350 CONQUEST OF NAVARRE. II 1512 I'ART their plenipotentiaries to Blois, early in May, soon after the battle of Ravenna, with full powers to conclude a treaty of alliance and confederation with the French government.^ Ferdinand Jn tj^c mcan tittle, June 8th, an English squadron demands ' ' '-'.■*• passage. arrivcd at Passage, in Guipuscoa, having ten thou- sand men on board under Thomas Grey, marquis of Dorset,^ in order to cooperate with King Ferdi- nand's army in the descent on Guienne. This lat- ter force, consisting of two thousand five hundred horse, light and heavy, six thousand foot, and twenty pieces of artillery, was placed under Don Fadrique de Toledo, the old duke of Alva, grand- father of the general, who wrote his name in indeli- ble characters of blood in the Netherlands, under Philip the Second. '^ Before making any move- ment, however, Ferdinand, who knew the equivo- cal dispositions of the Navarrese sovereigns, deter- mined to secure himself from the annoyance which their strong position enabled them to give him on June. whatever route he adopted. He accordingly sent to request a free passage through their dominions, with the demand, moreover, that they should in- 5 Dumont, Corps Diplomatique, text, by substituting marquis of torn. iv. part. 1, p. 147. — See also Dorchester ! the king's letter to Deza, dated at 7 The young poet, Garcilasso de Burgos, July 20th, 1512, apud la Vega, gives a brilliant sketch of Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., this stern old nobleman in his cap. 235. younger days, such as our imagi- 6 Aleson, Annales de Navar- nation would scarcely have formed ra, tom. v. p. 245. — Herbert, of him at any period. Life and Raigne of Henry VIII. , " Otro Mane 'n gnerrn, en corte Febo. (London, 1649,) p. 20. — Holin- MJstmvnsc manccbo enlas senales ^1 I r<L_ ;„!„' ' ncQ II !„., del rostro, qii' i-run tales, qu' esperanci shed. Chronicles, p. 568, (London, , ^.j^^t^ coniinnva claro divan 1810.) — Mariana, Hist, de Es- acuantos Ic nilravan; qu'elscnn, paila tom ix p 315 en quien a' informaria un ser divino." His Valencian editors correct his O"™ '^- ^'^ ""'""• • ^'-
