Series 3 > Foreign correspondence with Marie de Lorraine, Queen of Scotland, from the originals in the Balcarres papers > Volume 7

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BALCARRES PAPERS
the King. This was the more vexatious as Charles v.
would have welcomed the peace for which Henri n. was
not ready ; his prospects had been spoiled by the recapture
of Hesdin and the recurrence of trouble between the Duke
of Saxony and Duke Maurice. There is no mention of the
actual end of the siege or of the Duke of Guise’s kindness
to the remnants of the Emperor’s army ; but a letter from
de 1’Aubespine 1 on the 14th January 1552-3 told of the
Duke’s expected return to Paris and how the King and
the people praised him : ‘ They bless him for the good he
has done to this kingdom.’ Another letter from him men¬
tioned the defeat of the captor of D’Aumale at Sieverhausen
by Duke Maurice.2
The campaign was re-opened in April 1553 by the
Emperor with the capture of Hesdin and Therouanne, and
the total destruction of the latter. The French forces did
not take the field until July, a delay for which Montmorency
was blamed. D’Oysel, who was then in France, gave the
earliest news of the fighting,3 announcing the King’s attack
between Cambrai and Valenciennes, and the truce arranged
in Lombardy by the Marshal de Brissac, which Henri n. did
not wish to sanction. He commented on the destruction
done during the campaign and the misery it had entailed,
saying that it was a cruel war. Having seen the result of
the English invasion of Scotland, D’Oysel was in a position
to speak with authority.
England comes very little into the correspondence at
this time, except with regard to the accession of Mary
Tudor,4 and her marriage with Philip of Spain.5 The
French ambassador alluded to the disfavour with which
the marriage was regarded by the nobles and Parliament
of England, and anticipated disorders 6 : a cipher letter in
1 Letter XCIX. 2 Letter CVIII. 3 Letter CXIV.
4 Letter CXII. 5 Letter CLIII.
6 Analecta Scotica, ist Series, pp. 99-100, Letter of Casanat.