[49] Pomponne de Bellièvre, jurist and diplomatist. Born at Lyons in 1529, he was twice Charles IX.’s ambassador to Switzerland, and accompanied Henry III. to Poland. In 1586 he was sent to England to ask for the release of Mary Queen of Scots. In 1599 Henry made him Chancellor, a post which he held till 1604. He died in 1607.
[50] The following extract from a letter, dated November 3, 1574, and written by the King to his representative at Constantinople, proves the truth of this statement:—‘Toutesfois je veux vous advertir et luy aussy (the bishop of Acqs, the late Ambassador), s’il est encores par delà, que tout fraîchement j’ay receu et de bon lieu que l’empereur se plaint fort de luy et des offices qu’il a faicts par delà contre ses affaires. Je sçay bien qu’il n’a eu considération qu’à mon service; toutesfois je seray bien aise que durant votre légation vous vous comportiez envers ses ministres le plus amiablement que vous pourrez et leur presterez toute faveur en ce que touchera le particulier d’iceluy Sr empereur où vous verrez que mon service ne sera point engagé, afin qu’il cognoisse que je me ressens du bon recueil et faveur qu’il me fist dernièrement passant par ses terres, et ay en recommandation la légation qui est en nostre royaume.’—Charrière, Négotiations de la France dans le Levant, iii. 578.
[51] Maximilian gave this advice to Henry III. when he stopped at Vienna on his way back to France. ‘Cæsarem prudentissimum juxta et optimum principem hoc Regi consilium dedisse memorant, ut pacem primis regni auspiciis et in Galliæ ingressu suis daret.’—Thuanus, iii. 8.
[52] Her name was Catherine. She eventually married in 1599 Henry, Duke of Bar, son of Charles, Duke of Lorraine, and died in 1604.
[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.’