[53] This was no kindness to Louise de Vaudemont. Brantôme praises her for her loyalty to her husband: ‘Aussi que dès le beau premier commencement de leur mariage, voire dix jours après, il ne luy donna pas grande occasion de contentement, car il luy osta ses filles de chambre et damoiselles qui avoient tousjours esté avec elle et nourries d’elle estant fille, qu’elle regretta fort.’—Brantôme, v. 334.
[54] Charles, Cardinal de Lorraine. See page [45], and note.
[55] Queen Leonora, sister of Charles V. and widow of Francis I., one of the Princesses to whom Busbecq’s grandfather, Gilles Ghiselin II., had been premier écuyer trenchant. See vol. i. page [26], note 1.
[56] See Motley, Rise of the Dutch Republic, Part IV. chap. iii.
[57] Louis d’Este, Cardinal of Ferrara and Archbishop of Auch, was son of Hercules II., Duke of Ferrara, and Renée, daughter of Louis XII. of France. He was born in 1538, made Cardinal in 1561, and died at Rome in 1586. He deserved, says de Thou, to be called the treasure of the poor, the glory of the Sacred College, and the ornament of the Court of Rome.
[58] Miss Freer, in her history of Henry III., has charged Busbecq’s Queen with heartlessness. ‘Under these circumstances Elizabeth gladly accepted her father’s invitation to return to Vienna. With all her virtue and simplicity Elizabeth appears not to have possessed much tenderness of character; else, herself feeling so keenly the disadvantages of a residence at Paris, she could not have abandoned her infant daughter to the care of Catherine de Medici; nor even, as far as it can be discovered, made any attempt to convey her to be educated far from the levity of the Court.’—Vol. ii. p. 39. Miss Freer evidently did not know of Busbecq’s letters to Maximilian; she frequently quotes the letters to Rodolph, but does not appear to be aware that they were written by the man whom she describes as ‘Auger de Ghislin, Seigneur de Boësbecq, a German noble resident in France.’
[59] ‘Le 22e mars les députés de M. le prince de Condé, mareschal Damville et autres associés, tant de l’une que de l’autre religion, selon la permission qu’ils avoient eue du Roy d’envoier vers lui tels personnages qu’ils aviseroient pour l’avancement et conclusion d’une paix générale et asseurée à tout son roiaume, aians, par un commun advis, articulé leurs conditions et icelles dressées en forme de requeste, partirent de Basle le dit 22e mars pour venir trouver Sa Majesté à Paris, où ils arrivèrent le mardi 5e avril.’—De l’Estoile, i. 54. For a full account of these negotiations see Mémoires de Nevers, i. 308.
[60] The Queen had so much difficulty in procuring funds that she was obliged to postpone her visit to August. Her child, Princess Marie Elizabeth (god-daughter of Queen Elizabeth of England), was at this time three years old. Amboise, near Blois, was considered particularly healthy, and on that account appointed as the nursery for the royal children. Evelyn speaks of it as a very agreeable village, built of stone and roofed with blue slate; he gives a full description of the castle which was the residence of the young Princess. Diary, p. 63.
[61] Don Rodolph Khuen von Belasii, Baron of Neu-Lembach, descended from an ancient Tyrolese family. He was also Privy Councillor to the Emperor.