LETTER XXVIII.
On September 12, the day the Queen returned to Paris from Amboise, the courier arrived and delivered to me your Majesty’s letter and instructions. On the following day I asked an audience of the King, but was put off till the next day. After complimenting the King and the Queen Mother in your Majesty’s name, I laid your request before them—namely, that the date appointed for the Queen’s departure should be adhered to. The King answered he would do what he could to meet your Majesty’s views. I replied that it was of great consequence that I should have a definite answer to send to your Majesty, as otherwise the ladies and gentlemen, who were to meet the Queen at Nancy by your Majesty’s orders, might find them[107]selves in an awkward position. He agreed that the request was reasonable, and promised to lay the matter before the Council, and give me a definite answer on the morrow. So passed away that day and the next, which was the 15th of the month, the day on the evening of which Alençon fled. I received almost the same answer from the Queen Mother, except that she added some further details about the expenses of the journey, saying that the whole sum could not be paid down in specie, but that an appropriation would be made for pressing expenses, while for those that need not be paid on the spot good warrants would be given. The arrangement was not an unreasonable one, and the Queen’s business appeared at that time to be in a fair way, but then came Alençon’s flight, which caused a hitch. For some days the King could not attend to me; at last, on the 19th, in consequence of my pressing applications for such an answer as would relieve your Majesty from uncertainty, I was granted an audience. The King at the beginning of our conversation requested me to inform your Majesty of his unhappy misfortune,—these were the very words he used—saying, he felt confident from the relationship that existed between your Majesty and himself, and from the kindness he had experienced at your hands, that you would sympathise with him. He remembered that your Majesty had on former occasions advised Alençon to keep clear of revolutionary designs. His conduct was the more unjustifiable, he said, as he was not conscious of having done anything on his part to give him a reason for forming these projects or running away. It was by the evil counsels of bad people that he had been seduced from his allegiance, though on his side he had behaved towards him like an affectionate brother. This unexpected event prevented his[108] sending back the Queen at the time arranged, and I must see myself the difficulties that surrounded him. What the King said was only too true, and accordingly I answered that I would comply with his request and write as he wished to your Majesty, saying, ‘I felt no doubt that your Majesty, with whom he was connected by so many ties, would give him the warmest sympathy in his troubles, and would gladly afford him any assistance in your power.’ I then used such language as I thought was likely to comfort him. As to the Queen’s departure, I told him that your Majesty was most anxious to have her back, and that your plans did not admit of her prolonged absence, and asked him, if it was impossible for her to leave at once, at any rate to fix the earliest possible date. He said he would consider my request, and promised to send me an answer on the following day together with his letter to your Majesty. At my interview with the Queen Mother almost the same language was used on both sides, except that I added that I thought, if the Queen’s departure were put off much longer, your Majesty would be obliged to consider how to bring her home at your own expense, for you felt that a longer separation was unbearable.
From that time to this I have never ceased pressing the King every day and demanding an answer, but my efforts have been of no avail. The truth is, the King has given his ministers instructions to find the funds necessary for the Queen’s journey, but this is a very difficult matter, and, until he is sure of the money, he cannot positively fix the date at which she is to leave. In the mean time due attention has been paid to all the interests of the Queen. A valuation has been made of the Crown lands, and also of the other property. A contract has been drawn up, and a demand has been made that the deficiency in value of the Crown lands assigned should be made good. For the Duchy of Berry with the County of Le Forez, the upper and lower parts of La Marche, and Remorantin did not come to much above 26,000 francs, so that nearly 6,000 were wanting to make up the sum the King had promised. To find them was no easy task, in consequence of the small amount of Crown lands available, and the difficulty was increased by the irregular and unbusinesslike conduct of certain officials of the King, who tried to make out that the said places had been undervalued, and wanted us, in consequence of their own fault, to be content with 26,000 instead of 32,000 francs. At last, after some trouble, it was arranged that two places should be added, to be taken from the Duchy of Bourbon—namely, the towns of Murat and Gannat—and so a total of 32,000 francs in Crown lands was made up, and the remaining sums were secured as in the schedule annexed. All possible care and discretion have been used in making these arrangements.
As regards the Queen’s departure, I should not like to promise myself an answer from the King for many days. The grant of 32,000 crowns is all very well, but there is enormous trouble in getting them paid down in hard cash: 20,000 of them, for which a warrant on Rouen has been given, will begin to come in on November 15, and this sum, I hope, may be relied on. This leaves 12,000 to be provided; it might have taken us a long time to procure this sum, and we might have been obliged in consequence to postpone the Queen’s departure, but fortunately your Majesty’s bounty has made us independent so far; a large sum has been remitted by the Nuremburg merchants, and even if we have no answer from the King, I feel confident that the Queen will be able to set out about November 25 or 26. For I think it better to risk our money than to lose our time, lest, in the changes of this mortal life, something should occur to make us regret deeply the loss of the opportunity; though I feel no doubt that the 12,000 crowns decreed by the King can be secured for the Queen even after she has gone. When the day of her departure draws near, the Queen will send a courier of her own to bring your Majesty news of the final arrangements. In order to relieve your Majesty’s anxiety, it has been decided not to detain the present courier any longer; the Queen would have sent him back some days ago if she had not been waiting for the King’s letter to your Majesty; he keeps promising to send it every day, but it does not come.
One point with reference to the Queen’s journey remains for consideration, and that is a serious one. More German reiters are said to be on the point of entering France, and there is danger of the seat of war being transferred to Champagne and the country through which her Majesty is to travel; so that it is doubtful whether the road to Nancy will be safe, or, indeed, if it will be open at all. Of course no one will do any harm to the Queen, but it would be impossible to answer for the safety of her French suite, and it would not perhaps be consistent with the King’s dignity to beg his enemies to grant them a sort of passage on sufferance, and to place at their mercy Frenchmen of the highest position, and ladies of exalted rank, especially as nothing is safe from the lawlessness and insolence of the times. As to these matters, the King can settle nothing at present, as he does not know what may be the state of things six weeks hence; but I see that all the prudent and sensible men of my acquaintance entertain serious doubts as to the safety of this route. If it should happen to be closed, I doubt if there is a more convenient way than that through the Netherlands, by Cambrai, Valenciennes, Mons, Namur, and thence either to Coblentz or Trier. Here, again, we are met by a difficulty, for perhaps the Governor of the Low Countries may not care to have such a number of French people travelling through these territories at the present time. This may be obviated by the French suite being sent back from Cambrai or Valenciennes, and by the servants whom your Majesty will send, such as cooks, butlers, waiters, &c., being ready to meet the Queen at either of those places. For she is to take none of her domestic servants beyond Nancy, as your Majesty will have graciously understood from the list of her retinue which was forwarded some time ago. There ought to be some gentlemen at the head of each department; but this whole scheme of going through the Netherlands is full of difficulties, and is much more inconvenient than the other. Still, if we are compelled to take it, we must manage as best we can. I am willing to hope for the best, and that this détour may not be necessary; but if we are disappointed—and disappointments do come—I should wish to be prepared for the worst, and to have some arrangement to fall back upon, instead of having to waste time in making out a new one from beginning to end. I think it prudent, therefore, to have our plans ready in case of need; and in the meantime to sound the Governor’s disposition by letter, so that if we cannot get through by any other road, at any rate this way may be open to us; but the final decision will, of course, rest with your Majesty.
As regards the money forwarded to the Queen from Nuremberg by your Majesty’s order, I have hitherto received no letter from your Majesty; but the agent of the merchants informed me that such and such an amount was to be placed to the Queen’s credit, that the time of payment was the end of October, and that he would meanwhile collect the money; but, if there was any need for it sooner, he would pay down part of it. No doubt we shall soon have despatches from your Majesty, and I shall then understand the bearings of this business more clearly. I have also received no answer as yet to my requests about the watches and my own affairs. As regards the Kinsky question, I will do as your Majesty orders, when Schomberg[99] returns from the campaign on which he is now away with Monsieur de Guise; or, if he answers the letter I sent him, I will inform your Majesty of his reply. I have received from de Morvilliers, the Bishop of Orleans ... crown pistoles on account of my yearly salary. I most humbly beg your Majesty graciously to order that amount to be paid to Monsieur de Vulcob in the usual way.
Paris, October 23, 1575.
[LETTER XXIX.]
I sent in my last letters by Peter the courier such news as I had. Since then I received your Majesty’s letter from Prague, dated September 4, which informed me that arrangements had been made with a Nuremberg merchant for remitting the money to the Queen. The bills of exchange will, I trust, shortly arrive. Without this money it is impossible to gua[113]rantee the Queen’s return; for, though magnificent promises are held out to us, they are not to be relied on in these troublous times, when the country is so ground down with taxation. The 20,000 crowns are thought to be certain; but there will not be much left out of them after paying the wages of the household and making preparations for the journey; 12,000 more are promised, a sum which would be abundantly sufficient if we could reckon on it, but I am afraid the prospect of its being paid is somewhat remote, and to wait for the money would be to subject the Queen to endless trouble and vexation, and perhaps cause injury to her health. For her anxiety to return to your Majesty, and to be quit of the troubles and hurly-burly of France, is unspeakable. I hope, too, your Majesty will remember what a dutiful and obedient daughter she has always been, and will therefore comply with her very reasonable request, and, now that she has been led to count on returning, not let her after all be disappointed. As regards the route she is to take, I hope your Majesty will graciously give the question your serious consideration. For here, indeed, there are continual reports that more German reiters are coming, and, in fact, are actually ready to march; if this be true, there is also fear that the seat of war may be transferred to the countries through which lies the road to Lorraine.