Kitabı oku: «The Rise and Fall of Renaissance France», sayfa 16

The second accession

Following his return home, Francis spent several months touring south-west and central France. It was probably at Mont-de-Marsan in March 1526 that he first met Anne de Pisseleu, who was to replace Françoise de Châteaubriant in his affections. She was eighteen and admired for her beauty, intelligence and vivacity. By 1527 she had joined the king’s ‘fair band’ of ladies. In 1531 she became the governess of his daughters, Madeleine and Marguerite, and about 1534 Francis married her off to Jean de Brosse, soon to become duc d’Etampes. Thus did Anne become duchesse d’Etampes, the name by which she is best remembered. Depite her marriage, she remained at court where she came to exert a powerful political and artistic influence.

In October 1526 the bodies of Queen Claude and her infant daughter Louise, whose funerals had been postponed on account of the war, were taken from Blois to the abbey of Saint-Denis, where they were buried on 7 November. And on 30 January 1527 the king’s sister Marguerite took as her second husband Henri d’Albret, king of Navarre, who had escaped from prison in Pavia. The marriage was politically significant, since Henri’s claim to Spanish Navarre had yet to be satisfied by the emperor. After visiting her small kingdom, Marguerite returned to court where in June 1528 she attended the wedding of her sister-in-law Renée with Ercole d’Este. On 16 November, Marguerite gave birth to a daughter, Jeanne, who was to become the mother of King Henry IV.

Francis’s homecoming in March 1526 was followed by a distribution of honours comparable to that of 1515. Bourbon’s treason and the slaughter of so many noblemen at Pavia had created numerous vacancies in the royal administration. The king also wished to reward people who had been loyal to him during his captivity. Foremost among the new appointees were Anne de Montmorency and Philippe Chabot de Brion. Both had been brought up with Francis, had shared his captivity and had helped to bring about his release. Montmorency was thirty-one years old and a scion of one of the oldest and richest aristocratic houses. In August 1522, after serving in several military campaigns, he had become a marshal of France, a knight of the Order of St Michael, and a royal councillor. Now, on 23 March 1526, he was appointed Grand maître de France (in place of René of Savoy) and governor of Languedoc (in place of Bourbon). As the official head of Francis’s household, Montmorency became one of his principal advisers. He was a strict disciplinarian and a religious conservative. In January 1527 he married Madeleine of Savoy, daughter of the king’s deceased uncle, René. She brought Anne a large dowry which increased his already considerable fortune.

Philippe Chabot, seigneur de Brion, was appointed Admiral of France on 23 March 1526 in succession to Bonnivet, the king’s deceased favourite. Early in the reign Chabot had become a gentleman of the king’s chamber, captain of a company of lances, a knight of the Order of St Michael and mayor of Bordeaux. Among his military exploits was the successful defence of Marseille against Bourbon in 1524. In addition to the admiralship of France, he became governor of Burgundy. Though he received many gifts of land and money, he never became as wealthy as Montmorency. In January 1527 he married Françoise de Longwy, daughter of Francis I’s bastard sister.

Among other important appointments made by Francis in 1526, Galiot de Genouillac became Grand écuyer (Master of the Horse) in place of Giangaleazzo da San Severino; Robert de La Marck, seigneur de Florange, became a marshal of France; Jean de La Barre became comte d’Etampes and prévôt of Paris; and François de Tournon was promoted to the archbishopric of Bourges.

The king breaks his word

The first clear indication of Francis’s intentions regarding the Peace of Madrid was his refusal to ratify it. The imperial envoy, de Praet, who came to fetch the ratification, was sent home empty-handed. On 2 April 1526 the king complained that the treaty had been prematurely published in Antwerp, Rome and Florence. His subjects, he said, were angry and asked to be heard before the treaty was ratified. Early in May the viceroy of Naples, to whom Francis had surrendered at Pavia, came to Cognac hoping to persuade Francis to ratify the treaty. He was warmly welcomed by the king, who had not forgotten that he owed him both life and freedom, but he did not allow gratitude to stand in the way of his interests. On 10 May, Lannoy was informed by the king’s council that Burgundy could not be handed over because the king’s subjects would not allow such a diminution of his patrimony. Francis also argued that promises made under duress were null and void. However, since he wished to remain the emperor’s friend, he was willing to honour parts of the treaty which were acceptable to him and to pay a cash ransom. On 4 June the estates of Burgundy, meeting under the presidency of Chabot, endorsed the decision taken by the king’s council. Denouncing the treaty as ‘contrary to all reason and equity’, the deputies affirmed their wish to remain French. A similar declaration was made a few days later by the estates of Auxonne. In July a royal apologia intended for international consumption was published. It stressed the ‘fundamental law’ which forbade the king to alienate any part of his demesne, and enunciated the novel principle that no province or town could change ownership without the consent of its inhabitants. In addition to justifying his breach of faith, Francis acted to prevent an imperial conquest of Burgundy. Chabot inspected the province’s defences and put them on a war footing, but this proved unnecessary as Charles V lacked the means to invade. After an unsuccessful attempt by the prince of Orange to capture Auxonne, Charles disbanded his army. His dream of reuniting the two Burgundies had vanished for ever.

The League of Cognac (22 May 1526)

Francis’s repudiation of the Treaty of Madrid did not imply a readiness to resume hostilities with Charles V, at least for the time being. His chief aim was to recover his sons. To do this, he needed to put pressure on Charles by drawing closer to other European powers. On 15 May he ratified the Treaty of the More and on 22 May formed the ‘Holy’ League of Cognac with Venice, the papacy, Florence and Milan. Though ostensibly directed against the Turks, its real purpose was to expel imperial forces from Italy. Charles V had intended to go there to be crowned emperor by the pope. Now, because of the league, he felt obliged to stay in Spain and prepare for a new conflict. The allies were confident of success: the imperial army in Italy was penniless and disorganized, so Francis still hoped to recover his sons for a cash ransom. Charles, however, would not hear of this. ‘I will not deliver them for money,’ he declared. ‘I refused money for the father: I will much less take money for the sons. I am content to return them upon reasonable treaty, but not for money; nor will I trust any more the king’s promise, for he has deceived me, and that like no noble prince.’

By the autumn of 1526, Francis had come to realize that he needed to step up pressure on Charles. He made warlike noises, which encouraged the pope to act against the pro-imperial Colonna family in the States of the Church. French assistance, however, failed to materialize, and Clement VII’s situation soon grew desperate. In March 1527 he made a truce with the viceroy of Naples, who had landed in Tuscany with 9000 troops. Meanwhile, Francis looked to friendship with England rather than military involvement in Italy as the most economical way of bringing the emperor to heel. On 30 April, in the Treaty of Westminster, he and Henry VIII agreed to send a joint embassy to Charles to negotiate the release of Francis’s sons. If Charles refused their terms, war was to be declared on him.

From the pope’s point of view, the Anglo-French entente came too late. Despite his truce with Lannoy, the main imperial army under Bourbon invaded the States of the Church. On 6 May the Sack of Rome began. Bourbon was fatally wounded as he scaled the walls of the city, but his troops poured into it like a torrent, destroying everything in their path. Clement and some cardinals took refuge in the castle of Sant’ Angelo. On 5 June the pope signed a humiliating treaty which left him virtually a prisoner in imperial hands.

Francis restores his authority

Although the king’s authority had not been seriously threatened during his captivity, various bodies, notably the Parlement of Paris, had caused the regent enough embarrassment to justify a tightening up of that authority.

One of Francis’s first moves on returning home was to intervene in Berquin’s trial for heresy. He forbade the parlement to pass sentence and tried to alleviate Berquin’s prison conditions. The parlement submitted without demur when Jean de La Barre, acting for the king, released Berquin from prison. Francis also came to the rescue of the Cercle de Meaux. Lefèvre, Caroli and Roussel returned from exile: Lefèvre became the king’s librarian, Caroli resumed preaching in Paris and Roussel was appointed almoner to Marguerite de Navarre. The king also defended Erasmus after the Faculty of Theology had condemned his Colloquies. He ordered the parlement to ban publication of any work by the faculty which had not been previously examined and approved by the court and early in 1527 he abolished the juges délégués.

Reformers imagined that the king of France was coming over to their side. ‘The king favours the Word,’ Capito wrote to Zwingli, but Francis was simply reasserting his authority after the parlement and Faculty of Theology had tried to deal with heresy in their own way. While they defined heresy narrowly, he was evidently prepared to tolerate a fair measure of evangelicalism, especially within his court.

Francis also vindicated his authority in another sphere. In April 1526 he authorized Duprat to take possession of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire and soon afterwards confirmed the Grand conseil’s decree conferring the see of Sens on the chancellor. In December, during a debate between representatives of the parlement and Grand conseil in front of the king’s council, Duprat tried to justify the government’s action at Saint-Benoît. On 10 December the king’s council decided that the parlement had acted illegally and nullified its decrees regarding Saint-Benoît. In January 1527, Francis ordered the parlement to hand over the minutes of its debates during his captivity. The court complied after deleting passages about Duprat. Among churchmen involved in the Saint-Benoît affair, the most severely punished was Duprat’s rival, François Poncher, bishop of Paris. He was charged with sedition and imprisoned at Vincennes, where he died in September 1532.

Following his return from Spain, Francis did not reappear in Paris till 14 April 1527. He may have wanted to show his displeasure with the inhabitants’ behaviour during his absence. They had obstructed his mother’s peace-making efforts and had indulged in various disloyal pranks. When the king did eventually reappear, he did not give the customary notice. His entry was preceded by the arrest of eight citizens who had opposed the guarantees required under the Treaty of the More – a canon of Notre-Dame, three parlementaires, a notary and three merchants. The notary and merchants were soon freed, but the others were left to languish in prison for two years.

The quarrel between king and parlement was finally settled at a lit de justice on 24 July 1527. It has been suggested that this was, in fact, the first lit de justice, that all previous meetings of the parlement in the king’s presence had been merely ‘royal séances’, and that the phrase lit de justice was used in the Middle Ages simply to describe the trappings – throne, drapes and cushions – associated with the royal presence. Yet there is ample evidence that the medieval lit de justice had a distinctive judicial purpose. In July 1527, Francis acted as supreme judge, as his predecessors had done before him. The notion that he was creating a new forum dedicated to upholding ‘French public law’ is false. Francis needed to punish the parlement for its opposition to the regent during his captivity, to vindicate his own authority and that of his chancellor, and to remind the parlement of its rightful place in the constitution. The full majesty of kingship was reflected in the elaborate staging. Francis appeared on an elevated throne beneath a blue canopy embroidered with gold fleur-de-lys. On either side of him on raised tiers sat peers, nobles and prelates, maîtres des requêtes, and the three presidents of the parlement. Beneath the king, sharing in his majesty sat the chancellor. The floor of the Grand’ chambre was occupied by 75 councillors of the parlement and numerous courtiers. As the king took his throne, the parlementaires fell upon their knees until ordered to rise.

In a long opening speech, the president Charles Guillart criticized many aspects of royal policy, especially the evocation of lawsuits from the parlement to the Grand conseil. The true seat of royal justice, he claimed, was the parlement which had originated as ‘a public assembly like a convention of estates’. Justice, he declared, was indivisible: just as there was only one sun, so there was only one king of France and one justice. If two were allowed to exist, division would arise between the nobles, communities and subjects. Yet Guillart disclaimed any desire to question the king’s authority. ‘We know well’, he said, ‘that you are above the laws and that laws and ordinances cannot constrain you and that no coactive authority binds you to them. But we wish to say that you do not or should not wish to do all that lies in your power, but only that which is good and equitable, which is nothing else than justice.’

That afternoon Francis and his council drew up an edict which subordinated the parlement to his authority. In particular, it was required to seek annual confirmation of its delegated authority. Moreover, by ordering the parlement to register the decree without imposing it by his presence, Francis manifested his authority more powerfully than if the court had been able to shelter under the customary formula implying duress.

The edict marked a turning-point in the parlement’s relations with the crown. It continued to remonstrate from time to time till the end of the reign, but never again did it seriously encroach upon the king’s authority.

The condemnation of Bourbon

Another loose knot needed to be tied: namely, the case of the Constable of Bourbon. Francis had promised in the Treaty of Madrid to reinstate him, but this proved to be another broken promise. No legal action, however, was taken against Bourbon until two months after his death. In July 1527 two indictments were presented to a special commission. The first repeated accusations which had been levelled in 1523 and subsequently disproved; the second focused on Bourbon’s more recent ‘crimes’, including the invasion of Provence and the Sack of Rome. On 26 July his trial by the court of peers began in the king’s presence. Although only five peers were present, the scene was given solemnity by the attendance of the whole parlement. An usher summoned Bourbon to appear at the bar of the court. When no one responded, the state prosecutor demanded that Bourbon’s memory be condemned, his coat-of-arms effaced and his property sequestered. After a purely formal debate, the court announced its verdict: Bourbon was declared guilty of felony, rebellion and lèse-majesté. He lost his coat of arms and title, his fiefs were formally annexed to the royal demesne and all his personal property was confiscated.

Bourbon’s accomplices were treated more leniently. By March 1526 only three remained in prison. Saint-Vallier was released in July and recovered his property and titles the following year. The bishop of Autun was pardoned in 1527. The fate of the bishop of Le Puy is unknown.

The condemnation of Semblançay

Francis liked to blame others for his own mistakes. In particular, he blamed the gens des finances for his defeat at Pavia and its aftermath. They formed a wealthy oligarchy cemented by close matrimonial ties. While helping the state with one hand, they built up private fortunes with the other. The chief culprit in the king’s eyes was Semblançay. His accounts had been examined by a commission in 1523, as we have seen, and he had been largely exonerated. The enquiry had found that, far from being indebted to the king, Semblançay was owed more than a million livres by Francis. That was enough to seal his fate. On 13 January he was thrown into the Bastille and his goods were seized. He was accused of various malpractices and tried by judges who were his personal enemies. Though Semblançay produced documentary evidence refuting the charges against him, he was found guilty on 9 August and sentenced to death. He wrote to the king, reminding him of his past services, but Francis was unmoved. On 11 August, Semblançay was taken through crowded streets to the gibbet at Montfaucon where he was made to wait six hours before being hanged. His age (he was about eighty at the time) and dignified bearing earned him popular sympathy. A chronicler wrote: ‘He was much pitied and mourned by the people, who would have been pleased if the king had seen fit to spare him.’

NINE War and peace(1527–38)

An immediate consequence of the Sack of Rome was a rapprochement between France and England, for Henry VIII was afraid that the pope, who was now Charles V’s prisoner, would not be able to grant him a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, the emperor’s aunt. Peace remained the objective of Wolsey’s foreign policy, but he also wanted to liberate the pope. It was primarily with this end in view that the cardinal met Francis at Amiens in August 1527. Their talks resulted in a treaty, signed on 18 August, under which the eleven-year-old Mary Tudor was promised to the duc d’Orléans, and Henry waived his objection to Francis marrying the emperor’s sister. Both parties agreed not to attend a General Council as long as Clement VII remained a prisoner. The talks were rounded off with an exchange of honours: Francis conferred the Order of St Michael on Henry VIII and received from him the Order of the Garter.

Francis, in the meantime, decided to increase pressure on Charles V to release his sons by intervening militarily in Italy. In August an army led by Marshal Lautrec overran Lombardy, except Milan, while Andrea Doria, who had entered the service of France, seized Genoa. In the autumn Lautrec occupied Parma. Meanwhile Alfonso d’Este, duke of Ferrara, joined the league and his son Ercole was promised the hand of Princess Renée, Louis XII’s daughter.

On 16 December, Francis held an Assembly of Notables in Paris, representing the nobility, the clergy, the parlements and the city of Paris. The purpose of the meeting was twofold: to legitimize the king’s decision to break the Treaty of Madrid, and to raise enough money either to pay a ransom for his sons or to make war on the emperor, should he persist in demanding Burgundy as the price of their release. On 20 December the treaty was declared null and void, and each estate agreed to contribute to the ransom for the king’s sons. The clergy’s contribution was fixed at 1.3 million livres to be shared among the clergy at their provincial assemblies. The nobles of the Ile-de-France offered 10 per cent of the annual revenues of their fiefs and rear-fiefs. Elsewhere the nobles responded with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Paris was appalled when asked for 100,000 gold écus and secured a reduction to 150,000l. on condition this was kept secret from other towns, where the response to the king’s demand was also unenthusiastic. The provincial estates, like the towns, had to contribute to the ransom. The heaviest burden, 400,000l., was imposed on Burgundy as the price of remaining part of France. Finally, various methods were used to raise money from royal office-holders. Savings were also made by cutting the wages of public servants; in certain instances they were stopped altogether.

Charles V, however, refused to release Francis’s sons at any price as long as Lautrec’s army was not recalled from Italy and its conquests restored. This condition being unacceptable to both France and England, they declared war on Charles on 22 January 1528. Yet even at this stage the enemies engaged in an archaic ritual. On 20 March, Francis accepted a challenge from the emperor to fight a duel on the Franco-Spanish border, but created so many difficulties that it was in Italy, not on the River Bidassoa, and not in person but with their armies, that the rulers fought each other. On 9 February, Lautrec invaded the kingdom of Naples and soon swept across it, conquering towns in the Abruzzi and also Apulia. At the end of April he threatened Naples from the landward side, while the city was blockaded at sea by Andrea Doria’s nephew, Filippino. But in June, Andrea defected to the imperial side and persuaded Filippino to remove his fleet from the Bay of Naples. As the flow of supplies to Naples was restored, an outbreak of plague began to decimate the French camp. Lautrec was himself carried off by the epidemic on 27 August, and the remnants of his army capitulated soon afterwards. The French disaster was completed by the loss of Genoa and the entire Ligurian coast. An attempt by the comte de Saint-Pol to retake Genoa in June 1529 was defeated at Landriano.

The French collapse in Italy convinced Pope Clement VII, who had escaped to Orvieto in December 1528, that neutrality would gain him nothing. Only the emperor could provide the military support needed to restore the Medici to power in Florence; only he could halt the progress of Lutheranism in Germany and the westward advance of the Turks. On 29 June, therefore, Clement signed the Treaty of Barcelona with Charles. This provided for the restoration of Medici rule in Florence and the return of Ravenna, Cervia, Modena and Reggio to the pope. Clement promised to crown Charles emperor and to absolve all those responsible for the Sack of Rome. A marriage was arranged between the pope’s nephew Alessandro and the emperor’s illegitimate daughter Margaret. On 16 July, Clement revoked Henry VIII’s divorce suit to Rome, thereby precipitating Wolsey’s fall and England’s breach with Rome.