THE VISIT TO “HIGH BURGONY”[287]
Negotiations for a French wife for the King—Marie of Lorraine, Duchess
of Longueville, afterwards Queen of Scotland—Visit of Peter Mewtas
to France to obtain her portrait—Pierre Quesnel—Louise of
Guise—Holbein receives a royal licence to export beer—Hoby and
Holbein sent to Havre to take portraits of Louise of Guise and some
other lady—Renée of Guise—Expedition of Hoby and Holbein to
Joinville and Nancy to obtain portraits of Renée and her cousin,
Anne of Lorraine—Cromwell’s instructions—Letter from the Duchess of
Guise to her daughter, the Queen of Scotland, describing their
visit—Holbein’s salary and advances of his wages—Letter from Niklaus
Kratzer to Cromwell—Confusion as to the dates of Hoby’s and
Holbein’s continental journeys in 1538 owing to a wrong entry in the
_Calendar of Letters and Papers_—Holbein goes on to Basel from
Nancy.
Footnote 287:
The greater part of this chapter appeared in the _Burlington
Magazine_, vol. xxi., April 1912, pp. 25-30.
AS already stated in the last chapter, during the whole of the time the
negotiations for the hand of the Duchess of Milan were in progress,
others were being carried on concurrently for a French bride for Henry.
The King’s personal inclination, indeed, leant much more strongly
towards an alliance with France than one with the Emperor; and on
October 24th, the very day of Queen Jane Seymour’s death, Cromwell wrote
to Stephen Gardiner and Lord William Howard, then at the French court,
informing them of Henry’s loss, and urging them to make secret inquiries
as to a possible successor among the princesses of France. “Our Prince,”
he said, “our Lord be thanked, is in good health, and suckethe like a
child of his puissance, which youe, my Lord William, canne declare. Our
Mastres, thoroughe the faulte of them that were about Her, whiche
suffred Her to take greate cold, and to eate things that her fantazie in
syknes called for, is departed to God.”[288]
Footnote 288:
_St. P._, vol. viii. (pt. v. _continued_) 478.
He went on to say that the Council were unanimously of opinion that the
King should marry again as soon as possible:
[Sidenote: THE DUCHESS OF LONGUEVILLE]
“Soo considering what personages in Christendom be mete for Him,
amonges the rest there be two in Fraunce, that may be thought
on, thone is the Frenche Kinges doughter (Margaret, afterwards
Duchess of Savoy), whiche, as it is said, is not the metest, the
other is Madame de Longevile, whom they say the King of Scottes
dothe desire. Of whose conditions and qualities in every pointe
His Majeste desireth you both, with all your dexterite and good
meanes, to enquire; and likewise in what pointe and termes the
said King of Scottes standeth towards either of them; whiche His
Highnes is soo desirous to knowe, His Graces desire therin to be
nevertheles in any wise kept secret to your selfes.”
The details of the careful search which was made throughout France for a
suitable successor to Jane Seymour are to be found in the very
entertaining letters written by Louis de Perreau, Sieur de Castillon,
the French ambassador in London, to Francis I and his Grand Master, Anne
de Montmorency. The negotiations necessitated the despatch of numerous
envoys and messengers, and the painting of four or five portraits; and
there is very good evidence for the belief that two or three of these
were painted by Holbein, for which purpose he made at least two
journeys—to Le Havre in June 1538, and to Joinville and Nancy at the end
of the following August.
In the first instance, Henry’s inclinations were very strongly set upon
Marie of Lorraine, the eldest daughter of Claude, Duke of Guise, and the
young widow of Charles d’Orléans, Duke of Longueville, although she had
been promised to James V of Scotland before Jane Seymour’s death. Henry
knew quite well that this arrangement had been made, but he would not
listen to the names of other ladies which were suggested to him, and
maintained with great pertinacity to Castillon that the match with
Scotland had not yet been settled, and that Madame de Longueville had
not herself agreed to it. “He is so amorous of Madame de Longueville,”
wrote Castillon to Francis, on December 30, 1537, “that he cannot
refrain from coming back upon it.” “I asked him,” he goes on, “who
caused him to be more inclined to her than to others, and he said Wallop
was so loud in her praises that nothing could exceed them. Moreover, he
said that he was big in person, and had need of a big wife—that your
daughter was too young for him, and as to Madame de Vendosme, he would
not take the King of Scots’ leavings!”[289]
Footnote 289:
_C.L.P._, vol. xii. pt. ii. 1285.
Either in December 1537 or early in the following January, Henry sent
over Peter Mewtas, of the Privy Chamber, to see the Duchess secretly,
and to find out from her whether she considered herself bound to James;
and as a result of this mission he appears to have convinced himself
that, whatever Francis I might have arranged, the lady herself and her
parents were attracted by his offer, considering an alliance with so
powerful a sovereign to be preferred to one with the “beggarly and
stupid King of Scots,” as Henry termed his nephew to Castillon. There
was a political attraction, also, about the proposal, from Henry’s point
of view, for if he succeeded in taking James’s bride from him it would
tend to alienate the Scots from France.
Formal articles of marriage, however, between the lady and James V were
drawn up in January; but in spite of this Henry stuck to his point, and
about the 1st of February Peter Mewtas was again despatched by Cromwell
to find out definitely if she were still free, and also to obtain her
portrait. The instructions given him need not be quoted here. They
concluded by saying that if he perceived any towardness in the lady, he
was, if possible, to get and bring with him “her picture truly made and
like unto her.”[290]
Footnote 290:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. i. 203. _St. P._, viii. 10.
[Sidenote: PIERRE QUESNEL AND HIS SONS]
Mewtas’ mission proved fruitless, and he was back in London some time
before the 6th March. There is no evidence to show that he succeeded in
obtaining a portrait of Madame de Longueville, or that he took Holbein
or any other painter with him for that purpose. The Duchess seems to
have been in Normandy, possibly at Longueville or Le Havre, and it may
have been left to Mewtas to obtain the services of some local French
painter, if such an one were to be procured. It is more likely, however,
that a painter would be taken over for the purpose, though this was not
mentioned in the instructions, as it was in the case of Hoby’s mission
to Brussels. If any one were taken, it may have been Holbein, who was
known personally to Mewtas, for among the Windsor drawings there is one
of the latter’s wife.[291] This, however, is mere conjecture, and there
is no evidence, either in writing or in the shape of a drawing, to show
that Holbein took the portrait of this particular duchess; indeed, the
fact of his journey to the Netherlands seems to point to the contrary,
for Mewtas only returned to England from France early in March, so that
if Holbein had accompanied him, he would have had to start off again
without a moment’s delay with Hoby in order to reach Brussels as he did
on the 10th of the same month. It was, of course, possible for him to
have made both journeys, but the interval between the two was so short
that extreme expedition would have been necessary.
Footnote 291:
Woltmann, 339; Wornum, ii. 20; Holmes, ii. 16. See pp. 257-8.
There was, however, a French painter, Pierre Quesnel, who may possibly
have been attached to Madame de Longueville’s court at the time of
Mewtas’ visit; in any case, he accompanied her to Edinburgh two months
later, and entered the service of James V. He came of a family of
portrait painters, and also practised historical painting. His works are
now unknown, but he returned to France in 1557, and designed a painted
window for the Augustins of Paris. He had three sons, François, Nicolas,
and Jacques. François,[292] who was born in Holyrood about 1543 and died
in 1619, was a portrait-painter of exceptional ability, as may be seen
from the fine portrait of “Mary Ann Walker” belonging to Lord Spencer at
Althorp Park, of which an excellent reproduction in colour has been
issued by the Medici Society in their National Portrait Series. It is
signed “F. Q.” in monogram, and dated 1572. This picture was brought
from France about one hundred years ago, and was obtained from a
descendant of the lady’s family. In this connection it may be suggested
that the double portrait of “James V and Marie of Lorraine,”[293] in the
collection of the Duke of Devonshire at Hardwick, may possibly have
been, in its original state, the production of the elder Quesnel’s
brush.[294] It must be noted, in conclusion, that there is no record in
the English State Papers of the result of Mewtas’ mission, and so it is
doubtful if Henry VIII ever possessed a portrait of the lady, whether by
Quesnel, or Holbein, or any other painter, such as Hornebolt, in the
King’s pay.
Footnote 292:
See Dimier, _French Painting in the Sixteenth Century_, pp. 191 and
289.
Footnote 293:
Reproduced in the _Burlington Magazine_, Oct. 1906, p. 41, in an
article on “The Portraits of Mary Queen of Scots,” by Mr. Lionel Cust
and Miss K. Martin.
Footnote 294:
This picture was exhibited at the Golden Fleece Exhibition at Bruges
in 1907 (No. 130), as the work of an unknown Scottish painter.
Marie was married to the King of Scots on the 9th May, thus putting a
final end to Henry’s plans in that direction. In her place, Francis
offered him, through Castillon, the choice of any other lady in his
kingdom. He was told that “she had a sister as beautiful and as
graceful, clever and well-fitted to please and obey him as any other.”
This remark bore fruit, and the next morning the King sent Sir John
Russell, a member of his Privy Council, to make further inquiries.
Castillon told the latter that France was a warren of honourable ladies,
from which Henry might choose, and that Louise of Guise was the very
counterpart of Madame de Longueville. He had not seen her for a long
time, but had heard her esteemed above any other lady in the kingdom.
Russell then asked Castillon “to find some way that Francis (to show it
was not as a refusal that he could not have Madame de Longueville, but
because she was promised beforehand) should offer him her sister, and
say something of it to M. Briant (Sir Francis Brian, Master of the
Toils, then ambassador to France), who would then send her
portrait.”[295] “Probably,” added Castillon, in writing to Francis, “he
is troubled that it must be known that his great instance made for the
one is so suddenly changed for the other.” Francis sent word in reply
(May 25) that he would very willingly conclude a match with Henry and
Louise of Guise; and on the 31st of the same month Castillon wrote to
the Grand Master, Montmorency, urging greater expedition in the matter.
“If he (Henry) is to marry in France,” he said, “three or four must be
put forward, but let them be of the best and such as Montmorency shall
advise as well to M. Brian as in letters from the King to Castillon, who
should also have portraits of these put forward.”[296]
Footnote 295:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. i. 994. Kaulek, 47.
Footnote 296:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. i. 1102. Kaulek, 54.
[Sidenote: PROBABLE VISIT TO HAVRE]
The narrative may be broken off here to note that Holbein, who remained
in London throughout April and May, engaged, among other things, upon
the full-length portrait of the Duchess of Milan, received, on the 29th
of the latter month, the grant of a royal licence to export “600 tuns of
beer.” It runs as follows: “Hans Holbeyn, the King’s servant. Licence to
buy and export 600 tuns of beer. _Del._ Westminster, 29th May 30 Hen.
VIII.”[297] The painter was evidently prepared, when the opportunity
arose, to engage in small commercial speculations in order to augment
his income, as was the case with more than one of his brother artists
attached to Henry’s court. Thus, in April 1531, Luke Hornebolt received
a licence to export 400 quarters of barley,[298] and Anthony Toto, “the
King’s painter,” was granted one in April 1541,[299] exactly similar to
Holbein’s, for the exporting of 600 tuns of beer. Again, Alard Plumier,
“the King’s jeweller,” in March 1542,[300] obtained grants for importing
400 tuns of Toulouse woad and Gascon wine, and exporting 400 tuns of
beer; while, as already mentioned, Holbein’s friend and compatriot,
Niklaus Kratzer, the King’s astronomer, received a very similar licence
in October 1527.[301]
Footnote 297:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. i. 1099 and 1115(65).
Footnote 298:
_C.L.P._, vol. v. 220(21).
Footnote 299:
_C.L.P._, vol. xvi. 779(18).
Footnote 300:
_C.L.P._, vol. xvii. 220(3).
Footnote 301:
_C.L.P._, vol. iv. pt. ii. 3540(28).
Henry rose promptly to the bait of Louise of Guise as a wife in place of
her elder sister, now unattainable, and as usual no time was wasted. On
the 3rd of June he despatched Philip Hoby and a painter to Havre to
obtain the lady’s portrait. This we learn from a letter of Castillon’s
to Montmorency, dated June 4th, describing an interview between the Duke
of Norfolk and the ambassador’s “secretaire a cachetter” respecting the
suggested marriage, which concludes with the following passage: “Finally
he (Norfolk) said that yesterday he (Henry) despatched the gentleman,
who wanted to go to see” (“vouloit aller”; Kaulek reads “souloit”)
“Madame de Longueville, to Hâvre de Grâce to see Mademoiselle de Guyse;
for a Scotchman has come hither who has said he wonders at the King of
Scots taking a widow rather than a young girl, her sister, the most
beautiful creature that ever he saw.”[302] In the same letter Castillon
again urges that portraits of two or three of the ladies mentioned in
his previous despatch should be sent as quickly as possible, as the
matter is pressing. In this document there is no reference to Hoby by
name, nor mention of any painter accompanying him; nor is there any
entry in the King’s Book of Payments as to any expenses paid for such a
journey either to Hoby or any other special envoy. Hoby had paid a visit
to France earlier in the year in connection with his master’s
matrimonial affairs. He had been sent over in February, at about the
same time as Mewtas, and evidently, like the latter, for the purpose of
urging Madame de Longueville to throw over James V. For this expedition
he received exactly the same sum, £23, 6_s._ 8_d._, as for his journey
to Brussels in the following March. It is entered among the royal
payments for February as “Philip Hoby, sent into France about the King’s
necessaries and affairs of importance, £23, 6_s._ 8_d._”[303]
Footnote 302:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. i. 1135. Kaulek, 37.
Footnote 303:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. ii. 1280 (f. 2_b_).
But although there is no record of payment for this second journey in
June to Havre, or mention of him by name, there is no doubt that Hoby
was the envoy sent, and that Holbein accompanied him. Evidence of this
is contained in a letter, quoted below,[304] from the Duchess of Guise
to her daughter Marie in Scotland, dated September 1, which speaks of
the arrival of Hoby and Holbein at Joinville, and mentions their earlier
visit to Havre. Contributory evidence is contained in Castillon’s letter
of June 4, in which he describes the messenger sent as one who had
already been over to see, or to try to see, Madame de Longueville, which
undoubtedly refers to Hoby’s journey in February. According to the same
letter from Joinville, two portraits at least were painted at Havre, or
rather studies made, which would only occupy the artist for an hour or
two, as in the case of the Duchess of Milan, the sitters in question
being Louise of Guise, who was then eighteen, and some other
lady—possibly Marie or Margaret of Vendôme.
Footnote 304:
See p. 148.
Somewhere about the date of Hoby’s return from Havre, a third French
candidate for Henry’s hand appeared upon the scene. This was Renée, the
third daughter of the Duke of Guise, who afterwards became abbess of St.
Pierre de Reims. Castillon wrote to Montmorency on June 19: “If you wish
to entertain this King urge always the marriages; for he only waits for
them to be presented, and the pictures must be sent immediately. He has
heard that Mons, de Guyse has a daughter still more beautiful than the
second. I hear she is in a religious order, but not professed (_qu’elle
est en une religion, mais elle n’est pas religieuse_). You can say
something of it to Mr. Bryant; for he (Henry) expects to be asked and to
have several offered to him.”[305]
Footnote 305:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. i. 1217. Kaulek, 64.
It will be seen from this letter that Castillon, who was probably
unaware of the steps Henry was taking to obtain likenesses by means of
his own artists, was doing his utmost, on his own account, to get
portraits of likely ladies sent over from France. In a later letter
(July 3) he harps upon the same theme. After reporting that Henry is
still in the best of humours, and is ready to meet Francis at a house
which he will have made between Boulogne and Calais, where they can both
stay for six or seven days without pomp or great expense, he concludes
by saying: “The principal point to bring him over to the interests of
Francis is that he take a wife in France, and they must be more
energetic than they have been, and let his ambassador see and send
portraits and write news; for he wishes to be sought, and in the seeking
they will put him so far in that he cannot draw back.”[306]
Footnote 306:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. i. 1320. Kaulek, 65.
[Sidenote: HENRY’S SEARCH FOR A BRIDE]
In his reply, dated July 10, Montmorency stated that a portrait of
Louise of Guise had been obtained for Brian, who must have already
despatched it to England. “If the King does not decide upon her,” he
said, “others shall be shown to Brian.”[307] Castillon, who, on account
of the plague in London, was then living in Chelsea, in Sir Thomas
More’s old house, which had been lent to him by the King for the summer,
announced to Francis I on July 25 that Brian “has sent the portrait of
Mademoiselle de Guise, whom this King does not think ugly, as I know by
his face.”[308] In spite, however, of Henry’s appreciation of the lady’s
charms, Castillon, in a letter to Montmorency of the same date, urged
that portraits of Mademoiselle de Vendôme and the young de Guise (_i.e._
Renée) should be despatched with all diligence.[309]
Footnote 307:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. i. 1356.
Footnote 308:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt i. 1451. Kaulek, 73.
Footnote 309:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. i. 1452. Kaulek, 74.
Throughout these negotiations Henry frequently suggested that a
selection of ladies should be brought to Calais for his personal
approval, in charge of Francis’ sister, Margaret of Navarre, or some
other high personage, such as the Duke of Guise. “The ladies he means,”
wrote Castillon to Francis on August 12, “are Mesdemoiselles de
Vendôsme, de Lorraine, and the two de Guise. He has heard something of
the younger of the two last, and I think he will settle on one of them.
He has a great opinion of their house.”[310] This request of Henry’s
gave great offence in France, which was voiced in a letter from
Montmorency to Castillon on July 29: “To bring him thither (_i.e._ to
Calais), as he asks, young ladies to choose and make them promenade on
show! They are not hackneys to sell, and there would be no propriety in
it. Henry has his choice of Mdlle. de Vendosme, or Mdlle. de Guise, and
can judge of their beauty by the portraits and reports made to him; and
if these be not approved, there are many other ladies from whom to
choose. The selection might be left to his ambassador, Briant, who could
send portraits.”[311] Even this did not quell the King, and in the end
he was informed that Lorraine was not under the sway of Francis, and
that he would have to apply for the hand of the damsel (Anne of
Lorraine) to her father and mother, and as for the two daughters of
Guise, one had already professed as a nun, while the other, as well as
the daughter of M. de Vendosme, could not be disposed of as though they
were on sale.
Footnote 310:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. ii. 77. Kaulek, 80.
Footnote 311:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. i. 1496.
This official portrait of Louise of Guise by some French painter, which
Brian sent over—and possibly a second one of Marie of Vendôme, as may be
inferred from the last quoted letter—must not be confused with those
privately procured by Hoby at Havre in June. These later French
portraits cannot now be traced, and it would be mere guesswork to
attempt to name the artist who was employed to produce them; but a
careful search through the royal collections or in some of the older
houses in England might possibly result in their discovery.
Some time in August Holbein and Hoby set out together upon their journey
“into the parties of high Burgony.” The purpose of their expedition was
to obtain portraits of Renée of Guise, the Duke’s third daughter, and of
her cousin, Anne of Lorraine, while Hoby was to sound the latter’s
father as to his inclinations towards a possible marriage between his
house and England. Hoby’s instructions from Cromwell, as given in
abstract in the State Papers, run as follows:
“‘A memorial [by Cromwell] to my friend Philip Hoby touching
such matters as he hath now committed to his charge.’
“To repair with diligence where the young duke of Longueville
lies, where he shall find the two daughters of Mons, de Guyse,
whom he shall salute, declaring that having business in these
parts he could not omit to visit the one of them ‘of whom he
hath by his late being there some acquaintance.’ And therewith
he shall view well the younger sister, and shall require the
Duchess, her mother, or whoever has the government of them, that
he may take the physiognomy of her, that he may join her sister
and her in a fair table. Which obtained, he shall go to the duke
of Lorraine, deliver my letter of credence, and declare that no
doubt he has heard of my good will to advance some personage of
his house to the marriage of the King my master; and albeit my
purpose has not taken the effect I desired, yet my affection
remains the same; and learning lately that his Grace has a
daughter of excellent quality, I directed the said Philip, who
has other affairs there, to see her and get her picture.
Requiring him to show his inclination and devise some overture
to the King, upon which I may set forth this thing. Philip shall
also speak in the same manner to the young lady. As soon as he
has gotten her physiognomy and known the Duke’s pleasure he
shall return with all possible diligence.”[312]
Footnote 312:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. i. 380(i).
[Sidenote: JOURNEY TO JOINVILLE AND NANCY]
When Marie of Guise married James V of Scotland she left her son
François, Duke de Longueville, behind her in charge of his maternal
grandmother, Anthoinette of Bourbon, Duchess of Guise, who throughout
1538 was at Joinville, one of the chief residences of the family, or at
places in the immediate neighbourhood. Joinville is a small town in
Champagne, situated on the Marne between Chaumont and Saint-Dizier, and
was made a principality by Henri II in 1552 in favour of Duke Claude’s
eldest son, François II of Guise. Mary Queen of Scots resided there for
some time when a young girl, under the care of her maternal grandmother,
the Duchess of Guise. Miss Jane T. Stoddart, in her recently-published
book, _The Girlhood of Mary Queen of Scots_, describes Joinville as
follows:
“The train from Bar-le-Duc passes through a fertile, well-wooded
country, with many sparkling streams and closely planted
villages. There are few more picturesquely situated towns in
Eastern France than Joinville, which lies on a branch of the
Marne, in a valley overshadowed by undulating tree-clad heights,
on one of which, until near the end of the eighteenth century,
stood the Castle of the Guises.... The woods of Joinville to-day
are full of singing birds. Every variety of foliage clothes the
deep ravines. The high road leading towards Wassy is fringed
with innumerable small, well-kept gardens, and the air, on May
evenings, is not only light and bracing, but sweet with the
scent of flowers. The little town must have changed very much in
appearance since the sixteenth century. It once possessed a wall
and three gates, and an old map in the Hôtel de Ville shows more
than a dozen spires.... It acquired great importance under the
first Dukes of Guise, who used it as their habitual country
residence, and entertained royal personages in the Castle with
regal magnificence. That proud Castle was allowed to fall into
ruins during the eighteenth century.... The picturesque quays
near the church, where the grass-impeded Marne runs between rows
of tall, irregularly built houses, cannot have altered greatly
since Queen Mary’s time. In unexpected corners we find
whitewashed houses adorned with old and costly sculptor’s work,
with carved pillars, and scrolls of vine-leaves surrounding the
porch.”[313]
Footnote 313:
Stoddart, _Girlhood of Mary Queen of Scots_, chapter xxi. p. 346 _et
seq._
* * * * *
For Joinville, then, the diplomatist and the artist set out about the
middle of August. The journey was a long one, and Hoby received in
advance for travelling expenses, £66, 13_s._ 4_d._, nearly three times
as much as he had been paid for his earlier journeys to Havre and
Brussels, thus showing that the expedition was to be of considerably
longer duration. This payment is entered in the royal accounts under
August, anno 30, and is undated, but as may be gathered from entries
preceding and following it, it was on some day between August 11 and 22.
The place of destination is not mentioned; Hoby is said merely to be
“sent into the parts of beyond the sea with all diligence.”[314]
Footnote 314:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. ii. 1280 (f. 32).
All the information so far to be gained about this journey is contained
in a letter from the Duchess of Guise to her daughter in Scotland, dated
September 1, which is preserved among the Balcarres MSS. in the
Advocates’ Library in Edinburgh. From it we learn that the two
travellers reached Joinville on August 30. The letter begins by
describing the health of the youthful Duke of Longueville, who was not
quite three years old, and was growing very tall and plump, and goes on
to give an account of the illnesses of various members of the family.
Louise was still ill of the fever, and had not moved from her bed for
eight days. Her brother Claude had been ill, even to death, at Autun,
but was now quite out of danger. “Your sister Anthoinette is also ill of
a fever and of a rheum, but I think she will do well. Your aunt (the
Duchess of Lorraine) is sent for to be at Court at the coming of the
Queen of Hungary, who is to be presently at Compiègne, where the King
and all the Court will be in a few days.”
The letter then continues:
[Sidenote: HOLBEIN AT JOINVILLE AND NANCY]
“It is but two days since the gentleman of the King of England
who was at Havre and the painter were here. The gentleman came
to me, pretending that he was going to the Emperor, and having
heard that Louise was ill, would not go without seeing her, that
he might report news of her to the King his master. He saw her
(it was the day of her fever), and talked with her as he had
done to me. He then told me that, being so near Lorraine, he
wished to go to Nency to see the country. ‘Je me doute (doubtai)
in contynent il y allet voir la demoyselle (_i.e._ Anne of
Lorraine) pour la tirer comes les aultres;’ for which reason I
sent to their lodging to see who was there, and found the said
painter was there. In fact they have been at Nency, where they
spent a day, and were well entertained, and at every meal the
_maître de hôtel_ came to eat with them, with plenty of
presents. ‘Vella se que j’en ay encore seu; au pis alle sy
navyes pour voysine vostre seur se pouret estre vostre
cousine.’”[315]
Footnote 315:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. ii. 262. Balcarres MS., ii. 20. For the
original text of this letter, see Appendix (L).
* * * * *
This letter fully bears out Cromwell’s instructions to Hoby. It is plain
from its wording that Hoby had already obtained a portrait of Louise at
Havre, and at least one other, of some unnamed lady (“pour la tirer
comes _les aultres_”); and that the painter who had drawn them was the
painter now at Joinville. Their journey was, however, in part at least,
a failure, for their chief purpose in visiting the Duchess was to obtain
a portrait of her daughter Renée, the “religieuse.” Hoby was ordered “to
take the physiognomy of her, that he may join her sister and her in a
fair table”; in other words, he was to get a drawing of the younger girl
in order that her portrait might be painted as a companion to the one of
her sister Louise already completed, so that they might be hung side by
side in one of those double frames hinged together of which Henry VIII
had several in his collection. Unfortunately for their purpose, Renée
was not at Joinville, so that nothing could be done, and Hoby had to be
content with an interview with Louise in her bedchamber. The fourth
daughter, Anthoinette, was at home, but she was then only a child of
seven. Thanks to the curiosity of the Duchess, however, we know that
they succeeded in the second half of their mission. They spent a day at
Nancy, where they were well received by the Duke of Lorraine, and
evidently procured the drawing required, which Holbein would easily make
in a few hours. Hoby attempted to conceal the real purpose of this visit
to Nancy from the Duchess of Guise, but the lady was sharp enough to
guess what was in the wind. Whether Louise or Anne, however, it was all
in the family. “If the worst comes to the worst,” she tells the Queen of
Scots, “if you do not have your sister for neighbour, it may well be
your cousin.”
The letter is far from easy to decipher, owing to its extraordinary
spelling and grammar. It is difficult to gather from it which of the two
places Hoby and his companion first visited. The Duchess, writing only
two days after they had been with her, says that the envoy told her that
“he wished to go to Nency,” which seems to indicate a prospective
journey; but, on the other hand, she says “they have been to Nency,” and
a journey from Joinville to Nancy and back again, together with a whole
day spent at the latter place, could not possibly have been accomplished
between August 30 and September 1, so that it looks as though they had
gone straight to the Duke of Lorraine in spite of Cromwell’s
instructions, and then from there on to Joinville. The point, however,
is of little importance.
Neither in Cromwell’s instructions nor the Duchess’s letter is Holbein
mentioned by name, but that he was the painter who accompanied Hoby
seems certain. In less than a fortnight afterwards he was in Basel, an
easy journey from Lorraine, where he made a stay of at least some weeks,
returning to England some time before Christmas, when he received from
the royal purse a special reward of £10 for his journey into “high
Burgony.” The entry runs as follows: “December, A^o xxx:—Item payde to
Hans Holbyn, one of the Kingis paynters, by the Kingis commaundement,
certefyed by my Lorde pryviseales lettre, x _li._ for his costis and
chargis at this tyme sent aboute certeyn his gracis affares into the
parties of high Burgony, by way of his Graces rewarde, x _li._”[316]
Footnote 316:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. ii. 1280 (f. 48).
Wornum and other writers have assumed that this journey to High Burgundy
had to do with the painting of the portrait of the Duchess of Milan. The
former even suggests that the £10 might be a deferred payment for the
visit to Brussels in March.[317] But the title “High Burgony” was quite
appropriate to the district in which Joinville and Nancy are situate.
Woltmann says that High Burgundy was the name given to the county of
Burgundy (Franche Comté), which belonged to the Emperor, in distinction
to the duchy of Burgundy, which was French, and added that, in those
days, the denomination would not have been impossible for
Switzerland.[318] It may be taken, therefore, considering the lack of
accurate geographical knowledge then existing in England, that the
expression “High Burgony” sufficiently indicated, in the mind of the
keeper of the royal accounts, that part of the world in which Guise and
Lorraine had their headquarters.
Footnote 317:
Wornum, p. 315.
Footnote 318:
Woltmann, i. p. 455.
[Sidenote: THE PAYMENT OF HOLBEIN’S SALARY]
That the payment of this special reward to Holbein—his travelling and
other expenses would be included in the sum of £66, 13_s._ 4_d._ paid to
Hoby—was deferred until Christmas was owing to the fact that, finding
himself so near Switzerland when at Joinville, he seized the opportunity
of paying a visit to his family in Basel, and so remained absent from
England for about three months in all. Another point in favour of the
contention that Holbein was abroad on the King’s business during 1538
more often than has been generally supposed, is to be found in the fact
that at the Midsummer quarter he received three-quarters of a year’s
salary in advance. At Lady Day he had been paid his customary quarter’s
salary: “Lady Day, Anno xxix:—Item for Hans Holben, paynter, vii _li._
x_s._”
At Midsummer he received £30, a whole year’s salary, but it included the
quarter from Lady Day then owing to him. The entry reads: “Midsummer,
Anno xxx:—Item for Hans Holbyn, paynter, for one hole yere’s annuitie
advaunced to him beforehand the same yere, to be accomptedde from o^r
Ladye dey last past, the somme of xxx _li._”
On the two following quarter-days, owing to this payment in advance, he
is entered as receiving nothing:
“Michaelmas, A^o xxx:—Item for Hans Holbyn, paynter, wages
nihil^a quia solutum per warrantum.” “Christmas, A^o xxx:—Item
for Hans Holbyn, paynter, Nihil.”
This payment in advance has generally been regarded as a mark of the
King’s special favour and as an acknowledgment of his talents as an
artist, but it was more probably due to his frequent absences from
England at that time. On the one hand, his several journeys might well
entail some amount of extra expenditure not covered by his travelling
allowances, while on the other his income would be reduced through the
limited time left him for painting the portraits of English courtiers or
German merchants. There is, in fact, no portrait from his brush bearing
the date 1538. Added to this, his great success in painting the Duchess
of Milan must be taken into account. The King was delighted with this
portrait, and his choice would naturally fall upon the man who had
painted it when a similar journey was in contemplation.
There is one piece of evidence, however, against the assumption that
Holbein was the painter who went to Joinville, which must not be
overlooked—a letter from Niklaus Kratzer, the King’s astronomer, to
Cromwell. It is a much-mutilated epistle, written in somewhat halting
and incorrect Latin. Kratzer begins by saying that he had received, the
day before writing, by a ship from Antwerp, two little books by Georgius
Spalatinus, which the author had sent to him in order that he might
present them to Cromwell. “These,” he says, “I gave to Hans Holbein
(Joanni Holbein), in order that he might give them to you.” At first
sight this looks as though Kratzer might have given Holbein the books to
deliver, knowing that he was about to visit Cromwell for final
instructions on the eve of his departure for High Burgundy. The
letter,[319] however, is dated St. Bartholomew’s Day, August 24 (Datum
Lunduni, in [festo Sancti] Bartholomei), so that if Kratzer had seen
Holbein on August 23, the latter could not possibly have reached
Joinville by the 30th; for although the King’s messengers were
accustomed to travel with great expedition—Castillon complains to
Montmorency that the English couriers took only five or six days between
Paris and London, whereas the French messengers took double that time—it
would have been impossible, even with the utmost speed then attainable,
to reach the far borders of eastern France within a week. But although
the letter is dated “St. Bartholomew’s Day,” it has no year-date. It has
been placed under the year 1538 by the editor of the _Calendars of
Letters and Papers_ from such internal evidence in it as it is possible
to decipher; but it is so badly mutilated that it is impossible to make
much sense of the greater part of it. It contains news from abroad, and
mentions Burgratus, vice-chancellor of the Duke of Saxony; and Burgratus
was certainly in London in the summer of 1538, with other envoys from
the German Protestant princes. These envoys, however, paid more than one
visit to England. As, therefore, the letter contains no evidence
absolutely conclusive of the date 1538, it may, perhaps, be permitted to
hold the opinion that it was written in some other year, and that, by
itself, it is not sufficient to negative the strong proofs brought
forward to show that Holbein was the painter who made this particular
journey into France. Nor was this the only occasion on which Spalatinus
used Kratzer as the medium for sending copies of his writings to
Cromwell. On February 5, 1539, Cromwell wrote to the King, enclosing “a
book brought this morning by Nic. Cratzer, astronomer, which Geo.
Spalatinus, some time schoolmaster to the duke of Saxony, desired him to
deliver to the King, on ‘The Solace and Consolation of Princes.’”[320]
Footnote 319:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. ii. 179.
Footnote 320:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiv. pt. i. 227. _St. P._, i. 592.
[Sidenote: THE DATE OF HOBY’S INSTRUCTIONS]
One other point in connection with this subject must be mentioned before
leaving it. Hoby’s instructions for visiting the courts of the Duchess
of Guise and the Duke of Lorraine are not dated. The editor of the
_Calendars_ has entered them under February 1538, together with the very
similar instructions for the visit to the Duchess of Milan, which are
also undated, placing both under the one heading, “Philip Hoby’s
Missions.” For the latter instructions, which he puts second, February
is, of course, the correct date, but the former should be under August,
as the preceding pages prove. Dr. Gairdner was misled, in the first
place, by the fact that in February Hoby received payment from the royal
purse for a journey to France, and, in the second, through his
misreading of the heading to the Brussels instructions, as explained in
the last chapter.[321] By the insertion of two unnecessary words,[322]
the last-named instructions are made to read as though it was Cromwell’s
intention that Hoby, on this particular journey, should go first of all
to the Duchess of Lorraine, and then to the Duchess of Milan. He
concludes from this, in his preface to vol. xiii. pt. i. of the
_Calendars of Letters and Papers_, that Hoby went to France in February
for the purpose of obtaining the portraits of Marie of Guise and her
sister Louise in a single picture, and immediately upon his return set
out for Brussels to get one of the Duchess of Milan. There is no need to
quote the whole of his argument, as it is based upon a misapprehension,
for the instructions in question were undoubtedly drawn up in August, as
the letter of the Duchess of Guise, of the 1st of September, clearly
proves.[323]
Footnote 321:
See above, pp. 119-20.
Footnote 322:
“Instructions given by the L. Cromwell to Philip Hoby, sent over by
him to the Duchess of Lorraine then [to the] Duchess of Milan.”
Footnote 323:
After pointing out that the instructions order Hoby to return home at
once after obtaining portraits of the two Guises and the daughter of
the Duke of Lorraine, he continues: “Yet instructions for his
proceeding on another very similar mission seem to have been drawn up
at or near the same time; and by these second instructions he was not
to come home at all, but proceed at once from the duchess of Lorraine
in France to the duchess of Milan in the Netherlands. It would seem,
however, that the heading to the second set of instructions has been
supplied by a transcriber of a later date, and it is clearly
inaccurate.” _C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. i., preface, p. xxxviii.
In spite of this anxiety to obtain portraits, Henry’s negotiations for a
French marriage were as unsuccessful as his advances for the hand of the
Duchess of Milan. In each case, no doubt, the proposed alliance was
largely political, though Henry seems to have been genuinely anxious to
marry Madame de Longueville, or to prevent his nephew of Scotland from
doing so, and was afterwards by no means unwilling to take one of her
sisters. Throughout the whole proceedings the French and the Imperial
ambassadors in London kept each other well informed of what was going
on, though each one was of the private opinion that Henry was more
inclined towards a bride from his country than from the other’s. Thus
Chapuys, writing to Charles V early in 1539, reports that “everybody
says he is much inclined to the duchess of Milan, whom, as I was
informed three days ago, by one who knows almost all secrets, he would
willingly take, even if she were delivered to him naked without a
penny.”[324] On the other hand, Castillon told Montmorency: “He,
however, says the practice of his marriage with the duchess of Milan
still continues, ... but I know he would willingly return to marry
Mademoiselle de Guise. If you think the King (Francis) and Emperor
should have the pastime of seeing him thus ‘virolin virolant,’ I can
easily get it up, provided a little good cheer is made to his
ambassador, and that M. le Cardinal or M. de Guise caress him a
little.”[325] Henry, however, finally turned his attentions in another
direction, while two of the ladies he had sought were soon married
elsewhere, Louise of Guise to Charles de Croi, Prince de Chimaix, in
1541, and Anne of Lorraine to René, Prince of Orange, in 1540. The
third, Marie of Vendôme, died unmarried, aged twenty-two, on 28th
September 1538, a week or two after Holbein was at Joinville.[326]
Footnote 324:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiv. pt. i. 37 (9 Jan. 1539.)
Footnote 325:
_C.L.P._, vol. xiii. pt. ii. 1120 (2 Dec. 1538.)
Footnote 326:
She was betrothed to François, Duke of Nevers, who married her sister
Margaret before the end of the same year.
[Sidenote: HOLBEIN’S MOVEMENTS IN 1538]
Whether Holbein painted pictures of one or all of these ladies from the
drawings he made in France it is impossible to say. The drawings
themselves cannot be traced, but this does not prove that they were not
taken, for the preliminary studies of Christina of Milan and of Anne of
Cleves and her sister Amelia have so far remained undiscovered. Holbein
and Hoby parted company at Nancy early in September, the former to visit
his wife and family in Basel, while the latter returned post-haste to
London, no doubt taking with him Holbein’s sketch of Anne of Lorraine in
order to show it to his royal master. In October Hoby set out for Spain,
in connection with the negotiations for the Milan marriage.
The contents of this chapter and the preceding one may be summarised as
follows:
_February 1, 1538._—Peter Mewtas sent over to France to obtain the
portrait of Marie of Lorraine, Duchess of Longueville. Early in
the same month Philip Hoby was also sent into France for the
same purpose (about the King’s “necessaries and affairs of
importance”), for which he was paid £23, 6_s._ 8_d._
_March 2 or 3, 1538._ —Hoby and Holbein left London for Brussels to
obtain the portrait of the Duchess of Milan, reaching the latter
place on the evening of the 10th.
_March 12, 1538._—Holbein made his drawing of the Duchess, and the
two men started home on the evening of the same day, reaching
London on March 18.
_April and May 1538._—Holbein at work on the full-length portrait of
the Duchess of Milan.
_May 29, 1538._—Holbein received a royal licence to export 600 tuns
of beer.
_June 3, 1538._—Hoby and Holbein left London for Havre to obtain the
portrait of Louise of Guise, and of some other lady, possibly
Marie or Margaret of Vendôme.
_June 30, 1538._—Holbein received three-quarters of a year’s salary
in advance.
_August 11-22, 1538._—On one of the days between these dates Hoby
and Holbein left London for Nancy and Joinville to obtain
portraits of Renée of Guise and Anne of Lorraine, receiving £66,
13_s._ 4_d._ for their travelling expenses. They arrived at
Joinville on August 30, to find Renée absent, but were
successful at Nancy in getting a likeness of Anne. From
Joinville Hoby returned to London, and Holbein went on to Basel,
which he reached before September 10. He remained there until
after October 16.
_December 1538._—Holbein, upon his return to London, received a
special reward of £10 “for his costis and chargis at this tyme
sent aboute certeyn his gracis affares into the parties of high
Burgony, by way of his Graces rewarde.”
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