Between Two Kings (19 page)

François smiled. He valued her opinion and her shrewd mind. “As Scotland is quite a poor country, the Scottish King will want to have much money from France.”

A smile passed across the cardinal’s face, his white beard glistening like snowflakes in the afternoon autumn sun. “Your Majesty, if you permit me, I will convey your wishes to Madame Marie’s father. I am sure that the Duke de Guise won’t have any objections, thinking that it is a real luck for his daughter to become the Queen of Scotland.”

“You have my permission and approval, Your Eminence. Thank you,” the king said to Tournon, still looking at Anne. “The marriage contract should be finalized by early 1538,” he added.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Tournon replied.

“Your Majesty, what other alliances are you planning to establish in Italy?” Anne continued their political discussion.

“We have an alliance with the Duchy of Milan and the Papal States. If we add an alliance with the Republic of Venice, it will more than enough for now,” the king replied.

“What about the Republic of Genoa?” she inquired.

François smiled ironically. “Genoa would be the first place in Italy I would consider attacking if I wanted to capture the whole of Italy and to undermine Spain’s financial power. Genoa will never ally with us.” He cleared his throat. “However, I am interested only in the Duchy of Savoy and the Duchy of Milan in the first place. I don’t want other Italian lands,” he commented.

Anne was astonished that the King of France seemed to have tamed his appetite for the conquest of Italy. “What is so distinctive about Genoa?”

“When the great Admiral Andrea Doria, coming from the powerful Genoese Doria family, allied with the emperor so as to win the war against France and restore Genoa’s independence in 1528, Charles started taking gigantic loans from the Genoese bankers who were financing many of the emperor’s foreign endeavors. The siege of Genoa would undoubtedly undermine the financial power of the Holy Roman Empire and Spain,” Cardinal de Tournon explained.

Anne didn’t have the greatest knowledge of Italian politics, but she wanted to learn more on the matter. “Then if the emperor is scheming against France and something goes wrong in the war, the Ottoman Empire, the ally of France, will begin the siege of Genoa,” she inferred.

François smiled at her astuteness. “Exactly.”

“What about the Republic of Florence?” Anne asked curiously. “Catherine de’ Medici, the Dauphine of France, is the daughter of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino, the former ruler of Florence. The Medici family seems to enjoy a solid position in Florence.”

“The Medici marriage was supposed to bring to France a strategic and much needed alliance with Italy. In addition, a huge dowry was offered, including Pisa and Livorno. However, Pope Clement VII died in 1534, and Catherine’s dowry wasn’t paid to us,” the King of France enlightened. “
Catherine came to me almost naked
.”

“The marriage to Catherine de’ Medici brought nothing to us,” Tournon said sorrowfully.

“Nothing, except headache,” François jeered.

Anne and Cardinal de Tournon smiled at the king’s joke.

“I wonder whether I should appeal to the pope to annul Henri’s marriage to Catherine. I still don’t know what to do,” the king speculated. He looked at Tournon. “Many people advise me to annul this marriage because there are too many problems in this matrimony. There was no dowry, and it seems that there would be no heirs in this marriage.” He hinted that Tournon was one of the primary supporters of Henri’s divorce from Catherine.

Anne knew why François was so anxious. His son Henri, the Dauphin of France, wasn’t pleased with his wife, and, most importantly, Catherine had failed to produce a male heir since Dauphin Henri married her in 1533. It was quite a dilemma for François because the Dauphin needed to have a fertile wife, able of bearing sons. Anne felt a sort of sympathy for Catherine de’ Medici who was under great pressure from the Valois family and the whole of France. Anne felt the same pressure when she was the Queen of England.

“It is how Your Majesty wishes,” Tournon replied cautiously.

François shrugged. “Your Eminence, I need more time to think about this marriage.” He cast a warm glance at Anne, jumping to another subject. “As you see, Anne, the Valois relations with the Medici are quite strained at the moment. Besides, the Medici are very obliged to the emperor who helped them restore their power in Florence after they had once again been deposed by the anti-Medici faction in 1527, upon learning of the Papal States’ defeat during 
the War of the League of Cognac
. As a result, an alliance with Florence is almost unbelievable at this stage.”

Anne smiled. “Since Your Majesty is interested mainly in the Duchy of Savoy and the Duchy of Milan, it should be enough for France to have the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, and the Ottoman Empire as our allies, given that France has the Duchy of Milan, and the Duchy of Savoy as the supporters of France in the war with the emperor. France can feel relatively safe in a military and diplomatic arena in Northern Italy,” she concluded.

François smiled. “You are right, Anne.”

As Anne’s blue eyes locked with François’ amber eyes, Anne felt that the king’s gaze was kind and warm. She didn’t break her gaze from his. She smiled in response and took in a deep breath. His dark eyes glistened at the sight of her smile, and he suddenly glanced away.

During all the time they were spending together, François watched Anne. He sighed every time he compared the beautiful, charming, joyful Anne Boleyn whom he had met in Calais in the winter of 1532 with the new Anne who had become Queen Anne of France, though so far uncrowned. The new Anne wasn’t less beautiful and attractive. On the contrary, her unconventional, exotic beauty had evolved into something more attractive. For François, her strikingly blue almond-shaped eyes, framed with dark lashes and spaced just far enough apart to give her an exotic air, were the most beloved feature on Anne’s face. The old Anne Boleyn had sparkling blue eyes that were merry and conspiratorial.

The new Anne had the same blue eyes, but they were stony and had only with a muted sparkle. François noted that Anne had become more feminine, even startlingly feminine. Something enigmatic, probably even tragic, had settled in each part of her face and in the air around her. There was an enigmatic, incredible, and larger-than-life combination of feelings that were aroused in men who met Anne. The new Anne had much greater magnetism that dragged admirers and worshipers to her.

Was that magnetism so strong because she was enigmatic? Were the changes in Anne the straightforward result of the tragedies she had to survive because of King Henry? What did she feel about Henry and her past? He didn’t know and so he was cautious.

François was very interested in this new Anne. He adored her for her beauty, her intelligence, and her strength. He could say that Anne was probably even stronger than his first deceased wife Queen Claude of France who also had an incredible mind and was the most intelligent consort in France in the past centuries.

Anne smiled quite rarely. She was always calm, as though her emotions were frozen by the coldest northern wind the Boreas. She had a rigid control over her emotions. Anne’s mind was a closed book for François. It was difficult to read her because she always wore an iron mask.

Even in the moments of their intimacy Anne didn’t open herself to him – she could be quite active in their lovemaking, but it wasn’t passionate, and François felt it. He guessed that she often saw King Henry’s image during their intimacy as she could suddenly tense and strain like an arrow in the arbalest. He didn’t like it, but he was patient because he knew that her heart had been wounded by Henry’s cruel betrayal. In addition, François felt responsible for Anne’s fate because it was he who had offered their deal with a marriage. It meant that he had to take into consideration her feelings and concerns.

François remarked that Anne often was abstracted in her thoughts when they were talking. Anne could grin and could smile, and these smiles weren’t hypocritical and artificial. Yet, these smiles were different from the smiles of the old Anne Boleyn. These new smiles disrobed something fatal and mysterious.

At times, François thought that his wife was a symbolic incarnation of fate and doom, the immortal goddess of mysteries Despoina, or the dying-and-rising goddess Persephone, both being the incarnation of destiny. However, in any incarnation she was a living goddess for him. She was an incredible woman.

François bestowed upon Anne many gifts. He bought for her several sets of exquisite, magnificent and expensive jewelry. He also ordered many new French gowns and other accessories for her. Everything was made in such excellence and such splendor that only a queen could wear those things. François also made several intellectual gifts for Anne; rare Italian books by Italian Renaissance writers like Leon Battista Alberti, Giannozzo Manetti, and Alessandro Piccolomini, as well as books by Renaissance poets like Francesco Berni, Antonio Beccadelli, and others.

Anne accepted his gifts and thanked him very politely a wide smile on her face. She often pointed out that she didn’t deserve those gifts. He noticed that her smile was a social, charming smile, with an artificial nature. She was a little bored with the jewelry and the gowns. François noted that her smile was more sincere at the moments when he brought to her books or works of art. He concluded that she had probably had enough of gold and trumpery at the English court. He continued spending money on his new wife because he also enjoyed making gifts for her. He didn’t know how to explain his feelings, so he just did it.

The days in Venice passed quickly. King François and his ministers were working very hard on the Franco-Venetian alliance. François spent much time with his ministers and courtiers, coming to the Palazzo Montreuil during his free time and at night. The official version was that the King of France just lived at the residence of the former French ambassador to Venice, Count Jean de Montreuil, who was his father’s close friend. It sounded plausible to society.

François and Anne often talked about literature, art, music, and about Italian Renaissance in general. They also talked about politics and discussed a new alliance between France and the Republic of Venice, which was necessary to secure France from the military maneuvers of Emperor Charles V on the Italian Peninsula. Anne was stunned that François talked to her even about the military alliances. He asked her opinion about the issue in the presence of Cardinal de Tournon and Jacques de la Brosse. It seemed that he was genuinely interested in her ideas and found them interesting and, probably, even useful.

As compared to King Henry, François was much more enthusiastic hearing her opinion on political matters. He even encouraged her to speak out, which Henry never did it. Anne liked it. Maybe everything wasn’t as dark as it seemed to be at the first glance.

François was a very interesting companion. He was highly intelligent and very well-educated. He was a true Renaissance man who was much influenced by humanism than any other previous French King. François’ mother Louise de Savoie was fascinated by Italian Renaissance art and eagerly passed this interest on to her son and her daughter, François’ elder sister Marguerite de Navarre, the Queen of Navarre. François patronized many great artists of his time, including Andrea del Sarto and Leonardo da Vinci, who lived in France during his last years. Leonardo even brought with him to France many of his greatest works, including 
the Mona Lisa or La Joconde
, and it remained in France after his death. Inspired by the architectural styles of the Italian Renaissance, François built many new magnificent buildings, including his most important jewels – the Château de Chambord and the Château de Fontainebleau.

Many Italian artists were employed in decorating François’ palaces. The king also rebuilt the Palais du Louvre, transforming it from a medieval fortress into a marvelous building of Renaissance splendor. François had always worked diligently at improving the royal library and employed agents in Italy to look for rare books and manuscripts. The King of France was desperately trying to bring culture to the war-obsessed French nation. His court was the most cultured in Europe.

For Anne, her new marriage was a strange, unfamiliar experience. She often compared King François and King Henry and in many aspects they were different. François was much calmer and more rational than Henry. He wasn’t prone to be blinded with anger and rampage. It was rather rare François was more influenced by emotions and anger than by rationality and logic. Henry had been so much affected by anger that he had signed a death warrant of an innocent woman whom he had pledged to love and protect. François definitely wasn’t capable of such madness.

Every night François made love to Anne, and she always tried to relax, but it was a difficult task for her. Their tender, soft intimacy gave her many enjoyable sensations, which resulted in a slow, lingering physical release that made Anne nearly mindless with pleasure. François’ warm lips on hers awoke a host of sensations, even though sensations of a physical nature, that she hadn’t been sure she could have felt anymore after Henry’s betrayal and before her marriage to François.

Anne was lucky that François was highly proficient in the art of physical love. It wasn’t strange because he was an experienced lover. However, Anne still felt a little uncomfortable and was often either impassive or acted on automatic during their nights together. Yet she didn’t repent of having spent so many nights with François even if she didn’t love him. A feeling of triumph swept through her heart as she thought that her current royal husband, not King Henry, could give her pleasure in bed. It was a kind of her small revenge on Henry for everything he had done to her, to her brother George, and their innocent children. There was even greater revenge ahead.

When François and Anne were sleeping close to each other, their limbs wrapped with one another, Anne often remembered her nights with King Henry. Often when François kissed and caressed her, a flash of Henry’s face slashed through her mind and anger simmered in her heart at one blow, making her as impassive in the bed as a doll, almost frozen and tense like a stretched string of a violin. In these moments, François didn’t pressure her to continue: he usually pressed a kiss on her forehead and tenderly hugged her. Anne was grateful to François that he was so patient and careful with her.