The Prince of Orange had already resigned all his offices and retired to Germany, but Egmont and his friend Count Horn were caught in the fatal snare, and were both arrested at a banquet in Alva's house on the evening of the 9th of September. The news filled Europe with consternation. In her distress Christina wrote several letters to the King of Spain, pleading passionately for the Count's release, and recalling his great deeds and the devotion which he had always shown to the King's service.[632] Her appeals were seconded by the Duke and his wife, by Vaudemont,—Egmont's own brother-in-law—by the Duke and Duchess of Bavaria, the Elector Palatine, and all the Princes of the Empire. Maximilian himself addressed two autograph letters to Philip, praying for the Count's release, and the Knights of the Golden Fleece protested against this violation of the rules of their Order. But all was in vain. Philip vouchsafed no answer to any of these appeals, saying he would not change his mind if the sky were to fall on his head,[633] and on the 6th of June, 1568, the Grande Place witnessed the execution of the hero of Gravelines. A fortnight before this shocking event, Anne, Duchess of Aerschot, breathed her last at Diest, thankful to escape from a world so full of misery, and only grieving to think that her vast dower and fine estates would not pass to their rightful owner, William of Orange.[634] In the same month of May the first battle was fought between the revolted nobles and the Spanish forces, and Margaret of Aremberg's husband fell fighting valiantly in the mêlée. Meanwhile civil war had broken out again in France, and in November, 1567, the Constable Montmorency, the old Nestor of France, was killed in a battle at St. Denis, fighting against the Huguenots, with Condé and his own nephew Coligny at their head. Old friends were falling on every side, and before Christina's tears for her sister-in-law were dried, she and the aged Duchess of Guise were mourning the sad fate of Antoinette's luckless granddaughter, the Queen of Scots, who had been compelled to abdicate her throne, and was now a captive in the hands of her rival, Queen Elizabeth.
V.
While civil war was raging all round, and Christina's best friends were dying on the scaffold or the battle-field, the marriage of her daughter Renée brought a ray of light into her life. The tale of Renée's courtships almost rivals that of her mother's. The Kings of Sweden and Denmark, William of Orange and Henri de Joinville, were only a few among the candidates who sought her hand. Granvelle once proposed the Duke of Urbino as a suitable match, and Philip was anxious to marry her to his handsome and popular half-brother, Don John of Austria. But the Duchess declined this offer repeatedly, saying that no child of hers should ever wed a bastard. When in the summer of 1567, Don Luis de Mendoza again urged this suit on the King's behalf, the Duchess informed him that her daughter's hand was already promised to Duke William of Bavaria, the eldest son of the reigning Duke Albert and his wife, the Archduchess Anna. The contract was signed in September, and the marriage took place early in the following year,[635] and turned out very happily. Throughout his life the Bavarian Duke maintained worthily the strong Catholic traditions of his house, and proved a dutiful and affectionate son-in-law. Christina spent the following winter at the Castle of Friedberg in Bavaria, where she was once more dangerously ill, and Silliers as usual complained bitterly of Philip's neglect and unkindness in never making inquiries after her health. But, in spite of all rebuffs, neither the Baron nor his mistress had abandoned their dreams of conquering Denmark, and in April, 1569, Cardinal Granvelle wrote to the King from Rome:
Sept., 1572] DEATH OF SILLIERS
"Madame de Lorraine is still trying to recover her father's kingdom, and both she and her Councillor, Silliers, are continually begging me for help in this matter. In vain I have replied for the hundredth time that I am too far from Madrid and the Low Countries to know if the affair is practicable, and have pointed out that, in the first place, the Dutch will never break with Denmark; secondly, that the Emperor would object to any attempt of this kind; and, thirdly, that Your Majesty's hands are full. In fact, I have told her that I cannot see any solid foundations for her hopes. But she returns to the charge again and again."[636]
It was the last flicker of an expiring flame. After this, even Christina seems to have recognized the futility of her schemes, and the death of Silliers finally decided her to abandon them altogether. This "vain, insupportable, and foolish man," as the Cardinal called him, and whom her son, the Duke, also detested cordially, lost his life in Bavaria, in September, 1572, being killed by a shot from a crossbow, which was said to be accidental, but which Granvelle and his other enemies ascribed to a paid assassin.[637] During the last twenty years, it must be owned, Silliers had been the Duchess's evil genius; but, in spite of all his faults, he was sincerely attached to his mistress, and his devotion to her interests cannot be questioned.
Christina spent the next six years chiefly at Nancy or Denœuvre, in the company of her children and grandchildren. The Duke had a large family of three sons and six daughters, the eldest of whom, Christina, bore a strong likeness to her grandmother both in face and character. This Princess and her cousin Louise de Vaudemont, the daughter of Nicholas by his first wife, Margaret of Egmont, were great favourites with the Duchess-mother, and spent much time in her society. Louise was a fair and gentle maiden, whose charms captivated Henry, Duke of Anjou, when he came to Lorraine in 1573, on his way to take possession of the throne of Poland. He was accompanied by his mother, Queen Catherine, who spent a week at Nancy, and after her son's departure remained some days at Blamont with Christina. When, two years later, Henry succeeded his brother, Charles IX., the new King's first thought was to make the Princess of Lorraine his wife. Christina was too ill to leave her bed, but Duchess Antoinette, still young in spite of her eighty years, brought the bride to Reims, where the wedding was celebrated two days after Henry III.'s coronation. The Duke and his sister Dorothea were present at the ceremony, as well as all the Guise Princes.[638] Five days afterwards, on the 20th of February, 1575, the Duchess Claude, whose health had long been failing, and who had lately given birth to twin daughters, died in the ducal palace, at the age of twenty-eight, leaving the Duke an inconsolable widower. He was only thirty-two, and although he lived till 1608, never married again. Soon after Claude's death, her eldest daughter, Christina, went to live with her grandmother, Catherine de' Medici, at the French Court. This masterful lady, who quarrelled with her own daughter Margaret, was very fond of Christina, and kept this young Princess constantly at her side during the next fourteen years.
Dec., 1575] MARRIAGE OF DOROTHEA
In the following December, Elizabeth of Austria, the widow of Charles IX., and daughter of the Emperor Maximilian II., visited Nancy on her way back to Vienna, and was escorted on her journey by Renée and her husband, the Duke of Bavaria. They were all three present at the wedding of the Princess Dorothea, who was married in the Church of St. Georges, on the 26th of December, to Duke Eric of Brunswick.[639] This wild and restless Prince had always been on friendly terms with Christina and her family, and was one of King Philip's favourite captains and a Knight of the Golden Fleece. He had lately lost his first wife, and succeeded his father in the principalities of Göttingen and Calenberg, although his roving tastes made him prefer foreign service to residence on his own estates. Now, at the age of forty-seven, he became the husband of Christina's younger daughter. In spite of her lameness, this Princess inherited much of her aunt Dorothea's charm and gaiety, and was fondly beloved by her brother and all his children. She took especial interest in the improvements which the Duke was never tired of making at Nancy, and helped him in laying out the beautiful terraced gardens, adorned with fountains and orangeries, in the precincts of the ducal palace. And the bell in the new clock-tower, which the Duke built in 1577, was named Dorothea, after the Duchess of Brunswick.[640] Charles himself, like his father, was a Prince of cultured tastes, who studied the Latin and Italian poets and took delight in Ronsard's verses. The foundation of the University at Pont-à-Mousson bore witness to his love of learning, while he employed scholars to collect precious books and manuscripts, and sent his gardeners to inspect the royal palaces at Fontainebleau and St. Germain, and to bring back rare plants and exotics.[641]
In these last years of Christina's life at Nancy, new hopes and interests were suddenly brought into her life by Don John of Austria's arrival in the Low Countries. When terrorism and massacre had failed to crush the revolted provinces, the hero of Lepanto was appointed Governor, in the hope that he might succeed in restoring order, by appealing to his illustrious father's memory and ruling the Netherlands according to his example. In October, 1576, Don John travelled through France in the disguise of a Moorish servant, and, after spending one night in Paris, came to Joinville to consult the Duke of Guise on a romantic scheme which he had formed to release and marry the captive Queen of Scots. Then he hurried on to Luxembourg and proclaimed his intention of withdrawing the Spanish troops and granting a general amnesty. The coming of this chivalrous Prince, with his message of peace, filled the people of the Netherlands with new hope. Don John was received with open arms by the Duke of Aerschot and his half-brother, Anne of Lorraine's son, Charles de Croy, Marquis of Havré. His first act was to restore the lands and fortune of the late Count Egmont to his widow, the Countess Palatine Sabina, and her innocent children. This rejoiced the heart of Madame d'Aremberg, who had been spending the winter at Nancy with the Duchess, and Christina's nephew, Charles de Croy, told Don John frankly that the Low Countries would gladly have him, not only for their Governor, but for their King. Christina herself was deeply stirred, and sent a member of her household to Luxembourg with a letter welcoming the Prince in the warmest terms, and thanking him for the cheering news which he had sent her.