own ambitious fortune. The preparations for the next campaign were entrusted to his hands. СНАР. VIII. Rumours were heard that the French would be A.D. 1513. likely to invade England, if Henry VIII. long delayed his invasion of France. To meet this contingency, the sheriffs of Somerset and Dorset had been already ordered to issue proclamations, that every man between sixty and sixteen should be ready in arms 1 to defend his country. Ever and anon came tidings that the French navy was moving restlessly about on the opposite shore, in readiness for some unknown enterprise. Diplomatists were meanwhile weaving their wily webs of diplomacy, deceiving and being deceived. Even between the parties to the League there were constant breaches of confidence and double-dealing. The entangled meshes of international policy were thrown into still greater confusion, in February, by the death of Julius II., the head of the Holy Alliance. The new Pope might be a Frenchman, instead of the leader of the league against France, for anything men knew. The moment was auspicious for the attempt to bring about a peace. But Henry VIII. was bent upon war. He urged on the equipment of the fleet, and was impatient of delay. On March 17 he conferred upon Sir Edward Howard the high-sounding title of Ad• miral of England,Wales, Ireland, Normandy, Gascony, and Aquitaine.'3 On Saturday, the 21st, he went down to Plymouth to inspect the fleet in person, and left orders to the Admiral to put to sea. He had set his heart upon his fleet, and in parting from Howard commanded him to send him word how every ship 1 1 Brewer, i. 3723. 2 Ibid. 3752, 3821. 3 Ibid. 3809. CHAP. VIII. 'did sail,'1 With his royal head thus full of his ships and sailors, and eagerly waiting for tidings of the result A.D. 1513. of their first trial-trip in the Channel, Henry VIII. entered upon the solemnities of Holy Passion Week. Good Friday. Colet's sermon to Henry On Good Friday, the 27th, the King attended Divine service in the Chapel Royal. Dean Colet was the preacher for the day. It must have been especially difficult and even painful for Colet, after the kindness shown to him so recently by the King, again to express in the royal presence his strong condemnation of the warlike policy upon which Henry VIII. had entered in the previous year, and in the pursuit of which he was now so eagerly preparing for a second campaign. The King too, coming directly from his fleet full of expectation, was not likely to be in a mood to be thwarted by a preacher. But Colet was firm in his purpose, and as, when called to preach before Convocation, he had chosen his text expressly for the bishops, so now in the royal presence he preached his sermon to the King. 'He preached wonderfully' (says Erasmus) on the victory of Christ, exhorting all Christians to fight and conquer under the banner of their King. He showed that when wicked men, out of hatred and ambition, fought with and destroyed one another, they fought under the banner, not of Christ, but of the devil. He 'showed, further, how hard a thing it is to die a Christian death [on the field of battle]; how few undertake a war except from hatred or ambition; how hardly 'possible it is for those who really have that brotherly love, without which "no one can see the Lord,” to 6 1 Brewer, i. xlvii. and No. 3820. Edward Lord Howard to Henry 6 СНАР. VIII. 'thrust their sword into their brother's blood; and he 'urged, in conclusion, that instead of imitating the example of Cæsars and Alexanders, the Christian A.D. 1513. ought rather to follow the example of Christ his 'Prince.' attempts to into So earnestly had Colet preached, and with such Renewed telling and pointed allusion to the events of the day, get Colet that the King was not a little afraid that the sermon trouble. might damp the zeal of his newly-enlisted soldiers. Thereupon, like birds of evil omen, the enemies of Colet hovered round him as though he were an owl, hoping that at length the royal anger might be stirred against him. The King sent for Colet. He came at the royal command. He dined at the Franciscan monastery adjoining the Palace at Greenwich. When the King knew he was there, he went out into the monastery garden to meet him, dismissing all his attendants. And when the two were quite alone, he bade Colet to cover his head and be at ease with him. 'I 'did not call you here, Dean,' he said to him, 'to 'interrupt your holy labours, for of these I altogether approve, but to unburden my conscience of some scruples, that by your advice I may be able more fully to do my duty.' They talked together nearly an hour and a half; Colet's enemies, meanwhile, impatiently waiting in the court, scarcely able to contain their fury, chuckling over the jeopardy in which they thought Colet at last stood with the King. As it was, the King approved and agreed with Colet in everything he said. But he was glad to find that Colet had not intended to declare absolutely that there could be no 6 1 Eras. Op. iii. p. 461. Compare Enchiridion, 'Canon VI.' СНАР. 6 just war, no doubt persuading himself that his own was one of the very few just ones. The conversation A.D. 1515. ended in his expressing a wish that Colet would some time or other explain himself more clearly, lest the raw soldiers should go away with a mistaken notion, and think that he had really said that no war is lawful to Christians. And thus' (continues Erasmus) Colet, by his singular discretion and moderation, not only satis'fied the mind of the King, but even rose in his favour.' When he returned to the palace at parting, the King graciously drank to his health, embracing him most warmly, and, promising all the favours which it was in the The King power of a most loving prince to grant, dismissed him. Colet was no sooner gone than the courtiers flocked again round the King, to know the result of his conference in the convent garden. Whereupon the King replied, in the hearing of all: Let every one have his again supports Colet. own doctor, and let every one favour his own; this 'man is the doctor for me.' Upon this the hungry wolves departed without their bone, and thereafter no one ever dared to meddle with Colet. This is Erasmus's version 2 of an incident which, especially when placed in its proper historical setting, may be looked upon as a jewel in the crown both of the young King and of his upright subject. It has been reported that Colet complied with the King's wish, and preached another sermon in favour of the war against France, of the necessity and justice of which, as strictly defensive, the King had convinced him. 1 Colet, and Erasmus, and More, notwithstanding their very severe condemnation of the wars of the period, and wars in general, never But with reference to this second sermon, if ever it was preached, Erasmus is silent.1 III. THE SECOND CAMPAIGN OF HENRY VIII. (1513). While the King was trying to pacify his conscience, and allay the scruples raised in his mind by Colet's preaching, his ambassador (West) was listening to a Good Friday sermon at the Chapel Royal of Scotland, and using the occasion to urge upon the Queen to use her influence with the Scotch king in favour of peace with England. There were rumours that the Scotch king was playing into the hands of the King of France -that he was going to send a 'great ship' to aid him in his wars. A legacy happened to be due from England to the Queen of Scotland, and West was instructed to threaten to withhold payment, unless James would promise to keep the peace with England. James gave shuffling and unsatisfactory replies. There were troubles ahead in that quarter! 2 The news sent by West from Scotland must have raised some forebodings in Henry's mind. The chance of finding one enemy behind him, if he attempted to invade France, in itself was not encouraging. As to any scruples raised by Colet's preaching, his head was probably far too full of the approaching campaign, and his heart too earnestly set upon the success of his fleet, to admit of his impartially considering the right and the wrong of the war in which he was already involved, or the evils it would bring upon his country. 1 Knight's Life of Colet, p. 207, 2 Brewer, Nic. West to Henry note quoted from Antiq. Britann., VIII. 3838. CHAP. VIII. A.D. 1513. |