FOOTNOTES:
[45] I must refer the reader, for further particulars of the french wars in Italy, to Guicciardini and other italian historians, and to Mr. Roscoe's lives of Lorenzo de Medici and of Leo X. The grant of Louis XI. to the Medici, to bear the arms of France, is in the appendix to Comines.
OF THE WAR IN GUIENNE.—THE KING OF FRANCE SENDS SUCCOURS TO THE KING OF NAVARRE.—THE KING OF ENGLAND MAKES PREPARATIONS TO INVADE FRANCE.—A SEA-FIGHT BETWEEN TWO LARGE ENGLISH AND FRENCH SHIPS.
It was not long before a war broke out in Guienne, or rather in Navarre; which kingdom the king of Arragon had entered, and taken the town of Pampeluna, with others belonging to the king of Navarre, under pretence of being heir to that crown in right of his wife, sister to the late duke of Nemours count of Foix, slain after the battle of Ravenna.
The good king of Navarre[46], in consequence, demanded succour from the king of France, to recover the places he had lost. Louis XII., considering how faithful an ally he had always been, ordered a large body of men at arms and infantry to his assistance, under the command of the duke of Longueville and Dunois. This war was very expensive to the king of France, for the army remained long without striking a blow. In addition to this, the English, excited by the king of Arragon, as well as by a desire to regain Guienne, which they claimed as an inheritance, made a landing near to Roncevaux and St John Pied du Port,—but not being able to effect a junction with the Spaniards, they returned[47].
In the year 1513, Henry king of England, son to king Henry VII. who, by the aid of Charles VIII. king of France, succeeded peaceably to the crown of England after the death of Richard of York, instead of being grateful, for such services, to the king of France, although his late father had charged him, on his deathbed, to do nothing against that king, if he wished to prosper, instantly on the death of his father acted directly contrary. King Henry, equally eager with his subjects to invade France, sent an embassy to the lady Margaret, governess of Flanders, to obtain armour, stores, and artillery, particularly thirteen large cannons, which he had ordered to be cast in Flanders. These articles were immediately delivered, in return for a large sum of angels that remained behind,—for it had been long since they had circulated in any other country than their own.
A secret treaty was, at the same time, concluded between Henry and the archduke,—which having secured him the aid of the Flemings, he continued to make his preparations for the invasion of France without interruption. He sent his fleet, under the command of the lord admiral[48] to cruize on the coasts of Brittany, who was himself on board a vessel of prodigious size.