The History of England, Volume III Henry VIII Rupture with France
by David Hume
The opposition, which Henry met with in Scotland from the French intrigues, excited his resentment, and farther confirmed the resolution, which he had already taken, of breaking with France, and of uniting his arms with those of the emperor. He had other grounds of complaint against the French king; which, though not of great importance, yet being recent, were able to overbalance those great injuries, which he had formerly received from Charles. He pretended, that Francis had engaged to imitate his example in separating himself entirely from the see of Rome, and that he had broken his promise in that particular. He was dissatisfied, that James his nephew, had been allowed to marry, first Magdalene of France, then a princess of the house of Guise; and he considered these alliances as pledges, which Francis gave of his intentions to support the Scots against the power of England.e He had been informed of some railleries, which the French king had thrown out against his conduct with regard to his wives. He was disgusted, that Francis, after so many obligations which he owed him, had sacrificed him to the emperor; and, in the confidence of friendship, had rashly revealed his secrets to that subtle and interested monarch. And he complained, that regular payments were never made of the sums due to him by France, and of the pension, which had been stipulated. Impelled by all these motives, he alienated himself from his ancient friend and confederate, and formed a league with the emperor, who earnestly courted his alliance. This league, besides stipulations for mutual defence, contained a plan for invading France; and the two monarchs agreed to enter Francis’s dominions with an army, each of twenty-five thousand men; and to require that prince to pay Henry all the sums which he owed him, and to consign Boulogne, Montreuil, Terouenne, and Ardres, as a security for the regular payment of his pension for the future: In case these conditions were rejected, the confederate princes agreed to challenge, for Henry, the crown of France, or, in default of it, the dutchies of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Guienne; for Charles, the dutchy of Burgundy, and some other territories.f That they might have a pretence for enforcing these claims, they sent a message to Francis, requiring him to renounce his alliance with Sultan Solyman, and to make reparation for all the prejudice, which Christendom had sustained from that unnatural confederacy. Upon the French king’s refusal, war was declared against him by the allies. It may be proper to remark, that the partizans of France objected to Charles his alliance with the heretical king of England, as no less obnoxious than that which Francis had contracted with Solyman: And they observed, that this league was a breach of the solemn promise, which he had given to Clement VII. never to make peace or alliance with England.
