March, 1538] CHRISTINA'S CHARM
The sight of Holbein's portrait revived Henry's wish to see Christina, and he pressed Chapuys earnestly to induce his good sister the Queen of Hungary to bring her niece to meet him at Calais. But on this point Mary was obdurate. She told the Ambassador that this was out of the question, and although she wrote civilly to the Lord Privy Seal, thanking him for his good offices, she complained bitterly to Chapuys of Cromwell's extraordinary proceeding in sending the painter to Brussels, and laid great stress on her condescension in allowing him to take her niece's portrait. So far Charles himself had never written fully to his sister on the subject, and Mary asked Chapuys repeatedly if these proposals really came from the Emperor, and if the King and Cromwell were sincere. As for her part, she believed these flattering words were merely intended to deceive her. Chapuys could only assure her that both Henry and his Minister were very much in earnest. When the courier arrived from Spain, the King was bitterly disappointed because there was no letter from Charles, and sent Cromwell twice to implore the Ambassadors, for God's sake, to tell him if they had any good news to impart. On Lady Day the Minister came to Chapuys's lodgings, and, after two hours' earnest conversation, went away "somewhat consoled." The next day Henry sent for the Ambassadors, and discussed the subject in the frankest, most familiar manner, ending by saying with a merry laugh: "You think it a good joke, I trow, to see me in love at my age!"
In his impatience, Henry complained that Hutton was remiss in his duties, and did not say enough about the Duchess in his despatches. Yet the excellent Ambassador was unremitting in his attendance on Her Grace, and spent many hours daily at Court, watching her closely when she danced or played at cards, and telling the King that he "felt satisfied that her great modesty and gentleness proceeded from no want of wit, but that she was rather to be esteemed wisest among the wise."[184]
From the day of Hoby's visit Christina treated Hutton with marked friendliness, and threw aside much of her reserve in talking with him. On the bright spring days, when the Queen and her niece hunted daily in the forest, the Englishman seldom failed to accompany them. He admired the Duchess's bold horsemanship, and was much struck by the evident delight which she and her aunt took in this favourite sport. By way of ingratiating himself with Mary, he presented her with four couple of English hounds, "the fairest that he had ever seen," and a fine gelding, which made Christina remark that he had done the Queen a great pleasure, and that she had never seen her aunt so well mounted. Hutton hastened to reply that, since Her Grace was good enough to admire the horse, he would do his utmost to secure another as good for her own use, which offer she accepted graciously.[185] All these incidents naturally provoked attention, and, in spite of the secrecy with which the negotiations were carried on, the King's marriage with the Duchess of Milan was freely discussed both in Flanders and in England.
"Few Englishmen," wrote the Duke of Norfolk to Cromwell on the 6th of April, "will regret the King of Scots' marriage to Madame de Longueville, hoping that one of Burgundian blood may have the place she might have had."[186]
And the report that after Easter the King was going to meet his future bride at Calais became so persistent that even Castillon believed it, and complained to his royal master of the strange alteration in Henry's behaviour, and of the marvellous haughtiness and coldness with which he was now treated.[187]
III.
March, 1538] MARRIAGE NEGOTIATIONS
On the 27th of March the Imperial Ambassadors dined at the Lord Privy Seal's house, to meet Archbishop Cranmer, Chancellor Audley, Thomas Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, the Lord High Admiral Southampton, and two other Bishops, who were the Commissioners appointed to treat of two royal marriages. One of these was the long-planned union of Princess Mary with the Infant Don Louis of Portugal, brother of the reigning King, which was the ostensible object of Don Diego's mission to England. The other was the King's own marriage with the Duchess, which Henry sent word must be arranged at once, since until this was concluded he absolutely refused to treat of his daughter's alliance with the Infant. As they sat down at table, by way of Benedicite, remarks Chapuys, the King's deputies began by rejoicing to think they had not to deal with Frenchmen, and pouring scorn on their mendacious habits. But before the end of the meeting many difficulties had arisen. First of all the English Commissioners demanded that the Count Palatine should renounce all his wife's rights to the crown of Denmark without compensation. Then the question of the Papal dispensation, which was necessary owing to Christina's relationship to Katherine of Aragon, was mooted, and, as Chapuys soon realized, was likely to prove an insuperable difficulty, since nothing would induce Henry to recognize the Pope's authority.[188]
During the next few weeks several meetings between the Commissioners took place, and the Ambassadors were repeatedly admitted to confer with the King and his Privy Council; but little progress was made, and Chapuys informed the Regent that there was even less hope of agreement than there had been at first. Henry on his part complained loudly of the coldness of the Imperial Envoys, and of their evident desire to push forward the Portuguese marriage and drop his own, which was the one thing for which he really cared.[189] An attempt to effect some mode of reconciliation between him and the Pope only incensed Henry, who sent two Doctors of Law, Bonner and Haynes, to Madrid, to protest against the meeting of a General Council, and to point out how the Bishops of Rome wrested Scripture to the maintenance of their lusts and worldly advantage. And he told Don Diego angrily that the meeting of a Council would do him the worst injury in the world, since if he refused to attend it he would be cut off from the rest of Christendom.[190] To add to the King's ill-temper, he was suffering from a return of the ulcers in the leg from which he had formerly suffered, and for some days his condition excited serious alarm.