Smarting under these injuries, Bourbon, who for some time had been coquetting with the enemies of France, renewed his negotiations with the emperor and Henry VIII. of England. It was agreed that the constable should raise in his own dominions an armed force to assist the emperor in an invasion of France, and should receive in return the hand of Eleonora, queen dowager of Portugal, or of another of the emperor’s sisters, and an independent kingdom comprising his own lands together with Dauphiné and Provence. He was required, too, to swear fidelity to Henry VIII. as king of France. But Bourbon’s plans were hampered by the presence of the French troops assembling for the invasion of Italy, and for this reason he was unable to effect a junction with the emperor’s German troops from the east. News of the conspiracy soon reached the ears of Francis, who was on his way to take command of the Italian expedition. In an interview with Bourbon at Moulins the king endeavoured to persuade him to accompany the French army into Italy, but without success. Bourbon remained at Moulins for a few days, and after many vicissitudes escaped into Italy. The joint invasion of France by the emperor and his ally of England had failed signally, mainly through lack of money and defects of combination. In the spring of 1524, however, Bourbon at the head of the imperialists in Lombardy forced the French across the Sesia (where the chevalier Bayard was mortally wounded) and drove them out of Italy. In August 1524 he invested Marseilles, but being unable to prevent the introduction of supplies by Andrea Doria, the Genoese admiral in the service of Francis, he was forced to raise the siege and retreat to the Milanese. He took part in the battle of Pavia (1525), where Francis was defeated and taken prisoner. But Bourbon’s troops were clamouring for pay, and the duke was driven to extreme measures to satisfy their demands. Cheated of his kingdom and his bride after the treaty of Madrid (1526), Bourbon had been offered the duchy of Milan by way of compensation. He now levied contributions from the townsmen, and demanded 20,000 ducats for the liberation of the chancellor Girolamo Morone (d. 1529), who had been imprisoned for an attempt to realize his dream of an Italy purged of the foreigner. But the sums thus raised were wholly inadequate. In February 1527 Bourbon’s army was joined by a body of German mercenaries, mostly Protestants, and the combined forces advanced towards the papal states. Refusing to recognize the truce which the viceroy of Naples had concluded with Pope Clement VII., Bourbon hastened to put into execution the emperor’s plan of attaching Clement to his side by a display of force. But the troops, starving and without pay, were in open mutiny, and Spaniards and Lutherans alike were eager for plunder. On the 5th of May 1527 the imperial army appeared before the walls of Rome. On the following morning Bourbon attacked the Leonine City, and while mounting a scaling ladder fell mortally wounded by a shot, which Benvenuto Cellini in his Life claims to have fired. After Bourbon’s death his troops took and sacked Rome.
See E. Armstrong, Charles V. (London, 1902); Cambridge Mod. Hist. vol. ii., bibliography to chaps. i. ii. and iii.
BOURBON-LANCY, a watering-place of east-central France in the department of Saône-et-Loire, on a hill about 2 m. from the right bank of the Loire and on the Borne, 52 m. S.S.E. of Nevers by rail. Pop. (1906) town, 1896; commune, 4266. The town possesses thermal springs, resorted to in the Roman period, and ancient baths and other remains have been found. The waters, which are saline and ferruginous, are used for drinking and bathing, in cases of rheumatism, &c. Their temperature varies from 117° to 132° F. Cardinal Richelieu, Madame de Sévigné, James II. of England, and other celebrated persons visited the springs in the 17th and 18th centuries. The town has a well-equipped bathing establishment, a large hospital, and a church of the 11th and 12th centuries (used as an archaeological museum), and there are ruins of an old stronghold on a hill overlooking the town. A belfry pierced by a gateway of the 15th century and houses of the 15th and 16th centuries also remain. The industries of the town include the manufacture of farm implements.
In the middle ages Bourbon-Lancy was an important stronghold and a fief of the Bourbon family, from the name of a member of which the suffix to its name is derived.
BOURBON L’ARCHAMBAULT, a town of central France in the department of Allier, on the Burge, 16 m. W. of Moulins by rail. Pop. (1906) 2306. The town has thermal springs known in Roman times, which are used in cases of scrofula and rheumatism. The bathing-establishment is owned by the state. A church dating from the 12th century, and ruins of a castle of the dukes of Bourbon (13th and 15th centuries), including a cylindrical keep, are of interest. There are a military and a civil hospital in the town. Stone is quarried in the vicinity. Bourbon (Aquae Borvonis or Bormonis) was anciently the capital of the Bourbonnais and gave its name to the great Bourbon family. The affix Archambault is the name of one of its early lords.
BOURBONNE-LES-BAINS, a town of eastern France, in the department of Haute-Marne, 35½ m. by rail E.N.E. of Langres. Pop. (1906) 3738. It is much frequented on account of its hot saline springs, which were known to the Romans under the name Aquae Borvonis. The heat of these springs varies from 110° to 156° F. The waters are used in cases of lymphatic affections, scrofula, rheumatism, wounds, &c. The principal buildings are a church of the 12th century, the state bathing-establishment and the military hospital; there are also the remains of a castle. Timber-sawing and plaster manufacture are carried on in the town. In the neighbourhood are the buildings of the celebrated Cistercian abbey of Morimond.