BRITAIN

the French, money is demanded according to a census described by the burden of three classes, with which the Royal questors pay stipends to the soldiers; nor would anyone easily imagine with what zeal the money demanded from individual cities is contributed. Henry holds such great wealth and forces in his empire, to whom nature and fortune have granted accumulated gifts beyond the Royal name, of incomparable form and most excellent intellect; for no one from the entire English youth has equaled the King either in dignity of stature, or in beauty of countenance, or in strength of sinews. Furthermore, liberally instructed in many disciplines, he progressed in literature and sacred studies so much that he published a book against Luther with marvelous fruitfulness of intellect. Nor were those things missing which are counted in the very fame of martial praise; for no one bent a huge British longbow more tensely than the King himself, no one shot more accurately and powerfully. When the chosen armored knights clashed in a playful spectacle with hostile lances, he fulfilled that task of martial vigor with such art that the prizes proposed for the winners were most often awarded to him by the entire judgment of the people. To these great virtues, one camp glory was missing, already conceived in his great mind, and driven by the zeal of the English who, by their custom, preferred wars and battles to tranquility and leisure, burning, of course, with that hatred against the French handed down from their ancestors, by whom they were indignant to have been driven from the kingdom of France and almost the entire continent, and which, in the name of dishonor, kindled anger in brave men, especially with a girl as their leader Joan of Arc, who, with spirits of the French stirred by a certain miracle, had completely overturned with a happy daring the previous victories and those trophies of English virtue. At that time, the impotence of the French arms was vexing Pope Julius Julius II, with Louis XII pressing and urging him; for the latter, having easily routed the Pontifical army and occupied Bologna, had brought him to the highest peril of losing his dignity, with the conspiracy of several Cardinals who, desirous of new things and fugitives from the City, called the Pope, terrified by fear, to plead his case at a council proclaimed at Pisa. Circumvented by these difficulties, the Pope, unjustly and wickedly, implored the help of the most pious Kings and bestowed upon Henry the title of "Pious," because he had most promptly undertaken to defend the cause of Pontifical dignity involved in the reasons of religion. In this way, with the Spaniards and Swiss also professing that they would defend the injury of the Pope, a clear place of honesty was opened to both the greed of the English and the Royal virtue; for he sent the Earl of Dorset with strong forces into Aquitaine, where it joins Cantabria, to the river Bidasoa original: "fontem Rabidum", and with a strong fleet prepared, he ravaged the shores of Hither Britain and finally crossed into France with sixty thousand armed men. To these were added German legions and the cavalry of the Belgians, with Emperor Maximilian himself, who was in command, having been hired with royal money. Thus, Thérouanne original: "Terouana" among the Morini was besieged and captured, and incidentally, the French army which had arrived to bring help was routed in a memorable battle on the way; for the signs of almost all the wings of the French were lost to their disgrace, and commanders were captured, as among them the most noble of all, Rœulx original: "Rotelinus". With Louis also terrified and yielding to the same happiness, Tournai original: "Tornacum" in the Nervii was captured. Since then, no day has ever dawned more ignominious for Louis and the French, none more joyful for Henry and the English, when the French cavalry, always invincible in so many wars, had fled most foully at the sight of the enemy, with the contest hardly attempted; on the other hand, Henry rejoiced profusely, because he saw that in the English that happy force and discipline, observed in French wars in the memory of many ancestors, was by no means missing, and he had excellently shown the enemies how great a spirit he himself carried and with what wealth he wielded his arms; for