Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 2.djvu/143

A.D. 1513.] he took it into his head to marry Brandon to no other than Margaret, the Dowager Duchess of Savoy. This lady was the daughter of the Emperor of Germany, the Regent of the Netherlands, the aunt of the heir to the mighty kingdoms of Austria, the Netherlands, and Spain. She had been already married to John, Prince of Spain, and afterwards to Philibert, Duke of Savoy. She had all the pride of her race and her position; yet Henry saw no difficulty in asking her to become the wife of a simple English knight, of an origin plebeian. Margaret repelled the attempt with astonishment and indignation; but whether it were from some sudden fit of passion and ambition on the part of the favourite, or the whim of the monarch, he pressed his suit, and managed to extort from her some expression which seemed to favour his proposal. It is not likely that the lady would ever really have consented to this marriage—but we shall see that another equally extraordinary alliance was reserved for Brandon.

In affairs like these, the great hero of imaginary Creçys and Azincourts had wasted the precious moments which might have made him master of Paris. For himself or his country he had done nothing; for his ally, the calculating Maximilian, he had done much. Henry bad paid enormous sums of money, Maximilian had received a very desirable share of the disbursement. He had got Terouenne destroyed, and Tournay into his hands, and was left in possession of the whole of the conquered district; for in the late league he was engaged to keep on foot an army of 6,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry for the protection of the Low Countries, the security of Tournay, and the harassing of the French frontiers—all purposes entirely concerning himself and Charles his grandson; and yet for this Henry was to pay him 200,000 crowns, at the rate of 30,000 per month. When Henry returned to France in the following spring to complete the marriage of his sister, the Princess of England, with Charles of Burgundy, he was to bring a fresh army, and fresh funds for the prosecution of the war with France.

Meantime, the Swiss, discovering what sort of an ally they had got, entered into a negotiation with Tremoille, the Governor of Burgundy, who paid them handsomely in money, promised them much more, and saw them march off again to their mountains. Relieved from those dangerous visitants, Louis once more breathed freely. He concentrated his forces in the north, watched the movements of Henry VIII. with increasing satisfaction, and at length saw him embark for England with a secret resolve to accumulate a serious amount of difficulties in the way of his return. France had escaped from one of the most imminent perils of its history by the folly of the vain-glorious English king. Yet he returned with all the assumption of a great conqueror, and utterly unconscious that he had been a laughing-stock and a dupe.

We have seen that James IV. of Scotland sent his declaration of war to Henry whilst he was engaged at the siege of Terouenne. We have enumerated some of the causes of complaint which James deemed he had against Henry; amongst others, the refusal to deliver up the jewels left by Henry's father to the Queen Margaret of Scotland—a truly dishonest act on the part of the English monarch, who, with all the wasteful prodigality peculiar to himself, inherited the avaricious disposition of his father. No sooner, therefore, did Henry set out for France, than James dispatched a fleet with a body of 3,000 men to the aid of Louis, and by his herald at Terouenne, after detailing the catalogue of his own grievances, demanded that Henry should evacuate France. This haughty message received as haughty a reply, but James did not live to receive it.

In August, whilst Henry still lay before Terouenne, on the very same day that the Scottish herald left that place with his answer, the peace betwixt England and Scotland was broken by Lord Home, chamberlain to King James, who crossed the border, and made a devastating raid on the defenceless inhabitants. His band of marauders was met by Sir William Bulmer, on their return, loaded with plunder, who slew 500 of his men upon the spot, and took 400 of them prisoners. Called to immediate action by this disaster, James collected his host on Burrow Moor, such an army as, say the writers of the time, never gathered round a king of Scotland. Some state it at 100,000 men; the lowest calculation is 80,000. But if this be true, what becomes of all the assertions that James undertook this enterprise in obstinate opposition to the entreaties, the protests, and the prognostics of his subjects? What becomes of all the charges of blind rashness against James, of the lamentations over the calamities with which he afflicted Scotland by madly rushing on the warfare? We are told by the chroniclers of the times that heaven, as well as earth, strove to deter him from the step, but in vain. That the queen and the wisest of the nobles strove to dissuade him by representing that he had but one child, a son of only sixteen months old, and that, should he fall, he would leave the kingdom and his family exposed to every evil. That the tears and vehement entreaties of his wife failing of effect, the patron saint of Scotland appeared to him at vespers in the church of Linlithgow, in the guise of an old man of venerable aspect, with a long beard, arrayed in a gown of azure hue, girt about the loins with a white sash, who, as he leaned on his staff, declared that he was sent from heaven to warn him from prosecuting the war, for it would be unfortunate; and to beware of the fascinations of woman on the way, for they would be fatal. That James, when the vespers were concluded, called for the ancient messenger, but he could not be found, but that at the dead of the night an awful supernatural voice at the cross of Edinburgh summoned the principal lords by name, to appear before the Judge of the dead. These were probably the artifices of the queen, who shuddered at this deadly strife betwixt her husband and her brother; but that the nation at large was eager for this demonstration against England, nothing is so convincing as the numbers which hurried to James's standard.

James passed the Tweed on the 22nd of August, and on that and the following day encamped at Twisel-haugh. On the 24th, with the consent of his nobles, he issued a declaration that the heirs of all who were killed or who died in that expedition, should be exempt from all charges for wardship, relief, or marriage, without regard to their age. He then advanced up the right bank of the Tweed, and attacked the border castle of Norham. This strong fortress was expected to detain the army some time, but the governor, rashly improvident of his ammunition, was compelled to surrender on the fifth day, August 29th.