sented to an armistice which should last for six months. Sep. 8. Sep. 9. It was not, however, long before he saw reason to doubt the policy of such vacillating conduct. In the disastrous battle of St. Aubin, sir Edward Wydevile July 28. was slain with all his countrymen and seventeen hundred Bretons, who, to deceive the enemy, had adopted the white coats and red crosses of the English soldiers. The duke of Orleans was made prisoner: St. Aubin, Dinant, and St. Malo surrendered : and Francis signed a treaty; by which he consented that Charles should retain all his conquests, and bound himself not to marry either of his daughters without the approbation of his lord. But the sequel was still more perplexing. In a few weeks Francis died, and soon afterwards his younger daughter followed him to the grave. The king of France, in virtue of his pretended claim, demanded the whole succession: hostilities recommenced, and before Christmas one. half of Bretagne was in the hands of the French. The clamour of the nation now roused Henry from his apathy. On the same day he dispatched envoys to the kings of Spain and Portugal, to Maximilian and his son the archduke Philip, to Anne of Bretagne, and Charles of France. Of these embassies the four first were chiefly meant for parade to the orphan princess he made an offer of an English army; to the king of France he proposed a renewal of the truce, but with an additional clause, that each party might include his allies. Sensible that the proposal would be rejected, he insinuated to Charles, that if his people compelled him to aid 1 . Bacon, 29-32. Rym. xii. 344. 347. Com. Supplem. c. ii. iv. Hall, 11--14. Daniel, ann. 1485-1488. Dec. 11. He obtains aid from 1489. Jan. 13, Feb. 10. the Bretons, his army should act entirely on the defensive. ' Henry now summoned a parliament. The nation was parliament. anxious to rescue a young and unfortunate princess from the power of a victorious enemy: but the coldhearted king had determined to enrich himself from the generosity of the one, and the necessities of the other. From his subjects he demanded an aid of one hundred thousand pounds for the maintenance of ten thousand archers during twelve months: but the amount was cut down to seventy-five thousand; and to raise that sum, the lords for themselves, the commons for themselves and their constituents, granted the king a tenth of the yearly produce of their lands, fees, and pensions, with a tax on personal property of one penny in eight. To Anne he promised an army of six thousand archers to serve for six months; but on conditions to which her necessities compelled her to subscribe, that she should surrender two fortresses as securities for the repayment of the expense, and should take an oath not to marry without his consent. In the spring the lord Willoughby de Brook landed in Bretagne with the stipulated number of men : but as Charles knew that the English were forbidden to undertake offensive operations, he ordered his own forces to abstain from a general engagement. The consequence was that a few skirmishes kept up the appearance of hostilities; and the auxiliaries, as soon as the six months of their service were completed, returned to their own country. " Nov. Battle of 2 But, if the war languished in Bretagne, it was distinguished by a most brilliant action in Flanders. The 1 Rym. xii. 347-355. Bacon, 37. Hall, v. 15. Com. Supplem. v. 2 Bacon, 37. Rym. xii. 362. 372. Rot. Parl. vi. 420. revolted Flemings with the aid of de Cordes had besieged Dixmude: and the lords Daubeney and Morley with two thousand archers and thrice that number of Germans, attacked them in their camp, though it was defended by a strong battery. The archers poured a volley of arrows into the trenches, fell on the ground till the guns had been discharged, rose on their feet, poured in a second volley, and rushed precipitately into the camp. The victory was complete : but it was stained with cruelty. Revenge for the death of «< that gentill yong knight the lord Morley », so transported the victors, that they refused to give quarter, and eight thousand of the enemy are said to have been slain, a carnage almost unparalleled, if we consider the small number of the combatants in each army. ' The expedition to Bretagne had, however, been productive of some advantage. It had stopped the progress of the French arms. At the same time the levies of Ferdinand king of Spain had compelled Charles to detach a numerous force to Fontarabia, for the protection of that frontier. In these circumstances the defeat at Dixmude, and the surrender of St. Omer to the king of the Romans, induced the French monarch to listen to proposals for peace; and in a convention with Maximilian, he consented to restore to the princess all the towns which belonged to Francis at the time of his 1 Hall, 18. Bacon, 47. The herald has celebrated in his journal the resolution of an archer, called John Person of Coventry, who having lost a leg by a cannon shot, continued to discharge his arrows kneeling or sitting, « And when the Frenchemen fledde, he cried to one of his felowes, and saide, have thow these six arrowes that I have lefte, and folow thow the chase, for I may not. The which John Person died within few days after, on whose soulle « Gode have mercy. » Lel. Coll. iv. 247. « Insurrection in Northumberland. death, and promised that, as soon as the English forces should retire, and she should give security for her allegiance, St. Malo, Fougeres, Dinant, and St. Aubin should be sequestered, to remain in the hands of an indifferent person, till the claim of Charles to the dutchy could be satisfactorily determined. We may now return to England, where of the sum voted in the last session of parliament only a small part had been raised, The commons of the northern counties had not only refused to pay their proportion, but had even murdered the king's lieutenant the earl of April 28. Northumberland. But the insurrection was quickly sup 1490. Feb. 27. pressed by the earl of Surrey: John à Chambre, one of the ringleaders, suffered at York and sir John Egremond, the other, escaped to the dutchess of Burgundy. In the next session the deficiency of the tax, which instead of seventy-five had produced no more than twenty-five thousand pounds, was amply supplied by the grant of a tenth and fifteenth. Henry with great care deposited the money in his coffers. War was not his object. Instead of military preparations he consumed the whole of the present and a great part of the next year in forming and reforming alliances with the kings of Spain and of the Romans. Never perhaps did three princes profess more, and feel less, affection for each other. For the common advantage of christendom they agreed to set bounds to the ambition of France : but in reality each sought, by working on the apprehensions of Charles, to promote his individual interest. Maximilian hoped to recover the ancient patrimony of his family in the north of France, and with the dutchess to obtain the dutchy of Bretagne : FerHall, 16. Bacon, 41. Fab. 528. Lel. Coll, iv. 246. 1 dinand expected to procure the restitution of Rousillon, which he had formerly mortgaged for a loan of three hundred thousand crowns: while Henry cared little for the fate of Bretagne, or the interest of his allies, provided he could extort from Anne security for the repayment of his expenses, and from Charles a valuable present in reward of his forbearance. ' Anne of Bretagne married The king of the Romans both by the promptitude with which he had formerly sent succours to Francis, and the attention which he had lately paid to the in- by proxy. terests of Anne, had won the esteem of both the father and daughter: and when, during the cessation of hostilities, she signified her consent to his proposal of marriage, she did no more than comply with the wishes of her deceased parent. If Maximilian had improved the golden opportunity to visit Bretagne, he would have secured the object of his ambition; but his Flemish subjects were in rebellion; the journey by land or water would expose him to his enemies; and it was thought that a marriage by proxy would be equally certain, and less dangerous. With this view the prince of Orange, as the representative of the king of the Romans, married the dutchess in his name in the month of April: and within a few weeks, the lord d'Albret, one of her suitors, to revenge the disappointment, betrayed to the French the important city of Nantes. War was now renewed: the king of the Romans thinking himself secure, neglected to succour his wife : Henry harassed her with demands of money for the repayment of his former expenses and Charles formed the plan, suspected by neither of these powers, of compelling her to 'Rot. Parl. vi. 433. Rym. xi. 387. 394-430. 437. 440. 448. 1491. Apr. May. |