Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 26.djvu/78

Henry VII said to have instituted the court of Star-chamber. It also voted a subsidy, which was probably felt to be all the more necessary as the king might soon be called on to take active steps in aid of Brittany; for the French had invaded the duchy and shut up the duke for a time in Nantes—action which aroused no small feeling in England. In the following spring Sir Edward Widville or Woodville, commonly called Lord Woodville, the queen's uncle, being governor of the Isle of Wight, went over unauthorised with a band of volunteers in aid of the duke. Henry endeavoured to pursue a peaceful course, and not only repudiated Lord Woodville's act, but prolonged for one year the truce with France, which would have expired in January 1489. He, however, sought to act as mediator. But he had scarcely signed the renewal of the truce when the power of Brittany was completely crushed at the battle of St. Aubin, 28 July 1488, where Lord Woodville was slain with nearly all his band. The Duke of Brittany next month made peace with France, and died within three weeks.

Englishmen were still extremely anxious to preserve the independence of the duchy, which now descended to the late duke's daughter Anne, a girl of twelve. Various marriage projects were already formed for her by her guardian, Marshal de Rieux, with a view to an alliance against France. Henry sent men in aid of the duchy, purely for defensive purposes so long as his truce lasted, prepared, however, or rather preparing himself by alliances with other powers, to make war on France if necessary as soon as it expired.

In November 1488 Henry called a great council at Westminster, and immediately afterwards (11 Dec.) sent embassies to France, Brittany, Burgundy, Maximilian, king of the Romans, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and John II of Portugal, all on the same day. In January 1489 a new parliament met, and granted him another subsidy for a force of ten thousand archers for defence of the kingdom. When the commissioners began to levy it in Yorkshire they were openly resisted, and the Earl of Northumberland, who came to support their authority, was slain on 28 April. The king, who was then at Hertford receiving embassies, first sent against them Thomas Howard, earl of Surrey, whom he had recently liberated from the Tower, where he had been imprisoned since Bosworth Field, and he followed himself on 22 May. The insurrection was prolonged for a while under Sir John Egremont and John à Chamber [q. v.], but Egremont soon fled to Flanders, and Chamber fell into Surrey's hands. The king accordingly returned southwards and established a council for the government of the north under Surrey.

Meanwhile the French had taken several places in Brittany, and would have conquered it entirely but for the aid sent to the duchy by England and the hostile action of Maximilian and Ferdinand of Spain. Several fortresses were put into the hands of the English to guarantee repayment of expenses. Henry also sent troops to the Low Countries in aid of Maximilian against the French. He thus compelled the latter to raise the siege of Dixmude, where their success would have endangered Calais. Charles VIII found it advisable to make a separate peace with Maximilian, which he soon after compelled the Duchess of Brittany to accept. He also sent frequent embassies to England to persuade Henry to withdraw his troops from the duchy and make peace with him; but Henry refused, and induced the duchess to throw herself again on his protection. Chieregato, bishop of Concordia, the papal nuncio in France, now went to England as mediator (1490), but failed to adjust matters. Henry, although he had no desire to go to war with France, stood engaged, not only to Brittany and to Maximilian, but also to Spain, which had been urging a warlike policy upon him from the first. The Duchess Anne soon relieved him of his difficulty respecting Brittany by marrying Charles VIII and becoming queen of France (6 Dec. 1491).

Henry, however, was already preparing, in fulfilment of his pledges, to make war on France, in concert with Maximilian and Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. His subjects warmly sympathised in the object, and he was able to raise a ‘benevolence’ for the purpose, although that kind of exaction had been abolished by a statute of Richard III. He also obtained a further grant from parliament. In October 1492, though his allies were unready, and he had allowed the best part of the year to pass, he crossed the sea and laid siege to Boulogne. The town had been well fortified; the besiegers only wasted their efforts, and offers were made to them by the French king for peace. Charles agreed to pay the whole of the expenses which Henry had incurred for the defence of Brittany, and two years' arrears of a pension due to England by the treaty of Amiens, at the rate of fifty thousand francs a year. A treaty to this effect was signed at Etaples, 3 Nov., and the army returned to England, to the disgust of many who had burdened their estates to provide the means for this almost bloodless campaign.

In February 1492 Perkin Warbeck landed in Ireland, asserting himself to be Richard, duke of York, and claiming the crown of Eng-