HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION

BOOK XI.

Mary of England and Philip of Spain

About this time, Edward the sixth of England, after a short reign, in which he displayed such virtues as filled his subjects with sanguine hopes of being happy under his government, and made them bear with patience all that they suffered from the weakness, the dissensions, and the ambition of the ministers who assumed the administration during his minority, was seized with a lingering distemper which threatened his life. The emperor no sooner received an account of this, than his ambition, always attentive to seize every opportunity of acquiring an increase of power, or of territories, to his son, suggested the thought of adding England to his other kingdoms by the marriage of Philip with the princess Mary, the heir of Edward's crown. Being apprehensive, however, that his son, who was then in Spain, might decline a match with a princess in her thirty-eighth year, and eleven years older than himself; Charles determined, notwithstanding his own age and infirmities, to make offer of himself as a husband to his cousin.

But though Mary was so far advanced in years, and destitute of every charm either of person or of manners that could win affection or command esteem, Philip, without hesitation, gave his consent to the match proposed by his father, and was willing, according to the usual maxim of princes, to sacrifice his inclination to his ambition. In order to ensure the success of his scheme, the emperor, even before Edward's death, began to take such steps as might facilitate it. Upon Edward's demise, Mary mounted the throne of England; the pretensions of the lady Jane Grey proving as unfortunate as they were ill-founded. Charles sent immediately a pompous embassy to London to congratulate Mary on her accession to the throne, and to propose the alliance with his son. The queen, dazzled with the prospect of marrying the heir of the greatest monarch in Europe had fond of uniting more closely with her mother's family, to which she had been always warmly attached; and eager to secure the powerful aid which she knew would be necessary towards carrying on her favorite scheme of re-establishing the Romish religion in England, listened in the most favorable manner to the proposal. Among her subjects, it met with a very different reception. Philip, it was well known, contended for all the tenets of the church of Rome with a sanguinary zeal which exceeded the measure even of Spanish bigotry: this alarmed all the numerous partisans of the Reformation. The Castilian haughtiness and reserve were far from being acceptable to the English, who, having several times seen their throne occupied by persons who were born subjects, had become accustomed to an unceremonious and familiar intercourse with their sovereigns. They could not think, without the utmost uneasiness, of admitting a foreign prince to that influence of their councils, which the husband of their queen would naturally possess. They dreaded, both from Philip's overbearing temper, and from the maxims of the Spanish monarchy which he had imbibed, that he would infuse ideas into the queen's mind, dangerous to the liberties of the nation, and would introduce foreign troops and money into the kingdom, to assist her in any attempt against them.

Full of these apprehensions, the house of commons, though in that age extremely obsequious to the will of their monarchs, presented a warm address against the Spanish match; many pamphlets were published, representing the dangerous consequences of the alliance with Spain, and describing Philip's bigotry and arrogance in the most odious colors. But Mary, inflexible in all her resolutions, paid no regard to the remonstrances of her commons, or to the sentiments of the people. The emperor, having secured, by various arts, the ministers whom she trusted most, they approved warmly of the match, and large sums were remitted by him in order to gain the rest of the council. Cardinal Pole, whom the pope, immediately upon Mary's accession, bad despatched as his legate into England, in order to reconcile his native country to the see of Rome, was detained by the emperor's command at Dillinghen in Germany, lest by his presence he should thwart Philip's pretensions, and employ his interest in favor of his kinsman Courtnay earl of Devonshire, whom the English ardently wished their sovereign to choose for a husband.

As the negotiation did not admit of delay, it was carried forward with the greatest rapidity, the emperor agreeing, without hesitation, to every article in favor of England, which Mary's ministers either represented as necessary to soothe the people and reconcile them to the match, or that was suggested by their own fears and jealousy of a foreign master. The chief articles were [Jan. 12, 15541] that Philip, during his marriage with the queen, should bear the title of king of England, but the entire administra­tion of affairs, as well as the sole disposal of all revenues, offices, and benefices, should remain with the queen; that the heirs of the marriage should, together with the crown of England, inherit the duchy of Burgundy and the Low-Countries; that if prince Charles, Philip's only son by a former marriage, should die without issue, his children by the queen, whether male or female, should succeed to the crown of Spain, and all the emperor's hereditary dominions; that before the consummation of the marriage, Philip should swear solemnly, that he would retain no domestic who was not a subject of the queen, and would bring no foreigners into the kingdom that might give umbrage to the English; that he would make no alteration in the constitution or laws of England; that he would not carry the queen, or any of the children born of this marriage, out of the kingdom; that if the queen should die before him without issue, he would immediately leave the crown to the lawful heir, without claiming any right of administration whatever; that in consequence of this marriage, England should not be engaged in any war subsisting between France and Spain; and that the alliance between France and England should remain in full force.

But this treaty, though both the emperor and Mary's ministers employed their utmost address in framing it so as to please the English, was far from quieting their fears and jealousies. They saw that words and promises were a feeble security against the encroachments of an ambitious prince, who, as soon as he got possession of the power and advantages which the queen's husband must necessarily enjoy, could easily evade any of the articles which either limited his authority or obstructed his schemes. They were convinced that the more favorable the conditions of the present treaty were to England, the more Philip would be tempted hereafter to violate them. They dreaded that England, like Naples, Milan, and the other countries annexed to Spain, would soon feel the dominion of that crown to be intolerably oppressive, and he constrained, as these had been, to waste its wealth and vigour in wars wherein it had no interest, and from which it could derive no advantage. These sentiments prevailed so generally that every part of the kingdom was filled with discontent at the match, and with indignation against the advisers of it. Sir Thomas Wyat, a gentleman of some note, and of good intentions towards the public, took advantage of this, and roused the inhabitants of Kent to arms, in order to save their country from a foreign yoke. Great numbers resorted in a short time to his standard; he marched to London with such rapidity, and the queen was so utterly unprovided for defence, that the aspect of affairs was extremely threatening; and if any nobleman of distinction had joined the malcontents, or had Wyat possessed talents equal, in any degree, to the boldness of his enterprise, the insurrection must have proved fatal to Mary's power. But all Wyat's measures were concerted with so little prudence, and executed with such irresolution, that many of his followers forsook him; the rest were dispersed by a handful of soldiers; and he himself was taken prisoner, without having made any effort worthy of the cause that he had undertaken, or suitable to the ardor with which he engaged in it. He suffered the punishment due to his rashness and rebellion. The queen's authority was confirmed and increased by her success in defeating this inconsiderate attempt to abridge it. The lady Jane Grey, whose title the ambition of her relations had set up in opposition to that of the Queen, was, notwithstanding her youth and innocence, brought to the scaffold. The lady Elizabeth, the queen's sister, was observed with the most jealous attention. The treaty of marriage was ratified by the parliament.

Philip landed in England with a magnificent retinue, celebrated his nuptials with great solemnity; and though he could not lay aside his natural severity and pride, or assume gracious and popular manners, he endeavored to conciliate the favor of the English nobility by his extraordinary liberality. Lest that should fail of acquiring him such influence in the government of the kingdom as he aimed at obtaining, the emperor kept a body of twelve thousand men on the coast of Flanders in readiness to em­bark for England, and to support his son in all his enterprises.

Emboldened by all these favorable circumstances, Mary pursued the scheme of extirpating the protestant religion out of her dominions, with the most precipitate zeal. The laws of Edward the Sixth, in favor of the Reformation, were repealed; the protestant clergy ejected; all the forms and rights of the popish worship were re-established; the nation was solemnly absolved from the guilt which it had contracted during the period of its apostasy, and was publicly reconciled to the church of Rome by cardinal Pole, who immediately after the queen's marriage, was permitted to continue his journey to England, and to exercise his legatine functions with the most ample power. Not satisfied with having overturned the protestant church, and re-establishing the ancient system on its ruins, Mary insisted that all her subjects should conform to the same mode of worship which she preferred; should profess their faith in the same creed which she had approved; and abjure every practice or opinion that was deemed repugnant to either of them. Powers, altogether unknown in the English constitution, were vested in certain persons appointed to take cognizance of heresy, and they proceeded to exercise them with more than inquisito­rial severity. The prospect of danger, however, did not intimidate the principal teachers of the protestant doctrines, who believed that they were contending for truths of the utmost consequence to the happiness of man­kind. They boldly avowed their sentiments, and were condemned to that cruel death which the church of Rome reserves for its enemies. This shocking punishment was inflicted with that barbarity which the rancor of false zeal alone can inspire. The English, who are inferior in humanity to no people in Europe, and remarkable for the mildness of their public executions, beheld with astonishment and horror, persons who had filled the most respectable stations in their church, and who were venerable on account of their age, their piety, and their literature, condemned to endure torments to which their laws did not subject even the most atrocious criminals.

This extreme rigor did not accomplish the end at which Mary aimed. The patience and fortitude with which these martyrs for the Reformation submitted to their sufferings, the heroic contempt of death expressed by persons of every rank, and age, and sex, confirmed many more in the pro­testant faith, than the threats of their enraged persecutors could frighten into apostasy. The business of such as were entrusted with trying of heretics multiplied continually, and appeared to be as endless as it was odious. The queen's ablest ministers became sensible how impolitic, as well as dangerous, it was to irritate the people by the frequent spectacle of public executions, which they detested as no less unjust than cruel. Even Philip was so thoroughly convinced of her having run to an excess of rigor, that on this occasion he assumed a part to which he was little accustomed, becoming an advocate for moderation and lenity.

But notwithstanding this attempt to ingratiate himself with the English, they discovered a constant jealousy and distrust of all his intentions; and when some members, who had been gained by the court, ventured to move in the house of commons that the nation ought to assist the emperor, the queen's father-in-law, in his war against France, the proposal was rejected with general dissatisfaction. A motion which was made, that the parlia­ment should give its consent that Philip might be publicly crowned as the queen's husband, met with such a cold reception that it was instantly with­drawn.

The king of France had observed the progress of the emperor's negotiation in England with much uneasiness. The great accession of territories as well as reputation which his enemy would acquire by the marriage of his son with the queen of such a powerful kingdom, was obvious and formidable. He easily foresaw that the English, notwithstanding all their fears and precautions, would be soon drawn in to take part in die quarrels on the continent, and he compelled to act in subserviency to the emperor's ambitious schemes. For this reason, Henry had given it in charge to his ambassador at the court of London, to employ all his address in order to defeat or retard the treaty of marriage; and as there was not, at that time, any prince of the blood in France whom he could propose to the queen as a husband, he instructed him to co-operate with such of the English as wished their sovereign to marry one of her own subjects. But the queen's ardor and precipitation in closing with the first overtures in favor of Philip, having rendered all his endeavors ineffectual, Henry was so far from thinking it prudent to give any aid to the English malecontents, though earnestly solicited by Wyat and their other leaders, who tempted him to take them under his protection, by offers of great advantage to France, that he commanded his ambassador to congratulate the queen in the warmest terms upon the suppression of the insurrection.

Notwithstanding these external professions, Henry 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 operations, both in the Low-Countries and in Italy, with extraordinary rigor, 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.

The campaign was opened with the siege of Mariemburg, a town which the queen of Hungary, the governess of the Low-Countries, had fortified at great expense; but, being destitute of a sufficient garrison, it surrendered in six days [June 26]. Henry, elated with this success, put himself at the head of his army, and investing Bouvines, took it by assault, after a short resistance. With 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 remitted into England had so exhausted his treasury, as to render his preparations at this juncture slower and more 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 lace 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 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 license 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 these precautions a dispute, about a post which both armies endeavored to seize, brought on an engagement [Aug. 13], which proved almost general. The duke of Guise, who commanded the wing of the French which stood the brunt of the combat, displayed a valor and conduct worthy of the defender of Metz; the Imperialists, after an obstinate struggle, were repulsed; the French remained masters of the post in dispute, and if the constable, either from his natural caution and slowness, 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 a hostile army, quitted their entrenchments. They retired openly, courting the enemy to approach, rather than shunning an engagement.

But Charles, having gained his end, suffered them to march of unmolested. As soon as his troops entered their own country, Henry threw garrisons into the 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 endeavored 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 Italy. The footing which the French had acquired in Sienna occasioned much uneasiness to Cosmo di Medici, the most sagacious and enterprising of all the Italian princes. He dreaded the neighborhood of a powerful people, to whom all who favored 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 be was to the French, on account of his attachment to the Imperial party, and he foresaw that, if they were permitted to gather strength in Sienna, Tuscany would soon feel the effects of their resentment. For these reasons, he wished with the utmost solicitude for the expulsion of the French out of the Siennese, before they had 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 honor to dislodge those formidable intruders into the heart of his dominions, Cosmo labored 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.