In the early spring, then, of 1495, this was the position of affairs.
Perkin Warbeck lay at the court of Margaret of Burgundy; but his plans had
been upset by Clifford's information and the punishment of the ringleaders
in England. Poynings was in Ireland, and the prospect of keeping that
country in reasonable order was unusually promising. Charles VIII. had just
made himself master of Naples; and the Spanish sovereigns (who had
completed the destruction of the Moorish dominion in Granada some three
years earlier) were now occupied in forming with the Pope, Venice, Milan,
and Maximilian the Holy League against French aggression; into which they
were anxious to draw Henry, whose weight if thrown into the other scale
would be of considerable value to France. For the last two years, since the
treaty of Barcelona, they had evaded the recognition or reconstruction of
any compact with England; but under the changed conditions, while they
would not admit that the old engagements were binding, they offered to
frame new treaties for Henry's inclusion in the League, at the same time
confirming the project of the marriage between their daughter Katharine and
the Prince of Wales. Henry, however, was now in a much stronger position at
home; and though he desired the Spanish alliance, he had no intention of
allowing that bait to seduce him into making himself a cat's-paw. France
was offering a counter-inducement in the shape of a marriage with the
daughter of the Duke of Bourbon; Henry indicated that while Maximilian was
fostering the pretensions of the impostor Warbeck, it was not serious
politics to talk of being associated with him in the League. Spain might
make promises on Maximilian's behalf, but could not ensure that he would
keep them.

[Sidenote: 1495 Warbeck attempts invasion]

Time was working in Henry's favour. In July (1495) an expedition sailed
from Flanders to place Perkin on the English throne. Maximilian's hopes