Eternal Life;Cursed Gift

34

But for now, religious confrontations were a matter of the future, but the struggle with Spain was a threatening reality. Philip, who succeeded his father Charles on the Spanish throne, married Mary Tudor, Queen of England, and the British immediately declared war on France. Now Henry had to fight two strong opponents at the same time. Terrible news began to come from the battlefields. First, the French were forced to leave Siena, which put an end to Catherine's dreams of returning the Italian lands that belonged to her by right of inheritance. But it was half the trouble, a real disaster broke out in August 1557, when the troopsPhilip II, with the support of the British and Duke Emmanuel of Savoy, besieged the French city of Saint-Quentin, located just forty leagues northeast of Paris. Admiral Coligny defended the city with a small garrison for several weeks, but the troops of the constable de Montmorency, who came to his aid, were utterly defeated by the Spaniards and the British. C