AC1513. creafe, until the moft powerful princes of Europe courted his friendship and good offices. Hoftilities between France and England being already commenced by fea, admiral Howard fet fail with' two and thirty fhips of war, in order to attack the French fleet, which lay at anchor in Breft, waiting a reinforcement of fix gallies under the command of Pregent, from Marseilles. Howard, under. ftanding that this officer was arrived at Conqueft, fteered thither, and attacked him with great vigour. His own fhip grappling with the galley commanded by Pregent, he leaped on board of the enemy with a few followers; but, the French commander difengaging himself, Howard was left in the gal ley, and flain in the confufion of the fight. The English, difcouraged by the death of their admiral,' engagement difcontinued the battle, and returned to England, French where Henry beftowed the command upon Thomas Howard, brother of the deceased. The French navy, being reinforced by the gallies, and elevated with their fuccefs, fet fail for the coaft of England, and made a defcent in Suffex, from whence they carried off a confiderable booty. Admiral lain in an with the fleet. Ld. Herbert. Henry, having finished his preparations, fummoned his allies to fulfil their feveral engagements, according to the treaty of Mechlin. The pope had no intention to fend an army into Provence; the emperor was in no condition to enter Burgundy. The king of Arragon had privately concluded a truce for one year with Lewis, and even comprehended the king of England, without his knowfolves to pro- ledge. Henry, being informed of this tranfaction, was fo incenfed, that he fent an ambaffador to reproach his father-in-law for fuch deceitful conduct, and fummon him to execute the treaty of Mechlin, which his envoy had folemnly ratified in his name at London. Ferdinand now alledged that this enVoy had exceeded his inftructions; that he had Henry re fecute the war with France. been been constrained by the neceffity of his affairs to A. C, 1513, conclude the truce with Lewis; but he promised to exert himself vigorously after it fhould be expired, and advised his fon-in-law to accede to the fufpenfion in which cafe they would afterwards unite their forces, and act together against the common enemy. Henry would no longer depend upon his promifes; and now, for the first time, discovered the infincerity of his allies, and found himfelf fubjected to the expence of a war against France, which he expected would have been attacked at the fame time from four different quarAbout this time, he received a letter of excufe from the emperor, giving him to understand, that he could not poffibly invade Burgundy till next year; but, in the mean time, he would ferve in perfon as a volunteer in the army of England. Notwithstanding these disappointments, the king was fo animated with ambition, and the thirst of glory, that he refolved to maintain the war at his own hazard: though he was, at this juncture, inflamed with a paffion of a much more fordid ters. nature. headed. He ordered the earl of Suffolk, who was prisoner Earl of Sufin the Tower, to be beheaded without any form of folk be trial; though the late king had pofitively promised to Philip of Caftile, to fpare the life of that unfortunate nobleman, whofe death was now owing to Henry's fear of the house of York, or to his revenge against the earl's brother Richard de la Pole, who ferved in the French army. Two bodies of Ld.Herbert. troops were transported to Calais in the month of June, under the command of the earl of Shrewfbury, and the lord Herbert; and these were ordered to undertake the fiege of Terouenne. They were foon followed by Henry himself, who, having appointed queen Catherine regent of the realm, embarked for Calais, accompanied by his two fa vourites, Rymer. embarks for Jouts the French at Mezerai. A. C. 1513. Vourites, Wolfey, prime minifter, and Charles Brandon, lately created viscount de Lifle, with a The king confiderable number of other noblemen. While Calais, and the troops of England carried on the fiege of Terouenne, Henry remained at Calais with a body of Terouenne. nine thousand men, ready to march, in case of neceffity. At length he received intelligence, that the duke of Longueville was on his march to the 'relief of the place. Then he fet out from Calais for the camp of the befiegers; and, on the ninth day of Auguft, had an interview between Aire and Terouenne, with the emperor, who, in three days after this conference, joined the English army, as a volunteer; and received an appointment of an hundred crowns a day, as Henry's foldier. When the duke of Longueville approached Terouenne, the king of England paffed the Lys, on purpose to give him battle, and an engagement immediately enfued, though it was not of long continuance, for, the French were seized with a panic, and fled in the utmost confufion. Their general was taken prifoner, together with the chevalier Bayard, La Fayette, Buffy d'Amboife, and fome other officers of diftinction; and this affair, which happened at Guinegafte, was denominated, the Battle of the Spurs, because the enemy had made more use of fpurs than of any warlike weapon. Before the engagement, a body of French body of French troops had attempted to throw a convoy into Terouenne, but they were repulfed by the lord Herbert, who guarded the trenches; and the befieged furrendering the town immediately after the battle, the king, accompanied Ld.Herbert. by the emperor, entered the place in triumph. One would imagine Henry had been born to be the dupe of his allies. Maximilian, who had ferved as a volunteer only at this fiege, perfuaded the king to deliver the town into his hands; and he ordered the walls to be razed to the foundation, that Act. Pub. that the dominions of his grandfon Charles of Au-A. C. 1513. ftria, might no longer be expofed to infults from the garrison of this fortrefs. It was likewise at the infti- Reduces gation of Maximilian, that Henry afterwards be-Tournay. fieged Tournay, though before the place was invested, the emperor quitted the army in difguft, the reason of which has escaped the notice of hiftorians. The king of England, after having vifited Margaret the governante of the Low Countries, at Lisle, marched directly to Tournay, which capitulated in feven or eight days, on condition that the inhabitants fhould enjoy their privileges, and for ten years pay a small annual tribute to the conquerer. Inftead of razing the fortifications, he fecured the place with a good garrison, commanded by Sir Edward Poynings, though it lay at a greater distance from Calais than Terouenne, which he had demolished but he was on this occafion influenced. by the counsel of Wolfey, who had caft his eyes on the bishopric of Tournay, of which he was afterwards created adminiftratior, on pretence, that the bishop had refused to take the oath of allegiance to the king of England. Immediately after the reduction of Tournay, the princefs Margaret, and her nephew the archduke Charles, went thither to congratulate him upon his conqueft, and were for fifteen days regaled with tilts and tournaments, courfes, balls, masquerades, and other diversions; though, in the midst of all that paftime, the minifters of the two courts broached a treaty, which was and conin the fequel brought to perfection; and ratified cludes a new at Lifle on the following conditions: That Henry, Maximilian notwithstanding his convention with the emperor, fhould be at liberty to return with his army into England: That during the winter Maximilian should maintain in the Artois, four thousand horse, and fix Rymer. thousand infantry, for the defence of Tournay, and the archduke's dominions; and, for the maintenance of these troops receive from Henry the fum of two hun dred treaty with A.C. 1513 dred thousand crowns, at different terms: That, be fore the month of June in the following year, the king of England fhould invade Guienne, Normandy, or Picardy, and the emperor fall upon fome other province of France: and, That before the fifteenth day of May, the emperor, the dutchess Margaret, the archduke Charles, the king of England, queen Catharine, and the princess Mary, fhould meet at Calais, to celebrate the marriage of the archduke with the princess Mary, according to the convention between the late king and Maximilian. After this tranfaction, Henry fet out from Lifle on the feventeenth day of October, and arrived on the twenty-fourth at his own palace of Richmond, extremely well pleafed with the fuccefs of the campaign. The victory of Guinegafte, and the reduction of Terouenne and Tournay, were not the only triumphs Rupture be he enjoyed at this juncture. In his abfence, James tween James of Scotland IV. of Scotland, having affembled an army, to and Henry, make a diverfion in favour of Lewis, fent a letter by an herald to Henry while he was engaged in the fiege of Terouenne, containing an account of the injuries he pretended to have fuffered from the Englith king; and a declaration of war, in cafe he fhould not immediately defift from the hoftilities he had commenced against France. To that intimation Henry sent an anfwer, importing, That James did no more than imitate the infincerity and deceit of his ancestors, in violating the peace on frivolous pretexts that he durft not openly efpoufe the quarrel of Lewis, until the king of England had tranfported his army to the continent: but that Henry being well acquainted with his character, Had put his kingdom in fuch a posture of defence, as would baffle all the endeavours of fuch a fchifmatic, who was already excommunicated by the pope, and the council of the Lateran. He faid, he hoped he should foon be in a condition to retort |