging his accuser, the
overwhelming proofs of his guilt possessed by Du
Bellay depriving him of all means of self-justification ;
while the Republic of Venice, indignant that so base
a murder should have been committed within their ter-
ritories, pursued the assassins, and succeeded in ar-
resting several of their number, all of whom were
recognised to be in the pay of the Marquis ; but, al-
though they were publicly tried and executed, Del
Guasto, in order to complete his work of treachery,
suffered them to undergo their sentence without the
slightest effort at interference ; simply protesting that,
if they were justly condemned, they had acted upon
their own responsibility, and without his knowledge.
This investigation was no sooner terminated than
Du Bellay drew up in duplicate a detailed statement
of the whole occurrence, one copy of which he for-
warded to the Emperor, and the other to the Diet of
the German States which was shortly afterwards as-
sembled at Ratisbon; and ere long all the Princes of
Christendom were informed of the atrocious deed
which had been perpetrated, in violation of the recog-
nised rights which are held sacred by all civilized
nations.
Great was the indignation expressed by the respec-
tive sovereigns, who thus saw the very foundations
of their safety shaken; but it was still feeble beside
that of Francis, who at once summoned the Emperor
to make reparation for the affront which had been
offered to him ; and reminded him that this was not
the first occasion upon which he had been called upon
Francis I 241
to suffer from the treachery of his assassins. Charles,
however, replied to this demand only by recrimina-
tions; alleging that if, instead of pursuing a corre-
spondence with Solyman, Francis had, like himself,
been preparing for a new crusade against the Infidels,
his envoys would not have fallen victims to his crooked
policy ; or, as he himself believed, to the cupidity of
a horde of robbers. Although he could not mistake
the meaning of the French King, he abstained from
any allusion to Montecuculli, or to the murder of
Maraviglia, as if in disdain of accusations so vague
and monstrous ; and thus the outraged monarch found
himself compelled to adopt more stringent measures
in order to secure his vengeance.
Charles V. was, effectively, at that precise moment,
raising a powerful fleet to operate against the African
corsairs; his previous successes against the Infidels
having roused his ambition to maintain the distinction
which he had already won, and to be regarded as the
champion of Christendom ; a title of which, moreover,
he was aware that Francis was more jealous than of
any other he had acquired.
The opportunity of reprisals so ardently desired by
the French King was not long in presenting itself.
George of Austria, Archbishop of Valence, the natural
son of the Emperor, who was on his way from Spain
to Belgium, having halted at Lyons, Francis caused
him to be arrested, declaring that he would retain him
as a hostage until Fregosa and Rincon, if still living,
were restored to him in safety ; or in the event of this
being impossible, that their murderers should be con-
signed to an ignominious death ; a mode of revenge
VOL. III. 16
242 Reign of
which, puerile as it appeared, was far from being so in
fact, the extreme partiality of the Emperor for this
prelate being matter of notoriety. A short time subse-
quently, moreover, Francis having ascertained that
Charles V. and the Pope were to have an interview at
Lucca before the embarkation of the former for Al-
giers, he desired his ambassador to attend the con-
ference; and to demand once more, in his name, the
restoration of his murdered envoys, or the condign
punishment of their assassins.
This demonstration was, however, met as coldly as
the last, Charles being well aware that a considerable
period must elapse ere the King could proceed, with
any chance of success, to aggressive measures; and
it was in consequence of this conviction that he per-
sisted in disregarding the expostulations of the pon-
tiff, who earnestly represented that he would better
consult the safety of Christendom by remaining to
guard the frontiers of Italy against Solyman (by whom
his brother Ferdinand had recently been vanquished
before Buda, and compelled to abandon that city),
than by any distant expedition, however important.
The arguments of His Holiness availed nothing;
the Emperor feeling convinced that he must at once
set sail, or altogether abandon his darling project ; as,
should he afford Francis sufficient time to assemble
an army, he would inevitably avail himself of the op-
portunity of his absence to possess himself of the
Milanese. He therefore continued to hasten his prep-
arations; having already at the Diet at Ratisbon ac-
corded to the Protestant Princes, whose friendship he
was anxious to secure during his foreign campaign, an
Francis I 243
interregnum or truce, by which they were authorized
to retain the free exercise of their religion until the de-
cision of the general council ; while, in requital of this
concession, the Diet consented to supply him with a
large body of troops to assist against the Turks; de-
clared the Due de Cleves the enemy of the empire; en-
gaged to co-operate in the reinstatement of the Duke of
Savoy in his sovereignty; and prohibited all subjects of
the empire from serving in the armies of France.
Although the original intention of the Emperor had
been to proceed at once to the coast of Africa, it was
anticipated that the defeat of his brother would in-
duce him to commence his campaign by an attack upon
Solyman; but, contrary to all expectations, he per-
sisted in his original project, although the close of
autumn having arrived, the season was most unpro-
pitious to such an enterprise. Accordingly, on the i8th
of October, he set sail from Majorca with twenty thou-
sand infantry and two thousand horse, the elite of his
combined armies. On the following day a severe
storm scattered his vessels, and exposed the troops
to severe suffering from the crowded state of the ships ;
but on the 2Oth the imperial fleet was enabled, with
considerable difficulty, owing to the continuance of
the hurricane, to cast anchor between the city of Al-
giers and the river of El Harach, where the disem-
barkation took place. The soldiery effected their land-
ing in safety ; but before the bulk of their ammunition
and provisions could be secured, the tempest became
once more so violent that fifteen vessels of war, a hun-
dred and forty transports, and eight thousand seamen,
were swallowed by the waves ; while at the same time
244 Reign of
an immense water-spout burst over the camp, which
caused a great sacrifice of life ; and thus the elements
within five days revenged Barbarossa for his former
defeat.
Andrea Doria, with the wreck of the gallant fleet
which had so recently excited such brilliant hopes, had
taken refuge behind Cape Metafuz ; and he was fortu-
nate enough to be enabled within a few hours to ap-
prise the Emperor, whose situation was at that mo-
ment desperate, of his safety. The small quantity of
powder which had been landed was utterly destroyed
by the water, and a considerable number of the troops
were drowned; while the remainder, utterly without
food of any description, and harassed by the Algerine
horsemen, had scarcely sufficient strength left to make
their way to the ships, although the distance did not
exceed four leagues; but at length, on the 3ist of Oc-
tober, they once more found themselves on board, al-
though no longer in a condition to molest the Infidels.
Nor were they more fortunate in their exodus than
in their advent ; for the tempest, still unsated with its
prey, pursued the fleet so relentlessly, that it was once
more dispersed ; nor was it until the 3d of December
that the Emperor arrived at Carthagena storm-tossed
and alone, each of the vessels which were fortunate
enough to survive the passage having made a different
port.
Great was the terror which the knowledge of this
calamity spread over Europe. The Turks were now
masters of Hungary, and were threatening Vienna;
the whole coast of the Mediterranean was defenceless ;
the triple army of Charles destroyed ; and all Christen-
Francis I 245
dom exposed to the power of the conquering Solyman.
In France alone was a secret Te Deum raised, for her
most dreaded enemy was laid low; and Francis re-
solved no longer to postpone a war which he justified
by pretexting the non-fulfilment of his demand for
vengeance on the murderers of his two ambassadors.
Some of the more cautious of his councillors sug-
gested the expediency of delay until he should have
completed the fortification of his frontiers, and ter-
minated the treaties into which he had entered; but
he merely referred them to the ruined condition of the
Emperor's army, and refused to listen to their repre-
sentations. He was next advised to make an imme-
diate descent upon Piedmont, an act which would in
itself be equivalent to a formal declaration of war ; and
had he acted upon this suggestion he must speedily
have made himself master of the whole of that province ;
but his desire to avoid the immense outlay necessary
to maintain an army in Italy, determined him to com-
mence his campaign by the Low Countries, to which
he had been urged by several of the German Princes,
who pledged themselves to support him in any act of
aggression against Charles which might assist their
own views. He was also anxious to secure the co-
operation of the Duke of Cleves, of whom Charles had
vowed the destruction ; and he accordingly proceeded
formally to declare hostilities against the Emperor.
This was no sooner done than he divided his troops
into five distinct bodies, in order simultaneously to at-
tack the enemy on as many different points. The Dau-
phin proceeded to Perpignan, with Antoine Desprez-
Montpezat as his lieutenant ; the Due d'Orleans was
246 Reign of
despatched to Luxembourg, seconded by Claude, Due
de Guise ;* a third division marched to Brabant, under
the joint command of Nicholas de Bossu, Sieur de Lon-
gueval, and of Martin Von Rossem,f Marechal de
Gueldres ; a fourth, under Charles, Due de Vendome,
was entrusted with the protection of the Flemish fron-
tiers ; and the fifth was marched into Piedmont by the
Marechal d'Annebaut. The latter, however, having
been compelled to remain inactive for the space of two
months, was recalled to join the army under the Dau-
phin, which ultimately amounted to forty-five thou-
sand men, headed by the first nobility of France.
The Marechal de Gueldres, who was a general of
consummate skill and daring, and moreover, utterly
without scruple as regarded the means by which he
carried out his measures, was anxious to follow the
example of Seckingen, and to make the war pay its
own expenses. He consequently no sooner found him-
self at the head of twelve thousand lansquenets and
two thousand German horse, than he permitted his
troops to indulge in every species of excess towards
the inhabitants of the invaded provinces, while he
*C1aude, Due d' Aumale and de Guise, was the seventh son of Rent II.,
Due de Lorraine.
t Martin Von Rossem (or Roscheim) was one of the bravest generals
of the Due de Cleves, and acquitted himself with great distinction on
several occasions. He defeated the Prince of Orange in the campaign
of 1542, and compelled him to shut himself up in Antwerp, of which
city he might have possessed himself had not his love of dissipation
caused him to suffer the propitious moment to escape. When too late,
he attempted to retrieve his error, but failed, although he destroyed
half the faubourgs by fire. Dueren having been taken by assault, and
the province of Gueldres reduced to submission by the Emperor, the
monarch restored both the Duke and his valiant marechal to his favour;
and appointed the latter to a high command in his army. Von Rossem
ultimately fell a victim to the plague at Antwerp, in 1555.
Francis I 247
nevertheless maintained the most rigorous discipline
among themselves.
The Queen of Hungary, Governante of the Low
Countries, terrified by the enormities committed on
her frontiers, appealed to the Due de Cleves to declare
the nature of his intentions ; but he contented himself
by assuring her that the force of which she complained
was not in his pay, nor was he responsible for its pro-
ceedings ; although he imagined that it was composed
of volunteers about to march against the Turks. She
then addressed herself to Francis, who merely replied
by telling her that his own intentions were pacific;
and thus left to her own resources, she had the mortifi-
cation of seeing Von Rossem advance to Liege, cross
the Meuse, and ultimately compel the Prince of Or-
ange to shut himself up in Antwerp, after a loss of
fourteen hundred men and six standards.
The assemblage of a strong army in the south awak-
ened all the ambition of Marguerite de Navarre, who
entreated her brother to employ it in the recovery of
her husband's kingdom, but he was dissuaded from the
attempt by the Marechal de Montpezat, and it was
determined that the Dauphin should at once proceed
against Roussillon, while the Emperor was concentrat-
ing his forces upon the Milanese.
This campaign was destined to complete the moral
turpitude of the unprincipled favourite, who in her anx-
iety to ruin Diana de Poitiers through her lover, en-
tered into a secret correspondence with the Emperor,
which tended to counteract all the endeavours of the
Dauphin. Her agent in this act of treachery was the
Comte de Bossut, of the house of Longueval, who at
248 Reign of
the commencement of the following reign narrowly
escaped decapitation for his share in the nefarious
transaction. This noble was one of the many lovers
of the Duchess, and was induced to requite her con-
descension by betraying the interests of his sovereign.
The two young Princes were equally brave, and
equally ambitious of renown ; but the advantage was
on the side of the elder, who, more prudent, more self-
possessed, and less the victim of impulse than his
brother, was far better calculated for the command of
an army. Nevertheless, he was compelled to abandon
the siege of Roussillon, the enemy having, through
the agency of Madame d'Etampes, been apprised of his
design upon the city, in time to strengthen it by throw-
ing ten thousand troops into the citadel ; while d'Anne-
baut, whom tradition boldly affirms to have been
united to her by closer bonds than those of mere
friendship, was gtiiky of such extraordinary errors
during the siege, as to draw down upon him the sus-
picions of all the other generals ; and even to extort
from the King himself the avowal that he was aware
he had been betrayed, and that he did not attribute
the failure to the Dauphin personally, but to those by
whom he had been misled, either through ignorance,
or a jealousy of others who had succeeded better than
themselves.
This allusion bore reference to the Due d'Orleans,
who had in succession taken Danvilliers, Yvry, Arlon,
Montmedy, and even Luxembourg; although, from
some motive which has remained unrevealed, he sud-
denly quitted the army, and rejoined the King his
father at Montpellier; an imprudence of which the
Francis I 249
enemy immediately availed themselves to recover the
two latter cities. The Due de Guise, however, suc-
ceeded in once more possessing himself of Montmedy,
but Luxembourg remained in the hands of the im-
perialists.
The war in Roussillon was languidly pursued ; Per-
pignan, which the French had trusted to find an easy
conquest, from the imperfect state of its fortifications,
still held out; and had been so strongly garrisoned
by the Emperor as to resist every effort of the French
generals to take it by assault ; while the appearance of
dysentery among the troops, and the approach of win-
ter compelled the Dauphin to dissolve his camp and to
abandon the siege of the city; upon which Francis
despatched d'Annebaut to Piedmont, where Du Bellay-
Langei had, with a very insufficient force, been em-
ployed in thwarting the operations of Del Guasto ; not
having it in his power, for want of troops, to adopt
any more active measures. To the mortification of the
veteran commander in thus finding himself superseded
in his command by a younger and less experienced
general than himself, was superadded that of discover-
ing that d'Annebaut, inflated by court favour, was lit-
tle disposed to defer to his advice ; and he consequently
resolved immediately to withdraw from a position alike
irksome to his feelings and perilous to his honour ; and
to make a personal communication to Francis of such
circumstances as he believed to be of importance to
the interests of the kingdom.
Injured and wounded as he had been, Langei would
not permit any selfish consideration to influence his
sense of duty as a loyal subject ; and accordingly he
250 Reign of
had no sooner made the requisite arrangements than
he commenced his homeward journey ; but the exer-
tion proved too great for his infirm and war-worn con-
stitution, and on reaching St. Saphorin, near the moun-
tain of Tarare, he was seized with a sudden attack of
gout in the stomach, which terminated his valuable
existence on the Qth of January, 1543.*
Another pearl had fallen from the diadem of Fran-
cis I.
A wise counsellor, a brave soldier, an able scholar,
and an honest man, Du Bellay-Langei was a noble il-
lustration of the age ; but his very virtues had operated
against his fortunes. His merit had been cheerfully
and frequently admitted by the King, but his reward
had been merely lip-deep. Charles V., however, did
him nobler justice by exclaiming, when the intelli-
gence of his death was communicated to him : " Is
Langei dead ? Then have I nothing more to apprehend
from a man who has done me more mischief in his
time than all the other subjects of France combined."
He was succeeded by his brother, Martin Du Bellay,
who in his turn assumed the family name of Langei,
and was promoted to the government of Turin on the
departure of d'Annebaut ; who during the winter re-
paired to France, to confer personally with the King
upon the measures necessary to be pursued in the
* M. de Langei was accompanied in his homeward journey by the
celebrated Rabelais, who was at that period his physician; and to
whom he bequeathed a pension of fifty annual livres " until his heirs
should have provided for him, or that he should have acquired church
preferment to the amount of a hundred Tournay livres a year." It is
believed that it was to this clause in the will of the Marshal Du Bellay,
that Rabelais was subsequently indebted for the cure of Meudon.
Francis I 251
campaign of the following spring, leaving the com-
mand of the army to M. de Boutieres.*
The sustained and even increased disgust which
Francis exhibited towards the disgraced Connetable,
was destined to react in a favourable manner upon the
Marechal d'Annebaut, who, a short time after his ar-
rival at court, was appointed to the rank of admiral,
vacant by the death of Chabot ; but still the King, irri-
tated by the equivocal success of the war, which he had
commenced under the conviction that like Caesar he
had only to come, to see, and to conquer, could not
reconcile himself to the failure before Perpignan ; and,
accordingly, having resolved not to visit upon d'Anne-
baut the humiliating defeat which he had suffered upon
that occasion, he was persuaded into attributing the
disaster to his colleague Montpezat, who was accord-
ingly deprived of his office, and sent into exile for not
having implicitly obeyed the orders of his superior
officer.
The health of the King, which at this period was be-
ginning rapidly to fail, rendered him unable to pursue
the course of dissipation in which he had hitherto in-
dulged ; while the moroseness and suspicion to which
we have already alluded increased with his infirmities,
*M. de Boutieres commenced his military career at the age of sixteen,
as an archer in the company of Bayard at Padua, where he took a
standard from the imperialists, and made prisoner the captain by whom
it had been carried; who, on being taunted with his surrender to a mere
boy, declared that he had been overpowered by numbers, and did not
consider himself as the captive of the lad who claimed his ransom;
whereupon Boutieres requested that the horse and arms of the prisoner
might be restored to him, in order that they might decide the question
single-handed; a proposal which was declined by his prisoner. He after-
wards became the lieutenant of Bayard; and during the siege of Mar-
seilles by Charles V., afforded the most valuable assistance to Barbesieux
and Montpezat.
252 Reign of
and was, moreover, augmented by the growing enmity
of the two Princes. The Dauphin had now attained
his twenty-third, and the Due d'Orleans his twenty-
first year. Each was emulous of renown, and person-
ally brave; but there the resemblance between them
ceased. Henry was grave and taciturn, with a pale
complexion, languid expression, and singularly heavy
eyes; while Charles was high-coloured, vigorous,
frank, and active. The Dauphin inspired awe ; but his
brother won the affections of all about him.
It might have been anticipated that, under these cir-
cumstances, the King would have sought sympathy
and comfort in the society of his amiable and forbear-
ing wife, but he still continued to evince the same in-
difference towards her as he had done in his days of
pride and strength. Catherine de' Medici, Madame
d'Etampes, and Diana de Poitiers, were all-powerful ;
and although the undying hatred of the two latter ladies
convulsed the court with broils, Francis permitted
them to pursue their career of jealousy unrebuked,
while the deportment of the Dauphiness was so re-
markable as to elicit his increased admiration and re-
gard, although in many who looked deeper it awoke
a feeling of apprehension which was afterwards fatally
justified. Coldly respectful with the Queen, and even
obsequious towards the favourite, she apparently at-
tached herself more warmly to her rival than to any
other individual of the royal circle; soothing her
wounded vanity whenever it was stung by the bitter
and epigrammatic wit of the Duchess, and affecting
to be totally unconscious of her liaison with the
Dauphin.
Francis I 253
Catherine was a thorough Medici; she did not ex-
haust her hatred in vain complaints or passionate sar-
casm, but like the tiger was content to watch until she
could make her spring deadly. As she was now rarely
called upon to hunt or play tennis with the King, whose
debility compelled him to abjure all violent exercise,
she at once assimilated her own habits to his; and
abandoning the pursuits in which she had hitherto ap-
peared to take delight, she turned her whole attention
to such an organization of her little court as could not
fail to render it attractive to the sensual monarch. The
ladies of her household were all eminent for their
beauty, their accomplishments, and the splendour of
their apparel ; while, as regarded their moral attributes,
no further detail is necessary than that of the mere
fact, that by the gallants of the court they were dis-
tinguished as the light brigade. Nothing, in short, could
be more profligate than their whole deportment ; and
although Catherine herself preserved the dignity of
her sex, she attempted no interference with the conduct
of her attendants ; and thus her immediate circle be-
came a hot-bed of vice and intrigue, rendered only the
more pernicious by the specious gloss of wit, fascina-
tion, and splendour. Her saloons were bright with
light, and vocal with song and laughter ; every day
brought its pleasures, many of them ruinous to the
royal treasury, but all welcome to the querulous inva-
lid, who yet clung to the shadow of his former vices,
and was eager to encourage himself in the delusion
that a few roses were still strewn among the thorns of
his painful existence.
It is consequently scarcely surprising that the pri-
254 Reign of
vate apartments of his beautiful daughter-in-law be-
came the chosen resort of the King ; nor was it long
ere, in the intervals of a ballet, or during the repre-
sentation of a comedy, she succeeded in possessing her-
self of all his secrets, and influencing all his actions.
Indisposed by bodily suffering for public business, it
was only at rare intervals that he would permit his
ministers to intrude the subject upon him; but he
nevertheless, discoursed freely on the most important
measures with Catherine ; who, seated at her tapestry
frame near the cushioned divan upon which he re-
clined, found means, now by one of those equivocal
witticisms which never failed to awaken the mirth of
the King, and now by a shrewd suggestion, calculated
to determine his decision, to mould him to her pur-
pose ; and thus, unsuspected and unenvied, to exercise
immense influence over state affairs.
That, notwithstanding her extraordinary self-com-
mand, she nevertheless failed in concealing at all times
the real vindictiveness and hypocrisy of her character,
is evident from the fact that she never addressed any
individual as " My friend " without alarming their ap-
prehensions : from her lips this apparently familiar and
confidential appellation was considered to be as threat-
ening as the " My father " of Francis himself had
proved to the unfortunate Semblanc.ay : " Ah, Ma-
dame," exclaimed upon one occasion a gentleman of
her household, whom she had so named, " I would far
sooner that you called me your enemy; for the title
which you have just bestowed upon me convinces me
that you either esteem me a fool, or that I have for-
feited your favour ; so well and so thoroughly do I un-
derstand your nature."
Francis I 255
Catherine laughed heartily at this frank expostula-
tion ; and it is a curious fact, that with a heart as cal-
lous and as bitter as ever beat in the bosom of a woman,
she was remarkable for her addiction to laughter, in
which she frequently indulged to a most uncourtly ex-
cess.
Her worldly wisdom, however, met its reward ; for
when, on her continuing childless throughout several
years, the King was urged by his advisers to induce
the Dauphin to divorce her, in order to secure a suc-
cessor, so firm a hold had she taken on his affections,
that he resolutely refused to countenance such a meas-
ure ; nor was the Prince himself more willing to yield
to the suggestion: his attachment to Madame de
Breze, who had made him a father, and his total in-
difference to the Dauphiness, whose forbearance left
him at liberty to follow his inclination without com-
ment or reproach, being more congenial to his apa-
thetic and easy disposition than the prospect of a pro-
lific wife, who might consider herself aggrieved by his
infidelity.
The pecuniary resources of Francis had been so
much exhausted by the unprofitable campaign of his
sons, that before he could again undertake a renewal
of the war, he found himself compelled to devise some
new method of raising the necessary funds ; and he ac-
cordingly embraced with eagerness the suggestion of
his two closest friends, d'Annebaut and the Cardinal
de Tournon,* that he should augment the receipts of
* Francois de Tournon, the representative of an ancient and illustrious
family, was the son of Jacques de Tounion and Jeanne de Polignac.
Having entered the Church at an early age, he first became a monk of
the abbey of St. Antoine, in the diocese of Vienne; then Abbe of La
256 Reign of
the salt-excise, by equalizing the price of that impor-
tant article of consumption throughout the kingdom.
The inhabitants of La Rochelle, however, resisted
this impost ; and not only refused to pay the additional
tax, but, pleading the privileges accorded to them by
previous monarchs, and ratified by Francis himself,
proceeded to eject by force the officers commissioned
to collect it. When apprised of the attempt about to
be made, they had assembled within their walls a gar-
rison of three hundred volunteers ; and the revolt ere
long became so serious, that the King found it neces-
sary to despatch the Due d'Orleans and the Marechal
de Tavannes, with a strong body of men, to the rebel-
lious city, in order to subdue it. As, however, by virt-
ue of an ancient charter, the Rochellois had the right
of defending their own walls, it was considered expedi-
ent to introduce a portion of the troops by stratagem ;
after which the main body applied for admittance,
which was peremptorily refused ; when M. de Tavannes
showed himself in the main street, at the head of a
hundred cuirassiers, while a strong force marched
against the gates, declaring that if free ingress were
not immediately accorded to the troops of the King,
the whole population would be put to the sword, and
the city burnt to ashes. Terrified by this menace, the
citizens abandoned a resistance to which they felt un-
equal, and laid down their arms.
Chaise-Dieu; and subsequently Archbishop of Embrun in 1517, of
Bourges in 1523, of Auch in 1537, and of Lyons in 1559. In 1530 he was
called to the conclave by Clement VII.; and his abilities as a diplomatist
were so highly appreciated by Francis I., that he admitted him into
his privy council. He was entrusted with three different embassies, to
England, Italy, and Spain; founded a college in the city of Tournon,
which was the property of his family ; and died in 1562.
Francis I 257
Francis no sooner learnt that the town was in the
possession of his son, but that the same spirit of dis-
affection continued to exist along the coast and in the
neighbouring islands, than he at once proceeded to
Rochelle in person ; announcing that he would inflict
condign punishment upon the instigators and abettors
of the revolt. The threat produced its anticipated ef-
fect ; a deputation of twenty-five of the principal citi-
zens were sent to meet him from the town, and a sim-
ilar number from the islands, for the purpose of depre-
cating his wrath; but they were instantly seized and
placed in irons. In the mean while he ordered a vast
platform to be erected near the residence which had
been prepared for him, and caused it to be made
known in the city that on the 3ist of December he
would preside over a tribunal before which the whole
of the inhabitants were summoned to appear ; and on
that day he accordingly made his entrance into the
town, preceded by the manacled deputies ; while the
whole population, to whom it had been forbidden to
cross his path, to ring their bells, or in any other way
to recognise his arrival, crowded the churches, where,
by prayers and processions, they implored the Al-
mighty to deliver them from a destruction which ap-
peared inevitable.
At one o'clock, Francis, in his royal robes, ascended
the throne which occupied the centre of the platform,
surrounded by the Princes and great officers of state;
and there he summoned the advocates of the rebels,
who declared, that, far from seeking to justify their dis-
obedience, the burghers of the city, and the inhabi-
tants of the island, were alike anxious to confess their
VOL. III. 17
258 Reign of
error, and to implore the clemency of their offended
monarch. This short but pithy address was barely
concluded, when the whole population who were col-
lected at the foot of the platform, throwing themselves
on their knees, with bare heads and outstretched
hands, joined in a shrill, wild, thrilling cry for mercy.
It was a grand moment for Francis one which en-
abled him to perform an act worthy of the crown he
wore ; and to his eternal honour be it recorded, that he
did not suffer it to escape him. Waving his hand with
a quiet dignity which at once silenced the agonized
crowd, he looked around him with an expression of
reproachful sadness, in which there was no vestige of
severity.
" Rise ! men of La Rochelle, and of the Isles," he
said, in a low but distinct tone ; " rise. You are par-
doned. You have recognised your crime, and I will
not punish you for a treason of which you have already
repented. Resume your privileges, and receive back
your deputies. The royal troops shall be withdrawn
from your city ; your arms shall be restored to you ;
and all that I ask from you in return is to be loyal and
faithful to a sovereign who knows how to forgive.
Your persons and your property shall alike be re-
spected ; nor will I act towards you as a neighbouring
monarch acted only a short while since towards the
revolted citizens of Ghent ; for I love mercy more than
justice, and the affection of my subjects better than
their confiscated wealth. Nay more, to convince you
of my willingness to forget the past, I will this evening
sup with your magistrates, and be served and guarded
only by your citizens."
Francis I 259
The scene must have been an impressive one. For
an instant the immense and closely-packed crowd re-
mained motionless and silent; then another cry, the
cry of relieved and grateful hearts, went up to heaven ;
and ere long numerous individuals detached them-
selves from the mass, and disappeared. In a few min-
utes every belfry in the city gave forth its peal, a sound
unheard during the last three days ; the H6tel-de-Ville
was brilliantly illuminated in honour of the King's
visit ; murmurs of happiness resounded on every side ;
the soldiers and the citizens pledged each other in
brotherly amity ; and Francis was thenceforward se-
cure of the loyalty of La Rochelle.
CHAPTER XII.
Francis Persecutes the Lutherans He Despatches an Am-
bassador to the Sultan The French Army Marches North-
ward D'Annebaut Takes Landrecies The French Besiege
Binche The Dauphin is Compelled to Raise the Siege
Francis Fortifies Landrecies The French Court Arrive at
Rheims Charles V. Effects a Rupture between England and
France The Emperor Organizes a New Army He At-
tacks Dueren The Citizens Refuse to Surrender The City
is Taken by Assault The Due de Cleves Throws Himself
on the Mercy of the Emperor He is Restored to the Im-
perial Favour The Marriage of the Due de Cleves and
Jeanne de Navarre is Annulled The Emperor Besieges
Luxembourg He Raises the Siege, and Establishes a Block-
ade The Imperialists Take Cambray, and Establish Their
Winter-quarters at Guise Solyman Despatches a Fleet
under Barbarossa to the Assistance of Francis The Count
d'Enghien Takes the Command of the War Galleys at Mar-
seilles The Combined Fleets Attack Nice, and are Repulsed
d'Enghien Returns to Landrecies The European Powers
are Indignant at the Alliance Formed by Francis with the
Turks Enormities Perpetrated by Barbarossa Termination
of the Campaign of 1543.
THE bright page with which our last chapter con-
cluded was the last which we are fated to turn
in the history of Francis I. ; for, as his malady gained
upon him, he became a prey to superstition of the
260
Francis I 261
grossest description ; and even while he clung with a
tenacity as puerile as it was unyielding to the follies
and ribaldry of a court which had become the proverb
of all Europe, he believed that he could take Heaven
by storm through the persecution of the Lutherans.
On the 3Oth of August, 1542, he issued an edict, by
which he enjoined the national parliaments, " with all
diligence, and in precedence of all other business, to
proceed vigorously, and without delay, against those
who disobeyed the statutes and holy decrees of the
Catholic Church, in order that justice, punishment,
correction, and demonstration may be so fully and
severely administered, that the example may be a last-
ing one to others."
This public proclamation was not, however, so dan-
gerous to the persecuted Reformists as the system of
espionnage which was at the same time organized, and
by which the curates of the several parishes were in-
structed to examine with caution and subtlety all the
inhabitants of their districts whom they suspected of
heresy, and to endeavour to lead them to convict them-
selves ; the Parliament of Paris, moreover, fulminating
the most severe threats against the vendors of ob-
noxious books, and especially the " Christian Institu-
tion " of Calvin.
This barbarous policy was also, undoubtedly, dic-
tated in some degree by the fearful position in which
the King found himself placed by his alliance with
Solyman, which had excited against him the ire of all
the Christian princes. After the murder of Rincon, he
had appointed as his successor, by the z-dvice of Du
Bellay, a certain captain of infantry, and soldier of
262 Reign of
fortune, named Paulin Iscalin;* a man of extraordi-
nary nerve and capacity, who at once proceeded to
Constantinople with a caution which enabled him to
reach that city unsuspected by the spies of the Em-
peror. On his arrival, however, he found himself be-
set by difficulties. Charles V., who was aware of the
Sultan's indignation at the failure of Francis during
his meditated invasion of Italy, had profited by the
circumstance to detach him still further from the
French interests; and accordingly, when Iscalin pre-
sented himself as the accredited envoy of his sov-
ereign, he refused to grant him an audience, alleging
that, as he had lost faith in his master, he desired no
communication with him upon any subject.
The zealous agent was not, however, to be so easily
repulsed; and, while he abstained for a time from
prosecuting his mission, he employed himself in se-
curing friends about the court, in which attempt he
proved so successful that he at length ingratiated him-
self with an aga of the Janissaries, by whose influence
he obtained the desired interview ; when he so skilfully
ministered alike to the vanity and the ambition of
Solyman, while he plausibly explained all the motives
by which Francis had been induced to turn his arms
* Paulin Iscalin was the son of a peasant of the village of La Garde,
whose personal beauty when quite a boy attracted the attention of a
French corporal, as he was gambolling upon the threshold of his father's
cabin. The soldier, struck by his bold and manly appearance, at once
offered to adopt him; but, poor as he was, the honest labourer for a
long time refused to be separated from his child; nor was it until the
boy himself, dazzled by the weapons of his new friend, joined his en-
treaties to those of the corporal, that the father at length consented to
permit him to avail himself of the prospect which had suddenly opened
upon him. His courage and discipline soon enabled him to rise to the
grade of captain; and after his successful mission to Solyman, Francis
I. created him Baron de la Garde.
Francis I 263
against the Low Countries, instead of prosecuting his
design on Piedmont, that the Sultan ultimately de-
clared himself convinced, and ready to fulfil all the
pledges to which he was bound by the treaty that
existed between them.
Iscalin then urged His Highness to despatch a fleet
to Marseilles, to co-operate with that of the French
King; and Solyman, to whose warlike spirit every
period of inaction was a pang, at once consented to
send Cheir-Eddyn Barbarossa, the King of Algiers, his
own high admiral, to the coast of Italy, with express
orders to follow the counsels of his Christian colleague
in every emergency. Iscalin next attempted to en-
gage the Venetian states to include themselves in this
alliance against the power of the Emperor, but the
gold of Charles proving more influential than any
representations which he could offer, he was unable
to effect his object.
Meanwhile the campaign of 1543 was commenced,
as that of the previous year had already been, by Von
Rossem, the marechal of the Due de Cleves. The
Duke himself, profiting by a dense fog, had in the
month of November succeeded in retaking Dueren;
and Von Rossem, on the 24th of March, followed up
this advantage by defeating the imperialists at Sittard
in the duchy of Juliers.
This event at once determined the measures of Fran-
cis, who decided upon marching his whole army north-
ward; but at the same time instructed Antoine, Due
de Vendome, who had recently succeeded to that title
by the death of his father, to throw supplies into Terou-
enne ; while d'Annebaut was ordered to attack Avesnes.
264 Reign of
This he did with so much vigour that the town was on
the point of a surrender, when, by a counter-order, he
was recalled to undertake the siege of Landrecies. The
state of the city was, however, so deplorable, that, al-
though the garrison were well provided, both with
ammunition and provisions, they no sooner learnt the
approach of the enemy than they determined to aban-
don it ; and had Francis been guided by the advice of
Langei, he might have cut off their retreat ; but, in-
stead of making them prisoners, he allowed them time
to burn down the fortifications, and the spacious maga-
zines containing their stores, and to make their escape
to the forest of Mormaux, where they were beyond his
reach.
D'Annebaut, consequently, only took possession of
a waste of ruins ; and it soon became evident that the
King had arranged no fixed plan for the campaign;
as the Due de Vendome had scarcely taken the town
of Bapaume, and ascertained that the citadel was on
the point of capitulating, than he was recalled in his
turn, and compelled to abandon his conquest and join
the main army at Marolles, a league beyond Landrecies,
Francis having hastily resolved upon fortifying that
city, and being anxious to cover the engineers with as
formidable a force as he could assemble ; but in order
that the army should not remain altogether inactive,
he authorized the Dauphin to possess himself of the
citadel of Emery, the towns of Barlemont and Mau-
berge, and ultimately to attack Binche. In the first
three of these enterprises the Prince succeeded ; and
he encountered such slight resistance at Binche that he
anticipated equal good fortune ; but, although the town
Francis I 265
yielded with facility, the citadel resisted with a perti-
nacity by which he was soon undeceived.
Prepared for the attack, the imperialists had
strengthened the garrison, and victualled it for a
siege ; a precaution which afforded them an immense
advantage over the Dauphin, whose army was not only
a small one, but moreover considerably harassed, and
very scantily provided with provisions. The incessant
fire of the imperialists meanwhile told fearfully upon
his troops ; and becoming rapidly aware of his inability
to sustain a conflict so unequal, he applied to the King
both for supplies and a reinforcement. To this appeal,
however, Francis replied by declaring that he could
not weaken the defence before Landrecies until the
fortifications were completed ; and that the Dauphin
must raise the siege of Binche if he found himself
unable to prosecute it without aid. This decision,
against which there was no appeal, was a bitter dis-
appointment, not only to the Prince himself, but also
to the officers under his command, among whom was
Gaspard de Coligny, who afterwards fell a victim in
the bloody massacre of St. Bartholomew.
The fortifications of Landrecies were no sooner
completed, and the city well garrisoned, than Francis
struck his camp, abandoned the unimportant places
taken by his son, disbanded a portion of his army, and
took up his residence at Rheims; where, in order to
recompense himself for his late exertions, he sum-
moned the ladies of his court to join him ; and profiting
by a temporary return of strength, and relief from pain,
once more divided his time between the chase, and the
society of the bright circle which he had collected
about him.
266 Reign of
Nothing in the ancient city, where he had taken up
his temporary abode, prophesied an early and inevi-
table war in which the best interests of the whole king-
dom were involved ; the splendid litters of the two royal
favourites, with their attendant train of pages and foot-
men, traversed the picturesque streets, exciting the
wonder and admiration of the honest burghers ; groups
of magnificently dressed nobles followed in their wake ;
the royal guards flaunted their white plumes in the
cathedral square; bands of musicians disturbed the
silence of midnight ; and torches flitted like meteors
on all sides, as they lighted the young and gay upon
their errands of gallantry and debauch. During the
day the horns of the royal hunt re-echoed through the
forest ; and many a wondering peasant concealed him-
self in the underwood as the gallant train swept by,
almost persuaded that it was a mere vision which he
beheld. Every moment was at that time precious to
France ; and while her monarch thus suffered them to
pass unimproved, his more prudent enemy was render-
ing each subservient to his interests.
Previously to a contemplated progress through Italy,
Germany, and the Low Countries, for the purpose of
alienating their several populations from the interests
of Francis, Charles earnestly endeavoured once more
to detach Henry VIII. from his favourite ally; and he
could scarcely have made the attempt at a more fortu-
nate juncture. Enraged at the invasion of his terri-
tories by the troops under the Duke of Norfolk, the
Scottish King resolved, in his turn, to attack the Eng-
lish ; but he found no responsive feeling on the part
of his subjects, who either openly resisted, or tacitly
Francis I 267
disobeyed all his orders, an insult to his dignity which
he resented by transferring the command of his army
to Oliver Sinclair, whose authority the Scottish barons
refused to recognise.
A second and unimportant demonstration on the
part of the English, before which his own troops fled
without resistance, leaving many of their principal offi-
cers in the hands of the enemy, and which, moreover,
involved a great sacrifice of life, completed the dis-
comfiture of the unhappy Prince ; who, yielding with-
out any further effort to his fate, fell into a state of
hypochondriacism, which terminated his existence on
the I4th of December, 1542, leaving an infant daugh-
ter, the fair and unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots,
whom Henry VIII. at once resolved to render a bond
of union between the two countries, by uniting her to
his own son and successor.
In this project he was, however, destined to be
thwarted. The Dowager-Queen, Marie de Guise, was
supported by all the national nobility in her desire to
secure the protection of France against the pretensions
of Henry, a step to which she was moreover strongly
urged by Bethune, the Cardinal of St. Andrews; and
she accordingly applied to Francis for protection, who,
without hesitation, furnished her with troops and
money; when a series of intrigues on both sides ex-
cited such ill feeling between the two sovereigns that
the English King readily accepted the overtures of
Charles, and furnished him with ten thousand men as
an earnest of his future support.
Although the army of Algiers had been destroyed,
the Emperor had only required time to organize a
268 Reign of
second ; and this the supineness of Francis enabled him
to do. From Barcelona he had proceeded to Genoa,
where he was met by Del Guasto, Pietro-Luigi Far-
nese,* Fernando Gonzaga, and Cosmo de' Medici,
Duke of Florence ; the latter of whom redeemed from
him the fortresses of Florence and Livourna, at the
cost of two hundred thousand golden crowns. Tow-
ards the close of June he had a conference with the
Pope, which produced no political results ; and ulti-
mately he continued his route to Germany, where he
immediately commenced his operations by an attack
upon the Due de Cleves. On the 22d of August he
presented himself before the city of Dueren, with an
overpowering army, consisting of thirty thousand foot
soldiers, and four thousand cavalry, under the banner
of the Prince of Orange; a demonstration for which
the citizens were ill prepared, having been assured by
the agents of Francis that the Emperor had perished
in his retreat from Algiers.
The imperial heralds who summoned them to sur-
render, were accordingly treated with ridicule, the
garrison declaring that they did not recognise the som-
mation of a dead enemy ; a sarcasm which so irritated
the troops that they immediately opened a battery and
effected a breach in the walls, which enabled them to
* Pietro Luigi Farnese was the son of Paul III., who united the states
of Parma and Placenza, and erected them into a duchy in his favour;
creating him Lord of Nepi, Due de Castro, and Standard-bearer of
the Church. In 1540 he was despatched by the Pope against Perugia,
which had revolted, and endeavoured to throw off the papal authority;
and having taken the city, he devastated all the adjacent country, and
put the principal citizens to death. After his elevation to the duchy,
he excited the enmity of the nobility by his assumption and arrogance;
and a conspiracy having been funned against him, he was assassinated
in 1547.
Francis I 269
take the place by assault on the 26th. Still writhing
under the taunt with which their heralds had been
dismissed, the infuriated soldiery no sooner found
themselves masters of the city, than they indulged in
the most frightful excesses. They were aware of the
declaration of the Emperor, that he would so revenge
himself upon the Due de Cleves, that he would not
leave one stone upon another in any of his fortresses ;
and they, accordingly, threw off all restraint. Not a
single citizen of the ill-fated town escaped : neither age
nor sex afforded protection to the vanquished; and
before the day closed no soul remained alive, save
those who had entered the breach.
This fatal massacre paralysed the other cities of the
duchy ; and while the Due de Cleves despatched courier
upon courier to implore the aid of the French King,
(who, by disbanding his army while Charles was aug-
menting his own, had rendered himself powerless,) the
imperialists took in succession Juliers and Ruremonde,
neither of which attempted even a show of resistance ;
and Venloo, which surrendered immediately that the
enemy appeared before its gates. Until this moment the
Duke had relied upon the support of France ; but now,
as he saw city after city of his duchy fall into the power
of the Emperor, against whom he was utterly unable to
contend without assistance, he resolved, in a paroxysm
of despair, to throw himself at the feet of the conqueror,
and implore his clemency. After considerable diffi-
culty he was enabled to make his way to the imperial
presence, and to explain his errand, but the vengeance
of Charles was not yet satiated ; and he was suffered
to kneel for a considerable time before any notice was
270 Reign of
vouchsafed by his haughty suzerain ; nor was his par-
don ultimately conceded until he had bound himself
to renounce the reformed religion ; to acknowledge
himself the vassal of the Emperor and the King of the
Romans ; to renounce the alliance of France ; to release
the population of the duchy of Gueldres from their oath
of allegiance to his person; and, finally, to transfer
Von Rossem and his band of quasi-freebooters to the
imperial service. To these conditions, bitter as they
were, the unfortunate Prince was compelled to accede ;
and, in consideration of his obedience, he was rein-
stated by Charles in his sovereignty of the duchy of
Juliers, now almost entirely in the hands of the im-
perialists.
Throughout the whole of this struggle, Francis, al-
though unable to render any efficient aid to his nephew
and ally, had never ceased to give him assurances of
effectual support, and in order, as he declared, to prove
his sincerity, he confided the hereditary Princess of
Navarre, his bride, to the care of Du Bellay, with orders
to convey her to her husband ; after which, having at
length succeeded in assembling a strong body of
troops, he entered the duchy of Luxembourg, where
he retook several minor cities, and ultimately possessed
himself of the capital ; whence he was about to despatch
a force of ten thousand men under D'Annebaut to the
support of the Due de Cleves, when he was apprised
that the latter had made his submission to the Em-
peror.
This intelligence at the same time reached M. du
Bellay and Jeanne de Navarre, who had already
reached Soisson; and the young Princess was no
Francis I 271
sooner informed of the fact than she resolutely refused
to proceed beyond that city. She was well aware that
her marriage had been distasteful to both her parents ;
and young though she was, for she had only at this
period attained her fourteenth year, she had retained
memories of her enforced husband by no means agree-
able to her own tastes ; and thus Guillaume de Cleves,
the brother of the ill-used Anne, whom the English
King had repudiated, was destined to meet a similar
fate at the hands of a mere girl. Du Bellay remon-
strated in vain ; the Princess remained firm ; and when,
enraged by her opposition, the Duke despatched a
herald-at-arms to Francis to demand his wife, for
whom he had received a safe-conduct from the Em-
peror, he had the additional mortification of being told
that, so protected, he could require no assistance from
the monarch of France, and that he had only to apply
to the King and Queen of Navarre.
As we have already stated, Marguerite and her hus-
band availed themselves of this opportunity to annul
the marriage ; and the hand of the Princess was five
years subsequently bestowed upon Antoine de Bour-
bon, Due de Vendome ; while the Due de Cleves ob-
tained that of a daughter of Ferdinand, King of the
Romans.
Contrary to the advice of his generals, Francis had
determined upon fortifying Luxembourg ; and having
confided the command of that city to the Prince de
Melfi,* he retired to Coucy, five leagues beyond Laon ;
* The Prince de Melfi was the grandson of Giovanni Caraccioli, the
secretary of Jeanne II., Queen of Naples, in whom he inspired so violent
a passion, that, not contented with enriching him, she made him Grand
Connfetable of the kingdom, and Due de Melfi. In 1432, however
(Ontario.
272 Reign of
while the Emperor, having augmented his army to
fifty thousand men, including the troops furnished by
Henry VIIL, commenced simultaneously the sieges
of Landrecies, Guise, and Luxembourg; the former
in person, and those of the latter by Fernando Gonzaga
and Guillaume de Furstembourg, who had abandoned
the cause of Francis for that of his rival. The siege of
Luxembourg was continued until the winter was far
advanced ; Gonzaga, after several attempts, renounced
his attack on Guise; and the main body of the im-
perialists concentrated itself in the neighbourhood of
Landrecies. The great strength of the citadel de-
termined the joint governors, M. de Lalande* and the
Sieur d'Esse,f to abandon the lower quarter of the
town, which from its defective means of defence, would,
as they apprehended, involve considerable difficulty,
wearied of her favourite, or dissatisfied with the return which he made
for her munificence, she caused him to be assassinated. The Prince
bravely defended the city of Melfi against M. de Lautrec, until compelled
to surrender, together with his wife and children. The whole of his
cities were sacked, his property destroyed, and himself made prisoner.
The Emperor, having refused to pay his ransom, he had recourse to
Francis I., by whom he was pardoned and liberated at great cost. He
proved worthy of the favour thus accorded to him, and became one of
the most zealous and trustworthy of the King's generals.
* M. de Lalande was a veteran officer of great merit, but of small
fortune, whose courage at Landrecies was recompensed by Francis with
the appointment to steward of his household. Owing to his military
rearing and warlike habits, the courtiers were wont to declare that he
carried his staff of office like a pike. He was nevertheless greatly re-
spected, although he never attained to any higher grade, from the fact
of his obscure birth.
t The Sieur d'Esse was the descendant of a noble and ancient family,
who commenced his career as page to the Sfcne'chal de Poitou, whom he
accompanied to Naples when his master went thither in the train of
Charles VIII. At the close of a few years he was permitted to join the
army, where he distinguished himself so greatly as to be appointed the
lieutenant of the King at Landrecies, and, for his gallant conduct during
the siege, was made a gentleman of the Privy Chamber. He was also
captain of a company of fifty men-at-arms, and a knight of the order
of St. Michael.
Francis I 273
while it promised no adequate advantage ; and the
imperialists no sooner became aware of this fact than
they threw a strong body of troops into the vacated
streets, by whom the garrison were so much harassed
that it was resolved to dislodge them at any sacrifice.
The skill and courage evinced by both officers through-
out this enterprise acted so powerfully upon the men
under their command that they undertook without a
murmur the most threatening enterprises. Constant
sallies were made from the citadel headed by one or
other of their brave and adventurous leaders ; and these
were uniformly so well conceived, and so courageously
executed, that they succeeded in spiking the guns, kill-
ing the miners, and fatiguing the troops of the enemy,
almost without intermission. The winter had, how-
ever, set in with great severity, and the garrison were
beginning to suffer from a scarcity of food. Their
wine and beer were totally exhausted, and the troops,
men and officers alike, were reduced to a half ration
of bread.
Aware of this circumstance, the Emperor, desisting
from all further attack, contented himself with blockad-
ing the city, in the belief that he should soon be en-
abled to reduce it by famine ; but, despite the vigilance
of his spies, Du Bellay by a clever stratagem contrived
to throw in abundant supplies; and at the same time
to alarm the imperialists, by concealing the cattle and
sumpter-horses in the centre of his escort, and thus
giving it the appearance of a dense and formidable
body of cavalry. Under this impression the Emperor,
fearing that he should be surrounded, hastily retired
from the city, a movement which determined the fate
VOL. III. 18
274 Reign of
of the siege; and, although Francis had constantly
assured his troops that he ardently desired an engage-
ment, it is a curious and inexplicable fact, that, while
the two armies were in such close contact that constant
skirmishes took place between the out-lying picquets,
he suffered the enemy to withdraw without molesta-
tion ; and, in his turn, made a night-retreat to Guise,
where he took up his winter-quarters.
The Emperor had not, however, wholly lost his time,
as four days after he raised the siege of Landrecies he
took possession of Cambray, which he garrisoned, and
strengthened by the erection of a citadel at the cost of
the inhabitants; silencing their murmurs by assuring
them that he did so solely to secure the safety of their
city in the event of any molestation from the French.
Solyman meanwhile redeemed his word. He pur-
sued his conquests in Hungary, and took Strigonia and
Alba ; at the same time that he despatched Barbarossa
with a hundred and twelve galleys, forty vessels of war,
a number of transports, and fourteen thousand fight-
ing men, to join the fleet of the French King. At
Calabria the Moslem admiral cast anchor, and having
landed a considerable body of troops he cut down the
olive trees, vines, and palms, and carried off a number
of the peasantry, whom he subsequently sold as slaves ;
he then burnt down the city of Reggio, which had been
abandoned by its inhabitants, the whole of whom had
fled to the mountains. His appearance at the mouth
of the Tiber next spread consternation throughout
Rome ; but this was allayed by Iscalin, who assured the
Cardinal de Carpi, its governor, that the Turkish allies
of his master would respect the neutrality of the Pope ;
Francis I 275
and on the 5th of July this formidable armament
reached the shores of Provence without committing
any further ravages along the coast.
It would appear that Francis, even although he had
invited the co-operation of the Infidels, had placed but
little faith in their advent ; for it is certain that instead
of preparing a fleet whose magnitude might have in-
spired them with respect, and placing it under a com-
mander whose age and experience must have secured
his authority, he merely despatched to Marseilles
Fran9ois de Bourbon, Comte d'Enghien,* then in his
twenty-third year, at the head of twenty-two galleys,
with a few hundred men-at-arms, and with a sum barely
adequate to their immediate subsistence. Undis-
mayed, however, by this circumstance, discouraging as
it was, the young Prince, who was eager to distinguish
himself, eagerly acceded to a proposition which was
made to him that he should attempt the reduction of
the citadel of Nice, accompanied by an assurance that
he would receive support from within the walls. In-
experienced as he was, however, the Comte d'Enghien
had too much prudence to endanger the whole of his
force ; and, apprehending treachery, he resolved to
send four of his galleys to reconnoitre, while he lay-to
with the remainder within gunshot of the shore. The
result proved the sagacity of his previsions; for the
four galleys had no sooner rounded a small headland
behind which Doria was laying in ambush, than they
*The Comte d'Enghien, the son of Antoine de Bourbon, King: of
Navarre, and brother to the Due de Vendome, was born at La Fere,
in 1519. In 1543 he took the city of Nice, advanced into Piedmont, and
won the celebrated victory of Cerisola in the following year. He be-
came governor of Hainault, Piedmont, and Languedoc; and was killed
in action in 1545.
276 Reign of
were attacked by an overpowering force, and he was
compelled to set sail with the remainder of his fleet.
When Barbarossa arrived at Marseilles, and saw the
insignificant preparations which had been made for
the campaign in which he was called upon to assist,
his rage knew no bounds. Bitterly did he vituperate
the dogs of Christians who had invited a great fleet
from a distant country, only to endanger the lives of
the men and the honour of their leader, by requiring
them to act in conjunction with a handful of troops
and a beardless boy ; and so great was his irritation,
that Iscalin found it necessary to travel post to Guise,
in order to urge upon the King the expediency of for-
warding an immediate reinforcement, and a supply of
money and ammunition, as well as instructions for the
commencement of the campaign ; the Algerine mon-
arch having threatened that should the summer pass
by without affording him an opportunity of signalizing
himself, he would induce the Sultan to revenge him
upon those by whom he had been deceived.
Eager to pacify his dangerous ally, Francis accord-
ingly despatched a few troops with Iscalin to strength-
en the fleet, together with an assurance that more
should follow without delay ; and instructed the Comte
d'Enghien to make an immediate attack on Nice. This
was accordingly done ; and on the loth of August seven
thousand French and fifteen thousand Turks appeared
before the city. After some difficulty the town itself
fell into the hands of the besiegers, not being suffi-
ciently strong to resist the powerful artillery which
was brought against it; but the victors gained little
by their conquest, as the inhabitants had removed every
Francis I . 277
article of value beyond the walls ; while the citadel re-
sisted all their attempts, its natural position, together
with its artificial defences, rendering it almost im-
pregnable. Moreover, the Comte d'Enghien had
nearly exhausted both his provisions and his ammuni-
tion ; while the citizens of Marseilles, to whom he
appealed in his extremity, refused to render him any
assistance, declaring that they would not, even infer-
entially, act in conjunction with the enemies of Chris-
tendom.
In this emergency the Prince had no other alterna-
tive than to apply to Barbarossa himself, humiliating
as he could not but feel such a necessity to be ; nor did
the Infidel ally of Francis spare him one drop of the
bitter draught which he was compelled to drain; for
already indignant at a defeat which he had not antici-
pated, the exasperation of the Turkish admiral in-
creased to such a degree, that he openly ridiculed the
pretensions of a Christian monarch who undertook a
war when he was unable to provide his troops with
powder and ball. A final attempt was made, however,
with the assistance of the ammunition thus procured,
but it proved as abortive as those by which it had been
preceded ; and the siege was accordingly raised on the
8th of September.
Francis had the less cause to regret this result, as
Barbarossa had, immediately upon the surrender of
the town, claimed a right to garrison it with his own
troops, upon the plea that they were its real captors ; a
claim which was imperatively denied by M. d'Enghien,
who was well aware that although the city was com-
paratively of little value to France, there was not
278 Reign of
another port on the northern coast of the Mediter-
ranean so valuable to the Algerine pirates, from the
facility which it afforded of extending and protecting
their depredations. Moreover, the Count was in-
formed that the Due de Savoie and the Marquis del
Guasto were advancing with a strong force in aid of
the town, at the very moment when he became con-
vinced that he could not calculate upon the good faith
of his discontented colleague ; and the unfortunate city
was consequently sacked, and then fired ; after which
the Prince, who was led to believe that a general en-
gagement was about to take place between the Em-
peror and his own sovereign at Landrecies, marched
his troops towards that citadel.
This ill-omened and unnatural coalescence with the
Infidels was destined to prove fatal to the French King
in many ways. In the first place, nothing had been
accomplished. A mighty array had been brought be-
fore a single stronghold, and had signally failed. All
Christendom had been thrown into a state of panic,
when a handful of native troops might have achieved
the same result. The last possession of a petty and un-
offending sovereign (that sovereign being moreover his
own uncle, and perfectly independent of any rupture
between himself and the Emperor), had been recklessly
and unjustly attacked ; and, as a climax, Francis had
been so much alarmed by the indignant menaces of
the Turkish admiral, and so much wounded by his
expressed contempt for the inefficiency of his allies,
which he persisted in attributing to their poverty, that
he could not venture to allow him to return to Con-
stantinople until he had appeased his discontent.
Francis I 279
Presents were consequently despatched to Barba-
rossa and his officers in such profusion, that these, and
the maintenance of his fleet to which the French King
was pledged, are stated to have cost the nation the
immense sum of eight hundred thousand crowns. The
port of Toulon was, moreover, abandoned to the Turk-
ish fleet for the winter; and all the inhabitants of the
city were compelled to retire beyond the walls, in
order to leave the town free for the occupancy of the
Infidels. Barbarossa repaid this generosity and confi-
dence in the manner which might justly have been
anticipated. When he at length withdrew in his turn,
he illustrated his departure by attacking several cities
on the coast of Naples and Tuscany, and by sacking
and depopulating the island of Lipari, whose inhabi-
tants he carried into slavery.
The relief of Nice was no sooner effected, than Del
Guasto returned to Piedmont, where the strength of
his army enabled him ere long to render himself master
of the whole of the open country ; while M. de Bou-
tieres, from want of troops, was compelled to remain
inactive. The city of Montdovi was besieged, and
being unable to withstand the forces brought against
it, was constrained to capitulate, on the understanding
that the garrison should march out with all the honours
of war, carrying with them their property and ammu-
nition. The treaty was, however, shamefully violated,
for the unfortunate men had no sooner opened their
gates than they were put to the sword. After this act
of perfidious cruelty, the insatiable Marquis next
marched against Carignano, where he was again
destined to prove successful ; and De Boutieres, having
280 Reign of
received a reinforcement of nine thousand men, ad-
vanced into the north of Piedmont, in the hope of
retrieving his reverses, and laid siege to Ypres ; which
he had nearly succeeded in taking when he was ap-
prised that he was superseded in his command by the
Comte d'Enghien, whom the King had recently ap-
pointed as his lieutenant in that province; and who,
having already reached Chiras, had sent to him to
demand an escort.
This was an affront which the zealous veteran, who
had failed rather from want of resources than from any
deficiency of courage or ability, could not calmly
brook; and he accordingly raised the siege, and
marched his whole army to Chiras, where he trans-
ferred his authority to the Prince, declaring that he
wished him better fortune than he had himself experi-
enced; nor could all the expostulations of the Count
induce him to remain at his post.
" It has been considered expedient to supersede me
in my command," he said bitterly, " and to place the
troops who have fought and suffered with me in the
hands of a younger general than myself. My path,
therefore, is plain."
On the following morning he left the city ; and hav-
ing retired to one of his estates, he appeared to have
foresworn altogether his military career. But Bou-
tieres was as generous as he was brave ; and it was not
long ere at the battle of Cerisola he revenged himself
in a manner worthy of his high character.
The indignation of all the Christian Princes was at
once profound and legitimate. An indelible disgrace
had fallen upon the French banners they had been
Francis I 281
unfurled side by side with those of the enemies of the
Church ; nor had Francis even hesitated to direct his
own cousin to tread the deck of a Turkish corsair.
Cities had been burnt, villages ravaged, countries laid
waste, free men captured, helpless women outraged,
and the progress of civilization retarded by his selfish
and narrow-hearted policy; he had weakly and un-
profitably justified the enmity of the Emperor, and had
alienated the confidence and regard of all who had
trusted in him. The blood that had been spilt, the
desolation that had been created, and the enormous
outlay which had been made, had availed him nothing ;
and with an exhausted treasury, diminished popularity,
and general distrust, Francis I. terminated the cam-
paign of 1543 ; so bright in prospect, and so disastrous
in its results.
CHAPTER XIII.
Renewal of Hostilities Financial Embarrassments of Francis
Sale of Judicial Offices The French King Raises a New
Army D'Enghien Blockades Carignano Blaise de Mont-
luc Proceeds to Court to Demand Supplies, and Permission
to Engage the Enemy Successful Eloquence of Montluc
Victory of Carignano The Citizens of Ast Close Their
Gates against the Imperialists Mortification of Del Guasto
at Milan The Jewelled Watch The Emperor and Henry
VIII. Invade France Siege of St. Dizier Renewed Treach-
ery of the Duchesse d'Etampes St. Dizier Surrenders
Mutual Distrust of Charles V. and Henry VIII. The Eng-
lish King Besieges Boulogne and Montreuil The Two
Potentates Cease to Act in Concert Charles V. Advances
to Chalons.
HPHE campaign which had just terminated, despite
I the blood that had been spilt, the treasure that
had been lavished, and the panic which it had caused
to the whole of Europe, ended, as we have shown, most
unprofitably for both parties; and had, nevertheless,
left each in a position which necessitated a renewed
struggle. Personal animosity was so interwoven with
national policy on either side, that a reconciliation
upon equal terms had long been hopeless ; and it was
evident that the peace of Christendom hinged upon that
unequivocal supremacy of one or the other sovereign
which was yet to be decided. The attitude of Charles
282
Francis I 283
V. was threatening. He had surrounded himself by
allies all more or less powerful, and he had organized
an immense army; while Francis had made enemies
even of those who were previously devoted to his
cause ; and although the legions which he had formed
provided a strong body of infantry, his treasury was
exhausted; and the undue favour he evinced to his
gendarmerie, which was composed entirely of men of
good family, gave umbrage to his foot soldiers, who,
whatever might be their merit, were treated with com-
parative neglect. Aware of the discontent which had
been thus engendered, but still influenced too entirely
by the prestige of birth to renounce so fatal an error,
the King placed no reliance upon these latter troops ;
while from want of funds he was unable to make such
levies of Swiss and German soldiers as might have sup-
plied their place. He could no longer raise a loan, as
the merchants who had formerly advanced money to
the government, having been unable to recover it, de-
clined to furnish further supplies ; and he was equally
unable to impose new taxes, the country being already
crushed beneath the weight of those which had been
already inflicted. In this extremity Francis resolved
to create a number of new judicial offices, which were
sold at an exorbitant rate, without regard to the rank
of the purchasers ; and were eagerly bought up by the
citizens, who by such means acquired augmented
importance, and were protected from many abuses
to which their want of birth had hitherto exposed
them.
Aware that the failure of De Boutieres in Piedmont
had arisen entirely from his want of supplies, although
284 Reign of
unwilling to admit such a conviction, Francis had no
sooner completed his financial arrangements than he
raised a force of four thousand Gascons, and five thou-
sand Italians and Swiss, levied in the cantons of Berne
and Fribourg, of which he formed an army for the
Comte d'Enghien. Nevertheless, the position of the
Prince was an onerous one ; his youth excited the jeal-
ousy and distrust of the veteran officers, his near re-
lationship to the King discouraged the higher nobility
engaged in the war, whose ambition was thus
checked ; and the extreme severity of the season ren-
dered every manoeuvre at once hazardous and difficult.
The intensity of the frost was so great that the wine
became frozen in the barrels, and was obliged to be
broken up in lumps, and sold to the troops by weight.
Everything, in short, appeared to conspire against the
new general; for although the military talents of De
Boutieres were not of that brilliant description which
could inspire an army with entire confidence, he had
nevertheless so endeared himself to the soldiery that
they did not attempt to conceal their discontent at his
departure.
Soon, however, the young Prince by his affability,
his firmness, and his watchful care of their interests,
succeeded in allaying this regret, and he had no sooner
taken the necessary measures to ensure the safety of
the few fortresses which still remained in the hands
of the French, than he proceeded to blockade Carig-
nano, in the hope of reducing it by famine. Since its
capture Del Guasto had repaired the fortifications of
the city, furnished it with a garrison of four thousand
men, and provided it with amnnupition and stores;
Francis I 285
while his own army was moreover greatly superior to
that of his adversary. He, therefore, no sooner per-
ceived the intention of the Prince, than he endeav-
oured by manoeuvring in the vicinity of Carignano to
throw in additional supplies ; after which he designed
to pass the P6, and thus cut off the communication of
the enemy with the marquisate of Saluzzo, whence
they derived all their subsistence.
Had he succeeded in this attempt, the French troops
must have perished from famine, as they would have
been driven back upon a stretch of country entirely
devastated; and he was induced to believe that he
should ultimately compel them to this measure, on
perceiving that d'Enghien carefully avoided the risk of
a general engagement.
Such, indeed, was the fact. The parting command
of the King having been that the Prince should avoid
an open battle, and confine himself to the capture of
such fortresses as he might be able to reduce. But
ere long the ardent spirit of the young commander re-
volted against this enforced supineness ; a long arrear
of pay was due to his troops, who complained that,
while they suffered all the privations of poverty, they
were not permitted to revenge themselves upon the
enemy; and the taunts of the imperialists, who be-
lieved, or affected to believe, that he was afraid to meet
them, rendered him equally dissatisfied. Early in
March, therefore, he resolved to despatch a messenger
to the monarch to represent the difficult and humiliat-
ing nature of his position, and to entreat the royal
permission to give battle to the opposing army.
The Prince was fortunate in his selection of an en-
286 Reign of
voy, his choice having fallen upon Blaise de Montluc,*
a veteran Gascon, no less remarkable for his fearless
frankness than for his daring courage and the exuber-
ance of his animal spirits.
On the arrival of M. de Montluc at court, Francis,
after having read his despatches, summoned a coun-
cil at which he desired him to attend. All the Princes
and great officers of state were present, including the
Dauphin, who stood behind the seat of the King ; the
Comte de Saint-Pol being placed on his right hand,
and d'Annebaut on his left. The circle was no sooner
formed than the monarch opened the proceedings by
addressing the anxious envoy.
" Montluc," he said, " you will return without delay
to Piedmont, in order to inform M. d'Enghien of the
decision at which I and my council have arrived ; and
I wish you to hear the reasons by which we are com-
pelled to refuse his request."
The Comte de Saint-Pol then entered into a detail
of these reasons, urging the meditated invasion of
Picardy and Champagne by the Emperor and Henry
* Blaise de Lasseran-Masencomtne, Seigneur de Montluc, was de-
scended from a branch of the house of Montesquieu, and was born
about the year 1500. He entered the army at the age of seventeen, and
was knighted in 1544. He distinguished himself on several important
occasions; at Bicocca, Pavia, and the sieges of Perpignano, and Casal;
and was appointed governor of Montcalquier and Alba. While lieutenant
of the King at Sienna, he defended that city for a considerable time
against the imperialists, and only surrendered after a long and hopeless
siege. For this act of gallantry, he was rewarded by the order of St.
Michael. In 1558 he became colonel-general of the French infantry; in
1564 lieutenant-general of the Government of Guienne; and throughout
twenty years was an active and remorseless persecutor of the Calvmists.
In 1574 he was created Marechal of France; and three years subsequently
he expired at his estate of Estillac in the Agenois. He was the author
of a work entitled Commentaires & I'exemple de Ctsar, which Henry IV.
called "the Soldier's Bible;" and of some curious and gossiping
chronicles, highly illustrative of the times.
Francis I 287
VIII.; and declaring that the success of the Prince,
even could it be insured, would be comparatively un-
important, while his defeat would involve the most
serious consequences, and might even tend to endan-
ger the safety of the kingdom. " Rather," he conclud-
ed, " let us abandon Piedmont altogether than incur
so useless a hazard ; or, if we deem it expedient to re-
tain our present possessions in that province, let us
simply act on the defensive, and avoid all gratuitous
contact with the enemy."
These sentiments were echoed by d'Annebaut; and
finally all the members of the council expressed the
same opinion.
Meanwhile the excitable and eager Montluc had
been standing first upon one leg, and then upon the
other, quivering with impatience, and making the most
hideous grimaces in his attempt to control himself.
At length, however, his forbearance was exhausted ;
he had forgotten even the presence of the sovereign,
and was about to speak unbidden, when his intention
was detected by the Comte de Saint-Pol, who, with an
imperative gesture, whispered, " Gently, gently."
This attracted the attention of Francis, who upon wit-
nessing the contortions of the rebuked envoy could
not restrain a smile. In an instant, however, he re-
covered his gravity, and once more addressing the dis-
comfited soldier, he asked : " Have you perfectly com-
prehended, Montluc, the reasons which restrain me
from complying with the wishes of M. d'Enghien? "
" Perfectly, Sire," was the ready reply ; " but if your
Majesty could be induced to allow me to give my
opinion upon the subject, I should be glad to do so ;
288 Reign of
although it may have no effect either upon yourself
or your council."
" Speak, then," said the King good-humouredly ;
" speak freely, and we will hear you."
" Then, Sire," said Montluc, throwing himself into
a military attitude, which however he did not long re-
tain, and increasing in gesticulation as he proceeded
with his harangue, " I will not trouble your Majesty
with a lengthy speech : there are between five and six
thousand of my countrymen beyond the Alps, all good
and tried soldiers, who are eager for glory; besides
these there are as many Swiss, who will fight for you
to the death as we are ready to do. There, then, Sire
are nine thousand men upon whom you can depend.
We will lead the van ; and it will be hard if we are not
followed by the Italians and Gryerians, who cannot
fail us for very shame. With one arm tied up we
should beat the enemy ; fancy, therefore, what we shall
do with both arms free, and a good blade in our right
hand."
" Surely, Sire," interposed M. de Saint-Pol, " you
will not suffer yourself to be influenced by the rhap-
sodies of this madman, who is intent only upon fight-
ing, and careless of the consequences which such an
imprudence may involve? Considerations of so se-
rious a nature as this are too important for the heated
brain of a Gascon."
The enthusiasm of Montluc had, however, produced
its effect ; and while the King remained for a moment
silent, the Dauphin continued to make the most en-
couraging gestures to the envoy.
D'Annebaut, who, with the quick apprehension of
',. V;l '-
Francis I 289
a courtier, at once detected the hesitation of Francis,
and the anxiety of the Dauphin, now interposed in his
turn : " Confess, Sire," he said, " that the energy and
good faith of this brave captain have almost induced
you to waver in your resolve. God alone knows what
may be the result, should you decide upon allowing
this battle. Take my advice, therefore; appeal to
Him ; and then declare your final resolution."
Thus adjured, Francis removed his plumed cap, and
with clasped hands and upraised eyes, remained for a
brief interval in prayer ; then, throwing his cap vehe-
mently upon the table, he shouted : " Let them fight !
Let them fight!"'
The council shortly afterwards broke up ; but before
the King retired he desired Montluc to approach, and
graciously laying his hand upon his arm, he said kind-
ly : " On your return, Montluc, commend me to my
cousin D'Enghien, and all my other captains ; and tell
them that if I have yielded to their wishes in opposition
to the advice of my most trusty councillors, it has been
because I have a firm confidence in their valour and dis-
cretion, and that I confidently anticipate a victory."
" I will repeat the message of your Majesty, word
by word," exclaimed the blunt soldier; "and those
who may have wavered heretofore will become brave
when they hear it."
As the Comte de Saint-Pol came into contact with
Montluc, who remained stationary until all the mem-
bers of the council tiad preceded him from the hall, he
said bitterly : " Montluc, you are a madman ; and you
have this day caused either a great gain, or a great loss
to your country."
VoL.lH.-i9
Ontario.
OCP?
290 Reign of
" Have patience, my good lord," said the Gascon,
too much elated by his triumph to resent the uncourt-
liness of the address. " Make yourself easy ; and rely
upon it, that the next intelligence which you receive
from Piedmont will be that we have fricasseed the
enemy, and have nothing left to do but to make a meal
of them."
Montluc on the morrow took his formal leave of the
King, and commenced his journey back to Italy, ac-
companied by a crowd of the young courtiers, who
were anxious to join in a campaign which now prom-
ised them both excitement and renown; and among
whom were scions of many of the most ancient and
noble families of France. He was shortly afterwards
followed by Du Bellay, whom Francis had promised
to despatch with a strong reinforcement, and the ar-
rears of pay due to the troops. As usual, however, he
only partially, and very inadequately redeemed his
pledge, for the sum thus sent amounted only to forty-
eight thousand crowns, instead of the three hundred
thousand requisite to release the Prince from his obli-
gations towards the army ; and with such a mere hand-
ful of men, that they barely sufficed to furnish him
with a sufficient escort to protect him upon his way.
Disappointed as he was, M. d'Enghien would not
suffer himself to be discouraged. Eager to meet Del
Guasto upon equal terms, he borrowed a large sum of
money from the young nobles who had joined his ban-
ner, and commenced paying his tfoops ; who, immedi-
ately they were apprised that the King consented to
their doing battle upon the enemy, became less eager
to enforce their demands.
Francis I 291
The imperialist general, who was as anxious as his
adversary for an engagement which must decide the
fortune of the campaign, no sooner learnt that the
French were preparing for open hostilities, than de-
claring that he would soon rid Piedmont of their pres-
ence, he began his march, and halting before Som-
meriva, which was garrisoned only by a very small
body of troops, he summoned it to surrender. In re-
ply, the commandant of the fortress merely desired him
to survey the heights in the immediate neighbourhood,
which were bristling with armed men; but the Mar-
quis, who from the previous reluctance of M. d'En-
ghien believed that he had little to fear, nevertheless
commenced an assault, which was, however, soon si-
lenced by the French artillery.
Had d'Enghien at that moment availed himself of
his advantage, and instead of resting satisfied with the
preservation of Sommeriva, followed the advice of his
officers, and immediately commenced the attack, he
must have totally destroyed the body of troops by
whom Del Guasto was accompanied ; as it was subse-
quently ascertained that a large portion of his army
were at a considerable distance in the rear, engaged
in the extrication of the guns which had been swamped
in a morass. Of this circumstance the French were
not, however, aware, until it was too late; and the
Marquis, anxious to defer an engagement until he was
joined by the whole of his troops, profited by their su-
pineness to retire to Cerisola for the night.
Del Guasto had no sooner retreated than the Prince
was guilty of the serious error of abandoning the
heights, which had hitherto rendered his position so
292 Reign of
advantageous ; and in his turn retired to Carmagnola,
leaving two hundred horsemen to observe the move-
ments of the enemy.
It would appear that this duty was entrusted to a
very inefficient officer; for it is certain that when on
the following day the French were preparing to re-
sume their ground, they discovered that it was already
occupied by the imperialists, who had drawn up their
army in readiness for the conflict, and who were at
least one-third stronger than themselves. The morti-
fication of M. d'Enghien was intense ; aware as he in-
stantly became that his own imprudence had enabled
Del Guasto to obtain this advantage. He had on the
previous day refused to attack the imperialists, owing
to his apprehension that the exhaustion of his troops,
from the sudden heat of the weather, would militate
against their success ; but he had confidently calculated
upon resuming his position, which he now saw wrested
from him. Under the circumstances he had, however,
no longer an alternative, for he felt that should he fall
back once more upon Carmagnola his army would be-
come disheartened; and he consequently resolved to
attack the Marquis at Cerisola on the following day.
The brave De Boutieres had meanwhile no sooner
ascertained that the Prince was authorized to engage
the enemy, than, forgetting his personal wrongs, he
rejoined the army, and was put in command of the van-
guard ; the Prince himself headed the main body ; and
Dampierre* was intrusted with the rearguard; while
* M. de Dampierre, Seigneur de Clermont-Tonnerre, was the repre-
sentative of an illustrious family in Dauphiny, which traced its descent
from the nth century; and the head of whose house had, until recently,
borne the title of Comte de Clermont and Dauphin d'Auvergne.
Francis I 293
Montluc, who always coveted a post of danger, was
thrown forward with a body of three thousand harque-
bussiers, as a forlorn hope, to meet the first attack of
the enemy.
As the sun rose, the hostile armies faced each other,
and the engagement commenced by a skirmish be-
tween the troops of the Gascon captain and a corre-
sponding force of imperialists, which lasted from dawn
until an hour before mid-day ; Del Guasto being un-
willing to abandon the heights, and his enemy equally
reluctant to attack him at such a disadvantage. It was
the object of each leader to take the other in flank,
but both were sufficiently on their guard to render this
manoeuvre impracticable. The gallantry displayed by
Montluc and his little band was conspicuous ; and al-
though from their exposed position many among them
fell, they nevertheless retained their ground, and
fought bravely until the very close of the engagement.
At length the two main bodies came to a charge,
and the battle became general. D'Enghien through-
out the day proved himself worthy of the trust which
had been reposed in him ; and although, as Montluc
had evidently foreseen, the Italians proved almost use-
less during the combat, and the Gryerians fairly turned
and fled without striking a blow when they saw the
enemy with Del Guasto approaching to charge them,
he was nevertheless enabled through his own gallantry
and that of the French gendarmerie to break through
the imperial ranks, and to force them back upon the
neighbouring forest in such disorder, that they were
cut to pieces on their retreat.
The Prince of Salerno had received express orders
294 Reign of
from the Marquis not to quit the post assigned to him
on the left wing of the imperialists, nor to suffer the
division under his command to take any part in the
conflict until he received his permission to do so, how-
ever urgent circumstances might appear; and he
obeyed these directions so implicitly, that when the
tide of battle had carried Del Guasto to such a dis-
tance that he was unable to revoke them, he remained
perfectly passive, although he was aware that his co-
operation must have enabled the main body to rally,
and thus possibly have changed the fortunes of the
day; nor did he even commence his retreat until he
felt that further delay must involve his own safety and
that of his troops ; when he affected the manoeuvre so
skilfully that he escaped with very little loss.
Thus a victory was secured to d'Enghien, for which
he was in a great degree indebted to the injudicious
measures of the enemy, but it was purchased by the
sacrifice of many valuable lives ; two of his own equer-
ries and fifteen of his noble volunteers having perished
during the charge; a casualty which was, however,
counterbalanced by the fact that his total loss of rank
and file amounted only to two hundred men.
The imperialists had, meanwhile, suffered much
more severely. Del Guasto was himself struck in the
knee by a musket-ball, and received a blow upon the
head from a mace by which his helmet was crushed ;
and he found himself compelled from the anguish of
his wounds to quit the field, and make the best of his
way to Ast, with a troop of four hundred horse, which
were all that remained to him. The repose which he
so greatly needed, he was not, however, fated to find
Francis I 295
in what he had trusted wouttj have been to him a city
of refuge. On marching from Ast to encounter the
French army, he had arrogantly authorized the citi-
zens to close their gates against him, should he return
otherwise than as a conqueror; and they no sooner
saw him approaching wounded and a fugitive, than
they obeyed him to the very letter, and refused to ad-
mit him within their walls. He had, consequently, no
alternative save to proceed to Milan ; where, although
shelter was conceded to him, he was bitterly taunted
with his non-fulfilment of a promise which he had
made to certain of the Milanese ladies, that he would
bring the young French nobles who had joined the
banner of M. d'Enghien as volunteers, in chains to
their feet ; a vaunt which it appeared was intended to
be less empty than those in which he usually indulged ;
as it is asserted by more than one historian that chains
and padlocks were found in considerable numbers
among the captured baggage. So enraged, moreover,
were the population of Milan by a defeat for which
they had been totally unprepared, that during his re-
covery he found it expedient to live in close retirement,
as he was pursued through the streets, whenever he
ventured to appear in public, by the jeers and execra-
tions of the mob; and the clamorous demands of an
unhappy class of females for the handsome young
cavaliers whom he had promised to march as his pris-
oners into their city.
These indignities, which were as gall and worm-
wood to the arrogant spirit of the Marquis, sufficed to
fill up the measure of his mortification ; for never was
defeat more disastrous than his own at Cerisola. Ten
296 Reign of
thousand of his best troops had fallen during the bat-
tle; the whole of his artillery, ammunition, arid bag-
gage had become the prey of the enemy, as well as four
thousand prisoners, among whom were several of his
best officers. The costly armour, ponderous plate,
and bulky treasure-chest by which he was always ac-
companied to the field, and which amounted in value to
upwards of three hundred thousand crowns, shared the
same fate ; while the city of Carignano, and the whole
Marquisate of Montferrat, with the exception of Casal,
were retaken by M. d'Enghien.
At this period, had the French King responded to
the entreaties of the Prince, and furnished him with a
sufficient reinforcement, the Milanese must inevitably
have fallen into his power ; but the league into which
the Emperor had entered with Henry VIII., and their
meditated descent upon France, rendered him not only
unable to do so, but compelled him moreover to with-
draw a force of twelve thousand men from the vic-
torious army, for the defence of his own kingdom ; a
circumstance which decided the Comte d'Enghien to
consent to a truce for three months, which was pro-
posed by Del Guasto. This had no sooner been rati-
fied by their respective sovereigns, than the French
Prince reluctantly retired from Piedmont, and, after
having strongly fortified all the fortresses of which he
had possessed himself, marched his army back to
France ; white the imperialist general proceeded tow-
ards the frontiers of Picardy and Champagne, to assist
in the attack which Charles was about to make upon
those provinces.
By the messenger whom he despatched to the court
Francis I 297
to request supplies, M. d'Enghien forwarded to his
sister, the Duchesse de Nevers,* a superb watch which
had been found in the tent of the Marquis, with direc-
tions to present it to the King ; a commission of which
she gracefully acquitted herself, in the presence of the
assembled courtiers.
" Sire," she said, as bending upon one knee she
tendered to him the costly trinket upon a small cushion
of crimson velvet, " my brother d'Enghien having been
unable to send you the Marquis del Guasto, thanks
to the fleetness of his good horse, Ventures to offer to
you the watch of the fugitive imperialist ; which, al-
though perhaps in point of fact as valuable as its owner,
did not chance to be so well mounted."
" I thank my good and brave cousin and lieutenant
for the courtesy, Madame," replied the King, as he
accepted the jewel, and at the same time raised the
Duchess from her kneeling position ; " and yourself
no less. And I shall greatly value the offering, not
only as a memorial of his valour, but also of your own
wit and beauty."
Throughout the whole of that evening, the mot of
Madame de Nevers afforded more conversation than
the manoeuvres of her successful kinsman.
Nevertheless, the period was not one for idle jesting
* Marguerite de Bourbon, the sister of Antoine de Bourbon, Due de
Vendome, afterwards King: of Navarre, of Francois de Bourbon, Comte
d'Enghien, and of Louis, Prince de Conde, was the wife of Francois de
Cleves, Due de Nevers ; who, at the age of five years, succeeded his
father in the sovereignty of the counties of Auxerre, Nevers, Eu, and
. Rhe'tel, which had belonged to his family since the commencement of
the fourteenth century. In 1538 he had been created Duke and peer of
France by Francis I.; and under the reign of his successor he was
appointed governor of Champagne, Brie, and Luxembourg. On his
death in 1562, he left six children by his wife Marguerite de Bourbon.
298 Reign of
or empty frivolity. France was threatened to her very
core. The Emperor and the King of England had
assembled a strong army upon the Rhine for the capt-
ure of Paris, which they had resolved to sack; and
afterwards to lay the whole country waste to the banks
of the Loire. The avowed object of the treaty into
which they had entered was the entire conquest, and
subsequent partition, of the kingdom between them-
selves ; and they had even calculated with such security
on success, that Normandy and Guyenne, with the title
of King of France, were by the said treaty guaranteed
to Henry, while Charles was to inherit the duchy of
Burgundy and the northern provinces watered by the
Somme.
The army with which Francis proposed to repel this
threatened invasion was intrusted to the Dauphin and
d'Annebaut, but with the usual reservation that they
should encamp on the banks of the Marne, and keep-
ing that river between their own forces and those of
the Emperor, dispute the passage whenever it should
be attempted ; avoiding at all hazards a general en-
gagement. Unfortunately for the King, he could not
at this juncture calculate upon the slightest assistance
from without, his allies having indignantly abandoned
him from the moment that the fleet of Barbarossa had
anchored off the coast of Provence ; while their indig-
nation had been still further excited by the outrages
committed by the Turkish admiral on his departure
from Toulon ; when, not content with devastating the
surrounding country for the purpose of victualling his'
ships for their homeward voyage, he availed himself of
the opportunity to carry off a number of the criminals
Francis I 299
from the arsenal to man his galleys ; and some of the
handsomest women of the province for his harem.
Thtis Francis could not venture to recall his Infidel
allies even in the present perilous emergency; the
hatred which they had engendered towards him, and
the enormities of which they had been guilty even upon
his own territories, having convinced him of the seri-
ousness of his previous error.
The invading armies consisted of eighty thousand
infantry and two thousand horse; and it had been
agreed between the allied sovereigns that they should
advance simultaneously upon Paris, without lingering
by the way to lay siege to any of the intervening cities.
Had they pursued this course they must at once have
made themselves masters of the capital, where a panic
terror and a great scarcity of troops would have ren-
dered it impossible to offer any effectual resistance;
but so great a jealousy still existed between the two
allied potentates, that instead of honestly fulfilling the
stipulations of their mutual contract, each determined
to possess himself of the several fortresses which lay
upon his route ; and thus the unity of their action was
destroyed.
Henry VIII. landed at Calais, accompanied by the
Duke of Norfolk, and an army of thirty thousand men,
with the pomp of a conqueror rather than the prudence
of an invading general ; and he was joined upon his
arrival in that port by a force of fifteen thousand im-
perialists under De Buren and De Rceux, who were
to act in conjunction with his own troops. The Em-
peror meanwhile pressed forward towards Champagne,
whither Francis, who considered him the more formi-
3OO Reign of
dable enemy of the two, had, as we have shown,
despatched the main body of his army; taking no
further precaution against the English King than that
of fortifying Boulogne and the other important for-
tresses of Picardy.
Charles commenced his operations by the siege of
Luxembourg, which, contrary to the anticipations of
the King, capitulated almost immediately ; the garrison
having suffered from famine throughout the whole of
the preceding winter, and being reduced to a state of
exhaustion which rendered them unable to oppose his
attack. He then continued his onward march, making
himself master, as he advanced, of the citadels of Com-
merey on the Meuse, Ligny, and Brienne ; after which,
crossing the frontier of Champagne, he halted before
St. Dizier, a place of great importance, inasmuch as it
commanded the passage of the river.
Aware that its garrison was insignificant in number,
its outworks very imperfectly fortified, and its position
unfavourable for defence, Charles anticipated as easy
a conquest of this city as that to which he had looked
forward at Luxembourg. He was, however, fated to
disappointment, the command having been confided
to Louis de Beuil, Comte de Sancerre, the lieutenant
of the Due d'Orleans, and to M. de Lalande, who had
so greatly distinguished himself during the preceding
year at the defence of Landrecies ; and who, upon re-
ceiving a summons from the Emperor to surrender,
replied by assuring him that there was not one traitor
within the walls, and that if he coveted the place he
must win it at the sword's point.
Irritated by this defiance, Charles V. at once sat
Francis I 301
down before the city, angry at an impediment which
he considered gratuitous, and believing from day to
day that the morrow must witness its reduction. Con-
trary, however, not only to his own expectations, but
to those of Francis himself, the town resisted, despite
all its disadvantages, for the space of six weeks ; during
which time the garrison not only thwarted the opera-
tions of the imperialists, by continual sorties, but even
sustained an assault which lasted for seven hours, and
cost the Emperor the lives of eight hundred of his best
troops ; while the remainder of his forces retreated in
such disorder that they abandoned a great quantity of
powder, which fell into the hands of the French. The
loss on the side of the garrison did not amount to more
than forty gendarmes and two hundred infantry; but
the Comte de Sancerre was grievously wounded in the
face by the fragments of his sword, which was shivered
by a shot. On the following day the Emperor sent a
herald to Sancerre, to offer him honourable terms if
he would consent to capitulate ; but the French general,
who was aware of the importance of delaying the
march of the enemy towards Paris, refused to admit
the envoy within the walls, and declared his intention
of still holding the city.
Convinced by this reply that he should obtain noth-
ing from the fears of the Count, and irritated by the loss
of life which had already ensued, Charles resolved to
starve out the garrison, which he was aware was al-
ready driven to great straits both for food and ammu-
nition ; and he consequently remained passively in his
camp, awaiting the result of this determination. A
few days subsequently a drummer was despatched from
302 Reign of
the beleaguered city to propose the exchange of some
prisoners ; and he had no sooner delivered his message
and left the enemy's lines, than a stranger, with an
apparent want of caution which disarmed suspicion,
jostled him on his path, and at the same time thrust a
sealed packet into his hand, which he hurriedly in-
formed him he had received from the Due de Guise,
and was waiting an opportunity to convey to the Comte
de Sancerre. A look of intelligence was then ex-
changed between the two men ; and in a few moments
the mysterious packet was delivered. The letter was
written in the cypher adopted by the Duke, of which
M. de Sancerre had the key; and so much was he
astonished at the nature of its contents, that he at once
called a council, and read it aloud.
In this missive Sancerre was enjoined to surrender
the garrison upon the best terms he could make with
the Emperor, and that with all possible despatch, as
it was found impossible to introduce either men or pro-
visions into the city. Many of the officers entreated
their commandant to disregard an order, which had
merely emanated from the governor, and not from the
King himself, alleging that they could but surrender
when their means of subsistence and defence were
utterly exhausted, and that meanwhile they were doing
their sovereign good service by checking the onward
march of the enemy. The majority, however, had be-
come disheartened by the privations and suffering
which they had already endured, and strongly urged
De Sancerre to immediate obedience. Yet, for a time,
the Count still hesitated ; until his duty as a soldier at
overcame his pride as a man, and he consented
' .* . ,.t
r<=
Francis I 303
to follow the directions of his superior officer. He
therefore despatched in his turn a herald to the im-
perial camp, demanding to know upon what conditions
he would be permitted to evacuate the fortress, should
he consent to capitulate. These were immediately de-
tailed, and were of the harshest description ; the Em-
peror declaring that M. de Sancerre had forfeited all
claim to the lenity which he had previously determined
to exert towards him, by an obstinacy as weak as it
was unavailing. He had, however, miscalculated the
nature of the Count, who at once peremptorily refused
to accede to the terms proposed ; and Charles at length
reluctantly consented to permit the garrison to retain
the fortress for the space of twelve days longer, when,
if they did not receive succour from without, they were
to be allowed to vacate the place at mid-day with all the
honours of war, carrying with them the whole of their
baggage and a portion of their artillery. The order
which had been transmitted to him, and the death of
M. de Lalande, who was killed during the assault, com-
bined with the total exhaustion of his ammunition,
determined Sancerre to comply with these conditions ;
and, accordingly, on the appointed day, not having
in the interval received the help on which he had still
ventured to rely, he vacated the city, which was imme-
diately garrisoned by the imperialists.
This protracted struggle had, however, very much
exhausted the forces of the Emperor ; and it had also
cost the life, among others, of Rene de Nassau, Prince
of Orange, one of his favourite generals, who fell on the
same day as M. de Lalande, to the regret of the whole
army, to whom his courage and affability had greatfj^tf
endeared him. ,/ r r
p
304 Reign of
The intelligence of the surrender of St. Dizier af-
fected Francis more deeply than any loss which he had
previously sustained, it being the last formidable im-
pediment to Charles's advance on Paris. At the mo-
ment when it reached him he was confined to his bed
by indisposition ; and the despatches were delivered to
him in the presence of the Queen of Navarre, Madame
d'Etampes, and other ladies of the court who were
assembled in his chamber for the purpose of beguiling
his hours of enforced inaction. " Oh, my God ! " he
exclaimed when he had finished their perusal, " how
dearly dost Thou make me pay for a kingdom which
I had believed was freely given. Nevertheless, Thy
will be done." Then turning to his sister, he said
sadly, " Ma mignonne, I entreat of you to attend
complines at the cathedral, and to pray to God for me,
that even should it be His will to support and favour
the Emperor more than myself, He may at least spare
me the misery of seeing him encamped before the capi-
tal of my kingdom ; and of having it placed on record
that my rebellious vassal defied me to my beard, as his
ancestor the Due de Bourgogne formerly defied Louis
XI. Come what may, however, I am resolved to meet
him and give him battle ; and I pray God that I may die
rather than be condemned to become a second time his
prisoner."
Two days subsequently he appeared in public in the
midst of the panic-stricken citizens, whom he endeav-
oured to reassure by the calm fearlessness of his own
deportment. " Remember, my faithful burghers," he
said, as they crowded about him with loud cries of
terror and distress, " remember, that although I may
protect you from all harm, I cannot preserve you from
Francis I 305
fear, for God holds the hearts of men in His hand.
You must strive therefore to do your duty, as I shall
do mine."
These were brave words, and worthy the sovereign
of a great nation, but unfortunately they were only lip-
deep. The court intrigues, to which frequent allusion
has already been made, had at this period attained to
such a height, that plots and counterplots were per-
petually circumventing the most prudent public meas-
ures. As Madame d'Etampes saw the King daily
becoming more feeble, she began to tremble at the con-
sequences which his death must inevitably entail upon
herself ; and although she cared little for the Due d'Or-
leans personally, she determined to exert all her ener-
gies to induce Francis to accept the former proposition
of the Emperor, and to marry him to the Princess of
Spain, in order that she might herself secure a safe
asylum, either in the duchy of Milan or the Low Coun-
tries, after the demise of her royal lover.
This alliance would, moreover, as she was well aware,
mortify the pride of Diana de Poitiers, by placing the
younger Prince in a position as advantageous as that
of the Dauphin ; and accordingly, in pursuance of this
resolution, she urged Francis to terminate the war by
an alliance for which, as she assured him, the Emperor
was still anxious. The stipulation made by Charles,
however, that the ceded territory should never be
united to the French Crown, induced the King to per-
sist in his refusal; and she no sooner found that her
influence was on the wane, than she determined to
effect her purpose by other and less unexceptionable
means. We have already stated that Bossut, Comte
VOL. III. 20
306 Francis I
de Longueval, was at once her lover and her slave;
and, through his agency, she entered into a treasonable
correspondence with Charles, to whom she communi-
cated the most secret decisions of the council. The
first-fruits of her infamous and selfish treachery were
the loss of St. Dizier; the supposititious order of the
Due de Guise having been written by the Imperial
Chancellor Granvella, to whom she had communicated
the secret of his cypher.
From St. Dizier Charles wrote to apprise the Eng-
lish King that he was about to march forthwith upon
Paris ; but Henry, who had no sooner ascertained that
his ally had taken Luxembourg than he determined to
follow his example, drily replied by an assurance that
he should not follow until he had possessed himself of
Boulogne and Montreuil ; the former of which places
he had already invested in person with a force of twenty
thousand men, while the Duke of Norfolk menaced the
latter with the remainder of the English troops, and
the Flemish forces of De Buren and De Rceux.
The Emperor, indignant at this selfish policy, which,
although he had considered it legitimate on his own
part, he condemned as a breach of faith upon that of
his coadjutor, retorted by requesting that since such
was the case, and that his army was seriously weakened
by a delay which he had not foreseen, he might be
permitted to save his honour by demanding a truce.
To this request Henry, bent upon the conquests which
he meditated, offered no opposition ; declaring to those
about him that he was quite strong enough to carry out
his measures without extraneous aid; and thencefor-
ward the two potentates ceased altogether to act in
concert.
CHAPTER XIV.
Effects of the Resistance of St. Dizier Charles V. Endeavours
to Effect a Peace The Queen and Madame d'Etampes In-
duce the King to Enter into a Negotiation with the Em-
peror The Dauphin Demands the Recall of Montmorenci
The Comte de Furstemberg is Made Prisoner by the French
Charles V. Determines on a Retreat to the Low Coun-
tries Madame d'Etampes Enables Him to Possess Himself
of Epernay and Chateau-Thierry Alarm of the Parisians-^
Prudent Measures of the Dauphin Henry VIII. Takes
Boulogne Francis Concludes a Treaty with the Emperor
The Negotiation of Marriage between the Due d'Orleans
and the Daughter of the Emperor is Renewed Discontent
of the Dauphin He Protests against the Treaty The
French Army Marches into Picardy The Dauphin Makes
a Night-attack upon Boulogne The French are Repulsed
Gallantry of Montluc Termination of the Campaign of 1544
The Emperor Resolves to Suppress the League of Smal-
kalden Charles V. Determines to Bestow the Hand of His
Daughter upon the Due d'Orleans The Emperor Endeavours
to Conciliate the Pope Persecution of the Flemish Re-
formers Massacre of the Vaudois Imprudence of the
Dauphin A Court Banquet Disgrace of the Dauphin
Francis Raises a Naval Armament against England He
Sends Succour to the Dowager-Queen of Scotland An
Army is Despatched to Picardy The Banquet on Board
the Carraquon D'Annebaut Sails with the French Fleet
Operations on the English Coast The French Land in Sus-
sex Destroy Brighton, and New Haven, and Take Pos-
session of the Isle of Wight The French Fleet Returns
to Havre.
307
308 Reign of
THE Emperor meanwhile pursued the course of the
Marne, and advanced so far into the province
of Champagne that he found himself closely pressed
by the troops of the Dauphin, who cut off all his sup-
plies, and threatened his army with famine. The
noble defence of St. Dizier had, notwithstanding the
apprehensions of the King, proved the salvation of
France, by affording time on the one hand for the bet-
ter organization of her army, and on the other by
harassing and exhausting that of the enemy ; but the
most important of its results was the coolness and jeal-
ousy which it had produced between Charles and the
English King; the refusal of Henry VIII. to march
upon Paris, when he was apprised by the Emperor of
his own intention of proceeding thither, having con-
vinced Charles that he must not calculate upon that
blind deference to his wishes which he had led him-
self to expect from his equally arrogant ally ; and, ac-
cordingly, while he resolved to advance unsupported,
in order to impress upon Francis the peril to which he
would expose himself by persisting in hostilities, he
seconded the views of Madame d'Etampes by declaring
to several French officers whom he had made prison-
ers, that so far from seeking to provoke a war, he was
ready to effect a reconciliation with their sovereign ;
and at the same period a Spanish monk, of the order
of St. Dominic, who was the confessor of Queen Eleo-
nora, entered, by her commands, into a correspondence
to this effect with Martin de Gusman,* who held a sim-
ilar office about the Emperor.
* Martin de Gusman was a Dominican friar, to whom, upon an occa-
sion when he had permitted himself to indulge in some disrespectful
Francis I 309
Granvella, his Chancellor, strongly urged him to a
reconciliation; and he was the more inclined to such
a measure, as the protracted resistance of St. Dizier,
under the most unfavourable circumstances, had suf-
ficed to convince him that his meditated campaign pre-
sented more difficulties than he was either prepared,
or enabled, at that particular moment, to surmount.
On the other hand, both the Queen and the favourite,
although from very different motives, laboured to con-
vince Francis of the impolicy of permitting the Em-
peror to approach nearer to the capital, where the im-
possibility of effecting a safe retreat in the event of
defeat would render the imperialist army desperate,
and involve the whole country in bloodshed and ruin ;
while their success would equally prove the destruction
of his kingdom.
At length a conference between the representatives
of the two powers was opened at La Chaussee, a small
village midway between Vitry and Chalons; but al-
though it was admitted by all parties that the war must
prove unprofitable to both potentates, and that a gen-
eral peace was desirable for the welfare of Europe, they
separated without having effected any definite arrange-
ment.
During this negotiation, and, beyond all doubt, with
the intention of alarming Francis into a compliance
with the conditions upon which he had consented to
expressions regarding Francis I., M. de Neuilly, at that period the
French ambassador in Spain, publicly gave a blow upon the mouth; a
vehemence by which he deprived himself of the dignity of chancellor
which subsequently became vacant, and which was destined for him ;
the Cardinal de Tournon representing to the King that a man who could
not control his temper was unfit to become either a magistrate or a
judge.
31 o Reign of
forego all further hostilities, the Emperor continued
his onward march until he reached Chalons; where
the Due de Nevers, who held the city, immediately
prepared for a siege. Charles V., however, who had
received sure intelligence of the great strength of the
garrison, continued his march without evincing any
intention of attacking the fortress, to the extreme an-
noyance of the Prince and his officers ; and the disap-
pointment so enraged several young nobles of the suite
of the Due de Nevers who had thrown themselves into
the place, that they made a sudden sortie, and com-
menced a skirmish with the rearguard of the imperial-
ists, by which imprudence they all sacrificed their
lives ; the German cavalry having a short time previ-
ously been armed with pistols, a fact of which their
enemies were not aware.
The position of the Dauphin became daily more dif-
ficult; as, in order to avoid an engagement, he was
compelled to retreat as the Emperor advanced; and
consequently, to fall back so closely upon the troops
of Henry VIII., that a few forced marches would have
enabled them to attack him in the rear. He had,
moreover, lost all confidence in d'Annebaut, and urged
the King, in this extremity, to permit the recall of
Montmorenci; but Francis was still too much exas-
perated against him to consent to such an arrange-
ment; a fact of which Madame d'Etampes was well
aware, and by which she so skilfully profited as to se-
cure d'Annebaut in his post, and thus deliver herself
from the peril to which she must have been exposed,
had she been compelled to exchange a fast friend for
a watchful enemy during her secret negotiations with
the Emperor.
Francis I 311
As the imperialists had ere long discovered that the
Dauphin, whom they were aware was constitutionally
brave, must be acting under stringent orders thus to
suffer them to approach the capital unmolested, they
resolved, if possible, to compel him to give them battle
before the rapid exhaustion of their provisions forced
them to an ignoble and dangerous retreat ; and Comte
Guillaume de Furstemberg, who had during his ser-
vice in the French army made himself intimately ac-
quainted with the surrounding country, volunteered to
point out to his new master a ford a little below the
town, by which the troops might pass the river, and
turning the flank of the Dauphin's forces, render an
engagement inevitable. Anxious, however, not to fail
in his promise, he resolved to attempt it himself dur-
ing the night with a few followers ; a purpose which
he effected in safety, and he was about to return and
report his success to the Emperor, when the advance
guard of the French suddenly surrounded his party,
the whole of whom they either killed or made prison-
ers. The renegade Count was among the captives;
and so exasperated were those by whom he was taken,
that they assailed him with the most violent invectives,
and he was forthwith conveyed under an escort to
Paris, where he was committed to the Bastille.
This disappointment proved the more serious to
Charles that his army was beginning to suffer seriously
from want ; the Dauphin having laid waste the coun-
try on both banks of the Marne, after he had filled the
storehouses of Epernay and Chateau-Thierry for the
supply of his own troops ; and, thus convinced of the
failure of his enterprise, the Emperor authorized Gus-
312 Reign of
man secretly to pursue the negotiation which had been
commenced at La Chaussee ; after which, as a last re-
source, and still with the same view of compelling a
peace, he resumed his march along the river, although
uncertain how long he should be able to subsist his
troops.
He was not suffered, however, to remain in doubt
upon this important point, for theDuchesse d'Etampes
no sooner ascertained the jeopardy in which he was
placed, than, apprehending that the retreat of the Em-
peror to the Low Countries must at once destroy all
hope of the alliance which she was eager to forward,
she desired de Longueval to inform him that she could
give him information which would enable him to pos-
sess himself both of Epernay and Chateau-Thierry,
and thus readily to victual his army. Charles at once
accepted the offer, assuring the treacherous Duchess
that he would in requital of so signal a service pledge
himself to second her own projects regarding the mar-
riage of the Due d'Orleans ; upon which Jean de Bos-
sut, by a heavy bribe, induced the captain who was
intrusted with the destruction of the bridge of Eper-
nay, by which the Dauphin had designed to prevent
the entrance of the enemy into the town, to delay the
performance of his duty for so long a period that it
afforded Charles sufficient time to attack the outpost,
to force his way across, and to take possession of both
places.
The consternation of the Parisians when they be-
came assured that the imperialists were actually in
Chateau-Thierry, and that they had even thrown their
outposts forward to Meaux, exceeded all precedent;
Francis I 313
nor could the wise precautions taken by the Dauphin
serve to allay them. Immediately upon the surprise
of the two important posts which had thus been wrest-
ed from him by treachery, he had despatched a force
of nearly eight thousand men to occupy that city;
while Charles, who was now at ease as regarded the
subsistence of his army, did not again attempt to cross
the Marne, but abandoning the course of the river,
proceeded to Villars-Cotterets, and thence to the town
of Soissons, which he delivered over to pillage for the
space of three days.
The panic in the capital remained at its acme. The
most opulent of the citizens fled to Rouen and Or-
leans for safety, carrying with them all the movable
portion of their property ; and the different roads were
covered with wagons filled with household goods,
women, and children, while equipages of every de-
scription threaded their way among the more cum-
brous vehicles ; and bands of robbers, to whom every
public disorder affords a harvest, rifled the fugitives as
they endeavoured to escape with the wreck of their
fortunes.
In this season of individual peril, all national pride
and all sense of loyalty were alike forgotten. In vain
did the King send the Due de Guise to reassure the
inhabitants, and subsequently attempted the same un-
profitable errand himself ; they were alike unheeded ;
and at that precise moment Francis received intelli-
gence that Boulogne had capitulated, and that Henry
VIII. was, in his turn, marching upon Paris. This
information at once determined the measures of the
King. D'Annebaut had already arrived with the con-
314 Reign of
ditions of the Emperor, which he had previously re-
solved to reject; but fearing that Charles might be-
come even more unreasonable in his demands, should
he learn the recent success of the English monarch,
he hastened to conclude the treaty; and once more
the Marechal was despatched to Brussels by express
to procure the signature of Charles, whom he found
on his arrival suffering severely from an attack of gout.
Having received express injunctions not to return
without having effected his mission, he however vent-
ured to urge its immediate accomplishment, notwith-
standing the undisguised reluctance of the Emperor,
when the latter said with considerable irritation of
manner, as he took the pen which had been prepared
for him, between his swollen fingers : " You are press-
ing, M. de Marechal ; but I pray you to observe from
what you now see, that I am not likely to forfeit the
pledge which I have given, as he who cannot hold a
pen in time of peace, would be little able to wield a
sword in the hour of battle."
" Sire," was the immediate and pertinent reply of
d'Annebaut, accompanied, however, by a profound
obeisance, " it is scarcely to be anticipated that your
imperial Majesty will be for ever afflicted with the
gout."
The universal satisfaction evinced throughout
France on the conclusion of the new treaty, was, how-
ever, premature ; for although wearied of a war which
had impoverished their cities, devastated their prov-
inces, and involved an enormous sacrifice of life, the
unfortunate subjects of Francis I. had merely pur-
chased a temporary tranquillity, by a more threaten-
Francis I 315
ing danger than even that from which they were thus
delivered. The principal articles of the treaty set forth
that " within the space of two years the Emperor
should bestow the hand of his daughter, or that of his
niece, according to his own pleasure, upon the Due
d'Orleans ; with either the Milanese, or the Low Coun-
tries and the counties of Bourgogne andCharolois as her
dowry, also at his own option. Should he decide upon
thus ceding the Milanese, moreover, he was to retain
the citadels of Milan and Cremona until the Princess
should have male issue; while Francis was to resign
his claim alike to the Kingdom of Naples and the Mi-
lanese Duchy, should he determine to endow the Duke
with the Low Countries ; and moreover restore all the
territories of the Due de Savoie, although he was per-
mitted to retain his fortresses until the Emperor re-
linquished those of Milan and Cremona, save such
as had been taken since the truce of Nice, which were
to be at once given up on both sides, as well as all those
which had been taken in France and the Low Coun-
tries."
This treaty, however advantageous it was likely to
prove to the Due d'Orleans, was one by which France
as a nation was at once weakened and endangered;
and the Dauphin accordingly protested strongly
against its acceptance. It aggrandized his brother at
his expense, and dismembered the kingdom which he
regarded as his just inheritance. Rather, as he de-
clared, would he still trust to the force of arms, than
consent to a concession by which he was humiliated,
and which threatened to involve the nation in anarchy ;
but his representations were disregarded; the King,
316 Reign of
failing in health, with all his energies depressed, and
surrounded by advisers who from private interests or
public policy were anxious to secure a termination of
the war, treated his arguments with a cold and reso-
lute indifference which convinced him that further op-
position would be useless ; and, accordingly, he signed
a solemn protest against it at Fontainebleau on the
1 2th of December, in the presence of the Due de Ven-
dome, the Comte d'Enghien, and the Comte d'Aumale,
afterwards Due de Guise ; a ceremony which although
common at the time could be of little effect.
The treaty had no sooner been concluded by the two
contracting parties at Crespy, on the i8th of Septem-
ber, than the Emperor despatched an order to De
Buren and De Roeux, who were assisting the English
in the siege of Montreuil, to disband their troops and
retire ; while the Due d'Orleans, the Cardinals of Lor-
raine and Meudon, and several nobles of high rank,
proceeded to join Charles at Brussels, where they were
to remain as hostages until the fortresses designated
by the treaty were evacuated ; the Marechal d'Anne-
baut was also despatched to Brussels, and the Dauphin
marched to the relief of Montreuil, greatly to the
chagrin of Henry VIII., who was vigorously besieging
that city; but who, abandoned by his German allies,
and unable to resist so powerful an army as that now
brought against him, raised the siege, threw a strong
garrison into Boulogne, and retreated with the remain-
der of his forces to Calais, where he at once embarked
for England. He moreover retired in such haste, that
although he had left a large body of troops to defend
the city, he had pot: organized any plan by which that
Francis I 317
defence might be assured ; the principal portion of his
artillery was still planted outside the walls, and all his
military stores remained in the lower town, which was
rendered imminently unsafe by the numerous breaches
that had induced the besieged to abandon it, and to re-
tire into the upper portion of the place, where they
were covered by the citadel.
The Dauphin, apprised of this negligence, deter-
mined to hazard a night attack, for the double purpose
of recovering the town, and securing the stores which
were housed in its magazines. Placing himself at the
head of a few companies of infantry, the whole of whom
by his orders wore their shirts over their uniforms that
they might be enabled to recognise each other in the
darkness, he accordingly directed M. de Tais, his sec-
ond in command, to march in profound silence towards
the breaches in the walls of the lower town, which were
defended only by a slender guard ; while M. de Dam-
pierre advanced upon the tower on the sea-shore with
his corps of Grisons.
M. de Tais readily effected his entrance into the
place, by overpowering the few troops who were there
stationed; but he was unfortunately so severely
wounded during the attack that he was compelled to
retire to the camp ; upon which the French troops, al-
though already in possession of the town, finding
themselves without a leader, and being informed that
the English were about to make a sortie, and to repos-
sess themselves of the breaches in order to intercept
their retreat, became so terrified that they began to fly
in the utmost confusion ; nor could all the efforts of their
other officers, among whom was the brave Montluc,
318 Reign of
succeed in inducing them to rally and hold their
ground. Day was beginning to dawn when the place
was abandoned, and Montluc was the last to pass the
walls, with three arrows in his buckler and one in the
sleeve of his coat-of-mail ; declaring as he rejoined his
friends that he bore about him all the booty that he
had made at Boulogne. Immediately afterwards the
fugitives were met by a strong force of lansquenets un-
der d'Annebaut who was advancing to their assist-
ance, but it was already too late; and the Dauphin,
having strengthened the garrison of Montreuil as a
check upon its threatening neighbour, the campaign
terminated for the winter.
The war which was thus closed, inglorious as it had
proved to both sovereigns, had, nevertheless, been a
source of immense suffering to the French people.
The peasantry had been oppressed and outraged al-
ternately by friends and enemies ; their cattle had been
slaughtered, their grain cut down before it ripened,
their houses pillaged, their wives and daughters in-
sulted, and the provinces of Champagne and Picardy,
once so abundant in produce of every description, laid
waste, and the cities abandoned ; while even many of
the nobles, who had hitherto lived in affluence, were
compelled to quit their devastated estates, and to throw
themselves upon the charity of those who had escaped
a similar ruin.
The Emperor, on quitting France, had disbanded a
large portion of his army, but he had retained his most
efficient force, and quartered all his Spanish troops in
Lorraine. He had abandoned all further projects
against the Infidels, and he was weary of making war
Francis I 319
against Francis, terminating, as it ever did, in new
treaties, which each in turn disregarded, when such a
breach of faith suited his policy. Still he was unwill-
ing to remain in inaction ; and once more he resolved
to humble the pretensions of the Protestant Princes,
whose partial independence he regarded as an affront
to his own dignity.
Meanwhile his affection for the Due d'Orleans in-
creased daily; the lively, frank, and fearless disposi-
tion of the young Prince amused his leisure, and di-
verted his hours of suffering; while his undisguised
ambition, and the jealousy which he evinced of his
elder brother, only the more tended to increase his
favour. Charles had already resolved to give him the
hand of his daughter; but, at the suggestion of the
Duke himself, he addressed a letter to Francis, in which
he affirmed his intention of marrying him to his niece,
unless the King should consent to increase his appan-
age in France, which, by the treaty of Crespy, amount-
ed only to a hundred thousand annual livres. Fran-
cis, as had ever been the fashion with both monarchs,
made no definite reply to this demand, but deferred his
decision until the period of the projected alliance
should have arrived; and the Emperor, absorbed by
his newly-awakened hatred of the Reformers, forbore
on his side to urge him further upon the subject.
The Emperor was eager to pursue his persecution
of the Smalkalden league, and to compel the Princes
to submit once more to the dominion of the Roman
Church, in order to secure at the same time his own
supremacy, and to conciliate the favour of the Pope,
which he had forfeited by his alliance with Henry VIII.
320 Reign of
The Pontiff had evinced his displeasure, by convoking,
without his concurrence, the council of Trent, which
reversed the interim granted by Charles to the Protes-
tants, while at the same time he openly declared that
Francis had conferred a greater benefit upon Christen-
dom by his persecution of the heretics, than injury by
his momentary alliance with the Infidels. He had,
moreover, addressed a caustic letter to the Emperor,
in which he advised him to refer to himself all the
ecclesiastical questions in which he had hitherto per-
mitted his imperial diets to intermeddle ; declaring that
he alone was competent to decide them, and threaten-
ing him with his vengeance should he disobey.
As this precise measure was at the moment that
which appeared the best calculated to assist his own
projects, Charles, instead of resenting the haughtiness
of the Pontiff, commanded all his subjects in the Low
Countries to obey, on peril of their lives, the bull which
had been issued, and immediately to discontinue the
practices of their religion ; but the Lutherans, although
they dared no longer worship in public as they had
for some time been permitted to do, would not so
lightly abandon the faith they had adopted ; nor was
it long ere Charles ascertained that the inhabitants of
Tournay had summoned to their city a celebrated
French preacher, called Pierre du Breuil, who was ac-
customed to perform the reformed service secretly;
upon which he caused him to be arrested as he was
returning from the ramparts, and burnt him by a slow
fire in the great square on the I9th of February.
This fearful example aroused the jealousy of the
French King, who, anxious not to be surpassed in zeal
Francis I 321
for the Church by a monarch who had already injured
him in the opinion of all the Romanist Princes by his
crusades against the Infidels, determined in his turn,
to strike a decisive blow which should reinstate him in
their esteem, by exceeding the efforts then making by
his rival.
After the frightful religious persecution of the nth
century, by which the Albigenses were exterminated,
a few of the Vaudois, who had succeeded in effecting
their escape, had concealed themselves in the narrow-
est and most secluded valleys of the Alps, where, by
their exemplary industry and peaceful demeanour, they
had so much ingratiated themselves with the surround-
ing nobles, that they were permitted to pursue their
agrarian avocations unmolested. Thus they had in
time greatly increased in numbers, and while the rest
of Europe was engaged in war, they had quietly reared
their crops, tended their herds, and made many a
hitherto barren spot smile with vegetation. Their life
was a purely pastoral one ; and, although occasionally
disturbed by some passing persecution, they relied so
implicitly upon the privilege accorded to them by
Louis XII, who, having compelled them to declare
their submission to the Church of Rome, granted them
free permission to remain unmolested in their moun-
tain-fastnesses, that they had toiled and prospered,
spreading themselves by degrees along the range of
the Alps, and occupying some of the highest points
above the marquisate of Saluzzo. Subsequently their
agricultural skill became so greatly appreciated that
they were, towards the close of the thirteenth century,
put into possession of a confined and desert district
VOL. III. 21
322 Reign of
to the north of the Durance ; and there they had dur-
ing nearly three centuries made their abode, convert-
ing the waste into a smiling garden, and peopling the
adjacent heights with innumerable flocks and herds.
This prosperity, calm and patriarchal as it was, how-
ever, excited the envy and malevolence of their Roman
neighbours. Their territory, which extended from the
foot of the Alps to the district of Venaissan, contained
two towns, those of Merindol and Cabrieres, and about
thirty villages ; while midway between the towns stood
the borough of Oppede, which belonged to the Baron
Jean Meynier, President of the Parliament of Prov-
ence, and was entirely inhabited by Roman Catholics,
which faith he himself professed.
It unfortunately happened, at the period to which
we must now return, (1545,) that one of the vassals of
De Meynier, having incurred a heavy debt to his rigor-
ous master which he was unable to liquidate, left his
home stealthily, and fled for security to Cabrieres; a
fact which the Baron no sooner ascertained, than, de-
termined to avail himself of so favourable an oppor-
tunity of persecuting his detested neighbours, he hast-
ened to apprise the King that the whole district was
in a state of revolt, and that it was apprehended the
Reformers had formed a plot to possess themselves of
Marseilles.
Francis made no effort to assure himself of the truth
of this statement, but at once authorized De Meynier
to put in force the decree promulgated against the Vau-
dois in 1540, during his first persecution of the pro-
fessors of the reformed religion; a decree which had
consigned all the heads of families to the flames, their
Francis I 323
wives and children to slavery, their property to confis-
cation, and their habitations to demolition. This in-
iquitous sentence had, however, been remitted at the
entreaty of Du Bellay-Langei, who, after having made
a survey of the little colony, convinced the King of
their usefulness and love of order ; upon which, moved
by his representation, and about to enter into a new
war in which these border allies might probably prove
serviceable, Francis had consented to revoke the edict ;
and, by a declaration addressed to the Parliament of
Aix, pardoned the Vaudois all their past errors, and
accorded to them a period of three months, at the termi-
nation of which they were called upon to recant them.
In reply to this summons the Vaudois forwarded to
the King a written confession of their faith, humbly
entreating that he would point out the errors which
they were thus commanded to abjure; but, although
no attention was vouchsafed to their appeal, they had
since been suffered to remain unmolested.
Now, however, the cessation of hostilities, and the
mutual engagement of the Emperor and the French
King to exterminate all heresy throughout their re-
spective dominions, had rendered his frontier-towns of
comparatively small importance to Francis ; and he
resolved, although Charles had once more taken the
initiative, and that the pyres had been already lighted
in Belgium, that he too would purchase his salvation
by the same means. Unhappily for the victims whom
he had resolved to immolate, he was again prostrated
by a relapse of the malady to which he had long been a
victim ; and the Cardinal de Tournon, while entreating
him to make his peace with God lest he should not
324 Reign of
survive the attack, assured him that he could not more
effectually do so than by persisting in so pious an in-
tention. The Archbishop of Aries, the Bishop of Aix,
and sundry other ecclesiastics who were then assem-
bled at Avignon, seconded the efforts of the Cardinal,
by conjuring him to revoke the amnesty which he had
granted to the heretical Vaudois ; and thus, even had
he subsequently repented the barbarous order which he
had caused to be transmitted to De Meynier, the
hourly-increasing superstition of Francis, which always
displayed itself under a fear of approaching death,
hardened his heart against every thought of mercy ;
and the secret preparations of the vindictive baron were
continued with a caution and celerity which blinded
the wretched Lutherans to their danger, even when it
had reached their very thresholds ; nor was it until he
issued an order that all individuals who were capable
of bearing arms throughout the province should im-
mediately assemble, well provided with food and weap-
ons for an expedition which was not explained, that
they were awakened to a sense of their peril.
The fated victims of selfish bigotry immediately
despatched messengers to inform the Lutheran Princes
and the Protestant cantons of Switzerland of the
jeopardy in which they were placed, and to entreat
their assistance ; and their co-religionists lost no time
in forwarding a deputation to the King, which was
commissioned to implore his clemency for the poor
mountaineers, and to petition that they might still be
permitted to retain their liberty of conscience ; offering,
moreover, themselves to become sureties, that, should
he be prevailed upon to spare them, they would never
Francis I 325
in any way endeavour to disturb the tranquillity of the
state.
Francis received these deputies, who were introduced
into his sick-room, with great haughtiness; and the
sole reply which he vouchsafed was to the effect, that,
as he never interfered with the national legislature of
those whom they represented, he begged of them not
to intermeddle in his own.
The levies which, by virtue of his office, De Meynier
was authorized to make for the public service, joined
to the local militia thus raised, formed a considerable
force ; which was augmented by a troop of horse under
Iscalin, who had been recently created Baron de la
Garde, and whose services in Italy had rendered both
himself and his men callous to human suffering, and
intolerant to all who rejected the Romish tenets. Nor
had De Meynier failed to inform the Popish legate,
Antonio Trivulzio, of the proposed campaign ; and
from him he received a further reinforcement of a
thousand foot-soldiers and several pieces of artillery.
The soul sickens at the record of the foul butcheries
committed by this horde of legalized assassins. As
they advanced towards the nearer villages, the inhabi-
tants fled in terror to the mountains, leaving their
habitations to be burned, and their flocks and herds
to become the prey of the spoilers; those who from
bodily weakness could not effect their escape, were cut
down ; and soon the flames, which ascended to the sky
on all sides, spread the alarm in the more distant parts
of the district. In like manner the other hamlets were
consecutively abandoned, pillaged, and finally burnt,
as well as the corn-stores, and such trees as would
326 Reign of
ignite. No resistance was offered ; the miserable vic-
tims, unprepared for such an attack, sought only to
save themselves by flight ; and on the following morn-
ing De Meynier divided his troops into two bodies,
one of which pursued the mountain road, while the
other followed the course of the river. The carnage
that ensued was frightful ; many of the fugitives were
encumbered either by children of tender years, or by
aged parents, to whom they clung even in their despair ;
and all these perished miserably. Neither age nor sex
proved a protection ; and horrors were committed in
the face of day which cried aloud to Heaven for ven-
geance.
Thus was this army of extermination engaged until
the i8th, when it reached Mirandola; but the once
flourishing town, although it had so recently been
warm with life, was totally abandoned, save by a poor
idiot, who, while wandering through the deserted
streets, was seized, bound to an olive tree, and shot.
At Cabrieres, on the morrow, the royal army, which
was to secure the salvation of its sovereign, found sixty
men and half the number of women, who, still trusting
that they might save themselves from the general
slaughter, made a show of resistance, and then offered
to capitulate. The proposal was accepted, and they
were assured that their lives would be respected ; but
they had no sooner delivered up the town, than they
were informed that no terms could be kept with her-
etics, and they were one and all put to death.
Nor did those who had escaped from the city fail to
become in their turn the prey of the still unsated bar-
barians. Eight hundred of the male inhabitants
Francis I 327
perished by the weapons of their remorseless enemies ;
while the women were, by the orders of De Meynier
himself, shut up in a barn which was fired from with-
out; and whenever a poor tortured wretch strove to
save herself from the flames by leaping through the
solitary window, she was immediately transfixed by a
pike, and hurled back upon the reeking pile.
Suffice it, that before the work of death was finally
accomplished, three thousand persons had shared the
common fate, while a yet greater number were still
wandering in the woods and among the fastnesses of
the mountains ; but the agents of murder were soon
upon their track, and they also successively fell into
the hands of De Meynier, who selected from among
them six hundred and seventy of the younger and more
vigorous, whom he consigned to the galleys, where
they perished miserably within a few weeks. Upwards
of two hundred and fifty others, after having been sub-
jected to the mockery of a trial as heretics and traitors,
were executed ; and, finally, a proclamation was made
that all individuals convicted of harbouring those who
were still at large, should suffer death ; a threat which
so terrified the few who might have possessed sufficient
humanity to afford shelter to the miserable fugitives,
that they closed their hearts and their homes against
them ; and with the exception of a mere remnant, who
succeeded in effecting their escape to Geneva and the
Swiss territories, all ultimately died from famine.
Twenty-two towns and villages were annihilated ; such
crops and timber as could not be destroyed by fire,
were torn up by the roots ; and the flourishing district
which had been for so long a period the garden of
328 Reign of
Provence, was in a few short days converted into a
desert and unpeopled waste.
With the exception of a few of the more bigoted of
the priesthood, all Christendom concurred in regard-
ing this wholesale and unprovoked butchery of an in-
offensive population with undisguised and genuine
horror ; but Francis, whose increasing infirmities ren-
dered him more than ever anxious to conciliate the
Church, and who weakly imagined that he was doing
it good service by exterminating its enemies with a
zeal even greater than that of the Emperor himself,
subsequently (on the i8th of August) registered his
approval of the carnage, declaring that the Vaudois
had only received a fitting chastisement for their obsti-
nate heresy.
It was percisely at this period that the Dauphin com-
mitted an act of imprudence which strengthened the
jealousy and dislike that the King had long evinced
towards him. While his paternal ambition was flat-
tered by the brilliant alliance about to be contracted
by the younger Prince, (an alliance which promised
to place him upon a throne little inferior to that of
France,) and his vanity was soothed by the conviction
that the same qualities which in himself had excited
the jealousy of the Emperor in his youth, had tended
to attract him in his more mature years to the Due
d'Orleans ; he gloomily remembered that the Dauphin
had neither aggrandized the dignity of the crown by
his espousals with Catherine de' Medici, nor increased
the glory of the nation by his arms. The open and
ardent nature of the Prince Charles, moreover, which
responded to that of his father, had led him to evince
Francis I 329
towards the King an affection and gratitude which
were never exhibited by the Dauphin ; who, long ha-
bituated to consider himself as an object of suspicion
and distrust, retorted the injustice by augmented re-
serve and indifference. The personal court of the
King was the chosen resort of the younger Prince, and
many of his closest friends were members of his
father's household; whereas the Dauphin formed a
circle of his own, wherein figured all the friends and
adherents of the exiled Montmorenci.
It was when surrounded by these favourite nobles
that he was betrayed into the imprudence to which
allusion has been made. The banquet to which he
had bidden them was nearly at its close, and the potent
Hungary wine, which had been lavishly supplied to
the guests, had heated more than one brain, and quick-
ened more than one pulse. The conversation of the
party had turned upon the future; and the Dauphin,
believing himself to be surrounded by none but friends,
began to explain his intentions so soon as he should
have succeeded to the crown ; and, finally, he declared
to each the office which he had determined to confer
upon him.
So interesting was the conversation to all parties,
that no one observed the presence of Briandas, a buf-
foon of the court, who, however vacantly he affected
to look around him, gathered up every sentence of this
premature and ill-chosen discussion. Seated in the
deep recess of a bay-window, and perfectly motionless,
he retained his station until a chorus of acknowledg-
ments from the assembled guests convinced him that
he had better retire as unobtrusively as he had entered.
330 Reign of
When convinced that he had heard all, he accordingly
withdrew, and at once proceeded to the apartments of
the King.
" God help you, Franqois de Valois," he said ab-
ruptly, as he approached the divan upon which the
monarch lay, and indulged in a shrill and sardonic
laugh, which implied more of sarcasm than of merri-
ment.
" How now, Briandas," exclaimed the King some-
what sharply ; " who has taught you this lesson ? "
" What matters it ? " asked the buffoon in reply.
" You are no longer King of France ; I have just seen
it proved ; and you, M. de Tais, who believe yourself
to be grand-master of the artillery, you are deceived ;
Brissac holds that rank; and you, too, who stand so
proudly beside the sick-couch, you are not as you sup-
pose the first-chamberlain ; Saint-Andre has the ap-
pointment." Thus, with a bitter chuckle, he trans-
ferred all the great offices of the court; after which,
once more addressing the astonished King, he added :
" On the faith of a fool, Francis, you will soon see the
Connetable de Montmorenci back once more, who
will rule you with a rod of iron, and teach you never
again to play the madman. Fly while you can ; I re-
nounce you ; you are dead."
" Inform me instantly of your meaning, sirrah, or I
will wring it from you by the lash," exclaimed the in-
dignant monarch. " Are these seemly words to utter
to your sovereign in the presence of his nobles ? "
" I am but the echo of your own loyal and devoted
son, M. de Valois," replied the unabashed buffoon ;
" Henry the Dauphin, at his own board, has so de-
clared it to his partisans."
Francis I 331
" Say you so," shouted Francis indignantly, as he
sprang from the divan with an energy of which a
moment previously he would have been incapable.
" It is then indeed time that I should assert myself.
Summon the captain of my Scottish guards."
This order was instantly obeyed; and, forgetting
alike his suffering and his debility, the King placed
himself at the head of the royal archers, and proceeded
to the apartments of his offending son. The Dauphin
had, however, been already apprised that he was be-
trayed, and when the indignant monarch entered the
banqueting-room, he found it occupied only by a bevy
of attendants who were removing the remnants of the
repast. Unable to suppress the rage by which he was
at the moment wholly mastered, Francis commanded
his escort to throw the whole contents of the saloon
out of the windows ; not only the plate, glass, and furni-
ture, but also the officers themselves ; an order which
was so promptly put into execution, that those mem-
bers of the Dauphin's household who could not effect
their escape by other means, were compelled to leap
from the balcony in order to save themselves from the
pikes of the guard. The whole suite of apartments
was then emptied, and every article which could be
wrenched from its place flung into the court-yard;
after which, exhausted by so unwonted an exertion,
Francis returned pallid and trembling to his sick-
couch.
Nor was his indignation merely momentary; the
very sense of his rapid decay only rendered him the
more morbidly sensitive to all that touched his dignity,
or affected his authority; and so deeply was he
332 Reign of
wounded by the indelicate proceeding of the Prince,
that it was only at the expiration of a month that he
could be induced, by the entreaties of the whole court,
to permit the Dauphin to appear once more in his
presence ; nor would he even then consent to receive
him, without enforcing the condition that no individual
who had occupied a place at his board at the late ill-
omened banquet, should venture to accompany him.
The loss of Boulogne had deeply mortified the King,
who felt that its capture had been a disgrace to the
French arms which it behoved him for the honour of
his nation to efface ; and, despite the fearfully ex-
hausted state of the public finances, he resolved, if
possible, to wrest it once more from the enemy.
Aware, however, that so long as it was protected on
its sea-ward side by the vessels of war which were
stationed in the port, such an attempt must necessarily
be attended by great uncertainty should he rely only
on his land forces, he determined, while marching an
army to its rescue, to avail himself at the same time
of the services of a fleet which he had recently formed,
and with which he proposed to attack the English on
the high seas; or, failing in this attempt, to descend
upon their coast in order to withdraw them from his
own, and thus render the enterprise less hazardous.
In addition to this precaution, he despatched a
strong body of troops to Scotland under M. de
Lorges,* to the support of the Queen-mother, who was
Jacques de Lorges, Earl of Montgomery, was the nephew of the
Due d'Aubigny, whom he succeeded, in 1543, in the command of the
Scottish guard of Francis I. He was born in the duchy of Orleans; and
was one of the ablest soldiers of the age. Two years previously he had
come into possession of the earldom of Montgomery, which was his
Francis I 333
anxious to protect herself against the power of Henry
VIII., and to prevent the marriage of the infant Prin-
cess Mary with his son. De Lorges had instructions
to induce the Earl of Arran and the Cardinal-Minister
to invade the frontier of Northumberland ; a mission
in which he was so successful, that he had no sooner
communicated his errand than he was authorized to
assume the command of the Scottish army, amounting
to about fifteen thousand men, with which he at once
marched upon the frontier.
Meanwhile, the French fleet had assembled in the
port of Havre, and the command of the expedition was
intrusted to d'Annebaut, who was shortly aftenvards
joined by the Baron de la Garde with the war-galleys
of the King, which had previously been stationed at
Marseilles, whither he had himself returned imme-
diately after the massacre of the Vaudois. The arma-
ment, exclusive of the five-and-twenty galleys, con-
sisted of a hundred and fifty ships of various sizes,
most of them trading vessels ; and of sixteen trans-
ports ; several Genoese carracks had also been
procured to strengthen the fleet, but they were, un-
fortunately, lost at the mouth of the Seine from the
incapacity of their pilots.
The preparations on land were equally important.
By raising strong levies of lansquenets and Gascons,
the army was augmented to a force of thirty-four thou-
sand infantry, twelve hundred gensdarmes, and eight
family inheritance. He it was who wounded the King with a burning
log, while he was engaged in the hazardous pastime of besieging the
hotel of the Count de Saint-Pol at Paris, an incident which has been
recorded in the body of this work. De Lorges, as he was constantly
designated in France, died in 1559, in his 8ist year.
334 Reign of
hundred light horsemen; and with this formidable
body of troops Francis resolved, during the operations
of his fleet, to attack Guines, lay waste the Terre d'Oye,
and reduce the garrison of Boulogne by famine. The
Terre d'Oye, whence the English drew their supplies,
although inconsiderable in size, was extremely fertile,
and abounded in pasture and cattle ; it was, moreover,
intersected by ditches which had enabled Lord Lisle,
to whom the defence of the city had been intrusted,
with the addition of a few redoubts, to defend it very
efficiently; while the fortified town of Marcq, which
was situated nearly in the centre of the district, and
surrounded by marshy land, was strongly garrisoned ;
numerous outposts were stationed in the most exposed
positions ; and the arrangements of the English gen-
eral had been so judiciously made, that the whole force
could be brought to bear simultaneously upon any
given point in case of attack.
By the commencement of July, the fleet was ready
for sea ; but before its departure the King resolved to
visit Havre in order to inspect it ; which he did in great
state, attended by the whole of his court. The novelty
of the spectacle so delighted the royal and noble ladies
by whom he was accompanied, that Francis decided
upon giving a banquet on board the Carraquon, a fine
vessel of eight hundred tons burthen, carrying a hun-
dred guns, and in every respect the most efficient ship
of his navy. Preparations were accordingly made ; the
King's cooks and sewers were embarked two days
previously ; and on the appointed morning numerous
barges lined with crimson damask, and richly cush-
ioned, manned by the most skilful sailors of the fleet,
Francis I 335
and bearing the national flag at their mast-head, con-
veyed the invited guests to the admiral's ship. As
the monarch had, in deference to the expressed wishes
of the court ladies, declined to embark under a salute,
the heavy guns of the Carraquon, which had been
prepared for this purpose, remained loaded, and the
embarkation was effected amid no other demonstra-
tion than that of the amazed and delighted population
of the town, who lustily cried " Noel " for their King,
as they feasted their eyes upon the floating plumes,
jewelled vestments, and brocaded draperies which
passed before them, glittering in the sunlight like a
fairy pageant.
A temporary canopy had been erected over the deck
of the vessel, beneath which the tables were spread with
the costly viands and delicate wines prepared for a
repast which was not, however, destined to be eaten ;
the officers of the royal kitchen having disregarded the
repeated expostulations of those about them, and per-
sisted, in order to secure the perfection at which they
aimed in their several departments, in kindling fires in
places ill adapted for such a purpose ; an imprudence
which was fated to be productive of a frightful catas-
trophe.
The King had scarcely assumed his seat, having on
his right hand the Queen his consort and on his left
the Queen of Navarre ; and the nobles and ladies of the
royal train were in their turn respectively engaged in
taking possession of the places assigned to them by
the court-usher, when flames were seen to issue from
below, and in an instant all was horror and confusion.
It fortunately chanced that several of the barges which
336 Reign of
had conveyed the monarch and his suite on board, had
remained in the immediate vicinity of the vessel, to be
in readiness in the event of any of the august party re-
quiring to be put on shore before the termination of
the banquet ; these were instantly brought alongside,
and the King, the two Queens, and all the ladies of
their respective courts were rapidly conveyed from the
vessel; together with the treasure-chest, which had
been destined for the supply of the fleet. While this
hurried embarkation was taking place, the other ves-
sels in the port, having first despatched their boats to
the assistance of the sufferers, made all sail to escape
from so dangerous a vicinity; but as they had been
unprepared for an event of this nature, several of them
were unable to effect their object, and sustained great
damage from the guns of the Carraquon, when she
shortly afterwards blew up.
Once assured of the safety of the King, d'Annebaut
hoisted his flag on board the Maitresse, now become
the principal vessel of the fleet ; re-embarked the treas-
ure ; and having repaired, in so far as was possible, the
injuries sustained by his ships, at once put to sea. On
the eighteenth of the month he arrived off the Isle of
Wight, where he anchored in sight of the English
fleet, and despatched the Baron de la Garde with four
galleys to reconnoitre the enemy ; by advancing to St.
Helen's, he was enabled to do this so effectually as to
ascertain that it consisted of sixty large vessels of war
fully manned and armed ; and he had just finished his
survey, when he discovered that fourteen of the num-
ber were already making sail towards him ; nor was
it without considerable difficulty that he escaped.
""
W
C;-. ,
Francis I 337
A short time subsequently, the whole fleet was in
motion with a fair wind, bearing down upon the French
ships, and several broadsides were fired in the hope of
bringing them to a closer engagement; but though
d'Annebaut returned the fire, he did not deem it pru-
dent to advance, being unacquainted with the nature
of the coast; and thus, although the cannonade was
continued for a considerable time, little injury was
sustained on either side. The mortification of the
French admiral was, however, excessive, when he dis-
covered that the Maitresse, which had struck on leav-
ing the port of Harfleur, was so seriously damaged
that she leaked in several places, and was wholly un-
serviceable; once more, therefore, he was compelled
to transfer his flag and the jeopardized treasure to a
vessel of less calibre ; while the disabled ship returned
to Havre to be repaired.
On the following morning a dead calm enabled
d'Annebaut to resume the engagement with his galleys ;
and throughout the space of an hour a brisk fire was
maintained on both sides. Meanwhile his larger ves-
sels, profiting by the tide, were enabled, without enter-
ing the channel, to approach sufficiently near to bring
the enemy within range ; and the English King, who
had come in person to Portsmouth to watch the opera-
tions of the hostile fleets, had the mortification of
seeing the Mary Rose, a noble ship, carrying seven
hundred men, sunk by the well-served guns of the
French. This was, however, the last triumph they
were destined to achieve, as the turn of the tide com-
pelled the galleys to make a precipitate retreat, during
which they were unable to return the fire of th$Mt*my/v
VOL. III.-23
338 Reign of
by whom they were hotly pursued ; they, however,
succeeded in securing the safety of the main fleet by
their skilful manoeuvring; and d'Annebaut, convinced
that it was impossible to renew the attack with any
prospect of advantage while the English remained in
their present position, resolved to make a descent on
the coast of Sussex, in order to induce them to abandon
it. The stratagem proved unsuccessful, as the King,
satisfied that they could not possess themselves of any
important point of the coast, all of which were care-
fully defended, suffered them to land unmolested at
Brighton and New Haven, where they destroyed the
huts of the fishermen, and being unable to do any
further mischief, re-embarked, and returned to the
Portsmouth roads.
Enraged by the immobility of the English fleet,
which persisted in retaining its position, d'Annebaut
next determined to effect a landing on the Isle of
Wight, where he accomplished his purpose with equal
facility ; the English having prudently withdrawn from
it all that could render its capture valuable. A few
soldiers and about a hundred peasants alone opposed
the disembarkation of the enemy, and they were, after
a brief and useless struggle, overpowered; but, once
in possession of their conquest, the French were at a
loss to decide upon the use to which it might be ap-
plied. A council was held, at which the expediency
of retaining possession of the island was discussed,
until it should be ransomed by the surrender of Bou-
logne ; but this chimera was soon abandoned, when it
was remembered that the troops who must be left to
protect it, could not long contend against the force
Francis I 339
which would be brought against them, denuded as it
was of every description of mural defence ; and this
question was scarcely decided when d'Annebaut as*
certained that a considerable reinforcement was ex-
pected by the English fleet, a piece of intelligence
which determined him to return to France. He ac-
cordingly abandoned the conquered territory ; and, re-
gaining his ships, set sail for Boulogne, whither he was
followed by the vessels of whose advent he had been
apprised.
Once more the roar of cannon pealed over the
waves ; but after a brisk and well-sustained fire of two
hours, when the hostile fleets were at too great a dis-
tance to render it effectual, they eventually separated ;
d'Annebaut returned to the port of Havre, and the
vessels of the English to their old anchorage ; and so
terminated the naval contest between the two coun-
tries, which, although it had been productive of no
result to either, had nevertheless been the cause of an
enormous outlay to both.
CHAPTER XV.
Military Operations before Boulogne The Comte d'Aumale
is Seriously Wounded The German Levies of Henry VIII.
Arrive at Liege Francis I. Opposes Their Passage Death
of the Due d'Orleans Invasion of the Terre d'Oye A
Treaty of Peace is Concluded between England and France
The Emperor Refuses to Cede the Duchy of Milan to the
French Crown Francis Strengthens His Frontiers Death
of Luther The Emperor Makes War upon the Protestant
Princes Horrible Persecution of the Lutherans in France
Francis I. as a Monarch and a Man Death of Henry VIII.
Last Illness of Francis I. Death of Francis I. The
Chamber of the Dauphiness Accession of Henry II.
WHILE the French fleet had been engaged in its
unsuccessful expedition, Francis resolved, in
order to prevent the garrison of Boulogne from re-
ceiving supplies by sea, which would have rendered
the devastation of the Terre d'Oye comparatively use-
less, to erect a fort that should command the harbour.
This erection was entrusted to the Marechal de Biez,
who held the command in Picardy ; but, through the
ignorance of the engineer who selected the site, it
proved a complete failure; and, to complete the an-
noyance of the King, as it was about to be roofed in,
the English garrison made a sudden sortie ; and after
a sharp skirmish, during which the Marechal, having
340
Francis I 341
*
had his horse shot under him, fought on foot at the
head of his troops with a gallantry that for a time
promised to prove successful, compelled the French
troops to a retreat, which they did not effect before
they had sustained considerable loss.
Shortly afterwards, De Biez was informed that a
convoy was about to pass from Calais to the besieged
garrison, upon which he established his camp on the
height of St. Lambert, in order to impede its arrival.
Several skirmishes took place while he occupied this
post, and during one of these the Comte d'Aumale
was so seriously wounded that his recovery was con-
sidered almost a miracle. During the affray he re-
ceived so vigorous a thrust from the pike of an
English officer, that the weapon, which struck him
between the nose and the right eye, broke off short in
the wound, leaving the iron and a portion of the wood
firmly fastened in his head. Nevertheless, the young
Prince still retained his seat, and in the extremity of
his agony dug his spurs into the flanks of his charger,
which galloped furiously towards the French camp,
where he was immediately lifted from the saddle and
conveyed to his tent. The operation which ensued was
a formidable one ; but the Count, by his firm endurance
of the consequent suffering, so ably seconded the skill
of the surgeon, that in a short time he was declared
convalescent.
Meanwhile the troops whom Henry VIII. had levied
in Geripany had arrived at Fleurine, a village near
Liege ; and Francis, in order to prevent their further
progress, at once detached three divisions of his army
to Guise, Champagne, and Messieres, to cover his
34 2 Reign of
frontier. They then demanded a passage through the
territories of the Emperor, which was definitively re-
fused; and thus, finding themselves impeded on all
sides, after having been detained for three weeks at
Fleurine, the Germans began to clamour for their pay,
and their demands remaining unsatisfied, they dis-
banded themselves, and returned home.
Anxious to expedite the capture of Boulogne, the
King soon afterwards arrived in person at the Abbey
of Toret-Moutiers, between Abbeville and Montreuil,
accompanied by the two Princes. Unhappily, the
plague was then raging in the environs ; and the Due
d'Orleans, dissatisfied with the apartment which had
been prepared for him in one of the houses of the vil-
lage, selected another, of which he signified that he
should take possession. The owner of the dwelling
endeavoured to dissuade him from his purpose, by
informing him that it was rife with the infection, the
last three persons by whom it had been occupied hav-
ing successively died there. With his usual reckless-
ness, however, the Duke adhered to his resolution, de-
claring that such a circumstance could not affect him,
as there had never been an instance of a Prince of the
blood falling a victim to the pestilence. He accord-
ingly passed the night in this fatal chamber; on the
following morning unequivocal symptoms of the dis-
ease betrayed themselves; the skill of the physicians
proved powerless ; and in the course of a few days he
ceased to breathe.
The grief of the King was excessive ; his ambition
as well as his affection had been bound up in his
younger son; and the Prince had no sooner expired
Francis I 343
than he left the village which had proved so fatal to
his hopes, and established himself in a hamlet at the
other extremity of the forest of Crecy.
Whilst Francis was still absorbed in the deep and
bitter grief by which he had thus been so suddenly
overwhelmed, the Marechal de Biez announced his in-
tention of attacking the fortifications erected by the
English in the Terre d'Oye ; an enterprise of so much
danger, that it was no sooner publicly known, than
crowds of the young nobles, anxious to share in the
honour of so adventurous an attempt, hastened to the
camp; and the Comte d'Enghien, newly risen from
his sick-bed, the Due d'Aumale, the Comte de Laval,
the Due de Nevers, and M. de la Tremouille, were
among the foremost. The principal fort was attacked
by the old French bands, under M. de Tais, and taken
by assault ; when the victors made a cruel use of the
success for which they were indebted to their superior
numbers, by putting the whole garrison to the sword.
M. de Brissac, who commanded the vanguard, con-
sisting of several troops of gensdarmes, all the light
cavalry, and a strong force of foot-soldiers, marched
meanwhile upon the town of Marcq; but he had not
proceeded more than half a league when he encoun-
tered a body of two thousand English who were ad-
vancing to the relief of the beleaguered fort. After a
desperate resistance these also were defeated, being
unable long to cope with so unequal an enemy; and
as no further impediment presented itself, the French
troops continued to advance, pillaging and burning
down all the villages, until they reached the gates of
the town.
344 Reign of
Here, however, they received a check. The bridges
which had been prepared for the passage of the troops
across the ditches had been forgotten ; torrents of rain
rendered the environs of Marcq one wide marsh ; and
they were reluctantly compelled to retire from before
the walls of the threatened town, in order to secure
their own safety.
The fortress which De Biez had constructed was,
meanwhile, finished; and the English garrison made
continual sallies in the hope of taking it; constant
skirmishes occurred in consequence, which involved
a serious loss on both sides, but no decisive result en-
sued; and both monarchs began to weary of a war
which, while it exhausted their finances and weakened
their armies, could not terminate favourably for either.
The energy of the French King was, moreover,
shaken by the calamity which had befallen him ; he
saw the noble troops, that it had cost him so much
exertion to raise, rapidly perishing alike under the
weapons of the enemy and the attacks of the insidious
disease which had reached his camp ; he foresaw many
difficulties in the completion of a new treaty with the
Emperor, now rendered necessary by the death of the
Due d'Orleans ; and he became morbidly conscious of
the failure of all his enterprises. Under such circum-
stances, therefore, he resolved rather to enter into a
negotiation with the English King, than to persist
longer in so unavailing a contest.
Nor was Henry VIII, less anxious than himself to
terminate the war. The immense outlay which it had
occasioned could produce no remunerative return ;
while he moreover apprehended that the absence of so
Francis I 345
large a body of troops might occasion him much em-
barrassment, should the Scotch army, as he had some
reason to apprehend, profit by the opportunity to
invade his frontiers. He was alarmed also by the atti-
tude assumed at this period by Charles V., who had
convoked his council, and was making preparations
for a war against the Protestant Princes of the League.
Aware that he was personally as obnoxious to the court
of Rome as the German Reformers, he began to ap-
prehend that, should the Emperor prove successful,
the result might be fatal to himself; and thus, as a
French courtier wittily remarked, a peace might be
easily negotiated, one monarch being anxious to secure
it, and the other compelled to do so.
Commissioners were accordingly appointed on both
sides, who met midway between Ardres and Guines ;
and on the 7th of June, 1546, a treaty of peace was
signed between France and England ; in which Henry
VIIL, after some difficulty, consented that the Scotch
should be included, provided they saw fit to avail them-
selves of it within the space of thirty days. By the
conditions of this treaty, Francis bound himself to pay
off all the arrears of the pensions claimed by the Eng-
lish King, and to continue them during eight years;
as well as to reimburse him for the expenses of the
war, amounting to the sum of two millions of golden
crowns, before the anniversary of St. Michael in 1554,
at which period Henry VIII. was to deliver over to
his officers the city of Boulogne.
The death of the Due d'Orleans, as Francis had fore-
seen, afforded a new opportunity for the display of
that selfish policy which formed so prominent a feature
346 Reign of
in the character of the Emperor. At the close of the
year 1545, he had despatched d'Annebaut and the
Chancellor Olivier* to Charles to engage him in a new
treaty, which might replace that of Crespy; but they
were totally unsuccessful. He felt or affected a deep
regret at the untimely death of the young Prince who
was so shortly to have been his son-in-law, but at once
declared without hesitation, that the event which he
deplored had released him from all his engagements ;
that he never had, and never would, acknowledge the
claims of the French King to the duchy of Milan,
which Francis had, moreover, personally renounced
upon two separate occasions ; and that he considered
himself perfectly absolved from all the obligations to
which the treaty of Crespy would, under other circum-
stances, have bound him ; although he had no desire
to enter into renewed hostilities with France, unless
he should be compelled to do so.
With this ambiguous reply, the baffled ambassadors
returned to court ; and Francis, conscious that he was
not at that period in a position to enforce his demands,
and more anxious to repel aggression than to provoke
a war which he was unable to sustain, suffered the
declaration of his wily rival to remain without retort ;
and employed the remainder of the year in inspecting
and strengthening his frontier-fortresses, which he did
so effectually, that he was enabled to await without
apprehension the result of the new struggle in which
Charles was about to engage.
* Francois Olivier de Lieuville, a talented and eloquent magistrate,
was president of the parliament of Paris, when Francis I. created him
Chancellor of France in 1545. During the reign of Henry II., the in-
fluence of Diana of Poitiers deprived him of the seals; but he was re-
called to court by Francis II. He died in 1560.
Francis I 347
The death of Luther,* at the commencement of this
year, was a severe blow to the Reformers, and an
equally great source of rejoicing to the Pope ; although
it by no means disposed him to second the violent
designs of the Emperor against the new religion. He
was well aware that the zeal which Charles affected for
the Church had in every case been made subservient
to his own interests; and he considered himself ag-
grieved, moreover, by the fact that after he had in-
vested his son Pietro Luigi Farnese with the duchies
of Parma and Placenza, the Emperor had refused to
recognise or to ratify his sovereignty; and conse-
quently, even when he entered into a treaty with that
monarch for the extirpation of the Reformers, he could
not divest himself of a distrust which rendered him less
energetic in the cause than he might otherwise have
been. Charles, with his usual subtle policy, had been
anxious to keep his intentions secret, until he could
overwhelm his victims by some sudden conp-de-main,
a desire which increased the suspicions of the Pontiff ;
and accordingly he had no sooner pledged himself to
assist in this religious war, than he ordered public
prayers to be put up in Rome for the success of the
undertaking.
Had Francis, at this period, come to the succour of
the Protestant Princes whom he had formerly pro-
tected, there can be little doubt but that he would have
been enabled to ensure his kingdom thenceforward
from all attempts at aggression on the part of the
Emperor. Many of those about him endeavoured to
Luther died at Eysleben, the pfcce of his birth, on the i8th of Febru-
ary, 1546, aged sixty-three years.
348 Reign of
convince him of this fact, and of the magnanimity of
assisting the oppressed, who were about to contend
not only for their religious liberty, but also for that of
their several states, by which alone the independence
of all Europe could be secured against the insatiable
ambition of Charles. They represented to him that
he could do this without any breach of honour, as they
were his allies, and had a right to look to him for help ;
that, moreover, his interference in their behalf could
not affect his conscience, inasmuch as the Emperor
had declared that he was not about to punish them
for their schism, but for their rebellion against his
authority; and that it well became a great monarch
to uphold the cause of the weak against the strong.
These arguments, however, availed nothing; the
languor of premature old age, a dread of increasing
responsibility, and the persuasions of the Cardinal de
Tournon, who was constantly about his person, ren-
dered the King not only unwilling to reply to the ap-
peal of the German Princes, but even incited him to
renew within the limits of his own kingdom the
atrocious persecution of the Reformists which had
already affixed an indelible stigma upon his reign.
Once more the stake and the rack did their deadly
office ; inoffensive citizens, convicted of an adherence
to Lutheranism, were seized in their houses, loaded
with chains, put to the torture, and finally burnt alive.
A few were suspended by their armpits, in front of the
pile on which their co-religionists were expiring under
a slow fire, then publicly flogged, and finally flung into
different monasteries, where the mind dare not follow
them ; four escaped with castigation and banishment ;
Francis I 349
and others were imprisoned for life. As some of these
victims of intolerance were on their way to Meaux, a
weaver of their own persuasion followed the wagon in
which they were performing their melancholy journey,
and exhorted them to meet with faith and resignation
all the sufferings which they might be called upon to
endure, remembering that they would have a mighty
and abiding reward in heaven. He did but add
another martyr to the number. He was seized by the
archers of the provost, bound with cords, and flung
into the vehicle with those who were already con-
demned to death.
It is fearful to pursue so terrible a subject ; but the
faithful chronicler has no alternative. We will, there-
fore, record it in the very words of Theodore de Beze,
in his Ecclesiastical History, Book I. pp. 51-53.*
" Arrived at Meaux, they underwent the extraordi-
nary question in all its cruelty, which they suffered
with such resignation, that they never accused any of
their brethren. On the 7th of September they were
led to execution, the tongue of Etienne Mangin having
been previously cut out, notwithstanding which he
thrice exclaimed loudly and intelligibly, ' God's name
be blessed ! ' He was then drawn upon a hurdle, as
was also Guillaume le Clerc, the rest following in carts,
to the market-place, where they were hoisted up and
burnt upon fourteen gibbets, placed in a circle. Thus,
face to face, they encouraged each other, and mingled
their prayers and praises, which were, however, in-
terrupted by the priests and the populace, who shouted
aloud like madmen, salutaris hostia! and Salve
* Quoted from Sismondi.
350 Reign of
Regina. This accomplished, on the morrow, the 8th
of the month, Picard (Doctor of the Sorbonne), in
order to complete his triumph, went with a magnificent
procession to the spot where the fire was still smoulder-
ing, preaching under a canopy of cloth of gold ; and
said, among other things, after having displayed great
violence, that it was essential to the salvation of all to
believe that these fourteen condemned persons were
damned in the bottomless pit of hell ; and that should
an angel from heaven come and declare the contrary,
they must reject his evidence, as God would not be
God if He did not damn them to eternity."
We dare not venture to comment upon such a pas-
sage of history as this ; but surely it offers a fearful
warning to after ages. Moreover, the pyres which
had been lighted, and the racks which had been set in
motion in the capital, were emulated in the provinces ;
many other victims, and some of these men of exem-
plary lives and high literary attainments, fell victims
to the atrocious persecution which disgraced the clos-
ing reign of the quasi-demigod of many an historian.
The " chivalrous Francis I." the " First Gentleman
of France " the monarch whose name has for three
centuries been as a landmark of glory in the record
of the French annals to what conviction does a per-
fect knowledge of his real character lead ? Surely but
to this : that he was vain even to puerility in his youth,
sensual even to profligacy in his manhood, and bigoted
even to brutality in his decline. Conscious of his own
enormities, he took refuge in a cruel superstition, and
sought to win heaven by the tears, and groans, and
agonies of his fellow-men. While he clung to his
Francis I 351
vices, feasted with his mistresses, laughed at the ribald
jests of his obsequious courtiers, and wrung from his
exhausted people the hard-earned produce of their
industry, he strove to blind himself with the belief that
all would be forgiven in his zeal for the Church, and
that his own transgressions would be washed out in
the blood of his sectarian victims.
It has been the fashion with modern authors to pass
lightly over this frightful episode of the reign of Fran-
cis I. It destroys the illusion which attaches to his
name; it renders him less attractive as a sovereign,
and converts the splendid sensualist into a gloomy and
heartless barbarian. But let the thinking mind fall
back upon the whole chain of his previous career, and
its close will scarcely prove matter of astonishment.
The morals of the age were unhappily lax ; the example
of the most exalted of the priesthood venal, profligate,
and degrading; religion, even by the several pontiffs,
made subservient to expediency; the Cardinals more
celebrated in the annals of gallantry than in those of
piety; the ambition of the great nobles confined to
personal aggrandizement ; and the bulk of the people
buried in ignorance and superstition.
That there were glorious exceptions in all ranks is
most true ; but these have almost universally been over-
looked many, too many of them, altogether forgot-
ten. The pure gold sinks to the bottom of the stream,
while the more worthless dross rises and sparkles upon
the surface of the current. We admit, therefore, that
the vices of Francis may find some extenuation in the
character of the age, and the nature of his education ;
but we repeat, that those who have recorded only the
352 Reign of
brilliant and attractive portions of his career, and have
wilfully and advisedly buried his backslidings in
oblivion, have not done their duty either to themselves
or to those who may be influenced by their researches.
The flame and the wheel were still in full operation
in France, when, in January, 1547, news arrived at St.
Germain-en-Laye, where the court was then sojourn-
ing, of the death of Henry VIII. ; an event which pro-
duced the most fatal effect alike upon the moral and
physical temperament of the French King. He had
long indulged the hope that Henry, whose rupture
with the Emperor had rendered it necessary for him
to strengthen his position, would be desirous of enter-
ing into a closer alliance with himself ; while at the same
time the similarity, not only of their ages, but also in
many respects of their several characters, combined
with a consciousness that the disease under which he
was then suffering was daily becoming more virulent,
filled him with alarm. He felt a conviction that his
own end was approaching ; and he became nervous and
depressed. He commanded that a solemn funeral
service should be performed at the cathedral of Notre
Dame in honour of the deceased monarch, a ceremony
which took place with great pomp ; and then, in order
to divert the melancholy that was rapidly gaining upon
him, accompanied by a slow fever which robbed him
of all rest, Francis, who could no longer brook a
moment of inaction, removed to La Muette, a country-
house which he had recently embellished, on the bor-
ders of the forest of St. Germain. There he sojourned
for a whole week ; but his mind was in so unsettled a
state that he could not long remain upon one spot ; and
Francis I N353
he accordingly proceeded to Villepreux, where an in-
crease of his fever induced him to travel the following
day to Dampierre, near Chevreuse ; and thence he pur-
sued his way in order to pass the period of Lent at
Limours. Throughout the whole of this time he was
accompanied by the court, but even his favourites now
sought in vain to arouse him from the lethargy into
which he was rapidly falling. Nowhere could he find
peace ; and after having spent three days at Limours,
he once more removed to Rochefort, where he en-
deavoured to amuse himself by hunting. To this vio-
lent exercise, however, his strength was no longer
equal ; and every evening his fever increased to a de-
gree which alarmed those about him so greatly that
they urged his return to St. Germain-en-Laye.
After some difficulty the physicians succeeded in
obtaining his consent to this measure, by representing
that he could travel slowly, and indulge in his favourite
pursuit by the way ; and he accordingly left Rochefort
for Rambouillet, where he had decided to remain only
one night; but the game proved so plentiful and the
sport so exciting, that he was induced to change his
resolution. Two or three days were consequently
spent in field sports, in which once more Catherine de'
Medici participated ; but the fever of the King, which
had hitherto been intermittent, became, by reason of
this perpetual exertion, continuous; and his malady
increased so rapidly, that it was found impossible for
him to proceed further.
Once apprised of his danger, Francis summoned the
Dauphin to his sick-bed, and conversed with him at
intervals for several hours ; giving him the most whole-
VOL. III. 23
354 Reign of
some advice concerning the future government of the
kingdom over which he must so soon be called upon
to rule ; and consequently, like many other monarchs,
he, in this supreme moment, gainsaid, in almost every
particular, the system which he had himself pursued.
He recommended him to diminish the public taxes
under which the nation was then groaning; to be
guided in all things by the Cardinal de Tournon and
the Admiral d'Annebaut; and, above all, to exclude
from his confidence the Connetable de Montmorenci
and the family of the Due de Guise. He then received
the sacraments of the Church ; and his persecutions of
the Protestants had apparently convinced him so thor-
oughly of his own salvation, that he expired peace-
fully, while the ashes of his victims were still floating
between earth and heaven.
To say that he died unregretted would be to assert a
fallacy. Too many interests were interwoven with his
existence to render such an event possible. He had,
moreover, during the later period of his life, laboured
to replenish the national treasury; in which attempt,
despite the enormous outlay consequent upon the vari-
ous wars that he had undertaken, and the expensive
character of his court, in which to the last he intro-
duced no retrenchment, he had so far succeeded as
to bequeath to his successor the sum of four hundred
thousand crowns. But his death was not accom-
panied, like that of Louis XII., with the tears and re-
grets of his subjects. Three great events alone had
signalized his reign the victory of Marignano, the
restoration of literature, and the struggle which he had
sustained against Charles V.
Francis I 355
And what had been the actual result even of these ?
The glory of Marignano had been quenched at Pavia ;
at which period his reign, as affected his own greatness,
may well be said to have terminated ; for his after-tri-
umphs were all inconsequent and valueless. He never
again hazarded his personal safety in an open en-
gagement, although he was rigorous in his punish-
ment of those through whose errors or want of courage
he failed in the accomplishment of his designs ; and it
was therefore the nation which fought, and bled, and
suffered, not its sovereign. He invited learned men
to his court ; lured them thither by the brightest pros-
pects and the most extravagant promises ; and then,
not content with disappointing the hopes that he had
raised, not only ceased to encourage them when they
no longer ministered to his own gratification and that
of his favourites, but even persecuted them for their
religious opinions, and abandoned them to the stake,
to the rack, and to the anathemas of a bigoted priest-
hood.
That he manfully met, and boldly opposed, the usur-
pation of Charles V. is quite true ; but to what abiding
benefit had he turned this opposition? It had been
throughout rather a personal struggle than a great
question of national policy. Charles was the only sov-
ereign of whose prowess he was jealous, and whose
supremacy wounded his pride alike as a sovereign and
as a soldier. He had expended millions, and sacrificed
a fearful amount of human life, only to leave his king-
dom to his son as he had received it from his predeces-
sor. He had gained no territory, secured no advan-
tage, realized no triumph. It is certain that he had
356 Reign of
driven the conqueror of Germany, Asia, Africa, and
Turkey from his kingdom, but it must also be remem-
bered that he had been unable to arrest his march even
to the very neighbourhood of his capital.
While the King was in the last agony, the Dauphin,
who, whatever might be his failings, was endowed with
a depth of feeling which caused him for the moment
to forget all his real or imagined wrongs, cast himself
in a fit of bitter grief upon the bed of his wife ; while
Catherine de' Medici herself, seated upon a low stool,
remained with her face buried in her hands, like one
utterly oppressed by sorrow ; and did not reply to his
lamentations by a single syllable. There were, how-
ever, other watchers in that spacious room, as anxious
although less absorbed than either the future sovereign
or his wife. The one was Diana de Poitiers, who with
flashing eyes and hurried step traversed the floor, list-
ening to every sound, and awaiting from moment to
moment the announcement which was to make her a
Queen in all save the empty name ; and the other was
the Comte d'Aumale, the friend and favourite of the
Dauphin, who in his impatience, repeatedly passed
from the chamber of the Dauphiness to the ante-room
of the dying King ; exclaiming in an accent of undis-
guised triumph from time to time, " The lady-killer is
going!"
Francis finally expired on the 3ist of March, 1547,
and was buried with a magnificence far surpassing
anything which had yet been witnessed in France;
eleven Cardinals assisted at his obsequies, and the cere-
mony extended over two-and-twenty days. The bodies
of his two sons, the Dauphin Francis and Charles Due
Francis I 357
d'Orleans, were conveyed to St. Denis together with
his own ; and Henry II. succeeded to the vacant throne.
Only a few months elapsed ere Montmorenci was
once more all-powerful at the court; the unhappy
Queen, under the protection of her imperial brother in
Spain ; and the Duchesse d'Etampes an exile on one
of her estates. The baton which had been broken
over the coffin of Francis I. had involved more changes
than that which placed the crown that he had worn so
proudly upon the brow of his surviving son.
Index
Adrian VI., Pope, ii. no, 126
Agnadello, i. 59
Agrippa, Cornelius, ii. 318
Alamanni, Luigi, iii. 27
Alarcon, M. d', ii. 235, 256, 277
Alba, Duke of (see Alva)
Alcyat, Bussy d', i. 98; ii. 224, 231
Aleandro, Jeromio, i. 300
Alengon, Due d', i. 37, 160, 181;
ii. 156, 220, 223, 241, 242
A'.enson, Duchesse d' (see Mar-
guerite de France)
Ailegre, Yves d', i. 49; ii. 189
Alps, i. 162
Alva, Duke of, i. 79; ii. 254
Amboise, Bussy d', i. 98; ii. 224,
231
Amboise, Card, d', i. 39, 44, 49t 66
Amboise, Clement d', ii. 221
Angouleme, Marguerite d", char-
acter, and Francis' love for, i.
25, 36, 37 (see further, Margue-
rite de France)
Anne de Bretagne, youthful at-
tachment of Louis XII. to, i. 4;
fancy of Charles VIII. for, i. 7;
ultimately married to, i. n; grief
at Charles' death, i. ii; new
King Louis again renews suit
and wins, i. 12; married, i. 14;
childless, jealous of succession
of Francis, i. 14; dislike of
mother, i, 16; establishes house-
hold of ladies, i. 19; character,
i. 22; against de Gie, i. 34; urges
Louis to placate new Pope Leo
X., i. 86; dies, i. no
Anne de France, and Louis XII.,
i. 8; after rejection of affection,
implacable enemy, i. 8
Armagnac, Marie d', i. 37
Augsburg, confession of, iii. 53
Austria, Charles of (see Charles
V.)
B
Bacon, Lord, i. 160, 227
Barbarossa, iii. 98, 263, 277, 279
Bayard, i. 52, 58, 62, 67, 69, 94-98,
100, 160, 164, 167, 172, 178, 181, 184,
185; ii. 56, 58, 69, 92, 177, 183, 192
Baylwin, Jean Paul, i. 48
Bayonne, Bishop of (see Bellay)
Beaujeau, Mme. de, i. 10
Beaurain, Comte de, ii. 105, 106, 256
Bedier, Noel, ii. 319
Bentivoglio, i. 48
Bergamo, i. 59
Berguin, Louis de, iii. 34
Berri, Duchesse de, i. 134
Bier, Sieur de, ii. 134
Blois, i. 41
Bohemia, King of, i. 4*
Boissy, Artus de Gouffier, i. 15,
136; ii. i, n
Boleyn, Anne, i. 118; iii. 52, 95
359
3 6
Index
Boleyn, Sir Thomas, i. 275, 304;
ii. 13
Bologna, i. 48
Bonneval, i. 94
Bonnivet, Seigneur de, i. 22, 38,
94, 36, 153, 59. 242, 268, 270, 283;
ii. 7, 84, 106, 121, 130, 135, 152, 173,
218, 222
Bontemps, Pierre de, ii. 314
Bourbon, Connetable de, i. 21, 25,
27, 134, 52, 176, 237; ii. 23, 24,
66, 81, 104, 105, 114, 122, 136, 149,
168, 190, 227, 229, 233, 255, 259,
264, 271, 303, 306
Bourbon, Susanne de, i. 21, 138;
ii. 87, 103
Bourg, Antoine du, iii. 107, 181
Boyer, Bp., i. 300
Brancas, Mme. de, ii. 297
Brandenbourg, Marquis of, ii. 6
Brandon, Charles (see Suffolk)
Brantome, i. 38, 140, 241, 261; iii.
37, 86
Bricot, Thomas, i. 42
Brion, Sieur de, i. 136; ii. 134, 219,
269; iii. 129
Brittany, Duchy of, i. 10, 34, 126;
ii. 327; iii. 46-49
Budee, Guillaume, i. 149, 251
Burie, M. de, iii. 157
Csesar Borgia, Pope, dissolves
Louis XII. 's marriage to Jeanne
de France, i. 13
Calvin, iii. 99
Calvinmont, M. de, iii. 5
Canterbury, ii. 18
Cardona, Raymond de, i. 68, 168
Castiglione, Balthasar, iii. 8, 68
Cellini, Benvenuto, iii. 233
Chabannes, Jacques de, i. 23
Chabannes, Jean de, i. 21
Chabot, Brian, ii. 156
Chabot, Philip, i. 136
Chalons, Phillibert de (Orange),
ii. 306
Chambord, ii. 313
Charles V., i. 37, 141, 288; ii. 6, 17,
38, 91, 127, 170, 237, 252, 261, 265,
273, 276, 328; iii. 4, 7, 12, 37, 58,
96, 119-34, 144, 'Si, 167, 187, 196,
204-15, 242, 266, 272, 283, 300-306
Charles VIII., secluded by father,
i. 6; his betrothal to Margue-
rite of Austria, i. 6; fancy for
Anne de Bretagne, i. 7; dis-
misses Marguerite of Austria to
Flanders, i. 9; hurt head against
door, death-blow, i. ii; died at
twenty-eight, i. 12
Charles, Prince, ii. 144; iii. 108, 120
Charlotte, Princess, i. 278
Chateaubriand, Comte de, i. 214,
218, 225; ii. 248
Chateaubriand, Comtesse de (see
Francoise de Foix)
Chatillon, M. de, i. 276; ii. 66
Chaumont, M. de, i. 49, 58
Cheyne, Sir Thomas, ii. 129
Chievres, M. de, i. 141, 204, 206,
208, 288; ii. 2, 14
Chinon, i. 14
Claude de France, i. 39, 44, in,
>39, 140; ii. 21, 31, 122, 136, 202
Clement VII., Pope, ii. 47, 89, 205,
253, 266, 301, 307, 321-28; iii. 39,
5. 56, 63, 74, 82, 95, 96
Clcrmont d'Anjou, i. 98; ii. 233
Cloth of Gold, Field of, ii. 24
Colonna, Antonio, i. 210
Colonna, Fabrizio, i. 68, 70
Colonna, Mutio, i. 174
Colonna, Pompero, Card., ii. 301
Colonna, Prosper, i. 163; ii. 69, 76,
92, 135. 235
Commines, Sire de, i. 10
Concordat, i. 249
Cop, Guillaume, i. 251
Cordova, Gonsalvo di, i. 54
Cousin, ii. 3, 315
Crequi, Antonio de (see Pont-
dormy)
Croi, Adrien de (see Beaurain)
Croy, G. de, i. 44
Index
361
D'Acrschott, Due, ii. 132
D'Albert, Jean, i. 78, 79
D'Alviano, i. 58, 87, 181
D'Andelot, ii. 225
Danes, Pierre, i. 251
D'Annebaut, iii. 310
D'Ars, Sieur Louis, i. 70
D'Aubigny, i. 58, 145; ii. 128, 210
Dauphin, as hostage, ii. 284; freed,
iii. 19, 48, 136
D'Auton, Bp., ii. 153
D'Avalos, Alphonso, ii. 217, 268;
iii. 173, 178, 236, 237, 240, 249,
290-98
D'Avalos, Ferdinand (see Pescara)
Da Vinci, Leonardo, 5. 250; ii. 2
De Bieze, Louis, ii. 135, 159, 248
De Ceri, Lorenzo, ii. 199
Declaration of war, ceremony of,
iii. 3
De Daillon, Jacques, ii. 123
D'Emery, Sieur, ii. 43
D'Este, Alphonso, i. 71
D'Etampes, Duchesse (see Anne
de Pissleu)
De Fiennes, Marquis, ii. 133
D'Herbouville, Mdlle., ii. 175
De Lorges, ii. 184; iii. 332
De Lude, Comte, ii. 123, 125
De Velley, Sieur de, iii. 119-21
Diana of Poitiers, ii. 137, 166, 247,
315; iii. 87, 163, 356
Diesbach, Jean de, i. 170
Doria, Andrea, ii. i\\, 258; iii. 135,
143. 244
Dorset, Marquis of, i. 78; ii. 24
D'Orval, Seigneur Albret, i. 283
Du Bellay, Jean, iii. 3, 29, 78, 99
Du Chatel, Pierre, i. 231
Dunois, Comte de, i. 8
Duprat, Antoine, i. 136, 156, 260;
ii. ii, 23, 53, 103, 121, 291, 302,
308, 310; iii. 18, 29, 36, 47, 107
D'Urbino, Due, ii. 301, 305; iii. 120
D'Usez, Duchesse, ii. 312
Eleanora of Austria, i. 112; it. 106,
253, 272, 282; iii. 17, 19-25, 83, 90,
201-203
Ely, Bp. of, i. 275
England, Mary and Elizabeth of,
declined marriage to Charles
VIII., i. 6 (see Henry VIII. and
Wolsey)
Erasmus, i. 253; iii. 32
Fabri, Jacques, ii. 247
Faenza, i. 48
Farel, Guillaume, ii. 247
Ferdinand the Catholic, i. 41, 141
Ferdinand, King of Rome, iii. 52,
73
Feronniere, la belle, iii. 192
Ferrara, Duke of, i. 61; iii. 39
Fleuranges, Seigneur de, i. 92,
174, 186, 283, 285, 290, 294; ii. 20,
30, 45, 133; 57, 181
Foix, Adet de, i. 72
Foix, Catherine de, i. 78
Foix, Francois de (Chateaubri-
and), i. 213, 217; ii. 73, 114, 121,
144, 247, 285, 291, 315
Foix, Gaston de, i. 58, 66, 72
Foix, Germaine de, i. 21, 41, 54, 291
Foix, Jean de, i. 41
Foix, Lescun de, i. 266; ii. 49, 79,
99, 224, 231
Foix, Lespaire de, ii. 12
Folle, Jeanne la, i. 45
Fontarabia, siege of, ii. 124
Fontrailles, Sieur de, i. 94, 96
Francis I., succession of, i. i;
birthplace, i. 14; early life, i. 14;
betrothed to Claude, i. 44; com-
mands Louis XII. 's army to as-
sist King of Navarre, i. 80; in-
trigue with advocate's wife, i.
84; commands Louis XII. 's
army against Henry VII. and
362
Index
Emperor, i. 104; relations with
Queen Mary, i. 122; succeeds to
crown, i. 126; enters Paris, i. 131;
arbitrarily ideal, i. 133; bravely
killed wild boar, i. 139; would
not give up design upon Milan,
i. 143; prepares to march against
Swiss, i. 147; organizes army, i.
152; mother Regent, i. 157;
crosses Alps, i. 162; at Marig-
nano battle, gallantly attacks
Swiss, i. 177; knighthood from
Bayard, i. 183; sees Leo X., i.
191; refuses title of Emperor of
the East, i. 196; domestic life, i.
21 1 ; birth of Dauphin, i. 226;
quarrels with Parliament of
Paris, i. 246; wishes friendship of
Henry VIII., i. 277; desires Em-
perorship, i. 286; defeated, ii. 7;
again wishes English friendship,
.ii. 13; Field of Cloth of Gold, ii.
28; war with Charles V., ii. 85;
Milan expedition, ii. 91; sus-
pects Bourbon, ii. 139; proceeds
against him, ii. 173; loses Bay-
ard, ii. 192; loses Claude, ii. 202;
marches personally against Mi-
lan, ii. 205; taken prisoner at
Pavia, ii. 226; Regent's treaty
with England, ii. 252; Charles
V.'s terms, ii. 236; his answer,
ii. 257; fever, ii. 262; taken to
Madrid, attempts escape, ii. 277;
signs treaty with Emperor, ii.
281; betrothed to Queen Eleo-
nora, ii. 283; freed, ii. 284; Holy
League, ii. 288; combines with
Henry VIII. and sends army to
Milan, ii. 328; war against
Charles V., iii. 4; Charles V.
challenges to duel, obviated by
Francis, iii. ii; negotiates with
Charles V., iii. 19; Dauphin
freed, iii. 19; married to Eleo-
nora, iii. 19; wishes to establish
a Royal College, Duprat dis-
suades, iii. 26; measures against
Lutherans, iii. 35; loses mother,
>' 43; gains wealth, iii. 44;
wishes to annex Brittany, iii.
45; Bretons resist, iii. 46; Dau-
phin made Duke of Brittany,
iii. 48; again meets Henry
VIII., iii. 55; sham agreement
to fight Turks, iii. 59; plan
against Pope, iii. 61 ; Pope
wishes to meet, iii. 64; agent
murdered in Italy, iii. 72; meets
Clement VII., iii. 76; who mar-
ries Due d'Orleans to Catherine
de' Medici, iii. 81 ; description of
female court of Francis, iii. 83-
94; again war against Charles
V., iii. 97; abolishes printing
throughout kingdom, iii. 103;
repudiates treaty of Madrid, iii.
126; Saluzzo goes over to Em-
peror, iii. 133; loses Dauphin, iii.
137; defeats Charles V., iii. 151;
cites him to appear as vassal be-
fore French tribunals, iii. 166;
marches on Milan in person, iii.
174; truce, iii. 178; Charles V.
wants permanent peace because
of fear of Turks, iii. 179; la belle
Feronniere, iii. 190; Charles
V. asks safe-conduct through
France, and is granted it, iii. 195;
great banquet, iii. 207; Charles
V.'s falseness sours Francis, iii.
214; dismisses Montmorenci, iii.
218; resolves to declare war
against Charles, iii. 255; Ro-
chelle revolts against salt tax,
iii. 256; Francis addresses them
in memorable speech, iii. 258;
persecutes Lutherans, iii. 260;
war with Charles drags on, iii.
266; joins forces with Turks,
iii. 276; unsuccessful, iii. 281;
Charles V. and Henry VIII. in-
vade France, iii. 298; they march
on Paris, iii. 313; peace, iii. 3>4*.
is vexed by son Henry's disre-
Index
363
spect, iii. 331; peace with Henry
VIII., iii. 344; atrociously per-
secutes Reformers, iii. 348; af-
fected by Henry VIII.'s death,
fell into lethargy, and died not
so loved as Louis XII., iii. 354
Franget, Captain, ii. 125
Frederick of Saxony, ii. 5
Frundsberg, ii. 305
Furstemberg, Count William de,
ii. 125; iii. 105, 311
Henry, Prince, iii. 114, 144
Hesse, Landgrave of, i. 295
Holy League, i. 66; ii. 288
Imbercourt, Marquis d', i. 94, 159,
i 60, 182
Isabella of Spain, death of, i. 41
Iscalin, Paulin, iii. 262, 274
Gaillart, Louis, i. 269
Gattinara, Mercuric, ii. 263
Genoa, i. 50, 148
Genouilhac, ii. 215
German Electors, t. 280
German Emperorship, i. 287; ii.
i, S
Ghibberti, Matteo, ii. 208 ,
Gouiffier, G., i. 22
Grandvelle, Perenot de, iii. 6, 309
Grignaud, M. de, i. 122
Gritti, Andreo, ii. 99
Guasto, Marquis de (see D'Avalos,
Alphonso)
Gueldres, Due de (see Robert de
la Mark)
Guise, Claude de, i. 160; ii. 171,
24S; iii- 55
Guistiniani, Demetrius, i. 53
Guojon, Jean, ii. 314
H
Hallwin, Louis de, i. 94
Haye, M. de la, i. 244
Heilly, Mdlle. de (see Anne de
Pisseleu)
Henry VII. of England, i. 36
Henry VIII. of England, i. 66, 93,
95, 101, 109, 113, 131, 144, 197, 253,
354, 268, 283, 285, 304; ii. 8, 17, 33,
29, 32, 91, 106, 127, 251, 286, 307,
322; iii. 2, 55, 70, 95, 159, 266, 299,
306, 313. 341, 344, 345, 352
James IV. (Scots), i. 109
James V. (Scots), iii. 158
Jamets, Seigneur de, i. 92, 147, 294
Janet, ii. 3
Jeanne de France, i. 4; faithfully
succors her husband Louis
XII., i. 9; divorced, for him to
marry Anne de Bretagne, i. 13;
retires to Bourges, i. 13; died
1504, blessed by the poor, i. 14
Jerusalem, Knights of, ii. 112
Julius II., Pope, i. 47, 48, 56, 87;
dies, i. 88
K
Katharine of Aragon, ii. 31, 325;
iii. 4, 51, 95, 96
La Crete, i. 58
Lodeve, Comte Clermont de, ii.
278
La Fayette, i. 94, 98; ii. 258
La Motte, des Moyers de, ii. 227
La Rochelle, iii. 258
Launoy, Charles de, ii. 175, 227,
229, 288
Lautrec, Sieur de, i. 73, 136, 161,
170, 235, 239, 262; ii. 75, 103, 153,
284, 328; iii. 13
Lenoncourt, Robert de, i. 127
Leo X., Pope, t. 68, 88, 89, 148,
'90, 255, 282, 300; ii. 10, 45, 53, 80
364
Index
Leyva, Antonio de, it. 206, 224, 266,
290; iii. 65, 72, 134
Limoges, ii. 3
L'lsle Adam, Villiers de, ii. 42
Livry, Hermit of, ii. 246
Loches, i. 14; ii. 152
Longueville, Due de, i. 58, 79, 98,
114, 117; ii. 101
Lorraine, Card, de, iii. 90, 128, 129,
179, 233
Lorraine, Due de, i. 138, 178, 228,
295; ii. 197, 231
Louis XI., i. 6
Louis XII., death of, i. i; char-
acter, i. 2; harsh imprisonment
at St. A ub in, i. 8; revenge of
Anne de France, i. 8; marries
Anne de Bretagne, i. 19; great
deference to Anne de Bretagne,
i. 22; illness, i. 30; war with Holy
League, i. 66; assists King of
Navarre, i. 79; allies with Venice,
i. 86; wishes peace with new
Pope Leo X., i. 88; repelled,
again marches army into Italy,
i. 89; fleet captures Genoa, i. 90;
friendship with English, i. 94;
dislikes treaty with Swiss, i.
108; makes treaty of Orleans, i.
109; loses Anne de Bretagne, i.
no; betrothal to Mary of Eng-
land, i. no; married by proxy,
i. 117; and at Abbeville, i. 119;
dies, i. 125
Louise de Savoie, i. 15, 133, 157,
158, 223, 233, 240, 277, 291, 296,
299; ii. 9, 36, 43, 67, 70, 82, 103,
118, 129, 201, 205, 239, 242, 252,
*S4t 283, 292, 309, 318; iii. 16, 41,
42, 43
Louise, Princess, i. 140, 207,
278
Loyola, Ignatius, ii. 49
Ludovic the Moor, i. 76
Luther, Martin, i. 256; ii. 45; iii.
347
Lutherans, iii. 261
Luxembourg, Charles de, i. 40
M
Mantua, Marquis of, i. 61 ; ii. 155,
7S
Maraviglia, iii. 66-69
Marguerite of Austria, i. 5, 9, 112;
iii. 16, 44
Marguerite de France (Valois), i.
34f 153; > 146, 152, 241, 246, 257,
259, 266, 268, 269, 273-82, 285, 298,
3*5, 326; iii. 84
Marguerite, Princess, iii. 161
Marignano, battle of, i. 184
Mark, Robert de la (Gueldres), i.
58, 91, 160, 170, 294, 301, 303; ii.
43. 45. 5>. 282
Marot, Clement, ii. 10, 165, 246;
iii. 32
Mary of England, i. i, 114, 122, 130
Mary, Princess, ii. 34, 54, 91, 251;
iii. 2
Mary, Queen of Scots, iii. 267
Maximilian of Austria, i. 5, 60, 95,
188, 280, 281, 284
Mayence, Arbp. of, ii. 3
Medicis, Alessandro de', iii. 107
Medicis, Card, de', it. 88
Medicis, Catherine de', iii. 108, 253,
2S4. 356
Medicis, Giulio de', i. 76
Medicis, Lorenzo de', i. 130, 168,
230, 277
Mezicres, Baron de, i. 107
Milan, Duchy of, i. 141
Molert, Seigneur de, i. 58
Moncada, Ugo de, i. 305; ii. 290,
301
Montecuculli, Count Sebastian de,
iii. 137
Montejan, M. de, iii. 135, 179
Montmoreau, Seigneur de, ii. 56,
60
Montmorency, Anne de, i. 137; ii.
56, 135, 217, 242, 258; iii. ii, 18,
56, 90, 143, 167, 181, 193, 197, 213,
215, 219, 225, 330, 357
Montpensier, Charles de (see
Bourbon, Connetable de)
Index
Montpczat, M. de (see Prz)
More, Sir Thomas, ii. 323
Moreto, Comte de, i. 161, 165
Morone, Jeromio, ii. 265, 266, 267
Mottino, i. 92
N
Naples, i. 41
Nassau, Comte Henry de, i. 142;
ii. SS
Navarre, King of, ii. 47, 232
Navarre, Queen of (see Margue-
rite de France)
Navarro, Pietro de, i. 69, 149, 159,
161; ii. 92, 100, 303; iii. 14
Nemours, Due de (see Gaston de
Foix)
Neuville, Nicholas de, ii. 9
Norfolk, Duke of, ii. 23, 171; iii.
55, 299
Novara, battle of, i. 93
Novi, Paul de. i. 51
Noyon, Peace of, i. 208
O
Odet, Captain, i. 58
Orleans, Due d", iii. 120, 342
Orleans, Treaty of, i. 109
Osma, Bp. of, ii. 253
Paix des Dames, iii. 17
Palassis, Bernard, iii. 50
Palice, Marquis de la i. 58, 77, 80,
94, 97. 98, 136. 159;
Pallavicini, Cristiforo
66, 124, 220
ii. 74
7
Paluda, Marquis de,
Pampeluna, siege of, i. So; ii. 49
Paris, disorderly, ii. 317, 321
Parliament of Paris, i. 244, 246; ii.
'S8, 245, 308, 309
Paul III., Pope, iii. 06, 128, iSa
Pavanes, Jacques, ii. 246
Pavia, battle of, ii. 221
Pechy, Sir John, i. 275
Perousa, i. 48
Pescara, Marquis de, i. 68; ii. 76,
78, 99, 184, 190, 225, 229, 230, 234,
255, 264, 265, 267
Philibert II. of Savoy, iii. 16
Philip, Archduke, i. 45
Pierre, Albert de la, i. 170
Pisseleu, Anne de (Heilly), ii. 292,
297, 310, 315; iii. 21, 22, 84, 108,
118, 210-12, 226, 232, 304, 357
Pitigliano, Count of, i. 58, 61, i8a
Poland, King of, i. 291
Pole, Richard de la, i. 115; ii. 135,
197
Policastro, Comte de, i. 167
Pomperant, M. de, ii. 67, 140, 148,
227, 234
Poncher, Etienne, i. 251; ii. 308
Poncher, Frangois, ii. 308
Pontbriant, i. 31, 34
Pontdormy, M. de, 5. 94; ii. 96
Poyet, G., iii. 181, 208, 217, 221, 222
Prez, Antoine de, ii. 236; iii. 61, 247
Prie, Aymar de, i. 94, 168; ii. 155
Primaticcio, Francisco, ii. 313; iii.
27
Puy, Bp. of, ii. 156
R
Radelais, F., iii. 31
Ramossot, Captain, i. 69
Ravenna, battle of, i. 71
Ravenstein, Sieur de, i. 206
Reformists, iii. 103
Renee de France, i. 63, 127, 141;
ii. 87, 123, 327
Richemont, i. 58
Rimini, i. 48
Rochefort, Gui de, i. 43
Rohan, Pierre de (St. Gi), i. 17,
19. 3i, 32, 33
Rome, fall of, ii. 307
Rosso del Rosso, iii. 27
Rousillon, Comte de, i. 60
Rovera, Francesco, i. 60
St. Angelo, Marquis de, ii. 225
St. Gi6 (Rohan), i. 17, 19, 31, 32, 33
366
Index
St. John, Lord, i. 275
St. Pol, Comte de, i. 135; ii. 39,
232; iii. 15, 55, 286, 288
St. Severino, Comte dc, ii. 223
St. Vallier, Comte de, i. 154; ii.
137, 148, 157
Saluzzo, Marquis de, i. 163; ii. 214,
302; iii. 14, 133, 173
Sanga, G., ii. 302
Savoy, Bastard of, i. 155, 170, 210,
244; ii. 231
Scheiner, Matthew (Sion), i. 64,
76, 146, 171, 173, 186; ii. 77
Scotland, ii. 36, 251
Seckingen, F. de, i. 294, 296, 298,
302; ii. 7, 60, 62
Sedan, Sieur de, i. 149
Semblancay, Baron de, ii. 71, 117,
203, 247, 285, 311
Sforza, F., ii. 46, 92, 266, 288; iii.
38-40, 106
Sforza, Lorenzo, iii. 65
Sforza, Ludovico, i. 262
Shrewsbury, Earl of, i. 93; ii. 23
Sion, Card, of (see Schreiner)
Sismondi, ii. 230; iii. 100, 349
Soli man, Sultan, ii. 112; iii. 98, 178,
241-43, 262, 274
Sorbonne, ii. 319
Soyen, M. de, 246
Spain (see Charles V.)
States-General, 5. 42, 260
Suffolk, Duke of, i. 94, 116, 129,
3. 149; " 23, 3S, 23" ; 56
Surrey, Earl of, ii. 127, 131, 134
Swiss (guard), i. 64
Swiss Republic, i. 105, 106, 170; ii.
75
Talbot, Lord, i. 93
Talmont, Prince de, i. 159. 8a
Tauzannes, Montagnac, ii. 154
Tay, Bastard du, i. 71
Teligny, Francois de, i. 93, 159
Terrail, Pierre, ii. 56
Tours, i. 42, 65
Tremouille, M. de la, i. 7, 87, 90,
105, 108, 178, 247, 248; ii. 56, 66,
108, 155, 216, 223
Treves, Abp. of, ii. 5
Trivulzio, Jean Jacques, i. 53, 58,
74. 88. 159. 262, 265
Trivulzio, Teodoro, ii. 233
Turks, the, i. 195, 268, 278, 284, 304;
ii. 112, 254; iii. 54, 58, 182
Turtoso, Bp. of (see Clement
VII.)
Valaisan, G. de, i. 170
Vandenesse, M. de, i. 21, 25, 28,
29; ii. 1 88
Vaux, Sir Nicholas, i. 275
Vendome, Due de, i. 136; ii. 109,
133. 155. 171, 242; > 154
Venice, i. 47; ii. 253
Vergy, Sieur de, i. 107
Verjus, M. de, i. 246
Viane, Prince de, i. 78
Villa Franca, battle of, i. 167
Villalva. Col., i. 80
Villiers de 1'Isle Adam, ii. 42
Viverots, Sieur de, i. 73
Voland, Mdlle. de, ii. 203
W
Wartz, Seigneur de, ii. 142
Watteville, Jacques, i. 105
Wingfield, Sir Richard, ii. 8, 15,
323
Wirtemburg, Duke Ulrich of, i.
105, 107
Wolsey, Card., i. 115, 197, 268, 270;
ii. 16, 18, 33, 36, S. 54. 79, 88,
126, 251, 323-27: ii>- 3, 5
Worcester, Earl of, i. 175
Ximenes, Card., i. 205, 288
Z
Zapolsky, John de, iii. 53
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DC Par doe, Miss
113 The court and reign of
P2 Francis the First, king of
1901 France
v.3
