The History of England - Vols. 1 to 6 (255 page)

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of merit; possessed of learning and capacity, and adorned with candour, sincerity, and beneficence, and all those virtues, which were fitted to render him useful and amiable in society. His moral qualities procured him universal respect; and the courage of his martyrdom, though he fell short of the rigid inflexibility observed in many, made him the hero of the protestant party.
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After Cranmer’s death, cardinal Pole, who had now taken priest’s orders, was installed in the see of Canterbury; and was thus by this office, as well as by his commission of legate, placed at the head of the church of England. But though he was averse to all sanguinary methods of converting heretics, and deemed the reformation of the clergy the more effectual, as the more laudable expedient for that purpose;
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he found his authority too weak to oppose the barbarous and bigotted disposition of the queen and of her counsellors. He himself, he knew, had been suspected of Lutheranism; and as Paul, the reigning pope, was a furious persecutor and his personal enemy, he was prompted, by the modesty of his disposition, to reserve his credit for other occasions, in which he had a greater probability of success.
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The great object of the queen was to engage the nation in the 1557.

war, which was kindled between France and Spain; and cardinal Pole, with many other counsellors, openly and zealously opposed this measure.

Besides insisting on the marriage articles, which provided against such an attempt, they represented the violence of the domestic factions in England, and the disordered state of the finances; and they foreboded, that the tendency of all these measures was to reduce the kingdom to a total dependance on Spanish counsels. Philip had come to London in order to support his partizans; and he told the queen, that, if he were not gratified in so reasonable a request, he never more would set foot in England. This declaration extremely heightened her zeal for promoting his interests, and overcoming the inflexibility of her council. After employing other menaces of a more violent nature, she threatened to dismiss all of them, and to appoint counsellors more obsequious; yet could she not procure a vote for declaring war with France. At length, one Stafford and some other conspirators were detected in a design of surprizing Scarborough;
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and a confession being extorted from them, that they had been encouraged by Henry in the attempt, the queen’s importunity prevailed; and it was determined to make this act of hostility, with others of a like secret and doubtful nature, the ground of the quarrel. War was accordingly declared against France; and preparations were every where made for attacking that kingdom.

The revenue of England at that time little exceeded 300,000 pounds.
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Any considerable supplies could scarcely be expected from parliament, considering the present disposition of the nation; and as the war would sensibly diminish that branch arising from the customs, the finances, it was foreseen, would fall short even of the ordinary charges of government; and must still more prove unequal to the expences of war. But though the queen owed great arrears to all her servants, besides the loans extorted from her subjects, these considerations had no influence with her; and in order to support her warlike preparations, she continued to levy money in the same arbitrary and violent manner which she had formerly practised. She obliged the city of London to supply her with 60,000 pounds on her husband’s entry; she levied before the legal time the second year’s subsidy voted by parliament; she issued anew many PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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privy seals, by which she procured loans from her people; and having equipped a fleet, which she could not victual by reason of the dearness of provisions, she seized all the corn she could find in Suffolk and Norfolk, without paying any price to the owners. By all these expedients, assisted by the power of pressing, she levied an army of ten thousand men, which she sent over to the Low-Countries, under the command of the earl of Pembroke. Meanwhile, in order to prevent any disturbance at home, many of the most considerable gentry were thrown into the Tower; and lest they should be known, the Spanish practice was followed: They either were carried thither in the night time, or were hoodwinked and muffled by the guards who conducted

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The king of Spain had assembled an army, which, after the junction of the English, amounted to above sixty thousand men, conducted by Philibert, duke of Savoy, one of the greatest captains of the age. The constable, Montmorency, who commanded the French army, had not half the number to oppose to him. The duke of Savoy, after menacing Mariembourgh and Rocroy, suddenly sat down before St. Quintin; and as the place was weak, and ill provided with a garrison, he expected in a few days to become master of it. But admiral Coligny, governor of the province, thinking his honour interested to save so important a fortress, threw himself into St. Quintin, with some troops of French and Scottish gensdarmery; and by his exhortations and example animated the soldiers to a vigorous defence. He dispatched a messenger to his uncle, Montmorency, desiring a supply of men;

and the constable approached the place with his whole army, in 10th Aug.

order to facilitate the entry of these succours. But the duke of Savoy, falling on the reinforcement, did such execution upon them, that not above five hundred got into the place. He next made an Battle of St. Quintin.

attack on the French army, and put them to total rout, killing four thousand men, and dispersing the remainder. In this unfortunate action many of the chief nobility of France were either slain or taken prisoners: Among the latter was the old constable himself, who, fighting valiantly, and resolute to die rather than survive his defeat, was surrounded by the enemy, and thus fell alive into their hands. The whole kingdom of France was thrown into consternation: Paris was attempted to be fortified in a hurry: And had the Spaniards presently marched thither, it could not have failed to fall into their hands. But Philip was of a cautious temper; and he determined first to take St. Quintin, in order to secure a communication with his own dominions. A very little time, it was expected, would finish this enterprize; but the bravery of Coligny still prolonged the siege seventeen days, which proved the safety of France. Some troops were levied and assembled. Couriers were sent to recal the duke of Guise and his army from Italy: And the French, having recovered from their first panic, put themselves in a posture of defence. Philip, after taking Ham and Catelet, found the season so far advanced, that he could attempt no other enterprize: He broke up his camp, and retired to winter-quarters.

But the vigilant activity of Guise, not satisfied with securing the frontiers, prompted him, in the depth of winter, to plan an enterprize, which France, during her greatest successes, had always regarded as impracticable, and had never thought of undertaking. Calais was, in that age, deemed an impregnable fortress; and as it was PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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known to be the favourite of the English nation, by whom it could easily be succoured, the recovery of that place by France was considered as totally desperate.

But Coligny had remarked, that, as the town of Calais was Calais taken by the

surrounded with marshes, which, during the winter, were

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impassable, except over a dyke guarded by two castles, St.

Agatha and Newnam bridge, the English were of late accustomed, on account of the lowness of their finances, to dismiss a great part of the garrison at the end of autumn, and to recal them in the spring, at which time alone they judged their attendance necessary. On this circumstance he had founded the design of making a sudden attack on Calais; he had caused the place to be secretly viewed by some engineers; and a plan of the whole enterprize being found among his papers, it served, though he himself was made prisoner on the taking of St. Quintin, to suggest the project of that undertaking, and to direct the measures of the duke of Guise.

Several bodies of troops defiled towards the frontiers on various 1558.

pretences; and the whole being suddenly assembled, formed an army, with which Guise made an unexpected march towards Calais. At the same time a great number of French ships, being ordered into the channel, under colour of cruising on the English, composed a fleet which made an attack by sea on the fortifications. The French assaulted St. Agatha with three thousand harquebusiers; and the garrison, though they made a vigorous defence, were soon obliged to abandon the place, and retreat to Newnam bridge. The siege of this latter place was immediately undertaken, and at the same time the fleet battered the risbank, which guarded the entrance of the harbour; and both these castles seemed exposed to imminent danger.

The governor, lord Wentworth, was a brave officer; but finding that the greater part of his weak garrison was enclosed in the castle of Newnam bridge and the risbank, he ordered them to capitulate, and to join him in Calais, which, without their assistance, he was utterly unable to defend. The garrison of Newnam bridge was so happy as to effect this purpose; but that of the risbank could not obtain such favourable conditions, and were obliged to surrender at discretion.

The duke of Guise, now holding Calais blockaded by sea and land, thought himself secure of succeeding in his enterprize; but in order to prevent all accident, he delayed not a moment the attack of the place. He planted his batteries against the castle, where he made a large breach; and having ordered Andelot, Coligny’s brother, to drain the fossée, he commanded an assault, which succeeded; and the French made a lodgment in the castle. On the night following, Wentworth attempted to recover this post, but having lost two hundred men in a furious attack which he made upon it,
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he found his garrison so weak, that he was obliged to capitulate. Ham and Guisnes fell soon after; and thus the duke of Guise, in eight days, during the depth of winter, made himself master of this strong fortress, that had cost Edward III. a siege of eleven months, at the head of a numerous army, which had, that very year, been victorious in the battle of Cressy. The English had held it above two hundred years; and as it gave them an easy entrance into France, it was regarded as the most important possession belonging to the crown. The joy of the French was extreme, as well as the glory acquired by Guise, who, at the time when all Europe imagined France to be sunk by the unfortunate battle of St. Quintin, had, in opposition to the English, and their allies, the Spaniards, acquired possession of a place, which no former king of France, even PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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during the distractions of the civil wars, between the houses of York and Lancaster, had ever ventured to attempt. The English on the other hand, bereaved of this valuable fortress, murmured loudly against the improvidence of the queen and her council; who, after engaging in a fruitless war, for the sake of foreign interests, had thus exposed the nation to so severe a disgrace. A treasury exhausted by expences, and burthened with debts: a people divided and dejected; a sovereign negligent of her people’s welfare, were circumstances which, notwithstanding the fair offers and promises of Philip, gave them small hopes of recovering Calais. And as the Scots, instigated by French councils, began to move on the borders, they were now necessitated rather to look to their defence at home, than to think of foreign conquests.

After the peace, which, in consequence of king Edward’s treaty Affairs of Scotland.

with Henry, took place between Scotland and England, the

queen-dowager, on pretence of visiting her daughter and her relations, made a journey to France, and she carried along with her the earls of Huntley, Sutherland, Marischal, and many of the principal nobility. Her secret design was to take measures for engaging the earl of Arran to resign to her the government of the kingdom; and as her brothers, the duke of Guise, the cardinal of Lorraine, and the duke of Aumale, had uncontrouled influence in the court of France, she easily persuaded Henry, and, by his authority, the Scottish nobles, to enter into her measures. Having also gained Carnegy of Kinnaird, Panter, bishop of Ross, and Gavin Hamilton, commendator of Kilwinning, three creatures of the governor’s, she persuaded him, by their means, to

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and when every thing was thus prepared for her purpose, she took a journey to Scotland, and passed through England in her way thither.

Edward received her with great respect and civility; though he could not forbear attempting to renew the old treaty for his marriage with her daughter: A marriage, he said, so happily calculated for the tranquillity, interest, and security of both kingdoms, and the only means of ensuring a durable peace between them. For his part, he added, he never could entertain a cordial amity for any other husband whom she should choose; nor was it easy for him to forgive a man, who, at the same time that he disappointed so natural an alliance, had bereaved him of a bride, to whom his affections, from his earliest infancy, had been entirely engaged. The queen-dowager eluded these applications, by telling him, that, if any measures had been taken disagreeable to him, they were entirely owing to the imprudence of the duke of Somerset, who, instead of employing courtesy, caresses, and gentle offices, the proper means of gaining a young princess, had had recourse to arms and violence, and had constrained the Scottish nobility to send their sovereign into France, in order to interest that kingdom in protecting their liberty and independance.
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When the queen-dowager arrived in Scotland, she found the governor very unwilling to fulfil his engagements; and it was not till after many delays that he could be persuaded to resign his authority. But finding that the majority of the young princess was approaching, and that the queen-dowager had gained the affections of all the principal nobility, he thought it more prudent to submit; and having stipulated, that he should be declared next heir to the crown, and should be freed from giving an account of his past administration, he placed her in possession of the power; and she thenceforth assumed the name of regent.
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