Revolucion? Je ne compris!
The generation of Hapsburg rule over Europe was both a period of unprecedented peace and a period of stark contrasts between the haves and have nots of Europe. The 'haves' (namely the Imperials) dominated every major European institution, from trade to religion to the Empire. The have-nots (the Italian city-states, the German states, England, Poland, Scandinavia, as well as those French and Portuguese nobles who were shirked by Imperial control of their countries) had to find their own ways to rebel against this increasingly powerful order. To some degree, we can say that such a rebellion against the Hapsburgs was inevitable, but the way that it occurred--leagues of alliances in some regions, the Protestant Reformation in others--was no where near as inevitable. In the meanwhile, in many cases the people of the Imperial countries weren't any better off. In this entry I will detail the politics of Hapsburg Europe using two examples--France and Italy. In the next section I will discuss the Reformation and the Reaction to it.
Haves: France
The policy of Henri II was driven by one thing and one thing only: the fear of a second general uprising. This is understandable: the War of the Commonwealth showed Henri that he wouldn't be supported by his Hapsburg brethren, who hedged their bets and retained a policy of neutrality, and ended with what could be described as a capitulation by the new dynasty. Although technically the war was won by the Imperial side with the victory at Rouergue, the Treaty of Toulouse essentially legalized the court of a pretender to the throne. The League of the Commonwealth became drastically more popular throughout Henri's reign, and most of his policies can be seen as counteracting the threat posed by a revolt caused by the League. We can see this in 3 general facts: Henri's reliance on mercenaries, the massive surplus of the French treasury, and his isolation of the French army academy. All three of these came out of a desire to incapacitate the French Army's ability to join any incipient revolt.
Henri's reliance on mercenaries can be seen quite clearly in the composition of the French diplomatic corps, which had three main departments through the early 16th century--the two usual departments (assigned to relations within and without the Commonwealth) were accompanied by a third, which dealt strictly with relations to the major mercenary companies of Europe. D'Estrees reports to Henri II show us that he was in contact with over 50 companies, all together amounting to more than 60,000 men, who would be hired in case of a revolt. Furthermore, the French army shifted in the 1520s from being comprised of mainly French soldiers to being an almost exclusively German operation. Landsknechts--elite German mercenaries--replaced the French pikeman as the core of the French army.
German mercenaries, who were considered by Henri to be more loyal than French pikemen
But keeping all these mercenaries in the French army (and keeping so many more on call) was an expensive proposition, which then explains Henri's massive surplus. Hardly any money was spent during the entirety of Henri II's administration. With one notable exception, most of France's public infrastructure projects (star fortresses in the county of Parma and in the newly conquered Burgundian lands, as well as the Imperial Road, a massive paved road which stretched from Antwerp through Paris and Madrid to Seville) were paid for by the more well off Austrian emperor. In fact, the treasury of France maintained a 1,000,000 livre surplus through most of the 1540s, which was caused as much by a need to keep money on hold to pay for mercenaries in case of a revolt as it was caused by the far stronger nobility's dislike for projects aimed at urban France.
The only gains made by France during Henri's reign was the incorporation of two minor countries into the French commonwealth--namely the County of Hainaut and the Duchy of Lombardia. Both of these gains would seem simple on the face of it but became highly complicated due to intra-Hapsburg rivalries. Hainaut's position between the French and Austrian Netherlands made it prime territory, because it was one of the few paths through which an army could cross the swampland of the northern Rhine. However, Henri (as the elder brother of the Count of Hainaut), was technically the legal heir to the County, and his younger brother was facing the same threat of revolt as he was. With these in place, Henri was able to pressure his younger brother into vassalage (using the threat of a challenge to his younger brother's authority and the promise of protection from a potential revolt) pretty easily.
The vassalage of Hainaut
Milan faced similar problems, as a minor holding which had just broken free of Burgundian control before the Hapsburg inheritance. With a new dynasty in control (the De Torino's, a family which hadn't even been of noble blood until given the title by the Duke of Burgundy) and little to no allies, Milan was forced into compliance by its geographical position--Northern Italy was completely dominated by the Hapsburg empire. The incorporation of Milan was given very little attention by every major corporate group in France with the exception of the League of the Commonwealth. To the League, this incorporation represented the possibility that France would finally be able to assert her dominance over the long-lost vassal of Savoy. But any attempts by Henri to incorporate Savoy was blocked by his elder cousins in Vienna--Matthias just wasn't willing to give that much Imperial land to his younger cousin--especially considering that his younger cousin was presiding over a tinderbox.
The problem of Savoy brings me to Italy, and the unique situation which developed there as a result of Hapsburg dominance. Conveniently, this also brings me to the early years of Remy Bourbon y Valois
Have Nots: Italy
Italy in 1540. Members of the Italian League are highlighted in Green (the Duchy of Modena) or light blue. With the sometime exceptions of Genoa and Venice, every other country in Italy was under Hapsburg influence for most of the 16th century. Note that Modena is fighting one of many imperial-sponsored pretenders and would-be coup members which afflicted Italy until 1550.
Italy had been a battleground for 200 years by the ascension of Henri II, with several powers (Austria and France being notable ones) playing the city-states off of each other and attempting to gain her the rich territories. This dynamic (Italy as the playground of the Great Powers) would have stayed through the 16th century (we can see shades of it in the conflict over Savoy), if it weren't for a minor coup in Tuscany in 1490.
The Medici family which had governed Tuscany had run the republic deep into the ground by that point, with wars against Sienna and loans to pay off Swiss mercenaries to fight their personal rivals. The key figure in the coup, besides Antonia de Pisa (a mercenary captain who returned to his home at the end of the coup) was a young philosopher by the name of Niccolo Machiavelli.
Machiavelli was known for his political acumen, his way with words, and his smug assed grin
Machiavelli came to dominate the Senate which the coup members set up as a form of government. His faction, the Italianos, had a great resemblance to the League of the Commonwealth (indeed the League of the Commonwealth based many of her institutions off of structure of the Italiano faction) and aimed towards an end to intra-Italian conflict. To Machiavelli, the choices were clear--if the New Republic of Tuscany allied herself with one of the Great Powers, she would find herself in another great power conflict and would likely last less than a decade. Instead, Machiavelli had himself appointed ambassador to the City-state of Sienna, which was isolated after her conquest of Roma. Arguing that without unity Italy would surely fall one by one, Machiavelli was soon able to create an alliance between the two pariah governments of Sienna and Tuscany. But it wasn't until 1520, with the failure of an Imperial-backed Medici countercoup, that the Tuscan-Siennese alliance was expanded into the Italian League, a multilateral alliance between all of the major city states, counties, and duchies of central Italy, including Tuscany, Sienna, Urbino and Modena. The Italian League's main goal was to protect each other's sovereignty in the face of the forces of the Empire.
But Machiavelli did more than craft a simple alliance. As one of the senior influential members of the Tuscan Senate, he made a series of moves in an attempt to 'decolonize' Italy. The most important one, which was followed up by similar legislation throughout Italy, was a pseudo-nationalization of mercenary work in Italy. The major mercenary companies were bought by their respective cities and turned into police forces, patrols, and professional militaries. With this reform, Machiavelli seriously cut down on political instability in Italy, and gave Italy one of the most elite armies in Europe.
It had another effect. Desperate for on-call mercenaries, the nationalization of the Italian soldiers-of-fortune companies forced Henri into recognition of the Italian League's sovereignty. In 1541 France became the first Hapsburg holding to send ambassadors to Florence (the seat of the Italian Parliament) in order to negotiate for mercenary contracts. Among the ambassadors was the young Remy Bourbon.
A later portrait of the young Remy Bourbon
Remy started his career in the French government in the Army Academy, which, though far less prestigious, was still
the place to go for a martial education. He attended the cavalry school and graduated within 2 years, showing skill in horsemanship, fencing, raiding strategy, counter-partisanship, and in offensive actions. At the end of his schooling he wrote a 100 page history of the War of the League of Vendee which remains one of the chief sources on the war. After his graduation he became a member of de Maurepas' staff, participating in one of many actions against Breton revolters (
Which isn't even noteworthy other than me placing Remy in it. I had a couple of revolts in Brittany over years, always less than 7,000, usually lacking cavalry. However they were 'nationalist' rather than 'peasant' revolters so they had to be chased around Brittany). Remy served with honors, leading his company in battle in more than 10 skirmishes through northern Brittany in which he lost less than ten men. However, the amount of time he had to wait for infantry support to keep up led him to suggest an all cavalry army to de Maurepas, which would be used against partisans. Such an army would be realized in 1540, known as the Gardes de la France.
However Remy would not remain in the military for long. Letters from him to Francine Hapsburg show that he had realized by the age of 20 that not only was a military career a dead end, it wasn't a dead end he wanted to remain in any longer:
I cannot deal with the pettyness peers, the pedantic attitude of my superiors, all the while knowing that the virtue of my men (what virtue there is) is going unrewarded. The army an end, not a beginning, and all of my soldiers know this. I am accompanied with itinerants, criminals, and barbarians of all types. This is supposed to be the cream of the French army? This is supposed to be the force which keeps our great Empire together?
Remy's use of 'Empire' is critical here. This letter was dated 1538, which would put him at 21. The common histiography of Remy Bourbon's life was that he was only converted to his father's cause of anti-Imperial pseudonationalism later, under the tutelage of the wizened Machiavelli. But this was 2 years before Remy transferred to the diplomatic corps and he was already using the capitalized Empire, a term far more common in the scriptures of the League of the Commonwealth than in any official documents.
Furthermore, even at an early point the letters between Machiavelli and Bourbon have a lot of discrepancies.
To the French government said:
My superior,
My first meeting with Consul Machiavelli went well. I have established without a doubt the opinion of our government, ie that the stability of all of Northern Italy--from Venice to Mantua to Savoy Genoa and our Milanese protectorate--is the prime interest of our government and our cousin governments in Italy. Furthermore, I believe that I have negotiated the end of Italian support for Neapolitan rebels in our ally Spain's holdings
His letter to Machiavelli shows a different story, however:
To Consul Machiavelli said:
Of course Imperial interference in the sovereign lands of Italy is untenable. But I cannot speak for the Empire, I speak only for France. And I know that France's only interest are in Savoy, Milan, and Genoa. I care no more about your support for Neapolitan revolters than I would care about a tax revolt in Persia. Your matters are your own
Although Bourbon seems to be playing both sides at this point, he quickly starts warming to Consul Machiavelli. And why not? Both saw themselves as marginalized by the Empire, both were highly cultured men, literate in Latin and Greek and interested in Classical works. Furthermore Remy Bourbon, always looking for a teacher, had finally seen in Machiavelli a man whom he considered his greater. His affection for Machiavelli and the Italian cause was showing by 1545--ambassadorial funds marked 'rouge cullottes', the name for one of the Neapolitan seperatist factions, shows Remy's allegiances rather comprehensively. His last letter (on the subject of Tuscan governmental reform) before the discovery that he was funneling funds from the League of the Commonwealth to Naples shows that an affectionate relationship had been developed between the Italian politician and the French prince.
My dearest Niccolo said:
I must admit my bias in favor of monarchies, after all the French monarchy has never done me wrong. But to paraphrase Aristotle a monarchy is only in its purest form when it is the rule of the Greatest (in an Aristocracy one need only the rule of many Great men rather than one genius), and related to our conversations I severely doubt that you could convert Tuscany from a Republic into a Duchy within a day or even a year. An in-between form, a noble republic, serves your purposes just as well. I have in my possession a copy of the constitution of the failed noble republic of Auvergne, when I next travel to the Universite de la Pon I will get my copy and give it to you, I feel that you can learn much from its failures. In short, I don't think that you will become Duke Nicollo I anytime soon. But, perhaps, you can aim for the title of Prince?
But Remy Bourbon never gave Machiavelli his copy. During his travel to France, Bourbon was arrested by French soldiers for treason (for his use of state moneys towards the funding of Neapolitan rivals). He managed to get by without jailing or an execution (he was, after all, the son-in law to the King), but was asked while he was in holding if he felt that it was right to commit suicide for his country. Bourbon was brought back to Paris and worked in the French treasury until 1548, when the most unexpected news came to him.
