In a letter to his brother Ferdinand, Charles thus briefly refers to his wedding: 'I have now entered upon the estate of marriage, which pleases me well.' And yet this marriage, begun under such unromantic conditions, turned out very happily, for Isabella was a capable princess, who, besides her beauty and clear complexion, had a good heart and sound judgment, and Charles, we are told, 'lived in perfect harmony with her, and treated her on all occasions with much distinction and regard.'
Guillaume des Barres, one of Margaret's secretaries, sent his mistress the following description of the bride: 'I would give much that you could see her, for if you have been told of her many beauties, virtues, and goodness, you would find still more, and you should see how happy they are together.'[119] On April 26th, 1526, Margaret sent an embassy to Spain to congratulate Charles on his marriage, and present her good wishes to the empress, to whom she wrote, 'that she wished that things could be so arranged that she could come and visit the countries over here (Flanders), which are so beautiful and adorned with such fine towns....'[120] Amongst other things her ambassador was ordered to tell the emperor 'that the archduchess had the greatest pleasure in trying to extirpate the sect of the Lutherans,' and on his own account he added that his mistress lived so simply and economically that there was no chancellor of a province, nor sub-governor or lieutenant in the country, who lived as simply as she did.[121]
Meanwhile, on the 17th of March, King Francis had been set at liberty. Charles in a letter to his brother says: 'The King of France was restored to his kingdom on the 17th of this month (February), on my receiving the Dauphin and Duke of Orleans as hostages, whom I have desired to be taken to Burgos; and the said King of France promises to accomplish all that he has engaged in by the treaty of peace....'
Guicciardini gives the following interesting account of the exchange of prisoners at Fuenterrabia: 'By this time the French king was come to Fuenterrabia, a town appertaining to the emperor, standing near the Ocean Sea upon the frontiers of Biscay and the duchy of Guyenne; and on the other side the Lady Regent was arrived with the children of France at Bayonne, which is not far from Fuenterrabia.... Then the 18th day of March, the French king, accompanied by the viceroy, Captain Alarçon, with fifty horse, came to the shore of the river that divideth the realm of France from the kingdom of Spain; at the same time M. de Lautrech, with the king's children, and the like number of horse, presenting themselves on the other side. There was in the midst of the river a great barque made fast with anchors, in which was no person. The king approached to this barque in a little boat, wherein he was accompanied by the viceroy, etc.... all armed with short weapons, and on the other side of the barque were likewise brought in a little boat, M. de Lautrech, with the hostages ... after this the viceroy went into the barque ... and the king with him.... M. de Lautrech fetched out of the boat into the barque the Dauphin, who being given to the viceroy ... was forthwith bestowed in his boat, and after him followed the little Duke of Orleans, who was no sooner entered the barque than the French king leaped out of the barque into his boat with such swiftness that his permutation was thought to be done at one self instant, and then the king being brought to the shore, mounted suddenly (as though he had feared some ambush) upon a Turkish horse of a wonderful swiftness, which was prepared for the purpose, and ran without stay to St. John de Luz, a town of his obedience, four leagues from thence; and being there readily relieved with a fresh horse, he ran with the same swiftness to Bayonne, where he was received with incredible joy of all the Court.'[122]
In a despatch to the emperor, written on March 23rd, Ochoa de Ysasaga announced that 'The day that the King of France was released from his captivity he leaped from the boat, with water up to his knees, mounted a horse that had been prepared for him, and rode without stopping to St. Jean de Luz, where he dined, and was visited by the flower of the French nobility, who came to congratulate him.[123]
And thus Charles let slip his chance, and omitted to reap the fruitful August, which Lannoy, in announcing the victory of Pavia, had declared comes to a man once and once only in his life.
CHAPTER XIII
THE LADIES' PEACE
The eventful year 1526 was not to close without further troubles for the House of Austria. The Sultan Solyman, taking advantage of the war in Italy and the consequent absorption of the principal rulers of Europe, had pushed his conquests in the east until his vast hosts encamped before the walls of Vienna. Louis II., King of Hungary, who had married Margaret's niece Mary, seeing his kingdom thus invaded by the Turks, sent urgent appeals for help to all Christian princes. But either the neighbouring powers were too much occupied with their own affairs, or they did not realise the actual danger, for they returned cold and indifferent answers, and even the emperor delayed sending aid to his brother-in-law until too late. On the 29th of August a decisive battle was fought on the plains of Mohacs between the Hungarian army and the troops of Solyman, and ended in the utter defeat of King Louis, who before the day was over lost his crown and his life. Two months after, his body and that of his horse was found sunk in a bog, into which he had ridden during the retreat. His next heir was his sister Anne, who had married Margaret's nephew, the Archduke Ferdinand. And it was in right of his wife that a few months later Ferdinand was elected to the thrones of Bohemia and Hungary.