CHAPTER VIII.

BRANCH OF VALOIS ANGOULEME.

A.D.. 1515-1589.

Section I.

FRANCIS I.

LOUIS XII. bequeathed the crown of France to his son-in-law, Francis 1., by which the French sceptre passed, a third time since the commencement of the Capetian race, into a collateral branch.

At the date of his accession to the throne, Francis was twenty-one years of age. Reared in retirement at Amboise, under the care of his mother, a vain, frivolous, and avaricious woman, he received the education of a knight rather than that of a monarch. The romances of chivalry were his sole study, and from this course of reading he became ambitious, like Charles VIII., to follow in the fabulous footsteps of the Rolands and Amadis. From the same false and romantic source he drew all his notions of the prerogative of the crown, which were at once vague and arbitrary. Every order which he issued was looked upon by him as possessing the character of a decree, irrevocable as the law of the Medes and Persians; and he could not understand how parliaments, or princes, or nobility, or states-general, should dare to prescribe

limits to his authority. This produced a struggle for power between the king and his people, in which, as will be seen, the monarch was victorious.

Francis had scarcely ascended the throne, when, like Louis XII., he turned his thoughts towards Italy. For the purpose of invading that country, he sold offices and dignities to procure supplies, by which means an army of considerable magnitude was levied with great celerity. Francis appointed his mother regent of France, and marched forward to gain his prize. Being prevented from crossing the Alps by the only two known roadswhich were occupied by his implacable and formidable foes, the Swiss-he penetrated into Italy by the sources of the Po, a task never before accomplished. The Italians did not suspect the possibility of the achievement of so hardy an enterprise, and therefore felt themselves secure. On the descent, therefore, from the hills, Chabanne and Bayard surprised and captured Colonna, the general of Maximilian Sforza, duke of Milan, who was reposing at Villefranche. This exploit threw the ranks of the Milanese into disorder. The Swiss, however, inspirited by the harangue of the cardinal of Zion, poured down from the mountains, and engaged the monarch in a terrible battle. Stealing upon him towards evening, without drum or trumpet to announce their approach, they caused the French to recoil from the charge. Already were some of the cannon captured, when the black bands of the Germans in the pay of the French monarch, amongst whom was the king himself, extended in the form of wings, and took the phalanx of the Swiss on either side in flank.

The conflict was dreadful, and it continued till the darkness of midnight stopped the combat. The combatants, intermingled, slept, or watched in little bands amongst their enemies. Day broke, and the battle was renewed. The Swiss formed their original phalanx, and strove mightily for the victory; and it was not till the cannon of the French had swept down thousands in their ranks that they gave way. Even then they were not subdued. They retreated in good order with closed ranks, none daring to intercept their retreat. Six thousand French were killed on that fatal day, and 12,000 Swiss, the wreck of whose army evacuated Italy.

This victory seemed to presage the triumph of the French in Italy. By it the duchy of Milan was conquered. Unable to defend it, Maximilian Sforza abandoned his rights in return for a pension of 300,000 crowns, which he was to enjoy in France. He expressed himself well pleased to be thus delivered from the tyranny of the Swiss, the caprices of the emperor, and the bad faith of the Spaniards.

It remained for pope Leo to make submission. But Leo knew not how to bend the knee; and he sought to repair by address the weakness of his position. He succeeded. In an interview with the king, with the exception of giving up to Francis, Parma and Placentia, of which Julius 11. had taken possession, Leo had all his wishes granted. Francis agreed to protect the influence of the Medicis in Florence, and to abolish the Pragmatic Sanction, which based the liberties of the Gallican Church on the decrees of the council of Basle. This was superseded by an

agreement, called the Concordat, which conveyed the right of nominating prelates to the king, who in return conceded the annates, or first year's revenue, to the pope. The Concordat placed limits, also, upon excommunication, and interdicted appeals to the court of Rome. But the point was not yielded by the French nation without a struggle. The agreement was confirmed by a decree of the council at Lateran, then sitting at Rome; but the parliament of Paris made an obstinate resistance, and refused to register it. The university seconded the wish, and joined in the resistance of the parliament; but, after prolonging the contest for some time, they were induced to yield to the menaces of the king. The Concordat was registered in the presence of La Tremouille; but at the same time the members entered into a secret engagement to adhere in their decisions to the Pragmatic Sanction, which secret engagement they kept until the king, wearied with their obstinacy, deprived the parliament of all jurisdiction over ecclesiastical appointments.

About the same time the parliament was compelled to sanction a barbarous law, which punished offences against the laws of the chase by flogging, confiscation, and death. When they demurred;

Obey," exclaimed the chevalier du Prat to the magistrates, "or the king will pronounce you rebels, and chastise you as he would the meanest of his subjects." From that hour all was meek submission in the senate-house, and the monarch boasted that he had obtained absolute power.

A new rival to the fame of Francis 1. was about to appear on the theatre of the world. Ferdinand of Spain died in 1516, and left his sceptre to his

grandson Charles, then only sixteen years of age. Three years after, Maximilian, emperor of Germany, and paternal grandfather to Charles, died also; and his death produced a contest between the youthful monarch and Francis for the German empire. Charles aspired to the imperial crown as heir of the house of Austria, and Francis as a powerful and independent monarch. Bribes, promises, and intimidation were employed by both parties, to influence the electors; but the question was decided by one superior to corruption or fear. The electors refused both Francis and Charles, and decreed the imperial crown to Frederic of Saxony, the noble patron of Luther. Frederic declined the honour, gave his voice to Charles, and brought the diet of the empire over to his decision. the Fifth was declared emperor, A.D. 1520.

Charles

Francis had said that he would seek the prize with a generous and chivalrous feeling towards his rival. But he little knew his own heart. His disappointment enkindled his hatred towards the young emperor, and he sought a quarrel with him. He demanded back Naples, wrested by Ferdinand the Catholic from Louis XII., and he summoned Charles to do him homage for the county of Flanders. Charles was not inclined to comply with these demands; on the contrary, he, on his part, claimed Milan from Francis as an imperial fief male, and the duchy of Burgundy as the inheritance of his ancestress Mary, daughter of Charles the Bold.

Both sides prepared for the struggle. In order to secure success, each sought the friendship of Henry VIII. of England, whose power, united with either that of France or Spain, would have