A.D. 1521.]

assertion. So determined was the English King to adopt a policy hostile to Francis, notwithstanding the recent courtesies and overflowing goodwill of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, that he made military preparations for a war against that monarch, even before the commencement of the arbitration. While the negotiations were still proceeding, Wolsey went in state to Bruges, where he had an interview with Charles V., and concluded with him a treaty of alliance. A double invasion of France-at its southern and northern extremities was the main object of this league, and the treaty was to be kept secret until the time for action had arrived. The project was sanctioned by Leo X., who soon afterwards issued a Bull of excommunication against Francis I., and released his subjects from their allegiance. Before the close of the year, the Pope had himself joined the alliance, though under the pretence of simply advancing the spiritual glory of the Church. Henry VIII. had shortly before written a controversial work against the heresies of Luther-a production answered by the German reformer in a strain of contempt, but which gave so much satisfaction to the Pope that he conferred on its author the title of "Defender of the Faith." It was one of the vanities of Henry that he was a master of dialectics; yet he felt no scruple, at a later period, in acting against his expressed convictions, when his wishes pointed in a different direction. The strangest result of the incident, however, is that to this day the Protestant sovereigns of England retain the title bestowed upon their predecessor for the very reason that he had done his utmost to destroy the groundwork of Protestantism.

The bad faith of Henry and his Imperial friend, in thus secretly plotting against France while a congress was sitting with a view to equitable and pacific arbitration, requires no comment; but it cannot be said that Francis I. was guided by any higher principles. Before the termination of the conference at Calais, the French King had despatched an army into Navarre, which succeeded in recovering that part of the kingdom, north of the Pyrenees, which is still included in France. The invaders also took Fuentarabia, or Fontarabia, a place famous in the legendary histories of Charlemagne for a terrible defeat inflicted by the Saracens on the Paladin Roland. The position was important, since it exposed the whole of Biscay to the attacks of France; and Charles V., supported by his English ally, demanded its immediate restoration. Francis refused, and the conference came to an end. War at once broke out on a larger scale. Francis took the field in person

The

against the Count of Nassau in Flanders. town of Hesdin was captured by the French, who, on the other hand, lost Tournay, which, after a blockade of six months, surrendered to the Imperialists about the close of the year. The struggle thus arising between the Houses of France and Austria established a state of permanent ill-feeling, which led to frequently-renewed hostilities, and did not finally terminate until the early part of the eighteenth century. It is melancholy to reflect upon the loss of life, the injury to material interests, the exasperation of national feeling, the waste, the cruelty, and the innumerable evils, which resulted to large sections of the human race from the rivalry of two sovereigns, of whom it cannot be said that either had a clear moral title to that which he claimed.

The position of France was particularly vulnerable in Northern Italy, for the French occupation of Milan had been characterised by all the insolence of successful invaders. Lautrec, the military governor of the Milanese, had offended that highspirited people by the severity and self-seeking of his rule. Half the principal inhabitants of the city were banished, and their estates were divided between the French crown and the family of Lautrec. Marshal Trivulzio, then a veteran of eighty, and a soldier who had distinguished himself by brilliant services to France, although a native of Lombardy, was so haughtily treated by the Viceroy that he went to Paris to lay his complaints before the King. Through the powerful influence of the Countess of Châteaubriand, a sister of Lautrec, he was denied an audience, and expired soon after, before he could return to his own country. Had he lived only a little longer, he would have been amply avenged by the reverses which Lautrec suffered in Italy. Those reverses were mainly due to want of money, and the remittances which Francis had despatched to his commander were intercepted by no less a person than the King's own mother, the intriguing and dissipated Louisa of Savoy, who entertained a vindictive feeling towards Lautrec, and was also glad of the sums which she thus dishonestly appropriated.

The war in Italy commenced in August, 1521, when Lautrec found himself opposed by the forces of the Pope, the Emperor, and the Florentine Republic. The chief command of the allied armies was in the hands of Prosper Colonna, who acted with too much caution, and lost valuable time in undecided movements. As usual, the mercenary Swiss were found on both sides. A large portion of Lautrec's forces consisted of those

years, the Duchy of Milan was snatched from the grasp of France. The acquisition of that territory was the object dearest to the heart of the French monarch; and in the pursuit of a hopeless prize he suffered numerous defeats, and even compromised the honour of his name.

Immediately on the conclusion of the war, Charles V. resolved to return to Spain, where, although all active resistance to his power had been crushed, a large amount of disaffection still lurked beneath the surface. But it was necessary, on his way thither, to visit England, for the double purpose of conferring with Henry on ulterior designs, and soothing the irritated temper of Wolsey, who saw, in the election of Adrian to the Papacy, a breach of the Emperor's engagement that he would use his utmost endeavours to procure the exalted position for himself. The English Cardinal was a man sufficiently placable when approached with gifts of money; and Charles, knowing his weak point, did not fail to solace his wounded feelings after this fashion. The vanity of the King was pampered by profuse expressions of respect, and the English people were pleased by the appointment of the Earl of Surrey as High Admiral to the mighty sovereign of Germany and Spain. The Emperor spent six weeks in England, and, before he left, Henry had declared war against France, in accordance with the terms agreed upon when Wolsey visited Charles at Bruges in 1521. The war had certainly been contemplated for some time, and the seizure of Fuentarabia by France was simply the pretext with which events had furnished the English monarch. Even when the two Kings were flattering and caressing one another on the Field of the Cloth of Gold, their hearts were filled with mutual suspicion and distrust. This feeling had steadily and rapidly increased ever since, and Francis was so well aware of the hostile designs entertained by Henry that he had recently put an embargo on English ships, and was now endeavouring to incite the Scots to make one of those irruptions into English territory by which

they were always ready to abet the designs of France. The Northern invasion, when it came, ended in failure, and Francis was mean enough to disavow his agent, the Duke of Albany, a Scottish nobleman in his service. Henry replied by a letter in which he flatly accused the French monarch of falsehood; and the personal relations of the two rulers were thus embittered before the commencement of the war which was now inevitable.

Hostilities broke out in the summer of 1522, when the English entered France at various points along the coast. The expedition, however, was distinguished by very little generalship, and had more the character of a piratical descent than of regular warfare. regular warfare. The Imperialists and the English joined their contingents in Picardy and Champagne ; but neither the Count de Buren, who commanded for the Emperor, nor the Earl of Surrey, who had the direction of King Henry's forces, achieved anything of importance, although the united armies were greatly superior to the French under the Duke of Vendôme. The war was very unpopular in England; for it seemed devoid of any reasonable excuse, or any objects in which the national interest or honour was concerned. Indeed, it threatened English commerce with serious injuries, and was supported by arbitrary exactions which aroused considerable opposition. Any detailed account of the military operations would be superfluous. Hesdin was besieged by the allied generals, who were ultimately forced to retire. Thence they marched to Dourlens, which, finding that the inhabitants had left, they set on fire. The Imperialists soon after retired into Artois, and, at the beginning of November, the English were compelled to quit France, owing to an outbreak of dysentery

that scourge of great armies, which in former times ruined many enterprises better planned than that of Henry VIII. At the same time, the French commander, Marshal de la Palisse, forced the Spaniards to raise the siege of Fuentarabia; so that up to this point the arms of Francis were rewarded by a measure of good fortune which afterwards proved illusory and vain.