At Isabella's request, both Margaret and King Henry had spoken strongly to Christian on this subject, but he still persisted in his infatuation, and it was not till after he had left the Netherlands, and his wife and aunt were dead, that this miserable woman was arrested in Ghent and burnt as a witch.[44]

1523-31] A NOBLE WIFE

As for the Queen, no words could express De Praet's admiration for her angelic goodness. "It is indeed grievous," he wrote, "to see this poor lady in so melancholy a plight, and I cannot marvel too much at her virtues and heroic patience." Henry was equally moved, and wrote to Charles in the warmest terms of his sister's noble qualities, but did not disguise his contempt for her husband.[45]

There was, clearly, nothing more to be gained by remaining in England, and on the 5th of July the King and Queen returned to the Low Countries. Isabella joined her children at Malines, and Christian went to Antwerp to equip ships for the relief of Copenhagen. But he soon quarrelled with Margaret, and left suddenly for Germany. In September he appeared at Berlin, having ridden from Brussels attended by only two servants, and succeeded in raising a force of 25,000 men, with the help of his brother-in-law, the Marquis of Brandenburg, and Duke Henry of Brunswick. But when the troops assembled on the banks of the Elbe, King Christian was unable to fulfil his promises or provide the money demanded by the leaders, and he was glad to escape with his life from the angry hordes of soldiers clamouring for pay. By the end of the year Copenhagen capitulated, and in the following August the usurper Frederic was elected King by the General Assembly, and solemnly crowned in the Frauenkirche.[46] The crimes of the unhappy Christian recoiled on his own head, and in the Act of Deprivation by which he was formally deposed, it was expressly stated that his neglect of his noble and virtuous wife, and infatuation for the adventuress Sigebritt and her daughter, had estranged the hearts of his people. But through all these troubles Isabella clung to him with unchanging faithfulness. She followed him first to Berlin, then to Saxony, where he sought his uncle's help. In March she went to Nuremberg on a visit to her brother, King Ferdinand, and pleaded her husband and children's cause before the Diet in so eloquent a manner that the assembled Princes were moved to tears.

"Everyone here," wrote Hannart, the minister whom Charles V. had sent to his sister's help, "is full of compassion for the Queen, but no one places the least trust in the King. If it were not for her sake, not a single man would saddle a horse on his behalf."

Hannart, in fact, confessed that he had done his utmost to keep Christian away from Nuremberg, feeling sure that his presence would do more harm than good. Even Isabella's entreaties were of no avail. She begged her brother in vain for the loan of 20,000 florins to satisfy the Duke of Brunswick, whose angry threats filled her with alarm.

"I am always afraid some harm may happen to you when I am away," she wrote to her husband. "I long to join you, and would rather suffer at your side than live in comfort away from you."[47]

But Christian, as Hannart remarked in a letter to the Regent Margaret, had few friends. Even his servants did not attempt to deny the charges that were brought against him, and the Queen alone, like the loyal wife that she was, sought to explain and excuse his conduct.

1523-31] MARTIN LUTHER

To add to Isabella's troubles, her brother Ferdinand was seriously annoyed at the leanings to the Lutheran faith which she now displayed. Christian's Protestant tendencies had been greatly strengthened by his residence in Saxony during the winter of 1523. He heard Luther preach at Wittenberg, and spent much time in his company, dining frequently with him and Spalatin, the Court chaplain, and making friends with the painter Lucas Cranach. The fine portrait of King Christian by this artist forms the frontispiece of a Danish version of the New Testament published by Hans Mikkelsen, the Burgomaster of Malmoë, who shared his royal master's exile. When the Marquis Joachim of Brandenburg remonstrated with his brother-in-law for his intimacy with the heretic Luther, Christian replied that he would rather lose all three of his kingdoms than forsake this truly Apostolic man.[48] Isabella's naturally religious nature was deeply impressed by these new influences, and both she and her sister-in-law, Elizabeth of Brandenburg, secretly embraced the reformed doctrine. At Nuremberg she attended the sermons of the Lutheran doctor Osiander, and received Communion in both kinds from his hands on Maundy Thursday, to the great indignation of King Ferdinand, who told her he could not own a heretic as his sister. Isabella replied gently that if he cast her off God would take care of her. Luther on his part was moved by the apparent sincerity of his royal convert.