VI.
While the eyes of all Europe were fixed on the imperial family at Augsburg, Christina waited anxiously for news in her palace at Nancy. She had sent two of her Italian secretaries, Innocenzo Gadio and Massimo del Pero, to wait on the Queen of Hungary, with strict orders to keep her informed of all that was happening. Gadio's cipher letters have unluckily disappeared, but some of those addressed to him by Niccolò Belloni have recently been discovered in a private library near Pavia.[440] Belloni belonged to a good Milanese family, and had, at his parents' entreaty, been retained by the Duchess in her service when she left Italy. He had succeeded Benedetto da Corte as master of her household, and followed Christina to Lorraine. Niccolò enjoyed his mistress's complete confidence, and his letters to Messer Innocenzo reveal all that was passing in her mind at this critical moment. On the 2nd of January, 1551, he writes:
"Honoured Friend,
"Madame's page arrived a few days ago with your letters, which were most anxiously expected and gratefully read by Her Excellency. The next morning she received those which came by Heidelberg, and yesterday those which you sent by the Flemish servant, which gave Her Excellency still greater pleasure. She deciphered them herself, and read them over several times. You will continue to write as before, and I will tell you all I hear from other quarters. Do not fail to report every detail of the difficulties which are delaying the negotiations, using Madame's ordinary cipher for this purpose.... I send this messenger by the post to seek for news, so do not keep him at Augsburg more than a day, even if Monsignore d'Arras' letter is not ready, as another courier will be sent in four or five days. I have received Don Ferrante's letters, and should be glad to know if my letters for Fanzoni and Trissino are gone to Milan. Tell Signor Badoer [the Venetian Ambassador] that I will not fail to satisfy his curiosity, but it will take some time to obtain the desired information and will require great caution.... Send me some fine writing-paper, please—very fine, I repeat, because it is for Madame."
Feb., 1551] BELLONI'S LETTERS
Christina's Milanese servants evidently carried on a correspondence with their friends at home through the imperial messengers who were sent from Augsburg to the Viceroy, and the Princess of Macedonia constantly despatched packets to Milan and Mantua by the same channel, while the Duchess herself often wrote to Don Ferrante regarding the payment of her dowry and questions affecting the city of Tortona. A week later Christina sent a Lorraine gentleman, Monsieur de Saint-Hilaire, to convey her salutations to the King of Bohemia, on his arrival at Augsburg, and Belloni took this opportunity to beg Gadio to be diligent in reporting everything he heard, for Madame's benefit, assuring him that Her Excellency read his letters again and again, and believed implicitly in their contents. On the 12th of February he repeated the same orders:
"It would be well if you would write fuller particulars of the great matter in hand, above all whatever you hear of the angry disputes and quarrels which have arisen between the Prince and the King of Bohemia, including all the bad language which they use—in fact, everything that is said on the subject. It will all be treated as strictly confidential, and I for my part know that the King will not be governed by the Prince, and will use rude and contemptuous words, as you may imagine! These are the things that Her Highness wishes to learn from your letters.... I may possibly take a flight to the Court of France, so, if you wish to write to me privately, address your letters to the Princess of Macedonia, who will keep them safely for me, especially if they come from Italy. Your letters of the 29th of January and 3rd of this month have arrived, and are, as usual, most welcome, and Her Excellency agrees with you that nothing has really been arranged. Once the business for which you were sent to Augsburg is settled, Her Excellency thinks you may as well return, and be sure that you bring plenty of letters for Her Excellency from all the world, and a whole waggon-load of news! I am sorry to hear that your horse has hurt his foot and you have had to sell him cheap. You must procure another, and Madame will pay for it all. Only let us have the truth about these negotiations!"
But the Duchess changed her mind again, and Innocenzo was desired to stay at Augsburg as long as the Queen was there, even if the King and his sons had left, in order that she might hear all that her aunt had to tell of these important matters. Niccolò's last letter to Augsburg is dated the 13th of March, and contains a reminder to Gadio to bring the writing-paper for Madame, and to make inquiries about a new method of coining money at the Imperial Court, which had excited the Princess of Macedonia's curiosity.[441] The flight to the French Court which Niccolò meditated in March, 1551, was taken in the company of the Count of Vaudemont, who went to Blois to pay his respects to the King and Queen, and discover if there were any truth in the sinister report that Henry II. was planning the conquest of Lorraine. But he only met with civil speeches, and found the Court on the eve of a journey to Brittany, to meet the Dowager Queen of Scotland, who was coming over to see her child and visit her aged mother at Joinville. So the Count was able to allay his sister-in-law's alarms, and, instead of the dreaded threats of invasion, brought back a proposal from the King that her son should be affianced to one of his little daughters. The offer excited some surprise, considering the strained relations that existed between Henry II. and Charles V., but Christina returned a courteous reply, and promised to lay the matter before the States of Lorraine.[442] For the present she felt that she could breathe freely and give herself up unreservedly to the enjoyment of a visit which she was expecting from her sister Dorothea.
May, 1551] THE PALATINE'S VISIT
Since the restoration of peace in Germany, the Elector Palatine had devoted his time and money to the improvement of his ancestral castle at Heidelberg. His natural love of building found expression in the noble Renaissance court, with the lovely oriel and grand Hall of Mirrors, where we may still read "Frau Dorothea's" name, and the arms of the Three Kingdoms by the side of the Palatine's lion and the badge of the Golden Fleece. But the passion for travel and adventure was still strong in the old Palsgrave's breast, and when the last stone had been placed on the lofty bell-tower he and his wife set out, with a great company of courtiers and ladies, for Lorraine. They sailed down the Rhine to Coblenz, and, taking horse, rode through Treves and Metz, where Christina met them, and the whole party proceeded to Pont-à-Mousson and the Count of Vaudemont's castle at Nomény. Here they attended the christening of the Countess's daughter, and Frederic stood sponsor, while his wife was proxy for the French Queen, after whom the child was named. After a week of festivities, the party went on to a hunt at Condé, the Duke's fair château in the forest on the banks of the Moselle, and killed five stags. Hubert, who accompanied his master and gives every detail of the journey, relates how the Palatine, tired with the day's sport, accepted a seat in the Duchess's chariot, and how his companion, Count Jacob von Busch, being a big man, weighed down the carriage on one side, much to the amusement of Dorothea, who laughed till the tears ran down her cheeks. But heavy rains had made the roads almost impassable, and presently the wheels caught in a rut and the chariot was upset. The ladies were covered with mud, and Dorothea's face was badly scratched; but she made light of the accident, and only laughed the more as, leaving the lumbering coach in the ditch, they mounted horses to ride to Nancy. At the gates of the city they were met by the young Duke Charles, a handsome boy of eight, who lifted his cap with charming grace, and, springing to the ground, embraced his uncle and aunt, and rode at their side, conversing in a way that amazed the Germans.
"We all wondered," writes Hubert, "at the beauty and wisdom of the boy, who is indeed remarkably intelligent, and has been trained by his lady mother in all knowledge and courtesy."[443]
May, 1551] TOO LITTLE BEER
His sisters, Renée and Dorothea, received the guests at the palace gates, "both lovely little maidens," says Hubert, "only that the youngest is lame and cannot walk, for which cause her uncle and aunt embraced her the more tenderly." All the fatigues of the journey were forgotten in the delights of the week which the travellers spent at Nancy. The Duchess prepared a new pastime for each day, and masques, jousts, and dances, followed each other in gay succession. On the last day Christina took her guests to the beautiful grassy vale known as the Ochsenthal. It was a lovely May morning, and a banquet was served in a green bower on the banks of the stream. Suddenly a merry blast of bugles rang out, and, while huntsmen and dogs chased the deer, two parties of horse galloped up, and, charging each other, crossed swords and fired guns. "It might have been an invasion of the Moors!" exclaims Hubert, who enjoyed the surprise as much as anyone. At sunset the warriors returned to the palace, where the fairest maidens of the Duchess's Court crowned the victors with roses, and danced with them till morning. The next day Frederic and Dorothea made the Duchess and her children and servants handsome presents of gold chains and rings and brooches, and Christina, not to be outdone, gave Hubert a massive silver tankard, begging him to keep it in remembrance of her, and continue to serve the Palatine and her sister as well in the future as he had done in the past. After this we need not wonder at the glowing pages in which the honest secretary praises the delicacy of the viands, the choice flavour of the wines set before the guests, and the polished manners of the Court of Nancy.
"Indeed," he adds, "some of our Germans complained that there was too little beer, because people here do not sit up drinking all night, and go to bed like pigs, as we do at Heidelberg."[444]
The young Duke and his sisters accompanied the guests to Lunéville, where they spent Whitsuntide together and took their leave, the little ladies shedding many tears at parting from their aunt. Even then Christina could not tear herself from her sister, and the next day, as the Palatine and his wife were dining at one of the Duke's country-houses on their route, the Duchess suddenly appeared, riding up the hill. Hubert and his comrades ran out to welcome her, waving green boughs in their hands, and greeted her with ringing cheers, and they all sat down to a merry meal. Dorothea begged her sister to accompany her to Alsace; but the Duchess could not leave home, and the travellers pushed on that night to Strasburg, and on the 1st of June reached Heidelberg, where they were greeted by a gay peal of bells from the new-built tower. It was the last visit that either Frederic or his wife ever paid to Lorraine. When the sisters met again, Christina was an exile and a fugitive, and had lost son and home, together with all that she loved best on earth.