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as

carried on the siege with vigour, and breached the wall in many places; as the besieged, on the other hand, plied their artillery with effect, and such of the wounded English as could either stand or draw a bow never left the walls. At length the assailants one day gave a great assault to one of the towers, and entered it by force, and set up the banner of the sieur de Cordes; but, 66 God would, during the assault, a bark from Calais, with fourscore fresh English archers, come straight to the town. The women of the place no sooner perceived them, than they cried with lamentable and loud voices, Help, Englishmen! help, Englishmen Shoot, Englishmen ! shoot, Englishmen!' and what with the help of such as before were wounded and hurt men, and of the courageous hearts of the new-come archers, and the stout stomach and diligency of the women, who, as fast as the Englishmen struck down their enemies, were ready to cut their throats, they retook the town, and also the French who had entered it, and rent the banner of the lord des Cordes, and set up the pennon of St. George." The enemy, supposing that a great succour had arrived, gave over the assault, and during the following night broke up the siege.*

The semblance of peace between the two countries was now no longer observed. Henry called a parliament, 1490. and opened it in person, saying, "My lords, and you the commons, when I purposed to make a war in Bretagne by my lieutenant, I made declaration thereof to you by my chancellor ; but now, that I mean to make a war upon France in person, I will declare it to you myself. That war was to defend another man's right, but this is to recover our own; and that ended by accident, but we hope this shall end in victory. The French king troubles the Christian world. That which he hath is not his own, and yet he seeketh more. He hath invested himself of Bretagne; he maintaineth the rebels in Flanders, and he threateneth Italy. For ourselves, he hath proceeded from dissimulation to neglect, and * Hall, 446. Holinshed, 495.

from neglect to contumely. He hath assailed our confederates; he denieth our tribute. In a word, he seeks war. So did not his father, but sought peace at our hands; and so perhaps will he, when good counsel, or time, shall make him see as much as his father did. Meanwhile, let us make his ambition our advantage, and let us not stand upon a few crowns of tribute or acknowledgment, but, by the favour of Almighty God, try our right for the crown of France itself; remembering that there hath been a French king prisoner in England, and a king of England crowned in France. Our confederates are not diminished. Burgundy is in a mightier hand than ever, and never more provoked. Bretagne cannot help us, but it may hurt them; new acquests are more burthen than strength. The malecontents of his own kingdom have not been base, popular, nor titulary impostors, but of an higher nature. The king of Spain (doubt ye not!) will join with us, not knowing where the French king's ambition will stay. Our holy father the pope likes no tramontanes in Italy. But howsoever it be, this matter of confederates is rather to be thought on than reckoned on: for God forbid but England should be able to get reason of France without a second. At the battles of Cressy, Poictiers, Agincourt, we were of ourselves. France hath much people, and few soldiers. They have not stable bands of foot. Some good horse they have; but those are forces which are least fit for a defensive war, when the actions are in the assailants' choice. It was our discords only that lost France; and, by the power of God, it is the good peace which we now enjoy that will recover it. God hath hitherto blessed my sword. My people and I know one another, which breeds confidence; and if there should be any bad blood left in the kingdom, an honourable foreign war will vent it, and purify it. In this great business let us have your advice and aid. If any of you were to make his son knight, you might have aid of your tenants by law. This concerns the knighthood and spurs of the kingdom, whereof I am father; and

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bound not only to seek to maintain it, but to advance it. But, for matter of treasure, let it not be taken from the poor sort, but from those to whom the benefit of the war may redound. France is no wilderness; and I that profess good husbandry, hope to make the war, after the beginning, to pay itself. Go together, in God's name, and lose no time; for I have called this parliament wholly for this cause.'

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The cause for which Henry thus appealed to parliament appeared so just, that every man allowed it ;" and, to spare the poorer classes, "whom he ever desired to keep in favour," the king raised money by an oppressive levy, misnamed a benevolence: it had been devised by Edward IV., and practised by him without the authority of parliament, and its abolition by Richard was one of the popular acts of that prince, who gave sufficient indication that he would have governed well, if the succession had rightfully devolved to him. While the armament against France was preparing, Henry sent a naval force to assist Maximilian in reducing the Flemings to obedience. This was an enterprise in which the interests of England were immediately concerned; for Ravensteyn "being," says lord Bacon, "not only a subject rebelled, but a servant revolted, and so much the more malicious and violent," had got together ships enough at Sluys to carry on a thriving trade of piracy against the vessels of all nations that passed along that coast, either to the great mart of Antwerp, or to any part of Brabant, Zeeland, or Friesland. The adjacent country and Picardy supplied him abundantly with victuals, and France afforded him secret assistance, for its own ambitious purposes. This was 66 to the great damage of Englishmen," who were spoiled and captured by these pirates, and it was an evil which could not easily be abated; for when Ravensteyn was "set for" by land, he fled to the sea; and when he was chased on the sea, he sought refuge in his two strong castles at Sluys, and ever he had succour from Bruges and Ghent. Maximilian had often

*Parl. Hist. i. 461.

attempted to get possession of Damme, thus both to cut off Bruges from the sea, and Ravensteyn from the resources of that great and flourishing city; but he had failed in all his attempts. Albert, duke of Saxony, now interfered, ostensibly as an umpire between Maximilian and his subjects, but, in truth, a fast friend to the former. Upon this pretext he repaired to Bruges, and, desiring to communicate with the states upon matters of great importance for their good, desired peaceable entrance for himself and a retinue of men-atarms fit for his estate, though somewhat the more numerous, he said, the better to guard him in a disturbed country. This having been granted, his carriages were sent before him, and harbingers to provide his lodging. The men entered peaceably, and he followed, they that went before still enquiring for inns and lodgings, as if they would have rested there, and so going on till they came to the gate that leads towards Damme, they of Bruges the while only looking on, and giving them passage. At Damme, no danger was apprehended from the side of Bruges. knew that some fresh attempt was against them, supposed this body of men to be succours sent them by their friends; and so, mistrusting nothing till it was too late, allowed them to enter. By this kind of sleight rather than stratagem was Damme 66 attrapped and taken, to the great discouragement and detriment of Bruges, which, it was thought, while it had no recourse to the sea, must needs fall in ruin and utter extermination." *

The captains, who likely to be made

Duke Albert immediately sent to the king of England to certify him of this success. He said that the rebellion in Flanders was kept alive chiefly by Sluys and Ravensteyn; and that, if the English would besiege it by sea, he would besiege it by land, and "so cut out the core of those wars." Henry, who was at all times distinguished for his forecast, and who wished to uphold the authority of Maximilian, readily assented to the wish.

* Hall, 451, 452. Holinshed, 497. Bacon, 263, 264.

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of his merchants that he should act against this den of thieves, for such it was to all that traversed those seas. He therefore despatched sir Edward Poynings, a man of approved worth, with twelve ships, well manned, and furnished with " strong artillery.' With this force Poynings cooped up Ravensteyn in his fort, and held in strait siege the maritime part of the town. Duke Albert besieged the greater castle, having taken up his quarters in a church over against it. The English assailed the lesser one, issuing every day out of their ships at the ebb, and sometimes fighting up to their knees in water. This sort of war, in which there seems to have been abundant courage and skill on both sides, continued for twenty days, with less loss than might have been expected, that of the English amounting to some fifty men, among whom was a brother of the earl of Oxford. At length the English set fire to the bridge of boats by which the two castles communicated. Ravensteyn saw then that he could no longer resist with any hope of success; he capitulated, and surrendered the forts to Poynings and the town to the duke. When the duke and the English captain met in the town, "there was between them," says Hall, great salutation." Something less agreeable occurred with the Germans in the duke's service; for, as the duke had nothing to pay them with, they demanded their wages of sir Edward. There was, however, a third party upon whom the expense was made to fall, with no injustice as regards the case between Maximilian and the town of Bruges, but with no honour to duke Albert, who had gained his first advantage by a breach of faith. The two commanders "so handled them of Bruges," that they submitted themselves to Maximilian, and paid enough of the charge of the war for dismissing the Germans and other foreign troops. Ghent and the other revolted towns followed the example of Bruges, and Poynings continued at Sluys till all things were settled." *

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* Hall, 452, 453. Holinshed, 497. Bacon, 265, 266.