Marshal Wolfgang de Polhain, instructed by Maximilian to betroth Anne to his master, heard a rumour of this hasty alliance. He questioned the French and Breton nobles, but they refused to give him an answer. A few days later he was invited to the marriage ceremony which had been arranged to take place in the castle of Langeais in Touraine. Polhain refused to attend, and hastened to Malines to give Maximilian an account of these proceedings. This sudden marriage caused great astonishment throughout Europe. How could people believe that the young duchess, then in her fourteenth year, and well able to understand the importance of her acts, had consented to marry a king who for years had made war against her and despoiled her of her heritage! Besides it was well known that since the Treaty of Arras in 1483 Charles had been affianced to Maximilian's daughter, Margaret of Austria. The rumour got about that the Duchess Anne had been forced into the marriage. The Pope believed this, and in granting the dispensation which was only asked for after the marriage had taken place, he formally announced that he would only confirm this union if it could be proved that it had not been brought about by force. Anne herself undertook to refute this calumny by declaring before an ecclesiastical commission that she had suffered no violence, and that she had gone to Langeais of her own free will to marry Charles. In the marriage contract a clause was inserted to the effect that should Anne survive Charles, without children, she could only remarry with his successor. Thus was the duchy of Brittany secured to the crown of France, and the king's ambitious scheme realised to Margaret's mortification. Mézerai tells us that 'a double dispensation was necessary, first to annul Charles's marriage with Margaret, and secondly to free Anne from her contract with Maximilian. The marriages not having been consummated, the Court of Rome did not make any great difficulty.' When Maximilian heard that his affianced bride had become the wife of Charles VIII., and that his daughter was about to be returned to him despoiled of her title of Queen of France, he made all the Courts of Europe ring with his complaints. War began again and lasted for two years. In 1493 peace was restored by the Treaty of Senlis, concluded between Charles and Maximilian. The King of the Romans renounced the title of Duke of Brittany, and was put in possession of the whole duchy of Burgundy as well as the Franche Comté, and Artois, which had been included in Margaret's dowry.