I.
In the letter which the Emperor wrote to Mary of Hungary on his nephew's death, he remarked that the best way of consoling his little nieces for their brother's loss would be to find them husbands. The marriages of these youthful Princesses had already engaged his attention for some time past. While Christina was still a babe in her nurse's arms, the Regent Margaret had been planning marriages for her great-nieces. In 1527 Wolsey proposed King Henry's illegitimate son, the Duke of Richmond, as an eligible suitor for one of them, but the idea of such a union was scouted by the imperial family.[79] A marriage between Dorothea and her second cousin, King James V. of Scotland, was discussed during many years, and only abandoned eventually owing to the fickle character of the young monarch. After Prince John's death, this Princess inherited her brother's claims to the Danish throne, and King Frederic went so far as to propose that she should wed his younger son John, offering to recognize him as heir to Denmark, and leave the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein to his elder son Christian. But the Emperor and Mary of Hungary were both reluctant to treat with the usurper who had deposed their brother-in-law, and the death of Frederic in April, 1533, put an end to the scheme.[80]
1533-35] FRANCESCO SFORZA
Another suitor now came forward in the person of Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan. This Prince was the younger brother of Massimiliano Sforza, who as a boy had spent several years at the Court of Malines, and had been deposed by Francis I. after a brief reign of three years. Born at Milan on the 4th of February, 1495, when his father, Lodovico, was at the height of his glory, and named after his grandfather, the great Condottiere, Francesco II. had been the sport of Fortune from his childhood. Before he was two years old, his mother, the brilliant Duchess Beatrice, died, and when he was five his father lost both throne and freedom. While the unfortunate Moro ended his days in the dungeons of Loches, his young children were brought up in Germany by their cousin Bianca, the second wife of the Emperor Maximilian. Francesco spent most of his time at Innsbruck, and, after the brief interlude of his brother's reign at Milan, retired once more to Trent. His opportunity came in 1521, when Leo X., in his dread of France, joined with Charles V. to place the younger Sforza on his father's throne. A gallant soldier and cultivated man, Francesco II. won the hearts of all his subjects, who rejoiced to see a Sforza Duke again among them. But misfortune dogged his footsteps. In 1523 Milan was once more taken by the French, and after their defeat at Pavia the Duke incurred the Emperor's displeasure, and was deprived of his State, chiefly owing to the intrigues of his Chancellor, Morone, with Pope Clement VII. It was only in December, 1529, when Charles came to Bologna for his coronation, that, at the intercession of the Pope and the Venetians, he consented to pardon Francesco, and give him the investiture of Milan for the enormous sum of 900,000 ducats. But it was a barren realm to which the Duke returned. His subjects were ruined by years of warfare, his own health had suffered severely from the hardships which he had undergone, and he had been dangerously wounded by the poisoned dagger of an assassin. At thirty-eight he was a broken man, prematurely old and grey. The Venetian chronicler Marino Sanuto, who saw the Duke at Venice in October, 1530, describes him as looking very melancholy, and being only able to walk and move his hands with difficulty.[81] He applied himself, however, manfully to the almost hopeless task of relieving the distress of his subjects and restoring order and prosperity. With great difficulty he succeeded in raising 400,000 ducats, the first installment of the payment for the investiture of Milan, upon which the Castello was restored to him. His loyalty and modesty had gone far to recover the Emperor's confidence, and Charles treated him with marked favour and kindness.
1533-35] THE DUKE'S COURTSHIP
This encouraged Francesco to aspire to the hand of a Princess of the imperial house. His subjects were exceedingly anxious to see their Duke married, and already more than one suitable bride had been proposed. But Margherita Paleologa, the heiress of Montferrat, whom her mother would gladly have given Francesco in marriage, was wedded to his cousin Federico, Duke of Mantua, in October, 1531, and the Pope's niece, the Duchessina Caterina de' Medici, another prize who had been dangled before the Duke of Milan's eyes, was betrothed to the Duke of Orleans in the following year. Before this event was announced, in January, 1532, the Milanese Ambassador, Camillo Ghilino, who had accompanied Charles to Brussels, ventured to ask the Emperor, on his master's behalf, for the hand of one of his nieces. Charles was evidently not averse to the proposal. It was part of his policy to consolidate the different Italian dynasties, and he was alive to the advantage of drawing the Duke of Milan into his family circle. But he returned an evasive answer, saying that Princess Dorothea was already destined for the King of Scotland, while her sister Christina was too young, and that he could arrange nothing without the consent of her father, the King of Denmark, who had gone to Norway to try and recover his kingdom.[82] When Francesco met Charles at Bologna in the following December, and was admitted to the newly-formed League of Italian States, he renewed his suit, and once more asked for Christina's hand. On the 10th of March Charles came to Milan, and spent four days in the Castello, after which he accompanied the Duke on a hunting-party at Vigevano, and enjoyed excellent sport, killing two wild-boars and three stags with his own hand.[83] During this visit the marriage was arranged, and on the 10th of June, 1533, the contract was signed at Barcelona by the Emperor on the one hand, and the Chancellor of Milan, Count Taverna, and the ducal Chamberlain, Count Tommaso Gallerati, on the other. Christina was to receive 100,000 ducats out of the sum due to the Emperor, as her dowry, and in the event of Dorothea succeeding to the throne of Denmark another 100,000 was to be settled on her. Hawkins, the English Ambassador, who wrote home from Barcelona to announce the conclusion of the marriage, remarked that the Milanese had left well pleased, but that the Duke was somewhat to be pitied, since he was only to have the younger sister, and no fortune with her. "Dower getteth he none."[84]
In spite of this drawback, the Milanese received the news with great rejoicing, and any regret which they might have felt at the substitution of the younger for the elder sister was dispelled by the Spaniards in the Emperor's suite, who informed the Duke's Ambassadors that Christina was taller and far more beautiful than Dorothea. Francesco himself wrote to an old friend in Cremona, Giorgio Guazzo, saying that he would lose no time in telling him of his great good fortune in winning so high-born and attractive a young lady for his bride.[85] At the same time he agreed with the Emperor to send Count Massimiliano Stampa, his intimate friend, to the Netherlands, to wed the Princess in his name, and bring her to Milan that autumn. Meanwhile the news of the marriage was received with much less satisfaction in the Low Countries. Mary had taken the motherless children to her heart, and was especially attached to Christina, who resembled her in character and tastes. She inherited the family passion for riding and hunting, and combined her aunt's intelligence and ability with her mother's sweetness of disposition. The idea of marrying this charming child of eleven to a half-paralyzed invalid old enough to be her father was repulsive, and Mary did not hesitate to protest against the Emperor's decision with characteristic frankness.
1533-35] MARY'S PROTEST
"Monseigneur," she wrote to Charles on the 25th of August, "I have received Your Majesty's letters with the copy of the treaty which you have been pleased to make between our niece, Madame Chrétienne, and the Duke of Milan, on which point I must once for all relieve my conscience. I will at least show you the difficulties which to my mind lie in the way, so that Your Majesty may consider if any remedy can be devised before the matter is finally arranged. As for our said niece, I have no doubt that she will agree to whatever you please to wish, since she regards you as her lord and father, in whom she places absolute trust, and is ready to obey you as your very humble daughter and slave. The child is so good and willing there will be no need for any persuasion on my part, either as regards the Count's coming or anything else that you may please to command; but on the other hand, Monseigneur, since the words of the treaty clearly show that the marriage is to be consummated immediately, and she will have to take her departure without delay, I must point out that she is not yet old enough for this, being only eleven years and a half, and I hold that it would be contrary to the laws of God and reason to marry her at so tender an age. She is still quite a child, and, whatever may be the custom in yonder country, you are exposing her to the risk of bearing a child at this tender age, and of losing both her own life and that of her issue. Monseigneur, I am saying more than I ought to say, and speaking with a freedom which I can only beg you to forgive, because both my conscience and the love which I bear the child constrain me to write thus. On the other hand, seeing that this treaty requires the two sisters to make certain promises, I do not think that she is old enough to enter into these engagements, while her sister, although turned twelve, is very young of her age, and should hardly make these promises without the consent of her father, who is still living. I know that I am meddling with other people's business by writing to you of those matters which are not, strictly speaking, my affair. But I feel that I must send you these warnings, not from any wish to prevent the marriage, if Your Majesty thinks it well, but in order to give you a reason for breaking it off, if any difficulties should arise. For it seems to me, that as people often try to discover the fifth wheel in the coach, where there is no reason to make any difficulty, it would be easy to find some excuse for embroiling matters, when so good a cause exists. I quite understand that it may not be easy to alter the treaty at this hour, but, since I had not the opportunity of speaking to you on the subject before, I feel it to be my duty to warn you of these things, and to remind you of the child's tender age, of which Your Majesty may not have been aware. However this may be, Monseigneur, I have written this to fulfil my duty to God, as well as to Your Majesty, my niece, and the whole world, and can only beg you not to take what I have said in bad part, or to believe that any other cause could have led me to speak so plainly; and I take my Creator to witness that this is true, begging Him to give you health and long life, and grant your good and virtuous desires:
"Your very humble and obedient sister,
"Marie.
"From Ghent, August 25, 1533."[86]
Charles answered the Queen's protest in the following brief letter, which showed that his mind was made up, and that he would allow no change in his plans:
"Madame my good Sister,
"I have received your letter, and will only reply briefly, as I am writing to you at length on other matters by my secretary, and also because my niece's affair is rather a matter for priests and lawyers than for me, and I have desired Granvelle to satisfy your objections. So I will only tell you that, as the children's father is more dead to them than if he had ceased to live, I signed the marriage treaty before I left Barcelona. As for the question of issue, I fear that the Duke's advanced years will prove a greater barrier than my niece's tender youth. I am sure that you will act in accordance with my wishes, and I beg you to do this once more.
"From Monzone, September 11, 1533."[87]
There was clearly nothing more to be said; but Mary had secretly determined, whatever happened, not to allow the actual marriage to take place until the following year, and in the end she had her way.