1525. affirm pofitively, that the king might exact by commif- CHA P. fion any fum which he pleased; and the privy council XXIX. gave a ready affent to this decree, which annihilated the moft valuable privilege of the people, and rendered all their other privileges precarious. Armed with fuch formidable authority, of royal prerogative and a pretence of law, Wolfey fent for the mayor of London, and defired to know what he was willing to give for the fupply of his majesty's neceffities. The mayor feemed defirous, before he fhould declare himself, to confult 'the common council; but the cardinal required, that he and all the alderman should separately confer with himself about the benevolence; and he eluded by that means the danger of a formed oppofition. Matters, however, went not fo fmoothly in the country. An infurrection was begun in fome places; but as the people were not headed by any confiderable perfon, it was eafy for the duke of Suffolk, and the earl of Surrey, now duke of Norfolk, by employing perfuafion and authority, to induce the ringleaders to lay down their arms, and furrender themselves prifoners. The king, finding it dangerous to punish criminals, engaged in fo popular a caufe, was determined, notwithstanding his violent, imperious temper, to grant them a general pardon; and he very prudently imputed their guilt, not to their want of loyalty or affection, but to their poverty. The offenders were brought before the ftar-chamber; where, after a fevere charge laid against them by the king's council, the cardinal faid, "That, "notwithstanding their grievous offences, the king, in "confideration of their neceffities, had granted them "his gracious pardon, upon condition, that they would "give in fureties for their future good behaviour." they replying, that they had no fureties, the cardinal first, and after him the duke of Norfolk, faid, that they would ftand bound for them. Upon which they were difmiffed & But THESE arbitrary impofitions, being generally imputed to the cardinal's counfels, increafed the general odium, under which he laboured; and the clemency of the pardon, being afcribed to the king, was confidered as an atonement on his part for the illegality of the measure. G Herbert. Hall. Stowe, 525. Holingfhed, p. 891. But CHAP. But Wolfey, fupported both by royal and papal authority, XXIX. proceeded, without fcruple, to violate all ecclefiaftical privileges, which, during that age, were much more fa1525. cred than civil; and having once prevailed in that unusual attempt of fuppreffing fome monafteries, he kept all the reft in awe, and exercifed over them the most arbitrary jurifdiction. By his commiffion, as legate, he was impowered to vifit them, and reform them, and "chaftife their irregularities; and he employed his ufual agent, Allen, in the exercife of this authority. The religious houfes were obliged to compound for their guilt, real or pretended, by giving large fums to the cardinal or his deputy; and this oppreffion was carried fo far, that it reached at laft the king's ears, which were not commonly open to complaints against his favourite. He reproved Wolfey in fevere terms, which rendered him, if not more innocent, at least more cautious for the future. That minifter had built a fplendid palace at Hamptoncourt, which he probably intended, as well as that of York-place in Westminster, for his own ufe; but fearing the increase of envy on account of this magnificence, and defirous to appease the king, he made him a present of that building, and told him, that, from the first, he had erected it for his fervice. THE abfolute authority, poffeffed by the king, rendered his domeftic government, both over his people and his minifters, eafy and expeditious: The conduct of foreign affairs alone required effort and application; and they were now brought to such a situation, that it was no longer fafe for England to be entirely neutral. The feigned moderation of the emperor was of very fhort date; and it was foon obvious to all the world, that his great dominions, far from gratifying his ambition, were only regarded as the means of acquiring an empire more extenfive. The terms, propofed by him to his prifoner, were fuch as must have for ever annihilated the power of France, and destroyed the balance of Europe. He re quired, that that monarch should restore to him the dutchy of Burgundy, ufurped, as he pretended, by Lewis the eleventh upon his ancestors; that he fhould yield Provence and Dauphiny to the duke of Bourbon, to be poffeffed by him in full sovereignty, without fief or homage to the crown of France; that he should satisfy the king of England with regard to the provinces, which that prince prince claimed as his inheritance; and that he fhould CHA P. renounce all title to Naples, Milan, Genoa, or any ter- XXIX. ritory in Italy H. THESE demands were propofed to Francis, foon after the battle of Pavia, while he was detained in Pizzighitone; and as he had hitherto trufted fomewhat to the emperor's generofity, the difappointment excited in his breaft the most lively indignation. He faid, that he would rather live and die a prifoner than agree to difmember his kingdom; and that, even were he to bafe as to submit to fuch terms, his fubjects would never permit him to carry them into execution. The offers, which he made for obtaining his liberty, were, that he would renounce all claims in Italy, that he would affift the emperor in recovering the territories ufurped upon the empire by the Venetians, that he would relinquish the homage due by the emperor for Artois and Flanders, that he would marry Eleonora, the emperor's fifter, (for he was now a widower) and acknowledge the dutchy of Burgundy to be poffeffed as her dowry, and to be inherited by her children. 1525. FRANCIS was encouraged to perfift in thefe offers, by the favourable accounts, which he heard of Henry's dif pofitions towards him, and of the alarms, which had feized all the chief powers in Italy, upon his defeat and captivity. He was uneafy, however, to be fo far diftant Francis refrom the emperor with whom he must treat; and he defir- moved to ed to be removed to Madrid, in hopes that a perfonal Madrid. interview would operate much in his favour, and that Charles, if not influenced by his minifters, might be found poffeffed of the fame frankness of difpofition, by which he himfelf was diftinguished. He was foon convinced of his mistake. The emperor, under pretence of an affembly of the states at Toledo, kept, during fome time, at a distance from him; and even after they broke up, delayed his vifit to the captive king; feigning a delicacy in that particular, as if his company, in the prefent fituation of affairs, before any terms were agreed on, would be regarded as an infult upon the royal prifoner. Francis, partly from want of exercise, partly from reflections on his prefent melancholy fituation, fell into a languifhing illness; which begot apprehenfions in Charles, left Guicciardini, lib. 16. 1 De Vera hift. de Charles V. CHA P. left the death of his captive fhould bereave him of all XXIX. thofe advantages, which he propofed to extort from him. He then paid him a vifit in the Caftle of Madrid; and as 1525. he approached the bed in which Francis lay, the fick monarch called to him, "You come, Sir, to visit your "prifoner." "No," replied the emperor, "I come to "vifit my brother, and my friend, who fhall foon obtain "his liberty." He foothed his affliction with many fpeeches of a like nature, which had fo good an effect, that the king. daily recovered; and thenceforth employed himself in concerting with the minifters of the empefor the terms of his treaty. WHILE this negociation advanced flowly, fortune threw into the emperor's hands a new opportunity of enlarging his dominions in Italy. Francis forza, impatient that his inveftiture of Milan fhould fo long be delayed, and that even after it was granted, it fhould be encumbered with many exorbitant conditions, had endeavoured to feduce Pescara, the imperial general, from his fidelity, and to engage him in a confpiracy against his master. Pescara feigned to enter into the defign; but having revealed the whole contrivance, he received orders to take poffeffion of the Milanefe; and Charles made no fecret of his intention to try Sforza and confifcate his fief, on account of the treason, which he had committed against his liege-lord and fovereign. This incident retained the Italian powers in closer union with France; and the emperor, by grafping too much, found himself in danger of lofing all his advantages. His apprehenfions were encreased, when he heard, that Francis had fent a refignation of his crown to the regent, and had desired that the dauphin might be crowned king; orders, which though they were not obeyed, thewed his determined refolution never to fubmit to the unreasonable terms required of him. The chief difficulty of the treaty was now reduced to the ceffion of Burgundy, demanded by Charles; and even that territory, Francis had agreed to yield, but he still infifted on first recovering his liberty. All mutual confidence was loft between the two princes; and each feared, left advantage fhould be taken of his fimplicity, fhould he first execute his part of the treaty." AT laft the emperor was willing to relax of his rigour 14th Jan in this particular; and the treaty of Madrid was figned, 1526. Herbert, De Vera, Sandoval. by L Guicciardini, lib. 16. XXIX. 1526. by which, it was hoped, an end would be finally put to CHA the differences between these great monarchs. The principal' condition was the restoring of Francis's liberty, and the delivery of his two eldest fons as hoftages to the emperor for the ceffion of Burgundy: If any difficulty fhould afterwards occur in the execution of this last article, from the oppofition of the ftates, either of France or of that province, Francis ftipulated, that in fix weeks. time, he would return to his prifon, and remain there till the full performance of the treaty. There were many other articles in this famous convention, all of them rigorus and fevere to the laft degree against the captive monarch; and Charles difcovered evidently his intention of reducing Italy, as well as France, to fubjection and dependance. MANY of Charles's minifters, forefaw that Francis, however folemn the oaths, promifes, and proteftations exacted of him, never would execute a treaty, which was fo difadvantageous, or rather ruinous and deftructive, to himself, his pofterity, and his country. By putting Burgundy into the emperor's hands, he gave his powerful enemy an entrance into the heart of the kingdom: By facrificing his allies in Italy, he deprived himself of all foreign affistance; and arming his oppreffor with the whole force and wealth of that opulent country, rendered him abfolutely irrefiftable. To thefe great views of intereft, were added the motives, no lefs cogent, of paffion and refentment; while Francis, a prince, who piqued himself on generofity, reflected on the rigour with which he had been treated during his captivity, and the cruel terms which had been exacted of him for the recovery of his freedom. It was alfo foreseen, that the emulation and rivalship, which had fo long fubfifted between these two monarchs, would make him feel the strongest reluctance on yielding the fuperiority to an antagonist, who, by the whole tenor of his conduct, he would be apt to think, had fhewn himself fo little worthy of that advantage, which fortune, and fortune alone, had put into his hands. His minifters, his friends, his fubjects, his allies, would be fure, with one voice, to inculcate on him, that the first object of a prince, was the prefervation of his people; and that the laws of honour, which with a private man ought to be abfolutely fupreme, and fuperior to all interefts, were with a fovereign fubordinate to the great |