[285] Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. ii., pt. i., p. 444.
[286] Sharon Turner, History of England, vol. xi., p. 325 note.
CHAPTER IX.
THE COMING OF THE QUEEN.
1553.
The hereditary enmity between Charles V. and the King of France, which in its earliest stages had deluged Europe with blood, and had made of the city of Rome a shambles, was in its later developments the cause of most of the troubles of Mary’s reign. Scarcely was it whispered that Edward lay dying, when England became at once the political battlefield of their conflicting interests.
Charles opened the campaign by sending over from Brussels three envoys extraordinary, ostensibly to visit the King, but really to watch Mary’s case in the interest of the empire. These envoys were Jean de Montmorency Sieur de Corrières, Jacques de Mornix Sieur de Toulouse, and last, though by no means the least, Simon Renard, who was destined to play an important part in Mary’s future. France too was immediately in the field, and Henry II. despatched two envoys to the coast, with instructions to remain at Boulogne till further orders, while de Noailles, his ambassador in England, made overtures to Northumberland of French aid in the event of foreigners attempting to disturb the tranquillity of the realm.
Charles’s aim was to bring about a marriage between his son and his cousin, as soon as Mary might be sure of reigning, in the hope that their issue would exclude the next legitimate heir to the throne of England, the young Scottish Queen already betrothed to the Dauphin. On the other hand, Henry’s object was of course to defeat this project, to prevent Mary Tudor if possible from succeeding to her inheritance, to place obstacles in the way of any marriage that might be proposed, and above all to hinder by every means in his power, her union with the Prince of Spain.