Henri II: His Court and Times (26 page)

Montmorency was not allowed much time to rejoice over
the downfall of his rival. The arrest of Chabot had greatly
infuriated Madame d'Étampes, who became from that
moment the implacable enemy of the Constable, and left no
means untried to destroy his credit with the King. While the
rapprochement
with the Emperor lasted, she appears to have
made but little impression on Montmorency's position, for
François naturally looked to its author to secure the cession
of the Milanese. But when, at the beginning of April 1540,
the King's eyes were suddenly and rudely opened to the real
value of the Imperial promises, her task was, of course,
immensely facilitated. Already she had succeeded in alienating father from son, and in persuading his Majesty to express
to the Dauphin in very plain language his disapproval of his
infatuation for the Sénéchale;
⁰⁷
and it was not difficult for
her to awaken the King's suspicions in regard to the intimacy
between Henri and Montmorency, declaring her conviction
that the Constable had sacrificed the interests of the King to
those of his heir, and secretly connived at the Emperor's
duplicity, from a desire to prevent the aggrandizement of the
Duc d'Orléans, of whom his elder brother was jealous. "The
Constable is a great villain," she exclaimed one day. "He
has deceived the King, telling him that the Emperor would
immediately surrender to him the Milanese, when he knew
the contrary."

The change in François's attitude towards the Constable
was soon apparent to the Argus-eyed courtiers. "It is said,"
wrote one of Montmorency's friends to him, "that the King
is displeased with you, on account of some conversations and
understandings which you have had with the Dauphin."
⁰⁸
The King now no longer left the absolute direction of affairs
in the Constable's hands, and he was compelled to share a
power which for nearly two years he had possessed in its
entirety with the Cardinals de Lorraine and de Tournon and
Annebaut. After the Emperor's bestowal of the Milanese on
Don Philip had destroyed all hope of an accommodation,
the King's secretaries received orders from his Majesty
to discontinue the use of the diplomatic cypher which
Montmorency had given them, and the Ambassadors to
address their despatches to François himself; while, some
weeks later, the Chancellor took over the direction of the
Foreign Office.

Finally, in the following summer, the disgrace so long
expected arrived. It was indicated to the Constable in a
singular manner at the marriage of the little Jeanne d'Albret
to the Emperor's rebellious subject, Guillaume de la Marck,
Duke of Clèves, which was François's reply to the bestowal
of the Milanese on Don Philip. The future mother of
Henri IV, although she was at this time but twelve years
old, already possessed that haughty character and strength of
will which were to make her, in years to come, so redoubtable
a party leader. She had evinced the strongest repugnance to
the marriage arranged for her, and had "very humbly besought the King that she might not be obliged to marry
M. de Clèves." Finding her objections disregarded by
François and her parents, she adopted the singular expedient
of making a formal protest against her compulsory nuptials in
a document which she herself drew up and caused to be
witnessed by three officers of her Household, wherein she
declared that she "had never consented to it, and never would
consent, and that all that she might say and do hereafter, by
which it might be attempted to prove that she had given her
consent, would be forcibly extorted from her against her wish
and desire, from her dread of the King, of the King her
father, and of the Queen her mother, who had threatened to
have her whipped by her
gouvernante
, the baillive of Caen."
⁰⁹

At the marriage ceremony, at Châtellerault, the child-bride appeared
attired in a robe of cloth of gold, heavily embroidered with jewels, and an
enormous ermine train. When her royal uncle approached to conduct her to the
altar, she suddenly complained of feeling unwell, and declared that it was perfectly impossible for her to walk, on account of the weight of
her gilded and bejewelled gown. François, greatly annoyed,
turned brusquely to the Constable and ordered him to carry
the princess. Montmorency, bitterly mortified that he, the
first personage in the realm after the King, should be called
upon to undertake such a duty, obeyed; but, as he returned to
his place in the bridal procession, after depositing his burden
at the altar, he observed: "
C'est fait désormais de faveur.
Adieu luy dit
."
¹⁰
Next day, he quitted the Court and retired to
Chantilly, and afterwards to Écouen, where he had begun the construction
of a magnificent Château. Unable, however, to believe that the King intended his
disgrace to be permanent, he solicited, towards the end of the summer,
permission to return, to which his Majesty replied by a curt refusal and an
intimation that, if he came without his permission, he would have reason to
regret it. Several persons ventured to expostulate with François on his
treatment of the Constable, reminding him of the services which the object of
his displeasure had rendered during the last war, and pointing out the need which France had of so experienced a
captain at a moment when she was about to measure swords
once more with her redoubtable enemy. But, thanks to
the efforts of Madame d'Étampes, the King remained
inexorable.

Although François's refusal to avail himself of the services of his ablest
general was a grave error, he had certainly good reason for his irritation
against the Constable, since he was now experiencing the difficulty of renewing
the alliances which had been broken during the administration of Montmorency.
However, thanks to the untiring efforts of the French diplomatists, the
suspension of the persecution against the Huguenots, and the marriage of
Jeanne d'Albret to the Protestant Duke of Clèves, with
whom François formed an offensive and defensive alliance,
some of the German Protestants were wooed back, and
Soliman was persuaded by the enterprising Paulin de la
Garde
¹¹
to promise the Most Christian King the assistance
of his fleet.

Paulin had not been François's original envoy to the Sultan,
and the fate of his predecessor, Antonio Rincon, a Spanish
refugee, had nearly provoked immediate war. As Rincon was
passing, without a safe-conduct, down the Po, in company with
another agent of the French Government, named Cesare
Fregoso, who had been despatched on a mission to Venice,
the barge in which they were travelling was attacked, near Pavia,
by a party of Spanish soldiers, sent by the Marquis del Guasto,
the Milanese Viceroy, and both the diplomatists were killed
(July 2, 1541). The seizure of their papers was the object of
the crime, but, as the most compromising of these had been entrusted to Guillaume du Bellay, the Governor of Piedmont, to
be forwarded to Venice, it was not attained. Del Guasto, when
accused of having instigated the assassination, declared that
the culprits were merely brigands, but it was soon proved
beyond all reasonable doubt that they were soldiers from the
garrison of Pavia; and François filled all Europe with denunciations of the outrage perpetrated on the sacred persons of
his agents, and demanded reparation from the Empire and
the Diet. However, as the chain of alliances which he hoped
to form was not yet complete, and the Pope besought him not
to attack Charles until the latter's return from his approaching
expedition against Algiers, he decided to postpone hostilities
until the following year.

The expedition against Algiers ended in a lamentable fiasco,
and the Emperor returned to Spain with prestige and power
both seriously diminished. François had, of course, no scruple
in turning the common misfortune of Christendom to his own
advantage; his deliberate exaggeration of Charles's losses
encouraged both Christian III of Denmark and Gustavus
Wasa of Sweden to join the anti-Imperial alliance; the co-operation of the Porte was tacitly acknowledged, and on July
12, 1542 war was formally declared.

François decides to remain on the defensive in Italy and to invade Luxembourg
and Roussillon — Success of the French in Luxembourg compromised by the folly
and egotism of the Duc d'Orléans — The Dauphin, with an army of 40,000 men,
invades Roussillon and arrives before Perpignan, only to find that the Imperialists
have rendered it almost impregnable — Futile efforts of the French to reduce the
place — Gallantry of Brissac — The King orders the Dauphin to raise the siege
— Retreat of the army — François and the Spanish women-captives — Birth of a
son to the Dauphin — Precarious situation of Catherine de' Medici previous to the
birth of her child — Her diplomacy saves the situation — Baptism of the little
prince — Campaign in the Netherlands — Failure of the Dauphin to reduce the
citadel of Binche — Charles V arrives at Speyer — Fatal inaction of François —
Düren stormed by the Imperialists — The Duke of Clèves makes his submission
to the Emperor — England joins Charles V — Indecisive operations in the
Netherlands — The Turks on the coast of Provence

I
N
former contests between François and Charles, Italy
had been the chief theatre of war; but, on the present
occasion, notwithstanding that a vigorous attack upon
the Milanese seemed to promise a certain and speedy conquest,
the King, who had hitherto consistently sacrificed everything
to his Italian ambitions, resolved to remain on the defensive
beyond the Alps, while he invaded Luxembourg in the north
and Roussillon in the south. If we are to believe the words
which the
Mémoires
of Martin du Bellay attribute to François,
this decision was arrived at in order to give the appearance of
attacking the enemy "in places which rightly appertained to
him, and which had been usurped without legitimate title."
But, as his claim to the Milanese was at least as strong as those
to Luxembourg and Roussillon, and as the advantage to the
Porte of a plan of campaign which would prevent the Emperor
from sending any considerable force to the valley of the
Danube is obvious, it is probable that Soliman had insisted on
its adoption as a condition of his support.

The command of the Army of the North was entrusted to
the Duc d'Orléans, with Claude, Duc de Guise, to advise him;
that of Roussillon was given to the Dauphin, Annebaut being
summoned from Piedmont to act as his lieutenant-general and
counsellor; while the King, who hoped to draw his rival into
a great battle in the Roussillon valleys, announced his intention of joining it
in person, if the Emperor should cross the Pyrenees. Three other armies were set
on foot; one, consisting almost entirely of German mercenaries hired by the
Duke of Clèves with French gold, invaded Brabant; the
second, under the Duc de Vendôme, defended the Flemish
frontier; while the third held Piedmont.