DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63221#0181
CHARLES DE MONTPENSIER
141
He made use of his present opportunities by going to
England (where Henry VIII received him well) and after-
wards to Spain—to arrange the marriage, which never came
off, with Eleonora of Portugal. Sir Thomas Boleyn, Anne
Boleyn’s father, then Ambassador at Madrid, writes in praise
of him to Wolsey. “The Constable” (he says) “has, according
to his own showing, the noblest motives for his desertion
of his country, which is purely owing to the badness of the
King, the current abuses, and Bourbon’s earnest desire to
relieve and reform the people.” From Spain he proceeded
to Paris to look after the lawsuit, now in the hands of the
Parlement. Whilst there he visited Queen Claude. The
King came in and said, “It is true, I suppose, that you
are going to be married?” “No, Sire,” replied Bourbon.
“But I know that you are—I am sure of it. I know all
your traffic with the Emperor. You had best remember
what I am saying.” “ Sire, you threaten me; I have not
deserved to be treated in this manner.” Whereupon he
(the Duke) left the room, followed by all the nobles in
attendance on the Queen. Perhaps nothing can give a truer
measure of his power in the land than this behaviour, at a
moment when his fortunes seemed sinking. Nothing, either,
can convey a better notion of Francis’ density when his
vanity and his prestige were concerned. Once these were
affected, he became both merciless and blind, however great
the danger that stared him in the face.
The invasion was now fully organised—the position of
each army defined. Francis, at last discomfited by the
rumours abroad, tried at the eleventh hour to propitiate
the Constable by offering him the Lieutenant-Generalship
141
He made use of his present opportunities by going to
England (where Henry VIII received him well) and after-
wards to Spain—to arrange the marriage, which never came
off, with Eleonora of Portugal. Sir Thomas Boleyn, Anne
Boleyn’s father, then Ambassador at Madrid, writes in praise
of him to Wolsey. “The Constable” (he says) “has, according
to his own showing, the noblest motives for his desertion
of his country, which is purely owing to the badness of the
King, the current abuses, and Bourbon’s earnest desire to
relieve and reform the people.” From Spain he proceeded
to Paris to look after the lawsuit, now in the hands of the
Parlement. Whilst there he visited Queen Claude. The
King came in and said, “It is true, I suppose, that you
are going to be married?” “No, Sire,” replied Bourbon.
“But I know that you are—I am sure of it. I know all
your traffic with the Emperor. You had best remember
what I am saying.” “ Sire, you threaten me; I have not
deserved to be treated in this manner.” Whereupon he
(the Duke) left the room, followed by all the nobles in
attendance on the Queen. Perhaps nothing can give a truer
measure of his power in the land than this behaviour, at a
moment when his fortunes seemed sinking. Nothing, either,
can convey a better notion of Francis’ density when his
vanity and his prestige were concerned. Once these were
affected, he became both merciless and blind, however great
the danger that stared him in the face.
The invasion was now fully organised—the position of
each army defined. Francis, at last discomfited by the
rumours abroad, tried at the eleventh hour to propitiate
the Constable by offering him the Lieutenant-Generalship