now, on the death of Maximilian, his paternal grandfather, he proposed himself as his successor in the empire. The claims of Charles were in all essentials preferable to those of Francis; he was of a German house (of the Imperial House of Austria); he was born at Ghent, and was, by right of inheritance, sovereign of the Low Countries, which were held to be a subject part of the empire. The German electors had often been most corrupt, and Francis flattered himself that he could set aside all these advantages by intrigue and bribery.* But the Lord of the Netherlands, of Naples and Sicily, of Spain and the Indies, was a much richer sovereign than the French king; and as for political intrigue, Francis, though his senior in years, was a mere child to Charles, whose councils were directed by the most cunning diplomatists in Europe-men who had studied their craft in the school of his grandfather Ferdinand and Cardinal Ximenes. There was another great advantage on the side of Charles: while Maximilian was deluding Henry with the hope of the imperial crown, he was exerting himself to the utmost to make sure of that crown for his grandson; and though he did not succeed with all the electors, he laid a good foundation in Germany, where, from the long continuance of the dignity in the Austrian line, people were inclined to think that it had become in a manner inherent in that family. (What the German people never could have thought of, was to appoint a French prince.) Henry soon found that, between two such competitors, there was no chance for him; and, either from that common desire men feel for being on the winning side, or from some new disgust against Francis, or in a lame attempt at manoeuvre, he wrote to assure Charles of his earnest wishes that he might prove the successful candidate.† This young king went from Spain to the Netherlands; and while the electors were debating in the Diet of Frankfort, he raised an army, which he kept sufficiently near to overawe the Diet, and yet sufficiently distant to save appearances. After long deliberations, and a rapid circulation both of French and Spanish money, Charles was elected emperor on the 28th of June. Francis bore his disappointment and his heavy pecuniary losses with seeming lightness of heart, saying to the Spanish ambassadors that, in ambition as in love, a discarded suitor, ought never to cherish resentment. But notwithstanding this

Francis told Sir Thomas Boleyn, who was one of Henry's ambassadors, that he would spend three millions of gold but he would succeed.

"As

At the same time, however, Sir Thomas Boleyn conveyed to Francis the most solemn assurances of Henry's support, and also (at the same time, or very nearly so,) Pace recommended his master to the electors. Pace fell sick during his negotiations at Frankfort. From a letter written to Wolsey, at this moment, by John Clerk, afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells, it should appear, that the cardinal was now averse to Henry's pressing his hopeless suit. touching his enterprise of the empire," writes Clerk," you may be assured that I have reasoned as deeply as my poor wits would serve me, not varying from your instructions, and that for mine own interest; but his grace (the king), as me thinketh, considereth no jeopardies. Notwithstanding, his grace said that he would sleep and dream upon the matter, and give me an answer upon the morning."State Papers, reign of Henry VIII, published by his Majesty's Record Commission, A.D. 1830.

VOL. II.

bon mot, he was deeply mortified, and he felt that he and Charles must be rivals for life. This, however, in all probability would have happened even if there had been no imperial crown to contend for. Ever since Charles VIII. had carried his lances through the defiles of the Alps-for more than twenty years-there had been a struggle between the French and the Spaniards for the dominion of Italy; and it was not likely that this would be given up under two young, active, and warlike princes, at a moment when Charles held the whole of the south of that beautiful peninsula, and when Francis had obtained a firm footing on the north of it. And even if this rich prize had not existed, there were abundant grounds for quarrel. France claimed possession of Navarre, which had been seized by Ferdinand, and Charles laid claim to Burgundy, which had been wrested from his grandmother by Louis XI. And even had these particular sources of discord been wanting, two such neighbours would have been sure to find some others.

as

The eagerness with which each of these rivals attempted to secure to himself the friendship of the King of England, was flattering to the power and importance of the nation; but Henry was utterly incapable of benefiting either himself or his people, or the cause of humanity, by the advantages afforded him by his enviable position. On the 6th of July he ordered Wolsey to draw up, his politic wisdom should think best," letters of congratulation to Charles;* and on the 8th of the same month we find Wolsey stating, in a letter to his master, that De Hesdin, Charles's ambassador, complained that proper respect had not been paid in London to this grand occasion, and that the French in London were making "dishonourable bruits thereof, to the hindrance of the entire love and amity established between his highness and the emperor." Wolsey recommends them to assemble themselves at St. Paul's on the Sunday next coming, and also "at night to cause joy-fires to be made throughout the city," which he considered the best means of " purging the suspicion" of the Spanish ambassador. "And to the intent," he adds, "that the French king shall not take this doing in ill part, I purpose to make the French ambassador privy to such solemnity, notifying unto him, that, standing the good amity between your grace and the emperor, you can no less do, and that you would have made semblable solemnities and congratulations for the honour of his master, if he had been advanced to the said dignity; not doubting but the French ambassador will take this overture and direction in good part." The cardinal also informed the king that, in order to prevent the spreading of "ill bruits and reports as might be made," he had stopped all manner of passages in the sea portswhich was rather a common practice in thos

This letter to Wolsey, in the hand-writing of Sir Thomas More, is preserved in the British Museum, and is printed in Sir Henry Ellis's collection, and in the State Papers published by government, 2 x

66

days. It is quite clear that both king and minister wished to play a double game, and to keep on the best of terms, for the present, with both Charles and Francis. What advantages Henry proposed to himself are not so obvious; but Wolsey had recently touched the French king's money, and was probably expecting more, while, with the emperor, he was engaging for a still higher prize. When Francis requested the king to fulfil his former purpose, and pass over to the continent to a personal interview, it was agreed to give him this great sign of friendship and confidence; and the meeting was fixed for the following summer. Upon learning this appointment Charles was greatly alarmed, and his ambassadors in England did all that they could to break it. But Henry, who longed to display his magnificence, was firm to his purpose, and, as the time approached (towards the end of May), he removed with his queen and court from Greenwich to Canterbury. He had scarcely collected his finery for embarkation at Dover, when he received news that the emperor was in the Channel. According to the commonly received account, Henry was taken by surprise, but not so was his minister. Wolsey had opened a secret negotiation with Spain, where the emperor was then residing, and had concerted this opportune visit; and Charles had granted his most dear friend" a pension of 7000 ducats, secured upon two Spanish bishoprics. Wolsey was now detached from Canterbury with a splendid train to meet the imperial guest, who anchored at Hythe on the 26th of May. The lord cardinal met him on the water in a magnificent barge, and escorted him and his court to the beach, where they all landed under a canopy glittering with gold and embroidery, and bearing the device of the black eagle. The illustrious strangers were lodged in Dover Castle, whither Henry repaired to pay his respects. He arrived by torch-light, and saluted and embraced the emperor very tenderly. They conferred together in private during a great part of the night; and on the morrow, being WhitSunday, they rode together in great state to Canterbury, the emperor always keeping the right hand, and the Earl of Derby bearing the sword of state before them.† As they approached the cathedral they were met by Wolsey at the head of a procession of the clergy, and conducted into the church. The cathedral, the adjoining monastery, and the different buildings thereto attached, and which formed a little town in themselves, were then at the height of their glory, enriched by the accumulated donations of nearly a thousand years. "Every place," says Erasmus, "was enlightened with the lustre of most precious stones, and the church throughout abounded with more than royal treasure." But it was the shrine of St. Thomas Becket, wherein were inclosed the relics of the martyr, that blazed like a sun in the midst of

This long letter of Wolsey is published in the State Papers, from

a draft preserved in the British Museum.

Derby, it appears, was one of Wolsey's retinue.

sure.

brilliant satellites. It was said of this shrine that it was so embossed with jewels and enriched with precious workmanship, that gold was the meanest thing about it. The sovereigns, according to precedent, laid their offerings on the tomb, and some time was spent there in devotions, not only by the emperor, but even by him who shortly after defaced the monument and seized upon that infinite treaFrom the church they proceeded to the palace of the Archbishop of Canterbury, where the emperor was joyfully welcomed by Queen Catherine, who was his aunt. Here, too, Charles saw, for the first time, Henry's sister Mary, late QueenDowager of France, and now Duchess of Suffolk. He gazed with unconcealed admiration on her exquisitely beautiful person; and it is said that, remembering how she had been affianced to him, he bitterly regretted the political views by which he had lost such a wife, and that these thoughts marred all the splendid festivities which were got up to do him honour. But if those tender feelings ever existed at all, they must have been of transient duration in such a mind; and Charles spent a good part of the time of his short visit in arranging fresh schemes of ambition, or in securing Wolsey to his interests. The cardinal, who considered every advancement but as a step to something higher, sighed for the triple crown of Rome; and the adroit emperor engaged to give him all the weight of his influence whenever the present pope should die. He also made Wolsey some magnificent presents, and conciliated his pride by treating him with great reverence, and affecting to submit to his superior judgment in state affairs. Three days were spent in this manner, and, on the fourth, Charles re-embarked at Sandwich, and set sail for his Netherland dominions, well satisfied that, by anticipating and by winning Wolsey, he had prevented any evil consequences that might otherwise have arisen out of the more formal interview with Francis. On the same day Henry, with the cardinal, the queen, and the whole court, sailed for Calais to keep that appointment. The place fixed upon, after deliberations of an interminable length, was within the English pale, between Guisnes and Ardres. The manner of meeting and the whole regulation of the ceremonial and pageant were left by both monarchs to Wolsey, who, as we have mentioned, had a decided genius for such matters. Francis thought to flatter the vanity of the cardinal by this arrangement; but his making Wolsey a master of the ceremonies could not have an equivalent effect with Charles's promises to make him pope.

On the 4th of June (1520) the king's grace, with all the lords, and the queen with her train ! of ladies, removed from Calais to the lordship royal of Guisnes, where a temporary palace of wood had been built and decorated by eleven hundred workmen, most of them cunning artificers from Flanders or from Holland.† "This palace was set on

Herbert.-Hall.-Stow.-Godwin.

According to one account, part of the frame work had been made in England.

Preparatory to his Interview with the French King Francis I. From the large Print published by the Royal Society of Antiquaries, engraved after the Criginal Picture preseived in Windsor Castle.

The

stages by great cunning and sumptuous work. At the entering into the palace, before the gate, on the plain green was built a fountain of enbowed work, gilt with fine gold, at which was seen the old god of wine, called Bacchus, birling (carousing at) the wine, which, by conduits in the earth, ran to all people plenteously with red, white, and claret wines, over whose head was written in letters of Roman, in gold, FAICTE BONNE CHERE QUY VOUDRA.' On the other side of the gate was set up an elaborate column, supported by four lions, well gilt, enwreathed with golden foliage, and surmounted by an image of the blind god Cupid, with his bow and arrows of love, ready, by his seeming, to strike the young people to love." The building, within which were square courts and other fountains, was in form of a quadrangle, each side being one hundred and twenty-eight feet long, and having in front a figure of a wild man with bow and arrows, and underneath a motto, which Henry had chosen as appropriate" CUI ADHÆREO PRÆST (He whom I support prevails). Round about the great tower, and in the windows, and on the battlements, were placed images resembling men of war, ready to cast great stones; as also images of ancient princes, such as "Hercules, Alexander, and the like." The outside was covered with sail-cloth, which was so painted as to look like squared stone; the inside was hung with the richest arras. furniture and decorations of the temporary chapel and apartments of state were gorgeous in the extreme. The walls glittered with embroidery and jewels; the altar and the tables groaned under the weight of massive plate.* Francis, that he might not be outdone, had prepared an immense pavilion, which was chiefly sustained by a mighty mast, with ropes and tackle strained to steady it: the exterior, in form of a dome, was covered all over with cloth of gold; and in the interior, the concavity of the sphere was lined with blue velvet, set with stars in gold foil," and the orbs of the heavens, by the craft of colours in the roof, were curiously wrought in manner like the sky or firmament." At each side there was a smaller tent or pavilion of the same costly materials, the very tent ropes being made of blue silk twisted with gold of Cyprus. But there arose a most impetuous and tempestuous wind, which broke asunder the ropes, and laid all this bravery in the dirt; and Francis was obliged to take up his lodging in an old castle near the town of Ardres. As soon the two kings were settled in their respective residences, the Reverend Father Lord Thomas Wolsey, cardinal and legate à Latere, as the king's high ambassador, rode with noble repair of lords, gentlemen, and prelates, to the French court at Ardres, where the same lord cardinal was highly entertained of the French king." The Frenchmen were so struck with Wolsey's pomp and splendour, that they afterwards "made books, showing the triumphant doings of the cardinal's royalty; as, of the number of his gentlemen, knights, and lords,

• Hall.

as

all in crimson velvet, with marvellous number of chains of gold, the multitude of horses, mules, coursers, and carriages that went before him with sumpters and coffers, his great silver crosses and pillars,-his embroidered cushions,—and his host of servants, as yeomen and grooms, all clad in scarlet." At the same moment that Wolsey visited Francis, a deputation of French nobles waited upon Henry. The cardinal, who had "full power and authority to affirm and confirm, bind and unbind whatsoever should be in question," even as if the king his master were there present, spent two whole days in arranging an additional treaty with the French sovereign. Francis, whose heart was beyond the Alps, readily agreed to pay a high price for the neutrality of England in the war which he saw was inevitable: he renewed the recent marriage treaty, and, in addition to the money there promised, bound himself and his successors to pay to Henry and his successors the yearly sum of 100,000 crowns, in the event of the said marriage between their children being solemnised, and the issue of that marriage seated on the English throne. away with the jealousy which had long existed between France and England on the subject of Scotland, he consented that the affairs of that country should be referred to the friendly arbitration of Cardinal Wolsey and his own mother, Louisa of Savoy. Henry, it appears, wished to have the Scots at his mercy; but Francis was not prepared to abandon, even upon paper, those old allies, who had lost their king and the flower of their nobility in making a generous diversion when France was invaded by the English and the Swiss.

To do

When the business was over, Henry, apparelled in a garment of cloth of silver of damask, ribbed with cloth of gold, and riding on a courser caparisoned" in a marvellous vesture, the trapper being of fine gold in bullion, curiously wrought," and with all his nobles gaudily dressed and mounted, went forth to meet his brother of France. They met at last (on the 7th of June) in the valley of Andren, where a gorgeous tent had been pitched for the occasion. On their first approach Henry's retinue were somewhat disquieted by seeing that they were outnumbered by the suite of Francis, and there was a whisper that treachery might be in the wind. But these apprehensions were put to flight by the free and frank bearing of the French monarch. As had been previously arranged, in order to get over a delicate point of precedency, the two kings saluted and embraced on horseback. Francis spoke first, saying, "My dear brother and cousin, thus far to my pain have I travelled to see you personally. I think verily that you esteem me as I am, and that I am not unworthy to be your aid. The realms and seigniories in my possession demonstrate the extent of my power." To this, Henry graciously replied, "Neither your realms nor other the places of your power are a matter of my regard, but the steadfastness and loyal keeping of promises comprised in

charters between you and me. I never saw prince with my eyes that might of my heart be more beloved; and for your love have I passed the seas into the farthest frontier of my kingdoms to see you." The two monarchs dismounted together, and walked arm-in-arm into the tent, where they partook of a costly banquet. After they had ended, and spice and wine had been served up in the tent, "ipocras was chief drink, of plenty to all that would drink outside." The kings then came out of the tent, when Henry's favoured historian obtained a near view of the person and the clothes (which seemed to him of more importance) of the French monarch. "The said Francis," says he, "is a goodly prince, stately of countenance and merry of cheer; brown coloured, great eyes, high nosed, big lipped, fair breasted and shouldered, with small legs and long feet."*

Several months before this meeting, it had been proclaimed, by sound of brazen trumpet, in all the principal cities of Europe, that the Kings of France and England, as brothers in arms, would hold solemn jousts and tournays, and defend the field against all knights. An inclosure, called the camp, had been prepared at great cost for these chivalrous conflicts. It was 900 feet long, and 320 feet broad, defended with broad moats, and partially surrounded with scaffolds and galleries for the accommodation of the two queens and the ladies of their courts. In the midst of the arena was an artificial mound, and on the mound were raised two artificial trees-a hawthorn for England, and a raspberry, symbolical of France-with their stems and branches lovingly interlaced. At the entrance to the camp were two tents, richly adorned, for the two kings, wherein they armed themselves, and took their ease after their martial exercises; and close at hand were two great cellars brim-full of wine, which was as free to all men as the water of the fountain. On the 11th of June the jousts were opened-the queens having taken their places. Catherine was most brilliantly equipped, her very foot-cloth being powdered with pearls. The kings rode together to the mound, Henry having for his aids Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk, the Marquess of Dorset, Sir William Kingston, Sir Richard Jerningham, Sir Giles Capell, Mr. Nicholas Carew, and Mr. Anthony Knevitt; and Francis having for his aids the Lords of St. Pol, Montmorency, Biron, and other noble gentlemen. The shield of Henry, bearing the arms of England within the garter, was hung upon one tree; and the shield of Francis, bearing the arms of France within a collar of his order of St. Michael, was suspended on the other. Many illustrious knights from different countries entered the lists as challengers; and then the trumpets

• Hall. Those who remember the spirited, intellectual-looking portrait of Francis, painted by Titian, will be inclined to think that this annalist has scarcely done the French king justice. But beyond pageants, and dresses, and feasts, Hall was wholly out of his depth. He was, notwithstanding, a proper historian for such a king as Henry VIII.; and there is no having a correct notion of the solemn trifles which filled up so large a part of this reign without referring to his ponderous sentences and elaborate descriptions.

brayed, and the mock combats began. Such was the address of the two monarchs, or such the practical flattery of their opponents, that they fought five battles each day, and invariably came off victorious. Six days were spent in tilting with lances, two in tourneys with the broad sword on horseback, and the two last in fighting on foot at the barriers. The feats of the combatants were registered in a book, wherein the heralds were not likely to permit the exploits of kings to lose by their modesty of expression. The English being much given to wrestling, some of the meaner sort amused themselves in that manner; and Henry, who had cultivated all kinds of sports and exercises, one day challenged his brother of France to try a fall with him, and caught hold of his collar. Francis, who was very agile, threw his grace. Henry rose, and demanded his revenge, but the by-standers discreetly interfered.

No pageantry or outward show of friendship could reconcile the ancient jealousies of the two nations, or even remove their mutual suspicions. The English, as Comines has told us, had usually been very careless and confiding in matters of conference and interviews; but the court of Henry was certainly not so on the present occasion. Francis, on the contrary, who, with all his faults, had a certain generosity and nobleness of disposition, grew weary of these suspicions and cautions, and made a remarkable effort to put an end to them, and break through the barriers of etiquette. Early one morning, without saying a word to his courtiers, he rode to the English quarters attended only by a page and two gentlemen. He presented himself to Henry, who was still in bed, telling him, in a playful manner, that he was now his prisoner. Henry, touched by this mark of confidence, leaped out of bed, thanked him, and threw a splendid collar over his neck. Francis, in return, presented Henry with a rich bracelet. The French king, still further to testify his friendly humour, insisted upon helping his grace of England to put on his clothes; and he warmed his shirt, spread out his hose, and trussed his points. This done, he mounted his horse, and rode homewards. As he drew near Ardres he met some of his court and his brave and faithful friend Fleuranges, who did not hesitate to reprove him.

Sir," said he, "I am right glad to see you back again; but let me tell you, my master, that you were a fool to do the thing you have done; and ill luck betide those who advised you to it." "And that was nobody-the thought was all my own, and could have come from no other head," replied the light-hearted king.

Henry could scarcely do less than return this visit in the like confiding and unceremonious manner; and, after this, the intercourse between the two courts was more familiar. There were banquets and balls, masking and mumming, in which the ladies and the two kings played their parts— Henry being especially fond of masquerades and fantastic disguisings of his person. "But," says

Memoires de Fleuranges.