[645] Ibid., vii. 572.
[646] Granvelle, vii. 638.
BOOK XIV
THE LADY OF TORTONA
1578-1590
I.
The marriage of her last remaining daughter, and the removal of her granddaughter to the French Court, loosened the ties that bound the Duchess-mother to Lorraine. The failure of the high hopes which Don John's coming had aroused were a grievous disappointment, and, after her dangerous attack of illness in the spring of 1578, Christina decided to follow her doctor's advice and seek a warmer climate. Her thoughts naturally turned to her dower city of Tortona, whose inhabitants still paid her allegiance, in spite of Philip's invasion of her privileges. Since the Spanish garrison still occupied the castle, the magistrates begged her to inhabit the Communal palace, and Christina, touched by their expressions of loyalty and affection, resolved to accept the offer.
Aug., 1578] CHRISTINA RETURNS TO ITALY
Before settling at Tortona, however, she decided to make a pilgrimage to Loreto, the shrine for which the Lorraine Princes had always cherished especial veneration. Early in August, 1578, she left Nancy and travelled across the Alps, and through Savoy, by the route which she had taken as a bride, nearly half a century before. Her old friend, the Duchess Margaret, whose marriage had been one of the happiest results of the Treaty of Câteau-Cambrésis, had already been dead four years, and her lord of the Iron-head was a confirmed invalid; but he sent his son, Charles Emanuel, to meet the Duchess and escort her to the citadel of Turin.
From Savoy, Christina proceeded to Milan, where she arrived on the 20th of August, and was hospitably entertained in the Castello by the Spanish Viceroy, the Marquis d'Ayamonte.[647] Once more she drove in her chariot through the streets where her coming had been hailed by rejoicing multitudes, once more she prayed by her husband's tomb in the Duomo and saw Leonardo's Cenacolo in Le Grazie. Her old friends, Count Massimiliano, the Trivulzi, and Dejanira, were dead and gone, and at every step the ghosts of bygone days rose up to haunt her memory. Then she travelled on by slow stages to Loreto, on the Adriatic shore, where she paid her vows at Our Lady's shrine, and offered a massive gold heart set with pearls and precious gems, to the admiration of future pilgrims.[648] But the long journey had overtaxed her strength, and when, on her return to Lombardy, she reached Ripalta, she was too ill to go any farther. Here she remained throughout the winter to recover from her fatigues and give the citizens of Tortona time to prepare for her reception.