VI. 1 THE ITALIAN WARS. 97 By the death of Maximilian he inherited the Austrian states, but these he presently gave up to his brother Fer- dinand. Francis's hatred and ijealousy towards the new Emperor-elect knew no bounds, and it was the desire of overthrowing Charles that brought about the celebrated meeting between Francis and Henry VIII. between Ardres and Giiisiies. This was the most useless as well as the most wasteful of conferences, for Henry was at- tached to Charles both by kinship and on principle ; and though he feasted, danced, and wrestled with Francis, he would not give any aid against Charles. But Pope Leo X., bent, like Julius, on using one set of barbarians to drive the other out of Italy, offered Francis a passage for attacking the Spaniards in Naples, and thus rekindled the war. Francis was ready enough to defy Charles, but " he blew the horn or ever he drew the sword," and at the first note the Milanese rose against his governor, Lnutrec, a proud, greedy man, and for the fourth time the French had to retreat beyond the Alps. Leo died a few days later, and, after the eight months' papacy of Hadi'ian V/., another Medici was chosen, Clement VII. 16. The Constable of Bourbon, 1521. — The cause of Francis's delay was a quarrel with the constable, who, on the death of his wife and child, had become Duke of Bourbon. He was young, splendid, and almost frantic with the fierce pride cultivated by the nobles, and Louise of Savoy would fain have made him her second husband, but he rejected her with scorn as a shameless woman. In revenge she laid claim through her mother to Susan's inheritance, and the obsequious parliament would not decide against her. In his rage the constable intrigued with Charles V. and Henry VIII., proposing himself to become King of Provence — again reviving the notion of the middle kingdom — while Henry was to have'Guienne. On the discovery of his treason he fled to Italy, and joined the imperial army under the Marquess of Pes- cara. Francis's favourite, the Admiral Bonnivet, had been sent to besiege Milan, but was forced to retreat before Pescara, and in a skirmish near Romagnola lost Bayard, who, left dying on the field, was honourably treated by the Spaniards. The French were pursued to their own borders, and Bourbon undertook to lead the Spaniards straight to Paris, but Pescara, not trusting him, refused to advance without first taking Marseilles, and being foiled in this, retieated on the advance of Francis. H
