I.
The negotiations for the King of England's marriage with the Duchess of Milan were broken off. But there was no lack of suitors for Christina's hand. During the winter and spring of 1539 the Emperor's niece received offers of marriage from three princely bridegrooms. The first of these was Antoine, Duke of Vendôme, whose courtship of the Duchess on the journey to Compiègne had aroused King Henry's jealousy. The second was William of Cleves, who since the old Duke Charles's death had taken possession of Guelders, and was now seeking to obtain the investiture of the duchy, together with Christina's hand. The third was Francis, the Marquis of Pont-à-Mousson, and heir of Lorraine. From the day that this Prince first met the Duchess at Compiègne, he sought her for his bride with a constancy and steadfastness that were eventually to be crowned with success. But for the moment the Duke of Cleves seemed to have the best chance of winning the coveted prize. From the first Mary of Hungary had regarded this alliance with favour, and when, in January, 1539, she consulted her Councillors on the Duchess's marriage, it was this union which met with their highest approval.
"Duke William," wrote the Queen in her reply to the Emperor, "has greatly offended Your Majesty, both as a private individual and sovereign lord, by taking possession of Guelders. Still, as he renews his suit and professes to be your loyal friend and servant, it would be well to treat with him and offer him the Duchess's hand, on condition that he will give up Guelderland."[243]
The alternative proposal, she proceeded to say, deserved consideration, seeing the great anxiety which the Duke of Lorraine's son showed for the marriage. No doubt the Emperor's niece, with her large dowry, would be a very honourable match for him, and well worth the surrender of his rights on Guelders; but, since it was most desirable to recover this duchy without delay, it might be well to secure the help of Lorraine by this means.
The situation was a difficult one, and from the moment of the old Duke's death in June, 1538, Mary had never ceased to entreat Charles to come to Flanders and take active measures for the recovery of Guelders before it was too late. Throughout the winter Duke William went from town to town, endearing himself to his new subjects; and when the deputies of Lorraine asserted their master's superior claims, he told them that he would never give up Guelders to any mortal man. By the death of his father on the 6th of February, 1539, he succeeded to the rich provinces of Cleves and Jülich, and became the wealthiest and most powerful Prince in North Germany.[244]
March, 1539] ANNE OF CLEVES
Still Charles put off his coming, and told his sister that he was bent on undertaking a second Crusade against the Turks, and could not spare the time for a journey to Flanders. This was too much for Mary's equanimity, and she protested in the strongest language against the Emperor's folly in exposing his person to such risks, declaring that this Crusade would not only prove the utter ruin of the Netherlands, but of all Christendom.[245] Fortunately, Mary's remonstrances were supported by the Emperor's wisest Councillors, and, in deference to their representations, he decided to abandon his Crusade for the present and come to Flanders. This decision was confirmed by the discontent which the Duke of Cleves's intrigues helped to foment in Ghent—always a turbulent city—as well as by the news that the King of England had entered into a close alliance with Cleves, and was about to marry his sister.
Cromwell, with his habitual duplicity, had been in correspondence with the German Princes while he professed to be zealous for the Emperor's alliance; and in March Christopher Mont, his Envoy to Frankfort, was desired to make diligent inquiries as to the shape, stature, and complexion, of the Duke of Cleves's sister Anne. If these were satisfactory, he was to suggest that proposals of marriage should be made by that Prince and his brother-in-law, the Elector John Frederick of Saxony. Mont sent glowing descriptions of the lady's beauty, and was bold enough to declare that she excelled the Duchess of Milan as much as the golden sun excels the silver moon.[246]
Henry was now all on fire to see the Lady Anne, although he had not yet lost all interest in Christina, whose name still figures constantly in letters from Brussels. On the 6th of April we hear that the Duchess of Milan is sick of fever, and ten days later Cromwell writes to the King that Her Grace is no longer sick, and that "at Antwerp the people still cherish a hope that Your Highness will yet marry her."[247] If he could not make her his wife, the King was determined to prevent another suitor from succeeding where he had failed, and renewed his offer of his daughter Mary with a large dowry to the Duke of Cleves. William, however, showed no alacrity to avail himself of this offer, and sent Envoys both to Brussels and Toledo to press his suit for Christina's hand.
The sudden death of the Empress at Toledo on the 1st of May altered all Charles's plans. A few weeks before this Isabella had given birth to a son, who only lived a few hours, and Charles had written to inform his sister of the infant's death. On the 2nd of May he wrote a few touching lines with his own hand to tell Mary the grievous news. The doctors had pronounced her to be out of danger, but catarrh attacked the lungs, and proved fatal in a few hours.
"I am overwhelmed with sorrow and distress, and nothing can comfort me but the thought of her good and holy life and the devout end which she made. I leave you to tell my subjects over yonder, of this pitiful event, and ask them to pray for her soul. I will do my best to bow to the will of God, whom I implore to receive her in His blessed paradise, where I feel certain that she is. And may God keep you, my dear sister, and grant you all your desires."[248]
May, 1539] THE PALATINE'S TRAVELS
When this sad event took place, Christina's sister Dorothea and her husband, Count Frederic, were staying at the Imperial Court. These adventurous travellers had come to Spain in the vain hope of inducing the Emperor to support their claims on Denmark, and, after crossing the Pyrenees in rain and snow, had at length reached Toledo, where they were hospitably entertained. The Empress treated Dorothea with great affection, but Frederic's German servants, who consumed five meals a day and ate meat on Ash Wednesday, shocked the Spanish courtiers, and drew down the censures of the Inquisition upon them. Even the Emperor asked his cousin why he brought so numerous a suite on his travels; but, although he would make no promises of further help, he good-naturedly paid Frederic's expenses at Toledo, and gave him a present of 7,000 crowns. The death of the Empress, Dorothea's best friend, put an end to all hope of further assistance. The Emperor shut himself up in a Carthusian convent, and the Palatine and his wife started for the Low Countries.[249] On their way through France they were royally entertained by the King and Queen in the splendid Palais des Tournelles, and Francis took so great a fancy to his wife's niece that Eleanor felt it wise to keep Dorothea continually at her side. Here they were detained some time by Frederic's illness, and after his recovery spent several days at Chantilly with the Constable, and at the King's fine new villa of Cotterets, on their way to the Netherlands.[250]
Sept., 1539] A MOCK FIGHT
Here the travellers were eagerly awaited by Christina and her aunt. After the funeral services for the repose of the Empress's soul had been duly celebrated, and the last requiem sung in S. Gudule, the Queen set out on a progress through Holland and Friesland, and spent some time at Bois-le-Duc, on the frontiers of Guelders, trying to arrange matters with the Duke of Cleves. But, although friendly letters and messages were exchanged, nothing could be settled until the Emperor's arrival, which was now delayed till the autumn, and the Court moved to the Hague for August. Here the Queen received news that the Count Palatine and his wife had reached Dordrecht and were coming by sea to Holland. Christina at once travelled to Rotterdam, intending to go by boat to meet the travellers. But the weather was rough and stormy, and the sailors were reluctant to set out. The Duchess, however, would hear of no delay, and, embarking in a small boat, bade the sailors put out to sea. Hardly had they left the shore before a terrific gale sprang up, and from the deck of their ship the Palatine and his wife saw a barque tossed on the raging seas, sending up signals of distress. Altering their course, they hastened to the rescue, and found, to their great surprise, that the Duchess of Milan was on board. Count Frederic scolded his sister-in-law soundly for her rashness, but Dorothea was enchanted to see Christina, and laughed and cried by turn as she embraced her.[251] The Queen awaited the travellers no less eagerly, in her anxiety to hear the latest news from Spain, and agreed readily to Frederic's proposal that his wife should remain at the Hague while he returned to Germany. Early in September the Palatine took leave of his relatives and went to Antwerp, saying that he must raise money for his journey to Heidelberg. But he kept his true destination a secret. During his illness in Paris, Bishop Bonner had brought Frederic a letter from Cromwell, begging him to come to England, since he was only divided from this country by a narrow arm of the sea, and His Majesty was very anxious to see him again. All immediate alarm of war had died away, and the irascible monarch's anger was allayed by the arrival of a new French Ambassador in the person of Marillac, and by the permission which Mary gave him to buy ammunition in the Low Countries. In return, he ordered an imposing requiem to be held in St. Paul's for the late Empress, and desired Cromwell and the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, with twenty Bishops, to attend the service.[252] He resumed his old habit of spending the summer evenings on the river, enjoying the music of flutes and harps, and sent to France and Italy for excellent painters and musicians—a sure sign, Marillac was told, that he was about to marry again. Another fête, at which the Ambassador declined to be present, was a mock-fight on the Thames between two galleys, one of which bore the King's arms, while the other was decorated with an effigy of the Pope with the triple tiara and keys, attended by the Cardinals. The show ended in the triumph of the English sailors, who threw the Pope and Cardinals into the river—"the whole thing," according to Marillac, "being as badly represented as it was poorly conceived."[253]
Now the King was anxious to hear the Emperor's intention from the Palatine's own lips, while Frederic on his part was flattered by this powerful monarch's invitation, and felt that his assistance might prove of use in his visionary schemes for the recovery of Denmark. But, knowing that of late relations between Henry and the Queen had been strained, he kept his counsel, and told no one but his wife that he was bound for Calais.
Here he was courteously entertained by Lord Lisle, an illegitimate son of Edward IV., and escorted by him to Canterbury and London. Frederic was lost in admiration at the rows of stately palaces along the Thames, and the fine Castle of Richmond, but was disappointed, when he visited Westminster Abbey, not to see the famous antlers of the stag which King Dagobert caught, and which wore a golden collar inscribed with the words, "Julius Cæsar let me go free." Afterwards he learnt that these legendary trophies had lately been removed by the King's orders, for fear the monks, whom he was about to expel, might conceal them.
In the absence of the King at Ampthill, Cromwell, who had been told to "grope out the reason of Frederic's coming," entertained the Count splendidly at his own house, and showed him the Tower of London and the Temple Church. But the Deputy's wife, Lady Lisle, who looked on Cromwell with deep distrust, begged her husband to beware of the Lord Privy Seal's fair words, and was none too well pleased to hear that he had partaken of the partridge pasty and baked cranes which she had sent from Calais, together with her own toothpick for the Palsgrave's use, having noticed that her noble guest "used a quill to pick his teeth with."[254]
Sept., 1539] THE PALATINE AT WINDSOR
Meanwhile the Palatine's visit to England was exciting much curiosity, and not a little alarm, in some quarters. The Pope and the French King feared it might lead to a secret covenant between Henry and Charles, while in London it was commonly reported that Frederic came to renew negotiations for his union with the Duchess of Milan, and the Duke of Cleves hastily sent Ambassadors to conclude his sister's marriage. These Envoys reached Windsor on the same day as the Count Palatine, whom Henry invited to a banquet there on the 24th of September. When he bade the Lord High Admiral escort the Palsgrave to Windsor, Southampton, eager to curry favour with the King, expressed his opinion that the Cleves alliance was preferable to a marriage with a French Princess or one of the Emperor's family, "albeit the Duchess of Milan was a fair woman and well spoken of," and told the King of the resentment which his union with the Lady Anne had aroused at the Court of Brussels. Henry remained plunged in thought for some moments; then a smile broke over his face, and he exclaimed: "Have they remembered themselves now? They that would not when they might, when they would they shall have nay!"[255]
Nothing was lacking, however, to the splendour of the Palatine's reception at Windsor. The Duke of Suffolk rode out to meet him beyond Eton Bridge with 100 horsemen clad in velvet, and the banquet was served on golden dishes in a hall carpeted with cloth of gold, to the strains of delicious music from the King's famous band. The Cleves Envoys were at table, but after dinner the King took the Count apart, and conversed with him for over two hours on his travels. Frederic took this opportunity of begging the King to help him in driving out the usurper of Denmark, and releasing his unhappy father-in-law, Christian II.[256] Henry listened kindly, and promised to consider the matter, but no mention was made of Christina. The next day a great hunting-party was given in the Palsgrave's honour. A pavilion of green laurel boughs was set up in a meadow on the banks of the river, and while the King and his guests were at dinner the merry note of hunting-horns rang through the air, and a stag bounded across the turf, followed by the hounds at full cry. Immediately the whole party sprang to horse and joined in the chase, which lasted for three hours, and ended in the slaughter of thirty-four stags. From Windsor Frederic went to Hampton Court, and on the 3rd of October finally took leave of the King, who gave him 2,000 crowns as a parting gift. Hubert also received a silver cup from the Lord Privy Seal, who begged him and his lord to return at Christmas, and surprised him by asking if the Palsgrave had any castle to let or sell, as it might be convenient for him to secure a retreat abroad. The Minister evidently realized the precarious nature of his position, and Hubert remembered his request when he heard of the doom which soon afterwards overtook the King's favourite.[257]
Oct., 1539] THE LADY ANNE
In his last interview Henry told the Count that he feared it would be impossible for him to join in any enterprise against Denmark, as his new allies the German Princes were in league with the present King. At the same time he informed his good cousin of his intended marriage to the Lady Anne of Cleves, a Princess of suitable age and elegant stature, and begged him to obtain a safe-conduct from the Regent for his bride's passage through the Low Countries.[258] The next day Frederic crossed the Channel and joined his wife at Brussels. Here, as Dorothea had already told him, he found the Queen much displeased at the trick which he had played her, and Hubert came in for his share of blame. They soon left Brabant for Heidelberg, and the Palatine sent Lady Lisle—or, as he called her, "Madame ma bonne mère"—a barrel of fine red and white Rhine wine in remembrance "of her loving son."[259]