5 Sept.
H. H. u. St. A.
England, f. 2. |
Charles V to the Ambassadors in England.
Since we wrote you by the courier who left here August 15th,
we have received a letter from His Holiness, the original of which
we are sending herewith, saying that the secretary of the king of
France to whom we refused safe-conduct to His Holiness in
order to prevent his speaking to the pope about a peace or a truce
has nevertheless reached the pope at Villefranche in Savoy, and
given him letters from the king of France, the contents of which
you may see by the pope's letter. A copy of our reply is also
being sent you, in order that we may observe exactly our treaty
obligations toward the king of England. You will show them
this correspondence at once, and report their answer.
The archbishop of Bari, the pope's envoy in France, has sent
us his maître d'hôtel with credentials, the originals of which we
are sending you. The archbishop's message was that Francis is
inclined to a peace or truce with us, and with the king, our uncle,
and would be willing to accept the pope as mediator. He would
be willing to agree to a truce on both sides of the Alps, leaving the
castles and state of Milan in the hands of the pope. If this
proves impracticable, he wishes, at least, an armistice in the
Mediterranean, so that Rhodes may be relieved, and the Turks
repulsed. In such a cause, Francis offers to assist with men or
money, equally with ourselves, suggesting that the fleet collected
to escort the pope to Italy be employed against the Turks. We
are enclosing a copy of our reply to these proposals, which you
will communicate at once to Henry and Wolsey, reporting their
reply by this courier.
We are advised by one of our most reliable spies that this is
the time to press the war more warmly than ever, for King Francis
is very weak in men and money, unable to recruit abroad, and so
straightened for funds that he has been obliged to coin the plate
of St. Martin of Tours and to seize and melt up the golden images
of the apostles in an abbey near there, which were thought to be
of great value. The plate and the apostles yielded only 18,000
crowns. The French people are discontented and so oppressed
that they are incapable of further effort. The gens d'armes who
have returned from Italy have been disposed along the frontier
around Narbonne and Bayonne, as if for defence. The command
at Bayonne has been given to La Palice, since the duke of Bourbon
refused it. The king and his mother are now eagerly seeking a
reconciliation with Bourbon. Francis himself spends his time in
hunting and other sports with the cardinal of Lorraine, leaving
the cares of state to his mother, to the admiral, and to the chancellor.
He is little attended, and is said to intend to leave the
vicinity of Paris on the 18th of August, going toward the frontier,
leaving the ladies of the court at Blois.
On the 27th of this month we made our entry into this town of
Valladolid, accompanied by the constable and admiral of Castile,
the dukes of Medina Celi, Segorbe, Alva, Najera, and Albuquerque,
the counts of Benevente and Astorga, and other nobles and
prelates of the kingdom, and were well received by the people of
the town, high and low. In general, these kingdoms seem as well
disposed toward us as could be wished, for those who were
involved in the late rebellion now recognize their error and seek
only to be reconciled. We are busy with affairs here daily and
hope to arrange our finances so that we shall be well provided for
the "Great Enterprise" at the appointed time, or earlier, if
possible. Everything will be ready here in accordance with the
treaties, and Henry will be notified in good time as we agreed in
our conversations at Waltham Bishop.
Thomas Spinelly, the English ambassador, fell ill at Palencia,
and died here at Valladolid. He was a good servant to Henry
and zealous for the preservation of our friendship. We have
ordered that he be buried with the greatest honour. Beg Henry
and Wolsey to hasten the arrival of their ambassadors. Meanwhile
we have asked Wolsey's secretary [Thomas Hannibal],
who is here, to take charge of Spinelly's cipher so that our correspondence
with Henry may be uninterrupted. We are astonished
at not having received a single dispatch from you since we
reached Spain, although this is the third courier we have sent
you, besides letters by Lescano and Picharro, the captains of the
Spanish infantry. Be more diligent in writing, for constant
news is essential to the success of our affairs. Give to Henry and
Wolsey the credentials herewith enclosed, and write us immediately
by this courier their exact replies on all points.
Valladolid, 5 Sept. 1522.
Contemporary draft. French. pp. 5. |
25 Sept.
H. H. u. St. A.
England, f. 3. |
The Ambassadors in England to Charles V.
On September 6th we received your letter dated at Palencia
August 15th, and went at once to Wolsey to tell him the good
news in your letter of Spain, Italy, France, and the pope. Wolsey
told Henry immediately, and they expressed to us their pleasure
at hearing of the complete submission of your kingdoms, the
execution of the chief rebels, and your good intelligence with the
pope. All this they are writing in congratulatory letters, and in
instructions to their ambassador. They thank you heartily
for refusing to listen to proposals from France without their
knowledge and consent, and promise that you will find the same
loyalty on their side. It seems to them that the French offers
are slight, since your majesty is already free of all the provisions
of the treaty of Noyon, because the French were the first to break
the peace. They only offer Fuenterrabia because they know they
cannot hold it much longer. Their real object is to induce your
majesty to abandon Milan, the key to Italy, so that they may in
time recover not only what they have lost, but Naples as well,
and make themselves masters of Italy as they have long wished to
be. Henry and Wolsey think that, if Francis is pressed, he will
soon offer much more favourable terms. They gave us to understand
that if the French made a really advantageous offer, they
felt it should be discussed. We think that if the French had
made the same proposals through Henry and Wolsey, they
would be more favourably regarded here.
To sound out Wolsey, and discover if his master would be
willing to pay a part of the Italian army, and to spend something
to win the Swiss, we replied that we agreed with his opinion of
the French offers, always supposing that your majesty could meet
the expenses of paying the army of Italy and the Swiss, which
was, however, almost impossible without help, as they had seen
from your letters. Wolsey replied guardedly, and we do not think
there is much hope of drawing money from here, either by a loan
or by other means, so that we said nothing further on this subject.
Wolsey told us that the Venetian ambassador had asked for an
audience in which to deliver the reply of the Signory to the recent
remonstrances presented jointly by your ambassador and the
English one in Venice. Wolsey said that, since there was now no
division between your majesty and the king, his master, he would
not hear the Venetian ambassador except in our presence. We
thanked him, and pretended to believe him, although we know
that he frequently deals with the Venetian ambassador without
our knowledge. Wolsey then summoned the Venetian who, after
many fine words about the ancient friendship between Venice
and your majesty's predecessors, said that his government
desired nothing more than peace with your majesty. He then
proceeded to reply in detail to the articles handed to the Venetian
ambassador (in Spain) by the chancellor, a copy of which he
offered us in case we wished to discuss them with him further.
As to the summons delivered to Venice in virtue of the treaty of
London, the Venetians are in difficulties, both because they
are now at war against the Turks, and also because they fear to
incur the anger of the pope who, by his letters, a little while ago
exhorted and ordered the Signory not to mix in any wars between
Christian princes, but to seek peace and union by all means.
Wolsey, having heard all the Venetian had to say, replied
that, although we had no special power from your majesty to
treat in this matter, he felt we should hear the reply of the
Signory, since there was no division between the affairs of the
king, his master, and those of the emperor. Henry, he said,
would not mix in this affair without being fully informed of the
Signory's offers, but if he found these reasonable, he would intercede
with your majesty to accept them. Wolsey said the
Venetian refusal to accept the summons under the treaty of
London was not reasonable, and asked the ambassador to urge
his government to fulfil its treaty obligations. The Venetian
replied that he was charged with no further answer on this point
than what he had already delivered.
Next day the Venetian ambassador came to our lodging to
repeat his arguments of the day before, and say he was sorry we
had no authority to treat with him, since the offers of the Signory
were so reasonable that he had no doubt that all difficulties could
be settled in two hours' conversation. He hoped, however, the
Venetian ambassador at your majesty's court, who was charged
with an exactly similar message, would find a favourable reply
there. Since it appeared by your majesty's last letters that you
were inclined to treat with Venice, we thought we ought to encourage
the ambassador, and replied that even if we were empowered
to treat in this matter, we would be unwilling to proceed except
in the presence of Wolsey since such was your majesty's pleasure.
Although Wolsey had seemed a little angry with him the day
before, we said, he ought not to be discouraged, since we knew
the cardinal was really kindly disposed toward the Signory,
and he might be sure that if Venice did its duty toward your
majesty it would be treated with humanity. The Venetian left us
more content than he had been the day before, and intending
to ask Wolsey for another joint conversation on the following
day. Of this we have so far heard nothing, although we informed
Wolsey at once by letter of this conversation, during which,
among other things, it was expressly said that Venice did not
intend to abandon its allies and make war on France without
being sure of peace with your majesty.
Of the Scottish war Wolsey told us that the duke of Albany
with eighty thousand men, forty-five great cannon, and a large
number of smaller pieces of artillery, had come as far as the
border, where he was opposed by a great English host. The two
armies were entrenched about five miles apart and the English
intended to give battle on the morrow, when the duke sent to the
English commander asking for a parley between the two hosts
and offering hostages. At first, the English commander, Lord
Dacres, would not reply, but when a second messenger came with
a similar message from the queen of Scotland, he consented to
meet Albany and several other Scots lords. During the parley,
these other lords, without regard to the duke of Albany, who was
present, and against his will, asked Dacres for a month's truce,
which was granted, and both armies broke up, on the promise of
the Scots to send their ambassadors to the king of England before
the end of the month with powers to make a perpetual peace,
and to renounce forever the French alliance, with which they
have always been dissatisfied, as they now confess. If these
negotiations are successful, it will be a great blow to the French
and no little addition of strength to this kingdom. We have
never seen Wolsey so delighted as he is over this affair. We have
reminded him that according to the treaties, nothing should be
concluded without your majesty's consent.
We have already written you that Captain Picharro landed at
Calais with two thousand Spanish infantry, the rest, two thousand
one hundred soldiers and sailors, remaining at sea under Lescano.
This force we were obliged to revictual for one month at a cost
which, as your majesty may see from the enclosed accounts,
exceeded by 234 ducats, the amount we had estimated, partly
on account of the dearness of food, which increases daily in this
country, partly because the captain general was very hard to
satisfy, although we had thought to provide rather too much
than too little. We beg your majesty to order some other person
to take charge of these matters in the future, for we understand
nothing about them, and we cannot leave this town without
neglecting matters of greater importance. Whoever pays the
Spaniards next time (payment is due October 14) should scrutinize
carefully the rolls of the captains and shipmasters. According
to our reports their numbers will be found much less than the
original lists, since the force is daily diminishing, on account
of those who desert in order to join the land army. We have
spoken of this matter several times with Wolsey, and he has finally
agreed that naval operations shall be discontinued at the end of
October, except for four or five small English warships and as
many of yours, each having from one hundred to one hundred
and twenty fighting men. We should be glad to know your
majesty's pleasure on this point.
According to our news of the allied army in Picardy, they have
burned all the Boulonnais and are marching toward Doullens,
devastating the open country. Wolsey tells us that they have
taken the town of Hesdin, but the castle still holds out. Madame,
we suppose, will have informed your majesty more fully. On the
coast of Brittany, according to what the king tells us, the admiral
has taken by assault and sacked a town called Morlaix. The
English reckon their booty at two hundred thousand angels, and
they burned besides, fourteen great ships and a large number of
small ones. They have since burned two small towns, Conquest
and Saint-Pol. They were, it is true, before Brest, but met such
resistance that it was not levelled to the ground. They lost there
fifty or sixty men by the fire of the cannon in the castle which
had the range of the ships. There is a rumour here that the
English loss was much larger, but we have been unable to be
certain of anything beyond what Henry told us. As to the three
zabras which your majesty has put at our disposal so that we may
send you news every two weeks, we shall not fail to send dispatches
at least that often, and more frequently if occasion arises.
We beg your majesty to order the masters of the zabras to arrange
that when one leaves here another will arrive, so that our couriers
may always find one in port ready to sail.
We are unable to inform your majesty about the king and the
queen except by report. We have not seen them since our last
letters, because the king remains about forty miles from here,
accompanied only by a few persons, but making great cheer and
taking his pleasure. War and business are not discussed in his
court. A little while ago the cardinal retired to Hampton Court ;
he has been somewhat ill but is recovering, although slowly.
London, 25 Sept., 1522.
Signed, Bishop of Badajoz and Elne, and Loys de Praet. De
Praet's letter book. French. pp. 10. |
