May, 1539] THE PALATINE'S TRAVELS
When this sad event took place, Christina's sister Dorothea and her husband, Count Frederic, were staying at the Imperial Court. These adventurous travellers had come to Spain in the vain hope of inducing the Emperor to support their claims on Denmark, and, after crossing the Pyrenees in rain and snow, had at length reached Toledo, where they were hospitably entertained. The Empress treated Dorothea with great affection, but Frederic's German servants, who consumed five meals a day and ate meat on Ash Wednesday, shocked the Spanish courtiers, and drew down the censures of the Inquisition upon them. Even the Emperor asked his cousin why he brought so numerous a suite on his travels; but, although he would make no promises of further help, he good-naturedly paid Frederic's expenses at Toledo, and gave him a present of 7,000 crowns. The death of the Empress, Dorothea's best friend, put an end to all hope of further assistance. The Emperor shut himself up in a Carthusian convent, and the Palatine and his wife started for the Low Countries.[249] On their way through France they were royally entertained by the King and Queen in the splendid Palais des Tournelles, and Francis took so great a fancy to his wife's niece that Eleanor felt it wise to keep Dorothea continually at her side. Here they were detained some time by Frederic's illness, and after his recovery spent several days at Chantilly with the Constable, and at the King's fine new villa of Cotterets, on their way to the Netherlands.[250]
Sept., 1539] A MOCK FIGHT
Here the travellers were eagerly awaited by Christina and her aunt. After the funeral services for the repose of the Empress's soul had been duly celebrated, and the last requiem sung in S. Gudule, the Queen set out on a progress through Holland and Friesland, and spent some time at Bois-le-Duc, on the frontiers of Guelders, trying to arrange matters with the Duke of Cleves. But, although friendly letters and messages were exchanged, nothing could be settled until the Emperor's arrival, which was now delayed till the autumn, and the Court moved to the Hague for August. Here the Queen received news that the Count Palatine and his wife had reached Dordrecht and were coming by sea to Holland. Christina at once travelled to Rotterdam, intending to go by boat to meet the travellers. But the weather was rough and stormy, and the sailors were reluctant to set out. The Duchess, however, would hear of no delay, and, embarking in a small boat, bade the sailors put out to sea. Hardly had they left the shore before a terrific gale sprang up, and from the deck of their ship the Palatine and his wife saw a barque tossed on the raging seas, sending up signals of distress. Altering their course, they hastened to the rescue, and found, to their great surprise, that the Duchess of Milan was on board. Count Frederic scolded his sister-in-law soundly for her rashness, but Dorothea was enchanted to see Christina, and laughed and cried by turn as she embraced her.[251] The Queen awaited the travellers no less eagerly, in her anxiety to hear the latest news from Spain, and agreed readily to Frederic's proposal that his wife should remain at the Hague while he returned to Germany. Early in September the Palatine took leave of his relatives and went to Antwerp, saying that he must raise money for his journey to Heidelberg. But he kept his true destination a secret. During his illness in Paris, Bishop Bonner had brought Frederic a letter from Cromwell, begging him to come to England, since he was only divided from this country by a narrow arm of the sea, and His Majesty was very anxious to see him again. All immediate alarm of war had died away, and the irascible monarch's anger was allayed by the arrival of a new French Ambassador in the person of Marillac, and by the permission which Mary gave him to buy ammunition in the Low Countries. In return, he ordered an imposing requiem to be held in St. Paul's for the late Empress, and desired Cromwell and the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, with twenty Bishops, to attend the service.[252] He resumed his old habit of spending the summer evenings on the river, enjoying the music of flutes and harps, and sent to France and Italy for excellent painters and musicians—a sure sign, Marillac was told, that he was about to marry again. Another fête, at which the Ambassador declined to be present, was a mock-fight on the Thames between two galleys, one of which bore the King's arms, while the other was decorated with an effigy of the Pope with the triple tiara and keys, attended by the Cardinals. The show ended in the triumph of the English sailors, who threw the Pope and Cardinals into the river—"the whole thing," according to Marillac, "being as badly represented as it was poorly conceived."[253]
Now the King was anxious to hear the Emperor's intention from the Palatine's own lips, while Frederic on his part was flattered by this powerful monarch's invitation, and felt that his assistance might prove of use in his visionary schemes for the recovery of Denmark. But, knowing that of late relations between Henry and the Queen had been strained, he kept his counsel, and told no one but his wife that he was bound for Calais.
Here he was courteously entertained by Lord Lisle, an illegitimate son of Edward IV., and escorted by him to Canterbury and London. Frederic was lost in admiration at the rows of stately palaces along the Thames, and the fine Castle of Richmond, but was disappointed, when he visited Westminster Abbey, not to see the famous antlers of the stag which King Dagobert caught, and which wore a golden collar inscribed with the words, "Julius Cæsar let me go free." Afterwards he learnt that these legendary trophies had lately been removed by the King's orders, for fear the monks, whom he was about to expel, might conceal them.
In the absence of the King at Ampthill, Cromwell, who had been told to "grope out the reason of Frederic's coming," entertained the Count splendidly at his own house, and showed him the Tower of London and the Temple Church. But the Deputy's wife, Lady Lisle, who looked on Cromwell with deep distrust, begged her husband to beware of the Lord Privy Seal's fair words, and was none too well pleased to hear that he had partaken of the partridge pasty and baked cranes which she had sent from Calais, together with her own toothpick for the Palsgrave's use, having noticed that her noble guest "used a quill to pick his teeth with."[254]
Sept., 1539] THE PALATINE AT WINDSOR
Meanwhile the Palatine's visit to England was exciting much curiosity, and not a little alarm, in some quarters. The Pope and the French King feared it might lead to a secret covenant between Henry and Charles, while in London it was commonly reported that Frederic came to renew negotiations for his union with the Duchess of Milan, and the Duke of Cleves hastily sent Ambassadors to conclude his sister's marriage. These Envoys reached Windsor on the same day as the Count Palatine, whom Henry invited to a banquet there on the 24th of September. When he bade the Lord High Admiral escort the Palsgrave to Windsor, Southampton, eager to curry favour with the King, expressed his opinion that the Cleves alliance was preferable to a marriage with a French Princess or one of the Emperor's family, "albeit the Duchess of Milan was a fair woman and well spoken of," and told the King of the resentment which his union with the Lady Anne had aroused at the Court of Brussels. Henry remained plunged in thought for some moments; then a smile broke over his face, and he exclaimed: "Have they remembered themselves now? They that would not when they might, when they would they shall have nay!"[255]