DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61669#0136
HOLBEIN’S “AMBASSADORS
in France by ordering him post-horses; these animals being just then
scarce. But the Bailly, who had arrived at Dover on the previous day,
had snuffed danger in the orders sent beforehand by Brian, that no man
was to be allowed to cross the Channel until his arrival. What the
motive of these orders was, it is impossible now to guess. Some intrigue
seems to have been afoot, which made each envoy desire to be the first
to gain the ear of the French king, who was close by in Picardy. But
Dinteville was determined not to be outwitted, and took his own measures
accordingly. A “busy friar,” one Jean du Pont, by his name a French-
man, seems to have lent him a willing hand, to the acute chagrin of
Thomas Winkfield, comptroller of the king’s works at Dover. A ship
had been duly prepared for the Bailly of Troyes, but the start had been
postponed in accordance with Brian’s orders. Du Pont thereupon
“ caused a boat to be made ready without knowledge of either the
mayor, bailiff, or me ” (so many dignitaries did it require in those days
for an ambassador to put to sea!), “and before Mr. Brian was aboard
the bailly of Troy was under sail for Boulogne.”1 Sir Francis Brian
continues the story in a letter to Cromwell:
“ Seeing the said bailiff would not take the ship that was prepared for
him, and as I suppose thinking by the waye to prevent me,2 he took thother
passenger that lay in the Rode, and went straight to Bollene. When half-way
across we saw two little pinckes3 come from the French coast towards the bailiff’s
ship, one made north-east and the other north-west and so they chased him. Our
mariners said they were Flemings who had waited there three or four days.
Having no news of him, I fear he is taken.”4
It is provoking not to hear the end of this exciting scene. But
perhaps the very silence of the records points to the conclusion that
Dinteville escaped his pursuers and made good his landing at Boulogne.
1 Letters and Papers, Henry VIIL, vol. xii., part i. (1537). F. Wyngfeld to Cromwell,
Dover, 8 April, 1537.
2 I.e. forestall.
3 Flemish fishing-boats. The name is still in use.
4 Letters and Papers, Henry VIIL, vol. xii., part i. (1537), No. 884. Sir Francis Brian
to Cromwell, Calais, 9th April. (These extracts are given in the abridged form printed
in the Letters and Papers.)
I IO
in France by ordering him post-horses; these animals being just then
scarce. But the Bailly, who had arrived at Dover on the previous day,
had snuffed danger in the orders sent beforehand by Brian, that no man
was to be allowed to cross the Channel until his arrival. What the
motive of these orders was, it is impossible now to guess. Some intrigue
seems to have been afoot, which made each envoy desire to be the first
to gain the ear of the French king, who was close by in Picardy. But
Dinteville was determined not to be outwitted, and took his own measures
accordingly. A “busy friar,” one Jean du Pont, by his name a French-
man, seems to have lent him a willing hand, to the acute chagrin of
Thomas Winkfield, comptroller of the king’s works at Dover. A ship
had been duly prepared for the Bailly of Troyes, but the start had been
postponed in accordance with Brian’s orders. Du Pont thereupon
“ caused a boat to be made ready without knowledge of either the
mayor, bailiff, or me ” (so many dignitaries did it require in those days
for an ambassador to put to sea!), “and before Mr. Brian was aboard
the bailly of Troy was under sail for Boulogne.”1 Sir Francis Brian
continues the story in a letter to Cromwell:
“ Seeing the said bailiff would not take the ship that was prepared for
him, and as I suppose thinking by the waye to prevent me,2 he took thother
passenger that lay in the Rode, and went straight to Bollene. When half-way
across we saw two little pinckes3 come from the French coast towards the bailiff’s
ship, one made north-east and the other north-west and so they chased him. Our
mariners said they were Flemings who had waited there three or four days.
Having no news of him, I fear he is taken.”4
It is provoking not to hear the end of this exciting scene. But
perhaps the very silence of the records points to the conclusion that
Dinteville escaped his pursuers and made good his landing at Boulogne.
1 Letters and Papers, Henry VIIL, vol. xii., part i. (1537). F. Wyngfeld to Cromwell,
Dover, 8 April, 1537.
2 I.e. forestall.
3 Flemish fishing-boats. The name is still in use.
4 Letters and Papers, Henry VIIL, vol. xii., part i. (1537), No. 884. Sir Francis Brian
to Cromwell, Calais, 9th April. (These extracts are given in the abridged form printed
in the Letters and Papers.)
I IO