This man, a Burgundian by birth, and college associate of Granvelle, had been befriended both by himself and his father.

Aided by their patronage and his own abilities, he had arrived at distinguished posts; having been Spanish envoy both in France and England, and one of the negotiators of the truce of Vaucelles.

He had latterly been disappointed in his ambition to become a councillor of state, and had vowed vengeance upon the Cardinal, to whom he attributed his ill success.

He was certainly guilty of much ingratitude, for he had been under early obligations to the man in whose side he now became a perpetual thorn.

It must be confessed, on the other hand, that Granvelle repaid the enmity of his old associate with a malevolence equal to his own, and if Renard did not lose his head as well as his political station, it was not for want of sufficient insinuation on the part of the minister.