But Wolsey still hoped that bribes would keep Maximilian faithful to
England and induce him to counteract the French influences with which
his grandson Charles was surrounded. Ferdinand had died in January,
1516,[228] having, said the English envoy at his Court, wilfully
shortened his life by hunting and hawking in all weathers, and following
the advice of his falconers rather than that of his physicians.
Charles thus succeeded to Castile, Aragon and Naples;[229] but (p. 093)
Naples was seriously threatened by the failure of Maximilian's
expedition and the omnipotence of Francis in Italy. "The Pope is
French," wrote an English diplomatist, "and everything from Rome to
Calais."[230] To save Naples, Charles, in July, 1516, entered into the
humiliating Treaty of Noyon with France.[231] He bound himself to
marry Francis's infant daughter, Charlotte, to do justice to Jean
d'Albret in the matter of Navarre, and to surrender Naples, Navarre,
and Artois, if he failed to keep his engagement. Such a treaty was not
likely to stand; but, for the time, it was a great feather in
Francis's cap, and a further step towards the isolation of England. It
was the work of Charles's Gallicised ministry, and Maximilian
professed the utmost disgust at their doings. He was eager to come
down to the Netherlands with a view to breaking the Treaty of Noyon
and removing his grandson's advisers, but of course he must have money
from England to pay his expenses. The money accordingly came from the
apparently bottomless English purse;[232] and in January, 1517, the
Emperor marched down to the Netherlands, breathing, in his despatches
to Henry, threatenings and slaughter against Charles's misleaders. His
descent on Flanders eclipsed his march on Milan. "Mon fils," he said
to Charles, "vous allez tromper les Francais, et moi, je vais tromper
les Anglais."[233] So far from breaking the Treaty of Noyon, he (p. 094)
joined it himself, and at Brussels solemnly swore to observe its
provisions. He probably thought he had touched the bottom of Henry's
purse, and that it was time to dip into Francis's. Seventy-five
thousand crowns was his price for betraying Henry.[234]
[Footnote 228: On 23rd Jan. (_L. and P._, ii.,
1541, 1610). Brewer in his introduction to vol. ii.
of the _L. and P._ says "in February".]
[Footnote 229: His mother Juana was rightfully
Queen, but she was regarded as mad; she thought her
husband, the Archduke Philip, might come to life
again, and carried him about in a coffin with her
wherever she went (_Ven. Cal._, ii., 564).]
[Footnote 230: _L. and P._, ii., 2930.]
[Footnote 231: _L. and P._, ii., 2303, 2327, 2387;
_Ven. Cal._, ii., 769, 773.]
[Footnote 232: _L. and P._, ii., 2406, 2573, 2626,
2702.]
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