A.C. 1488. enemy. With this view they marched towards St.. Aubin, which had capitulated before they arrived; and the French army being reunited under the command of Lewis de la Tremouille, a battle enfued on the twenty-eighth day of July, when the forces of Brittany were routed with great flaughter: the duke of Orleans and the prince of Orange, Argentré. who fought on foot, were taken prifoners, and the lord Wideville was flain, with all his followers. Infurrection in York hire. While the duke of Bretagne thus precipitated his own ruin, the king of England made his diftrefs: a pretext for levying the fubfidy with the utmost expedition; and all the counties payed it without murmuring, except the inhabitants of Yorkshire and the bishopric of Durham, who, as old partifans of the house of York, hated Henry, and refused to comply with the conditions of the tax, which they faid was a grievous oppreffion. The commiffioners being thus repulfed, addreffed them. felves to the earl of Northumberland, who wrote to court for directions; and the king infifted pe remptorily on their paying their proportion of the fubfidy which had been granted by parliament; obferving that the affairs of Bretagne were very preffing and that should he relinquish his right on this occafion, other counties would be encouraged to claim the fame exemption. The earl, no fooner received this anfwer, than he affembled the justices and freeholders of the county, and fignified his majesty's pleasure in fuch imperious terms, as not only confirmed them in their refolution to refufe payment, but also excited their refentment against the earl, whom they confidered as the perfon who had fomented the king's indignation. Thus inftigated, the populace immediately affembled, and breaking into his houfe, flew him with a good number of his fervants. They were animated by a popular incendiary called John a Chamber; and choofing > thoofing for their leader Sir John Egremont, a very A. C. 1488, turbulent partifan of the houfe of York, they avowed their rebellion; declaring they would march to London, and give battle to Henry. The news of this infurrection did not much alarm the king, though he forthwith fent a body of troops againit the rebels, under the command of the earl of Surrey, whom he had released from the Tower, and admitted into his favour. That nobleman, engaging the infurgents, routed them at the first onset, and made John a Chamber prifoner; but Sir John Egremont escaped, and, croffing the fea, took refuge with the dutchefs dowager of Burgundy. The king, who followed the earl of Surrey with another body of troops, proceeded in his progrefs northward as far as York, where he ordered John a Chamber to be hanged, with a great number of his accomplices, and granted a general pardon to the reft of the rebels. Having constituted the earl of Surrey his lieutenant in the northern parts, and appointed Sir Richard Tunftall his principal commiffioner for levying the fubfidy, he returned to London, where he was furprised with the tidings of the duke of Bretagne's being defeated at St. Aubin. Brittany. That prince was now reduced to a deplorable Treaty becondition he had nothing to expect from Henry tween the king of but fruitless negotiations. Maximilian, inftead of France and fuccouring his future father-in-law, was himself the duke of imprisoned by the Flemings at Bruges, and remained in confinement until his father Frederick, the emperor, marched into the Low Countries at the head of a numerous army to his relief. He was fo intent upon fortifying himself against the mutinous fpirit of the Flemings, that, forgetting all his engagements with the duke of Brittany, he fent an embaffy into Spain to demand of Ferdinand and his queen their eldest daughter Ifabel for himself, and A. C. 1488, and the younger infanta Jane for his fon Philip: the former was already promised to the prince of Portugal, but the fecond part of his propofal took effect in the fequel. Mean while Philip de Cleves, lord of Ravenstein, being chofen general by the inhabitants of Ghent, surprised the city of Bruffelsa and Maximilian retired to Germany, leaving Albert duke of Saxony to command for his fon Philip in the Low Countries. The duke of Brittany, being thus abandoned by all the world, fued for peace in the most humble manner; and found Charles very well difpofed to grant his request. That politic monarch, though he had concluded a truce with Henry, perceived from the temper of the English nation, that their king would find himself obliged to take fome vigorous meafures for the defence of Brittany; and those he refolved to prevent by a treaty with the duke, which he would no farther obferve than he should find it convenient for his own purposes: their conferences were accordingly opened; and about the latter end of Auguft a treaty of peace was concluded at Vorger, on condition that Charles fhould retain the places he had conquered, and withdraw his troops from the other parts of Brittany. Mezerai. The duke of Henry de Immediately after the ratification of this treaty, Francis II. duke of Brittany died in a very old age, clares him- leaving his daughter Anne under the tuition of the felf the pro- marechal de Rieux and the count de Cominge: ✓tector of his daughter, but Philip de Montauban chancellor of the dutchy carried the young princess to Guerande, where he made ufe of her name and authority to cloak his own defigns; and his influence with her produced a quarrel between him and the marechal, which proved very detrimental to her own intereft, as well as to that of her fubjects. The king of England, being informed of the duke's death, declared openly that he would confider the intereft of the orphan orphan dutchess as his own, and affected to make 4. C. 14884 preparations for fuccouring her in the most effectual manner. As the late treaty between France and Brittany was provifional, until the pretenfions of Charles to the fovereignty of that dutchy could be regulated, Henry's aim was to hinder the French king from taking the advantage of the duke's death, and the confternation of the Bretons. He thought this purpofe would be answered by his openly efpoufing the caufe of the dutchefs; that Charles, rather than come to an open rupture with England, would abate in his pretenfions; that he himself would be chofen umpire of the difference, and confequently avoid a war which would oblige him to empty his coffers. In order to intimidate the French king, he fent ambaffadors to the king of the Romans and his fon Philip the archduke, and dispatched envoys to the kings of Spain and Portu gal, as if he intended to form a league againft Charles, whom, by a third embaffy, he preffed to finish all differences with Bretagne by a new treaty; at the fame time, he fent Edgecomb and Henry Aynefworth with offers of affittance to the young dutchefs, and powers to engage in his name for a certain number of troops, on fufficient fecurity for Rymer, a reimbursement of the expence. of Scotland The affairs of Brittany engroffed the attention of James III. the kings of England and France to fuch a degree, killed by his that they neglected fending fuccours to their ally own fubJames III. king of Scotland, whofe nobles, with jects. his fon at their head, had rifen in rebellion. He had retired to the caftle of Edinburgh, and folli cited the affiftance of Charles and Henry, who promifed to fend forces to his aid: but his friends advifed him to remove to the caftle of Stirling, which he would find more commodious for receiving the fuccours he expected from abroad. In compliance with this advice, he quitted Edinburgh, 6 and 1 A. C. 1488. and marched with a small body of troops to Stirling, where he was refufed admittance by the governor. He then endeavoured to return to the place from which he had departed; but was prevented by the rebellious noblemen who had engaged him at Bannockburn, where he was defeated and flain. His fon James, at that time but fifteen years of age, was proclaimed king of Scotland on the field of battle by the victors; and in the month Buchanan. of July fent ambaffadors to Henry, to notify his acceffion to the Scottish throne. A. C. 1489. Henry fends a reinforce Rymer, On the tenth day of February, the English envoys concluded a treaty with the dutchefs of Brement to the tagne, by which Henry engaged to affift her with dutchefs of a reinforcement of fix thousand men, on condition Bretagne. of being put into poffeffion of certain places, by way of fecurity for the expence of this armament: fo that by this negotiation he provided for the safety of Bretagne, without expending any part of the money he had received from parliament; on the contrary, he contrived a method for laying it out to the beft advantage; for by retaining the fecurities, he found means to be repayed with intereft. The dutchess was glad to receive the affiftance of England upon any terms. She faw a French army in the heart of her dominions: fhe found herself without troops and money; and her principal fubjects were divided among themfelves, by the moft rancorous feuds and factions. The marechal de Rieux had been appointed her tutor; but Philip de Montauban her chancellor, who had gained an afcendency over her fpirit, reprefented the marechal to her in fuch a light, that the refused to own him as her guardian. Philip infinuated that he was a creature of the king of France, by whofe direction he wanted to effect a marriage between her and the lord of Albret, a nobleman unfupported by any alliance, who would not be able to protect her do |