[208] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., No. 1481, Grant 10.
[209] Ibid., No. 1435, Castillon to the Bishop of Paris, London, 17 November, 1533.
[210] “I begged the Duke of Norfolk and others who seemed to be among the principal members of the Council of this said king, to give the king their master to understand ... that one may so press and worry a friend as to become importunate.”
“... for I doubt if the gentlemen of his Council to whom I spoke will dare to say such things to him as boldly as I shall say them.”
[211] Camusat, “Mesl. Hist.,” part ii., p. 143. The Bailly of Troyes to the Grand-Maître, 7th November, 1533.
[212] Claude Dodieu, Sieur de Vély, was repeatedly employed as French ambassador to Charles V., and also to the Holy See. He was made Bishop of Rennes in 1541, and died in 1558.
[213] Some of the most interesting of these letters are only known to have existed by entries in catalogues, having been amongst the objects of the thefts from French libraries perpetrated in the first half of the present century. See “Dictionnaire des Pièces autographes volées,” etc., by MM. Lalanne et Bordier, Paris, 1851.
[214] Paris, Bibl. Nat., MSS. fr. 15629, No. 473.
[215] Sleidan, 132-135. Clairembault, 334, No. 4949; quoted by Decrue de Stoutz, “Anne de Montmorency,” part i., p. 221.
[216] Boutiot, “Hist. de la Ville de Troyes,” p. 346.
[217] Documents inédits sur l’Histoire de France. Relations des Amb. Vénétiens. Voyage de Jerôme Lippomano, Amb. de Venise en France, par son sécrétaire.
[218] Clement VII. had died in September, 1534, and Cardinal Farnese (Paul III.) had been elected Pope in his place.
[219] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Coll. Dupuy, vol. 265, f. 239. Letter of Anne de Montmorency to Cardinal Du Bellay.
[220] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. ix. (1535), No. 434. Chapuys to Charles V.
[221] “Besides the charge which I gave you the other day on your departure, to speak to the King of England on the subject of the contribution, I wish you to say to him that if perchance the Emperor were disposed to invade me, and that I had to arm and equip on a large scale as might be the case, and that ... in order not to lose the occasion and the said expenditure, I chose to employ it for the recovery of my State and Duchy of Milan, Seigneurie of Genoa, and County of Asti, that, in this case, the said King of England would be bound to contribute up to the third portion of the expense I should have to incur for the maintenance of my said army. And do not fail to uphold this stiffly, so that the said king may accede to the terms above demanded.”
[222] Camusat, “Mesl. Hist.,” part ii., p. 12v. Letter from Francis I. to the Bailly of Troyes, from Esclarron, 29th Aug., 1535.
[223] Ibid., p. 84v. (Traicté entre les Roys de France et d’Angleterre.)
[224] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. ix., 1535, No. 420. Norfolk to Cromwell.
[225] Anthoine de Castelnau.
[226] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. ix. (1535), No. 594. Chapuys to Charles V.
[227] “... You know the tumult which occurred between her and her governess when we went to see her little sister, and that we were told that she was placed as though by force in her room, in order that she might not speak to us, and that it was only possible to appease her and keep her in her room when the gentleman who conducted us had told her that the king her father had ordered him to say to her that she was not to show herself while we were there.”
[228] Camusat, “Mesl. Hist.,” p. 21, “autre memoire non datté,” etc. Chapuys’ letter enables us to fix the date.
[229] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. ix. (1535), No. 595. Chapuys to Charles V.
[230] Ibid., vol. ix. (1535), No. 443. Henry VIII. to Gardiner.
[231] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. x. (1536), No. 375. Gardiner and Wallop to Henry VIII.
[232] Ibid., vol. x. (1536), No. 908. Chapuys to Charles V.
[233] The Bishop of Tarbes accompanied Dinteville to Court.
[234] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. x. (1536), No. 1069. Chapuys to Charles V.
[235] Ibid., vol. xi. (1536), No. 304. Henry VIII. to Gardiner and Wallop.
[236] Ibid., vol. xi. (1536), No. 1143.
[237] Ibid., vol. x. (1536), No. 1084. Cromwell to Gardiner and Wallop.
[238] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. x. (1536), No. 1084. Cromwell to Gardiner and Wallop.
[239] Ibid., vol. xi. (1536), No. 52. Bishop of Faenza to Mons. Ambrogio.
[240] Ibid., vol. xi. (1536), No. 228. Castelnau, Bishop of Tarbes, to Cardinal Du Bellay.
[241] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Coll. Dupuy, vol. 547, f. 308. Camusat, “Mesl. Hist.,” part iii., p. 44.
[242] ... “The Pope, in Consistory, has created Legate, the Englishman, Cardinal Poule (Pole), not only for England, but for every place which it may suit him to pass through on his way thither ... with the intention, in case the King of England will not return by peaceable means to the obedience of the Roman Church and of the Holy See, of delivering to the said Cardinal, through the merchants, a good sum of money, for the purpose of assisting the people against the said king, in order to oblige him to return to the said obedience by means of force....”
[243] Camusat, “Meslanges Historiques,” p. 13. Instruction au Bailli de Troyes, etc., Moussi, 2 March, 1537.
[244] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. xii., part i., No. 817. Henry VIII. to Gardiner, Westminster, 3 April, 1537.
[245] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. xii., part i. (1537). F. Wyngfeld to Cromwell, Dover, 8 April, 1537.
[246] I.e. forestall.
[247] Flemish fishing-boats. The name is still in use.
[248] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. xii., part i. (1537), No. 884. Sir Francis Brian to Cromwell, Calais, 9th April. (These extracts are given in the abridged form printed in the Letters and Papers.)
[249] The only source that the writer has been able to find for this statement is contained in a paper on Polisy by M. Lucien Coutant, published in the “Almanach de Bar-sur-Seine” for 1864. M. Coutant, as a rule, is very unreliable; but in this instance the facts appear too circumstantial to be entirely without foundation.
[250] Nearly all modern writers refer the disgrace of the Dinteville to the accusation made by Montecuculli against Deschenetz at the time of the Dauphin’s death. But this is obviously incorrect, for not only did the accuser make “amende honorable” to the accused, but Deschenetz is found after that time in full enjoyment of the confidence of the king and Grand-Maître. It is quite possible, however, that his enemies made use of that occasion as a basis for fresh insinuations against him, and as a lever to stir up anew the king’s suspicions. The older writers merely state that the accusation was one of high treason.
[251] Henri, formerly Duke of Orleans, was now Dauphin. Charles, Duke of Angoulême, had succeeded to the title of Duke of Orleans when Henri became Dauphin.
[252] Decrue de Stoutz, “Anne de Montmorency,” part i., pages 398, 399.
[253] Ribier, “Lettres et Mémoires d’Estat,” vol. i., page 294. Gaulcher de Dinteville, Seigneur de Vanlay, to the Dauphin, Venice, 20th Dec., 1538.
[254] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Pièces Orig., vol. 1004, Dossier Dinteville, ff. 84, 85.
[255] Ribier, “Lettres et Mémoires d’Estat,” vol. i., page 373. The Duke of Guise to the Connétable, Dijon, 10th Feb.—Whether the year was 1539, 1540, or 1541, makes no difference to the argument; but it was probably the first of the three years named.
[256] Nephew of Vanlay’s mother, whose brother was Seigneur Du Plessis, de Savonnières, d’Ouschamps and de la Perrine.
[257] Ribier, “Lett. et Mém. d’Estat,” vol. i., p. 294. Gaulcher de Dinteville (Seigneur de Vanlay) to the Dauphin, Venice, 20 Dec., 1538.
[258] Ibid., vol. i., p. 301.
[259] Renée, daughter of Louis XII., married in 1527 to Ercole, son of the Duke of Ferrara. See also ante, p. 45.
[260] Ribier, “Lett. et Mém. d’Estat,” vol. i., p. 449. Grignan to the Connétable, 29 April, 1539.
[261] Ribier, “Lett. et Mém. d’Estat,” vol. i., p. 479. Grignan to the Connétable, Rome, 21 Oct., 1539.
[262] Paris, Bibl. Nat., MSS. fr. 20440, pp. 81-84. Deposition of the Bailly of Troyes in favour of his brother, the Bishop of Auxerre.
[263] Selve died in April, 1541.
[264] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Fonds Dupuy, 702, ff. 138-9. (A gold reliquary set with precious stones; another of silver-gilt set with similar stones; another reliquary of silver enamelled in blue, with a long and large stone called lapis lazuli, engraved with the mysteries of the Passion.)
[265] “On the following day the said Damoyselle de Thelligny and Madame de Brou, her sister, came to dine with me at the apartment of the late Duke of Orleans. Which ladies both told me it would be necessary to come to an agreement with the said Bishop of Lavaur, and that Madame d’Estampes had become very angry when the said M. de Lavaur had come to speak to her in the room where she was playing at cards, and had said that we were not yet where we imagined.... Seeing which I recognized that we should be obliged to take that course. And the next or the same day (I do not remember which) I went to find the said Bishop of Lavaur in his apartment, in a little low room, where was the Bailly of Dijon ... and a few others ...; and I said these, or similar, words to the Bishop of Lavaur:
“‘Sir, my friends have told me that Madame d’Estampes has in the last two days spoken ill words of Monsieur d’Aucerre and of my brothers. For which reason, sooner than to fall again into the king’s disfavour, we would rather lose all we possess. You know that in past times we were friends. You speak of wishing to have the bishopric of Aucerre; I beg and warn you to content yourself with something else instead.’
“He insisted that he wished to have the Abbey of Monstier-aramey. I then begged him to give up the said Abbey of Monstier-aramey. He continued to insist, desiring it rather than that of Monstier-la-Celle. Nevertheless I showed him that the said Abbey of Monstier-aramey was close to Polisy, and that that of Monstier-la-Celle was of the same value, within six or seven hundred livres, which was not a great sum. In the end, the said Bishop of Lavaur agreed to this.
“He then made a great fuss about having the house of the see of Auxerre at Paris, which I would not at all agree to, although, if he became our friend, not only that one, but all others would be at his service....”
[266] Married women were called “Mademoiselle;” only those whose husbands were knights had the right to the title of “Madame.” Decrue de Stoutz, “La Cour de France au seizième siècle,” p. 74.
[267] Charles, Duke of Orleans, died in 1545, and this document, though referring to 1542, was drawn up at a later date.
[268] I.e., to resign one of the abbeys.
[269] “... And it was agreed this should be put in writing. Which was done on the following day in my room, at the apartment of the said late Duke of Orleans; in the absence of the said Bishop of Auxerre, who declined to be present.... And I truthfully certify that the resignation of the said Abbey of Monstier-la-Celle, which was then made to the said Bishop of Lavaur, and the receipts given for the furniture and revenues of the bishopric of Auxerre, proceeded from the fear and dread lest Madame d’Estampes should replace the said Bishop of Auxerre, and all of us, his brothers, in the bad graces of the king; and lest it should again be necessary to fly and remain out of the kingdom, as had been done before; and in order that the said Madame d’Estampes and the said Bishop of Lavaur might no longer prevent my brother from returning and re-possessing himself of his houses and benefices.”
[270] The Bishop protested against this enforced resignation. See Camusat, “Promptuarium sacrarum antiquitatem Tricassinæ diocesis,” p. 25.
[271] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Pièces Orig., vol. 1004, Dossier Dinteville, ff. 84, 85.
[272] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Fonds Dupuy, 702, f. 134.
[273] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Fonds Dupuy, 702, f. 134. Camusat, “Promptuarium,” etc., pp. 26-28, June, 1542.
[274] “Bailly, having seen your basque here, I would not allow him to return without sending you some news of me through him; which are, thank God, very good, and such as you desire them to be; but they will be still better when I hear that you have quite recovered your health, which I beg you to take great care of; and, in return, I will tell you, bailly, that I am doing all that is possible to reduce Ivoy, which I shall attack to-morrow from another side; and by these and all other means, I hope to take the place, with the aid of Him who is the giver of victory. For the rest, I have had news from Longueval, who is only at two or three days’ march from here, with his troop, which I am told is as fine and resolute a one as one could wish to see. I shall make him hang about the place where he is with his said troop, pending the return of Iversay, whom I have sent to the king to bring me back orders as to what it will please him that I should do with the said troop, and also with that which is with me here. Meanwhile, having nothing more to say at present, I will end, recommending myself to you, and praying Our Lord, Bailly, that He may give you as good health as I wish to you. Written from the camp before Ivoy this 14th day of August, [1542].
“Your good master,
“Charles.
“To M. the Bailly of Troyes, one of my chamberlains.”
[275] The deceased Louis de Dinteville, Seneschal of Rhodes, also had a Basque servant. This may have been the same one, or perhaps it was a fashion of the moment to have a Basque attendant.
[276] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Coll. Dupuy, vol. 726, f. 117.
[277] Brantôme, “Hommes Illustres Français,” Discours xlvi., Eloge du Duc d’Orléans. Decrue de Stoutz, “La Cour de France,” etc., pp. 31, 32.
[278] Decrue de Stoutz, ibid., p. 23.
[279] Paris, Bibl. Nat., Pièces Orig., vol. 1004, Dossier Dinteville, f. 87a.
[280] Primaticcio designed for the house of the Connétable allegorical figures of the cardinal virtues, which were executed in fresco by Niccolò dell’ Abate. The house was situated in the Rue Sainte-Avoie, now Rue du Temple. It was subsequently the Hôtel de Mesmes. See Félibien, “Entretiens sur les Vies et les ouvrages des plus excellents peintres,” tome i., p. 523, and Decrue de Stoutz, “Anne de Montmorency,” part i., p. 419.
[281] Mrs. Mark Pattison, “The Renaissance in France,” vol. ii., p. 269.
[282] He may indeed have been acquainted with greater than they. In 1540 Benvenuto Cellini was in the service of the French Court, and twenty-one years earlier, when the future Bailly was yet a boy, Lionardo da Vinci died at the Château Cloux, near Amboise.
[283] The writer is indebted for nearly all the facts relating to the artists of Troyes, and to the Italians employed by Dinteville, to the very interesting paper by M. Albert Babeau (Secretary of the Soc. Acad. de l’Aube), entitled, “Doménique Florentin, Sculpteur du seizième siècle.” It was published in “Réunion des Sociétés savantes des Départements à la Sorbonne, du 4 au 7 Avril 1877. Section des Beaux-Arts.” Paris, Plon, Nourrit et Cie. 1890, part i., page 108.
[284] Archives de l’Aube, registre G. 66, fol. viˣˣ, xii, vᵒ. Quoted by M. Babeau, loc. cit., who gives the detailed heading of the Latin act.
[285] This has since been filled in on one side. An old map, preserved at Polisy, shows the original plan, which is partly indicated also in the illustration, page 35.
[287] They are seen in the long gabled front overlooking the river, in the illustration, p. 35.
[288] Was this an allusion to the Bishop of Auxerre’s appointment as almoner to the king and other royal personages? The repetition of the date 1545, and the symbol of Fortune about to be explained, make it clear that the house was built by him.
[289] In the carrelage of Polisy the goddess is seen with both globe and wheel, as well as with the horn of plenty, but without the wings. The attributes varied in different versions. The sphere with the Hermes’ wings is sometimes interpreted as the rising sun, equally a symbol of Fortune.
[290] “Christophori Longolii Lucubrationes. Lugduni, apud Seb. Gryphium, 1542.” The winged globe is here surmounted by the Gryphon, etc., which formed the rest of the bookseller’s device; but these attributes do not concern us here. The “Orations of Longolius” are bound up with the “Epistles of P. Bunelli,” published in 1551 at Paris, by Ch. Etienne. The volume is rare.
[291] Camusat, “Mesl. Hist.,” part ii., p. 212.
[292] Ibid., at the end of the volume. The memoir has also been reprinted in some of the French collections of famous memoirs.
[293] ... “as I did not wish to become a monk, she placed me with M. de Polizy, Bailly of Troyes, head of the house of Dinteville, a personage as accomplished and as adorned with all virtues and sciences as any man of his time and quality; having been governour to M. d’Orléans and ambassador for the king in England. But having become paralytic, and helpless in all his limbs, and being unable for this reason to continue at Court, and having therefore retired to his own home, he began for his pleasure and entertainment to build this beautiful house of Polizy. Which personage showed me such friendship that he would take the trouble himself to instruct me in all the sciences of which my youth was capable; and, when I had remained with him up to the age of fourteen or fifteen years, wishing to form me better by the frequenting of society and the exercise of arms, he gave me to M. Deschenetz, his brother, Chevalier of the King’s Order, and captain of fifty men-at-arms, with whom I made several journeys....”
At a later date Mergey fought for “la religion” (i.e., the reformed religion), under La Rochefoucauld; but wishing to have, as he says, “another string to his bow,” he did not forget to cultivate “Mr. de Sesac” (a follower of the Guise), who had meanwhile become the husband of Claude de Dinteville, the eldest daughter of Deschenetz and heiress of Polisy. This was the lady with whom, in later years, Camusat was acquainted, and through whom he learnt the story of Holbein’s masterpiece (see Part I., p. 14). It will be perceived, therefore, how close was the connection between Jean de Dinteville, uncle to this lady, and the documents derived from Camusat which relate the history of the picture.
[294] It is probable that at the time of disgrace Jean de Dinteville either resigned or was deprived of the Order of St. Michael, and that Henri II., on his accession, made his special protégé among the Dinteville brothers, Guillaume, Seigneur Deschenetz, a knight of the order in the place of Jean, whose health no longer allowed him to leave home. Article XV. of the statutes of the order provides that any knight can be deprived for treason, or for the accusation of treason. It further lays down that if a knight be grievously wronged by his sovereign, and cannot obtain justice after having requested it, and allowed due time to elapse, that knight may return the collar and quit the order without forfeiting his honour.
[295] “My nephew, I have received two letters from you, one dated the 4th October, the other the 23rd January last. You write to me that you have received letters from my sister De Lyencourt and that it appears to you that she is much pleased with the affair of Monstier la Scelle; she may well be so; she is indeed bound and obliged to pray God to bless Monseigneur d’Auxerre, as we all are, for the great benefit he has been pleased to confer on Benjamin. My niece De Lyencourt, who is with Madame la Connestable, wrote me word that the said Monseigneur d’Auxerre and Monsr. Des Chenetz were at Fontainebleau. And since then Nicolas de la Croix has written to me that the said Monseigneur d’Auxerre was about to arrive at Paris. I had heard of the capture of Aspremont by the forces of the Emperor. The same Nicolas de la Croix writes to me that wheat has been sold at Paris for a hundred and seventeen solz tournois the septier, and oats for forty-eight, which is very dear.... I am sorry to hear of the illness of Madame de la Mothe and her daughter, but as they are mending, I hope it will be nothing. Those who come from Court say that there is a great rumour that the king is to go to Germany; that Duke Maurice of Saxony and other German princes are in arms against the Emperor, and that they will take the side of the king and enter his service; that the queen will be Regent in France, and will be at Rheims; that Monsr. l’Admiral will remain with her; that Cardinal Tournon will be the king’s lieutenant at Lyons; that the Grand Seigneur [the Turk] is making great preparations for war in the present year, both by land and sea. I expect you hear all these news better where you are than we do here, for you can receive information from Messrs. d’Auxerre and des Chenetz, who are at Court. I think that by the beginning of the month of March I shall be able to leave this country to go to Lyons, taking Grenoble on the way. When I am at Lyons, you shall have news of me, and I will send you some seeds for your new garden.
“My nephew, etc.,
“From Montpellier, 20th February, 1551 (N.S. 1552).
“Your uncle and friend,
“Duplessys.”
“To my nephew, M. de Pollisy, Bailly of Troyes.”
[296] Guillaume Du Plessis, Seigneur de Liancourt, was a younger brother of Dinteville’s correspondent, Charles Du Plessis, Seigneur de Savonnières, d’Ouschamps, and de la Perrine. Both were brothers of Dinteville’s mother. Guillaume, Seigneur de Liancourt, died in 1550. The lady mentioned in the text was his widow.
[297] The Bishop of Auxerre had presented the Abbey of Montier-la-Celle to his first cousin, Benjamin, son of Guillaume, Seigneur de Liancourt.
[298] De Montmorency.
[299] Dinteville’s sister, Charlotte, had married Louis Raguier, Seigneur de la Motte de Tilly.
[300] Henri II.
[301] Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS. fr. 20465, f. 299a.
[302] Le Beuf, “Mémoires concernant l’histoire ecclesiastique, etc., d’Auxerre,” page 588. The Bishop had a favourite painter, named Felix Chrétien, whom he had raised from the position of simple chorister to that of canon of the cathedral, on account of his delicacy of hand in penmanship and painting. Chrétien possessed considerable talent, and was the painter of a large triptych representing the “Martyrdom of Ste. Eugénie,” which still hangs in the church of Varzy, in the diocese of Auxerre (Dept. of Nièvres), though now in a terribly dilapidated state. The portrait of the Bishop is introduced amongst a group in the central panel of this picture. (See illustration, p. 56.) Chrétien reproduced the features of the Bishop a second time, in a smaller work, which is in every way inferior to the picture at Varzy. This is the “Stoning of St. Stephen,” which now hangs in the north ambulatory of the Cathedral of Auxerre. The Emperor Louis Napoleon offered a large sum, without success, for the “Martyrdom of Ste. Eugénie,” which he wished to purchase for the Empress. Being unable to obtain the picture, he had a copy made of it. Varzy is a place which travellers should by no means pass by. The church is of very beautiful thirteenth-century Gothic, and resembles a small cathedral. The ancient inn was formerly a religious house, and with its tower and court is strikingly picturesque. The same family has now owned it for upwards of two hundred years.
[304] Unless it may be assumed that the drawing in question was executed by Holbein on one of his later journeys abroad, which would give some additional latitude of time. On his way to “High Burgundy,” for instance, in the summer of 1538, he would almost pass the gates of Polisy, if the direct route across France were selected. (High Burgundy, or Franche-Comté, was Imperial territory, and lay due east of French Burgundy, in which Polisy was situated.) If the Bailly of Troyes sat to Holbein for this drawing at about the time suggested, the days of adversity which shortly fell upon the Dinteville family would explain the fact that, so far as is known, no painting was ever made from it.
[305] Both hang in one room at the Dresden Gallery.
[306] The late Sir Frederick Burton was of this opinion, which is also held by Mr. Sidney Colvin (see his letter to the “Times,” September, 1890).
[307] The authentic sources for the date of Selve’s birth are given Part I., p. 13. None of the popular compendiums of biography, etc., so far as the writer is acquainted with them, are to be trusted.
[308] Bayle denies this, and says the name in its original form is De Salva, and is of Limousin origin (Dictionary, ed. 1739, Art. Selve).
[309] “Petri Bunelli Epistolæ,” Paris, 1551. Letter to Danès (1541), p. 95.
[310] “Educated where I am, both I and those belonging to me, by your benefaction....”
[311] Of these all, excepting one, sooner or later served the king as ambassadors. They are usually given in the following order: 1, Lazare, Gentilhomme de la Chambre du Roi, ambassador in Switzerland; 2, Jean-Paul, Bishop of St. Flour, ambassador (at a late date) at Rome; 3, George, Bishop of Lavaur, the subject of this memoir; 4, Odet, Président du Grand Conseil, ambassador in England, at Venice, and at Rome, where he died; 5, Jean, Abbé de Saint Vigor; 6, François, ambassador at Constantinople.
[312] Jacques Amyot, author of a famous translation of Plutarch’s “Lives,” was born 1513, and died 1593. He was tutor to the sons of Henri II., was sent on a mission to the Council of Trent, and was Bishop of Auxerre from 1571 until his death.
[313] Probably a relation of Selve’s mother.
[314] All the confusion in popular sources as to the date of Selve’s birth appears to have arisen from one misstatement or misprint, to the effect that he was promoted to the episcopate in 1524. Coupled with the unquestioned fact that he was made a bishop when in his eighteenth year, it was therefore loosely inferred that he must have been born in 1506. The facts given above show that the circumstances of his appointment to Lavaur were such as to preclude all possibility of its having taken place before 1526; even were the Papal licence (page 13) not proof positive as to his age.
[315] The Cardinal of Lorraine, of the house of Guise, was made Archbishop of Rheims in 1534, at nine years old.