CHAPTER V.

THE EARL OF SUFFOLK.

 

We have not forgotten John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, who, as leader of the conspiracy against Henry in the year 1487, was slain at Stoke. His father, Duke John of Suffolk, husband of a sister of King Edward, survived his unfortunate son by many years. On his death, in 1491, Lincoln’s brother, Edmund de la Pole, would have succeeded as heir to the family title and property, but that both were regarded as escheated to the Crown, in consequence of his brother’s attainder. It was only by a special compact with the king, concluded on the 3rd of February, 1493, and confirmed by the Parliament in 1495, that Edmund received back a portion of his property; but he still had to produce a sum of £5000, to be paid in instalments, and, for this, was obliged to put in pledge portions of his reacquired possessions. As his reduced income no longer corresponded to the dignity of a duke, he had to be content with the title of the Earl of Suffolk. He appeared, however, publicly at court, took part with distinction in the tournaments which were held in honour of Prince Henry’s elevation to the dignity of Duke of York, and was present at the entry and reception of the foreign ambassadors; but the sense of the injury done him by the confiscation of his inheritance was fostered by the ambition of a prince sprung from the royal House, whose elder brother had once been destined for the throne, and seems to have rankled in the mind of the hot-headed young man.

A special event led to the crisis. In the year 1498, he killed a man in a squabble, and, although he afterwards received the king’s pardon, he felt his honour insulted because, although a peer, he had been indicted for this crime Suffolk’s first before a common court of justice. He escaped flight and from England in the summer of 1499, and betook return himself to Flanders, but stayed awhile on English territory with Sir James Tyrrel, the governor of Guines, near Calais. In August, Henry made inquiries about him from his friends; whoever could give any information should be detained ; the ports also were watched. In September, 1499, Sir Richard Guildford and Richard Hatton went as envoys to the Archduke Philip, and were specially commissioned to induce the earl to return.

Suffolk’s whereabouts had been discovered, and it appears strange that Henry should have tried in a friendly way to persuade him to return, when he might have seized him while still on English territory. Possibly it was in consequence of the last conspiracy attempted just at this time by Perkin Warbeck, in whose ruin the Earl of Warwick had been involved, that Henry treated his less dangerous kinsman of the house of York with remarkable lenity, and tried to attract him to his side by kindness. Henry was even prepared to make terms, and only threatened that he would deprive Suffolk of all foreign aid, especially from Philip. In order publicly to make known their friendly agreement, Suffolk was to return alone, without Guildford, and to bring Sir James Tyrrel with him. Probably the envoys did not even find him on English territory; he had already escaped over the border to St. Omer, but shortly returned, and resumed his old position at court.

At the same time Henry seems to have thought it ominous that Suffolk should have tried to gain over Philip of Burgundy to his side, although Philip had apparently intended to send away the earl at Henry’s request. The king informed him minutely of what had taken place, for he wished to avoid any danger to the newly secured commercial treaties, and to give to their friendship the appearance of still greater firmness. The Spaniards at that time were in some anxiety about this increasingly friendly relation, for the two princes were preparing for a personal interview. On the 3rd of May, 1500, Henry landed at Calais with his wife and a splendid retinue, and, during the month he stayed there, many more nobles arrived, amongst whom was the Earl of Suffolk. Henry probably was desirous that he and his brothers William and Richard should show themselves just then in the royal retinue.

For some time longer negotiations went on between Calais and St. Omer, where Philip had appeared, about the ceremonial details of the meeting, and about the political questions to be decided and which had to be clearly defined beforehand. Besides the general covenant of friendship, a double marriage was projected between Henry of York and his sister Mary with Philip’s daughter and his infant son Charles, then only four months old. On the 9th of June, 1500, the king and archduke met on English ground, not in Calais itself, but near the church of St. Peter, situated not far from the town. All the festivities, reception, and banquet took place with every show of mutual respect and friendship. Philip wanted to hold the king’s stirrup for him to dismount, but this he would not allow. No doubt the terms of former treaties, as well as the projected alliances, were discussed, but the matter did not advance beyond words and promises. Henry stated emphatically before Puebla that the meeting was only intended to show their friendship to the world, and the anxious fears of the Spaniards, increased still more by what had transpired about the marriage negotiations, were soon dissipated. On the same day that they had met, Henry and Philip took leave of each other. Philip rode back to Gravelines, the king landed at Dover again on the 16th of June.

This new friendly compact had no sooner been made than misfortune befell the king. On the 22nd of June he buried, at Westminster, his third son, Edmund, born in March, 1499, who had died on the 12th of June, even before his father’s return, at Hatfield, the property of the bishops of Ely. Somewhere about this time the sweating sickness broke out for the second time in England, beginning mildly at first, but afterwards spreading rapidly and claiming numerous victims, especially in London. It lasted through the summer and autumn, and it was not till December that Puebla could report that it had quite died out in the kingdom. The king’s country seat at Sheen was also burned down, and the palace of Richmond erected in its stead ; it was, in fact, at this time that Henry developed great activity in building.

This could be pointed to as an evidence of tranquillity at home, in the same way as, after the death of Warwick, Suffolk’s appearance with the king at the festivities at Calais was to bear witness to the peace between Tudor and York. But the peace did not last long; Suffolk’s restless spirit drove him again to venture on the enterprise he had before only begun. The events that followed his first flight seem to have suggested to him not to apply again to Philip, but to the old antagonist of the Tudor, the King of the Romans. This time he did not set to work without a definite plan, but waited till he thought himself sure of a good reception.

Sir Robert Curzon, the captain of Hammes, near Calais, had, in August, 1499, been given leave of absence at his earnest request, that he might fight against the Infidels. He entered the service of Maximilian, and so distinguished himself that he was created a baron of the Empire. Before this we find him incidentally mentioned at court festivities; at the tournament in honour of Henry of York, he fought by Suffolk’s side, with whom he must have stood before that time in friendly connection, as he is said to have owed to him his elevation to the dignity of knighthood. When in a conversation with Maximilian he alluded to Suffolk, Maximilian declared himself ready to lend substantial aid to any man of King Edward’s blood to get back his rights, but, in view of the political situation at the time, he recommended peaceful methods.

Well might the condition of affairs dispose Maximilian to make such a reservation, for his vacillating policy had for the last few years everywhere suffered shipwreck. While he was vainly trying, after Louis XII’s accession, to carry out his plans with regard to Burgundy, French interference increased his own difficulties; this was the case in his war with Gueldres and in the war of the Swabian League with Switzerland, which both ended disastrously for the Empire. In vain Maximilian tried to force his son Philip to give up the treaty of Paris; Louis not only firmly kept his friends, Spain, England, and Burgundy, but gained new ones as well. For, in February, 1499, he formed the league with Pope Alexander VI and Venice, Maximilian’s enemy; by a treaty of the 15th of March, he secured to himself, at last, the mercenaries of Switzerland, and even made covenants with German princes. Thus he tried to hold a troublesome rival in check, and to make for himself allies or secure neutrality, before he entered upon his great work of making the title of duke, which he had already assumed, a reality, by his conquest of Milan. Ludovico Sforza, the threatened duke, alone adhered to Maximilian, and the latter seriously cherished the idea of making him a member of the Swabian League. But with the same ease as Charles VIII had before conquered Naples, Louis XII now overthrew Milan, and on the 6th of October, 1499, made his entry into the conquered town. Sforza had been for a time reinstated, when he fell, in April, 1500, into the hands of his powerful opponent, who kept him in strict custody. Louis had now got into his hands this splendid prize, and for years it was carefully guarded by France.

This victory was a severe blow for Maximilian, who before had proposed a division of their claims in Italy, with the Po as the line of demarcation; to this were added defeats in his Imperial policy at home, the establishment of an Imperial Council of Regency, which, against his wish, showed itself prepared to make friends with Louis, and even to agree to his investiture with the Duchy of Milan, while soon after, the growth of the power of France, so strenuously opposed by Maximilian, was still further increased by a second conquest of Naples.

Louis XII had by no means given up the claims of his predecessor, the only difference was that he went to work more systematically; for while Charles VIII, by his expedition against Naples, had called forth against himself the opposition of all Europe led by Ferdinand, Louis undertook it in close combination with Spain. The idea of a partition of Naples had originated with Ferdinand himself, and a secret treaty at Granada, on the 11th of November, 1500, was the first step towards the realisation of this project. Their joint conquest of Naples achieved, Apulia and Calabria were to fall to Ferdinand, and at the same time his possession of Roussillon and Cerdagne was to be confirmed afresh. In June, 1501, the French troops had already arrived in the neighbourhood of Rome, and Pope Alexander ratified this iniquitous compact which aimed at dividing by sheer force the possessions of a weaker power. It was then that Ferdinand’s own plans with regard to Naples were divulged; the power of the false Aragonese collapsed hopelessly, and the last king, Frederick, became the prisoner of Louis, who kept him in honourable confinement.

While all this was going on, Maximilian was completely thrust aside. All his hostile plans against France had failed, and it seemed as if he were resigned to his fate, for, after a long resistance, he gave in at last to the persuasions of his son, who, far from himself breaking with France, pressed his father to a reconciliation with his enemy. On the 10th of August, 1501, a marriage was agreed upon between Louis’ daughter Claude and Charles, who had already been promised to Mary of England; but it was not till October, at Trent, that friendly overtures between Maximilian and France first vaguely began. Maximilian had certainly some reason for holding aloof, for he was aware of the plan then already existing of marrying Claude to Francis of Angouleme, the presumptive heir to the throne; but in the end he was successfully drawn into the league with France, even to the more close-binding settlements between Louis and the Hapsburgs at Blois and Hagenau (24th September, 1504, 5th and 7th April, 1505).

The unfortunate experiences of the last few years, and the uncertainty of his political situation, might well discourage Maximilian from making fresh ventures. His friendly relations with France had just begun; yet he had not abandoned his older connection with Ferdinand. Meanwhile, after the conquest of Naples, the alliance between Ferdinand and Louis was breaking up. It was at this moment that the Earl of Suffolk appeared at the court of the King of the Romans with a request for aid against Henry of England, the friend of Ferdinand, Louis, and Philip.

Although Maximilian’s consent, probably communicated to Curzon before the end of 1499, was given from the first under strict reservation, although it could not but appear doubly questionable in view of the subsequent change in the political situation, the unreflecting Suffolk was satisfied. In August, or even in July, 1501, some months before the marriage of Arthur and Katharine, he made his escape for the second time from England, accompanied by his brother Richard, and hastened to the Tyrol. Provided with letters of recommendation from Curzon, he at once announced his arrival to the King of the Romans, and after some interchange of communications they met at last at the end of September or beginning of October, at Imst, in the valley of the Inn.

This time Maximilian might have had at his disposal, not a probable impostor, but a man who could bring forward definite claims to the throne. In the existing state of affairs, however, Suffolk had to be satisfied with an evasive answer and the promise of a safe refuge in Maximilian’s dominions. After waiting for six weeks at Imst, while the king in the meantime had gone off to Botzen, Suffolk at last received from Maximilian’s treasurer, Bontemps, the offer of a few thousand men. Thus matters remained for the present; Suffolk, at Maximilian’s wish, took up his abode at Aix la Chapelle, and there he was forced to wait.

Suffolk met with nothing but ill-luck, for before he had reached Maximilian, the latter was already on good terms again with Henry. When the Anglo-Burgundian settlement was concluded in May, 1499, Henry also endeavoured to restore more satisfactory relations with Philip’s father. But although good results were reported in England, nothing transpired for a long time, till at last, even in this quarter also, the newly confirmed friendship with Burgundy bore fruit. Not only with regard to France, but also to England, the peaceful tendency of the Burgundian policy succeeded with Maximilian; he entrusted the management of the affair entirely to his son, who, in the summer of 1501, made known to Henry his father’s desire to enter into a closer relationship with England. The phrases employed between two such old antagonists about renewing ancient friendship, strike us as rather strange, but behind there was a very plainly expressed desire on the part of Maximilian to seal this new friendship with an advance from England of fifty thousand crowns for his Turkish war ; the two kings, besides, were to wear, as a sign of their unity, their respective orders of the Garter and the Golden Fleece.

Nothing could be more opportune for Henry than this reconciliation at the time of Suffolk’s second flight; for he might now hope that not only in England itself, but also with the one uncertain foreign power, successful measures might be at once taken against the rebel. In his own kingdom he acted in the same way as at the time of Warbeck’s insurrection. Measures for security against possible adherents were taken, and on the 7th of November, 1501, Suffolk and Curzon, with five other confederates, were publicly denounced and condemned as traitors at St. Paul’s Cross in London. Suffolk’s nearest kinsmen were taken into custody; his brother, Lord William de la Pole, his cousin by marriage, Lord William Courtenay, son of the Earl of Devonshire, Sir James Tyrrel, who had helped him in his first flight, and Sir John Wyndham. Tyrrel, Richard III's accessory in the murder of the sons of Edward, was, according to Suffolk’s assertion, misled only by false pretences to surrender Guines. The two lords were consigned to the Tower, and later, in October, 1508, we hear that Courtenay and the Marquis of Dorset were taken over to Calais, where they were kept in confinement till Henry’s death. Tyrrel and Wyndham suffered the extreme penalty—their heads fell on Tower Hill on the 6th of May, 1502, many of their confederates were executed after them; accomplices were discovered and captured at various places, and upon all of them Parliament passed a Bill of Attainder in the year 1504.

At the same time Henry had made use of his friendly relations with Maximilian to cut off from Suffolk any possible help from abroad, and acquiescence in the desire of the King of the Romans for English golden crowns promised him success. On the 28th of September, 1501, he gave instructions to Sir Charles Somerset and William Warham, in which he was careful to demand from Maximilian special assurances against the rebels, and their immediate extradition. After the conclusion of the treaty, a money loan should be paid to Maximilian for war against the Turks, and in fact fully £10,000 or fifty thousand crowns were held out as a prospect to him, if he accepted the article about the rebels in the binding form desired; in that case Henry was prepared to give the money, not as a loan, but as a present. The project of a marriage between Henry of York and Philip’s daughter Leonora was again touched upon; for the rest the instructions of the ambassadors referred to the clauses concerning rebels and the payment of money, the two questions of most importance to the two princes.

The negotiations were carried on at Antwerp; and here again Burgundian officials, Cornelius de Barges and Jodokus Praat, acted as plenipotentiaries for Maximilian. The English ambassadors are said to have been commissioned also to make use of the mediation of Ayala, then staying in the Netherlands. But still Maximilian would not cordially adopt friendship with England; his representatives were not sufficiently empowered, they had to ask for fresh instructions, and till these arrived the patience of the Englishmen was put to a severe test. As these negotiations dragged slowly on, both parties reproached each other with wishing to procrastinate; when the Burgundians refused the ratification of the treaty by the Pope, they had to submit to being told that, after the experience of former treaties, Maximilian’s signature alone would not be sufficient. With regard to the demand that the rebels should be banished from the Empire, it was maintained that Maximilian, in free towns of the Empire, like Aix la Chapelle, had not sufficient authority for this; help should be refused to them, but in return Henry should guarantee them security for their life and property; at the same time the largest sum demanded, fifty thousand crowns, was insisted on.

The Englishmen, tired of waiting, were already threatening to take their departure, when the messenger at last appeared with the powers, dated the 24th of April, 1502. On the 19th of June a general commercial treaty, comprised in a small number of articles, was agreed upon, and also on the next day the payment of a sum of £100.000 for the Turkish war was promised, in return for which Maximilian undertook not to countenance rebels against Henry, but to oppose them in every way, and to prevent their being supported in the Empire. In a treaty of alliance for the life­time of the contracting parties, he undertook furthermore to send out of his dominions all such rebels, and should they prove refractory, to punish them like criminals. The money was paid in London on the 1st of October, but the treaty was not announced publicly till the 22nd of October, and not sent to the sheriffs to publish in the counties till the 11th of November. A proclamation, identical with that of the preceding year, was issued from St. Paul’s Cross against Suffolk and his confederates, and this more. emphatically than before, on the strength of a bull from the Pope, which shows that Alexander VI, like his predecessor, took the side of the English king against his rebellious subjects.

Henry seems to have been in no hurry publicly to announce the treaty, for it was not specially advantageous to himself. He had been obliged to pay a very high price, and had only received, in the ambiguous form of the double agreement, a very insecure return, considering the enmity so often exhibited towards him by Maximilian. It was, however, of importance that Maximilian had expressly promised this time to deny protection to English rebels who had fled the country.

Suffolk had even less reason to be pleased than Henry. Maximilian had pledged himself so deeply to the carl that he dared not entirely desert him; hence probably the slow progress of the negotiations, and the attempt to gain more lenient terms for the fugitive. Maximilian could always regard him as a useful tool; it was owing to him that he had secured a substantial sum of English money, and he therefore put him off with fresh schemes and excuses. There was some talk of embassies to the King of Denmark, to gain his alliance against Henry, and a prospect was held out to Suffolk of money to enable him to travel to Denmark himself. But he received nothing ; it was even hinted to him occa­sionally that the protection already afforded to him ought to suffice, and that he should not make himself burdensome by further demands.

Suffolk was therefore compelled to run into debt at Aix la Chapelle for the necessaries of life. In May, 1502, he appealed for help to Maximilian, both in person and through his faithful servant, Killingworth, and the treasurer, Bontemps. Abundant promises had been made him, he urged, but he had been put off and disappointed, while his property in England had been confiscated, his friends seized and executed. He would hear nothing of an amicable arrangement with Henry, which had been proposed to him, for he and the king could not both live in England without harm coming to one or other of them. Maximilian repeatedly urged on him this peaceful settlement, and yet let fall certain remarks before Killingworth, as if there were a possibility that at no distant date his friendly relations with the English king would cease; but he refused absolutely to recognise any obligation to give the earl assistance, alleging that he had never promised it.

Suffolk was even in fear of spies, whom Henry had sent out, possibly with a commission to arrest the fugitive. The king also applied to other Powers for their co-operation. The Spaniards informed him, in April, 1502, that they were demanding, through their ambassador, Don Juan Manuel, the surrender of the fugitive; and they drew Maximilian’s attention to the fact, that Henry might perhaps be won over to their side against France. But, as before in the case of Perkin Warbeck, they desired to get the pretender into their own power, and the unsatisfactory manner in which these instructions were carried out was afterwards brought forward as the motive for Ferdinand’s displeasure against Manuel. Louis of France had also been requested by Henry to give him his support, and especially to use his influence with his German friends. Henry declared himself ready to pay as a price for the rebel from ten to twelve thousand gold crowns.

It was his special aim to induce Maximilian to see to the proclamation of banishment in various large towns, as required by the treaty. At first Norroy Herald was appointed to do this, as well as to bring over the insignia of the Order of the Garter, but after Henry had received Maximilian’s ratification of the treaty and had paid the promised sum, he despatched Sir Thomas Brandon and Nicholas West, who were at the same time to receive the oath of the King of the Romans to the treaty.

The departure of the ambassadors was delayed, and they did not arrive in Cologne till the beginning of January, 1503; there Maximilian kept them waiting, and finally appointed to meet them at Antwerp, where he received them on the 1st of' February. After some further proceedings, he took the oath on the 12th of February, in the church of St. Michael; a Te Deum was sung, and in the evening bonfires were lighted in the streets and squares. Maximilian refused the investiture with the Garter as unnecessary, because he had already received the Order, and he preferred to wait till he could arrange for the performance of the ceremony by proxy in England. In the same way the ambassadors received evasive answers to their demand for a proclamation of banishment in the large towns, especially in Aix ; the King of the Romans now and then treated these questions more lightly than they liked, at all events he insisted on delay until his own ambassadors should have spoken with Henry. From the lengthy account sent home by the Englishmen of all their efforts and arguments, we gain the impression that the cunning Maximilian had led them by the nose; he passed lightly over awkward points, and with the most amiable geniality set aside the fulfilment of the agreements he had only just sworn to; it was, in short, very evident that, being now in possession of his £10,000, he thought no more of loyally executing the treaty. We only hear that he condescended to inform the town of Aix that he was bound by his treaty to give Suffolk no more assistance; nevertheless, he sent at one time a thousand, and again, in July, 1503, two thousand gulden to help pay the earl’s debts.

He now despatched an embassage for the purpose of receiving Henry’s oath. Conducted by the Margrave of Brandenburg, this embassage arrived in London at the end of March, 1503, and was quartered in Crosby Hall. On the 30th of March the king received it at Baynard’s Castle. After a solemn mass, and while a Te Deum was being sung, Henry swore to the treaty in St. Paul’s Church, on the 2nd of April. Bonfires were also lighted in London, and casks of wine were set out for those who desired to drink. The reception of Maximilian into the Order of the Garter took place in due form; the usual contribution of £20 to the Chapel of the Order, St. George’s, at Windsor, Henry paid out of his own pocket. On the 5th of March he had already, for the third time, caused the rebels to be proclaimed as traitors, and he required Maximilian to do the same. The form of the proclamation throughout the empire was determined, and Norroy Herald, who brought the insignia of the Order, which had been so earnestly pressed on the King of the Romans, was to see that this proclamation was issued.

It took Henry a very long time to gain his end with Maximilian, and he could never feel safe from fresh counter­influences. Meanwhile the fugitive, scantily provided for, found an asylum, not an enviable one certainly, but which afforded him protection in spite of Henry’s reiterated demands. Henry behaved as if the capture of Suffolk were simply an affair in which his honour were concerned. He was never in any danger of a direct attack from Suffolk, as before from Perkin Warbeck, for no prince ever thought of arming in favour of one who from the first was only a hunted fugitive. To get hold of him was the difficulty, and Henry only partially succeeded in limiting the number of hiding-places open to the rebel. Circumstances, however, arose which caused his capture to appear to the king as something more than an affair of honour.

Suffolk himself, of course, spoke of his favourable prospects. He hinted at Henry’s somewhat uncertain health, and therein, no doubt, hit upon a point of some importance; for should Henry die, the dynasty would then depend only on Prince Henry, an early death having, on the 2nd of April, 1502, brought Arthur’s youthful married life to an abrupt conclusion. Hardly a year had passed after this when, in the night of the 11th of February, 1503, Queen Elizabeth died in childbed. But still severer blows had been sustained by the king in two deaths outside his family. In October, 1500, his Chancellor, Morton, had been taken from him, and Reginald Bray soon followed Elizabeth. Good and strong props to the Tudor throne were thus removed, and there was more talk on the subject than the king liked. From all this it is easy to understand that Henry could not treat the affair of Suffolk lightly, however little it might threaten actual danger. He kept his eyes open. In July, 1503, eight men had again to answer a charge of high treason, and four of them were executed at Tyburn. It was this year, however, which saw the fruit of long and difficult diplomacy in the Scotch matrimonial contract. Possibly it was in consequence of the somewhat uncertain situation of affairs that Henry, without any pressure of urgent necessity for money, again summoned a Parliament after an interval of six years. The session was opened on the 25th of January, 1504, by William Warham, Morton’s successor in the chancellorship and archbishopric.

Many a law passed at that time bears directly on recent events. The prohibition of unauthorised assemblages was renewed; the careless guarding of prisoners was punished, many persons suspected of treason having thereby made their escape; and many measures for reform were resolved upon. The new Bill of Attainder affected directly the earl and his friends; lands, offices, and dignities of those already executed, as well as of those still living, were confiscated. It is remarkable that Curzon, who elsewhere was always named with Suffolk, should be omitted here; Henry always reserved to himself in all attainders the right to pardon. The Parlia­ment, however, did not escape having to make a grant, nor did the Convocation of York which sat in the same year.

One enactment—the result also, as far as we can see, of Suffolk’s revolt—affected to a serious extent England’s com­mercial relations. Suffolk had found refuge in an important imperial town. Henry therefore demanded that a proclamation should be issued against him, especially in all the larger towns of the Empire. But as he felt very doubtful of Maximilian in the matter, he addressed himself to the repre­sentative of the power of the towns—to the Hansa. If he gained this, he might hope to close the gates of the leading towns to the rebel, and to deprive him of any assistance in money. The first really important political measure resulting from Suffolk’s intrigues was the Act of Parliament of 1504. It protected the men of the Hansa against any adverse ordinances then and in the future. Only one condition was imposed, that these privileges must not clash with the freedom and privileges of the town of London.

Such was the astonishing decree by which Henry broke the line of policy which he had continuously pursued for more than a decade with the men of the Hansa, and thereby gave up at one stroke everything he had wrung from them during that period. He had been obliged to recognise in the struggle with the Hanseatic league, especially after the failure of the treaty with Riga, that his power did not yet extend far afield, and that he must therefore grapple with his rivals in England itself. This he had never failed to do, careless whether he was within his own rights or not; and now, by a short enactment, he placed himself in the most striking contradiction to his whole previous policy.

This step is almost incomprehensible; indeed, no other reason can be found for it than that it had reference to Suffolk, and there the gain that might be hoped for stood in startling disproportion to the price he had to pay. It was a blunder—a blunder so much the greater that Henry never really allowed the change intended by this law to be carried out. The decree was the outcome of a momentary political situation, and Henry tried to free himself from it as soon as the occasion had passed; but by this fresh breach of faith he made his relations with the league of the towns more difficult than ever, and, moreover, there was naturally no appearance of any effect being produced in the desired direction.

His policy with regard to the Hanseatic merchants fell back, in spite of the new Act of Parliament, into its old channels. One significant clause in the Act had been that which gave preference to the privileges of the Londoners, and Henry also secured a free hand for himself, when, on announcing the decision of Parliament to the Hanse merchants, he declared that now their privileges had been sufficiently cared for, the diet might be postponed until he considered it to be necessary. He had not delivered up the sum of £20,000 already given in pledge, and when in 1504 a new quarrel arose with the Netherlands, he demanded further security against the Hanseatic carrying trade. Again there were the old complaints about over­charge in customs in England. Then, as was to be expected, in July, 1508, a year after the conclusion of the struggle with Burgundy, Henry declared the sum he held in pledge to be forfeited, in consequence of illegal export of cloth. So much for the promised protection of Han­seatic rights! This parliamentary measure had only, as a matter of fact, interrupted, and not altered, Henry’s commercial policy with regard to the Hansa, and thus this curious effect of Suffolk’s appearance on the scene resolved itself into a mere transient and useless politico-commercial episode.

Though the existence of Suffolk as a pretender was not without importance for England, and occupied, to a great extent, Henry’s thoughts, it did not, after all, present any real danger to the kingdom. As regards the conduct of Maximilian, Suffolk had more just cause for complaint than had Henry, notwithstanding that the latter had expended two sums of money; for, though the exile was allowed to remain unmolested in Aix, he could, indeed, hardly find safety there from his creditors, and the uncertainty of his fate was such as to make him despair.

Apparently Maximilian did not desire that he should be driven from Aix. He preferred to reserve him to be made use of against Henry, should opportunity serve, or perhaps to hand him over for another considerable sum. Suffolk himself longed to escape from this state of uncertainty. He had thought of applying to the Count Palatine; but Henry, hearing of it, begged the French king to interfere. Again fresh hopes were aroused in the exile by his friendly con­nection with Duke George of Saxony, the Lord of Friesland.

In March, 1504, we find the duke’s plenipotentiary, Wilhelm Truchsess zu Waldbiqrg, engaged in negotiations with both parties—with Suffolk and with King Henry. Duke George had received from his father the newly acquired Duchy of Friesland; but as yet had not succeeded in establishing his full power in the country, for the town of Groningen offered him the most obstinate resistance; and it was to overcome this that he hoped to gain Henry’s help. If his ambassador at the same time was treating with the Earl of Suffolk about assistance in troops and money for an attack on England, and about a refuge in Friesland, his aim was evidently to lure the earl into his net, and to make use of him for. his own ends with Henry. Suffolk was at this time with the King of the Romans, making fresh attempts to get help. His brother Richard therefore negotiated in his stead with Waldburg, and they discussed the question of armed support, and of paying the earl’s heavy debts in Aix. How far they came to any binding agreement we do not know, but Waldburg’s promises satisfied the earl completely, while he probably received from Maximilian nothing but his usual fair words. The hope that Suffolk’s debts would be paid induced his creditors at Aix to let him depart, and only to detain Richard as a hostage. Shortly after the negotiations with Waldburg, towards the middle of April, Suffolk disappeared from Aix, evidently without Maximilian’s knowledge, and against his wish.

The fugitive’s hopes, however, were destined to be frustrated. He had procured for himself, for his journey through Gelderland to Friesland, a safe conduct from Duke Charles of Gueldres, who equally with Duke George might entertain hopes of making use of Suffolk for his own ends. Charles disregarded the safe conduct, and caused him to be captured and kept in close confinement in Hattem, on the Isel, close to the northern border of the duchy. Thus Duke George was disappointed in his expectations.

The result of all this was that Suffolk got involved in a new set of political quarrels. Charles the Bold had incorporated Gelderland into his Burgundian possessions. Charles of Egmont, the descendant of the dethroned ducal house, had, in 1492, been released from the captivity into which he had fallen in France. He was a brave and shrewd man. France willingly gave him help, and he was supported at the same time by the people of Gelderland, eager for independence, and began a struggle with the Hapsburg lords of Burgundy, which he obstinately maintained for several successive years in a perpetual and devastating warfare. The alliance of the Hapsburgs with Louis XII changed the situation to the disadvantage of the duke, and though Maximilian, led by the Burgundian policy, allowed himself to be drawn into an alliance with France, he succeeded in return in involving Philip in the war with Gelderland up to August, 1504.

Suffolk was then already in the hands of the duke. Henry VII himself declared that Charles claimed an exceptionally high ransom for the earl. Later there was a rumour in Antwerp that Henry would even stir up and support Charles against Philip. But of negotiations between the king and the duke nothing has transpired. More inti­mate relations did not exist, or Henry would not have been, in the summer of 1505, in complete ignorance of plans in Gelderland with regard to Suffolk—whether Maximilian or Philip had a hand in the game, whether Duke Charles was friendly to the earl, where he kept him, and whether as a prisoner or not. The fugitive was, in fact, withdrawn for a time from immediate contact with English politics, for he served the duke as a hostage against Philip, and that such a hostage should have any value for Philip showed that a change had taken place in Anglo-Burgundian relations.

In the autumn of 1504 these two countries were again engaged in an open war of tariffs. All the treaties, even the personal meeting between the rulers, had only been able to secure to their states for a few short years that amicable intercourse which was so urgently necessary. Complete information as to the exact cause for this condition of affairs is not to be had. Probably Burgundy, as before, opened hostilities by imposing new customs dues, which Henry vainly sought to resist by a special embassage in August, 1504. The Spaniard, Don Juan Manuel, seems to have been the moving spirit. Accredited to Maximilian, he remained permanently in Brussels, at the Burgundian court, and exerted his influence there in defiance of his own king’s wishes, and finally even against his interests. He had already been trying to work upon Maximilian in a spirit hostile to England, and, later, he induced Philip also to carry out his wishes by decided action against Henry. For this Suffolk could evidently serve them as an important tool, and the duke of Gueldres might very well hope, while he held such a prize, to make a good bargain with Philip.

He may therefore have himself set the rumour afloat that Henry was supporting him. Philip showed himself to be really anxious about the matter. He made representations to Henry, tried to calm his fears about Suffolk, and spoke of his own correct behaviour with regard to Richard de la Pole; but it was said that he wanted all the time to make use of Richard, in default of the elder brother, against the English king.

In one way, however, the capture of Suffolk was unfortunate for Duke Charles—two Powers, who were friendly towards England, now turned against him. Louis of France demanded the surrender of the earl into his hands, promised his good services if his demand was complied with, and held out a prospect of an equally welcome sum of money from Henry. James of Scotland, however, who, earlier, had received a promise from Charles that he would prevent Suffolk from passing through Gelderland, and who now, instead of the fulfilment of this promise, was met with prevarications and even a request for help, wrote to the duke a highly significant letter, telling him in plain words what he thought of his conduct, and demanding the immediate dismissal of his protégé.

It sounded from these communications as if Suffolk had had a hospitable reception from his new protector; but this was not the case. Suffolk tried to escape from his captivity in Hattem, and, having managed to find friends outside, he received in December, 1504, mysterious hints of secret plans progressing satisfactorily; but no result appeared, and he achieved no more, when, in July, 1505, he tried to gain a hearing with Charles himself. Then, however, help came from without. In the middle of July, a Burgundian flying column, under the captain Von Lichtenstein, was called by the inhabitants of Hattem into the place, occupied it, cut off the greater part of the garrison, who happened to be absent, and, strengthened by reinforcements, besieged the fortress, which was only feebly defended. Philip’s forces were at that time having some success. The leading town of Zutphen, situated in the heart of the country, had fallen into his hands, and shortly afterwards, after the surrender of Hattem, Suffolk became his prisoner. On the 27th of July, 1505, Charles was obliged to sue for peace, to make submission, to deliver up many fortified places, and to promise he would accompany Philip on his intended journey to Castile.

From Antwerp the siege of Hattem had been watched with the greatest interest, for the sake of the prisoner who lay there, and great joy prevailed at the result, for now they hoped “to put a curb into the mouth of the king of England.” The Netherlanders, indeed, had cause to rejoice over better prospects, for the war of tariffs had till now not been very fortunate for them. Henry had met the new imposts by a decree of the 15th of January, 1505, which opened in Calais a free market with quarterly fairs, for merchants who formerly traded with Antwerp. Tolls on exports to the Burgundian provinces were imposed, to which Philip replied by raising his own duties; both parties prohibited entirely any imports from the opponent’s country.

These dissensions with the Netherlands were probably in part the cause why Henry did not break off the negotiations with Duke George of Saxony, which were still dragging slowly on. In the hope he had founded on Suffolk, the duke was bitterly disappointed; with the pretender no longer in his possession, he could offer but little in return for his own requests for help, for his promise to give Henry the same support, should he ever need it, could hardly have been considered an equivalent. Waldburg conducted the negotiations in England in the summer of 1504, and at Calais, with Dr. West, in March, 1505. The Englishmen, as usual, spoke of Suffolk with great contempt ; to them he was no more than a “scullion,” and a “runaway youth”; notwithstanding, therefore, repeated earnest appeals, the duke’s request for help was, under various pretexts, refused. West, who made use of the opportunity to get the duke to present him with a good Frisian horse, brought to Calais the draft of a treaty, already executed by Henry, containing a covenant for mutual alliance and defence, couched in general terms, but, according to Henry’s wish, formulating with special severity the article on rebels. The king having added a promise to interpret these provisions less severely, George executed the treaty in this form at Dresden on the 30th of December, 1505.

This transaction was not of much importance ; George gained from his alliance with England little or nothing, while Henry got a certain amount of security as regarded Suffolk: he had seen, moreover, that he could gain his ends in the Netherlands without foreign aid. Envoy after envoy was despatched to England with a view to an accommodation of the dispute, but their efforts were useless; Henry put forward demands, but offered nothing in return. He was conscious of his advantage, for the removal of the market to Calais had decidedly been productive of good results ; he could reckon on the hostile feeling in his subjects towards Philip, and while the Burgundian government had been already obliged to modify the pro­hibition of imports, we hear of no damage to English trade, nor of losses to the king in customs.

As it was entirely to his advantage that the losses should be keenly felt by his opponent, it is very astonishing to find that the king should have most generously supported with his money this same opponent, at the very time when he was making efforts to damage him commercially. We are not acquainted with the details of the agreement, we only know that Henry granted Philip a loan to a considerable amount which the greater part was handed over to him on the 25th of April, and the rest on the 27th of September, 1505, “for his next voiage unto Spayne.”

Philip at that time stood in a double relation to Henry, as Lord of the Netherlands and Burgundy, and as King of Castile. The union between the Spanish kingdoms of Castile and Aragon had been severed on the 26th of November, 1504, by the death of Isabella; her son John had died before her, so had her daughter Isabella, married to the king of Portugal, and also their young son Miguel; the Castilian throne, therefore, fell to Joanna and her husband, Philip. As Joanna was already showing symptoms of that condition of mental disease into which she was afterwards irrevocably to fall, and therefore was incapable of governing, Isabella had appointed Ferdinand regent. To this, however, Philip demurred. Disaffected nobles, who objected to Ferdinand’s harsh government, entered into communication with him, and Don Juan Manuel, in particular, gave him counsel in the matter. After issuing a manifesto against Ferdinand’s regency, Philip made preparations to start for Spain himself, but the Gelderland war, now more burdensome to him than ever, together with the commercial dispute with England, detained him in the Netherlands, and Ferdinand meanwhile contrived to damage him by gaining over Louis of France, who, till then, had been a constant friend to Philip.

This dissension between Philip and Ferdinand was very welcome to Henry; a change was setting in in his relation with Spain, which made him view with satisfaction any difficulty for Ferdinand, such as that involved in Philip’s journey to Spain. Henry hoped by his war of tariffs with the Netherlands to effect an essential improvement in England’s position, and therefore continued to carry on the struggle; but because he thereby interfered with Philip’s revenues, and 'could not help feeling that this in addition to the cost of the war in Gelderland might put a stop to Philip’s journey to Spain, he gave back to the King of Castile for this journey, double and treble of what he took from him as Duke of Burgundy.

It can scarcely be doubted that in making these arrangements, Henry had had in his mind, in some form or other, the Earl of Suffolk, in whom the Netherlanders hoped they possessed the price for the removal of the interdiction on their trade. Philip, however, at once parted with his valuable hostage. By the beginning of August he had already given orders that Suffolk should be taken to Wageningen in Gelderland, and there given up. It was alleged later that this was done out of regard for the provisions of the treaty with England, and it is possible that this may have been the case, for Henry’s second payment was still owing, which Philip was not to receive till September. Philip did not wish to hand over to Henry a prisoner of such importance to the Netherlands, and could find a pretext for surrendering him to Charles of Gelderland in the claims which Charles still had against the earl.

Charles had troubled himself very little about providing for Suffolk’s support; after Hattem had been taken, the rescued prisoner besieged his new protector and his counsellors for money, and even for the most necessary articles of clothing. He tried to free himself by flight from his new captivity in Wageningen, but was caught near Tiel, and from that time kept in stricter confinement; only one servant had access to him, and the garrison of the town was strengthened. In spite of this he kept up communication with his friends, through whom he entreated Philip to release him from “this man’s hand.” He said he was there by Philip’s orders, and would always be ready to serve him. He foresaw with much anxiety the possibility of a new breach between Philip and Duke Charles, in which case he should regard himself as a lost man.

Mention had from time to time been made, though with little justice, of the expenses incurred by the duke on behalf of his prisoner, and now Suffolk, in order to escape from the power of the Duke of Gueldres, was obliged to pledge himself to pay, as compensation for his own and his servant’s keep, a sum of two thousand florins; after the payment of the first instalment of five hundred florins his full freedom was assured to him. A Spanish merchant residing in Antwerp was prepared to guarantee the payment of the money.

Could the whole transaction have been anything else but a manoeuvre to take in Henry? What reasons could Philip have had for giving back to the unreliable Duke of Gueldres, whom he had already defeated, a hostage of such value as Suffolk, and how could a merchant have been so foolhardy as to risk good money on a man who was over head and ears in debt, unless this Spaniard had received good security, perhaps from the new Castilian king himself? Suffolk’s liberation, that is, his surrender to a new gaoler—to Philip, did not take place till Philip had received the last payment from Henry. Thus it was Henry who found himself cheated; with his advances in aid of Philip’s journey to Spain, he had probably himself paid the so-called ransom for Suffolk, but without getting him into his hands in return.

For Philip now thought no more of surrendering Suffolk, and no compliance was made with Henry’s often-repeated wish. He tried, however, by other inducements to persuade the king to remove the customs dues. Either he or his father offered him the hand of Margaret, who through the death of her second husband, Duke Philibert of Savoy, had again become a widow. The projected marriage of the Princess Mary with Charles and another personal interview were again proposed. Manuel’s sister, Donna Elvira, a maid of honour to the Princess of Wales—even the princess herself—were drawn in as intermediaries; but Henry, who merely seized with more eagerness upon the proposal for his own marriage, held obstinately to his demands—that the Flemish customs dues should first be taken off, and that Suffolk should be surrendered.

Suffolk’s situation had once more changed for the worse. In the middle of November, 1505, we find him again kept like a prisoner in the castle of Namur. Not only his own hopes, but those of his creditors at Aix, had been grievously disappointed by the course affairs had taken since his flight from their town. They had applied in vain to Philip, and, since the taking of Hattem, empty promises were the only consolation they could get from Suffolk himself. His brother Richard, whom he had left behind as a hostage, was assailed by impatient and angry creditors in the open street. Suffolk, they cried, was a base deceiver, and they intended to accuse him publicly of perjury. Richard felt bitterly the humiliation and also the danger of his position ; he hardly dared to appear out of doors for fear of being either given up to Henry or assassinated. At the same time he incurred Suffolk’s displeasure by the mode in which he was conducting the negotiations they had opened with Hungary about a new place of refuge. He was re­proached with caring more for himself than for his brother, and any hope of getting help from Suffolk was quite taken away from him. In his distress he longed that God would remove him out of this world, he had shown himself in many things a good brother, and yet Suffolk was now treating him so cruelly.

In his conduct towards Richard, Suffolk seems to have been ungrateful and unjust, but his situation might indeed excuse much. Hopes were being constantly held out to him, while all the time nothing was done; for instance, he was told that the ships collected together by Philip for his Spanish expedition were destined for him. One friend, an unpaid creditor of Perkin Warbeck’s, spoke of enlisting in his favour the King of Denmark and the Duke of Pomerania. Meanwhile, hearing nothing definite about his fate, he lived on such promises and on the money of his friends, and had very little freedom to move about. In December, 1505, Killingworth, who had been sent to Philip’s court, wrote to him that nothing was left for him but to patiently bide his time.

The unhappy adventurer excites our compassion, begging for alms at every princely door, and having, for the sake of a few miserable crumbs, to submit to the most contemptuous treatment. Refused everywhere, deprived of all hope of foreign aid; but yet retained as a possibly useful tool for foreign policy, what remained to the banished man in his despair? He took the only step left him, which made by hitherto he had despised. He appealed to the English king, that rival who stood in calm security, watching his fruitless hostile efforts.

But here too he was unlucky, and only made himself ridiculous. For he, the fugitive, who was forced to beg for bread and respectable clothing, sent off from Namur on the 24th of January, 1506, his followers Killingworth and Griffith and empowered them in pompous phraseology, as Duke of Suffolk, to treat with Henry’s representatives, asking from the king full forgiveness and the restoration of all his dignities and lands, and the release of his brother William and his friends, while in return he condescended to promise that he would be a loyal subject to the king. But about this time sinister rumours had reached Namur as to his future fate, and he alone still remained hopeful. For Philip, by then, was in Henry’s kingdom, detained as an unwilling guest, and it had already been decided that Suffolk was to return there in somewhat less splendid style than he in his high-flown language had seemed to imagine.

Philip and his wife had been waiting at Middelburg, in Zealand, for a favourable wind, and on the 7th of January, 1506, they were able to embark at Arnemuiden. Among their numerous suite was the Venetian ambassador, Quirini; but the Duke of Gueldres, contrary to his promise, was absent. On the 10th of January, at the full moon, the fleet of forty sail put to sea, and amid thunder of cannon and strains of music sailed past Calais. It was said that Philip had tried to come to a previous agreement with Henry in order to ensure a safe passage to Spain, should chance cast him ashore on the English coast. This foreboding was soon to be realised.

A strong wind having got up in the night following the second day of the voyage, the ships were driven rapidly towards the south, but after a calm, the wind shifted and increased to a frightful gale. In London even it caused considerable damage, the weathercock on St. Paul’s steeple being blown down. The Burgundian fleet was scattered, and, on the 16th of January, Philip, who had given himself up for lost, was driven on shore at Melcombe Regis, opposite Weymouth; eighteen ships put in at Falmouth, and the rest, with the exception of a few that foundered, got to land at various places.

Although his Spanish counsellors advised Philip to put to sea again as soon as possible, he preferred to announce his arrival to Henry and await an answer. He intended to visit the king and the Princess Katharine, and then, as soon as possible, to depart. But things were to turn out otherwise. He was detained hospitably on the coast, while Henry made ample preparations to receive him with splendour at Windsor. The Prince of Wales came to meet him at Winchester, and on the 31st of January, Henry, at the head of a brilliant retinue, welcomed him a couple of miles outside Windsor. The two monarchs vied with each other in civilities and outward expressions of friendliness; and Henry did not shrink from the most lavish expenditure to do honour to his guest. But the guest was afterwards to make him rich amends for the expense incurred. Philip had announced his intention of soon joining his followers who were awaiting him at Falmouth; they, however, waited on in vain for their lord.

Henry did not allow such a favourable opportunity to slip. We hear of private interviews between the kings, and also of others with their counsellors. On the 9th of February, Philip was solemnly installed as a Knight of the Order of the Garter, and on the same day, after hearing mass, he signed and swore to a new treaty of alliance, drawn up in two separate documents. The investiture of the Prince of Wales with the Order of the Golden Fleece concluded the ceremony. By this treaty the contracting parties bound themselves to mutual support against every aggressor, though this aggressor were an ally of one of themselves one provision in it was of special importance to Henry—that neither of them should suffer any rebels against the other to remain in his dominions, but must deliver them up at once on the other’s demand.

Thus Suffolk’s fate was sealed. Joanna also arrived for a short visit the day following the signing of the treaty, and Philip then moved on to Richmond to see the new buildings there, and on the 15th of February, unasked, as a superficial observer supposed, he offered to surrender Suffolk to the English king, a confidential counsellor being despatched to the Netherlands to fetch the prisoner.

As we said, Philip had undertaken to deliver him up to Henry before his own departure. It was not till the 2nd of March that he took leave of Henry, and travelled by slow stages eastwards to Falmouth. Illness also detained him on the way, so that he did not arrive at the seaport till the 26th of March. The provisional regency at Mecklin had made difficulties at first about relinquishing the hostage, hitherto so carefully guarded, before Philip should have at least left England in safety. Fresh orders therefore had to be sent, and on the 16th of March, 1506, Suffolk was handed over to the English at Calais, brought on the 24th under strong convoy across the Channel, and conducted through London to the Tower. Henry had promised his guest, not indeed by treaty, but in a solemn and binding form, to spare the life of the prisoner.

Although the hopes which Suffolk had indulged in of late were groundless enough, yet this turn of fortune was a sad one. That he, though a man of high descent, not only failed to play a part as important as did the impostor Perkin Warbeck, but was scarcely better than a hunted wild beast, nowhere sure of his life, was chiefly due to the complete change that had taken place in the position of the Tudor king at home and abroad. But the foolhardy, hot-headed young man, prompt to take offence, and as easily deluded by every empty promise, had without due reflection plunged into adventure, and now was to reap the fruit of his own folly. Henry indeed kept his promise, and it was left to his successor to bring the eager champion of Yorkist claims to the scaffold.

In spite of his unjust behaviour to his brother Richard, it speaks well of Suffolk’s character as a man, that he had in the time of his misfortune faithful servants and friends, who to the last never forsook him. Even after his surrender, the faithful Killingworth made every effort to save his master, by reminding Maximilian of his former promises ; but finally he had to beg for assistance to pay his own debts contracted in Suffolk’s service. He tried if he could at least secure safety for Richard, who was still at liberty, and asked Maximilian to appoint some place where he might live in security. No one dreamt any longer of great undertakings. After his brother’s capture Richard had made his escape from Aix, and in the autumn of 1506 he appeared in Hungary, where he had established friendly relations the year before. Here Killingworth joined him, and from here he made his application to the King of the Romans. Although his surrender also was insisted on, Richard continued at liberty. He finally found a permanent refuge in France, and there rose to high honour after the rupture with England, which occurred in the reign of Henry VIII. His contemporaries knew him under the name of the “ White Rose.” He distinguished himself in the service of France both on land and sea, till, in 1525, he fell at Pavia, that battle so disastrous for Francis I.

Suffolk’s intrigues formed the last noteworthy attempt made by the House of York against the Tudors; and Henry, by the treaty he had extorted from Philip, had relieved himself of that difficulty. Instead of using Suffolk as a hostage, Philip had been forced himself to serve as a hostage for Suffolk’s surrender, and everything he had hoped to gain by means of the rebel had been completely lost. Henry tried to turn Philip’s involuntary presence in England to further purpose, on behalf of the commercial relations with the Netherlands. Of the negotiations themselves we know nothing; Henry gave up the idea of a definite settlement before Philip’s departure, and contented himself with his authorisation. Before Philip parted with the English king at Windsor, on the 1st of March, Philip alone, and then on the 14th of March, he and his wife together, issued powers for the marriage treaty already proposed between Henry and Margaret, the sister of Philip. This treaty, which we shall have to consider in another connection, was brought about on the 20th of March. It must have cost Philip a greater struggle before he brought himself, after long hesitation, to sign, on the 4th of April, 1506, a power for the preliminaries of a final settlement of the trade question.

Well might he long to get out of England, as he waited at Falmouth for four tedious weeks from the 26th of March. There his fleet had assembled, and some Spanish ships also had been sent by Ferdinand to make up for the losses sus­tained. Till their arrival at the seaport town all the expenses of Philip and his retinue had been generously provided for by Henry. Then, however, Philip was left to himself, and found the prolonged visit a severe strain on his purse. The Venetian, Quirini, complained bitterly of the poor and yet costly living in the provincial town. They must all have felt relieved when, on the 23rd of April, 1506, they quitted the shores of England.

Shortly after, on the 30th of April, the new commercial treaty was finally concluded in London. The contents of it might already be surmised from Philip’s power, which had merely dealt with the English complaints of violations of the former treaty and of the existing usages in trade. It was determined therefore, that for the Netherlanders the tolls agreed upon in 1496 should hold good, while the English should be exempt from certain local tolls in Zealand, Brabant, and Antwerp, and that any proposed increase of tolls should be announced a year before­hand. The wholesale sale of English woollens was not only again permitted throughout Burgundian territory, but, with the single exception of Flanders, sale by retail was also allowed, as well as the dressing and finishing of the cloth. All merchants trading in English woollens were to be subject to the same favourable customs dues as the English. In return, the Netherlanders only received, beyond the renewal of the treaty, protection against cheating in the sale of English wool at Calais, by means of a precise system of marking the different sorts of wool, and a previous examination of the goods. Philip’s kingdom of Castile was expressly excluded from these provisions.

Philip had been compelled to pay dearly for his previous obstinacy; at the end of the struggle he found himself beaten at all points. For Henry, too, the only complete success lay in the surrender of Suffolk; the treaty of commerce was after all a prize of doubtful value. The king had committed the serious error of making use of the enforced situation of his rival to press unreasonable demands, which, if literally carried out, would have perpetually menaced the mercantile and industrial prosperity of the Netherlanders, and even completely annihilated it by English competition. Hence the concessions possible only on paper were impossible of fulfilment; indeed, the extortion of such unreasonable concessions might very well endanger privileges which had hitherto been assured.

The Netherlanders were not able quietly to accept this treaty made by their duke; but apart from any pressure of public opinion, Philip from the first was disinclined to execute the treaty concluded by his plenipotentiaries. The ratifications were to take place within three months—the English one is dated the 15th of May, 1506—but on the 31st of July Henry’s ambassadors were still vainly waiting at Calais for the conclusion of the marriage treaty, which had been due already for weeks. Of the commercial treaty not a word had yet been said.

The general situation of affairs, however, seemed to promise well for the fulfilment of Henry’s hopes. The quarrels with Ferdinand brought Philip to the verge of a civil war in Castile. There were difficulties, even with the Castilian nobles who had joined his party, and the Duke of Gueldres, always ready to break treaties, seized on this opportunity for anew insurrection, with the assistance of France. Louis XII at first denied that he had sent aid, but at last confessed it plainly to Courteville, Philip’s ambassador. Henry according to the treaty of alliance was under the obligation to protect the Burgundian provinces; he went so far as to promise assistance in troops to the stadtholder, William de Croy, Lord of Chièvres, on the strength of an article in the treaty, and began as usual to make a show of active preparations. But at first he confined himself to diplomatic overtures with Duke Charles, whom he reproached in no measured terms for his breach of treaty; and proceeded in the same manner with Louis of France and the Netherlands.

The government of the stadtholder had to behave in a conciliatory way; especially as the unstable commercial relations were causing such damage to the trade of the Netherlanders that they were almost disposed to regard the unfavourable treaty as the lesser evil. Chièvres counselled his master to pretend acquiescence in the proposed negotiations with France, and even to send to him in case of necessity the execution of the commercial treaty. He found some consolation, however, in the stipulation that any increase of the customs dues should still be announced a year beforehand.

In France, too, Henry was so far successful as to prevent the reinforcements of troops to Gelderland, and to cause proposals of intervention to be made to the duke, who tried to justify his behaviour to Henry. Not content with the proffered truce, he even demanded a secure settlement, and declared himself ready in return to submit to an Anglo-French court of arbitration. Though Louis’s acquiescence in Henry’s policy of mediation was not very sincere, outwardly this policy had been successful, and Henry at once made use of this by inviting Philip also to submit to the court of arbitration. He had, however, cause for displeasure, for he learnt that the treaty had been executed and sent to Chièvres on the 2nd of September, without his having himself managed to see anything of it.

At this moment an unexpected event occurred : Philip, after a short illness, died at Burgos on the 25th of September, 1506. In his letter of condolence to Maximilian, Henry at once expressed his willingness to execute the still unconcluded treaty. Maximilian, however, in reply, only spoke of the assistance he hoped Henry would render to the children of his son, and took the opportunity of slipping in a request on his own part for a loan of 100,000 crowns.

Margaret, who was placed at the head of the council of Regency for her nephew Charles, herself urged the resumption of commercial relations, but passed over in silence the last settlement in London, and indicated the treaty of 1496 as the desired basis for commercial intercourse. Henry gave vent unreservedly to his annoyance at the downfall of his hopes, but behaved in a very conciliatory manner, and promised, out of special regard for Margaret, to permit the resumption of trade with the Netherlands. He forwarded at the same time the draft of a commercial agreement, with a view to obtaining the necessary securities for Englishmen on the renewal of intercourse, and insisted that it should be signed and returned within fourteen days.

This preliminary settlement, which was sent from England in May, and was ratified by Margaret and her counsellors on the 5th of June, 1507, consisted of five articles; it regulated commercial intercourse according to the earlier treaties, but conceded to the English, at least in the main, the reductions on customs granted by the treaty of 1506; in return the claims for English cloth were allowed to drop. On the 17th of June the merchant adventurers received permission again to enter the provinces of the archduke with their wares.

The two treaties agreed upon with Philip not having yet been confirmed, Henry took advantage of this to declare himself freed from the obligation of rendering assistance against Gelderland. For the rest he insisted only on what was possible of attainment and by this means secured to the English ample advantages in customs, though compelled to relinquish his desires with regard to the English cloth industry. Thus the new agreement, considered only at first as pro­visional, remained for years under Henry VII, and his son the solid basis for commercial intercourse between the two countries.

We cannot help wondering that after Philip’s death Henry should so suddenly change his policy, and show himself prepared to give way, for though the favourable circumstance of Philip’s simultaneous difficulties in Castile and the Netherlands had ceased with his death, Henry still found himself at the time in so advantageous a position with regard to Burgundy, both commercially and politically, that his prospects of success appeared but slightly affected; yet he gave up everything. Two treaties had not been confirmed by Philip. Henry now abandoned the commercial treaty, hoping by that means to secure the marriage treaty, which must necessarily afford him full compensation, by the close connection he would thereby form with the Netherlands, since his chosen bride, Margaret, was the Regent there during the minority of her nephew Charles. This matrimonial design, however, forms one of a long series of marriage projects for himself and his children, at which Henry worked indefatigably during the latter years of his reign, and which lends to that period its peculiar character.

 

 

CHAPTER VI.

MATRIMONIAL SCHEMES OF HENRY VII’S LAST YEARS.