Henri II: His Court and Times (20 page)

It was, indeed, one in which it was impossible to persist, for
the only persons to profit by the removal of the unfortunate
prince were the Duc d'Orléans and his wife, who now found
themselves on the highest step of the throne. This circumstance
did not escape the Imperialists, who retorted by accusing
Catherine de' Medici of having poisoned her brother-in-law.
The charge was utterly preposterous, but Italians bore an
unenviable reputation for their skill in ridding themselves of
those who stood in their way, and the Medici were not inclined
to be very scrupulous as to the means which they employed to
smooth the path of their ambition. In consequence, there
were not wanting persons, even about the Court, who believed
in Catherine's guilt, which occasioned both her and Henri the
deepest distress.

Failure of the Emperor's invasion of Provence — The new Dauphin joins
Montmorency's camp at Avignon — His letter to the Maréchal d'Humières —
Singular character of the Grand-Master — The Dauphin saves a quack doctor
from being hanged — Arrival of the King in the camp — Retreat of the
Emperor from Provence, with the loss of half his army — Warm attachment
conceived by the Dauphin for Montmorency — Operations on the northern
frontier — Campaign of Henri and Montmorency in Picardy — Truce of Bomy
— Despatch of a fresh army to Piedmont — The Dauphin commands the
vanguard with the Grand-Master — Affair of the pass of Susa — Barbarous
treatment of the garrison of Avigliana — Armistice of Monçon — Conference at
Nice — Conclusion of a ten years' truce — Interview at Aigues-Mortes between
François I and the Emperor

I
N
the meanwhile, the
invasion of Provence had terminated even more disastrously for the Imperialists
than that of 1524. Charles advanced without encountering any serious opposition
as far as Aix, which he occupied; but here his success ended. The country round
had been so remorselessly devastated as to be incapable of supporting a single
division, much less an entire army; the supplies which Andrea
Doria's fleet landed at Toulon were repeatedly intercepted by
the starving peasantry; the entrenched camp at Avignon, the
towns of Marseilles and Aries, the fords of the Rhone, the
passes of Dauphiné — all were reported to be impregnable. So
he remained at Aix, hoping against hope that the French
would offer him battle in the open field, while his army
gradually melted away from famine and disease.

Henri, who, in consequence of the untimely death of his elder brother, now
bore the title of Dauphin, while the Duc d'Angoulême soon afterwards assumed that of Duc d'Orléans,
had accompanied François to Valence. He was, of course, all
anxiety to win his spurs, and entreated his father to allow him
to join Montmorency at Avignon, but the King, having just
lost one son, was naturally reluctant to risk the life of
another, and for some time he firmly refused to entertain his
request. The young prince, however, returned again and again
to the charge, and at length François yielded, giving him,
however, the most stringent orders to defer in all things to the
counsels of the Grand-Master. Accompanied by a few of his
personal attendants, the Dauphin at once set out for Avignon,
where he arrived on September 4, Montmorency coming to
meet him as far as the Pont de Sorgue.

Henri was delighted with the reception which was accorded
him. "My cousin," wrote he to the Maréchal d'Humières,
"the Grand-Master has received me in the camp with the
highest honours which it was possible for him to pay, and I
promise you that I have found a force so united, so fine, so
numerous, and animated by so excellent a spirit, that the King
may expect great services from it, in view also of the order
and good conduct which prevails amongst it, which does my
said cousin [Montmorency] marvellous great honour."
⁰¹

Montmorency certainly deserved credit for the order which
he maintained in that heterogeneous army. He had some
sixteen thousand Swiss under him, who were not easy people
to keep in order, particularly when their pay did not happen
to be forthcoming; a large body of
landsknechts
, who were
a good deal worse, and a swarm of "Adventurers," as the
French infantry were called, who were the worst of all —
"vagabonds, lazy, abandoned, malign, flagitious, steeped in
every kind of vice, robbers, murderers, ravishers, blasphemers,
deniers of God." And yet such was the dread which the Grand-Master inspired that his lines are said to have resembled a
well-governed city rather than a camp composed of soldiers of
several nationalities.

Never was there a more terrible martinet. For the slightest
symptom of insubordination he ordered death or torture, and
sentence once passed on an offender, nothing could induce
him to mitigate it. A devout Catholic, he was most punctilious
in the discharge of his religious duties. "Never," says
Brantôme, "did he fail in his devotions or his prayers,
and there was not a morning on which he omitted to
say his Paternosters." But he adds that "Beware of the
Constable's
⁰²
Paternosters" became a saying in the army,
"for, as he muttered them, he used to interject orders in
connection with justice, police, or military matters, such
as: 'Hang me that man! Tie that fellow up to yonder
tree! Run him through with your pikes! Burn that village!'
without, however, interrupting his prayers, until he had
finished them."
⁰³

Personally one of the bravest of men and as unsparing of
himself as of his soldiers, he was not a great general, for, if
he inspired fear, he was powerless to communicate enthusiasm,
and, if tenacious and persevering, he could seldom bring
himself to take even those legitimate risks without which it is
impossible to expect decisive victories.

The French nobles with Montmorency, impatient at being
so long restrained behind the ramparts of the camp, hoped that
the Dauphin had come to lead them against the Imperialists.
But Henri, acting on the instructions which he had received
from his father, respected the plans of the Grand-Master and
showed no desire to usurp the command, much to the satisfaction
of Montmorency, who wrote to their common friend
Humières that "the prince was conducting himself so perfectly
in accordance with the intention of the King, that the said
lord ought to be very content with him."

On one occasion only did he assert his authority.
Shortly before his arrival, there had come to the camp a
Provencal, named Brusquet, who gave himself out as a doctor,
and, by the aid of a learned appearance and a persuasive
tongue, obtained a number of clients. But his remedies
proved more fatal to the unfortunate soldiers whom he
attended than the diseases from which they were suffering,
and Montmorency, in great wrath, ordered his arrest, with the
intention of having him hanged. The Dauphin, however,
who assisted at Brusquet's examination, was much amused by
his answers, and, recognising that he was merely a foolish
quack, ordered him to be released and attached him to his
Household in the quality of a jester, in which he gave so
much satisfaction that, after being made
valet de garde-robe
and, later,
valet de chambre
, he was finally appointed post-master of Paris.

On September 12, François himself entered the camp,
attended by a brilliant suite. He was, of course, received
with loud acclamations, though, truth to tell, the troops saw
him arrive with something approaching dismay, for, since the
catastrophe of Pavia, a superstitious feeling had grown up
in the French Army that the King's presence on the field of
battle would inevitably entail defeat. If Montmorency did
not actually share this superstition, he dreaded its effect upon
the spirit of his men, and he had accordingly employed every
persuasion to induce his Majesty to remain at Valence.
However, François, warned that a forward movement on the
part of the Imperialists was expected, in which event an
engagement must follow, was determined not to forgo the
chance of retrieving his lost laurels.
"Foi de gentilhomme!"
he exclaimed, in reply to the remonstrances of those about
him. "Never shall it be said that while my arch-enemy is at
the head of his armies, sword in hand, I am content to remain
shut up within the walls of Valence, as though I feared to
confront him on my own territories."

The forward movement of the Imperialists was merely a
feint by a small body of troops to divert attention from the
retreat of the main body, which began ten days after
François's arrival in Montmorency's camp. For Charles to
have persisted any longer in his unfortunate enterprise would
have been to court certain ruin, since nearly half his army
were either dead or unfit for service — among the former
being his best general, Antonio de Leyva — while it was still
further weakened by the necessity of detaching large parties of
cavalry to scour the country far and wide in quest of supplies.
He had also received intelligence of a rising of the French
party in Liguria, who had made an attempt upon Genoa, and
were threatening his communications. In his retreat he was
persistently harassed by the French light cavalry and the
infuriated peasants,
⁰⁴
and the roads between Aix and Fréjus
were strewn with arms and baggage and the dead bodies of
men and horses. On September 23 he repassed the Var
with the wreck of his army, and made his way to Genoa,
whence, escorted by Andrea Doria's fleet, he embarked for
Barcelona, in order, according to a
bon-mot
of the time, "to
inter in Spain his honour, which had died in Provence."

François and Montmorency have been blamed by several
historians for not having followed the retreating Imperialists
with all their forces and destroyed them. But, as Martin du
Bellay, who was himself serving in this campaign, has shown,
the French troops in Picardy were urgently in need of
reinforcements, and they believed it necessary to despatch the
greater part of the army to the relief of Péronne, which was
being closely besieged by Henri de Nassau. Before the
succour from Provence arrived, however, the Duc de Guise
had succeeded in throwing reinforcements and a large supply
of ammunition into the place, upon which Nassau raised the
siege and retreated across the frontier; and the year's fighting
thus terminated with distinct advantage to the French, who
still held Turin, Pinerolo, and several other places in Savoy
and Piedmont, had repulsed two invasions, and had inflicted a
severe blow on the prestige of the Emperor.

To many the devastation of the fairest province of the
realm and the terrible suffering which it entailed may seem a
heavy price to pay for the expulsion of the Imperialists, but
the captains and the chroniclers of the time consider that
circumstances justified the measures adopted, and that they
saved France from a still worse fate; and their opinion seems
to be shared by most of the historians who have followed
them. "Montmorency," says Ranke, "displayed all the
sagacity and circumspection which can make defensive
warfare successful."
⁰⁵

The Grand-Master, indeed, had gained by the success of his
Fabian tactics a reputation which made him for the next five
years the virtual ruler of France. He had also gained that
which was to assure his ascendency at a more distant date,
namely, the personal friendship of the heir to the throne, who
looked upon himself as his pupil and had conceived for him a
warm and lasting attachment. "You may be sure," wrote
Henri to him, a little later, "that, whatever may happen, I am
and shall be all my life as much your friend as any man in
the world."
⁰⁶