Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 1.djvu/511

This page needs to be proofread.

when he reached the Court of Maximilian, gave expression to the general feeling about the "murders and tyrannies" of the King of England. And it was then that Maximilian declared himself willing to help Suffolk to obtain the Crown.

The Earl reached Maximilian in the Tyrol, and was most kindly received; but he was put off with repeated excuses on account of the amity between England and Maximilian's son, Philip. He was sent to Aachen for aid, and various schemes fell through. Maximilian, in truth, since the day he promised to help him, had been drawn by overtures from Henry, and, though he still had the will to some extent, his means were not equal to his will. Meanwhile several friends of Suffolk in England were imprisoned, and the Earl himself along with Curzon and other fugitives abroad were denounced as traitors at Paul's Cross (November 7, 1501) and excommunicated on the strength of a papal bull. Suffolk ran into debt at Aachen even for the necessaries of life, while of course all his property in England was confiscated. But on June 20, 1502, a treaty was made at Antwerp between Henry and Maximilian, in which the latter was promised £10,000 for his war against the Turks, on condition that he would not harbour any English rebels, even of ducal dignity (to which Suffolk still laid claim); and the money was paid to him at Augsburg on July 28, the day on which he confirmed the treaty. Aachen, however, was a free city of the Empire and Maximilian was slow to fulfil his pledges and procure Suffolk's banishment.

And now, notwithstanding Henry's treaties with foreign princes, some would have been glad to get Suffolk into their hands, in order to use him like Warbeck as a check upon England. Spain demanded his surrender from the city of Aachen under the specious guise of friendship to Henry, but was refused. In the spring of 1504, however, the Earl had hopes of assistance from Duke George of Saxony, hereditary governor of Fries-land, who apparently desired to get him into his hands only as a means of bargaining for Henry's assistance against the town of Groningen, which still withstood his authority. The Earl obtained a passport from the Duke of Gelders to enable him to pass through his country to Friesland, and was permitted to depart from Aachen, leaving his brother Richard as a hostage to his creditors for payment of his debts. But notwithstanding his safe-conduct the Duke of Gelders caused him to be taken and confined at Hattem. So the Duke of Saxony was foiled of his prize, and it was feared that the Duke of Gelders would make use of him in the same way, to bid for Henry's assistance in his quarrels with his neighbour the Archduke Philip, who since the death of Queen Isabel in November, 1504, was called King of Castile in right of his wife Juana. Gelders, however, appears to have got nothing out of Henry, when in July, 1505, King Philip's forces captured Zutphen and Hattem. Suffolk thus had a new custodian; but, peace being immediately made between Philip and Gelders, the former did not like