J. H. Merle D'Aubigné - History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin (Vol. 1-8)

The two princes resolved to 'take from the pope the obedience of their kingdoms,' as Guicciardini says. 259However, before resorting to extreme measures, Francis desired to begin with milder means, and Henry was forced to consent that France should forward his grievances to Rome.

=THE MASKED LADY.=

After living together for four days at Boulogne, Henry and Francis went to Calais, where the latter found his apartments hung with cloth of gold, embroidered with pearls and precious stones. At table, the viands were served on one hundred and seventy dishes of solid gold. Henry gave a grand masked ball, at which the King of France was considerably tantalised by a masked lady of very elegant manners with whom he danced. She spoke French like a Frenchwoman, abounded in wit and grace, and knew, in its most trifling details, all the scandal of the court of France. The king declared the lady to be charming, and her neck the prettiest he had ever seen. He little imagined then that this neck would one day be severed by the orders of Henry VIII. At the end of the dance, the King of England, with a smile, removed the lady's mask, and showed the features of Anne Boleyn, Marchioness of Pembroke, who (it will be recollected) had been brought up at the court of the French king's sister. 260

Pleasure did not make the two princes forget business. They were again closeted, and signed a treaty, in accordance with which they engaged to raise an army of 65,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry, intended apparently to act against the Turks. 261Du Bellay's policy was in the ascendant. 'The great king,' he said, 'is staggering from his obedience.' 262

=FRANCIS THREATENS SEPARATION.=

Wishing to make a last effort before determining to break with the pope, Francis summoned Cardinals de Tournon and de Gramont, men devoted to his person, and said to them: 'You will go to the holy father and lay before him in confidence both our grievances and our dissatisfaction. You will tell him that we are determined to employ, as soon as may be advisable, all our alliances, public as well as private, to execute great things ... from which much damage may ensue and perpetual regret for the future. You will tell him that, in accord with other christian princes, we shall assemble a council without him, and that we shall forbid our subjects in future to send money to Rome. You will add—but as a secret and after taking the pope aside—that in case his holiness should think of censuring me and forcing me to go to Rome for absolution, I shall come, but so well attended that his holiness will be only too eager to grant it me....

'Let the pope consider well,' added the king, 'that the Germans, the Swiss League, and several other countries in Christendom, have separated from Rome. Let him understand that if two powerful kings like us should also secede, we should find many imitators, both Italians and others ; 263and that, at the least, there would be a greater war in Europe than any known in time past.' 264

Such were the proud words France sent to Rome. The two kings separated. A young prince, held captive by Charles V., gave them the first opportunity of acting together against both emperor and pope.

243Le Grand, Hist. du Divorce de Henri VIII. i. p. 20.

244'Ex oppido unde fluctu Lexoviorum.'—Rommel, Philippe le M. ii. p. 259.

245 History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century , vol. iv. bk. xiv. ch. xii.

246Lutheri Epp. iv. p. 201—Dec. 1530.

247 Warnung an seine lieben Deutschen. Lutheri Opp. lib. xx. p. 298.

248Seckendorf, pp. 1174-1192, sqq.

249Urban Regius to the Landgrave.

250Lutheri Epp. iv. pp. 335, 337, 369, 372, sqq.

251Du Bellay, Mémoires , pp. 168, 169, Paris, 1588. The historian is very well informed, especially on everything concerning his brother's missions.

252 Hist. of the Ref. of the Sixteenth Cent. vol. iii. bk. xii. chap. xi.

253Du Bellay, Mémoires , pp. 171, 172.

254Du Bellay, Mémoires , pp. 171, 172.

255'Deus tibi comes nunquam deerit, in quo sapentiæ thesauri atque divitiarum consistunt.' See Ademarus, monk of Angoulême in 1029, Chronic. Gesta Synodi Aurelianensis , &c.

256The articles are given in Herbert's Life of Henry VIII. p. 366, sqq. Du Bellay, Mémoires , p. 171.

257Du Bellay, Mémoires , p. 173.

258Du Bellay, Mémoires , pp. 173, 174.

259Guicciardini, Hist. des Guerres d'Italie , ii. liv. xx. p. 893.

260'The French king talked with the marchioness a space.'— Hall , p. 794.

261Le Grand, Hist. du Divorce de Henri VIII. p. 238.

262Brantôme, Mémoires , i. p. 235.

263The words tant italiens que autres , are not in the speech delivered at Calais according to Du Bellay; but they are in the written instructions given to the two cardinals. Preuves des Libertés , p. 260.

264Du Bellay, Mémoires , pp. 175, 176, sqq.

Table of Contents

THE news of the meeting of Francis I. and Henry VIII. alarmed Germany, Italy, and all Europe. 'The kings of France and England,' it was said, 'are going to take advantage of the emperor's campaign against the Turks, to unite their armies with those of the protestants and gain a signal victory.' 265But nobody was more alarmed than the pope. Abruptly addressing the Bishop of Auxerre, the minister of France, he made the bitterest complaints to him. 266Already he saw France, like England, shaking off the yoke of Rome. 'I have it from good authority,' says Brantôme, 'that the King of France was on the point of renouncing the pope, as the King of England had done.' 267

On leaving Boulogne, Francis went to Paris, where he spent the winter and took his measures for 'the great effort' with which he threatened the pope. The priests were very uneasy, and began to dread a reform similar to that in England. Calling to mind that in Denmark, Sweden, and elsewhere, a great part of the ecclesiastical property had been transferred to the treasury of the State, they granted the king all he asked; and the prince thus obtained between five and six hundred thousand ducats, which put him in a condition to do 'the great things' with which the cardinals were to menace the pontiff. 268An unexpected event furnished the opportunity of employing the priests' money in favour of the Reformation.

=CHARLES V. HASTENS TO ITALY.=

The haughty Soliman had invaded Hungary, in July 1532, at the head of numerous and terrible hordes. Displaying a luxury without precedent, he gave audience on a golden throne, with a crown of solid gold at his side, and the scabbards of his swords covered with pearls. But erelong the sickly Charles succeeded in terrifying this magnificent barbarian. Having raised an army which combined the order and strength of the German lansquenets with the lightness and impetuosity of the Italian bands and the pride and perseverance of the Spanish troops, he forced Soliman to retreat. The emperor was all the more delighted, as the conference between Henry and Francis made him impatient to settle with the Mussulmans. It was even said in the empire that it was this conference which brought Charles back, as he desired to join the pope in combating projects which threatened them both. The emperor passed the Alps in the autumn of 1532. 269

Among the nobles and warriors who accompanied him, was a young prince of eighteen, Christopher, son of Duke Ulrich of Wurtemberg. He was only five years old when his father was expelled from his duchy by the Austrians; and the latter, wishing to make him forget Wurtemberg, resolved to separate him from his country and his parents. The little boy and his guardians having left Stuttgard, stopped to pass the night in a town near the frontier. A lamb was gambolling in the yard; the poor boy, delighted with the gentleness of the animal, ran and took it up in his arms, and began to play with it. In the morning, just as they were leaving, little Christopher, less distressed at their taking away his sceptre than at their separating him from his pet companion, kissed it with tears in his eyes, and said to the host: 'Pray take care of it, and when I return I will pay you for your trouble.'