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If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan and Lorraine, 1522-1590 + +Author: Julia Cartwright + +Release Date: February 7, 2015 [EBook #48191] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTINA OF DENMARK *** + + + + +Produced by Richard Tonsing, Charlene Taylor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + CHRISTINA OF DENMARK + + DUCHESS OF MILAN AND LORRAINE + + 1522-1590 + +[Illustration: _Christina, Duchess of Milan_] + + + + + CHRISTINA OF DENMARK + DUCHESS OF MILAN AND + LORRAINE + + 1522-1590 + + + BY JULIA CARTWRIGHT + (MRS. ADY) + + AUTHOR OF "ISABELLA D'ESTE," "BALDASSARRE CASTIGLIONE," + "THE PAINTERS OF FLORENCE," ETC. + + "Dieu, qu'il la fait bon regarder, + La gracieuse, bonne et belle! + Pour les grans biens qui sont en elle, + Chacun est prest de la louer. + Qui se pourrait d'elle lasser? + Toujours sa beauté renouvelle. + Dieu, qu'il la fait bon regarder, + La gracieuse, bonne et belle! + Par deça, ne delà la mer, + Ne sçay Dame ne Damoiselle + Qui soit en tous biens parfais telle; + C'est un songe que d'y penser, + Dieu, qu'il la fait bon regarder!" + + CHARLES D'ORLÉANS + + NEW YORK + E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY + 1913 + + + + +PREFACE + + +Christina of Denmark is known to the world by Holbein's famous portrait +in the National Gallery. The great Court painter, who was sent to +Brussels by Henry VIII. to take the likeness of the Emperor's niece, +did his work well. With unerring skill he has rendered the "singular +good countenance," the clear brown eyes with their frank, honest gaze, +the smile hovering about "the faire red lips," the slender fingers of +the nervously clasped hands, which Brantôme and his royal mistress, +Catherine de' Medici, thought "the most beautiful hands in the world." +And in a wonderful way he has caught the subtle charm of the young +Duchess's personality, and made it live on his canvas. What wonder +that Henry fell in love with the picture, and vowed that he would +have the Duchess, if she came to him without a farthing! But for all +these brave words the masterful King's wooing failed. The ghost of his +wronged wife, Katherine of Aragon, the smoke of plundered abbeys, and +the blood of martyred friars, came between him and his destined bride, +and Christina was never numbered in the roll of Henry VIII.'s wives. +This splendid, if perilous, adventure was denied her. But many strange +experiences marked the course of her chequered life, and neither beauty +nor virtue could save her from the shafts of envious Fortune. Her +troubles began from the cradle. When she was little more than a year +old, her father, King Christian II., was deposed by his subjects, and +her mother, the gentle Isabella of Austria, died in exile of a broken +heart. She lost her first husband, Francesco Sforza, at the end of +eighteen months. Her second husband, Francis Duke of Lorraine, died in +1545, leaving her once more a widow at the age of twenty-three. Her +only son was torn from her arms while still a boy by a foreign invader, +Henry II., and she herself was driven into exile. Seven years later she +was deprived of the regency of the Netherlands, just when the coveted +prize seemed within her grasp, and the last days of her existence were +embittered by the greed and injustice of her cousin, Philip II. + +Yet, in spite of hard blows and cruel losses, Christina's life was +not all unhappy. The blue bird--the symbol of perpetual happiness in +the faery lore of her own Lorraine--may have eluded her grasp, but +she filled a great position nobly, and tasted some of the deepest and +truest of human joys. Men and women of all descriptions adored her, and +she had a genius for friendship which survived the charms of youth and +endured to her dying day. A woman of strong affections and resolute +will, she inherited a considerable share of the aptitude for government +that distinguished the women of the Habsburg race. Her relationship +with Charles V. and residence at the Court of Brussels brought her +into close connection with political events during the long struggle +with France, and it was in a great measure due to her exertions that +the peace which ended this Sixty Years' War was finally concluded at +Câteau-Cambrésis in 1559. + +Holbein's Duchess, it is evident, was a striking figure, and her +life deserves more attention than it has hitherto received. Brantôme +honoured her with a place in his gallery of fair ladies, and the sketch +which he has drawn, although inaccurate in many details, remains true +in its main outlines. But with this exception Christina's history has +never yet been written. The chief sources from which her biography +is drawn are the State Archives of Milan and Brussels, supplemented +by documents in the Record Office, the Bibliothèque Nationale, the +Biblioteca Zelada near Pavia, and the extremely interesting collection +of Guise letters in the Balcarres Manuscripts, which has been preserved +in the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh. A considerable amount of +information, as will be seen from the Bibliography at the end of +this volume, has been collected from contemporary memoirs, from the +histories of Bucholtz and Henne, and the voluminous correspondence of +Cardinal Granvelle and Philip II., as well as from Tudor, Spanish, and +Venetian State Papers. + +In conclusion, I have to acknowledge the kind help which I have +received in my researches from Monsignor Rodolfo Maiocchi, Rector +of the Borromeo College at Pavia, from Signor O. F. Tencajoli, and +from the keepers of English and foreign archives, among whom I must +especially name Signor Achille Giussani, of the Archivio di Stato +at Milan, Monsieur Gaillard, Director of the Brussels Archives, and +Mr. Hubert Hall. My sincere thanks are due to Count Antonio Cavagna +Sangiuliani for giving me permission to make use of manuscripts in his +library at Zelada; to Monsieur Leon Cardon for leave to reproduce four +of the Habsburg portraits in his fine collection at Brussels; and to +Mr. Henry Oppenheimer for allowing me to publish his beautiful and +unique medal of the Duchess of Milan. I must also thank Sir Kenneth +Mackenzie and the Trustees of the Advocates' Library for permission +to print a selection from the Balcarres Manuscripts, and Mr. Campbell +Dodgson and Mr. G. F. Hill for the kindness with which they have placed +the treasures of the British Museum at my disposal. Lastly, a debt +of gratitude, which I can never sufficiently express, is due to Dr. +Hagberg-Wright and the staff of the London Library for the invaluable +help which they have given me in this, as in all my other works. + + JULIA CARTWRIGHT. + + OCKHAM, + _Midsummer Day, 1913_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + BOOK I + PAGE + ISABELLA OF AUSTRIA, QUEEN OF DENMARK, THE MOTHER + OF CHRISTINA: 1507-1514 1 + + BOOK II + + CHRISTIAN II., KING OF DENMARK, THE FATHER OF + CHRISTINA: 1513-1523 17 + + BOOK III + + KINGS IN EXILE: 1523-1531 36 + + BOOK IV + + CHRISTINA, DUCHESS OF MILAN: 1533-1535 71 + + BOOK V + + THE WIDOW OF MILAN: 1535-1538 111 + + BOOK VI + + THE COURTSHIP OF HENRY VIII.: 1537-1539 144 + + BOOK VII + + CLEVES, ORANGE, AND LORRAINE: 1539-1541 207 + + BOOK VIII + + CHRISTINA, DUCHESS OF LORRAINE: 1541-1545 256 + + BOOK IX + + CHRISTINA, REGENT OF LORRAINE: 1545-1552 298 + + BOOK X + + THE FRENCH INVASION: 1551-1553 354 + + BOOK XI + + CHRISTINA AT BRUSSELS: 1553-1559 382 + + BOOK XII + + THE PEACE OF CÂTEAU-CAMBRÉSIS: 1557-1559 419 + + BOOK XIII + + THE RETURN TO LORRAINE: 1559-1578 450 + + BOOK XIV + + THE LADY OF TORTONA: 1578-1590 496 + + APPENDIX: A SELECTION OF UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS 516 + + BIBLIOGRAPHY 528 + + GENEALOGICAL TABLES 533 + + INDEX 541 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + TO FACE PAGE + + CHRISTINA OF DENMARK, DUCHESS OF MILAN _Frontispiece_ + + By HOLBEIN (National Gallery). + + CHARLES V. 4 + + By B. VAN ORLEY (Cardon Collection, Brussels). + + ELEANOR OF AUSTRIA 6 + + By B. VAN ORLEY (Cardon Collection, Brussels). + + ISABELLA OF AUSTRIA, QUEEN OF DENMARK 12 + + By B. VAN ORLEY. + + CHRISTIAN II., KING OF DENMARK 30 + + London Library. + + THE CHILDREN OF CHRISTIAN II., KING OF DENMARK 54 + + By JEAN MABUSE (Hampton Court Palace). + + FRANCESCO SFORZA, DUKE OF MILAN 92 + + British Museum. + + CHRISTINA, DUCHESS OF MILAN 92 + + Oppenheimer Collection, London. + + FREDERIC, COUNT PALATINE 106 + + Ascribed to A. DÜRER (Darmstadt). + + MARY, QUEEN OF HUNGARY 188 + + By B. VAN ORLEY (Cardon Collection, Brussels). + + GRANDE PORTERIE, PALAIS DUCAL, NANCY 260 + + CHARLES V. 322 + + By TITIAN (Munich). + + HÔTEL-DE-VILLE, BRUSSELS 332 + + S. GUDULE, BRUSSELS 332 + + PALAIS DUCAL, NANCY 364 + + PHILIP II. AND MARY 412 + + By JACOPO DA TREZZO (British Museum). + + ANTOINE PERRENOT, CARDINAL GRANVELLE 412 + + By LEONE LEONI (British Museum). + + MARGARET, DUCHESS OF PARMA 412 + + By PASTORINO (British Museum). + + WILLIAM, PRINCE OF ORANGE 456 + + By ADRIAAN KEY (Darmstadt). + + MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS 466 + + By FRANÇOIS CLOUET (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris). + + CHARLES III., DUKE OF LORRAINE 472 + + British Museum. + + THE THREE DUCHESSES 508 + + Prado, Madrid. + + CHRISTINA OF DENMARK + + + + +BOOK I + +ISABELLA OF AUSTRIA, QUEEN OF DENMARK, THE MOTHER OF CHRISTINA + +1507-1514 + + +I. + +The 19th of July, 1507, was a memorable day in the history of Malines. +A solemn requiem Mass was sung that morning in the ancient church of +S. Rombaut for the soul of Philip, King of Castille and Archduke of +Austria, and, by right of his mother, Duke of Burgundy and Count of +Flanders and Brabant. The news of this young monarch's sudden death +at Burgos had spread consternation throughout the Netherlands, where +the handsome, free-handed Prince was very popular with the subjects +who enjoyed peace and prosperity under his rule. "Never," wrote a +contemporary chronicler, "was there such lamentation made for any +King, Duke, or Count, as for our good King Philip. There was no church +or monastery in the whole land where solemn Masses were not said for +the repose of his soul, and the mourning was greatest in the city of +Antwerp, where all the people assembled for the yearly Fair wept over +this noble young Prince who had died at the age of twenty-eight."[1] +The King's corpse was laid in the dark vaults of Miraflores, where his +widow, the unhappy Queen Juana, kept watch by her husband's grave night +and day; while, in obedience to his last wishes, his heart was brought +to the Netherlands and buried in his mother's tomb at Bruges. Now the +States-General and nobles were summoned by Margaret of Austria, the +newly-proclaimed Governess of the Netherlands, to attend her brother's +funeral at Malines. + +[Sidenote: JULY, 1507] MARGARET OF AUSTRIA] + +From the gates of the Keyserhof, through the narrow streets of the old +Flemish city, the long procession wound its way: Knights of the Golden +Fleece, nobles, deputies, Bishops and clergy, merchants, artisans, and +beggars, all clad in deep mourning. Twelve heralds, followed by a crowd +of gentlemen with lighted torches, bore the armour and banners of the +dead King to the portals of S. Rombaut. There an immense catafalque, +draped with cloth of gold and blazing with wax lights, had been erected +in the centre of the nave. Three golden crowns, symbols of the three +realms over which Philip held sway, hung from the vault, and the +glittering array of gold and silver images on the high-altar stood +out against the sable draperies on the walls. A funeral oration was +pronounced by the late King's confessor, the Bishop of Arras chanted +the requiem Mass, and when the last blessing had been given, Golden +Fleece threw his staff on the floor, crying: "The King is dead!"[2] +At the sound of these thrice-repeated words the heralds lowered their +banners to the ground, and there was a moment of profound silence, +only broken by the sound of weeping. Then Golden Fleece cried in +a ringing voice: "Charles, Archduke of Austria!" and all eyes were +turned to the fair, slender boy, who, robed in a long black mantle, +knelt alone before the altar. "My lord lives! long may he live!" cried +the King-at-Arms; and a great shout went up on all sides: "Long live +Charles, Archduke of Austria and Prince of Castille!" A sword blessed +by the Bishop of Arras was placed in the boy's hands, and the heralds +of Burgundy, Flanders, Holland, and Friesland, raising their fallen +pennons, each in turn proclaimed the titles of the youthful Prince, who +was to be known to the world as Charles V. + +No one wept more bitterly for King Philip than his only sister, +Margaret, the widowed Duchess of Savoy, as she knelt in her oratory +close to the great church. Although only twenty-seven, she had known +many sorrows. After being wedded to the Dauphin at two years old, and +educated at the French Court till she reached the age of thirteen, she +was rejected by Charles VIII. in favour of Anne of Brittany, and sent +back to her father, the Emperor Maximilian. Three years afterwards +she went to Spain as the bride of Don Juan, the heir to the crowns of +Castille and Aragon, only to lose her husband and infant son within a +few months of each other. In 1501 she became the wife of Duke Philibert +of Savoy, with whom she spent the three happiest years of her life. But +in September, 1504, the young Duke died of pleurisy, the result of a +chill which he caught out hunting, and his heart-broken widow returned +once more to her father's Court. + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1509] MAXIMILIAN'S GRANDCHILDREN] + +On the death of Philip in the following year, Maximilian prevailed +upon his daughter to undertake the government of the Netherlands, +and in April, 1507, Margaret was proclaimed Regent, and took up her +abode at Malines. She was a singularly able and gifted woman, and her +personal charms and rich dowry soon attracted new suitors. Before +she became Regent she had received proposals of marriage from Henry +VII. of England, which Maximilian urged her to accept, saying that +she might divide the year between England and the Netherlands. Louis +XII., who in his boyhood had played with the Archduchess at Amboise, +would also gladly have made her his second wife, but, as he remarked: +"Madame Marguerite's father has arranged marriages for her three times +over, and each time she has fared badly." Margaret herself was quite +decided on the subject, and declared that she would never marry again. +Henceforth she devoted herself exclusively to the administration of +the Netherlands and the guardianship of her brother's young family. Of +the six children which Juana of Castille had borne him, two remained +in Spain, the younger boy Ferdinand and the infant Katherine, who did +not see the light until months after her father's death. But the elder +boy, Charles, and his three sisters, grew up under their aunt's eye +in the picturesque old palace at Malines, which is still known as the +Keyserhof, or Cour de l'Empereur. The eldest girl, Eleanor, afterwards +Queen of Portugal and France, was two years older than her brother; +the second, Isabella, the future Queen of Denmark, born on the 15th +of August, 1501, was nearly six; and Mary, the Queen of Hungary, who +was to play so great a part in the history of the Netherlands, had +only just completed her first year. Margaret, whose own child hardly +survived its birth, lavished all a mother's affection on her youthful +nephew and nieces. If the boy was naturally the chief object of her +care, the little girls held a place very near to her heart. This was +especially the case with "Madame Isabeau," her godchild, who was born +when Margaret was living at Malines before her second marriage. A +gentle and charming child, Isabella won the hearts of all, and became +fondly attached to the brother who was so nearly her own age. + +[Illustration: CHARLES V. (1515) + +By Bernard van Orley (Cardon Collection) + +_To face p. 4_] + +Margaret's letters to the Emperor abound in allusions to these +children, whose welfare was a matter of deep interest to their +grandfather. In the midst of the most anxious affairs of State, when +he was presiding over turbulent Diets or warring beyond the Alps, +Maximilian was always eager for news of "our very dear and well-beloved +children." The arrangements of their household, the choice of their +tutors and companions, their childish maladies and amusements, were all +fully reported to him. One unlucky day, when the royal children had +just recovered from measles, Madame Isabeau caught the smallpox, and +gave it to Madame Marie. Then Madame Leonore complained of her head, +and since Margaret had been told that the malady was very contagious, +and especially dangerous in winter, she felt it advisable to keep her +nephew at Brussels out of reach of infection. But this precaution +proved fruitless, for presently the boy sickened and became dangerously +ill. Great was the alarm which his condition excited, and it was only +at the end of three weeks that Margaret was able to inform the Emperor, +who was in Italy fighting against the Venetians, that his grandson was +out of danger.[3] + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1509] A SFORZA DUKE] + +The education of Charles and his sisters was the subject of their +guardian's most anxious consideration. A lady of Navarre, Dame Anne +de Beaumont, took charge of the little girls from their infancy, +and watched over them with a tenderness which earned their lifelong +gratitude. The old King of Aragon rewarded this lady with the Order +of S. Iago, while Margaret begged that she might be allowed to spend +her old age in one of the Archduke's houses at Ghent, seeing that +she had served "Mesdames mes nièces" so long and so well, and had +been but poorly paid for her trouble. Among their teachers was Louis +Vives, the learned friend of Erasmus, who afterwards became tutor to +their cousin, the Princess Mary of England, and took Sir Thomas More's +daughters as his models. Vives taught his pupils Greek and Latin, and +made them study the Gospels, and St. Paul's Epistles, as well as some +parts of the Old Testament. French romances, then so much in vogue, +were banished from their schoolroom, and the only tales which they were +allowed to read were those of Joseph and his brethren, of the Roman +matron Lucretia, and the well-known story of Griselda. Madame Leonore +was fond of reading at a very early age, but Madame Isabeau was more +occupied with her dolls, and is represented holding one in her arms in +the triptych of Charles and his sisters at Vienna. All the children +were very fond of music, in which they were daily instructed by the +Archduchess's organist, and there is a charming portrait of Eleanor +playing on the clavichord in Monsieur Cardon's collection at Brussels. +When, in 1508, the Spanish Legate, Cardinal Carvajal, visited Malines, +Charles and his sisters were confirmed by him in the palace chapel, +and the Archduke addressed a letter of thanks to Pope Julius II. in his +childish round hand. + +[Illustration: ELEANOR OF AUSTRIA, QUEEN OF PORTUGAL AND FRANCE + +By Bernard van Orley (Cardon Collection) + +_To face p. 6_] + +Margaret was careful to provide her young charges with suitable +companions. A niece of Madame de Beaumont and a Spanish girl of noble +birth were brought up with the Archduchesses, while the sons of the +Marquis of Brandenburg and Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg were among Charles's +playmates. Another youth whom the Emperor sent to be educated at +Malines in 1509 was his godson, Maximilian Sforza, the eldest son of +the unfortunate Duke Lodovico and Beatrice d'Este. While his younger +brother, Francesco, afterwards the husband of Christina of Denmark, +remained at Innsbruck with his cousin, the Empress Bianca, Maximilian +grew up with Charles, and throughout his life never ceased to regard +Margaret as a second mother. The young Duke of Milan's name often +figures in the Archduchess's correspondence with her father. One day +Maximilian tells her to borrow 3,000 livres from the Fuggers, and give +them to the Duke, who has not enough to buy his own clothes, let alone +those of his servants.[4] At another time we find Margaret appealing +to her father to settle the disputes of precedence which have arisen +between the Dukes of Milan and Saxe-Lauenburg, upon which Maximilian +replied that they were too young to think of such matters, and that for +the present they had better take the place of honour on alternate days. + +It was a free and joyous life which these young Princes and Princesses +led at the Court of Malines. If they were kept strictly to their +lessons, they also had plenty of amusements. They played games, shot +with bows and arrows, and looked on at stag-hunts from the balcony of +the Swan, an old hostelry in the market-place. Charles had a little +chariot, drawn by two ponies, in which he often drove his sisters +through the town and out into the open country. Above all they enjoyed +the visits which they paid to the Castle of Vueren, near Brussels, +where Charles often went by his grandfather's orders to enjoy fresh air +and take hunting expeditions. The old Emperor was delighted to hear of +his grandson's taste for sport, and wrote from Augsburg that, if the +Archduke had not been fond of hunting, people would have suspected him +of being a bastard.[5] + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1512] "FELIX AUSTRIA NUBE"] + +When, in 1512, Maximilian came to Brussels, and Charles was sent to +meet him, he begged Margaret to bring the three Princesses, without +delay, to "amuse themselves in the park at Vueren," and sent the haunch +of a stag which he had killed that day as a present to his "dear little +daughters." At the children's urgent entreaty, the Emperor himself rode +out to join them at supper, and invited them to a banquet in the palace +at Brussels on Midsummer Day. When the English Ambassador, Sir Edward +Poynings, came to pay the Emperor his respects, he found His Majesty +in riding-boots, standing at the palace gates, with the Lady Regent, +the Lord Prince and his sisters, looking on at a great bonfire in the +square. The Ambassador and his colleague, Spinelli, were both invited +to return to the palace for supper, and had a long conversation with +the Lady Margaret, in whom they found the same perfect friend as ever, +"while the Prince and his sisters danced gaily with the other young +folk till between nine and ten o'clock."[6] + +But this merry party was soon to break up. Before the end of the year +Maximilian Sforza crossed the Brenner, and entered Milan amidst the +acclamations of his father's old subjects, and eighteen months later +two of the young Archduchesses were wedded to foreign Kings. + + +II. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1514] MARRIAGE-MAKING] + +While her nieces were still children Margaret was busy with plans +for their marriage. Her views for them were ambitious and frankly +expressed. "All your granddaughters," she wrote to her father, "should +marry Kings." The old Emperor himself was an inveterate matchmaker, +and the House of Austria had been proverbially fortunate in its +alliances. _Tu felix Austria nube_ had passed into a common saying. +By his marriage with Mary of Burgundy, Maximilian entered on the vast +inheritance of Charles the Bold, and his grandson was heir to the +throne of Spain by right of his mother Juana. In 1509 proposals for +two of the Archduchesses came from Portugal, and Margaret urged her +father to accept these offers, remarking shrewdly that King Emanuel +was a wealthy monarch, and that there were few marriageable Princes +in Europe. If both Madame Leonore and Madame Marie were betrothed to +the two Portuguese Princes, there would still be two of her nieces +to contract other alliances. But Maximilian's thoughts were too much +occupied with his war against Venice to consider these proposals +seriously, and the matter was allowed to drop.[7] Meanwhile Madame +Isabeau's hand was in great request. In March, 1510, Maximilian +received offers of marriage for his second granddaughter from the +King of Navarre's son, Henri d'Albret, but this project was nipped in +the bud by the jealousy of Isabella's other grandfather, Ferdinand of +Aragon, and Francis I.'s sister, Margaret, Duchess of Alençon, became +Queen of Navarre in her stead. A new and strange husband for the +nine-year-old Princess was now proposed by the Regent herself. This +was none other than Charles of Egmont, Duke of Guelders, the turbulent +neighbour who had been a thorn in Margaret's side ever since she became +Governess of the Netherlands. It is difficult to believe that Margaret +ever really intended to give her beloved niece to the man whom she +openly denounced as "a brigand and a felon," but it was necessary to +cajole Guelders for the moment, and conferences were held in which +every detail of the marriage treaty was discussed, and the dowry and +fortune of the bride and the portions of her sons and daughters were +all minutely arranged. But when the deputies of Guelders asked that +Madame Isabeau should be given up to the Duke at once to be educated +at his Court, the Regent met their demands with a flat refusal. +The negotiations were broken off, and war began again.[8] Another +matrimonial project, which had been discussed ever since King Philip's +lifetime, was the union of the Archduchess Eleanor with the young Duke +Antoine of Lorraine. Maximilian seems to have been really eager for +this marriage, which he regarded as a means of detaching a neighbouring +Prince from the French alliance, but was so dilatory in the matter that +Margaret wrote him a sharp letter, asking him if he ever meant to +marry his granddaughters. Upon this the affronted Emperor rebuked her +for these undutiful remarks, and asked peevishly "if she held him for +a Frenchman who changed his mind every day."[9] But in spite of these +protestations he took no further steps in the matter, and in 1515 Duke +Antoine married Renée de Bourbon, a Princess of the blood royal of +France. + +The marriage of Louis XII. to Henry VIII.'s handsome sister Mary was +a more serious blow. Six years before the English Princess had been +wedded by proxy to the Archduke Charles, and Margaret, whose heart was +set on this alliance, vainly pressed her father to conclude the treaty. +Meanwhile, in January, 1514, Anne of Brittany died, and the widowed +King sent offers of marriage, first to Margaret herself, and then to +her niece Eleanor.[10] A few months later news reached Brussels that +Louis had made a treaty with Henry, and was about to wed the Princess +Mary. So the Archduke lost his promised bride, and his sister was +once more cheated of a husband. The Lady Regent was deeply hurt, but +found some consolation for her wounded feelings in the double marriage +that was arranged in the course of the same year between the Archduke +Ferdinand and Anna, daughter of Ladislaus, King of Hungary, and between +this monarch's son Louis and the Archduchess Mary. In May, 1514, the +little Princess was sent to be educated with her future sister-in-law +at Vienna, where the wedding was celebrated a year afterwards.[11] + +At the same time marriage proposals for another of his granddaughters +reached Maximilian from a new and unexpected quarter. The young King +of Denmark, Christian II., on succeeding to the throne, declined the +French marriage which had been arranged for him by his father, and +conceived the ambitious design of allying himself with the Imperial +Family. In March, 1514, two Danish Ambassadors, the Bishop of Schleswig +and the Court-Marshal Magnus Giœ, were introduced into Maximilian's +presence by Christian's uncle, the Elector of Saxony, and asked for +the Archduchess Eleanor's hand on behalf of their royal master. The +prospect of an alliance with Denmark met with the Emperor's approval, +and could not fail to be popular in the Low Countries as a means +of opening the Baltic to the merchants of Bruges and Amsterdam. +Accordingly the envoys met with a friendly reception, and were told +that, although the elder Archduchess was already promised to the Duke +of Lorraine, the Emperor would gladly give King Christian the hand +of her sister Isabella. The contract was signed at Linz on the 29th +of April, 1514, and the dowry of the Princess was fixed at 250,000 +florins, an enormous sum for those times. Only three-fifths of his +sister's fortune, however, was to be paid by Charles, and the remainder +by her grandfather, the King of Aragon.[12] + +[Illustration: ISABELLA OF AUSTRIA, QUEEN OF DENMARK + +By Bernard van Orley (Cardon Collection) + +_To face p. 12_] + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1514] A ROYAL WEDDING] + +From Linz the Ambassadors travelled by slow stages to Brussels, where +they were received with great honour. But Margaret was scarcely +prepared for the proposal which they made, that the wedding might take +place on the following day, when King Christian was to be crowned at +Copenhagen. It was, however, impossible to refuse such a request, and +on Trinity Sunday, the 11th of June, the marriage was solemnized with +due splendour. At ten o'clock a brilliant assembly met in the great +hall of the palace, which had been hung for the occasion with the +famous tapestries of the Golden Fleece, and Magnus Giœ, who represented +the King, appeared, supported by the Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg and the +Marquis of Brandenburg. Presently a flourish of trumpets announced the +bride's coming, and Charles led in his sister, a tall, slender maiden +of thirteen, robed in white, with a crown of pearls and rubies on her +fair locks. "Madame Isabeau," as Margaret wrote with motherly pride to +her father, "was certainly good to see."[13] They took their places +under a baldacchino near the altar, followed by the Regent, who led +her niece Eleanor by the hand. The Archbishop of Cambray, clad in rich +vestments of purple and gold, performed the nuptial rites, and the +Danish Ambassador placed a costly ring, bearing three gold crowns set +round with large sapphires and the motto _Ave Maria gratia plena_, on +the finger of the bride, who plighted her faith in the following words: + +"Je, Isabelle d'Autriche et de Bourgogne, donne ma foi à très hautt et +très puissant Prince et Seigneur, Christierne roy de Danemarck, et à +toy Magnus Giœ, son vrai et léal procureur, et je le prens par toy en +époux et mari légitime."[14] + +Then the Mass of the Holy Ghost was chanted, the Spanish Ambassador +being seated at the Archduke's side, and the others according to their +rank, all but the English Envoy, who refused to be present owing to +a dispute as to precedence. Afterwards the guests were entertained by +the Regent at a banquet, followed by a tournament and a state ball, +which was kept up far into the night. Finally all the chief personages +present escorted the bride with lighted torches to her chamber, and +Magnus Giœ, in full armour, lay down on the nuptial bed at her side +in the presence of this august company. Then, rising to his feet, he +made a deep obeisance to the young Queen and retired. During the next +three days a succession of jousts and banquets took place, and on the +Feast of Corpus Christi a public reception was held in the palace, at +which the bride appeared wearing the ring of the three kingdoms and +a jewelled necklace sent her by King Christian. Unfortunately, the +Archduke danced so vigorously on the night of the wedding that this +unwonted exertion brought on a sharp attack of fever. + +"Monseigneur," wrote his aunt to the Emperor, "fulfilled all his +duties to perfection, and showed himself so good a brother that he +overtaxed his strength, and fell ill the day after the wedding. Not," +she hastened to add, "that his sickness is in any way serious, but that +the slightest ailment in a Prince of his condition is apt to make one +anxious."[15] + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1515] EVIL OMENS] + +On the 4th of July the Danish Ambassadors took their leave, but +Isabella remained in her home for another year. She and Eleanor shared +in the fêtes which celebrated the Archduke's coming of age, and were +present at his _Joyeuse Entrêe_ into Brussels. But in the midst of +these festivities the Danish fleet, with the Archbishop of Drondtheim +on board, arrived at Veeren in Zeeland, and on the 16th of July, 1515, +the poor young Queen took leave of her family with bitter tears, and +sailed for Copenhagen. On the day of Isabella's christening, fourteen +years before, the ceremony had been marred by a terrific thunderstorm, +and now the same ill-luck attended her wedding journey. A violent +tempest scattered the Danish fleet off the shores of Jutland, and the +vessel which bore the Queen narrowly escaped shipwreck. When at length +she had landed safely at Helsingfors, she wrote a touching little +letter to the Regent: + + "MADAME, MY AUNT AND GOOD MOTHER, + + "I must tell you that we landed here last Saturday, after + having been in great peril and distress at sea for the last ten + days. But God kept me from harm, for which I am very thankful. + Next Thursday we start for Copenhagen, which is a day's journey + from here. I have been rather ill, and feel weak still, but + hope soon to be well. Madame, if I could choose for myself I + should be with you now; for to be parted from you is the most + grievous thing in the world to me, and the more so as I do not + know when there is any hope of seeing you again. So I can only + beg you, my dearest aunt and mother, to keep me in your heart, + and tell me if there is anything that you wish me to do, and + you shall always be obeyed, God helping me. That He may give + you a long and happy life is the prayer of your humble and + dutiful niece + + "ISABEAU.[16] + "August 7, 1515." + + +Two days later Isabella continued her journey to Hvidore, the royal +country-house near Copenhagen. There she was received by King +Christian, who rode at her side, a splendid figure in gold brocade and +shining armour, when on the following day she made her state entry into +the capital in torrents of rain. On the 12th of August the wedding was +celebrated in the great hall of the ancient castle, which had been +rebuilt by King Christian's father, and was followed by the coronation +of the young Queen. But Isabella was so much exhausted by the fatigue +which she had undergone, that before the conclusion of the ceremony she +fell fainting into the arms of her ladies. Her illness threw a gloom +over the wedding festivities, and seemed a forecast of the misfortunes +that were to darken the course of her married life and turn her story +into a grim tragedy. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] L. Gachard, "Voyages des Souverains des Pays-Bas." i. 455. + +[2] "Bulletins de la Commission Royale d'Histoire," 2^{ième} série, v. +113-119. Jehan Le Maire, "Les Funéraux de Feu Don Philippe." + +[3] E. Le Glay, "Correspondance de l'Empereur Maximilien I. et de +Marguerite d'Autriche," i. 203. + +[4] Le Glay, i. 393. + +[5] Le Glay, i. 241. + +[6] Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., i. 369. + +[7] Le Glay, i. 165. + +[8] Le Glay, i. 281, 399-441. + +[9] Le Glay, ii. 205. + +[10] H. Ulmann, "Kaiser Maximilian," ii. 484, 498. + +[11] Le Glay, ii. 252; A. Henne, "Histoire du Règne de Charles V.," i. +96. + +[12] Le Glay, ii. 383. + +[13] Le Glay, ii. 256. + +[14] J. Altmeyer, "Isabelle d'Autriche," 53. + +[15] Le Glay, ii. 257. + +[16] Altmeyer, "Isabelle d'Autriche," 43. + + + + +BOOK II + +CHRISTIAN II., KING OF DENMARK, THE FATHER OF CHRISTINA + +1513-1523 + + +I. + +Christian II., King of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, as the proud title +ran, was in many respects a remarkable man. His life and character +have been the subject of much controversy. Some historians have held +him up to admiration as a patriot and martyr who suffered for his +love of freedom and justice. Others have condemned him as a cruel and +vindictive tyrant, whose crimes deserved the hard fate which befell +him. Both verdicts are justified in the main. On the one hand, he was +an able and enlightened ruler, who protected the liberties of his +poorer subjects, encouraged trade and learning, and introduced many +salutary reforms. On the other, he was a man of violent passions, +crafty and unscrupulous in his dealings, cruel and bloodthirsty in +avenging wrongs. His career naturally invites comparison with that +of Lodovico Sforza, whose son became the husband of his daughter +Christina. Both Princes were men of great ability and splendid dreams. +In their zeal for the promotion of commerce and agriculture, in their +love of art and letters, both were in advance of the age in which +they lived. Again, their vices and crimes, the cunning ways and +unscrupulous measures by which they sought to attain their ends, were +curiously the same. No doubt Christian II., born and bred as he was +among the rude Norsemen, belonged to a coarser strain than the cultured +Duke of Milan, and is hardly to be judged by the same standard. But +the two Princes resembled each other closely, and the fate which +eventually overtook them was practically the same. Both of these able +and distinguished men lost their States in the prime of life, and were +doomed to end their days in captivity. This cruel doom has atoned in +a great measure for their guilt in the eyes of posterity, and even in +their lifetime their hard fate aroused general compassion. + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1516] THE KING'S DOVE] + +Certainly no one could have foreseen the dismal fate which lay in store +for Christian II. when he ascended the throne. Seldom has a new reign +opened with fairer promise. His father, good King Hans, died in 1513, +lamented by all his subjects, and leaving his successor a prosperous +and united kingdom. Christian was thirty-two, and had already shown +his courage and ability in quelling a revolt in Norway. A man of noble +and commanding presence, with blue eyes and long fair hair, he seemed +a born leader of men, while his keen intelligence, genial manners, +and human interest in those about him, early won the affection of his +subjects. Unfortunately his own passions proved his worst enemies. In +Norway he had fallen in love with a beautiful girl named Dyveke--the +Dove--whose mother, a designing Dutchwoman named Sigebritt Willems, +kept a tavern at Bergen. On his accession he brought Dyveke and her +mother to Hvidore, and gave them a house in the neighbourhood. This +illicit connection excited great scandal at Court, and the Chancellor, +Archbishop Walkendorf of Drondtheim, exhorted the King earnestly to put +away his mistress on his marriage. Even before Isabella left Brussels, +the Archbishop wrote glowing accounts of her beauty and goodness to +his master, and told the King of the romantic attachment which she +cherished for her unknown lord. After her arrival at Copenhagen he did +his utmost to insure her comfort, and see that she was treated with +proper respect. + +For a time Christian seems to have been genuinely in love with his +young wife, whose innocent charm won all hearts in her new home. In +his anxiety to please her, he furnished his ancestral castle anew, +and sent to Germany for musicians, fearing that the rude voices +of Danish singers might sound harsh in her ears. A young Fleming, +Cornelius Scepperus, was appointed to be his private secretary, and +the Fuggers of Antwerp were invited to found a bank at Copenhagen. At +the same time twenty-four Dutch families, from Waterland in Holland, +were brought over in Danish ships, and induced to settle on the +island of Amager, opposite the capital, in order that the royal table +might be supplied with butter and cheese made in the Dutch fashion. +This colony, imported by Christian II., grew and flourished, and to +this day their descendants occupy Amager, where peasant women clad +in the national costume of short woollen skirts, blue caps, and red +ribbons, are still to be seen. Unfortunately, the influence which +Sigebritt and her daughter had acquired over the King was too strong +to be resisted. Before long they returned to Court, and, to the +indignation of Isabella's servants, Sigebritt was appointed Mistress +of her household. Rumours of the slights to which the young Queen was +exposed soon reached the Netherlands, and when Maximilian informed +Margaret that he intended to marry her niece Eleanor to the King +of Poland, she replied with some asperity that she could only hope +the marriage would turn out better than that of her unhappy sister. +The Emperor expressed much surprise at these words, saying that he +considered his granddaughter to be very well married, since the King +of Denmark was a monarch of the proudest lineage, and endowed with +noble manners and rare gifts, if his people were still somewhat rude +and barbarous.[17] But, in spite of Maximilian's protests, the reports +of King Christian's misconduct soon became too persistent to be +ignored. When, in October, 1516, Charles, who had assumed the title +of King of Spain on his grandfather Ferdinand's death, held his first +Chapter of the Golden Fleece, the Knights with one accord refused to +admit the King of Denmark to their Order, because he was accused of +adultery and ill-treated his wife.[18] At length Maximilian was moved +to take action, and wrote to his grandson Charles in sufficiently plain +language, saying: + +[Sidenote: 1513-23] ELEANOR'S ROMANCE] + + "The shameful life which our brother and son-in-law, the King + of Denmark, is leading with a concubine, to the great sorrow + and vexation of his wife, our daughter and your sister, is + condemned by all his relatives; and in order to constrain him + to abandon this disorderly way of living, and be a better + husband to our said daughter, we are sending Messire Sigismund + Herbesteiner to remonstrate with him, and have begged Duke + Frederic of Saxony, his uncle, who arranged the marriage, to + send one of his servants on the same errand. And we desire + you to send one of your chief councillors to help carry out + our orders, and induce the King to put away his concubine and + behave in a more reasonable and honourable manner."[19] + +But none of these remonstrances produced any effect on the misguided +King. When Herbesteiner reproached him with sacrificing the laws of +God and honour and the Emperor's friendship to a low-born woman, he +shook his fist in the imperial Envoy's face, and bade him begone from +his presence.[20] At the same time he showed his resentment in a more +dangerous way by making a treaty with France and closing the Sound to +Dutch ships. He even seized several trading vessels on pretence that +the Queen's dowry had not been paid, and when Archbishop Walkendorf +ventured to expostulate with him on his misconduct, banished the +prelate from Court.[21] + +Meanwhile Isabella herself bore neglect and insults with the same +uncomplaining sweetness. But we see how much she suffered from a +private letter which she wrote to her sister Eleanor about this time. +This attractive Princess, who at the age of eighteen still remained +unmarried, had fallen in love with her brother's brilliant friend, +Frederic, Count Palatine, the most accomplished knight at Court, and +the idol of all the ladies. The mutual attachment between the Palatine +and the Archduchess was the talk of the whole Court, and met with +Margaret's private approval, although it was kept a secret from Charles +and his Ministers. Eleanor confided this romantic story to her absent +sister, and expressed a secret hope that the popular Count Palatine +might succeed her aunt as Regent when the young King left Brussels for +Spain. In reply Isabella sent Eleanor the warmest congratulations on +her intended marriage, rejoicing that her sister at least would not be +forced to leave home, and would be united to a husband whom she really +loved. The poor young Queen proceeded to lament her own sad fate in the +following strain: + + "It is hard enough to marry a man whose face you have never + seen, whom you do not know or love, and worse still to be + required to leave home and kindred, and follow a stranger to + the ends of the earth, without even being able to speak his + language."[22] + +[Sidenote: 1513-23] A LOVE-LETTER] + +She goes on to describe the misery of her life, even though she bears +the title of Queen. What is she, in fact, but a prisoner in a foreign +land? She is never allowed to go out or appear in public, while her +lord the King spends his time in royal progresses and hunting-parties, +and amuses himself after his fashion, apart from her. Far better would +it be for Eleanor to follow her own inclination, and choose a husband +who belongs to her own country and speaks her language, even if he were +not of kingly rank. Unfortunately, the pretty romance which excited +Isabella's sympathy was doomed to an untimely end. The death of Mary +of Castille, Queen of Portugal, in May, 1517, left King Emanuel a +widower for the second time. He had married two of Charles's aunts in +turn, and was now over fifty, and a hunchback into the bargain. None +the less, the plan of a marriage between him and his niece Eleanor +was now revived, and in August these proposals reached the young King +at the seaport of Middelburg, where he and his sister were awaiting +a favourable wind to set sail for Spain. Filled with alarm, Frederic +implored Eleanor to take a bold step, confess her love to Charles, +and seek his consent to her marriage with his old friend. In a letter +signed with his name, and still preserved in the Archives of Simancas, +the Palatine begged his love to lose no time if she would escape from +the snare laid for them both by "the Uncle of Portugal." + + "Ma mignonne," he wrote, "si vous voulez, vous pouvez être la + cause de mon bien ou de mon mal. C'est pourquoi je vous supplie + d'avoir bon courage pour vous et pour moi. Cela peut se faire + si vous voulez. Car je suis prêt, et ne demande autre chose, + sinon que je sois à vous, et vous à moi."[23] + +Accordingly, on the Feast of the Assumption Eleanor approached her +brother after hearing Mass in the abbey chapel. But while she was +gathering all her courage to speak, Charles caught sight of the +Palatine's letter in her bosom, and, snatching it from his sister's +hands, broke into furious reproaches, swearing that he would avenge +this insult with the traitor's blood. As Spinelli, the English Envoy, +remarked, "The letter was but honest, concerning matters of love and +marriage,"[24] but the young King would listen to no excuses, and, in +spite of the Regent's intervention, Frederic was banished from Court +in disgrace. A fortnight later Charles and his sister sailed for +Castille, and in the following summer Madame Leonore became the bride +of "l'Oncle de Portugal," King Emanuel. + + +II. + +The death of Christian II.'s mistress, Dyveke, in the summer of 1517 +produced a change in the situation at Copenhagen. This unfortunate +girl, a victim of her ambitious mother's designs, died very suddenly +one afternoon after eating cherries in the royal gardens. The King's +suspicions fell on his steward, Torben Axe, who was brutally put to +death in spite of his protestations of innocence. But the Queen's +position was distinctly improved. Christian now treated his wife with +marked kindness, and appointed her Regent when, early in the following +year, he went to Sweden to put down a rising of the nobles. Sigebritt +Willems's influence, however, still remained paramount, and, in a +letter to the Queen from Sweden, Christian begged her to consult the +Dutchwoman in any difficulty, and ended by wishing her and "Mother +Sigebritt" a thousand good-nights. Stranger still to relate, when, on +the 21st of February, Isabella gave birth to a son, the infant Prince +was entrusted to Sigebritt's care. + +[Sidenote: 1513-23] BIRTH OF PRINCES] + +This happy event, combined with Isabella's unfailing affection for +her wayward lord, led to improved relations between Christian and his +wife's family. After the death of Maximilian, Charles became anxious +to secure his brother-in-law's support in the imperial election, and +in February, 1519, a treaty was concluded between the two monarchs at +Brussels.[25] The Danish Envoys, Anton de Metz and Hermann Willems, +Sigebritt's brother, received rich presents from Margaret, who was +once more acting as Regent of the Netherlands, and she even sent a +silver-gilt cup to the hated Dutchwoman herself.[26] A month later the +King of Denmark was elected Knight of the Golden Fleece at a Chapter of +the Order held at Barcelona, and in a letter which Charles addressed to +him he expressed his pleasure at hearing good accounts of his sister +and little nephew, and promised to pay the arrears of Isabella's dowry +as soon as possible.[27] + +On the 28th of June, 1519, Charles was elected King of the Romans, and +the formal announcement of his election was brought to Barcelona by +Eleanor's rejected suitor, the Palatine Frederic, whom he received with +open arms. A few days after this auspicious event the Queen of Denmark, +on the 4th of July, 1519, gave birth to twin sons, who received the +names of Philip and Maximilian. Both, however, died within a week of +their baptism, upon which Sigebritt is said to have remarked that this +was a good thing, since Denmark was too small a realm to support so +many Princes. + +With the help of Dutch ships and gold, Christian succeeded in subduing +the Swedish rebels, and was crowned with great solemnity in the +Cathedral of Upsala on the 4th of November, 1520. But the rejoicings +on this occasion were marred by the execution of ninety Swedish nobles +and two Bishops, who were treacherously put to death by the King's +orders. This act, which earned for Christian the title of the Nero +of the North, is said to have been instigated by Sigebritt and her +nephew Slagbök, a Westphalian barber, who had been raised from this low +estate to be Archbishop of Lunden. The insolent conduct of these evil +counsellors naturally increased the King's unpopularity in all parts of +the kingdom. Yet at the same time Christian II. showed himself to be an +excellent and enlightened ruler. He administered justice strictly, and +introduced many salutary reforms. + +[Sidenote: 1513-23] BIRTH OF DOROTHEA] + +The common practice of buying and selling serfs was prohibited, +Burgomasters and Town Councils were appointed to carry out the laws, +and a system of tolls and customs was established. Schools and +hospitals were founded, inns were opened in every town and village +for the convenience of travellers, piracy and brigandage were sternly +repressed. An Act was passed ordering that all cargoes recovered from +wrecks were to be placed in the nearest church, and, if not claimed by +the end of the year, divided between the Crown and the Church. When the +Bishops complained of the loss thus inflicted on them, the King told +them to go home and learn the Eighth Commandment. Still greater was +the opposition aroused when he attempted to reform clerical abuses. +Early in life Christian showed strong leanings towards the doctrines of +Luther, and on his return from Sweden he asked his uncle, the Elector +of Saxony, to send him a Lutheran preacher from Wittenberg. Although +these efforts at proselytizing met with little success, the King openly +professed his sympathy with the new Gospel. He had the Bible translated +into Danish, bade the Bishops dismiss their vast households, issued +edicts allowing priests to marry, and ordered the begging friars to +stay at home and earn their bread by honest labour.[28] + +All these reforms could not be effected without vigorous opposition, +and the discontent among the nobles and clergy became every day more +active. In the spring of 1521 a young Swedish noble, Gustavus Wasa, +raised the standard of revolt in Dalecarlia, and led his peasant bands +against Stockholm. Upon this Christian decided to pay a visit to the +Low Countries to meet the new Emperor, who was coming to be crowned at +Aix-la-Chapelle, and seek his help against the citizens of Lübeck and +the Swedish rebels. The government was once more placed in the hands +of Isabella. A few months before this, on the 10th of November, 1520, +while Christian was absent in Sweden, the Queen had given birth to a +daughter, named Dorothea after the King's grandmother, the able and +ambitious Princess of Brandenburg, who married two Kings of Denmark +in succession. Now she followed her husband with wistful thoughts as +he started on his journey, attended only by his Chamberlain, Anton de +Metz, and three servants, and rode all the way to her old home in the +Netherlands. + +On the 20th of June nine Danish ships sailed into the port of Antwerp, +and a few days afterwards Christian II. rode into the town. His fine +presence and the courage which he had shown in riding through Germany +with this small escort excited general admiration. + + "I noted," wrote Albert Dürer in his Journal, "how much the + people of Antwerp marvelled at the sight of this manly and + handsome Prince, who had come hither through his enemies' + country, with these few attendants."[29] + +[Sidenote: 1513-23] KING CHRISTIAN AT BRUSSELS] + +The Nuremberg master had been spending the winter in the Low +Countries, paying his respects to the Regent at Malines, and conversing +with Erasmus of Rotterdam and Lucas van Leyden. He was starting on his +journey home, when, on the Feast of the Visitation, he was sent for +by the King of Denmark, who received him very graciously, and asked +him to dine at his table and to take his portrait. So great was the +interest which Christian showed in the painter's work, that Dürer gave +him a fine set of his prints, which are still preserved in the museum +at Copenhagen, and accepted an invitation to accompany him to Brussels +the next day. Thus Albert Dürer was a witness of the meeting between +Christian and his brother-in-law Charles V., who had just arrived +from his coronation at Aix-la-Chapelle, and had been received with +great rejoicing by his subjects. At five that summer evening Charles +rode out from Brussels at the head of a brilliant cavalcade, and met +his royal brother-in-law in a meadow, where they embraced each other +and conversed with the help of an interpreter, Christian speaking in +German, and Charles in French. They entered Brussels after sunset, and +found the streets hung with tapestries and lighted with innumerable +torches and bonfires. The Emperor escorted Christian to the Count of +Nassau's palace on the top of the hill, which Dürer describes as the +finest house that he had ever seen. The next morning Charles brought +his guest to the palace gates, where the Regent and Germaine de Foix, +King Ferdinand's widow, were awaiting them, and for the first time +Margaret came face to face with her niece's husband. Christian kissed +the two ladies in French fashion, and after dinner the two Princes +spent the evening dancing with the Court ladies. + + "Now," wrote the Venetian Ambassador, Gaspare Contarini, + "at two hours after dark, they are still dancing, for young + monarchs such as these are not easily tired."[30] + +The impression which the Danish King made on the learned Italian was +very favourable. He describes him as a fine-looking Prince, with an +earnest, animated expression, long locks, and a beard curled after +the Italian fashion. In his black satin doublet, Spanish cloak, and +jewelled cap, he looked every inch a King. On the Sunday after his +arrival Christian entertained the Emperor, the Lady Margaret, and +the Queen-Dowager of Spain, at dinner. Albert Dürer was present on +this occasion, and was afterwards employed to paint a portrait of the +King in oils, for which Christian gave him thirty florins, an act of +liberality which contrasted favourably with Margaret's parsimony. "The +Lady Margaret in particular," remarks the painter in his Journal, "gave +me nothing for what I made and presented to her." Another personage in +whose society the King took pleasure was Erasmus, who discussed the +reform of the Church with him, and was much struck by the monarch's +enlightened opinions. On the 12th of July Christian accompanied his +brother-in-law to Antwerp, to lay the foundations of the new choir of +Our Lady's Church, and went on to Ghent, where he paid formal homage +for the duchy of Holstein, and was confirmed in his rights over the +Hanse towns, but could not persuade Charles to join him in making war +on the friendly citizens of Lübeck. At Ghent the King sent for the +English Ambassador, Sir Robert Wingfield, with whom he had a long +and friendly conversation, expressing great anxiety to meet King +Henry VIII. In reply, Wingfield told him that he would soon have the +opportunity of seeing the English monarch's powerful Minister, Cardinal +Wolsey, to whom he could speak as frankly as to the King himself.[31] +Accordingly, on the 5th of August Christian accompanied Charles and +Margaret to the Prinzenhof at Bruges, where Wolsey joined them a week +later. The regal state of the English Cardinal formed a striking +contrast to the King's simplicity. He arrived with a train of over +a thousand followers, clad in red satin, and twenty English nobles, +wearing gold chains, walked at his horse's side. On Sunday he rode to +Mass with the Emperor, and dined with Charles and Margaret, "praising +the delicate and sumptuous manner" in which he was entertained. When +the King of Denmark sent to ask him to come to his lodgings, the +Cardinal demurred, saying that, as he represented His Majesty of +England, the King must be the first to visit him, but that if Christian +preferred he would meet him in the palace garden. Christian, however, +waived ceremony, and called on Wolsey the next morning. The interview +was a very friendly one. Christian expressed his anxiety to enter into +a close alliance with England, and begged King Henry to be a good uncle +to his young kinsman, James V. of Scotland. Wolsey on his part was much +impressed by the King's good sense and peaceable intentions. + +[Sidenote: 1513-23] REVOLT IN DENMARK] + + "Surely, Sir," he wrote to his royal master, "the King of + Denmark, though in appearance he should be judged to be a + rash man, yet he is right wise, sober, and discreet, minding + the establishing of good peace betwixt Christian Princes, + wherein he right substantially declared his mind to me at good + length."[32] + +[Illustration: CHRISTIAN II., KING OF DENMARK + +_To face p. 30_] + +But the next day the King sent the Cardinal word that he had received +such bad news from his own country that he must return without delay. +He actually left Bruges that day, and was escorted to the city gates +by the Papal Nuncio Caracciolo and Contarini, who took leave of the +King, and returned to dine with Erasmus and his English friend, _Messer +Toma Moro_.[33] Unfortunately, Christian's visit to the Low Countries +produced no good result, and there was some justification for the +Imperial Chancellor's cynical remark: "It would have been better to +keep the King here, where he can do no harm, than to let him go home +to make fresh mischief."[34] He left Bruges dissatisfied with the +Emperor, and on reaching Copenhagen his first act was to dismiss the +Queen's confessor, Mansueri. When the Emperor begged him to leave his +sister free in matters of conscience, he broke into a passionate fit of +rage, tore the Golden Fleece from his neck, and trampled it underfoot, +cursing his meddlesome brother-in-law. What was worse, he seized +several Dutch ships in the Sound, and drew upon himself the serious +displeasure of the Regent and her Council. + +Meanwhile Gustavus Wasa had laid siege to Stockholm, and there was a +rising in Jutland. A Papal Legate arrived at Copenhagen to inquire into +the judicial murder of the Swedish Bishops and demand the punishment +of Slagbök. The unfortunate Archbishop was made a scapegoat, and put +to death in January, 1522. Stones were thrown at Sigebritt when she +drove out in the royal carriage, and one day she was thrown into a pond +by some peasants, and only rescued with difficulty. Even Christian +began to realize the danger of the situation, and wrote to Isabella +from Jutland, begging her to "bid Mother Sigebritt hold her tongue, +and not set foot outside the castle, if she wished him to return home +alive." In another letter, written on the 4th of February, 1522, from +the Convent of Dalin, the King congratulates his wife on her safe +deliverance, and the birth of "a marvellously handsome child."[35] +This is the only intimation we have of the birth of Isabella's second +daughter, Christina. The exact date is not to be found in the Danish +archives, and has hitherto eluded all research. The child who saw the +light in these troubled times received the name of Christina from her +grandmother, the Queen-Dowager of Denmark, a Princess of Saxon birth, +who still resided at King Hans's favourite palace of Odensee. All we +know of Queen Christina is that, on the 2nd of April, 1515, two years +after her husband's death, she addressed an urgent prayer to King Henry +VIII., begging him to send her a relic of St. Thomas of Canterbury.[36] +We are not told if a phial containing a drop of the saint's blood was +sent to Denmark in response to this entreaty, but the request is of +interest as a proof of the English martyr's widespread renown. + +A few weeks after the birth of her little daughter Isabella wrote a +touching appeal to her aunt, imploring the Regent's help against the +Danish rebels: + +[Sidenote: 1513-23] CHRISTIAN II. DEPOSED] + + "We have sad news from my lord in Jutland. The nobles there + have rebelled against him, and seek to deprive him and our + children of their crown and their lives. So we entreat you to + come to our help, that we may chastise these rebels."[37] + +Anton de Metz was sent to Brussels on the same errand, but could obtain +small hopes of assistance. The Regent's Council complained that King +Christian had damaged the trade of the Low Countries and ill-treated +their sailors, and the temper of the Court was reflected in Sir Robert +Wingfield's despatches to England. + + "The Easterlings," remarked the Ambassador, "handle the King + of Denmark roughly, and his own people are said to have killed + the Woman of Holland, who was mother to his Dove, as the King's + mistress was called, whereby it appeareth that ill life and + like governance often cometh to a bad end."[38] + +King Christian's affairs, as Wingfield truly said, were in an evil +plight. In June Stockholm surrendered to Gustavus Wasa, and the +citizens of Lübeck sent a fleet to burn Helsingfors and threaten +Copenhagen. To add to the unfortunate King's difficulties, his uncle +Frederic, Duke of Holstein, who had always nursed a grievance against +his elder brother, the late King Hans, now took up a hostile attitude, +and made common cause with the rebels. On the 20th of January, 1523, +the nobles of Jutland met at Viborg, deposed Christian II. formally, +and elected his uncle Frederic to be King in his stead. In vain +Christian endeavoured to raise fresh forces, and sent desperate appeals +to his kinsfolk in the Low Countries and Germany, and to his allies in +England and Scotland. + +Margaret replied curtly that the Emperor himself needed all the +men and ammunition that could be obtained in those parts. The young +King of Scotland's Chancellor, the Archbishop of Glasgow, sent a +sympathetic message, regretting that the enmity of England prevented +him from helping King Christian against his rebel subjects. When the +Dean of Roskild appeared in London with a letter from the Danish +monarch, begging King Henry to induce Margaret to help him against the +Easterlings, Wolsey sent a splendid barge to conduct the Ambassador +to Greenwich, but gave him little encouragement beyond fair words. +"So I hope," wrote Sir Robert Wingfield, who, in spite of Christian's +civilities at Ghent, had little pity for him, "that this wicked King +will fail."[39] + +[Sidenote: 1513-23] FLIGHT OF THE ROYAL FAMILY] + +The unhappy monarch was at his wits' end. Yet many of his subjects were +still loyal. The bulk of the middle and lower classes, the burghers, +artisans, and country-folk, looked on him as their best friend; and +when he appeared at the fair of Ringsted, a thousand strong arms +were raised, and a thousand lusty voices swore fealty to Christian, +the peasants' King. Copenhagen was strongly fortified, and as long +as he stayed there he was safe from his foes. But an unaccountable +panic seized him. Whether, as in the case of Lodovico Sforza, whom he +resembled in so many ways, remorse for past crimes enfeebled his will, +or whether his nerves gave way, he could not summon up courage to meet +his foes, and decided to fly. A fleet of twenty ships was equipped, +fully supplied with arms and ammunition, and laden with the crown +jewels, archives, and treasures. The Queen and her young children--the +five-year-old Prince John, the two little Princesses, Dorothea and +Christina (a babe of fifteen months)--went on board the finest vessel +of the fleet, the _Great Mary_, and Mother Sigebritt was hidden in a +chest to save her from the fury of the people, who regarded her as the +chief cause of the King's unpopularity. But the greatest compassion was +felt for Isabella and her innocent babes; and even the usurper Frederic +wrote to beg the Queen to remain in Denmark, assuring her that she and +her children would be perfectly safe. On the 14th of April the fleet +set sail. An immense crowd assembled on the ramparts to see the last +of the royal family. The King made a farewell speech, exhorting the +garrison to remain loyal to his cause, and promising to return in three +months with reinforcements. Then the ships weighed anchor, and neither +Isabella nor her children ever saw the shores of Denmark again. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[17] Le Glay, ii. 336. + +[18] De Reiffenberg, "Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or," 307. + +[19] Le Glay, ii. 337. + +[20] L. Van Bergh, "Correspondance de M. d'Autriche," ii. 135. + +[21] Ulmann, ii. 510. + +[22] Hubertus Leodius Thomas, "Spiegel des Humors grosser Potentaten," +79. E. Moeller, "Éléonore d'Autriche," 307. + +[23] Moeller, 327. L. Mignet, "Rivalité de Francis I. et Charles V.," +i. 140. + +[24] Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., ii. 2, 1151. H. Baumgarten, +"Geschichte Karl V.," i. 58. + +[25] Henne. ii. 249. + +[26] Archives du Royaume: Bruxelles Régistre des Revenus et Dépenses de +Charles V., ii. 72. + +[27] J. Altmeyer, 46. + +[28] F. Dahlmann, "Geschichte von Dänemark," iii. 359. + +[29] M. Conway, "Literary Remains of Albert Dürer," 124. + +[30] Venetian State Papers, iii. 139. + +[31] Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., iii. 2, 555, 561, 582. + +[32] Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., iii. 2, 614. + +[33] Venetian State Papers, iii. 162. + +[34] Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., iii. 2, 576. + +[35] Altmeyer, 23. Reedtz Manuscripts, xiii. 28. + +[36] Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., ii. 191. + +[37] Altmeyer, "Isabelle d'Autriche," 23. + +[38] Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., iii. 2, 1086. + +[39] Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., iii. 2, 1189. Altmeyer, +"Relations Commerciales du Danemark et des Paysbas," 105. + + + + +BOOK III + +KINGS IN EXILE + +1523-1531 + + +I. + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] VISIT TO LONDON] + +The troubles of the Danish royal family were not over when they left +Copenhagen. A violent storm scattered the fleet in the North Sea, and +drove several of the ships on the Norwegian coast, where many of them +were lost with all their cargo. The remaining eleven or twelve ships +entered the harbour of Veeren, in Walcheren, on the 1st of May. Here +the King and Queen were kindly received by Adolf of Burgundy, the +Admiral of the Dutch fleet, who kept them for a week in his own house, +and then escorted them to the Regent's Court at Malines. Margaret +welcomed her niece with all her old affection, and took her and the +royal children into her own house. But she met the King's prayer for +help coldly, saying that it was beyond her power to give him either men +or money. The moment, it is true, was singularly unpropitious. Not only +were all the Emperor's resources needed to carry on his deadly struggle +with France, but nearer home the Regent was engaged in a fierce +conflict with her old enemy, Charles of Guelders, for the possession +of Friesland. As Adolf of Burgundy wrote to Wolsey: "We need help so +much ourselves that we are hardly in condition to help others."[40] +Christian soon realized this, and determined to apply to Henry VIII., +relying on his former assurances of brotherly affection, and feeling +confident of Wolsey's support. The scheme met with Margaret's approval, +and, since Isabella had only brought one Dutch maid and the children's +nurses from Copenhagen, the Regent lent her several ladies, in order +that she might appear in due state at the English Court.[41] + +On the 5th of June the King and Queen left Malines with a suite of +eighty persons and fifty horses, and, after waiting some time at Calais +to hear the latest news from Denmark, crossed the Channel, and reached +Greenwich on the 19th. Wolsey had already told the Imperial Ambassador, +De Praet, that the King of Denmark would receive little encouragement +from his master, and had expressed a hope that he would not give them +the trouble of coming to England. He met the royal travellers, however, +at the riverside, and conducted them to the palace, where they dined +in the great hall with the King on the following day, Henry leading +Christian by the hand, and Queen Katherine following with Isabella and +her sister-in-law, Mary, Duchess of Suffolk, the widow of Louis XII., +who was still known as _la Reine blanche_. From Greenwich the King and +Queen of Denmark moved to Bath Place, where they were lodged at Henry's +expense. Katherine welcomed her great-niece with motherly affection, +but both Henry and Wolsey told Christian plainly that he had made a +fatal mistake in deserting his loyal subjects, and advised him to +return at once and encourage them by his presence. + +All the English monarch would do was to send Envoys to Denmark to urge +the usurper Frederic and his supporters to return to their allegiance. + + "For," as Henry himself wrote to the Emperor, "this perfidy + of the King's subjects is a most fatal example, if for the + most trifling cause a Prince is to be called in question, and + expelled and put from his crown."[42] + +The futility of these measures was evident to De Praet, who wrote to +Charles at Toledo, saying that unless he took up the exiled monarch's +cause for his sister's sake he would never recover his kingdom. +Copenhagen was now besieged by land and sea, and if the garrison +were not relieved by Michaelmas they would be forced to surrender, +and Christian's last hope would be gone. The King himself, De Praet +owned, seemed little changed, and he advised the Emperor to insist on +Sigebritt's removal before giving him any help. + + "Your Majesty," wrote the Ambassador, "ought first of all to + have the Woman of Holland sought out and punished, an act which + in my small opinion would acquire great merit in the eyes of + both God and man."[43] + +At Isabella's request, both Margaret and King Henry had spoken +strongly to Christian on this subject, but he still persisted in his +infatuation, and it was not till after he had left the Netherlands, and +his wife and aunt were dead, that this miserable woman was arrested in +Ghent and burnt as a witch.[44] + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] A NOBLE WIFE] + +As for the Queen, no words could express De Praet's admiration for her +angelic goodness. "It is indeed grievous," he wrote, "to see this poor +lady in so melancholy a plight, and I cannot marvel too much at her +virtues and heroic patience." Henry was equally moved, and wrote to +Charles in the warmest terms of his sister's noble qualities, but did +not disguise his contempt for her husband.[45] + +There was, clearly, nothing more to be gained by remaining in England, +and on the 5th of July the King and Queen returned to the Low +Countries. Isabella joined her children at Malines, and Christian went +to Antwerp to equip ships for the relief of Copenhagen. But he soon +quarrelled with Margaret, and left suddenly for Germany. In September +he appeared at Berlin, having ridden from Brussels attended by only +two servants, and succeeded in raising a force of 25,000 men, with +the help of his brother-in-law, the Marquis of Brandenburg, and Duke +Henry of Brunswick. But when the troops assembled on the banks of the +Elbe, King Christian was unable to fulfil his promises or provide the +money demanded by the leaders, and he was glad to escape with his +life from the angry hordes of soldiers clamouring for pay. By the end +of the year Copenhagen capitulated, and in the following August the +usurper Frederic was elected King by the General Assembly, and solemnly +crowned in the Frauenkirche.[46] The crimes of the unhappy Christian +recoiled on his own head, and in the Act of Deprivation by which he +was formally deposed, it was expressly stated that his neglect of his +noble and virtuous wife, and infatuation for the adventuress Sigebritt +and her daughter, had estranged the hearts of his people. But through +all these troubles Isabella clung to him with unchanging faithfulness. +She followed him first to Berlin, then to Saxony, where he sought his +uncle's help. In March she went to Nuremberg on a visit to her brother, +King Ferdinand, and pleaded her husband and children's cause before the +Diet in so eloquent a manner that the assembled Princes were moved to +tears. + + "Everyone here," wrote Hannart, the minister whom Charles V. + had sent to his sister's help, "is full of compassion for the + Queen, but no one places the least trust in the King. If it + were not for her sake, not a single man would saddle a horse on + his behalf." + +Hannart, in fact, confessed that he had done his utmost to keep +Christian away from Nuremberg, feeling sure that his presence would do +more harm than good. Even Isabella's entreaties were of no avail. She +begged her brother in vain for the loan of 20,000 florins to satisfy +the Duke of Brunswick, whose angry threats filled her with alarm. + + "I am always afraid some harm may happen to you when I am + away," she wrote to her husband. "I long to join you, and would + rather suffer at your side than live in comfort away from + you."[47] + +But Christian, as Hannart remarked in a letter to the Regent Margaret, +had few friends. Even his servants did not attempt to deny the charges +that were brought against him, and the Queen alone, like the loyal wife +that she was, sought to explain and excuse his conduct. + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] MARTIN LUTHER] + +To add to Isabella's troubles, her brother Ferdinand was seriously +annoyed at the leanings to the Lutheran faith which she now displayed. +Christian's Protestant tendencies had been greatly strengthened by +his residence in Saxony during the winter of 1523. He heard Luther +preach at Wittenberg, and spent much time in his company, dining +frequently with him and Spalatin, the Court chaplain, and making +friends with the painter Lucas Cranach. The fine portrait of King +Christian by this artist forms the frontispiece of a Danish version +of the New Testament published by Hans Mikkelsen, the Burgomaster of +Malmoë, who shared his royal master's exile. When the Marquis Joachim +of Brandenburg remonstrated with his brother-in-law for his intimacy +with the heretic Luther, Christian replied that he would rather lose +all three of his kingdoms than forsake this truly Apostolic man.[48] +Isabella's naturally religious nature was deeply impressed by these +new influences, and both she and her sister-in-law, Elizabeth of +Brandenburg, secretly embraced the reformed doctrine. At Nuremberg she +attended the sermons of the Lutheran doctor Osiander, and received +Communion in both kinds from his hands on Maundy Thursday, to the great +indignation of King Ferdinand, who told her he could not own a heretic +as his sister. Isabella replied gently that if he cast her off God +would take care of her. Luther on his part was moved by the apparent +sincerity of his royal convert. + + "Strange indeed are the ways of God!" he wrote to Spalatin. + "His grace penetrates into the most unlikely places, and may + even bring this rare wild game, a King and Queen, safely into + the heavenly net."[49] + +While Luther addressed a strong remonstrance to the newly-elected +King of Denmark and the citizens of Lübeck, Christian's Chancellor, +Cornelius Scepperus, drew up an eloquent memorial to Pope Clement +VII. on the exiled King's behalf, and travelled to Spain to seek the +Emperor's help. By Hannart's exertions a Congress was held at Hamburg +in April, which was attended by representatives of the Emperor, the +Regent of the Netherlands, the Imperial Electors and Princes, as well +as by deputies from Denmark, England, Poland, and Lübeck. Isabella +accompanied her husband on this occasion, at Hannart's request. + + "I hear on all sides," he wrote to Charles, "that the people of + Denmark would gladly welcome the return of the Queen and her + children if the King would not meddle with public affairs, and + a good Governor appointed by Your Majesty should act as Regent + until the young Prince is of age."[50] + +But when, by way of compromise, some members of the Congress proposed +that Frederic should retain the throne, and recognize Prince John as +his successor, Christian rejected this offer angrily, and negotiations +were soon broken off. Both Charles and Margaret now gave up all hope +of effecting Christian's restoration, and concluded a treaty in the +following August with King Frederic, by which his title was recognized, +and the Baltic was once more opened to the merchants of the Low +Countries. + + +II. + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] THE CHILDREN OF DENMARK] + +The exiled monarch, now compelled to realize the hopelessness of his +cause, returned sorrowfully with his wife to the Low Countries, and +Isabella had at least the joy of embracing her children once more. +During this long absence the faithful servants who had followed their +King and Queen into exile had kept her well supplied with news of their +health and progress. + + "Prince John," wrote Nicolas Petri, Canon of Lunden, "learns + quickly, and begins to speak French. He is already a great + favourite with the Lady Margaret. His sisters, the Princesses, + are very well, and are both very pretty children. The youngest, + Madame Christine, has just been weaned. Madame Marguerite says + that she will soon be receiving proposals of marriage for the + elder one. These are good omens, for which God be praised. It + is a real pleasure to be with these children, they are so good + and charming. If only Your Grace could see them, you would soon + forget all your troubles."[51] + +But not all Margaret's affection for Isabella and her children could +reconcile her to the King's presence. Christian was, it must be +confessed, a troublesome guest. His restless brain was always busy +with new plots and intrigues. At first he announced his intention of +taking Isabella to visit the Emperor in Spain, but, after spending some +weeks in Zeeland fitting out ships, he suddenly changed his mind, and +took Isabella, whose health had suffered from all the hardships and +anxiety that she had undergone, to drink the waters at Aix-la-Chapelle. +On his return he wished to settle at Ghent, but the Regent and her +Council, fearing that his presence would excite sedition in this city, +suggested that the Castle of Gemappes should be offered him instead. +Charles replied that if the King lived at Gemappes he would certainly +spoil his hunting, and thought that Lille or Bruges would be a better +place. In the end Lierre, a pleasant city halfway between Malines and +Antwerp, was chosen for the exiled Princes' home. Towards the end of +1524 Christian and his family took up their abode in the old castle +which still goes by the name of _Het Hof van Denemarken_, or _Cour de +Danemarck_. A guard of fifty halberdiers and a considerable household +was assigned to them by the Emperor's order. A monthly allowance of 500 +crowns was granted to the King, while the Queen received a yearly sum +of 2,000 crowns _pour employer en ses menus plaisirs_. But Christian's +reckless and disorderly conduct soon landed him in fresh difficulties. +Isabella cut up her husband's old robes to make clothes for her +little girls, and was reduced to such penury that she was compelled +to pledge, not only her jewels, but the children's toys. Meanwhile +Margaret's letters to her imperial nephew were filled with complaints +of the Danish King's extravagance. She declared that he was spending +800 crowns a month, and perpetually asking for more. When she sent +her _maître d'hôtel_, Monsieur de Souvastre, to set his affairs in +order, he was confronted with a long list of unpaid bills from doctors, +apothecaries, saddlers, masons, carpenters, tailors, and poulterers. +But accounts of the straits to which the Queen and her children were +reduced had evidently reached Spain, and Charles felt it necessary to +remind his aunt gently that, after all, Isabella was his own sister, +and that many pensioners whom he had never seen received many thousands +of crowns a year from his purse.[52] + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] A ZEALOUS LUTHERAN] + +Another cause of perpetual irritation was the favour shown by the +King to the Lutherans, whom the Regent was trying to drive out of +Flanders. The Court of Lierre became the refuge of all who professed +the new doctrine. Margaret insisted on the banishment of several of the +King's servants, including the chaplain, Hans Monboë, and Prince John's +tutor, Nicolas Petri, and sent others to prison. But these high-handed +acts only strengthened Christian's zeal in the cause of reform. "The +word of God," he wrote to his friend Spalatin, "waxes powerful in +the Netherlands, and thrives on the blood of the martyrs."[53] The +letters which he addressed to his old subjects were couched in the +same strain. He confessed his past sins, and prayed that he might be +restored to his kingdom, like David of old, declaring that his sole +wish was to live for Christ and do good to his enemies. At the same +time he hired freebooters to ravage the coast of Denmark, and provoked +King Frederic to close the Sound, an act which aroused widespread +discontent in the Low Countries. In August, 1525, he sent a herald +to England, begging King Henry and his good friend the Cardinal to +intercede with the Regent, and induce her to lend him men and money for +a fresh expedition. But Margaret turned a deaf ear to all entreaties, +and when Isabella's physician recommended her to try the waters of +Aix-la-Chapelle again, she declined to sanction this journey on the +score of expense. She sent her own doctor, however, to Lierre, and at +his suggestion the invalid was moved for change of air to Swynaerde, +the Abbot of St. Peter's country-house near Ghent. But Isabella's ills +were beyond the reach of human skill, and she soon became too weak to +leave her room. On the 12th of December Christian sent for his old +chaplain from Wittenberg, begging him to return without delay. + + "DEAR BROTHER IN CHRIST," he wrote, + + "Here we forget Christ, and have no one to preach the word + of God. I implore you to come and give us the comfort of the + Gospel. Greet our brothers and sisters." + +Upon receiving this summons, Monboë and Hans Mikkelsen hastened +to Ghent, at the peril of their lives, and administered spiritual +consolation to the dying Queen. On the 19th of January she received +the last Sacraments from the priest of Swynaerde, and saw Monsieur de +Souvastre, by whom she sent her aunt affectionate messages, commending +her poor children to Margaret's care. A few hours afterwards she passed +quietly away. Both Catholics and Lutherans bore witness to her angelic +patience, and a letter which Christian addressed to Luther, ten days +later, gives a touching account of his wife's last moments: + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] DEATH OF ISABELLA] + + "As her weakness increased, Frau Margaret sent her servant, + Philippe de Souvastre, and other excellent persons, to admonish + her after the fashion of the Popish Anti-Christ's faith and the + religion of his sect. But Almighty God in His mercy deprived + my wife of her powers of speech, so that she made no reply, + and they gave up speaking, and only anointed her with oil. But + before this she had received the Blessed Sacrament in the most + devout manner, with ardent longing, firm faith, and stedfast + courage; and when one of our preachers exhorted her, in the + words of the Gospel, to stand fast in the faith, she confessed + her firm trust in God, and paid no heed to the superstitious + mutterings of the others. After this she became speechless, but + gave many signs of true faith to the end, and took her last + farewell of this world on the 19th of January. May God Almighty + be gracious to her soul, and grant her eternal rest! We are + strong in the sure and certain hope that she has entered into + eternal bliss, unto which God bring us all!"[54] + +On the 4th of February the dead Queen, who had not yet completed her +twenty-fifth year, was buried with great pomp in the cloisters of the +Abbey of St. Peter at Ghent, where a stately marble tomb was raised +over her ashes. The painter Mabuse was employed to design the monument, +as we learn from a letter which the King addressed to the Abbot of +St. Peter's in 1528, complaining of his delay in completing the work. +A Latin inscription by Cornelius Scepperus, giving Isabella's titles +in full, and recording her virtues and the sufferings which she had +endured during her short life, was placed on the monument, which is +described by an English traveller of the sixteenth century, Philip +Skippon.[55] Unfortunately, the tomb was rifled by the mob at the time +of the French Revolution, but the ashes of the Queen were carefully +preserved by a pious Curé, and afterwards restored to their former +resting-place. + +Isabella's early death was deeply lamented, not only in the Low +Countries, where she was so beloved, but in her husband's kingdoms. +Funeral services were held throughout the land, and all men wept for +the good Princess "who had been the mother of her people." On all sides +testimonies to her worth were paid. Henry of England wrote to King +Christian that the late Queen had been as dear to him as a sister, and +Luther paid an eloquent tribute to her memory in his treatise on Holy +Women: + + "Of such Kings' daughters there was indeed one, of the noblest + birth, Isabella, Queen of Denmark, a Princess of the royal + house of Spain. She embraced the Gospel with great ardour, and + confessed the faith openly. And because of this she died in + want and misery. For had she consented to renounce her faith, + she would have received far more help and much greater kindness + in this life."[56] + + +III. + +The news of the Queen of Denmark's death reached her brother, the +Emperor, on the eve of his marriage to Isabella of Portugal. Guillaume +des Barres, the bearer of Margaret's letters, found him at a village in +Andalusia, on his way to Seville, where the wedding was to take place +on the following day, and had a long interview with his imperial master +before he left his bed on the 9th of March. Charles spoke with deep +feeling of his sister, and inquired anxiously if the Regent had been +able to obtain possession of her children--"a thing," wrote Des Barres, +"which His Majesty desires greatly, because of the King's heretical +leanings."[57] + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] MARGARET INTERVENES] + +Margaret had certainly not been remiss in this matter. But Christian +was more intractable than ever. He took his children to Ghent +immediately after their mother's death, and refused to give them up +until the Regent had paid all his debts, including 7,000 florins for +the funeral expenses, and 2,000 more which he owed to the landlord of +the Falcon at Lierre for Rhine-wine and fodder. His language became +every day more violent. He threatened to cut off the Governor of +Antwerp's head, and appealed to his comrades of the Golden Fleece for +the redress of his supposed grievances. At length Margaret, seeing that +none of her Court officials and Councillors could bring him to reason, +rode to Lierre herself on the 2nd of March, and made a last attempt to +obtain possession of the children _par voye aimable_. The King, she +found, had already packed up his furniture and plate, even the chalice +which was used in the royal chapel, and was about to start for Germany. + +After prolonged discussion, the Regent succeeded in persuading +Christian to leave his children with her, on condition that she +paid his debts in Lierre, and provided for the late Queen's funeral +expenses--"a thing which must be done," she wrote to Charles, "out +of sheer decency." But she quite refused the King's demand for an +increased allowance, saying that he could not require more money +than he had received in his wife's lifetime. Christian then left the +Netherlands for Saxony, saying that he intended to raise a fresh army +and invade Denmark. "He is confident of recovering his kingdoms," +wrote Margaret to the Emperor, "but my own impression is that his +exploits will be confined to plundering and injuring your subjects." +This prophecy was literally fulfilled, and during the next four years +the peaceful folk in Friesland were harassed by turbulent freebooters +in the King of Denmark's pay, while pirates ravaged the coasts of the +North Sea, and led the Hanse cities to make severe reprisals on the +Dutch ships. + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] THE PALACE OF MALINES] + +Margaret's chief object, however, was attained. On the 5th of March +she returned to Malines with the Prince of Denmark and his little +sisters. "Henceforth, Monseigneur," she wrote to Charles, "you will +have to be both father and mother to these poor children, and must +treat them as your own."[58] The Regent herself nobly fulfilled the +sacred trust committed to her by the dying Queen. From this time +until her own death, four and a half years later, Isabella's children +were the objects of her unceasing care, and lacked nothing that money +could provide or love suggest. They lived under her own roof in the +Palace of Malines, that city of wide streets and canals, with the fine +market-place and imposing cathedral, which many called the finest town +in Flanders. Margaret's first care was to arrange the royal children's +household. Prince John was placed in the charge of a governess, +Mademoiselle Rolande de Serclaes, who superintended his meals and +taught him "Christian religion and good manners," while he had for +his tutor Cornelius Agrippa, the distinguished scholar and defender +of women's rights, who dedicated his book, "On the Pre-excellence of +Women," to the Regent. In Lent the Prince and his sisters received +regular instruction in the palace chapel, and one year Friar Jehan de +Salis received thirty-six livres for preaching a course of Lent sermons +before the Prince and Princesses of Denmark. Margaret herself kept +a watchful eye on the children. A hundred entries in her household +accounts show how carefully she chose their nurses and companions, +their clothes and playthings. One of her first gifts to the Prince +was a handsome pony, richly harnessed with black and gold trappings. +Another was a dwarf page, who became his constant playfellow, and +in his turn received good Ypres cloth and damask for his own wear. +Italian merchants from Antwerp often came to lay their wares before the +Regent. We find her choosing black velvet and white satin for Prince +John's doublet, and pearl buttons and gold fringe to trim his sleeves, +and ordering the goldsmith, Master Leonard of Augsburg, to supply +an antique silver dagger and an image of Hercules for the Prince's +cap. Or else a merchant is desired to send her two pairs of cuffs of +exquisitely fine "toile de Cambray," embroidered with gold thread, for +the young Princesses' wear,[59] and twenty gold balls for the fringe +of their bed. Amid all the anxious cares of State which filled her +time, this great lady seldom allowed a day to pass without seeing her +nephew and nieces. Their innocent prattle and merry laughter cheered +her lonely hours, while the Prince and his sisters found plenty to +amuse them in their great-aunt's rooms. The halls were hung with costly +Arras tapestries of David killing Goliath, stories of Alexander and +Esther, hunting scenes and Greek fables, or adorned with paintings +by the best masters. Van Eyck's "Merchant of Lucca, Arnolfini with +his Wife," and "Virgin of the Fountain," Rogier Van der Weyden's and +Memling's Madonnas, Jerome Bosch's "St. Anthony," Jacopo de' Barbari's +"Crucifixion," were all here, as well as Michel van Coxien's little +Virgin with the sleeping Child in her arms, which Margaret called her +_mignonne_.[60] The library contained a complete collection of family +portraits, chiefly the work of the Court painter, Bernard van Orley or +Jehan Mabuse. + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] MABUSE'S PICTURE] + +Among these were pictures of Margaret's parents, Maximilian and Mary +of Burgundy; of her second husband, Monsieur de Savoie, a brilliant +cavalier clad in a crimson mantle sown with daisies in allusion to his +wife's name; and of her brother, King Philip, with his children, the +young Archduke Charles and the future Queens of France and Denmark. +Prince John and his sisters would recognize the portraits of their +own father and mother, King Christian and his gentle wife, which hung +over the mantelpiece, together with those of their great-grandparents, +Ferdinand and Isabella, the Kings of France and England, and the +Grand Turk. But better in the children's eyes than all the pictures +and bronzes, the marble busts and ivories, the silver mirrors and +chandeliers, better even than the Chinese dragons and stuffed +birds-of-Paradise from the New World, were the live pets with which +their aunt loved to be surrounded. The famous green parrot which once +belonged to Mary of Burgundy had lately died, to her great sorrow. +Margaret herself had written its epitaph, and the Court poet, Jehan Le +Maire, had sung the bird's descent into the Elysian fields, and its +converse with Charon and Mercury, in his elegy of "L'Amant Vert." But +in its stead she had cages full of parakeets and singing birds, which +were carefully tended by her ladies, and fed with white loaves newly +baked every morning. There was an Italian greyhound in a white fur +tippet, and a number of toy-dogs in baskets lined with swansdown, and +a marmoset that she had bought from a French pedlar, which afforded +the Court ladies as much amusement as the royal children. Nor were +other diversions wanting. Margaret was very fond of music, and not +only kept a troop of viol and tambourine players, but often sent for +the town band of Ghent and Brussels, or the Prince of Orange's fife +and organ players, to beguile her evenings. Sometimes the children +of S. Rombaut and the choir-boys of Notre Dame du Sablon in Brussels +would sing chorales during dinner, or strolling players and German +marionettes, Italian jugglers, or Poles and Hungarians with tame bears, +would be allowed to perform in her presence. On one occasion a famous +lute-player from the Court of Whitehall was sent over by King Henry, +and received seven gold crowns for his pains. Another time three +Savoyards were rewarded with a handful of gold pieces for the tricks +with which they had amused the Court after supper. And every May Day +the archers of the guard marched in procession to plant hawthorn-bushes +covered with blossom under the palace windows.[61] + +In these pleasant surroundings the children of Denmark grew up under +the same roof as their mother and aunts before them, leading the same +joyous and natural life. No wonder that through all her troubled life +Christina looked back fondly to these early times, and never forgot the +happy days which she had spent at Malines. There is a charming picture, +now at Hampton Court, of the three children, painted by Mabuse soon +after their mother's death, and sent to King Henry VIII., whose favour +Christian II. was once more trying to obtain.[62] + +The three children are standing at a table covered with a green cloth, +on which apples and cherries are laid. Prince John, a manly boy with a +thoughtful, attractive face, wearing a black velvet suit and cap and +a gold chain round his neck, is in the centre between his sisters. On +his right, Dorothea, a pretty child with brown eyes and golden curls +frizzled all over her head, reaches out her hand towards the fruit, +while on his left the little Christina grasps an apple firmly in one +hand, and lays the other confidingly on her brother's arm. Both little +girls are dressed in black velvet with white ermine sleeves, probably +made out of their father's old robes. But while Dorothea's curly head +is uncovered, Christina wears a tight-fitting hood edged with pearls, +drawn closely over her baby face. Her tiny features are full of +character, and the large brown eyes, with their earnest gaze, and small +fingers clasping the apple, already reveal the courage and resolution +for which she was to be distinguished in days to come. + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] A PROMISING PRINCE] + +At this early period of their lives it was, naturally enough, Prince +John who chiefly occupied his guardian's thoughts. A boy of rare +promise, studious, intelligent, and affectionate, he had inherited much +of his mother's charm, and soon became a great favourite at Court. +Margaret was never tired of describing his talents and progress to +the Emperor, who took keen interest in his young nephew, and was +particularly glad to hear how fond he was of riding. + +[Illustration: _Copyright, H. M. the King_ + +THE CHILDREN OF CHRISTIAN II., KING OF DENMARK + +By Jean Mabuse (Hampton Court Palace) + +_To face p. 54_] + + "MADAME MY GOOD AUNT," he wrote, + + "I hear with great pleasure of the kindness shown by M. de + Brégilles, the Master of your Household, to my nephew, the + Prince of Denmark, and am very grateful to him for teaching + the boy to ride and mounting him so well. And you will please + tell Brégilles that I beg him to go on from good to better, and + train the boy in all honest and manly exercises, as well as in + noble and virtuous conduct, for you know that he is likely to + follow whatever example is set before him in his youth. And I + have no doubt that, not only in this case, but in all others, + you will not cease to watch over him. + + "Your good nephew, + "CHARLES."[63] + + +When in July, 1528, Margaret's servant Montfort was sent on an +important mission to Spain, the Emperor's first anxiety was to hear +full accounts of Prince John and his sisters from the Envoy's lips. +He expressed great satisfaction with all Montfort told him, saying +that he entertained the highest hopes of his nephew, and would far +rather support his claim to Denmark than help his father to recover the +throne--"the more so," he added, "since we hear that King Christian, to +our sorrow, still adheres to the false doctrine of Luther." + + +IV. + +King Christian, as the Emperor hinted, was still a thorn in the +Regent's side. Although, since his wife's death, most of his time had +been spent in Germany, he remained a perpetual source of annoyance. +In July, 1528, he induced his sister Elizabeth to leave her husband, +Joachim of Brandenburg, and escape with him to Saxony. All Germany rang +with this new scandal, and while the Marquis appealed to Margaret, +begging her to stop Christian's allowance as the only means of bringing +him to his senses, Elizabeth, who had secretly embraced the reformed +faith, implored the Emperor's protection against her husband, and +refused to return to Berlin. At the same time the King did his utmost +to stir up discontent round Lierre, and raised bands of freebooters in +Holland, whose lawless depredations were a constant source of vexation +to Charles's loyal subjects. When the Regent protested, he replied that +he had nothing to do with these levies, and that his intentions were +absolutely innocent, assurances which, Margaret remarked, would not +deceive a child. Under these circumstances, relations between the two +became daily more strained. "Margaret loves me not, and has never loved +me," wrote Christian to his Lutheran friends, while the Regent turned +to Charles in her despair, saying: "Monseigneur, if the King of Denmark +comes here, I simply do not know what I am to do with him!"[64] + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] DEATH OF MARGARET] + +Suddenly a new turn in the tide altered the whole aspect of affairs. On +the 3rd of August, 1529, the Peace of Cambray was finally concluded. +The long war, which had drained the Emperor's resources, was at an end, +and his hands were once more free. Christian lost no time in taking +advantage of this opportunity to secure his powerful kinsman's help. He +addressed urgent petitions to the Emperor and King Ferdinand, and sent +an Envoy to plead his cause at Bologna, where on the 24th of February, +1530, Charles V. received the imperial crown from the hands of Pope +Clement VII. But the only condition on which the exiled monarch could +be admitted into the new confederation was his return to the Catholic +Church. For this, too, Christian seems to have been prepared. On the +2nd of February he signed an agreement at Lierre, in which he promised +to obey the Emperor's wishes, and to hold fast the Catholic faith, if +he should be restored to the throne of Denmark. When Charles crossed +the Brenner, Christian hastened to meet him at Innsbruck, and, throwing +himself at the foot of Cardinal Campeggio, craved the Holy Father's +pardon for his past errors, and received absolution. But, in spite of +this public recantation, the King still secretly preferred the reformed +faith, and continued to correspond with his Lutheran friends. On the +25th of June he arrived at Malines with letters of credit for 24,000 +florins, which he had received from the Emperor as the price of his +submission. But the Council refused to give him a farthing without the +Regent's consent, and Margaret declined to see him, pleading illness +as her excuse. Although only fifty years of age, she had long been +in failing health, and only awaited the Emperor's coming to lay down +her arduous office and retire to a convent at Bruges. An unforeseen +accident hastened her end. She hurt her foot by treading on the broken +pieces of a crystal goblet, blood-poisoning came on, and she died in +her sleep on the 30th of November, without ever seeing her nephew +again. The touching letter in which she bade him farewell was written a +few hours before her death: + + "MONSEIGNEUR, + + "The hour has come when I can no longer write with my own hand, + for I am so dangerously ill that I fear my remaining hours will + be few. But my conscience is tranquil, and I am ready to accept + God's will, and have no regrets saving that I am deprived of + your presence, and am unable to see you and speak with you + before I die.... I leave you your provinces, greatly increased + in extent since your departure, and resign the government, + which I trust I have discharged in such a way as to merit a + Divine reward, and earn the good-will of your subjects as well + as your approval. And above all, Monseigneur, I recommend you + to live at peace, more especially with the Kings of France and + England. Finally I beg of you, by the love which you have been + pleased to bear me, remember the salvation of my soul and my + recommendations on behalf of my poor servants. And so I bid you + once more farewell, praying, Monseigneur, that you may enjoy a + long life and great prosperity. + + "Your very humble aunt, + "MARGARET."[65] + + "From Malines the last day of November, 1530." + + +This letter reached the Emperor at Cologne together with the news of +Margaret's death, and a solemn requiem was chanted for her soul in the +cathedral. Charles and his subjects fully realized the great loss which +his _pays de par-deça_ had suffered by his aunt's death. + +"All the provinces," said Cornelius Agrippa, in the funeral oration +which he pronounced in S. Rombaut of Malines, "all the cities, and all +the villages, are plunged in tears and sorrow. For no greater loss +could have befallen us and our country." + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] MARY OF HUNGARY] + +The young Prince of Denmark, whom Margaret had loved so well, was chief +mourner on this occasion, and rode at the head of the procession which +bore her remains to Bruges. Here they were laid in the Convent of the +Annunciation until the magnificent shrine that she had begun at Brou in +Savoy was ready to receive her ashes and those of her husband. When, in +the following March, the Emperor came to Malines, Prince John welcomed +him in a Latin speech, in which he made a pathetic allusion to the loss +which he and his sisters had sustained in the death of one who had +been to them the wisest and tenderest of mothers. Then, turning to his +uncle with charming grace, he begged the Emperor to have compassion +upon him and his orphaned sisters, and allow them to remain at his +Court until their father should be restored to his rightful throne. +The young Prince's simple eloquence produced a deep impression. The +Emperor with tears in his eyes embraced him, and the magistrates of +Malines presented him with a barrel of Rhenish wine in token of their +regard.[66] + +Fortunately for the children of Denmark, as well as for the provinces +which Margaret had ruled so well, another Habsburg Princess was found +to take her place. This was the Emperor's sister Mary, whose gallant +husband, King Louis of Hungary, had fallen on the field of Mohacz four +years before, fighting against the Turks. The widowed Queen, although +only twenty-one, had shown admirable presence of mind, and it was +largely due to her tact and popularity that her brother Ferdinand +and his wife Anna, the dead King's sister, were recognized as joint +Sovereigns of Bohemia and Hungary. Her own hand was sought in marriage +by many Princes, including the young King James V. of Scotland and her +sister Eleanor's old lover, the Palatine Frederic, whose romantic +imagination was deeply impressed by the young Queen's heroic bearing. +But Mary positively refused to take another husband, saying that, +having found perfect happiness in her first marriage, she had no wish +to try a second. To the end of her life she remained true to her dead +lord, and never put off her widow's weeds. But her courage and spirit +were as high as ever. She was passionately fond of hunting, and amazed +the hardest riders by being all day in the saddle without showing any +trace of fatigue. Her powers of mind were no less remarkable. She was +the ablest of the whole family, and the wisdom of her judgments was +equalled by the frankness with which she expressed them. Like all the +Habsburg ladies, she was highly educated, and spoke Latin as well as +any doctor in Louvain, according to Erasmus, who inscribed her name +on the first page of his "Veuve Chrétienne." Mary shared her sister +Isabella's sympathy with the reformers, and accepted the dedication +of Luther's "Commentary on the Four Psalms of Consolation." When this +excited her brother Ferdinand's displeasure, she told him that authors +must do as they please in these matters, and that he might trust her +not to tarnish the fair name of their house. "God," she added, "would +doubtless give her grace to die a good Christian."[67] + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] THE NEW REGENT] + +In the spring of 1530 Mary met Charles at Innsbruck, and accompanied +him to Augsburg. When, a few months later, the news of Margaret's death +reached him at Cologne, the Emperor begged her to become Regent of the +Low Countries and share the burden of government with him. But Mary had +no wish to enter public life, and asked her brother's leave to retire +to Spain and devote herself to the care of their unhappy mother, Queen +Juana. For some time she resisted the entreaties of both her brothers, +and it was only a strong sense of duty which finally overcame her +reluctance to assume so arduous and ungrateful a task. When at length +she consented, she made it a condition that she should not be troubled +with offers of marriage, and pointed out that her Lutheran sympathies +might well arouse suspicion in the Netherlands. But Charles brushed +these objections lightly aside, saying that no one should disturb her +peace, and that he should never have trusted her with so important +a post if he had regarded her Lutheran tendencies seriously. All he +asked was that the Queen should not bring her German servants to the +Low Countries, lest they should arouse the jealousy of his Flemish +courtiers. + +Mary scrupulously fulfilled these conditions, and on the 23rd +of January, 1531, the new Regent entered Louvain in state, and +was presented to the Council by the Emperor, as Governess of the +Netherlands. Two months later she accompanied Charles to Malines, where +for the first time she embraced her little nieces. For the present, +however, Dorothea and Christina, who were only nine and ten years old, +remained at Malines, while Prince John accompanied his uncle and aunt +on a progress through the provinces. + +Mary soon realized all the difficulties of the task that she had +undertaken with so much reluctance. + + "The Emperor," she wrote to Ferdinand from Brussels, "has + fastened the rope round my neck, but I find public affairs in a + great tangle, and if His Majesty does not reduce them to some + degree of order before his departure, I shall find myself in a + very tight place."[68] + +The Treasury was exhausted, the people groaned under the load of +taxation, and the prodigal generosity of the late Regent had not +succeeded in suppressing strife and jealousy among the nobles. As Mary +wrote many years afterwards to her nephew, Philip II.: + + "No doubt our aunt, Madame Marguerite, ruled the Netherlands + long and well; but when she grew old and ailing she was obliged + to leave the task to others, and when the Emperor returned + there after her death, he found the nobles at variance, justice + little respected, and all classes disaffected to the imperial + service."[69] + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] A FORLORN HOPE] + +But the young Regent brought all her spirit and energy to the task, and +with her brother's help succeeded in reforming the gravest abuses and +restoring some order into the finances. The gravest difficulty with +which she had to contend was the presence of the King of Denmark. Since +Margaret's death this monarch had grown bolder and more insolent in +his demands. With the help of his old ally, Duke Henry of Brunswick, +he collected 6,000 men-at-arms and invaded Holland, spreading fire and +sword wherever he went. In vain Charles remonstrated with him on the +suffering which he inflicted on peaceable citizens. Christian only +replied with an insolent letter, which convinced the Emperor more +than ever of "the man's little sense and honesty." He now feared that +the King would seize one of the forts in Holland and remain there all +the winter, feeding his soldiers at the expense of the unfortunate +peasantry, and infecting them with Lutheran heresy. Under these +circumstances Charles felt that it was impossible to desert his sister, +and decided to put off his departure for Germany until he had got rid +of this troublesome guest. + +At length, on the 26th of October, Christian sailed from Medemblik, in +North Holland, with twenty-five ships and 7,000 men. + + "He has done infinite damage to my provinces of Holland and + Utrecht," wrote Charles to Ferdinand, "treating them as if they + were enemies, and forcing them to provide him with boats and + provisions, besides seizing the supplies which I had collected + for my own journey."[70] + +So great were the straits to which Charles found himself reduced that +he was compelled to raise a fresh loan in order to defray the expenses +of his journey to Spires. But at least the hated adventurer was gone, +and as a fair wind sprang up, and the sails of King Christian's fleet +dropped below the horizon, the Emperor and his subjects felt that they +could breathe freely. + + "The King of Dacia," wrote the Italian traveller Mario + Savorgnano, from Brussels, on the 6th of November, "has sailed + with twenty big ships, thus relieving this land from a heavy + burden. He goes to recover his kingdom of Denmark, a land lying + north of the Cymbric Chersonesus.... But I am sure that when + the people come face to face with these mercenaries, especially + those who have been in Italy and have there learnt to rob, + sack, burn, and leave no cruelty undone, in their greed for + gold, they will rise and drive out the invaders."[71] + +This time Christian determined not to attempt a landing in Denmark, but +to sail straight to Norway, where he had always been more popular than +in any other part of his dominions, and still numbered many partisans. +His expectations were not disappointed. When he landed, on the 5th +of November, the peasantry and burghers flocked to his standard. The +Archbishop of Drondtheim and the clergy declared in his favour, and the +States-General, which met in January, 1532, at Oslo, the old capital, +renewed their oaths of allegiance to him as their rightful King. But +the strong forts of Bergen and Aggershus, at the gates of the town, +closed their gates against him, and his army soon began to dwindle away +for want of supplies. Early in the spring a strong fleet, fitted out +by King Frederic, with the help of the citizens of Lübeck, appeared +before Oslo, and set fire to Christian's ships in the harbour, while +a Danish army, under Knut Gyldenstern, advanced from the south. Once +more the King's nerve failed him. He met the Danish captain in a meadow +outside Oslo, and, after prolonged negotiations, agreed to lay down +his arms and go to Copenhagen, to confer with his uncle. The next day +he disbanded his forces and took leave of his loyal supporters. Thus, +without striking a blow, he delivered Norway into the usurper's hands, +and surrendered his last claim to the three kingdoms.[72] + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] CHRISTIAN II.'S FALL] + +In return for his submission, Gyldenstern had promised the King +honourable entertainment and given him a written safe-conduct. Trusting +in these assurances, Christian went on board a Danish ship, and on the +24th of July arrived before Copenhagen. As the ship sailed up the Sound +in the early summer morning, people flocked from all parts to see their +old King, and many of the women and children wept aloud. His fate, +they realized, was already sealed. Before the arrival of the fleet, +a conference had been held between Frederic and the Swedish and Hanse +deputies, who agreed that so dangerous a foe must not be allowed to +remain at liberty, and condemned the unfortunate monarch to perpetual +imprisonment in the island fortress of Sonderburg. In vain Christian +demanded to be set on shore and conducted into his uncle's presence. +He was told that the King would meet him in the Castle of Flensburg in +Schleswig. But when, instead of sailing in this direction, the ship +which bore him entered the narrow Alsener Sound, and the walls of +Sonderburg came in sight, the unhappy King saw the trap into which he +had fallen, and broke into transports of rage. But it was too late, and +he was powerless in the hands of his enemies. No indignity was spared +him by his captors. As he entered the lonely cell in the highest turret +of the castle, Knut Gyldenstern, who is said to have been one of his +mistress Dyveke's lovers, plucked the fallen monarch by the beard, +and tore the jewel of the Golden Fleece from his neck. None of the +old servants who had clung to their exiled Prince so faithfully were +allowed to share his prison, and for many years a pet dwarf was his +sole companion.[73] + +In this foul and treacherous manner King Christian II. was betrayed +into the hands of his foes and doomed to lifelong captivity. And, by a +strange fate, in these early days of August, at the very moment when +the iron gates of Sonderburg closed behind him, his only son, the +rightful heir to the three kingdoms, died far away in Southern Germany, +within the walls of the imperial city of Regensburg. + +Meanwhile the news of Christian's unexpected success in Norway had +reached Brussels and excited great surprise. + + "The King of Denmark," wrote Mary of Hungary to her brother + Ferdinand, "has done so well by his rashness that he has + actually recovered possession of one of his kingdoms, and his + friends hope that he may be able to stay there."[74] + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] COURT FÊTES] + +This was towards the end of December, when the imperial family had +assembled in the palace to keep Christmas. Prince John had won golden +opinions on the progress which he had made with his uncle and aunt, and +was as much beloved by the Emperor, wrote Mario Savorgnano, as if he +were his own son. Now his little sisters were brought to Brussels by +their uncle's command to share in the festivities. Early in January, +1532, Charles heard that his sister, Queen Katherine of Portugal, had +given birth to a son, and the happy event was celebrated by a grand +tournament on the square in front of the Portuguese Ambassador's +house. The Emperor, accompanied by the Queen of Hungary and the +Prince and Princesses of Denmark, looked on at the jousts and sword +and torch dances from a balcony draped with white and green velvet, +and at nine o'clock sat down to a sumptuous banquet. The Queen was +seated at the head of the table, opposite the fireplace, with the +Emperor on her right and Princess Dorothea at his side. Prince John +was on his aunt's left, and the youthful Christina, who made her first +appearance in public on this occasion, sat between her brother and +the Portuguese Ambassador. Henry of Nassau, the Prince of Bisignano, +and Ferrante Gonzaga, were at the same board, while Nassau's son, +the young Prince René, who had lately inherited the principality of +Orange from his maternal uncle, sat with the Queen's ladies at another +table. Charles was in high spirits. He talked and laughed with all +the lords and ladies who were present during the interminable number +of courses of meat, fish, game, wines, cakes, and fruits, that were +served in succession, with brief interludes of music. When, at eleven, +the Emperor rose from table, an Italian comedy was acted, in which +Ferrante Gonzaga and several Italian and Spanish noblemen took part. +Then King Cupid appeared, riding in a triumphal car, and a troop of +Loves danced hand in hand, until, at a sign from Charles, the actors +removed their masks. A collation of confetti and Madeira and Valencia +wines was then served at a buffet laden with costly gold and silver +cups and precious bowls of Oriental porcelain. When all the guests +had ate and drunk their fill, the finest crystal vases and bottles +of perfume were presented to the Queen and Princesses, and the other +ladies received gifts from the Ambassador. The royal guests joined with +great spirit in the dancing which followed, and did not retire till two +o'clock.[75] Concerts and suppers, jousts and dances, succeeded each +other throughout the week, and the Emperor gave splendid presents to +the Ambassador of Portugal, and sent cordial congratulations to his +royal brother-in-law on the birth of his son and heir. + +A fortnight later Charles left Brussels, taking Prince John with him, +and travelled by slow stages to Regensburg, where the Imperial Diet +was opened in May. Here the Court remained during the next three +months, and the young Prince was sent to receive the Count Palatine, +the Archbishop of Mainz, and other Princes of the Empire, who arrived +in turn to take part in the assembly. Unluckily the weather proved +very disagreeable. "Never," exclaimed the Venetian Ambassador, "was +there such a detestable climate!" A long continuance of heavy rains and +unusual heat was followed by some bitterly cold days, which produced +serious illness. Princes and nobles, Ambassadors and servants, all +succumbed in turn to the same epidemic. The Venetian took to his bed, +and four of his servants became seriously ill. The Emperor himself +was invalided, and left the town to take waters and change of air in +a neighbouring village. "There is hardly a house in the Court," wrote +the Mantuan Envoy, "where some person is not ill. Most people recover, +but a good many die, especially those who are young." Among the victims +was Prince John of Denmark. Charles returned to find his nephew in +high fever and delirium. He was deeply distressed, and when the poor +boy became unconscious, and the doctors gave no hope, he left the town +again, saying that he could not bear to see the child die. The Prince +never recovered consciousness, and passed away at two o'clock on the +morning of the 12th of August. + + "The poor little Prince of Denmark died last night," wrote the + Mantuan Ambassador, "to the infinite distress of the whole + Court, and above all of Cæsar, who bore him singular affection, + not only on account of the close ties of blood between them, + but because of the young Prince's charming nature and winning + manners, which made him beloved by everyone and gave rise to + the highest hopes."[76] + +[Sidenote: 1523-31] THE EMPEROR'S GRIEF] + +By the Emperor's orders an imposing funeral service was held at +Regensburg, after which the Prince's body was taken to Ghent and buried +in his mother's grave. Charles himself wrote to break the sad news to +Mary of Hungary and her poor little nieces: + + "MADAME MY GOOD SISTER, + + "This is only to inform you of the loss we have suffered in the + death of our little nephew of Denmark, whom it pleased God to + take to Himself on Sunday morning, the day before yesterday, + after he had been ill of internal catarrh for a whole week. + This has caused me the greatest grief that I have ever known. + For he was the dearest little fellow, of his age, that it was + possible to see, and I have felt this loss more than I did that + of my son, for he was older, and I knew him better and loved + him as if he had been my own child. But we must bow to the + Divine will. Although I know that God might have allowed this + to happen anywhere, I cannot help feeling that if I had left + the boy at home with you he might not have died. At least his + father will be sure to say so. I expect you know where he is + said to be. Without offence to God, I could wish he were in his + son's place, and his son well received in his own kingdom. All + the same, without pretending to be the judge, perhaps the King + has not deserved to be there, and the little rogue is better + off where he is than where I should have liked to see him, and + smiles at my wish for him, for he was certainly not guilty of + any great sins. He died in so Christian a manner that, if he + had committed as many as I have, there would have been good + hope of his soul's weal, and with his last breath he called on + Jesus. I am writing to my little nieces, as you see, to comfort + them. I am sure that you will try and do the same. The best + remedy will be to find them two husbands."[77] + +When Charles wrote these touching words, he had not yet heard of +the disastrous end to King Christian's campaign, and believed the +Prince's father to be in possession of the Norwegian capital. But +he added a postscript to his letter, telling the Queen of a report +which had just arrived, that the King had been taken prisoner by his +foes. Four days later this report was confirmed by letters from Lübeck +merchants, and no further doubt could be entertained of the doom which +had overtaken the unhappy monarch. His melancholy fate excited little +compassion, either in Germany or in the Netherlands. Luther, to his +credit, addressed an earnest appeal to King Frederic congratulating +him on his victory, and begging him to take example by Christ, who +died for His murderers, and have pity on the unfortunate captive. But +in reply Frederic issued an apology, in which he brought the gravest +charges against the deposed King, and accused him of having preferred +a low woman of worthless character to the noblest and most virtuous of +Queens. Before long the old commercial treaties between Denmark and +the Low Countries were renewed, and the Baltic trade was resumed on +the understanding that no attempt was made to revive King Christian's +claims. + +The prisoner of Sonderburg was forgotten by the world, and the one +being who loved him best on earth, his sister Elizabeth of Brandenburg, +could only commend his little daughters sadly to the Regent, and beg +her to have compassion on these desolate children. Mary replied in a +letter full of feeling, assuring Elizabeth that she need have no fear +on this score, and that her little nieces should be treated as if they +were her own daughters. She kept her word nobly.[78] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[40] Calendar of State Papers, iii. 2, 1270. + +[41] Altmeyer, "Relations Commerciales," 108. + +[42] State Papers, Record Office, vi. 139, 155-158. Calendar of State +Papers, iii. 2, 1293, 1329. + +[43] J. Altmeyer, "Relations," etc., 108. + +[44] D. Schäfer, "Geschichte von Dänemark," iv. 26. + +[45] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 141, 156. + +[46] Altmeyer, "Relations," etc., 112; Schäfer, iv. 44, 48. + +[47] Altmeyer, "Isabelle d'Autriche," 30. + +[48] "Relations," etc., 126; C. Förstemann, "Neues Urkundenbuch z. +Geschichte d. Reformation," i. 269. + +[49] J. Köstlin, "Leben Luthers," i. 66; C. Förstemann, i. 169. + +[50] K. Lanz, "Correspondenz Karls V.," i. 108. + +[51] Altmeyer, "Isabelle d'Autriche," 26. + +[52] Lanz, i. 145, 150, 195; Archives du Royaume: Revenus et Dépenses +de Charles V., 1520-1530, Rég. 1709; Schäfer, iv. 89. + +[53] J. H. Schlegel, "Geschichte der Könige v. Dänemark," 123. + +[54] Schlegel, 124-126. + +[55] 2 Churchill, "Travels," vi. 348. + +[56] Altmeyer, "Isabelle," 35; "Relations," 160. + +[57] Altmeyer, "Relations," etc., 166. + +[58] Lanz, i. 195. + +[59] Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles. Régistre des Dépenses, etc., Nos. +1799, 1800, 1803. + +[60] L. de Laborde, "Inventaire"; Henne, iv. 387-390. + +[61] Henne, iv. 387-391. + +[62] This painting is mentioned in one of Henry VIII.'s catalogues +as "A table with the pictures of the three children of the King of +Denmark, with a curtain of white and yellow sarcenet." In Charles I.'s +inventory it is described as "A Whitehall piece, curiously painted by +Mabusius, wherein two men children and one woman child are playing +with some oranges in their hands by a green table, little half-figures +upon a board in a wooden frame." At the sale of the King's effects it +was called a Mabuse, and valued at £10. In 1743 the same picture hung +in Queen Caroline's closet at Kensington Palace, and was described by +Vertue as "Prince Arthur and his sisters, children of Henry VII." Five +years later it was removed to Windsor and engraved under this name. Sir +George Scharf was the first to correct this obvious error and restore +the original title (see "Archæologia," xxxix. 245). Old copies of the +picture, mostly dating from the seventeenth century, are to be seen at +Wilton, Longford, Corsham, and other places. + +[63] Altmeyer, "Isabelle d'Autriche," 52. + +[64] Lanz, i. 283; Henne. iv. 337. + +[65] Lanz, i. 408; Gachard, "Analecta Belgica," i. 378. + +[66] Schlegel, 126; Altmeyer, "Relations," etc., 186. + +[67] Altmeyer, "Relations," 190. + +[68] T. Juste, "Les Pays-Bas sous Charles V.," 35. + +[69] L. Gachard, "Retraite et Mort de Charles V.," i. 348. + +[70] Lanz, i. 572. + +[71] M. Sanuto, "Diarii," lv. 174. + +[72] Schäfer, iv. 178-194. + +[73] Schlegel, 127-219. + +[74] T. Juste. "Les Pays-Bas sous Charles V.," 49. + +[75] M. Sanuto, lv. 417-419. + +[76] M. Sanuto, lvi. 813-823. + +[77] Lanz, ii. 3. + +[78] Altmeyer, "Relations," etc., 206. + + + + +BOOK IV + +CHRISTINA, DUCHESS OF MILAN + +1533-1535 + + +I. + +In the letter which the Emperor wrote to Mary of Hungary on his +nephew's death, he remarked that the best way of consoling his little +nieces for their brother's loss would be to find them husbands. +The marriages of these youthful Princesses had already engaged his +attention for some time past. While Christina was still a babe in her +nurse's arms, the Regent Margaret had been planning marriages for her +great-nieces. In 1527 Wolsey proposed King Henry's illegitimate son, +the Duke of Richmond, as an eligible suitor for one of them, but the +idea of such a union was scouted by the imperial family.[79] A marriage +between Dorothea and her second cousin, King James V. of Scotland, was +discussed during many years, and only abandoned eventually owing to +the fickle character of the young monarch. After Prince John's death, +this Princess inherited her brother's claims to the Danish throne, and +King Frederic went so far as to propose that she should wed his younger +son John, offering to recognize him as heir to Denmark, and leave the +duchies of Schleswig-Holstein to his elder son Christian. But the +Emperor and Mary of Hungary were both reluctant to treat with the +usurper who had deposed their brother-in-law, and the death of Frederic +in April, 1533, put an end to the scheme.[80] + +[Sidenote: 1533-35] FRANCESCO SFORZA] + +Another suitor now came forward in the person of Francesco Sforza, +Duke of Milan. This Prince was the younger brother of Massimiliano +Sforza, who as a boy had spent several years at the Court of Malines, +and had been deposed by Francis I. after a brief reign of three years. +Born at Milan on the 4th of February, 1495, when his father, Lodovico, +was at the height of his glory, and named after his grandfather, the +great Condottiere, Francesco II. had been the sport of Fortune from +his childhood. Before he was two years old, his mother, the brilliant +Duchess Beatrice, died, and when he was five his father lost both +throne and freedom. While the unfortunate Moro ended his days in the +dungeons of Loches, his young children were brought up in Germany +by their cousin Bianca, the second wife of the Emperor Maximilian. +Francesco spent most of his time at Innsbruck, and, after the brief +interlude of his brother's reign at Milan, retired once more to Trent. +His opportunity came in 1521, when Leo X., in his dread of France, +joined with Charles V. to place the younger Sforza on his father's +throne. A gallant soldier and cultivated man, Francesco II. won the +hearts of all his subjects, who rejoiced to see a Sforza Duke again +among them. But misfortune dogged his footsteps. In 1523 Milan was +once more taken by the French, and after their defeat at Pavia the +Duke incurred the Emperor's displeasure, and was deprived of his +State, chiefly owing to the intrigues of his Chancellor, Morone, +with Pope Clement VII. It was only in December, 1529, when Charles +came to Bologna for his coronation, that, at the intercession of the +Pope and the Venetians, he consented to pardon Francesco, and give +him the investiture of Milan for the enormous sum of 900,000 ducats. +But it was a barren realm to which the Duke returned. His subjects +were ruined by years of warfare, his own health had suffered severely +from the hardships which he had undergone, and he had been dangerously +wounded by the poisoned dagger of an assassin. At thirty-eight he was +a broken man, prematurely old and grey. The Venetian chronicler Marino +Sanuto, who saw the Duke at Venice in October, 1530, describes him +as looking very melancholy, and being only able to walk and move his +hands with difficulty.[81] He applied himself, however, manfully to +the almost hopeless task of relieving the distress of his subjects and +restoring order and prosperity. With great difficulty he succeeded in +raising 400,000 ducats, the first installment of the payment for the +investiture of Milan, upon which the Castello was restored to him. His +loyalty and modesty had gone far to recover the Emperor's confidence, +and Charles treated him with marked favour and kindness. + +[Sidenote: 1533-35] THE DUKE'S COURTSHIP] + +This encouraged Francesco to aspire to the hand of a Princess of the +imperial house. His subjects were exceedingly anxious to see their Duke +married, and already more than one suitable bride had been proposed. +But Margherita Paleologa, the heiress of Montferrat, whom her mother +would gladly have given Francesco in marriage, was wedded to his +cousin Federico, Duke of Mantua, in October, 1531, and the Pope's +niece, the Duchessina Caterina de' Medici, another prize who had been +dangled before the Duke of Milan's eyes, was betrothed to the Duke +of Orleans in the following year. Before this event was announced, +in January, 1532, the Milanese Ambassador, Camillo Ghilino, who had +accompanied Charles to Brussels, ventured to ask the Emperor, on +his master's behalf, for the hand of one of his nieces. Charles was +evidently not averse to the proposal. It was part of his policy to +consolidate the different Italian dynasties, and he was alive to the +advantage of drawing the Duke of Milan into his family circle. But he +returned an evasive answer, saying that Princess Dorothea was already +destined for the King of Scotland, while her sister Christina was too +young, and that he could arrange nothing without the consent of her +father, the King of Denmark, who had gone to Norway to try and recover +his kingdom.[82] When Francesco met Charles at Bologna in the following +December, and was admitted to the newly-formed League of Italian +States, he renewed his suit, and once more asked for Christina's hand. +On the 10th of March Charles came to Milan, and spent four days in +the Castello, after which he accompanied the Duke on a hunting-party +at Vigevano, and enjoyed excellent sport, killing two wild-boars and +three stags with his own hand.[83] During this visit the marriage was +arranged, and on the 10th of June, 1533, the contract was signed at +Barcelona by the Emperor on the one hand, and the Chancellor of Milan, +Count Taverna, and the ducal Chamberlain, Count Tommaso Gallerati, on +the other. Christina was to receive 100,000 ducats out of the sum due +to the Emperor, as her dowry, and in the event of Dorothea succeeding +to the throne of Denmark another 100,000 was to be settled on her. +Hawkins, the English Ambassador, who wrote home from Barcelona to +announce the conclusion of the marriage, remarked that the Milanese had +left well pleased, but that the Duke was somewhat to be pitied, since +he was only to have the younger sister, and no fortune with her. "Dower +getteth he none."[84] + +In spite of this drawback, the Milanese received the news with +great rejoicing, and any regret which they might have felt at the +substitution of the younger for the elder sister was dispelled by the +Spaniards in the Emperor's suite, who informed the Duke's Ambassadors +that Christina was taller and far more beautiful than Dorothea. +Francesco himself wrote to an old friend in Cremona, Giorgio Guazzo, +saying that he would lose no time in telling him of his great good +fortune in winning so high-born and attractive a young lady for his +bride.[85] At the same time he agreed with the Emperor to send Count +Massimiliano Stampa, his intimate friend, to the Netherlands, to wed +the Princess in his name, and bring her to Milan that autumn. Meanwhile +the news of the marriage was received with much less satisfaction +in the Low Countries. Mary had taken the motherless children to her +heart, and was especially attached to Christina, who resembled her in +character and tastes. She inherited the family passion for riding and +hunting, and combined her aunt's intelligence and ability with her +mother's sweetness of disposition. The idea of marrying this charming +child of eleven to a half-paralyzed invalid old enough to be her +father was repulsive, and Mary did not hesitate to protest against the +Emperor's decision with characteristic frankness. + +[Sidenote: 1533-35] MARY'S PROTEST] + + "MONSEIGNEUR," she wrote to Charles on the 25th of August, + "I have received Your Majesty's letters with the copy of the + treaty which you have been pleased to make between our niece, + Madame Chrétienne, and the Duke of Milan, on which point I must + once for all relieve my conscience. I will at least show you + the difficulties which to my mind lie in the way, so that Your + Majesty may consider if any remedy can be devised before the + matter is finally arranged. As for our said niece, I have no + doubt that she will agree to whatever you please to wish, since + she regards you as her lord and father, in whom she places + absolute trust, and is ready to obey you as your very humble + daughter and slave. The child is so good and willing there will + be no need for any persuasion on my part, either as regards + the Count's coming or anything else that you may please to + command; but on the other hand, Monseigneur, since the words of + the treaty clearly show that the marriage is to be consummated + immediately, and she will have to take her departure without + delay, I must point out that she is not yet old enough for + this, being only eleven years and a half, and I hold that it + would be contrary to the laws of God and reason to marry her at + so tender an age. She is still quite a child, and, whatever may + be the custom in yonder country, you are exposing her to the + risk of bearing a child at this tender age, and of losing both + her own life and that of her issue. Monseigneur, I am saying + more than I ought to say, and speaking with a freedom which I + can only beg you to forgive, because both my conscience and the + love which I bear the child constrain me to write thus. On the + other hand, seeing that this treaty requires the two sisters to + make certain promises, I do not think that she is old enough to + enter into these engagements, while her sister, although turned + twelve, is very young of her age, and should hardly make + these promises without the consent of her father, who is still + living. I know that I am meddling with other people's business + by writing to you of those matters which are not, strictly + speaking, my affair. But I feel that I must send you these + warnings, not from any wish to prevent the marriage, if Your + Majesty thinks it well, but in order to give you a reason for + breaking it off, if any difficulties should arise. For it seems + to me, that as people often try to discover the fifth wheel in + the coach, where there is no reason to make any difficulty, it + would be easy to find some excuse for embroiling matters, when + so good a cause exists. I quite understand that it may not be + easy to alter the treaty at this hour, but, since I had not the + opportunity of speaking to you on the subject before, I feel it + to be my duty to warn you of these things, and to remind you of + the child's tender age, of which Your Majesty may not have been + aware. However this may be, Monseigneur, I have written this to + fulfil my duty to God, as well as to Your Majesty, my niece, + and the whole world, and can only beg you not to take what + I have said in bad part, or to believe that any other cause + could have led me to speak so plainly; and I take my Creator to + witness that this is true, begging Him to give you health and + long life, and grant your good and virtuous desires: + + "Your very humble and obedient sister, + "MARIE. + + "From Ghent, August 25, 1533."[86] + + +Charles answered the Queen's protest in the following brief letter, +which showed that his mind was made up, and that he would allow no +change in his plans: + + "MADAME MY GOOD SISTER, + + "I have received your letter, and will only reply briefly, as I + am writing to you at length on other matters by my secretary, + and also because my niece's affair is rather a matter for + priests and lawyers than for me, and I have desired Granvelle + to satisfy your objections. So I will only tell you that, as + the children's father is more dead to them than if he had + ceased to live, I signed the marriage treaty before I left + Barcelona. As for the question of issue, I fear that the Duke's + advanced years will prove a greater barrier than my niece's + tender youth. I am sure that you will act in accordance with my + wishes, and I beg you to do this once more. + + "From Monzone, September 11, 1533."[87] + +There was clearly nothing more to be said; but Mary had secretly +determined, whatever happened, not to allow the actual marriage to take +place until the following year, and in the end she had her way. + + +II. + +[Sidenote: 1533-35] STAMPA'S MISSION] + +When the Emperor wrote this letter to his sister, Count Massimiliano +had already started on his journey. He left Milan on the eve of St. +Bartholomew, taking Count Francesco Sfondrati of Cremona and Pier +Francesco Bottigella of Pavia with him, and travelled by Trent and +Spires to Louvain, where he arrived on the 12th of September. The +next day he was conducted to Ghent by Monsieur de Courrières, the +Captain of the Archers' Guard, and met at the palace gates by Monsieur +de Molembais, the Queen's Grand Falconer, who informed him that Her +Majesty was laid up, owing to a slight accident out hunting, and +could not receive him at present. After many delays, Stampa at length +succeeded in obtaining an audience, and begged the Queen earnestly +to satisfy his master's impatience, and allow the marriage to be +concluded without delay. Mary replied very civilly that, since this +was Cæsar's will, she would certainly put no obstacle in the way, but +explained that affairs of State compelled her to visit certain frontier +towns, and begged the Count to await her return to Brussels. She then +sent for the Princesses, and Stampa was presented and allowed to kiss +their hands. But, as he only saw them for five minutes, all he could +tell his master was that Christina seemed very bright and lively, and +was much better-looking than her sister.[88] + +In spite of the courtesy with which he was entertained by De Courrières +and the Duke of Aerschot, Stampa clearly saw that it was Mary's +intention to delay the marriage as long as possible, and began to +despair of ever attaining his object. Fortunately, by the end of the +week the Emperor's confidential Chamberlain, Louis de Praet, arrived +at Ghent. De Praet had been Ambassador in England and France, and was +now sent from Spain to represent His Majesty at the wedding and escort +the bride to Milan. When he had seen Stampa's copy of the Treaty of +Barcelona, he advised him to join the Queen at Lille and deliver his +credentials. Here the Count accordingly presented himself on the 18th +of September, and was graciously received by Mary, who assured him +that the affair which lay so near his heart would shortly be arranged. +He was conducted into a room where he found the Princesses and their +governess, Madame de Fiennes, and conversed with them for half an hour. +When the Queen rose to attend vespers, she touched the Count's sleeve +and made him walk at her side as far as the chapel, and thanked him +for the fine horse which the Duke had sent her, telling him how fond +she was of hunting. The next day Stampa was invited to supper, and +afterwards ventured to ask if he might see the Princesses dance. To +this request the Queen gave her consent. The flutes and tambourines +struck up a merry tune, and the Princesses danced first a _ballo al +francese_, then a _branle_, and a variety of French and German dances, +in which the gentlemen and ladies-in-waiting took part. The Count was +about to take his leave, since the hour was already late, when De Praet +told him he must first see the Princesses dance a _ballo all'italiano_, +upon which the two sisters rose and, joining hands, danced an Italian +ballet with charming grace. The Ambassador was delighted, and wrote to +tell his master what a favourable impression Christina had made upon +him and his companions: + + "She is hardly shorter than her sister, and much handsomer and + more graceful, and is indeed as well built and attractive a + maiden as you could wish to see. God grant this may lead to a + happy marriage!"[89] + +The next morning business began in good earnest. Prolonged negotiations +were held between Stampa and the Queen's Councillors--Aerschot, De +Praet, and other nobles--and the rights of the Princess Dorothea and +the condition of Denmark were fully discussed. While the Count was at +dinner, De Praet came in, and, to his surprise, informed him that Her +Majesty wished the wedding to be celebrated on the following Sunday, +the 28th of September. The Count asked nothing better, and hastened to +send the good news to Milan. + +[Sidenote: 1533-35] CHRISTINA'S WEDDING] + +On Saturday evening Christina signed the marriage contract before an +illustrious assembly in a hall of the palace at Lille, which was hung +with black and gold damask for the occasion, and between four and five +on Sunday afternoon the wedding was solemnized by the Bishop of Tournay +in the chapel. Count Massimiliano, gallantly arrayed in cloth of gold, +was conducted to the altar by De Praet and the great officers of State; +the violins and drums sounded, and the bridal procession entered, the +Queen leading her niece by the hand. "As the Bishop placed the nuptial +ring on the bride's finger," wrote Stampa to his lord, "she received it +with evident pleasure, and all the Court displayed great satisfaction." + +When the ceremony was over, the bride retired, and Stampa spent some +time in conversation with the Queen, vainly endeavouring to persuade +her to fix a date for the Duchess's journey. But on this point Mary was +inflexible. De Praet, who visited him the next day, explained that the +Queen could not allow this youthful lady to be exposed to the perils +and fatigue of so long a journey in winter, and that her departure must +therefore be put off till the following spring. This was a grievous +disappointment to the Count, who knew how anxious the Duke was to see +his wife. But he had to accept the situation, and could only try and +console his master by repeating the Queen's assurances of good-will and +affection. + +She even begged the Count to join her in a hunting expedition at +Brussels in the following week. But this Stampa firmly declined, saying +that he must return to Milan without delay. On the same evening he had +the honour of a parting interview with the Duchess, and presented her +with a fine diamond and ruby ring and a length of costly brocade in +her lord's name. Christina's eyes sparkled with delight at the sight +of these gifts, and she thanked Count Massimiliano with a warmth which +captivated him. Then he took leave of the Queen, who started at break +of day in torrents of rain, to hunt on her way to Brussels, leaving the +Princesses to return by Tournay. The Count himself went to Antwerp to +raise money for his journey, and despatched a messenger to Milan with +full accounts of the wedding. + + "All this Court and the Queen herself," he wrote, "are + delighted with this happy event. And Your Excellency may + rejoice with good reason, and may rest assured that you have + the fairest, most charming and gallant bride that any man could + desire."[90] + +These despatches reached Milan on the 13th of October, and were +received with acclamation. Guns were fired from the Castello, the bells +of all the churches were rung, and the Senate went in solemn procession +to give thanks to God in the Duomo. "It was indeed good tidings of +great joy," wrote the chronicler Burigozzo, "and such rejoicing had not +been known in Milan for many years."[91] Francesco's own satisfaction +was considerably diminished by hearing that his bride was not to +set out on her journey until the following February. But he took +the Queen's decision in good part, and wrote to express his eternal +gratitude to her and Cæsar for giving him their niece. + + "However anxious I naturally am to have my wife with me," he + added, "I recognize the gravity of the reasons which have made + you put off her journey to a more convenient season, and think, + as you say, this should take place next February."[92] + +[Sidenote: 1533-35] THE DUKE'S APPEAL] + +The Duke sent this letter by a special messenger, and received in reply +the following brief note in Italian from Christina: + + "MOST ILLUSTRIOUS CONSORT, + + "It gave me great pleasure to hear of Your Excellency's good + health from Messer Sasso, and I can assure you that my wish + to join you is no less ardent than your own. But it is only + reasonable that we should bow to the decision of the Most + Serene Queen, who orders everything wisely and well. I will + only add how sincerely I hope that you will keep well, and love + me as much as I love you. + + "Your Excellency's most loving consort, + "CHRISTIERNA, DUCHESS OF MILAN. + + "From Brussels, November 4, 1533."[93] + +On the last day of January, 1534, the Duke held a Council of State to +consider the best means of raising the £100,000 due to Cæsar, which was +assigned to his niece for dower, and the citizens agreed cheerfully to +new taxes on grain and wine in order to provide the necessary amount. +But it was not until the 31st of March that Francesco was able to issue +a proclamation informing the Milanese that his wife had started on her +journey. The Duchess, he told them, would be among them by the end of +April, and he could count on his loyal subjects to receive her with +due honour; but, knowing as he did their poverty, he begged that the +customary wedding gift should be omitted. The Milanese responded with +enthusiasm to their Duke's appeal, and prepared to give his bride a +worthy reception. Their example was followed by the citizens of Novara, +Vigevano, and the other towns along the route between Savoy and Milan. +The roads, which were said to be the worst in the duchy, were mended, +triumphal arches were erected, and lodgings were prepared for her +reception. The following quaintly-worded memorandum was drawn up by +Councillor Pier Francesco Bottigella, to whom these arrangements were +entrusted: + + "(1) Mend the roads and clean the streets through which the + Lady Duchess will pass, and hang the walls with tapestries + and carpets, the largest and widest that you can find. (2) + Paint her arms on all the gates through which she passes. (3) + Provide a baldacchino to be carried over her head. (4) See that + lodgings are prepared for her at Novara, either in the Bishop's + palace or in the ducal hunting-lodge, and let these be cleansed + and decorated. (5) Prepare rooms in the town for the Duchess's + household. (6) Let this also be done in the Castello Vecchio at + Vigevano. (7) Desire that no gifts of any kind should be made + to the Duchess at Novara, Vigevano, or any other place."[94] + +When these instructions had been duly carried out, Bottigella, who had +accompanied Stampa on his mission to the Low Countries, and was already +acquainted with the chief members of the Duchess's suite, set out for +Chambéry by the Duke's orders, to meet the bride on the frontiers of +Savoy and escort her across the Alps. + + +III. + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1534] A WEDDING JOURNEY] + +Christina had now completed her twelfth year, and Mary of Hungary could +no longer invent any excuse to delay her journey to Milan. The bridal +party finally set out on the 11th of March, conducted by Monseigneur +de Praet, the Emperor's representative, and Camillo Ghilino, the +Duke's Ambassador, with an escort of 130 horse. Madame de Souvastre, +one of Maximilian's illegitimate daughters, whose husband had been one +of the late Regent's confidential servants, was appointed mistress +of the Duchess's household, which consisted of six maids of honour, +six waiting-women, four pages, and ten gentlemen. Christina herself +rode in a black velvet litter, drawn by four horses and attended by +six footmen, and her ladies travelled in similar fashion, followed by +twenty mules and three waggons with the baggage. Mary had taken care +that the bride's trousseau was worthy of a daughter of the imperial +house, and the chests were filled with sumptuous robes of cloth of +gold and silver, of silk, satin, and velvet, costly furs, jewels and +pearls, together with furniture and plate for her table and chapel, and +liveries and trappings for her servants and horses. The Duchess's own +lackeys and all the gentlemen in attendance wore coats and doublets +of black velvet, and the other servants, we learn from John Hackett, +the English Ambassador at Brussels, were clad in suits of "medley +grey," trimmed with velvet, all "very well accounted."[95] The imposing +cortège travelled by slow stages through the friendly duchy of Lorraine +and across the plains of the imperial county of Burgundy, taking +journeys of twelve or fifteen miles a day, until, on the 12th of April, +it halted at Chambéry, the frontier town of Savoy. The reigning Duke, +Charles III., was the Emperor's brother-in-law and stanch ally, and the +travellers were hospitably entertained in his ancestral castle on the +heights. Here Bottigella was introduced into Christina's presence by +his old friend Camillo Ghilino, and found her on the way to attend Mass +in the castle chapel. + + "The Duchess," wrote the Councillor to his lord, "received + me in the most friendly manner, and asked eagerly after you, + and was especially anxious to know where you were now. I told + her that you were at Vigevano, but would shortly return to + Milan, to prepare for her arrival. Mass was just beginning, + so I had to take my leave, but hope for another opportunity + of conversing with her before long, and can see how eager she + is to ask a hundred questions. She is very well and lively, + and does not seem any the worse for the long journey. She has + grown a great deal since I saw her last September, and is as + beautiful as the sun. M. de Praet hopes to reach Turin in seven + days, and will start again to-morrow."[96] + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1534] BEATRIX OF SAVOY] + +The most arduous part of the journey now lay before the travellers. +Leaving Chambéry, they penetrated into the heart of the Alps, through +the narrow gorge of the Isère, between precipitous ravines with +castles crowning the rocks on either side, until they reached the +impregnable fortress of Montmélian, the ancient bulwark of Savoy, +which had resisted all the assaults of the French. After spending the +night here, they rode up the green pastures and pine-clad slopes of S. +Jean de Maurienne, and began the ascent of the Mont Cenis, over "those +troublesome and horrid ways" of which English travellers complained +so bitterly, where loose stones and tumbled rocks made riding almost +impossible. "These ways, indeed," wrote Coryat, "are the worst I +ever travelled in my life, so much so that the roads of Savoy may be +proverbially spoken of as the owls of Athens, the pears of Calabria, +or the quails of Delos."[97] On the summit of the pass De Praet and +his companions saw with interest the Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows, +where a few years before the famous Constable of Bourbon had offered +up his sword on the altar of the Virgin, as he led the imperial armies +across the Alps. Then they came down into a smiling green valley, with +walnut woods and rushing streams, and saw the medieval towers of Susa +at their feet. Here they were met by the Emperor's Ambassador at the +Court of Savoy, who came to pay his respects to the Duchess, bringing +with him two elegant litters of crimson brocade, sent by Charles's +sister-in-law, Beatrix of Portugal, Duchess of Savoy, for Christina's +use. At Rivoli, two stages farther on, fifty Councillors from Turin, +with the Bishop of Vercelli at their head, appeared on horseback to +escort the Duchess to the city gates. Here Christina mounted her horse +and rode up the steep ascent to the citadel, with De Praet walking at +her side. The beautiful Duchess Beatrix herself awaited her guest at +the castle gates, and, embracing Christina affectionately, led her by +the hand up the grand staircase into the best suite of rooms in the +palace. The travellers spent two days in these comfortable quarters, +and enjoyed the brief interval of rest, although the Duchess, as +Bottigella was careful to tell the Duke, seemed the least tired of the +whole party, and was in blooming health and high spirits. + +On the following Sunday Christina rode into Novara, on a brilliant +spring morning, and was lodged in the Bishop's palace, and received +with the greatest enthusiasm by her lord's subjects. At Vigevano, the +birthplace and favourite home of Lodovico Sforza, the nobles, with +Massimiliano Stampa at their head, rode out to welcome the Duke's +bride, and carried a rich baldacchino over her head. Nevertheless, +halfway between Novara and Vigevano, De Praet complained to the Count +that neither the reception of the Duchess nor the rooms prepared +for her were sufficiently honourable--"in fact, he found fault with +everything." The Count expressed some surprise, since both the Emperor +Maximilian and Charles V. himself had stayed at Vigevano, and the +latter had greatly admired the buildings and gardens laid out by +Bramante and Leonardo. But, to pacify the exacting priest, Stampa +proposed that the Duchess should only take her _déjeuner_ in the +castle, and push on to his own villa of Cussago, where she was to spend +some days before entering Milan. But De Praet replied that the Duchess, +not being yet accustomed to this climate, felt the heat of the sun, +and must on no account ride any farther till evening. So all the Count +could do was to send Bottigella on to see that the Castello was adorned +with wreaths of flowers and verdure, and that a good bed was prepared +for the Duchess.[98] + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1534] CHRISTINA'S HUSBAND] + +At least, De Praet could find nothing to grumble at in Stampa's +country-house at Cussago, the ducal palace and hunting-grounds which +had been given him by Francesco II. in reward for his unwavering +loyalty. The beauty of the spot, the delicious gardens with their sunny +lawns and sparkling fountains, their rose and myrtle bowers, their +bosquets and running streams, enchanted the travellers from the north. +The villa had been adorned with frescoes and marble doorways by the +best Lombard masters of the Moro's Court, and was once the favourite +country-house of Beatrice d'Este, the present Duke's mother, who often +rode out from Milan to hunt in the forests of the Brianza or play at +ball on the terraces. Now her son's child-bride saw these green lawns +in all the loveliness of early summer, and the frescoed halls rang once +more to the sound of mirth and laughter. Music and dancing enlivened +the days, and a drama--_La Sposa Sagace_--was acted one evening to +amuse Christina. At nightfall the guns of the Castello, firing salutes +in her honour, were heard in the distance, and the bonfires on the +towers of Milan lit up the evening sky with crimson glow. Count +Massimiliano took care that nothing should be lacking to the enjoyment +of the Duchess, and begged De Praet to attend to her comfort in every +particular, but, as he told the Duke, it was not always easy to satisfy +these gentlemen. + +One day Christina and her ladies received a visit from the great +Captain Antonio de Leyva, the Duke's old enemy, who now came, cap in +hand, to pay homage to the Emperor's niece. Another day there was +a still greater stir at the villa, for the Duke himself appeared +unexpectedly, having ridden out almost alone, to pay a surprise visit +to his bride. The first sight of her future lord must have given +Christina a shock, and her ladies whispered to each other that this +wan, grey-haired man, who could not walk without the help of a stick, +was hardly a fit match for their fair young Princess. But Francesco's +chivalrous courtesy and gentleness went far to atone for his physical +defects, and nothing could exceed the kindness which he showed his +youthful bride. After all, she was but a child, and the sight of this +new world that was laid at her feet with all its beauties and treasures +was enough to dazzle her eyes and please her innocent fancy. + +On Sunday, the 3rd of May, the Duchess made her state entry into Milan. +Early in the afternoon she rode in her litter to S. Eustorgio, the +Dominican convent outside the Ticino gate, where she was received by +the Duke's half-brother, Giovanni Paolo Sforza, mounted on a superb +charger, and attended by all his kinsmen, clad in white and gold. +After paying her devotions at the marble shrine of S. Pietro Martive, +the Prior and friars conducted her to partake of refreshments in the +guests' hall, and receive the homage of the Bishop and clergy, of the +magistrates and senators. At six o'clock, after vespers, the procession +started from the Porta Ticinese. First came the armourers and their +apprentices, in companies of 200, with coloured flags in their hands +and plumes to match in their caps. One troop was in blue, the other in +green. At the head of the first rode Alessandro Missaglia, a splendid +figure, wearing a silver helmet and shining armour over his turquoise +velvet vest, and mounted on a horse with richly damascened harness. The +green troop was led by Girolamo Negriolo, the other famous Milanese +armourer. Then came 300 archers in pale blue silk, and six bands of +trumpeters and drummers, followed by a great company of the noblest +gentlemen of Milan, all clad in white, with flowing plumes in their +hats and lances in their hands, riding horses draped with silver +brocade. Visconti, Trivulzio, Borromeo, Somaglia--all the proudest +names of Milan were there, and in the rear rode the veteran Antonio de +Leyva, with the Emperor's representative, De Praet, at his side. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1534] THE BRIDE'S ENTRY] + +Immediately behind them, under a white and gold velvet baldacchino, +borne by the doctors of the University, rode the bride, mounted on +a white horse with glittering trappings, and wearing a rich white +brocade robe and a long veil over her flowing hair--"a vision more +divine than human," exclaims the chronicler who witnessed the sight; +"only," he adds in an undertone, "she is still very young." At the +sight of the lovely child the multitude broke into shouts of joy, +and the clashing of bells, the blare of trumpets, and sound of guns, +welcomed the coming of the Duchess. Close behind her rode Cardinal +Ercole Gonzaga, the Duke's cousin, and on either side a guard of twelve +noble youths, with white ostrich feathers in their caps, so that Her +Excellency "appeared to be surrounded with a forest of waving plumes." +In the rear came Madame de Souvastre and her ladies in litters, +followed by a crowd of senators, bishops, and magistrates. + +Six triumphal arches, adorned with statues and paintings, lined the +route. Peace with her olive-branch, Plenty with the cornucopia, +Prosperity bearing a caduceus, Joy crowned with flowers, welcomed the +bride in turn. Everywhere the imperial eagles were seen together with +the Sforza arms, and countless mottoes with courtly allusions to the +golden age that had at length dawned for distracted Milan. "Thy coming, +O Christina, confirms the peace of Italy!" On the piazza of the Duomo, +a pageant of the Seasons greeted her--Spring with arms full of roses, +Summer laden with ripe ears of corn, Autumn bearing purple grapes, and +Winter wrapt in snowy fur; while Minerva was seen closing the doors of +the Temple of Janus, and Juno and Hymen, with outstretched arms, hailed +Francesco, the son of the great Lodovico, and Christina, the daughter +of Dacia and Austria. At the steps of the Duomo the long procession +halted. Cardinal Gonzaga helped the Duchess to alight, and led her to +the altar, where she knelt in silent prayer, kissed the _pax_ held up +to her by the Archbishop, and received his benediction. The walls of +the long nave were hung with tapestries, and the choir draped with +cloth of gold and adorned with statues of the patron saints of Milan. +"When you entered the doors," wrote the chronicler, "you seemed to be +in Paradise." + +Then the Duchess mounted her horse again, and the procession passed +up the Goldsmiths' Street to the Castello. Here the decorations were +still more sumptuous. One imposing arch was adorned with a painting +of St. John leaning on the bosom of Christ, copied from Leonardo's +"Cenacolo" in the refectory of S. Maria delle Grazie. Another bore a +figure of Christ with the orb and sceptre, and the words "Mercy and +Truth have kissed each other." On the piazza in front of the Castello, +a colossal fountain was erected, and winged children spouted wine and +perfumed water. The Castello itself had been elaborately adorned. The +arms of Denmark and Milan were carved in fine marble over the portals, +the walls were hung with blue draperies studded with golden stars and +wreathed with garlands of myrtle and ivy, and on either side of the +central doorway two giant warriors leaning on clubs supported a tablet +crowned with the imperial eagles, and inscribed with the words: "The +wisest of Princes to-day weds the fairest of Virgins, and brings us the +promise of perpetual peace."[99] + +[Illustration: CHRISTINA, DUCHESS OF MILAN (1534) + +(Oppenheimer Collection)] + +[Illustration: FRANCESCO SFORZA, DUKE OF MILAN (1534) + +(British Museum) + +_To face p. 92_] + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1534] IN THE CASTELLO] + +As the procession reached the gates of the Castello, a triumphant burst +of martial music was sounded by the trumpeters on the topmost tower, +and Count Massimiliano, the Castellan, presented the golden keys of +the gates to the Duchess, on bended knee. Christina received them with +a gracious smile, and, accepting his hand, alighted from her horse, +amid the cheers of the populace, who, rushing in on all sides, seized +the baldacchino, tore the costly brocade into ribbons, and divided the +spoil. Meanwhile the Duke, leaning on a stick, received his wife with +a deep reverence, and led her by the hand into the beautiful suite of +rooms, hung with mulberry-coloured velvet and cloth of gold, which had +been prepared for her use.[100] Cardinal Gonzaga and De Praet supped +with the bride and bridegroom that evening, to the sweet melodies of +the Duke's flutes and viols. The gates of the Castello were closed, +enormous bonfires blazed on the walls, and rockets went up to heaven +from the top of the great tower. Thousands of torches illumined the +darkness, and the streets were thronged with gay crowds, who gladly +took advantage of the Duke's permission and gave themselves up to mirth +and revelry all night long. Long was that day remembered in Milan. +Old men who could recall the reign of Lodovico, and had witnessed the +coming of Beatrice and the marriage of Bianca, wept, and thanked God +that they had lived to see this day. But their joy was destined to be +of short duration. + + +IV. + +At six o'clock on the evening of the 4th of May the marriage of the +Duke was finally celebrated in the hall of the Rocchetta, which was +hung with cloth of gold beautifully decorated with garlands of flowers. +Among the illustrious guests present were the Cardinal of Mantua, the +Legate Caracciolo, Antonio de Leyva, and the chief nobles and senators. +The Bishops of Modena and Vigevano chanted the nuptial Mass, and +Monseigneur de Praet delivered a lengthy oration, which sorely tried +the patience of his hearers. No sooner had he uttered the last words +than the Duke took the bride's hand, and brought the ceremony to an +abrupt conclusion by leading her into the banquet-hall. There a supper +of delicate viands, fruit, and wines, was prepared, and the guests were +entertained with music and songs during the evening.[101] + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1534] ALFONSO D'ESTE] + +Letters of congratulation now poured in from all the Courts of Europe. +Christina's own relatives--Ferdinand and Anna, the King and Queen of +Hungary and Bohemia, the King and Queen of Portugal, the Elector of +Saxony and the Marquis of Brandenburg--all congratulated the Duchess +on her safe arrival and happy marriage; while the Pope, the Doge of +Venice, and other Italian Princes, sent the Duke cordial messages. +One of the most interesting letters which the bridegroom received was +an autograph epistle from his cousin, Bona Sforza, Queen of Poland, +who would probably herself have been Duchess of Milan if Massimiliano +Sforza had reigned longer. It had been the earnest wish of her widowed +mother, Isabella of Aragon, to effect this union, and it was only +after the French conquest of Milan in 1515 that her daughter became the +wife of King Sigismund. From her distant home Bona kept up an active +correspondence with her Italian relatives, and now sent Francesco the +following friendly letter: + + "DEAREST AND MOST ILLUSTRIOUS COUSIN, + + "I rejoice sincerely to hear that your most illustrious wife + has reached Milan safely. I feel the greatest joy at your happy + marriage, and trust that Heaven will send you a fine son. My + husband and children join with me in wishing you every possible + happiness. + + "BONA, QUEEN. + "From Cracow, July 15, 1534."[102] + + +Another of Francesco's illustrious kinsfolk, Alfonso d'Este, Duke +of Ferrara, came to Milan in person to offer his congratulations to +his nephew, although he preferred to remain incognito, and his name +does not figure among the guests who were present at the wedding +festivities. But Ferrarese chroniclers record that the Duke went to +Milan on the 30th of April, to attend the wedding of Duke Francesco +Sforza, who took for wife Madame Christierna, daughter of the King +of Dacia, and returned home on the 6th of May.[103] Forty-four years +before, Alfonso, then a boy of fourteen, had accompanied his sister +Beatrice to Milan for her marriage, and escorted his own bride, Anna +Sforza, back to Ferrara. Now his long and troubled life was drawing to +a close, and he died a few months after this last journey to Milan, +on the 31st of October, 1534. By his last will he left two of his +best horses and a pair of falcons to his beloved nephew, the Duke of +Milan.[104] Some writers have conjectured that Alfonso brought his +favourite painter, Titian, to Milan, and that the Venetian master +painted portraits of the Duke and Duchess on this occasion.[105] No +record of Titian's visit, however, has been discovered, and he probably +painted the portraits of Francesco and Christina from drawings sent to +him at Venice. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1534] TITIAN'S PORTRAIT] + +Titian's friend, Pietro Aretino, was in constant correspondence with +Count Massimiliano Stampa, who rewarded his literary efforts with gifts +of gold chains, velvet caps, and embroidered doublets. "I shall be +clad in your presents all through the summer months," he wrote in a +letter, signing himself, "Your younger brother and devoted servant." +Aretino was not only profuse in thanks to this noble patron, but sent +him choice works of art, mirrors of Oriental crystal, medals engraved +by Anichino, and, best of all, a little painting of the youthful +Baptist clasping a lamb, "so life-like that a sheep would bleat at +the sight of it."[106] The wily Venetian was exceedingly anxious to +ingratiate himself with the Duke of Milan, and not only dedicated a +"Paraphase" to him on his marriage, but, according to Vasari, painted +portraits of both the Duke and Duchess. These pictures were reproduced +by Campo in the "History of Cremona," which he published in 1585, while +Christina was still living. The portrait of Francesco was at that +time the property of the Milanese noble Mario Amigone, while that of +Christina hung in the house of Don Antonio Lomboni, President of the +Magistrates.[107] This last portrait was afterwards sent to Florence +by order of the Grand-Duke Ferdinand, who married the Duchess's +granddaughter, Christine of Lorraine. + + "I send Your Highness," wrote Guido Mazzenta in January, 1604, + "the portrait of the Most Serene Lady, Christina, Queen of + Denmark, and grandmother of the Most Serene Grand-Duchess, + painted by Titian, by order of Duke Francesco Sforza, when he + brought her to Milan as his bride."[108] + +Unfortunately, this precious portrait was afterwards sent to Madrid, +where it is said to have perished in a fire. In Campo's engraving the +youthful Duchess wears a jewelled cap and pearl necklace, with an +ermine cape on her shoulders. Her serene air and thoughtful expression +recall Holbein's famous picture, and give an impression of quiet +happiness and content which agrees with all that we know of her short +married life. + +The change was great from Malines and Brussels, and Christina often +missed her old playmates. But her simple, docile nature became easily +accustomed to these new surroundings, and the affectionate little +letters which she sent to her aunt and sister all breathe the same +strain. "We are as happy and contented as possible," she writes to +Dorothea; and when Camillo Ghilino was starting for Germany, she sends +a few words, at her lord's suggestion, to be forwarded to Flanders, +just to tell her aunt how much she loves and thinks of her.[109] + +Certainly, when we compare her lot with that of her mother, and +remember the hardships and sorrows which the young Queen had to +endure, Christina may well have counted herself fortunate. Her husband +treated his child-wife with the greatest kindness. Her smallest wish +was gratified, her tastes were consulted in every particular. The +rooms which she occupied in the Rocchetta, where his mother, Duchess +Beatrice, had lived, were hung with rich crimson velvet; the walls +of her bedroom were draped with pale blue silk; a new loggia was +built, looking out on the gardens and moat waters. The breaches which +French and Spanish guns had made in the walls were repaired, and the +Castello resumed its old aspect. Three state carriages, lined with +costly brocades and drawn by four horses draped with cloth of gold, +were prepared by the Duke for his wife, and were first used by the +Duchess on Ascension Day, when, ten days after her wedding, she made +her first appearance in public. As she drove to the Duomo, followed by +the Legate and Ambassadors, and escorted by a brilliant cavalcade of +nobles, the streets were thronged with eager crowds, who greeted her +with acclamation, and waited for hours to catch a sight of her face. +On Corpus Christi, again, a few weeks later, the Duke and Duchess both +came to see the long procession of Bishops and priests pass through the +streets, bearing the host under a stately canopy from the Duomo to the +ancient shrine of S. Ambrogio. + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1534] FRANCESCA PALEOLOGA] + +The popularity of the young Duchess soon became unbounded. Her tall +figure, dark eyes, and fair hair, excited the admiration of all her +subjects, while her frank and kindly manners won every heart. Although +prices went up in Milan that year, and the tolls on corn and wine were +doubled, the people paid these dues cheerfully, and, when they sat down +to a scanty meal, remarked that they must pay for Her Excellency's +dinner.[110] Fortunately, by the end of the year there was a +considerable fall in prices, and a general sense of relief and security +prevailed. + +To the Duke himself, as well as to his people, the coming of the +Duchess brought new life. For a time his failing health revived in +the sunshine of her presence. He threw himself with energy into the +task of beautifying Milan and completing the façade of the Duomo. At +the same time he employed painters to decorate the Castello and Duomo +of Vigevano, and an illuminated book of the Gospels, adorned with +exquisite miniatures and bearing his arms and those of the Duchess, may +still be seen in the Brera. + +Hunting-parties were held for Christina's amusement both at Vigevano +and in Count Massimiliano's woods at Cussago. Madame de Souvastre +and most of the Duchess's Flemish attendants had returned to the +Netherlands with De Praet, and Francesco took great pains to provide +his wife with a congenial lady-in-waiting. His choice fell on Francesca +Paleologa, a lady of the noble house of Montferrat, and cousin of the +newly-married Duchess of Mantua. Her husband, Constantine Comnenus, +titular Prince of Macedonia, had served under the Pope and Emperor; and +her daughter, Deianira, had lately married Count Gaspare Trivulzio, a +former partisan of the French, who was now a loyal subject of the Duke. +From this time the Princess of Macedonia became Christina's inseparable +companion, and remained devotedly attached to the Duchess throughout +her long life. At the same time Francesco appointed one of his +secretaries, Benedetto da Corte of Pavia, to be master of the Duchess's +household, and to teach her Italian, which she was soon able to speak +and write fluently. + +The Milanese archives contain several charming little notes written in +Christina's large, round hand to the Duke during a brief visit which he +paid to Vigevano, for change of air, in the summer of 1535: + + "MY LORD AND DEAREST HUSBAND, + + "I have received your dear letters, and rejoice to hear of your + welfare. This has been a great comfort to me, but it will be a + far greater pleasure to see you again. I look forward to your + return with such impatience that a single hour seems as long as + a whole year. May God keep you safe and bring you home again + very soon, for I can enjoy nothing without Your Excellency. I + am very well, thank God, and commend myself humbly to your good + graces. Signora Francesca is also well, and commends herself to + Your Highness. + + "Your very humble wife, + "CHRISTIERNA. + "Milan, June 7, 1535. + + "The bearer of this letter has been very good to me." + +Francesco's health had lately given fresh cause for anxiety. He +suffered from catarrh and fever, and was frequently confined to his +bed. A Pavian Envoy who had been promised an audience had to leave the +Castello without seeing His Excellency, and a visit which he and the +Duchess had intended to pay to Pavia in the spring was put off, to +the great disappointment of the loyal citizens. Now his absence was +prolonged owing to a fresh attack of illness, and the young wife wrote +again at the end of the month, lamenting the delay and expressing the +same impatience for his return: + + "MY DEAREST HUSBAND, + + [Sidenote: JUNE, 1535] DOROTHEA OF DENMARK] + + "I was delighted, as I always am, with your dear letter of the + 20th instant, but should have been much better pleased to see + you and enjoy the pleasure of your presence, as I hoped to + do by this time, especially as these Signors assured me that + your absence would be short. But they were, it is plain, quite + wrong. However, I must be reasonable, and if your prolonged + absence is necessary I will not complain. I thank you for your + kind excuses and explanations, but I will not thank you for + saying that I need not trouble to write to you with my own + hand, because this at least is labour well spent, and I am only + happy when I can talk with Your Excellency or write to you, now + that I cannot enjoy your company. I commend myself infinitely + to your remembrance, and trust God may long preserve you, and + grant you a safe and speedy return. + + "Your very humble wife, + "CHRISTIERNA. + "From Milan, June. 1535."[111] + + +But the warm-hearted young wife's wish remained unfulfilled, and four +months after these lines were written Christina was a widow. + + +V. + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1535] THE PALATINE] + +The chief event of Christina's brief married life was the marriage of +her elder sister, the Princess of Denmark. Dorothea was by this time +an attractive girl of fourteen, shorter and slighter than her sister, +and inferior to her in force of character, but full of brightness and +gaiety. She was very popular in her old home at Malines, and often +shot with a crossbow at the meetings of the Guild of Archers. Several +marriages had been proposed for her, and King James of Scotland had +repeatedly asked for her hand; but the Emperor hesitated to accept his +advances, from fear of offending King Francis, whose daughter Magdalen +had long been pledged to this fickle monarch, while the difficulty +of providing a dower and outfit for another portionless niece, made +Mary reluctant to conclude a second marriage. But, a few months after +Christina's marriage, a new suitor for Dorothea's hand came forward +in the person of the Count Palatine, who had vainly aspired to wed +both Eleanor of Austria and Mary of Hungary. Frederic's loyal support +of Charles's claims to the imperial crown, and his gallant defence of +Vienna against the Turks, had been scurvily rewarded, and hitherto all +his attempts to find another bride had been foiled. When, in 1526, +after the King of Portugal's death, he approached his old love, the +widowed Queen Eleanor, his advances were coldly repelled; and when +he asked King Ferdinand for one of his daughters, he was told that +she was too young for him. After Mary of Hungary's refusal, he left +the Imperial Court in anger, and told Charles V. that he would take +a French wife;[112] but Isabel of Navarre, Margaret of Montferrat, +and the King of Poland's daughter, all eluded his efforts, and when +he asked for Mary Tudor's hand, King Henry told him that he could not +insult his good friend and cousin by offering him a bride born out of +wedlock.[113] Now Ferdinand, unwilling to lose so valuable an ally, +suddenly proposed that the Palatine should marry his niece Dorothea, +saying that both he and Charles would rejoice to see him reigning over +the three northern kingdoms. At first Frederic hesitated, saying that +he was a grey-headed man of fifty, little fitted to be the husband of +so young a lady, and had no wish to reign over the turbulent Norsemen. +Mary, however, welcomed her brother's proposal, regarding it as a +means of strengthening the Emperor's cause in Northern Europe. In +Denmark the succession of Frederic's son Christian III. was disputed, +and a Hanseatic fleet had seized Copenhagen, while Christopher of +Oldenburg, a cousin of the captive King, had invaded Jutland. With +the help of these allies it might be possible for the Palatine to +recover his wife's inheritance. But the execution of this plan was full +of difficulties, as Prince John's old tutor, the wise Archbishop of +Lunden, told Charles V. in a letter which he addressed to him in the +autumn of 1534: + + "MOST SACRED CÆSAR,--I know Denmark well, and am convinced that + the Danes will never recognize Christian II. as their King. + Count Christopher's expedition will prove a mere flash in the + pan, and when he can no longer pay his men, the peasants, who + flocked to his banner at the sound of their old King's name, + will return to their hearths. Then the nobles will have their + revenge, and the proud Lübeck citizens will seize Denmark and + establish the Lutheran religion in the name of Christopher or + King Henry of England, or any other Prince, as long as he is + not Your Majesty; and if they succeed, the trade of the Low + Countries will be ruined."[114] + +The bait held out to the Palatine, however, proved too alluring, and +he easily fell a victim to the snare. The Emperor sent him flattering +messages by Hubert, the faithful servant who has left us so delightful +a chronicle of his master's doings, and promised his niece a dowry of +50,000 crowns. It was late on New Year's Eve when Hubert reached his +master's house at Neumarkt, on his return from Spain, and Frederic was +already in bed; but he sent for him, and bade him tell his news in +three words. The messenger exclaimed joyfully: "I bring my lord a royal +bride, a most gracious Kaiser, and a sufficient dowry." Upon which the +Palatine thanked God, and bade Hubert go to the cellar and help himself +to food and drink.[115] + +One of Charles's most trusted Flemish servants, Nicholas de Marnol, +was now sent to Milan, to obtain the consent of the Duke and Duchess +to Dorothea's marriage. After a perilous journey over the Alps in snow +and floods, Marnol reached Milan on the 10th of January, 1535, and +received a cordial welcome. Francesco approved warmly of a union which +would insure the Princess's happiness and serve to confirm the peace of +Germany, but quite declined to accept the Emperor's suggestion that he +should help to provide a pension for Christina's brother-in-law, saying +that this was impossible, and that His Majesty would be the first to +recognize the futility of making promises which cannot be kept. + +After a short stay at Milan, Marnol went on to Vienna, and advised the +Palatine to go to Spain himself if he wished to settle the matter. +Frederic, always glad of an excuse for a journey, travelled by way +of Brussels and France to Saragossa, and accompanied the Emperor to +Barcelona, where Charles signed the marriage contract on the eve of +sailing for Africa. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1535] A HAPPY MARRIAGE] + +On the 18th of May, 1535, the marriage was solemnized at Brussels, and +Frederic consented to leave his bride with her aunt until her outfit +was completed. Queen Eleanor expressed the liveliest interest in her +old lover's marriage, and insisted on seeing Dorothea before she +went to Germany. At length the wedding-party reached Heidelberg, on +the 8th of September, where the gallant bridegroom, who, in Hubert's +words, "loved to shine," rode out in rich attire to meet his bride, and +escorted her with martial music and pomp worthy of a King's daughter +to the famous castle on the heights. The next day the nuptial Mass +was celebrated by the Bishop of Spires, and a series of splendid +entertainments were given by Frederic's brother, the Elector Louis, +after which the Count took his bride to his own home at Neumarkt, in +the Upper Palatinate.[116] + +"Now at length," wrote Hubert, "my lord thought that he had attained a +haven of rest, and found a blessed end to all his troubles; but he was +grievously mistaken, and soon realized that he had embarked on a new +and tempestuous ocean."[117] + +The splendid prospects of recovering his wife's kingdom were destined +to prove utterly fallacious, and only involved him in heavy expenses +and perpetual intrigues. The Emperor, as he soon discovered, "had no +great affection for the enterprise of Denmark,"[118] and before long +Copenhagen surrendered, and Charles and Mary were compelled to come +to terms with Christian III. and acknowledge his title. Fortunately, +in all other respects his marriage proved a happy one. Dorothea was +greatly beloved by her husband's family and subjects, and made him a +devoted wife, although, as Hubert soon found out, she was as great a +spendthrift as her lord, and confessed that she was never happy until +she had spent her last penny.[119] The very frivolity of her nature +suited the volatile Count. She shared his love of adventure, and was +always ready to accompany him on perilous journeys, to climb mountains +or ford rivers, with the same unquenchable courage and gaiety of +heart. Even when, in her anxiety to bear a child, she imitated the +example of Frederic's mother, the old Countess Palatine, and went on +pilgrimages and wore holy girdles, "this was done without any spirit +of devotion, but with great mirth and laughter. And how little," adds +the chronicler, "either pilgrimages or girdles profited her, we all +know."[120] + + +VI. + +Before the Palatine and his bride reached Heidelberg, Europe was +thrilled by the news of the capture of Tunis, and the flight of the +hated Barbarossa before his conqueror. It was the proudest moment of +the Emperor's life. Twenty thousand Christian captives were released +that day, and went home to spread the fame of their great deliverer +throughout the civilized world. The news reached Milan on the 2nd of +August, and was hailed with universal joy. _Te Deums_ were chanted +in the Duomo, bells were rung in all the churches, and the guns of +the Castello boomed in honour of the great event. Camillo Ghilino +was immediately sent by the Duke to congratulate the Emperor on +his victory, and thank His Majesty once more for all the happiness +which the generous gift of his niece had brought Francesco and his +people.[121] + +[Illustration: FREDERIC, COUNT PALATINE + +Ascribed to A. Dürer (Darmstadt) + +_To face p. 106_] + +[Sidenote: NOV., 1535] FRANCESCO SFORZA'S DEATH] + +The late Pope, Clement VII., had already expressed his intention of +rewarding Ghilino's services with a Cardinal's hat, and his successor, +Paul III., would probably have kept his promise, but the Ambassador +fell ill in Sicily, and died at Palermo in September, to the Duke's +great sorrow.[122] Soon after receiving the news, Francesco himself +fell ill of fever, and once more lost the use of his limbs. All through +October he grew steadily worse, and by the end of the month the people +of Milan learnt that their beloved Prince was at the point of death. On +Monday, the Feast of All Saints, the public anxiety was at its height, +and silent crowds waited all day at the gates of the Castello to hear +the latest reports. At length, early in the morning of All Souls' Day, +they learnt that the last Sforza Duke was no more. Christina watched +by his bedside to the end, and wept bitterly, for, in the chronicler's +words, "they had loved each other well."[123] All Milan shared in her +grief, and nothing but sobbing and wailing was heard in the streets. +Everyone lamented the good Duke, and grieved for the troubles and +misery which his death would bring on the land. But the city remained +tranquil, and there was no tumult or rioting. This was chiefly due to +Stampa, who, by the Duke's last orders, took charge of the Duchess, and +administered public affairs in her name, until instructions could be +received from Cæsar. + +A messenger was despatched without delay to the Emperor at Palermo, +with letters from the Count and a touching little note from Christina, +informing her uncle how her dear lord's weakness had gradually +increased, until in the early morning he passed to a better life. The +dead Prince lay in state for three days in the ducal chapel, clad in +robes of crimson velvet and ermine, on a bier surrounded by lighted +tapers. But the funeral was put off till the 19th of November, in +order, writes the chronicler, to give the people time to show the love +they bore their lamented master, and also because of the difficulty of +obtaining sufficient black cloth to drape the walls of the Castello +and put the Court in mourning. It was a sad time for the young widow. +During three weeks not a ray of light was allowed to penetrate the +gloom of the funereal hall where she sat with her ladies, while solemn +requiems and Masses were chanted in the chapel. + +It had been Francesco's wish to sleep with his parents in the Church +of S. Maria delle Grazie, where the effigies of Lodovico and his lost +Beatrice had been carved in marble. But when this became known there +was a general outcry. The people would not allow their beloved Duke to +be buried anywhere but in the Duomo with the great Francesco and the +other Sforza Princes. So it was decided only to bury the Duke's heart +in the Dominican church. His body was laid in a leaden casket covered +with black velvet, and a wax effigy, wearing the ducal crown and robes, +was exposed to public view. + +[Sidenote: NOV., 1535] FUNERAL RITES] + +Late on Friday, the 19th of November, an imposing funeral procession +passed from the Castello to the Duomo, through the same streets +which, only eighteen months before, had been decked in festive array +to receive the late Duke's bride. First came the Bishops and clergy +with candles and crosses, then the senators, magistrates, and nobles, +wearing long black mantles and hoods. After them gentlemen bearing +the ducal standard, cap, and baton, and Francesco's sword and helmet, +and what moved the spectators more than all, the white mule which he +had ridden daily, led by four pages, "looking just as it did when +His Excellency was alive, only that the saddle was empty." Then the +bier was carried past, under a gold canopy, and the wax effigy of the +dead man, was seen clad in gold brocade and ermine, with a vest of +crimson velvet and red shoes and stockings. Immediately behind rode the +chief mourner, Giovanni Paolo Sforza, followed by Antonio de Leyva, +the Imperial and Venetian Ambassadors, the Chancellor Taverna, Count +Massimiliano Stampa, and the chief Ministers and officials. After +them came a vast multitude of poor, all in mourning, bearing lighted +tapers, and weeping as they went. A catafalque, surrounded with burning +torches, had been erected in the centre of the Duomo, and here, under a +canopy of black velvet, the Duke's effigy was laid on a couch of gold +brocade, with his sword at his side and the ducal cap and baton at his +feet--"a thing," says the chronicler, "truly marvellous to see."[124] + +The next morning the funeral rites were celebrated in the presence of +an immense concourse of people, and a Latin oration was delivered by +Messer Gualtiero di Corbetta. During three days requiems were chanted +at every altar in the Duomo, and the great bell, which had never been +rung before, was tolled for the space of three hours, accompanied by +all the bells of the other churches in Milan. "And there was no one +with heart so hard that he was not moved to tears that day," writes +Burigozzo, the chronicler who was a living witness of the love which +the citizens bore to their dead Duke.[125] At the end of the week the +casket containing Francesco's remains was finally laid in a richly +carved sarcophagus, which had been originally intended to receive +the ashes of Gaston de Foix, the victor of Ravenna, and which was now +placed against the wall of the choir, "for a perpetual memorial in the +sight of all Milan."[126] + +No one loved the Duke better and lamented his loss more truly than +Count Massimiliano Stampa, and Pietro Aretino, who realized this, +condoled with his noble friend, and at the same time paid an eloquent +tribute to the dead Prince, in the following letter: + + "The Duke is dead, and I feel that this sad event has not only + taken away all your happiness, but part of your own soul. + I know the close intimacy in which you lived, nourished in + your infancy at the same breast, and bound together in one + heart and soul. But you must take comfort, remembering that + His Excellency may well be called fortunate in his end. His + wanderings began when he was barely six years old, and he was + driven into exile before he was old enough to remember his + native land. After so many wars and labours, after experiencing + famine and sickness himself, and seeing the cruel misery + and affliction endured by his subjects, he lived to see + perfect tranquillity restored in his dominions, and to enjoy + the passionate affection of all Milan. Now, secure in the + friendship of Cæsar and the love of Italy, he has given back + his spirit to God who gave it. Rejoice, therefore, and render + praise and glory to Francesco Sforza's name, because by his + wisdom and virtue he conquered fortune, and has died a Prince + on his throne, reigning in peace and happiness over his native + land. So, my dear lord, I beg you dry your tears, and meet + those who love you as I do with a serene brow. The fame of your + learning and greatness is known everywhere. Rise above the + blows of fate, and console yourself with the thought of your + Duke's blessed end. There lies His Excellency's corpse. Give it + honourable burial, and I meanwhile will not cease to celebrate + him dead and you who are alive."[127] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[79] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, ii. 146. + +[80] Schäfer, iv. 204, 209. + +[81] "Diarii," liii. 231. + +[82] Altmeyer, "Relations," etc., 298; Sanuto, lv. 389, 414. + +[83] Sanuto, lvii. 610, 637. + +[84] State Papers, Record Office, vii. 465. + +[85] M. Sanuto, lvii. 157; A. Campo, "Storia di Cremona," 107. + +[86] Lanz, ii. 87, 88. + +[87] Lanz, ii. 89. + +[88] Archivio di Stato, Milan, Carteggio Diplomatico, 1533. + +[89] Archivio di Stato, Milano, Carteggio Diplomatico, 1533. + +[90] Carteggio Diplomatico, 1533, Archivio di Stato, Milan. + +[91] G. M. Burigozzo, "Cronaca Milanese," 1500-1544, p. 516; "Archivio +Storico Italiano," iii. (1842). + +[92] Potenze Sovrane, 1533-34, Archivio di Stato, Milan. + +[93] Autografi di Principi Sforza, Archivio di Stato, Milan. + +[94] Potenze Sovrane, Archivio di Stato, Milan. + +[95] State Papers, Record Office, vii. 545. + +[96] Potenze Sovrane, Archivio di Stato, Milan. + +[97] T. Coryat, "Crudities," i. 215; "Hardwick Papers," i. 85. + +[98] Potenze Sovrane, Archivio di Stato, Milan. + +[99] M. Guazzo, "Historie d'Italia," 272-275; P. Avenati, "Entrata +Solemne di Cristina di Spagna"; MS. Continuazione della Storia di +Corio, O. 240 (Biblioteca Ambrosiana). + +[100] C. Magenta, "I Visconti e gli Sforza nel Castello di Pavia," i. +750; Nubilonio, "Cronaca di Vigevano," 131. + +[101] MS. Continuazione di Corio, O. 240 (Biblioteca Ambrosiana). + +[102] Autografi di Principi: Sforza. Archivio di Stato, Milan. + +[103] F. Roddi, "Annali di Ferrara" (Harleian MSS. 3310). + +[104] E. Gardiner, "A King of Court Poets," 355. + +[105] Crowe and Cavalcaselle, "Titian," i. 355. + +[106] P. Aretino, "Lettere," i. 214. + +[107] A. Campo, 107. + +[108] Gaye, "Carteggio," iii. 531. + +[109] Autografi di Principi: Sforza, Archivio di Stato, Milan. + +[110] Burigozzo, 521. + +[111] Autografi di Principi: Sforza, Archivio di Stato (see Appendix +I.). + +[112] Lanz, i. 419. + +[113] H. Thomas, 310. + +[114] Altmeyer, "Relations Commerciales," etc., 317; Lanz, ii. 120. + +[115] H. Thomas, 328. + +[116] Henne, vi. 132. + +[117] H. Thomas, 350. + +[118] Lanz, ii. 659. + +[119] H. Thomas, 350. + +[120] "Zimmer'sche Chronik," iv. 145. + +[121] Burigozzo, 525. + +[122] G. Ghilino, "Annali di Alessandria," 141. + +[123] Potenze Sovrane, Archivio di Stato. + +[124] Burigozzo, 525. + +[125] _Ibid._, 529. + +[126] M. Guazzo, 312. + +[127] P. Aretino, "Lettere," i. 43. + + + + +BOOK V + +THE WIDOW OF MILAN + +1535-1538 + + +I. + +Christina's short married life was over. At the end of eighteen months +she found herself a widow, before she had completed her fourteenth +year. But the brief interval which had elapsed since she left Flanders +had sufficed to turn the child into a woman. From the moment of the +Duke's death, her good sense and discretion won golden opinions from +the grey-headed statesmen around her. The senators and Ambassadors, the +deputies from Pavia and the other Lombard cities, who came to offer +their condolences, were deeply moved at the sight of this Princess, +whose heavy mourning and widow's weeds contrasted strangely with her +extreme youth. The dignity and grace of her bearing charmed them still +more, and all the Milanese asked was to keep their Duchess among +them. By the terms of the late Duke's investiture, if he died without +children, the duchy of Milan was to revert to the Emperor, but the city +of Tortona was settled on the Duchess. By Francesco's will the town and +Castello of Vigevano, which he had done so much to beautify, were also +bequeathed to her. Immediately after the Duke's funeral, in obedience +to his dying lord's order, Stampa hoisted the imperial standard on +the Castello of Milan, but refused to allow Antonio de Leyva to take +possession of the citadel until he received orders from Cæsar himself. +This was faithfully reported to the Emperor by Christina, who gave her +uncle a full account of the steps which she had taken to administer +affairs as her lord's representative, adding: + + "If I have failed in any part of my duty or done anything + contrary to Your Majesty's wishes, I beg you to excuse my + ignorance, assuring you that I have acted by the advice of + my late husband's Councillors, and with no regard to my own + interests, but with the sole object of promoting Your Majesty's + honour and service, and remain + + "Your very humble and obedient servant, + "CHRÉTIENNE. + "November 20, 1535."[128] + + +The messenger whom Stampa sent to Palermo on the day of the Duke's +death missed the Emperor, who had already left for Messina, and the +news did not reach him until he had landed in Calabria, on his way to +Naples. It was not till the 27th of November that a horseman bearing +letters from Cæsar arrived in Milan. Here intense anxiety prevailed +among all classes, and the Spaniards were as much hated as the Duke +and Duchess had been beloved. Accordingly, the relief was great when +it became known that, although Signor Antonio de Leyva was appointed +Governor-General, Stampa was to retain his post as Castellan, and the +Duchess was to remain in the Castello. + + "The Duchess remains Duchess," wrote the chronicler, "and all + the other officials retain their places. Above all, Count + Massimiliano keeps his office, and the city is perfectly + quiet."[129] + +[Sidenote: DEC., 1535] THE PRINCE OF PIEDMONT] + +Stampa now made a last effort to maintain the independence of Milan. +He proposed that the widowed Duchess should be given in marriage to +the Duke of Savoy's eldest son, Louis, a Prince of her own age, who +was being educated at his imperial uncle's Court. A petition to this +effect, signed by Chancellor Taverna and all the leading senators, was +addressed to the Emperor, and Giovanni Paolo Sforza was sent to Rome to +meet His Majesty and obtain the Pope's support. + + "Gian Paolo Sforza and Taverna," wrote the Venetian Envoy, + Lorenzo Bragadin, "have begged Cæsar to give the hand of his + niece, the widow, to the Duke of Savoy's son, and this is the + wish of all the people of Milan."[130] + +Unfortunately, Giovanni Paolo fell ill on the journey, and breathed his +last in a village of the Apennines, and before Charles left Naples he +heard that the promising young Prince of Piedmont had died on Christmas +Day at Madrid. His brother, Emanuel Philibert, was a child of seven, +and although his ambitious mother, Duchess Beatrix, hastened to put +forward his claim, nothing more was heard of the scheme. + +By this time another marriage for Christina was being seriously +discussed at the Imperial Court. Even before the Duke's death, the +French King had done his best to provoke a quarrel with him, and +had begun to make active preparations for war. Hardly had Francesco +breathed his last, than he openly renewed his old claim to Milan, and +sent an Ambassador to the Emperor at Naples, demanding the duchy for +his second son, Henry, Duke of Orleans, the husband of Catherine de' +Medici. This plan, which would have made the French supreme in North +Italy, could not be entertained for a moment, but Charles, in his +anxiety to avoid war, was ready to accept almost any other alternative. +When his sister Eleanor implored him to agree to her husband's +proposal, and, by way of cementing the alliance, give "the little widow +of Milan" in marriage to the King's third son, the Duke of Angoulême, +he replied that he would gladly treat of the proposed marriage, but +only on condition that Angoulême, not Orleans, was put in possession of +Milan. + +The union of the French Prince with Christina now became the subject of +prolonged negotiations between the two Courts. The Imperial Chancellor, +Granvelle, drew up a long and careful memorandum, dwelling on the +obvious advantages of the scheme, on the virtues and charms of the +young Duchess, on her large dowry and great popularity in Milan, and +Charles told Francis plainly that he would agree to no scheme by which +the widowed Duchess was removed from the State, "where she was so much +beloved and honoured, and where the people placed all their hopes of +tranquillity in her presence." One great object of these negotiations, +he wrote, "is to find a noble and suitable husband for our niece, the +Widow of Milan, who is to us almost a daughter, and who has always +shown herself so discreet and so obedient to our wishes."[131] + +[Sidenote: MARCH, 1536] MANY SUITORS] + +Both the Pope and the Venetians supported this scheme as the best +means of avoiding war and preserving the independence of Milan. At +the same time Pope Paul did not fail to put in a plea for his own +kinsman, the son of his niece Cecilia Farnese, and Count Bosio Sforza, +a descendant of Francesco I.'s half-brother. Bosio had been a loyal +supporter of the late Duke, but died soon after Christina's marriage, +leaving a son of fifteen, who was brought up at the Court of Milan. +The Pope himself addressed a grateful letter to Christina, thanking +her for the kindness which she had shown the boy, and throwing out a +hint that a marriage with her young Sforza cousin might be possible. +Another husband whom Granvelle proposed for her was Duke Alexander +of Florence, but, fortunately, Charles decided to give him his own +illegitimate daughter Margaret, and Christina thus escaped union with +this reckless and profligate Prince, who was soon afterwards murdered +by his kinsman.[132] Meanwhile the Scottish Ambassadors at the French +Court made proposals to the Emperor on behalf of their King, James +V., who had not yet made up his mind to wed Magdalen of Valois, and +these negotiations were only interrupted by the high-handed action of +King Henry's new favourite, Thomas Cromwell. Thus, a few weeks after +the Duke of Milan's death his widow's hand had become the subject of +animated controversy in all the Courts of Europe.[133] + +But while others were negotiating the French were arming. On the 6th of +March, the first day of Carnival, news reached Milan that a French army +had crossed the Alps. The strong citadel of Montmélian was betrayed by +the treachery of a Neapolitan captain, and after a gallant defence the +Duke of Savoy was compelled to evacuate Turin, and take refuge with +his wife and children at Vercelli. All hope of peace was now over, and, +in a consistory held in the Vatican on the 8th of April, the Emperor +appealed to the Pope to bear witness how earnestly he had tried to +prevent war, and how fruitless his efforts had proved. At Granvelle's +suggestion, he determined to carry the war into the enemy's country, +and, following in the steps of Charles VIII., crossed the Apennines, +and marched by the Emilian Way and along the banks of the Po towards +Asti. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1536] MEETING WITH CHARLES V.] + +The dread of a French invasion had united all parties in Milan. The +citizens forgot their hatred of the Spaniards in their terror of +another siege, and cheerfully submitted to fresh taxes to pay the +defending army. It was a late spring that year in Lombardy, the weather +was bitterly cold, and by the end of April the vines had only put forth +tiny shoots, and the roses were not yet in flower. Nothing was heard +in the streets but the din of approaching warfare, and the tramp of +armed _Landsknechten_ marching from Tyrol on their way to the frontier. +But in the last days of April Christina's dull life was brightened by +the sudden arrival of the Duchess of Savoy, who fled from the camp at +Vercelli to take refuge in the Castello of Milan. Times were altered +since the two Princesses had met at Turin, and the Duchess Beatrix, who +had welcomed the little bride so warmly, was sadly changed in body and +mind. She had lost her eldest son, and been driven out of her home by +foreign invaders, never to return there again in her lifetime. With her +she brought her two remaining children, the little Princess Catherine +and Emanuel Philibert, who was one day to become famous as the bravest +captain in Europe. And she also brought a treasure which excited the +utmost enthusiasm among the Milanese--the Holy Shroud of St. Joseph of +Arimathea, which had been preserved for centuries at Chambéry. Crowds +flocked to the Duomo when Beatrix's Franciscan confessor preached, +in the hope of seeing the precious Shroud; but the Duchess would not +allow the relic to leave the Castello, and on the 7th it was exposed +on the ramparts to the view of an enormous multitude assembled in the +piazza.[134] + +A week later Francesco Sforza's cousin, Ferrante Gonzaga, and the Duke +of Savoy, came to Milan, but soon left for the camp. Beatrix then +obtained permission to pay the Emperor a visit on his journey north, +and by Charles's express request took Christina with her. On the 18th +of May the magistrates of Pavia received orders from the Duchess of +Milan's _maggiordomo_, Benedetto da Corte, to prepare lodgings for +Her Excellency and the Duchess of Savoy, as near to each other as +possible.[135] The Castello of Pavia had suffered terribly in the siege +by Lautrec in 1528, but a few rooms were hastily furnished, and on the +20th Beatrix and Christina arrived, escorted by Count Massimiliano and +several courtiers. Early on the following morning the two Duchesses +rode out to Arena on the Po, where they found the Emperor awaiting +them. Charles was unfeignedly glad to see both his sister-in-law and +the niece whom he had left as a child at Brussels four years before, +and welcomed them affectionately.[136] But the interview was a short +one, and the next day he continued his journey to Asti, where he joined +Antonio de Leyva and Ferrante Gonzaga, and prepared to invade Provence. + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1536] CARDINAL CARACCIOLO] + +Meanwhile Beatrix and Christina returned to Milan, and spent the summer +together in the Castello. A close friendship sprang up between the two +Duchesses. Beatrix took a motherly interest in her young companion, and +the children's presence helped to cheer these anxious months. At first +the Emperor's arms were entirely successful. The French retired before +him to Avignon, laying the country waste, and he met with no opposition +until he reached Aix, which resisted all his attacks. During the long +siege which followed, his soldiers suffered severely from disease and +famine, and many youths of the noblest Milanese families were among +the victims.[137] Early in September, while Christina's own secretary, +Belcorpo, was robbed and murdered on his way to the camp, Antonio de +Leyva, the redoubtable Commander-in-Chief, died, and was buried in S. +Eustorgio at Milan. The Papal Legate, Cardinal Caracciolo, a Neapolitan +by birth, was appointed to succeed him as Viceroy of Milan. He had +only just assumed the reins of office, and paid his first visit to the +young Duchess, when he received a summons from the Emperor to join him +at Genoa. Finding it impossible to reduce Aix, Charles had determined +to abandon the campaign, and on the 16th of November a three months' +truce was signed between the two monarchs. The Emperor was anxious to +return to Spain, where his presence was sorely needed. But before his +departure he sent for the Cardinal, desiring him to leave some trusty +lieutenant to govern the State in his absence, and take charge of his +niece the Duchess. Accordingly, Caracciolo went to Genoa on the 4th of +October, accompanied by Beatrix of Savoy, who, after a long interview +with the Emperor, joined her husband at Nice, the only city which +still belonged to him. Soon after this her health gave way under the +prolonged strain, and this once brilliant and beautiful woman died in +January, 1538, as she said herself, of a broken heart. + +Christina, now left alone at Milan, wrote a long letter to the +Cardinal, whom she addressed in the language of a caressing child, +saying that he was dear to her as a father, and seeking his help for +two objects which lay very near her heart. + + "The true affection," she writes, "which Your Excellency has + shown me, and the kind remembrance of me which you always keep, + makes me anxious for your health and welfare. So I beg you to + tell me how you have prospered on your journey, and if you are + well in health." + +She then begs her friend the Cardinal to use his influence with the +Emperor on behalf of her sister Dorothea, "the person now nearest and +dearest to her on earth," who is in need of her powerful uncle's help. +Probably the Palatine was, as usual, endeavouring to recover arrears +of the pension due to him by the Emperor, and to obtain compensation +for the costs which he had incurred in the disastrous expedition +against Copenhagen. Hubert had lately been sent to Charles with this +object, and had at the same time suggested that, if the Emperor needed +a Viceroy for Milan, no one could be more suitable than his lord. But +whatever the precise object of Dorothea's request may have been, +Christina's intercession, it is to be feared, availed her little. + +The Duchess's other petition was more easily granted. + + "As a whole year," she wrote, "will soon have elapsed since the + death of my dearest husband, of blessed memory, I beg you to + entreat His Majesty, in my name, to be pleased to give orders + that this anniversary may be observed in a due and fitting + manner. And I am quite certain that he will not refuse to hear + this my prayer."[138] + +It would indeed have been impossible for the Emperor to refuse so +reasonable a request, and the anniversary of the late Duke's death was +observed with due ceremonial in all the churches of Milan. But the days +of the young Duchess's abode in this city were fast drawing to a close. +Before Charles left Italy he had determined to place a strong Spanish +garrison in the Castello, to defend Milan against the risk of a French +invasion, and had only delayed to take this step from fear of exciting +discontent in the city. Stampa had hitherto succeeded in warding off +the blow, but now he was forced to bow to the imperial command, and +surrender the Castello to a foreign captain. + +Charles, it must be owned, did his best to soften the blow. He made the +Count a present of the rich fief of Soncino in the province of Cremona, +and sent him as a parting gift the costly plate which had belonged to +the late Duke, with a cordial invitation to follow him to Spain. But we +see, from a letter which Stampa's friend Aretino sent him, how sorely +this vexed his noble heart. + +[Sidenote: DEC., 1536] ARETINO'S COMFORT] + + "I will not grieve, my illustrious friend," wrote the + time-serving Venetian, "if you have to give up the Castello, + which you held for love of His Excellency, of happy memory, + because to my mind it was a prison for your genius. Dry your + tears, and console yourself with the reflection that now at + least you are a free man. His Majesty is relieved from the + jealousy of his Spanish servants, and you are saved from + further anxieties on this subject. Now you can, if you choose, + follow him to Spain, and lay down your office with honour + unstained, and then return to Milan to live in freedom and + contentment."[139] + +This was poor comfort for Massimiliano, but the Emperor's will was +not to be gainsaid, and the Count could only lay down his office and +take leave of the young Duchess, assuring her of his undying loyalty +and faithfulness. Charles had not forgotten his niece, and before he +sailed for Barcelona on the 15th of November he sent one of his oldest +and most trusted servants, Jean de Montmorency, Sieur de Courrières, +the Captain of the Archers' Guard, to take charge of the Duchess, and +eventually conduct her to Flanders. But while negotiations for her +second marriage were still pending, it was felt desirable that she +should remain in Lombardy; and since the Castello would no longer be a +fit place for her, Montmorency was ordered to escort her to Pavia. On +the 10th of December, 1536, De Courrières arrived with fifty archers of +the Imperial Guard, and, after a brief consultation with the Cardinal +and Stampa, decided to take the Duchess to Pavia without delay.[140] + +The leaves of the trees in the gardens were turning yellow, and a pale +wintry sun shone down on the Castello, which Christina had first seen +in the joyous May-time, when a little procession of black-robed ladies, +with their attendants, issued from the Rocchetta, and mounted the +horses and litters in waiting for them. A few bystanders saluted them +reverently, and followed them with wistful eyes as they rode out of the +gates, down the street leading to the Porta Ticinese, until they were +out of sight. + +A few days later Count Massimiliano Stampa marched out of the Castello +at the head of his troops, and gave up the keys, which he had received +from the last Sforza Duke, to the Spanish Captain Alvarez de Luna, +who entered the gates amid the curses and groans of the citizens. +Henceforth the life of Milan as an independent State was over, and the +yoke of Spain descended on the ancient capital of Lombardy. + + +II. + +[Sidenote: DEC., 1536] A PALACE IN RUINS] + +The city of Pavia had always been loyal to the House of Sforza. In +no part of the duchy was there greater rejoicing on the restoration +of Duke Francesco II.; nowhere was his premature death more deeply +lamented. Several of Christina's most faithful servants were natives of +Pavia; among others, Benedetto da Corte, the master of her household, +and Bottigella, who had been so active in the preparations for her +reception. Now the people of Pavia welcomed her coming warmly, and +exerted themselves to see that nothing was lacking to her comfort. But +the city and Castello had suffered terribly in the protracted struggle +with France. The palace which had been the pride of the Sforza Dukes +was stripped of its fairest treasures. The frescoes and tapestries +were destroyed, the famous library was now in the castle of Blois, +and a great part of the walls had been thrown down by French guns and +allowed to crumble to pieces. So dilapidated was the state of the +building that it was difficult to find habitable rooms for the Duchess +and her suite. + +On the 21st of December, ten days after Christina's arrival, she +was forced to address a request to the chief magistrate, Lodovico +Pellizone, begging that her bedroom might be supplied with a wooden +ceiling, as the room was lofty and bitterly cold in this winter season. +Pellizone wrote without delay to the Governor of Milan, but received +no reply, and on New Year's Day Montmorency himself wrote to remind +the Cardinal of the Duchess's request, urging that the work might +be done without delay, and putting in a plea for a better provision +of mattresses to accommodate the members of her household. Still no +redress was obtained, and at length the Captain of the Archers took the +law into his own hands, and sent for carpenters to panel the Duchess's +bedroom.[141] But in spite of these drawbacks, in spite of the wind +that whistled through the long corridors and the comfortless air of the +empty halls, Christina's health and spirits were excellent. Her spirits +quickly recovered their natural buoyancy in these new surroundings, her +eyes shone with the old brightness, and the sound of merry laughter +was once more heard in the spacious halls and desolate gardens. On +the 3rd of January, only two days after Montmorency addressed his +fruitless remonstrance to the Viceroy, Christina herself wrote a +letter to the same illustrious personage in a very different strain. +She had, it appears, seen a very handsome white horse in the hostelry +of the Fountain in Pavia, and was seized with a passionate desire to +have the palfrey for her own use. So she wrote in the most persuasive +language to her good Father the Cardinal, begging his leave to buy the +horse, which she is convinced will suit her exactly. But, since she +fears that her monthly allowance will not suffice to defray the cost, +she begs His Eminence to advance the necessary sum, and charge it to +the extraordinary expenses for which she is not responsible. This +letter, written in her large round hand, was sent to Milan by one of +the Duchess's lackeys, with the words "Cito, cito" on the cover, and +an urgent plea for an immediate answer.[142] The kindly old Cardinal, +who had a soft side for the youthful Princess, could hardly refuse so +pressing a request, and Christina probably bought the white horse, and +had the pleasure of mounting it when she rode out to visit the friars +of the Certosa or hunted in their park. + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1537] THE EMPEROR'S SERVANT] + +She had another good friend and devoted servant in the Sieur de +Courrières--Monsignor di Corea, as he was called in Italy. This +gallant gentleman had grown up in close intimacy with the Emperor from +his boyhood. He accompanied Charles to Spain as cupbearer, and was +appointed Captain of the Archers' Guard on attaining his majority. +In 1535 he followed his master to Africa at the head of a chosen +band of archers, fifty of whom remained with him as an escort for +the Duchess. By Charles's orders, he sent constant reports to His +Majesty from Pavia. The correspondence fills a whole volume, and is +extremely interesting if only because it shows the familiarity with +which the great Emperor treated his old servant, and the freedom which +Montmorency allowed himself in addressing his master. + +On the 15th of February, Charles wrote from Valladolid, thanking +De Courrières cordially for the services which he had rendered the +Duchess, approving highly of her residence at Pavia, and promising +to pay for the maintenance of his archers. He alludes pleasantly to +Montmorency's meeting with another of his confidential servants, +Simonet, whom he had left at Milan. + + "Simonet was right to put off his return to Flanders until the + worst rigours of winter were over, and was fortunate in meeting + you, for old folks of the same country are very glad to meet + in foreign lands, even if they are not natives of Brabant. + Farewell, _cher et féal_, for the present, and God have you in + His holy keeping!" + +Five weeks later he wrote again, expressing his satisfaction at hearing +of his dear niece's health and happiness, and saying how entirely he +trusted Montmorency to provide for her comfort. + + "At the same time," he continued, "we cannot help feeling, both + with regard to the Duchess's widowed condition and the troubled + state of Italy, that she would be better with our sister, the + Queen of Hungary, in our own country, _par-deça_, where some + suitable marriage might be found for her. Accordingly we have + written to our sister on the subject, and desired Cardinal + Caracciolo to make all needful preparation for her journey. + You had better see that she has a proper escort and all else + that is necessary to her comfort, without making these things + public, until we hear from our sister."[143] + +Mary on her part was most anxious for her niece's return, and lost no +time in letting Charles know how impatiently she expected her. But, +with characteristic dilatoriness, the Imperial Council, which met at +Monzone on the 2nd of June, pronounced that it was highly expedient +for the Widow of Milan to go to Flanders, but that the Queen's wishes +must first of all be consulted.[144] Meanwhile Count Massimiliano +Stampa returned from Spain with instructions from the Emperor to +make arrangements for the Duchess's journey with the Cardinal and +Montmorency, and Charles wrote again to beg the Captain to start +without delay. But this, as Montmorency replied, was not so easy. Three +months' pay was due to his men, and in his penniless condition it was +hard to provide them with food or their horses with fodder. + + "I will do my utmost, Sire," he wrote on the 15th of June, "but + some things are impossible. As I told you when you left me at + Genoa, six months' wages were due to me, and I can only beg you + to have pity on your poor Captain; for we are in sore straits, + and you alone can help us, for, as the Scripture saith, _Tua + est potentia_." + +At the same time, like the brave soldier that he was, the writer cannot +refrain from expressing his joy at the good news of the capture of S. +Pol, which had just arrived from Flanders. + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1537] CAPTAIN OF THE ARCHERS] + + "Sire, I hear grand news from S. Pol, and am sure, when you + return to your Low Countries, you will find that the Queen + has been very vigilant in charge of your affairs, and will be + welcomed by very humble and loyal subjects. But you will have + something to say to the citizens of Ghent, for I fear those + gentlemen are not as wise as they might be. Sire, I hear that, + after the surrender of Hesdin, your sister the Queen of France + came to the camp in rich attire, with a number of ladies all + in white. Such insolence cannot last long, as S. Pol--both the + town and the Apostle--bear witness. I hear that Madame the new + Duchesse d'Étampes was nowhere. _Sic transit gloria mundi._ All + this Latin is to show Your Majesty that I have not wasted my + time in Pavia, any more than Don Beltrami did at Louvain. Once + more I beg you to have pity on _La Chrétiennete_, who needs + your help more than ever." + +But the summer months went by, and still no orders and no money came +from Spain. Pavia became unhealthy, and the Duchess and all the members +of her household fell ill of fever. + + "Hardly one has escaped," wrote Montmorency on the 22nd of + August, "but now, thank God, my Lady has recovered, and I am + trying to raise money to carry out your orders, although I fear + my purse is not long enough to feed my poor archers."[145] + +A month later the Captain went to Milan to expedite matters, but as +yet could hear nothing from Spain, and on his return to Pavia early in +October, he addressed long remonstrances both to Charles and Granvelle. + + "Sire," wrote the irate Captain, "I have been ordered to take + my Lady Duchess to Flanders, but not a word has been said as + to the route that I am to take. Since it is your pleasure, it + shall be done; but if any harm comes to her in Germany, seeing + the poor escort we shall have, who will be to blame? My fear is + that, as we pass through the duchy of Würtemberg, the Duke's + son may fall upon us with his _Landsknechten_, and my Lady + would certainly not be a bad match for him! Your Majesty has + not given me a single letter or warrant for the journey, and + has not written me a word. And when I get _par-deça_, I know + not what I am to do or say. My Lady, too, is much surprised + not to have received a letter from Your Majesty before her + departure, but of this, of course, I have no right to speak." + +In a postscript he adds that he has raised 500 gold crowns, and given +each of his men 10 crowns to buy new saddles, as they hope to start on +the 15th of October. He ends by humbly reminding His Majesty that he is +growing old, and is almost fifty, and that if he does not soon take a +wife it will be too late. + + "All this coming and going ages a man, and before long I shall + be as wrinkled as the rest. So when I reach the Queen, I hope + some little token of honour may be given me, that men may see + Your Majesty has not wholly forgotten me. And you will, I hope, + tell me what I am to do when I have taken Her Excellency to + Flanders, as I have written to Granvelle repeatedly, and had + no answer, but suppose he is busy with great affairs. And I + pray that all prosperity may attend Your Majesty, and that this + year, which has begun so well, may end by seeing you back in + Piedmont."[146] + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1537] CHRISTINA'S DEPARTURE] + +On the 14th of October Christina herself wrote to inform the Emperor of +her intended departure, and of the good order of her affairs, thanks to +the Cardinal and Seigneur de Courrières. "We hope to start to-morrow, +and travel by way of Mantua and Trent, and through Germany, taking +whichever seems to be the shortest and safest route." There had, it +appears, been much discussion over the revenues assigned to the Duchess +as her dower, and in the end she was deprived of the town and Castello +of Vigevano, which the Duke had left her by his will. But by the terms +of her marriage contract she remained absolute mistress of the city of +Tortona, and informed the Emperor that, acting on the advice of the +Cardinal, as Lady of Tortona, she had appointed a certain Gabriele +Panigarola to be Governor of the town, and begged his approval. At +the same time she sent her uncle a memorial, drawn up by Montmorency, +explaining that, since she had not received the arrears of her dowry, +she was not able to pay her servants, and had been forced to contract +many debts at Pavia, and to spend money on the repair of the rooms +which she occupied in the Castello. + +Many last requests were addressed to the Duchess by the poor and needy +whom she had befriended, and from her own servants, who with one +voice begged to be allowed to follow her to Flanders. One of the most +pressing came from an old Milanese couple, whose son, Niccolò Belloni, +was Christina's secretary, and at their earnest prayer she decided +to allow the young man to remain in her service as one of the four +Italians who accompanied her to Flanders by the Emperor's orders. And +the last letter which the Duchess wrote to the Cardinal, on the eve of +her departure, was to plead for a community of noble ladies in Pavia +who were reduced to dire poverty owing to the late wars, and begged +humbly for a remission of taxes.[147] During the ten months which she +had spent at Pavia the young Duchess had made herself beloved by all +classes of people, and her departure was lamented by the whole city. + + +III. + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1537] "EN VOYAGE"] + +On the 15th of October Christina and her suite left Pavia, and started +on their long-deferred journey to Flanders. When she first set foot in +Italy as a bride, three and a half years before, the Lombard plains +were in the first flush of spring, roses and myrtles were breaking +into bloom, and the flowers sprang up under her feet. Now the autumn +rains fell in such torrents that Cardinal Caracciolo was seriously +alarmed, and wrote to Benedetto da Corte and Monsignore di Corea, +asking if it might not be well to delay their departure. The first +idea had been to go from Pavia to Cremona in a single day, but the bad +roads and swollen rivers increased the difficulties of travel, and the +Cardinal wrote to implore Messer Benedetto and Corea not to undertake +such long journeys, lest the Duchess should be overtired. So the party +only rode as far as Codogno, the castle of Count Gaspare Trivulzio, +where he and his beautiful wife, Deianira, received them joyfully, +and entertained them "as magnificently as if they had been invited to +a wedding." Christina's lady-in-waiting, the Princess of Macedonia, +rejoiced to be under her daughter's roof, and Benedetto da Corte wrote +to tell the Cardinal that nothing could exceed the splendour and +hospitality of Count Gaspare's reception. On the 18th the travellers +rode along the plains flooded by the swollen Po till they reached +Cremona, the dower city of Bianca Visconti, where she had been married +to the great Condottiere Francesco Sforza, and which had clung with +unswerving loyalty to the fortunes of his house. Here the Castellan +came out to meet the Duchess, at the head of the chief citizens, and +escorted her to the Castello under the shadow of the famous Torrazza, +where she and all her suite found the best of cheer. The next morning +the travellers resumed their way, and crossed the rushing Oglio, under +the castle of the Gonzagas of Bozzolo, and rode along the green meadows +by Castiglione's country home, where his aged mother was still living. +The great courtier's name was familiar to all Charles V.'s servants, +and Montmorency, who had known him in Spain, may have paused to look at +the fair sepulchral chapel which Giulio Romano had lately reared in the +pilgrimage church of S. Maria delle Grazie. At Mantua another splendid +welcome awaited Christina. The Gonzaga Princes never forgot their close +relationship to the Sforzas, and while the reigning Duchess welcomed +the Princess of Macedonia as a kinswoman, the old Marchesana, Isabella, +rejoiced to embrace her nephew's wife, and looked with affection on +this youthful Duchess who bore the same title as her long-lost Beatrice. + +The next morning Benedetto da Corte sent the Cardinal a glowing +account of their journey, which, in spite of the weather, had been one +triumphal progress: + + "REVERENDISSIMO, + + "Her Excellency arrived safely here at Mantua yesterday with + all her company, horses, and carriages, and was received + most royally, as has, indeed, been the case in every place + where we have halted on our way. Her whole household has been + entertained with the best fare, and with little damage to our + purses.... The kindness with which we have been received has + made these perpetual rains tolerable. We are quite accustomed + to them, and shall not be afraid of the next tempest! We are + resting here on this sixth day of our journey at the entreaty + of these illustrious Princes. On Sunday, please God, we shall + reach Verona, and I have sent to ask the Governor to prepare + convenient lodgings for Her Excellency. His Reverence the + Cardinal of Trent has sent a messenger here to-night to inquire + how many we number, and so we go on gaily from stage to stage. + Once we have reached Trent, we shall seem to be in sight of + the Rhine, and can pursue our way at less peril to our lives, + and, let us hope, to the greater advantage of His Majesty's + service. I kiss Your Reverence's hand, and so also does + Monsignore di Corea. + + "BENEDETTO DA CORTE. + "Mantova, October 20."[148] + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1537] THE CARDINAL OF TRENT] + +The Cardinal's worst anxieties were relieved by the receipt of +Benedetto's letter, and he sent a reply to the Castle of Trent thanking +him and Monsignore di Corea for their trouble, and expressing great +satisfaction to hear of their prosperous journey. The travellers now +turned their steps northwards, and, after spending a night in the city +of the Scaligeri, followed the Adige through the rocky defile known +as La Chiusa di Verona. As they passed through the fortified gates at +the farther end of the ravine, a salute from the guns made them aware +that they had entered Austrian territory. A few miles farther they +were met by the Cardinal-Bishop, Bernhard von Clès, who had ridden out +with a great train to welcome the Duchess. A strong Imperialist no +less than an active reformer, Bernhard von Clès had been raised to the +cardinalate at Charles's coronation, and was now Vice-Chancellor of the +Empire.[149] He had lately received a visit from Christina's uncle, +King Ferdinand, and his wife, Anna, who honoured his niece's wedding +with their presence, and the sumptuous rooms which they had occupied +were now placed at Christina's disposal. "Nothing was lacking," wrote +Benedetto da Corte, "which could please the eye or delight the mind." +The splendour of the episcopal palace and the open-handed liberality of +the Cardinal made a great impression on Montmorency, who wrote himself +to tell the Cardinal how well Madama had borne the journey. + + "I cannot tell you," he adds, "how splendidly Monsignor + Reverendissimo has received the Duchess, and how sumptuously he + has feasted us. Here we mean to rest all to-day, and to-morrow + we will pursue our journey with the utmost diligence." + +But so pressing was the Cardinal, and so luxurious were the quarters +provided for them, that the travellers remained at Trent several days, +and only resumed their journey on the 27th of October. + +The most arduous part of the way now lay before them, and Benedetto +describes how they harnessed the mules to the chariot in order that +the Duchess and her ladies might drive across the Brenner Pass, at +least as far as Innsbruck. Montmorency was in some doubt as to the +route which the Duchess had better take through Germany, but, much to +his satisfaction, he found the long-expected letter from the Emperor +awaiting him at Innsbruck. It was written from Monzone on the last day +of October, a fortnight after Christina had left Pavia. Charles put the +blame of his delay on the Queen of Hungary's shoulders, and, since it +was too late to wait for her directions, bade him consult the Cardinal +of Trent as to their future journey. + + "If you have already left Trent, you had better go on either + by road or else by the Rhine. If you are at Innsbruck, you can + take advice from the King our brother or from Dr. Matthias + Held"--one of Ferdinand's most trusted German Councillors--"and + choose whichever route they consider the safest. If you have + received no letters from the Queen, you had better send a + messenger to Flanders, and we will inform you as soon as we + know her pleasure regarding our niece's future plans." + +In conclusion the Emperor tells Montmorency that he is sending the +letters patent for which he asked, although they are hardly necessary, +and has already told the Queen to refund all the expenses which he has +incurred, and to be mindful of his great and long services.[150] + +The travellers spent some time at Innsbruck in the ancient castle which +is still adorned with the Sforza arms, and Christina saw the superb +monument erected by her great-grandfather Maximilian in the church +hard by. Ferdinand and his wife and daughters were in Vienna, but the +route which Montmorency chose was that followed by most travellers, +along the Lake of Constance and down the Rhine to Spires. From the +first Christina had been very anxious to visit her sister Dorothea on +her journey north, and she succeeded in obtaining her uncle's consent +to this arrangement. The two Princesses had not met since Christina +left Brussels in the spring of 1534, and Dorothea was no less impatient +to see her sister. Even before the travellers reached Trent, they met +two Genoese merchants, who told Montmorency that on their way through +Germany they had seen the Count Palatine Frederic and Madama la +Principessa, his wife, with a great company, on their way to Heidelberg +to await the Duchess's coming. When, in November, the travellers at +length reached Heidelberg, they found themselves impatiently expected, +and Christina received the warmest welcome from the Elector Palatine +and his family. + +[Sidenote: DEC., 1537] AT HOME AGAIN] + +Festivities such as Frederic and Dorothea took delight in--jousting, +banquets, and dances--followed each other in rapid succession, and the +castle blazed with innumerable torches through the winter nights. +It was a great change from the funereal blackness of the Castello of +Milan and the desolate halls of Pavia, and the young Duchess enjoyed it +to the full. The days sped by all too quickly, and so happy were the +sisters in each other's company that the Elector invited Christina to +stay over Christmas. The young Duchess accepted the proposal gleefully, +and all were preparing to spend a joyous festival, when Montmorency +received peremptory orders from the Queen-Regent to bring her niece +forthwith to Flanders. After this no delays were possible. The sisters +parted sadly from each other, and the travellers once more took boat +and sailed down the Rhine to Cologne. + +From here it was an easy journey to Aix-la-Chapelle, and through the +friendly State of Cleves to Maestricht, and thence to Louvain and +Brussels. On the 8th of December Christina set foot once more in the +ancient palace of the Dukes of Brabant, and was clasped in her aunt's +arms. Ten days afterwards she wrote a letter to inform the Emperor +of her safe arrival, and of "the good and loving welcome" which she +had received from "Madame my aunt." She begged His Majesty to keep +her still in his remembrance, and signed herself, "Your humble niece, +Chrétienne."[151] + +She was at home once more among her own people, and all the strange +sights and scenes, all the wonderful experiences which she had known, +in these four eventful years, seemed to fade away like a dream. But she +had left Flanders a child, and she came back a woman. + + +IV. + +[Sidenote: SEPT., 1537] THE CLEVES MARRIAGE] + +Christina's return was impatiently awaited at Brussels. The courtiers +who remembered her mother, and had known her as a child, were eager +to see the young Duchess, whose courage and wisdom had been shown in +such trying circumstances. All through the summer her coming had been +expected, and the Regent was seriously annoyed at the prolonged delays +which had hindered her niece's departure from Milan. Her heart yearned +over the child from whom she had parted with so much reluctance. More +than this, she had in her mind's eye a second husband ready for the +young Duchess. This was William, the only son and heir of the reigning +Duke of Cleves. A handsome and well-educated young man of twenty-two, +the young Duke had not yet developed that fatal weakness of purpose +which proved his bane, and was to all appearances an excellent match +for the Emperor's niece. The political advantages of the union were +obvious. Duke John had married the heiress of Jülich and Bergh, and +reigned over three rich and peaceful provinces on the Lower Rhine. He +had always been on friendly terms with the Emperor, and when, a few +months after the Duke of Milan's death, he asked for the young widow's +hand on behalf of his son, Mary welcomed these advances gladly, and +hastened to communicate them to the Emperor.[152] At first Charles +replied coolly that, if the marriage with Angoulême could not be +arranged, the proposals made by the King of Scotland or Cleves might be +entertained. In October, 1536, Mary sent a confidential messenger, La +Tiloye, to Genoa to learn the Emperor's pleasure in the matter, but +nothing further was done. After the fresh outbreak of war in 1537, and +the invasion of Artois by the French, Charles became more alive to the +importance of the question, and wrote to his sister from Spain, saying +that he had ordered the Widow of Milan to go to the Low Countries, and +hoped she would proceed at once to the conclusion of the marriage with +Cleves.[153] + +At that moment all Mary's energies were absorbed in the struggle with +France. She herself went to Lille to superintend military operations, +and appeared on horseback in the trenches before Thérouenne, where her +courage excited the admiration of John Hutton, the English Ambassador. +"Let the King but tarry fifteen days," she exclaimed, "and I will show +him what God may strengthen a woman to do!" But, in spite of these +brave words, Mary, as Hutton soon discovered, was sincerely desirous +to end the war. "The Queen's anxiety for peace," he wrote home, "is as +great as her ardour in war."[154] She knew the straits to which the +Emperor was reduced and the exhaustion of the Treasury. "The poverty +of this country is so great," she wrote to Charles on the 9th of June, +"that it is impossible to provide necessary funds for the war. We must +have peace, or we are lost."[155] Under these circumstances she lent a +willing ear to her sister Queen Eleanor's advances, and the two sisters +had the satisfaction of arranging a truce at Bomy, a village near +Thérouenne. The siege of this city was raised, the French evacuated the +towns which they held, and on the 10th of September peace was ratified +by the Emperor at Monzone. + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1538] THE SUCCESSION OF GUELDERS] + +Mary felt that she could once more breathe freely. She lost no time +in renewing negotiations with the Duke of Cleves, and the proposed +marriage became the talk of the Court. "The Queen," wrote Hutton, +on the 2nd of September, from Bruges, where Mary was hunting after +her wont and spending all day in the saddle, "looketh daily for the +Duchess of Milan, who shall be married to the Duke of Cleves's son and +heir."[156] A month later the Cleves Envoys arrived at Brussels, and, +after repeated interviews with the Queen and her Council, returned, +well satisfied, to obtain their master's consent to the terms of the +contract. The news spread rapidly, and was reported by Ambassadors +from Spain and Germany, from Rome and Paris, with the same unanimity. +Suddenly an unexpected event altered the face of affairs. Charles of +Egmont, the fiery old Duke of Guelders, who had for many years been +the Emperor's bitter enemy, fell ill, and, feeling his end to be near, +summoned the Estates of his realm to choose a successor. Since he had +no issue, his own wish was to leave his States to the French King; but +his subjects positively refused to be handed over to a foreign Power, +and chose the young Duke William of Cleves, who hastened to visit +Nimeguen, where he was acclaimed by his future subjects. This was a +clear breach of faith, since, by the treaty concluded a year before +with the Emperor, Guelders was to pass into his hands at Charles of +Egmont's death, and the ancient rights to the duchy which the House +of Cleves formerly claimed had been already sold to the Dukes of +Burgundy.[157] Mary's indignation was great. She wrote angrily to tell +William of Cleves that Guelders was the property of the Emperor, and +that if he persevered in his pretensions all idea of his marriage +to her niece must be abandoned. The young Duke returned a courteous +answer, saying that nothing could be farther from his thoughts than a +breach of loyalty to the Emperor, and professing the utmost anxiety +for the marriage. At the same time the old Duke's action excited great +annoyance in Lorraine, where his nephew, the reigning Duke Anthony, +claimed to be heir to Guelders, through his mother, Philippa of Egmont. +An attempt to pacify him by reviving a former marriage contract between +his son Francis and the Duke of Cleves's daughter Anne met with no +encouragement, and Ambassadors were sent to Guelders to enter a protest +on the Duke of Lorraine's behalf.[158] But Charles of Egmont turned +a deaf ear to all remonstrances, and on the 27th of January, 1538, +William of Cleves received the homage of the States of Guelders, and +was publicly recognized as the old Duke's successor. + +Such was the state of affairs when Christina reached Brussels on the +8th of December, 1537. Her faithful guardian, Montmorency, alludes to +the Cleves marriage in the following letter, which he addressed to +Cardinal Caracciolo on the 5th of January, 1538: + + "I wrote last from Trent on the 26th of October, and since + then have received several letters from you, and have duly + informed the Duchess of their contents. She is very grateful + for your kindness regarding her affairs, and begs you not to + relax your efforts.... As to Madama's marriage with Cleves, as + far as I can learn, it will not take place, because the Duke + has quarrelled with Lorraine, and Guelders is interfering. + Negotiations, however, are not yet broken off." + +Three months later he referred to the matter again in another letter, +and this time expressed his conviction that the marriage would never +take place.[159] + +Montmorency's own claims had not been forgotten. Soon after his return +he married a lady of the Lannoy family, and was appointed Bailiff +of Alost. Both Charles and Mary treated him with marked favour, and +employed him on important diplomatic missions. But he still held an +honorary post in the Duchess's household, and never ceased to be her +devoted servant. + +During the winter Hutton alluded repeatedly to the affair of Cleves in +his letters to Cromwell, saying that the Duke had been recognized by +the Communes of Guelders as their liege lord, and that the Queen quite +refused to let him wed the Duchess, although he was still eager for the +alliance. All sorts of wild rumours were flying about, and an Italian +merchant at Antwerp wrote to London that young Cleves was about to +marry the daughter of Lorraine, with Guelders as her dowry. But on the +25th of January Hutton reported that the Queen had sent Nassau and De +Praet to Duke William, to break off marriage negotiations and clear her +of all former promises.[160] + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1538] THE PALACE OF BRABANT] + +Christina herself was the person least concerned in these rumours. +Princes and Ministers might wrangle as they chose; they could not +destroy the happiness of being in her old home, surrounded by familiar +faces. The sound of the French tongue and the carillon in the towers +were music in her ears. Three things above all impressed Italian +travellers, like Guicciardini and Beatis, who came to the Low Countries +for the first time--the cleanliness of the streets and houses, the +green pastures with their herds of black and white cows, and the +beautiful church bells. These were all delightful to the young Duchess, +who had been so long absent from her old home. The city of Brussels, +with its fine houses and noble churches, its famous hôtel-de-ville, +and 350 fountains, was a pleasant town to live in. And the Palace of +Brabant itself was a wonderful place. There was the great hall, with +its lofty pointed arches, and priceless Burgundian tapestries, and the +golden suns and silver moons recently brought back from the New World +by Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico. + +The Queen gave Christina a suite of rooms close to her own, looking out +on the glossy leaves and interwoven boughs of the labyrinth, and the +gardens beyond, which Albert Dürer had called an earthly paradise, and +which the Cardinal of Aragon's secretary pronounced to be as beautiful +as any in Italy.[161] Here the young Duchess lived with her ladies and +household, presided over by Benedetto da Corte and Niccolò Belloni. +Every morning she attended Mass in the Court chapel, and dined and +spent the evenings with the Queen. On fine days, when Mary could spare +time from public affairs, they rode out together and hunted the deer +in the park, or took longer expeditions in the Forest of Soignies. As +fearless and almost as untiring a rider as her aunt, Christina was +quite at home in the saddle, and followed the Queen's example of riding +with her foot in the stirrup, an accomplishment which was new in those +days, and excited Brantôme's admiration.[162] + +The following Christmas was celebrated with great festivity at +Brussels. The war was over, and the presence of a youthful Princess +gave new charm to Court functions. Wherever Christina went she made +herself beloved. Her quick wit and frank enjoyment of simple pleasures +charmed everyone. Although in public she still wore heavy mourning +robes after the Italian fashion, and hid away her bright chestnut locks +under a black hood, in the evening, by her aunt's desire, she laid +aside her weeds, and appeared clad in rich brocades and glittering +jewels. Then she conversed freely with her aunt's ladies and with the +foreign Ambassadors, or played cards with the few great nobles who were +admitted to the Queen's private circle--Henry, Count of Nassau, the +proudest and richest lord in Flanders; the Duke of Aerschot and his +wife, Anne de Croy, the heiress of the Princes of Chimay; his sister, +Madame de Berghen; Count Büren; and a few others. + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1538] A PERFECT KNIGHT] + +Among them was one whom the young Duchess regarded with especial +interest. This was the hero of S. Pol, René, Prince of Orange. The +only son and heir of the great House of Nassau, René had inherited +the principality of Orange, in the South of France, from his uncle +Philibert of Châlons, the Imperialist leader who fell at the siege of +Florence, and whose sister Claude was Henry of Nassau's first wife. +As a child René had been Prince John of Denmark's favourite playmate, +and Christina had not forgotten her brother's old friend. Now he had +grown up a handsome and chivalrous Prince, skilled in all knightly +exercises. He had won his first laurels in the recent campaign, and +was the foremost of the valiant band which surprised the citadel of +S. Pol. The Queen honoured him with her especial favour, and, as the +Nassau house stood close to the palace, the young Prince was often in +her company. When, on Shrove Sunday, a grand tournament was held at +Court, one troop, clad in blue, was led by Count Büren's eldest son, +Floris d'Egmont; and the other by René, wearing the orange colours of +his house, with the proud motto, _Je maintiendrai_. Christina looked +down from her place at the Queen's side on the lists where the gallant +Prince challenged all comers, and it was from her hand that the victor +received the prize. Neither of them ever forgot that carnival.[163] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[128] Potenze Sovrane, 1535. Archivio di Stato. + +[129] Burigozzo, 528. + +[130] G. de Leva, "Storia Documentata di Carlo V.," etc., iii. 152. + +[131] Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," ii. 407, 446, 435. + +[132] Granvelle, ii. 407. + +[133] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 1, 586; Granvelle, ii. 417. + +[134] Burigozzo, 532. + +[135] Museo Civico di Storia Patria, Pavia, 546. + +[136] L. Gachard, "Voyages des Souverains des Pays-Bas," ii. 133. + +[137] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 2, 230. + +[138] Autografi di Principi, Archivio di Stato (see Appendix II.). + +[139] Aretino, "Lettere," i. 45. + +[140] "Correspondance de Charles V. avec J. de Montmorency, Seigneur de +Courrières," Papiers d'État de l'Audience, No. 82, p. 1, Archives du +Royaume, Bruxelles. + +[141] Carteggio con Montmorency, Archivio di Stato, Milan. + +[142] Autografi di Principi, Archivio di Stato, Milan (see Appendix +III.). + +[143] Papiers d'État, 82. 2, 12, Archives du Royaume. + +[144] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 2, 353. + +[145] Papiers d'État, 82, 8-10. + +[146] Papiers d'État. 82, 12. + +[147] Autografi di Principi, Archivio di Stato, Milan. + +[148] "Carteggio con Montmorency, Conte di Corea," 1537-38, Archivio di +Stato, Milan. + +[149] L. Pastor, "Geschichte d. Papste," iv. 375; M. Guazzo, 371. + +[150] Papiers d'État, 82, 13, Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles. + +[151] Papiers d'État, 82, 19; State Papers, Record Office, viii. 6; +Calendar of State Papers, xii. 2, 415, 419. + +[152] Lanz, ii. 657. + +[153] Lanz, iii. 667, 677. + +[154] State Papers, Record Office, vii. 695. + +[155] Lanz, ii. 675. + +[156] Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., xii. 2, 231. + +[157] Henne, vii. 263, 267. + +[158] Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., xiii. 1, 35. + +[159] Carteggio Diplomatico, 1537-38, Archivio di Stato, Milan. + +[160] State Papers, xiii. 1, 8; Record Office, viii. 27, 29. + +[161] L. Pastor, "Reise des Kardinal Luigi d'Aragona," 116. L. +Guicciardini, "Paesi-Bassi," 74. + +[162] "Œuvres," xii. 107. + +[163] State Papers, Henry VIII., Record Office, viii. 16. + + + + +BOOK VI + +THE COURTSHIP OF HENRY VIII. + +1537-1539 + + +I. + +The Widow of Milan's fate still hung in the balance. While Mary of +Hungary had not yet lost all hope of marrying her to the Duke of +Cleves, and Queen Eleanor was no less anxious to see her the wife of +a French Prince, fresh proposals reached Brussels from an unexpected +quarter. This new suitor was none other than the Emperor's _bel oncle_, +King Henry of England. This monarch, who had openly defied the laws +of the Church, and after divorcing Charles's aunt, had pronounced +Queen Katherine's daughter to be illegitimate, could hardly expect to +find favour in the eyes of the Regent. Mary's own opinion of Henry's +character is frankly given in a very interesting letter which she wrote +to her brother Ferdinand in May, 1536, when the King of England had +sent Anne Boleyn to the block and made Jane Seymour his third wife. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1536] HENRY VIII. AND HIS WIVES] + + "I hope," she wrote, "that the English will not do us much + harm now we are rid of the King's mistress, who was a good + Frenchwoman, and whom, as you have no doubt heard, he has + beheaded; and since no one skilful enough to do the deed could + be found among his own subjects, he sent for the executioner of + S. Omer, in order that a Frenchman should be the minister of + his vengeance. I hear that he has married another lady, who is + said to be a good Imperialist, although I do not know if she + will remain so much longer. He is said to have taken a fancy to + her before the last one's death, which, coupled with the fact + that neither the poor woman nor any of those who were beheaded + with her, saving one miserable musician, could be brought to + acknowledge her guilt, naturally makes people suspect that he + invented this pretext in order to get rid of her.... It is + to be hoped--if one can hope anything from such a man--that + when he is tired of this wife he will find some better way of + getting rid of her. Women, I think, would hardly be pleased if + such customs became general, and with good reason; and although + I have no wish to expose myself to similar risks, yet, as I + belong to the feminine sex, I, too, will pray that God may + preserve us from such perils."[164] + +But whatever Mary's private opinions were, political reasons compelled +her to preserve a friendly demeanour towards King Henry. The English +alliance was of the utmost importance to the trade of the Netherlands, +and the enmity of France made it essential to secure Henry's +neutrality, if not his active help. The death of Queen Katherine, +as Cromwell wrote, had removed "the onelie matter of unkindness" +between the two monarchs, and was soon followed by more friendly +communications. When the news of Prince Edward's birth reached Spain, +the Emperor held a long conversation with Sir Thomas Wyatt, the poet +and scholar, who had been sent to the Imperial Court early in 1537. He +expressed great pleasure at the news, laughing and talking pleasantly, +inquiring after the size and goodliness of the child, and ended by +saying frankly that he approved of the King's recent marriage as much +as he had always disliked his union with Anne Boleyn.[165] These last +remarks must have fallen strangely on the ears of Wyatt, whose old +intimacy with the hapless Queen had nearly cost him his life, and whose +death he lamented in some of his sweetest verse. But he was too good a +courtier not to repeat them in his letters to Cromwell and the King. +The news of the Prince's birth was shortly followed by that of the +Queen's death, which took place at Hampton Court on the 24th of October. + + "Divine Providence," said the royal widower, "has mingled my + joy for the son which it has pleased God to give me with the + bitterness of the death of her who brought me this happiness." + +[Sidenote: DEC., 1537] MARIE DE GUISE] + +Cromwell wrote to inform Lord William Howard, the special Envoy who had +taken the news of the Prince's birth to France, of Her Grace's death, +and in the same letter desired him to bring back particulars of two +French ladies who had been recommended as suitable successors to the +late Queen, since His Majesty, "moved by tender zeal for his subjects," +had already resolved to marry again. One of these was King Francis's +plain but accomplished daughter Margaret, who eventually married +the Duke of Savoy, although Cromwell, knowing his master's tastes, +remarked that, from what he heard, he "did not think she would be the +meetest."[166] The other was Mary, Duchess of Longueville, the eldest +daughter of Claude de Guise, brother of the Duke of Lorraine. The +charms of this young widow were renowned at the French Court, and the +English Ambassador's reports of her modesty and beauty inspired Henry +with an ardent wish to make her his wife. Even before Jane Seymour was +in her grave, he attacked the French Ambassador, Castillon, on the +subject, and suggested that both these Princesses, and any other ladies +whom the King of France could recommend, might be sent to meet him at +Calais.[167] + +Francis, who was more gallant in his relations with women than his +brother of England, laughed long and loudly when this message reached +him, and sent Castillon word that royal Princesses could not be trotted +out like hackney horses for hire! He quite declined to allow his +daughter to enter the lists; and as for Madame de Longueville, whom +the King was pleased to honour with his suit, she was already promised +to his son-in-law, the King of Scots. This fickle monarch, who had +courted Dorothea and Christina by turn, and finally married Madeleine +de Valois, had lost his young wife at the end of six months, and was +already in search of another. At the same time Francis sent his royal +brother word that he should count it a great honour if he could find +a bride in his realm, and that any other lady in France was at his +command.[168] But Henry was not accustomed to have his wishes thwarted, +and in December, 1537, he sent a gentleman of his chamber, Sir Peter +Mewtas, on a secret mission to Joinville, the Duke of Guise's castle +on the borders of Lorraine, to wait on Madame de Longueville, and find +out if her word was already pledged. Both Madame de Longueville and +her clever mother, Antoinette de Bourbon, returned evasive answers, +saying that the Duke of Guise had agreed to the marriage with King +James, but that his daughter's consent had never been given. This reply +encouraged Henry to persevere with his suit, while Mewtas's description +of the Duchess's beauty, in Castillon's words, "set the tow on fire." +He complained that his brother had behaved shamefully in preferring the +beggarly King of Scots to him, and was forcing the lady to marry James +against her will. In vain Castillon told him that Madame de Longueville +had been promised to the King of Scots before Queen Jane's death, and +that Francis could not break his word without mortally offending his +old ally and son-in-law. Nothing daunted, Henry sent Mewtas again +to Joinville in February, 1538, to obtain Madame de Longueville's +portrait, and ask if she were still free. This time his errand proved +fruitless. The marriage with the King of Scots was already concluded, +and the contract signed. Nevertheless, Henry still harped on the same +string. "Il revient toujours à ses moutons," wrote Castillon, "et ne +peut pas oublier sa bergère." "Truly he is a marvellous man!"[169] + +Meanwhile Cromwell, who had no personal inclination for the French +alliance, was making inquiries in other directions. Early in December, +while Mewtas was on his way to Joinville, the Lord Privy Seal wrote +privately to Hutton, desiring him to send him a list of ladies in +Flanders who would be suitable consorts for the King. In a letter +written on the 4th of December, the Ambassador replied that he had +little knowledge of ladies, and feared he knew no one at the Regent's +Court "meet to be Queen of England." + +[Sidenote: DEC., 1537] A GOODLY PERSON] + + "The widow of Count Egmont," he wrote, "was a fair woman + of good report, and the Duke of Cleves had a marriageable + daughter, but he heard no great praise of her person or beauty. + There is," he added, "the Duchess of Milan, whom I have not + seen, but who is reported to be a goodly personage of excellent + beauty."[170] + +Five days later Hutton wrote again, to announce the arrival of the +Duchess, who entered Brussels on the 8th, and was received by a great +company of honourable gentlemen. + + "She is, I am informed, of the age of sixteen years, very high + in stature for that age--higher, in fact, than the Regent--and + a goodly personage of competent beauty, of favour excellent, + soft of speech, and very gentle in countenance. She weareth + mourning apparel, after the manner of Italy. The common saying + here is that she is both widow and maid. She resembleth much + one Mistress Skelton,[171] that sometime waited in Court upon + Queen Anne. She useth most to speak French, albeit it is + reported that she can speak both Italian and High German." + +The same evening Hutton added these further details in a postscript +addressed to Cromwell's secretary, Thomas Wriothesley: + + "If it were God's pleasure and the King's, I would there were + some good alliance made betwixt His Highness and the Emperor, + and there is none in these parts of personage, beauty, and + birth, like unto the Duchess of Milan. She is not so pure white + as was the late Queen, whose soul God pardon, but she hath a + singular good countenance, and when she chanceth to smile, + there appeareth two pits in her cheeks and one in her chin, the + which becometh her right excellently well."[172] + +The honest Englishman's first impressions of Christina were evidently +very favourable. During the next week he watched her carefully, and +was much struck by "the great majesty of her bearing and charm of her +manners." At the same time he expressed his earnest conviction that, +now peace was concluded between the Emperor and the French King, a +close alliance between his own master and the Emperor was the more +necessary, and suggested that a marriage between Henry and the Duchess, +and another between the Princess Mary and the Duke of Cleves, would be +very advantageous to both monarchs, who would then have all Germany at +their command. + +Cromwell lost no time in placing these letters in his master's hands. +Hutton's account of the Duchess's beauty and virtues made a profound +impression on the King, and, since Madame de Longueville was beyond his +reach, he determined to pay his addresses to the Emperor's niece. With +characteristic impetuosity, he wrote to Wyatt on the 22nd of January, +saying that, as the Duchess of Milan's match with the Duke of Cleves +was broken off, he thought of honouring her with an offer of marriage. +This he desired Wyatt to suggest as of himself, in conversation with +the Emperor and his Ministers, Granvelle and Covos, giving them a +friendly hint to make overtures on behalf of the said Duchess.[173] + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1538] KING HENRY'S SUIT] + +Strangely enough, two years before Charles had himself proposed this +alliance between his niece and the King of England. In May, 1536, when +he was hurrying northwards to defend Savoy against the French, the +news of Anne Boleyn's fall reached him at Vercelli. Without a moment's +delay he wrote to Chapuys, his Ambassador in London, saying that, +since Henry, being of so amorous a complexion, was sure to take another +wife, and it was most important that he should not marry in France, +Chapuys might propose his union with one of the Emperor's nieces, +either Queen Eleanor's daughter, the Infanta Maria of Portugal, or the +widowed Duchess of Milan, "a beautiful young lady, very well brought +up, and with a rich dower." And then, as if a qualm had seized him at +the thought of sacrificing Christina to a man of Henry's character, he +added a postscript desiring the Ambassador not to mention the Duchess +unless His Majesty should appear averse to the other.[174] + +By the time, however, that these letters reached London, it was plain +that the fickle monarch's affections were already fixed on Jane +Seymour, and nothing more came of the Emperor's proposal until, in +January, 1538, Henry himself wrote to Wyatt. Sir Thomas, who knew his +royal master intimately, hastened to approach the Emperor, and on the +2nd of February Charles wrote from Barcelona to Chapuys, saying that, +although royal ladies ought by right to be _sought_, not _offered_, +in marriage, the King's language was so frank and sincere that he was +willing to waive ceremony, and lend a favourable ear to his brother's +proposal. Before these letters reached the Imperial Ambassador, he +received a message from Henry, saying that he wished to treat of his +own marriage with the Duchess of Milan, being convinced that a Princess +born and bred in Northern climes would suit him far better than the +Portuguese Infanta. The next day Cromwell paid a visit to Chapuys, and +confirmed every word of the royal message.[175] + +On the eve of Valentine's Day Henry saw Castillon, and told him in +bitter tones that, if his master did not choose to give him Madame +de Longueville, he could find plenty of better matches, and meant to +marry the Duchess of Milan and conclude a close alliance with the +Emperor.[176] + +On the same day the German reformer Melanchthon, writing from Jena to a +Lutheran friend, summed up the situation neatly in the following words: + + "The Widow of Milan, daughter of Christian, the captive King + of Denmark, was brought to Germany to wed the young Duke of + Juliers. This is now changed, for Juliers becomes heir to + Guelders, against the Emperor's will, and the girl is offered + to the Englishman, whom the Spaniards, aiming at universal + empire, would join to themselves against the Frenchmen and us. + There is grave matter for your consideration."[177] + + +II. + +The ball was now set rolling, but, as Chapuys foretold, there were +many difficulties in the way. For the moment, however, all went well. +Henry sent Hutton orders to watch the Duchess closely, and report on +all her words, deeds, and looks. In obedience to these commands, the +Ambassador hung about the palace from early morning till late at night, +was present at supper and card parties, attended the Queen out riding +and hunting, and lost no opportunity of entering into conversation with +Christina herself. + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1538] HUTTON'S ADVANCES] + +One evening towards the end of February a page brought him some +letters from the Duchess's servant, Gian Battista Ferrari, who had +friends among the Italian merchants in London, with a request that +the Ambassador would forward them by his courier. The next morning, +after Mass, when the Queen passed into the Council-chamber, Hutton +took advantage of this opportunity to thank the Duchess most humbly +for allowing him to do her this small service. Christina replied, with +a gracious smile, that she would not have ventured to give him this +trouble, had she not been as ready herself to do him any pleasure that +lay in her power. + +It was stormy weather. For three days and nights it had rained without +ceasing, and courtiers and ladies alike found the time hang heavy on +their hands. "This weather liketh not the Queen," remarked Christina, +who was standing by an open window looking out on the park. "She is +thereby penned up, and cannot ride abroad to hunt." As she spoke, the +wind drove the rain with such violence into her face that she was +obliged to draw back farther into the room, and Hutton, growing bolder, +asked if it were true that the Duchess herself loved hunting. "Nothing +better," replied Christina, laughing; and she seemed as if she would +gladly have prolonged the conversation. But then two ancient gentlemen +drew near--"Master Bernadotte Court, her Grand Master, who, next to +Monsieur de Courrières, is chief about her and another"--and, with a +parting bow, the Duchess retired to her own rooms. + + "She speaketh French," adds Hutton in reporting this interview + to Cromwell, "and seemeth to be of few words. And in her + speaking she lispeth, which doth nothing misbecome her. + I cannot in anything perceive but she should be of much + soberness, very wise, and no less gentle."[178] + +Among the ladies who came to Court for the Carnival fêtes, Hutton found +a friend in the Duke of Aerschot's sister, Madame de Berghen, a lively +lady whom he had known in the town of Berghen-op-Zoom, where he had +spent much time as Governor of the Merchant Adventurers. The Dutch +merchants in this city had presented him with a house, an honour which +the Ambassador appreciated highly, although he complained that it led +him into great extravagance, and that the furniture, tapestries, and +pictures, necessary for its adornment, "plucked the lining out of his +purse, and left him as rich as a newly-shorn sheep."[179] + +[Sidenote: MARCH, 1538] "MR. HAUNCE"] + +One day Madame de Berghen saw Hutton in the act of delivering a packet +of letters which Wyatt had forwarded from Barcelona to the Queen, and +her curiosity was excited by the warmth of Mary's thanks. That evening +she invited the English Ambassador to dinner to meet her kinsman the +Bishop of Liége, "a goodly personage," remarks Hutton, "but a man of +little learning and less discretion, and, like most Bishops in these +parts, very unfit for his office." When this secular ecclesiastic +retired, the Lady Marchioness, "whose tongue always wagged freely," +asked Hutton if the letters which he had delivered to the Queen came +from England, and confessed that she hoped they contained good news +regarding the Duchess of Milan, whose beauty, wisdom, and great +gentleness, she could not praise too highly. She told him that he +would have been amazed had he seen Christina gorgeously apparelled +as she was the day before, and confided to him that the Duchess was +having her portrait taken by the Court painter, Bernard van Orley, and +had promised to give it to her. Hutton begged to be allowed to borrow +the picture in order to show it to his wife, and told Cromwell that +as soon as he could secure the portrait he would send it to England. +Accordingly, on the 9th of March the Ambassador received the picture, +which Madame de Berghen begged him to accept as her gift, and sent a +servant to bear it without delay to the Lord Privy Seal's house in +St. James's. Late on the following evening, much to the Ambassador's +surprise, a young Shropshire gentleman, named Mr. Philip Hoby, who +had lately entered Cromwell's service, appeared at his lodgings, +accompanied by the King's painter, Master Hans Holbein. At this time +the German master was at the height of his reputation. Since 1536, +when he entered Henry's service as Court painter, he had executed some +of his finest portraits, including the famous picture of the King +in Whitehall Palace, the superb portrait of Queen Jane, and that of +Cromwell himself, which is so marvellous a revelation of character. Now +the Lord Privy Seal sent him across the Channel to take a sketch of the +Duchess of Milan, and bring it back with all possible despatch. + +Hutton's first idea was to send a messenger to stop the bearer of the +Flemish portrait, fearing it might give a wrong impression of the lady, +"since it was not so perfect as the cause required, and as the said +Mr. Haunce could make it." But his servant had already sailed, and the +Ambassador could only beg Cromwell to await Master Hans's return before +he formed any opinion of the Duchess. The next morning he waited on +the Queen, and informed her how the Lord Privy Seal, having received +secret overtures from the Imperial Ambassador for a marriage between +the King's Majesty and Her Grace of Milan, thought the best way to +approach the King was to show him a portrait of the Duchess. + + "And forasmuch as his lordship heard great commendation of + the form, beauty, wisdom, and other virtuous qualities, with + which God had endowed the Duchess, he could perceive no means + more meet for the advancement of the same than to procure her + perfect picture, for which he had sent a man very excellent in + the making of physiognomies." + +After long and elaborate explanation, Hutton asked humbly if his +lordship's servant might salute the Duchess, and beg her to appoint a +time and place for the painter to accomplish his task. + +[Sidenote: MARCH, 1538] HOLBEIN'S PORTRAIT] + +Mary was evidently greatly surprised to hear of the Ambassador's +errand. She started from her chair in amazement, but, quickly +recovering composure, she sat down again, and listened attentively +till Hutton had done speaking. Then she thanked him and Lord Cromwell +for their good-will to the Emperor, and said that she had no objection +to grant his request, and that he should see the Duchess herself. +With these few words she rose and passed into the Council-chamber. +Presently Christina entered the room, attended by two ladies. She +listened graciously to Hutton's message, expressed her gratitude to +Lord Cromwell for his kind intentions, and sent Benedetto da Corte back +with him to meet the English gentleman. Fortunately, Philip Hoby was a +pleasant and cultivated young man who could speak Italian fluently. He +conversed for some time with Messer Benedetto, much to Hutton's envy +and admiration, and at two o'clock that afternoon was conducted by him +into the presence of the Duchess. + +Cromwell had given Hoby minute instructions as to his behaviour on this +occasion, and had composed a long and elaborate speech which he was to +deliver to Christina herself. + + "The said Philip shall, as of himself, express a wish that it + might please the King, now a widower, to advance Her Grace + to the honour of Queen of England, considering her virtuous + qualities were a great deal more than ever was notified, and + for a great confirmation of amity and love to continue between + the Emperor's Majesty and the King's Highness." + +Hoby was charged to take careful note of the Duchess's answers, +gestures, and expression, and was especially to note if she seemed +favourably inclined to these proposals, in order that he might be able +to satisfy Henry's anxiety on the subject.[180] + +Philip Hoby was too accomplished a courtier not to discharge his errand +with tact and courtesy. The Duchess was graciously pleased to accede +to his request, and at one o'clock the next day Holbein was ushered by +Messer Benedetto into his mistress's presence. The time allowed for the +sitting was short, but Master Hans was an adept at his art, and had +already taken drawings in this swift and masterly fashion of all the +chief personages at the English Court. + + "Having but three hours' space," wrote Hutton, "he showed + himself to be master of that science. For his picture is very + perfect; the other is but slobbered in comparison to it, as by + the sight of both your lordship shall well perceive."[181] + +An hour afterwards Hoby and the painter both took leave of the Duchess +and started for England. In order to avoid suspicion and observe the +strict secrecy enjoined by Cromwell, Hoby did not even seek a farewell +audience from the Regent, who contented herself with sending friendly +greetings to the Lord Privy Seal, saying that he should hear from her +more at large through the Imperial Ambassadors. + +[Sidenote: MARCH, 1538 AT HAMPTON COURT] + +The precious sketch, from which Holbein afterwards made "the great +table"[182] which hung in the Palace of Westminster until Henry's +death, was safely delivered into Cromwell's hands, and shown by him to +the King on the 18th of March. Henry was singularly pleased with the +portrait, and, as his courtiers noticed, seemed to be in better humour +than for months past. For the first time since Queen Jane's death he +sent for his musicians, and made them play to him all the afternoon +and evening. Two days afterwards he went to Hampton Court, and "gave +orders for new and sumptuous buildings" at this riverside palace. After +that he returned to Whitehall by water, accompanied by his whole troop +of musicians, paid a visit to his brother-in-law's wife, Katherine, +Duchess of Suffolk, and resumed his old habit of going about with a few +of his favourites in masks--"a sure sign," remarked Chapuys, "that he +is going to marry again." + +The Imperial Ambassadors, Chapuys and his colleague Don Diego Mendoza, +were now treated with extraordinary civility. They were invited to +Hampton Court, where Henry entertained them at a splendid banquet, and +showed them his "fine new lodgings" and the priceless tapestries and +works of art with which Cardinal Wolsey had adorned this magnificent +house. The next day they were taken to the royal manor of Nonsuch to +see the little Prince, "one of the prettiest children you ever saw, +and his sister, Madam Elizabeth, who is also a sweet little girl." +Then they went on to Richmond to visit Princess Mary, who played to +them with rare skill on both spinet and lute, and spoke of her cousin +the Emperor in terms of the deepest gratitude. The French Ambassadors, +Castillon and the Bishop of Tarbes, who arrived at Hampton Court +just as the Imperial Envoys were leaving, were received with marked +coolness, a treatment, as Chapuys shrewdly remarks, "no doubt artfully +designed to excite their jealousy."[183] + +[Sidenote: MARCH, 1538] CHRISTINA'S CHARM] + +The sight of Holbein's portrait revived Henry's wish to see Christina, +and he pressed Chapuys earnestly to induce his good sister the Queen +of Hungary to bring her niece to meet him at Calais. But on this +point Mary was obdurate. She told the Ambassador that this was out of +the question, and although she wrote civilly to the Lord Privy Seal, +thanking him for his good offices, she complained bitterly to Chapuys +of Cromwell's extraordinary proceeding in sending the painter to +Brussels, and laid great stress on her condescension in allowing him +to take her niece's portrait. So far Charles himself had never written +fully to his sister on the subject, and Mary asked Chapuys repeatedly +if these proposals really came from the Emperor, and if the King and +Cromwell were sincere. As for her part, she believed these flattering +words were merely intended to deceive her. Chapuys could only assure +her that both Henry and his Minister were very much in earnest. When +the courier arrived from Spain, the King was bitterly disappointed +because there was no letter from Charles, and sent Cromwell twice +to implore the Ambassadors, for God's sake, to tell him if they had +any good news to impart. On Lady Day the Minister came to Chapuys's +lodgings, and, after two hours' earnest conversation, went away +"somewhat consoled." The next day Henry sent for the Ambassadors, and +discussed the subject in the frankest, most familiar manner, ending by +saying with a merry laugh: "You think it a good joke, I trow, to see me +in love at my age!" + +In his impatience, Henry complained that Hutton was remiss in his +duties, and did not say enough about the Duchess in his despatches. +Yet the excellent Ambassador was unremitting in his attendance on Her +Grace, and spent many hours daily at Court, watching her closely when +she danced or played at cards, and telling the King that he "felt +satisfied that her great modesty and gentleness proceeded from no +want of wit, but that she was rather to be esteemed wisest among the +wise."[184] + +From the day of Hoby's visit Christina treated Hutton with marked +friendliness, and threw aside much of her reserve in talking with him. +On the bright spring days, when the Queen and her niece hunted daily in +the forest, the Englishman seldom failed to accompany them. He admired +the Duchess's bold horsemanship, and was much struck by the evident +delight which she and her aunt took in this favourite sport. By way +of ingratiating himself with Mary, he presented her with four couple +of English hounds, "the fairest that he had ever seen," and a fine +gelding, which made Christina remark that he had done the Queen a great +pleasure, and that she had never seen her aunt so well mounted. Hutton +hastened to reply that, since Her Grace was good enough to admire the +horse, he would do his utmost to secure another as good for her own +use, which offer she accepted graciously.[185] All these incidents +naturally provoked attention, and, in spite of the secrecy with which +the negotiations were carried on, the King's marriage with the Duchess +of Milan was freely discussed both in Flanders and in England. + + "Few Englishmen," wrote the Duke of Norfolk to Cromwell on + the 6th of April, "will regret the King of Scots' marriage to + Madame de Longueville, hoping that one of Burgundian blood may + have the place she might have had."[186] + +And the report that after Easter the King was going to meet his future +bride at Calais became so persistent that even Castillon believed it, +and complained to his royal master of the strange alteration in Henry's +behaviour, and of the marvellous haughtiness and coldness with which he +was now treated.[187] + + +III. + +[Sidenote: MARCH, 1538] MARRIAGE NEGOTIATIONS] + +On the 27th of March the Imperial Ambassadors dined at the Lord +Privy Seal's house, to meet Archbishop Cranmer, Chancellor Audley, +Thomas Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, the Lord High Admiral Southampton, +and two other Bishops, who were the Commissioners appointed to treat +of two royal marriages. One of these was the long-planned union of +Princess Mary with the Infant Don Louis of Portugal, brother of the +reigning King, which was the ostensible object of Don Diego's mission +to England. The other was the King's own marriage with the Duchess, +which Henry sent word must be arranged at once, since until this was +concluded he absolutely refused to treat of his daughter's alliance +with the Infant. As they sat down at table, by way of _Benedicite_, +remarks Chapuys, the King's deputies began by rejoicing to think they +had not to deal with Frenchmen, and pouring scorn on their mendacious +habits. But before the end of the meeting many difficulties had arisen. +First of all the English Commissioners demanded that the Count Palatine +should renounce all his wife's rights to the crown of Denmark without +compensation. Then the question of the Papal dispensation, which was +necessary owing to Christina's relationship to Katherine of Aragon, +was mooted, and, as Chapuys soon realized, was likely to prove an +insuperable difficulty, since nothing would induce Henry to recognize +the Pope's authority.[188] + +During the next few weeks several meetings between the Commissioners +took place, and the Ambassadors were repeatedly admitted to confer +with the King and his Privy Council; but little progress was made, and +Chapuys informed the Regent that there was even less hope of agreement +than there had been at first. Henry on his part complained loudly +of the coldness of the Imperial Envoys, and of their evident desire +to push forward the Portuguese marriage and drop his own, which was +the one thing for which he really cared.[189] An attempt to effect +some mode of reconciliation between him and the Pope only incensed +Henry, who sent two Doctors of Law, Bonner and Haynes, to Madrid, +to protest against the meeting of a General Council, and to point +out how the Bishops of Rome wrested Scripture to the maintenance of +their lusts and worldly advantage. And he told Don Diego angrily that +the meeting of a Council would do him the worst injury in the world, +since if he refused to attend it he would be cut off from the rest of +Christendom.[190] To add to the King's ill-temper, he was suffering +from a return of the ulcers in the leg from which he had formerly +suffered, and for some days his condition excited serious alarm. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1538] LOUISE DE GUISE] + +On his recovery, Castillon, who had been looking on with some amusement +while the Emperor's folk were "busy brewing marriages," approached +His Majesty with flattering words, and tried to instil suspicions +of Cromwell into his mind. Henry swallowed the bait greedily, and +the French Ambassador's remarks on his favourite's "great Spanish +passion" rankled in his mind to so great an extent that he sent for +Cromwell and rated him soundly, telling him that he was quite unfit +to meddle in the affairs of Kings. The wily Frenchman, satisfied that +the only way of managing this wayward monarch was to make him fall +in love, took advantage of his present mood to speak to him of the +Queen of Scotland's sister, Louise de Guise, whom he described as +being quite as beautiful as herself, with the additional advantage of +being a maid, and not a widow. Henry, who was on his way to Mass when +Castillon made this suggestion, slapped him familiarly on the back, +and laughed, saying he must hear more of this young lady. The next day +the Comptroller of the King's Household was sent to ask the Ambassador +for particulars about Mademoiselle de Guise, and was told that she was +so like Madame de Longueville that you would hardly know the sisters +apart, and that a Scotchman who had seen both, wondered how King +James could prefer Mary to so lovely a creature as Louise. The French +Ambassador now found himself overwhelmed with attentions. The King sent +him presents of venison and artichokes from his gardens, invited him to +spend Sunday at Greenwich, and, when the plague broke out in London, +lent him the beautiful old house in Chelsea which had belonged to Sir +Thomas More, as a country residence.[191] + +The wedding of King James was finally celebrated at Châteaudun on the +9th of May, and, hearing that the Duke of Guise and his fair daughter +Louise had accompanied the new Queen to Havre, Henry sent Philip Hoby +across the Channel to see Mademoiselle de Guise and have her picture +painted. These orders were duly executed, and Louise's portrait, +probably painted by Holbein, was placed in the King's hands. But, +although Henry "did not find the portrait ugly," he was now anxious +to see Louise's younger sister, Renée, who was said to be still more +beautiful, and would not be put off when Castillon told him that she +was about to take the veil in a convent at Reims. + + "No doubt," remarked Montmorency, the Constable of France, "as + King Henry has made himself Pope in his own country, he would + prefer a nun to any other Princess."[192] + +Nothing would now satisfy Henry but that the French King or Queen +should meet him at Calais with the Duke of Guise's daughters, +Mademoiselle de Lorraine, and Mademoiselle de Vendôme, who had all +been recommended to his notice. When the English Envoy, Brian, +proposed this to Queen Eleanor, she replied indignantly that she was +not a keeper of harlots, and the Constable told Castillon once more +that French Princesses were not to be trotted out like hackneys at a +fair. At last the Ambassador, tired of repeating that this plan was +impossible, asked Henry if the Knights of King Arthur's Round Table had +ever treated ladies in such a fashion. This brought the King to his +senses. He reddened and hesitated, and, after rubbing his nose for some +moments, said that his proposal might have sounded a little uncivil, +but he had been so often deceived in these matters that he could trust +no one but himself.[193] + +Still Henry would not give up all hope of winning the fair Louise, +and towards the end of August he sent Philip Hoby on a fresh errand +to Joinville. As before, he was to take Holbein with him, and, after +viewing well the younger sister, ask the Duchess of Guise for leave to +take the portraits of both her daughters, Louise and Renée, "in one +faire table." Hoby was to explain that he had business in these parts, +and that, since he had already made acquaintance with Mademoiselle +de Guise at Havre, he could not pass Joinville without saluting her. +On leaving Joinville he was to proceed to the Duke of Lorraine's +Court, and inform him that the Lord Privy Seal, having heard that His +Excellency had a daughter of excellent quality, begged that the King's +painter might be allowed to take her portrait. On the 30th of August +the travellers reached Joinville, as we learn from the following letter +addressed by the Duchess of Guise to her eldest daughter in Scotland: + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1538] HOLBEIN AT JOINVILLE] + + "It is but two days since the King of England's gentleman + who was at Havre, and the painter, were here. The gentleman + came to see me, pretending that he was on his way to find the + Emperor, and, having heard that Louise was ill, would not pass + by without inquiring after her, that he might take back news + of her health to the King his master. He begged to be allowed + to see her, which he did, although it was a day when the fever + was on her, and repeated the same words which he had already + said to me. He then told me that, as he was so near Lorraine, + he meant to go on to Nancy to see the country. I have no doubt + that he was going there to draw Mademoiselle's portrait, in the + same way that he has drawn the others, and so I sent down to + the gentleman's lodgings, and found that the said painter was + there. Since then they have been at Nancy, where they spent a + day and were well feasted and entertained, and at every meal + the _maître d'hôtel_ ate with them, and many presents were made + them. That is all I know yet, but you see that, at the worst, + if you do not have your sister for a neighbour, you may yet + have your cousin."[194] + +This time Hoby's journey was evidently unsuccessful. Louise was ill +of intermittent fever, and Renée had already been sent to the convent +at Reims, where she was afterwards professed; and it is clear from +Antoinette's letters that she had no wish to marry either of her +daughters to Henry. A month before, on the 3rd of August, she wrote +to the Queen of Scotland: "I have heard nothing more of the proposals +which you know of"; and again on the 18th: "I have begged your father +to speak of these affairs to the King, that we may be rid of them if +possible, for no one could ever be happy with such a man."[195] + +As for Anne de Lorraine, in spite of many excellent qualities, +she lacked the beauty and charm of her cousins, and, as her aunt +Antoinette said, "elle est bien honnête, mais pas si belle que je +voudrais."[196] + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1538] HENRY'S SCRUPLES] + +The result of these disappointments was to revive Henry's wish to marry +Christina. Several times in the course of the summer Castillon remarked +that this monarch was still hankering after the Duchess of Milan, +and had repeatedly tried to induce the Regent to bring her niece to +meet him at Brussels. "The King my master," said Cromwell to Chapuys, +"will never marry one, who is to be his companion for life, without +he has first seen and known her."[197] In a long and careful paper of +instructions which Henry drew up for the Ambassador Wyatt, he lays +great stress on this point. + + "His Grace, prudently considering how that marriage is a + bargain of such nature as may endure for the whole life of + man, and a thing whereof the pleasure and quiet, or the + displeasure and torment, doth much depend, thinketh it to be + most necessary, both for himself and the party with whom it + shall please God to join him in marriage, that the one might + see the other before the time that they should be so affianced, + which point His Highness hath largely set forth heretofore to + the Emperor's Ambassador."[198] + +But on her side Mary was equally inflexible. Nothing would induce her +to take a step forward in this direction, and even Hutton began to +realize how coldly the marriage overtures were received at Brussels. +The Queen never failed to ask after the King's health or to express her +anxiety for the strengthening of the ancient friendship between the +realm of England and the House of Burgundy; but when the Ambassador +ventured to allude to the subject of her niece's preferment, she +invariably gave an evasive reply. Since both the Queen and the Duchess +spent much of the summer hunting in the Forest of Soignies, or in more +distant parts, Hutton seldom had an opportunity of seeing Christina. +Her servants were still very friendly, especially the Lord Benedick +Court, as Hutton calls the Italian master of her household. One evening +in June, when Hutton had been at Court, Benedetto came back to supper +with him, whether of his own accord or at his mistress's command the +Englishman could not tell. As they walked along the street, Benedetto +asked the Ambassador if he had brought the Queen any good news about +the Duchess. Hutton replied that the first good news must come from the +Emperor, and, to his mind, was a long time upon the road. The old man +looked up to heaven, and said devoutly: "I pray God that I may live +to see her given to your master, even if I die the next day. But," he +added significantly, "there is one doubt in the matter." Hutton asked +eagerly what this might be, upon which Benedetto explained that, as the +King's first wife, the Lady Katherine, was near of kin to the Duchess, +the marriage could not be solemnized without the Pope's dispensation, +and this he feared His Majesty would never accept. The Ambassador +replied warmly that he did not know what might be against the Bishop +of Rome's laws, but that he was quite sure his master would do nothing +against God's laws. Then they sat down to supper with other guests, and +nothing further was said on the subject. But the old Italian knew what +he was talking about, and the Papal dispensation proved to be the one +insuperable obstacle which stood in the way of a settlement.[199] + +[Sidenote: SEPT., 1538] DEATH OF HUTTON] + +Another of Christina's servants, Gian Battista Ferrari, paid a visit to +England this summer, and brought back glowing accounts of the beauties +of London and the splendours of King Henry's Court. He had an Italian +friend named Panizone, who was one of the royal equerries, and had been +sent over to England with some Barbary horses from the Gonzaga stables. +Panizone introduced him to Cromwell, who entertained him hospitably, +and sent him back to tell his mistress all that he had seen and done +at the Court of Whitehall. Christina was exceedingly curious to hear +Battista's account of his visit, and was surprised when he told her +that England was as beautiful as Italy. When she proceeded to inquire +if he had seen the King, Battista replied that he had been fortunate +enough to be received by His Majesty, and broke into ecstatic praises +of Henry's comeliness, gracious manners, and liberality. The Duchess +said that she had often heard praises of His Grace, and was glad to +know from Battista's lips that they were true. After supper she sent +for him again, and he informed her that Chapuys had told him the +marriage would shortly be concluded. "At this it seemeth she did much +rejoice." So at least Battista assured Hutton.[200] Ferrari himself +was evidently very anxious to see his mistress Queen of England, and +in a letter which he addressed on the 7th of September to his friend, +"Guglielmo Panizone scudier del Invictissimo Rè d' Inghilterrà a +Londra, alla Corte di sua Maestà," he wrote, "Madama the Duchess, my +mistress, loves the King truly," and proceeded to send commendations +to the Lord Privy Seal, Signor Filippo (Hoby), Portinari, and others. +This letter contained one sad piece of news. "The Ambassador here is +said to be dying; I am grieved because of the friendship between us +and his excellent qualities. The next one we have will, I hope, be +yourself."[201] Battista's news was true. Honest John Hutton, the +popular Governor of the Merchant Adventurers, fell ill at Antwerp, and +died there on the 5th of September. His genial nature had made him a +general favourite, and he was lamented by everyone at Court. "It is +a great loss," wrote Don Diego to Cromwell, "because he was so good +a servant and so merry and honest a soul." To his own master, the +Emperor, he remarked that the English Ambassador who had just died was +a jovial, good-natured man, but more fit for courtly functions and +social intercourse than grave political business, for which he had +neither taste nor capacity.[202] + + +IV. + +The meeting of the Emperor and King of France at Aigues-Mortes in +July, 1538, produced a marked change in the political situation. This +interview, which the Pope had failed to bring about at Nice, was +finally effected by Queen Eleanor, and the two monarchs, who had not +met since Francis was a prisoner at Madrid, embraced each other, dined +together, and ended by swearing an inviolable friendship. The truce was +converted into a lasting peace, and several marriages between the two +families were discussed in a friendly and informal manner. + + "Never," wrote the Constable to Castillon, "were there two + faster friends than the King and Emperor, and I do not for a + moment imagine that His Imperial Majesty will ever allow the + Widow of Milan to marry King Henry! So do not believe a single + word that you hear in England!"[203] + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1538] CROMWELL AND CHAPUYS] + +This unexpected reconciliation was a bitter pill to Henry and Cromwell. +The French and Imperial Ambassadors at Whitehall exchanged the warmest +congratulations, and did not fail to indulge in a hearty laugh at +King Henry's expense. On the 21st of August Chapuys and Don Diego +followed the Court to Ampthill, where the King was hunting, and +were entertained by Cromwell at one of his own manors. As they sat +down to dinner, the Lord Privy Seal asked brusquely if it were true +that the King and Emperor had made peace, to which the Ambassadors +replied in the affirmative. He then proceeded to start a variety of +disagreeable topics. First he remarked that he heard the Turk was +already in Belgrade; next he said that the young Duke of Cleves had +taken possession of Guelderland, upon which Chapuys retaliated by +expatiating on the perfect friendship and understanding between Charles +and Francis. After dinner they were admitted into the King's presence, +and informed him that the Queen of Hungary had received the powers +necessary for the conclusion of the Duchess's marriage, and wished to +recall Don Diego in order that he might draw up the contract. Henry +expressed great sorrow at parting from the Spaniard, and, drawing him +apart, begged him to induce the Queen to treat directly with him, +repeating two or three times that he was growing old, and could not put +off taking a wife any longer. Meanwhile Cromwell was telling Chapuys, +in another corner of the hall, how much annoyed the King had been +to hear that the Emperor was treating of his niece's marriage with +the Duke of Cleves, which would make people say either that she had +refused the King or else had only accepted Henry after refusing Cleves. +Chapuys stoutly denied the truth of this report, and Cromwell confessed +that the King was very eager for the marriage, and, if there were any +difficulty about the Duchess's dowry, he would gladly give her 20,000 +crowns out of his own purse.[204] + +As the Ambassadors were putting on their riding-boots, Cromwell ran +after Don Diego with a present from his master of £400, after which +they returned to London and dined in Chelsea with Castillon, to meet +Madame de Montreuil, the lady-in-waiting of the late Queen Madeleine of +Scotland, who was returning to France. They all spent a merry evening, +laughing over King Henry's matrimonial plans, and Castillon declared +that the King and Lord Privy Seal were so much perturbed at his +master's alliance with the Emperor that they hardly knew if they were +in heaven or on earth.[205] + +[Sidenote: SEPT., 1538] STEPHEN VAUGHAN] + +Don Diego arrived in Flanders to find general rejoicings--"gun-shots +and melody and jousting were the order of the day"--and an English +merchant declared that the proud Spaniards were ready to challenge all +the world. Queen Mary marked the occasion by honouring her favourite, +Count Henry of Nassau, with a visit at his Castle of Breda in Holland. +The beautiful gardens and vast orchards planted in squares, after the +fashion of Italy, which excited the Cardinal of Aragon's admiration, +were in their summer beauty, and a series of magnificent fêtes were +given in honour of the Queen and her companion, the Duchess of Milan. +The Count was assisted in doing the honours by his third wife, the +Marchioness of Zeneta, a rich Spanish heiress, whom the Emperor had +given him in marriage, and his son René, Prince of Orange. The presence +of Christina at Breda on this occasion, and the attentions that were +paid her by her hosts, naturally gave rise to a report that she was +about to wed the Prince, and Cromwell told Don Diego before he left +Dover that this rumour had caused the King great annoyance.[206] But +the festivities at Breda met with a tragic close. On the day after the +royal ladies left the castle, Henry of Nassau died very suddenly, and +Don Diego heard the sad news when he reached the castle gates, on his +way to salute his kinswoman, the Marchioness. + +The Ambassador now hastened to Court, and craved an audience of the +Queen to deliver King Henry's letters; but he found her little inclined +to attend to business, and engaged in preparations to pay a visit to +King Francis, who had gallantly invited her to a hunting-party at +Compiègne. At first there had been some doubt if the Duchess should +be of the party, but Queen Eleanor was eager to see her niece, and +Christina was nothing loth to take part in these brilliant festivities. +Meanwhile Henry's renewed impatience to conclude his marriage was shown +by the promptitude with which another Ambassador was sent to take +Hutton's place. + +On the 27th of September the new Envoy, Stephen Vaughan, was admitted +into the Queen's presence, and begged for an answer to the letters +delivered by Don Diego. Mary told him that he might inform His Majesty +that there was no truth in the reports of her niece's marriage, and +that, if any coolness had arisen between them, it was the King's own +fault for seeking a wife in other places. Hoby's mission to Joinville +and Nancy was, it is plain, well known at Brussels. But the Queen kept +her counsel, and told Vaughan that, if his master was still in the +same mind, she would urge the Emperor to hasten the conclusion of the +treaty. Only she must beg the Ambassador to have a little patience, +as her time was fully occupied at this moment. But the next day he +was again put off, and told the Queen would see him when she reached +Mons. Accordingly, Vaughan and his colleague, Thomas Wriothesley, +Cromwell's confidential secretary, arrived at this town on the 8th, +only to be told by Don Diego that they must await the Queen's pleasure +at Valenciennes. The Spanish Ambassador did his best to atone for their +disappointment by giving them an excellent dinner, and lending them +two of his own horses with velvet saddles and rich trappings for the +journey.[207] + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1538] AT COMPIÈGNE] + +At length, at eight on Sunday morning, the 6th of October, they were +conducted into the Queen's presence by the Grand Falconer, Molembais, +and Vaughan, who spoke French fluently, explained Henry's reasons for +arranging the marriage treaty without delay. Mary replied briefly that +she had already written to accede to the King's request, and that no +further steps could be taken until after her meeting with the French +King. Dinner was being served while she spoke these words, and, as +the meat was actually coming in, the Ambassadors were compelled to +retire. Before they left the room, however, they saluted the Duchess, +who was standing near her aunt, and ventured to tell her how much my +Lord Privy Seal remained her humble servant, although, as she no doubt +knew, his overtures had been so coldly received. Christina smiled and +thanked them for their good-will with a gentle grace, which went far +to mollify their ruffled feelings, and made Wriothesley write home +that all Hutton had said of the Duchess's charms was true. "She is as +goodly personage, of stature higher than either of us, and hath a very +good woman's face, competently fair and well favoured, but a little +brown."[208] + +As if to make amends for these delays, the great lords in attendance +overwhelmed the Ambassadors with civilities. Aerschot invited them to +dinner; Count Büren embraced them warmly and asked affectionately after +the King; De Praet, Molembais, and Iselstein, escorted them to the +door, and Don Diego made them a present of wine. When Wriothesley fell +ill of fever at Cambray, the Queen sent her own physician to attend +him, and begged him either to remain there or return to Brussels. This +he refused to do, and travelled on by slow stages to Compiègne, hoping +to obtain another audience there. But the roads were bad, and two +leagues from Cambray one of the carts broke down, leaving the English +without household stuff or plate when Don Diego came to supper.[209] + +On Tuesday news reached Cambray that King Francis was on his way to +salute the Queen, and Mary rode out to meet him, leaving the Duchess of +Milan at home with others, who like herself, remarks Wriothesley, had +no great liking for Frenchmen.[210] But the King's greeting was most +cordial, and when, on the following day, Queen Eleanor arrived with a +great train of lords and ladies, there was much feasting and merriment, +until on the 10th the whole party started for Compiègne. + +It was a brilliant company that met in the ancient castle of the +French Kings, in the forest on the banks of the Oise, near the bridge +where, a hundred years before, Jeanne d'Arc had made her last heroic +stand. King Francis had summoned all the Princes and Princesses of +the blood to do honour to the Queen of Hungary, and the neighbouring +villages were filled to overflowing with Court officials and servants. +There was the King himself, a fine figure in cloth of gold and nodding +plumes, gallant as ever in spite of ill-health and advancing years, +with a glance and smile to spare for every fair lady; and there was his +consort, Queen Eleanor, too often neglected by her fickle lord, but +now radiant with happiness, and in her beautiful robes and priceless +pearls, as winning and almost as fair as when she fascinated the young +Palatine twenty years ago. The sense of family affection was as strong +in Eleanor as in all the Habsburgs, and she was overjoyed to meet her +sister and embrace the daughter of the beloved and lamented Isabella. +With her came the King's daughter Margaret, the homely-featured but +pleasing and accomplished Princess for whom a royal husband was still +to be found, and who, the courtiers whispered, might now wed the Prince +of Spain. + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1538] A BRILLIANT COMPANY] + +Her brothers were there too--the dull and morose Henry, who had +succeeded his elder brother as Dauphin two years before, but had never +recovered from the effects of his long captivity in Spain; and the +more lively but weak and vicious Charles of Angoulême, now Duke of +Orleans, whom Eleanor was so anxious to see married to the Duchess of +Milan. With them was the Dauphin's Italian wife, Catherine de' Medici, +whose wit and grace atoned in her father-in-law's eyes for her lack of +beauty, although her husband's heart was given to Diane de Poitiers, +and a childless marriage made her unpopular in the eyes of the nation. +But a galaxy of fair ladies surrounded the King and Queen. Chief among +them was Madame d'Étampes, whose dazzling charms had captivated the +fickle King, and who now reigned supreme both in Court and Council. Of +the youthful ladies whose charms had aroused King Henry's interest, +only Mademoiselle de Vendôme was here. The fair Louise had not yet +recovered from her illness, and the Duchess of Guise was nursing her +at Joinville. But both her father, Claude of Guise, the Governor of +Burgundy, and his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine, were present, and +held a high place in the King's favour. Claude's elder brother, the +Duke of Lorraine, had lately been to meet the Emperor at Aigues-Mortes +and plead his claims to Guelders, but on his return he fell ill with a +severe attack of gout, and was unable to obey the King's summons. In +his stead he sent Duchess Renée his wife, another Bourbon Princess, a +daughter of Gilbert de Montpensier and sister of the famous Constable. +Her daughter Anne remained at home to nurse the Duke, but her eldest +son, Francis, came with his mother to Compiègne. This cultured and +polished Prince, who bore the King's name, had been brought up at the +French Court, and could ride and joust as well as any of his peers; +but he was quite thrown into the shade by his cousin, Antoine de +Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, the darling of the people and the idol of +all the ladies. A head and shoulders taller than the Dauphin and his +brother, Antoine was the cynosure of all eyes at Court festivals. The +elegance of his attire, the inimitable grace with which he raised his +hat, his wit and gaiety, fascinated every woman, while the gilded +youth of the day copied the fashion of his clothes and the precise +angle at which he wore the feather in his cap. Frivolous, volatile, +and recklessly extravagant, Vendôme wore his heart on his sleeve, and +was ready to enter the lists for the sake of any fair lady. He fell +desperately in love with the Duchess of Milan at first sight, and +devoted himself to her service. As premier Prince of the blood, he +rode at Christina's side, and led her out to dance in the eyes of the +Court. Together they joined in the hunting-parties that were organized +on a vast scale in the Forest of Compiègne, and while all the French +were lost in admiration at the fine horsemanship of the royal ladies, +Antoine de Bourbon threw himself at the Duchess's feet, and declared +himself her slave for life. But whether this gay cavalier was too +wild and thoughtless for her taste, or whether her heart was already +given to another, Christina paid little heed to this new suitor, and +remained cold to his impassioned appeals. "The Duke of Vendôme," wrote +Wriothesley to Cromwell, "is a great wooer to the Duchess, but we +cannot hear that he receiveth much comfort."[211] + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1538] A VISIT TO CHANTILLY] + +On the 17th of October the Constable de Montmorency prevailed on the +royal party to accompany him to his sumptuous home at Chantilly, nine +leagues farther on the road to Paris. This brave soldier and able +Minister had grown up in the closest intimacy with the Royal Family, +and was habitually addressed as "bon père" by the King's children, +but had, unfortunately, excited the hatred of the reigning favourite, +the Duchess of Étampes, who called him openly "un grand coquin," and +declared that he tried to make himself a second monarch. On the other +hand, his constant loyalty to Queen Eleanor gratified Mary of Hungary, +who now gladly accepted his invitation to Chantilly. + +Anne de Montmorency was as great a patron of art as his royal master, +and during the last fifteen years he had transformed his ancestral +home into a superb Renaissance palace. The halls were decorated with +frescoes by Primaticcio; the gardens were adorned with precious marbles +and bronzes, with busts of the Cæsars and statues of Mars and Hercules, +with fountains of the finest Urbino and Palissy ware. Portraits by +Clouet, priceless manuscripts illuminated by French and Burgundian +masters, and enamels by Léonard Limousin, were to be seen in the +galleries. But what interested Mary and Christina most of all were the +tapestries woven at Brussels from Raphael of Urbino's cartoons, which +the Constable had rescued after the sack of Rome, and which he restored +some years later to Pope Julius III.[212] + +After entertaining his guests magnificently during two days, the +Constable accompanied them on a hunting-party in the forest, and +finally brought them back to Compiègne on the 19th of October. Here +the Queen of Hungary's return was impatiently awaited by the English +Ambassadors, who found themselves in a miserable plight. The town was +so crowded that they had to be content with the meanest lodgings; the +hire of post-horses cost forty pounds, and provisions were so scarce +that a partridge or woodcock sold for tenpence, and an orange for more +than a groat. The King's Ambassadors at the French Court--Sir Anthony +Browne, and Bonner, the Bishop-elect of Hereford--who joined them at +Compiègne on the 14th, were in still worse case; for they could get +no horses for love or money, and spent six days without receiving a +visit from the Court officials. These outraged personages stood at the +window, and saw the French Councillors, and even the Constable, go +by, without giving them the smallest sign of recognition. At least, +Vaughan and Wriothesley were treated with the utmost civility by the +Flemish nobles, and their audience was only deferred on account of the +Queen's visit to Chantilly. Don Diego was courtesy itself, and, before +he started for Spain, wrote a letter to Cromwell, assuring him that +Queen Mary was the truest friend and sister his master could have, but +that it had been impossible for her to attend to business when her +days were spent in festivities and family meetings.[213] At length, +on Sunday, the 20th, the Ambassadors were received by the Queen, and +introduced Browne and Bonner, as well as Dr. Edward Carne, a learned +lawyer whom Henry had sent to assist in drawing up the marriage treaty. +Mary informed them that Francis was bent on taking her to the Duke of +Vendôme's house at La Fère on the way home, but begged Wriothesley, +who was still unwell, to go straight to Brussels. The next day Browne +started for England, saying that it was impossible to follow a King +who "goes out of all highways," and on the 22nd Wriothesley and his +companions set out on their return to Brussels.[214] + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1538] MARRIAGE-MAKING] + + +V. + +By the end of October the English Envoys were back at Brussels, +rejoicing to be once more in comfortable quarters. Here they found +great fear and distrust of France prevailing, and much alarm was +expressed lest the Queen should have been induced to give the Duchess +of Milan in marriage to a French Prince. This, however, was not +the case, and the English Ambassadors were satisfied that beyond +feasting and merrymaking nothing had been done. A friendly gentleman, +Monsieur de Brederode, told them that there had been some attempt +at marriage-making among the women. Queen Eleanor still pressed her +sister earnestly to further the marriage of Christina with the Duke of +Orleans, as the best way of insuring a lasting peace, and had revived +her old dream of marrying her daughter, Maria of Portugal, to the +Prince of Spain. But Mary turned a deaf ear to all these proposals, +saying that she could not consider them without Charles's approval. +At La Fère, in the valley of the Oise, Francis entertained his guests +at a splendid banquet, after which he presented Mary with a very fine +diamond, and Christina with a beautiful jewel, besides lavishing rings, +bracelets, brooches, caps, and pretty trinkets from Paris and Milan, +Lisbon and Nuremberg, on the ladies of their suite. Here he took leave +of his guests, but the Duke of Vendôme insisted on escorting the Queen +and her niece as far as Valenciennes.[215] + +[Sidenote: NOV., 1538] KING HENRY'S ANGER] + +On Monday, the 4th of November, Mary and Christina reached Brussels, +and were received with warm demonstrations of affection. Now, "after +all these gay and glorious words," the English Ambassadors confidently +hoped to see some end to their toil. But they soon realized that +their hopes were doomed to disappointment. First the Queen was too +tired to receive them; then nothing could be done until the return +of the Duke of Aerschot, who was her chief adviser. At length, on +the 16th, the first conference took place at the Duke's house. The +Captain of the Archers, Christina's old friend De Courrières, conducted +the Ambassadors to the room where the Commissioners were awaiting +them--Aerschot, Hoogstraaten, Lalaing, and the Chancellor of Brabant, +Dr. Schoren, "a very wise father." After a lengthy preamble, setting +forth the powers committed to the Regent, the terms of the contract +were discussed. The chief points on which Wriothesley insisted were +that Henry should be allowed to see his bride, that the payment +of her dowry should be assigned to Flanders instead of Milan, and +that Christina's title to Denmark should be recognized, although, +remarked the Ambassador, "for my little wit I care not if this last +condition were scraped out of the book."[216] The Duchess's claim to +the throne of Denmark, as Wriothesley realized, was so remote that +it seemed hardly worth discussing. The dowry and the question of the +Papal dispensation were the two real stumbling-blocks, and he advised +Cromwell, if the King was really anxious to secure this desirable wife, +not to press the former point, money being so scarce in Spain and the +Netherlands that the Emperor would rather leave his niece unwed, than +part with so large a sum. At the close of the sitting the Duke of +Aerschot begged Wriothesley to stay to dinner, and gave him the chief +place at table and pre-eminence in all things. The fare was abundant; +four courses of ten dishes were served in silver, with "covers of a +marvellous clean and honourable sort," and carvers and waiters stood +around, and attended as diligently to the Ambassador's wants as if +he were a Prince. Later in the evening the Duke's brother-in-law, +the Marquis of Berghen, who was always well disposed to the English, +came to supper, and chatted pleasantly for some time, but shocked +Wriothesley by asking him if it were true that all religion was extinct +in England, that Mass was abolished, and that the bones of saints were +publicly burned. Cromwell's Commissioner, who had himself plundered the +shrines of St. Swithun at Winchester and of St. Thomas at Canterbury, +could hardly deny this latter charge, although he declared stoutly that +only such money-making devices and tricks of the friars as the Rood of +Boxley and the tomb of Becket had been unmasked. But, in spite of the +outward civility with which the Ambassador was treated, he realized +that all good Catholics in Flanders looked on him with horror and +disgust. + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1539] MARY'S APPEAL] + +All through the summer abbeys and shrines had been going down fast. +"Dagon is everywhere falling," wrote a Kentish fanatic, and, as +Castillon said, by the end of the year hardly a single abbey was left +standing. The recent trend of political events had served to excite +the King's worst passions, and when the French Ambassador went to see +him early in November, he found him in a towering rage. The French +had treated his Ambassadors abominably; the Emperor and King were +plotting together to take the Duchess of Milan away from him and give +her to Monsieur de Vendôme, which, "if it be done, would finish the +picture."[217] Late on this same evening, Lord Exeter, a grandson of +Edward IV. and head of the noble house of Courtenay, and his cousin, +Lord Montague, the son of Lady Salisbury and brother of Cardinal Pole, +were thrown into the Tower on the charge of high-treason. All that +the most prolonged cross-examination of their servants and friends +could bring out to prove their guilt, was that in my Lord of Exeter's +garden at Horsley Place, in Surrey, Sir Edward Nevill had been heard +singing merry songs against the knaves that ruled about the King, +and, clenching his fist, had cried: "I trust to give them a buffet +and see honest men reign in England one day." But the King had long +ago told the French Ambassador that he was determined to exterminate +the White Rose, and, as Castillon remarked, no pretext was too flimsy +to bring men to the block. On the 9th of December, Exeter, Montague, +and Nevill, all died on the scaffold, and Castillon wrote to King +Francis: "No one knows who will be the next to go." Terror reigned +throughout the land, and no one of noble birth was safe.[218] Mary of +Hungary might well shudder at the thought of giving her niece to such +a man. But every day her position became more difficult. Soon after +her return from Compiègne she wrote to Charles, urgently begging for +instructions as to how she was to proceed with the English Ambassadors. +If the King persists in treating of the Duchess's marriage, is she to +consent or to refuse altogether? And if so, on what pretext? Is she +to discuss the question of the Papal dispensation, which Henry will +never consent to receive from the Pope, but without which the Emperor +cannot possibly allow the union.[219] In reply to this letter, Charles +wrote from Toledo, on the 5th of December, telling her to temporize +with the English, and to consult her Council on the best method of +procedure.[220] + +A carefully-worded paper, in Mary's own handwriting, setting forth +the results of the deliberation with the Council in clear and concise +language, was forwarded to the Emperor early in January: + + "If the King of England would seriously mend his ways and + proceed to conclude the marriage in earnest, not merely to sow + dissension between His Majesty and the King of France, this + would no doubt be the most honourable alliance for the Duchess + and the most advantageous for the Low Countries; but there is + no evidence of this--rather the reverse, as your Ambassador + in France tells us, from what he hears of the conversations + held by King Henry with the French Envoy in London. The Queen + considers this point to be entirely settled, and it remains + only to know Your Majesty's wishes. Are we to dissemble with + the English as we have done till now, which, however, is very + difficult, or are we to break off negotiations altogether? This + can best be done by putting forward quite reasonable terms, but + which are not agreeable to the King. The Queen begs His Majesty + to tell her exactly what she is to do, remembering that the + King of England, when he cannot ally himself with the Emperor + or in France, may seek an alliance with Cleves, and will be + further alienated from religion, and may do much harm by + putting himself at the head of the German Princes--all of which + she prays Your Majesty to consider."[221] + +But no reply to this appeal came for many weeks. In vain Mary +implored Charles to put an end to this interminable procrastination, +and relieve her from the necessity of dissembling with the English +Ambassadors, who never left her in peace. + + "Once more, Monseigneur," she wrote at the end of January, "I + implore you tell me if I am to allow these conferences to drag + on, for it is impossible to do this any longer without the most + shameless dissimulation."[222] + +Still no answer came from Spain, and the solemn farce was prolonged. +During the next two months frequent meetings between the Commissioners +were held at Brussels, and the Queen herself was often present. +"Indeed," wrote Wriothesley, "she is one and principal in it, and how +unmeet we be to match with her ourselves do well acknowledge."[223] +But little progress was made, although Henry, in his anxiety for the +marriage, offered to give the Duchess as large a dowry as any Queen of +England had ever enjoyed. On St. Thomas's Day he informed the French +Ambassador in the gallery at Whitehall that his marriage was almost +concluded. + + "All the same," wrote Castillon to the Constable, "I know that + he would gladly marry Madame de Guise had he the chance. If you + think the King and Emperor would enjoy the sport of seeing him + thus _virolin-virolant_, I can easily get it up, provided you + show his Ambassador a little civility, and make the Cardinal + and Monsieur de Guise caress him a little."[224] + +[Illustration: MARY, QUEEN OF HUNGARY + +By Bernard van Orley (Cardon Collection) + +_To face p. 188_] + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1539] FAIR WORDS] + +But two days after this interview Henry addressed a pathetic appeal +to the Regent on his behalf, saying that "old age was fast creeping +on, and time was slipping and flying marvellously away." Already the +whole year had been wasted in vain parleyings, and, since neither +money nor prayers could redeem this precious time, he could wait the +Emperor's pleasure no longer, but must seek another bride. If this +appeal produced no effect, he told Wriothesley to take leave of the +Duchess, and declare to her the great affection which the King bore +her, and how earnestly he had desired to make her his wife, but, since +this was plainly impossible, he must "beg her not to marvel if he +joined with another."[225] When this letter reached Brussels, Mary and +Christina were absent on a hunting expedition, but on New Year's Eve +they returned. The Queen received Wriothesley the next morning, and, +after listening patiently to the long discourse in which he delivered +his master's message, said that she was still awaiting the Emperor's +final instructions, remarking that perhaps the King hardly realized the +distance between Spain and Flanders. There was nothing for it but to +await the coming of the courier from Spain. But even Wriothesley began +to realize that, "for all this gentle entertainment and fair words and +feastings," the deputies meant to effect nothing. + +Like Hutton, the Ambassador felt the spell of Christina's charms, +and certain expressions which her servants Benedetto and Ferrari had +dropped, led him to suppose that the Duchess was favourably inclined +towards his master. But he was convinced that attempts had been made to +poison her mind against the King, and to prefer the suit of William of +Cleves or of Francis of Lorraine, who was also said to be seeking her +hand. + + "I know," he wrote to Cromwell, "that some of these folks + labour to avert the Duchess's mind from the King's Majesty, + and to rest herself either upon Lorraine or Cleves; but as + far as I can learn she is wiser than they, and will in no + wise hearken to them, offering rather to live a widow than to + fall from the likelihood of being Queen, and to light so low + as from a mistress to become an underling, as she must if she + marry either of them, their fathers and mothers being yet both + alive. What for the virtue that I think I see in her, the good + nature that every man must note her to be of, as well as her + good inclination to the King's Majesty, I have privily wished + myself sometimes that the King might take her with nothing, as + she hath somewhat, rather than His Highness should, by these + cankered tongues, be tromped and deceived of his good purpose, + and so want such a wife as I think she would be to His Grace. + For I shall ever pray God to send His Majesty such a mate, + humble, loving, and of such sort as may be for His Grace's + quiet and content, with the increase of the offspring of his + most noble person."[226] + + +VI. + +At length the eagerly-expected courier reached Brussels, but, as usual, +the Queen and Duchess were away hunting, and it was only on the 1st of +February that the Ambassadors obtained their desired audience. Mary +received them in her bedroom between seven and eight in the morning, +and told them that the Emperor had decided to await the arrival of the +Count Palatine, who with his wife, the Duchess's elder sister, was +shortly expected at Toledo, in order that he might discuss the subject +fully with them; but, since she knew Henry to be impatient for an +answer, she had despatched a trusty messenger, Cornelius Scepperus, to +Spain to beg her brother for an immediate decision.[227] + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1539] AN AWKWARD QUESTION] + +Wriothesley now ventured on a bold step. As the Queen rose to leave +the room, he begged, in order to satisfy his own peace of mind, to +be allowed to ask her one question, hoping that she would give him a +frank answer. At these words Mary blushed deeply, conscious of the +double part that she was playing, and bade him speak, assuring him +that she would take whatever he said in good part. "Madame," returned +Wriothesley, "I beseech Your Grace to tell me plainly how you find +the Duchess herself affected towards this marriage with the King my +master." If, as was commonly reported, the Duchess had really said +that she minded not to fix her heart that way, all his efforts were +but lost labour. And he made bold to ask this question because he knew +that of late "divers malicious tongues, servants of the Bishop of Rome, +had dared to speak lewdly in hugger-mugger of the King's Majesty." The +question was an awkward one, but Mary proved equal to the occasion. +She thanked the Ambassador for his frankness, and replied with some +warmth that she was quite sure her niece had never spoken such words, +and that, if evil men spoke lewdly of the King, she would know how to +deal with them. "Touching my niece's affection," she added, "I dare say +unto you, that if the Emperor and your master the King agree upon this +marriage, she will be at the Emperor's command." + +Wriothesley could only express his gratitude for this gracious answer, +even if it were not so plain as he could have wished. Seeing that +nothing else would satisfy him, the Queen referred him to the Duchess +herself, and at two o'clock the same afternoon the Ambassador was +conducted to Christina's lodgings. He found her standing under a canopy +in a hall hung with black velvet and damask, with five or six ladies +near her, and a dozen gentlemen and pages at the other end of the +room. Christina received him with a graceful salute, bade him heartily +welcome, and asked the purpose of his errand. Wriothesley proceeded to +explain the object of his visit at great length, saying that he was +quite sure that a lady of her gravity and discretion would never allow +such unseemly words to pass her lips; yet, since untrue and wicked +reports might have reached her ears and cooled her inclination towards +the King, he felt it would be his bounden duty, were this true, to +inform His Majesty, in order that he might withdraw his suit without +further waste of time and dishonour. + +Christina listened to this long harangue without moving a muscle. When +the Ambassador had ended, she desired him to put on his cap, saying it +was a cold day, and that she regretted not to have noticed that he was +uncovered before. Wriothesley replied that this was his duty, and that +he hoped often to have the honour of talking with her bareheaded in the +future. Without paying any heed to this last remark, Christina replied +in the following words: + +"Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, I do heartily thank you for your good opinion +of me, wherein I can assure you, you have not been deceived. I thank +God He hath given me a better stay of myself, than to be of so light a +sort as, by all likelihood, some men would note me. And I assure you +that neither these words that you have spoken, nor any like to them, +have passed at any time from my mouth, and so I pray you report for me." + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1539] CHRISTINA'S ANSWER] + +But grateful as Wriothesley expressed himself for this frank answer, +he was not yet satisfied. "It is an evil wind, as we say in England, +that bloweth no man good," and at least the Duchess would see by this, +how little faith was to be placed in idle tales. "There are those," he +said mysteriously, "who play on both hands; they tell Your Excellency +many things, and us somewhat." But would she go farther, and tell him +if he might assure the King his master of her own good inclination +towards the marriage? At these words Christina blushed exceedingly, and +said with some hesitation: "As for my inclination, what should I say? +You know I am at the Emperor's commandment." And when the Ambassador +pressed her to be a little plainer, she smiled and repeated: "You know +I am the Emperor's poor servant, and must follow his pleasure!" + +"Marry!" exclaimed Wriothesley; "why, then I may hope to be one of the +first Englishmen to be acquainted with my new mistress. Oh, madame, how +happy shall you be if you are matched with my master--the most gentle +gentleman that liveth, his nature so benign and pleasant that I think +no man hath heard many angry words pass his mouth. As God shall help +me, if he were no King, instead of one of the most puissant Princes +of Christendom, I think, if you saw him, you would say that for his +virtues, gentleness, wisdom, experience, goodliness of person, and all +other gifts and qualities, he were worthy to be made a King. I know +Your Grace to be of goodly parentage, and to have many great Princesses +in your family, but if God send this to a good conclusion, you shall be +of all the rest the most happy!" + +This fulsome panegyric was too much for Christina's gravity. She +listened for some time, like one that was tickled, then smiled, and +almost burst out laughing, but restrained her merriment with much +difficulty, and, quickly recovering herself, said gravely that she +knew His Majesty was a good and noble Prince. "Yes, madame," replied +the Ambassador, with enthusiasm, "and you shall know this better +hereafter. And for my part, I would be content, if only I may live to +see the day of your coronation, to say with Simeon, "Nunc dimittis +servum tuum, Domine." And he dwelt with fervour on the wish of the +English to have her for their Queen, and on the admiration and love +which the fame of her beauty and goodness had excited in the King. +Christina bowed her thanks, saying that she was much bounden to His +Majesty for his good opinion, and then, calling her Grand Master, bade +him escort the Ambassador home. + + "Your Majesty," wrote Wriothesley to the King that evening, + "shall easily judge from this of what inclination the women + be, and especially the Duchess, whose honest countenance, with + the few words that she wisely spoke, make me to think there + can be no doubt in her. A blind man should judge no colours, + but surely, Sir, after my poor understanding and the little + experience that I have, she is marvellous wise, very gentle, + and as shamefaced as ever I saw so witty a woman. I think her + wisdom is no less than the Queen's, which, in my poor opinion, + is notable for a woman, and I am deceived if she prove not a + good wife. And somewhat the better I like her for that I have + been informed that, of all the whole stock of them, her mother + was of the best opinion in religion, and showed it so far that + both the Emperor and all the pack of them were sore grieved + with her, and seemed in the end to hold her in contempt. I + would hope no less of the daughter, if she might be so happy as + to nestle in England. Very pure, fair of colour she is not, but + a marvellous good brownish face she hath, with fair red lips + and ruddy cheeks. And unless I be deceived in my judgment, she + was never so well painted but her living visage doth much excel + her picture."[228] + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1539] WORTHY TO BE A QUEEN] + +Two things, Wriothesley told Cromwell, in a letter which he wrote to +him the next day, were plain: the Queen would be very loth to let them +go with nothing settled, and the Duchess was well inclined, considering +that nothing had as yet been said to her on the King's behalf. And he +suggested that he might be allowed to show her a portrait of Henry, the +sight of which, he felt sure, would make her die a maid rather than +marry anyone else. "The woman is certainly worthy to be a Queen," he +adds, "and in my judgment is worth more than all the friendship and +alliances in the world."[229] + +Unfortunately, these letters, which the writer hoped would give the +King so much pleasure, found Henry in a furious temper. In January, +1539, Pope Paul III. issued the long-delayed Bull of excommunication, +and called on the Emperor and the French King to declare war on the +heretic monarch, and forbid all intercourse between their subjects and +the misguided English. Cardinal Pole, whose kinsmen Henry had beheaded, +and whose own life had been attempted by his emissaries, was sent to +Spain to induce Charles to take up arms against "this abominable tyrant +and cruel persecutor of the Church of God."[230] At the same moment a +treaty was signed between Charles and Francis at Toledo, by which the +two monarchs pledged themselves to conclude no agreements with Henry +excepting by mutual consent.[231] + +Henry now became seriously alarmed. He complained bitterly to Castillon +of the way in which he was reviled in France, not only by the vulgar, +but by the Cardinal of Paris and members of the Council. And he sent +Cromwell to Chapuys with an imperative summons to come to Court without +delay. The Imperial Ambassador obeyed, and came to Whitehall on the +Feast of the Three Kings. Henry was on his way to Mass, but he stopped +to greet Chapuys, and complained once more of the Queen of Hungary's +interminable delays and of the scandalous treatment of his Ambassadors. +Chapuys made the best excuses which came into his mind, and assured the +King that Mary was only awaiting the Emperor's instructions as to the +Papal dispensation, and that he would hear from Spain as soon as the +Palatine had reached Toledo. To this Henry vouchsafed no answer, but +walked straight on, to the door of the chapel. + +During Mass Cromwell entered into conversation with Chapuys, and told +him that the Pope had thrown off the hypocrite's mask, and was doing +his best to kindle a flame in Italy. Before the Ambassador could reply +he changed the subject, and said he saw clearly that the Emperor +intended to marry his niece to Cleves or Lorraine. Chapuys laughed, and +remarked that the Duchess could hardly be given to both Princes, but +added in all seriousness that his master knew the difference between +the King of England and these suitors. After dinner Henry seemed in +a better temper, but told Chapuys in confidential tones that he was +growing old, and that his subjects pressed him to hasten his marriage, +and that these vexatious delays were all due to the French, who boasted +that the Emperor could do nothing without their consent. + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1539] A COLD FROST] + + "He seemed in great trouble," reported Chapuys, "and it is + plain, as everyone about him tells me, that he is very much + in love with the Duchess of Milan. He told one of his most + intimate friends the other day that he would gladly take her + without a penny.... And just now the French Ambassador asked + me if it were true that he had sent her a diamond worth 16,000 + ducats."[232] + +At the same time Chapuys heard that Henry was negotiating with the +German Princes, and offering his daughter Mary to the young Duke of +Cleves, in order to prevent him from marrying the Duchess. "He is so +much in love," wrote Castillon, "that for one gracious word from her I +believe he would go to war to recover Denmark."[233] + +The same week Henry wrote to Wyatt, complaining bitterly of the +treatment which he had received from his imperial brother, as being +wholly unworthy of a Prince who professed to be his zealous friend. +"After so hot a summer we saw never so cold a winter; after all these +professions of love and friendship, in the end nothing but a cold +frost." He ended by declaring he would no longer be kept "hanging in +the balance," and must have an immediate answer, even if it were a flat +denial.[234] At length even Charles could procrastinate no longer, and +on the 15th of February he told Wyatt that it was impossible for the +marriage to take place without the Pope's dispensation, as the King's +dispensation would never satisfy the Duchess herself, or any of her +relations, and might cause endless inconvenience if children were born +of the union. "All the stay," wrote Cromwell to Wriothesley, "is upon +the dispensation, to which they object now, but whereof they never +spake before."[235] + +Even before the courier from Spain arrived, Henry's face was so black +that Castillon wrote home begging to be recalled, and declaring that +this King was the most cruel and dangerous man in the world. He was +in such a rage that he had neither reason nor understanding left, and +once he found out that Francis could do nothing for him, Castillon was +convinced that his own life would not be worth a straw. A few days +later the Ambassador left London, and rejoiced to find himself safely +back in France.[236] + + +VII. + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1539] A GAY CARNIVAL] + +While London was full of alarms, Wriothesley and his colleagues were +spending a gay Shrovetide at Brussels, all unconscious of the clouds +that were darkening the horizon. During the last few weeks nobles +and courtiers had vied with each other in paying them attentions. +Visitors of the highest rank honoured their humble lodgings. Madame de +Berghen, Aerschot's lively sister--"a dame of stomach that hath a jolly +tongue"--dined with them. The Queen herself was expected to pay them a +visit, and great preparations in the way of plate and furniture were +made for her reception. Count Büren, a very great man in Holland, was +particularly friendly, and impressed Wriothesley so much by his honesty +and loyalty that he gave him the best horse in his stables. Another +day he entertained the Captain of Gravelines, who railed against the +abominations of Rome to his heart's content, and told him it would be +the Pope's fault if the King's marriage were not concluded. Carnival +week brought a round of festivities. On Monday, the 17th of February, +the Ambassadors were invited to meet the Queen at supper at the Duke of +Aerschot's house, and were received at half-past five by the Duchess +and her sister-in-law, Madame de Berghen. The Duchess sent for her +young daughter and her two sons--boys of ten and twelve--and presently +they were joined by Monsieur de Vély, the new French Ambassador. +Wriothesley expressed great pleasure at meeting him, saying that, since +their masters were good friends, they ought not to be strangers, and +received a cordial reply. The rest of the company looked on with some +surprise at these friendly fashions, a rumour being abroad that the +French King was about to attack England and force Henry to submit to +the Pope. Then a flourish of trumpets, sackbuts, and fifes, was heard +at the gates, and the guests rose as the Queen and Duchess entered the +hall. At supper the French Ambassador sat on the Queen's right, and +Wriothesley on her left, while Christina was between him and Vaughan. +Madame d'Egmont sat next to Dr. Carne, and the Prince of Orange was on +the Duchess of Aerschot's right hand. Mary made herself very agreeable +to both her neighbours, and when, after supper, her chapel choir sang +roundelays and merry drinking-songs, she asked Wriothesley if he were +fond of music, and invited him to sup with her on the morrow and hear +her minstrels. The Ambassador confessed that he was very fond of music, +and often had some at his poor home to cheer his dull spirits. "Well, +it is an honest pastime," said the Queen, "and maketh good digestion, +for it driveth thoughts away." Here Wriothesley ventured to remark +that he would feel merrier if he had not wasted so much time here, +and asked if there was still no news from Spain. "None," replied the +Queen; and Wriothesley observed that reports reached him from Germany +that the Emperor was merely trying to gain time, and meant to do the +Bishop of Rome's bidding. "Jesus!" exclaimed the Queen, "I dare say +the Emperor never meant such a thing;" upon which Wriothesley hastened +to say that he felt sure the Emperor was too wise and honourable a +Prince to deceive the King, but now that he had made friends with his +old enemy, he hoped he would not make a new enemy of his old friend. +After supper the Duke and several ladies came in, wearing masks and +rich costumes, and threw dice with the Queen and her niece for some +fine diamonds, which the Princesses won. Then the Prince of Orange led +out Christina to dance, and the other youthful guests followed suit, +while Wriothesley sat at the Queen's side on the daïs and watched the +princely pair. + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1539] AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE] + +The next evening (Shrove Tuesday) Wriothesley and his colleagues dined +at the palace, and this time the English Ambassador sat in the post of +honour, on the Queen's right, with the Duchess on his left. Mary was in +high spirits, toasted her guests and drank with each of them in turn. +After supper Wriothesley approached Christina, and ventured to tell +her that she would be happy if her best friends did not put hindrances +in her way, and begged her not to lend ear to malicious reports of +his master. The Duchess shook her head, saying she would listen to +no calumnies, and always hold the King to be a noble Prince. But he +felt sure that she was afraid of the Queen, and told her he hoped to +converse more freely with her another time. Never had he seen her look +so beautiful as she did that night; never did he wish more ardently to +see her his master's bride. "For indeed it were pity," he wrote home, +"if she were bestowed on a husband she did not like, only to serve +others." + +There was one Prince at table for whom, it was easy to see, Christina +had no dislike. This was René of Orange, who had an opportunity of +distinguishing himself in his lady's eyes that evening. The Queen led +the way into the great hall, where first Aerschot and three other +nobles challenged all comers to fight, and then the Prince of Orange +and Floris d'Egmont took their places at the barriers, and broke lances +and received prizes for their valour, while the Queen's band of lutes, +viols, and rebecks, played the finest music that Wriothesley had ever +heard. When the jousting was ended, Mary led her guests to the royal +gallery, where another banquet was served, and there was much lively +discourse, and more talking than eating. So that gay Carnival came +to a close, and with it the last hope of winning the fair Duchess's +hand.[237] + +An unpleasant surprise was in store for Wriothesley the next morning. +Certain disquieting rumours having reached Brussels, Vaughan went to +Antwerp on Ash Wednesday, and found great consternation among the +English merchants. A proclamation had been issued forbidding any ships +to leave the port, and several English vessels laden with merchandise +had been detained. The wildest rumours were current on the Exchange. +It was commonly said that the Emperor, with the Kings of France and +Scotland, had declared war on King Henry, and that a large Dutch and +Spanish fleet was about to sail for England. Already in Brussels +gallants and pikemen were taking bets on the issue of the war, and +Wriothesley wrote to Cromwell that he and his colleagues "might +peradventure broil on a faggot." He was unable to obtain an audience +until Friday, when the Queen told him that, by the Emperor's orders, +she was recalling Chapuys to conduct the marriage negotiations. This +unexpected intimation, coming as it did after the startling news from +Antwerp, disconcerted him considerably. He sent an express to London, +and received orders to take his departure at once. Castillon was +already on his way to France, but Henry quite refused to let Chapuys go +until Wriothesley and Vaughan had left Brussels. A long wrangle between +the two Courts followed. The Ambassadors were detained on both sides. +The Spanish and Dutch ships in English harbours were stopped, all ports +were closed, and active preparations were made for war along the shores +of the Channel. + + "After fair weather," wrote Cromwell to Wriothesley, "there is + succeeded a weather very cloudy. Good words, good countenance, + be turned, we perceive, to a wonderful strangeness. But + let that pass. They can do us no harm but to their own + detriment."[238] + +[Sidenote: MARCH, 1539] STRANGE ENTERTAINMENT] + +The situation of the Ambassadors was by no means pleasant. A marked +change was visible in the behaviour of the Court. They were "treated +as very strangers" by those nobles who had been their best friends. +No one called at their house or came to dine with them. The Duchess's +servants, who used to go to and fro constantly, now dared not come +except at dusk--"in the owl-flight"--and would not allow Wriothesley +to send them home by torchlight. Wherever they went, the English heard +their King slandered, and met with cold looks and scornful words. Worse +than all, they were forced to pay excise duties--"eighteen pence on +every barrel of beer above the price asked by the brewer"--an indignity +to which no Ambassador before had ever been exposed. "I write in haste +and live in misery," wrote Wriothesley to Cromwell on the 7th of +March.[239] + +The Emperor, however, was still friendly. His heart was set on a +Crusade against the Turk, and he had no wish to embark on war with +England. Pole met with a cold reception at Toledo, and, finding +Charles averse to executing the Pope's sentence, retired to his friend +Sadoleto's house at Carpentras. This was a relief to Henry, and he bade +Wyatt thank his imperial brother, but could not forbear pointing out +that these friendly words agreed ill with the doings of his officers +in the Low Countries. A despatch addressed to Wyatt on the 10th of +March contains a long recital of the extraordinary treatment which his +Ambassadors at Brussels had met with: + + "Since Lent began, as for a penance, their entertainment + hath been marvellous strange--yea, and stranger than we will + rehearse: strangeness in having audience with long delay, + strangeness in answer and fashion. Also they have been + constrained to pay Excise, which no Ambassador of England paid + in any man's remembrance. They have complained to the Queen, + but nevertheless must pay or lack drink.... These rumours + and hints of war, the arrest of our ships, this strangeness + shown to our Ministers, this navy and army in readiness, the + recall of Chapuys, ran abroad this realm and everywhere. We + do not write to you the rumours half so spiteful, and the + entertainment half so strange, as it hath been. I think never + such a thing was heard, and especially after a treaty of + marriage such a banquet!"[240] + +Henry concluded this letter by saying that, since the Emperor insisted +on the need of Papal dispensation, there could be no further question +of any marriage between him and the Duchess, and he would be now at +liberty to seek another wife. On the same day he wrote to Carne, who +had been secretly corresponding with the Duke of Cleves, telling him to +open negotiations for a marriage with that Prince's sister, the Lady +Anne.[241] + +Twelve days after this despatch was sent to Spain Wriothesley left +Brussels. At Calais he met Chapuys, who had just crossed the Channel, +and Mary's almoner, the Dean of Cambray, who was being sent to take the +Ambassador's place, and was awaiting a fair wind to embark for Dover. +All three Ambassadors dined in a friendly manner with Lord Lisle, the +Deputy Governor of Calais, and continued their respective journeys +without hindrance. But the much-discussed marriage treaty was at an +end. The long-drawn comedy had reached its last act. "All hope of the +Duchess," wrote Wriothesley to Cromwell, "is utterly past." + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1539] A WELSHMAN'S OPINION] + +The rupture was loudly lamented by the English merchants in Antwerp, +and keen disappointment was felt throughout England, where the marriage +had always been popular. Among many scattered notices of the feeling +which prevailed on the subject, the following incident is of especial +interest, because of the sidelight which it throws on Christina's +personal reluctance to the marriage. + +On a summer evening in August, 1539, five months after Wriothesley +left Brussels, a married priest named George Constantyne, of Llan +Hawaden in South Wales, rode from Chepstow to Abergavenny with John +Barlow, Dean of Westbury. The priest had got into trouble in Wolsey's +time, for buying copies of Tyndale's New Testament, and was forced to +fly the country and practise as a physician for several years in the +Netherlands. Now he had returned to England, and was on his way to his +old home in Wales. He walked from Bristol to Westbury, where he supped +with Dean Barlow, a brother of his friend the Bishop of St. Davids, +who made him heartily welcome, and invited him to be his travelling +companion the next day to Pembrokeshire. As the two ecclesiastics rode +through the green valleys on the way to Abergavenny, the Dean asked +Constantyne if he could tell him why the King's marriage had been so +long delayed. The priest replied that he, for his part, was very sorry +the King should still be without a wife, when he might by this time +have been the father of fair children. As the Dean knew, both the +Duchess of Milan and she of Cleves were spoken of, and now the little +doctor, Nicholas Wotton, had been sent to Cleves with Mr. Beard, of +the Privy Chamber, and the King's painter; so there was good hope +of a marriage being concluded with the Duke of Cleves, who favoured +God's word, and was a mighty Prince now, holding Guelderland against +the Emperor's will. But why, asked the Dean, was the marriage with +the Duchess of Milan broken off? Constantyne, who was familiar with +all the gossip of the Regent's Court, replied that the Duchess quite +refused to marry the King, unless he would accept the Bishop of Rome's +dispensation, and give pledges that her life would be safe and her +honour respected. "Why pledges?" asked the Dean innocently. "Marry!" +returned Constantyne, "she sayeth that, since the King's Majesty was in +so little space rid of three Queens, she dare not trust his Council, +even if she dare trust His Majesty. For in Flanders the nobles suspect +that her great-aunt, Queen Catherine, was poisoned, that Anne Boleyn +was innocent of the crimes for which she was put to death, and that the +third wife, Queen Jane, was lost for lack of attention in childbed." +Such, at least, were the mutterings which he heard at Court before +Whitsuntide. The Dean remarked that he was afraid the affair of Milan +must be dashed, as Dr. Petre, who was to have gone to fetch the royal +bride from Calais, was at the Court of St. James's last Sunday; upon +which Constantyne gave it as his opinion that there could be no amity +between the King and the Emperor, whose god was the Pope. + +So the two men talked as they rode over the Welsh hills on the pleasant +summer evening. But the poor priest had good reason to regret that he +had ever taken this ride; for his false friend the Dean reported him as +a Sacramentary to the Lord Privy Seal, and a few days after he reached +Llan Hawaden he was arrested and thrown into the Tower, where he spent +several months in prison as a penalty for his freedom of speech.[242] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[164] Papiers d'État, 1178, Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles. + +[165] Calendar of State Papers, xii. 2, 367. + +[166] State Papers, Henry VIII., Record Office, viii. 2. + +[167] J. Kaulek, "Correspondance Politique de M. de Castillon," 4, 5; +Calendar of State Papers, xii. 2, 394. + +[168] Calendar of State Papers, xii. 2, 392; G. Pimodan, "La Mère des +Guises," 72. + +[169] Kaulek, 12, 15; Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 1, 54. + +[170] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 5. + +[171] Anne Boleyn's cousin Mary Skelton, who had been a great favourite +with the King (see Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 1, 24). + +[172] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 7. + +[173] Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 1, 42. + +[174] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 2, 572. + +[175] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 2, 429. + +[176] Kaulek, 24; Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 1, 82. + +[177] Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 1, 93. + +[178] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 16. + +[179] _Ibid._, viii. 30. + +[180] British Museum, Additional Manuscripts, 5,498, f. 2; Calendar of +State Papers, xiii. 1, 130. + +[181] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 17-19. + +[182] Holbein's portrait is described in the Catalogues of the King's +pictures at Westminster in 1542 and 1547 as "No. 12. A greate Table +with the picture of the Duchess of Myllane, being her whole stature." +After Henry's death it passed into the hands of Fitzalan, Earl of +Arundel, the King's Lord Chamberlain and godson, who married Lady +Katherine Grey, and acquired the Palace of Nonsuch, with most of its +contents. When he died, in 1580, it became the property, first of his +elder daughter Jane, wife of Lord Lumley, and then of her great-nephew, +Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel. This great collector took the Duchess +of Milan's portrait with him abroad during the Civil Wars, and after +his death, in 1645, it hung, with many other Holbeins, in the house +of his widow at Amsterdam. Lady Arundel left the whole collection +to her son, Henry Howard, who became the sixth Duke of Norfolk, and +Holbein's portrait remained in the family until, in 1909, it was +acquired by the National Gallery for the sum of £72,000. A second +portrait of the Duchess of Milan, a half-length, is mentioned in Henry +VIII.'s Catalogues ("No. 138. A Table with a picture of the Duchess of +Myllane"), and was discovered by Sir George Scharf in a waiting-room +near the private chapel at Windsor. This is probably the portrait by +Van Orley which Hutton sent to England before Holbein's arrival at +Brussels. The attitude of the sitter, her dress and features, are the +same as in Holbein's picture, but the face is less finely modelled +and lacks charm and expression. The hands are in a slightly different +position, and instead of one big ruby ring she wears three rings--a +cameo and a gold ring on the right hand, and a black ring, the badge +of widowhood, on the third finger of the left hand. This curious and +interesting portrait is plainly the work of an inferior artist, and, +as the Ambassador justly remarked, bears no comparison with Holbein's +Duchess--"surely," in the words of his biographer, "one of the most +precious pictures in the world" (Wornum's "Life of Holbein," p. 322; +L. Cust in the _Burlington Magazine_, August, 1911, p. 278; and Sir G. +Scharf in "Archæologia," xl. 205). + +[183] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 2, 523. + +[184] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 21. + +[185] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 30. + +[186] Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 1, 263. + +[187] Kaulek, 29, 33, 35. + +[188] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 2, 524. + +[189] Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 1, 258. + +[190] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 2, 526, 558. + +[191] Kaulek, 48, 50, 53, 58, 70. + +[192] _Ibid._, 58, 73; Pimodan, 73. + +[193] Kaulek, 70, 79, 81; Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 9. + +[194] Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 20. + +[195] _Ibid._, ii. 10. + +[196] There has been some confusion as to the date of Holbein's visit +to Joinville, owing to a mistake in the Calendar of State Papers (xiii. +1, 130), where Cromwell's instructions to Hoby for his journeys to +Brussels and France are entered under the date of February, 1538. But +the Duchess of Guise's letter (see Appendix), as well as the payment of +£10 made by Sir Brian Tuke, Treasurer of the Household, to Hans Holbein +on the 30th of December, 1538, "for going to the parts of High Burgony +about certain of the King's business," make it clear that this journey +took place at the end of August (G. Scharf, "Archæologia," xxxix. 7). +From Lorraine the painter went on to Bâle, where he spent some months, +and returned to England at Christmas. The original documents in the +British Museum (Additional Manuscripts, 5,498, f. 1) bear no date, and +are on separate sheets, and the heading of the instructions regarding +the journey to Brussels was added by a later hand, and is thus worded: +"Instructions given by the L. Cromwell to Philip Hoby, sent over by him +to the Duchess of Lorraine, then Duchess of Milan"--_i.e._, Christina, +Duchess of Lorraine, at that time Duchess of Milan. But the editor of +the Calendars inserted the words "to the" between "then" and "Duchess +of Milan," thus making it appear that Hoby went first to Lorraine, and +then to the Duchess of Milan, whereas the journey to Brussels took +place in March, and that to Lorraine in August. Since this chapter was +written, the subject has been fully dealt with by Mr. A. B. Chamberlain +in the _Burlington Magazine_, April, 1912. + +[197] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 2, 531. + +[198] Nott's "Life of Wyatt," ii. 488. + +[199] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 33. + +[200] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 40. + +[201] Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 2, 119. + +[202] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 42. + +[203] Kaulek, 77. + +[204] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 15-31. + +[205] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 41. + +[206] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 46. + +[207] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 53, 56; Calendar of State +Papers, xiii. 2, 214. + +[208] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 56-60. + +[209] Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 2, 245, 247. + +[210] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 67. + +[211] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 78; Calendar of State Papers, +xiii. 2, 255. + +[212] F. Decrue, "Anne de Montmorency," 415, 418, 491. + +[213] State Papers, xiii. 2, 238. + +[214] _Ibid._, xiii. 2, 247, 248. + +[215] Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 2, 261. + +[216] Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 2, 255. + +[217] Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 2, 289. + +[218] _Ibid._, xiii. 2, 291, 296. + +[219] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 96. + +[220] Lanz, ii. 686. + +[221] Papiers d'État, 82, 20, Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles. + +[222] Lanz, ii. 296. + +[223] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 72. + +[224] Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 2, 467, 468. + +[225] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 110, 118, 123. + +[226] Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 1, 37. + +[227] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 139. + +[228] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 140-148. + +[229] Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 1, 93, 121. + +[230] _Ibid._, xiv. 1, 14; Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 97. + +[231] _Ibid._, xiv. 1, 26. + +[232] Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 1, 16-19. + +[233] _Ibid._, xiv. 1, 52; Lanz, ii. 297-306. + +[234] Nott, ii. 306. + +[235] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 145. + +[236] Kaulek, 84. + +[237] Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 1, 125, 126 + +[238] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 155. + +[239] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 166, 175. + +[240] Nott, "Life of Wyatt," II. 511. + +[241] Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 1, 189, 191. + +[242] "Archæologia Cambrensis," xxiii. 139-141. + + + + +BOOK VII + +CLEVES, ORANGE, AND LORRAINE + +1539-1541 + + +I. + +The negotiations for the King of England's marriage with the Duchess of +Milan were broken off. But there was no lack of suitors for Christina's +hand. During the winter and spring of 1539 the Emperor's niece received +offers of marriage from three princely bridegrooms. The first of these +was Antoine, Duke of Vendôme, whose courtship of the Duchess on the +journey to Compiègne had aroused King Henry's jealousy. The second was +William of Cleves, who since the old Duke Charles's death had taken +possession of Guelders, and was now seeking to obtain the investiture +of the duchy, together with Christina's hand. The third was Francis, +the Marquis of Pont-à-Mousson, and heir of Lorraine. From the day that +this Prince first met the Duchess at Compiègne, he sought her for his +bride with a constancy and steadfastness that were eventually to be +crowned with success. But for the moment the Duke of Cleves seemed +to have the best chance of winning the coveted prize. From the first +Mary of Hungary had regarded this alliance with favour, and when, +in January, 1539, she consulted her Councillors on the Duchess's +marriage, it was this union which met with their highest approval. + + "Duke William," wrote the Queen in her reply to the Emperor, + "has greatly offended Your Majesty, both as a private + individual and sovereign lord, by taking possession of + Guelders. Still, as he renews his suit and professes to be your + loyal friend and servant, it would be well to treat with him + and offer him the Duchess's hand, on condition that he will + give up Guelderland."[243] + +The alternative proposal, she proceeded to say, deserved consideration, +seeing the great anxiety which the Duke of Lorraine's son showed for +the marriage. No doubt the Emperor's niece, with her large dowry, would +be a very honourable match for him, and well worth the surrender of his +rights on Guelders; but, since it was most desirable to recover this +duchy without delay, it might be well to secure the help of Lorraine by +this means. + +The situation was a difficult one, and from the moment of the old +Duke's death in June, 1538, Mary had never ceased to entreat Charles to +come to Flanders and take active measures for the recovery of Guelders +before it was too late. Throughout the winter Duke William went from +town to town, endearing himself to his new subjects; and when the +deputies of Lorraine asserted their master's superior claims, he told +them that he would never give up Guelders to any mortal man. By the +death of his father on the 6th of February, 1539, he succeeded to the +rich provinces of Cleves and Jülich, and became the wealthiest and most +powerful Prince in North Germany.[244] + +[Sidenote: MARCH, 1539] ANNE OF CLEVES] + +Still Charles put off his coming, and told his sister that he was +bent on undertaking a second Crusade against the Turks, and could not +spare the time for a journey to Flanders. This was too much for Mary's +equanimity, and she protested in the strongest language against the +Emperor's folly in exposing his person to such risks, declaring that +this Crusade would not only prove the utter ruin of the Netherlands, +but of all Christendom.[245] Fortunately, Mary's remonstrances were +supported by the Emperor's wisest Councillors, and, in deference to +their representations, he decided to abandon his Crusade for the +present and come to Flanders. This decision was confirmed by the +discontent which the Duke of Cleves's intrigues helped to foment in +Ghent--always a turbulent city--as well as by the news that the King of +England had entered into a close alliance with Cleves, and was about to +marry his sister. + +Cromwell, with his habitual duplicity, had been in correspondence with +the German Princes while he professed to be zealous for the Emperor's +alliance; and in March Christopher Mont, his Envoy to Frankfort, +was desired to make diligent inquiries as to the shape, stature, +and complexion, of the Duke of Cleves's sister Anne. If these were +satisfactory, he was to suggest that proposals of marriage should be +made by that Prince and his brother-in-law, the Elector John Frederick +of Saxony. Mont sent glowing descriptions of the lady's beauty, and was +bold enough to declare that she excelled the Duchess of Milan as much +as the golden sun excels the silver moon.[246] + +Henry was now all on fire to see the Lady Anne, although he had not +yet lost all interest in Christina, whose name still figures constantly +in letters from Brussels. On the 6th of April we hear that the Duchess +of Milan is sick of fever, and ten days later Cromwell writes to the +King that Her Grace is no longer sick, and that "at Antwerp the people +still cherish a hope that Your Highness will yet marry her."[247] If he +could not make her his wife, the King was determined to prevent another +suitor from succeeding where he had failed, and renewed his offer of +his daughter Mary with a large dowry to the Duke of Cleves. William, +however, showed no alacrity to avail himself of this offer, and sent +Envoys both to Brussels and Toledo to press his suit for Christina's +hand. + +The sudden death of the Empress at Toledo on the 1st of May altered all +Charles's plans. A few weeks before this Isabella had given birth to a +son, who only lived a few hours, and Charles had written to inform his +sister of the infant's death. On the 2nd of May he wrote a few touching +lines with his own hand to tell Mary the grievous news. The doctors had +pronounced her to be out of danger, but catarrh attacked the lungs, and +proved fatal in a few hours. + + "I am overwhelmed with sorrow and distress, and nothing can + comfort me but the thought of her good and holy life and the + devout end which she made. I leave you to tell my subjects + over yonder, of this pitiful event, and ask them to pray for + her soul. I will do my best to bow to the will of God, whom I + implore to receive her in His blessed paradise, where I feel + certain that she is. And may God keep you, my dear sister, and + grant you all your desires."[248] + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1539] THE PALATINE'S TRAVELS] + +When this sad event took place, Christina's sister Dorothea and her +husband, Count Frederic, were staying at the Imperial Court. These +adventurous travellers had come to Spain in the vain hope of inducing +the Emperor to support their claims on Denmark, and, after crossing the +Pyrenees in rain and snow, had at length reached Toledo, where they +were hospitably entertained. The Empress treated Dorothea with great +affection, but Frederic's German servants, who consumed five meals +a day and ate meat on Ash Wednesday, shocked the Spanish courtiers, +and drew down the censures of the Inquisition upon them. Even the +Emperor asked his cousin why he brought so numerous a suite on his +travels; but, although he would make no promises of further help, he +good-naturedly paid Frederic's expenses at Toledo, and gave him a +present of 7,000 crowns. The death of the Empress, Dorothea's best +friend, put an end to all hope of further assistance. The Emperor +shut himself up in a Carthusian convent, and the Palatine and his +wife started for the Low Countries.[249] On their way through France +they were royally entertained by the King and Queen in the splendid +Palais des Tournelles, and Francis took so great a fancy to his wife's +niece that Eleanor felt it wise to keep Dorothea continually at her +side. Here they were detained some time by Frederic's illness, and +after his recovery spent several days at Chantilly with the Constable, +and at the King's fine new villa of Cotterets, on their way to the +Netherlands.[250] + +[Sidenote: SEPT., 1539] A MOCK FIGHT] + +Here the travellers were eagerly awaited by Christina and her aunt. +After the funeral services for the repose of the Empress's soul had +been duly celebrated, and the last requiem sung in S. Gudule, the Queen +set out on a progress through Holland and Friesland, and spent some +time at Bois-le-Duc, on the frontiers of Guelders, trying to arrange +matters with the Duke of Cleves. But, although friendly letters and +messages were exchanged, nothing could be settled until the Emperor's +arrival, which was now delayed till the autumn, and the Court moved +to the Hague for August. Here the Queen received news that the Count +Palatine and his wife had reached Dordrecht and were coming by sea to +Holland. Christina at once travelled to Rotterdam, intending to go by +boat to meet the travellers. But the weather was rough and stormy, and +the sailors were reluctant to set out. The Duchess, however, would +hear of no delay, and, embarking in a small boat, bade the sailors +put out to sea. Hardly had they left the shore before a terrific gale +sprang up, and from the deck of their ship the Palatine and his wife +saw a barque tossed on the raging seas, sending up signals of distress. +Altering their course, they hastened to the rescue, and found, to their +great surprise, that the Duchess of Milan was on board. Count Frederic +scolded his sister-in-law soundly for her rashness, but Dorothea was +enchanted to see Christina, and laughed and cried by turn as she +embraced her.[251] The Queen awaited the travellers no less eagerly, +in her anxiety to hear the latest news from Spain, and agreed readily +to Frederic's proposal that his wife should remain at the Hague while +he returned to Germany. Early in September the Palatine took leave of +his relatives and went to Antwerp, saying that he must raise money for +his journey to Heidelberg. But he kept his true destination a secret. +During his illness in Paris, Bishop Bonner had brought Frederic a +letter from Cromwell, begging him to come to England, since he was only +divided from this country by a narrow arm of the sea, and His Majesty +was very anxious to see him again. All immediate alarm of war had died +away, and the irascible monarch's anger was allayed by the arrival of a +new French Ambassador in the person of Marillac, and by the permission +which Mary gave him to buy ammunition in the Low Countries. In return, +he ordered an imposing requiem to be held in St. Paul's for the late +Empress, and desired Cromwell and the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, +with twenty Bishops, to attend the service.[252] He resumed his old +habit of spending the summer evenings on the river, enjoying the +music of flutes and harps, and sent to France and Italy for excellent +painters and musicians--a sure sign, Marillac was told, that he was +about to marry again. Another fête, at which the Ambassador declined +to be present, was a mock-fight on the Thames between two galleys, +one of which bore the King's arms, while the other was decorated with +an effigy of the Pope with the triple tiara and keys, attended by +the Cardinals. The show ended in the triumph of the English sailors, +who threw the Pope and Cardinals into the river--"the whole thing," +according to Marillac, "being as badly represented as it was poorly +conceived."[253] + +Now the King was anxious to hear the Emperor's intention from the +Palatine's own lips, while Frederic on his part was flattered by this +powerful monarch's invitation, and felt that his assistance might +prove of use in his visionary schemes for the recovery of Denmark. But, +knowing that of late relations between Henry and the Queen had been +strained, he kept his counsel, and told no one but his wife that he was +bound for Calais. + +Here he was courteously entertained by Lord Lisle, an illegitimate son +of Edward IV., and escorted by him to Canterbury and London. Frederic +was lost in admiration at the rows of stately palaces along the Thames, +and the fine Castle of Richmond, but was disappointed, when he visited +Westminster Abbey, not to see the famous antlers of the stag which King +Dagobert caught, and which wore a golden collar inscribed with the +words, "Julius Cæsar let me go free." Afterwards he learnt that these +legendary trophies had lately been removed by the King's orders, for +fear the monks, whom he was about to expel, might conceal them. + +In the absence of the King at Ampthill, Cromwell, who had been told +to "grope out the reason of Frederic's coming," entertained the Count +splendidly at his own house, and showed him the Tower of London and +the Temple Church. But the Deputy's wife, Lady Lisle, who looked on +Cromwell with deep distrust, begged her husband to beware of the Lord +Privy Seal's fair words, and was none too well pleased to hear that he +had partaken of the partridge pasty and baked cranes which she had sent +from Calais, together with her own toothpick for the Palsgrave's use, +having noticed that her noble guest "used a quill to pick his teeth +with."[254] + +[Sidenote: SEPT., 1539] THE PALATINE AT WINDSOR] + +Meanwhile the Palatine's visit to England was exciting much curiosity, +and not a little alarm, in some quarters. The Pope and the French King +feared it might lead to a secret covenant between Henry and Charles, +while in London it was commonly reported that Frederic came to renew +negotiations for his union with the Duchess of Milan, and the Duke of +Cleves hastily sent Ambassadors to conclude his sister's marriage. +These Envoys reached Windsor on the same day as the Count Palatine, +whom Henry invited to a banquet there on the 24th of September. +When he bade the Lord High Admiral escort the Palsgrave to Windsor, +Southampton, eager to curry favour with the King, expressed his +opinion that the Cleves alliance was preferable to a marriage with a +French Princess or one of the Emperor's family, "albeit the Duchess of +Milan was a fair woman and well spoken of," and told the King of the +resentment which his union with the Lady Anne had aroused at the Court +of Brussels. Henry remained plunged in thought for some moments; then +a smile broke over his face, and he exclaimed: "Have they remembered +themselves now? They that would not when they might, when they would +they shall have nay!"[255] + +Nothing was lacking, however, to the splendour of the Palatine's +reception at Windsor. The Duke of Suffolk rode out to meet him beyond +Eton Bridge with 100 horsemen clad in velvet, and the banquet was +served on golden dishes in a hall carpeted with cloth of gold, to the +strains of delicious music from the King's famous band. The Cleves +Envoys were at table, but after dinner the King took the Count apart, +and conversed with him for over two hours on his travels. Frederic +took this opportunity of begging the King to help him in driving out +the usurper of Denmark, and releasing his unhappy father-in-law, +Christian II.[256] Henry listened kindly, and promised to consider the +matter, but no mention was made of Christina. The next day a great +hunting-party was given in the Palsgrave's honour. A pavilion of +green laurel boughs was set up in a meadow on the banks of the river, +and while the King and his guests were at dinner the merry note of +hunting-horns rang through the air, and a stag bounded across the turf, +followed by the hounds at full cry. Immediately the whole party sprang +to horse and joined in the chase, which lasted for three hours, and +ended in the slaughter of thirty-four stags. From Windsor Frederic went +to Hampton Court, and on the 3rd of October finally took leave of the +King, who gave him 2,000 crowns as a parting gift. Hubert also received +a silver cup from the Lord Privy Seal, who begged him and his lord to +return at Christmas, and surprised him by asking if the Palsgrave had +any castle to let or sell, as it might be convenient for him to secure +a retreat abroad. The Minister evidently realized the precarious nature +of his position, and Hubert remembered his request when he heard of the +doom which soon afterwards overtook the King's favourite.[257] + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1539] THE LADY ANNE] + +In his last interview Henry told the Count that he feared it would be +impossible for him to join in any enterprise against Denmark, as his +new allies the German Princes were in league with the present King. +At the same time he informed his good cousin of his intended marriage +to the Lady Anne of Cleves, a Princess of suitable age and elegant +stature, and begged him to obtain a safe-conduct from the Regent for +his bride's passage through the Low Countries.[258] The next day +Frederic crossed the Channel and joined his wife at Brussels. Here, as +Dorothea had already told him, he found the Queen much displeased at +the trick which he had played her, and Hubert came in for his share of +blame. They soon left Brabant for Heidelberg, and the Palatine sent +Lady Lisle--or, as he called her, "Madame ma bonne mère"--a barrel of +fine red and white Rhine wine in remembrance "of her loving son."[259] + + +II. + +King Henry's marriage to Anne of Cleves, as Southampton told his +master, was exceedingly unpopular in the Netherlands. The alliance +of so powerful a monarch with Duke William was fraught with danger, +and the people bitterly resented the insult which, in their eyes, had +been offered to the Duchess of Milan. The merchants of Antwerp said +openly that, if King Henry chose to break faith with their Princess, he +should not enjoy the company of another wife, and declared they would +not allow the Lady Anne to pass through their city. The Cleves Envoys +in England were so much alarmed by these reports that they travelled +back to Düren in disguise, and advised the bride to take the sea-route +from Germany. But Mary of Hungary was too wise to show her annoyance, +and sent a gracious message to Henry, saying that she would send Count +Büren to wait on the Lady Anne, on her journey through the Emperor's +dominions. The King wrote back in high glee to thank "his dearest +sister," and on the 27th of December his new bride landed safely at +Dover.[260] The loyal citizens of Flanders consoled themselves with +the thought that, if their Duchess was not to be Queen of England, +they would keep her among them, and the old rumour was persistently +repeated: "She shall marry the Prince of Orange." All through the past +year René had devoted himself to Christina's service, had worn her +favours and broken lances in her honour. Her Italian servants called +him openly the Duchess's _cavaliere sirvente_.[261] But it was plain +to Italians and Flemings alike that the affection was not at all on +one side, and that this gallant Prince had won Christina's heart. Old +courtiers smiled kindly on the young couple, and ladies drew aside +discreetly to leave them together. They were eminently fitted for each +other by age, race and character. If the succession to the principality +of Orange, which had been lately restored by the French King, hardly +entitled René to a place among the reigning Princes of Europe, at least +he could offer her splendid homes at Brussels and Breda, and a position +which many ladies of royal birth might envy. The Countess Palatine +Dorothea privately encouraged the Prince, and her husband warmly +approved of the match, and said openly that, since his sister-in-law +could not be King Henry's wife, she had better marry the man of her +choice, and not waste the best years of her life, as he himself had +done.[262] + +[Sidenote: SEPT., 1539] THE REVOLT OF GHENT] + +Queen Mary was, clearly, not averse to the Prince's suit, and had +a strong liking for René; but reasons of State prevented her from +giving the union her public sanction, and all parties were agreed that +nothing could be arranged until the Emperor's arrival. The date of his +journey was now definitely fixed, and in November Mary told the English +Ambassador Vaughan that her brother would be at Brussels by the New +Year. Charles at length realized the critical situation of affairs, +and saw that if he wished to keep his provinces _de par-deça_ he must +no longer delay his coming.[263] In September, 1539, the citizens of +Ghent, who had long been discontented, broke into open revolt. After +refusing to pay their share of the subsidy voted by the States, the +leading citizens put to death their chief magistrate, Lieven Pyl, +because he declined to bear their insolent message to the Regent, and +proceeded to tear up the famous "Calf-vel," a parchment deed containing +an agreement which they had made with Charles V. twenty-four years +before. Worse than all, they sent deputies to King Francis, asking him +to defend their liberties against the Emperor. At the first tidings of +these disorders Mary hastened to Malines and took energetic measures +to suppress the insurrection, which had already spread to several of +the neighbouring towns.[264] For some weeks the alarm was great, and +watchers were posted on the tower of S. Rombaut night and day; but the +Queen's presence of mind, and the support of her able lieutenants, +Aerschot and De Courrières, who was now Bailiff of Alost, succeeded in +confining the mutiny to the walls of Ghent. A simultaneous rising at +Maestricht was put down by the Prince of Orange, who raised 300 horse +and hastened to restore order in that city. But the citizens of Ghent +still openly defied the Regent, although Francis, to do him credit, +refused to help the rebels. More than this, he addressed a letter +with his own royal hand to Charles, saying that, if the Emperor was +coming to chastise his revolted subjects, he hoped that he would do +him the honour of passing through France, assuring him, on the faith +of a Prince, that every possible honour and hospitality would be shown +him.[265] + +So critical was the situation, both with regard to Ghent and Guelders, +that Charles decided to accept the offer and take the shortest route to +Flanders. + + "My good brother the Emperor," wrote Francis to his Ambassador + in England, "is coming to visit me on his way to the Low + Countries, a thing which not only does me the greatest honour, + content, and pleasure, but is a proof of the good and perfect + friendship between us." + +He expressed the same feelings in still stronger terms to Wyatt, whom +Cromwell sent to Blois in December to be present at the meeting of the +two monarchs. + + "The Emperor," he added, "is doing me the greatest honour that + can be, by coming to visit me, and showing thereby that he + taketh me for an honest man."[266] + +[Sidenote: NOV., 1539] A SPLENDID RECEPTION] + +On the 23rd of November Charles left Burgos, and four days later +he entered Bayonne, attended by the Dauphin and the Constable +Montmorency, whom the King had sent to meet him on the frontier. He +had begged Francis to dispense with ceremonies, as his great object +was to reach Flanders as quickly as possible, and to excuse him from +entering on political matters, since he could not decide anything of +importance until he had seen the Queen-Regent.[267] But, in spite of +this request, he was everywhere received with the utmost pomp and +festivity. Triumphal arches were erected at the city gates, and the +prison doors were thrown open at his entrance. Bordeaux presented him +with 300 barrels of wine, Poitiers gave him a golden eagle, Orleans a +dinner-service of richly chased plate. The meeting of the two monarchs +took place at Loches on the 10th of December. Charles, clad in deep +mourning, walked under a canopy of cloth of gold, adorned with the +imperial eagles, across the picturesque court to the gates of the +castle, where King Francis met him, surrounded by a brilliant company. +Three times over he embraced his guest, and led him to the hall, where +Eleanor, in robes of purple satin glittering with pearls, welcomed +her brother with transports of joy. Banquets and hunting-parties now +followed each other, as the Court journeyed by slow stages along the +banks of the Loire, from one fair château to another. At Amboise a heap +of tow caught fire as Charles rode up the famous spiral staircase in +the dusk, and he narrowly escaped being suffocated. But, mercifully, +no one was injured, and Francis escorted his imperial brother by way +of Blois and Orleans to Fontainebleau, where Christmas was spent and +the Emperor was allowed to enjoy a week's rest. On New Year's Day the +Emperor entered Paris, where the Parliament and University received +him "as if he were a god from heaven," and the following motto was +inscribed on the gates in golden letters: + + "Ouvre, Paris, ouvre tes hautes portes, + Entrer y veut le plus grand des Chrétiens."[268] + +Queen Eleanor, who scarcely left her brother's side, took him to see +the _Sainte Chapelle_ which St. Louis had built to receive the Crown of +Thorns, and escorted him to the Louvre, where sumptuous rooms had been +prepared for his reception. On Sunday a grand tournament was held on +the Place des Tournelles, in front of the palace which then occupied +the Place des Vosges, and the Duke of Vendôme and the Count of Aumale +opened the joust, while it was closed by Francis of Lorraine, the +Marquis of Pont-à-Mousson. Charles left Paris on the 7th of January, +and was presented by the city with a silver model of the Column of +Hercules, seven feet high, bearing his motto, _Plus oultre_.[269] The +King took his guest to dine at his new pleasure-house, the Château de +Madrid, accompanied him to St. Denis, where he visited the Tomb of the +Kings, and went on to the Constable's house at Chantilly. Finally, +on the 20th, the Emperor took his leave of the King and Queen at St. +Quentin, and with tears in his eyes thanked his host for this truly +brotherly reception.[270] + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1540] THE CALENDAR OF FOOLS] + +In spite of the sinister warnings which Charles had received before +he set out on his journey, in spite of Mary of Hungary's fears and of +Madame d'Étampes' thinly-veiled hostility, the experiment had proved a +brilliant success. Spanish and French poets celebrated the triumph of +Peace over War, and the return of the golden age. And Charles himself +laughed heartily when the King's jester, Triboulet, told him that he +had inscribed His Imperial Majesty's name on his Calendar of Fools, +because he had been so rash as to venture into his enemy's country, +but now that he had reached the end of his journey without mishap, +he should rub out Charles's name, and write that of Francis in its +place.[271] + +The French King went home in high delight, and wrote to Marillac saying +that now all his differences with the Emperor would be easily arranged. +During those five weeks the King had respected his guest's wishes +and avoided politics, but the Constable, who enjoyed the Emperor's +confidence in a high degree, had made good use of this opportunity, +and flattered himself that he had been entirely successful. He was +above all anxious to effect a marriage between the widowed Emperor and +the King's daughter, and told Granvelle that Madame Marguerite was a +rose among thorns, an angel among devils, and that, if His Imperial +Majesty thought of making a second marriage, he could not do better. +But Charles was firmly resolved never to take another wife, and, when +the Constable pressed the point after he had left France, wrote that he +must beg the King to give up all idea of such a union, as he did not +intend to marry again, and was too old for Madame Marguerite.[272] + +[Sidenote: 1539-41] A COURTLY FAREWELL] + +In spite of the splendour and cordiality of his reception, Charles was +sad and tired, and longed more than all else to find himself among +his kindred and people. It was with heartfelt relief that he reached +Cambray, and found the Prince of Orange, the Duke of Aerschot, and his +faithful De Courrières, with the Archers' Guard, awaiting him. The +next day he went on to Valenciennes, where his loyal subjects welcomed +his return with passionate joy. Triumphal arches adorned the streets, +and the houses were hung with tapestries. Now it was his turn to act +as host, and do honour to the Dauphin and Duke of Orleans, who, with +Vendôme, the Constable, and Aumale, the Duke of Guise's eldest son, +had insisted on escorting him across the frontier.[273] The keys of +the city were presented to the Dauphin at the Cambray gate, torches +blazed all along the streets, and the bells rang merry peals as Charles +led the way to the ancient hôtel-de-ville, known as La Salle, where +the Queen of Hungary and the Duchess of Milan received him with open +arms. The next two days were given up to mirth and festivity. Charles +showed the French Princes the sights of the town, while the Constable +was invited to dine alone with the Queen and her niece, and sat down to +table between the two royal ladies. A splendid banquet was followed by +a ball, which lasted far on into the morning. All the ladies appeared +in magnificent costumes--French, Italian, Flemish, or Spanish, as they +chose--and wore the richest jewels. The Emperor moved through the vast +hall, blithe and debonair beyond his wont, jesting with his old friends +and rejoicing to be once more in his native land. Mary and Christina, +both of whom, remarks the chronicler, although widows, were still young +and beautiful, danced with the French Princes all the evening, and +were in high spirits.[274] There was much gay talk, and the Pope's +Legate, the young Cardinal Farnese, amused the guests with stories of +the latest gossip from the Court of England, which Queen Eleanor had +heard from Marillac. According to him, the new Queen, Anne of Cleves, +was too old and ugly for King Henry's taste, while her dresses and +those of her German "Fraus" were so monstrous that the King would +not allow them to appear at Court, and told his wife to adopt French +fashions.[275] + +The next morning the French Princes appeared early to bid the Queen +farewell, and were very gracious in their manner of leave-taking. The +Dauphin received a superb diamond jewel in the shape of a griffin, +and a very fine emerald was bestowed on the Constable. There was some +talk of a marriage between the Duke of Orleans and a daughter of +King Ferdinand, while the King of Navarre and his wife, Margaret of +Angoulême, were eager for a match between their only daughter, Jeanne, +and the Prince of Spain. Vendôme probably realized that he had little +chance of winning the Duchess of Milan, but he shrugged his shoulders +and went his way gaily, saying he would wed the Pope's granddaughter, +Vittoria Farnese, the sister of the boy Cardinal. And they all rode off +in high spirits to join the King at La Fère and show him the Emperor's +costly gifts. They met him on his way back from hunting, riding at the +side of the Queen's litter, clad in a scarlet cloak, which made the +English Ambassador remark how much better Eleanor was treated since +her brother's visit. And the whole Court, in Bishop Bonner's words, +"made much demonstration of gladness, thinking they have God by the +foot."[276] + + +III. + +Among all his political anxieties and preoccupations, the Emperor had +not forgotten his niece. Before he left Spain on this perilous journey +through his old enemy's country, he drew up a paper of instructions to +be given to his son Philip in case of his own death. A large part of +this advice was devoted to the choice of a wife for the Prince himself, +the heiress of Navarre being on the whole, in Charles's opinion, the +most eligible bride for his son. After suggesting various alliances +for his little daughters, Maria and Juana, the Emperor proceeded to +urge on his successor the importance of finding a husband for his +niece, the Widow of Milan, saying that he counted her as one of his +own children. Three Princes, he said, were all eager to marry her--the +Duke of Cleves, the heir of Lorraine, and the Duke of Vendôme--but +it would be necessary to defer his decision until he had ascertained +the best measures for recovering Denmark and settling the question of +Guelders. "And if God," he added, "should call to Himself the Palatine +Frederic, who is old and broken, one of these Princes might marry his +widow."[277] Christina's marriage, it is easy to see, was closely bound +up with the settlement of Guelders, an object which lay very near to +her uncle's heart. + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1540] GUELDERS] + +The English Ambassador Wyatt, who had been posting after the Emperor +across France, "through deep and foul roads," was convinced that +Charles in his heart of hearts cared more for Guelders than he did for +all Italy. This earnest desire to recover Guelders was, he felt sure, +the true reason why the Emperor had undertaken this long journey in the +depth of winter, and exposed his person to such great risks in passing +through France. When, contrary to the Constable's express orders, Wyatt +obtained an audience from the Emperor at Châtelhérault, as he came +in from hunting with the Dauphin, and informed him of His Majesty's +marriage and alliance with Cleves, Charles turned angrily on him, +saying: + +"What hath Monsieur de Cleves to do with Guelders? I mean to show him +that he has played the young man. I hope the King will give him good +advice, for, I can tell you, Monsieur de Cleves shall give me reason. I +say he shall--he shall! If he does," he continued, laying his hand on +his heart, "he shall find in me a Sovereign, a cousin, and a neighbour. +Otherwise he will lose all three."[278] + +When, two months later in Brussels, Wyatt craved another interview +of the Emperor, and begged him in Henry's name to look favourably on +his brother-in-law's petition, Charles said he must desire the King +not to meddle between him and his subjects, repeating the same words, +"Je ne ferai rien," two or three times over. An Envoy from the Duke +of Cleves came to meet him at Brussels, but was told that the Emperor +could not attend to his master's business until the affairs of Ghent +were settled. These, as Wyatt remarked, had already quieted down in +a singular manner from the moment that the Emperor started on his +journey, and deputies from the revolted city had been sent to meet him +at Valenciennes. But he refused sternly to see them, saying that they +would learn his pleasure when he came to Ghent.[279] + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1540] A SEVERE PUNISHMENT] + +It was Charles's intention to overawe the turbulent city by an +imposing display of armed force. On the 14th of February, 1540, he +entered Ghent--"that great, rich, and beautiful city," writes the city +chronicler, "with its broad streets, fair rivers, noble churches, +houses, and hospitals, the finest in the Netherlands"--at the head of +a stately procession. The Queen rode on his right hand, the Duchess +of Milan on his left, followed by the Princess of Macedonia and other +ladies in litters, the officers of the household, and a long train +of foreign Ambassadors, Princes, and Knights of the Golden Fleece. +Cardinal Farnese, Don Ferrante Gonzaga, Viceroy of Sicily, the Prince +of Orange, the Dukes of Alva and Aerschot, Count Egmont, Büren, De +Praet, Lalaing, and Granvelle, were all present. In their rear came +the troops--4,000 horse, 1,000 crossbowmen, 5,000 _Landsknechten_, +and a strong body of artillery, numbering in all 60,000 persons and +15,000 horses. Their entry lasted six hours, and it was dusk before +the last guns and baggage defiled through the streets. Charles, with +his sister and niece, alighted at the Prinzenhof, the house where he +had been born just forty years before, and the Archers' Guard took +up their station at the gates.[280] A strong body of infantry was +encamped in the neighbouring market-place, pickets of cavalry occupied +the chief squares, and the rest of the troops were quartered in other +parts of the city. But there was not the least show of resistance on +the part of the citizens. Absolute tranquillity reigned everywhere +while the stricken city awaited the Emperor's sentence. It was, as +might be expected, a severe one. Twenty-three of the ringleaders were +arrested, and after a prolonged trial were found guilty. On the 17th +of March, nine of these were put to death in the market-place, while +the others were banished and heavily fined. On the 29th of April the +Emperor convened the chief officers of State and magistrates in the +great hall of the Prinzenhof, and, in the presence of the Queen and +her Court, delivered his sentence on the guilty city. The charters and +privileges of Ghent were annulled, the property of the Corporation +was confiscated, and heavy additional fines were imposed, beside the +payment of the 400,000 florins which had been the cause of the quarrel. +In their consternation, the burghers turned to Mary and implored her +to intercede on their behalf; but she could only advise them to throw +themselves on the Emperor's mercy. On the 3rd of May a memorable and +historic scene took place in the court of the Prinzenhof. Here the +Emperor, seated on a tribunal, with his crown on his head and sceptre +in his hand, and surrounded by the Archers' Guard, received the +senators and chief burghers, as, robed in black, with bare heads and +feet, and halters round their necks, they knelt in the dust at his +feet. The sentence of condemnation was read aloud in the presence of +a brilliant assembly of nobles and courtiers, and of a vast crowd who +looked on from the windows and roofs of the neighbouring houses. Then +Mary, who occupied a chair at her brother's side, rose, and, turning to +the Emperor, in eloquent words implored him to have pity on his poor +city of Ghent, and to remember that he had been born there. The Emperor +gave a gracious answer, saying that out of brotherly love for her and +pity for his poor subjects he would pardon the citizens and restore +their property. But he decided to build a citadel to keep the city in +subjection, and, after taking his brother Ferdinand to the top of the +belfry tower to choose a site, he eventually fixed on the high ground +above the River Scheldt, where St. Bavon's Abbey stood. The demolition +of the ancient monastery was at once begun, and before the Emperor left +Ghent the first stone of the new fortress was laid.[281] + +While these tragic events were taking place, a succession of +illustrious guests arrived at Court. First of all, at the end of +February, came Ferdinand, King of the Romans, a simple and honest +Prince, the best of husbands and fathers, and as fondly attached to his +sister Mary as she was to him. At the same time the Palatine Frederic +sent his wife to join the family party and plead her unfortunate +father's cause with the all-powerful Emperor. Although his journey +to England had failed to secure Henry's support, he still cherished +designs against Denmark, and was anxious to prevent a renewal of +the truce between the Low Countries and King Christian III. After +consulting Archbishop Carondelet, the President of the Council, and +Granvelle, the two sisters, Dorothea and Christina, drew up a petition +to the Emperor, imploring him to have pity on the poor prisoner, +who had already languished seven years in solitary confinement, and +reminding him gently of the pledges given to the Palatine at his +marriage. + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1540] WILLIAM OF CLEVES] + + "My sister and I,"--so ran the words of Dorothea's + prayer--"your humble and loving children, entreat you, as + the fountain of all justice, to have compassion on us. Open + the prison doors, which you alone are able to do, release my + father, and give me advice as to how I may best obtain the + kingdom which belongs to me by the laws of God and man."[282] + +But although the sisters' touching appeal on behalf of their captive +father moved many hearts, and both Henry VIII. and James V. of Scotland +wrote to assure the Palatine of their sympathy, no one was inclined to +embark on so desperate an enterprise, and Dorothea went back to her +lord at Heidelberg without having obtained any satisfaction. On the +14th of April a truce was concluded with the Danish Envoys, who had +followed the Emperor to Ghent, and the illusory hopes of the three +crowns which had been so long dangled before the Palatine's eyes melted +into thin air.[283] + +There was still one important question awaiting settlement. William of +Cleves had sent three successive Ambassadors to congratulate Charles on +his return and to seek the investiture of Guelders at his hand. Now, at +King Ferdinand's instance, he arrived at Ghent one day in person, to +the surprise of the whole Court. + + "The Duke of Cleves," wrote an eyewitness of his entry, "has + come to Ghent with a fine suite, to claim Guelders and marry + the Duchess of Milan. This is not to be wondered at, for she + is a young and very beautiful widow as well as a Princess of + the noblest birth. He who wins her for his bride will be a + fortunate man."[284] + +The English Ambassador at Düren, Nicholas Wotton, had done his utmost +to prevent the Duke from accepting Ferdinand's invitation; and Wyatt +was charged by Cromwell to neglect no means of preventing an alliance +which would defeat all his schemes. The wily Ambassador laid his snares +cleverly. When the Cleves Ambassador, Olisleger, told him that the Duke +was about to wed the Duchess, he whispered that his master had better +be careful and take counsel of King Henry before he took any further +pledges. + + "I told him," wrote Wyatt to King Henry, "to advise his master, + in case of marriage, to use his friend's counsel, and herein, + if I shall be plain with Your Majesty, I cannot but rejoice + in a manner of the escape that you made there; for although I + suppose nothing but honour in the Lady, yet methinketh Your + Highness's mate should be without mote or suspicion; and yet + there is thought affection between the Prince of Orange and + her, and hath been of long; which, for her bringing-up in + Italy, may be noted but service which she cannot let, but I + have heard it to proceed partly from her own occasion. Of this + Your Majesty will judge, and do with your friend as ye shall + think meet."[285] + +René's courtship of the Duchess was no secret, and Christina's +preference for the popular Prince was plain to everyone at the Imperial +Court; but the unworthy insinuations by which the Ambassador strove to +blacken her character were altogether his invention. + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1540] THE DUKE'S SUIT] + +Since this was the surest way to win both Henry's and Cromwell's +favour, Wyatt made unscrupulous use of these slanders to poison William +of Cleves's mind against the Duchess whose hand he sought. On the +13th of April the Duke arrived at Ghent, and was met by the Prince +of Orange, who brought him to King Ferdinand's rooms. Late the same +evening the English Ambassador had a secret interview with him, and +did his utmost to dissuade him from entering into any treaty with the +Emperor. The Duke's irresolution was now greater than ever. The next +day Ferdinand himself conducted him into the Emperor's presence, where +he received the most friendly greeting, and was invited to join the +imperial family at dinner. The gracious welcome which he received from +Mary, and the sight of Christina, went far to remove his doubts, and +during the next few days the harmony that prevailed among the Princes +excited Wyatt's worst misgivings. The Venetian Ambassador, Francesco +Contarini, met the Countess Palatine returning from Ghent, and heard +from her servants that a marriage was arranged between her sister and +the Duke of Cleves. Monsieur de Vély, the French Envoy, sent this +report to Paris, and it was confidently asserted at the French and +English Courts that Cleves had settled his quarrel with the Emperor, +and was to wed the Duchess.[286] + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1540] AN ABRUPT DEPARTURE] + +But these reports were premature. The Duke told Wotton and Wyatt that +nothing would induce him to give up Guelders, and at their suggestion +he placed a statement of his claims in the hands of Ferdinand, who +promised to submit the document to the Emperor. During the next +fortnight the question was discussed in all its bearings by Charles and +his Councillors. The Duke pressed his suit for the Duchess's hand, and +the Emperor went so far as to offer him the reversion of Denmark if he +would renounce Guelders. But William was as obstinate as the Emperor, +and, when Ferdinand induced Charles to offer Cleves his niece and the +duchy of Guelders for his lifetime, he quite refused to accept this +proposal. All Ferdinand could persuade him to do, was to consent that +the question of Guelders should be referred to the Imperial Chamber, +a compromise which satisfied neither party. Still friendly relations +were maintained outwardly. On Sunday, the 27th of April, the imperial +family attended Mass in state, the Emperor riding to the Church of St. +John with the King of the Romans and the boy Legate, Cardinal Farnese, +on his left, followed by the Dukes of Brunswick, Cleves, Savoy, and the +Marquis of Brandenburg. In the afternoon Ferdinand sent for the Duke +again, and made one more attempt to arrange matters, without success. +Some insolent words spoken by Cleves's servants aroused the Emperor's +anger, upon which the Duke became alarmed, and sent Wotton word that, +seeing no hope of agreement, he intended to return home. Early the +next morning, without taking leave of anyone, he rode out of the town +secretly, and never halted until he was safe in his own dominions. +His royal brother-in-law, King Henry, sent him a long letter, +congratulating him on his safe return, and advising him solemnly not to +marry the Duchess of Milan without finding out the true state of her +affections towards the Prince of Orange, lest he should be deceived. +Wotton told the King, in reply, that the Duke's affection for Christina +was now cooled, partly because she had refused him, and partly because +of the information which Henry had given him. All idea of the marriage +was certainly abandoned, and on the 22nd of June Cleves himself wrote +to tell Henry that he had received friendly overtures from the French +King, and was sending Ambassadors to make proposals for his niece, the +Princess of Navarre.[287] + +Meanwhile the Duke's strange conduct had excited much surprise at +Ghent. The Emperor, who had spent the anniversary of his wife's death +in retirement at a Carthusian convent in the neighbourhood, returned +to find Cleves gone. Henry of Brunswick rode with his friend to the +outskirts of the town, and hurried back to be present at the imperial +table, where he tried to explain the Duke's abrupt departure by saying +that he was afraid of treachery. But Ferdinand and Mary were both +seriously annoyed, and the only member of the family to rejoice was +Christina, who felt that she could once more breathe freely. + +The pacification of Ghent was now complete, and the bulk of the forces +were disbanded. On Ascension Day--the 6th of May--the imperial family +attended Mass at St. John's, the Queen "walking lovingly up the church, +hand in hand with the King of the Romans." The Ambassadors were all +present, as well as Cardinal Farnese--in Wotton's opinion "a very calf, +and a greater boy in manners and condition than in years." + +On the 12th the King of the Romans took leave of his family, but the +Council at which he assisted lasted so late in the evening that he did +not actually set out on his journey till two o'clock on the following +day. About six in the cool hours of the May morning, the Emperor, +with his sister and niece, rode out to see the foundations of the new +citadel laid, and then continued their journey towards Antwerp, where +"great gun-shot" and bonfires welcomed their arrival.[288] + + +IV. + +[Sidenote: JULY, 1540] CROMWELL'S FALL] + +The Court spent the next three weeks at Bruges, the beautiful old city +which was always a favourite with Charles and his sisters, in the +ancient Prinzenhof where their mother had died. During these summer +days many important events took place, and startling news came from +England. On the 10th of June Cromwell was suddenly arrested and sent to +the Tower on a charge of high-treason. A fortnight later the new Queen, +Anne of Cleves, left Whitehall for Richmond, and on the 9th of July +her marriage was pronounced null and void by a decree of Convocation. +The ostensible reason for the divorce was a precontract between Anne +and Francis of Lorraine. It was true that as children they had been +affianced by their respective parents, but, as was common in such +cases, all idea of the marriage had been afterwards abandoned, and +Henry had professed himself entirely satisfied with the explanations +given by Anne's relatives on the subject. But from the first moment +that he met his bride at Rochester, on New Year's Day, 1540, he was +profoundly disappointed. When Cromwell asked him how he liked her, he +replied, "Nothing so well as she was spoken of," adding that, had he +known as much of her before as he did now, she should never have set +foot in his realm. However, he felt constrained to marry her, for fear +of "making a ruffle in the world," and driving her brother into the +Emperor's arms. At Whitsuntide he told Cromwell that from the day of +his marriage he had become weary of life, and took a solemn oath that +before God Anne had never been his lawful wife. + +From that moment Cromwell knew that his own fate was sealed. "The King +loves not the Queen," he said to Wriothesley. "What a triumph for the +Emperor and the Pope!" A week afterwards he was committed to the Tower, +and on the 28th of July he was beheaded.[289] + +The news of his fall was received with general satisfaction abroad. +King Francis gave vent to boisterous joy, and sent his brother word +how sincerely he rejoiced to hear that this false and wicked traitor, +who had brought the noblest heads in England to the block, was at +length unmasked. The Emperor, on the contrary, showed no surprise or +emotion when he heard the news from Archdeacon Pate, the new Envoy +who had succeeded Wyatt, but merely said: "What! is he in the Tower +of London, and by the King's counsel?" And when, on the 6th of July, +Pate informed him that the King had repudiated his wife, he cast his +eye steadfastly on the speaker, and asked what scruples His Majesty +entertained regarding his marriage with the daughter of Cleves. The +Ambassador explained, as best he could, what he took to be the motives +of the King's action, upon which the Emperor said that he was convinced +Cromwell was the true cause of all the terrible crimes which had of +late years been committed against religion and order in England. So +friendly was the Emperor that Pate wrote to the Duke of Norfolk: "If +His Majesty hath thereby lost the hearts of the Electors, he hath in +their places gained those of the Emperor and the French King."[290] + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1540] RENÉ OF ORANGE] + +Both at Bruges and Antwerp the news aroused much excitement among +the merchants, who were unanimous in the opinion that the King now +intended to take the Duchess of Milan "for the true heart which she +bore him." But nothing was further from Christina's mind. She had +rejoiced at the failure of the King's suit, and saw the Duke of Cleves +leave Ghent without regret. Now all seemed ripe for the fulfilment of +her long-cherished hopes. The Prince of Orange had been unremitting in +his attendance on the Emperor since his arrival, and, as all men knew, +was honoured by His Majesty's confidence and affection. His popularity +with the army was unbounded, and it was a common saying that wherever +the Prince's little pony went, every Dutchman would follow. The Queen +looked kindly on his suit, and Christina's heart was already his own. +But when, in these bright June days at Bruges, he modestly laid his +suit before the Emperor, an unexpected difficulty arose. Three years +before a marriage with the Duke of Lorraine's only daughter had been +proposed for the young Prince of Orange by his uncle, William of +Nassau-Dillenburg, the head of the German branch of the house. The idea +met with Henry of Nassau's cordial approval, and at his request the +Emperor sent his servant Montbardon to obtain Duke Antoine's consent. +This was granted without any difficulty, and the contract was drawn +up before the Count of Nassau's death.[291] Now the Duke urged the +Prince to keep this long-standing engagement and marry his daughter +Anne--the plain but excellent lady whose portrait Holbein had taken +for King Henry. The Prince had never seen his destined bride, and was +very reluctant to carry out the contract, but the Emperor was resolute. +Antoine already had a serious grievance in the matter of Guelders, and +it was of the highest importance to secure his alliance. Accordingly, +Charles told René that he must prove himself a loyal knight, and with +his own hand drew up the articles of the marriage treaty, and sent +them to Nancy by the Archdeacon of Arras. Christina's name is never +mentioned in the whole transaction. It was the old story of the Count +Palatine and the Archduchess Eleanor. She was a daughter of the House +of Habsburg, and knew that the Emperor's will must be obeyed. So she +could only bow her head in silence and submit to his decrees. If she +wept bitter tears, it was in secret, in her quiet chamber in the +ancient Cour des Princes at Bruges, looking down on the green waters of +the canal.[292] + +There was great rejoicing throughout Lorraine when the Emperor's +messenger reached Nancy and the marriage was proclaimed. Anne was very +popular throughout the duchy, and since her mother's death, a year +before, had taken a prominent place at the ducal Court, where her tact +and kindness made her universally beloved. The wedding took place in +the last week of August at Bar.[293] All the members of the ducal house +were present, including the Duke and Duchess of Guise, with their sons +and daughters, and the Cardinal of Lorraine, who came from the French +Court to pronounce the nuptial blessing. + +The Prince of Orange's martial appearance and his splendid suite made +a favourable impression on his new relatives, as Antoinette de Bourbon +wrote to her daughter in Scotland: + + "I have delayed longer than I intended before writing to you, + but we have been so well amused by the wedding of Mademoiselle + de Lorraine that until this moment I have not had leisure to + begin this letter. Yesterday we left the assembled company. + There was a very large gathering, and the wedding took place + last Tuesday. Monsieur le Prince arrived honourably attended, + and is, I can assure you, a very charming and handsome Prince. + He is much pleased with his bride, and she is devoted to him. + They are to go home in a fortnight. The fête was at Bar, but + there were very few strangers present--only a few nobles and + ladies of the neighbourhood."[294] + +On the 27th of September the Prince of Orange brought his bride to +Brussels, where the States were assembled. The whole Court rode out +to welcome the happy pair, and escorted them to the Nassau palace, +where the Prince changed his travelling dress for a Court mantle, and +hastened to pay his respects to the Emperor. A succession of fêtes +was given in their honour, and dances, masques, and banquets, were +the order of the day. The Princess charmed everyone by her gracious +manners, and her fine figure and splendid clothes and jewels became the +object of general admiration. + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1540] ANNE OF LORRAINE] + +On the 2nd of October a grand tournament was given in the Prince's +house, which the Emperor, Queen Mary, and Christina, honoured with +their presence. René himself challenged all comers at the barriers, +and his wife was the most charming hostess. Before Charles left, he +presented Anne with a costly ring, and appointed the Prince to succeed +Antoine de Lalaing as Stadtholder of Holland and Friesland. Three +days afterwards the newly-married pair left Court for their own home +at Breda, and the Emperor set out on a progress through Artois and +Hainault, leaving his sister and niece at Brussels. + +René's wife soon became a great favourite with the Queen, and Christina +danced as gaily as the rest at the wedding fêtes. But it is significant +that the only mention made of her in contemporary records is in the +despatches of the English Ambassador, Richard Pate, who tells us that +the Duchess of Milan spent much of her time in the company of her +brother-in-law, the Palatine.[295] Frederic had come to Brussels to +confer with the Emperor on German affairs, and, if possible, to raise a +loan of 600,000 ducats for his intended campaign against Denmark. But +although Charles professed himself ready and anxious to oblige his good +cousin, the Regent would give him no answer, and ended by telling him +to get the money from the Imperial Treasury. Richard Pate held long and +confidential conversations with the Palatine, who recalled his visit +to Windsor with delight, and spoke with warm admiration of the beauty +of the singing in St. George's Chapel. He was curious to know if his +old friend the King had grown as fat as he was represented in recent +portraits, and rejoiced to hear that His Majesty was lusty and merry. +As for the Duchess of Milan, he could only feel sorry that so charming +a lady should still lack a husband, and frankly regretted that she had +not married King Henry, or, failing him, the Prince of Orange.[296] +After his return to Germany, Frederic made another attempt to bring +about his sister-in-law's marriage to the Duke of Cleves, who still +hesitated between his old love for Christina and his reluctance to give +up Guelders. But negotiations were already in progress with another +suitor, who had bided his time patiently, and who was now at length to +obtain his reward. + +[Sidenote: 1539-41] LOUISE DE GUISE] + +The Prince of Orange's union with Anne of Lorraine had strengthened +the ties that bound her father to the Emperor, and a second marriage, +which took place this autumn, united the two houses still more closely. +Among the young nobles who accompanied René to Bar for his wedding was +Charles, Prince of Chimay, the eldest son of the Duke of Aerschot, the +wealthy and powerful Governor of Brabant, who was foremost among the +Regent's confidential advisers, and whom she affectionately called by +the pet name of "Moriceau." On the death of his mother in 1539, the +young Prince had succeeded to her vast estates, and lived at the fine +castle of Beaumont, near the French frontier. At Bar he saw and fell +in love with Louise de Guise, the lovely girl whom Henry VIII. would +gladly have made his wife. But there were difficulties in the young +suitor's way. His own family began by opposing the marriage, and it +was some time before Charles's consent could be obtained. The Duke of +Guise had long been the Emperor's most bitter enemy, and was known to +have strongly opposed his journey through France. Fortunately, Duchess +Antoinette was from the first on the lovers' side, and succeeded in +gaining her husband's consent. For some time past King Francis had been +trying to arrange a marriage between her eldest son, the Count of +Aumale, and the Pope's granddaughter, "_Vyquetorya_ Farnese," as Louise +calls her in one of her letters. But the Pope haggled over the dowry, +and insisted on asking the Emperor's consent; so that Antoinette had a +troublesome task in her lord's absence, and complained sorely to the +Queen of Scotland of these vexatious delays. + + "By way of consolation, however," she writes on the 30th of + November, "we have an offer for your sister. Monsieur le Duc + d'Aerschot has sent to ask for her, on behalf of his eldest + son, the Prince of Chimay, a youth about twenty, handsome and + well brought up, we hear. He will give him a portion of 50,000 + crowns a year, and he will have some fine estates, such as the + duchy of Aerschot, the principality of Chimay, the counties of + Beaumont and Porcien, most of them near Guise. I have told your + father, who is at Court, and he approves, and has spoken to + the King and to our brothers, who all advise us to accept the + proposal. So do my brother-in-law [the Duke of Lorraine] and my + mother [Madame de Vendôme]. It has been arranged that we should + all meet at Bar on the Conception of Our Lady, as my lord the + Duke wishes the matter to be settled at his house. I hope your + father will be there, but if not he will give me the necessary + powers. If things can be arranged, she will be well married, + for the Prince has great possessions and beautiful houses, and + plate and furniture in abundance. But it is a great anxiety to + be treating of two marriages at once."[297] + +Happily for the good Duchess, the young Prince had his way, and the +contract between him and Louise was duly signed at Bar on the 22nd of +December. On the same day the Emperor, accompanied by the Regent and +Duchess of Milan, paid a visit to the Duke of Aerschot at Beaumont, and +offered him their warmest congratulations on his son's marriage.[298] +The wedding took place at Joinville in the following March, by which +time Christina's own marriage to Louise's cousin was arranged, and all +Lorraine rang with the sound of wedding-bells. + + +V. + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1541] CHRISTINA'S BETROTHAL] + +The vaunted alliance between Charles and Francis did not last long, +and less than a year after the Emperor and King had parted at St. +Quentin, vowing eternal friendship, a renewal of war seemed already +imminent. Francis was bitterly disappointed to find that none of the +great results which he expected from Charles's visit had come to pass. +The Emperor firmly declined to marry his daughter, and gave no signs +of surrendering Milan to the Duke of Orleans. All he would offer was +the reversion of the Low Countries as his daughter's portion if she +married Orleans. This failed to satisfy Francis, who declared that +he would have Milan and nothing else. In order to prevent his niece, +Jeanne of Navarre, marrying the Prince of Spain, the King offered her +to the Duke of Cleves, who signed a treaty with France this summer, but +was not actually affianced to the little Princess until the Duchess of +Milan was finally betrothed to Francis of Lorraine. Upon hearing of +the alliance between France and Cleves, Charles retaliated by solemnly +investing his son Philip with the duchy of Milan. This ceremony took +place at Brussels on the 11th of October, and was regarded by Francis +as an open act of defiance. He vented his anger on the Constable, who +asked leave to retire; while Madame d'Étampes did her best to obtain +her rival's disgrace and induce the King to declare war against the +Emperor. But Francis was loth to let his old servant go, and said to +Montmorency, with tears in his eyes: "How can you ask me to let you +leave me? I have only one fault to find with you, that you do not love +what I love."[299] The Constable consented to remain, and for the +moment the crisis was delayed. + +After visiting the forts along the frontier and leaving garrisons in +every town, the Emperor came to Namur for Christmas, and prepared +for his final departure. Forty chariots were needed for his own use, +and all the horses and carts in the neighbouring provinces were +requisitioned to provide for the conveyance of his immense suite. On +Innocents' Day the Court moved to Luxembourg, and all the gentlemen +of the countryside rode out to meet the Emperor. With him came the +Queen and the Duchess of Milan, and on the same evening they were +joined by the Duke of Lorraine and his son Francis, the Marquis of +Pont-à-Mousson. On the Feast of the Three Kings the imperial party +attended Mass in the cathedral, and the Emperor, after his usual +custom, presented golden cups to three abbeys in the town. And on +the same day the marriage of the Marquis to the Duchess of Milan +was finally concluded, to the great delight of the old Duke, who +was as much pleased as the bridegroom. Two days afterwards Charles +took an affectionate farewell of his sister and niece, and went on +to Regensburg, leaving them to return to Brussels, while the Duke of +Lorraine hastened to Nancy to summon the States and inform his loyal +subjects of his son's marriage.[300] + +On the 1st of March the contract drawn up by the Imperial Ministers, +Granvelle and De Praet, was signed by the Duke of Lorraine at Bar, and +on the 20th by the Emperor. The ducal manors of Blamont and Denœuvre +were settled upon the Duchess, and, in order that she might not lose +any rank by her marriage, the Marquis received the title of Duke of +Bar.[301] On the 12th of March the Queen and Duchess both went to the +Castle of Beaumont in Hainault, to be present at the splendid reception +which the Duke of Aerschot gave his daughter-in-law. The Duchess of +Guise herself accompanied the beloved Louise to her future home, +and wrote the following account of the festivities to Queen Mary of +Scotland from her husband's château at Guise: + + "MADAME, + + [Sidenote: MARCH, 1541] WEDDING-BELLS] + + "I have been so confidently assured that the safest way for + letters is to send them by Antwerp merchants that I am sending + mine by this means, and your sister will be my postmistress in + future. I wrote to tell you of the conclusion of her marriage, + and sent the articles of the treaty and the account of her + wedding by your messenger. I have just taken her to her new + home, a fine and noble house, as well furnished as possible, + called Beaumont. Her father-in-law, the Duke, received her very + honourably, attended by as large and illustrious a company as + you could wish to see. Among others, the Queen of Hungary was + present, and the Duchess of Milan, and both the Prince and + Princess of Orange, who, by the way, is said to be with child, + although this is not quite certain as yet, and I confess I have + my doubts on the subject. I think your sister is very well + married. She has received beautiful presents, and her husband + has made her a very rich wedding-gift. He is young, but full of + good-will and excellent intentions. It did not seem at all like + Lent, for the sound of trumpets and the clash of arms never + ceased, and there was some fine jousting. At the end we had + to part--not without tears. I am now back at Guise, but only + for one night, and go on to-morrow to La Fère. My brother the + Cardinal, and my brother and sister of St. Pol, will be there + on Wednesday. For love of them I will stay at La Fère over + Thursday, and set out again on Friday, to reach Joinville as + soon as may be, in the hope of finding your father still there, + as well as our children--that is to say, the little ones and + the priests."[302] + +Ten days later Louise herself wrote a long and happy letter to her +sister from Beaumont, full of the delights of her new home and of the +kindness with which she had been received by her husband's family. + + "MADAME, + + "Since God gave me this great blessing of a good husband, I + have never found time to write to you. But I can assure you + that I count myself indeed fortunate to be in this house, + for, besides all the grandeur of the place, I have a lord + and father-in-law whom I may well call good. It would take + three sheets of paper if I were to tell you all the kindness + with which he treats me. You may therefore be quite satisfied + of your sister's happiness, and she is further commanded to + offer you the very humble service of the masters and lords of + this house, who beg that you will employ them on any occasion + that may arise, since they will always be very glad to obey + your wishes. We also have a very wise and virtuous Queen, who + has done me the greatest honour by coming here to our house, + expressly, as she condescended to say, to receive me. She + told me herself that she meant to take me for her very humble + daughter and servant, and that in future she hoped I should + be often in her company, which, considering how little she has + seen of me, was exceedingly kind. The Duchess of Milan said + the same, and was the best and kindest of all. We may soon + hope to see her in Lorraine, for her marriage to the Marquis + is in very good train. Since my mother went home, she has sent + a letter asking me to find out if this route to Scotland will + be shorter than the other. If this is the case, and you like + to send me your letters for her, I shall be delighted. Only, + Madame, you must be sure to address your packets to the Duke + of Aerschot, which will be easy for you, as then the merchants + who come from Scotland will leave them at Antwerp or Bruges, + or any other town, and they will not fail to reach me, since + my father-in-law is greatly loved and honoured throughout the + Netherlands. And I pray that God will give you a long and happy + life. + + "Your very humble and obedient sister, + "Louise of Lorraine. + + "From Beaumont, the 25th day of March."[303] + +The keenest interest in these marriages was shown at the Court of +Scotland. King James wrote cordial letters from Edinburgh to his +sister-in-law and to the Duke of Aerschot, and congratulated the +Princess of Orange on her happy expectations, begging her to write +to him and his wife more frequently.[304] Anne had always been on +affectionate terms with her aunt and cousins at Joinville, and the +presence of Louise at Brussels this summer was another bond between +them. + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1541] AN UNWILLING BRIDE] + +Meanwhile King Francis was greatly annoyed to hear of the Duchess of +Milan's marriage. He complained bitterly to the Duke of Guise and the +Cardinal of their brother's desertion, and vowed that Antoine and his +son should feel the full weight of his displeasure. He was as good +as his word, and, when the Prince assumed the title of Duke of Bar, +disputed his rights to this duchy on the ground that it was a fief of +the Crown. In order to satisfy these new claims, the Duke was compelled +to sign an agreement on the 22nd of April, by which he and his son +consented to do homage to the King for the duchy of Bar, and to grant +free passage of French troops through this province.[305] + +At the same time Francis invited the Duke of Cleves to come to Blois, +as he wished his marriage to the Princess of Navarre to be celebrated +without delay. On the 11th of April the States assembled at Düsseldorf +were amazed to hear from Chancellor Olisleger that their Duke, being +unable to obtain the Duchess of Milan's hand without the surrender of +Guelders, was about to contract another marriage with the Princess of +Navarre, and had actually started on his wedding journey.[306] The +King and Queen of Navarre had always been averse to their daughter's +union with the Duke of Cleves, but Margaret's resistance was overcome +by the royal brother whom she adored, and her husband gave a reluctant +consent to the marriage; but the little Princess Jeanne, a delicate +child of twelve, refused in the most determined manner to marry this +foreign Prince. In vain she was scolded and whipped, and threatened by +her uncle the King with worse punishments. For many weeks the child +persisted in her refusal, and, when compelled to yield, signed a +protest on the eve of her marriage, which with the secret connivance +of her parents was duly witnessed and preserved. On the 14th of June, +1540, the strange wedding was finally solemnized at Châtelhérault, on +the Garonne. A series of Arcadian fêtes in beautiful summer weather +were given by King Francis, who never lost an opportunity for indulging +his love of romance. Arbours and colonnades of verdure were reared on +the river-banks. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table were +seen riding forth in quest of adventure; high-born ladies, clad as +nymphs and dryads, danced on the greensward by torchlight.[307] The +bridegroom gave his bride magnificent jewels, although Jeanne was never +seen in public, and did not even appear at the ball on the night before +the wedding. Finally, when all were assembled in the royal chapel, and +the King came to lead his niece to the altar, the little Princess, +weighed down by her costly jewels and gold and silver brocades, was +unable to walk. "Take her by the neck!" cried the impatient monarch to +Montmorency, and the Constable of France, not venturing to disobey the +royal command, lifted up the frightened child in his arms and bore her +to the altar before the eyes of the whole Court. As he did so he was +heard to mutter, "C'en est fini, de ma faveur, adieu lui dis!" and, +surely enough, the day after the wedding he received his dismissal, and +left Court, never to return during the lifetime of Francis.[308] + +[Sidenote: JULY, 1541] CHRISTINA'S WEDDING] + +The Duke had agreed, in order to satisfy the King and Queen of Navarre, +that the marriage should be merely formal, and consented to leave his +unwilling bride with her parents for another year. Accordingly, three +days later he bade them farewell, and rode, attended by a strong French +escort, through the Ardennes, and travelled down the Moselle and Rhine +to Cologne. As he passed through Luxembourg he saw the trained bands +gathering in force on the frontier, and heard that they were assembling +under Count Büren to meet his successful rival, Francis of Lorraine, +and bring him to Brussels for his wedding.[309] + +Here great preparations had been made to do honour to the Emperor's +niece, and the guests came from far and wide. Christina's trousseau +was worthy of her exalted rank, and the Queen presented her with a +wonderful carcanet of rubies, diamonds, and emeralds, with pendants +of large pear-shaped pearls. The marriage was solemnized on Sunday, +the 10th of July, in the great hall where, twenty-six years before, +Isabella of Austria, had been married to the King of Denmark. Only two +of the foreign Ambassadors were absent from the wedding banquet--the +Englishmen Vaughan and Carne--a fact which naturally excited much +comment. King Henry changed colour when Chapuys told him of Christina's +marriage, and was at no pains to conceal his surprise and vexation. +He said repeatedly that he wondered how the Emperor could allow so +noble and renowned a Princess to marry the Marquis, when there could +be no doubt that Anne of Cleves was his lawful wife, and insisted +that this had been the chief reason of his own separation from this +lady. After the wedding he again referred to the incident, and told +Chapuys in confidence that the Duke of Lorraine had secretly made +over his rights on Guelders to the French King, and would never help +the Emperor against France, since Monseiur de Guise and the Cardinal +of Lorraine were entirely on the French side. Chapuys listened with +polite attention, and reported most of the King's conversation for the +amusement of the Court at Brussels.[310] + +Here a series of fêtes took place after the wedding. A grand tournament +was held in front of the hôtel-de-ville, followed by the mock siege +of a fortress in the park, and a hunting-party in the Forest of +Soignies.[311] + +On the 14th, the Duke and Duchess of Bar left Brussels to pay a round +of visits in the neighbourhood and "see the country," and on the 27th +the Queen went to meet them at the Duke of Aerschot's hunting-palace at +Heverlé, near Louvain, and spent several days there with the two other +newly-married couples, the Prince and Princess of Orange and the Prince +and Princess of Chimay.[312] + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1541] A NOBLE LADY] + +Finally, on the 1st of August, the bride and bridegroom set out on +their journey, attended by a brilliant company, which included the +Prince and Princess of Orange, the Duke of Aerschot, the Prince and +Princess of Chimay, the Counts of Berghen, Büren, and Brederode. They +travelled by slow stages, resting at Namur, Luxembourg, Thionville, +and Metz. Triumphal arches were erected over the gates of each city, +and the burghers came out in procession to greet the bride. At Metz +Christina was presented with an illuminated book on "Marriage," by the +Regent of the University, Édmond du Boullay, and the Chapter of Toul +offered her a gold cup, filled with 300 crowns, while the city gave her +200 crowns and ten barrels of choice wine.[313] + +On the 8th the wedding-party reached Pont-à-Mousson, and found a +large family gathering waiting to receive them. A few days before +the Cardinal of Lorraine had joined the Duke and Duchess of Guise at +Joinville, and had accompanied them to Pont-à-Mousson, as Antoinette +wrote, + + "in order to give our new Lady her first greeting and conduct + her to Nancy. Great preparations have been made to welcome + her, and there is to be some fine jousting. I will tell you if + there is anything worth writing, and must confess I am very + curious to see if the Marquis makes a good husband. At least + the country rejoices greatly at the coming of so noble and + excellent a lady."[314] + +The Duchess of Guise had collected most of her family for the occasion, +and brought four of her sons--Aumale, Mayenne, Charles, Archbishop of +Reims, and Louis, Bishop of Troyes--to Pont-à-Mousson, as well as her +little grandson, the Duke of Longueville, the Queen of Scotland's son +by her first marriage. Duke Antoine and his younger son, Nicholas de +Vaudemont, Bishop of Metz, were also present, together with all the +chief nobles of Lorraine. + +It was a strange meeting. Guise and his sons had often crossed swords +with the Prince of Orange and Aerschot, and the Duke had refused to +meet the Emperor on his memorable visit to Chantilly. Now he was +engaged in repairing the forts along the frontier in view of another +war, an occupation which had at least one merit in his wife's eyes, +and kept him longer at home than he had been for many years. All +alike, however, friends and foes, joined in giving the new Duchess a +hearty welcome, and drank joyously to the health and prosperity of the +illustrious pair. + +At Pont-à-Mousson Francis took his bride to the convent of Poor Clares, +to see his grandmother, Philippa of Guelders, who had taken the veil +twenty years before, but still retained all her faculties, and was +the object of her sons' devoted affection. The Duke of Guise and his +wife constantly visited the good old lady, whose name appears so often +in Antoinette's letters, and who now embraced her new granddaughter +tenderly and gave the bridal pair her blessing. The next day Christina +entered Nancy, where immense crowds assembled to receive her, and +choirs of white-robed maidens welcomed her coming at the ancient +gateway of La Craffe. One quaint medieval practice which had lasted +until this century was dispensed with. It was the custom for a band +of peasants from the neighbouring village of Laxou, to beat the pools +in the marshes under the palace walls all through the night when the +Princes of Lorraine brought their brides home, to drive away the +frogs, whose croaking might disturb the ducal slumbers. But instead +of this, the peasant women of Laxou stood at the palace gates as the +Duchess alighted, and presented her with baskets of flowers and ripe +strawberries and cherries.[315] + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1541] REJOICINGS AT NANCY] + +A grand tournament was held the following morning, on the Place des +Dames in front of the ducal palace, in which many of the Flemish +nobles took part, and was followed by a state banquet and ball--"all +very sumptuously done," wrote Lord William Howard, the English +Ambassador.[316] Then the wedding festivities came to an end, the gay +party broke up, and the old city which was henceforth to be Christina's +home resumed its wonted air of sleepy tranquillity. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[243] Papiers d'État. 82. 20, Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles. + +[244] Lanz, ii. 297; Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 2, 16. + +[245] Lanz, ii. 289, 683. + +[246] State Papers, Record Office, Henry VIII., i. 605; Calendar of +State Papers, xiv. 1, 192. + +[247] Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 1, 348, 374. + +[248] See Appendix; Papiers d'État, 82, 26, Archives du Royaume, +Bruxelles. + +[249] Hubert Thomas, 376-390; Cust, "Gentlemen Errant," 377-379. + +[250] "Zimmerische Chronik," ii. 547. + +[251] H. Thomas, 396. + +[252] Kaulek, 104. + +[253] _Ibid._, 105. + +[254] Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 2, 61; H. Thomas, 393-398. + +[255] State Papers, Record Office, Henry VIII., i. 616; Calendar of +State Papers, xiv. 2, 54. + +[256] Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 2, 66, 69, 94, 368. + +[257] H. Thomas, 399-401; Kaulek, 136. + +[258] Kaulek, 135. + +[259] Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 2, 215; H. Thomas, 401. + +[260] Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 2, 127, 232; Calendar of Spanish +State Papers, vi. 1, 200; Kaulek, 138, 139. + +[261] Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 2, 127; Nott, ii. 399. + +[262] Calendar of State Papers, xvi. 61; Henne, vi. 301-396. + +[263] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 205. + +[264] Bulletin de la Commission d'Histoire, série ii., 3, 490. + +[265] Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," ii. 540; Calendar of State Papers, +xiv. 1, 437, 2, 193; Gachard, "Relation des Troubles de Gand," 258. + +[266] Kaulek, 142; Nott, ii. 353. + +[267] Gachard, 252. + +[268] Gachard, 49. + +[269] Henne, vii. 4; A. de Ruble, "Le Mariage de Jeanne d'Albret," 46; +R. de Bouillé, "Histoire des Ducs de Guise," i. 123. + +[270] Gachard, 305. + +[271] M. du Bellay, iv. 413. + +[272] Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," ii. 562; Kaulek, 153. + +[273] Gachard, 531. + +[274] Gachard, 664-666. + +[275] Calendar of State Papers, xv. 65. + +[276] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 236, 237. + +[277] Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," ii. 542. + +[278] Nott, ii. 358. + +[279] Nott, ii. 380, 391. + +[280] Gachard, "Relation des Troubles de Gand," 65. + +[281] Henne, vii. 40-90; Gachard, 67-70, 389. + +[282] Lanz, ii. 308. + +[283] Henne, vii. 282; Nott, ii. 418. + +[284] Gachard, 65, 71. + +[285] Nott, ii. 398. + +[286] Nott, ii. 417; State Papers, Record Office, viii. 329. + +[287] Calendar of State Papers, xv. 349, 367. + +[288] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 336, 340, 354; Calendar of +State Papers, xv. 318. + +[289] Calendar of State Papers, xv. 363, 390, 391. + +[290] Kaulek, 191; State Papers, Record Office, viii. 386, 397, 412. + +[291] L. Hugo, "Traité sur l'Origine de la Maison de Lorraine," 212. + +[292] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 398. + +[293] Pfister, "Histoire de Nancy," ii. 188. + +[294] Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 15, Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. + +[295] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 444. + +[296] Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., xvi. 1, 60. + +[297] Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 22. + +[298] W. Bradford, "Itinerary of Charles V.," 517; State Papers, Record +Office, viii. 508. + +[299] F. Decrue, "Montmorency à la Cour de François I.," i. 392. + +[300] Gachard, "Voyages de Charles V.," ii. 167. + +[301] A. Calmet, "Histoire de Lorraine," iii. 387. + +[302] Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 5 (see Appendix). The priests were +Antoinette's two sons, Charles, Archbishop of Reims, and Louis, both of +whom afterwards became Cardinals. + +[303] Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 153 (see Appendix). + +[304] _Ibid._, ii. 157. + +[305] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 609. + +[306] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 550; Calendar of State Papers, +xv. 344, 362; A. de Ruble, "Mariage de Jeanne d'Albret," 83. + +[307] M. du Bellay, "Mémoires," iv. 415. + +[308] A. de Ruble, 118; F. Decrue, "Anne de Montmorency à la Cour de +François I.," 403. + +[309] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 585. + +[310] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 332, 349. + +[311] Henne, vii. 282; Calendar of State Papers, xvi. 1, 470. + +[312] Calendar of State Papers, xvi. 1, 508. + +[313] J. B. Ravold, "Histoire de Lorraine," iii. 743; Hugo, 217; C. +Pfister, "Histoire de Nancy," ii. 192. + +[314] Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 4 (see Appendix). + +[315] Pfister, ii. 63, 188; Ravold, iii. 703. + +[316] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 609. + + + + +BOOK VIII + +CHRISTINA, DUCHESS OF LORRAINE + +1541-1545 + + +I. + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1477] KING RENÉ] + +The ducal house of Lorraine, into which Christina had now married, was +one of the oldest and proudest in Europe. The duchy took its name of +Lotharingia from Lothair, a great-grandson of Charlemagne, who reigned +over a vast kingdom stretching from the banks of the Scheldt and Rhine +to the Mediterranean. After this monarch's death, his territories +became the object of perpetual contention between the German Empire +and France, and were eventually divided among a number of Counts and +Barons who owned the Emperor or the French King as their suzerain. +Godfrey of Bouillon, the leader of the first Crusade, was one of many +illustrious Princes who reigned over Lorraine; but Gerard d'Alsace, who +died in 1046, was the ancestor of the ducal house to which Christina's +husband belonged.[317] From him descended a long line of hereditary +Princes, who were loyal vassals of France and took an active part in +the wars against England. Raoul, the founder of the collegiate church +and Chapter of St. Georges at Nancy, was killed fighting valiantly +at Crécy, and his son John was taken prisoner with the French King by +the Black Prince at Poitiers. Duke John's second son, Ferry, Count +of Vaudemont and Joinville, fell at Agincourt. In 1444 this Prince's +grandson, Ferry II., the representative of the younger branch of the +House of Lorraine, married Yolande, daughter of René of Anjou, King of +Provence, Jerusalem, and Sicily, and Duke of Lorraine in right of his +wife, Isabella, the heiress of Duke Charles II. Yolande, whose sister, +Margaret of Anjou, married Henry VI., became Duchess of Lorraine after +the death of her nephew in 1473, and united the two branches of the +family in her person. But she renounced the sovereignty in favour of +her son, René II., who still bore the proud title of King of Sicily and +Jerusalem, although, as the English Ambassador, Wotton, remarked, he +had never seen either the one or the other. René had a fierce struggle +for the possession of Lorraine with Charles of Burgundy, who defeated +him completely in 1475, and entered Nancy in triumph. But in January, +1477, King René recovered his duchy with the help of the Swiss, and +Charles was defeated and slain in a desperate battle under the walls of +Nancy.[318] + +Ten years later René married Philippa of Egmont, sister of Charles, +Duke of Guelders, and, together with his admirable wife, devoted the +rest of his life to the welfare of his subjects and the improvement +of the capital. During his reign the ducal palace, founded by his +ancestors in the fourteenth century, was enlarged and beautified, and +the neighbouring church and convent of the Cordeliers were built. Here +René was buried after his early death in 1508, and his sorrowing wife +reared a noble monument in which he is represented kneeling under a +pinnacled canopy crowned by a statue of the Virgin and Child.[319] + +[Sidenote: DEC., 1519] QUEEN PHILIPPA] + +Six stalwart sons grew up under Philippa's watchful eye, to bear +their father's name and maintain the honour of his house. The eldest, +Antoine, succeeded René as Duke of Lorraine and Bar, and the second, +Claude, became a naturalized French subject, and inherited the family +estates in France, including Joinville, Guise, and Aumale. Both Princes +were educated at the French Court, where Claude became the friend and +companion of the future King Francis, and in 1513 married Antoinette +de Bourbon, the Count of Vendôme's daughter. This lovely maiden was +brought up with her cousins, Louis XII.'s daughters, the elder of whom +married Francis of Angoulême, the heir to the Crown. When, in 1515, +this Prince succeeded his father-in-law on the throne, he promised the +young Duke of Lorraine the hand of Louis XII.'s widow, Mary of England; +but the fair Dowager had already plighted her troth to Brandon, Duke +of Suffolk, and Antoine consoled himself with another Princess of the +blood royal, Renée de Bourbon, daughter of Gilbert de Montpensier and +Chiara Gonzaga. The wedding was celebrated at Amboise on the 26th of +June, 1515, and Antoine and Claude both left their brides in Lorraine +with Queen Philippa while they followed Francis to Italy. There they +fought gallantly by the King's side at Marignano. Antoine was knighted +on the field of battle, while Claude received a dangerous wound, and a +third brother was slain in the mêlée. Two of Philippa's younger sons +lost their lives in the French King's later campaigns. One was killed +at Pavia, and Louis, the handsomest of all his handsome race, died of +the plague in Lautrec's army before Naples. A sixth son, Jean, Bishop +of Metz, was made a Cardinal at twenty, and, like his brother, Claude +of Guise, became a prominent figure at the French Court. + +During Antoine's absence his duchy was governed wisely and well by +his mother, Philippa; but when he no longer needed her help, the good +Queen retired from the world, and on the 8th of December, 1519, entered +the Order of the Poor Clares at Pont-à-Mousson. Here she spent the +remaining twenty-seven years of her life in works of devotion, and +edified her family and subjects by the zeal with which she performed +the humblest duties, going barefoot and wearing rough serge. But she +still retained great influence over her sons, who were all deeply +attached to her and often came to visit her in the convent. By a will +which she made when she forsook the world, she left her furniture, +jewels, and most of her property, to her second son, Claude, "pour +aider ce jeune ménage,"[320] and the Duke and Duchess of Guise went +to live at her dower-house of Joinville, the _beau châtel_ on the +heights above the River Marne, which had once belonged to St. Louis's +follower, le Sieur de Joinville. Here that remarkable woman, Duchess +Antoinette, the mother of the Guises, reared her large family, the six +sons who became famous as soldiers or prelates, and the four beautiful +daughters who were courted by Kings and Princes. Antoine's wife, Renée, +had not the ability and force of character which made her cousin a +power at the French Court, as well as in her own family, but she was +greatly beloved in Lorraine, and inherited the cultivated tastes of +her Gonzaga mother--the sister of Elizabeth, Duchess of Urbino, and +sister-in-law of the famous Isabella d'Este. Renée brought the graces +and refinement of the Mantuan Court to her husband's home, and the +blossoming of art which took place at Nancy during Antoine's reign was +largely due to her influence. + +[Illustration: GRANDE PORTERIE. PALAIS DUCAL, NANCY] + +_To face p. 260_ + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1541] THE DUCAL PALACE] + +A whole school of local architects and painters were employed to adorn +the ducal palace, which under his rule and that of his immediate +successors became, in the words of a contemporary, "as fine a +dwelling-place for a great Prince as could possibly be desired."[321] +King René had rebuilt the older portions of the house; his son now +added the noble gateway known as "La Grande Porterie," with his own +equestrian statue carved by Mansuy Gauvain, and the magnificent upper +gallery called "La Galerie des Cerfs," from the antlers and other +trophies of the chase which hung upon its walls.[322] A wealth of +delicate sculpture was lavished on the façade. Flowers and foliage, +heraldic beasts and armorial bearings, adorned the portal; "le bœuf qui +prêche"--an ox's head in a pulpit--appeared in one corner, and on the +topmost pinnacle, above the busts of René and Antoine, a monkey was +seen clad in a friar's habit. Within, the vaulted halls were decorated +with stately mantelpieces and richly carved friezes. Without, the roofs +glittered with gilded copper fretwork and a tall bronze _flèche_, +bearing the cross of Lorraine and the thistle of Nancy, crowned the +"Tour du Paradis," which enclosed the fine spiral staircase leading +to the Galerie des Cerfs. Another round tower, containing an inclined +way broad enough for a horse and chariot, stood in the older part of +the palace, and led up to the Treasury, where the Crown jewels were +kept. Here, too, were the apartments occupied by the ducal family. On +one side they opened on to the "Cour d'Honneur," where tournaments +and pageants were held. On the other the windows looked down on +the gardens, with their cut yews and box hedges, their arbours and +bosquets, and in the centre a superb fountain adorned with _putti_ by +Mansuy Gauvain; while beyond the eye ranged across the sleepy waters of +the moat to green meadows and distant woods.[323] The grand portal and +state-rooms at the new end of the palace looked down on the Grande Rue, +and were only divided by a narrow street from the shops and stalls of +the market-place. The fact that the Duke's house stood in the heart of +the city naturally fostered the affection with which he was regarded by +the people of Nancy. The citizens were familiar with every detail of +the ducal family's private life, and took the deepest interest in their +comings and goings, their weddings and funerals, in the guests who +arrived at the palace gates, and in the children who grew up within its +walls. + +Duke Antoine was especially beloved by his subjects. Early in life +he had learnt by experience the horrors of war, and all through his +reign he tried manfully to preserve a strict neutrality between the +rival powers on either side, with the result that Lorraine enjoyed +an unbroken period of peace and prosperity. The burden of taxation +was lightened, trade and agriculture flourished, and the arts were +encouraged by this good Prince, who was justly called the "father of +his people." When his beloved wife Renée died, in June, 1539, his +sorrow was shared by the whole nation. + + "Since I sent my last letter," wrote the Duchess of Guise to + her daughter in Scotland, "you will have heard of the death of + your aunt--whom God pardon--a fortnight ago. The attack--_a + flux de ventre_--which carried her off only lasted nine days, + but she was enfeebled by long illness. Nature could no longer + offer any resistance, and God in His good pleasure took her to + Himself. She died as a good Christian, doing her duty by all + and asking forgiveness of everyone, and remained conscious to + the end. After Friday morning she would not see her children, + or even her husband, but, as this distressed him greatly, she + sent for him again after she had received God. On Sunday she + was anointed with holy oil, and died at ten o'clock the next + evening. It was the tenth of June. It is a heavy loss for all + our family, but your uncle bears up bravely. He sent for us, + and I set out for Nancy at once, but only arrived there after + her death. Your father, with whom I have been in Picardy, + followed on Saturday. I have just returned to Pont-à-Mousson, + where I came to see my mother-in-law, the good old Queen. The + funeral will be on St. John's Day, and your aunt will be buried + in the Cordeliers, opposite the tomb of the late King" (René + II.).[324] + +Four days after his wife's death, Antoine himself sent these touching +lines to his niece, the Queen of Scotland: + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1541] FRANCIS OF LORRAINE] + + "I was glad to hear from you the other day, Madame, and must + tell you the great sorrow which it has pleased God to send + me, in calling my wife to Himself. She died on the morrow of + Pentecost. God be praised, Madame, for the beautiful end which + she made, like the good Christian that she was. Commend me to + the King your lord; and if there is any service which I can + render you or him, let me know, and I will do it gladly. + + "Your humble and loving uncle, + "ANTOINE."[325] + +Renée bore the Duke a large family, but only three of her children +lived to grow up: Francis, Marquis of Pont-à-Mousson, born in 1517; +Anne, the Princess of Orange, who was five years younger; and Nicolas, +Count of Vaudemont, born in 1524, who took Deacon's Orders, and became +Bishop of Metz when the Cardinal of Lorraine resigned this see. Francis +had the French King for his godfather, and was sent, as a matter of +course, to be educated at the Court of France with the Dauphin. This +Prince inherited the tall stature and regular features of his father's +family, together with his mother's love of art and letters. His +studious tastes and quick intelligence made him the delight of all his +teachers, and King Francis was heard to say that the Marquis du Pont +was the wisest Prince of his age. But although he could ride and tilt +as well as any of his peers, he was never robust, and the strain of +melancholy in his nature increased as years went by. In 1538 the young +Marquis accompanied his father to meet the Emperor at Aigues-Mortes, +and made a very favourable impression on Charles, who proposed that +he should marry one of King Ferdinand's daughters. Several other +alliances had been already suggested for this promising Prince.[326] +In 1527, while he was still a boy, the fateful marriage between him +and Anne of Cleves had been arranged; and when this was abandoned, +King Francis first offered him one of his own daughters, and then his +cousin, Mary of Vendôme, whom the King of Scotland had deserted for +the fair Duchess of Longueville. At the same time Henry VIII. asked +Castillon to arrange a marriage between his daughter Mary and the heir +of Lorraine.[327] But from the moment that Francis of Lorraine saw +the Duchess of Milan at Compiègne his choice never wavered, and his +constancy triumphed in the end over all difficulties. + +The lamented death of Duchess Renée, and the marriage of her only +daughter, Anne, in the following year, had left the palace at Nancy +without a mistress, and rendered Christina's presence there the more +welcome. The old Duke was as proud of his daughter-in-law as his +subjects were of their young Duchess, and Christina's frank manners +and open-handed generosity soon made her very popular in Lorraine. She +received a cordial welcome from Antoinette and the Guise Princes at +Joinville, and was on the best of terms with her young brother-in-law, +Monsieur de Metz. Above all, she was adored by her spouse, whose +devotion to Christina quickly dispelled the Duchess of Guise's fears +lest this grave and thoughtful Prince should not prove a good husband. +His love satisfied every longing of her heart, and filled her soul with +deep content. After all the storms of her early youth, after the lonely +months at Milan and Pavia, after the disappointment of her cherished +hopes, the young Duchess had found a happiness beyond her highest +dreams. As she wrote to her old friend Granvelle a few months later: +"My husband treats me so kindly, and has such great affection for me, +that I am the happiest woman in the whole world."[328] + +[Sidenote: NOV., 1541] A VISIT TO FONTAINEBLEAU] + + +II. + +The King of France's ill-temper was the one drawback to the general +satisfaction with which Christina's marriage had been received. The +coldness with which he treated the Duke of Lorraine and his son, the +sacrifice of their rights on Bar, rankled in the old man's heart. His +surprise was the greater when he received a courteous invitation to +bring his son and daughter-in-law on a visit to the French Court. His +brother the Cardinal wrote saying that Queen Eleanor was anxious to see +her niece, and that the King wished to confer the Order of St. Michel +on her lord, and begged Duke Antoine to accompany the young couple to +Fontainebleau. + +Christina and her husband, who since his marriage had become a strong +Imperialist, were reluctant to accept the invitation, lest an attempt +should be made to draw Lorraine into an alliance against the Emperor. +But the Cardinal's bland promises and Antoine's anxiety to keep on +good terms with the King prevailed over their hesitation, and early +in November the two Dukes and the young Duchess spent three days at +Fontainebleau. Hunting-parties and banquets occupied the first two +days. Eleanor took the greatest delight in her niece's company, and the +King, who could never resist a woman's charms, was assiduous in his +attention to Christina. The Queen of Navarre's presence afforded the +Duchess additional pleasure, and this accomplished Princess showed her +Leonardo and Raphael's paintings, and did the honours of the superb +palace which had excited the Emperor's admiration two years before. +On the third evening the King expressed his wish to confer the Order +of St. Michel on the young Duke in so pressing a manner that it was +impossible to refuse this offer. But an unpleasant surprise was in +store for him and his father. The next morning the Cardinal informed +them that the King demanded the cession of the town and fortress of +Stenay, in return for the privilege of holding the duchy of Bar. +This unexpected demand aroused an indignant protest from Antoine and +Francis. Stenay was one of the bulwarks of Lorraine, and its position +on the frontiers of Luxembourg made it of great importance to the +defence of the empire. But nothing that the Duke and his son could +say was of the slightest avail. They were told that if Stenay was not +surrendered peaceably the King would declare war and reduce their +country to subjection. These threats alarmed the old Duke to such a +pitch that before leaving Fontainebleau he was induced to sign a treaty +by which Stenay was given up in perpetuity to the French Crown. It +was a grievous blow to the prestige of Lorraine, and filled Christina +and her husband with grave fears for the future. The following letter +which the Duchess wrote to Granvelle a few weeks afterwards shows how +bitterly she resented the wrong: + +[Sidenote: NOV., 1541] THE CESSION OF STENAY] + + "You have no doubt heard of the voyage which the Lord Duke my + father-in-law, my husband, and I, took to the French Court, + where we made a very short stay, but one which turned out very + badly for our house. For the King used violent threats to my + father and husband, and sent my uncle the Cardinal to tell them + that, if they did not satisfy his demands, he would prove their + worst enemy, and make them the smallest people in the world. + So they were compelled to give him the town of Stenay, which + is a great loss to this house, and has vexed my husband and + me sorely, showing us how much we are despised on that side, + and to what risk of destruction we should be exposed if it were + not for the good help of the Emperor, in whom I place my whole + trust."[329] + +Unfortunately for the Duchess and her husband, Charles was at this +moment engaged in his disastrous expedition to Algiers. The news of the +tempest which wrecked his fleet on the coast of Africa had reached the +French Court, and it was confidently asserted that the Emperor himself +had perished, or was a prisoner in Barbarossa's camp. These disquieting +rumours were set at rest early in December by his safe return to +Cartagena with the remnants of his army. But his enemies had been +active in his absence. On the 15th of November the Duke of Lorraine set +his seal to the deed of cession, and a week later a French garrison +took possession of Stenay. General indignation was excited throughout +Europe by this arbitrary act. Mary of Hungary entered a vigorous +protest in her brother's name against this surrender of an imperial +fief, and no sooner did the news reach Charles than he told his +Ambassador to require the French King to do homage for the town. The +new English Ambassador, Paget, who arrived at Fontainebleau a few days +after the Lorraine Princes left Court, noticed that the King "looked +very black, as if the Imperial Envoy had spoken of matters not all the +pleasantest"; while he informed his royal master that the entertainment +of the Duke of Lorraine had been but cold, and that he had lost all +credit with the French.[330] When Chapuys told King Henry at Christmas +how King Francis had snatched Stenay from the Duke of Lorraine, the +English monarch only shrugged his shoulders, saying he had always known +no good would come out of that marriage.[331] + +Meanwhile Christina and her husband found some consolation for their +wounded feelings in the friendly reception which they met with at +Joinville, on their return from France. The Duke and Duchess of Guise +came to meet them at Annonville, and were eager to do honour to their +nephew's bride and show her the beauties of their stately home. They +had lately decorated the halls and chapel with paintings and statues, +and Antoinette had laid out terraced gardens along the wooded slopes on +the River Marne, adorned with pavilions and fountains. Nothing escaped +the eye of this excellent lady, who watched over the education of her +children and the welfare of her servants, and managed her kitchen, +stables, and kennels, with the same indefatigable care. Her household +was a model of economy and prudence, and her works of mercy extended +far beyond the limits of Joinville. The active correspondence which she +kept up with her eldest daughter, the Queen of Scotland, abounds in +details regarding every member of her family, and above all her little +grandson, the Duke of Longueville. The Duchess's letters are naturally +full of this precious boy, who was the pet and plaything of the whole +household, and on whose perfections she is never tired of dwelling. +For his mother's benefit, she sends minute records of his height and +appearance, of the progress which he is making at lessons, the walks +which he takes with his nurse. + +[Sidenote: NOV., 1541] AT JOINVILLE] + + "We have here now," she wrote to Mary of Guise, on the 18th of + November, "not only your uncle, but the Duke and Duchess of + Bar, on their way back from Court. They are all making good + cheer with us, and your father is so busy entertaining them + that you will hardly have a letter from him this time. Your + eldest brother [Aumale] is here too, but goes to join the + King at Fontainebleau next week. I shall go to my mother [the + old Countess of Vendôme], who is quite well, and so also is + the good old Queen, your grandmother. I have kept as a _bonne + bouche_ for you a word about our grandson, who will soon be a + man, and is the finest child that you ever saw. I am trying + to find a painter who can show you how tall, healthy, and + handsome, he is." + +Sad news had lately come from Scotland, where the Queen's two children, +a boy of a year old and a new-born babe, had died in the same week. +Antoinette's motherly heart yearned over her absent daughter in this +sudden bereavement. + + "Your father and I are sorely grieved at the loss you have + suffered," she wrote to Mary; "but you are both young, and I + can only hope that God, who took away those dear little ones, + will send you others.... If I were good enough for my prayers + to be of any avail with God, I would pray for this, but I can + at least have prayers offered up by others who are better than + I am, especially by the good Queen in her convent and her + holy nuns. We are glad to hear the King bears his loss with + resignation, and trust God will give you patience to live for + Him in this world and in the next, to which tribulation is the + surest way." + +And in a postscript she adds a word of practical advice, saying that +she did not like to hear of the poor babes having so many different +nurses, and fears this may have been one cause of the mischief.[332] + +In return for this affectionate sympathy, King James sent his +mother-in-law a fine diamond and a portrait of himself, which arrived +during Christina's visit, and excited much interest at Joinville. All +the Duchess of Guise's daughters were absent from home, the youngest, +Antoinette, having joined her sister, Abbess Renée, in the convent at +Reims, where she afterwards took the veil. But her eldest son, as we +have seen, was at Joinville on this occasion. A tall, dark-haired, +olive-skinned youth, recklessly brave and adventurous, Aumale was a +great favourite both in Court and camp, and his mother had been sadly +disappointed at the failure of the marriage negotiations, which had +cost her so much time and trouble. The Pope's daughter, Vittoria +Farnese, who was to have been his wife, had since then been offered +in turn to the Prince of Piedmont and the Duke of Vendôme, and was +eventually married to the Duke of Urbino. Aumale himself cared little +for the loss of the Italian bride, whom he had never seen, and had +hitherto shown no eagerness for matrimony, but the sight of Christina +made a deep impression upon him, and he never forgot his fair cousin's +visit to Joinville. The most friendly relations prevailed between the +two families, and frequent visits were interchanged during the winter. +Christmas was celebrated with prolonged festivities at Nancy, and on +the 6th of February the old Duke wrote from Joinville to his niece, the +Queen of Scotland: + + "Your father and I have spent the last week together, and have + made great cheer with all our family. Your son, De Longueville, + is very well, and has grown a fine boy. + + "Your very humble and affectionate uncle, + "ANTOINE."[333] + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1542] CHRISTINA'S ANXIETIES] + +In spite of these distractions, Christina found it difficult to make +her husband forget the loss of Stenay. The injustice which had been +done to the House of Lorraine still rankled in his mind, and he feared +that the Emperor would hold him responsible for the surrender of the +town, and regard it as an act of disloyalty. Christina accordingly +addressed a long letter to Granvelle, explaining that her husband had +been very reluctant to accept the French Order of St. Michel, and +had only done this at his father's express command, before there had +been any mention of surrendering Stenay. Now she feared that the King +might make some fresh demand, which would complete the destruction of +the ducal house, and could only beg the Emperor to help them with his +advice and support. + + "For you may rest assured," she goes on, "that, whatever His + Majesty is pleased to command, my husband and I will obey, + although, as you know, my father-in-law is somewhat difficult + to please, and we must do his will for the present. So I beg + you earnestly to point this out to His Majesty, and ask him to + give us his advice; for since our return to Nancy my husband + has been so sad and melancholy, and so full of regret for the + great wrong which his house has suffered, that I am quite + afraid it will injure his health. Once more I beg you, Monsieur + de Granvelle, to be a good friend to us in the present, as + you have been in the past ... for we have received so much + kindness from you that I hope you will not hesitate to give us + whatever advice seems best in your eyes. As for me, I am so + much indebted to you for having helped to place me where I am, + that you and yours will always find me ready to do you service. + For I can never forget that it is to you I owe my present great + happiness."[334] + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1542] KING HENRY'S WIVES] + +Charles, however, wrote kindly to his niece, and refused to listen to +the unkind tongues who tried to poison his mind against her husband. +By degrees the young Duke recovered his equanimity, and devoted his +attention to beautifying the ducal palace of Nancy. In the last years +of Renée's life a Lorraine artist, Hugues de la Faye, had been employed +to paint subjects from the life of Christ at one end of the "Galerie +des Cerfs," and hunting-scenes at the other. Christina's presence gave +new impulse to the work, and the large quantity of gold-leaf and azure +supplied to the painters in the Duke's service, show how actively the +internal decoration of the palace was carried on. In one particular +instance Christina's influence is clearly to be traced. By Duke +Antoine's orders, a fresco of the Last Supper was begun by Hugues de la +Faye in the refectory of the Cordeliers, but was only completed after +this painter's death in 1542, by Crock and Chappin. These two Lorraine +artists were sent to Italy by Duke Francis soon after his accession, +and visited Milan amongst other places. Here they saw Leonardo's famous +"Cenacolo" in the refectory of S. Maria le Grazie, which was closely +connected with the Sforza Princes, and must have been very familiar +to Christina when she lived in Milan. The fresco which they executed +at Nancy is said to have been a replica of Leonardo's great work, and +kneeling figures of Antoine and Renée were introduced on the same +wall, in imitation of the portraits of Lodovico Sforza and Beatrice +d'Este which are still to be seen in the Dominican refectory at Milan. +Unfortunately, the Lorraine masters' painting suffered a still worse +fate than Leonardo's immortal work, and, after being partly spoilt by +damp, was finally destroyed thirty years ago and replaced by a modern +copy.[335] + +During this winter, when Christina was happily settled in her new home +and surrounded by loyal friends and subjects, news came from England of +the trial and execution of Henry VIII.'s fifth Queen, Catherine Howard. +When the Duke and Duchess were at Fontainebleau, rumours reached the +Court that this unhappy lady, of whom Henry was deeply enamoured but +a short time before, had been suddenly banished from his presence, +and taken into custody. "Par ma foi de gentil homme!" exclaimed King +Francis when he heard the account of the Queen's misdeeds. "She has +done wondrous naughtily!"[336] But in England, as Chapuys reported, +much compassion was felt for the King's latest victim, who had dragged +down the noble house of Howard in her fall. Lord William Howard, the +late Ambassador, was hastily recalled from France, and sent to the +Tower with his mother, the old Duchess of Norfolk. The King himself, +wrote Chapuys, felt the case more than that of any of his other wives, +just as the woman who had lost ten husbands grieved more for the tenth +when he died than for any of the other nine! But when the luckless +Queen was beheaded, Henry recovered his spirits, and spent Carnival in +feasting and entertaining ladies with a gaiety which made people think +that he meant to marry again. "But few, if any, ladies of the Court," +remarked Chapuys, "now aspire to the honour of becoming one of the +King's wives."[337] + +It was an honour to which Christina herself had never aspired. One +day at the Court of Nancy, conversation turned on the King of England, +and some indiscreet lady asked the Duchess why she had rejected this +monarch's suit. A smile broke over Christina's face, and the old +dimples rose to her cheeks as she replied that, unfortunately, she only +had one head, but that if she had possessed two, one might have been at +His Majesty's disposal. It was a characteristic speech, and has passed +into history.[338] + + +III. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1542] THE KING'S CHASE] + +All through the winter of 1541-42 preparations for war were actively +carried on in France, and intrigue was rife among the Courts of Europe. +Francis was determined to profit by his rival's misfortunes, in spite +of the remonstrances of the Pope and of the deputies who were sent by +the Imperial Diet to adjure him not to trouble the peace of Christendom +while the Emperor was fighting against the Turks. By the end of the +year he succeeded in forming a strong coalition, which included +Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, and Cleves. The Palatine Frederic had once +more pressed his wife's claims to the three kingdoms, with the result +that Christian III. lent a willing ear to the French King's advances, +and sent Envoys to Fontainebleau, where a secret treaty between +France and Denmark was signed a few days after the Duke and Duchess +of Lorraine had left Court. Francis was now exceedingly anxious to +draw Lorraine into the league and induce Duke Antoine to take up arms +against the Emperor. In May he set out on a progress through Burgundy +and Champagne, taking the Queen and all the Court with him, to inspect +the fortifications of the eastern frontier and enjoy some hunting on +the way. "Tell the Pope," he said merrily to the Legate Ardinghelli, +"that I do nothing but make good cheer and amuse myself, whether I +entertain fair ladies or go a-hunting the deer." Paget and the other +Ambassadors complained bitterly of the bad quarters "in peevish +villages" which they had to put up with as they followed the King +from place to place, wherever "great harts were to be heard of."[339] +Fortunately, he found excellent sport at the Duke of Guise's château of +Esclaron, where he spent three weeks, and declared that he had never +been so happy in his life. + + "The King," wrote Duchess Antoinette to Mary of Scotland, "has + found so many big stags here that he says he was never in a + place which pleased him better, and that in spite of torrents + of rain and God knows what mud! And you cannot think how fond + he is of your father."[340] + +She herself went to Esclaron to receive her royal guest, taking the +eight-year-old Duke of Longueville with her, to make his bow to the +King and be petted by Queen Eleanor and her ladies. But the life of +a Court lady, as she told her daughter, was little to her taste, +and she returned to Joinville early in June, to keep the Fête-Dieu +and prepare her husband's and sons' equipment for the war which was +expected to begin immediately. Two days later, on the 10th of June, +the Duke and Duchess of Bar paid the French King a visit at Esclaron, +and were present at the reception of the Swedish Ambassadors, whom +Gustavus Wasa had sent to sign the new treaty. The ceremony took place +in a large barn hung with tapestries and wreathed with green boughs. +The King and his guests sat on a raised daïs, draped with cloth of +gold, under a canopy, while the Princes of the blood and the other +courtiers, among whom were no less than six Cardinals, stood below. +Here Francis listened patiently to a long Latin harangue from the +Swedish Ambassador, and then, coming down from his seat, he mingled +freely in the crowd of Cardinals and Princes, gentlemen and yeomen, who +stood "all in a heap" at the doors of the barn, and showed himself very +affable, although, in Paget's opinion, "his manner lacked the majesty +which he had noticed in his own master on similar occasions."[341] + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1542] THE FRENCH INVASION] + +Christina looked with curiosity at these Envoys from the Northern +kingdom over which her father had once ruled, many of whom had known +the captive monarch in old days. This time she and her husband had no +cause to complain of the King's treatment. He was all courtesy and +smiles, and assured them in the most cordial terms of the singular +affection which he bore to all their house. But he soon saw that there +was no prospect of inducing Antoine and his son to join him against +Christina's uncle, and on the 12th of June he consented to sign an +agreement by which he promised to respect the neutrality of Lorraine +and the properties of the Duke's subjects.[342] After spending another +week at Joinville, enjoying the splendid hospitality of the Guises, he +left Eleanor with the Duchess, and went on to Ligny, a strong fortress +on the borders of Luxembourg, where he gave orders for the opening of +the campaign. + +By the middle of July four separate armies had invaded the Emperor's +dominions. Guise and Orléans fell upon Luxembourg, Vendôme entered +Flanders, the Dauphin attacked Roussillon, and the forces of Cleves, +under the redoubtable Guelders captain, Martin van Rossem, laid Brabant +waste with fire and sword. But they met with determined opposition in +every quarter, and the heroism of the Regent and her captains saved the +Netherlands from ruin. + + "The attack," wrote De Praet to Charles on September 21, 1542, + "was so secretly planned and so well carried out that it is a + miracle Your Majesty did not lose your Pays-Bas. We must thank + God first of all, and next to Him the Queen, to whose extreme + care, toil, and diligence, this is owing."[343] + +Fortunately for the Imperialists, Francis's extravagance had emptied +his treasury. All his money, as Paget reported, was spent in building +new palaces and buying jewels for himself and his favourites. Stenay +and other places had been fortified at vast expense, and by the end of +the year most of the French forces were disbanded for lack of funds. + +It was a sad autumn at Joinville, where the good Duchess wept and +prayed for her absent lord and sons, and sighed to think they were +fighting against her daughter Louise's husband and father-in-law. In +September Guise was invalided home, and he was hardly fit to mount his +horse again when the parents received the news of Louise's death, which +took place at Brussels on the 18th of October. The charming Princess +had always been a delicate girl, and now she died without leaving a +child to comfort the husband and father who had loved her so well. This +sad event was followed by tidings of the disaster which had befallen +the King of Scotland's army in Solway Moss, and of his death on the +18th of December. Antoinette's heart bled for her widowed daughter, +who had just given birth to an infant Princess at Linlithgow. "It came +with a lass, and it will go with a lass," were the words of the King +when he was told of the child's birth, a few days before he died at +Falkland Palace. Both Guise and Aumale would gladly have hastened to +Mary's help, but it was impossible for them to leave the camp at this +critical moment, and Antoinette could only beg her daughter to keep up +her courage and trust in God, "the Almighty, who would defend her and +the poor little Queen, who although so young is already exposed to the +insults of her enemies."[344] + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1543] BIRTH OF A SON] + +It was a no less anxious time for Christina in her home at Nancy. +From the palace roof the smoke of burning villages was to be seen in +all directions, and the people of Lorraine were exposed to frequent +raids from the hordes of irregular soldiers in both armies, and were +compelled to raise trained bands for the defence of the frontiers. It +was only by the strictest observance of the laws of neutrality that +an outbreak of actual hostilities could be avoided. When Aumale was +badly wounded by a shot from a crossbow in the siege of Luxembourg, +his uncle the Duke sternly refused to have him carried into his +neighbouring castle of Longwy; and when Mary of Hungary proposed to +garrison this fortress to protect his subjects from French aggression, +he declined her offer firmly at the risk of incurring the imperial +displeasure.[345] Christina herself spent Christmas at Fontainebleau +with her aunt, Queen Eleanor. This poor lady was distracted with grief +at the war between her husband and brother, and spent much time in +making futile attempts to induce her sister, the Regent, to listen +to peace negotiations. Early in December, while the King was hunting +at Cognac, she sent a gorgeous litter to Bar to bring the Duchess to +Court, and kept her there till the middle of January.[346] A month +afterwards--on the 13th of February--Christina gave birth to her first +child, a son, who received the name of Charles, after her imperial +uncle. There was great rejoicing in Nancy, where the happy event took +place, and the old Duke himself went to Pont-à-Mousson to bear the +good news to the venerable Queen Philippa, who thanked God that she +had lived to see her great-grandson. The little Prince's christening +was celebrated with as much festivity as the troubled state of the +country would allow, and Christina's faithful friend, the Princess of +Macedonia, who had followed her to Lorraine, held the child at the font +and was appointed his governess.[347] + +[Sidenote: NOV., 1543] DUKE ANTOINE MEDIATES] + +Two days before the Prince's birth a secret treaty between the Emperor +and King Henry was concluded at Whitehall. Chapuys had at length +attained the object of his untiring efforts, and De Courrières was sent +from Spain on a confidential mission to induce Henry to declare war +against France. The defeat of the Duke of Aerschot at Sittard excited +general alarm in Flanders, and Mary was at her wits' end for money +and men. But the Emperor himself was hastening across the Alps to the +help of his loyal provinces. The marriage of his son Philip with the +Infanta of Portugal had been finally settled, and with the help of +this Princess's large dowry and another half-million of Mexican gold, +Charles was able to raise a large army of German and Italian troops. +On the 22nd of August he appeared in person before Düren, the capital +of Cleves, which surrendered within a week. The Duke threw himself +on the victor's mercy, and was pardoned and invested anew with his +hereditary duchies, while Guelders was annexed to the Netherlands and +the Prince of Orange became its first Governor. William of Cleves on +his part renounced the French alliance, and agreed to marry one of +King Ferdinand's daughters. His previous marriage with Jeanne d'Albret +was annulled by the Pope, and this resolute young Princess had the +satisfaction of carrying her protest into effect. Encouraged by these +successes, Charles now laid siege to Landrécy, the capital of Hainault, +which had been captured and fortified by the French, and was joined by +a gallant company of English under Lord Surrey and Sir John Wallop. +"Par ma foi!" exclaimed the Emperor, as he rode down their ranks, "this +is a fine body of gentlemen! If the French King comes, I will live +and die with the English."[348] But Francis refused to be drawn into +a battle, and the approach of winter made both armies retire from the +field. + +The Duke of Lorraine took advantage of this temporary lull to mediate +between the two monarchs. Old as he was, and suffering severely with +gout, Antoine came to the Prince of Chimay's house with his son +Francis, and begged for an audience with the Emperor and Regent, who +were spending a few days at Valenciennes, on their way to Brussels. +Charles sent him word not to come into his presence if he brought +offers from the French King; but in spite of these peremptory orders +the two Dukes arrived in the town on Sunday, the 17th of November, +and were received by the Emperor after dinner. Antoine delivered a +long oration begging His Imperial Majesty to make peace for the sake +of Christendom, and, laying his hand on his breast, swore that he had +taken this step of his own free will, without communicating with any +other person. The old man's earnestness touched Charles, who answered +kindly, saying that he was always welcome as a cousin and a neighbour, +and that this was doubly the case now that his son had married the +Emperor's dearly loved niece. But he told him frankly that he had been +too often deluded by false promises to listen to French proposals for +peace, and that in any case he could do nothing without the consent +of his ally, the King of England. Nothing daunted, the old Duke went +on to visit the Regent, and was found by Lord Surrey and the English +Ambassador Brian sitting at a table before a fire in the Queen's room, +playing at cards. Antoine greeted Brian as an old friend, and asked him +to drink with him. But Mary sternly refused to listen to the Duke's +errand, being convinced that he came from the King, and declaring that +all the gentlemen in his suite were good Frenchmen. When he and his son +were gone, she called Brian to her, and said: "Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, +heard you ever so lean a message?" "Madame," replied the Englishman, +"if the broth be no fatter, it is not worth the supping," a sentiment +which provoked a hearty laugh from the Queen.[349] + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1544] EGMONT'S WEDDING] + +Neither Queen Eleanor, who sent an entreating letter with a present +of falcons to her sister, nor Cardinal Farnese, who brought fresh +proposals of peace from the Pope, fared any better. The young Duchess +Christina now determined to make an attempt herself, and came to +meet her uncle at Spires when he attended the Diet. The ostensible +reason of this journey was to visit her sister Dorothea, but Charles, +divining her intention, sent the Countess Palatine word that if the +Duchess of Bar brought proposals of peace she might as well stay at +home. Christina, however, arrived at Spires on the 8th of February, +with a train of fourteen ladies and fifteen horse, and spent a week +with the Count and Countess Palatine. The sisters saw the Emperor +and King Ferdinand every day, and were to all appearance on the most +affectionate terms with them. But nothing transpired as to what passed +between Christina and her uncle in private. On the day that she left +Spires to return to Nancy, Frederic heard of the death of his brother, +the Elector Palatine, and hastened to Heidelberg with Dorothea to +attend his funeral and take possession of the rich Rhineland, to which +he now succeeded. Six weeks later he returned to do homage for the +Palatinate, and assist at the wedding of his cousin Sabina with Lamoral +d'Egmont, the hero of so many hard-fought fields. The Emperor gave a +sumptuous banquet in honour of his gallant brother-at-arms, Dorothea +led the bride to church, and Frederic, in a fit of generosity, settled +14,000 florins on his young kinswoman.[350] + +In this same month Ambassadors arrived at Spires from Christian III. +of Denmark, who had quarrelled with the French King and was anxious to +make peace with the Emperor. In spite of a protest from the Palatine, +a treaty was concluded on the 23rd of May, by which Charles recognized +the reigning monarch's title to the crown. So the long war, which had +lasted twenty-one years, was at length ended, and the Emperor finally +abandoned the cause of Christian II. But a clause was added by which +his daughters' rights were reserved, and a promise given that the +severity of his captivity should be relaxed and that he should be +allowed to hunt and fish in the park at Sonderburg. Christian III. +gladly agreed to these more humane conditions, and even offered to give +Dorothea and Christina a substantial dowry, but the Palatine refused to +accept any terms, and persisted in asserting his wife's claims.[351] + + +IV. + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1544] CHARLES V. IN LORRAINE] + +Soon after her return from Spires, on the 20th of April, 1544, +Christina gave birth, at Nancy, to a daughter, who was named Renée, +after the late Duchess. But her happiness was clouded by the illness +of her husband, whose health had become a cause of grave anxiety. +Fighting was renewed with fresh vigour in the spring, and unexpected +success attended the imperial arms. Luxembourg was recovered by +Ferrante Gonzaga, and the French invaders were expelled from most +of the strongholds which they held in this province. The war raged +fiercely on the borders of Lorraine, and the annoyance to which his +subjects were exposed, induced Duke Antoine to make another effort +at mediation. Since the Emperor turned a deaf ear to all appeals, he +decided to apply to King Francis in person, and on the 8th of May he +set out in a litter for the French Court; but when he reached Bar he +was too ill to go any farther, and took to his bed in this ancient +castle of his ancestors. His sons hastened to join him, and Christina +followed them as soon as she was able to travel, and arrived in time +to be present at her father-in-law's death-bed. The fine old man made +his will, appointed his brothers, the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal, +to be his executors, and with his last breath begged his son to rule +Lorraine wisely and raise as few extraordinary taxes as possible. +Above all, he adjured him to preserve his people from the scourge of +war, and use every endeavour to obtain the restoration of peace. With +these words on his lips, he passed away on the 19th of June, 1544.[352] +The new Duke was as anxious for peace as his father, but the moment +was unpropitious for any efforts in this direction. King Henry had at +length taken the field and invaded Picardy with a large army, and the +Emperor was bent on carrying the war into the heart of France, and +urged his ally to meet him under the walls of Paris. On the 17th of +June Charles himself came to Metz with Maurice of Saxony and the young +Marquis Albert of Brandenburg, the boldest warrior in Germany, and +prepared plans for the extension of the campaign which Ferrante Gonzaga +and the Prince of Orange were carrying on in Champagne. Here Francis +of Lorraine joined him as soon as he was able to mount a horse, and, +after spending some days at Metz, induced the Emperor to accompany him +to Nassau-le-Grand, where Christina was awaiting him.[353] On his way +Charles stopped at Pont-à-Mousson, and paid a visit to Queen Philippa, +the sister of his old enemy Charles of Guelders, for whom he had always +entertained a genuine regard, and who was proud to welcome the great +Emperor under her convent roof. Since the death of the Empress, five +years before, Charles had formed a fixed resolution to end his days in +some cloistered retreat, and he looked with admiration, not unmixed +with envy, on the aged Queen's peaceful home, and the garden where she +hoed and raked the borders and planted flowers with her own hands. It +was a memorable day in the convent annals, and one which left pleasant +recollections in the Emperor's breast.[354] + +But although Charles was full of affection for Christina and her +husband, he declined to receive the Cardinal of Lorraine, who begged +for an interview, and during his brief visit not a word was spoken +with regard to overtures of peace.[355] On the 12th of July he took +leave of the Duke and Duchess, and joined the Prince of Orange's camp +before St. Dizier. This town was strongly fortified, but René had taken +up his position near a bridge across the Marne, and opened fire from +a battery of guns placed in the dry bed of the castle moat. Charles +himself visited the trenches on the day of his arrival, and early the +next morning the Prince of Orange walked round to inspect the artillery +with Ferrante Gonzaga. The Marquis of Marignano was sitting in a chair, +which had been brought there for the Emperor's use the day before, +and, seeing the Prince, sprang to his feet and offered him his seat. +Compliments were exchanged on both sides, and the Prince finally sat +down in the empty chair. He had hardly taken his seat before he was +struck by a shell which, passing between the Viceroy and the Marquis, +broke one of his ribs, and shattered his shoulder to pieces. They bore +his unconscious form to the Emperor's tent, where he lay between life +and death for the next forty-eight hours. The whole camp was filled +with consternation. + + "I doubt yet what will become of him," wrote Wotton, who had + followed Charles to the camp. "If he should die of it, it were + an inestimable loss to the Emperor, so toward a gentleman he + is, so well beloved, and of such authority among men of war." + +Before the writer had finished his letter, a servant came in to tell +him that the Prince was gone.[356] + +[Sidenote: JULY, 1544] DEATH OF RENÉ] + +A Spanish officer on the spot wrote a touching account of the Prince's +last moments. From the first the doctors gave little hope, and when +the Emperor heard of René's critical state he hastened to the wounded +hero's bedside, and knelt down, holding his hand in his own. The +Prince knew him, and begged him as a last favour to confirm the will +which he had made a month before, and take his young cousin and heir, +William of Nassau, under his protection. Charles promised to do all in +his power for the boy, and, with tears streaming down his face, kissed +the Prince's cheek before he passed away. + + "His Majesty the Emperor," continued the same writer, "saw him + die, and after that retired to his chamber, where he remained + some time alone without seeing anyone, and showed how much he + loved him. The grief of the whole army and of the Court are so + great that no words of mine can describe it."[357] + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1544] LA SQUELETTE DE BAR] + +From all sides the same bitter wail was heard. There was sorrow in the +ancient home at Bar, where René's marriage had been celebrated with +great rejoicing four years before. The Duke and Duchess wept for their +gallant brother-in-law, and Christina thought, with tender regret, of +the hero who in youthful days had seemed to her a very perfect knight. +The sad news was sent to De Courrières at the English camp before +Boulogne, by his Lieutenant of Archers, and the veteran shed tears +over the gallant Prince whom he had often followed to victory. Great +was the lamentation at Brussels when the truth became known. Nothing +but weeping was heard in the streets, and Queen Mary retired to the +Abbey of Groenendal to mourn for the loss which the Netherlands had +sustained by René's untimely death.[358] In his own city of Breda the +sorrow was deeper still. There his faithful wife, Anne of Lorraine, was +waiting anxiously for news from the battle-field. Her father had died +a few weeks before, and now her lord was torn from her in the flower +of his age, and she was left a childless widow. Early in the year +she had given birth to a daughter, who was christened on the 25th of +February, and called Mary, after her godmother, the Queen of Hungary, +but who died before she was a month old. Now report said that she was +about to become a mother for the second time, but her hopes were once +more doomed to disappointment. By René's last will, his titles and +the greater part of his vast estates passed to his cousin William of +Nassau, a boy of eleven, while a large jointure and the rich lands of +Diest were left to Anne for her life.[359] The Prince's corpse, clad +in the robes of a knight of the Golden Fleece, was borne to Breda, +and buried with his forefathers; but his heart was enshrined in the +Collegiate Church of Bar, among the tombs which held the ashes of his +wife's ancestors. On his death-bed René had expressed a wish that a +representation of his face and form, not as he was in life, but as +they would appear two years after death, should be carved on his tomb. +This strange wish was faithfully carried out by Anne of Lorraine, who +employed Ligier-Richier, the gifted Lorraine sculptor, to carve a +skeleton with upraised hand clasping the golden casket which contained +the dead hero's heart. The figure, carved in fine stone of ivory +whiteness, was, as it were, a literal rendering of the words, "Though +after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see +God." At the Revolution, the Collegiate Church of Bar, with the chapel +of the Lorraine Princes, which Montaigne called the most sumptuous +in France, was entirely destroyed; but René's monument was saved and +placed in the Church of St. Étienne, where it is commonly known as "La +Squelette de Bar."[360] + +The memory of this popular Prince lingered long in the land of his +birth, and his fame lived in the songs of Flanders and Holland for many +generations. One of the best known begins with the lines: + + "C'est le Prince d'Orange, + Trop matin s'est levé, + Il appela son page, + Mon Maure, est-il bridé? + Que maudit soit la guerre-- + Mon Maure, est-il bridé?"[361] + +And so the story goes on through many stanzas, which tell how, in spite +of his wife's dark forebodings, the hero rode out to the wars to fight +against the French, how he met with his fatal wound, and never came +home again. + + +V. + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1544] THE DUKE'S ILLNESS] + +The Prince's death threw a gloom over the imperial camp, but did not +diminish the warlike ardour of his battalions, who swore with one +voice that they would avenge their leader. On the 17th of August St. +Dizier at length surrendered. "A right dear-bought town," wrote Wotton, +"considering the number of men lost in the assault, and chiefly the +inestimable loss of that noble Prince." Ferrante immediately sent a +troop of light horse, with Francesco d'Este at their head, against +Joinville, the splendid home of the Guises, although, as Wotton +remarked, this was rather a house of pleasure than a stronghold. The +castle was spared by order of the Emperor for the sake of his niece +Christina, who begged him not to add to the Princess of Orange's +grief by destroying her uncle's house; but the town and churches were +sacked and set on fire, and the beautiful gardens, with their fine +water-shows and temples, were destroyed.[362] The news was received +with consternation in Paris, where Antoinette and her grandson had +taken refuge, and the Duchess's brother, Cardinal Bourbon, wrote to the +Scottish Queen telling her of the report that the enemy had burnt down +Joinville, which had fortunately proved to be false. "The destruction +of such a beautiful house," he adds, "would indeed have been sad."[363] +This calamity had been averted by Christina, but, in their anger at +the damage done by the imperial troops, the Guise Princes hardly +remembered the debt that they owed her. The King was furious, and in +the first burst of his indignation sent the Duke of Lorraine a message, +threatening to destroy him and all his house. The Duke now determined +to go to the French Court to defend himself from these charges and see +if it were possible to make proposals of peace in this quarter. The +Emperor's rapid advance had excited great alarm in Paris. Even the King +awoke to a sense of danger, and said to Margaret of Navarre, the sister +to whom he turned in all his worst troubles, "_Ma mignonne_, pray God +to spare me the disgrace of seeing the Emperor encamped before my city +of Paris." Queen Eleanor, in her distress, sent a Dominican friar in +whom she had great confidence--Don Gabriel de Guzman--to implore +her brother to hear her prayers. But Charles was still obdurate. He +received Francis of Lorraine in the camp after the Prince of Orange's +death, but when he heard that his nephew was going to the French Court, +he sent Montbardon to beg the Duchess, "as she loved him," not to let +her husband go to France so soon after he had seen him, lest people +should think that he was sent by the Emperor to treat of peace. + +Christina replied in a letter written, as Wotton remarked, in her +own hand, telling her uncle that she had sent a servant post-haste +to overtake her husband, but that he was already at Châlons, and had +gone too far to retrace his steps. In spite of this manful attempt, +the Duke never reached Paris; he fell from his horse in a fainting fit +at Épernay, and was brought back in a litter to Bar, where Christina +nursed him for several weeks.[364] His efforts, however, proved +more effectual than he had expected. The Emperor's precautions were +necessary owing to the jealousy with which the English King regarded +every proposal of peace on the part of his ally, but in reality Charles +was almost as eager as Francis to put an end to the war. His resources +were exhausted, the plague was raging in Luxembourg and Flanders, and +he realized the danger of advancing into the enemy's country with the +Dauphin's army in his rear, while his hopes of the English march on +Paris had been disappointed by Henry's delays before Montreuil and +Boulogne. Under these circumstances he felt that he could no longer +refuse to treat with his foes. On the 29th of August, a week after the +Duke had started on his unfortunate journey, Admiral l'Annebaut and +the French Chancellor were admitted into the Emperor's presence, in +the camp near Châlons, and conferences were opened between them and +Granvelle, with the happy result that on the 19th of September peace +was signed at Crépy-en-Laonnois. + +[Sidenote: SEPT., 1544] DUKE ANTOINE'S FUNERAL] + +By this treaty the Duke of Orleans was to be given either the Emperor's +daughter in marriage, with the reversion of the Netherlands as her +dower, or else one of his Austrian nieces with the immediate possession +of Milan. In return Francis was to renounce his claims on Naples and +Artois, restore the Duke of Savoy's dominions, and endow his son with +large estates and revenues. All the towns and fortresses which had been +captured during the recent war were to be restored, including Stenay, +which, as Charles pointed out, the King of France "had seized in the +strangest manner, and held by force without paying homage, although +it is notoriously a fief of the empire."[365] As soon as peace was +signed, Granvelle's son, the young Bishop of Arras, was sent to ask the +English King to become a party to the treaty; but Henry, who had just +taken Boulogne after a long siege, quite refused, and professed great +surprise to hear that the Emperor had agreed to terms which seemed to +him more befitting the vanquished than the victor. On the other hand, +a strong party at the French Court complained that the rights of the +Crown were sacrificed to the personal aggrandisement of Orleans, and +on the 12th of December the Dauphin signed a secret protest against +the treaty, which was witnessed by Vendôme and Aumale.[366] But in +the provinces where war had been waging, peace was welcomed with +thankfulness, and the ruler and people of Lorraine could once more +breathe freely. + +The Duke of Lorraine was now able to convey his father's body from the +Castle of Bar, where he had died, to Nancy. On the 15th of September he +and his brother set out at the head of the funeral procession, along +roads lined with crowds of people weeping for the good Duke who had +ruled the land so well. But since it was impossible for the Duke of +Guise and his family to come to Nancy at present, the last rites were +put off till the following year, and the old Duke's remains were left +to repose for the time in the Church of St. Georges.[367] Little dreamt +these loyal subjects that before the year was over the young Duke, on +whom their hopes were fixed, would himself be numbered with the dead, +and lie buried in his father's grave. But for the moment all was well. +The return of peace was hailed with rejoicing, and the restitution +of Stenay removed a blot from the scutcheon of Lorraine, while the +independence of the duchy was confirmed by a decree of the Diet of +Nuremberg, to which the Emperor gave his sanction.[368] + +The Duke and Duchess received a pressing invitation to join in the +festivities that were held at Brussels to celebrate the peace. Charles +and Mary arrived there on the 1st of October, and were shortly +followed by Queen Eleanor, bringing in her train the Duke of Orleans +and the Duchess of Étampes, who had used all her influence with the +King to bring about peace, chiefly from jealousy of the Dauphin and +his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. The burghers of Brussels gave the +imperial family a magnificent entertainment at the hôtel-de-ville, +and presented Eleanor with a golden fountain of exquisite shape and +workmanship; while the Emperor lavished costly presents on his guests, +and gave the Queen of Hungary the fine domains of Binche and Turnhout +in gratitude for her services. Unfortunately, Christina was detained at +Nancy by a return of her husband's illness, and did not reach Brussels +till the 4th of November. By this time Eleanor had set out on her +return, and Christina, eager to see her aunt, followed her to Mons, +and spent two days in her company. On the 7th the Duchess came back to +Brussels with her brother-in-law, Nicolas de Vaudemont, and remained +with her uncle and aunt during a fortnight. It was her first visit +to Brussels since her wedding, more than three years before, and old +friends and faces welcomed her on all sides. But one familiar figure +was missing, and she found a melancholy pleasure in the company of her +sister-in-law, the widowed Princess of Orange, whom she saw for the +first time since her gallant husband's death. Charles treated his niece +with marked kindness, and gave her a superb necklace of pearls and +diamonds as a parting present.[369] + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1545] PEACE AND PROSPERITY] + +The winter was spent happily at Nancy, where the new Duke and Duchess +made themselves popular with all classes. Francis gave free rein to +his love of art and letters, and encouraged scholars and artists +by his enlightened patronage. He took passionate delight in music, +and was never happier than when he could surround himself with the +best singers and players on the lute and viol. Christina shared his +artistic tastes, and was greatly interested in the improvements of the +ducal palace. Together they made plans for the decoration of its halls +and gardens, and for the construction of new buildings and churches +in different parts of Lorraine, while the Court painters, Crock and +Chappin, were sent to Italy to collect antiques and study the best +examples of art and architecture.[370] At the same time Christina took +deep interest in the condition of her humbler subjects, and tried to +relieve distress by founding charitable institutions on the pattern of +those in Flanders. A new period of peace and prosperity seemed to have +dawned on Lorraine, and everything promised a long and happy reign. + +By the end of the year the Duke and Duchess of Guise returned to +Joinville, and were actively engaged throughout the winter in +rebuilding the ruined town and repairing the damage done by the +imperial soldiery. Old quarrels between the two houses were forgotten, +and friendly intercourse was renewed. In February the Duke and +Duchess of Lorraine were present in the chapel of Joinville, at the +consecration of Guise's son Charles, as Archbishop of Reims, and in +March the Cardinal of Lorraine came to Nancy to discharge the duties +of executor to the late Duke. Antoine had provided liberally for all +his children. Nicolas de Vaudemont, his younger son, received a sum of +15,000 crowns, and Christina gave her brother-in-law a handsome present +of furniture, to help him in setting up house. Some lordships near +Joinville were left to the Duke of Guise, and everything was amicably +arranged.[371] + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1545] FRANCIS'S DEATH] + +Suddenly the Duke fell ill for the third time, and during several +days his life was in danger. Wotton was convinced that he had been +poisoned by his French enemies, and so alarming were the reports +which reached Brussels, that the Emperor wrote privately to his new +Ambassador in Paris, Granvelle's brother-in-law, St. Mauris, begging +him to keep a watchful eye on the affairs of Lorraine, lest Guise and +the Cardinal should take advantage of their nephew's condition to +seize his domains. But this time Francis recovered once more, and was +able to make his solemn entry into Nancy on the 16th of April. At the +Porte St. Nicolas he was met by the three orders--the nobles, clergy, +and people--and walked on foot, with Nicolas de Vaudemont at his side, +followed by his Ministers, to the Church of St. Georges. Here, kneeling +at the high-altar, he kissed the relic of the True Cross, and took a +solemn oath to respect the privileges of the people of Lorraine and +the liberties of the city of Nancy. After this a _Te Deum_ was chanted +and a banquet held in the ducal palace.[372] The next week, by the +advice of his doctors, Antoine Champier and Nicolas le Pois, he went +to Blamont, in the hope that the invigorating air of the hills might +complete his cure; but he grew weaker every day, and was subject to +frequent fainting fits of an alarming nature. In her anxiety, Christina +sent to Strasburg and Fribourg for well-known physicians, and Mary +of Hungary despatched her own doctor to Nancy, and consulted eminent +doctors in London and Paris on the patient's symptoms.[373] But all +was of no avail, and as a last resource the Duke was carried in a +litter to Remiremont, his favourite shooting-lodge in the heart of +the Vosges. It was the end of May, and the beautiful woods along the +mountain slopes were in the first glory of their spring foliage. For a +moment it seemed as if his delight in the beauty of the place and the +life-giving influence of sunshine and mountain air would restore him to +health. But already the hand of Death was upon him. On the Fête-Dieu he +became much worse, and his end was evidently near; but he was perfectly +conscious, and, sending for a notary, he made his last will, appointing +his wife Regent of the State and guardian of her little son and +daughter, and commending her and his children to the Emperor's care. +After this he received the last Sacraments, and passed quietly away on +Friday, the 12th of June. He was not yet twenty-eight, and had reigned +exactly one year.[374] Death had once more severed the marriage tie, +and Christina, who but lately called herself the happiest woman in the +world, was left stricken and desolate, a widow for the second time, at +the age of twenty-three. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[317] Abbé Calmet, "Histoire Ecclésiastique et Civile de Lorraine," i. +190. + +[318] Hugo, 196, 200. + +[319] Calmet, iii. 325; A. Hallays, "Nancy" ("Villes Célèbres"), 31. + +[320] Calmet, i. 176; Hugo, 244; "Inventaire de Joinville," i. 378. + +[321] H. Lepage, "Le Palais Ducal de Nancy," 10; C. Pfister, ii. 29; +"La Ville de Nancy," 65. + +[322] Pfister, ii. 26; A. Hallays, "Nancy," 37-39. + +[323] Lepage, "Palais Ducal," 3; Pfister, ii. 188. + +[324] Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 17. + +[325] Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 84. + +[326] _Ibid._, ii. 20. + +[327] Kaulek, 54. + +[328] F. v. Bucholtz, "Geschichte d. Kaiser Ferdinand I.," ix. 141. + +[329] Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," ii. 618; Bucholtz, ix. 141. + +[330] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 639, 644, 655 + +[331] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 436; Calendar of State +Papers, xvi. 1, 690. + +[332] Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 3, 6. + +[333] Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 85. + +[334] Bucholtz, ix. 142. + +[335] H. Lepage, "Le Palais Ducal de Nancy," 9; Pfister, ii. 256. + +[336] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 636. + +[337] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 473; Calendar of State +Papers, xvi. 2, 51. + +[338] The authenticity of this well-known saying has been often +disputed, and was certainly never addressed by the Duchess to either +of Henry VIII.'s Ambassadors. But Christina's words were recorded by +Joachim Sandrart, who wrote in the seventeenth century, as having been +spoken by a Princess of Lorraine, whom the English King had wooed in +vain, and were afterwards quoted by Horace Walpole "as the witty answer +of that Duchess of Milan whose portrait Holbein painted for Henry +VIII." (see Wornum's "Life of Holbein," 311; J. Sandrart, "Deutsche +Akademie"; and Walpole's "Anecdotes of Painting"). + +[339] State Papers, Record Office, viii. 641; Calendar of State Papers, +xvii. 711. + +[340] Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 12. + +[341] Calendar of State Papers, xvii. 232. + +[342] Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," ii. 628; Calendar of State Papers, +xvii. 273. + +[343] Lanz, ii. 364. + +[344] Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 13. + +[345] Pimodan, 81; Bouillé, i. 142. + +[346] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 2, 262. + +[347] Calmet, i. 265; Pfister, ii. 200. + +[348] Calendar of State Papers, Record Office, ix. 522. + +[349] Calendar of State Papers, xviii. 2, 216; State Papers, Record +Office, ix. 557; Bucholtz, ix. 263. + +[350] Altmeyer, "Relations," etc., 476; Gachard, "Voyages de Charles +V.," ii. 285. + +[351] Schäfer, iv. 462; Calendar of State Papers, xix. 1, 349. + +[352] Calmet, ii. 1196; Pfister, ii. 192. + +[353] Gachard, "Voyages," ii. 289; Calendar of State Papers, Record +Office, ix. 724. + +[354] Calendar of State Papers, xix. 1, 564. + +[355] Calendar of State Papers, Record Office, x. 43. + +[356] State Papers, Record Office, ix. 733. + +[357] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vii. 267. + +[358] Calendar of State Papers, xix. 1, 608; Calendar of Spanish State +Papers, vii. 280. + +[359] Calendar of State Papers, xix. 1, 71; Groen v. Prinsterer, +"Archives de la Maison d'Orange," i. 1. + +[360] C. Cournault, "Ligier-Richier," 28. + +[361] R. Putnam, "William the Silent, Prince of Orange," ii. 435. + +[362] Bouillé, ii. 148; Pimodan, 183; Oudin, "Histoire des Guises," +Bib. Nat., f. 118; Calendar of State Papers, Record Office, x. 6, 43. + +[363] Calendar of State Papers, xix. 2, 63. + +[364] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vii. 296-298. + +[365] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vii. 305. + +[366] _Ibid._, vii. 1, 350, 355. + +[367] Calmet, ii. 1196; Pfister, ii. 192. + +[368] Calmet, ii. 1281; Ravold, 744; Pfister, ii. 188; Calendar of +Spanish State Papers, vi. 2, 262. + +[369] Henne, viii. 212-215; T. Juste, "Marie de Hongrie," 120; Calendar +of State Papers, xix. 2, 340. + +[370] Pfister, ii. 256; H. Lepage, "La Ville de Nancy," 65. + +[371] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, viii. 102; Bouillé, i. 244. + +[372] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, viii. 195; Pfister, ii. 192; +Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," iii. 110. + +[373] Ravold, iii. 764; Calmet, ii. 1276. + +[374] Pfister, ii. 192. + + + + +BOOK IX + +CHRISTINA, REGENT OF LORRAINE + +1545-1552 + + +I. + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1545] VAUDEMONT'S CLAIMS] + +The premature death of her husband left Christina in a position of +exceptional difficulty. Everything combined to add to her distress. She +herself was in delicate health, expecting the birth of another child in +a few weeks, her only son was an infant of two years and a half, and +she had not a single near relative or tried Minister to give her the +help of his counsel and experience. The Duke had appointed her Regent +of Lorraine during his son's minority, but even before he breathed +his last, her claims to this office were disputed. Although Christina +herself was popular with all classes of her son's subjects, there was +a strong party in Lorraine which dreaded the influence of her powerful +uncle. At the head of this party was the Rhinegrave, Jean de Salm, an +able nobleman who had always been French in his sympathies, and who +now seized the opportunity of the Duke's last illness to advance the +claims of Monsieur de Metz, seeing that this young Prince would be an +easy tool in his hands. At ten o'clock on the Fête-Dieu, when the Duke +had received the last Sacraments, the Count de Salm entered his room +with Nicolas de Vaudemont, and thus addressed him: "Monseigneur, if it +please God to call you to himself, do you wish that Monsieur de Metz, +your brother, should have a share in the administration of your State +and the care of your children, without prejudice to the arrangements +which you have already made, by word and in writing, with your august +wife the Duchess?" The dying Prince, who was hardly conscious, murmured +a faint "Yes," upon which the Count summoned a notary to write down +the Duke's last wishes, and proceeded to read the document to the +Duchess in the presence of her servants.[375] Christina, in her bitter +distress, paid little heed to this interruption, and was only anxious +to return to her dying husband's bedside; but immediately after his +death she found herself compelled to face the question. Owing to her +delicate state of health, she decided to put off the Duke's funeral, +as well as that of his father, until the following year. A week after +his death she joined her young children at her dower-house of Denœuvre, +and at the same time the Duke's body was removed by Count de Salm, as +Marshal of Lorraine, to the collegiate church of this place, and buried +in a temporary grave, after lying in state during three days. + +The Emperor was at Worms with the Elector Palatine and his wife +when the news of the Duke of Lorraine's death reached him, and sent +Montbardon at once to his niece with letters of condolence. Christina +availed herself of this opportunity to ask her uncle's advice regarding +the deed drawn up by Jean de Salm. Charles, realizing the critical +nature of the situation, immediately sent one of his most trusted +servants, François Bonvalot, Abbot of Luxeuil, to Nancy, with orders +to assure the Duchess of his protection, and if possible secure her +the Regency and sole charge of her children. Bonvalot was the brother +of Granvelle's wife, the excellent Madame Nicole, and had only lately +resigned the office of Ambassador at Paris, and retired to Besançon to +administer the affairs of this diocese as coadjutor of the Bishop. No +one was better fitted to help the widowed Duchess than this statesman, +who was intimately acquainted with the intrigues of the Guise Princes +and the French Court. He hastened to Denœuvre without delay, and, +as soon as he had seen Christina, wrote the following letter to his +brother-in-law, St. Mauris, giving a clear and graphic account of the +situation: + + "MY BROTHER, + + [Sidenote: JUNE, 1545] CHRISTINA'S DIFFICULTIES] + + "The Emperor, having been informed of Monsieur de Lorraine's + death, has sent me here to help his niece the Duchess, and to + secure her the administration of the State and the guardianship + of her children, which belongs to her by right and reason, + but which Monsieur de Metz is trying to claim, by virtue + of the custom of this country, as well as of certain acts + somewhat suspiciously passed by the Count de Salm and other + of the nobles when the late Lord Duke was _in extremis_.... + His Majesty, being anxious to comfort the said lady in her + great affliction, and act the part not only of a good uncle, + but of a true father, has sent me here to give her advice and + help, and begs you to tell the Most Christian King the wrong + which has been done her in this strange fashion, and which + His Imperial Majesty will never allow, because of the close + relation in which this lady stands to him. He hopes that the + King will join with him in this, for the sake of the friendship + which he has ever borne to this house and to this widowed lady + and her orphan children, whose fathers and protectors their + two Majesties ought to be. His Imperial Majesty begs the King + most earnestly not to allow the said lady to be deprived of + this Regency to which Monsieur de Metz pretends, in spite + of common right and the ancient custom of Lorraine, as the + Count of Salm's deed abundantly shows, since this would have + been superfluous if the custom were such as he pretends it to + be. You will lay these same reasons before the Cardinal and + Monsieur de Guise. If you are told that Queen Yolande resigned + the government of Lorraine in favour of her son, you will + reply that this was done of her own free choice; and if any + person objects that the mother of the late Duke Antoine and the + Cardinal and Sieur de Guise did not retain the administration + after her husband's death, you will point out that the said + Duke was of full age, and that the said lady was content to lay + down the government on this account.... And, further, you will + inquire what the King intends to do in the matter, and if he + means to support Monsieur de Metz or take any steps prejudicial + to the said lady and the tranquillity of these lands, and will + inform His Imperial Majesty and myself of these things without + delay."[376] + +When Bonvalot wrote this letter from Denœuvre, on the 27th of June, +the young Archbishop of Reims had already arrived there, with an +agreement drawn up by his uncle the Cardinal, which he submitted to +the Duchess for approval. He informed the Abbot that King Francis +trusted the said lady would avoid all occasion of strife, which, as +Bonvalot remarked, was exactly what the Emperor wished, and Monsieur +de Metz, by his singular action, had done his best to prevent. In this +difficult situation Christina showed remarkable good sense and tact. +She told Bonvalot frankly that she would gladly avail herself of her +brother-in-law's help in the administration of public affairs, and +wished to treat him with perfect friendliness as long as she retained +the sole charge of her children and the chief authority in the State. +Accordingly, the agreement proposed by the Cardinal was adopted, with +some modifications, and signed at Denœuvre, on the 6th of August, by +Christina, Nicolas, the Count de Salm, and other chief officials of +Lorraine. The Duchess and her brother-in-law were appointed joint +Regents, and were to affix their seal to all public deeds. Vaudemont +was given a key of the Treasury, and was allowed the patronage of one +out of every three vacant offices; but the real authority, as well as +the care of her children, was vested in the Duchess. Bonvalot told the +Emperor that, under the circumstances, this was the best arrangement +that could be made, and Charles of Lorraine and his family had nothing +but praise for the Duchess's good-will and moderation.[377] + +[Sidenote: NOV., 1545] HER TACT AND WISDOM] + +A fortnight later, Christina gave birth to her second daughter, who +was named Dorothea, after the Countess Palatine. But the severe mental +strain which the mother had undergone affected the child, who was a +cripple from her birth. On the 5th of November the Treaty of Denœuvre +was ratified by the States assembled at Neufchâteau, not, however, +without considerable discussion. Some of the nobles tried to limit +the Regents' powers, and managed to insert a provision that none but +Lorraine's should hold offices of State, a measure clearly aimed at +the Flemings and Burgundians in the Duchess's service. Nicolas de +Vaudemont, being young and inexperienced, agreed readily to these +demands, which drew forth a strong protest from the Emperor and Mary +of Hungary. To add to Bonvalot's dissatisfaction, Monsieur de Metz +accompanied the Archbishop on his return to France, without even +informing Christina of his intention. In spite of these provocations, +she maintained the same conciliatory attitude, and her prudence and +modesty excited the Abbot's sincere admiration. The Emperor addressed +an affectionate letter to his niece, assuring her of his fatherly love +and protection, and saying that he would never cease to regard her +interests as his own. "And it will be a great pleasure to me," he adds, +"if you will often write to me, and I on my part will let you hear from +me in the same manner."[378] + +Christina now returned to spend Christmas at Nancy, and settled in +the ducal palace with her children. Monsieur de Metz gave up his +bishopric, and renouncing the ecclesiastical profession adopted the +style of Count of Vaudemont. But he showed no further disposition +to make himself disagreeable to his sister-in-law, and their mutual +relations were rendered easier by the presence of the Princess of +Orange, who spent most of the year at Nancy. The two widowed Princesses +were drawn together by that tenderest of ties, the memory of those +whom they had loved and lost. Henceforth they became the dearest and +closest of friends. During all the troubles and sorrows of the next +twenty years Anne's loyalty to her sister-in-law remained unshaken. +Her strong common-sense and practical qualities, her coolness and +courage in emergencies, were a great support to Christina, while the +confidence that Mary of Hungary reposed in her proved no less valuable. +The harmony of the family circle continued unbroken, and the internal +administration of Lorraine was carried on as peaceably as before. The +conduct of foreign affairs presented far greater difficulties, and all +Christina's prudence was needed to steer the way safely through the +rocks that lay in her course. + +In spite of his friendly professions, the French King, it soon became +evident, was likely to prove a troublesome neighbour. As Wotton wrote +when Francis of Lorraine died, "If the sweet, vain hope of the delivery +of Milan did not let him, I think the Duke's death might easily +provoke the French King to attempt somewhat on Bar and Lorraine."[379] +Even before her husband's death, Christina had been involved in a +long correspondence regarding Stenay, which the French refused to +give up until Duke Antoine's letters surrendering the town could be +produced. The missing papers were at length discovered in possession +of the French Governor, De Longueval, who had maliciously concealed +them, and the town was evacuated at the end of August, 1545. Ten days +afterwards the Duke of Orleans died of the plague at Abbeville, in his +twenty-fifth year. The loss of this favourite son was a heavy blow to +Francis. "God grant," he wrote to the Emperor, in an outburst of deep +emotion, "that you may never know what it is to lose a son!" The event, +as it happened, proved most opportune for Charles, who was released +from the unpleasant necessity of giving his daughter or niece to a +worthless Prince, with Milan or the Netherlands as her dower. But it +naturally provoked Francis to demand fresh concessions and revive his +old claim to Milan. + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1546] THE CITADEL OF STENAY] + +The effect of this new quarrel was to increase Christina's +difficulties. When the French at length abandoned Stenay, it was +found that not only the recent fortifications had been destroyed, +as agreed upon in the Treaty of Crépy, but that the old walls of the +town had been pulled down. Mary of Hungary justly complained that the +defenceless state of Stenay was a grave cause of danger to Luxembourg, +and urged her brother to garrison the town, declaring, if war broke +out, the Duchess would be unable to maintain the neutrality of +Lorraine. Charles, who had already left the Netherlands to attend the +Diet of Regensburg, now invited his niece to meet him at Waldrevange, +on the frontiers of Luxembourg, and discuss the matter. Christina +obeyed her uncle's summons gladly, and assured him that she was quite +alive to the importance of Stenay, and had already asked her subjects' +help in rebuilding the town walls. But since the presence of an +imperial force might excite suspicion, she proposed to place a young +Luxembourg Captain named Schauwenbourg in command of the garrison. The +plan met with Charles's approval; but Mary was by no means satisfied, +and begged the Emperor to insist on an oath of allegiance to himself +being taken by the garrison and burghers. Charles replied that no doubt +the best plan would be to keep Stenay altogether, but that this would +be a direct violation of the Treaty of Crépy, as well as a wrong to the +little Duke, and might stir up the French "to make a great broil."[380] + +The invaluable Bonvalot was now called in, and accepted Christina's +invitation to attend the funeral of the two Dukes on the 14th of June. +But when the Abbot reached Nancy, he found that only Duke Antoine's +obsequies were about to be solemnized, and that the Duchess had +deferred those of her husband in compliance with a request from the +Guise Princes. On the day after the old Duke's funeral, Bonvalot had +a long interview with Christina, who expressed her anxiety to meet +her aunt's wishes, and explained that Vaudemont was only afraid of +arousing the suspicions of the French. While she was speaking, Nicolas +himself came in and told the Abbé how grateful he felt to the Emperor +for the affection which he showed to his little nephew, and how fully +he realized the importance of defending Stenay, but that he dared not +risk exciting the displeasure of Francis, who was already advancing a +thousand new claims on Bar. The members of the Ducal Council, to whom +the matter was referred, expressed the same opinion, telling Bonvalot +that they looked to the Emperor as their father and protector, and +would guard Stenay as the apple of their eye. The Abbot was satisfied +with these assurances, and advised the Emperor to leave the matter +in his niece's hands. Charles had empowered him to offer Nicolas the +restitution of the Abbey of Gorzes, which he had formerly held, and +which the Imperialists had recovered from the French and rebuilt at +considerable expense. But Christina would not hear of this, saying that +her brother-in-law cared more for the good of the State than for his +private advantage, and Nicolas himself told Bonvalot that he would not +endanger his nephew's realm for ten wealthy abbeys. + +[Sidenote: JULY, 1546] THE GUISE FAMILY] + + "As for madame your niece, Sire," wrote the Abbot, "I have + always found her most anxious to please Your Majesty, at + whatever cost. But as a mother she naturally fears to run any + risks which might injure her children, and would, if possible, + avoid these perils. She begged me, with tears in her eyes, + to make Your Majesty understand this, and have pity upon + her, trusting that you will be content with the promises of + the Council, or else find another and less dangerous way of + defending Stenay. Sire, I could not refuse to give you this + message, in obedience to Her Highness's express commands, and + beg you very humbly to take them in good part."[381] + +So the incident closed, and for the time being nothing more was heard +of Stenay. + + +II. + +The Duke of Guise and his family now stood higher than ever in the +King's favour. His eldest son, Aumale, was dangerously wounded in the +siege of Boulogne by an English spear, which penetrated so deeply into +his forehead that the surgeon could only extract the steel by planting +his foot on the patient's head. After this ordeal the Count lay between +life and death for several weeks, and owed his recovery to the tender +nursing of his mother, who preserved as a trophy at Joinville the +English spearhead which so nearly ended her son's career.[382] As soon +as he was able to move, the King sent for Antoinette, and insisted +on taking her to hunt at St. Germain, and consulting her as to his +latest improvements in this palace. Her grandson, the young Duke of +Longueville, was also a great favourite at Court, and when peace was +at length concluded, the King gave him a copy of the new treaty with +England to send to the Queen of Scotland. The boy enclosed it in a +merry letter, sending his love to the little Queen his sister, and +telling his mother that if she would not come to France he meant to +come and see her, and was old and strong enough to face the roughest +sea-voyage.[383] + +The Cardinal now announced his intention of taking the whole family +back to Joinville, to attend the ducal funeral; but once more the King +interfered, and kept them at Court for the christening of the Dauphin's +daughter, which was celebrated with great pomp at Fontainebleau. Henry +VIII. stood godfather, and the little Princess was named Elizabeth, +after the King's mother, "as good and virtuous a woman as ever lived," +said the English Ambassador, Sir Thomas Cheyney; while the Imperialists +declared that the name was chosen because of its popularity in Spain +and of the hopes of the French that the child might one day wed Don +Carlos.[384] + +Meanwhile the arrival of the Guises was anxiously awaited at Nancy. On +the 17th of July Christina wrote to inform Abbot Bonvalot that she had +at length been able to fix the date of her husband's funeral: + + "MONSIEUR DE LUXEUIL, + + [Sidenote: AUG., 1546] FUNERAL OF DUKE FRANCIS] + + "I must inform you that I have heard from the Cardinal and the + Duke of Guise, who hope to be here by the end of the month, so + the service will be held on the 6th of August, all being well. + I beg you will not fail to be present. As for my news, all I + have to tell you is that the King is giving me great trouble in + Bar, and is trying to raise a tax in the town, which has never + been done or thought of before. I fear that in the end I, too, + shall have to go to Court, but shall wait until I hear from the + Emperor. Can you give me any information as to his movements? + All I can hear is that His Majesty is collecting a large army + to make war on the Princes of the Empire, who have rebelled + against him. I pray God to help him, and send him success and + prosperity, and have good hope that my prayers will be heard, + as this will be for the good of Christendom. Here I will end, + Monsieur de Luxeuil, praying God to have you in His holy + keeping. + + "La bien votre, + "CHRESTIENNE."[385] + +The coming of the Guises, however, was again delayed, and the funeral +did not take place until the 17th of August. On the previous day the +Duke's corpse was brought from Denœuvre to Nancy by the great officers +of State, and laid on a bier in the Church of St. George's, surrounded +by lighted torches and a guard of armed men, who kept watch all night. +The funerals of the Dukes of Lorraine had always been famous for their +magnificence, and there was an old proverb which said: "Fortunate +is the man who has seen the coronation of an Emperor, the sacring +of a King of France, and the funeral of a Duke of Lorraine."[386] +On this occasion nothing that could heighten the imposing nature of +the ceremony was neglected. All the Princes of the blood, Nicolas of +Vaudemont, the Duke of Guise with his five sons and grandson, rode +out from the ducal palace to the Church of St. Georges, and took +their places, as chief mourners, at the head of the long procession +that wound through the streets to the Cordeliers' shrine. In their +train came a multitude of clergy, nobles, and Ambassadors from all +the crowned heads in Europe, followed by a motley crowd of burghers +and humble folk, all in deep mourning, with torches in their hands. +The chariot bearing the coffin was drawn by twelve horses, draped +with black velvet adorned with the cross of Lorraine in white satin. +The Duke's war-horse, in full armour, was led by two pages, while the +servants of his household walked bareheaded on either side, with folded +arms, in token that their master needed their services no more. On the +hearse lay an image of the dead Prince, with the ducal baton in his +hand, clad in crimson robes and a mantle of gold brocade fastened with +a diamond clasp. This effigy was placed on a huge catafalque erected in +the centre of the church, lighted with a hundred torches, and hung with +banners emblazoned with the arms of Lorraine, Bar, Provence, Jerusalem, +and the Sicilies. + +In the tribune above the choir knelt the Princess of Orange, the +Duchess of Guise, and her newly-wedded daughter-in-law, Diane of +Poitiers's daughter Louise, Marchioness of Mayenne, all clad in the +same long black mantles lined with ermine. The Countess Palatine, +Dorothea, had arrived at Nancy on the 17th of June, to attend her +brother-in-law's funeral, but as the Guises failed to appear, she +returned to Heidelberg at the end of a fortnight. + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1546] ANNE DE LORRAINE] + +Christina herself was unable to be present, "owing to her excessive +sorrow," writes the chronicler, and remained on her knees in prayer, +with the Princess of Macedonia and her young children, in her own room, +hung with black, while the requiem was chanted and the last rites were +performed.[387] When all was over, and the "two Princes of peace," as +De Boullay called Francis and his father, were laid side by side in +the vault of the Friars' Church, the vast assembly dispersed and the +mourners went their ways. Only Anne of Lorraine remained at Nancy with +her sister-in-law, who could not bear to part from her. A letter which +this Princess wrote to her cousin, the Queen of Scotland, this summer +is of interest for the glimpse which it gives of the widowed Duchess +and the boy round whom all her hopes centred: + + "Your Majesty's last letters reached me on the day when I + arrived here from home, and I regret extremely that I have been + unable to answer them before. I am very glad to hear you are + in good health and kind enough to remember me. On my part, I + can assure you that there is no one in your family who thinks + of you with greater affection or is more anxious to do you + service than myself. I did not fail to give your kind message, + to Madame de Lorraine, my sister, and Her Highness returns her + most humble thanks. You will be glad to hear that her son is + well and thriving. I pray God that he may live to fulfil the + promise of his early years. Everyone who sees him speaks well + of him, and his nature is so good that I hope he will grow up + to satisfy our highest expectations. May God grant you long + life! + + "Your humble cousin, + "ANNE DE LORRAINE."[388] + +The Princess of Orange was still in Lorraine when King Francis came +to visit the Duchess. This monarch was as active as ever, in spite of +frequent attacks of illness, and spent the autumn in making a progress +through Burgundy and Champagne, hunting and travelling seven or eight +leagues a day in the most inclement weather. + +In October he came to Joinville, and Christina, glad to be relieved +of the necessity of going to Court herself, invited him to pay her a +visit at Bar. In this once stately Romanesque castle, of which little +now remains, the Duchess and the Princess of Orange, "dowagers both," +as Wotton remarks, entertained Francis magnificently, and provided a +series of hunting-parties and banquets for his amusement. + +The true object of the King's visit was to arrange a marriage between +the Duchess and the Count of Aumale. The young soldier made no secret +of his love for his cousin's beautiful widow, Antoinette was anxious to +see her son settled, and both the King and the Guises were fully alive +to the political advantages of the alliance. On the 26th of October +Wotton wrote from Bar, "The fame continues of a marriage between the +Dowager of Lorraine and the Count of Aumale," although, as he had +already remarked in a previous letter, it was hard to believe the +Duchess's uncles would consent to the union. Aumale's own hopes were +high, and he sent a messenger to Scotland to tell his sister of the +good cheer which they were enjoying in Madame de Lorraine's house at +Bar.[389] + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1546] MARRIAGE PROPOSALS] + +But these hopes were doomed to disappointment. Christina was determined +never to marry again. Like her aunt, Mary of Hungary, having once +tasted perfect happiness, she was unwilling to repeat the experiment. +Her beauty was in its prime, her charms attracted lovers of every +age and rank. During the next ten or twelve years she was courted by +several of the most illustrious personages and bravest captains of the +age. She smiled on all her suitors in turn, and gave them freely of her +friendship, but remained true to her resolve to live for her children +alone, and took for her device a solitary tower with doves fluttering +round its barred windows, and the motto _Accipio nullas sordida turris +aves_ (A ruined tower, I give shelter to no birds), as a symbol of +perpetual widowhood.[390] + +Aumale consoled himself by winning fresh laurels in the next war, and +before long married another bride of high degree; but Brantôme, who +was intimate with the Guises, tells us that he never forgave Madame de +Lorraine for rejecting his suit, and remained her bitter enemy to the +end of his life.[391] The King took Christina's refusal more lightly. +He never treated women's fancies seriously, and when he found that +Aumale's suit was not acceptable, he sought the Duchess's help in a +scheme that lay nearer his heart. This was the marriage of his own +daughter Margaret with Philip of Spain, whose young wife had died, in +June, 1545, a few days after giving birth to the Infant Don Carlos. The +old scheme of marrying this Princess to the Emperor's only son was now +revived at the French Court, and Christina, who had always appreciated +Madame Marguerite's excellent qualities, entered readily into the +King's wishes. But, as she soon discovered, her aunt, Queen Eleanor, +was greatly opposed to the idea, and still ardently wished to see +Philip married to her own daughter, the Infanta Maria of Portugal.[392] + +From Bar Francis returned to spend All Hallows at Joinville, where he +enjoyed fresh revels, and delighted the Duke of Longueville by telling +him to make haste and grow tall, that he might enter his service. + + "Now he goes," wrote the boy's tutor, Jean de la Brousse, + "to keep Christmas at Compiègne, and will spend the winter + in Paris, watching how matters go with the Emperor and the + Protestants, whose armies have been three months face to face, + and yet do not know how to kill each other."[393] + +In the same letter the writer describes how, on his journey to +Plessis, to bring the Princess of Navarre to Court, he met the Queen +of Scotland's sister, Madame Renée, with a number of old monks and +nuns, on her way from Fontévrault to Joinville. On the 16th of December +Madame Renée took possession of the Convent of St. Pierre at Reims, of +which she was Abbess, and the Duchess of Lorraine and the Princess of +Orange were among the guests present at this ceremony, at the entry of +her brother the Archbishop into his episcopal city on the following day. + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1547] DEATH OF HENRY VIII.] + +Meanwhile the news of Christina's supposed marriage travelled far +and wide. It reached Venice, where the fate of the Duchess who had +once reigned over Milan always excited interest, and was reported to +King Henry of England by one of his Italian agents. His curiosity +was aroused, and when the French Ambassador, Odet de Selve, came to +Windsor, he asked him if his master had concluded the marriage which +he had in hand. "What marriage?" asked De Selve innocently. "That of +Madame de Lorraine," replied Henry testily. "With whom?" asked the +Ambassador. But Henry would say no more, and relapsed into sullen +silence.[394] He had come back from Boulogne seriously ill, and grew +heavier and more unwieldy every day. A week afterwards he had a severe +attack of fever, and on his return to London sent Norfolk and Surrey to +the Tower. + +Mary of Hungary was so much alarmed at this fresh outbreak of violence +that she sent to Chapuys, who was living in retirement at Louvain, for +advice. The veteran diplomatist, who for sixteen years had toiled to +avoid a rupture between the two monarchs, wrote back, on the 29th of +January, 1547, advising the Queen to take no action. "Physicians say," +he added, "that the best and quickest cure for certain maladies is to +leave the evil untouched and avoid further irritation." When the old +statesman wrote these words, the King, whose varying moods he knew so +well, had already ceased from troubling. He died at Whitehall on the +28th of January, 1547. + +The news of his royal brother's death moved the King of France deeply. +"We were both of the same age," he said, "and now he is gone it is time +for me to go hence, too."[395] In spite of the painful ailments from +which he suffered, Francis still moved restlessly from place to place. +Towards the end of Lent he left Loches to spend Easter at St. Germain, +but fell ill on the way, and died at Rambouillet on the 31st of March. + +The death of these two monarchs, who filled so large a place in the +history of the times, produced a profound sensation throughout Europe. +No one felt the shock more than the Duchess, who had been courted by +one Prince, and had lately received the other under her roof. But a +third death this spring touched her still more closely. On the 28th +of February the good old Queen Philippa passed away in her humble +cell at Pont-à-Mousson. As she lay dying she asked what was the day +of the week, and, being told it was Saturday, remarked: "All the best +things of my life came to me on this day. I was born and married to my +dear husband on a Saturday, I entered Nancy amid the rejoicings of my +people, and I forsook the world to take the veil, on this day, and now +on Saturday I am going to God." Her children and grandchildren knelt at +the bedside, but Guise, her best-loved son, only arrived from Paris at +the last moment. She opened her eyes at the sound of his voice. "Adieu, +mon ami," she said, "and do not forget to keep God before your eyes." +These were her last words, and as the pure spirit passed out of this +life the sound of weeping was broken by the joyous songs of her pet +lark.[396] + +She was buried, as she desired, in the convent cloister, and the +people, who venerated her as a saint, flocked to the funeral. Christina +employed Ligier-Richier, the sculptor of the Prince of Orange's +monument, to carve a recumbent effigy of the dead Queen in coloured +marbles on her tomb. The black cloak and grey habit were faithfully +reproduced, the finely-modelled features were rendered in all their +ivory whiteness, and a tiny figure of a kneeling nun was represented in +the act of laying the crown at her feet. When the convent church was +pillaged by rioters in 1793, this monument was buried by the nuns in +the garden. Here it was discovered in 1822, and brought to Nancy, where +it now stands in the Church of the Cordeliers, near the stately tomb +which Philippa herself had reared to her husband, King René.[397] + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1546] THE LEAGUE OF SCHMALKALDE] + + +III. + +Of the three great monarchs whose fame had filled the world during +the last forty years, only one remained alive, and he was engaged in +a desperate struggle. Throughout the autumn and winter of 1546-47, +Charles V. carried on a vigorous campaign against the coalition of +Princes known as the League of Schmalkalde. Christina watched the +progress of the war with keen anxiety, and saw with distress that her +brother-in-law, the Palatine, had joined the rebel ranks. Frederic had +never forgiven the Emperor for sacrificing his wife's rights by the +Treaty of Spires, and showed his displeasure by refusing to attend the +Chapter of the Golden Fleece at Utrecht in January, 1546. He further +annoyed Charles by introducing Lutheran rites at Heidelberg, and on +Christmas Day he and Dorothea received Communion in both kinds at the +hands of a Protestant pastor in the Church of the Holy Ghost. But he +still hesitated to take up arms against the friend of his youth. At +length, in August, he declared himself on the Protestant side, and for +the first time the red flag of the Palatinate was seen in the camp of +the Emperor's foes. Before long, however, his courage failed him, and +when Charles recovered the imperial city of Halle, in Suabia, Frederic +hastened thither to make his peace. Tears rose to the veteran's eyes +when the Emperor said how much it had grieved him to see so old a +friend in the ranks of his foes, but hastened to add that he forgave +him freely and would only remember his past services. From this time +the Palatine's loyalty never again wavered, but he was obliged to +restore Catholic rites in Heidelberg and to give up his fortress of +Hoh-Königsberg in Franconia to Albert of Brandenburg.[398] + +The Duke of Würtemberg and the cities of Ulm and Augsburg soon followed +the Palatine's example, and Charles's triumph was complete by the +decisive victory of Mühlberg. "God be thanked, who never forsakes +his own," wrote Granvelle to Mary of Hungary from the battle-field, +at midnight on the 24th of April.[399] The Elector John Frederick of +Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse were made prisoners, the League of +Schmalkalde was dissolved, and Titian commemorated the Emperor's heroic +deeds in a famous equestrian portrait. + +[Sidenote: NOV., 1547] THE DIET OF AUGSBURG] + +The peace of Lorraine was insured by the victory of Mühlberg, and +Christina shared in the general sense of relief with which the close +of the war was hailed. When, in the following autumn, the Regent +and the Princess of Orange rode to meet the Emperor at the Diet of +Augsburg, the Duchess joined them on the frontiers of Lorraine. These +three august ladies reached Augsburg on the 21st of November, and were +received by King Ferdinand, his son Archduke Maximilian, and the Prince +of Piedmont, who met them outside the gates, and escorted them to the +Emperor's lodgings in the fine house of the Fuggers. Here the Countess +Palatine and Ferdinand's daughter, the Duchess of Bavaria, were +awaiting them at the doors of the courtyard, and conducted them into +Charles's presence. During the next three months Christina lived in the +great banker's house, with the other members of the imperial family, +as her uncle's guest. Augsburg itself was a noble city. The wealth of +her merchants, the splendour of their houses and gardens, amazed every +stranger who entered her gates. "The Fuggers' house," wrote Ascham, +"would over-brag all Cheapside." The copper roofs glittered in the sun, +the carved and painted decorations of the interior were of the most +costly and elaborate description.[400] And this winter the streets of +Augsburg were thronged with Princes and ladies. It was the gayest and +most splendid Diet ever seen. Never before had so many Archduchesses +and Duchesses been present, never was there so much dancing and +jousting and feasting. On St. Andrew's Day the whole imperial family +attended a solemn Mass in honour of the Knights of the Fleece, and +were entertained by the Emperor at a banquet, after which the Queen +of Hungary received the Companions of the Order in her apartments. On +Christmas Day all the Princes and Princesses were present at High Mass +in the Cathedral, and on the Feast of the Three Kings they attended +service in the Court chapel, when Granvelle's son, the young Bishop of +Arras, officiated, and the Palatine, the Marquis of Brandenburg, and +the Archduke, presented the customary offerings of gold, frankincense, +and myrrh, in the Emperor's name. Except on these state occasions, +Charles dined alone and never spoke at meals, but generally sat by the +window for an hour or two afterwards, talking to his brother and sister +or nephews and nieces. + +King Ferdinand's rooms, on the contrary, were never empty. He had +lost his faithful wife, Anna of Bohemia, in January, but his son and +daughter were lavish in dispensing their father's hospitality. Like his +sister Mary, Ferdinand was very fond of music, and enjoyed listening to +his fine Kapelle, while one of his favourite jesters was always present +to amuse the Electors and Princesses at his table.[401] His son, the +Archduke Max, as Ascham calls him, was a gay and pleasant gentleman, +"of goodly person and stature," speaking eight languages, and very +popular with all classes, especially the Lutherans, whose opinions he +was supposed to affect. Charles's other nephew, Emanuel Philibert, the +Prince of Piedmont, was another gallant squire of dames, as ready to +take part in masque and dance as he was foremost in active warfare. +Every evening there was music and dancing in the King's rooms, and the +old halls of the merchants rang to the sound of laughter and melody. In +that joyous throng the Countess Palatine was the gayest of the gay, and +Christina forgot her sorrows to become young once more. + +[Sidenote: 1548] THE MARQUIS ALBERT] + +There was one man among the Princes assembled at Augsburg who gazed +with frank admiration at the handsome Duchess; this was the Marquis +Albert of Brandenburg, Lord of Culmbach and Burgrave of Nuremberg. +While still a boy he succeeded to his father's principality in +Franconia, and was educated by his uncle, the Duke of Prussia and +Grand-Master of the Teutonic Order. Although brought up a Lutheran, +he entered the Emperor's service before he was twenty, and fought +gallantly in the wars of Cleves and Champagne. A wild and reckless +spirit, who rode hard, drank deep, and knew no fear, Albert was adored +by his soldiers, whose toils and hardships he shared with cheerful +courage, while his name was the terror of all peaceful citizens. +"Thunder and lightning, devouring fire," wrote a contemporary, "are +not more terrible than the Marquis Albert on the battle-field."[402] +But there was a fascination about this ruthless dare-devil which no +woman could resist. His sisters were passionately devoted to him, and +Bona, the Queen of Poland, tried in vain to marry him to one of her +daughters. Roger Ascham describes him as + + "another Achilles, his face fair and beautiful, but stern and + manly, with flowing locks and great rolling eyes, yet with a + sad, restless look, as if he was ever seeking what he could not + find. A man of few words withal, but with a deep, strong voice, + ever more ready to hear than to speak."[403] + +There seemed no heights to which this soldier of fortune could not +aspire. The Emperor treated him with fatherly affection, and the Queen +and the Duchess of Lorraine honoured the sumptuous banquets, in which +he displayed his usual prodigality, careless of the debts with which he +was already loaded. + +Once more rumour was busy with Christina's name. The Marquis Albert +proclaimed himself her devoted servant, and her marriage with the +young King Sigismund of Poland was seriously discussed at Augsburg. +This monarch's wife, the Archduchess Elizabeth, had died before his +accession, and his sister, the Electress Hedwig of Brandenburg, +was eager to bring about a union between him and the Duchess of +Lorraine;[404] but, as usual, these rumours ended in smoke, and the +only marriage announced at Augsburg was that of the Archduke Max and +his cousin the Infanta Maria of Spain, an alliance which had long been +privately arranged. + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1548] THE INTERIM] + +Early in the New Year another distinguished person arrived at Augsburg, +in the person of the great Venetian master, Titian. He came in +obedience to an urgent summons from the Emperor, and during the next +few months painted a magnificent series of portraits, including those +of Charles and Ferdinand, the captive Elector of Saxony, Chancellor +Granvelle, his wife, and his son, the Bishop of Arras, who was a great +admirer of Titian's art. Fourteen years before, this same master had +taken Christina's portrait, when she came to Milan as the youthful +bride of Francesco Sforza; now he saw her again in the flower of her +womanhood, and, had opportunity offered, would doubtless have painted +her again. But disquieting rumours of unrest on the frontiers of +Lorraine reached Augsburg, and on the 16th of February the Duchess set +out on her return to Nancy. The Emperor gave his niece a costly ring +as a parting present, and Archduke Max, the Marquis Albert, the Prince +of Piedmont, together with the Countess Palatine and the Princess of +Orange, escorted her some leagues on her way. When, a month later, the +Queen of Hungary left Augsburg, she paid Christina a visit at Nancy, +bringing with her Anne of Lorraine and William, the young Prince of +Orange, a promising boy of fifteen, who was being educated at Court, +and met with a kindly welcome from the Duchess and her subjects for the +sake of the lamented Prince whose name he bore.[405] By Mary's advice, +the Regents took active measures for the defence of the frontier and +the fortification of Nancy. An arsenal was founded, and two bastions, +which became known as those of Denmark and Vaudemont, were built near +the palace. Other improvements were carried out at the same time: the +marshy ground under the walls was thoroughly drained, and converted +into a spacious square called La Place de la Carrière; many of the +streets were paved and widened; and the Count of Salm, Bassompierre, +and several of the nobles, built fine new houses along the Grande Rue, +opposite the Galerie des Cerfs.[406] + +[Illustration: _Photo Hanfstaengl_ + +CHARLES V. (1548) + +By Titian (Munich) + +_To face p. 322_] + +The Emperor remained at Augsburg throughout the summer, endeavouring +to effect a lasting settlement of the religious question. On the 30th +of June the so-called "Interim" was proclaimed, a compromise which +satisfied no one, and was described by Thomas Hoby, a young Englishman +who came to Augsburg this summer on his way to Italy, as an attempt to +set up the old Babylon again in Germany.[407] A fortnight later the +Diet was prorogued, and Charles started for the Netherlands, where he +arrived on the 8th of September, after more than two years' absence. + +A few weeks before his arrival a marriage had taken place, greatly to +Mary's satisfaction, between the widowed Princess of Orange and the +Duke of Aerschot.[408] This nobleman, the premier peer of the realm +and doyen of the Golden Fleece, had lost his second wife in 1544, but +was still in the prime of life, and, as his daughter-in-law, Louise +de Guise, told her sister, was honoured and beloved throughout the +Netherlands. Christina could not herself be present at the wedding, +but her brother-in-law Nicolas went to Brussels to give his sister +away. Here he fell in love with Count Egmont's sister Margaret, and +asked her hand in marriage. This alliance met with the warm approval +of the Emperor and the Regent, but caused Christina many searchings of +heart. Already more than one attempt had been made by the Guises to +marry Vaudemont to a French bride, and she feared that this union would +excite great displeasure in some quarters. In her alarm she wrote to +the Emperor, begging him to forbid the marriage as dangerous to the +welfare of her State. Charles, however, declined to interfere, and sent +Granvelle's brother, Chantonnay, to advise his niece politely to mind +her own business. + + "Since the Count of Vaudemont is bent on marrying," he wrote + to his Envoy, "it is far better that he should come here for a + wife than go to France; and the Duchess need not feel in any + way responsible for the alliance, which is entirely his own + doing.... And, indeed, I do not see how he could honourably + break his word, since we ourselves urged our cousins of + Egmont to agree to his proposals. But tell him to come here + as soon as he can, to prevent the French from making any more + mischief!"[409] + +[Sidenote: DEC., 1548] ADOLF OF HOLSTEIN] + +There was nothing more to be said, and the wedding was celebrated in +the Court chapel at Brussels, after vespers, on the 23rd of January, +1549. The bride, richly clad in cloth of gold and decked with priceless +gems, was led to the altar by the Queen, while Charles brought in the +bridegroom. A banquet and masque were afterwards held in the palace, +at the close of which Mary once more took the bride by the hand and +conducted her into the nuptial chamber, hung with crimson brocade and +costly tapestries. The next morning the newly-wedded Countess appeared +at Mass, in another costume of green velvet embroidered in silver, and +jousts and dances succeeded each other during the following three days, +ending with a magnificent banquet given by the Duchess of Aerschot.[410] + +Among the company present on this occasion was the Dowager Queen +Eleanor, who came to Brussels on the 5th of December, to make her +home with her beloved brother and sister. On his death-bed Francis +I. was seized with remorse for the way in which he had neglected his +wife, and begged his daughter Margaret to atone for his shortcomings. +But although Margaret carried out her father's last instructions +faithfully, and asked his widow to remain at Court, the new King showed +his stepmother scanty kindness, and Eleanor left France with few +regrets. Another guest at Margaret of Egmont's wedding was Christina's +cousin, Duke Adolf of Holstein, the King of Denmark's youngest brother. +Most of his life had been spent in Germany, and he had taken part in +the campaign of Mühlberg with his friend Albert of Brandenburg. Now, +following the wild Marquis's example, he came to Brussels in October, +1548, and entered the Emperor's service. This new recruit was cordially +welcomed, and gave a signal proof of his valour by carrying off the +first prize in the tournament held at the palace. + +Christina herself maintained the prudent attitude which she had adopted +with regard to Vaudemont's marriage, and refused to countenance by her +presence a union which excited much unfriendly criticism in France. Two +other weddings in which she was also keenly interested took place about +the same time. On the 20th of October her old suitor, the brilliant +and volatile Duke of Vendôme, was married at Moulins to Jeanne +d'Albret, the heiress of Navarre. This strong-minded Princess, who +refused to wed the Duke of Cleves, and took objection to Aumale because +his brother was the husband of Diane de Poitiers's daughter, fell +suddenly in love with Vendôme, and insisted on marrying him in spite of +her mother's opposition. So radiant was Jeanne on her wedding-day that +King Henry declared her to be the most joyous bride whom he had ever +seen. Six weeks later Aumale himself was married at St. Germain to Anna +d'Este, daughter of Duke Ercole II. of Ferrara and Renée of France. +Ronsard sang the praises of this Italian Venus who had taken the Mars +of France for her lord, and Vendôme, gay and inconsequent as ever, +sent his old rival in war and love a merry letter, bidding him follow +his good example, and stay at home to play the good husband.[411] This +union with the King's first cousin satisfied the highest ambitions of +the Guises, while Anna's charm and goodness were a source of lasting +content to Duchess Antoinette. Christina was one of the first to greet +the bride on her arrival at Joinville. At first the two Princesses, +Brantôme tells us, looked at each other shyly, but with evident +curiosity. The tale of Aumale's courtship was well known, and Christina +naturally felt keen interest in the Este Princess who came from +Beatrice's home and was the cousin of Francesco Sforza. "Anna," writes +the chronicler, "was tall and beautiful, but very gentle and amiable. +The two ladies met and conversed together, and were soon the best of +friends."[412] + +[Sidenote: MARCH, 1549] CHRISTINA AT BRUSSELS] + + +IV. + +Christina's absence from her brother-in-law's wedding had been a great +disappointment to her aunts, and she received a pressing invitation +to come to Brussels for the fêtes in honour of the Prince of Spain, +whose arrival was expected early in the spring of 1549. Accordingly, +on the 28th of March the Duchess reached Brussels, attended by the +Princess of Macedonia, and was received by the Grand-Écuyer Boussu and +a brilliant escort of gentlemen. One of these was the Marquis Albert, +whose name of late had been frequently coupled with her own, the +other his friend Duke Adolf of Holstein. Christina naturally hailed +this meeting with her cousin, especially now that his brother, King +Christian, had alleviated the rigour of her father's captivity. Since +the Palatine had abandoned all attempts to maintain his wife's claims, +the reigning monarch had agreed to release his unfortunate kinsman +from the dungeons of Sonderburg. On the 17th of February the two Kings +met and dined together in a friendly manner, after which the deposed +monarch was removed to Kallundborg, a pleasantly-situated castle on +a promontory of Zeeland, where he spent the remaining ten years of +his life in comparative freedom.[413] This, indeed, was all that the +Emperor desired. In a secret paper of instructions which he drew up +for Philip in case of his own death, he enjoined his son to cultivate +peaceable relations with the King of Denmark, and do his utmost to keep +the Princesses Dorothea and Christina in his good graces, and insure +their father's good treatment, "without allowing him such a measure +of liberty as might enable him to assert his old claims and injure our +State of Flanders as he did before."[414] + +Unfortunately, the interest with which Christina regarded the Danish +Prince proved fatal to Adolf's friendship with the Marquis. Before the +outbreak of the Schmalkalde War, Adolf had become affianced to Albert's +sister, Fräulein Kunigunde. The wedding-day was fixed, and the citizens +of Nuremberg had prepared gold rings and jewels for the bride, but the +disturbed state of Denmark compelled the Duke to postpone his marriage +for a time. Then, as ill-luck would have it, he met the Duchess of +Lorraine at the New Year festivities at Augsburg, and fell desperately +in love with her. From this moment he forgot Fräulein Kunigunde, and +took the first excuse he could find to break off his engagement. Albert +never forgave the wrong, and, although the two Princes met at Brussels +and walked side by side in the Court chapel on Candlemas Day, the old +friendship between them was turned to bitter enmity.[415] + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1549] PHILIP OF SPAIN] + +But now private grievances had to be put aside, and friends and foes +alike joined in the public rejoicings which welcomed the Prince of +Spain's arrival. Charles was anxious to present his son to his future +subjects in the most favourable light, and no pains were spared to +produce a good impression both on Philip himself and on the loyal +people of Brabant. On the 1st of April, Mary of Hungary, Christina, and +Anne of Aerschot, accompanied by the whole Court, received the Prince +at Ter Vueren, where they entertained him at dinner and witnessed +a military parade and sham-fight on the plains outside the town. +In the evening Philip made his state entry into Brussels, clad in +crimson velvet and riding on a superb war-horse, attended by Albert of +Brandenburg, Adolf of Holstein, the Princes of Piedmont, Orange, and +Chimay, Alva, Egmont, Pescara, and many other illustrious personages. +The chief burghers and city guilds met the Prince at Ter Vueren, and +escorted him to the palace gates, where the two Queens and Christina +conducted him into the Emperor's presence. Philip fell on his knees, +and his father embraced him with tears in his eyes, and conversed with +him for over an hour. At nightfall the whole city was illuminated, +and bonfires blazed from all the neighbouring heights. The next day +a tournament was held on the Grande Place, and a splendid gold cup +was presented to the Prince by the city, while the States of Brabant +voted him a gift of 100,000 florins and hailed him with acclamation +as the Emperor's successor. But in the evening these rejoicings were +interrupted by the news of the Duke of Aerschot's sudden death. He +had gone to Spires to meet the Prince, but had over-exerted himself, +and died very suddenly at his castle of Quievrain. It was a grievous +blow to Anne of Lorraine, who was once more left a widow, before she +had been married quite nine months. The deepest sympathy was felt for +her at Court, and Mary lamented the loss of her wisest Councillor. +All festivities were put off till Easter. Philip spent Holy Week in +devotional exercises, and rode to S. Gudule on Palm Sunday, at the head +of a solemn procession of knights bearing palms. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1549] HIS DEVOTION TO CHRISTINA] + +Charles took advantage of this quiet season to initiate his son into +the administration of public affairs and make him acquainted with the +leading nobles of the Netherlands. But the impression produced by +Philip was far from being a favourable one. Short in stature and blond +in complexion, with his father's wide forehead and projecting jaw, he +was Flemish in appearance, but Spanish by nature. His taciturn air +and haughty and reserved manners formed a striking contrast to the +frank and genial ways which endeared Charles V. to all classes of his +subjects. Thomas Hoby, who saw Philip at Mantua, noticed what "small +countenance" he made to the crowd who greeted his entry, and heard that +he had already "acquired a name for insolency." Wherever he went it +was the same. "His severe and morose appearance," wrote the Venetian +Suriano, "has made him disagreeable to the Italians, hated by the +Flemings, and odious to the Germans." His marked preference for all +that was Spanish gave deadly offence to the Emperor's old servants, and +people in Brussels said openly that when Philip came to the throne no +one but Spaniards would be employed at Court. In vain his father and +aunt warned him that this exclusive temper was ill-suited to a Prince +who was called to rule over subjects of many nations. He spoke little +in public and rarely smiled. During the year which he spent at Brussels +people said that he was never seen to laugh except on one occasion, +when all the Court witnessed the famous national fête of the Ommegang +from the hôtel-de-ville, on the Fête-Dieu. Among the varied groups in +the procession was a bear playing on an organ, while children dressed +up as monkeys danced to the music, and unhappy cats tied by the tail +in cages filled the air with discordant cries. At the sight of these +grotesque figures even Philip's gravity gave way, and he laughed till +the tears ran down his cheeks.[416] + +This cold and haughty Prince, who took no pains to commend himself to +his future subjects, showed a marked preference from the first for his +cousin Christina. He sought her company on every possible occasion, +gave her rich presents, and devoted himself to her service with an +ardour which became a cause of serious annoyance to his aunts. + + "Queen Eleanor," wrote the French Ambassador Marillac, "is + always trying to treat of her daughter's marriage with the + Prince, but with very little success, and the great attentions + which he pays the Duchess of Lorraine, the evident delight + which he takes in her society, and the gifts which he bestows + upon her, have excited great jealousy."[417] + +Before long Christina herself found Philip's attentions embarrassing, +and felt that it would be the path of wisdom to leave Court. She was +present, however, at a second tournament given on the Grande Place, on +the 6th of May. That day Count d'Aremberg (the husband of Christina's +intimate friend Margaret la Marck), Mansfeldt, Horn, and Floris de +Montmorency, held the lists against all assailants, while Alva and +Francesco d'Este were the judges. Philip, who inherited little of his +father's taste for knightly exercises, but had been practising riding +and jousting diligently during the last few weeks, entered the lists, +and was awarded a fine ruby as a prize, Egmont and the Prince of +Piedmont being the other victors. Albert of Brandenburg was present, +but declined to take part in the tournament. He had seldom been seen +at Court since Philip's arrival and spent most of his time in his own +quarters, compiling an account of his grievances against the Emperor. +One day Charles, fearing to lose his services, sent Granvelle to offer +him an honourable and lucrative office in the Imperial Mint. Albert +replied loftily that, since he was born a Brandenburg, no office which +the Emperor had to bestow, could exalt his station, and that as he +never managed to keep a sixpence in his own pocket, he would rather +not attempt to meddle with other people's money. A few days after this +he asked leave to retire to his own domains. The last time that he +appeared in public was at the banquet which followed the tournament, +in the hôtel-de-ville; here he sat at the Emperor's table, opposite +the Duchess of Lorraine, who was placed between Philip and Emanuel +Philibert of Piedmont, while Adolf of Holstein sat next to the Princess +of Macedonia. All these illustrious guests joined in the ball which +closed the day's festivities, and dancing was kept up with great spirit +until after midnight.[418] + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1549] THE GUISE PRINCES] + +Early the next morning Christina left Brussels, accompanied by +Vaudemont's wife, Margaret of Egmont, and escorted for several miles +on her journey by the Prince of Spain. Three weeks later the Marquis +Albert also left Court, without taking leave of the Emperor or the +Queens. His abrupt departure excited general surprise, and no one +knew whether it was due to his quarrel with the Duke of Holstein, or +to some imaginary affront from the Prince or the Duchess of Lorraine; +but when he was at some distance from the town he sent back a warrant +for a pension of 4,000 crowns a year, which he had received from the +Emperor, as a sign that he was no longer in his service. + +[Illustration: HÔTEL-DE-VILLE, BRUSSELS] + +[Illustration: S. GUDULE, BRUSSELS + +_To face p. 332_] + +During the course of the summer Philip made his "joyeuse entrée" +into the different cities of the Low Countries, and a memorable +series of fêtes was given in his honour by Mary of Hungary at her +beautiful summer palace of Binche. At the end of August the Duchess +of Aerschot gave birth to a posthumous son, who was christened by the +Bishop of Arras in the Court chapel, and named Charles Philip, after +his godfathers, the Emperor and the Prince. But while Anne's second +marriage and her brother's union with Egmont's sister strengthened +the ties between Lorraine and Flanders, the close connection of the +younger branch of the ducal house with France increased daily. After +the marriage of Guise's third son, Mayenne, with Diane de Poitiers's +daughter, his brothers were loaded with favours of every description. +Aumale was created a Duke and appointed Governor of Savoy, and Charles +was made a Cardinal at the King's request, and loaded with rich +benefices. Their mother stood sponsor to Henry II.'s daughter Claude, +who was one day to be the wife of Christina's only son, and had the +deputies of the thirteen Swiss cantons for her godfathers. A new link +was forged by the coming of the little Queen of Scots to France in the +autumn of 1548, as the future bride of the Dauphin. Antoinette met +her granddaughter at Brest, and brought her to St. Germain, where the +charms of the little Queen soon won all hearts. "I can assure you," +wrote the proud grandmother to her eldest son, "she is the best and +prettiest child of her age that was ever seen!" And her uncle the +Cardinal added: "She already governs both the King and Queen." At the +Court ball in honour of Aumale's wedding, all the guests stood still to +watch the lovely little Queen and the Dauphin dancing hand in hand, and +the King smiled maliciously when the English Ambassador remarked that +it was the most charming thing in the world to see the two children +together.[419] + +When Christina returned to Lorraine in May, 1549, all the Guises were +at Paris for the King and Queen's state entry, and the young Duke of +Longueville led his grandmother's white horse in the procession. After +this Antoinette brought her daughter-in-law to spend the autumn quietly +at Joinville, and great was the rejoicing when, on the last day of the +year, Anna gave birth to her first son, the Prince who was to become +famous as "Henri le Balafré." Christina was careful to remain on good +terms with the family at Joinville, and the presence of the Duchess +of Aerschot, who spent the winter in Lorraine, increased the friendly +intercourse between the two houses. Anne's letters to her aunt and +cousins abound in playful allusions to early recollections, and she +always addressed Aumale as "Monsieur mon serviteur" and signed herself +"Votre bonne maîtresse." When, in January, 1550, the Duke of Guise fell +ill, Christina sent her steward Grammont repeatedly to make inquiries +at Joinville. + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1550] DEATH OF GUISE] + + "We cannot rest satisfied," wrote the Duchess of Aerschot + from Nancy, "without hearing the latest accounts of my uncle, + and trust the bearer will bring us good news, please God! My + sister, Madame de Lorraine, is so anxious about him that she + feels she must send over again. I cannot tell you, my dear + aunt, how much she thinks of you, and how anxious she is to + do you any service in her power. As for myself, if there is + anything that I can do, you have only to speak, and you will be + obeyed."[420] + +After a long illness, Claude of Guise breathed his last on the 12th of +April, and was followed to the grave within a month by his brother, +Cardinal Jean, who died at Nogent-sur-Seine, on his return from Rome. +The Duke's funeral was solemnized in the Church of St. Laurent at +Joinville, with all the elaborate ceremonial common on these occasions. +Antoinette made a great point of Christina's attendance, and Anne +promised to do her best to gratify her aunt's wish in the matter. + + "I shall be very glad," she wrote, "if it is possible for + Madame my sister to be present at the obsequies of my uncle--to + whom God grant peace!--and will do my utmost to effect this, + not only because of my own anxiety to see you and my cousins, + but because I would gladly give you pleasure."[421] + +Accordingly, the two Duchesses, accompanied by the Count and Countess +of Vaudemont and several nobles, arrived at Joinville on Saturday, the +29th of June, to condole with the widow and attend the funeral rites +that were protracted during the next three days. Never was there a more +attached family than this of the Guises. + + "I cannot tell you the grief I feel," wrote the Queen of + Scotland to her bereaved mother. "You know as well as I do that + I have lost the best father that ever child had, and am left + both orphaned and widowed." + +An imposing monument, adorned with rich marbles and bas-reliefs of the +dead Prince's battles, was raised by Antoinette to her husband's memory +in the church at Joinville. In the centre the Duke and Duchess were +both represented clad in robes of state, kneeling with hands clasped +together, and a long Latin epitaph relating the hero's great deeds was +inscribed below, ending with the words: + + "Antoinette de Bourbon, his wife, and her six sons, have + erected this tomb, in token of undying sorrow and love for an + incomparable husband and the best of fathers."[422] + + +V. + +[Sidenote: SEPT., 1550] CHARLES THE BOLD'S REMAINS] + +Charles V. had long cherished a wish to remove the bones of his +ancestor Charles the Bold from the church of St. Georges at Nancy, +where they had been buried after his defeat, and bring them to rest in +his daughter Mary's tomb at Bruges. At first Christina hesitated to +give her consent, fearing to arouse the resentment of her subjects, who +were proud of possessing this trophy of King René's victory, but the +urgent entreaties of her aunts at length induced her to yield, and, +after ascertaining that neither Vaudemont nor the States of Lorraine +had any objection to offer, she consented to her uncle's request, on +condition that the removal of the remains should be effected as quietly +as possible. Late in the evening of the 22nd of September, 1550, +three imperial deputies, the Bishop of Cambray, the Chief Justice of +Luxembourg, and the herald Toison d'Or, met the Provost and Canons of +St. Georges in the crypt of the collegiate church. A solemn requiem +was chanted, after which the tomb was opened and the bones, wrapt in +a white linen shroud, were reverently laid in a wooden casket and +committed to the charge of two friars. A gift of 100 gold crowns was +made to the church in the Emperor's name, and the precious casket was +placed on a chariot drawn by four black horses, escorted by a troop of +twenty men-at-arms. The little procession travelled the same night to +Metz, and thence across the frontier to Luxembourg. Bells were tolled +in all the towns and villages on their way, and the _De Profundis_ was +chanted wherever a halt was made, until on the 24th the casket was +safely deposited in the choir of the Cordeliers' church at Luxembourg. +Here Charles of Burgundy's bones were placed in the grave of John of +Luxembourg, the blind King of Bohemia, who fell at Crécy, until, nine +years later, they were finally laid to rest by his daughter's side in +the shrine of Our Lady at Bruges.[423] + +When this pious act was safely accomplished, Christina set out with +Anne of Lorraine and the Count and Countess of Vaudemont to join the +imperial party at Augsburg. Charles, Philip, and Ferdinand, had been +attending the Diet in this city since July, and were joined there by +Mary of Hungary, who, however, was obliged to return to the Netherlands +on the 26th of September, owing to troubles on the French frontier. +Christina's presence was the more welcome. On the 30th of the same +month Philip and his uncle Ferdinand were riding in the fields near +Augsburg, when they noticed a cloud of dust on the highroad, and, +galloping off in this direction, met the Duchess of Lorraine and +her companions, with a large train of followers. Philip gallantly +escorted his cousin to the Emperor's lodgings, where she spent the next +three weeks. Her coming was the signal for a round of festivities. +While Charles and Ferdinand rode together in earnest converse, or +sat with closed doors debating public matters, Philip and a few +chosen friends--the Prince of Piedmont, Duke Adolf, Pescara, and Ruy +Gomez--spent the days with the Duchess and her ladies. Sometimes they +went hunting on the Bavarian plains, sometimes they danced or played +cards, and every evening they met at supper in Christina's rooms.[424] + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1550] ROGER ASCHAM] + +On the 16th of October a joust was held in the court of the Fuggers' +house, and the Emperor, with his niece and Duchess Anne, looked on from +the windows. Egmont and Vaudemont were judges, and Count Lalaing and +Floris de Montmorency won the prizes. The Cardinal of Trent entertained +the company at supper, and left the next day for Genoa to receive +Maximilian, the King of Bohemia, who had been sent for from Spain to +take part in the family conference. Three days later Philip gave a +tournament on a grander scale, in honour of the Duchess, and entered +the lists clad in ruby velvet and white satin, as he figures in the +portrait which Titian painted. This time Christina's presence seems to +have inspired him with unwonted prowess. He broke many lances, and won +a fine gold chain, which he presented to his cousin. She on her part +entertained the King of the Romans and all the knights who rode in the +jousts at a sumptuous banquet and ball, which ended in the Prince +presenting rings to all the ladies and receiving a kiss from each in +turn. + +This festive evening marked the close of Christina's visit to Augsburg. +The next morning she set out for Nancy, "leaving the Court sad and +widowed," writes an Italian chronicler, "bereft of her presence, +and without a lady to amuse the Princes or entertain the Emperor's +guests." Philip escorted her for some miles on her journey, and took an +affectionate farewell of his favourite cousin, whom he never saw again +until he was the husband of Mary Tudor.[425] + +Christina's route lay through the duchy of Würtemberg and along the +valley of the Neckar. At Esslingen, the free imperial city on the banks +of this river she met the new English Ambassador, Sir Richard Morosyne, +on his way to Augsburg. In his train was a young secretary called Roger +Ascham. He had been Lady Jane Grey's tutor, and had left his Greek +studies and pleasant college life at Cambridge with some reluctance, +but was keenly enjoying his first sight of foreign parts. The journey +up the Rhine in a fair barge with goodly glass windows afforded him +great pleasure. He gazed in admiration at the castles and abbeys +perched on the crags, and the vines laden with purple grapes that +grew in terraces along the banks, while the river at Spires--"broader +a great deal than the Thames at Greenwich"--made him realize for the +first time why the Greeks worshipped river-gods. In the Court chapel at +Brussels he caught a glimpse of Queen Eleanor, + + "looking as fair and white as a dove in her embroidered linen + robe, with her ladies clad in black velvet with gold chains, + and white plumes in their caps, like boys rather than maidens." + +Then, as he rode through Tongres, he met the Queen of Hungary posting +back from Augsburg, with only thirty courtiers in her train, "having +outridden and wearied all the rest, and taken thirteen days to do a +journey that men can scarce do in seventeen!" "She is a virago," the +young Englishman remarked, "never so well as when she is flinging on +horseback or hunting all day."[426] Now, at Esslingen, Ascham fell in +with another noble lady, "the Duchess of Milan and Lorraine, daughter +to the King of Denmark." Unlike Mary of Hungary, who posted so fast +that no ladies could keep pace with her, Christina was always attended +with a large retinue. Brantôme tells us that at Court she assumed a +state which rivalled that of the Queen of France herself. On this +journey she rode a white palfrey, and was followed by sixteen maids +of honour on horseback and four chariots filled with ladies, escorted +by a troop of 300 horse. Thirty-six mules and a dozen waggons, laden +with chamber-stuff, brought up the rear, and a great crowd of "rascals +belonging to her kitchen and stables came drabbling in the dirt on +foot." Roger looked with admiration at the fine horses with their rich +trappings, and was profoundly impressed by the tall stature and stately +bearing of the Duchess. "I have never seen a lady of her port in all my +life!" he exclaimed. His interest was heightened when he heard "that +she should once have married King Henry VIII., before my Lady Anne +of Cleves," and was told that she had now been with the Emperor at +Augsburg, "where she was thought by some to have been a-wooing to the +Prince of Spain."[427] + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1550] DISCORD IN IMPERIAL FAMILY] + +From Esslingen, Christina had intended to go to Heidelberg, on a +visit to her sister, but the unsettled state of affairs made her +presence necessary at home, and she hurried on to Nancy. The French +were once more busy with preparations for war, and grew every day more +insolent in their language. Even the Emperor's old ally, the Constable +Montmorency, who had been recalled to Court by Henry II., joined the +war party, and seemed to be as violent as the Guises. At the same time +fresh trouble was brewing in Germany. The Interim had proved very +unpopular. Magdeburg refused to accept the new edict, and Maurice of +Saxony, who was sent against the city, carried on the siege in so +half-hearted a manner that doubts of his loyalty were felt, while the +Marquis Albert kept away from Court and sulked, like Achilles of old, +in his tent. But the worst of all the Emperor's troubles were those +which had arisen in his own family. + +Granvelle confessed to Paget at Brussels that it had not been easy +for Charles to obtain the recognition of his son as his successor in +Flanders, and that he foresaw this would be a far harder matter in +Germany. From the first, Philip's haughty manners and Spanish reserve +were bitterly resented by the Princes of the Empire, and Charles +realized with dismay how difficult it would be to obtain their consent +to the adoption of his son as coadjutor of the King of the Romans, +and his ultimate successor on the imperial throne. He had first of +all to reckon with Ferdinand. This monarch had always been on the +most affectionate terms with his brother, but was naturally indignant +when rumours reached him, through the Marquis Albert's servants, that +the Emperor intended to make Philip King of the Romans in his place. +In vain his sister Mary assured him that this idea had never been +entertained. His resentment was kindled, and he and King Maximilian +were prepared to resist stoutly any infringement of their rights.[428] + +Everyone noticed how grave and pensive Charles appeared when he +entered Augsburg, and, although the prolonged family conferences which +took place were conducted in strict secrecy, rumour was busy with +conjecture, and the latest gossip from Augsburg was greedily devoured +at the French Court. At this critical moment Chancellor Granvelle, +who for twenty-five years had been Charles's most trusted Councillor, +died after a few days' illness at Augsburg. Friends and foes alike +expressed their grief in the warmest terms. The Constable wrote letters +of condolence to his widow, and Charles and Ferdinand came in person to +visit Madame Nicole, but found this excellent woman too much overcome +with grief to be able to speak. It was an irreparable loss to the +Emperor, and no one was better aware of this than himself. "My son," +he wrote to Philip, "you and I have lost a good bed of down."[429] +Granvelle's son, Antoine Perrenot, the Bishop of Arras, succeeded +him as imperial Chancellor, but had neither his father's wisdom nor +experience, and was little fitted to cope with the gravity of the +situation. + +Charles now sent for the Queen of Hungary, who hastened to Augsburg in +September; but even she could effect little. + + "Queen Mary," wrote Stroppiana, the Duke of Savoy's Ambassador, + "is here to persuade the King of the Romans to accept the + Prince of Spain as coadjutor, but finds the ground very hard, + and by what I hear can obtain nothing."[430] + +[Sidenote: DEC., 1550] THE EMPEROR'S ANXIETY] + +After Mary's departure, Charles's difficulties increased every day, and +Christina tried in vain to pour oil on the troubled waters. She amused +Philip, and did her best to console the Emperor in his fits of profound +dejection. When she was gone he turned once more to Mary, and begged +her earnestly to come to his help. + + "I had some hope," he wrote on the 6th of December, "that the + King our nephew might be persuaded to consent to the only + plan by which the greatness and stability of our house can + be maintained. But, as you will see by this letter, which my + brother gave me the day before yesterday, I begin to feel that + my hope was vain. And I think that in this he does me great + wrong, when I have done so much for him. My patience is almost + at an end, and I wish with all my heart that you were here, as + you can help me more than anyone else. So I beg you to hasten + your coming as soon as possible, and shall await your arrival + with the utmost anxiety." + +To this letter, which had been dictated to his secretary, Charles added +the following postscript, written with his own gouty hand: + + "I can assure you, my dear sister, that I can bear no more + unless I am to burst. Certainly I never felt all that the dead + King of France did against me, nor all that the present one is + trying to do, nor yet the affronts which the Constable puts + upon us now, half as keenly as I have felt and am feeling the + treatment which I have received from the King my brother. I + can only pray God to grant him good-will and understanding, + and give me strength and patience, in order that we may arrive + at some agreement, and that, if your coming does not serve to + convert him, it may at least give me some consolation. + + "Your loving brother, + "CHARLES."[431] + +On receiving this letter, Mary started for Augsburg without a moment's +delay. Attended only by the Bishop of Cambray and three ladies, the +brave Queen rode all the way from Binche to Augsburg in twelve days, +and arrived at five o'clock on the evening of New Year's Day, 1551. + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1551] FAMILY CONFERENCES] + +All through November and December the Emperor hardly left his room. +When he dined with the Knights of the Fleece on St. Andrew's Day, the +hall was heated like a furnace, and Marillac, the French Ambassador, +remarked that he looked so old and feeble he could not be long for this +world.[432] But on the Feast of the Three Kings he dined in public, +with his brother and sister, and his two nephews, Maximilian, who had +arrived from Spain on the 10th of December, and the young Archduke +Ferdinand. They were, to all appearances, a happy and united family, +and Stroppiana noted an evident improvement in the Emperor's spirits. +Roger Ascham watched these illustrious personages with keen interest. +He describes how Charles and Ferdinand sat under the cloth of state and +ate together very handsomely, "his Chapel singing wonderful cunningly +all dinner-time." "The Emperor," he remarked, "hath a good face, +constant air, and looked somewhat like the parson of Epurstone. He wore +a black taffety gown, and furred nightcap on his head, and fed well +of a capon--I have had a better from mine hostess Barnes many times." +Ferdinand he describes as "a very homely man, gentle to be spoken to of +any man," the Prince of Spain as "not in all so wise as his father." +But King Max was Roger's favourite--"a Prince peerless" in his eyes. +He is never tired of extolling this "worthy gentleman, learned, wise, +liberal, gentle, loved and praised of all."[433] + +During the next few weeks prolonged conferences were held in the +Emperor's rooms. King Max from the first flatly refused to consent to +Philip's appointment as coadjutor with the King of the Romans, and +the quarrel waxed hot between them. Night and day Arras went secretly +to and fro with letters between Charles and Ferdinand. If the Queen +of Hungary was seen leaving the King of the Romans with flushed face +and flashing eyes, it was a sure sign that things were going badly +for the Emperor. If Ferdinand and his sons wore a joyous air, and +there were tokens of affection between them and Mary, Stroppiana and +Marillac were satisfied that all was going well.[434] As for Philip +and Max, it was easy to see that there was no love lost between them. +They met occasionally at night in Charles's rooms and exchanged formal +greetings, but never paid each other visits or attended Mass and took +meals together. The rivalry between the two Princes became every day +more marked. + + "The King of Bohemia," writes Marillac, "is frank, gay, and + fearless, and is as much beloved by the Germans as Don Philip + is disliked. His Spanish education, haughty bearing, and + suspicious nature, all help to make him unpopular, although to + please his father he wears German clothes and tries to adopt + German customs, even with regard to drink, so that two or + three times he is said to have taken more than he could well + carry."[435] + +Nor was Philip more fortunate in his attempts to distinguish himself in +the tilting. In the jousts held at Candlemas, Marillac reports that +all jousted badly, but Philip worst of all, for he never broke a single +lance; and Ascham remarks that the Prince of Spain "jousted genteelly, +for he neither hurt himself, nor his horse and spear, nor him that he +ran with." He redeemed his character to some extent, however, in a +tournament given a week later in the Queen's honour, and succeeded in +winning one prize; while the Prince of Orange and Archduke Ferdinand +were the heroes of the day. "And as for noble Max, he ran not at +all."[436] + +A few days afterwards the Diet was prorogued, and Stroppiana told +Marillac that owing to Mary's influence a secret agreement had been +framed, by which Philip was to have a share in the administration of +imperial affairs, and that, when he succeeded his uncle as Emperor, +Maximilian should become King of the Romans. On the 10th of March an +agreement to this effect was drawn up by the Bishop of Arras, and +signed by all four Princes. On the same day Mary gave a farewell +banquet, after which Ferdinand took an affectionate farewell of his +brother, and went to Vienna with his sons. + + "Noble Max," wrote Ascham, "goes to meet the Turk. I pray God + he may give him an overthrow. He taketh with him the hearts, + good-will, and prayers, of rich and poor."[437] + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1551] THE EMPEROR DISAPPOINTED] + +On the 7th of April Mary left for Brussels, after giving an audience +to Morosyne, who saw that "she was in the dumps," although she +smiled two or three times and tried to hide her feelings.[438] By +this time she had probably realized how fruitless all attempts to +conciliate the German Princes would prove. The Electors unanimously +declined to sanction the agreement which had been the cause of so many +heart-burnings, and it remained a dead letter. The Archbishop of Treves +declared that there could only be one Emperor in Germany and one sun in +heaven. The Palatine, says Morosyne, like the wise old fox that he was, +replied that so important a question needed time for consideration, and +Joachim of Brandenburg vowed that he would never consent to a scheme +which would be odious to all Germany.[439] Philip returned to Spain at +the end of May, and the Emperor was reluctantly compelled to accept the +inevitable, and surrender the long-cherished hope that his son would +succeed to his vast empire. + + +VI. + +While the eyes of all Europe were fixed on the imperial family at +Augsburg, Christina waited anxiously for news in her palace at Nancy. +She had sent two of her Italian secretaries, Innocenzo Gadio and +Massimo del Pero, to wait on the Queen of Hungary, with strict orders +to keep her informed of all that was happening. Gadio's cipher letters +have unluckily disappeared, but some of those addressed to him by +Niccolò Belloni have recently been discovered in a private library +near Pavia.[440] Belloni belonged to a good Milanese family, and had, +at his parents' entreaty, been retained by the Duchess in her service +when she left Italy. He had succeeded Benedetto da Corte as master of +her household, and followed Christina to Lorraine. Niccolò enjoyed his +mistress's complete confidence, and his letters to Messer Innocenzo +reveal all that was passing in her mind at this critical moment. On the +2nd of January, 1551, he writes: + + "HONOURED FRIEND, + + "Madame's page arrived a few days ago with your letters, + which were most anxiously expected and gratefully read by Her + Excellency. The next morning she received those which came by + Heidelberg, and yesterday those which you sent by the Flemish + servant, which gave Her Excellency still greater pleasure. She + deciphered them herself, and read them over several times. You + will continue to write as before, and I will tell you all I + hear from other quarters. Do not fail to report every detail + of the difficulties which are delaying the negotiations, using + Madame's ordinary cipher for this purpose.... I send this + messenger by the post to seek for news, so do not keep him at + Augsburg more than a day, even if Monsignore d'Arras' letter + is not ready, as another courier will be sent in four or five + days. I have received Don Ferrante's letters, and should be + glad to know if my letters for Fanzoni and Trissino are gone + to Milan. Tell Signor Badoer [the Venetian Ambassador] that I + will not fail to satisfy his curiosity, but it will take some + time to obtain the desired information and will require great + caution.... Send me some fine writing-paper, please--very fine, + I repeat, because it is for Madame." + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1551] BELLONI'S LETTERS] + +Christina's Milanese servants evidently carried on a correspondence +with their friends at home through the imperial messengers who were +sent from Augsburg to the Viceroy, and the Princess of Macedonia +constantly despatched packets to Milan and Mantua by the same channel, +while the Duchess herself often wrote to Don Ferrante regarding the +payment of her dowry and questions affecting the city of Tortona. +A week later Christina sent a Lorraine gentleman, Monsieur de +Saint-Hilaire, to convey her salutations to the King of Bohemia, on his +arrival at Augsburg, and Belloni took this opportunity to beg Gadio to +be diligent in reporting everything he heard, for Madame's benefit, +assuring him that Her Excellency read his letters again and again, +and believed implicitly in their contents. On the 12th of February he +repeated the same orders: + + "It would be well if you would write fuller particulars of the + great matter in hand, above all whatever you hear of the angry + disputes and quarrels which have arisen between the Prince and + the King of Bohemia, including all the bad language which they + use--in fact, everything that is said on the subject. It will + all be treated as strictly confidential, and I for my part know + that the King will not be governed by the Prince, and will use + rude and contemptuous words, as you may imagine! These are the + things that Her Highness wishes to learn from your letters.... + I may possibly take a flight to the Court of France, so, if + you wish to write to me privately, address your letters to + the Princess of Macedonia, who will keep them safely for me, + especially if they come from Italy. Your letters of the 29th of + January and 3rd of this month have arrived, and are, as usual, + most welcome, and Her Excellency agrees with you that nothing + has really been arranged. Once the business for which you were + sent to Augsburg is settled, Her Excellency thinks you may as + well return, and be sure that you bring plenty of letters for + Her Excellency from all the world, and a whole waggon-load of + news! I am sorry to hear that your horse has hurt his foot and + you have had to sell him cheap. You must procure another, and + Madame will pay for it all. Only let us have the truth about + these negotiations!" + +But the Duchess changed her mind again, and Innocenzo was desired to +stay at Augsburg as long as the Queen was there, even if the King and +his sons had left, in order that she might hear all that her aunt had +to tell of these important matters. Niccolò's last letter to Augsburg +is dated the 13th of March, and contains a reminder to Gadio to bring +the writing-paper for Madame, and to make inquiries about a new method +of coining money at the Imperial Court, which had excited the Princess +of Macedonia's curiosity.[441] The flight to the French Court which +Niccolò meditated in March, 1551, was taken in the company of the Count +of Vaudemont, who went to Blois to pay his respects to the King and +Queen, and discover if there were any truth in the sinister report +that Henry II. was planning the conquest of Lorraine. But he only met +with civil speeches, and found the Court on the eve of a journey to +Brittany, to meet the Dowager Queen of Scotland, who was coming over to +see her child and visit her aged mother at Joinville. So the Count was +able to allay his sister-in-law's alarms, and, instead of the dreaded +threats of invasion, brought back a proposal from the King that her son +should be affianced to one of his little daughters. The offer excited +some surprise, considering the strained relations that existed between +Henry II. and Charles V., but Christina returned a courteous reply, +and promised to lay the matter before the States of Lorraine.[442] For +the present she felt that she could breathe freely and give herself up +unreservedly to the enjoyment of a visit which she was expecting from +her sister Dorothea. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1551] THE PALATINE'S VISIT] + +Since the restoration of peace in Germany, the Elector Palatine had +devoted his time and money to the improvement of his ancestral castle +at Heidelberg. His natural love of building found expression in the +noble Renaissance court, with the lovely oriel and grand Hall of +Mirrors, where we may still read "Frau Dorothea's" name, and the arms +of the Three Kingdoms by the side of the Palatine's lion and the badge +of the Golden Fleece. But the passion for travel and adventure was +still strong in the old Palsgrave's breast, and when the last stone +had been placed on the lofty bell-tower he and his wife set out, with +a great company of courtiers and ladies, for Lorraine. They sailed +down the Rhine to Coblenz, and, taking horse, rode through Treves +and Metz, where Christina met them, and the whole party proceeded to +Pont-à-Mousson and the Count of Vaudemont's castle at Nomény. Here they +attended the christening of the Countess's daughter, and Frederic stood +sponsor, while his wife was proxy for the French Queen, after whom the +child was named. After a week of festivities, the party went on to a +hunt at Condé, the Duke's fair château in the forest on the banks of +the Moselle, and killed five stags. Hubert, who accompanied his master +and gives every detail of the journey, relates how the Palatine, tired +with the day's sport, accepted a seat in the Duchess's chariot, and how +his companion, Count Jacob von Busch, being a big man, weighed down the +carriage on one side, much to the amusement of Dorothea, who laughed +till the tears ran down her cheeks. But heavy rains had made the roads +almost impassable, and presently the wheels caught in a rut and the +chariot was upset. The ladies were covered with mud, and Dorothea's +face was badly scratched; but she made light of the accident, and only +laughed the more as, leaving the lumbering coach in the ditch, they +mounted horses to ride to Nancy. At the gates of the city they were met +by the young Duke Charles, a handsome boy of eight, who lifted his cap +with charming grace, and, springing to the ground, embraced his uncle +and aunt, and rode at their side, conversing in a way that amazed the +Germans. + + "We all wondered," writes Hubert, "at the beauty and wisdom of + the boy, who is indeed remarkably intelligent, and has been + trained by his lady mother in all knowledge and courtesy."[443] + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1551] TOO LITTLE BEER] + +His sisters, Renée and Dorothea, received the guests at the palace +gates, "both lovely little maidens," says Hubert, "only that the +youngest is lame and cannot walk, for which cause her uncle and aunt +embraced her the more tenderly." All the fatigues of the journey were +forgotten in the delights of the week which the travellers spent at +Nancy. The Duchess prepared a new pastime for each day, and masques, +jousts, and dances, followed each other in gay succession. On the last +day Christina took her guests to the beautiful grassy vale known as +the Ochsenthal. It was a lovely May morning, and a banquet was served +in a green bower on the banks of the stream. Suddenly a merry blast +of bugles rang out, and, while huntsmen and dogs chased the deer, +two parties of horse galloped up, and, charging each other, crossed +swords and fired guns. "It might have been an invasion of the Moors!" +exclaims Hubert, who enjoyed the surprise as much as anyone. At sunset +the warriors returned to the palace, where the fairest maidens of the +Duchess's Court crowned the victors with roses, and danced with them +till morning. The next day Frederic and Dorothea made the Duchess and +her children and servants handsome presents of gold chains and rings +and brooches, and Christina, not to be outdone, gave Hubert a massive +silver tankard, begging him to keep it in remembrance of her, and +continue to serve the Palatine and her sister as well in the future as +he had done in the past. After this we need not wonder at the glowing +pages in which the honest secretary praises the delicacy of the viands, +the choice flavour of the wines set before the guests, and the polished +manners of the Court of Nancy. + + "Indeed," he adds, "some of our Germans complained that + there was too little beer, because people here do not sit + up drinking all night, and go to bed like pigs, as we do at + Heidelberg."[444] + +The young Duke and his sisters accompanied the guests to Lunéville, +where they spent Whitsuntide together and took their leave, the +little ladies shedding many tears at parting from their aunt. Even +then Christina could not tear herself from her sister, and the next +day, as the Palatine and his wife were dining at one of the Duke's +country-houses on their route, the Duchess suddenly appeared, riding up +the hill. Hubert and his comrades ran out to welcome her, waving green +boughs in their hands, and greeted her with ringing cheers, and they +all sat down to a merry meal. Dorothea begged her sister to accompany +her to Alsace; but the Duchess could not leave home, and the travellers +pushed on that night to Strasburg, and on the 1st of June reached +Heidelberg, where they were greeted by a gay peal of bells from the +new-built tower. It was the last visit that either Frederic or his wife +ever paid to Lorraine. When the sisters met again, Christina was an +exile and a fugitive, and had lost son and home, together with all that +she loved best on earth. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[375] Calmet, ii. 1276, iii. 47; Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," iii. 152. + +[376] Granvelle, iii. 159-163. + +[377] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, viii. 195; Granvelle, iii. 226. + +[378] Lanz, ii. 478-484. + +[379] State Papers, Record Office, Henry VIII., x. 490. + +[380] Granvelle, iii. 206-225. + +[381] Granvelle, iii. 235, 236. + +[382] Bouillé, i. 155; Pimodan, 88. + +[383] Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 53, 60, iii. 102. + +[384] Calendar of State Papers, xxi. 592, 642; Calendar of Spanish +State Papers, viii. 431. + +[385] Granvelle, iii. 237. + +[386] A. Hallays, 40. + +[387] Calmet, ii. 1276, 1281; Pfister, ii. 203. + +[388] Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 156. + +[389] Calendar of State Papers, xxi. 2, 121; Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. +87. + +[390] N. Ratti, "La Famiglia Sforza," ii. 86. + +[391] Brantôme, "Œuvres," xii. 114. + +[392] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, viii. 501. + +[393] Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 65; iii. 105, 114. + +[394] Calendar of State Papers, xxi. 2, 172, 187. + +[395] Brantôme, iii. 164. + +[396] Pimodan, 95; Bouillé, i. 160. + +[397] Hallays, "La Ville de Nancy," 22; C. Cournault, "Ligier-Richier," +34. + +[398] Gachard, ii. 338; L. Haüsser, i. 603; G. Voigt, "Albert von +Brandenburg." i. 164. + +[399] Granvelle, iii. 265. + +[400] Gachard, "Voyages de Charles V.," ii. 350-355; R. Ascham, +"Works," ii. 267; "Travail and Life of Sir T. Hoby," 7. + +[401] Bucholtz, vi. 298, 300. + +[402] Voigt, ii. 7. + +[403] Ascham, iii. 32; Voigt, i. 197. + +[404] Bulletins de la Commission d'Histoire, xii. 156; Calendar of +State Papers, Edward VI., 17. + +[405] Gachard, ii. 357. + +[406] H. Lepage, "La Ville de Nancy," 44; Calendar of State Papers, +Foreign, Edward VI., i. 16. + +[407] T. Hoby, "Memoirs," 6. + +[408] Calendar of State Papers, Edward VI., i. 25. + +[409] Granvelle, iii. 335. + +[410] Gachard, ii. 377. + +[411] A. de Ruble, "Le Mariage de Jeanne d'Albret," 243-246; Bouillé, +204. + +[412] Brantôme, "Œuvres," xii. 115. + +[413] Schäfer, iv. 472; Bucholtz, vii. 572. + +[414] Granvelle, iii. 207. + +[415] Lodge, "Illustrations," i. 183; Calendar of the Manuscripts of +the Marquis of Salisbury, i. 110; Voigt, i. 197. + +[416] Henne, viii. 373. + +[417] Gachard, "Retraite de Charles V.," i. 72; Manuscript 8,625, f. +235, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. + +[418] Gachard, ii. 389. + +[419] Maitland, "Miscellany," i. 219; A. de Ruble, "La Jeunesse de +Marie Stuart," 104. + +[420] Pimodan, 367; Bouillé, 349; Bibliothèque Nationale, F.F. 20,467, +f. 39; Gaignières Manuscripts, 349, f. 7. + +[421] Pimodan, 375; Bibliothèque Nationale, F.F. 20, 468, f. 9. + +[422] Bouillé, i. 227. + +[423] Calmet, ii. 1296, iii. 423; Granvelle, iii. 430. + +[424] Gachard, ii. 424; Bulletins de la Commission d'Histoire, série 2, +xii. 189. + +[425] Guazzo, 730; Gachard, ii. 424. + +[426] Ascham, ii. 245-257. + +[427] _Ibid._, ii. 260. + +[428] Bucholtz, vi. 458. + +[429] Granvelle, i. 2-6, iii. 448, 451. + +[430] Bulletins, etc., série 2, xii. 188. + +[431] Lanz, iii. 11. + +[432] P. de Vaissière, "Vie de Charles de Marillac," 174, 178. + +[433] Ascham, ii. 268. + +[434] Bulletins, série 2, xii. 188. + +[435] Vaissière, 186-188. + +[436] Ascham, ii. 280; Gachard, ii. 853. + +[437] Ascham, ii. 278. + +[438] Calendar of State Papers, Foreign, Edward VI., i. 85. + +[439] Bucholtz, vi. 467. + +[440] These extracts from manuscripts preserved in the Biblioteca of +Zelada, near Pavia, are published by the kind permission of their +owner, Count Antonio Cavagna-Sangiuliani. + +[441] Manuscript vii., Biblioteca di Zelada. + +[442] Calendar of State Papers, Foreign, Edward VI., i. 79; Granvelle, +iii. 522. + +[443] Hubertus Thomas, 464. + +[444] Hubertus Thomas, 467; L. Haüsser, i. 625. + + + + +BOOK X + +THE FRENCH INVASION + +1551-1553 + + +I. + +Michaelmas Day, 1551, was memorable, both in France and Germany, for a +snowstorm of extraordinary severity, followed by an alarming earthquake +and violent tempest, omens, as it proved, of impending disasters. + +In this same month of September, Henry II. recalled his Ambassador from +Augsburg. Ten days later he declared war. For some time past he had +been supporting Ottavio Farnese, who was in open revolt against his +father-in-law, and carrying on secret intrigues with Maurice of Saxony +and the Protestant Electors. The Marquis Albert had never forgiven the +Emperor for the affronts of which he imagined himself to be the victim, +and, after vainly offering his sword to the English King and his hand +to Princess Mary, he went to France as Maurice's emissary. Here he +concluded a secret treaty, which was signed at Friedewald on the 5th +of October by the German Princes, and ratified at Chambord by Henry +II.[445] + +[Sidenote: SEPT., 1551] INTRIGUES WITH FRANCE] + +Charles's affairs were in a critical state. The war of Parma was a +heavy drain on his resources, and had swallowed up the gold of Mexico +and the best Spanish soldiers, while Maurice's treachery had converted +the strongest body of imperial _Landsknechten_ into foes. + + "The Emperor doth little yet," wrote Roger Ascham from + Augsburg, "but the French be a great deal aforehand. He is wise + enough, but hath many irons in the fire, and everyone alone + to give him work enough, the Turk by land and sea, the French + sitting on his skirts, beside Magdeburg and the rest."[446] + +The discontent in Augsburg rose to the highest pitch when, one day +in September, ten preachers were summarily banished. The imperial +residence was besieged by crowds of furious women, clamouring to have +their babes christened, and guards were doubled at every gate, while +Charles sat within, enfeebled by gout and reluctant to face the coming +peril. + +In vain Mary of Hungary warned him of Maurice and Albert's intrigues +with France, and told him that his incredulity was like to cost him +very dear, and that if he did not take care he would lose, not only +Germany, but also the Netherlands, which were not the meanest feather +in his cap. Both he and Arras refused to listen. Instead of following +his sister's advice and remaining at Worms or Spires to control Germany +and protect Lorraine, Charles lingered on at Augsburg after war was +declared, and persisted in taking refuge at Innsbruck. After protracted +delays, he at length left Augsburg on the 21st of October, dragging +the reluctant Ambassadors in his train, and crossed "the cold Alps, +already," sighed Ascham, "full of snow," to descend on Tyrol.[447] + +Meanwhile his niece was watching the course of events with increasing +anxiety. All the French King's fine promises could not allay +Christina's fears, as the autumn months went by, and the din of warlike +preparations sounded louder in her ears. In her terror she clung to +the Guises, hoping that their influence might save her son and his +realm from ruin. On the 20th of July she went to Joinville to meet +the Dowager Queen of Scotland and stand proxy for Queen Catherine +at the christening of Francis of Guise's daughter, afterwards the +notorious Duchess of Montpensier. When, in October, the young Duke +of Longueville died suddenly, on the eve of his mother's departure, +Christina once more went to condole with Antoinette on the loss of her +"Benjamin."[448] Both she and Anne, who came to Nancy at her earnest +request, were full of sympathy for the venerable Duchess in the trials +that clouded her declining years. A fresh proof of Christina's anxiety +to gratify her powerful relatives appears in a letter which she wrote +to her uncle from Pont-à-Mousson on the 28th of October, begging him to +grant a request of the Cardinal regarding the Abbey of Gorzes, which he +had lately annexed to his vast possessions. + + "I could not refuse this petition," she adds, "as my Lord + Cardinal is so near of kin to my children, and has always + treated me and my son with so much kindness and affection. And + I humbly beg Your Majesty to show him favour, in order that he + may see that I do all that is possible to please him and his + house."[449] + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1552] FRENCH INTRIGUES] + +As the year drew to its close, the insolence of the French increased, +and their incursions and depredations were a perpetual source of +annoyance to the people of Lorraine. At the same time their intrigues +fomented discontent among the nobles, some of whom were annoyed at the +appointment of Monsieur de Montbardon to be the young Duke's tutor. +This French Baron had originally followed the Constable of Bourbon into +exile, and, after being for many years in the Emperor's service, had by +his wish accompanied Christina to Lorraine. And both the Regents had +good reason to doubt the loyalty of one of the Lorraine magnates, Jean +de Salm, a son of the late Marshal, commonly known as the Rhinegrave, +who had lately received the Order of St. Michel from Henry II. All +Christina could do in this critical state of affairs was to keep Mary +of Hungary and the Emperor fully informed of current events. + +On the 7th of January the Sieur de Tassigny, an agent whom the Queen +had sent to Nancy, received a command from a Court page to come to the +Duchess's rooms that night, in order that she might tell him certain +things which she dared not write. Tassigny obeyed the summons, and had +a long talk with Christina in the privacy of her own chamber. She told +him that the French were assembling in great force on the frontier, +and that Lorraine would be the first country to be attacked. And she +further informed him that certain great personages in Germany, the +Marquis Albert, Duke Maurice, and others, were in secret communication +with the King, and were about to take up arms against the Emperor, +and join the French when they crossed the Rhine. The Rhinegrave had +been often seen going to and fro in disguise between the King and +Duke Maurice. Moreover, a German had lately told the Duchess that he +had been at table with the Elector the day before, and had heard him +vow that he would release his father-in-law, the captive Landgrave +of Hesse, were he at the Emperor's own side! When another guest +warned Duke Maurice to be more careful, lest his rash words should be +repeated, he replied defiantly: "What I say here is meant for all the +world to hear." + +This confidential conversation was faithfully reported to Mary of +Hungary by Tassigny, who concluded his letter with the following words: + + "_En somme_, Madame complains that she is in a terrible + position, seeing that Lorraine will be entirely at the mercy of + the French, and that there is not a single person in whom she + can trust and who is loyal to His Imperial Majesty, excepting + Monsieur de Bassompierre, her chief Councillor, and Monsieur + de Vaudemont, who is quite alienated from France, and entirely + devoted to the Emperor, saying that it is impossible to serve + two masters."[450] + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1552] LE VOYAGE D'AUSTRASIE] + +By Christina's wish, Tassigny went on to Nomény the next day, and had a +long interview with Vaudemont, who assured him that every word spoken +by Her Excellency was true, that at Candlemas there would be a great +revolt in Germany, and that the French King meant to seize the three +bishoprics--Toul, Verdun, and Metz. The only way to prevent this would +be for the Emperor to place strong garrisons in these cities, and thus +defeat his enemies' plans. The Count's information, as time showed, was +perfectly accurate, and, in spite of all that has been alleged to the +contrary, he was probably loyal to the Duchess, who never doubted his +honesty, and to whom he seems to have been sincerely attached. But he +was timid and vacillating, and lacked courage and firmness to face the +crisis when it came. + +Mary, to whom Christina turned in this extremity, was powerless to +help. Every available man was needed to defend the Low Countries, and +she could only advise her niece to claim the protection of the Empire +for her son's State, and, if Lorraine were actually invaded, retire +with her children to the Palatinate. Even Charles began to wake up from +his lethargy, and to realize too late that Mary had been right all the +time. At Christmas Stroppiana wrote from Innsbruck: + + "We begin to suspect the existence of a plot against the + Emperor, hidden under the cloak of a military revolt. Maurice + is not a stranger to this conspiracy, and Albert has let his + soldiers loose and is ravaging Germany."[451] + +A few weeks later Christina's secretary, who kept Arras informed of all +that was happening in Lorraine, sent the Emperor a message to say that +the King was collecting his forces at Châlons, and that Maurice was +marching on Augsburg at the head of his _Landsknechten_, although no +one knew whether he meant to fight for the King or the Emperor.[452] + +On the 5th of February Henry issued a manifesto, stamped with the cap +of liberty, proclaiming himself the protector of the Germans and their +deliverer from the Emperor's yoke, and, after solemnly invoking St. +Denis's help, set out for Reims with the Queen and Dauphin. The gilded +youth of France all flocked to the camp at Châlons, eager to start on +the _voyage d'Austrasie_, as the expedition was termed by these gay +spirits, and drive Charles of Austria out of Germany. The Constable was +appointed to the chief command, Aumale was made Captain of the horse, +and the Rhinegrave Colonel of the German infantry. + +[Sidenote: MARCH, 1552] HENRY II. AT JOINVILLE] + +As soon as the news reached Nancy, the Duchess sent Bassompierre to +Brussels, and told the Queen that terror reigned everywhere, although +it was doubtful if Henry would march on Germany or turn aside to invade +Lorraine. The alarm which filled the hearts of these two defenceless +women is reflected in the letters which Anne and Christina wrote during +these anxious days. The wildest rumours were abroad, and death and +ruin seemed to be staring them in the face. Bassompierre soon returned +with a letter from Mary, thanking Anne for her valuable information, +and begging her not to desert the sorely-tried Duchess at this crisis. +Since Madame was good enough to honour her with her commands, Anne +asked nothing better than to obey. She wrote daily to Brussels, +giving minute details of the King's advance. On the 15th of March +he left Reims, and reached Joinville on the 22nd. From here he sent +Commissioners to Nancy to inform the Duchess that her towns would not +be attacked, and that there was no need to fortify them. The Regents +only raised a sufficient body of men under the Governor of Nancy, Baron +d'Haussonville, to protect the Duke's person. Following her aunt's +advice, Christina sent one of her secretaries to Innsbruck to ask the +Emperor for assistance; but Charles could only lament his inability to +come to her help, and advise her to ask the French King to respect the +neutrality of Lorraine. This was her only hope, and, encouraged by the +Cardinal of Guise, she and Anne went to Joinville on the 1st of April, +and sought an audience from the King.[453] + +Here they were received in the kindest manner by the old Duchess, and +conducted into Henry's presence by the Constable. The King received +them courteously, and conversed some time with them in a friendly +manner. Christina begged him to take her son under his protection, and +reminded him that his grandmother, Renée de Bourbon, was a Princess +of the blood royal; then, gathering courage, she told him that she +had been accused of designs against him by slanderous tongues, and +asked nothing better than to show that she was absolutely innocent of +these charges. "So great a lady," remarked the Sieur de Rabutin, who +witnessed the interview, "must have been very reluctant to plead so +humbly, and I doubt if she would ever have taken a step so contrary +to her natural inclination if her uncle had been able to give her +help."[454] The King listened civilly, and replied that he bore her +no ill-will whatsoever, but was obliged to secure the frontier and +protect himself from danger on the side of Lorraine. As for her son, +he cherished the most friendly feelings for him, and was anxious to +see him affianced to his own daughter, if the Duchess were agreeable. +This kind language and the affection shown her by the Cardinal and his +mother relieved Christina's worst fears. She begged the King to do her +the honour of staying under her roof if he came in that direction, and +returned to Nancy with the Constable, who escorted the two Duchesses +home, in the most amiable fashion, and then went on to take possession +of Toul. + +On her return, Christina wrote the following letter to the Emperor: + + "MONSEIGNEUR, + + "I have been to Joinville in accordance with Your Majesty's + advice, and have sent full particulars of my interview with the + King to Monsieur d'Arras. I beg you, Monseigneur, to give me + your commands as to my future conduct, as my only wish is to + obey Your Majesty to the end of my life. + + "Your very humble and very obedient niece, + "CHRESTIENNE. + "From Nancy. April 5, 1552."[455] + +A few days of anxious suspense followed. The French Queen fell ill of +quinsy, and was in danger of her life. Solemn prayers and litanies were +chanted for her recovery in all the churches, and Diane of Poitiers +hastened to Joinville, where she found the King "playing the good +husband at his wife's bedside."[456] But by Palm Sunday Catherine +recovered sufficiently for Henry to leave her in the charge of Duchess +Antoinette and continue his march. On Monday, the 11th of April, he +joined the Constable before Toul, which opened its gates the next day. +On the 13th the King left the bulk of the army to go on to Metz with +the Constable, and, taking the household cavalry and a few companies of +men-at-arms under the Duke of Guise, turned his steps towards Nancy. + + +II. + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1552] THE FRENCH AT NANCY] + +Eastertide, 1552, was a sad and memorable epoch in the annals of +Lorraine. At two o'clock on Maundy Thursday, Henry II. entered Nancy +at the head of his troops, with trumpets blowing and banners flying. +For the first time in the last hundred years, foreign soldiers were +seen within the walls of Nancy. The Cardinal and the Duke of Guise +rode on before, to inform the Duchess of the King's coming and see +that due arrangements were made for his reception. Christina nerved +herself for a final effort, and with splendid courage prepared to +welcome the enemy of her race within her palace gates. Salutes were +fired from the bastions as the King entered the town, and the young +Duke rode out to meet him at the head of the nobles and magistrates, +and escorted him to the church of St. Georges. Here Henry alighted, and +the citizens held a canopy of state over him as he entered the ancient +shrine of the Lorraine Princes, and, after kissing the relics of the +saints on the altar steps, prayed by the tomb of King René. Then the +young Duke led him through the stately portal, under his grandfather's +equestrian statue, to the hall where his mother was waiting to receive +her royal guest, with the Duchess of Aerschot and the young Princesses. +Henry, the Duke of Guise, the Cardinal, the Marshal St. André, and +200 gentlemen of the royal household, were sumptuously lodged in the +ducal palace, while the troops were quartered in the town, and French +guards were stationed at the gates, not without a protest from Baron +d'Haussonville.[457] + +That evening the Duchess entertained her guests at a magnificent +banquet in the Galerie des Cerfs, and the brilliantly-lighted hall, +with its vaulted fretwork of blue and gold, frescoed walls, and rich +tapestries, excited the admiration of all the French. + +François de Rabutin, the young Captain in Monsieur de Nevers's corps +of archers, walked through the streets of the "fine, strong little +town," lost in wonder at the splendour of the palace, the prosperity +of the citizens, and their affection for the ducal family. More than +all he was struck by the young Duke himself, who appeared to him "the +handsomest and cleverest boy in the world," and who evidently made the +same impression on the King. Henry paid the Duchess many compliments on +her son's good looks and intelligence, and expressed so much pleasure +at his reception that her worst alarms were allayed. Late in the +same evening she wrote a letter to her aunt, telling her of the kind +expressions used by His Majesty, and of her hopes that all might yet be +well. But a rude awakening was in store for her. Early on Good Friday +morning Vaudemont appeared at the door of her room with consternation +written on his face. The King had sent him to inform the Duchess that +her son was to leave Nancy the next day for Bar, in charge of one +of the King's captains, while she was deprived of all share in the +government, which was henceforth to be administered by Vaudemont as +sole Regent. On receiving this unexpected message, Christina hastily +summoned as many members of the Council as could be brought together, +and with their help and her brother-in-law's support, drew up a protest +couched in respectful and dignified language, reminding the King of the +terms of the late Duke's will, and of her own rights both as mother and +Regent. Henry's only reply to this appeal was to send the Duchess a +copy of the agreement to which she was expected to conform. It was as +follows: + +[Illustration: PALAIS DUCAL, NANCY (1627) + +_To face p. 364_] + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1552] CHRISTINA'S DISTRESS] + + "The Duke is to start to-morrow for Bar before the King leaves + Nancy. His mother may accompany him, or go elsewhere, if + she prefers. She may retain the administration of her son's + property, but will no longer have any authority over the + fortresses in Lorraine. All subjects of the Emperor who hold + any office in the government or in the Duke's household are + commanded to leave Lorraine without delay. A French garrison + of 600 men will be left in Nancy under Monsieur de Thou, but + Monsieur de Vaudemont will remain Governor of the city, and + take an oath to observe the conditions laid down by the King. A + French garrison of 300 men will also be placed in Stenay under + the Sieur de Parroy."[458] + +These hard conditions filled Christina with dismay. She begged the +Cardinal to defend her rights, but he could only advise her to submit +to the inevitable. Both he and Francis of Guise have often been blamed +for not opposing Henry II.'s arbitrary proceedings, but there seems +little doubt that the King originally intended to reduce Lorraine from +the rank of an independent State to that of a fief of the Crown, and +that it was only the opposition of the Guises which saved the duchy +from this fate. In her despair Christina made a last attempt to soften +the King's heart. Clad in her black robes and flowing white veil, she +entered the Galerie des Cerfs, where Henry and his courtiers were +assembled, and, throwing herself on her knees at the King's feet, +implored him, for the love of Christ who died on the cross that day, to +have pity upon an unhappy mother. The sight of her distress, and the +touching words in which she begged the King to take everything else, +but allow her to keep her son, moved all hearts, and there was not a +dry eye in the whole assembly. Even Henry was filled with compassion, +and, raising the Duchess from her knees, he assured her that he only +wished to confirm the friendship between the two houses. Far from +intending any harm to the young Duke, he proposed to bring him up with +his children, and to treat him as if he were his own son, but Lorraine +was too near the frontiers of Germany, and too much exposed to attacks +from his enemies, for him to be able to leave the boy there. With these +consoling words, he took the weeping Duchess by the hand and led her +to the doors of the gallery, but, as Anne afterwards told the Queen of +Hungary, the King vouchsafed no reply to her sister's entreaty that +she might not be deprived of her boy, and Christina's prayer remained +unanswered.[459] + +Early the next morning Vaudemont and the Councillors renewed their +oaths of allegiance to Duke Charles III., after which the young Prince +left Nancy in charge of the French captain Bourdillon and an escort +of fifty men-at-arms. The parting between the Duchess and her son was +heartrending. The poor mother gave way to passionate tears, in which +she was joined not only by Vaudemont and Anne, but by all the nobles +and people who had assembled at the palace gates to see the last of +their beloved Duke. Nothing but the sound of weeping and lamentation +was to be heard, and Rabutin, with all his hatred of the House of +Austria, was filled with compassion at the sight of the Duchess's grief. + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1552] CAPTURE OF THE YOUNG DUKE] + +On Easter Day Christina wrote the following letter to her aunt, +enclosing a copy of the articles drawn up by the French King: + + "MADAME, + + "The extreme grief and distress which the King's violence has + caused me prevents me from writing to you as fully as the + occasion requires; but I must tell you what has happened since + my last letter, in which I told you of the King's arrival. + Now, in reward for the good cheer which I made him, he has + carried off my son by force, with a violence which could not + have been greater if I had been a slave. Not content with + this, he has deprived me of the chief part of my authority, + so that I can hardly remain here with honour and reputation, + and, what is worse, I shall no longer have the power of doing + Your Majesty service, which is one of my greatest regrets. + Have pity, Madame, on a poor mother, whose son has been torn + from her arms, as you will see more fully by this copy of the + King's final resolutions, which he has sent me in writing. + These have been carried out in every particular. Before he + left, my brother, Monsieur de Vaudemont, and all the members of + the Council, except myself, were made to take an oath, pledging + themselves to defend the strong places in this land against + all his enemies, and to open their gates to him whenever + required. The same oath was taken by the garrison who are to + guard this town, and I was asked to give up the keys of the + postern gate. So that I, who was first here, and could once + serve Your Majesty, am now deprived of all power, and am little + better than a slave. I foresee that I shall soon be stripped of + everything, in spite of the treaties and agreements formerly + made between Your Majesties and this State. This ill-treatment + and the evident wish shown by the French that I should leave + this house have made me decide to retire to Blamont, where I + will await Your Majesty's advice as to my future action.... I + must warn Your Majesty, with regard to Stenay, that the new + Captain, Sieur du Parroy, although of Lorraine birth, belongs + to the King's household, and is devoted to French interests, as + is also the second in command. Madame, I have written all this + to the Emperor, but he is so far away and in so remote a place + that I felt I must also tell Your Majesty what had happened + here, begging her humbly to let me know her good pleasure. + + "Your humble and obedient niece, + "CHRESTIENNE. + + "Nancy, April 17, 1552."[460] + +The letter which Anne addressed to the Queen the next day is still more +graphic in the details it supplies: + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1552] THE DUKE AT JOINVILLE] + + "I cannot help writing to inform you, Madame, of the utter + desolation and misery to which my poor sister is reduced owing + to the great rudeness and cruelty with which she was treated + by the King of France on Good Friday. He came here under + pretence of good faith and true friendship, as he had lately + given us to understand. On his arrival he was received with all + possible honour and entertained in the most hospitable manner. + On Good Friday he told Madame that, in order to satisfy the + conditions of his league with the Germans, he must secure all + the fortified posts in Lorraine, as well as the Duke's person, + and with this end must take him to Bar. In order to prevent + this, Madame, Monsieur de Vaudemont and I, with all the members + of the Council, drew up a remonstrance couched in the most + humble terms, to which he only replied by sending us a written + copy of his resolutions. Upon this my sister went to find him + in the Grande Galerie, and begged him humbly, even going as far + as to fall on her knees to implore him, for the love of God, + not to take her son away from her. He made no reply, and, to + make an end of the story, Madame, on Easter Eve they took the + boy, escorted by a band of armed men, in charge of the Sieur de + Bourdillon and the Maréchal de St. André, who did not leave his + side until he had seen him well out of the town. It was indeed + a piteous thing to see his poor mother, Monsieur de Vaudemont, + and all the nobles and this poor people, in tears and + lamentation at his departure. Madame, Your Majesty can imagine + the terrible grief of my poor sister at this outrage, and will + understand that her sorrow at losing her son is still so great + that I have been obliged to abandon my intention of returning + home, and feel that I cannot leave her. The King allows her + to keep the charge of her daughters and the administration of + her children's estates, excepting in the case of the fortified + towns, which remain in the hands of Monsieur de Vaudemont.... + And since, Madame, I am still as ever very anxious to do Your + Majesty service, I beg you to lay your commands upon me, and + they will be obeyed by one who is the most affectionate servant + that Your Majesty will ever have. + + "ANNE DE LORRAINE. + + "From Nancy, the day after Easter, + April 18."[461] + + +In a postscript Anne further informed Mary that her sister had just +received a letter from the King, telling her that, hearing an attempt +would be made to carry off the young Duke, he had ordered Bourdillon +to take him to join the Queen at Joinville. Henry's letter was written +from Pont-à-Mousson, where he spent Easter Day, after sleeping at the +Duke's country-house at Condé on Saturday: + + "MY SISTER, + + "After leaving you I received warnings from several quarters + that the Burgundians were going to make an attempt to surprise + Bar and carry off my cousin, the Duke of Lorraine; and as I am + anxious to prevent this, I ordered Monsieur de Bourdillon to + take him straight to Joinville, which is sufficiently remote to + escape this danger, and where both you and he would be quite at + home in his own family. And you will find good company there + and be given the best of cheer, just as if I were there myself. + I hope, my sister, that this may be agreeable to you, and that + you will believe that my anxiety for his person is the reason + why I wish to avoid any risk of injury, which would be a cause + of grave displeasure to those who love him, as you and I do. + Farewell, my sister, and may God have you in His holy keeping. + + "Your good brother, + "HENRY. + + "Written at Pont-à-Mousson, + April 17, 1552."[462] + + +The tone of the letter was kind. Henry had evidently been touched by +Christina's distress, and tried to soften the blow. Fortunately, the +little Duke himself was too young to realize the meaning of these +startling events. The ride to Joinville and the welcome which he +received from the kind old Duchess amused him, but at bedtime he missed +the familiar faces, and asked for his mother and tutor, Monsieur de +Montbardon. When he was told that they had stayed at Nancy, the poor +child burst into incontrollable sobs, and refused to be comforted.[463] + + +III. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1552] CHRISTINA AT DENŒUVRE] + +The invasion of Lorraine and the harsh treatment which the Duchess +suffered at the French King's hands were keenly resented by her +imperial relatives. Mary wrote indignantly to Charles at Innsbruck, +complaining justly of Henry's violation of the neutrality of Lorraine +and of the young Duke's[464] capture. To Christina herself she +expressed her anger at the King's wicked act, at the same time advising +her to bow to the storm and retire to Blamont for the present. This +the Duchess did three days after her son's departure, taking the two +Princesses as well as her faithful sister-in-law. Anne's pen was never +idle, and on the following Sunday--that of _Pâques-fleuries_--she sent +the Queen a list of all the Princes who were members of the League. But +they had not been many days at Blamont, when their peace was disturbed +by the arrival of the French King and the Constable, who, after +taking possession of Metz, marched through the Vosges on their way to +Strasburg, and took up their quarters in the castle. The Duchesses +left hurriedly to avoid another meeting with the King, and moved to +Denœuvre, where they remained during the next three months. But the +strain of recent events had been too much for Christina's strength; she +became seriously ill, and her condition was a grave cause of anxiety to +Anne and her ladies. + +Count Stroppiana, who heard the details of the French invasion from +Belloni's own lips at Innsbruck, wrote the following account of the +Duchess's wrongs to his master, the Duke of Savoy: + + "The King of France, we hear, has occupied Lorraine, and sent + the young Duke to Châlons, guarded by 100 men-at-arms, contrary + to the promises which he made to the Duchess his mother. She + threw herself at his feet, imploring him not to rob her of her + son, her only joy and consolation, without whom she could not + bear to live, with many other words which would have moved the + hardest heart to pity. The King would not listen, and repulsed + her with many rough words, forbidding any of the Emperor's + subjects to remain in her service on pain of death. He has + deprived her of the Regency, and relegated her to a remote + country place, where she does nothing but weep and lament, + and will certainly die before long, if her great sorrow is + not comforted, as she has been ill for some time past. The + poor little Duke is said to be ill, too. When he reached the + first stage of his journey, he asked for his mother and tutor, + and, when he did not see them, wept so bitterly that it was + impossible to comfort him."[465] + +The boy's tears were soon dried, and he recovered his spirits in the +charge of the Duke of Longueville's old tutor, Jean de la Brousse, +and the companionship of the royal children. His mother remained long +inconsolable for his loss, but the affection of her son's subjects +was her best solace. So earnest were their entreaties that she should +remain among them that she declined her aunt's urgent invitation to +take refuge in Flanders, and decided to stay at Denœuvre. On the 31st +of May she wrote as follows to inform the Emperor of her intention: + + "MONSEIGNEUR, + + "At the prayer of my brother Monsieur de Vaudemont, and my + sister the Duchess of Aerschot, and the earnest desire of my + good people, I have been bold enough to remain here, although + Your Majesty had sent me orders to join the Queens. I trust you + will not take this in bad part, but will understand that I have + only done this at the urgent prayer of my brother and sister, + and not out of disrespect to your command, since my sole desire + is to obey you all my life, and I beg you to believe this and + remember my son and his poor country. + + "Your humble niece and servant, + "CHRESTIENNE. + + "From Denœuvre, May 31, 1552."[466] + +[Sidenote: JULY, 1552] CHRISTINA BANISHED] + +This letter found the Emperor at the lowest depth of his fortunes. On +the 19th of May he was carried in his litter by torchlight over the +Brenner in torrents of driving rain, and hardly paused till he arrived +at Villach in Carinthia. A few hours after he left Innsbruck, Maurice +and his troopers entered the town, plundered the Emperor's quarters, +and robbed the baggage which had been forgotten in his hasty departure. +The victor might easily have captured the fugitive Emperor, but, as +Maurice said himself, he had no cage for so fine a bird. + +The tide, however, was already turning. Strasburg closed her gates +against the French invaders, and early in May an Imperial army attacked +Champagne and sent Queen Catherine flying in terror from Reims. Alarmed +by these reports, Henry beat a hasty retreat, and contented himself +with the empty boast that he had watered his horses in the Rhine. The +seat of the war was now transferred to Luxembourg, and Lorraine was +once more harassed by the outposts of the two contending armies. From +their safe retreat at Denœuvre, Christina and Anne watched the course +of the campaign anxiously, and kept up a constant correspondence with +Mary of Hungary. The bold measure of placing an Imperialist garrison +in Nancy was now proposed by the Duchess, and gladly accepted by her +uncle, who realized the advantages of the scheme, and wrote that +Lorraine might well be occupied, on the ground of the Duke's detention, +and would be restored to him as soon as he was released.[467] Early in +July, Christina's trusted servant, Bassompierre, the Bailiff of the +Vosges, arrived at Denœuvre with a message from Vaudemont, promising to +admit the Imperialist force within the gates of Nancy on condition that +the occupation was only temporary. The Duchess promptly sent a lackey +to Flanders with a cipher letter to inform the Queen of his consent. +But, as ill-luck would have it, the servant fell into the hands of +the French, who were besieging Luxembourg, and he was brought before +the King and forced to confess the object of his errand. Henry was +furious at discovering the plot, and sent a gentleman of his household, +Monsieur de Rostain, to Denœuvre, with a letter to the Duchess, +saying that he feared her attachment to the Emperor was greater than +her maternal love, and desired her to leave Lorraine without delay. +Christina sent one of her gentlemen, Monsieur de Doulans, back with +Rostain to protest against this order, saying that, after robbing her +of her son and depriving her of the Regency, the King would surely not +be so cruel as to drive her out of her own dower-house, especially as +Denœuvre was a fief of the Empire. But these passionate appeals availed +her little. A week later Henry sent another gentleman, Monsieur de +Fontaine, to order the Duchess to leave Denœuvre immediately, if she +did not wish to feel the full weight of his displeasure. This time +the messenger had orders not to return to the King's presence until +he had seen the Duchess across the frontier. So with a heavy heart +the two Princesses left the land of Lorraine, where they were both so +fondly beloved, and took refuge in Alsace. Belloni, who sent the Queen +an account of his mistress's latest troubles in his clear Italian +handwriting, was desired to tell her aunt that the Duchess had many +more things of importance to say, but must wait for a more convenient +season. Only one thing she must add, and this was that through all +Monsieur de Vaudemont had remained perfectly true and loyal to her, +although he was compelled by his office to conform outwardly to the +French King's tyranny.[468] + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1552] BELLONI'S END] + +On receiving this bad news, Mary sent to beg her niece to come to +Flanders without delay, promising the Duchess a home for herself and +her little daughters. Unfortunately, as Christina found, this was no +easy task. Not only was the whole countryside in peril of daily attacks +from the French, but the Marquis Albert had descended like a whirlwind +from the Suabian hills, and was spreading terror and destruction along +the banks of the Rhine. The next letter which she addressed to her aunt +from the imperial city of Schlettstadt, where she had sought refuge, +gives vent to these alarms: + + "MADAME, + + "I received the kind and loving letter which Your Majesty was + so good as to send me on the 6th of August. It came at the + right moment, for I can assure you that I was sorely troubled, + but Your Majesty's kindness in saying that I shall be welcome + has done me so much good that I feel I do not know how to + thank you enough, and am only sorry I cannot set out at once. + For the roads are very dangerous, above all for children.... + Your Majesty will understand how distressed I shall be until + I can find some way of coming to you, and certainly one year + will seem to me a hundred, until I am with Your Majesty once + more."[469] + +This grateful letter was written from Schlettstadt on the 22nd of +August, and sent to Brussels by Niccolò Belloni, the only messenger +whom Christina felt that she could trust. But fresh trouble awaited +her in this direction. Belloni reached Flanders safely, and came back +to Lorraine with letters to the Count and Countess of Vaudemont, but +disappeared in some mysterious manner two days after he reached +Nancy. It seems doubtful whether he died of the plague, as Massimo +del Pero wrote to his friend Innocenzo Gadio, or whether he fell into +some ambush and was slain by the enemy's hand. The loss was a great +one to the Duchess, whom he had served so faithfully and well for the +past sixteen years, and the honest Milanese was lamented by all his +colleagues. Innocenzo Gadio, sent the sad news to the Princess of +Macedonia's daughter, Dejanira, the wife of Count Gaspare Trivulzio, +who had formerly received Christina in his castle at Codogno. The +Countess expressed her sympathy with her dearest Messer Innocenzo in +the warmest terms. + + "I am sure," she wrote, "that the death of so beloved a friend + will cause my mother the greatest sorrow. When you return to + Lorraine," she adds, "please kiss Her Excellency's hands for + me, and tell her that the sufferings which she has undergone + in those parts grieve me to the bottom of my soul; and tell + her too that we, her servants in this country, shall always be + ready to risk our lives and all that we have in her service." + + "DEJANIRA, CONTESSA TRIVULZIO. + + "From Codogno, September 29, 1552."[470] + + +There were still faithful hearts in this far-off land who never forgot +the Duchess whom they had known in early youth, and who followed her +fortunes with tender sympathy and affection. + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1552] AT HOH-KÖNIGSBERG] + +But now help came to the sorely-tried Princess from an unexpected +quarter. The Marquis Albert had haughtily declined to take any part in +the conference that was being held at Passau between King Ferdinand +and Maurice of Saxony, or to be included in the treaty which was +signed between the Emperor and the Elector on the 15th of August. +Instead of laying down his arms, he chose to continue his reckless +course, and marched through the Rhineland plundering towns and burning +villages, "making war," wrote an eyewitness, "as if he were the devil +himself."[471] But when he reached Treves he heard of the Duchess's +expulsion from Lorraine and her distressed condition, and, with a touch +of the old chivalry that made him dear to women, he promptly sent to +offer her shelter in his castle of Hoh-Königsberg, the strongest and +finest citadel in the Vosges. Christina accepted the offer gratefully, +and during the next few weeks the red sandstone fortress which still +crowns the heights above Schlettstadt became her abode. She was there +still when the Emperor made his way from Augsburg to the banks of the +Rhine, at the head of a formidable army. + +On the 7th of September he entered Strasburg; on the 15th he crossed +the river and encamped at Landau. A week before he sent one of his +bravest Burgundian captains, Ferry de Carondelet, to visit her at +Hoh-Königsberg and invite her to visit him in the camp.[472] Christina +obeyed the summons joyfully, and a few days after the Emperor reached +Landau she and Anne of Aerschot made their way by the Rhine to the +imperial camp. The Prince of Piedmont rode out to meet them, and +Anne's kinsfolk, Egmont and d'Aremberg joined with Emanuel Philibert +and Ferrante Gonzaga in welcoming the distressed ladies and condoling +with them on the terrors and hardships which they had undergone. Only +one thing grieved Christina. The Emperor firmly refused to admit her +trusted Councillor, Bassompierre, into his presence, being convinced +that he had betrayed his mistress and played into the French King's +hands. Nothing that she could say altered his opinion in this respect, +and she thought it wiser to send the Bailiff to Nancy, where he was +able to watch over her interests and send reports to the Queen of +Hungary.[473] + +Charles was suffering from gout and fever, and Christina was shocked +to see his altered appearance. The fatigues and anxieties of the last +few months had left their mark upon him. His face was pale and worn, +his hands thin and bloodless, and he spoke with difficulty owing to +the soreness of his mouth and the leaf which he kept between his lips +to relieve their dryness. Only his eyes kept the old fire, and no one +could divine the thoughts which lay hidden under the mask-like face. +As Morosyne wrote after an interview which he had with the Emperor +about this time: "He maketh me think of Solomon's saying: 'Heaven is +high, the earth is deep, and a king's heart is unsearchable.'"[474] +But he was full of kindness for Christina, telling her that she and +her children would always find a home at Brussels. Since, however, her +cousin of Guise had entrenched himself in Metz and the country round +was swarming with soldiery, he advised her to remain at Heidelberg for +the present. + +[Sidenote: NOV., 1552] CHARLES. V. AND ALBERT] + +The Duchess obeyed this advice and retired to her brother-in-law's +Court. The Palatine was growing old, his beard had turned white and +his strength began to fail, but his influence was as great as ever in +Germany. Morosyne, who met him at Spires, pronounced him to be the +wisest and best of all the Electors, and was touched by the affection +with which he spoke of the late King Henry VIII., declaring that his +shirt never lay so near his skin as King Edward's noble father lay near +his heart. The Ambassador's secretary, Roger Ascham, made friends with +Hubert, who sent him long dissertations on the pronunciation of Greek, +and invited him to Heidelberg. Now Frederic and his wife welcomed the +Duchess and her children with their wonted hospitality, and insisted on +keeping them until the end of the year; but Christina's heart was with +her poor subjects, who suffered severely from the ravages of the war. +From Nancy, Bassompierre sent word that the Marquis Albert had suddenly +deserted his French allies, and had captured Aumale and carried him in +triumph to the imperial camp before Metz.[475] + +Here, on the 20th of November, Charles came face to face with the man +who had wronged him so deeply. "God knows what I feel," he wrote to +Mary, "at having to make friends with the Marquis Albert, but necessity +knows no law."[476] At least, he accepted the situation with a good +grace. Morosyne was present when the Emperor came riding into the camp +on a great white horse of Naples breed, and, seeing Albert, took his +hand with a gracious smile, and shook it warmly twice or thrice. + + "The Marquis fixed his eyes fast on the Emperor's countenance, + as one that meant to see what thoughts his looks betrayed. When + he saw that all was well, or at least could not see but all + seemed well, he spake a few words, which His Majesty seemed to + take in very good part." + +Calling a page to his side, he took a red scarf, the Imperialist +badge, from his hands, and gave it to the Marquis. Albert received it +with deep reverence, saying that he had not fared badly when he wore +these colours before, and trusted the Emperor's gift would bring him +the same good fortune as of old.[477] + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1553] THE EMPEROR TO RETURN] + +The return of the wanderer saved Charles from utter ruin. His affairs +were still going badly. Vieilleville, the French Governor of Verdun, +seized the boats laden with provisions for the imperial camp, which +Christina had sent down the Rhine, and laid violent hands on six +waggons of choice fruits, wines, and cakes, which were despatched from +Nancy for her uncle's table. Worse than this, he contrived to enter +Pont-à-Mousson, which Fabrizio Colonna held, disguised as a messenger +from the Duchess, and obtained possession of this important place by +stratagem.[478] The valour of Guise and the strong fortifications of +Metz were proof against the reckless courage of Albert and the might +of the imperial army. The heavy rains and biting cold of an early +winter increased the sufferings of the troops, and, after losing half +his army by famine and dysentery, Charles was compelled to raise the +siege at the New Year. "Fortune is a woman," he remarked to one of +his captains; "she abandons the old, and keeps her smiles for young +men."[479] In this forced retreat the Marquis performed prodigies of +valour, and succeeded in bringing his guns safely over roads rendered +impassable by a sudden thaw. The bulk of the army was dismissed, only +the veteran Spanish and German forces being quartered in Artois and +Luxembourg, and Charles himself set out for Brussels. His failing +strength compelled him to halt on the way, and Morosyne gave it as +his opinion that the Emperor would never reach the end of his journey +alive. But his spirit was indomitable as ever, and on Sunday, the 6th +of February, he entered Brussels in an open litter, amid scenes of the +wildest enthusiasm. + + "To-day," wrote the Ambassador of Savoy, "I have witnessed the + safe arrival of the Emperor. He was received with the greatest + transports of joy and delight by the whole people, who feared + that he was dead and that they would never see him again." + +And Charles himself wrote to Ferdinand that, now he was once more in +his native land and in the company of his beloved sisters, he would +soon recover his health.[480] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[445] Granvelle, iii. 630; Henne, ix. 162; T. Juste, 185. + +[446] Ascham, ii. 313; Papiers d'État, viii., Archives du Royaume, +Bruxelles. + +[447] Lanz, iii. 75; Granvelle, iii. 527. + +[448] Pimodan, 375, 381. + +[449] Lettres des Seigneurs, iii. 104, Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles. + +[450] Lettres des Seigneurs, iii. 90. + +[451] Bulletins, etc., série 2, xii. 189. + +[452] Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 108; Granvelle, iii. 613. + +[453] Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 42, 108. + +[454] Calmet, ii. 1290; F. de Rabutin, "Collection de Mémoires," +xxxvii. 185. + +[455] Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 19. + +[456] A. de Ruble, "La Jeunesse de Marie Stuart," 73. + +[457] Calmet, ii. 1199. + +[458] Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 101, f. 320. + +[459] Calmet, ii. 1300; Pfister, ii. 188; Brantôme, xii. 110; Lettres +des Seigneurs, iv. 101; Ravold, iii. 780. + +[460] Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 101, f. 320. + +[461] Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 101, f. 330 (see Appendix). + +[462] Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 101, f. 319. + +[463] Bulletins de la Commission d'Histoire, série 2, xii. 213. + +[464] Bucholtz, ix. 539. + +[465] Bulletins, etc., série 2, xii. 213. + +[466] Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 102, f. 127 (see Appendix); Lanz, iii. +208. + +[467] Bucholtz, ix. 543; Bulletins, 2, xii. 191. + +[468] Lettres des Seigneurs, vii. 603. + +[469] Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 103, f. 348. + +[470] Manuscript 18, Biblioteca Cavagna Sangiuliani, Zelada (see +Appendix). + +[471] Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 518 (see Appendix). + +[472] _Ibid._, iv. 103. + +[473] Bulletins de la Commission d'Histoire, série 2, xii. 232; Lettres +des Seigneurs, iv. 518. + +[474] "Hardwicke Papers," i. 55. + +[475] Calendar of State Papers, Foreign, Edward VI., 230. + +[476] Lanz, iii. 513. + +[477] Voigt, ii. 9, 10; P. F. Tytler, "England under Edward VI.," 144. + +[478] Vieilleville, 161, 176. + +[479] Calmet, ii. 338. + +[480] Bulletins, etc., série 2, xii. 238; State Papers, Edward VI., +Foreign, 236, 243; Lanz, iii. 542. + + + + +BOOK XI + +CHRISTINA AT BRUSSELS + +1553-1559 + + +I. + +Christina was at Brussels on the memorable day when the Emperor set +foot once more on his native soil. She heard the shouts of joy which +rent the air, and joined with the Queens in the welcome which greeted +him on the threshold of his palace. Early in January she had left +Heidelberg and travelled safely down the Rhine and through the friendly +states of her Cleves cousins to Brussels. Here she occupied the suite +of rooms where she had lived before her second marriage, and to a large +extent resumed her former habits. She spent much of her time with her +aunts and the Duchess of Aerschot, and renewed her old friendship with +Countess d'Aremberg and other ladies of the Court. The deepest sympathy +was felt for her by all classes, and when Charles addressed the +States-General on the 13th of February, and alluded to the treachery of +the French in carrying off the young Duke of Lorraine and driving his +mother out of the realm, his words provoked an outburst of tumultuous +indignation.[481] + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1553] CHRISTINA'S SUITORS] + +Through her brother-in-law Vaudemont she still maintained close +relations with Lorraine, while the Cardinal kept her informed of all +that concerned her son, and the boy's own letters satisfied her that +he was well and happy at the French Court. But although Charles shared +all the advantages enjoyed by the King's children, and soon became a +general favourite in the royal family, it was bitter for the Duchess +to feel that her only son was growing up, in a foreign land, among the +hereditary foes of her race. The restoration of peace between Charles +and Henry was the only means by which she could hope to recover her +lost child, and this became the goal of all her efforts during the six +years that she spent in exile. + +The Widow of Milan had been courted by Kings and Princes, and hardly +was Christina settled at Brussels before she was assailed by fresh +offers of marriage. Henry, King of Navarre, whose accomplished wife +had died soon after her daughter's marriage, asked the Emperor for +his niece's hand, but his proposals met with small favour. Far more +serious was the courtship of Albert of Brandenburg, who felt this to +be a favourable moment for renewing his old suit. "No one," as Thomas +Hoby wrote, "had done the Emperor worthier or more faithful service" +in the siege of Metz, and was better entitled to reward. His claims +were strongly supported by the Palatine, who invited the Marquis to +Heidelberg to confer with the other German Princes on the best means +of recovering Metz. Albert himself not only aspired to the Duchess's +hand, but to the Duke of Alva's post of Commander-in-Chief, and boasted +that once Christina was his bride he would easily recover her father's +kingdoms. + + "It is supposed," wrote Morosyne from Brussels on the 20th of + February, "that the Marquis will marry the Duchess of Lorraine + and have Alva's place. The Palsgrave would fain it were so, + in order that, if the Marquis married his wife's sister, he + might help him to recover Denmark; for besides that a slender + title is apt to set such a one to work, he should, by being + married to the Emperor's niece, and afterwards coming, when his + uncle died, to the duchy of Prussia, be able easily to trouble + Denmark. The Marquis doth much desire it, for that the Duke of + Holstein has been and is a great suitor to the Duchess, who + was once so nigh marrying the Marquis Albert's sister that the + contracts were drawn up and put into writing, but broke it off + upon sight of the Duchess of Lorraine. The Palsgrave would + rather any did marry with her than the Duke of Holstein, for + that his brother, King Christian, keeps his wife's father in + prison. And the Emperor, it is held certain, will help it, in + order that he may by this means trouble Denmark, which he has + never had leisure to trouble himself."[482] + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1553] PHILIP HOBY'S AUDIENCE] + +Whatever her relatives may have thought of the Marquis's suit, +Christina herself never considered it seriously, and told the +Palatine plainly that such a marriage was out of the question. The +Marquis vented his anger on the Emperor, and left Heidelberg in high +displeasure, without taking leave of the Palatine or anyone else. Hot +words passed between him and Maurice, and these two Princes, who had +once been the closest friends, were henceforth bitter enemies. Albert +returned to his life of raids and plunder, and when, soon afterwards, +he was placed under the ban of the Empire, Maurice led an army against +him. A fiercely-contested battle was fought on the 9th of July at +Sievershausen, in which Albert was completely routed and Maurice +lost his life. The Marquis was deprived of fortune and patrimony, +his ancestral home of Plassenburg was burnt to the ground, and after +leading a roving life for some years, and wandering from one Court to +another, he died in the house of his brother-in-law, the Margrave of +Baden, on the 8th of January, 1557. So in exile and poverty this brave +and brilliant adventurer ended his career, before he had completed his +thirty-fifth year.[483] + +While the Palatine was holding vain conferences at Heidelberg, and the +Marquis and Duke Adolf were still quarrelling for the Duchess's hand, +she herself was endeavouring to open negotiations with the French King +through Bassompierre and Vaudemont. But nothing would induce Henry +to give up Metz, and in April war was renewed with fresh vigour. The +young Prince of Piedmont, who succeeded the unpopular Alva in command +of the imperial army, won a series of victories, and razed the forts +of Thérouenne and Hesdin to the ground. But the Emperor was too ill +to take part in the campaign or even to give audiences. Sir Philip +Hoby, who now succeeded Morosyne, actually believed him to be dead, +until De Courrières came to dine with his English friends, and assured +them, on his honour as a gentleman, that he had seen the Emperor +alive that morning.[484] Upon this Sir Philip's brother Thomas, who +had just arrived from Paris, where he had been spending the winter +in translating Castiglione's "Cortegiano," was sent to see his old +Augsburg friend, the Bishop of Arras, and beg for an audience. At +length, on the 8th of June, the Englishmen were admitted into the privy +chamber, and found the Emperor sitting up, with his feet on a stool, +"very pale, weak, and lean, but nothing so ill as they had believed." +His eye was lively, his speech sensible, and his manner very friendly +and agreeable. But, although he expressed an earnest wish for peace, he +declared that the French demands made this quite impossible.[485] + +[Sidenote: SEPT., 1553] ACCESSION OF MARY] + +A month later an unexpected event produced a change in the Emperor's +fortunes. King Edward VI. died, and, after a vain attempt on +Northumberland's part to set Lady Jane Grey on the throne, Catherine of +Aragon's daughter Mary succeeded peaceably to the throne. Her accession +was hailed with joy at the Imperial Court, and on the Feast of St. +Bartholomew the Regent celebrated the event by giving a banquet, to +which the English Ambassadors were invited. "It was such a dinner," +writes Hoby, "as we had seldom seen in all our lives, and greater good +cheer or entertainment than Her Grace gave us could not be devised." +Mary was in high spirits that evening. She toasted the Ambassadors, +conversed with them after dinner for more than an hour, and told +Morosyne laughingly that his French could not be worse than her +Italian. Sir Philip sat next to the Duchess of Lorraine, and reminded +her of the memorable morning, fifteen years before, when he brought +the German Court painter to take her portrait.[486] Since then much +had happened. King Henry himself, the great painter Holbein, René of +Orange, and Francis of Lorraine, were all gone, and she had lost home +and state and had seen her only son snatched from her arms. Yet she was +still beautiful and fascinating, and counted almost as many suitors as +of old. Adolf of Holstein wooed her with a constancy which no coldness +could repel, and if the wild Marquis had been forced to renounce all +hope of winning her hand, another hero, the young Prince of Piedmont, +was ready to lay his laurels at her feet. But Christina remained the +same, calm and unmoved, and was an interested and amused spectator of +the matrimonial plans which now formed the all-absorbing topic in the +family conclave. + +Charles quickly realized the importance of securing the new Queen's +hand for his son. As soon as he heard of Edward's death, he sent orders +to his Ambassador at Lisbon to delay drawing up the marriage contract +which had been agreed upon between Philip and Eleanor's daughter, +Maria of Portugal, and wrote to his son, setting forth the superior +advantages of the English alliance. Philip replied dutifully that, as +his cousin the Queen was twelve years older than himself, his father +would be a more suitable husband, but added that he was ready to obey +the Emperor's will in all respects.[487] + +On the 20th of September Charles wrote from Valenciennes, where he was +directing military operations from his litter, to the English Queen. +After explaining that he was too old and infirm to think of marriage, +and had solemnly vowed after the Empress's death never to take a second +wife, he offered her the dearest thing he had in life--his own son. He +then proceeded to point out the great advantages of the proposed union, +while at the same time he advised Mary to observe the utmost caution, +being "well aware of the hatred with which the English, more than any +other nation, regard foreigners." Mary's own mind was soon made up. In +spite of protests from her subjects and remonstrances from the French +King, she was determined to marry her cousin. On the 30th of October +she sent for the Imperial Envoy, Renard, and, kneeling down before the +Blessed Sacrament in her chapel, she said the _Veni Creator_, and took +a solemn vow to wed the Prince of Spain.[488] + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1554] CARDINAL POLE AT BRUSSELS] + +The most friendly letters were now exchanged between the two Courts. +The holy chrism for Mary's coronation was sent from Brussels, with +venison and wild-boar for her table. Charles gave his future daughter +magnificent tapestries and jewels, and Mary of Hungary sent the Queen +a yet more precious gift, Titian's portrait of Philip, telling her +that, if she stands at some distance from the canvas, it will give +her a good idea of the Prince, only that he is older and more bearded +than he was when the artist painted it three years ago. The Regent +took care to add that she could only lend the Queen the picture on +condition that it should be returned "when the living man joined her." +In reply, Mary begged her good aunt to pay her a visit; but the Regent +excused herself, owing to the Emperor's ill-health, and promised to +come and see her later on, it might be in the Prince's company. The +same cordial invitation was extended to the Duchess of Lorraine, who +sent her new _maître d'hôtel_, Baron De Silliers, to London in April, +1554, to congratulate the Queen on her marriage. Mary made Christina +a present of a fine diamond, which De Courrières was desired to give +her, and when, on the 20th of July, Philip landed at Southampton, and +the wedding was celebrated in Winchester Cathedral, the happy spouse +sent costly jewels to the Emperor and the two Queens, and a beautiful +emerald to her dear cousin the Duchess. + +In January Cardinal Pole, the Papal Legate, came to the monastery of +Diligam, near Brussels, with proposals of peace from the Pope, on his +way to congratulate Queen Mary on her accession, and help to restore +Catholic rites in the kingdom. Pole was known to be averse to the +Spanish marriage, and Charles had put every obstacle in the way of his +journey to England. On his arrival he gave him a very cold reception, +and the Cardinal complained to the Pope that the Emperor and Arras +could not have used greater violence, unless they had taken a stick to +drive him back.[489] The Regent and the Duchess of Lorraine, however, +were much more friendly when he dined with them the next day, after +attending Mass in the royal chapel. Mary told him that no one wished +for peace more earnestly than herself, seeing how terribly her poor +people of the Netherlands had suffered from the war, and Christina +spoke to him of her son with tears in her eyes. When the Cardinal went +on to Fontainebleau, he saw the young Duke, and was able to give him +his mother's messages. But he found Henry II. still less amenable than +Charles, and returned to Brussels convinced that his mission was a +failure as far as the hope of peace was concerned. + +Before the end of April the French King invaded Hainault, at the head +of a large army, and took the strong citadel of Marienburg. Namur was +only saved by the promptitude of Charles, who once more took the field, +although he could no longer mount a horse, and showed all his old +courage in this his last campaign. + +After an indecisive battle at Renty, the French retired with heavy +loss, spreading famine and desolation in their track. One act of +vandalism for which Henry was condemned, even by his own captains, was +the destruction of Mary of Hungary's beautiful palace of Binche, with +its famous gardens and treasures of art. The Queen received the news +with equanimity, saying that she was proud of being the object of the +French King's vindictiveness, and glad the world should know that she +was the Emperor's devoted servant. + + "As for the damage which has been done," she wrote to Arras, "I + do not care a straw. I am not the woman to grieve over the loss + of things transitory, which we are meant to enjoy as long as + we have them, and do without when they are gone. That, upon my + word, is all the regret I feel."[490] + +In the autumn Christina made another fruitless attempt to open +negotiations through Vaudemont, who after the death of his first +wife, Margaret of Egmont, was induced by the Cardinal of Lorraine to +marry the Duke of Nemours's daughter. This Prince came to Brussels +in November to inform the Emperor and the Duchess of his marriage, +and, as might be expected, met with a very cold reception at Court. +But, in spite of his French alliance, he remained scrupulously loyal +to Christina and her son, and complained to his sister Anne that at +Brussels he was reproached for his French sympathies, while in Paris he +was looked on with suspicion as an Imperialist. So hard was it to be an +honest man in those troublous times.[491] + +[Sidenote: SEPT., 1554] A GAY COURT] + + +II. + +While the war dragged on its weary course, and Mary and Christina +vainly tried to bring it to an end, on the other side of the Channel +the new King of England and his spouse were holding high festival. +They came to London in September, and remained there through the +winter, trying to win the love of their subjects by a series of +popular displays and festivities. Tournaments were held at Whitehall, +hunting-parties were given at Windsor and Hampton Court, and a +succession of distinguished guests travelled from Flanders to pay +homage to the royal pair. Philip's favourite, Ruy Gomez, and the Duke +and Duchess of Alva, arrived from Spain, Ferrante Gonzaga, the Prince +of Orange, and the Grand Equerry Boussu, came over from Antwerp during +the autumn.[492] On the 20th of November Cardinal Pole at length +crossed the Channel; four days later he was received at Whitehall by +the King and Queen in person, and crossed the river in the royal barge, +to take possession of his own house at Lambeth. He was soon followed +by Emanuel Philibert, who had lately succeeded to the barren title of +Duke of Savoy on his father's death, and had been made a Knight of the +Garter. Earlier in the summer he had paid a brief visit to London, +where his white, red, and green banners of Savoy made a fine show in +the Abbey on St. Peter's Day; but as his military duties rendered his +presence in Flanders imperative, his Ambassador, Stroppiana, came to +Windsor in October, to be invested with the Garter[493] as proxy for +his master. + +It was not till Christmas Eve that the Duke himself landed at Dover, +after a very rough passage, and made his way to Whitehall, where +Philip and Mary received him with great honour, and showed him all the +sights of London. On the 7th of January the Lord High Admiral took him +by water to see the great guns at the Tower, and on St. Paul's Day +he accompanied the King and the Cardinal in state to the Cathedral +for the patronal feast. A procession of 160 priests bearing crosses, +walked round the churchyard, with the children of Paul's School and +the Greyfriars, singing "Salve, Festa Dies!" and passed in through +the great west doors. After Mass a state banquet was held, with great +ringing of bells, and bonfires blazed in all the streets of London +throughout the night.[494] + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1555] A ROYAL GODMOTHER] + +Emanuel Philibert's visit revived the rumour of a marriage between him +and the Princess Elizabeth, which the Emperor had suggested some months +before. Whether from policy or genuine regard, Philip had espoused his +sister-in-law's cause and refused to allow Mary to send her abroad +or keep her away from Court. The Duke of Savoy was a pleasant and +good-looking Prince, whose martial appearance and genial manners made +him very popular in England. But Elizabeth herself quite declined to +listen to this proposal, saying that she would never marry a foreigner, +and, since there now seemed good hope of the birth of an heir to the +crown, the question of the succession was no longer of the first +importance. Something, however, must be done to pacify the Duke, who +complained bitterly of the Emperor's neglect, and, seeing little chance +of recovering Savoy, asked the King for the viceroyalty of Milan, which +Ferrante Gonzaga, on his part, refused to surrender. Philip could think +of no better plan to gratify his cousin and retain his services than to +give him the hand of the Duchess of Lorraine, a Princess whom he was +known to regard with great affection.[495] + +Accordingly the King and Queen sent pressing invitations to Christina, +begging her to come to England as soon as possible. Before she could +comply with their request, she had to keep an old engagement to be +present at the christening of Count Egmont's infant daughter, which +took place on the evening of the 19th of January. The Queen of England +had graciously consented to be one of the godmothers, while the Duchess +of Lorraine was the other, and the Palatine Frederic stood godfather to +his kinswoman's little daughter. Mary wrote to the Duchess of Aerschot, +begging Anne to represent her on this occasion, and sent a costly gold +cup containing forty angels to her godchild by the new Ambassador, Sir +John Masone. The Palsgrave, not to be outdone, sent the child a diamond +cross, and another one, set with rubies, diamonds, and emeralds, to the +mother. Anne and Christina were both present at the christening, which +was attended by all the Court, "everything," wrote Masone, "being very +richly ordered, the supper and banquet right stately, and Her Majesty's +cup so walked up and down, from man to woman, and woman to man, as I +dare answer few were there that did not go full freighted to bed." + +Sir John further told the Countess in what good part her request +to make her daughter a Christian woman had been taken by his royal +mistress, who would willingly have done the same in person, had the +distance not been so great, and Sabina sent her most humble thanks to +the Queen, saying that, as she already had one daughter called Mary, +she had decided to name the infant Mary Christina, after her two +godmothers.[496] + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1555] CHRISTINA'S GOOD WISHES] + +When this function was over, Christina began to prepare for her journey +to England, but the weather was so tempestuous that she did not cross +the Channel until the first days of March. She rode from Dover, by way +of Canterbury, to London, where the King and Queen received her in +the most cordial manner, Philip made no secret of his affection for +his cousin, the only woman in his family with whom he had ever been +intimate, and Mary, in the first flush of her wedded happiness and +in the proud expectation of soon being a mother, welcomed Christina +warmly. Unluckily, we have no particulars of the Duchess's visit to +this country, over which she might have reigned herself as Queen. We +know that she was present with the rest of the Court at the great joust +held on Lady Day in the tilting-yard at Whitehall, when Philip and a +band of knights, armed with falchions and targets, and clad in blue +and yellow, rode out against two other troops in red and green, and +some 200 lances were broken.[497] But the only record that we have of +this her first visit to England is a letter which she wrote to Mary on +returning to Flanders. She thanked the Queen for the great honour and +kindness which she had shown her, and commended the captain of the ship +in which she sailed, who, as Her Majesty would doubtless learn, had +rendered her notable service on this troublesome passage: + + "I will say no more," she adds, "except to regret that I am + no longer in Your Majesty's presence to be able to render you + some small service in return for all the goodness which I have + received at your hands. I beg God, Madame, to send you good + health and long life, and give you a fine boy, such as you + desire. + + "Your very humble and obedient cousin + and servant, + "CHRESTIENNE. + + "A la Royne."[498] + + +This letter bears no date, but the Duchess certainly left London before +the King and Queen went to Hampton Court on the 4th of April, to spend +Easter and prepare for the happy event which all England was anxiously +expecting. She was at Antwerp with her aunt a month later, when, on +the 3rd of May, "great news came over the seas." A messenger from the +English ships in the port brought the Regent word that the Queen of +England had been "brought to bed of a young Prince," upon which all +the guns in the harbour were fired, and Mary ordered the big bells in +the Tower to be rung, and sent the English sailors a hundred crowns to +drink the royal infant's health. "I trust in God," wrote Sir Thomas +Gresham, "that the news is true." The Emperor was more incredulous, +and summoned Masone to his bedside at 5 a.m. the next morning, to know +what he thought of the matter, but soon satisfied himself that the +news was false.[499] + +The Savoy marriage, which Philip was so anxious to bring about, also +ended in smoke. During Christina's visit, the matter was brought +forward and eagerly urged both by the King and Queen. Charles was no +less anxious for the marriage, and Mary of Hungary proposed to appoint +the Duke, Governor of the Low Countries when she resigned the office. +The plan would have been very popular in Flanders, where the Duchess +was beloved by all classes, and was warmly supported by Egmont and +Orange. On the 1st of May, Badoer, the Venetian Ambassador at Brussels, +announced that the marriage contract had already been drawn up by De +Praet, and that the Duke had started for Italy, disguised as a German, +and only attended by one servant, to arrange his affairs in Piedmont +before the wedding.[500] + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1555] DUKE OF SAVOY'S MARRIAGE] + +The Venetian's news was apparently premature, but a fortnight later a +Piedmontese noble, Count Avignano, came to London to consult Philip as +to the marriage and arrange further details on his master's behalf. +He talked freely at table to the French and Venetian Ambassadors, +Noailles and Michieli, saying that the Emperor had offered his master +the government of the Netherlands with the hand of Madame de Lorraine, +an arrangement which he for his part regretted, thinking that the Duke +would be more likely to recover his dominions if he married in France. +But, since the friendship between his lord and the Duchess was so +great, he saw no hope of any other alliance, and the marriage was, in +fact, considered by the Emperor and all his family to be practically +settled.[501] + +Emanuel Philibert, like many others, evidently felt the power of +Christina's fascination, and enjoyed a large share of her intimacy. But +he does not seem to have shown any great eagerness for the marriage, +whether it was that, as Avignano said, it would be a bar to the +recovery of his States, or whether he recognized the Duchess's own +insuperable objection to matrimony. + +When, towards the end of May, a party of English Commissioners met +the French and Imperial deputies at Marck, a village near Calais, to +treat of peace, an offer was made by the French to give Henry II.'s +sister Margaret to the Duke of Savoy. The Imperial deputies expressed +a doubt if this were possible, as the Duke's word was already pledged; +but Cardinal Pole replied that the Prince was quite free, and ready +to agree to any proposal by which he could recover his realm. These +negotiations, however, were soon broken off, and on Philip's return +to Brussels in September the old scheme of the Lorraine marriage was +revived with fresh ardour. When the Duke of Savoy returned from Italy +in August, the Regent made him attend the meetings of the Council, and +treated him in all ways as her future successor, hoping by this means +to obtain his consent to her wishes. But both Emanuel Philibert and +Christina remained of the same mind, and neither Philip's entreaties +nor Mary of Hungary's angry reproaches could alter their resolution. +The Duke pleaded poverty as an excuse, lamenting his inability to +offer his wife a home and station worthy of her rank, and was evidently +determined to sacrifice his affections to political expediency, +although, as the French Ambassador reported, "he still made love +through the window to Madame de Lorraine."[502] + + +III. + +Charles V.'s intention to abdicate his throne had long been declared. +For many years he had looked forward to the time when he should lay +down the burden of public affairs and retire from the world, to end his +days in some peaceful cloister. The increasing infirmities under which +he groaned, his inability to attend either camp or council, and finally +the death of his mother, Queen Joanna, in April, 1555, all helped to +hasten the execution of his resolve. Only the continuation of the war +and the absence of his son still made him hesitate. + +[Sidenote: SEPT., 1555] PHILIP LEAVES ENGLAND] + +The same indecisive warfare as before was carried on through the +year. The Prince of Orange, who now held the chief command, succeeded +in keeping the foe at bay, and built the citadels of Charlemont and +Philippeville for the defence of the frontier. But everyone was +heartily tired of the campaign, and both parties gladly availed +themselves of the opportunity afforded by an exchange of prisoners, to +renew negotiations in the autumn. Christina once more exerted herself +in this direction, and Vaudemont, who came to Brussels in October to +take leave of the Emperor, was employed to make fresh overtures to +the French King. But many months passed before any conclusion was +reached.[503] + +Charles had always hoped that his sister would remain at her post when +he left the Netherlands, feeling how invaluable her help would prove to +Philip. But Mary was inflexible on this point. In a noble letter which +she wrote at the end of August, she reminded him that fifteen years +before she had begged to be released from her arduous post in order to +devote herself to the care of her unhappy mother, and that, now this +privilege could no longer be hers, she wished to spend the rest of her +life in Spain with her sister, Queen Eleanor. + + "And however great," she adds significantly, "my affection for + the King my nephew may be," in Badoer's graphic phrase, "he + hates and is hated by her"--"Your Majesty will understand that + at my age it would be very hard to begin learning my ABC over + again. A woman of fifty, who has held office twenty-four years, + ought, it seems to me, to be content to serve one God and one + Master for the rest of her life."[504] + +There was nothing more to be said, and Charles agreed to Philip's +wish that for the present the Duke of Savoy should be appointed +Lieutenant-Governor of the Low Countries. At length Philip succeeded +in tearing himself from the arms of his sorrowful Queen, promising +to be back in a fortnight or three weeks. From her palace windows at +Greenwich, Mary waved her last farewells to the King, as he sailed +down the Thames. He for his part was nothing loth to leave his fretful +and melancholy wife, and was satisfied that she would never bear him a +child. + +On the 8th of September he reached Brussels, and went straight to see +his father in the Casino, near the Louvain gate of the park, where +he was spending the hot weather. Charles embraced his son tenderly, +and after an hour's conversation Philip went on to sup with Queen +Mary and Christina on their return from hunting. On the 17th and 18th +he attended the Requiem Masses held in S. Gudule for the late Queen +Joanna, and afterwards joined in a grand hunting-party given by the +Regent in his honour. + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1555] THE EMPEROR'S ABDICATION] + +The nobles now flocked to Brussels to be present at the Emperor's +abdication. The Prince of Orange arrived from the camp near Liége, +and his young wife, Anne of Egmont, was hospitably entertained by the +Duchess of Aerschot. Friday, the 25th of October, was the day fixed for +the great ceremony. On this afternoon, at three o'clock, the Emperor +left the Casino with Philip and the Duke of Savoy, and rode to the +palace on his mule. An hour later he entered the great hall, hung with +the tapestries of Gideon's Fleece, wearing his mourning robes and the +collar of the Order, and leaning on the Prince of Orange's arm. He was +followed by Mary of Hungary, Philip, and the Duke of Savoy, who took +their places on the daïs at the Emperor's side, while the Knights of +the Fleece, the great nobles and Ambassadors, occupied seats below. The +deputies, over a thousand in number, who thronged the hall, rose to +their feet to receive the Emperor, and then sat down to hear the chief +Councillor, Philibert of Brussels, deliver a speech, explaining the +reasons for His Majesty's abdication. Then Charles himself addressed +the vast assembly. In moving words he recalled the day, forty years +before, when, a boy of fifteen, he had been declared of age by his +grandfather, the Emperor Maximilian, and glanced briefly at the long +record of wars and journeys, and the other chief events of his reign. +Finally he commended his successor to them, asking them to serve his +son as well as they had served him, and begging his loyal subjects to +pardon him for any injustice which he might unwittingly have done them. +Tears rolled down the great Emperor's cheeks as he spoke these last +words, and Sir Thomas Gresham, who was present, says that there was not +a dry eye in the whole assembly. + +Christina was present on this memorable occasion. In contemporary +prints she is represented standing by the side of the Regent's chair, +listening with breathless attention to every word that fell from her +uncle's lips. She saw the pathetic scene between the father and son, +when Charles, raising Philip from his knees and clasping him in his +arms, gave him the investiture of the Provinces, and, turning to the +deputies, in a broken voice asked them to excuse his tears, which +flowed for love of them. And she listened with still greater emotion to +the touching words in which Mary begged the Emperor and the States to +forgive whatever mistakes she had made out of ignorance or incapacity, +and thanked them from the depth of her heart for their unfailing love +and loyalty. Her speech produced a fresh burst of tears, after which +Charles thanked his sister for her long and faithful services, and +Maes, the Pensionary of Antwerp, bore eloquent testimony to the undying +love and gratitude which the States felt for the Queen who had governed +them so well. + +There were still many formalities to be gone through, many farewells +to be said, before Charles could lay down the sovereign power. On +the day after his abdication, the Archduke Ferdinand, his favourite +nephew, arrived with affectionate messages from his father, who found +it impossible to leave Vienna as long as the war with the Turks lasted. +The next day he went hunting with the King, Mary, and Christina, and +dined with them and Eleanor. On the 3rd of November he left Brussels +again after all too short a visit, as Charles wrote to his brother. + +Another guest who took leave of the Emperor in the same week was Edward +Courtenay, Lord Devonshire. This young nobleman of the blood royal had +been exiled from England lest he should marry Elizabeth, and had been +so often seen in the palace during the last few months that rumour +said he was going to wed Madame of Lorraine. Now he came to thank her +for the "gentle entertainment" which she had shown him, and bid her a +reluctant farewell before he left for Italy. In the following spring +another old friend, Adolf of Holstein, came to Brussels and took leave +of the Emperor. The Danish Prince, hearing that all idea of the Savoy +marriage was abandoned, took this opportunity to make a last attempt to +win Christina's hand. But not even the Duke's constancy could induce +her to change her mind, and he went away disconsolate.[505] + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1556] DEATH OF THE PALATINE] + +A fresh sorrow awaited her in the death of her brother-in-law, the +Elector Palatine, who breathed his last at Alzei, in the Lower +Palatinate, on the 26th of February, 1556. The fine old man was in +his seventy-third year, and had been tenderly nursed all through a +long illness by his wife. Three weeks before his death Dorothea sent +for his nephew and successor, Otto Heinrich, who remained with him +to the end, and brought his body to Heidelberg. Here he lay in state +for three days in the Court chapel, after which his remains were borne +down the castle slopes by eight noblemen, and laid with his forefathers +in the church of the Holy Ghost. By order of the new Elector, he was +buried with Lutheran rites. Dorothea and Countess Helene followed +on foot with a long train of nobles and students of the University, +bearing lighted tapers, and German hymns were sung by the Canons and +school-children.[506] + +Christina's first impulse was to hasten to her widowed sister, but +neither the Emperor nor his sisters would allow her to leave the +Netherlands before their departure, saying that she was as dear and +indispensable to them as a daughter.[507] She was present at the Casino +in the park on the 16th of January, when Charles resigned the kingdoms +of Spain and Sicily and his dominions in the New World to Philip, and +she accompanied Mary to Antwerp when Philip held his first Chapter of +the Fleece. Among the new Knights elected at this meeting were William +of Orange, Philip, Duke of Aerschot, and Christina's old friend Jean De +Montmorency, Sieur de Courrières, whose whole life had been spent in +the Emperor's service, and who had deserved well of Philip by helping +to arrange his marriage with Mary Tudor.[508] + +On the 5th of February, 1556, the long-protracted peace negotiations +were brought to a happy conclusion, and a five years' truce was signed +at the Abbey of Vaucelles, near Cambray, by Lalaing on Philip's part +and by Coligny on that of Henry. Both parties were to retain their +conquests, and the chief prisoners on both sides were to be released. +On Lady Day the French Admiral brought the treaty to be confirmed by +the King at Brussels, and was received by Philip in the palace. By an +unlucky chance, the great hall in which the reception took place was +hung with tapestries representing the defeat of Pavia and surrender of +Francis I. This wounded the vanity of the French lords, and the King's +jester, Brusquet, who had accompanied Coligny, determined to have his +revenge on the haughty Spanish Prince. So the next morning at Mass +in the Court church, when Philip was in the act of taking his oath +on the Gospels to keep the truce, Brusquet suddenly raised a cry of +"Largesse!" and, taking a handful of French crowns from a sack which +his valet carried, flung them to the crowds who had collected in the +great hall adjoining the chapel. The King looked round in surprise at +Coligny, who stood dumbfounded, while men, women, and children, rushed +to pick up the coins on the floor, and had to be warned off by the +archers' pikes. The King was about to ask angrily by what right the +French did largesse in his palace, when both Queen Mary and Madame de +Lorraine burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter, in which Philip +joined so heartily that he had to cling to the altar to save himself +from falling. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1556] LAST FESTIVITIES] + +This absurd incident was related to Charles when, on the following +Sunday of _Pâques-fleuries_, Coligny went to visit him in the Casino. +"Well, Brusquet," he said to the jester, "how are you? I hear you +have been doing me fine largesse with your crowns." "Sire," replied +Brusquet, dropping on one knee, "you take the words out of my mouth in +condescending to notice a worm like myself." And the poor fool went +home to boast of his interview with the great Emperor to the end of his +life.[509] + +A grand tournament was held in the park at Brussels to celebrate the +conclusion of the truce, and Egmont distinguished himself above all +competitors by his prowess. But a quarrel arose between Philip and his +aunt, Mary of Hungary, who complained of the disrespect with which her +nephew and his Spanish courtiers treated her, saying that, although she +had laid down the Regency, she expected to be treated with the honour +due to a Queen. She retired to her own domain at Turnhout, but had her +revenge a few weeks later, for the States proved so unwilling to grant +the aids demanded by the King that Philip was forced to send Arras to +beg for his aunt's help. Mary consented to return as soon as she had +despatched her most urgent private affairs, and so invaluable was her +influence with the Council, that Philip joined his father in entreating +her to remain at Brussels during his absence in England. This, however, +Mary quite refused to do, saying that the Duke of Savoy would no doubt +prove an excellent substitute.[510] + +The King and Queen of Bohemia, whom Charles was very anxious to see +before his departure, and whose journey had been repeatedly delayed, +at length reached Brussels on the 18th of July. Their presence was +the signal for a last series of festivities. There were jousts on +the Grande Place, banquets in the hôtel-de-ville, hunting-parties at +Groenendal in the forest of Soignies, and suppers at the Villa Laura, +where Mary entertained her nephews and nieces at an open-air concert. +King Max was in high spirits. He made great friends with the Venetian +Badoer, and frankly avowed his dislike of the Spaniards, saying, with a +ringing laugh, that he was glad to hear the English had taught them a +lesson or two. The visit was not without its political intention, and +Maximilian succeeded in persuading his uncle to consent to Ferdinand's +entreaty, and retain the imperial title for the present, in order to +avoid any dispute on the question of the succession.[511] + +When his daughter and her husband left Brussels, on the 8th of August, +Charles felt himself a free man. At half-past four in the afternoon he +set out for Ghent, after receiving the farewells of the chief nobles +and Bishops. Many were in tears, but the Emperor remained calm and +serene until he rode out of the gates, escorted for the last time by +his faithful archers. Then, turning round, he took a last long look +at the city towers and wept bitterly. "Everyone about him was in +tears," says Badoer, "and many wept when he was gone."[512] Christina +accompanied her aunts to Ghent a few days later, and went on at the +end of the month with the Queens and Emperor to Zeeland, to wait for +a fair wind. On the 15th of October Charles embarked at Flushing, and +his sisters followed on another ship. Two days later an easterly breeze +sprang up and the fleet set sail. Christina stood on the shore till +the ship which bore the great Emperor from his native land dropped +below the horizon. Then she retraced her steps sorrowfully to join her +children at Ghent. + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1556] FRUSTRATED WISHES] + + +IV. + +When her uncle and aunts were gone, Christina felt that there was +nothing more to keep her at Brussels. She had already thought of +retiring to her dower city of Tortona, but the castle was occupied by a +Spanish garrison, and while the war lasted the Lombard city was hardly +a safe place. This being the case, she asked Philip's leave to take up +her residence at Vigevano, the summer palace of the Sforzas, which the +Duke had bequeathed to her, but was told that this house was required +for the Viceroy's use. After the Palatine's death she was seized with +a longing to join Dorothea, and proposed to go to Heidelberg, and then +on to Lorraine, in the hope that, now peace was signed, the French +King would allow her son to enjoy his own again. But there were more +difficulties in the way than she had anticipated.[513] + +Simon Renard and the other delegates to the conference at Vaucelles +were especially charged to include the Duke of Lorraine's restoration +among their demands; but the French, while professing the utmost +friendship for both the Duchess and her son, pointed out that her +guardianship would expire in another year, and that the Regent +Vaudemont and the Guises, who were the Duke's nearest kinsmen, agreed +to his residence at the French Court. In vain Renard and Lalaing +protested at the strange kindness shown to the Duchess in detaining her +son. This only led to a long wrangle, which almost caused the rupture +of peace negotiations, and eventually no mention was made of Lorraine +in the articles of the truce. + +In May Christina's alarm was aroused by an intimation from the French +Court that the King was going to Nancy to celebrate his daughter +Claude's wedding with the Duke, and occupy the capital of Lorraine. +Fortunately, Vaudemont opposed this measure, saying that as Regent he +had sworn never to give up his post until his nephew was of age, and +begged the King to allow Charles to return to Nancy and take possession +of his State before his marriage.[514] This unexpected firmness on +Vaudemont's part produced the desired effect. Henry's journey to +Lorraine was put off for a year, and at the Duchess's urgent request +the Cardinal of Lorraine obtained the King's leave to bring the boy +to meet her at the Castle of Coucy, near his own house at Péronne. +But when Philip was asked to give the Duchess permission to cross the +frontier, he made so many irksome conditions, that Henry withdrew his +promise, and the long-desired meeting was again deferred. Christina +was cruelly disappointed, and could only take comfort from Vaudemont's +assurances that before long her son would be free from control and able +to decide for himself.[515] + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1556] MARY'S JEALOUSY] + +Philip on his part was extremely anxious to keep the Duchess at +Brussels. As Brantôme tells us, the King not only cherished great +affection for his cousin, but relied implicitly on her tact and wisdom, +and, in compliance with his entreaties, she consented to remain at the +palace and do the honours of his Court.[516] Her popularity with the +nobles made her presence the more desirable, while the King himself +found her company far more to his taste than that of the faded and +fretful wife who awaited him in England. Every post brought bitter +reproaches and passionate prayers from the unhappy Queen, whose hopes +of her lord's return were doomed to perpetual disappointment. Already +more than a year had passed since he had left England, and there still +seemed no prospect of his return. First the peace conferences, then +the King of Bohemia's visit and the Emperor's departure, were pleaded +as excuses for these prolonged delays. When the fleet that bore the +Emperor to Spain was seen off Dover, the Admiral who visited His +Majesty on board, brought back messages to say that the King would +shortly cross the Channel. On hearing this, Mary's spirits rose, and it +was only by Philip's express desire that she refrained from going to +meet him at Dover. In October the royal stables and equerries arrived, +but Philip himself wrote that the war which had broken out in Italy +between Alva, the Viceroy of Naples, and Pope Paul IV., compelled him +to return to Brussels. Then Mary broke into a passion of rage mingled +with sobs and tears, and shut herself up in her room, refusing to see +any visitors. The dulness of the Court had become intolerable; there +were no fêtes and few audiences, and the Ambassadors with one accord +begged to be recalled. The Queen's ill-temper vented itself on all who +approached her presence, and even in public she occasionally gave way +to paroxysms of fury.[517] Suspicions of her husband's fidelity to +his marriage vows now came to increase her misery. When she heard of +Philip going on long hunting-parties with the Duchess of Lorraine, and +dancing with her at masques, she was seized with transports of rage, +and, rushing at the portrait of her husband which hung over her bed, +was with difficulty restrained from cutting it to pieces.[518] + +[Sidenote: DEC., 1556] THE DUCHESS OF PARMA] + +Meanwhile a rival to Christina appeared at Court in the person of +the King's half-sister Margaret, Duchess of Parma. This Princess, +the illegitimate daughter of Charles V. and Margaret Van Gheynst, +a beautiful maiden in the Countess Lalaing's service, was born at +Oudenarde in 1522, and brought up under the eye of the Archduchess +Margaret. At thirteen she was married to Alessandro de' Medici, Duke +of Florence, with whom she led a miserable life until this worthless +Prince was murdered by his cousin in 1537. Her second union, with +Ottavio Farnese, Pope Paul III.'s grandson, proved little happier. +Ottavio was an intractable boy of thirteen when he married her in +November, 1538, and the quarrels of the young couple fill pages of the +Emperor's correspondence in the archives of Simancas. After the Duke's +return from the expedition to Algiers, a reconciliation was effected, +and Margaret bore a son, who became the famous captain Alexander of +Parma. But the Farnese were always a thorn in the Emperor's side, and, +by joining with his foes at a critical moment, involved him in the +gravest disaster of his life. Now harmony was restored in the family +circle, and when the war with Paul IV. broke out, Philip secured +Ottavio's alliance by giving him the citadel of Piacenza. Margaret and +her young son came to the Netherlands to pay their respects to the King +and thank him for this mark of his favour. They arrived at Christmas, +in the depths of the severest winter that had been known for many +years. The Scheldt was frozen over at Antwerp, and the Court was busy +with winter sports, in which Philip and Christina took an active part, +playing games and sleighing in the park, and attending a masked ball +given by Count Lalaing on the ice.[519] + +The Duchess of Parma was received with due honour at Court, and was +cordially welcomed by Christina, who had known her as a child. A +handsome woman of thirty-five, she resembled her Flemish mother more +than her imperial father, and bore few traces of her Habsburg origin. +She had none of Christina's distinction and refinement, while her +manners were too haughty to please the Flemish nobles. But she had a +keen eye to her own interests, and the atmosphere of deception and +intrigue in which her married life had been spent had taught her to +adapt herself to circumstances. She contrived to make herself agreeable +both to Philip and Christina, with whom most of her time was spent. The +new Venetian Ambassador, Soranzo, paid his respects to the two ladies +on his arrival, and found both of them very friendly and pleasant. The +Duchess of Lorraine, as Badoer had frequently remarked, was always +particularly cordial to the Venetian Signory, to whom her first +husband, the Duke of Milan, owed so much. At the same time the Queen +of England, anxious to show civility to her husband's family, sent Sir +Richard Shelley to give the Duchess of Parma a sisterly welcome, and +invite her to come to London.[520] + +In the midst of the Christmas festivities, news reached Brussels +of a treacherous attempt of the French, under Coligny, to surprise +Douay. Fortunately the plot was discovered in time; but the truce was +broken, and every day fresh incursions were made by the French, which +naturally produced reprisals. The rupture was complete, and, in his +anxiety to secure the help of England in the coming struggle, the King +at length crossed the Channel, and joined Mary at Greenwich on the 21st +of January, 1557. Political exigencies had done more to hasten his +return than all his wife's prayers and tears, but in her joy she recked +little of this, and guns were fired and _Te Deums_ chanted throughout +the realm. Before leaving Brussels, Philip had made arrangements for +the two Duchesses to follow him in a few days. Their society, he felt, +would help to dispel the gloom of Mary's Court, and Margaret's coming +would allay any jealousy which Christina's visit might excite. Another +and more important motive for his cousin's presence in England at +this moment was his anxiety to revive the old scheme of a marriage +between the Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Savoy. Mary's state of +health made her sister's marriage a matter of the highest importance, +and the new quarrel with France had put an end to the Duke's hopes in +that quarter. As both the French and Venetian Ambassadors constantly +affirmed, Emanuel Philibert was the only foreign Prince whom the +English would tolerate, and Christina herself told Vaudemont that +she was going to England, by the King's wish, to bring back Madame +Elizabeth as the Duke of Savoy's bride.[521] + +[Illustration: PHILIP II. (1554) + +By Jacopo da Trezzo (British Museum)] + +[Illustration: MARY, QUEEN OF ENGLAND (1554) + +By Jacopo da Trezzo (British Museum)] + +[Illustration: MARGARET OF AUSTRIA + +DUCHESS OF PARMA + +By Pastorino] + +[Illustration: ANTOINE PERRENOT + +CARDINAL GRANVELLE + +By Leone Leoni + +_To face p. 412_] + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1557] CHRISTINA AT WHITEHALL] + +The King had a calm passage to Dover, but the ladies were less +fortunate, for an equinoctial gale sprang up when they were halfway +across the Channel. + + "The Duchesses," wrote Philip's secretary, Jean de Courteville, + "had to dance without music between Dover and Calais, and the + results were such as are commonly the case with travellers + unaccustomed to the sea. The great festivities we are having + here this Lent will grieve them the less."[522] + +But if the passage was disagreeable, nothing was lacking in the +kindness of their reception. The Queen sent her litter to meet them +at Dover, with chariot and hackney horses for their suite, and at +Gravesend, Lady Lennox and Lady Kildare were waiting to conduct them +in the royal barge to Whitehall. Here Philip received them at the +water-gate, and led them up the steps into the great hall, where Mary +welcomed her guests. The King and Queen who had only arrived from +Greenwich the day before rode in state through the city, with the Lord +Mayor carrying the sceptre at the head of the guilds and crafts of +London, while a salute was fired from the Tower and bells rang from all +the churches. + +Both the Duchesses were lodged in the Palace of Westminster, Christina +in rooms on the ground-floor, looking on the gardens, and Margaret in +an apartment on the upper floor, commanding a view of the Thames.[523] +Soon after their arrival another visitor was brought by the Bishop +of London to see Their Majesties--an Envoy from the Czar of Muscovy, +who was lodged in Fenchurch Street, as the guest of the Company +of Muscovite Merchants. Englishmen and Spaniards, Lorrainers and +Italians, alike looked with curious eyes at this stranger from the +shores of the Polar Sea, who was clad in robes of Oriental splendour, +and whose turban glittered with gems. He brought the Queen a present +of magnificent sables from the Czar, and saluted her by bowing his +whole body down and touching the ground with his hand. In spite of his +strange clothes and barbarous language, he was a cultivated person, as +keen to see the sights of London as Christina herself. One day he dined +with the Lord Mayor in gorgeous attire, another he attended Mass at +Westminster and saw St. Edward's shrine, with the relics which had been +fortunately preserved when the Abbey was plundered.[524] + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1557] ST. GEORGE'S FEAST] + +After spending a fortnight at Whitehall, Philip and Mary took their +guests to spend Easter at Greenwich. On Maundy Thursday the King and +Queen washed the feet of a number of poor beggars, and blessed the +cramp rings, which were as much prized in Spain and Flanders as in +England. Easter Day witnessed fresh balls and banquets, dog and bear +fights, bull-baiting and horse-races, after which a large hunting-party +was given in the park for the Duchess of Lorraine's amusement. On +the 22nd of April the royal party returned to Whitehall for St. +George's Feast. High Mass was celebrated in the Abbey by the Bishop +of Winchester, and all the Knights of the Garter, in their mantles of +royal blue, walked in procession round the inner court of the palace, +while the Queen and her guests looked on from a window on the garden +side. The King and Queen and all the Knights of the Order attended +vespers in the Abbey, after which the Muscovite Envoy came to take +leave of Their Majesties, and delivered a long farewell speech, which +was translated by an interpreter into English and Spanish, expressing +his hope that these mighty Sovereigns might live to see their +children's children. Six English ships were in readiness to escort the +stranger across the Northern seas, and prevent him falling into the +hands of the Norsemen, who were jealous of English interference with +the trade of Muscovy. + +On Sunday the Queen gave a grand banquet, and appeared resplendent in +cloth of gold and jewels. Christina sat on her right, and Margaret, +with her little son, on the King's left hand. The next morning the +Duchess of Parma left for Italy, but Christina, at Philip's entreaty, +remained in London another ten days. She was already very popular with +the English, and made friends with Lord Arundel, Lord Pembroke, and +several other nobles and ladies at Court, while her splendid robes and +jewels, her numerous suite and fine horses, excited general admiration. +In the midst of the Court fêtes, she found time to visit several +shrines and places of interest, and, while the King was holding the +Chapter of the Garter on St. George's Day, went by water to the Tower, +and was shown its treasures and antiquities. But in one respect her +visit proved a failure. Mary refused to entertain any idea of the Savoy +marriage, and would not even allow Christina a glimpse of Princess +Elizabeth, who was kept at Hatfield in strict seclusion during her +visit. What was worse, the Duchess's presence revived all the Queen's +jealousy, and, in spite of the King's protests, Christina found it +prudent to hasten her departure. All manner of stories about Mary's +dislike of the Duchess found their way to the French Court, and King +Henry had many jokes with Soranzo on the subject, and told him he heard +that the Queen flew into a frantic passion when the King led out his +cousin to dance at Greenwich.[525] + +Philip did his best to atone for his wife's ill-humour, and, when +Christina expressed a wish to visit Ghent on her return, wrote to ask +the Duke of Savoy to see that she and her daughters were well lodged +and entertained in the old Prinzenhof. On the 11th of May the Duchess +wrote a formal letter of thanks to the Queen from Dover, acknowledging +the attentions which she had received from Her Majesty and all her +subjects, and on the 8th of June she sent her a second letter from +Ghent, on behalf of the widow and daughter of Sir Jacques de Granado, +a Brabant gentleman who had been Equerry to Henry VIII. and Edward +VI., and had met his death by accident during the Duchess's visit. +As he rode into the privy garden at Whitehall before the Queen's +chariot, his bridle broke, the horse shied violently, and dashed his +rider's head against the wall. Sir Jacques was killed on the spot, and +buried at St. Dunstan's in the East two days afterwards with a great +display of torches and escutcheons. On Christina's recommendation, the +Queen granted a pension of £50 to the widow, and saw that she and her +children were amply provided for.[526] + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1557] THE VICTORY OF ST. QUENTIN] + +From Ghent the Duchess went to meet her sister Dorothea at Jülich, the +Court of the Duke of Cleves and the Archduchess Maria. The reformed +faith was now firmly established in the Palatinate, and Dorothea's +well-known Lutheran leanings were a great source of annoyance to her +own family. "The Electress Dorothea," wrote Badoer from Brussels in +1557, "is known to be a Lutheran and against the Emperor, and is as +much hated here as her sister Christina is beloved." From his retreat +at St. Yuste, Charles begged Philip to invite Dorothea to settle at +Brussels, "lest one of our own blood should openly forsake the faith." +When the Princess declined this proposal, Philip and Arras desired +Christina to use her influence to bring her sister to a better mind. +But Dorothea resisted all these attempts obstinately, and went back to +Neuburg to live among her husband's kindred and worship God in her own +way.[527] + +On the 1st of June England declared war against France, and Philip +returned to Brussels, having accomplished the object of his journey. +Here he was joined by the Duchess of Lorraine and the Count of +Vaudemont, who came to Flanders to try and reopen peace negotiations. +But the moment, as Arras told him, was singularly inopportune, since +Philip was armed to the teeth and had England at his back. On the 11th +of August the King left Brussels for the camp before St. Quentin, +where he arrived just too late to claim a share in the brilliant +victory gained by the Duke of Savoy and Egmont over the French on St. +Lawrence's Day. The Constable Montmorency, the Marshal St. André, +Admiral Coligny, and the Rhinegrave, were among the prisoners made on +this memorable day, together with all the guns and fifty-six colours. +The news of this decisive victory was celebrated with great joy both +in Brussels and across the Channel. _Te Deum_ was sung in St. Paul's, +and the loyal citizens of London lighted bonfires and sat up drinking +through the livelong night; while in Paris the King and Queen went to +Notre Dame in sackcloth, and Henry II. carried the Crown of Thorns +in procession from the Sainte Chapelle. In the lonely monastery far +away on the heights of Estremadura, the news sent a thrill to the +great Emperor's heart, and he asked eagerly in what route his son +was marching on Paris. Had Philip followed this course, had he, in +Suriano's words, "taken Fortune at the flood," he might have brought +the campaign to a triumphant close. But, with characteristic timidity, +he confined himself to capturing St. Quentin, and then returned to +Brussels, throwing away such an opportunity as comes but once a +lifetime.[528] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[481] Henne, x. 13. + +[482] Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Marquis of Salisbury, i. 110; +Lodge, "Illustrations," i. 183. + +[483] Voigt, ii. 207. + +[484] Calendar of State Papers, Edward VI., Foreign, 282. + +[485] "Travail and Life of Sir T. Hoby," 85; Calendar of State Papers, +Edward VI., Foreign, 288. + +[486] Calendar of State Papers, Mary, Foreign, 8; T. Hoby, 102. + +[487] Granvelle, iv. 113, 119. + +[488] Mignet, "Retraite de Charles V.," 69, 70. + +[489] M. Haile, "Life of Reginald Pole," 432. + +[490] Henne, x. 132; F. Juste, "Marie de Hongrie," 204. + +[491] Granvelle, iv. 307; Venetian Transcript, Record Office, 99. + +[492] Gachard, iv. 19. + +[493] Ashmole, "The Order of the Garter," 383. + +[494] Machyn, "Diary," 66, 79, 81. + +[495] Granvelle, iv. 341; F. de Noailles, "Ambassades," v. 42. + +[496] Calendar of State Papers, Mary, Foreign, 150. + +[497] Machyn, 82, 84. + +[498] Record Office Manuscripts; State Papers, Foreign, vi. 351 (see +Appendix). + +[499] Venetian Calendar, vi. 1, 69; Calendar of State Papers, Mary, +Foreign 165; J. W. Burgon, "Life of Sir Thomas Gresham," i. 168. + +[500] Record Office Manuscripts, Venetian Transcripts, 1555, No. 99. + +[501] Noailles, v. 74, 80.; Venetian Calendar, vi. 1, 151. + +[502] Noailles, v. 191; Venetian Calendar, vi. 1, 211; P. Friedmann, +"Les Dépêches de Michieli," 42. + +[503] Calendar of State Papers, Mary, Foreign, 189. + +[504] Granvelle, iv. 469. + +[505] Venetian Calendar, vi. 603. + +[506] L. Haüsser, i. 630. + +[507] Venetian Calendar, vi. 197. + +[508] De Reiffenberg, "Histoire de la Toison d'Or," 451. + +[509] G. Ribier, "Lettres et Mémoires d'État," ii. 634; T. Juste, 94; +Venetian Calendar, vi. 369. + +[510] Venetian Calendar, vi. 421, 443, 457; T. Juste, 101; Gachard, +"Retraite," etc., i. 41. + +[511] Lanz, iii. 709; Venetian Calendar, vi. 537. + +[512] Venetian Despatches, 90 (Record Office). + +[513] Venetian Calendar, vi. 197, 362. + +[514] Granvelle, iv. 574, 577. + +[515] _Ibid._, iv. 701. + +[516] Brantôme, xii. 114. + +[517] P. Friedmann, 254-267; Noailles, v. 355, 362. + +[518] Friedmann, 56; Noailles, "Affaires Étrangères: Angleterre," xix. +(Bibliothèque Nationale). + +[519] Venetian Calendar, vi. 863. + +[520] _Ibid._, vi. 914, 932. + +[521] Venetian Calendar, vi. 1015, 1080. + +[522] Kervyn de Lettenhove, "Relations des Pays-Bas avec l'Angleterre," +i. 67. + +[523] Gachard, iv. 25. + +[524] Machyn, 130-134. + +[525] Venetian Calendar, vi. 1154; Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 68. + +[526] Machyn, 135, 136; Calendar of State Papers, Mary, Foreign, 305, +314. + +[527] Granvelle, v. 86-113. + +[528] Venetian Calendar, vi. 1287; Machyn, 147; Gachard, "Retraite," +etc., 176. + + + + +BOOK XII + +THE PEACE OF CÂTEAU-CAMBRÉSIS + +1557-1559 + + +I. + +The lull that followed the decisive battle of St. Quentin afforded the +Duchess of Lorraine a favourable opportunity for resuming her efforts +to open negotiations between the contending monarchs. The Constable, +after fighting like a lion and receiving a severe wound, had been made +prisoner, and was taken to the Castle of Ghent, where Christina and her +daughters were staying. The Duchess paid him daily visits, and brought +him letters of condolence from her aunt Eleanor, who wrote that she +wished she were still in Flanders to nurse her old friend. More than +this: Christina obtained leave for his wife to visit him, and even +proposed that the prisoner should be allowed to go to France on parole. +These good offices gratified the French King, who was very anxious for +his favourite's release, and whose behaviour towards the Duchess now +underwent a marked change.[529] + +The young Duke Charles was almost fifteen, and his marriage to +the Princess Claude was fixed for the following spring. With the +King's leave, he sent his steward to Ghent to invite his mother to +the wedding, and at the same time make proposals of peace through +Montmorency. These letters were laid before Philip by Christina, and a +brisk correspondence was carried on between her and the Constable. In +December Vaudemont came to Brussels, bringing portraits of Charles and +his bride as a gift from Henry II. to the Duchess, and negotiations +were actively pursued.[530] But just when the wished-for goal at +length seemed to be in sight, and Christina was rejoicing to think of +once more seeing her son, all her hopes were shattered by the Duke +of Guise's capture of Calais. The surprise had been cleverly planned +and brilliantly executed. The new fortifications of the town were +unfinished, and after a gallant resistance the little garrison was +overpowered and forced to capitulate, on the 8th of January, 1558. This +unexpected success revived the courage of the French, and strengthened +the Guise brothers in the determined opposition which they offered to +peace. The star of their house was at its zenith, and on the 24th of +April the marriage of their niece, the young Queen of Scots, to the +Dauphin, was celebrated with great splendour at Paris. In deference +to his mother's wishes, the Duke of Lorraine's wedding was put off +till the following year, when he should have attained his majority; +but he figured conspicuously in the day's pageant, and led his lovely +cousin in her lily-white robes and jewelled crown up the nave of Notre +Dame.[531] + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1558] CHRISTINA MEETS HER SON] + +The French King now gave his consent to Vaudemont's request, that +a meeting should be arranged between the Duke and his mother in +the neighbourhood of Péronne. Philip, after his wont, raised many +difficulties, and insisted that the Bishop of Arras must be present at +the interview.[532] At length all preliminaries were arranged, and on +the 1st of May Charles left Paris with his uncle Vaudemont and Guise's +eldest son, Henri, Prince of Joinville, attended by an escort of 200 +horse. The Duchess had already arrived at Cambray with her daughters +and Anne of Aerschot, accompanied by Egmont, Arras, and a great train +of courtiers, and had prepared a splendid reception for her son. But at +the last moment fresh difficulties arose. The Cardinal of Lorraine sent +Robertet, the King's secretary, to tell the Duchess that, although her +son was most anxious to see her, it would be derogatory to his master's +dignity for him to enter King Philip's territories as a suppliant for +peace. Would Her Highness therefore consent to come as far as his +castle at Péronne? This Philip quite refused to allow, and eventually +the village of Marcoing, halfway between Cambray and Péronne, was fixed +upon as the meeting-place. An old manor-house which had been partly +destroyed in the late military operations was hastily repaired for the +occasion, and here, on the 15th of May, the much-desired meeting at +length took place.[533] The Frenchmen, who came in riding-clothes, were +amazed to find the splendid company awaiting them. The Duchess with +the young Princesses, Anne of Aerschot, and the Princess of Macedonia, +stood under a bower of leafy boughs, and Egmont and the other courtiers +were all richly clad and mounted on fine horses. The coming of the +guests was greeted by a gay fanfare of trumpets and roll of drums, +together with salutes of artillery. Then the young Duke, springing from +his horse, rushed into his mother's arms. At the sight of her boy, +Christina burst into tears and almost fainted away. For some minutes +she remained unable to speak, and the spectators were deeply moved by +her emotion. After repeatedly embracing his mother, Charles kissed +his sisters and aunt, and proceeded to salute Egmont and the rest of +the company with charming grace; while the happy mother followed his +movements with delight, and could not take her eyes off the tall and +handsome youth whom she had last seen as a child, and who had grown up +the image of his father. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1558] DUKE CHARLES OF LORRAINE] + +During the conversation which followed, Charles spoke to his mother +with great good sense and wisdom, telling her how kindly he was treated +at the French Court, and how it would be hard for him to feel at home +anywhere else. But directly after his marriage he and his wife intended +to return to Nancy, where he hoped that his mother would join them +and live among their own people. The Duchess and her children now sat +down to an exquisite _déjeuner_ with the Duchess of Aerschot and the +Cardinal, while Egmont and Arras entertained Vaudemont and the Prince +of Joinville, and the other French gentlemen dined with the members of +Christina's suite. After dinner three Spanish jennets which King Philip +had sent the young Duke were led out, and Charles mounted a spirited +charger given him by the French monarch, and performed a variety +of feats of horsemanship before the company, to his mother's great +delight. Then the Duchess and her sister and children retired to enjoy +each other's company in private, leaving the Cardinal to confer with +Arras and Egmont. + +The Cardinal produced the royal mandate, and Robertet read out Henry's +proposals, offering to restore Savoy to the Duke, but only on condition +of receiving Milan in exchange. All Arras would say in reply to these +demands was that they must be referred to his master, upon which the +Cardinal exclaimed with some heat that these were the only terms +which the King of France would accept. "Thus," remarks the Venetian +Ambassador, "this meeting, which began with such a beautiful outburst +of motherly love and tenderness, ended in mutual recrimination."[534] +The Cardinal then took leave of the company, after presenting the +young Princesses and their mother with gifts of gold bracelets, +rings, and brooches, and receiving a box of choice gloves, perfumed, +and embroidered in Italian fashion from the Duchess. As he rode back +to Péronne, he saw the flames of a burning village which had been +destroyed by the Imperialists, and, in spite of his safe-conduct, was +seized with so great a panic that he hurried back to Paris, fearing his +château might be surprised by the foes. The young Duke and Vaudemont +spent another day with the Duchess, and only returned to Compiègne on +the 18th of May. Here Charles received the warmest of welcomes from the +royal family, who had feared that he might be induced to remain with +his mother. The King threw his arms round the boy's neck, the Queen and +Dauphin, the Princesses Elizabeth and Claude and the young Queen of +Scots, all embraced him affectionately, telling him how much they had +missed him. In fact, as Soranzo remarks, this short absence served to +show how much beloved the young Prince was by the whole Court.[535] + +Meanwhile Arras and Egmont returned to Brussels, satisfied that the +French had no real wish for peace, and Philip declared his conviction +that they had made a plot to capture the Duchess, which had only +been defeated by the strong escort with which she was attended. +But Christina herself was radiant with happiness, and received +congratulations from all her friends. The French had done her many +cruel wrongs, but they had not been able to rob her of her son's heart, +and the future still held the promise of some golden hours. + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1558] THE PRINCE OF ORANGE] + +For a while the war still raged fiercely. The capture of Thionville +by Guise in June was followed a month later by Egmont's fresh victory +at Gravelines, when the Governor of Calais, De Thermes, and his whole +force, were cut to pieces. The Count had always been a splendid and +popular figure; now he was the idol of the whole nation. His brilliant +feat of arms had saved Flanders from utter ruin, and made peace once +more possible. Both sides were thoroughly weary of the long struggle, +the resources of both countries were exhausted, and the unhappy +inhabitants of Picardy and Artois were crying out for a respite from +their sufferings. Christina made use of the opportunity to renew her +correspondence with the Constable and the Marshal St. André, his +companion in captivity.[536] A new recruit now came to her help in +the person of William of Orange. This young Prince had enjoyed the +favour of Charles V. and his sister Mary from his boyhood, and had +been treated with especial kindness by the Duchess of Aerschot and +her sister-in-law. The death of his young wife, Anna, Countess Büren, +in the spring of 1558, had thrown him much into the company of these +ladies, and it was already whispered at Court that he would certainly +marry Madame de Lorraine's elder daughter, Renée, who was growing up +a tall and attractive maiden. The Prince himself was a handsome youth +with fine brown eyes and curly auburn locks, and a charm of manner +which few could resist. If the cares and anxieties of his later life +made him taciturn, in youth he was the most genial and pleasant of +companions, and Arras, who never loved him, said that he "made a friend +every time that he lifted his hat." His attire was always as faultless +as it was splendid, he was renowned for his skill as a rider and +jouster, and had greatly distinguished himself in the recent campaigns. +Both in his home at Breda and in the stately Nassau house at Brussels +the Prince kept open house, and the worst faults of which his enemies +could accuse him were his reckless hospitality and extravagant tastes. + +Christina had always taken especial interest in William of Orange, +for the sake of the kinsman whose name and wealth he inherited, and +he on his part became deeply attached to her. So intimate was their +friendship, that the Duchess one day told Count Feria's English wife, +Jane Dormer, in speaking of the Prince's intended marriage with her +daughter, that she would gladly have married him herself.[537] + +The Prince now joined his personal exertions to those of the Duchess, +and was the frequent bearer of letters between Brussels and the camp +near Amiens, where the two Kings and their rival armies were drawn up +face to face. At length, on the 9th of September, a ten days' armistice +was proclaimed, and a few days later the Prince of Orange, Ruy Gomez, +and Arras, met the Constable and St. André at Lille, to discuss +preliminaries of peace.[538] The two French prisoners were eager for +peace, and had the secret support of Henry II. and Diane de Poitiers; +but the Guises, who had everything to lose and nothing to gain by the +cessation of war, were still strongly opposed to a truce, and Renard +told Philip that the only way of gaining their good-will would be to +give Mademoiselle de Lorraine's hand to the Prince of Joinville. In +the end, however, their opposition was overruled, and on the 30th of +September William of Orange was able to bring the Duchess news that +a Conference had been arranged, and would take place at the Abbey of +Cercamp, near Cambray, in October. He found Christina at Douai, where +she and her daughters were attending a marriage in the d'Aremberg +family. She had just heard of her son's return to Nancy, where he had +been received with acclamation by his subjects, and where her own +presence was eagerly expected. But at Philip's earnest entreaty she +consented to remain in Flanders for the present, and preside at the +coming Conference. This proposal was strongly supported by the Cardinal +of Lorraine, who hastened to send the Duchess a safe-conduct, saying +that her presence would do more than anything to bring the desired +peace to perfection.[539] + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1558] THE CONFERENCE OF CERCAMP] + +Christina herself was very reluctant to accept the post, as we learn +from the following letter which she wrote to Philip from Douai on the +12th of October. Her delicate child, Dorothea, was ailing, and her +faithful companion, the aged Princess of Macedonia, was hardly fit to +be left alone. + + "I have received the letter which Your Majesty has been + pleased to send me, and thank you humbly for your affectionate + expressions. As to the inconvenience of the place selected for + this Conference, I should never allow my comfort or pleasure + to interfere with your commands, and will accordingly go to + Arras to-morrow and await your further orders. I have been + very unwell lately, and must beg Your Majesty to provide for + my safety, not only because I am a woman, but because, as you + know, I am not in the good graces of the French. My daughters + must remain here a few days longer, as Dorothea is indisposed, + and the Princess of Macedonia is in a very feeble state. I will + follow Your Majesty's advice as to Bassompierre's mission and + my son's affairs, and cannot thank you enough for your kind + thought of me and my children. I kiss Your Majesty's hands. + + "Your very humble and obedient cousin, + "CHRÉTIENNE."[540] + +Some further difficulties--chiefly the work of Silliers, poor Belloni's +hated rival and successor--delayed the Duchess's journey for another +week. On the 16th Arras wrote to tell her that the Commissioners had +already arrived at Cercamp, and beg her to come as soon as possible. +The Cardinal was very anxious to see her, and hoped that she would not +fail to bring his young cousins, "Mesdames your daughters," with her. +Christina could delay no longer, and hastened to Cercamp the following +day. + + +II. + +On the 17th of October, 1558, a fortnight's truce was proclaimed. +Both armies remained encamped on their own territories, while the two +Kings withdrew respectively to Arras and Beauvais. The next day the +Commissioners met at one o'clock in the Duchess's lodgings. The Prince +of Orange, Alva, Ruy Gomez, Arras, and Viglius, the President of the +Council, represented Philip; while the Constable, the Cardinal of +Lorraine, St. André, the Bishop of Orleans, and Secretary l'Aubespine, +were the five French deputies. Stroppiana represented the Duke of +Savoy, and the English deputies, Lord Arundel, Dr. Wotton, and Thirlby, +Bishop of Ely, arrived a few days later. The Duchess welcomed the +Commissioners in a brief speech, explaining that, as for several years +past she had endeavoured to make peace between these two illustrious +monarchs, it was their pleasure that she should continue her good +offices, adding that she would count herself too happy if her services +could help to attain this blessed end, and relieve the people of both +countries from the awful miseries of war.[541] + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1558] PEACE NEGOTIATIONS] + +During the next fortnight conferences were held daily in the presence +of Christina, who herself read aloud each different proposal that was +made, and showed infinite tact in smoothing over difficulties and +suggesting points of agreement. Each morning the deputies met at Mass +in the parish church, and often discussed separate questions after +service. In the evenings, private interviews took place in Christina's +rooms, and the Prince of Orange held long conversations with +Montmorency and the Cardinal, which contributed not a little to their +mutual understanding. "Loving entertainments," in Suriano's phrase, +"were exchanged," and one night the Duchess gave a banquet in honour of +the Constable's wife and daughter, who paid a visit to Cercamp. As the +Cardinal complained jestingly, Montmorency was too good a Christian and +all too ready to make peace with his country's enemies. But King Henry +supported him secretly, and sent private notes and messages, telling +him to take no notice of the Guises, and do all he could to make +peace.[542] + +The great difficulty which had hitherto stood in the way of all +attempts at negotiation was the restitution of Savoy. The Constable +now proposed that the Duke should marry the King's sister, Madame +Marguerite, with a dower of 300,000 crowns, and be placed in possession +of the chief portion of his dominions. At first the Duke demurred +to this offer, and begged that the King's daughter Claude should +be substituted for her aunt, who was five years his senior. But +the Cardinal replied that this Princess was already pledged to his +nephew, Charles of Lorraine, and laid stress on Margaret's charms and +learning. The Duke yielded, and a long wrangle ensued as to the towns +and citadels to be retained by the French. But there was a still more +thorny question to be decided. This was the restoration of Calais, +which the English demanded with the utmost pertinacity, while the +French were no less determined to keep their conquest. The English +pleaded that they had held the town during two centuries; the French +replied that it had been unjustly snatched from them in the first +place. Old treaties, going back to the days of the Black Prince, were +produced, and Arras and his colleagues supported the English claim +loyally, knowing that, if Philip consented to abandon Calais, he would +lose all hold on his wife's subjects. In vain Christina proposed that, +as the marriage of the French King's elder daughter with the Infant Don +Carlos had been agreed upon, Calais should form part of Elizabeth's +dower. The Cardinal told the Duchess that the possession of the town, +which his brother had conquered, touched his honour too closely for +him to agree to the surrender, and King Henry sent word that he would +rather lose his crown than give up Calais. So stern and intractable +were the French that the only thing to be done was to adjourn the +Conference and refer the matter to the two monarchs.[543] + +[Sidenote: SEPT., 1558] DEATH OF MARY OF HUNGARY] + +The Constable was allowed to go to Beauvais with the Cardinal to +consult King Henry, Alva and Orange went to Brussels to see Philip, +and Christina took three days' holiday with her children at Douai. +Before she went to Cercamp, a report of Charles V.'s death had reached +Brussels. Now this was confirmed by letters from St. Yuste, announcing +that the great Emperor had passed away on the 21st of September. +The sudden death of his sister Eleanor, seven months before, had +been a great shock to him, and when the Queen of Hungary entered +his room without the accustomed figure at her side he burst into +tears. The recent events of the war, and Philip's difficulties in the +administration of the provinces, troubled him sorely, and he was very +anxious for Mary to resume the office of Regent. When, in August, the +Archbishop of Toledo brought a letter from the King, imploring the +Queen to come to his help, Charles used all his influence to induce +her to consent. In vain Mary pleaded her advancing years and failing +health; the Emperor replied that her refusal would bring ruin and +disgrace on their house, and adjured her by the love of God and her +sisterly affection to do him this last service. This appeal decided the +noble woman. On the 9th of September she wrote to tell Philip that, in +obedience to his father's orders, she would start for the Netherlands +as soon as possible. The knowledge of the Queen's decision was a great +consolation to Charles in his last moments, and as soon as she had +recovered from the first shock of his death she prepared to obey his +last wish. But before she embarked at Laredo, a fresh attack of the +heart trouble from which she suffered ended her life, and on St. Luke's +Day she passed to her well-earned rest.[544] + +Her death was deeply lamented throughout the Low Countries, where her +return had been daily looked for, and no one mourned her loss more +truly than the niece to whom she had been the best of mothers. It was +with a sad heart that Christina came back to Cercamp to preside at the +second session of the Conference, which opened on the 7th of November. +Alarming accounts of their mistress's health now reached the English +Commissioners, and Count Feria, whom Philip sent to London, wrote that +the Queen's life was despaired of, and that Parliament was in great +alarm lest, if she died, the King would cease to care for the recovery +of Calais. But, although Arras and Alva still declared that they would +never consent to any treaty which did not satisfy the English, the +French remained obdurate, and the Commissioners were at their wits' +end. The Bishop of Ely was in tears, and on the 18th of November Lord +Arundel wrote home that + + "it seemed very hard that all others should have restitution of + their owne, and poore England, that began not the fray, should + bear the burthen and loss for the rest, and specially of such a + jewel as Calais."[545] + +The next day came the news of the Queen's death. The French, who, +Wotton remarked, "have ears as long as those of Midas," were the first +to inform Her Majesty's Envoys that their mistress had breathed her +last, on the morning of the 17th of November, after sending a message +to Elizabeth, recognizing this Princess as her successor, and begging +her to maintain the Catholic religion. The new Queen at once sent Lord +Cobham to announce her accession to Philip, and assure him of her +resolve to hold fast the ancient friendship between England and the +House of Burgundy. + +[Sidenote: DEC., 1558] THE EMPEROR'S FUNERAL] + +The news of Mary's death decided the Commissioners to adjourn the +Conference. The truce was prolonged for two months, and on the 2nd +of December they all left Cercamp. Arundel had already started for +England, and Wotton was longing to get away, saying "that he was never +wearier of any place than he was of Cercamp, saving only of Rome after +the sack." The Constable was set at liberty, and received a promise +that his 200,000 crowns ransom should be reduced by half, if peace +were finally made. Arras, Alva, and Orange, went to the Abbey of +Groenendal to see Philip, who had retired to pray for his father's +soul, and there received the tidings of his wife's death. Christina +returned to Brussels to assist at a succession of funerals. On the +22nd of December a requeim for the Queen of England was chanted in +S. Gudule, the Duke of Savoy acting as chief mourner in the King's +absence, and on the following day solemn funeral rites for the late +Queen of Hungary were performed in the Court chapel, which she and the +Emperor had built and adorned. The Duchess of Lorraine was present at +this service, together with the Duke of Savoy, the Prince of Orange, +and all the chief nobles and Crown officials, while the palace gates +were thronged with a crowd of sorrowing people.[546] But the grandest +funeral ceremonies ever known in Brussels were those that were +celebrated on the 29th of December, in memory of the late Emperor. + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1559] CHARLES'S WEDDING] + +Great preparations had been made for this solemnity during the last +few weeks. A _chapelle ardente_ was erected in S. Gudule, rising in +tiers to the lofty roof, adorned with golden diadems and shields +emblazoned with the dead monarch's arms and titles, and lighted with +3,000 candles. Here, on a couch draped with cloth of gold, an effigy +of the Emperor was laid, clad in robes of state and wearing the collar +of the Order. On the morning of the 29th a long procession wound its +way through the narrow streets leading from the palace on the heights +of the Caudenberg to the cathedral church, and a stately pageant +unfolded the glorious story of Charles of Austria's deeds. A richly +carved and gilded ship, drawn by marine monsters, bore the names of his +journeys and battles and armorial bearings of the kingdoms over which +he reigned, while banners of the Turks and of the other foes whom he +had vanquished were plunged in the waves below, and white-robed maidens +sat in the stern, bearing the cross and chalice, the symbols of the +faith by which he had conquered the world. This imposing group was +followed by a representation of the Pillars of Hercules with Charles's +motto, _Plus oultre_, and twenty-four horses decked in coloured +plumes and trappings to match the banners of his different States. +Each of these pennons was borne by a noble youth, while four Princes +supported the great standard of the Empire. Then came the officers of +the imperial household, leading Charles's war-horse, and bearing his +armour and insignia; the Prince of Orange with his master's sword, Alva +with the orb of the world, and the Grand Commander of Castille with +the imperial crown. Last of all King Philip himself appeared on foot, +clad in a mourning mantle five yards long, and followed by the Duke of +Savoy and a long train of Knights of the Golden Fleece, Councillors +and Ministers, with the Archers of the Guard bringing up the rear. The +procession left the palace at nine, and the funeral service, which +included a lengthy oration by the Bishop of Arras's coadjutor, Abbé +Richardot, was not over till five o'clock. The next day Philip and all +his nobles attended High Mass, and at the end of the celebration the +Prince of Orange, standing before the funeral pile, smote his breast +three times, repeating the words: "He is dead, and will remain dead; +and there is another risen up in his place, greater than ever he has +been." So the solemn function ended. + +"It was a sight worth going 100 miles to see," wrote Richard Clough, +an English apprentice who had been sent by Sir Thomas Gresham from +Antwerp, and counted himself fortunate to witness this imposing +ceremony. "The like of it, I think, hath never been seen. The Lord give +his soul rest!"[547] + +The Duchess of Lorraine had been anxious that her son should attend +his great-uncle's funeral, but the tardy invitation which Philip +sent to Nancy arrived too late, and the young Duke could not reach +Brussels in time to take part in the ceremony. To console herself for +this disappointment, Christina went to meet Charles at Treves on the +6th of January, and spent two days in his company, before he returned +to France for the wedding. His loyal subjects presented him with a +marriage gift of 200,000 crowns, double the amount which any Duke of +Lorraine had received before. Charles who inherited his mother's lavish +generosity, spent most of the money in costly jewels for his bride, and +presented the King and Dauphin, Vaudemont and the Guises, with superb +robes embroidered with the arms of Lorraine and lined with lynx fur. +The wedding was solemnized at Notre Dame on the 22nd of January, with +as much splendour as that of the Dauphin in the previous spring. The +Guises held open house for ten days in their palatial abode, the "Hôtel +de Lorraine et de Sicile," near the royal palace of Les Tournelles, and +gave a grand tournament in which the young Duke appeared at the head +of a troop splendidly arrayed in corslets of gold and silver, with +the _alérions_, or eagles, of Lorraine on the crest of their helmets. +Ronsard celebrated the union of the eagles of Lorraine and the golden +lilies of France, and sang the praises of the "Fair Maid of Valois and +her bridegroom, the beautiful Shepherd who feeds his flock in the green +pastures along the banks of Meuse and Moselle."[548] + +The French King and Queen had invited the Duchess in courteous and +affectionate terms to be present at the wedding, but she declined on +the plea of her deep mourning, as well as of the promise which she had +made to preside at the Peace Conference, which was shortly to meet +again.[549] + + +III. + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1559] AT CÂTEAU-CAMBRÉSIS] + +The Commissioners who had attended the Conferences at Cercamp were +unanimous in refusing to return to this unhealthy and inconvenient +spot, and at the Duchess of Lorraine's suggestion the small town of +Câteau-Cambrésis, belonging to the Bishop of Cambray, was chosen for +their next meeting-place. The Bishop's manor-house at Mon Soulas, which +had been damaged in the war, was hastily repaired by the Duchess's +_fourriers_, the rooms were furnished anew, and paper windows were +inserted in place of the broken glass. The Bishop of Arras, who arrived +with the Prince of Orange's servants, secured a decent lodging and +good cook for himself and his colleagues in the neighbouring villas +of Beau Regard and Mon Plaisir, while Wotton and the Bishop of Ely +found very indifferent quarters in a ruinous house belonging to the +Bishop of Cambray. The French complained that the accommodation was no +better than at Cercamp, if the air was healthier, and, after a good +deal of grumbling, fixed on two houses, known as Mon Secours and Belle +Image, outside the gates.[550] The dilapidated country-house, with its +patched-up walls and paper windows, could hardly have been a pleasant +residence in the cold days of February, but Christina made light of +these discomforts, and threw herself heart and soul into the difficult +task before her. The Commissioners all recognized the tact and patience +which she showed in conducting the negotiations, and the courtesy which +the Ambassadors of other nationalities received at her hands, during +the next two months. + +The French delegates were delayed by the fêtes for the Duke of +Lorraine's wedding, and did not reach Câteau-Cambrésis until late on +the evening of the 5th of February. On the following afternoon they +held their first meeting with the King of Spain's Commissioners in the +Duchess's rooms at Mon Soulas. They seemed very cheerful, and, the +next day being Shrove Tuesday, were all entertained at dinner by the +Constable. On Ash Wednesday, Mass of the Holy Ghost was sung in church, +after which business began in earnest, and various points regarding the +Duke of Savoy's marriage were decided. The next evening Lord William +Howard, who had been made Lord Chamberlain by the new Queen, and +advanced to the peerage with the title of Lord Howard of Effingham, +arrived from England. He was received with great civility by Alva and +his colleagues, and conducted by the Prince of Orange to salute the +Duchess. Christina welcomed him graciously, asked after Queen Elizabeth +with great interest, and kept him talking of England "for a pretty +while" in the most friendly manner. + + "This assembly," wrote Howard to his mistress, "hath been + entirely procured by the Duchess's labour and travail; and she + being a Princess not subject to the King of Spain or France, + the Commissioners are content to use her as one that is + indifferent betwixt all parties, and she is continually present + at all meetings and communications."[551] + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1559] ANGRY DISCUSSIONS] + +But the Frenchmen, Lord Howard complained, behaved in a very strange +fashion, and quite refused to meet him and his colleagues if they +persisted in their demand for Calais, pretending that this question had +been finally settled at Cercamp. At Christina's entreaty, however, the +Cardinal consented to an interview, and at one o'clock on Saturday, +the 11th of February, the whole body of Commissioners met at Mon +Soulas. The Duchess sat at the head of the table, the English on her +right, the French deputies opposite, and Alva and his companions at +the other end. A long wrangle followed; all the old arguments were +revived, and the Cardinal, as Howard noticed, did his best to stir up a +quarrel between the English and the King of Spain's servants. After the +meeting broke up, the members stood about in little knots, conversing +amicably with each other and the Duchess. On Sunday the Constable had +a long private interview with Howard, and, as the latter afterwards +discovered, caught Alva and Stroppiana as they left church, and tried +to induce them to abandon the English. But Philip's servants stood +loyally by their allies, and the Prince of Orange and Alva discussed +the matter with Howard until a late hour. During the next two days the +debate was continued with ever-increasing acrimony, until on Tuesday +afternoon Howard broke into so violent a passion that the Cardinal +and his friends rose and walked out of the house, saying that it was +impossible to argue with such people. As Arras remarked shrewdly: "The +French are better advocates of a bad cause than the English are of a +good one."[552] + +Presently a page brought the Duchess word that the French Commissioners +had ordered their horses, and were preparing to pack up and leave. +Upon this Christina followed them into the garden, and by dint of much +persuasion prevailed upon the Cardinal to listen to her suggestion +that Calais should remain for eight years in the hands of the French, +and that a yearly sum should be paid to Queen Elizabeth as a security +for its ultimate surrender. Meanwhile the outer world was becoming +very impatient. Philip wrote to the Prince of Orange, saying that he +could get no more supplies from Spain, and that the greatest service +he could do him would be to obtain peace at any cost; and Henry sent +an autograph letter to the Constable, complaining of the Guises' +opposition, ending with the words: "Never mind what these men say; +let them talk as they please, but make peace if possible!" It was +accordingly decided to refer the Duchess's proposal to Queen Elizabeth +and her Council, while the Constable went to consult the French King at +Villers-Cotterets.[553] + +Late this same evening the Duke of Lorraine arrived from Court, with +two of the Guise Princes, the Grand Prior of Malta, and the Marquis of +Elbœuf, and was met by the Prince of Orange, and taken to Mon Soulas. +The Duchess was overjoyed to see her son, and the next three days were +devoted to hunting-parties. Howard was invited to join in one of these, +and he and the Prince of Orange accompanied Christina and Margaret of +Aremberg out hunting. As they rode home together, the ladies began to +talk of Queen Elizabeth, and Christina expressed her wish that she +would marry the King of Spain. + + "Why?" returned Howard. "What should my mistress doe with a + husband that should be ever from her and never with her? Is + that the way to get what we desire most--that is, children? I + think not." + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1559] ROYAL INTERVIEWS] + +At this both the Duchess and Madame d'Aremberg laughed, and Christina, +remembering her unlucky experiences at the English Court, observed +that the late Queen was too old to bear children, and had not the +art of winning her husband's affections. Howard was entirely of the +same opinion, but assured her that whoever the present Queen chose to +marry, "would be honoured and served to the death by every one of her +subjects, and all the more so if he make much of his wife."[554] This +conversation was duly reported to Elizabeth by Howard, who begged his +royal mistress to forgive his boldness, and not impute it to him as +folly. All the world knew that Philip was paying assiduous court to his +sister-in-law, and Christina's remarks were no doubt prompted by the +wish to do him a good turn. But three weeks after this conversation +the Queen told Count Feria that she was determined to restore the +Church of the land to what it was in her father's time, and that, being +a heretic, she could not become his master's wife.[555] + +Christina had long sought an opportunity of presenting her son to the +King, and at her request Philip agreed to come to Binche for hunting, +and meet the Duke at Mons. On the 22nd of February, the Duchess and her +son, accompanied by Madame d'Aremberg, the Prince of Orange, and the +Guise Princes, rode to Mons, where they were hospitably entertained by +the Duke of Aerschot, and received a visit from the King, who came over +on St. Matthias's Feast from Binche to spend the day with his cousins. +He showed himself unusually amiable to the young Duke, and delighted +the boy with the gift of a richly carved and jewelled sword, in memory +of the great Emperor, whose birthday fell on this day. On the 25th, +Marguerite d'Aremberg wrote to inform Arras that the Duchess hoped to +be back in a few days, and thanked + + "him for having her hall put in order, promising the Bishop + that, if he were seized with a wish to dance when the ladies + from the French Court arrived, he should have the best + place."[556] + +Three days afterwards Christina returned to Mon Soulas, bringing +both her daughters to meet their brother's wife, who was expected in +a few days. The conferences were resumed on the 2nd of March, but +there seemed little prospect of a settlement. The Cardinal made more +difficulties than ever, and even ventured to question Queen Elizabeth's +right to the crown, saying that she was a bastard, and Mary, Queen +of Scots was the true Queen of England. Here Christina intervened +once more, and succeeded in soothing down her irascible kinsman. But +the leading part taken by the Duchess in these debates annoyed Arras +seriously. He blamed her for playing into the hands of the French, +and complained to the Duke of Savoy that there were too many ladies +at Mon Soulas, and that their absence would be of more advantage than +their presence. This last remark was aimed at the young Duchess of +Lorraine, who, on the 5th of March arrived from Court with the Duchess +of Guise, Anna d' Este, and a numerous suite of ladies. An innocent, +simple girl, devoted to her young husband, Claude responded warmly to +the affectionate welcome which she received from her mother-in-law +and sisters; and Christina thus surrounded by her children, declared +herself to be the happiest of mothers. Everyone, as Arras complained, +was given up to amusement. Lord Howard went out hunting with his old +friend the Constable, and the Prince of Orange and the Cardinal spent +their evenings with the Duchess and her joyous family circle.[557] + +[Sidenote: MARCH, 1559] THE CALAIS QUESTION] + +On Saturday, the 12th of March, there was another stormy meeting in +the Duchess's rooms. This time the French and Spanish Commissioners +quarrelled violently, and Alva and Arras left the room in anger, +declaring they had been fooled, and retired to their own lodgings. In a +private letter to the Duke of Savoy, the Bishop complained bitterly of +the Frenchmen's insolence, saying that nothing could be "done with such +people by fair means, and the only way was to show your teeth."[558] +The next afternoon, however, at the Duchess's earnest entreaty, he +and Alva returned to the Conference. This time the Cardinal was in +a more amiable mood, and the terms originally proposed by Christina +were accepted by all parties. Calais was to remain in the hands of +France for eight years, and hostages were to be given for the payment +of a yearly ransom of 500,000 crowns. There was great rejoicing at +this agreement, and the young Duchess and her ladies returned to +Court on the 19th of March, full of the goodness and generosity of +the Duke's mother, who loaded them with costly presents, and gave her +daughter-in-law the magnificent jewelled necklace which had been the +Emperor's wedding gift on her marriage to the Duke of Milan. Christina +herself was now so convinced of the certainty of peace that she begged +her son to delay his departure a few more days, in order that he +might take the good news to the Most Christian King. The end of the +Conference seemed really in sight, and Lord Howard wrote to inform +Queen Elizabeth of the treaty regarding Calais, only to receive a sound +rating from his mistress for having dared to allow the French and +Spaniards to call her title in question.[559] + + +IV. + +The question of Calais having been settled, the French and Spanish +Commissioners met again on the 13th of March, and conferred for six +hours on their own affairs. The Duke of Savoy's marriage treaty was +the chief point under discussion. Madame Marguerite's own eagerness +for the union was well known. She had repeatedly asked her friend the +Constable to press the matter, and on the 25th of March she sent her +_maître d'hôtel_, Monsieur de l'Hôpital, to Câteau-Cambrésis to sign +the contract on her behalf. The Duke's original reluctance had been +overcome, and he sent Margaret word through a friend that she must +not think him ill-disposed towards her, but that, on the contrary, he +counted himself fortunate to win so noble and accomplished a bride, +adding, with a touch of irony: + + "I believe that the fate with which you have often threatened + me is really in store for me, and that I shall submit to be + governed by a woman whom I shall try to please."[560] + +But there still remained some troublesome details to arrange. All +through Holy Week, Christina stayed at her post, while the French and +Spanish delegates wrangled over the citadels to be given up by Henry +and Philip respectively. On Maundy Thursday a sharp contest arose +between Ruy Gomez and the Cardinal on this point. Both parties left the +room angrily, and a complete rupture seemed imminent. + + "They fell suddenly to such a disagreement," wrote Howard, + "that they all rose up, determined to break off and depart home + the next morning, being Good Friday."[561] + +The Cardinal ordered his rooms to be dismantled and his beds and +hangings packed, and on Good Friday morning he and his colleagues had +already put on their riding-boots, when Christina appeared at the door +and made a last appeal. + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1559] CHRISTINA'S EFFORTS] + + "The Duchess," wrote the Venetian Tiepolo, "regardless of + personal fatigue, went to and fro between the Commissioners, + with the greatest zeal, ardour, and charity, imploring them to + come together again."[562] + +Seven years before, on another Good Friday, in her own palace, +Christina had knelt in an agony of grief at the King of France's feet, +asking to be allowed to keep her only son. To-day she pleaded with +tears and prayers, in the name of the same Christ who died on the +cross, for the suffering thousands who were sighing for peace. This +time her prayer was heard. The Cardinal was induced to meet the Spanish +delegates once more, and, after a conference which lasted over seven +hours, it was decided that King Philip should keep Asti and Vercelli, +and surrender all the other citadels which he held in Savoy. Ruy Gomez +hastened to the Abbey of Groenendal to obtain his master's consent +to this plan, and, to the amazement of the whole Court, the Cardinal +appeared suddenly at La Ferté Milon, at dinner-time on Easter Day. +Happily, there was little difficulty in arranging matters. Madame +Marguerite told her brother plainly that he ought not to let her marry +the Duke, if he treated him with suspicion, and Henry bade her be of +good cheer, for all would be well.[563] + +On Easter Tuesday the Commissioners held another meeting at Mon Soulas, +and by the following evening the terms of the treaty were finally +arranged. The Cardinal embraced the young Princesses of Lorraine, +and the Duke bade his mother farewell, and rode off as fast as his +horse could take him to bear the good news to the French King. All +the Commissioners attended a solemn _Te Deum_ in the church, and +bonfires were lighted in the town. "Thanks be to God!" wrote the +Constable to his nephew, Coligny: "Peace is made, and Madame Marguerite +is married."[564] One point still awaited settlement. The Princess +Elizabeth's hand had been originally offered to Don Carlos, but the +Constable brought back word that Henry would greatly prefer his +daughter to wed King Philip himself. The plan had already been mooted +at an earlier stage of the Conference, but it was not until Philip +saw that there was no hope of marrying the Queen of England that he +consented to wed the French Princess. On the 2nd of April, when the +articles of the treaty were being drafted, the Constable made a formal +proposal from his master to the Duchess, who, after a few words with +Arras and Ruy Gomez, graciously informed him that King Philip was +pleased to accept his royal brother's offer.[565] + + "It seems a bold step," wrote Tiepolo, "for the Catholic King + to take to wife the daughter of the Most Christian King, who + had been already promised to his son, especially as marriage + negotiations with the Queen of England are still pending. But, + seeing how this Queen has already alienated herself from the + Church, he has easily allowed himself to be brought over to + this plan, which will establish peace more effectually, and + will no doubt please the French, who are above all anxious to + keep him from marrying the Queen of England."[566] + +[Sidenote: APRIL, 1559] CONCLUSION OF PEACE] + +On the next morning the Commissioners met for the last time, and signed +the treaty, after which they heard Mass and all dined with the Duchess, +who received the thanks and congratulations of the whole body. Then +they went their several ways, rejoicing, in Arras's words, "to escape +from purgatory." Howard and his colleagues hastened home to make their +peace with the offended Queen. In spite of her affected indifference, +Elizabeth was by no means gratified to hear of Philip's marriage. "So +your master is going to be married," she said with a smile to Count +Feria. "What a fortunate man he is!" Presently she heaved a little +sigh, and said: "But he could hardly have been as much in love with me +as you supposed, since he could not await my answer a few months."[567] + +Before leaving Câteau-Cambrésis, Christina sent letters of +congratulation to the French King and Queen and to Madame Marguerite, +expressing her joy at the conclusion of the treaty, and the pleasure +which she had received from her son's presence. To Henry II. she wrote: + + "It has pleased God to set the seal on all the joy and content + which I have experienced here--chiefly owing to Your Majesty's + kindness in allowing me to see my son, and, after that, Madame + your daughter and her company--by bringing those long-drawn + negotiations to a good end, and concluding, not only a lasting + peace, but also the marriage of the Catholic King with Madame + Elizabeth. For all of which I thank God, and assure Your + Majesty that I feel the utmost satisfaction in having been + able to bring about so excellent an arrangement, and one which + cannot fail to prove a great boon to Christendom." + +In her letter to Catherine, Christina dwells chiefly on her gratitude +to the Queen and her daughter for allowing her to keep her son so long. + + + "I thank you, Madame," she writes, "very humbly for your kind + interest in our son, who is very well, thank God, and I hope + that the pleasure of seeing you will prevent him from feeling + the fatigues of the journey. And I am greatly obliged to Your + Majesty and our daughter for having lent him to me so long. I + praise God that our negotiations have ended so happily, and + that these two great monarchs will henceforth not only be + friends, but closely allied by the marriage of the Catholic + King and Madame Elizabeth, which, as you will hear, was frankly + and joyfully arranged after all the other articles of the + treaty had been drawn up. I rejoice personally to think that + by this happy arrangement I shall often have the pleasure of + seeing your Majesties, our daughter, and my son, and take this + opportunity of wishing you joy on this auspicious event, hoping + that in future you will not fail to make use of me as of one + who is ever ready to do you service."[568] + +The Duchess now returned to Brussels with her daughters and the Prince +of Orange. All the towns and villages through which she passed were +hung with flags and garlands of flowers, and her coming was hailed +with shouts of joy. The prison doors were thrown open, and the poor +French soldiers, who had languished in captivity for years, called down +blessings on her head.[569] When she reached Brussels, the King himself +rode out to meet her, at the head of his nobles, while courtiers and +ladies flocked from all parts to welcome her return and offer their +congratulations on the triumphant success of her labours. For Christina +it was a great and memorable day. The bitterness of past memories was +blotted out, and peace and good-will seemed to have come back to earth. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1559] REJOICINGS AT BRUSSELS] + +At Whitsuntide the Treaty was ratified. The Duke of Lorraine came to +Brussels with the Cardinals of Lorraine and Guise and the Constable, +and spent a fortnight with his mother. They were present in the Court +chapel, with Cardinals and Princes, when the King, laying his hand on +a relic of the True Cross, took a solemn oath to keep the articles of +the Treaty. And Christina occupied the place of honour at Philip's +right hand at the state banquet in the great hall, while her son and +daughters and the Duchess of Aerschot were all at table.[570] The King +gave the Cardinal of Lorraine a service of gold plate and a wonderful +ship of rock-crystal studded with gems, and bestowed similar presents +on the Constable; while the Marshal St. André, being a poor man was +excused his ransom. They all left Flanders on the following Sunday, +except the Duke of Lorraine, who remained another week with his mother. +Before he left Brussels, letters from Denmark were received, confirming +a report which had already reached the Court of his grandfather +King Christian II.'s death. The old King had died in the Castle of +Kallundborg, after forty-five years of captivity, on the 25th of +January, 1559, at the ripe age of seventy-seven. He was buried with his +parents in the Franciscan church at Odensee, and Duke Adolf of Holstein +followed his kinsman's remains to their last resting-place. When her +son left Brussels, Christina put her household into mourning, and +retired to the Convent of La Cambre to spend a month in retreat. After +the strain and stress of the last six months, she felt the need of rest +sorely, and the shelter of convent walls was grateful to her tired +soul.[571] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[529] F. Decrue, "Montmorency à la Cour de Henri II.," 207. + +[530] Venetian Calendar, vi. 1346, 1363. + +[531] Ruble, "La Jeunesse de Marie Stuart," 153; Bouillé, i. 455; +Pimodan, 173-180. + +[532] Venetian Calendar, vi. 1471, 1488. + +[533] Granvelle, v. 168. + +[534] Venetian Calendar, vi. 1496-1498. + +[535] Venetian Calendar, vi. 1500. + +[536] _Ibid._, vi. 1528. + +[537] Groen van Prinsterer, "Archives de la Maison d'Orange et de +Nassau," i. 1; Kervyn de Lettenhove, ii. 257. + +[538] Granvelle, v. 171. + +[539] _Ibid._, v. 227. + +[540] Granvelle, v. 231. + +[541] Granvelle, v. 266. + +[542] Venetian Calendar, vi. 1537; Ruble, "Traité de Câteau-Cambrésis," +12. + +[543] Calendar of State Papers, Mary, Foreign, 402-404. + +[544] Gachard, "Retraite," etc., i. 44-48; Venetian Calendar, vi. 1544. + +[545] Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 257. + +[546] Venetian Calendar, vi. 1568. + +[547] Kervyn e Lettenhove, i. 384; Gachard, "Voyages," iv. 35-62. + +[548] Calmet, ii. 1, 351; Pfister, ii. 244; Venetian Calendar, vii. 19, +20. + +[549] Venetian Calendar, vii. 8, 10. + +[550] Granvelle, v. 420-426; Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 420. + +[551] Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 422, 444. + +[552] Granvelle, v. 454. + +[553] Ruble, "Traité de Câteau-Cambrésis," 23; Venetian Calendar, vii. +39; Granvelle, v. 495. + +[554] Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 457. + +[555] Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 475. + +[556] Granvelle, v. 487, 495, 502. + +[557] Venetian Calendar, vii. 54; Granvelle, v. 520, 525. + +[558] Granvelle, v. 529. + +[559] Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 460. + +[560] V. de St. Génis, "Histoire de Savoie," iii. 181. + +[561] Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 485. + +[562] Venetian Calendar, vii. 56; J. F. Le Petit, "Grande Chronique de +Hollande," ii. 20. + +[563] Venetian Calendar, vii. 57. + +[564] Ruble, 26; Venetian Calendar, vii. 67, 77. + +[565] Granvelle, v. 577. + +[566] Venetian Calendar, vii. 62. + +[567] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, i. 49, Archives of Simancas; +Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 494. + +[568] Granvelle, v. 582, 583. + +[569] Venetian Calendar, vii. 64. + +[570] Gachard, iv. 67; Venetian Calendar, vii. 87-90. + +[571] Schäfer, iv. 445. + + + + +BOOK XIII + +THE RETURN TO LORRAINE + +1559-1578 + + +I. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1559] THE NETHERLANDS REGENCY] + +During the last year the Duke of Savoy had repeatedly begged to be +relieved of his post as the King's Lieutenant in the Low Countries. +By the Treaty of Câteau-Cambrésis he recovered his dominions, and set +out on the 15th of June for Paris with a great train of gentlemen and +servants, to celebrate his marriage with King Henry's sister. At the +same time, the death of the Emperor made Philip's return to Spain +necessary. The appointment of a new Regent of the Netherlands became +imperative, and everyone expected the Duchess of Lorraine would be +chosen to fill the vacant office. A Habsburg by birth, she inherited +the capacity for governing which distinguished the women of her house, +and had proved her fitness for the post by the wisdom with which she +administered her son's State during seven years. Her popularity with +all classes of people in the Netherlands was an additional advantage, +and when, in the summer of 1558, it had been doubtful if Mary of +Hungary would consent to return, the Duchess was the first person +whose name was suggested. The Venetian Suriano remarked that the only +doubt as to her fitness for the office was that she hardly possessed +her aunt's extraordinary vigour and energy.[572] But these doubts had +been dispelled by the admirable manner in which she had conducted the +negotiations at the recent Conference and the immense credit which she +had acquired on all sides. Unfortunately, she had made an enemy of the +Bishop of Arras, and excited his jealousy by her private consultations +with the Cardinal and Constable, and still more by her friendship +with the Prince of Orange. Both Orange and Egmont disliked the Bishop +almost as much as they hated the King's Spanish favourites, and lost +no opportunity of showing their contempt for the "meddling priest," +as they called Philip's confidential counsellor. And both of these +proud nobles, seeing no hope of themselves obtaining the Regency, +supported the Duchess's claims strongly.[573] But the very popularity +which Christina enjoyed, the acclamations which greeted her return +from Câteau-Cambrésis, had the effect of arousing Philip's jealousy. +He lent a willing ear to Arras and Alva when they spoke scornfully of +the Duchess's French connection and of the influence which the Prince +of Orange would gain by his marriage with her daughter. Then, in an +evil hour both for himself and the Netherlands, the Bishop suggested +the name of the Duchess of Parma. Margaret was closely related to the +King, and would be far more pliable and ready to follow his counsels +than Christina. Philip liked his sister, and shared the Spaniards' +jealousy of the great Flemish nobles, more especially of the Prince +of Orange, whose intimacy with Christina he regarded with growing +suspicion. His mind was soon made up, and when the French Commissioners +came to Brussels in May, the appointment of the Duchess of Parma to be +Governess of the Low Countries was publicly proclaimed.[574] + +The announcement was the signal for an outburst of popular discontent. +Orange and Egmont protested loudly at this affront to the Duchess +of Lorraine, and complained of the indignity offered to the nation +by giving them a ruler of illegitimate birth, whose interests and +connections were all foreign, and whose husband had actually borne arms +against the late Emperor. + + "There is great discontent here," wrote Tiepolo, "at the + Duchess of Parma's appointment. The common folk use very + insolent language, and say that if a woman is to reign over + them they would far rather have the Duchess of Lorraine, whom + they know and love and hold to be one of themselves. Every + one, indeed, would have greatly preferred this Princess, who + is of royal lineage on both sides, and has long dwelt in these + provinces, besides being far more gracious and affable to the + nobles."[575] + +To Christina herself the blow was heavy. She had suffered many trials +and disappointments at her enemies' hands, but had never expected to be +treated with such ingratitude by the King, who had always professed so +much affection for his cousin, and was so deeply indebted to her. + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1559] CHRISTINA'S DISAPPOINTMENT] + + "The Duchess of Lorraine," wrote Tiepolo, "feels the injustice + of the King's decision more deeply than any of her past + adversities, and naturally thinks that, after her long and + indefatigable exertions in negotiating this peace, taking part + in every Conference and adjusting every dispute, she deserved + to be treated with greater regard. Everyone here admits that + peace was concluded chiefly owing to her wisdom and efforts, + and this is all the reward which she has received."[576] + +It is scarcely to be wondered at if Christina never wholly forgave +Philip for the cruel wrong which he had done her, and if in all her +future correspondence with him we trace a strain of reproachful +bitterness. Her resolve to leave the Netherlands was now fixed. She +could not bear to see another Regent at Brussels, and was not even sure +if she cared to live as a subject at her son's Court. Her thoughts +turned once more to Italy, and, since the Castles of Tortona and +Vigevano were not available, she addressed a petition to Philip through +her Italian secretary, asking him to give her the duchy of Bari in +Calabria. This principality, once the property of Lodovico Sforza, had +been lately bequeathed to Philip by the late Queen Bona of Poland, on +condition that he would discharge a considerable debt owing to her son, +King Sigismund. The beauty and salubrity of the spot, as well as its +association with the Sforzas, probably prompted Christina's request, +which ran as follows: + + "The Duchess of Lorraine in all humility begs Your Majesty, + in consideration of her close relationship and of the great + affection which she bore the late Emperor, and of the services + which she has rendered both to His Majesty of blessed memory + and to yourself, to do her the favour of granting her and + her children the duchy of Bari, with the same revenues and + independent liberties as were enjoyed by the Queen of Poland. + She will undertake to pay the King of Poland the sum of 100,000 + crowns due to him, and humbly begs Your Majesty to grant her + half of this amount in ready money, the other half in bills + on merchants' houses, in order that she may be able to pay the + creditors who annoy her daily. Her revenues for the next year + are already mortgaged, owing to the necessity laid upon her + of supporting her daughters, during the last seven years, and + the repeated journeys which she has undertaken to England, and + across the French frontier to treat of peace, all of which have + involved her in great and heavy expenses...." + +Here the petition breaks off abruptly, the rest of the page being torn +off; but we see by Philip's reply that it contained a bitter complaint +of the injustice which he had done Christina by refusing to make her +Regent. He wrote to Arras, desiring him to see that the Duchess ceased +to repeat these perpetual recriminations on the subject of the Regency, +which were as derogatory to her dignity as they were injurious to his +interests. He regretted that his own pressing needs made it impossible +for him to do as much as he should wish to help her. At the same time +he said that, besides the revenue of 4,000 crowns which he had already +offered her, and which she had neither refused nor accepted, he was +ready to give her another yearly allowance of 10,000 crowns, to be +charged on Naples and Milan, pointing out that she could raise money on +this income to satisfy her creditors. + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1559] WILLIAM OF ORANGE] + + "The sincere affection which the King has always felt for the + Duchess, and the closeness of their relationship," added the + writer, "impels him to advise her to retire to her dower lands + of Lorraine and live near her son, in order that she may foster + the loyalty and devotion which this young Prince owes her, and + give him advice and help that may conduce to his welfare and + that of the House of Lorraine. Any other action on her part, + the King is convinced, will only excite public suspicion and + slander. If, however, the Duchess prefers to live in the + kingdom of Naples, the King is ready to offer her the town of + Lecce, the most important next to the capital, where she can + enjoy all the comforts and amenities of Italian life, together + with the respect due to her exalted birth and rank."[577] + +This offer, however, did not commend itself to Christina. In spite +of its ancient castle and beautiful situation, Lecce was not an +independent principality, and had no connection with her family. She +replied curtly that she would follow His Majesty's advice and return +to Lorraine, as soon as her creditors were satisfied and her affairs +sufficiently arranged for her to leave the Netherlands with honour. +Upon this, Philip sent the Duchess a sum of 21,000 crowns to defray +the expenses of her journeys, and a further substantial advance on the +additional revenues which he had assigned her.[578] + +But while he was outwardly endeavouring to atone for one act of +injustice, he was secretly doing the Duchess another and a more +serious injury. The marriage of the Prince of Orange with her daughter +Renée had been practically arranged at Câteau-Cambrésis, but some +difficulties had arisen regarding the settlements already made by the +Prince on his two children by his first marriage, and the heavy debts +which he had incurred by his extravagance, amounting, it was said, +to 900,000 crowns. Up to this time Philip had openly encouraged the +Prince's suit, but both he and Arras looked with alarm on a marriage +that would make Orange more powerful and more dangerous than he was +already, and were secretly plotting against its conclusion. One day, +when Philip was walking in the park at Brussels with the Prince, he +told him how much he regretted to find that Madame de Lorraine was +strongly opposed to his marriage with her daughter, and had begged him +to inform the Prince that she must decline to proceed further with +the matter. The King added, in a friendly way, that he had told him +this in order that he might look about for another wife while he was +still young. The Prince was naturally much annoyed at this unexpected +communication, and replied proudly that, if this were the case, he +would promptly seek another alliance in Germany, where he had already +received several offers of marriage. He was deeply wounded, not without +reason, and went off to Paris a few days later, with Egmont and Alva, +to remain there as hostages until the conditions of the treaty had been +fulfilled. It was not until many months afterwards that he discovered +how he had been duped. Christina meanwhile remained in her convent +retreat, unconscious of what was happening in her absence, and heard +with some surprise that the Prince of Orange had left Court without +informing her of his departure. + +[Sidenote: JULY, 1559] MARGARET OF PARMA REGENT] + +All eyes were now turned to the Palais des Tournelles in Paris, +where the Catholic King's marriage to Elizabeth of France, and that +of the Duke of Savoy to Margaret, were about to be celebrated. Alva +represented his master at the wedding, which was solemnized at Notre +Dame on the 22nd of June, and his old enemy Guise proclaimed the new +Queen's titles at the church doors, and flung handfuls of gold to the +applauding crowds. But their joy was soon changed into mourning. King +Henry was mortally wounded by a splintered lance in the tournament that +followed, and, after lingering for ten days, breathed his last on the +10th of July, two days after the marriage of his sister and the Duke +of Savoy had been quietly solemnized in the neighbouring church of St. +Paul. + +[Illustration: WILLIAM, PRINCE OF ORANGE, ÆTAT 26 + +By Adriaan Key (Darmstadt) + +_To face p. 456_.] + +The news of his father-in-law's death reached Philip at Ghent, where +he was preparing for his departure. Here Christina joined him on the +19th, and was greeted with the liveliest demonstrations of affection +from both Court and people. Before leaving Brussels, she saw an English +gentleman, who was on his way to Italy, and brought her a pressing +invitation from Queen Elizabeth to pay a visit to England.[579] +Elizabeth had evidently not forgotten the Duchess's friendly intentions +on her behalf when she came to London in Mary's reign, nor her more +recent conversation with Lord Howard. After her arrival at Ghent, she +received frequent visits from Chaloner, the newly appointed Ambassador, +and from the French Envoy, Sébastien de l'Aubespine, who had been one +of the delegates to the Conference, and could not speak too highly +of Madame de Lorraine's goodness and ability. Through him she sent +affectionate messages to the young King Francis II. and his Scottish +wife, thanking them in the warmest terms for their kindness to her +son. Nor was Philip lacking in his attentions. He met the Duchess on +her arrival, paid her daily visits, and seemed to fall once more under +the old spell. On the 24th he and Christina were both present at a +Requiem for the King of France, and dined together afterwards. The same +afternoon Philip rode out to receive the Duchess of Parma.[580] The +next day the Duke of Savoy returned from Paris, bringing with him the +Prince of Orange and Egmont, who were released on parole, and attended +the Chapter of the Fleece held by the King in the Church of St. John. +On the 7th of August the States met, and the new Regent was formally +presented to them. But many voices were raised to protest against the +powers conferred upon her, and the States refused to grant the aids +demanded unless the Spanish troops were withdrawn. This act of audacity +roused Philip's anger, and in his farewell interview with William of +Orange he accused him of being the instigator of the measure. + +Before leaving Ghent, the King arranged a meeting between the two +Duchesses in the garden of the Prinzenhof, and afterwards invited +Christina to visit him at Flushing, where he spent some days before he +embarked. They dined together for the last time on the 12th of August, +and seem to have parted friends.[581] Then Christina returned to +Brussels to prepare for her own departure, and Chaloner wrote home: + + "I heare say the Duchess of Lorraine repaireth shortly hence + into Lorraine, smally satisfied with the preferment of the + other, for old emulations' sake."[582] + +[Sidenote: SEPT., 1559] RIVALRY OF THE DUCHESSES] + +During the next two months Christina had much to endure. She found a +marked change in the Prince of Orange. He treated her with profound +respect and courtesy in public, but kept aloof from her in private, +and appeared to have transferred his attentions to Margaret of Parma. +All idea of his marriage with Renée--"the Duchess of Lorraine's +soundlimbed daughter," as she was called by Chaloner--seemed to be +abandoned, and in September he left Court to attend the French King's +coronation at Reims. There was a general feeling of discontent abroad. + + "The new Regent is greatly disliked," wrote John Leigh, an + English merchant of Antwerp, "by all estates, who wished to + have the Duchess of Lorraine for their ruler, and some of her + own ladies have told her that she is a bastard, and not meet + for the place." + +The States refused to grant the subsidies asked for, and the people +clamoured for the removal of the Spaniards. The nobles showed their +displeasure by retiring to their country-houses, and the ladies +absented themselves from Margaret's receptions to meet in the Duchess +of Lorraine's rooms.[583] This naturally provoked quarrels and +jealousies, which, as Arras remarked in his letters to Philip, might +easily prove serious. + + "Then there is rivalry between the Duchess of Lorraine and her + of Parma," wrote the Bishop on the 4th of October, at the end + of a long tale of troubles. "The best way would be to keep them + apart, for all these comings and goings can produce no good + result. Fortunately, the former is about to go to Lorraine. We + shall see if she leaves her daughters here, or takes them with + her. What is certain is that, wherever she and her daughters + may be, it will be better for Your Majesty's service they + should be anywhere but here, as long as Madame de Parma remains + in these parts, and discord prevails between her and the + Duchess."[584] + +When Arras wrote these words, Christina was already on her way to +Lorraine. Philip received a letter from her at Toledo, informing him +of her final departure, and wrote to tell Arras that all strife +between the Duchesses was now at an end.[585] In the same month a +marriage was arranged between William of Orange and Anna of Saxony, the +Elector Maurice's daughter. Arras was greatly alarmed when he heard of +this alliance with a Protestant Princess, and used all his powers of +persuasion to induce the Prince to return to his old suit and marry +Mademoiselle de Lorraine. But it was too late. The Prince knew that +the Duchess would never forgive the studied neglect with which he had +treated her, and, as he told the Bishop, his word was already pledged. +A year later he married the Saxon Princess, but lived to repent of this +ill-assorted union, and to realize that he had been the dupe of Philip +and his astute Minister.[586] + + +II. + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1559] MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS] + +Christina's return to Lorraine took place at an eventful moment. The +death of Henry II. and the accession of Francis II. placed the supreme +power in the hands of the Guise brothers. As the saying ran, "So many +Guise Princes, so many Kings of France." The elder branch of the House +of Lorraine shared in the triumphs of the younger. The reigning Duke, +Charles, had grown up with the young King and Queen, and was tenderly +beloved by them. Francis could not bear his brother-in-law to be absent +from his side, and after his coronation at Reims, on the 18th of +September, he and Mary accompanied the Duke and Duchess on a progress +through Lorraine. The festival of the Order of St. Michel was held +at Bar, where Charles kept open house for a week, and his aunt, Anne +of Aerschot, came to join the family party and meet the daughter of +her old companion, Mary of Guise. The charms of the young Queen won +all hearts in her mother's native Lorraine, and Francis indulged his +passion for sport in the forests of Nomény and Esclaron.[587] + +Here, at this favourite hunting-lodge of the Guises, the royal party +were joined by the Duke's mother. Christina reached Esclaron on the +11th of October, and was received with every mark of respect and +affection. At first, if Brantôme is to be believed, the Duchess-mother +was inclined to stand on her dignity, and refused to yield precedence +to the youthful Queen; but Mary's grace and sweetness soon dispelled +all rivalry, and Christina became the best of friends with both the +King and Queen. General regret was expressed at the absence of the +young Princesses, whom their mother had left at Brussels; but Christina +was aware of the Cardinal's anxiety to arrange a marriage between Renée +and the Prince of Joinville, and had no intention of consenting to this +arrangement. + + "She left her daughters behind her," wrote Throckmorton, the + English Ambassador, "because she is unwilling to satisfy the + hopes of the House of Guise, and makes not so great an account + of their advances as to leave the old friendship of King Philip + and his countries. The French, in fact," he adds, "are doing + all they can to make the Duchess Dowager a good Frenchwoman, + but they will not find it as easy as they think."[588] + +At the end of the week Christina went on to Nancy with her son and +daughter-in-law, leaving the King and Queen to proceed to Joinville, +where Mary was anxious to see her beloved grandmother. She had +already appointed Antoinette and her three daughters-in-law to be her +ladies-in-waiting, and, as a further proof of affection, had given her +grandmother the present which she received from the city of Paris on +her state entry. From Blois, where the royal pair spent the autumn and +winter, Francis II. sent his brother-in-law the following letter, which +throws a pleasant light on the happy relations existing between the two +families: + + "MY DEAR BROTHER, + + "I am longing for news of you and my sister, and have not heard + from either of you since you reached Nancy. Next week I take + my sister, the Catholic Queen, to Châtelhérault on her way to + Spain, after which I shall return to Blois, and not move again + before Easter. As you may imagine, I cannot be in this house + without missing you very much. I shall await your return with + the utmost impatience, and wish you were here to enjoy the fine + rides which I have made in my forest. I must thank you for the + good cheer that you are giving my sister, which is the best + proof of your perfect love for me. And I am quite sure that in + this you are helped by my aunt your mother, Madame de Lorraine, + for whom I feel the deepest gratitude, and whom I should like + to assure of my readiness and anxiety to do her every possible + service. And I pray God, my dearest brother, to have you in His + holy keeping."[589] + +[Sidenote: DEC., 1559] CHRISTINA RETURNS TO NANCY] + +The young Duke and Duchess were both of them longing to accept this +pressing invitation and return to the gay French Court. Charles as +yet took little interest in public affairs which required serious +attention. Confusion reigned in every department. In many instances +the ducal lands had been seized and their revenues appropriated to +other uses, while the whole country had suffered from the frequent +incursions of foreign troops, and famine and distress prevailed in many +districts. Under these circumstances the help of the Duchess-mother was +sorely needed. Vaudemont, having neither health nor capacity to cope +with these difficulties, had retired into private life, and by degrees +Christina resumed most of her old functions. She applied herself to +reforming abuses and restoring order in the finances, and at the same +time helped her son and daughter-in-law in entertaining the nobles who +flocked to Nancy to pay them homage. Her daughters came to join her at +Christmas, and she settled once more in her old quarters in the ducal +palace. In March the Duke returned to the French Court, and his mother +was left to act as Regent during his absence.[590] + +After visiting Remiremont and Bar, Charles and his wife went on to +spend the summer with the King and Queen at Amboise, where they +gave themselves up to hunting and dancing, and enjoyed suppers at +Chenonceaux and water-parties on the Loire. But this joyous life was +rudely disturbed by the discovery of a Huguenot conspiracy, which +was put down with ruthless severity, and was followed by continual +alarms. The King and Duke had to be escorted by 500 men-at-arms on +their hunting-parties, and the Cardinal of Lorraine never left his room +without a guard of ten men bearing loaded pistols. On the 10th of June +Mary of Guise died in Edinburgh Castle, and her remains were brought +back to her native land and buried in her sister's convent church, St. +Pierre of Reims. The whole Court went into mourning, and Throckmorton +was so moved by the young Queen's tears that he declared "there never +was a daughter who loved her mother better."[591] Meanwhile the +aspect of affairs grew daily more threatening. There were riots in +the provinces, and rumours of plots at Court. The Duke of Lorraine +was present at the Council held at St. Germain for the defence of the +realm, but left for Nancy when the Court moved to Orleans in October. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1561] LA REINE BLANCHE] + +Two months later the young King died there very suddenly. He fainted +at vespers one evening, and passed away at midnight on the 5th of +December, 1560. His brother Charles, a boy of ten, was proclaimed +King in his stead, and his mother, Catherine de' Medici, assumed +the Regency. Three days afterwards Throckmorton wrote that the late +King was already forgotten by everyone but his widow, who, "being as +noble-minded as she is beautiful, weeps passionately for the husband +who loved her so dearly, and with whom she has lost everything." The +young Queen behaved with admirable discretion. On the day after the +King's death she sent the Crown jewels to her mother-in-law, and, as +soon as the funeral had been solemnized, begged leave to go and visit +her mother's grave at Reims. After spending three weeks with her aunt, +Abbess Renée, Mary went to stay with her grandmother at Joinville, +where she was joined by Anne of Aerschot, the one of all her mother's +family to whom she clung the most closely, calling her "ma tante," and +consulting her in all her difficulties.[592] + +Christina herself was full of sympathy for this young Queen, whose +early widowhood recalled her own fate, and she joined cordially in +the invitation which the Duke sent Mary to pay a visit to Nancy. "The +Queen of Scotland," wrote Throckmorton to Elizabeth on the 1st of May, +1561, "is at Nancy with the Dowager, whom here they call Son Altesse." +Christina rode out with her son to meet their guest on the frontiers of +Lorraine, and her uncles, the two Cardinals, Aumale, Vaudemont, and the +Duchess of Aerschot, all accompanied her to Nancy. + +The touching beauty of the young widow created a profound sensation at +the Court of Lorraine. Brantôme describes her as "a celestial vision"; +Ronsard sang of the charms which transfigured _son grand deuil et +tristesse_, and made her more dangerous in this simple white veil that +rivalled the exquisite delicacy of her complexion than in the most +sumptuous robes and dazzling jewels; and Clouet drew his immortal +portrait.[593] The Duke arranged a series of fêtes to distract the +young Queen's mind and help to dry her tears. There were masques and +dances at Nancy, hunting-parties and banquets at Nomény, where Mary +stood godmother to the Count Vaudemont's youngest child; and the Court +was gayer than it had been for many years. But intrigue was once more +rife at the French Court, and all manner of proposals were made for the +young widow's hand. The King of Denmark, Frederic III., the Prince of +Orange, the Archduke Charles, the Dukes of Bavaria and Ferrara, were +all suggested as possible husbands. The fascination which Mary had for +the boy-King Charles IX. was well known, and Catherine de' Medici, who +had never forgiven Mary for calling her a shopkeeper's daughter, was +secretly plotting to keep her away from the Court, and yet prevent her +marriage to Don Carlos, whom she wished to secure for her youngest +daughter, Margot. The Cardinal of Lorraine was known to be eager for +the Spanish marriage, and both Christina and Anne did their best to +forward his scheme, which was the subject of many letters that passed +between Granvelle, the Duchess of Aerschot, and Mary herself. But +Philip, without actually declining the offer, always returned evasive +answers, whether he shrank from placing his sickly and wayward son in +an independent position, or whether he feared the power of the Guise +faction.[594] + +[Illustration: _Mary Stuart as Queen of France_ + +_in widow's dress_ + +_From the drawing in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris._] + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1561] CORONATION OF CHARLES IX.] + +In the midst of the festivities at Nancy, Mary fell ill of fever, and +as soon as she was fit to travel returned to Joinville, to be nursed by +her grandmother; while Christina accompanied her son and his wife to +Reims for the new King's sacring on the 15th of May. The magnificence +of the Duchess-mother's appearance on this occasion excited general +admiration. Grief and anxiety had left their traces on her face, but, +in spite of advancing years and sorrow, Christina was still a very +handsome woman. Among all the royal ladies who met in the ancient +city, none was more stately and distinguished-looking than Madame de +Lorraine. As her chariot, draped with black velvet fringed with gold, +and drawn by four superb white horses of Arab breed, drew up in front +of the Cardinal's palace, a murmur of admiration ran through the crowd. +The Duchess sat at one window, clad in a long black velvet robe, and +wearing a jewelled diadem on her head, with a flowing white veil +and cap of the shape that became known at the French Court as _à la +Lorraine_, and was adopted by Mary, Queen of Scots, for her habitual +use. At the other sat her lovely young daughter Renée, the coveted +bride of many of the Princes who were present that day, while on the +opposite seat was the Princess of Macedonia, an august white-haired +lady, with the chiselled features of the proud Greek race to which she +belonged. The Queen-mother, Catherine de' Medici, stood at a window of +the Archbishop's palace to watch the entry of the Lorraine Princes, and +as she saw the Duchess alight, she exclaimed: "That is the finest woman +I know!" Then, descending the grand staircase, she advanced to meet +Christina with a stately courtesy, and thanked her for the honour she +was doing her son. + + "Herself a very proud woman," writes Brantôme, "she knew that + she had her match in the Duchess, and always treated her with + the highest honour and distinction, without ever yielding one + jot of her own claims."[595] + +The Duke of Lorraine bore the sword of state at the great ceremony on +the morrow, while Francis of Guise held the crown on the boy-King's +head, and his brother, the Cardinal, anointed his brow with the holy +chrism. "Everything," as Charles IX. wrote to the Bishop of Limoges, +"passed off to the great satisfaction of everyone present;"[596] and +when all was over, Madame de Lorraine and her children accompanied +the King and his mother to a country-house belonging to the Cardinal +in the neighbourhood, and enjoyed a week's repose in delicious spring +weather. Then the Court went on to St. Germain, where the Queen of +Scots came to take leave of her husband's family, and with many tears +bade farewell to the pleasant land of France, which she had loved all +too well for her own happiness. + + +III. + +[Sidenote: MARCH, 1561] DEATH OF DOROTHEA] + +On the death of Christian II. of Denmark, his elder daughter, Dorothea, +the widowed Electress Palatine, assumed the royal style and title. But +as she was childless herself, and lived in retirement at Neuburg, in +the Upper Palatinate, the faithful subjects who still clung to their +rightful monarch's cause turned to Christina, the Duchess-Dowager of +Lorraine, and begged her to assert her son's claims to the throne, +saying that they regarded him as their future King. Chief among these +was Peder Oxe, an able public servant who had been exiled by Christian +III., and came to visit the Duchess in the convent of La Cambre at +Brussels in 1559, soon after the captive monarch's death. Peder tried +to enlist her sympathies on behalf of her father's old subjects, and +assured her that the recovery of Denmark would be an easy matter, +owing to the unpopularity of the new King, Frederic III. At first +Christina lent a willing ear to these proposals, but her friend Count +d'Aremberg succeeded in convincing her of the futility of such an +enterprise, while both Philip and Granvelle firmly refused to support +the scheme.[597] Peder Oxe, however, followed Christina to Nancy, where +he became a member of the Ducal Council, and did good service in +restoring order in the finances. + +Other Danish exiles sought refuge at the Court of Lorraine, where +their presence naturally revived Christina's dreams of recovering her +father's throne. All manner of rumours were abroad. In March, 1561, +Chaloner heard that the French King and the Duke of Lorraine were about +to invade Denmark. Three months later Mary, Queen of Scots' faithful +servant, Melville, wrote from Heidelberg that the Duchess-Dowager +of Lorraine had come there to persuade her sister, the old Countess +Palatine, to surrender her rights on Denmark to her nephew, the Duke of +Lorraine. Christina spent some time with her sister, and was joined in +September by the Duke, who came to escort her home.[598] The Palatine +Frederic's successor, Otto Heinrich, had died in 1559, and his cousin, +the reigning Elector, Frederic of Zimmern, the brother of the Countess +Egmont and her sister Helene, was deeply attached to Dorothea, and, +like his predecessor, professed the Lutheran faith. A year after +Christina's visit Dorothea died suddenly at Neuburg, and was buried +by her husband's side in the Church of the Holy Ghost at Heidelberg. +The Palatine Frederic erected a fine monument over her grave, with the +following inscription: + + "To the most noble Lady, Dorothea, Countess Palatine, and Queen + of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, the beloved consort of the + Elector Frederic II., this tomb was raised by Frederic III., + by the grace of God Elector Palatine, in the year 1562, as a + token of love and gratitude to this his most dear and excellent + kinswoman." + +Dorothea's tomb was destroyed with that of her husband and many others +when Louis XIV.'s armies sacked and burnt Heidelberg in 1693, but an +English traveller who visited the castle and Church of the Holy Ghost +thirty years before, preserved this inscription in his diary.[599] + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1563] DUKE OF GUISE'S MURDER] + +Christina came to Heidelberg with her son and both her daughters in the +autumn of the year 1562, and was present at Frankfurt on the 24th of +November, when her cousin Maximilian was crowned King of the Romans. On +this occasion the Emperor Ferdinand collected as many of the imperial +family as possible around him. The Dukes and Duchesses of Bavaria and +Cleves were present, as well as most of the Electors and Princes of +the Empire; while Ibrahim Bey, the Sultan's Ambassador, brought camels +and rugs and Persian jars as gifts from his master. Among the old +friends whom the Duchess met at Frankfurt were the Prince of Orange, +Counts Egmont and Jacques d'Aremberg. They greeted her with renewed +friendliness, and from their lips she heard how badly things were going +in the Low Countries, and how unpopular the Regent and her Minister, +the newly-created Cardinal de Granvelle, had become with all classes +of people.[600] The Emperor and all his family returned to Heidelberg +after the coronation, and were splendidly entertained by the Palatine, +who was anxious to arrange a marriage between one of his sons and +Mademoiselle de Lorraine. But Frederic's strong Lutheran tenets were a +serious obstacle to this plan. At the recent coronation he had refused +to attend Mass, and had remained in the vestry of the cathedral until +the service was over. + +Meanwhile religious strife was raging in France, and Christina returned +to Nancy to find that civil war had broken out. Earlier in the year +the massacre of a peaceable congregation at Wassy, near Joinville, +had excited the fury of the Huguenots, and a fierce struggle was +being waged on the frontiers of Lorraine. The Duke's own kindred were +divided. Condé was the leader of the revolted party, while his brother +Antoine, King of Navarre--l'Échangeur, as he was called, because he +was said to change his religion as often as he did his coat--was +mortally wounded, fighting on the King's side, in the siege of Rouen. +A month later the Constable de Montmorency was made prisoner in the +Battle of Dreux, by his own nephew Coligny. On the 21st of February, +1563, Christina and her son were attending the baptism of the Duke +of Aumale's son Claude, when a messenger arrived with the news that +the Duke of Guise had been stabbed by a Huguenot fanatic in the camp +before Orleans. After a public funeral in Notre Dame, the remains of +Antoinette's most illustrious son were buried at Joinville, amid the +lamentations of the whole nation.[601] + +Fortunately, the duchy of Lorraine escaped the horrors of civil +war. On the 18th of May, 1562, Charles made his long-deferred state +entry into Nancy, and took a solemn vow to observe the rights of his +subjects before he received the ducal crown. But he still consulted +his mother in all important matters, and treated her with the utmost +respect and affection.[602] His own time and thoughts were chiefly +occupied in enlarging and beautifying the ducal palace. He extended the +Galerie des Cerfs, and built a fine hall, adorned with frescoes of the +Metamorphoses of Ovid, a translation of which had been dedicated to his +grandfather, Duke Antoine, by the poet Clement Marot. At the same time +he rebuilt the old Salle du Jeu de Paume on the model of one at the +Louvre, and made a picture-gallery above this new hall, which he hung +with portraits of the ducal family.[603] + +Christina also devoted much attention to the improvement of her +estates. She rebuilt the salt-works at Les Rosières, which had been +abandoned in the last century, and placed an inscription on the gates, +recording that in February, 1563, these salt-works were erected by + + "Christina, by the grace of God Queen of Denmark, Sweden, + and Norway, Sovereign of the Goths, Vandals, and Slavonians, + Duchess of Schleswig, Dittmarsch, Lorraine, Bar, and Milan, + Countess of Oldenburg and Blamont, and Lady of Tortona."[604] + +[Sidenote: NOV., 1563] BIRTH OF A GRANDSON] + +Several indications of the active part that she took in affairs +of State appear in contemporary records. In 1564, with the Pope's +sanction, she concluded an agreement with the Bishop of Toul, by which +he made over his temporalities to the Duke of Lorraine. Christina, as +she explained to Granvelle, had taken this step to avoid the see from +becoming the property of France; but her action roused the indignation +of her uncle, the Emperor Ferdinand, who rebuked his good niece sharply +for venturing to meddle with the affairs of the Imperial Chamber.[605] + +[Illustration: + + _Grand Duc le Prince Aisné, des Princes de ta Race, + Le Lorrein étonné de tés exploits guerriers, + Ne peut assez trouuer en son cloz de Lauriers, + Pour ombrager ton front, tes Temples, et ta face._ + +_Thomas de leu Fe: et excud_: + +CHARLES III., DUKE OF LORRAINE + +_To face p. 472_] + +On the 8th of November, 1563, the Duchess Claude gave birth to her +first child, a boy which was named Henry, after her father, the late +King of France. Both Charles IX. and Philip II. consented to stand +godfathers, and the French King announced his intention of attending +the child's christening in person. His visit, however, was put off, as +the young Duchess fell seriously ill of smallpox, and was eventually +fixed to take place at Bar after Easter. There was even a rumour that +King Philip, whose presence in the Low Countries was earnestly desired, +would visit Lorraine on his journey, and meet the French monarch on +the 1st of May. The prospect of seeing Catherine and her son with an +armed force in Lorraine filled Christina with alarm. The Queen-mother, +as she knew, was very jealous of the Duchess-Dowager's influence with +her son, and neglected no means of placing French subjects in positions +of authority at the Ducal Court;[606] while her recent intrigues with +the Huguenot leaders might lead to the introduction of Protestant rites +at the ceremony. Before the date fixed for the christening, however, +Christina received an unexpected visitor in the person of Cardinal +Granvelle, who had been compelled to bow to the storm and leave the +Netherlands. In a private note which he sent to Granvelle on the 1st of +March, 1564, Philip had desired the Cardinal to retire to Besançon on +plea of paying a visit to his mother, whom he had not seen for nineteen +years. The desired permission was readily granted by the Regent, and, +to the great satisfaction of the nobles, the hated Minister left +Brussels on the 13th of March. "Our man is really going," wrote William +of Orange to his brother Louis. "God grant he may go so far that he can +never return!"[607] + +[Sidenote: MARCH, 1564] GRANVELLE AT NANCY] + +The Cardinal had by this time recognized his fatal mistake in +persuading the King to appoint the Duchess of Parma Regent instead +of Madame de Lorraine, "by which action," as he himself wrote, "I +made the Prince of Orange my enemy."[608] He was the more anxious +to recover Christina's good graces, while she on her part does not +appear to have borne him any grudge for his share in the transaction. +His way led him through Lorraine, and when he reached Pont-à-Mousson +he found a messenger from the Duchess begging him to come and see +her at Nancy. On his arrival he was received by the Duke's _maître +d'hôtel_, and conducted to lodgings in the palace. This "very fine +house," and the hospitality with which he and his companions were +entertained, gratified the Cardinal, and after supper he was received +by the Duchess-Dowager, with whom he had a long interview in the Grande +Galerie.[609] They conversed freely of the troubles in the Netherlands. +Christina was anxious to justify herself from the charge of fomenting +these dissensions, and declared that she had nothing to say against +the Duchess of Parma, and only complained of her refusal to allow a +Mass for her father, King Christian II., to be said in the Court chapel +on the anniversary of his death. But she had many complaints to make +of the King, who had only written to her five times in the last five +years, and who insisted on keeping her Castle of Tortona in his own +hands, and employed the revenues of the town to pay the garrison, +without giving her any compensation. Granvelle could only allege the +unsettled state of Lombardy and the disorder of Milanese finances as +excuses for Philip's behaviour. The Duchess further confided to him +her fears regarding the French King's visit, and the intrigues of +Catherine, who was always endeavouring to destroy the harmony that +prevailed between herself and her daughter-in-law. Granvelle did his +best to allay these alarms, and assured her that the rumours as to the +large force that was to accompany him to Lorraine were absolutely false. + +Another subject on which Christina consulted the Cardinal was her +designs against Denmark. The young King Frederic III. at first +professed great friendship for her, and opened negotiations for his +marriage with her daughter Renée--a proposal which she was reluctant to +accept.[610] This idea, however, was soon abandoned, and the outbreak +of war between Denmark and Sweden seemed to afford an opportunity +for advancing her own claims. Peder Oxe and his companion in exile, +Willem von Grümbach, urged her to raise an army and invade Jutland, +assuring her that the discontented Danish nobles were only longing for +an excuse to rise in a body and dethrone the usurper. But Christina +realized that it would be useless to make any attempt without Philip's +support, which she begged Granvelle to obtain. The Cardinal, however, +quite declined to approach the King on the subject, and told the +Duchess that a rupture with Denmark would make him more unpopular +in Flanders than he was already, saying that he had no wish to be +stoned by the Dutch. Before leaving Nancy he discussed the situation +at length with the Duchess's latest friend, Baron de Polweiler, the +Bailiff of Hagenau, a brave and loyal servant of Charles V., who had +warmly espoused Christina's cause and was in correspondence with the +Danish malcontents. The Baron was a wise and practical man, and agreed +with Granvelle that the best course of action would be to keep up the +agitation in Denmark, without taking further measures until the coming +of King Philip, which was now confidently expected.[611] + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1564] ILLNESS OF CHRISTINA] + +After the Cardinal's departure, Christina fell ill at Denœuvre, and +was unable to accompany the Duke, who came to fetch her, and insisted +on putting off the child's christening until his mother was fit to +travel. At length, on the 2nd of May, the Duchess and her daughters +started for Bar, where the christening was celebrated on the following +day, and Christina held her grandson at the font. There was no display +of armed force, nor was any attempt made to introduce Lutheran rites. +On the contrary, the Queen-mother and all her suite were most amiable, +the greatest good-will prevailed on all sides, and the whole party +spent the next week in feasting, jousting, and dancing, while Ronsard +composed songs in honour of the occasion. On the 9th of May the young +King resumed his progress to Lyons, and the aged Duchess Antoinette, +who had come to Bar at the Cardinal of Lorraine's prayer, returned to +Joinville with her son. Christina's worst alarms had been dispelled, +but her suspicions were to some extent justified by the revival of +the French King's old claims to Bar, and the advance of certain new +pretensions, which were eventually referred to a court of justice in +Paris. What annoyed her scarcely less was the inferior quality of the +ring sent by the King of Spain to Duchess Claude, which excited more +than one unpleasant comment, although Count Mansfeldt, who stood proxy +for Philip, informed her privately that Margaret of Parma had spent +double the sum named by His Majesty on his christening present.[612] + + +IV. + +In July, 1564, Christina fell dangerously ill, and Silliers told +Polweiler that his mistress was suffering from a grave internal +malady. In November she had a severe relapse, and her death was hourly +expected. Her children and servants nursed her with untiring devotion, +and her friends at Brussels were deeply concerned. Anne d'Aerschot, +Margaret d'Aremberg, Egmont, and the Prince of Orange, made frequent +inquiries; and even Queen Mary wrote from Scotland to ask after the +Duchess's health. Philip alone took no notice of her illness, and his +indifference was keenly resented by Christina and her whole family. +"For the love of God," wrote Silliers to Polweiler, "do your best to +see that Madame is consoled, or she will certainly die of grief and +despair." And he poured out a passionate complaint, setting forth his +mistress's wrongs, and saying how, after cheating her out of Vigevano, +the King kept both the castle and revenues of her dower city in his +hands, and allowed her subjects to be exposed to the depredations +of the Spanish garrison. "To my mind," he adds, "this is a strange +proof of the singular affection which he professes to have for my +Lady!"[613] Granvelle himself was much concerned, and, when Polweiler +wrote to report an improvement in the Duchess's condition, expressed +his thankfulness, saying that the loss of such a Princess would be a +heavy blow to the cause of religion, as well as the greatest calamity +that could befall Lorraine. He owned that Madame had been harshly +treated, and could only counsel patience and assure her of Philip's +good-will; but he confessed that the task was a disagreeable one. +When Philip wrote at last, it was merely to exhort the Duchess to be +patient, as the whole world was in travail, and to promise that her +claims should be settled by the Cardinal.[614] Meanwhile fresh appeals +reached Christina every day from her Danish partisans, while King Eric +of Sweden, who had declared war on Denmark, opened negotiations with +her through his French Minister, Charles de Mornay. A marriage between +this young King and Renée was proposed, and Eric offered to support +the Duchess's rights to Denmark if she could obtain the help of the +Emperor and of the Netherlands. Ferdinand, however, quite declined to +countenance any attack on his ally, and begged his dear niece not to +stir up strife in Germany, although he assured her of his paternal love +and readiness to help her in the recovery of her rights by peaceable +methods. A few weeks after writing this letter the good Emperor died, +and, as Christina knew, she could expect little from his successor +Maximilian, who had never forgiven her friendship with Philip in bygone +days, and did not even send her the customary announcement of his +father's death. + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1565] DUKE ADOLF'S MARRIAGE] + +Another ally whose help the Duchess tried to enlist was the old +Landgrave, Philip of Hesse, whose daughter Christina, after being wooed +for some years by the King of Sweden, was finally married to Duke +Adolf of Holstein on the 20th of January, 1565. As Granvelle remarks, +it was a strange ending to this Prince's long courtship of Madame de +Lorraine, but he probably still hoped to support her cause in Denmark. +And as the Prince of Orange was asked to represent King Philip at the +marriage, Christina would have an opportunity of consulting him about +her Danish expedition.[615] But the Prince refused to leave Flanders, +and a serious relapse prevented the Duchess from attending the wedding. +As soon as she had recovered sufficiently, Christina dictated a letter +to her beloved sister Anne, who was still her most faithful friend: + + "Your letter was most welcome, as I had not heard from you + lately, and I thank you warmly for all that you say. I am + getting better, but am not very strong yet. As to the Swedish + business, I am anxious to know the name of the person whom you + mention as having the greatest affection for me and mine, and + who might help me with the King. And as I know that you only + desire my good, I beg you to keep your eyes open, and tell me + who are my best friends at Court. I quite agree with you that + it is useless to fish in troubled waters. Monsieur d'Egmont's + journey to Spain is a surprising event! The cause is unknown + to me, but it must be some matter of importance. Thank you + again with all my heart for the love that is expressed in your + letters."[616] + +The friends to whose influence at Court Anne had referred were the +Count and Countess of Aremberg, who stood high in favour with the King +and the Regent, and were in constant correspondence with Christina. + + "Would to God," wrote Margaret of Aremberg, "that Madame de + Lorraine could obtain the King's favour! She would then be + easily able to regain her own, as the Danes hate their King, + and he has no power over them. But I confess I have lost all + hopes of this ever coming to pass."[617] + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1565] JOURNEY TO BRUSSELS] + +By the advice of these friends, the Duchess now decided to send Baron +de Polweiler to Spain to beg the King for the 300,000 crowns due to +her, in order that she might avail herself of the opportunity presented +by the war between Sweden and Denmark, and open the campaign in the +summer. Upon this Granvelle felt it his duty to inform his master of +the Duchess's plans, which might, he thought, be successful if the +King could help her with subsidies, since she had several allies in +Germany.[618] Duke Eric of Brunswick offered to raise an army and take +the command of the expedition, and the Landgrave of Hesse promised +to help on condition that she gave her daughter Renée in marriage +to one of his sons; while, by way of removing Philip's objections, +the Cardinal dwelt on the advantages of restoring the true faith in +these Northern kingdoms. But this plan was frustrated by the Archduke +Ferdinand's refusal to give Polweiler leave of absence, and as +Silliers, who offered to go in his stead, would only have made matters +worse, Christina resolved to ask Count Egmont to plead her cause at +Madrid. Even Granvelle, who had no love for the Count, approved of this +plan. Egmont was known to be devoted to the Duchess, and his great +popularity in the Low Countries would go far to remove the objections +to a breach with Denmark in those provinces. Unfortunately, in spite +of his good-will, Egmont effected no more for Christina than he did +for the liberties of the Netherlands. He was royally entertained by +Philip and his courtiers, and loaded with presents and flatteries, but, +when he came to business, received nothing but vague words and empty +promises. + +On his return to Flanders in April, his house was crowded with +visitors, and the Duchess, finding that she could obtain no answer to +her letters, determined to go to Brussels herself. In June she set out +on her journey, saying that she was going to kiss the Holy Coat at +Treves and pay her devotions to the Blessed Sacrament of the Miracle at +Brussels, in fulfilment of a vow made when she had been at the point of +death.[619] Her pilgrimage excited great curiosity, and even Polweiler +was in the dark as to its object, but felt convinced that she meant to +see Egmont and Eric of Brunswick, and that they would soon hear of a +sudden call to arms. + + "I hear from a trustworthy source," wrote the Landgrave to + Louis of Nassau, "that the old Duchess of Lorraine is going to + Brussels with both her daughters. She has raised 400,000 crowns + at Antwerp to make war on Denmark, and is to be helped by the + Netherlands with ships, money, and men. Her daughter Renée is + to marry King Eric, and a close alliance against the Danish + King is to be formed between Sweden, Lorraine, the States, + and the Holy Empire. Although I do not hold popular rumours + to be as infallible as Holy Gospel, I count them more worthy + of belief than Æsop's fables or the tales of Amadis de Gaul. + Of one thing I am quite sure: The Duchess does not travel to + Flanders or send an Ambassador to Sweden to roast pears or + dance a galliard. The latest report is that the Duchess is + going to sell her claims on Denmark to the King of Spain, but + I can hardly think His Majesty will be anxious to buy these + barren rights which bring a war in their train. Do not take + my gossip unkindly, but let me know what you hear of this + business."[620] + +A cloud of mystery surrounds this visit which Christina paid to +Brussels in the summer of 1565. She declined the Regent's invitation +to occupy her old quarters in the palace, but stayed in the religious +house known as the Cloister of Jericho, and afterwards with the Duchess +of Aerschot at Diest. She received visits from Duke Eric, who professed +himself ready to raise troops to serve her at the shortest notice, and +also from Count Egmont. But all that she could learn from this noble +was that, when he urged her claims on the King, and begged him to see +that the arrears due to her were paid, Philip replied that Her Highness +was the wisest and most virtuous of women, and would always take the +best course possible.[621] By August Christina was back in Lorraine, +and attended the christening of Nicholas de Vaudemont's new-born +daughter, who received the name of Christina.[622] + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1566] INTRIGUES WITH SWEDEN] + +Whatever others may have felt about the Duchess's designs on Denmark, +the King of Sweden was evidently in earnest. Four Ambassadors arrived +at Nancy on All Saints' Day, 1565, and went on to Denœuvre. They +brought offers from Eric to conquer Norway and Denmark in the Duchess's +name and leave her in possession of the latter kingdom, and asked for +Madame Renée's hand, in order to confirm the alliance between Lorraine +and Sweden. During a whole year the Swedish Envoys remained at Nancy, +and prolonged conferences were held between them and the Duke and his +mother. A new ally also came to her help in the person of the Czar +of Muscovy, who was profuse in his offers of assistance. Christina's +hopes rose high, and a medal was struck in 1566, bearing her effigy as +Queen of Denmark, with the motto: _Me sine cuncta ruunt_ (Without me +all things perish).[623] But one ally after the other failed her. Both +the Emperor Maximilian and the Elector of Saxony, who had married a +Princess of Denmark, were strongly opposed to her schemes; while the +ancient feud between the Danes and Swedes, who, in Silliers's words, +"hated each other as much as cats and dogs or English and French," +helped to complicate matters.[624] At the same time, she felt reluctant +to give her daughter to a man of Eric's unstable character, who had +been courting Queen Elizabeth and Christina of Hesse at the same time, +and was known to have a low-born mistress. She had good reason to be +afraid that the story of King Christian and Dyveke might be repeated, +and her fears were justified when, a year later, the King of Sweden +raised this favourite to the throne, and was soon afterwards deposed by +his subjects. The defection of Peder Oxe, who made his peace with the +King of Denmark and returned to Copenhagen at the close of 1566, was +another blow, and the ultimate defeat of the Swedes in the following +year extinguished her last hopes.[625] Cardinal Granvelle, who had been +sent to Italy by Philip to keep him away from the Netherlands, wrote +that the Viceroy, with the best will in the world, found it impossible +to pay the arrears due to the Duchess, and could not withdraw the +garrison at Tortona without the King's leave. As for the Danish +expedition, Granvelle told Polweiler that it was more hopeless than +ever, and he could only advise Her Highness to abandon the idea.[626] + + "Madame de Lorraine," replied the Baron, "is in great + perplexity, abandoned by all her relatives, and, like Tantalus, + is left to die of thirst, looking down on a clear and beautiful + stream." + +[Sidenote: MARCH, 1567] LES GUEUX] + +But a few faithful friends were still left. In May, 1566, the Duchess +of Aerschot came to Lorraine with her young son, and spent the summer +in her old home. The troubles in the Netherlands filled her with the +utmost anxiety, and her family, like many others, was divided. All her +own sympathies were with William of Orange and Egmont in the struggle +for freedom, but her stepson, Philip of Aerschot, and her cousin, Count +d'Aremberg, were among the few nobles who refused to join the League, +and stood fast by the Regent. Margaret of Parma looked coldly on her, +owing to Anne's connection with Christina and the Prince of Orange, and +did not even send her an invitation to her son Alexander's wedding. +With her wonted good sense, Anne refused to notice this affront, and +told her friends that she was too unwell to attend the festivities, +which excited much discontent by their profuse extravagance.[627] But +the situation was painful, and she was glad to retire to Lorraine +and enjoy the company of Christina and her venerable aunt, Duchess +Antoinette. Together they read the affectionate letters which Mary +Stuart wrote from her Northern home, and sighed over the perils +surrounding the young Queen. In spite of her relatives' advice, she had +married Darnley, the handsome Scottish boy whom her uncle the Cardinal +of Lorraine termed "that great nincompoop of a girl," and was already +learning to her cost the mistake that she had made. + +Terrible news now came from Flanders. Riots broke out in Antwerp and +Ghent, and spread rapidly through the provinces. The great church +of St. John was plundered, Hubert van Eyck's famous Adoration was +only saved by the presence of mind of the Canons, and the tomb of +Christina's mother, Queen Isabella, was hacked to pieces.[628] In +Brussels S. Gudule was stripped of its pictures and statues, and the +cry of "Vivent les Gueux!" rang through the courts of Charles V.'s +palace. The Regent tried in vain to escape, and was forced to turn for +help to the Prince of Orange and her most bitter enemies. Anne returned +home to find public affairs in dire confusion, and retired to her +dower-house at Diest. After her departure Christina became seriously +ill, and in the spring of 1567 her daughters entreated the Countess +of Aremberg to come to Lorraine, saying that her presence would be +the best medicine for their mother. Margaret obeyed the summons and +spent three months at Nancy and Denœuvre.[629] On her return she told +Granvelle's friend, Provost Morillon, that the King made a great +mistake in being so unfriendly to the House of Lorraine, and that if +Madame died the Duke would become altogether French, and his duchy +might at any moment fall into the hands of France. Charles was Catholic +to his finger-tips, and entirely devoted to his mother, but after her +death no one could tell what might happen.[630] These representations +were not without effect. Philip wrote in a more kindly strain to the +Duchess, and sent one of his Chamberlains--Don Luis de Mendoza--to wait +upon her at Nancy, and remain in Lorraine until the arrival of the Duke +of Alva, who was now despatched from Spain to replace Margaret of Parma +as Captain-General of the Netherlands. In July he crossed the Mont +Cenis, and marched through Lorraine at the head of a force of picked +Spanish and Italian soldiers. Brantôme rushed to Nancy to see this +"gentle and gallant army," with their fine new muskets and pikes, but +the sight filled many of the spectators with profound misgivings.[631] + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1568] DEATH OF EGMONT] + +The Prince of Orange had already resigned all his offices and retired +to Germany, but Egmont and his friend Count Horn were caught in the +fatal snare, and were both arrested at a banquet in Alva's house on +the evening of the 9th of September. The news filled Europe with +consternation. In her distress Christina wrote several letters to the +King of Spain, pleading passionately for the Count's release, and +recalling his great deeds and the devotion which he had always shown +to the King's service.[632] Her appeals were seconded by the Duke and +his wife, by Vaudemont,--Egmont's own brother-in-law--by the Duke and +Duchess of Bavaria, the Elector Palatine, and all the Princes of the +Empire. Maximilian himself addressed two autograph letters to Philip, +praying for the Count's release, and the Knights of the Golden Fleece +protested against this violation of the rules of their Order. But +all was in vain. Philip vouchsafed no answer to any of these appeals, +saying he would not change his mind if the sky were to fall on his +head,[633] and on the 6th of June, 1568, the Grande Place witnessed +the execution of the hero of Gravelines. A fortnight before this +shocking event, Anne, Duchess of Aerschot, breathed her last at Diest, +thankful to escape from a world so full of misery, and only grieving +to think that her vast dower and fine estates would not pass to their +rightful owner, William of Orange.[634] In the same month of May the +first battle was fought between the revolted nobles and the Spanish +forces, and Margaret of Aremberg's husband fell fighting valiantly +in the mêlée. Meanwhile civil war had broken out again in France, +and in November, 1567, the Constable Montmorency, the old Nestor of +France, was killed in a battle at St. Denis, fighting against the +Huguenots, with Condé and his own nephew Coligny at their head. Old +friends were falling on every side, and before Christina's tears for +her sister-in-law were dried, she and the aged Duchess of Guise were +mourning the sad fate of Antoinette's luckless granddaughter, the Queen +of Scots, who had been compelled to abdicate her throne, and was now a +captive in the hands of her rival, Queen Elizabeth. + + +V. + +While civil war was raging all round, and Christina's best friends +were dying on the scaffold or the battle-field, the marriage of her +daughter Renée brought a ray of light into her life. The tale of +Renée's courtships almost rivals that of her mother's. The Kings of +Sweden and Denmark, William of Orange and Henri de Joinville, were only +a few among the candidates who sought her hand. Granvelle once proposed +the Duke of Urbino as a suitable match, and Philip was anxious to marry +her to his handsome and popular half-brother, Don John of Austria. But +the Duchess declined this offer repeatedly, saying that no child of +hers should ever wed a bastard. When in the summer of 1567, Don Luis +de Mendoza again urged this suit on the King's behalf, the Duchess +informed him that her daughter's hand was already promised to Duke +William of Bavaria, the eldest son of the reigning Duke Albert and his +wife, the Archduchess Anna. The contract was signed in September, and +the marriage took place early in the following year,[635] and turned +out very happily. Throughout his life the Bavarian Duke maintained +worthily the strong Catholic traditions of his house, and proved a +dutiful and affectionate son-in-law. Christina spent the following +winter at the Castle of Friedberg in Bavaria, where she was once more +dangerously ill, and Silliers as usual complained bitterly of Philip's +neglect and unkindness in never making inquiries after her health. +But, in spite of all rebuffs, neither the Baron nor his mistress had +abandoned their dreams of conquering Denmark, and in April, 1569, +Cardinal Granvelle wrote to the King from Rome: + +[Sidenote: SEPT., 1572] DEATH OF SILLIERS] + + "Madame de Lorraine is still trying to recover her father's + kingdom, and both she and her Councillor, Silliers, are + continually begging me for help in this matter. In vain I have + replied for the hundredth time that I am too far from Madrid + and the Low Countries to know if the affair is practicable, + and have pointed out that, in the first place, the Dutch will + never break with Denmark; secondly, that the Emperor would + object to any attempt of this kind; and, thirdly, that Your + Majesty's hands are full. In fact, I have told her that I + cannot see any solid foundations for her hopes. But she returns + to the charge again and again."[636] + +It was the last flicker of an expiring flame. After this, even +Christina seems to have recognized the futility of her schemes, and the +death of Silliers finally decided her to abandon them altogether. This +"vain, insupportable, and foolish man," as the Cardinal called him, +and whom her son, the Duke, also detested cordially, lost his life in +Bavaria, in September, 1572, being killed by a shot from a crossbow, +which was said to be accidental, but which Granvelle and his other +enemies ascribed to a paid assassin.[637] During the last twenty years, +it must be owned, Silliers had been the Duchess's evil genius; but, in +spite of all his faults, he was sincerely attached to his mistress, and +his devotion to her interests cannot be questioned. + +Christina spent the next six years chiefly at Nancy or Denœuvre, in the +company of her children and grandchildren. The Duke had a large family +of three sons and six daughters, the eldest of whom, Christina, bore +a strong likeness to her grandmother both in face and character. This +Princess and her cousin Louise de Vaudemont, the daughter of Nicholas +by his first wife, Margaret of Egmont, were great favourites with the +Duchess-mother, and spent much time in her society. Louise was a fair +and gentle maiden, whose charms captivated Henry, Duke of Anjou, when +he came to Lorraine in 1573, on his way to take possession of the +throne of Poland. He was accompanied by his mother, Queen Catherine, +who spent a week at Nancy, and after her son's departure remained some +days at Blamont with Christina. When, two years later, Henry succeeded +his brother, Charles IX., the new King's first thought was to make +the Princess of Lorraine his wife. Christina was too ill to leave her +bed, but Duchess Antoinette, still young in spite of her eighty years, +brought the bride to Reims, where the wedding was celebrated two days +after Henry III.'s coronation. The Duke and his sister Dorothea were +present at the ceremony, as well as all the Guise Princes.[638] Five +days afterwards, on the 20th of February, 1575, the Duchess Claude, +whose health had long been failing, and who had lately given birth to +twin daughters, died in the ducal palace, at the age of twenty-eight, +leaving the Duke an inconsolable widower. He was only thirty-two, +and although he lived till 1608, never married again. Soon after +Claude's death, her eldest daughter, Christina, went to live with her +grandmother, Catherine de' Medici, at the French Court. This masterful +lady, who quarrelled with her own daughter Margaret, was very fond of +Christina, and kept this young Princess constantly at her side during +the next fourteen years. + +[Sidenote: DEC., 1575] MARRIAGE OF DOROTHEA] + +In the following December, Elizabeth of Austria, the widow of Charles +IX., and daughter of the Emperor Maximilian II., visited Nancy on +her way back to Vienna, and was escorted on her journey by Renée and +her husband, the Duke of Bavaria. They were all three present at the +wedding of the Princess Dorothea, who was married in the Church of +St. Georges, on the 26th of December, to Duke Eric of Brunswick.[639] +This wild and restless Prince had always been on friendly terms with +Christina and her family, and was one of King Philip's favourite +captains and a Knight of the Golden Fleece. He had lately lost +his first wife, and succeeded his father in the principalities of +Göttingen and Calenberg, although his roving tastes made him prefer +foreign service to residence on his own estates. Now, at the age of +forty-seven, he became the husband of Christina's younger daughter. +In spite of her lameness, this Princess inherited much of her aunt +Dorothea's charm and gaiety, and was fondly beloved by her brother +and all his children. She took especial interest in the improvements +which the Duke was never tired of making at Nancy, and helped him in +laying out the beautiful terraced gardens, adorned with fountains and +orangeries, in the precincts of the ducal palace. And the bell in the +new clock-tower, which the Duke built in 1577, was named Dorothea, +after the Duchess of Brunswick.[640] Charles himself, like his father, +was a Prince of cultured tastes, who studied the Latin and Italian +poets and took delight in Ronsard's verses. The foundation of the +University at Pont-à-Mousson bore witness to his love of learning, +while he employed scholars to collect precious books and manuscripts, +and sent his gardeners to inspect the royal palaces at Fontainebleau +and St. Germain, and to bring back rare plants and exotics.[641] + +In these last years of Christina's life at Nancy, new hopes and +interests were suddenly brought into her life by Don John of Austria's +arrival in the Low Countries. When terrorism and massacre had failed +to crush the revolted provinces, the hero of Lepanto was appointed +Governor, in the hope that he might succeed in restoring order, by +appealing to his illustrious father's memory and ruling the Netherlands +according to his example. In October, 1576, Don John travelled through +France in the disguise of a Moorish servant, and, after spending one +night in Paris, came to Joinville to consult the Duke of Guise on a +romantic scheme which he had formed to release and marry the captive +Queen of Scots. Then he hurried on to Luxembourg and proclaimed his +intention of withdrawing the Spanish troops and granting a general +amnesty. The coming of this chivalrous Prince, with his message of +peace, filled the people of the Netherlands with new hope. Don John was +received with open arms by the Duke of Aerschot and his half-brother, +Anne of Lorraine's son, Charles de Croy, Marquis of Havré. His first +act was to restore the lands and fortune of the late Count Egmont to +his widow, the Countess Palatine Sabina, and her innocent children. +This rejoiced the heart of Madame d'Aremberg, who had been spending the +winter at Nancy with the Duchess, and Christina's nephew, Charles de +Croy, told Don John frankly that the Low Countries would gladly have +him, not only for their Governor, but for their King. Christina herself +was deeply stirred, and sent a member of her household to Luxembourg +with a letter welcoming the Prince in the warmest terms, and thanking +him for the cheering news which he had sent her. + +[Sidenote: NOV., 1576] DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA] + + "I can only praise God," she wrote, "for your appointment to + the government of the Low Countries, and trust that the same + success that, thanks to your great valour and prudence, has + everywhere attended you will continue to crown your efforts. + + "Your very loving and more than + very affectionate cousin, + "CHRÉTIENNE. + + "Blamont, November 12, 1576."[642] + + +In her anxiety to see Don John, the Duchess set out for Pont-à-Mousson; +but when she reached Nancy, on the 12th of December, she heard that the +Prince had already left Luxembourg for the Netherlands, and sent him +the following letter by a confidential servant, who was to tell him +many things which she could not commit to paper: + + "MY COUSIN, + + "The singular wish that I have to see Your Highness, and confer + with you on many points of the highest importance, induced + me to leave Blamont and come to Pont-à-Mousson, in order to + be near you and to have an opportunity of seeing you and + conversing together, as you will learn more fully from this + gentleman whom I am sending to wish you all prosperity and + success in your noble designs and enterprises, as well as to + tell you many things which I beg you to hear and believe."[643] + +Don John replied in the same friendly spirit, telling her his plans and +thanking her most warmly for her advice. + + "As for me," he wrote, "I am exceedingly obliged to Your + Highness for your offers, and shall always be most grateful for + your advice and help, knowing, Madame, your great experience + and wisdom in affairs. God knows how anxious I was to come and + see Your Highness on my journey here, and kiss your hands, but + it was impossible owing to the urgency of affairs requiring my + presence here. I am very glad indeed," he adds in a postscript, + "to hear that you are in good health."[644] + +The Prince was evidently impressed by the soundness of the Duchess's +judgment and by her great popularity in the Netherlands, for when, a +few weeks later, he began to realize the hopeless nature of his task, +and begged for his recall, he repeatedly told Philip that, in his +opinion, the Duchess of Lorraine would be the best person to take his +place. + + "The Duchess of Lorraine," he wrote on February 16, 1577, + "has all the qualities necessary for the government of these + provinces, which she would administer far better than I can, + because they are beginning to hate me, and I know that I hate + them." + +Again, a little later: + + "I find in Madame de Lorraine a real desire to serve Your + Majesty. She has come to Pont-à-Mousson to see if she can be of + help to me, and I am sure would gladly execute any orders that + she may receive." + +[Sidenote: OCT., 1578] DEATH OF DON JOHN] + +Christina heard with delight of Don John's joyous entry into Brussels +on May Day, and received with deep thankfulness his letter informing +her of the departure of the hated Spanish troops. But these high hopes +were doomed to disappointment. The war soon broke out again, and after +Don John's victory of Gembloux in January, 1578, Madame de Lorraine was +one of the first persons to whom he announced the news by letter.[645] +Both of the Duchess's sons-in-law joined in supporting Don John, and in +May, 1578, the Duke of Brunswick brought a force of 3,000 Germans to +join him at Namur. Dorothea accompanied her husband, and was about to +pay the Prince a visit, when she received a message from her brother +Charles, informing her of their mother's serious illness, and left +hastily for Nancy.[646] + +Five months afterwards a premature death closed the brilliant +adventurer's career, and Christina was left to grieve over the tragic +end of this Prince, of whom so much had been expected. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[572] Venetian Calendar, vi. 1533. + +[573] T. Juste, "Philippe II.," 209; Gachard, "Correspondance de +Guillaume d'Orange," i. 431; Granvelle, v. 628. + +[574] T. Juste, 206; Venetian Calendar, vii. 83. + +[575] Venetian Calendar, vii. 83. + +[576] Venetian Calendar, vii. 83. + +[577] Granvelle, v. 625-627. + +[578] Venetian Calendar, vii. 112. + +[579] Calendar of State Papers, Elizabeth, i. 82. + +[580] Sébastien de l'Aubespine, "Négociations au Règne de François +II.," 43, 66. + +[581] Venetian Calendar, vii. 119, 121; Gachard, iv. 72. + +[582] Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 583. + +[583] Groen, i. 49; Kervyn de Lettenhove, ii. 8; Venetian Calendar, +vii. 112. + +[584] Groen, i. 35; Granvelle, v. 652. + +[585] Granvelle, v. 672, vi. 29. + +[586] Groen, i. 49, 52; "Correspondence de Granvelle," iii. 529. + +[587] Calmet, ii. 1552; Pfister, ii. 246; Calendar of State Papers, +Elizabeth, i. 562. + +[588] Calendar of State Papers, Elizabeth, Foreign, ii. 55. + +[589] A. de Ruble, 308; Bibliothèque Nationale, 123, 4, f. 40. + +[590] Calmet, ii. 1353; Pfister, ii. 246. + +[591] Venetian Calendar, vii. 163; Calendar of State Papers, Elizabeth, +Foreign, iii. 224. + +[592] Calendar of State Papers, Elizabeth, Foreign, iv. 91; Venetian +Calendar, vii. 290. + +[593] A. de Ruble, 210; Brantôme, xii. 116; Aubespine, 752. + +[594] Aubespine, 80-84; Bouillé, ii. 74; Venetian Calendar, vii. 290. + +[595] Brantôme, xii. 117. + +[596] Aubespine, 867. + +[597] Schlegel, 253; Granvelle, vi. 1. + +[598] Calendar of State Papers, Elizabeth, Foreign, ii. 458, iii. 328. + +[599] A. Churchill, "Collection of Voyages and Travels," vi. 458. + +[600] Calendar of State Papers, Elizabeth, Foreign, v. 554; Granvelle, +vi. 683. + +[601] Pimodan, 215. + +[602] Granvelle, vii. 488. + +[603] Pfister, ii. 184; H. Lepage, "Le Palais Ducal de Nancy," 3. + +[604] Calmet, iii. 30. + +[605] Granvelle, vii. 344; Calmet, iii. 434, 438. + +[606] Granvelle, vii. 488. + +[607] Gachard, "Correspondance de Guillaume, Prince d'Orange," ii. 67; +Groen, i. 214. + +[608] "Mémoires de Granvelle," xxxv. 19. + +[609] Granvelle, vii. 437-440. + +[610] Schäfer, v. 111, 112. + +[611] Granvelle, vii. 533, 671, viii. 522. + +[612] Calmet, iii. 1359; Granvelle, viii. 46. + +[613] Granvelle, viii. 345. + +[614] _Ibid_., viii. 472. + +[615] Granvelle, viii. 609. + +[616] _Ibid._, viii. 637. + +[617] Granvelle, viii. 637. + +[618] Granvelle, ix. 22, 28; Schäfer, v. 114. + +[619] Granvelle, ix. 373. + +[620] Groen, i. 408. + +[621] Granvelle, ix. 498. + +[622] _Ibid_., ix. 496. + +[623] Schäfer, v. 116-118; Calmet, ii. 26. + +[624] Granvelle, ix. 661-664; Groen, i. 303. + +[625] Schäfer, v. 167. + +[626] Granvelle, "Correspondance," i. 126, 178. + +[627] _Ibid._, i. 43, 524. + +[628] Granvelle, "Correspondance," i. 444. + +[629] _Ibid._, i. 494. + +[630] Granvelle, "Correspondance," ii. 494. + +[631] Brantôme, i. 104. + +[632] Gachard, "Correspondance de Philippe II.," i. 18. + +[633] Gachard, "Correspondance de Philippe II.," i. 588, 738, 762. + +[634] Granvelle, "Correspondance," iii. 235. + +[635] Calmet, i. 265. + +[636] Granvelle, "Correspondance," iii. 463. + +[637] _Ibid._, v. 418. + +[638] Pimodan, 254. + +[639] Calmet, i. 265; Pfister, ii. 256. + +[640] Pfister, ii. 246; H. Lepage, "La Ville de Nancy," 63, "Palais +Ducal," 3. + +[641] Pfister, ii. 496. + +[642] Gachard, "Correspondance de Philippe II.," v. 29. + +[643] _Ibid._, v. 92. + +[644] Granvelle, "Correspondance," vi. 521. + +[645] _Ibid._, vii. 572. + +[646] Granvelle, vii. 638. + + + + +BOOK XIV + +THE LADY OF TORTONA + +1578-1590 + + +I. + +The marriage of her last remaining daughter, and the removal of her +granddaughter to the French Court, loosened the ties that bound the +Duchess-mother to Lorraine. The failure of the high hopes which Don +John's coming had aroused were a grievous disappointment, and, after +her dangerous attack of illness in the spring of 1578, Christina +decided to follow her doctor's advice and seek a warmer climate. +Her thoughts naturally turned to her dower city of Tortona, whose +inhabitants still paid her allegiance, in spite of Philip's invasion +of her privileges. Since the Spanish garrison still occupied the +castle, the magistrates begged her to inhabit the Communal palace, +and Christina, touched by their expressions of loyalty and affection, +resolved to accept the offer. + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1578] CHRISTINA RETURNS TO ITALY] + +Before settling at Tortona, however, she decided to make a pilgrimage +to Loreto, the shrine for which the Lorraine Princes had always +cherished especial veneration. Early in August, 1578, she left Nancy +and travelled across the Alps, and through Savoy, by the route which +she had taken as a bride, nearly half a century before. Her old friend, +the Duchess Margaret, whose marriage had been one of the happiest +results of the Treaty of Câteau-Cambrésis, had already been dead four +years, and her lord of the Iron-head was a confirmed invalid; but he +sent his son, Charles Emanuel, to meet the Duchess and escort her to +the citadel of Turin. + +From Savoy, Christina proceeded to Milan, where she arrived on the +20th of August, and was hospitably entertained in the Castello by the +Spanish Viceroy, the Marquis d'Ayamonte.[647] Once more she drove in +her chariot through the streets where her coming had been hailed by +rejoicing multitudes, once more she prayed by her husband's tomb in the +Duomo and saw Leonardo's Cenacolo in Le Grazie. Her old friends, Count +Massimiliano, the Trivulzi, and Dejanira, were dead and gone, and at +every step the ghosts of bygone days rose up to haunt her memory. Then +she travelled on by slow stages to Loreto, on the Adriatic shore, where +she paid her vows at Our Lady's shrine, and offered a massive gold +heart set with pearls and precious gems, to the admiration of future +pilgrims.[648] But the long journey had overtaxed her strength, and +when, on her return to Lombardy, she reached Ripalta, she was too ill +to go any farther. Here she remained throughout the winter to recover +from her fatigues and give the citizens of Tortona time to prepare for +her reception. + +At length, on the 17th of June, 1579, the Duchess made her state entry +into the city. The magistrates met her at the gates with a stately +baldacchino fringed with gold and silver, and escorted their Sovereign +Lady to the house of Bartolommeo Busseto, where she alighted to partake +of the banquet which had been prepared. Afterwards the loyal citizens +accompanied her to the Palazzo Pubblico, halfway up the hill above +the town, which had been splendidly fitted up for her occupation. The +beauty of the view delighted the Duchess as much as the enthusiastic +warmth of her reception, and the health-giving breezes of the Lombard +city proved even more beneficial than her physicians had expected. "She +came to our city of Tortona a dying woman, and lived there in health +and comfort for more than ten years."[649] So wrote Niccolò Montemerlo, +the historian whose chronicles of Tortona were published in 1618, +when Christina had not yet been dead thirty years. His contemporaries +joined with him in praising the Duchess's wise and beneficial rule, +the strictness with which she administered justice, her liberality and +benevolence. + + "The Duchess Christina of Milan," wrote Campo of Cremona in + 1585, "celebrated for her beauty and gracious manners, for + her affability and generosity, has lately come to spend her + widowhood in the city of Tortona, and lives there in great + splendour, beloved by all."[650] + +[Sidenote: JUNE, 1579] THE LADY OF TORTONA] + +Christina's administrative powers found ample scope in the government +of the city, and under her rule Tortona enjoyed a brief spell of +peace and prosperity. She reformed abuses, obtained the restitution +of lost privileges, and healed a long-standing feud with the city of +Ravenna. At her prayer, Pope Gregory XIII. repealed a decree exacting +a heavy fine from every citizen of Tortona who entered Ravennese +territory, and friendly communications were restored between the two +cities. Before her coming, the Spanish Viceroy had incurred great +unpopularity by building a new citadel on the heights occupied by +the ancient Duomo and episcopal palace, and converting these into +barracks and powder-magazines. In 1560 the foundations of a new +Cathedral were laid by Philip's orders in the lower city, but this +could not atone in the eyes of the citizens for the desecration of the +venerated shrine founded by St. Innocent in the fourth century, and +adorned with priceless mosaics and marbles. When, in 1609, the lofty +campanile was struck by lightning, and 400 barrels of gunpowder stored +in the nave exploded with terrific force, the accident was regarded +as a Divine judgment, and the panic-stricken Spaniards joined in the +solemn procession that bore the relics of the martyrs from their old +resting-place to the new sanctuary.[651] + +But if Christina could not atone for this indignity, or deliver +Tortona from the presence of the hated Spaniards, she protected her +subjects from their outrages, and rigidly enforced the observance of +the law. Many were the petitions and remonstrances on behalf of her +own rights and those of the citizens which she addressed to her dear +and illustrious cousin, Don Carlos of Aragon, Duke of Terranuova, who +reigned over the Milanese as Viceroy from 1583 to 1592. The Duchess was +in frequent correspondence with her children beyond the Alps, and many +requests for passes for horses which she is sending to Lorraine and +Bavaria, as well as for privileges for her Equerries, Signor Alfonso +and Gaspare Visconti, are to be found in the archives of Milan.[652] + +[Sidenote: JAN., 1585] THE LAST PHASE] + +Many were the illustrious guests, remarks Montemerlo, who came to visit +the Duchess at Tortona. In October, 1581, the Empress-Dowager Maria, +widow of Maximilian II., passed through Lombardy on her return to +Spain, and was received at Alessandria by Madame de Lorraine. Together +they drove through streets hung with tapestries and adorned with +triumphal arches, until, after three days' festivities, they went on to +Tortona, and thence to Genoa. The families of the old Milanese nobles +who had remained loyal to the House of Sforza welcomed Christina's +return to Lombardy with joy. The nephew and heir of Count Massimiliano +Stampa placed his superb pleasure-house at Montecastello, in the fief +of Soncino, at her disposal, and named his eldest son Christian in her +honour. The Guaschi of Alessandria, the Counts of Oria, the Trivulzi, +the Somaglia and Visconti, vied with each other in entertaining her +sumptuously.[653] The saintly Archbishop of Milan, Carlo Borromeo, +visited her more than once, and the excellent Bishop of Tortona, Cesare +Gambara, sought her help and advice in all that concerned the welfare +of his people. From the day when, hardly more than a child herself, +she begged Cardinal Caracciolo's protection for the destitute ladies +at Pavia, Christina always cared for the poor and needy, and in her +old age she was busy with active works of mercy. One of her last good +actions was to send to Paris for Madame Castellani, a daughter of +her old friend the Princess of Macedonia, who was living in reduced +circumstances at the French Court, and bring her to Tortona to spend +the rest of her life in peace and comfort. So she earned the love and +gratitude of all around her, and thousands blessed the good Duchess's +name long after she was dead. + + +II. + +This last phase of Christina's life was on the whole peaceful and +happy. Brantôme pitied this great lady, a daughter of Kings and niece +of Emperors, and the rightful Queen of three kingdoms, who, after +reigning over Milan and Lorraine, was reduced to hold her Court in an +insignificant Lombard town, and was known in her last years as "Madame +de Tortone."[654] But after her troubled life Christina was grateful +for the peace and repose which she found at Tortona, and would have +been perfectly content if it had not been for the continual annoyances +to which she was exposed by Philip and his Ministers. From the moment +that she settled in her dower city, the King began to dispute her +right to its sovereignty, and insisted that, since Tortona had been +settled upon her as an equivalent for the dower given her "out of +pure liberality" by the late Emperor, she was bound to surrender +her claims on payment of the sum in full. Christina, on her part, +maintained with good reason that her claim to the city had never before +been questioned, and that it was settled on her at her marriage, and +belonged to her and her heirs of the House of Lorraine in perpetuity. +The assertion of this claim roused Cardinal Granvelle to the highest +indignation. "So dangerous a thing," he wrote to Philip, "cannot +possibly be allowed." But, as he confessed, what made the situation +awkward was that Madame de Lorraine's claims were strongly supported, +not only by her son, Duke Charles, but by the Emperor Rudolf, the Duke +of Bavaria, the Archdukes Ferdinand and Charles, and all the Princes of +the Empire.[655] A long wrangle ensued, which ended in a declaration +on the King's part that he would consent to Tortona being retained by +the Duchess for her life, and afterwards held by her son-in-law and +daughter, the Duke and Duchess of Brunswick. + +[Sidenote: DEC., 1584] DUKE ERIC'S DEATH] + +Dorothea and her husband were, in fact, the only members of Christina's +family for whom Philip showed any regard. In 1578 Duke Eric was +summoned to Spain to join in the contemplated invasion of Portugal, +and served in the campaign led by Alva two years later. Dorothea +accompanied her husband, and spent most of her time at Court. The +King evidently liked her, and when, after the successful termination +of the war, the Duke and Duchess came to take leave of him at Madrid, +Granvelle was desired to draw up a secret convention by which Tortona +and the revenues were assigned to Eric in lieu of the yearly pension +allowed him. But Dorothea was not to be outwitted by the Cardinal. She +insisted, on the arrears due to her husband being paid in full, and +Philip himself told Granvelle to see that two or three thousand crowns +of the Duke's salary were given to the Duchess, since she was short of +money, and this seemed to him only reasonable. He also gave Dorothea +two fine horses, which she wished to send to her brother-in-law, +the Duke of Bavaria, and granted her a patent for working certain +gold-mines, which the Cardinal promised to forward either to her +mother at Tortona, or else to the care of the Prince of Orange in +Germany.[656] This last direction sounds strange, considering that the +famous ban against the Prince, setting a price of 30,000 crowns on his +head, had already been issued at Granvelle's suggestion.[657] + +The Duke and Duchess now returned to Göttingen, after visiting +Christina at Tortona, and remained in their own dominions for the +next few years, among their long-neglected subjects. But Eric soon +became restless, and in April, 1582, Dorothea wrote to beg Granvelle's +help in obtaining the Viceroyalty of Milan or Naples for her husband. +The Cardinal promised to do his best, and two years later actually +recommended the Duke for the Viceroyalty of Sicily. But a few weeks +afterwards, on the 15th of December, 1584, Eric of Brunswick died at +Pavia, and was buried in the crypt of Bramante's church of S. Maria +Canepanova, where his tomb is still to be seen.[658] The Duke's death +released Philip from his promise regarding the succession of Tortona. +But he had already taken the law into his own hands. + +In June, 1584, when Christina and her ladies were enjoying the delights +of the Marchese Stampa's beautiful villa at Montecastello, the Viceroy +suddenly appeared on the scene, and presented her with two letters +from His Catholic Majesty. These were to inform her that, after long +and mature deliberation, the King and his Council had come to the +conclusion that her rights to the sovereignty of Tortona were extinct, +and reverted to him as Duke of Milan. But since Madame de Lorraine was +closely bound to him by ties of blood, and still more by the singular +affection which he had always borne her, His Majesty was pleased to +allow her to retain the enjoyment of Tortona and its revenues for the +remainder of her life, which he hoped would be long and prosperous. In +vain Christina protested that her dowry had never been paid, and that +this city was granted to her in its stead by the terms of her marriage +contract. The Viceroy replied in the most courteous language that +Madame was no doubt right, but that this was not his affair, and he +could only recommend that on this point her claims should be referred +to the Treasury.[659] He then proceeded to take possession of Tortona +in the King's name, and hoisted the Spanish standard on the citadel +and the Duchess's palace. Christina could only bow to superior force, +but she forwarded a protest to the Catholic King and his Council, both +of whom refused to receive it, on the flimsy pretext that the writer +assumed the title of Queen of Denmark, which they could not recognize. +Certainly, as Brantôme remarked, and as Polweiler and Silliers often +complained, Philip showed his great affection for his cousin in a +strange manner.[660] + +[Sidenote: SEPT., 1586] DEATH OF GRANVELLE] + +Before the Duchess left Montecastello, she received the news of the +Prince of Orange's assassination at Delft on the 10th of July, 1584. +The hero and patriot had fallen a victim to the plots of Philip and +Granvelle, and had paid the price with his life. Three years afterwards +Christina shared in the thrill of horror that ran through Europe when +Mary, Queen of Scots, died on the scaffold. In that hour she could +only be thankful that the good old Duchess Antoinette was spared this +terrible blow, and had died four years before, at the advanced age of +eighty-nine. To the last Antoinette kept up friendly relations with her +niece, and in a letter written with her own hand in November, 1575, the +venerable lady expressed her sincere regret that owing to her great age +she was unable to welcome Christina in person on her return to Nancy, +but that in the spring she quite hoped to come and see her once more +before she died.[661] + +In 1586 Christina's old rival, Margaret of Parma, and this Princess's +stanch supporter, Cardinal Granvelle, both died. Friends and foes +were falling all around, and young and old alike were passing out of +sight. But the Duchess still enjoyed fair health and was so happy +at Tortona that she often said she never wished to leave home. As a +rule, however, she spent the summer months at the Rocca di Sparaviera, +in the mountains of Monferrato, "more," writes the chronicler, "to +please others than herself."[662] Each year she obtained permission +from the Viceroy to send 250 sacks of wheat, free of duty, for the use +of her household to the Rocca, and her _maggiordomo_ went beforehand +to prepare the rooms for her arrival.[663] The presence of the +Duchess Dorothea, who joined her mother at Tortona after the Duke of +Brunswick's death, was a great solace in these last years, and consoled +Christina for many losses and sorrows. + +Meanwhile the war of the League had broken out in France, and the +three Henries were contending for the mastery. Since Henry III. was +childless, Catherine now tried to put forward the claims of a fourth +Henry, the eldest son of her daughter Claude and the Duke of Lorraine, +and a party in France maintained his claims to be at least as valid +as those which Philip II. advanced in virtue of his wife Elizabeth. +Christina's heart was moved at the thought of her grandson succeeding +to the throne of France, and in 1587 she sent a Lorraine gentleman, De +Villers, to Rome to beg the Pope for his support in this holy cause. +The Pope, however, merely replied that he advised the Duke to live +at peace with his neighbours. The Duchess, nothing daunted, sent De +Villers to Nancy with letters bidding her son be of good cheer and +persevere in his great enterprise. Unfortunately, the messenger fell +into the hands of Huguenot soldiers, who took him into the King of +Navarre's camp. All that could be found on him was an almost illegible +letter from Her Highness the Duke's mother, containing these words: + + "I am very glad to hear of the present state of your affairs, + and hope that you will go on and prosper, for never was there + so fine a chance of placing the crown upon your head and the + sceptre in your hand."[664] + +The Béarnais smiled as he read this characteristic effusion, and bade +his soldiers let the man go free. Charles, on his part, expressed +considerable annoyance at his mother's intervention, which only +aroused the suspicions of King Henry III., and made him look coldly +on his brother-in-law. The Duchess's last illusion, however, was soon +dispelled, and after the murder of the Guise brothers at Blois, and the +assassination of the last Valois, Henry of Navarre was recognized as +King by the greater part of France. + +[Sidenote: FEB., 1589] AN INTERESTING MARRIAGE] + +Christina did not live to see the end of the civil war, and the union +of Henri Quatre's sister with her own grandson. But the last year of +her life was cheered by the marriage of her granddaughter Christina +with the Grand-Duke Ferdinand of Tuscany. Several alliances had been +proposed for this Princess since she had gone to live at the French +Court with her grandmother. Catherine was very anxious to marry her to +Charles Emanuel, who in 1580 succeeded his father as Duke of Savoy; +but Spanish influences prevailed, and the young Prince took the +Infanta Catherine for his wife.[665] In 1583 the Queen-mother planned +another marriage for her granddaughter, with her youngest son, the +Duke of Alençon, who had left the Netherlands and lost all hope of +winning Queen Elizabeth's hand; but, fortunately for Christina, the +death of this worthless Prince in the following June put an end to the +scheme.[666] When, in October, 1586, the King of Navarre divorced his +wife Margot, Catherine proposed that her son-in-law should marry her +granddaughter; but this plan fell through, as Henry refused to abjure +the Huguenot religion. On the death of the Grand-Duke Francis in 1587, +his brother Ferdinand exchanged a Cardinal's hat for the ducal crown, +and made proposals of marriage to the Princess of Lorraine. Catherine +was overjoyed at the thought of her beloved Christina reigning in +Florence, the home of her ancestors, and promised her granddaughter +a dowry of 600,000 crowns, with all her rights on the Medici estates +in Florence, including the palace of the Via Larga. Orazio Rucellai +was sent to France to draw up the contract, which Bassompierre signed +on the Duke of Lorraine's part, on the 20th of October, 1588.[667] +But the state of the country was so unsettled that the Queen would +not allow her granddaughter to travel, and the fleet which sailed to +fetch the bride was detained for months in the port of Marseilles. The +murder of the Duke of Guise at Blois in December threw the whole Court +into confusion, and a fortnight later Catherine herself died, on the +5th of January, 1589. It was not till the 25th of February that the +marriage was finally celebrated at Blois. In March the bride set out on +her journey, attended by a brilliant company of French and Florentine +courtiers. Dorothea of Brunswick came to meet her niece at Lyons, and +accompanied her to Marseilles, where Don Pietro de' Medici awaited her +with his Tuscan galleys, and on the 23rd of April Christina at length +landed at Leghorn. Ferdinand met his bride at the villa of Poggio +a Caiano, and conducted her in triumph to Florence.[668] When the +prolonged festivities were over, Monsieur de Lenoncourt, whom Charles +of Lorraine had sent to escort his daughter to Florence, went on, by +his master's orders, to Tortona, "to kiss the hands of the Duke's +mother, the Queen of Denmark, and receive her commands."[669] + +[Illustration: + + CHRISTINA OF DENMARK CLAUDE OF FRANCE CHRISTINE OF LORRAINE + DUCHESS OF LORRAINE DUCHESS OF LORRAINE GRAND DUCHESS OF TUSCANY + +(Madrid) + +To face p. 508] + +[Sidenote: AUG., 1590] DEATH OF CHRISTINA] + +Unlike her mother and grandmother, the Grand-Duchess Christina enjoyed +a long and prosperous married life, and after her husband's death was +Regent during the minority of both her son and grandson. There is an +interesting triptych in the Prado at Madrid, with portraits of the +bride, her mother and grandmother, painted by some Burgundian artist +at the time of the wedding. The young Grand-Duchess, a tall, handsome +girl of four-and-twenty, wears a high lace ruff, with ropes of pearls +round her neck and a jewelled girdle at her waist. She carries a fan in +her hand, and the Medici _palle_ are emblazoned on her shield with the +lilies of France and the eagles of Lorraine. Her mother, the shortlived +Duchess Claude, bears a marked resemblance to Catherine de' Medici, +but is smaller and slighter in build, and altogether of a gentler and +feebler type. She too holds a fan, and wears a gown of rich brocade +with bodice and sleeves thickly sown with pearls. Christina, on the +contrary, is clad in mourning robes, and her white frilled cap and +veil and plain cambric ruff are without a single jewel. But the fine +features and noble presence reveal her high lineage. Instead of a fan, +she holds a parchment deed in her hand, and on her shield the arms of +Austria and Denmark are quartered with those of Milan and Lorraine, +while above we read the proud list of her titles--Queen of Denmark, +Sweden, and Norway, Duchess of Milan, Lorraine, Bar, and Calabria, and +Lady of Tortona. + +This was the last portrait of Christina that was ever painted. In the +following summer she went as usual to the Rocca of Sparaviera with +her daughter Dorothea, to spend the hot days of August in the hills. +But she had not been there long before she fell dangerously ill. In +her anxiety to return home, she took boat and travelled by water as +far as Alessandria. There she became too ill to go any farther, and +died on the 10th of August, 1590, in the house of her friend Maddalena +Guasco.[670] + +The Duchess's corpse was borne by night to Tortona, where a funeral +service was held in the new Duomo, after which the body was embalmed +and taken by her daughter Dorothea to Nancy. The news was sent to King +Philip in Spain, and he and his greedy Ministers lost no time in laying +hands on her city and revenues. "We are informed," wrote the Viceroy to +the President of the Senate, two days after Christina's death, "that +Her Most Serene Highness Madame de Lorraine has passed to a better +life, and accordingly we claim the pension of 4,000 crowns assigned +to Her late Highness, on the quarter of the Castello, and enclose a +list of the revenues of Tortona, which now revert to the Duchy of +Milan."[671] + + +III. + +[Sidenote: MAY, 1608] DEATH OF CHARLES III.] + +The good citizens of Tortona were sorely distressed when they learnt +that the remains of their beloved liege Lady were not to rest among +them. But Christina's heart was in Lorraine, and her children laid +her body in the crypt of the Cordeliers' church, in the grave of the +husband whom she had loved so faithfully and so long. Twenty-one +years later her ashes were removed with those of Duke Francis and +his parents, Antoine and Renée, to the sumptuous chapel begun by her +son Charles in 1607, and completed by his successors. The Rotonde, +as it was called in Lorraine, was built on the model of the Cappella +dei Principi, which the Duke's son-in-law, Ferdinand de' Medici, had +lately reared in Florence, and was dedicated to Our Lady of Loreto. It +was the work of a Tuscan architect, Gianbattista Stabili, and of Jean +Ligier Richier, the son of the famous Lorraine sculptor, and was lined +throughout with rich marbles and adorned with a mass of carving.[672] +The cupola was added in 1632 by Simon Drouin, and the internal +decorations were only completed in 1743, by order of the husband of +Maria Theresa, afterwards the Emperor Francis I. By this Prince's pious +care Latin inscriptions were placed over each sarcophagus, and the +following words were carved on the tomb of Christina and her husband: + + Francisco I. Lotharingiæ. Duci. Bari. Calabriæ. virtuti + bellicæ. natus. quas. ei. mors. immatura. præripuit. laurus + reddidit. nativa. benignitas. senilis. prudentia. semper. sibi + similis. sapientia. mortuus. anno. MDXLV. + + Christianæ. a. Dania. Ducis. memorati. thoro. sociatæ pupilli. + Caroli. Ducis. rebus. regendis. strenua. existimatione supra. + famam. maxima. fata. subiit. anno. MDXC.[673] + +Christina's son, Charles III., died, after a long and prosperous reign, +on the 14th of May, 1608, and was tenderly nursed during his last +illness by his youngest daughter, Catherine, and his sister Dorothea. +After her mother's death, the Duchess of Brunswick never left Lorraine +again, and became the wife of a Burgundian noble, Marc de Rye, Marquis +of Varembon.[674] She only survived her brother four years, and was +buried in the Jesuit church of St. Stanilas at Nancy. Her remains +and the heart of Duke Charles, which had been interred in the same +chapel, were removed to the ducal mausoleum in 1772, when some fresh +improvements were made in the Rotonde, by order of Marie Antoinette, +the daughter of the last Duke of Lorraine and of the Empress Maria +Theresa.[675] At the Revolution, in 1793, these tombs were destroyed +and their contents rifled by the mob, and the ashes of the dead +Princes were flung into a common grave. In 1818 they were replaced +in their original tombs, the sarcophagi were restored, and the old +inscriptions once more carved in the marble. + +Charles III.'s second daughter, Elizabeth, married her first cousin, +Maximilian, who succeeded his father in 1598, as Duke of Bavaria, and +played a memorable part in the Thirty Years' War. Her next sister, +Antoinette, became Duchess of Cleves, while Catherine, the youngest and +most interesting of the whole family, took the veil after her father's +death. This beautiful and accomplished Princess refused all the suitors +who sought her hand, among them the scholar-Emperor, Rudolf II., who +found in her a kindred spirit. A mystic by nature, Catherine assumed +the grey Capucin habit while she lived at her father's Court, and, +after he died, founded a Capucin convent in Nancy. The Pope appointed +her Abbess of Remiremont, a Benedictine community of high-born ladies, +which she endeavoured to reform. She was much attached to her aunt +Dorothea, and after her death spent most of her time at the Court of +France with her niece Margaret, the wife of Gaston, Duke of Orleans. +Catherine took an active part in French politics in the stormy days of +Louis XIII., and died in Paris in 1648, at the age of seventy-five.[676] + +[Sidenote: 1736] THE LAST DUKE OF LORRAINE] + +The seventeenth century witnessed the gradual dismemberment of the +duchy of Lorraine, and in Richelieu's days Nancy was again occupied +by French invaders. At length, in 1736, the last Duke, Francis III., +was compelled to surrender Lorraine in exchange for the grand-duchy +of Tuscany, on his marriage with Maria Theresa, the only child of the +Emperor Charles VI. From that time Lorraine ceased to exist as an +independent State, and became a province of France, while the ex-King +Stanislas of Poland fixed his residence at Nancy and transformed the +ancient capital into a modern city. By this marriage the House of +Lorraine became merged in the imperial line of Habsburg, and the blood +of King René still flows in the veins of the Austrian Emperor and of +the royal families of Savoy and Spain. + +Christina would have rejoiced to know that this union--a love-match +like her own--was followed shortly by the elevation of Maria Theresa's +husband to the imperial throne, and that by this means the House of +Habsburg was raised to a height of power and splendour which it had +never attained since the days of Charles V. For although she married +twice into princely houses, and was much attached both to Milan and +Lorraine, Christina was before all else a Habsburg, and the glory and +welfare of the imperial race remained throughout her life the first +object of her thoughts. Like Mary of Hungary and Eleanor of France, +she grew up in absolute obedience to the Emperor's will, and wherever +she went in after-years his word was still her law. In the darkest +hours of her life, when she lost son and State at one blow, it was her +greatest sorrow to feel that she could no longer be of service to the +Emperor and his house. After the abdication of Charles V., this love +and loyalty were transferred to Philip II., and her one fear was lest +her son should be drawn into the opposite camp, and become French in +his sympathies. And to the end she was always quick to obey the call of +blood and respond to any appeal from a member of the House of Austria. + +This strong family affection gave an added bitterness to the neglect +and injustice which she suffered at Philip's hands during the last +thirty years of her existence. One reason for his persistently harsh +usage was, there can be no doubt, that Christina represented the +national feeling and aspirations after freedom, which Philip and his +ministers, Alva and Granvelle, did all in their power to crush. Both +in the Netherlands, where the popularity of the great Emperor's niece +made her dangerous in their eyes, and in Lombardy, where she filled an +important position as Lady of Tortona, she came into collision with +the same all-reaching arm. To the last she strove valiantly to resist +the tyranny of Spanish officials and to protect her subjects from +the rapacity of foreign soldiers, and a century after her death the +citizens of Tortona still cherished the memory of the noble lady who, +as long as she lived, had preserved them from the yoke of Spain. + +Christina's lot was cast in troubled times, when crime and bloodshed +were rife, and religious convictions only served to heighten the +violence of men's passions; but her name shines pure and unsullied on +these dark pages of history. She was naturally hasty and impulsive, +she made some mistakes and met with many failures, but she was always +generous and high-minded, faithful and affectionate to her friends, and +full of ardent charity for the poor and downtrodden. Above all, her +unceasing labours in the cause of peace justly earned the gratitude of +her contemporaries, and deserve to be remembered by posterity. + +[Sidenote: 1590] CHRISTINA'S RARE CHARM] + +At the close of this long and eventful life we turn back once more to +Holbein's portrait of the youthful Duchess. As we look at the grave +eyes and innocent face, we ask ourselves what was the secret of this +woman's power, of the strange fascination which she possessed for +men and leaders of men. What made heroes like René of Orange, and +daredevils like Albert of Brandenburg, count the world well lost for +love of her? Why were brave captains and brilliant courtiers--Stampa, +Vendôme, De Courrières, Polweiler, Adolf of Holstein--all of them her +willing slaves from the moment that they saw her face and heard the +sound of her voice? What drew thoughtful men like William of Orange and +Emanuel Philibert into the circle of her intimate friends, and brought +even the cold-hearted Philip under her spell? It was hardly her beauty, +for she had many rivals, or her superior intellect and exalted birth. +Rather was it the rare and indefinable quality that we call charm, the +sweet womanliness of nature, the gentle sympathy and quick response of +heart and eye, ready at any moment to listen and to help, to comfort +and to cheer. This, if we mistake not, was the secret of Christina's +wonderful influence, of the attraction which she possessed for men and +women alike, an attraction which outlived the days of youth and endured +to the last hour of her life. Ever loving, she was therefore ever +beloved. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[647] Granvelle, "Correspondance," vii. 149. + +[648] A. Villamont, "Voyages," 70 (1589). + +[649] Niccolò Montemerlo, "Nuove Historie di Tortona" (1618), 247-253. + +[650] A. Campo, "Storia di Cremona," 107; C. Ghilino, "Annali di +Alessandria," 166; Hilarion de Coste, "Les Éloges," etc., i. 406. + +[651] Montemerlo, 260; N. Viola, "Il Santuario di Tortona," 5. + +[652] Feudi Camerali, Tortona, Archivio di Stato, Milano. + +[653] Autografi di Principi: Sforza, Archivio di Stato, Milano; G. +Porta, "Alessandria Descritta," 161; Merli e Belgrano, "Pal. d'Oria," +55. + +[654] Brantôme, xii. 120. + +[655] Granvelle, "Correspondance," x. 65. + +[656] Granvelle, vii. 225, xii. 581. + +[657] Groen, vii. 165. + +[658] Granvelle, ix. 141, xi. 338. + +[659] Feudi Camerali, Tortona, Archivio di Stato, Milano. + +[660] Granvelle, x. 551; Brantôme, xii. 114. + +[661] Pimodan, 322. + +[662] Montemerlo, 250. + +[663] Feudi Camerali, Tortona, Archivio di Stato, Milano. + +[664] S. Goulart, "Mémoires de la Ligue," ii. 213 + +[665] Ed. Armstrong, "Cambridge Modern History," iii. 413. + +[666] Granvelle, "Correspondance," x. 411. + +[667] A. J. Butler, "Cambridge Modern History," iii. 42. + +[668] A. v. Reumont, "Geschichte Toscana's," i. 327-329. + +[669] H. Lepage, "Lettres de Charles III.," 93. + +[670] Montemerlo, 250. + +[671] Feudi Camerali, Tortona, Archivio di Stato, Milano. + +[672] Calmet, iii. 153. + +[673] Pfister, i. 640-647; Calmet, ii. 87. + +[674] Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," vii. 619. + +[675] Pfister, i. 652. + +[676] Calmet, ii. 153; Pfister, ii. 734. + + + + +APPENDIX + +A SELECTION OF UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS + + +I. + +_Christina, Duchess of Milan, to Francesco II., Duke of Milan._ + + Monsignore mio cordialissimo marito: Ho bene veduto voluntieri, + come sempre sono accostumata, le sue care littere del 20, ma di + molto megliora voglia haveria voluto veder la presentia sua, + come speranza mi fu data di breve esser, et per dire la vera + verita ormai quelli Signori com̄inciano haver puì che torto. + Pur mi voglio contentar di quello che la ragione consiglia che + si faci, et quella dimora che V. S. judicara esser bene per + tutti, lo havero anche io per accepto, ringratiandola de le + sue cortese excusationi per la tardezza del ritorno, ma non + savendogli gratia di quello che la mi scrive, ch'io nō prende + pena di scriverli di mia mano, perchè questo e solo ben speso + tempo, et a me agredable quanto cū V. S. parla, almeno per + scriptura di propria mano, non potendo la per hora partialmente + goder. In bona gratia sua senza fine riccoman^{mi} cum ricordo + del presto e sano ritorno, cosi N. S. Dio degni di conservarlo + longamente. Mlo. li 7. Zugno. 1535. + + Vostra très humble consorte, + CRISTIERNA. + + A Monsignore cordiall^{mo} mio consorte + le Duca de Millano. + + [Autografi di Principi, Sforza, Archivio di Stato, Milano.] + + +II. + +_Christina, Duchess-Dowager of Milan, to Cardinal Caracciolo, Governor +of Milan._ + +Quello affettione chio conosco V. R^{ma} S^{ria} portarmi, et il buon +conto che la tene di me fa ch'io non possi cessar de desiderar' ogn' +hora la salute et comodo lei: Ver ho la prego esser contento darmi +nova come la si è p̄ortata in questa sua andata et di prēste si trova. +Che di resto maggior consolatione no' potreî havere che saper di sua +bona valetudine. Appresso: benchè sappia non essere bisogno, nondimeno +no' cessero di' ricordar à V. R^{ma} Sig^{ria} el caso mio. Per il +quale pregola a far presso la Cæs^{rea} M^{tà} mio supremo S^{ro} +quello che de la singulari bontà sua sum̄amento mi prometto; Et perchè +tra tutte l'altre cose molto desidero il ben et honor della S^{ra} +Dorothea. Perho la sara contenta per il particolar sua operar con Sia +M^{tà} tanto efficamente quanto glie sia poss^{le}, acciò che col bon +meggio lei me venghi essere esauditi; assicurando V. R^{ma} S^{ra} chio +stimavo il comodo dessa S^{ra} Dorothea mio proprio. Parmi anchora non +solamente ragionevole ma ex debito, che essendo compito il corso del +integro anno che'l Ill^{mo} et Ex^{mo} di felicissima memoria, S^{re} +Duca, già mio Consorte passeva di questa vita, si ne debbi anch'io +tener memoria et fargli far il debito anniversario. Perho prego V. +R^{ma} Sig^{ra} esser contenta supplicar Sua M^{tà} in mio nome, che +commetti et ordino acciò che detto anniversario sia fatto nel modo che +debitamente si conviene e son certiss^{na} che Sua M^{tà} nomo negar +di fare cosi exequire. Non me occorrendo per hora altro, a V. R^{ma} +S^{ra} molte me ricom^{o} et offero. Pregando N. S. Dio che gli doni +presto et bon ritorno. Di Mlo. el xiiii. de' Ottobre, MDXXXVI. + + Vostra buona figliola, + CHRESTIENNE. + + Al R^{mo} et Ill^{m} S^{ro} Car^{le} Caracciolo, + Locoten^{te} generale di Sua M^{tà} nel + Stato de Mlo. come Patre osser^{sso}. + In Corte di Sua M^{ta} a Genoa. + + [Autografi di Principi, Sforza, Archivio di Stato, Milano.] + + +III. + +_Christina, Duchess-Dowager of Milan, to Cardinal Caracciolo, Governor +of Milan._ + +R^{mo} et mio quanto Patre honorando: Ho presentito per certo che in +la hosteria de la Fontana se gli ritrova una bellissima chinea learda, +manco bona che di apparenza bella, et perchè me ritrova haverne bisogno +de una per la Persona mia, ho voluto cū ogni confidenza indrizzar' +questa et el presente mio lachayo a V. S. R^{ma} pregandola che se +consensi di contentarme che l' habia; et cometti el pagamento fuori +di la spesa ordinario del rollo stabilito, perchè se potea mettere nel +numero de li debiti ch' andarano pagati per altro conto, et questo +recevero per singular piacer da V. S. R^{ma}, in bona gratia de la +quelli me reco^{do}. Dal Castello de Pavia, al 3^{o} di Genaro, nel +1537. De V. S. R{ma} comme bonne fille, + + CRESTIENNE. + + Al R^{mo} Car^{le} Caracciolo, Governator + de Mlo. quanto p^{re} honor^{do}. _Cito, + cito_. + + [Autografi di Principi, Sforza, Archivio di Stato, Milano.] + + +IV. + +_Antoinette de Bourbon, Duchesse de Guise, to Mary, Queen of Scotland._ + +. . .La santé de votre petit fils est aussi bonne que lui fut onques. +Il mange fort bien, et l'on le mène souvent a les ébats que me semble +lui fait grant bien. Il me semble vous trouverez cru et devenu gras. +Quant au reste de n're ménage, v're sœur est toujours malade de sa +fièvre et a été cette semaine passée bien mal d'un flux de ventre qui +l'a fort affoiblie. Il y a bien huit jours qu'elle ne bouge point du +lit. Depuis hier le flux com̄àse a passer, de la fièvre je ne vois pas +grant amendement. . . . V^{re} frère Claude a été aussy malade jusqu'à +la mort. . . . V^{re} sœur Anthoinette est aussy malade d'une fièvre et +d'un rhume. . . . Je vous avise quo Madame v^{re} tante est mandée pour +aller à la cour à la venue de la Reyne de Hongrie, qui doit bientost +estre à Compiègne, ou le Roy et toute la Court doit estre en peu de +jours. Je m'en suis excusée pour l'amour de mes malades. Il n'y a que +deux jours que le gentilhomme du Roy d'Angleterre qui fût au Havre et +le paintre, a été ici. Le gentilhomme vint vers moi, faisant semblant +venir de trouver l'Empereur, et que ayant su Louise malade, il n'avait +voullu passer sans la voir, afin d'en savoir dire de nouvelles au Roy +son maistre, me priant qu'il la peut voir, ce qu'il fit, et c'estait +le jour de sa fièvre. Il lui tint pareil propos qu'a moi, puis me dit +qu'estant si près de Lorrayne, il avait envye d'aller jusques à Nancy, +voir le pays. Je ne me donte incontyment il y allait voir la demoyselle +peur la tirer comme les aultres et pour cela j'ai envoyé à leur logis, +voir qui y était, et j'ai trouvé le dit paintre y était, et de la ils +ont esté à Nancy et y ont resté un jour, et ont été fort festés, et le +Maistre d'hôtel venait à tous les repas manger avec eux, avec force +présents, et ils etaient très bien traités. Voilà ce que j'ay entendu, +donc au pis aller, si vous n'avez pour voisine v^{re} sœur, ce pourrait +estre v^{re} cousine. Il se tient quelque propos que l'Empereur offre +récompense pour le duché de Gueldres, et que ce faisant, se pourrait +faire quelque mariage de la fille de Hongrie et de Mons^{r} le Marquys. +Mons^{r} v^{re} père entend bien, ce faisant, avoir sa part en la dite +récompense. Je voudrais qu'il en fust bien récompensé. Voilà tout ce +que j'ay de nouveau . . . je me doute que vous ne ferez de si bonne +diligence que moi, car je sais bien que vous tenez de Mons^{r} v'tre +père, et qu'estes paresseuse à ecrire, si l'air d'Ecosse ne vous a +changé. Je n'ai encore eu que vos premyères. Il me tarde bien savoir +comme depuis vous vous serez porté, cela me sera grant joye quand je +pourrait ouir de vos nouvelles. Ce sera toujours quant N^{tre} Seigneur +le veuille, et je prie, Madame, qu'il vous donne longue et bonne vie. +Ce premier de Septembre, de v'tre humble et bonne mère, + + ANTHOINETTE DE BOURBON. + + À la Reyne d'Écosse. + + [Balcarres MSS., ii. 20. Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.] + + +V. + +_Antoinette de Bourbon, Duchesse de Guise, to Mary, Queen of Scotland._ + +Madame: J'ay tardé plus longuement que je ne pensais à vous escrire, +mais les noces de Mademoiselle de Lorraine nous ont tant ameusées +que jusque à cette heure on a peut avoir le loisir. Nous departismes +hier de la compaignye qui a esté bien grosse. Les noces furent Mardy +passé. Mons^{r} le Prince y est venu bien accompaigné et je vous assure +c'est un bien honeste Prince et de bonne grâce. Il se contente fort +de sa mye, et aussi elle de lui. Ils s'entendent aller chez eux dans +xv. jours. La feste a esté à Bar, il n'y a eu guères d'estrangers, +fors la Marquise de Baulde et Madame de Baçin, et des Comtesses et +dames voisines. Vous en saurez quelque jour plus au long. Nous sommes +en chemin pour aller à Guise, pensant en estre de retour pour la +Toussaint. Nous laissons n'tre petit fils à Roche. Il court tant de +maladie que nous n'avons osé le mettre en chemin, mais je vous assure +il se porte bien. . . . Je vous avais escrit par Saint-Genould, du +mariage de v're frère, mais j'entens qu'il ne part pas si tost comme il +m'avait dit, pourquoi je veulx vous dire ce qui en est et co^{me} le +Roy veult faire le mariage de luy et de la nyèce du Pape, fille du Duc +de ---- je ne puis retrouver son nom, mais elle est belle et honeste +et a bonne grâce, et est d'ancienne maison, de l'age de xv. ans. L'on +luy donne trois cent mille francs en mariage, elle n'a que ung frère, +s'il meurt elle serait heritière de quarante mille livres et d'un Duché +et aultre terres. Je pense entre ceci et la Toussaint il en sera fait +ou failli. Je prends grand plaisir entendre par vos lettres le bon +portement du Roy, de vous et du petit prince. . . . Nous sommes prêts à +monter à cheval, pourquoi ferais fin. . . . Ce penultième d'Aoust. + + V^{re} humble et bo^{ne} mère, + ANTHOINETTE DE BOURBON. + + À la Reyne d'Écosse. + + [Balcarres MSS., ii. 15. Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.] + + +VI. + +_Antoinette de Bourbon, Duchesse de Guise, to Mary, Queen of Scotland._ + +Madame: L'on m'a tant assuré qu'on envoye les lettres sûrement par le +moyen des Marchands d'Anvers, que je les ai mis à l'entrée pour en +apprendre le chemin. Vostre sœur en doit estre la messagère. Je vous ai +escrit la conclusion de son mariage et envoyé les articles et depuis +ses noces par vostre brodeur. Je viens de la mener en ménage, en une +belle et honneste maison et aultant bien meublée qu'il est possible, +nommé Beaumoult. Son beau-père la receuillit tant honorablement et +avec tant de gens de bien et grosse compaignye que l'on ne sait plus +souhaiter; la Reyne de Hongrerie entre les aultres s'y trouvait et la +Duchesse de Myllan, aussi Mons^{r} et Madame la Princesse d'Orange, qui +l'on tient grosse, toute fois la chose n'est pas fort sure, et pour +ma part j'en doute. Il me semble v're dite sœur est bien logée. L'on +luy a fait de beau présens, et elle a de belles basques. Son Mary est +jeune, mais il a bon vouloir d'estre du nombre des gens de bien. Il ne +paraissait point qu'il fût Caresme, car les armes et les tambours ne +cessaient point; il s'y est fait de beaux joustes là bas. A la fin il +a fallu departir, qui n'a pas esté sans larmes. Je regagne ce lieu de +Guyse, où je ne reste qu'une nuit, et demain à la Fère, où Mons^{r} le +Cardinal mon frère et mon père et ma sœur de S^{t} Pol seront mercredy, +et vendredy recommencerai me mettre en chemin pour gagner Joinvylle +le plus tost que je pourrais. Je pense trouver encore Mons^{r} v^{re} +père, et nos enfans, savoir les petits et les prètres. . . . Ce xiiii +Mars, à Guise. . . . + + ANTHOINETTE DE BOURBON. + + À la Reyne d'Écosse, + + [Balcarres MSS., ii. 5. Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.] + + +VII. + +_Louise de Lorraine, Princesse de Chimay, to Mary, Queen of Scotland._ + +Madame: Depuys que Dieu a tant faict pour moi que de me donner un bon +Mary, je n'ai point eu loisir de vous en faire la part. Vous pouvez +estre assurée que je me tiens en ce monde heureuse d'estre en la +maison ou je suis, car avec la grandeur qu'il y a en tout, j'ai un +seigneur et beau-père que je vous puis nommer bon, car il me faict un +bien bon traitement, accompagné de tant de beaux présents, qu'il me +faudroy employer trois feuilles de papier avant que je vous pourrais +en rendre bon conte et qui sera, s'il vous plait, occasion de prendre +contentement du bien de votre sœur, qui a commandement de vous offrir +les très humble services des maistres et seigneurs de cette maison, +vous suppliant a tout endroit les employer. Nous avons une très sage et +vertueuse Reyne, et je ne puis vous dire l'honneur qu'elle me faict, +car estant venue exprés à cette maison--la sienne et nôtre--elle m'a +voulu prendre pour sa très humble fille et servante, et veulst que pour +l'avenyr je dois estre toujours en sa compagnye, où pour le peu que +j'y ai este m'a fayct fort grant chĕre. Madame la Duchesse de Mylan +m'a dit le semblable, qui est la meilleure, et nous ésperons bientôt +la voir en Lorayne, car le maryage de Mons^{r} le Marquys et d'elle, +est en très bon train. Depuis que Madame ma mère est retournèe, elle +m'a envoyée une lettre pour essayer si le chemin de ça luy sera plus +aise que l'autre, et si'il vous plait de m'apprendre de vos nouvelles, +je serai merveilleusement aise. Mais il faudra, Madame que a la lettre +que vous m'enverrez, vous mettiez sur le paquet, "_Au Duc d'Aerschot_," +et par les marchands qui viennent d'Ecosse, il vous sera aisé, car +en les laissant à Anvers ou à Bruges, ou autre endroit du Pays, ne +failleront point, en s'adressant a Mons^{r} mon beau-père, de tomber +entre mes mains, car il est grandement craint et aimé par deça, qui +sera l'endroit où je supplye Dieu qu'il vous donne très bonne vie et +longue. De Beaumont, ce xxv. jour de Mars. + + V're très humble et très obeissante sœur, + LOUISE DE LORRAYNE. + + [Balcarres MSS., ii. 153. Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.] + + +VIII. + +_Antoinette de Bourbon, Duchesse de Guise, to Mary, Queen of Scotland._ + +Madame: Je suis très aise que ce porteur soit venu par ici, pour +s'en retourner vers vous, car je vous voullais escrire et envoyer un +paquet. . . . Je desire bien fort savoir comme vous vous serez porté +en v're couche et aussi comme le Roy et v're petit prince se portent. +Je prie a N. S. à tous donner bonne santé et longue vie. Quant à +notre costé, tout se porte bien, Dieu mercy! Mon^{r} v're père est +revenu depuis huit jours pour quelques bastyments et fortifications +que le Roy lui a ordonné faire en cette frontière. J'ay esté très +aise il ait cette charge, afin de l'avoir plus tost de retour. Quant +à v're petit fils, il se porte bien et devient grand; il commence +très bien apprendre, et sait quasi son Pater noster, il est joli et +bon enfant. J'ai esté cause qu'il n'est venu en ce lien, dans la pour +des Rougeolles, qui régnent si fort, et je crains il les prends par +les champs, ou il ne peut estre si bien traisté qu'à Joinvylle, et +aussi que ne devons demeurer dans ce lieu que huit jours. . . . Nous +attendons M. le Cardinal de Lorraine le iii. d'Août. Il vient pour nous +tous ensemble trouver au Pont-à-Mousson le huitième du dit mois, on se +doit faire le premyer recueil de n'tre nouvelle Dame, pour la mener +à Nancy. V're frère aussi vient avec M. le Cardinal, l'on doit faire +grande chere a cette bien venue, et force tournois. Les noces furent il +y a Dimanche huit jours. S'il s'y fait rien digne de vous faire part +vous en serez avertie. J'ai bonne envye de voir si Mons^{r} le Marquis +sera bon Mary! L'on se jouit fort au pays recevoir une si honneste +Princesse . . . ce xx. Juillet de . . . ec. + + ANTHOINETTE DE BOURBON. + + À la Reyne d'Écosse. + + [Balcarres MSS., ii. 4. Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.] + + +IX. + +_Christina, Duchess-Dowager of Lorraine, to Mary, Queen of Hungary._ + + 18 Avril, 1552. + +Madame: J'ay escrit une letter à votre Majesté pour avoir moyen +d'avertir celle-ci et la Reine vostre sœur de la méchancetè que le Roy +de France m'a faict, que sur ombre de bonne foy me emmène mon filz +avecque grande rudesse, comme Vostre Majesté entendra par ce présent +porteur plus au long. Suppliant Vostre Majesté ne prendra de mauvaise +part sy je ne faict ceste lettre plus longue, car la grande fâcherie +que j'ay, m'en garde. Sy esté, Madame, que je supplie à Vostre Majesté +avoir pitié de moy, et m'assister de quelque conseil, et je n'oublyerai +à jamais luy faire très humble service et vous obèir toute ma vie, +comme celle quy desire demeurer à jamais, + + Vostre très humble et très obeissante + nièce et servante, + CHRESTIENNE. + + [Lettres des Seigneurs, 101, f. 332. Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles.] + + +X. + +_Anne, Duchess-Dowager of Aerschot, to Mary, Queen of Hungary._ + + 18 Avril, 1552. + +Madame: Je ne saurais vous escrire la grande désolation en laquelle +est presentément Madame ma sœur, constitué par la grande rudesse et +cruauté que le jour du grand Vendredy luy a esté faicte par le Roy de +France, qui est qu'il esté venu icy sous ombre de bonne foy et vrai +amitié, comme dernièrement il nous avoit fait entendre. À son arrivée, +il a esté reçu avecque tous les honneurs possible, et le meilleur +traistement, et le dit jour du grand Vendredy il fit entendre à Madame +comme pour satisfaire au capitulations de la Ligue, il falloit qu'il +s'assurait de Monseigneur le duc de Lorraine, et de ses places, et +que pour ce faire il falloit qu'il fust transporté à Bar, pour à +quoy obvier, Ma dicte dame, Monseigneur de Vaudemont et moy, et tous +ceux de son conseil, luy fust faicte une rémonstrance la plus humble +qu'il estoit possible. A quoy il e répondit aultre chose sinon qu'il +hâteroit sa resolution par escrit, ce qu'il a faict, comme votre +Majesté pourra voire par les articles que je vous envoye. Ce voyant, +elle et moy l'allâmes trouver en la Grande Galerie où ma dite dame +parla encore a luy, jusqu'à se mettre à genoux, luy requérant pour +l'amour de Dieu ne transporter son filz, et ne le luy ôter. A quoi ne +fit response, et pour conclusion, Madame, le lendemain Samedy, veille +de Pâques, il l'ont emmené, accompagné de force gens de guerre, sous +la charge du S^{r} de Bourdillon, mais le Maréchal de Saint André n'a +bougé qu'il ne l'ait mis hors de la ville, et c'étoit pitié voire +Madame sa mère, Monseigneur de Vaudement et toute la noblesse et le +pauvre peuple faire leur lamentation. Et voyant Madame ma sœur en +telle pitié, etant en telle douleur, Madame, que votre Majesté peult +estimer pour ly avoir faict une telle outrage que de luy oter son filz, +et la voyant porter tel desplaisir, moy que m'estait deliberé m'en +partir, ne la puis delaisser. Le Roy luy laisse Mesdames ses filles et +l'administration des biens, comme elle avait auparavant, reservé les +places fortes, qui demeurent à la charge de Monseigneur de Vaudemont, +à condition que Votre Majesté pourra voire, toutefois n'y demeurra que +Lorrains. Et par ce que Madame j'ai toujours envie de faire service +à Votre Majesté tel que j'ai toute ma vie desiré, il luy plaira me +commander ce que je fasse, et vous serez obéy comme la plus affectionée +servante que Votre Majesté aura jamais. Suppliant Notre Seigneur +donner à celle très bonne et longue vie, me recommandant toujours très +humblement, en sa bonne grâce. De Nancy, ce lendemain de Pâques. + + ANNE DE LORRAINE. + +Madame: Depuis avoir escrit à Votre Majesté, le Roy de France a +escrit une lettre à Madame ma sœur comme il a eu avertissement que +les Bourgnignons faisaient une entreprise pour aller à Bar, afin d'y +surprendre Monsieur de Lorraine, et que pour obvier à cela, il a +ordonné au S^{r} de Bourdillon le mener à Joinville, où la Royne de +France est encor là. + + [Lettres des Seigneurs, 101, f. 330. Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles.] + + +XI. + +_Christina, Duchess-Dowager of Lorraine, to the Emperor Charles V._ + +_A l'Empereur._ Monseigneur: A la prière de Monseigneur de Vaudemont +mon frère et de la Duchesse d'Aerschot ma sœur, j'ay pris la hardiesse +de demeurer, encore que Vostre Majesté m'avait escript et commandé que +je me retirasse vers les Roynes, ce que j'éspère que Vostre Majesté +n'aures pas pris de mauvaise part. Car la grande instance et prière +que mon dit frère et sœur m'ont faict, ont esté la cause, non pas pour +aller contre son commandement, le voulant obéir toute ma vie, et je +vous supplie, de toujours le croire, et avoir mon filz et son païs pour +recommandé, et je supplieray le Créateur, Monseigneur, de donner à +Vostre Majesté bonne santé et très longue vie. De Denœuvre, ce 26^{e} +May, 1552. + + Vostre très humble et très obéissante + nièce et servante, + CHRESTIENNE. + + [Lettres des Seigneurs, 102, f. 127. Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles.] + + +XII. + +_Christina, Duchess-Dowager of Lorraine, to the Emperor Charles V._ + +_A l'Empereur._ Monseigneur: J'ay reçu la lettre qu'il a plu à Vostre +Majesté m'èscrire par le Seigneur de Carondelet, et par luy ay entendu +la bonne souvenance qu'il a plu à Vostre Majesté avoir de moy et mes +filles, de la bonne visitation, dont très humblement la remercie, et +aussi de la charge que Vostre Majesté luy a donné pour me dire ce qu'il +me faudra ensuivre. Votre Majesté m'oblige tant de l'honneur qu'elle me +faict, que toute ma vie je seray preste à obéir à ses commandements, +comme celle entendra s'il luy plait plus au long par le dit Seigneur de +Carondelet, et aussi d'autres choses que luy ay donné charge de dire à +Vostre Majesté, pour ne pas la fâcher de longue lettre. Et toute ma vie +je suppliray le Créateur de donner à Vostre Majesté très bonne santé, +et longue vie et de demeurer toujours à la bonne grâce d'icelle. De +Hoh-Königsberg, ce 4^{e} Septembre, 1552. + + Vostre très humble nièce et servante, + CHRESTIENNE. + + [Lettres des Seigneurs, 103, f. 518. Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles.] + + +XIII. + +_Dejanira Commena Contessa Trivulzio to Messer Innocenzio Gadio._ + +Magnifico Signore, Innocenzio: Ho ricevuto un altra vostra, inteso +la morte del Magnifico Signor Belloni, che certo mi ha dato molto +fastidio. Io sono certa che la Signora mia madre me haverà havuto +grandissimo dispiacere, come risentirà la morte e privatione di tale +amico. Però non si può resistere al Divino volere. Mi maraviglia molto +non habbiati avuto la littera mia qual mandai alli di passati, in mane +di Barile, però di novo vi dico che ho ricevuto la corona ed altre cose +per Andronica, et le littere della Signore Madre, et così vi rimandò la +risposta. Sareti contenti basare le mane in mio nome a Sua Excellentia, +dicendoli che mi duole fino all' anima, dalle travaglie che patisse +Sua Excellentia in quelle bande, et che siamo sempre apparentiati come +servitori che li giurano esponere la vita et quanto tenemo in suo +serviggio. Non mi occorrente altro a Vostra Signoria mi raccomando. +De Codogno all. 29. Sett, 1552. Di Vostra Sig. Dejanira, Contessa +Trivultia. + + A Messer Inn. Gadio, amico carissimo. + + [MS. No. 18, Biblioteca di Zelada, Pavia.] + + +XIV. + +_Christina, Duchess-Dowager of Lorraine, to Mary, Queen of England._ + + April, 1555. + +Madame: Je supplie V^{tre} Maj^{tè} me pardonner si je prends tant +d'audace que d'escrire à icelle, mais tant d'honneur et de faveur que +je recois de V^{tre} Maj^{tè} en est cause. Car je ne puis laisser +d'avertir que le Capitaine de mon vaisseau qui me mène a si bien +faict son devoyr, sans nul hasart, comme V^{tre} Maj^{tè} lui a faict +commande, que je ne puis laisser d'en avertir V^{tre} Maj^{tè} et la +supplier de l'avoyr en souvenance. Et puis j'assure V^{tre} Maj^{tè}, +que je n'en ai reçu que d'entier bon service, et connaissant cela, +n'ay su laisser de le recommander à V^{tre} Maj^{tè} et pensant que le +Capitaine Bont vous fera entendre ce qui s'est passé à mon passage, je +n'en ferai plus propos, si non de vous assurer combien je regrette de +ne plus estre dans la prèsence de V^{re} Maj^{tè} et que je ne puis +estre auprès d'icelle, pour luy pouvoir faire quelque service, pour +la satisfaction que je me ferais a tant de mercis que j'ay reçu, dont +je demeure sans espoir d'y satisfaire. Et cependant je supplie très +humblement à V^{re} Maj^{tè} me tenir en sa bonne grâce, a la quelle +humblement me recommande, et baisant ses mains, priant Dieu, Madame, +vous donner bonne santé, très longue vie et un beau filz, comme le +désire. + + V^{re} très humble et très obeissante + cousine et servante, + CHRESTIENNE. + + À la Reyne. + +[MS. State Papers, Foreign, Mary, vol. vi., 351. Public Record Office.] + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +MANUSCRIPT SOURCES + + ARCHIVIO DI STATO, MILANO: Autografi di Principi; Carteggio + Diplomatico, 1533-1535; Carteggio con Montmorency, Conte di + Corea, 1537-1538; Feudi Camerali, Tortona; Potenze Sovrane, + 1533-1534. + + BIBLIOTECA AMBROSIANA: Continuazione della Storia di Corio, O. + 240. + + MUSEO CIVICO DI STORIA PATRIA, PAVIA: No. 426, Lettere dell' + Oratore, 1535; No. 546, di B. d. Corte, 1536. + + BIBLIOTECA DEL CONTE ANTONIO CAVAGNA SANGIULIANI A ZELADA, + PRESSO PAVIA: Archivio Sezione Storico, Diplomatico. Mazzo + n. 127, Tortona; Lettere di Niccolò Belloni, etc., i.-xviii. + + ARCHIVES DU ROYAUME, BRUXELLES: Lettres des Seigneurs, + iii.-vii.; Papiers d'État de l'Audience, No. 82; + Correspondance de Charles V. avec Jean de Montmorency, + Seigneur de Courrières, 1537; No. 8, 26, 1178, etc., + Lettres de Marie de Hongrie, Charles Quint, etc.; Régistre + des Revenus et Dépenses de Charles V.; Régistre de + Marguerite d'Autriche, 1799, 1800, 1803. + + BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE, PARIS: Affaires d'Angleterre, xix.; + F.F. 123, 20,467, 20,468; Oudin, Histoire des Guises; MS. + Gaignières 349; Marillac MS. 8,625; Coll. de Lorraine, + 27-33, etc. + + ADVOCATES' LIBRARY, EDINBURGH: The Balcarres Manuscripts, ii., + iii.; Correspondance de Madame de Guise, etc., avec la + Reine d'Écosse. + + BRITISH MUSEUM: Additional Manuscripts, 5,498; Harleian + Manuscripts, 3,310, 3,311; F. 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Amsterdam, 1758. + + GRANVELLE, CARDINAL DE: Correspondance, 1565-1586, publié par + E. Poullet et C. Piot. 12 vols. Brussels, 1896. + + GRANVELLE, CARDINAL DE Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire du Par + P. Levesque. Brussels, 1753. + + GRANVELLE, CARDINAL DE: Mémoires du. L. d'Esnans, Brussels, + 1761. + + GRANVELLE, CARDINAL DE: Papiers d'État, publié par C. Weiss. 9 + vols. 1852. + + GROEN VAN PRINSTERER, G.: Archives de la Maison + d'Orange-Nassau. Série i. 8 vols. Leyden, 1847. + + GUAZZO, M.: Historie, 1524-1552. Milan, 1552. + + GUICCIARDINI, L.: Descrittione di Tutti i Paesi-Bassi. Antwerp, + 1588. + + + HAILE, M.: Life of Reginald Pole. 1910. + + HARDWICKE PAPERS, The, 1501-1726. 2 vols. 1778. + + HAÜSSER, L.: Geschichte der Rheinischen Pfalz. 2 vols. + Heidelberg, 1856. + + HENNE, A.: Histoire du Règne de Charles V. en Belgique. 10 + vols. Brussels, 1860. + + HOBY, T.: The Travail and Life of, 1547-1564. 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Brussels, 1839. + + LEPAGE, H.: Les Archives de Nancy, Le Palais Ducal, La Galerie + des Cerfs, La Ville de Nancy; Lettres de Charles III., Duc + de Lorraine. Nancy, 1844-1865. + + LE PETIT, J.: La Grande Chronique de Hollande, etc., jusqu'à + 1600. Dordrecht, 1601. + + LEVA, G. DE: Storia Documentata di Karl V. in Italia. 5 vols. + Venice, 1863. + + LITTA, P.: Famiglie Celebri, vol. ii. Milan, 1839. + + LODGE, E.: Illustrations of British History, Henry VIII. to + James I., in Papers of the Families of Howard, Talbot, and + Cecil. 3 vols. 1830. + + + MACHYN, H.: Diary of a Citizen of London, 1550-1563, ed. J. S. + Nicholls. Camden Society, No. 42. 1848. + + MAGENTA, C.: I Visconti e gli Sforza nel Castello di Pavia. 2 + vols. Milan, 1883. + + MAITLAND MISCELLANY, i: Maitland Club. Edinburgh, 1834. + + MERRIMAN, R. B.: Life and Letters of Thomas Cromwell. 2 vols. + 1902. + + MIGNET, F.: Charles Quint--son Abdication et Séjour à Yuste. + Paris, 1857. + + MIGNET, F.: Rivalité de François I. et de Charles V. Paris, + 1875. + + MOELLER, C.: Eléonore d'Autriche, Reine de France. Paris, 1893. + + MONTEMERLO, N.: Nuove Historie di Antica Città. Tortona, 1618. + + + NOTT, G.: The Works of Surrey and Sir T. Wyatt. 2 vols. 1815. + + NUBILONIA: Cronaca di Vigevano. + + + PIMODAN, G. DE: La Mère des Guises. Paris, 1889. + + PORTA, G.: Alessandria Descritta, Illustrata, Celebrata. Milan, + 1670. + + PUTMAN, R.: William the Silent, Prince of Orange. 2 vols. New + York, 1895. + + + RABUTIN, F. DE: Commentaires des Dernières Guerres. Petitot + Coll., No. 37. Paris, 1819-1829. + + RATTI, N.: Delia Famiglia Sforza. 2 vols. Rome, 1794. + + RAVOLD, J. B.: Histoire Démocratique de Lorraine. 4 vols. + Paris, 1890. + + REIFFENBERG, F. DE: Histoire de la Toison d'Or. 2 vols. + Brussels, 1835. + + REUMONT, A. V.: Geschichte Toscanas. 2 vols. Gotha, 1876. + + RIBIER, G.: Lettres et Mémoires d'État. Paris, 1666. + + RUBLE, A. DE: Antoine de Bourbon et Jeanne d'Albret. 4 vols. + Paris, 1881. + + RUBLE, A. DE: La Jeunesse de Marie Stuart; 1891. Le Traité de + Câteau-Cambrésis; 1887. + + + SAINT-GÉNIS, V. DE: Histoire de Savoie. 3 vols. Chambéry, 1869. + + SANUTO, M.: Diarii, 1496-1533, vols. liii., liv., lv., lvi., + lvii. Venice, 1879-1902. + + SCHÄFER, D.: Geschichte v. Dänemark. 4 vols. Gotha, 1893. + + SCHLEGEL, J. H.: Geschichte d. Könige v. Dänemark aus d. + Oldenburg Stamme. 2 vols., folio. Kopenhagen, 1769-1777. + + + THOMAS, H.: Annalium de Vita et Rebus Gestis Illustrissimi + Principis Frederici II., Elect. Pal. Frankfort, 1624. + + THOMAS, H.: Spiegel d. Humors Grosser Potentaten. Leipzig, 1629. + + TYTLER, P. F.: England under Edward VI. and Mary. 2 vols. 1839. + + + ULMANN, H.: Kaiser Maximilian I. 2 vols. Stuttgart, 1884-1891. + + + VAISSIÈRE, P. DE: Charles de Marillac, 1510-1560. Paris, 1896. + + VERRI, P.: Storia di Milano. 2 vols. Florence, 1851. + + VERTOT, R. DE: Ambassades de MM. de Noailles en Angleterre. 5 + vols. Paris, 1762. + + VIEILLEVILLE, F. DE SCÉPEAUX, MARÉCHAL DE: Mémoires. Coll. + Petitot, Série i., 26-28. Paris, 1819-1829. + + VILLAMONT, A.: Voyages. Urbino, 1589. + + VIOLA, N.: Il Santuario di Tortona. Tortona, 1675. + + VOIGT, J.: Albert-Alcibiades, Markgraf von Brandenburg. 2 vols. + Berlin, 1852. + + + WALPOLE, H.: Anecdotes of Painting, vol. i. 1826-1828. + + WORNUM, R.: Life and Works of Holbein. 1867. + + + YOUNG, COLONEL G.: The Medici. 2 vols. 1909. + + + + +GENEALOGICAL TABLES + + + I. HABSBURG. + + II. DENMARK. + + III. SFORZA. + + IV. LORRAINE. + + V. GUISE. + + +I. HABSBURG. + + Maximilian I, d. 1519. + =(1)Mary of Burgundy. + =(2)Bianca Sforza. + +-- Philip, d. 1506. + | =Juana of Spain, d. 1555. + | +-- Eleanor, d. 1558. + | | =(1)Emanuel of Portugal. + | | =(2)Francis I. of France. + | +-- Charles V, 1500-1558. + | | =Isabella of Portugal, d. 1539. + | | +-- Margaret, d. 1586. + | | | =(1)Alessandro de' Medici. + | | | =(2)Ottavio Farnese. + | | | +-- Alessandro, Duke of Parma, d. 1592 + | | | =Mary of Portugal. + | | +-- Don John, d. 1578. + | | +-- Philip II. of Spain, 1527-1598. + | | | =(1)Mary of Portugal, d. 1539. + | | | =(2)Mary of England. + | | | =(3)Elizabeth of France. + | | | =(4)Anne of Austria. + | | | +-- Don Carlos, d. 1568. + | | | +-- Philip III, d. 1621. + | | | | =Margaret of Austria. + | | | +-- Katherine. + | | | | =Charles Emanuel, Duke of Savoy. + | | | +-- Isabella, d. 1633. + | | | =Albert of Austria, d. 1621. + | | +-- Juana of Spain. + | | | =John of Portugal, d. 1554. + | | | +-- Sebastian of Portugal, d. 1578. + | | +-- Mary. (_a_) + | | =Maximilian II, d. 1576. (_a_) + | | +-- Rudolf II, d. 1612. + | | +-- Anne of Austria. + | | | =Philip II. of Spain, 1527-1598. + | | +-- Albert of Austria, d. 1621. (_b_) + | | | =Isabella, d. 1633. + | | +-- Elizabeth. + | | | =Charles IX., King of France. + | | +-- Matthias, d. 1619. + | | =Anne. + | +-- Isabella of Austria, 1501-1526. (See II) + | | =Christian II. of Denmark, dep. 1523, 1481-1559. + | +-- Mary, d. 1558. + | | =Louis of Hungary, d. 1526. + | +-- Ferdinand I, d. 1564. + | | =Anne of Bohemia, d. 1547. + | | +-- Maximilian II, d. 1576. (_a_) + | | | =Mary. (_a_) + | | | +-- Rudolf II. (see above) + | | | +-- Anne of Austria. (see above) + | | | +-- Albert of Austria. (see above) (_b_) + | | | +-- Elizabeth. (see above) + | | | +-- Matthias. (see above) + | | +-- Mary. + | | | =William of Cleves. + | | +-- Ferdinand, d. 1595. + | | | =Philippina Welser. + | | | +-- Anne. + | | | =Matthias, d. 1619. + | | +-- Charles. + | | =Anne. + | | +-- Ferdinand II, d. 1637. + | | =Maria Anna. + | | +-- Ferdinand III, d. 1657. + | | =Mary of Spain. + | | +-- Philip IV. of Spain. + | | | =Mary. + | | +-- Leopold I, d. 1705. + | | | =(1)Margaret of Spain. + | | | =(2)Claude of Tyrol. + | | | =(3)Eleanor, d. of Elector Palatine. + | | | +-- Joseph I, d. 1711. + | | | | =Wilhelmina of Hanover. + | | | +-- Charles VI, d. 1740. + | | | =Eliz. Christina of Brunswick. + | | | +-- Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of + | | | Hungary, and daughter of the + | | | Emperor Charles VI, d. 1780. + | | | =Francis III., Duke of Lorraine; + | | | exchanged Lorraine for Tuscany; + | | | el. Emperor 1745, m. 1736, d. 1765. + | | +-- Eleanor. + | | =Charles Leopold of Lorraine. + | +-- Katherine. + | =John III. of Portugal, d. 1557. + | +-- John of Portugal, d. 1554. + | | =Juana of Spain. + | | +-- Sebastian of Portugal. (see above) + | +-- Mary of Portugal, d. 1539. + | =Philip II. of Spain, 1527-1598. + +-- Margaret, d. 1530. + =(1)John, son of Ferdinand and Isabella. + =(2)Philibert II. of Savoy. + + +II. DENMARK, 1481-1588. + + Christian I., King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, d. 1481. + =Dorothea of Brandenburg, widow of Christopher, King of Denmark, d. 1448. + +-- John, d. 1513. + | =Christina of Saxony. + | +-- Christian II. of Denmark, dep. 1523, 1481-1559. + | | =Isabella of Austria, 1501-1526. + | | +-- John, 1516-1531. + | | +-- Dorothea, 1520-1562. + | | | =Frederic II., Elector Palatine, 1483-1556. + | | +-- Christina of Denmark, 1522-1590. + | | =(1)Francesco II., last Duke of Milan, 1495-1535. + | | =(2)Francis I., Duke of Lorraine, 1517-1545. + | +-- Elizabeth. + | =Joachim of Brandenburg, d. 1535. + +-- Margaret. + | =James III. of Scotland, d. 1488. + +-- Frederick I. + =(1)Anne of Brandenburg. + =(2)Sophia of Pomerania. + +-- Dorothea. + | =Albert, Duke of Prussia, d. 1568. + +-- Christian III, d. 1558. + | +-- Frederic II, d. 1588. + | +-- Anna. + | | =Augustus, Elector of Saxony. + | +-- John, (branch of Glücksburg Augustenburg). + +-- Adolf, Duke of Holstein. + =Christina of Hesse. + +-- John Adolf, (branch of Holstein-Gottorp). + | =Amelia of Denmark. + +-- Christina. + =Charles IX. of Sweden. + +-- Gustavus Adolphus, d. 1632. + +-- Christina, d. 1689. + + +III. SFORZA. + + Francesco, Duke of Milan, 1450, 1401-1466. + =Bianca Maria Visconti, d. 1468. + +-- Galeazzo Maria, 1444-1476. + | =Bona of Savoy. + | +-- Gian Galeazzo, 1469-1494. + | | =Isabella of Aragon, d. 1524. + | | +-- Francesco, Abbot of Noirmoutiers, 1490-1512. + | | +-- Ippolita, d. 1501. + | | +-- Bona, d. 1557. + | | =Sigismund I., King of Poland, d. 1548. + | +-- Ermes, 1470-1504. + | +-- Caterina, d. 1509. + | | =(1)Girolamo Riario. + | | =(2)Giacomo Feo. + | | =(3)Giovanni de' Medici. + | +-- Ottaviano, Bishop of Lodi. + | +-- Carlo. + | | =Bianca Simonetta. + | | +-- Ippolita. + | | =Alessandro Bentivoglio. + | +-- Anna, 1473-1497. + | =Alfonso d'Este. + +-- Ippolita, 1446-1484. + | =Alfonso of Calabria, afterwards King of Naples. + +-- Filippo, 1448-1492. + | =Costanza Sforza. + +-- Sforza, Duke of Bari, 1449-1479. + +-- Lodovico Maria, 1451-1480. + | =Beatrice d'Este, 1475-1497. + | +-- Massimiliano abd. 1515, 1493-1530. + | +-- Francesco II., last Duke of Milan, 1495-1535. + | | =Christina of Denmark, 1522-1590. + | +-- Cesare. + | +-- Leone, Protonotary. + | +-- Bianca, d. 1497. + | | =Galeazzo di Sanseverino, d. 1525. + | +-- Gian Paolo, 1497-1535. + | +-- Line of Caravaggio extinct 1697. + +-- Ascanio, Cardinal, 1455-1505. + +-- Tristano, d. 1477. + =Beatrice d'Este da Correggio. + + +IV. LORRAINE, 1300-1736. + + Frederic IV, d. 1328. + =Elizabeth, daughter of the Emperor Albert I. + +-- Raoul, killed at Crécy, d. 1346. + +-- John, d. 1391. + +-- Charles II, d. 1431. + | =Margaret, daughter of the Emperor Rupert III. + | +-- Isabella, d. 1453. + | =René I. of Anjou, d. 1480. + | +-- John, d. 1470. + | +-- Margaret. + | | =Henry, VI. of England. + | +-- Yolande, 1428-1483. + | =Frederic, Count of Vaudemont, d. 1472. + | +-- René II., Duke of Lorraine and Bar, King of + | Sicily, etc, d. 1508. + | =Philippa of Guelders, d. 1547. + | +-- Anthony, 1489-1544. + | | =René de Bourbon, d. 1539. + | | +-- Francis I., Duke of Lorraine, 1517-1545. + | | | =Christina of Denmark, 1522-1590. + | | | +-- Charles III, 1543-1608. + | | | =Claude, de France, 1548-1575. + | | | +-- Henry, 1563-1624. + | | | | =(1)Catherine, de Bourbon, d. 1604. + | | | | =(2)Margaret Gonzaga. + | | | | +-- Claude of Lorraine, d. 1648. + | | | | | =Nicolas-Francis, Duke of + | | | | | | Lorraine, d. 1670. + | | | | | +-- Charles-Leopold, 1643-1690. + | | | | | =Eleanor of Austria. + | | | | | +-- Leopold-Joseph, 1679-1729. + | | | | | =Charlotte-Elizabeth + | | | | | | of Orleans. + | | | | | +-- Francis III., Duke of + | | | | | Lorraine; exchanged + | | | | | Lorraine for + | | | | | Tuscany; el. Emperor + | | | | | 1745, d. 1765. + | | | | | =Maria Theresa of + | | | | | Austria, Queen of + | | | | | Hungary, and + | | | | | daughter of the + | | | | | Emperor Charles VI., + | | | | | m. 1736, d. 1780. + | | | | +-- Nicole, d. 1657. + | | | | =Charles IV., abd. 1634, d. 1675. + | | | +-- Francis II, 1571-1632. + | | | | =Christina of Salm. + | | | | +-- Nicolas-Francis, Duke of Lorraine, + | | | | | d. 1670. + | | | | | =Claude of Lorraine, d. 1648. + | | | | | +-- Charles-Leopold. (see above) + | | | | +-- Henrietta, 1606-1660. + | | | | | =(1)Count of Phalsburg. + | | | | | =(2)Count Carlo Guasco. + | | | | +-- Margaret. + | | | | =Gaston, Duke of Orleans. + | | | +-- Christina, 1565-1636. + | | | | =Ferdinand, Grand Duke of Tuscany. + | | | +-- Antoinette, 1568-1610. + | | | | =William, Duke of Cleves. + | | | +-- Elizabeth, 1573-1633. + | | | | =Maximilian II., Duke of Bavaria. + | | | +-- Catherine, Abbess of + | | | Remiremont, 1570-1648. + | | +-- Anne, 1522-1568. + | | | =(1)René Prince of Orange. + | | | =(2)Philip, Duke of Aerschot. + | | | +-- Charles, de Croy, Marquis of + | | | Havre, b. 1549. + | | +-- Nicolas, Count of Vaudemont, 1524-1577. + | | =(1)Margaret of Egmont. + | | =(2)Joanna of Savoy. + | | =(3)Catherine of Aumale, m. 1569. + | | +-- Louise. + | | | +Henri III. of France. + | | +-- Philip, d. 1612. + | | +-- Charles, Cardinal, d. 1587. + | +-- Claude, Duke of Guise. (See Table V.) + | +-- John, Cardinal, 1498-1550. + | +-- Francis, Count of Lambesque, 1503-1525. + | +-- Louis, Count of Vaudemon, 1506-1527. + +-- Frederic, killed at Agincourt, d. 1415. + =Margaret, heiress of Joinville and Vaudemont. + +-- Anthony. + =heiress of Aumale and Mayenne. + +-- Frederic, Count of Vaudemont, d. 1472. + =Yolande, 1428-1483. + +-- René II., Duke of Lorraine, etc. (see above) + + +V. GUISE, 1500-1600. + + René II., Duke of Lorraine and Bar, King of Sicily, etc, d. 1508. + =Philippa of Guelders, d. 1547. + +-- Claude, Duke of Guise, 1496-1550. + =Antoinette of Bourbon, 1494-1583. + +-- Mary, 1515-1560. + | =(1)Louis, Duke of Longueville, d. 1537. + | =(2)James, V., King of Scotland, d. 1542. + | +-- Louis, Duke of Longueville, 1536-1551. + | +-- Mary, Queen of Scots, 1542-1587. + | =(1)Francis II., King of France, d. 1560. + | =(2)Henry, Lord Darnley, d. 1567. + | +-- James, VI. of Scotland and I. of England (1603), + | 1567-1623. + | =Anne of Denmark, d. 1619. + +-- Francis, Duke of Guise, 1520-1563. + | =Anna d'Este, 1531-1607. + | +-- Henri le Balafré Prince of Joinville, etc., Duke of Guise, + | 1549-1588. + | =Catherine of Cleves. + | +-- Charles, Duke of Guise, 1571-1640. + | | =Henriette de Joyeuse, Duchess of Montpensier, d. 1656. + | +-- Louis, Cardinal and Archbishop of Reims, b. 1575. + | +-- Claude, Duke of Chevreuse, b. 1578. + | | =Marie de Rohan. + | +-- Louise. + | =Francis, Prince of Conti, m. July 24, 1605. + +-- Louise, 1521-1542. + | =Charles, Prince of Chimay. + +-- René Abbess of S. Pierre, Reims, 1522-1586. + +-- Charles, Cardinal, 1523-1574. + +-- Claude, Duke of Aumale, 1526-1573. + | =Louise, de Bréze, m. 1545. + | +-- Catherine of Aumale. + | | =Nicolas, Count of Vaudemont, b. 1524, m. 1569, d. 1577. + | +-- Charles, Duke of Aumale, b. 1556. + | | =Marie d'Elbœuf m. 1576. + | +-- Claude, Abbot of Bec, b. 1563. + | +-- Diana, m. 1576. + | =Francis, Duke of Piney. + +-- Louis, Cardinal, 1527-1578. + +-- Antoinette, Abbess of Farmoustiers, 1531-1561. + +-- Francis, Prior of Malta, 1534-1563. + +-- René Marquis of Elbœuf, 1535-1576. + =Louise, de Rieux. + +-- Charles, Marquis of Elbœuf; created Duke 1581. + +-- Marie d'Elbœuf, m. 1576. + =Charles, Duke of Aumale, b. 1556. + + + + +INDEX + + + Adige, the, 132 + + Aerschot, Anne, Duchess of, death of her husband, 329; + birth of a son, 333; + her letters to Mary, Queen of Hungary, 368, 523; + at Joinville, 464; + at Lorraine, 484; + retires to Diest, 485; + her death, 487 + + Aerschot, Duke of, 79, 142; + receives the Ambassadors, 184; + his defeat at Sittard, 280; + third marriage, 323; + death, 329 + + Aerschot, Philip of, 484 + + Agincourt, Battle of, 257 + + Agrippa, Cornelius, 50, 58 + + Aigues-Mortes, 172 + + Aix-la-Chapelle, 27, 43, 135 + + Aix, siege of, 118 + + Alberi, E., "Le Relazioni degli Ambasciatori," 528 + + Albret, Jeanne d', 235. + See Navarre, Princess of + + Alençon, Duke of, 507 + + Alençon, Margaret, Duchess of, Queen of Navarre, 10 + + Alessandria, 509 + + Algiers, expedition to, 267 + + Alsace, 353, 374 + + Alsace, Gerard d', 256 + + Alsener Sound, 65 + + Altmeyer, J., "Isabelle d'Autriche," 13 _note_, 15 _note_, 33 _note_, + 40 _note_, 43 _note_, _et seq._, 528; + "Relations Commerciales du Danemark et les Pays-Bas," 34 _note_, 37 + _note_, 38 _note_, _et seq._, 528 + + Alva, Duchess of, in London, 391 + + Alva, Duke of, Commander-in-Chief, 383; + in London, 391; + war with Pope Paul IV., 409; + appointed Captain-General of the Netherlands, 486 + + Alzei, 402 + + Amager, island of, 19 + + Amboise, 463 + + Amigone, Mario, 96 + + André, St., Marshal, taken prisoner at St. Quentin, 417; + at the Conference of Cercamp, 428 + + Angoulême, Duke of, 114 + + Anjou, Henry, Duke of, 489; + succeeds to the throne, 490 + + Anjou, Margaret of, 257 + + Annebaut, Admiral l', 291 + + Anne of Cleves, her appearance, 225; + her marriage pronounced null and void, 236 + + Annonville, 268 + + Antwerp, 27, 39, 201; + riots at, 485 + + Apennines, the, 116 + + Aragon, Don Carlos of, Duke of Terranuova, Viceroy of Milan, 499 + + Aragon, Ferdinand of, 10 + + Aremberg, Count d', 331, 479; + killed in battle, 487 + + Aremberg, Jacques d', at Frankfurt, 470 + + Aremberg, Margaret, Countess of, 382, 479, 480; + at Nancy, 485 + + Arena, 117 + + Aretino, Pietro, 96; + his portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Milan, 96; + his tribute to the Duke, 110; + "Lettere," 529 + + Armstrong, Ed., "Cambridge Modern History," 507 _note_, 529 + + Arras, Antoine Perrenot, Bishop of, at Augsburg, 319; + his portrait, 322; + Imperial Chancellor, 342; + at the Conference of Cercamp, 428; + of Câteau-Cambrésis, 436; + on the rivalry between Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, and the + Duchess of Parma, 459 + + Arras, Bishop of, proclaims Charles V. Archduke of Austria and Prince + of Castille, 3 + + Arundel, Fitzalan, Earl of, 158 _note_ + + Arundel, Thomas Howard, Earl of, 158 _note_ + + Arundel, Lord, 415; + at the Conference of Cercamp, 428, 432 + + Ascham, Roger, 321; + "Works," 319 _note_, 529; + his journey up the Rhine, 339; + description of royal personages, 344, 346 + + Ashmole, E., "The Order of the Garter," 392 _note_, 529 + + Asti, 116 + + Aubespine, Sebastien de l', at the Conference of Cercamp, 428; + at Ghent, 457; + "Négociations au Règne de François II.," 457 _note_, 531 + + Audley, Chancellor, 162 + + Augsburg, 60; + Diet of, 318, 337; + prorogued, 323, 346; + festivities at, 338 + + Aumale, Count, 253; + at Joinville, 270; + failure of his negotiations of marriage, 270; + wounded, 307; + his wish to marry Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, 312; + marriage with Anna d'Este, 326; + created a Duke Governor of Savoy, 333; + his capture, 379 + + Austria, Don John of, 488; + appointed Governor of the Netherlands, 492; + at Luxembourg, 492; + his letter to Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, 493; + victory of Gembloux, 494; + death, 495 + + Austria, Elizabeth of, at Nancy, 490 + + Austria, Philip, Archduke of, his death, 1; + funeral, 2 + + Avenati, P., "Entrata Solemne di Cristina di Spagna," 92 _note_, 529 + + Avignano, Count, 396 + + Avignon, 118 + + Axe, Torben, 24 + + Ayamonte, Marquis of, 497 + + + Badoer, Venetian Ambassador, 396, 406 + + Bar, 239, 284, 476 + + Bar, Duke and Duchess of, 252. + See Lorraine + + Barack, K., "Zimmerische Chronik," 529 + + Barbarossa, his flight, 106 + + Barcelona, contract signed at, 74, 104 + + Bari, duchy of, 453 + + Barlow, John, Dean of Westbury, 205 + + Barres, Guillaume des, 48 + + Bassompierre, 360, 377; + at Denœuvre, 373 + + Baumgarten, H., "Geschichte Karl V.," 23 _note_, 529 + + Bavaria, Maximilian, Duke of, his marriage, 512 + + Bavaria, William, Duke of, his marriage with Renée of Lorraine, 488 + + Bavon's Abbey, St., demolition of, 230 + + Bayonne, 220 + + Beard, Mr., 205 + + Beaumont, Castle of, 242, 246 + + Beaumont, Dame Anne de, 6 + + Bellay, M. du, "Mémoires," 250 _note_, 530 + + Belloni, Niccolò, 129, 141, 347; + his letters to Gadio, 348-350; + sent to Brussels, 375; + his disappearance, 375 + + Beltrami, L., "Il Castello di Milano," 529 + + Bergh, L. van, "Correspondance de M. d'Autriche," 21 _note_, 529 + + Berghen, Madame de, 142, 154, 198 + + Berghen, Marquis of, 185, 252 + + Berlin, 39, 40 + + Bianca, Empress, 7, 72 + + Binche, destruction of the Palace of, 390 + + Bisignano, Prince of, 66 + + Blamont, 370 + + Blois, 462 + + Bohemia, Anna of, her death, 320 + + Bohemia, King and Queen of, at Brussels, 405 + + Bois-le-Duc, 212 + + Boleyn, Anne, 144, 150 + + Bologna, 73, 74 + + Bonner, Bishop, 182, 213 + + Bonvalot, François, Abbot of Luxeuil, 299; + his letter on the Regency of Lorraine, 300; + present at the funeral of Antoine, Duke of Lorraine, 305 + + Bomy, truce at, 137 + + Borromeo, Carlo, Archbishop of Milan, 500 + + Bottigella, Councillor Pier Francesco, 78; + his instructions on the reception of Christina, Duchess of Milan, 84 + + Bouillé, R. de, "Histoire des Ducs de Guise," 222 _note_, 529 + + Bouillon, Godfrey of, 256 + + Boullay, Édmond du, 253 + + Boulogne, siege of, 292 + + Bourbon, Antoinette de, 147, 258. + See Guise + + Bourbon, Renée de, her marriage, 11, 258 + + Boussu, Grand Equerry, in London, 391 + + Bradford, W., "Itinerary of Charles V.," 244 _note_, 529 + + Bragadin, Lorenzo, Venetian Envoy, 113 + + Brandenburg, Albert, Marquis of, 285, 318; + his career, 320; + appearance, 321; + admiration for Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, 321; + declines to take part in the tournament at Brussels, 332; + his departure, 332; + secret intrigues with France, 354, 357; + his plundering, 377; + offers a refuge to Christina, 377; + captures Aumale, 379; + meeting with Charles V., 379; + his courtship of Christina, 383; + routed at the Battle of Sievershausen, 384; + death, 385 + + Brandenburg, Elizabeth of, embraces the Lutheran faith, 41; + her flight with her brother, 56 + + Brandenburg, Joachim, Marquis of, 39, 41; + at the marriage of King Christian II., 13 + + Brantôme, P. de, his sketch of Christina of Denmark, vii; + "Œuvres Complètes," 529 + + Breda, Castle of, 174 + + Brederode, Count, 183, 252 + + Brégilles, M. de, 55 + + Brenner Pass, 133, 372 + + Brian, Ambassador, 281 + + Brittany, Anne of, 3; her death, 11 + + Brousse, Jean de la, 314, 372 + + Browne, Sir Anthony, 182 + + Bruges, 30, 236 + + Brunswick, Dorothea, Duchess of, at the Court of Spain, 502; + return to Göttingen, 503; + death of her husband, 503; + joins her mother at Tortona, 505; + her second marriage, 511; + death, 511 + + Brunswick, Eric, Duke of, 480; + his marriage with Dorothea of Lorraine, 490; + summoned to Spain, 502; + return to Göttingen, 503; + his death, 503 + + Brunswick, Henry, Duke of, 39, 40 + + Brusquet, the jester, 404 + + Brussels, 8, 104, 135, 141, 183, 381, 400; + festivities at, 293, 329, 405; + tournament at, 405 + + Bucholtz, F. von, "Geschichte d. Kaiser Ferdinand I.," 264 _note_, 529 + + "Bulletins de la Commission Royale d'Histoire," 2 _note_ + + Büren, Anna, Countess, her death, 425 + + Büren, Count, 142, 252; + entertained by Wriothesley, 198 + + Burgon, J. W., "Life of Sir Thomas Gresham," 396 _note_, 529 + + Burgos, 1, 220 + + Burgundy, Adolf of, Admiral of the Dutch fleet, 36 + + Burgundy, Mary of, 9 + + Burigozzo, G. M., "Cronaca Milanese," 82 _note_, 529 + + Busch, Count Jacob von, 351 + + Busseto, Bartolommeo, 498 + + Butler, A. J., "Cambridge Modern History," 508 _note_ + + + Calabria, 112 + + Calais, 37, 204, 214; + capture of, by the French, 420; + question of the restoration to England, 429, 432, 438, 443 + + Calmet, A., "Histoire de Lorraine," 246 _note_, 256 _note_, 529 + + Cambray, 177, 224; + Peace of, 56, 403 + + Cambray, Archbishop of, performs the nuptial rites of King Christian + II., 13 + + Cambre, La, Convent of, 449, 468 + + Campeggio, Cardinal, 57 + + Campo, A., "Storia di Cremona," 75 _note_, 96, 529 + + Caracciolo, Cardinal, Papal Nuncio, 31; + appointed Viceroy of Milan, 118; + letters from Christina, Duchess of Milan, 516, 517 + + Cardon, M. Leon, vii + + Carvajal, Cardinal, at Malines, 6 + + Carne, Dr. Edward, 182, 199 + + Carondelet, Archbishop, 230 + + Carondelet, Ferry de, 377 + + Cartagena, 267 + + Castellani, Madame, 500 + + Castillon, Ambassador, 147, 160, 164; + recalled to France, 198 + + Câteau-Cambrésis, Conference for peace at, 436-447; + Commissioners, 436; + treaty ratified, vi, 448 + + Catherine, Queen of France, her state entry into Paris, 334; + illness, 362; + flight from Reims, 373 + + Cenis, Mont, ascent of, 86 + + Cercamp, Conference for peace at, 426-430; + Commissioners, 428; + second session, 431; + adjourned, 432 + + Chaloner, Ambassador, 457, 458 + + Châlons, 291; + camp at, 359 + + Châlons, Philibert of, 142 + + Chamberlain, A. B., 168 _note_ + + Chambéry, 84, 85 + + Champagne, attack on, 373 + + Champier, Antoine, 296 + + Chantilly, 181 + + Chapuys, Ambassador, 151, 152, 159; + entertained by Thomas Cromwell, 173; + on Henry VIII.'s negotiations of marriage, 196; + at Calais, 204; + on the illness of Henry VIII., 315 + + Charlemont, citadel of, 398 + + Charles V., Emperor, vi; + proclaimed Archduke of Austria and Prince of Castille, 3; + at Malines, 4; + attack of smallpox, 5; + his education, 6; + confirmation, 6; + taste for sport, 8; + at the wedding of his sister Isabella, 13; + attack of fever, 14; + festivities on his coming of age, 14; + assumes the title of King of Spain, 20; + his first Chapter of the Golden Fleece, 20; + elected King of the Romans, 25; + coronation, 27; + meeting with King Christian II. of Denmark, 28, 57; + his marriage, 48; + death of his sister Isabella, 48; + receives the imperial crown, 57; + death of his aunt, 58; + meeting with Prince John, 59; + appoints his sister Mary Regent of the Netherlands, 61; + his progress to Brussels, 66; + festivities, 67; + at Regensburg, 67, 245; + his illness, 68, 385; + letter on the death of his nephew, 69; + at Milan, 74; + arranges the marriage of his niece Christina, 74-78; + sails for Africa, 104; + his victory at Tunis, 106; + march to Asti, 116, 118; + meeting with Christina, 117, 377; + invasion of Provence, 118; + siege of Aix, 118; + signs a truce, 118; + places a Spanish garrison to defend Milan, 120; + his reconciliation with the King of France, 172; + treaty with him, 195; + views on Henry VIII.'s proposed marriage, 197; + Crusade against the Turks, 209; + death of his wife, 210; + reception in France, 221-223; + meeting with King Francis, 221; + at Paris, 222; + return to Valenciennes, 224; + paper of instructions, 226; + enters Ghent, 228; + his sentence of condemnation, 229; + on the death of Cromwell, 237; + arranges the second marriage of Christina, 245; + his expedition to Algiers, 267; + campaign against King Francis, 277; + secret treaty with King Henry VIII., 280; + success at Düren, 280; + lays siege to Landrécy, 280; + declines proposals of peace, 281, 282, 285; + his treaty with Christian III., 283; + visit to the convent, 285; + at St. Dizier, 286; + his wish for peace, 291; + signs a treaty, 292; + at Brussels, 293, 324, 381; + campaign against the League of Schmalkalde, 317; + victory of Mühlberg, 318; + his portrait, 322; + at Augsburg, 337; + difficulties in obtaining the recognition of his son Philip as his + successor, 341-347; + appearance, 344, 378; + intrigues against, 354, 357; + takes refuge at Innsbruck, 355; + at Villach, 372; + enters Strasburg, 377; + meeting with Albert, Marquis of Brandenburg, 379; + raises the siege of Metz, 380; + on the union of Queen Mary with his son, 387; + his intention to abdicate, 398; + abdication, 400-402; + resigns the kingdoms of Spain and Sicily, 403; + departure for Ghent, 406; + embarks at Flushing, 406; + his retreat at St. Yuste, 417; + death, 430; + funeral, 433-435; + letters from Christina, 525 + + Charles VI., Emperor, 513 + + Charles VIII. of France, 3 + + Charles IX. of France, proclaimed King, 464; + his coronation, 467 + + Charles the Bold of Burgundy, 9; + defeated at Nancy, 257; + removal of his bones to Bruges, 336 + + Châtelhérault, 250 + + Cheyney, Sir Thomas, Ambassador, 308 + + Chimay, Charles, Prince of, 242; + his affection for Louise de Guise, 242; + marriage, 244 + + Chimay, Louise, Princess of, her letter on her happy marriage, 247; + death, 278 + + Christian II., King of Denmark, his proposals of marriage, 12; + coronation, 12; + marriage by proxy, 13; + reception of Queen Isabella, 15; + wedding, 15; + characteristics, 17, 18; + appearance, 18, 29; + relations with Dyveke, 18; + treatment of his wife, 19, 20, 24, 39; + misconduct, 20; + elected Knight of the Golden Fleece, 25; + crowned in the Cathedral of Upsala, 25; + sympathy with the Lutheran faith, 26, 40, 45; + his title of Nero of the North, 26; + reforms, 26; + journey through Germany, 27; + portraits, 28, 29, 41; + meeting with Charles V., 28; + at Ghent, 29; + interview with Cardinal Wolsey, 30; + appeals for help, 33, 45; + deposed, vi, 33, 39; + his flight, 34; + at Malines, 36; + arrival in England, 37; + meeting with Henry VIII., 37; + infatuation for Sigebritt, 38, 39; + raises a force in Germany, 39; + intimacy with Luther, 41; + at Lierre, 44; + extravagance, 44; + death of his wife, 46; + intention to invade Denmark, 49; + plunderings and ravages, 49, 56; + picture of his children, 53; + his public recantation, 57; + return to Malines, 57; + invasion of Holland, 62; + sails to Norway, 63; + his reception, 64; + disbands his forces, 64; + imprisonment, 65; + removed to Kallundborg Castle, 327; + his death, 449 + + Christian III., King of Denmark, his succession disputed, 103; + secret treaty with France, 275; + his treaty with Charles V., 283 + + Christina of Denmark, her birth, 32; + life at Malines, 50-53; + portraits, v, 54, 96, 155, 157, 158 _note_, 509, 514; + present at the festivities at Brussels, 66; + proposal of marriage from the Duke of Milan, 74; + love of riding, 75, 141; + character, vi, 75, 97; + appearance, v, 80, 86, 98, 149, 466; + wedding, 81, 94; + letters to her husband, 83, 100, 516; + dowry, 83; + her journey to Milan, 83-90; + at Cussago, 88; + first sight of her husband, 89; + state entry into Milan, 90-93; + popularity, 98, 141, 264, 408, 415, 450; + lessons in Italian, 99; + death of her husband, 101, 107; + offers of marriage, 113-115, 207, 383; + meeting with her uncle Charles V., 117, 377; + petitions to Cardinal Caracciolo, 119, 120; + reception at Pavia, 122; + attack of fever, 127, 210; + departure from Pavia, 129; + journey to Brussels, 129-135; + meeting with her sister Dorothea, 134; + at Heidelberg, 134, 378; + her life at Brussels, 141, 294, 327, 382; + at the Castle of Breda, 174; + return to Brussels, 183, 448; + her interview with Wriothesley, 191-194; + negotiations of marriage with Henry VIII. broken off, 204; + her suitors, 207, 312, 321, 383, 387; + reception of her sister Dorothea, 212; + affection for Prince René of Orange, 218, 232, 238; + at Valenciennes, 224; + her betrothal to Francis, Duke of Lorraine, 244; + marriage, 245, 251; + journey to Pont-à-Mousson, 253; + reception at Nancy, 254; + on the love of her husband, 264; + at Fontainebleau, 265; + her letters to Granvelle on the cession of Stenay, 266, 271; + reception at Joinville, 268; + her reason for rejecting Henry VIII., 274; + at Esclaron, 276, 461; + birth of a son, 279; + at Spires, 282; + her efforts for peace, 282; + birth of a daughter, 283; + return to Nancy, 294, 322, 482; + death of her husband, 297; + appointed Regent of Lorraine, 298, 302; + birth of a second daughter, 302; + her friendship with the Princess of Orange, 303; + letter to Abbot Bonvalot, 308; + reception of Francis I., 312; + refusal to marry, 312; + at Augsburg, 318, 337-339; + measures for the defence of Nancy, 323; + departure from Brussels, 332; + at the funeral of the Duke of Guise, 335; + her retinue, 340; + entertainment of Frederic and Dorothea, 352; + fear of the invasion of Lorraine by the French, 356, 359; + at Joinville, 356; + her interview with Henry II., 361; + reception of him at Nancy, 363; + deprived of the Regency, 364; + appeal to Henry II., 365, 371; + distress at parting with her son, 366, 370; + appeal to Queen Mary, 367; + retires to Blamont, 370; + her illness, 371, 476, 477, 485, 488, 497, 509; + at Denœuvre, 372; + ordered to leave, 374; + takes refuge in Alsace, 374; + at Hoh-Königsberg, 377; + visits to England, 394, 413-416; + present at the abdication of Charles V., 401; + at Ghent, 406, 416, 457; + meeting with her son, 421-423, 435, 440; + affection for William, Prince of Orange, 425; + presides at the Conference of Cercamp, 426-432; + refusal to attend the wedding of her son, 436; + presides at the Conference of Câteau-Cambrésis, 437-447; + death of her father, 449; + her sorrow at not being appointed Regent of the Netherlands, 452; + request for the duchy of Bari, 453; + refuses the Castle of Lecce, 455; + relations with the Duchess of Parma, 459; + return to Lorraine, 460; + meeting with King Francis II. and Queen Mary of Scots, 461; + acts as Regent of Lorraine, 463; + reception of Mary, Queen of Scots, 465; + at Reims, 466; + at Frankfurt, 470; + agreement with the Bishop of Toul, 472; + rebuilds the salt-works of Les Rosières, 472; + birth of a grandson, 473; + interview with Cardinal Granvelle, 474; + her wish to recover Denmark, 469, 475, 488; + at the christening of her grandson, 476; + pilgrimage to Brussels, 481; + her medal and motto, 483; + marriage of her daughter, Renée, 488; + her grandchildren, 489; + marriage of her daughter Dorothea, 490; + letter of welcome to Don John of Austria, 492; + pilgrimage to Loreto, 497; + state entry into Tortona, 497; + character of her rule, 498; + her illustrious guests, 500; + works of mercy, 500; + quarrels with Philip of Spain, 501, 503, 514; + joined by her daughter Dorothea, 505; + death, 509; + funeral at Nancy, 510; + inscription on her tomb, 511; + character, 514; + charm, 515; + letters to Cardinal Caracciolo, 516, 517; + to Mary, Queen of Hungary, 523; + to Charles V., 525; + to Mary, Queen of England, 526 + + Churchill, A., "Travels," 47 _note_, 470 _note_ + + Claude, Princess, of France, her christening, 333; + proposed marriage with Charles, Duke of Lorraine, 419; + wedding, 435. + See Lorraine + + Clement VII., Pope, 42, 57, 73, 106 + + Clès, Cardinal-Bishop Bernhard von, at Verona, 132 + + Cleves, State of, 135 + + Cleves, Anne of, her appearance, 209; + marriage with Henry VIII., 217 + + Cleves, William, Duke of, 136; + chosen to succeed to the dukedom of Guelders, 138; + his courtship of the Duchess of Milan, 207, 232; + takes possession of Guelders, 207; + at Ghent, 231, 233; + his claim on the succession of Guelders, 231, 233; + return, 234; + his treaty with France, 244; + his marriage with Princess Jeanne of Navarre, 249-251; + surrender to Charles V., 280; + his marriage annulled, 280 + + Clouet, his portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots, 465 + + Clough, Richard, present at the funeral of Charles V., 435 + + Coblenz, 351 + + Codogno, 130 + + Cognac, 279 + + Coligny, Admiral, at Brussels, 404; + taken prisoner at St. Quentin, 417 + + Cologne, 135 + + Colonna, Fabrizio, 380 + + Compiègne, 177 + + Condé, leader of the Huguenots, 471 + + Constantyne, George, 205; + imprisonment, 206 + + Contarini, Francesco, Venetian Ambassador, 233 + + Contarini, Gaspare, his impressions of King Christian II., 29 + + Conway, Sir Martin, "Literary Remains of Albert Dürer," 27 _note_, 530 + + Copenhagen, 15, 483; + siege of, 38; + capitulation, 39, 105 + + Corbetta, Gualtiero di, his oration at the funeral of the Duke of + Milan, 109 + + Corte, Benedetto da, 99, 117, 122, 141; + his account of the journey to Mantua, 131; + his views on the proposed marriage of Henry VIII. with Christina, + Duchess of Milan, 170 + + Cortile, L., "Ragionamenti," 530 + + Coryat, T., "Crudities," 86 _note_, 530 + + Coste, Hilarion de, "Les Éloges," 498 _note_ + + Cournault, C., "Ligier-Richier," 289 _note_, 316 _note_, 530 + + Courrières, Jean de Montmorency, Sieur de, 78, 184; + in charge of Christina, Duchess of Milan, 121; + his career, 124; + letter on the proposed Cleves marriage, 139; + appointed Bailiff of Alost, 140, 219; + his letters to Charles V., 126-128 + + Courteville, Jean de, 413 + + Cranach, Lucas, his portrait of King Christian II. of Denmark, 41 + + Cranmer, Archbishop, 162 + + Cremona, 130 + + Crépy-en-Laonnois, peace signed at, 292 + + Cromwell, Thomas, 115; + his portrait, 155; + entertains Gian Battista Ferrari, 170; + entertains the Ambassadors, 173; + on Henry VIII.'s negotiations of marriage, 196; + entertains Frederic, Count Palatine, 214; + arrested and sent to the Tower, 236; + beheaded, 237 + + Croy, Anne de, 142 + + Croy, Charles de, Marquis of Havré, 492 + + Cussago, villa of, 88 + + Cust, L., 159 _note_, 530 + + + Dahlmann, F., "Geschichte von Dänemark," 27 _note_, 530 + + Dalecarlia, 27 + + Darnley, Henry, Lord, his marriage with Mary, Queen of Scots, 485 + + Decrue, F., "Anne de Montmorency," 181 _note_, 245 _note_, 250 + _note_, 419 _note_, 530 + + Denis, St., Battle of, 487 + + Denmark, outbreak of war with Sweden, 475 + + Denmark, Queen Christina of, v. See Christina + + Denœuvre, 299, 372; Treaty of, 302 + + Devonshire, Edward Courtenay, Lord, 402 + + Diego, Don, his return to Flanders, 174 + + Diest, 482, 485, 487 + + Dizier, St., camp at, 286; + surrender of, 289 + + Dodgson, Campbell, viii + + Dordrecht, 212 + + Dormer, Jane, 425 + + Dorothea, Princess, of Denmark, 27, 35; + her portrait, 54; + offers of marriage, 71, 101, 102; + her appearance, 101; + character, 101, 105; + marriage with Frederic, Count Palatine, 105; + her love of adventure, 106; + meeting with her sister Christina at Heidelberg, 134; + at Toledo, 211; + visit to her aunt Eleanor, 211; + at the Hague, 212; + her appeal on behalf of her father, 231; + at the funeral of the Duke of Lorraine, 310; + her visit to Nancy, 351-353; + death of her husband, 402; + at Jülich, 416; + Neuburg, 417, 468; + death, 469; + inscription on her monument, 469 + + Doulans, M. de, 374 + + Dover, 413 + + Dreux, Battle of, 471 + + Drondtheim, Archbishop of, 14, 19, 64 + + Drouin, Simon, 511 + + Düren, surrender of, 280 + + Dürer, Albert, extract from his Journal, 27; + his portraits of King Christian II. of Denmark, 28, 29 + + + Edward VI., King, his birth, 145; + his death, 386 + + Effingham, Lord Howard of, at the Conference of Câteau-Cambrésis, 437; + on the marriage of Queen Elizabeth, 440 + + Egmont, Anne of, 400 + + Egmont, Count Lamoral d', his wedding, 283; + christening of his daughter, 393; + his victory at Gravelines, 424; + at Frankfurt, 470; + result of his mission to Philip of Spain, 481; + arrested, 486; + execution, 487 + + Egmont, Floris d', at Brussels, 201 + + Egmont, Margaret of, her marriage, 324; + death, 390. + See Vaudemont + + Egmont, Mary Christina, her christening, 393 + + Egmont, Philippa of, 257 + + Elbe, the, 39 + + Elbœuf, Marquis of, at Mon Soulas, 440 + + Eleanor, Archduchess, of Austria, 4; + attack of smallpox, 5; + education, 6; + offers of marriage, 12; + her affection for Frederic, Count Palatine, 21; + Queen of Portugal, 24; + of France, 137; + at Compiègne, 177; + meeting with her sister Mary, 178; + her appearance, 178, 339; + reception of her brother Charles V., 221; + at Brussels, 293, 325; + her death, 430 + + Elizabeth, Princess, of France, her christening, 308; + proposals of marriage, 392, 412, 446; + marriage with Philip of Spain, 456 + + Elizabeth, Queen of England, her accession, 432; + invitation to Christina, 457 + + Ely, Bishop of, at the Conference of Cercamp, 428, 432; + of Câteau-Cambrésis, 436 + + Emanuel, King of Portugal, 9; + death of his second wife, 22; + third marriage, 24; + death, 102 + + England, war declared with France, 417 + + Épernay, 291 + + Erasmus of Rotterdam, 28 + + Eric, King of Sweden, his negotiations with Christina, Duchess of + Lorraine, 478; + proposal of marriage with Renée of Lorraine, 482; + his unstable character, 483; + deposed, 483 + + Esclaron, 275, 476 + + Esslingen, 339 + + Este, Anna d', her marriage with Count Aumale, 326; + appearance, 326 + + Este, Duchess Beatrice d', 7; + her death, 72; + country-house of Cussago, 89 + + Este, Francesco d', 289 + + Étampes, Madame d', 179, 245, 293 + + Exeter, Lord, imprisoned in the Tower, 136; + his execution, 186 + + + Farnese, Cardinal, 225, 228, 235 + + Farnese, Cecilia, 115 + + Farnese, Ottavio, 354, 410 + + Farnese, Vittoria, 225; + her marriage, 270 + + Faye, Hugues de la, his decoration of the Palace of Nancy, 272 + + Ferdinand, King, his marriage, 11; + at Nuremberg, 40; + his treatment of his sister Isabella, 40; + King of the Romans, at Ghent, 230; + departure from, 235; + at Augsburg, 318, 337; + death of his wife, 319; + love of music, 320; + his portrait, 322; + refusal to accept Philip of Spain as coadjutor, 341-345; + his character, 344; + death, 478 + + Fère, La, 183 + + Feria, Count, 425, 431 + + Ferrara, Alfonso d' Este, Duke of, 95; + at the wedding of the Duke of Milan, 95; + his death, 95; + will, 95 + + Ferrari, Gian Battista, 153; + his impressions of England, 170; + of Henry VIII., 171 + + Fiennes, Madame de, 79 + + Florence, 508 + + Florence, Alexander, Duke of, 115 + + Flushing, 406 + + Foix, Germaine de, 28 + + Fontaine, M. de, 374 + + Fontainebleau, 221, 265, 279 + + Förstemann, C., "Neues Urkundenbuch," 41 _note_, 530 + + France, war declared with England, 417; + outbreak of civil war, 471, 487 + + Francis I., King of France, on Henry VIII.'s proposed marriage, 147; + his reconciliation with Charles V., 172; + meeting with Queen Mary of Hungary, 177; + treaty with Charles V., 195; + reception of Frederic, Count Palatine, and Dorothea, 211; + reception of Charles V., 221-223; + on the death of Cromwell, 237; + treatment of the Duke of Lorraine, 265; + demands the cession of Stenay, 266; + his secret treaty with Christian III., 275; + at Esclaron, 275; + campaign against Charles V., 277; + disbands his forces, 277; + terms of peace, 292; + death of his son, 304; + at Joinville, 311, 313; + at Bar, 311; + his death, 315 + + Francis II., King of France, his protest against the treaty, 292; + marriage with Mary, Queen of Scots, 420; + accession, 457; + coronation, 460; + at Lorraine, 461; + at Blois, 462; + death, 464 + + Frankfurt, 470 + + Frederic II., Elector Palatine, his affection for Eleanor of Austria, + 21; + banished from Court, 23; + his negotiations of marriage, 102-104; + marriage, 105; + at Toledo, 211; + his visit to the King of France, 211; + illness, 211; + at the Hague, 212; + visit to England, 213-217; + reception at Windsor, 215; + return to Brussels, 217; + his designs against Denmark, 230; + efforts to raise a loan, 241; + his claim to Denmark, 274; + succeeds to the Palatinate, 282; + joins the League of Schmalkalde, 317; + his loyalty to Charles V., 317; + love of travel, 351; + journey to Nancy, 351-353; + his influence in Germany, 378; + welcome to Christina, 379; + his death, 402; + burial, 403 + + Frederic, King of Denmark, recognition of his title, 42; + death, 72 + + Frederic III., King of Denmark, his unpopularity, 468; + negotiations of marriage with Renée of Lorraine, 475 + + Frederic of Zimmern, Elector Palatine, 469 + + French, the, threaten to invade Milan, 116 + + Friedberg, Castle of, 488 + + Friedewald, treaty at, 354 + + Friedmann, P., "Les Dépêches de Michieli," 398 _note_, 530 + + Frizzi, A., "Mémorie per la Storia di Ferrara," 530 + + + Gachard, L., "Relation des Troubles de Gand," 220 _note_, 228 _note_, + 530; + "Retraite et Mort de Charles V.," 62 _note_, 331 _note_, 530; + "Voyages de Charles V.," 283 _note_, 319 _note_, 530; + "Voyages des Souverains des Pays-Bas," 1, 117 _note_, 246 _note_, + 530 + + Gadio, Innocenzo, 347; + letter from Contessa Trivulzio, 526 + + Gaillard, M., Director of the Brussels Archives, vii + + Gallerati, Count Tommaso, 75 + + Gambara, Cesare, Bishop of Tortona, 500 + + Gardner, E., "A King of Court Poets," 95 _note_, 530 + + Garonne, the, 250 + + Gaye, G., "Carteggio Inedito di Artisti dei Secoli XV.," 530 + + Gemappes, Castle of, 43 + + Gembloux, victory of, 494 + + Genoa, 119 + + Ghent, 29, 78, 406, 416, 457; + revolt at, 219; + royal procession into, 228; + sentence of condemnation, 229; + riots at, 485 + + Gheynst, Margaret van, 410 + + Ghilino, Camillo, Ambassador to Milan, 74, 85, 106; + "Annali di Alessandria," 107 _note_, 498 _note_, 530; + his illness and death, 107 + + Giœ, Court-Marshal Magnus, Danish Ambassador, 12; + representative of King Christian II. at his marriage, 13 + + Giussani, Signor Achille, vii + + Glay, E. Le, "Correspondance l'Empereur Maximilian I. et de + Marguerite d'Autriche," 5 _note_, 531 + + Gomez, Ruy, 338; + in London, 391; + at the Conference of Cercamp, 428 + + Gonzaga, Chiara, 258 + + Gonzaga, Cardinal Ercole, 91 + + Gonzaga, Ferrante, 66; + recovers Luxembourg, 284; + at St. Dizier, 286; + in London, 391 + + Gorzes, Abbey of, 356 + + Göttingen, 503 + + Goulart. S., "Mémoires de la Ligue," 506 _note_, 530 + + Granado, Sir Jacques de, 416 + + Granvelle, Imperial Chancellor, 114; + letters from Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, on the cession of + Stenay, 266, 271; + his portrait, 322; + death, 342 + + Granvelle, Antoine Perrenot, + created Cardinal, 470; + compelled to retire, 473; + his reception at Nancy, 474; + on the efforts of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, to recover + Denmark, 488; + his death, 505; + "Papiers d'État," 114 _note_, 128 _note_, 220 _note_, 277 _note_, + 530 + + Gravelines, victory at, 424 + + Gravelines, Captain of, 198 + + Gravesend, 413 + + _Great Mary_, 35 + + Greenwich, 37, 412 + + Gregory XIII., Pope, 499 + + Gresham, Sir Thomas, 395; + present at the abdication of Charles V., 401 + + Grey, Lady Katherine, 158 _note_ + + Groenendal, Abbey of, 287 + + Grümbach, Willem von, 475 + + Guasco, Maddalena, 509 + + Guazzo, Giorgio, 75; + "Historie d'Italia," 92 _note_, 530 + + Guelders, Charles of Egmont, Duke of; + his proposal of marriage, 10; + conflict with the Regent of the Netherlands, 36; + his illness, 138; + choice of a successor, 138 + + Guelders, Philippa of. See Philippa, Duchess of Lorraine + + Guicciardini, L., "Paesi-Bassi," 141 _note_, 530 + + Guise, Anna d' Este, Duchess of, birth of a son, 334 + + Guise, Antoinette de Bourbon, Duchess of, 147, 258; + her letters to her daughter, 167, 168 _note_, 518, 519, 520, 522; + on the marriage of the Prince of Orange, 240; + her daughter Louise's marriage, 243; + account of the festivities at Guise, 240; + at Pont-à-Mousson, 253; + her sons and daughters, 259; + reception of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, 268; + return to Joinville, 295; + death of her husband, 335; + of her grandson, 356; + at the wedding of Henry III. of France, 490; + her death, 505 + + Guise, Antoinette de, goes to the convent at Reims, 270 + + Guise, Claude, Duke of, 146, 179, 258; + at Pont-à-Mousson, 253; + return to Joinville, 295; + at the funeral of the Duke of Lorraine, 309; + his illness, 334; + death, 335; + funeral, 335; + monument, 336 + + Guise, Francis, Duke of, + christening of his daughter, 356; + his capture of Calais, 420; + at the coronation of Charles IX., 467; + murdered, 471, 508 + + Guise, Louise de, + her appearance, 164; + portrait, 165; + attack of fever, 167; + proposal of marriage, 242; + wedding, 244. + See Chimay + + Guise, Mary, Queen of Scotland. See Mary + + Guise, Renée de, her appearance, 165; + at the Convent of Reims, 167; + Abbess of the Convent of St. Pierre, 314 + + Guzman, Don Gabriel de, 291 + + Gyldenstern, Knut, 64 + + + Hackett, John, Ambassador at Brussels, 85 + + Hagberg-Wright, Dr., viii + + Haile, M., "Life of Reginald Pole," 389 _note_, 530 + + Hainault, invasion of the French, 389 + + Hall, Hubert, vii + + Hallays, A., "Nancy," 258 _note_, 260 _note_, 316 _note_ + + Halle, 317 + + Hamburg, Congress at, 42 + + Hampton Court, 159, 216, 391 + + Hannart, his opinion of the King and Queen of Denmark, 40 + + Hans, King of Denmark, 18 + + Haüsser, L., "Geschichte der Rheinischen Pfalz," 531 + + Haussonville, Baron d', Governor of Nancy, 360, 363 + + Hawkins, on the marriage of the Duke of Milan, 75 + + Heidelberg, 105, 134, 378; + castle at, 351, 353 + + Heinrich, Otto, Elector Palatine, 403; + his death, 469 + + Held, Dr. Matthias, 133 + + Helsingfors, 15 + + Henne, A., "Histoire du Règne de Charles V.," 11 _note_, 531 + + Henri le Balafré, his birth, 334 + + Henry II., King of France, 178, 333, 490; + his state entry into Paris, 334; + declares war, 354; + his advance on Reims, 359; + at Joinville, 360; + reception of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, 361; + enters Nancy, 362; + arbitrary conditions, 364; + deprives Christina of her son, 364-370; + at Strasburg, 371; + retreat, 373; + orders Christina to leave Lorraine, 374; + invasion of Hainault, 389; + destruction of the Palace of Binche, 390; + his threat to occupy Nancy, 408; + wish for peace, 426, 429; + wounded, 456; + death, 457 + + Henry III., King of France, his marriage with Louise of Vaudemont, 490 + + Henry VII., King of England, 4 + + Henry VIII., King of England, his reception of King Christian II. of + Denmark, 37; + his wives, 144, 206; + proposals of marriage, 146; + negotiations of marriage with Christina, Duchess of Milan, 150-164, + 168, 173; + portrait, 155; + illness, 164, 315; + wish to see the French Princesses, 165; + excommunicated by Pope Paul III., 195; + negotiations of marriage broken off, v, 204; + his reception of Frederic, Count Palatine, 215; + marriage with Anne of Cleves, 217; + his opinion of her, 236; + annuls his marriage, 236; + vexation at the marriage of Christina, 251; + trial and execution of his fifth wife, 273; + his secret treaty with Charles V., 280; + invasion of Picardy, 284; + takes possession of Boulogne, 292; + attack of fever, 315; + death, 315 + + Herbesteiner, Sigismund, 20 + + Hesdin, fort of, razed, 385 + + Hesse, Christina of, her marriage, 479 + + Hesse, Landgrave Philip of, 479; + taken prisoner, 318; + on the journey of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, to Brussels, 481 + + Heverlé, 252 + + Hill, G. F., viii + + Hoby, Sir Philip, 155, 156; + his interview with Christina, Duchess of Milan, 157, 168 _note_; + his mission to Joinville, 166, 168 _note_; + Ambassador, 385 + + Hoby, Thomas, at Augsburg, 323; + "Memoirs," 323 _note_, 531; + his translation of "Cortegiano," 385 + + Hoh-Königsberg, fortress of, 318, 377 + + Holbein, Hans, his portrait of Christina, Duchess of Milan, v, 157, + 158 _note_, 514; + other portraits, 155 + + Holland, invasion of, 62 + + Holstein, Adolf, Duke of, at Brussels, 325, 327; + breaks off his engagement with Fräulein Kunigunde, 328; + courtship of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, 328, 387, 402; + takes leave of Charles V., 402; + his marriage with Christina of Hesse, 479 + + Holstein, Frederic, Duke of, his hostile attitude to King Christian + II. of Denmark, 33; + elected King of Denmark, 33, 39 + + Hoogstraaten, Commissioner, 184 + + Horn, Count, arrested, 486 + + Howard, Lord William, 146, 255; + recalled and sent to the Tower, 273; + created a peer, 437. + See Effingham + + Howard, Queen Catherine, her trial and execution, 273 + + Hubert, his Chronicle of Charles V., 103 + + Hugo, L., "Traité sur l'Origine de la Maison de Lorraine," 238 + _note_, 531 + + Huguenot conspiracy, discovery of a, 463 + + Hungary, Ladislaus, King of, 11 + + Hungary, Mary, Queen of, 11. + See Mary + + Hutton, John, Ambassador, 137; + his opinion of Christina, Duchess of Milan, 149, 153, 161; + his method of ingratiating himself with Mary, Queen of Hungary, 161; + illness and death, 171 + + Hvidore, 15 + + + Innsbruck, 7, 57, 60, 134, 355 + + Isabella, Empress, birth of a son, 210; + death, 210 + + Isabella of Aragon, 94 + + Isabella of Austria, 4; + her birth, 4; + attack of smallpox, 5; + education, 6; + offers of marriage, 10; + dowry, 12; + marriage ceremony, 13; + journey to Copenhagen, 15; + letter to her aunt, 15; + state entry, 15; + her wedding with King Christian II. of Denmark, 15; + coronation, 16; + illness, 16, 45; + her miserable life, 22; + birth of a son, 24; + birth and death of twin sons, 25; + birth of her daughters, 27, 32; + flight from Denmark, 35; + return to Malines, 36, 39; + arrival in England, 37; + noble qualities, 38; + loyalty to her husband, 40; + embraces the Lutheran faith, 40; + at Lierre, 44; + her straits for money, 44; + death, vi, 46; + burial, 47; + monument, 47; + destruction of her tomb, 485 + + Isabella of Portugal, her marriage, 48 + + Isère, gorge of the, 86 + + + James V., King of Scotland, 30, 59; + his fickle character, 71, 101; + marriages, 147, 148, 165; + death, 278 + + Jean de Maurienne, S., 86 + + John, Prince, of Denmark, 24, 35; + under the care of the Regent, 50; + his education, 50; + life at Malines, 50-53; + portrait, 54; + character, 54; + meeting with his uncle, 59; + journey to Brussels, 66; + at Regensburg, 67; + illness and death, 68 + + Joinville, 166, 244, 268, 311, 360; + destruction of, averted, 290 + + Joinville, Henri, Prince of, 421 + + Juana, Queen, 61; + death of her husband, 2; + her children, 4; + death, 398 + + Jülich, 416 + + Julius II., Pope, 7 + + Juste, T., "Les Pays-Bas sous Charles V.," 62 _note_, 66 _note_, 531; + "Marie de Hongrie," 294 _note_, 390 _note_, 531 + + Jutland, 15; + rising in, 31; + invasion of, 103 + + + Kallundborg Castle, 327, 449 + + Katherine, Queen of England, 37; + her death, 145 + + Katherine, Queen of Portugal, birth of a son, 66 + + Kaulek. J., "Correspondance Politique de M. de Castillon," 147 + _note_, 531 + + Kildare, Lady, 413 + + Köstlin, J., "Leben Luthers," 41 _note_, 531 + + Kunigunde, von Brandenburg, Fräulein, 328 + + + Ladislaus, King of Hungary, 11 + + Lalaing, Count, 184, 241, 411; + at Augsburg, 338 + + Landau, 377 + + Landrécy, siege of, 280 + + Lanz, K., "Correspondenz Karls V.," 42 _note_, 531 + + Lavisse, E., "Histoire de France," 531 + + Laxou, 254 + + Lecce, Castle of, 455 + + Leghorn, 508 + + Leigh, John, 459 + + Lennox, Lady, 413 + + Lenoncourt, M. de, 508 + + Leo X., Pope, 72 + + Leonardo, his picture the "Cenacolo," 272 + + Lepage, H., "Le Palais Ducal de Nancy," 260 _note_, 261 _note_, 273 + _note_, 295 _note_, 323 _note_, 472 _note_, 491 _note_, 531; + "Lettres de Charles III.," 508 _note_, 531 + + Leva, G. de, "Storia Documentata di Carlo V.," 113 _note_, 531 + + Leyden, Lucas van, 28 + + Leyva, Antonio de, 89, 90, 94, 109; + appointed Governor-General of Milan, 112; + his death, 118 + + Liége, Bishop of, 154 + + Lierre, 44 + + Ligier-Richier, fils, Jean, 510 + + Ligier-Richier, Jean, his effigy of René, Prince of Orange, 288; + of Queen Philippa, 316 + + Ligny, 277 + + Lille, 79; military operations at, 137 + + Linz, 12 + + Lisle, Lady, 214, 217 + + Lisle, Lord, Deputy Governor of Calais, 204, 214 + + Litta, P., "Famiglie Celebri," 531 + + Llan Hawaden, 205, 206 + + Loches, 221 + + Lodge, E., "Illustrations," 328 _note_, 384 _note_, 531 + + Lomboni, Don Antonio, 96 + + Longueval, De, 304 + + Longueville, Duke of, 253, 268, 307; + at Esclaron, 275; + his death, 356 + + Longueville, Mary, Duchess of, 146; + offers of marriage, 147; + marriage with James V., King of Scotland, 148, 165 + + Longwy, Castle of, 279 + + Loreto, pilgrimage to the shrine of, 497 + + Lorraine, surrender of, 512; + a province of France, 513 + + Lorraine, Anne de, her appearance, 167; + marriage with Prince René of Orange, 239. + See Orange and Aerschot + + Lorraine, Antoine, Duke of, 179; + his marriage, 11, 258; + character of his administration, 261; + death of his wife, 262; + at Fontainebleau, 265; + yields the fortress of Stenay, 266; + his mediation for peace between Charles V. and King Francis, 281, + 284; + illness and death, 284; + funeral, 305 + + Lorraine, Antoinette de, Duchess of Cleves, 512 + + Lorraine, Cardinal of, 239, 423; + at the Conference for peace at Cercamp, 426 + + Lorraine, Catherine of, takes the veil, 512; + founds a Capucin convent, 512; + appointed Abbess of Remiremont, 512 + + Lorraine, Charles III., Duke of, his birth, 279; + appearance, 352, 364; + reception of Henry II., 363; + parting with his mother, 366, 370; + at Joinville, 370; + his proposed marriage with Princess Claude, 410; + portrait, 420; + meeting with his mother, 421-423, 435, 440; + his feats of horsemanship, 422; + return to Compiègne, 423; + lavish generosity, 435; + his wedding, 435; + meeting with Philip of Spain, 441; + at Brussels, 449; + at Amboise, 463; + at the coronation of Charles IX., 467; + state entry into Nancy, 471; + enlarges the ducal palace, 472; + his sons and daughters, 489; + death of his wife, 490; + love of learning, 491; + marriage of his daughter Christina, 508; + death, 511 + + Lorraine, Christina, Duchess of. See Christina + + Lorraine, Christine de, 489; + at the French Court, 490, 507; + her marriage with the Grand-Duke Ferdinand of Tuscany, 507, 508; + festivities at Florence, 508; + her portrait, 509 + + Lorraine, Claude, Duchess of, at Mon Soulas, 442; + birth of a son, 473; + attack of smallpox, 473; + her sons and daughters, 489; + death, 490; + portrait, 509 + + Lorraine, Dorothea of, her birth, 302; + appearance, 352; + marriage with Duke Eric of Brunswick, 490; + death of her husband, 503; + her second marriage, 511; + death, 511. + See Brunswick + + Lorraine, Elizabeth of, her marriage, 512 + + Lorraine, Francis I., Duke of, vi, 179; + his betrothal to Christina, Duchess of Milan, 244; + marriage, 245, 251; + assumes the title of Duke of Bar, 249; + receives the Order of St. Michel, 265, 271; + his grief at the cession of Stenay, 266, 271; + illness, 284, 291, 294, 296; + succeeds to the dukedom, 284; + his efforts for peace, 291; + love of music, 294; + his entry into Nancy, 296; + death, 297; + funeral, 309 + + Lorraine, Francis III., Duke of, his marriage with Maria Theresa, 512; + surrenders Lorraine, 512 + + Lorraine, Henry, Duke of, his birth, 473; + christening, 476 + + Lorraine, John of, 257 + + Lorraine, Louise de, Princesse de Chimay, her letter to Mary, + Queen of Scots, 521. + See Chimay + + Lorraine, Philippa, Duchess of, 254, 257, 259; + her sons, 258 + + Lorraine, Raoul of, 256 + + Lorraine, René II., Duke of, 257; + his sons, 258 + + Lorraine, Renée de Bourbon, Duchess of, 179; + her character, 259; + influence on art, 260; + death, 262; + her children, 263 + + Lorraine, Renée de, her birth, 283; + appearance, 352; + offer of marriage from Eric, King of Sweden, 482; + her suitors, 487; + marriage with Duke William of Bavaria, 488 + + Lorraine, Yolande, Duchess of, 257 + + Louis, King of Hungary, his death at the Battle of Mohacz, 59 + + Louis XII. of France, 4; + his marriage, 11 + + Louis XIII. of France, 512 + + Louvain, 61, 78, 135 + + Luna, Captain Alvarez de, 122 + + Lunden, Archbishop of, 103 + + Lunéville, 353 + + Luther, Martin, his friendship with King Christian II. of Denmark, 41; + tribute to the memory of Queen Isabella, 47; + his appeal to King Frederic of Denmark, 70 + + Luxembourg, 245, 252, 284, 337; + siege of, 374 + + + Mabuse, Jehan, designs the monument of Queen Isabella of Denmark, 47; + his picture of the King of Denmark's children, 53 + + Macedonia, Constantine Comnenus, Prince of, 99 + + Macedonia, Francesca Paleologa, Princess of, 279; + her attachment to the Duchess of Milan, 99; + at Codogno, 130; + at Reims, 467 + + Machyn, H., "Diary of a Citizen of London," 531 + + Mackenzie, Sir Kenneth, viii + + Maestricht, 135; + rising at, 220 + + Magdeburg, siege of, 341 + + Magenta, C., "I Visconti e gli Sforza nel Castello di Pavia," 93 + _note_, 531 + + Maiocchi, Monsignor Rodolfo, Rector of the Borromeo College at Pavia, + vii + + Maire, Jehan Le, "Les Funéraux de Feu Don Philippe," 2 _note_; + his elegy of "L'Amant Vert," 52 + + Malines, 2, 4, 36, 39, 57, 61 + + Mansfeldt, Count, 477 + + Mantua, 131 + + Mantua, Federico, Duke of, 74 + + Marck, 397 + + Marck, Margaret la, 331 + + Marcoing, 421 + + Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands, 2, 4; + death of her two husbands, 3; + undertakes the care of her nephew and nieces, 4; + meeting with King Christian II. of Denmark, 28; + reception of the King and Queen of Denmark, 36; + conflict with Charles of Guelders, 36; + concludes a treaty with King Frederic of Denmark, 42; + obtains possession of Isabella's children, 49; + her tapestries and family portraits, 51; + pets, 52; + amusements, 53; + illness, 57; + letter to her nephew, 58; + death, 58 + + Margaret, Princess, of France, her appearance, 178; + negotiations for her marriage, 313; + proposed union with the Duke of Savoy, 429, 443; + marriage, 456 + + Maria, Empress-Dowager, her visit to Tortona, 500 + + Maria, Infanta, of Portugal, 151 + + Maria Theresa, Empress, 511 + + Marienburg, 389 + + Marignano, Battle of, 258 + + Marignano, Marquis of, at St. Dizier, 286 + + Marillac, French Ambassador, 213, 346 + + Marne River, 259, 268, 286 + + Marnol, Nicholas de, 104; at Milan, 104 + + Mary, Archduchess of Austria, her birth, 4; + attack of smallpox, 5; + Queen of Hungary, 9, 11; + death of her husband, 59; + offers of marriage, 59; + her fondness for riding, 60; + her powers of mind, 60; + sympathy with the reformers, 60; + accepts the Regency of the Low Countries, 61; + enters Louvain, 61; + at Malines, 61; + her reforms, 62; + care of her nieces, 70; + protest against the proposed marriage of her niece Christina, 76; + efforts to delay the marriage, 79; + her welcome to her niece Christina, 135; + superintends the military operations at Lille, 137; + anxiety for peace, 137; + her opinion of Henry VIII., 144; + at the Castle of Breda, 174; + her meeting with King Francis at Compiègne, 177; + with her sister Eleanor, 178; + return to Brussels, 183, 346; + difficulties of her position with the English Ambassadors, 186-191; + interviews with Wriothesley, 189, 190; + entertained by him, 199; + her measures to suppress the insurrection, 219; + reception of Charles V., 224; + protest against the cession of Stenay, 267; + grief at the death of the Prince of Orange, 287; + at Augsburg, 318, 340, 342, 344; + protest against Henry II.'s treatment of Christina, 370; + her banquet on the accession of Queen Mary, 386; + on the destruction of her palace of Binche, 390; + resigns the Regency, 399, 401; + present at the abdication of Charles V., 400; + retires to Turnhout, 405; + her death, 431; + funeral, 433; + letter from Christina, 523; + from Anne, Duchess of Aerschot, 523 + + Mary of Castille, Queen of Portugal, her death, 22 + + Mary, Princess, of England, 6; + her marriage, 11 + + Mary, Queen of England, her proposed marriage with the Infant Don + Louis of Portugal, 162; + her accession, 386; + proposed union with Philip of Spain, 387; + her wedding, 388; + supposed birth of a son, 395; + ill-temper at the absence of her husband, 409; + illness, 431; + death, 432; + letter from Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, 526 + + Mary, Dowager-Queen of Scotland, letters from her mother, 167, 168 + _note_, 518, 519, 520, 522; + death of her children, 269; + birth of a daughter, 278; + death of her husband, 278; + of her father, 335; + of her son, 356; + letter from the Princess de Chimay, 521 + + Mary, Queen of Scots, her arrival in France, 333; + marriage with Francis II. of France, 420; + at Lorraine, 461; + at Blois, 462; + death of her husband, 464; + at Joinville, 464; + at Nancy, 465; + her appearance, 465; + portrait, 465; + offers of marriage, 465; + attack of fever, 466; + her marriage with Darnley, 485; + compelled to abdicate, 487; + death on the scaffold, 504 + + Masone, Sir John, Ambassador, 393 + + Mauris, St., Ambassador, 296, 300 + + Maximilian I., Emperor, 3; + his grandchildren, 5; + at Brussels, 8; + war against Venice, 9; + his letter on the misconduct of King Christian II., 20; + his death, 24 + + Maximilian, King of Bohemia, at Augsburg, 318, 320, 338; + his character, 344; + rivalry with Philip of Spain, 345; + at Brussels, 405; + crowned King of the Romans, 470 + + Mayenne, Louise, Marchioness of, 310 + + Mazzenta, Guido, 97 + + Medemblik, 63 + + Medici, Alessandro de', Duke of Florence, murdered, 410 + + Medici, Catherine de', 74, 178, 464; + her reception of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, 467; + jealousy of her influence, 473; + death, 508 + + Medici, Don Pietro de', 508 + + Melanchthon, 152 + + Mendoza, Don Diego, 159 + + Mendoza, Don Luis de, 486, 488 + + Merriman, R. B., "Life and Letters of Thomas Cromwell," 531 + + Messina, 112 + + Metz, 252, 285, 371; + siege of, 380 + + Metz, Anton de, 25, 27, 33 + + Metz, M. de, 298. + See Vaudemont + + Mewtas, Sir Peter, 147 + + Michieli, Ambassador, 396 + + Middelburg, 23 + + Mignet, L., "Retraite de Charles V.," 388 _note_, 531; + "Rivalité de Francis I. et Charles V.," 23 _note_, 531 + + Mikkelsen, Hans, Burgomaster of Malmoë, 41, 46 + + Milan, 497; + taken by the French, 72; + threatened French invasion, 116; + defence of, by a Spanish garrison, 120 + + Milan, Christina, Duchess of. See Christina + + Milan, Francesco Sforza, Duke of, his career, 72; + deprived of his State, 72; + return, 73; + sufferings caused by a wound, 73; + proposal of marriage with Christina of Denmark, 74; + wedding by proxy, 81; + surprise visit to his bride, 89; + reception of her, 93; + marriage, 94; + portraits, 96; + treatment of his wife, 97; + illness, 100, 107; + death, vi, 101, 107; + funeral rites, 108-110; + will, 111; + inscription on his tomb, 511; + letter from his wife, 516 + + Milan, Lodovico Sforza, Duke of, 7; + his character, 17; + imprisonment, 72 + + Milan, Maximilian Sforza, Duke of, at Malines, 7, 72; + enters Milan, 9 + + Missaglia, Alessandro, 90 + + Moeller, E., "Eléonore d'Autriche," 22 _note_, 531 + + Mohacz, Battle of, 59 + + Molembais, M. de, 78 + + Mon Soulas, 440 + + Monboë, Hans, 45 + + Mons, 176, 294, 441 + + Mont, Christopher, Envoy to Frankfort, 209 + + Montague, Lord, imprisoned in the Tower, 186; + his execution, 186 + + Montbardon, M. de, 357, 370 + + Montecastello, villa at, 503 + + Montemerlo, Niccolò, 498; + "Nuove Historie di Tortona," 498 _note_, 531 + + Montmélian, fortress of, 86, 115 + + Montmorency, Anne de, Constable of France, 180; + his home at Chantilly, 181; + taken prisoner at St. Quentin, 417, 419; + at the Conference of Cercamp, 428; + taken prisoner at the Battle of Dreux, 471; + killed at the Battle of St. Denis, 487 + + Montmorency, Floris de, 331; + at Augsburg, 338 + + Montmorency, Jean de. See Courrières + + Montpensier, Duchess of, her christening, 356 + + Montpensier, Gilbert de, 179, 258 + + Montreuil, Madame de, 174 + + Monzone, Imperial Council at, 126 + + Morillon, Provost, 485 + + Mornay, Charles de, 478 + + Morosyne, Sir Richard, Ambassador, 339, 346; + on Charles V.'s reserve, 378; + on the Marquis of Brandenburg's courtship of Christina, Duchess of + Lorraine, 384 + + Moselle, the, 351 + + Mühlberg, victory of, 318 + + Muscovy, Czar of, Envoy from, in England, 413-415 + + + Namur, 245, 252 + + Nancy, 254, 294, 296; + Battle of, 257; + measures for the defence of, 323; + entered by the French, 362, 512; + festivities at, 465 + + Nassau, Henry, Count of, 66, 142; + his third wife, 174; + sudden death, 175 + + Nassau, René of, Prince of Orange, 67 + + Nassau, William of, 287 + + Nassau-Dillenburg, William of, 238 + + Nassau-le-Grand, 285 + + Navarre, Antoine, King of, mortally wounded, 471 + + Navarre, Henri d'Albret of, 10; + his marriage, 10 + + Navarre, Henry, King of, his proposal of marriage with Christina, + Duchess of Lorraine, 383 + + Navarre, Isabel of, 102 + + Navarre, Jeanne d'Albret, Princess of, proposal of marriage with the + Duke of Cleves, 235, 244; + her resistance to the marriage, 249; + wedding, 250; + annulment of her marriage, 280; + marriage with the Duke of Vendôme, 326 + + Navarre, Margaret, Queen of, 10 + + Neckar, the, 339 + + Negriolo, Girolamo, 90 + + Netherlands, choice of a Regent, 451; + discontent of the people at the appointment of the Duchess of + Parma, 458, 459 + + Netherlands, Margaret, Regent of 4. + See Margaret + + Neuburg, 417, 468 + + Neumarkt, 103, 105 + + Nevill, Sir Edward, his execution, 186 + + Nice, 119 + + Nicole, Madame, 300, 342 + + Nimeguen, 138 + + Noailles, Ambassador, 396 + + Nomény, 358; castle at, 351 + + Norfolk, Duchess of, 273 + + Norfolk, Henry Howard, sixth Duke of, 158 _note_ + + Norway, reception of King Christian II. in, 64 + + Nott, G., "Life of Wyatt," 169 _note_, 204 _note_, 531 + + Novara, 83, 87 + + Nubilonio, "Cronaca di Vigevano," 93 _note_, 531 + + Nuremberg, 40 + + Ochsenthal, vale of the, 352 + + Odensee, Palace of, 32 + + Oglio, 130 + + Oise, the, 178, 183 + + Oldenburg, Christopher of, his invasion of Jutland, 103 + + Olisleger, Chancellor, 249 + + Oppenheimer, Henry, viii + + Orange, Anne, Princess of, 263; + death of her husband, 287; + at Nancy, 303; + her friendship with Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, 303; + her character, 303; + at the funeral of the Duke of Lorraine, 310; + her letter to the Queen of Scotland, 311; + marriage with the Duke of Aerschot, 323. + See Aerschot + + Orange, René, Prince of, at Brussels, 142, 201; + at the Castle of Breda, 174; + his affection for Christina, Duchess of Milan, 218, 232, 238; + popularity, 238; + marriage with Anne of Lorraine, 239; + at St. Dizier, 286; + his death, 286; + will, 288; + tomb, 288; + lines on, 289 + + Orange, William, Prince of, 322; + in London, 391; + present at the abdication of Charles V., 400; + death of his wife, 425; + his appearance, 425; + affection for Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, 425; + at the Conference of Cercamp, 428; + at the funeral of Charles V., 434; + at the Conference of Câteau-Cambrésis, 437; + his proposed marriage with Renée of Lorraine, 455; + debts, 455; + his treatment of Christina, 458; + marriage with Anna of Saxony, 460; + at Frankfurt, 470; + retires to Germany, 486; + ban against, 503; + assassination, 504 + + Orleans, Charles, Duke of, his character, 178; + at Brussels, 293; + death, 304 + + Orleans, Gaston, Duke of, 512 + + Orleans, Henry, Duke of, 74, 113 + + Orleans, Margaret of, 512 + + Orley, Bernhard van, his portrait of Christina, Duchess of + Milan, 155, 158 _note_ + + Osiander, the Lutheran doctor, 41 + + Oslo, 64 + + Oxe, Peder, exiled from Denmark, 457, 468; + his return to Copenhagen, 483 + + + Paget, Ambassador, at Fontainebleau, 267 + + Paleologa, Francisca, Princess of Macedonia, her attachment to the + Duchess of Milan, 99. + See Macedonia + + Paleologa, Margherita, 73; + Duchess of Mantua, 74 + + Palermo, 107 + + Panigarola, Gabriele, appointed Governor of Tortona, 129 + + Panizone, Guglielmo, 170 + + Paris, 222 + + Parma, War of, 355 + + Parma, Alexander of, 410 + + Parma, Margaret, Duchess of, her marriages, 410; + son, 410; + at Brussels, 411; + her character, 411; + visit to England, 413-415; + appointed Regent of the Netherlands, 452, 458; + her relations with Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, 459; + unpopularity, 470; + her treatment of Anne, Duchess of Aerschot, 484; + her death, 505 + + Parroy, Sieur de, in charge of Stenay, 365, 367 + + Passau, Conference at, 376 + + Pastor, L., "Geschichte d. Papste," 132 _note_; + "Reise des Kardinal Luigi d'Aragona," 141 _note_ + + Pate, Archdeacon Richard, Ambassador, 237, 241 + + Paul III., Pope, 106, 114; + his excommunication of Henry VIII., 195 + + Paul IV., Pope, his war with Alva, Viceroy of Naples, 409 + + Pavia, 122; + Castello of, 117 + + Pellizone, Lodovico, 123 + + Pembroke, Lord, 415 + + Pero, Massimo del, 347 + + Péronne, 423 + + Petit, J. F. Le, "Grande Chronique de Hollande," 445 _note_, 531 + + Petre, Dr., 206 + + Petri, Nicolas, Canon of Lunden, 43, 45 + + Pfister, C., "Histoire de Nancy," 253 _note_, 260 _note_ + + Philip I., King of Castille and Archduke of Austria, his death, 1; + funeral, 2; + children, 4 + + Philip II. of Spain, invested with the Duchy of Milan, 244; + his marriage settled with the Infanta of Portugal, 280; + death of his wife, 313; + state entry into Brussels, 329; + appearance, 330; + character, 330, 341, 345; + attentions to Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, 331; + fêtes in his honour, 333; + at Augsburg, 337; + his tournament, 338; + rivalry with Maximilian, King of Bohemia, 345; + return to Spain, 347; + proposed union with Mary, Queen of England, 387; + portrait, 388; + wedding, 388; + leaves London, 399; + at Brussels, 400, 417; + present at the abdication of Charles V., 400; + investiture, 401; + his first Chapter of the Fleece, 403; + signs the treaty of peace, 404; + his affection for Christina, 408; + delay in returning to England, 409; + at Greenwich, 412; + capture of St. Quentin, 417; + death of his wife, 433; + at the funeral of Charles V., 434; + his meeting with Charles, Duke of Lorraine, 441; + proposal of marriage with Princess Elizabeth of France, 446; + appoints his sister Margaret Regent of the Netherlands, 452; + his marriage, 456; + at Ghent, 457; + his indifference to the illness of Christina, 477; + his treatment of her, vi, 501, 503, 514 + + Philippa, Queen, her home in the convent, 254, 259, 285; + death, 315; + funeral, 316; + monument, 316. + See Lorraine + + Philippeville, citadel of, 398 + + Piacenza, citadel of, 410 + + Picardy, invasion of, 284 + + Piedmont, Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, 113; + at Milan, 116; + at Augsburg, 320; + in command of the Imperial Army, 385; + his courtship of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, 387; + succeeds to the title of Duke of Savoy, 391; + at Whitehall, 392 + + Piedmont, Prince Louis of, his death, 113 + + Pimodan, G., "La Mère des Guises," 147 _note_, 531 + + Po, the, 116, 117, 130 + + Pois, Nicolas le, 296 + + Poitiers, Diane de, 179 + + Pol, S., capture of, 126 + + Poland, Bona Sforza, Queen of, her letter to the Duke of Milan on his + marriage, 95 + + Poland, Sigismund, King of, 95 + + Pole, Cardinal, 195; + at Toledo, 203; + his aversion to Queen Mary's marriage with Philip of Spain, 389; + received at Whitehall, 391 + + Polweiler, Baron de, Bailiff of Hagenau, 476, 480 + + Pont-à-Mousson, 253, 285, 351, 380, 474; + University at, 491 + + Pont-à-Mousson, Francis, Marquis of, his courtship of the Duchess of + Milan, 207; + marriage, 245; + receives the title of Duke of Bar, 246, 249; + his birth, 263; + studious tastes, 263; + proposed marriages, 263; + his choice of Christina, 264. + See Lorraine + + Poor Clares, Order of the, 254, 259 + + Porta, G., "Alessandria Descritta," 500 _note_, 531 + + Portugal, Eleanor, Queen of. See Eleanor + + Portugal, Emanuel, King of. See Emanuel + + Portugal, Infant Don Louis of, his proposed union with Princess Mary + of England, 162 + + Portugal, Infanta of, her marriage with Philip of Spain, 280 + + Portugal, invasion of, 502 + + Poynings, Sir Edward, Ambassador at Brussels, 8 + + Praet, Louis de, Imperial Ambassador, 37; + his admiration for Isabella, Queen of Denmark, 38; + at Ghent, 79; + his oration at the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Milan, 94 + + Prinsterer, Groen van, "Archives de la Maison d'Orange et de Nassau," + 425 _note_, 530 + + Putnam, R., "William the Silent, Prince of Orange," 289 _note_, 532 + + Pyl, Lieven, chief magistrate at Ghent, 219 + + + Quentin, St., victory of, 417 + + Quievrain, Castle of, 329 + + + Rabutin, François de, 361; + at Nancy, 364; + "Collections de Mémoires," 361 _note_, 532 + + Rambouillet, 315 + + Ratti, N., "La Famiglia Sforza," 313 _note_, 532 + + Ravold, J. B., "Histoire de Lorraine," 253 _note_, 532 + + Regensburg, 65, 67, 245; + Diet of, 305 + + Reiffenberg, F. de, "Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or," 20 + _note_, 403, 532 + + Reims, 360, 460, 466 + + Reims, Charles, Archbishop of, 247 _note_, 253; + his consecration, 295 + + Remiremont, 297 + + Renard, Simon, 407 + + Renty, Battle of, 390 + + Reumont, A. von, "Geschichte Toscana," 508 _note_, 532 + + Rhine, the, 351 + + Ribier, G., "Lettres et Mémoires d'État," 405 _note_, 532 + + Richardot, Abbé, his oration at the funeral of Charles V., 434 + + Richmond, 159 + + Richmond, Duke of, 71 + + Ripalta, 497 + + Rivoli, 87 + + Rocca di Sparaviera, 505, 509 + + Roddi, F., "Annali di Ferrara," 95 _note_ + + Rombaut, S., Church of, 1, 2 + + Rosières, Les, salt-works at, 472 + + Roskild, Dean of, 34 + + Rossem, Martin van, 277 + + Rostain, M. de, 374 + + Rotterdam, 212 + + Rouen, Siege of, 471 + + Ruble, A. de, "Le Mariage de Jeanne d'Albret," 222 _note_, 249 + _note_, 326 _note_, 334 _note_, 362 _note_, 420 _note_, 532; + "Traité de Câteau-Cambrésis," 429 _note_, 439 _note_ + + Rucellai, Orazio, 507 + + Rudolf II., Emperor, 512 + + + Saint-Hilaire, M. de, 349 + + Salis, Friar Jehan de, 50 + + Salm, Count Jean de, 298, 357 + + Sandrart, J., "Deutsche Akademie," 274 _note_ + + Sangiuliani, Count Antonio Cavagna, vii, 347 _note_ + + Sanuto, Marino, 73; + "Diarii," 63 _note_, 67 _note_, 532 + + Saragossa, 104 + + Savorgnano, Mario, 63, 66 + + Savoy, Beatrix of Portugal, Duchess of, 87; + takes refuge at Vercelli, 116; + flight to Milan, 116; + meeting with Charles V., 117; + at Nice, 119; + death, 119 + + Savoy, Charles III., Duke of, 85; + forced to evacuate Turin, 116 + + Savoy, Charles Emanuel, Duke of, 507 + + Savoy, Emanuel Philibert, Duke of, 391; + at Whitehall, 392; + his negotiations of marriage with Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, + 396-398; + appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Low Countries, 399; + present at the abdication of Charles V., 400; + negotiations of marriage with Princess Elizabeth, 412; + his victory of St. Quentin, 417; + proposed marriage with Marguerite of France, 429, 443; + marriage, 456 + + Savoy, Margaret, Duchess of, 3 + + Savoy, Duke Philibert of, his marriage and death, 3 + + Saxe-Lauenburg, Duke of, at the marriage ceremony of King Christian + II., 13 + + Saxony, 40 + + Saxony, Anna of, her marriage with William, Prince of Orange, 460 + + Saxony, Elector John Frederick of, taken prisoner, 318; + his portrait, 322 + + Saxony, Elector Maurice of, 285; + his siege of Magdeburg, 341; + secret intrigues with France, 354, 357; + killed at the battle of Sievershausen, 384 + + Scepperus, Cornelius, 42; + Private Secretary to the King of Denmark, 19; + his inscription on the tomb of Queen Isabella of Denmark, 47 + + Schäfer, D., "Geschichte von Dänemark," 38 _note_, 532 + + Scharf, Sir George, 54 note, 158 _note_ + + Schauwenbourg, Captain, 305 + + Scheldt, River, 230; frozen over, 411 + + Schlegel, J. H., "Geschichte der Könige v. Dänemark," 45 _note_, 532 + + Schleswig, Bishop of, Danish Ambassador, 12 + + Schlettstadt, 375 + + Schmalkalde, League of, campaign against, 317; + dissolved, 318 + + Schoren, Dr., Chancellor of Brabant, 184 + + Scotland, Mary, Queen of. See Mary + + Selve, Odet de, Ambassador, 314 + + Serclaes, Mademoiselle Rolande de, 50 + + Seymour, Jane, Queen of England, 144, 151; + her portrait, 155 + + Sfondrati, Count Francesco, 78 + + Sforza, Count Bosio, 115 + + Sforza, Francesco, Duke of Milan, at Innsbruck, 7. + See Milan + + Sforza, Giovanni Paolo, 90, 109; + his illness and death, 113 + + Sforza, Lodovico, Duke of Milan. See Milan + + Sforza, Maximilian, Duke of Milan, at Malines, 7, 72. + See Milan + + Shelley, Sir Richard, 411 + + Sievershausen, Battle of, 384 + + Sigismund, King of Poland, 321 + + Silliers, Baron de, 388; + on the illness of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, 477; + his death, 489 + + Simonet, 125 + + Sittard, defeat at, 280 + + Skelton, Mary, 149 + + Skippon, Philip, 47 + + Slagbök, Archbishop of Lunden, 26; + put to death, 32 + + Soignies, Forest of, 141, 169, 252 + + Sonderburg, island fortress of, 65 + + Soranzo, Ambassador, 411 + + Southampton, Lord High Admiral, 162, 215 + + Souvastre, Madame de, 85, 91 + + Souvastre, M. de, 44, 46 + + Spain, Charles V. of. See Charles V. + + Spain, Infant Don Carlos of, his birth, 313 + + Spain, Philip II. of. See Philip + + Spinelli, 8, 23 + + Spires, 78, 282 + + Stabili, Gianbattista, 510 + + Stampa, Count Massimiliano, 75; + at Ghent, 78; + at Lille, 79; + received by Queen Mary of Hungary, 79; + representative of the Duke of Milan at his marriage, 81; + his house at Cussago, 88; + entertains the Duchess of Milan, 88; + at the funeral of the Duke of Milan, 109; + retains his post of Castellan of Milan, 112; + his gifts from Charles V., 120; + gives up the keys, 122 + + Stanislas, ex-King of Poland, at Nancy, 513 + + Stenay, fortress of, ceded to the French, 266; + restitution, 293; + evacuated by the French, 304 + + Stockholm, siege of, 31; + surrender of, 33 + + Strasburg, 371, 373, 377 + + Stroppiana, Count, Ambassador, 342, 344, 359; + on Henry II.'s treatment of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, 371; + at Windsor, 391; + at the Conference of Cercamp, 428 + + Suffolk, Mary, Duchess of, 37 + + Suffolk, Duke of, 162, 215 + + Surrey, Lord, 280, 281 + + Susa, towers of, 87 + + Sweden, outbreak of war with Denmark, 475, 478 + + Sweden, Eric, King of. See Eric + + Swynaerde, 45 + + + Tarbes, Bishop of, 168 + + Tassigny, Sieur de, 357 + + Taverna, Count, 74, 109 + + Tencajoli, Signor O. F., vii + + Thérouenne, 137; fort of, razed, 385 + + Thionville, 252; + capture of, 424 + + Thomas, H. L., "Spiegel des Humors grosser Potentaten," 22 _note_, 532 + + Throckmorton, Ambassador, 461 + + Tiepolo, the Venetian, 445; + on the marriage of Philip of Spain with Princess Elizabeth, 446; + on the appointment of the Duchess of Parma to the Regency of the + Netherlands, 452 + + Tiloye, La, 136 + + Titian, his portraits, 96, 322; + at Augsburg, 322 + + Toledo, treaty at, 195 + + Tongres, 340 + + Tortona, 111, 128, 497 + + Toul, 362 + + Toul, Bishop of, his agreement with Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, + 472 + + Tournay, Bishop of, 81 + + Trent, 72, 78, 133 + + Treves, 435 + + Triboulet the jester, 223 + + Trivulzio, Contessa Dejanira, 99, 130; + on the loss of Belloni, 376; + her letter to Messer Innocenzio Gadio, 526 + + Trivulzio, Count Gaspare, 99; + his reception of Christina, Duchess of Milan, 130 + + Troyes, Louis, Bishop of, 247 _note_, 253 + + Tuke, Sir Brian, 168 _note_ + + Tunis, capture of, 106 + + Turin, evacuation of, 116 + + Tuscany, Grand-Duke Ferdinand of, his marriage with Christina of + Lorraine, 507, 508 + + Tytler, P. F., "England under Edward VI.," 380 _note_, 532 + + + Ulmann, H., "Kaiser Maximilian," 11 _note_, 532 + + Upsala, Cathedral of, 25 + + Urbino, Duke of, 270 + + + Vaissière, P. de, "Vie de Charles de Marillac," 344 _note_, 532 + + Valenciennes, 176, 224 + + Valladolid, 125 + + Valois, Madeleine de, her proposed marriage with James V. of + Scotland, 115; + her marriage, 147; + death, 147 + + Varembon, Marc de Rye, Marquis of, his marriage with the Duchess of + Brunswick, 511 + + Vaucelles, Abbey of, truce signed at, 403 + + Vaudemont, Louise, Countess of, 489; + christening of her daughter, 351 + + Vaudemont, Nicholas, Count de, Bishop of Metz, 253, 294, 295; + his birth, 263; + appointed joint Regent of Lorraine, 302; + at the funeral of the Duke of Lorraine, 309; + his marriage, 324; + at Blois, 350; + loyalty to Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, 358, 374, 390; + appointed sole Regent, 364; + his second marriage, 390; + retires from public life, 463; + christening of his daughter, 482 + + Vaudemont and Joinville, Ferry, Count of, 257 + + Vaughan, Stephen, Ambassador, 175; + his interview with Queen Mary of Hungary, 176; + at Antwerp, 201 + + Veeren, 14, 36 + + Vély, M. de, 199, 233 + + Vendôme, Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of, 179; + his courtship of the Duchess of Milan, 207; + marriage with Jeanne d'Albret, 326 + + Vendôme, Mademoiselle de, 179 + + Vercelli, 116 + + Vercelli, Bishop of, 87 + + Verona, 132 + + Verri, P., "Storia di Milano," 532 + + Vertot, R. de, "Ambassades de MM. de Noailles en Angleterre," 532 + + Viborg, 33 + + Vieilleville, Governor of Verdun, 380; + Mémoires, 532 + + Vigevano, 83, 87, 407, 477 + + Villach, 372 + + Villamont, A., "Voyages," 497 _note_, 532 + + Viola, N., "Il Santuario di Tortona," 499 _note_, 532 + + Vives, Louis, 6 + + Voigt, G., "Albert von Brandenburg," 318 _note_, 532 + + Vueren, Castle of, 8 + + + Waldrevange, 305 + + Wallop, Sir John, 280 + + Walpole, Horace, "Anecdotes of Painting," 274 _note_, 532 + + Wasa, Gustavus, 276; + his revolt at Dalecarlia, 27; + lays siege to Stockholm, 31, 33 + + Wassy, massacre at, 471 + + Willems, Dyveke, her relations with King Christian II. of Denmark, 18; + her sudden death, 24 + + Willems, Hermann, 25 + + Willems, Sigebritt, 18; + appointed mistress of the Queen of Denmark's household, 19; + her influence over King Christian II., 24; + arrested and burnt, 38 + + Windsor, 215, 391 + + Wingfield, Sir Robert, Ambassador at Ghent, 30; + on the conduct of King Christian II., 33, 34 + + Wolsey, Cardinal, at Bruges, 30; + his retinue, 30; + interview with King Christian II., 30 + + Wornum, R., "Life of Holbein," 159 _note_, 274 _note_, 532 + + Wotton, Nicholas, 205; + on the surrender of St. Dizier, 289; + at the Conference of Cercamp, 428; + of Câteau Cambrésis, 436 + + Wriothesley, Thomas, 149, 176; + at Cambray, 177; + on the terms of Henry VIII.'s negotiation of marriage, 184; + his interviews with Queen Mary of Hungary, 189, 190; + with Christina, Duchess of Milan, 191-194; + his entertainments at Brussels, 198-201; + detained at Brussels, 202; + treatment, 203; + return to England, 204 + + Würtemberg, Duchy of, 339 + + Wyatt, Sir Thomas, Ambassador, 145; + his interviews with Charles V., 227; + his efforts to prevent an alliance between Christina, Duchess of + Milan, and the Duke of Cleves, 232 + + + Young, Colonel G., "The Medici," 532 + + + Zeeland, 14, 43, 327, 406 + + Zeneta, Marchioness of, 174 + + BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD + + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + + + Simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors were + silently corrected. + + Anachronistic and non-standard spellings retained as printed. + + Italics markup is enclosed in _underscores_. + + Superscripts are enclosed in ^{curly brackets with a leading + circumflex accent}. + + P. 530 changed two instances of "GRANVELLE, Cardinal de," to + "GRANVELLE, CARDINAL DE:" to be consistent with other entries + in this section. + + P. 532 changed "REIFFENBERG, F. DE: Histoire de la Toison d'Or. + 2 vols. Brussels, 183 ." to "REIFFENBERG, F. DE: Histoire de + la Toison d'Or. 2 vols. Brussels, 1835." Complete date is from + Wikipedia. + + P. 533 changed layout of GENEALOGICAL TABLES from horizontal to + vertical due to column width considerations. + + P. 538 added connector in family tree diagram between "René + II., d. 1508 = Philippa of Guelders," and their children. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan +and Lorraine, 1522-1590, by Julia Cartwright + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTINA OF DENMARK *** + +***** This file should be named 48191-0.txt or 48191-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/8/1/9/48191/ + +Produced by Richard Tonsing, Charlene Taylor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan and Lorraine, 1522-1590 + +Author: Julia Cartwright + +Release Date: February 7, 2015 [EBook #48191] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTINA OF DENMARK *** + + + + +Produced by Richard Tonsing, Charlene Taylor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="tnotes covernote"> + <p>The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p> +</div> + +<p class="ph1">CHRISTINA OF DENMARK</p> + +<p class="ph1">DUCHESS OF MILAN AND LORRAINE</p> + +<p class="ph2">1522-1590 +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a><br /><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 276px;"> +<img src="images/frontis.jpg" width="276" height="574" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p><i>Christina, Duchess of Milan</i></p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> +<div class="titlepage"> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h1>CHRISTINA OF DENMARK<br /> +DUCHESS OF MILAN AND +LORRAINE<br /> + +<span class="xlarge">1522-1590</span></h1> + + +<p class="xlarge">BY JULIA CARTWRIGHT +(MRS. ADY)</p> + +<p class="large">AUTHOR OF "ISABELLA D'ESTE," "BALDASSARRE CASTIGLIONE," +"THE PAINTERS OF FLORENCE," ETC. +</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"Dieu, qu'il la fait bon regarder,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">La gracieuse, bonne et belle!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pour les grans biens qui sont en elle,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chacun est prest de la louer.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Qui se pourrait d'elle lasser?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Toujours sa beauté renouvelle.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dieu, qu'il la fait bon regarder,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">La gracieuse, bonne et belle!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Par deça, ne delà la mer,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ne sçay Dame ne Damoiselle<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Qui soit en tous biens parfais telle;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">C'est un songe que d'y penser,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Dieu, qu'il la fait bon regarder!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i22"><span class="smcap">Charles d'Orléans</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="xlarge">NEW YORK<br /> +E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY<br /> +1913</p> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a><br /><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>Christina of Denmark is known to the world by +Holbein's famous portrait in the National Gallery. +The great Court painter, who was sent to Brussels +by Henry VIII. to take the likeness of the Emperor's +niece, did his work well. With unerring skill he has +rendered the "singular good countenance," the clear +brown eyes with their frank, honest gaze, the smile +hovering about "the faire red lips," the slender +fingers of the nervously clasped hands, which Brantôme +and his royal mistress, Catherine de' Medici, +thought "the most beautiful hands in the world." +And in a wonderful way he has caught the subtle +charm of the young Duchess's personality, and made +it live on his canvas. What wonder that Henry fell +in love with the picture, and vowed that he would have +the Duchess, if she came to him without a farthing! +But for all these brave words the masterful King's +wooing failed. The ghost of his wronged wife, +Katherine of Aragon, the smoke of plundered abbeys, +and the blood of martyred friars, came between him +and his destined bride, and Christina was never +numbered in the roll of Henry VIII.'s wives. This +splendid, if perilous, adventure was denied her. But +many strange experiences marked the course of her +chequered life, and neither beauty nor virtue could +save her from the shafts of envious Fortune. Her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> +troubles began from the cradle. When she was little +more than a year old, her father, King Christian II., +was deposed by his subjects, and her mother, the +gentle Isabella of Austria, died in exile of a broken +heart. She lost her first husband, Francesco Sforza, +at the end of eighteen months. Her second husband, +Francis Duke of Lorraine, died in 1545, leaving her once +more a widow at the age of twenty-three. Her only son +was torn from her arms while still a boy by a foreign +invader, Henry II., and she herself was driven into +exile. Seven years later she was deprived of the +regency of the Netherlands, just when the coveted +prize seemed within her grasp, and the last days of +her existence were embittered by the greed and +injustice of her cousin, Philip II.</p> + +<p>Yet, in spite of hard blows and cruel losses, Christina's +life was not all unhappy. The blue bird—the symbol +of perpetual happiness in the faery lore of her own +Lorraine—may have eluded her grasp, but she filled +a great position nobly, and tasted some of the deepest +and truest of human joys. Men and women of all +descriptions adored her, and she had a genius for +friendship which survived the charms of youth and +endured to her dying day. A woman of strong +affections and resolute will, she inherited a considerable +share of the aptitude for government that distinguished +the women of the Habsburg race. Her +relationship with Charles V. and residence at the +Court of Brussels brought her into close connection +with political events during the long struggle with +France, and it was in a great measure due to her +exertions that the peace which ended this Sixty Years' +War was finally concluded at Câteau-Cambrésis in +1559.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> + +<p>Holbein's Duchess, it is evident, was a striking +figure, and her life deserves more attention than it +has hitherto received. Brantôme honoured her with +a place in his gallery of fair ladies, and the sketch +which he has drawn, although inaccurate in many +details, remains true in its main outlines. But with +this exception Christina's history has never yet been +written. The chief sources from which her biography +is drawn are the State Archives of Milan and Brussels, +supplemented by documents in the Record Office, +the Bibliothèque Nationale, the Biblioteca Zelada +near Pavia, and the extremely interesting collection +of Guise letters in the Balcarres Manuscripts, which has +been preserved in the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh. +A considerable amount of information, as +will be seen from the Bibliography at the end of this +volume, has been collected from contemporary +memoirs, from the histories of Bucholtz and Henne, +and the voluminous correspondence of Cardinal +Granvelle and Philip II., as well as from Tudor, +Spanish, and Venetian State Papers.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, I have to acknowledge the kind +help which I have received in my researches from +Monsignor Rodolfo Maiocchi, Rector of the Borromeo +College at Pavia, from Signor O. F. Tencajoli, and +from the keepers of English and foreign archives, +among whom I must especially name Signor Achille +Giussani, of the Archivio di Stato at Milan, Monsieur +Gaillard, Director of the Brussels Archives, and Mr. +Hubert Hall. My sincere thanks are due to Count +Antonio Cavagna Sangiuliani for giving me permission +to make use of manuscripts in his library at Zelada; +to Monsieur Leon Cardon for leave to reproduce four +of the Habsburg portraits in his fine collection at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span> +Brussels; and to Mr. Henry Oppenheimer for allowing +me to publish his beautiful and unique medal of +the Duchess of Milan. I must also thank Sir Kenneth +Mackenzie and the Trustees of the Advocates' Library +for permission to print a selection from the Balcarres +Manuscripts, and Mr. Campbell Dodgson and Mr. G. F. +Hill for the kindness with which they have placed +the treasures of the British Museum at my disposal. +Lastly, a debt of gratitude, which I can never sufficiently +express, is due to Dr. Hagberg-Wright and the +staff of the London Library for the invaluable help +which they have given me in this, as in all my other +works.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 27em;">JULIA CARTWRIGHT.</span></p> +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><span class="smcap">Ockham</span>,</span><br /> +<i>Midsummer Day, 1913</i>.<br /> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS"> + <tr> + <th>BOOK I </th> + <th>PAGE</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Isabella of Austria, Queen of Denmark, the Mother of Christina</span>: 1507-1514</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>BOOK II</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Christian II., King of Denmark, the Father of Christina</span>: 1513-1523</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>BOOK III</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Kings in Exile</span>: 1523-1531</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>BOOK IV</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Christina, Duchess of Milan</span>: 1533-1535</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>BOOK V</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Widow of Milan</span>: 1535-1538</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>BOOK VI</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Courtship of Henry VIII.</span>: 1537-1539</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>BOOK VII</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Cleves, Orange, and Lorraine</span>: 1539-1541</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_207">207</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>BOOK VIII</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Christina, Duchess of Lorraine</span>: 1541-1545<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_256">256</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>BOOK IX</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Christina, Regent of Lorraine</span>: 1545-1552</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_298">298</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>BOOK X</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The French Invasion</span>: 1551-1553</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_354">354</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>BOOK XI</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Christina at Brussels</span>: 1553-1559</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_382">382</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>BOOK XII</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Peace of Câteau-Cambrésis</span>: 1557-1559</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_419">419</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>BOOK XIII</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Return to Lorraine</span>: 1559-1578</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_450">450</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th>BOOK XIV</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Lady of Tortona</span>: 1578-1590</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_496">496</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Appendix: A Selection of Unpublished Documents</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_516">516</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Bibliography</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_528">528</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Genealogical Tables</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_533">533</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Index</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_541">541</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></div> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS"> + <tr> + <td></td> + <th>TO FACE PAGE</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_i"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">By <span class="smcap">Holbein</span> (National Gallery).</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Charles V.</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">By <span class="smcap">B. van Orley</span> (Cardon Collection, Brussels).</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Eleanor of Austria</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_6">6</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">By <span class="smcap">B. van Orley</span> (Cardon Collection, Brussels).</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Isabella of Austria, Queen of Denmark</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">By <span class="smcap">B. van Orley</span>.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Christian II., King of Denmark</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">London Library.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Children of Christian II., King of Denmark</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">By <span class="smcap">Jean Mabuse</span> (Hampton Court Palace).</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">British Museum.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Christina, Duchess of Milan</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Oppenheimer Collection, London.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Frederic, Count Palatine</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Ascribed to <span class="smcap">A. Dürer</span> (Darmstadt).</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Mary, Queen of Hungary</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_188">188</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">By <span class="smcap">B. van Orley</span> (Cardon Collection, Brussels).</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Grande Porterie, Palais Ducal, Nancy</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Charles V.</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_322">322</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">By <span class="smcap">Titian</span> (Munich).<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Hôtel-de-Ville, Brussels</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_332">332</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">S. Gudule, Brussels</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_332">332</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Palais Ducal, Nancy</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_364">364</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Philip II. and Mary</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_412">412</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">By <span class="smcap">Jacopo da Trezzo</span> (British Museum).</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Antoine Perrenot, Cardinal Granvelle</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_412">412</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">By <span class="smcap">Leone Leoni</span> (British Museum).</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Margaret, Duchess of Parma</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_412">412</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">By <span class="smcap">Pastorino</span> (British Museum).</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">William, Prince of Orange</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_456">456</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">By <span class="smcap">Adriaan Key</span> (Darmstadt).</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Mary, Queen of Scots</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_466">466</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">By <span class="smcap">François Clouet</span> (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris).</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Charles III., Duke of Lorraine</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_472">472</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">British Museum.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Three Duchesses</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_508">508</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Prado, Madrid.</td> + </tr> +</table> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></div> + +<p class="ph1">CHRISTINA OF DENMARK +</p> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>BOOK I<br /> + +ISABELLA OF AUSTRIA, QUEEN OF DENMARK, +THE MOTHER OF CHRISTINA<br /> + +1507-1514</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>The 19th of July, 1507, was a memorable day in the +history of Malines. A solemn requiem Mass was sung +that morning in the ancient church of S. Rombaut +for the soul of Philip, King of Castille and Archduke +of Austria, and, by right of his mother, Duke of +Burgundy and Count of Flanders and Brabant. +The news of this young monarch's sudden death at +Burgos had spread consternation throughout the +Netherlands, where the handsome, free-handed Prince +was very popular with the subjects who enjoyed peace +and prosperity under his rule. "Never," wrote a +contemporary chronicler, "was there such lamentation +made for any King, Duke, or Count, as for our +good King Philip. There was no church or monastery +in the whole land where solemn Masses were not said +for the repose of his soul, and the mourning was +greatest in the city of Antwerp, where all the people +assembled for the yearly Fair wept over this noble +young Prince who had died at the age of twenty-eight."<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +The King's corpse was laid in the dark +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>vaults of Miraflores, where his widow, the unhappy +Queen Juana, kept watch by her husband's grave +night and day; while, in obedience to his last wishes, +his heart was brought to the Netherlands and buried +in his mother's tomb at Bruges. Now the States-General +and nobles were summoned by Margaret of +Austria, the newly-proclaimed Governess of the +Netherlands, to attend her brother's funeral at +Malines.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">July, 1507</span>] MARGARET OF AUSTRIA</div> + +<p>From the gates of the Keyserhof, through the +narrow streets of the old Flemish city, the long procession +wound its way: Knights of the Golden Fleece, +nobles, deputies, Bishops and clergy, merchants, +artisans, and beggars, all clad in deep mourning. +Twelve heralds, followed by a crowd of gentlemen +with lighted torches, bore the armour and banners of +the dead King to the portals of S. Rombaut. There +an immense catafalque, draped with cloth of gold +and blazing with wax lights, had been erected in the +centre of the nave. Three golden crowns, symbols of +the three realms over which Philip held sway, hung +from the vault, and the glittering array of gold and +silver images on the high-altar stood out against the +sable draperies on the walls. A funeral oration was +pronounced by the late King's confessor, the Bishop +of Arras chanted the requiem Mass, and when the +last blessing had been given, Golden Fleece threw his +staff on the floor, crying: "The King is dead!"<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> At +the sound of these thrice-repeated words the heralds +lowered their banners to the ground, and there was a +moment of profound silence, only broken by the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>sound of weeping. Then Golden Fleece cried in a +ringing voice: "Charles, Archduke of Austria!" and +all eyes were turned to the fair, slender boy, who, +robed in a long black mantle, knelt alone before the +altar. "My lord lives! long may he live!" cried +the King-at-Arms; and a great shout went up on +all sides: "Long live Charles, Archduke of Austria +and Prince of Castille!" A sword blessed by the +Bishop of Arras was placed in the boy's hands, +and the heralds of Burgundy, Flanders, Holland, and +Friesland, raising their fallen pennons, each in turn +proclaimed the titles of the youthful Prince, who was +to be known to the world as Charles V.</p> + +<p>No one wept more bitterly for King Philip than his +only sister, Margaret, the widowed Duchess of Savoy, +as she knelt in her oratory close to the great church. +Although only twenty-seven, she had known many +sorrows. After being wedded to the Dauphin at two +years old, and educated at the French Court till she +reached the age of thirteen, she was rejected by +Charles VIII. in favour of Anne of Brittany, and sent +back to her father, the Emperor Maximilian. Three +years afterwards she went to Spain as the bride of +Don Juan, the heir to the crowns of Castille and +Aragon, only to lose her husband and infant son +within a few months of each other. In 1501 she +became the wife of Duke Philibert of Savoy, with +whom she spent the three happiest years of her life. +But in September, 1504, the young Duke died of +pleurisy, the result of a chill which he caught out +hunting, and his heart-broken widow returned once +more to her father's Court.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1509</span>] MAXIMILIAN'S GRANDCHILDREN</div> + +<p>On the death of Philip in the following year, +Maximilian prevailed upon his daughter to undertake<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +the government of the Netherlands, and in April, +1507, Margaret was proclaimed Regent, and took up +her abode at Malines. She was a singularly able and +gifted woman, and her personal charms and rich +dowry soon attracted new suitors. Before she became +Regent she had received proposals of marriage from +Henry VII. of England, which Maximilian urged her +to accept, saying that she might divide the year +between England and the Netherlands. Louis XII., +who in his boyhood had played with the Archduchess +at Amboise, would also gladly have made her his +second wife, but, as he remarked: "Madame Marguerite's +father has arranged marriages for her three +times over, and each time she has fared badly." +Margaret herself was quite decided on the subject, and +declared that she would never marry again. Henceforth +she devoted herself exclusively to the administration +of the Netherlands and the guardianship of +her brother's young family. Of the six children +which Juana of Castille had borne him, two remained +in Spain, the younger boy Ferdinand and the infant +Katherine, who did not see the light until months +after her father's death. But the elder boy, Charles, +and his three sisters, grew up under their aunt's eye +in the picturesque old palace at Malines, which is +still known as the Keyserhof, or Cour de l'Empereur. +The eldest girl, Eleanor, afterwards Queen of Portugal +and France, was two years older than her brother; +the second, Isabella, the future Queen of Denmark, +born on the 15th of August, 1501, was nearly six; and +Mary, the Queen of Hungary, who was to play so +great a part in the history of the Netherlands, had +only just completed her first year. Margaret, whose +own child hardly survived its birth, lavished all a +mother's affection on her youthful nephew and +nieces. If the boy was naturally the chief object of +her care, the little girls held a place very near to her +heart. This was especially the case with "Madame +Isabeau," her godchild, who was born when Margaret +was living at Malines before her second marriage. A +gentle and charming child, Isabella won the hearts +of all, and became fondly attached to the brother +who was so nearly her own age.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 433px;"> +<img src="images/facing004.jpg" width="433" height="566" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>CHARLES V. (1515)</p> + +<p>By Bernard van Orley (Cardon Collection)</p> + +<p><i>To face p. <a href="#Page_4">4</a></i></p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> + +<p>Margaret's letters to the Emperor abound in allusions +to these children, whose welfare was a matter of deep +interest to their grandfather. In the midst of the +most anxious affairs of State, when he was presiding +over turbulent Diets or warring beyond the Alps, +Maximilian was always eager for news of "our very +dear and well-beloved children." The arrangements +of their household, the choice of their tutors and +companions, their childish maladies and amusements, +were all fully reported to him. One unlucky day, +when the royal children had just recovered from +measles, Madame Isabeau caught the smallpox, and +gave it to Madame Marie. Then Madame Leonore +complained of her head, and since Margaret had been +told that the malady was very contagious, and especially +dangerous in winter, she felt it advisable to keep +her nephew at Brussels out of reach of infection. But +this precaution proved fruitless, for presently the boy +sickened and became dangerously ill. Great was the +alarm which his condition excited, and it was only +at the end of three weeks that Margaret was able to +inform the Emperor, who was in Italy fighting against +the Venetians, that his grandson was out of danger.<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1509</span>] A SFORZA DUKE</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> + +<p>The education of Charles and his sisters was the +subject of their guardian's most anxious consideration. +A lady of Navarre, Dame Anne de Beaumont, took +charge of the little girls from their infancy, and +watched over them with a tenderness which earned +their lifelong gratitude. The old King of Aragon +rewarded this lady with the Order of S. Iago, while +Margaret begged that she might be allowed to spend +her old age in one of the Archduke's houses at Ghent, +seeing that she had served "Mesdames mes nièces" so +long and so well, and had been but poorly paid for +her trouble. Among their teachers was Louis Vives, +the learned friend of Erasmus, who afterwards became +tutor to their cousin, the Princess Mary of +England, and took Sir Thomas More's daughters as +his models. Vives taught his pupils Greek and Latin, +and made them study the Gospels, and St. Paul's +Epistles, as well as some parts of the Old Testament. +French romances, then so much in vogue, were banished +from their schoolroom, and the only tales +which they were allowed to read were those of Joseph +and his brethren, of the Roman matron Lucretia, +and the well-known story of Griselda. Madame +Leonore was fond of reading at a very early age, +but Madame Isabeau was more occupied with her +dolls, and is represented holding one in her arms +in the triptych of Charles and his sisters at Vienna. +All the children were very fond of music, in which +they were daily instructed by the Archduchess's +organist, and there is a charming portrait of Eleanor +playing on the clavichord in Monsieur Cardon's collection +at Brussels. When, in 1508, the Spanish Legate, +Cardinal Carvajal, visited Malines, Charles and his +sisters were confirmed by him in the palace chapel, +and the Archduke addressed a letter of thanks to +Pope Julius II. in his childish round hand.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 457px;"> +<img src="images/facing006.jpg" width="457" height="546" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>ELEANOR OF AUSTRIA, QUEEN OF PORTUGAL AND FRANCE</p> + +<p>By Bernard van Orley (Cardon Collection)</p> + +<p><i>To face p. <a href="#Page_6">6</a></i></p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + +<p>Margaret was careful to provide her young charges +with suitable companions. A niece of Madame de +Beaumont and a Spanish girl of noble birth were +brought up with the Archduchesses, while the sons +of the Marquis of Brandenburg and Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg +were among Charles's playmates. Another +youth whom the Emperor sent to be educated at +Malines in 1509 was his godson, Maximilian Sforza, +the eldest son of the unfortunate Duke Lodovico and +Beatrice d'Este. While his younger brother, Francesco, +afterwards the husband of Christina of Denmark, +remained at Innsbruck with his cousin, the +Empress Bianca, Maximilian grew up with Charles, +and throughout his life never ceased to regard +Margaret as a second mother. The young Duke of +Milan's name often figures in the Archduchess's correspondence +with her father. One day Maximilian +tells her to borrow 3,000 livres from the Fuggers, and +give them to the Duke, who has not enough to buy +his own clothes, let alone those of his servants.<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> +At another time we find Margaret appealing to her +father to settle the disputes of precedence which +have arisen between the Dukes of Milan and Saxe-Lauenburg, +upon which Maximilian replied that they +were too young to think of such matters, and that +for the present they had better take the place of +honour on alternate days.</p> + +<p>It was a free and joyous life which these young +Princes and Princesses led at the Court of Malines. +If they were kept strictly to their lessons, they also +had plenty of amusements. They played games,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +shot with bows and arrows, and looked on at stag-hunts +from the balcony of the Swan, an old hostelry +in the market-place. Charles had a little chariot, +drawn by two ponies, in which he often drove his +sisters through the town and out into the open +country. Above all they enjoyed the visits which +they paid to the Castle of Vueren, near Brussels, +where Charles often went by his grandfather's orders +to enjoy fresh air and take hunting expeditions. +The old Emperor was delighted to hear of his +grandson's taste for sport, and wrote from Augsburg +that, if the Archduke had not been fond of +hunting, people would have suspected him of being +a bastard.<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1512</span>] "FELIX AUSTRIA NUBE"</div> + +<p>When, in 1512, Maximilian came to Brussels, and +Charles was sent to meet him, he begged Margaret to +bring the three Princesses, without delay, to "amuse +themselves in the park at Vueren," and sent the +haunch of a stag which he had killed that day as a +present to his "dear little daughters." At the +children's urgent entreaty, the Emperor himself rode +out to join them at supper, and invited them to a +banquet in the palace at Brussels on Midsummer +Day. When the English Ambassador, Sir Edward +Poynings, came to pay the Emperor his respects, he +found His Majesty in riding-boots, standing at the +palace gates, with the Lady Regent, the Lord Prince +and his sisters, looking on at a great bonfire in the +square. The Ambassador and his colleague, Spinelli, +were both invited to return to the palace for supper, +and had a long conversation with the Lady Margaret, +in whom they found the same perfect friend as ever, +"while the Prince and his sisters danced gaily with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>the other young folk till between nine and ten +o'clock."<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>But this merry party was soon to break up. Before +the end of the year Maximilian Sforza crossed the +Brenner, and entered Milan amidst the acclamations +of his father's old subjects, and eighteen months later +two of the young Archduchesses were wedded to +foreign Kings.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1514</span>] MARRIAGE-MAKING</div> + +<p>While her nieces were still children Margaret was +busy with plans for their marriage. Her views for +them were ambitious and frankly expressed. "All +your granddaughters," she wrote to her father, +"should marry Kings." The old Emperor himself +was an inveterate matchmaker, and the House of +Austria had been proverbially fortunate in its alliances. +<i>Tu felix Austria nube</i> had passed into a +common saying. By his marriage with Mary of Burgundy, +Maximilian entered on the vast inheritance of +Charles the Bold, and his grandson was heir to the +throne of Spain by right of his mother Juana. In +1509 proposals for two of the Archduchesses came +from Portugal, and Margaret urged her father to +accept these offers, remarking shrewdly that King +Emanuel was a wealthy monarch, and that there +were few marriageable Princes in Europe. If both +Madame Leonore and Madame Marie were betrothed +to the two Portuguese Princes, there would still +be two of her nieces to contract other alliances. +But Maximilian's thoughts were too much occupied +with his war against Venice to consider these proposals +seriously, and the matter was allowed to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>drop.<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Meanwhile Madame Isabeau's hand was in great +request. In March, 1510, Maximilian received offers +of marriage for his second granddaughter from the +King of Navarre's son, Henri d'Albret, but this +project was nipped in the bud by the jealousy of +Isabella's other grandfather, Ferdinand of Aragon, +and Francis I.'s sister, Margaret, Duchess of Alençon, +became Queen of Navarre in her stead. A new and +strange husband for the nine-year-old Princess was +now proposed by the Regent herself. This was none +other than Charles of Egmont, Duke of Guelders, the +turbulent neighbour who had been a thorn in Margaret's +side ever since she became Governess of the +Netherlands. It is difficult to believe that Margaret +ever really intended to give her beloved niece to the +man whom she openly denounced as "a brigand and +a felon," but it was necessary to cajole Guelders for +the moment, and conferences were held in which +every detail of the marriage treaty was discussed, +and the dowry and fortune of the bride and the +portions of her sons and daughters were all minutely +arranged. But when the deputies of Guelders asked +that Madame Isabeau should be given up to the Duke +at once to be educated at his Court, the Regent met +their demands with a flat refusal. The negotiations +were broken off, and war began again.<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> Another +matrimonial project, which had been discussed ever +since King Philip's lifetime, was the union of the +Archduchess Eleanor with the young Duke Antoine +of Lorraine. Maximilian seems to have been really +eager for this marriage, which he regarded as a means +of detaching a neighbouring Prince from the French +alliance, but was so dilatory in the matter that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>Margaret wrote him a sharp letter, asking him if he +ever meant to marry his granddaughters. Upon this +the affronted Emperor rebuked her for these undutiful +remarks, and asked peevishly "if she held him for +a Frenchman who changed his mind every day."<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> +But in spite of these protestations he took no further +steps in the matter, and in 1515 Duke Antoine +married Renée de Bourbon, a Princess of the blood +royal of France.</p> + +<p>The marriage of Louis XII. to Henry VIII.'s handsome +sister Mary was a more serious blow. Six years +before the English Princess had been wedded by proxy +to the Archduke Charles, and Margaret, whose heart +was set on this alliance, vainly pressed her father to +conclude the treaty. Meanwhile, in January, 1514, +Anne of Brittany died, and the widowed King sent +offers of marriage, first to Margaret herself, and then +to her niece Eleanor.<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> A few months later news +reached Brussels that Louis had made a treaty with +Henry, and was about to wed the Princess Mary. +So the Archduke lost his promised bride, and his +sister was once more cheated of a husband. The +Lady Regent was deeply hurt, but found some consolation +for her wounded feelings in the double +marriage that was arranged in the course of the same +year between the Archduke Ferdinand and Anna, +daughter of Ladislaus, King of Hungary, and between +this monarch's son Louis and the Archduchess Mary. +In May, 1514, the little Princess was sent to be +educated with her future sister-in-law at Vienna, +where the wedding was celebrated a year afterwards.<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + +<p>At the same time marriage proposals for another of +his granddaughters reached Maximilian from a new +and unexpected quarter. The young King of Denmark, +Christian II., on succeeding to the throne, +declined the French marriage which had been arranged +for him by his father, and conceived the ambitious +design of allying himself with the Imperial Family. +In March, 1514, two Danish Ambassadors, the Bishop +of Schleswig and the Court-Marshal Magnus Giœ, +were introduced into Maximilian's presence by +Christian's uncle, the Elector of Saxony, and asked +for the Archduchess Eleanor's hand on behalf of their +royal master. The prospect of an alliance with +Denmark met with the Emperor's approval, and +could not fail to be popular in the Low Countries as +a means of opening the Baltic to the merchants of +Bruges and Amsterdam. Accordingly the envoys +met with a friendly reception, and were told that, +although the elder Archduchess was already promised +to the Duke of Lorraine, the Emperor would gladly +give King Christian the hand of her sister Isabella. +The contract was signed at Linz on the 29th of April, +1514, and the dowry of the Princess was fixed at +250,000 florins, an enormous sum for those times. +Only three-fifths of his sister's fortune, however, was +to be paid by Charles, and the remainder by her +grandfather, the King of Aragon.<a name="FNanchor_12" id="FNanchor_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 468px;"> +<img src="images/facing012.jpg" width="468" height="572" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>ISABELLA OF AUSTRIA, QUEEN OF DENMARK</p> + +<p>By Bernard van Orley (Cardon Collection)</p> + +<p><i>To face p. <a href="#Page_12">12</a></i></p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1514</span>] A ROYAL WEDDING</div> + +<p>From Linz the Ambassadors travelled by slow +stages to Brussels, where they were received with +great honour. But Margaret was scarcely prepared +for the proposal which they made, that the wedding +might take place on the following day, when King +Christian was to be crowned at Copenhagen. It was, +however, impossible to refuse such a request, and on +Trinity Sunday, the 11th of June, the marriage was +solemnized with due splendour. At ten o'clock a +brilliant assembly met in the great hall of the palace, +which had been hung for the occasion with the famous +tapestries of the Golden Fleece, and Magnus Giœ, +who represented the King, appeared, supported by +the Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg and the Marquis of +Brandenburg. Presently a flourish of trumpets announced +the bride's coming, and Charles led in his +sister, a tall, slender maiden of thirteen, robed in +white, with a crown of pearls and rubies on her fair +locks. "Madame Isabeau," as Margaret wrote with +motherly pride to her father, "was certainly good to +see."<a name="FNanchor_13" id="FNanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> They took their places under a baldacchino +near the altar, followed by the Regent, who led her +niece Eleanor by the hand. The Archbishop of +Cambray, clad in rich vestments of purple and gold, +performed the nuptial rites, and the Danish Ambassador +placed a costly ring, bearing three gold crowns +set round with large sapphires and the motto <i>Ave +Maria gratia plena</i>, on the finger of the bride, who +plighted her faith in the following words:</p> + +<p>"Je, Isabelle d'Autriche et de Bourgogne, donne +ma foi à très hautt et très puissant Prince et Seigneur, +Christierne roy de Danemarck, et à toy Magnus Giœ, +son vrai et léal procureur, et je le prens par toy en +époux et mari légitime."<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>Then the Mass of the Holy Ghost was chanted, the +Spanish Ambassador being seated at the Archduke's +side, and the others according to their rank, all but +the English Envoy, who refused to be present owing +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>to a dispute as to precedence. Afterwards the guests +were entertained by the Regent at a banquet, followed +by a tournament and a state ball, which was kept up +far into the night. Finally all the chief personages +present escorted the bride with lighted torches to her +chamber, and Magnus Giœ, in full armour, lay down +on the nuptial bed at her side in the presence of this +august company. Then, rising to his feet, he made +a deep obeisance to the young Queen and retired. +During the next three days a succession of jousts and +banquets took place, and on the Feast of Corpus +Christi a public reception was held in the palace, at +which the bride appeared wearing the ring of the +three kingdoms and a jewelled necklace sent her by +King Christian. Unfortunately, the Archduke danced +so vigorously on the night of the wedding that this +unwonted exertion brought on a sharp attack of +fever.</p> + +<p>"Monseigneur," wrote his aunt to the Emperor, +"fulfilled all his duties to perfection, and showed +himself so good a brother that he overtaxed his +strength, and fell ill the day after the wedding. +Not," she hastened to add, "that his sickness is in any +way serious, but that the slightest ailment in a +Prince of his condition is apt to make one anxious."<a name="FNanchor_15" id="FNanchor_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1515</span>] EVIL OMENS</div> + +<p>On the 4th of July the Danish Ambassadors took +their leave, but Isabella remained in her home for +another year. She and Eleanor shared in the fêtes +which celebrated the Archduke's coming of age, and +were present at his <i>Joyeuse Entrêe</i> into Brussels. +But in the midst of these festivities the Danish fleet, +with the Archbishop of Drondtheim on board, arrived +at Veeren in Zeeland, and on the 16th of July, 1515, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>the poor young Queen took leave of her family with +bitter tears, and sailed for Copenhagen. On the day +of Isabella's christening, fourteen years before, the +ceremony had been marred by a terrific thunderstorm, +and now the same ill-luck attended her wedding +journey. A violent tempest scattered the Danish +fleet off the shores of Jutland, and the vessel which +bore the Queen narrowly escaped shipwreck. When +at length she had landed safely at Helsingfors, she +wrote a touching little letter to the Regent:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Madame, my Aunt and good Mother</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"I must tell you that we landed here last +Saturday, after having been in great peril and distress +at sea for the last ten days. But God kept me from +harm, for which I am very thankful. Next Thursday +we start for Copenhagen, which is a day's journey +from here. I have been rather ill, and feel weak still, +but hope soon to be well. Madame, if I could choose +for myself I should be with you now; for to be parted +from you is the most grievous thing in the world to +me, and the more so as I do not know when there is +any hope of seeing you again. So I can only beg you, +my dearest aunt and mother, to keep me in your +heart, and tell me if there is anything that you wish +me to do, and you shall always be obeyed, God helping +me. That He may give you a long and happy life is +the prayer of your humble and dutiful niece</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Isabeau</span>.<a name="FNanchor_16" id="FNanchor_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a><br /> +"August 7, 1515."<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>Two days later Isabella continued her journey to +Hvidore, the royal country-house near Copenhagen. +There she was received by King Christian, who rode +at her side, a splendid figure in gold brocade and +shining armour, when on the following day she made +her state entry into the capital in torrents of rain. +On the 12th of August the wedding was celebrated +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>in the great hall of the ancient castle, which had been +rebuilt by King Christian's father, and was followed +by the coronation of the young Queen. But Isabella +was so much exhausted by the fatigue which she had +undergone, that before the conclusion of the ceremony +she fell fainting into the arms of her ladies. Her +illness threw a gloom over the wedding festivities, +and seemed a forecast of the misfortunes that were +to darken the course of her married life and turn her +story into a grim tragedy.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> L. Gachard, "Voyages des Souverains des Pays-Bas." i. 455.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> "Bulletins de la Commission Royale d'Histoire," 2<sup>ième</sup> série, +v. 113-119. Jehan Le Maire, "Les Funéraux de Feu Don +Philippe."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> E. Le Glay, "Correspondance de l'Empereur Maximilien I. +et de Marguerite d'Autriche," i. 203.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Le Glay, i. 393.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Le Glay, i. 241.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., i. 369.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Le Glay, i. 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Le Glay, i. 281, 399-441.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Le Glay, ii. 205.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> H. Ulmann, "Kaiser Maximilian," ii. 484, 498.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Le Glay, ii. 252; A. Henne, "Histoire du Règne de Charles V.," +i. 96.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Le Glay, ii. 383.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Le Glay, ii. 256.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> J. Altmeyer, "Isabelle d'Autriche," 53.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_15" id="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Le Glay, ii. 257.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_16" id="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Altmeyer, "Isabelle d'Autriche," 43.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p></div></div> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>BOOK II<br /> + +CHRISTIAN II., KING OF DENMARK, THE +FATHER OF CHRISTINA<br /> + +1513-1523</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>Christian II., King of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, +as the proud title ran, was in many respects a +remarkable man. His life and character have been +the subject of much controversy. Some historians +have held him up to admiration as a patriot and +martyr who suffered for his love of freedom and +justice. Others have condemned him as a cruel and +vindictive tyrant, whose crimes deserved the hard +fate which befell him. Both verdicts are justified +in the main. On the one hand, he was an able and +enlightened ruler, who protected the liberties of his +poorer subjects, encouraged trade and learning, and +introduced many salutary reforms. On the other, +he was a man of violent passions, crafty and unscrupulous +in his dealings, cruel and bloodthirsty in +avenging wrongs. His career naturally invites comparison +with that of Lodovico Sforza, whose son +became the husband of his daughter Christina. Both +Princes were men of great ability and splendid +dreams. In their zeal for the promotion of commerce +and agriculture, in their love of art and letters, both +were in advance of the age in which they lived.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +Again, their vices and crimes, the cunning ways and +unscrupulous measures by which they sought to +attain their ends, were curiously the same. No +doubt Christian II., born and bred as he was among +the rude Norsemen, belonged to a coarser strain than +the cultured Duke of Milan, and is hardly to be judged +by the same standard. But the two Princes resembled +each other closely, and the fate which eventually +overtook them was practically the same. Both of +these able and distinguished men lost their States in +the prime of life, and were doomed to end their days +in captivity. This cruel doom has atoned in a great +measure for their guilt in the eyes of posterity, and +even in their lifetime their hard fate aroused general +compassion.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1516</span>] THE KING'S DOVE</div> + +<p>Certainly no one could have foreseen the dismal +fate which lay in store for Christian II. when he +ascended the throne. Seldom has a new reign opened +with fairer promise. His father, good King Hans, +died in 1513, lamented by all his subjects, and leaving +his successor a prosperous and united kingdom. +Christian was thirty-two, and had already shown his +courage and ability in quelling a revolt in Norway. +A man of noble and commanding presence, with blue +eyes and long fair hair, he seemed a born leader of +men, while his keen intelligence, genial manners, and +human interest in those about him, early won the affection +of his subjects. Unfortunately his own passions +proved his worst enemies. In Norway he had fallen +in love with a beautiful girl named Dyveke—the Dove—whose +mother, a designing Dutchwoman named +Sigebritt Willems, kept a tavern at Bergen. On his +accession he brought Dyveke and her mother to +Hvidore, and gave them a house in the neighbour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>hood. +This illicit connection excited great scandal +at Court, and the Chancellor, Archbishop Walkendorf +of Drondtheim, exhorted the King earnestly to put +away his mistress on his marriage. Even before +Isabella left Brussels, the Archbishop wrote glowing +accounts of her beauty and goodness to his master, +and told the King of the romantic attachment which +she cherished for her unknown lord. After her arrival +at Copenhagen he did his utmost to insure her comfort, +and see that she was treated with proper respect.</p> + +<p>For a time Christian seems to have been genuinely +in love with his young wife, whose innocent charm +won all hearts in her new home. In his anxiety to +please her, he furnished his ancestral castle anew, +and sent to Germany for musicians, fearing that the +rude voices of Danish singers might sound harsh in +her ears. A young Fleming, Cornelius Scepperus, +was appointed to be his private secretary, and the +Fuggers of Antwerp were invited to found a bank at +Copenhagen. At the same time twenty-four Dutch +families, from Waterland in Holland, were brought +over in Danish ships, and induced to settle on the +island of Amager, opposite the capital, in order that +the royal table might be supplied with butter and +cheese made in the Dutch fashion. This colony, +imported by Christian II., grew and flourished, and +to this day their descendants occupy Amager, where +peasant women clad in the national costume of +short woollen skirts, blue caps, and red ribbons, are +still to be seen. Unfortunately, the influence which +Sigebritt and her daughter had acquired over the King +was too strong to be resisted. Before long they returned +to Court, and, to the indignation of Isabella's +servants, Sigebritt was appointed Mistress of her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +household. Rumours of the slights to which the +young Queen was exposed soon reached the Netherlands, +and when Maximilian informed Margaret that +he intended to marry her niece Eleanor to the King +of Poland, she replied with some asperity that she +could only hope the marriage would turn out better +than that of her unhappy sister. The Emperor +expressed much surprise at these words, saying that +he considered his granddaughter to be very well +married, since the King of Denmark was a monarch +of the proudest lineage, and endowed with noble +manners and rare gifts, if his people were still somewhat +rude and barbarous.<a name="FNanchor_17" id="FNanchor_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> But, in spite of Maximilian's +protests, the reports of King Christian's misconduct +soon became too persistent to be ignored. +When, in October, 1516, Charles, who had assumed +the title of King of Spain on his grandfather Ferdinand's +death, held his first Chapter of the Golden +Fleece, the Knights with one accord refused to admit +the King of Denmark to their Order, because he was +accused of adultery and ill-treated his wife.<a name="FNanchor_18" id="FNanchor_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> At +length Maximilian was moved to take action, and +wrote to his grandson Charles in sufficiently plain +language, saying:</p> + +<div class="sidenote">1513-23] ELEANOR'S ROMANCE</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The shameful life which our brother and son-in-law, +the King of Denmark, is leading with a concubine, +to the great sorrow and vexation of his wife, our +daughter and your sister, is condemned by all his +relatives; and in order to constrain him to abandon +this disorderly way of living, and be a better husband +to our said daughter, we are sending Messire Sigismund +Herbesteiner to remonstrate with him, and have +begged Duke Frederic of Saxony, his uncle, who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>arranged the marriage, to send one of his servants on +the same errand. And we desire you to send one of +your chief councillors to help carry out our orders, +and induce the King to put away his concubine and +behave in a more reasonable and honourable +manner."<a name="FNanchor_19" id="FNanchor_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p></div> + +<p>But none of these remonstrances produced any +effect on the misguided King. When Herbesteiner +reproached him with sacrificing the laws of God and +honour and the Emperor's friendship to a low-born +woman, he shook his fist in the imperial Envoy's face, +and bade him begone from his presence.<a name="FNanchor_20" id="FNanchor_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> At the +same time he showed his resentment in a more +dangerous way by making a treaty with France and +closing the Sound to Dutch ships. He even seized +several trading vessels on pretence that the Queen's +dowry had not been paid, and when Archbishop +Walkendorf ventured to expostulate with him on +his misconduct, banished the prelate from Court.<a name="FNanchor_21" id="FNanchor_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>Meanwhile Isabella herself bore neglect and insults +with the same uncomplaining sweetness. But we see +how much she suffered from a private letter which +she wrote to her sister Eleanor about this time. +This attractive Princess, who at the age of eighteen +still remained unmarried, had fallen in love with her +brother's brilliant friend, Frederic, Count Palatine, +the most accomplished knight at Court, and the idol +of all the ladies. The mutual attachment between +the Palatine and the Archduchess was the talk of the +whole Court, and met with Margaret's private approval, +although it was kept a secret from Charles and +his Ministers. Eleanor confided this romantic story +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>to her absent sister, and expressed a secret hope +that the popular Count Palatine might succeed her +aunt as Regent when the young King left Brussels +for Spain. In reply Isabella sent Eleanor the +warmest congratulations on her intended marriage, +rejoicing that her sister at least would not be forced +to leave home, and would be united to a husband +whom she really loved. The poor young Queen proceeded +to lament her own sad fate in the following +strain:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"It is hard enough to marry a man whose face you +have never seen, whom you do not know or love, and +worse still to be required to leave home and kindred, +and follow a stranger to the ends of the earth, without +even being able to speak his language."<a name="FNanchor_22" id="FNanchor_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">1513-23] A LOVE-LETTER</div> + +<p>She goes on to describe the misery of her life, even +though she bears the title of Queen. What is she, in +fact, but a prisoner in a foreign land? She is never +allowed to go out or appear in public, while her lord +the King spends his time in royal progresses and +hunting-parties, and amuses himself after his fashion, +apart from her. Far better would it be for Eleanor +to follow her own inclination, and choose a husband +who belongs to her own country and speaks her +language, even if he were not of kingly rank. Unfortunately, +the pretty romance which excited Isabella's +sympathy was doomed to an untimely end. +The death of Mary of Castille, Queen of Portugal, in +May, 1517, left King Emanuel a widower for the +second time. He had married two of Charles's aunts +in turn, and was now over fifty, and a hunchback +into the bargain. None the less, the plan of a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>marriage between him and his niece Eleanor was now +revived, and in August these proposals reached the +young King at the seaport of Middelburg, where he +and his sister were awaiting a favourable wind to set +sail for Spain. Filled with alarm, Frederic implored +Eleanor to take a bold step, confess her love to Charles, +and seek his consent to her marriage with his old +friend. In a letter signed with his name, and still +preserved in the Archives of Simancas, the Palatine +begged his love to lose no time if she would escape +from the snare laid for them both by "the Uncle of +Portugal."</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Ma mignonne," he wrote, "si vous voulez, vous +pouvez être la cause de mon bien ou de mon mal. +C'est pourquoi je vous supplie d'avoir bon courage +pour vous et pour moi. Cela peut se faire si vous +voulez. Car je suis prêt, et ne demande autre chose, +sinon que je sois à vous, et vous à moi."<a name="FNanchor_23" id="FNanchor_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p></div> + +<p>Accordingly, on the Feast of the Assumption +Eleanor approached her brother after hearing Mass in +the abbey chapel. But while she was gathering all +her courage to speak, Charles caught sight of the +Palatine's letter in her bosom, and, snatching it from +his sister's hands, broke into furious reproaches, +swearing that he would avenge this insult with the +traitor's blood. As Spinelli, the English Envoy, +remarked, "The letter was but honest, concerning +matters of love and marriage,"<a name="FNanchor_24" id="FNanchor_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> but the young King +would listen to no excuses, and, in spite of the Regent's +intervention, Frederic was banished from Court in +disgrace. A fortnight later Charles and his sister +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>sailed for Castille, and in the following summer +Madame Leonore became the bride of "l'Oncle de +Portugal," King Emanuel.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>The death of Christian II.'s mistress, Dyveke, in +the summer of 1517 produced a change in the situation +at Copenhagen. This unfortunate girl, a victim of +her ambitious mother's designs, died very suddenly +one afternoon after eating cherries in the royal +gardens. The King's suspicions fell on his steward, +Torben Axe, who was brutally put to death in spite +of his protestations of innocence. But the Queen's +position was distinctly improved. Christian now +treated his wife with marked kindness, and appointed +her Regent when, early in the following year, he went +to Sweden to put down a rising of the nobles. +Sigebritt Willems's influence, however, still remained +paramount, and, in a letter to the Queen from Sweden, +Christian begged her to consult the Dutchwoman in +any difficulty, and ended by wishing her and "Mother +Sigebritt" a thousand good-nights. Stranger still to +relate, when, on the 21st of February, Isabella gave +birth to a son, the infant Prince was entrusted to +Sigebritt's care.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">1513-23] BIRTH OF PRINCES</div> + +<p>This happy event, combined with Isabella's unfailing +affection for her wayward lord, led to improved +relations between Christian and his wife's family. +After the death of Maximilian, Charles became anxious +to secure his brother-in-law's support in the imperial +election, and in February, 1519, a treaty was concluded +between the two monarchs at Brussels.<a name="FNanchor_25" id="FNanchor_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>The Danish Envoys, Anton de Metz and Hermann +Willems, Sigebritt's brother, received rich presents +from Margaret, who was once more acting as Regent +of the Netherlands, and she even sent a silver-gilt +cup to the hated Dutchwoman herself.<a name="FNanchor_26" id="FNanchor_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> A month +later the King of Denmark was elected Knight of the +Golden Fleece at a Chapter of the Order held at +Barcelona, and in a letter which Charles addressed to +him he expressed his pleasure at hearing good accounts +of his sister and little nephew, and promised to pay +the arrears of Isabella's dowry as soon as possible.<a name="FNanchor_27" id="FNanchor_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>On the 28th of June, 1519, Charles was elected King +of the Romans, and the formal announcement of his +election was brought to Barcelona by Eleanor's +rejected suitor, the Palatine Frederic, whom he received +with open arms. A few days after this +auspicious event the Queen of Denmark, on the 4th of +July, 1519, gave birth to twin sons, who received the +names of Philip and Maximilian. Both, however, +died within a week of their baptism, upon which +Sigebritt is said to have remarked that this was a +good thing, since Denmark was too small a realm to +support so many Princes.</p> + +<p>With the help of Dutch ships and gold, Christian +succeeded in subduing the Swedish rebels, and was +crowned with great solemnity in the Cathedral of +Upsala on the 4th of November, 1520. But the +rejoicings on this occasion were marred by the execution +of ninety Swedish nobles and two Bishops, who +were treacherously put to death by the King's orders. +This act, which earned for Christian the title of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>Nero of the North, is said to have been instigated by +Sigebritt and her nephew Slagbök, a Westphalian +barber, who had been raised from this low estate to +be Archbishop of Lunden. The insolent conduct of +these evil counsellors naturally increased the King's +unpopularity in all parts of the kingdom. Yet at +the same time Christian II. showed himself to be an +excellent and enlightened ruler. He administered +justice strictly, and introduced many salutary reforms.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">1513-23] BIRTH OF DOROTHEA</div> + +<p>The common practice of buying and selling serfs was +prohibited, Burgomasters and Town Councils were +appointed to carry out the laws, and a system of +tolls and customs was established. Schools and hospitals +were founded, inns were opened in every town +and village for the convenience of travellers, piracy +and brigandage were sternly repressed. An Act was +passed ordering that all cargoes recovered from +wrecks were to be placed in the nearest church, and, +if not claimed by the end of the year, divided between +the Crown and the Church. When the Bishops +complained of the loss thus inflicted on them, the +King told them to go home and learn the Eighth +Commandment. Still greater was the opposition +aroused when he attempted to reform clerical abuses. +Early in life Christian showed strong leanings towards +the doctrines of Luther, and on his return from +Sweden he asked his uncle, the Elector of Saxony, +to send him a Lutheran preacher from Wittenberg. +Although these efforts at proselytizing met with little +success, the King openly professed his sympathy with +the new Gospel. He had the Bible translated into +Danish, bade the Bishops dismiss their vast households, +issued edicts allowing priests to marry, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +ordered the begging friars to stay at home and earn +their bread by honest labour.<a name="FNanchor_28" id="FNanchor_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> + +<p>All these reforms could not be effected without +vigorous opposition, and the discontent among the +nobles and clergy became every day more active. In +the spring of 1521 a young Swedish noble, Gustavus +Wasa, raised the standard of revolt in Dalecarlia, and +led his peasant bands against Stockholm. Upon this +Christian decided to pay a visit to the Low Countries +to meet the new Emperor, who was coming to be +crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle, and seek his help against +the citizens of Lübeck and the Swedish rebels. The +government was once more placed in the hands of +Isabella. A few months before this, on the 10th of +November, 1520, while Christian was absent in +Sweden, the Queen had given birth to a daughter, +named Dorothea after the King's grandmother, the +able and ambitious Princess of Brandenburg, who +married two Kings of Denmark in succession. Now +she followed her husband with wistful thoughts as he +started on his journey, attended only by his Chamberlain, +Anton de Metz, and three servants, and rode all +the way to her old home in the Netherlands.</p> + +<p>On the 20th of June nine Danish ships sailed into the +port of Antwerp, and a few days afterwards Christian II. +rode into the town. His fine presence and the courage +which he had shown in riding through Germany with +this small escort excited general admiration.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I noted," wrote Albert Dürer in his Journal, +"how much the people of Antwerp marvelled at the +sight of this manly and handsome Prince, who had +come hither through his enemies' country, with these +few attendants."<a name="FNanchor_29" id="FNanchor_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">1513-23] KING CHRISTIAN AT BRUSSELS</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Nuremberg master had been spending the +winter in the Low Countries, paying his respects to +the Regent at Malines, and conversing with Erasmus +of Rotterdam and Lucas van Leyden. He was +starting on his journey home, when, on the Feast +of the Visitation, he was sent for by the King of +Denmark, who received him very graciously, and +asked him to dine at his table and to take his portrait. +So great was the interest which Christian showed in +the painter's work, that Dürer gave him a fine set +of his prints, which are still preserved in the museum +at Copenhagen, and accepted an invitation to accompany +him to Brussels the next day. Thus Albert +Dürer was a witness of the meeting between Christian +and his brother-in-law Charles V., who had just arrived +from his coronation at Aix-la-Chapelle, and had been +received with great rejoicing by his subjects. At +five that summer evening Charles rode out from +Brussels at the head of a brilliant cavalcade, and +met his royal brother-in-law in a meadow, where +they embraced each other and conversed with the +help of an interpreter, Christian speaking in German, +and Charles in French. They entered Brussels after +sunset, and found the streets hung with tapestries +and lighted with innumerable torches and bonfires. +The Emperor escorted Christian to the Count of +Nassau's palace on the top of the hill, which Dürer +describes as the finest house that he had ever seen. +The next morning Charles brought his guest to the +palace gates, where the Regent and Germaine de +Foix, King Ferdinand's widow, were awaiting them, +and for the first time Margaret came face to face +with her niece's husband. Christian kissed the two +ladies in French fashion, and after dinner the two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +Princes spent the evening dancing with the Court +ladies.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Now," wrote the Venetian Ambassador, Gaspare +Contarini, "at two hours after dark, they are still +dancing, for young monarchs such as these are not +easily tired."<a name="FNanchor_30" id="FNanchor_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p></div> + +<p>The impression which the Danish King made on the +learned Italian was very favourable. He describes +him as a fine-looking Prince, with an earnest, animated +expression, long locks, and a beard curled after +the Italian fashion. In his black satin doublet, +Spanish cloak, and jewelled cap, he looked every +inch a King. On the Sunday after his arrival +Christian entertained the Emperor, the Lady Margaret, +and the Queen-Dowager of Spain, at dinner. +Albert Dürer was present on this occasion, and was +afterwards employed to paint a portrait of the King +in oils, for which Christian gave him thirty florins, +an act of liberality which contrasted favourably with +Margaret's parsimony. "The Lady Margaret in particular," +remarks the painter in his Journal, "gave +me nothing for what I made and presented to her." +Another personage in whose society the King took +pleasure was Erasmus, who discussed the reform of +the Church with him, and was much struck by the +monarch's enlightened opinions. On the 12th of July +Christian accompanied his brother-in-law to Antwerp, +to lay the foundations of the new choir of Our Lady's +Church, and went on to Ghent, where he paid formal +homage for the duchy of Holstein, and was confirmed +in his rights over the Hanse towns, but could not +persuade Charles to join him in making war on the +friendly citizens of Lübeck. At Ghent the King<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +sent for the English Ambassador, Sir Robert Wingfield, +with whom he had a long and friendly conversation, +expressing great anxiety to meet King Henry VIII. +In reply, Wingfield told him that he would soon have +the opportunity of seeing the English monarch's +powerful Minister, Cardinal Wolsey, to whom he +could speak as frankly as to the King himself.<a name="FNanchor_31" id="FNanchor_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> +Accordingly, on the 5th of August Christian accompanied +Charles and Margaret to the Prinzenhof at +Bruges, where Wolsey joined them a week later. +The regal state of the English Cardinal formed a +striking contrast to the King's simplicity. He arrived +with a train of over a thousand followers, clad in +red satin, and twenty English nobles, wearing gold +chains, walked at his horse's side. On Sunday he +rode to Mass with the Emperor, and dined with Charles +and Margaret, "praising the delicate and sumptuous +manner" in which he was entertained. When the +King of Denmark sent to ask him to come to his +lodgings, the Cardinal demurred, saying that, as he +represented His Majesty of England, the King must +be the first to visit him, but that if Christian preferred +he would meet him in the palace garden. Christian, +however, waived ceremony, and called on Wolsey the +next morning. The interview was a very friendly +one. Christian expressed his anxiety to enter into a +close alliance with England, and begged King Henry +to be a good uncle to his young kinsman, James V. of +Scotland. Wolsey on his part was much impressed +by the King's good sense and peaceable intentions.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">1513-23] REVOLT IN DENMARK</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Surely, Sir," he wrote to his royal master, "the +King of Denmark, though in appearance he should +be judged to be a rash man, yet he is right wise, sober, +and discreet, minding the establishing of good peace +betwixt Christian Princes, wherein he right substantially +declared his mind to me at good length."<a name="FNanchor_32" id="FNanchor_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/facing030.jpg" width="400" height="572" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>CHRISTIAN II., KING OF DENMARK</p> + +<p><i>To face p. <a href="#Page_30">30</a></i></p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + +<p>But the next day the King sent the Cardinal word +that he had received such bad news from his own +country that he must return without delay. He +actually left Bruges that day, and was escorted to the +city gates by the Papal Nuncio Caracciolo and Contarini, +who took leave of the King, and returned to +dine with Erasmus and his English friend, <i>Messer +Toma Moro</i>.<a name="FNanchor_33" id="FNanchor_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> Unfortunately, Christian's visit to +the Low Countries produced no good result, and there +was some justification for the Imperial Chancellor's +cynical remark: "It would have been better to keep +the King here, where he can do no harm, than to let +him go home to make fresh mischief."<a name="FNanchor_34" id="FNanchor_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> He left +Bruges dissatisfied with the Emperor, and on reaching +Copenhagen his first act was to dismiss the Queen's +confessor, Mansueri. When the Emperor begged +him to leave his sister free in matters of conscience, +he broke into a passionate fit of rage, tore the Golden +Fleece from his neck, and trampled it underfoot, +cursing his meddlesome brother-in-law. What was +worse, he seized several Dutch ships in the Sound, +and drew upon himself the serious displeasure of the +Regent and her Council.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Gustavus Wasa had laid siege to Stockholm, +and there was a rising in Jutland. A Papal +Legate arrived at Copenhagen to inquire into the +judicial murder of the Swedish Bishops and demand +the punishment of Slagbök. The unfortunate Arch<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>bishop +was made a scapegoat, and put to death in +January, 1522. Stones were thrown at Sigebritt +when she drove out in the royal carriage, and one day +she was thrown into a pond by some peasants, and +only rescued with difficulty. Even Christian began +to realize the danger of the situation, and wrote to +Isabella from Jutland, begging her to "bid Mother +Sigebritt hold her tongue, and not set foot outside +the castle, if she wished him to return home alive." +In another letter, written on the 4th of February, +1522, from the Convent of Dalin, the King congratulates +his wife on her safe deliverance, and the birth +of "a marvellously handsome child."<a name="FNanchor_35" id="FNanchor_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> This is the +only intimation we have of the birth of Isabella's +second daughter, Christina. The exact date is not +to be found in the Danish archives, and has hitherto +eluded all research. The child who saw the light in +these troubled times received the name of Christina +from her grandmother, the Queen-Dowager of Denmark, +a Princess of Saxon birth, who still resided at +King Hans's favourite palace of Odensee. All we know +of Queen Christina is that, on the 2nd of April, 1515, +two years after her husband's death, she addressed +an urgent prayer to King Henry VIII., begging him +to send her a relic of St. Thomas of Canterbury.<a name="FNanchor_36" id="FNanchor_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> +We are not told if a phial containing a drop of the +saint's blood was sent to Denmark in response to +this entreaty, but the request is of interest as a proof +of the English martyr's widespread renown.</p> + +<p>A few weeks after the birth of her little daughter +Isabella wrote a touching appeal to her aunt, imploring +the Regent's help against the Danish rebels:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">1513-23] CHRISTIAN II. DEPOSED</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"We have sad news from my lord in Jutland. +The nobles there have rebelled against him, and seek +to deprive him and our children of their crown and +their lives. So we entreat you to come to our help, +that we may chastise these rebels."<a name="FNanchor_37" id="FNanchor_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p></div> + +<p>Anton de Metz was sent to Brussels on the same +errand, but could obtain small hopes of assistance. +The Regent's Council complained that King Christian +had damaged the trade of the Low Countries and ill-treated +their sailors, and the temper of the Court was +reflected in Sir Robert Wingfield's despatches to +England.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Easterlings," remarked the Ambassador, +"handle the King of Denmark roughly, and his own +people are said to have killed the Woman of Holland, +who was mother to his Dove, as the King's mistress +was called, whereby it appeareth that ill life and like +governance often cometh to a bad end."<a name="FNanchor_38" id="FNanchor_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p></div> + +<p>King Christian's affairs, as Wingfield truly said, +were in an evil plight. In June Stockholm surrendered +to Gustavus Wasa, and the citizens of Lübeck +sent a fleet to burn Helsingfors and threaten Copenhagen. +To add to the unfortunate King's difficulties, +his uncle Frederic, Duke of Holstein, who had always +nursed a grievance against his elder brother, the late +King Hans, now took up a hostile attitude, and +made common cause with the rebels. On the 20th of +January, 1523, the nobles of Jutland met at Viborg, +deposed Christian II. formally, and elected his uncle +Frederic to be King in his stead. In vain Christian +endeavoured to raise fresh forces, and sent desperate +appeals to his kinsfolk in the Low Countries and +Germany, and to his allies in England and Scotland.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + +<p>Margaret replied curtly that the Emperor himself +needed all the men and ammunition that could be +obtained in those parts. The young King of Scotland's +Chancellor, the Archbishop of Glasgow, sent +a sympathetic message, regretting that the enmity of +England prevented him from helping King Christian +against his rebel subjects. When the Dean of +Roskild appeared in London with a letter from the +Danish monarch, begging King Henry to induce +Margaret to help him against the Easterlings, Wolsey +sent a splendid barge to conduct the Ambassador to +Greenwich, but gave him little encouragement beyond +fair words. "So I hope," wrote Sir Robert Wingfield, +who, in spite of Christian's civilities at Ghent, had little +pity for him, "that this wicked King will fail."<a name="FNanchor_39" id="FNanchor_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">1513-23] FLIGHT OF THE ROYAL FAMILY</div> + +<p>The unhappy monarch was at his wits' end. Yet +many of his subjects were still loyal. The bulk of the +middle and lower classes, the burghers, artisans, and +country-folk, looked on him as their best friend; and +when he appeared at the fair of Ringsted, a thousand +strong arms were raised, and a thousand lusty voices +swore fealty to Christian, the peasants' King. Copenhagen +was strongly fortified, and as long as he stayed +there he was safe from his foes. But an unaccountable +panic seized him. Whether, as in the case of +Lodovico Sforza, whom he resembled in so many +ways, remorse for past crimes enfeebled his will, or +whether his nerves gave way, he could not summon +up courage to meet his foes, and decided to fly. A +fleet of twenty ships was equipped, fully supplied +with arms and ammunition, and laden with the crown +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>jewels, archives, and treasures. The Queen and her +young children—the five-year-old Prince John, the +two little Princesses, Dorothea and Christina (a babe +of fifteen months)—went on board the finest vessel of +the fleet, the <i>Great Mary</i>, and Mother Sigebritt was +hidden in a chest to save her from the fury of the +people, who regarded her as the chief cause of the +King's unpopularity. But the greatest compassion +was felt for Isabella and her innocent babes; and +even the usurper Frederic wrote to beg the Queen +to remain in Denmark, assuring her that she and her +children would be perfectly safe. On the 14th of +April the fleet set sail. An immense crowd assembled +on the ramparts to see the last of the royal +family. The King made a farewell speech, exhorting +the garrison to remain loyal to his cause, and promising +to return in three months with reinforcements. +Then the ships weighed anchor, and neither Isabella +nor her children ever saw the shores of Denmark +again.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_17" id="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Le Glay, ii. 336.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_18" id="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> De Reiffenberg, "Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or," 307.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_19" id="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Le Glay, ii. 337.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_20" id="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> L. Van Bergh, "Correspondance de M. d'Autriche," ii. 135.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_21" id="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Ulmann, ii. 510.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_22" id="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Hubertus Leodius Thomas, "Spiegel des Humors grosser +Potentaten," 79. E. Moeller, "Éléonore d'Autriche," 307.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_23" id="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Moeller, 327. L. Mignet, "Rivalité de Francis I. et +Charles V.," i. 140.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_24" id="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., ii. 2, 1151. H. Baumgarten, +"Geschichte Karl V.," i. 58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_25" id="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Henne. ii. 249.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_26" id="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Archives du Royaume: Bruxelles Régistre des Revenus et +Dépenses de Charles V., ii. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_27" id="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> J. Altmeyer, 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_28" id="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> F. Dahlmann, "Geschichte von Dänemark," iii. 359.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_29" id="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> M. Conway, "Literary Remains of Albert Dürer," 124.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_30" id="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Venetian State Papers, iii. 139.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_31" id="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., iii. 2, 555, 561, 582.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_32" id="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., iii. 2, 614.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_33" id="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Venetian State Papers, iii. 162.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_34" id="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., iii. 2, 576.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_35" id="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Altmeyer, 23. Reedtz Manuscripts, xiii. 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_36" id="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., ii. 191.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_37" id="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Altmeyer, "Isabelle d'Autriche," 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_38" id="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., iii. 2, 1086.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_39" id="Footnote_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., iii. 2, 1189. Altmeyer, +"Relations Commerciales du Danemark et des Paysbas," +105.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p></div></div> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>BOOK III<br /> + +KINGS IN EXILE<br /> + +1523-1531</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote">1523-31] VISIT TO LONDON</div> + +<p>The troubles of the Danish royal family were not +over when they left Copenhagen. A violent storm +scattered the fleet in the North Sea, and drove several +of the ships on the Norwegian coast, where many of +them were lost with all their cargo. The remaining +eleven or twelve ships entered the harbour of Veeren, +in Walcheren, on the 1st of May. Here the King and +Queen were kindly received by Adolf of Burgundy, +the Admiral of the Dutch fleet, who kept them for a +week in his own house, and then escorted them to the +Regent's Court at Malines. Margaret welcomed her +niece with all her old affection, and took her and the +royal children into her own house. But she met the +King's prayer for help coldly, saying that it was +beyond her power to give him either men or money. +The moment, it is true, was singularly unpropitious. +Not only were all the Emperor's resources needed to +carry on his deadly struggle with France, but nearer +home the Regent was engaged in a fierce conflict +with her old enemy, Charles of Guelders, for the +possession of Friesland. As Adolf of Burgundy wrote +to Wolsey: "We need help so much ourselves that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +we are hardly in condition to help others."<a name="FNanchor_40" id="FNanchor_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Christian +soon realized this, and determined to apply to +Henry VIII., relying on his former assurances of +brotherly affection, and feeling confident of Wolsey's +support. The scheme met with Margaret's approval, +and, since Isabella had only brought one Dutch maid +and the children's nurses from Copenhagen, the +Regent lent her several ladies, in order that she +might appear in due state at the English Court.<a name="FNanchor_41" id="FNanchor_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p>On the 5th of June the King and Queen left Malines +with a suite of eighty persons and fifty horses, and, +after waiting some time at Calais to hear the latest +news from Denmark, crossed the Channel, and reached +Greenwich on the 19th. Wolsey had already told +the Imperial Ambassador, De Praet, that the King +of Denmark would receive little encouragement from +his master, and had expressed a hope that he would +not give them the trouble of coming to England. +He met the royal travellers, however, at the riverside, +and conducted them to the palace, where they dined +in the great hall with the King on the following day, +Henry leading Christian by the hand, and Queen +Katherine following with Isabella and her sister-in-law, +Mary, Duchess of Suffolk, the widow of +Louis XII., who was still known as <i>la Reine blanche</i>. +From Greenwich the King and Queen of Denmark +moved to Bath Place, where they were lodged at +Henry's expense. Katherine welcomed her great-niece +with motherly affection, but both Henry and Wolsey +told Christian plainly that he had made a fatal mistake +in deserting his loyal subjects, and advised him to +return at once and encourage them by his presence.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> + +<p>All the English monarch would do was to send Envoys +to Denmark to urge the usurper Frederic and his +supporters to return to their allegiance.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"For," as Henry himself wrote to the Emperor, +"this perfidy of the King's subjects is a most fatal +example, if for the most trifling cause a Prince is to +be called in question, and expelled and put from his +crown."<a name="FNanchor_42" id="FNanchor_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p></div> + +<p>The futility of these measures was evident to +De Praet, who wrote to Charles at Toledo, saying +that unless he took up the exiled monarch's cause for +his sister's sake he would never recover his kingdom. +Copenhagen was now besieged by land and sea, and +if the garrison were not relieved by Michaelmas they +would be forced to surrender, and Christian's last +hope would be gone. The King himself, De Praet +owned, seemed little changed, and he advised the +Emperor to insist on Sigebritt's removal before giving +him any help.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Your Majesty," wrote the Ambassador, "ought +first of all to have the Woman of Holland sought out +and punished, an act which in my small opinion would +acquire great merit in the eyes of both God and man."<a name="FNanchor_43" id="FNanchor_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p></div> + +<p>At Isabella's request, both Margaret and King Henry +had spoken strongly to Christian on this subject, but +he still persisted in his infatuation, and it was not +till after he had left the Netherlands, and his wife and +aunt were dead, that this miserable woman was +arrested in Ghent and burnt as a witch.<a name="FNanchor_44" id="FNanchor_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">1523-31] A NOBLE WIFE</div> + +<p>As for the Queen, no words could express De Praet's +admiration for her angelic goodness. "It is indeed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>grievous," he wrote, "to see this poor lady in so +melancholy a plight, and I cannot marvel too much +at her virtues and heroic patience." Henry was +equally moved, and wrote to Charles in the warmest +terms of his sister's noble qualities, but did not +disguise his contempt for her husband.<a name="FNanchor_45" id="FNanchor_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> + +<p>There was, clearly, nothing more to be gained by +remaining in England, and on the 5th of July the King +and Queen returned to the Low Countries. Isabella +joined her children at Malines, and Christian went to +Antwerp to equip ships for the relief of Copenhagen. +But he soon quarrelled with Margaret, and left suddenly +for Germany. In September he appeared at +Berlin, having ridden from Brussels attended by only +two servants, and succeeded in raising a force of +25,000 men, with the help of his brother-in-law, the +Marquis of Brandenburg, and Duke Henry of Brunswick. +But when the troops assembled on the banks +of the Elbe, King Christian was unable to fulfil his +promises or provide the money demanded by the +leaders, and he was glad to escape with his life from +the angry hordes of soldiers clamouring for pay. +By the end of the year Copenhagen capitulated, and +in the following August the usurper Frederic was +elected King by the General Assembly, and solemnly +crowned in the Frauenkirche.<a name="FNanchor_46" id="FNanchor_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> The crimes of the unhappy +Christian recoiled on his own head, and in the +Act of Deprivation by which he was formally deposed, +it was expressly stated that his neglect of his noble +and virtuous wife, and infatuation for the adventuress +Sigebritt and her daughter, had estranged the hearts +of his people. But through all these troubles Isabella +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>clung to him with unchanging faithfulness. She +followed him first to Berlin, then to Saxony, where +he sought his uncle's help. In March she went to +Nuremberg on a visit to her brother, King Ferdinand, +and pleaded her husband and children's cause before +the Diet in so eloquent a manner that the assembled +Princes were moved to tears.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Everyone here," wrote Hannart, the minister +whom Charles V. had sent to his sister's help, "is +full of compassion for the Queen, but no one places +the least trust in the King. If it were not for her +sake, not a single man would saddle a horse on his +behalf."</p></div> + +<p>Hannart, in fact, confessed that he had done his +utmost to keep Christian away from Nuremberg, +feeling sure that his presence would do more harm +than good. Even Isabella's entreaties were of no +avail. She begged her brother in vain for the loan of +20,000 florins to satisfy the Duke of Brunswick, whose +angry threats filled her with alarm.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I am always afraid some harm may happen to +you when I am away," she wrote to her husband. +"I long to join you, and would rather suffer at your +side than live in comfort away from you."<a name="FNanchor_47" id="FNanchor_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p></div> + +<p>But Christian, as Hannart remarked in a letter to +the Regent Margaret, had few friends. Even his +servants did not attempt to deny the charges that +were brought against him, and the Queen alone, like +the loyal wife that she was, sought to explain and +excuse his conduct.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">1523-31] MARTIN LUTHER</div> + +<p>To add to Isabella's troubles, her brother Ferdinand +was seriously annoyed at the leanings to the Lutheran +faith which she now displayed. Christian's Protestant +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>tendencies had been greatly strengthened by his residence +in Saxony during the winter of 1523. He +heard Luther preach at Wittenberg, and spent much +time in his company, dining frequently with him and +Spalatin, the Court chaplain, and making friends with +the painter Lucas Cranach. The fine portrait of King +Christian by this artist forms the frontispiece of a +Danish version of the New Testament published by +Hans Mikkelsen, the Burgomaster of Malmoë, who +shared his royal master's exile. When the Marquis +Joachim of Brandenburg remonstrated with his +brother-in-law for his intimacy with the heretic Luther, +Christian replied that he would rather lose all three of +his kingdoms than forsake this truly Apostolic man.<a name="FNanchor_48" id="FNanchor_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> +Isabella's naturally religious nature was deeply impressed +by these new influences, and both she and +her sister-in-law, Elizabeth of Brandenburg, secretly +embraced the reformed doctrine. At Nuremberg +she attended the sermons of the Lutheran doctor +Osiander, and received Communion in both kinds +from his hands on Maundy Thursday, to the great +indignation of King Ferdinand, who told her he could +not own a heretic as his sister. Isabella replied gently +that if he cast her off God would take care of her. +Luther on his part was moved by the apparent +sincerity of his royal convert.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Strange indeed are the ways of God!" he wrote +to Spalatin. "His grace penetrates into the most +unlikely places, and may even bring this rare wild +game, a King and Queen, safely into the heavenly +net."<a name="FNanchor_49" id="FNanchor_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + +<p>While Luther addressed a strong remonstrance to +the newly-elected King of Denmark and the citizens +of Lübeck, Christian's Chancellor, Cornelius Scepperus, +drew up an eloquent memorial to Pope Clement VII. +on the exiled King's behalf, and travelled to Spain to +seek the Emperor's help. By Hannart's exertions a +Congress was held at Hamburg in April, which was +attended by representatives of the Emperor, the +Regent of the Netherlands, the Imperial Electors and +Princes, as well as by deputies from Denmark, +England, Poland, and Lübeck. Isabella accompanied +her husband on this occasion, at Hannart's request.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I hear on all sides," he wrote to Charles, "that +the people of Denmark would gladly welcome the +return of the Queen and her children if the King +would not meddle with public affairs, and a good +Governor appointed by Your Majesty should act as +Regent until the young Prince is of age."<a name="FNanchor_50" id="FNanchor_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p></div> + +<p>But when, by way of compromise, some members +of the Congress proposed that Frederic should retain +the throne, and recognize Prince John as his successor, +Christian rejected this offer angrily, and negotiations +were soon broken off. Both Charles and Margaret +now gave up all hope of effecting Christian's restoration, +and concluded a treaty in the following August +with King Frederic, by which his title was recognized, +and the Baltic was once more opened to the merchants +of the Low Countries.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote">1523-31] THE CHILDREN OF DENMARK</div> + +<p>The exiled monarch, now compelled to realize +the hopelessness of his cause, returned sorrowfully +with his wife to the Low Countries, and Isabella had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>at least the joy of embracing her children once more. +During this long absence the faithful servants who had +followed their King and Queen into exile had kept +her well supplied with news of their health and +progress.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Prince John," wrote Nicolas Petri, Canon of +Lunden, "learns quickly, and begins to speak French. +He is already a great favourite with the Lady Margaret. +His sisters, the Princesses, are very well, and +are both very pretty children. The youngest, Madame +Christine, has just been weaned. Madame Marguerite +says that she will soon be receiving proposals of +marriage for the elder one. These are good omens, +for which God be praised. It is a real pleasure to be +with these children, they are so good and charming. +If only Your Grace could see them, you would soon +forget all your troubles."<a name="FNanchor_51" id="FNanchor_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p></div> + +<p>But not all Margaret's affection for Isabella and +her children could reconcile her to the King's presence. +Christian was, it must be confessed, a troublesome +guest. His restless brain was always busy with new +plots and intrigues. At first he announced his intention +of taking Isabella to visit the Emperor in Spain, +but, after spending some weeks in Zeeland fitting out +ships, he suddenly changed his mind, and took Isabella, +whose health had suffered from all the hardships and +anxiety that she had undergone, to drink the waters +at Aix-la-Chapelle. On his return he wished to settle +at Ghent, but the Regent and her Council, fearing +that his presence would excite sedition in this city, +suggested that the Castle of Gemappes should be +offered him instead. Charles replied that if the King +lived at Gemappes he would certainly spoil his +hunting, and thought that Lille or Bruges would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +a better place. In the end Lierre, a pleasant city +halfway between Malines and Antwerp, was chosen +for the exiled Princes' home. Towards the end of +1524 Christian and his family took up their abode in +the old castle which still goes by the name of <i>Het Hof +van Denemarken</i>, or <i>Cour de Danemarck</i>. A guard of +fifty halberdiers and a considerable household was +assigned to them by the Emperor's order. A monthly +allowance of 500 crowns was granted to the King, +while the Queen received a yearly sum of 2,000 crowns +<i>pour employer en ses menus plaisirs</i>. But Christian's +reckless and disorderly conduct soon landed him in +fresh difficulties. Isabella cut up her husband's old +robes to make clothes for her little girls, and was +reduced to such penury that she was compelled to +pledge, not only her jewels, but the children's toys. +Meanwhile Margaret's letters to her imperial nephew +were filled with complaints of the Danish King's +extravagance. She declared that he was spending +800 crowns a month, and perpetually asking for more. +When she sent her <i>maître d'hôtel</i>, Monsieur de +Souvastre, to set his affairs in order, he was confronted +with a long list of unpaid bills from doctors, +apothecaries, saddlers, masons, carpenters, tailors, +and poulterers. But accounts of the straits to which +the Queen and her children were reduced had evidently +reached Spain, and Charles felt it necessary to +remind his aunt gently that, after all, Isabella was +his own sister, and that many pensioners whom he +had never seen received many thousands of crowns a +year from his purse.<a name="FNanchor_52" id="FNanchor_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">1523-31] A ZEALOUS LUTHERAN</div> + +<p>Another cause of perpetual irritation was the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>favour shown by the King to the Lutherans, whom the +Regent was trying to drive out of Flanders. The +Court of Lierre became the refuge of all who professed +the new doctrine. Margaret insisted on the +banishment of several of the King's servants, including +the chaplain, Hans Monboë, and Prince John's tutor, +Nicolas Petri, and sent others to prison. But these +high-handed acts only strengthened Christian's zeal +in the cause of reform. "The word of God," he wrote +to his friend Spalatin, "waxes powerful in the Netherlands, +and thrives on the blood of the martyrs."<a name="FNanchor_53" id="FNanchor_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> +The letters which he addressed to his old subjects +were couched in the same strain. He confessed his +past sins, and prayed that he might be restored to +his kingdom, like David of old, declaring that his +sole wish was to live for Christ and do good to his +enemies. At the same time he hired freebooters to +ravage the coast of Denmark, and provoked King +Frederic to close the Sound, an act which aroused +widespread discontent in the Low Countries. In +August, 1525, he sent a herald to England, begging +King Henry and his good friend the Cardinal to +intercede with the Regent, and induce her to lend +him men and money for a fresh expedition. But +Margaret turned a deaf ear to all entreaties, and +when Isabella's physician recommended her to try +the waters of Aix-la-Chapelle again, she declined to +sanction this journey on the score of expense. She +sent her own doctor, however, to Lierre, and at his +suggestion the invalid was moved for change of air +to Swynaerde, the Abbot of St. Peter's country-house +near Ghent. But Isabella's ills were beyond the +reach of human skill, and she soon became too weak +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>to leave her room. On the 12th of December +Christian sent for his old chaplain from Wittenberg, +begging him to return without delay.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Dear Brother in Christ</span>," he wrote,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"Here we forget Christ, and have no one to +preach the word of God. I implore you to come and +give us the comfort of the Gospel. Greet our brothers +and sisters."</p></div> + +<p>Upon receiving this summons, Monboë and Hans +Mikkelsen hastened to Ghent, at the peril of their +lives, and administered spiritual consolation to the +dying Queen. On the 19th of January she received +the last Sacraments from the priest of Swynaerde, and +saw Monsieur de Souvastre, by whom she sent her +aunt affectionate messages, commending her poor +children to Margaret's care. A few hours afterwards +she passed quietly away. Both Catholics and Lutherans +bore witness to her angelic patience, and a letter +which Christian addressed to Luther, ten days later, +gives a touching account of his wife's last moments:</p> + +<div class="sidenote">1523-31] DEATH OF ISABELLA</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"As her weakness increased, Frau Margaret sent +her servant, Philippe de Souvastre, and other excellent +persons, to admonish her after the fashion of the +Popish Anti-Christ's faith and the religion of his sect. +But Almighty God in His mercy deprived my wife +of her powers of speech, so that she made no reply, +and they gave up speaking, and only anointed her +with oil. But before this she had received the Blessed +Sacrament in the most devout manner, with ardent +longing, firm faith, and stedfast courage; and when +one of our preachers exhorted her, in the words of +the Gospel, to stand fast in the faith, she confessed +her firm trust in God, and paid no heed to the superstitious +mutterings of the others. After this she +became speechless, but gave many signs of true faith +to the end, and took her last farewell of this world +on the 19th of January. May God Almighty be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>gracious to her soul, and grant her eternal rest! We +are strong in the sure and certain hope that she has +entered into eternal bliss, unto which God bring us +all!"<a name="FNanchor_54" id="FNanchor_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p></div> + +<p>On the 4th of February the dead Queen, who had +not yet completed her twenty-fifth year, was buried +with great pomp in the cloisters of the Abbey of +St. Peter at Ghent, where a stately marble tomb was +raised over her ashes. The painter Mabuse was employed +to design the monument, as we learn from a +letter which the King addressed to the Abbot of +St. Peter's in 1528, complaining of his delay in completing +the work. A Latin inscription by Cornelius +Scepperus, giving Isabella's titles in full, and recording +her virtues and the sufferings which she had endured +during her short life, was placed on the monument, +which is described by an English traveller of the +sixteenth century, Philip Skippon.<a name="FNanchor_55" id="FNanchor_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> Unfortunately, +the tomb was rifled by the mob at the time of +the French Revolution, but the ashes of the Queen +were carefully preserved by a pious Curé, and afterwards +restored to their former resting-place.</p> + +<p>Isabella's early death was deeply lamented, not +only in the Low Countries, where she was so beloved, +but in her husband's kingdoms. Funeral services were +held throughout the land, and all men wept for the +good Princess "who had been the mother of her +people." On all sides testimonies to her worth were +paid. Henry of England wrote to King Christian +that the late Queen had been as dear to him as a +sister, and Luther paid an eloquent tribute to her +memory in his treatise on Holy Women:</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Of such Kings' daughters there was indeed one, +of the noblest birth, Isabella, Queen of Denmark, a +Princess of the royal house of Spain. She embraced +the Gospel with great ardour, and confessed the faith +openly. And because of this she died in want and +misery. For had she consented to renounce her faith, +she would have received far more help and much +greater kindness in this life."<a name="FNanchor_56" id="FNanchor_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p></div> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>The news of the Queen of Denmark's death reached +her brother, the Emperor, on the eve of his marriage +to Isabella of Portugal. Guillaume des Barres, the +bearer of Margaret's letters, found him at a village +in Andalusia, on his way to Seville, where the wedding +was to take place on the following day, and had a long +interview with his imperial master before he left his +bed on the 9th of March. Charles spoke with deep feeling +of his sister, and inquired anxiously if the Regent +had been able to obtain possession of her children—"a +thing," wrote Des Barres, "which His Majesty +desires greatly, because of the King's heretical leanings."<a name="FNanchor_57" id="FNanchor_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">1523-31] MARGARET INTERVENES</div> + +<p>Margaret had certainly not been remiss in this +matter. But Christian was more intractable than +ever. He took his children to Ghent immediately +after their mother's death, and refused to give them +up until the Regent had paid all his debts, including +7,000 florins for the funeral expenses, and 2,000 more +which he owed to the landlord of the Falcon at Lierre +for Rhine-wine and fodder. His language became +every day more violent. He threatened to cut off +the Governor of Antwerp's head, and appealed to his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>comrades of the Golden Fleece for the redress of his +supposed grievances. At length Margaret, seeing that +none of her Court officials and Councillors could bring +him to reason, rode to Lierre herself on the 2nd of +March, and made a last attempt to obtain possession +of the children <i>par voye aimable</i>. The King, she +found, had already packed up his furniture and plate, +even the chalice which was used in the royal chapel, +and was about to start for Germany.</p> + +<p>After prolonged discussion, the Regent succeeded +in persuading Christian to leave his children with her, +on condition that she paid his debts in Lierre, and +provided for the late Queen's funeral expenses—"a +thing which must be done," she wrote to Charles, +"out of sheer decency." But she quite refused the +King's demand for an increased allowance, saying +that he could not require more money than he had +received in his wife's lifetime. Christian then left the +Netherlands for Saxony, saying that he intended to +raise a fresh army and invade Denmark. "He is +confident of recovering his kingdoms," wrote Margaret +to the Emperor, "but my own impression is that his +exploits will be confined to plundering and injuring +your subjects." This prophecy was literally fulfilled, +and during the next four years the peaceful folk in +Friesland were harassed by turbulent freebooters in +the King of Denmark's pay, while pirates ravaged +the coasts of the North Sea, and led the Hanse cities +to make severe reprisals on the Dutch ships.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">1523-31] THE PALACE OF MALINES</div> + +<p>Margaret's chief object, however, was attained. +On the 5th of March she returned to Malines with +the Prince of Denmark and his little sisters. "Henceforth, +Monseigneur," she wrote to Charles, "you will +have to be both father and mother to these poor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +children, and must treat them as your own."<a name="FNanchor_58" id="FNanchor_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> The +Regent herself nobly fulfilled the sacred trust committed +to her by the dying Queen. From this time +until her own death, four and a half years later, +Isabella's children were the objects of her unceasing +care, and lacked nothing that money could provide +or love suggest. They lived under her own roof in +the Palace of Malines, that city of wide streets and +canals, with the fine market-place and imposing +cathedral, which many called the finest town in +Flanders. Margaret's first care was to arrange the +royal children's household. Prince John was placed +in the charge of a governess, Mademoiselle Rolande +de Serclaes, who superintended his meals and taught +him "Christian religion and good manners," while +he had for his tutor Cornelius Agrippa, the distinguished +scholar and defender of women's rights, +who dedicated his book, "On the Pre-excellence of +Women," to the Regent. In Lent the Prince and his +sisters received regular instruction in the palace +chapel, and one year Friar Jehan de Salis received +thirty-six livres for preaching a course of Lent sermons +before the Prince and Princesses of Denmark. Margaret +herself kept a watchful eye on the children. A +hundred entries in her household accounts show how +carefully she chose their nurses and companions, their +clothes and playthings. One of her first gifts to the +Prince was a handsome pony, richly harnessed with +black and gold trappings. Another was a dwarf +page, who became his constant playfellow, and in +his turn received good Ypres cloth and damask for +his own wear. Italian merchants from Antwerp +often came to lay their wares before the Regent. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>We find her choosing black velvet and white satin +for Prince John's doublet, and pearl buttons and gold +fringe to trim his sleeves, and ordering the goldsmith, +Master Leonard of Augsburg, to supply an antique +silver dagger and an image of Hercules for the Prince's +cap. Or else a merchant is desired to send her two +pairs of cuffs of exquisitely fine "toile de Cambray," +embroidered with gold thread, for the young Princesses' +wear,<a name="FNanchor_59" id="FNanchor_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> and twenty gold balls for the fringe of +their bed. Amid all the anxious cares of State which +filled her time, this great lady seldom allowed a day +to pass without seeing her nephew and nieces. Their +innocent prattle and merry laughter cheered her +lonely hours, while the Prince and his sisters found +plenty to amuse them in their great-aunt's rooms. +The halls were hung with costly Arras tapestries of +David killing Goliath, stories of Alexander and +Esther, hunting scenes and Greek fables, or adorned +with paintings by the best masters. Van Eyck's +"Merchant of Lucca, Arnolfini with his Wife," and +"Virgin of the Fountain," Rogier Van der Weyden's +and Memling's Madonnas, Jerome Bosch's "St. +Anthony," Jacopo de' Barbari's "Crucifixion," were +all here, as well as Michel van Coxien's little Virgin +with the sleeping Child in her arms, which Margaret +called her <i>mignonne</i>.<a name="FNanchor_60" id="FNanchor_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> The library contained a complete +collection of family portraits, chiefly the work +of the Court painter, Bernard van Orley or Jehan +Mabuse.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">1523-31] MABUSE'S PICTURE</div> + +<p>Among these were pictures of Margaret's parents, +Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy; of her second +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>husband, Monsieur de Savoie, a brilliant cavalier +clad in a crimson mantle sown with daisies in allusion +to his wife's name; and of her brother, King +Philip, with his children, the young Archduke Charles +and the future Queens of France and Denmark. +Prince John and his sisters would recognize the portraits +of their own father and mother, King Christian +and his gentle wife, which hung over the mantelpiece, +together with those of their great-grandparents, +Ferdinand and Isabella, the Kings of France and +England, and the Grand Turk. But better in the +children's eyes than all the pictures and bronzes, the +marble busts and ivories, the silver mirrors and +chandeliers, better even than the Chinese dragons +and stuffed birds-of-Paradise from the New World, +were the live pets with which their aunt loved to be +surrounded. The famous green parrot which once +belonged to Mary of Burgundy had lately died, to +her great sorrow. Margaret herself had written its +epitaph, and the Court poet, Jehan Le Maire, had +sung the bird's descent into the Elysian fields, and its +converse with Charon and Mercury, in his elegy of +"L'Amant Vert." But in its stead she had cages +full of parakeets and singing birds, which were carefully +tended by her ladies, and fed with white loaves +newly baked every morning. There was an Italian +greyhound in a white fur tippet, and a number of +toy-dogs in baskets lined with swansdown, and a +marmoset that she had bought from a French pedlar, +which afforded the Court ladies as much amusement +as the royal children. Nor were other diversions +wanting. Margaret was very fond of music, and not +only kept a troop of viol and tambourine players, but +often sent for the town band of Ghent and Brussels,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +or the Prince of Orange's fife and organ players, to +beguile her evenings. Sometimes the children of +S. Rombaut and the choir-boys of Notre Dame du +Sablon in Brussels would sing chorales during dinner, +or strolling players and German marionettes, Italian +jugglers, or Poles and Hungarians with tame bears, +would be allowed to perform in her presence. On one +occasion a famous lute-player from the Court of +Whitehall was sent over by King Henry, and received +seven gold crowns for his pains. Another time three +Savoyards were rewarded with a handful of gold +pieces for the tricks with which they had amused the +Court after supper. And every May Day the archers +of the guard marched in procession to plant hawthorn-bushes +covered with blossom under the palace +windows.<a name="FNanchor_61" id="FNanchor_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p> + +<p>In these pleasant surroundings the children of Denmark +grew up under the same roof as their mother +and aunts before them, leading the same joyous and +natural life. No wonder that through all her troubled +life Christina looked back fondly to these early times, +and never forgot the happy days which she had spent +at Malines. There is a charming picture, now at +Hampton Court, of the three children, painted by +Mabuse soon after their mother's death, and sent +to King Henry VIII., whose favour Christian II. was +once more trying to obtain.<a name="FNanchor_62" id="FNanchor_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> + +<p>The three children are standing at a table covered +with a green cloth, on which apples and cherries are +laid. Prince John, a manly boy with a thoughtful, +attractive face, wearing a black velvet suit and cap +and a gold chain round his neck, is in the centre +between his sisters. On his right, Dorothea, a pretty +child with brown eyes and golden curls frizzled all +over her head, reaches out her hand towards the +fruit, while on his left the little Christina grasps an +apple firmly in one hand, and lays the other confidingly +on her brother's arm. Both little girls are +dressed in black velvet with white ermine sleeves, +probably made out of their father's old robes. But +while Dorothea's curly head is uncovered, Christina +wears a tight-fitting hood edged with pearls, drawn +closely over her baby face. Her tiny features are +full of character, and the large brown eyes, with their +earnest gaze, and small fingers clasping the apple, +already reveal the courage and resolution for which +she was to be distinguished in days to come.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">1523-31] A PROMISING PRINCE</div> + +<p>At this early period of their lives it was, naturally +enough, Prince John who chiefly occupied his guardian's +thoughts. A boy of rare promise, studious, +intelligent, and affectionate, he had inherited much +of his mother's charm, and soon became a great +favourite at Court. Margaret was never tired of +describing his talents and progress to the Emperor, +who took keen interest in his young nephew, and +was particularly glad to hear how fond he was of +riding.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 593px;"> +<img src="images/facing054.jpg" width="593" height="432" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p><i>Copyright, H. M. the King</i></p> + +<p>THE CHILDREN OF CHRISTIAN II., KING OF DENMARK</p> + +<p>By Jean Mabuse (Hampton Court Palace)</p> + +<p><i>To face p. <a href="#Page_54">54</a></i></p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Madame my good Aunt</span>," he wrote,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"I hear with great pleasure of the kindness +shown by M. de Brégilles, the Master of your Household, +to my nephew, the Prince of Denmark, and +am very grateful to him for teaching the boy to ride +and mounting him so well. And you will please tell +Brégilles that I beg him to go on from good to better, +and train the boy in all honest and manly exercises, +as well as in noble and virtuous conduct, for you +know that he is likely to follow whatever example is +set before him in his youth. And I have no doubt +that, not only in this case, but in all others, you will +not cease to watch over him.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 18.5em;">"Your good nephew,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 24.5em;">"<span class="smcap">Charles</span>."<a name="FNanchor_63" id="FNanchor_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></span><br /> +</p> + +<p>When in July, 1528, Margaret's servant Montfort +was sent on an important mission to Spain, the +Emperor's first anxiety was to hear full accounts of +Prince John and his sisters from the Envoy's lips. +He expressed great satisfaction with all Montfort told +him, saying that he entertained the highest hopes of +his nephew, and would far rather support his claim +to Denmark than help his father to recover the throne—"the +more so," he added, "since we hear that King +Christian, to our sorrow, still adheres to the false +doctrine of Luther."</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>King Christian, as the Emperor hinted, was still a +thorn in the Regent's side. Although, since his wife's +death, most of his time had been spent in Germany,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +he remained a perpetual source of annoyance. In +July, 1528, he induced his sister Elizabeth to leave +her husband, Joachim of Brandenburg, and escape +with him to Saxony. All Germany rang with this +new scandal, and while the Marquis appealed to +Margaret, begging her to stop Christian's allowance +as the only means of bringing him to his senses, +Elizabeth, who had secretly embraced the reformed +faith, implored the Emperor's protection against her +husband, and refused to return to Berlin. At the +same time the King did his utmost to stir up discontent +round Lierre, and raised bands of freebooters +in Holland, whose lawless depredations were a constant +source of vexation to Charles's loyal subjects. +When the Regent protested, he replied that he had +nothing to do with these levies, and that his intentions +were absolutely innocent, assurances which, Margaret +remarked, would not deceive a child. Under these +circumstances, relations between the two became +daily more strained. "Margaret loves me not, and +has never loved me," wrote Christian to his Lutheran +friends, while the Regent turned to Charles in her +despair, saying: "Monseigneur, if the King of Denmark +comes here, I simply do not know what I am +to do with him!"<a name="FNanchor_64" id="FNanchor_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">1523-31] DEATH OF MARGARET</div> + +<p>Suddenly a new turn in the tide altered the whole +aspect of affairs. On the 3rd of August, 1529, the +Peace of Cambray was finally concluded. The long +war, which had drained the Emperor's resources, +was at an end, and his hands were once more free. +Christian lost no time in taking advantage of this +opportunity to secure his powerful kinsman's help. +He addressed urgent petitions to the Emperor and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>King Ferdinand, and sent an Envoy to plead his +cause at Bologna, where on the 24th of February, +1530, Charles V. received the imperial crown from +the hands of Pope Clement VII. But the only condition +on which the exiled monarch could be admitted +into the new confederation was his return to the +Catholic Church. For this, too, Christian seems to have +been prepared. On the 2nd of February he signed +an agreement at Lierre, in which he promised to obey +the Emperor's wishes, and to hold fast the Catholic +faith, if he should be restored to the throne of Denmark. +When Charles crossed the Brenner, Christian +hastened to meet him at Innsbruck, and, throwing +himself at the foot of Cardinal Campeggio, craved the +Holy Father's pardon for his past errors, and received +absolution. But, in spite of this public recantation, +the King still secretly preferred the reformed faith, +and continued to correspond with his Lutheran friends. +On the 25th of June he arrived at Malines with letters +of credit for 24,000 florins, which he had received +from the Emperor as the price of his submission. +But the Council refused to give him a farthing without +the Regent's consent, and Margaret declined to see +him, pleading illness as her excuse. Although only +fifty years of age, she had long been in failing health, +and only awaited the Emperor's coming to lay down her +arduous office and retire to a convent at Bruges. An +unforeseen accident hastened her end. She hurt her +foot by treading on the broken pieces of a crystal +goblet, blood-poisoning came on, and she died in her +sleep on the 30th of November, without ever seeing +her nephew again. The touching letter in which she +bade him farewell was written a few hours before her +death:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Monseigneur</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"The hour has come when I can no longer +write with my own hand, for I am so dangerously ill +that I fear my remaining hours will be few. But my +conscience is tranquil, and I am ready to accept God's +will, and have no regrets saving that I am deprived +of your presence, and am unable to see you and speak +with you before I die.... I leave you your provinces, +greatly increased in extent since your departure, and +resign the government, which I trust I have discharged +in such a way as to merit a Divine reward, +and earn the good-will of your subjects as well as +your approval. And above all, Monseigneur, I recommend +you to live at peace, more especially with +the Kings of France and England. Finally I beg +of you, by the love which you have been pleased to +bear me, remember the salvation of my soul and my +recommendations on behalf of my poor servants. +And so I bid you once more farewell, praying, Monseigneur, +that you may enjoy a long life and great +prosperity.</p> + +<p class="right"> +"Your very humble aunt,<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Margaret</span>."<a name="FNanchor_65" id="FNanchor_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> +<p> +"From Malines the last day of November, 1530."<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>This letter reached the Emperor at Cologne together +with the news of Margaret's death, and a solemn +requiem was chanted for her soul in the cathedral. +Charles and his subjects fully realized the great loss +which his <i>pays de par-deça</i> had suffered by his aunt's +death.</p> + +<p>"All the provinces," said Cornelius Agrippa, in the +funeral oration which he pronounced in S. Rombaut +of Malines, "all the cities, and all the villages, +are plunged in tears and sorrow. For no greater +loss could have befallen us and our country."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">1523-31] MARY OF HUNGARY</div> + +<p>The young Prince of Denmark, whom Margaret +had loved so well, was chief mourner on this occasion, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>and rode at the head of the procession which bore +her remains to Bruges. Here they were laid in the +Convent of the Annunciation until the magnificent +shrine that she had begun at Brou in Savoy was ready +to receive her ashes and those of her husband. When, +in the following March, the Emperor came to Malines, +Prince John welcomed him in a Latin speech, in which +he made a pathetic allusion to the loss which he and +his sisters had sustained in the death of one who +had been to them the wisest and tenderest of mothers. +Then, turning to his uncle with charming grace, he +begged the Emperor to have compassion upon him +and his orphaned sisters, and allow them to remain at +his Court until their father should be restored to his +rightful throne. The young Prince's simple eloquence +produced a deep impression. The Emperor with +tears in his eyes embraced him, and the magistrates +of Malines presented him with a barrel of Rhenish +wine in token of their regard.<a name="FNanchor_66" id="FNanchor_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> + +<p>Fortunately for the children of Denmark, as well +as for the provinces which Margaret had ruled so well, +another Habsburg Princess was found to take her +place. This was the Emperor's sister Mary, whose +gallant husband, King Louis of Hungary, had fallen +on the field of Mohacz four years before, fighting +against the Turks. The widowed Queen, although +only twenty-one, had shown admirable presence of +mind, and it was largely due to her tact and popularity +that her brother Ferdinand and his wife Anna, +the dead King's sister, were recognized as joint Sovereigns +of Bohemia and Hungary. Her own hand was +sought in marriage by many Princes, including the +young King James V. of Scotland and her sister<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +Eleanor's old lover, the Palatine Frederic, whose +romantic imagination was deeply impressed by the +young Queen's heroic bearing. But Mary positively +refused to take another husband, saying that, having +found perfect happiness in her first marriage, she had +no wish to try a second. To the end of her life she +remained true to her dead lord, and never put off +her widow's weeds. But her courage and spirit were +as high as ever. She was passionately fond of hunting, +and amazed the hardest riders by being all day +in the saddle without showing any trace of fatigue. +Her powers of mind were no less remarkable. She +was the ablest of the whole family, and the wisdom +of her judgments was equalled by the frankness with +which she expressed them. Like all the Habsburg +ladies, she was highly educated, and spoke Latin as +well as any doctor in Louvain, according to Erasmus, +who inscribed her name on the first page of his +"Veuve Chrétienne." Mary shared her sister Isabella's +sympathy with the reformers, and accepted the +dedication of Luther's "Commentary on the Four +Psalms of Consolation." When this excited her +brother Ferdinand's displeasure, she told him that +authors must do as they please in these matters, +and that he might trust her not to tarnish the fair +name of their house. "God," she added, "would +doubtless give her grace to die a good Christian."<a name="FNanchor_67" id="FNanchor_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">1523-31] THE NEW REGENT</div> + +<p>In the spring of 1530 Mary met Charles at Innsbruck, +and accompanied him to Augsburg. When, +a few months later, the news of Margaret's death +reached him at Cologne, the Emperor begged her to +become Regent of the Low Countries and share the +burden of government with him. But Mary had no +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>wish to enter public life, and asked her brother's leave +to retire to Spain and devote herself to the care of +their unhappy mother, Queen Juana. For some +time she resisted the entreaties of both her brothers, +and it was only a strong sense of duty which finally +overcame her reluctance to assume so arduous and +ungrateful a task. When at length she consented, +she made it a condition that she should not be troubled +with offers of marriage, and pointed out that her +Lutheran sympathies might well arouse suspicion in +the Netherlands. But Charles brushed these objections +lightly aside, saying that no one should disturb her +peace, and that he should never have trusted her with +so important a post if he had regarded her Lutheran +tendencies seriously. All he asked was that the +Queen should not bring her German servants to the +Low Countries, lest they should arouse the jealousy +of his Flemish courtiers.</p> + +<p>Mary scrupulously fulfilled these conditions, and on +the 23rd of January, 1531, the new Regent entered +Louvain in state, and was presented to the Council +by the Emperor, as Governess of the Netherlands. +Two months later she accompanied Charles to Malines, +where for the first time she embraced her little +nieces. For the present, however, Dorothea and +Christina, who were only nine and ten years old, +remained at Malines, while Prince John accompanied +his uncle and aunt on a progress through the +provinces.</p> + +<p>Mary soon realized all the difficulties of the task +that she had undertaken with so much reluctance.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Emperor," she wrote to Ferdinand from +Brussels, "has fastened the rope round my neck, but +I find public affairs in a great tangle, and if His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +Majesty does not reduce them to some degree of +order before his departure, I shall find myself in a very +tight place."<a name="FNanchor_68" id="FNanchor_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a></p></div> + +<p>The Treasury was exhausted, the people groaned +under the load of taxation, and the prodigal generosity +of the late Regent had not succeeded in suppressing +strife and jealousy among the nobles. As Mary +wrote many years afterwards to her nephew, Philip II.:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"No doubt our aunt, Madame Marguerite, ruled the +Netherlands long and well; but when she grew old and +ailing she was obliged to leave the task to others, +and when the Emperor returned there after her death, +he found the nobles at variance, justice little respected, +and all classes disaffected to the imperial service."<a name="FNanchor_69" id="FNanchor_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">1523-31] A FORLORN HOPE</div> + +<p>But the young Regent brought all her spirit and +energy to the task, and with her brother's help succeeded +in reforming the gravest abuses and restoring +some order into the finances. The gravest difficulty +with which she had to contend was the presence of +the King of Denmark. Since Margaret's death this +monarch had grown bolder and more insolent in his +demands. With the help of his old ally, Duke Henry +of Brunswick, he collected 6,000 men-at-arms and +invaded Holland, spreading fire and sword wherever +he went. In vain Charles remonstrated with him +on the suffering which he inflicted on peaceable citizens. +Christian only replied with an insolent letter, +which convinced the Emperor more than ever of "the +man's little sense and honesty." He now feared that +the King would seize one of the forts in Holland and +remain there all the winter, feeding his soldiers at the +expense of the unfortunate peasantry, and infecting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>them with Lutheran heresy. Under these circumstances +Charles felt that it was impossible to desert his +sister, and decided to put off his departure for Germany +until he had got rid of this troublesome guest.</p> + +<p>At length, on the 26th of October, Christian sailed +from Medemblik, in North Holland, with twenty-five +ships and 7,000 men.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"He has done infinite damage to my provinces of +Holland and Utrecht," wrote Charles to Ferdinand, +"treating them as if they were enemies, and forcing +them to provide him with boats and provisions, +besides seizing the supplies which I had collected for +my own journey."<a name="FNanchor_70" id="FNanchor_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p></div> + +<p>So great were the straits to which Charles found +himself reduced that he was compelled to raise a fresh +loan in order to defray the expenses of his journey +to Spires. But at least the hated adventurer was +gone, and as a fair wind sprang up, and the sails of +King Christian's fleet dropped below the horizon, the +Emperor and his subjects felt that they could breathe +freely.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The King of Dacia," wrote the Italian traveller +Mario Savorgnano, from Brussels, on the 6th of +November, "has sailed with twenty big ships, thus +relieving this land from a heavy burden. He goes +to recover his kingdom of Denmark, a land lying +north of the Cymbric Chersonesus.... But I am +sure that when the people come face to face with +these mercenaries, especially those who have been +in Italy and have there learnt to rob, sack, burn, and +leave no cruelty undone, in their greed for gold, they +will rise and drive out the invaders."<a name="FNanchor_71" id="FNanchor_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p></div> + +<p>This time Christian determined not to attempt a +landing in Denmark, but to sail straight to Norway, +where he had always been more popular than in any +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>other part of his dominions, and still numbered many +partisans. His expectations were not disappointed. +When he landed, on the 5th of November, the +peasantry and burghers flocked to his standard. +The Archbishop of Drondtheim and the clergy declared +in his favour, and the States-General, which met in +January, 1532, at Oslo, the old capital, renewed their +oaths of allegiance to him as their rightful King. +But the strong forts of Bergen and Aggershus, at the +gates of the town, closed their gates against him, and +his army soon began to dwindle away for want of +supplies. Early in the spring a strong fleet, fitted +out by King Frederic, with the help of the citizens +of Lübeck, appeared before Oslo, and set fire to Christian's +ships in the harbour, while a Danish army, under +Knut Gyldenstern, advanced from the south. Once +more the King's nerve failed him. He met the +Danish captain in a meadow outside Oslo, and, after +prolonged negotiations, agreed to lay down his arms +and go to Copenhagen, to confer with his uncle. +The next day he disbanded his forces and took leave +of his loyal supporters. Thus, without striking a +blow, he delivered Norway into the usurper's hands, +and surrendered his last claim to the three kingdoms.<a name="FNanchor_72" id="FNanchor_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">1523-31] CHRISTIAN II.'S FALL</div> + +<p>In return for his submission, Gyldenstern had +promised the King honourable entertainment and +given him a written safe-conduct. Trusting in these +assurances, Christian went on board a Danish ship, +and on the 24th of July arrived before Copenhagen. +As the ship sailed up the Sound in the early summer +morning, people flocked from all parts to see their +old King, and many of the women and children wept +aloud. His fate, they realized, was already sealed. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>Before the arrival of the fleet, a conference had been +held between Frederic and the Swedish and Hanse +deputies, who agreed that so dangerous a foe must +not be allowed to remain at liberty, and condemned +the unfortunate monarch to perpetual imprisonment +in the island fortress of Sonderburg. In vain Christian +demanded to be set on shore and conducted into +his uncle's presence. He was told that the King +would meet him in the Castle of Flensburg in Schleswig. +But when, instead of sailing in this direction, the ship +which bore him entered the narrow Alsener Sound, +and the walls of Sonderburg came in sight, the unhappy +King saw the trap into which he had fallen, +and broke into transports of rage. But it was too +late, and he was powerless in the hands of his enemies. +No indignity was spared him by his captors. As he +entered the lonely cell in the highest turret of the +castle, Knut Gyldenstern, who is said to have been +one of his mistress Dyveke's lovers, plucked the +fallen monarch by the beard, and tore the jewel of +the Golden Fleece from his neck. None of the old +servants who had clung to their exiled Prince so +faithfully were allowed to share his prison, and +for many years a pet dwarf was his sole companion.<a name="FNanchor_73" id="FNanchor_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p> + +<p>In this foul and treacherous manner King Christian +II. was betrayed into the hands of his foes and +doomed to lifelong captivity. And, by a strange fate, +in these early days of August, at the very moment +when the iron gates of Sonderburg closed behind him, +his only son, the rightful heir to the three kingdoms, +died far away in Southern Germany, within the walls +of the imperial city of Regensburg.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> +<p>Meanwhile the news of Christian's unexpected +success in Norway had reached Brussels and excited +great surprise.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The King of Denmark," wrote Mary of Hungary +to her brother Ferdinand, "has done so well +by his rashness that he has actually recovered possession +of one of his kingdoms, and his friends hope +that he may be able to stay there."<a name="FNanchor_74" id="FNanchor_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">1523-31] COURT FÊTES</div> + +<p>This was towards the end of December, when the +imperial family had assembled in the palace to keep +Christmas. Prince John had won golden opinions +on the progress which he had made with his uncle +and aunt, and was as much beloved by the Emperor, +wrote Mario Savorgnano, as if he were his own son. +Now his little sisters were brought to Brussels by +their uncle's command to share in the festivities. +Early in January, 1532, Charles heard that his sister, +Queen Katherine of Portugal, had given birth to a +son, and the happy event was celebrated by a grand +tournament on the square in front of the Portuguese +Ambassador's house. The Emperor, accompanied by +the Queen of Hungary and the Prince and Princesses +of Denmark, looked on at the jousts and sword and +torch dances from a balcony draped with white and +green velvet, and at nine o'clock sat down to a +sumptuous banquet. The Queen was seated at the +head of the table, opposite the fireplace, with the +Emperor on her right and Princess Dorothea at his +side. Prince John was on his aunt's left, and the +youthful Christina, who made her first appearance in +public on this occasion, sat between her brother and +the Portuguese Ambassador. Henry of Nassau, the +Prince of Bisignano, and Ferrante Gonzaga, were at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>the same board, while Nassau's son, the young Prince +René, who had lately inherited the principality of +Orange from his maternal uncle, sat with the Queen's +ladies at another table. Charles was in high spirits. +He talked and laughed with all the lords and ladies +who were present during the interminable number of +courses of meat, fish, game, wines, cakes, and fruits, +that were served in succession, with brief interludes +of music. When, at eleven, the Emperor rose from +table, an Italian comedy was acted, in which Ferrante +Gonzaga and several Italian and Spanish noblemen +took part. Then King Cupid appeared, riding in a +triumphal car, and a troop of Loves danced hand in +hand, until, at a sign from Charles, the actors removed +their masks. A collation of confetti and Madeira and +Valencia wines was then served at a buffet laden with +costly gold and silver cups and precious bowls of +Oriental porcelain. When all the guests had ate and +drunk their fill, the finest crystal vases and bottles +of perfume were presented to the Queen and Princesses, +and the other ladies received gifts from the +Ambassador. The royal guests joined with great spirit +in the dancing which followed, and did not retire +till two o'clock.<a name="FNanchor_75" id="FNanchor_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> Concerts and suppers, jousts and +dances, succeeded each other throughout the week, +and the Emperor gave splendid presents to the +Ambassador of Portugal, and sent cordial congratulations +to his royal brother-in-law on the birth of his +son and heir.</p> + +<p>A fortnight later Charles left Brussels, taking +Prince John with him, and travelled by slow stages +to Regensburg, where the Imperial Diet was opened +in May. Here the Court remained during the next<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +three months, and the young Prince was sent to +receive the Count Palatine, the Archbishop of Mainz, +and other Princes of the Empire, who arrived in turn +to take part in the assembly. Unluckily the weather +proved very disagreeable. "Never," exclaimed the +Venetian Ambassador, "was there such a detestable +climate!" A long continuance of heavy rains and +unusual heat was followed by some bitterly cold +days, which produced serious illness. Princes and +nobles, Ambassadors and servants, all succumbed in +turn to the same epidemic. The Venetian took to +his bed, and four of his servants became seriously ill. +The Emperor himself was invalided, and left the +town to take waters and change of air in a neighbouring +village. "There is hardly a house in the Court," +wrote the Mantuan Envoy, "where some person is not +ill. Most people recover, but a good many die, +especially those who are young." Among the victims +was Prince John of Denmark. Charles returned to +find his nephew in high fever and delirium. He was +deeply distressed, and when the poor boy became +unconscious, and the doctors gave no hope, he left +the town again, saying that he could not bear to see +the child die. The Prince never recovered consciousness, +and passed away at two o'clock on the morning +of the 12th of August.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The poor little Prince of Denmark died last +night," wrote the Mantuan Ambassador, "to the +infinite distress of the whole Court, and above all of +Cæsar, who bore him singular affection, not only on +account of the close ties of blood between them, but +because of the young Prince's charming nature and +winning manners, which made him beloved by everyone +and gave rise to the highest hopes."<a name="FNanchor_76" id="FNanchor_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">1523-31] THE EMPEROR'S GRIEF</div> + +<p>By the Emperor's orders an imposing funeral +service was held at Regensburg, after which the +Prince's body was taken to Ghent and buried in his +mother's grave. Charles himself wrote to break the +sad news to Mary of Hungary and her poor little nieces:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Madame my good Sister</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"This is only to inform you of the loss we +have suffered in the death of our little nephew of +Denmark, whom it pleased God to take to Himself +on Sunday morning, the day before yesterday, after +he had been ill of internal catarrh for a whole week. +This has caused me the greatest grief that I have +ever known. For he was the dearest little fellow, of +his age, that it was possible to see, and I have felt +this loss more than I did that of my son, for he was +older, and I knew him better and loved him as if he +had been my own child. But we must bow to the +Divine will. Although I know that God might have +allowed this to happen anywhere, I cannot help feeling +that if I had left the boy at home with you he might +not have died. At least his father will be sure to +say so. I expect you know where he is said to be. +Without offence to God, I could wish he were in his +son's place, and his son well received in his own +kingdom. All the same, without pretending to be +the judge, perhaps the King has not deserved to be +there, and the little rogue is better off where he is +than where I should have liked to see him, and smiles +at my wish for him, for he was certainly not guilty of +any great sins. He died in so Christian a manner +that, if he had committed as many as I have, there +would have been good hope of his soul's weal, and +with his last breath he called on Jesus. I am writing +to my little nieces, as you see, to comfort them. I +am sure that you will try and do the same. The +best remedy will be to find them two husbands."<a name="FNanchor_77" id="FNanchor_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a></p></div> + +<p>When Charles wrote these touching words, he had +not yet heard of the disastrous end to King Christian's +campaign, and believed the Prince's father to be in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +possession of the Norwegian capital. But he added +a postscript to his letter, telling the Queen of a report +which had just arrived, that the King had been taken +prisoner by his foes. Four days later this report +was confirmed by letters from Lübeck merchants, +and no further doubt could be entertained of the +doom which had overtaken the unhappy monarch. +His melancholy fate excited little compassion, either +in Germany or in the Netherlands. Luther, to his +credit, addressed an earnest appeal to King Frederic +congratulating him on his victory, and begging him +to take example by Christ, who died for His murderers, +and have pity on the unfortunate captive. But in +reply Frederic issued an apology, in which he brought +the gravest charges against the deposed King, and +accused him of having preferred a low woman of +worthless character to the noblest and most virtuous +of Queens. Before long the old commercial treaties +between Denmark and the Low Countries were +renewed, and the Baltic trade was resumed on the +understanding that no attempt was made to revive +King Christian's claims.</p> + +<p>The prisoner of Sonderburg was forgotten by the +world, and the one being who loved him best on earth, +his sister Elizabeth of Brandenburg, could only commend +his little daughters sadly to the Regent, and +beg her to have compassion on these desolate children. +Mary replied in a letter full of feeling, assuring +Elizabeth that she need have no fear on this score, +and that her little nieces should be treated as if they +were her own daughters. She kept her word nobly.<a name="FNanchor_78" id="FNanchor_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_40" id="Footnote_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, iii. 2, 1270.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_41" id="Footnote_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Altmeyer, "Relations Commerciales," 108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_42" id="Footnote_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, vi. 139, 155-158. Calendar of +State Papers, iii. 2, 1293, 1329.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_43" id="Footnote_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> J. Altmeyer, "Relations," etc., 108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_44" id="Footnote_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> D. Schäfer, "Geschichte von Dänemark," iv. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_45" id="Footnote_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 141, 156.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_46" id="Footnote_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Altmeyer, "Relations," etc., 112; Schäfer, iv. 44, 48.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_47" id="Footnote_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Altmeyer, "Isabelle d'Autriche," 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_48" id="Footnote_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> "Relations," etc., 126; C. Förstemann, "Neues Urkundenbuch +z. Geschichte d. Reformation," i. 269.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_49" id="Footnote_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> J. Köstlin, "Leben Luthers," i. 66; C. Förstemann, i. +169.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_50" id="Footnote_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> K. Lanz, "Correspondenz Karls V.," i. 108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_51" id="Footnote_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Altmeyer, "Isabelle d'Autriche," 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_52" id="Footnote_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> Lanz, i. 145, 150, 195; Archives du Royaume: Revenus et +Dépenses de Charles V., 1520-1530, Rég. 1709; Schäfer, iv. 89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_53" id="Footnote_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> J. H. Schlegel, "Geschichte der Könige v. Dänemark," 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_54" id="Footnote_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> Schlegel, 124-126.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_55" id="Footnote_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> 2 Churchill, "Travels," vi. 348.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_56" id="Footnote_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Altmeyer, "Isabelle," 35; "Relations," 160.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_57" id="Footnote_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Altmeyer, "Relations," etc., 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_58" id="Footnote_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Lanz, i. 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_59" id="Footnote_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles. Régistre des Dépenses, etc., +Nos. 1799, 1800, 1803.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_60" id="Footnote_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> L. de Laborde, "Inventaire"; Henne, iv. 387-390.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_61" id="Footnote_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> Henne, iv. 387-391.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_62" id="Footnote_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> This painting is mentioned in one of Henry VIII.'s catalogues +as "A table with the pictures of the three children of the King of +Denmark, with a curtain of white and yellow sarcenet." In +Charles I.'s inventory it is described as "A Whitehall piece, +curiously painted by Mabusius, wherein two men children and +one woman child are playing with some oranges in their hands +by a green table, little half-figures upon a board in a wooden +frame." At the sale of the King's effects it was called a Mabuse, +and valued at £10. In 1743 the same picture hung in Queen +Caroline's closet at Kensington Palace, and was described by +Vertue as "Prince Arthur and his sisters, children of Henry VII." +Five years later it was removed to Windsor and engraved under +this name. Sir George Scharf was the first to correct this obvious +error and restore the original title (see "Archæologia," xxxix. 245). +Old copies of the picture, mostly dating from the seventeenth +century, are to be seen at Wilton, Longford, Corsham, and other +places.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_63" id="Footnote_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Altmeyer, "Isabelle d'Autriche," 52.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_64" id="Footnote_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Lanz, i. 283; Henne. iv. 337.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_65" id="Footnote_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> Lanz, i. 408; Gachard, "Analecta Belgica," i. 378.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_66" id="Footnote_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Schlegel, 126; Altmeyer, "Relations," etc., 186.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_67" id="Footnote_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Altmeyer, "Relations," 190.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_68" id="Footnote_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> T. Juste, "Les Pays-Bas sous Charles V.," 35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_69" id="Footnote_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> L. Gachard, "Retraite et Mort de Charles V.," i. 348.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_70" id="Footnote_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Lanz, i. 572.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_71" id="Footnote_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> M. Sanuto, "Diarii," lv. 174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_72" id="Footnote_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> Schäfer, iv. 178-194.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_73" id="Footnote_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> Schlegel, 127-219.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_74" id="Footnote_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> T. Juste. "Les Pays-Bas sous Charles V.," 49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_75" id="Footnote_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> M. Sanuto, lv. 417-419.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_76" id="Footnote_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> M. Sanuto, lvi. 813-823.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_77" id="Footnote_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Lanz, ii. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_78" id="Footnote_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Altmeyer, "Relations," etc., 206.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p></div></div> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>BOOK IV<br /> + +CHRISTINA, DUCHESS OF MILAN<br /> + +1533-1535</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>In the letter which the Emperor wrote to Mary of +Hungary on his nephew's death, he remarked that +the best way of consoling his little nieces for their +brother's loss would be to find them husbands. The +marriages of these youthful Princesses had already +engaged his attention for some time past. While +Christina was still a babe in her nurse's arms, the +Regent Margaret had been planning marriages for +her great-nieces. In 1527 Wolsey proposed King +Henry's illegitimate son, the Duke of Richmond, as +an eligible suitor for one of them, but the idea of +such a union was scouted by the imperial family.<a name="FNanchor_79" id="FNanchor_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> +A marriage between Dorothea and her second cousin, +King James V. of Scotland, was discussed during many +years, and only abandoned eventually owing to the +fickle character of the young monarch. After Prince +John's death, this Princess inherited her brother's +claims to the Danish throne, and King Frederic went +so far as to propose that she should wed his younger +son John, offering to recognize him as heir to Denmark, +and leave the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein to his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>elder son Christian. But the Emperor and Mary of +Hungary were both reluctant to treat with the +usurper who had deposed their brother-in-law, and +the death of Frederic in April, 1533, put an end to +the scheme.<a name="FNanchor_80" id="FNanchor_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">1533-35] FRANCESCO SFORZA</div> + +<p>Another suitor now came forward in the person of +Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan. This Prince was +the younger brother of Massimiliano Sforza, who as +a boy had spent several years at the Court of Malines, +and had been deposed by Francis I. after a brief reign +of three years. Born at Milan on the 4th of February, +1495, when his father, Lodovico, was at the height of +his glory, and named after his grandfather, the great +Condottiere, Francesco II. had been the sport of +Fortune from his childhood. Before he was two +years old, his mother, the brilliant Duchess Beatrice, +died, and when he was five his father lost both +throne and freedom. While the unfortunate Moro +ended his days in the dungeons of Loches, his young +children were brought up in Germany by their cousin +Bianca, the second wife of the Emperor Maximilian. +Francesco spent most of his time at Innsbruck, and, +after the brief interlude of his brother's reign at +Milan, retired once more to Trent. His opportunity +came in 1521, when Leo X., in his dread of France, +joined with Charles V. to place the younger Sforza +on his father's throne. A gallant soldier and cultivated +man, Francesco II. won the hearts of all his +subjects, who rejoiced to see a Sforza Duke again +among them. But misfortune dogged his footsteps. +In 1523 Milan was once more taken by the French, +and after their defeat at Pavia the Duke incurred +the Emperor's displeasure, and was deprived of his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>State, chiefly owing to the intrigues of his Chancellor, +Morone, with Pope Clement VII. It was only in +December, 1529, when Charles came to Bologna for +his coronation, that, at the intercession of the Pope +and the Venetians, he consented to pardon Francesco, +and give him the investiture of Milan for the enormous +sum of 900,000 ducats. But it was a barren realm +to which the Duke returned. His subjects were +ruined by years of warfare, his own health had +suffered severely from the hardships which he had +undergone, and he had been dangerously wounded by +the poisoned dagger of an assassin. At thirty-eight +he was a broken man, prematurely old and grey. +The Venetian chronicler Marino Sanuto, who saw the +Duke at Venice in October, 1530, describes him as +looking very melancholy, and being only able to walk +and move his hands with difficulty.<a name="FNanchor_81" id="FNanchor_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> He applied himself, +however, manfully to the almost hopeless task of +relieving the distress of his subjects and restoring +order and prosperity. With great difficulty he +succeeded in raising 400,000 ducats, the first installment +of the payment for the investiture of Milan, +upon which the Castello was restored to him. His +loyalty and modesty had gone far to recover the +Emperor's confidence, and Charles treated him with +marked favour and kindness.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">1533-35] THE DUKE'S COURTSHIP</div> + +<p>This encouraged Francesco to aspire to the hand +of a Princess of the imperial house. His subjects +were exceedingly anxious to see their Duke married, +and already more than one suitable bride had been +proposed. But Margherita Paleologa, the heiress of +Montferrat, whom her mother would gladly have +given Francesco in marriage, was wedded to his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>cousin Federico, Duke of Mantua, in October, 1531, +and the Pope's niece, the Duchessina Caterina de' +Medici, another prize who had been dangled before +the Duke of Milan's eyes, was betrothed to the Duke +of Orleans in the following year. Before this event +was announced, in January, 1532, the Milanese +Ambassador, Camillo Ghilino, who had accompanied +Charles to Brussels, ventured to ask the Emperor, +on his master's behalf, for the hand of one of his +nieces. Charles was evidently not averse to the +proposal. It was part of his policy to consolidate +the different Italian dynasties, and he was alive to +the advantage of drawing the Duke of Milan into +his family circle. But he returned an evasive answer, +saying that Princess Dorothea was already destined +for the King of Scotland, while her sister Christina +was too young, and that he could arrange nothing +without the consent of her father, the King of Denmark, +who had gone to Norway to try and recover +his kingdom.<a name="FNanchor_82" id="FNanchor_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> When Francesco met Charles at +Bologna in the following December, and was admitted +to the newly-formed League of Italian States, he renewed +his suit, and once more asked for Christina's +hand. On the 10th of March Charles came to Milan, +and spent four days in the Castello, after which he +accompanied the Duke on a hunting-party at Vigevano, +and enjoyed excellent sport, killing two wild-boars +and three stags with his own hand.<a name="FNanchor_83" id="FNanchor_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> During this +visit the marriage was arranged, and on the 10th of +June, 1533, the contract was signed at Barcelona +by the Emperor on the one hand, and the Chancellor +of Milan, Count Taverna, and the ducal Chamberlain, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>Count Tommaso Gallerati, on the other. Christina +was to receive 100,000 ducats out of the sum due to +the Emperor, as her dowry, and in the event of +Dorothea succeeding to the throne of Denmark +another 100,000 was to be settled on her. Hawkins, +the English Ambassador, who wrote home from +Barcelona to announce the conclusion of the marriage, +remarked that the Milanese had left well pleased, +but that the Duke was somewhat to be pitied, since +he was only to have the younger sister, and no fortune +with her. "Dower getteth he none."<a name="FNanchor_84" id="FNanchor_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p> + +<p>In spite of this drawback, the Milanese received +the news with great rejoicing, and any regret which +they might have felt at the substitution of the younger +for the elder sister was dispelled by the Spaniards +in the Emperor's suite, who informed the Duke's +Ambassadors that Christina was taller and far more +beautiful than Dorothea. Francesco himself wrote +to an old friend in Cremona, Giorgio Guazzo, saying +that he would lose no time in telling him of his great +good fortune in winning so high-born and attractive +a young lady for his bride.<a name="FNanchor_85" id="FNanchor_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> At the same time he +agreed with the Emperor to send Count Massimiliano +Stampa, his intimate friend, to the Netherlands, to +wed the Princess in his name, and bring her to Milan +that autumn. Meanwhile the news of the marriage +was received with much less satisfaction in the Low +Countries. Mary had taken the motherless children +to her heart, and was especially attached to Christina, +who resembled her in character and tastes. She inherited +the family passion for riding and hunting, and +combined her aunt's intelligence and ability with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>her mother's sweetness of disposition. The idea of +marrying this charming child of eleven to a half-paralyzed +invalid old enough to be her father was +repulsive, and Mary did not hesitate to protest against +the Emperor's decision with characteristic frankness.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">1533-35] MARY'S PROTEST</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Monseigneur</span>," she wrote to Charles on the 25th of +August, "I have received Your Majesty's letters with +the copy of the treaty which you have been pleased +to make between our niece, Madame Chrétienne, and +the Duke of Milan, on which point I must once for all +relieve my conscience. I will at least show you the +difficulties which to my mind lie in the way, so that +Your Majesty may consider if any remedy can be +devised before the matter is finally arranged. As for +our said niece, I have no doubt that she will agree +to whatever you please to wish, since she regards you +as her lord and father, in whom she places absolute +trust, and is ready to obey you as your very humble +daughter and slave. The child is so good and willing +there will be no need for any persuasion on my part, +either as regards the Count's coming or anything else +that you may please to command; but on the other +hand, Monseigneur, since the words of the treaty +clearly show that the marriage is to be consummated +immediately, and she will have to take her departure +without delay, I must point out that she is not yet +old enough for this, being only eleven years and a +half, and I hold that it would be contrary to the +laws of God and reason to marry her at so tender an +age. She is still quite a child, and, whatever may +be the custom in yonder country, you are exposing +her to the risk of bearing a child at this tender age, +and of losing both her own life and that of her issue. +Monseigneur, I am saying more than I ought to say, +and speaking with a freedom which I can only beg +you to forgive, because both my conscience and the +love which I bear the child constrain me to write +thus. On the other hand, seeing that this treaty +requires the two sisters to make certain promises, +I do not think that she is old enough to enter into +these engagements, while her sister, although turned +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>twelve, is very young of her age, and should hardly +make these promises without the consent of her +father, who is still living. I know that I am meddling +with other people's business by writing to you of +those matters which are not, strictly speaking, my +affair. But I feel that I must send you these warnings, +not from any wish to prevent the marriage, if Your +Majesty thinks it well, but in order to give you a +reason for breaking it off, if any difficulties should +arise. For it seems to me, that as people often try +to discover the fifth wheel in the coach, where there +is no reason to make any difficulty, it would be easy +to find some excuse for embroiling matters, when so +good a cause exists. I quite understand that it may +not be easy to alter the treaty at this hour, but, since +I had not the opportunity of speaking to you on +the subject before, I feel it to be my duty to warn +you of these things, and to remind you of the child's +tender age, of which Your Majesty may not have +been aware. However this may be, Monseigneur, I +have written this to fulfil my duty to God, as well as +to Your Majesty, my niece, and the whole world, +and can only beg you not to take what I have said +in bad part, or to believe that any other cause could +have led me to speak so plainly; and I take my Creator +to witness that this is true, begging Him to give you +health and long life, and grant your good and virtuous +desires:</p> + +<p class="right"> +"Your very humble and obedient sister,<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Marie</span>.</p> +<p> +"From Ghent, August 25, 1533."<a name="FNanchor_86" id="FNanchor_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>Charles answered the Queen's protest in the following +brief letter, which showed that his mind was +made up, and that he would allow no change in his +plans:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Madame my good Sister</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"I have received your letter, and will only +reply briefly, as I am writing to you at length on other +matters by my secretary, and also because my niece's +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>affair is rather a matter for priests and lawyers +than for me, and I have desired Granvelle to satisfy +your objections. So I will only tell you that, as +the children's father is more dead to them than if +he had ceased to live, I signed the marriage treaty +before I left Barcelona. As for the question of issue, +I fear that the Duke's advanced years will prove a +greater barrier than my niece's tender youth. I +am sure that you will act in accordance with my +wishes, and I beg you to do this once more.</p> + +<p>"From Monzone, September 11, 1533."<a name="FNanchor_87" id="FNanchor_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a></p></div> + +<p>There was clearly nothing more to be said; but +Mary had secretly determined, whatever happened, +not to allow the actual marriage to take place until +the following year, and in the end she had her way.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote">1533-35] STAMPA'S MISSION</div> + +<p>When the Emperor wrote this letter to his sister, +Count Massimiliano had already started on his journey. +He left Milan on the eve of St. Bartholomew, +taking Count Francesco Sfondrati of Cremona and +Pier Francesco Bottigella of Pavia with him, and +travelled by Trent and Spires to Louvain, where he +arrived on the 12th of September. The next day +he was conducted to Ghent by Monsieur de Courrières, +the Captain of the Archers' Guard, and met at the +palace gates by Monsieur de Molembais, the Queen's +Grand Falconer, who informed him that Her Majesty +was laid up, owing to a slight accident out hunting, +and could not receive him at present. After many +delays, Stampa at length succeeded in obtaining an +audience, and begged the Queen earnestly to satisfy +his master's impatience, and allow the marriage to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>be concluded without delay. Mary replied very civilly +that, since this was Cæsar's will, she would certainly +put no obstacle in the way, but explained that affairs +of State compelled her to visit certain frontier towns, +and begged the Count to await her return to Brussels. +She then sent for the Princesses, and Stampa was +presented and allowed to kiss their hands. But, as he +only saw them for five minutes, all he could tell his +master was that Christina seemed very bright and +lively, and was much better-looking than her sister.<a name="FNanchor_88" id="FNanchor_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a></p> + +<p>In spite of the courtesy with which he was entertained +by De Courrières and the Duke of Aerschot, +Stampa clearly saw that it was Mary's intention to +delay the marriage as long as possible, and began to +despair of ever attaining his object. Fortunately, +by the end of the week the Emperor's confidential +Chamberlain, Louis de Praet, arrived at Ghent. +De Praet had been Ambassador in England and +France, and was now sent from Spain to represent +His Majesty at the wedding and escort the bride to +Milan. When he had seen Stampa's copy of the +Treaty of Barcelona, he advised him to join the Queen +at Lille and deliver his credentials. Here the Count +accordingly presented himself on the 18th of September, +and was graciously received by Mary, who +assured him that the affair which lay so near his +heart would shortly be arranged. He was conducted +into a room where he found the Princesses +and their governess, Madame de Fiennes, and conversed +with them for half an hour. When the Queen +rose to attend vespers, she touched the Count's sleeve +and made him walk at her side as far as the chapel, +and thanked him for the fine horse which the Duke<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +had sent her, telling him how fond she was of hunting. +The next day Stampa was invited to supper, and +afterwards ventured to ask if he might see the +Princesses dance. To this request the Queen gave +her consent. The flutes and tambourines struck up +a merry tune, and the Princesses danced first a <i>ballo +al francese</i>, then a <i>branle</i>, and a variety of French +and German dances, in which the gentlemen and +ladies-in-waiting took part. The Count was about +to take his leave, since the hour was already late, +when De Praet told him he must first see the Princesses +dance a <i>ballo all'italiano</i>, upon which the two sisters +rose and, joining hands, danced an Italian ballet +with charming grace. The Ambassador was delighted, +and wrote to tell his master what a favourable impression +Christina had made upon him and his +companions:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"She is hardly shorter than her sister, and much +handsomer and more graceful, and is indeed as well +built and attractive a maiden as you could wish to +see. God grant this may lead to a happy marriage!"<a name="FNanchor_89" id="FNanchor_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p></div> + +<p>The next morning business began in good earnest. +Prolonged negotiations were held between Stampa +and the Queen's Councillors—Aerschot, De Praet, +and other nobles—and the rights of the Princess +Dorothea and the condition of Denmark were fully +discussed. While the Count was at dinner, De Praet +came in, and, to his surprise, informed him that Her +Majesty wished the wedding to be celebrated on the +following Sunday, the 28th of September. The Count +asked nothing better, and hastened to send the good +news to Milan.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">1533-35] CHRISTINA'S WEDDING</div> + +<p>On Saturday evening Christina signed the marriage +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>contract before an illustrious assembly in a hall of +the palace at Lille, which was hung with black and +gold damask for the occasion, and between four and +five on Sunday afternoon the wedding was solemnized +by the Bishop of Tournay in the chapel. Count +Massimiliano, gallantly arrayed in cloth of gold, was +conducted to the altar by De Praet and the great +officers of State; the violins and drums sounded, and +the bridal procession entered, the Queen leading her +niece by the hand. "As the Bishop placed the +nuptial ring on the bride's finger," wrote Stampa to +his lord, "she received it with evident pleasure, and +all the Court displayed great satisfaction."</p> + +<p>When the ceremony was over, the bride retired, and +Stampa spent some time in conversation with the +Queen, vainly endeavouring to persuade her to fix +a date for the Duchess's journey. But on this point +Mary was inflexible. De Praet, who visited him the +next day, explained that the Queen could not allow +this youthful lady to be exposed to the perils and +fatigue of so long a journey in winter, and that her +departure must therefore be put off till the following +spring. This was a grievous disappointment to the +Count, who knew how anxious the Duke was to see +his wife. But he had to accept the situation, and +could only try and console his master by repeating +the Queen's assurances of good-will and affection.</p> + +<p>She even begged the Count to join her in a hunting +expedition at Brussels in the following week. But +this Stampa firmly declined, saying that he must +return to Milan without delay. On the same evening +he had the honour of a parting interview with the +Duchess, and presented her with a fine diamond +and ruby ring and a length of costly brocade in her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +lord's name. Christina's eyes sparkled with delight +at the sight of these gifts, and she thanked Count +Massimiliano with a warmth which captivated him. +Then he took leave of the Queen, who started at +break of day in torrents of rain, to hunt on her way +to Brussels, leaving the Princesses to return by +Tournay. The Count himself went to Antwerp to +raise money for his journey, and despatched a +messenger to Milan with full accounts of the wedding.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"All this Court and the Queen herself," he wrote, +"are delighted with this happy event. And Your +Excellency may rejoice with good reason, and may +rest assured that you have the fairest, most charming +and gallant bride that any man could desire."<a name="FNanchor_90" id="FNanchor_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a></p></div> + +<p>These despatches reached Milan on the 13th of +October, and were received with acclamation. Guns +were fired from the Castello, the bells of all the churches +were rung, and the Senate went in solemn procession +to give thanks to God in the Duomo. "It was +indeed good tidings of great joy," wrote the chronicler +Burigozzo, "and such rejoicing had not been known +in Milan for many years."<a name="FNanchor_91" id="FNanchor_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> Francesco's own satisfaction +was considerably diminished by hearing that +his bride was not to set out on her journey until the +following February. But he took the Queen's decision +in good part, and wrote to express his eternal gratitude +to her and Cæsar for giving him their niece.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"However anxious I naturally am to have my +wife with me," he added, "I recognize the gravity +of the reasons which have made you put off her +journey to a more convenient season, and think, as +you say, this should take place next February."<a name="FNanchor_92" id="FNanchor_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">1533-35] THE DUKE'S APPEAL</div> + +<p>The Duke sent this letter by a special messenger, +and received in reply the following brief note in +Italian from Christina:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Most illustrious Consort</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"It gave me great pleasure to hear of Your +Excellency's good health from Messer Sasso, and I +can assure you that my wish to join you is no less +ardent than your own. But it is only reasonable that +we should bow to the decision of the Most Serene +Queen, who orders everything wisely and well. I +will only add how sincerely I hope that you will keep +well, and love me as much as I love you.</p> + +<p class="right"> +"Your Excellency's most loving consort,<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Christierna, Duchess of Milan</span>.<br /> +</p> + +<p>"From Brussels, November 4, 1533."<a name="FNanchor_93" id="FNanchor_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a></p></div> + +<p>On the last day of January, 1534, the Duke held +a Council of State to consider the best means of +raising the £100,000 due to Cæsar, which was +assigned to his niece for dower, and the citizens +agreed cheerfully to new taxes on grain and wine +in order to provide the necessary amount. But it +was not until the 31st of March that Francesco was +able to issue a proclamation informing the Milanese +that his wife had started on her journey. The +Duchess, he told them, would be among them by the +end of April, and he could count on his loyal subjects +to receive her with due honour; but, knowing as he +did their poverty, he begged that the customary +wedding gift should be omitted. The Milanese responded +with enthusiasm to their Duke's appeal, and +prepared to give his bride a worthy reception. Their +example was followed by the citizens of Novara, +Vigevano, and the other towns along the route between +Savoy and Milan. The roads, which were said to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +the worst in the duchy, were mended, triumphal +arches were erected, and lodgings were prepared for +her reception. The following quaintly-worded memorandum +was drawn up by Councillor Pier Francesco +Bottigella, to whom these arrangements were entrusted:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"(1) Mend the roads and clean the streets through +which the Lady Duchess will pass, and hang the +walls with tapestries and carpets, the largest and +widest that you can find. (2) Paint her arms on all +the gates through which she passes. (3) Provide a +baldacchino to be carried over her head. (4) See +that lodgings are prepared for her at Novara, either +in the Bishop's palace or in the ducal hunting-lodge, +and let these be cleansed and decorated. (5) Prepare +rooms in the town for the Duchess's household. +(6) Let this also be done in the Castello Vecchio at +Vigevano. (7) Desire that no gifts of any kind +should be made to the Duchess at Novara, Vigevano, +or any other place."<a name="FNanchor_94" id="FNanchor_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a></p></div> + +<p>When these instructions had been duly carried out, +Bottigella, who had accompanied Stampa on his +mission to the Low Countries, and was already +acquainted with the chief members of the Duchess's +suite, set out for Chambéry by the Duke's orders, to +meet the bride on the frontiers of Savoy and escort +her across the Alps.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1534</span>] A WEDDING JOURNEY</div> + +<p>Christina had now completed her twelfth year, +and Mary of Hungary could no longer invent any +excuse to delay her journey to Milan. The bridal +party finally set out on the 11th of March, conducted +by Monseigneur de Praet, the Emperor's representative, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>and Camillo Ghilino, the Duke's Ambassador, +with an escort of 130 horse. Madame de Souvastre, +one of Maximilian's illegitimate daughters, whose +husband had been one of the late Regent's confidential +servants, was appointed mistress of the +Duchess's household, which consisted of six maids +of honour, six waiting-women, four pages, and ten +gentlemen. Christina herself rode in a black velvet +litter, drawn by four horses and attended by six +footmen, and her ladies travelled in similar fashion, +followed by twenty mules and three waggons with +the baggage. Mary had taken care that the bride's +trousseau was worthy of a daughter of the imperial +house, and the chests were filled with sumptuous +robes of cloth of gold and silver, of silk, satin, and +velvet, costly furs, jewels and pearls, together with +furniture and plate for her table and chapel, and +liveries and trappings for her servants and horses. +The Duchess's own lackeys and all the gentlemen in +attendance wore coats and doublets of black velvet, +and the other servants, we learn from John Hackett, +the English Ambassador at Brussels, were clad in +suits of "medley grey," trimmed with velvet, all +"very well accounted."<a name="FNanchor_95" id="FNanchor_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> The imposing cortège +travelled by slow stages through the friendly duchy +of Lorraine and across the plains of the imperial +county of Burgundy, taking journeys of twelve or +fifteen miles a day, until, on the 12th of April, it +halted at Chambéry, the frontier town of Savoy. +The reigning Duke, Charles III., was the Emperor's +brother-in-law and stanch ally, and the travellers +were hospitably entertained in his ancestral castle on +the heights. Here Bottigella was introduced into +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>Christina's presence by his old friend Camillo Ghilino, +and found her on the way to attend Mass in the +castle chapel.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Duchess," wrote the Councillor to his lord, +"received me in the most friendly manner, and asked +eagerly after you, and was especially anxious to +know where you were now. I told her that you were +at Vigevano, but would shortly return to Milan, to +prepare for her arrival. Mass was just beginning, so +I had to take my leave, but hope for another opportunity +of conversing with her before long, and can +see how eager she is to ask a hundred questions. She +is very well and lively, and does not seem any the +worse for the long journey. She has grown a great +deal since I saw her last September, and is as beautiful +as the sun. M. de Praet hopes to reach Turin in +seven days, and will start again to-morrow."<a name="FNanchor_96" id="FNanchor_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1534</span>] BEATRIX OF SAVOY</div> + +<p>The most arduous part of the journey now lay +before the travellers. Leaving Chambéry, they penetrated +into the heart of the Alps, through the narrow +gorge of the Isère, between precipitous ravines with +castles crowning the rocks on either side, until they +reached the impregnable fortress of Montmélian, the +ancient bulwark of Savoy, which had resisted all the +assaults of the French. After spending the night +here, they rode up the green pastures and pine-clad +slopes of S. Jean de Maurienne, and began the ascent +of the Mont Cenis, over "those troublesome and +horrid ways" of which English travellers complained +so bitterly, where loose stones and tumbled rocks +made riding almost impossible. "These ways, indeed," +wrote Coryat, "are the worst I ever travelled +in my life, so much so that the roads of Savoy may +be proverbially spoken of as the owls of Athens, the +pears of Calabria, or the quails of Delos."<a name="FNanchor_97" id="FNanchor_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> On the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>summit of the pass De Praet and his companions +saw with interest the Chapel of Our Lady of the +Snows, where a few years before the famous Constable +of Bourbon had offered up his sword on the altar of +the Virgin, as he led the imperial armies across the +Alps. Then they came down into a smiling green +valley, with walnut woods and rushing streams, and +saw the medieval towers of Susa at their feet. Here +they were met by the Emperor's Ambassador at the +Court of Savoy, who came to pay his respects to the +Duchess, bringing with him two elegant litters of +crimson brocade, sent by Charles's sister-in-law, +Beatrix of Portugal, Duchess of Savoy, for Christina's +use. At Rivoli, two stages farther on, fifty Councillors +from Turin, with the Bishop of Vercelli at their +head, appeared on horseback to escort the Duchess +to the city gates. Here Christina mounted her horse +and rode up the steep ascent to the citadel, with +De Praet walking at her side. The beautiful Duchess +Beatrix herself awaited her guest at the castle gates, +and, embracing Christina affectionately, led her by +the hand up the grand staircase into the best suite +of rooms in the palace. The travellers spent two +days in these comfortable quarters, and enjoyed the +brief interval of rest, although the Duchess, as Bottigella +was careful to tell the Duke, seemed the least +tired of the whole party, and was in blooming health +and high spirits.</p> + +<p>On the following Sunday Christina rode into +Novara, on a brilliant spring morning, and was +lodged in the Bishop's palace, and received with the +greatest enthusiasm by her lord's subjects. At +Vigevano, the birthplace and favourite home of +Lodovico Sforza, the nobles, with Massimiliano Stampa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +at their head, rode out to welcome the Duke's bride, +and carried a rich baldacchino over her head. Nevertheless, +halfway between Novara and Vigevano, De +Praet complained to the Count that neither the reception +of the Duchess nor the rooms prepared for +her were sufficiently honourable—"in fact, he found +fault with everything." The Count expressed some +surprise, since both the Emperor Maximilian and +Charles V. himself had stayed at Vigevano, and the +latter had greatly admired the buildings and gardens +laid out by Bramante and Leonardo. But, to pacify +the exacting priest, Stampa proposed that the Duchess +should only take her <i>déjeuner</i> in the castle, and push +on to his own villa of Cussago, where she was to +spend some days before entering Milan. But De +Praet replied that the Duchess, not being yet accustomed +to this climate, felt the heat of the sun, and +must on no account ride any farther till evening. +So all the Count could do was to send Bottigella on +to see that the Castello was adorned with wreaths +of flowers and verdure, and that a good bed was +prepared for the Duchess.<a name="FNanchor_98" id="FNanchor_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1534</span>] CHRISTINA'S HUSBAND</div> + +<p>At least, De Praet could find nothing to grumble +at in Stampa's country-house at Cussago, the ducal +palace and hunting-grounds which had been given +him by Francesco II. in reward for his unwavering +loyalty. The beauty of the spot, the delicious +gardens with their sunny lawns and sparkling fountains, +their rose and myrtle bowers, their bosquets +and running streams, enchanted the travellers from +the north. The villa had been adorned with frescoes +and marble doorways by the best Lombard masters +of the Moro's Court, and was once the favourite +country-house of Beatrice d'Este, the present Duke's +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>mother, who often rode out from Milan to hunt in +the forests of the Brianza or play at ball on the +terraces. Now her son's child-bride saw these green +lawns in all the loveliness of early summer, and the +frescoed halls rang once more to the sound of mirth +and laughter. Music and dancing enlivened the days, +and a drama—<i>La Sposa Sagace</i>—was acted one evening +to amuse Christina. At nightfall the guns of the +Castello, firing salutes in her honour, were heard in the +distance, and the bonfires on the towers of Milan lit up +the evening sky with crimson glow. Count Massimiliano +took care that nothing should be lacking to +the enjoyment of the Duchess, and begged De Praet +to attend to her comfort in every particular, but, as +he told the Duke, it was not always easy to satisfy +these gentlemen.</p> + +<p>One day Christina and her ladies received a visit +from the great Captain Antonio de Leyva, the Duke's +old enemy, who now came, cap in hand, to pay +homage to the Emperor's niece. Another day there +was a still greater stir at the villa, for the Duke +himself appeared unexpectedly, having ridden out +almost alone, to pay a surprise visit to his bride. +The first sight of her future lord must have given +Christina a shock, and her ladies whispered to each +other that this wan, grey-haired man, who could not +walk without the help of a stick, was hardly a fit +match for their fair young Princess. But Francesco's +chivalrous courtesy and gentleness went far to atone +for his physical defects, and nothing could exceed the +kindness which he showed his youthful bride. After +all, she was but a child, and the sight of this new +world that was laid at her feet with all its beauties +and treasures was enough to dazzle her eyes and +please her innocent fancy.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>On Sunday, the 3rd of May, the Duchess made her +state entry into Milan. Early in the afternoon she +rode in her litter to S. Eustorgio, the Dominican +convent outside the Ticino gate, where she was +received by the Duke's half-brother, Giovanni Paolo +Sforza, mounted on a superb charger, and attended +by all his kinsmen, clad in white and gold. After +paying her devotions at the marble shrine of S. Pietro +Martive, the Prior and friars conducted her to partake +of refreshments in the guests' hall, and receive the +homage of the Bishop and clergy, of the magistrates +and senators. At six o'clock, after vespers, the +procession started from the Porta Ticinese. First +came the armourers and their apprentices, in companies +of 200, with coloured flags in their hands +and plumes to match in their caps. One troop +was in blue, the other in green. At the head of the +first rode Alessandro Missaglia, a splendid figure, +wearing a silver helmet and shining armour over his +turquoise velvet vest, and mounted on a horse with +richly damascened harness. The green troop was +led by Girolamo Negriolo, the other famous Milanese +armourer. Then came 300 archers in pale blue silk, +and six bands of trumpeters and drummers, followed by +a great company of the noblest gentlemen of Milan, all +clad in white, with flowing plumes in their hats and +lances in their hands, riding horses draped with silver +brocade. Visconti, Trivulzio, Borromeo, Somaglia—all +the proudest names of Milan were there, and in the +rear rode the veteran Antonio de Leyva, with the +Emperor's representative, De Praet, at his side.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1534</span>] THE BRIDE'S ENTRY</div> + +<p>Immediately behind them, under a white and gold +velvet baldacchino, borne by the doctors of the +University, rode the bride, mounted on a white horse<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +with glittering trappings, and wearing a rich white +brocade robe and a long veil over her flowing hair—"a +vision more divine than human," exclaims the +chronicler who witnessed the sight; "only," he adds +in an undertone, "she is still very young." At +the sight of the lovely child the multitude broke into +shouts of joy, and the clashing of bells, the blare of +trumpets, and sound of guns, welcomed the coming +of the Duchess. Close behind her rode Cardinal +Ercole Gonzaga, the Duke's cousin, and on either +side a guard of twelve noble youths, with white +ostrich feathers in their caps, so that Her Excellency +"appeared to be surrounded with a forest of waving +plumes." In the rear came Madame de Souvastre +and her ladies in litters, followed by a crowd of +senators, bishops, and magistrates.</p> + +<p>Six triumphal arches, adorned with statues and +paintings, lined the route. Peace with her olive-branch, +Plenty with the cornucopia, Prosperity +bearing a caduceus, Joy crowned with flowers, welcomed +the bride in turn. Everywhere the imperial +eagles were seen together with the Sforza arms, +and countless mottoes with courtly allusions to the +golden age that had at length dawned for distracted +Milan. "Thy coming, O Christina, confirms the +peace of Italy!" On the piazza of the Duomo, a +pageant of the Seasons greeted her—Spring with +arms full of roses, Summer laden with ripe ears of +corn, Autumn bearing purple grapes, and Winter +wrapt in snowy fur; while Minerva was seen closing +the doors of the Temple of Janus, and Juno and +Hymen, with outstretched arms, hailed Francesco, +the son of the great Lodovico, and Christina, the +daughter of Dacia and Austria. At the steps of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +the Duomo the long procession halted. Cardinal +Gonzaga helped the Duchess to alight, and led her to +the altar, where she knelt in silent prayer, kissed the +<i>pax</i> held up to her by the Archbishop, and received +his benediction. The walls of the long nave were +hung with tapestries, and the choir draped with cloth +of gold and adorned with statues of the patron saints +of Milan. "When you entered the doors," wrote +the chronicler, "you seemed to be in Paradise."</p> + +<p>Then the Duchess mounted her horse again, and +the procession passed up the Goldsmiths' Street to +the Castello. Here the decorations were still more +sumptuous. One imposing arch was adorned with +a painting of St. John leaning on the bosom of Christ, +copied from Leonardo's "Cenacolo" in the refectory of +S. Maria delle Grazie. Another bore a figure of Christ +with the orb and sceptre, and the words "Mercy and +Truth have kissed each other." On the piazza in +front of the Castello, a colossal fountain was +erected, and winged children spouted wine and +perfumed water. The Castello itself had been elaborately +adorned. The arms of Denmark and Milan were +carved in fine marble over the portals, the walls were +hung with blue draperies studded with golden stars +and wreathed with garlands of myrtle and ivy, and on +either side of the central doorway two giant warriors +leaning on clubs supported a tablet crowned with the +imperial eagles, and inscribed with the words: "The +wisest of Princes to-day weds the fairest of Virgins, +and brings us the promise of perpetual peace."<a name="FNanchor_99" id="FNanchor_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 233px;"> +<img src="images/facing092a.jpg" width="233" height="233" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>CHRISTINA, DUCHESS OF MILAN (1534)</p> + +<p>(Oppenheimer Collection)</p></div> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 230px;"> +<img src="images/facing092b.jpg" width="230" height="230" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>FRANCESCO SFORZA, DUKE OF MILAN (1534)</p> + +<p>(British Museum)</p> + +<p><i>To face p. <a href="#Page_92">92</a></i></p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1534</span>] IN THE CASTELLO</div> + +<p>As the procession reached the gates of the Castello, +a triumphant burst of martial music was sounded +by the trumpeters on the topmost tower, and Count +Massimiliano, the Castellan, presented the golden +keys of the gates to the Duchess, on bended knee. +Christina received them with a gracious smile, and, +accepting his hand, alighted from her horse, amid +the cheers of the populace, who, rushing in on all +sides, seized the baldacchino, tore the costly brocade +into ribbons, and divided the spoil. Meanwhile the +Duke, leaning on a stick, received his wife with a +deep reverence, and led her by the hand into the +beautiful suite of rooms, hung with mulberry-coloured +velvet and cloth of gold, which had been prepared for +her use.<a name="FNanchor_100" id="FNanchor_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> Cardinal Gonzaga and De Praet supped +with the bride and bridegroom that evening, to the +sweet melodies of the Duke's flutes and viols. The +gates of the Castello were closed, enormous bonfires +blazed on the walls, and rockets went up to heaven +from the top of the great tower. Thousands of +torches illumined the darkness, and the streets were +thronged with gay crowds, who gladly took advantage +of the Duke's permission and gave themselves up to +mirth and revelry all night long. Long was that +day remembered in Milan. Old men who could +recall the reign of Lodovico, and had witnessed +the coming of Beatrice and the marriage of Bianca, +wept, and thanked God that they had lived to see this +day. But their joy was destined to be of short +duration.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>At six o'clock on the evening of the 4th of May +the marriage of the Duke was finally celebrated in +the hall of the Rocchetta, which was hung with cloth +of gold beautifully decorated with garlands of +flowers. Among the illustrious guests present were +the Cardinal of Mantua, the Legate Caracciolo, Antonio +de Leyva, and the chief nobles and senators. The +Bishops of Modena and Vigevano chanted the nuptial +Mass, and Monseigneur de Praet delivered a lengthy +oration, which sorely tried the patience of his hearers. +No sooner had he uttered the last words than the Duke +took the bride's hand, and brought the ceremony to +an abrupt conclusion by leading her into the banquet-hall. +There a supper of delicate viands, fruit, and +wines, was prepared, and the guests were entertained +with music and songs during the evening.<a name="FNanchor_101" id="FNanchor_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1534</span>] ALFONSO D'ESTE</div> + +<p>Letters of congratulation now poured in from all +the Courts of Europe. Christina's own relatives—Ferdinand +and Anna, the King and Queen of Hungary +and Bohemia, the King and Queen of Portugal, the +Elector of Saxony and the Marquis of Brandenburg—all +congratulated the Duchess on her safe arrival and +happy marriage; while the Pope, the Doge of Venice, +and other Italian Princes, sent the Duke cordial +messages. One of the most interesting letters which +the bridegroom received was an autograph epistle +from his cousin, Bona Sforza, Queen of Poland, who +would probably herself have been Duchess of Milan +if Massimiliano Sforza had reigned longer. It had +been the earnest wish of her widowed mother, +Isabella of Aragon, to effect this union, and it was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>only after the French conquest of Milan in 1515 that +her daughter became the wife of King Sigismund. +From her distant home Bona kept up an active +correspondence with her Italian relatives, and now +sent Francesco the following friendly letter:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Dearest and most illustrious Cousin</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"I rejoice sincerely to hear that your most +illustrious wife has reached Milan safely. I feel +the greatest joy at your happy marriage, and trust +that Heaven will send you a fine son. My husband +and children join with me in wishing you every possible +happiness.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">"Bona, Queen.</span><br /> +"From Cracow, July 15, 1534."<a name="FNanchor_102" id="FNanchor_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>Another of Francesco's illustrious kinsfolk, Alfonso +d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, came to Milan in person to +offer his congratulations to his nephew, although +he preferred to remain incognito, and his name does +not figure among the guests who were present at +the wedding festivities. But Ferrarese chroniclers +record that the Duke went to Milan on the 30th of +April, to attend the wedding of Duke Francesco +Sforza, who took for wife Madame Christierna, +daughter of the King of Dacia, and returned home on +the 6th of May.<a name="FNanchor_103" id="FNanchor_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> Forty-four years before, Alfonso, then +a boy of fourteen, had accompanied his sister Beatrice +to Milan for her marriage, and escorted his own bride, +Anna Sforza, back to Ferrara. Now his long and +troubled life was drawing to a close, and he died a few +months after this last journey to Milan, on the 31st +of October, 1534. By his last will he left two of his +best horses and a pair of falcons to his beloved +nephew, the Duke of Milan.<a name="FNanchor_104" id="FNanchor_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> Some writers have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>conjectured that Alfonso brought his favourite +painter, Titian, to Milan, and that the Venetian +master painted portraits of the Duke and Duchess +on this occasion.<a name="FNanchor_105" id="FNanchor_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> No record of Titian's visit, however, +has been discovered, and he probably painted +the portraits of Francesco and Christina from drawings +sent to him at Venice.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1534</span>] TITIAN'S PORTRAIT</div> + +<p>Titian's friend, Pietro Aretino, was in constant +correspondence with Count Massimiliano Stampa, +who rewarded his literary efforts with gifts of gold +chains, velvet caps, and embroidered doublets. "I +shall be clad in your presents all through the summer +months," he wrote in a letter, signing himself, "Your +younger brother and devoted servant." Aretino +was not only profuse in thanks to this noble patron, +but sent him choice works of art, mirrors of Oriental +crystal, medals engraved by Anichino, and, best of +all, a little painting of the youthful Baptist clasping +a lamb, "so life-like that a sheep would bleat at the +sight of it."<a name="FNanchor_106" id="FNanchor_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> The wily Venetian was exceedingly +anxious to ingratiate himself with the Duke of Milan, +and not only dedicated a "Paraphase" to him on +his marriage, but, according to Vasari, painted +portraits of both the Duke and Duchess. These +pictures were reproduced by Campo in the "History +of Cremona," which he published in 1585, while +Christina was still living. The portrait of Francesco +was at that time the property of the Milanese noble +Mario Amigone, while that of Christina hung in the +house of Don Antonio Lomboni, President of the +Magistrates.<a name="FNanchor_107" id="FNanchor_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> This last portrait was afterwards sent +to Florence by order of the Grand-Duke Ferdinand, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>who married the Duchess's granddaughter, Christine +of Lorraine.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I send Your Highness," wrote Guido Mazzenta in +January, 1604, "the portrait of the Most Serene +Lady, Christina, Queen of Denmark, and grandmother +of the Most Serene Grand-Duchess, painted +by Titian, by order of Duke Francesco Sforza, when +he brought her to Milan as his bride."<a name="FNanchor_108" id="FNanchor_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a></p></div> + +<p>Unfortunately, this precious portrait was afterwards +sent to Madrid, where it is said to have perished in +a fire. In Campo's engraving the youthful Duchess +wears a jewelled cap and pearl necklace, with an ermine +cape on her shoulders. Her serene air and thoughtful +expression recall Holbein's famous picture, and give +an impression of quiet happiness and content which +agrees with all that we know of her short married life.</p> + +<p>The change was great from Malines and Brussels, +and Christina often missed her old playmates. +But her simple, docile nature became easily accustomed +to these new surroundings, and the affectionate +little letters which she sent to her aunt and sister all +breathe the same strain. "We are as happy and +contented as possible," she writes to Dorothea; and +when Camillo Ghilino was starting for Germany, she +sends a few words, at her lord's suggestion, to be +forwarded to Flanders, just to tell her aunt how much +she loves and thinks of her.<a name="FNanchor_109" id="FNanchor_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a></p> + +<p>Certainly, when we compare her lot with that of +her mother, and remember the hardships and sorrows +which the young Queen had to endure, Christina +may well have counted herself fortunate. Her +husband treated his child-wife with the greatest +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>kindness. Her smallest wish was gratified, her tastes +were consulted in every particular. The rooms +which she occupied in the Rocchetta, where his mother, +Duchess Beatrice, had lived, were hung with rich +crimson velvet; the walls of her bedroom were draped +with pale blue silk; a new loggia was built, looking +out on the gardens and moat waters. The breaches +which French and Spanish guns had made in the +walls were repaired, and the Castello resumed its old +aspect. Three state carriages, lined with costly +brocades and drawn by four horses draped with cloth +of gold, were prepared by the Duke for his wife, and +were first used by the Duchess on Ascension Day, +when, ten days after her wedding, she made her first +appearance in public. As she drove to the Duomo, +followed by the Legate and Ambassadors, and escorted +by a brilliant cavalcade of nobles, the streets were +thronged with eager crowds, who greeted her with +acclamation, and waited for hours to catch a sight +of her face. On Corpus Christi, again, a few weeks +later, the Duke and Duchess both came to see the +long procession of Bishops and priests pass through +the streets, bearing the host under a stately canopy +from the Duomo to the ancient shrine of S. Ambrogio.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1534</span>] FRANCESCA PALEOLOGA</div> + +<p>The popularity of the young Duchess soon became +unbounded. Her tall figure, dark eyes, and fair +hair, excited the admiration of all her subjects, while +her frank and kindly manners won every heart. +Although prices went up in Milan that year, and the +tolls on corn and wine were doubled, the people paid +these dues cheerfully, and, when they sat down to a +scanty meal, remarked that they must pay for Her +Excellency's dinner.<a name="FNanchor_110" id="FNanchor_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> Fortunately, by the end of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>year there was a considerable fall in prices, and a +general sense of relief and security prevailed.</p> + +<p>To the Duke himself, as well as to his people, the +coming of the Duchess brought new life. For a time +his failing health revived in the sunshine of her +presence. He threw himself with energy into the +task of beautifying Milan and completing the façade +of the Duomo. At the same time he employed +painters to decorate the Castello and Duomo of +Vigevano, and an illuminated book of the Gospels, +adorned with exquisite miniatures and bearing his arms +and those of the Duchess, may still be seen in the Brera.</p> + +<p>Hunting-parties were held for Christina's amusement +both at Vigevano and in Count Massimiliano's +woods at Cussago. Madame de Souvastre and most +of the Duchess's Flemish attendants had returned to +the Netherlands with De Praet, and Francesco took +great pains to provide his wife with a congenial +lady-in-waiting. His choice fell on Francesca Paleologa, +a lady of the noble house of Montferrat, and +cousin of the newly-married Duchess of Mantua. +Her husband, Constantine Comnenus, titular Prince +of Macedonia, had served under the Pope and +Emperor; and her daughter, Deianira, had lately +married Count Gaspare Trivulzio, a former partisan +of the French, who was now a loyal subject of the +Duke. From this time the Princess of Macedonia +became Christina's inseparable companion, and remained +devotedly attached to the Duchess throughout +her long life. At the same time Francesco appointed +one of his secretaries, Benedetto da Corte of Pavia, +to be master of the Duchess's household, and to teach +her Italian, which she was soon able to speak and +write fluently.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Milanese archives contain several charming +little notes written in Christina's large, round hand +to the Duke during a brief visit which he paid to +Vigevano, for change of air, in the summer of 1535:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">My Lord and dearest Husband</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"I have received your dear letters, and rejoice +to hear of your welfare. This has been a great +comfort to me, but it will be a far greater pleasure to +see you again. I look forward to your return with +such impatience that a single hour seems as long +as a whole year. May God keep you safe and bring +you home again very soon, for I can enjoy nothing +without Your Excellency. I am very well, thank +God, and commend myself humbly to your good +graces. Signora Francesca is also well, and commends +herself to Your Highness.</p> + +<p class="right"> +"Your very humble wife,<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Christierna</span>.<br /> +"Milan, June 7, 1535.<br /> +</p> + +<p>"The bearer of this letter has been very good to +me."</p></div> + +<p>Francesco's health had lately given fresh cause for +anxiety. He suffered from catarrh and fever, and +was frequently confined to his bed. A Pavian Envoy +who had been promised an audience had to leave +the Castello without seeing His Excellency, and a +visit which he and the Duchess had intended to pay +to Pavia in the spring was put off, to the great disappointment +of the loyal citizens. Now his absence +was prolonged owing to a fresh attack of illness, and +the young wife wrote again at the end of the month, +lamenting the delay and expressing the same impatience +for his return:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">My dearest Husband</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1535</span>] DOROTHEA OF DENMARK</div> + +<p>"I was delighted, as I always am, with your +dear letter of the 20th instant, but should have been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>much better pleased to see you and enjoy the pleasure +of your presence, as I hoped to do by this time, +especially as these Signors assured me that your +absence would be short. But they were, it is plain, +quite wrong. However, I must be reasonable, and +if your prolonged absence is necessary I will not +complain. I thank you for your kind excuses and +explanations, but I will not thank you for saying that +I need not trouble to write to you with my own +hand, because this at least is labour well spent, and +I am only happy when I can talk with Your Excellency +or write to you, now that I cannot enjoy your +company. I commend myself infinitely to your remembrance, +and trust God may long preserve you, +and grant you a safe and speedy return.</p> + +<p class="right"> +"Your very humble wife,<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Christierna</span>.<br /> +"From Milan, June. 1535."<a name="FNanchor_111" id="FNanchor_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>But the warm-hearted young wife's wish remained +unfulfilled, and four months after these lines were +written Christina was a widow.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1535</span>] THE PALATINE</div> + +<p>The chief event of Christina's brief married life +was the marriage of her elder sister, the Princess of +Denmark. Dorothea was by this time an attractive +girl of fourteen, shorter and slighter than her sister, +and inferior to her in force of character, but full of +brightness and gaiety. She was very popular in her +old home at Malines, and often shot with a crossbow +at the meetings of the Guild of Archers. Several +marriages had been proposed for her, and King +James of Scotland had repeatedly asked for her +hand; but the Emperor hesitated to accept his +advances, from fear of offending King Francis, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>whose daughter Magdalen had long been pledged to +this fickle monarch, while the difficulty of providing +a dower and outfit for another portionless niece, made +Mary reluctant to conclude a second marriage. But, +a few months after Christina's marriage, a new suitor +for Dorothea's hand came forward in the person of +the Count Palatine, who had vainly aspired to wed +both Eleanor of Austria and Mary of Hungary. +Frederic's loyal support of Charles's claims to the +imperial crown, and his gallant defence of Vienna +against the Turks, had been scurvily rewarded, and +hitherto all his attempts to find another bride had +been foiled. When, in 1526, after the King of +Portugal's death, he approached his old love, the +widowed Queen Eleanor, his advances were coldly +repelled; and when he asked King Ferdinand for one +of his daughters, he was told that she was too young +for him. After Mary of Hungary's refusal, he left +the Imperial Court in anger, and told Charles V. that +he would take a French wife;<a name="FNanchor_112" id="FNanchor_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> but Isabel of Navarre, +Margaret of Montferrat, and the King of Poland's +daughter, all eluded his efforts, and when he asked +for Mary Tudor's hand, King Henry told him that +he could not insult his good friend and cousin by +offering him a bride born out of wedlock.<a name="FNanchor_113" id="FNanchor_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> Now Ferdinand, +unwilling to lose so valuable an ally, suddenly +proposed that the Palatine should marry his niece +Dorothea, saying that both he and Charles would +rejoice to see him reigning over the three northern +kingdoms. At first Frederic hesitated, saying that +he was a grey-headed man of fifty, little fitted to be +the husband of so young a lady, and had no wish +to reign over the turbulent Norsemen. Mary, how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>ever, +welcomed her brother's proposal, regarding it +as a means of strengthening the Emperor's cause in +Northern Europe. In Denmark the succession of +Frederic's son Christian III. was disputed, and a +Hanseatic fleet had seized Copenhagen, while Christopher +of Oldenburg, a cousin of the captive King, +had invaded Jutland. With the help of these allies +it might be possible for the Palatine to recover his +wife's inheritance. But the execution of this plan +was full of difficulties, as Prince John's old tutor, +the wise Archbishop of Lunden, told Charles V. in a +letter which he addressed to him in the autumn of +1534:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Most sacred Cæsar</span>,—I know Denmark well, and +am convinced that the Danes will never recognize +Christian II. as their King. Count Christopher's +expedition will prove a mere flash in the pan, and +when he can no longer pay his men, the peasants, +who flocked to his banner at the sound of their old +King's name, will return to their hearths. Then the +nobles will have their revenge, and the proud Lübeck +citizens will seize Denmark and establish the Lutheran +religion in the name of Christopher or King Henry of +England, or any other Prince, as long as he is not +Your Majesty; and if they succeed, the trade of the +Low Countries will be ruined."<a name="FNanchor_114" id="FNanchor_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a></p></div> + +<p>The bait held out to the Palatine, however, proved +too alluring, and he easily fell a victim to the snare. +The Emperor sent him flattering messages by Hubert, +the faithful servant who has left us so delightful a +chronicle of his master's doings, and promised his +niece a dowry of 50,000 crowns. It was late on +New Year's Eve when Hubert reached his master's +house at Neumarkt, on his return from Spain, and +Frederic was already in bed; but he sent for him, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +bade him tell his news in three words. The messenger +exclaimed joyfully: "I bring my lord a royal bride, +a most gracious Kaiser, and a sufficient dowry." +Upon which the Palatine thanked God, and bade +Hubert go to the cellar and help himself to food +and drink.<a name="FNanchor_115" id="FNanchor_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a></p> + +<p>One of Charles's most trusted Flemish servants, +Nicholas de Marnol, was now sent to Milan, to obtain +the consent of the Duke and Duchess to Dorothea's +marriage. After a perilous journey over the Alps in +snow and floods, Marnol reached Milan on the 10th +of January, 1535, and received a cordial welcome. +Francesco approved warmly of a union which would +insure the Princess's happiness and serve to confirm +the peace of Germany, but quite declined to accept +the Emperor's suggestion that he should help to +provide a pension for Christina's brother-in-law, +saying that this was impossible, and that His Majesty +would be the first to recognize the futility of making +promises which cannot be kept.</p> + +<p>After a short stay at Milan, Marnol went on to +Vienna, and advised the Palatine to go to Spain +himself if he wished to settle the matter. Frederic, +always glad of an excuse for a journey, travelled by +way of Brussels and France to Saragossa, and accompanied +the Emperor to Barcelona, where Charles +signed the marriage contract on the eve of sailing for +Africa.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1535</span>] A HAPPY MARRIAGE</div> + +<p>On the 18th of May, 1535, the marriage was +solemnized at Brussels, and Frederic consented to +leave his bride with her aunt until her outfit was +completed. Queen Eleanor expressed the liveliest +interest in her old lover's marriage, and insisted on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>seeing Dorothea before she went to Germany. At +length the wedding-party reached Heidelberg, on the +8th of September, where the gallant bridegroom, +who, in Hubert's words, "loved to shine," rode out +in rich attire to meet his bride, and escorted her with +martial music and pomp worthy of a King's daughter +to the famous castle on the heights. The next day +the nuptial Mass was celebrated by the Bishop of +Spires, and a series of splendid entertainments were +given by Frederic's brother, the Elector Louis, after +which the Count took his bride to his own home at +Neumarkt, in the Upper Palatinate.<a name="FNanchor_116" id="FNanchor_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a></p> + +<p>"Now at length," wrote Hubert, "my lord thought +that he had attained a haven of rest, and found a +blessed end to all his troubles; but he was grievously +mistaken, and soon realized that he had embarked +on a new and tempestuous ocean."<a name="FNanchor_117" id="FNanchor_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a></p> + +<p>The splendid prospects of recovering his wife's +kingdom were destined to prove utterly fallacious, +and only involved him in heavy expenses and perpetual +intrigues. The Emperor, as he soon discovered, +"had no great affection for the enterprise +of Denmark,"<a name="FNanchor_118" id="FNanchor_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> and before long Copenhagen surrendered, +and Charles and Mary were compelled to +come to terms with Christian III. and acknowledge +his title. Fortunately, in all other respects his +marriage proved a happy one. Dorothea was greatly +beloved by her husband's family and subjects, and made +him a devoted wife, although, as Hubert soon found +out, she was as great a spendthrift as her lord, and confessed +that she was never happy until she had spent +her last penny.<a name="FNanchor_119" id="FNanchor_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> The very frivolity of her nature +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>suited the volatile Count. She shared his love of +adventure, and was always ready to accompany him +on perilous journeys, to climb mountains or ford +rivers, with the same unquenchable courage and +gaiety of heart. Even when, in her anxiety to bear +a child, she imitated the example of Frederic's mother, +the old Countess Palatine, and went on pilgrimages +and wore holy girdles, "this was done without +any spirit of devotion, but with great mirth and +laughter. And how little," adds the chronicler, +"either pilgrimages or girdles profited her, we all +know."<a name="FNanchor_120" id="FNanchor_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a></p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>Before the Palatine and his bride reached Heidelberg, +Europe was thrilled by the news of the capture +of Tunis, and the flight of the hated Barbarossa before +his conqueror. It was the proudest moment of the +Emperor's life. Twenty thousand Christian captives +were released that day, and went home to spread the +fame of their great deliverer throughout the civilized +world. The news reached Milan on the 2nd of +August, and was hailed with universal joy. <i>Te +Deums</i> were chanted in the Duomo, bells were rung +in all the churches, and the guns of the Castello +boomed in honour of the great event. Camillo Ghilino +was immediately sent by the Duke to congratulate the +Emperor on his victory, and thank His Majesty once +more for all the happiness which the generous gift of +his niece had brought Francesco and his people.<a name="FNanchor_121" id="FNanchor_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 433px;"> +<img src="images/facing106.jpg" width="433" height="594" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>FREDERIC, COUNT PALATINE</p> + +<p>Ascribed to A. Dürer (Darmstadt)</p> + +<p><i>To face p. <a href="#Page_106">106</a></i></p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Nov., 1535</span>] FRANCESCO SFORZA'S DEATH</div> + +<p>The late Pope, Clement VII., had already expressed +his intention of rewarding Ghilino's services with a +Cardinal's hat, and his successor, Paul III., would +probably have kept his promise, but the Ambassador +fell ill in Sicily, and died at Palermo in September, +to the Duke's great sorrow.<a name="FNanchor_122" id="FNanchor_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> Soon after receiving +the news, Francesco himself fell ill of fever, and once +more lost the use of his limbs. All through October +he grew steadily worse, and by the end of the month +the people of Milan learnt that their beloved Prince +was at the point of death. On Monday, the Feast of +All Saints, the public anxiety was at its height, and +silent crowds waited all day at the gates of the Castello +to hear the latest reports. At length, early in the +morning of All Souls' Day, they learnt that the last +Sforza Duke was no more. Christina watched by his +bedside to the end, and wept bitterly, for, in the +chronicler's words, "they had loved each other +well."<a name="FNanchor_123" id="FNanchor_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> All Milan shared in her grief, and nothing but +sobbing and wailing was heard in the streets. Everyone +lamented the good Duke, and grieved for the +troubles and misery which his death would bring on +the land. But the city remained tranquil, and there +was no tumult or rioting. This was chiefly due to +Stampa, who, by the Duke's last orders, took charge +of the Duchess, and administered public affairs in her +name, until instructions could be received from Cæsar.</p> + +<p>A messenger was despatched without delay to the +Emperor at Palermo, with letters from the Count +and a touching little note from Christina, informing +her uncle how her dear lord's weakness had gradually +increased, until in the early morning he passed to a +better life. The dead Prince lay in state for three +days in the ducal chapel, clad in robes of crimson +velvet and ermine, on a bier surrounded by lighted +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>tapers. But the funeral was put off till the 19th of +November, in order, writes the chronicler, to give +the people time to show the love they bore their +lamented master, and also because of the difficulty +of obtaining sufficient black cloth to drape the walls +of the Castello and put the Court in mourning. It +was a sad time for the young widow. During three +weeks not a ray of light was allowed to penetrate +the gloom of the funereal hall where she sat with +her ladies, while solemn requiems and Masses were +chanted in the chapel.</p> + +<p>It had been Francesco's wish to sleep with his +parents in the Church of S. Maria delle Grazie, where +the effigies of Lodovico and his lost Beatrice had +been carved in marble. But when this became +known there was a general outcry. The people +would not allow their beloved Duke to be buried +anywhere but in the Duomo with the great Francesco +and the other Sforza Princes. So it was decided only +to bury the Duke's heart in the Dominican church. +His body was laid in a leaden casket covered with +black velvet, and a wax effigy, wearing the ducal +crown and robes, was exposed to public view.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Nov., 1535</span>] FUNERAL RITES</div> + +<p>Late on Friday, the 19th of November, an imposing +funeral procession passed from the Castello to the +Duomo, through the same streets which, only +eighteen months before, had been decked in festive +array to receive the late Duke's bride. First came +the Bishops and clergy with candles and crosses, then +the senators, magistrates, and nobles, wearing long +black mantles and hoods. After them gentlemen +bearing the ducal standard, cap, and baton, and +Francesco's sword and helmet, and what moved the +spectators more than all, the white mule which he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +had ridden daily, led by four pages, "looking just +as it did when His Excellency was alive, only that the +saddle was empty." Then the bier was carried past, +under a gold canopy, and the wax effigy of the dead +man, was seen clad in gold brocade and ermine, with +a vest of crimson velvet and red shoes and stockings. +Immediately behind rode the chief mourner, Giovanni +Paolo Sforza, followed by Antonio de Leyva, the +Imperial and Venetian Ambassadors, the Chancellor +Taverna, Count Massimiliano Stampa, and the chief +Ministers and officials. After them came a vast +multitude of poor, all in mourning, bearing lighted +tapers, and weeping as they went. A catafalque, surrounded +with burning torches, had been erected in +the centre of the Duomo, and here, under a canopy +of black velvet, the Duke's effigy was laid on a couch +of gold brocade, with his sword at his side and the +ducal cap and baton at his feet—"a thing," says +the chronicler, "truly marvellous to see."<a name="FNanchor_124" id="FNanchor_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a></p> + +<p>The next morning the funeral rites were celebrated +in the presence of an immense concourse of people, +and a Latin oration was delivered by Messer Gualtiero +di Corbetta. During three days requiems were +chanted at every altar in the Duomo, and the great +bell, which had never been rung before, was tolled +for the space of three hours, accompanied by all the +bells of the other churches in Milan. "And there +was no one with heart so hard that he was not moved +to tears that day," writes Burigozzo, the chronicler +who was a living witness of the love which the citizens +bore to their dead Duke.<a name="FNanchor_125" id="FNanchor_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> At the end of the week +the casket containing Francesco's remains was finally +laid in a richly carved sarcophagus, which had been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>originally intended to receive the ashes of Gaston de +Foix, the victor of Ravenna, and which was now +placed against the wall of the choir, "for a perpetual +memorial in the sight of all Milan."<a name="FNanchor_126" id="FNanchor_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a></p> + +<p>No one loved the Duke better and lamented his +loss more truly than Count Massimiliano Stampa, and +Pietro Aretino, who realized this, condoled with his +noble friend, and at the same time paid an eloquent +tribute to the dead Prince, in the following letter:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Duke is dead, and I feel that this sad event +has not only taken away all your happiness, but part +of your own soul. I know the close intimacy in +which you lived, nourished in your infancy at the +same breast, and bound together in one heart and +soul. But you must take comfort, remembering that +His Excellency may well be called fortunate in his +end. His wanderings began when he was barely six +years old, and he was driven into exile before he +was old enough to remember his native land. After +so many wars and labours, after experiencing famine +and sickness himself, and seeing the cruel misery and +affliction endured by his subjects, he lived to see +perfect tranquillity restored in his dominions, and +to enjoy the passionate affection of all Milan. Now, +secure in the friendship of Cæsar and the love of Italy, +he has given back his spirit to God who gave it. +Rejoice, therefore, and render praise and glory to +Francesco Sforza's name, because by his wisdom and +virtue he conquered fortune, and has died a Prince +on his throne, reigning in peace and happiness over +his native land. So, my dear lord, I beg you dry +your tears, and meet those who love you as I do +with a serene brow. The fame of your learning +and greatness is known everywhere. Rise above the +blows of fate, and console yourself with the thought +of your Duke's blessed end. There lies His Excellency's +corpse. Give it honourable burial, and I +meanwhile will not cease to celebrate him dead and +you who are alive."<a name="FNanchor_127" id="FNanchor_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a></p></div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_79" id="Footnote_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, ii. 146.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_80" id="Footnote_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> Schäfer, iv. 204, 209.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_81" id="Footnote_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> "Diarii," liii. 231.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_82" id="Footnote_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> Altmeyer, "Relations," etc., 298; Sanuto, lv. 389, 414.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_83" id="Footnote_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Sanuto, lvii. 610, 637.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_84" id="Footnote_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, vii. 465.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_85" id="Footnote_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> M. Sanuto, lvii. 157; A. Campo, "Storia di Cremona," 107.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_86" id="Footnote_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> Lanz, ii. 87, 88.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_87" id="Footnote_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Lanz, ii. 89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_88" id="Footnote_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> Archivio di Stato, Milan, Carteggio Diplomatico, 1533.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_89" id="Footnote_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Archivio di Stato, Milano, Carteggio Diplomatico, 1533.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_90" id="Footnote_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Carteggio Diplomatico, 1533, Archivio di Stato, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_91" id="Footnote_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> G. M. Burigozzo, "Cronaca Milanese," 1500-1544, p. 516; +"Archivio Storico Italiano," iii. (1842).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_92" id="Footnote_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Potenze Sovrane, 1533-34, Archivio di Stato, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_93" id="Footnote_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Autografi di Principi Sforza, Archivio di Stato, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_94" id="Footnote_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> Potenze Sovrane, Archivio di Stato, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_95" id="Footnote_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, vii. 545.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_96" id="Footnote_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Potenze Sovrane, Archivio di Stato, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_97" id="Footnote_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> T. Coryat, "Crudities," i. 215; "Hardwick Papers," i. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_98" id="Footnote_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Potenze Sovrane, Archivio di Stato, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_99" id="Footnote_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> M. Guazzo, "Historie d'Italia," 272-275; P. Avenati, "Entrata +Solemne di Cristina di Spagna"; MS. Continuazione della +Storia di Corio, O. 240 (Biblioteca Ambrosiana).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_100" id="Footnote_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> C. Magenta, "I Visconti e gli Sforza nel Castello di Pavia," +i. 750; Nubilonio, "Cronaca di Vigevano," 131.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_101" id="Footnote_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> MS. Continuazione di Corio, O. 240 (Biblioteca Ambrosiana).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_102" id="Footnote_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> Autografi di Principi: Sforza. Archivio di Stato, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_103" id="Footnote_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> F. Roddi, "Annali di Ferrara" (Harleian MSS. 3310).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_104" id="Footnote_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> E. Gardiner, "A King of Court Poets," 355.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_105" id="Footnote_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Crowe and Cavalcaselle, "Titian," i. 355.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_106" id="Footnote_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> P. Aretino, "Lettere," i. 214.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_107" id="Footnote_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> A. Campo, 107.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_108" id="Footnote_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> Gaye, "Carteggio," iii. 531.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_109" id="Footnote_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Autografi di Principi: Sforza, Archivio di Stato, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_110" id="Footnote_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> Burigozzo, 521.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_111" id="Footnote_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> Autografi di Principi: Sforza, Archivio di Stato (see +Appendix I.).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_112" id="Footnote_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Lanz, i. 419.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_113" id="Footnote_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> H. Thomas, 310.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_114" id="Footnote_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> Altmeyer, "Relations Commerciales," etc., 317; Lanz, ii. 120.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_115" id="Footnote_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> H. Thomas, 328.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_116" id="Footnote_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> Henne, vi. 132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_117" id="Footnote_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> H. Thomas, 350.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_118" id="Footnote_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> Lanz, ii. 659.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_119" id="Footnote_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> H. Thomas, 350.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_120" id="Footnote_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> "Zimmer'sche Chronik," iv. 145.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_121" id="Footnote_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> Burigozzo, 525.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_122" id="Footnote_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> G. Ghilino, "Annali di Alessandria," 141.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_123" id="Footnote_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> Potenze Sovrane, Archivio di Stato.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_124" id="Footnote_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> Burigozzo, 525.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_125" id="Footnote_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 529.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_126" id="Footnote_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> M. Guazzo, 312.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_127" id="Footnote_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> P. Aretino, "Lettere," i. 43.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p></div></div> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>BOOK V<br /> + +THE WIDOW OF MILAN<br /> + +1535-1538</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>Christina's short married life was over. At the end +of eighteen months she found herself a widow, before +she had completed her fourteenth year. But the +brief interval which had elapsed since she left Flanders +had sufficed to turn the child into a woman. From the +moment of the Duke's death, her good sense and discretion +won golden opinions from the grey-headed +statesmen around her. The senators and Ambassadors, +the deputies from Pavia and the other Lombard +cities, who came to offer their condolences, were +deeply moved at the sight of this Princess, whose +heavy mourning and widow's weeds contrasted +strangely with her extreme youth. The dignity and +grace of her bearing charmed them still more, and all +the Milanese asked was to keep their Duchess among +them. By the terms of the late Duke's investiture, if +he died without children, the duchy of Milan was to +revert to the Emperor, but the city of Tortona was +settled on the Duchess. By Francesco's will the town +and Castello of Vigevano, which he had done so much +to beautify, were also bequeathed to her. Immediately +after the Duke's funeral, in obedience to his +dying lord's order, Stampa hoisted the imperial<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +standard on the Castello of Milan, but refused to +allow Antonio de Leyva to take possession of the +citadel until he received orders from Cæsar himself. +This was faithfully reported to the Emperor by +Christina, who gave her uncle a full account of the +steps which she had taken to administer affairs as her +lord's representative, adding:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"If I have failed in any part of my duty or done +anything contrary to Your Majesty's wishes, I beg +you to excuse my ignorance, assuring you that I +have acted by the advice of my late husband's Councillors, +and with no regard to my own interests, but +with the sole object of promoting Your Majesty's +honour and service, and remain</p> + +<p class="right"> +"Your very humble and obedient servant,<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Chrétienne</span>.<br /> +"November 20, 1535."<a name="FNanchor_128" id="FNanchor_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>The messenger whom Stampa sent to Palermo on +the day of the Duke's death missed the Emperor, +who had already left for Messina, and the news did +not reach him until he had landed in Calabria, on +his way to Naples. It was not till the 27th of November +that a horseman bearing letters from Cæsar +arrived in Milan. Here intense anxiety prevailed +among all classes, and the Spaniards were as much +hated as the Duke and Duchess had been beloved. +Accordingly, the relief was great when it became +known that, although Signor Antonio de Leyva was +appointed Governor-General, Stampa was to retain +his post as Castellan, and the Duchess was to remain +in the Castello.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Duchess remains Duchess," wrote the chronicler, +"and all the other officials retain their places. +Above all, Count Massimiliano keeps his office, and +the city is perfectly quiet."<a name="FNanchor_129" id="FNanchor_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Dec., 1535</span>] THE PRINCE OF PIEDMONT</div> + +<p>Stampa now made a last effort to maintain the +independence of Milan. He proposed that the +widowed Duchess should be given in marriage to the +Duke of Savoy's eldest son, Louis, a Prince of her +own age, who was being educated at his imperial +uncle's Court. A petition to this effect, signed by +Chancellor Taverna and all the leading senators, was +addressed to the Emperor, and Giovanni Paolo Sforza +was sent to Rome to meet His Majesty and obtain +the Pope's support.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Gian Paolo Sforza and Taverna," wrote the +Venetian Envoy, Lorenzo Bragadin, "have begged +Cæsar to give the hand of his niece, the widow, to +the Duke of Savoy's son, and this is the wish of all +the people of Milan."<a name="FNanchor_130" id="FNanchor_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a></p></div> + +<p>Unfortunately, Giovanni Paolo fell ill on the +journey, and breathed his last in a village of the +Apennines, and before Charles left Naples he heard +that the promising young Prince of Piedmont had +died on Christmas Day at Madrid. His brother, +Emanuel Philibert, was a child of seven, and although +his ambitious mother, Duchess Beatrix, hastened to +put forward his claim, nothing more was heard of +the scheme.</p> + +<p>By this time another marriage for Christina was +being seriously discussed at the Imperial Court. +Even before the Duke's death, the French King had +done his best to provoke a quarrel with him, and had +begun to make active preparations for war. Hardly +had Francesco breathed his last, than he openly +renewed his old claim to Milan, and sent an Ambassador +to the Emperor at Naples, demanding the duchy for +his second son, Henry, Duke of Orleans, the husband<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +of Catherine de' Medici. This plan, which would have +made the French supreme in North Italy, could not +be entertained for a moment, but Charles, in his +anxiety to avoid war, was ready to accept almost any +other alternative. When his sister Eleanor implored +him to agree to her husband's proposal, and, by way +of cementing the alliance, give "the little widow of +Milan" in marriage to the King's third son, the Duke +of Angoulême, he replied that he would gladly treat +of the proposed marriage, but only on condition that +Angoulême, not Orleans, was put in possession of +Milan.</p> + +<p>The union of the French Prince with Christina +now became the subject of prolonged negotiations +between the two Courts. The Imperial Chancellor, +Granvelle, drew up a long and careful memorandum, +dwelling on the obvious advantages of the scheme, +on the virtues and charms of the young Duchess, on +her large dowry and great popularity in Milan, and +Charles told Francis plainly that he would agree to +no scheme by which the widowed Duchess was removed +from the State, "where she was so much +beloved and honoured, and where the people placed +all their hopes of tranquillity in her presence." One +great object of these negotiations, he wrote, "is to +find a noble and suitable husband for our niece, the +Widow of Milan, who is to us almost a daughter, +and who has always shown herself so discreet and +so obedient to our wishes."<a name="FNanchor_131" id="FNanchor_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">March, 1536</span>] MANY SUITORS</div> + +<p>Both the Pope and the Venetians supported this +scheme as the best means of avoiding war and preserving +the independence of Milan. At the same +time Pope Paul did not fail to put in a plea for his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>own kinsman, the son of his niece Cecilia Farnese, +and Count Bosio Sforza, a descendant of Francesco +I.'s half-brother. Bosio had been a loyal +supporter of the late Duke, but died soon after +Christina's marriage, leaving a son of fifteen, who +was brought up at the Court of Milan. The Pope +himself addressed a grateful letter to Christina, +thanking her for the kindness which she had shown +the boy, and throwing out a hint that a marriage +with her young Sforza cousin might be possible. +Another husband whom Granvelle proposed for her was +Duke Alexander of Florence, but, fortunately, Charles +decided to give him his own illegitimate daughter +Margaret, and Christina thus escaped union with +this reckless and profligate Prince, who was soon +afterwards murdered by his kinsman.<a name="FNanchor_132" id="FNanchor_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> Meanwhile +the Scottish Ambassadors at the French Court made +proposals to the Emperor on behalf of their King, +James V., who had not yet made up his mind to +wed Magdalen of Valois, and these negotiations were +only interrupted by the high-handed action of King +Henry's new favourite, Thomas Cromwell. Thus, +a few weeks after the Duke of Milan's death his +widow's hand had become the subject of animated +controversy in all the Courts of Europe.<a name="FNanchor_133" id="FNanchor_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a></p> + +<p>But while others were negotiating the French were +arming. On the 6th of March, the first day of +Carnival, news reached Milan that a French army +had crossed the Alps. The strong citadel of Montmélian +was betrayed by the treachery of a Neapolitan +captain, and after a gallant defence the Duke of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>Savoy was compelled to evacuate Turin, and take +refuge with his wife and children at Vercelli. All +hope of peace was now over, and, in a consistory held +in the Vatican on the 8th of April, the Emperor +appealed to the Pope to bear witness how earnestly +he had tried to prevent war, and how fruitless his +efforts had proved. At Granvelle's suggestion, he +determined to carry the war into the enemy's country, +and, following in the steps of Charles VIII., crossed +the Apennines, and marched by the Emilian Way and +along the banks of the Po towards Asti.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1536</span>] MEETING WITH CHARLES V.</div> + +<p>The dread of a French invasion had united all +parties in Milan. The citizens forgot their hatred +of the Spaniards in their terror of another siege, and +cheerfully submitted to fresh taxes to pay the +defending army. It was a late spring that year in +Lombardy, the weather was bitterly cold, and by the +end of April the vines had only put forth tiny shoots, +and the roses were not yet in flower. Nothing was +heard in the streets but the din of approaching warfare, +and the tramp of armed <i>Landsknechten</i> marching +from Tyrol on their way to the frontier. But in +the last days of April Christina's dull life was +brightened by the sudden arrival of the Duchess of +Savoy, who fled from the camp at Vercelli to take +refuge in the Castello of Milan. Times were altered +since the two Princesses had met at Turin, and the +Duchess Beatrix, who had welcomed the little bride +so warmly, was sadly changed in body and mind. +She had lost her eldest son, and been driven out of +her home by foreign invaders, never to return there +again in her lifetime. With her she brought her two +remaining children, the little Princess Catherine and +Emanuel Philibert, who was one day to become<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +famous as the bravest captain in Europe. And she +also brought a treasure which excited the utmost +enthusiasm among the Milanese—the Holy Shroud +of St. Joseph of Arimathea, which had been preserved +for centuries at Chambéry. Crowds flocked to the +Duomo when Beatrix's Franciscan confessor preached, +in the hope of seeing the precious Shroud; but the +Duchess would not allow the relic to leave the Castello, +and on the 7th it was exposed on the ramparts to +the view of an enormous multitude assembled in the +piazza.<a name="FNanchor_134" id="FNanchor_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a></p> + +<p>A week later Francesco Sforza's cousin, Ferrante +Gonzaga, and the Duke of Savoy, came to Milan, but +soon left for the camp. Beatrix then obtained permission +to pay the Emperor a visit on his journey +north, and by Charles's express request took Christina +with her. On the 18th of May the magistrates of +Pavia received orders from the Duchess of Milan's +<i>maggiordomo</i>, Benedetto da Corte, to prepare lodgings +for Her Excellency and the Duchess of Savoy, as +near to each other as possible.<a name="FNanchor_135" id="FNanchor_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> The Castello of +Pavia had suffered terribly in the siege by Lautrec +in 1528, but a few rooms were hastily furnished, +and on the 20th Beatrix and Christina arrived, +escorted by Count Massimiliano and several courtiers. +Early on the following morning the two Duchesses +rode out to Arena on the Po, where they found the +Emperor awaiting them. Charles was unfeignedly +glad to see both his sister-in-law and the niece whom +he had left as a child at Brussels four years before, +and welcomed them affectionately.<a name="FNanchor_136" id="FNanchor_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> But the inter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>view +was a short one, and the next day he continued +his journey to Asti, where he joined Antonio de +Leyva and Ferrante Gonzaga, and prepared to invade +Provence.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1536</span>] CARDINAL CARACCIOLO</div> + +<p>Meanwhile Beatrix and Christina returned to Milan, +and spent the summer together in the Castello. A +close friendship sprang up between the two Duchesses. +Beatrix took a motherly interest in her young companion, +and the children's presence helped to cheer +these anxious months. At first the Emperor's arms +were entirely successful. The French retired before +him to Avignon, laying the country waste, and he +met with no opposition until he reached Aix, which +resisted all his attacks. During the long siege which +followed, his soldiers suffered severely from disease +and famine, and many youths of the noblest Milanese +families were among the victims.<a name="FNanchor_137" id="FNanchor_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> Early in September, +while Christina's own secretary, Belcorpo, was +robbed and murdered on his way to the camp, +Antonio de Leyva, the redoubtable Commander-in-Chief, +died, and was buried in S. Eustorgio at Milan. +The Papal Legate, Cardinal Caracciolo, a Neapolitan +by birth, was appointed to succeed him as Viceroy +of Milan. He had only just assumed the reins of +office, and paid his first visit to the young Duchess, +when he received a summons from the Emperor to +join him at Genoa. Finding it impossible to reduce +Aix, Charles had determined to abandon the campaign, +and on the 16th of November a three months' +truce was signed between the two monarchs. The +Emperor was anxious to return to Spain, where his +presence was sorely needed. But before his departure +he sent for the Cardinal, desiring him to leave some +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>trusty lieutenant to govern the State in his absence, +and take charge of his niece the Duchess. Accordingly, +Caracciolo went to Genoa on the 4th of October, +accompanied by Beatrix of Savoy, who, after a long +interview with the Emperor, joined her husband at +Nice, the only city which still belonged to him. +Soon after this her health gave way under the prolonged +strain, and this once brilliant and beautiful +woman died in January, 1538, as she said herself, of +a broken heart.</p> + +<p>Christina, now left alone at Milan, wrote a long +letter to the Cardinal, whom she addressed in the +language of a caressing child, saying that he was +dear to her as a father, and seeking his help for two +objects which lay very near her heart.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The true affection," she writes, "which Your +Excellency has shown me, and the kind remembrance +of me which you always keep, makes me +anxious for your health and welfare. So I beg +you to tell me how you have prospered on your +journey, and if you are well in health."</p></div> + +<p>She then begs her friend the Cardinal to use his +influence with the Emperor on behalf of her sister +Dorothea, "the person now nearest and dearest to +her on earth," who is in need of her powerful uncle's +help. Probably the Palatine was, as usual, endeavouring +to recover arrears of the pension due to him by +the Emperor, and to obtain compensation for the +costs which he had incurred in the disastrous expedition +against Copenhagen. Hubert had lately +been sent to Charles with this object, and had at the +same time suggested that, if the Emperor needed a +Viceroy for Milan, no one could be more suitable +than his lord. But whatever the precise object of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +Dorothea's request may have been, Christina's intercession, +it is to be feared, availed her little.</p> + +<p>The Duchess's other petition was more easily +granted.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"As a whole year," she wrote, "will soon have +elapsed since the death of my dearest husband, of +blessed memory, I beg you to entreat His Majesty, in +my name, to be pleased to give orders that this +anniversary may be observed in a due and fitting +manner. And I am quite certain that he will not +refuse to hear this my prayer."<a name="FNanchor_138" id="FNanchor_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a></p></div> + +<p>It would indeed have been impossible for the +Emperor to refuse so reasonable a request, and the +anniversary of the late Duke's death was observed +with due ceremonial in all the churches of Milan. +But the days of the young Duchess's abode in this +city were fast drawing to a close. Before Charles left +Italy he had determined to place a strong Spanish +garrison in the Castello, to defend Milan against the +risk of a French invasion, and had only delayed to +take this step from fear of exciting discontent in the +city. Stampa had hitherto succeeded in warding off +the blow, but now he was forced to bow to the +imperial command, and surrender the Castello to +a foreign captain.</p> + +<p>Charles, it must be owned, did his best to soften +the blow. He made the Count a present of the rich +fief of Soncino in the province of Cremona, and sent +him as a parting gift the costly plate which had +belonged to the late Duke, with a cordial invitation +to follow him to Spain. But we see, from a letter +which Stampa's friend Aretino sent him, how sorely +this vexed his noble heart.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Dec., 1536</span>] ARETINO'S COMFORT</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I will not grieve, my illustrious friend," wrote the +time-serving Venetian, "if you have to give up the +Castello, which you held for love of His Excellency, +of happy memory, because to my mind it was a +prison for your genius. Dry your tears, and console +yourself with the reflection that now at least you are +a free man. His Majesty is relieved from the jealousy +of his Spanish servants, and you are saved from +further anxieties on this subject. Now you can, if +you choose, follow him to Spain, and lay down your +office with honour unstained, and then return to +Milan to live in freedom and contentment."<a name="FNanchor_139" id="FNanchor_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a></p></div> + +<p>This was poor comfort for Massimiliano, but the +Emperor's will was not to be gainsaid, and the Count +could only lay down his office and take leave of the +young Duchess, assuring her of his undying loyalty +and faithfulness. Charles had not forgotten his niece, +and before he sailed for Barcelona on the 15th of +November he sent one of his oldest and most trusted +servants, Jean de Montmorency, Sieur de Courrières, +the Captain of the Archers' Guard, to take charge of +the Duchess, and eventually conduct her to Flanders. +But while negotiations for her second marriage were +still pending, it was felt desirable that she should +remain in Lombardy; and since the Castello would +no longer be a fit place for her, Montmorency was +ordered to escort her to Pavia. On the 10th of December, +1536, De Courrières arrived with fifty archers of +the Imperial Guard, and, after a brief consultation +with the Cardinal and Stampa, decided to take the +Duchess to Pavia without delay.<a name="FNanchor_140" id="FNanchor_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a></p> + +<p>The leaves of the trees in the gardens were turning +yellow, and a pale wintry sun shone down on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>Castello, which Christina had first seen in the joyous +May-time, when a little procession of black-robed +ladies, with their attendants, issued from the +Rocchetta, and mounted the horses and litters in +waiting for them. A few bystanders saluted them +reverently, and followed them with wistful eyes as +they rode out of the gates, down the street leading to +the Porta Ticinese, until they were out of sight.</p> + +<p>A few days later Count Massimiliano Stampa +marched out of the Castello at the head of his troops, +and gave up the keys, which he had received from the +last Sforza Duke, to the Spanish Captain Alvarez de +Luna, who entered the gates amid the curses and +groans of the citizens. Henceforth the life of Milan +as an independent State was over, and the yoke of +Spain descended on the ancient capital of Lombardy.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Dec., 1536</span>] A PALACE IN RUINS</div> + +<p>The city of Pavia had always been loyal to the +House of Sforza. In no part of the duchy was there +greater rejoicing on the restoration of Duke Francesco +II.; nowhere was his premature death more +deeply lamented. Several of Christina's most faithful +servants were natives of Pavia; among others, Benedetto +da Corte, the master of her household, and Bottigella, +who had been so active in the preparations for +her reception. Now the people of Pavia welcomed her +coming warmly, and exerted themselves to see that +nothing was lacking to her comfort. But the city +and Castello had suffered terribly in the protracted +struggle with France. The palace which had been +the pride of the Sforza Dukes was stripped of its +fairest treasures. The frescoes and tapestries were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +destroyed, the famous library was now in the castle of +Blois, and a great part of the walls had been thrown +down by French guns and allowed to crumble to +pieces. So dilapidated was the state of the building +that it was difficult to find habitable rooms for the +Duchess and her suite.</p> + +<p>On the 21st of December, ten days after Christina's +arrival, she was forced to address a request to the +chief magistrate, Lodovico Pellizone, begging that +her bedroom might be supplied with a wooden ceiling, +as the room was lofty and bitterly cold in this winter +season. Pellizone wrote without delay to the Governor +of Milan, but received no reply, and on New Year's +Day Montmorency himself wrote to remind the +Cardinal of the Duchess's request, urging that the +work might be done without delay, and putting in +a plea for a better provision of mattresses to accommodate +the members of her household. Still no +redress was obtained, and at length the Captain of +the Archers took the law into his own hands, and sent +for carpenters to panel the Duchess's bedroom.<a name="FNanchor_141" id="FNanchor_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> +But in spite of these drawbacks, in spite of the +wind that whistled through the long corridors and +the comfortless air of the empty halls, Christina's +health and spirits were excellent. Her spirits quickly +recovered their natural buoyancy in these new surroundings, +her eyes shone with the old brightness, +and the sound of merry laughter was once more +heard in the spacious halls and desolate gardens. +On the 3rd of January, only two days after Montmorency +addressed his fruitless remonstrance to the +Viceroy, Christina herself wrote a letter to the same +illustrious personage in a very different strain. She +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>had, it appears, seen a very handsome white horse in +the hostelry of the Fountain in Pavia, and was seized +with a passionate desire to have the palfrey for her +own use. So she wrote in the most persuasive +language to her good Father the Cardinal, begging +his leave to buy the horse, which she is convinced +will suit her exactly. But, since she fears that her +monthly allowance will not suffice to defray the cost, +she begs His Eminence to advance the necessary sum, +and charge it to the extraordinary expenses for which +she is not responsible. This letter, written in her +large round hand, was sent to Milan by one of the +Duchess's lackeys, with the words "Cito, cito" on +the cover, and an urgent plea for an immediate +answer.<a name="FNanchor_142" id="FNanchor_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> The kindly old Cardinal, who had a soft +side for the youthful Princess, could hardly refuse +so pressing a request, and Christina probably bought +the white horse, and had the pleasure of mounting it +when she rode out to visit the friars of the Certosa +or hunted in their park.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1537</span>] THE EMPEROR'S SERVANT</div> + +<p>She had another good friend and devoted servant +in the Sieur de Courrières—Monsignor di Corea, as he +was called in Italy. This gallant gentleman had +grown up in close intimacy with the Emperor from his +boyhood. He accompanied Charles to Spain as cupbearer, +and was appointed Captain of the Archers' +Guard on attaining his majority. In 1535 he followed +his master to Africa at the head of a chosen band of +archers, fifty of whom remained with him as an escort +for the Duchess. By Charles's orders, he sent constant +reports to His Majesty from Pavia. The correspondence +fills a whole volume, and is extremely interesting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>if only because it shows the familiarity with which +the great Emperor treated his old servant, and the +freedom which Montmorency allowed himself in addressing +his master.</p> + +<p>On the 15th of February, Charles wrote from +Valladolid, thanking De Courrières cordially for the +services which he had rendered the Duchess, approving +highly of her residence at Pavia, and promising +to pay for the maintenance of his archers. He +alludes pleasantly to Montmorency's meeting with +another of his confidential servants, Simonet, whom +he had left at Milan.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Simonet was right to put off his return to +Flanders until the worst rigours of winter were over, +and was fortunate in meeting you, for old folks of the +same country are very glad to meet in foreign lands, +even if they are not natives of Brabant. Farewell, +<i>cher et féal</i>, for the present, and God have you in His +holy keeping!"</p></div> + +<p>Five weeks later he wrote again, expressing his +satisfaction at hearing of his dear niece's health and +happiness, and saying how entirely he trusted Montmorency +to provide for her comfort.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"At the same time," he continued, "we cannot +help feeling, both with regard to the Duchess's +widowed condition and the troubled state of Italy, +that she would be better with our sister, the Queen +of Hungary, in our own country, <i>par-deça</i>, where +some suitable marriage might be found for her. +Accordingly we have written to our sister on the +subject, and desired Cardinal Caracciolo to make all +needful preparation for her journey. You had better +see that she has a proper escort and all else that is +necessary to her comfort, without making these things +public, until we hear from our sister."<a name="FNanchor_143" id="FNanchor_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mary on her part was most anxious for her niece's +return, and lost no time in letting Charles know how +impatiently she expected her. But, with characteristic +dilatoriness, the Imperial Council, which met at +Monzone on the 2nd of June, pronounced that it was +highly expedient for the Widow of Milan to go to +Flanders, but that the Queen's wishes must first of +all be consulted.<a name="FNanchor_144" id="FNanchor_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> Meanwhile Count Massimiliano +Stampa returned from Spain with instructions from +the Emperor to make arrangements for the Duchess's +journey with the Cardinal and Montmorency, and +Charles wrote again to beg the Captain to start without +delay. But this, as Montmorency replied, was +not so easy. Three months' pay was due to his men, +and in his penniless condition it was hard to provide +them with food or their horses with fodder.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I will do my utmost, Sire," he wrote on the 15th +of June, "but some things are impossible. As I told +you when you left me at Genoa, six months' wages +were due to me, and I can only beg you to have pity +on your poor Captain; for we are in sore straits, and +you alone can help us, for, as the Scripture saith, +<i>Tua est potentia</i>."</p></div> + +<p>At the same time, like the brave soldier that he +was, the writer cannot refrain from expressing his +joy at the good news of the capture of S. Pol, which +had just arrived from Flanders.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1537</span>] CAPTAIN OF THE ARCHERS</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Sire, I hear grand news from S. Pol, and am sure, +when you return to your Low Countries, you will find +that the Queen has been very vigilant in charge of +your affairs, and will be welcomed by very humble +and loyal subjects. But you will have something to +say to the citizens of Ghent, for I fear those gentlemen +are not as wise as they might be. Sire, I hear that, +after the surrender of Hesdin, your sister the Queen +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>of France came to the camp in rich attire, with a +number of ladies all in white. Such insolence cannot +last long, as S. Pol—both the town and the Apostle—bear +witness. I hear that Madame the new Duchesse +d'Étampes was nowhere. <i>Sic transit gloria mundi.</i> +All this Latin is to show Your Majesty that I have not +wasted my time in Pavia, any more than Don Beltrami +did at Louvain. Once more I beg you to have pity +on <i>La Chrétiennete</i>, who needs your help more than +ever."</p></div> + +<p>But the summer months went by, and still no orders +and no money came from Spain. Pavia became +unhealthy, and the Duchess and all the members of +her household fell ill of fever.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Hardly one has escaped," wrote Montmorency +on the 22nd of August, "but now, thank God, my +Lady has recovered, and I am trying to raise money +to carry out your orders, although I fear my purse is +not long enough to feed my poor archers."<a name="FNanchor_145" id="FNanchor_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a></p></div> + +<p>A month later the Captain went to Milan to expedite +matters, but as yet could hear nothing from Spain, +and on his return to Pavia early in October, he addressed +long remonstrances both to Charles and +Granvelle.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Sire," wrote the irate Captain, "I have been +ordered to take my Lady Duchess to Flanders, but +not a word has been said as to the route that I am to +take. Since it is your pleasure, it shall be done; but +if any harm comes to her in Germany, seeing the poor +escort we shall have, who will be to blame? My +fear is that, as we pass through the duchy of Würtemberg, +the Duke's son may fall upon us with his +<i>Landsknechten</i>, and my Lady would certainly not +be a bad match for him! Your Majesty has not +given me a single letter or warrant for the journey, +and has not written me a word. And when I get +<i>par-deça</i>, I know not what I am to do or say. My +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>Lady, too, is much surprised not to have received a +letter from Your Majesty before her departure, but +of this, of course, I have no right to speak."</p></div> + +<p>In a postscript he adds that he has raised 500 gold +crowns, and given each of his men 10 crowns to buy +new saddles, as they hope to start on the 15th of +October. He ends by humbly reminding His Majesty +that he is growing old, and is almost fifty, and that +if he does not soon take a wife it will be too late.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"All this coming and going ages a man, and before +long I shall be as wrinkled as the rest. So when I +reach the Queen, I hope some little token of honour +may be given me, that men may see Your Majesty +has not wholly forgotten me. And you will, I hope, +tell me what I am to do when I have taken Her +Excellency to Flanders, as I have written to Granvelle +repeatedly, and had no answer, but suppose he is busy +with great affairs. And I pray that all prosperity may +attend Your Majesty, and that this year, which has +begun so well, may end by seeing you back in +Piedmont."<a name="FNanchor_146" id="FNanchor_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1537</span>] CHRISTINA'S DEPARTURE</div> + +<p>On the 14th of October Christina herself wrote to +inform the Emperor of her intended departure, and +of the good order of her affairs, thanks to the Cardinal +and Seigneur de Courrières. "We hope to start to-morrow, +and travel by way of Mantua and Trent, and +through Germany, taking whichever seems to be the +shortest and safest route." There had, it appears, +been much discussion over the revenues assigned +to the Duchess as her dower, and in the end she +was deprived of the town and Castello of Vigevano, +which the Duke had left her by his will. But by the +terms of her marriage contract she remained absolute +mistress of the city of Tortona, and informed the +Emperor that, acting on the advice of the Cardinal, as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>Lady of Tortona, she had appointed a certain Gabriele +Panigarola to be Governor of the town, and begged his +approval. At the same time she sent her uncle a +memorial, drawn up by Montmorency, explaining +that, since she had not received the arrears of her +dowry, she was not able to pay her servants, and +had been forced to contract many debts at Pavia, +and to spend money on the repair of the rooms which +she occupied in the Castello.</p> + +<p>Many last requests were addressed to the Duchess +by the poor and needy whom she had befriended, and +from her own servants, who with one voice begged to +be allowed to follow her to Flanders. One of the +most pressing came from an old Milanese couple, +whose son, Niccolò Belloni, was Christina's secretary, +and at their earnest prayer she decided to allow the +young man to remain in her service as one of the four +Italians who accompanied her to Flanders by the +Emperor's orders. And the last letter which the +Duchess wrote to the Cardinal, on the eve of her +departure, was to plead for a community of noble +ladies in Pavia who were reduced to dire poverty owing +to the late wars, and begged humbly for a remission +of taxes.<a name="FNanchor_147" id="FNanchor_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> During the ten months which she had spent +at Pavia the young Duchess had made herself beloved +by all classes of people, and her departure was lamented +by the whole city.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1537</span>] "EN VOYAGE"</div> + +<p>On the 15th of October Christina and her suite left +Pavia, and started on their long-deferred journey to +Flanders. When she first set foot in Italy as a bride, +three and a half years before, the Lombard plains +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>were in the first flush of spring, roses and myrtles +were breaking into bloom, and the flowers sprang up +under her feet. Now the autumn rains fell in such +torrents that Cardinal Caracciolo was seriously +alarmed, and wrote to Benedetto da Corte and +Monsignore di Corea, asking if it might not be well +to delay their departure. The first idea had been to +go from Pavia to Cremona in a single day, but the bad +roads and swollen rivers increased the difficulties of +travel, and the Cardinal wrote to implore Messer +Benedetto and Corea not to undertake such long +journeys, lest the Duchess should be overtired. So +the party only rode as far as Codogno, the castle of +Count Gaspare Trivulzio, where he and his beautiful +wife, Deianira, received them joyfully, and entertained +them "as magnificently as if they had been invited +to a wedding." Christina's lady-in-waiting, the +Princess of Macedonia, rejoiced to be under her +daughter's roof, and Benedetto da Corte wrote to +tell the Cardinal that nothing could exceed the +splendour and hospitality of Count Gaspare's reception. +On the 18th the travellers rode along the +plains flooded by the swollen Po till they reached +Cremona, the dower city of Bianca Visconti, where +she had been married to the great Condottiere Francesco +Sforza, and which had clung with unswerving +loyalty to the fortunes of his house. Here the +Castellan came out to meet the Duchess, at the head +of the chief citizens, and escorted her to the Castello +under the shadow of the famous Torrazza, where she +and all her suite found the best of cheer. The next +morning the travellers resumed their way, and crossed +the rushing Oglio, under the castle of the Gonzagas of +Bozzolo, and rode along the green meadows by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +Castiglione's country home, where his aged mother +was still living. The great courtier's name was +familiar to all Charles V.'s servants, and Montmorency, +who had known him in Spain, may have paused to +look at the fair sepulchral chapel which Giulio +Romano had lately reared in the pilgrimage church +of S. Maria delle Grazie. At Mantua another splendid +welcome awaited Christina. The Gonzaga Princes +never forgot their close relationship to the Sforzas, +and while the reigning Duchess welcomed the Princess +of Macedonia as a kinswoman, the old Marchesana, +Isabella, rejoiced to embrace her nephew's wife, and +looked with affection on this youthful Duchess who +bore the same title as her long-lost Beatrice.</p> + +<p>The next morning Benedetto da Corte sent the Cardinal +a glowing account of their journey, which, in +spite of the weather, had been one triumphal progress:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Reverendissimo</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"Her Excellency arrived safely here at Mantua +yesterday with all her company, horses, and carriages, +and was received most royally, as has, indeed, been +the case in every place where we have halted on our +way. Her whole household has been entertained +with the best fare, and with little damage to our +purses.... The kindness with which we have been +received has made these perpetual rains tolerable. +We are quite accustomed to them, and shall not be +afraid of the next tempest! We are resting here on +this sixth day of our journey at the entreaty of these +illustrious Princes. On Sunday, please God, we shall +reach Verona, and I have sent to ask the Governor +to prepare convenient lodgings for Her Excellency. +His Reverence the Cardinal of Trent has sent a +messenger here to-night to inquire how many we +number, and so we go on gaily from stage to stage. +Once we have reached Trent, we shall seem to be in +sight of the Rhine, and can pursue our way at less +peril to our lives, and, let us hope, to the greater<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +advantage of His Majesty's service. I kiss Your +Reverence's hand, and so also does Monsignore di +Corea.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 21em;">"<span class="smcap">Benedetto da Corte.</span></span><br /> +"Mantova, October 20."<a name="FNanchor_148" id="FNanchor_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a><br /> +</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1537</span>] THE CARDINAL OF TRENT</div> + +<p>The Cardinal's worst anxieties were relieved by +the receipt of Benedetto's letter, and he sent a reply +to the Castle of Trent thanking him and Monsignore +di Corea for their trouble, and expressing great +satisfaction to hear of their prosperous journey. The +travellers now turned their steps northwards, and, +after spending a night in the city of the Scaligeri, +followed the Adige through the rocky defile known as +La Chiusa di Verona. As they passed through the +fortified gates at the farther end of the ravine, a +salute from the guns made them aware that they had +entered Austrian territory. A few miles farther they +were met by the Cardinal-Bishop, Bernhard von Clès, +who had ridden out with a great train to welcome +the Duchess. A strong Imperialist no less than +an active reformer, Bernhard von Clès had been +raised to the cardinalate at Charles's coronation, and +was now Vice-Chancellor of the Empire.<a name="FNanchor_149" id="FNanchor_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> He had +lately received a visit from Christina's uncle, King +Ferdinand, and his wife, Anna, who honoured his +niece's wedding with their presence, and the sumptuous +rooms which they had occupied were now +placed at Christina's disposal. "Nothing was lacking," +wrote Benedetto da Corte, "which could please +the eye or delight the mind." The splendour of the +episcopal palace and the open-handed liberality of +the Cardinal made a great impression on Montmorency, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>who wrote himself to tell the Cardinal how +well Madama had borne the journey.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I cannot tell you," he adds, "how splendidly +Monsignor Reverendissimo has received the Duchess, +and how sumptuously he has feasted us. Here we +mean to rest all to-day, and to-morrow we will pursue +our journey with the utmost diligence."</p></div> + +<p>But so pressing was the Cardinal, and so luxurious +were the quarters provided for them, that the +travellers remained at Trent several days, and only +resumed their journey on the 27th of October.</p> + +<p>The most arduous part of the way now lay before +them, and Benedetto describes how they harnessed +the mules to the chariot in order that the Duchess +and her ladies might drive across the Brenner Pass, +at least as far as Innsbruck. Montmorency was in +some doubt as to the route which the Duchess had +better take through Germany, but, much to his +satisfaction, he found the long-expected letter from +the Emperor awaiting him at Innsbruck. It was +written from Monzone on the last day of October, a +fortnight after Christina had left Pavia. Charles put +the blame of his delay on the Queen of Hungary's +shoulders, and, since it was too late to wait for her +directions, bade him consult the Cardinal of Trent +as to their future journey.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"If you have already left Trent, you had better go +on either by road or else by the Rhine. If you are at +Innsbruck, you can take advice from the King our +brother or from Dr. Matthias Held"—one of Ferdinand's +most trusted German Councillors—"and choose +whichever route they consider the safest. If you have +received no letters from the Queen, you had better +send a messenger to Flanders, and we will inform you +as soon as we know her pleasure regarding our niece's +future plans."</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + +<p>In conclusion the Emperor tells Montmorency that +he is sending the letters patent for which he asked, +although they are hardly necessary, and has already +told the Queen to refund all the expenses which he +has incurred, and to be mindful of his great and long +services.<a name="FNanchor_150" id="FNanchor_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p> + +<p>The travellers spent some time at Innsbruck in +the ancient castle which is still adorned with the +Sforza arms, and Christina saw the superb monument +erected by her great-grandfather Maximilian in the +church hard by. Ferdinand and his wife and daughters +were in Vienna, but the route which Montmorency +chose was that followed by most travellers, along the +Lake of Constance and down the Rhine to Spires. +From the first Christina had been very anxious to visit +her sister Dorothea on her journey north, and she +succeeded in obtaining her uncle's consent to this +arrangement. The two Princesses had not met since +Christina left Brussels in the spring of 1534, and +Dorothea was no less impatient to see her sister. +Even before the travellers reached Trent, they met +two Genoese merchants, who told Montmorency that +on their way through Germany they had seen the +Count Palatine Frederic and Madama la Principessa, +his wife, with a great company, on their way to +Heidelberg to await the Duchess's coming. When, +in November, the travellers at length reached Heidelberg, +they found themselves impatiently expected, +and Christina received the warmest welcome from the +Elector Palatine and his family.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Dec., 1537</span>] AT HOME AGAIN</div> + +<p>Festivities such as Frederic and Dorothea took +delight in—jousting, banquets, and dances—followed +each other in rapid succession, and the castle blazed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>with innumerable torches through the winter nights. +It was a great change from the funereal blackness of +the Castello of Milan and the desolate halls of Pavia, +and the young Duchess enjoyed it to the full. The +days sped by all too quickly, and so happy were the +sisters in each other's company that the Elector +invited Christina to stay over Christmas. The young +Duchess accepted the proposal gleefully, and all were +preparing to spend a joyous festival, when Montmorency +received peremptory orders from the Queen-Regent +to bring her niece forthwith to Flanders. +After this no delays were possible. The sisters parted +sadly from each other, and the travellers once more +took boat and sailed down the Rhine to Cologne.</p> + +<p>From here it was an easy journey to Aix-la-Chapelle, +and through the friendly State of Cleves to +Maestricht, and thence to Louvain and Brussels. On +the 8th of December Christina set foot once more +in the ancient palace of the Dukes of Brabant, and +was clasped in her aunt's arms. Ten days afterwards +she wrote a letter to inform the Emperor of her safe +arrival, and of "the good and loving welcome" which +she had received from "Madame my aunt." She +begged His Majesty to keep her still in his remembrance, +and signed herself, "Your humble niece, +Chrétienne."<a name="FNanchor_151" id="FNanchor_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a></p> + +<p>She was at home once more among her own people, +and all the strange sights and scenes, all the wonderful +experiences which she had known, in these four eventful +years, seemed to fade away like a dream. But +she had left Flanders a child, and she came back a +woman.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p> + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Sept., 1537</span>] THE CLEVES MARRIAGE</div> + +<p>Christina's return was impatiently awaited at +Brussels. The courtiers who remembered her mother, +and had known her as a child, were eager to see +the young Duchess, whose courage and wisdom +had been shown in such trying circumstances. All +through the summer her coming had been expected, +and the Regent was seriously annoyed at the prolonged +delays which had hindered her niece's departure +from Milan. Her heart yearned over the child +from whom she had parted with so much reluctance. +More than this, she had in her mind's eye a +second husband ready for the young Duchess. This +was William, the only son and heir of the reigning +Duke of Cleves. A handsome and well-educated +young man of twenty-two, the young Duke had not yet +developed that fatal weakness of purpose which +proved his bane, and was to all appearances an excellent +match for the Emperor's niece. The political +advantages of the union were obvious. Duke John had +married the heiress of Jülich and Bergh, and reigned +over three rich and peaceful provinces on the Lower +Rhine. He had always been on friendly terms with the +Emperor, and when, a few months after the Duke of +Milan's death, he asked for the young widow's hand on +behalf of his son, Mary welcomed these advances gladly, +and hastened to communicate them to the Emperor.<a name="FNanchor_152" id="FNanchor_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> +At first Charles replied coolly that, if the marriage +with Angoulême could not be arranged, the proposals +made by the King of Scotland or Cleves might be +entertained. In October, 1536, Mary sent a confidential +messenger, La Tiloye, to Genoa to learn the Emperor's +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>pleasure in the matter, but nothing further was done. +After the fresh outbreak of war in 1537, and the +invasion of Artois by the French, Charles became +more alive to the importance of the question, and +wrote to his sister from Spain, saying that he had +ordered the Widow of Milan to go to the Low Countries, +and hoped she would proceed at once to the conclusion +of the marriage with Cleves.<a name="FNanchor_153" id="FNanchor_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a></p> + +<p>At that moment all Mary's energies were absorbed +in the struggle with France. She herself went to +Lille to superintend military operations, and appeared +on horseback in the trenches before Thérouenne, +where her courage excited the admiration of +John Hutton, the English Ambassador. "Let the +King but tarry fifteen days," she exclaimed, "and +I will show him what God may strengthen a woman +to do!" But, in spite of these brave words, Mary, +as Hutton soon discovered, was sincerely desirous +to end the war. "The Queen's anxiety for peace," +he wrote home, "is as great as her ardour in war."<a name="FNanchor_154" id="FNanchor_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> +She knew the straits to which the Emperor was +reduced and the exhaustion of the Treasury. "The +poverty of this country is so great," she wrote to +Charles on the 9th of June, "that it is impossible to +provide necessary funds for the war. We must have +peace, or we are lost."<a name="FNanchor_155" id="FNanchor_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> Under these circumstances she +lent a willing ear to her sister Queen Eleanor's advances, +and the two sisters had the satisfaction of arranging a +truce at Bomy, a village near Thérouenne. The siege +of this city was raised, the French evacuated the towns +which they held, and on the 10th of September peace +was ratified by the Emperor at Monzone.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1538</span>] THE SUCCESSION OF GUELDERS</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mary felt that she could once more breathe freely. +She lost no time in renewing negotiations with the +Duke of Cleves, and the proposed marriage became +the talk of the Court. "The Queen," wrote Hutton, +on the 2nd of September, from Bruges, where Mary +was hunting after her wont and spending all day in +the saddle, "looketh daily for the Duchess of Milan, +who shall be married to the Duke of Cleves's son and +heir."<a name="FNanchor_156" id="FNanchor_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> A month later the Cleves Envoys arrived at +Brussels, and, after repeated interviews with the +Queen and her Council, returned, well satisfied, to +obtain their master's consent to the terms of the contract. +The news spread rapidly, and was reported +by Ambassadors from Spain and Germany, from Rome +and Paris, with the same unanimity. Suddenly an +unexpected event altered the face of affairs. Charles +of Egmont, the fiery old Duke of Guelders, who had +for many years been the Emperor's bitter enemy, fell +ill, and, feeling his end to be near, summoned the +Estates of his realm to choose a successor. Since he +had no issue, his own wish was to leave his States +to the French King; but his subjects positively refused +to be handed over to a foreign Power, and chose +the young Duke William of Cleves, who hastened to +visit Nimeguen, where he was acclaimed by his future +subjects. This was a clear breach of faith, since, by +the treaty concluded a year before with the Emperor, +Guelders was to pass into his hands at Charles of +Egmont's death, and the ancient rights to the duchy +which the House of Cleves formerly claimed had +been already sold to the Dukes of Burgundy.<a name="FNanchor_157" id="FNanchor_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> Mary's +indignation was great. She wrote angrily to tell +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>William of Cleves that Guelders was the property of +the Emperor, and that if he persevered in his pretensions +all idea of his marriage to her niece must be +abandoned. The young Duke returned a courteous +answer, saying that nothing could be farther from +his thoughts than a breach of loyalty to the Emperor, +and professing the utmost anxiety for the marriage. +At the same time the old Duke's action excited +great annoyance in Lorraine, where his nephew, the +reigning Duke Anthony, claimed to be heir to Guelders, +through his mother, Philippa of Egmont. An +attempt to pacify him by reviving a former marriage +contract between his son Francis and the Duke of +Cleves's daughter Anne met with no encouragement, +and Ambassadors were sent to Guelders to enter a +protest on the Duke of Lorraine's behalf.<a name="FNanchor_158" id="FNanchor_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> But +Charles of Egmont turned a deaf ear to all remonstrances, +and on the 27th of January, 1538, William +of Cleves received the homage of the States of Guelders, +and was publicly recognized as the old Duke's successor.</p> + +<p>Such was the state of affairs when Christina reached +Brussels on the 8th of December, 1537. Her faithful +guardian, Montmorency, alludes to the Cleves marriage +in the following letter, which he addressed to +Cardinal Caracciolo on the 5th of January, 1538:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I wrote last from Trent on the 26th of October, +and since then have received several letters from you, +and have duly informed the Duchess of their contents. +She is very grateful for your kindness regarding her +affairs, and begs you not to relax your efforts.... +As to Madama's marriage with Cleves, as far as I can +learn, it will not take place, because the Duke has +quarrelled with Lorraine, and Guelders is interfering. +Negotiations, however, are not yet broken off."</p></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> +<p>Three months later he referred to the matter again +in another letter, and this time expressed his conviction +that the marriage would never take place.<a name="FNanchor_159" id="FNanchor_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a></p> + +<p>Montmorency's own claims had not been forgotten. +Soon after his return he married a lady of the Lannoy +family, and was appointed Bailiff of Alost. Both +Charles and Mary treated him with marked favour, +and employed him on important diplomatic missions. +But he still held an honorary post in the Duchess's +household, and never ceased to be her devoted +servant.</p> + +<p>During the winter Hutton alluded repeatedly to +the affair of Cleves in his letters to Cromwell, saying +that the Duke had been recognized by the Communes +of Guelders as their liege lord, and that the Queen +quite refused to let him wed the Duchess, although +he was still eager for the alliance. All sorts of wild +rumours were flying about, and an Italian merchant +at Antwerp wrote to London that young Cleves was +about to marry the daughter of Lorraine, with +Guelders as her dowry. But on the 25th of January +Hutton reported that the Queen had sent Nassau and +De Praet to Duke William, to break off marriage +negotiations and clear her of all former promises.<a name="FNanchor_160" id="FNanchor_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1538</span>] THE PALACE OF BRABANT</div> + +<p>Christina herself was the person least concerned in +these rumours. Princes and Ministers might wrangle +as they chose; they could not destroy the happiness of +being in her old home, surrounded by familiar faces. +The sound of the French tongue and the carillon +in the towers were music in her ears. Three things +above all impressed Italian travellers, like Guicciardini +and Beatis, who came to the Low Countries for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>the first time—the cleanliness of the streets and +houses, the green pastures with their herds of black +and white cows, and the beautiful church bells. These +were all delightful to the young Duchess, who had been +so long absent from her old home. The city of Brussels, +with its fine houses and noble churches, its famous +hôtel-de-ville, and 350 fountains, was a pleasant town +to live in. And the Palace of Brabant itself was a +wonderful place. There was the great hall, with its lofty +pointed arches, and priceless Burgundian tapestries, +and the golden suns and silver moons recently brought +back from the New World by Cortes, the conqueror +of Mexico.</p> + +<p>The Queen gave Christina a suite of rooms close to +her own, looking out on the glossy leaves and interwoven +boughs of the labyrinth, and the gardens beyond, +which Albert Dürer had called an earthly +paradise, and which the Cardinal of Aragon's secretary +pronounced to be as beautiful as any in Italy.<a name="FNanchor_161" id="FNanchor_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> +Here the young Duchess lived with her ladies and +household, presided over by Benedetto da Corte and +Niccolò Belloni. Every morning she attended Mass +in the Court chapel, and dined and spent the evenings +with the Queen. On fine days, when Mary +could spare time from public affairs, they rode out +together and hunted the deer in the park, or took longer +expeditions in the Forest of Soignies. As fearless and +almost as untiring a rider as her aunt, Christina was +quite at home in the saddle, and followed the Queen's +example of riding with her foot in the stirrup, an +accomplishment which was new in those days, and +excited Brantôme's admiration.<a name="FNanchor_162" id="FNanchor_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<p>The following Christmas was celebrated with great +festivity at Brussels. The war was over, and the +presence of a youthful Princess gave new charm to +Court functions. Wherever Christina went she made +herself beloved. Her quick wit and frank enjoyment +of simple pleasures charmed everyone. Although in +public she still wore heavy mourning robes after the +Italian fashion, and hid away her bright chestnut +locks under a black hood, in the evening, by her +aunt's desire, she laid aside her weeds, and appeared +clad in rich brocades and glittering jewels. Then she +conversed freely with her aunt's ladies and with the +foreign Ambassadors, or played cards with the few +great nobles who were admitted to the Queen's +private circle—Henry, Count of Nassau, the proudest +and richest lord in Flanders; the Duke of Aerschot +and his wife, Anne de Croy, the heiress of the Princes +of Chimay; his sister, Madame de Berghen; Count +Büren; and a few others.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1538</span>] A PERFECT KNIGHT</div> + +<p>Among them was one whom the young Duchess +regarded with especial interest. This was the hero +of S. Pol, René, Prince of Orange. The only son and +heir of the great House of Nassau, René had inherited +the principality of Orange, in the South of France, +from his uncle Philibert of Châlons, the Imperialist +leader who fell at the siege of Florence, and whose +sister Claude was Henry of Nassau's first wife. As +a child René had been Prince John of Denmark's +favourite playmate, and Christina had not forgotten +her brother's old friend. Now he had grown up a +handsome and chivalrous Prince, skilled in all knightly +exercises. He had won his first laurels in the recent +campaign, and was the foremost of the valiant band +which surprised the citadel of S. Pol. The Queen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +honoured him with her especial favour, and, as the +Nassau house stood close to the palace, the young +Prince was often in her company. When, on Shrove +Sunday, a grand tournament was held at Court, one +troop, clad in blue, was led by Count Büren's eldest +son, Floris d'Egmont; and the other by René, wearing +the orange colours of his house, with the proud motto, +<i>Je maintiendrai</i>. Christina looked down from her +place at the Queen's side on the lists where the +gallant Prince challenged all comers, and it was from +her hand that the victor received the prize. Neither +of them ever forgot that carnival.<a name="FNanchor_163" id="FNanchor_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_128" id="Footnote_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> Potenze Sovrane, 1535. Archivio di Stato.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_129" id="Footnote_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> Burigozzo, 528.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_130" id="Footnote_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> G. de Leva, "Storia Documentata di Carlo V.," etc., iii. 152.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_131" id="Footnote_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," ii. 407, 446, 435.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_132" id="Footnote_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> Granvelle, ii. 407.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_133" id="Footnote_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 1, 586; Granvelle, +ii. 417.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_134" id="Footnote_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> Burigozzo, 532.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_135" id="Footnote_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> Museo Civico di Storia Patria, Pavia, 546.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_136" id="Footnote_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> L. Gachard, "Voyages des Souverains des Pays-Bas," ii. 133.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_137" id="Footnote_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 2, 230.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_138" id="Footnote_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> Autografi di Principi, Archivio di Stato (see Appendix II.).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_139" id="Footnote_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> Aretino, "Lettere," i. 45.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_140" id="Footnote_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> "Correspondance de Charles V. avec J. de Montmorency, +Seigneur de Courrières," Papiers d'État de l'Audience, No. 82, +p. 1, Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_141" id="Footnote_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> Carteggio con Montmorency, Archivio di Stato, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_142" id="Footnote_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> Autografi di Principi, Archivio di Stato, Milan (see Appendix +III.).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_143" id="Footnote_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> Papiers d'État, 82. 2, 12, Archives du Royaume.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_144" id="Footnote_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 2, 353.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_145" id="Footnote_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> Papiers d'État, 82, 8-10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_146" id="Footnote_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> Papiers d'État. 82, 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_147" id="Footnote_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> Autografi di Principi, Archivio di Stato, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_148" id="Footnote_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> "Carteggio con Montmorency, Conte di Corea," 1537-38, +Archivio di Stato, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_149" id="Footnote_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> L. Pastor, "Geschichte d. Papste," iv. 375; M. Guazzo, 371.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_150" id="Footnote_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> Papiers d'État, 82, 13, Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_151" id="Footnote_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> Papiers d'État, 82, 19; State Papers, Record Office, +viii. 6; Calendar of State Papers, xii. 2, 415, 419.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_152" id="Footnote_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> Lanz, ii. 657.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_153" id="Footnote_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> Lanz, iii. 667, 677.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_154" id="Footnote_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, vii. 695.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_155" id="Footnote_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> Lanz, ii. 675.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_156" id="Footnote_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., xii. 2, 231.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_157" id="Footnote_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> Henne, vii. 263, 267.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_158" id="Footnote_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., xiii. 1, 35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_159" id="Footnote_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> Carteggio Diplomatico, 1537-38, Archivio di Stato, Milan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_160" id="Footnote_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> State Papers, xiii. 1, 8; Record Office, viii. 27, 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_161" id="Footnote_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> L. Pastor, "Reise des Kardinal Luigi d'Aragona," 116. +L. Guicciardini, "Paesi-Bassi," 74.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_162" id="Footnote_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> "Œuvres," xii. 107.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_163" id="Footnote_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> State Papers, Henry VIII., Record Office, viii. 16.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p></div></div> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>BOOK VI<br /> + +THE COURTSHIP OF HENRY VIII.<br /> + +1537-1539</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>The Widow of Milan's fate still hung in the balance. +While Mary of Hungary had not yet lost all hope of +marrying her to the Duke of Cleves, and Queen +Eleanor was no less anxious to see her the wife of a +French Prince, fresh proposals reached Brussels from +an unexpected quarter. This new suitor was none +other than the Emperor's <i>bel oncle</i>, King Henry of England. +This monarch, who had openly defied the laws +of the Church, and after divorcing Charles's aunt, had +pronounced Queen Katherine's daughter to be illegitimate, +could hardly expect to find favour in the eyes of +the Regent. Mary's own opinion of Henry's character +is frankly given in a very interesting letter which she +wrote to her brother Ferdinand in May, 1536, when the +King of England had sent Anne Boleyn to the block +and made Jane Seymour his third wife.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1536</span>] HENRY VIII. AND HIS WIVES</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I hope," she wrote, "that the English will not +do us much harm now we are rid of the King's mistress, +who was a good Frenchwoman, and whom, as +you have no doubt heard, he has beheaded; and since +no one skilful enough to do the deed could be found +among his own subjects, he sent for the executioner +of S. Omer, in order that a Frenchman should be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>the minister of his vengeance. I hear that he has +married another lady, who is said to be a good Imperialist, +although I do not know if she will remain +so much longer. He is said to have taken a fancy +to her before the last one's death, which, coupled +with the fact that neither the poor woman nor any +of those who were beheaded with her, saving one +miserable musician, could be brought to acknowledge +her guilt, naturally makes people suspect that he +invented this pretext in order to get rid of her.... +It is to be hoped—if one can hope anything from such +a man—that when he is tired of this wife he will +find some better way of getting rid of her. Women, +I think, would hardly be pleased if such customs +became general, and with good reason; and although +I have no wish to expose myself to similar risks, yet, +as I belong to the feminine sex, I, too, will pray that +God may preserve us from such perils."<a name="FNanchor_164" id="FNanchor_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a></p></div> + +<p>But whatever Mary's private opinions were, political +reasons compelled her to preserve a friendly demeanour +towards King Henry. The English alliance +was of the utmost importance to the trade of the +Netherlands, and the enmity of France made it essential +to secure Henry's neutrality, if not his active +help. The death of Queen Katherine, as Cromwell +wrote, had removed "the onelie matter of unkindness" +between the two monarchs, and was soon followed +by more friendly communications. When the +news of Prince Edward's birth reached Spain, the +Emperor held a long conversation with Sir Thomas +Wyatt, the poet and scholar, who had been sent to +the Imperial Court early in 1537. He expressed +great pleasure at the news, laughing and talking +pleasantly, inquiring after the size and goodliness of +the child, and ended by saying frankly that he +approved of the King's recent marriage as much as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +he had always disliked his union with Anne Boleyn.<a name="FNanchor_165" id="FNanchor_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> +These last remarks must have fallen strangely on the +ears of Wyatt, whose old intimacy with the hapless +Queen had nearly cost him his life, and whose death +he lamented in some of his sweetest verse. But he +was too good a courtier not to repeat them in his letters +to Cromwell and the King. The news of the Prince's +birth was shortly followed by that of the Queen's +death, which took place at Hampton Court on the +24th of October.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Divine Providence," said the royal widower, +"has mingled my joy for the son which it has pleased +God to give me with the bitterness of the death of +her who brought me this happiness."</p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Dec., 1537</span>] MARIE DE GUISE</div> + +<p>Cromwell wrote to inform Lord William Howard, +the special Envoy who had taken the news of the +Prince's birth to France, of Her Grace's death, and +in the same letter desired him to bring back particulars +of two French ladies who had been recommended +as suitable successors to the late Queen, +since His Majesty, "moved by tender zeal for his +subjects," had already resolved to marry again. One +of these was King Francis's plain but accomplished +daughter Margaret, who eventually married the Duke +of Savoy, although Cromwell, knowing his master's +tastes, remarked that, from what he heard, he +"did not think she would be the meetest."<a name="FNanchor_166" id="FNanchor_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> The +other was Mary, Duchess of Longueville, the eldest +daughter of Claude de Guise, brother of the Duke of +Lorraine. The charms of this young widow were +renowned at the French Court, and the English +Ambassador's reports of her modesty and beauty +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>inspired Henry with an ardent wish to make her his +wife. Even before Jane Seymour was in her grave, +he attacked the French Ambassador, Castillon, on the +subject, and suggested that both these Princesses, +and any other ladies whom the King of France could +recommend, might be sent to meet him at Calais.<a name="FNanchor_167" id="FNanchor_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a></p> + +<p>Francis, who was more gallant in his relations with +women than his brother of England, laughed long and +loudly when this message reached him, and sent +Castillon word that royal Princesses could not be +trotted out like hackney horses for hire! He quite +declined to allow his daughter to enter the lists; and +as for Madame de Longueville, whom the King was +pleased to honour with his suit, she was already +promised to his son-in-law, the King of Scots. This +fickle monarch, who had courted Dorothea and Christina +by turn, and finally married Madeleine de Valois, +had lost his young wife at the end of six months, +and was already in search of another. At the same +time Francis sent his royal brother word that he +should count it a great honour if he could find a +bride in his realm, and that any other lady in France +was at his command.<a name="FNanchor_168" id="FNanchor_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> But Henry was not accustomed +to have his wishes thwarted, and in December, +1537, he sent a gentleman of his chamber, Sir Peter +Mewtas, on a secret mission to Joinville, the Duke +of Guise's castle on the borders of Lorraine, to wait +on Madame de Longueville, and find out if her word +was already pledged. Both Madame de Longueville +and her clever mother, Antoinette de Bourbon, re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>turned +evasive answers, saying that the Duke of +Guise had agreed to the marriage with King James, +but that his daughter's consent had never been given. +This reply encouraged Henry to persevere with his +suit, while Mewtas's description of the Duchess's +beauty, in Castillon's words, "set the tow on fire." He +complained that his brother had behaved shamefully +in preferring the beggarly King of Scots to him, and +was forcing the lady to marry James against her will. +In vain Castillon told him that Madame de Longueville +had been promised to the King of Scots before Queen +Jane's death, and that Francis could not break his +word without mortally offending his old ally and son-in-law. +Nothing daunted, Henry sent Mewtas again +to Joinville in February, 1538, to obtain Madame de +Longueville's portrait, and ask if she were still free. +This time his errand proved fruitless. The marriage +with the King of Scots was already concluded, and +the contract signed. Nevertheless, Henry still harped +on the same string. "Il revient toujours à ses +moutons," wrote Castillon, "et ne peut pas oublier +sa bergère." "Truly he is a marvellous man!"<a name="FNanchor_169" id="FNanchor_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a></p> + +<p>Meanwhile Cromwell, who had no personal inclination +for the French alliance, was making inquiries in +other directions. Early in December, while Mewtas +was on his way to Joinville, the Lord Privy Seal wrote +privately to Hutton, desiring him to send him a list +of ladies in Flanders who would be suitable consorts +for the King. In a letter written on the 4th of December, +the Ambassador replied that he had little +knowledge of ladies, and feared he knew no one at +the Regent's Court "meet to be Queen of England."</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Dec., 1537</span>] A GOODLY PERSON</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The widow of Count Egmont," he wrote, "was +a fair woman of good report, and the Duke of Cleves +had a marriageable daughter, but he heard no great +praise of her person or beauty. There is," he added, +"the Duchess of Milan, whom I have not seen, but +who is reported to be a goodly personage of excellent +beauty."<a name="FNanchor_170" id="FNanchor_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a></p></div> + +<p>Five days later Hutton wrote again, to announce +the arrival of the Duchess, who entered Brussels on +the 8th, and was received by a great company of +honourable gentlemen.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"She is, I am informed, of the age of sixteen years, +very high in stature for that age—higher, in fact, +than the Regent—and a goodly personage of competent +beauty, of favour excellent, soft of speech, +and very gentle in countenance. She weareth mourning +apparel, after the manner of Italy. The common +saying here is that she is both widow and maid. She +resembleth much one Mistress Skelton,<a name="FNanchor_171" id="FNanchor_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> that sometime +waited in Court upon Queen Anne. She useth +most to speak French, albeit it is reported that she +can speak both Italian and High German."</p></div> + +<p>The same evening Hutton added these further +details in a postscript addressed to Cromwell's secretary, +Thomas Wriothesley:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"If it were God's pleasure and the King's, I would +there were some good alliance made betwixt His +Highness and the Emperor, and there is none in these +parts of personage, beauty, and birth, like unto the +Duchess of Milan. She is not so pure white as was +the late Queen, whose soul God pardon, but she hath +a singular good countenance, and when she chanceth +to smile, there appeareth two pits in her cheeks and +one in her chin, the which becometh her right excellently +well."<a name="FNanchor_172" id="FNanchor_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p> + +<p>The honest Englishman's first impressions of Christina +were evidently very favourable. During the +next week he watched her carefully, and was much +struck by "the great majesty of her bearing and charm +of her manners." At the same time he expressed his +earnest conviction that, now peace was concluded +between the Emperor and the French King, a close +alliance between his own master and the Emperor +was the more necessary, and suggested that a marriage +between Henry and the Duchess, and another between +the Princess Mary and the Duke of Cleves, +would be very advantageous to both monarchs, who +would then have all Germany at their command.</p> + +<p>Cromwell lost no time in placing these letters in +his master's hands. Hutton's account of the Duchess's +beauty and virtues made a profound impression +on the King, and, since Madame de Longueville was +beyond his reach, he determined to pay his addresses +to the Emperor's niece. With characteristic impetuosity, +he wrote to Wyatt on the 22nd of January, +saying that, as the Duchess of Milan's match with +the Duke of Cleves was broken off, he thought of +honouring her with an offer of marriage. This he +desired Wyatt to suggest as of himself, in conversation +with the Emperor and his Ministers, Granvelle +and Covos, giving them a friendly hint to make overtures +on behalf of the said Duchess.<a name="FNanchor_173" id="FNanchor_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1538</span>] KING HENRY'S SUIT</div> + +<p>Strangely enough, two years before Charles had +himself proposed this alliance between his niece and +the King of England. In May, 1536, when he was +hurrying northwards to defend Savoy against the +French, the news of Anne Boleyn's fall reached him +at Vercelli. Without a moment's delay he wrote to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>Chapuys, his Ambassador in London, saying that, +since Henry, being of so amorous a complexion, was +sure to take another wife, and it was most important +that he should not marry in France, Chapuys might +propose his union with one of the Emperor's nieces, +either Queen Eleanor's daughter, the Infanta Maria +of Portugal, or the widowed Duchess of Milan, "a +beautiful young lady, very well brought up, and +with a rich dower." And then, as if a qualm had +seized him at the thought of sacrificing Christina to +a man of Henry's character, he added a postscript +desiring the Ambassador not to mention the Duchess +unless His Majesty should appear averse to the +other.<a name="FNanchor_174" id="FNanchor_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a></p> + +<p>By the time, however, that these letters reached +London, it was plain that the fickle monarch's affections +were already fixed on Jane Seymour, and +nothing more came of the Emperor's proposal until, +in January, 1538, Henry himself wrote to Wyatt. +Sir Thomas, who knew his royal master intimately, +hastened to approach the Emperor, and on the 2nd of +February Charles wrote from Barcelona to Chapuys, +saying that, although royal ladies ought by right to +be <i>sought</i>, not <i>offered</i>, in marriage, the King's language +was so frank and sincere that he was willing to +waive ceremony, and lend a favourable ear to his +brother's proposal. Before these letters reached the +Imperial Ambassador, he received a message from +Henry, saying that he wished to treat of his own +marriage with the Duchess of Milan, being convinced +that a Princess born and bred in Northern climes +would suit him far better than the Portuguese +Infanta. The next day Cromwell paid a visit to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +Chapuys, and confirmed every word of the royal +message.<a name="FNanchor_175" id="FNanchor_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a></p> + +<p>On the eve of Valentine's Day Henry saw Castillon, +and told him in bitter tones that, if his master did not +choose to give him Madame de Longueville, he could +find plenty of better matches, and meant to marry +the Duchess of Milan and conclude a close alliance +with the Emperor.<a name="FNanchor_176" id="FNanchor_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a></p> + +<p>On the same day the German reformer Melanchthon, +writing from Jena to a Lutheran friend, summed up +the situation neatly in the following words:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Widow of Milan, daughter of Christian, the +captive King of Denmark, was brought to Germany +to wed the young Duke of Juliers. This is now +changed, for Juliers becomes heir to Guelders, against +the Emperor's will, and the girl is offered to the +Englishman, whom the Spaniards, aiming at universal +empire, would join to themselves against the Frenchmen +and us. There is grave matter for your consideration."<a name="FNanchor_177" id="FNanchor_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a></p></div> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>The ball was now set rolling, but, as Chapuys foretold, +there were many difficulties in the way. For the +moment, however, all went well. Henry sent Hutton +orders to watch the Duchess closely, and report on +all her words, deeds, and looks. In obedience to +these commands, the Ambassador hung about the +palace from early morning till late at night, was present +at supper and card parties, attended the Queen +out riding and hunting, and lost no opportunity +of entering into conversation with Christina herself.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1538</span>] HUTTON'S ADVANCES</div> + +<p>One evening towards the end of February a page +brought him some letters from the Duchess's servant, +Gian Battista Ferrari, who had friends among the +Italian merchants in London, with a request that +the Ambassador would forward them by his courier. +The next morning, after Mass, when the Queen passed +into the Council-chamber, Hutton took advantage of +this opportunity to thank the Duchess most humbly +for allowing him to do her this small service. Christina +replied, with a gracious smile, that she would not have +ventured to give him this trouble, had she not been +as ready herself to do him any pleasure that lay in +her power.</p> + +<p>It was stormy weather. For three days and nights +it had rained without ceasing, and courtiers and +ladies alike found the time hang heavy on their hands. +"This weather liketh not the Queen," remarked +Christina, who was standing by an open window +looking out on the park. "She is thereby penned up, +and cannot ride abroad to hunt." As she spoke, the +wind drove the rain with such violence into her face +that she was obliged to draw back farther into the +room, and Hutton, growing bolder, asked if it were +true that the Duchess herself loved hunting. +"Nothing better," replied Christina, laughing; and +she seemed as if she would gladly have prolonged the +conversation. But then two ancient gentlemen drew +near—"Master Bernadotte Court, her Grand Master, +who, next to Monsieur de Courrières, is chief about +her and another"—and, with a parting bow, the +Duchess retired to her own rooms.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"She speaketh French," adds Hutton in reporting +this interview to Cromwell, "and seemeth to be of +few words. And in her speaking she lispeth, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +doth nothing misbecome her. I cannot in anything +perceive but she should be of much soberness, very +wise, and no less gentle."<a name="FNanchor_178" id="FNanchor_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a></p></div> + +<p>Among the ladies who came to Court for the +Carnival fêtes, Hutton found a friend in the +Duke of Aerschot's sister, Madame de Berghen, a +lively lady whom he had known in the town of +Berghen-op-Zoom, where he had spent much time as +Governor of the Merchant Adventurers. The Dutch +merchants in this city had presented him with a +house, an honour which the Ambassador appreciated +highly, although he complained that it led him into +great extravagance, and that the furniture, tapestries, +and pictures, necessary for its adornment, "plucked +the lining out of his purse, and left him as rich as a +newly-shorn sheep."<a name="FNanchor_179" id="FNanchor_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">March, 1538</span>] "MR. HAUNCE"</div> + +<p>One day Madame de Berghen saw Hutton in the +act of delivering a packet of letters which Wyatt had +forwarded from Barcelona to the Queen, and her +curiosity was excited by the warmth of Mary's thanks. +That evening she invited the English Ambassador to +dinner to meet her kinsman the Bishop of Liége, "a +goodly personage," remarks Hutton, "but a man of +little learning and less discretion, and, like most +Bishops in these parts, very unfit for his office." +When this secular ecclesiastic retired, the Lady +Marchioness, "whose tongue always wagged freely," +asked Hutton if the letters which he had delivered to +the Queen came from England, and confessed that +she hoped they contained good news regarding the +Duchess of Milan, whose beauty, wisdom, and great +gentleness, she could not praise too highly. She told +him that he would have been amazed had he seen +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>Christina gorgeously apparelled as she was the day +before, and confided to him that the Duchess was +having her portrait taken by the Court painter, +Bernard van Orley, and had promised to give it to +her. Hutton begged to be allowed to borrow the picture +in order to show it to his wife, and told Cromwell +that as soon as he could secure the portrait he would +send it to England. Accordingly, on the 9th of +March the Ambassador received the picture, which +Madame de Berghen begged him to accept as her gift, +and sent a servant to bear it without delay to the +Lord Privy Seal's house in St. James's. Late on the +following evening, much to the Ambassador's surprise, +a young Shropshire gentleman, named Mr. +Philip Hoby, who had lately entered Cromwell's service, +appeared at his lodgings, accompanied by the +King's painter, Master Hans Holbein. At this time +the German master was at the height of his reputation. +Since 1536, when he entered Henry's service as Court +painter, he had executed some of his finest portraits, +including the famous picture of the King in Whitehall +Palace, the superb portrait of Queen Jane, and that +of Cromwell himself, which is so marvellous a revelation +of character. Now the Lord Privy Seal sent him +across the Channel to take a sketch of the Duchess +of Milan, and bring it back with all possible despatch.</p> + +<p>Hutton's first idea was to send a messenger to stop +the bearer of the Flemish portrait, fearing it might +give a wrong impression of the lady, "since it was +not so perfect as the cause required, and as the said +Mr. Haunce could make it." But his servant had +already sailed, and the Ambassador could only beg +Cromwell to await Master Hans's return before he +formed any opinion of the Duchess. The next morn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>ing +he waited on the Queen, and informed her how +the Lord Privy Seal, having received secret overtures +from the Imperial Ambassador for a marriage +between the King's Majesty and Her Grace of Milan, +thought the best way to approach the King was to +show him a portrait of the Duchess.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"And forasmuch as his lordship heard great +commendation of the form, beauty, wisdom, and +other virtuous qualities, with which God had endowed +the Duchess, he could perceive no means more +meet for the advancement of the same than to procure +her perfect picture, for which he had sent a +man very excellent in the making of physiognomies."</p></div> + +<p>After long and elaborate explanation, Hutton asked +humbly if his lordship's servant might salute the +Duchess, and beg her to appoint a time and place for +the painter to accomplish his task.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">March, 1538</span>] HOLBEIN'S PORTRAIT</div> + +<p>Mary was evidently greatly surprised to hear of +the Ambassador's errand. She started from her +chair in amazement, but, quickly recovering composure, +she sat down again, and listened attentively +till Hutton had done speaking. Then she +thanked him and Lord Cromwell for their good-will +to the Emperor, and said that she had no objection +to grant his request, and that he should see the +Duchess herself. With these few words she rose +and passed into the Council-chamber. Presently +Christina entered the room, attended by two ladies. +She listened graciously to Hutton's message, expressed +her gratitude to Lord Cromwell for his kind +intentions, and sent Benedetto da Corte back with +him to meet the English gentleman. Fortunately, +Philip Hoby was a pleasant and cultivated young +man who could speak Italian fluently. He conversed +for some time with Messer Benedetto, much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +to Hutton's envy and admiration, and at two o'clock +that afternoon was conducted by him into the +presence of the Duchess.</p> + +<p>Cromwell had given Hoby minute instructions as +to his behaviour on this occasion, and had composed +a long and elaborate speech which he was to deliver +to Christina herself.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The said Philip shall, as of himself, express a +wish that it might please the King, now a widower, +to advance Her Grace to the honour of Queen of +England, considering her virtuous qualities were a +great deal more than ever was notified, and for a great +confirmation of amity and love to continue between +the Emperor's Majesty and the King's Highness."</p></div> + +<p>Hoby was charged to take careful note of the +Duchess's answers, gestures, and expression, and +was especially to note if she seemed favourably +inclined to these proposals, in order that he might +be able to satisfy Henry's anxiety on the subject.<a name="FNanchor_180" id="FNanchor_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a></p> + +<p>Philip Hoby was too accomplished a courtier not +to discharge his errand with tact and courtesy. The +Duchess was graciously pleased to accede to his +request, and at one o'clock the next day Holbein was +ushered by Messer Benedetto into his mistress's +presence. The time allowed for the sitting was short, +but Master Hans was an adept at his art, and had +already taken drawings in this swift and masterly +fashion of all the chief personages at the English Court.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Having but three hours' space," wrote Hutton, +"he showed himself to be master of that science. +For his picture is very perfect; the other is but +slobbered in comparison to it, as by the sight of +both your lordship shall well perceive."<a name="FNanchor_181" id="FNanchor_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p> + +<p>An hour afterwards Hoby and the painter both +took leave of the Duchess and started for England. +In order to avoid suspicion and observe the +strict secrecy enjoined by Cromwell, Hoby did not +even seek a farewell audience from the Regent, +who contented herself with sending friendly greetings +to the Lord Privy Seal, saying that he should hear +from her more at large through the Imperial Ambassadors.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">March</span>, 1538 AT HAMPTON COURT</div> + +<p>The precious sketch, from which Holbein afterwards +made "the great table"<a name="FNanchor_182" id="FNanchor_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> which hung in the Palace of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>Westminster until Henry's death, was safely delivered +into Cromwell's hands, and shown by him to +the King on the 18th of March. Henry was singularly +pleased with the portrait, and, as his courtiers +noticed, seemed to be in better humour than for +months past. For the first time since Queen Jane's +death he sent for his musicians, and made them play +to him all the afternoon and evening. Two days +afterwards he went to Hampton Court, and "gave +orders for new and sumptuous buildings" at this +riverside palace. After that he returned to Whitehall +by water, accompanied by his whole troop of +musicians, paid a visit to his brother-in-law's wife, +Katherine, Duchess of Suffolk, and resumed his old +habit of going about with a few of his favourites in +masks—"a sure sign," remarked Chapuys, "that he +is going to marry again."</p> + +<p>The Imperial Ambassadors, Chapuys and his +colleague Don Diego Mendoza, were now treated with +extraordinary civility. They were invited to Hampton +Court, where Henry entertained them at a +splendid banquet, and showed them his "fine new +lodgings" and the priceless tapestries and works of +art with which Cardinal Wolsey had adorned this +magnificent house. The next day they were taken +to the royal manor of Nonsuch to see the little Prince, +"one of the prettiest children you ever saw, and his +sister, Madam Elizabeth, who is also a sweet little +girl." Then they went on to Richmond to visit Princess +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>Mary, who played to them with rare skill on both +spinet and lute, and spoke of her cousin the Emperor +in terms of the deepest gratitude. The French +Ambassadors, Castillon and the Bishop of Tarbes, +who arrived at Hampton Court just as the Imperial +Envoys were leaving, were received with marked +coolness, a treatment, as Chapuys shrewdly remarks, +"no doubt artfully designed to excite their jealousy."<a name="FNanchor_183" id="FNanchor_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">March, 1538</span>] CHRISTINA'S CHARM</div> + +<p>The sight of Holbein's portrait revived Henry's wish +to see Christina, and he pressed Chapuys earnestly to +induce his good sister the Queen of Hungary to bring +her niece to meet him at Calais. But on this point Mary +was obdurate. She told the Ambassador that this +was out of the question, and although she wrote civilly +to the Lord Privy Seal, thanking him for his good offices, +she complained bitterly to Chapuys of Cromwell's +extraordinary proceeding in sending the painter to +Brussels, and laid great stress on her condescension +in allowing him to take her niece's portrait. So far +Charles himself had never written fully to his sister +on the subject, and Mary asked Chapuys repeatedly +if these proposals really came from the Emperor, +and if the King and Cromwell were sincere. As for +her part, she believed these flattering words were +merely intended to deceive her. Chapuys could only +assure her that both Henry and his Minister were +very much in earnest. When the courier arrived +from Spain, the King was bitterly disappointed +because there was no letter from Charles, and sent +Cromwell twice to implore the Ambassadors, for +God's sake, to tell him if they had any good news +to impart. On Lady Day the Minister came to +Chapuys's lodgings, and, after two hours' earnest conversation, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>went away "somewhat consoled." The +next day Henry sent for the Ambassadors, and discussed +the subject in the frankest, most familiar +manner, ending by saying with a merry laugh: +"You think it a good joke, I trow, to see me in love +at my age!"</p> + +<p>In his impatience, Henry complained that Hutton +was remiss in his duties, and did not say enough +about the Duchess in his despatches. Yet the +excellent Ambassador was unremitting in his attendance +on Her Grace, and spent many hours daily at +Court, watching her closely when she danced or played +at cards, and telling the King that he "felt satisfied +that her great modesty and gentleness proceeded from +no want of wit, but that she was rather to be esteemed +wisest among the wise."<a name="FNanchor_184" id="FNanchor_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a></p> + +<p>From the day of Hoby's visit Christina treated +Hutton with marked friendliness, and threw aside +much of her reserve in talking with him. On the +bright spring days, when the Queen and her niece +hunted daily in the forest, the Englishman seldom +failed to accompany them. He admired the Duchess's +bold horsemanship, and was much struck by the +evident delight which she and her aunt took in +this favourite sport. By way of ingratiating himself +with Mary, he presented her with four couple +of English hounds, "the fairest that he had ever +seen," and a fine gelding, which made Christina +remark that he had done the Queen a great pleasure, +and that she had never seen her aunt so well mounted. +Hutton hastened to reply that, since Her Grace was +good enough to admire the horse, he would do his +utmost to secure another as good for her own use,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +which offer she accepted graciously.<a name="FNanchor_185" id="FNanchor_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> All these incidents +naturally provoked attention, and, in spite +of the secrecy with which the negotiations were +carried on, the King's marriage with the Duchess of +Milan was freely discussed both in Flanders and in +England.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Few Englishmen," wrote the Duke of Norfolk +to Cromwell on the 6th of April, "will regret the +King of Scots' marriage to Madame de Longueville, +hoping that one of Burgundian blood may have the +place she might have had."<a name="FNanchor_186" id="FNanchor_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a></p></div> + +<p>And the report that after Easter the King was going +to meet his future bride at Calais became so persistent +that even Castillon believed it, and complained to +his royal master of the strange alteration in Henry's +behaviour, and of the marvellous haughtiness and +coldness with which he was now treated.<a name="FNanchor_187" id="FNanchor_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a></p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">March, 1538</span>] MARRIAGE NEGOTIATIONS</div> + +<p>On the 27th of March the Imperial Ambassadors +dined at the Lord Privy Seal's house, to meet +Archbishop Cranmer, Chancellor Audley, Thomas +Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, the Lord High Admiral +Southampton, and two other Bishops, who were the +Commissioners appointed to treat of two royal marriages. +One of these was the long-planned union of +Princess Mary with the Infant Don Louis of Portugal, +brother of the reigning King, which was the ostensible +object of Don Diego's mission to England. The other +was the King's own marriage with the Duchess, which +Henry sent word must be arranged at once, since +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>until this was concluded he absolutely refused to +treat of his daughter's alliance with the Infant. As +they sat down at table, by way of <i>Benedicite</i>, remarks +Chapuys, the King's deputies began by rejoicing +to think they had not to deal with Frenchmen, +and pouring scorn on their mendacious habits. But +before the end of the meeting many difficulties had +arisen. First of all the English Commissioners demanded +that the Count Palatine should renounce all +his wife's rights to the crown of Denmark without +compensation. Then the question of the Papal +dispensation, which was necessary owing to Christina's +relationship to Katherine of Aragon, was +mooted, and, as Chapuys soon realized, was likely to +prove an insuperable difficulty, since nothing would +induce Henry to recognize the Pope's authority.<a name="FNanchor_188" id="FNanchor_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a></p> + +<p>During the next few weeks several meetings between +the Commissioners took place, and the Ambassadors +were repeatedly admitted to confer with +the King and his Privy Council; but little progress +was made, and Chapuys informed the Regent that +there was even less hope of agreement than there +had been at first. Henry on his part complained +loudly of the coldness of the Imperial Envoys, and +of their evident desire to push forward the Portuguese +marriage and drop his own, which was the one thing +for which he really cared.<a name="FNanchor_189" id="FNanchor_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> An attempt to effect +some mode of reconciliation between him and the +Pope only incensed Henry, who sent two Doctors of +Law, Bonner and Haynes, to Madrid, to protest +against the meeting of a General Council, and to +point out how the Bishops of Rome wrested Scripture +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>to the maintenance of their lusts and worldly advantage. +And he told Don Diego angrily that the +meeting of a Council would do him the worst injury +in the world, since if he refused to attend it he would +be cut off from the rest of Christendom.<a name="FNanchor_190" id="FNanchor_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> To add to +the King's ill-temper, he was suffering from a return +of the ulcers in the leg from which he had formerly +suffered, and for some days his condition excited +serious alarm.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1538</span>] LOUISE DE GUISE</div> + +<p>On his recovery, Castillon, who had been looking +on with some amusement while the Emperor's folk +were "busy brewing marriages," approached His +Majesty with flattering words, and tried to instil +suspicions of Cromwell into his mind. Henry swallowed +the bait greedily, and the French Ambassador's +remarks on his favourite's "great Spanish passion" +rankled in his mind to so great an extent that he sent +for Cromwell and rated him soundly, telling him +that he was quite unfit to meddle in the affairs of +Kings. The wily Frenchman, satisfied that the only +way of managing this wayward monarch was to +make him fall in love, took advantage of his present +mood to speak to him of the Queen of Scotland's +sister, Louise de Guise, whom he described as being +quite as beautiful as herself, with the additional +advantage of being a maid, and not a widow. Henry, +who was on his way to Mass when Castillon made +this suggestion, slapped him familiarly on the back, +and laughed, saying he must hear more of this young +lady. The next day the Comptroller of the King's +Household was sent to ask the Ambassador for particulars +about Mademoiselle de Guise, and was told +that she was so like Madame de Longueville that you +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>would hardly know the sisters apart, and that a +Scotchman who had seen both, wondered how King +James could prefer Mary to so lovely a creature as +Louise. The French Ambassador now found himself +overwhelmed with attentions. The King sent +him presents of venison and artichokes from his +gardens, invited him to spend Sunday at Greenwich, +and, when the plague broke out in London, +lent him the beautiful old house in Chelsea which +had belonged to Sir Thomas More, as a country +residence.<a name="FNanchor_191" id="FNanchor_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a></p> + +<p>The wedding of King James was finally celebrated +at Châteaudun on the 9th of May, and, hearing that +the Duke of Guise and his fair daughter Louise had +accompanied the new Queen to Havre, Henry sent +Philip Hoby across the Channel to see Mademoiselle de +Guise and have her picture painted. These orders +were duly executed, and Louise's portrait, probably +painted by Holbein, was placed in the King's hands. +But, although Henry "did not find the portrait ugly," +he was now anxious to see Louise's younger sister, +Renée, who was said to be still more beautiful, and +would not be put off when Castillon told him that +she was about to take the veil in a convent at Reims.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"No doubt," remarked Montmorency, the Constable +of France, "as King Henry has made himself +Pope in his own country, he would prefer a nun to +any other Princess."<a name="FNanchor_192" id="FNanchor_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a></p></div> + +<p>Nothing would now satisfy Henry but that the +French King or Queen should meet him at Calais +with the Duke of Guise's daughters, Mademoiselle de +Lorraine, and Mademoiselle de Vendôme, who had +all been recommended to his notice. When the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>English Envoy, Brian, proposed this to Queen +Eleanor, she replied indignantly that she was not a +keeper of harlots, and the Constable told Castillon +once more that French Princesses were not to be +trotted out like hackneys at a fair. At last the +Ambassador, tired of repeating that this plan was +impossible, asked Henry if the Knights of King +Arthur's Round Table had ever treated ladies in such +a fashion. This brought the King to his senses. +He reddened and hesitated, and, after rubbing his +nose for some moments, said that his proposal might +have sounded a little uncivil, but he had been so +often deceived in these matters that he could trust +no one but himself.<a name="FNanchor_193" id="FNanchor_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a></p> + +<p>Still Henry would not give up all hope of winning +the fair Louise, and towards the end of August he +sent Philip Hoby on a fresh errand to Joinville. As +before, he was to take Holbein with him, and, after +viewing well the younger sister, ask the Duchess +of Guise for leave to take the portraits of both her +daughters, Louise and Renée, "in one faire table." +Hoby was to explain that he had business in these +parts, and that, since he had already made acquaintance +with Mademoiselle de Guise at Havre, he could +not pass Joinville without saluting her. On leaving +Joinville he was to proceed to the Duke of Lorraine's +Court, and inform him that the Lord Privy Seal, +having heard that His Excellency had a daughter of +excellent quality, begged that the King's painter might +be allowed to take her portrait. On the 30th of August +the travellers reached Joinville, as we learn from +the following letter addressed by the Duchess of +Guise to her eldest daughter in Scotland:</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1538</span>] HOLBEIN AT JOINVILLE</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"It is but two days since the King of England's +gentleman who was at Havre, and the painter, were +here. The gentleman came to see me, pretending +that he was on his way to find the Emperor, and, +having heard that Louise was ill, would not pass by +without inquiring after her, that he might take +back news of her health to the King his master. He +begged to be allowed to see her, which he did, although +it was a day when the fever was on her, and repeated +the same words which he had already said to me. +He then told me that, as he was so near Lorraine, +he meant to go on to Nancy to see the country. I +have no doubt that he was going there to draw +Mademoiselle's portrait, in the same way that he has +drawn the others, and so I sent down to the gentleman's +lodgings, and found that the said painter +was there. Since then they have been at Nancy, +where they spent a day and were well feasted and +entertained, and at every meal the <i>maître d'hôtel</i> +ate with them, and many presents were made them. +That is all I know yet, but you see that, at the worst, +if you do not have your sister for a neighbour, you +may yet have your cousin."<a name="FNanchor_194" id="FNanchor_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a></p></div> + +<p>This time Hoby's journey was evidently unsuccessful. +Louise was ill of intermittent fever, and Renée +had already been sent to the convent at Reims, +where she was afterwards professed; and it is clear +from Antoinette's letters that she had no wish to +marry either of her daughters to Henry. A month +before, on the 3rd of August, she wrote to the Queen +of Scotland: "I have heard nothing more of the +proposals which you know of"; and again on the +18th: "I have begged your father to speak of these +affairs to the King, that we may be rid of them if +possible, for no one could ever be happy with such +a man."<a name="FNanchor_195" id="FNanchor_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a></p> + +<p>As for Anne de Lorraine, in spite of many excellent +qualities, she lacked the beauty and charm +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>of her cousins, and, as her aunt Antoinette said, +"elle est bien honnête, mais pas si belle que je +voudrais."<a name="FNanchor_196" id="FNanchor_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1538</span>] HENRY'S SCRUPLES</div> + +<p>The result of these disappointments was to revive +Henry's wish to marry Christina. Several times in +the course of the summer Castillon remarked that +this monarch was still hankering after the Duchess of +Milan, and had repeatedly tried to induce the Regent +to bring her niece to meet him at Brussels. "The +King my master," said Cromwell to Chapuys, "will +never marry one, who is to be his companion for life, +without he has first seen and known her."<a name="FNanchor_197" id="FNanchor_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> In a +long and careful paper of instructions which Henry +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>drew up for the Ambassador Wyatt, he lays great +stress on this point.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"His Grace, prudently considering how that marriage +is a bargain of such nature as may endure for +the whole life of man, and a thing whereof the +pleasure and quiet, or the displeasure and torment, +doth much depend, thinketh it to be most necessary, +both for himself and the party with whom it shall +please God to join him in marriage, that the one +might see the other before the time that they should +be so affianced, which point His Highness hath +largely set forth heretofore to the Emperor's Ambassador."<a name="FNanchor_198" id="FNanchor_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a></p></div> + +<p>But on her side Mary was equally inflexible. +Nothing would induce her to take a step forward +in this direction, and even Hutton began to realize +how coldly the marriage overtures were received at +Brussels. The Queen never failed to ask after the +King's health or to express her anxiety for the +strengthening of the ancient friendship between the +realm of England and the House of Burgundy; but +when the Ambassador ventured to allude to the +subject of her niece's preferment, she invariably +gave an evasive reply. Since both the Queen and +the Duchess spent much of the summer hunting +in the Forest of Soignies, or in more distant parts, +Hutton seldom had an opportunity of seeing Christina. +Her servants were still very friendly, especially +the Lord Benedick Court, as Hutton calls the +Italian master of her household. One evening in +June, when Hutton had been at Court, Benedetto +came back to supper with him, whether of his own +accord or at his mistress's command the Englishman +could not tell. As they walked along the street,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +Benedetto asked the Ambassador if he had brought +the Queen any good news about the Duchess. Hutton +replied that the first good news must come from the +Emperor, and, to his mind, was a long time upon +the road. The old man looked up to heaven, and said +devoutly: "I pray God that I may live to see her +given to your master, even if I die the next day. +But," he added significantly, "there is one doubt in +the matter." Hutton asked eagerly what this might +be, upon which Benedetto explained that, as the +King's first wife, the Lady Katherine, was near of +kin to the Duchess, the marriage could not be +solemnized without the Pope's dispensation, and this +he feared His Majesty would never accept. The +Ambassador replied warmly that he did not know +what might be against the Bishop of Rome's laws, +but that he was quite sure his master would do +nothing against God's laws. Then they sat down to +supper with other guests, and nothing further was +said on the subject. But the old Italian knew what +he was talking about, and the Papal dispensation +proved to be the one insuperable obstacle which stood +in the way of a settlement.<a name="FNanchor_199" id="FNanchor_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Sept., 1538</span>] DEATH OF HUTTON</div> + +<p>Another of Christina's servants, Gian Battista +Ferrari, paid a visit to England this summer, and +brought back glowing accounts of the beauties of +London and the splendours of King Henry's Court. +He had an Italian friend named Panizone, who was +one of the royal equerries, and had been sent over +to England with some Barbary horses from the +Gonzaga stables. Panizone introduced him to Cromwell, +who entertained him hospitably, and sent him +back to tell his mistress all that he had seen and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>done at the Court of Whitehall. Christina was exceedingly +curious to hear Battista's account of his +visit, and was surprised when he told her that England +was as beautiful as Italy. When she proceeded +to inquire if he had seen the King, Battista replied +that he had been fortunate enough to be received +by His Majesty, and broke into ecstatic praises of +Henry's comeliness, gracious manners, and liberality. +The Duchess said that she had often heard +praises of His Grace, and was glad to know from +Battista's lips that they were true. After supper +she sent for him again, and he informed her that +Chapuys had told him the marriage would shortly +be concluded. "At this it seemeth she did much +rejoice." So at least Battista assured Hutton.<a name="FNanchor_200" id="FNanchor_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> +Ferrari himself was evidently very anxious to see +his mistress Queen of England, and in a letter which +he addressed on the 7th of September to his friend, +"Guglielmo Panizone scudier del Invictissimo Rè +d' Inghilterrà a Londra, alla Corte di sua Maestà," +he wrote, "Madama the Duchess, my mistress, +loves the King truly," and proceeded to send commendations +to the Lord Privy Seal, Signor Filippo +(Hoby), Portinari, and others. This letter contained +one sad piece of news. "The Ambassador here is +said to be dying; I am grieved because of the friendship +between us and his excellent qualities. The next +one we have will, I hope, be yourself."<a name="FNanchor_201" id="FNanchor_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> Battista's +news was true. Honest John Hutton, the popular +Governor of the Merchant Adventurers, fell ill at +Antwerp, and died there on the 5th of September. +His genial nature had made him a general favourite, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>and he was lamented by everyone at Court. "It is +a great loss," wrote Don Diego to Cromwell, "because +he was so good a servant and so merry and honest +a soul." To his own master, the Emperor, he remarked +that the English Ambassador who had just +died was a jovial, good-natured man, but more fit +for courtly functions and social intercourse than +grave political business, for which he had neither +taste nor capacity.<a name="FNanchor_202" id="FNanchor_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a></p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>The meeting of the Emperor and King of France +at Aigues-Mortes in July, 1538, produced a marked +change in the political situation. This interview, +which the Pope had failed to bring about at Nice, +was finally effected by Queen Eleanor, and the two +monarchs, who had not met since Francis was a +prisoner at Madrid, embraced each other, dined +together, and ended by swearing an inviolable friendship. +The truce was converted into a lasting peace, +and several marriages between the two families were +discussed in a friendly and informal manner.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Never," wrote the Constable to Castillon, "were +there two faster friends than the King and Emperor, +and I do not for a moment imagine that His Imperial +Majesty will ever allow the Widow of Milan to marry +King Henry! So do not believe a single word that +you hear in England!"<a name="FNanchor_203" id="FNanchor_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1538</span>] CROMWELL AND CHAPUYS</div> + +<p>This unexpected reconciliation was a bitter pill +to Henry and Cromwell. The French and Imperial +Ambassadors at Whitehall exchanged the warmest +congratulations, and did not fail to indulge in a +hearty laugh at King Henry's expense. On the +21st of August Chapuys and Don Diego followed the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>Court to Ampthill, where the King was hunting, and +were entertained by Cromwell at one of his own +manors. As they sat down to dinner, the Lord Privy +Seal asked brusquely if it were true that the King +and Emperor had made peace, to which the Ambassadors +replied in the affirmative. He then proceeded +to start a variety of disagreeable topics. First he +remarked that he heard the Turk was already in +Belgrade; next he said that the young Duke of Cleves +had taken possession of Guelderland, upon which +Chapuys retaliated by expatiating on the perfect +friendship and understanding between Charles and +Francis. After dinner they were admitted into +the King's presence, and informed him that the +Queen of Hungary had received the powers necessary +for the conclusion of the Duchess's marriage, and +wished to recall Don Diego in order that he might +draw up the contract. Henry expressed great sorrow +at parting from the Spaniard, and, drawing him apart, +begged him to induce the Queen to treat directly +with him, repeating two or three times that he was +growing old, and could not put off taking a wife any +longer. Meanwhile Cromwell was telling Chapuys, +in another corner of the hall, how much annoyed the +King had been to hear that the Emperor was treating +of his niece's marriage with the Duke of Cleves, +which would make people say either that she had +refused the King or else had only accepted Henry +after refusing Cleves. Chapuys stoutly denied the +truth of this report, and Cromwell confessed that the +King was very eager for the marriage, and, if there were +any difficulty about the Duchess's dowry, he would +gladly give her 20,000 crowns out of his own purse.<a name="FNanchor_204" id="FNanchor_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> + +<p>As the Ambassadors were putting on their riding-boots, +Cromwell ran after Don Diego with a present +from his master of £400, after which they returned +to London and dined in Chelsea with Castillon, to +meet Madame de Montreuil, the lady-in-waiting +of the late Queen Madeleine of Scotland, who was returning +to France. They all spent a merry evening, +laughing over King Henry's matrimonial plans, and +Castillon declared that the King and Lord Privy Seal +were so much perturbed at his master's alliance with +the Emperor that they hardly knew if they were in +heaven or on earth.<a name="FNanchor_205" id="FNanchor_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Sept., 1538</span>] STEPHEN VAUGHAN</div> + +<p>Don Diego arrived in Flanders to find general rejoicings—"gun-shots +and melody and jousting were +the order of the day"—and an English merchant +declared that the proud Spaniards were ready to +challenge all the world. Queen Mary marked the +occasion by honouring her favourite, Count Henry of +Nassau, with a visit at his Castle of Breda in Holland. +The beautiful gardens and vast orchards planted +in squares, after the fashion of Italy, which excited +the Cardinal of Aragon's admiration, were in their +summer beauty, and a series of magnificent fêtes +were given in honour of the Queen and her companion, +the Duchess of Milan. The Count was assisted in +doing the honours by his third wife, the Marchioness +of Zeneta, a rich Spanish heiress, whom the Emperor +had given him in marriage, and his son René, Prince +of Orange. The presence of Christina at Breda on +this occasion, and the attentions that were paid her +by her hosts, naturally gave rise to a report that she +was about to wed the Prince, and Cromwell told +Don Diego before he left Dover that this rumour had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>caused the King great annoyance.<a name="FNanchor_206" id="FNanchor_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> But the festivities +at Breda met with a tragic close. On the +day after the royal ladies left the castle, Henry of +Nassau died very suddenly, and Don Diego heard +the sad news when he reached the castle gates, on +his way to salute his kinswoman, the Marchioness.</p> + +<p>The Ambassador now hastened to Court, and craved +an audience of the Queen to deliver King Henry's +letters; but he found her little inclined to attend to +business, and engaged in preparations to pay a visit +to King Francis, who had gallantly invited her to +a hunting-party at Compiègne. At first there had +been some doubt if the Duchess should be of the +party, but Queen Eleanor was eager to see her niece, +and Christina was nothing loth to take part in these +brilliant festivities. Meanwhile Henry's renewed impatience +to conclude his marriage was shown by the +promptitude with which another Ambassador was +sent to take Hutton's place.</p> + +<p>On the 27th of September the new Envoy, Stephen +Vaughan, was admitted into the Queen's presence, +and begged for an answer to the letters delivered by +Don Diego. Mary told him that he might inform +His Majesty that there was no truth in the reports +of her niece's marriage, and that, if any coolness had +arisen between them, it was the King's own fault +for seeking a wife in other places. Hoby's mission +to Joinville and Nancy was, it is plain, well known +at Brussels. But the Queen kept her counsel, and +told Vaughan that, if his master was still in the same +mind, she would urge the Emperor to hasten the +conclusion of the treaty. Only she must beg the +Ambassador to have a little patience, as her time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +was fully occupied at this moment. But the next +day he was again put off, and told the Queen would +see him when she reached Mons. Accordingly, +Vaughan and his colleague, Thomas Wriothesley, +Cromwell's confidential secretary, arrived at this +town on the 8th, only to be told by Don Diego that +they must await the Queen's pleasure at Valenciennes. +The Spanish Ambassador did his best to +atone for their disappointment by giving them an +excellent dinner, and lending them two of his own +horses with velvet saddles and rich trappings for +the journey.<a name="FNanchor_207" id="FNanchor_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1538</span>] AT COMPIÈGNE</div> + +<p>At length, at eight on Sunday morning, the 6th +of October, they were conducted into the Queen's +presence by the Grand Falconer, Molembais, and +Vaughan, who spoke French fluently, explained +Henry's reasons for arranging the marriage treaty +without delay. Mary replied briefly that she had +already written to accede to the King's request, and +that no further steps could be taken until after her +meeting with the French King. Dinner was being +served while she spoke these words, and, as the meat +was actually coming in, the Ambassadors were +compelled to retire. Before they left the room, +however, they saluted the Duchess, who was standing +near her aunt, and ventured to tell her how much +my Lord Privy Seal remained her humble servant, +although, as she no doubt knew, his overtures had +been so coldly received. Christina smiled and +thanked them for their good-will with a gentle grace, +which went far to mollify their ruffled feelings, and +made Wriothesley write home that all Hutton had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>said of the Duchess's charms was true. "She is as +goodly personage, of stature higher than either of us, +and hath a very good woman's face, competently +fair and well favoured, but a little brown."<a name="FNanchor_208" id="FNanchor_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a></p> + +<p>As if to make amends for these delays, the great +lords in attendance overwhelmed the Ambassadors +with civilities. Aerschot invited them to dinner; +Count Büren embraced them warmly and asked affectionately +after the King; De Praet, Molembais, and +Iselstein, escorted them to the door, and Don Diego +made them a present of wine. When Wriothesley +fell ill of fever at Cambray, the Queen sent her own +physician to attend him, and begged him either to +remain there or return to Brussels. This he refused +to do, and travelled on by slow stages to Compiègne, +hoping to obtain another audience there. But the +roads were bad, and two leagues from Cambray one +of the carts broke down, leaving the English without +household stuff or plate when Don Diego came to +supper.<a name="FNanchor_209" id="FNanchor_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a></p> + +<p>On Tuesday news reached Cambray that King +Francis was on his way to salute the Queen, and +Mary rode out to meet him, leaving the Duchess of +Milan at home with others, who like herself, remarks +Wriothesley, had no great liking for Frenchmen.<a name="FNanchor_210" id="FNanchor_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a> But +the King's greeting was most cordial, and when, on +the following day, Queen Eleanor arrived with a great +train of lords and ladies, there was much feasting +and merriment, until on the 10th the whole party +started for Compiègne.</p> + +<p>It was a brilliant company that met in the ancient +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>castle of the French Kings, in the forest on the banks +of the Oise, near the bridge where, a hundred years +before, Jeanne d'Arc had made her last heroic stand. +King Francis had summoned all the Princes and Princesses +of the blood to do honour to the Queen of +Hungary, and the neighbouring villages were filled +to overflowing with Court officials and servants. +There was the King himself, a fine figure in cloth of +gold and nodding plumes, gallant as ever in spite of +ill-health and advancing years, with a glance and +smile to spare for every fair lady; and there was his +consort, Queen Eleanor, too often neglected by her +fickle lord, but now radiant with happiness, and in her +beautiful robes and priceless pearls, as winning and +almost as fair as when she fascinated the young +Palatine twenty years ago. The sense of family +affection was as strong in Eleanor as in all the Habsburgs, +and she was overjoyed to meet her sister and +embrace the daughter of the beloved and lamented +Isabella. With her came the King's daughter Margaret, +the homely-featured but pleasing and accomplished +Princess for whom a royal husband was still +to be found, and who, the courtiers whispered, might +now wed the Prince of Spain.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1538</span>] A BRILLIANT COMPANY</div> + +<p>Her brothers were there too—the dull and morose +Henry, who had succeeded his elder brother as +Dauphin two years before, but had never recovered +from the effects of his long captivity in Spain; and +the more lively but weak and vicious Charles of +Angoulême, now Duke of Orleans, whom Eleanor was +so anxious to see married to the Duchess of Milan. +With them was the Dauphin's Italian wife, Catherine +de' Medici, whose wit and grace atoned in her father-in-law's +eyes for her lack of beauty, although her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +husband's heart was given to Diane de Poitiers, +and a childless marriage made her unpopular in the +eyes of the nation. But a galaxy of fair ladies surrounded +the King and Queen. Chief among them +was Madame d'Étampes, whose dazzling charms had +captivated the fickle King, and who now reigned +supreme both in Court and Council. Of the youthful +ladies whose charms had aroused King Henry's interest, +only Mademoiselle de Vendôme was here. The +fair Louise had not yet recovered from her illness, and +the Duchess of Guise was nursing her at Joinville. +But both her father, Claude of Guise, the Governor +of Burgundy, and his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine, +were present, and held a high place in the King's +favour. Claude's elder brother, the Duke of Lorraine, +had lately been to meet the Emperor at Aigues-Mortes +and plead his claims to Guelders, but on his +return he fell ill with a severe attack of gout, and +was unable to obey the King's summons. In his +stead he sent Duchess Renée his wife, another +Bourbon Princess, a daughter of Gilbert de Montpensier +and sister of the famous Constable. Her +daughter Anne remained at home to nurse the Duke, +but her eldest son, Francis, came with his mother to +Compiègne. This cultured and polished Prince, who +bore the King's name, had been brought up at the +French Court, and could ride and joust as well as any +of his peers; but he was quite thrown into the shade +by his cousin, Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, +the darling of the people and the idol of all the ladies. +A head and shoulders taller than the Dauphin and his +brother, Antoine was the cynosure of all eyes at Court +festivals. The elegance of his attire, the inimitable +grace with which he raised his hat, his wit and gaiety,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +fascinated every woman, while the gilded youth of +the day copied the fashion of his clothes and the +precise angle at which he wore the feather in his cap. +Frivolous, volatile, and recklessly extravagant, Vendôme +wore his heart on his sleeve, and was ready to +enter the lists for the sake of any fair lady. He fell +desperately in love with the Duchess of Milan at first +sight, and devoted himself to her service. As premier +Prince of the blood, he rode at Christina's side, and led +her out to dance in the eyes of the Court. Together they +joined in the hunting-parties that were organized on +a vast scale in the Forest of Compiègne, and while all +the French were lost in admiration at the fine horsemanship +of the royal ladies, Antoine de Bourbon +threw himself at the Duchess's feet, and declared +himself her slave for life. But whether this gay +cavalier was too wild and thoughtless for her taste, +or whether her heart was already given to another, +Christina paid little heed to this new suitor, and +remained cold to his impassioned appeals. "The +Duke of Vendôme," wrote Wriothesley to Cromwell, +"is a great wooer to the Duchess, but we cannot hear +that he receiveth much comfort."<a name="FNanchor_211" id="FNanchor_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1538</span>] A VISIT TO CHANTILLY</div> + +<p>On the 17th of October the Constable de Montmorency +prevailed on the royal party to accompany +him to his sumptuous home at Chantilly, nine leagues +farther on the road to Paris. This brave soldier and +able Minister had grown up in the closest intimacy +with the Royal Family, and was habitually addressed +as "bon père" by the King's children, but had, unfortunately, +excited the hatred of the reigning +favourite, the Duchess of Étampes, who called him +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>openly "un grand coquin," and declared that he tried +to make himself a second monarch. On the other hand, +his constant loyalty to Queen Eleanor gratified Mary +of Hungary, who now gladly accepted his invitation +to Chantilly.</p> + +<p>Anne de Montmorency was as great a patron of +art as his royal master, and during the last fifteen +years he had transformed his ancestral home into a +superb Renaissance palace. The halls were decorated +with frescoes by Primaticcio; the gardens were adorned +with precious marbles and bronzes, with busts of the +Cæsars and statues of Mars and Hercules, with fountains +of the finest Urbino and Palissy ware. Portraits +by Clouet, priceless manuscripts illuminated by +French and Burgundian masters, and enamels by +Léonard Limousin, were to be seen in the galleries. +But what interested Mary and Christina most of all +were the tapestries woven at Brussels from Raphael +of Urbino's cartoons, which the Constable had rescued +after the sack of Rome, and which he restored some +years later to Pope Julius III.<a name="FNanchor_212" id="FNanchor_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a></p> + +<p>After entertaining his guests magnificently during +two days, the Constable accompanied them on a +hunting-party in the forest, and finally brought +them back to Compiègne on the 19th of October. +Here the Queen of Hungary's return was impatiently +awaited by the English Ambassadors, who +found themselves in a miserable plight. The town +was so crowded that they had to be content with the +meanest lodgings; the hire of post-horses cost forty +pounds, and provisions were so scarce that a partridge +or woodcock sold for tenpence, and an orange for +more than a groat. The King's Ambassadors at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +French Court—Sir Anthony Browne, and Bonner, +the Bishop-elect of Hereford—who joined them at +Compiègne on the 14th, were in still worse case; for +they could get no horses for love or money, and +spent six days without receiving a visit from the +Court officials. These outraged personages stood at the +window, and saw the French Councillors, and even the +Constable, go by, without giving them the smallest sign +of recognition. At least, Vaughan and Wriothesley +were treated with the utmost civility by the Flemish +nobles, and their audience was only deferred on +account of the Queen's visit to Chantilly. Don Diego +was courtesy itself, and, before he started for Spain, +wrote a letter to Cromwell, assuring him that Queen +Mary was the truest friend and sister his master could +have, but that it had been impossible for her to +attend to business when her days were spent in festivities +and family meetings.<a name="FNanchor_213" id="FNanchor_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> At length, on Sunday, +the 20th, the Ambassadors were received by the +Queen, and introduced Browne and Bonner, as well +as Dr. Edward Carne, a learned lawyer whom +Henry had sent to assist in drawing up the marriage +treaty. Mary informed them that Francis was bent +on taking her to the Duke of Vendôme's house at La +Fère on the way home, but begged Wriothesley, who +was still unwell, to go straight to Brussels. The next +day Browne started for England, saying that it was +impossible to follow a King who "goes out of all +highways," and on the 22nd Wriothesley and his +companions set out on their return to Brussels.<a name="FNanchor_214" id="FNanchor_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1538</span>] MARRIAGE-MAKING</div> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>By the end of October the English Envoys were +back at Brussels, rejoicing to be once more in comfortable +quarters. Here they found great fear and +distrust of France prevailing, and much alarm was +expressed lest the Queen should have been induced +to give the Duchess of Milan in marriage to a French +Prince. This, however, was not the case, and the +English Ambassadors were satisfied that beyond +feasting and merrymaking nothing had been done. +A friendly gentleman, Monsieur de Brederode, told +them that there had been some attempt at marriage-making +among the women. Queen Eleanor still +pressed her sister earnestly to further the marriage +of Christina with the Duke of Orleans, as the +best way of insuring a lasting peace, and had revived +her old dream of marrying her daughter, Maria of +Portugal, to the Prince of Spain. But Mary turned +a deaf ear to all these proposals, saying that she could +not consider them without Charles's approval. At +La Fère, in the valley of the Oise, Francis entertained +his guests at a splendid banquet, after which he presented +Mary with a very fine diamond, and Christina +with a beautiful jewel, besides lavishing rings, bracelets, +brooches, caps, and pretty trinkets from Paris +and Milan, Lisbon and Nuremberg, on the ladies of +their suite. Here he took leave of his guests, but +the Duke of Vendôme insisted on escorting the Queen +and her niece as far as Valenciennes.<a name="FNanchor_215" id="FNanchor_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Nov., 1538</span>] KING HENRY'S ANGER</div> + +<p>On Monday, the 4th of November, Mary and Christina +reached Brussels, and were received with warm +demonstrations of affection. Now, "after all these +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>gay and glorious words," the English Ambassadors +confidently hoped to see some end to their toil. But +they soon realized that their hopes were doomed to +disappointment. First the Queen was too tired to +receive them; then nothing could be done until the +return of the Duke of Aerschot, who was her chief +adviser. At length, on the 16th, the first conference +took place at the Duke's house. The Captain of the +Archers, Christina's old friend De Courrières, conducted +the Ambassadors to the room where the Commissioners +were awaiting them—Aerschot, Hoogstraaten, +Lalaing, and the Chancellor of Brabant, Dr. +Schoren, "a very wise father." After a lengthy +preamble, setting forth the powers committed to the +Regent, the terms of the contract were discussed. +The chief points on which Wriothesley insisted were +that Henry should be allowed to see his bride, that +the payment of her dowry should be assigned to +Flanders instead of Milan, and that Christina's title +to Denmark should be recognized, although, remarked +the Ambassador, "for my little wit I care not +if this last condition were scraped out of the book."<a name="FNanchor_216" id="FNanchor_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> +The Duchess's claim to the throne of Denmark, as +Wriothesley realized, was so remote that it seemed +hardly worth discussing. The dowry and the question +of the Papal dispensation were the two real +stumbling-blocks, and he advised Cromwell, if the +King was really anxious to secure this desirable wife, +not to press the former point, money being so scarce +in Spain and the Netherlands that the Emperor +would rather leave his niece unwed, than part with +so large a sum. At the close of the sitting the Duke +of Aerschot begged Wriothesley to stay to dinner, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>and gave him the chief place at table and pre-eminence +in all things. The fare was abundant; four courses +of ten dishes were served in silver, with "covers of a +marvellous clean and honourable sort," and carvers +and waiters stood around, and attended as diligently +to the Ambassador's wants as if he were a Prince. +Later in the evening the Duke's brother-in-law, the +Marquis of Berghen, who was always well disposed +to the English, came to supper, and chatted pleasantly +for some time, but shocked Wriothesley by asking him +if it were true that all religion was extinct in England, +that Mass was abolished, and that the bones +of saints were publicly burned. Cromwell's Commissioner, +who had himself plundered the shrines of +St. Swithun at Winchester and of St. Thomas at +Canterbury, could hardly deny this latter charge, +although he declared stoutly that only such money-making +devices and tricks of the friars as the Rood +of Boxley and the tomb of Becket had been unmasked. +But, in spite of the outward civility with +which the Ambassador was treated, he realized that +all good Catholics in Flanders looked on him with +horror and disgust.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1539</span>] MARY'S APPEAL</div> + +<p>All through the summer abbeys and shrines had +been going down fast. "Dagon is everywhere falling," +wrote a Kentish fanatic, and, as Castillon said, +by the end of the year hardly a single abbey was left +standing. The recent trend of political events had +served to excite the King's worst passions, and when +the French Ambassador went to see him early in +November, he found him in a towering rage. The +French had treated his Ambassadors abominably; +the Emperor and King were plotting together to take +the Duchess of Milan away from him and give her to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +Monsieur de Vendôme, which, "if it be done, would +finish the picture."<a name="FNanchor_217" id="FNanchor_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a> Late on this same evening, Lord +Exeter, a grandson of Edward IV. and head of the +noble house of Courtenay, and his cousin, Lord Montague, +the son of Lady Salisbury and brother of +Cardinal Pole, were thrown into the Tower on the +charge of high-treason. All that the most prolonged +cross-examination of their servants and friends could +bring out to prove their guilt, was that in my Lord +of Exeter's garden at Horsley Place, in Surrey, Sir +Edward Nevill had been heard singing merry songs +against the knaves that ruled about the King, and, +clenching his fist, had cried: "I trust to give them a +buffet and see honest men reign in England one day." +But the King had long ago told the French Ambassador +that he was determined to exterminate the White +Rose, and, as Castillon remarked, no pretext was too +flimsy to bring men to the block. On the 9th of +December, Exeter, Montague, and Nevill, all died on +the scaffold, and Castillon wrote to King Francis: +"No one knows who will be the next to go." Terror +reigned throughout the land, and no one of noble birth +was safe.<a name="FNanchor_218" id="FNanchor_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> Mary of Hungary might well shudder at +the thought of giving her niece to such a man. But +every day her position became more difficult. Soon +after her return from Compiègne she wrote to Charles, +urgently begging for instructions as to how she was +to proceed with the English Ambassadors. If the +King persists in treating of the Duchess's marriage, +is she to consent or to refuse altogether? And if +so, on what pretext? Is she to discuss the question +of the Papal dispensation, which Henry will never +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>consent to receive from the Pope, but without which +the Emperor cannot possibly allow the union.<a name="FNanchor_219" id="FNanchor_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> In +reply to this letter, Charles wrote from Toledo, on the +5th of December, telling her to temporize with the +English, and to consult her Council on the best +method of procedure.<a name="FNanchor_220" id="FNanchor_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a></p> + +<p>A carefully-worded paper, in Mary's own handwriting, +setting forth the results of the deliberation +with the Council in clear and concise language, was +forwarded to the Emperor early in January:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"If the King of England would seriously mend his +ways and proceed to conclude the marriage in earnest, +not merely to sow dissension between His Majesty +and the King of France, this would no doubt be the +most honourable alliance for the Duchess and the +most advantageous for the Low Countries; but there +is no evidence of this—rather the reverse, as your +Ambassador in France tells us, from what he hears of +the conversations held by King Henry with the French +Envoy in London. The Queen considers this point to +be entirely settled, and it remains only to know Your +Majesty's wishes. Are we to dissemble with the +English as we have done till now, which, however, +is very difficult, or are we to break off negotiations +altogether? This can best be done by putting forward +quite reasonable terms, but which are not agreeable +to the King. The Queen begs His Majesty to tell +her exactly what she is to do, remembering that the +King of England, when he cannot ally himself with +the Emperor or in France, may seek an alliance with +Cleves, and will be further alienated from religion, and +may do much harm by putting himself at the head of +the German Princes—all of which she prays Your +Majesty to consider."<a name="FNanchor_221" id="FNanchor_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a></p></div> + +<p>But no reply to this appeal came for many weeks. +In vain Mary implored Charles to put an end to this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>interminable procrastination, and relieve her from the +necessity of dissembling with the English Ambassadors, +who never left her in peace.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Once more, Monseigneur," she wrote at the end +of January, "I implore you tell me if I am to allow +these conferences to drag on, for it is impossible to do +this any longer without the most shameless dissimulation."<a name="FNanchor_222" id="FNanchor_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a></p></div> + +<p>Still no answer came from Spain, and the solemn +farce was prolonged. During the next two months +frequent meetings between the Commissioners were +held at Brussels, and the Queen herself was often +present. "Indeed," wrote Wriothesley, "she is one +and principal in it, and how unmeet we be to match +with her ourselves do well acknowledge."<a name="FNanchor_223" id="FNanchor_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> But little +progress was made, although Henry, in his anxiety +for the marriage, offered to give the Duchess as large +a dowry as any Queen of England had ever enjoyed. +On St. Thomas's Day he informed the French Ambassador +in the gallery at Whitehall that his marriage +was almost concluded.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"All the same," wrote Castillon to the Constable, +"I know that he would gladly marry Madame de +Guise had he the chance. If you think the King and +Emperor would enjoy the sport of seeing him thus +<i>virolin-virolant</i>, I can easily get it up, provided you +show his Ambassador a little civility, and make the +Cardinal and Monsieur de Guise caress him a little."<a name="FNanchor_224" id="FNanchor_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a></p></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 414px;"> +<img src="images/facing188.jpg" width="414" height="547" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>MARY, QUEEN OF HUNGARY</p> + +<p>By Bernard van Orley (Cardon Collection)</p> + +<p><i>To face p.</i> <a href="#Page_188">188</a></p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1539</span>] FAIR WORDS</div> + +<p>But two days after this interview Henry addressed +a pathetic appeal to the Regent on his behalf, saying +that "old age was fast creeping on, and time was slipping +and flying marvellously away." Already the whole +year had been wasted in vain parleyings, and, since +neither money nor prayers could redeem this precious +time, he could wait the Emperor's pleasure no longer, +but must seek another bride. If this appeal produced +no effect, he told Wriothesley to take leave of the +Duchess, and declare to her the great affection which +the King bore her, and how earnestly he had desired +to make her his wife, but, since this was plainly impossible, +he must "beg her not to marvel if he joined +with another."<a name="FNanchor_225" id="FNanchor_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> When this letter reached Brussels, +Mary and Christina were absent on a hunting expedition, +but on New Year's Eve they returned. +The Queen received Wriothesley the next morning, +and, after listening patiently to the long discourse +in which he delivered his master's message, said that +she was still awaiting the Emperor's final instructions, +remarking that perhaps the King hardly realized the +distance between Spain and Flanders. There was +nothing for it but to await the coming of the courier +from Spain. But even Wriothesley began to realize +that, "for all this gentle entertainment and fair words +and feastings," the deputies meant to effect nothing.</p> + +<p>Like Hutton, the Ambassador felt the spell of +Christina's charms, and certain expressions which her +servants Benedetto and Ferrari had dropped, led him +to suppose that the Duchess was favourably inclined +towards his master. But he was convinced that +attempts had been made to poison her mind against +the King, and to prefer the suit of William of Cleves +or of Francis of Lorraine, who was also said to be +seeking her hand.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I know," he wrote to Cromwell, "that some of +these folks labour to avert the Duchess's mind from +the King's Majesty, and to rest herself either upon +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>Lorraine or Cleves; but as far as I can learn she is +wiser than they, and will in no wise hearken to them, +offering rather to live a widow than to fall from the +likelihood of being Queen, and to light so low as from +a mistress to become an underling, as she must if +she marry either of them, their fathers and mothers +being yet both alive. What for the virtue that I think +I see in her, the good nature that every man must +note her to be of, as well as her good inclination to the +King's Majesty, I have privily wished myself sometimes +that the King might take her with nothing, +as she hath somewhat, rather than His Highness +should, by these cankered tongues, be tromped and +deceived of his good purpose, and so want such a wife +as I think she would be to His Grace. For I shall +ever pray God to send His Majesty such a mate, +humble, loving, and of such sort as may be for His +Grace's quiet and content, with the increase of the +offspring of his most noble person."<a name="FNanchor_226" id="FNanchor_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a></p></div> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>At length the eagerly-expected courier reached +Brussels, but, as usual, the Queen and Duchess were +away hunting, and it was only on the 1st of February +that the Ambassadors obtained their desired audience. +Mary received them in her bedroom between seven and +eight in the morning, and told them that the Emperor +had decided to await the arrival of the Count Palatine, +who with his wife, the Duchess's elder sister, was +shortly expected at Toledo, in order that he might +discuss the subject fully with them; but, since she +knew Henry to be impatient for an answer, she had +despatched a trusty messenger, Cornelius Scepperus, to +Spain to beg her brother for an immediate decision.<a name="FNanchor_227" id="FNanchor_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1539</span>] AN AWKWARD QUESTION</div> + +<p>Wriothesley now ventured on a bold step. As the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>Queen rose to leave the room, he begged, in order to +satisfy his own peace of mind, to be allowed to ask +her one question, hoping that she would give him a +frank answer. At these words Mary blushed deeply, +conscious of the double part that she was playing, +and bade him speak, assuring him that she would take +whatever he said in good part. "Madame," returned +Wriothesley, "I beseech Your Grace to tell me plainly +how you find the Duchess herself affected towards +this marriage with the King my master." If, as was +commonly reported, the Duchess had really said that +she minded not to fix her heart that way, all his efforts +were but lost labour. And he made bold to ask this +question because he knew that of late "divers malicious +tongues, servants of the Bishop of Rome, had dared +to speak lewdly in hugger-mugger of the King's +Majesty." The question was an awkward one, but +Mary proved equal to the occasion. She thanked the +Ambassador for his frankness, and replied with +some warmth that she was quite sure her niece had +never spoken such words, and that, if evil men spoke +lewdly of the King, she would know how to deal +with them. "Touching my niece's affection," she +added, "I dare say unto you, that if the Emperor +and your master the King agree upon this marriage, +she will be at the Emperor's command."</p> + +<p>Wriothesley could only express his gratitude for +this gracious answer, even if it were not so plain +as he could have wished. Seeing that nothing else +would satisfy him, the Queen referred him to the +Duchess herself, and at two o'clock the same afternoon +the Ambassador was conducted to Christina's +lodgings. He found her standing under a canopy in +a hall hung with black velvet and damask, with five or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +six ladies near her, and a dozen gentlemen and pages +at the other end of the room. Christina received him +with a graceful salute, bade him heartily welcome, +and asked the purpose of his errand. Wriothesley +proceeded to explain the object of his visit at great +length, saying that he was quite sure that a lady of +her gravity and discretion would never allow such +unseemly words to pass her lips; yet, since untrue +and wicked reports might have reached her ears and +cooled her inclination towards the King, he felt it +would be his bounden duty, were this true, to inform +His Majesty, in order that he might withdraw his +suit without further waste of time and dishonour.</p> + +<p>Christina listened to this long harangue without +moving a muscle. When the Ambassador had ended, +she desired him to put on his cap, saying it was a +cold day, and that she regretted not to have noticed +that he was uncovered before. Wriothesley replied +that this was his duty, and that he hoped often to +have the honour of talking with her bareheaded in +the future. Without paying any heed to this last +remark, Christina replied in the following words:</p> + +<p>"Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, I do heartily thank you +for your good opinion of me, wherein I can assure you, +you have not been deceived. I thank God He hath +given me a better stay of myself, than to be of so +light a sort as, by all likelihood, some men would +note me. And I assure you that neither these words +that you have spoken, nor any like to them, have +passed at any time from my mouth, and so I pray +you report for me."</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1539</span>] CHRISTINA'S ANSWER</div> + +<p>But grateful as Wriothesley expressed himself for +this frank answer, he was not yet satisfied. "It is +an evil wind, as we say in England, that bloweth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +no man good," and at least the Duchess would see +by this, how little faith was to be placed in idle tales. +"There are those," he said mysteriously, "who play +on both hands; they tell Your Excellency many +things, and us somewhat." But would she go farther, +and tell him if he might assure the King his master +of her own good inclination towards the marriage? +At these words Christina blushed exceedingly, and +said with some hesitation: "As for my inclination, +what should I say? You know I am at the Emperor's +commandment." And when the Ambassador pressed +her to be a little plainer, she smiled and repeated: +"You know I am the Emperor's poor servant, and +must follow his pleasure!"</p> + +<p>"Marry!" exclaimed Wriothesley; "why, then I +may hope to be one of the first Englishmen to be +acquainted with my new mistress. Oh, madame, +how happy shall you be if you are matched with my +master—the most gentle gentleman that liveth, his +nature so benign and pleasant that I think no man +hath heard many angry words pass his mouth. As +God shall help me, if he were no King, instead of one +of the most puissant Princes of Christendom, I think, +if you saw him, you would say that for his virtues, +gentleness, wisdom, experience, goodliness of person, +and all other gifts and qualities, he were worthy to +be made a King. I know Your Grace to be of goodly +parentage, and to have many great Princesses in +your family, but if God send this to a good conclusion, +you shall be of all the rest the most happy!"</p> + +<p>This fulsome panegyric was too much for Christina's +gravity. She listened for some time, like one that +was tickled, then smiled, and almost burst out laughing, +but restrained her merriment with much diffi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>culty, +and, quickly recovering herself, said gravely +that she knew His Majesty was a good and noble +Prince. "Yes, madame," replied the Ambassador, +with enthusiasm, "and you shall know this better +hereafter. And for my part, I would be content, if +only I may live to see the day of your coronation, to +say with Simeon, "Nunc dimittis servum tuum, +Domine." And he dwelt with fervour on the wish +of the English to have her for their Queen, and on +the admiration and love which the fame of her beauty +and goodness had excited in the King. Christina +bowed her thanks, saying that she was much bounden to +His Majesty for his good opinion, and then, calling her +Grand Master, bade him escort the Ambassador home.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Your Majesty," wrote Wriothesley to the King +that evening, "shall easily judge from this of what +inclination the women be, and especially the Duchess, +whose honest countenance, with the few words that +she wisely spoke, make me to think there can be no +doubt in her. A blind man should judge no colours, +but surely, Sir, after my poor understanding and the +little experience that I have, she is marvellous wise, +very gentle, and as shamefaced as ever I saw so witty +a woman. I think her wisdom is no less than the +Queen's, which, in my poor opinion, is notable for +a woman, and I am deceived if she prove not a good +wife. And somewhat the better I like her for that +I have been informed that, of all the whole stock of +them, her mother was of the best opinion in religion, +and showed it so far that both the Emperor and all the +pack of them were sore grieved with her, and seemed in +the end to hold her in contempt. I would hope no less +of the daughter, if she might be so happy as to nestle in +England. Very pure, fair of colour she is not, but a +marvellous good brownish face she hath, with fair red +lips and ruddy cheeks. And unless I be deceived in +my judgment, she was never so well painted but her +living visage doth much excel her picture."<a name="FNanchor_228" id="FNanchor_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1539</span>] WORTHY TO BE A QUEEN</div> + +<p>Two things, Wriothesley told Cromwell, in a letter +which he wrote to him the next day, were plain: +the Queen would be very loth to let them go with +nothing settled, and the Duchess was well inclined, +considering that nothing had as yet been said to her +on the King's behalf. And he suggested that he might +be allowed to show her a portrait of Henry, the sight of +which, he felt sure, would make her die a maid rather +than marry anyone else. "The woman is certainly +worthy to be a Queen," he adds, "and in my +judgment is worth more than all the friendship and +alliances in the world."<a name="FNanchor_229" id="FNanchor_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a></p> + +<p>Unfortunately, these letters, which the writer +hoped would give the King so much pleasure, found +Henry in a furious temper. In January, 1539, Pope +Paul III. issued the long-delayed Bull of excommunication, +and called on the Emperor and the French +King to declare war on the heretic monarch, and forbid +all intercourse between their subjects and the +misguided English. Cardinal Pole, whose kinsmen +Henry had beheaded, and whose own life had been +attempted by his emissaries, was sent to Spain to +induce Charles to take up arms against "this abominable +tyrant and cruel persecutor of the Church of +God."<a name="FNanchor_230" id="FNanchor_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> At the same moment a treaty was signed +between Charles and Francis at Toledo, by which +the two monarchs pledged themselves to conclude +no agreements with Henry excepting by mutual +consent.<a name="FNanchor_231" id="FNanchor_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a></p> + +<p>Henry now became seriously alarmed. He complained +bitterly to Castillon of the way in which he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>was reviled in France, not only by the vulgar, but +by the Cardinal of Paris and members of the Council. +And he sent Cromwell to Chapuys with an imperative +summons to come to Court without delay. The +Imperial Ambassador obeyed, and came to Whitehall +on the Feast of the Three Kings. Henry was on his +way to Mass, but he stopped to greet Chapuys, and +complained once more of the Queen of Hungary's +interminable delays and of the scandalous treatment +of his Ambassadors. Chapuys made the best +excuses which came into his mind, and assured the +King that Mary was only awaiting the Emperor's +instructions as to the Papal dispensation, and that he +would hear from Spain as soon as the Palatine +had reached Toledo. To this Henry vouchsafed no +answer, but walked straight on, to the door of the +chapel.</p> + +<p>During Mass Cromwell entered into conversation +with Chapuys, and told him that the Pope had thrown +off the hypocrite's mask, and was doing his best to +kindle a flame in Italy. Before the Ambassador +could reply he changed the subject, and said he saw +clearly that the Emperor intended to marry his niece +to Cleves or Lorraine. Chapuys laughed, and remarked +that the Duchess could hardly be given to +both Princes, but added in all seriousness that his +master knew the difference between the King of +England and these suitors. After dinner Henry +seemed in a better temper, but told Chapuys in confidential +tones that he was growing old, and that +his subjects pressed him to hasten his marriage, and +that these vexatious delays were all due to the French, +who boasted that the Emperor could do nothing +without their consent.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1539</span>] A COLD FROST</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"He seemed in great trouble," reported Chapuys, +"and it is plain, as everyone about him tells me, that +he is very much in love with the Duchess of Milan. +He told one of his most intimate friends the other +day that he would gladly take her without a penny.... +And just now the French Ambassador asked me +if it were true that he had sent her a diamond worth +16,000 ducats."<a name="FNanchor_232" id="FNanchor_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a></p></div> + +<p>At the same time Chapuys heard that Henry was +negotiating with the German Princes, and offering +his daughter Mary to the young Duke of Cleves, in +order to prevent him from marrying the Duchess. +"He is so much in love," wrote Castillon, "that for +one gracious word from her I believe he would go to +war to recover Denmark."<a name="FNanchor_233" id="FNanchor_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a></p> + +<p>The same week Henry wrote to Wyatt, complaining +bitterly of the treatment which he had received +from his imperial brother, as being wholly unworthy +of a Prince who professed to be his zealous friend. +"After so hot a summer we saw never so cold a +winter; after all these professions of love and friendship, +in the end nothing but a cold frost." He ended +by declaring he would no longer be kept "hanging in +the balance," and must have an immediate answer, +even if it were a flat denial.<a name="FNanchor_234" id="FNanchor_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> At length even Charles +could procrastinate no longer, and on the 15th of +February he told Wyatt that it was impossible for +the marriage to take place without the Pope's +dispensation, as the King's dispensation would never +satisfy the Duchess herself, or any of her relations, +and might cause endless inconvenience if children +were born of the union. "All the stay," wrote +Cromwell to Wriothesley, "is upon the dispensation, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>to which they object now, but whereof they never +spake before."<a name="FNanchor_235" id="FNanchor_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a></p> + +<p>Even before the courier from Spain arrived, Henry's +face was so black that Castillon wrote home begging +to be recalled, and declaring that this King was the +most cruel and dangerous man in the world. He was +in such a rage that he had neither reason nor understanding +left, and once he found out that Francis +could do nothing for him, Castillon was convinced +that his own life would not be worth a straw. A few +days later the Ambassador left London, and rejoiced +to find himself safely back in France.<a name="FNanchor_236" id="FNanchor_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a></p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1539</span>] A GAY CARNIVAL</div> + +<p>While London was full of alarms, Wriothesley and +his colleagues were spending a gay Shrovetide at +Brussels, all unconscious of the clouds that were +darkening the horizon. During the last few weeks +nobles and courtiers had vied with each other in +paying them attentions. Visitors of the highest rank +honoured their humble lodgings. Madame de Berghen, +Aerschot's lively sister—"a dame of stomach +that hath a jolly tongue"—dined with them. The +Queen herself was expected to pay them a visit, +and great preparations in the way of plate and furniture +were made for her reception. Count Büren, +a very great man in Holland, was particularly +friendly, and impressed Wriothesley so much by his +honesty and loyalty that he gave him the best horse +in his stables. Another day he entertained the Captain +of Gravelines, who railed against the abominations of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>Rome to his heart's content, and told him it would be +the Pope's fault if the King's marriage were not concluded. +Carnival week brought a round of festivities. +On Monday, the 17th of February, the Ambassadors +were invited to meet the Queen at supper at the Duke +of Aerschot's house, and were received at half-past five +by the Duchess and her sister-in-law, Madame de +Berghen. The Duchess sent for her young daughter +and her two sons—boys of ten and twelve—and +presently they were joined by Monsieur de Vély, the +new French Ambassador. Wriothesley expressed great +pleasure at meeting him, saying that, since their +masters were good friends, they ought not to be +strangers, and received a cordial reply. The rest of +the company looked on with some surprise at these +friendly fashions, a rumour being abroad that the +French King was about to attack England and force +Henry to submit to the Pope. Then a flourish of +trumpets, sackbuts, and fifes, was heard at the gates, +and the guests rose as the Queen and Duchess entered +the hall. At supper the French Ambassador sat on +the Queen's right, and Wriothesley on her left, while +Christina was between him and Vaughan. Madame +d'Egmont sat next to Dr. Carne, and the Prince of +Orange was on the Duchess of Aerschot's right hand. +Mary made herself very agreeable to both her neighbours, +and when, after supper, her chapel choir +sang roundelays and merry drinking-songs, she asked +Wriothesley if he were fond of music, and invited +him to sup with her on the morrow and hear her +minstrels. The Ambassador confessed that he was +very fond of music, and often had some at his poor +home to cheer his dull spirits. "Well, it is an honest +pastime," said the Queen, "and maketh good diges<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>tion, +for it driveth thoughts away." Here Wriothesley +ventured to remark that he would feel merrier +if he had not wasted so much time here, and asked +if there was still no news from Spain. "None," +replied the Queen; and Wriothesley observed that +reports reached him from Germany that the Emperor +was merely trying to gain time, and meant to do +the Bishop of Rome's bidding. "Jesus!" exclaimed +the Queen, "I dare say the Emperor never meant +such a thing;" upon which Wriothesley hastened to +say that he felt sure the Emperor was too wise and +honourable a Prince to deceive the King, but now +that he had made friends with his old enemy, he +hoped he would not make a new enemy of his old +friend. After supper the Duke and several ladies +came in, wearing masks and rich costumes, and threw +dice with the Queen and her niece for some fine diamonds, +which the Princesses won. Then the Prince +of Orange led out Christina to dance, and the other +youthful guests followed suit, while Wriothesley sat +at the Queen's side on the daïs and watched the +princely pair.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1539</span>] AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE</div> + +<p>The next evening (Shrove Tuesday) Wriothesley +and his colleagues dined at the palace, and this time +the English Ambassador sat in the post of honour, +on the Queen's right, with the Duchess on his left. +Mary was in high spirits, toasted her guests and +drank with each of them in turn. After supper +Wriothesley approached Christina, and ventured to +tell her that she would be happy if her best friends +did not put hindrances in her way, and begged her +not to lend ear to malicious reports of his master. +The Duchess shook her head, saying she would listen +to no calumnies, and always hold the King to be a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +noble Prince. But he felt sure that she was afraid +of the Queen, and told her he hoped to converse more +freely with her another time. Never had he seen +her look so beautiful as she did that night; never did +he wish more ardently to see her his master's bride. +"For indeed it were pity," he wrote home, "if she +were bestowed on a husband she did not like, only to +serve others."</p> + +<p>There was one Prince at table for whom, it was easy +to see, Christina had no dislike. This was René of +Orange, who had an opportunity of distinguishing +himself in his lady's eyes that evening. The Queen +led the way into the great hall, where first Aerschot +and three other nobles challenged all comers to fight, +and then the Prince of Orange and Floris d'Egmont +took their places at the barriers, and broke lances +and received prizes for their valour, while the Queen's +band of lutes, viols, and rebecks, played the finest +music that Wriothesley had ever heard. When the +jousting was ended, Mary led her guests to the royal +gallery, where another banquet was served, and there +was much lively discourse, and more talking than +eating. So that gay Carnival came to a close, and +with it the last hope of winning the fair Duchess's +hand.<a name="FNanchor_237" id="FNanchor_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a></p> + +<p>An unpleasant surprise was in store for Wriothesley +the next morning. Certain disquieting rumours +having reached Brussels, Vaughan went to Antwerp +on Ash Wednesday, and found great consternation +among the English merchants. A proclamation +had been issued forbidding any ships to leave the +port, and several English vessels laden with merchandise +had been detained. The wildest rumours were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +current on the Exchange. It was commonly said +that the Emperor, with the Kings of France and +Scotland, had declared war on King Henry, and that +a large Dutch and Spanish fleet was about to sail +for England. Already in Brussels gallants and pikemen +were taking bets on the issue of the war, and +Wriothesley wrote to Cromwell that he and his +colleagues "might peradventure broil on a faggot." +He was unable to obtain an audience until Friday, +when the Queen told him that, by the Emperor's +orders, she was recalling Chapuys to conduct the +marriage negotiations. This unexpected intimation, +coming as it did after the startling news from Antwerp, +disconcerted him considerably. He sent an +express to London, and received orders to take his +departure at once. Castillon was already on his way +to France, but Henry quite refused to let Chapuys +go until Wriothesley and Vaughan had left Brussels. +A long wrangle between the two Courts followed. +The Ambassadors were detained on both sides. The +Spanish and Dutch ships in English harbours were +stopped, all ports were closed, and active preparations +were made for war along the shores of the +Channel.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"After fair weather," wrote Cromwell to Wriothesley, +"there is succeeded a weather very cloudy. +Good words, good countenance, be turned, we perceive, +to a wonderful strangeness. But let that pass. +They can do us no harm but to their own detriment."<a name="FNanchor_238" id="FNanchor_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">March, 1539</span>] STRANGE ENTERTAINMENT</div> + +<p>The situation of the Ambassadors was by no means +pleasant. A marked change was visible in the behaviour +of the Court. They were "treated as very +strangers" by those nobles who had been their best +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>friends. No one called at their house or came to +dine with them. The Duchess's servants, who used +to go to and fro constantly, now dared not come +except at dusk—"in the owl-flight"—and would not +allow Wriothesley to send them home by torchlight. +Wherever they went, the English heard their King +slandered, and met with cold looks and scornful +words. Worse than all, they were forced to pay +excise duties—"eighteen pence on every barrel of beer +above the price asked by the brewer"—an indignity +to which no Ambassador before had ever been +exposed. "I write in haste and live in misery," +wrote Wriothesley to Cromwell on the 7th of March.<a name="FNanchor_239" id="FNanchor_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a></p> + +<p>The Emperor, however, was still friendly. His +heart was set on a Crusade against the Turk, and he +had no wish to embark on war with England. Pole +met with a cold reception at Toledo, and, finding +Charles averse to executing the Pope's sentence, +retired to his friend Sadoleto's house at Carpentras. +This was a relief to Henry, and he bade Wyatt thank +his imperial brother, but could not forbear pointing +out that these friendly words agreed ill with the +doings of his officers in the Low Countries. A +despatch addressed to Wyatt on the 10th of March +contains a long recital of the extraordinary treatment +which his Ambassadors at Brussels had met with:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Since Lent began, as for a penance, their entertainment +hath been marvellous strange—yea, and +stranger than we will rehearse: strangeness in having +audience with long delay, strangeness in answer and +fashion. Also they have been constrained to pay +Excise, which no Ambassador of England paid in any +man's remembrance. They have complained to the +Queen, but nevertheless must pay or lack drink.... +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>These rumours and hints of war, the arrest of our +ships, this strangeness shown to our Ministers, this +navy and army in readiness, the recall of Chapuys, +ran abroad this realm and everywhere. We do not +write to you the rumours half so spiteful, and the +entertainment half so strange, as it hath been. I +think never such a thing was heard, and especially +after a treaty of marriage such a banquet!"<a name="FNanchor_240" id="FNanchor_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a></p></div> + +<p>Henry concluded this letter by saying that, since +the Emperor insisted on the need of Papal dispensation, +there could be no further question of any +marriage between him and the Duchess, and he +would be now at liberty to seek another wife. On +the same day he wrote to Carne, who had been secretly +corresponding with the Duke of Cleves, telling him +to open negotiations for a marriage with that Prince's +sister, the Lady Anne.<a name="FNanchor_241" id="FNanchor_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a></p> + +<p>Twelve days after this despatch was sent to Spain +Wriothesley left Brussels. At Calais he met Chapuys, +who had just crossed the Channel, and Mary's +almoner, the Dean of Cambray, who was being sent +to take the Ambassador's place, and was awaiting +a fair wind to embark for Dover. All three +Ambassadors dined in a friendly manner with Lord +Lisle, the Deputy Governor of Calais, and continued +their respective journeys without hindrance. But +the much-discussed marriage treaty was at an end. +The long-drawn comedy had reached its last act. +"All hope of the Duchess," wrote Wriothesley to +Cromwell, "is utterly past."</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1539</span>] A WELSHMAN'S OPINION</div> + +<p>The rupture was loudly lamented by the English +merchants in Antwerp, and keen disappointment was +felt throughout England, where the marriage had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>always been popular. Among many scattered notices +of the feeling which prevailed on the subject, the +following incident is of especial interest, because of +the sidelight which it throws on Christina's personal +reluctance to the marriage.</p> + +<p>On a summer evening in August, 1539, five months +after Wriothesley left Brussels, a married priest +named George Constantyne, of Llan Hawaden in +South Wales, rode from Chepstow to Abergavenny +with John Barlow, Dean of Westbury. The priest +had got into trouble in Wolsey's time, for buying +copies of Tyndale's New Testament, and was forced +to fly the country and practise as a physician for +several years in the Netherlands. Now he had returned +to England, and was on his way to his old +home in Wales. He walked from Bristol to Westbury, +where he supped with Dean Barlow, a brother of his +friend the Bishop of St. Davids, who made him heartily +welcome, and invited him to be his travelling companion +the next day to Pembrokeshire. As the +two ecclesiastics rode through the green valleys on +the way to Abergavenny, the Dean asked Constantyne +if he could tell him why the King's marriage had +been so long delayed. The priest replied that he, +for his part, was very sorry the King should still be +without a wife, when he might by this time have been +the father of fair children. As the Dean knew, both +the Duchess of Milan and she of Cleves were spoken of, +and now the little doctor, Nicholas Wotton, had been +sent to Cleves with Mr. Beard, of the Privy Chamber, +and the King's painter; so there was good hope of a +marriage being concluded with the Duke of Cleves, +who favoured God's word, and was a mighty Prince +now, holding Guelderland against the Emperor's will.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> +But why, asked the Dean, was the marriage with the +Duchess of Milan broken off? Constantyne, who +was familiar with all the gossip of the Regent's Court, +replied that the Duchess quite refused to marry the +King, unless he would accept the Bishop of Rome's +dispensation, and give pledges that her life would be +safe and her honour respected. "Why pledges?" +asked the Dean innocently. "Marry!" returned +Constantyne, "she sayeth that, since the King's +Majesty was in so little space rid of three Queens, she +dare not trust his Council, even if she dare trust His +Majesty. For in Flanders the nobles suspect that +her great-aunt, Queen Catherine, was poisoned, +that Anne Boleyn was innocent of the crimes for +which she was put to death, and that the third wife, +Queen Jane, was lost for lack of attention in childbed." +Such, at least, were the mutterings which +he heard at Court before Whitsuntide. The Dean +remarked that he was afraid the affair of Milan must +be dashed, as Dr. Petre, who was to have gone to +fetch the royal bride from Calais, was at the Court of +St. James's last Sunday; upon which Constantyne gave +it as his opinion that there could be no amity between +the King and the Emperor, whose god was the Pope.</p> + +<p>So the two men talked as they rode over the +Welsh hills on the pleasant summer evening. But +the poor priest had good reason to regret that he had +ever taken this ride; for his false friend the Dean +reported him as a Sacramentary to the Lord Privy +Seal, and a few days after he reached Llan Hawaden +he was arrested and thrown into the Tower, where he +spent several months in prison as a penalty for his +freedom of speech.<a name="FNanchor_242" id="FNanchor_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_164" id="Footnote_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> Papiers d'État, 1178, Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_165" id="Footnote_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xii. 2, 367.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_166" id="Footnote_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> State Papers, Henry VIII., Record Office, viii. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_167" id="Footnote_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> J. Kaulek, "Correspondance Politique de M. de Castillon," +4, 5; Calendar of State Papers, xii. 2, 394.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_168" id="Footnote_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xii. 2, 392; G. Pimodan, "La Mère +des Guises," 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_169" id="Footnote_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> Kaulek, 12, 15; Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 1, 54.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_170" id="Footnote_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_171" id="Footnote_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> Anne Boleyn's cousin Mary Skelton, who had been a great +favourite with the King (see Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 1, 24).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_172" id="Footnote_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_173" id="Footnote_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 1, 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_174" id="Footnote_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 2, 572.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_175" id="Footnote_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 2, 429.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_176" id="Footnote_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> Kaulek, 24; Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 1, 82.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_177" id="Footnote_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 1, 93.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_178" id="Footnote_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_179" id="Footnote_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, viii. 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_180" id="Footnote_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> British Museum, Additional Manuscripts, 5,498, f. 2; Calendar +of State Papers, xiii. 1, 130.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_181" id="Footnote_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 17-19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_182" id="Footnote_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> Holbein's portrait is described in the Catalogues of the King's +pictures at Westminster in 1542 and 1547 as "No. 12. A greate +Table with the picture of the Duchess of Myllane, being her +whole stature." After Henry's death it passed into the hands +of Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, the King's Lord Chamberlain and +godson, who married Lady Katherine Grey, and acquired the +Palace of Nonsuch, with most of its contents. When he died, +in 1580, it became the property, first of his elder daughter Jane, +wife of Lord Lumley, and then of her great-nephew, Thomas +Howard, Earl of Arundel. This great collector took the Duchess +of Milan's portrait with him abroad during the Civil Wars, and +after his death, in 1645, it hung, with many other Holbeins, in +the house of his widow at Amsterdam. Lady Arundel left the +whole collection to her son, Henry Howard, who became the sixth +Duke of Norfolk, and Holbein's portrait remained in the family +until, in 1909, it was acquired by the National Gallery for the +sum of £72,000. A second portrait of the Duchess of Milan, a +half-length, is mentioned in Henry VIII.'s Catalogues ("No. 138. +A Table with a picture of the Duchess of Myllane"), and was discovered +by Sir George Scharf in a waiting-room near the private +chapel at Windsor. This is probably the portrait by Van Orley +which Hutton sent to England before Holbein's arrival at Brussels. +The attitude of the sitter, her dress and features, are the same +as in Holbein's picture, but the face is less finely modelled and +lacks charm and expression. The hands are in a slightly different +position, and instead of one big ruby ring she wears three rings—a +cameo and a gold ring on the right hand, and a black ring, the +badge of widowhood, on the third finger of the left hand. This +curious and interesting portrait is plainly the work of an inferior +artist, and, as the Ambassador justly remarked, bears no comparison +with Holbein's Duchess—"surely," in the words of his +biographer, "one of the most precious pictures in the world" +(Wornum's "Life of Holbein," p. 322; L. Cust in the <i>Burlington +Magazine</i>, August, 1911, p. 278; and Sir G. Scharf in "Archæologia," +xl. 205).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_183" id="Footnote_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 2, 523.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_184" id="Footnote_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_185" id="Footnote_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_186" id="Footnote_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 1, 263.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_187" id="Footnote_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> Kaulek, 29, 33, 35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_188" id="Footnote_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 2, 524.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_189" id="Footnote_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 1, 258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_190" id="Footnote_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 2, 526, 558.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_191" id="Footnote_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> Kaulek, 48, 50, 53, 58, 70.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_192" id="Footnote_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 58, 73; Pimodan, 73.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_193" id="Footnote_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> Kaulek, 70, 79, 81; Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_194" id="Footnote_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_195" id="Footnote_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, ii. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_196" id="Footnote_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> There has been some confusion as to the date of Holbein's +visit to Joinville, owing to a mistake in the Calendar +of State Papers (xiii. 1, 130), where Cromwell's instructions +to Hoby for his journeys to Brussels and France are entered +under the date of February, 1538. But the Duchess of Guise's +letter (see Appendix), as well as the payment of £10 made by +Sir Brian Tuke, Treasurer of the Household, to Hans Holbein on +the 30th of December, 1538, "for going to the parts of High +Burgony about certain of the King's business," make it clear +that this journey took place at the end of August (G. Scharf, +"Archæologia," xxxix. 7). From Lorraine the painter went on +to Bâle, where he spent some months, and returned to England +at Christmas. The original documents in the British Museum +(Additional Manuscripts, 5,498, f. 1) bear no date, and are on +separate sheets, and the heading of the instructions regarding +the journey to Brussels was added by a later hand, and is thus +worded: "Instructions given by the L. Cromwell to Philip Hoby, +sent over by him to the Duchess of Lorraine, then Duchess of +Milan"—<i>i.e.</i>, Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, at that time Duchess +of Milan. But the editor of the Calendars inserted the words +"to the" between "then" and "Duchess of Milan," thus making +it appear that Hoby went first to Lorraine, and then to the Duchess +of Milan, whereas the journey to Brussels took place in March, +and that to Lorraine in August. Since this chapter was written, +the subject has been fully dealt with by Mr. A. B. Chamberlain +in the <i>Burlington Magazine</i>, April, 1912.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_197" id="Footnote_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, v. 2, 531.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_198" id="Footnote_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> Nott's "Life of Wyatt," ii. 488.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_199" id="Footnote_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_200" id="Footnote_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_201" id="Footnote_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 2, 119.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_202" id="Footnote_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_203" id="Footnote_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> Kaulek, 77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_204" id="Footnote_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 15-31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_205" id="Footnote_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_206" id="Footnote_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_207" id="Footnote_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 53, 56; Calendar of State +Papers, xiii. 2, 214.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_208" id="Footnote_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 56-60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_209" id="Footnote_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 2, 245, 247.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_210" id="Footnote_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 67.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_211" id="Footnote_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 78; Calendar of State +Papers, xiii. 2, 255.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_212" id="Footnote_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> F. Decrue, "Anne de Montmorency," 415, 418, 491.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_213" id="Footnote_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> State Papers, xiii. 2, 238.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_214" id="Footnote_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, xiii. 2, 247, 248.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_215" id="Footnote_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 2, 261.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_216" id="Footnote_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 2, 255.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_217" id="Footnote_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 2, 289.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_218" id="Footnote_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, xiii. 2, 291, 296.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_219" id="Footnote_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 96.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_220" id="Footnote_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> Lanz, ii. 686.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_221" id="Footnote_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> Papiers d'État, 82, 20, Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_222" id="Footnote_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> Lanz, ii. 296.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_223" id="Footnote_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_224" id="Footnote_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 2, 467, 468.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_225" id="Footnote_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 110, 118, 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_226" id="Footnote_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 1, 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_227" id="Footnote_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 139.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_228" id="Footnote_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 140-148.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_229" id="Footnote_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 1, 93, 121.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_230" id="Footnote_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, xiv. 1, 14; Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_231" id="Footnote_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, xiv. 1, 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_232" id="Footnote_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 1, 16-19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_233" id="Footnote_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, xiv. 1, 52; Lanz, ii. 297-306.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_234" id="Footnote_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> Nott, ii. 306.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_235" id="Footnote_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 145.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_236" id="Footnote_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> Kaulek, 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_237" id="Footnote_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 1, 125, 126</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_238" id="Footnote_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 155.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_239" id="Footnote_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 166, 175.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_240" id="Footnote_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> Nott, "Life of Wyatt," <span class="smcap">II.</span> 511.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_241" id="Footnote_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 1, 189, 191.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_242" id="Footnote_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> "Archæologia Cambrensis," xxiii. 139-141.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p></div></div> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>BOOK VII<br /> + +CLEVES, ORANGE, AND LORRAINE<br /> + +1539-1541</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>The negotiations for the King of England's marriage +with the Duchess of Milan were broken off. But +there was no lack of suitors for Christina's hand. +During the winter and spring of 1539 the Emperor's +niece received offers of marriage from three princely +bridegrooms. The first of these was Antoine, Duke +of Vendôme, whose courtship of the Duchess on the +journey to Compiègne had aroused King Henry's +jealousy. The second was William of Cleves, who +since the old Duke Charles's death had taken possession +of Guelders, and was now seeking to obtain the +investiture of the duchy, together with Christina's +hand. The third was Francis, the Marquis of Pont-à-Mousson, +and heir of Lorraine. From the day that +this Prince first met the Duchess at Compiègne, he +sought her for his bride with a constancy and steadfastness +that were eventually to be crowned with +success. But for the moment the Duke of Cleves +seemed to have the best chance of winning the coveted +prize. From the first Mary of Hungary had regarded +this alliance with favour, and when, in January, 1539, +she consulted her Councillors on the Duchess's mar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>riage, +it was this union which met with their highest +approval.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Duke William," wrote the Queen in her reply to +the Emperor, "has greatly offended Your Majesty, +both as a private individual and sovereign lord, by +taking possession of Guelders. Still, as he renews his +suit and professes to be your loyal friend and servant, +it would be well to treat with him and offer him the +Duchess's hand, on condition that he will give up +Guelderland."<a name="FNanchor_243" id="FNanchor_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a></p></div> + +<p>The alternative proposal, she proceeded to say, +deserved consideration, seeing the great anxiety +which the Duke of Lorraine's son showed for the +marriage. No doubt the Emperor's niece, with her +large dowry, would be a very honourable match for +him, and well worth the surrender of his rights on +Guelders; but, since it was most desirable to recover +this duchy without delay, it might be well to secure +the help of Lorraine by this means.</p> + +<p>The situation was a difficult one, and from the +moment of the old Duke's death in June, 1538, Mary +had never ceased to entreat Charles to come to +Flanders and take active measures for the recovery of +Guelders before it was too late. Throughout the +winter Duke William went from town to town, endearing +himself to his new subjects; and when the +deputies of Lorraine asserted their master's superior +claims, he told them that he would never give up +Guelders to any mortal man. By the death of his +father on the 6th of February, 1539, he succeeded to +the rich provinces of Cleves and Jülich, and became +the wealthiest and most powerful Prince in North +Germany.<a name="FNanchor_244" id="FNanchor_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">March, 1539</span>] ANNE OF CLEVES</div> + +<p>Still Charles put off his coming, and told his sister +that he was bent on undertaking a second Crusade +against the Turks, and could not spare the time for +a journey to Flanders. This was too much for Mary's +equanimity, and she protested in the strongest language +against the Emperor's folly in exposing his person to +such risks, declaring that this Crusade would not only +prove the utter ruin of the Netherlands, but of all +Christendom.<a name="FNanchor_245" id="FNanchor_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> Fortunately, Mary's remonstrances +were supported by the Emperor's wisest Councillors, +and, in deference to their representations, he decided +to abandon his Crusade for the present and come to +Flanders. This decision was confirmed by the discontent +which the Duke of Cleves's intrigues helped to +foment in Ghent—always a turbulent city—as well +as by the news that the King of England had entered +into a close alliance with Cleves, and was about to +marry his sister.</p> + +<p>Cromwell, with his habitual duplicity, had been in +correspondence with the German Princes while he +professed to be zealous for the Emperor's alliance; +and in March Christopher Mont, his Envoy to Frankfort, +was desired to make diligent inquiries as to the +shape, stature, and complexion, of the Duke of Cleves's +sister Anne. If these were satisfactory, he was to +suggest that proposals of marriage should be made +by that Prince and his brother-in-law, the Elector +John Frederick of Saxony. Mont sent glowing descriptions +of the lady's beauty, and was bold enough +to declare that she excelled the Duchess of Milan as +much as the golden sun excels the silver moon.<a name="FNanchor_246" id="FNanchor_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p> + +<p>Henry was now all on fire to see the Lady Anne, +although he had not yet lost all interest in Christina, +whose name still figures constantly in letters from +Brussels. On the 6th of April we hear that the +Duchess of Milan is sick of fever, and ten days later +Cromwell writes to the King that Her Grace is no +longer sick, and that "at Antwerp the people still +cherish a hope that Your Highness will yet marry +her."<a name="FNanchor_247" id="FNanchor_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> If he could not make her his wife, the King +was determined to prevent another suitor from succeeding +where he had failed, and renewed his offer of +his daughter Mary with a large dowry to the Duke of +Cleves. William, however, showed no alacrity to avail +himself of this offer, and sent Envoys both to Brussels +and Toledo to press his suit for Christina's hand.</p> + +<p>The sudden death of the Empress at Toledo on the +1st of May altered all Charles's plans. A few weeks +before this Isabella had given birth to a son, who +only lived a few hours, and Charles had written to +inform his sister of the infant's death. On the 2nd of +May he wrote a few touching lines with his own hand +to tell Mary the grievous news. The doctors had +pronounced her to be out of danger, but catarrh +attacked the lungs, and proved fatal in a few hours.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I am overwhelmed with sorrow and distress, and +nothing can comfort me but the thought of her good +and holy life and the devout end which she made. +I leave you to tell my subjects over yonder, of this +pitiful event, and ask them to pray for her soul. I +will do my best to bow to the will of God, whom I +implore to receive her in His blessed paradise, where +I feel certain that she is. And may God keep you, +my dear sister, and grant you all your desires."<a name="FNanchor_248" id="FNanchor_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1539</span>] THE PALATINE'S TRAVELS</div> + +<p>When this sad event took place, Christina's sister +Dorothea and her husband, Count Frederic, were +staying at the Imperial Court. These adventurous +travellers had come to Spain in the vain hope of inducing +the Emperor to support their claims on Denmark, +and, after crossing the Pyrenees in rain and snow, had +at length reached Toledo, where they were hospitably +entertained. The Empress treated Dorothea with +great affection, but Frederic's German servants, who +consumed five meals a day and ate meat on Ash +Wednesday, shocked the Spanish courtiers, and drew +down the censures of the Inquisition upon them. +Even the Emperor asked his cousin why he brought +so numerous a suite on his travels; but, although he +would make no promises of further help, he good-naturedly +paid Frederic's expenses at Toledo, and +gave him a present of 7,000 crowns. The death of +the Empress, Dorothea's best friend, put an end to all +hope of further assistance. The Emperor shut himself +up in a Carthusian convent, and the Palatine and +his wife started for the Low Countries.<a name="FNanchor_249" id="FNanchor_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> On their +way through France they were royally entertained +by the King and Queen in the splendid Palais des +Tournelles, and Francis took so great a fancy to his +wife's niece that Eleanor felt it wise to keep Dorothea +continually at her side. Here they were detained some +time by Frederic's illness, and after his recovery spent +several days at Chantilly with the Constable, and at +the King's fine new villa of Cotterets, on their way to +the Netherlands.<a name="FNanchor_250" id="FNanchor_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Sept., 1539</span>] A MOCK FIGHT</div> + +<p>Here the travellers were eagerly awaited by Christina +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>and her aunt. After the funeral services for +the repose of the Empress's soul had been duly celebrated, +and the last requiem sung in S. Gudule, the +Queen set out on a progress through Holland and +Friesland, and spent some time at Bois-le-Duc, on the +frontiers of Guelders, trying to arrange matters with +the Duke of Cleves. But, although friendly letters +and messages were exchanged, nothing could be +settled until the Emperor's arrival, which was now +delayed till the autumn, and the Court moved to the +Hague for August. Here the Queen received news +that the Count Palatine and his wife had reached +Dordrecht and were coming by sea to Holland. +Christina at once travelled to Rotterdam, intending +to go by boat to meet the travellers. But the +weather was rough and stormy, and the sailors were +reluctant to set out. The Duchess, however, would +hear of no delay, and, embarking in a small boat, +bade the sailors put out to sea. Hardly had they left +the shore before a terrific gale sprang up, and from +the deck of their ship the Palatine and his wife saw +a barque tossed on the raging seas, sending up signals +of distress. Altering their course, they hastened to +the rescue, and found, to their great surprise, that +the Duchess of Milan was on board. Count Frederic +scolded his sister-in-law soundly for her rashness, but +Dorothea was enchanted to see Christina, and laughed +and cried by turn as she embraced her.<a name="FNanchor_251" id="FNanchor_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a> The Queen +awaited the travellers no less eagerly, in her anxiety +to hear the latest news from Spain, and agreed readily +to Frederic's proposal that his wife should remain at +the Hague while he returned to Germany. Early in +September the Palatine took leave of his relatives and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>went to Antwerp, saying that he must raise money for +his journey to Heidelberg. But he kept his true destination +a secret. During his illness in Paris, Bishop +Bonner had brought Frederic a letter from Cromwell, +begging him to come to England, since he was only +divided from this country by a narrow arm of the +sea, and His Majesty was very anxious to see him +again. All immediate alarm of war had died away, +and the irascible monarch's anger was allayed by the +arrival of a new French Ambassador in the person of +Marillac, and by the permission which Mary gave him +to buy ammunition in the Low Countries. In return, +he ordered an imposing requiem to be held in St. +Paul's for the late Empress, and desired Cromwell +and the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, with twenty +Bishops, to attend the service.<a name="FNanchor_252" id="FNanchor_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a> He resumed his old +habit of spending the summer evenings on the river, +enjoying the music of flutes and harps, and sent to +France and Italy for excellent painters and musicians—a +sure sign, Marillac was told, that he was about +to marry again. Another fête, at which the Ambassador +declined to be present, was a mock-fight on the +Thames between two galleys, one of which bore the +King's arms, while the other was decorated with an +effigy of the Pope with the triple tiara and keys, +attended by the Cardinals. The show ended in the +triumph of the English sailors, who threw the Pope +and Cardinals into the river—"the whole thing," +according to Marillac, "being as badly represented +as it was poorly conceived."<a name="FNanchor_253" id="FNanchor_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a></p> + +<p>Now the King was anxious to hear the Emperor's +intention from the Palatine's own lips, while Frederic +on his part was flattered by this powerful monarch's +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>invitation, and felt that his assistance might prove +of use in his visionary schemes for the recovery of +Denmark. But, knowing that of late relations between +Henry and the Queen had been strained, he +kept his counsel, and told no one but his wife that he +was bound for Calais.</p> + +<p>Here he was courteously entertained by Lord Lisle, +an illegitimate son of Edward IV., and escorted by +him to Canterbury and London. Frederic was lost +in admiration at the rows of stately palaces along the +Thames, and the fine Castle of Richmond, but was +disappointed, when he visited Westminster Abbey, +not to see the famous antlers of the stag which King +Dagobert caught, and which wore a golden collar +inscribed with the words, "Julius Cæsar let me go +free." Afterwards he learnt that these legendary +trophies had lately been removed by the King's +orders, for fear the monks, whom he was about to +expel, might conceal them.</p> + +<p>In the absence of the King at Ampthill, Cromwell, +who had been told to "grope out the reason of +Frederic's coming," entertained the Count splendidly +at his own house, and showed him the Tower of +London and the Temple Church. But the Deputy's +wife, Lady Lisle, who looked on Cromwell with deep +distrust, begged her husband to beware of the Lord +Privy Seal's fair words, and was none too well pleased +to hear that he had partaken of the partridge pasty +and baked cranes which she had sent from Calais, +together with her own toothpick for the Palsgrave's +use, having noticed that her noble guest "used a quill +to pick his teeth with."<a name="FNanchor_254" id="FNanchor_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Sept., 1539</span>] THE PALATINE AT WINDSOR</div> + +<p>Meanwhile the Palatine's visit to England was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>exciting much curiosity, and not a little alarm, in some +quarters. The Pope and the French King feared it +might lead to a secret covenant between Henry and +Charles, while in London it was commonly reported +that Frederic came to renew negotiations for his union +with the Duchess of Milan, and the Duke of Cleves +hastily sent Ambassadors to conclude his sister's +marriage. These Envoys reached Windsor on the +same day as the Count Palatine, whom Henry invited +to a banquet there on the 24th of September. When +he bade the Lord High Admiral escort the Palsgrave +to Windsor, Southampton, eager to curry +favour with the King, expressed his opinion that the +Cleves alliance was preferable to a marriage with a +French Princess or one of the Emperor's family, +"albeit the Duchess of Milan was a fair woman and +well spoken of," and told the King of the resentment +which his union with the Lady Anne had aroused at +the Court of Brussels. Henry remained plunged in +thought for some moments; then a smile broke over +his face, and he exclaimed: "Have they remembered +themselves now? They that would not when they +might, when they would they shall have nay!"<a name="FNanchor_255" id="FNanchor_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a></p> + +<p>Nothing was lacking, however, to the splendour of +the Palatine's reception at Windsor. The Duke of +Suffolk rode out to meet him beyond Eton Bridge +with 100 horsemen clad in velvet, and the banquet +was served on golden dishes in a hall carpeted with +cloth of gold, to the strains of delicious music from +the King's famous band. The Cleves Envoys were +at table, but after dinner the King took the Count +apart, and conversed with him for over two hours on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> +his travels. Frederic took this opportunity of begging +the King to help him in driving out the usurper of +Denmark, and releasing his unhappy father-in-law, +Christian II.<a name="FNanchor_256" id="FNanchor_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> Henry listened kindly, and promised +to consider the matter, but no mention was made of +Christina. The next day a great hunting-party was +given in the Palsgrave's honour. A pavilion of green +laurel boughs was set up in a meadow on the banks +of the river, and while the King and his guests were +at dinner the merry note of hunting-horns rang +through the air, and a stag bounded across the turf, +followed by the hounds at full cry. Immediately the +whole party sprang to horse and joined in the chase, +which lasted for three hours, and ended in the +slaughter of thirty-four stags. From Windsor +Frederic went to Hampton Court, and on the 3rd of +October finally took leave of the King, who gave him +2,000 crowns as a parting gift. Hubert also received +a silver cup from the Lord Privy Seal, who begged +him and his lord to return at Christmas, and surprised +him by asking if the Palsgrave had any castle to let +or sell, as it might be convenient for him to secure a +retreat abroad. The Minister evidently realized the +precarious nature of his position, and Hubert remembered +his request when he heard of the doom which +soon afterwards overtook the King's favourite.<a name="FNanchor_257" id="FNanchor_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1539</span>] THE LADY ANNE</div> + +<p>In his last interview Henry told the Count that he +feared it would be impossible for him to join in any +enterprise against Denmark, as his new allies the +German Princes were in league with the present King. +At the same time he informed his good cousin of his +intended marriage to the Lady Anne of Cleves, a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>Princess of suitable age and elegant stature, and +begged him to obtain a safe-conduct from the Regent +for his bride's passage through the Low Countries.<a name="FNanchor_258" id="FNanchor_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a> +The next day Frederic crossed the Channel and joined +his wife at Brussels. Here, as Dorothea had already +told him, he found the Queen much displeased at the +trick which he had played her, and Hubert came in +for his share of blame. They soon left Brabant for +Heidelberg, and the Palatine sent Lady Lisle—or, as +he called her, "Madame ma bonne mère"—a barrel +of fine red and white Rhine wine in remembrance "of +her loving son."<a name="FNanchor_259" id="FNanchor_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a></p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>King Henry's marriage to Anne of Cleves, as +Southampton told his master, was exceedingly unpopular +in the Netherlands. The alliance of so +powerful a monarch with Duke William was fraught +with danger, and the people bitterly resented the +insult which, in their eyes, had been offered to the +Duchess of Milan. The merchants of Antwerp said +openly that, if King Henry chose to break faith with +their Princess, he should not enjoy the company of +another wife, and declared they would not allow the +Lady Anne to pass through their city. The Cleves +Envoys in England were so much alarmed by these +reports that they travelled back to Düren in disguise, +and advised the bride to take the sea-route from +Germany. But Mary of Hungary was too wise to +show her annoyance, and sent a gracious message to +Henry, saying that she would send Count Büren +to wait on the Lady Anne, on her journey through the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>Emperor's dominions. The King wrote back in high +glee to thank "his dearest sister," and on the 27th of +December his new bride landed safely at Dover.<a name="FNanchor_260" id="FNanchor_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a> +The loyal citizens of Flanders consoled themselves with +the thought that, if their Duchess was not to be Queen +of England, they would keep her among them, and +the old rumour was persistently repeated: "She shall +marry the Prince of Orange." All through the past +year René had devoted himself to Christina's service, +had worn her favours and broken lances in her honour. +Her Italian servants called him openly the Duchess's +<i>cavaliere sirvente</i>.<a name="FNanchor_261" id="FNanchor_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a> But it was plain to Italians and +Flemings alike that the affection was not at all on +one side, and that this gallant Prince had won Christina's +heart. Old courtiers smiled kindly on the +young couple, and ladies drew aside discreetly to +leave them together. They were eminently fitted +for each other by age, race and character. If the +succession to the principality of Orange, which had +been lately restored by the French King, hardly entitled +René to a place among the reigning Princes of +Europe, at least he could offer her splendid homes +at Brussels and Breda, and a position which many +ladies of royal birth might envy. The Countess +Palatine Dorothea privately encouraged the Prince, +and her husband warmly approved of the match, and +said openly that, since his sister-in-law could not be +King Henry's wife, she had better marry the man of +her choice, and not waste the best years of her life, +as he himself had done.<a name="FNanchor_262" id="FNanchor_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Sept., 1539</span>] THE REVOLT OF GHENT</div> + +<p>Queen Mary was, clearly, not averse to the Prince's +suit, and had a strong liking for René; but reasons of +State prevented her from giving the union her public +sanction, and all parties were agreed that nothing +could be arranged until the Emperor's arrival. The +date of his journey was now definitely fixed, and +in November Mary told the English Ambassador +Vaughan that her brother would be at Brussels by +the New Year. Charles at length realized the critical +situation of affairs, and saw that if he wished to keep +his provinces <i>de par-deça</i> he must no longer delay his +coming.<a name="FNanchor_263" id="FNanchor_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a> In September, 1539, the citizens of Ghent, +who had long been discontented, broke into open +revolt. After refusing to pay their share of the +subsidy voted by the States, the leading citizens +put to death their chief magistrate, Lieven Pyl, +because he declined to bear their insolent message to +the Regent, and proceeded to tear up the famous +"Calf-vel," a parchment deed containing an agreement +which they had made with Charles V. twenty-four +years before. Worse than all, they sent deputies +to King Francis, asking him to defend their liberties +against the Emperor. At the first tidings of these +disorders Mary hastened to Malines and took energetic +measures to suppress the insurrection, which had +already spread to several of the neighbouring towns.<a name="FNanchor_264" id="FNanchor_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> +For some weeks the alarm was great, and watchers +were posted on the tower of S. Rombaut night and +day; but the Queen's presence of mind, and the +support of her able lieutenants, Aerschot and De +Courrières, who was now Bailiff of Alost, succeeded +in confining the mutiny to the walls of Ghent. A +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>simultaneous rising at Maestricht was put down by +the Prince of Orange, who raised 300 horse and +hastened to restore order in that city. But the +citizens of Ghent still openly defied the Regent, +although Francis, to do him credit, refused to help +the rebels. More than this, he addressed a letter +with his own royal hand to Charles, saying that, if the +Emperor was coming to chastise his revolted subjects, +he hoped that he would do him the honour of passing +through France, assuring him, on the faith of a +Prince, that every possible honour and hospitality +would be shown him.<a name="FNanchor_265" id="FNanchor_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a></p> + +<p>So critical was the situation, both with regard to +Ghent and Guelders, that Charles decided to accept +the offer and take the shortest route to Flanders.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"My good brother the Emperor," wrote Francis +to his Ambassador in England, "is coming to visit +me on his way to the Low Countries, a thing which +not only does me the greatest honour, content, and +pleasure, but is a proof of the good and perfect friendship +between us."</p></div> + +<p>He expressed the same feelings in still stronger +terms to Wyatt, whom Cromwell sent to Blois in +December to be present at the meeting of the two +monarchs.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Emperor," he added, "is doing me the greatest +honour that can be, by coming to visit me, and +showing thereby that he taketh me for an honest +man."<a name="FNanchor_266" id="FNanchor_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Nov., 1539</span>] A SPLENDID RECEPTION</div> + +<p>On the 23rd of November Charles left Burgos, and +four days later he entered Bayonne, attended by the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>Dauphin and the Constable Montmorency, whom +the King had sent to meet him on the frontier. He +had begged Francis to dispense with ceremonies, as +his great object was to reach Flanders as quickly as +possible, and to excuse him from entering on political +matters, since he could not decide anything of importance +until he had seen the Queen-Regent.<a name="FNanchor_267" id="FNanchor_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> But, +in spite of this request, he was everywhere received +with the utmost pomp and festivity. Triumphal +arches were erected at the city gates, and the prison +doors were thrown open at his entrance. Bordeaux +presented him with 300 barrels of wine, Poitiers gave +him a golden eagle, Orleans a dinner-service of richly +chased plate. The meeting of the two monarchs +took place at Loches on the 10th of December. +Charles, clad in deep mourning, walked under a +canopy of cloth of gold, adorned with the imperial +eagles, across the picturesque court to the gates of the +castle, where King Francis met him, surrounded by a +brilliant company. Three times over he embraced +his guest, and led him to the hall, where Eleanor, in +robes of purple satin glittering with pearls, welcomed +her brother with transports of joy. Banquets and +hunting-parties now followed each other, as the Court +journeyed by slow stages along the banks of the Loire, +from one fair château to another. At Amboise a heap +of tow caught fire as Charles rode up the famous spiral +staircase in the dusk, and he narrowly escaped being +suffocated. But, mercifully, no one was injured, and +Francis escorted his imperial brother by way of Blois +and Orleans to Fontainebleau, where Christmas was +spent and the Emperor was allowed to enjoy a week's +rest. On New Year's Day the Emperor entered Paris, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>where the Parliament and University received him +"as if he were a god from heaven," and the following +motto was inscribed on the gates in golden letters:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Ouvre, Paris, ouvre tes hautes portes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Entrer y veut le plus grand des Chrétiens."<a name="FNanchor_268" id="FNanchor_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Queen Eleanor, who scarcely left her brother's +side, took him to see the <i>Sainte Chapelle</i> which St. +Louis had built to receive the Crown of Thorns, and +escorted him to the Louvre, where sumptuous rooms +had been prepared for his reception. On Sunday +a grand tournament was held on the Place des Tournelles, +in front of the palace which then occupied the +Place des Vosges, and the Duke of Vendôme and +the Count of Aumale opened the joust, while it was +closed by Francis of Lorraine, the Marquis of Pont-à-Mousson. +Charles left Paris on the 7th of January, +and was presented by the city with a silver model +of the Column of Hercules, seven feet high, bearing +his motto, <i>Plus oultre</i>.<a name="FNanchor_269" id="FNanchor_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> The King took his guest to +dine at his new pleasure-house, the Château de +Madrid, accompanied him to St. Denis, where he +visited the Tomb of the Kings, and went on to the +Constable's house at Chantilly. Finally, on the 20th, +the Emperor took his leave of the King and Queen +at St. Quentin, and with tears in his eyes thanked +his host for this truly brotherly reception.<a name="FNanchor_270" id="FNanchor_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1540</span>] THE CALENDAR OF FOOLS</div> + +<p>In spite of the sinister warnings which Charles had +received before he set out on his journey, in +spite of Mary of Hungary's fears and of Madame +d'Étampes' thinly-veiled hostility, the experiment +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>had proved a brilliant success. Spanish and French +poets celebrated the triumph of Peace over War, +and the return of the golden age. And Charles himself +laughed heartily when the King's jester, Triboulet, +told him that he had inscribed His Imperial Majesty's +name on his Calendar of Fools, because he had been +so rash as to venture into his enemy's country, but +now that he had reached the end of his journey without +mishap, he should rub out Charles's name, and +write that of Francis in its place.<a name="FNanchor_271" id="FNanchor_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a></p> + +<p>The French King went home in high delight, and +wrote to Marillac saying that now all his differences +with the Emperor would be easily arranged. During +those five weeks the King had respected his guest's +wishes and avoided politics, but the Constable, who +enjoyed the Emperor's confidence in a high degree, +had made good use of this opportunity, and flattered +himself that he had been entirely successful. He +was above all anxious to effect a marriage between +the widowed Emperor and the King's daughter, and +told Granvelle that Madame Marguerite was a +rose among thorns, an angel among devils, and that, +if His Imperial Majesty thought of making a second +marriage, he could not do better. But Charles was +firmly resolved never to take another wife, and, +when the Constable pressed the point after he had +left France, wrote that he must beg the King to give +up all idea of such a union, as he did not intend to +marry again, and was too old for Madame Marguerite.<a name="FNanchor_272" id="FNanchor_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">1539-41] A COURTLY FAREWELL</div> + +<p>In spite of the splendour and cordiality of his +reception, Charles was sad and tired, and longed more +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>than all else to find himself among his kindred and +people. It was with heartfelt relief that he reached +Cambray, and found the Prince of Orange, the Duke +of Aerschot, and his faithful De Courrières, with the +Archers' Guard, awaiting him. The next day he +went on to Valenciennes, where his loyal subjects +welcomed his return with passionate joy. Triumphal +arches adorned the streets, and the houses were +hung with tapestries. Now it was his turn to act as +host, and do honour to the Dauphin and Duke of +Orleans, who, with Vendôme, the Constable, and +Aumale, the Duke of Guise's eldest son, had insisted +on escorting him across the frontier.<a name="FNanchor_273" id="FNanchor_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> The keys of +the city were presented to the Dauphin at the Cambray +gate, torches blazed all along the streets, and +the bells rang merry peals as Charles led the way to +the ancient hôtel-de-ville, known as La Salle, where +the Queen of Hungary and the Duchess of Milan +received him with open arms. The next two days +were given up to mirth and festivity. Charles showed +the French Princes the sights of the town, while the +Constable was invited to dine alone with the Queen +and her niece, and sat down to table between the +two royal ladies. A splendid banquet was followed +by a ball, which lasted far on into the morning. +All the ladies appeared in magnificent costumes—French, +Italian, Flemish, or Spanish, as they chose—and +wore the richest jewels. The Emperor moved +through the vast hall, blithe and debonair beyond his +wont, jesting with his old friends and rejoicing to be +once more in his native land. Mary and Christina, +both of whom, remarks the chronicler, although +widows, were still young and beautiful, danced with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>the French Princes all the evening, and were in high +spirits.<a name="FNanchor_274" id="FNanchor_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a> There was much gay talk, and the Pope's +Legate, the young Cardinal Farnese, amused the +guests with stories of the latest gossip from the Court +of England, which Queen Eleanor had heard from +Marillac. According to him, the new Queen, Anne of +Cleves, was too old and ugly for King Henry's taste, +while her dresses and those of her German "Fraus" +were so monstrous that the King would not allow them +to appear at Court, and told his wife to adopt French +fashions.<a name="FNanchor_275" id="FNanchor_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a></p> + +<p>The next morning the French Princes appeared +early to bid the Queen farewell, and were very gracious +in their manner of leave-taking. The Dauphin +received a superb diamond jewel in the shape of a +griffin, and a very fine emerald was bestowed on +the Constable. There was some talk of a marriage +between the Duke of Orleans and a daughter of +King Ferdinand, while the King of Navarre and his +wife, Margaret of Angoulême, were eager for a match +between their only daughter, Jeanne, and the Prince +of Spain. Vendôme probably realized that he had +little chance of winning the Duchess of Milan, but he +shrugged his shoulders and went his way gaily, +saying he would wed the Pope's granddaughter, +Vittoria Farnese, the sister of the boy Cardinal. +And they all rode off in high spirits to join the King +at La Fère and show him the Emperor's costly gifts. +They met him on his way back from hunting, riding +at the side of the Queen's litter, clad in a scarlet +cloak, which made the English Ambassador remark +how much better Eleanor was treated since her +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>brother's visit. And the whole Court, in Bishop +Bonner's words, "made much demonstration of +gladness, thinking they have God by the foot."<a name="FNanchor_276" id="FNanchor_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a></p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Among all his political anxieties and preoccupations, +the Emperor had not forgotten his niece. +Before he left Spain on this perilous journey through +his old enemy's country, he drew up a paper of +instructions to be given to his son Philip in case of his +own death. A large part of this advice was devoted to +the choice of a wife for the Prince himself, the heiress +of Navarre being on the whole, in Charles's opinion, +the most eligible bride for his son. After suggesting +various alliances for his little daughters, Maria and +Juana, the Emperor proceeded to urge on his successor +the importance of finding a husband for his +niece, the Widow of Milan, saying that he counted her +as one of his own children. Three Princes, he said, +were all eager to marry her—the Duke of Cleves, the +heir of Lorraine, and the Duke of Vendôme—but it +would be necessary to defer his decision until he +had ascertained the best measures for recovering +Denmark and settling the question of Guelders. +"And if God," he added, "should call to Himself +the Palatine Frederic, who is old and broken, one +of these Princes might marry his widow."<a name="FNanchor_277" id="FNanchor_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> Christina's +marriage, it is easy to see, was closely bound up +with the settlement of Guelders, an object which lay +very near to her uncle's heart.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1540</span>] GUELDERS</div> + +<p>The English Ambassador Wyatt, who had been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>posting after the Emperor across France, "through +deep and foul roads," was convinced that Charles +in his heart of hearts cared more for Guelders than he +did for all Italy. This earnest desire to recover +Guelders was, he felt sure, the true reason why the +Emperor had undertaken this long journey in the +depth of winter, and exposed his person to such great +risks in passing through France. When, contrary to +the Constable's express orders, Wyatt obtained an +audience from the Emperor at Châtelhérault, as he +came in from hunting with the Dauphin, and informed +him of His Majesty's marriage and alliance +with Cleves, Charles turned angrily on him, saying:</p> + +<p>"What hath Monsieur de Cleves to do with +Guelders? I mean to show him that he has played +the young man. I hope the King will give him good +advice, for, I can tell you, Monsieur de Cleves shall +give me reason. I say he shall—he shall! If he +does," he continued, laying his hand on his heart, +"he shall find in me a Sovereign, a cousin, and a +neighbour. Otherwise he will lose all three."<a name="FNanchor_278" id="FNanchor_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a></p> + +<p>When, two months later in Brussels, Wyatt craved +another interview of the Emperor, and begged him +in Henry's name to look favourably on his brother-in-law's +petition, Charles said he must desire the +King not to meddle between him and his subjects, +repeating the same words, "Je ne ferai rien," two +or three times over. An Envoy from the Duke of +Cleves came to meet him at Brussels, but was told +that the Emperor could not attend to his master's +business until the affairs of Ghent were settled. These, +as Wyatt remarked, had already quieted down in a +singular manner from the moment that the Emperor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +started on his journey, and deputies from the revolted +city had been sent to meet him at Valenciennes. +But he refused sternly to see them, saying that they +would learn his pleasure when he came to Ghent.<a name="FNanchor_279" id="FNanchor_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1540</span>] A SEVERE PUNISHMENT</div> + +<p>It was Charles's intention to overawe the turbulent +city by an imposing display of armed force. On the +14th of February, 1540, he entered Ghent—"that great, +rich, and beautiful city," writes the city chronicler, +"with its broad streets, fair rivers, noble churches, +houses, and hospitals, the finest in the Netherlands"—at +the head of a stately procession. The Queen +rode on his right hand, the Duchess of Milan on his +left, followed by the Princess of Macedonia and other +ladies in litters, the officers of the household, and a +long train of foreign Ambassadors, Princes, and +Knights of the Golden Fleece. Cardinal Farnese, +Don Ferrante Gonzaga, Viceroy of Sicily, the Prince +of Orange, the Dukes of Alva and Aerschot, Count +Egmont, Büren, De Praet, Lalaing, and Granvelle, +were all present. In their rear came the troops—4,000 +horse, 1,000 crossbowmen, 5,000 <i>Landsknechten</i>, +and a strong body of artillery, numbering in all +60,000 persons and 15,000 horses. Their entry lasted +six hours, and it was dusk before the last guns and +baggage defiled through the streets. Charles, with his +sister and niece, alighted at the Prinzenhof, the house +where he had been born just forty years before, and +the Archers' Guard took up their station at the gates.<a name="FNanchor_280" id="FNanchor_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a> +A strong body of infantry was encamped in the neighbouring +market-place, pickets of cavalry occupied +the chief squares, and the rest of the troops were +quartered in other parts of the city. But there was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>not the least show of resistance on the part of the +citizens. Absolute tranquillity reigned everywhere +while the stricken city awaited the Emperor's sentence. +It was, as might be expected, a severe one. +Twenty-three of the ringleaders were arrested, and +after a prolonged trial were found guilty. On the +17th of March, nine of these were put to death in the +market-place, while the others were banished and +heavily fined. On the 29th of April the Emperor +convened the chief officers of State and magistrates +in the great hall of the Prinzenhof, and, in the presence +of the Queen and her Court, delivered his sentence +on the guilty city. The charters and privileges of +Ghent were annulled, the property of the Corporation +was confiscated, and heavy additional fines were +imposed, beside the payment of the 400,000 florins +which had been the cause of the quarrel. In their +consternation, the burghers turned to Mary and implored +her to intercede on their behalf; but she +could only advise them to throw themselves on the +Emperor's mercy. On the 3rd of May a memorable +and historic scene took place in the court of the +Prinzenhof. Here the Emperor, seated on a tribunal, +with his crown on his head and sceptre in his hand, +and surrounded by the Archers' Guard, received the +senators and chief burghers, as, robed in black, with +bare heads and feet, and halters round their necks, +they knelt in the dust at his feet. The sentence of +condemnation was read aloud in the presence of a +brilliant assembly of nobles and courtiers, and of a +vast crowd who looked on from the windows and roofs +of the neighbouring houses. Then Mary, who occupied +a chair at her brother's side, rose, and, turning +to the Emperor, in eloquent words implored him to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> +have pity on his poor city of Ghent, and to remember +that he had been born there. The Emperor gave a +gracious answer, saying that out of brotherly love +for her and pity for his poor subjects he would pardon +the citizens and restore their property. But he decided +to build a citadel to keep the city in subjection, and, +after taking his brother Ferdinand to the top of the +belfry tower to choose a site, he eventually fixed on +the high ground above the River Scheldt, where +St. Bavon's Abbey stood. The demolition of the +ancient monastery was at once begun, and before the +Emperor left Ghent the first stone of the new fortress +was laid.<a name="FNanchor_281" id="FNanchor_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a></p> + +<p>While these tragic events were taking place, a +succession of illustrious guests arrived at Court. +First of all, at the end of February, came Ferdinand, +King of the Romans, a simple and honest Prince, +the best of husbands and fathers, and as fondly +attached to his sister Mary as she was to him. At +the same time the Palatine Frederic sent his wife +to join the family party and plead her unfortunate +father's cause with the all-powerful Emperor. Although +his journey to England had failed to secure +Henry's support, he still cherished designs against +Denmark, and was anxious to prevent a renewal of +the truce between the Low Countries and King +Christian III. After consulting Archbishop Carondelet, +the President of the Council, and Granvelle, the two +sisters, Dorothea and Christina, drew up a petition to +the Emperor, imploring him to have pity on the poor +prisoner, who had already languished seven years in +solitary confinement, and reminding him gently of +the pledges given to the Palatine at his marriage.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p> +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1540</span>] WILLIAM OF CLEVES</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"My sister and I,"—so ran the words of Dorothea's +prayer—"your humble and loving children, entreat +you, as the fountain of all justice, to have compassion +on us. Open the prison doors, which you alone are +able to do, release my father, and give me advice as +to how I may best obtain the kingdom which belongs +to me by the laws of God and man."<a name="FNanchor_282" id="FNanchor_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a></p></div> + +<p>But although the sisters' touching appeal on behalf +of their captive father moved many hearts, and both +Henry VIII. and James V. of Scotland wrote to assure +the Palatine of their sympathy, no one was inclined +to embark on so desperate an enterprise, and Dorothea +went back to her lord at Heidelberg without having +obtained any satisfaction. On the 14th of April a +truce was concluded with the Danish Envoys, who +had followed the Emperor to Ghent, and the illusory +hopes of the three crowns which had been so long +dangled before the Palatine's eyes melted into thin +air.<a name="FNanchor_283" id="FNanchor_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a></p> + +<p>There was still one important question awaiting +settlement. William of Cleves had sent three successive +Ambassadors to congratulate Charles on his return +and to seek the investiture of Guelders at his hand. +Now, at King Ferdinand's instance, he arrived at +Ghent one day in person, to the surprise of the whole +Court.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Duke of Cleves," wrote an eyewitness of his +entry, "has come to Ghent with a fine suite, to claim +Guelders and marry the Duchess of Milan. This is +not to be wondered at, for she is a young and very +beautiful widow as well as a Princess of the noblest +birth. He who wins her for his bride will be a fortunate +man."<a name="FNanchor_284" id="FNanchor_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p> + +<p>The English Ambassador at Düren, Nicholas +Wotton, had done his utmost to prevent the Duke +from accepting Ferdinand's invitation; and Wyatt +was charged by Cromwell to neglect no means of +preventing an alliance which would defeat all his +schemes. The wily Ambassador laid his snares +cleverly. When the Cleves Ambassador, Olisleger, +told him that the Duke was about to wed the Duchess, +he whispered that his master had better be careful +and take counsel of King Henry before he took any +further pledges.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I told him," wrote Wyatt to King Henry, "to +advise his master, in case of marriage, to use his +friend's counsel, and herein, if I shall be plain with +Your Majesty, I cannot but rejoice in a manner of the +escape that you made there; for although I suppose +nothing but honour in the Lady, yet methinketh +Your Highness's mate should be without mote or +suspicion; and yet there is thought affection between +the Prince of Orange and her, and hath been of long; +which, for her bringing-up in Italy, may be noted but +service which she cannot let, but I have heard it to +proceed partly from her own occasion. Of this Your +Majesty will judge, and do with your friend as ye +shall think meet."<a name="FNanchor_285" id="FNanchor_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a></p></div> + +<p>René's courtship of the Duchess was no secret, +and Christina's preference for the popular Prince was +plain to everyone at the Imperial Court; but the unworthy +insinuations by which the Ambassador strove +to blacken her character were altogether his invention.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1540</span>] THE DUKE'S SUIT</div> + +<p>Since this was the surest way to win both Henry's +and Cromwell's favour, Wyatt made unscrupulous +use of these slanders to poison William of Cleves's +mind against the Duchess whose hand he sought. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>On the 13th of April the Duke arrived at Ghent, and +was met by the Prince of Orange, who brought him +to King Ferdinand's rooms. Late the same evening +the English Ambassador had a secret interview with +him, and did his utmost to dissuade him from entering +into any treaty with the Emperor. The Duke's +irresolution was now greater than ever. The next +day Ferdinand himself conducted him into the +Emperor's presence, where he received the most +friendly greeting, and was invited to join the imperial +family at dinner. The gracious welcome which he +received from Mary, and the sight of Christina, went +far to remove his doubts, and during the next few +days the harmony that prevailed among the Princes +excited Wyatt's worst misgivings. The Venetian +Ambassador, Francesco Contarini, met the Countess +Palatine returning from Ghent, and heard from her +servants that a marriage was arranged between her +sister and the Duke of Cleves. Monsieur de Vély, the +French Envoy, sent this report to Paris, and it was +confidently asserted at the French and English Courts +that Cleves had settled his quarrel with the Emperor, +and was to wed the Duchess.<a name="FNanchor_286" id="FNanchor_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1540</span>] AN ABRUPT DEPARTURE</div> + +<p>But these reports were premature. The Duke +told Wotton and Wyatt that nothing would induce +him to give up Guelders, and at their suggestion he +placed a statement of his claims in the hands of +Ferdinand, who promised to submit the document +to the Emperor. During the next fortnight the +question was discussed in all its bearings by Charles +and his Councillors. The Duke pressed his suit for +the Duchess's hand, and the Emperor went so far as +to offer him the reversion of Denmark if he would +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>renounce Guelders. But William was as obstinate as +the Emperor, and, when Ferdinand induced Charles +to offer Cleves his niece and the duchy of Guelders for +his lifetime, he quite refused to accept this proposal. +All Ferdinand could persuade him to do, was to +consent that the question of Guelders should be +referred to the Imperial Chamber, a compromise +which satisfied neither party. Still friendly relations +were maintained outwardly. On Sunday, the +27th of April, the imperial family attended Mass in +state, the Emperor riding to the Church of St. John +with the King of the Romans and the boy Legate, +Cardinal Farnese, on his left, followed by the Dukes +of Brunswick, Cleves, Savoy, and the Marquis of +Brandenburg. In the afternoon Ferdinand sent for +the Duke again, and made one more attempt to +arrange matters, without success. Some insolent +words spoken by Cleves's servants aroused the Emperor's +anger, upon which the Duke became alarmed, +and sent Wotton word that, seeing no hope of agreement, +he intended to return home. Early the next +morning, without taking leave of anyone, he rode +out of the town secretly, and never halted until he +was safe in his own dominions. His royal brother-in-law, +King Henry, sent him a long letter, congratulating +him on his safe return, and advising him +solemnly not to marry the Duchess of Milan without +finding out the true state of her affections towards +the Prince of Orange, lest he should be deceived. +Wotton told the King, in reply, that the Duke's affection +for Christina was now cooled, partly because she +had refused him, and partly because of the information +which Henry had given him. All idea of the marriage +was certainly abandoned, and on the 22nd of June<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +Cleves himself wrote to tell Henry that he had +received friendly overtures from the French King, and +was sending Ambassadors to make proposals for his +niece, the Princess of Navarre.<a name="FNanchor_287" id="FNanchor_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a></p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Duke's strange conduct had excited +much surprise at Ghent. The Emperor, who had +spent the anniversary of his wife's death in retirement +at a Carthusian convent in the neighbourhood, +returned to find Cleves gone. Henry of Brunswick +rode with his friend to the outskirts of the town, and +hurried back to be present at the imperial table, +where he tried to explain the Duke's abrupt departure +by saying that he was afraid of treachery. But +Ferdinand and Mary were both seriously annoyed, +and the only member of the family to rejoice was +Christina, who felt that she could once more breathe +freely.</p> + +<p>The pacification of Ghent was now complete, and +the bulk of the forces were disbanded. On Ascension +Day—the 6th of May—the imperial family attended +Mass at St. John's, the Queen "walking lovingly up +the church, hand in hand with the King of the +Romans." The Ambassadors were all present, as +well as Cardinal Farnese—in Wotton's opinion "a +very calf, and a greater boy in manners and condition +than in years."</p> + +<p>On the 12th the King of the Romans took leave +of his family, but the Council at which he assisted +lasted so late in the evening that he did not actually +set out on his journey till two o'clock on the following +day. About six in the cool hours of the May morning, +the Emperor, with his sister and niece, rode out +to see the foundations of the new citadel laid, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> +then continued their journey towards Antwerp, +where "great gun-shot" and bonfires welcomed their +arrival.<a name="FNanchor_288" id="FNanchor_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a></p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">July, 1540</span>] CROMWELL'S FALL</div> + +<p>The Court spent the next three weeks at Bruges, +the beautiful old city which was always a favourite +with Charles and his sisters, in the ancient Prinzenhof +where their mother had died. During these summer +days many important events took place, and startling +news came from England. On the 10th of June +Cromwell was suddenly arrested and sent to the +Tower on a charge of high-treason. A fortnight later +the new Queen, Anne of Cleves, left Whitehall for +Richmond, and on the 9th of July her marriage was +pronounced null and void by a decree of Convocation. +The ostensible reason for the divorce was a precontract +between Anne and Francis of Lorraine. It +was true that as children they had been affianced by +their respective parents, but, as was common in such +cases, all idea of the marriage had been afterwards +abandoned, and Henry had professed himself entirely +satisfied with the explanations given by Anne's +relatives on the subject. But from the first moment +that he met his bride at Rochester, on New Year's +Day, 1540, he was profoundly disappointed. When +Cromwell asked him how he liked her, he replied, +"Nothing so well as she was spoken of," adding that, +had he known as much of her before as he did now, +she should never have set foot in his realm. However, +he felt constrained to marry her, for fear of +"making a ruffle in the world," and driving her brother +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>into the Emperor's arms. At Whitsuntide he told +Cromwell that from the day of his marriage he had +become weary of life, and took a solemn oath that +before God Anne had never been his lawful wife.</p> + +<p>From that moment Cromwell knew that his own +fate was sealed. "The King loves not the Queen," +he said to Wriothesley. "What a triumph for the +Emperor and the Pope!" A week afterwards he +was committed to the Tower, and on the 28th of July +he was beheaded.<a name="FNanchor_289" id="FNanchor_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a></p> + +<p>The news of his fall was received with general satisfaction +abroad. King Francis gave vent to boisterous +joy, and sent his brother word how sincerely he rejoiced +to hear that this false and wicked traitor, who had +brought the noblest heads in England to the block, +was at length unmasked. The Emperor, on the contrary, +showed no surprise or emotion when he heard +the news from Archdeacon Pate, the new Envoy +who had succeeded Wyatt, but merely said: "What! +is he in the Tower of London, and by the King's +counsel?" And when, on the 6th of July, Pate informed +him that the King had repudiated his wife, +he cast his eye steadfastly on the speaker, and asked +what scruples His Majesty entertained regarding his +marriage with the daughter of Cleves. The Ambassador +explained, as best he could, what he took to be +the motives of the King's action, upon which the +Emperor said that he was convinced Cromwell was +the true cause of all the terrible crimes which had of +late years been committed against religion and order +in England. So friendly was the Emperor that Pate +wrote to the Duke of Norfolk: "If His Majesty hath +thereby lost the hearts of the Electors, he hath in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> +their places gained those of the Emperor and the +French King."<a name="FNanchor_290" id="FNanchor_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1540</span>] RENÉ OF ORANGE</div> + +<p>Both at Bruges and Antwerp the news aroused +much excitement among the merchants, who were +unanimous in the opinion that the King now intended +to take the Duchess of Milan "for the true +heart which she bore him." But nothing was further +from Christina's mind. She had rejoiced at the +failure of the King's suit, and saw the Duke of +Cleves leave Ghent without regret. Now all seemed +ripe for the fulfilment of her long-cherished hopes. +The Prince of Orange had been unremitting in his +attendance on the Emperor since his arrival, and, as +all men knew, was honoured by His Majesty's confidence +and affection. His popularity with the army +was unbounded, and it was a common saying that +wherever the Prince's little pony went, every Dutchman +would follow. The Queen looked kindly on his +suit, and Christina's heart was already his own. +But when, in these bright June days at Bruges, he +modestly laid his suit before the Emperor, an unexpected +difficulty arose. Three years before a +marriage with the Duke of Lorraine's only daughter +had been proposed for the young Prince of Orange +by his uncle, William of Nassau-Dillenburg, the head +of the German branch of the house. The idea met +with Henry of Nassau's cordial approval, and at his +request the Emperor sent his servant Montbardon to +obtain Duke Antoine's consent. This was granted +without any difficulty, and the contract was drawn +up before the Count of Nassau's death.<a name="FNanchor_291" id="FNanchor_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a> Now the +Duke urged the Prince to keep this long-standing +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>engagement and marry his daughter Anne—the plain +but excellent lady whose portrait Holbein had taken +for King Henry. The Prince had never seen his +destined bride, and was very reluctant to carry out +the contract, but the Emperor was resolute. Antoine +already had a serious grievance in the matter of +Guelders, and it was of the highest importance to +secure his alliance. Accordingly, Charles told René +that he must prove himself a loyal knight, and with +his own hand drew up the articles of the marriage +treaty, and sent them to Nancy by the Archdeacon +of Arras. Christina's name is never mentioned in +the whole transaction. It was the old story of the +Count Palatine and the Archduchess Eleanor. She +was a daughter of the House of Habsburg, and knew +that the Emperor's will must be obeyed. So she could +only bow her head in silence and submit to his decrees. +If she wept bitter tears, it was in secret, in her quiet +chamber in the ancient Cour des Princes at Bruges, +looking down on the green waters of the canal.<a name="FNanchor_292" id="FNanchor_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a></p> + +<p>There was great rejoicing throughout Lorraine when +the Emperor's messenger reached Nancy and the +marriage was proclaimed. Anne was very popular +throughout the duchy, and since her mother's death, +a year before, had taken a prominent place at the +ducal Court, where her tact and kindness made her +universally beloved. The wedding took place in the +last week of August at Bar.<a name="FNanchor_293" id="FNanchor_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a> All the members of the +ducal house were present, including the Duke and +Duchess of Guise, with their sons and daughters, +and the Cardinal of Lorraine, who came from the +French Court to pronounce the nuptial blessing.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Prince of Orange's martial appearance and his +splendid suite made a favourable impression on his +new relatives, as Antoinette de Bourbon wrote to +her daughter in Scotland:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I have delayed longer than I intended before +writing to you, but we have been so well amused by +the wedding of Mademoiselle de Lorraine that until +this moment I have not had leisure to begin this +letter. Yesterday we left the assembled company. +There was a very large gathering, and the wedding +took place last Tuesday. Monsieur le Prince arrived +honourably attended, and is, I can assure you, a +very charming and handsome Prince. He is much +pleased with his bride, and she is devoted to him. +They are to go home in a fortnight. The fête was at +Bar, but there were very few strangers present—only +a few nobles and ladies of the neighbourhood."<a name="FNanchor_294" id="FNanchor_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a></p></div> + +<p>On the 27th of September the Prince of Orange +brought his bride to Brussels, where the States were +assembled. The whole Court rode out to welcome +the happy pair, and escorted them to the Nassau +palace, where the Prince changed his travelling dress +for a Court mantle, and hastened to pay his respects +to the Emperor. A succession of fêtes was given in +their honour, and dances, masques, and banquets, +were the order of the day. The Princess charmed +everyone by her gracious manners, and her fine figure +and splendid clothes and jewels became the object of +general admiration.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1540</span>] ANNE OF LORRAINE</div> + +<p>On the 2nd of October a grand tournament was +given in the Prince's house, which the Emperor, +Queen Mary, and Christina, honoured with their +presence. René himself challenged all comers at +the barriers, and his wife was the most charming +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>hostess. Before Charles left, he presented Anne with +a costly ring, and appointed the Prince to succeed +Antoine de Lalaing as Stadtholder of Holland and +Friesland. Three days afterwards the newly-married +pair left Court for their own home at Breda, and +the Emperor set out on a progress through +Artois and Hainault, leaving his sister and niece at +Brussels.</p> + +<p>René's wife soon became a great favourite with the +Queen, and Christina danced as gaily as the rest at the +wedding fêtes. But it is significant that the only mention +made of her in contemporary records is in the +despatches of the English Ambassador, Richard Pate, +who tells us that the Duchess of Milan spent much of +her time in the company of her brother-in-law, the Palatine.<a name="FNanchor_295" id="FNanchor_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a> +Frederic had come to Brussels to confer with the +Emperor on German affairs, and, if possible, to raise a +loan of 600,000 ducats for his intended campaign +against Denmark. But although Charles professed +himself ready and anxious to oblige his good cousin, +the Regent would give him no answer, and ended by +telling him to get the money from the Imperial +Treasury. Richard Pate held long and confidential +conversations with the Palatine, who recalled his +visit to Windsor with delight, and spoke with warm +admiration of the beauty of the singing in St. George's +Chapel. He was curious to know if his old friend +the King had grown as fat as he was represented in +recent portraits, and rejoiced to hear that His +Majesty was lusty and merry. As for the Duchess +of Milan, he could only feel sorry that so charming a +lady should still lack a husband, and frankly regretted +that she had not married King Henry, or, failing +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>him, the Prince of Orange.<a name="FNanchor_296" id="FNanchor_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a> After his return to +Germany, Frederic made another attempt to bring +about his sister-in-law's marriage to the Duke of +Cleves, who still hesitated between his old love for +Christina and his reluctance to give up Guelders. +But negotiations were already in progress with another +suitor, who had bided his time patiently, and who +was now at length to obtain his reward.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">1539-41] LOUISE DE GUISE</div> + +<p>The Prince of Orange's union with Anne of Lorraine +had strengthened the ties that bound her father +to the Emperor, and a second marriage, which took +place this autumn, united the two houses still more +closely. Among the young nobles who accompanied +René to Bar for his wedding was Charles, Prince of +Chimay, the eldest son of the Duke of Aerschot, the +wealthy and powerful Governor of Brabant, who was +foremost among the Regent's confidential advisers, +and whom she affectionately called by the pet name +of "Moriceau." On the death of his mother in 1539, +the young Prince had succeeded to her vast estates, +and lived at the fine castle of Beaumont, near the +French frontier. At Bar he saw and fell in love with +Louise de Guise, the lovely girl whom Henry VIII. +would gladly have made his wife. But there were +difficulties in the young suitor's way. His own family +began by opposing the marriage, and it was some time +before Charles's consent could be obtained. The +Duke of Guise had long been the Emperor's most +bitter enemy, and was known to have strongly opposed +his journey through France. Fortunately, +Duchess Antoinette was from the first on the lovers' +side, and succeeded in gaining her husband's consent. +For some time past King Francis had been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>trying to arrange a marriage between her eldest son, +the Count of Aumale, and the Pope's granddaughter, +"<i>Vyquetorya</i> Farnese," as Louise calls her in one of +her letters. But the Pope haggled over the dowry, +and insisted on asking the Emperor's consent; so +that Antoinette had a troublesome task in her lord's +absence, and complained sorely to the Queen of +Scotland of these vexatious delays.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"By way of consolation, however," she writes on +the 30th of November, "we have an offer for your +sister. Monsieur le Duc d'Aerschot has sent to ask +for her, on behalf of his eldest son, the Prince of +Chimay, a youth about twenty, handsome and well +brought up, we hear. He will give him a portion of +50,000 crowns a year, and he will have some fine +estates, such as the duchy of Aerschot, the principality +of Chimay, the counties of Beaumont and Porcien, +most of them near Guise. I have told your father, +who is at Court, and he approves, and has spoken to +the King and to our brothers, who all advise us to +accept the proposal. So do my brother-in-law [the +Duke of Lorraine] and my mother [Madame de +Vendôme]. It has been arranged that we should all +meet at Bar on the Conception of Our Lady, as my +lord the Duke wishes the matter to be settled at his +house. I hope your father will be there, but if not +he will give me the necessary powers. If things can +be arranged, she will be well married, for the Prince +has great possessions and beautiful houses, and plate +and furniture in abundance. But it is a great +anxiety to be treating of two marriages at once."<a name="FNanchor_297" id="FNanchor_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a></p></div> + +<p>Happily for the good Duchess, the young Prince +had his way, and the contract between him and Louise +was duly signed at Bar on the 22nd of December. +On the same day the Emperor, accompanied by the +Regent and Duchess of Milan, paid a visit to the +Duke of Aerschot at Beaumont, and offered him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> +their warmest congratulations on his son's marriage.<a name="FNanchor_298" id="FNanchor_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a> +The wedding took place at Joinville in the following +March, by which time Christina's own marriage to +Louise's cousin was arranged, and all Lorraine rang +with the sound of wedding-bells.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1541</span>] CHRISTINA'S BETROTHAL</div> + +<p>The vaunted alliance between Charles and Francis +did not last long, and less than a year after the +Emperor and King had parted at St. Quentin, +vowing eternal friendship, a renewal of war seemed +already imminent. Francis was bitterly disappointed +to find that none of the great results which he +expected from Charles's visit had come to pass. +The Emperor firmly declined to marry his daughter, +and gave no signs of surrendering Milan to the Duke +of Orleans. All he would offer was the reversion of +the Low Countries as his daughter's portion if she +married Orleans. This failed to satisfy Francis, who +declared that he would have Milan and nothing else. +In order to prevent his niece, Jeanne of Navarre, +marrying the Prince of Spain, the King offered her to +the Duke of Cleves, who signed a treaty with France +this summer, but was not actually affianced to the +little Princess until the Duchess of Milan was finally +betrothed to Francis of Lorraine. Upon hearing of +the alliance between France and Cleves, Charles +retaliated by solemnly investing his son Philip with +the duchy of Milan. This ceremony took place at +Brussels on the 11th of October, and was regarded +by Francis as an open act of defiance. He vented his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>anger on the Constable, who asked leave to retire; +while Madame d'Étampes did her best to obtain +her rival's disgrace and induce the King to declare +war against the Emperor. But Francis was loth to +let his old servant go, and said to Montmorency, with +tears in his eyes: "How can you ask me to let you +leave me? I have only one fault to find with you, +that you do not love what I love."<a name="FNanchor_299" id="FNanchor_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> The Constable +consented to remain, and for the moment the crisis +was delayed.</p> + +<p>After visiting the forts along the frontier and leaving +garrisons in every town, the Emperor came to Namur +for Christmas, and prepared for his final departure. +Forty chariots were needed for his own use, and all +the horses and carts in the neighbouring provinces +were requisitioned to provide for the conveyance of +his immense suite. On Innocents' Day the Court +moved to Luxembourg, and all the gentlemen of +the countryside rode out to meet the Emperor. +With him came the Queen and the Duchess of Milan, +and on the same evening they were joined by the +Duke of Lorraine and his son Francis, the Marquis +of Pont-à-Mousson. On the Feast of the Three +Kings the imperial party attended Mass in the +cathedral, and the Emperor, after his usual custom, +presented golden cups to three abbeys in the town. +And on the same day the marriage of the Marquis to the +Duchess of Milan was finally concluded, to the great +delight of the old Duke, who was as much pleased as +the bridegroom. Two days afterwards Charles took +an affectionate farewell of his sister and niece, and +went on to Regensburg, leaving them to return to +Brussels, while the Duke of Lorraine hastened to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +Nancy to summon the States and inform his loyal +subjects of his son's marriage.<a name="FNanchor_300" id="FNanchor_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a></p> + +<p>On the 1st of March the contract drawn up by +the Imperial Ministers, Granvelle and De Praet, +was signed by the Duke of Lorraine at Bar, and on the +20th by the Emperor. The ducal manors of Blamont +and Denœuvre were settled upon the Duchess, and, in +order that she might not lose any rank by her marriage, +the Marquis received the title of Duke of Bar.<a name="FNanchor_301" id="FNanchor_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a> +On the 12th of March the Queen and Duchess both +went to the Castle of Beaumont in Hainault, to be +present at the splendid reception which the Duke of +Aerschot gave his daughter-in-law. The Duchess of +Guise herself accompanied the beloved Louise to her +future home, and wrote the following account of the +festivities to Queen Mary of Scotland from her husband's +château at Guise:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Madame</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">March, 1541</span>] WEDDING-BELLS</div> + +<p>"I have been so confidently assured that the +safest way for letters is to send them by Antwerp +merchants that I am sending mine by this means, +and your sister will be my postmistress in future. +I wrote to tell you of the conclusion of her marriage, +and sent the articles of the treaty and the account of +her wedding by your messenger. I have just taken +her to her new home, a fine and noble house, as well +furnished as possible, called Beaumont. Her father-in-law, +the Duke, received her very honourably, +attended by as large and illustrious a company as you +could wish to see. Among others, the Queen of +Hungary was present, and the Duchess of Milan, +and both the Prince and Princess of Orange, who, by +the way, is said to be with child, although this is +not quite certain as yet, and I confess I have my +doubts on the subject. I think your sister is very +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>well married. She has received beautiful presents, +and her husband has made her a very rich wedding-gift. +He is young, but full of good-will and excellent +intentions. It did not seem at all like Lent, for the +sound of trumpets and the clash of arms never ceased, +and there was some fine jousting. At the end we +had to part—not without tears. I am now back at +Guise, but only for one night, and go on to-morrow +to La Fère. My brother the Cardinal, and my +brother and sister of St. Pol, will be there on Wednesday. +For love of them I will stay at La Fère over +Thursday, and set out again on Friday, to reach +Joinville as soon as may be, in the hope of finding +your father still there, as well as our children—that +is to say, the little ones and the priests."<a name="FNanchor_302" id="FNanchor_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a></p></div> + +<p>Ten days later Louise herself wrote a long and +happy letter to her sister from Beaumont, full of the +delights of her new home and of the kindness with +which she had been received by her husband's family.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Madame</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"Since God gave me this great blessing of a +good husband, I have never found time to write to +you. But I can assure you that I count myself +indeed fortunate to be in this house, for, besides all +the grandeur of the place, I have a lord and father-in-law +whom I may well call good. It would take +three sheets of paper if I were to tell you all the +kindness with which he treats me. You may therefore +be quite satisfied of your sister's happiness, and +she is further commanded to offer you the very humble +service of the masters and lords of this house, who +beg that you will employ them on any occasion that +may arise, since they will always be very glad to +obey your wishes. We also have a very wise and +virtuous Queen, who has done me the greatest honour +by coming here to our house, expressly, as she condescended +to say, to receive me. She told me herself +that she meant to take me for her very humble +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>daughter and servant, and that in future she hoped +I should be often in her company, which, considering +how little she has seen of me, was exceedingly kind. +The Duchess of Milan said the same, and was the +best and kindest of all. We may soon hope to see +her in Lorraine, for her marriage to the Marquis is +in very good train. Since my mother went home, +she has sent a letter asking me to find out if this +route to Scotland will be shorter than the other. +If this is the case, and you like to send me your +letters for her, I shall be delighted. Only, Madame, +you must be sure to address your packets to the Duke +of Aerschot, which will be easy for you, as then the +merchants who come from Scotland will leave them +at Antwerp or Bruges, or any other town, and they +will not fail to reach me, since my father-in-law is +greatly loved and honoured throughout the Netherlands. +And I pray that God will give you a long and +happy life.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 16em;">"Your very humble and obedient sister,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 25.5em;">"Louise of Lorraine.</span></p> +<p> +"From Beaumont, the 25th day of March."<a name="FNanchor_303" id="FNanchor_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a><br /> +</p> + +<p>The keenest interest in these marriages was shown +at the Court of Scotland. King James wrote cordial +letters from Edinburgh to his sister-in-law and to +the Duke of Aerschot, and congratulated the Princess +of Orange on her happy expectations, begging her +to write to him and his wife more frequently.<a name="FNanchor_304" id="FNanchor_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a> Anne +had always been on affectionate terms with her +aunt and cousins at Joinville, and the presence of +Louise at Brussels this summer was another bond +between them.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1541</span>] AN UNWILLING BRIDE</div> + +<p>Meanwhile King Francis was greatly annoyed to +hear of the Duchess of Milan's marriage. He complained +bitterly to the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal +of their brother's desertion, and vowed that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>Antoine and his son should feel the full weight of his +displeasure. He was as good as his word, and, when +the Prince assumed the title of Duke of Bar, disputed +his rights to this duchy on the ground that it was a fief +of the Crown. In order to satisfy these new claims, +the Duke was compelled to sign an agreement on the +22nd of April, by which he and his son consented to +do homage to the King for the duchy of Bar, and to +grant free passage of French troops through this +province.<a name="FNanchor_305" id="FNanchor_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a></p> + +<p>At the same time Francis invited the Duke of +Cleves to come to Blois, as he wished his marriage to +the Princess of Navarre to be celebrated without +delay. On the 11th of April the States assembled +at Düsseldorf were amazed to hear from Chancellor +Olisleger that their Duke, being unable to obtain the +Duchess of Milan's hand without the surrender of +Guelders, was about to contract another marriage +with the Princess of Navarre, and had actually +started on his wedding journey.<a name="FNanchor_306" id="FNanchor_306"></a><a href="#Footnote_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a> The King and +Queen of Navarre had always been averse to their +daughter's union with the Duke of Cleves, but +Margaret's resistance was overcome by the royal +brother whom she adored, and her husband gave a +reluctant consent to the marriage; but the little +Princess Jeanne, a delicate child of twelve, refused +in the most determined manner to marry this foreign +Prince. In vain she was scolded and whipped, and +threatened by her uncle the King with worse punishments. +For many weeks the child persisted in her +refusal, and, when compelled to yield, signed a pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>test +on the eve of her marriage, which with the secret +connivance of her parents was duly witnessed and +preserved. On the 14th of June, 1540, the strange +wedding was finally solemnized at Châtelhérault, on +the Garonne. A series of Arcadian fêtes in beautiful +summer weather were given by King Francis, who +never lost an opportunity for indulging his love of +romance. Arbours and colonnades of verdure were +reared on the river-banks. King Arthur and the +Knights of the Round Table were seen riding forth +in quest of adventure; high-born ladies, clad as +nymphs and dryads, danced on the greensward by +torchlight.<a name="FNanchor_307" id="FNanchor_307"></a><a href="#Footnote_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a> The bridegroom gave his bride magnificent +jewels, although Jeanne was never seen in +public, and did not even appear at the ball on the +night before the wedding. Finally, when all were +assembled in the royal chapel, and the King came to +lead his niece to the altar, the little Princess, weighed +down by her costly jewels and gold and silver brocades, +was unable to walk. "Take her by the neck!" +cried the impatient monarch to Montmorency, and +the Constable of France, not venturing to disobey the +royal command, lifted up the frightened child in +his arms and bore her to the altar before the eyes of +the whole Court. As he did so he was heard to +mutter, "C'en est fini, de ma faveur, adieu lui dis!" +and, surely enough, the day after the wedding he +received his dismissal, and left Court, never to +return during the lifetime of Francis.<a name="FNanchor_308" id="FNanchor_308"></a><a href="#Footnote_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">July, 1541</span>] CHRISTINA'S WEDDING</div> + +<p>The Duke had agreed, in order to satisfy the King +and Queen of Navarre, that the marriage should be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>merely formal, and consented to leave his unwilling +bride with her parents for another year. Accordingly, +three days later he bade them farewell, +and rode, attended by a strong French escort, +through the Ardennes, and travelled down the +Moselle and Rhine to Cologne. As he passed through +Luxembourg he saw the trained bands gathering in +force on the frontier, and heard that they were +assembling under Count Büren to meet his successful +rival, Francis of Lorraine, and bring him to Brussels +for his wedding.<a name="FNanchor_309" id="FNanchor_309"></a><a href="#Footnote_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a></p> + +<p>Here great preparations had been made to do +honour to the Emperor's niece, and the guests came +from far and wide. Christina's trousseau was worthy +of her exalted rank, and the Queen presented her +with a wonderful carcanet of rubies, diamonds, and +emeralds, with pendants of large pear-shaped pearls. +The marriage was solemnized on Sunday, the 10th of +July, in the great hall where, twenty-six years before, +Isabella of Austria, had been married to the King of +Denmark. Only two of the foreign Ambassadors +were absent from the wedding banquet—the Englishmen +Vaughan and Carne—a fact which naturally +excited much comment. King Henry changed colour +when Chapuys told him of Christina's marriage, and +was at no pains to conceal his surprise and vexation. +He said repeatedly that he wondered how the Emperor +could allow so noble and renowned a Princess +to marry the Marquis, when there could be no doubt +that Anne of Cleves was his lawful wife, and insisted +that this had been the chief reason of his own separation +from this lady. After the wedding he again +referred to the incident, and told Chapuys in confidence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> +that the Duke of Lorraine had secretly made +over his rights on Guelders to the French King, +and would never help the Emperor against France, +since Monseiur de Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine +were entirely on the French side. Chapuys listened +with polite attention, and reported most of the King's +conversation for the amusement of the Court at +Brussels.<a name="FNanchor_310" id="FNanchor_310"></a><a href="#Footnote_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a></p> + +<p>Here a series of fêtes took place after the wedding. +A grand tournament was held in front of the hôtel-de-ville, +followed by the mock siege of a fortress in +the park, and a hunting-party in the Forest of Soignies.<a name="FNanchor_311" id="FNanchor_311"></a><a href="#Footnote_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a></p> + +<p>On the 14th, the Duke and Duchess of Bar left +Brussels to pay a round of visits in the neighbourhood +and "see the country," and on the 27th the +Queen went to meet them at the Duke of Aerschot's +hunting-palace at Heverlé, near Louvain, and spent +several days there with the two other newly-married +couples, the Prince and Princess of Orange and the +Prince and Princess of Chimay.<a name="FNanchor_312" id="FNanchor_312"></a><a href="#Footnote_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1541</span>] A NOBLE LADY</div> + +<p>Finally, on the 1st of August, the bride and bridegroom +set out on their journey, attended by a brilliant +company, which included the Prince and Princess of +Orange, the Duke of Aerschot, the Prince and Princess +of Chimay, the Counts of Berghen, Büren, and +Brederode. They travelled by slow stages, resting +at Namur, Luxembourg, Thionville, and Metz. Triumphal +arches were erected over the gates of each +city, and the burghers came out in procession to +greet the bride. At Metz Christina was presented +with an illuminated book on "Marriage," by the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>Regent of the University, Édmond du Boullay, and +the Chapter of Toul offered her a gold cup, filled with +300 crowns, while the city gave her 200 crowns and +ten barrels of choice wine.<a name="FNanchor_313" id="FNanchor_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a></p> + +<p>On the 8th the wedding-party reached Pont-à-Mousson, +and found a large family gathering waiting +to receive them. A few days before the Cardinal of +Lorraine had joined the Duke and Duchess of Guise +at Joinville, and had accompanied them to Pont-à-Mousson, +as Antoinette wrote,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"in order to give our new Lady her first greeting +and conduct her to Nancy. Great preparations have +been made to welcome her, and there is to be some +fine jousting. I will tell you if there is anything +worth writing, and must confess I am very curious +to see if the Marquis makes a good husband. At +least the country rejoices greatly at the coming of so +noble and excellent a lady."<a name="FNanchor_314" id="FNanchor_314"></a><a href="#Footnote_314" class="fnanchor">[314]</a></p></div> + +<p>The Duchess of Guise had collected most of her +family for the occasion, and brought four of her sons—Aumale, +Mayenne, Charles, Archbishop of Reims, +and Louis, Bishop of Troyes—to Pont-à-Mousson, as +well as her little grandson, the Duke of Longueville, +the Queen of Scotland's son by her first marriage. +Duke Antoine and his younger son, Nicholas de +Vaudemont, Bishop of Metz, were also present, +together with all the chief nobles of Lorraine.</p> + +<p>It was a strange meeting. Guise and his sons had +often crossed swords with the Prince of Orange and +Aerschot, and the Duke had refused to meet the +Emperor on his memorable visit to Chantilly. Now +he was engaged in repairing the forts along the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>frontier in view of another war, an occupation which +had at least one merit in his wife's eyes, and kept +him longer at home than he had been for many years. +All alike, however, friends and foes, joined in giving +the new Duchess a hearty welcome, and drank +joyously to the health and prosperity of the illustrious +pair.</p> + +<p>At Pont-à-Mousson Francis took his bride to the +convent of Poor Clares, to see his grandmother, +Philippa of Guelders, who had taken the veil twenty +years before, but still retained all her faculties, and +was the object of her sons' devoted affection. The +Duke of Guise and his wife constantly visited the +good old lady, whose name appears so often in +Antoinette's letters, and who now embraced her new +granddaughter tenderly and gave the bridal pair her +blessing. The next day Christina entered Nancy, +where immense crowds assembled to receive her, and +choirs of white-robed maidens welcomed her coming +at the ancient gateway of La Craffe. One quaint +medieval practice which had lasted until this century +was dispensed with. It was the custom for a band +of peasants from the neighbouring village of Laxou, +to beat the pools in the marshes under the palace +walls all through the night when the Princes of +Lorraine brought their brides home, to drive away +the frogs, whose croaking might disturb the ducal +slumbers. But instead of this, the peasant women +of Laxou stood at the palace gates as the Duchess +alighted, and presented her with baskets of flowers and +ripe strawberries and cherries.<a name="FNanchor_315" id="FNanchor_315"></a><a href="#Footnote_315" class="fnanchor">[315]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1541</span>] REJOICINGS AT NANCY</div> + +<p>A grand tournament was held the following morning, +on the Place des Dames in front of the ducal +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>palace, in which many of the Flemish nobles took +part, and was followed by a state banquet and ball—"all +very sumptuously done," wrote Lord William +Howard, the English Ambassador.<a name="FNanchor_316" id="FNanchor_316"></a><a href="#Footnote_316" class="fnanchor">[316]</a> Then the wedding +festivities came to an end, the gay party broke +up, and the old city which was henceforth to be +Christina's home resumed its wonted air of sleepy +tranquillity.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_243" id="Footnote_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> Papiers d'État. 82. 20, Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_244" id="Footnote_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> Lanz, ii. 297; Calendar of State Papers, xiii. 2, 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_245" id="Footnote_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> Lanz, ii. 289, 683.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_246" id="Footnote_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, Henry VIII., i. 605; Calendar +of State Papers, xiv. 1, 192.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_247" id="Footnote_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 1, 348, 374.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_248" id="Footnote_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> See Appendix; Papiers d'État, 82, 26, Archives du Royaume, +Bruxelles.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_249" id="Footnote_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> Hubert Thomas, 376-390; Cust, "Gentlemen Errant," 377-379.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_250" id="Footnote_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> "Zimmerische Chronik," ii. 547.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_251" id="Footnote_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> H. Thomas, 396.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_252" id="Footnote_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> Kaulek, 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_253" id="Footnote_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_254" id="Footnote_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 2, 61; H. Thomas, 393-398.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_255" id="Footnote_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, Henry VIII., i. 616; Calendar +of State Papers, xiv. 2, 54.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_256" id="Footnote_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 2, 66, 69, 94, 368.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_257" id="Footnote_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> H. Thomas, 399-401; Kaulek, 136.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_258" id="Footnote_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> Kaulek, 135.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_259" id="Footnote_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 2, 215; H. Thomas, 401.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_260" id="Footnote_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 2, 127, 232; Calendar of +Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 200; Kaulek, 138, 139.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_261" id="Footnote_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xiv. 2, 127; Nott, ii. 399.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_262" id="Footnote_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xvi. 61; Henne, vi. 301-396.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_263" id="Footnote_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 205.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_264" id="Footnote_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> Bulletin de la Commission d'Histoire, série ii., 3, 490.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_265" id="Footnote_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," ii. 540; Calendar of State Papers, +xiv. 1, 437, 2, 193; Gachard, "Relation des Troubles de Gand," +258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_266" id="Footnote_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> Kaulek, 142; Nott, ii. 353.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_267" id="Footnote_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> Gachard, 252.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_268" id="Footnote_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> Gachard, 49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_269" id="Footnote_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> Henne, vii. 4; A. de Ruble, "Le Mariage de Jeanne d'Albret," +46; R. de Bouillé, "Histoire des Ducs de Guise," i. 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_270" id="Footnote_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> Gachard, 305.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_271" id="Footnote_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> M. du Bellay, iv. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_272" id="Footnote_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," ii. 562; Kaulek, 153.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_273" id="Footnote_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> Gachard, 531.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_274" id="Footnote_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> Gachard, 664-666.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_275" id="Footnote_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xv. 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_276" id="Footnote_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 236, 237.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_277" id="Footnote_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," ii. 542.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_278" id="Footnote_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> Nott, ii. 358.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_279" id="Footnote_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> Nott, ii. 380, 391.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_280" id="Footnote_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> Gachard, "Relation des Troubles de Gand," 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_281" id="Footnote_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> Henne, vii. 40-90; Gachard, 67-70, 389.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_282" id="Footnote_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> Lanz, ii. 308.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_283" id="Footnote_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_283"><span class="label">[283]</span></a> Henne, vii. 282; Nott, ii. 418.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_284" id="Footnote_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_284"><span class="label">[284]</span></a> Gachard, 65, 71.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_285" id="Footnote_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_285"><span class="label">[285]</span></a> Nott, ii. 398.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_286" id="Footnote_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_286"><span class="label">[286]</span></a> Nott, ii. 417; State Papers, Record Office, viii. 329.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_287" id="Footnote_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_287"><span class="label">[287]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xv. 349, 367.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_288" id="Footnote_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_288"><span class="label">[288]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 336, 340, 354; Calendar of +State Papers, xv. 318.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_289" id="Footnote_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_289"><span class="label">[289]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xv. 363, 390, 391.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_290" id="Footnote_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_290"><span class="label">[290]</span></a> Kaulek, 191; State Papers, Record Office, viii. 386, 397, 412.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_291" id="Footnote_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_291"><span class="label">[291]</span></a> L. Hugo, "Traité sur l'Origine de la Maison de Lorraine," 212.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_292" id="Footnote_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_292"><span class="label">[292]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 398.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_293" id="Footnote_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_293"><span class="label">[293]</span></a> Pfister, "Histoire de Nancy," ii. 188.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_294" id="Footnote_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_294"><span class="label">[294]</span></a> Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 15, Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_295" id="Footnote_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_295"><span class="label">[295]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 444.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_296" id="Footnote_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_296"><span class="label">[296]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII., xvi. 1, 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_297" id="Footnote_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_297"><span class="label">[297]</span></a> Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_298" id="Footnote_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_298"><span class="label">[298]</span></a> W. Bradford, "Itinerary of Charles V.," 517; State Papers, +Record Office, viii. 508.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_299" id="Footnote_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_299"><span class="label">[299]</span></a> F. Decrue, "Montmorency à la Cour de François I.," i. 392.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_300" id="Footnote_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_300"><span class="label">[300]</span></a> Gachard, "Voyages de Charles V.," ii. 167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_301" id="Footnote_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_301"><span class="label">[301]</span></a> A. Calmet, "Histoire de Lorraine," iii. 387.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_302" id="Footnote_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_302"><span class="label">[302]</span></a> Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 5 (see Appendix). The priests were +Antoinette's two sons, Charles, Archbishop of Reims, and Louis, +both of whom afterwards became Cardinals.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_303" id="Footnote_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_303"><span class="label">[303]</span></a> Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 153 (see Appendix).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_304" id="Footnote_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_304"><span class="label">[304]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, ii. 157.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_305" id="Footnote_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_305"><span class="label">[305]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 609.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_306" id="Footnote_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_306"><span class="label">[306]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 550; Calendar of State +Papers, xv. 344, 362; A. de Ruble, "Mariage de Jeanne d'Albret," +83.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_307" id="Footnote_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_307"><span class="label">[307]</span></a> M. du Bellay, "Mémoires," iv. 415.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_308" id="Footnote_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_308"><span class="label">[308]</span></a> A. de Ruble, 118; F. Decrue, "Anne de Montmorency à la +Cour de François I.," 403.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_309" id="Footnote_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_309"><span class="label">[309]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 585.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_310" id="Footnote_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_310"><span class="label">[310]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 332, 349.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_311" id="Footnote_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_311"><span class="label">[311]</span></a> Henne, vii. 282; Calendar of State Papers, xvi. 1, 470.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_312" id="Footnote_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_312"><span class="label">[312]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xvi. 1, 508.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_313" id="Footnote_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_313"><span class="label">[313]</span></a> J. B. Ravold, "Histoire de Lorraine," iii. 743; Hugo, 217; +C. Pfister, "Histoire de Nancy," ii. 192.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_314" id="Footnote_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_314"><span class="label">[314]</span></a> Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 4 (see Appendix).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_315" id="Footnote_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_315"><span class="label">[315]</span></a> Pfister, ii. 63, 188; Ravold, iii. 703.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_316" id="Footnote_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_316"><span class="label">[316]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 609.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p></div></div> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>BOOK VIII<br /> + +CHRISTINA, DUCHESS OF LORRAINE<br /> + +1541-1545</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1477</span>] KING RENÉ</div> + +<p>The ducal house of Lorraine, into which Christina +had now married, was one of the oldest and proudest +in Europe. The duchy took its name of Lotharingia +from Lothair, a great-grandson of Charlemagne, who +reigned over a vast kingdom stretching from the +banks of the Scheldt and Rhine to the Mediterranean. +After this monarch's death, his territories became +the object of perpetual contention between the +German Empire and France, and were eventually +divided among a number of Counts and Barons who +owned the Emperor or the French King as their +suzerain. Godfrey of Bouillon, the leader of the first +Crusade, was one of many illustrious Princes who +reigned over Lorraine; but Gerard d'Alsace, who +died in 1046, was the ancestor of the ducal house to +which Christina's husband belonged.<a name="FNanchor_317" id="FNanchor_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_317" class="fnanchor">[317]</a> From him +descended a long line of hereditary Princes, who were +loyal vassals of France and took an active part in +the wars against England. Raoul, the founder of +the collegiate church and Chapter of St. Georges at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>Nancy, was killed fighting valiantly at Crécy, and his +son John was taken prisoner with the French King by +the Black Prince at Poitiers. Duke John's second son, +Ferry, Count of Vaudemont and Joinville, fell at Agincourt. +In 1444 this Prince's grandson, Ferry II., the +representative of the younger branch of the House +of Lorraine, married Yolande, daughter of René of +Anjou, King of Provence, Jerusalem, and Sicily, and +Duke of Lorraine in right of his wife, Isabella, the +heiress of Duke Charles II. Yolande, whose sister, +Margaret of Anjou, married Henry VI., became +Duchess of Lorraine after the death of her nephew +in 1473, and united the two branches of the family +in her person. But she renounced the sovereignty in +favour of her son, René II., who still bore the proud +title of King of Sicily and Jerusalem, although, as the +English Ambassador, Wotton, remarked, he had never +seen either the one or the other. René had a fierce +struggle for the possession of Lorraine with Charles +of Burgundy, who defeated him completely in 1475, +and entered Nancy in triumph. But in January, +1477, King René recovered his duchy with the help +of the Swiss, and Charles was defeated and slain in a +desperate battle under the walls of Nancy.<a name="FNanchor_318" id="FNanchor_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_318" class="fnanchor">[318]</a></p> + +<p>Ten years later René married Philippa of Egmont, +sister of Charles, Duke of Guelders, and, together with +his admirable wife, devoted the rest of his life to the +welfare of his subjects and the improvement of the +capital. During his reign the ducal palace, founded +by his ancestors in the fourteenth century, was enlarged +and beautified, and the neighbouring church +and convent of the Cordeliers were built. Here +René was buried after his early death in 1508, and his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> +sorrowing wife reared a noble monument in which he +is represented kneeling under a pinnacled canopy +crowned by a statue of the Virgin and Child.<a name="FNanchor_319" id="FNanchor_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_319" class="fnanchor">[319]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Dec., 1519</span>] QUEEN PHILIPPA</div> + +<p>Six stalwart sons grew up under Philippa's watchful +eye, to bear their father's name and maintain the +honour of his house. The eldest, Antoine, succeeded +René as Duke of Lorraine and Bar, and the second, +Claude, became a naturalized French subject, and +inherited the family estates in France, including +Joinville, Guise, and Aumale. Both Princes were +educated at the French Court, where Claude became +the friend and companion of the future King Francis, +and in 1513 married Antoinette de Bourbon, the +Count of Vendôme's daughter. This lovely maiden +was brought up with her cousins, Louis XII.'s +daughters, the elder of whom married Francis of +Angoulême, the heir to the Crown. When, in 1515, +this Prince succeeded his father-in-law on the throne, +he promised the young Duke of Lorraine the hand of +Louis XII.'s widow, Mary of England; but the fair +Dowager had already plighted her troth to Brandon, +Duke of Suffolk, and Antoine consoled himself with +another Princess of the blood royal, Renée de Bourbon, +daughter of Gilbert de Montpensier and Chiara Gonzaga. +The wedding was celebrated at Amboise on +the 26th of June, 1515, and Antoine and Claude both +left their brides in Lorraine with Queen Philippa +while they followed Francis to Italy. There they +fought gallantly by the King's side at Marignano. +Antoine was knighted on the field of battle, while +Claude received a dangerous wound, and a third +brother was slain in the mêlée. Two of Philippa's +younger sons lost their lives in the French King's +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>later campaigns. One was killed at Pavia, and Louis, +the handsomest of all his handsome race, died of the +plague in Lautrec's army before Naples. A sixth +son, Jean, Bishop of Metz, was made a Cardinal at +twenty, and, like his brother, Claude of Guise, became +a prominent figure at the French Court.</p> + +<p>During Antoine's absence his duchy was governed +wisely and well by his mother, Philippa; but when he +no longer needed her help, the good Queen retired +from the world, and on the 8th of December, 1519, +entered the Order of the Poor Clares at Pont-à-Mousson. +Here she spent the remaining twenty-seven +years of her life in works of devotion, and +edified her family and subjects by the zeal with which +she performed the humblest duties, going barefoot +and wearing rough serge. But she still retained great +influence over her sons, who were all deeply attached +to her and often came to visit her in the convent. +By a will which she made when she forsook the world, +she left her furniture, jewels, and most of her property, +to her second son, Claude, "pour aider ce jeune +ménage,"<a name="FNanchor_320" id="FNanchor_320"></a><a href="#Footnote_320" class="fnanchor">[320]</a> and the Duke and Duchess of Guise went +to live at her dower-house of Joinville, the <i>beau +châtel</i> on the heights above the River Marne, which +had once belonged to St. Louis's follower, le Sieur +de Joinville. Here that remarkable woman, Duchess +Antoinette, the mother of the Guises, reared her large +family, the six sons who became famous as soldiers +or prelates, and the four beautiful daughters who +were courted by Kings and Princes. Antoine's wife, +Renée, had not the ability and force of character +which made her cousin a power at the French Court, +as well as in her own family, but she was greatly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>beloved in Lorraine, and inherited the cultivated +tastes of her Gonzaga mother—the sister of Elizabeth, +Duchess of Urbino, and sister-in-law of the famous +Isabella d'Este. Renée brought the graces and refinement +of the Mantuan Court to her husband's home, +and the blossoming of art which took place at Nancy +during Antoine's reign was largely due to her influence.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 429px;"> +<img src="images/facing260.jpg" width="429" height="589" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>GRANDE PORTERIE. PALAIS DUCAL, NANCY</p></div> +</div> + +<p><i>To face p. <a href="#Page_260">260</a></i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1541</span>] THE DUCAL PALACE</div> + +<p>A whole school of local architects and painters were +employed to adorn the ducal palace, which under his +rule and that of his immediate successors became, in +the words of a contemporary, "as fine a dwelling-place +for a great Prince as could possibly be desired."<a name="FNanchor_321" id="FNanchor_321"></a><a href="#Footnote_321" class="fnanchor">[321]</a> +King René had rebuilt the older portions of the house; +his son now added the noble gateway known as "La +Grande Porterie," with his own equestrian statue +carved by Mansuy Gauvain, and the magnificent +upper gallery called "La Galerie des Cerfs," from +the antlers and other trophies of the chase which hung +upon its walls.<a name="FNanchor_322" id="FNanchor_322"></a><a href="#Footnote_322" class="fnanchor">[322]</a> A wealth of delicate sculpture was +lavished on the façade. Flowers and foliage, heraldic +beasts and armorial bearings, adorned the portal; +"le bœuf qui prêche"—an ox's head in a pulpit—appeared +in one corner, and on the topmost pinnacle, +above the busts of René and Antoine, a monkey was +seen clad in a friar's habit. Within, the vaulted +halls were decorated with stately mantelpieces and +richly carved friezes. Without, the roofs glittered +with gilded copper fretwork and a tall bronze <i>flèche</i>, +bearing the cross of Lorraine and the thistle of Nancy, +crowned the "Tour du Paradis," which enclosed the +fine spiral staircase leading to the Galerie des Cerfs. +Another round tower, containing an inclined way +broad enough for a horse and chariot, stood in the +older part of the palace, and led up to the Treasury, +where the Crown jewels were kept. Here, too, were +the apartments occupied by the ducal family. On +one side they opened on to the "Cour d'Honneur," +where tournaments and pageants were held. On the +other the windows looked down on the gardens, with +their cut yews and box hedges, their arbours and +bosquets, and in the centre a superb fountain +adorned with <i>putti</i> by Mansuy Gauvain; while beyond +the eye ranged across the sleepy waters of the moat to +green meadows and distant woods.<a name="FNanchor_323" id="FNanchor_323"></a><a href="#Footnote_323" class="fnanchor">[323]</a> The grand portal +and state-rooms at the new end of the palace looked +down on the Grande Rue, and were only divided by a +narrow street from the shops and stalls of the market-place. +The fact that the Duke's house stood in the +heart of the city naturally fostered the affection with +which he was regarded by the people of Nancy. The +citizens were familiar with every detail of the ducal +family's private life, and took the deepest interest in +their comings and goings, their weddings and funerals, +in the guests who arrived at the palace gates, and in +the children who grew up within its walls.</p> + +<p>Duke Antoine was especially beloved by his subjects. +Early in life he had learnt by experience the +horrors of war, and all through his reign he tried +manfully to preserve a strict neutrality between the +rival powers on either side, with the result that +Lorraine enjoyed an unbroken period of peace and +prosperity. The burden of taxation was lightened, +trade and agriculture flourished, and the arts were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> +encouraged by this good Prince, who was justly called +the "father of his people." When his beloved wife +Renée died, in June, 1539, his sorrow was shared +by the whole nation.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Since I sent my last letter," wrote the Duchess +of Guise to her daughter in Scotland, "you will have +heard of the death of your aunt—whom God pardon—a +fortnight ago. The attack—<i>a flux de ventre</i>—which +carried her off only lasted nine days, but she +was enfeebled by long illness. Nature could no +longer offer any resistance, and God in His good +pleasure took her to Himself. She died as a good +Christian, doing her duty by all and asking forgiveness +of everyone, and remained conscious to the end. +After Friday morning she would not see her children, +or even her husband, but, as this distressed him +greatly, she sent for him again after she had received +God. On Sunday she was anointed with holy oil, +and died at ten o'clock the next evening. It was +the tenth of June. It is a heavy loss for all our +family, but your uncle bears up bravely. He sent for +us, and I set out for Nancy at once, but only arrived +there after her death. Your father, with whom I +have been in Picardy, followed on Saturday. I have +just returned to Pont-à-Mousson, where I came to see +my mother-in-law, the good old Queen. The funeral +will be on St. John's Day, and your aunt will be +buried in the Cordeliers, opposite the tomb of the late +King" (René II.).<a name="FNanchor_324" id="FNanchor_324"></a><a href="#Footnote_324" class="fnanchor">[324]</a></p></div> + +<p>Four days after his wife's death, Antoine himself +sent these touching lines to his niece, the Queen of +Scotland:</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1541</span>] FRANCIS OF LORRAINE</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I was glad to hear from you the other day, +Madame, and must tell you the great sorrow which it +has pleased God to send me, in calling my wife to +Himself. She died on the morrow of Pentecost. God +be praised, Madame, for the beautiful end which she +made, like the good Christian that she was. Com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>mend +me to the King your lord; and if there is any +service which I can render you or him, let me know, +and I will do it gladly.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 15em;">"Your humble and loving uncle,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 24.5em;">"<span class="smcap">Antoine</span>."<a name="FNanchor_325" id="FNanchor_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_325" class="fnanchor">[325]</a></span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Renée bore the Duke a large family, but only +three of her children lived to grow up: Francis, +Marquis of Pont-à-Mousson, born in 1517; Anne, the +Princess of Orange, who was five years younger; and +Nicolas, Count of Vaudemont, born in 1524, who +took Deacon's Orders, and became Bishop of Metz +when the Cardinal of Lorraine resigned this see. +Francis had the French King for his godfather, and +was sent, as a matter of course, to be educated at +the Court of France with the Dauphin. This Prince +inherited the tall stature and regular features of his +father's family, together with his mother's love of +art and letters. His studious tastes and quick intelligence +made him the delight of all his teachers, +and King Francis was heard to say that the Marquis +du Pont was the wisest Prince of his age. But +although he could ride and tilt as well as any of his +peers, he was never robust, and the strain of melancholy +in his nature increased as years went by. In +1538 the young Marquis accompanied his father to +meet the Emperor at Aigues-Mortes, and made a very +favourable impression on Charles, who proposed that +he should marry one of King Ferdinand's daughters. +Several other alliances had been already suggested +for this promising Prince.<a name="FNanchor_326" id="FNanchor_326"></a><a href="#Footnote_326" class="fnanchor">[326]</a> In 1527, while he was +still a boy, the fateful marriage between him and Anne +of Cleves had been arranged; and when this was +abandoned, King Francis first offered him one of his +own daughters, and then his cousin, Mary of Vendôme, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>whom the King of Scotland had deserted for the fair +Duchess of Longueville. At the same time +Henry VIII. asked Castillon to arrange a marriage +between his daughter Mary and the heir of Lorraine.<a name="FNanchor_327" id="FNanchor_327"></a><a href="#Footnote_327" class="fnanchor">[327]</a> +But from the moment that Francis of Lorraine saw +the Duchess of Milan at Compiègne his choice never +wavered, and his constancy triumphed in the end +over all difficulties.</p> + +<p>The lamented death of Duchess Renée, and the +marriage of her only daughter, Anne, in the following +year, had left the palace at Nancy without a mistress, +and rendered Christina's presence there the more +welcome. The old Duke was as proud of his daughter-in-law +as his subjects were of their young Duchess, +and Christina's frank manners and open-handed +generosity soon made her very popular in Lorraine. +She received a cordial welcome from Antoinette and +the Guise Princes at Joinville, and was on the best +of terms with her young brother-in-law, Monsieur de +Metz. Above all, she was adored by her spouse, whose +devotion to Christina quickly dispelled the Duchess of +Guise's fears lest this grave and thoughtful Prince +should not prove a good husband. His love satisfied +every longing of her heart, and filled her soul with +deep content. After all the storms of her early +youth, after the lonely months at Milan and Pavia, +after the disappointment of her cherished hopes, the +young Duchess had found a happiness beyond her +highest dreams. As she wrote to her old friend +Granvelle a few months later: "My husband treats +me so kindly, and has such great affection for me, +that I am the happiest woman in the whole world."<a name="FNanchor_328" id="FNanchor_328"></a><a href="#Footnote_328" class="fnanchor">[328]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Nov., 1541</span>] A VISIT TO FONTAINEBLEAU</div> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>The King of France's ill-temper was the one drawback +to the general satisfaction with which Christina's +marriage had been received. The coldness with +which he treated the Duke of Lorraine and his son, +the sacrifice of their rights on Bar, rankled in the old +man's heart. His surprise was the greater when he +received a courteous invitation to bring his son and +daughter-in-law on a visit to the French Court. His +brother the Cardinal wrote saying that Queen +Eleanor was anxious to see her niece, and that the +King wished to confer the Order of St. Michel on her +lord, and begged Duke Antoine to accompany the +young couple to Fontainebleau.</p> + +<p>Christina and her husband, who since his marriage +had become a strong Imperialist, were reluctant +to accept the invitation, lest an attempt should be +made to draw Lorraine into an alliance against the +Emperor. But the Cardinal's bland promises and +Antoine's anxiety to keep on good terms with the +King prevailed over their hesitation, and early in +November the two Dukes and the young Duchess +spent three days at Fontainebleau. Hunting-parties +and banquets occupied the first two days. Eleanor +took the greatest delight in her niece's company, and +the King, who could never resist a woman's charms, +was assiduous in his attention to Christina. The +Queen of Navarre's presence afforded the Duchess +additional pleasure, and this accomplished Princess +showed her Leonardo and Raphael's paintings, and +did the honours of the superb palace which had +excited the Emperor's admiration two years before. +On the third evening the King expressed his wish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> +to confer the Order of St. Michel on the young Duke +in so pressing a manner that it was impossible to refuse +this offer. But an unpleasant surprise was in store +for him and his father. The next morning the +Cardinal informed them that the King demanded +the cession of the town and fortress of Stenay, in +return for the privilege of holding the duchy of Bar. +This unexpected demand aroused an indignant +protest from Antoine and Francis. Stenay was one +of the bulwarks of Lorraine, and its position on the +frontiers of Luxembourg made it of great importance +to the defence of the empire. But nothing that the +Duke and his son could say was of the slightest avail. +They were told that if Stenay was not surrendered +peaceably the King would declare war and reduce +their country to subjection. These threats alarmed +the old Duke to such a pitch that before leaving +Fontainebleau he was induced to sign a treaty by +which Stenay was given up in perpetuity to the +French Crown. It was a grievous blow to the prestige +of Lorraine, and filled Christina and her husband +with grave fears for the future. The following letter +which the Duchess wrote to Granvelle a few weeks +afterwards shows how bitterly she resented the +wrong:</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Nov., 1541</span>] THE CESSION OF STENAY</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"You have no doubt heard of the voyage which +the Lord Duke my father-in-law, my husband, and I, +took to the French Court, where we made a very +short stay, but one which turned out very badly for +our house. For the King used violent threats to my +father and husband, and sent my uncle the Cardinal +to tell them that, if they did not satisfy his demands, +he would prove their worst enemy, and make them +the smallest people in the world. So they were compelled +to give him the town of Stenay, which is a +great loss to this house, and has vexed my husband +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>and me sorely, showing us how much we are despised +on that side, and to what risk of destruction we +should be exposed if it were not for the good help of +the Emperor, in whom I place my whole trust."<a name="FNanchor_329" id="FNanchor_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_329" class="fnanchor">[329]</a></p></div> + +<p>Unfortunately for the Duchess and her husband, +Charles was at this moment engaged in his disastrous +expedition to Algiers. The news of the tempest +which wrecked his fleet on the coast of Africa had +reached the French Court, and it was confidently +asserted that the Emperor himself had perished, or +was a prisoner in Barbarossa's camp. These disquieting +rumours were set at rest early in December +by his safe return to Cartagena with the remnants of his +army. But his enemies had been active in his absence. +On the 15th of November the Duke of Lorraine set +his seal to the deed of cession, and a week later a +French garrison took possession of Stenay. General +indignation was excited throughout Europe by this +arbitrary act. Mary of Hungary entered a vigorous +protest in her brother's name against this surrender +of an imperial fief, and no sooner did the news reach +Charles than he told his Ambassador to require the +French King to do homage for the town. The new +English Ambassador, Paget, who arrived at Fontainebleau +a few days after the Lorraine Princes left +Court, noticed that the King "looked very black, +as if the Imperial Envoy had spoken of matters not +all the pleasantest"; while he informed his royal +master that the entertainment of the Duke of Lorraine +had been but cold, and that he had lost all +credit with the French.<a name="FNanchor_330" id="FNanchor_330"></a><a href="#Footnote_330" class="fnanchor">[330]</a> When Chapuys told King +Henry at Christmas how King Francis had snatched +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>Stenay from the Duke of Lorraine, the English +monarch only shrugged his shoulders, saying he had +always known no good would come out of that +marriage.<a name="FNanchor_331" id="FNanchor_331"></a><a href="#Footnote_331" class="fnanchor">[331]</a></p> + +<p>Meanwhile Christina and her husband found some +consolation for their wounded feelings in the friendly +reception which they met with at Joinville, on their +return from France. The Duke and Duchess of Guise +came to meet them at Annonville, and were eager to +do honour to their nephew's bride and show her the +beauties of their stately home. They had lately decorated +the halls and chapel with paintings and statues, +and Antoinette had laid out terraced gardens along the +wooded slopes on the River Marne, adorned with +pavilions and fountains. Nothing escaped the eye +of this excellent lady, who watched over the education +of her children and the welfare of her servants, and +managed her kitchen, stables, and kennels, with the +same indefatigable care. Her household was a model +of economy and prudence, and her works of mercy +extended far beyond the limits of Joinville. The +active correspondence which she kept up with her +eldest daughter, the Queen of Scotland, abounds in +details regarding every member of her family, and +above all her little grandson, the Duke of Longueville. +The Duchess's letters are naturally full of this precious +boy, who was the pet and plaything of the whole +household, and on whose perfections she is never +tired of dwelling. For his mother's benefit, she sends +minute records of his height and appearance, of the +progress which he is making at lessons, the walks +which he takes with his nurse.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p> +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Nov., 1541</span>] AT JOINVILLE</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"We have here now," she wrote to Mary of Guise, +on the 18th of November, "not only your uncle, but +the Duke and Duchess of Bar, on their way back +from Court. They are all making good cheer with us, +and your father is so busy entertaining them that +you will hardly have a letter from him this time. +Your eldest brother [Aumale] is here too, but goes +to join the King at Fontainebleau next week. I +shall go to my mother [the old Countess of Vendôme], +who is quite well, and so also is the good old Queen, +your grandmother. I have kept as a <i>bonne bouche</i> +for you a word about our grandson, who will soon +be a man, and is the finest child that you ever saw. +I am trying to find a painter who can show you how +tall, healthy, and handsome, he is."</p></div> + +<p>Sad news had lately come from Scotland, where the +Queen's two children, a boy of a year old and a new-born +babe, had died in the same week. Antoinette's +motherly heart yearned over her absent daughter in +this sudden bereavement.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Your father and I are sorely grieved at the loss +you have suffered," she wrote to Mary; "but you are +both young, and I can only hope that God, who took +away those dear little ones, will send you others.... +If I were good enough for my prayers to be of any +avail with God, I would pray for this, but I can at +least have prayers offered up by others who are better +than I am, especially by the good Queen in her convent +and her holy nuns. We are glad to hear the +King bears his loss with resignation, and trust +God will give you patience to live for Him in this +world and in the next, to which tribulation is the +surest way."</p></div> + +<p>And in a postscript she adds a word of practical +advice, saying that she did not like to hear of the poor +babes having so many different nurses, and fears +this may have been one cause of the mischief.<a name="FNanchor_332" id="FNanchor_332"></a><a href="#Footnote_332" class="fnanchor">[332]</a></p> + +<p>In return for this affectionate sympathy, King<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> +James sent his mother-in-law a fine diamond and a +portrait of himself, which arrived during Christina's +visit, and excited much interest at Joinville. All the +Duchess of Guise's daughters were absent from home, +the youngest, Antoinette, having joined her sister, +Abbess Renée, in the convent at Reims, where she +afterwards took the veil. But her eldest son, as we +have seen, was at Joinville on this occasion. A tall, +dark-haired, olive-skinned youth, recklessly brave +and adventurous, Aumale was a great favourite both +in Court and camp, and his mother had been sadly +disappointed at the failure of the marriage negotiations, +which had cost her so much time and trouble. +The Pope's daughter, Vittoria Farnese, who was to +have been his wife, had since then been offered in +turn to the Prince of Piedmont and the Duke of +Vendôme, and was eventually married to the Duke +of Urbino. Aumale himself cared little for the loss +of the Italian bride, whom he had never seen, and had +hitherto shown no eagerness for matrimony, but the +sight of Christina made a deep impression upon him, +and he never forgot his fair cousin's visit to Joinville. +The most friendly relations prevailed between the +two families, and frequent visits were interchanged +during the winter. Christmas was celebrated with +prolonged festivities at Nancy, and on the 6th of +February the old Duke wrote from Joinville to his +niece, the Queen of Scotland:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Your father and I have spent the last week +together, and have made great cheer with all our +family. Your son, De Longueville, is very well, and +has grown a fine boy.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 9em;">"Your very humble and affectionate uncle,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 24.5em;">"<span class="smcap">Antoine</span>."<a name="FNanchor_333" id="FNanchor_333"></a><a href="#Footnote_333" class="fnanchor">[333]</a></span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1542</span>] CHRISTINA'S ANXIETIES</div> + +<p>In spite of these distractions, Christina found it +difficult to make her husband forget the loss of +Stenay. The injustice which had been done to the +House of Lorraine still rankled in his mind, and he +feared that the Emperor would hold him responsible +for the surrender of the town, and regard it as an act +of disloyalty. Christina accordingly addressed a long +letter to Granvelle, explaining that her husband had +been very reluctant to accept the French Order of +St. Michel, and had only done this at his father's +express command, before there had been any mention +of surrendering Stenay. Now she feared that the +King might make some fresh demand, which would +complete the destruction of the ducal house, and could +only beg the Emperor to help them with his advice +and support.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"For you may rest assured," she goes on, "that, +whatever His Majesty is pleased to command, my +husband and I will obey, although, as you know, my +father-in-law is somewhat difficult to please, and we +must do his will for the present. So I beg you +earnestly to point this out to His Majesty, and ask +him to give us his advice; for since our return to +Nancy my husband has been so sad and melancholy, +and so full of regret for the great wrong which his +house has suffered, that I am quite afraid it will +injure his health. Once more I beg you, Monsieur de +Granvelle, to be a good friend to us in the present, +as you have been in the past ... for we have received +so much kindness from you that I hope you will not +hesitate to give us whatever advice seems best in +your eyes. As for me, I am so much indebted to you +for having helped to place me where I am, that you +and yours will always find me ready to do you +service. For I can never forget that it is to you I +owe my present great happiness."<a name="FNanchor_334" id="FNanchor_334"></a><a href="#Footnote_334" class="fnanchor">[334]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1542</span>] KING HENRY'S WIVES</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p> + +<p>Charles, however, wrote kindly to his niece, and +refused to listen to the unkind tongues who tried to +poison his mind against her husband. By degrees +the young Duke recovered his equanimity, and +devoted his attention to beautifying the ducal palace +of Nancy. In the last years of Renée's life a Lorraine +artist, Hugues de la Faye, had been employed +to paint subjects from the life of Christ at one end +of the "Galerie des Cerfs," and hunting-scenes at the +other. Christina's presence gave new impulse to the +work, and the large quantity of gold-leaf and azure +supplied to the painters in the Duke's service, show +how actively the internal decoration of the palace +was carried on. In one particular instance Christina's +influence is clearly to be traced. By Duke +Antoine's orders, a fresco of the Last Supper was +begun by Hugues de la Faye in the refectory of the +Cordeliers, but was only completed after this painter's +death in 1542, by Crock and Chappin. These two +Lorraine artists were sent to Italy by Duke Francis +soon after his accession, and visited Milan amongst +other places. Here they saw Leonardo's famous +"Cenacolo" in the refectory of S. Maria le Grazie, +which was closely connected with the Sforza Princes, +and must have been very familiar to Christina +when she lived in Milan. The fresco which they +executed at Nancy is said to have been a replica of +Leonardo's great work, and kneeling figures of +Antoine and Renée were introduced on the same wall, +in imitation of the portraits of Lodovico Sforza and +Beatrice d'Este which are still to be seen in the +Dominican refectory at Milan. Unfortunately, the +Lorraine masters' painting suffered a still worse fate +than Leonardo's immortal work, and, after being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +partly spoilt by damp, was finally destroyed thirty +years ago and replaced by a modern copy.<a name="FNanchor_335" id="FNanchor_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_335" class="fnanchor">[335]</a></p> + +<p>During this winter, when Christina was happily +settled in her new home and surrounded by loyal +friends and subjects, news came from England of the +trial and execution of Henry VIII.'s fifth Queen, +Catherine Howard. When the Duke and Duchess +were at Fontainebleau, rumours reached the Court +that this unhappy lady, of whom Henry was deeply +enamoured but a short time before, had been suddenly +banished from his presence, and taken into +custody. "Par ma foi de gentil homme!" exclaimed +King Francis when he heard the account +of the Queen's misdeeds. "She has done wondrous +naughtily!"<a name="FNanchor_336" id="FNanchor_336"></a><a href="#Footnote_336" class="fnanchor">[336]</a> But in England, as Chapuys reported, +much compassion was felt for the King's latest +victim, who had dragged down the noble house of +Howard in her fall. Lord William Howard, the +late Ambassador, was hastily recalled from France, +and sent to the Tower with his mother, the old +Duchess of Norfolk. The King himself, wrote +Chapuys, felt the case more than that of any of his +other wives, just as the woman who had lost ten +husbands grieved more for the tenth when he died +than for any of the other nine! But when the +luckless Queen was beheaded, Henry recovered his +spirits, and spent Carnival in feasting and entertaining +ladies with a gaiety which made people think +that he meant to marry again. "But few, if any, +ladies of the Court," remarked Chapuys, "now aspire +to the honour of becoming one of the King's wives."<a name="FNanchor_337" id="FNanchor_337"></a><a href="#Footnote_337" class="fnanchor">[337]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was an honour to which Christina herself had +never aspired. One day at the Court of Nancy, +conversation turned on the King of England, and +some indiscreet lady asked the Duchess why she had +rejected this monarch's suit. A smile broke over +Christina's face, and the old dimples rose to her cheeks +as she replied that, unfortunately, she only had one +head, but that if she had possessed two, one might +have been at His Majesty's disposal. It was a +characteristic speech, and has passed into history.<a name="FNanchor_338" id="FNanchor_338"></a><a href="#Footnote_338" class="fnanchor">[338]</a></p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1542</span>] THE KING'S CHASE</div> + +<p>All through the winter of 1541-42 preparations for +war were actively carried on in France, and intrigue +was rife among the Courts of Europe. Francis was +determined to profit by his rival's misfortunes, in +spite of the remonstrances of the Pope and of the +deputies who were sent by the Imperial Diet to adjure +him not to trouble the peace of Christendom while +the Emperor was fighting against the Turks. By the +end of the year he succeeded in forming a strong +coalition, which included Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, +and Cleves. The Palatine Frederic had once more +pressed his wife's claims to the three kingdoms, with +the result that Christian III. lent a willing ear to the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>French King's advances, and sent Envoys to Fontainebleau, +where a secret treaty between France +and Denmark was signed a few days after the Duke +and Duchess of Lorraine had left Court. Francis +was now exceedingly anxious to draw Lorraine into +the league and induce Duke Antoine to take up arms +against the Emperor. In May he set out on a progress +through Burgundy and Champagne, taking the +Queen and all the Court with him, to inspect the +fortifications of the eastern frontier and enjoy some +hunting on the way. "Tell the Pope," he said merrily +to the Legate Ardinghelli, "that I do nothing but +make good cheer and amuse myself, whether I entertain +fair ladies or go a-hunting the deer." Paget and +the other Ambassadors complained bitterly of the bad +quarters "in peevish villages" which they had to put +up with as they followed the King from place to +place, wherever "great harts were to be heard of."<a name="FNanchor_339" id="FNanchor_339"></a><a href="#Footnote_339" class="fnanchor">[339]</a> +Fortunately, he found excellent sport at the Duke of +Guise's château of Esclaron, where he spent three +weeks, and declared that he had never been so happy +in his life.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The King," wrote Duchess Antoinette to Mary of +Scotland, "has found so many big stags here that he +says he was never in a place which pleased him +better, and that in spite of torrents of rain and +God knows what mud! And you cannot think how +fond he is of your father."<a name="FNanchor_340" id="FNanchor_340"></a><a href="#Footnote_340" class="fnanchor">[340]</a></p></div> + +<p>She herself went to Esclaron to receive her royal +guest, taking the eight-year-old Duke of Longueville +with her, to make his bow to the King and be petted +by Queen Eleanor and her ladies. But the life of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>a Court lady, as she told her daughter, was little to +her taste, and she returned to Joinville early in June, +to keep the Fête-Dieu and prepare her husband's +and sons' equipment for the war which was expected +to begin immediately. Two days later, on the 10th +of June, the Duke and Duchess of Bar paid the +French King a visit at Esclaron, and were present at +the reception of the Swedish Ambassadors, whom +Gustavus Wasa had sent to sign the new treaty. +The ceremony took place in a large barn hung with +tapestries and wreathed with green boughs. The +King and his guests sat on a raised daïs, draped with +cloth of gold, under a canopy, while the Princes of +the blood and the other courtiers, among whom were +no less than six Cardinals, stood below. Here Francis +listened patiently to a long Latin harangue from +the Swedish Ambassador, and then, coming down +from his seat, he mingled freely in the crowd of +Cardinals and Princes, gentlemen and yeomen, who +stood "all in a heap" at the doors of the barn, and +showed himself very affable, although, in Paget's +opinion, "his manner lacked the majesty which he +had noticed in his own master on similar occasions."<a name="FNanchor_341" id="FNanchor_341"></a><a href="#Footnote_341" class="fnanchor">[341]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1542</span>] THE FRENCH INVASION</div> + +<p>Christina looked with curiosity at these Envoys +from the Northern kingdom over which her father +had once ruled, many of whom had known the +captive monarch in old days. This time she and +her husband had no cause to complain of the King's +treatment. He was all courtesy and smiles, and +assured them in the most cordial terms of the singular +affection which he bore to all their house. But he soon +saw that there was no prospect of inducing Antoine +and his son to join him against Christina's uncle, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>on the 12th of June he consented to sign an agreement +by which he promised to respect the neutrality +of Lorraine and the properties of the Duke's subjects.<a name="FNanchor_342" id="FNanchor_342"></a><a href="#Footnote_342" class="fnanchor">[342]</a> +After spending another week at Joinville, enjoying +the splendid hospitality of the Guises, he left Eleanor +with the Duchess, and went on to Ligny, a strong +fortress on the borders of Luxembourg, where he gave +orders for the opening of the campaign.</p> + +<p>By the middle of July four separate armies had +invaded the Emperor's dominions. Guise and +Orléans fell upon Luxembourg, Vendôme entered +Flanders, the Dauphin attacked Roussillon, and the +forces of Cleves, under the redoubtable Guelders +captain, Martin van Rossem, laid Brabant waste +with fire and sword. But they met with determined +opposition in every quarter, and the heroism of the +Regent and her captains saved the Netherlands +from ruin.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The attack," wrote De Praet to Charles on +September 21, 1542, "was so secretly planned and so +well carried out that it is a miracle Your Majesty +did not lose your Pays-Bas. We must thank God +first of all, and next to Him the Queen, to whose +extreme care, toil, and diligence, this is owing."<a name="FNanchor_343" id="FNanchor_343"></a><a href="#Footnote_343" class="fnanchor">[343]</a></p></div> + +<p>Fortunately for the Imperialists, Francis's extravagance +had emptied his treasury. All his money, as +Paget reported, was spent in building new palaces +and buying jewels for himself and his favourites. +Stenay and other places had been fortified at vast +expense, and by the end of the year most of the +French forces were disbanded for lack of funds.</p> + +<p>It was a sad autumn at Joinville, where the good +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>Duchess wept and prayed for her absent lord and +sons, and sighed to think they were fighting against +her daughter Louise's husband and father-in-law. In +September Guise was invalided home, and he was +hardly fit to mount his horse again when the +parents received the news of Louise's death, which +took place at Brussels on the 18th of October. The +charming Princess had always been a delicate girl, +and now she died without leaving a child to comfort +the husband and father who had loved her so +well. This sad event was followed by tidings of the +disaster which had befallen the King of Scotland's +army in Solway Moss, and of his death on the +18th of December. Antoinette's heart bled for her +widowed daughter, who had just given birth to an +infant Princess at Linlithgow. "It came with a lass, +and it will go with a lass," were the words of the King +when he was told of the child's birth, a few days +before he died at Falkland Palace. Both Guise and +Aumale would gladly have hastened to Mary's help, +but it was impossible for them to leave the camp at +this critical moment, and Antoinette could only beg +her daughter to keep up her courage and trust in God, +"the Almighty, who would defend her and the poor +little Queen, who although so young is already exposed +to the insults of her enemies."<a name="FNanchor_344" id="FNanchor_344"></a><a href="#Footnote_344" class="fnanchor">[344]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1543</span>] BIRTH OF A SON</div> + +<p>It was a no less anxious time for Christina in her +home at Nancy. From the palace roof the smoke +of burning villages was to be seen in all directions, +and the people of Lorraine were exposed to frequent +raids from the hordes of irregular soldiers in both +armies, and were compelled to raise trained bands +for the defence of the frontiers. It was only by the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>strictest observance of the laws of neutrality that an +outbreak of actual hostilities could be avoided. +When Aumale was badly wounded by a shot from a +crossbow in the siege of Luxembourg, his uncle the +Duke sternly refused to have him carried into his +neighbouring castle of Longwy; and when Mary of +Hungary proposed to garrison this fortress to protect +his subjects from French aggression, he declined her +offer firmly at the risk of incurring the imperial displeasure.<a name="FNanchor_345" id="FNanchor_345"></a><a href="#Footnote_345" class="fnanchor">[345]</a> +Christina herself spent Christmas at Fontainebleau +with her aunt, Queen Eleanor. This poor +lady was distracted with grief at the war between her +husband and brother, and spent much time in making +futile attempts to induce her sister, the Regent, +to listen to peace negotiations. Early in December, +while the King was hunting at Cognac, she sent a +gorgeous litter to Bar to bring the Duchess to Court, +and kept her there till the middle of January.<a name="FNanchor_346" id="FNanchor_346"></a><a href="#Footnote_346" class="fnanchor">[346]</a> +A month afterwards—on the 13th of February—Christina +gave birth to her first child, a son, who +received the name of Charles, after her imperial uncle. +There was great rejoicing in Nancy, where the happy +event took place, and the old Duke himself went to +Pont-à-Mousson to bear the good news to the venerable +Queen Philippa, who thanked God that she had +lived to see her great-grandson. The little Prince's +christening was celebrated with as much festivity +as the troubled state of the country would allow, +and Christina's faithful friend, the Princess of Macedonia, +who had followed her to Lorraine, held the +child at the font and was appointed his governess.<a name="FNanchor_347" id="FNanchor_347"></a><a href="#Footnote_347" class="fnanchor">[347]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Nov., 1543</span>] DUKE ANTOINE MEDIATES</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p> + +<p>Two days before the Prince's birth a secret treaty +between the Emperor and King Henry was concluded +at Whitehall. Chapuys had at length attained the +object of his untiring efforts, and De Courrières was +sent from Spain on a confidential mission to induce +Henry to declare war against France. The defeat +of the Duke of Aerschot at Sittard excited general +alarm in Flanders, and Mary was at her wits' end for +money and men. But the Emperor himself was +hastening across the Alps to the help of his loyal +provinces. The marriage of his son Philip with the +Infanta of Portugal had been finally settled, and with +the help of this Princess's large dowry and another +half-million of Mexican gold, Charles was able to raise +a large army of German and Italian troops. On the +22nd of August he appeared in person before Düren, +the capital of Cleves, which surrendered within a +week. The Duke threw himself on the victor's +mercy, and was pardoned and invested anew with his +hereditary duchies, while Guelders was annexed to +the Netherlands and the Prince of Orange became +its first Governor. William of Cleves on his part +renounced the French alliance, and agreed to marry +one of King Ferdinand's daughters. His previous +marriage with Jeanne d'Albret was annulled by the +Pope, and this resolute young Princess had the satisfaction +of carrying her protest into effect. Encouraged +by these successes, Charles now laid siege to Landrécy, +the capital of Hainault, which had been captured and +fortified by the French, and was joined by a gallant +company of English under Lord Surrey and Sir John +Wallop. "Par ma foi!" exclaimed the Emperor, as +he rode down their ranks, "this is a fine body of +gentlemen! If the French King comes, I will live<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +and die with the English."<a name="FNanchor_348" id="FNanchor_348"></a><a href="#Footnote_348" class="fnanchor">[348]</a> But Francis refused to +be drawn into a battle, and the approach of winter +made both armies retire from the field.</p> + +<p>The Duke of Lorraine took advantage of this temporary +lull to mediate between the two monarchs. +Old as he was, and suffering severely with gout, +Antoine came to the Prince of Chimay's house with +his son Francis, and begged for an audience with the +Emperor and Regent, who were spending a few days +at Valenciennes, on their way to Brussels. Charles +sent him word not to come into his presence if he +brought offers from the French King; but in spite +of these peremptory orders the two Dukes arrived +in the town on Sunday, the 17th of November, and +were received by the Emperor after dinner. Antoine +delivered a long oration begging His Imperial Majesty +to make peace for the sake of Christendom, and, +laying his hand on his breast, swore that he had +taken this step of his own free will, without communicating +with any other person. The old man's +earnestness touched Charles, who answered kindly, +saying that he was always welcome as a cousin and a +neighbour, and that this was doubly the case now +that his son had married the Emperor's dearly loved +niece. But he told him frankly that he had been +too often deluded by false promises to listen to French +proposals for peace, and that in any case he could do +nothing without the consent of his ally, the King of +England. Nothing daunted, the old Duke went on to +visit the Regent, and was found by Lord Surrey and +the English Ambassador Brian sitting at a table before +a fire in the Queen's room, playing at cards. Antoine +greeted Brian as an old friend, and asked him to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> +drink with him. But Mary sternly refused to listen +to the Duke's errand, being convinced that he came +from the King, and declaring that all the gentlemen +in his suite were good Frenchmen. When he and his +son were gone, she called Brian to her, and said: +"Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, heard you ever so lean a +message?" "Madame," replied the Englishman, +"if the broth be no fatter, it is not worth the supping," +a sentiment which provoked a hearty laugh from the +Queen.<a name="FNanchor_349" id="FNanchor_349"></a><a href="#Footnote_349" class="fnanchor">[349]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1544</span>] EGMONT'S WEDDING</div> + +<p>Neither Queen Eleanor, who sent an entreating +letter with a present of falcons to her sister, nor +Cardinal Farnese, who brought fresh proposals of +peace from the Pope, fared any better. The young +Duchess Christina now determined to make an attempt +herself, and came to meet her uncle at Spires when +he attended the Diet. The ostensible reason of this +journey was to visit her sister Dorothea, but Charles, +divining her intention, sent the Countess Palatine +word that if the Duchess of Bar brought proposals +of peace she might as well stay at home. Christina, +however, arrived at Spires on the 8th of February, +with a train of fourteen ladies and fifteen horse, and +spent a week with the Count and Countess Palatine. +The sisters saw the Emperor and King Ferdinand every +day, and were to all appearance on the most affectionate +terms with them. But nothing transpired as to what +passed between Christina and her uncle in private. +On the day that she left Spires to return to Nancy, +Frederic heard of the death of his brother, the Elector +Palatine, and hastened to Heidelberg with Dorothea +to attend his funeral and take possession of the rich +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>Rhineland, to which he now succeeded. Six weeks +later he returned to do homage for the Palatinate, +and assist at the wedding of his cousin Sabina with +Lamoral d'Egmont, the hero of so many hard-fought +fields. The Emperor gave a sumptuous banquet in +honour of his gallant brother-at-arms, Dorothea led +the bride to church, and Frederic, in a fit of generosity, +settled 14,000 florins on his young kinswoman.<a name="FNanchor_350" id="FNanchor_350"></a><a href="#Footnote_350" class="fnanchor">[350]</a></p> + +<p>In this same month Ambassadors arrived at Spires +from Christian III. of Denmark, who had quarrelled +with the French King and was anxious to make peace +with the Emperor. In spite of a protest from the +Palatine, a treaty was concluded on the 23rd of May, +by which Charles recognized the reigning monarch's +title to the crown. So the long war, which had lasted +twenty-one years, was at length ended, and the +Emperor finally abandoned the cause of Christian II. +But a clause was added by which his daughters' rights +were reserved, and a promise given that the severity +of his captivity should be relaxed and that he should +be allowed to hunt and fish in the park at Sonderburg. +Christian III. gladly agreed to these more humane +conditions, and even offered to give Dorothea and +Christina a substantial dowry, but the Palatine +refused to accept any terms, and persisted in asserting +his wife's claims.<a name="FNanchor_351" id="FNanchor_351"></a><a href="#Footnote_351" class="fnanchor">[351]</a></p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1544</span>] CHARLES V. IN LORRAINE</div> + +<p>Soon after her return from Spires, on the 20th of +April, 1544, Christina gave birth, at Nancy, to a +daughter, who was named Renée, after the late +Duchess. But her happiness was clouded by the illness +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>of her husband, whose health had become a +cause of grave anxiety. Fighting was renewed with +fresh vigour in the spring, and unexpected success +attended the imperial arms. Luxembourg was recovered +by Ferrante Gonzaga, and the French invaders +were expelled from most of the strongholds +which they held in this province. The war raged +fiercely on the borders of Lorraine, and the annoyance +to which his subjects were exposed, induced Duke +Antoine to make another effort at mediation. Since +the Emperor turned a deaf ear to all appeals, he decided +to apply to King Francis in person, and on the +8th of May he set out in a litter for the French Court; +but when he reached Bar he was too ill to go any +farther, and took to his bed in this ancient castle of +his ancestors. His sons hastened to join him, and +Christina followed them as soon as she was able to +travel, and arrived in time to be present at her father-in-law's +death-bed. The fine old man made his will, +appointed his brothers, the Duke of Guise and the +Cardinal, to be his executors, and with his last breath +begged his son to rule Lorraine wisely and raise as +few extraordinary taxes as possible. Above all, he +adjured him to preserve his people from the scourge +of war, and use every endeavour to obtain the restoration +of peace. With these words on his lips, he +passed away on the 19th of June, 1544.<a name="FNanchor_352" id="FNanchor_352"></a><a href="#Footnote_352" class="fnanchor">[352]</a> The new +Duke was as anxious for peace as his father, but the +moment was unpropitious for any efforts in this direction. +King Henry had at length taken the field and +invaded Picardy with a large army, and the Emperor +was bent on carrying the war into the heart of +France, and urged his ally to meet him under the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>walls of Paris. On the 17th of June Charles himself +came to Metz with Maurice of Saxony and the young +Marquis Albert of Brandenburg, the boldest warrior +in Germany, and prepared plans for the extension +of the campaign which Ferrante Gonzaga and the +Prince of Orange were carrying on in Champagne. +Here Francis of Lorraine joined him as soon as he +was able to mount a horse, and, after spending some +days at Metz, induced the Emperor to accompany +him to Nassau-le-Grand, where Christina was awaiting +him.<a name="FNanchor_353" id="FNanchor_353"></a><a href="#Footnote_353" class="fnanchor">[353]</a> On his way Charles stopped at Pont-à-Mousson, +and paid a visit to Queen Philippa, the +sister of his old enemy Charles of Guelders, for whom +he had always entertained a genuine regard, and who +was proud to welcome the great Emperor under her +convent roof. Since the death of the Empress, five +years before, Charles had formed a fixed resolution +to end his days in some cloistered retreat, and he +looked with admiration, not unmixed with envy, on +the aged Queen's peaceful home, and the garden +where she hoed and raked the borders and planted +flowers with her own hands. It was a memorable +day in the convent annals, and one which left pleasant +recollections in the Emperor's breast.<a name="FNanchor_354" id="FNanchor_354"></a><a href="#Footnote_354" class="fnanchor">[354]</a></p> + +<p>But although Charles was full of affection for +Christina and her husband, he declined to receive +the Cardinal of Lorraine, who begged for an interview, +and during his brief visit not a word was +spoken with regard to overtures of peace.<a name="FNanchor_355" id="FNanchor_355"></a><a href="#Footnote_355" class="fnanchor">[355]</a> On the +12th of July he took leave of the Duke and Duchess, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>and joined the Prince of Orange's camp before St. +Dizier. This town was strongly fortified, but René +had taken up his position near a bridge across the +Marne, and opened fire from a battery of guns placed +in the dry bed of the castle moat. Charles himself +visited the trenches on the day of his arrival, and +early the next morning the Prince of Orange walked +round to inspect the artillery with Ferrante Gonzaga. +The Marquis of Marignano was sitting in a chair, +which had been brought there for the Emperor's use +the day before, and, seeing the Prince, sprang to his +feet and offered him his seat. Compliments were exchanged +on both sides, and the Prince finally sat +down in the empty chair. He had hardly taken his +seat before he was struck by a shell which, passing +between the Viceroy and the Marquis, broke one of +his ribs, and shattered his shoulder to pieces. They +bore his unconscious form to the Emperor's tent, +where he lay between life and death for the next +forty-eight hours. The whole camp was filled with +consternation.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I doubt yet what will become of him," wrote +Wotton, who had followed Charles to the camp. "If +he should die of it, it were an inestimable loss to the +Emperor, so toward a gentleman he is, so well beloved, +and of such authority among men of war."</p></div> + +<p>Before the writer had finished his letter, a servant +came in to tell him that the Prince was gone.<a name="FNanchor_356" id="FNanchor_356"></a><a href="#Footnote_356" class="fnanchor">[356]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">July, 1544</span>] DEATH OF RENÉ</div> + +<p>A Spanish officer on the spot wrote a touching +account of the Prince's last moments. From the +first the doctors gave little hope, and when the Emperor +heard of René's critical state he hastened to +the wounded hero's bedside, and knelt down, holding +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>his hand in his own. The Prince knew him, and +begged him as a last favour to confirm the will which +he had made a month before, and take his young +cousin and heir, William of Nassau, under his protection. +Charles promised to do all in his power for +the boy, and, with tears streaming down his face, +kissed the Prince's cheek before he passed away.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"His Majesty the Emperor," continued the same +writer, "saw him die, and after that retired to his +chamber, where he remained some time alone without +seeing anyone, and showed how much he loved him. +The grief of the whole army and of the Court are so +great that no words of mine can describe it."<a name="FNanchor_357" id="FNanchor_357"></a><a href="#Footnote_357" class="fnanchor">[357]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1544</span>] LA SQUELETTE DE BAR</div> + +<p>From all sides the same bitter wail was heard. +There was sorrow in the ancient home at Bar, where +René's marriage had been celebrated with great rejoicing +four years before. The Duke and Duchess +wept for their gallant brother-in-law, and Christina +thought, with tender regret, of the hero who in +youthful days had seemed to her a very perfect +knight. The sad news was sent to De Courrières at +the English camp before Boulogne, by his Lieutenant +of Archers, and the veteran shed tears over the +gallant Prince whom he had often followed to victory. +Great was the lamentation at Brussels when the truth +became known. Nothing but weeping was heard in +the streets, and Queen Mary retired to the Abbey of +Groenendal to mourn for the loss which the Netherlands +had sustained by René's untimely death.<a name="FNanchor_358" id="FNanchor_358"></a><a href="#Footnote_358" class="fnanchor">[358]</a> In +his own city of Breda the sorrow was deeper still. +There his faithful wife, Anne of Lorraine, was waiting +anxiously for news from the battle-field. Her father +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>had died a few weeks before, and now her lord was +torn from her in the flower of his age, and she was left +a childless widow. Early in the year she had given +birth to a daughter, who was christened on the 25th of +February, and called Mary, after her godmother, the +Queen of Hungary, but who died before she was a +month old. Now report said that she was about to +become a mother for the second time, but her hopes +were once more doomed to disappointment. By René's +last will, his titles and the greater part of his vast +estates passed to his cousin William of Nassau, a boy +of eleven, while a large jointure and the rich lands of +Diest were left to Anne for her life.<a name="FNanchor_359" id="FNanchor_359"></a><a href="#Footnote_359" class="fnanchor">[359]</a> The Prince's +corpse, clad in the robes of a knight of the Golden +Fleece, was borne to Breda, and buried with his +forefathers; but his heart was enshrined in the +Collegiate Church of Bar, among the tombs which +held the ashes of his wife's ancestors. On his death-bed +René had expressed a wish that a representation +of his face and form, not as he was in life, but as they +would appear two years after death, should be carved +on his tomb. This strange wish was faithfully carried +out by Anne of Lorraine, who employed Ligier-Richier, +the gifted Lorraine sculptor, to carve a +skeleton with upraised hand clasping the golden +casket which contained the dead hero's heart. The +figure, carved in fine stone of ivory whiteness, was, +as it were, a literal rendering of the words, "Though +after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my +flesh shall I see God." At the Revolution, the +Collegiate Church of Bar, with the chapel of the +Lorraine Princes, which Montaigne called the most +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>sumptuous in France, was entirely destroyed; but +René's monument was saved and placed in the Church +of St. Étienne, where it is commonly known as "La +Squelette de Bar."<a name="FNanchor_360" id="FNanchor_360"></a><a href="#Footnote_360" class="fnanchor">[360]</a></p> + +<p>The memory of this popular Prince lingered long +in the land of his birth, and his fame lived in the +songs of Flanders and Holland for many generations. +One of the best known begins with the lines:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"C'est le Prince d'Orange,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Trop matin s'est levé,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Il appela son page,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mon Maure, est-il bridé?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Que maudit soit la guerre—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mon Maure, est-il bridé?"<a name="FNanchor_361" id="FNanchor_361"></a><a href="#Footnote_361" class="fnanchor">[361]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And so the story goes on through many stanzas, +which tell how, in spite of his wife's dark forebodings, +the hero rode out to the wars to fight against the +French, how he met with his fatal wound, and never +came home again.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1544</span>] THE DUKE'S ILLNESS</div> + +<p>The Prince's death threw a gloom over the imperial +camp, but did not diminish the warlike ardour +of his battalions, who swore with one voice that they +would avenge their leader. On the 17th of August +St. Dizier at length surrendered. "A right dear-bought +town," wrote Wotton, "considering the +number of men lost in the assault, and chiefly the +inestimable loss of that noble Prince." Ferrante +immediately sent a troop of light horse, with Francesco +d'Este at their head, against Joinville, the +splendid home of the Guises, although, as Wotton +remarked, this was rather a house of pleasure than a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>stronghold. The castle was spared by order of the +Emperor for the sake of his niece Christina, who +begged him not to add to the Princess of Orange's +grief by destroying her uncle's house; but the town +and churches were sacked and set on fire, and the +beautiful gardens, with their fine water-shows and +temples, were destroyed.<a name="FNanchor_362" id="FNanchor_362"></a><a href="#Footnote_362" class="fnanchor">[362]</a> The news was received +with consternation in Paris, where Antoinette and +her grandson had taken refuge, and the Duchess's +brother, Cardinal Bourbon, wrote to the Scottish +Queen telling her of the report that the enemy had +burnt down Joinville, which had fortunately proved +to be false. "The destruction of such a beautiful +house," he adds, "would indeed have been sad."<a name="FNanchor_363" id="FNanchor_363"></a><a href="#Footnote_363" class="fnanchor">[363]</a> +This calamity had been averted by Christina, but, in +their anger at the damage done by the imperial +troops, the Guise Princes hardly remembered the debt +that they owed her. The King was furious, and in +the first burst of his indignation sent the Duke of +Lorraine a message, threatening to destroy him and +all his house. The Duke now determined to go to +the French Court to defend himself from these charges +and see if it were possible to make proposals of peace +in this quarter. The Emperor's rapid advance had +excited great alarm in Paris. Even the King awoke +to a sense of danger, and said to Margaret of Navarre, +the sister to whom he turned in all his worst troubles, +"<i>Ma mignonne</i>, pray God to spare me the disgrace +of seeing the Emperor encamped before my city of +Paris." Queen Eleanor, in her distress, sent a +Dominican friar in whom she had great confidence—<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>Don +Gabriel de Guzman—to implore her brother to +hear her prayers. But Charles was still obdurate. +He received Francis of Lorraine in the camp after +the Prince of Orange's death, but when he heard +that his nephew was going to the French Court, he +sent Montbardon to beg the Duchess, "as she loved +him," not to let her husband go to France so soon +after he had seen him, lest people should think that +he was sent by the Emperor to treat of peace.</p> + +<p>Christina replied in a letter written, as Wotton remarked, +in her own hand, telling her uncle that she +had sent a servant post-haste to overtake her husband, +but that he was already at Châlons, and had gone +too far to retrace his steps. In spite of this manful +attempt, the Duke never reached Paris; he fell from +his horse in a fainting fit at Épernay, and was brought +back in a litter to Bar, where Christina nursed him +for several weeks.<a name="FNanchor_364" id="FNanchor_364"></a><a href="#Footnote_364" class="fnanchor">[364]</a> His efforts, however, proved +more effectual than he had expected. The Emperor's +precautions were necessary owing to the jealousy +with which the English King regarded every proposal +of peace on the part of his ally, but in reality Charles +was almost as eager as Francis to put an end to the +war. His resources were exhausted, the plague was +raging in Luxembourg and Flanders, and he realized +the danger of advancing into the enemy's country +with the Dauphin's army in his rear, while his hopes +of the English march on Paris had been disappointed +by Henry's delays before Montreuil and Boulogne. +Under these circumstances he felt that he could no +longer refuse to treat with his foes. On the 29th of +August, a week after the Duke had started on his +unfortunate journey, Admiral l'Annebaut and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>French Chancellor were admitted into the Emperor's +presence, in the camp near Châlons, and conferences +were opened between them and Granvelle, with the +happy result that on the 19th of September peace +was signed at Crépy-en-Laonnois.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Sept., 1544</span>] DUKE ANTOINE'S FUNERAL</div> + +<p>By this treaty the Duke of Orleans was to be given +either the Emperor's daughter in marriage, with the +reversion of the Netherlands as her dower, or else one +of his Austrian nieces with the immediate possession +of Milan. In return Francis was to renounce his +claims on Naples and Artois, restore the Duke of +Savoy's dominions, and endow his son with large +estates and revenues. All the towns and fortresses +which had been captured during the recent war +were to be restored, including Stenay, which, as +Charles pointed out, the King of France "had +seized in the strangest manner, and held by force +without paying homage, although it is notoriously +a fief of the empire."<a name="FNanchor_365" id="FNanchor_365"></a><a href="#Footnote_365" class="fnanchor">[365]</a> As soon as peace was signed, +Granvelle's son, the young Bishop of Arras, was +sent to ask the English King to become a party +to the treaty; but Henry, who had just taken +Boulogne after a long siege, quite refused, and professed +great surprise to hear that the Emperor had +agreed to terms which seemed to him more befitting +the vanquished than the victor. On the other hand, +a strong party at the French Court complained that +the rights of the Crown were sacrificed to the personal +aggrandisement of Orleans, and on the 12th of +December the Dauphin signed a secret protest against +the treaty, which was witnessed by Vendôme and +Aumale.<a name="FNanchor_366" id="FNanchor_366"></a><a href="#Footnote_366" class="fnanchor">[366]</a> But in the provinces where war had been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>waging, peace was welcomed with thankfulness, and +the ruler and people of Lorraine could once more +breathe freely.</p> + +<p>The Duke of Lorraine was now able to convey his +father's body from the Castle of Bar, where he had +died, to Nancy. On the 15th of September he and +his brother set out at the head of the funeral procession, +along roads lined with crowds of people +weeping for the good Duke who had ruled the land so +well. But since it was impossible for the Duke of Guise +and his family to come to Nancy at present, the last +rites were put off till the following year, and the old +Duke's remains were left to repose for the time in +the Church of St. Georges.<a name="FNanchor_367" id="FNanchor_367"></a><a href="#Footnote_367" class="fnanchor">[367]</a> Little dreamt these loyal +subjects that before the year was over the young +Duke, on whom their hopes were fixed, would himself +be numbered with the dead, and lie buried in his +father's grave. But for the moment all was well. +The return of peace was hailed with rejoicing, and +the restitution of Stenay removed a blot from the +scutcheon of Lorraine, while the independence of the +duchy was confirmed by a decree of the Diet of Nuremberg, +to which the Emperor gave his sanction.<a name="FNanchor_368" id="FNanchor_368"></a><a href="#Footnote_368" class="fnanchor">[368]</a></p> + +<p>The Duke and Duchess received a pressing invitation +to join in the festivities that were held at Brussels +to celebrate the peace. Charles and Mary arrived +there on the 1st of October, and were shortly followed +by Queen Eleanor, bringing in her train the Duke of +Orleans and the Duchess of Étampes, who had used +all her influence with the King to bring about peace, +chiefly from jealousy of the Dauphin and his mistress, +Diane de Poitiers. The burghers of Brussels gave +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>the imperial family a magnificent entertainment at +the hôtel-de-ville, and presented Eleanor with a +golden fountain of exquisite shape and workmanship; +while the Emperor lavished costly presents on his +guests, and gave the Queen of Hungary the fine +domains of Binche and Turnhout in gratitude for her +services. Unfortunately, Christina was detained at +Nancy by a return of her husband's illness, and did +not reach Brussels till the 4th of November. By +this time Eleanor had set out on her return, and +Christina, eager to see her aunt, followed her to +Mons, and spent two days in her company. On the +7th the Duchess came back to Brussels with her +brother-in-law, Nicolas de Vaudemont, and remained +with her uncle and aunt during a fortnight. It was +her first visit to Brussels since her wedding, more +than three years before, and old friends and faces +welcomed her on all sides. But one familiar figure +was missing, and she found a melancholy pleasure in +the company of her sister-in-law, the widowed Princess +of Orange, whom she saw for the first time since +her gallant husband's death. Charles treated his +niece with marked kindness, and gave her a superb +necklace of pearls and diamonds as a parting present.<a name="FNanchor_369" id="FNanchor_369"></a><a href="#Footnote_369" class="fnanchor">[369]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1545</span>] PEACE AND PROSPERITY</div> + +<p>The winter was spent happily at Nancy, where the +new Duke and Duchess made themselves popular +with all classes. Francis gave free rein to his love +of art and letters, and encouraged scholars and artists +by his enlightened patronage. He took passionate +delight in music, and was never happier than when he +could surround himself with the best singers and +players on the lute and viol. Christina shared his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>artistic tastes, and was greatly interested in the improvements +of the ducal palace. Together they made +plans for the decoration of its halls and gardens, +and for the construction of new buildings and churches +in different parts of Lorraine, while the Court painters, +Crock and Chappin, were sent to Italy to collect +antiques and study the best examples of art and +architecture.<a name="FNanchor_370" id="FNanchor_370"></a><a href="#Footnote_370" class="fnanchor">[370]</a> At the same time Christina took deep +interest in the condition of her humbler subjects, and +tried to relieve distress by founding charitable institutions +on the pattern of those in Flanders. A new +period of peace and prosperity seemed to have +dawned on Lorraine, and everything promised a long +and happy reign.</p> + +<p>By the end of the year the Duke and Duchess +of Guise returned to Joinville, and were actively +engaged throughout the winter in rebuilding the +ruined town and repairing the damage done by the +imperial soldiery. Old quarrels between the two +houses were forgotten, and friendly intercourse was +renewed. In February the Duke and Duchess of +Lorraine were present in the chapel of Joinville, at +the consecration of Guise's son Charles, as Archbishop +of Reims, and in March the Cardinal of Lorraine came +to Nancy to discharge the duties of executor to the +late Duke. Antoine had provided liberally for all his +children. Nicolas de Vaudemont, his younger son, +received a sum of 15,000 crowns, and Christina gave +her brother-in-law a handsome present of furniture, +to help him in setting up house. Some lordships near +Joinville were left to the Duke of Guise, and everything +was amicably arranged.<a name="FNanchor_371" id="FNanchor_371"></a><a href="#Footnote_371" class="fnanchor">[371]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1545</span>] FRANCIS'S DEATH</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p> + +<p>Suddenly the Duke fell ill for the third time, and +during several days his life was in danger. Wotton +was convinced that he had been poisoned by his +French enemies, and so alarming were the reports +which reached Brussels, that the Emperor wrote +privately to his new Ambassador in Paris, Granvelle's +brother-in-law, St. Mauris, begging him to keep a +watchful eye on the affairs of Lorraine, lest Guise +and the Cardinal should take advantage of their +nephew's condition to seize his domains. But this +time Francis recovered once more, and was able to +make his solemn entry into Nancy on the 16th of +April. At the Porte St. Nicolas he was met by the +three orders—the nobles, clergy, and people—and +walked on foot, with Nicolas de Vaudemont at his +side, followed by his Ministers, to the Church of St. +Georges. Here, kneeling at the high-altar, he kissed +the relic of the True Cross, and took a solemn oath +to respect the privileges of the people of Lorraine +and the liberties of the city of Nancy. After this a +<i>Te Deum</i> was chanted and a banquet held in the ducal +palace.<a name="FNanchor_372" id="FNanchor_372"></a><a href="#Footnote_372" class="fnanchor">[372]</a> The next week, by the advice of his doctors, +Antoine Champier and Nicolas le Pois, he went to +Blamont, in the hope that the invigorating air of the +hills might complete his cure; but he grew weaker +every day, and was subject to frequent fainting fits of +an alarming nature. In her anxiety, Christina sent +to Strasburg and Fribourg for well-known physicians, +and Mary of Hungary despatched her own doctor to +Nancy, and consulted eminent doctors in London +and Paris on the patient's symptoms.<a name="FNanchor_373" id="FNanchor_373"></a><a href="#Footnote_373" class="fnanchor">[373]</a> But all +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>was of no avail, and as a last resource the Duke was +carried in a litter to Remiremont, his favourite +shooting-lodge in the heart of the Vosges. It was +the end of May, and the beautiful woods along the +mountain slopes were in the first glory of their +spring foliage. For a moment it seemed as if his +delight in the beauty of the place and the life-giving +influence of sunshine and mountain air would restore +him to health. But already the hand of Death was +upon him. On the Fête-Dieu he became much worse, +and his end was evidently near; but he was perfectly +conscious, and, sending for a notary, he made his last +will, appointing his wife Regent of the State and +guardian of her little son and daughter, and commending +her and his children to the Emperor's care. After +this he received the last Sacraments, and passed quietly +away on Friday, the 12th of June. He was not yet +twenty-eight, and had reigned exactly one year.<a name="FNanchor_374" id="FNanchor_374"></a><a href="#Footnote_374" class="fnanchor">[374]</a> +Death had once more severed the marriage tie, and +Christina, who but lately called herself the happiest +woman in the world, was left stricken and desolate, +a widow for the second time, at the age of twenty-three.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_317" id="Footnote_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_317"><span class="label">[317]</span></a> Abbé Calmet, "Histoire Ecclésiastique et Civile de Lorraine," +i. 190.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_318" id="Footnote_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_318"><span class="label">[318]</span></a> Hugo, 196, 200.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_319" id="Footnote_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_319"><span class="label">[319]</span></a> Calmet, iii. 325; A. Hallays, "Nancy" ("Villes Célèbres"), 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_320" id="Footnote_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_320"><span class="label">[320]</span></a> Calmet, i. 176; Hugo, 244; "Inventaire de Joinville," i. 378.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_321" id="Footnote_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_321"><span class="label">[321]</span></a> H. Lepage, "Le Palais Ducal de Nancy," 10; C. Pfister, +ii. 29; "La Ville de Nancy," 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_322" id="Footnote_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_322"><span class="label">[322]</span></a> Pfister, ii. 26; A. Hallays, "Nancy," 37-39.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_323" id="Footnote_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_323"><span class="label">[323]</span></a> Lepage, "Palais Ducal," 3; Pfister, ii. 188.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_324" id="Footnote_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_324"><span class="label">[324]</span></a> Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_325" id="Footnote_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_325"><span class="label">[325]</span></a> Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_326" id="Footnote_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_326"><span class="label">[326]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, ii. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_327" id="Footnote_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_327"><span class="label">[327]</span></a> Kaulek, 54.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_328" id="Footnote_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_328"><span class="label">[328]</span></a> F. v. Bucholtz, "Geschichte d. Kaiser Ferdinand I.," ix. 141.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_329" id="Footnote_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_329"><span class="label">[329]</span></a> Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," ii. 618; Bucholtz, ix. 141.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_330" id="Footnote_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_330"><span class="label">[330]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 639, 644, 655</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_331" id="Footnote_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_331"><span class="label">[331]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 436; Calendar of +State Papers, xvi. 1, 690.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_332" id="Footnote_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_332"><span class="label">[332]</span></a> Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 3, 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_333" id="Footnote_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_333"><span class="label">[333]</span></a> Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_334" id="Footnote_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_334"><span class="label">[334]</span></a> Bucholtz, ix. 142.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_335" id="Footnote_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_335"><span class="label">[335]</span></a> H. Lepage, "Le Palais Ducal de Nancy," 9; Pfister, ii. 256.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_336" id="Footnote_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_336"><span class="label">[336]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 636.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_337" id="Footnote_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_337"><span class="label">[337]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 1, 473; Calendar of +State Papers, xvi. 2, 51.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_338" id="Footnote_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_338"><span class="label">[338]</span></a> The authenticity of this well-known saying has been often +disputed, and was certainly never addressed by the Duchess to +either of Henry VIII.'s Ambassadors. But Christina's words +were recorded by Joachim Sandrart, who wrote in the seventeenth +century, as having been spoken by a Princess of Lorraine, +whom the English King had wooed in vain, and were afterwards +quoted by Horace Walpole "as the witty answer of that Duchess +of Milan whose portrait Holbein painted for Henry VIII." (see +Wornum's "Life of Holbein," 311; J. Sandrart, "Deutsche +Akademie"; and Walpole's "Anecdotes of Painting").</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_339" id="Footnote_339"></a><a href="#FNanchor_339"><span class="label">[339]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, viii. 641; Calendar of State +Papers, xvii. 711.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_340" id="Footnote_340"></a><a href="#FNanchor_340"><span class="label">[340]</span></a> Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_341" id="Footnote_341"></a><a href="#FNanchor_341"><span class="label">[341]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xvii. 232.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_342" id="Footnote_342"></a><a href="#FNanchor_342"><span class="label">[342]</span></a> Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," ii. 628; Calendar of State Papers, +xvii. 273.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_343" id="Footnote_343"></a><a href="#FNanchor_343"><span class="label">[343]</span></a> Lanz, ii. 364.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_344" id="Footnote_344"></a><a href="#FNanchor_344"><span class="label">[344]</span></a> Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_345" id="Footnote_345"></a><a href="#FNanchor_345"><span class="label">[345]</span></a> Pimodan, 81; Bouillé, i. 142.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_346" id="Footnote_346"></a><a href="#FNanchor_346"><span class="label">[346]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vi. 2, 262.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_347" id="Footnote_347"></a><a href="#FNanchor_347"><span class="label">[347]</span></a> Calmet, i. 265; Pfister, ii. 200.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_348" id="Footnote_348"></a><a href="#FNanchor_348"><span class="label">[348]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Record Office, ix. 522.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_349" id="Footnote_349"></a><a href="#FNanchor_349"><span class="label">[349]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xviii. 2, 216; State Papers, Record +Office, ix. 557; Bucholtz, ix. 263.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_350" id="Footnote_350"></a><a href="#FNanchor_350"><span class="label">[350]</span></a> Altmeyer, "Relations," etc., 476; Gachard, "Voyages de +Charles V.," ii. 285.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_351" id="Footnote_351"></a><a href="#FNanchor_351"><span class="label">[351]</span></a> Schäfer, iv. 462; Calendar of State Papers, xix. 1, 349.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_352" id="Footnote_352"></a><a href="#FNanchor_352"><span class="label">[352]</span></a> Calmet, ii. 1196; Pfister, ii. 192.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_353" id="Footnote_353"></a><a href="#FNanchor_353"><span class="label">[353]</span></a> Gachard, "Voyages," ii. 289; Calendar of State Papers, +Record Office, ix. 724.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_354" id="Footnote_354"></a><a href="#FNanchor_354"><span class="label">[354]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xix. 1, 564.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_355" id="Footnote_355"></a><a href="#FNanchor_355"><span class="label">[355]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Record Office, x. 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_356" id="Footnote_356"></a><a href="#FNanchor_356"><span class="label">[356]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, ix. 733.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_357" id="Footnote_357"></a><a href="#FNanchor_357"><span class="label">[357]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vii. 267.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_358" id="Footnote_358"></a><a href="#FNanchor_358"><span class="label">[358]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xix. 1, 608; Calendar of Spanish +State Papers, vii. 280.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_359" id="Footnote_359"></a><a href="#FNanchor_359"><span class="label">[359]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xix. 1, 71; Groen v. Prinsterer, +"Archives de la Maison d'Orange," i. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_360" id="Footnote_360"></a><a href="#FNanchor_360"><span class="label">[360]</span></a> C. Cournault, "Ligier-Richier," 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_361" id="Footnote_361"></a><a href="#FNanchor_361"><span class="label">[361]</span></a> R. Putnam, "William the Silent, Prince of Orange," ii. 435.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_362" id="Footnote_362"></a><a href="#FNanchor_362"><span class="label">[362]</span></a> Bouillé, ii. 148; Pimodan, 183; Oudin, "Histoire des Guises," +Bib. Nat., f. 118; Calendar of State Papers, Record Office, x. 6, 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_363" id="Footnote_363"></a><a href="#FNanchor_363"><span class="label">[363]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xix. 2, 63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_364" id="Footnote_364"></a><a href="#FNanchor_364"><span class="label">[364]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vii. 296-298.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_365" id="Footnote_365"></a><a href="#FNanchor_365"><span class="label">[365]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, vii. 305.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_366" id="Footnote_366"></a><a href="#FNanchor_366"><span class="label">[366]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, vii. 1, 350, 355.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_367" id="Footnote_367"></a><a href="#FNanchor_367"><span class="label">[367]</span></a> Calmet, ii. 1196; Pfister, ii. 192.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_368" id="Footnote_368"></a><a href="#FNanchor_368"><span class="label">[368]</span></a> Calmet, ii. 1281; Ravold, 744; Pfister, ii. 188; Calendar of +Spanish State Papers, vi. 2, 262.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_369" id="Footnote_369"></a><a href="#FNanchor_369"><span class="label">[369]</span></a> Henne, viii. 212-215; T. Juste, "Marie de Hongrie," 120; +Calendar of State Papers, xix. 2, 340.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_370" id="Footnote_370"></a><a href="#FNanchor_370"><span class="label">[370]</span></a> Pfister, ii. 256; H. Lepage, "La Ville de Nancy," 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_371" id="Footnote_371"></a><a href="#FNanchor_371"><span class="label">[371]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, viii. 102; Bouillé, i. 244.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_372" id="Footnote_372"></a><a href="#FNanchor_372"><span class="label">[372]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, viii. 195; Pfister, ii. 192; +Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," iii. 110.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_373" id="Footnote_373"></a><a href="#FNanchor_373"><span class="label">[373]</span></a> Ravold, iii. 764; Calmet, ii. 1276.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_374" id="Footnote_374"></a><a href="#FNanchor_374"><span class="label">[374]</span></a> Pfister, ii. 192.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p></div></div> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>BOOK IX<br /> + +CHRISTINA, REGENT OF LORRAINE<br /> + +1545-1552</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1545</span>] VAUDEMONT'S CLAIMS</div> + +<p>The premature death of her husband left Christina +in a position of exceptional difficulty. Everything +combined to add to her distress. She herself was in +delicate health, expecting the birth of another child +in a few weeks, her only son was an infant of two +years and a half, and she had not a single near relative +or tried Minister to give her the help of his counsel +and experience. The Duke had appointed her Regent +of Lorraine during his son's minority, but even before +he breathed his last, her claims to this office were disputed. +Although Christina herself was popular with +all classes of her son's subjects, there was a strong +party in Lorraine which dreaded the influence of her +powerful uncle. At the head of this party was the +Rhinegrave, Jean de Salm, an able nobleman who +had always been French in his sympathies, and who +now seized the opportunity of the Duke's last illness +to advance the claims of Monsieur de Metz, seeing that +this young Prince would be an easy tool in his hands. +At ten o'clock on the Fête-Dieu, when the Duke +had received the last Sacraments, the Count de Salm +entered his room with Nicolas de Vaudemont, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +thus addressed him: "Monseigneur, if it please God +to call you to himself, do you wish that Monsieur de +Metz, your brother, should have a share in the +administration of your State and the care of your +children, without prejudice to the arrangements +which you have already made, by word and in writing, +with your august wife the Duchess?" The dying +Prince, who was hardly conscious, murmured a faint +"Yes," upon which the Count summoned a notary +to write down the Duke's last wishes, and proceeded +to read the document to the Duchess in the presence +of her servants.<a name="FNanchor_375" id="FNanchor_375"></a><a href="#Footnote_375" class="fnanchor">[375]</a> Christina, in her bitter distress, +paid little heed to this interruption, and was only +anxious to return to her dying husband's bedside; +but immediately after his death she found herself +compelled to face the question. Owing to her +delicate state of health, she decided to put off the +Duke's funeral, as well as that of his father, until +the following year. A week after his death she joined +her young children at her dower-house of Denœuvre, +and at the same time the Duke's body was removed +by Count de Salm, as Marshal of Lorraine, to the +collegiate church of this place, and buried in a temporary +grave, after lying in state during three days.</p> + +<p>The Emperor was at Worms with the Elector +Palatine and his wife when the news of the Duke of +Lorraine's death reached him, and sent Montbardon +at once to his niece with letters of condolence. +Christina availed herself of this opportunity to ask +her uncle's advice regarding the deed drawn up by +Jean de Salm. Charles, realizing the critical nature +of the situation, immediately sent one of his most +trusted servants, François Bonvalot, Abbot of Luxeuil,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> +to Nancy, with orders to assure the Duchess of his +protection, and if possible secure her the Regency +and sole charge of her children. Bonvalot was the +brother of Granvelle's wife, the excellent Madame +Nicole, and had only lately resigned the office of +Ambassador at Paris, and retired to Besançon to +administer the affairs of this diocese as coadjutor of +the Bishop. No one was better fitted to help the +widowed Duchess than this statesman, who was +intimately acquainted with the intrigues of the Guise +Princes and the French Court. He hastened to +Denœuvre without delay, and, as soon as he had seen +Christina, wrote the following letter to his brother-in-law, +St. Mauris, giving a clear and graphic account +of the situation:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">My Brother</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1545</span>] CHRISTINA'S DIFFICULTIES</div> + +<p>"The Emperor, having been informed of Monsieur +de Lorraine's death, has sent me here to help his +niece the Duchess, and to secure her the administration +of the State and the guardianship of her children, which +belongs to her by right and reason, but which Monsieur +de Metz is trying to claim, by virtue of the custom of +this country, as well as of certain acts somewhat +suspiciously passed by the Count de Salm and other +of the nobles when the late Lord Duke was <i>in extremis</i>.... +His Majesty, being anxious to comfort +the said lady in her great affliction, and act the part +not only of a good uncle, but of a true father, has sent +me here to give her advice and help, and begs you to +tell the Most Christian King the wrong which has +been done her in this strange fashion, and which His +Imperial Majesty will never allow, because of the close +relation in which this lady stands to him. He hopes +that the King will join with him in this, for the sake +of the friendship which he has ever borne to this +house and to this widowed lady and her orphan +children, whose fathers and protectors their two +Majesties ought to be. His Imperial Majesty begs the +King most earnestly not to allow the said lady to be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>deprived of this Regency to which Monsieur de Metz +pretends, in spite of common right and the ancient +custom of Lorraine, as the Count of Salm's deed +abundantly shows, since this would have been superfluous +if the custom were such as he pretends it to +be. You will lay these same reasons before the +Cardinal and Monsieur de Guise. If you are told that +Queen Yolande resigned the government of Lorraine +in favour of her son, you will reply that this was done +of her own free choice; and if any person objects +that the mother of the late Duke Antoine and the +Cardinal and Sieur de Guise did not retain the administration +after her husband's death, you will point +out that the said Duke was of full age, and that the +said lady was content to lay down the government +on this account.... And, further, you will inquire +what the King intends to do in the matter, and if +he means to support Monsieur de Metz or take any +steps prejudicial to the said lady and the tranquillity of +these lands, and will inform His Imperial Majesty +and myself of these things without delay."<a name="FNanchor_376" id="FNanchor_376"></a><a href="#Footnote_376" class="fnanchor">[376]</a></p></div> + +<p>When Bonvalot wrote this letter from Denœuvre, +on the 27th of June, the young Archbishop of Reims +had already arrived there, with an agreement drawn +up by his uncle the Cardinal, which he submitted +to the Duchess for approval. He informed the Abbot +that King Francis trusted the said lady would avoid +all occasion of strife, which, as Bonvalot remarked, +was exactly what the Emperor wished, and Monsieur de +Metz, by his singular action, had done his best to prevent. +In this difficult situation Christina showed remarkable +good sense and tact. She told Bonvalot +frankly that she would gladly avail herself of her +brother-in-law's help in the administration of public +affairs, and wished to treat him with perfect friendliness +as long as she retained the sole charge of her children +and the chief authority in the State. Accordingly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> +the agreement proposed by the Cardinal was adopted, +with some modifications, and signed at Denœuvre, on +the 6th of August, by Christina, Nicolas, the Count +de Salm, and other chief officials of Lorraine. The +Duchess and her brother-in-law were appointed joint +Regents, and were to affix their seal to all public +deeds. Vaudemont was given a key of the Treasury, +and was allowed the patronage of one out of every +three vacant offices; but the real authority, as well +as the care of her children, was vested in the Duchess. +Bonvalot told the Emperor that, under the circumstances, +this was the best arrangement that could be +made, and Charles of Lorraine and his family had +nothing but praise for the Duchess's good-will and +moderation.<a name="FNanchor_377" id="FNanchor_377"></a><a href="#Footnote_377" class="fnanchor">[377]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Nov., 1545</span>] HER TACT AND WISDOM</div> + +<p>A fortnight later, Christina gave birth to her second +daughter, who was named Dorothea, after the Countess +Palatine. But the severe mental strain which the +mother had undergone affected the child, who was a +cripple from her birth. On the 5th of November the +Treaty of Denœuvre was ratified by the States assembled +at Neufchâteau, not, however, without considerable +discussion. Some of the nobles tried to limit the +Regents' powers, and managed to insert a provision +that none but Lorraine's should hold offices of State, +a measure clearly aimed at the Flemings and Burgundians +in the Duchess's service. Nicolas de +Vaudemont, being young and inexperienced, agreed +readily to these demands, which drew forth a strong +protest from the Emperor and Mary of Hungary. To +add to Bonvalot's dissatisfaction, Monsieur de Metz +accompanied the Archbishop on his return to France, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>without even informing Christina of his intention. +In spite of these provocations, she maintained the +same conciliatory attitude, and her prudence and +modesty excited the Abbot's sincere admiration. +The Emperor addressed an affectionate letter to his +niece, assuring her of his fatherly love and protection, +and saying that he would never cease to regard her +interests as his own. "And it will be a great pleasure +to me," he adds, "if you will often write to me, and +I on my part will let you hear from me in the same +manner."<a name="FNanchor_378" id="FNanchor_378"></a><a href="#Footnote_378" class="fnanchor">[378]</a></p> + +<p>Christina now returned to spend Christmas at +Nancy, and settled in the ducal palace with her +children. Monsieur de Metz gave up his bishopric, +and renouncing the ecclesiastical profession adopted +the style of Count of Vaudemont. But he showed no +further disposition to make himself disagreeable to +his sister-in-law, and their mutual relations were +rendered easier by the presence of the Princess of +Orange, who spent most of the year at Nancy. The +two widowed Princesses were drawn together by +that tenderest of ties, the memory of those whom +they had loved and lost. Henceforth they became +the dearest and closest of friends. During all the +troubles and sorrows of the next twenty years Anne's +loyalty to her sister-in-law remained unshaken. Her +strong common-sense and practical qualities, her +coolness and courage in emergencies, were a great +support to Christina, while the confidence that Mary +of Hungary reposed in her proved no less valuable. +The harmony of the family circle continued unbroken, +and the internal administration of Lorraine was +carried on as peaceably as before. The conduct of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> +foreign affairs presented far greater difficulties, and +all Christina's prudence was needed to steer the +way safely through the rocks that lay in her course.</p> + +<p>In spite of his friendly professions, the French +King, it soon became evident, was likely to prove a +troublesome neighbour. As Wotton wrote when +Francis of Lorraine died, "If the sweet, vain hope +of the delivery of Milan did not let him, I think the +Duke's death might easily provoke the French King +to attempt somewhat on Bar and Lorraine."<a name="FNanchor_379" id="FNanchor_379"></a><a href="#Footnote_379" class="fnanchor">[379]</a> Even +before her husband's death, Christina had been involved +in a long correspondence regarding Stenay, +which the French refused to give up until Duke +Antoine's letters surrendering the town could be +produced. The missing papers were at length discovered +in possession of the French Governor, De +Longueval, who had maliciously concealed them, and +the town was evacuated at the end of August, 1545. +Ten days afterwards the Duke of Orleans died of the +plague at Abbeville, in his twenty-fifth year. The +loss of this favourite son was a heavy blow to Francis. +"God grant," he wrote to the Emperor, in an outburst +of deep emotion, "that you may never know what it +is to lose a son!" The event, as it happened, proved +most opportune for Charles, who was released from +the unpleasant necessity of giving his daughter or +niece to a worthless Prince, with Milan or the Netherlands +as her dower. But it naturally provoked +Francis to demand fresh concessions and revive his +old claim to Milan.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1546</span>] THE CITADEL OF STENAY</div> + +<p>The effect of this new quarrel was to increase +Christina's difficulties. When the French at length +abandoned Stenay, it was found that not only the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>recent fortifications had been destroyed, as agreed +upon in the Treaty of Crépy, but that the old walls +of the town had been pulled down. Mary of Hungary +justly complained that the defenceless state of Stenay +was a grave cause of danger to Luxembourg, and +urged her brother to garrison the town, declaring, if +war broke out, the Duchess would be unable to maintain +the neutrality of Lorraine. Charles, who had +already left the Netherlands to attend the Diet of +Regensburg, now invited his niece to meet him at +Waldrevange, on the frontiers of Luxembourg, and +discuss the matter. Christina obeyed her uncle's +summons gladly, and assured him that she was quite +alive to the importance of Stenay, and had already +asked her subjects' help in rebuilding the town walls. +But since the presence of an imperial force might +excite suspicion, she proposed to place a young +Luxembourg Captain named Schauwenbourg in +command of the garrison. The plan met with Charles's +approval; but Mary was by no means satisfied, and +begged the Emperor to insist on an oath of allegiance +to himself being taken by the garrison and burghers. +Charles replied that no doubt the best plan would +be to keep Stenay altogether, but that this would be +a direct violation of the Treaty of Crépy, as well as +a wrong to the little Duke, and might stir up the +French "to make a great broil."<a name="FNanchor_380" id="FNanchor_380"></a><a href="#Footnote_380" class="fnanchor">[380]</a></p> + +<p>The invaluable Bonvalot was now called in, and +accepted Christina's invitation to attend the funeral +of the two Dukes on the 14th of June. But when +the Abbot reached Nancy, he found that only Duke +Antoine's obsequies were about to be solemnized, +and that the Duchess had deferred those of her husband<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> +in compliance with a request from the Guise +Princes. On the day after the old Duke's funeral, +Bonvalot had a long interview with Christina, who +expressed her anxiety to meet her aunt's wishes, +and explained that Vaudemont was only afraid of +arousing the suspicions of the French. While she +was speaking, Nicolas himself came in and told the +Abbé how grateful he felt to the Emperor for the +affection which he showed to his little nephew, and how +fully he realized the importance of defending Stenay, +but that he dared not risk exciting the displeasure +of Francis, who was already advancing a thousand +new claims on Bar. The members of the Ducal +Council, to whom the matter was referred, expressed +the same opinion, telling Bonvalot that they looked +to the Emperor as their father and protector, and +would guard Stenay as the apple of their eye. The +Abbot was satisfied with these assurances, and +advised the Emperor to leave the matter in his +niece's hands. Charles had empowered him to offer +Nicolas the restitution of the Abbey of Gorzes, which +he had formerly held, and which the Imperialists +had recovered from the French and rebuilt at considerable +expense. But Christina would not hear +of this, saying that her brother-in-law cared more +for the good of the State than for his private advantage, +and Nicolas himself told Bonvalot that he would +not endanger his nephew's realm for ten wealthy +abbeys.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">July, 1546</span>] THE GUISE FAMILY</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"As for madame your niece, Sire," wrote the +Abbot, "I have always found her most anxious to +please Your Majesty, at whatever cost. But as a +mother she naturally fears to run any risks which +might injure her children, and would, if possible, +avoid these perils. She begged me, with tears in her +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>eyes, to make Your Majesty understand this, and +have pity upon her, trusting that you will be content +with the promises of the Council, or else find another +and less dangerous way of defending Stenay. Sire, +I could not refuse to give you this message, in obedience +to Her Highness's express commands, and beg +you very humbly to take them in good part."<a name="FNanchor_381" id="FNanchor_381"></a><a href="#Footnote_381" class="fnanchor">[381]</a></p></div> + +<p>So the incident closed, and for the time being +nothing more was heard of Stenay.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>The Duke of Guise and his family now stood higher +than ever in the King's favour. His eldest son, +Aumale, was dangerously wounded in the siege of +Boulogne by an English spear, which penetrated so +deeply into his forehead that the surgeon could only +extract the steel by planting his foot on the patient's +head. After this ordeal the Count lay between life +and death for several weeks, and owed his recovery +to the tender nursing of his mother, who preserved +as a trophy at Joinville the English spearhead which +so nearly ended her son's career.<a name="FNanchor_382" id="FNanchor_382"></a><a href="#Footnote_382" class="fnanchor">[382]</a> As soon as he +was able to move, the King sent for Antoinette, and +insisted on taking her to hunt at St. Germain, and +consulting her as to his latest improvements in this +palace. Her grandson, the young Duke of Longueville, +was also a great favourite at Court, and when +peace was at length concluded, the King gave him a +copy of the new treaty with England to send to the +Queen of Scotland. The boy enclosed it in a merry +letter, sending his love to the little Queen his sister, +and telling his mother that if she would not come to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>France he meant to come and see her, and was old +and strong enough to face the roughest sea-voyage.<a name="FNanchor_383" id="FNanchor_383"></a><a href="#Footnote_383" class="fnanchor">[383]</a></p> + +<p>The Cardinal now announced his intention of taking +the whole family back to Joinville, to attend the ducal +funeral; but once more the King interfered, and kept +them at Court for the christening of the Dauphin's +daughter, which was celebrated with great pomp at +Fontainebleau. Henry VIII. stood godfather, and +the little Princess was named Elizabeth, after the +King's mother, "as good and virtuous a woman as +ever lived," said the English Ambassador, Sir Thomas +Cheyney; while the Imperialists declared that the +name was chosen because of its popularity in Spain +and of the hopes of the French that the child might +one day wed Don Carlos.<a name="FNanchor_384" id="FNanchor_384"></a><a href="#Footnote_384" class="fnanchor">[384]</a></p> + +<p>Meanwhile the arrival of the Guises was anxiously +awaited at Nancy. On the 17th of July Christina +wrote to inform Abbot Bonvalot that she had at +length been able to fix the date of her husband's +funeral:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Monsieur de Luxeuil</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1546</span>] FUNERAL OF DUKE FRANCIS</div> + +<p>"I must inform you that I have heard from +the Cardinal and the Duke of Guise, who hope to be +here by the end of the month, so the service will be +held on the 6th of August, all being well. I beg you +will not fail to be present. As for my news, all I have +to tell you is that the King is giving me great trouble +in Bar, and is trying to raise a tax in the town, which +has never been done or thought of before. I fear +that in the end I, too, shall have to go to Court, but +shall wait until I hear from the Emperor. Can you +give me any information as to his movements? All +I can hear is that His Majesty is collecting a large +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>army to make war on the Princes of the Empire, +who have rebelled against him. I pray God to help +him, and send him success and prosperity, and have +good hope that my prayers will be heard, as this will +be for the good of Christendom. Here I will end, +Monsieur de Luxeuil, praying God to have you in His +holy keeping.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 20em;">"La bien votre,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 22.5em;">"<span class="smcap">Chrestienne</span>."<a name="FNanchor_385" id="FNanchor_385"></a><a href="#Footnote_385" class="fnanchor">[385]</a></span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The coming of the Guises, however, was again +delayed, and the funeral did not take place until the +17th of August. On the previous day the Duke's +corpse was brought from Denœuvre to Nancy by the +great officers of State, and laid on a bier in the +Church of St. George's, surrounded by lighted torches +and a guard of armed men, who kept watch all night. +The funerals of the Dukes of Lorraine had always been +famous for their magnificence, and there was an old +proverb which said: "Fortunate is the man who has +seen the coronation of an Emperor, the sacring of +a King of France, and the funeral of a Duke of +Lorraine."<a name="FNanchor_386" id="FNanchor_386"></a><a href="#Footnote_386" class="fnanchor">[386]</a> On this occasion nothing that could +heighten the imposing nature of the ceremony was +neglected. All the Princes of the blood, Nicolas +of Vaudemont, the Duke of Guise with his five sons +and grandson, rode out from the ducal palace to the +Church of St. Georges, and took their places, as chief +mourners, at the head of the long procession that +wound through the streets to the Cordeliers' shrine. +In their train came a multitude of clergy, nobles, and +Ambassadors from all the crowned heads in Europe, +followed by a motley crowd of burghers and humble +folk, all in deep mourning, with torches in their hands. +The chariot bearing the coffin was drawn by twelve +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>horses, draped with black velvet adorned with the +cross of Lorraine in white satin. The Duke's war-horse, +in full armour, was led by two pages, while +the servants of his household walked bareheaded on +either side, with folded arms, in token that their +master needed their services no more. On the hearse +lay an image of the dead Prince, with the ducal +baton in his hand, clad in crimson robes and a mantle +of gold brocade fastened with a diamond clasp. This +effigy was placed on a huge catafalque erected in the +centre of the church, lighted with a hundred torches, +and hung with banners emblazoned with the arms +of Lorraine, Bar, Provence, Jerusalem, and the +Sicilies.</p> + +<p>In the tribune above the choir knelt the Princess +of Orange, the Duchess of Guise, and her newly-wedded +daughter-in-law, Diane of Poitiers's daughter +Louise, Marchioness of Mayenne, all clad in the same +long black mantles lined with ermine. The Countess +Palatine, Dorothea, had arrived at Nancy on the +17th of June, to attend her brother-in-law's funeral, +but as the Guises failed to appear, she returned to +Heidelberg at the end of a fortnight.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1546</span>] ANNE DE LORRAINE</div> + +<p>Christina herself was unable to be present, "owing +to her excessive sorrow," writes the chronicler, and +remained on her knees in prayer, with the Princess +of Macedonia and her young children, in her own +room, hung with black, while the requiem was +chanted and the last rites were performed.<a name="FNanchor_387" id="FNanchor_387"></a><a href="#Footnote_387" class="fnanchor">[387]</a> When +all was over, and the "two Princes of peace," as De +Boullay called Francis and his father, were laid side +by side in the vault of the Friars' Church, the vast +assembly dispersed and the mourners went their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span>ways. Only Anne of Lorraine remained at Nancy +with her sister-in-law, who could not bear to part +from her. A letter which this Princess wrote to her +cousin, the Queen of Scotland, this summer is of +interest for the glimpse which it gives of the widowed +Duchess and the boy round whom all her hopes +centred:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Your Majesty's last letters reached me on the +day when I arrived here from home, and I regret +extremely that I have been unable to answer them +before. I am very glad to hear you are in good health +and kind enough to remember me. On my part, I +can assure you that there is no one in your family +who thinks of you with greater affection or is more +anxious to do you service than myself. I did not +fail to give your kind message, to Madame de Lorraine, +my sister, and Her Highness returns her most +humble thanks. You will be glad to hear that her +son is well and thriving. I pray God that he may +live to fulfil the promise of his early years. Everyone +who sees him speaks well of him, and his nature is +so good that I hope he will grow up to satisfy our +highest expectations. May God grant you long life!</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 16em;">"Your humble cousin,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 20em;">"<span class="smcap">Anne de Lorraine</span>."<a name="FNanchor_388" id="FNanchor_388"></a><a href="#Footnote_388" class="fnanchor">[388]</a></span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The Princess of Orange was still in Lorraine when +King Francis came to visit the Duchess. This +monarch was as active as ever, in spite of frequent +attacks of illness, and spent the autumn in making +a progress through Burgundy and Champagne, hunting +and travelling seven or eight leagues a day in the +most inclement weather.</p> + +<p>In October he came to Joinville, and Christina, glad +to be relieved of the necessity of going to Court +herself, invited him to pay her a visit at Bar. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> +this once stately Romanesque castle, of which little +now remains, the Duchess and the Princess of Orange, +"dowagers both," as Wotton remarks, entertained +Francis magnificently, and provided a series of hunting-parties +and banquets for his amusement.</p> + +<p>The true object of the King's visit was to arrange a +marriage between the Duchess and the Count of +Aumale. The young soldier made no secret of his +love for his cousin's beautiful widow, Antoinette was +anxious to see her son settled, and both the King and +the Guises were fully alive to the political advantages +of the alliance. On the 26th of October Wotton +wrote from Bar, "The fame continues of a marriage +between the Dowager of Lorraine and the Count of +Aumale," although, as he had already remarked in +a previous letter, it was hard to believe the Duchess's +uncles would consent to the union. Aumale's own +hopes were high, and he sent a messenger to Scotland +to tell his sister of the good cheer which they were +enjoying in Madame de Lorraine's house at Bar.<a name="FNanchor_389" id="FNanchor_389"></a><a href="#Footnote_389" class="fnanchor">[389]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1546</span>] MARRIAGE PROPOSALS</div> + +<p>But these hopes were doomed to disappointment. +Christina was determined never to marry again. +Like her aunt, Mary of Hungary, having once tasted +perfect happiness, she was unwilling to repeat the +experiment. Her beauty was in its prime, her +charms attracted lovers of every age and rank. +During the next ten or twelve years she was courted +by several of the most illustrious personages and +bravest captains of the age. She smiled on all her +suitors in turn, and gave them freely of her friendship, +but remained true to her resolve to live for her +children alone, and took for her device a solitary +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>tower with doves fluttering round its barred windows, +and the motto <i>Accipio nullas sordida turris aves</i> +(A ruined tower, I give shelter to no birds), as +a symbol of perpetual widowhood.<a name="FNanchor_390" id="FNanchor_390"></a><a href="#Footnote_390" class="fnanchor">[390]</a></p> + +<p>Aumale consoled himself by winning fresh laurels +in the next war, and before long married another +bride of high degree; but Brantôme, who was intimate +with the Guises, tells us that he never forgave +Madame de Lorraine for rejecting his suit, and remained +her bitter enemy to the end of his life.<a name="FNanchor_391" id="FNanchor_391"></a><a href="#Footnote_391" class="fnanchor">[391]</a> The +King took Christina's refusal more lightly. He never +treated women's fancies seriously, and when he found +that Aumale's suit was not acceptable, he sought the +Duchess's help in a scheme that lay nearer his heart. +This was the marriage of his own daughter Margaret +with Philip of Spain, whose young wife had died, +in June, 1545, a few days after giving birth to the +Infant Don Carlos. The old scheme of marrying +this Princess to the Emperor's only son was now +revived at the French Court, and Christina, who had +always appreciated Madame Marguerite's excellent +qualities, entered readily into the King's wishes. +But, as she soon discovered, her aunt, Queen Eleanor, +was greatly opposed to the idea, and still ardently +wished to see Philip married to her own daughter, +the Infanta Maria of Portugal.<a name="FNanchor_392" id="FNanchor_392"></a><a href="#Footnote_392" class="fnanchor">[392]</a></p> + +<p>From Bar Francis returned to spend All Hallows +at Joinville, where he enjoyed fresh revels, and +delighted the Duke of Longueville by telling him to +make haste and grow tall, that he might enter his +service.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Now he goes," wrote the boy's tutor, Jean de +la Brousse, "to keep Christmas at Compiègne, and +will spend the winter in Paris, watching how matters +go with the Emperor and the Protestants, whose +armies have been three months face to face, and yet +do not know how to kill each other."<a name="FNanchor_393" id="FNanchor_393"></a><a href="#Footnote_393" class="fnanchor">[393]</a></p></div> + +<p>In the same letter the writer describes how, on his +journey to Plessis, to bring the Princess of Navarre +to Court, he met the Queen of Scotland's sister, +Madame Renée, with a number of old monks and +nuns, on her way from Fontévrault to Joinville. On +the 16th of December Madame Renée took possession +of the Convent of St. Pierre at Reims, of which she +was Abbess, and the Duchess of Lorraine and the +Princess of Orange were among the guests present +at this ceremony, at the entry of her brother the +Archbishop into his episcopal city on the following +day.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1547</span>] DEATH OF HENRY VIII.</div> + +<p>Meanwhile the news of Christina's supposed marriage +travelled far and wide. It reached Venice, where the +fate of the Duchess who had once reigned over +Milan always excited interest, and was reported to +King Henry of England by one of his Italian agents. +His curiosity was aroused, and when the French +Ambassador, Odet de Selve, came to Windsor, he +asked him if his master had concluded the marriage +which he had in hand. "What marriage?" asked +De Selve innocently. "That of Madame de Lorraine," +replied Henry testily. "With whom?" asked +the Ambassador. But Henry would say no more, +and relapsed into sullen silence.<a name="FNanchor_394" id="FNanchor_394"></a><a href="#Footnote_394" class="fnanchor">[394]</a> He had come back +from Boulogne seriously ill, and grew heavier and +more unwieldy every day. A week afterwards he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>had a severe attack of fever, and on his return to +London sent Norfolk and Surrey to the Tower.</p> + +<p>Mary of Hungary was so much alarmed at this +fresh outbreak of violence that she sent to Chapuys, +who was living in retirement at Louvain, for advice. +The veteran diplomatist, who for sixteen years had +toiled to avoid a rupture between the two monarchs, +wrote back, on the 29th of January, 1547, advising +the Queen to take no action. "Physicians say," he +added, "that the best and quickest cure for certain +maladies is to leave the evil untouched and avoid +further irritation." When the old statesman wrote +these words, the King, whose varying moods he knew +so well, had already ceased from troubling. He died +at Whitehall on the 28th of January, 1547.</p> + +<p>The news of his royal brother's death moved the +King of France deeply. "We were both of the same +age," he said, "and now he is gone it is time for me +to go hence, too."<a name="FNanchor_395" id="FNanchor_395"></a><a href="#Footnote_395" class="fnanchor">[395]</a> In spite of the painful ailments +from which he suffered, Francis still moved restlessly +from place to place. Towards the end of Lent he +left Loches to spend Easter at St. Germain, but fell +ill on the way, and died at Rambouillet on the 31st +of March.</p> + +<p>The death of these two monarchs, who filled so +large a place in the history of the times, produced a +profound sensation throughout Europe. No one felt +the shock more than the Duchess, who had been +courted by one Prince, and had lately received the +other under her roof. But a third death this spring +touched her still more closely. On the 28th of +February the good old Queen Philippa passed away +in her humble cell at Pont-à-Mousson. As she lay<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> +dying she asked what was the day of the week, and, +being told it was Saturday, remarked: "All the best +things of my life came to me on this day. I was born +and married to my dear husband on a Saturday, I +entered Nancy amid the rejoicings of my people, and +I forsook the world to take the veil, on this day, and +now on Saturday I am going to God." Her children +and grandchildren knelt at the bedside, but Guise, +her best-loved son, only arrived from Paris at the +last moment. She opened her eyes at the sound of +his voice. "Adieu, mon ami," she said, "and do +not forget to keep God before your eyes." These +were her last words, and as the pure spirit passed +out of this life the sound of weeping was broken by +the joyous songs of her pet lark.<a name="FNanchor_396" id="FNanchor_396"></a><a href="#Footnote_396" class="fnanchor">[396]</a></p> + +<p>She was buried, as she desired, in the convent +cloister, and the people, who venerated her as a saint, +flocked to the funeral. Christina employed Ligier-Richier, +the sculptor of the Prince of Orange's monument, +to carve a recumbent effigy of the dead Queen +in coloured marbles on her tomb. The black cloak +and grey habit were faithfully reproduced, the finely-modelled +features were rendered in all their ivory +whiteness, and a tiny figure of a kneeling nun was +represented in the act of laying the crown at her +feet. When the convent church was pillaged by +rioters in 1793, this monument was buried by the +nuns in the garden. Here it was discovered in 1822, +and brought to Nancy, where it now stands in the +Church of the Cordeliers, near the stately tomb +which Philippa herself had reared to her husband, +King René.<a name="FNanchor_397" id="FNanchor_397"></a><a href="#Footnote_397" class="fnanchor">[397]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1546</span>] THE LEAGUE OF SCHMALKALDE</div> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Of the three great monarchs whose fame had filled +the world during the last forty years, only one remained +alive, and he was engaged in a desperate +struggle. Throughout the autumn and winter of +1546-47, Charles V. carried on a vigorous campaign +against the coalition of Princes known as the League +of Schmalkalde. Christina watched the progress of +the war with keen anxiety, and saw with distress +that her brother-in-law, the Palatine, had joined +the rebel ranks. Frederic had never forgiven the +Emperor for sacrificing his wife's rights by the +Treaty of Spires, and showed his displeasure by +refusing to attend the Chapter of the Golden +Fleece at Utrecht in January, 1546. He further +annoyed Charles by introducing Lutheran rites at +Heidelberg, and on Christmas Day he and Dorothea +received Communion in both kinds at the hands of a +Protestant pastor in the Church of the Holy Ghost. +But he still hesitated to take up arms against the +friend of his youth. At length, in August, he declared +himself on the Protestant side, and for the first time +the red flag of the Palatinate was seen in the camp +of the Emperor's foes. Before long, however, his +courage failed him, and when Charles recovered the +imperial city of Halle, in Suabia, Frederic hastened +thither to make his peace. Tears rose to the veteran's +eyes when the Emperor said how much it had grieved +him to see so old a friend in the ranks of his foes, but +hastened to add that he forgave him freely and would +only remember his past services. From this time +the Palatine's loyalty never again wavered, but he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> +was obliged to restore Catholic rites in Heidelberg +and to give up his fortress of Hoh-Königsberg in +Franconia to Albert of Brandenburg.<a name="FNanchor_398" id="FNanchor_398"></a><a href="#Footnote_398" class="fnanchor">[398]</a></p> + +<p>The Duke of Würtemberg and the cities of Ulm +and Augsburg soon followed the Palatine's example, +and Charles's triumph was complete by the decisive +victory of Mühlberg. "God be thanked, who never +forsakes his own," wrote Granvelle to Mary of +Hungary from the battle-field, at midnight on the +24th of April.<a name="FNanchor_399" id="FNanchor_399"></a><a href="#Footnote_399" class="fnanchor">[399]</a> The Elector John Frederick of +Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse were made +prisoners, the League of Schmalkalde was dissolved, +and Titian commemorated the Emperor's +heroic deeds in a famous equestrian portrait.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Nov., 1547</span>] THE DIET OF AUGSBURG</div> + +<p>The peace of Lorraine was insured by the victory +of Mühlberg, and Christina shared in the general +sense of relief with which the close of the war was +hailed. When, in the following autumn, the Regent +and the Princess of Orange rode to meet the Emperor +at the Diet of Augsburg, the Duchess joined them +on the frontiers of Lorraine. These three august +ladies reached Augsburg on the 21st of November, +and were received by King Ferdinand, his son Archduke +Maximilian, and the Prince of Piedmont, who +met them outside the gates, and escorted them to +the Emperor's lodgings in the fine house of the +Fuggers. Here the Countess Palatine and Ferdinand's +daughter, the Duchess of Bavaria, were awaiting +them at the doors of the courtyard, and conducted +them into Charles's presence. During the next three +months Christina lived in the great banker's house, +with the other members of the imperial family, as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>her uncle's guest. Augsburg itself was a noble city. +The wealth of her merchants, the splendour of their +houses and gardens, amazed every stranger who +entered her gates. "The Fuggers' house," wrote +Ascham, "would over-brag all Cheapside." The +copper roofs glittered in the sun, the carved and +painted decorations of the interior were of the most +costly and elaborate description.<a name="FNanchor_400" id="FNanchor_400"></a><a href="#Footnote_400" class="fnanchor">[400]</a> And this winter +the streets of Augsburg were thronged with Princes +and ladies. It was the gayest and most splendid +Diet ever seen. Never before had so many Archduchesses +and Duchesses been present, never was +there so much dancing and jousting and feasting. +On St. Andrew's Day the whole imperial family +attended a solemn Mass in honour of the Knights of +the Fleece, and were entertained by the Emperor at +a banquet, after which the Queen of Hungary received +the Companions of the Order in her apartments. +On Christmas Day all the Princes and +Princesses were present at High Mass in the Cathedral, +and on the Feast of the Three Kings they attended +service in the Court chapel, when Granvelle's son, the +young Bishop of Arras, officiated, and the Palatine, +the Marquis of Brandenburg, and the Archduke, +presented the customary offerings of gold, frankincense, +and myrrh, in the Emperor's name. Except +on these state occasions, Charles dined alone and +never spoke at meals, but generally sat by the window +for an hour or two afterwards, talking to his brother +and sister or nephews and nieces.</p> + +<p>King Ferdinand's rooms, on the contrary, were +never empty. He had lost his faithful wife, Anna of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> +Bohemia, in January, but his son and daughter were +lavish in dispensing their father's hospitality. Like +his sister Mary, Ferdinand was very fond of music, +and enjoyed listening to his fine Kapelle, while one +of his favourite jesters was always present to amuse +the Electors and Princesses at his table.<a name="FNanchor_401" id="FNanchor_401"></a><a href="#Footnote_401" class="fnanchor">[401]</a> His son, +the Archduke Max, as Ascham calls him, was a gay +and pleasant gentleman, "of goodly person and +stature," speaking eight languages, and very popular +with all classes, especially the Lutherans, whose +opinions he was supposed to affect. Charles's other +nephew, Emanuel Philibert, the Prince of Piedmont, +was another gallant squire of dames, as ready to take +part in masque and dance as he was foremost in +active warfare. Every evening there was music and +dancing in the King's rooms, and the old halls of the +merchants rang to the sound of laughter and melody. +In that joyous throng the Countess Palatine was the +gayest of the gay, and Christina forgot her sorrows +to become young once more.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">1548] THE MARQUIS ALBERT</div> + +<p>There was one man among the Princes assembled +at Augsburg who gazed with frank admiration at the +handsome Duchess; this was the Marquis Albert of +Brandenburg, Lord of Culmbach and Burgrave of +Nuremberg. While still a boy he succeeded to his +father's principality in Franconia, and was educated +by his uncle, the Duke of Prussia and Grand-Master +of the Teutonic Order. Although brought up a +Lutheran, he entered the Emperor's service before +he was twenty, and fought gallantly in the wars of +Cleves and Champagne. A wild and reckless spirit, +who rode hard, drank deep, and knew no fear, Albert +was adored by his soldiers, whose toils and hardships +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>he shared with cheerful courage, while his name was +the terror of all peaceful citizens. "Thunder and +lightning, devouring fire," wrote a contemporary, +"are not more terrible than the Marquis Albert on +the battle-field."<a name="FNanchor_402" id="FNanchor_402"></a><a href="#Footnote_402" class="fnanchor">[402]</a> But there was a fascination about +this ruthless dare-devil which no woman could resist. +His sisters were passionately devoted to him, +and Bona, the Queen of Poland, tried in vain to marry +him to one of her daughters. Roger Ascham describes +him as</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"another Achilles, his face fair and beautiful, but +stern and manly, with flowing locks and great rolling +eyes, yet with a sad, restless look, as if he was ever +seeking what he could not find. A man of few words +withal, but with a deep, strong voice, ever more ready +to hear than to speak."<a name="FNanchor_403" id="FNanchor_403"></a><a href="#Footnote_403" class="fnanchor">[403]</a></p></div> + +<p>There seemed no heights to which this soldier of +fortune could not aspire. The Emperor treated him +with fatherly affection, and the Queen and the +Duchess of Lorraine honoured the sumptuous banquets, +in which he displayed his usual prodigality, +careless of the debts with which he was already +loaded.</p> + +<p>Once more rumour was busy with Christina's name. +The Marquis Albert proclaimed himself her devoted +servant, and her marriage with the young King Sigismund +of Poland was seriously discussed at Augsburg. +This monarch's wife, the Archduchess Elizabeth, had +died before his accession, and his sister, the Electress +Hedwig of Brandenburg, was eager to bring about a +union between him and the Duchess of Lorraine;<a name="FNanchor_404" id="FNanchor_404"></a><a href="#Footnote_404" class="fnanchor">[404]</a> +but, as usual, these rumours ended in smoke, and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>only marriage announced at Augsburg was that of +the Archduke Max and his cousin the Infanta Maria +of Spain, an alliance which had long been privately +arranged.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1548</span>] THE INTERIM</div> + +<p>Early in the New Year another distinguished person +arrived at Augsburg, in the person of the great +Venetian master, Titian. He came in obedience to +an urgent summons from the Emperor, and during +the next few months painted a magnificent series of +portraits, including those of Charles and Ferdinand, +the captive Elector of Saxony, Chancellor Granvelle, +his wife, and his son, the Bishop of Arras, who +was a great admirer of Titian's art. Fourteen years +before, this same master had taken Christina's portrait, +when she came to Milan as the youthful bride of +Francesco Sforza; now he saw her again in the +flower of her womanhood, and, had opportunity +offered, would doubtless have painted her again. But +disquieting rumours of unrest on the frontiers of +Lorraine reached Augsburg, and on the 16th of +February the Duchess set out on her return to Nancy. +The Emperor gave his niece a costly ring as a parting +present, and Archduke Max, the Marquis Albert, the +Prince of Piedmont, together with the Countess Palatine +and the Princess of Orange, escorted her some +leagues on her way. When, a month later, the Queen +of Hungary left Augsburg, she paid Christina a visit at +Nancy, bringing with her Anne of Lorraine and William, +the young Prince of Orange, a promising boy of fifteen, +who was being educated at Court, and met with a +kindly welcome from the Duchess and her subjects for +the sake of the lamented Prince whose name he bore.<a name="FNanchor_405" id="FNanchor_405"></a><a href="#Footnote_405" class="fnanchor">[405]</a> +By Mary's advice, the Regents took active measures +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>for the defence of the frontier and the fortification +of Nancy. An arsenal was founded, and two bastions, +which became known as those of Denmark and +Vaudemont, were built near the palace. Other improvements +were carried out at the same time: the +marshy ground under the walls was thoroughly +drained, and converted into a spacious square called +La Place de la Carrière; many of the streets were paved +and widened; and the Count of Salm, Bassompierre, +and several of the nobles, built fine new houses along +the Grande Rue, opposite the Galerie des Cerfs.<a name="FNanchor_406" id="FNanchor_406"></a><a href="#Footnote_406" class="fnanchor">[406]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 384px;"> +<img src="images/facing322.jpg" width="384" height="606" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p><i>Photo Hanfstaengl</i></p> + +<p>CHARLES V. (1548)</p> + +<p>By Titian (Munich)</p> + +<p><i>To face p.</i> <a href="#Page_322">322</a></p></div> +</div> + +<p>The Emperor remained at Augsburg throughout +the summer, endeavouring to effect a lasting settlement +of the religious question. On the 30th of June +the so-called "Interim" was proclaimed, a compromise +which satisfied no one, and was described by +Thomas Hoby, a young Englishman who came to +Augsburg this summer on his way to Italy, as an +attempt to set up the old Babylon again in Germany.<a name="FNanchor_407" id="FNanchor_407"></a><a href="#Footnote_407" class="fnanchor">[407]</a> +A fortnight later the Diet was prorogued, and Charles +started for the Netherlands, where he arrived on the +8th of September, after more than two years' absence.</p> + +<p>A few weeks before his arrival a marriage had taken +place, greatly to Mary's satisfaction, between the +widowed Princess of Orange and the Duke of Aerschot.<a name="FNanchor_408" id="FNanchor_408"></a><a href="#Footnote_408" class="fnanchor">[408]</a> +This nobleman, the premier peer of the realm and +doyen of the Golden Fleece, had lost his second wife +in 1544, but was still in the prime of life, and, as his +daughter-in-law, Louise de Guise, told her sister, was +honoured and beloved throughout the Netherlands. +Christina could not herself be present at the wedding, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>but her brother-in-law Nicolas went to Brussels to +give his sister away. Here he fell in love with Count +Egmont's sister Margaret, and asked her hand in marriage. +This alliance met with the warm approval of the +Emperor and the Regent, but caused Christina many +searchings of heart. Already more than one attempt +had been made by the Guises to marry Vaudemont +to a French bride, and she feared that this union +would excite great displeasure in some quarters. In +her alarm she wrote to the Emperor, begging him to +forbid the marriage as dangerous to the welfare of +her State. Charles, however, declined to interfere, +and sent Granvelle's brother, Chantonnay, to +advise his niece politely to mind her own business.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Since the Count of Vaudemont is bent on marrying," +he wrote to his Envoy, "it is far better that he +should come here for a wife than go to France; and +the Duchess need not feel in any way responsible for +the alliance, which is entirely his own doing.... +And, indeed, I do not see how he could honourably +break his word, since we ourselves urged our cousins +of Egmont to agree to his proposals. But tell him +to come here as soon as he can, to prevent the French +from making any more mischief!"<a name="FNanchor_409" id="FNanchor_409"></a><a href="#Footnote_409" class="fnanchor">[409]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Dec., 1548</span>] ADOLF OF HOLSTEIN</div> + +<p>There was nothing more to be said, and the wedding +was celebrated in the Court chapel at Brussels, after +vespers, on the 23rd of January, 1549. The bride, +richly clad in cloth of gold and decked with priceless +gems, was led to the altar by the Queen, while +Charles brought in the bridegroom. A banquet and +masque were afterwards held in the palace, at the +close of which Mary once more took the bride by the +hand and conducted her into the nuptial chamber, +hung with crimson brocade and costly tapestries. +The next morning the newly-wedded Countess appeared +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span>at Mass, in another costume of green velvet +embroidered in silver, and jousts and dances succeeded +each other during the following three days, +ending with a magnificent banquet given by the +Duchess of Aerschot.<a name="FNanchor_410" id="FNanchor_410"></a><a href="#Footnote_410" class="fnanchor">[410]</a></p> + +<p>Among the company present on this occasion was +the Dowager Queen Eleanor, who came to Brussels +on the 5th of December, to make her home with her +beloved brother and sister. On his death-bed +Francis I. was seized with remorse for the way +in which he had neglected his wife, and begged his +daughter Margaret to atone for his shortcomings. +But although Margaret carried out her father's last +instructions faithfully, and asked his widow to remain +at Court, the new King showed his stepmother +scanty kindness, and Eleanor left France with few +regrets. Another guest at Margaret of Egmont's +wedding was Christina's cousin, Duke Adolf of Holstein, +the King of Denmark's youngest brother. Most +of his life had been spent in Germany, and he had +taken part in the campaign of Mühlberg with his +friend Albert of Brandenburg. Now, following the +wild Marquis's example, he came to Brussels in +October, 1548, and entered the Emperor's service. +This new recruit was cordially welcomed, and gave +a signal proof of his valour by carrying off the first +prize in the tournament held at the palace.</p> + +<p>Christina herself maintained the prudent attitude +which she had adopted with regard to Vaudemont's +marriage, and refused to countenance by her presence +a union which excited much unfriendly criticism in +France. Two other weddings in which she was also +keenly interested took place about the same time. +On the 20th of October her old suitor, the brilliant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> +and volatile Duke of Vendôme, was married at +Moulins to Jeanne d'Albret, the heiress of Navarre. +This strong-minded Princess, who refused to wed +the Duke of Cleves, and took objection to Aumale +because his brother was the husband of Diane de +Poitiers's daughter, fell suddenly in love with +Vendôme, and insisted on marrying him in spite of +her mother's opposition. So radiant was Jeanne on +her wedding-day that King Henry declared her to +be the most joyous bride whom he had ever seen. +Six weeks later Aumale himself was married at +St. Germain to Anna d'Este, daughter of Duke Ercole +II. of Ferrara and Renée of France. Ronsard +sang the praises of this Italian Venus who had taken +the Mars of France for her lord, and Vendôme, gay +and inconsequent as ever, sent his old rival in war +and love a merry letter, bidding him follow his good +example, and stay at home to play the good husband.<a name="FNanchor_411" id="FNanchor_411"></a><a href="#Footnote_411" class="fnanchor">[411]</a> +This union with the King's first cousin satisfied the +highest ambitions of the Guises, while Anna's charm +and goodness were a source of lasting content to +Duchess Antoinette. Christina was one of the first +to greet the bride on her arrival at Joinville. At +first the two Princesses, Brantôme tells us, looked at +each other shyly, but with evident curiosity. The +tale of Aumale's courtship was well known, and +Christina naturally felt keen interest in the Este +Princess who came from Beatrice's home and was the +cousin of Francesco Sforza. "Anna," writes the +chronicler, "was tall and beautiful, but very gentle +and amiable. The two ladies met and conversed +together, and were soon the best of friends."<a name="FNanchor_412" id="FNanchor_412"></a><a href="#Footnote_412" class="fnanchor">[412]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">March, 1549</span>] CHRISTINA AT BRUSSELS</div> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>Christina's absence from her brother-in-law's +wedding had been a great disappointment to her aunts, +and she received a pressing invitation to come to +Brussels for the fêtes in honour of the Prince of Spain, +whose arrival was expected early in the spring of +1549. Accordingly, on the 28th of March the +Duchess reached Brussels, attended by the Princess +of Macedonia, and was received by the Grand-Écuyer +Boussu and a brilliant escort of gentlemen. One of +these was the Marquis Albert, whose name of late +had been frequently coupled with her own, the other +his friend Duke Adolf of Holstein. Christina naturally +hailed this meeting with her cousin, especially +now that his brother, King Christian, had alleviated +the rigour of her father's captivity. Since the +Palatine had abandoned all attempts to maintain his +wife's claims, the reigning monarch had agreed to +release his unfortunate kinsman from the dungeons +of Sonderburg. On the 17th of February the two +Kings met and dined together in a friendly manner, +after which the deposed monarch was removed to +Kallundborg, a pleasantly-situated castle on a promontory +of Zeeland, where he spent the remaining +ten years of his life in comparative freedom.<a name="FNanchor_413" id="FNanchor_413"></a><a href="#Footnote_413" class="fnanchor">[413]</a> This, +indeed, was all that the Emperor desired. In a +secret paper of instructions which he drew up for +Philip in case of his own death, he enjoined his son +to cultivate peaceable relations with the King of +Denmark, and do his utmost to keep the Princesses +Dorothea and Christina in his good graces, and insure +their father's good treatment, "without allowing him +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span>such a measure of liberty as might enable him to +assert his old claims and injure our State of Flanders +as he did before."<a name="FNanchor_414" id="FNanchor_414"></a><a href="#Footnote_414" class="fnanchor">[414]</a></p> + +<p>Unfortunately, the interest with which Christina +regarded the Danish Prince proved fatal to Adolf's +friendship with the Marquis. Before the outbreak +of the Schmalkalde War, Adolf had become affianced +to Albert's sister, Fräulein Kunigunde. The wedding-day +was fixed, and the citizens of Nuremberg had +prepared gold rings and jewels for the bride, but the +disturbed state of Denmark compelled the Duke to +postpone his marriage for a time. Then, as ill-luck +would have it, he met the Duchess of Lorraine at +the New Year festivities at Augsburg, and fell desperately +in love with her. From this moment he forgot +Fräulein Kunigunde, and took the first excuse he +could find to break off his engagement. Albert never +forgave the wrong, and, although the two Princes met +at Brussels and walked side by side in the Court +chapel on Candlemas Day, the old friendship between +them was turned to bitter enmity.<a name="FNanchor_415" id="FNanchor_415"></a><a href="#Footnote_415" class="fnanchor">[415]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1549</span>] PHILIP OF SPAIN</div> + +<p>But now private grievances had to be put aside, +and friends and foes alike joined in the public rejoicings +which welcomed the Prince of Spain's arrival. +Charles was anxious to present his son to his future +subjects in the most favourable light, and no pains +were spared to produce a good impression both on +Philip himself and on the loyal people of Brabant. +On the 1st of April, Mary of Hungary, Christina, +and Anne of Aerschot, accompanied by the whole +Court, received the Prince at Ter Vueren, where they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>entertained him at dinner and witnessed a military +parade and sham-fight on the plains outside the town. +In the evening Philip made his state entry into +Brussels, clad in crimson velvet and riding on a +superb war-horse, attended by Albert of Brandenburg, +Adolf of Holstein, the Princes of Piedmont, Orange, +and Chimay, Alva, Egmont, Pescara, and many +other illustrious personages. The chief burghers and +city guilds met the Prince at Ter Vueren, and escorted +him to the palace gates, where the two Queens and +Christina conducted him into the Emperor's presence. +Philip fell on his knees, and his father embraced him +with tears in his eyes, and conversed with him for +over an hour. At nightfall the whole city was illuminated, +and bonfires blazed from all the neighbouring +heights. The next day a tournament was held +on the Grande Place, and a splendid gold cup was +presented to the Prince by the city, while the States +of Brabant voted him a gift of 100,000 florins and +hailed him with acclamation as the Emperor's successor. +But in the evening these rejoicings were interrupted +by the news of the Duke of Aerschot's +sudden death. He had gone to Spires to meet the +Prince, but had over-exerted himself, and died very +suddenly at his castle of Quievrain. It was a grievous +blow to Anne of Lorraine, who was once more left +a widow, before she had been married quite nine +months. The deepest sympathy was felt for her at +Court, and Mary lamented the loss of her wisest +Councillor. All festivities were put off till Easter. +Philip spent Holy Week in devotional exercises, and +rode to S. Gudule on Palm Sunday, at the head of a +solemn procession of knights bearing palms.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1549</span>] HIS DEVOTION TO CHRISTINA</div> + +<p>Charles took advantage of this quiet season to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> +initiate his son into the administration of public +affairs and make him acquainted with the leading +nobles of the Netherlands. But the impression produced +by Philip was far from being a favourable one. +Short in stature and blond in complexion, with his +father's wide forehead and projecting jaw, he was +Flemish in appearance, but Spanish by nature. His +taciturn air and haughty and reserved manners +formed a striking contrast to the frank and genial +ways which endeared Charles V. to all classes of +his subjects. Thomas Hoby, who saw Philip at +Mantua, noticed what "small countenance" he +made to the crowd who greeted his entry, and heard +that he had already "acquired a name for insolency." +Wherever he went it was the same. "His severe +and morose appearance," wrote the Venetian Suriano, +"has made him disagreeable to the Italians, hated by +the Flemings, and odious to the Germans." His +marked preference for all that was Spanish gave +deadly offence to the Emperor's old servants, and +people in Brussels said openly that when Philip came +to the throne no one but Spaniards would be employed +at Court. In vain his father and aunt warned him +that this exclusive temper was ill-suited to a Prince +who was called to rule over subjects of many nations. +He spoke little in public and rarely smiled. During +the year which he spent at Brussels people said that +he was never seen to laugh except on one occasion, +when all the Court witnessed the famous national +fête of the Ommegang from the hôtel-de-ville, on +the Fête-Dieu. Among the varied groups in the +procession was a bear playing on an organ, while +children dressed up as monkeys danced to the music, +and unhappy cats tied by the tail in cages filled the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> +air with discordant cries. At the sight of these +grotesque figures even Philip's gravity gave way, and +he laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks.<a name="FNanchor_416" id="FNanchor_416"></a><a href="#Footnote_416" class="fnanchor">[416]</a></p> + +<p>This cold and haughty Prince, who took no pains +to commend himself to his future subjects, showed +a marked preference from the first for his cousin +Christina. He sought her company on every possible +occasion, gave her rich presents, and devoted himself +to her service with an ardour which became a cause +of serious annoyance to his aunts.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Queen Eleanor," wrote the French Ambassador +Marillac, "is always trying to treat of her daughter's +marriage with the Prince, but with very little success, +and the great attentions which he pays the Duchess +of Lorraine, the evident delight which he takes in +her society, and the gifts which he bestows upon her, +have excited great jealousy."<a name="FNanchor_417" id="FNanchor_417"></a><a href="#Footnote_417" class="fnanchor">[417]</a></p></div> + +<p>Before long Christina herself found Philip's attentions +embarrassing, and felt that it would be the +path of wisdom to leave Court. She was present, +however, at a second tournament given on the +Grande Place, on the 6th of May. That day Count +d'Aremberg (the husband of Christina's intimate +friend Margaret la Marck), Mansfeldt, Horn, and +Floris de Montmorency, held the lists against all +assailants, while Alva and Francesco d'Este were the +judges. Philip, who inherited little of his father's +taste for knightly exercises, but had been practising +riding and jousting diligently during the last few weeks, +entered the lists, and was awarded a fine ruby as a +prize, Egmont and the Prince of Piedmont being +the other victors. Albert of Brandenburg was present, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span>but declined to take part in the tournament. He +had seldom been seen at Court since Philip's arrival +and spent most of his time in his own quarters, +compiling an account of his grievances against the +Emperor. One day Charles, fearing to lose his +services, sent Granvelle to offer him an honourable +and lucrative office in the Imperial Mint. Albert +replied loftily that, since he was born a Brandenburg, +no office which the Emperor had to bestow, +could exalt his station, and that as he never managed +to keep a sixpence in his own pocket, he would rather +not attempt to meddle with other people's money. +A few days after this he asked leave to retire to his +own domains. The last time that he appeared in +public was at the banquet which followed the tournament, +in the hôtel-de-ville; here he sat at the Emperor's +table, opposite the Duchess of Lorraine, who was +placed between Philip and Emanuel Philibert of Piedmont, +while Adolf of Holstein sat next to the Princess +of Macedonia. All these illustrious guests joined in +the ball which closed the day's festivities, and dancing +was kept up with great spirit until after midnight.<a name="FNanchor_418" id="FNanchor_418"></a><a href="#Footnote_418" class="fnanchor">[418]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1549</span>] THE GUISE PRINCES</div> + +<p>Early the next morning Christina left Brussels, +accompanied by Vaudemont's wife, Margaret of +Egmont, and escorted for several miles on her journey +by the Prince of Spain. Three weeks later the +Marquis Albert also left Court, without taking leave +of the Emperor or the Queens. His abrupt departure +excited general surprise, and no one knew whether +it was due to his quarrel with the Duke of Holstein, +or to some imaginary affront from the Prince or the +Duchess of Lorraine; but when he was at some +distance from the town he sent back a warrant for a +pension of 4,000 crowns a year, which he had received +from the Emperor, as a sign that he was no longer +in his service.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 274px;"> +<img src="images/facing332a.jpg" width="274" height="349" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>HÔTEL-DE-VILLE, BRUSSELS</p></div> +</div> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 271px;"> +<img src="images/facing332b.jpg" width="271" height="350" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>S. GUDULE, BRUSSELS</p> + +<p><i>To face p. <a href="#Page_332">332</a></i></p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span></p> + +<p>During the course of the summer Philip made his +"joyeuse entrée" into the different cities of the +Low Countries, and a memorable series of fêtes was +given in his honour by Mary of Hungary at her +beautiful summer palace of Binche. At the end of +August the Duchess of Aerschot gave birth to a +posthumous son, who was christened by the Bishop +of Arras in the Court chapel, and named Charles +Philip, after his godfathers, the Emperor and the +Prince. But while Anne's second marriage and her +brother's union with Egmont's sister strengthened +the ties between Lorraine and Flanders, the close +connection of the younger branch of the ducal house +with France increased daily. After the marriage of +Guise's third son, Mayenne, with Diane de Poitiers's +daughter, his brothers were loaded with favours of +every description. Aumale was created a Duke +and appointed Governor of Savoy, and Charles was +made a Cardinal at the King's request, and loaded +with rich benefices. Their mother stood sponsor to +Henry II.'s daughter Claude, who was one day to be +the wife of Christina's only son, and had the deputies +of the thirteen Swiss cantons for her godfathers. A +new link was forged by the coming of the little Queen +of Scots to France in the autumn of 1548, as the +future bride of the Dauphin. Antoinette met her +granddaughter at Brest, and brought her to St. Germain, +where the charms of the little Queen soon won +all hearts. "I can assure you," wrote the proud +grandmother to her eldest son, "she is the best and +prettiest child of her age that was ever seen!" And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> +her uncle the Cardinal added: "She already governs +both the King and Queen." At the Court ball in honour +of Aumale's wedding, all the guests stood still to +watch the lovely little Queen and the Dauphin +dancing hand in hand, and the King smiled maliciously +when the English Ambassador remarked that it was +the most charming thing in the world to see the two +children together.<a name="FNanchor_419" id="FNanchor_419"></a><a href="#Footnote_419" class="fnanchor">[419]</a></p> + +<p>When Christina returned to Lorraine in May, 1549, +all the Guises were at Paris for the King and Queen's +state entry, and the young Duke of Longueville led +his grandmother's white horse in the procession. +After this Antoinette brought her daughter-in-law +to spend the autumn quietly at Joinville, and great +was the rejoicing when, on the last day of the year, +Anna gave birth to her first son, the Prince who was +to become famous as "Henri le Balafré." Christina +was careful to remain on good terms with the family at +Joinville, and the presence of the Duchess of Aerschot, +who spent the winter in Lorraine, increased the friendly +intercourse between the two houses. Anne's letters +to her aunt and cousins abound in playful allusions to +early recollections, and she always addressed Aumale +as "Monsieur mon serviteur" and signed herself +"Votre bonne maîtresse." When, in January, 1550, +the Duke of Guise fell ill, Christina sent her steward +Grammont repeatedly to make inquiries at Joinville.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1550</span>] DEATH OF GUISE</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"We cannot rest satisfied," wrote the Duchess of +Aerschot from Nancy, "without hearing the latest +accounts of my uncle, and trust the bearer will bring +us good news, please God! My sister, Madame de +Lorraine, is so anxious about him that she feels she +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span>must send over again. I cannot tell you, my dear +aunt, how much she thinks of you, and how anxious +she is to do you any service in her power. As for +myself, if there is anything that I can do, you have +only to speak, and you will be obeyed."<a name="FNanchor_420" id="FNanchor_420"></a><a href="#Footnote_420" class="fnanchor">[420]</a></p></div> + +<p>After a long illness, Claude of Guise breathed his +last on the 12th of April, and was followed to the +grave within a month by his brother, Cardinal Jean, +who died at Nogent-sur-Seine, on his return from +Rome. The Duke's funeral was solemnized in the +Church of St. Laurent at Joinville, with all the elaborate +ceremonial common on these occasions. Antoinette +made a great point of Christina's attendance, +and Anne promised to do her best to gratify her aunt's +wish in the matter.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I shall be very glad," she wrote, "if it is possible +for Madame my sister to be present at the obsequies +of my uncle—to whom God grant peace!—and will do +my utmost to effect this, not only because of my own +anxiety to see you and my cousins, but because I +would gladly give you pleasure."<a name="FNanchor_421" id="FNanchor_421"></a><a href="#Footnote_421" class="fnanchor">[421]</a></p></div> + +<p>Accordingly, the two Duchesses, accompanied by +the Count and Countess of Vaudemont and several +nobles, arrived at Joinville on Saturday, the 29th of +June, to condole with the widow and attend the +funeral rites that were protracted during the next +three days. Never was there a more attached family +than this of the Guises.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I cannot tell you the grief I feel," wrote the +Queen of Scotland to her bereaved mother. "You +know as well as I do that I have lost the best father +that ever child had, and am left both orphaned and +widowed."</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span></p> + +<p>An imposing monument, adorned with rich marbles +and bas-reliefs of the dead Prince's battles, was raised +by Antoinette to her husband's memory in the church +at Joinville. In the centre the Duke and Duchess +were both represented clad in robes of state, kneeling +with hands clasped together, and a long Latin epitaph +relating the hero's great deeds was inscribed below, +ending with the words:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Antoinette de Bourbon, his wife, and her six +sons, have erected this tomb, in token of undying +sorrow and love for an incomparable husband and +the best of fathers."<a name="FNanchor_422" id="FNanchor_422"></a><a href="#Footnote_422" class="fnanchor">[422]</a></p></div> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Sept., 1550</span>] CHARLES THE BOLD'S REMAINS</div> + +<p>Charles V. had long cherished a wish to remove the +bones of his ancestor Charles the Bold from the +church of St. Georges at Nancy, where they had been +buried after his defeat, and bring them to rest in +his daughter Mary's tomb at Bruges. At first Christina +hesitated to give her consent, fearing to arouse +the resentment of her subjects, who were proud of +possessing this trophy of King René's victory, but +the urgent entreaties of her aunts at length induced +her to yield, and, after ascertaining that neither +Vaudemont nor the States of Lorraine had any objection +to offer, she consented to her uncle's request, +on condition that the removal of the remains should +be effected as quietly as possible. Late in the evening +of the 22nd of September, 1550, three imperial +deputies, the Bishop of Cambray, the Chief Justice +of Luxembourg, and the herald Toison d'Or, met +the Provost and Canons of St. Georges in the crypt +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span>of the collegiate church. A solemn requiem was +chanted, after which the tomb was opened and the +bones, wrapt in a white linen shroud, were reverently +laid in a wooden casket and committed to the charge +of two friars. A gift of 100 gold crowns was made +to the church in the Emperor's name, and the precious +casket was placed on a chariot drawn by four black +horses, escorted by a troop of twenty men-at-arms. +The little procession travelled the same night to Metz, +and thence across the frontier to Luxembourg. Bells +were tolled in all the towns and villages on their +way, and the <i>De Profundis</i> was chanted wherever a +halt was made, until on the 24th the casket was +safely deposited in the choir of the Cordeliers' church +at Luxembourg. Here Charles of Burgundy's bones +were placed in the grave of John of Luxembourg, +the blind King of Bohemia, who fell at Crécy, until, +nine years later, they were finally laid to rest by +his daughter's side in the shrine of Our Lady at +Bruges.<a name="FNanchor_423" id="FNanchor_423"></a><a href="#Footnote_423" class="fnanchor">[423]</a></p> + +<p>When this pious act was safely accomplished, +Christina set out with Anne of Lorraine and the Count +and Countess of Vaudemont to join the imperial party +at Augsburg. Charles, Philip, and Ferdinand, had +been attending the Diet in this city since July, and +were joined there by Mary of Hungary, who, however, +was obliged to return to the Netherlands on the +26th of September, owing to troubles on the French +frontier. Christina's presence was the more welcome. +On the 30th of the same month Philip and his uncle +Ferdinand were riding in the fields near Augsburg, +when they noticed a cloud of dust on the highroad, +and, galloping off in this direction, met the Duchess<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> +of Lorraine and her companions, with a large train +of followers. Philip gallantly escorted his cousin to +the Emperor's lodgings, where she spent the next +three weeks. Her coming was the signal for a round +of festivities. While Charles and Ferdinand rode +together in earnest converse, or sat with closed doors +debating public matters, Philip and a few chosen +friends—the Prince of Piedmont, Duke Adolf, Pescara, +and Ruy Gomez—spent the days with the +Duchess and her ladies. Sometimes they went hunting +on the Bavarian plains, sometimes they danced +or played cards, and every evening they met at supper +in Christina's rooms.<a name="FNanchor_424" id="FNanchor_424"></a><a href="#Footnote_424" class="fnanchor">[424]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1550</span>] ROGER ASCHAM</div> + +<p>On the 16th of October a joust was held in the +court of the Fuggers' house, and the Emperor, with +his niece and Duchess Anne, looked on from the +windows. Egmont and Vaudemont were judges, and +Count Lalaing and Floris de Montmorency won the +prizes. The Cardinal of Trent entertained the company +at supper, and left the next day for Genoa to +receive Maximilian, the King of Bohemia, who had +been sent for from Spain to take part in the family +conference. Three days later Philip gave a tournament +on a grander scale, in honour of the Duchess, +and entered the lists clad in ruby velvet and white +satin, as he figures in the portrait which Titian painted. +This time Christina's presence seems to have inspired +him with unwonted prowess. He broke many lances, +and won a fine gold chain, which he presented to his +cousin. She on her part entertained the King of +the Romans and all the knights who rode in the jousts +at a sumptuous banquet and ball, which ended in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span>the Prince presenting rings to all the ladies and receiving +a kiss from each in turn.</p> + +<p>This festive evening marked the close of Christina's +visit to Augsburg. The next morning she set out +for Nancy, "leaving the Court sad and widowed," +writes an Italian chronicler, "bereft of her presence, +and without a lady to amuse the Princes or entertain +the Emperor's guests." Philip escorted her for some +miles on her journey, and took an affectionate farewell +of his favourite cousin, whom he never saw again +until he was the husband of Mary Tudor.<a name="FNanchor_425" id="FNanchor_425"></a><a href="#Footnote_425" class="fnanchor">[425]</a></p> + +<p>Christina's route lay through the duchy of Würtemberg +and along the valley of the Neckar. At Esslingen, +the free imperial city on the banks of this river +she met the new English Ambassador, Sir Richard +Morosyne, on his way to Augsburg. In his train +was a young secretary called Roger Ascham. He had +been Lady Jane Grey's tutor, and had left his Greek +studies and pleasant college life at Cambridge with +some reluctance, but was keenly enjoying his first +sight of foreign parts. The journey up the Rhine in +a fair barge with goodly glass windows afforded him +great pleasure. He gazed in admiration at the +castles and abbeys perched on the crags, and the +vines laden with purple grapes that grew in terraces +along the banks, while the river at Spires—"broader +a great deal than the Thames at Greenwich"—made +him realize for the first time why the Greeks worshipped +river-gods. In the Court chapel at Brussels +he caught a glimpse of Queen Eleanor,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"looking as fair and white as a dove in her embroidered +linen robe, with her ladies clad in black +velvet with gold chains, and white plumes in their +caps, like boys rather than maidens."</p></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p> +<p>Then, as he rode through Tongres, he met the +Queen of Hungary posting back from Augsburg, with +only thirty courtiers in her train, "having outridden +and wearied all the rest, and taken thirteen days to +do a journey that men can scarce do in seventeen!" +"She is a virago," the young Englishman remarked, +"never so well as when she is flinging on horseback or +hunting all day."<a name="FNanchor_426" id="FNanchor_426"></a><a href="#Footnote_426" class="fnanchor">[426]</a> Now, at Esslingen, Ascham fell in +with another noble lady, "the Duchess of Milan and +Lorraine, daughter to the King of Denmark." Unlike +Mary of Hungary, who posted so fast that no ladies +could keep pace with her, Christina was always attended +with a large retinue. Brantôme tells us that at Court +she assumed a state which rivalled that of the Queen +of France herself. On this journey she rode a white +palfrey, and was followed by sixteen maids of honour +on horseback and four chariots filled with ladies, +escorted by a troop of 300 horse. Thirty-six mules +and a dozen waggons, laden with chamber-stuff, +brought up the rear, and a great crowd of "rascals +belonging to her kitchen and stables came drabbling +in the dirt on foot." Roger looked with admiration +at the fine horses with their rich trappings, and was +profoundly impressed by the tall stature and stately +bearing of the Duchess. "I have never seen a lady of +her port in all my life!" he exclaimed. His interest was +heightened when he heard "that she should once have +married King Henry VIII., before my Lady Anne of +Cleves," and was told that she had now been with the +Emperor at Augsburg, "where she was thought by +some to have been a-wooing to the Prince of Spain."<a name="FNanchor_427" id="FNanchor_427"></a><a href="#Footnote_427" class="fnanchor">[427]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1550</span>] DISCORD IN IMPERIAL FAMILY</div> + +<p>From Esslingen, Christina had intended to go to +Heidelberg, on a visit to her sister, but the unsettled +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span>state of affairs made her presence necessary at home, +and she hurried on to Nancy. The French were once +more busy with preparations for war, and grew every +day more insolent in their language. Even the Emperor's +old ally, the Constable Montmorency, who had +been recalled to Court by Henry II., joined the war +party, and seemed to be as violent as the Guises. +At the same time fresh trouble was brewing in Germany. +The Interim had proved very unpopular. +Magdeburg refused to accept the new edict, and +Maurice of Saxony, who was sent against the city, +carried on the siege in so half-hearted a manner that +doubts of his loyalty were felt, while the Marquis +Albert kept away from Court and sulked, like Achilles +of old, in his tent. But the worst of all the Emperor's +troubles were those which had arisen in his own +family.</p> + +<p>Granvelle confessed to Paget at Brussels that it +had not been easy for Charles to obtain the recognition +of his son as his successor in Flanders, and that +he foresaw this would be a far harder matter in +Germany. From the first, Philip's haughty manners +and Spanish reserve were bitterly resented by the +Princes of the Empire, and Charles realized with +dismay how difficult it would be to obtain their +consent to the adoption of his son as coadjutor of +the King of the Romans, and his ultimate successor +on the imperial throne. He had first of all to reckon +with Ferdinand. This monarch had always been on +the most affectionate terms with his brother, but was +naturally indignant when rumours reached him, +through the Marquis Albert's servants, that the Emperor +intended to make Philip King of the Romans +in his place. In vain his sister Mary assured him that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> +this idea had never been entertained. His resentment +was kindled, and he and King Maximilian were prepared +to resist stoutly any infringement of their rights.<a name="FNanchor_428" id="FNanchor_428"></a><a href="#Footnote_428" class="fnanchor">[428]</a></p> + +<p>Everyone noticed how grave and pensive Charles +appeared when he entered Augsburg, and, although +the prolonged family conferences which took place +were conducted in strict secrecy, rumour was busy +with conjecture, and the latest gossip from Augsburg +was greedily devoured at the French Court. At +this critical moment Chancellor Granvelle, who for +twenty-five years had been Charles's most trusted +Councillor, died after a few days' illness at Augsburg. +Friends and foes alike expressed their grief in the +warmest terms. The Constable wrote letters of condolence +to his widow, and Charles and Ferdinand came in +person to visit Madame Nicole, but found this excellent +woman too much overcome with grief to be able to +speak. It was an irreparable loss to the Emperor, +and no one was better aware of this than himself. +"My son," he wrote to Philip, "you and I have lost +a good bed of down."<a name="FNanchor_429" id="FNanchor_429"></a><a href="#Footnote_429" class="fnanchor">[429]</a> Granvelle's son, Antoine +Perrenot, the Bishop of Arras, succeeded him as +imperial Chancellor, but had neither his father's +wisdom nor experience, and was little fitted to cope +with the gravity of the situation.</p> + +<p>Charles now sent for the Queen of Hungary, who +hastened to Augsburg in September; but even she +could effect little.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Queen Mary," wrote Stroppiana, the Duke of +Savoy's Ambassador, "is here to persuade the King +of the Romans to accept the Prince of Spain as coadjutor, +but finds the ground very hard, and by what +I hear can obtain nothing."<a name="FNanchor_430" id="FNanchor_430"></a><a href="#Footnote_430" class="fnanchor">[430]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Dec., 1550</span>] THE EMPEROR'S ANXIETY</div> + +<p>After Mary's departure, Charles's difficulties increased +every day, and Christina tried in vain to +pour oil on the troubled waters. She amused Philip, +and did her best to console the Emperor in his fits +of profound dejection. When she was gone he turned +once more to Mary, and begged her earnestly to come +to his help.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I had some hope," he wrote on the 6th of December, +"that the King our nephew might be persuaded +to consent to the only plan by which the greatness +and stability of our house can be maintained. But, +as you will see by this letter, which my brother gave +me the day before yesterday, I begin to feel that my +hope was vain. And I think that in this he does me +great wrong, when I have done so much for him. +My patience is almost at an end, and I wish with all +my heart that you were here, as you can help me more +than anyone else. So I beg you to hasten your +coming as soon as possible, and shall await your +arrival with the utmost anxiety."</p></div> + +<p>To this letter, which had been dictated to his +secretary, Charles added the following postscript, +written with his own gouty hand:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I can assure you, my dear sister, that I can bear +no more unless I am to burst. Certainly I never felt +all that the dead King of France did against me, nor +all that the present one is trying to do, nor yet the +affronts which the Constable puts upon us now, half +as keenly as I have felt and am feeling the treatment +which I have received from the King my brother. +I can only pray God to grant him good-will and understanding, +and give me strength and patience, in order +that we may arrive at some agreement, and that, if +your coming does not serve to convert him, it may +at least give me some consolation.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 18em;">"Your loving brother,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 24.5em;">"<span class="smcap">Charles</span>."<a name="FNanchor_431" id="FNanchor_431"></a><a href="#Footnote_431" class="fnanchor">[431]</a></span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span></p> + +<p>On receiving this letter, Mary started for Augsburg +without a moment's delay. Attended only by the +Bishop of Cambray and three ladies, the brave Queen +rode all the way from Binche to Augsburg in twelve +days, and arrived at five o'clock on the evening of +New Year's Day, 1551.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1551</span>] FAMILY CONFERENCES</div> + +<p>All through November and December the Emperor +hardly left his room. When he dined with the +Knights of the Fleece on St. Andrew's Day, the hall +was heated like a furnace, and Marillac, the French +Ambassador, remarked that he looked so old and +feeble he could not be long for this world.<a name="FNanchor_432" id="FNanchor_432"></a><a href="#Footnote_432" class="fnanchor">[432]</a> But on +the Feast of the Three Kings he dined in public, with +his brother and sister, and his two nephews, Maximilian, +who had arrived from Spain on the 10th of +December, and the young Archduke Ferdinand. +They were, to all appearances, a happy and united +family, and Stroppiana noted an evident improvement +in the Emperor's spirits. Roger Ascham +watched these illustrious personages with keen interest. +He describes how Charles and Ferdinand sat +under the cloth of state and ate together very handsomely, +"his Chapel singing wonderful cunningly all +dinner-time." "The Emperor," he remarked, "hath +a good face, constant air, and looked somewhat like the +parson of Epurstone. He wore a black taffety gown, +and furred nightcap on his head, and fed well of a capon—I +have had a better from mine hostess Barnes many +times." Ferdinand he describes as "a very homely +man, gentle to be spoken to of any man," the Prince of +Spain as "not in all so wise as his father." But King +Max was Roger's favourite—"a Prince peerless" in +his eyes. He is never tired of extolling this "worthy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span>gentleman, learned, wise, liberal, gentle, loved and +praised of all."<a name="FNanchor_433" id="FNanchor_433"></a><a href="#Footnote_433" class="fnanchor">[433]</a></p> + +<p>During the next few weeks prolonged conferences +were held in the Emperor's rooms. King Max from +the first flatly refused to consent to Philip's appointment +as coadjutor with the King of the Romans, +and the quarrel waxed hot between them. Night +and day Arras went secretly to and fro with letters +between Charles and Ferdinand. If the Queen of +Hungary was seen leaving the King of the Romans +with flushed face and flashing eyes, it was a sure sign +that things were going badly for the Emperor. If +Ferdinand and his sons wore a joyous air, and there +were tokens of affection between them and Mary, +Stroppiana and Marillac were satisfied that all was +going well.<a name="FNanchor_434" id="FNanchor_434"></a><a href="#Footnote_434" class="fnanchor">[434]</a> As for Philip and Max, it was easy to +see that there was no love lost between them. They +met occasionally at night in Charles's rooms and +exchanged formal greetings, but never paid each other +visits or attended Mass and took meals together. +The rivalry between the two Princes became every +day more marked.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The King of Bohemia," writes Marillac, "is +frank, gay, and fearless, and is as much beloved by +the Germans as Don Philip is disliked. His Spanish +education, haughty bearing, and suspicious nature, +all help to make him unpopular, although to please +his father he wears German clothes and tries to adopt +German customs, even with regard to drink, so that +two or three times he is said to have taken more than +he could well carry."<a name="FNanchor_435" id="FNanchor_435"></a><a href="#Footnote_435" class="fnanchor">[435]</a></p></div> + +<p>Nor was Philip more fortunate in his attempts to +distinguish himself in the tilting. In the jousts held +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span>at Candlemas, Marillac reports that all jousted badly, +but Philip worst of all, for he never broke a single +lance; and Ascham remarks that the Prince of Spain +"jousted genteelly, for he neither hurt himself, nor +his horse and spear, nor him that he ran with." He +redeemed his character to some extent, however, in +a tournament given a week later in the Queen's +honour, and succeeded in winning one prize; while the +Prince of Orange and Archduke Ferdinand were the +heroes of the day. "And as for noble Max, he ran not +at all."<a name="FNanchor_436" id="FNanchor_436"></a><a href="#Footnote_436" class="fnanchor">[436]</a></p> + +<p>A few days afterwards the Diet was prorogued, +and Stroppiana told Marillac that owing to Mary's +influence a secret agreement had been framed, by +which Philip was to have a share in the administration +of imperial affairs, and that, when he succeeded +his uncle as Emperor, Maximilian should become +King of the Romans. On the 10th of March an +agreement to this effect was drawn up by the Bishop +of Arras, and signed by all four Princes. On the same +day Mary gave a farewell banquet, after which Ferdinand +took an affectionate farewell of his brother, +and went to Vienna with his sons.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Noble Max," wrote Ascham, "goes to meet the +Turk. I pray God he may give him an overthrow. +He taketh with him the hearts, good-will, and prayers, +of rich and poor."<a name="FNanchor_437" id="FNanchor_437"></a><a href="#Footnote_437" class="fnanchor">[437]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1551</span>] THE EMPEROR DISAPPOINTED</div> + +<p>On the 7th of April Mary left for Brussels, after +giving an audience to Morosyne, who saw that "she +was in the dumps," although she smiled two or three +times and tried to hide her feelings.<a name="FNanchor_438" id="FNanchor_438"></a><a href="#Footnote_438" class="fnanchor">[438]</a> By this time +she had probably realized how fruitless all attempts +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>to conciliate the German Princes would prove. The +Electors unanimously declined to sanction the agreement +which had been the cause of so many heart-burnings, +and it remained a dead letter. The Archbishop +of Treves declared that there could only be +one Emperor in Germany and one sun in heaven. +The Palatine, says Morosyne, like the wise old fox +that he was, replied that so important a question +needed time for consideration, and Joachim of Brandenburg +vowed that he would never consent to a +scheme which would be odious to all Germany.<a name="FNanchor_439" id="FNanchor_439"></a><a href="#Footnote_439" class="fnanchor">[439]</a> +Philip returned to Spain at the end of May, and the +Emperor was reluctantly compelled to accept the +inevitable, and surrender the long-cherished hope +that his son would succeed to his vast empire.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>While the eyes of all Europe were fixed on the +imperial family at Augsburg, Christina waited anxiously +for news in her palace at Nancy. She had sent +two of her Italian secretaries, Innocenzo Gadio and +Massimo del Pero, to wait on the Queen of Hungary, +with strict orders to keep her informed of all that was +happening. Gadio's cipher letters have unluckily +disappeared, but some of those addressed to him by +Niccolò Belloni have recently been discovered in +a private library near Pavia.<a name="FNanchor_440" id="FNanchor_440"></a><a href="#Footnote_440" class="fnanchor">[440]</a> Belloni belonged to +a good Milanese family, and had, at his parents' +entreaty, been retained by the Duchess in her service +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span>when she left Italy. He had succeeded Benedetto +da Corte as master of her household, and followed +Christina to Lorraine. Niccolò enjoyed his mistress's +complete confidence, and his letters to Messer +Innocenzo reveal all that was passing in her mind at +this critical moment. On the 2nd of January, 1551, +he writes:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Honoured Friend</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"Madame's page arrived a few days ago with +your letters, which were most anxiously expected and +gratefully read by Her Excellency. The next morning +she received those which came by Heidelberg, and +yesterday those which you sent by the Flemish servant, +which gave Her Excellency still greater pleasure. +She deciphered them herself, and read them over +several times. You will continue to write as before, +and I will tell you all I hear from other quarters. Do +not fail to report every detail of the difficulties which +are delaying the negotiations, using Madame's ordinary +cipher for this purpose.... I send this messenger by +the post to seek for news, so do not keep him at Augsburg +more than a day, even if Monsignore d'Arras' +letter is not ready, as another courier will be sent in +four or five days. I have received Don Ferrante's +letters, and should be glad to know if my letters for +Fanzoni and Trissino are gone to Milan. Tell Signor +Badoer [the Venetian Ambassador] that I will not fail +to satisfy his curiosity, but it will take some time to +obtain the desired information and will require great +caution.... Send me some fine writing-paper, please—very +fine, I repeat, because it is for Madame."</p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1551</span>] BELLONI'S LETTERS</div> + +<p>Christina's Milanese servants evidently carried on +a correspondence with their friends at home through +the imperial messengers who were sent from Augsburg +to the Viceroy, and the Princess of Macedonia constantly +despatched packets to Milan and Mantua by +the same channel, while the Duchess herself often +wrote to Don Ferrante regarding the payment of her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> +dowry and questions affecting the city of Tortona. +A week later Christina sent a Lorraine gentleman, +Monsieur de Saint-Hilaire, to convey her salutations +to the King of Bohemia, on his arrival at Augsburg, +and Belloni took this opportunity to beg Gadio to be +diligent in reporting everything he heard, for Madame's +benefit, assuring him that Her Excellency read his +letters again and again, and believed implicitly in +their contents. On the 12th of February he repeated +the same orders:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"It would be well if you would write fuller particulars +of the great matter in hand, above all whatever +you hear of the angry disputes and quarrels which +have arisen between the Prince and the King of +Bohemia, including all the bad language which they +use—in fact, everything that is said on the subject. +It will all be treated as strictly confidential, and I for +my part know that the King will not be governed by +the Prince, and will use rude and contemptuous words, +as you may imagine! These are the things that Her +Highness wishes to learn from your letters.... I may +possibly take a flight to the Court of France, so, if you +wish to write to me privately, address your letters to +the Princess of Macedonia, who will keep them safely +for me, especially if they come from Italy. Your +letters of the 29th of January and 3rd of this month +have arrived, and are, as usual, most welcome, and +Her Excellency agrees with you that nothing has +really been arranged. Once the business for which +you were sent to Augsburg is settled, Her Excellency +thinks you may as well return, and be sure that you +bring plenty of letters for Her Excellency from all the +world, and a whole waggon-load of news! I am sorry +to hear that your horse has hurt his foot and you +have had to sell him cheap. You must procure +another, and Madame will pay for it all. Only let us +have the truth about these negotiations!"</p></div> + +<p>But the Duchess changed her mind again, and Innocenzo +was desired to stay at Augsburg as long as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> +Queen was there, even if the King and his sons had left, +in order that she might hear all that her aunt had to +tell of these important matters. Niccolò's last letter +to Augsburg is dated the 13th of March, and contains +a reminder to Gadio to bring the writing-paper for +Madame, and to make inquiries about a new method +of coining money at the Imperial Court, which had +excited the Princess of Macedonia's curiosity.<a name="FNanchor_441" id="FNanchor_441"></a><a href="#Footnote_441" class="fnanchor">[441]</a> The +flight to the French Court which Niccolò meditated +in March, 1551, was taken in the company of the Count +of Vaudemont, who went to Blois to pay his respects +to the King and Queen, and discover if there were any +truth in the sinister report that Henry II. was planning +the conquest of Lorraine. But he only met with +civil speeches, and found the Court on the eve of a +journey to Brittany, to meet the Dowager Queen of +Scotland, who was coming over to see her child and +visit her aged mother at Joinville. So the Count was +able to allay his sister-in-law's alarms, and, instead +of the dreaded threats of invasion, brought back a +proposal from the King that her son should be affianced +to one of his little daughters. The offer excited +some surprise, considering the strained relations that +existed between Henry II. and Charles V., but Christina +returned a courteous reply, and promised to lay +the matter before the States of Lorraine.<a name="FNanchor_442" id="FNanchor_442"></a><a href="#Footnote_442" class="fnanchor">[442]</a> For the +present she felt that she could breathe freely and give +herself up unreservedly to the enjoyment of a visit +which she was expecting from her sister Dorothea.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1551</span>] THE PALATINE'S VISIT</div> + +<p>Since the restoration of peace in Germany, the Elector +Palatine had devoted his time and money to the improvement +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span>of his ancestral castle at Heidelberg. His +natural love of building found expression in the noble +Renaissance court, with the lovely oriel and grand +Hall of Mirrors, where we may still read "Frau +Dorothea's" name, and the arms of the Three Kingdoms +by the side of the Palatine's lion and the badge +of the Golden Fleece. But the passion for travel and +adventure was still strong in the old Palsgrave's +breast, and when the last stone had been placed on the +lofty bell-tower he and his wife set out, with a great +company of courtiers and ladies, for Lorraine. They +sailed down the Rhine to Coblenz, and, taking horse, +rode through Treves and Metz, where Christina met +them, and the whole party proceeded to Pont-à-Mousson +and the Count of Vaudemont's castle at +Nomény. Here they attended the christening of the +Countess's daughter, and Frederic stood sponsor, while +his wife was proxy for the French Queen, after whom +the child was named. After a week of festivities, the +party went on to a hunt at Condé, the Duke's fair +château in the forest on the banks of the Moselle, and +killed five stags. Hubert, who accompanied his +master and gives every detail of the journey, relates +how the Palatine, tired with the day's sport, accepted +a seat in the Duchess's chariot, and how his companion, +Count Jacob von Busch, being a big man, +weighed down the carriage on one side, much to the +amusement of Dorothea, who laughed till the tears +ran down her cheeks. But heavy rains had made +the roads almost impassable, and presently the wheels +caught in a rut and the chariot was upset. The ladies +were covered with mud, and Dorothea's face was +badly scratched; but she made light of the accident, +and only laughed the more as, leaving the lumbering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> +coach in the ditch, they mounted horses to ride to +Nancy. At the gates of the city they were met by the +young Duke Charles, a handsome boy of eight, who +lifted his cap with charming grace, and, springing to the +ground, embraced his uncle and aunt, and rode at their +side, conversing in a way that amazed the Germans.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"We all wondered," writes Hubert, "at the beauty +and wisdom of the boy, who is indeed remarkably +intelligent, and has been trained by his lady mother +in all knowledge and courtesy."<a name="FNanchor_443" id="FNanchor_443"></a><a href="#Footnote_443" class="fnanchor">[443]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1551</span>] TOO LITTLE BEER</div> + +<p>His sisters, Renée and Dorothea, received the guests +at the palace gates, "both lovely little maidens," says +Hubert, "only that the youngest is lame and cannot +walk, for which cause her uncle and aunt embraced +her the more tenderly." All the fatigues of the journey +were forgotten in the delights of the week which the +travellers spent at Nancy. The Duchess prepared a +new pastime for each day, and masques, jousts, and +dances, followed each other in gay succession. On the +last day Christina took her guests to the beautiful +grassy vale known as the Ochsenthal. It was a lovely +May morning, and a banquet was served in a green +bower on the banks of the stream. Suddenly a merry +blast of bugles rang out, and, while huntsmen and dogs +chased the deer, two parties of horse galloped up, and, +charging each other, crossed swords and fired guns. "It +might have been an invasion of the Moors!" exclaims +Hubert, who enjoyed the surprise as much as anyone. +At sunset the warriors returned to the palace, where +the fairest maidens of the Duchess's Court crowned +the victors with roses, and danced with them till +morning. The next day Frederic and Dorothea made +the Duchess and her children and servants handsome +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span>presents of gold chains and rings and brooches, and +Christina, not to be outdone, gave Hubert a massive +silver tankard, begging him to keep it in remembrance +of her, and continue to serve the Palatine and her +sister as well in the future as he had done in the past. +After this we need not wonder at the glowing pages in +which the honest secretary praises the delicacy of the +viands, the choice flavour of the wines set before the +guests, and the polished manners of the Court of Nancy.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Indeed," he adds, "some of our Germans complained +that there was too little beer, because people +here do not sit up drinking all night, and go to bed +like pigs, as we do at Heidelberg."<a name="FNanchor_444" id="FNanchor_444"></a><a href="#Footnote_444" class="fnanchor">[444]</a></p></div> + +<p>The young Duke and his sisters accompanied the +guests to Lunéville, where they spent Whitsuntide +together and took their leave, the little ladies shedding +many tears at parting from their aunt. Even then +Christina could not tear herself from her sister, and the +next day, as the Palatine and his wife were dining at +one of the Duke's country-houses on their route, the +Duchess suddenly appeared, riding up the hill. Hubert +and his comrades ran out to welcome her, waving +green boughs in their hands, and greeted her with +ringing cheers, and they all sat down to a merry meal. +Dorothea begged her sister to accompany her to +Alsace; but the Duchess could not leave home, and +the travellers pushed on that night to Strasburg, and +on the 1st of June reached Heidelberg, where they +were greeted by a gay peal of bells from the new-built +tower. It was the last visit that either Frederic or his +wife ever paid to Lorraine. When the sisters met again, +Christina was an exile and a fugitive, and had lost son +and home, together with all that she loved best on earth.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_375" id="Footnote_375"></a><a href="#FNanchor_375"><span class="label">[375]</span></a> Calmet, ii. 1276, iii. 47; Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," iii. 152.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_376" id="Footnote_376"></a><a href="#FNanchor_376"><span class="label">[376]</span></a> Granvelle, iii. 159-163.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_377" id="Footnote_377"></a><a href="#FNanchor_377"><span class="label">[377]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, viii. 195; Granvelle, +iii. 226.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_378" id="Footnote_378"></a><a href="#FNanchor_378"><span class="label">[378]</span></a> Lanz, ii. 478-484.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_379" id="Footnote_379"></a><a href="#FNanchor_379"><span class="label">[379]</span></a> State Papers, Record Office, Henry VIII., x. 490.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_380" id="Footnote_380"></a><a href="#FNanchor_380"><span class="label">[380]</span></a> Granvelle, iii. 206-225.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_381" id="Footnote_381"></a><a href="#FNanchor_381"><span class="label">[381]</span></a> Granvelle, iii. 235, 236.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_382" id="Footnote_382"></a><a href="#FNanchor_382"><span class="label">[382]</span></a> Bouillé, i. 155; Pimodan, 88.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_383" id="Footnote_383"></a><a href="#FNanchor_383"><span class="label">[383]</span></a> Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 53, 60, iii. 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_384" id="Footnote_384"></a><a href="#FNanchor_384"><span class="label">[384]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xxi. 592, 642; Calendar of Spanish +State Papers, viii. 431.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_385" id="Footnote_385"></a><a href="#FNanchor_385"><span class="label">[385]</span></a> Granvelle, iii. 237.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_386" id="Footnote_386"></a><a href="#FNanchor_386"><span class="label">[386]</span></a> A. Hallays, 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_387" id="Footnote_387"></a><a href="#FNanchor_387"><span class="label">[387]</span></a> Calmet, ii. 1276, 1281; Pfister, ii. 203.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_388" id="Footnote_388"></a><a href="#FNanchor_388"><span class="label">[388]</span></a> Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 156.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_389" id="Footnote_389"></a><a href="#FNanchor_389"><span class="label">[389]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xxi. 2, 121; Balcarres Manuscripts, +ii. 87.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_390" id="Footnote_390"></a><a href="#FNanchor_390"><span class="label">[390]</span></a> N. Ratti, "La Famiglia Sforza," ii. 86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_391" id="Footnote_391"></a><a href="#FNanchor_391"><span class="label">[391]</span></a> Brantôme, "Œuvres," xii. 114.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_392" id="Footnote_392"></a><a href="#FNanchor_392"><span class="label">[392]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, viii. 501.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_393" id="Footnote_393"></a><a href="#FNanchor_393"><span class="label">[393]</span></a> Balcarres Manuscripts, ii. 65; iii. 105, 114.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_394" id="Footnote_394"></a><a href="#FNanchor_394"><span class="label">[394]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, xxi. 2, 172, 187.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_395" id="Footnote_395"></a><a href="#FNanchor_395"><span class="label">[395]</span></a> Brantôme, iii. 164.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_396" id="Footnote_396"></a><a href="#FNanchor_396"><span class="label">[396]</span></a> Pimodan, 95; Bouillé, i. 160.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_397" id="Footnote_397"></a><a href="#FNanchor_397"><span class="label">[397]</span></a> Hallays, "La Ville de Nancy," 22; C. Cournault, "Ligier-Richier," +34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_398" id="Footnote_398"></a><a href="#FNanchor_398"><span class="label">[398]</span></a> Gachard, ii. 338; L. Haüsser, i. 603; G. Voigt, "Albert von +Brandenburg." i. 164.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_399" id="Footnote_399"></a><a href="#FNanchor_399"><span class="label">[399]</span></a> Granvelle, iii. 265.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_400" id="Footnote_400"></a><a href="#FNanchor_400"><span class="label">[400]</span></a> Gachard, "Voyages de Charles V.," ii. 350-355; R. Ascham, +"Works," ii. 267; "Travail and Life of Sir T. Hoby," 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_401" id="Footnote_401"></a><a href="#FNanchor_401"><span class="label">[401]</span></a> Bucholtz, vi. 298, 300.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_402" id="Footnote_402"></a><a href="#FNanchor_402"><span class="label">[402]</span></a> Voigt, ii. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_403" id="Footnote_403"></a><a href="#FNanchor_403"><span class="label">[403]</span></a> Ascham, iii. 32; Voigt, i. 197.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_404" id="Footnote_404"></a><a href="#FNanchor_404"><span class="label">[404]</span></a> Bulletins de la Commission d'Histoire, xii. 156; Calendar of +State Papers, Edward VI., 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_405" id="Footnote_405"></a><a href="#FNanchor_405"><span class="label">[405]</span></a> Gachard, ii. 357.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_406" id="Footnote_406"></a><a href="#FNanchor_406"><span class="label">[406]</span></a> H. Lepage, "La Ville de Nancy," 44; Calendar of State +Papers, Foreign, Edward VI., i. 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_407" id="Footnote_407"></a><a href="#FNanchor_407"><span class="label">[407]</span></a> T. Hoby, "Memoirs," 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_408" id="Footnote_408"></a><a href="#FNanchor_408"><span class="label">[408]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Edward VI., i. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_409" id="Footnote_409"></a><a href="#FNanchor_409"><span class="label">[409]</span></a> Granvelle, iii. 335.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_410" id="Footnote_410"></a><a href="#FNanchor_410"><span class="label">[410]</span></a> Gachard, ii. 377.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_411" id="Footnote_411"></a><a href="#FNanchor_411"><span class="label">[411]</span></a> A. de Ruble, "Le Mariage de Jeanne d'Albret," 243-246; +Bouillé, 204.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_412" id="Footnote_412"></a><a href="#FNanchor_412"><span class="label">[412]</span></a> Brantôme, "Œuvres," xii. 115.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_413" id="Footnote_413"></a><a href="#FNanchor_413"><span class="label">[413]</span></a> Schäfer, iv. 472; Bucholtz, vii. 572.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_414" id="Footnote_414"></a><a href="#FNanchor_414"><span class="label">[414]</span></a> Granvelle, iii. 207.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_415" id="Footnote_415"></a><a href="#FNanchor_415"><span class="label">[415]</span></a> Lodge, "Illustrations," i. 183; Calendar of the Manuscripts +of the Marquis of Salisbury, i. 110; Voigt, i. 197.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_416" id="Footnote_416"></a><a href="#FNanchor_416"><span class="label">[416]</span></a> Henne, viii. 373.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_417" id="Footnote_417"></a><a href="#FNanchor_417"><span class="label">[417]</span></a> Gachard, "Retraite de Charles V.," i. 72; Manuscript 8,625, +f. 235, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_418" id="Footnote_418"></a><a href="#FNanchor_418"><span class="label">[418]</span></a> Gachard, ii. 389.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_419" id="Footnote_419"></a><a href="#FNanchor_419"><span class="label">[419]</span></a> Maitland, "Miscellany," i. 219; A. de Ruble, "La Jeunesse +de Marie Stuart," 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_420" id="Footnote_420"></a><a href="#FNanchor_420"><span class="label">[420]</span></a> Pimodan, 367; Bouillé, 349; Bibliothèque Nationale, F.F. +20,467, f. 39; Gaignières Manuscripts, 349, f. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_421" id="Footnote_421"></a><a href="#FNanchor_421"><span class="label">[421]</span></a> Pimodan, 375; Bibliothèque Nationale, F.F. 20, 468, f. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_422" id="Footnote_422"></a><a href="#FNanchor_422"><span class="label">[422]</span></a> Bouillé, i. 227.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_423" id="Footnote_423"></a><a href="#FNanchor_423"><span class="label">[423]</span></a> Calmet, ii. 1296, iii. 423; Granvelle, iii. 430.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_424" id="Footnote_424"></a><a href="#FNanchor_424"><span class="label">[424]</span></a> Gachard, ii. 424; Bulletins de la Commission d'Histoire, +série 2, xii. 189.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_425" id="Footnote_425"></a><a href="#FNanchor_425"><span class="label">[425]</span></a> Guazzo, 730; Gachard, ii. 424.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_426" id="Footnote_426"></a><a href="#FNanchor_426"><span class="label">[426]</span></a> Ascham, ii. 245-257.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_427" id="Footnote_427"></a><a href="#FNanchor_427"><span class="label">[427]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, ii. 260.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_428" id="Footnote_428"></a><a href="#FNanchor_428"><span class="label">[428]</span></a> Bucholtz, vi. 458.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_429" id="Footnote_429"></a><a href="#FNanchor_429"><span class="label">[429]</span></a> Granvelle, i. 2-6, iii. 448, 451.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_430" id="Footnote_430"></a><a href="#FNanchor_430"><span class="label">[430]</span></a> Bulletins, etc., série 2, xii. 188.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_431" id="Footnote_431"></a><a href="#FNanchor_431"><span class="label">[431]</span></a> Lanz, iii. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_432" id="Footnote_432"></a><a href="#FNanchor_432"><span class="label">[432]</span></a> P. de Vaissière, "Vie de Charles de Marillac," 174, 178.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_433" id="Footnote_433"></a><a href="#FNanchor_433"><span class="label">[433]</span></a> Ascham, ii. 268.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_434" id="Footnote_434"></a><a href="#FNanchor_434"><span class="label">[434]</span></a> Bulletins, série 2, xii. 188.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_435" id="Footnote_435"></a><a href="#FNanchor_435"><span class="label">[435]</span></a> Vaissière, 186-188.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_436" id="Footnote_436"></a><a href="#FNanchor_436"><span class="label">[436]</span></a> Ascham, ii. 280; Gachard, ii. 853.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_437" id="Footnote_437"></a><a href="#FNanchor_437"><span class="label">[437]</span></a> Ascham, ii. 278.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_438" id="Footnote_438"></a><a href="#FNanchor_438"><span class="label">[438]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Foreign, Edward VI., i. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_439" id="Footnote_439"></a><a href="#FNanchor_439"><span class="label">[439]</span></a> Bucholtz, vi. 467.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_440" id="Footnote_440"></a><a href="#FNanchor_440"><span class="label">[440]</span></a> These extracts from manuscripts preserved in the Biblioteca +of Zelada, near Pavia, are published by the kind permission of +their owner, Count Antonio Cavagna-Sangiuliani.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_441" id="Footnote_441"></a><a href="#FNanchor_441"><span class="label">[441]</span></a> Manuscript vii., Biblioteca di Zelada.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_442" id="Footnote_442"></a><a href="#FNanchor_442"><span class="label">[442]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Foreign, Edward VI., i. 79; Granvelle, +iii. 522.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_443" id="Footnote_443"></a><a href="#FNanchor_443"><span class="label">[443]</span></a> Hubertus Thomas, 464.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_444" id="Footnote_444"></a><a href="#FNanchor_444"><span class="label">[444]</span></a> Hubertus Thomas, 467; L. Haüsser, i. 625.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span></p></div></div> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>BOOK X<br /> + +THE FRENCH INVASION<br /> + +1551-1553</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>Michaelmas Day, 1551, was memorable, both in +France and Germany, for a snowstorm of extraordinary +severity, followed by an alarming earthquake and +violent tempest, omens, as it proved, of impending +disasters.</p> + +<p>In this same month of September, Henry II. recalled +his Ambassador from Augsburg. Ten days later he +declared war. For some time past he had been supporting +Ottavio Farnese, who was in open revolt +against his father-in-law, and carrying on secret intrigues +with Maurice of Saxony and the Protestant +Electors. The Marquis Albert had never forgiven the +Emperor for the affronts of which he imagined himself +to be the victim, and, after vainly offering his sword to +the English King and his hand to Princess Mary, he +went to France as Maurice's emissary. Here he concluded +a secret treaty, which was signed at Friedewald +on the 5th of October by the German Princes, and +ratified at Chambord by Henry II.<a name="FNanchor_445" id="FNanchor_445"></a><a href="#Footnote_445" class="fnanchor">[445]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Sept., 1551</span>] INTRIGUES WITH FRANCE</div> + +<p>Charles's affairs were in a critical state. The war +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span>of Parma was a heavy drain on his resources, and had +swallowed up the gold of Mexico and the best Spanish +soldiers, while Maurice's treachery had converted the +strongest body of imperial <i>Landsknechten</i> into foes.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Emperor doth little yet," wrote Roger +Ascham from Augsburg, "but the French be a great +deal aforehand. He is wise enough, but hath many +irons in the fire, and everyone alone to give him work +enough, the Turk by land and sea, the French sitting +on his skirts, beside Magdeburg and the rest."<a name="FNanchor_446" id="FNanchor_446"></a><a href="#Footnote_446" class="fnanchor">[446]</a></p></div> + +<p>The discontent in Augsburg rose to the highest +pitch when, one day in September, ten preachers were +summarily banished. The imperial residence was +besieged by crowds of furious women, clamouring to +have their babes christened, and guards were doubled +at every gate, while Charles sat within, enfeebled by +gout and reluctant to face the coming peril.</p> + +<p>In vain Mary of Hungary warned him of Maurice +and Albert's intrigues with France, and told him that +his incredulity was like to cost him very dear, and +that if he did not take care he would lose, not only +Germany, but also the Netherlands, which were not the +meanest feather in his cap. Both he and Arras refused +to listen. Instead of following his sister's advice and +remaining at Worms or Spires to control Germany +and protect Lorraine, Charles lingered on at Augsburg +after war was declared, and persisted in taking refuge +at Innsbruck. After protracted delays, he at length +left Augsburg on the 21st of October, dragging the +reluctant Ambassadors in his train, and crossed "the +cold Alps, already," sighed Ascham, "full of snow," +to descend on Tyrol.<a name="FNanchor_447" id="FNanchor_447"></a><a href="#Footnote_447" class="fnanchor">[447]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span></p> + +<p>Meanwhile his niece was watching the course of +events with increasing anxiety. All the French +King's fine promises could not allay Christina's fears, +as the autumn months went by, and the din of warlike +preparations sounded louder in her ears. In her +terror she clung to the Guises, hoping that their +influence might save her son and his realm from ruin. +On the 20th of July she went to Joinville to meet the +Dowager Queen of Scotland and stand proxy for +Queen Catherine at the christening of Francis of +Guise's daughter, afterwards the notorious Duchess +of Montpensier. When, in October, the young Duke +of Longueville died suddenly, on the eve of his mother's +departure, Christina once more went to condole with +Antoinette on the loss of her "Benjamin."<a name="FNanchor_448" id="FNanchor_448"></a><a href="#Footnote_448" class="fnanchor">[448]</a> Both +she and Anne, who came to Nancy at her earnest +request, were full of sympathy for the venerable +Duchess in the trials that clouded her declining years. +A fresh proof of Christina's anxiety to gratify her +powerful relatives appears in a letter which she wrote to +her uncle from Pont-à-Mousson on the 28th of October, +begging him to grant a request of the Cardinal regarding +the Abbey of Gorzes, which he had lately annexed +to his vast possessions.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I could not refuse this petition," she adds, "as +my Lord Cardinal is so near of kin to my children, and +has always treated me and my son with so much kindness +and affection. And I humbly beg Your Majesty +to show him favour, in order that he may see that I +do all that is possible to please him and his house."<a name="FNanchor_449" id="FNanchor_449"></a><a href="#Footnote_449" class="fnanchor">[449]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1552</span>] FRENCH INTRIGUES</div> + +<p>As the year drew to its close, the insolence of the +French increased, and their incursions and depredations +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span>were a perpetual source of annoyance to the people of +Lorraine. At the same time their intrigues fomented discontent +among the nobles, some of whom were annoyed +at the appointment of Monsieur de Montbardon to +be the young Duke's tutor. This French Baron had +originally followed the Constable of Bourbon into exile, +and, after being for many years in the Emperor's +service, had by his wish accompanied Christina to +Lorraine. And both the Regents had good reason to +doubt the loyalty of one of the Lorraine magnates, +Jean de Salm, a son of the late Marshal, commonly +known as the Rhinegrave, who had lately received the +Order of St. Michel from Henry II. All Christina could +do in this critical state of affairs was to keep Mary of +Hungary and the Emperor fully informed of current +events.</p> + +<p>On the 7th of January the Sieur de Tassigny, an +agent whom the Queen had sent to Nancy, received a +command from a Court page to come to the Duchess's +rooms that night, in order that she might tell him +certain things which she dared not write. Tassigny +obeyed the summons, and had a long talk with Christina +in the privacy of her own chamber. She told +him that the French were assembling in great force on +the frontier, and that Lorraine would be the first +country to be attacked. And she further informed +him that certain great personages in Germany, the +Marquis Albert, Duke Maurice, and others, were in +secret communication with the King, and were about +to take up arms against the Emperor, and join the +French when they crossed the Rhine. The Rhinegrave +had been often seen going to and fro in disguise +between the King and Duke Maurice. Moreover, a +German had lately told the Duchess that he had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> +at table with the Elector the day before, and had +heard him vow that he would release his father-in-law, +the captive Landgrave of Hesse, were he at the Emperor's +own side! When another guest warned Duke +Maurice to be more careful, lest his rash words should +be repeated, he replied defiantly: "What I say here +is meant for all the world to hear."</p> + +<p>This confidential conversation was faithfully reported +to Mary of Hungary by Tassigny, who concluded +his letter with the following words:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"<i>En somme</i>, Madame complains that she is in a +terrible position, seeing that Lorraine will be entirely +at the mercy of the French, and that there is not a +single person in whom she can trust and who is loyal +to His Imperial Majesty, excepting Monsieur de Bassompierre, +her chief Councillor, and Monsieur de +Vaudemont, who is quite alienated from France, +and entirely devoted to the Emperor, saying that it +is impossible to serve two masters."<a name="FNanchor_450" id="FNanchor_450"></a><a href="#Footnote_450" class="fnanchor">[450]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1552</span>] LE VOYAGE D'AUSTRASIE</div> + +<p>By Christina's wish, Tassigny went on to Nomény +the next day, and had a long interview with Vaudemont, +who assured him that every word spoken by +Her Excellency was true, that at Candlemas there +would be a great revolt in Germany, and that the +French King meant to seize the three bishoprics—Toul, +Verdun, and Metz. The only way to prevent +this would be for the Emperor to place strong garrisons +in these cities, and thus defeat his enemies' plans. The +Count's information, as time showed, was perfectly +accurate, and, in spite of all that has been alleged to +the contrary, he was probably loyal to the Duchess, +who never doubted his honesty, and to whom he seems +to have been sincerely attached. But he was timid +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span>and vacillating, and lacked courage and firmness to +face the crisis when it came.</p> + +<p>Mary, to whom Christina turned in this extremity, +was powerless to help. Every available man was +needed to defend the Low Countries, and she could +only advise her niece to claim the protection of the +Empire for her son's State, and, if Lorraine were +actually invaded, retire with her children to the Palatinate. +Even Charles began to wake up from his +lethargy, and to realize too late that Mary had been +right all the time. At Christmas Stroppiana wrote +from Innsbruck:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"We begin to suspect the existence of a plot against +the Emperor, hidden under the cloak of a military +revolt. Maurice is not a stranger to this conspiracy, +and Albert has let his soldiers loose and is ravaging +Germany."<a name="FNanchor_451" id="FNanchor_451"></a><a href="#Footnote_451" class="fnanchor">[451]</a></p></div> + +<p>A few weeks later Christina's secretary, who kept +Arras informed of all that was happening in Lorraine, +sent the Emperor a message to say that the King was +collecting his forces at Châlons, and that Maurice was +marching on Augsburg at the head of his <i>Landsknechten</i>, +although no one knew whether he meant to fight for +the King or the Emperor.<a name="FNanchor_452" id="FNanchor_452"></a><a href="#Footnote_452" class="fnanchor">[452]</a></p> + +<p>On the 5th of February Henry issued a manifesto, +stamped with the cap of liberty, proclaiming himself +the protector of the Germans and their deliverer from +the Emperor's yoke, and, after solemnly invoking +St. Denis's help, set out for Reims with the Queen and +Dauphin. The gilded youth of France all flocked to +the camp at Châlons, eager to start on the <i>voyage +d'Austrasie</i>, as the expedition was termed by these +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span>gay spirits, and drive Charles of Austria out of Germany. +The Constable was appointed to the chief +command, Aumale was made Captain of the horse, +and the Rhinegrave Colonel of the German infantry.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">March, 1552</span>] HENRY II. AT JOINVILLE</div> + +<p>As soon as the news reached Nancy, the Duchess +sent Bassompierre to Brussels, and told the Queen +that terror reigned everywhere, although it was +doubtful if Henry would march on Germany or turn +aside to invade Lorraine. The alarm which filled the +hearts of these two defenceless women is reflected in +the letters which Anne and Christina wrote during +these anxious days. The wildest rumours were +abroad, and death and ruin seemed to be staring them +in the face. Bassompierre soon returned with a letter +from Mary, thanking Anne for her valuable information, +and begging her not to desert the sorely-tried +Duchess at this crisis. Since Madame was good +enough to honour her with her commands, Anne +asked nothing better than to obey. She wrote daily +to Brussels, giving minute details of the King's advance. +On the 15th of March he left Reims, and +reached Joinville on the 22nd. From here he sent +Commissioners to Nancy to inform the Duchess that +her towns would not be attacked, and that there was +no need to fortify them. The Regents only raised a +sufficient body of men under the Governor of Nancy, +Baron d'Haussonville, to protect the Duke's person. +Following her aunt's advice, Christina sent one of her +secretaries to Innsbruck to ask the Emperor for assistance; +but Charles could only lament his inability to +come to her help, and advise her to ask the French King +to respect the neutrality of Lorraine. This was her +only hope, and, encouraged by the Cardinal of Guise,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> +she and Anne went to Joinville on the 1st of April, +and sought an audience from the King.<a name="FNanchor_453" id="FNanchor_453"></a><a href="#Footnote_453" class="fnanchor">[453]</a></p> + +<p>Here they were received in the kindest manner +by the old Duchess, and conducted into Henry's +presence by the Constable. The King received them +courteously, and conversed some time with them in +a friendly manner. Christina begged him to take her +son under his protection, and reminded him that his +grandmother, Renée de Bourbon, was a Princess of +the blood royal; then, gathering courage, she told him +that she had been accused of designs against him by +slanderous tongues, and asked nothing better than to +show that she was absolutely innocent of these charges. +"So great a lady," remarked the Sieur de Rabutin, +who witnessed the interview, "must have been very +reluctant to plead so humbly, and I doubt if she would +ever have taken a step so contrary to her natural +inclination if her uncle had been able to give her +help."<a name="FNanchor_454" id="FNanchor_454"></a><a href="#Footnote_454" class="fnanchor">[454]</a> The King listened civilly, and replied that +he bore her no ill-will whatsoever, but was obliged to +secure the frontier and protect himself from danger on +the side of Lorraine. As for her son, he cherished +the most friendly feelings for him, and was anxious to +see him affianced to his own daughter, if the Duchess +were agreeable. This kind language and the +affection shown her by the Cardinal and his mother +relieved Christina's worst fears. She begged the +King to do her the honour of staying under her roof +if he came in that direction, and returned to Nancy +with the Constable, who escorted the two Duchesses +home, in the most amiable fashion, and then went +on to take possession of Toul.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span></p> + +<p>On her return, Christina wrote the following letter +to the Emperor:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Monseigneur</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"I have been to Joinville in accordance with +Your Majesty's advice, and have sent full particulars of +my interview with the King to Monsieur d'Arras. I +beg you, Monseigneur, to give me your commands as +to my future conduct, as my only wish is to obey +Your Majesty to the end of my life.</p></div> + +<p> +"Your very humble and very obedient niece,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 24.5em;">"<span class="smcap">Chrestienne</span>.</span><br /> +"From Nancy. April 5, 1552."<a name="FNanchor_455" id="FNanchor_455"></a><a href="#Footnote_455" class="fnanchor">[455]</a><br /> +</p> + +<p>A few days of anxious suspense followed. The +French Queen fell ill of quinsy, and was in danger of +her life. Solemn prayers and litanies were chanted +for her recovery in all the churches, and Diane of +Poitiers hastened to Joinville, where she found the +King "playing the good husband at his wife's bedside."<a name="FNanchor_456" id="FNanchor_456"></a><a href="#Footnote_456" class="fnanchor">[456]</a> +But by Palm Sunday Catherine recovered +sufficiently for Henry to leave her in the charge of +Duchess Antoinette and continue his march. On +Monday, the 11th of April, he joined the Constable +before Toul, which opened its gates the next day. +On the 13th the King left the bulk of the army to go +on to Metz with the Constable, and, taking the household +cavalry and a few companies of men-at-arms +under the Duke of Guise, turned his steps towards +Nancy.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1552</span>] THE FRENCH AT NANCY</div> + +<p>Eastertide, 1552, was a sad and memorable epoch +in the annals of Lorraine. At two o'clock on Maundy +Thursday, Henry II. entered Nancy at the head of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span>his troops, with trumpets blowing and banners flying. +For the first time in the last hundred years, foreign +soldiers were seen within the walls of Nancy. The +Cardinal and the Duke of Guise rode on before, to +inform the Duchess of the King's coming and see +that due arrangements were made for his reception. +Christina nerved herself for a final effort, and with +splendid courage prepared to welcome the enemy of +her race within her palace gates. Salutes were fired +from the bastions as the King entered the town, and +the young Duke rode out to meet him at the head +of the nobles and magistrates, and escorted him to +the church of St. Georges. Here Henry alighted, and +the citizens held a canopy of state over him as he +entered the ancient shrine of the Lorraine Princes, +and, after kissing the relics of the saints on the altar +steps, prayed by the tomb of King René. Then the +young Duke led him through the stately portal, +under his grandfather's equestrian statue, to the hall +where his mother was waiting to receive her royal +guest, with the Duchess of Aerschot and the young +Princesses. Henry, the Duke of Guise, the Cardinal, +the Marshal St. André, and 200 gentlemen of the +royal household, were sumptuously lodged in the +ducal palace, while the troops were quartered in the +town, and French guards were stationed at the +gates, not without a protest from Baron d'Haussonville.<a name="FNanchor_457" id="FNanchor_457"></a><a href="#Footnote_457" class="fnanchor">[457]</a></p> + +<p>That evening the Duchess entertained her guests +at a magnificent banquet in the Galerie des Cerfs, +and the brilliantly-lighted hall, with its vaulted fretwork +of blue and gold, frescoed walls, and rich +tapestries, excited the admiration of all the French.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span></p> +<p>François de Rabutin, the young Captain in Monsieur de +Nevers's corps of archers, walked through the streets +of the "fine, strong little town," lost in wonder at +the splendour of the palace, the prosperity of the +citizens, and their affection for the ducal family. +More than all he was struck by the young Duke himself, +who appeared to him "the handsomest and +cleverest boy in the world," and who evidently made +the same impression on the King. Henry paid the +Duchess many compliments on her son's good looks +and intelligence, and expressed so much pleasure at +his reception that her worst alarms were allayed. +Late in the same evening she wrote a letter to her +aunt, telling her of the kind expressions used by His +Majesty, and of her hopes that all might yet be well. +But a rude awakening was in store for her. Early +on Good Friday morning Vaudemont appeared at +the door of her room with consternation written on +his face. The King had sent him to inform the +Duchess that her son was to leave Nancy the next +day for Bar, in charge of one of the King's captains, +while she was deprived of all share in the government, +which was henceforth to be administered by Vaudemont +as sole Regent. On receiving this unexpected +message, Christina hastily summoned as many +members of the Council as could be brought together, +and with their help and her brother-in-law's support, +drew up a protest couched in respectful and dignified +language, reminding the King of the terms of the +late Duke's will, and of her own rights both as +mother and Regent. Henry's only reply to this +appeal was to send the Duchess a copy of the +agreement to which she was expected to conform. +It was as follows:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 641px;"> +<img src="images/facing364.jpg" width="641" height="399" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>PALAIS DUCAL, NANCY (1627)</p> + +<p><i>To face p.</i> <a href="#Page_364">364</a></p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1552</span>] CHRISTINA'S DISTRESS</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Duke is to start to-morrow for Bar before +the King leaves Nancy. His mother may accompany +him, or go elsewhere, if she prefers. She may retain +the administration of her son's property, but will no +longer have any authority over the fortresses in Lorraine. +All subjects of the Emperor who hold any +office in the government or in the Duke's household +are commanded to leave Lorraine without delay. A +French garrison of 600 men will be left in Nancy under +Monsieur de Thou, but Monsieur de Vaudemont will +remain Governor of the city, and take an oath to observe +the conditions laid down by the King. A French +garrison of 300 men will also be placed in Stenay +under the Sieur de Parroy."<a name="FNanchor_458" id="FNanchor_458"></a><a href="#Footnote_458" class="fnanchor">[458]</a></p></div> + +<p>These hard conditions filled Christina with dismay. +She begged the Cardinal to defend her rights, but he +could only advise her to submit to the inevitable. +Both he and Francis of Guise have often been blamed +for not opposing Henry II.'s arbitrary proceedings, +but there seems little doubt that the King originally +intended to reduce Lorraine from the rank of an independent +State to that of a fief of the Crown, and +that it was only the opposition of the Guises which +saved the duchy from this fate. In her despair +Christina made a last attempt to soften the King's +heart. Clad in her black robes and flowing white +veil, she entered the Galerie des Cerfs, where Henry +and his courtiers were assembled, and, throwing +herself on her knees at the King's feet, implored +him, for the love of Christ who died on the cross +that day, to have pity upon an unhappy mother. +The sight of her distress, and the touching words +in which she begged the King to take everything +else, but allow her to keep her son, moved all +hearts, and there was not a dry eye in the whole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> +assembly. Even Henry was filled with compassion, +and, raising the Duchess from her knees, he +assured her that he only wished to confirm the +friendship between the two houses. Far from intending +any harm to the young Duke, he proposed +to bring him up with his children, and to treat him +as if he were his own son, but Lorraine was too +near the frontiers of Germany, and too much exposed +to attacks from his enemies, for him to be +able to leave the boy there. With these consoling +words, he took the weeping Duchess by the hand and +led her to the doors of the gallery, but, as Anne afterwards +told the Queen of Hungary, the King vouchsafed +no reply to her sister's entreaty that she might +not be deprived of her boy, and Christina's prayer +remained unanswered.<a name="FNanchor_459" id="FNanchor_459"></a><a href="#Footnote_459" class="fnanchor">[459]</a></p> + +<p>Early the next morning Vaudemont and the Councillors +renewed their oaths of allegiance to Duke +Charles III., after which the young Prince left Nancy +in charge of the French captain Bourdillon and an +escort of fifty men-at-arms. The parting between +the Duchess and her son was heartrending. The +poor mother gave way to passionate tears, in which +she was joined not only by Vaudemont and Anne, +but by all the nobles and people who had assembled +at the palace gates to see the last of their beloved +Duke. Nothing but the sound of weeping and +lamentation was to be heard, and Rabutin, with +all his hatred of the House of Austria, was filled +with compassion at the sight of the Duchess's +grief.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1552</span>] CAPTURE OF THE YOUNG DUKE</div> + +<p>On Easter Day Christina wrote the following letter +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span>to her aunt, enclosing a copy of the articles drawn up +by the French King:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Madame</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"The extreme grief and distress which the +King's violence has caused me prevents me from +writing to you as fully as the occasion requires; but +I must tell you what has happened since my last +letter, in which I told you of the King's arrival. +Now, in reward for the good cheer which I made him, +he has carried off my son by force, with a violence +which could not have been greater if I had been a +slave. Not content with this, he has deprived me +of the chief part of my authority, so that I can hardly +remain here with honour and reputation, and, what +is worse, I shall no longer have the power of doing +Your Majesty service, which is one of my greatest +regrets. Have pity, Madame, on a poor mother, +whose son has been torn from her arms, as you will +see more fully by this copy of the King's final resolutions, +which he has sent me in writing. These have +been carried out in every particular. Before he left, my +brother, Monsieur de Vaudemont, and all the members +of the Council, except myself, were made to take an +oath, pledging themselves to defend the strong places +in this land against all his enemies, and to open their +gates to him whenever required. The same oath was +taken by the garrison who are to guard this town, +and I was asked to give up the keys of the postern +gate. So that I, who was first here, and could once +serve Your Majesty, am now deprived of all power, +and am little better than a slave. I foresee that I +shall soon be stripped of everything, in spite of the +treaties and agreements formerly made between Your +Majesties and this State. This ill-treatment and the +evident wish shown by the French that I should +leave this house have made me decide to retire to +Blamont, where I will await Your Majesty's advice +as to my future action.... I must warn Your +Majesty, with regard to Stenay, that the new Captain, +Sieur du Parroy, although of Lorraine birth, belongs +to the King's household, and is devoted to French +interests, as is also the second in command. Madame,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> +I have written all this to the Emperor, but he is so +far away and in so remote a place that I felt I must +also tell Your Majesty what had happened here, +begging her humbly to let me know her good pleasure.</p> + +<p class="right"> +"Your humble and obedient niece,<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Chrestienne</span>.<br /> +</p> + +<p>"Nancy, April 17, 1552."<a name="FNanchor_460" id="FNanchor_460"></a><a href="#Footnote_460" class="fnanchor">[460]</a></p></div> + +<p>The letter which Anne addressed to the Queen the +next day is still more graphic in the details it supplies:</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1552</span>] THE DUKE AT JOINVILLE</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I cannot help writing to inform you, Madame, of +the utter desolation and misery to which my poor +sister is reduced owing to the great rudeness and +cruelty with which she was treated by the King of +France on Good Friday. He came here under pretence +of good faith and true friendship, as he had +lately given us to understand. On his arrival he +was received with all possible honour and entertained +in the most hospitable manner. On Good Friday +he told Madame that, in order to satisfy the conditions +of his league with the Germans, he must secure all +the fortified posts in Lorraine, as well as the Duke's +person, and with this end must take him to Bar. In +order to prevent this, Madame, Monsieur de Vaudemont +and I, with all the members of the Council, drew up +a remonstrance couched in the most humble terms, +to which he only replied by sending us a written copy +of his resolutions. Upon this my sister went to find +him in the Grande Galerie, and begged him humbly, +even going as far as to fall on her knees to implore +him, for the love of God, not to take her son away +from her. He made no reply, and, to make an end +of the story, Madame, on Easter Eve they took the +boy, escorted by a band of armed men, in charge of +the Sieur de Bourdillon and the Maréchal de St. +André, who did not leave his side until he had seen +him well out of the town. It was indeed a piteous +thing to see his poor mother, Monsieur de Vaudemont, +and all the nobles and this poor people, in tears +and lamentation at his departure. Madame, Your +Majesty can imagine the terrible grief of my poor +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span>sister at this outrage, and will understand that her +sorrow at losing her son is still so great that I have +been obliged to abandon my intention of returning +home, and feel that I cannot leave her. The King +allows her to keep the charge of her daughters and +the administration of her children's estates, excepting +in the case of the fortified towns, which remain in +the hands of Monsieur de Vaudemont.... And since, +Madame, I am still as ever very anxious to do Your +Majesty service, I beg you to lay your commands +upon me, and they will be obeyed by one who is the +most affectionate servant that Your Majesty will ever +have.</p> + +<p class="right"> +"<span class="smcap">Anne de Lorraine</span>.</p> +<p> +"From Nancy, the day after Easter,<br /> +April 18."<a name="FNanchor_461" id="FNanchor_461"></a><a href="#Footnote_461" class="fnanchor">[461]</a><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>In a postscript Anne further informed Mary that +her sister had just received a letter from the King, +telling her that, hearing an attempt would be made +to carry off the young Duke, he had ordered Bourdillon +to take him to join the Queen at Joinville. +Henry's letter was written from Pont-à-Mousson, +where he spent Easter Day, after sleeping at the +Duke's country-house at Condé on Saturday:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">My Sister</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"After leaving you I received warnings from +several quarters that the Burgundians were going to +make an attempt to surprise Bar and carry off my +cousin, the Duke of Lorraine; and as I am anxious to +prevent this, I ordered Monsieur de Bourdillon to take +him straight to Joinville, which is sufficiently remote +to escape this danger, and where both you and he would +be quite at home in his own family. And you will +find good company there and be given the best of +cheer, just as if I were there myself. I hope, my +sister, that this may be agreeable to you, and that +you will believe that my anxiety for his person is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span>the reason why I wish to avoid any risk of injury, +which would be a cause of grave displeasure to those +who love him, as you and I do. Farewell, my sister, +and may God have you in His holy keeping.</p> + +<p class="right"> +"Your good brother,<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Henry</span>.</p> +<p> +"Written at Pont-à-Mousson,<br /> +April 17, 1552."<a name="FNanchor_462" id="FNanchor_462"></a><a href="#Footnote_462" class="fnanchor">[462]</a><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>The tone of the letter was kind. Henry had evidently +been touched by Christina's distress, and tried +to soften the blow. Fortunately, the little Duke +himself was too young to realize the meaning of these +startling events. The ride to Joinville and the +welcome which he received from the kind old Duchess +amused him, but at bedtime he missed the familiar +faces, and asked for his mother and tutor, Monsieur +de Montbardon. When he was told that they had +stayed at Nancy, the poor child burst into incontrollable +sobs, and refused to be comforted.<a name="FNanchor_463" id="FNanchor_463"></a><a href="#Footnote_463" class="fnanchor">[463]</a></p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1552</span>] CHRISTINA AT DENŒUVRE</div> + +<p>The invasion of Lorraine and the harsh treatment +which the Duchess suffered at the French King's +hands were keenly resented by her imperial relatives. +Mary wrote indignantly to Charles at Innsbruck, complaining +justly of Henry's violation of the neutrality +of Lorraine and of the young Duke's<a name="FNanchor_464" id="FNanchor_464"></a><a href="#Footnote_464" class="fnanchor">[464]</a> capture. +To Christina herself she expressed her anger at the +King's wicked act, at the same time advising her to +bow to the storm and retire to Blamont for the present. +This the Duchess did three days after her son's +departure, taking the two Princesses as well as her +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span>faithful sister-in-law. Anne's pen was never idle, and +on the following Sunday—that of <i>Pâques-fleuries</i>—she +sent the Queen a list of all the Princes who were +members of the League. But they had not been many +days at Blamont, when their peace was disturbed by +the arrival of the French King and the Constable, +who, after taking possession of Metz, marched through +the Vosges on their way to Strasburg, and took up +their quarters in the castle. The Duchesses left +hurriedly to avoid another meeting with the King, +and moved to Denœuvre, where they remained during +the next three months. But the strain of recent +events had been too much for Christina's strength; +she became seriously ill, and her condition was a +grave cause of anxiety to Anne and her ladies.</p> + +<p>Count Stroppiana, who heard the details of the +French invasion from Belloni's own lips at Innsbruck, +wrote the following account of the Duchess's wrongs +to his master, the Duke of Savoy:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The King of France, we hear, has occupied Lorraine, +and sent the young Duke to Châlons, guarded +by 100 men-at-arms, contrary to the promises which +he made to the Duchess his mother. She threw herself +at his feet, imploring him not to rob her of her +son, her only joy and consolation, without whom she +could not bear to live, with many other words which +would have moved the hardest heart to pity. The +King would not listen, and repulsed her with many +rough words, forbidding any of the Emperor's subjects +to remain in her service on pain of death. He +has deprived her of the Regency, and relegated her to +a remote country place, where she does nothing but +weep and lament, and will certainly die before long, +if her great sorrow is not comforted, as she has been +ill for some time past. The poor little Duke is said +to be ill, too. When he reached the first stage of his +journey, he asked for his mother and tutor, and, when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> +he did not see them, wept so bitterly that it was +impossible to comfort him."<a name="FNanchor_465" id="FNanchor_465"></a><a href="#Footnote_465" class="fnanchor">[465]</a></p></div> + +<p>The boy's tears were soon dried, and he recovered +his spirits in the charge of the Duke of Longueville's +old tutor, Jean de la Brousse, and the companionship +of the royal children. His mother remained long +inconsolable for his loss, but the affection of her son's +subjects was her best solace. So earnest were their +entreaties that she should remain among them that +she declined her aunt's urgent invitation to take +refuge in Flanders, and decided to stay at Denœuvre. +On the 31st of May she wrote as follows to inform +the Emperor of her intention:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Monseigneur</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"At the prayer of my brother Monsieur de +Vaudemont, and my sister the Duchess of Aerschot, +and the earnest desire of my good people, I have been +bold enough to remain here, although Your Majesty +had sent me orders to join the Queens. I trust you +will not take this in bad part, but will understand +that I have only done this at the urgent prayer of +my brother and sister, and not out of disrespect to +your command, since my sole desire is to obey you +all my life, and I beg you to believe this and remember +my son and his poor country.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 14em;">"Your humble niece and servant,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 24.5em;">"<span class="smcap">Chrestienne</span>.</span></p> +<p> +"From Denœuvre, May 31, 1552."<a name="FNanchor_466" id="FNanchor_466"></a><a href="#Footnote_466" class="fnanchor">[466]</a><br /> +</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">July, 1552</span>] CHRISTINA BANISHED</div> + +<p>This letter found the Emperor at the lowest depth +of his fortunes. On the 19th of May he was carried +in his litter by torchlight over the Brenner in torrents +of driving rain, and hardly paused till he arrived at +Villach in Carinthia. A few hours after he left Innsbruck, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span>Maurice and his troopers entered the town, +plundered the Emperor's quarters, and robbed the +baggage which had been forgotten in his hasty departure. +The victor might easily have captured the +fugitive Emperor, but, as Maurice said himself, he had +no cage for so fine a bird.</p> + +<p>The tide, however, was already turning. Strasburg +closed her gates against the French invaders, and +early in May an Imperial army attacked Champagne +and sent Queen Catherine flying in terror from +Reims. Alarmed by these reports, Henry beat a +hasty retreat, and contented himself with the empty +boast that he had watered his horses in the Rhine. +The seat of the war was now transferred to Luxembourg, +and Lorraine was once more harassed by the +outposts of the two contending armies. From their +safe retreat at Denœuvre, Christina and Anne +watched the course of the campaign anxiously, and +kept up a constant correspondence with Mary of +Hungary. The bold measure of placing an Imperialist +garrison in Nancy was now proposed by the Duchess, +and gladly accepted by her uncle, who realized the +advantages of the scheme, and wrote that Lorraine +might well be occupied, on the ground of the Duke's +detention, and would be restored to him as soon as +he was released.<a name="FNanchor_467" id="FNanchor_467"></a><a href="#Footnote_467" class="fnanchor">[467]</a> Early in July, Christina's trusted +servant, Bassompierre, the Bailiff of the Vosges, +arrived at Denœuvre with a message from Vaudemont, +promising to admit the Imperialist force within the +gates of Nancy on condition that the occupation was +only temporary. The Duchess promptly sent a +lackey to Flanders with a cipher letter to inform the +Queen of his consent. But, as ill-luck would have it, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span>the servant fell into the hands of the French, who +were besieging Luxembourg, and he was brought +before the King and forced to confess the object of +his errand. Henry was furious at discovering the +plot, and sent a gentleman of his household, Monsieur +de Rostain, to Denœuvre, with a letter to the Duchess, +saying that he feared her attachment to the Emperor +was greater than her maternal love, and desired her +to leave Lorraine without delay. Christina sent one of +her gentlemen, Monsieur de Doulans, back with Rostain +to protest against this order, saying that, after robbing +her of her son and depriving her of the Regency, the +King would surely not be so cruel as to drive her out +of her own dower-house, especially as Denœuvre was +a fief of the Empire. But these passionate appeals +availed her little. A week later Henry sent another +gentleman, Monsieur de Fontaine, to order the Duchess +to leave Denœuvre immediately, if she did not wish to +feel the full weight of his displeasure. This time the +messenger had orders not to return to the King's +presence until he had seen the Duchess across the +frontier. So with a heavy heart the two Princesses +left the land of Lorraine, where they were both so +fondly beloved, and took refuge in Alsace. Belloni, +who sent the Queen an account of his mistress's +latest troubles in his clear Italian handwriting, was +desired to tell her aunt that the Duchess had many +more things of importance to say, but must wait for a +more convenient season. Only one thing she must add, +and this was that through all Monsieur de Vaudemont +had remained perfectly true and loyal to her, although +he was compelled by his office to conform outwardly +to the French King's tyranny.<a name="FNanchor_468" id="FNanchor_468"></a><a href="#Footnote_468" class="fnanchor">[468]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1552</span>] BELLONI'S END</div> + +<p>On receiving this bad news, Mary sent to beg her +niece to come to Flanders without delay, promising the +Duchess a home for herself and her little daughters. +Unfortunately, as Christina found, this was no easy +task. Not only was the whole countryside in peril +of daily attacks from the French, but the Marquis +Albert had descended like a whirlwind from the +Suabian hills, and was spreading terror and destruction +along the banks of the Rhine. The next letter +which she addressed to her aunt from the imperial +city of Schlettstadt, where she had sought refuge, +gives vent to these alarms:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">Madame</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"I received the kind and loving letter which +Your Majesty was so good as to send me on the 6th +of August. It came at the right moment, for I can +assure you that I was sorely troubled, but Your +Majesty's kindness in saying that I shall be welcome +has done me so much good that I feel I do not know +how to thank you enough, and am only sorry I cannot +set out at once. For the roads are very dangerous, +above all for children.... Your Majesty will understand +how distressed I shall be until I can find some +way of coming to you, and certainly one year will +seem to me a hundred, until I am with Your Majesty +once more."<a name="FNanchor_469" id="FNanchor_469"></a><a href="#Footnote_469" class="fnanchor">[469]</a></p></div> + +<p>This grateful letter was written from Schlettstadt +on the 22nd of August, and sent to Brussels by Niccolò +Belloni, the only messenger whom Christina felt +that she could trust. But fresh trouble awaited her +in this direction. Belloni reached Flanders safely, +and came back to Lorraine with letters to the Count +and Countess of Vaudemont, but disappeared in +some mysterious manner two days after he reached<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> +Nancy. It seems doubtful whether he died of the +plague, as Massimo del Pero wrote to his friend +Innocenzo Gadio, or whether he fell into some ambush +and was slain by the enemy's hand. The loss +was a great one to the Duchess, whom he had served +so faithfully and well for the past sixteen years, and +the honest Milanese was lamented by all his colleagues. +Innocenzo Gadio, sent the sad news to the +Princess of Macedonia's daughter, Dejanira, the wife of +Count Gaspare Trivulzio, who had formerly received +Christina in his castle at Codogno. The Countess expressed +her sympathy with her dearest Messer Innocenzo +in the warmest terms.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I am sure," she wrote, "that the death of so +beloved a friend will cause my mother the greatest +sorrow. When you return to Lorraine," she adds, +"please kiss Her Excellency's hands for me, and tell +her that the sufferings which she has undergone in +those parts grieve me to the bottom of my soul; and +tell her too that we, her servants in this country, +shall always be ready to risk our lives and all that +we have in her service."</p> + +<p class="right"> +"<span class="smcap">Dejanira, Contessa Trivulzio.</span></p> +<p> +"From Codogno, September 29, 1552."<a name="FNanchor_470" id="FNanchor_470"></a><a href="#Footnote_470" class="fnanchor">[470]</a><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>There were still faithful hearts in this far-off land +who never forgot the Duchess whom they had known +in early youth, and who followed her fortunes with +tender sympathy and affection.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1552</span>] AT HOH-KÖNIGSBERG</div> + +<p>But now help came to the sorely-tried Princess +from an unexpected quarter. The Marquis Albert +had haughtily declined to take any part in the conference +that was being held at Passau between King +Ferdinand and Maurice of Saxony, or to be included +in the treaty which was signed between the Emperor +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span>and the Elector on the 15th of August. Instead of +laying down his arms, he chose to continue his reckless +course, and marched through the Rhineland +plundering towns and burning villages, "making +war," wrote an eyewitness, "as if he were the devil +himself."<a name="FNanchor_471" id="FNanchor_471"></a><a href="#Footnote_471" class="fnanchor">[471]</a> But when he reached Treves he heard of +the Duchess's expulsion from Lorraine and her distressed +condition, and, with a touch of the old chivalry +that made him dear to women, he promptly sent to +offer her shelter in his castle of Hoh-Königsberg, the +strongest and finest citadel in the Vosges. Christina +accepted the offer gratefully, and during the next +few weeks the red sandstone fortress which still +crowns the heights above Schlettstadt became her +abode. She was there still when the Emperor made +his way from Augsburg to the banks of the Rhine, +at the head of a formidable army.</p> + +<p>On the 7th of September he entered Strasburg; on +the 15th he crossed the river and encamped at +Landau. A week before he sent one of his bravest +Burgundian captains, Ferry de Carondelet, to visit +her at Hoh-Königsberg and invite her to visit him +in the camp.<a name="FNanchor_472" id="FNanchor_472"></a><a href="#Footnote_472" class="fnanchor">[472]</a> Christina obeyed the summons joyfully, +and a few days after the Emperor reached Landau +she and Anne of Aerschot made their way by +the Rhine to the imperial camp. The Prince of Piedmont +rode out to meet them, and Anne's kinsfolk, +Egmont and d'Aremberg joined with Emanuel +Philibert and Ferrante Gonzaga in welcoming the +distressed ladies and condoling with them on the +terrors and hardships which they had undergone. +Only one thing grieved Christina. The Emperor firmly +refused to admit her trusted Councillor, Bassompierre, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span>into his presence, being convinced that he had betrayed +his mistress and played into the French King's +hands. Nothing that she could say altered his +opinion in this respect, and she thought it wiser to +send the Bailiff to Nancy, where he was able to watch +over her interests and send reports to the Queen of +Hungary.<a name="FNanchor_473" id="FNanchor_473"></a><a href="#Footnote_473" class="fnanchor">[473]</a></p> + +<p>Charles was suffering from gout and fever, and +Christina was shocked to see his altered appearance. +The fatigues and anxieties of the last few months had +left their mark upon him. His face was pale and +worn, his hands thin and bloodless, and he spoke +with difficulty owing to the soreness of his mouth +and the leaf which he kept between his lips to relieve +their dryness. Only his eyes kept the old fire, and +no one could divine the thoughts which lay hidden +under the mask-like face. As Morosyne wrote after +an interview which he had with the Emperor about +this time: "He maketh me think of Solomon's saying: +'Heaven is high, the earth is deep, and a king's +heart is unsearchable.'"<a name="FNanchor_474" id="FNanchor_474"></a><a href="#Footnote_474" class="fnanchor">[474]</a> But he was full of kindness +for Christina, telling her that she and her children +would always find a home at Brussels. Since, however, +her cousin of Guise had entrenched himself in Metz +and the country round was swarming with soldiery, he +advised her to remain at Heidelberg for the present.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Nov., 1552</span>] CHARLES. V. AND ALBERT</div> + +<p>The Duchess obeyed this advice and retired to her +brother-in-law's Court. The Palatine was growing +old, his beard had turned white and his strength +began to fail, but his influence was as great as ever +in Germany. Morosyne, who met him at Spires, pronounced +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span>him to be the wisest and best of all the +Electors, and was touched by the affection with which +he spoke of the late King Henry VIII., declaring that +his shirt never lay so near his skin as King Edward's +noble father lay near his heart. The Ambassador's +secretary, Roger Ascham, made friends with Hubert, +who sent him long dissertations on the pronunciation +of Greek, and invited him to Heidelberg. Now +Frederic and his wife welcomed the Duchess and her +children with their wonted hospitality, and insisted +on keeping them until the end of the year; but Christina's +heart was with her poor subjects, who suffered +severely from the ravages of the war. From Nancy, +Bassompierre sent word that the Marquis Albert had +suddenly deserted his French allies, and had captured +Aumale and carried him in triumph to the imperial +camp before Metz.<a name="FNanchor_475" id="FNanchor_475"></a><a href="#Footnote_475" class="fnanchor">[475]</a></p> + +<p>Here, on the 20th of November, Charles came face +to face with the man who had wronged him so deeply. +"God knows what I feel," he wrote to Mary, "at +having to make friends with the Marquis Albert, but +necessity knows no law."<a name="FNanchor_476" id="FNanchor_476"></a><a href="#Footnote_476" class="fnanchor">[476]</a> At least, he accepted the +situation with a good grace. Morosyne was present +when the Emperor came riding into the camp on a +great white horse of Naples breed, and, seeing Albert, +took his hand with a gracious smile, and shook it +warmly twice or thrice.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Marquis fixed his eyes fast on the Emperor's +countenance, as one that meant to see what thoughts +his looks betrayed. When he saw that all was well, +or at least could not see but all seemed well, he spake +a few words, which His Majesty seemed to take in +very good part."</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span></p> + +<p>Calling a page to his side, he took a red scarf, the +Imperialist badge, from his hands, and gave it to the +Marquis. Albert received it with deep reverence, +saying that he had not fared badly when he wore +these colours before, and trusted the Emperor's gift +would bring him the same good fortune as of old.<a name="FNanchor_477" id="FNanchor_477"></a><a href="#Footnote_477" class="fnanchor">[477]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1553</span>] THE EMPEROR TO RETURN</div> + +<p>The return of the wanderer saved Charles from +utter ruin. His affairs were still going badly. Vieilleville, +the French Governor of Verdun, seized the boats +laden with provisions for the imperial camp, which +Christina had sent down the Rhine, and laid violent +hands on six waggons of choice fruits, wines, and +cakes, which were despatched from Nancy for her +uncle's table. Worse than this, he contrived to +enter Pont-à-Mousson, which Fabrizio Colonna held, +disguised as a messenger from the Duchess, and +obtained possession of this important place by +stratagem.<a name="FNanchor_478" id="FNanchor_478"></a><a href="#Footnote_478" class="fnanchor">[478]</a> The valour of Guise and the strong +fortifications of Metz were proof against the reckless +courage of Albert and the might of the imperial +army. The heavy rains and biting cold of an +early winter increased the sufferings of the troops, +and, after losing half his army by famine and dysentery, +Charles was compelled to raise the siege at the +New Year. "Fortune is a woman," he remarked to +one of his captains; "she abandons the old, and keeps +her smiles for young men."<a name="FNanchor_479" id="FNanchor_479"></a><a href="#Footnote_479" class="fnanchor">[479]</a> In this forced retreat +the Marquis performed prodigies of valour, and succeeded +in bringing his guns safely over roads rendered +impassable by a sudden thaw. The bulk of the army +was dismissed, only the veteran Spanish and German +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span>forces being quartered in Artois and Luxembourg, +and Charles himself set out for Brussels. His failing +strength compelled him to halt on the way, and +Morosyne gave it as his opinion that the Emperor +would never reach the end of his journey alive. But +his spirit was indomitable as ever, and on Sunday, +the 6th of February, he entered Brussels in an open +litter, amid scenes of the wildest enthusiasm.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"To-day," wrote the Ambassador of Savoy, "I +have witnessed the safe arrival of the Emperor. He +was received with the greatest transports of joy and +delight by the whole people, who feared that he was +dead and that they would never see him again."</p></div> + +<p>And Charles himself wrote to Ferdinand that, now +he was once more in his native land and in the company +of his beloved sisters, he would soon recover +his health.<a name="FNanchor_480" id="FNanchor_480"></a><a href="#Footnote_480" class="fnanchor">[480]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_445" id="Footnote_445"></a><a href="#FNanchor_445"><span class="label">[445]</span></a> Granvelle, iii. 630; Henne, ix. 162; T. Juste, 185.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_446" id="Footnote_446"></a><a href="#FNanchor_446"><span class="label">[446]</span></a> Ascham, ii. 313; Papiers d'État, viii., Archives du Royaume, +Bruxelles.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_447" id="Footnote_447"></a><a href="#FNanchor_447"><span class="label">[447]</span></a> Lanz, iii. 75; Granvelle, iii. 527.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_448" id="Footnote_448"></a><a href="#FNanchor_448"><span class="label">[448]</span></a> Pimodan, 375, 381.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_449" id="Footnote_449"></a><a href="#FNanchor_449"><span class="label">[449]</span></a> Lettres des Seigneurs, iii. 104, Archives du Royaume, +Bruxelles.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_450" id="Footnote_450"></a><a href="#FNanchor_450"><span class="label">[450]</span></a> Lettres des Seigneurs, iii. 90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_451" id="Footnote_451"></a><a href="#FNanchor_451"><span class="label">[451]</span></a> Bulletins, etc., série 2, xii. 189.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_452" id="Footnote_452"></a><a href="#FNanchor_452"><span class="label">[452]</span></a> Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 108; Granvelle, iii. 613.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_453" id="Footnote_453"></a><a href="#FNanchor_453"><span class="label">[453]</span></a> Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 42, 108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_454" id="Footnote_454"></a><a href="#FNanchor_454"><span class="label">[454]</span></a> Calmet, ii. 1290; F. de Rabutin, "Collection de Mémoires," +xxxvii. 185.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_455" id="Footnote_455"></a><a href="#FNanchor_455"><span class="label">[455]</span></a> Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_456" id="Footnote_456"></a><a href="#FNanchor_456"><span class="label">[456]</span></a> A. de Ruble, "La Jeunesse de Marie Stuart," 73.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_457" id="Footnote_457"></a><a href="#FNanchor_457"><span class="label">[457]</span></a> Calmet, ii. 1199.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_458" id="Footnote_458"></a><a href="#FNanchor_458"><span class="label">[458]</span></a> Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 101, f. 320.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_459" id="Footnote_459"></a><a href="#FNanchor_459"><span class="label">[459]</span></a> Calmet, ii. 1300; Pfister, ii. 188; Brantôme, xii. 110; Lettres +des Seigneurs, iv. 101; Ravold, iii. 780.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_460" id="Footnote_460"></a><a href="#FNanchor_460"><span class="label">[460]</span></a> Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 101, f. 320.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_461" id="Footnote_461"></a><a href="#FNanchor_461"><span class="label">[461]</span></a> Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 101, f. 330 (see Appendix).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_462" id="Footnote_462"></a><a href="#FNanchor_462"><span class="label">[462]</span></a> Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 101, f. 319.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_463" id="Footnote_463"></a><a href="#FNanchor_463"><span class="label">[463]</span></a> Bulletins de la Commission d'Histoire, série 2, xii. 213.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_464" id="Footnote_464"></a><a href="#FNanchor_464"><span class="label">[464]</span></a> Bucholtz, ix. 539.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_465" id="Footnote_465"></a><a href="#FNanchor_465"><span class="label">[465]</span></a> Bulletins, etc., série 2, xii. 213.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_466" id="Footnote_466"></a><a href="#FNanchor_466"><span class="label">[466]</span></a> Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 102, f. 127 (see Appendix); +Lanz, iii. 208.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_467" id="Footnote_467"></a><a href="#FNanchor_467"><span class="label">[467]</span></a> Bucholtz, ix. 543; Bulletins, 2, xii. 191.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_468" id="Footnote_468"></a><a href="#FNanchor_468"><span class="label">[468]</span></a> Lettres des Seigneurs, vii. 603.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_469" id="Footnote_469"></a><a href="#FNanchor_469"><span class="label">[469]</span></a> Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 103, f. 348.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_470" id="Footnote_470"></a><a href="#FNanchor_470"><span class="label">[470]</span></a> Manuscript 18, Biblioteca Cavagna Sangiuliani, Zelada (see +Appendix).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_471" id="Footnote_471"></a><a href="#FNanchor_471"><span class="label">[471]</span></a> Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 518 (see Appendix).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_472" id="Footnote_472"></a><a href="#FNanchor_472"><span class="label">[472]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, iv. 103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_473" id="Footnote_473"></a><a href="#FNanchor_473"><span class="label">[473]</span></a> Bulletins de la Commission d'Histoire, série 2, xii. 232; +Lettres des Seigneurs, iv. 518.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_474" id="Footnote_474"></a><a href="#FNanchor_474"><span class="label">[474]</span></a> "Hardwicke Papers," i. 55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_475" id="Footnote_475"></a><a href="#FNanchor_475"><span class="label">[475]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Foreign, Edward VI., 230.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_476" id="Footnote_476"></a><a href="#FNanchor_476"><span class="label">[476]</span></a> Lanz, iii. 513.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_477" id="Footnote_477"></a><a href="#FNanchor_477"><span class="label">[477]</span></a> Voigt, ii. 9, 10; P. F. Tytler, "England under Edward VI.," +144.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_478" id="Footnote_478"></a><a href="#FNanchor_478"><span class="label">[478]</span></a> Vieilleville, 161, 176.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_479" id="Footnote_479"></a><a href="#FNanchor_479"><span class="label">[479]</span></a> Calmet, ii. 338.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_480" id="Footnote_480"></a><a href="#FNanchor_480"><span class="label">[480]</span></a> Bulletins, etc., série 2, xii. 238; State Papers, Edward VI., +Foreign, 236, 243; Lanz, iii. 542.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span></p></div></div> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>BOOK XI<br /> + +CHRISTINA AT BRUSSELS<br /> + +1553-1559</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>Christina was at Brussels on the memorable day +when the Emperor set foot once more on his native +soil. She heard the shouts of joy which rent the +air, and joined with the Queens in the welcome which +greeted him on the threshold of his palace. Early +in January she had left Heidelberg and travelled +safely down the Rhine and through the friendly states +of her Cleves cousins to Brussels. Here she occupied +the suite of rooms where she had lived +before her second marriage, and to a large extent +resumed her former habits. She spent much of her +time with her aunts and the Duchess of Aerschot, +and renewed her old friendship with Countess d'Aremberg +and other ladies of the Court. The deepest +sympathy was felt for her by all classes, and when +Charles addressed the States-General on the 13th of +February, and alluded to the treachery of the French +in carrying off the young Duke of Lorraine and driving +his mother out of the realm, his words provoked an +outburst of tumultuous indignation.<a name="FNanchor_481" id="FNanchor_481"></a><a href="#Footnote_481" class="fnanchor">[481]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1553</span>] CHRISTINA'S SUITORS</div> + +<p>Through her brother-in-law Vaudemont she still +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span>maintained close relations with Lorraine, while the +Cardinal kept her informed of all that concerned her +son, and the boy's own letters satisfied her that he was +well and happy at the French Court. But although +Charles shared all the advantages enjoyed by the +King's children, and soon became a general favourite +in the royal family, it was bitter for the Duchess to +feel that her only son was growing up, in a foreign +land, among the hereditary foes of her race. The +restoration of peace between Charles and Henry +was the only means by which she could hope to +recover her lost child, and this became the goal of +all her efforts during the six years that she spent in +exile.</p> + +<p>The Widow of Milan had been courted by Kings and +Princes, and hardly was Christina settled at Brussels +before she was assailed by fresh offers of marriage. +Henry, King of Navarre, whose accomplished wife +had died soon after her daughter's marriage, asked +the Emperor for his niece's hand, but his proposals +met with small favour. Far more serious was the +courtship of Albert of Brandenburg, who felt this to +be a favourable moment for renewing his old suit. +"No one," as Thomas Hoby wrote, "had done the +Emperor worthier or more faithful service" in the +siege of Metz, and was better entitled to reward. His +claims were strongly supported by the Palatine, who +invited the Marquis to Heidelberg to confer with the +other German Princes on the best means of recovering +Metz. Albert himself not only aspired to the +Duchess's hand, but to the Duke of Alva's post of +Commander-in-Chief, and boasted that once Christina +was his bride he would easily recover her father's +kingdoms.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"It is supposed," wrote Morosyne from Brussels +on the 20th of February, "that the Marquis will +marry the Duchess of Lorraine and have Alva's place. +The Palsgrave would fain it were so, in order that, if +the Marquis married his wife's sister, he might help +him to recover Denmark; for besides that a slender +title is apt to set such a one to work, he should, by +being married to the Emperor's niece, and afterwards +coming, when his uncle died, to the duchy of Prussia, +be able easily to trouble Denmark. The Marquis +doth much desire it, for that the Duke of Holstein has +been and is a great suitor to the Duchess, who was +once so nigh marrying the Marquis Albert's sister that +the contracts were drawn up and put into writing, but +broke it off upon sight of the Duchess of Lorraine. +The Palsgrave would rather any did marry with her +than the Duke of Holstein, for that his brother, King +Christian, keeps his wife's father in prison. And the +Emperor, it is held certain, will help it, in order that +he may by this means trouble Denmark, which he has +never had leisure to trouble himself."<a name="FNanchor_482" id="FNanchor_482"></a><a href="#Footnote_482" class="fnanchor">[482]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1553</span>] PHILIP HOBY'S AUDIENCE</div> + +<p>Whatever her relatives may have thought of the +Marquis's suit, Christina herself never considered it +seriously, and told the Palatine plainly that such a +marriage was out of the question. The Marquis +vented his anger on the Emperor, and left Heidelberg +in high displeasure, without taking leave of the Palatine +or anyone else. Hot words passed between him +and Maurice, and these two Princes, who had once been +the closest friends, were henceforth bitter enemies. +Albert returned to his life of raids and plunder, +and when, soon afterwards, he was placed under +the ban of the Empire, Maurice led an army against +him. A fiercely-contested battle was fought on the +9th of July at Sievershausen, in which Albert was +completely routed and Maurice lost his life. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span>Marquis was deprived of fortune and patrimony, his +ancestral home of Plassenburg was burnt to the +ground, and after leading a roving life for some years, +and wandering from one Court to another, he died in +the house of his brother-in-law, the Margrave of +Baden, on the 8th of January, 1557. So in exile and +poverty this brave and brilliant adventurer ended his +career, before he had completed his thirty-fifth year.<a name="FNanchor_483" id="FNanchor_483"></a><a href="#Footnote_483" class="fnanchor">[483]</a></p> + +<p>While the Palatine was holding vain conferences at +Heidelberg, and the Marquis and Duke Adolf were +still quarrelling for the Duchess's hand, she herself was +endeavouring to open negotiations with the French +King through Bassompierre and Vaudemont. But +nothing would induce Henry to give up Metz, and in +April war was renewed with fresh vigour. The young +Prince of Piedmont, who succeeded the unpopular +Alva in command of the imperial army, won a series +of victories, and razed the forts of Thérouenne and +Hesdin to the ground. But the Emperor was too ill +to take part in the campaign or even to give audiences. +Sir Philip Hoby, who now succeeded Morosyne, +actually believed him to be dead, until De Courrières +came to dine with his English friends, and assured +them, on his honour as a gentleman, that he had seen +the Emperor alive that morning.<a name="FNanchor_484" id="FNanchor_484"></a><a href="#Footnote_484" class="fnanchor">[484]</a> Upon this Sir +Philip's brother Thomas, who had just arrived from +Paris, where he had been spending the winter in +translating Castiglione's "Cortegiano," was sent to +see his old Augsburg friend, the Bishop of Arras, and +beg for an audience. At length, on the 8th of June, +the Englishmen were admitted into the privy +chamber, and found the Emperor sitting up, with his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span>feet on a stool, "very pale, weak, and lean, but nothing +so ill as they had believed." His eye was lively, his +speech sensible, and his manner very friendly and +agreeable. But, although he expressed an earnest +wish for peace, he declared that the French demands +made this quite impossible.<a name="FNanchor_485" id="FNanchor_485"></a><a href="#Footnote_485" class="fnanchor">[485]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Sept., 1553</span>] ACCESSION OF MARY</div> + +<p>A month later an unexpected event produced a +change in the Emperor's fortunes. King Edward VI. +died, and, after a vain attempt on Northumberland's +part to set Lady Jane Grey on the throne, Catherine +of Aragon's daughter Mary succeeded peaceably to +the throne. Her accession was hailed with joy at the +Imperial Court, and on the Feast of St. Bartholomew +the Regent celebrated the event by giving a banquet, +to which the English Ambassadors were invited. "It +was such a dinner," writes Hoby, "as we had seldom +seen in all our lives, and greater good cheer or entertainment +than Her Grace gave us could not be devised." +Mary was in high spirits that evening. She +toasted the Ambassadors, conversed with them after +dinner for more than an hour, and told Morosyne +laughingly that his French could not be worse than +her Italian. Sir Philip sat next to the Duchess of +Lorraine, and reminded her of the memorable morning, +fifteen years before, when he brought the German +Court painter to take her portrait.<a name="FNanchor_486" id="FNanchor_486"></a><a href="#Footnote_486" class="fnanchor">[486]</a> Since then much +had happened. King Henry himself, the great painter +Holbein, René of Orange, and Francis of Lorraine, +were all gone, and she had lost home and state and +had seen her only son snatched from her arms. Yet +she was still beautiful and fascinating, and counted +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span>almost as many suitors as of old. Adolf of Holstein +wooed her with a constancy which no coldness could +repel, and if the wild Marquis had been forced to +renounce all hope of winning her hand, another hero, +the young Prince of Piedmont, was ready to lay his +laurels at her feet. But Christina remained the same, +calm and unmoved, and was an interested and amused +spectator of the matrimonial plans which now formed +the all-absorbing topic in the family conclave.</p> + +<p>Charles quickly realized the importance of securing +the new Queen's hand for his son. As soon as he +heard of Edward's death, he sent orders to his Ambassador +at Lisbon to delay drawing up the marriage +contract which had been agreed upon between Philip +and Eleanor's daughter, Maria of Portugal, and wrote +to his son, setting forth the superior advantages of +the English alliance. Philip replied dutifully that, as +his cousin the Queen was twelve years older than +himself, his father would be a more suitable husband, +but added that he was ready to obey the Emperor's +will in all respects.<a name="FNanchor_487" id="FNanchor_487"></a><a href="#Footnote_487" class="fnanchor">[487]</a></p> + +<p>On the 20th of September Charles wrote from +Valenciennes, where he was directing military operations +from his litter, to the English Queen. After +explaining that he was too old and infirm to think of +marriage, and had solemnly vowed after the Empress's +death never to take a second wife, he offered her the +dearest thing he had in life—his own son. He then +proceeded to point out the great advantages of the +proposed union, while at the same time he advised +Mary to observe the utmost caution, being "well +aware of the hatred with which the English, more than +any other nation, regard foreigners." Mary's own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> +mind was soon made up. In spite of protests from +her subjects and remonstrances from the French +King, she was determined to marry her cousin. On +the 30th of October she sent for the Imperial Envoy, +Renard, and, kneeling down before the Blessed Sacrament +in her chapel, she said the <i>Veni Creator</i>, and +took a solemn vow to wed the Prince of Spain.<a name="FNanchor_488" id="FNanchor_488"></a><a href="#Footnote_488" class="fnanchor">[488]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1554</span>] CARDINAL POLE AT BRUSSELS</div> + +<p>The most friendly letters were now exchanged +between the two Courts. The holy chrism for Mary's +coronation was sent from Brussels, with venison and +wild-boar for her table. Charles gave his future +daughter magnificent tapestries and jewels, and Mary +of Hungary sent the Queen a yet more precious gift, +Titian's portrait of Philip, telling her that, if she stands +at some distance from the canvas, it will give her a good +idea of the Prince, only that he is older and more +bearded than he was when the artist painted it three +years ago. The Regent took care to add that she could +only lend the Queen the picture on condition that it +should be returned "when the living man joined her." +In reply, Mary begged her good aunt to pay her a +visit; but the Regent excused herself, owing to the +Emperor's ill-health, and promised to come and see +her later on, it might be in the Prince's company. +The same cordial invitation was extended to the +Duchess of Lorraine, who sent her new <i>maître d'hôtel</i>, +Baron De Silliers, to London in April, 1554, to congratulate +the Queen on her marriage. Mary made +Christina a present of a fine diamond, which De +Courrières was desired to give her, and when, on the +20th of July, Philip landed at Southampton, and the +wedding was celebrated in Winchester Cathedral, the +happy spouse sent costly jewels to the Emperor and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span>the two Queens, and a beautiful emerald to her dear +cousin the Duchess.</p> + +<p>In January Cardinal Pole, the Papal Legate, came +to the monastery of Diligam, near Brussels, with proposals +of peace from the Pope, on his way to congratulate +Queen Mary on her accession, and help +to restore Catholic rites in the kingdom. Pole was +known to be averse to the Spanish marriage, and +Charles had put every obstacle in the way of his +journey to England. On his arrival he gave him a +very cold reception, and the Cardinal complained to +the Pope that the Emperor and Arras could not have +used greater violence, unless they had taken a stick +to drive him back.<a name="FNanchor_489" id="FNanchor_489"></a><a href="#Footnote_489" class="fnanchor">[489]</a> The Regent and the Duchess of +Lorraine, however, were much more friendly when he +dined with them the next day, after attending Mass +in the royal chapel. Mary told him that no one +wished for peace more earnestly than herself, seeing +how terribly her poor people of the Netherlands had +suffered from the war, and Christina spoke to him of +her son with tears in her eyes. When the Cardinal +went on to Fontainebleau, he saw the young Duke, +and was able to give him his mother's messages. But +he found Henry II. still less amenable than Charles, +and returned to Brussels convinced that his mission +was a failure as far as the hope of peace was concerned.</p> + +<p>Before the end of April the French King invaded +Hainault, at the head of a large army, and took the +strong citadel of Marienburg. Namur was only saved +by the promptitude of Charles, who once more took +the field, although he could no longer mount a horse, +and showed all his old courage in this his last campaign.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span></p> +<p>After an indecisive battle at Renty, the +French retired with heavy loss, spreading famine and +desolation in their track. One act of vandalism for +which Henry was condemned, even by his own captains, +was the destruction of Mary of Hungary's +beautiful palace of Binche, with its famous gardens +and treasures of art. The Queen received the news +with equanimity, saying that she was proud of being +the object of the French King's vindictiveness, and +glad the world should know that she was the Emperor's +devoted servant.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"As for the damage which has been done," she +wrote to Arras, "I do not care a straw. I am not +the woman to grieve over the loss of things transitory, +which we are meant to enjoy as long as we have them, +and do without when they are gone. That, upon my +word, is all the regret I feel."<a name="FNanchor_490" id="FNanchor_490"></a><a href="#Footnote_490" class="fnanchor">[490]</a></p></div> + +<p>In the autumn Christina made another fruitless +attempt to open negotiations through Vaudemont, +who after the death of his first wife, Margaret of +Egmont, was induced by the Cardinal of Lorraine to +marry the Duke of Nemours's daughter. This Prince +came to Brussels in November to inform the Emperor +and the Duchess of his marriage, and, as might be +expected, met with a very cold reception at Court. +But, in spite of his French alliance, he remained scrupulously +loyal to Christina and her son, and complained +to his sister Anne that at Brussels he was reproached +for his French sympathies, while in Paris he was +looked on with suspicion as an Imperialist. So hard +was it to be an honest man in those troublous times.<a name="FNanchor_491" id="FNanchor_491"></a><a href="#Footnote_491" class="fnanchor">[491]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Sept., 1554</span>] A GAY COURT</div> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>While the war dragged on its weary course, and +Mary and Christina vainly tried to bring it to an +end, on the other side of the Channel the new King +of England and his spouse were holding high festival. +They came to London in September, and remained +there through the winter, trying to win the love of +their subjects by a series of popular displays and +festivities. Tournaments were held at Whitehall, +hunting-parties were given at Windsor and Hampton +Court, and a succession of distinguished guests travelled +from Flanders to pay homage to the royal pair. +Philip's favourite, Ruy Gomez, and the Duke and +Duchess of Alva, arrived from Spain, Ferrante +Gonzaga, the Prince of Orange, and the Grand Equerry +Boussu, came over from Antwerp during the +autumn.<a name="FNanchor_492" id="FNanchor_492"></a><a href="#Footnote_492" class="fnanchor">[492]</a> On the 20th of November Cardinal Pole +at length crossed the Channel; four days later he +was received at Whitehall by the King and Queen +in person, and crossed the river in the royal barge, to +take possession of his own house at Lambeth. He +was soon followed by Emanuel Philibert, who had +lately succeeded to the barren title of Duke of Savoy +on his father's death, and had been made a Knight +of the Garter. Earlier in the summer he had paid +a brief visit to London, where his white, red, and +green banners of Savoy made a fine show in the +Abbey on St. Peter's Day; but as his military duties +rendered his presence in Flanders imperative, his +Ambassador, Stroppiana, came to Windsor in October, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span>to be invested with the Garter<a name="FNanchor_493" id="FNanchor_493"></a><a href="#Footnote_493" class="fnanchor">[493]</a> as proxy for his +master.</p> + +<p>It was not till Christmas Eve that the Duke himself +landed at Dover, after a very rough passage, and made +his way to Whitehall, where Philip and Mary received +him with great honour, and showed him all +the sights of London. On the 7th of January the +Lord High Admiral took him by water to see the +great guns at the Tower, and on St. Paul's Day he +accompanied the King and the Cardinal in state +to the Cathedral for the patronal feast. A procession +of 160 priests bearing crosses, walked round +the churchyard, with the children of Paul's School +and the Greyfriars, singing "Salve, Festa Dies!" +and passed in through the great west doors. After +Mass a state banquet was held, with great ringing +of bells, and bonfires blazed in all the streets of +London throughout the night.<a name="FNanchor_494" id="FNanchor_494"></a><a href="#Footnote_494" class="fnanchor">[494]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1555</span>] A ROYAL GODMOTHER</div> + +<p>Emanuel Philibert's visit revived the rumour of a +marriage between him and the Princess Elizabeth, +which the Emperor had suggested some months before. +Whether from policy or genuine regard, Philip had +espoused his sister-in-law's cause and refused to allow +Mary to send her abroad or keep her away from Court. +The Duke of Savoy was a pleasant and good-looking +Prince, whose martial appearance and genial manners +made him very popular in England. But Elizabeth +herself quite declined to listen to this proposal, +saying that she would never marry a foreigner, +and, since there now seemed good hope of the birth +of an heir to the crown, the question of the succession +was no longer of the first importance. Something, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span>however, must be done to pacify the Duke, who complained +bitterly of the Emperor's neglect, and, seeing +little chance of recovering Savoy, asked the King for +the viceroyalty of Milan, which Ferrante Gonzaga, on +his part, refused to surrender. Philip could think of +no better plan to gratify his cousin and retain his +services than to give him the hand of the Duchess of +Lorraine, a Princess whom he was known to regard +with great affection.<a name="FNanchor_495" id="FNanchor_495"></a><a href="#Footnote_495" class="fnanchor">[495]</a></p> + +<p>Accordingly the King and Queen sent pressing +invitations to Christina, begging her to come to +England as soon as possible. Before she could +comply with their request, she had to keep an old +engagement to be present at the christening of Count +Egmont's infant daughter, which took place on the +evening of the 19th of January. The Queen of +England had graciously consented to be one of the +godmothers, while the Duchess of Lorraine was the +other, and the Palatine Frederic stood godfather to +his kinswoman's little daughter. Mary wrote to the +Duchess of Aerschot, begging Anne to represent her +on this occasion, and sent a costly gold cup containing +forty angels to her godchild by the new Ambassador, +Sir John Masone. The Palsgrave, not to be outdone, +sent the child a diamond cross, and another +one, set with rubies, diamonds, and emeralds, to the +mother. Anne and Christina were both present at +the christening, which was attended by all the Court, +"everything," wrote Masone, "being very richly +ordered, the supper and banquet right stately, and +Her Majesty's cup so walked up and down, from man +to woman, and woman to man, as I dare answer few +were there that did not go full freighted to bed."</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span></p> +<p>Sir John further told the Countess in what good +part her request to make her daughter a Christian +woman had been taken by his royal mistress, who +would willingly have done the same in person, had +the distance not been so great, and Sabina sent her +most humble thanks to the Queen, saying that, as she +already had one daughter called Mary, she had +decided to name the infant Mary Christina, after her +two godmothers.<a name="FNanchor_496" id="FNanchor_496"></a><a href="#Footnote_496" class="fnanchor">[496]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1555</span>] CHRISTINA'S GOOD WISHES</div> + +<p>When this function was over, Christina began to +prepare for her journey to England, but the weather +was so tempestuous that she did not cross the Channel +until the first days of March. She rode from Dover, +by way of Canterbury, to London, where the King +and Queen received her in the most cordial manner, +Philip made no secret of his affection for his cousin, +the only woman in his family with whom he had ever +been intimate, and Mary, in the first flush of her +wedded happiness and in the proud expectation of +soon being a mother, welcomed Christina warmly. +Unluckily, we have no particulars of the Duchess's +visit to this country, over which she might have +reigned herself as Queen. We know that she was +present with the rest of the Court at the great joust +held on Lady Day in the tilting-yard at Whitehall, +when Philip and a band of knights, armed with +falchions and targets, and clad in blue and yellow, +rode out against two other troops in red and green, +and some 200 lances were broken.<a name="FNanchor_497" id="FNanchor_497"></a><a href="#Footnote_497" class="fnanchor">[497]</a> But the only +record that we have of this her first visit to England +is a letter which she wrote to Mary on returning to +Flanders. She thanked the Queen for the great +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span>honour and kindness which she had shown her, and +commended the captain of the ship in which she +sailed, who, as Her Majesty would doubtless learn, +had rendered her notable service on this troublesome +passage:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I will say no more," she adds, "except to regret +that I am no longer in Your Majesty's presence to +be able to render you some small service in return +for all the goodness which I have received at your +hands. I beg God, Madame, to send you good health +and long life, and give you a fine boy, such as you +desire.</p> + +<p class="right"> +"Your very humble and obedient cousin<br /> +and servant,<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Chrestienne</span>.</p> +<p> +"A la Royne."<a name="FNanchor_498" id="FNanchor_498"></a><a href="#Footnote_498" class="fnanchor">[498]</a><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>This letter bears no date, but the Duchess certainly +left London before the King and Queen went to +Hampton Court on the 4th of April, to spend Easter +and prepare for the happy event which all England +was anxiously expecting. She was at Antwerp with +her aunt a month later, when, on the 3rd of May, +"great news came over the seas." A messenger from +the English ships in the port brought the Regent +word that the Queen of England had been "brought +to bed of a young Prince," upon which all the guns +in the harbour were fired, and Mary ordered the +big bells in the Tower to be rung, and sent the English +sailors a hundred crowns to drink the royal infant's +health. "I trust in God," wrote Sir Thomas +Gresham, "that the news is true." The Emperor +was more incredulous, and summoned Masone to his +bedside at 5 a.m. the next morning, to know what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span> +he thought of the matter, but soon satisfied himself +that the news was false.<a name="FNanchor_499" id="FNanchor_499"></a><a href="#Footnote_499" class="fnanchor">[499]</a></p> + +<p>The Savoy marriage, which Philip was so anxious +to bring about, also ended in smoke. During Christina's +visit, the matter was brought forward and +eagerly urged both by the King and Queen. Charles +was no less anxious for the marriage, and Mary of +Hungary proposed to appoint the Duke, Governor of +the Low Countries when she resigned the office. The +plan would have been very popular in Flanders, +where the Duchess was beloved by all classes, and +was warmly supported by Egmont and Orange. On +the 1st of May, Badoer, the Venetian Ambassador at +Brussels, announced that the marriage contract had +already been drawn up by De Praet, and that the +Duke had started for Italy, disguised as a German, +and only attended by one servant, to arrange his +affairs in Piedmont before the wedding.<a name="FNanchor_500" id="FNanchor_500"></a><a href="#Footnote_500" class="fnanchor">[500]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1555</span>] DUKE OF SAVOY'S MARRIAGE</div> + +<p>The Venetian's news was apparently premature, +but a fortnight later a Piedmontese noble, Count +Avignano, came to London to consult Philip as to +the marriage and arrange further details on his +master's behalf. He talked freely at table to the +French and Venetian Ambassadors, Noailles and +Michieli, saying that the Emperor had offered his +master the government of the Netherlands with the +hand of Madame de Lorraine, an arrangement which +he for his part regretted, thinking that the Duke +would be more likely to recover his dominions if he +married in France. But, since the friendship between +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span>his lord and the Duchess was so great, he saw no +hope of any other alliance, and the marriage was, in +fact, considered by the Emperor and all his family +to be practically settled.<a name="FNanchor_501" id="FNanchor_501"></a><a href="#Footnote_501" class="fnanchor">[501]</a></p> + +<p>Emanuel Philibert, like many others, evidently +felt the power of Christina's fascination, and enjoyed +a large share of her intimacy. But he does not seem +to have shown any great eagerness for the marriage, +whether it was that, as Avignano said, it would be +a bar to the recovery of his States, or whether he +recognized the Duchess's own insuperable objection +to matrimony.</p> + +<p>When, towards the end of May, a party of English +Commissioners met the French and Imperial deputies +at Marck, a village near Calais, to treat of peace, an +offer was made by the French to give Henry II.'s +sister Margaret to the Duke of Savoy. The Imperial +deputies expressed a doubt if this were possible, as +the Duke's word was already pledged; but Cardinal +Pole replied that the Prince was quite free, and ready +to agree to any proposal by which he could recover his +realm. These negotiations, however, were soon broken +off, and on Philip's return to Brussels in September +the old scheme of the Lorraine marriage was revived +with fresh ardour. When the Duke of Savoy returned +from Italy in August, the Regent made him attend +the meetings of the Council, and treated him in all +ways as her future successor, hoping by this means +to obtain his consent to her wishes. But both +Emanuel Philibert and Christina remained of the +same mind, and neither Philip's entreaties nor Mary +of Hungary's angry reproaches could alter their +resolution. The Duke pleaded poverty as an excuse,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> +lamenting his inability to offer his wife a home and +station worthy of her rank, and was evidently determined +to sacrifice his affections to political expediency, +although, as the French Ambassador reported, +"he still made love through the window to +Madame de Lorraine."<a name="FNanchor_502" id="FNanchor_502"></a><a href="#Footnote_502" class="fnanchor">[502]</a></p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Charles V.'s intention to abdicate his throne had +long been declared. For many years he had looked +forward to the time when he should lay down the +burden of public affairs and retire from the world, to +end his days in some peaceful cloister. The increasing +infirmities under which he groaned, his +inability to attend either camp or council, and finally +the death of his mother, Queen Joanna, in April, +1555, all helped to hasten the execution of his resolve. +Only the continuation of the war and the absence +of his son still made him hesitate.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Sept., 1555</span>] PHILIP LEAVES ENGLAND</div> + +<p>The same indecisive warfare as before was carried +on through the year. The Prince of Orange, who +now held the chief command, succeeded in keeping +the foe at bay, and built the citadels of Charlemont +and Philippeville for the defence of the frontier. +But everyone was heartily tired of the campaign, +and both parties gladly availed themselves of the +opportunity afforded by an exchange of prisoners, +to renew negotiations in the autumn. Christina +once more exerted herself in this direction, and +Vaudemont, who came to Brussels in October to +take leave of the Emperor, was employed to make +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span>fresh overtures to the French King. But many +months passed before any conclusion was reached.<a name="FNanchor_503" id="FNanchor_503"></a><a href="#Footnote_503" class="fnanchor">[503]</a></p> + +<p>Charles had always hoped that his sister would +remain at her post when he left the Netherlands, +feeling how invaluable her help would prove to Philip. +But Mary was inflexible on this point. In a noble +letter which she wrote at the end of August, she +reminded him that fifteen years before she had begged +to be released from her arduous post in order to +devote herself to the care of her unhappy mother, +and that, now this privilege could no longer be hers, +she wished to spend the rest of her life in Spain with +her sister, Queen Eleanor.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"And however great," she adds significantly, "my +affection for the King my nephew may be," in +Badoer's graphic phrase, "he hates and is hated by +her"—"Your Majesty will understand that at my +age it would be very hard to begin learning my ABC +over again. A woman of fifty, who has held office +twenty-four years, ought, it seems to me, to be content +to serve one God and one Master for the rest of her +life."<a name="FNanchor_504" id="FNanchor_504"></a><a href="#Footnote_504" class="fnanchor">[504]</a></p></div> + +<p>There was nothing more to be said, and Charles +agreed to Philip's wish that for the present the Duke +of Savoy should be appointed Lieutenant-Governor +of the Low Countries. At length Philip succeeded +in tearing himself from the arms of his sorrowful +Queen, promising to be back in a fortnight or three +weeks. From her palace windows at Greenwich, +Mary waved her last farewells to the King, as he +sailed down the Thames. He for his part was nothing +loth to leave his fretful and melancholy wife, and +was satisfied that she would never bear him a child.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span></p> + +<p>On the 8th of September he reached Brussels, and +went straight to see his father in the Casino, near +the Louvain gate of the park, where he was spending +the hot weather. Charles embraced his son tenderly, +and after an hour's conversation Philip went on to +sup with Queen Mary and Christina on their return +from hunting. On the 17th and 18th he attended +the Requiem Masses held in S. Gudule for the late +Queen Joanna, and afterwards joined in a grand +hunting-party given by the Regent in his honour.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1555</span>] THE EMPEROR'S ABDICATION</div> + +<p>The nobles now flocked to Brussels to be present +at the Emperor's abdication. The Prince of Orange +arrived from the camp near Liége, and his young wife, +Anne of Egmont, was hospitably entertained by the +Duchess of Aerschot. Friday, the 25th of October, +was the day fixed for the great ceremony. On this +afternoon, at three o'clock, the Emperor left the +Casino with Philip and the Duke of Savoy, and rode +to the palace on his mule. An hour later he entered +the great hall, hung with the tapestries of Gideon's +Fleece, wearing his mourning robes and the collar of +the Order, and leaning on the Prince of Orange's +arm. He was followed by Mary of Hungary, Philip, +and the Duke of Savoy, who took their places on the +daïs at the Emperor's side, while the Knights of the +Fleece, the great nobles and Ambassadors, occupied +seats below. The deputies, over a thousand in +number, who thronged the hall, rose to their feet to +receive the Emperor, and then sat down to hear the +chief Councillor, Philibert of Brussels, deliver a +speech, explaining the reasons for His Majesty's +abdication. Then Charles himself addressed the vast +assembly. In moving words he recalled the day, +forty years before, when, a boy of fifteen, he had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span> +declared of age by his grandfather, the Emperor +Maximilian, and glanced briefly at the long record +of wars and journeys, and the other chief events of his +reign. Finally he commended his successor to them, +asking them to serve his son as well as they had served +him, and begging his loyal subjects to pardon him +for any injustice which he might unwittingly have +done them. Tears rolled down the great Emperor's +cheeks as he spoke these last words, and Sir Thomas +Gresham, who was present, says that there was not +a dry eye in the whole assembly.</p> + +<p>Christina was present on this memorable occasion. +In contemporary prints she is represented standing +by the side of the Regent's chair, listening with +breathless attention to every word that fell from her +uncle's lips. She saw the pathetic scene between +the father and son, when Charles, raising Philip from +his knees and clasping him in his arms, gave him +the investiture of the Provinces, and, turning to the +deputies, in a broken voice asked them to excuse +his tears, which flowed for love of them. And she +listened with still greater emotion to the touching +words in which Mary begged the Emperor and the +States to forgive whatever mistakes she had made +out of ignorance or incapacity, and thanked them +from the depth of her heart for their unfailing love +and loyalty. Her speech produced a fresh burst of +tears, after which Charles thanked his sister for her +long and faithful services, and Maes, the Pensionary +of Antwerp, bore eloquent testimony to the undying +love and gratitude which the States felt for the Queen +who had governed them so well.</p> + +<p>There were still many formalities to be gone +through, many farewells to be said, before Charles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span> +could lay down the sovereign power. On the day +after his abdication, the Archduke Ferdinand, his +favourite nephew, arrived with affectionate messages +from his father, who found it impossible to leave +Vienna as long as the war with the Turks lasted. +The next day he went hunting with the King, Mary, +and Christina, and dined with them and Eleanor. +On the 3rd of November he left Brussels again after +all too short a visit, as Charles wrote to his brother.</p> + +<p>Another guest who took leave of the Emperor in +the same week was Edward Courtenay, Lord Devonshire. +This young nobleman of the blood royal had +been exiled from England lest he should marry +Elizabeth, and had been so often seen in the palace +during the last few months that rumour said he was +going to wed Madame of Lorraine. Now he came +to thank her for the "gentle entertainment" which +she had shown him, and bid her a reluctant farewell +before he left for Italy. In the following spring another +old friend, Adolf of Holstein, came to Brussels and +took leave of the Emperor. The Danish Prince, +hearing that all idea of the Savoy marriage was +abandoned, took this opportunity to make a last +attempt to win Christina's hand. But not even the +Duke's constancy could induce her to change her +mind, and he went away disconsolate.<a name="FNanchor_505" id="FNanchor_505"></a><a href="#Footnote_505" class="fnanchor">[505]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1556</span>] DEATH OF THE PALATINE</div> + +<p>A fresh sorrow awaited her in the death of her +brother-in-law, the Elector Palatine, who breathed his +last at Alzei, in the Lower Palatinate, on the 26th of +February, 1556. The fine old man was in his seventy-third +year, and had been tenderly nursed all through +a long illness by his wife. Three weeks before his +death Dorothea sent for his nephew and successor, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span>Otto Heinrich, who remained with him to the end, +and brought his body to Heidelberg. Here he lay +in state for three days in the Court chapel, after +which his remains were borne down the castle slopes +by eight noblemen, and laid with his forefathers in +the church of the Holy Ghost. By order of the new +Elector, he was buried with Lutheran rites. Dorothea +and Countess Helene followed on foot with a long +train of nobles and students of the University, bearing +lighted tapers, and German hymns were sung by the +Canons and school-children.<a name="FNanchor_506" id="FNanchor_506"></a><a href="#Footnote_506" class="fnanchor">[506]</a></p> + +<p>Christina's first impulse was to hasten to her +widowed sister, but neither the Emperor nor his +sisters would allow her to leave the Netherlands +before their departure, saying that she was as dear +and indispensable to them as a daughter.<a name="FNanchor_507" id="FNanchor_507"></a><a href="#Footnote_507" class="fnanchor">[507]</a> She was +present at the Casino in the park on the 16th of +January, when Charles resigned the kingdoms of +Spain and Sicily and his dominions in the New World +to Philip, and she accompanied Mary to Antwerp +when Philip held his first Chapter of the Fleece. +Among the new Knights elected at this meeting were +William of Orange, Philip, Duke of Aerschot, and +Christina's old friend Jean De Montmorency, Sieur de +Courrières, whose whole life had been spent in the +Emperor's service, and who had deserved well of +Philip by helping to arrange his marriage with Mary +Tudor.<a name="FNanchor_508" id="FNanchor_508"></a><a href="#Footnote_508" class="fnanchor">[508]</a></p> + +<p>On the 5th of February, 1556, the long-protracted +peace negotiations were brought to a happy conclusion, +and a five years' truce was signed at the Abbey of Vaucelles, +near Cambray, by Lalaing on Philip's part and by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span>Coligny on that of Henry. Both parties were to retain +their conquests, and the chief prisoners on both sides +were to be released. On Lady Day the French Admiral +brought the treaty to be confirmed by the King at +Brussels, and was received by Philip in the palace. +By an unlucky chance, the great hall in which the +reception took place was hung with tapestries representing +the defeat of Pavia and surrender of Francis I. +This wounded the vanity of the French lords, and the +King's jester, Brusquet, who had accompanied +Coligny, determined to have his revenge on the +haughty Spanish Prince. So the next morning at +Mass in the Court church, when Philip was in the +act of taking his oath on the Gospels to keep the truce, +Brusquet suddenly raised a cry of "Largesse!" and, +taking a handful of French crowns from a sack which +his valet carried, flung them to the crowds who had +collected in the great hall adjoining the chapel. The +King looked round in surprise at Coligny, who +stood dumbfounded, while men, women, and children, +rushed to pick up the coins on the floor, and had to +be warned off by the archers' pikes. The King was +about to ask angrily by what right the French did +largesse in his palace, when both Queen Mary and +Madame de Lorraine burst into uncontrollable fits of +laughter, in which Philip joined so heartily that he +had to cling to the altar to save himself from falling.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1556</span>] LAST FESTIVITIES</div> + +<p>This absurd incident was related to Charles when, +on the following Sunday of <i>Pâques-fleuries</i>, Coligny +went to visit him in the Casino. "Well, Brusquet," +he said to the jester, "how are you? I hear you have +been doing me fine largesse with your crowns." +"Sire," replied Brusquet, dropping on one knee, +"you take the words out of my mouth in condescend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span>ing +to notice a worm like myself." And the poor fool +went home to boast of his interview with the great +Emperor to the end of his life.<a name="FNanchor_509" id="FNanchor_509"></a><a href="#Footnote_509" class="fnanchor">[509]</a></p> + +<p>A grand tournament was held in the park at Brussels +to celebrate the conclusion of the truce, and Egmont +distinguished himself above all competitors by his +prowess. But a quarrel arose between Philip and +his aunt, Mary of Hungary, who complained of the +disrespect with which her nephew and his Spanish +courtiers treated her, saying that, although she had +laid down the Regency, she expected to be treated +with the honour due to a Queen. She retired to her +own domain at Turnhout, but had her revenge a +few weeks later, for the States proved so unwilling to +grant the aids demanded by the King that Philip was +forced to send Arras to beg for his aunt's help. Mary +consented to return as soon as she had despatched +her most urgent private affairs, and so invaluable +was her influence with the Council, that Philip joined +his father in entreating her to remain at Brussels +during his absence in England. This, however, Mary +quite refused to do, saying that the Duke of Savoy +would no doubt prove an excellent substitute.<a name="FNanchor_510" id="FNanchor_510"></a><a href="#Footnote_510" class="fnanchor">[510]</a></p> + +<p>The King and Queen of Bohemia, whom Charles +was very anxious to see before his departure, +and whose journey had been repeatedly delayed, at +length reached Brussels on the 18th of July. Their +presence was the signal for a last series of festivities. +There were jousts on the Grande Place, banquets in +the hôtel-de-ville, hunting-parties at Groenendal in the +forest of Soignies, and suppers at the Villa Laura, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span>where Mary entertained her nephews and nieces at +an open-air concert. King Max was in high spirits. +He made great friends with the Venetian Badoer, and +frankly avowed his dislike of the Spaniards, saying, +with a ringing laugh, that he was glad to hear the +English had taught them a lesson or two. The visit +was not without its political intention, and Maximilian +succeeded in persuading his uncle to consent to +Ferdinand's entreaty, and retain the imperial title +for the present, in order to avoid any dispute on the +question of the succession.<a name="FNanchor_511" id="FNanchor_511"></a><a href="#Footnote_511" class="fnanchor">[511]</a></p> + +<p>When his daughter and her husband left Brussels, +on the 8th of August, Charles felt himself a free man. +At half-past four in the afternoon he set out for +Ghent, after receiving the farewells of the chief +nobles and Bishops. Many were in tears, but the +Emperor remained calm and serene until he rode +out of the gates, escorted for the last time by his +faithful archers. Then, turning round, he took a last +long look at the city towers and wept bitterly. "Everyone +about him was in tears," says Badoer, "and +many wept when he was gone."<a name="FNanchor_512" id="FNanchor_512"></a><a href="#Footnote_512" class="fnanchor">[512]</a> Christina accompanied +her aunts to Ghent a few days later, and went +on at the end of the month with the Queens and +Emperor to Zeeland, to wait for a fair wind. On the +15th of October Charles embarked at Flushing, and +his sisters followed on another ship. Two days +later an easterly breeze sprang up and the fleet set +sail. Christina stood on the shore till the ship which +bore the great Emperor from his native land dropped +below the horizon. Then she retraced her steps +sorrowfully to join her children at Ghent.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1556</span>] FRUSTRATED WISHES</div> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>When her uncle and aunts were gone, Christina +felt that there was nothing more to keep her at +Brussels. She had already thought of retiring to her +dower city of Tortona, but the castle was occupied +by a Spanish garrison, and while the war lasted the +Lombard city was hardly a safe place. This being +the case, she asked Philip's leave to take up her +residence at Vigevano, the summer palace of the +Sforzas, which the Duke had bequeathed to her, +but was told that this house was required for the +Viceroy's use. After the Palatine's death she was +seized with a longing to join Dorothea, and proposed +to go to Heidelberg, and then on to Lorraine, in the +hope that, now peace was signed, the French King +would allow her son to enjoy his own again. But +there were more difficulties in the way than she had +anticipated.<a name="FNanchor_513" id="FNanchor_513"></a><a href="#Footnote_513" class="fnanchor">[513]</a></p> + +<p>Simon Renard and the other delegates to the conference +at Vaucelles were especially charged to +include the Duke of Lorraine's restoration among +their demands; but the French, while professing the +utmost friendship for both the Duchess and her son, +pointed out that her guardianship would expire in +another year, and that the Regent Vaudemont and +the Guises, who were the Duke's nearest kinsmen, +agreed to his residence at the French Court. In vain +Renard and Lalaing protested at the strange kindness +shown to the Duchess in detaining her son. This +only led to a long wrangle, which almost caused the +rupture of peace negotiations, and eventually no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span> +mention was made of Lorraine in the articles of the +truce.</p> + +<p>In May Christina's alarm was aroused by an intimation +from the French Court that the King was +going to Nancy to celebrate his daughter Claude's +wedding with the Duke, and occupy the capital of +Lorraine. Fortunately, Vaudemont opposed this +measure, saying that as Regent he had sworn never +to give up his post until his nephew was of age, and +begged the King to allow Charles to return to Nancy +and take possession of his State before his marriage.<a name="FNanchor_514" id="FNanchor_514"></a><a href="#Footnote_514" class="fnanchor">[514]</a> +This unexpected firmness on Vaudemont's part produced +the desired effect. Henry's journey to Lorraine +was put off for a year, and at the Duchess's urgent +request the Cardinal of Lorraine obtained the King's +leave to bring the boy to meet her at the Castle of +Coucy, near his own house at Péronne. But when +Philip was asked to give the Duchess permission to +cross the frontier, he made so many irksome conditions, +that Henry withdrew his promise, and the +long-desired meeting was again deferred. Christina +was cruelly disappointed, and could only take comfort +from Vaudemont's assurances that before long her +son would be free from control and able to decide for +himself.<a name="FNanchor_515" id="FNanchor_515"></a><a href="#Footnote_515" class="fnanchor">[515]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1556</span>] MARY'S JEALOUSY</div> + +<p>Philip on his part was extremely anxious to keep +the Duchess at Brussels. As Brantôme tells us, the +King not only cherished great affection for his +cousin, but relied implicitly on her tact and wisdom, +and, in compliance with his entreaties, she consented +to remain at the palace and do the honours of his +Court.<a name="FNanchor_516" id="FNanchor_516"></a><a href="#Footnote_516" class="fnanchor">[516]</a> Her popularity with the nobles made her +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span>presence the more desirable, while the King himself +found her company far more to his taste than that +of the faded and fretful wife who awaited him in +England. Every post brought bitter reproaches and +passionate prayers from the unhappy Queen, whose +hopes of her lord's return were doomed to perpetual +disappointment. Already more than a year had +passed since he had left England, and there still seemed +no prospect of his return. First the peace conferences, +then the King of Bohemia's visit and the +Emperor's departure, were pleaded as excuses for +these prolonged delays. When the fleet that bore +the Emperor to Spain was seen off Dover, the +Admiral who visited His Majesty on board, brought +back messages to say that the King would shortly +cross the Channel. On hearing this, Mary's spirits +rose, and it was only by Philip's express desire that +she refrained from going to meet him at Dover. In +October the royal stables and equerries arrived, but +Philip himself wrote that the war which had broken +out in Italy between Alva, the Viceroy of Naples, and +Pope Paul IV., compelled him to return to Brussels. +Then Mary broke into a passion of rage mingled with +sobs and tears, and shut herself up in her room, refusing +to see any visitors. The dulness of the Court +had become intolerable; there were no fêtes and few +audiences, and the Ambassadors with one accord +begged to be recalled. The Queen's ill-temper vented +itself on all who approached her presence, and even +in public she occasionally gave way to paroxysms +of fury.<a name="FNanchor_517" id="FNanchor_517"></a><a href="#Footnote_517" class="fnanchor">[517]</a> Suspicions of her husband's fidelity to his +marriage vows now came to increase her misery. +When she heard of Philip going on long hunting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span>-parties +with the Duchess of Lorraine, and dancing +with her at masques, she was seized with transports +of rage, and, rushing at the portrait of her husband +which hung over her bed, was with difficulty restrained +from cutting it to pieces.<a name="FNanchor_518" id="FNanchor_518"></a><a href="#Footnote_518" class="fnanchor">[518]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Dec., 1556</span>] THE DUCHESS OF PARMA</div> + +<p>Meanwhile a rival to Christina appeared at Court +in the person of the King's half-sister Margaret, +Duchess of Parma. This Princess, the illegitimate +daughter of Charles V. and Margaret Van Gheynst, +a beautiful maiden in the Countess Lalaing's service, +was born at Oudenarde in 1522, and brought up under +the eye of the Archduchess Margaret. At thirteen +she was married to Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of +Florence, with whom she led a miserable life until +this worthless Prince was murdered by his cousin in +1537. Her second union, with Ottavio Farnese, +Pope Paul III.'s grandson, proved little happier. +Ottavio was an intractable boy of thirteen when he +married her in November, 1538, and the quarrels of +the young couple fill pages of the Emperor's correspondence +in the archives of Simancas. After the +Duke's return from the expedition to Algiers, a +reconciliation was effected, and Margaret bore a son, +who became the famous captain Alexander of Parma. +But the Farnese were always a thorn in the Emperor's +side, and, by joining with his foes at a critical moment, +involved him in the gravest disaster of his life. Now +harmony was restored in the family circle, and when +the war with Paul IV. broke out, Philip secured +Ottavio's alliance by giving him the citadel of +Piacenza. Margaret and her young son came to the +Netherlands to pay their respects to the King and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span>thank him for this mark of his favour. They arrived +at Christmas, in the depths of the severest winter +that had been known for many years. The Scheldt +was frozen over at Antwerp, and the Court was busy +with winter sports, in which Philip and Christina +took an active part, playing games and sleighing in +the park, and attending a masked ball given by Count +Lalaing on the ice.<a name="FNanchor_519" id="FNanchor_519"></a><a href="#Footnote_519" class="fnanchor">[519]</a></p> + +<p>The Duchess of Parma was received with due +honour at Court, and was cordially welcomed by +Christina, who had known her as a child. A handsome +woman of thirty-five, she resembled her Flemish +mother more than her imperial father, and bore few +traces of her Habsburg origin. She had none of +Christina's distinction and refinement, while her +manners were too haughty to please the Flemish +nobles. But she had a keen eye to her own interests, +and the atmosphere of deception and intrigue in +which her married life had been spent had taught +her to adapt herself to circumstances. She contrived +to make herself agreeable both to Philip and Christina, +with whom most of her time was spent. The +new Venetian Ambassador, Soranzo, paid his respects +to the two ladies on his arrival, and found both of +them very friendly and pleasant. The Duchess of +Lorraine, as Badoer had frequently remarked, was +always particularly cordial to the Venetian Signory, +to whom her first husband, the Duke of Milan, owed +so much. At the same time the Queen of England, +anxious to show civility to her husband's family, +sent Sir Richard Shelley to give the Duchess of +Parma a sisterly welcome, and invite her to come to +London.<a name="FNanchor_520" id="FNanchor_520"></a><a href="#Footnote_520" class="fnanchor">[520]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the midst of the Christmas festivities, news +reached Brussels of a treacherous attempt of the +French, under Coligny, to surprise Douay. Fortunately +the plot was discovered in time; but the truce +was broken, and every day fresh incursions were made +by the French, which naturally produced reprisals. +The rupture was complete, and, in his anxiety to +secure the help of England in the coming struggle, +the King at length crossed the Channel, and joined +Mary at Greenwich on the 21st of January, 1557. +Political exigencies had done more to hasten his +return than all his wife's prayers and tears, but in +her joy she recked little of this, and guns were fired +and <i>Te Deums</i> chanted throughout the realm. +Before leaving Brussels, Philip had made arrangements +for the two Duchesses to follow him in a +few days. Their society, he felt, would help to +dispel the gloom of Mary's Court, and Margaret's +coming would allay any jealousy which Christina's +visit might excite. Another and more important +motive for his cousin's presence in England at this +moment was his anxiety to revive the old scheme of +a marriage between the Princess Elizabeth and the +Duke of Savoy. Mary's state of health made her +sister's marriage a matter of the highest importance, +and the new quarrel with France had put an end +to the Duke's hopes in that quarter. As both +the French and Venetian Ambassadors constantly +affirmed, Emanuel Philibert was the only foreign +Prince whom the English would tolerate, and Christina +herself told Vaudemont that she was going to +England, by the King's wish, to bring back Madame +Elizabeth as the Duke of Savoy's bride.<a name="FNanchor_521" id="FNanchor_521"></a><a href="#Footnote_521" class="fnanchor">[521]</a></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 198px;"> +<img src="images/facing412a.jpg" width="198" height="198" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>PHILIP II. (1554)</p> + +<p>By Jacopo da Trezzo (British Museum)</p></div> +</div> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/facing412b.jpg" width="200" height="200" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>MARY, QUEEN OF ENGLAND (1554)</p> + +<p>By Jacopo da Trezzo (British Museum)</p></div> +</div> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 192px;"> +<img src="images/facing412c.jpg" width="192" height="192" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>MARGARET OF AUSTRIA</p> + +<p>DUCHESS OF PARMA</p> + +<p>By Pastorino</p></div> +</div> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 192px;"> +<img src="images/facing412d.jpg" width="192" height="192" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>ANTOINE PERRENOT</p> + +<p>CARDINAL GRANVELLE</p> + +<p>By Leone Leoni</p> + +<p><i>To face p.</i> <a href="#Page_412">412</a></p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1557</span>] CHRISTINA AT WHITEHALL</div> + +<p>The King had a calm passage to Dover, but the +ladies were less fortunate, for an equinoctial gale +sprang up when they were halfway across the +Channel.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Duchesses," wrote Philip's secretary, Jean de +Courteville, "had to dance without music between +Dover and Calais, and the results were such as are +commonly the case with travellers unaccustomed to +the sea. The great festivities we are having here this +Lent will grieve them the less."<a name="FNanchor_522" id="FNanchor_522"></a><a href="#Footnote_522" class="fnanchor">[522]</a></p></div> + +<p>But if the passage was disagreeable, nothing was +lacking in the kindness of their reception. The Queen +sent her litter to meet them at Dover, with chariot +and hackney horses for their suite, and at Gravesend, +Lady Lennox and Lady Kildare were waiting to +conduct them in the royal barge to Whitehall. Here +Philip received them at the water-gate, and led them +up the steps into the great hall, where Mary welcomed +her guests. The King and Queen who had +only arrived from Greenwich the day before rode +in state through the city, with the Lord Mayor +carrying the sceptre at the head of the guilds and +crafts of London, while a salute was fired from the +Tower and bells rang from all the churches.</p> + +<p>Both the Duchesses were lodged in the Palace of +Westminster, Christina in rooms on the ground-floor, +looking on the gardens, and Margaret in an apartment +on the upper floor, commanding a view of the +Thames.<a name="FNanchor_523" id="FNanchor_523"></a><a href="#Footnote_523" class="fnanchor">[523]</a> Soon after their arrival another visitor +was brought by the Bishop of London to see Their +Majesties—an Envoy from the Czar of Muscovy, +who was lodged in Fenchurch Street, as the guest of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span>the Company of Muscovite Merchants. Englishmen +and Spaniards, Lorrainers and Italians, alike looked +with curious eyes at this stranger from the shores of +the Polar Sea, who was clad in robes of Oriental +splendour, and whose turban glittered with gems. +He brought the Queen a present of magnificent sables +from the Czar, and saluted her by bowing his whole +body down and touching the ground with his hand. +In spite of his strange clothes and barbarous language, +he was a cultivated person, as keen to see the sights +of London as Christina herself. One day he dined +with the Lord Mayor in gorgeous attire, another he +attended Mass at Westminster and saw St. Edward's +shrine, with the relics which had been fortunately +preserved when the Abbey was plundered.<a name="FNanchor_524" id="FNanchor_524"></a><a href="#Footnote_524" class="fnanchor">[524]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1557</span>] ST. GEORGE'S FEAST</div> + +<p>After spending a fortnight at Whitehall, Philip +and Mary took their guests to spend Easter at +Greenwich. On Maundy Thursday the King and +Queen washed the feet of a number of poor beggars, +and blessed the cramp rings, which were as much +prized in Spain and Flanders as in England. Easter +Day witnessed fresh balls and banquets, dog and +bear fights, bull-baiting and horse-races, after which +a large hunting-party was given in the park for the +Duchess of Lorraine's amusement. On the 22nd of +April the royal party returned to Whitehall for St. +George's Feast. High Mass was celebrated in the +Abbey by the Bishop of Winchester, and all the +Knights of the Garter, in their mantles of royal blue, +walked in procession round the inner court of the +palace, while the Queen and her guests looked on from +a window on the garden side. The King and Queen +and all the Knights of the Order attended vespers in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span>the Abbey, after which the Muscovite Envoy came +to take leave of Their Majesties, and delivered a long +farewell speech, which was translated by an interpreter +into English and Spanish, expressing his hope +that these mighty Sovereigns might live to see their +children's children. Six English ships were in readiness +to escort the stranger across the Northern seas, +and prevent him falling into the hands of the Norsemen, +who were jealous of English interference with +the trade of Muscovy.</p> + +<p>On Sunday the Queen gave a grand banquet, and +appeared resplendent in cloth of gold and jewels. +Christina sat on her right, and Margaret, with her +little son, on the King's left hand. The next morning +the Duchess of Parma left for Italy, but Christina, +at Philip's entreaty, remained in London another +ten days. She was already very popular with the +English, and made friends with Lord Arundel, Lord +Pembroke, and several other nobles and ladies at +Court, while her splendid robes and jewels, her +numerous suite and fine horses, excited general +admiration. In the midst of the Court fêtes, she +found time to visit several shrines and places of +interest, and, while the King was holding the Chapter +of the Garter on St. George's Day, went by water to +the Tower, and was shown its treasures and antiquities. +But in one respect her visit proved a failure. Mary +refused to entertain any idea of the Savoy marriage, +and would not even allow Christina a glimpse of +Princess Elizabeth, who was kept at Hatfield in +strict seclusion during her visit. What was worse, +the Duchess's presence revived all the Queen's +jealousy, and, in spite of the King's protests, Christina +found it prudent to hasten her departure. All manner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span> +of stories about Mary's dislike of the Duchess found +their way to the French Court, and King Henry had +many jokes with Soranzo on the subject, and told +him he heard that the Queen flew into a frantic +passion when the King led out his cousin to dance +at Greenwich.<a name="FNanchor_525" id="FNanchor_525"></a><a href="#Footnote_525" class="fnanchor">[525]</a></p> + +<p>Philip did his best to atone for his wife's ill-humour, +and, when Christina expressed a wish to visit Ghent +on her return, wrote to ask the Duke of Savoy to see +that she and her daughters were well lodged and +entertained in the old Prinzenhof. On the 11th of +May the Duchess wrote a formal letter of thanks to +the Queen from Dover, acknowledging the attentions +which she had received from Her Majesty and all +her subjects, and on the 8th of June she sent her a +second letter from Ghent, on behalf of the widow +and daughter of Sir Jacques de Granado, a Brabant +gentleman who had been Equerry to Henry VIII. +and Edward VI., and had met his death by accident +during the Duchess's visit. As he rode into the +privy garden at Whitehall before the Queen's +chariot, his bridle broke, the horse shied violently, +and dashed his rider's head against the wall. Sir +Jacques was killed on the spot, and buried at St. +Dunstan's in the East two days afterwards with a +great display of torches and escutcheons. On Christina's +recommendation, the Queen granted a pension +of £50 to the widow, and saw that she and her children +were amply provided for.<a name="FNanchor_526" id="FNanchor_526"></a><a href="#Footnote_526" class="fnanchor">[526]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1557</span>] THE VICTORY OF ST. QUENTIN</div> + +<p>From Ghent the Duchess went to meet her sister +Dorothea at Jülich, the Court of the Duke of Cleves +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span>and the Archduchess Maria. The reformed faith +was now firmly established in the Palatinate, and +Dorothea's well-known Lutheran leanings were a +great source of annoyance to her own family. "The +Electress Dorothea," wrote Badoer from Brussels +in 1557, "is known to be a Lutheran and against +the Emperor, and is as much hated here as her sister +Christina is beloved." From his retreat at St. Yuste, +Charles begged Philip to invite Dorothea to settle at +Brussels, "lest one of our own blood should openly +forsake the faith." When the Princess declined this +proposal, Philip and Arras desired Christina to use +her influence to bring her sister to a better mind. +But Dorothea resisted all these attempts obstinately, +and went back to Neuburg to live among her +husband's kindred and worship God in her own way.<a name="FNanchor_527" id="FNanchor_527"></a><a href="#Footnote_527" class="fnanchor">[527]</a></p> + +<p>On the 1st of June England declared war against +France, and Philip returned to Brussels, having +accomplished the object of his journey. Here he +was joined by the Duchess of Lorraine and the Count +of Vaudemont, who came to Flanders to try and +reopen peace negotiations. But the moment, as +Arras told him, was singularly inopportune, since +Philip was armed to the teeth and had England at +his back. On the 11th of August the King left +Brussels for the camp before St. Quentin, where he +arrived just too late to claim a share in the brilliant +victory gained by the Duke of Savoy and Egmont +over the French on St. Lawrence's Day. The +Constable Montmorency, the Marshal St. André, +Admiral Coligny, and the Rhinegrave, were among +the prisoners made on this memorable day, together +with all the guns and fifty-six colours. The news<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span> +of this decisive victory was celebrated with great +joy both in Brussels and across the Channel. <i>Te +Deum</i> was sung in St. Paul's, and the loyal citizens +of London lighted bonfires and sat up drinking +through the livelong night; while in Paris the King +and Queen went to Notre Dame in sackcloth, and +Henry II. carried the Crown of Thorns in procession +from the Sainte Chapelle. In the lonely monastery +far away on the heights of Estremadura, the news +sent a thrill to the great Emperor's heart, and he +asked eagerly in what route his son was marching +on Paris. Had Philip followed this course, had he, +in Suriano's words, "taken Fortune at the flood," +he might have brought the campaign to a triumphant +close. But, with characteristic timidity, he confined +himself to capturing St. Quentin, and then returned +to Brussels, throwing away such an opportunity as +comes but once a lifetime.<a name="FNanchor_528" id="FNanchor_528"></a><a href="#Footnote_528" class="fnanchor">[528]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_481" id="Footnote_481"></a><a href="#FNanchor_481"><span class="label">[481]</span></a> Henne, x. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_482" id="Footnote_482"></a><a href="#FNanchor_482"><span class="label">[482]</span></a> Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Marquis of Salisbury, +i. 110; Lodge, "Illustrations," i. 183.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_483" id="Footnote_483"></a><a href="#FNanchor_483"><span class="label">[483]</span></a> Voigt, ii. 207.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_484" id="Footnote_484"></a><a href="#FNanchor_484"><span class="label">[484]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Edward VI., Foreign, 282.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_485" id="Footnote_485"></a><a href="#FNanchor_485"><span class="label">[485]</span></a> "Travail and Life of Sir T. Hoby," 85; Calendar of State +Papers, Edward VI., Foreign, 288.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_486" id="Footnote_486"></a><a href="#FNanchor_486"><span class="label">[486]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Mary, Foreign, 8; T. Hoby, 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_487" id="Footnote_487"></a><a href="#FNanchor_487"><span class="label">[487]</span></a> Granvelle, iv. 113, 119.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_488" id="Footnote_488"></a><a href="#FNanchor_488"><span class="label">[488]</span></a> Mignet, "Retraite de Charles V.," 69, 70.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_489" id="Footnote_489"></a><a href="#FNanchor_489"><span class="label">[489]</span></a> M. Haile, "Life of Reginald Pole," 432.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_490" id="Footnote_490"></a><a href="#FNanchor_490"><span class="label">[490]</span></a> Henne, x. 132; F. Juste, "Marie de Hongrie," 204.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_491" id="Footnote_491"></a><a href="#FNanchor_491"><span class="label">[491]</span></a> Granvelle, iv. 307; Venetian Transcript, Record Office, 99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_492" id="Footnote_492"></a><a href="#FNanchor_492"><span class="label">[492]</span></a> Gachard, iv. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_493" id="Footnote_493"></a><a href="#FNanchor_493"><span class="label">[493]</span></a> Ashmole, "The Order of the Garter," 383.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_494" id="Footnote_494"></a><a href="#FNanchor_494"><span class="label">[494]</span></a> Machyn, "Diary," 66, 79, 81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_495" id="Footnote_495"></a><a href="#FNanchor_495"><span class="label">[495]</span></a> Granvelle, iv. 341; F. de Noailles, "Ambassades," v. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_496" id="Footnote_496"></a><a href="#FNanchor_496"><span class="label">[496]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Mary, Foreign, 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_497" id="Footnote_497"></a><a href="#FNanchor_497"><span class="label">[497]</span></a> Machyn, 82, 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_498" id="Footnote_498"></a><a href="#FNanchor_498"><span class="label">[498]</span></a> Record Office Manuscripts; State Papers, Foreign, vi. 351 +(see Appendix).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_499" id="Footnote_499"></a><a href="#FNanchor_499"><span class="label">[499]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vi. 1, 69; Calendar of State Papers, Mary, +Foreign 165; J. W. Burgon, "Life of Sir Thomas Gresham," +i. 168.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_500" id="Footnote_500"></a><a href="#FNanchor_500"><span class="label">[500]</span></a> Record Office Manuscripts, Venetian Transcripts, 1555, +No. 99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_501" id="Footnote_501"></a><a href="#FNanchor_501"><span class="label">[501]</span></a> Noailles, v. 74, 80.; Venetian Calendar, vi. 1, 151.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_502" id="Footnote_502"></a><a href="#FNanchor_502"><span class="label">[502]</span></a> Noailles, v. 191; Venetian Calendar, vi. 1, 211; P. Friedmann, +"Les Dépêches de Michieli," 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_503" id="Footnote_503"></a><a href="#FNanchor_503"><span class="label">[503]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Mary, Foreign, 189.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_504" id="Footnote_504"></a><a href="#FNanchor_504"><span class="label">[504]</span></a> Granvelle, iv. 469.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_505" id="Footnote_505"></a><a href="#FNanchor_505"><span class="label">[505]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vi. 603.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_506" id="Footnote_506"></a><a href="#FNanchor_506"><span class="label">[506]</span></a> L. Haüsser, i. 630.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_507" id="Footnote_507"></a><a href="#FNanchor_507"><span class="label">[507]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vi. 197.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_508" id="Footnote_508"></a><a href="#FNanchor_508"><span class="label">[508]</span></a> De Reiffenberg, "Histoire de la Toison d'Or," 451.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_509" id="Footnote_509"></a><a href="#FNanchor_509"><span class="label">[509]</span></a> G. Ribier, "Lettres et Mémoires d'État," ii. 634; T. Juste, +94; Venetian Calendar, vi. 369.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_510" id="Footnote_510"></a><a href="#FNanchor_510"><span class="label">[510]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vi. 421, 443, 457; T. Juste, 101; Gachard, +"Retraite," etc., i. 41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_511" id="Footnote_511"></a><a href="#FNanchor_511"><span class="label">[511]</span></a> Lanz, iii. 709; Venetian Calendar, vi. 537.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_512" id="Footnote_512"></a><a href="#FNanchor_512"><span class="label">[512]</span></a> Venetian Despatches, 90 (Record Office).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_513" id="Footnote_513"></a><a href="#FNanchor_513"><span class="label">[513]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vi. 197, 362.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_514" id="Footnote_514"></a><a href="#FNanchor_514"><span class="label">[514]</span></a> Granvelle, iv. 574, 577.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_515" id="Footnote_515"></a><a href="#FNanchor_515"><span class="label">[515]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, iv. 701.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_516" id="Footnote_516"></a><a href="#FNanchor_516"><span class="label">[516]</span></a> Brantôme, xii. 114.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_517" id="Footnote_517"></a><a href="#FNanchor_517"><span class="label">[517]</span></a> P. Friedmann, 254-267; Noailles, v. 355, 362.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_518" id="Footnote_518"></a><a href="#FNanchor_518"><span class="label">[518]</span></a> Friedmann, 56; Noailles, "Affaires Étrangères: Angleterre," +xix. (Bibliothèque Nationale).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_519" id="Footnote_519"></a><a href="#FNanchor_519"><span class="label">[519]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vi. 863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_520" id="Footnote_520"></a><a href="#FNanchor_520"><span class="label">[520]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, vi. 914, 932.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_521" id="Footnote_521"></a><a href="#FNanchor_521"><span class="label">[521]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vi. 1015, 1080.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_522" id="Footnote_522"></a><a href="#FNanchor_522"><span class="label">[522]</span></a> Kervyn de Lettenhove, "Relations des Pays-Bas avec +l'Angleterre," i. 67.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_523" id="Footnote_523"></a><a href="#FNanchor_523"><span class="label">[523]</span></a> Gachard, iv. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_524" id="Footnote_524"></a><a href="#FNanchor_524"><span class="label">[524]</span></a> Machyn, 130-134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_525" id="Footnote_525"></a><a href="#FNanchor_525"><span class="label">[525]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vi. 1154; Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_526" id="Footnote_526"></a><a href="#FNanchor_526"><span class="label">[526]</span></a> Machyn, 135, 136; Calendar of State Papers, Mary, Foreign, +305, 314.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_527" id="Footnote_527"></a><a href="#FNanchor_527"><span class="label">[527]</span></a> Granvelle, v. 86-113.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_528" id="Footnote_528"></a><a href="#FNanchor_528"><span class="label">[528]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vi. 1287; Machyn, 147; Gachard, "Retraite," +etc., 176.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span></p></div></div> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>BOOK XII<br /> + +THE PEACE OF CÂTEAU-CAMBRÉSIS<br /> + +1557-1559</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>The lull that followed the decisive battle of St. +Quentin afforded the Duchess of Lorraine a favourable +opportunity for resuming her efforts to open +negotiations between the contending monarchs. The +Constable, after fighting like a lion and receiving a +severe wound, had been made prisoner, and was +taken to the Castle of Ghent, where Christina and +her daughters were staying. The Duchess paid him +daily visits, and brought him letters of condolence +from her aunt Eleanor, who wrote that she wished +she were still in Flanders to nurse her old friend. +More than this: Christina obtained leave for his wife +to visit him, and even proposed that the prisoner +should be allowed to go to France on parole. These +good offices gratified the French King, who was very +anxious for his favourite's release, and whose behaviour +towards the Duchess now underwent a marked +change.<a name="FNanchor_529" id="FNanchor_529"></a><a href="#Footnote_529" class="fnanchor">[529]</a></p> + +<p>The young Duke Charles was almost fifteen, and +his marriage to the Princess Claude was fixed for the +following spring. With the King's leave, he sent his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span> +steward to Ghent to invite his mother to the wedding, +and at the same time make proposals of peace through +Montmorency. These letters were laid before Philip +by Christina, and a brisk correspondence was carried +on between her and the Constable. In December +Vaudemont came to Brussels, bringing portraits of +Charles and his bride as a gift from Henry II. to the +Duchess, and negotiations were actively pursued.<a name="FNanchor_530" id="FNanchor_530"></a><a href="#Footnote_530" class="fnanchor">[530]</a> +But just when the wished-for goal at length seemed +to be in sight, and Christina was rejoicing to think +of once more seeing her son, all her hopes were +shattered by the Duke of Guise's capture of Calais. +The surprise had been cleverly planned and brilliantly +executed. The new fortifications of the town were +unfinished, and after a gallant resistance the little +garrison was overpowered and forced to capitulate, +on the 8th of January, 1558. This unexpected success +revived the courage of the French, and strengthened +the Guise brothers in the determined opposition +which they offered to peace. The star of their house +was at its zenith, and on the 24th of April the +marriage of their niece, the young Queen of Scots, to +the Dauphin, was celebrated with great splendour +at Paris. In deference to his mother's wishes, the +Duke of Lorraine's wedding was put off till the +following year, when he should have attained his +majority; but he figured conspicuously in the day's +pageant, and led his lovely cousin in her lily-white +robes and jewelled crown up the nave of Notre +Dame.<a name="FNanchor_531" id="FNanchor_531"></a><a href="#Footnote_531" class="fnanchor">[531]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1558</span>] CHRISTINA MEETS HER SON</div> + +<p>The French King now gave his consent to Vaudemont's +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span>request, that a meeting should be arranged +between the Duke and his mother in the neighbourhood +of Péronne. Philip, after his wont, raised many +difficulties, and insisted that the Bishop of Arras +must be present at the interview.<a name="FNanchor_532" id="FNanchor_532"></a><a href="#Footnote_532" class="fnanchor">[532]</a> At length all +preliminaries were arranged, and on the 1st of May +Charles left Paris with his uncle Vaudemont and +Guise's eldest son, Henri, Prince of Joinville, attended +by an escort of 200 horse. The Duchess had already +arrived at Cambray with her daughters and Anne +of Aerschot, accompanied by Egmont, Arras, and +a great train of courtiers, and had prepared a splendid +reception for her son. But at the last moment fresh +difficulties arose. The Cardinal of Lorraine sent +Robertet, the King's secretary, to tell the Duchess +that, although her son was most anxious to see her, +it would be derogatory to his master's dignity for +him to enter King Philip's territories as a suppliant +for peace. Would Her Highness therefore consent +to come as far as his castle at Péronne? This Philip +quite refused to allow, and eventually the village of +Marcoing, halfway between Cambray and Péronne, +was fixed upon as the meeting-place. An old manor-house +which had been partly destroyed in the late +military operations was hastily repaired for the +occasion, and here, on the 15th of May, the much-desired +meeting at length took place.<a name="FNanchor_533" id="FNanchor_533"></a><a href="#Footnote_533" class="fnanchor">[533]</a> The Frenchmen, +who came in riding-clothes, were amazed to find +the splendid company awaiting them. The Duchess +with the young Princesses, Anne of Aerschot, and the +Princess of Macedonia, stood under a bower of leafy +boughs, and Egmont and the other courtiers were +all richly clad and mounted on fine horses. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span>coming of the guests was greeted by a gay fanfare +of trumpets and roll of drums, together with salutes +of artillery. Then the young Duke, springing from +his horse, rushed into his mother's arms. At the +sight of her boy, Christina burst into tears and almost +fainted away. For some minutes she remained +unable to speak, and the spectators were deeply +moved by her emotion. After repeatedly embracing +his mother, Charles kissed his sisters and aunt, and +proceeded to salute Egmont and the rest of the company +with charming grace; while the happy mother +followed his movements with delight, and could not +take her eyes off the tall and handsome youth whom +she had last seen as a child, and who had grown up +the image of his father.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1558</span>] DUKE CHARLES OF LORRAINE</div> + +<p>During the conversation which followed, Charles +spoke to his mother with great good sense and wisdom, +telling her how kindly he was treated at the French +Court, and how it would be hard for him to feel at +home anywhere else. But directly after his marriage +he and his wife intended to return to Nancy, where he +hoped that his mother would join them and live among +their own people. The Duchess and her children now +sat down to an exquisite <i>déjeuner</i> with the Duchess +of Aerschot and the Cardinal, while Egmont and Arras +entertained Vaudemont and the Prince of Joinville, +and the other French gentlemen dined with the +members of Christina's suite. After dinner three +Spanish jennets which King Philip had sent the +young Duke were led out, and Charles mounted a +spirited charger given him by the French monarch, +and performed a variety of feats of horsemanship +before the company, to his mother's great delight. +Then the Duchess and her sister and children retired<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span> +to enjoy each other's company in private, leaving +the Cardinal to confer with Arras and Egmont.</p> + +<p>The Cardinal produced the royal mandate, and +Robertet read out Henry's proposals, offering to +restore Savoy to the Duke, but only on condition +of receiving Milan in exchange. All Arras would +say in reply to these demands was that they must +be referred to his master, upon which the Cardinal +exclaimed with some heat that these were the +only terms which the King of France would accept. +"Thus," remarks the Venetian Ambassador, "this +meeting, which began with such a beautiful outburst +of motherly love and tenderness, ended in mutual recrimination."<a name="FNanchor_534" id="FNanchor_534"></a><a href="#Footnote_534" class="fnanchor">[534]</a> +The Cardinal then took leave of the +company, after presenting the young Princesses and +their mother with gifts of gold bracelets, rings, and +brooches, and receiving a box of choice gloves, perfumed, +and embroidered in Italian fashion from the +Duchess. As he rode back to Péronne, he saw the +flames of a burning village which had been destroyed +by the Imperialists, and, in spite of his safe-conduct, +was seized with so great a panic that he hurried back +to Paris, fearing his château might be surprised +by the foes. The young Duke and Vaudemont +spent another day with the Duchess, and only returned +to Compiègne on the 18th of May. Here +Charles received the warmest of welcomes from the +royal family, who had feared that he might be induced +to remain with his mother. The King threw his +arms round the boy's neck, the Queen and Dauphin, +the Princesses Elizabeth and Claude and the young +Queen of Scots, all embraced him affectionately, +telling him how much they had missed him. In fact, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span>as Soranzo remarks, this short absence served to show +how much beloved the young Prince was by the +whole Court.<a name="FNanchor_535" id="FNanchor_535"></a><a href="#Footnote_535" class="fnanchor">[535]</a></p> + +<p>Meanwhile Arras and Egmont returned to Brussels, +satisfied that the French had no real wish for peace, +and Philip declared his conviction that they had +made a plot to capture the Duchess, which had only +been defeated by the strong escort with which she +was attended. But Christina herself was radiant +with happiness, and received congratulations from +all her friends. The French had done her many +cruel wrongs, but they had not been able to rob her +of her son's heart, and the future still held the +promise of some golden hours.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1558</span>] THE PRINCE OF ORANGE</div> + +<p>For a while the war still raged fiercely. The +capture of Thionville by Guise in June was followed +a month later by Egmont's fresh victory at Gravelines, +when the Governor of Calais, De Thermes, and +his whole force, were cut to pieces. The Count had +always been a splendid and popular figure; now he +was the idol of the whole nation. His brilliant feat +of arms had saved Flanders from utter ruin, and +made peace once more possible. Both sides were +thoroughly weary of the long struggle, the resources +of both countries were exhausted, and the unhappy +inhabitants of Picardy and Artois were crying out +for a respite from their sufferings. Christina made +use of the opportunity to renew her correspondence +with the Constable and the Marshal St. André, his +companion in captivity.<a name="FNanchor_536" id="FNanchor_536"></a><a href="#Footnote_536" class="fnanchor">[536]</a> A new recruit now came +to her help in the person of William of Orange. This +young Prince had enjoyed the favour of Charles V. +and his sister Mary from his boyhood, and had been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span>treated with especial kindness by the Duchess of +Aerschot and her sister-in-law. The death of his +young wife, Anna, Countess Büren, in the spring of +1558, had thrown him much into the company of +these ladies, and it was already whispered at Court +that he would certainly marry Madame de Lorraine's +elder daughter, Renée, who was growing up a tall and +attractive maiden. The Prince himself was a handsome +youth with fine brown eyes and curly auburn +locks, and a charm of manner which few could resist. +If the cares and anxieties of his later life made him +taciturn, in youth he was the most genial and +pleasant of companions, and Arras, who never loved +him, said that he "made a friend every time that +he lifted his hat." His attire was always as faultless +as it was splendid, he was renowned for his skill as +a rider and jouster, and had greatly distinguished +himself in the recent campaigns. Both in his home +at Breda and in the stately Nassau house at Brussels +the Prince kept open house, and the worst faults of +which his enemies could accuse him were his reckless +hospitality and extravagant tastes.</p> + +<p>Christina had always taken especial interest in +William of Orange, for the sake of the kinsman whose +name and wealth he inherited, and he on his part +became deeply attached to her. So intimate was +their friendship, that the Duchess one day told +Count Feria's English wife, Jane Dormer, in speaking +of the Prince's intended marriage with her +daughter, that she would gladly have married him +herself.<a name="FNanchor_537" id="FNanchor_537"></a><a href="#Footnote_537" class="fnanchor">[537]</a></p> + +<p>The Prince now joined his personal exertions to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span> +those of the Duchess, and was the frequent bearer of +letters between Brussels and the camp near Amiens, +where the two Kings and their rival armies were +drawn up face to face. At length, on the 9th of +September, a ten days' armistice was proclaimed, +and a few days later the Prince of Orange, Ruy +Gomez, and Arras, met the Constable and St. +André at Lille, to discuss preliminaries of peace.<a name="FNanchor_538" id="FNanchor_538"></a><a href="#Footnote_538" class="fnanchor">[538]</a> +The two French prisoners were eager for peace, and +had the secret support of Henry II. and Diane +de Poitiers; but the Guises, who had everything to +lose and nothing to gain by the cessation of war, +were still strongly opposed to a truce, and Renard +told Philip that the only way of gaining their good-will +would be to give Mademoiselle de Lorraine's +hand to the Prince of Joinville. In the end, however, +their opposition was overruled, and on the 30th +of September William of Orange was able to bring the +Duchess news that a Conference had been arranged, +and would take place at the Abbey of Cercamp, near +Cambray, in October. He found Christina at Douai, +where she and her daughters were attending a marriage +in the d'Aremberg family. She had just heard of her +son's return to Nancy, where he had been received +with acclamation by his subjects, and where her +own presence was eagerly expected. But at Philip's +earnest entreaty she consented to remain in Flanders +for the present, and preside at the coming Conference. +This proposal was strongly supported by the Cardinal +of Lorraine, who hastened to send the Duchess a +safe-conduct, saying that her presence would do +more than anything to bring the desired peace to +perfection.<a name="FNanchor_539" id="FNanchor_539"></a><a href="#Footnote_539" class="fnanchor">[539]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1558</span>] THE CONFERENCE OF CERCAMP</div> + +<p>Christina herself was very reluctant to accept the +post, as we learn from the following letter which she +wrote to Philip from Douai on the 12th of October. +Her delicate child, Dorothea, was ailing, and her +faithful companion, the aged Princess of Macedonia, +was hardly fit to be left alone.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I have received the letter which Your Majesty +has been pleased to send me, and thank you humbly +for your affectionate expressions. As to the inconvenience +of the place selected for this Conference, +I should never allow my comfort or pleasure to interfere +with your commands, and will accordingly go +to Arras to-morrow and await your further orders. +I have been very unwell lately, and must beg Your +Majesty to provide for my safety, not only because +I am a woman, but because, as you know, I am not +in the good graces of the French. My daughters +must remain here a few days longer, as Dorothea is +indisposed, and the Princess of Macedonia is in a +very feeble state. I will follow Your Majesty's +advice as to Bassompierre's mission and my son's +affairs, and cannot thank you enough for your kind +thought of me and my children. I kiss Your Majesty's +hands.</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 10.5em;">"Your very humble and obedient cousin,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 23em;">"<span class="smcap">Chrétienne</span>."<a name="FNanchor_540" id="FNanchor_540"></a><a href="#Footnote_540" class="fnanchor">[540]</a></span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Some further difficulties—chiefly the work of +Silliers, poor Belloni's hated rival and successor—delayed +the Duchess's journey for another week. +On the 16th Arras wrote to tell her that the Commissioners +had already arrived at Cercamp, and beg +her to come as soon as possible. The Cardinal was +very anxious to see her, and hoped that she would +not fail to bring his young cousins, "Mesdames your +daughters," with her. Christina could delay no +longer, and hastened to Cercamp the following day.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span></p> + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>On the 17th of October, 1558, a fortnight's truce +was proclaimed. Both armies remained encamped +on their own territories, while the two Kings withdrew +respectively to Arras and Beauvais. The next +day the Commissioners met at one o'clock in the +Duchess's lodgings. The Prince of Orange, Alva, +Ruy Gomez, Arras, and Viglius, the President of +the Council, represented Philip; while the Constable, +the Cardinal of Lorraine, St. André, the Bishop of +Orleans, and Secretary l'Aubespine, were the five +French deputies. Stroppiana represented the Duke +of Savoy, and the English deputies, Lord Arundel, +Dr. Wotton, and Thirlby, Bishop of Ely, arrived a few +days later. The Duchess welcomed the Commissioners +in a brief speech, explaining that, as for +several years past she had endeavoured to make +peace between these two illustrious monarchs, it was +their pleasure that she should continue her good +offices, adding that she would count herself too happy +if her services could help to attain this blessed end, +and relieve the people of both countries from the +awful miseries of war.<a name="FNanchor_541" id="FNanchor_541"></a><a href="#Footnote_541" class="fnanchor">[541]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1558</span>] PEACE NEGOTIATIONS</div> + +<p>During the next fortnight conferences were held +daily in the presence of Christina, who herself read +aloud each different proposal that was made, and +showed infinite tact in smoothing over difficulties and +suggesting points of agreement. Each morning the +deputies met at Mass in the parish church, and often +discussed separate questions after service. In the +evenings, private interviews took place in Christina's +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span>rooms, and the Prince of Orange held long conversations +with Montmorency and the Cardinal, which +contributed not a little to their mutual understanding. +"Loving entertainments," in Suriano's phrase, "were +exchanged," and one night the Duchess gave a +banquet in honour of the Constable's wife and +daughter, who paid a visit to Cercamp. As the +Cardinal complained jestingly, Montmorency was too +good a Christian and all too ready to make peace +with his country's enemies. But King Henry supported +him secretly, and sent private notes and +messages, telling him to take no notice of the Guises, +and do all he could to make peace.<a name="FNanchor_542" id="FNanchor_542"></a><a href="#Footnote_542" class="fnanchor">[542]</a></p> + +<p>The great difficulty which had hitherto stood in the +way of all attempts at negotiation was the restitution +of Savoy. The Constable now proposed that the +Duke should marry the King's sister, Madame +Marguerite, with a dower of 300,000 crowns, and +be placed in possession of the chief portion of his +dominions. At first the Duke demurred to this offer, +and begged that the King's daughter Claude should +be substituted for her aunt, who was five years his +senior. But the Cardinal replied that this Princess +was already pledged to his nephew, Charles of +Lorraine, and laid stress on Margaret's charms and +learning. The Duke yielded, and a long wrangle +ensued as to the towns and citadels to be retained +by the French. But there was a still more thorny +question to be decided. This was the restoration of +Calais, which the English demanded with the utmost +pertinacity, while the French were no less determined +to keep their conquest. The English pleaded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span> +that they had held the town during two centuries; +the French replied that it had been unjustly snatched +from them in the first place. Old treaties, going +back to the days of the Black Prince, were produced, +and Arras and his colleagues supported the English +claim loyally, knowing that, if Philip consented to +abandon Calais, he would lose all hold on his wife's +subjects. In vain Christina proposed that, as the +marriage of the French King's elder daughter with +the Infant Don Carlos had been agreed upon, Calais +should form part of Elizabeth's dower. The Cardinal +told the Duchess that the possession of the town, +which his brother had conquered, touched his honour +too closely for him to agree to the surrender, and +King Henry sent word that he would rather lose +his crown than give up Calais. So stern and intractable +were the French that the only thing to be +done was to adjourn the Conference and refer the +matter to the two monarchs.<a name="FNanchor_543" id="FNanchor_543"></a><a href="#Footnote_543" class="fnanchor">[543]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Sept., 1558</span>] DEATH OF MARY OF HUNGARY</div> + +<p>The Constable was allowed to go to Beauvais with +the Cardinal to consult King Henry, Alva and +Orange went to Brussels to see Philip, and Christina +took three days' holiday with her children at Douai. +Before she went to Cercamp, a report of Charles V.'s +death had reached Brussels. Now this was confirmed +by letters from St. Yuste, announcing that the +great Emperor had passed away on the 21st of +September. The sudden death of his sister Eleanor, +seven months before, had been a great shock to him, +and when the Queen of Hungary entered his room +without the accustomed figure at her side he burst +into tears. The recent events of the war, and Philip's +difficulties in the administration of the provinces, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span>troubled him sorely, and he was very anxious for +Mary to resume the office of Regent. When, in +August, the Archbishop of Toledo brought a letter +from the King, imploring the Queen to come to his +help, Charles used all his influence to induce her +to consent. In vain Mary pleaded her advancing +years and failing health; the Emperor replied that +her refusal would bring ruin and disgrace on their +house, and adjured her by the love of God and her +sisterly affection to do him this last service. This +appeal decided the noble woman. On the 9th of +September she wrote to tell Philip that, in obedience +to his father's orders, she would start for the Netherlands +as soon as possible. The knowledge of the +Queen's decision was a great consolation to Charles +in his last moments, and as soon as she had recovered +from the first shock of his death she prepared to obey +his last wish. But before she embarked at Laredo, +a fresh attack of the heart trouble from which she +suffered ended her life, and on St. Luke's Day she +passed to her well-earned rest.<a name="FNanchor_544" id="FNanchor_544"></a><a href="#Footnote_544" class="fnanchor">[544]</a></p> + +<p>Her death was deeply lamented throughout the +Low Countries, where her return had been daily +looked for, and no one mourned her loss more truly +than the niece to whom she had been the best of +mothers. It was with a sad heart that Christina +came back to Cercamp to preside at the second +session of the Conference, which opened on the 7th +of November. Alarming accounts of their mistress's +health now reached the English Commissioners, and +Count Feria, whom Philip sent to London, wrote +that the Queen's life was despaired of, and that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span> +Parliament was in great alarm lest, if she died, the +King would cease to care for the recovery of Calais. +But, although Arras and Alva still declared that they +would never consent to any treaty which did not +satisfy the English, the French remained obdurate, +and the Commissioners were at their wits' end. The +Bishop of Ely was in tears, and on the 18th of +November Lord Arundel wrote home that</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"it seemed very hard that all others should have +restitution of their owne, and poore England, that +began not the fray, should bear the burthen and loss +for the rest, and specially of such a jewel as Calais."<a name="FNanchor_545" id="FNanchor_545"></a><a href="#Footnote_545" class="fnanchor">[545]</a></p></div> + +<p>The next day came the news of the Queen's death. +The French, who, Wotton remarked, "have ears as +long as those of Midas," were the first to inform Her +Majesty's Envoys that their mistress had breathed +her last, on the morning of the 17th of November, +after sending a message to Elizabeth, recognizing +this Princess as her successor, and begging her to +maintain the Catholic religion. The new Queen at +once sent Lord Cobham to announce her accession +to Philip, and assure him of her resolve to hold fast +the ancient friendship between England and the +House of Burgundy.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Dec., 1558</span>] THE EMPEROR'S FUNERAL</div> + +<p>The news of Mary's death decided the Commissioners +to adjourn the Conference. The truce +was prolonged for two months, and on the 2nd of +December they all left Cercamp. Arundel had already +started for England, and Wotton was longing to get +away, saying "that he was never wearier of any +place than he was of Cercamp, saving only of Rome +after the sack." The Constable was set at liberty, +and received a promise that his 200,000 crowns +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span>ransom should be reduced by half, if peace were +finally made. Arras, Alva, and Orange, went to +the Abbey of Groenendal to see Philip, who had +retired to pray for his father's soul, and there received +the tidings of his wife's death. Christina +returned to Brussels to assist at a succession of +funerals. On the 22nd of December a requeim for +the Queen of England was chanted in S. Gudule, +the Duke of Savoy acting as chief mourner in the +King's absence, and on the following day solemn +funeral rites for the late Queen of Hungary were +performed in the Court chapel, which she and the +Emperor had built and adorned. The Duchess of +Lorraine was present at this service, together with +the Duke of Savoy, the Prince of Orange, and all the +chief nobles and Crown officials, while the palace +gates were thronged with a crowd of sorrowing +people.<a name="FNanchor_546" id="FNanchor_546"></a><a href="#Footnote_546" class="fnanchor">[546]</a> But the grandest funeral ceremonies ever +known in Brussels were those that were celebrated +on the 29th of December, in memory of the late +Emperor.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1559</span>] CHARLES'S WEDDING</div> + +<p>Great preparations had been made for this solemnity +during the last few weeks. A <i>chapelle ardente</i> +was erected in S. Gudule, rising in tiers to the lofty +roof, adorned with golden diadems and shields +emblazoned with the dead monarch's arms and titles, +and lighted with 3,000 candles. Here, on a couch +draped with cloth of gold, an effigy of the Emperor +was laid, clad in robes of state and wearing the collar +of the Order. On the morning of the 29th a long +procession wound its way through the narrow streets +leading from the palace on the heights of the Caudenberg +to the cathedral church, and a stately pageant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span> +unfolded the glorious story of Charles of Austria's +deeds. A richly carved and gilded ship, drawn by +marine monsters, bore the names of his journeys and +battles and armorial bearings of the kingdoms over +which he reigned, while banners of the Turks and +of the other foes whom he had vanquished were +plunged in the waves below, and white-robed maidens +sat in the stern, bearing the cross and chalice, the +symbols of the faith by which he had conquered the +world. This imposing group was followed by a representation +of the Pillars of Hercules with Charles's +motto, <i>Plus oultre</i>, and twenty-four horses decked in +coloured plumes and trappings to match the banners +of his different States. Each of these pennons was +borne by a noble youth, while four Princes supported +the great standard of the Empire. Then came the +officers of the imperial household, leading Charles's +war-horse, and bearing his armour and insignia; the +Prince of Orange with his master's sword, Alva +with the orb of the world, and the Grand Commander +of Castille with the imperial crown. Last of all King +Philip himself appeared on foot, clad in a mourning +mantle five yards long, and followed by the Duke of +Savoy and a long train of Knights of the Golden Fleece, +Councillors and Ministers, with the Archers of the +Guard bringing up the rear. The procession left the +palace at nine, and the funeral service, which included +a lengthy oration by the Bishop of Arras's coadjutor, +Abbé Richardot, was not over till five o'clock. The +next day Philip and all his nobles attended High Mass, +and at the end of the celebration the Prince of Orange, +standing before the funeral pile, smote his breast +three times, repeating the words: "He is dead, and +will remain dead; and there is another risen up in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg 435]</a></span> +place, greater than ever he has been." So the solemn +function ended.</p> + +<p>"It was a sight worth going 100 miles to see," +wrote Richard Clough, an English apprentice who +had been sent by Sir Thomas Gresham from Antwerp, +and counted himself fortunate to witness this imposing +ceremony. "The like of it, I think, hath +never been seen. The Lord give his soul rest!"<a name="FNanchor_547" id="FNanchor_547"></a><a href="#Footnote_547" class="fnanchor">[547]</a></p> + +<p>The Duchess of Lorraine had been anxious that +her son should attend his great-uncle's funeral, but +the tardy invitation which Philip sent to Nancy +arrived too late, and the young Duke could not reach +Brussels in time to take part in the ceremony. To +console herself for this disappointment, Christina +went to meet Charles at Treves on the 6th of January, +and spent two days in his company, before he returned +to France for the wedding. His loyal subjects presented +him with a marriage gift of 200,000 crowns, +double the amount which any Duke of Lorraine had +received before. Charles who inherited his mother's +lavish generosity, spent most of the money in costly +jewels for his bride, and presented the King and +Dauphin, Vaudemont and the Guises, with superb +robes embroidered with the arms of Lorraine and +lined with lynx fur. The wedding was solemnized +at Notre Dame on the 22nd of January, with as much +splendour as that of the Dauphin in the previous +spring. The Guises held open house for ten days in +their palatial abode, the "Hôtel de Lorraine et de +Sicile," near the royal palace of Les Tournelles, and +gave a grand tournament in which the young Duke +appeared at the head of a troop splendidly arrayed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[Pg 436]</a></span> +in corslets of gold and silver, with the <i>alérions</i>, or +eagles, of Lorraine on the crest of their helmets. +Ronsard celebrated the union of the eagles of Lorraine +and the golden lilies of France, and sang the praises +of the "Fair Maid of Valois and her bridegroom, the +beautiful Shepherd who feeds his flock in the green +pastures along the banks of Meuse and Moselle."<a name="FNanchor_548" id="FNanchor_548"></a><a href="#Footnote_548" class="fnanchor">[548]</a></p> + +<p>The French King and Queen had invited the +Duchess in courteous and affectionate terms to be +present at the wedding, but she declined on the +plea of her deep mourning, as well as of the promise +which she had made to preside at the Peace Conference, +which was shortly to meet again.<a name="FNanchor_549" id="FNanchor_549"></a><a href="#Footnote_549" class="fnanchor">[549]</a></p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1559</span>] AT CÂTEAU-CAMBRÉSIS</div> + +<p>The Commissioners who had attended the Conferences +at Cercamp were unanimous in refusing to +return to this unhealthy and inconvenient spot, and +at the Duchess of Lorraine's suggestion the small +town of Câteau-Cambrésis, belonging to the Bishop +of Cambray, was chosen for their next meeting-place. +The Bishop's manor-house at Mon Soulas, +which had been damaged in the war, was hastily +repaired by the Duchess's <i>fourriers</i>, the rooms were +furnished anew, and paper windows were inserted +in place of the broken glass. The Bishop of Arras, +who arrived with the Prince of Orange's servants, +secured a decent lodging and good cook for himself +and his colleagues in the neighbouring villas of +Beau Regard and Mon Plaisir, while Wotton and the +Bishop of Ely found very indifferent quarters in a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[Pg 437]</a></span>ruinous house belonging to the Bishop of Cambray. +The French complained that the accommodation was +no better than at Cercamp, if the air was healthier, and, +after a good deal of grumbling, fixed on two houses, +known as Mon Secours and Belle Image, outside the +gates.<a name="FNanchor_550" id="FNanchor_550"></a><a href="#Footnote_550" class="fnanchor">[550]</a> The dilapidated country-house, with its +patched-up walls and paper windows, could hardly +have been a pleasant residence in the cold days of +February, but Christina made light of these discomforts, +and threw herself heart and soul into the +difficult task before her. The Commissioners all +recognized the tact and patience which she showed +in conducting the negotiations, and the courtesy +which the Ambassadors of other nationalities received +at her hands, during the next two months.</p> + +<p>The French delegates were delayed by the fêtes +for the Duke of Lorraine's wedding, and did not +reach Câteau-Cambrésis until late on the evening of +the 5th of February. On the following afternoon +they held their first meeting with the King of Spain's +Commissioners in the Duchess's rooms at Mon Soulas. +They seemed very cheerful, and, the next day being +Shrove Tuesday, were all entertained at dinner by +the Constable. On Ash Wednesday, Mass of the +Holy Ghost was sung in church, after which business +began in earnest, and various points regarding the +Duke of Savoy's marriage were decided. The next +evening Lord William Howard, who had been made +Lord Chamberlain by the new Queen, and advanced +to the peerage with the title of Lord Howard of +Effingham, arrived from England. He was received +with great civility by Alva and his colleagues, and +conducted by the Prince of Orange to salute the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[Pg 438]</a></span> +Duchess. Christina welcomed him graciously, asked +after Queen Elizabeth with great interest, and kept +him talking of England "for a pretty while" in the +most friendly manner.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"This assembly," wrote Howard to his mistress, +"hath been entirely procured by the Duchess's +labour and travail; and she being a Princess not +subject to the King of Spain or France, the Commissioners +are content to use her as one that is indifferent +betwixt all parties, and she is continually +present at all meetings and communications."<a name="FNanchor_551" id="FNanchor_551"></a><a href="#Footnote_551" class="fnanchor">[551]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1559</span>] ANGRY DISCUSSIONS</div> + +<p>But the Frenchmen, Lord Howard complained, +behaved in a very strange fashion, and quite refused +to meet him and his colleagues if they persisted in +their demand for Calais, pretending that this question +had been finally settled at Cercamp. At Christina's +entreaty, however, the Cardinal consented to an +interview, and at one o'clock on Saturday, the 11th of +February, the whole body of Commissioners met at +Mon Soulas. The Duchess sat at the head of the +table, the English on her right, the French deputies +opposite, and Alva and his companions at the other +end. A long wrangle followed; all the old arguments +were revived, and the Cardinal, as Howard noticed, +did his best to stir up a quarrel between the English +and the King of Spain's servants. After the meeting +broke up, the members stood about in little knots, +conversing amicably with each other and the Duchess. +On Sunday the Constable had a long private interview +with Howard, and, as the latter afterwards discovered, +caught Alva and Stroppiana as they left +church, and tried to induce them to abandon the +English. But Philip's servants stood loyally by their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span>allies, and the Prince of Orange and Alva discussed +the matter with Howard until a late hour. During +the next two days the debate was continued with +ever-increasing acrimony, until on Tuesday afternoon +Howard broke into so violent a passion that +the Cardinal and his friends rose and walked out of +the house, saying that it was impossible to argue with +such people. As Arras remarked shrewdly: "The +French are better advocates of a bad cause than the +English are of a good one."<a name="FNanchor_552" id="FNanchor_552"></a><a href="#Footnote_552" class="fnanchor">[552]</a></p> + +<p>Presently a page brought the Duchess word that +the French Commissioners had ordered their horses, +and were preparing to pack up and leave. Upon this +Christina followed them into the garden, and by dint +of much persuasion prevailed upon the Cardinal to +listen to her suggestion that Calais should remain for +eight years in the hands of the French, and that a +yearly sum should be paid to Queen Elizabeth as a +security for its ultimate surrender. Meanwhile the +outer world was becoming very impatient. Philip +wrote to the Prince of Orange, saying that he could +get no more supplies from Spain, and that the greatest +service he could do him would be to obtain peace at +any cost; and Henry sent an autograph letter to the +Constable, complaining of the Guises' opposition, +ending with the words: "Never mind what these men +say; let them talk as they please, but make peace if +possible!" It was accordingly decided to refer the +Duchess's proposal to Queen Elizabeth and her +Council, while the Constable went to consult the +French King at Villers-Cotterets.<a name="FNanchor_553" id="FNanchor_553"></a><a href="#Footnote_553" class="fnanchor">[553]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[Pg 440]</a></span></p> + +<p>Late this same evening the Duke of Lorraine +arrived from Court, with two of the Guise Princes, +the Grand Prior of Malta, and the Marquis of Elbœuf, +and was met by the Prince of Orange, and taken to +Mon Soulas. The Duchess was overjoyed to see her +son, and the next three days were devoted to hunting-parties. +Howard was invited to join in one of these, +and he and the Prince of Orange accompanied Christina +and Margaret of Aremberg out hunting. As they +rode home together, the ladies began to talk of +Queen Elizabeth, and Christina expressed her wish +that she would marry the King of Spain.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Why?" returned Howard. "What should my +mistress doe with a husband that should be ever +from her and never with her? Is that the way to +get what we desire most—that is, children? I think +not."</p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1559</span>] ROYAL INTERVIEWS</div> + +<p>At this both the Duchess and Madame d'Aremberg +laughed, and Christina, remembering her unlucky +experiences at the English Court, observed that the +late Queen was too old to bear children, and had not +the art of winning her husband's affections. Howard +was entirely of the same opinion, but assured her that +whoever the present Queen chose to marry, "would +be honoured and served to the death by every one of +her subjects, and all the more so if he make much of +his wife."<a name="FNanchor_554" id="FNanchor_554"></a><a href="#Footnote_554" class="fnanchor">[554]</a> This conversation was duly reported to +Elizabeth by Howard, who begged his royal mistress to +forgive his boldness, and not impute it to him as folly. +All the world knew that Philip was paying assiduous +court to his sister-in-law, and Christina's remarks +were no doubt prompted by the wish to do him a +good turn. But three weeks after this conversation +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[Pg 441]</a></span>the Queen told Count Feria that she was determined +to restore the Church of the land to what it was in +her father's time, and that, being a heretic, she could +not become his master's wife.<a name="FNanchor_555" id="FNanchor_555"></a><a href="#Footnote_555" class="fnanchor">[555]</a></p> + +<p>Christina had long sought an opportunity of +presenting her son to the King, and at her request +Philip agreed to come to Binche for hunting, and +meet the Duke at Mons. On the 22nd of February, +the Duchess and her son, accompanied by +Madame d'Aremberg, the Prince of Orange, and +the Guise Princes, rode to Mons, where they +were hospitably entertained by the Duke of +Aerschot, and received a visit from the King, who +came over on St. Matthias's Feast from Binche to +spend the day with his cousins. He showed himself +unusually amiable to the young Duke, and delighted +the boy with the gift of a richly carved and jewelled +sword, in memory of the great Emperor, whose +birthday fell on this day. On the 25th, Marguerite +d'Aremberg wrote to inform Arras that the Duchess +hoped to be back in a few days, and thanked</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"him for having her hall put in order, promising +the Bishop that, if he were seized with a wish to +dance when the ladies from the French Court arrived, +he should have the best place."<a name="FNanchor_556" id="FNanchor_556"></a><a href="#Footnote_556" class="fnanchor">[556]</a></p></div> + +<p>Three days afterwards Christina returned to Mon +Soulas, bringing both her daughters to meet their +brother's wife, who was expected in a few days. The +conferences were resumed on the 2nd of March, but +there seemed little prospect of a settlement. The +Cardinal made more difficulties than ever, and even +ventured to question Queen Elizabeth's right to the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[Pg 442]</a></span>crown, saying that she was a bastard, and Mary, +Queen of Scots was the true Queen of England. Here +Christina intervened once more, and succeeded in +soothing down her irascible kinsman. But the +leading part taken by the Duchess in these debates +annoyed Arras seriously. He blamed her for playing +into the hands of the French, and complained to the +Duke of Savoy that there were too many ladies at +Mon Soulas, and that their absence would be of more +advantage than their presence. This last remark +was aimed at the young Duchess of Lorraine, who, +on the 5th of March arrived from Court with the +Duchess of Guise, Anna d' Este, and a numerous +suite of ladies. An innocent, simple girl, devoted to +her young husband, Claude responded warmly to the +affectionate welcome which she received from her +mother-in-law and sisters; and Christina thus surrounded +by her children, declared herself to be the +happiest of mothers. Everyone, as Arras complained, +was given up to amusement. Lord Howard went +out hunting with his old friend the Constable, and +the Prince of Orange and the Cardinal spent their +evenings with the Duchess and her joyous family +circle.<a name="FNanchor_557" id="FNanchor_557"></a><a href="#Footnote_557" class="fnanchor">[557]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">March, 1559</span>] THE CALAIS QUESTION</div> + +<p>On Saturday, the 12th of March, there was another +stormy meeting in the Duchess's rooms. This time +the French and Spanish Commissioners quarrelled +violently, and Alva and Arras left the room in anger, +declaring they had been fooled, and retired to their +own lodgings. In a private letter to the Duke of +Savoy, the Bishop complained bitterly of the Frenchmen's +insolence, saying that nothing could be "done +with such people by fair means, and the only way +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[Pg 443]</a></span>was to show your teeth."<a name="FNanchor_558" id="FNanchor_558"></a><a href="#Footnote_558" class="fnanchor">[558]</a> The next afternoon, however, +at the Duchess's earnest entreaty, he and Alva +returned to the Conference. This time the Cardinal +was in a more amiable mood, and the terms originally +proposed by Christina were accepted by all parties. +Calais was to remain in the hands of France for eight +years, and hostages were to be given for the payment +of a yearly ransom of 500,000 crowns. There was +great rejoicing at this agreement, and the young +Duchess and her ladies returned to Court on the +19th of March, full of the goodness and generosity +of the Duke's mother, who loaded them with costly +presents, and gave her daughter-in-law the magnificent +jewelled necklace which had been the Emperor's +wedding gift on her marriage to the Duke of Milan. +Christina herself was now so convinced of the certainty +of peace that she begged her son to delay his +departure a few more days, in order that he might +take the good news to the Most Christian King. The +end of the Conference seemed really in sight, and +Lord Howard wrote to inform Queen Elizabeth of +the treaty regarding Calais, only to receive a sound +rating from his mistress for having dared to allow +the French and Spaniards to call her title in question.<a name="FNanchor_559" id="FNanchor_559"></a><a href="#Footnote_559" class="fnanchor">[559]</a></p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>The question of Calais having been settled, the +French and Spanish Commissioners met again on +the 13th of March, and conferred for six hours on +their own affairs. The Duke of Savoy's marriage +treaty was the chief point under discussion. Madame +Marguerite's own eagerness for the union was well +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[Pg 444]</a></span>known. She had repeatedly asked her friend the +Constable to press the matter, and on the 25th of +March she sent her <i>maître d'hôtel</i>, Monsieur de +l'Hôpital, to Câteau-Cambrésis to sign the contract +on her behalf. The Duke's original reluctance had +been overcome, and he sent Margaret word through +a friend that she must not think him ill-disposed +towards her, but that, on the contrary, he counted +himself fortunate to win so noble and accomplished +a bride, adding, with a touch of irony:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I believe that the fate with which you have +often threatened me is really in store for me, and +that I shall submit to be governed by a woman whom +I shall try to please."<a name="FNanchor_560" id="FNanchor_560"></a><a href="#Footnote_560" class="fnanchor">[560]</a></p></div> + +<p>But there still remained some troublesome details to +arrange. All through Holy Week, Christina stayed +at her post, while the French and Spanish delegates +wrangled over the citadels to be given up by Henry +and Philip respectively. On Maundy Thursday a +sharp contest arose between Ruy Gomez and the Cardinal +on this point. Both parties left the room angrily, +and a complete rupture seemed imminent.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"They fell suddenly to such a disagreement," +wrote Howard, "that they all rose up, determined +to break off and depart home the next morning, being +Good Friday."<a name="FNanchor_561" id="FNanchor_561"></a><a href="#Footnote_561" class="fnanchor">[561]</a></p></div> + +<p>The Cardinal ordered his rooms to be dismantled +and his beds and hangings packed, and on Good +Friday morning he and his colleagues had already +put on their riding-boots, when Christina appeared +at the door and made a last appeal.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[Pg 445]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1559</span>] CHRISTINA'S EFFORTS</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Duchess," wrote the Venetian Tiepolo, "regardless +of personal fatigue, went to and fro between +the Commissioners, with the greatest zeal, ardour, +and charity, imploring them to come together +again."<a name="FNanchor_562" id="FNanchor_562"></a><a href="#Footnote_562" class="fnanchor">[562]</a></p></div> + +<p>Seven years before, on another Good Friday, in +her own palace, Christina had knelt in an agony of +grief at the King of France's feet, asking to be +allowed to keep her only son. To-day she pleaded +with tears and prayers, in the name of the same Christ +who died on the cross, for the suffering thousands +who were sighing for peace. This time her prayer +was heard. The Cardinal was induced to meet the +Spanish delegates once more, and, after a conference +which lasted over seven hours, it was decided that +King Philip should keep Asti and Vercelli, and +surrender all the other citadels which he held in Savoy. +Ruy Gomez hastened to the Abbey of Groenendal to +obtain his master's consent to this plan, and, to the +amazement of the whole Court, the Cardinal appeared +suddenly at La Ferté Milon, at dinner-time on Easter +Day. Happily, there was little difficulty in arranging +matters. Madame Marguerite told her brother plainly +that he ought not to let her marry the Duke, if he +treated him with suspicion, and Henry bade her be +of good cheer, for all would be well.<a name="FNanchor_563" id="FNanchor_563"></a><a href="#Footnote_563" class="fnanchor">[563]</a></p> + +<p>On Easter Tuesday the Commissioners held another +meeting at Mon Soulas, and by the following evening +the terms of the treaty were finally arranged. The +Cardinal embraced the young Princesses of Lorraine, +and the Duke bade his mother farewell, and rode off +as fast as his horse could take him to bear the good +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[Pg 446]</a></span>news to the French King. All the Commissioners +attended a solemn <i>Te Deum</i> in the church, and bonfires +were lighted in the town. "Thanks be to God!" +wrote the Constable to his nephew, Coligny: "Peace +is made, and Madame Marguerite is married."<a name="FNanchor_564" id="FNanchor_564"></a><a href="#Footnote_564" class="fnanchor">[564]</a> One +point still awaited settlement. The Princess Elizabeth's +hand had been originally offered to Don +Carlos, but the Constable brought back word that +Henry would greatly prefer his daughter to wed King +Philip himself. The plan had already been mooted +at an earlier stage of the Conference, but it was not +until Philip saw that there was no hope of marrying +the Queen of England that he consented to wed the +French Princess. On the 2nd of April, when the +articles of the treaty were being drafted, the Constable +made a formal proposal from his master to +the Duchess, who, after a few words with Arras and +Ruy Gomez, graciously informed him that King +Philip was pleased to accept his royal brother's offer.<a name="FNanchor_565" id="FNanchor_565"></a><a href="#Footnote_565" class="fnanchor">[565]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"It seems a bold step," wrote Tiepolo, "for the +Catholic King to take to wife the daughter of the +Most Christian King, who had been already promised +to his son, especially as marriage negotiations with +the Queen of England are still pending. But, seeing +how this Queen has already alienated herself from the +Church, he has easily allowed himself to be brought +over to this plan, which will establish peace more +effectually, and will no doubt please the French, +who are above all anxious to keep him from marrying +the Queen of England."<a name="FNanchor_566" id="FNanchor_566"></a><a href="#Footnote_566" class="fnanchor">[566]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">April, 1559</span>] CONCLUSION OF PEACE</div> + +<p>On the next morning the Commissioners met for +the last time, and signed the treaty, after which they +heard Mass and all dined with the Duchess, who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[Pg 447]</a></span>received the thanks and congratulations of the whole +body. Then they went their several ways, rejoicing, +in Arras's words, "to escape from purgatory." +Howard and his colleagues hastened home to make +their peace with the offended Queen. In spite of +her affected indifference, Elizabeth was by no means +gratified to hear of Philip's marriage. "So your +master is going to be married," she said with a smile +to Count Feria. "What a fortunate man he is!" +Presently she heaved a little sigh, and said: "But he +could hardly have been as much in love with me as +you supposed, since he could not await my answer a +few months."<a name="FNanchor_567" id="FNanchor_567"></a><a href="#Footnote_567" class="fnanchor">[567]</a></p> + +<p>Before leaving Câteau-Cambrésis, Christina sent +letters of congratulation to the French King and +Queen and to Madame Marguerite, expressing her +joy at the conclusion of the treaty, and the pleasure +which she had received from her son's presence. To +Henry II. she wrote:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"It has pleased God to set the seal on all the joy +and content which I have experienced here—chiefly +owing to Your Majesty's kindness in allowing me +to see my son, and, after that, Madame your daughter +and her company—by bringing those long-drawn +negotiations to a good end, and concluding, not +only a lasting peace, but also the marriage of the +Catholic King with Madame Elizabeth. For all of +which I thank God, and assure Your Majesty that +I feel the utmost satisfaction in having been able to +bring about so excellent an arrangement, and one which +cannot fail to prove a great boon to Christendom."</p></div> + +<p>In her letter to Catherine, Christina dwells chiefly +on her gratitude to the Queen and her daughter for +allowing her to keep her son so long.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[Pg 448]</a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I thank you, Madame," she writes, "very humbly +for your kind interest in our son, who is very well, +thank God, and I hope that the pleasure of seeing +you will prevent him from feeling the fatigues of the +journey. And I am greatly obliged to Your Majesty +and our daughter for having lent him to me so long. +I praise God that our negotiations have ended so +happily, and that these two great monarchs will henceforth +not only be friends, but closely allied by the +marriage of the Catholic King and Madame Elizabeth, +which, as you will hear, was frankly and joyfully +arranged after all the other articles of the treaty had +been drawn up. I rejoice personally to think that by +this happy arrangement I shall often have the pleasure +of seeing your Majesties, our daughter, and my son, +and take this opportunity of wishing you joy on this +auspicious event, hoping that in future you will not +fail to make use of me as of one who is ever ready to +do you service."<a name="FNanchor_568" id="FNanchor_568"></a><a href="#Footnote_568" class="fnanchor">[568]</a></p></div> + +<p>The Duchess now returned to Brussels with her +daughters and the Prince of Orange. All the towns +and villages through which she passed were hung with +flags and garlands of flowers, and her coming was +hailed with shouts of joy. The prison doors were +thrown open, and the poor French soldiers, who had +languished in captivity for years, called down blessings +on her head.<a name="FNanchor_569" id="FNanchor_569"></a><a href="#Footnote_569" class="fnanchor">[569]</a> When she reached Brussels, the +King himself rode out to meet her, at the head of +his nobles, while courtiers and ladies flocked from all +parts to welcome her return and offer their congratulations +on the triumphant success of her labours. For +Christina it was a great and memorable day. The +bitterness of past memories was blotted out, and peace +and good-will seemed to have come back to earth.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1559</span>] REJOICINGS AT BRUSSELS</div> + +<p>At Whitsuntide the Treaty was ratified. The Duke +of Lorraine came to Brussels with the Cardinals of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[Pg 449]</a></span>Lorraine and Guise and the Constable, and spent a +fortnight with his mother. They were present in the +Court chapel, with Cardinals and Princes, when the +King, laying his hand on a relic of the True Cross, +took a solemn oath to keep the articles of the +Treaty. And Christina occupied the place of honour +at Philip's right hand at the state banquet in the +great hall, while her son and daughters and the +Duchess of Aerschot were all at table.<a name="FNanchor_570" id="FNanchor_570"></a><a href="#Footnote_570" class="fnanchor">[570]</a> The King +gave the Cardinal of Lorraine a service of gold plate +and a wonderful ship of rock-crystal studded with +gems, and bestowed similar presents on the Constable; +while the Marshal St. André, being a poor man +was excused his ransom. They all left Flanders on the +following Sunday, except the Duke of Lorraine, who +remained another week with his mother. Before he +left Brussels, letters from Denmark were received, confirming +a report which had already reached the Court +of his grandfather King Christian II.'s death. The +old King had died in the Castle of Kallundborg, after +forty-five years of captivity, on the 25th of January, +1559, at the ripe age of seventy-seven. He was buried +with his parents in the Franciscan church at Odensee, +and Duke Adolf of Holstein followed his kinsman's +remains to their last resting-place. When her son +left Brussels, Christina put her household into mourning, +and retired to the Convent of La Cambre to spend +a month in retreat. After the strain and stress of the +last six months, she felt the need of rest sorely, and +the shelter of convent walls was grateful to her tired +soul.<a name="FNanchor_571" id="FNanchor_571"></a><a href="#Footnote_571" class="fnanchor">[571]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_529" id="Footnote_529"></a><a href="#FNanchor_529"><span class="label">[529]</span></a> F. Decrue, "Montmorency à la Cour de Henri II.," 207.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_530" id="Footnote_530"></a><a href="#FNanchor_530"><span class="label">[530]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vi. 1346, 1363.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_531" id="Footnote_531"></a><a href="#FNanchor_531"><span class="label">[531]</span></a> Ruble, "La Jeunesse de Marie Stuart," 153; Bouillé, i. 455; +Pimodan, 173-180.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_532" id="Footnote_532"></a><a href="#FNanchor_532"><span class="label">[532]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vi. 1471, 1488.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_533" id="Footnote_533"></a><a href="#FNanchor_533"><span class="label">[533]</span></a> Granvelle, v. 168.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_534" id="Footnote_534"></a><a href="#FNanchor_534"><span class="label">[534]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vi. 1496-1498.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_535" id="Footnote_535"></a><a href="#FNanchor_535"><span class="label">[535]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vi. 1500.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_536" id="Footnote_536"></a><a href="#FNanchor_536"><span class="label">[536]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, vi. 1528.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_537" id="Footnote_537"></a><a href="#FNanchor_537"><span class="label">[537]</span></a> Groen van Prinsterer, "Archives de la Maison d'Orange et +de Nassau," i. 1; Kervyn de Lettenhove, ii. 257.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_538" id="Footnote_538"></a><a href="#FNanchor_538"><span class="label">[538]</span></a> Granvelle, v. 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_539" id="Footnote_539"></a><a href="#FNanchor_539"><span class="label">[539]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, v. 227.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_540" id="Footnote_540"></a><a href="#FNanchor_540"><span class="label">[540]</span></a> Granvelle, v. 231.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_541" id="Footnote_541"></a><a href="#FNanchor_541"><span class="label">[541]</span></a> Granvelle, v. 266.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_542" id="Footnote_542"></a><a href="#FNanchor_542"><span class="label">[542]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vi. 1537; Ruble, "Traité de Câteau-Cambrésis," +12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_543" id="Footnote_543"></a><a href="#FNanchor_543"><span class="label">[543]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Mary, Foreign, 402-404.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_544" id="Footnote_544"></a><a href="#FNanchor_544"><span class="label">[544]</span></a> Gachard, "Retraite," etc., i. 44-48; Venetian Calendar, +vi. 1544.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_545" id="Footnote_545"></a><a href="#FNanchor_545"><span class="label">[545]</span></a> Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 257.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_546" id="Footnote_546"></a><a href="#FNanchor_546"><span class="label">[546]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vi. 1568.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_547" id="Footnote_547"></a><a href="#FNanchor_547"><span class="label">[547]</span></a> Kervyn e Lettenhove, i. 384; Gachard, "Voyages," iv. +35-62.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_548" id="Footnote_548"></a><a href="#FNanchor_548"><span class="label">[548]</span></a> Calmet, ii. 1, 351; Pfister, ii. 244; Venetian Calendar, vii. +19, 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_549" id="Footnote_549"></a><a href="#FNanchor_549"><span class="label">[549]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vii. 8, 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_550" id="Footnote_550"></a><a href="#FNanchor_550"><span class="label">[550]</span></a> Granvelle, v. 420-426; Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 420.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_551" id="Footnote_551"></a><a href="#FNanchor_551"><span class="label">[551]</span></a> Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 422, 444.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_552" id="Footnote_552"></a><a href="#FNanchor_552"><span class="label">[552]</span></a> Granvelle, v. 454.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_553" id="Footnote_553"></a><a href="#FNanchor_553"><span class="label">[553]</span></a> Ruble, "Traité de Câteau-Cambrésis," 23; Venetian Calendar, +vii. 39; Granvelle, v. 495.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_554" id="Footnote_554"></a><a href="#FNanchor_554"><span class="label">[554]</span></a> Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 457.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_555" id="Footnote_555"></a><a href="#FNanchor_555"><span class="label">[555]</span></a> Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 475.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_556" id="Footnote_556"></a><a href="#FNanchor_556"><span class="label">[556]</span></a> Granvelle, v. 487, 495, 502.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_557" id="Footnote_557"></a><a href="#FNanchor_557"><span class="label">[557]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vii. 54; Granvelle, v. 520, 525.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_558" id="Footnote_558"></a><a href="#FNanchor_558"><span class="label">[558]</span></a> Granvelle, v. 529.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_559" id="Footnote_559"></a><a href="#FNanchor_559"><span class="label">[559]</span></a> Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 460.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_560" id="Footnote_560"></a><a href="#FNanchor_560"><span class="label">[560]</span></a> V. de St. Génis, "Histoire de Savoie," iii. 181.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_561" id="Footnote_561"></a><a href="#FNanchor_561"><span class="label">[561]</span></a> Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 485.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_562" id="Footnote_562"></a><a href="#FNanchor_562"><span class="label">[562]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vii. 56; J. F. Le Petit, "Grande Chronique +de Hollande," ii. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_563" id="Footnote_563"></a><a href="#FNanchor_563"><span class="label">[563]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vii. 57.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_564" id="Footnote_564"></a><a href="#FNanchor_564"><span class="label">[564]</span></a> Ruble, 26; Venetian Calendar, vii. 67, 77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_565" id="Footnote_565"></a><a href="#FNanchor_565"><span class="label">[565]</span></a> Granvelle, v. 577.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_566" id="Footnote_566"></a><a href="#FNanchor_566"><span class="label">[566]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vii. 62.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_567" id="Footnote_567"></a><a href="#FNanchor_567"><span class="label">[567]</span></a> Calendar of Spanish State Papers, i. 49, Archives of Simancas; +Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 494.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_568" id="Footnote_568"></a><a href="#FNanchor_568"><span class="label">[568]</span></a> Granvelle, v. 582, 583.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_569" id="Footnote_569"></a><a href="#FNanchor_569"><span class="label">[569]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vii. 64.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_570" id="Footnote_570"></a><a href="#FNanchor_570"><span class="label">[570]</span></a> Gachard, iv. 67; Venetian Calendar, vii. 87-90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_571" id="Footnote_571"></a><a href="#FNanchor_571"><span class="label">[571]</span></a> Schäfer, iv. 445.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[Pg 450]</a></span></p></div></div> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>BOOK XIII<br /> + +THE RETURN TO LORRAINE<br /> + +1559-1578</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1559</span>] THE NETHERLANDS REGENCY</div> + +<p>During the last year the Duke of Savoy had repeatedly +begged to be relieved of his post as the +King's Lieutenant in the Low Countries. By the +Treaty of Câteau-Cambrésis he recovered his dominions, +and set out on the 15th of June for Paris with a great +train of gentlemen and servants, to celebrate his +marriage with King Henry's sister. At the same +time, the death of the Emperor made Philip's return +to Spain necessary. The appointment of a new +Regent of the Netherlands became imperative, and +everyone expected the Duchess of Lorraine would be +chosen to fill the vacant office. A Habsburg by birth, +she inherited the capacity for governing which distinguished +the women of her house, and had proved +her fitness for the post by the wisdom with which she +administered her son's State during seven years. Her +popularity with all classes of people in the Netherlands +was an additional advantage, and when, in the summer +of 1558, it had been doubtful if Mary of Hungary +would consent to return, the Duchess was the first +person whose name was suggested. The Venetian +Suriano remarked that the only doubt as to her fitness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[Pg 451]</a></span> +for the office was that she hardly possessed her aunt's +extraordinary vigour and energy.<a name="FNanchor_572" id="FNanchor_572"></a><a href="#Footnote_572" class="fnanchor">[572]</a> But these doubts +had been dispelled by the admirable manner in which +she had conducted the negotiations at the recent +Conference and the immense credit which she had acquired +on all sides. Unfortunately, she had made an +enemy of the Bishop of Arras, and excited his jealousy +by her private consultations with the Cardinal and +Constable, and still more by her friendship with the +Prince of Orange. Both Orange and Egmont disliked +the Bishop almost as much as they hated the King's +Spanish favourites, and lost no opportunity of showing +their contempt for the "meddling priest," as they +called Philip's confidential counsellor. And both of +these proud nobles, seeing no hope of themselves +obtaining the Regency, supported the Duchess's +claims strongly.<a name="FNanchor_573" id="FNanchor_573"></a><a href="#Footnote_573" class="fnanchor">[573]</a> But the very popularity which +Christina enjoyed, the acclamations which greeted +her return from Câteau-Cambrésis, had the effect of +arousing Philip's jealousy. He lent a willing ear to +Arras and Alva when they spoke scornfully of the +Duchess's French connection and of the influence +which the Prince of Orange would gain by his marriage +with her daughter. Then, in an evil hour both +for himself and the Netherlands, the Bishop suggested +the name of the Duchess of Parma. Margaret was +closely related to the King, and would be far more +pliable and ready to follow his counsels than Christina. +Philip liked his sister, and shared the Spaniards' +jealousy of the great Flemish nobles, more especially +of the Prince of Orange, whose intimacy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[Pg 452]</a></span>with Christina he regarded with growing suspicion. +His mind was soon made up, and when the French +Commissioners came to Brussels in May, the appointment +of the Duchess of Parma to be Governess of +the Low Countries was publicly proclaimed.<a name="FNanchor_574" id="FNanchor_574"></a><a href="#Footnote_574" class="fnanchor">[574]</a></p> + +<p>The announcement was the signal for an outburst +of popular discontent. Orange and Egmont protested +loudly at this affront to the Duchess of Lorraine, +and complained of the indignity offered to the +nation by giving them a ruler of illegitimate birth, +whose interests and connections were all foreign, and +whose husband had actually borne arms against the +late Emperor.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"There is great discontent here," wrote Tiepolo, +"at the Duchess of Parma's appointment. The +common folk use very insolent language, and say +that if a woman is to reign over them they would far +rather have the Duchess of Lorraine, whom they +know and love and hold to be one of themselves. +Every one, indeed, would have greatly preferred this +Princess, who is of royal lineage on both sides, and has +long dwelt in these provinces, besides being far more +gracious and affable to the nobles."<a name="FNanchor_575" id="FNanchor_575"></a><a href="#Footnote_575" class="fnanchor">[575]</a></p></div> + +<p>To Christina herself the blow was heavy. She had +suffered many trials and disappointments at her +enemies' hands, but had never expected to be treated +with such ingratitude by the King, who had always +professed so much affection for his cousin, and was so +deeply indebted to her.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1559</span>] CHRISTINA'S DISAPPOINTMENT</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Duchess of Lorraine," wrote Tiepolo, "feels +the injustice of the King's decision more deeply than +any of her past adversities, and naturally thinks that, +after her long and indefatigable exertions in negotiating +this peace, taking part in every Conference +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[Pg 453]</a></span>and adjusting every dispute, she deserved to be treated +with greater regard. Everyone here admits that +peace was concluded chiefly owing to her wisdom and +efforts, and this is all the reward which she has +received."<a name="FNanchor_576" id="FNanchor_576"></a><a href="#Footnote_576" class="fnanchor">[576]</a></p></div> + +<p>It is scarcely to be wondered at if Christina never +wholly forgave Philip for the cruel wrong which he +had done her, and if in all her future correspondence +with him we trace a strain of reproachful bitterness. +Her resolve to leave the Netherlands was now fixed. +She could not bear to see another Regent at Brussels, +and was not even sure if she cared to live as a subject +at her son's Court. Her thoughts turned once more +to Italy, and, since the Castles of Tortona and +Vigevano were not available, she addressed a petition +to Philip through her Italian secretary, asking him to +give her the duchy of Bari in Calabria. This principality, +once the property of Lodovico Sforza, had been +lately bequeathed to Philip by the late Queen Bona +of Poland, on condition that he would discharge a +considerable debt owing to her son, King Sigismund. +The beauty and salubrity of the spot, as well as its +association with the Sforzas, probably prompted +Christina's request, which ran as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Duchess of Lorraine in all humility begs Your +Majesty, in consideration of her close relationship and +of the great affection which she bore the late Emperor, +and of the services which she has rendered both to +His Majesty of blessed memory and to yourself, to do +her the favour of granting her and her children the +duchy of Bari, with the same revenues and independent +liberties as were enjoyed by the Queen of Poland. +She will undertake to pay the King of Poland the sum +of 100,000 crowns due to him, and humbly begs Your +Majesty to grant her half of this amount in ready +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">[Pg 454]</a></span>money, the other half in bills on merchants' houses, +in order that she may be able to pay the creditors who +annoy her daily. Her revenues for the next year are +already mortgaged, owing to the necessity laid upon +her of supporting her daughters, during the last seven +years, and the repeated journeys which she has undertaken +to England, and across the French frontier to +treat of peace, all of which have involved her in great +and heavy expenses...."</p></div> + +<p>Here the petition breaks off abruptly, the rest of +the page being torn off; but we see by Philip's reply +that it contained a bitter complaint of the injustice +which he had done Christina by refusing to make +her Regent. He wrote to Arras, desiring him to see +that the Duchess ceased to repeat these perpetual +recriminations on the subject of the Regency, which +were as derogatory to her dignity as they were injurious +to his interests. He regretted that his own pressing +needs made it impossible for him to do as much as he +should wish to help her. At the same time he said +that, besides the revenue of 4,000 crowns which he +had already offered her, and which she had neither +refused nor accepted, he was ready to give her +another yearly allowance of 10,000 crowns, to be +charged on Naples and Milan, pointing out that she +could raise money on this income to satisfy her +creditors.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1559</span>] WILLIAM OF ORANGE</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The sincere affection which the King has always +felt for the Duchess, and the closeness of their relationship," +added the writer, "impels him to advise her to +retire to her dower lands of Lorraine and live near her +son, in order that she may foster the loyalty and devotion +which this young Prince owes her, and give him +advice and help that may conduce to his welfare and +that of the House of Lorraine. Any other action on +her part, the King is convinced, will only excite +public suspicion and slander. If, however, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">[Pg 455]</a></span>Duchess prefers to live in the kingdom of Naples, the +King is ready to offer her the town of Lecce, the most +important next to the capital, where she can enjoy +all the comforts and amenities of Italian life, together +with the respect due to her exalted birth and rank."<a name="FNanchor_577" id="FNanchor_577"></a><a href="#Footnote_577" class="fnanchor">[577]</a></p></div> + +<p>This offer, however, did not commend itself to +Christina. In spite of its ancient castle and beautiful +situation, Lecce was not an independent principality, +and had no connection with her family. She replied +curtly that she would follow His Majesty's advice and +return to Lorraine, as soon as her creditors were satisfied +and her affairs sufficiently arranged for her to +leave the Netherlands with honour. Upon this, +Philip sent the Duchess a sum of 21,000 crowns to +defray the expenses of her journeys, and a further +substantial advance on the additional revenues which +he had assigned her.<a name="FNanchor_578" id="FNanchor_578"></a><a href="#Footnote_578" class="fnanchor">[578]</a></p> + +<p>But while he was outwardly endeavouring to atone +for one act of injustice, he was secretly doing the +Duchess another and a more serious injury. The +marriage of the Prince of Orange with her daughter +Renée had been practically arranged at Câteau-Cambrésis, +but some difficulties had arisen regarding +the settlements already made by the Prince on his +two children by his first marriage, and the heavy +debts which he had incurred by his extravagance, +amounting, it was said, to 900,000 crowns. Up to +this time Philip had openly encouraged the Prince's +suit, but both he and Arras looked with alarm on a +marriage that would make Orange more powerful and +more dangerous than he was already, and were secretly +plotting against its conclusion. One day, when Philip +was walking in the park at Brussels with the Prince, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">[Pg 456]</a></span>he told him how much he regretted to find that +Madame de Lorraine was strongly opposed to his +marriage with her daughter, and had begged him to +inform the Prince that she must decline to proceed +further with the matter. The King added, in a +friendly way, that he had told him this in order that +he might look about for another wife while he was +still young. The Prince was naturally much annoyed +at this unexpected communication, and replied +proudly that, if this were the case, he would promptly +seek another alliance in Germany, where he had +already received several offers of marriage. He was +deeply wounded, not without reason, and went off to +Paris a few days later, with Egmont and Alva, to +remain there as hostages until the conditions of the +treaty had been fulfilled. It was not until many +months afterwards that he discovered how he had +been duped. Christina meanwhile remained in her +convent retreat, unconscious of what was happening +in her absence, and heard with some surprise that the +Prince of Orange had left Court without informing +her of his departure.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">July, 1559</span>] MARGARET OF PARMA REGENT</div> + +<p>All eyes were now turned to the Palais des Tournelles +in Paris, where the Catholic King's marriage to +Elizabeth of France, and that of the Duke of Savoy +to Margaret, were about to be celebrated. Alva +represented his master at the wedding, which was +solemnized at Notre Dame on the 22nd of June, and +his old enemy Guise proclaimed the new Queen's +titles at the church doors, and flung handfuls of gold +to the applauding crowds. But their joy was soon +changed into mourning. King Henry was mortally +wounded by a splintered lance in the tournament that +followed, and, after lingering for ten days, breathed +his last on the 10th of July, two days after the marriage +of his sister and the Duke of Savoy had been +quietly solemnized in the neighbouring church of +St. Paul.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 416px;"> +<img src="images/facing456.jpg" width="416" height="542" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p>WILLIAM, PRINCE OF ORANGE, ÆTAT 26</p> + +<p>By Adriaan Key (Darmstadt)</p> + +<p><i>To face p.</i> <a href="#Page_456">456</a>.</p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457">[Pg 457]</a></span></p> + +<p>The news of his father-in-law's death reached Philip +at Ghent, where he was preparing for his departure. +Here Christina joined him on the 19th, and was greeted +with the liveliest demonstrations of affection from +both Court and people. Before leaving Brussels, she +saw an English gentleman, who was on his way +to Italy, and brought her a pressing invitation +from Queen Elizabeth to pay a visit to England.<a name="FNanchor_579" id="FNanchor_579"></a><a href="#Footnote_579" class="fnanchor">[579]</a> +Elizabeth had evidently not forgotten the Duchess's +friendly intentions on her behalf when she came to +London in Mary's reign, nor her more recent conversation +with Lord Howard. After her arrival at Ghent, +she received frequent visits from Chaloner, the newly +appointed Ambassador, and from the French Envoy, +Sébastien de l'Aubespine, who had been one of the +delegates to the Conference, and could not speak too +highly of Madame de Lorraine's goodness and ability. +Through him she sent affectionate messages to the +young King Francis II. and his Scottish wife, thanking +them in the warmest terms for their kindness to her +son. Nor was Philip lacking in his attentions. He met +the Duchess on her arrival, paid her daily visits, and +seemed to fall once more under the old spell. On the +24th he and Christina were both present at a Requiem +for the King of France, and dined together afterwards. +The same afternoon Philip rode out to receive the +Duchess of Parma.<a name="FNanchor_580" id="FNanchor_580"></a><a href="#Footnote_580" class="fnanchor">[580]</a> The next day the Duke of Savoy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_458" id="Page_458">[Pg 458]</a></span>returned from Paris, bringing with him the Prince of +Orange and Egmont, who were released on parole, and +attended the Chapter of the Fleece held by the King +in the Church of St. John. On the 7th of August the +States met, and the new Regent was formally presented +to them. But many voices were raised to +protest against the powers conferred upon her, and +the States refused to grant the aids demanded unless +the Spanish troops were withdrawn. This act of +audacity roused Philip's anger, and in his farewell +interview with William of Orange he accused him of +being the instigator of the measure.</p> + +<p>Before leaving Ghent, the King arranged a meeting +between the two Duchesses in the garden of the +Prinzenhof, and afterwards invited Christina to visit +him at Flushing, where he spent some days before he +embarked. They dined together for the last time +on the 12th of August, and seem to have parted +friends.<a name="FNanchor_581" id="FNanchor_581"></a><a href="#Footnote_581" class="fnanchor">[581]</a> Then Christina returned to Brussels to +prepare for her own departure, and Chaloner wrote +home:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I heare say the Duchess of Lorraine repaireth +shortly hence into Lorraine, smally satisfied with +the preferment of the other, for old emulations' +sake."<a name="FNanchor_582" id="FNanchor_582"></a><a href="#Footnote_582" class="fnanchor">[582]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Sept., 1559</span>] RIVALRY OF THE DUCHESSES</div> + +<p>During the next two months Christina had much +to endure. She found a marked change in the Prince +of Orange. He treated her with profound respect +and courtesy in public, but kept aloof from her in +private, and appeared to have transferred his attentions +to Margaret of Parma. All idea of his marriage +with Renée—"the Duchess of Lorraine's sound<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459">[Pg 459]</a></span>limbed +daughter," as she was called by Chaloner—seemed +to be abandoned, and in September he left +Court to attend the French King's coronation at Reims. +There was a general feeling of discontent abroad.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The new Regent is greatly disliked," wrote John +Leigh, an English merchant of Antwerp, "by all +estates, who wished to have the Duchess of Lorraine +for their ruler, and some of her own ladies have +told her that she is a bastard, and not meet for +the place."</p></div> + +<p>The States refused to grant the subsidies asked for, +and the people clamoured for the removal of the +Spaniards. The nobles showed their displeasure by +retiring to their country-houses, and the ladies absented +themselves from Margaret's receptions to meet +in the Duchess of Lorraine's rooms.<a name="FNanchor_583" id="FNanchor_583"></a><a href="#Footnote_583" class="fnanchor">[583]</a> This naturally +provoked quarrels and jealousies, which, as Arras +remarked in his letters to Philip, might easily prove +serious.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Then there is rivalry between the Duchess of +Lorraine and her of Parma," wrote the Bishop on the +4th of October, at the end of a long tale of troubles. +"The best way would be to keep them apart, for all +these comings and goings can produce no good result. +Fortunately, the former is about to go to Lorraine. +We shall see if she leaves her daughters here, or takes +them with her. What is certain is that, wherever +she and her daughters may be, it will be better for +Your Majesty's service they should be anywhere but +here, as long as Madame de Parma remains in these +parts, and discord prevails between her and the +Duchess."<a name="FNanchor_584" id="FNanchor_584"></a><a href="#Footnote_584" class="fnanchor">[584]</a></p></div> + +<p>When Arras wrote these words, Christina was already +on her way to Lorraine. Philip received a +letter from her at Toledo, informing him of her final +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460">[Pg 460]</a></span>departure, and wrote to tell Arras that all strife +between the Duchesses was now at an end.<a name="FNanchor_585" id="FNanchor_585"></a><a href="#Footnote_585" class="fnanchor">[585]</a> In the +same month a marriage was arranged between +William of Orange and Anna of Saxony, the Elector +Maurice's daughter. Arras was greatly alarmed +when he heard of this alliance with a Protestant Princess, +and used all his powers of persuasion to induce +the Prince to return to his old suit and marry Mademoiselle +de Lorraine. But it was too late. The +Prince knew that the Duchess would never forgive +the studied neglect with which he had treated her, +and, as he told the Bishop, his word was already +pledged. A year later he married the Saxon Princess, +but lived to repent of this ill-assorted union, and to +realize that he had been the dupe of Philip and his +astute Minister.<a name="FNanchor_586" id="FNanchor_586"></a><a href="#Footnote_586" class="fnanchor">[586]</a></p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1559</span>] MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS</div> + +<p>Christina's return to Lorraine took place at an +eventful moment. The death of Henry II. and the +accession of Francis II. placed the supreme power in +the hands of the Guise brothers. As the saying ran, +"So many Guise Princes, so many Kings of France." +The elder branch of the House of Lorraine shared in +the triumphs of the younger. The reigning Duke, +Charles, had grown up with the young King and +Queen, and was tenderly beloved by them. Francis +could not bear his brother-in-law to be absent from +his side, and after his coronation at Reims, on the +18th of September, he and Mary accompanied the +Duke and Duchess on a progress through Lorraine. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461">[Pg 461]</a></span>The festival of the Order of St. Michel was held at +Bar, where Charles kept open house for a week, and +his aunt, Anne of Aerschot, came to join the family +party and meet the daughter of her old companion, +Mary of Guise. The charms of the young Queen won +all hearts in her mother's native Lorraine, and +Francis indulged his passion for sport in the forests +of Nomény and Esclaron.<a name="FNanchor_587" id="FNanchor_587"></a><a href="#Footnote_587" class="fnanchor">[587]</a></p> + +<p>Here, at this favourite hunting-lodge of the Guises, +the royal party were joined by the Duke's mother. +Christina reached Esclaron on the 11th of October, +and was received with every mark of respect and +affection. At first, if Brantôme is to be believed, +the Duchess-mother was inclined to stand on her +dignity, and refused to yield precedence to the youthful +Queen; but Mary's grace and sweetness soon dispelled +all rivalry, and Christina became the best of +friends with both the King and Queen. General +regret was expressed at the absence of the young +Princesses, whom their mother had left at Brussels; +but Christina was aware of the Cardinal's anxiety to +arrange a marriage between Renée and the Prince of +Joinville, and had no intention of consenting to this +arrangement.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"She left her daughters behind her," wrote Throckmorton, +the English Ambassador, "because she is +unwilling to satisfy the hopes of the House of Guise, +and makes not so great an account of their advances +as to leave the old friendship of King Philip and +his countries. The French, in fact," he adds, "are +doing all they can to make the Duchess Dowager a +good Frenchwoman, but they will not find it as easy +as they think."<a name="FNanchor_588" id="FNanchor_588"></a><a href="#Footnote_588" class="fnanchor">[588]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462">[Pg 462]</a></span></p> + +<p>At the end of the week Christina went on to Nancy +with her son and daughter-in-law, leaving the King +and Queen to proceed to Joinville, where Mary was +anxious to see her beloved grandmother. She had +already appointed Antoinette and her three daughters-in-law +to be her ladies-in-waiting, and, as a further +proof of affection, had given her grandmother the +present which she received from the city of Paris on +her state entry. From Blois, where the royal pair +spent the autumn and winter, Francis II. sent his +brother-in-law the following letter, which throws a +pleasant light on the happy relations existing between +the two families:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">My dear Brother</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"I am longing for news of you and my sister, +and have not heard from either of you since you +reached Nancy. Next week I take my sister, the +Catholic Queen, to Châtelhérault on her way to Spain, +after which I shall return to Blois, and not move +again before Easter. As you may imagine, I cannot +be in this house without missing you very much. I +shall await your return with the utmost impatience, +and wish you were here to enjoy the fine rides which +I have made in my forest. I must thank you for +the good cheer that you are giving my sister, which +is the best proof of your perfect love for me. And I +am quite sure that in this you are helped by my aunt +your mother, Madame de Lorraine, for whom I feel +the deepest gratitude, and whom I should like to +assure of my readiness and anxiety to do her every +possible service. And I pray God, my dearest +brother, to have you in His holy keeping."<a name="FNanchor_589" id="FNanchor_589"></a><a href="#Footnote_589" class="fnanchor">[589]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Dec., 1559</span>] CHRISTINA RETURNS TO NANCY</div> + +<p>The young Duke and Duchess were both of them +longing to accept this pressing invitation and return +to the gay French Court. Charles as yet took little +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463">[Pg 463]</a></span>interest in public affairs which required serious +attention. Confusion reigned in every department. +In many instances the ducal lands had been seized +and their revenues appropriated to other uses, while +the whole country had suffered from the frequent +incursions of foreign troops, and famine and distress +prevailed in many districts. Under these circumstances +the help of the Duchess-mother was sorely +needed. Vaudemont, having neither health nor +capacity to cope with these difficulties, had retired +into private life, and by degrees Christina resumed +most of her old functions. She applied herself to +reforming abuses and restoring order in the finances, +and at the same time helped her son and daughter-in-law +in entertaining the nobles who flocked to Nancy +to pay them homage. Her daughters came to join her +at Christmas, and she settled once more in her old +quarters in the ducal palace. In March the Duke +returned to the French Court, and his mother was +left to act as Regent during his absence.<a name="FNanchor_590" id="FNanchor_590"></a><a href="#Footnote_590" class="fnanchor">[590]</a></p> + +<p>After visiting Remiremont and Bar, Charles and +his wife went on to spend the summer with the King +and Queen at Amboise, where they gave themselves +up to hunting and dancing, and enjoyed suppers at +Chenonceaux and water-parties on the Loire. But +this joyous life was rudely disturbed by the discovery +of a Huguenot conspiracy, which was put down with +ruthless severity, and was followed by continual +alarms. The King and Duke had to be escorted by +500 men-at-arms on their hunting-parties, and the +Cardinal of Lorraine never left his room without a +guard of ten men bearing loaded pistols. On the +10th of June Mary of Guise died in Edinburgh Castle,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464">[Pg 464]</a></span> +and her remains were brought back to her native +land and buried in her sister's convent church, +St. Pierre of Reims. The whole Court went into +mourning, and Throckmorton was so moved by the +young Queen's tears that he declared "there never +was a daughter who loved her mother better."<a name="FNanchor_591" id="FNanchor_591"></a><a href="#Footnote_591" class="fnanchor">[591]</a> +Meanwhile the aspect of affairs grew daily more +threatening. There were riots in the provinces, and +rumours of plots at Court. The Duke of Lorraine was +present at the Council held at St. Germain for the +defence of the realm, but left for Nancy when the Court +moved to Orleans in October.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1561</span>] LA REINE BLANCHE</div> + +<p>Two months later the young King died there very +suddenly. He fainted at vespers one evening, and +passed away at midnight on the 5th of December, +1560. His brother Charles, a boy of ten, was proclaimed +King in his stead, and his mother, Catherine +de' Medici, assumed the Regency. Three days afterwards +Throckmorton wrote that the late King was +already forgotten by everyone but his widow, who, +"being as noble-minded as she is beautiful, weeps passionately +for the husband who loved her so dearly, +and with whom she has lost everything." The young +Queen behaved with admirable discretion. On the +day after the King's death she sent the Crown jewels +to her mother-in-law, and, as soon as the funeral had +been solemnized, begged leave to go and visit her +mother's grave at Reims. After spending three weeks +with her aunt, Abbess Renée, Mary went to stay with +her grandmother at Joinville, where she was joined +by Anne of Aerschot, the one of all her mother's +family to whom she clung the most closely, calling +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_465" id="Page_465">[Pg 465]</a></span>her "ma tante," and consulting her in all her +difficulties.<a name="FNanchor_592" id="FNanchor_592"></a><a href="#Footnote_592" class="fnanchor">[592]</a></p> + +<p>Christina herself was full of sympathy for this +young Queen, whose early widowhood recalled her +own fate, and she joined cordially in the invitation +which the Duke sent Mary to pay a visit to Nancy. +"The Queen of Scotland," wrote Throckmorton to +Elizabeth on the 1st of May, 1561, "is at Nancy with +the Dowager, whom here they call Son Altesse." +Christina rode out with her son to meet their guest +on the frontiers of Lorraine, and her uncles, the two +Cardinals, Aumale, Vaudemont, and the Duchess of +Aerschot, all accompanied her to Nancy.</p> + +<p>The touching beauty of the young widow created +a profound sensation at the Court of Lorraine. Brantôme +describes her as "a celestial vision"; Ronsard +sang of the charms which transfigured <i>son grand +deuil et tristesse</i>, and made her more dangerous in this +simple white veil that rivalled the exquisite delicacy +of her complexion than in the most sumptuous robes +and dazzling jewels; and Clouet drew his immortal +portrait.<a name="FNanchor_593" id="FNanchor_593"></a><a href="#Footnote_593" class="fnanchor">[593]</a> The Duke arranged a series of fêtes to +distract the young Queen's mind and help to dry her +tears. There were masques and dances at Nancy, +hunting-parties and banquets at Nomény, where +Mary stood godmother to the Count Vaudemont's +youngest child; and the Court was gayer than it had +been for many years. But intrigue was once more rife +at the French Court, and all manner of proposals +were made for the young widow's hand. The King of +Denmark, Frederic III., the Prince of Orange, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466">[Pg 466]</a></span>Archduke Charles, the Dukes of Bavaria and Ferrara, +were all suggested as possible husbands. The fascination +which Mary had for the boy-King Charles IX. +was well known, and Catherine de' Medici, who had +never forgiven Mary for calling her a shopkeeper's +daughter, was secretly plotting to keep her away +from the Court, and yet prevent her marriage to Don +Carlos, whom she wished to secure for her youngest +daughter, Margot. The Cardinal of Lorraine was +known to be eager for the Spanish marriage, and both +Christina and Anne did their best to forward his +scheme, which was the subject of many letters that +passed between Granvelle, the Duchess of Aerschot, +and Mary herself. But Philip, without actually declining +the offer, always returned evasive answers, +whether he shrank from placing his sickly and wayward +son in an independent position, or whether he +feared the power of the Guise faction.<a name="FNanchor_594" id="FNanchor_594"></a><a href="#Footnote_594" class="fnanchor">[594]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 385px;"> +<img src="images/facing466.jpg" width="385" height="559" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"><p><i>Mary Stuart as Queen of France</i></p> + +<p><i>in widow's dress</i></p> + +<p><i>From the drawing in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris.</i></p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_467" id="Page_467">[Pg 467]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1561</span>] CORONATION OF CHARLES IX.</div> + +<p>In the midst of the festivities at Nancy, Mary fell ill +of fever, and as soon as she was fit to travel returned +to Joinville, to be nursed by her grandmother; while +Christina accompanied her son and his wife to Reims +for the new King's sacring on the 15th of May. The +magnificence of the Duchess-mother's appearance on +this occasion excited general admiration. Grief and +anxiety had left their traces on her face, but, in spite +of advancing years and sorrow, Christina was still a +very handsome woman. Among all the royal ladies +who met in the ancient city, none was more stately +and distinguished-looking than Madame de Lorraine. +As her chariot, draped with black velvet fringed with +gold, and drawn by four superb white horses of Arab +breed, drew up in front of the Cardinal's palace, a +murmur of admiration ran through the crowd. The +Duchess sat at one window, clad in a long black velvet +robe, and wearing a jewelled diadem on her head, with +a flowing white veil and cap of the shape that became +known at the French Court as <i>à la Lorraine</i>, and was +adopted by Mary, Queen of Scots, for her habitual use. +At the other sat her lovely young daughter Renée, +the coveted bride of many of the Princes who were +present that day, while on the opposite seat was the +Princess of Macedonia, an august white-haired lady, +with the chiselled features of the proud Greek race to +which she belonged. The Queen-mother, Catherine de' +Medici, stood at a window of the Archbishop's palace +to watch the entry of the Lorraine Princes, and as +she saw the Duchess alight, she exclaimed: "That is +the finest woman I know!" Then, descending the +grand staircase, she advanced to meet Christina with +a stately courtesy, and thanked her for the honour she +was doing her son.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Herself a very proud woman," writes Brantôme, +"she knew that she had her match in the Duchess, +and always treated her with the highest honour and +distinction, without ever yielding one jot of her own +claims."<a name="FNanchor_595" id="FNanchor_595"></a><a href="#Footnote_595" class="fnanchor">[595]</a></p></div> + +<p>The Duke of Lorraine bore the sword of state at +the great ceremony on the morrow, while Francis of +Guise held the crown on the boy-King's head, and +his brother, the Cardinal, anointed his brow with the +holy chrism. "Everything," as Charles IX. wrote +to the Bishop of Limoges, "passed off to the great +satisfaction of everyone present;"<a name="FNanchor_596" id="FNanchor_596"></a><a href="#Footnote_596" class="fnanchor">[596]</a> and when all was +over, Madame de Lorraine and her children accompanied +the King and his mother to a country-house +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_468" id="Page_468">[Pg 468]</a></span>belonging to the Cardinal in the neighbourhood, and +enjoyed a week's repose in delicious spring weather. +Then the Court went on to St. Germain, where the +Queen of Scots came to take leave of her husband's +family, and with many tears bade farewell to the +pleasant land of France, which she had loved all too +well for her own happiness.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">March, 1561</span>] DEATH OF DOROTHEA</div> + +<p>On the death of Christian II. of Denmark, his elder +daughter, Dorothea, the widowed Electress Palatine, +assumed the royal style and title. But as she was +childless herself, and lived in retirement at Neuburg, +in the Upper Palatinate, the faithful subjects who still +clung to their rightful monarch's cause turned to +Christina, the Duchess-Dowager of Lorraine, and +begged her to assert her son's claims to the throne, +saying that they regarded him as their future King. +Chief among these was Peder Oxe, an able public +servant who had been exiled by Christian III., and +came to visit the Duchess in the convent of La +Cambre at Brussels in 1559, soon after the captive +monarch's death. Peder tried to enlist her sympathies +on behalf of her father's old subjects, and +assured her that the recovery of Denmark would be +an easy matter, owing to the unpopularity of the new +King, Frederic III. At first Christina lent a willing +ear to these proposals, but her friend Count d'Aremberg +succeeded in convincing her of the futility of +such an enterprise, while both Philip and Granvelle +firmly refused to support the scheme.<a name="FNanchor_597" id="FNanchor_597"></a><a href="#Footnote_597" class="fnanchor">[597]</a> Peder Oxe, +however, followed Christina to Nancy, where he be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_469" id="Page_469">[Pg 469]</a></span>came +a member of the Ducal Council, and did good +service in restoring order in the finances.</p> + +<p>Other Danish exiles sought refuge at the Court of +Lorraine, where their presence naturally revived +Christina's dreams of recovering her father's throne. +All manner of rumours were abroad. In March, 1561, +Chaloner heard that the French King and the Duke +of Lorraine were about to invade Denmark. Three +months later Mary, Queen of Scots' faithful servant, +Melville, wrote from Heidelberg that the Duchess-Dowager +of Lorraine had come there to persuade her +sister, the old Countess Palatine, to surrender her +rights on Denmark to her nephew, the Duke of +Lorraine. Christina spent some time with her +sister, and was joined in September by the Duke, who +came to escort her home.<a name="FNanchor_598" id="FNanchor_598"></a><a href="#Footnote_598" class="fnanchor">[598]</a> The Palatine Frederic's +successor, Otto Heinrich, had died in 1559, and his +cousin, the reigning Elector, Frederic of Zimmern, +the brother of the Countess Egmont and her sister +Helene, was deeply attached to Dorothea, and, like +his predecessor, professed the Lutheran faith. A +year after Christina's visit Dorothea died suddenly at +Neuburg, and was buried by her husband's side in +the Church of the Holy Ghost at Heidelberg. The +Palatine Frederic erected a fine monument over her +grave, with the following inscription:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"To the most noble Lady, Dorothea, Countess +Palatine, and Queen of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, +the beloved consort of the Elector Frederic II., +this tomb was raised by Frederic III., by the grace of +God Elector Palatine, in the year 1562, as a token of +love and gratitude to this his most dear and excellent +kinswoman."</p></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_470" id="Page_470">[Pg 470]</a></span></p> +<p>Dorothea's tomb was destroyed with that of her +husband and many others when Louis XIV.'s armies +sacked and burnt Heidelberg in 1693, but an English +traveller who visited the castle and Church of the +Holy Ghost thirty years before, preserved this inscription +in his diary.<a name="FNanchor_599" id="FNanchor_599"></a><a href="#Footnote_599" class="fnanchor">[599]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1563</span>] DUKE OF GUISE'S MURDER</div> + +<p>Christina came to Heidelberg with her son and both +her daughters in the autumn of the year 1562, and +was present at Frankfurt on the 24th of November, +when her cousin Maximilian was crowned King of +the Romans. On this occasion the Emperor Ferdinand +collected as many of the imperial family as +possible around him. The Dukes and Duchesses of +Bavaria and Cleves were present, as well as most +of the Electors and Princes of the Empire; while +Ibrahim Bey, the Sultan's Ambassador, brought +camels and rugs and Persian jars as gifts from his +master. Among the old friends whom the Duchess +met at Frankfurt were the Prince of Orange, Counts +Egmont and Jacques d'Aremberg. They greeted her +with renewed friendliness, and from their lips she +heard how badly things were going in the Low +Countries, and how unpopular the Regent and her +Minister, the newly-created Cardinal de Granvelle, +had become with all classes of people.<a name="FNanchor_600" id="FNanchor_600"></a><a href="#Footnote_600" class="fnanchor">[600]</a> The Emperor +and all his family returned to Heidelberg after the +coronation, and were splendidly entertained by the +Palatine, who was anxious to arrange a marriage +between one of his sons and Mademoiselle de Lorraine. +But Frederic's strong Lutheran tenets were a +serious obstacle to this plan. At the recent coronation +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_471" id="Page_471">[Pg 471]</a></span>he had refused to attend Mass, and had remained +in the vestry of the cathedral until the service was +over.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile religious strife was raging in France, and +Christina returned to Nancy to find that civil war had +broken out. Earlier in the year the massacre of a +peaceable congregation at Wassy, near Joinville, +had excited the fury of the Huguenots, and a fierce +struggle was being waged on the frontiers of Lorraine. +The Duke's own kindred were divided. Condé +was the leader of the revolted party, while his brother +Antoine, King of Navarre—l'Échangeur, as he was +called, because he was said to change his religion as +often as he did his coat—was mortally wounded, +fighting on the King's side, in the siege of Rouen. +A month later the Constable de Montmorency was +made prisoner in the Battle of Dreux, by his own +nephew Coligny. On the 21st of February, 1563, +Christina and her son were attending the baptism of +the Duke of Aumale's son Claude, when a messenger +arrived with the news that the Duke of Guise had +been stabbed by a Huguenot fanatic in the camp +before Orleans. After a public funeral in Notre +Dame, the remains of Antoinette's most illustrious +son were buried at Joinville, amid the lamentations +of the whole nation.<a name="FNanchor_601" id="FNanchor_601"></a><a href="#Footnote_601" class="fnanchor">[601]</a></p> + +<p>Fortunately, the duchy of Lorraine escaped the +horrors of civil war. On the 18th of May, 1562, +Charles made his long-deferred state entry into +Nancy, and took a solemn vow to observe the rights +of his subjects before he received the ducal crown. +But he still consulted his mother in all important +matters, and treated her with the utmost respect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_472" id="Page_472">[Pg 472]</a></span> +and affection.<a name="FNanchor_602" id="FNanchor_602"></a><a href="#Footnote_602" class="fnanchor">[602]</a> His own time and thoughts were +chiefly occupied in enlarging and beautifying the +ducal palace. He extended the Galerie des Cerfs, +and built a fine hall, adorned with frescoes of the +Metamorphoses of Ovid, a translation of which had +been dedicated to his grandfather, Duke Antoine, by +the poet Clement Marot. At the same time he rebuilt +the old Salle du Jeu de Paume on the model of +one at the Louvre, and made a picture-gallery above +this new hall, which he hung with portraits of the +ducal family.<a name="FNanchor_603" id="FNanchor_603"></a><a href="#Footnote_603" class="fnanchor">[603]</a></p> + +<p>Christina also devoted much attention to the improvement +of her estates. She rebuilt the salt-works +at Les Rosières, which had been abandoned in the last +century, and placed an inscription on the gates, +recording that in February, 1563, these salt-works +were erected by</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Christina, by the grace of God Queen of Denmark, +Sweden, and Norway, Sovereign of the Goths, Vandals, +and Slavonians, Duchess of Schleswig, Dittmarsch, +Lorraine, Bar, and Milan, Countess of Oldenburg +and Blamont, and Lady of Tortona."<a name="FNanchor_604" id="FNanchor_604"></a><a href="#Footnote_604" class="fnanchor">[604]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Nov., 1563</span>] BIRTH OF A GRANDSON</div> + +<p>Several indications of the active part that she took +in affairs of State appear in contemporary records. +In 1564, with the Pope's sanction, she concluded an +agreement with the Bishop of Toul, by which he made +over his temporalities to the Duke of Lorraine. +Christina, as she explained to Granvelle, had taken +this step to avoid the see from becoming the property +of France; but her action roused the indignation of +her uncle, the Emperor Ferdinand, who rebuked his +good niece sharply for venturing to meddle with the +affairs of the Imperial Chamber.<a name="FNanchor_605" id="FNanchor_605"></a><a href="#Footnote_605" class="fnanchor">[605]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 390px;"> +<img src="images/facing472.jpg" width="390" height="597" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Grand Duc le Prince Aisné, des Princes de ta Race,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Le Lorrein étonné de tés exploits guerriers,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Ne peut assez trouuer en son cloz de Lauriers,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Pour ombrager ton front, tes Temples, et ta face.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><i>Thomas de leu Fe: et excud</i>:</p> + +<p>CHARLES III., DUKE OF LORRAINE</p> + +<p><i>To face p.</i> <a href="#Page_472">472</a></p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_473" id="Page_473">[Pg 473]</a></span></p> + +<p>On the 8th of November, 1563, the Duchess Claude +gave birth to her first child, a boy which was named +Henry, after her father, the late King of France. +Both Charles IX. and Philip II. consented to stand +godfathers, and the French King announced his intention +of attending the child's christening in person. +His visit, however, was put off, as the young Duchess +fell seriously ill of smallpox, and was eventually fixed +to take place at Bar after Easter. There was even a +rumour that King Philip, whose presence in the Low +Countries was earnestly desired, would visit Lorraine +on his journey, and meet the French monarch on the +1st of May. The prospect of seeing Catherine and +her son with an armed force in Lorraine filled Christina +with alarm. The Queen-mother, as she knew, was +very jealous of the Duchess-Dowager's influence with +her son, and neglected no means of placing French +subjects in positions of authority at the Ducal Court;<a name="FNanchor_606" id="FNanchor_606"></a><a href="#Footnote_606" class="fnanchor">[606]</a> +while her recent intrigues with the Huguenot leaders +might lead to the introduction of Protestant rites at +the ceremony. Before the date fixed for the christening, +however, Christina received an unexpected visitor +in the person of Cardinal Granvelle, who had been +compelled to bow to the storm and leave the Netherlands. +In a private note which he sent to Granvelle +on the 1st of March, 1564, Philip had desired the +Cardinal to retire to Besançon on plea of paying +a visit to his mother, whom he had not seen for +nineteen years. The desired permission was readily +granted by the Regent, and, to the great satisfaction +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_474" id="Page_474">[Pg 474]</a></span>of the nobles, the hated Minister left Brussels on the +13th of March. "Our man is really going," wrote +William of Orange to his brother Louis. "God grant +he may go so far that he can never return!"<a name="FNanchor_607" id="FNanchor_607"></a><a href="#Footnote_607" class="fnanchor">[607]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">March, 1564</span>] GRANVELLE AT NANCY</div> + +<p>The Cardinal had by this time recognized his fatal +mistake in persuading the King to appoint the +Duchess of Parma Regent instead of Madame de +Lorraine, "by which action," as he himself wrote, +"I made the Prince of Orange my enemy."<a name="FNanchor_608" id="FNanchor_608"></a><a href="#Footnote_608" class="fnanchor">[608]</a> He +was the more anxious to recover Christina's good +graces, while she on her part does not appear to have +borne him any grudge for his share in the transaction. +His way led him through Lorraine, and when he +reached Pont-à-Mousson he found a messenger from +the Duchess begging him to come and see her at +Nancy. On his arrival he was received by the +Duke's <i>maître d'hôtel</i>, and conducted to lodgings in +the palace. This "very fine house," and the hospitality +with which he and his companions were entertained, +gratified the Cardinal, and after supper he +was received by the Duchess-Dowager, with whom he +had a long interview in the Grande Galerie.<a name="FNanchor_609" id="FNanchor_609"></a><a href="#Footnote_609" class="fnanchor">[609]</a> They +conversed freely of the troubles in the Netherlands. +Christina was anxious to justify herself from the charge +of fomenting these dissensions, and declared that +she had nothing to say against the Duchess of Parma, +and only complained of her refusal to allow a Mass +for her father, King Christian II., to be said in the +Court chapel on the anniversary of his death. But +she had many complaints to make of the King, who +had only written to her five times in the last five +years, and who insisted on keeping her Castle of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_475" id="Page_475">[Pg 475]</a></span>Tortona in his own hands, and employed the revenues +of the town to pay the garrison, without giving her +any compensation. Granvelle could only allege the +unsettled state of Lombardy and the disorder of +Milanese finances as excuses for Philip's behaviour. +The Duchess further confided to him her fears regarding +the French King's visit, and the intrigues of +Catherine, who was always endeavouring to destroy +the harmony that prevailed between herself and her +daughter-in-law. Granvelle did his best to allay +these alarms, and assured her that the rumours as +to the large force that was to accompany him to +Lorraine were absolutely false.</p> + +<p>Another subject on which Christina consulted the +Cardinal was her designs against Denmark. The +young King Frederic III. at first professed great +friendship for her, and opened negotiations for his +marriage with her daughter Renée—a proposal which +she was reluctant to accept.<a name="FNanchor_610" id="FNanchor_610"></a><a href="#Footnote_610" class="fnanchor">[610]</a> This idea, however, was +soon abandoned, and the outbreak of war between +Denmark and Sweden seemed to afford an opportunity +for advancing her own claims. Peder Oxe and +his companion in exile, Willem von Grümbach, urged +her to raise an army and invade Jutland, assuring her +that the discontented Danish nobles were only longing +for an excuse to rise in a body and dethrone the +usurper. But Christina realized that it would be +useless to make any attempt without Philip's support, +which she begged Granvelle to obtain. The Cardinal, +however, quite declined to approach the King on the +subject, and told the Duchess that a rupture with +Denmark would make him more unpopular in Flanders +than he was already, saying that he had no wish to be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_476" id="Page_476">[Pg 476]</a></span>stoned by the Dutch. Before leaving Nancy he discussed +the situation at length with the Duchess's +latest friend, Baron de Polweiler, the Bailiff of +Hagenau, a brave and loyal servant of Charles V., +who had warmly espoused Christina's cause and +was in correspondence with the Danish malcontents. +The Baron was a wise and practical man, and agreed +with Granvelle that the best course of action would +be to keep up the agitation in Denmark, without +taking further measures until the coming of King +Philip, which was now confidently expected.<a name="FNanchor_611" id="FNanchor_611"></a><a href="#Footnote_611" class="fnanchor">[611]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1564</span>] ILLNESS OF CHRISTINA</div> + +<p>After the Cardinal's departure, Christina fell ill at +Denœuvre, and was unable to accompany the Duke, +who came to fetch her, and insisted on putting +off the child's christening until his mother was fit +to travel. At length, on the 2nd of May, the +Duchess and her daughters started for Bar, where the +christening was celebrated on the following day, and +Christina held her grandson at the font. There was +no display of armed force, nor was any attempt made +to introduce Lutheran rites. On the contrary, the +Queen-mother and all her suite were most amiable, +the greatest good-will prevailed on all sides, and the +whole party spent the next week in feasting, jousting, +and dancing, while Ronsard composed songs in honour +of the occasion. On the 9th of May the young King +resumed his progress to Lyons, and the aged Duchess +Antoinette, who had come to Bar at the Cardinal of +Lorraine's prayer, returned to Joinville with her son. +Christina's worst alarms had been dispelled, but +her suspicions were to some extent justified by the +revival of the French King's old claims to Bar, and +the advance of certain new pretensions, which were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_477" id="Page_477">[Pg 477]</a></span>eventually referred to a court of justice in Paris. +What annoyed her scarcely less was the inferior +quality of the ring sent by the King of Spain to +Duchess Claude, which excited more than one unpleasant +comment, although Count Mansfeldt, who +stood proxy for Philip, informed her privately that +Margaret of Parma had spent double the sum named +by His Majesty on his christening present.<a name="FNanchor_612" id="FNanchor_612"></a><a href="#Footnote_612" class="fnanchor">[612]</a></p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>In July, 1564, Christina fell dangerously ill, and +Silliers told Polweiler that his mistress was suffering +from a grave internal malady. In November she +had a severe relapse, and her death was hourly expected. +Her children and servants nursed her +with untiring devotion, and her friends at Brussels +were deeply concerned. Anne d'Aerschot, Margaret +d'Aremberg, Egmont, and the Prince of Orange, made +frequent inquiries; and even Queen Mary wrote from +Scotland to ask after the Duchess's health. Philip +alone took no notice of her illness, and his indifference +was keenly resented by Christina and her whole +family. "For the love of God," wrote Silliers to +Polweiler, "do your best to see that Madame is consoled, +or she will certainly die of grief and despair." +And he poured out a passionate complaint, setting +forth his mistress's wrongs, and saying how, after +cheating her out of Vigevano, the King kept both the +castle and revenues of her dower city in his hands, +and allowed her subjects to be exposed to the depredations +of the Spanish garrison. "To my mind," he +adds, "this is a strange proof of the singular<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_478" id="Page_478">[Pg 478]</a></span> +affection which he professes to have for my Lady!"<a name="FNanchor_613" id="FNanchor_613"></a><a href="#Footnote_613" class="fnanchor">[613]</a> +Granvelle himself was much concerned, and, when +Polweiler wrote to report an improvement in the +Duchess's condition, expressed his thankfulness, saying +that the loss of such a Princess would be a heavy +blow to the cause of religion, as well as the greatest +calamity that could befall Lorraine. He owned that +Madame had been harshly treated, and could only +counsel patience and assure her of Philip's good-will; +but he confessed that the task was a disagreeable one. +When Philip wrote at last, it was merely to exhort +the Duchess to be patient, as the whole world was +in travail, and to promise that her claims should be +settled by the Cardinal.<a name="FNanchor_614" id="FNanchor_614"></a><a href="#Footnote_614" class="fnanchor">[614]</a> Meanwhile fresh appeals +reached Christina every day from her Danish partisans, +while King Eric of Sweden, who had declared +war on Denmark, opened negotiations with her +through his French Minister, Charles de Mornay. A +marriage between this young King and Renée was +proposed, and Eric offered to support the Duchess's +rights to Denmark if she could obtain the help of the +Emperor and of the Netherlands. Ferdinand, however, +quite declined to countenance any attack on his +ally, and begged his dear niece not to stir up strife in +Germany, although he assured her of his paternal +love and readiness to help her in the recovery of her +rights by peaceable methods. A few weeks after +writing this letter the good Emperor died, and, as +Christina knew, she could expect little from his successor +Maximilian, who had never forgiven her friendship +with Philip in bygone days, and did not even +send her the customary announcement of his father's +death.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_479" id="Page_479">[Pg 479]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1565</span>] DUKE ADOLF'S MARRIAGE</div> + +<p>Another ally whose help the Duchess tried to enlist +was the old Landgrave, Philip of Hesse, whose +daughter Christina, after being wooed for some years +by the King of Sweden, was finally married to Duke +Adolf of Holstein on the 20th of January, 1565. As +Granvelle remarks, it was a strange ending to this +Prince's long courtship of Madame de Lorraine, but +he probably still hoped to support her cause in +Denmark. And as the Prince of Orange was asked +to represent King Philip at the marriage, Christina +would have an opportunity of consulting him about +her Danish expedition.<a name="FNanchor_615" id="FNanchor_615"></a><a href="#Footnote_615" class="fnanchor">[615]</a> But the Prince refused to +leave Flanders, and a serious relapse prevented the +Duchess from attending the wedding. As soon as +she had recovered sufficiently, Christina dictated a +letter to her beloved sister Anne, who was still her +most faithful friend:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Your letter was most welcome, as I had not heard +from you lately, and I thank you warmly for all that +you say. I am getting better, but am not very strong +yet. As to the Swedish business, I am anxious to +know the name of the person whom you mention as +having the greatest affection for me and mine, and +who might help me with the King. And as I know +that you only desire my good, I beg you to keep your +eyes open, and tell me who are my best friends at +Court. I quite agree with you that it is useless +to fish in troubled waters. Monsieur d'Egmont's +journey to Spain is a surprising event! The cause is +unknown to me, but it must be some matter of importance. +Thank you again with all my heart for +the love that is expressed in your letters."<a name="FNanchor_616" id="FNanchor_616"></a><a href="#Footnote_616" class="fnanchor">[616]</a></p></div> + +<p>The friends to whose influence at Court Anne had +referred were the Count and Countess of Aremberg, +who stood high in favour with the King and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_480" id="Page_480">[Pg 480]</a></span>Regent, and were in constant correspondence with +Christina.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Would to God," wrote Margaret of Aremberg, +"that Madame de Lorraine could obtain the King's +favour! She would then be easily able to regain her +own, as the Danes hate their King, and he has no +power over them. But I confess I have lost all hopes +of this ever coming to pass."<a name="FNanchor_617" id="FNanchor_617"></a><a href="#Footnote_617" class="fnanchor">[617]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1565</span>] JOURNEY TO BRUSSELS</div> + +<p>By the advice of these friends, the Duchess now +decided to send Baron de Polweiler to Spain to beg +the King for the 300,000 crowns due to her, in order +that she might avail herself of the opportunity presented +by the war between Sweden and Denmark, +and open the campaign in the summer. Upon this +Granvelle felt it his duty to inform his master of the +Duchess's plans, which might, he thought, be successful +if the King could help her with subsidies, since she +had several allies in Germany.<a name="FNanchor_618" id="FNanchor_618"></a><a href="#Footnote_618" class="fnanchor">[618]</a> Duke Eric of Brunswick +offered to raise an army and take the command +of the expedition, and the Landgrave of Hesse +promised to help on condition that she gave her +daughter Renée in marriage to one of his sons; while, +by way of removing Philip's objections, the Cardinal +dwelt on the advantages of restoring the true faith in +these Northern kingdoms. But this plan was frustrated +by the Archduke Ferdinand's refusal to give +Polweiler leave of absence, and as Silliers, who offered +to go in his stead, would only have made matters +worse, Christina resolved to ask Count Egmont to +plead her cause at Madrid. Even Granvelle, who had +no love for the Count, approved of this plan. Egmont +was known to be devoted to the Duchess, and his great +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_481" id="Page_481">[Pg 481]</a></span>popularity in the Low Countries would go far to +remove the objections to a breach with Denmark in +those provinces. Unfortunately, in spite of his good-will, +Egmont effected no more for Christina than he +did for the liberties of the Netherlands. He was +royally entertained by Philip and his courtiers, and +loaded with presents and flatteries, but, when he +came to business, received nothing but vague words +and empty promises.</p> + +<p>On his return to Flanders in April, his house was +crowded with visitors, and the Duchess, finding that +she could obtain no answer to her letters, determined +to go to Brussels herself. In June she set out on her +journey, saying that she was going to kiss the Holy +Coat at Treves and pay her devotions to the Blessed +Sacrament of the Miracle at Brussels, in fulfilment of +a vow made when she had been at the point of death.<a name="FNanchor_619" id="FNanchor_619"></a><a href="#Footnote_619" class="fnanchor">[619]</a> +Her pilgrimage excited great curiosity, and even +Polweiler was in the dark as to its object, but felt +convinced that she meant to see Egmont and Eric of +Brunswick, and that they would soon hear of a sudden +call to arms.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I hear from a trustworthy source," wrote the +Landgrave to Louis of Nassau, "that the old Duchess +of Lorraine is going to Brussels with both her +daughters. She has raised 400,000 crowns at Antwerp +to make war on Denmark, and is to be helped +by the Netherlands with ships, money, and men. Her +daughter Renée is to marry King Eric, and a close +alliance against the Danish King is to be formed +between Sweden, Lorraine, the States, and the Holy +Empire. Although I do not hold popular rumours +to be as infallible as Holy Gospel, I count them more +worthy of belief than Æsop's fables or the tales of +Amadis de Gaul. Of one thing I am quite sure: The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_482" id="Page_482">[Pg 482]</a></span>Duchess does not travel to Flanders or send an Ambassador +to Sweden to roast pears or dance a galliard. +The latest report is that the Duchess is going to sell +her claims on Denmark to the King of Spain, but I can +hardly think His Majesty will be anxious to buy +these barren rights which bring a war in their train. +Do not take my gossip unkindly, but let me know +what you hear of this business."<a name="FNanchor_620" id="FNanchor_620"></a><a href="#Footnote_620" class="fnanchor">[620]</a></p></div> + +<p>A cloud of mystery surrounds this visit which +Christina paid to Brussels in the summer of 1565. +She declined the Regent's invitation to occupy her +old quarters in the palace, but stayed in the religious +house known as the Cloister of Jericho, and afterwards +with the Duchess of Aerschot at Diest. She +received visits from Duke Eric, who professed himself +ready to raise troops to serve her at the shortest +notice, and also from Count Egmont. But all that +she could learn from this noble was that, when he +urged her claims on the King, and begged him to see +that the arrears due to her were paid, Philip replied +that Her Highness was the wisest and most virtuous +of women, and would always take the best course +possible.<a name="FNanchor_621" id="FNanchor_621"></a><a href="#Footnote_621" class="fnanchor">[621]</a> By August Christina was back in Lorraine, +and attended the christening of Nicholas de Vaudemont's +new-born daughter, who received the name +of Christina.<a name="FNanchor_622" id="FNanchor_622"></a><a href="#Footnote_622" class="fnanchor">[622]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1566</span>] INTRIGUES WITH SWEDEN</div> + +<p>Whatever others may have felt about the Duchess's +designs on Denmark, the King of Sweden was evidently +in earnest. Four Ambassadors arrived at +Nancy on All Saints' Day, 1565, and went on to +Denœuvre. They brought offers from Eric to conquer +Norway and Denmark in the Duchess's name +and leave her in possession of the latter kingdom, and +asked for Madame Renée's hand, in order to confirm +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_483" id="Page_483">[Pg 483]</a></span>the alliance between Lorraine and Sweden. During +a whole year the Swedish Envoys remained at Nancy, +and prolonged conferences were held between them +and the Duke and his mother. A new ally also came +to her help in the person of the Czar of Muscovy, who +was profuse in his offers of assistance. Christina's +hopes rose high, and a medal was struck in 1566, bearing +her effigy as Queen of Denmark, with the motto: +<i>Me sine cuncta ruunt</i> (Without me all things +perish).<a name="FNanchor_623" id="FNanchor_623"></a><a href="#Footnote_623" class="fnanchor">[623]</a> But one ally after the other failed her. +Both the Emperor Maximilian and the Elector of +Saxony, who had married a Princess of Denmark, +were strongly opposed to her schemes; while the +ancient feud between the Danes and Swedes, who, in +Silliers's words, "hated each other as much as cats +and dogs or English and French," helped to complicate +matters.<a name="FNanchor_624" id="FNanchor_624"></a><a href="#Footnote_624" class="fnanchor">[624]</a> At the same time, she felt reluctant +to give her daughter to a man of Eric's unstable +character, who had been courting Queen Elizabeth +and Christina of Hesse at the same time, and was +known to have a low-born mistress. She had good +reason to be afraid that the story of King Christian +and Dyveke might be repeated, and her fears were +justified when, a year later, the King of Sweden raised +this favourite to the throne, and was soon afterwards +deposed by his subjects. The defection of Peder Oxe, +who made his peace with the King of Denmark and +returned to Copenhagen at the close of 1566, was +another blow, and the ultimate defeat of the Swedes +in the following year extinguished her last hopes.<a name="FNanchor_625" id="FNanchor_625"></a><a href="#Footnote_625" class="fnanchor">[625]</a> +Cardinal Granvelle, who had been sent to Italy by +Philip to keep him away from the Netherlands, wrote +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_484" id="Page_484">[Pg 484]</a></span>that the Viceroy, with the best will in the world, +found it impossible to pay the arrears due to the +Duchess, and could not withdraw the garrison at +Tortona without the King's leave. As for the Danish +expedition, Granvelle told Polweiler that it was more +hopeless than ever, and he could only advise Her +Highness to abandon the idea.<a name="FNanchor_626" id="FNanchor_626"></a><a href="#Footnote_626" class="fnanchor">[626]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Madame de Lorraine," replied the Baron, "is in +great perplexity, abandoned by all her relatives, and, +like Tantalus, is left to die of thirst, looking down on +a clear and beautiful stream."</p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">March, 1567</span>] LES GUEUX</div> + +<p>But a few faithful friends were still left. In May, +1566, the Duchess of Aerschot came to Lorraine with +her young son, and spent the summer in her old home. +The troubles in the Netherlands filled her with the +utmost anxiety, and her family, like many others, +was divided. All her own sympathies were with +William of Orange and Egmont in the struggle for +freedom, but her stepson, Philip of Aerschot, and her +cousin, Count d'Aremberg, were among the few nobles +who refused to join the League, and stood fast by +the Regent. Margaret of Parma looked coldly on her, +owing to Anne's connection with Christina and the +Prince of Orange, and did not even send her an invitation +to her son Alexander's wedding. With her +wonted good sense, Anne refused to notice this affront, +and told her friends that she was too unwell to attend +the festivities, which excited much discontent by their +profuse extravagance.<a name="FNanchor_627" id="FNanchor_627"></a><a href="#Footnote_627" class="fnanchor">[627]</a> But the situation was painful, +and she was glad to retire to Lorraine and enjoy the +company of Christina and her venerable aunt, Duchess +Antoinette. Together they read the affectionate letters +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_485" id="Page_485">[Pg 485]</a></span>which Mary Stuart wrote from her Northern home, +and sighed over the perils surrounding the young +Queen. In spite of her relatives' advice, she had +married Darnley, the handsome Scottish boy whom +her uncle the Cardinal of Lorraine termed "that +great nincompoop of a girl," and was already learning +to her cost the mistake that she had made.</p> + +<p>Terrible news now came from Flanders. Riots +broke out in Antwerp and Ghent, and spread rapidly +through the provinces. The great church of St. John +was plundered, Hubert van Eyck's famous Adoration +was only saved by the presence of mind of the +Canons, and the tomb of Christina's mother, Queen +Isabella, was hacked to pieces.<a name="FNanchor_628" id="FNanchor_628"></a><a href="#Footnote_628" class="fnanchor">[628]</a> In Brussels S. +Gudule was stripped of its pictures and statues, and +the cry of "Vivent les Gueux!" rang through the +courts of Charles V.'s palace. The Regent tried in +vain to escape, and was forced to turn for help to the +Prince of Orange and her most bitter enemies. Anne +returned home to find public affairs in dire confusion, +and retired to her dower-house at Diest. After her +departure Christina became seriously ill, and in the +spring of 1567 her daughters entreated the Countess +of Aremberg to come to Lorraine, saying that her +presence would be the best medicine for their mother. +Margaret obeyed the summons and spent three +months at Nancy and Denœuvre.<a name="FNanchor_629" id="FNanchor_629"></a><a href="#Footnote_629" class="fnanchor">[629]</a> On her return she +told Granvelle's friend, Provost Morillon, that the +King made a great mistake in being so unfriendly +to the House of Lorraine, and that if Madame died +the Duke would become altogether French, and his +duchy might at any moment fall into the hands of +France. Charles was Catholic to his finger-tips, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_486" id="Page_486">[Pg 486]</a></span>entirely devoted to his mother, but after her death +no one could tell what might happen.<a name="FNanchor_630" id="FNanchor_630"></a><a href="#Footnote_630" class="fnanchor">[630]</a> These representations +were not without effect. Philip wrote in +a more kindly strain to the Duchess, and sent one of +his Chamberlains—Don Luis de Mendoza—to wait +upon her at Nancy, and remain in Lorraine until the +arrival of the Duke of Alva, who was now despatched +from Spain to replace Margaret of Parma as Captain-General +of the Netherlands. In July he crossed the +Mont Cenis, and marched through Lorraine at the +head of a force of picked Spanish and Italian soldiers. +Brantôme rushed to Nancy to see this "gentle and +gallant army," with their fine new muskets and pikes, +but the sight filled many of the spectators with profound +misgivings.<a name="FNanchor_631" id="FNanchor_631"></a><a href="#Footnote_631" class="fnanchor">[631]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1568</span>] DEATH OF EGMONT</div> + +<p>The Prince of Orange had already resigned all his +offices and retired to Germany, but Egmont and his +friend Count Horn were caught in the fatal snare, and +were both arrested at a banquet in Alva's house on +the evening of the 9th of September. The news filled +Europe with consternation. In her distress Christina +wrote several letters to the King of Spain, pleading +passionately for the Count's release, and recalling his +great deeds and the devotion which he had always +shown to the King's service.<a name="FNanchor_632" id="FNanchor_632"></a><a href="#Footnote_632" class="fnanchor">[632]</a> Her appeals were +seconded by the Duke and his wife, by Vaudemont,—Egmont's +own brother-in-law—by the Duke and +Duchess of Bavaria, the Elector Palatine, and all the +Princes of the Empire. Maximilian himself addressed +two autograph letters to Philip, praying for the Count's +release, and the Knights of the Golden Fleece protested +against this violation of the rules of their Order. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_487" id="Page_487">[Pg 487]</a></span>But all was in vain. Philip vouchsafed no answer +to any of these appeals, saying he would not change +his mind if the sky were to fall on his head,<a name="FNanchor_633" id="FNanchor_633"></a><a href="#Footnote_633" class="fnanchor">[633]</a> and on +the 6th of June, 1568, the Grande Place witnessed +the execution of the hero of Gravelines. A fortnight +before this shocking event, Anne, Duchess of Aerschot, +breathed her last at Diest, thankful to escape from a +world so full of misery, and only grieving to think that +her vast dower and fine estates would not pass to their +rightful owner, William of Orange.<a name="FNanchor_634" id="FNanchor_634"></a><a href="#Footnote_634" class="fnanchor">[634]</a> In the same +month of May the first battle was fought between +the revolted nobles and the Spanish forces, and +Margaret of Aremberg's husband fell fighting valiantly +in the mêlée. Meanwhile civil war had broken out +again in France, and in November, 1567, the Constable +Montmorency, the old Nestor of France, was killed in +a battle at St. Denis, fighting against the Huguenots, +with Condé and his own nephew Coligny at their head. +Old friends were falling on every side, and before +Christina's tears for her sister-in-law were dried, she and +the aged Duchess of Guise were mourning the sad fate +of Antoinette's luckless granddaughter, the Queen of +Scots, who had been compelled to abdicate her throne, +and was now a captive in the hands of her rival, Queen +Elizabeth.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>While civil war was raging all round, and Christina's +best friends were dying on the scaffold or the battle-field, +the marriage of her daughter Renée brought a +ray of light into her life. The tale of Renée's courtships +almost rivals that of her mother's. The Kings +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_488" id="Page_488">[Pg 488]</a></span>of Sweden and Denmark, William of Orange and +Henri de Joinville, were only a few among the candidates +who sought her hand. Granvelle once proposed +the Duke of Urbino as a suitable match, and +Philip was anxious to marry her to his handsome and +popular half-brother, Don John of Austria. But +the Duchess declined this offer repeatedly, saying +that no child of hers should ever wed a bastard. +When in the summer of 1567, Don Luis de Mendoza +again urged this suit on the King's behalf, the Duchess +informed him that her daughter's hand was already +promised to Duke William of Bavaria, the eldest son +of the reigning Duke Albert and his wife, the Archduchess +Anna. The contract was signed in September, +and the marriage took place early in the following +year,<a name="FNanchor_635" id="FNanchor_635"></a><a href="#Footnote_635" class="fnanchor">[635]</a> and turned out very happily. Throughout his +life the Bavarian Duke maintained worthily the strong +Catholic traditions of his house, and proved a dutiful +and affectionate son-in-law. Christina spent the +following winter at the Castle of Friedberg in Bavaria, +where she was once more dangerously ill, and Silliers +as usual complained bitterly of Philip's neglect and +unkindness in never making inquiries after her health. +But, in spite of all rebuffs, neither the Baron nor his +mistress had abandoned their dreams of conquering +Denmark, and in April, 1569, Cardinal Granvelle +wrote to the King from Rome:</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Sept., 1572</span>] DEATH OF SILLIERS</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Madame de Lorraine is still trying to recover her +father's kingdom, and both she and her Councillor, +Silliers, are continually begging me for help in this +matter. In vain I have replied for the hundredth +time that I am too far from Madrid and the Low +Countries to know if the affair is practicable, and have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_489" id="Page_489">[Pg 489]</a></span>pointed out that, in the first place, the Dutch will +never break with Denmark; secondly, that the +Emperor would object to any attempt of this kind; +and, thirdly, that Your Majesty's hands are full. In +fact, I have told her that I cannot see any solid +foundations for her hopes. But she returns to the +charge again and again."<a name="FNanchor_636" id="FNanchor_636"></a><a href="#Footnote_636" class="fnanchor">[636]</a></p></div> + +<p>It was the last flicker of an expiring flame. After +this, even Christina seems to have recognized the +futility of her schemes, and the death of Silliers finally +decided her to abandon them altogether. This "vain, +insupportable, and foolish man," as the Cardinal +called him, and whom her son, the Duke, also detested +cordially, lost his life in Bavaria, in September, 1572, +being killed by a shot from a crossbow, which was +said to be accidental, but which Granvelle and his +other enemies ascribed to a paid assassin.<a name="FNanchor_637" id="FNanchor_637"></a><a href="#Footnote_637" class="fnanchor">[637]</a> During +the last twenty years, it must be owned, Silliers had +been the Duchess's evil genius; but, in spite of all +his faults, he was sincerely attached to his mistress, +and his devotion to her interests cannot be questioned.</p> + +<p>Christina spent the next six years chiefly at Nancy +or Denœuvre, in the company of her children and +grandchildren. The Duke had a large family of +three sons and six daughters, the eldest of whom, +Christina, bore a strong likeness to her grandmother +both in face and character. This Princess and her +cousin Louise de Vaudemont, the daughter of Nicholas +by his first wife, Margaret of Egmont, were great +favourites with the Duchess-mother, and spent much +time in her society. Louise was a fair and gentle +maiden, whose charms captivated Henry, Duke of +Anjou, when he came to Lorraine in 1573, on his way +to take possession of the throne of Poland. He was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_490" id="Page_490">[Pg 490]</a></span>accompanied by his mother, Queen Catherine, who +spent a week at Nancy, and after her son's departure +remained some days at Blamont with Christina. +When, two years later, Henry succeeded his brother, +Charles IX., the new King's first thought was to make +the Princess of Lorraine his wife. Christina was too +ill to leave her bed, but Duchess Antoinette, still +young in spite of her eighty years, brought the bride +to Reims, where the wedding was celebrated two +days after Henry III.'s coronation. The Duke and +his sister Dorothea were present at the ceremony, as +well as all the Guise Princes.<a name="FNanchor_638" id="FNanchor_638"></a><a href="#Footnote_638" class="fnanchor">[638]</a> Five days afterwards, +on the 20th of February, 1575, the Duchess Claude, +whose health had long been failing, and who had +lately given birth to twin daughters, died in the ducal +palace, at the age of twenty-eight, leaving the Duke +an inconsolable widower. He was only thirty-two, and +although he lived till 1608, never married again. Soon +after Claude's death, her eldest daughter, Christina, +went to live with her grandmother, Catherine de' +Medici, at the French Court. This masterful lady, +who quarrelled with her own daughter Margaret, was +very fond of Christina, and kept this young Princess +constantly at her side during the next fourteen years.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Dec., 1575</span>] MARRIAGE OF DOROTHEA</div> + +<p>In the following December, Elizabeth of Austria, +the widow of Charles IX., and daughter of the Emperor +Maximilian II., visited Nancy on her way back +to Vienna, and was escorted on her journey by Renée +and her husband, the Duke of Bavaria. They were +all three present at the wedding of the Princess +Dorothea, who was married in the Church of St. +Georges, on the 26th of December, to Duke Eric of +Brunswick.<a name="FNanchor_639" id="FNanchor_639"></a><a href="#Footnote_639" class="fnanchor">[639]</a> This wild and restless Prince had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_491" id="Page_491">[Pg 491]</a></span>always been on friendly terms with Christina and her +family, and was one of King Philip's favourite captains +and a Knight of the Golden Fleece. He had +lately lost his first wife, and succeeded his father in the +principalities of Göttingen and Calenberg, although +his roving tastes made him prefer foreign service to +residence on his own estates. Now, at the age of +forty-seven, he became the husband of Christina's +younger daughter. In spite of her lameness, this +Princess inherited much of her aunt Dorothea's +charm and gaiety, and was fondly beloved by her +brother and all his children. She took especial +interest in the improvements which the Duke was +never tired of making at Nancy, and helped him in +laying out the beautiful terraced gardens, adorned +with fountains and orangeries, in the precincts of the +ducal palace. And the bell in the new clock-tower, +which the Duke built in 1577, was named Dorothea, +after the Duchess of Brunswick.<a name="FNanchor_640" id="FNanchor_640"></a><a href="#Footnote_640" class="fnanchor">[640]</a> Charles himself, +like his father, was a Prince of cultured tastes, who +studied the Latin and Italian poets and took delight in +Ronsard's verses. The foundation of the University +at Pont-à-Mousson bore witness to his love of learning, +while he employed scholars to collect precious books +and manuscripts, and sent his gardeners to inspect +the royal palaces at Fontainebleau and St. Germain, +and to bring back rare plants and exotics.<a name="FNanchor_641" id="FNanchor_641"></a><a href="#Footnote_641" class="fnanchor">[641]</a></p> + +<p>In these last years of Christina's life at Nancy, new +hopes and interests were suddenly brought into her +life by Don John of Austria's arrival in the Low +Countries. When terrorism and massacre had failed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_492" id="Page_492">[Pg 492]</a></span>to crush the revolted provinces, the hero of Lepanto was +appointed Governor, in the hope that he might succeed +in restoring order, by appealing to his illustrious father's +memory and ruling the Netherlands according to his +example. In October, 1576, Don John travelled +through France in the disguise of a Moorish servant, +and, after spending one night in Paris, came to Joinville +to consult the Duke of Guise on a romantic scheme +which he had formed to release and marry the captive +Queen of Scots. Then he hurried on to Luxembourg +and proclaimed his intention of withdrawing the +Spanish troops and granting a general amnesty. The +coming of this chivalrous Prince, with his message +of peace, filled the people of the Netherlands with +new hope. Don John was received with open arms +by the Duke of Aerschot and his half-brother, Anne +of Lorraine's son, Charles de Croy, Marquis of Havré. +His first act was to restore the lands and fortune of +the late Count Egmont to his widow, the Countess +Palatine Sabina, and her innocent children. This +rejoiced the heart of Madame d'Aremberg, who had +been spending the winter at Nancy with the Duchess, +and Christina's nephew, Charles de Croy, told Don +John frankly that the Low Countries would gladly +have him, not only for their Governor, but for their +King. Christina herself was deeply stirred, and sent +a member of her household to Luxembourg with +a letter welcoming the Prince in the warmest terms, +and thanking him for the cheering news which he +had sent her.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Nov., 1576</span>] DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I can only praise God," she wrote, "for your +appointment to the government of the Low Countries, +and trust that the same success that, thanks +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_493" id="Page_493">[Pg 493]</a></span>to your great valour and prudence, has everywhere +attended you will continue to crown your efforts.</p> + +<p class="right"> +"Your very loving and more than<br /> +very affectionate cousin,<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Chrétienne</span>.</p> +<p> +"Blamont, November 12, 1576."<a name="FNanchor_642" id="FNanchor_642"></a><a href="#Footnote_642" class="fnanchor">[642]</a><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>In her anxiety to see Don John, the Duchess set +out for Pont-à-Mousson; but when she reached Nancy, +on the 12th of December, she heard that the Prince +had already left Luxembourg for the Netherlands, +and sent him the following letter by a confidential +servant, who was to tell him many things which she +could not commit to paper:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p> + +"<span class="smcap">My Cousin</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"The singular wish that I have to see Your +Highness, and confer with you on many points of the +highest importance, induced me to leave Blamont +and come to Pont-à-Mousson, in order to be near you +and to have an opportunity of seeing you and conversing +together, as you will learn more fully from +this gentleman whom I am sending to wish you all +prosperity and success in your noble designs and +enterprises, as well as to tell you many things which +I beg you to hear and believe."<a name="FNanchor_643" id="FNanchor_643"></a><a href="#Footnote_643" class="fnanchor">[643]</a></p></div> + +<p>Don John replied in the same friendly spirit, telling +her his plans and thanking her most warmly for her +advice.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"As for me," he wrote, "I am exceedingly obliged +to Your Highness for your offers, and shall always +be most grateful for your advice and help, knowing, +Madame, your great experience and wisdom in affairs. +God knows how anxious I was to come and see Your +Highness on my journey here, and kiss your hands, +but it was impossible owing to the urgency of affairs +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_494" id="Page_494">[Pg 494]</a></span>requiring my presence here. I am very glad indeed," +he adds in a postscript, "to hear that you are in good +health."<a name="FNanchor_644" id="FNanchor_644"></a><a href="#Footnote_644" class="fnanchor">[644]</a></p></div> + +<p>The Prince was evidently impressed by the soundness +of the Duchess's judgment and by her great +popularity in the Netherlands, for when, a few weeks +later, he began to realize the hopeless nature of his +task, and begged for his recall, he repeatedly told +Philip that, in his opinion, the Duchess of Lorraine +would be the best person to take his place.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Duchess of Lorraine," he wrote on February +16, 1577, "has all the qualities necessary for the +government of these provinces, which she would +administer far better than I can, because they are +beginning to hate me, and I know that I hate them."</p></div> + +<p>Again, a little later:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I find in Madame de Lorraine a real desire to +serve Your Majesty. She has come to Pont-à-Mousson +to see if she can be of help to me, and I am +sure would gladly execute any orders that she may +receive."</p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Oct., 1578</span>] DEATH OF DON JOHN</div> + +<p>Christina heard with delight of Don John's joyous +entry into Brussels on May Day, and received with +deep thankfulness his letter informing her of the +departure of the hated Spanish troops. But these +high hopes were doomed to disappointment. The +war soon broke out again, and after Don John's +victory of Gembloux in January, 1578, Madame de +Lorraine was one of the first persons to whom he +announced the news by letter.<a name="FNanchor_645" id="FNanchor_645"></a><a href="#Footnote_645" class="fnanchor">[645]</a> Both of the Duchess's +sons-in-law joined in supporting Don John, and in +May, 1578, the Duke of Brunswick brought a force +of 3,000 Germans to join him at Namur. Dorothea +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_495" id="Page_495">[Pg 495]</a></span>accompanied her husband, and was about to pay the +Prince a visit, when she received a message from +her brother Charles, informing her of their mother's +serious illness, and left hastily for Nancy.<a name="FNanchor_646" id="FNanchor_646"></a><a href="#Footnote_646" class="fnanchor">[646]</a></p> + +<p>Five months afterwards a premature death closed +the brilliant adventurer's career, and Christina was +left to grieve over the tragic end of this Prince, of +whom so much had been expected.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_572" id="Footnote_572"></a><a href="#FNanchor_572"><span class="label">[572]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vi. 1533.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_573" id="Footnote_573"></a><a href="#FNanchor_573"><span class="label">[573]</span></a> T. Juste, "Philippe II.," 209; Gachard, "Correspondance de +Guillaume d'Orange," i. 431; Granvelle, v. 628.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_574" id="Footnote_574"></a><a href="#FNanchor_574"><span class="label">[574]</span></a> T. Juste, 206; Venetian Calendar, vii. 83.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_575" id="Footnote_575"></a><a href="#FNanchor_575"><span class="label">[575]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vii. 83.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_576" id="Footnote_576"></a><a href="#FNanchor_576"><span class="label">[576]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vii. 83.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_577" id="Footnote_577"></a><a href="#FNanchor_577"><span class="label">[577]</span></a> Granvelle, v. 625-627.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_578" id="Footnote_578"></a><a href="#FNanchor_578"><span class="label">[578]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vii. 112.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_579" id="Footnote_579"></a><a href="#FNanchor_579"><span class="label">[579]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Elizabeth, i. 82.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_580" id="Footnote_580"></a><a href="#FNanchor_580"><span class="label">[580]</span></a> Sébastien de l'Aubespine, "Négociations au Règne de +François II.," 43, 66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_581" id="Footnote_581"></a><a href="#FNanchor_581"><span class="label">[581]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vii. 119, 121; Gachard, iv. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_582" id="Footnote_582"></a><a href="#FNanchor_582"><span class="label">[582]</span></a> Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. 583.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_583" id="Footnote_583"></a><a href="#FNanchor_583"><span class="label">[583]</span></a> Groen, i. 49; Kervyn de Lettenhove, ii. 8; Venetian Calendar, +vii. 112.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_584" id="Footnote_584"></a><a href="#FNanchor_584"><span class="label">[584]</span></a> Groen, i. 35; Granvelle, v. 652.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_585" id="Footnote_585"></a><a href="#FNanchor_585"><span class="label">[585]</span></a> Granvelle, v. 672, vi. 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_586" id="Footnote_586"></a><a href="#FNanchor_586"><span class="label">[586]</span></a> Groen, i. 49, 52; "Correspondence de Granvelle," iii. 529.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_587" id="Footnote_587"></a><a href="#FNanchor_587"><span class="label">[587]</span></a> Calmet, ii. 1552; Pfister, ii. 246; Calendar of State Papers, +Elizabeth, i. 562.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_588" id="Footnote_588"></a><a href="#FNanchor_588"><span class="label">[588]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Elizabeth, Foreign, ii. 55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_589" id="Footnote_589"></a><a href="#FNanchor_589"><span class="label">[589]</span></a> A. de Ruble, 308; Bibliothèque Nationale, 123, 4, f. 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_590" id="Footnote_590"></a><a href="#FNanchor_590"><span class="label">[590]</span></a> Calmet, ii. 1353; Pfister, ii. 246.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_591" id="Footnote_591"></a><a href="#FNanchor_591"><span class="label">[591]</span></a> Venetian Calendar, vii. 163; Calendar of State Papers, +Elizabeth, Foreign, iii. 224.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_592" id="Footnote_592"></a><a href="#FNanchor_592"><span class="label">[592]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Elizabeth, Foreign, iv. 91; Venetian +Calendar, vii. 290.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_593" id="Footnote_593"></a><a href="#FNanchor_593"><span class="label">[593]</span></a> A. de Ruble, 210; Brantôme, xii. 116; Aubespine, 752.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_594" id="Footnote_594"></a><a href="#FNanchor_594"><span class="label">[594]</span></a> Aubespine, 80-84; Bouillé, ii. 74; Venetian Calendar, vii. 290.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_595" id="Footnote_595"></a><a href="#FNanchor_595"><span class="label">[595]</span></a> Brantôme, xii. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_596" id="Footnote_596"></a><a href="#FNanchor_596"><span class="label">[596]</span></a> Aubespine, 867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_597" id="Footnote_597"></a><a href="#FNanchor_597"><span class="label">[597]</span></a> Schlegel, 253; Granvelle, vi. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_598" id="Footnote_598"></a><a href="#FNanchor_598"><span class="label">[598]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Elizabeth, Foreign, ii. 458, iii. 328.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_599" id="Footnote_599"></a><a href="#FNanchor_599"><span class="label">[599]</span></a> A. Churchill, "Collection of Voyages and Travels," vi. 458.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_600" id="Footnote_600"></a><a href="#FNanchor_600"><span class="label">[600]</span></a> Calendar of State Papers, Elizabeth, Foreign, v. 554; Granvelle, +vi. 683.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_601" id="Footnote_601"></a><a href="#FNanchor_601"><span class="label">[601]</span></a> Pimodan, 215.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_602" id="Footnote_602"></a><a href="#FNanchor_602"><span class="label">[602]</span></a> Granvelle, vii. 488.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_603" id="Footnote_603"></a><a href="#FNanchor_603"><span class="label">[603]</span></a> Pfister, ii. 184; H. Lepage, "Le Palais Ducal de Nancy," 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_604" id="Footnote_604"></a><a href="#FNanchor_604"><span class="label">[604]</span></a> Calmet, iii. 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_605" id="Footnote_605"></a><a href="#FNanchor_605"><span class="label">[605]</span></a> Granvelle, vii. 344; Calmet, iii. 434, 438.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_606" id="Footnote_606"></a><a href="#FNanchor_606"><span class="label">[606]</span></a> Granvelle, vii. 488.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_607" id="Footnote_607"></a><a href="#FNanchor_607"><span class="label">[607]</span></a> Gachard, "Correspondance de Guillaume, Prince d'Orange," +ii. 67; Groen, i. 214.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_608" id="Footnote_608"></a><a href="#FNanchor_608"><span class="label">[608]</span></a> "Mémoires de Granvelle," xxxv. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_609" id="Footnote_609"></a><a href="#FNanchor_609"><span class="label">[609]</span></a> Granvelle, vii. 437-440.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_610" id="Footnote_610"></a><a href="#FNanchor_610"><span class="label">[610]</span></a> Schäfer, v. 111, 112.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_611" id="Footnote_611"></a><a href="#FNanchor_611"><span class="label">[611]</span></a> Granvelle, vii. 533, 671, viii. 522.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_612" id="Footnote_612"></a><a href="#FNanchor_612"><span class="label">[612]</span></a> Calmet, iii. 1359; Granvelle, viii. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_613" id="Footnote_613"></a><a href="#FNanchor_613"><span class="label">[613]</span></a> Granvelle, viii. 345.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_614" id="Footnote_614"></a><a href="#FNanchor_614"><span class="label">[614]</span></a> <i>Ibid</i>., viii. 472.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_615" id="Footnote_615"></a><a href="#FNanchor_615"><span class="label">[615]</span></a> Granvelle, viii. 609.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_616" id="Footnote_616"></a><a href="#FNanchor_616"><span class="label">[616]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, viii. 637.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_617" id="Footnote_617"></a><a href="#FNanchor_617"><span class="label">[617]</span></a> Granvelle, viii. 637.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_618" id="Footnote_618"></a><a href="#FNanchor_618"><span class="label">[618]</span></a> Granvelle, ix. 22, 28; Schäfer, v. 114.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_619" id="Footnote_619"></a><a href="#FNanchor_619"><span class="label">[619]</span></a> Granvelle, ix. 373.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_620" id="Footnote_620"></a><a href="#FNanchor_620"><span class="label">[620]</span></a> Groen, i. 408.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_621" id="Footnote_621"></a><a href="#FNanchor_621"><span class="label">[621]</span></a> Granvelle, ix. 498.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_622" id="Footnote_622"></a><a href="#FNanchor_622"><span class="label">[622]</span></a> <i>Ibid</i>., ix. 496.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_623" id="Footnote_623"></a><a href="#FNanchor_623"><span class="label">[623]</span></a> Schäfer, v. 116-118; Calmet, ii. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_624" id="Footnote_624"></a><a href="#FNanchor_624"><span class="label">[624]</span></a> Granvelle, ix. 661-664; Groen, i. 303.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_625" id="Footnote_625"></a><a href="#FNanchor_625"><span class="label">[625]</span></a> Schäfer, v. 167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_626" id="Footnote_626"></a><a href="#FNanchor_626"><span class="label">[626]</span></a> Granvelle, "Correspondance," i. 126, 178.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_627" id="Footnote_627"></a><a href="#FNanchor_627"><span class="label">[627]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, i. 43, 524.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_628" id="Footnote_628"></a><a href="#FNanchor_628"><span class="label">[628]</span></a> Granvelle, "Correspondance," i. 444.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_629" id="Footnote_629"></a><a href="#FNanchor_629"><span class="label">[629]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, i. 494.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_630" id="Footnote_630"></a><a href="#FNanchor_630"><span class="label">[630]</span></a> Granvelle, "Correspondance," ii. 494.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_631" id="Footnote_631"></a><a href="#FNanchor_631"><span class="label">[631]</span></a> Brantôme, i. 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_632" id="Footnote_632"></a><a href="#FNanchor_632"><span class="label">[632]</span></a> Gachard, "Correspondance de Philippe II.," i. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_633" id="Footnote_633"></a><a href="#FNanchor_633"><span class="label">[633]</span></a> Gachard, "Correspondance de Philippe II.," i. 588, 738, 762.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_634" id="Footnote_634"></a><a href="#FNanchor_634"><span class="label">[634]</span></a> Granvelle, "Correspondance," iii. 235.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_635" id="Footnote_635"></a><a href="#FNanchor_635"><span class="label">[635]</span></a> Calmet, i. 265.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_636" id="Footnote_636"></a><a href="#FNanchor_636"><span class="label">[636]</span></a> Granvelle, "Correspondance," iii. 463.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_637" id="Footnote_637"></a><a href="#FNanchor_637"><span class="label">[637]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, v. 418.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_638" id="Footnote_638"></a><a href="#FNanchor_638"><span class="label">[638]</span></a> Pimodan, 254.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_639" id="Footnote_639"></a><a href="#FNanchor_639"><span class="label">[639]</span></a> Calmet, i. 265; Pfister, ii. 256.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_640" id="Footnote_640"></a><a href="#FNanchor_640"><span class="label">[640]</span></a> Pfister, ii. 246; H. Lepage, "La Ville de Nancy," 63, "Palais +Ducal," 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_641" id="Footnote_641"></a><a href="#FNanchor_641"><span class="label">[641]</span></a> Pfister, ii. 496.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_642" id="Footnote_642"></a><a href="#FNanchor_642"><span class="label">[642]</span></a> Gachard, "Correspondance de Philippe II.," v. 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_643" id="Footnote_643"></a><a href="#FNanchor_643"><span class="label">[643]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, v. 92.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_644" id="Footnote_644"></a><a href="#FNanchor_644"><span class="label">[644]</span></a> Granvelle, "Correspondance," vi. 521.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_645" id="Footnote_645"></a><a href="#FNanchor_645"><span class="label">[645]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, vii. 572.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_646" id="Footnote_646"></a><a href="#FNanchor_646"><span class="label">[646]</span></a> Granvelle, vii. 638.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_496" id="Page_496">[Pg 496]</a></span></p></div></div> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>BOOK XIV<br /> + +THE LADY OF TORTONA<br /> + +1578-1590</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>The marriage of her last remaining daughter, and +the removal of her granddaughter to the French +Court, loosened the ties that bound the Duchess-mother +to Lorraine. The failure of the high hopes +which Don John's coming had aroused were a grievous +disappointment, and, after her dangerous attack of +illness in the spring of 1578, Christina decided to +follow her doctor's advice and seek a warmer climate. +Her thoughts naturally turned to her dower city of +Tortona, whose inhabitants still paid her allegiance, +in spite of Philip's invasion of her privileges. Since +the Spanish garrison still occupied the castle, the +magistrates begged her to inhabit the Communal +palace, and Christina, touched by their expressions +of loyalty and affection, resolved to accept the +offer.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1578</span>] CHRISTINA RETURNS TO ITALY</div> + +<p>Before settling at Tortona, however, she decided +to make a pilgrimage to Loreto, the shrine for which +the Lorraine Princes had always cherished especial +veneration. Early in August, 1578, she left Nancy +and travelled across the Alps, and through Savoy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_497" id="Page_497">[Pg 497]</a></span> +by the route which she had taken as a bride, nearly +half a century before. Her old friend, the Duchess +Margaret, whose marriage had been one of the +happiest results of the Treaty of Câteau-Cambrésis, +had already been dead four years, and her lord of +the Iron-head was a confirmed invalid; but he sent +his son, Charles Emanuel, to meet the Duchess and +escort her to the citadel of Turin.</p> + +<p>From Savoy, Christina proceeded to Milan, where +she arrived on the 20th of August, and was hospitably +entertained in the Castello by the Spanish Viceroy, +the Marquis d'Ayamonte.<a name="FNanchor_647" id="FNanchor_647"></a><a href="#Footnote_647" class="fnanchor">[647]</a> Once more she drove in +her chariot through the streets where her coming had +been hailed by rejoicing multitudes, once more she +prayed by her husband's tomb in the Duomo and saw +Leonardo's Cenacolo in Le Grazie. Her old friends, +Count Massimiliano, the Trivulzi, and Dejanira, were +dead and gone, and at every step the ghosts of bygone +days rose up to haunt her memory. Then she +travelled on by slow stages to Loreto, on the Adriatic +shore, where she paid her vows at Our Lady's shrine, +and offered a massive gold heart set with pearls and +precious gems, to the admiration of future pilgrims.<a name="FNanchor_648" id="FNanchor_648"></a><a href="#Footnote_648" class="fnanchor">[648]</a> +But the long journey had overtaxed her strength, +and when, on her return to Lombardy, she reached +Ripalta, she was too ill to go any farther. Here +she remained throughout the winter to recover from +her fatigues and give the citizens of Tortona time +to prepare for her reception.</p> + +<p>At length, on the 17th of June, 1579, the Duchess +made her state entry into the city. The magistrates +met her at the gates with a stately baldacchino fringed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_498" id="Page_498">[Pg 498]</a></span>with gold and silver, and escorted their Sovereign Lady +to the house of Bartolommeo Busseto, where she +alighted to partake of the banquet which had been +prepared. Afterwards the loyal citizens accompanied +her to the Palazzo Pubblico, halfway up the hill above +the town, which had been splendidly fitted up for her +occupation. The beauty of the view delighted the +Duchess as much as the enthusiastic warmth of her +reception, and the health-giving breezes of the Lombard +city proved even more beneficial than her +physicians had expected. "She came to our city of +Tortona a dying woman, and lived there in health and +comfort for more than ten years."<a name="FNanchor_649" id="FNanchor_649"></a><a href="#Footnote_649" class="fnanchor">[649]</a> So wrote Niccolò +Montemerlo, the historian whose chronicles of Tortona +were published in 1618, when Christina had not +yet been dead thirty years. His contemporaries +joined with him in praising the Duchess's wise and +beneficial rule, the strictness with which she administered +justice, her liberality and benevolence.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"The Duchess Christina of Milan," wrote Campo of +Cremona in 1585, "celebrated for her beauty and +gracious manners, for her affability and generosity, +has lately come to spend her widowhood in the city +of Tortona, and lives there in great splendour, beloved +by all."<a name="FNanchor_650" id="FNanchor_650"></a><a href="#Footnote_650" class="fnanchor">[650]</a></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">June, 1579</span>] THE LADY OF TORTONA</div> + +<p>Christina's administrative powers found ample +scope in the government of the city, and under her +rule Tortona enjoyed a brief spell of peace and prosperity. +She reformed abuses, obtained the restitution +of lost privileges, and healed a long-standing feud +with the city of Ravenna. At her prayer, Pope +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_499" id="Page_499">[Pg 499]</a></span>Gregory XIII. repealed a decree exacting a heavy fine +from every citizen of Tortona who entered Ravennese +territory, and friendly communications were restored +between the two cities. Before her coming, the Spanish +Viceroy had incurred great unpopularity by building +a new citadel on the heights occupied by the ancient +Duomo and episcopal palace, and converting these +into barracks and powder-magazines. In 1560 the +foundations of a new Cathedral were laid by Philip's +orders in the lower city, but this could not atone in +the eyes of the citizens for the desecration of the +venerated shrine founded by St. Innocent in the fourth +century, and adorned with priceless mosaics and +marbles. When, in 1609, the lofty campanile was +struck by lightning, and 400 barrels of gunpowder +stored in the nave exploded with terrific force, the +accident was regarded as a Divine judgment, and the +panic-stricken Spaniards joined in the solemn procession +that bore the relics of the martyrs from their old +resting-place to the new sanctuary.<a name="FNanchor_651" id="FNanchor_651"></a><a href="#Footnote_651" class="fnanchor">[651]</a></p> + +<p>But if Christina could not atone for this indignity, +or deliver Tortona from the presence of the hated +Spaniards, she protected her subjects from their +outrages, and rigidly enforced the observance of the +law. Many were the petitions and remonstrances +on behalf of her own rights and those of the citizens +which she addressed to her dear and illustrious cousin, +Don Carlos of Aragon, Duke of Terranuova, who +reigned over the Milanese as Viceroy from 1583 to +1592. The Duchess was in frequent correspondence +with her children beyond the Alps, and many requests +for passes for horses which she is sending to +Lorraine and Bavaria, as well as for privileges for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_500" id="Page_500">[Pg 500]</a></span> +her Equerries, Signor Alfonso and Gaspare Visconti, +are to be found in the archives of Milan.<a name="FNanchor_652" id="FNanchor_652"></a><a href="#Footnote_652" class="fnanchor">[652]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Jan., 1585</span>] THE LAST PHASE</div> + +<p>Many were the illustrious guests, remarks Montemerlo, +who came to visit the Duchess at Tortona. In +October, 1581, the Empress-Dowager Maria, widow +of Maximilian II., passed through Lombardy on her +return to Spain, and was received at Alessandria by +Madame de Lorraine. Together they drove through +streets hung with tapestries and adorned with triumphal +arches, until, after three days' festivities, they +went on to Tortona, and thence to Genoa. The +families of the old Milanese nobles who had remained +loyal to the House of Sforza welcomed Christina's +return to Lombardy with joy. The nephew and heir +of Count Massimiliano Stampa placed his superb +pleasure-house at Montecastello, in the fief of Soncino, +at her disposal, and named his eldest son Christian +in her honour. The Guaschi of Alessandria, the Counts +of Oria, the Trivulzi, the Somaglia and Visconti, vied +with each other in entertaining her sumptuously.<a name="FNanchor_653" id="FNanchor_653"></a><a href="#Footnote_653" class="fnanchor">[653]</a> +The saintly Archbishop of Milan, Carlo Borromeo, +visited her more than once, and the excellent Bishop +of Tortona, Cesare Gambara, sought her help and +advice in all that concerned the welfare of his people. +From the day when, hardly more than a child +herself, she begged Cardinal Caracciolo's protection +for the destitute ladies at Pavia, Christina always +cared for the poor and needy, and in her old age she +was busy with active works of mercy. One of her +last good actions was to send to Paris for Madame +Castellani, a daughter of her old friend the Princess +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_501" id="Page_501">[Pg 501]</a></span>of Macedonia, who was living in reduced circumstances +at the French Court, and bring her to Tortona to +spend the rest of her life in peace and comfort. So +she earned the love and gratitude of all around her, +and thousands blessed the good Duchess's name long +after she was dead.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>This last phase of Christina's life was on the whole +peaceful and happy. Brantôme pitied this great +lady, a daughter of Kings and niece of Emperors, +and the rightful Queen of three kingdoms, who, +after reigning over Milan and Lorraine, was reduced +to hold her Court in an insignificant Lombard town, +and was known in her last years as "Madame de +Tortone."<a name="FNanchor_654" id="FNanchor_654"></a><a href="#Footnote_654" class="fnanchor">[654]</a> But after her troubled life Christina was +grateful for the peace and repose which she found at +Tortona, and would have been perfectly content if it +had not been for the continual annoyances to which +she was exposed by Philip and his Ministers. From +the moment that she settled in her dower city, the +King began to dispute her right to its sovereignty, +and insisted that, since Tortona had been settled +upon her as an equivalent for the dower given her +"out of pure liberality" by the late Emperor, she +was bound to surrender her claims on payment of +the sum in full. Christina, on her part, maintained +with good reason that her claim to the city had never +before been questioned, and that it was settled on her +at her marriage, and belonged to her and her heirs of +the House of Lorraine in perpetuity. The assertion +of this claim roused Cardinal Granvelle to the highest +indignation. "So dangerous a thing," he wrote to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_502" id="Page_502">[Pg 502]</a></span>Philip, "cannot possibly be allowed." But, as he +confessed, what made the situation awkward was that +Madame de Lorraine's claims were strongly supported, +not only by her son, Duke Charles, but by the Emperor +Rudolf, the Duke of Bavaria, the Archdukes Ferdinand +and Charles, and all the Princes of the Empire.<a name="FNanchor_655" id="FNanchor_655"></a><a href="#Footnote_655" class="fnanchor">[655]</a> A +long wrangle ensued, which ended in a declaration on +the King's part that he would consent to Tortona +being retained by the Duchess for her life, and afterwards +held by her son-in-law and daughter, the Duke +and Duchess of Brunswick.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Dec., 1584</span>] DUKE ERIC'S DEATH</div> + +<p>Dorothea and her husband were, in fact, the only +members of Christina's family for whom Philip showed +any regard. In 1578 Duke Eric was summoned to +Spain to join in the contemplated invasion of Portugal, +and served in the campaign led by Alva two years +later. Dorothea accompanied her husband, and spent +most of her time at Court. The King evidently liked +her, and when, after the successful termination of the +war, the Duke and Duchess came to take leave of +him at Madrid, Granvelle was desired to draw up a +secret convention by which Tortona and the revenues +were assigned to Eric in lieu of the yearly pension +allowed him. But Dorothea was not to be outwitted +by the Cardinal. She insisted, on the arrears +due to her husband being paid in full, and Philip +himself told Granvelle to see that two or three thousand +crowns of the Duke's salary were given to the +Duchess, since she was short of money, and this seemed +to him only reasonable. He also gave Dorothea two +fine horses, which she wished to send to her brother-in-law, +the Duke of Bavaria, and granted her a patent +for working certain gold-mines, which the Cardinal +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_503" id="Page_503">[Pg 503]</a></span>promised to forward either to her mother at Tortona, +or else to the care of the Prince of Orange in Germany.<a name="FNanchor_656" id="FNanchor_656"></a><a href="#Footnote_656" class="fnanchor">[656]</a> +This last direction sounds strange, considering that +the famous ban against the Prince, setting a price of +30,000 crowns on his head, had already been issued +at Granvelle's suggestion.<a name="FNanchor_657" id="FNanchor_657"></a><a href="#Footnote_657" class="fnanchor">[657]</a></p> + +<p>The Duke and Duchess now returned to Göttingen, +after visiting Christina at Tortona, and remained in +their own dominions for the next few years, among +their long-neglected subjects. But Eric soon became +restless, and in April, 1582, Dorothea wrote to beg +Granvelle's help in obtaining the Viceroyalty of Milan +or Naples for her husband. The Cardinal promised +to do his best, and two years later actually recommended +the Duke for the Viceroyalty of Sicily. But +a few weeks afterwards, on the 15th of December, +1584, Eric of Brunswick died at Pavia, and was buried +in the crypt of Bramante's church of S. Maria +Canepanova, where his tomb is still to be seen.<a name="FNanchor_658" id="FNanchor_658"></a><a href="#Footnote_658" class="fnanchor">[658]</a> +The Duke's death released Philip from his promise +regarding the succession of Tortona. But he had +already taken the law into his own hands.</p> + +<p>In June, 1584, when Christina and her ladies were +enjoying the delights of the Marchese Stampa's +beautiful villa at Montecastello, the Viceroy suddenly +appeared on the scene, and presented her with two +letters from His Catholic Majesty. These were to +inform her that, after long and mature deliberation, +the King and his Council had come to the conclusion +that her rights to the sovereignty of Tortona were +extinct, and reverted to him as Duke of Milan. But +since Madame de Lorraine was closely bound to him +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_504" id="Page_504">[Pg 504]</a></span>by ties of blood, and still more by the singular affection +which he had always borne her, His Majesty +was pleased to allow her to retain the enjoyment of +Tortona and its revenues for the remainder of her +life, which he hoped would be long and prosperous. +In vain Christina protested that her dowry had never +been paid, and that this city was granted to her in its +stead by the terms of her marriage contract. The +Viceroy replied in the most courteous language that +Madame was no doubt right, but that this was not +his affair, and he could only recommend that on this +point her claims should be referred to the Treasury.<a name="FNanchor_659" id="FNanchor_659"></a><a href="#Footnote_659" class="fnanchor">[659]</a> +He then proceeded to take possession of Tortona in +the King's name, and hoisted the Spanish standard +on the citadel and the Duchess's palace. Christina +could only bow to superior force, but she forwarded +a protest to the Catholic King and his Council, both +of whom refused to receive it, on the flimsy pretext +that the writer assumed the title of Queen of Denmark, +which they could not recognize. Certainly, +as Brantôme remarked, and as Polweiler and Silliers +often complained, Philip showed his great affection +for his cousin in a strange manner.<a name="FNanchor_660" id="FNanchor_660"></a><a href="#Footnote_660" class="fnanchor">[660]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Sept., 1586</span>] DEATH OF GRANVELLE</div> + +<p>Before the Duchess left Montecastello, she received +the news of the Prince of Orange's assassination at +Delft on the 10th of July, 1584. The hero and patriot +had fallen a victim to the plots of Philip and Granvelle, +and had paid the price with his life. Three +years afterwards Christina shared in the thrill of horror +that ran through Europe when Mary, Queen of Scots, +died on the scaffold. In that hour she could only be +thankful that the good old Duchess Antoinette was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_505" id="Page_505">[Pg 505]</a></span>spared this terrible blow, and had died four years +before, at the advanced age of eighty-nine. To the +last Antoinette kept up friendly relations with her +niece, and in a letter written with her own hand in +November, 1575, the venerable lady expressed her +sincere regret that owing to her great age she was +unable to welcome Christina in person on her return +to Nancy, but that in the spring she quite hoped to +come and see her once more before she died.<a name="FNanchor_661" id="FNanchor_661"></a><a href="#Footnote_661" class="fnanchor">[661]</a></p> + +<p>In 1586 Christina's old rival, Margaret of Parma, +and this Princess's stanch supporter, Cardinal Granvelle, +both died. Friends and foes were falling all +around, and young and old alike were passing out of +sight. But the Duchess still enjoyed fair health and +was so happy at Tortona that she often said she never +wished to leave home. As a rule, however, she spent +the summer months at the Rocca di Sparaviera, in +the mountains of Monferrato, "more," writes the +chronicler, "to please others than herself."<a name="FNanchor_662" id="FNanchor_662"></a><a href="#Footnote_662" class="fnanchor">[662]</a> Each +year she obtained permission from the Viceroy to +send 250 sacks of wheat, free of duty, for the use of +her household to the Rocca, and her <i>maggiordomo</i> +went beforehand to prepare the rooms for her arrival.<a name="FNanchor_663" id="FNanchor_663"></a><a href="#Footnote_663" class="fnanchor">[663]</a> +The presence of the Duchess Dorothea, who joined +her mother at Tortona after the Duke of Brunswick's +death, was a great solace in these last +years, and consoled Christina for many losses and +sorrows.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the war of the League had broken out in +France, and the three Henries were contending for +the mastery. Since Henry III. was childless, Catherine +now tried to put forward the claims of a fourth +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_506" id="Page_506">[Pg 506]</a></span>Henry, the eldest son of her daughter Claude and the +Duke of Lorraine, and a party in France maintained +his claims to be at least as valid as those which +Philip II. advanced in virtue of his wife Elizabeth. +Christina's heart was moved at the thought of her +grandson succeeding to the throne of France, and in +1587 she sent a Lorraine gentleman, De Villers, to +Rome to beg the Pope for his support in this holy +cause. The Pope, however, merely replied that he +advised the Duke to live at peace with his neighbours. +The Duchess, nothing daunted, sent De Villers to +Nancy with letters bidding her son be of good cheer +and persevere in his great enterprise. Unfortunately, +the messenger fell into the hands of Huguenot soldiers, +who took him into the King of Navarre's camp. All +that could be found on him was an almost illegible +letter from Her Highness the Duke's mother, containing +these words:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"I am very glad to hear of the present state of your +affairs, and hope that you will go on and prosper, for +never was there so fine a chance of placing the crown +upon your head and the sceptre in your hand."<a name="FNanchor_664" id="FNanchor_664"></a><a href="#Footnote_664" class="fnanchor">[664]</a></p></div> + +<p>The Béarnais smiled as he read this characteristic +effusion, and bade his soldiers let the man go free. +Charles, on his part, expressed considerable annoyance +at his mother's intervention, which only aroused +the suspicions of King Henry III., and made him +look coldly on his brother-in-law. The Duchess's +last illusion, however, was soon dispelled, and after the +murder of the Guise brothers at Blois, and the assassination +of the last Valois, Henry of Navarre was recognized +as King by the greater part of France.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Feb., 1589</span>] AN INTERESTING MARRIAGE</div> + +<p>Christina did not live to see the end of the civil war, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_507" id="Page_507">[Pg 507]</a></span>and the union of Henri Quatre's sister with her own +grandson. But the last year of her life was cheered +by the marriage of her granddaughter Christina with +the Grand-Duke Ferdinand of Tuscany. Several +alliances had been proposed for this Princess since +she had gone to live at the French Court with her +grandmother. Catherine was very anxious to marry +her to Charles Emanuel, who in 1580 succeeded his +father as Duke of Savoy; but Spanish influences prevailed, +and the young Prince took the Infanta +Catherine for his wife.<a name="FNanchor_665" id="FNanchor_665"></a><a href="#Footnote_665" class="fnanchor">[665]</a> In 1583 the Queen-mother +planned another marriage for her granddaughter, with +her youngest son, the Duke of Alençon, who had left +the Netherlands and lost all hope of winning Queen +Elizabeth's hand; but, fortunately for Christina, the +death of this worthless Prince in the following June +put an end to the scheme.<a name="FNanchor_666" id="FNanchor_666"></a><a href="#Footnote_666" class="fnanchor">[666]</a> When, in October, 1586, +the King of Navarre divorced his wife Margot, Catherine +proposed that her son-in-law should marry her +granddaughter; but this plan fell through, as Henry +refused to abjure the Huguenot religion. On the +death of the Grand-Duke Francis in 1587, his brother +Ferdinand exchanged a Cardinal's hat for the ducal +crown, and made proposals of marriage to the Princess +of Lorraine. Catherine was overjoyed at the +thought of her beloved Christina reigning in Florence, +the home of her ancestors, and promised her granddaughter +a dowry of 600,000 crowns, with all her +rights on the Medici estates in Florence, including the +palace of the Via Larga. Orazio Rucellai was sent to +France to draw up the contract, which Bassompierre +signed on the Duke of Lorraine's part, on the 20th of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_508" id="Page_508">[Pg 508]</a></span>October, 1588.<a name="FNanchor_667" id="FNanchor_667"></a><a href="#Footnote_667" class="fnanchor">[667]</a> But the state of the country was so +unsettled that the Queen would not allow her granddaughter +to travel, and the fleet which sailed to fetch +the bride was detained for months in the port of +Marseilles. The murder of the Duke of Guise at Blois +in December threw the whole Court into confusion, +and a fortnight later Catherine herself died, on the +5th of January, 1589. It was not till the 25th of +February that the marriage was finally celebrated at +Blois. In March the bride set out on her journey, +attended by a brilliant company of French and +Florentine courtiers. Dorothea of Brunswick came +to meet her niece at Lyons, and accompanied her to +Marseilles, where Don Pietro de' Medici awaited her +with his Tuscan galleys, and on the 23rd of April +Christina at length landed at Leghorn. Ferdinand +met his bride at the villa of Poggio a Caiano, and conducted +her in triumph to Florence.<a name="FNanchor_668" id="FNanchor_668"></a><a href="#Footnote_668" class="fnanchor">[668]</a> When the prolonged +festivities were over, Monsieur de Lenoncourt, +whom Charles of Lorraine had sent to escort his +daughter to Florence, went on, by his master's orders, +to Tortona, "to kiss the hands of the Duke's mother, +the Queen of Denmark, and receive her commands."<a name="FNanchor_669" id="FNanchor_669"></a><a href="#Footnote_669" class="fnanchor">[669]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 620px;"> +<img src="images/facing508.jpg" width="620" height="430" alt="" /> +<div class="caption"> + + + +<table border="0" class="tdc" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> + <tr> + <td>CHRISTINA OF DENMARK</td> + <td>CLAUDE OF FRANCE</td> + <td>CHRISTINE OF LORRAINE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>DUCHESS OF LORRAINE</td> + <td>DUCHESS OF LORRAINE</td> + <td>GRAND DUCHESS OF TUSCANY</td> + </tr> +</table> + + +<p>(Madrid)</p> + +<p>To face p. <a href="#Page_508">508</a></p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_509" id="Page_509">[Pg 509]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">Aug., 1590</span>] DEATH OF CHRISTINA</div> + +<p>Unlike her mother and grandmother, the Grand-Duchess +Christina enjoyed a long and prosperous +married life, and after her husband's death was +Regent during the minority of both her son and +grandson. There is an interesting triptych in the +Prado at Madrid, with portraits of the bride, her +mother and grandmother, painted by some Burgundian +artist at the time of the wedding. The +young Grand-Duchess, a tall, handsome girl of four-and-twenty, +wears a high lace ruff, with ropes of pearls +round her neck and a jewelled girdle at her waist. +She carries a fan in her hand, and the Medici <i>palle</i> +are emblazoned on her shield with the lilies of France +and the eagles of Lorraine. Her mother, the shortlived +Duchess Claude, bears a marked resemblance to +Catherine de' Medici, but is smaller and slighter in +build, and altogether of a gentler and feebler type. +She too holds a fan, and wears a gown of rich brocade +with bodice and sleeves thickly sown with pearls. +Christina, on the contrary, is clad in mourning robes, +and her white frilled cap and veil and plain cambric +ruff are without a single jewel. But the fine features +and noble presence reveal her high lineage. Instead +of a fan, she holds a parchment deed in her hand, and +on her shield the arms of Austria and Denmark are +quartered with those of Milan and Lorraine, while +above we read the proud list of her titles—Queen of +Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, Duchess of Milan, +Lorraine, Bar, and Calabria, and Lady of Tortona.</p> + +<p>This was the last portrait of Christina that was +ever painted. In the following summer she went as +usual to the Rocca of Sparaviera with her daughter +Dorothea, to spend the hot days of August in the +hills. But she had not been there long before she +fell dangerously ill. In her anxiety to return home, +she took boat and travelled by water as far as Alessandria. +There she became too ill to go any farther, +and died on the 10th of August, 1590, in the house of +her friend Maddalena Guasco.<a name="FNanchor_670" id="FNanchor_670"></a><a href="#Footnote_670" class="fnanchor">[670]</a></p> + +<p>The Duchess's corpse was borne by night to Tortona, +where a funeral service was held in the new Duomo,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_510" id="Page_510">[Pg 510]</a></span> +after which the body was embalmed and taken by her +daughter Dorothea to Nancy. The news was sent to +King Philip in Spain, and he and his greedy Ministers +lost no time in laying hands on her city and revenues. +"We are informed," wrote the Viceroy to the +President of the Senate, two days after Christina's +death, "that Her Most Serene Highness Madame de +Lorraine has passed to a better life, and accordingly +we claim the pension of 4,000 crowns assigned to Her +late Highness, on the quarter of the Castello, and +enclose a list of the revenues of Tortona, which now +revert to the Duchy of Milan."<a name="FNanchor_671" id="FNanchor_671"></a><a href="#Footnote_671" class="fnanchor">[671]</a></p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<div class="sidenote"><span class="smcap">May, 1608</span>] DEATH OF CHARLES III.</div> + +<p>The good citizens of Tortona were sorely distressed +when they learnt that the remains of their beloved +liege Lady were not to rest among them. But Christina's +heart was in Lorraine, and her children laid +her body in the crypt of the Cordeliers' church, in the +grave of the husband whom she had loved so faithfully +and so long. Twenty-one years later her ashes were +removed with those of Duke Francis and his parents, +Antoine and Renée, to the sumptuous chapel begun +by her son Charles in 1607, and completed by his successors. +The Rotonde, as it was called in Lorraine, +was built on the model of the Cappella dei Principi, +which the Duke's son-in-law, Ferdinand de' Medici, +had lately reared in Florence, and was dedicated to +Our Lady of Loreto. It was the work of a Tuscan +architect, Gianbattista Stabili, and of Jean Ligier +Richier, the son of the famous Lorraine sculptor, and +was lined throughout with rich marbles and adorned +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_511" id="Page_511">[Pg 511]</a></span>with a mass of carving.<a name="FNanchor_672" id="FNanchor_672"></a><a href="#Footnote_672" class="fnanchor">[672]</a> The cupola was added in +1632 by Simon Drouin, and the internal decorations +were only completed in 1743, by order of the +husband of Maria Theresa, afterwards the Emperor +Francis I. By this Prince's pious care Latin inscriptions +were placed over each sarcophagus, and the +following words were carved on the tomb of Christina +and her husband:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>Francisco I. Lotharingiæ. Duci. Bari. Calabriæ. virtuti +bellicæ. natus. quas. ei. mors. immatura. præripuit. laurus +reddidit. nativa. benignitas. senilis. prudentia. semper. sibi +similis. sapientia. mortuus. anno. <span class="smcap">MDXLV</span>.</p> + +<p>Christianæ. a. Dania. Ducis. memorati. thoro. sociatæ +pupilli. Caroli. Ducis. rebus. regendis. strenua. existimatione +supra. famam. maxima. fata. subiit. anno. <span class="smcap">MDXC</span>.<a name="FNanchor_673" id="FNanchor_673"></a><a href="#Footnote_673" class="fnanchor">[673]</a></p></div> + +<p>Christina's son, Charles III., died, after a long and +prosperous reign, on the 14th of May, 1608, and was +tenderly nursed during his last illness by his youngest +daughter, Catherine, and his sister Dorothea. After +her mother's death, the Duchess of Brunswick never +left Lorraine again, and became the wife of a Burgundian +noble, Marc de Rye, Marquis of Varembon.<a name="FNanchor_674" id="FNanchor_674"></a><a href="#Footnote_674" class="fnanchor">[674]</a> +She only survived her brother four years, and was +buried in the Jesuit church of St. Stanilas at Nancy. +Her remains and the heart of Duke Charles, which had +been interred in the same chapel, were removed to the +ducal mausoleum in 1772, when some fresh improvements +were made in the Rotonde, by order of Marie +Antoinette, the daughter of the last Duke of Lorraine +and of the Empress Maria Theresa.<a name="FNanchor_675" id="FNanchor_675"></a><a href="#Footnote_675" class="fnanchor">[675]</a> At the +Revolution, in 1793, these tombs were destroyed and +their contents rifled by the mob, and the ashes of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_512" id="Page_512">[Pg 512]</a></span>dead Princes were flung into a common grave. In +1818 they were replaced in their original tombs, the +sarcophagi were restored, and the old inscriptions +once more carved in the marble.</p> + +<p>Charles III.'s second daughter, Elizabeth, married +her first cousin, Maximilian, who succeeded his father +in 1598, as Duke of Bavaria, and played a memorable +part in the Thirty Years' War. Her next sister, +Antoinette, became Duchess of Cleves, while Catherine, +the youngest and most interesting of the whole +family, took the veil after her father's death. This +beautiful and accomplished Princess refused all the +suitors who sought her hand, among them the scholar-Emperor, +Rudolf II., who found in her a kindred +spirit. A mystic by nature, Catherine assumed the +grey Capucin habit while she lived at her father's +Court, and, after he died, founded a Capucin convent +in Nancy. The Pope appointed her Abbess of +Remiremont, a Benedictine community of high-born +ladies, which she endeavoured to reform. She was +much attached to her aunt Dorothea, and after her +death spent most of her time at the Court of France +with her niece Margaret, the wife of Gaston, Duke of +Orleans. Catherine took an active part in French +politics in the stormy days of Louis XIII., and died +in Paris in 1648, at the age of seventy-five.<a name="FNanchor_676" id="FNanchor_676"></a><a href="#Footnote_676" class="fnanchor">[676]</a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">1736] THE LAST DUKE OF LORRAINE</div> + +<p>The seventeenth century witnessed the gradual dismemberment +of the duchy of Lorraine, and in Richelieu's +days Nancy was again occupied by French +invaders. At length, in 1736, the last Duke, +Francis III., was compelled to surrender Lorraine +in exchange for the grand-duchy of Tuscany, on his +marriage with Maria Theresa, the only child of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_513" id="Page_513">[Pg 513]</a></span>Emperor Charles VI. From that time Lorraine +ceased to exist as an independent State, and became +a province of France, while the ex-King Stanislas +of Poland fixed his residence at Nancy and transformed +the ancient capital into a modern city. By +this marriage the House of Lorraine became merged +in the imperial line of Habsburg, and the blood of +King René still flows in the veins of the Austrian +Emperor and of the royal families of Savoy and Spain.</p> + +<p>Christina would have rejoiced to know that this +union—a love-match like her own—was followed +shortly by the elevation of Maria Theresa's husband +to the imperial throne, and that by this means the +House of Habsburg was raised to a height of power +and splendour which it had never attained since the +days of Charles V. For although she married twice +into princely houses, and was much attached both to +Milan and Lorraine, Christina was before all else +a Habsburg, and the glory and welfare of the imperial +race remained throughout her life the first object +of her thoughts. Like Mary of Hungary and Eleanor +of France, she grew up in absolute obedience to the +Emperor's will, and wherever she went in after-years +his word was still her law. In the darkest hours of +her life, when she lost son and State at one blow, +it was her greatest sorrow to feel that she could no +longer be of service to the Emperor and his house. +After the abdication of Charles V., this love and +loyalty were transferred to Philip II., and her one +fear was lest her son should be drawn into the opposite +camp, and become French in his sympathies. +And to the end she was always quick to obey the call +of blood and respond to any appeal from a member of +the House of Austria.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_514" id="Page_514">[Pg 514]</a></span></p> + +<p>This strong family affection gave an added bitterness +to the neglect and injustice which she suffered +at Philip's hands during the last thirty years of her +existence. One reason for his persistently harsh +usage was, there can be no doubt, that Christina +represented the national feeling and aspirations after +freedom, which Philip and his ministers, Alva and +Granvelle, did all in their power to crush. Both in +the Netherlands, where the popularity of the great +Emperor's niece made her dangerous in their eyes, +and in Lombardy, where she filled an important +position as Lady of Tortona, she came into collision +with the same all-reaching arm. To the last she +strove valiantly to resist the tyranny of Spanish +officials and to protect her subjects from the rapacity +of foreign soldiers, and a century after her death the +citizens of Tortona still cherished the memory of the +noble lady who, as long as she lived, had preserved +them from the yoke of Spain.</p> + +<p>Christina's lot was cast in troubled times, when +crime and bloodshed were rife, and religious convictions +only served to heighten the violence of men's +passions; but her name shines pure and unsullied +on these dark pages of history. She was naturally +hasty and impulsive, she made some mistakes and +met with many failures, but she was always generous +and high-minded, faithful and affectionate to her +friends, and full of ardent charity for the poor and +downtrodden. Above all, her unceasing labours in +the cause of peace justly earned the gratitude of her +contemporaries, and deserve to be remembered by +posterity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">1590] CHRISTINA'S RARE CHARM</div> + +<p>At the close of this long and eventful life we turn +back once more to Holbein's portrait of the youthful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_515" id="Page_515">[Pg 515]</a></span> +Duchess. As we look at the grave eyes and innocent +face, we ask ourselves what was the secret of this +woman's power, of the strange fascination which she +possessed for men and leaders of men. What made +heroes like René of Orange, and daredevils like +Albert of Brandenburg, count the world well lost +for love of her? Why were brave captains and +brilliant courtiers—Stampa, Vendôme, De Courrières, +Polweiler, Adolf of Holstein—all of them her willing +slaves from the moment that they saw her face and +heard the sound of her voice? What drew thoughtful +men like William of Orange and Emanuel Philibert +into the circle of her intimate friends, and brought +even the cold-hearted Philip under her spell? It +was hardly her beauty, for she had many rivals, or +her superior intellect and exalted birth. Rather was +it the rare and indefinable quality that we call charm, +the sweet womanliness of nature, the gentle sympathy +and quick response of heart and eye, ready at +any moment to listen and to help, to comfort and to +cheer. This, if we mistake not, was the secret of +Christina's wonderful influence, of the attraction +which she possessed for men and women alike, an +attraction which outlived the days of youth and +endured to the last hour of her life. Ever loving, she +was therefore ever beloved.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_647" id="Footnote_647"></a><a href="#FNanchor_647"><span class="label">[647]</span></a> Granvelle, "Correspondance," vii. 149.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_648" id="Footnote_648"></a><a href="#FNanchor_648"><span class="label">[648]</span></a> A. Villamont, "Voyages," 70 (1589).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_649" id="Footnote_649"></a><a href="#FNanchor_649"><span class="label">[649]</span></a> Niccolò Montemerlo, "Nuove Historie di Tortona" (1618), +247-253.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_650" id="Footnote_650"></a><a href="#FNanchor_650"><span class="label">[650]</span></a> A. Campo, "Storia di Cremona," 107; C. Ghilino, "Annali di +Alessandria," 166; Hilarion de Coste, "Les Éloges," etc., i. 406.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_651" id="Footnote_651"></a><a href="#FNanchor_651"><span class="label">[651]</span></a> Montemerlo, 260; N. Viola, "Il Santuario di Tortona," 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_652" id="Footnote_652"></a><a href="#FNanchor_652"><span class="label">[652]</span></a> Feudi Camerali, Tortona, Archivio di Stato, Milano.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_653" id="Footnote_653"></a><a href="#FNanchor_653"><span class="label">[653]</span></a> Autografi di Principi: Sforza, Archivio di Stato, Milano; +G. Porta, "Alessandria Descritta," 161; Merli e Belgrano, "Pal. +d'Oria," 55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_654" id="Footnote_654"></a><a href="#FNanchor_654"><span class="label">[654]</span></a> Brantôme, xii. 120.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_655" id="Footnote_655"></a><a href="#FNanchor_655"><span class="label">[655]</span></a> Granvelle, "Correspondance," x. 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_656" id="Footnote_656"></a><a href="#FNanchor_656"><span class="label">[656]</span></a> Granvelle, vii. 225, xii. 581.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_657" id="Footnote_657"></a><a href="#FNanchor_657"><span class="label">[657]</span></a> Groen, vii. 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_658" id="Footnote_658"></a><a href="#FNanchor_658"><span class="label">[658]</span></a> Granvelle, ix. 141, xi. 338.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_659" id="Footnote_659"></a><a href="#FNanchor_659"><span class="label">[659]</span></a> Feudi Camerali, Tortona, Archivio di Stato, Milano.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_660" id="Footnote_660"></a><a href="#FNanchor_660"><span class="label">[660]</span></a> Granvelle, x. 551; Brantôme, xii. 114.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_661" id="Footnote_661"></a><a href="#FNanchor_661"><span class="label">[661]</span></a> Pimodan, 322.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_662" id="Footnote_662"></a><a href="#FNanchor_662"><span class="label">[662]</span></a> Montemerlo, 250.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_663" id="Footnote_663"></a><a href="#FNanchor_663"><span class="label">[663]</span></a> Feudi Camerali, Tortona, Archivio di Stato, Milano.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_664" id="Footnote_664"></a><a href="#FNanchor_664"><span class="label">[664]</span></a> S. Goulart, "Mémoires de la Ligue," ii. 213</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_665" id="Footnote_665"></a><a href="#FNanchor_665"><span class="label">[665]</span></a> Ed. Armstrong, "Cambridge Modern History," iii. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_666" id="Footnote_666"></a><a href="#FNanchor_666"><span class="label">[666]</span></a> Granvelle, "Correspondance," x. 411.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_667" id="Footnote_667"></a><a href="#FNanchor_667"><span class="label">[667]</span></a> A. J. Butler, "Cambridge Modern History," iii. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_668" id="Footnote_668"></a><a href="#FNanchor_668"><span class="label">[668]</span></a> A. v. Reumont, "Geschichte Toscana's," i. 327-329.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_669" id="Footnote_669"></a><a href="#FNanchor_669"><span class="label">[669]</span></a> H. Lepage, "Lettres de Charles III.," 93.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_670" id="Footnote_670"></a><a href="#FNanchor_670"><span class="label">[670]</span></a> Montemerlo, 250.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_671" id="Footnote_671"></a><a href="#FNanchor_671"><span class="label">[671]</span></a> Feudi Camerali, Tortona, Archivio di Stato, Milano.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_672" id="Footnote_672"></a><a href="#FNanchor_672"><span class="label">[672]</span></a> Calmet, iii. 153.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_673" id="Footnote_673"></a><a href="#FNanchor_673"><span class="label">[673]</span></a> Pfister, i. 640-647; Calmet, ii. 87.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_674" id="Footnote_674"></a><a href="#FNanchor_674"><span class="label">[674]</span></a> Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," vii. 619.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_675" id="Footnote_675"></a><a href="#FNanchor_675"><span class="label">[675]</span></a> Pfister, i. 652.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_676" id="Footnote_676"></a><a href="#FNanchor_676"><span class="label">[676]</span></a> Calmet, ii. 153; Pfister, ii. 734.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_516" id="Page_516">[Pg 516]</a></span></p></div></div> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>APPENDIX<br /> + +A SELECTION OF UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS</h2> + + +<h3>I.<br /> + +<i>Christina, Duchess of Milan, to Francesco II., Duke of Milan.</i></h3> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>Monsignore mio cordialissimo marito: Ho bene veduto voluntieri, +come sempre sono accostumata, le sue care littere del +20, ma di molto megliora voglia haveria voluto veder la presentia +sua, come speranza mi fu data di breve esser, et per +dire la vera verita ormai quelli Signori com̄inciano haver puì +che torto. Pur mi voglio contentar di quello che la ragione +consiglia che si faci, et quella dimora che V. S. judicara esser +bene per tutti, lo havero anche io per accepto, ringratiandola +de le sue cortese excusationi per la tardezza del ritorno, ma +non savendogli gratia di quello che la mi scrive, ch'io nō +prende pena di scriverli di mia mano, perchè questo e solo +ben speso tempo, et a me agredable quanto cū V. S. parla, +almeno per scriptura di propria mano, non potendo la per hora +partialmente goder. In bona gratia sua senza fine riccoman<sup>mi</sup> +cum ricordo del presto e sano ritorno, cosi N. S. Dio degni di +conservarlo longamente. Mlo. li 7. Zugno. 1535.</p> + +<p class="right">Vostra très humble consorte,<br /> +<span class="smcap">Cristierna</span>.</p> +<p> +A Monsignore cordiall<sup>mo</sup> mio consorte<br /> +le Duca de Millano.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">[Autografi di Principi, Sforza, Archivio di Stato, Milano.]</p></div> + + +<h3>II.<br /> + +<i>Christina, Duchess-Dowager of Milan, to Cardinal Caracciolo, +Governor of Milan.</i></h3> + +<p>Quello affettione chio conosco V. R<sup>ma</sup> S<sup>ria</sup> portarmi, et il +buon conto che la tene di me fa ch'io non possi cessar de +desiderar' ogn' hora la salute et comodo lei: Ver ho la prego<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_517" id="Page_517">[Pg 517]</a></span> +esser contento darmi nova come la si è p̄ortata in questa sua +andata et di prēste si trova. Che di resto maggior consolatione +no' potreî havere che saper di sua bona valetudine. +Appresso: benchè sappia non essere bisogno, nondimeno no' +cessero di' ricordar à V. R<sup>ma</sup> Sig<sup>ria</sup> el caso mio. Per il quale +pregola a far presso la Cæs<sup>rea</sup> M<sup>tà</sup> mio supremo S<sup>ro</sup> quello che +de la singulari bontà sua sum̄amento mi prometto; Et perchè +tra tutte l'altre cose molto desidero il ben et honor della S<sup>ra</sup> +Dorothea. Perho la sara contenta per il particolar sua +operar con Sia M<sup>tà</sup> tanto efficamente quanto glie sia poss<sup>le</sup>, +acciò che col bon meggio lei me venghi essere esauditi; assicurando +V. R<sup>ma</sup> S<sup>ra</sup> chio stimavo il comodo dessa S<sup>ra</sup> Dorothea +mio proprio. Parmi anchora non solamente ragionevole ma +ex debito, che essendo compito il corso del integro anno che'l +Ill<sup>mo</sup> et Ex<sup>mo</sup> di felicissima memoria, S<sup>re</sup> Duca, già mio Consorte +passeva di questa vita, si ne debbi anch'io tener memoria et +fargli far il debito anniversario. Perho prego V. R<sup>ma</sup> Sig<sup>ra</sup> +esser contenta supplicar Sua M<sup>tà</sup> in mio nome, che commetti +et ordino acciò che detto anniversario sia fatto nel modo che +debitamente si conviene e son certiss<sup>na</sup> che Sua M<sup>tà</sup> nomo +negar di fare cosi exequire. Non me occorrendo per hora altro, +a V. R<sup>ma</sup> S<sup>ra</sup> molte me ricom<sup>o</sup> et offero. Pregando N. S. Dio +che gli doni presto et bon ritorno. Di Mlo. el xiiii. de' Ottobre, +MDXXXVI.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 19em;">Vostra buona figliola,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Chrestienne</span>.</span></p> +<p> +Al R<sup>mo</sup> et Ill<sup>m</sup> S<sup>ro</sup> Car<sup>le</sup> Caracciolo,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Locoten<sup>te</sup> generale di Sua M<sup>tà</sup> nel</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stato de Mlo. come Patre osser<sup>sso</sup>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In Corte di Sua M<sup>ta</sup> a Genoa.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">[Autografi di Principi, Sforza, Archivio di Stato, Milano.] +</p> + + +<h3>III.<br /> + +<i>Christina, Duchess-Dowager of Milan, to Cardinal Caracciolo, +Governor of Milan.</i></h3> + +<p>R<sup>mo</sup> et mio quanto Patre honorando: Ho presentito per +certo che in la hosteria de la Fontana se gli ritrova una bellissima +chinea learda, manco bona che di apparenza bella, et +perchè me ritrova haverne bisogno de una per la Persona mia, +ho voluto cū ogni confidenza indrizzar' questa et el presente +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_518" id="Page_518">[Pg 518]</a></span>mio lachayo a V. S. R<sup>ma</sup> pregandola che se consensi di contentarme +che l' habia; et cometti el pagamento fuori di la spesa +ordinario del rollo stabilito, perchè se potea mettere nel +numero de li debiti ch' andarano pagati per altro conto, et +questo recevero per singular piacer da V. S. R<sup>ma</sup>, in bona +gratia de la quelli me reco<sup>do</sup>. Dal Castello de Pavia, al 3<sup>o</sup> di +Genaro, nel 1537. De V. S. R{ma] comme bonne fille,</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 25.5em;"><span class="smcap">Crestienne</span>.</span></p> +<p> +Al R<sup>mo</sup> Car<sup>le</sup> Caracciolo, Governator<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">de Mlo. quanto p<sup>re</sup> honor<sup>do</sup>. <i>Cito,</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>cito</i>.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">[Autografi di Principi, Sforza, Archivio di Stato, Milano.] +</p> + + +<h3>IV.<br /> + +<i>Antoinette de Bourbon, Duchesse de Guise, to Mary, Queen of +Scotland.</i></h3> + +<p>. . .La santé de votre petit fils est aussi bonne que lui fut +onques. Il mange fort bien, et l'on le mène souvent a les +ébats que me semble lui fait grant bien. Il me semble vous +trouverez cru et devenu gras. Quant au reste de n're ménage, +v're sœur est toujours malade de sa fièvre et a été cette semaine +passée bien mal d'un flux de ventre qui l'a fort affoiblie. Il +y a bien huit jours qu'elle ne bouge point du lit. Depuis +hier le flux com̄àse a passer, de la fièvre je ne vois pas grant +amendement. . . . V<sup>re</sup> frère Claude a été aussy malade +jusqu'à la mort. . . . V<sup>re</sup> sœur Anthoinette est aussy malade +d'une fièvre et d'un rhume. . . . Je vous avise quo Madame +v<sup>re</sup> tante est mandée pour aller à la cour à la venue de la +Reyne de Hongrie, qui doit bientost estre à Compiègne, ou le +Roy et toute la Court doit estre en peu de jours. Je m'en +suis excusée pour l'amour de mes malades. Il n'y a que deux +jours que le gentilhomme du Roy d'Angleterre qui fût au +Havre et le paintre, a été ici. Le gentilhomme vint vers moi, +faisant semblant venir de trouver l'Empereur, et que ayant su +Louise malade, il n'avait voullu passer sans la voir, afin d'en +savoir dire de nouvelles au Roy son maistre, me priant qu'il +la peut voir, ce qu'il fit, et c'estait le jour de sa fièvre. Il lui +tint pareil propos qu'a moi, puis me dit qu'estant si près +de Lorrayne, il avait envye d'aller jusques à Nancy, voir le +pays. Je ne me donte incontyment il y allait voir la demoyselle +peur la tirer comme les aultres et pour cela j'ai envoyé +à leur logis, voir qui y était, et j'ai trouvé le dit paintre y<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_519" id="Page_519">[Pg 519]</a></span> +était, et de la ils ont esté à Nancy et y ont resté un jour, et ont +été fort festés, et le Maistre d'hôtel venait à tous les repas +manger avec eux, avec force présents, et ils etaient très bien +traités. Voilà ce que j'ay entendu, donc au pis aller, si vous +n'avez pour voisine v<sup>re</sup> sœur, ce pourrait estre v<sup>re</sup> cousine. +Il se tient quelque propos que l'Empereur offre récompense +pour le duché de Gueldres, et que ce faisant, se pourrait faire +quelque mariage de la fille de Hongrie et de Mons<sup>r</sup> le Marquys. +Mons<sup>r</sup> v<sup>re</sup> père entend bien, ce faisant, avoir sa part en la dite +récompense. Je voudrais qu'il en fust bien récompensé. +Voilà tout ce que j'ay de nouveau . . . je me doute que vous +ne ferez de si bonne diligence que moi, car je sais bien que +vous tenez de Mons<sup>r</sup> v'tre père, et qu'estes paresseuse à ecrire, +si l'air d'Ecosse ne vous a changé. Je n'ai encore eu que +vos premyères. Il me tarde bien savoir comme depuis vous +vous serez porté, cela me sera grant joye quand je pourrait +ouir de vos nouvelles. Ce sera toujours quant N<sup>tre</sup> Seigneur +le veuille, et je prie, Madame, qu'il vous donne longue et bonne +vie. Ce premier de Septembre, de v'tre humble et bonne +mère,</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 19.5em;"><span class="smcap">Anthoinette de Bourbon</span>.</span></p> +<p> +À la Reyne d'Écosse.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">[Balcarres MSS., ii. 20. Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.] +</p> + + +<h3>V.<br /> + +<i>Antoinette de Bourbon, Duchesse de Guise, to Mary, Queen of +Scotland.</i></h3> + +<p>Madame: J'ay tardé plus longuement que je ne pensais à +vous escrire, mais les noces de Mademoiselle de Lorraine nous +ont tant ameusées que jusque à cette heure on a peut avoir +le loisir. Nous departismes hier de la compaignye qui a esté +bien grosse. Les noces furent Mardy passé. Mons<sup>r</sup> le Prince +y est venu bien accompaigné et je vous assure c'est un bien +honeste Prince et de bonne grâce. Il se contente fort de sa +mye, et aussi elle de lui. Ils s'entendent aller chez eux dans +xv. jours. La feste a esté à Bar, il n'y a eu guères d'estrangers, +fors la Marquise de Baulde et Madame de Baçin, et des Comtesses +et dames voisines. Vous en saurez quelque jour plus +au long. Nous sommes en chemin pour aller à Guise, pensant +en estre de retour pour la Toussaint. Nous laissons n'tre petit +fils à Roche. Il court tant de maladie que nous n'avons osé<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_520" id="Page_520">[Pg 520]</a></span> +le mettre en chemin, mais je vous assure il se porte bien. . . . +Je vous avais escrit par Saint-Genould, du mariage de v're +frère, mais j'entens qu'il ne part pas si tost comme il m'avait +dit, pourquoi je veulx vous dire ce qui en est et co<sup>me</sup> le Roy +veult faire le mariage de luy et de la nyèce du Pape, fille du +Duc de —— je ne puis retrouver son nom, mais elle est belle +et honeste et a bonne grâce, et est d'ancienne maison, de +l'age de xv. ans. L'on luy donne trois cent mille francs en +mariage, elle n'a que ung frère, s'il meurt elle serait heritière de +quarante mille livres et d'un Duché et aultre terres. Je pense +entre ceci et la Toussaint il en sera fait ou failli. Je prends +grand plaisir entendre par vos lettres le bon portement du Roy, +de vous et du petit prince. . . . Nous sommes prêts à +monter à cheval, pourquoi ferais fin. . . . Ce penultième +d'Aoust.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 16em;">V<sup>re</sup> humble et bo<sup>ne</sup> mère,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 20em;"><span class="smcap">Anthoinette de Bourbon</span>.</span></p> +<p> +À la Reyne d'Écosse.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">[Balcarres MSS., ii. 15. Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.] +</p> + + +<h3>VI.<br /> + +<i>Antoinette de Bourbon, Duchesse de Guise, to Mary, Queen of +Scotland.</i></h3> + +<p>Madame: L'on m'a tant assuré qu'on envoye les lettres +sûrement par le moyen des Marchands d'Anvers, que je les +ai mis à l'entrée pour en apprendre le chemin. Vostre sœur +en doit estre la messagère. Je vous ai escrit la conclusion de +son mariage et envoyé les articles et depuis ses noces par +vostre brodeur. Je viens de la mener en ménage, en une +belle et honneste maison et aultant bien meublée qu'il est +possible, nommé Beaumoult. Son beau-père la receuillit tant +honorablement et avec tant de gens de bien et grosse compaignye +que l'on ne sait plus souhaiter; la Reyne de Hongrerie +entre les aultres s'y trouvait et la Duchesse de Myllan, aussi +Mons<sup>r</sup> et Madame la Princesse d'Orange, qui l'on tient grosse, +toute fois la chose n'est pas fort sure, et pour ma part j'en +doute. Il me semble v're dite sœur est bien logée. L'on luy +a fait de beau présens, et elle a de belles basques. Son Mary +est jeune, mais il a bon vouloir d'estre du nombre des gens de +bien. Il ne paraissait point qu'il fût Caresme, car les armes et +les tambours ne cessaient point; il s'y est fait de beaux joustes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_521" id="Page_521">[Pg 521]</a></span> +là bas. A la fin il a fallu departir, qui n'a pas esté sans +larmes. Je regagne ce lieu de Guyse, où je ne reste qu'une +nuit, et demain à la Fère, où Mons<sup>r</sup> le Cardinal mon frère et +mon père et ma sœur de S<sup>t</sup> Pol seront mercredy, et vendredy +recommencerai me mettre en chemin pour gagner Joinvylle +le plus tost que je pourrais. Je pense trouver encore Mons<sup>r</sup> +v<sup>re</sup> père, et nos enfans, savoir les petits et les prètres. . . . +Ce xiiii Mars, à Guise. . . .</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 19.5em;"><span class="smcap">Anthoinette de Bourbon.</span></span></p> +<p> +À la Reyne d'Écosse,<br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">[Balcarres MSS., ii. 5. Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.] +</p> + + +<h3>VII.<br /> + +<i>Louise de Lorraine, Princesse de Chimay, to Mary, Queen of +Scotland.</i></h3> + +<p>Madame: Depuys que Dieu a tant faict pour moi que de me +donner un bon Mary, je n'ai point eu loisir de vous en faire la +part. Vous pouvez estre assurée que je me tiens en ce monde +heureuse d'estre en la maison ou je suis, car avec la grandeur +qu'il y a en tout, j'ai un seigneur et beau-père que je vous puis +nommer bon, car il me faict un bien bon traitement, accompagné +de tant de beaux présents, qu'il me faudroy employer +trois feuilles de papier avant que je vous pourrais en rendre +bon conte et qui sera, s'il vous plait, occasion de prendre +contentement du bien de votre sœur, qui a commandement de +vous offrir les très humble services des maistres et seigneurs +de cette maison, vous suppliant a tout endroit les employer. +Nous avons une très sage et vertueuse Reyne, et je ne puis +vous dire l'honneur qu'elle me faict, car estant venue exprés +à cette maison—la sienne et nôtre—elle m'a voulu prendre +pour sa très humble fille et servante, et veulst que pour +l'avenyr je dois estre toujours en sa compagnye, où pour le +peu que j'y ai este m'a fayct fort grant chĕre. Madame la +Duchesse de Mylan m'a dit le semblable, qui est la meilleure, +et nous ésperons bientôt la voir en Lorayne, car le maryage +de Mons<sup>r</sup> le Marquys et d'elle, est en très bon train. Depuis +que Madame ma mère est retournèe, elle m'a envoyée une +lettre pour essayer si le chemin de ça luy sera plus aise que +l'autre, et si'il vous plait de m'apprendre de vos nouvelles, je +serai merveilleusement aise. Mais il faudra, Madame que a +la lettre que vous m'enverrez, vous mettiez sur le paquet, +"<i>Au Duc d'Aerschot</i>," et par les marchands qui viennent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_522" id="Page_522">[Pg 522]</a></span> +d'Ecosse, il vous sera aisé, car en les laissant à Anvers ou à +Bruges, ou autre endroit du Pays, ne failleront point, en +s'adressant a Mons<sup>r</sup> mon beau-père, de tomber entre mes +mains, car il est grandement craint et aimé par deça, qui sera +l'endroit où je supplye Dieu qu'il vous donne très bonne vie +et longue. De Beaumont, ce xxv. jour de Mars.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 9em;">V're très humble et très obeissante sœur,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 21.5em;"><span class="smcap">Louise de Lorrayne</span>.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">[Balcarres MSS., ii. 153. Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.] +</p> + + +<h3>VIII.<br /> + +<i>Antoinette de Bourbon, Duchesse de Guise, to Mary, Queen of +Scotland.</i></h3> + +<p>Madame: Je suis très aise que ce porteur soit venu par ici, +pour s'en retourner vers vous, car je vous voullais escrire et +envoyer un paquet. . . . Je desire bien fort savoir comme +vous vous serez porté en v're couche et aussi comme le Roy et +v're petit prince se portent. Je prie a N. S. à tous donner +bonne santé et longue vie. Quant à notre costé, tout se porte +bien, Dieu mercy! Mon<sup>r</sup> v're père est revenu depuis huit +jours pour quelques bastyments et fortifications que le Roy +lui a ordonné faire en cette frontière. J'ay esté très aise il +ait cette charge, afin de l'avoir plus tost de retour. Quant +à v're petit fils, il se porte bien et devient grand; il commence +très bien apprendre, et sait quasi son Pater noster, il est joli et +bon enfant. J'ai esté cause qu'il n'est venu en ce lien, dans +la pour des Rougeolles, qui régnent si fort, et je crains il les +prends par les champs, ou il ne peut estre si bien traisté qu'à +Joinvylle, et aussi que ne devons demeurer dans ce lieu que +huit jours. . . . Nous attendons M. le Cardinal de Lorraine +le iii. d'Août. Il vient pour nous tous ensemble trouver au +Pont-à-Mousson le huitième du dit mois, on se doit faire le +premyer recueil de n'tre nouvelle Dame, pour la mener à Nancy. +V're frère aussi vient avec M. le Cardinal, l'on doit faire grande +chere a cette bien venue, et force tournois. Les noces furent +il y a Dimanche huit jours. S'il s'y fait rien digne de vous +faire part vous en serez avertie. J'ai bonne envye de voir si +Mons<sup>r</sup> le Marquis sera bon Mary! L'on se jouit fort au pays +recevoir une si honneste Princesse . . . ce xx. Juillet de . . . ec.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 19.5em;"><span class="smcap">Anthoinette de Bourbon.</span></span></p> +<p> +À la Reyne d'Écosse.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">[Balcarres MSS., ii. 4. Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.] +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_523" id="Page_523">[Pg 523]</a></span></p> + + +<h3>IX.<br /> + +<i>Christina, Duchess-Dowager of Lorraine, to Mary, Queen of +Hungary.</i></h3> + +<p class="right">18 Avril, 1552.</p> + +<p>Madame: J'ay escrit une letter à votre Majesté pour avoir +moyen d'avertir celle-ci et la Reine vostre sœur de la méchancetè +que le Roy de France m'a faict, que sur ombre de +bonne foy me emmène mon filz avecque grande rudesse, comme +Vostre Majesté entendra par ce présent porteur plus au long. +Suppliant Vostre Majesté ne prendra de mauvaise part sy +je ne faict ceste lettre plus longue, car la grande fâcherie que +j'ay, m'en garde. Sy esté, Madame, que je supplie à Vostre +Majesté avoir pitié de moy, et m'assister de quelque conseil, et +je n'oublyerai à jamais luy faire très humble service et vous +obèir toute ma vie, comme celle quy desire demeurer à jamais,</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 13em;">Vostre très humble et très obeissante</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 14em;">nièce et servante,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Chrestienne</span>.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">[Lettres des Seigneurs, 101, f. 332. Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles.] +</p> + + +<h3>X.<br /> + +<i>Anne, Duchess-Dowager of Aerschot, to Mary, Queen of +Hungary.</i></h3> + +<p class="right">18 Avril, 1552.</p> + +<p>Madame: Je ne saurais vous escrire la grande désolation en +laquelle est presentément Madame ma sœur, constitué par la +grande rudesse et cruauté que le jour du grand Vendredy luy +a esté faicte par le Roy de France, qui est qu'il esté venu icy +sous ombre de bonne foy et vrai amitié, comme dernièrement +il nous avoit fait entendre. À son arrivée, il a esté reçu +avecque tous les honneurs possible, et le meilleur traistement, +et le dit jour du grand Vendredy il fit entendre à Madame +comme pour satisfaire au capitulations de la Ligue, il falloit +qu'il s'assurait de Monseigneur le duc de Lorraine, et de ses +places, et que pour ce faire il falloit qu'il fust transporté à +Bar, pour à quoy obvier, Ma dicte dame, Monseigneur de +Vaudemont et moy, et tous ceux de son conseil, luy fust faicte +une rémonstrance la plus humble qu'il estoit possible. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_524" id="Page_524">[Pg 524]</a></span> +quoy il e répondit aultre chose sinon qu'il hâteroit sa resolution +par escrit, ce qu'il a faict, comme votre Majesté pourra +voire par les articles que je vous envoye. Ce voyant, elle et +moy l'allâmes trouver en la Grande Galerie où ma dite dame +parla encore a luy, jusqu'à se mettre à genoux, luy requérant +pour l'amour de Dieu ne transporter son filz, et ne le luy ôter. +A quoi ne fit response, et pour conclusion, Madame, le lendemain +Samedy, veille de Pâques, il l'ont emmené, accompagné +de force gens de guerre, sous la charge du S<sup>r</sup> de Bourdillon, +mais le Maréchal de Saint André n'a bougé qu'il ne l'ait +mis hors de la ville, et c'étoit pitié voire Madame sa mère, +Monseigneur de Vaudement et toute la noblesse et le pauvre +peuple faire leur lamentation. Et voyant Madame ma sœur +en telle pitié, etant en telle douleur, Madame, que votre +Majesté peult estimer pour ly avoir faict une telle outrage que +de luy oter son filz, et la voyant porter tel desplaisir, moy que +m'estait deliberé m'en partir, ne la puis delaisser. Le Roy luy +laisse Mesdames ses filles et l'administration des biens, comme +elle avait auparavant, reservé les places fortes, qui demeurent +à la charge de Monseigneur de Vaudemont, à condition que +Votre Majesté pourra voire, toutefois n'y demeurra que +Lorrains. Et par ce que Madame j'ai toujours envie de faire +service à Votre Majesté tel que j'ai toute ma vie desiré, il luy +plaira me commander ce que je fasse, et vous serez obéy +comme la plus affectionée servante que Votre Majesté aura +jamais. Suppliant Notre Seigneur donner à celle très bonne +et longue vie, me recommandant toujours très humblement, +en sa bonne grâce. De Nancy, ce lendemain de Pâques.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Anne de Lorraine.</span></p> + +<p>Madame: Depuis avoir escrit à Votre Majesté, le Roy de +France a escrit une lettre à Madame ma sœur comme il a eu +avertissement que les Bourgnignons faisaient une entreprise +pour aller à Bar, afin d'y surprendre Monsieur de Lorraine, et +que pour obvier à cela, il a ordonné au S<sup>r</sup> de Bourdillon le +mener à Joinville, où la Royne de France est encor là.</p> + +<p class="center">[Lettres des Seigneurs, 101, f. 330. Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles.] +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_525" id="Page_525">[Pg 525]</a></span></p> + + +<h3>XI.<br /> + +<i>Christina, Duchess-Dowager of Lorraine, to the Emperor +Charles V.</i></h3> + +<p><i>A l'Empereur.</i> Monseigneur: A la prière de Monseigneur de +Vaudemont mon frère et de la Duchesse d'Aerschot ma sœur, +j'ay pris la hardiesse de demeurer, encore que Vostre Majesté +m'avait escript et commandé que je me retirasse vers les +Roynes, ce que j'éspère que Vostre Majesté n'aures pas pris +de mauvaise part. Car la grande instance et prière que +mon dit frère et sœur m'ont faict, ont esté la cause, non pas +pour aller contre son commandement, le voulant obéir toute +ma vie, et je vous supplie, de toujours le croire, et avoir mon +filz et son païs pour recommandé, et je supplieray le Créateur, +Monseigneur, de donner à Vostre Majesté bonne santé et très +longue vie. De Denœuvre, ce 26<sup>e</sup> May, 1552.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 14em;">Vostre très humble et très obéissante</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 15em;">nièce et servante,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Chrestienne</span>.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">[Lettres des Seigneurs, 102, f. 127. Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles.] +</p> + + +<h3>XII.<br /> + +<i>Christina, Duchess-Dowager of Lorraine, to the Emperor +Charles V.</i></h3> + +<p><i>A l'Empereur.</i> Monseigneur: J'ay reçu la lettre qu'il a plu +à Vostre Majesté m'èscrire par le Seigneur de Carondelet, et +par luy ay entendu la bonne souvenance qu'il a plu à Vostre +Majesté avoir de moy et mes filles, de la bonne visitation, dont +très humblement la remercie, et aussi de la charge que Vostre +Majesté luy a donné pour me dire ce qu'il me faudra ensuivre. +Votre Majesté m'oblige tant de l'honneur qu'elle me faict, +que toute ma vie je seray preste à obéir à ses commandements, +comme celle entendra s'il luy plait plus au long par le dit +Seigneur de Carondelet, et aussi d'autres choses que luy ay +donné charge de dire à Vostre Majesté, pour ne pas la fâcher +de longue lettre. Et toute ma vie je suppliray le Créateur de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_526" id="Page_526">[Pg 526]</a></span> +donner à Vostre Majesté très bonne santé, et longue vie et de +demeurer toujours à la bonne grâce d'icelle. De Hoh-Königsberg, +ce 4<sup>e</sup> Septembre, 1552.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">Vostre très humble nièce et servante,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Chrestienne</span>.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">[Lettres des Seigneurs, 103, f. 518. Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles.] +</p> + + +<h3>XIII.<br /> + +<i>Dejanira Commena Contessa Trivulzio to Messer Innocenzio +Gadio.</i></h3> + +<p>Magnifico Signore, Innocenzio: Ho ricevuto un altra vostra, +inteso la morte del Magnifico Signor Belloni, che certo mi ha +dato molto fastidio. Io sono certa che la Signora mia madre +me haverà havuto grandissimo dispiacere, come risentirà la +morte e privatione di tale amico. Però non si può resistere +al Divino volere. Mi maraviglia molto non habbiati avuto +la littera mia qual mandai alli di passati, in mane di Barile, +però di novo vi dico che ho ricevuto la corona ed altre cose +per Andronica, et le littere della Signore Madre, et così vi +rimandò la risposta. Sareti contenti basare le mane in mio +nome a Sua Excellentia, dicendoli che mi duole fino all' anima, +dalle travaglie che patisse Sua Excellentia in quelle bande, et +che siamo sempre apparentiati come servitori che li giurano +esponere la vita et quanto tenemo in suo serviggio. Non mi +occorrente altro a Vostra Signoria mi raccomando. De +Codogno all. 29. Sett, 1552. Di Vostra Sig. Dejanira, +Contessa Trivultia.</p> + +<p> +A Messer Inn. Gadio, amico carissimo.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">[MS. No. 18, Biblioteca di Zelada, Pavia.] +</p> + + +<h3>XIV.<br /> + +<i>Christina, Duchess-Dowager of Lorraine, to Mary, Queen of +England.</i></h3> + +<p class="right">April, 1555.</p> + +<p>Madame: Je supplie V<sup>tre</sup> Maj<sup>tè</sup> me pardonner si je prends +tant d'audace que d'escrire à icelle, mais tant d'honneur et de +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_527" id="Page_527">[Pg 527]</a></span>faveur que je recois de V<sup>tre</sup> Maj<sup>tè</sup> en est cause. Car je ne puis +laisser d'avertir que le Capitaine de mon vaisseau qui me mène +a si bien faict son devoyr, sans nul hasart, comme V<sup>tre</sup> Maj<sup>tè</sup> +lui a faict commande, que je ne puis laisser d'en avertir V<sup>tre</sup> +Maj<sup>tè</sup> et la supplier de l'avoyr en souvenance. Et puis +j'assure V<sup>tre</sup> Maj<sup>tè</sup>, que je n'en ai reçu que d'entier bon service, +et connaissant cela, n'ay su laisser de le recommander à V<sup>tre</sup> +Maj<sup>tè</sup> et pensant que le Capitaine Bont vous fera entendre ce +qui s'est passé à mon passage, je n'en ferai plus propos, si non +de vous assurer combien je regrette de ne plus estre dans la +prèsence de V<sup>re</sup> Maj<sup>tè</sup> et que je ne puis estre auprès d'icelle, +pour luy pouvoir faire quelque service, pour la satisfaction +que je me ferais a tant de mercis que j'ay reçu, dont je demeure +sans espoir d'y satisfaire. Et cependant je supplie très humblement +à V<sup>re</sup> Maj<sup>tè</sup> me tenir en sa bonne grâce, a la quelle +humblement me recommande, et baisant ses mains, priant +Dieu, Madame, vous donner bonne santé, très longue vie et +un beau filz, comme le désire.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 14em;">V<sup>re</sup> très humble et très obeissante</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 16em;">cousine et servante,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Chrestienne</span>.</span></p> +<p> +À la Reyne.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">[MS. State Papers, Foreign, Mary, vol. vi., 351. Public Record Office.] +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_528" id="Page_528">[Pg 528]</a></span></p> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>BIBLIOGRAPHY</h2> + + +<h3>MANUSCRIPT SOURCES</h3> + +<div class="hangindent"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Archivio di Stato, Milano</span>: Autografi di Principi; Carteggio +Diplomatico, 1533-1535; Carteggio con Montmorency, Conte +di Corea, 1537-1538; Feudi Camerali, Tortona; Potenze +Sovrane, 1533-1534.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Biblioteca Ambrosiana</span>: Continuazione della Storia di Corio, +O. 240.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Museo Civico di Storia Patria, Pavia</span>: No. 426, Lettere dell' +Oratore, 1535; No. 546, di B. d. Corte, 1536.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Biblioteca del Conte Antonio Cavagna Sangiuliani a Zelada, +presso Pavia</span>: Archivio Sezione Storico, Diplomatico. Mazzo +n. 127, Tortona; Lettere di Niccolò Belloni, etc., i.-xviii.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Archives du Royaume, Bruxelles</span>: Lettres des Seigneurs, iii.-vii.; +Papiers d'État de l'Audience, No. 82; Correspondance +de Charles V. avec Jean de Montmorency, Seigneur de Courrières, +1537; No. 8, 26, 1178, etc., Lettres de Marie de Hongrie, +Charles Quint, etc.; Régistre des Revenus et Dépenses de +Charles V.; Régistre de Marguerite d'Autriche, 1799, 1800, +1803.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris</span>: Affaires d'Angleterre, xix.; +F.F. 123, 20,467, 20,468; Oudin, Histoire des Guises; MS. +Gaignières 349; Marillac MS. 8,625; Coll. de Lorraine, 27-33, +etc.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Advocates' Library, Edinburgh</span>: The Balcarres Manuscripts, +ii., iii.; Correspondance de Madame de Guise, etc., avec la +Reine d'Écosse.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">British Museum</span>: Additional Manuscripts, 5,498; Harleian Manuscripts, +3,310, 3,311; F. Roddi, Annali di Ferrara.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Public Record Office</span>: State Papers, Foreign, Mary, vi. 351; +Venetian Despatches, 1553-1558; Brussels Transcripts, 1553-1558.</p></div> + + +<h3>PRINTED SOURCES</h3> + +<div class="hangindent"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alberi, E.</span>: Le Relazioni degli Ambasciatori Veneti nel Secolo +XVI. Serie 2. 5 vols. Florence, 1839-1863.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Altmeyer, J.</span>: Isabelle d'Autriche. Brussels, 1842.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Altmeyer, J.</span>: Relations Commerciales des Pays-Bas. 1840.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Archæologia</span>, vols. xxxix., xl. (Society of Antiquaries). Brussels +1865.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_529" id="Page_529">[Pg 529]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Archæologia Cambrensis</span>, xxiii. 1877.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aretino, P.</span>: Lettere. 6 vols. 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Brussels, 1855.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gachard, L.</span>: Collection des Documents Inédits conc. l'Histoire de la Belgique. +3 vols. Brussels, 1853.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gachard, L.</span>: Collection des Voyages des Souverains des Pays-Bas. +4 vols. 1876-1882.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gachard, L.</span>: Relations des Ambassadeurs Vénitiens sur Charles V. +et Philippe II. 1855.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gachard, L.</span>: Relation des Troubles de Gand sous Charles V. +1846.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gachard, L.</span>: Retraite et Mort de Charles V. 2 vols. 1855.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gardner, E.</span>: The King of Court Poets. 1906.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gaye, G.</span>: Carteggio Inedito di Artisti dei Secoli XV., XVI., e +XVII. 3 vols. Florence, 1840.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ghilino, C.</span>: Annali di Alessandria. Milan, 1666.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Goulart, S.</span>: Mémoires de la Ligue. 6 vols. Amsterdam, 1758.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Granvelle, Cardinal de</span>: Correspondance, 1565-1586, publié +par E. Poullet et C. Piot. 12 vols. Brussels, 1896.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Granvelle, Cardinal de</span> Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire du +Par P. Levesque. Brussels, 1753.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Granvelle, Cardinal de</span>: Mémoires du. L. d'Esnans, Brussels, +1761.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Granvelle, Cardinal de</span>: Papiers d'État, publié par C. Weiss. +9 vols. 1852.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Groen van Prinsterer, G.</span>: Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau. +Série i. 8 vols. Leyden, 1847.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Guazzo, M.</span>: Historie, 1524-1552. Milan, 1552.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Guicciardini, L.</span>: Descrittione di Tutti i Paesi-Bassi. Antwerp, +1588.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Haile, M.</span>: Life of Reginald Pole. 1910.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_531" id="Page_531">[Pg 531]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hardwicke Papers</span>, The, 1501-1726. 2 vols. 1778.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Haüsser, L.</span>: Geschichte der Rheinischen Pfalz. 2 vols. Heidelberg, +1856.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Henne, A.</span>: Histoire du Règne de Charles V. en Belgique. 10 +vols. Brussels, 1860.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hoby, T.</span>: The Travail and Life of, 1547-1564. Camden Miscellany, +x. 1902.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hugo, L.</span>: Traité de l'Origine de la Maison de Lorraine. Berlin, +1711.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Juste, T.</span>: Les Pays-Bas sous Charles V. Brussels, 1861.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Juste, T.</span>: Les Pays-Bas sous Philippe II. Brussels, 1884.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Juste, T.</span>: Marie de Hongrie. 1867.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Kaulek, J.</span>: Correspondance Politique de Castillon et de Marillac. +Paris, 1885.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kervyn de Lettenhove, J. de</span>: Relations Politiques des Pays-Bas +et de l'Angleterre sous le Règne de Philippe II. 10 vols. +Brussels, 1892.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Köstlin, J.</span>: Leben Luthers. Tübingen, 1882.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Lanz, K.</span>: Correspondenz des Kaisers Karl aus d. K. Archiv. +3 vols. Leipzig, 1844.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">L'Aubespine, S. de</span>: Négociations au Règne de François II. +Paris, 1841.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lavisse, E.</span>: Histoire de France, vol. v. Paris, 1903.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Le Glay, E.</span>: Correspondance de Maximilien I. et de Marguerite +d'Autriche. 2 vols. Brussels, 1839.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lepage, H.</span>: Les Archives de Nancy, Le Palais Ducal, La Galerie +des Cerfs, La Ville de Nancy; Lettres de Charles III., Duc +de Lorraine. Nancy, 1844-1865.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Le Petit, J.</span>: La Grande Chronique de Hollande, etc., jusqu'à +1600. Dordrecht, 1601.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Leva, G. de</span>: Storia Documentata di Karl V. in Italia. 5 vols. +Venice, 1863.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Litta, P.</span>: Famiglie Celebri, vol. ii. Milan, 1839.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lodge, E.</span>: Illustrations of British History, Henry VIII. to +James I., in Papers of the Families of Howard, Talbot, and +Cecil. 3 vols. 1830.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Machyn, H.</span>: Diary of a Citizen of London, 1550-1563, ed. J. S. +Nicholls. Camden Society, No. 42. 1848.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Magenta, C.</span>: I Visconti e gli Sforza nel Castello di Pavia. 2 vols. +Milan, 1883.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Maitland Miscellany</span>, i: Maitland Club. Edinburgh, 1834.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Merriman, R. B.</span>: Life and Letters of Thomas Cromwell. 2 vols. +1902.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mignet, F.</span>: Charles Quint—son Abdication et Séjour à Yuste. +Paris, 1857.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mignet, F.</span>: Rivalité de François I. et de Charles V. Paris, 1875.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Moeller, C.</span>: Eléonore d'Autriche, Reine de France. Paris, 1893.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Montemerlo, N.</span>: Nuove Historie di Antica Città. Tortona, +1618.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Nott, G.</span>: The Works of Surrey and Sir T. Wyatt. 2 vols. 1815.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Nubilonia</span>: Cronaca di Vigevano.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Pimodan, G. de</span>: La Mère des Guises. Paris, 1889.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Porta, G.</span>: Alessandria Descritta, Illustrata, Celebrata. Milan, +1670.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_532" id="Page_532">[Pg 532]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Putman, R.</span>: William the Silent, Prince of Orange. 2 vols. +New York, 1895.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Rabutin, F. de</span>: Commentaires des Dernières Guerres. Petitot +Coll., No. 37. Paris, 1819-1829.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ratti, N.</span>: Delia Famiglia Sforza. 2 vols. Rome, 1794.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ravold, J. B.</span>: Histoire Démocratique de Lorraine. 4 vols. +Paris, 1890.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Reiffenberg, F. de</span>: Histoire de la Toison d'Or. 2 vols. +Brussels, 1835.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Reumont, A. v.</span>: Geschichte Toscanas. 2 vols. Gotha, 1876.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ribier, G.</span>: Lettres et Mémoires d'État. Paris, 1666.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ruble, A. de</span>: Antoine de Bourbon et Jeanne d'Albret. 4 vols. +Paris, 1881.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ruble, A. de</span>: La Jeunesse de Marie Stuart; 1891. Le Traité de +Câteau-Cambrésis; 1887.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Saint-Génis, V. de</span>: Histoire de Savoie. 3 vols. Chambéry, +1869.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sanuto, M.</span>: Diarii, 1496-1533, vols. liii., liv., lv., lvi., lvii. +Venice, 1879-1902.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schäfer, D.</span>: Geschichte v. Dänemark. 4 vols. Gotha, 1893.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schlegel, J. H.</span>: Geschichte d. Könige v. Dänemark aus d. +Oldenburg Stamme. 2 vols., folio. Kopenhagen, 1769-1777.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas, H.</span>: Annalium de Vita et Rebus Gestis Illustrissimi +Principis Frederici II., Elect. Pal. Frankfort, 1624.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas, H.</span>: Spiegel d. Humors Grosser Potentaten. Leipzig, +1629.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tytler, P. F.</span>: England under Edward VI. and Mary. 2 vols. +1839.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Ulmann, H.</span>: Kaiser Maximilian I. 2 vols. Stuttgart, 1884-1891.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Vaissière, P. de</span>: Charles de Marillac, 1510-1560. Paris, 1896.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Verri, P.</span>: Storia di Milano. 2 vols. Florence, 1851.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vertot, R. de</span>: Ambassades de MM. de Noailles en Angleterre. +5 vols. Paris, 1762.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vieilleville, F. de Scépeaux, Maréchal de</span>: Mémoires. Coll. +Petitot, Série i., 26-28. Paris, 1819-1829.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Villamont, A.</span>: Voyages. Urbino, 1589.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Viola, N.</span>: Il Santuario di Tortona. Tortona, 1675.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Voigt, J.</span>: Albert-Alcibiades, Markgraf von Brandenburg. +2 vols. Berlin, 1852.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Walpole, H.</span>: Anecdotes of Painting, vol. i. 1826-1828.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wornum, R.</span>: Life and Works of Holbein. 1867.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Young, Colonel G.</span>: The Medici. 2 vols. 1909.</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_533" id="Page_533">[Pg 533]</a></span></p> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>GENEALOGICAL TABLES</h2> + +<ul class="index"> +<li>I. HABSBURG.</li> + +<li>II. DENMARK.</li> + +<li>III. SFORZA.</li> + +<li>IV. LORRAINE.</li> + +<li>V. GUISE.</li> +</ul> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_534" id="Page_534">[Pg 534]</a><br /><a name="Page_535" id="Page_535">[Pg 535]</a></span></p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_536" id="Page_536">[Pg 536]</a><br /><a name="Page_537" id="Page_537">[Pg 537]</a><br /><a name="Page_538" id="Page_538">[Pg 538]</a><br /><a name="Page_539" id="Page_539">[Pg 539]</a><br /><a name="Page_540" id="Page_540">[Pg 540]</a></span></p> + +<h3>I. HABSBURG.</h3> + +<pre> +Maximilian I, d. 1519. +=(1)Mary of Burgundy. +=(2)Bianca Sforza. ++-- Philip, d. 1506. +| =Juana of Spain, d. 1555. +| +-- Eleanor, d. 1558. +| | =(1)Emanuel of Portugal. +| | =(2)Francis I. of France. +| +-- Charles V, 1500-1558. +| | =Isabella of Portugal, d. 1539. +| | +-- Margaret, d. 1586. +| | | =(1)Alessandro de' Medici. +| | | =(2)Ottavio Farnese. +| | | +-- Alessandro, Duke of Parma, d. 1592 +| | | =Mary of Portugal. +| | +-- Don John, d. 1578. +| | +-- Philip II. of Spain, 1527-1598. +| | | =(1)Mary of Portugal, d. 1539. +| | | =(2)Mary of England. +| | | =(3)Elizabeth of France. +| | | =(4)Anne of Austria. +| | | +-- Don Carlos, d. 1568. +| | | +-- Philip III, d. 1621. +| | | | =Margaret of Austria. +| | | +-- Katherine. +| | | | =Charles Emanuel, Duke of Savoy. +| | | +-- Isabella, d. 1633. +| | | =Albert of Austria, d. 1621. +| | +-- Juana of Spain. +| | | =John of Portugal, d. 1554. +| | | +-- Sebastian of Portugal, d. 1578. +| | +-- Mary. (<i>a</i>) +| | =Maximilian II, d. 1576. (<i>a</i>) +| | +-- Rudolf II, d. 1612. +| | +-- Anne of Austria. +| | | =Philip II. of Spain, 1527-1598. +| | +-- Albert of Austria, d. 1621. (<i>b</i>) +| | | =Isabella, d. 1633. +| | +-- Elizabeth. +| | | =Charles IX., King of France. +| | +-- Matthias, d. 1619. +| | =Anne. +| +-- Isabella of Austria, 1501-1526. (See II) +| | =Christian II. of Denmark, dep. 1523, 1481-1559. +| +-- Mary, d. 1558. +| | =Louis of Hungary, d. 1526. +| +-- Ferdinand I, d. 1564. +| | =Anne of Bohemia, d. 1547. +| | +-- Maximilian II, d. 1576. (<i>a</i>) +| | | =Mary. (<i>a</i>) +| | | +-- Rudolf II. (see above) +| | | +-- Anne of Austria. (see above) +| | | +-- Albert of Austria. (see above) (<i>b</i>) +| | | +-- Elizabeth. (see above) +| | | +-- Matthias. (see above) +| | +-- Mary. +| | | =William of Cleves. +| | +-- Ferdinand, d. 1595. +| | | =Philippina Welser. +| | | +-- Anne. +| | | =Matthias, d. 1619. +| | +-- Charles. +| | =Anne. +| | +-- Ferdinand II, d. 1637. +| | =Maria Anna. +| | +-- Ferdinand III, d. 1657. +| | =Mary of Spain. +| | +-- Philip IV. of Spain. +| | | =Mary. +| | +-- Leopold I, d. 1705. +| | | =(1)Margaret of Spain. +| | | =(2)Claude of Tyrol. +| | | =(3)Eleanor, d. of Elector Palatine. +| | | +-- Joseph I, d. 1711. +| | | | =Wilhelmina of Hanover. +| | | +-- Charles VI, d. 1740. +| | | =Eliz. Christina of Brunswick. +| | | +-- Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of Hungary, and daughter of the Emperor Charles VI, d. 1780. +| | | =Francis III., Duke of Lorraine; exchanged Lorraine for Tuscany; el. Emperor 1745, m. 1736, d. 1765. +| | +-- Eleanor. +| | =Charles Leopold of Lorraine. +| +-- Katherine. +| =John III. of Portugal, d. 1557. +| +-- John of Portugal, d. 1554. +| | =Juana of Spain. +| | +-- Sebastian of Portugal. (see above) +| +-- Mary of Portugal, d. 1539. +| =Philip II. of Spain, 1527-1598. ++-- Margaret, d. 1530. + =(1)John, son of Ferdinand and Isabella. + =(2)Philibert II. of Savoy. +</pre> + + +<h3>II. DENMARK, 1481-1588.</h3> + +<pre> +Christian I., King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, d. 1481. +=Dorothea of Brandenburg, widow of Christopher, King of Denmark, d. 1448. ++-- John, d. 1513. +| =Christina of Saxony. +| +-- Christian II. of Denmark, dep. 1523, 1481-1559. +| | =Isabella of Austria, 1501-1526. +| | +-- John, 1516-1531. +| | +-- Dorothea, 1520-1562. +| | | =Frederic II., Elector Palatine, 1483-1556. +| | +-- Christina of Denmark, 1522-1590. +| | =(1)Francesco II., last Duke of Milan, 1495-1535. +| | =(2)Francis I., Duke of Lorraine, 1517-1545. +| +-- Elizabeth. +| =Joachim of Brandenburg, d. 1535. ++-- Margaret. +| =James III. of Scotland, d. 1488. ++-- Frederick I. + =(1)Anne of Brandenburg. + =(2)Sophia of Pomerania. + +-- Dorothea. + | =Albert, Duke of Prussia, d. 1568. + +-- Christian III, d. 1558. + | +-- Frederic II, d. 1588. + | +-- Anna. + | | =Augustus, Elector of Saxony. + | +-- John, (branch of Glücksburg Augustenburg). + +-- Adolf, Duke of Holstein. + =Christina of Hesse. + +-- John Adolf, (branch of Holstein-Gottorp). + | =Amelia of Denmark. + +-- Christina. + =Charles IX. of Sweden. + +-- Gustavus Adolphus, d. 1632. + +-- Christina, d. 1689. +</pre> + + +<h3>III. SFORZA.</h3> + +<pre> +Francesco, Duke of Milan, 1450, 1401-1466. +=Bianca Maria Visconti, d. 1468. ++-- Galeazzo Maria, 1444-1476. +| =Bona of Savoy. +| +-- Gian Galeazzo, 1469-1494. +| | =Isabella of Aragon, d. 1524. +| | +-- Francesco, Abbot of Noirmoutiers, 1490-1512. +| | +-- Ippolita, d. 1501. +| | +-- Bona, d. 1557. +| | =Sigismund I., King of Poland, d. 1548. +| +-- Ermes, 1470-1504. +| +-- Caterina, d. 1509. +| | =(1)Girolamo Riario. +| | =(2)Giacomo Feo. +| | =(3)Giovanni de' Medici. +| +-- Ottaviano, Bishop of Lodi. +| +-- Carlo. +| | =Bianca Simonetta. +| | +-- Ippolita. +| | =Alessandro Bentivoglio. +| +-- Anna, 1473-1497. +| =Alfonso d'Este. ++-- Ippolita, 1446-1484. +| =Alfonso of Calabria, afterwards King of Naples. ++-- Filippo, 1448-1492. +| =Costanza Sforza. ++-- Sforza, Duke of Bari, 1449-1479. ++-- Lodovico Maria, 1451-1480. +| =Beatrice d'Este, 1475-1497. +| +-- Massimiliano abd. 1515, 1493-1530. +| +-- Francesco II., last Duke of Milan, 1495-1535. +| | =Christina of Denmark, 1522-1590. +| +-- Cesare. +| +-- Leone, Protonotary. +| +-- Bianca, d. 1497. +| | =Galeazzo di Sanseverino, d. 1525. +| +-- Gian Paolo, 1497-1535. +| +-- Line of Caravaggio extinct 1697. ++-- Ascanio, Cardinal, 1455-1505. ++-- Tristano, d. 1477. + =Beatrice d'Este da Correggio. +</pre> + + +<h3>IV. LORRAINE, 1300-1736.</h3> + +<pre> +Frederic IV, d. 1328. +=Elizabeth, daughter of the Emperor Albert I. ++-- Raoul, killed at Crécy, d. 1346. + +-- John, d. 1391. + +-- Charles II, d. 1431. + | =Margaret, daughter of the Emperor Rupert III. + | +-- Isabella, d. 1453. + | =René I. of Anjou, d. 1480. + | +-- John, d. 1470. + | +-- Margaret. + | | =Henry, VI. of England. + | +-- Yolande, 1428-1483. + | =Frederic, Count of Vaudemont, d. 1472. + | +-- René II., Duke of Lorraine and Bar, King of Sicily, etc, d. 1508. + | =Philippa of Guelders, d. 1547. + | +-- Anthony, 1489-1544. + | | =René de Bourbon, d. 1539. + | | +-- Francis I., Duke of Lorraine, 1517-1545. + | | | =Christina of Denmark, 1522-1590. + | | | +-- Charles III, 1543-1608. + | | | =Claude, de France, 1548-1575. + | | | +-- Henry, 1563-1624. + | | | | =(1)Catherine, de Bourbon, d. 1604. + | | | | =(2)Margaret Gonzaga. + | | | | +-- Claude of Lorraine, d. 1648. + | | | | | =Nicolas-Francis, Duke of Lorraine, d. 1670. + | | | | | +-- Charles-Leopold, 1643-1690. + | | | | | =Eleanor of Austria. + | | | | | +-- Leopold-Joseph, 1679-1729. + | | | | | =Charlotte-Elizabeth of Orleans. + | | | | | +-- Francis III., Duke of Lorraine; exchanged Lorraine for Tuscany; el. Emperor 1745, d. 1765. + | | | | | =Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of Hungary, and daughter of the Emperor Charles VI., m. 1736, d. 1780. + | | | | +-- Nicole, d. 1657. + | | | | =Charles IV., abd. 1634, d. 1675. + | | | +-- Francis II, 1571-1632. + | | | | =Christina of Salm. + | | | | +-- Nicolas-Francis, Duke of Lorraine, d. 1670. + | | | | | =Claude of Lorraine, d. 1648. + | | | | | +-- Charles-Leopold. (see above) + | | | | +-- Henrietta, 1606-1660. + | | | | | =(1)Count of Phalsburg. + | | | | | =(2)Count Carlo Guasco. + | | | | +-- Margaret. + | | | | =Gaston, Duke of Orleans. + | | | +-- Christina, 1565-1636. + | | | | =Ferdinand, Grand Duke of Tuscany. + | | | +-- Antoinette, 1568-1610. + | | | | =William, Duke of Cleves. + | | | +-- Elizabeth, 1573-1633. + | | | | =Maximilian II., Duke of Bavaria. + | | | +-- Catherine, Abbess of Remiremont, 1570-1648. + | | +-- Anne, 1522-1568. + | | | =(1)René Prince of Orange. + | | | =(2)Philip, Duke of Aerschot. + | | | +-- Charles, de Croy, Marquis of Havre, b. 1549. + | | +-- Nicolas, Count of Vaudemont, 1524-1577. + | | =(1)Margaret of Egmont. + | | =(2)Joanna of Savoy. + | | =(3)Catherine of Aumale, m. 1569. + | | +-- Louise. + | | | +Henri III. of France. + | | +-- Philip, d. 1612. + | | +-- Charles, Cardinal, d. 1587. + | +-- Claude, Duke of Guise. (See Table V.) + | +-- John, Cardinal, 1498-1550. + | +-- Francis, Count of Lambesque, 1503-1525. + | +-- Louis, Count of Vaudemon, 1506-1527. + +-- Frederic, killed at Agincourt, d. 1415. + =Margaret, heiress of Joinville and Vaudemont. + +-- Anthony. + =heiress of Aumale and Mayenne. + +-- Frederic, Count of Vaudemont, d. 1472. + =Yolande, 1428-1483. + +-- René II., Duke of Lorraine, etc. (see above) +</pre> + + +<h3>V. GUISE, 1500-1600.</h3> + +<pre> +René II., Duke of Lorraine and Bar, King of Sicily, etc, d. 1508. +=Philippa of Guelders, d. 1547. ++-- Claude, Duke of Guise, 1496-1550. + =Antoinette of Bourbon, 1494-1583. + +-- Mary, 1515-1560. + | =(1)Louis, Duke of Longueville, d. 1537. + | =(2)James, V., King of Scotland, d. 1542. + | +-- Louis, Duke of Longueville, 1536-1551. + | +-- Mary, Queen of Scots, 1542-1587. + | =(1)Francis II., King of France, d. 1560. + | =(2)Henry, Lord Darnley, d. 1567. + | +-- James, VI. of Scotland and I. of England (1603), 1567-1623. + | =Anne of Denmark, d. 1619. + +-- Francis, Duke of Guise, 1520-1563. + | =Anna d'Este, 1531-1607. + | +-- Henri le Balafré Prince of Joinville, etc., Duke of Guise, 1549-1588. + | =Catherine of Cleves. + | +-- Charles, Duke of Guise, 1571-1640. + | | =Henriette de Joyeuse, Duchess of Montpensier, d. 1656. + | +-- Louis, Cardinal and Archbishop of Reims, b. 1575. + | +-- Claude, Duke of Chevreuse, b. 1578. + | | =Marie de Rohan. + | +-- Louise. + | =Francis, Prince of Conti, m. July 24, 1605. + +-- Louise, 1521-1542. + | =Charles, Prince of Chimay. + +-- René Abbess of S. Pierre, Reims, 1522-1586. + +-- Charles, Cardinal, 1523-1574. + +-- Claude, Duke of Aumale, 1526-1573. + | =Louise, de Bréze, m. 1545. + | +-- Catherine of Aumale. + | | =Nicolas, Count of Vaudemont, b. 1524, m. 1569, d. 1577. + | +-- Charles, Duke of Aumale, b. 1556. + | | =Marie d'Elbœuf m. 1576. + | +-- Claude, Abbot of Bec, b. 1563. + | +-- Diana, m. 1576. + | =Francis, Duke of Piney. + +-- Louis, Cardinal, 1527-1578. + +-- Antoinette, Abbess of Farmoustiers, 1531-1561. + +-- Francis, Prior of Malta, 1534-1563. + +-- René Marquis of Elbœuf, 1535-1576. + =Louise, de Rieux. + +-- Charles, Marquis of Elbœuf; created Duke 1581. + +-- Marie d'Elbœuf, m. 1576. + =Charles, Duke of Aumale, b. 1556. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_541" id="Page_541">[Pg 541]</a></span></pre> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>INDEX</h2> + + +<p> +Adige, the, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +Aerschot, Anne, Duchess of, death of her husband, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">birth of a son, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her letters to Mary, Queen of Hungary, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_523">523</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Joinville, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Lorraine, <a href="#Page_484">484</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires to Diest, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her death, <a href="#Page_487">487</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Aerschot, Duke of, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives the Ambassadors, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his defeat at Sittard, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">third marriage, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Aerschot, Philip of, <a href="#Page_484">484</a><br /> +<br /> +Agincourt, Battle of, <a href="#Page_257">257</a><br /> +<br /> +Agrippa, Cornelius, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a><br /> +<br /> +Aigues-Mortes, <a href="#Page_172">172</a><br /> +<br /> +Aix-la-Chapelle, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a><br /> +<br /> +Aix, siege of, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br /> +<br /> +Alberi, E., "Le Relazioni degli Ambasciatori," <a href="#Page_528">528</a><br /> +<br /> +Albret, Jeanne d', <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Navarre, Princess of</span><br /> +<br /> +Alençon, Duke of, <a href="#Page_507">507</a><br /> +<br /> +Alençon, Margaret, Duchess of, Queen of Navarre, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br /> +<br /> +Alessandria, <a href="#Page_509">509</a><br /> +<br /> +Algiers, expedition to, <a href="#Page_267">267</a><br /> +<br /> +Alsace, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br /> +<br /> +Alsace, Gerard d', <a href="#Page_256">256</a><br /> +<br /> +Alsener Sound, <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br /> +<br /> +Altmeyer, J., "Isabelle d'Autriche," <a href="#Page_13">13</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a> <i>note</i>, <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Relations Commerciales du Danemark et les Pays-Bas," <a href="#Page_34">34</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a> <i>note</i>, <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_528">528</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Alva, Duchess of, in London, <a href="#Page_391">391</a><br /> +<br /> +Alva, Duke of, Commander-in-Chief, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in London, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">war with Pope Paul IV., <a href="#Page_409">409</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed Captain-General of the Netherlands, <a href="#Page_486">486</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Alzei, <a href="#Page_402">402</a><br /> +<br /> +Amager, island of, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> +<br /> +Amboise, <a href="#Page_463">463</a><br /> +<br /> +Amigone, Mario, <a href="#Page_96">96</a><br /> +<br /> +André, St., Marshal, taken prisoner at St. Quentin, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Conference of Cercamp, <a href="#Page_428">428</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Angoulême, Duke of, <a href="#Page_114">114</a><br /> +<br /> +Anjou, Henry, Duke of, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeds to the throne, <a href="#Page_490">490</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Anjou, Margaret of, <a href="#Page_257">257</a><br /> +<br /> +Annebaut, Admiral l', <a href="#Page_291">291</a><br /> +<br /> +Anne of Cleves, her appearance, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her marriage pronounced null and void, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Annonville, <a href="#Page_268">268</a><br /> +<br /> +Antwerp, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">riots at, <a href="#Page_485">485</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Apennines, the, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br /> +<br /> +Aragon, Don Carlos of, Duke of Terranuova, Viceroy of Milan, <a href="#Page_499">499</a><br /> +<br /> +Aragon, Ferdinand of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br /> +<br /> +Aremberg, Count d', <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">killed in battle, <a href="#Page_487">487</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Aremberg, Jacques d', at Frankfurt, <a href="#Page_470">470</a><br /> +<br /> +Aremberg, Margaret, Countess of, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>, <a href="#Page_480">480</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Nancy, <a href="#Page_485">485</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Arena, <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br /> +<br /> +Aretino, Pietro, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his tribute to the Duke, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Lettere," <a href="#Page_529">529</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Armstrong, Ed., "Cambridge Modern History," <a href="#Page_507">507</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +Arras, Antoine Perrenot, Bishop of, at Augsburg, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his portrait, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Imperial Chancellor, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Conference of Cercamp, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Câteau-Cambrésis, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the rivalry between Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, and the Duchess of Parma, <a href="#Page_459">459</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_542" id="Page_542">[Pg 542]</a></span>Arras, Bishop of, proclaims Charles V. Archduke of Austria and Prince of Castille, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br /> +<br /> +Arundel, Fitzalan, Earl of, <a href="#Page_158">158</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +Arundel, Thomas Howard, Earl of, <a href="#Page_158">158</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +Arundel, Lord, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Conference of Cercamp, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ascham, Roger, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Works," <a href="#Page_319">319</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his journey up the Rhine, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of royal personages, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ashmole, E., "The Order of the Garter," <a href="#Page_392">392</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +Asti, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br /> +<br /> +Aubespine, Sebastien de l', at the Conference of Cercamp, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Ghent, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Négociations au Règne de François II.," <a href="#Page_457">457</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Audley, Chancellor, <a href="#Page_162">162</a><br /> +<br /> +Augsburg, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Diet of, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prorogued, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festivities at, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Aumale, Count, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Joinville, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure of his negotiations of marriage, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wounded, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his wish to marry Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with Anna d'Este, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">created a Duke Governor of Savoy, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his capture, <a href="#Page_379">379</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Austria, Don John of, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed Governor of the Netherlands, <a href="#Page_492">492</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Luxembourg, <a href="#Page_492">492</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his letter to Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_493">493</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">victory of Gembloux, <a href="#Page_494">494</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_495">495</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Austria, Elizabeth of, at Nancy, <a href="#Page_490">490</a><br /> +<br /> +Austria, Philip, Archduke of, his death, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">funeral, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Avenati, P., "Entrata Solemne di Cristina di Spagna," <a href="#Page_92">92</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +Avignano, Count, <a href="#Page_396">396</a><br /> +<br /> +Avignon, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br /> +<br /> +Axe, Torben, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br /> +<br /> +Ayamonte, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_497">497</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Badoer, Venetian Ambassador, <a href="#Page_396">396</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a><br /> +<br /> +Bar, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_476">476</a><br /> +<br /> +Bar, Duke and Duchess of, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Lorraine</span><br /> +<br /> +Barack, K., "Zimmerische Chronik," <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +Barbarossa, his flight, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +<br /> +Barcelona, contract signed at, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br /> +<br /> +Bari, duchy of, <a href="#Page_453">453</a><br /> +<br /> +Barlow, John, Dean of Westbury, <a href="#Page_205">205</a><br /> +<br /> +Barres, Guillaume des, <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br /> +<br /> +Bassompierre, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Denœuvre, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Baumgarten, H., "Geschichte Karl V.," <a href="#Page_23">23</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +Bavaria, Maximilian, Duke of, his marriage, <a href="#Page_512">512</a><br /> +<br /> +Bavaria, William, Duke of, his marriage with Renée of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_488">488</a><br /> +<br /> +Bavon's Abbey, St., demolition of, <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br /> +<br /> +Bayonne, <a href="#Page_220">220</a><br /> +<br /> +Beard, Mr., <a href="#Page_205">205</a><br /> +<br /> +Beaumont, Castle of, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a><br /> +<br /> +Beaumont, Dame Anne de, <a href="#Page_6">6</a><br /> +<br /> +Bellay, M. du, "Mémoires," <a href="#Page_250">250</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +Belloni, Niccolò, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his letters to Gadio, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>-350;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sent to Brussels, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his disappearance, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Beltrami, L., "Il Castello di Milano," <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +Bergh, L. van, "Correspondance de M. d'Autriche," <a href="#Page_21">21</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +Berghen, Madame de, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a><br /> +<br /> +Berghen, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a><br /> +<br /> +Berlin, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><br /> +<br /> +Bianca, Empress, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a><br /> +<br /> +Binche, destruction of the Palace of, <a href="#Page_390">390</a><br /> +<br /> +Bisignano, Prince of, <a href="#Page_66">66</a><br /> +<br /> +Blamont, <a href="#Page_370">370</a><br /> +<br /> +Blois, <a href="#Page_462">462</a><br /> +<br /> +Bohemia, Anna of, her death, <a href="#Page_320">320</a><br /> +<br /> +Bohemia, King and Queen of, at Brussels, <a href="#Page_405">405</a><br /> +<br /> +Bois-le-Duc, <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br /> +<br /> +Boleyn, Anne, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br /> +<br /> +Bologna, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br /> +<br /> +Bonner, Bishop, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a><br /> +<br /> +Bonvalot, François, Abbot of Luxeuil, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his letter on the Regency of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">present at the funeral of Antoine, Duke of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bomy, truce at, <a href="#Page_137">137</a><br /> +<br /> +Borromeo, Carlo, Archbishop of Milan, <a href="#Page_500">500</a><br /> +<br /> +Bottigella, Councillor Pier Francesco, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his instructions on the reception of Christina, Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_543" id="Page_543">[Pg 543]</a></span>Bouillé, R. de, "Histoire des Ducs de Guise," <a href="#Page_222">222</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +Bouillon, Godfrey of, <a href="#Page_256">256</a><br /> +<br /> +Boullay, Édmond du, <a href="#Page_253">253</a><br /> +<br /> +Boulogne, siege of, <a href="#Page_292">292</a><br /> +<br /> +Bourbon, Antoinette de, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Guise</span><br /> +<br /> +Bourbon, Renée de, her marriage, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a><br /> +<br /> +Boussu, Grand Equerry, in London, <a href="#Page_391">391</a><br /> +<br /> +Bradford, W., "Itinerary of Charles V.," <a href="#Page_244">244</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +Bragadin, Lorenzo, Venetian Envoy, <a href="#Page_113">113</a><br /> +<br /> +Brandenburg, Albert, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his career, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">admiration for Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines to take part in the tournament at Brussels, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his departure, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secret intrigues with France, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his plundering, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers a refuge to Christina, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">captures Aumale, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with Charles V., <a href="#Page_379">379</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his courtship of Christina, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">routed at the Battle of Sievershausen, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_385">385</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Brandenburg, Elizabeth of, embraces the Lutheran faith, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her flight with her brother, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Brandenburg, Joachim, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the marriage of King Christian II., <a href="#Page_13">13</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Brantôme, P. de, his sketch of Christina of Denmark, <a href="#Page_vii">vii</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Œuvres Complètes," <a href="#Page_529">529</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Breda, Castle of, <a href="#Page_174">174</a><br /> +<br /> +Brederode, Count, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a><br /> +<br /> +Brégilles, M. de, <a href="#Page_55">55</a><br /> +<br /> +Brenner Pass, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a><br /> +<br /> +Brian, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_281">281</a><br /> +<br /> +Brittany, Anne of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>; her death, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> +<br /> +Brousse, Jean de la, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a><br /> +<br /> +Browne, Sir Anthony, <a href="#Page_182">182</a><br /> +<br /> +Bruges, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a><br /> +<br /> +Brunswick, Dorothea, Duchess of, at the Court of Spain, <a href="#Page_502">502</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Göttingen, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of her husband, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins her mother at Tortona, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her second marriage, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_511">511</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Brunswick, Eric, Duke of, <a href="#Page_480">480</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his marriage with Dorothea of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">summoned to Spain, <a href="#Page_502">502</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Göttingen, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#Page_503">503</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Brunswick, Henry, Duke of, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><br /> +<br /> +Brusquet, the jester, <a href="#Page_404">404</a><br /> +<br /> +Brussels, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festivities at, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tournament at, <a href="#Page_405">405</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bucholtz, F. von, "Geschichte d. Kaiser Ferdinand I.," <a href="#Page_264">264</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +"Bulletins de la Commission Royale d'Histoire," <a href="#Page_2">2</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +Büren, Anna, Countess, her death, <a href="#Page_425">425</a><br /> +<br /> +Büren, Count, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">entertained by Wriothesley, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Burgon, J. W., "Life of Sir Thomas Gresham," <a href="#Page_396">396</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +Burgos, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a><br /> +<br /> +Burgundy, Adolf of, Admiral of the Dutch fleet, <a href="#Page_36">36</a><br /> +<br /> +Burgundy, Mary of, <a href="#Page_9">9</a><br /> +<br /> +Burigozzo, G. M., "Cronaca Milanese," <a href="#Page_82">82</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +Busch, Count Jacob von, <a href="#Page_351">351</a><br /> +<br /> +Busseto, Bartolommeo, <a href="#Page_498">498</a><br /> +<br /> +Butler, A. J., "Cambridge Modern History," <a href="#Page_508">508</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Calabria, <a href="#Page_112">112</a><br /> +<br /> +Calais, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">capture of, by the French, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">question of the restoration to England, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>, <a href="#Page_438">438</a>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Calmet, A., "Histoire de Lorraine," <a href="#Page_246">246</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +Cambray, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Peace of, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cambray, Archbishop of, performs the nuptial rites of King Christian II., <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br /> +<br /> +Cambre, La, Convent of, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_468">468</a><br /> +<br /> +Campeggio, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_57">57</a><br /> +<br /> +Campo, A., "Storia di Cremona," <a href="#Page_75">75</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a><br /> +<br /> +Caracciolo, Cardinal, Papal Nuncio, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed Viceroy of Milan, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters from Christina, Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>, <a href="#Page_517">517</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cardon, M. Leon, <a href="#Page_vii">vii</a><br /> +<br /> +Carvajal, Cardinal, at Malines, <a href="#Page_6">6</a><br /> +<br /> +Carne, Dr. Edward, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a><br /> +<br /> +Carondelet, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br /> +<br /> +Carondelet, Ferry de, <a href="#Page_377">377</a><br /> +<br /> +Cartagena, <a href="#Page_267">267</a><br /> +<br /> +Castellani, Madame, <a href="#Page_500">500</a><br /> +<br /> +Castillon, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_544" id="Page_544">[Pg 544]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalled to France, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Câteau-Cambrésis, Conference for peace at, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>-447;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Commissioners, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treaty ratified, <a href="#Page_vi">vi</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Catherine, Queen of France, her state entry into Paris, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">flight from Reims, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cenis, Mont, ascent of, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +<br /> +Cercamp, Conference for peace at, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>-430;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Commissioners, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">second session, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adjourned, <a href="#Page_432">432</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Chaloner, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>, <a href="#Page_458">458</a><br /> +<br /> +Châlons, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">camp at, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Châlons, Philibert of, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br /> +<br /> +Chamberlain, A. B., <a href="#Page_168">168</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +Chambéry, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br /> +<br /> +Champagne, attack on, <a href="#Page_373">373</a><br /> +<br /> +Champier, Antoine, <a href="#Page_296">296</a><br /> +<br /> +Chantilly, <a href="#Page_181">181</a><br /> +<br /> +Chapuys, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">entertained by Thomas Cromwell, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Henry VIII.'s negotiations of marriage, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Calais, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the illness of Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_315">315</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Charlemont, citadel of, <a href="#Page_398">398</a><br /> +<br /> +Charles V., Emperor, <a href="#Page_vi">vi</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclaimed Archduke of Austria and Prince of Castille, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Malines, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack of smallpox, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his education, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confirmation, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taste for sport, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the wedding of his sister Isabella, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack of fever, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festivities on his coming of age, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assumes the title of King of Spain, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his first Chapter of the Golden Fleece, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected King of the Romans, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">coronation, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with King Christian II. of Denmark, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his marriage, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of his sister Isabella, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives the imperial crown, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of his aunt, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with Prince John, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appoints his sister Mary Regent of the Netherlands, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his progress to Brussels, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festivities, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Regensburg, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his illness, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter on the death of his nephew, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Milan, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arranges the marriage of his niece Christina, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>-78;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sails for Africa, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his victory at Tunis, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">march to Asti, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with Christina, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">invasion of Provence, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">siege of Aix, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">signs a truce, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">places a Spanish garrison to defend Milan, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his reconciliation with the King of France, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treaty with him, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">views on Henry VIII.'s proposed marriage, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crusade against the Turks, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of his wife, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception in France, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>-223;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with King Francis, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Paris, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Valenciennes, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">paper of instructions, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enters Ghent, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his sentence of condemnation, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the death of Cromwell, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arranges the second marriage of Christina, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his expedition to Algiers, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">campaign against King Francis, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secret treaty with King Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">success at Düren, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lays siege to Landrécy, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines proposals of peace, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his treaty with Christian III., <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visit to the convent, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at St. Dizier, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his wish for peace, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">signs a treaty, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Brussels, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">campaign against the League of Schmalkalde, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">victory of Mühlberg, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his portrait, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Augsburg, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">difficulties in obtaining the recognition of his son Philip as his successor, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>-347;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intrigues against, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes refuge at Innsbruck, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Villach, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enters Strasburg, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with Albert, Marquis of Brandenburg, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">raises the siege of Metz, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the union of Queen Mary with his son, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his intention to abdicate, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abdication, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>-402;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns the kingdoms of Spain and Sicily, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">departure for Ghent, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">embarks at Flushing, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his retreat at St. Yuste, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">funeral, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>-435;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters from Christina, <a href="#Page_525">525</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Charles VI., Emperor, <a href="#Page_513">513</a><br /> +<br /> +Charles VIII. of France, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br /> +<br /> +Charles IX. of France, proclaimed King, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_545" id="Page_545">[Pg 545]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his coronation, <a href="#Page_467">467</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Charles the Bold of Burgundy, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated at Nancy, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removal of his bones to Bruges, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Châtelhérault, <a href="#Page_250">250</a><br /> +<br /> +Cheyney, Sir Thomas, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_308">308</a><br /> +<br /> +Chimay, Charles, Prince of, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his affection for Louise de Guise, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Chimay, Louise, Princess of, her letter on her happy marriage, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Christian II., King of Denmark, his proposals of marriage, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">coronation, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage by proxy, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of Queen Isabella, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wedding, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characteristics, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Dyveke, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treatment of his wife, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">misconduct, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected Knight of the Golden Fleece, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">crowned in the Cathedral of Upsala, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sympathy with the Lutheran faith, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his title of Nero of the North, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reforms, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">journey through Germany, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portraits, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with Charles V., <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Ghent, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interview with Cardinal Wolsey, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appeals for help, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deposed, <a href="#Page_vi">vi</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his flight, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Malines, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrival in England, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">infatuation for Sigebritt, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">raises a force in Germany, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intimacy with Luther, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Lierre, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extravagance, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of his wife, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intention to invade Denmark, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plunderings and ravages, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">picture of his children, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his public recantation, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Malines, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">invasion of Holland, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sails to Norway, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his reception, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disbands his forces, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">imprisonment, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed to Kallundborg Castle, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#Page_449">449</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Christian III., King of Denmark, his succession disputed, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secret treaty with France, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his treaty with Charles V., <a href="#Page_283">283</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Christina of Denmark, her birth, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">life at Malines, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-53;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portraits, <a href="#Page_v">v</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_509">509</a>, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">present at the festivities at Brussels, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposal of marriage from the Duke of Milan, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">love of riding, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character, <a href="#Page_vi">vi</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance, <a href="#Page_v">v</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_466">466</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wedding, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters to her husband, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dowry, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her journey to Milan, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>-90;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Cussago, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first sight of her husband, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state entry into Milan, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>-93;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popularity, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>, <a href="#Page_450">450</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lessons in Italian, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of her husband, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers of marriage, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>-115, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with her uncle Charles V., <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">petitions to Cardinal Caracciolo, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception at Pavia, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack of fever, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">departure from Pavia, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">journey to Brussels, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>-135;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with her sister Dorothea, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Heidelberg, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her life at Brussels, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Castle of Breda, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Brussels, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her interview with Wriothesley, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>-194;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiations of marriage with Henry VIII. broken off, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her suitors, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of her sister Dorothea, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">affection for Prince René of Orange, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Valenciennes, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her betrothal to Francis, Duke of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">journey to Pont-à-Mousson, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception at Nancy, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the love of her husband, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Fontainebleau, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her letters to Granvelle on the cession of Stenay, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception at Joinville, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her reason for rejecting Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Esclaron, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">birth of a son, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Spires, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her efforts for peace, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">birth of a daughter, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Nancy, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of her husband, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed Regent of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">birth of a second daughter, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her friendship with the Princess of Orange, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to Abbot Bonvalot, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of Francis I., <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_546" id="Page_546">[Pg 546]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">refusal to</span><br /> +marry, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Augsburg, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>-339;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">measures for the defence of Nancy, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">departure from Brussels, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the funeral of the Duke of Guise, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her retinue, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">entertainment of Frederic and Dorothea, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fear of the invasion of Lorraine by the French, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Joinville, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her interview with Henry II., <a href="#Page_361">361</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of him at Nancy, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deprived of the Regency, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appeal to Henry II., <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">distress at parting with her son, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appeal to Queen Mary, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires to Blamont, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her illness, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_476">476</a>, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>, <a href="#Page_509">509</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Denœuvre, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ordered to leave, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes refuge in Alsace, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Hoh-Königsberg, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits to England, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>-416;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">present at the abdication of Charles V., <a href="#Page_401">401</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Ghent, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with her son, <a href="#Page_421">421</a>-423, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>, <a href="#Page_440">440</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">affection for William, Prince of Orange, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presides at the Conference of Cercamp, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>-432;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refusal to attend the wedding of her son, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presides at the Conference of Câteau-Cambrésis, <a href="#Page_437">437</a>-447;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of her father, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her sorrow at not being appointed Regent of the Netherlands, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">request for the duchy of Bari, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses the Castle of Lecce, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with the Duchess of Parma, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Lorraine, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with King Francis II. and Queen Mary of Scots, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">acts as Regent of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of Mary, Queen of Scots, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Reims, <a href="#Page_466">466</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Frankfurt, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">agreement with the Bishop of Toul, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebuilds the salt-works of Les Rosières, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">birth of a grandson, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interview with Cardinal Granvelle, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her wish to recover Denmark, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the christening of her grandson, <a href="#Page_476">476</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pilgrimage to Brussels, <a href="#Page_481">481</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her medal and motto, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of her daughter, Renée, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her grandchildren, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of her daughter Dorothea, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter of welcome to Don John of Austria, <a href="#Page_492">492</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pilgrimage to Loreto, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state entry into Tortona, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of her rule, <a href="#Page_498">498</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her illustrious guests, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">works of mercy, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with Philip of Spain, <a href="#Page_501">501</a>, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joined by her daughter Dorothea, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_509">509</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">funeral at Nancy, <a href="#Page_510">510</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inscription on her tomb, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charm, <a href="#Page_515">515</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters to Cardinal Caracciolo, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>, <a href="#Page_517">517</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to Mary, Queen of Hungary, <a href="#Page_523">523</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to Charles V., <a href="#Page_525">525</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to Mary, Queen of England, <a href="#Page_526">526</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Churchill, A., "Travels," <a href="#Page_47">47</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +Claude, Princess, of France, her christening, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed marriage with Charles, Duke of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wedding, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Lorraine</span><br /> +<br /> +Clement VII., Pope, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +<br /> +Clès, Cardinal-Bishop Bernhard von, at Verona, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +Cleves, State of, <a href="#Page_135">135</a><br /> +<br /> +Cleves, Anne of, her appearance, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_217">217</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cleves, William, Duke of, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chosen to succeed to the dukedom of Guelders, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his courtship of the Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes possession of Guelders, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Ghent, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his claim on the succession of Guelders, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his treaty with France, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his marriage with Princess Jeanne of Navarre, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>-251;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">surrender to Charles V., <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his marriage annulled, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Clouet, his portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots, <a href="#Page_465">465</a><br /> +<br /> +Clough, Richard, present at the funeral of Charles V., <a href="#Page_435">435</a><br /> +<br /> +Coblenz, <a href="#Page_351">351</a><br /> +<br /> +Codogno, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br /> +<br /> +Cognac, <a href="#Page_279">279</a><br /> +<br /> +Coligny, Admiral, at Brussels, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taken prisoner at St. Quentin, <a href="#Page_417">417</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cologne, <a href="#Page_135">135</a><br /> +<br /> +Colonna, Fabrizio, <a href="#Page_380">380</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_547" id="Page_547">[Pg 547]</a></span>Compiègne, <a href="#Page_177">177</a><br /> +<br /> +Condé, leader of the Huguenots, <a href="#Page_471">471</a><br /> +<br /> +Constantyne, George, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">imprisonment, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Contarini, Francesco, Venetian Ambassador, <a href="#Page_233">233</a><br /> +<br /> +Contarini, Gaspare, his impressions of King Christian II., <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +Conway, Sir Martin, "Literary Remains of Albert Dürer," <a href="#Page_27">27</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +Copenhagen, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">siege of, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">capitulation, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Corbetta, Gualtiero di, his oration at the funeral of the Duke of Milan, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br /> +<br /> +Corte, Benedetto da, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his account of the journey to Mantua, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his views on the proposed marriage of Henry VIII. with Christina, Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cortile, L., "Ragionamenti," <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +Coryat, T., "Crudities," <a href="#Page_86">86</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +Coste, Hilarion de, "Les Éloges," <a href="#Page_498">498</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +Cournault, C., "Ligier-Richier," <a href="#Page_289">289</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +Courrières, Jean de Montmorency, Sieur de, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in charge of Christina, Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his career, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter on the proposed Cleves marriage, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed Bailiff of Alost, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his letters to Charles V., <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-128</span><br /> +<br /> +Courteville, Jean de, <a href="#Page_413">413</a><br /> +<br /> +Cranach, Lucas, his portrait of King Christian II. of Denmark, <a href="#Page_41">41</a><br /> +<br /> +Cranmer, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_162">162</a><br /> +<br /> +Cremona, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br /> +<br /> +Crépy-en-Laonnois, peace signed at, <a href="#Page_292">292</a><br /> +<br /> +Cromwell, Thomas, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his portrait, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">entertains Gian Battista Ferrari, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">entertains the Ambassadors, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Henry VIII.'s negotiations of marriage, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">entertains Frederic, Count Palatine, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrested and sent to the Tower, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beheaded, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Croy, Anne de, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br /> +<br /> +Croy, Charles de, Marquis of Havré, <a href="#Page_492">492</a><br /> +<br /> +Cussago, villa of, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br /> +<br /> +Cust, L., <a href="#Page_159">159</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Dahlmann, F., "Geschichte von Dänemark," <a href="#Page_27">27</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +Dalecarlia, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +<br /> +Darnley, Henry, Lord, his marriage with Mary, Queen of Scots, <a href="#Page_485">485</a><br /> +<br /> +Decrue, F., "Anne de Montmorency," <a href="#Page_181">181</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +Denis, St., Battle of, <a href="#Page_487">487</a><br /> +<br /> +Denmark, outbreak of war with Sweden, <a href="#Page_475">475</a><br /> +<br /> +Denmark, Queen Christina of, <a href="#Page_v">v</a>. See Christina<br /> +<br /> +Denœuvre, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>; Treaty of, <a href="#Page_302">302</a><br /> +<br /> +Devonshire, Edward Courtenay, Lord, <a href="#Page_402">402</a><br /> +<br /> +Diego, Don, his return to Flanders, <a href="#Page_174">174</a><br /> +<br /> +Diest, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_487">487</a><br /> +<br /> +Dizier, St., camp at, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">surrender of, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dodgson, Campbell, <a href="#Page_viii">viii</a><br /> +<br /> +Dordrecht, <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br /> +<br /> +Dormer, Jane, <a href="#Page_425">425</a><br /> +<br /> +Dorothea, Princess, of Denmark, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her portrait, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers of marriage, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her appearance, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with Frederic, Count Palatine, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her love of adventure, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with her sister Christina at Heidelberg, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Toledo, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visit to her aunt Eleanor, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Hague, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her appeal on behalf of her father, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the funeral of the Duke of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her visit to Nancy, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>-353;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of her husband, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Jülich, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Neuburg, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inscription on her monument, <a href="#Page_469">469</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Doulans, M. de, <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br /> +<br /> +Dover, <a href="#Page_413">413</a><br /> +<br /> +Dreux, Battle of, <a href="#Page_471">471</a><br /> +<br /> +Drondtheim, Archbishop of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a><br /> +<br /> +Drouin, Simon, <a href="#Page_511">511</a><br /> +<br /> +Düren, surrender of, <a href="#Page_280">280</a><br /> +<br /> +Dürer, Albert, extract from his Journal, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his portraits of King Christian II. of Denmark, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Edward VI., King, his birth, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_548" id="Page_548">[Pg 548]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#Page_386">386</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Effingham, Lord Howard of, at the Conference of Câteau-Cambrésis, <a href="#Page_437">437</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the marriage of Queen Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_440">440</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Egmont, Anne of, <a href="#Page_400">400</a><br /> +<br /> +Egmont, Count Lamoral d', his wedding, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">christening of his daughter, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his victory at Gravelines, <a href="#Page_424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Frankfurt, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">result of his mission to Philip of Spain, <a href="#Page_481">481</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrested, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">execution, <a href="#Page_487">487</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Egmont, Floris d', at Brussels, <a href="#Page_201">201</a><br /> +<br /> +Egmont, Margaret of, her marriage, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Vaudemont</span><br /> +<br /> +Egmont, Mary Christina, her christening, <a href="#Page_393">393</a><br /> +<br /> +Egmont, Philippa of, <a href="#Page_257">257</a><br /> +<br /> +Elbe, the, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br /> +<br /> +Elbœuf, Marquis of, at Mon Soulas, <a href="#Page_440">440</a><br /> +<br /> +Eleanor, Archduchess, of Austria, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack of smallpox, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">education, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers of marriage, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her affection for Frederic, Count Palatine, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Queen of Portugal, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of France, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Compiègne, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with her sister Mary, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her appearance, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of her brother Charles V., <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Brussels, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her death, <a href="#Page_430">430</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Elizabeth, Princess, of France, her christening, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposals of marriage, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>, <a href="#Page_446">446</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with Philip of Spain, <a href="#Page_456">456</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Elizabeth, Queen of England, her accession, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">invitation to Christina, <a href="#Page_457">457</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ely, Bishop of, at the Conference of Cercamp, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Câteau-Cambrésis, <a href="#Page_436">436</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Emanuel, King of Portugal, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of his second wife, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">third marriage, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></span><br /> +<br /> +England, war declared with France, <a href="#Page_417">417</a><br /> +<br /> +Épernay, <a href="#Page_291">291</a><br /> +<br /> +Erasmus of Rotterdam, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br /> +<br /> +Eric, King of Sweden, his negotiations with Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposal of marriage with Renée of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his unstable character, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deposed, <a href="#Page_483">483</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Esclaron, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_476">476</a><br /> +<br /> +Esslingen, <a href="#Page_339">339</a><br /> +<br /> +Este, Anna d', her marriage with Count Aumale, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Este, Duchess Beatrice d', <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her death, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">country-house of Cussago, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Este, Francesco d', <a href="#Page_289">289</a><br /> +<br /> +Étampes, Madame d', <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a><br /> +<br /> +Exeter, Lord, imprisoned in the Tower, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his execution, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Farnese, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br /> +<br /> +Farnese, Cecilia, <a href="#Page_115">115</a><br /> +<br /> +Farnese, Ottavio, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a><br /> +<br /> +Farnese, Vittoria, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her marriage, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Faye, Hugues de la, his decoration of the Palace of Nancy, <a href="#Page_272">272</a><br /> +<br /> +Ferdinand, King, his marriage, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Nuremberg, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his treatment of his sister Isabella, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">King of the Romans, at Ghent, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">departure from, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Augsburg, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of his wife, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">love of music, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his portrait, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refusal to accept Philip of Spain as coadjutor, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>-345;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his character, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_478">478</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Fère, La, <a href="#Page_183">183</a><br /> +<br /> +Feria, Count, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a><br /> +<br /> +Ferrara, Alfonso d' Este, Duke of, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the wedding of the Duke of Milan, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">will, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ferrari, Gian Battista, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his impressions of England, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_171">171</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Fiennes, Madame de, <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br /> +<br /> +Florence, <a href="#Page_508">508</a><br /> +<br /> +Florence, Alexander, Duke of, <a href="#Page_115">115</a><br /> +<br /> +Flushing, <a href="#Page_406">406</a><br /> +<br /> +Foix, Germaine de, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br /> +<br /> +Fontaine, M. de, <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br /> +<br /> +Fontainebleau, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a><br /> +<br /> +Förstemann, C., "Neues Urkundenbuch," <a href="#Page_41">41</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +France, war declared with England, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">outbreak of civil war, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>, <a href="#Page_487">487</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Francis I., King of France, on Henry VIII.'s proposed marriage, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">his reconciliation with Charles V., <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">meeting with Queen Mary of Hungary, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">treaty with Charles V., <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_549" id="Page_549">[Pg 549]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">reception of Frederic,</span><br /> +Count Palatine, and Dorothea, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of Charles V., <a href="#Page_221">221</a>-223;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the death of Cromwell, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treatment of the Duke of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">demands the cession of Stenay, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his secret treaty with Christian III., <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Esclaron, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">campaign against Charles V., <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disbands his forces, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">terms of peace, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of his son, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Joinville, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Bar, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Francis II., King of France, his protest against the treaty, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with Mary, Queen of Scots, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accession, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">coronation, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Lorraine, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Blois, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_464">464</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Frankfurt, <a href="#Page_470">470</a><br /> +<br /> +Frederic II., Elector Palatine, his affection for Eleanor of Austria, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">banished from Court, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his negotiations of marriage, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>-104;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Toledo, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his visit to the King of France, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Hague, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visit to England, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>-217;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception at Windsor, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Brussels, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his designs against Denmark, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts to raise a loan, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his claim to Denmark, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeds to the Palatinate, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins the League of Schmalkalde, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his loyalty to Charles V., <a href="#Page_317">317</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">love of travel, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">journey to Nancy, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>-353;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his influence in Germany, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">welcome to Christina, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">burial, <a href="#Page_403">403</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Frederic, King of Denmark, recognition of his title, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Frederic III., King of Denmark, his unpopularity, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiations of marriage with Renée of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_475">475</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Frederic of Zimmern, Elector Palatine, <a href="#Page_469">469</a><br /> +<br /> +French, the, threaten to invade Milan, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br /> +<br /> +Friedberg, Castle of, <a href="#Page_488">488</a><br /> +<br /> +Friedewald, treaty at, <a href="#Page_354">354</a><br /> +<br /> +Friedmann, P., "Les Dépêches de Michieli," <a href="#Page_398">398</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +Frizzi, A., "Mémorie per la Storia di Ferrara," <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Gachard, L., "Relation des Troubles de Gand," <a href="#Page_220">220</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Retraite et Mort de Charles V.," <a href="#Page_62">62</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Voyages de Charles V.," <a href="#Page_283">283</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Voyages des Souverains des Pays-Bas," <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gadio, Innocenzo, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter from Contessa Trivulzio, <a href="#Page_526">526</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gaillard, M., Director of the Brussels Archives, <a href="#Page_vii">vii</a><br /> +<br /> +Gallerati, Count Tommaso, <a href="#Page_75">75</a><br /> +<br /> +Gambara, Cesare, Bishop of Tortona, <a href="#Page_500">500</a><br /> +<br /> +Gardner, E., "A King of Court Poets," <a href="#Page_95">95</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +Garonne, the, <a href="#Page_250">250</a><br /> +<br /> +Gaye, G., "Carteggio Inedito di Artisti dei Secoli XV.," <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +Gemappes, Castle of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a><br /> +<br /> +Gembloux, victory of, <a href="#Page_494">494</a><br /> +<br /> +Genoa, <a href="#Page_119">119</a><br /> +<br /> +Ghent, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolt at, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">royal procession into, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sentence of condemnation, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">riots at, <a href="#Page_485">485</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gheynst, Margaret van, <a href="#Page_410">410</a><br /> +<br /> +Ghilino, Camillo, Ambassador to Milan, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Annali di Alessandria," <a href="#Page_107">107</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_498">498</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his illness and death, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Giœ, Court-Marshal Magnus, Danish Ambassador, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">representative of King Christian II. at his marriage, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Giussani, Signor Achille, <a href="#Page_vii">vii</a><br /> +<br /> +Glay, E. Le, "Correspondance l'Empereur Maximilian I. et de Marguerite d'Autriche," <a href="#Page_5">5</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Gomez, Ruy, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in London, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Conference of Cercamp, <a href="#Page_428">428</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gonzaga, Chiara, <a href="#Page_258">258</a><br /> +<br /> +Gonzaga, Cardinal Ercole, <a href="#Page_91">91</a><br /> +<br /> +Gonzaga, Ferrante, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recovers Luxembourg, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at St. Dizier, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in London, <a href="#Page_391">391</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gorzes, Abbey of, <a href="#Page_356">356</a><br /> +<br /> +Göttingen, <a href="#Page_503">503</a><br /> +<br /> +Goulart. S., "Mémoires de la Ligue," <a href="#Page_506">506</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +Granado, Sir Jacques de, <a href="#Page_416">416</a><br /> +<br /> +Granvelle, Imperial Chancellor, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_550" id="Page_550">[Pg 550]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters from Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, on the cession of Stenay, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his portrait, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Granvelle, Antoine Perrenot,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">created Cardinal, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compelled to retire, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his reception at Nancy, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the efforts of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, to recover Denmark, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Papiers d'État," <a href="#Page_114">114</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gravelines, victory at, <a href="#Page_424">424</a><br /> +<br /> +Gravelines, Captain of, <a href="#Page_198">198</a><br /> +<br /> +Gravesend, <a href="#Page_413">413</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Great Mary</i>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br /> +<br /> +Greenwich, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_412">412</a><br /> +<br /> +Gregory XIII., Pope, <a href="#Page_499">499</a><br /> +<br /> +Gresham, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">present at the abdication of Charles V., <a href="#Page_401">401</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Grey, Lady Katherine, <a href="#Page_158">158</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +Groenendal, Abbey of, <a href="#Page_287">287</a><br /> +<br /> +Grümbach, Willem von, <a href="#Page_475">475</a><br /> +<br /> +Guasco, Maddalena, <a href="#Page_509">509</a><br /> +<br /> +Guazzo, Giorgio, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Historie d'Italia," <a href="#Page_92">92</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Guelders, Charles of Egmont, Duke of;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his proposal of marriage, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with the Regent of the Netherlands, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his illness, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">choice of a successor, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Guelders, Philippa of. See Philippa, Duchess of Lorraine<br /> +<br /> +Guicciardini, L., "Paesi-Bassi," <a href="#Page_141">141</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +Guise, Anna d' Este, Duchess of, birth of a son, <a href="#Page_334">334</a><br /> +<br /> +Guise, Antoinette de Bourbon, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her letters to her daughter, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_518">518</a>, <a href="#Page_519">519</a>, <a href="#Page_520">520</a>, <a href="#Page_522">522</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the marriage of the Prince of Orange, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her daughter Louise's marriage, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">account of the festivities at Guise, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Pont-à-Mousson, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her sons and daughters, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Joinville, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of her husband, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of her grandson, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the wedding of Henry III. of France, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her death, <a href="#Page_505">505</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Guise, Antoinette de, goes to the convent at Reims, <a href="#Page_270">270</a><br /> +<br /> +Guise, Claude, Duke of, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Pont-à-Mousson, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Joinville, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the funeral of the Duke of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his illness, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">funeral, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">monument, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Guise, Francis, Duke of,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">christening of his daughter, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his capture of Calais, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the coronation of Charles IX., <a href="#Page_467">467</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">murdered, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>, <a href="#Page_508">508</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Guise, Louise de,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her appearance, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack of fever, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposal of marriage, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wedding, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Chimay</span><br /> +<br /> +Guise, Mary, Queen of Scotland. See Mary<br /> +<br /> +Guise, Renée de, her appearance, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Convent of Reims, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Abbess of the Convent of St. Pierre, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Guzman, Don Gabriel de, <a href="#Page_291">291</a><br /> +<br /> +Gyldenstern, Knut, <a href="#Page_64">64</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Hackett, John, Ambassador at Brussels, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br /> +<br /> +Hagberg-Wright, Dr., <a href="#Page_viii">viii</a><br /> +<br /> +Haile, M., "Life of Reginald Pole," <a href="#Page_389">389</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +Hainault, invasion of the French, <a href="#Page_389">389</a><br /> +<br /> +Hall, Hubert, <a href="#Page_vii">vii</a><br /> +<br /> +Hallays, A., "Nancy," <a href="#Page_258">258</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +Halle, <a href="#Page_317">317</a><br /> +<br /> +Hamburg, Congress at, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br /> +<br /> +Hampton Court, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_391">391</a><br /> +<br /> +Hannart, his opinion of the King and Queen of Denmark, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><br /> +<br /> +Hans, King of Denmark, <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br /> +<br /> +Haüsser, L., "Geschichte der Rheinischen Pfalz," <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Haussonville, Baron d', Governor of Nancy, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a><br /> +<br /> +Hawkins, on the marriage of the Duke of Milan, <a href="#Page_75">75</a><br /> +<br /> +Heidelberg, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">castle at, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Heinrich, Otto, Elector Palatine, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#Page_469">469</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Held, Dr. Matthias, <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br /> +<br /> +Helsingfors, <a href="#Page_15">15</a><br /> +<br /> +Henne, A., "Histoire du Règne de Charles V.," <a href="#Page_11">11</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Henri le Balafré, his birth, <a href="#Page_334">334</a><br /> +<br /> +Henry II., King of France, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his state entry into Paris, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declares war, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his advance on Reims, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_551" id="Page_551">[Pg 551]</a></span></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Joinville, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enters Nancy, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arbitrary conditions, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deprives Christina of her son, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>-370;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Strasburg, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retreat, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">orders Christina to leave Lorraine, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">invasion of Hainault, <a href="#Page_389">389</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">destruction of the Palace of Binche, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his threat to occupy Nancy, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wish for peace, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wounded, <a href="#Page_456">456</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_457">457</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Henry III., King of France, his marriage with Louise of Vaudemont, <a href="#Page_490">490</a><br /> +<br /> +Henry VII., King of England, <a href="#Page_4">4</a><br /> +<br /> +Henry VIII., King of England, his reception of King Christian II. of Denmark, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his wives, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposals of marriage, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiations of marriage with Christina, Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>-164, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wish to see the French Princesses, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">excommunicated by Pope Paul III., <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiations of marriage broken off, <a href="#Page_v">v</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his reception of Frederic, Count Palatine, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with Anne of Cleves, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his opinion of her, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">annuls his marriage, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vexation at the marriage of Christina, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">trial and execution of his fifth wife, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his secret treaty with Charles V., <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">invasion of Picardy, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes possession of Boulogne, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack of fever, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Herbesteiner, Sigismund, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br /> +<br /> +Hesdin, fort of, razed, <a href="#Page_385">385</a><br /> +<br /> +Hesse, Christina of, her marriage, <a href="#Page_479">479</a><br /> +<br /> +Hesse, Landgrave Philip of, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taken prisoner, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the journey of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, to Brussels, <a href="#Page_481">481</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Heverlé, <a href="#Page_252">252</a><br /> +<br /> +Hill, G. F., <a href="#Page_viii">viii</a><br /> +<br /> +Hoby, Sir Philip, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his interview with Christina, Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a> <i>note</i>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his mission to Joinville, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a> <i>note</i>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ambassador, <a href="#Page_385">385</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hoby, Thomas, at Augsburg, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Memoirs," <a href="#Page_323">323</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his translation of "Cortegiano," <a href="#Page_385">385</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hoh-Königsberg, fortress of, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a><br /> +<br /> +Holbein, Hans, his portrait of Christina, Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_v">v</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">other portraits, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Holland, invasion of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> +<br /> +Holstein, Adolf, Duke of, at Brussels, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breaks off his engagement with Fräulein Kunigunde, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">courtship of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes leave of Charles V., <a href="#Page_402">402</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his marriage with Christina of Hesse, <a href="#Page_479">479</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Holstein, Frederic, Duke of, his hostile attitude to King Christian II. of Denmark, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected King of Denmark, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hoogstraaten, Commissioner, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Horn, Count, arrested, <a href="#Page_486">486</a><br /> +<br /> +Howard, Lord William, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalled and sent to the Tower, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">created a peer, <a href="#Page_437">437</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Effingham</span><br /> +<br /> +Howard, Queen Catherine, her trial and execution, <a href="#Page_273">273</a><br /> +<br /> +Hubert, his Chronicle of Charles V., <a href="#Page_103">103</a><br /> +<br /> +Hugo, L., "Traité sur l'Origine de la Maison de Lorraine," <a href="#Page_238">238</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Huguenot conspiracy, discovery of a, <a href="#Page_463">463</a><br /> +<br /> +Hungary, Ladislaus, King of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> +<br /> +Hungary, Mary, Queen of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Mary</span><br /> +<br /> +Hutton, John, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his opinion of Christina, Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his method of ingratiating himself with Mary, Queen of Hungary, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness and death, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hvidore, <a href="#Page_15">15</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Innsbruck, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a><br /> +<br /> +Isabella, Empress, birth of a son, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Isabella of Aragon, <a href="#Page_94">94</a><br /> +<br /> +Isabella of Austria, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her birth, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack of smallpox, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">education, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers of marriage, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dowry, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage ceremony, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">journey to Copenhagen, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to her aunt, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state entry, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_552" id="Page_552">[Pg 552]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">her wedding +with King Christian II. of Denmark, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">coronation, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her miserable life, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">birth of a son, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">birth and death of twin sons, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">birth of her daughters, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">flight from Denmark, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Malines, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrival in England, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">noble qualities, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loyalty to her husband, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">embraces the Lutheran faith, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Lierre, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her straits for money, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_vi">vi</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">burial, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">monument, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">destruction of her tomb, <a href="#Page_485">485</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Isabella of Portugal, her marriage, <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br /> +<br /> +Isère, gorge of the, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +James V., King of Scotland, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his fickle character, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriages, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Jean de Maurienne, S., <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +<br /> +John, Prince, of Denmark, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under the care of the Regent, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his education, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">life at Malines, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-53;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with his uncle, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">journey to Brussels, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Regensburg, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness and death, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Joinville, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">destruction of, averted, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Joinville, Henri, Prince of, <a href="#Page_421">421</a><br /> +<br /> +Juana, Queen, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of her husband, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her children, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_398">398</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Jülich, <a href="#Page_416">416</a><br /> +<br /> +Julius II., Pope, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br /> +<br /> +Juste, T., "Les Pays-Bas sous Charles V.," <a href="#Page_62">62</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Marie de Hongrie," <a href="#Page_294">294</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_390">390</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Jutland, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rising in, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">invasion of, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Kallundborg Castle, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a><br /> +<br /> +Katherine, Queen of England, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her death, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Katherine, Queen of Portugal, birth of a son, <a href="#Page_66">66</a><br /> +<br /> +Kaulek. J., "Correspondance Politique de M. de Castillon," <a href="#Page_147">147</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Kildare, Lady, <a href="#Page_413">413</a><br /> +<br /> +Köstlin, J., "Leben Luthers," <a href="#Page_41">41</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Kunigunde, von Brandenburg, Fräulein, <a href="#Page_328">328</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Ladislaus, King of Hungary, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> +<br /> +Lalaing, Count, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Augsburg, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Landau, <a href="#Page_377">377</a><br /> +<br /> +Landrécy, siege of, <a href="#Page_280">280</a><br /> +<br /> +Lanz, K., "Correspondenz Karls V.," <a href="#Page_42">42</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Lavisse, E., "Histoire de France," <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Laxou, <a href="#Page_254">254</a><br /> +<br /> +Lecce, Castle of, <a href="#Page_455">455</a><br /> +<br /> +Leghorn, <a href="#Page_508">508</a><br /> +<br /> +Leigh, John, <a href="#Page_459">459</a><br /> +<br /> +Lennox, Lady, <a href="#Page_413">413</a><br /> +<br /> +Lenoncourt, M. de, <a href="#Page_508">508</a><br /> +<br /> +Leo X., Pope, <a href="#Page_72">72</a><br /> +<br /> +Leonardo, his picture the "Cenacolo," <a href="#Page_272">272</a><br /> +<br /> +Lepage, H., "Le Palais Ducal de Nancy," <a href="#Page_260">260</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_472">472</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_491">491</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Lettres de Charles III.," <a href="#Page_508">508</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Leva, G. de, "Storia Documentata di Carlo V.," <a href="#Page_113">113</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Leyden, Lucas van, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br /> +<br /> +Leyva, Antonio de, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed Governor-General of Milan, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Liége, Bishop of, <a href="#Page_154">154</a><br /> +<br /> +Lierre, <a href="#Page_44">44</a><br /> +<br /> +Ligier-Richier, fils, Jean, <a href="#Page_510">510</a><br /> +<br /> +Ligier-Richier, Jean, his effigy of René, Prince of Orange, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Queen Philippa, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ligny, <a href="#Page_277">277</a><br /> +<br /> +Lille, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>; military operations at, <a href="#Page_137">137</a><br /> +<br /> +Linz, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br /> +<br /> +Lisle, Lady, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a><br /> +<br /> +Lisle, Lord, Deputy Governor of Calais, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br /> +<br /> +Litta, P., "Famiglie Celebri," <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Llan Hawaden, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a><br /> +<br /> +Loches, <a href="#Page_221">221</a><br /> +<br /> +Lodge, E., "Illustrations," <a href="#Page_328">328</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_384">384</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Lomboni, Don Antonio, <a href="#Page_96">96</a><br /> +<br /> +Longueval, De, <a href="#Page_304">304</a><br /> +<br /> +Longueville, Duke of, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Esclaron, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Longueville, Mary, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_553" id="Page_553">[Pg 553]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers of marriage, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with James V., King of Scotland, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Longwy, Castle of, <a href="#Page_279">279</a><br /> +<br /> +Loreto, pilgrimage to the shrine of, <a href="#Page_497">497</a><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, surrender of, <a href="#Page_512">512</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a province of France, <a href="#Page_513">513</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Anne de, her appearance, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with Prince René of Orange, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Orange and Aerschot</span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Antoine, Duke of, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his marriage, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of his administration, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of his wife, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Fontainebleau, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">yields the fortress of Stenay, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his mediation for peace between Charles V. and King Francis, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness and death, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">funeral, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Antoinette de, Duchess of Cleves, <a href="#Page_512">512</a><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Cardinal of, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Conference for peace at Cercamp, <a href="#Page_426">426</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Catherine of, takes the veil, <a href="#Page_512">512</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">founds a Capucin convent, <a href="#Page_512">512</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed Abbess of Remiremont, <a href="#Page_512">512</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Charles III., Duke of, his birth, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of Henry II., <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">parting with his mother, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Joinville, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his proposed marriage with Princess Claude, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with his mother, <a href="#Page_421">421</a>-423, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>, <a href="#Page_440">440</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his feats of horsemanship, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Compiègne, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lavish generosity, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his wedding, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with Philip of Spain, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Brussels, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Amboise, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the coronation of Charles IX., <a href="#Page_467">467</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state entry into Nancy, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enlarges the ducal palace, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his sons and daughters, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of his wife, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">love of learning, <a href="#Page_491">491</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of his daughter Christina, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_511">511</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Christina, Duchess of. See Christina<br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Christine de, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the French Court, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>, <a href="#Page_507">507</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her marriage with the Grand-Duke Ferdinand of Tuscany, <a href="#Page_507">507</a>, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festivities at Florence, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her portrait, <a href="#Page_509">509</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Claude, Duchess of, at Mon Soulas, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">birth of a son, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack of smallpox, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her sons and daughters, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, <a href="#Page_509">509</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Dorothea of, her birth, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with Duke Eric of Brunswick, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of her husband, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her second marriage, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Brunswick</span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Elizabeth of, her marriage, <a href="#Page_512">512</a><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Francis I., Duke of, <a href="#Page_vi">vi</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his betrothal to Christina, Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assumes the title of Duke of Bar, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives the Order of St. Michel, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his grief at the cession of Stenay, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeds to the dukedom, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his efforts for peace, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">love of music, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his entry into Nancy, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">funeral, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Francis III., Duke of, his marriage with Maria Theresa, <a href="#Page_512">512</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">surrenders Lorraine, <a href="#Page_512">512</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Henry, Duke of, his birth, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">christening, <a href="#Page_476">476</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, John of, <a href="#Page_257">257</a><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Louise de, Princesse de Chimay, her letter to Mary, Queen of Scots, <a href="#Page_521">521</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Chimay</span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Philippa, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her sons, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Raoul of, <a href="#Page_256">256</a><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, René II., Duke of, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his sons, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Renée de Bourbon, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her character, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence on art, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her children, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Renée de, her birth, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offer of marriage from Eric, King of Sweden, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her suitors, <a href="#Page_487">487</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with Duke William of Bavaria, <a href="#Page_488">488</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, Yolande, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_257">257</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_554" id="Page_554">[Pg 554]</a></span>Louis, King of Hungary, his death at the Battle of Mohacz, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> +<br /> +Louis XII. of France, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his marriage, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Louis XIII. of France, <a href="#Page_512">512</a><br /> +<br /> +Louvain, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a><br /> +<br /> +Luna, Captain Alvarez de, <a href="#Page_122">122</a><br /> +<br /> +Lunden, Archbishop of, <a href="#Page_103">103</a><br /> +<br /> +Lunéville, <a href="#Page_353">353</a><br /> +<br /> +Luther, Martin, his friendship with King Christian II. of Denmark, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tribute to the memory of Queen Isabella, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his appeal to King Frederic of Denmark, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Luxembourg, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">siege of, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Mabuse, Jehan, designs the monument of Queen Isabella of Denmark, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his picture of the King of Denmark's children, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Macedonia, Constantine Comnenus, Prince of, <a href="#Page_99">99</a><br /> +<br /> +Macedonia, Francesca Paleologa, Princess of, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her attachment to the Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Codogno, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Reims, <a href="#Page_467">467</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Machyn, H., "Diary of a Citizen of London," <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Mackenzie, Sir Kenneth, <a href="#Page_viii">viii</a><br /> +<br /> +Maestricht, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rising at, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Magdeburg, siege of, <a href="#Page_341">341</a><br /> +<br /> +Magenta, C., "I Visconti e gli Sforza nel Castello di Pavia," <a href="#Page_93">93</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Maiocchi, Monsignor Rodolfo, Rector of the Borromeo College at Pavia, <a href="#Page_vii">vii</a><br /> +<br /> +Maire, Jehan Le, "Les Funéraux de Feu Don Philippe," <a href="#Page_2">2</a> <i>note</i>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his elegy of "L'Amant Vert," <a href="#Page_52">52</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Malines, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a><br /> +<br /> +Mansfeldt, Count, <a href="#Page_477">477</a><br /> +<br /> +Mantua, <a href="#Page_131">131</a><br /> +<br /> +Mantua, Federico, Duke of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br /> +<br /> +Marck, <a href="#Page_397">397</a><br /> +<br /> +Marck, Margaret la, <a href="#Page_331">331</a><br /> +<br /> +Marcoing, <a href="#Page_421">421</a><br /> +<br /> +Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of her two husbands, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">undertakes the care of her nephew and nieces, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with King Christian II. of Denmark, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of the King and Queen of Denmark, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with Charles of Guelders, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">concludes a treaty with King Frederic of Denmark, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">obtains possession of Isabella's children, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her tapestries and family portraits, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pets, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">amusements, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to her nephew, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Margaret, Princess, of France, her appearance, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiations for her marriage, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed union with the Duke of Savoy, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage, <a href="#Page_456">456</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Maria, Empress-Dowager, her visit to Tortona, <a href="#Page_500">500</a><br /> +<br /> +Maria, Infanta, of Portugal, <a href="#Page_151">151</a><br /> +<br /> +Maria Theresa, Empress, <a href="#Page_511">511</a><br /> +<br /> +Marienburg, <a href="#Page_389">389</a><br /> +<br /> +Marignano, Battle of, <a href="#Page_258">258</a><br /> +<br /> +Marignano, Marquis of, at St. Dizier, <a href="#Page_286">286</a><br /> +<br /> +Marillac, French Ambassador, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a><br /> +<br /> +Marne River, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a><br /> +<br /> +Marnol, Nicholas de, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>; at Milan, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br /> +<br /> +Mary, Archduchess of Austria, her birth, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack of smallpox, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Queen of Hungary, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of her husband, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers of marriage, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her fondness for riding, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her powers of mind, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sympathy with the reformers, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepts the Regency of the Low Countries, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enters Louvain, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Malines, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her reforms, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">care of her nieces, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">protest against the proposed marriage of her niece Christina, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts to delay the marriage, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her welcome to her niece Christina, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">superintends the military operations at Lille, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anxiety for peace, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her opinion of Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Castle of Breda, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her meeting with King Francis at Compiègne, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with her sister Eleanor, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Brussels, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">difficulties of her position with the English Ambassadors, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>-191;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interviews with Wriothesley, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">entertained by him, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her measures to suppress the insurrection, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of Charles V., <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_555" id="Page_555">[Pg 555]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protest against +the cession of Stenay, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">grief at the death of the Prince of Orange, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Augsburg, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">protest against Henry II.'s treatment of Christina, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her banquet on the accession of Queen Mary, <a href="#Page_386">386</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the destruction of her palace of Binche, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns the Regency, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>, <a href="#Page_401">401</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">present at the abdication of Charles V., <a href="#Page_400">400</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires to Turnhout, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her death, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">funeral, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter from Christina, <a href="#Page_523">523</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">from Anne, Duchess of Aerschot, <a href="#Page_523">523</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mary of Castille, Queen of Portugal, her death, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /> +<br /> +Mary, Princess, of England, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her marriage, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mary, Queen of England, her proposed marriage with the Infant Don Louis of Portugal, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her accession, <a href="#Page_386">386</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed union with Philip of Spain, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her wedding, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supposed birth of a son, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ill-temper at the absence of her husband, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter from Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_526">526</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mary, Dowager-Queen of Scotland, letters from her mother, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_518">518</a>, <a href="#Page_519">519</a>, <a href="#Page_520">520</a>, <a href="#Page_522">522</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of her children, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">birth of a daughter, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of her husband, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of her father, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of her son, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter from the Princess de Chimay, <a href="#Page_521">521</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mary, Queen of Scots, her arrival in France, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with Francis II. of France, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Lorraine, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Blois, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of her husband, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Joinville, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Nancy, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her appearance, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers of marriage, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack of fever, <a href="#Page_466">466</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her marriage with Darnley, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compelled to abdicate, <a href="#Page_487">487</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death on the scaffold, <a href="#Page_504">504</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Masone, Sir John, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_393">393</a><br /> +<br /> +Mauris, St., Ambassador, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a><br /> +<br /> +Maximilian I., Emperor, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his grandchildren, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Brussels, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">war against Venice, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his letter on the misconduct of King Christian II., <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Maximilian, King of Bohemia, at Augsburg, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his character, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rivalry with Philip of Spain, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Brussels, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">crowned King of the Romans, <a href="#Page_470">470</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mayenne, Louise, Marchioness of, <a href="#Page_310">310</a><br /> +<br /> +Mazzenta, Guido, <a href="#Page_97">97</a><br /> +<br /> +Medemblik, <a href="#Page_63">63</a><br /> +<br /> +Medici, Alessandro de', Duke of Florence, murdered, <a href="#Page_410">410</a><br /> +<br /> +Medici, Catherine de', <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her reception of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_467">467</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">jealousy of her influence, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_508">508</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Medici, Don Pietro de', <a href="#Page_508">508</a><br /> +<br /> +Melanchthon, <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br /> +<br /> +Mendoza, Don Diego, <a href="#Page_159">159</a><br /> +<br /> +Mendoza, Don Luis de, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>, <a href="#Page_488">488</a><br /> +<br /> +Merriman, R. B., "Life and Letters of Thomas Cromwell," <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Messina, <a href="#Page_112">112</a><br /> +<br /> +Metz, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">siege of, <a href="#Page_380">380</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Metz, Anton de, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a><br /> +<br /> +Metz, M. de, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Vaudemont</span><br /> +<br /> +Mewtas, Sir Peter, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br /> +<br /> +Michieli, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_396">396</a><br /> +<br /> +Middelburg, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br /> +<br /> +Mignet, L., "Retraite de Charles V.," <a href="#Page_388">388</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Rivalité de Francis I. et Charles V.," <a href="#Page_23">23</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mikkelsen, Hans, Burgomaster of Malmoë, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Milan, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taken by the French, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">threatened French invasion, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defence of, by a Spanish garrison, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Milan, Christina, Duchess of. See Christina<br /> +<br /> +Milan, Francesco Sforza, Duke of, his career, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deprived of his State, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sufferings caused by a wound, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposal of marriage with Christina of Denmark, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wedding by proxy, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">surprise visit to his bride, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of her, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portraits, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treatment of his wife, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_556" id="Page_556">[Pg 556]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness, +<a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_vi">vi</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">funeral rites, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>-110;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">will, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inscription on his tomb, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter from his wife, <a href="#Page_516">516</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Milan, Lodovico Sforza, Duke of, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his character, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">imprisonment, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Milan, Maximilian Sforza, Duke of, at Malines, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enters Milan, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Missaglia, Alessandro, <a href="#Page_90">90</a><br /> +<br /> +Moeller, E., "Eléonore d'Autriche," <a href="#Page_22">22</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Mohacz, Battle of, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> +<br /> +Molembais, M. de, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br /> +<br /> +Mon Soulas, <a href="#Page_440">440</a><br /> +<br /> +Monboë, Hans, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +<br /> +Mons, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_441">441</a><br /> +<br /> +Mont, Christopher, Envoy to Frankfort, <a href="#Page_209">209</a><br /> +<br /> +Montague, Lord, imprisoned in the Tower, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his execution, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Montbardon, M. de, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a><br /> +<br /> +Montecastello, villa at, <a href="#Page_503">503</a><br /> +<br /> +Montemerlo, Niccolò, <a href="#Page_498">498</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Nuove Historie di Tortona," <a href="#Page_498">498</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Montmélian, fortress of, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a><br /> +<br /> +Montmorency, Anne de, Constable of France, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his home at Chantilly, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taken prisoner at St. Quentin, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Conference of Cercamp, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taken prisoner at the Battle of Dreux, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">killed at the Battle of St. Denis, <a href="#Page_487">487</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Montmorency, Floris de, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Augsburg, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Montmorency, Jean de. See Courrières<br /> +<br /> +Montpensier, Duchess of, her christening, <a href="#Page_356">356</a><br /> +<br /> +Montpensier, Gilbert de, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a><br /> +<br /> +Montreuil, Madame de, <a href="#Page_174">174</a><br /> +<br /> +Monzone, Imperial Council at, <a href="#Page_126">126</a><br /> +<br /> +Morillon, Provost, <a href="#Page_485">485</a><br /> +<br /> +Mornay, Charles de, <a href="#Page_478">478</a><br /> +<br /> +Morosyne, Sir Richard, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Charles V.'s reserve, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the Marquis of Brandenburg's courtship of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_384">384</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Moselle, the, <a href="#Page_351">351</a><br /> +<br /> +Mühlberg, victory of, <a href="#Page_318">318</a><br /> +<br /> +Muscovy, Czar of, Envoy from, in England, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>-415<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Namur, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a><br /> +<br /> +Nancy, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Battle of, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">measures for the defence of, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">entered by the French, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_512">512</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festivities at, <a href="#Page_465">465</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Nassau, Henry, Count of, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his third wife, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sudden death, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Nassau, René of, Prince of Orange, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br /> +<br /> +Nassau, William of, <a href="#Page_287">287</a><br /> +<br /> +Nassau-Dillenburg, William of, <a href="#Page_238">238</a><br /> +<br /> +Nassau-le-Grand, <a href="#Page_285">285</a><br /> +<br /> +Navarre, Antoine, King of, mortally wounded, <a href="#Page_471">471</a><br /> +<br /> +Navarre, Henri d'Albret of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his marriage, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Navarre, Henry, King of, his proposal of marriage with Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_383">383</a><br /> +<br /> +Navarre, Isabel of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a><br /> +<br /> +Navarre, Jeanne d'Albret, Princess of, proposal of marriage with the Duke of Cleves, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her resistance to the marriage, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wedding, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">annulment of her marriage, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with the Duke of Vendôme, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Navarre, Margaret, Queen of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br /> +<br /> +Neckar, the, <a href="#Page_339">339</a><br /> +<br /> +Negriolo, Girolamo, <a href="#Page_90">90</a><br /> +<br /> +Netherlands, choice of a Regent, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">discontent of the people at the appointment of the Duchess of Parma, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Netherlands, Margaret, Regent of 4.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Margaret</span><br /> +<br /> +Neuburg, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>, <a href="#Page_468">468</a><br /> +<br /> +Neumarkt, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a><br /> +<br /> +Nevill, Sir Edward, his execution, <a href="#Page_186">186</a><br /> +<br /> +Nice, <a href="#Page_119">119</a><br /> +<br /> +Nicole, Madame, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a><br /> +<br /> +Nimeguen, <a href="#Page_138">138</a><br /> +<br /> +Noailles, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_396">396</a><br /> +<br /> +Nomény, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>; castle at, <a href="#Page_351">351</a><br /> +<br /> +Norfolk, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_273">273</a><br /> +<br /> +Norfolk, Henry Howard, sixth Duke of, <a href="#Page_158">158</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +Norway, reception of King Christian II. in, <a href="#Page_64">64</a><br /> +<br /> +Nott, G., "Life of Wyatt," <a href="#Page_169">169</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Novara, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a><br /> +<br /> +Nubilonio, "Cronaca di Vigevano," <a href="#Page_93">93</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_557" id="Page_557">[Pg 557]</a></span>Nuremberg, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><br /> +<br /> +Ochsenthal, vale of the, <a href="#Page_352">352</a><br /> +<br /> +Odensee, Palace of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a><br /> +<br /> +Oglio, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br /> +<br /> +Oise, the, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a><br /> +<br /> +Oldenburg, Christopher of, his invasion of Jutland, <a href="#Page_103">103</a><br /> +<br /> +Olisleger, Chancellor, <a href="#Page_249">249</a><br /> +<br /> +Oppenheimer, Henry, <a href="#Page_viii">viii</a><br /> +<br /> +Orange, Anne, Princess of, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of her husband, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Nancy, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her friendship with Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her character, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the funeral of the Duke of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her letter to the Queen of Scotland, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with the Duke of Aerschot, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Aerschot</span><br /> +<br /> +Orange, René, Prince of, at Brussels, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Castle of Breda, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his affection for Christina, Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popularity, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with Anne of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at St. Dizier, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">will, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tomb, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lines on, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Orange, William, Prince of, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in London, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">present at the abdication of Charles V., <a href="#Page_400">400</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of his wife, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his appearance, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">affection for Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Conference of Cercamp, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the funeral of Charles V., <a href="#Page_434">434</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Conference of Câteau-Cambrésis, <a href="#Page_437">437</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his proposed marriage with Renée of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">debts, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his treatment of Christina, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with Anna of Saxony, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Frankfurt, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires to Germany, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ban against, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assassination, <a href="#Page_504">504</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Orleans, Charles, Duke of, his character, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Brussels, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_304">304</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Orleans, Gaston, Duke of, <a href="#Page_512">512</a><br /> +<br /> +Orleans, Henry, Duke of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a><br /> +<br /> +Orleans, Margaret of, <a href="#Page_512">512</a><br /> +<br /> +Orley, Bernhard van, his portrait of Christina, Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +Osiander, the Lutheran doctor, <a href="#Page_41">41</a><br /> +<br /> +Oslo, <a href="#Page_64">64</a><br /> +<br /> +Oxe, Peder, exiled from Denmark, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his return to Copenhagen, <a href="#Page_483">483</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Paget, Ambassador, at Fontainebleau, <a href="#Page_267">267</a><br /> +<br /> +Paleologa, Francisca, Princess of Macedonia, her attachment to the Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Macedonia</span><br /> +<br /> +Paleologa, Margherita, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Duchess of Mantua, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Palermo, <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br /> +<br /> +Panigarola, Gabriele, appointed Governor of Tortona, <a href="#Page_129">129</a><br /> +<br /> +Panizone, Guglielmo, <a href="#Page_170">170</a><br /> +<br /> +Paris, <a href="#Page_222">222</a><br /> +<br /> +Parma, War of, <a href="#Page_355">355</a><br /> +<br /> +Parma, Alexander of, <a href="#Page_410">410</a><br /> +<br /> +Parma, Margaret, Duchess of, her marriages, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">son, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Brussels, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her character, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visit to England, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>-415;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed Regent of the Netherlands, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her relations with Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unpopularity, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her treatment of Anne, Duchess of Aerschot, <a href="#Page_484">484</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her death, <a href="#Page_505">505</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Parroy, Sieur de, in charge of Stenay, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a><br /> +<br /> +Passau, Conference at, <a href="#Page_376">376</a><br /> +<br /> +Pastor, L., "Geschichte d. Papste," <a href="#Page_132">132</a> <i>note</i>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Reise des Kardinal Luigi d'Aragona," <a href="#Page_141">141</a> <i>note</i></span><br /> +<br /> +Pate, Archdeacon Richard, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br /> +<br /> +Paul III., Pope, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his excommunication of Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_195">195</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Paul IV., Pope, his war with Alva, Viceroy of Naples, <a href="#Page_409">409</a><br /> +<br /> +Pavia, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Castello of, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pellizone, Lodovico, <a href="#Page_123">123</a><br /> +<br /> +Pembroke, Lord, <a href="#Page_415">415</a><br /> +<br /> +Pero, Massimo del, <a href="#Page_347">347</a><br /> +<br /> +Péronne, <a href="#Page_423">423</a><br /> +<br /> +Petit, J. F. Le, "Grande Chronique de Hollande," <a href="#Page_445">445</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Petre, Dr., <a href="#Page_206">206</a><br /> +<br /> +Petri, Nicolas, Canon of Lunden, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +<br /> +Pfister, C., "Histoire de Nancy," <a href="#Page_253">253</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +Philip I., King of Castille and Archduke of Austria, his death, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">funeral, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">children, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Philip II. of Spain, invested with the Duchy of Milan, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_558" id="Page_558">[Pg 558]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his marriage settled with the Infanta +of Portugal, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of his wife, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state entry into Brussels, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attentions to Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fêtes in his honour, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Augsburg, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his tournament, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rivalry with Maximilian, King of Bohemia, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Spain, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed union with Mary, Queen of England, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wedding, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves London, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Brussels, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">present at the abdication of Charles V., <a href="#Page_400">400</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">investiture, <a href="#Page_401">401</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his first Chapter of the Fleece, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">signs the treaty of peace, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his affection for Christina, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delay in returning to England, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Greenwich, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">capture of St. Quentin, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of his wife, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the funeral of Charles V., <a href="#Page_434">434</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his meeting with Charles, Duke of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposal of marriage with Princess Elizabeth of France, <a href="#Page_446">446</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appoints his sister Margaret Regent of the Netherlands, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his marriage, <a href="#Page_456">456</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Ghent, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his indifference to the illness of Christina, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his treatment of her, <a href="#Page_vi">vi</a>, <a href="#Page_501">501</a>, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>, <a href="#Page_514">514</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Philippa, Queen, her home in the convent, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">funeral, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">monument, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Lorraine</span><br /> +<br /> +Philippeville, citadel of, <a href="#Page_398">398</a><br /> +<br /> +Piacenza, citadel of, <a href="#Page_410">410</a><br /> +<br /> +Picardy, invasion of, <a href="#Page_284">284</a><br /> +<br /> +Piedmont, Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Milan, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Augsburg, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in command of the Imperial Army, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his courtship of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeds to the title of Duke of Savoy, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Whitehall, <a href="#Page_392">392</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Piedmont, Prince Louis of, his death, <a href="#Page_113">113</a><br /> +<br /> +Pimodan, G., "La Mère des Guises," <a href="#Page_147">147</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Po, the, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br /> +<br /> +Pois, Nicolas le, <a href="#Page_296">296</a><br /> +<br /> +Poitiers, Diane de, <a href="#Page_179">179</a><br /> +<br /> +Pol, S., capture of, <a href="#Page_126">126</a><br /> +<br /> +Poland, Bona Sforza, Queen of, her letter to the Duke of Milan on his marriage, <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br /> +<br /> +Poland, Sigismund, King of, <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br /> +<br /> +Pole, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Toledo, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his aversion to Queen Mary's marriage with Philip of Spain, <a href="#Page_389">389</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">received at Whitehall, <a href="#Page_391">391</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Polweiler, Baron de, Bailiff of Hagenau, <a href="#Page_476">476</a>, <a href="#Page_480">480</a><br /> +<br /> +Pont-à-Mousson, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">University at, <a href="#Page_491">491</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pont-à-Mousson, Francis, Marquis of, his courtship of the Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives the title of Duke of Bar, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his birth, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">studious tastes, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed marriages, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his choice of Christina, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Lorraine</span><br /> +<br /> +Poor Clares, Order of the, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a><br /> +<br /> +Porta, G., "Alessandria Descritta," <a href="#Page_500">500</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +Portugal, Eleanor, Queen of. See Eleanor<br /> +<br /> +Portugal, Emanuel, King of. See Emanuel<br /> +<br /> +Portugal, Infant Don Louis of, his proposed union with Princess Mary of England, <a href="#Page_162">162</a><br /> +<br /> +Portugal, Infanta of, her marriage with Philip of Spain, <a href="#Page_280">280</a><br /> +<br /> +Portugal, invasion of, <a href="#Page_502">502</a><br /> +<br /> +Poynings, Sir Edward, Ambassador at Brussels, <a href="#Page_8">8</a><br /> +<br /> +Praet, Louis de, Imperial Ambassador, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his admiration for Isabella, Queen of Denmark, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Ghent, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his oration at the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Prinsterer, Groen van, "Archives de la Maison d'Orange et de Nassau," <a href="#Page_425">425</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a><br /> +<br /> +Putnam, R., "William the Silent, Prince of Orange," <a href="#Page_289">289</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Pyl, Lieven, chief magistrate at Ghent, <a href="#Page_219">219</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Quentin, St., victory of, <a href="#Page_417">417</a><br /> +<br /> +Quievrain, Castle of, <a href="#Page_329">329</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Rabutin, François de, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Nancy, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>;</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_559" id="Page_559">[Pg 559]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Collections de Mémoires," <a href="#Page_361">361</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Rambouillet, <a href="#Page_315">315</a><br /> +<br /> +Ratti, N., "La Famiglia Sforza," <a href="#Page_313">313</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Ravold, J. B., "Histoire de Lorraine," <a href="#Page_253">253</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Regensburg, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Diet of, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Reiffenberg, F. de, "Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or," <a href="#Page_20">20</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Reims, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>, <a href="#Page_466">466</a><br /> +<br /> +Reims, Charles, Archbishop of, <a href="#Page_247">247</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his consecration, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Remiremont, <a href="#Page_297">297</a><br /> +<br /> +Renard, Simon, <a href="#Page_407">407</a><br /> +<br /> +Renty, Battle of, <a href="#Page_390">390</a><br /> +<br /> +Reumont, A. von, "Geschichte Toscana," <a href="#Page_508">508</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Rhine, the, <a href="#Page_351">351</a><br /> +<br /> +Ribier, G., "Lettres et Mémoires d'État," <a href="#Page_405">405</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Richardot, Abbé, his oration at the funeral of Charles V., <a href="#Page_434">434</a><br /> +<br /> +Richmond, <a href="#Page_159">159</a><br /> +<br /> +Richmond, Duke of, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br /> +<br /> +Ripalta, <a href="#Page_497">497</a><br /> +<br /> +Rivoli, <a href="#Page_87">87</a><br /> +<br /> +Rocca di Sparaviera, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>, <a href="#Page_509">509</a><br /> +<br /> +Roddi, F., "Annali di Ferrara," <a href="#Page_95">95</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +Rombaut, S., Church of, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_2">2</a><br /> +<br /> +Rosières, Les, salt-works at, <a href="#Page_472">472</a><br /> +<br /> +Roskild, Dean of, <a href="#Page_34">34</a><br /> +<br /> +Rossem, Martin van, <a href="#Page_277">277</a><br /> +<br /> +Rostain, M. de, <a href="#Page_374">374</a><br /> +<br /> +Rotterdam, <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br /> +<br /> +Rouen, Siege of, <a href="#Page_471">471</a><br /> +<br /> +Ruble, A. de, "Le Mariage de Jeanne d'Albret," <a href="#Page_222">222</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_420">420</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Traité de Câteau-Cambrésis," <a href="#Page_429">429</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_439">439</a> <i>note</i></span><br /> +<br /> +Rucellai, Orazio, <a href="#Page_507">507</a><br /> +<br /> +Rudolf II., Emperor, <a href="#Page_512">512</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Saint-Hilaire, M. de, <a href="#Page_349">349</a><br /> +<br /> +Salis, Friar Jehan de, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> +<br /> +Salm, Count Jean de, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a><br /> +<br /> +Sandrart, J., "Deutsche Akademie," <a href="#Page_274">274</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +Sangiuliani, Count Antonio Cavagna, <a href="#Page_vii">vii</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +Sanuto, Marino, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Diarii," <a href="#Page_63">63</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Saragossa, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br /> +<br /> +Savorgnano, Mario, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a><br /> +<br /> +Savoy, Beatrix of Portugal, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes refuge at Vercelli, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">flight to Milan, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with Charles V., <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Nice, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Savoy, Charles III., Duke of, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forced to evacuate Turin, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Savoy, Charles Emanuel, Duke of, <a href="#Page_507">507</a><br /> +<br /> +Savoy, Emanuel Philibert, Duke of, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Whitehall, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his negotiations of marriage with Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_396">396</a>-398;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Low Countries, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">present at the abdication of Charles V., <a href="#Page_400">400</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiations of marriage with Princess Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his victory of St. Quentin, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed marriage with Marguerite of France, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage, <a href="#Page_456">456</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Savoy, Margaret, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br /> +<br /> +Savoy, Duke Philibert of, his marriage and death, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br /> +<br /> +Saxe-Lauenburg, Duke of, at the marriage ceremony of King Christian II., <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br /> +<br /> +Saxony, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><br /> +<br /> +Saxony, Anna of, her marriage with William, Prince of Orange, <a href="#Page_460">460</a><br /> +<br /> +Saxony, Elector John Frederick of, taken prisoner, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his portrait, <a href="#Page_322">322</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Saxony, Elector Maurice of, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his siege of Magdeburg, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secret intrigues with France, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">killed at the battle of Sievershausen, <a href="#Page_384">384</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Scepperus, Cornelius, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Private Secretary to the King of Denmark, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his inscription on the tomb of Queen Isabella of Denmark, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Schäfer, D., "Geschichte von Dänemark," <a href="#Page_38">38</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Scharf, Sir George, <a href="#Page_54">54</a> note, <a href="#Page_158">158</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +Schauwenbourg, Captain, <a href="#Page_305">305</a><br /> +<br /> +Scheldt, River, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>; frozen over, <a href="#Page_411">411</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_560" id="Page_560">[Pg 560]</a></span>Schlegel, J. H., "Geschichte der Könige v. Dänemark," <a href="#Page_45">45</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Schleswig, Bishop of, Danish Ambassador, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br /> +<br /> +Schlettstadt, <a href="#Page_375">375</a><br /> +<br /> +Schmalkalde, League of, campaign against, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dissolved, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Schoren, Dr., Chancellor of Brabant, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Scotland, Mary, Queen of. See Mary<br /> +<br /> +Selve, Odet de, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_314">314</a><br /> +<br /> +Serclaes, Mademoiselle Rolande de, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> +<br /> +Seymour, Jane, Queen of England, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her portrait, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sfondrati, Count Francesco, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br /> +<br /> +Sforza, Count Bosio, <a href="#Page_115">115</a><br /> +<br /> +Sforza, Francesco, Duke of Milan, at Innsbruck, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Milan</span><br /> +<br /> +Sforza, Giovanni Paolo, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his illness and death, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sforza, Lodovico, Duke of Milan. See Milan<br /> +<br /> +Sforza, Maximilian, Duke of Milan, at Malines, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See Milan</span><br /> +<br /> +Shelley, Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_411">411</a><br /> +<br /> +Sievershausen, Battle of, <a href="#Page_384">384</a><br /> +<br /> +Sigismund, King of Poland, <a href="#Page_321">321</a><br /> +<br /> +Silliers, Baron de, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the illness of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#Page_489">489</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Simonet, <a href="#Page_125">125</a><br /> +<br /> +Sittard, defeat at, <a href="#Page_280">280</a><br /> +<br /> +Skelton, Mary, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br /> +<br /> +Skippon, Philip, <a href="#Page_47">47</a><br /> +<br /> +Slagbök, Archbishop of Lunden, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">put to death, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Soignies, Forest of, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a><br /> +<br /> +Sonderburg, island fortress of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br /> +<br /> +Soranzo, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_411">411</a><br /> +<br /> +Southampton, Lord High Admiral, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a><br /> +<br /> +Souvastre, Madame de, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a><br /> +<br /> +Souvastre, M. de, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Spain, Charles V. of. See Charles V.<br /> +<br /> +Spain, Infant Don Carlos of, his birth, <a href="#Page_313">313</a><br /> +<br /> +Spain, Philip II. of. See Philip<br /> +<br /> +Spinelli, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br /> +<br /> +Spires, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br /> +<br /> +Stabili, Gianbattista, <a href="#Page_510">510</a><br /> +<br /> +Stampa, Count Massimiliano, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Ghent, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Lille, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">received by Queen Mary of Hungary, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">representative of the Duke of Milan at his marriage, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his house at Cussago, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">entertains the Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the funeral of the Duke of Milan, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retains his post of Castellan of Milan, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his gifts from Charles V., <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives up the keys, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Stanislas, ex-King of Poland, at Nancy, <a href="#Page_513">513</a><br /> +<br /> +Stenay, fortress of, ceded to the French, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">restitution, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evacuated by the French, <a href="#Page_304">304</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Stockholm, siege of, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">surrender of, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Strasburg, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a><br /> +<br /> +Stroppiana, Count, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Henry II.'s treatment of Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Windsor, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Conference of Cercamp, <a href="#Page_428">428</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Suffolk, Mary, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br /> +<br /> +Suffolk, Duke of, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a><br /> +<br /> +Surrey, Lord, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a><br /> +<br /> +Susa, towers of, <a href="#Page_87">87</a><br /> +<br /> +Sweden, outbreak of war with Denmark, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>, <a href="#Page_478">478</a><br /> +<br /> +Sweden, Eric, King of. See Eric<br /> +<br /> +Swynaerde, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Tarbes, Bishop of, <a href="#Page_168">168</a><br /> +<br /> +Tassigny, Sieur de, <a href="#Page_357">357</a><br /> +<br /> +Taverna, Count, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br /> +<br /> +Tencajoli, Signor O. F., <a href="#Page_vii">vii</a><br /> +<br /> +Thérouenne, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>; fort of, razed, <a href="#Page_385">385</a><br /> +<br /> +Thionville, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">capture of, <a href="#Page_424">424</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Thomas, H. L., "Spiegel des Humors grosser Potentaten," <a href="#Page_22">22</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Throckmorton, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_461">461</a><br /> +<br /> +Tiepolo, the Venetian, <a href="#Page_445">445</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the marriage of Philip of Spain with Princess Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_446">446</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the appointment of the Duchess of Parma to the Regency of the Netherlands, <a href="#Page_452">452</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tiloye, La, <a href="#Page_136">136</a><br /> +<br /> +Titian, his portraits, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Augsburg, <a href="#Page_322">322</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Toledo, treaty at, <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br /> +<br /> +Tongres, <a href="#Page_340">340</a><br /> +<br /> +Tortona, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a><br /> +<br /> +Toul, <a href="#Page_362">362</a><br /> +<br /> +Toul, Bishop of, his agreement with Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_472">472</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_561" id="Page_561">[Pg 561]</a></span>Tournay, Bishop of, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br /> +<br /> +Trent, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br /> +<br /> +Treves, <a href="#Page_435">435</a><br /> +<br /> +Triboulet the jester, <a href="#Page_223">223</a><br /> +<br /> +Trivulzio, Contessa Dejanira, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the loss of Belloni, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her letter to Messer Innocenzio Gadio, <a href="#Page_526">526</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Trivulzio, Count Gaspare, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his reception of Christina, Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Troyes, Louis, Bishop of, <a href="#Page_247">247</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a><br /> +<br /> +Tuke, Sir Brian, <a href="#Page_168">168</a> <i>note</i><br /> +<br /> +Tunis, capture of, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +<br /> +Turin, evacuation of, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br /> +<br /> +Tuscany, Grand-Duke Ferdinand of, his marriage with Christina of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_507">507</a>, <a href="#Page_508">508</a><br /> +<br /> +Tytler, P. F., "England under Edward VI.," <a href="#Page_380">380</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Ulmann, H., "Kaiser Maximilian," <a href="#Page_11">11</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Upsala, Cathedral of, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br /> +<br /> +Urbino, Duke of, <a href="#Page_270">270</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Vaissière, P. de, "Vie de Charles de Marillac," <a href="#Page_344">344</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Valenciennes, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<br /> +Valladolid, <a href="#Page_125">125</a><br /> +<br /> +Valois, Madeleine de, her proposed marriage with James V. of Scotland, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her marriage, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Varembon, Marc de Rye, Marquis of, his marriage with the Duchess of Brunswick, <a href="#Page_511">511</a><br /> +<br /> +Vaucelles, Abbey of, truce signed at, <a href="#Page_403">403</a><br /> +<br /> +Vaudemont, Louise, Countess of, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">christening of her daughter, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Vaudemont, Nicholas, Count de, Bishop of Metz, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his birth, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed joint Regent of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the funeral of the Duke of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his marriage, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Blois, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loyalty to Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed sole Regent, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his second marriage, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires from public life, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">christening of his daughter, <a href="#Page_482">482</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Vaudemont and Joinville, Ferry, Count of, <a href="#Page_257">257</a><br /> +<br /> +Vaughan, Stephen, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his interview with Queen Mary of Hungary, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Antwerp, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Veeren, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a><br /> +<br /> +Vély, M. de, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a><br /> +<br /> +Vendôme, Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his courtship of the Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage with Jeanne d'Albret, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Vendôme, Mademoiselle de, <a href="#Page_179">179</a><br /> +<br /> +Vercelli, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br /> +<br /> +Vercelli, Bishop of, <a href="#Page_87">87</a><br /> +<br /> +Verona, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +Verri, P., "Storia di Milano," <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Vertot, R. de, "Ambassades de MM. de Noailles en Angleterre," <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Viborg, <a href="#Page_33">33</a><br /> +<br /> +Vieilleville, Governor of Verdun, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mémoires, <a href="#Page_532">532</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Vigevano, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>, <a href="#Page_477">477</a><br /> +<br /> +Villach, <a href="#Page_372">372</a><br /> +<br /> +Villamont, A., "Voyages," <a href="#Page_497">497</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Viola, N., "Il Santuario di Tortona," <a href="#Page_499">499</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Vives, Louis, <a href="#Page_6">6</a><br /> +<br /> +Voigt, G., "Albert von Brandenburg," <a href="#Page_318">318</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Vueren, Castle of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Waldrevange, <a href="#Page_305">305</a><br /> +<br /> +Wallop, Sir John, <a href="#Page_280">280</a><br /> +<br /> +Walpole, Horace, "Anecdotes of Painting," <a href="#Page_274">274</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Wasa, Gustavus, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his revolt at Dalecarlia, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lays siege to Stockholm, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Wassy, massacre at, <a href="#Page_471">471</a><br /> +<br /> +Willems, Dyveke, her relations with King Christian II. of Denmark, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her sudden death, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Willems, Hermann, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br /> +<br /> +Willems, Sigebritt, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed mistress of the Queen of Denmark's household, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her influence over King Christian II., <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrested and burnt, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Windsor, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_391">391</a><br /> +<br /> +Wingfield, Sir Robert, Ambassador at Ghent, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the conduct of King Christian II., <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Wolsey, Cardinal, at Bruges, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his retinue, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interview with King Christian II., <a href="#Page_30">30</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_562" id="Page_562">[Pg 562]</a></span>Wornum, R., "Life of Holbein," <a href="#Page_159">159</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +Wotton, Nicholas, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the surrender of St. Dizier, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Conference of Cercamp, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Câteau Cambrésis, <a href="#Page_436">436</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Wriothesley, Thomas, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Cambray, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the terms of Henry VIII.'s negotiation of marriage, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his interviews with Queen Mary of Hungary, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Christina, Duchess of Milan, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>-194;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his entertainments at Brussels, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>-201;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">detained at Brussels, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treatment, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to England, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Würtemberg, Duchy of, <a href="#Page_339">339</a><br /> +<br /> +Wyatt, Sir Thomas, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his interviews with Charles V., <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his efforts to prevent an alliance between Christina, Duchess of Milan, and the Duke of Cleves, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Young, Colonel G., "The Medici," <a href="#Page_532">532</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Zeeland, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a><br /> +<br /> +Zeneta, Marchioness of, <a href="#Page_174">174</a><br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD +</p> + +<div class="transnote"> + +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>Transcriber's Notes:</h2> + + +<p>Simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors were silently corrected.</p> + +<p>Anachronistic and non-standard spellings retained as printed.</p> + +<p>P. <a href="#Page_530">530</a> changed two instances of "<span class="smcap">Granvelle</span>, Cardinal de," to "<span class="smcap">Granvelle, Cardinal de</span>:" to be consistent with other entries in this section.</p> + +<p>P. <a href="#Page_532">532</a> changed "<span class="smcap">Reiffenberg, F. de</span>: Histoire de la Toison d'Or. 2 vols. +Brussels, 183_." to "<span class="smcap">Reiffenberg, F. de</span>: Histoire de la Toison d'Or. 2 vols. +Brussels, 183<b>5</b>." Complete date is from Wikipedia.</p> + +<p>P. <a href="#Page_533">533</a> changed layout of GENEALOGICAL TABLES from horizontal to +vertical due to column width considerations.</p> + +<p>P. <a href="#Page_538">538</a> added connector in family tree diagram between "René II., d. 1508 = Philippa of Guelders," and their children.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan +and Lorraine, 1522-1590, by Julia Cartwright + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTINA OF DENMARK *** + +***** This file should be named 48191-h.htm or 48191-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/8/1/9/48191/ + +Produced by Richard Tonsing, Charlene Taylor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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