The King's Commoner: The rise and fall of Cardinal Wolsey (The Tudor Saga Series Book 2) by David Field

Author:David Field [Field, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2019-07-21T22:00:00+00:00

‘I had in mind Gilbert Talboys,’ Thomas said reassuringly. ‘He partnered her, as you may recall, at the Midsummer Ball held in your honour at Hampton. He was most put out when she declined his invitation upstairs later in the evening.’

‘She had a prior engagement, as you are well aware,’ Henry growled back. ‘But what else did you promise him, in addition to the lady herself?’

‘Nothing, Hal, since these matters are within your dispensation. But he is greatly indebted to me, given that I rescued his father from the madhouse, and much taken by the lady herself. She has a smile that would enchant any man.’

‘She also has thighs that move with the speed of barn doors flapping in a Spring gale,’ Henry chuckled, ‘but there is no need to acquaint him with that until he discovers it for himself.’

‘Leave it with me, Hal. But now we must consider how best to announce to the world that England and Spain are once again sharing a bed.’

Back in London, those arrangements were swiftly made, and news was sent across the Channel to Calais that it would be hosting a most significant conference down the road at Gravelines in July. The resulting Treaty of Bruges, drafted in haste but with great care by Thomas Cromwell, pledged both England and Spain against any treaties with, or military assistance to, France during the next two years, and as a further insult to King Francis the betrothal of the now six-year-old Princess Mary to the Dauphin was repudiated, and Charles of Spain undertook to wed her in due course. If Queen Katherine had any private objection, she chose not to express it publicly, and a sumptuous banquet was held behind the forbidding walls of the English fortress of Calais to celebrate this great reunion of England and Spain.

There was less rejoicing when the tricky Charles took advantage of England’s promise not to come to France’s aid in order to relaunch his own attack on Francis’s troops in Italy. He had also begun to lean heavily on the tired old Pope Leo X to lend him both military forces and the blessing of God for any aggressions towards his old enemy Francis, on the ground that the French king was giving sanctuary to Martin Luther and his Lollard supporters, who were openly challenging the supremacy of the Church of Rome in the Christian world. Since one of the terms of the Treaty of Bruges committed English troops to the aid of anyone who attacked Spain, all that Charles now had to do was provoke Francis into such an attack, and all prospect of peace in Europe would sink without trace.

Francis was well aware of this, and sought to hide his hand in the actions of others he funded and equipped to make border incursions into Spain, and Spain’s ally Bourbon. His deception was revealed when the commanders of the invading armies were sternly repelled by an indignant Charles, who called upon Henry of England to honour the Treaty.

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