The
Sack of Rome[1] sent shockwaves throughout Christendom and inflicted a huge dent on the reputation of the young Emperor-Elect,
Charles V. Though it was not his own direct fault, his incompetence and failure to provide adequately for the upkeep of his army resulted in the brutal rape of the seat of the Petrine throne and the most unbecoming imprisonment of the Holy Father himself. The vandalism, murder, rape and looting that followed utterly devastated Rome. The Sack also had immediate impact throughout the Peninsula, allowing the Pope's enemies to take action without fear of immediate reprisal; the
Duke of Ferrara seized Modena,
Sigismund Malatesta returned to Rimini, the Venetians captured Ravenna and Cervia, and the Florentines expelled the Pope's legate and Medici partisans.
The Pope was forced to surrender himself, together with the castle of Sant'Angelo, and agree to a ransom of 400,000 ducati for his life. Additional conditions included the cession of Parma, Piacenza, Civitavecchia and Modena to the Empire. Clement was kept as a prisoner in Castel Sant'Angelo for six months. After having bought off some Imperial officers, he escaped disguised as a peddler and took shelter in Orvieto and then in Viterbo. He was to return to the depopulated and devastated Rome only in October 1528.
Not long before,
King Francis I of France and
King Henry VIII of England had expanded on their recent alliance and concluded three further treaties, signed April 30th 1527.
The first treaty ran:
That the two kings should jointly send ambassadors to the Emperor, with offers concerning the ransom of the two hostages, and to demand the payment of what was due to the King of England. That if he rejected the offers, or gave no answer within twenty days, the two Kings should proclaim war against him. Another article of the treaty contained a mutual engagement for the marriage of Francis, or his son the duke of Orleans with the Princess Mary, at the King of France’s choice, and upon such terms as should be agreed on when the time came. (Probably this treaty was to be made publick, in order to induce the Emperor to desist from his claim to Burgundy, and be satisfied with the offered equivalent.)
By the second treaty it was agreed:
That in case the Emperor rejected the proposals, or deferred his answer, all commerce should be forbidden with his subjects, by the two Kings, allowing them however forty days to withdraw their effects.
That the two Kings should make war upon the Emperor in the Low Countries, with an army of thirty thousand foot, and fifteen hundred men at arms, and that two thirds of the food, and all the horse should be furnished by the King of France.
That they should equip a fleet with fifteen thousand men, whereof the King of France should find ten thousand.
That if the King of Portugal, or any other prince or state, should join with the Emperor, they should be declared enemies to both the Kings.
That the Pope and Venetians should be deemed included in the League, provided they continued the war in Italy.
That the King of France should endeavour to persuade the King of Navarre, the Duke of Gueldres, and Robert de la Mari to make war upon the Emperor.
That the two Kings should use their joint endeavours to encourage John de Zapol to prosecute his right to the crown of Hungary, in case he had not already made an alliance with the Turk, in order to keep the Emperor’s brother Ferdinand employed in those parts.
That the league should be notified to the Princes of Germany, and the two Kings endeavour to prevent their assisting the Emperor.
The substance of the third treaty was:
1. That this treaty should not derogate from that of Moore, which remained in force.
2. That there should be perpetual peace between Francis and Henry, and their respective subjects.
3. That neither of them should give aid or advice to any person whatever, that should attack the dominions of the other.
4. Henry renounced for himself and successors, all right and title to the Kingdom of France, and in general, whatever Francis now possessed.
5. In consideration whereof, Francis bound himself and successors, to pay to Henry’s successors an annual pension for ever, of fifty thousand crowns, at two payments; namely, on the 1st of May and the 1st of November, and that the payment of the pension should commence, on the first of those two days which should happen after Henry’s death, without deduction of what should remain to be paid after Henry’s decease, of the two millions stipulated by the Treaty of Moore.
6. Moreover Francis bound himself to give yearly to Henry, fifteen thousand crowns worth of Salt of Bruage, besides the fore-mentioned fifty thousand crowns.
7. That, to prevent the objection which might hereafter be made, That a King cant bind his successors, the two Kings should cause the treaty to be confirmed by the States of their realms, and held as a perpetual and inviolable law.
8. That the treaty should be approved and confirmed by the Archbishops, Bishops, Princes, Dukes, Earls, Barons, and other great Men of the two Kingdoms, whose names were inserted in this Article, under forfeiture of all their goods; and by the Parliaments of Paris, Toulouse, Roan, Bordeaux, as well as by all the Courts of Justice in England.
The news of the sacking of Rome and the Pope’s captivity arriving shortly after the conclusion of these treaties, the two Kings thought fit to alter the article of the second, concerning their carrying war into the Low Countries, and to agree to act only in Italy. But as the English troops could not be transported into Italy, without great difficulties and loss of time, they agreed, that the King of France should undertake the war alone, for a certain sum, which Henry was to pay him monthly, till the end of October, this last treaty was signed the fifth of May, about three weeks after the taking of Rome.
In consequence of the first of the three Treaties of April the 30th, Henry sent Sir Francis Pointz into Spain, to demand of the Emperor, that as, by their former Treaties, the war with France was carried on at a common charge, he would give him half the booty taken at Paiva, and one of the two hostages received from the French King. Pointz was accompanied with Clarencieux King at arms, but incognito, that he might be ready to do his Office, when there should be occasion. The Emperor easily perceived, the King of England sought only pretence of quarrel. But as it was his interest to prolong the time, he told the ambassador he would send his answer to the King his master by an express.
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Henry VIII Tudor, King of England & Lord of Ireland
Henry's goals, however, went beyond simply guaranteeing the payment of the money the Emperor owed him or the release of the two French princes. He was by this time madly in love with his Queen's lady,
Anne Boleyn [3]. She was the daughter of the prominent courtier Thomas Boleyn, and the sister of his former mistress Mary Boleyn. Henry had by now determined that his marriage to Katherine of Aragon was null and void; she had been his brother's wife previously, making their own union incestous and cursed by God, as evidenced by the stillbirths and early deaths of all of their male children. The Papal dispensation which had been issued had been obtained under false pretences and only separation from her would remove the weight of God's curse from his progeny. Furthermore, Katherine was now rapidly ageing, unattractive, unfertile, and wholely unappealing a consort thanks to an unspecified gynaecological condition she suffered from.
To Henry's great inconvenience, Katherine was the Emperor's aunt and the physical embodiment of England's two most important foreign alliances, with Spain and Burgundy (which had now been united by the Emperor). There was a very real threat that her mistreatment could lead to foreign war, maybe even invasion, and divorce from her would offend both France and Spain, to whose rulers her daughter had lately been offered as bride. On the other hand, Henry was convinced that only his re-marriage would prevent England being plunged into decades of dynastic civil war once more.
Unlike Henry, the Emperor was convinced that all of the old factions and "partialities", as he called them, that had plagued England in former years would result from his divorce from Katherine. Divorcing from Katherine would taint the birth of their daughter, Mary, certainly allowing the King of Scots (Henry's nephew) and others of the blood royal to challenge Mary's title to the throne. The Emperor had no wish to see his aunt jilted or his cousin removed from a throne which was to be rightfully hers, especially not in order to make way for the Francophile Scots. As such, the King's "Great Matter" temporarily made the continued alliance with France and the freedom of the Pope (which Henry hoped would suffice to convince the Pope to grant him his wish regardless of the Emperor's protestations) the two chief goals of Cardinal Wolsey's foreign policy.
Thankfully a welcome opportunity had presented itself during the negotiations for the marriage of the princess Mary with the Duke of Orléans
[4], when the Bishop of Tarbes questioned the legality of her father's wedding to his late brother's widow. These marriage negoations allowed Henry to claim, in public, that he wished only to clarify and correct whatever irregularities there might be in the royal union, whilst privately seeking a favourable Papal ruling that would allow him to marry Anne and put away Katherine.
Charles V of Habsburg, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Germany, Italy, Castille, Aragon, Naples, &c.
The sudden death of Sforza altered the state of affairs in Europe overnight. It removed a chief bone of contention between the French and Imperialists, facilitating a compromise over Milan and Italy, presentely the main theatre of warfare between the Valois and Habsburg. Francis I wanted the Duchy for himself or one of his sons, but knew that the Emperor would never consent to such; likewise, the Emperor wanted it for himself or his brother King Ferdinand, but knew that the princes of Christendom were universally united against such an inheritance. Consequently the Emperor had championed Francis' enemy the Duke of Bourbon, whilst Francis championed the Emperor's rebellious vassal Francesco Sforza. The death of both without heirs elicited numerous protestations from the Italian princes, all of whom were vehemently opposed to a Habsburg succession.
In consideration of all these opposing ambitions and forces, the Emperor was positively disposed towards Henry's desire to restart negotiations for the marriage of his bastard son, Henry, Duke of Richmond, with one of the Emperor's nieces, a proposition the Emperor had made himself in prior times. The original bride option desired by Henry VIII was the young Infanta Maria, daughter of the Emperor's sister Eleanor by King John III of Portugal, incidentally also the mother of the Emperor's wife. As her mother was to shortly marry Francis I of France, the union would tie together Tudor, Valois and Habsburg more closely than ever. Unfortunately the young Infanta was already promised elsewhere (to her future step-brother the Dauphin) so the Emperor offered instead one of his Danish nieces. The 'x' of this whole equation was that the Emperor's niece (whichever one was chosen) would receive Milan as dowry, with the young Richmond ruling as a loyal, pro-Habsburg vassal for the Emperor.
To rhe ppeasant surprise of the English King, the proposition met with almost universal approval. Richmond was seen as a rival for the Princess Mary's succession, which was desired greatly both by her kinsman the Emperor and the French, now that she was promised to their young Duke of Orléans. The Italians were glad that someone other than a Frenchman or Habsburg should rule so prominent a principality on their borders. Both the Valois and Habsburg considered Richmond's removal from England a great achievement, with Milan being sufficiently distant a fief as to ensure he wouldn't use it as a powerbase to wrest the throne from his sister or her heirs. Certainly Francis was also confident of his capability of making Richmond a French ally or even puppet.
There were, however, still many issues extant between England, France and the Emperor, who was adamant that this betrothal be concluded
before he made peace with Francis and released the latter's two sons (then hostages in Spain), believing that the reestablishment of the Anglo-Spanish alliance would strengthen his position immensely, perhaps even allowing him to demand more generous peace terms.
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