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To Play at Peace: Henry VII, War Against France, and the Chieregato-Flores Mediation of 1490

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2017

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Henry VII’s image as an innately peace-loving, war-loathing monarch was cultivated by his own court poets, repeated by early Tudor chroniclers, and affirmed for posterity by Sir Francis Bacon in his classic history of Henry’s reign. James Gairdner, one of the first of the modern historians of Henry VII, thus regarded Henry VII’s pacificism as a confirmed fact. More recently Joycelyne Russell, in her study of Renaissance peacemaking, posed Henry VII as “a man of peace” in stark contrast to his war-mongering son. Ian Arthurson, however, in an article about Henry’s planned invasion of Scotland in 1497, exposed Henry’s more bellicose side by showing a king intent on prosecuting a war against Scotland to its violent end, even out of proportion to the initial provocation, because at the time that seemed the best means to attain his particular political end. This essay will consider Henry’s inclinations to war and peace with respect to the mediation undertaken in 1490 by Leonello Chieregato, the humanist and bishop of Concordia, and by Antonio Flores, canon of Seville and papal prothonotary, who were charged by Pope Innocent VIII to mediate a peace or a long truce between England and France.

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Research Article
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Copyright © North American Conference on British Studies 1998

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Footnotes

*

An earlier version of this paper was read before the Early Modern British History Seminar at Merton College, Oxford, in February 1998. I am grateful to Dr. C. S. L. Davies and to Dr. S. J. Gunn for their comments and criticisms of an earlier draft.

References

1 Bernard André, Henry VII’s poet laureate, frequently depicted Henry as a monarch of peace, calling him “rex paciflcus.” For examples, see André, Bernard, “De atque gestis Henrici septimi historia,” “Rerum memorandum ad invictissimum sapientissimumque regis omnium Henricum septimun An-glae regem potentissium,” and “Ad invictissimum sapientissimumque regum Henricum septimum in vicesimum tertium felicissimi regni sui annalem,” printed in Memorials of King Henry the Seventh, ed. Gairdner, James, Rolls Series, no. 10 (London, 1858), pp. 64, 8394, 97Google Scholar. Johannes Opicius, a minor Italian humanist under Tudor patronage, in a composition of 1497 glorifying Henry’s deeds, portrayed the king as holding the “great reigns of the world,” harboring peace within his breast and the pious use of arms: see an extract of Opicius’s verse, from British Library, (hereafter cited as BL) MS Cotton Vespasian B IV, as printed in Memorials of King Henry the Seventh, ed. Gairdner, p. lxi. The early Tudor chroniclers Robert Fabyan and Polydore Vergil also characterized Henry as a monarch whose basic inclination was to favor peace over war: Fabyan, Robert, The New Chronicles of England and France, ed. Ellis, Henry (London, 1818), p. 678Google Scholar; Vergil, Polydore, The Anglia Historia, ed. and tr.Hay, Denys, Camden Society, vol. 74 (London, 1950), p. 174Google Scholar. Sir Francis Bacon drew on this established tradition when he eulogized Henry as a lover and seeker of peace who resorted to war only in order to mend conditions of peace: SirBacon, Francis, History of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh, ed. Weinberger, Jerry (Ithaca, 1996), p. 203CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Gairdner, James, Henry the Seventh (London and New York, 1889), p. 78Google Scholar.

3 Russell, Joycelyne G., Peacemaking in the Renaissance (London, 1986), pp. 6163Google Scholar.

4 Arthurson, Ian, “The King’s Voyage into Scotland: The War that Never Was,” in England in the Fifteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1986 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. Williams, Daniel (London 1987), pp. 122Google Scholar.

5 Vergil, , Anglica Historia, ed. Hay, , p. 47Google Scholar. Vergil’s account of Chieregato’s meditation was written many years later and contains notable erors, such as mistaking Alexander VI for Innocent VIII. Vergil depicts the English as artful during the negotiations, and the French as deceitful. He claims that the mediation failed when Henry discovered that the French were fraudulently scheming to get Anne, duchess of Brittany, to jilt her proxy husband, Maximilian, the king of the Romans, and wed their king, Charles VIII, even though he was already betrothed to Maximilian’s daughter, Margaret of Austria. Vergil misdated the proxy marriage of Anne and Maximilian to a year eariler, thereby wrongly believing that French pressure on Anne to marry Charles had undermined Chieregato’s negotiations.

6 The basic source for the mediation is the despatches of Chieregato and Flores to Pope Innocent VIII. These despatches are in the Biblioteca Marciana, Venice, Colezione Podocataro, Cod. Lat. Class. X Cod. 176 and Cod. Lat. Class XIV Cod. 98-99. Rawdon Brown’s transcripts of the despatches from Class. X Cod. 176, mostly letters of Flores, are among the Venetian Transcripts in the Public Record Office (hereafter cited as PRO), 31/14/152 and 31/14/205, and are summarised in Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts, Relating to English Affairs. Existing in the Archives and Collections of Venice, ed. Rawdon Brown, et al, 38 vols, in 40 (London, 1864-1940), 1, nos. 558, 560, 563-64, 566-67, 571, 574-75, 579-80, 585-87, 589-93 (hereafter cited as CSP Venice). These are listed also in Pélissier, Léon G., “Catalogue des documents de la collection Podocataro à la Biblioteca Marciana à Venise,” Centralblatt für Bibliothekswesen 18 (1901): 484Google Scholar. Those of Class XIV Cod. 98-99, mostly despatches from Chieregato, are summarized in CSP Venice, 4, nos. 993-1041. Transcripts of these despatches are not found among the Venetian Transcripts.

7 Paschini, Pio, “Leonello Chieregato: nunzio d’Innocenzo Vili e di Alessandro VI,” in Lateranum, nova series, 1 (1935): 8184Google Scholar. Paschini relied mostly on the despatches of Flores summarized in CSP Venice. Oddly, it seems that he did not use any of the letters of Chieregato relating to the mediation.

8 Gairdner, , Henry the Seventh, pp. 7793Google Scholar.

9 Mackie, J. D., The Earlier Tudors, 1485-1558 (Oxford, 1952), p. 102Google Scholar.; Alexander, Michael Van Cleave, The First of the Tudors: A Study of Henry VII and His Reign (Totowa, N.J., 1980), p. 95Google Scholar.

10 On this background, see Dupuy, , Histoire de la réunion de la Bretagne à la France, 2 vols. (Paris, 1880), 2: 84100Google Scholar; Pélicier, , Essai sur le gouvernement de la Dame de Beaujeu (Chartres, 1882), pp. 125–49Google Scholar; Bridge, J. S. C., History of France from the Death of Louis XI, 5 vols. (Oxford, 1921), 1: 103–32Google Scholar.

11 Dupuy, , Histoire de la réunion de la Bretagne à la France, 2: 140–84Google Scholar; Pélicier, , Essai sur le gouvernement de la Dame de Beaujeu, pp. 125–49Google Scholar; Bridge, , History of France, 1: 133–72Google Scholar.

12 On this background, see Pastor, Ludwig von, History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages, tr. Antrobus, Frederick, et al., 5th ed., 40 vols. (London, 1935-53), 6: 249311Google Scholar; Ponteri, Ernesto, “L’atteggiamento di Venezia nel conflitto tra papa Innocezo VIII e Ferrante I d’Aragona (1485-1492),” Archivo storico per le province napoletane, terza serie, 6 (1966-67): 175206Google Scholar; idem, La politica mediceo-fiorentine nella congiura dei baroni napoletani contra Ferrante d’ Aragona, 1485-1492 (Naples, 1977), pp. 1-21, 427-44; Abulafia, David, The Western Mediterranean Kingdom, 1200-1500: The Struggle for Dominion (London, 1997), pp. 228–29Google Scholar.

13 Chieregato, Flores and Jean Oriol, a canon of Narbonne, were commissioned by the Pope in November 1487 to negotiate with the French government on several matters: see Paschini, , “Leonello Chieregato, nunzio d’Innocenzo VIII e di Alessandro VI,” pp. 5388Google Scholar; Luc, Pierre, “Un appel du Pape Innocent VIII au roi de France,” École française de Rome: Mélanges d’ archéologie et d’histoire, 56 (1939): 332–55Google Scholar. A brief account of the Chieregato-Flores mediation with respect to the Franco-Breton dispute can be found in B.-A. Pocquet du Haut-Jussé, Les papes et les ducs de Bretagne: Essai sur les rapports du saint-siège avec un étal, Bibliothèque des École Françaises d’ Athénes et de Rome, no. 133, 2 vols. (Paris, 1928), 2: 888-94.

14 Giovanni de Gigli to Pope Innocent VIII, 28 January 1489, CSP Venice, 1, no. 550.

15 Currin, John M., “Henry VII and the Treaty of Redon (1489): Plantagenet Ambitions and Early Tudor Foreign Policy,” History, 81 (1996): 343–58CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

16 Foedera, conventiones, litterae, et cuiscumque generis acta publica inter reges Angliae et alios imperatores, reges, pontifices, principes vel communiates etc., ed. Thomas Rymer et al. 20 vols. (London, 1727-35), 12: 362-72.

17 Foedera, ed. Rymer, 12: 363; Currin, “Henry VII and the Treaty of Redon,” p. 346.

18 For the treaty of Medina del Campo, see Polίticia internacional de Isabel la Católica: estudios y documentos, ed. Luis Suárez Fernández, 5 vols. (Valladolid, 1965-72), 3, no. 12; Foedera, ed. Rymer, 12: 417-24, esp. 423-24. Imperfectly summarized in Calendar of Letters, Despatches, and State Papers Relating to the Negotiations Between England and Spain Preserved in the Archives of Simancas and Elsewhere, ed. G. A. Bergenroth, et al., 15 vols, in 40 (London, 1862-1954), 1, no. 34 (hereafter cited as CSP Spain).

19 Foedera, ed. Rymer, 12: 360-61.

20 Philippe de Crèvecoeur, Seigneur d’ Esquerdes, to Charles VIII, 17 March 1489, Bibliothèque National de France (hereafter cited as BNF), MS Français 15541, fo. 49r.

21 Archduke Philip to the Estates of Hainault, 2 June 1489, Lettres inédits de Maximilien, duc d’Austriche, roi des Romains et Empereur sur les affaires des Pays-Bas, ed. M. Gachard, 2 vols. (Brussels, 1851-52), 2: no. 89.

22 Foedera, ed. Rymer, 12: 397-402.

23 Foedera, ed Rymer, 12: 411-19, summarised in CSP Spain, 1, nos. 53, 54.

24 Dupuy, , Histoire de la runion de la Bretagne à la France, 2: 185–91Google Scholar; Pélicier, , Essai sur le gouvernement de Dame de Beaujeu, pp. 163–67Google Scholar.

25 On Spanish diplomacy, see Calmette, J., “La politique espagnole dans la crise de l’indépendence bretonne,” Revue historique, 117 (1914): 168–82Google Scholar; Polίticia internacional de Isabel la Católica, ed. Suárez Fernández, 3: 42-60; Idem, Los Reyes Católicos: el tiempo de la guerra de Granada (Madrid, 1989), pp. 270-72.

26 Pélicier, , Essai sur le gouvernement de la Dame de Beaujeu, pp. 164–65Google Scholar.

27 Wiesflecker, Hermann, Kaiser Maximilian I: Das Reich, Österreich und Europa an der Wende zur Neuzeit, 4 vols. (Munich, 1972-86), 1: 220–24Google Scholar.

28 The treaty is printed in Corps universel diplomatique du droit des gens, ed. Jean Dumont, 8 vols. (Amsterdam, 1726-37), 2: 237-39. It is summarised in Dupuy, , Histoire de la réunion de la Bretagne à la France, 2: 186–88Google Scholar.

29 On English meddling in Breton politics, see Dupuy, , Histoire de la réunion de la Bretagne à la France, 2: 176–78, 180–84Google Scholar.

30 Instructions of 10 August 1489 to Scliczon, Rolland de councillor, and Coëtgoureden, Alain de, écuyer, in Mémoires pour servir de preuves… l’histoire ecclésiastique et civile de Bretagne, ed. Morice, Dom Pierre-Hyacinthe, 3 vols. (Paris, 1742-46), 31: cols. 649-54Google Scholar; Anne of Brittany to Lord Willoughby de Broke, 31 July 1489, PRO, SCl/51/137, printed in State Papers Published under the Authority of His Majesty Commission, King Henry VIII, 11 vols. (London 1830-52), 5, pt 6: 18-19.

31 The treaty of Montilz-les-Tours is printed in Corps universel diplomatique, ed. Dumont, 3: 242-44.

32 Anne of Brittany to Henry VII, 12 December 1489 (copy), Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid (hereafter cited as RAH), MS Salazar y Castro, N-22, fo. 72r-v.

33 Anne proclaimed her acceptance of the treaty of Frankfurt on 3 December 1489, see Archives Départementales de la Loire Atlantique, Nantes (hereafter cited as ADLA), B 12, fo. 40v; RAH, MS Salazar y Castro, N-22, fo. 68r; Roncière, Charles de la, “Chronique inédite de la guerre de Bretagne (1487-1492) après le livre de raison d’un notaire Périgourdin,” in Mélanges offerts à M. Émile Picot, 2 vols. (Paris, 1913), 1: 501Google Scholar; Dupuy, , Histoire de la réunion de la Bretagne à la France, 2: 190–91, 205Google Scholar.

34 Letters of Henry VII to Anne, Duchess of Brittany, 22 November (original), 9 December (original) and 14 December (copy), 1489, and the Despatch of the Breton Ambassadors to England to Anne of Brittany, December? 1489, RAH, MS Salazar y Castro, N-22, fos. 84r, 91r-92r, 88r-90r.

35 Archives National, Paris, K 74, no. 17; BNF, MS Franais 25716, no. 83.

36 Tudor Royal Proclamations, ed. Paul L. Hughes and James F. Larkin, 3 vols. (New Haven, 1964-69), 1, no. 20.

37 On this embassy, see Thuasne, Louis, “Un diplomate d’autrefois: les missions de Robert Gaguin (1453-1501),” Revue d’historique diplomatique, 30 (1916): 456–91Google Scholar; Edwards, H. R. L., “Robert Gaguin and the English Poets, 1489-90Modern Language Review 30 (1937): 430–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Carlson, David, “Politicizing Tudor Court Literature: Gaguin’s Embassy and Henry VII’s Humanists’ Response,” Studies in Philology 85 (1988): 279–30Google Scholar; Currin, John M., “Persuasions to Peace: The Luxembourg-Marigny-Gaguin Embassy and the State of Anglo-French Relations (1489-90),” English Historical Review 113 (1998): 882904CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

38 See the summary of the despatch of Rodrigo González de Puebla, the Spanish ambassador in England, to Ferdinand and Isabella, January 1490, in Politicia internacional de Isabel la Católica, ed. Suárez Fernández, 3, no. 27 (CSP Spain, 1, no. 41); Antonio Flores to Pope Innocent VIII, 15 March 1490, CSP Venice, 1, no. 563.

39 Flores to Innocent VIII, 11 February 1490, CSP Venice, 1, no. 58; Chieregato to Innocent VIII, 29 January 1490 and 7 April 1490, CSP Venice, 4, nos. 996, 1002; Paschini, , “Leonello Chieregato: nunzio d’Innocenzo VIII e di Alessandro VI,” p. 82Google Scholar.

40 Flores to Innocent VIII, 11 February 1490, CSP Venice, 1, no. 558. Flores gave the time of Chieregato’s departure as 3 p.m.

41 Chieregato to Innocent VIII, 1 March 1490, CSP Venice, 4, no. 1000.

42 Chieregato to Innocent VIII, 9 March and 7 April, 1490, CSP Venice, 4, nos. 1001 and 1002.

43 Giacomo Botta, Bishop of Tortona and Milanese Ambassador in Rome, to Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan, 4 April 1490, Calendar of State Papers Existing in the Archives and Collections of Milan, ed. Alan B. Hinds (London, 1912), 1, no. 400 (hereafter cited as CSP Milan).

44 The following is based on Chieregato’s despatch to Pope Innocent VIII, 7 April 1490, CSP Venice, 4, no. 1002.

45 The investiture is described briefly by an anonymous herald, BL, MS Cotton Julius B XII, fos. 51v-52r; Leland, John, De rebus Britannicus collectanea, ed. Heam, Thomas, 6 vols. (London, 1774), 4: 244–45Google Scholar. See also Legg, J. Wickham, “The Gift of the Papal Cap and Sword to Henry VII, Archaeological Journal 57 (1900): 183203CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Legg, following André, erroneously identified the papal cubicular as Chieregato.

46 Reverendi in Christo patris domini Leonelli Chieregati decretorum doctoris Episcopi Concordiensis Sanctissimi domini nostri Innocentii papae VIII. Referendarii domestici & oratoris, proposito habita coram Serenissimo domino Henrico Angliae Rege. VII. Londoniis: Anno domini M. CCC. XC. die. XXIX Martii, Bodelian Library, Oxford, Auct. II. Q. 5. 68 (22).

47 Tempus est iam Serenissime Rex aperire oculos & videre mala gentis nostrae, quae ex eiusmodi simulatibus vestris evenere [sic.].” Reverendi in Christo patris domini Leonelli Chieregati decretorum, p. 10.

48 Henry’s consent to the perpetual peace is mentioned in Chieregato’s despatch to Innocent VIII of 12 May 1490, CSP Venice, 4, no. 1006.

49 Chieregato to Innocent VIII, 7 April 1490, CSP Venice, 4, no. 1002.

50 PRO, E404/80/2, no. 4, 7 April 1490 5 Henry VII; E405/78, m. 9.

51 PRO, E405/78, m. 8.

52 A man was paid 6d for making the proclamation at Rye: East Sussex RO, Rye, 60/3 fo. 81 v. The proclamation was also declared in Kent: Kent AO, NR/FAC 3, fos. lOlv, 102v. I am grateful to Dr. Steven Gunn for these references. No extant text of this proclamation has been found, however.

53 Chieregato to Innocent VIII, 7 April 1490, CSP Venice, 4, no. 1002.

54 According to the Tellers’ Register listing the reward paid to Chieregato, the legate was in London from 11 March to 8 April 1490: PRO, E36/130, fo. 93v.

55 Chieregato to Innocent VIII, 12 May 1490, CSP Venice, 4, no. 1006.

56 PRO C76/174, m. 8. Incorrectly dated to 1491 in Foedera, ed. Rymer, 12: 437-38. The ambassadors were Richard Fox, bishop of Exeter and keeper of the Privy Seal; Thomas Butler, earl of Ormond and the queen’s chamberlain; and William Sellyng, prior of Christ Church, Canterbury.

57 PRO, C76/174, m. 9. Only the first commission is printed in Foedera, ed. Rymer, 12: 449-50.

58 Henry VII, King of England, to Anne, Duchess of Brittany, 22 February 1490, RAH, MS Salazar y Castro, N-22, fo. lOOr (original letter).

59 Jean de Rieux, Marshal of Brittany, to Anne de Beaujeu, 2 April 1490, BNF, MS Français 15538, fo. 119r.

60 Wilkie, William E., Cardinal Protectors of England: Rome and the Tudors Before the Reformation (Cambridge, 1974), pp. 1835Google Scholar.

61 On Henry’s relationship with Innocent VIII in the first years of his reign, see Wilkie, , Cardinal Protectors, pp. 1217Google Scholar; Davies, C. S. L., “Bishop John Morton, The Holy See, and the Accession of Henry VII,” English Historical Review 90 (1987): 1330Google Scholar.

62 Davies, , “Bishop John Morton, The Holy See, and the Accession of Henry VII,” pp. 2224, 29Google Scholar.

63 This may have been a tactic. Henry seems to have used a similar ploy in March 1489 during the visit of the French embassy headed by Tristan de Salazar, archbishop of Sens. See Jaligny, Guillaume de, “Histoire de plusieurs chose memorables advenues du règne de Charles VIII, roy de France, és années 1486, 1487, 1489,” in Histoire de Charles VIII, roy de France, etc., ed. Godefroy, Théodore (Paris, 1684), pp. 7273Google Scholar. Jean Foulquart, procureur of Reims, received a version of this story as second-hand gossip from the French court. “Mémoires de Jean Foulquart, procureur de l’echevinage à Reims, 1479-1499,” Revue de Champaigne et de Brie 7 (1879): 197.

64 Juan de Mauléon, a Franciscan friar from Navarre, became the intermediary between Anne de Beaujeu and Queen Isabella in early 1490, six months after he had first volunteered his services for Franco-Spanish peace. Flores to Innocent VIII, 28 July 1490, CSP Venice, 1, no. 586; cf. Política de internacional de Isabel la Católica, ed. Fernández, 3: 59; idem, El tiempo de la guerra de Granada, pp. 271-72.

65 Grutuse, Sire de Pierres, to Charles VIII, 21 March 1490, BNF, MS Français 15541, fo. 132r.

66 Seigneur d’Esquerdes to Charles VIII, 20 March 1490, BNF MS Français 15541, fo. 129r.

67 Robert Gaguin to Guillaume de Rochefort, Seigneur de Pleuvant, Chancellor of France, 20 March 1490, Roberti, Gaguni epistole et orationes, ed. Louis Thuasne, 2 vols. (Paris 1904), 1: no. 50.

68 Seigneur d’Esquerdes to Charles VIII, 23 March 1490, BNF, MS Français 15541, fo. 133r-v.

69 The French did see things this way when Maximilian accepted the Garter from Henry in December 1490. See “Instruction et advertissement touchant le mariage du roy et de la royne qui est à present, dont le roy veult que ses subjects soient bien au long advertiz,” Lettres de Charles VIII, roi de France, ed. P. Pélicier, Société de l’Histoire de France, no. 90, 5 vols. (Paris, 1895-1905), 3, Pièces Justificatives, no. 23.

70 For this, see the herald’s account, BL, Cotton MS Julius B XII, fo. 57r; Leland, Collectanea, ed. Hearne, 4: 248. Beltz, George Frederick, Memorials of the Order of the Garter (London, 1856), p. clxviiiGoogle Scholar.

71 Seigneur d’Esquerdes to Charles VIII, 23 March 1490, BNF, MS Français 15541, fo. 133v.

72 The following is based on the despatch of Flores to Innocent VIII, 16 April 1490, CSP Venice, 4, no. 1004.

73 Gairdner, , Henry the Seventh, pp. 77, 80Google Scholar; Busch, Wilhelm, England under the Tudors: King Henry VII (1485-1509), tr. Todd, Alice M. (London, 1895), p. 57Google Scholar.

74 Flores to Innocent VIII, 6 May 1490, CSP Venice, 1, no. 567; Paschini, , “Leonello Chieregato: nunzio d’Innocenzo VIII e di Alessandro VI,” pp. 8384Google Scholar.

75 Two despatches of Chieregato and Flores to Innocent VIII, 12 May 1490, CSP Venice, 4, nos. 1006, 1007.

76 “Cédule pour une tresve de sept mois entre le Roi, la Duchesse Anne & le Mareschal de Rieux, moyennée par les Ambassadeurs du Pape, du Roi d’Angleterre & autres,” in Preuves, ed. Morice, 3, cols. 667-69. A manuscript copy of these articles is found in RAH, MS Salazar y Castro, N-22, fos. 148r-149v.

77 Chieregato and Flores to Innocent VIII, 4 June 1490, CSP Venice, 4, no. 1008.

78 The following is based on the two despatches of Chieregato and Chieregato and Flores to Innocent VIII, 4 June 1490, CSP Venice, 4, nos. 1008, 1009.

79 Dupuy, Antoine thought that the “cédule” of 10 May was a formal truce, but that “ne changeait rein à la situation respective du gouvernement Français et du gouvernement breton”: Dupuy, , Histoire de la réunion de la Bretagne à la France, 2: 206Google Scholar. The unchanged situation was due to the fact that the proposals made at Tours were never finalised at the time.

80 Henry VII to Charles VIII, 23 May 1490, RAH, MS Salazar y Castro, N-22, fo. 152r-v.

81 A copy of the formal agreement between the Anglo-French commissioners for this conference, dated 5 June 1490, was sent to the pope: CSP Venice, 4, no. 1010.

82 Foedera, ed. Rymer, 12: 453-54. In addition to Fox, Ormond, and Sellyng, Henry appointed to this embassy Sir William Hussy, chief justice of the Court of King’s Bench; John Gunthorpe, dean of Wells and an experienced Yorkist diplomat; Sir John Don, knight of the body; and William Ross, victualler of Calais.

83 In June, Sir Matthew Baker and Richmond Herald went abroad on an embassy, possibly to France: PRO, E404/80/2, no. 104, 12 June 5 Henry VII. In July, Falcon Pursuivant was paid £13 6s. 8d. for a mission “usque partes transmarinam” and Calais received 100s. from the Chamber for his mission to France. PRO, E404/80/2, nos. 124-25, 17 July 5 Henry VII; E36/124, p. 168; E405/78, mm. 23-24. Carlisle Herald made two journeys to France, the first in June, for which he received £10, and a second later that summer, for which he was paid £6 13s. 4d. PRO, E404/80/2, no. 258, 12 June 5 Henry VII; E36/124, p. 129; E405/77, m. 5. Bukke was paid 100s. through John Heron, clerk of the Chamber. PRO, E36/124, p. 64; E405/77, m.l. Marzan and Laken were paid for their trips to France from the Chamber as well, with Marzan receiving £4 and Lakin 66s. 8d. PRO, E404/80/2, nos. 124-25, 17 July 5 Henry VII; E36/124, pp. 128-29; E405/77, m. 5.

84 Chieregato and Flores to Innocent VIII, 9 June 1490, CSP Venice, 4, no. 1011.

85 Chieregato and Flores to Innocent VIII, 19 July 1490, CSP Venice, 4, no. 1012.

86 Flores to Innocent VIII, 25 June 1490, CSP Venice, 1, no. 571; Paschini, , “Leonello Chieregato: nunzio d’Innocenzo VIII e di Alessandro VI,” p. 84Google Scholar.

87 The following is based on Chieregato’s despatch of 21 July 1490, CSP Venice, 4, no. 1016.

88 Chieregato discussed his “avisamenta quaedam” and his “nonulla avisamenta” in the despatches to Innocent VIII of 12 July, 26 August, and 16 September 1490, CSP Venice, 4, nos. 1010, 1019, 1020.

89 Chieregato to Innocent VIII, 16 September 1490, CSP Venice, 4, no. 1020.

90 Chieregato to Innocent VIII, 16 September 1490, CSP Venice, 4, no. 1020.

91 Chieregato to Innocent VIII, 12 November 1490, CSP Venice, 4, no. 1024; Paschini, , “Lonello Chieregato: nunzio d’Innocenzo VIII e di Alessandro VI,” p. 84Google Scholar.

92 In the fall of 1490, Henry paid rewards of £6 13s. 4d. to the herald of France and £13 6s. 8d. to a treasurer of France: PRO, E405/78, mm. 23, 24.

93 PRO, C76/174, mm 29-30. Only the powers of 8 October are printed in Foedera, ed. Rymer, 12: 431-32.

94 Flores to Innocent VIII, 8 September 1490, CSP Venice, 1, no. 593.

95 The letters of safe conduct that Henry had prepared for the French commissioners, also on 8 October, contained blank spaces left for insertion of the names. PRO, C82/329/3; Foedera, ed. Rymer, 12: 430-31.

96 Chieregato to Innocent VIII, 30 October 1490, CSP Venice, 4, no. 1023.

97 Paschini, , “Leonello Chieregato: nunzio d’Innocenzo Vili e di Alessandro VI,” p. 86Google Scholar. Chieregato and Flores returned to Rome in late September 1491, not late September 1490 as Paschini suggests.

98 In December 1491 Morton told Adriano Castellesi, the papal legate, that Chieregato’s negligence was to blame for the failure of the mediation, a statement Gairdner accepted as fact. See Adriano Castellesi, Papal Collector and Nuncio in England, to Pope Innocent VIII, 5 December 1491, CSP Venice, 1, no. 597; Paschini, “Lonello Chieregato: nunzio d’Innocenzo Vili e di Alessandro VI,” p. 87. (Both Brown and Paschini date this letter to the year 1490.), but the reference in it to the Parliament of 1491-92 indicates that it belongs to 1491. However, in the previous year, during the mediation, Henry and Morton expressed favorable opinions of Chieregato. Henry wanted him to remain in England as resident legate, and Morton hoped that Chieregato would support his ambition to become a cardinal (Chieregato to Innocent VIII, 7 April 1490, CSP Venice, 4, no. 1002). Henry s rejection of Chieregato’s peace proposals implied rejection of papal mediation, and so it may have been politically convenient in 1491 to deflect papal displeasure by blaming the mediator. Morton’s changed opinion and blunt castigation of the legate may have been born from his disappointment over not being made a cardinal and from a belief that Chieregato had failed to support him, even though Chieregato wrote to the pope in support of Morton’s elevation to the cardinalate (Chieregato to Innocent VIII, 6 May 1490, CSP Venice, 4, 1005).

99 Lobineau, Guy Alexis, Histoire de Bretagne, 2 vols. (Paris, 1703), 1: 108Google Scholar.

100 Foedera, ed. Rymer, 12: 387-89.

101 Ibid., ed. Rymer, 12: 451-52.

102 Henry VII to Charles VIII, 23 May 1490, RAH, MS Salazar y Castro, N-22, fo. 152r.

103 PRO, E404/80/2, no. 11, 4 May 5 Henry VII, no. 215, 13 May 5 Henry VII; E36/124, pp. 71-127, E36/130, fos. 104v-107v; 405/78, mm 15-19; Westminster Abby Muniments (hereafter cited as WAM), 12240, mm 25-28.

104 PRO, C76/174, m.11; Foedera, ed. Rymer, 12: 452. As this was before the formal reconciliation between Marshal Rieux and Duchess Anne, Henry made two agreements for the taking of Nantes under his protection, one with Duchess Anne and one with Marshal Rieux. Rymer printed only the text of the agreement with the duchess, but the original Treaty Roll contains both.

105 François de Laval to Charles VIII, 29 May 1490, BNF, MS Nouvelles Acquisitions Française 1232, fo. 243r-v (modern copy).

106 Charles VIII to the Élus of Avranches, 16 June 1490, BNF MS Français 25716, no. 91.

107 Flores reported the French military preparations to Innocent VIII. See his despatches, 13 July, 23 July, 28 July, and 9 August 1490, CSP Venice, 1, nos. 576, 585, 587, 589; Pélicier, Essai sur le gouvernement de la dame de Beaujeu, p. 173. Jean de Chalon, prince of Orange, and Jean de Rieux, the marshal of Brittany, on embassy to the French court at Chinon, urged the duchess to convene the Breton Estates, or at least an assembly of barons, and prepare her army: Jean de Chalón, Prince of Orange, and Jean de Rieux, Marshal of Brittany, to Anne, Duchess of Brittany, 20 August 1490, RAH, MS Salazar y Castro, N-22, fo. 172r.

108 ADLA, B 12, fos. 123r-155v.

109 WAM 12240, m. 25.

110 Foedera, ed. Rymer, 12: 458-59.

111 John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, to Pope Innocent VIII, 21 July 1490, CSP Venice, 3, no. 1475. Quotation is from Brown’s translation. Brown, however, misdated the letter to 1489.

112 Jean Borré to Jean Borré, Seigneur du Plessis, 13 August 1490, BNF MS Français 20855, fo. 105r; Spont, Alfred, “La marine franaise sous le règne de Charles VIII, Revue des questiones historiques, n.s. 11 (1894): 414–15Google Scholar. The English raid on La Hague can be dated to August 1490 from a mandate for the collection of an aide et octroi in Normandy, dated 10 October 1490, in which La Hague is granted an exemption because of the damage inflicted on the town by the English: BNF, MS Français 26102, nos. 598, 599.

113 ADLA, E14/2; Preuves, ed. Morice, 3, cols 661-62; Wiesflecker, Kaiser Maximilian, 1: 324.

114 Wiesflecker, Kaiser Maximilian, 1: 278-308.

115 A copy of the Latin text of the treaty of Ulm, with a French translation, was sent to Duchess Anne: RAH, MS Salazar Y Castro, N-22 fo. 173r-v. Flores told Pope Innocent VIII about the terms of the treaty: Flores to Innocent VIII, 21 August and 25 August, 1490, CPS Venice, 1, nos. 590, 591. On the treaty of Ulm, see also Pélicier, , Essai sur le gouvernement de la Dame de Beaujeu, p. 171–72Google Scholar; Wiesflecker, , Kaiser Maximilian, 1: 324–25Google Scholar.

116 These were the Habsburg envoys Chieregato noted as present during his first audience with Henry. They were Lodovico Bruno and Pierre Puissant, Maximilian’s secretaries, and Herman Young, who is described as a servant of the king of the Romans: PRO, E36/124, p. 63; E405/77, ml.

117 That Henry initiated reviving the alliance is suggested by the wording of Maximilian’s commission: “Comme par tresinguliere tresparfaicte Bienveullance Armour & Affection, que Nous avons a Treshault & Trespuissant Prince noster Treschier Tresame Frère le Roy de Angletere, faichans & bien accertenez qu’il ne l’a pas moindre envers Nous ainsi que tresamplement il a dit declaire & afffirme pour vérite a noz Amabassadeurs derrenierement envoiez devers Lui, & aussi le Nous a escript & fait dire par plusieurs foiz…” Foedera, ed. Rymer, 12: 393-94.

118 Flores to Innocent VIII, 5 July and 13 July 1490, CSP Venice, 1, nos. 574, 575.

119 PRO, E36/124, p. 107; E405/77, m. 5.

120 The mission of Clifford and Richmond Herald is described in the “Journals of Roger Machado,” in Memorials of King Henry the Seventh, ed. Gairdner, pp. 200-22, with English translation, pp. 369-89.

121 ADLA, B 12, fo. 144v; Arthur de le Moyne de la Borderie, “Choix de documents inédits sur le régne de la duchesse Anne de Bretagne,” Bulletin et Mémoires de la Société Archéologique d’Ille-et-Vilaine, 6 (1868), no. 43; Lobineau, Histoire de Bretagne, 1: 809.

122 Instructions and Letter of Credence from Anne, Duchess of Brittany to Jean de Chalon, Prince of Orange, and Jean de Rieux, Marshal of Brittany, 11 August 1490, RAH, MS Salazar y Castro, N-22, fos. 165r-167v.

123 The particulars of these negotiations from the Breton side are in: Instructions to Jean de Rieux, Marshal of Brittany, and Jean de Chalon, Prince of Orange, 11 August 1490; Letter of Credence of Anne, Duchess of Brittany, 11 August 1490; Letters of Jean de Chalon, Prince of Orange, Louis de Rohan, and Olivier de Coëtlogon to Anne, Duchess of Brittany, 20 August 1490; Letter of Jean de Chalon and Jean de Rieux to Duchess Anne, 20 August 1490; Instructions for France, 26 September 1490, RAH, MS Salazar y Castro, N-22, fos. 165r-167v, 171r, 172r, 179r-181v. This im-portant.material has been neglected by Breton historians. Correspondence relating to the mission to Brittany undertaken in September 1490 by Jean François de Cardone, Charles VIII’s maître d’hôtel, and Étienne Petit, one of Charles’s secretaries and notaries, are printed in B.-A. Haut-Jussé, Pocquet de, “La diplomatie d’Anne de Bretagne: documents inédits (1490),” Mélange d’archéologie et d’histoire de l’école française de Rome, 36 (1916-17): 7576Google Scholar. Antonio Flores reported what news he gathered about the negotiations between the prince of Orange and the French: Flores to Innocent VIII, 25 August 1490, CSP Venice, 1, no. 591. These negotiations are briefly mentioned in Lobineau, Histoire de Bretagne, 1: 809; Dupuy, Histoire de la réunion de la Bretagne à la France, 2: 209; Pélicier, Essai sur le gouvernement de la Dame de Beaujeu, p. 172.

124 “Contra falsas Francorum litteras pro defensione honoris serenissimi Romanorum regis semper Augusti (1491),” Négociations diplomatique entre la France et l’Austriche durant les trente premières années du XVIe siècle, 2 vols. (Paris, 1845), 1: no. 1.

125 Foedera, ed. Rymer, 12: 397-102.

126 Tudor Royal Proclamations, ed. Hughes and Larkin, 1, no. 23.

127 RAH, MS Salazar y Castro, N-22, fos. 183r-185v; ADLA, E124/16/1, 3; B 13, fos. 30r-31r, 68r; Moyne de la Borderie, “Choix de documents,” no. 56.

128 Flores to Innocent VIII, 12 August 1490, CSP Venice, 1, no. 590.

129 Charles VIII to Anne, Duchess of Brittany, 10 October 1490 (Original), RAH, MS Salazar y Castro, N-22, fo. 183r.

130 Despatches of Chieregato and Flores to Innocent VIII, 16 October and 18 November 1490, CSP Venice, 4, nos. 1022, 1025.

131 Jean Molinet, Chroniques, ed. Buchon, J. A., Collection des Chroniques Nationales Françaises, 4 vols. (Paris, 1828), 4: 115–18, 142Google Scholar; Wiesflecker, Kaiser Maximilian, 1: 294-95, 325.