upon the state of the defences at Calais,* and to remove Sir John Wallop, the governor of that town, and place Sir Edward Rangeley in his stead. Soon after his return home, he received a great mark of the King's favour and trust, for to him was entrusted the principal management of affairs in London, in conjunction with Cranmer and Lord Audley, during Henry's progress in the north, which lasted from July to November ;† immediately after which he was employed in a matter of the utmost delicacy, being, together with Cranmer, the recipient of the charges of adultery made against Catherine Howard.‡ In September, 1542, Hertford served in a cam paign on the borders of Scotland, under the Duke 1542. of Norfolk, and was appointed Warden of the Scot tish marches with very large powers, enabling him to levy and arm the tenants, farmers, and inhabitants of the northern counties, to confer titles and determine causes, &c. He soon found, however, that he was unable to carry out all that he desired to do for the safety of the borders, owing to the supineness of the Council of the North, and that he was making enemies for himself through his habit of writing full and true accounts of what was going on to the King, a proceeding which, though pleasing to Henry, did not meet with approval in other quarters. Indeed his friend Paget had to write and caution him on this subject on more than one occasion. (Note 26.) Fortunately, perhaps, for him, he was recalled in November, at his own request.§ He now resumed his attendance at Court, and soon received another mark of the King's favour, for, in December, he was made Lord High Admiral. This post, however, he did not retain long, for on his appointment as Great Chamberlain, the January following, he *Gairdner, State Papers; Proc. Privy Council, vii, 130. + State Papers, i, 660-690. Hume, Chron. Henry VIII, p. 82. $ Gairdner, State Papers; Hamilton Papers (from the Longleat MSS.). 1543. resigned in favour of Lord Lisle.* Later in the year he again had the honour of entertaining the King for a few days at Wolfhall.† On the 5th of March, in the following year, he was appointed Lieutenant-General in the North, with 1544. orders to prepare an army for the invasion of Scotland, for the purpose of punishing the Scots, who had broken the existing treaty, and made an alliance with France. Accompanied by Sir Ralph Sadler, he repaired to Newcastle to await the arrival of the army and fleet, and to arrange about supplies, which, being scarce in the north, had to be brought from London and other ports. Proclamations had meanwhile been issued naming Henry guardian of the young Scottish Queen and Protector of the Realm,§ and many of the Scotch Protestants had offered to join Hertford and to assassinate Cardinal Beaton, who was looked upon as the author of the war. Hertford, however, refused their assistance. Owing to contrary winds, the expedition was delayed for some time at Newcastle, but on the 1st of May the Earl set out with 200 sail of transports and arrived in the Firth of Forth on the 3rd. He at once began operations by burning St. Menance and removing the shipping he found there. On the 4th, he landed ten thousand men at Grantham Cragg, took Blackness Castle, and advanced upon Leith. Here he was confronted by about 6,000 Scottish horse, with some artillery, who, however, retired upon Edinburgh after firing a few shots. The garrison of Leith made so slight a resistance that the town was captured with the loss of but two or three men.|| Hertford was now reinforced by the arrival of 4,000 light horse under Lord Evers. Leith was made into the headquarters of the expedition, the fleet was brought * State Papers, Henry VIII. + Dict. Nat. Biog. Dict. Nat. Biog. Proclamations, Addit. MS., 32654, 49, 58. into the harbour, the heavy artillery and stores were landed, and in a few days the Earl commenced his march on Edinburgh. On the way he was met by the Provost of Edinburgh, who had come to offer a capitulation of that town, on the condition that the inhabitants should be allowed to depart with all their goods and that the town itself should not be burnt. Hertford, however, would listen to no terms, insisting on an unconditional surrender.* Meanwhile the garrison of Edinburgh had received a reinforcement of about 2,000 horsemen, under the Earl of Bothwell and Lord Hume, and resolved to defend the town. Their resistance, however, was not of long duration, for on the following day the Canongate was blown in by Sir Christopher Morris and the city captured. In the attack the Scots lost about 200 slain, and the remainder took refuge in the castle, the strength of which preserved it from assault.† The Earl, whose orders from the King and Council were to do all the damage he could, set fire to the town after it had been pillaged for two days, and completely burnt it, the Abbey and Palace of Holyrood being destroyed with the rest. At the same time the country for six miles round was laid bare by Lord Evers' light horse men. The army now retired to Leith, and the fleet was sent out to find and destroy all the shipping it could find in the Firth. In addition it destroyed many towns and villages on the banks, as well as the fortress on Inchgavey. This done, the Earl placed all his heavy artillery on board the fleet, which was also loaded with spoil, removed the shipping from the harbour, destroyed the pier, and burnt the town. On May 15th he was already on the * Correspondence of Lord Hertford, Addit. MS., 32654; Froude, &c. † Correspondence of Lord Hertford, Addit. MS., 32654; Froude, &c. Hamilton Papers. march in the neighbourhood of Dunbar, where a Scottish force was drawn up to oppose him. No action, however, took place, and the town was set on fire in the night. On the 18th the army was back at Berwick.* The celerity and success of this expedition, which had only lasted eighteen days, were highly approved of by the King and Council, the more so as a considerable portion of the Earl's army was required at once to take part in an expedition into France. Lord Hertford himself returned in June, and the King, who intended to command the French expedition in person, chose him as Lieutenant of the Realm, under the Queen Regent, during his own absence.t The Earl did not, however, have to contend with the difficulties of this appointment for long, for on the 13th of August, being summoned by the King, he joined the army at Hardelot Castle, where he was employed as one of the Ambassadors to settle terms of peace with the French representatives. These negotiations proving fruitless, Henry continued the siege of Boulogne, which he had already invested. This town soon surrendered to him.t "If the accounts given by the French writers of those times be true, Henry owed his success to treachery. Thus far at least is certain. De Vervins§ was afterwards brought to trial for his conduct on the occasion. He was charged with having agreed with the Earl of Hertford to capitulate for the sum of 150,000 rose nobles, and with having procured the assassination of Phillipe de Corse, whose honest bravery had thwarted his treacherous designs. The charges were considered as having been fully proved, and De Vervins was beheaded."|| Charles V had meanwhile been privately carrying on * Froude's Hist. ; Lord Hertford's Correspondence, &c. Nott. Surrey's Works, 69. negotiations with the French, with the result that, within five days of the capture of Boulogne, a peace was concluded between him and the French King. Being thus left to carry on the war alone, Henry sent a deputation, of which Hertford was the head, to attend a conference of the three Powers at Calais (October 18). No result following this conference, Hertford and Gardiner were despatched to Brussels, where, after considerable difficulties and delays, they obtained three interviews with the Emperor, from which, however, they obtained no satisfactory terms for an alliance. They were therefore recalled (November 21st), and preparations were made to renew the war, Hertford being given the command of the army.t The following January, having examined and reported on the defences of Guisnes, the Earl joined his 1545. army at Boulogne, and successfully defeated a determined attack made by the French on that place. They had encamped before it to the number of 14,000 men, while Hertford's force numbered barely half the number. Undeterred, however, by the odds against him, the latter had sallied out in the morning, before dawn, with about 4,000 foot and 700 horse, and surprised the French with the suddenness and determination of his attack. They fled, panic-stricken, leaving their guns, stores, and ammunition to the victors. Matters had not, meanwhile, gone so well for the English in the north, where they had suffered a severe defeat at the hands of the Scots. It was thought advisable, therefore, to recall Hertford, whose signal victory had saved Boulogne for the time, and send him to the north as Lieutenant-General in place of the Earl of Shrewsbury. This was accordingly done in May, but it was not till August that the expedition was ready to start, * State Papers, 63, 119-36, 147. † State Papers, Addit. MS., 25114, ff. 312, 315. |