The next evening (Shrove Tuesday) Wriothesley and his colleagues dined at the palace, and this time the English Ambassador sat in the post of honour, on the Queen's right, with the Duchess on his left. Mary was in high spirits, toasted her guests and drank with each of them in turn. After supper Wriothesley approached Christina, and ventured to tell her that she would be happy if her best friends did not put hindrances in her way, and begged her not to lend ear to malicious reports of his master. The Duchess shook her head, saying she would listen to no calumnies, and always hold the King to be a noble Prince. But he felt sure that she was afraid of the Queen, and told her he hoped to converse more freely with her another time. Never had he seen her look so beautiful as she did that night; never did he wish more ardently to see her his master's bride. "For indeed it were pity," he wrote home, "if she were bestowed on a husband she did not like, only to serve others."
There was one Prince at table for whom, it was easy to see, Christina had no dislike. This was René of Orange, who had an opportunity of distinguishing himself in his lady's eyes that evening. The Queen led the way into the great hall, where first Aerschot and three other nobles challenged all comers to fight, and then the Prince of Orange and Floris d'Egmont took their places at the barriers, and broke lances and received prizes for their valour, while the Queen's band of lutes, viols, and rebecks, played the finest music that Wriothesley had ever heard. When the jousting was ended, Mary led her guests to the royal gallery, where another banquet was served, and there was much lively discourse, and more talking than eating. So that gay Carnival came to a close, and with it the last hope of winning the fair Duchess's hand.[237]
An unpleasant surprise was in store for Wriothesley the next morning. Certain disquieting rumours having reached Brussels, Vaughan went to Antwerp on Ash Wednesday, and found great consternation among the English merchants. A proclamation had been issued forbidding any ships to leave the port, and several English vessels laden with merchandise had been detained. The wildest rumours were current on the Exchange. It was commonly said that the Emperor, with the Kings of France and Scotland, had declared war on King Henry, and that a large Dutch and Spanish fleet was about to sail for England. Already in Brussels gallants and pikemen were taking bets on the issue of the war, and Wriothesley wrote to Cromwell that he and his colleagues "might peradventure broil on a faggot." He was unable to obtain an audience until Friday, when the Queen told him that, by the Emperor's orders, she was recalling Chapuys to conduct the marriage negotiations. This unexpected intimation, coming as it did after the startling news from Antwerp, disconcerted him considerably. He sent an express to London, and received orders to take his departure at once. Castillon was already on his way to France, but Henry quite refused to let Chapuys go until Wriothesley and Vaughan had left Brussels. A long wrangle between the two Courts followed. The Ambassadors were detained on both sides. The Spanish and Dutch ships in English harbours were stopped, all ports were closed, and active preparations were made for war along the shores of the Channel.
"After fair weather," wrote Cromwell to Wriothesley, "there is succeeded a weather very cloudy. Good words, good countenance, be turned, we perceive, to a wonderful strangeness. But let that pass. They can do us no harm but to their own detriment."[238]
March, 1539] STRANGE ENTERTAINMENT
The situation of the Ambassadors was by no means pleasant. A marked change was visible in the behaviour of the Court. They were "treated as very strangers" by those nobles who had been their best friends. No one called at their house or came to dine with them. The Duchess's servants, who used to go to and fro constantly, now dared not come except at dusk—"in the owl-flight"—and would not allow Wriothesley to send them home by torchlight. Wherever they went, the English heard their King slandered, and met with cold looks and scornful words. Worse than all, they were forced to pay excise duties—"eighteen pence on every barrel of beer above the price asked by the brewer"—an indignity to which no Ambassador before had ever been exposed. "I write in haste and live in misery," wrote Wriothesley to Cromwell on the 7th of March.[239]
The Emperor, however, was still friendly. His heart was set on a Crusade against the Turk, and he had no wish to embark on war with England. Pole met with a cold reception at Toledo, and, finding Charles averse to executing the Pope's sentence, retired to his friend Sadoleto's house at Carpentras. This was a relief to Henry, and he bade Wyatt thank his imperial brother, but could not forbear pointing out that these friendly words agreed ill with the doings of his officers in the Low Countries. A despatch addressed to Wyatt on the 10th of March contains a long recital of the extraordinary treatment which his Ambassadors at Brussels had met with:
"Since Lent began, as for a penance, their entertainment hath been marvellous strange—yea, and stranger than we will rehearse: strangeness in having audience with long delay, strangeness in answer and fashion. Also they have been constrained to pay Excise, which no Ambassador of England paid in any man's remembrance. They have complained to the Queen, but nevertheless must pay or lack drink.... These rumours and hints of war, the arrest of our ships, this strangeness shown to our Ministers, this navy and army in readiness, the recall of Chapuys, ran abroad this realm and everywhere. We do not write to you the rumours half so spiteful, and the entertainment half so strange, as it hath been. I think never such a thing was heard, and especially after a treaty of marriage such a banquet!"[240]
Henry concluded this letter by saying that, since the Emperor insisted on the need of Papal dispensation, there could be no further question of any marriage between him and the Duchess, and he would be now at liberty to seek another wife. On the same day he wrote to Carne, who had been secretly corresponding with the Duke of Cleves, telling him to open negotiations for a marriage with that Prince's sister, the Lady Anne.[241]
Twelve days after this despatch was sent to Spain Wriothesley left Brussels. At Calais he met Chapuys, who had just crossed the Channel, and Mary's almoner, the Dean of Cambray, who was being sent to take the Ambassador's place, and was awaiting a fair wind to embark for Dover. All three Ambassadors dined in a friendly manner with Lord Lisle, the Deputy Governor of Calais, and continued their respective journeys without hindrance. But the much-discussed marriage treaty was at an end. The long-drawn comedy had reached its last act. "All hope of the Duchess," wrote Wriothesley to Cromwell, "is utterly past."