Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 2.djvu/30

16 the Electors of Germany and the Emperor Sigismund prevailed; the Netherlands were divided against each other; and Spain was equally disturbed by the conspiracies of the nobles against the crown. Edward of England, as if sensible of the weakness of his position, strove anxiously to strengthen it by foreign alliances. Though his children were far too young to contract actual marriages, he made treaties which should place his daughters on a number of the chief thrones. Some of these contracts were entered into almost as soon as those concerned in them were born. Elizabeth, the eldest, was affianced to the Dauphin of France; Cecilia, the second, to the eldest son and heir of the King of Scotland; Anne, to the infant son of Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, and husband of Mary of Burgundy; Catherine, to the heir of the King of Spain. His eldest son was engaged to the eldest daughter of the Duke of Brittany. On the other hand, all these royal negotiators appear to have been equally impressed with the precarious character of Edward's power, and were ready at the first moment to annul the contract.

That subtle monarch, Louis of France, never from the first moment seriously meant to adhere to his engagement; and in a very few years every one of these anxiously-planned marriages were blown away like summer clouds. Edward was not long in suspecting the hollowness of the conduct of Louis XI. Though repeatedly reminded that the time was come to fetch the Princess of England, in order to complete her education in France, preparatory to her occupying the station assigned to her there, Louis took no measures for this purpose; and when Edward remonstrated on the subject, threatened to withdraw the payment of the annual 50,000 crowns. Edward boiled with indignation, and vowed, amongst his immediate courtiers, that he would hunt up the old fox in his own cover if he did not mind. But that wily prince was not so easily dealt with. He saw with chagrin the proposed alliances betwixt Edward and his dangerous neighbours, the Duke of Brittany and Maximilian of Austria, now, through his wife, the ruler of Burgundy. Edward, in his resentment at the threat of Louis to withdraw his annual payment, made offers of closer union with Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy, and engaged, on condition that they should pay him the 50,000 crowns which he now had from Louis, to assist them against that monarch. But Louis was not to be out-manœuvred in this manner; he was a profounder master in all the arts of diplomatic stratagem than Edward. He, therefore, made secret and tempting advances to Maximilian and Mary, one article of which devoted the Dauphin to their infant daughter, despite of her engagement to the English heir. At the same time he stirred up sufficient trouble in Scotland to engage the attention of Edward for some time.

The circumstances of Scotland were at this time very favourable to the mischievous interference of Louis. James III. was a monarch far beyond his age. He was of a pacific and philosophic turn. Surrounded by a rude, ignorant, and barbarous nobility, he conceived an infinite contempt for them, and, unfortunately, was not politic enough to conceal it. As he found no pleasure in their society, he did not court, or even tolerate it. They were received at court with coldness and neglect, while they saw there men of science and letters held in the highest esteem, and admitted to the king's most intimate conversation. Amongst these were architects, painters, musicians, and astrologers, who in that age were ranked with men of science, and were much resorted to by the highest classes. Cochrane, an architect, was in great favour with James; and, on the other hand, styled by the nobles "Cochrane the mason." Rogers, a professor of music, and Dr. Ireland, a man of literary accomplishment acquired in France, were also greatly esteemed by him. Besides these, he also encouraged professors of the arts of gunnery, engineering, and defence. He was greatly interested in improving the casting and using of cannon. Artillerymen and skilful artisans were attracted to his service from the Continent.

But what incensed his proud nobles more than all, was to behold his favour to smiths, fencing-masters, and similar low proficients, as they deemed them. To avenge their rude and barbaric dignity, they stirred up the king's two brothers, the Duke of Albany and the Earl of Mar, to rebellion. James, however, showed that, though pacifically disposed, he did not lack energy. He seized Mar and Albany, and confined them; Mar in Craigmillar Castle, and Albany in that of Edinburgh. Albany managed to escape, and made his way, by means of a French vessel, to France. Mar, who was of a vehement temper, was seized in his prison with fever and delirium. He was, therefore, removed from Craigmillar to a house in the Canongate, at Edinburgh, where, having been bled, he is said, on a return of the paroxysm, to have torn off his bandages while in a warm bath, and died from loss of blood. It was one of those incidents that, at the least, are suspicious; but public opinion at the time, for the most part, exonerated the king from the charge of any criminal intention; and even when he was afterwards deposed, no such charge was preferred against him by the hostile faction.

It was at this crisis that Edward, roused to indignation by the conduct of the French king, who neglected to fetch the Princess of England, and withdrew his annual payment of the 50,000 crowns, and still more by tracing Louis' hand in Scottish affairs, invited over Albany from Paris, promising to set him on the throne of Scotland. Albany, smarting with his brother's treatment, was but too ready to accept the proposal. Edward launched reproaches against the King of Scotland for his perfidy in listening to Louis of France, whilst under the closest engagements with himself. Three years payments of the dowry of Edward's daughter Cecilia had already been paid to the Scottish monarch, and yet he had thrown constant obstacles in the way of a marriage agreed upon between the sister of James and the Earl Rivers, the brother-in-law of Edward. In reply to Edward's reproaches, James flung at him the epithet of reiver, or robber, alluding to his seizure of the English crown.

Edward dispatched an army to the borders of Scotland, under his brother Gloucester and Albany. He engaged to place Albany on the throne of James, and, in return, Albany, who was believed already to have two wives, was to marry one of Edward's daughters, for he never entered into a treaty without putting in a daughter as one item. With upwards of 22,000 men Gloucester and