being confined to defensive operations in Brittany which were supposed to
be no violation of the peace recently prolonged to January, 1490.

[Sidenote: The allies inert]

Henry was satisfied to make a show of fighting, and Spain made no haste to
help him, England not being formally at war. As early as July, Maximilian,
shiftiest and most impecunious of princes, concluded at Frankfort an
independent treaty with France; who agreed to give up the places she
occupied in Brittany if Henry were compelled to withdraw his garrisons;
while there were signs that she might cede Roussillon and thus deprive
Henry of his claim to Spanish support. Within the duchy itself, the Marshal
de Rieux and his ward were in a state of antagonism; since he wished her to
marry the Sieur D'Albret, a powerful Gascon noble who was not too
submissive to the French monarchy; while the Duchess declared she would
rather enter a convent. Anne at last announced her adhesion to the treaty
of Frankfort; but as Henry had no intention of evacuating his forts,
nothing particular resulted. The English King could not afford simply to
drop the contest, and when the New Year came in, he demanded and obtained
from Parliament fresh supplies for carrying on the war.

[Sidenote: 1490 Object of Henry's foreign policy]

The game Henry had to play in 1490 was a sufficiently difficult one: and he
played it with consummate skill. He meant to hold his position in Brittany
until he received adequate indemnities; he had to satisfy his own subjects
that he was not going to draw back before the power of France; and he had
to carry out the letter of his obligations to Spain under the treaty of the
previous March, On the other hand, he had in fact no ambitious military
projects, and while Spain abstained from sending active assistance in