ds the power of "electing"
lay. Francis' ambassadors travelled from one to another with a train
of horses, heavily laden with sumptuous offerings, but these found it
quite impossible to bribe Frederick the Wise of Saxony.

Charles did not scruple to use bribery, and he hoped to win Henry of
England by flattery and by appealing to him as a kinsman; for his aunt,
Catherine of Aragon, was Henry's Queen at that time. The Tudor King
had boldly taken for his motto, "Whom I defend is master," but he had
secret designs on the Imperial throne himself, and thought either
Francis I or Charles V would become far too powerful in Europe if the
German electors appointed one of them.

The Pope entered into the struggle because he knew that Charles of
Spain would be likely to destroy the peace of Italy by demanding the
Duchy of Milan, which was then under French rule. He gave secret
advice, therefore, to the German electors to choose one of their own
number, and induced them to offer the Imperial rank to Frederick the
Wise of Saxony. {65} This prince did not feel strong enough to beat
off the attacks of Selim, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, then
threatening the land of Hungary. He refused to become Emperor and
suggested that the natural resistance to the East should come from
Austria.

Charles, undoubtedly, had Spanish gold that would assist him in this
struggle. In 1519 he was invested with the imperial crown and began to
dream of further conquests. A quarrel with France followed, both sides
having grievances that made friendship impossible at that period.
Charles had offended Francis I by promising to aid d'Albert of Navarre
to regain his kingdom. He also wished to claim the Duchy of Milan as
the Pope had predicted, and was indignant that Burgundy, which had been
filched from his grandmother by Louis XI, had never been restored to
his family.

Francis renewed an ancient struggle in reclaiming Naples. He was
determined not to yield to imperial pride, and sought every means of
conciliating Henry VIII of England, who seemed eager to assert himself
in Europe. The two monarchs met at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in
1513 and made a great display of friendship. They were both skilled
horsemen and showed to advantage in a tournament, having youth and some
pretensions to manly beauty in their favour. The meeting between them
was costly and did not result as Francis had anticipated, since Charles
V had been recently winning