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.