Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 06.djvu/231

 Brandon a grant of the wardship of Elizabeth, daughter and sole heiress of John Grey, viscount Lisle (ib. 3561), of which he very soon took advantage in a rather questionable way, by making a contract of marriage with her; and next year, on 15 May, he was created Viscount Lisle, with succession to the heirs male of himself and Elizabeth Grey, viscountess Lisle, his wife, as she is called in the patent (ib. 4072). But in point of fact she was not his wife, for when she came of age she refused to marry him, and the patent was cancelled.

Other grants he continued to receive in abundance; stewardships of various lands in Warwickshire or in Wales, either temporarily or permanently in the hands of the crown (ib. 3841, 3880, 3920-1). But his first conspicuous actions were in the year 1513, when, under the title of Lord Lisle, he was appointed marshal of the army that went over to invade France. He took a prominent part in the operations against Terouenne, and at the siege of Tournay he first of all obtained possession of one of the city gates (ib. 4459). While before Terouenne he sent a message to Margaret of Savoy, the regent of the Netherlands, through her agent in the camp Philippe de Brégilles, who, in communicating it, said he was aware that Brandon was a second king, and he advised her to write to him a kind letter, 'for it is he,' wrote Brégilles, 'who does and undoes' (ib. 4405). Early in the following year (1514) the king determined to send him to Margaret to arrange about a new campaign (ib. 4736, 4831). On 1 Feb. he was created Duke of Suffolk, and, adorned with that new title, he went over to the Low Countries. On 4 March Henry VIII wrote to Margaret's father, the emperor Maximilian, that a report had reached England that Suffolk was to marry his daughter, at which the king affected to be extremely displeased. Henry pretended that the rumour had been got up to create differences between them. In point of fact Henry was not only fully cognisant of Suffolk's aspirations, but had already pleaded his favourite's cause with Margaret personally at Tournay; and this notwithstanding the engagement he was still under to Lady Lisle. Some curious flirtation scenes had actually taken place between them at Lille, of which Margaret seems afterwards to have drawn up a report in her own hand (ib. 4850-1).

In October following, immediately after the marriage of Louis XII to Henry VIII's sister Mary, Suffolk was sent over to France to witness the new queen's coronation at St. Denis, and to take part in the jousts to be held at Paris in honour of the event. This at least seemed to be the principal object of his mission, and as regards the tourney he certainly acquitted himself well, overthrowing his opponent, horse and man. But another object was to make some arrangements for a personal interview between the English and French kings in the following spring (ib. 5560), and also to convey a still more secret proposal for expelling Ferdinand of Arragon from Navarre (ib. 5637); both which projects were nipped in the bud by the death of Louis XII on 1 Jan. following.

When the news of this event reached England, it was determined at once to send an embassy to the young king, Francis I, who had just succeeded to the throne; and Suffolk, who had not long returned from France, was appointed the principal ambassador. They had a formal audience of the king at Noyon on 2 Feb., after which Francis sent for the duke to see him in private, and to his consternation said to him, 'My lord of Suffolk, there is a bruit in this my realm that you are come to marry with the queen, your master's sister.' Suffolk in vain attempted to deny the charge, for Francis had extracted the confession from Mary herself by what dishonourable overtures we need not inquire and Francis, to put him at his ease, promised to write to Henry in his favour. The truth was that Henry himself secretly favoured the project, and only wished for some such letter from Francis to make it more acceptable to the old nobility, who regarded Suffolk as an upstart. Wolsey, too, then at the commencement of his career as a statesman, was doing his best to smooth down all obstacles. But the precipitancy of the two lovers nearly forfeited all their advantages. Mary was by no means satisfied that, although Henry favoured her wishes to some extent, he might not be induced by his council to break faith with her and sacrifice her to political considerations again. Suffolk's discretion was not able to subdue his own ardour and hers as well, and they were secretly married at Paris.

So daring and presumptuous an act on the part of an upstart nobleman was not easily forgiven. Many of the king's council would have put Suffolk to death; the king himself was extremely displeased. But there was a way of mitigating the king's displeasure to some extent, and the king was satisfied in the end with the gift of Mary's plate and jewels and a bond of 24,000l. to repay by yearly instalments the expenses the king had incurred for her marriage with Louis. Suffolk and his wife the French queen as she was continually called lived for a time in comparative retirement as persons under a cloud; but after a while they were seen more