4.29 Europe: a.d. 1501 to 1600  (Page 19/29)

It should be mentioned that Netherlanders dominated music in this century, with the great Flemish composers Josquin Deprez and Orlando di Lasso greatly responsible for the development of polyphony. Perhaps this Holland accomplishment compensates, in part, for its development of a method of distilling spirits, which with Dutch encouragement led to an increased drunkenness all over Europe. (Ref. 211 , 8 , 38 , 213 )

British isles

England

This was a famous century in England, with the well known rulers Henry VIII, Queens Mary and Elizabeth and the Golden Age of English literature. The first quarter of the century was marked by an exceptional amount of unique local and foreign intrigue, deception, double-crossing and false conceptions. In the midst of this was one Thomas Woolsey, a priest whose origins we mentioned in the last chapter and who had by 1501 made himself chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury and was to rise to even greater heights from there. A second important factor was the continuation of some English territory on the continent in the marches of Calais, which had been English since it had been conquered by Edward 150 years before. It was a small area, 25 by 6 miles, but enough to justify the continued use of the title "King of France" by English kings and to maintain permanent military garrisons in Calais and Guisnes. To keep the English kings from further attempts on French territory, the kings of France paid 25,000 francs twice a year. Woolsey had some experience in the administration of Calais in 1503 and 1507 and was then taken into the service of King Henry VII.

In 1509 Henry VII died and his son Henry VIII became the monarch 2 months before his 18th birthday. He was a handsome, dashing young king, who reluctantly signed execution papers for some very unpopular tax collector-ministers of his father's regime. Even so, those tax collectors had made Henry VIII one of the richest kings in Europe and he was not long in taking advantage of this with elaborate banquets, tournament, jewels and dress.

Woolsey was already Dean of Lincoln and a second rank official in the king's government and in 1511 he was appointed a member of the Privy Council and by 1515 was a "Cardinal Sole"

Preparations for large scale war were time consuming and expensive. In the first 2 years of Henry VIII's reign his total government expenditure was 9,346 pounds but in the third year war preparations brought it up to 111,445 pounds. The whole financial arrangement, including loans from German and Flemish bankers, was handled by Cardinal Woolsey. In order to get the support of the English people it was publicly stated that by Easter, 1513 an English army of 60,000 would cross to Calais, while the Emperor Maximilian would invade France from the Netherlands, Ferdinand and his Spaniards would march into Navarre and Guienne and the pope with his Italian allies and Spanish armies in Naples attacked the French in Italy. But things were delayed and it was June 30th before Henry crossed to Calais and then heavy weather stopped everything. In the meantime James IV had invaded England from Scotland, to be defeated at the battle the English call "Branxton". Henry finally did manage to visit Margaret of Austria at Lille and besiege Tournai on the border of the Netherlands with 20,000 men. When this city fell, Woolsey was made Bishop of Tournai. But then Ferdinand double-crossed Henry and signed a truce with Louis XII and Maximilian's efforts were only "window dressing". Therefore, in secret, Woolsey and Henry, instead of invading France in 1514, signed a peace treaty at St. Germain-en-Laye, whereby Louis ceded Tournai to Henry and agreed to paying a million francs over 10 years, while Henry's beautiful, young sister, Mary, was to marry the aging Louis XII