Chapter XXII: Appendix: B (2)

“On Sunday morning, accompanied by all the said lords and gentlemen, the Lady went on foot from her apartments to the church; the road by which she walked was all covered with cloth, and might be of about the same length as the garden of Chantilly. All the bishops and abbots went to fetch the said Lady, accoutred in their mitres and pontifical ornaments, and conducted her to the church; and after having heard a low mass, she mounted on a daïs that had been arranged for her in front of the high altar, which daïs was all covered with red cloth; and round the spot where she sat, which was further raised by two steps, was laid a velvet carpet. And in this place the Lady remained after having been crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who placed the crown on her head and anointed her at the high altar, and then completed the office and mass of the said coronation.

“The Duke of Suffolk, High Constable for that day, remained always near the said Lady, with a great white staff in his hand; close by were also the said Lord William and the Lord Chamberlain. Behind the said Lady were various ladies; duchesses and countesses dressed in scarlet, with cloaks lined with ermine, which are the robes of duchesses and countesses, and their hats on their heads. Similarly the dukes and earls, with many other knights, were dressed in robes of scarlet lined with ermine, almost of the fashion of those of the Premiers Présidents at Paris, with their hoods.

“When the coronation was over the Lady was conducted back as on arrival, with the exception of the bishops, and taken to a great hall where dinner was prepared....

“The hall is very large and was not crowded, for very good order was kept. Beneath the queen’s daïs there were four great tables which filled the whole length of the hall. At the upper end were those of this kingdom who have charge of the Ports, and beneath them, at the same table, various gentlemen: at the corresponding table, at the top and side, were the Archbishops and Bishops, the Lord Chancellor, and several Earl-Knights. At the two other tables on the other side of the hall, at the upper one were the Mayor of London accompanied by the Aldermen; and, at the other table, the ladies, Duchesses, Countesses, and other ladies and young ladies.

“The Duke of Suffolk was gorgeously accoutred, with many stones and pearls, on a courser caparisoned in crimson velvet: he rode about on his horse, round the hall and amongst the tables. Lord William did the same, looking after the service and keeping order. Both remained always bare-headed, which you know is the custom of this country. The king was in a place that he had had made for the occasion, whence he could see all the ceremony without being seen; where he took with him the Ambassadors of France and of Venice.

“At the door of the hall there were conduits spouting wine, anyone who pleased might take some. Similarly there were kitchens to provide food for anyone who came that day; it was a marvel how much was eaten. Trumpets and hautbois sounded for every service, and heralds cried largesse.”

[179] May 29 Anne Boleyn was fetched in state by the Mayor and Corporation of London, and brought to the Tower, whence she returned to Westminster on Saturday for her coronation on Whit Sunday, June 1. (Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. vi. (1533), No. 601.

[180] The stepmother of the Duke.

[181] The Countess of Wiltshire.

[182] Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.

[183] Lord William Howard, brother to the Duke of Norfolk, who, it will be remembered, was now absent in France.

[184] Dinteville and Cranmer.

[185] Carlo Capello and Sir Thomas Audley.

[186] Peeress’s robes corresponding to those still worn by peers.

[187] Westminster Hall.

[188] The hall seems, in fact, to have been arranged much like a College hall at the present day, with the high table across the top and the long tables below placed at right angles to it.

[189] The Barons of the Cinque Ports.

[190] Knights of the Garter?

[191] Camusat, “Meslanges Historiques,” part ii., p. 17. Narration de l’Entrée et couronnement de la Royne d’Angleterre Anne de Boulan à Londres, le 2 (it should be, le 1) juin, 1533.

[192] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. vi. (1533), No. 707. Francis wrote back a pacifying answer denying all knowledge of the rumours referred to.

[193] The 22nd July. Dinteville’s embassy was reckoned from the 22nd January.

[194] Camusat, “Mesl. Hist.,” part ii., p. 130_b_, Mr. de Polizy, Bailly of Troyes, to M. Du Bellay, Bishop of Paris, 7 June, 1533.

[195] See description of the Lute, Part IV.

[196] His name was really Maraviglia, but had become gallicized by long residence in France.

[197] The subject, at a later period, when a young widow, of Holbein’s beautiful portrait, now the property of the Duke of Norfolk.

[198] Ranke, “Zeitalter der Reformation,” vol. iii., p. 313. Decrue de Stoutz, “Anne de Montmorency,” part i., p. 207.

[199] Decrue, etc., p. 213, where a list of authorities is given.

[200] Camusat, “Meslanges Historiques,” part ii., p. 135. Francis I. to the Bailly de Troyes, 16 July, 1533. See also the following letter from the same to the same, 12 August, 1533.

[201] Camusat, “Meslanges Historiques,” p. 139. The Bailly of Troyes to Francis I., 3 September, 1533.

[202] “M. le Bailly, knowing well how long you have been over there, and that it is very reasonable you should go to your home to put your affairs in order, I have been willing to grant you leave to depart whenever it may please you; and am sending to take your place the Sieur de Castillon, a gentleman of my chamber, who is the bearer of this.”

[203] Camusat, “Mesl. Hist.,” part ii., page 9. Francis I. to the Bailly of Troyes, 6 Sept., 1533.

[204] Camusat, “Mesl. Hist.,” part ii., page 142. The Bailly of Troyes to the King of France, Greenwich, 2 Nov., 1533.

[205] Decrue de Stoutz, “Anne de Montmorency,” part i., page 213.

[206] “Nota, that often the king after his tempers has said to me that he esteems me such that I should neither say nor write anything to diminish friendship between them, and that his Council have begged me to the same effect.”

[207] Camusat, “Mesl. Hist.,” part ii., pp. 19-21.

[208] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., No. 1481, Grant 10.

[209] _Ibid._, No. 1435, Castillon to the Bishop of Paris, London, 17 November, 1533.

[210] “I begged the Duke of Norfolk and others who seemed to be among the principal members of the Council of this said king, to give the king their master to understand ... that one may so press and worry a friend as to become importunate.”

“... for I doubt if the gentlemen of his Council to whom I spoke will dare to say such things to him as boldly as I shall say them.”

[211] Camusat, “Mesl. Hist.,” part ii., p. 143. The Bailly of Troyes to the Grand-Maître, 7th November, 1533.

[212] Claude Dodieu, Sieur de Vély, was repeatedly employed as French ambassador to Charles V., and also to the Holy See. He was made Bishop of Rennes in 1541, and died in 1558.

[213] Some of the most interesting of these letters are only known to have existed by entries in catalogues, having been amongst the objects of the thefts from French libraries perpetrated in the first half of the present century. See “Dictionnaire des Pièces autographes volées,” etc., by MM. Lalanne et Bordier, Paris, 1851.

[214] Paris, Bibl. Nat., MSS. fr. 15629, No. 473.

[215] Sleidan, 132-135. Clairembault, 334, No. 4949; quoted by Decrue de Stoutz, “Anne de Montmorency,” part i., p. 221.

[216] Boutiot, “Hist. de la Ville de Troyes,” p. 346.

[217] Documents inédits sur l’Histoire de France. Relations des Amb. Vénétiens. Voyage de Jerôme Lippomano, Amb. de Venise en France, par son sécrétaire.

[218] Clement VII. had died in September, 1534, and Cardinal Farnese (Paul III.) had been elected Pope in his place.

[219] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Coll. Dupuy, vol. 265, f. 239. Letter of Anne de Montmorency to Cardinal Du Bellay.

[220] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. ix. (1535), No. 434. Chapuys to Charles V.

[221] “Besides the charge which I gave you the other day on your departure, to speak to the King of England on the subject of the contribution, I wish you to say to him that if perchance the Emperor were disposed to invade me, and that I had to arm and equip on a large scale as might be the case, and that ... in order not to lose the occasion and the said expenditure, I chose to employ it for the recovery of my State and Duchy of Milan, Seigneurie of Genoa, and County of Asti, that, in this case, the said King of England would be bound to contribute up to the third portion of the expense I should have to incur for the maintenance of my said army. And do not fail to uphold this stiffly, so that the said king may accede to the terms above demanded.”

[222] Camusat, “Mesl. Hist.,” part ii., p. 12v. Letter from Francis I. to the Bailly of Troyes, from Esclarron, 29th Aug., 1535.

[223] _Ibid._, p. 84v. (Traicté entre les Roys de France et d’Angleterre.)

[224] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. ix., 1535, No. 420. Norfolk to Cromwell.

[225] Anthoine de Castelnau.

[226] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. ix. (1535), No. 594. Chapuys to Charles V.

[227] “... You know the tumult which occurred between her and her governess when we went to see her little sister, and that we were told that she was placed as though by force in her room, in order that she might not speak to us, and that it was only possible to appease her and keep her in her room when the gentleman who conducted us had told her that the king her father had ordered him to say to her that she was not to show herself while we were there.”

[228] Camusat, “Mesl. Hist.,” p. 21, “autre memoire non datté,” etc. Chapuys’ letter enables us to fix the date.

[229] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. ix. (1535), No. 595. Chapuys to Charles V.

[230] _Ibid._, vol. ix. (1535), No. 443. Henry VIII. to Gardiner.

[231] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. x. (1536), No. 375. Gardiner and Wallop to Henry VIII.

[232] _Ibid._, vol. x. (1536), No. 908. Chapuys to Charles V.

[233] The Bishop of Tarbes accompanied Dinteville to Court.

[234] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. x. (1536), No. 1069. Chapuys to Charles V.

[235] _Ibid._, vol. xi. (1536), No. 304. Henry VIII. to Gardiner and Wallop.

[236] _Ibid._, vol. xi. (1536), No. 1143.

[237] _Ibid._, vol. x. (1536), No. 1084. Cromwell to Gardiner and Wallop.

[238] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. x. (1536), No. 1084. Cromwell to Gardiner and Wallop.

[239] _Ibid._, vol. xi. (1536), No. 52. Bishop of Faenza to Mons. Ambrogio.

[240] _Ibid._, vol. xi. (1536), No. 228. Castelnau, Bishop of Tarbes, to Cardinal Du Bellay.

[241] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Coll. Dupuy, vol. 547, f. 308. Camusat, “Mesl. Hist.,” part iii., p. 44.

[242] ... “The Pope, in Consistory, has created Legate, the Englishman, Cardinal Poule (Pole), not only for England, but for every place which it may suit him to pass through on his way thither ... with the intention, in case the King of England will not return by peaceable means to the obedience of the Roman Church and of the Holy See, of delivering to the said Cardinal, through the merchants, a good sum of money, for the purpose of assisting the people against the said king, in order to oblige him to return to the said obedience by means of force....”

[243] Camusat, “Meslanges Historiques,” p. 13. Instruction au Bailli de Troyes, etc., Moussi, 2 March, 1537.

[244] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. xii., part i., No. 817. Henry VIII. to Gardiner, Westminster, 3 April, 1537.

[245] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. xii., part i. (1537). F. Wyngfeld to Cromwell, Dover, 8 April, 1537.

[246] _I.e._ forestall.

[247] Flemish fishing-boats. The name is still in use.

[248] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., 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.)

[249] The only source that the writer has been able to find for this statement is contained in a paper on Polisy by M. Lucien Coutant, published in the “Almanach de Bar-sur-Seine” for 1864. M. Coutant, as a rule, is very unreliable; but in this instance the facts appear too circumstantial to be entirely without foundation.

[250] Nearly all modern writers refer the disgrace of the Dinteville to the accusation made by Montecuculli against Deschenetz at the time of the Dauphin’s death. But this is obviously incorrect, for not only did the accuser make “amende honorable” to the accused, but Deschenetz is found after that time in full enjoyment of the confidence of the king and Grand-Maître. It is quite possible, however, that his enemies made use of that occasion as a basis for fresh insinuations against him, and as a lever to stir up anew the king’s suspicions. The older writers merely state that the accusation was one of high treason.

[251] Henri, formerly Duke of Orleans, was now Dauphin. Charles, Duke of Angoulême, had succeeded to the title of Duke of Orleans when Henri became Dauphin.

[252] Decrue de Stoutz, “Anne de Montmorency,” part i., pages 398, 399.

[253] Ribier, “Lettres et Mémoires d’Estat,” vol. i., page 294. Gaulcher de Dinteville, Seigneur de Vanlay, to the Dauphin, Venice, 20th Dec., 1538.

[254] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Pièces Orig., vol. 1004, Dossier Dinteville, ff. 84, 85.

[255] Ribier, “Lettres et Mémoires d’Estat,” vol. i., page 373. The Duke of Guise to the Connétable, Dijon, 10th Feb.—Whether the year was 1539, 1540, or 1541, makes no difference to the argument; but it was probably the first of the three years named.

[256] Nephew of Vanlay’s mother, whose brother was Seigneur Du Plessis, de Savonnières, d’Ouschamps and de la Perrine.

[257] Ribier, “Lett. et Mém. d’Estat,” vol. i., p. 294. Gaulcher de Dinteville (Seigneur de Vanlay) to the Dauphin, Venice, 20 Dec., 1538.

[258] _Ibid._, vol. i., p. 301.

[259] Renée, daughter of Louis XII., married in 1527 to Ercole, son of the Duke of Ferrara. See also _ante_, p. 45.

[260] Ribier, “Lett. et Mém. d’Estat,” vol. i., p. 449. Grignan to the Connétable, 29 April, 1539.

[261] Ribier, “Lett. et Mém. d’Estat,” vol. i., p. 479. Grignan to the Connétable, Rome, 21 Oct., 1539.

[262] Paris, Bibl. Nat., MSS. fr. 20440, pp. 81-84. Deposition of the Bailly of Troyes in favour of his brother, the Bishop of Auxerre.

[263] Selve died in April, 1541.

[264] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Fonds Dupuy, 702, ff. 138-9. (A gold reliquary set with precious stones; another of silver-gilt set with similar stones; another reliquary of silver enamelled in blue, with a long and large stone called lapis lazuli, engraved with the mysteries of the Passion.)

[265] “On the following day the said Damoyselle de Thelligny and Madame de Brou, her sister, came to dine with me at the apartment of the late Duke of Orleans. Which ladies both told me it would be necessary to come to an agreement with the said Bishop of Lavaur, and that Madame d’Estampes had become very angry when the said M. de Lavaur had come to speak to her in the room where she was playing at cards, and had said that we were not yet where we imagined.... Seeing which I recognized that we should be obliged to take that course. And the next or the same day (I do not remember which) I went to find the said Bishop of Lavaur in his apartment, in a little low room, where was the Bailly of Dijon ... and a few others ...; and I said these, or similar, words to the Bishop of Lavaur:

“‘Sir, my friends have told me that Madame d’Estampes has in the last two days spoken ill words of Monsieur d’Aucerre and of my brothers. For which reason, sooner than to fall again into the king’s disfavour, we would rather lose all we possess. You know that in past times we were friends. You speak of wishing to have the bishopric of Aucerre; I beg and warn you to content yourself with something else instead.’

“He insisted that he wished to have the Abbey of Monstier-aramey. I then begged him to give up the said Abbey of Monstier-aramey. He continued to insist, desiring it rather than that of Monstier-la-Celle. Nevertheless I showed him that the said Abbey of Monstier-aramey was close to Polisy, and that that of Monstier-la-Celle was of the same value, within six or seven hundred livres, which was not a great sum. In the end, the said Bishop of Lavaur agreed to this.

“He then made a great fuss about having the house of the see of Auxerre at Paris, which I would not at all agree to, although, if he became our friend, not only that one, but all others would be at his service....”

[266] Married women were called “Mademoiselle;” only those whose husbands were knights had the right to the title of “Madame.” Decrue de Stoutz, “La Cour de France au seizième siècle,” p. 74.

[267] Charles, Duke of Orleans, died in 1545, and this document, though referring to 1542, was drawn up at a later date.

[268] _I.e._, to resign one of the abbeys.

[269] “... And it was agreed this should be put in writing. Which was done on the following day in my room, at the apartment of the said late Duke of Orleans; in the absence of the said Bishop of Auxerre, who declined to be present.... And I truthfully certify that the resignation of the said Abbey of Monstier-la-Celle, which was then made to the said Bishop of Lavaur, and the receipts given for the furniture and revenues of the bishopric of Auxerre, proceeded from the fear and dread lest Madame d’Estampes should replace the said Bishop of Auxerre, and all of us, his brothers, in the bad graces of the king; and lest it should again be necessary to fly and remain out of the kingdom, as had been done before; and in order that the said Madame d’Estampes and the said Bishop of Lavaur might no longer prevent my brother from returning and re-possessing himself of his houses and benefices.”

[270] The Bishop protested against this enforced resignation. See Camusat, “Promptuarium sacrarum antiquitatem Tricassinæ diocesis,” p. 25.

[271] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Pièces Orig., vol. 1004, Dossier Dinteville, ff. 84, 85.

[272] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Fonds Dupuy, 702, f. 134.

[273] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Fonds Dupuy, 702, f. 134. Camusat, “Promptuarium,” etc., pp. 26-28, June, 1542.

[274] “Bailly, having seen your basque here, I would not allow him to return without sending you some news of me through him; which are, thank God, very good, and such as you desire them to be; but they will be still better when I hear that you have quite recovered your health, which I beg you to take great care of; and, in return, I will tell you, bailly, that I am doing all that is possible to reduce Ivoy, which I shall attack to-morrow from another side; and by these and all other means, I hope to take the place, with the aid of Him who is the giver of victory. For the rest, I have had news from Longueval, who is only at two or three days’ march from here, with his troop, which I am told is as fine and resolute a one as one could wish to see. I shall make him hang about the place where he is with his said troop, pending the return of Iversay, whom I have sent to the king to bring me back orders as to what it will please him that I should do with the said troop, and also with that which is with me here. Meanwhile, having nothing more to say at present, I will end, recommending myself to you, and praying Our Lord, Bailly, that He may give you as good health as I wish to you. Written from the camp before Ivoy this 14th day of August, [1542].

“Your good master,

“CHARLES.

“To M. the Bailly of Troyes, one of my chamberlains.”

[275] The deceased Louis de Dinteville, Seneschal of Rhodes, also had a Basque servant. This may have been the same one, or perhaps it was a fashion of the moment to have a Basque attendant.

[276] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Coll. Dupuy, vol. 726, f. 117.

[277] Brantôme, “Hommes Illustres Français,” Discours xlvi., Eloge du Duc d’Orléans. Decrue de Stoutz, “La Cour de France,” etc., pp. 31, 32.

[278] Decrue de Stoutz, _ibid._, p. 23.

[279] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Pièces Orig., vol. 1004, Dossier Dinteville, f. 87a.

[280] Primaticcio designed for the house of the Connétable allegorical figures of the cardinal virtues, which were executed in fresco by Niccolò dell’ Abate. The house was situated in the Rue Sainte-Avoie, now Rue du Temple. It was subsequently the Hôtel de Mesmes. See Félibien, “Entretiens sur les Vies et les ouvrages des plus excellents peintres,” tome i., p. 523, and Decrue de Stoutz, “Anne de Montmorency,” part i., p. 419.

[281] Mrs. Mark Pattison, “The Renaissance in France,” vol. ii., p. 269.

[282] He may indeed have been acquainted with greater than they. In 1540 Benvenuto Cellini was in the service of the French Court, and twenty-one years earlier, when the future Bailly was yet a boy, Lionardo da Vinci died at the Château Cloux, near Amboise.

[283] The writer is indebted for nearly all the facts relating to the artists of Troyes, and to the Italians employed by Dinteville, to the very interesting paper by M. Albert Babeau (Secretary of the Soc. Acad. de l’Aube), entitled, “Doménique Florentin, Sculpteur du seizième siècle.” It was published in “Réunion des Sociétés savantes des Départements à la Sorbonne, du 4 au 7 Avril 1877. Section des Beaux-Arts.” Paris, Plon, Nourrit et Cie. 1890, part i., page 108.

[284] Archives de l’Aube, registre G. 66, fol. viˣˣ, xii, vᵒ. Quoted by M. Babeau, _loc. cit._, who gives the detailed heading of the Latin act.

[285] This has since been filled in on one side. An old map, preserved at Polisy, shows the original plan, which is partly indicated also in the illustration, page 35.

[286] Page 35. See also his letter to the Bishop of Auxerre, May 23, 1533, page 81.

[287] They are seen in the long gabled front overlooking the river, in the illustration, p. 35.

[288] Was this an allusion to the Bishop of Auxerre’s appointment as almoner to the king and other royal personages? The repetition of the date 1545, and the symbol of Fortune about to be explained, make it clear that the house was built by him.

[289] In the _carrelage_ of Polisy the goddess is seen with both globe and wheel, as well as with the horn of plenty, but without the wings. The attributes varied in different versions. The sphere with the Hermes’ wings is sometimes interpreted as the rising sun, equally a symbol of Fortune.

[290] “Christophori Longolii Lucubrationes. Lugduni, apud Seb. Gryphium, 1542.” The winged globe is here surmounted by the Gryphon, etc., which formed the rest of the bookseller’s device; but these attributes do not concern us here. The “Orations of Longolius” are bound up with the “Epistles of P. Bunelli,” published in 1551 at Paris, by Ch. Etienne. The volume is rare.

[291] Camusat, “Mesl. Hist.,” part ii., p. 212.

[292] _Ibid._, at the end of the volume. The memoir has also been reprinted in some of the French collections of famous memoirs.

[293] ... “as I did not wish to become a monk, she placed me with M. de Polizy, Bailly of Troyes, head of the house of Dinteville, a personage as accomplished and as adorned with all virtues and sciences as any man of his time and quality; having been governour to M. d’Orléans and ambassador for the king in England. But having become paralytic, and helpless in all his limbs, and being unable for this reason to continue at Court, and having therefore retired to his own home, he began for his pleasure and entertainment to build this beautiful house of Polizy. Which personage showed me such friendship that he would take the trouble himself to instruct me in all the sciences of which my youth was capable; and, when I had remained with him up to the age of fourteen or fifteen years, wishing to form me better by the frequenting of society and the exercise of arms, he gave me to M. Deschenetz, his brother, Chevalier of the King’s Order, and captain of fifty men-at-arms, with whom I made several journeys....”

At a later date Mergey fought for “la religion” (_i.e._, the reformed religion), under La Rochefoucauld; but wishing to have, as he says, “another string to his bow,” he did not forget to cultivate “Mr. de Sesac” (a follower of the Guise), who had meanwhile become the husband of Claude de Dinteville, the eldest daughter of Deschenetz and heiress of Polisy. This was the lady with whom, in later years, Camusat was acquainted, and through whom he learnt the story of Holbein’s masterpiece (see Part I., p. 14). It will be perceived, therefore, how close was the connection between Jean de Dinteville, uncle to this lady, and the documents derived from Camusat which relate the history of the picture.

[294] It is probable that at the time of disgrace Jean de Dinteville either resigned or was deprived of the Order of St. Michael, and that Henri II., on his accession, made his special _protégé_ among the Dinteville brothers, Guillaume, Seigneur Deschenetz, a knight of the order in the place of Jean, whose health no longer allowed him to leave home. Article XV. of the statutes of the order provides that any knight can be deprived for treason, or for the accusation of treason. It further lays down that if a knight be grievously wronged by his sovereign, and cannot obtain justice after having requested it, and allowed due time to elapse, that knight may return the collar and quit the order without forfeiting his honour.

[295] “My nephew, I have received two letters from you, one dated the 4th October, the other the 23rd January last. You write to me that you have received letters from my sister De Lyencourt and that it appears to you that she is much pleased with the affair of Monstier la Scelle; she may well be so; she is indeed bound and obliged to pray God to bless Monseigneur d’Auxerre, as we all are, for the great benefit he has been pleased to confer on Benjamin. My niece De Lyencourt, who is with Madame la Connestable, wrote me word that the said Monseigneur d’Auxerre and Monsr. Des Chenetz were at Fontainebleau. And since then Nicolas de la Croix has written to me that the said Monseigneur d’Auxerre was about to arrive at Paris. I had heard of the capture of Aspremont by the forces of the Emperor. The same Nicolas de la Croix writes to me that wheat has been sold at Paris for a hundred and seventeen _solz tournois_ the _septier_, and oats for forty-eight, which is very dear.... I am sorry to hear of the illness of Madame de la Mothe and her daughter, but as they are mending, I hope it will be nothing. Those who come from Court say that there is a great rumour that the king is to go to Germany; that Duke Maurice of Saxony and other German princes are in arms against the Emperor, and that they will take the side of the king and enter his service; that the queen will be Regent in France, and will be at Rheims; that Monsr. l’Admiral will remain with her; that Cardinal Tournon will be the king’s lieutenant at Lyons; that the Grand Seigneur [the Turk] is making great preparations for war in the present year, both by land and sea. I expect you hear all these news better where you are than we do here, for you can receive information from Messrs. d’Auxerre and des Chenetz, who are at Court. I think that by the beginning of the month of March I shall be able to leave this country to go to Lyons, taking Grenoble on the way. When I am at Lyons, you shall have news of me, and I will send you some seeds for your new garden.

“My nephew, etc.,

“From Montpellier, 20th February, 1551 (N.S. 1552).

“Your uncle and friend,

“DUPLESSYS.”

“To my nephew, M. de Pollisy, Bailly of Troyes.”

[296] Guillaume Du Plessis, Seigneur de Liancourt, was a younger brother of Dinteville’s correspondent, Charles Du Plessis, Seigneur de Savonnières, d’Ouschamps, and de la Perrine. Both were brothers of Dinteville’s mother. Guillaume, Seigneur de Liancourt, died in 1550. The lady mentioned in the text was his widow.

[297] The Bishop of Auxerre had presented the Abbey of Montier-la-Celle to his first cousin, Benjamin, son of Guillaume, Seigneur de Liancourt.

[298] De Montmorency.

[299] Dinteville’s sister, Charlotte, had married Louis Raguier, Seigneur de la Motte de Tilly.

[300] Henri II.

[301] Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS. fr. 20465, f. 299a.

[302] Le Beuf, “Mémoires concernant l’histoire ecclesiastique, etc., d’Auxerre,” page 588. The Bishop had a favourite painter, named Felix Chrétien, whom he had raised from the position of simple chorister to that of canon of the cathedral, on account of his delicacy of hand in penmanship and painting. Chrétien possessed considerable talent, and was the painter of a large triptych representing the “Martyrdom of Ste. Eugénie,” which still hangs in the church of Varzy, in the diocese of Auxerre (Dept. of Nièvres), though now in a terribly dilapidated state. The portrait of the Bishop is introduced amongst a group in the central panel of this picture. (See illustration, p. 56.) Chrétien reproduced the features of the Bishop a second time, in a smaller work, which is in every way inferior to the picture at Varzy. This is the “Stoning of St. Stephen,” which now hangs in the north ambulatory of the Cathedral of Auxerre. The Emperor Louis Napoleon offered a large sum, without success, for the “Martyrdom of Ste. Eugénie,” which he wished to purchase for the Empress. Being unable to obtain the picture, he had a copy made of it. Varzy is a place which travellers should by no means pass by. The church is of very beautiful thirteenth-century Gothic, and resembles a small cathedral. The ancient inn was formerly a religious house, and with its tower and court is strikingly picturesque. The same family has now owned it for upwards of two hundred years.

[303] See illustration, page 110.

[304] Unless it may be assumed that the drawing in question was executed by Holbein on one of his later journeys abroad, which would give some additional latitude of time. On his way to “High Burgundy,” for instance, in the summer of 1538, he would almost pass the gates of Polisy, if the direct route across France were selected. (High Burgundy, or Franche-Comté, was Imperial territory, and lay due east of French Burgundy, in which Polisy was situated.) If the Bailly of Troyes sat to Holbein for this drawing at about the time suggested, the days of adversity which shortly fell upon the Dinteville family would explain the fact that, so far as is known, no painting was ever made from it.

[305] Both hang in one room at the Dresden Gallery.

[306] The late Sir Frederick Burton was of this opinion, which is also held by Mr. Sidney Colvin (see his letter to the “Times,” September, 1890).

[307] The authentic sources for the date of Selve’s birth are given Part I., p. 13. None of the popular compendiums of biography, etc., so far as the writer is acquainted with them, are to be trusted.

[308] Bayle denies this, and says the name in its original form is De Salva, and is of Limousin origin (Dictionary, ed. 1739, Art. Selve).

[309] “Petri Bunelli Epistolæ,” Paris, 1551. Letter to Danès (1541), p. 95.

[310] “Educated where I am, both I and those belonging to me, by your benefaction....”

[311] Of these all, excepting one, sooner or later served the king as ambassadors. They are usually given in the following order: 1, Lazare, Gentilhomme de la Chambre du Roi, ambassador in Switzerland; 2, Jean-Paul, Bishop of St. Flour, ambassador (at a late date) at Rome; 3, George, Bishop of Lavaur, the subject of this memoir; 4, Odet, Président du Grand Conseil, ambassador in England, at Venice, and at Rome, where he died; 5, Jean, Abbé de Saint Vigor; 6, François, ambassador at Constantinople.

[312] Jacques Amyot, author of a famous translation of Plutarch’s “Lives,” was born 1513, and died 1593. He was tutor to the sons of Henri II., was sent on a mission to the Council of Trent, and was Bishop of Auxerre from 1571 until his death.

[313] Probably a relation of Selve’s mother.

[314] All the confusion in popular sources as to the date of Selve’s birth appears to have arisen from one misstatement or misprint, to the effect that he was promoted to the episcopate in 1524. Coupled with the unquestioned fact that he was made a bishop when in his eighteenth year, it was therefore loosely inferred that he must have been born in 1506. The facts given above show that the circumstances of his appointment to Lavaur were such as to preclude all possibility of its having taken place before 1526; even were the Papal licence (page 13) not proof positive as to his age.

[315] The Cardinal of Lorraine, of the house of Guise, was made Archbishop of Rheims in 1534, at nine years old.

[316] The originals of these letters are at the Château of Villiers near La Ferté Alais, and belong to the Marquis de Selve, to whose courtesy the writer is indebted for their use here. Copies are to be found in the Bibl. Nat. at Paris (Carrés d’Hozier, vol. 579). They bear no date of year in either series, but only of day and month. Those addressed to the Cardinal-Legate must, however, have been written in the spring following Selve’s appointment, _i.e._, in 1527. Two series of letters are mixed up both in the originals and the copies, as at least one letter from the Queen of Navarre was not written till after the death of the Président de Selve, which occurred in 1529.

[317] “... for love of me, and at my request, to abandon your claim to the said bishopric, resigning in favour of the son of the Premier Président every right you may have or claim to the said bishopric.”

[318] “My cousin, you have already heard of the king’s desire, and mine, that the son of Monsʳ. the Premier Président should be provided with the bishopric of Lavaur; and as the king and I have not yet received a reply from you which satisfies our intention, I have been moved, my cousin, to write to you again about it, begging you very affectionately and as much as I know how to beg for anything, that you would desist, at the request of the said lord and of me, from your claim, and also would dispose to the profit and in favour of the son of the said Premier Président of all right that you may pretend to the said benefice; assuring you that the said lord and I will recollect this favour in a thing of greater consequence, in such a way that you will be satisfied. For the rest, and in conclusion, you must know that the said lord and I will support the son of the said Premier Président right through this affair, making it our own; for which reason I earnestly beg you again, my cousin, to be so good as to think over it, and to yield in this matter to the very affectionate request made by the said lord and by me. And thus fare well, my cousin, etc.... Written at St. Germain en Laye, 1st April. (Postscript.) I pray you my cousin to oblige the king and me in the matter above treated of, and you will find it to your advantage.

“Your good cousin,

“LOYSE.”

“To my cousin, Cardinal Clermont, Legate of Avignon.”

[319] “... have the thing so greatly at heart that I cannot sufficiently write it to you.”

[320] “Monsr. de Lavaur, my friend, I have received the letter that you wrote to me, and there is no need that you should thank me, for I am too much and too old a friend of your father’s, and should wish to please him and all his race. You, on your side, will consider whether there is anything else I can do for you, and you will never fail to find me a good brother, yet more in deeds than in words, and this I beg you to believe. Which shall be the conclusion of this present, etc. From Avignon this 22nd June.

“Your best brother and friend,

“F. CARDˡ. DE CLERMONT.”

“To Monsʳ. de Lavaur.”

[321] St. Germain, 3rd May, 1528. Paris, Arch. Nat., P556¹, côte 710. Bibl. de l’Institut, Coll. Godefroy, Mémoire de M. de Camusat sur les enfants et descendants du Premier Président de Selve.

[322] “Gallia Christiana,” 1656, vol. iii., p. 1142. The notice there given respecting the missions of 1529 is omitted in the edition of 1715 (hitherto quoted in this work), where the article on George de Selve was rewritten and enlarged. This circumstance might appear to throw doubt on the accuracy of the information conveyed in the earlier edition. But as it receives confirmation from several other independent sources, it is probable that the facts of the previous edition are correct; but that the early diplomatic labours of the Bishop were thrown into shade by the more important work of his riper years dwelt upon in the later edition.

[323] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Cab. d’Hozier, vol. 304, f. 28.

[324] See note at the end of this chapter.

[325] Most observers will agree that the appearance of the Bishop of Lavaur in Holbein’s portrait bears out this remark.

[326] “Œuvres de Feu Révérend Père en Dieu, George de Selve, Evesque de la Vaur,” Paris, 1559. “Autres Remonstrances faictes par ledict De Selve auxdicts Alemans.”

[327] The Diet of Spires of 1529 was, as is well known, one of the most reactionary of the great assemblies held at the epoch of the Reformation. A large majority of those who attended it were partisans of Rome. Consequently, the resolutions passed were all in favour of the old order of things, and actually reversed many decisions advantageous to the Lutherans which had formerly been agreed upon. For a moment, the Reformation received a sharp check. As a result of the proceedings, the minority drew up the famous declaration which first gave rise to the name of “Protestants.”

[328] Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS. fr. 842, f. 122ᵇ.

[329] Archives of the Château de Villiers (Marquis de Selve); and Paris, Bibl. Nat., Carrés d’Hozier, vol. 579, f. 341. Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, to the Grand-Maître de Montmorency, Blois, 18th April.

[330] Paris, Bibl. de l’lnstitut, Coll. Godefroy, f. 414. Obsèques de la femme du premier président de Selve, 27th November, 1532.

[331] Easter fell in this year on the 13th April.

[332] See pp. 11, 19, 20, 77-78, 80.

[333] “A Mʳᵉ George de Selve, évesque de Lavaur, ... pour aller comme ambassadeur devers le duc et seigneurie de Venise, et illec ... _devant ledit temps_, pour leur communiquer les choses dont il lui a donné charge et celles qui adviendroient ci après.”—Lyons, 2nd December, 1533. Paris, Bibl. Nat., Cabinet d’Hozier, vol. 304 (Dossier Selve), f. 15, Extraits de Comptes, etc. See also page 151.

[334] “Gallia Christiana” (1715), vol. xiii. (1722), p. 344. Ecclesia Vaurensis, No. xxi., Georgius de Selve.

[335] Thevet, “Histoire des plus illustres Hommes,” etc., Paris, 1661, vol. viii., chap. ii., p. 25.

[336] Pierre Bunel, called by Bayle (“Dict.,” second edition, 1735) “one of the politest Latin writers that lived in the sixteenth century,” was born at Toulouse in 1499. He studied with much distinction at the University of Paris, and proceeded thence to Padua. He was three years in the service of Lazare de Baif at Venice (the friend, as we know, of the Bishop of Auxerre); afterwards entering that of George de Selve, with whom he remained until the death of that prelate. He then found himself plunged into poverty, from which he was rescued by the Du Faur family, one of whom sent Bunel to Italy as tutor to his sons. Bunel died of fever, at Turin, in 1546.

[337] Reginald Pole, the celebrated Cardinal, was born in 1500, and was the son of Sir Richard Pole and of Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury. He was educated at Charterhouse and Oxford, after which he was sent by King Henry VIII. to study at Padua. He steadily opposed the divorce of the king, and in 1532 had drawn such a hornets’ nest about his ears in England that he asked permission to go abroad again to study theology. He now resided for some years at Padua, and either there or at Venice made acquaintance with Selve. Bembo, Longolius, Sadoleto, Contarini, Ludovico Priuli, were among the circle of his friends. The Pope employed him on a committee for reforming the discipline of the Church, but the greater part of his time was spent in endeavouring to raise the European powers against Henry VIII., with the view to re-establish the Papal authority in England. He was one of the Legates sent to the Council of Trent. On the death of Cranmer in 1557 Pole became Archbishop of Canterbury. He died on the same day as Queen Mary, November 17, 1558.

[338] Pietro Bembo, born at Venice in 1470, was one of the most celebrated Italian writers of the sixteenth century. After a varied existence he was appointed secretary to Leo X. in conjunction with Sadoleto. On the death of that Pope he retired to Padua, where his house became a centre of intellectual life. He was made a Cardinal in 1539, and subsequently Bishop of Gubbio and of Bergamo. He died, covered with honours, in 1547.

[339] Jacopo Sadoleto, Cardinal, in whom brilliant talents were united with extraordinary charm of disposition, was born at Modena in 1477. He studied at Ferrara at the same time as Bembo, which was the origin of their friendship, and was afterwards secretary to Leo X. Sadoleto never asked a favour for himself. He was appointed Bishop of Carpentras (a Papal see in the south of France, depending from Avignon) in 1517. Although reluctant to leave his diocese, such were his qualities of mind and character that he was frequently summoned to Rome on important commissions, and was made a Cardinal in 1536, without having in any way sought or coveted distinction. His gentleness, goodness, and moderation made him beloved by all; he even protected heretics, saying, “Je ne sais comment la nature m’a créé, mais je ne puis haïr parce qu’on ne partage pas mon opinion” (Guettée, “Hist. de l’Eglise de France,” vol. viii., p. 222). His correspondence with Calvin (from whose opinions he of course entirely differed) is well known. Melanchthon sent him every new work he published. After being employed in many high offices, Sadoleto died at Rome in 1547.

[340] Renée of France bore this title until her husband succeeded, as Ercole II., to the dukedom of Ferrara, which happened later in this same year (1534).

[341] Selve even tried to obtain for her the release of some of her French _protégés_ who had been imprisoned on the accusation of heresy. (Bart. Fontana, “Renata di Francia,” vol. i., p. 344.)

[342] See note 2, p. 145.

[343] “Petri Bunelli Epistolæ,” p. 114. To Odet de Selve, from Venice, 16 January 1534.

[344] “Petri Bunelli Epistolæ,” pp. 30 and 45.

[345] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. xii., part i., No. 14, Geo. Selva, Bp. of La Vaur to Cardinal Pole. Venice, 3 Non. Jan. 1536 (Latin).

[346] “Dict. Nat. Biography,” Art. Pole.

[347] See p. 108.

[348] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. xii., No. 516, Geo. Selva, etc., to Card. Pole.

[349] Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS. Clairembault, 1215, f. 75. The payments for the post of ambassador at Venice expire February 19; those for Rome begin on the following day.

[350] Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS. Clairembault, 1215, f. 78.

[351] _Ibid._, MS. fr. 2968, f. 87; Ribier, “Lettres et Mémoires d’Estat,” vol. i., p. 66.

[352] Ribier, “Lettres et Mémoires d’Estat,” vol. i., p. 41. Cardinal Mascon and the Bishop of Lavaur to the King of France, Rome, 12th July, 1537. _Ibid._, p. 76. The same to the Grand-Maître de Montmorency, Rome, December, 1537.

[353] Ribier, “Lettres et Mém. d’Estat,” vol. i., p. 128, Card. Mascon and the Bp. of Lavaur to the Conn. de Montmorency, Rome, 14th March, 1538.

[354] Strictly speaking the Bishop of Lavaur alone was accredited as French ambassador to the Holy See, but throughout this period he and Cardinal Mâcon acted in concert.

[355] Letters and Papers, vol. xiii., part i. (1538), No. 972, Card. Tournon to Card. Carpi, Valentia, May 10.

[356] _Ibid._, same time and place.

[357] Ribier, “Lett. et Mém. d’Estat,” vol. i., pages 147 and 150. Mascon and Lavaur to the Connétable de Montmorency. Carpi to the same. Piacenza, 1st May, 1538.

[358] _Ibid._, page 150. The Connétable de Montmorency to Cardinal Mascon and the Bishop of Lavaur, 14th May, 1538.

[359] Letters and Papers, vol. xiii., part i., No. 1004, Montmorency to Castillon, Avignon, 14th May, 1538.

[360] “Monseigneur de Lavaur ... est parti ce jourd’huy matin en diligence, pour aller trouver le Roy....”—Ribier, “Lett. et Mém. d’Estat,” vol. i., page 154. Cardinal Mascon to the Connétable, Savona, 11th May, 1538.

[361] June, 1538.

[362] Which was broken at the end of four years (1542), when war was again declared between France and the Empire.

[363] The final payment he received as ambassador to the Holy See expired June 30, 1538.

[364] The shell of the castle of the Pico family still exists, though in a half-ruinous condition. A theatre has been established in one part of the building, which has lost all traces of former magnificence. The latter can only be guessed at from the great height of some of the apartments. The decision of the municipal authorities some years ago, to pull down the old city walls of La Mirandola, has fatally robbed the little town of poetry and picturesqueness, but it contains one or two interesting churches.

[365] Paris, Archives des Affaires Etrangères, Corr. politiques, Rome, vol. iii., f. 401ᵇ, La Mirandola.

[366] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Fonds Dupuy, vol. xliv., f. 27ᵃ, and Aff. Etrang., Corr. polit., Rome, vol. iii., f. 401.

[367] Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS. Clairembault, 1215, f. 78. Compiègne, 9th October, 1538.

[368] Perhaps it refers to 1529. There would be nothing surprising in the long postponement, as the ambassadors’ salaries were in chronic arrears.

[369] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. xiii., part i., No. 11. Geo. de Selve, Bp. of Lavaur, to Cardinal Pole.

[370] The episcopal palace was demolished in the present century by the person who had acquired it at the time of the French Revolution, who pulled it to pieces, and sold it stone by stone, lest the edifice should be claimed as ecclesiastical property. The grounds and site are now used as public gardens. Lavaur ceased to be a bishopric towards the end of the eighteenth century.

[371] “The gate by which we have entered into the park of Jesus Christ where we are now, bearing the name and mark of His sheep.”—“Œuvres de Feu Révérend Père en Dieu, George de Selve, Evesque de la Vaur.” Paris, 1559.

[372] “Œuvres de George de Selve,” etc.

[373] “It seems to me, when writing to you, that I am with you in conversation, which is so great a consolation to me that I cannot or will not find an ending to it.”—_Ibid._

[374] “Discourse containing the only true means by which a servant favoured by his Prince and entrusted by him with the administration of affairs, may preserve eternal and temporal felicity, and avoid those things which might cause him to lose either one or the other.”—“Œuvres,” etc.

[375] “... speak to-day of living in obedience, or of doing good works as necessary to eternal life, one half of the world cries out that he is a Papist and an advocate of justification by works. If he preach salvation through Jesus Christ and the redemption of sins, the other half of the world exclaims that he is a Lutheran and a disseminator of false doctrine....”—_Ibid._ (Letter addressed to a certain “Frère François” who was preaching at Lavaur in the bishop’s absence.)

[376] Ribier, “Lett. et Pap. d’Estat,” vol. i., page 468. Relation of the Bishop-Elect of Avranches on his return from Spain in September, 1539. The Bishop-Elect of Avranches had been sent on a special mission to the Spanish Court, where Anthoine de Castelnau, Bp. of Tarbes, was now resident French ambassador.

[377] “Remonstrances addressed to the Germans, composed and put in writing by George de Selve, Bishop of Lavaur, to be publicly pronounced at the Diet which will be held in Germany [when he was summoned by the Most Christian King, at the request of the Emperor, to go thither in order to procure the reconciliation of the said Germans with the order ecclesiastical].”—“Œuvres de George de Selve,” and Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS. fr. 3114, f. 1. The portion of the title placed in brackets was evidently added as a docket in the customary manner by a later hand.

[378] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. xiv., part 1, No. 1090. Card. Pole to Card. Contarini, Carpentras, 8 June, 1539. (Pole had found a refuge near Sadoleto, at Carpentras, in the intervals between his diplomatic missions.)

[379] “Petri Bunelli Familiares Aliquot Epistolæ,” Lutetia, 1551, page 80. To the Bishop of Tarbes, French ambassador with the Emperor. (Latin.)

[380] Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS. Clairembault, 1215, f. 77.

[381] Decrue de Stoutz, “Anne de Montmorency,” part i., pp. 376, 377.

[382] Mary, Queen-dowager of Hungary, regent of Flanders, sister of Charles V.

[383] Ribier, “Lett. et Mém. d’Estat,” vol. i., p. 353. Hellin had been appointed to that post on account of his intimate knowledge of the Flemish tongue.

[384] _Ibid._, vol. i., p. 449. Grignan, ambassador at Rome, to the Connétable, April, 1539.

[385] Decrue de Stoutz, “Anne de Montmorency,” part i., p. 383.

[386] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. xv. (1540), No. 448. Wyat to Cromwell, Ghent, 2nd April, 1540.

[387] _Ibid._, No. 457. Instructions given to the Bishop of La Vaur, etc. Aumale, 4 April, 1540.

[388] _Ibid._, No. 508. Sir Thomas Wyat to Cromwell. Wyat was at this time English ambassador at the Imperial Court.

[389] “Discourse upon the true and only means by which a good and perpetual peace may be made between the Emperor and the Most Christian King: composed by George de Selve, Bishop of la Vaur, when ambassador of the said King with the said Emperor.” (“Œuvres de G. de Selve,” etc.)

[390] Gasp. Contarini, born at Venice in 1483, was sent by that republic as ambassador to Charles V.; and, after the release of Clement VII. from the Castle of Sant’ Angelo, which Contarini had helped to bring about, filled a similar post at the Holy See. Paul III. made him a Cardinal in 1535. He was Papal Legate at the Diet of Ratisbon in 1540. Contarini urged upon Charles V. the desirability of restoring peace between the nations, and exhorted the bishops assembled at the Diet to renounce luxury, ambition, and avarice, to succour the poor, to stay in their dioceses, and to be careful to select worthy persons for ecclesiastical promotion; in all of which we see the counterpart of the opinions held by George de Selve. Contarini died at Bologna in 1542.

[391] Although convened in 1542, the first session of the Council of Trent was only opened in December, 1545; the final one, after many breaks, one of which lasted ten years, took place in 1563. A famous _bon-mot_ is recorded of Danès when assisting at the conferences. As one of the French representatives was declaiming against the delinquencies of the Papal Court, the Bishop of Orvieto exclaimed scornfully, _Gallus cantat._ Instantly Danès replied, _Utinam ad Galli cantum Petrus resipiscerat!_ (Quoted by Sismondi, “Hist. des Français,” tom. xi., page 380.)