VII. BOOK potentiaries were named on both sides, and began their conferences in Chaussè, a small village near Chalons. At 1544 the same time, Charles, either from a desire of making one great final effort against France, or merely to gain a pretext for deserting his ally, and concluding a separate peace, sent an ambassador formally to require Henry, according to the stipulation in their treaty, to advance towards Paris. While he expected a return from him, and waited the issue of the conferences at Chaussè, he continued to march forward, though in the utmost distress from scarcity of provisions. But at last, by a fortunate motion on his part, or through some neglect or treachery on that of the French, he surprised first Esperney and then Chateau Thierry, in both which were considerable magazines. No sooner was it known that these towns, the latter of which is not two days march from Paris, were in the hands of the enemy, than that great capital, defenceless, and susceptible of any violent alarm in proportion to its greatness, was filled with consternation. The inhabitants, as if the emperor had been already at their gates, fled in the wildest confusion and despair, many sending their wives and children down the Seine to Rouen, others to Orleans, and the towns upon the Loire. Francis himself, more afflicted with this than with any other event during his reign, and sensible as well of the triumph that his rival would enjoy in insulting his capital, as of the danger to which the kingdom was exposed, could not refrain from crying out, in the first emotion of his surprise and sorrow, How dear, O my God, do I pay for this crown, which I thought thou hadst granted me freely! But, recovering in a moment from this sudden sally of peevishness and impatience, he devoutly added, Thy will, however, be done;' and proceeded to issue the necessary orders for opposing the enemy, with his usual activity and presence of mind. The dauphin detached eight thousand men to Paris, which revived the courage of the affrighted citizens; he threw a strong garrison into 6 Brantome, tom. vi. 381. Meaux, and by a forced march got into Fertè, between the imperialists and the capital. BOOK Vil. 1544. tween him Upon this, the emperor, who began again to feel the obliged to want of provisions, perceiving that the dauphin still pru-in. dently declined a battle, and not daring to attack his camp with forces so much shattered and reduced by hard service, turned suddenly to the right, and began to fall back towards Soissons. Having about this time received Henry's answer, whereby he refused to abandon the sieges of Boulogne and Montreuil, of both which he expected every moment to get possession, he thought himself absolved from all obligations of adhering to the treaty with him, and at full liberty to consult his own interest in what manner soever he pleased He consented, therefore, to renew the conference, which the surprise of Esperney had broken off. To conclude a peace between two princes, Peace be one of whom greatly desired, and the other greatly need-and Francis ed it, did not require a long negociation. It was signed conciled at Crespy. at Crespy, a small town near Meaux, on the eighteenth' of September. The chief articles of it were, that all the conquests which either party had made since the truce of Nice shall be restored; that the emperor shall give in marriage to the duke of Orleans, either his own eldest daughter, or the second daughter of his brother Ferdinand; that if he chose to bestow on him his own daughter, he shall settle on her all the provinces of the Low Countries, to be erected into an independent state, which shall descend to the male issue of the marriage; that if he determined to give him his niece, he shall, with her, grant him the investiture of Milan and its dependencies; that he shall, within four months, declare which of these two princesses he had pitched upon, and fulfil the respective conditions upon the consummation of the marriage, which shall take place within a year from the date of the treaty; that as soon as the duke of Orleans is put in possession either of the Low Countries or of Milan, Francis shall restore to the duke of Savoy all that he now possesses of his territories, except Pignerol and Montmilian; VII. 1544. BOOK that Francis shall renounce all pretensions to the kingdom of Naples, or to the sovereignty of Flanders and Artois, and Charles shall give up his claim to the duchy of Burgundy and country of Charolois; that Francis shall give no aid to the exiled king of Navarre; that both monarchs shall join in making war upon the Turks, towards which the king shall furnish, when required by the emperor and empire, six hundred men at arms, and ten thousand foot. Motives of it. Besides the immediate motives to this peace, arising concluding from the distress of his army through want of provisions; from the difficulty of retreating out of France, and the impossibility of securing winter-quarters there; the emperor was influenced by other considerations, more distant indeed, but not less weighty. The pope was offended to a great degree, as well at his concessions to the Protestants in the late diet, as at his consenting to call a council, and to admit of public disputations in Germany, with a view of determining the doctrines in controversy. Paul considering both these steps as sacrilegious encroachments on the jurisdiction as well as privileges of the holy see, had addressed to the emperor a remonstrance, rather than a letter, on this subject, written with such acrimony of language, and in a style of such high authority, as discovered more of an intention to draw on a quarrel, than of a desire to reclaim him. This ill humour was not a little inflamed by the emperor's league with Henry of England, which being contracted with an heretic, excommunicated by the apostolic see, appeared to the pope a profane alliance, and was not less dreaded by him than that of Francis with Solyman. Paul's son and grandson, highly incensed at the emperor for having refused to gratify them with regard to the alienation of Parma and Piacentia, contributed, by their suggestions, to sour and disgust him still more. To all which was added the powerful operation of the flattery and promises which Francis Recueil des Traitez, t. i, 227. Belius de Causis Pacis Crepiac. in Actis Erudit. Lips. 1763. VII. 1544. incessantly employed to gain him. Though, from his BOOK desire of maintaining a neutrality, the pope had hitherto suppressed his own resentment, had eluded the artifices of his own family, and resisted the solicitations of the French king, it was not safe to rely much on the steadiness of a man, whom his passions, his friends, and his interest, combined to shake. The union of the pope with France, Charles well knew, would instantly expose his dominions in Italy to be attacked. The Venetians, he foresaw, would probably follow the example of a pontiff, who was considered as a model of political wisdom among the Italians; and thus, at a juncture when he felt himself hardly equal to the burden of the present war, he would be overwhelmed with the weight of a new confederacy against him. At the same time, the Turks, almost unresisted, made such progress in Hungary, reducing town after town, that they approached near to the confines of the Austrian provinces ". Above all these, the extraordinary progress of the Protestant doctrines in Germany, and the dangerous combination into which the princes of that profession had entered, called for his immediate attention. Almost one half of Germany had revolted from the established church; the fidelity of the rest was much shaken; the nobility of Austria had demanded of Ferdinand the free exercise of religion"; the Bohemians, among whom some seeds of the doctrines of Huss still remained, openly favoured the new opinions; the archbishop of Cologne, with a zeal which is seldom found among ecclesiastics, had begun the reformation of his diocese; nor was it possible, unless some timely and effectual check were given to the spirit of innovation, to foresee where it would end. He himself had been a witness, in the late diet, to the peremptory and decisive tone which the Protestants had now assumed. He had seen how, from confidence in their number and union, they had forgotten the humble style of their first petitions, and had grown to such 1 F. Paul, 100. Pallavic. 163. Istuanhaffi Hist. Hung, 177. VOL. VI. n Sleid. 285. VII. 1544. BOOK boldness, as openly to despise the pope, and to shew no great reverence for the imperial dignity itself. If, therefore, he wished to maintain either the ancient religion or his own authority, and would not choose to dwindle into a mere nominal head of the empire, some vigorous and speedy effort was requisite on his part, which could not be made during a war that required the greatest exertion of his strength against a foreign and powerful enemy. War con tinues be tween Such being the emperor's inducements to peace, he had the address to frame the treaty of Crespy so as to promote all the ends which he had in view. By coming to an agreement with Francis, he took from the pope all prospects of advantage, in courting the friendship of that monarch in preference to his. By the proviso with regard to a war with the Turks, he not only deprived Solyman of a powerful ally, but turned the arms of that ally against him. By a private article, not inserted in the treaty, that it might not raise any unseasonable alarm, he agreed with Francis, that both should exert all their influence and power in order to procure a general council, to assert its authority, and to exterminate the Protestant heresy out of their dominions. This cut off all chance of assistance which the confederates of Smalkalde might expect from the French king°; and, lest their solicitations, or his jealousy of an ancient rival, should hereafter tempt Francis to forget this engagement, he left him embarrassed with a war against England, which would put it. out of his power to take any considerable part in the affairs of Germany. Henry, possessed at all times with an high idea of his own power and importance, felt, in the most sensible France and manner, the neglect with which the emperor had treated England. him in concluding a separate peace. But the situation of his affairs was such, as somewhat alleviated the mortification which this occasioned. For though he was obliSept. 14. ged to recal the duke of Norfolk from the siege of Montreuil, because the Flemish troops received orders to re Seck. lib. iii, 496. |
