I married my darling Claire thirty-three years ago today. But what else happened on this day in history? Francis I of France signed a secret treaty with Pope Clement VII 492 years ago today, against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Francis was the King who met Henry VIII at the famous Cloth of Gold. He was also a great patron of Leonardo da Vinci. Francis bought the Mona Lisa from him. However my interest is in Charles V.
Francis Walsingham sent Sir Anthony Standen on his first spying mission to Flanders. During that mission Anthony had an inappropriate relationship with Barbara Blomberg, who had been mistress to Charles V. She bore Charles a son who became Don Juan Duke of Austria. Unfortunately for Anthony, and even more unfortunately for Barbara, Don Juan became governor of the Low Countries and discovered the relationship between his mother and the English spy. He chased Anthony out of Flanders and sent his mother to a convent in Castile. I’m sure that the pursuit must have been persistent, because history next records Sir Anthony turning up in Constantinople.
Clearly this affair is not something that I could leave out of my fictionalised biography of Sir Anthony Standen, The Spy who Sank the Armada. It carries the allure of James Bond, and his Bond girls. Standen’s super-power is his ability with languages. Given the extent of his travels and his success in espionage, I’m sure he must have had an ability with languages. Charles V was also a good linguist. He learnt Spanish as an adult having been born in the Netherlands. He was fluent in his native tongues of French and Dutch. He also learnt Latin, German, and Portuguese. He spoke Spanish to God, Italian to women, and German to his horse.