Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 2.djvu/160

146 into a commercial treaty with Charles, as far as it regarded the Netherlands, and now perceiving the vast power and greatness which must centre in Charles—for on the death of Maximilian, who was now old, he would also become Emperor of Germany—he was anxious to unite himself in close bonds of interest and intimacy. To this end, he gave a commission to Wolsey, assisted by the Duke of Norfolk, and the Bishop of Durham, to cement and conclude what was called a holy league with the Emperor Maximilian and Charles, the avowed object of which was to combine for the defence of the Church, and to restrain the unbridled ambition of certain princes—meaning Francis. A more unholy league could not be conceived, though the Pope was at the head of it, for there was not a contracting party to it which had not lately entered into leagues of friendship and peace with Francis, who certainly had neither before nor since done anything to injure any of them. This league, so basely misnamed, was undoubtedly promoted by Wolsey with right good will, for he could not forgive Francis's support of his rival Bishop of Tournay.

The sordid Emperor Maximilian, who had so often and so successfully made his profit out of the vanity of Henry, seeing him so urgent to cultivate the favour of his grandson Charles, thought it a good opportunity to draw fresh sums from him. Maximilian was now tottering towards his grave, but he was not the less desirous to pave his way to it with gold. In a confidential conversation, therefore, with Sir Robert Wingfield, the English ambassador at his Court, he delicately dropped a hint that he was grown weary of the toils and cares attending the imperial office. Pursuing the theme, he pretended a great admiration for the King of England; he declared that amongst all the princes of Christendom, he could see none who was so fitted to succeed him in his high office, and at the same time become the champion and protector of Holy Church against its enemies. He therefore proposed to adopt Henry as his son, for a proper consideration. According to his plan, Henry was to cross the Channel with an army. From Tournay he was to march to Trèves, where Maximilian was to meet him, and resign the empire to him, with all the necessary formalities. Then the united army of English and Germans were to invade France, and, whilst they thus sufficiently occupied the attention of Francis, Henry and Maximilian, with another division, were to march upon Italy, crossing the Alps at Coire, to take Milan, and, having secured that city, make an easy journey to Rome, where Henry was to be crowned emperor by the Pope.

In this wild-goose scheme—which equally ignored the fact that Charles V. was the grandson of Maximilian, heir of his kingdom, and therefore neither by the natural affection of the emperor, nor by the will of his subjects, likely to be set aside for a King of England; and the difficulty—the next to an impossibility—of the accomplishment of the enterprise by two such monarchs as Maximilian and Henry—only one thing was palpable, that Maximilian would put his hand on the stipulated sum for all these impossible honours, and then would as quickly find a reason for abandoning the extravagant scheme, as he had already done that of taking Milan. Yet it is certain that, for the moment, it seized on the imagination of Henry, and he dispatched the Earl of Worcester and Dr. Tunstall, afterwards Bishop of Durham, to the Imperial Court, to settle the conditions of this notable scheme. Tunstall, who was not only an accomplished scholar, but a solid and shrewd thinker, no sooner reached the Court of Maximilian than he saw at a glance the hollowness of the plot and the imperial plotter. He, as well as Dr. Richard Pace, the ambassador at Maximilian's Court, quickly and honestly informed Henry that it was a mere scheme to get money. Tunstall, in one of his letters, declared the Emperor's Court to be a place of great dissimulation and fair words; but where no promises were kept. With the boldness of an honest ambassador he dared to write as follows:—

"Please your grace,—Your election to the empire cannot be brought about by no means, for divers considerations. First, that, like as in the election of a Pope, a certain form is to be kept, which, if not observed, maketh the election, to be void; so of ancient time and ordinance of the universal Church, a certain form must be observed in choosing of the emperor; which omitted, the election is void. One of the chief points in the election of the emperor is, that which shall be elected must be native of Germany, and subject to the empire; whereas your grace is not, nor never since the Christian faith the kings of England were subject to the empire; but the crown of England is an empire in itself, much better than now the empire of Rome. Besides that the form of the election containeth that, first, he must be king of the Romans, and the coronation at Rome maketh him to have the name of emperor, where before he is called but king of the Romans. Over this, if the emperor which now is remain still king of the Romans—which I understand he intendeth to do—then, even if your grace were eligible, and under the empire, yet ye could not be chosen emperor, because ye were never king of the Romans. . . . For which considerations I repeat it is impossible that your grace be chosen: and I am afraid lest the said offer—being so specious at the first hearing—was only made to get thereby some money of your grace."

These honest and patriotic statements perfectly unmasked the wily old Maximilian, and Henry escaped the snare. Francis I., having also now secured the duchy of Milan, set himself to conciliate two persons whose amity was necessary to his future peace and security. These were the Pope and Henry of England. The balance of power on the Continent, it was clear, would lie betwixt Francis and Charles V., the King of Spain. On the death of Maximilian, Charles would be King of Austria, and, in all probability, Emperor of Germany. It would be quite enough for Francis to contend with the interests of Charles, whose dominions would then stretch from Austria," with the imperial power of Germany, through the Netherlands to France, and reappear on the other boundary of France, in Spain, without having that gigantic dominion backed by the co-operation of England. Francis had seen with alarm the cultivation of friendship recently betwixt these two formidable neighbours. To counteract these influences, Francis, whilst in Italy, had an interview with the Pope at Bologna, where he so won upon his regard that the Pope agreed to drop all opposition to the possession of Milan by the French.