The keenest interest in these marriages was shown at the Court of Scotland. King James wrote cordial letters from Edinburgh to his sister-in-law and to the Duke of Aerschot, and congratulated the Princess of Orange on her happy expectations, begging her to write to him and his wife more frequently.[304] Anne had always been on affectionate terms with her aunt and cousins at Joinville, and the presence of Louise at Brussels this summer was another bond between them.
April, 1541] AN UNWILLING BRIDE
Meanwhile King Francis was greatly annoyed to hear of the Duchess of Milan's marriage. He complained bitterly to the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of their brother's desertion, and vowed that Antoine and his son should feel the full weight of his displeasure. He was as good as his word, and, when the Prince assumed the title of Duke of Bar, disputed his rights to this duchy on the ground that it was a fief of the Crown. In order to satisfy these new claims, the Duke was compelled to sign an agreement on the 22nd of April, by which he and his son consented to do homage to the King for the duchy of Bar, and to grant free passage of French troops through this province.[305]
At the same time Francis invited the Duke of Cleves to come to Blois, as he wished his marriage to the Princess of Navarre to be celebrated without delay. On the 11th of April the States assembled at Düsseldorf were amazed to hear from Chancellor Olisleger that their Duke, being unable to obtain the Duchess of Milan's hand without the surrender of Guelders, was about to contract another marriage with the Princess of Navarre, and had actually started on his wedding journey.[306] The King and Queen of Navarre had always been averse to their daughter's union with the Duke of Cleves, but Margaret's resistance was overcome by the royal brother whom she adored, and her husband gave a reluctant consent to the marriage; but the little Princess Jeanne, a delicate child of twelve, refused in the most determined manner to marry this foreign Prince. In vain she was scolded and whipped, and threatened by her uncle the King with worse punishments. For many weeks the child persisted in her refusal, and, when compelled to yield, signed a protest on the eve of her marriage, which with the secret connivance of her parents was duly witnessed and preserved. On the 14th of June, 1540, the strange wedding was finally solemnized at Châtelhérault, on the Garonne. A series of Arcadian fêtes in beautiful summer weather were given by King Francis, who never lost an opportunity for indulging his love of romance. Arbours and colonnades of verdure were reared on the river-banks. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table were seen riding forth in quest of adventure; high-born ladies, clad as nymphs and dryads, danced on the greensward by torchlight.[307] The bridegroom gave his bride magnificent jewels, although Jeanne was never seen in public, and did not even appear at the ball on the night before the wedding. Finally, when all were assembled in the royal chapel, and the King came to lead his niece to the altar, the little Princess, weighed down by her costly jewels and gold and silver brocades, was unable to walk. "Take her by the neck!" cried the impatient monarch to Montmorency, and the Constable of France, not venturing to disobey the royal command, lifted up the frightened child in his arms and bore her to the altar before the eyes of the whole Court. As he did so he was heard to mutter, "C'en est fini, de ma faveur, adieu lui dis!" and, surely enough, the day after the wedding he received his dismissal, and left Court, never to return during the lifetime of Francis.[308]
July, 1541] CHRISTINA'S WEDDING
The Duke had agreed, in order to satisfy the King and Queen of Navarre, that the marriage should be merely formal, and consented to leave his unwilling bride with her parents for another year. Accordingly, three days later he bade them farewell, and rode, attended by a strong French escort, through the Ardennes, and travelled down the Moselle and Rhine to Cologne. As he passed through Luxembourg he saw the trained bands gathering in force on the frontier, and heard that they were assembling under Count Büren to meet his successful rival, Francis of Lorraine, and bring him to Brussels for his wedding.[309]
Here great preparations had been made to do honour to the Emperor's niece, and the guests came from far and wide. Christina's trousseau was worthy of her exalted rank, and the Queen presented her with a wonderful carcanet of rubies, diamonds, and emeralds, with pendants of large pear-shaped pearls. The marriage was solemnized on Sunday, the 10th of July, in the great hall where, twenty-six years before, Isabella of Austria, had been married to the King of Denmark. Only two of the foreign Ambassadors were absent from the wedding banquet—the Englishmen Vaughan and Carne—a fact which naturally excited much comment. King Henry changed colour when Chapuys told him of Christina's marriage, and was at no pains to conceal his surprise and vexation. He said repeatedly that he wondered how the Emperor could allow so noble and renowned a Princess to marry the Marquis, when there could be no doubt that Anne of Cleves was his lawful wife, and insisted that this had been the chief reason of his own separation from this lady. After the wedding he again referred to the incident, and told Chapuys in confidence that the Duke of Lorraine had secretly made over his rights on Guelders to the French King, and would never help the Emperor against France, since Monseiur de Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine were entirely on the French side. Chapuys listened with polite attention, and reported most of the King's conversation for the amusement of the Court at Brussels.[310]
Here a series of fêtes took place after the wedding. A grand tournament was held in front of the hôtel-de-ville, followed by the mock siege of a fortress in the park, and a hunting-party in the Forest of Soignies.[311]
On the 14th, the Duke and Duchess of Bar left Brussels to pay a round of visits in the neighbourhood and "see the country," and on the 27th the Queen went to meet them at the Duke of Aerschot's hunting-palace at Heverlé, near Louvain, and spent several days there with the two other newly-married couples, the Prince and Princess of Orange and the Prince and Princess of Chimay.[312]
Aug., 1541] A NOBLE LADY