Years after, when Louis of Orleans was King of France, he refers in his letters to Margaret to their happy youth at Amboise when
'she was the second person he loved best in the world; that he desires above all things to embrace his cousin, his vassal, his first mis-
tress, to remind her of their childish games, and after having made her blush by his compliments, to swear eternal love for her.'
In 1488 Francis II., Duke of Brittany, died, leaving only two daughters, Anne and Isabel. The latter did not long survive her father, but dying in August 1491 at the age of twelve, left her sister Anne sole possessor of the important duchy of Brittany. As early as
1480 Duke Francis had tried to arrange a marriage between his daughter Anne, or failing her, her younger sister Isabel, and the eldest son of Edward IV., King of England, but these plans were frustrated by the young prince's murder in the Tower of London.
Negotiations were then begun for an alliance with Maximilian, Duke of Austria, but were postponed owing to the princess's extreme youth. Amongst foreign alliances this seemed the most advantageous, although it offered no guarantee for the independence and maintenance of Brittany's nationality. The best way to ensure this independence would have been to marry Anne to one of the no-
9
bles of her own country chosen from amongst those who had pretensions to the ducal crown. These were three in number: John of Chalons, Prince of Orange, a son of one of 6 Duke Francis II.'s sisters; John, Viscount de Rohan, who had married Mary, daughter of Duke Francis I., who claimed to be the direct descendant of Conan Meriadec, first King of Brittany; and Alain d'Albret, husband of a great-granddaughter of Joan the Lame. When Francis II. died, only the last of these three was a widower, and he was an unsuitable husband for a princess of thirteen, being more than forty-five years of age, and the father of eight children.
The Lords of her Council advised the young duchess to marry Maximilian of Austria, King of the Romans, and Anne, who was just entering her fourteenth year, agreed to this union. The preliminary negotiations for the marriage were arranged with the greatest secrecy in March 1490. Maximilian sent the Count of Nassau, Marshal Polhain, Jacques de Codebault, his secretary, and his steward, Louppian, to Brittany to negotiate matters, and arrange the betrothal. A few days after, so secretly that the day is not known, this ceremony took place according to German custom. In order to make the marriage indissoluble, says Legendre, and to give it the appearance of a consummated marriage, the Count of Nassau (others say it was the handsome Polhain, Maximilian's favourite), who had married Anne in his master's name, put his leg bared to the knee into the bride's bed in presence of the lords and ladies who were nominated as witnesses. When the details of this ceremony were divulged they caused great derision amongst the Bretons and French, who ridiculed a custom so different from their own. This marriage was a flagrant violation of the last treaty with France, for Charles VIII., whose ward the young duchess was, had not been consulted. As soon as he received information of the fact, he sent his troops 7 into Brittany, and penetrated farther and farther into that country, and Nantes was taken almost without a struggle by Alain d'Albret. In the first days of the year 1491 Charles VIII., accompanied by the Count of Dunois, Louis, Duke of Orleans, and the Lady of Beaujeu, joined his army in Brittany. The king held his Court at Nantes, and did his utmost to insinuate himself into the good graces of the inhabitants.
Anne, at the head of a small army under her tutor, the Marshal de Rieux, vainly tried to struggle against the French invaders. After many skirmishes, de Rieux obliged the French to retire to lower Brittany, until he received reinforcements from England. Anne showed a courage beyond her years and worthy of better success. She took refuge at last in the town of Rennes with her uncle the Prince of Orange, Marshal Polhain, and several faithful nobles, having only 14,000 men to defend her, principally English archers, Germans, and Spaniards, sent by her husband, the King of the Romans.
In 1491 the French laid siege to the town. Charles gradually drew his lines closer and closer; lack of food and money began to be felt in the beleaguered city. Charles offered the duchess 100,000 crowns a year if she would renounce the Government of Brittany, and choose any dwelling-place she pleased except the towns of Rennes and Nantes; he also suggested the choice of three husbands, either Louis of Luxembourg, the Duke of Nemours, or the Count of Angouleme.
Anne replied that she was married to the King of the Romans, and that if he refused to have her, she still would consider herself his wife, and would never be the wife of another. Should Maximilian die, and 8 she be in a position to remarry, she would only marry a king or the son of a king.
Charles, convinced of her obstinacy, then tried to induce her garrison to desert. Being chiefly mercenary troops they succumbed to persistent bribery, and marched out of the town, leaving it free for him to enter. After taking possession he made a new proposition to the duchess, namely, to renounce for ever all rights to the duchy of Brittany excepting an allowance of PS100,000 a year, and retire to the King of the Romans, whom she looked upon as her husband.
Towards the end of the siege of Rennes, Anne's youngest sister, Isabel, died in the town on the 24th August 1491. By her death in her twelfth year Anne was left sole heiress of the largest duchy in Europe. This was too attractive a bait for Charles's ambition, and he made up his mind to break his marriage with his old playfellow Margaret, and to do all in his power to make Anne accept him as her husband.
It is no wonder that the young Duchess of Brittany or rather her advisers were in no hurry to reply to Charles's last monstrous proposition. After waiting some time he again tried a new plan, and, partly by threats and partly by promises, persuaded her advisers to work on their young mistress's mind in such a way as to bring her to think more kindly of him. Her uncle, Prince of Orange, Marshal de Rieux, Montauban, Chancellor of Brittany, and her governess, Frances of Dinan, talked so much on the subject, that by degrees they got her slightly to change her mind. It was no wonder that Anne felt a great repugnance for Charles, who for three years had carried on war against her, ruining her lands, 9 and under pretext of being her lawful protector trying to take her prisoner. For several days her councillors, won over by Charles, endeavoured to bring her to reason, without success; but at last her governess had recourse to her confessor, who persuaded her that God and the Church ordained that she should make this sacrifice for the sake of peace and the good of her country.
Charles, under pretence of a pilgrimage, went with all his Court to the chapel of Our Lady situated near the gates of Rennes. After performing his religious duties he suddenly entered the town, accompanied by his sister, Anne de Beaujeu, Count Dunois, and a
10
hundred men-at-arms and fifty archers of the guard. The next day he paid a visit to the young duchess, and had a long interview with her. Three days later their betrothal was celebrated in the chapel of Our Lady in presence of the Duke of Orleans, Count Dunois, and Anne de Beaujeu on one side; the Chancellor of Brittany, the Prince of Orange, and several nobles devoted to the duchess on
the other.
Marshal Wolfgang de Polhain, instructed by Maximilian to betroth Anne to his master, heard a rumour of this hasty alliance. He questioned the French and Breton nobles, but they refused to give him an answer. A few days later he was invited to the marriage ceremony which had been arranged to take place in the castle of Langeais in Touraine. Polhain refused to attend, and hastened to Malines to give Maximilian an account of these proceedings.
This sudden marriage caused great astonishment throughout Europe. How could people believe that the young duchess, then in her fourteenth year, and 10 well able to understand the importance of her acts, had consented to marry a king who for years had made war against her and despoiled her of her heritage! Besides it was well known that since the Treaty of Arras in 1483 Charles had been affianced to Maximilian's daughter,