Her cousin, Jean de Châlons, who was taken prisoner with the Duc d’Orléans, but had been released,[285] was Anne’s great friend and supporter against Albret; and in March, 1490, it was decided to place her under the protection of the Emperor, by marrying her to his son, the King of the Romans. Negotiations were accordingly carried on with profound secrecy. Madame de Laval, seeing that her efforts were vain, abandoned the cause of her brother; Maximilian, King of the Romans, sent the Baron Volfan de Polhaim, with several other nobles, to Bretagne, and a few days after the ceremony of betrothal was gone through, and the marriage celebrated without any one knowing the day on which it took place. According to the old German custom in such cases, the young princess was placed in her bed into which Polhaim, as proxy for Maximilian, put his bare leg up to the knee in presence of the three other envoys, Madame de Laval and some members of the household of the Duchess, and declared the marriage to be consummated.
{1490}
It was not likely that so important an event could be long concealed. The Chancellor de Montauban was one of the first to let it out by giving Anne, in several official acts, the title of Queen of the Romans. This disclosure caused an outburst of anger and commotion. The French pushed on the war with more activity than ever, Alain d’Albret betrayed Nantes into their hands, and Charles VIII. refused to acknowledge the legality of the marriage, contracted without his consent.
Anne, who was in desperate straits for want of money, sold her plate and jewels, and struck a coinage of leather with a small piece of silver in the centre. She gave the command of her army to Rieux, who had left Albret, returned to his allegiance, and for the sake of the country, been pardoned. He drove the French out of Lower Bretagne; Brest, St. Malo, and some other towns held out for her; she had English archers and German and Spanish troops from Maximilian, but was too weak to withstand the French, who, late in the autumn, laid siege to Rennes.
Anne made her Chancellor, Montauban, promise not to leave her for a day; she trusted also in Jean de Châlons and Dunois, who was as brave as his renowned father though his enormous size interfered with his activity.
TRUMPETER.