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.