Page:The Queens of England.djvu/294

254 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. this war held out to him, and which with so vain-glorious a man was well calculated to have considerable weight, was that he had learned that the pope intended to take away the title of "Christianissimus" from the French king, and confer it uoon him. Henry did not accompany the troops he sent to join his wily father-in-law to attack France ; but the following year, not quite satisfied with the proceedings going on, he determined to go in person, but previously took measures to guard Eng- land against any outbreak on the part of Scotland, which, from the decitful nature of its king, he fully anticipated. Henry, having appointed Katharine regent, and invested her with al- most sovereign power, embarked at Dover, on the last day of June, 1 5 13, with about four hundred sail. The queen accom- panied him to that port, where they parted with much sorrow on her side, while Henry, filled with warlike ardor, thought more of the victories he expected to gain than of the regrets of his fond wife. Thomas Wolsey, lately taken into high favor, accompanied the king as almoner, and also discharged the duty of secretary, as may be seen by the letters addressed to him by Katharine, during his absence, in answer to his. In these letters anxiety for her husband's safety often breaks through the queenly desire that he should distinguish himself. On the 1 2th of August, the Emperor Maximilian joined Henry as a paid ally, receiving one hundred crowns a day, and wearing the cross of St. George. Katharine refers to this cir- cumstance in one of her letters to Wolsey, wherein she writes : "I think, with the company of the emperor, and with his good counsel, his grace shall not adventure himself too much, as I was afraid of before. I was very glad to hear of the meeting of them both, which hath been to my seeming the greatest honor to the king that ever came to a prince." The battle, facetiously named by the defeated "La Joiirnee des Eperons," was won on the 16th of August; and on the 24th Henry and Maximilian entered the town of Therouene, and were present at a solemn Te Deum offered up for the easy victory. But^ while Henry was carrying on the war abroad, Katharine was no less anxiously occupied at home in repelling the aggressions of the Scots, who, emboldened by the absence of the king, had invaded England. The victories of Nevill's Cross and Flodden Field were achieved during her regency; and the letter from her to Henrv announcing the last, contains many touches of