"Hardly one has escaped," wrote Montmorency on the 22nd of August, "but now, thank God, my Lady has recovered, and I am trying to raise money to carry out your orders, although I fear my purse is not long enough to feed my poor archers."[145]

A month later the Captain went to Milan to expedite matters, but as yet could hear nothing from Spain, and on his return to Pavia early in October, he addressed long remonstrances both to Charles and Granvelle.

"Sire," wrote the irate Captain, "I have been ordered to take my Lady Duchess to Flanders, but not a word has been said as to the route that I am to take. Since it is your pleasure, it shall be done; but if any harm comes to her in Germany, seeing the poor escort we shall have, who will be to blame? My fear is that, as we pass through the duchy of Würtemberg, the Duke's son may fall upon us with his Landsknechten, and my Lady would certainly not be a bad match for him! Your Majesty has not given me a single letter or warrant for the journey, and has not written me a word. And when I get par-deça, I know not what I am to do or say. My Lady, too, is much surprised not to have received a letter from Your Majesty before her departure, but of this, of course, I have no right to speak."

In a postscript he adds that he has raised 500 gold crowns, and given each of his men 10 crowns to buy new saddles, as they hope to start on the 15th of October. He ends by humbly reminding His Majesty that he is growing old, and is almost fifty, and that if he does not soon take a wife it will be too late.

"All this coming and going ages a man, and before long I shall be as wrinkled as the rest. So when I reach the Queen, I hope some little token of honour may be given me, that men may see Your Majesty has not wholly forgotten me. And you will, I hope, tell me what I am to do when I have taken Her Excellency to Flanders, as I have written to Granvelle repeatedly, and had no answer, but suppose he is busy with great affairs. And I pray that all prosperity may attend Your Majesty, and that this year, which has begun so well, may end by seeing you back in Piedmont."[146]

Oct., 1537] CHRISTINA'S DEPARTURE

On the 14th of October Christina herself wrote to inform the Emperor of her intended departure, and of the good order of her affairs, thanks to the Cardinal and Seigneur de Courrières. "We hope to start to-morrow, and travel by way of Mantua and Trent, and through Germany, taking whichever seems to be the shortest and safest route." There had, it appears, been much discussion over the revenues assigned to the Duchess as her dower, and in the end she was deprived of the town and Castello of Vigevano, which the Duke had left her by his will. But by the terms of her marriage contract she remained absolute mistress of the city of Tortona, and informed the Emperor that, acting on the advice of the Cardinal, as Lady of Tortona, she had appointed a certain Gabriele Panigarola to be Governor of the town, and begged his approval. At the same time she sent her uncle a memorial, drawn up by Montmorency, explaining that, since she had not received the arrears of her dowry, she was not able to pay her servants, and had been forced to contract many debts at Pavia, and to spend money on the repair of the rooms which she occupied in the Castello.

Many last requests were addressed to the Duchess by the poor and needy whom she had befriended, and from her own servants, who with one voice begged to be allowed to follow her to Flanders. One of the most pressing came from an old Milanese couple, whose son, Niccolò Belloni, was Christina's secretary, and at their earnest prayer she decided to allow the young man to remain in her service as one of the four Italians who accompanied her to Flanders by the Emperor's orders. And the last letter which the Duchess wrote to the Cardinal, on the eve of her departure, was to plead for a community of noble ladies in Pavia who were reduced to dire poverty owing to the late wars, and begged humbly for a remission of taxes.[147] During the ten months which she had spent at Pavia the young Duchess had made herself beloved by all classes of people, and her departure was lamented by the whole city.

III.

Oct., 1537] "EN VOYAGE"