V.
Jan., 1535] THE PALATINE
The chief event of Christina's brief married life was the marriage of her elder sister, the Princess of Denmark. Dorothea was by this time an attractive girl of fourteen, shorter and slighter than her sister, and inferior to her in force of character, but full of brightness and gaiety. She was very popular in her old home at Malines, and often shot with a crossbow at the meetings of the Guild of Archers. Several marriages had been proposed for her, and King James of Scotland had repeatedly asked for her hand; but the Emperor hesitated to accept his advances, from fear of offending King Francis, whose daughter Magdalen had long been pledged to this fickle monarch, while the difficulty of providing a dower and outfit for another portionless niece, made Mary reluctant to conclude a second marriage. But, a few months after Christina's marriage, a new suitor for Dorothea's hand came forward in the person of the Count Palatine, who had vainly aspired to wed both Eleanor of Austria and Mary of Hungary. Frederic's loyal support of Charles's claims to the imperial crown, and his gallant defence of Vienna against the Turks, had been scurvily rewarded, and hitherto all his attempts to find another bride had been foiled. When, in 1526, after the King of Portugal's death, he approached his old love, the widowed Queen Eleanor, his advances were coldly repelled; and when he asked King Ferdinand for one of his daughters, he was told that she was too young for him. After Mary of Hungary's refusal, he left the Imperial Court in anger, and told Charles V. that he would take a French wife;[112] but Isabel of Navarre, Margaret of Montferrat, and the King of Poland's daughter, all eluded his efforts, and when he asked for Mary Tudor's hand, King Henry told him that he could not insult his good friend and cousin by offering him a bride born out of wedlock.[113] Now Ferdinand, unwilling to lose so valuable an ally, suddenly proposed that the Palatine should marry his niece Dorothea, saying that both he and Charles would rejoice to see him reigning over the three northern kingdoms. At first Frederic hesitated, saying that he was a grey-headed man of fifty, little fitted to be the husband of so young a lady, and had no wish to reign over the turbulent Norsemen. Mary, however, welcomed her brother's proposal, regarding it as a means of strengthening the Emperor's cause in Northern Europe. In Denmark the succession of Frederic's son Christian III. was disputed, and a Hanseatic fleet had seized Copenhagen, while Christopher of Oldenburg, a cousin of the captive King, had invaded Jutland. With the help of these allies it might be possible for the Palatine to recover his wife's inheritance. But the execution of this plan was full of difficulties, as Prince John's old tutor, the wise Archbishop of Lunden, told Charles V. in a letter which he addressed to him in the autumn of 1534:
"Most sacred Cæsar,—I know Denmark well, and am convinced that the Danes will never recognize Christian II. as their King. Count Christopher's expedition will prove a mere flash in the pan, and when he can no longer pay his men, the peasants, who flocked to his banner at the sound of their old King's name, will return to their hearths. Then the nobles will have their revenge, and the proud Lübeck citizens will seize Denmark and establish the Lutheran religion in the name of Christopher or King Henry of England, or any other Prince, as long as he is not Your Majesty; and if they succeed, the trade of the Low Countries will be ruined."[114]
The bait held out to the Palatine, however, proved too alluring, and he easily fell a victim to the snare. The Emperor sent him flattering messages by Hubert, the faithful servant who has left us so delightful a chronicle of his master's doings, and promised his niece a dowry of 50,000 crowns. It was late on New Year's Eve when Hubert reached his master's house at Neumarkt, on his return from Spain, and Frederic was already in bed; but he sent for him, and bade him tell his news in three words. The messenger exclaimed joyfully: "I bring my lord a royal bride, a most gracious Kaiser, and a sufficient dowry." Upon which the Palatine thanked God, and bade Hubert go to the cellar and help himself to food and drink.[115]
One of Charles's most trusted Flemish servants, Nicholas de Marnol, was now sent to Milan, to obtain the consent of the Duke and Duchess to Dorothea's marriage. After a perilous journey over the Alps in snow and floods, Marnol reached Milan on the 10th of January, 1535, and received a cordial welcome. Francesco approved warmly of a union which would insure the Princess's happiness and serve to confirm the peace of Germany, but quite declined to accept the Emperor's suggestion that he should help to provide a pension for Christina's brother-in-law, saying that this was impossible, and that His Majesty would be the first to recognize the futility of making promises which cannot be kept.
After a short stay at Milan, Marnol went on to Vienna, and advised the Palatine to go to Spain himself if he wished to settle the matter. Frederic, always glad of an excuse for a journey, travelled by way of Brussels and France to Saragossa, and accompanied the Emperor to Barcelona, where Charles signed the marriage contract on the eve of sailing for Africa.
May, 1535] A HAPPY MARRIAGE
On the 18th of May, 1535, the marriage was solemnized at Brussels, and Frederic consented to leave his bride with her aunt until her outfit was completed. Queen Eleanor expressed the liveliest interest in her old lover's marriage, and insisted on seeing Dorothea before she went to Germany. At length the wedding-party reached Heidelberg, on the 8th of September, where the gallant bridegroom, who, in Hubert's words, "loved to shine," rode out in rich attire to meet his bride, and escorted her with martial music and pomp worthy of a King's daughter to the famous castle on the heights. The next day the nuptial Mass was celebrated by the Bishop of Spires, and a series of splendid entertainments were given by Frederic's brother, the Elector Louis, after which the Count took his bride to his own home at Neumarkt, in the Upper Palatinate.[116]
"Now at length," wrote Hubert, "my lord thought that he had attained a haven of rest, and found a blessed end to all his troubles; but he was grievously mistaken, and soon realized that he had embarked on a new and tempestuous ocean."[117]
The splendid prospects of recovering his wife's kingdom were destined to prove utterly fallacious, and only involved him in heavy expenses and perpetual intrigues. The Emperor, as he soon discovered, "had no great affection for the enterprise of Denmark,"[118] and before long Copenhagen surrendered, and Charles and Mary were compelled to come to terms with Christian III. and acknowledge his title. Fortunately, in all other respects his marriage proved a happy one. Dorothea was greatly beloved by her husband's family and subjects, and made him a devoted wife, although, as Hubert soon found out, she was as great a spendthrift as her lord, and confessed that she was never happy until she had spent her last penny.[119] The very frivolity of her nature suited the volatile Count. She shared his love of adventure, and was always ready to accompany him on perilous journeys, to climb mountains or ford rivers, with the same unquenchable courage and gaiety of heart. Even when, in her anxiety to bear a child, she imitated the example of Frederic's mother, the old Countess Palatine, and went on pilgrimages and wore holy girdles, "this was done without any spirit of devotion, but with great mirth and laughter. And how little," adds the chronicler, "either pilgrimages or girdles profited her, we all know."[120]