Henri II: His Court and Times Read Online Free PDF Page B

Navarre, Naples, Milan,
Burgundy, and Flanders would in any case have rendered inevitable.
Both sovereigns were sworn to remain at peace whatever
the issue of the election, but in those days such
engagements were but lightly regarded, and pretexts for
violating them were seldom wanting. In view of the approaching
conflict, the great aim of both was now to secure the alliance of
England, and here again Fortune ultimately smiled on Charles.
François invited Henry VIII to an interview, and in the month of
June 1520, the two Courts, "bearing their mills, their forests and
their meadows on their shoulders," 06 met between Guines and Ardres, on a spot which received the name of
the "Field of the Cloth of Gold."
    Nothing came of this ruinous pageant, for, though François
parted from his brother of England under the illusion that he
was assured of his support, the latter had been merely acting a part.
Wolsey, indeed, who guided Henry's policy, had been already gained
over by Charles V, and a few days before the English King sailed
for France the Emperor had landed at Dover, and an interview had
taken place between the two monarchs. On taking leave of François,
Henry journeyed to Gravelines to return his nephew's visit, and
Charles escorted him back to Calais. The second interview effectually
destroyed any impressions in favour of François which might
have been left by the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and the
King subsequently announced that he intended to adopt an
attitude of strict neutrality towards the two rivals, and to declare
against the aggressor.
    The aggressor, as Henry VIII had doubtless foreseen,
proved to be François, who, in April 1521, 06b after several
ineffectual efforts to gall his astute adversary into taking the
offensive, struck the first blow, by sending an army under
Bonnivet 07 into Navarre,
to aid Henri d'Albret to recover hiskingdom, and another under the Duc d'Alencon, first husband
of his sister, Marguerite d'Angoulême, to assist Charles's
rebellious vassal, Robert de la Marck, who from his little
principality of Bouillon was devastating the southern borders
of the Netherlands. Charles, on his side, retaliated by
invading France and laying siege to Tournai, and concluded
(May 8, 1521) a treaty with Leo X for the expulsion of the
French from Italy, that Machiavellian pontiff having been
induced to change sides, partly by the promise of territorial
aggrandizement, and partly by the hope of inducing Charles
to check the Reformation in Germany, by procuring the Diet's
condemnation of Luther.
    At first, the fortune of war inclined to François's side. The Swiss in the
Papal service were reluctant to fight against their brethren in French pay, and
little impression was made on the defences of the Milanese; Bonnivet surprised
Fontarabia, the key of North-Western Spain; and the Count of
Nassau, who commanded the army which had invaded France,
was compelled by the advance of a superior force under the
King in person to raise the siege of Mezières and fall back
hurriedly across the frontier, leaving the French to ravage
Hainaut and Western Flanders. François was strongly
advised to pursue and fall upon the retreating Imperialists, but
he hesitated and allowed them to escape him. "If he had
attacked them," writes Guillaume Du Bellay, "the Emperor
would that day have lost both honour and fortune. . . . He
was at Valenciennes in such despair that during the night he
fled to Flanders with a hundred horse. That day, God had
delivered our enemies into our hands; but we would not
accept the gift, a refusal which afterwards cost us dear." 08
    So hopeless, however, seemed Charles's position in the
autumn of 1521, that Wolsey, who on August 2 had concludedon behalf of Henry VIII a secret agreement with the Emperor
at Bruges, implored him to accept a truce, and his aunt
Margaret of Austria 09 used her influence in the same direction.
But Charles refused to consent to such a step, and his obstinacy
was