1523-31] A ZEALOUS LUTHERAN
Another cause of perpetual irritation was the favour shown by the King to the Lutherans, whom the Regent was trying to drive out of Flanders. The Court of Lierre became the refuge of all who professed the new doctrine. Margaret insisted on the banishment of several of the King's servants, including the chaplain, Hans Monboë, and Prince John's tutor, Nicolas Petri, and sent others to prison. But these high-handed acts only strengthened Christian's zeal in the cause of reform. "The word of God," he wrote to his friend Spalatin, "waxes powerful in the Netherlands, and thrives on the blood of the martyrs."[53] The letters which he addressed to his old subjects were couched in the same strain. He confessed his past sins, and prayed that he might be restored to his kingdom, like David of old, declaring that his sole wish was to live for Christ and do good to his enemies. At the same time he hired freebooters to ravage the coast of Denmark, and provoked King Frederic to close the Sound, an act which aroused widespread discontent in the Low Countries. In August, 1525, he sent a herald to England, begging King Henry and his good friend the Cardinal to intercede with the Regent, and induce her to lend him men and money for a fresh expedition. But Margaret turned a deaf ear to all entreaties, and when Isabella's physician recommended her to try the waters of Aix-la-Chapelle again, she declined to sanction this journey on the score of expense. She sent her own doctor, however, to Lierre, and at his suggestion the invalid was moved for change of air to Swynaerde, the Abbot of St. Peter's country-house near Ghent. But Isabella's ills were beyond the reach of human skill, and she soon became too weak to leave her room. On the 12th of December Christian sent for his old chaplain from Wittenberg, begging him to return without delay.
"Dear Brother in Christ," he wrote,
"Here we forget Christ, and have no one to preach the word of God. I implore you to come and give us the comfort of the Gospel. Greet our brothers and sisters."
Upon receiving this summons, Monboë and Hans Mikkelsen hastened to Ghent, at the peril of their lives, and administered spiritual consolation to the dying Queen. On the 19th of January she received the last Sacraments from the priest of Swynaerde, and saw Monsieur de Souvastre, by whom she sent her aunt affectionate messages, commending her poor children to Margaret's care. A few hours afterwards she passed quietly away. Both Catholics and Lutherans bore witness to her angelic patience, and a letter which Christian addressed to Luther, ten days later, gives a touching account of his wife's last moments:
1523-31] DEATH OF ISABELLA
"As her weakness increased, Frau Margaret sent her servant, Philippe de Souvastre, and other excellent persons, to admonish her after the fashion of the Popish Anti-Christ's faith and the religion of his sect. But Almighty God in His mercy deprived my wife of her powers of speech, so that she made no reply, and they gave up speaking, and only anointed her with oil. But before this she had received the Blessed Sacrament in the most devout manner, with ardent longing, firm faith, and stedfast courage; and when one of our preachers exhorted her, in the words of the Gospel, to stand fast in the faith, she confessed her firm trust in God, and paid no heed to the superstitious mutterings of the others. After this she became speechless, but gave many signs of true faith to the end, and took her last farewell of this world on the 19th of January. May God Almighty be gracious to her soul, and grant her eternal rest! We are strong in the sure and certain hope that she has entered into eternal bliss, unto which God bring us all!"[54]
On the 4th of February the dead Queen, who had not yet completed her twenty-fifth year, was buried with great pomp in the cloisters of the Abbey of St. Peter at Ghent, where a stately marble tomb was raised over her ashes. The painter Mabuse was employed to design the monument, as we learn from a letter which the King addressed to the Abbot of St. Peter's in 1528, complaining of his delay in completing the work. A Latin inscription by Cornelius Scepperus, giving Isabella's titles in full, and recording her virtues and the sufferings which she had endured during her short life, was placed on the monument, which is described by an English traveller of the sixteenth century, Philip Skippon.[55] Unfortunately, the tomb was rifled by the mob at the time of the French Revolution, but the ashes of the Queen were carefully preserved by a pious Curé, and afterwards restored to their former resting-place.
Isabella's early death was deeply lamented, not only in the Low Countries, where she was so beloved, but in her husband's kingdoms. Funeral services were held throughout the land, and all men wept for the good Princess "who had been the mother of her people." On all sides testimonies to her worth were paid. Henry of England wrote to King Christian that the late Queen had been as dear to him as a sister, and Luther paid an eloquent tribute to her memory in his treatise on Holy Women: