1513-23] ELEANOR'S ROMANCE
"The shameful life which our brother and son-in-law, the King of Denmark, is leading with a concubine, to the great sorrow and vexation of his wife, our daughter and your sister, is condemned by all his relatives; and in order to constrain him to abandon this disorderly way of living, and be a better husband to our said daughter, we are sending Messire Sigismund Herbesteiner to remonstrate with him, and have begged Duke Frederic of Saxony, his uncle, who arranged the marriage, to send one of his servants on the same errand. And we desire you to send one of your chief councillors to help carry out our orders, and induce the King to put away his concubine and behave in a more reasonable and honourable manner."[19]
But none of these remonstrances produced any effect on the misguided King. When Herbesteiner reproached him with sacrificing the laws of God and honour and the Emperor's friendship to a low-born woman, he shook his fist in the imperial Envoy's face, and bade him begone from his presence.[20] At the same time he showed his resentment in a more dangerous way by making a treaty with France and closing the Sound to Dutch ships. He even seized several trading vessels on pretence that the Queen's dowry had not been paid, and when Archbishop Walkendorf ventured to expostulate with him on his misconduct, banished the prelate from Court.[21]
Meanwhile Isabella herself bore neglect and insults with the same uncomplaining sweetness. But we see how much she suffered from a private letter which she wrote to her sister Eleanor about this time. This attractive Princess, who at the age of eighteen still remained unmarried, had fallen in love with her brother's brilliant friend, Frederic, Count Palatine, the most accomplished knight at Court, and the idol of all the ladies. The mutual attachment between the Palatine and the Archduchess was the talk of the whole Court, and met with Margaret's private approval, although it was kept a secret from Charles and his Ministers. Eleanor confided this romantic story to her absent sister, and expressed a secret hope that the popular Count Palatine might succeed her aunt as Regent when the young King left Brussels for Spain. In reply Isabella sent Eleanor the warmest congratulations on her intended marriage, rejoicing that her sister at least would not be forced to leave home, and would be united to a husband whom she really loved. The poor young Queen proceeded to lament her own sad fate in the following strain:
"It is hard enough to marry a man whose face you have never seen, whom you do not know or love, and worse still to be required to leave home and kindred, and follow a stranger to the ends of the earth, without even being able to speak his language."[22]
1513-23] A LOVE-LETTER
She goes on to describe the misery of her life, even though she bears the title of Queen. What is she, in fact, but a prisoner in a foreign land? She is never allowed to go out or appear in public, while her lord the King spends his time in royal progresses and hunting-parties, and amuses himself after his fashion, apart from her. Far better would it be for Eleanor to follow her own inclination, and choose a husband who belongs to her own country and speaks her language, even if he were not of kingly rank. Unfortunately, the pretty romance which excited Isabella's sympathy was doomed to an untimely end. The death of Mary of Castille, Queen of Portugal, in May, 1517, left King Emanuel a widower for the second time. He had married two of Charles's aunts in turn, and was now over fifty, and a hunchback into the bargain. None the less, the plan of a marriage between him and his niece Eleanor was now revived, and in August these proposals reached the young King at the seaport of Middelburg, where he and his sister were awaiting a favourable wind to set sail for Spain. Filled with alarm, Frederic implored Eleanor to take a bold step, confess her love to Charles, and seek his consent to her marriage with his old friend. In a letter signed with his name, and still preserved in the Archives of Simancas, the Palatine begged his love to lose no time if she would escape from the snare laid for them both by "the Uncle of Portugal."
"Ma mignonne," he wrote, "si vous voulez, vous pouvez être la cause de mon bien ou de mon mal. C'est pourquoi je vous supplie d'avoir bon courage pour vous et pour moi. Cela peut se faire si vous voulez. Car je suis prêt, et ne demande autre chose, sinon que je sois à vous, et vous à moi."[23]
Accordingly, on the Feast of the Assumption Eleanor approached her brother after hearing Mass in the abbey chapel. But while she was gathering all her courage to speak, Charles caught sight of the Palatine's letter in her bosom, and, snatching it from his sister's hands, broke into furious reproaches, swearing that he would avenge this insult with the traitor's blood. As Spinelli, the English Envoy, remarked, "The letter was but honest, concerning matters of love and marriage,"[24] but the young King would listen to no excuses, and, in spite of the Regent's intervention, Frederic was banished from Court in disgrace. A fortnight later Charles and his sister sailed for Castille, and in the following summer Madame Leonore became the bride of "l'Oncle de Portugal," King Emanuel.