at the French Court and was heir to
the Scottish throne, should James IV.'s issue fail. His appearance was
the utter discomfiture of the party of England; Margaret was besieged
in Stirling and ultimately forced to give up her children to Albany's
keeping, and seek safety in flight to her brother's dominions.[209]

[Footnote 208: _L. and P._, i., 4483, 4502; ii.,
654.]

[Footnote 209: It was said by the Scots Estates
that she had forfeited her claim to their custody
by her marriage with Angus (_ibid._, ii., 1011).]

Technically, Francis had not broken his treaty with England, but he
had scarcely acted the part of a friend; and if Henry could retaliate
without breaking the peace, he would eagerly seize any opportunity
that offered. The alliance with Ferdinand and Maximilian was renewed,
and a new Holy League formed under Leo's auspices. But Leo soon
afterwards made his peace at Bologna with France. Charles was under
French influence, and Henry's council and people were not prepared for
war. So he refused, says Giustinian, Ferdinand's invitations to join
in an invasion of France. He did so from no love of Francis, and it
was probably Wolsey's ingenuity which suggested the not very scrupulous
means of gratifying Henry's wish for revenge. Maximilian was (p. 089)
still pursuing his endless quarrel with Venice; and the seizure of
Milan by the French and Venetian allies was a severe blow to
Maximilian himself, to the Swiss, and to their protege, Sforza. Wolsey
now sought to animate them all for an attempt to recover the duchy,
and Sforza promised him 10,000 ducats a year from the date of his
restoration. There was nothing but the spirit of his treaty with
France to prevent Henry spending his money as he thought fit; and it
was determined to hire 20,000 Swiss mercenaries to serve under the
Emperor in order to conquer Milan and revenge Marignano.[210] The
negotiation was one of great delicacy; not only was secrecy absolutely
essential, but the money must be carefully kept out of Maximilian's
reach. "Whenever," wrote Pace, "the King's money passed where the
Emperor was, he would always get some portion of it by force or false
promises of restitution."[211] The accusation was justified by
Maximilian's order to Margaret, his daughter, to seize Henry's
treasure as soon as he heard it was on the way to the Swiss.[212] "The
Emperor,"