XI. 1554 His prepa a vigorous Notwithstanding these external professions, Henry BOOK dreaded so much the consequence of this alliance, which more than compensated for all the emperor had lost in Germany, that he determined to carry on his military rations for operations, both in the Low Countries and in Italy, with campaign. extraordinary vigour, in order that he might compel Charles to accept of an equitable peace, before his daughter-in-law could surmount the aversion of her subjects to a war on the continent, and prevail on them to assist the emperor either with money or troops. For this purpose he exerted himself to the utmost, in order to have a numerous army early assembled on the frontiers of the Netherlands; and while one part of it laid waste the open country of Artois, the main body, under the constable Montmorency, advanced towards the provinces of Liege and Hainault by the forest of Ardennes. arms. able to ob The campaign was opened with the siege of Mariem- The proberg, a town which the queen of Hungary, the go-gress of his verness of the Low Countries, had fortified at great expence; but, being destitute of a sufficient garrison, it surrendered in six days. Henry, elated with this success, June 18. put himself at the head of his army, and investing BouWith vines, took it by assault, after a short resistance. equal facility he became master of Dinant; and then turning to the left, bent his march towards the province of Artois. The large sums which the emperor had re- The empe mitted into England had so exhausted his treasury, as to ror little render his preparations at this juncture slower and more struct it. dilatory than usual. He had no body of troops to make head against the French at their first entrance into his territories; and though he drew together all the forces in the country in the utmost hurry, and gave the command of them to Emanuel Philibert of Savoy, they were in no condition to face an enemy so far superior in number. The prince of Savoy, however, by his activity and good conduct, made up for his want of troops. By watching all the motions of the French at a distance, and by choosing his own posts with skill, he put it out of their BOOK XI. 1554. The French invest Renti. An action between the two ar mits. Aug. 13. power either to form any siege of consequence, or to attack him. Want of subsistence soon obliged them to fall back towards their own frontiers, after having burnt all the open towns, and having plundered the country through which they marched, with a cruelty and licence more becoming a body of light troops than a royal army, led by a great monarch. But Henry, that he might not dismiss his army without attempting some conquest adequate to the great preparations, as well as sanguine hopes, with which he had opened the campaign, invested Renti, a place deemed in that age of great importance, as, by its situation on the confines of Artois and the Boulonnois, it covered the former province, and protected the parties which made incursions into the latter. The town, which was strongly fortified, and provided with a numerous garrison, made a gallant defence; but being warmly pressed by a powerful army, it must soon have yielded. The emperor, who at that time enjoyed a short interval of ease from the gout, was so solicitous to save it, that, although he could bear no other motion but that of a litter, he instantly put himself at the head of his army, which, having received several reinforcements, was now strong enough to approach the enemy. The French were eager to decide the fate of Renti by a battle, and expected it from the emperor's arrival in his camp; but Charles avoided a general action with great industry; and as he had nothing in view but to save the town, he hoped to accomplish that without exposing himself to the consequences of such a dangerous and doubtful event. Notwithstanding all his precautions, a dispute about a post, which both armies endeavoured to seize, brought on an engagement, which proved almost general The duke of Guise, who commanded the wing of the French which stood the brunt of the combat, displayed valour and conduct worthy of the defender of Metz; the imperialists, after an obstinate strugle, were repulsed; the French remained masters of the post in dipute; and if XL 1554. the constable, either from his natural caution and slow- BOOK ness, or from unwillingness to support a rival whom he hated, had not delayed bringing up the main body to second the impression which Guise had made, the rout of the enemy must have been complete. The emperor, notwithstanding the loss which he had sustained, continued in the same camp; and the French being straitened for provisions, and finding it impossible to carry on the siege in the face of an hostile army, quitted their entrenchments. They retired openly, courting the enemy to approach, rather than shunning an engagement. vade Pi. But Charles having gained his end, suffered them to The impemarch off unmolested. As soon as his troops entered rialists intheir own country, Henry threw garrisons into the cardy. frontier towns, and dismissed the rest of the army. This encouraged the imperialists to push forward with a considerable body of troops into Picardy, and by laying waste the country with fire and sword, they endeavoured to revenge themselves for the ravages which the French had committed in Hainault and Artois. But, as they' were not able to reduce any place of importance, they gained nothing more than the enemy had done by this cruel and inglorious method of carrying on the war. The arms of France were still more unsuccessful in Affairs of Italy. The footing which the French had acquired in Italy. Siena occasioned much uneasiness to Cosmo di Medici, the most sagacious and enterprising of all the Italian princes. He dreaded the neighbourhood of a powerful people, to whom all who favoured the ancient republican government in Florence would have recourse, as to their natural protectors, against that absolute authority which the emperor had enabled him to usurp; he knew how odious he was to the French, on account of his attach-Cosmo di ment to the imperial party; and he foresaw that, if they schemes were permitted to gather strength in Siena, Tuscany with rewould soon feel the effects of their resentment. For these gard to S: reasons, he wished with the utmost solicitude for the ex Thuan. 460, &c. Haræi Ann. Brab. 674. Medici's ena. = 1554 BOOK pulsion of the French out of the Sienese, before they had XL time to establish themselves thoroughly in the country, or to receive such reinforcements from France as would render it dangerous to attack them. As this, however, was properly the emperor's business, who was called by his interest as well as honour to dislodge those formidable intruders into the heart of his dominions, Cosmo laboured to throw the whole burden of the enterprise on him; and on that account had given no assistance, during the former campaign, but by advancing some small sums of money towards the payment of the imperial troops. But as the defence of the Netherlands engrossed all the emperor's attention, and his remittances into England had drained his treasury, it was obvious that his operations in Italy would be extremely feeble; and Cosmo plainly perceived that if he himself did not take part openly in the war, and act with vigour, the French would scarcely meet with any annoyance. As his situation rendered this resolution necessary and unavoidable, his next care was to execute it in such a manner, that he might derive from it some other advantage beside that of driving the French out of his neighbourhood. With this view, he dispatched an envoy to Charies, offering to declare war against France, and to reduce Siena at his own charges, on condition that he should be repaid whatever he might expend in the enterprise, and be permitted to retain all his conquests until his demands were fully satisfied. Charles, to whom, at this juncture, the war against Siena was an intolerable burden, and who had neither expedient nor resource that could enable him to carry it on with proper vigour, closed gladly with this overture; and Cosmo, well acquainted with the low state of the imperial finances, flattered himself that the emperor, finding it impossible to reimburse him, would suffer him to keep quiet possession of whatever places he should conquer a. Full of these hopes, he made great preparations for war; and as the French king had turned the strength of • Adriani Istoria de suoi Tempi, vol. i, 662. XI. 4554 command cino. his arms against the Netherlands, he did not despair of BOOK assembling such a body of men as would prove morethan a sufficient match for any force which Henry could bring into the field in Italy He endeavoured, by giving one of his daughters to the pope's nephew, to obtain assistance from the holy see, or at least to secure his remaining neutral. He attempted to detach the duke of Orsini, whose family had been long attached to the French party, from his ancient confederates, by bestowing on him another of his daughters; and what was of greater consequence than either of these, he engaged John Gives the James Medecino, marquis of Marignano, to take the of his army command of his army. This officer, from a very low to Mede... condition in life, had raised himself, through all the ranks of service, to high command, and had displayed talents, and acquired reputation in war, which entitled him to be placed on a level with the greatest generals in that martial age. Having attained a station of eminence so disproportionate to his birth, he laboured with a fond solicitude to conceal his original obscurity, by giving out that he was descended of the family of Medici, to which honour the casual resemblance of his name was his only pretension. Cosmo, happy that he could gratify him at such an easy rate, flattered his vanity in this point, acknowledged him as a relation, and permitted him to assume the arms of his family. Medicino, eager to serve the head of that family of which he now considered himself as a branch, applied with wonderful zeal and assiduity to raise troops; and as, during his long service, he had acquired great credit with the leaders of those mercenary bands which formed the strength of Italian armies, he engaged the most eminent of them to follow Cosmo's standard. trusted To oppose this able general, and the formidable army Peter which he had assembled, the king of France made choice Strozzi enof Peter Strozzi, a Florentine nobleman, who had resided with the long in France as an exile, and who had risen by his command • Adriani Istoria, vol. i, p. 663. of the French ar my in Italy. |