Dorothea and her husband were, in fact, the only members of Christina's family for whom Philip showed any regard. In 1578 Duke Eric was summoned to Spain to join in the contemplated invasion of Portugal, and served in the campaign led by Alva two years later. Dorothea accompanied her husband, and spent most of her time at Court. The King evidently liked her, and when, after the successful termination of the war, the Duke and Duchess came to take leave of him at Madrid, Granvelle was desired to draw up a secret convention by which Tortona and the revenues were assigned to Eric in lieu of the yearly pension allowed him. But Dorothea was not to be outwitted by the Cardinal. She insisted, on the arrears due to her husband being paid in full, and Philip himself told Granvelle to see that two or three thousand crowns of the Duke's salary were given to the Duchess, since she was short of money, and this seemed to him only reasonable. He also gave Dorothea two fine horses, which she wished to send to her brother-in-law, the Duke of Bavaria, and granted her a patent for working certain gold-mines, which the Cardinal promised to forward either to her mother at Tortona, or else to the care of the Prince of Orange in Germany.[656] This last direction sounds strange, considering that the famous ban against the Prince, setting a price of 30,000 crowns on his head, had already been issued at Granvelle's suggestion.[657]
The Duke and Duchess now returned to Göttingen, after visiting Christina at Tortona, and remained in their own dominions for the next few years, among their long-neglected subjects. But Eric soon became restless, and in April, 1582, Dorothea wrote to beg Granvelle's help in obtaining the Viceroyalty of Milan or Naples for her husband. The Cardinal promised to do his best, and two years later actually recommended the Duke for the Viceroyalty of Sicily. But a few weeks afterwards, on the 15th of December, 1584, Eric of Brunswick died at Pavia, and was buried in the crypt of Bramante's church of S. Maria Canepanova, where his tomb is still to be seen.[658] The Duke's death released Philip from his promise regarding the succession of Tortona. But he had already taken the law into his own hands.
In June, 1584, when Christina and her ladies were enjoying the delights of the Marchese Stampa's beautiful villa at Montecastello, the Viceroy suddenly appeared on the scene, and presented her with two letters from His Catholic Majesty. These were to inform her that, after long and mature deliberation, the King and his Council had come to the conclusion that her rights to the sovereignty of Tortona were extinct, and reverted to him as Duke of Milan. But since Madame de Lorraine was closely bound to him by ties of blood, and still more by the singular affection which he had always borne her, His Majesty was pleased to allow her to retain the enjoyment of Tortona and its revenues for the remainder of her life, which he hoped would be long and prosperous. In vain Christina protested that her dowry had never been paid, and that this city was granted to her in its stead by the terms of her marriage contract. The Viceroy replied in the most courteous language that Madame was no doubt right, but that this was not his affair, and he could only recommend that on this point her claims should be referred to the Treasury.[659] He then proceeded to take possession of Tortona in the King's name, and hoisted the Spanish standard on the citadel and the Duchess's palace. Christina could only bow to superior force, but she forwarded a protest to the Catholic King and his Council, both of whom refused to receive it, on the flimsy pretext that the writer assumed the title of Queen of Denmark, which they could not recognize. Certainly, as Brantôme remarked, and as Polweiler and Silliers often complained, Philip showed his great affection for his cousin in a strange manner.[660]
Sept., 1586] DEATH OF GRANVELLE
Before the Duchess left Montecastello, she received the news of the Prince of Orange's assassination at Delft on the 10th of July, 1584. The hero and patriot had fallen a victim to the plots of Philip and Granvelle, and had paid the price with his life. Three years afterwards Christina shared in the thrill of horror that ran through Europe when Mary, Queen of Scots, died on the scaffold. In that hour she could only be thankful that the good old Duchess Antoinette was spared this terrible blow, and had died four years before, at the advanced age of eighty-nine. To the last Antoinette kept up friendly relations with her niece, and in a letter written with her own hand in November, 1575, the venerable lady expressed her sincere regret that owing to her great age she was unable to welcome Christina in person on her return to Nancy, but that in the spring she quite hoped to come and see her once more before she died.[661]
In 1586 Christina's old rival, Margaret of Parma, and this Princess's stanch supporter, Cardinal Granvelle, both died. Friends and foes were falling all around, and young and old alike were passing out of sight. But the Duchess still enjoyed fair health and was so happy at Tortona that she often said she never wished to leave home. As a rule, however, she spent the summer months at the Rocca di Sparaviera, in the mountains of Monferrato, "more," writes the chronicler, "to please others than herself."[662] Each year she obtained permission from the Viceroy to send 250 sacks of wheat, free of duty, for the use of her household to the Rocca, and her maggiordomo went beforehand to prepare the rooms for her arrival.[663] The presence of the Duchess Dorothea, who joined her mother at Tortona after the Duke of Brunswick's death, was a great solace in these last years, and consoled Christina for many losses and sorrows.
Meanwhile the war of the League had broken out in France, and the three Henries were contending for the mastery. Since Henry III. was childless, Catherine now tried to put forward the claims of a fourth Henry, the eldest son of her daughter Claude and the Duke of Lorraine, and a party in France maintained his claims to be at least as valid as those which Philip II. advanced in virtue of his wife Elizabeth. Christina's heart was moved at the thought of her grandson succeeding to the throne of France, and in 1587 she sent a Lorraine gentleman, De Villers, to Rome to beg the Pope for his support in this holy cause. The Pope, however, merely replied that he advised the Duke to live at peace with his neighbours. The Duchess, nothing daunted, sent De Villers to Nancy with letters bidding her son be of good cheer and persevere in his great enterprise. Unfortunately, the messenger fell into the hands of Huguenot soldiers, who took him into the King of Navarre's camp. All that could be found on him was an almost illegible letter from Her Highness the Duke's mother, containing these words:
"I am very glad to hear of the present state of your affairs, and hope that you will go on and prosper, for never was there so fine a chance of placing the crown upon your head and the sceptre in your hand."[664]
The Béarnais smiled as he read this characteristic effusion, and bade his soldiers let the man go free. Charles, on his part, expressed considerable annoyance at his mother's intervention, which only aroused the suspicions of King Henry III., and made him look coldly on his brother-in-law. The Duchess's last illusion, however, was soon dispelled, and after the murder of the Guise brothers at Blois, and the assassination of the last Valois, Henry of Navarre was recognized as King by the greater part of France.
Feb., 1589] AN INTERESTING MARRIAGE