Meanwhile Louis XII. had seized Brescia and Bergamo almost without a struggle. The Venetian army retreated as far as Mestre, whilst the French advanced to Fusino. Maximilian at the head of a powerful force approached Venice from the other side. The Venetians, surrounded by enemies and left without a single ally, shut themselves up in their capital as their last refuge. This rapid success, however, proved fatal to the Confederacy. The memorable decree followed, by which Venice released her Continental provinces from their allegiance, authorising them to provide for their own safety. The allies, who had remained united during the struggle, now quarrelled over the division of the spoil. Old jealousies revived, and the Venetians, taking advantage of their opportunity, recovered part of the territory which they had lost, and appeased the Pope and Ferdinand by concessions in their favour, and at length dissolved the Confederacy which had brought their commonwealth to the brink of ruin. Prescott says: 'The various negotiations carried on during this busy period, and the different combinations formed among powers hitherto little connected with each other, greatly increased the intercourse amongst the European nations; while the greatness of the objects at which different nations aimed, the distant expeditions which they undertook, as well as the length and obstinacy of the contest in which they engaged, obliged them to exert themselves with a vigour and perseverance unknown in the preceding ages.' CHAPTER VII MARGARET'S CORRESPONDENCE After a reign of twenty-three years Henry VII. died at Richmond on the 21st of April 1509, and the whole aspect of affairs was suddenly changed. He, like his rival Ferdinand, had been avaricious from deliberate policy; and his avarice was largely instrumental in founding England's coming greatness, for the accumulated riches he left to his son lent force to the new position assumed by England as the balancing power, courted by both the great Continental rivals. The new king, Henry VIII., was a very different man from his father. From the time when he ascended the throne, at the age of eighteen, he adopted an opposite policy. Ambitious and incautious, and immeasurably vain, he courted rather than evaded diplomatic complications. The death of Henry VII. had indeed cleared away many obstacles; Ferdinand had profoundly mistrusted him, but with the younger Henry as king affairs stood differently. Even before his father's death Ferdinand had taken pains to assure him of his love, and had treated him as a sovereign over the old king's head.