April, 1552] CAPTURE OF THE YOUNG DUKE
On Easter Day Christina wrote the following letter to her aunt, enclosing a copy of the articles drawn up by the French King:
"Madame,
"The extreme grief and distress which the King's violence has caused me prevents me from writing to you as fully as the occasion requires; but I must tell you what has happened since my last letter, in which I told you of the King's arrival. Now, in reward for the good cheer which I made him, he has carried off my son by force, with a violence which could not have been greater if I had been a slave. Not content with this, he has deprived me of the chief part of my authority, so that I can hardly remain here with honour and reputation, and, what is worse, I shall no longer have the power of doing Your Majesty service, which is one of my greatest regrets. Have pity, Madame, on a poor mother, whose son has been torn from her arms, as you will see more fully by this copy of the King's final resolutions, which he has sent me in writing. These have been carried out in every particular. Before he left, my brother, Monsieur de Vaudemont, and all the members of the Council, except myself, were made to take an oath, pledging themselves to defend the strong places in this land against all his enemies, and to open their gates to him whenever required. The same oath was taken by the garrison who are to guard this town, and I was asked to give up the keys of the postern gate. So that I, who was first here, and could once serve Your Majesty, am now deprived of all power, and am little better than a slave. I foresee that I shall soon be stripped of everything, in spite of the treaties and agreements formerly made between Your Majesties and this State. This ill-treatment and the evident wish shown by the French that I should leave this house have made me decide to retire to Blamont, where I will await Your Majesty's advice as to my future action.... I must warn Your Majesty, with regard to Stenay, that the new Captain, Sieur du Parroy, although of Lorraine birth, belongs to the King's household, and is devoted to French interests, as is also the second in command. Madame, I have written all this to the Emperor, but he is so far away and in so remote a place that I felt I must also tell Your Majesty what had happened here, begging her humbly to let me know her good pleasure.
"Your humble and obedient niece,
"Chrestienne.
"Nancy, April 17, 1552."[460]
The letter which Anne addressed to the Queen the next day is still more graphic in the details it supplies:
April, 1552] THE DUKE AT JOINVILLE
"I cannot help writing to inform you, Madame, of the utter desolation and misery to which my poor sister is reduced owing to the great rudeness and cruelty with which she was treated by the King of France on Good Friday. He came here under pretence of good faith and true friendship, as he had lately given us to understand. On his arrival he was received with all possible honour and entertained in the most hospitable manner. On Good Friday he told Madame that, in order to satisfy the conditions of his league with the Germans, he must secure all the fortified posts in Lorraine, as well as the Duke's person, and with this end must take him to Bar. In order to prevent this, Madame, Monsieur de Vaudemont and I, with all the members of the Council, drew up a remonstrance couched in the most humble terms, to which he only replied by sending us a written copy of his resolutions. Upon this my sister went to find him in the Grande Galerie, and begged him humbly, even going as far as to fall on her knees to implore him, for the love of God, not to take her son away from her. He made no reply, and, to make an end of the story, Madame, on Easter Eve they took the boy, escorted by a band of armed men, in charge of the Sieur de Bourdillon and the Maréchal de St. André, who did not leave his side until he had seen him well out of the town. It was indeed a piteous thing to see his poor mother, Monsieur de Vaudemont, and all the nobles and this poor people, in tears and lamentation at his departure. Madame, Your Majesty can imagine the terrible grief of my poor sister at this outrage, and will understand that her sorrow at losing her son is still so great that I have been obliged to abandon my intention of returning home, and feel that I cannot leave her. The King allows her to keep the charge of her daughters and the administration of her children's estates, excepting in the case of the fortified towns, which remain in the hands of Monsieur de Vaudemont.... And since, Madame, I am still as ever very anxious to do Your Majesty service, I beg you to lay your commands upon me, and they will be obeyed by one who is the most affectionate servant that Your Majesty will ever have.
"Anne de Lorraine.