III.
March, 1561] DEATH OF DOROTHEA
On the death of Christian II. of Denmark, his elder daughter, Dorothea, the widowed Electress Palatine, assumed the royal style and title. But as she was childless herself, and lived in retirement at Neuburg, in the Upper Palatinate, the faithful subjects who still clung to their rightful monarch's cause turned to Christina, the Duchess-Dowager of Lorraine, and begged her to assert her son's claims to the throne, saying that they regarded him as their future King. Chief among these was Peder Oxe, an able public servant who had been exiled by Christian III., and came to visit the Duchess in the convent of La Cambre at Brussels in 1559, soon after the captive monarch's death. Peder tried to enlist her sympathies on behalf of her father's old subjects, and assured her that the recovery of Denmark would be an easy matter, owing to the unpopularity of the new King, Frederic III. At first Christina lent a willing ear to these proposals, but her friend Count d'Aremberg succeeded in convincing her of the futility of such an enterprise, while both Philip and Granvelle firmly refused to support the scheme.[597] Peder Oxe, however, followed Christina to Nancy, where he became a member of the Ducal Council, and did good service in restoring order in the finances.
Other Danish exiles sought refuge at the Court of Lorraine, where their presence naturally revived Christina's dreams of recovering her father's throne. All manner of rumours were abroad. In March, 1561, Chaloner heard that the French King and the Duke of Lorraine were about to invade Denmark. Three months later Mary, Queen of Scots' faithful servant, Melville, wrote from Heidelberg that the Duchess-Dowager of Lorraine had come there to persuade her sister, the old Countess Palatine, to surrender her rights on Denmark to her nephew, the Duke of Lorraine. Christina spent some time with her sister, and was joined in September by the Duke, who came to escort her home.[598] The Palatine Frederic's successor, Otto Heinrich, had died in 1559, and his cousin, the reigning Elector, Frederic of Zimmern, the brother of the Countess Egmont and her sister Helene, was deeply attached to Dorothea, and, like his predecessor, professed the Lutheran faith. A year after Christina's visit Dorothea died suddenly at Neuburg, and was buried by her husband's side in the Church of the Holy Ghost at Heidelberg. The Palatine Frederic erected a fine monument over her grave, with the following inscription:
"To the most noble Lady, Dorothea, Countess Palatine, and Queen of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, the beloved consort of the Elector Frederic II., this tomb was raised by Frederic III., by the grace of God Elector Palatine, in the year 1562, as a token of love and gratitude to this his most dear and excellent kinswoman."
Dorothea's tomb was destroyed with that of her husband and many others when Louis XIV.'s armies sacked and burnt Heidelberg in 1693, but an English traveller who visited the castle and Church of the Holy Ghost thirty years before, preserved this inscription in his diary.[599]
Feb., 1563] DUKE OF GUISE'S MURDER
Christina came to Heidelberg with her son and both her daughters in the autumn of the year 1562, and was present at Frankfurt on the 24th of November, when her cousin Maximilian was crowned King of the Romans. On this occasion the Emperor Ferdinand collected as many of the imperial family as possible around him. The Dukes and Duchesses of Bavaria and Cleves were present, as well as most of the Electors and Princes of the Empire; while Ibrahim Bey, the Sultan's Ambassador, brought camels and rugs and Persian jars as gifts from his master. Among the old friends whom the Duchess met at Frankfurt were the Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont and Jacques d'Aremberg. They greeted her with renewed friendliness, and from their lips she heard how badly things were going in the Low Countries, and how unpopular the Regent and her Minister, the newly-created Cardinal de Granvelle, had become with all classes of people.[600] The Emperor and all his family returned to Heidelberg after the coronation, and were splendidly entertained by the Palatine, who was anxious to arrange a marriage between one of his sons and Mademoiselle de Lorraine. But Frederic's strong Lutheran tenets were a serious obstacle to this plan. At the recent coronation he had refused to attend Mass, and had remained in the vestry of the cathedral until the service was over.
Meanwhile religious strife was raging in France, and Christina returned to Nancy to find that civil war had broken out. Earlier in the year the massacre of a peaceable congregation at Wassy, near Joinville, had excited the fury of the Huguenots, and a fierce struggle was being waged on the frontiers of Lorraine. The Duke's own kindred were divided. Condé was the leader of the revolted party, while his brother Antoine, King of Navarre—l'Échangeur, as he was called, because he was said to change his religion as often as he did his coat—was mortally wounded, fighting on the King's side, in the siege of Rouen. A month later the Constable de Montmorency was made prisoner in the Battle of Dreux, by his own nephew Coligny. On the 21st of February, 1563, Christina and her son were attending the baptism of the Duke of Aumale's son Claude, when a messenger arrived with the news that the Duke of Guise had been stabbed by a Huguenot fanatic in the camp before Orleans. After a public funeral in Notre Dame, the remains of Antoinette's most illustrious son were buried at Joinville, amid the lamentations of the whole nation.[601]
Fortunately, the duchy of Lorraine escaped the horrors of civil war. On the 18th of May, 1562, Charles made his long-deferred state entry into Nancy, and took a solemn vow to observe the rights of his subjects before he received the ducal crown. But he still consulted his mother in all important matters, and treated her with the utmost respect and affection.[602] His own time and thoughts were chiefly occupied in enlarging and beautifying the ducal palace. He extended the Galerie des Cerfs, and built a fine hall, adorned with frescoes of the Metamorphoses of Ovid, a translation of which had been dedicated to his grandfather, Duke Antoine, by the poet Clement Marot. At the same time he rebuilt the old Salle du Jeu de Paume on the model of one at the Louvre, and made a picture-gallery above this new hall, which he hung with portraits of the ducal family.[603]
Christina also devoted much attention to the improvement of her estates. She rebuilt the salt-works at Les Rosières, which had been abandoned in the last century, and placed an inscription on the gates, recording that in February, 1563, these salt-works were erected by
"Christina, by the grace of God Queen of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, Sovereign of the Goths, Vandals, and Slavonians, Duchess of Schleswig, Dittmarsch, Lorraine, Bar, and Milan, Countess of Oldenburg and Blamont, and Lady of Tortona."[604]
Nov., 1563] BIRTH OF A GRANDSON
Several indications of the active part that she took in affairs of State appear in contemporary records. In 1564, with the Pope's sanction, she concluded an agreement with the Bishop of Toul, by which he made over his temporalities to the Duke of Lorraine. Christina, as she explained to Granvelle, had taken this step to avoid the see from becoming the property of France; but her action roused the indignation of her uncle, the Emperor Ferdinand, who rebuked his good niece sharply for venturing to meddle with the affairs of the Imperial Chamber.[605]
Grand Duc le Prince Aisné, des Princes de ta Race,
Le Lorrein étonné de tés exploits guerriers,
Ne peut assez trouuer en son cloz de Lauriers,
Pour ombrager ton front, tes Temples, et ta face.
Thomas de leu Fe: et excud:
CHARLES III., DUKE OF LORRAINE
To face p. [472]
On the 8th of November, 1563, the Duchess Claude gave birth to her first child, a boy which was named Henry, after her father, the late King of France. Both Charles IX. and Philip II. consented to stand godfathers, and the French King announced his intention of attending the child's christening in person. His visit, however, was put off, as the young Duchess fell seriously ill of smallpox, and was eventually fixed to take place at Bar after Easter. There was even a rumour that King Philip, whose presence in the Low Countries was earnestly desired, would visit Lorraine on his journey, and meet the French monarch on the 1st of May. The prospect of seeing Catherine and her son with an armed force in Lorraine filled Christina with alarm. The Queen-mother, as she knew, was very jealous of the Duchess-Dowager's influence with her son, and neglected no means of placing French subjects in positions of authority at the Ducal Court;[606] while her recent intrigues with the Huguenot leaders might lead to the introduction of Protestant rites at the ceremony. Before the date fixed for the christening, however, Christina received an unexpected visitor in the person of Cardinal Granvelle, who had been compelled to bow to the storm and leave the Netherlands. In a private note which he sent to Granvelle on the 1st of March, 1564, Philip had desired the Cardinal to retire to Besançon on plea of paying a visit to his mother, whom he had not seen for nineteen years. The desired permission was readily granted by the Regent, and, to the great satisfaction of the nobles, the hated Minister left Brussels on the 13th of March. "Our man is really going," wrote William of Orange to his brother Louis. "God grant he may go so far that he can never return!"[607]
March, 1564] GRANVELLE AT NANCY
The Cardinal had by this time recognized his fatal mistake in persuading the King to appoint the Duchess of Parma Regent instead of Madame de Lorraine, "by which action," as he himself wrote, "I made the Prince of Orange my enemy."[608] He was the more anxious to recover Christina's good graces, while she on her part does not appear to have borne him any grudge for his share in the transaction. His way led him through Lorraine, and when he reached Pont-à-Mousson he found a messenger from the Duchess begging him to come and see her at Nancy. On his arrival he was received by the Duke's maître d'hôtel, and conducted to lodgings in the palace. This "very fine house," and the hospitality with which he and his companions were entertained, gratified the Cardinal, and after supper he was received by the Duchess-Dowager, with whom he had a long interview in the Grande Galerie.[609] They conversed freely of the troubles in the Netherlands. Christina was anxious to justify herself from the charge of fomenting these dissensions, and declared that she had nothing to say against the Duchess of Parma, and only complained of her refusal to allow a Mass for her father, King Christian II., to be said in the Court chapel on the anniversary of his death. But she had many complaints to make of the King, who had only written to her five times in the last five years, and who insisted on keeping her Castle of Tortona in his own hands, and employed the revenues of the town to pay the garrison, without giving her any compensation. Granvelle could only allege the unsettled state of Lombardy and the disorder of Milanese finances as excuses for Philip's behaviour. The Duchess further confided to him her fears regarding the French King's visit, and the intrigues of Catherine, who was always endeavouring to destroy the harmony that prevailed between herself and her daughter-in-law. Granvelle did his best to allay these alarms, and assured her that the rumours as to the large force that was to accompany him to Lorraine were absolutely false.
Another subject on which Christina consulted the Cardinal was her designs against Denmark. The young King Frederic III. at first professed great friendship for her, and opened negotiations for his marriage with her daughter Renée—a proposal which she was reluctant to accept.[610] This idea, however, was soon abandoned, and the outbreak of war between Denmark and Sweden seemed to afford an opportunity for advancing her own claims. Peder Oxe and his companion in exile, Willem von Grümbach, urged her to raise an army and invade Jutland, assuring her that the discontented Danish nobles were only longing for an excuse to rise in a body and dethrone the usurper. But Christina realized that it would be useless to make any attempt without Philip's support, which she begged Granvelle to obtain. The Cardinal, however, quite declined to approach the King on the subject, and told the Duchess that a rupture with Denmark would make him more unpopular in Flanders than he was already, saying that he had no wish to be stoned by the Dutch. Before leaving Nancy he discussed the situation at length with the Duchess's latest friend, Baron de Polweiler, the Bailiff of Hagenau, a brave and loyal servant of Charles V., who had warmly espoused Christina's cause and was in correspondence with the Danish malcontents. The Baron was a wise and practical man, and agreed with Granvelle that the best course of action would be to keep up the agitation in Denmark, without taking further measures until the coming of King Philip, which was now confidently expected.[611]
May, 1564] ILLNESS OF CHRISTINA
After the Cardinal's departure, Christina fell ill at Denœuvre, and was unable to accompany the Duke, who came to fetch her, and insisted on putting off the child's christening until his mother was fit to travel. At length, on the 2nd of May, the Duchess and her daughters started for Bar, where the christening was celebrated on the following day, and Christina held her grandson at the font. There was no display of armed force, nor was any attempt made to introduce Lutheran rites. On the contrary, the Queen-mother and all her suite were most amiable, the greatest good-will prevailed on all sides, and the whole party spent the next week in feasting, jousting, and dancing, while Ronsard composed songs in honour of the occasion. On the 9th of May the young King resumed his progress to Lyons, and the aged Duchess Antoinette, who had come to Bar at the Cardinal of Lorraine's prayer, returned to Joinville with her son. Christina's worst alarms had been dispelled, but her suspicions were to some extent justified by the revival of the French King's old claims to Bar, and the advance of certain new pretensions, which were eventually referred to a court of justice in Paris. What annoyed her scarcely less was the inferior quality of the ring sent by the King of Spain to Duchess Claude, which excited more than one unpleasant comment, although Count Mansfeldt, who stood proxy for Philip, informed her privately that Margaret of Parma had spent double the sum named by His Majesty on his christening present.[612]