In January Cardinal Pole, the Papal Legate, came to the monastery of Diligam, near Brussels, with proposals of peace from the Pope, on his way to congratulate Queen Mary on her accession, and help to restore Catholic rites in the kingdom. Pole was known to be averse to the Spanish marriage, and Charles had put every obstacle in the way of his journey to England. On his arrival he gave him a very cold reception, and the Cardinal complained to the Pope that the Emperor and Arras could not have used greater violence, unless they had taken a stick to drive him back.[489] The Regent and the Duchess of Lorraine, however, were much more friendly when he dined with them the next day, after attending Mass in the royal chapel. Mary told him that no one wished for peace more earnestly than herself, seeing how terribly her poor people of the Netherlands had suffered from the war, and Christina spoke to him of her son with tears in her eyes. When the Cardinal went on to Fontainebleau, he saw the young Duke, and was able to give him his mother's messages. But he found Henry II. still less amenable than Charles, and returned to Brussels convinced that his mission was a failure as far as the hope of peace was concerned.
Before the end of April the French King invaded Hainault, at the head of a large army, and took the strong citadel of Marienburg. Namur was only saved by the promptitude of Charles, who once more took the field, although he could no longer mount a horse, and showed all his old courage in this his last campaign.
After an indecisive battle at Renty, the French retired with heavy loss, spreading famine and desolation in their track. One act of vandalism for which Henry was condemned, even by his own captains, was the destruction of Mary of Hungary's beautiful palace of Binche, with its famous gardens and treasures of art. The Queen received the news with equanimity, saying that she was proud of being the object of the French King's vindictiveness, and glad the world should know that she was the Emperor's devoted servant.
"As for the damage which has been done," she wrote to Arras, "I do not care a straw. I am not the woman to grieve over the loss of things transitory, which we are meant to enjoy as long as we have them, and do without when they are gone. That, upon my word, is all the regret I feel."[490]
In the autumn Christina made another fruitless attempt to open negotiations through Vaudemont, who after the death of his first wife, Margaret of Egmont, was induced by the Cardinal of Lorraine to marry the Duke of Nemours's daughter. This Prince came to Brussels in November to inform the Emperor and the Duchess of his marriage, and, as might be expected, met with a very cold reception at Court. But, in spite of his French alliance, he remained scrupulously loyal to Christina and her son, and complained to his sister Anne that at Brussels he was reproached for his French sympathies, while in Paris he was looked on with suspicion as an Imperialist. So hard was it to be an honest man in those troublous times.[491]
Sept., 1554] A GAY COURT
II.
While the war dragged on its weary course, and Mary and Christina vainly tried to bring it to an end, on the other side of the Channel the new King of England and his spouse were holding high festival. They came to London in September, and remained there through the winter, trying to win the love of their subjects by a series of popular displays and festivities. Tournaments were held at Whitehall, hunting-parties were given at Windsor and Hampton Court, and a succession of distinguished guests travelled from Flanders to pay homage to the royal pair. Philip's favourite, Ruy Gomez, and the Duke and Duchess of Alva, arrived from Spain, Ferrante Gonzaga, the Prince of Orange, and the Grand Equerry Boussu, came over from Antwerp during the autumn.[492] On the 20th of November Cardinal Pole at length crossed the Channel; four days later he was received at Whitehall by the King and Queen in person, and crossed the river in the royal barge, to take possession of his own house at Lambeth. He was soon followed by Emanuel Philibert, who had lately succeeded to the barren title of Duke of Savoy on his father's death, and had been made a Knight of the Garter. Earlier in the summer he had paid a brief visit to London, where his white, red, and green banners of Savoy made a fine show in the Abbey on St. Peter's Day; but as his military duties rendered his presence in Flanders imperative, his Ambassador, Stroppiana, came to Windsor in October, to be invested with the Garter[493] as proxy for his master.