Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 19, Scripture-SUG

Spain.
Violent
animofity
between
him and
Francis.
134
Charles
fnmmoned
to appear
at Paris.
SPA [ 5M ] SPA
Picardy was not more fuccefsful : the imperial forces
were obliged to retire without effe£ling any conqueft of
importance.
Charles had no fooner conduced the {battered re¬
mains of his army to the frontiers of Milan, than he fet
out for Genoa ; and unwilling to expofe himfelf to the
fcorn of the Italians after fuch a reverfe of fortune, he
embarked direclly for Spain.
Meanwhile Francis gave himfelf up to that vain re-
fentment which had formerly difgraced the profperity of
his rival. They had frequently, in the courfe of their
quarrels, given each other the lie, and mutual challen¬
ges had been fent ; which, though productive of no fe-
rious conftquences between the parties, had a powerful
tendency to encourage the pernicious practice of duel¬
ling. Charles, in hh invective pronounced at Rome,
had publicly accufed Francis of perfidy and breach of
faith , Francis now exceeded Charles in the indecency
of his accufations. The dauphin dying tuddenly, his
death was imputed to poifon : Montecuculi his cup¬
bearer was put to the rack ; and that unhappy noble¬
man, in the agonies of torture, accufed the emperor’s
generals Gonzaga and de Leyva, of mitigating him to
the deteftable act. The emperor himfelf was fufpe&ed;
nay, this extorted eonfeffion, and fome obfcure hints,
were confidered as inconteftable proofs of his guilt ;
though it was evident to all mankind, that neither
Charles nor his generals could have any inducement to
perpetrate fuch a crime, as Francis was ftill in the vigour
of life himfelf, and had two fons befides the dauphin,
grown up to a good age.
But the incenfed monarch’s refentment did not flop
here. Francis was not fatisfied with endeavouring to
blacken the character of his rival by an ambiguous tef-
timony which led to the moft injurious fufpicions, and
upon which the mod cruel conllruftions had been put ;
he was willing to add rebellion to murder. For this
purpofe he went to the parliament of Paris 5 where be¬
ing feated with the ufual folemnities, the advocate-ge¬
neral appeared, and accufed Charles of Auftria (fo he
affefled to call the emperor) of having violated the trea¬
ty of Cambray, by which he was freed from the ho¬
mage due to the crown of France for the counties of
Artois and Flanders ^ adding, that this treaty being
now void, he was dill to be conddered as a vaffal of
France, and confequently had been guilty of rebellion
in taking arms againd his fovereign. I he charge was
fudained, and Charles was fummoned to appear before
the parliament of Paris at a day fixed. The term ex¬
pired •, and no perfon appearing in the emperor’s name,
the parliament gave judgment, that Charles of Audria
had forfeited, by rebellion and contumacy, the counties
of Flanders and Artois, and declared thefe fiefs reunited
to the crown of France.
Francis, foon after this vain difplay of his animofity,
marched into the Low Countries, as if he had intended
to execute the fentence pronounced by his parliament;
but a fufpenfion of arms took place, through the inter-
pofition of the queeits of France and Hungary, before
any thing of coniequence was effefted : and this ceffa-
tion of bodilities was followed by a truce concluded at
Nice, through the mediation of the reigning pontiff
Paul III. of the family of Farnefe, a man of a venerable
charafter and pacific difpofition.
Each of thefe rival princes had drong reafons to in¬
cline them to peace. The finances of both were exhaud- Spain. |
ed •, and the emperor, the more powerful of the two,
was deeply impreffed with the dread of the Turkidi
arms, which Francis had drawn upon him by a league Francis I
with Solyman. In confequenee ot this league, Barba-ieagUes !
roffa with a great deet appeared on the coad of Naples ; with the I
filled that kingdom with confternation j landed without rurks. |
refidance near Taranto 5 obliged Cadro, a place of
fome drength, to furrender •, plundered the adjacent
country ; and was taking meafures for fecuring and ex¬
tending his conqueds, when the unexpefted arrival of
Doria,1 the famous Genoefe admiral, together with the
pope’s galleys and a fquadron of the Venetian deet,
made it prudent for him to retire. The fultan’s forces
alfo invaded Hungary, where Mahmet the lurkidi ge¬
neral, after gaining feveral inferior advantages, defeated
the Germans in a great battle at Effek on the Hrave.
Happily for Charles and Europe it was not in Francis’s
power at this jumffure either to join the lurks or al-
ftmble an army drong enough to penetrate into the
Milanefe. The emperor, however, was fenfible that he
could not long refift the efforts of two fuch powerful
confederates, nor expeft that the fame fortunate cir-
cumdances would concur a fecond time in his favour ;
he therefore thought it neceffary, both for his fafety ^
and reputation, to give his content to a truce : and \ truce
Francis chofe rather to run the rilk of difobliging hisconcludei
new ally the fultan, than to draw on his head the indig¬
nation, and perhaps the arms of all Chriftendom, by
obdinately obftrufting the re-edablidiment of tranquil¬
lity, and contributing to the aggrandizement of the In¬
fidels.
Thefe confiderations inclined the contending monarebs
to liden to the arguments of the holy father *, but he
found it impodible to bring about a final accommoaation
between them, each indexibly perfifted in afferting his
own claims. Nor could he prevail on them to {ee one
another, though both came to the place of rendezvous:
fo great was the remains of difirud and rancour, or fuch
the difficulty of adjuding the ceremonial! Yet, impro-interviev
bable as it may feem, a few days after dgning the truee,between
the emperor, in his paffage to Barcelona, being driven
on the coad of Provence, Francis invited him to come
affiore j frankly vidted him on board his galley, and
Avas received and entertained with the at armed demon-
dr ations of edeem and affe&ion. Charles, with an equal
degree of confidence, paid the king next day a vifit at
Aigues-mortes} ay here thefe trvo hodile rivals and vin-
diRive enemies, who had accufed each other of every
kind of bafenefs, converfing together with all the cor¬
diality of brothers, feemed to vie with each other in ex-
preffions of refpeR and friendffiip. 13S
Befides the glory of having redored tranquillity to Advanta?
Europe, the pope gained a point of much confequencegarie J
to his family. Fie obtained for his grandfon, Margaret ^
of Audria, the emperor’s natural daughter, formerly paCjfiCa-
Avife of Alexander de Medici, whom Charles had raffed tion.
to the fupreme poAver in Florence. Laurencin de Medici,
the kinfman and intimate companion of Alexander, bad
affaffinated him by one of the blacked treafons recorded
in hidory. Under pretence of having fecured him an
affignation Avith a lady of the highed rank a,id great
beauty, he drew him into a fecret apartment of his houie,
and there dabbed him as he lay carelefsly on a couch,
expeRing the embrace of the lovely fair, whom he hari