faw that this affair would furnish him with a pre- ^. Č. 14876tence for demanding a fubfidy, which he fhould have no occafion to expend.

tion to com

between

In these fentiments he dispatched ambaffadors Henry offers with offers of his mediation to king Charles; his media and, fhould these be accepted, they were ordered promife all to proceed to the duke of Bretagne with the fame differences propofal. Charles was then employed in the fiege Charles and of Nantz; and, as it was his intereft to amuse the duke of Brittany. Henry until the place fhould be taken, he not only accepted his mediation, but also offered to fubmit the difpute to his final decifion; hoping either that the duke of Brittany would reject the arbitration, or that the negotiation might be fpun out until he should be mafter of the dutchy. When the English ambaffadors propofed their mafter's mediation to the duke, who was befieged in Nantz, the duke of Orleans replied in the name of that prince, that in fuch a perilous conjuncture, he expected fubftantial affiftance from the king of England, rather than offers of mediation, which could not prevent the lofs of his dominions: he defired their king would remember the benefits he had received from the duke of Brittany, and confider how much it imported England to hinder that dutchy from becoming a province of France. With this anfwer the ambaffadors were difmiffed, and Charles triumphed greatly in his affected moderation. Mean while he carried on his attacks with fuch vigour, that the place muft have been furrendered, had not the count de Dunois affembled a great multitude of peafants, who were anxious about the fate of their fovereign, and relieved the town in the face of the French army. This fupply obliged Charles to raise the siegé; and Henry being now fully perfuaded that the French king would not be able to conquer Brittany, refolved to continue neuter, but at the fame time affected to

Argentré.

A. C.. ..1487. interest himself warmly in the duke's favour, that he might have a pretext for demanding a fubfidy from the parliament which he had convoked for the ninth day of November. Mean while he fent back the ambaffadors to renew their efforts for a negotiation.

Brittany of

The duke of The lord Wideville, the queen's uncle, follicited fers his the king's permiffion to engage in the service of daughter in the duke of Brittany with a number of volunteers; the king of and, though Henry denied his requeft, he emthe Romans, barked privately at the Ifle of Wight with four

marriage to

Tranfacti

hundred men, who were no fooner landed in the duke's dominions, than Charles complained of them to the English ambassadors, as a body of auxiliaries fent in violation of the neutrality which the king of England affected to maintain. Henry, however, difavowing this ftep of the lord Wideville as a clandeftine tranfaction, Charles was fatisfied, because it was not his intereft to break with the king of England at fuch a juncture; for by this time the noblemen of Brittany, perceiving the intention of the French king was to make a conqueft of their country, had made peace with their fovereign, who could not however prevent Charles from taking the town of Dol by affault; fo that the duke, thinking himself unfafe at Nantz, retired to Rennes, in hope of being fuccoured by fome of his allies: there, finding himself hard preffed by the enemy, and feeing no profpect of immediate affiftance, he fuffered himself to be perfuaded by the prince of Orange to promife he would beftow his daughter Anne in marriage upon the king of the Romans; and that prince engaged to bring a powerful army into Bretagne; but he was preyented by the revolt of Ghent, which employed a his forces in Flanders.

During thefe tranfactions on the continent, the ons in par- English ambaffadors returned to London, and re

liament.

ported

ported to Henry that the intention of Charles was A. C. 1487. to amuse him with a negotiation until Bretagne. fhould be conquered. The parliament meeting at Westminster, the feffion was opened with a speech by the archbishop of Canterbury, chancellor of the realm, who, in the king's name, having thanked the two houses for the acts, they had paffed in his favour at their last fitting, gave them to underftand, that with refpect to the war between France and Bretagne, Charles had defired he would obferve a neutrality, and the duke had follicited his af. fiftance that he had offered his mediation, which was accepted by the French king, on condition that he should not discontinue holtilities, until the difference should be compromised; but that this condition was rejected by the duke of Brittany, who diftrufted the fincerity of Charles, and obferved that his aim was to fpin out the negotiation until the dutchy fhould be fubdued; that after having ineffectually employed his beft offices to terminate the difpute by an accommodation, he begged the advice of his parliament; and defired they would confider whether or not he ought to interpofe more effectual measures for the preservation of Bretagne. This was a queftion that required very little confideration: the English were too jealous of the power of France to ftand tamely, and fee it augmented by the acceffion of fuch a maritime province, which they counselled the king to defend with all his might; and that he might be enabled to affift the duke effectually, they granted a fupply of two fifteenths, befides a poll tax upon aliens, and another act of refumption. In this feffion they confirmed the authority of the Star-chamber, a court which had hitherto fubfifted by the ancient common laws of the realm. It confifted of the members of the king's council, who fat in an apartment called the Star-chamber, from the cieling,

N

Bacon.

erime.

7

A.C. 1487. which was painted with ftars, to judge offences under the degree of capital. The parliament likewife enacted a statute, by which any fervant of the king, under the degree of a nobleman, confpiring the death of any member of the council, or lord of the realm, fhould be deemed guilty of a capital The fame penalty was extended to those Rot. Parl. who fhould obtain poffeffion of women by force, howfoever they might afterwards be reconciled to their ravishers. A law was made for the more effectual prevention of murder and manflaughter. Another ftatute ordained that clerks convicted fhould be burned in the hand, for a tafte of punishment and brand of infamy, from which they had been hitherto exempted. A third decreed that the king's officers and farmers fhould forfeit their places and holds, in cafe of unlawful retainer, or being concerned in riots and illegal affemblies. Several wholefome regulations were made for the prevention of ufury, the fecurity of the king's customs, and the employment of foreign commodities im ported into the kingdom,

The duke of
Brittany is

defeated by
the French

king at St.
Aubin,

Henry having accomplished his aim, which was a fubfidy, inftead of employing it in vigorous measures, refumed the method of negotiation, and fent ambaffadors again to Charles, to make him acquainted with the refolution of the parliament. The French king, who was no ftranger to Henry's fentiments and difpofition, ftill continued to amuse him by declaring himself ready to abide by the de

on of the king of England: but he abfolutely refused to interrupt his operations, alledging that fuch interruption would enable his adversary to retrieve his affairs; nevertheless the duke of Bretagne gained by the approach of winter what he could not obtain by Henry's follicitations. The king of France was obliged to put his troops in quarters, and return to Paris, while the duke not

only

only enjoyed a refpite, but, by the valour and ac. A. C. 1488° tivity of the marechal Rieux, retook Vannes and Dinan, in the month of March, and fecured Ancennis and Chateaubriant, with ftrong garrifons? at the fame time a fmall body of men at arms, belonging to the lord of Albret, deferted the fervice of France, and joined the duke of Brittany. This fmile of fortune was of fhort duration: in the Mezerai. month of April Charles began the campaign, retook and demolished Ancennis and Chateau- Briant; and at one time invefted Fougeres and St. Aubin de Cormier. In the beginning of the war the duke of Bretagne had endeavoured to detach the, lord of Albret from the intereft of France, by promising to give him his daughter in marriage; and now that nobleman embracing the propofal, joined him with a body of a thousand horfe, in expectation of seeing his promife immediately fulfilled. Francis, who had in private betrothed his daughter to Maximilian, tutored the princess, who was about eleven years of age, to exprefs a perfonal averfion to the match; and this ferved as a pretence for delaying the marriage. Mean while, finding himself altogether unable to cope with the French, and being difappointed in his expectations from Henry and the king of the Romans, he fent the count de Dunois to follicit Charles for Rymer. peace. That king was then engaged in a private negotiation for a truce with the king of England; and therefore deferred giving a positive anfwer, on various pretences, until he received advice that the treaty was concluded at Windfor: then having nothing to fear from Henry, he rejected the duke's proposals, and refolved to continue the war until he should have made an intire conqueft of the dutchy. The duke's affairs being now defperate, his chief counsellors, the duke of Orleans, the prince of Orange, and the marechal Rieux, refolved to make one vigorous effort, by giving battle to the enemy.