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CHAPTER V

THE old King being dead, the first and most pressing question for Wolsey was the position of his master's sister as a young widow at the French Court.

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Early in January Wolsey, who had not yet heard of the King's death, but had heard of his imminent danger, begged Mary to do nothing without the King's advice, and if any notions of marriage or other offers fortune to be made unto you, in no wise give hearing.'1 On January 10th Mary writes to Wolsey: As it shall please the King my brother and his Council I shall be ordered, and whereas you advise me that I should make no promise, my Lord, I trust the King my brother and you will not reckon in me such childhood.' 2 On January 14th the mission of condolence and of congratulation to Francis I, headed by the Duke of Suffolk, left England for France. It was a curious choice, that of Suffolk, for, reading in the light of after-events, there can be little doubt that both Wolsey and the King

L. and P., vol. ii. No. 16. 2 Ibid. No. 16. 3 Ibid. No. 25.

knew he was Queen Mary's lover, and Mary was surely too valuable a diplomatic asset to be thrown away on an upstart favourite like Suffolk.

One of the most important parts of Suffolk's mission was that Mary should bring back to England not only her own jewels, but the jewels that her doting old husband had lavished on her, as well as securing the return of her dowry and the punctual payment of her marriage portion. But Suffolk was no diplomat, as Wolsey was to find out to his cost. It is hardly necessary to go into the details of this sixteenth-century romance. Suffice it to say that Francis became conversant with the lovers' secret, cajoled Suffolk and bullied Mary, till the young girl, taking her courage in her two hands, told Suffolk that, if he did not marry her at once, 'he need never look to have her.' Suffolk weakly consented, and the couple were married privately. Both then appealed to the King for forgiveness,' but Henry was furious at Suffolk having broken his word, which he had pledged before leaving, and at his stupidity in his diplomatic dealings with Francis. All hope of recovery of jewels and dowry was gone, and for a short period it seemed certain that Suffolk would pay for his temerity with his head; but Wolsey, though he lectured the couple on their behaviour, stood their firm friend in the Privy Council; but it needed all Wolsey's influence and

1 L. and P., vol. ii, No. 224.

matchless tact to ride the storm. They were eventually entirely forgiven, and on their return to England were openly married at Greenwich before the King. It was some time, however, before Suffolk completely regained his position of influence at Court.

Indeed, the beginning of this year was troubled by the doings of both Henry's sisters. Margaret, the widowed Queen of Scotland, had determined that the state of widowhood was not to her liking; in fact, her matrimonial troubles bear a close resemblance to those of her brother in England; so she began to look about for a new husband, and later on, on the 6th of August 1514, she married the boy Earl of Angus, who was not quite twenty. At once a portion of the Scottish nobility, headed by Hume, the Lord Chamberlain, and Beaton, the Chancellor, Archbishop of Glasgow, determined to get rid of her authority as regent of the realm, turning their eyes in the direction of Albany, who was still in France.

The accession of Francis I made things easier. On May 15th the Scots accepted the pacification which had been arranged between England and France in the previous year;1 on May 17th Albany landed in Scotland; and in July he was proclaimed regent of the kingdom and guardian of the Princes. But before this had happened

1 Hume Brown, p. 355.

Lennox had seized Dumbarton for Albany, and the Pope had attempted a compromise between Angus and the Humes by making Andrew Forman Archbishop of St. Andrews and Gavin Douglas Bishop of Dunkeld.1 Here for the present we must leave Scotland.

Suffolk, before leaving France in February, had written to tell Wolsey that the French King was very desirous to come to an amicable agreement for the recovery of Tournay, which was still held by the English; indeed, Francis was anxious to settle up matters with England, so as to be able to carry out his cherished plan for the invasion of Italy; so on April 5th a fresh treaty of peace was signed between England and France.3 On March 23 Spinelly announced to Henry VIII that war had begun between France and Spain.1

Before entering into an account, which, however, of necessity must be a brief one, of the first Italian campaign of Francis I, it were perhaps as well to gain some idea of the personal characteristics of the young monarch who was to play such an important part in the affairs of Europe for many years to come.

It is difficult to disentangle the character of Francis I from the legends of romance and of abuse that have gathered round the last great 2 L. and P., vol. iis P. 132. 4 Ibid. No. 261.

1 Hume Brown, p. 355.
3 Ibid.
p. 301.

Valois King. Pictured by many as the last paragon of chivalry, handsome, dashing, brave, courteous, friend and munificent patron of poets, painters, and men of letters, François le Premier has been the idol of many a tale of knightly chivalry. On the other hand, his cruelty, his callousness to the sufferings of his people, his gross immorality, his half-cynical, half-superstitious piety, have made him an object of violent abuse. Perhaps it is possible to draw a middle line, recognising his great, though somewhat showy, qualities at the same time seeing the darker traits in his character, which were evident from the first days of his reign, when an observer might have noticed his callousness to the feelings of the widowed Queen, which later developed into the frivolous brutalities which seem to have stained all the later Valois; his riding disguised through the streets of Paris, pelting the citizens with missiles for sheer amusement; his cynical bad faith, which became a byword through Europe. Again, the martial glory which crowned him in the first years of his reign as the young conqueror of Marignano, his courage in the dark hour of defeat at Pavia, stamped him as a gallant soldier; but towards the end of his life, sunk in a life of vicious brutality, he lost his energy and almost his courage, and paved the way for the fall of his house, and the ruin and devastation of France in the wars of religion.

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