Pauli Iovii Novocomensis opera quotquot extant omnia

through those days the news of the Scottish victories also made the opinion of his very ample forces and the very fortune of the King clearer. A great praise of splendor and liberality was sought from that, and with all the greater celebration because the French always required that one thing in Louis, who was parsimonious and very narrowly moderated in military donations; for there was no one from the entire order, whether of foreigners or his own men, who did not carry off silver vessels, golden torques, arms in short and horses, or military gifts and insignia to be handed down to posterity, in the name of virtue and friendship. These things having been done, lest he attack the rest with his arms now clearly victorious, excluded by time, he returned to England, where finally content with honest glory, through the agency of Rœulx, who was a captive, he made peace with Louis, and Mary, his sister, was immediately given to him in marriage, so that by that bond of affinity the treaties of peace might be ratified more certainly and solidly. However, those nuptials, very untimely for both age and health, quickly brought about the end of Louis’s life; but the same peace remained inviolate with Francis, his successor, with whom he finally crossed to the continent and came into a colloquy at Calais. There both kings joined hands and, cheerful with mutual security, vied in all offices of liberality and humanity; for feasts were celebrated soon after with huge luxury, and jousts were put on with an admirable preparation of all things, so that with royal wealth shown on both sides, they seemed to have offered the most beautiful spectacle by far to the eyes of so many foreign nations. But in such a celebration, and such a concourse of nobles and kings and men of every kind, nothing at all was more majestic and beautiful than the kings themselves, when, being almost equal in age between themselves, and of exceptional height and martial decorum, they surpassed all in a wonderful dignity for the royal habit. A few days later, he also received Emperor Charles, who, having been carried from Spain by fleet, had landed in England; for between the two, already thinking of breaking the peace with hostile minds, he wished to be considered the judge and arbiter, since he had the forces to terrify if anyone had refused to obey his judgment a little more harshly and stubbornly, as would have been fair; for he wished the wealth of both to be equalized, so that he might keep this one and that one, suspended in his doubtful zeal and will, equally in hope and fear in his friendship. But with a war soon arising between Emperor Charles and King Francis, by which all of Europe went to extreme calamities, he retreated to the side of Caesar, nor was he drawn away from him until, by the nefarious arms of the Imperialists, Rome having been sacked and Pope Clement captured, an execrable and by far the greatest wound was inflicted upon the Christian religion; for, pitying the fall of the sacrosanct Empire with remarkable piety, he helped the Pope with money, at the pleading of Uberto Gambara, the Legate, who had opportunely reported the miseries of the Roman slaughter and the captured Pope, and he adhered to the French with remarkable consensus so that the captured Pope might be restored to freedom and his pristine dignity. But not much later, when he was in possession of all his wishes, the disease of insane love invaded him, Fortune mocking his excessive happiness; for captivated by the allurements of Anne Boleyn, who was among the girls of the Queen in the court, in order to enjoy legitimate embraces, he sent a bill of divorce to his wife Catherine; for the Boleyn woman seemed to be going to yield to royal lust in no other way than in the hope of the marital bed; for she was of equestrian family, but in intellect, under the guise of modesty, very cunning and ambitious, so much so that when she would stubbornly and modestly refuse the extreme ends of love even in secret lying-down, she granted all other things for tormenting the King’s mind with artificial lasciviousness and a certain bland impropriety. Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal of York, favored the wish of Anne and the crime of the King,