BOOK VI
THE COURTSHIP OF HENRY VIII.
1537-1539
I.
The Widow of Milan's fate still hung in the balance. While Mary of Hungary had not yet lost all hope of marrying her to the Duke of Cleves, and Queen Eleanor was no less anxious to see her the wife of a French Prince, fresh proposals reached Brussels from an unexpected quarter. This new suitor was none other than the Emperor's bel oncle, King Henry of England. This monarch, who had openly defied the laws of the Church, and after divorcing Charles's aunt, had pronounced Queen Katherine's daughter to be illegitimate, could hardly expect to find favour in the eyes of the Regent. Mary's own opinion of Henry's character is frankly given in a very interesting letter which she wrote to her brother Ferdinand in May, 1536, when the King of England had sent Anne Boleyn to the block and made Jane Seymour his third wife.
"I hope," she wrote, "that the English will not do us much harm now we are rid of the King's mistress, who was a good Frenchwoman, and whom, as you have no doubt heard, he has beheaded; and since no one skilful enough to do the deed could be found among his own subjects, he sent for the executioner of S. Omer, in order that a Frenchman should be the minister of his vengeance. I hear that he has married another lady, who is said to be a good Imperialist, although I do not know if she will remain so much longer. He is said to have taken a fancy to her before the last one's death, which, coupled with the fact that neither the poor woman nor any of those who were beheaded with her, saving one miserable musician, could be brought to acknowledge her guilt, naturally makes people suspect that he invented this pretext in order to get rid of her.... It is to be hoped—if one can hope anything from such a man—that when he is tired of this wife he will find some better way of getting rid of her. Women, I think, would hardly be pleased if such customs became general, and with good reason; and although I have no wish to expose myself to similar risks, yet, as I belong to the feminine sex, I, too, will pray that God may preserve us from such perils."[164]
But whatever Mary's private opinions were, political reasons compelled her to preserve a friendly demeanour towards King Henry. The English alliance was of the utmost importance to the trade of the Netherlands, and the enmity of France made it essential to secure Henry's neutrality, if not his active help. The death of Queen Katherine, as Cromwell wrote, had removed "the onelie matter of unkindness" between the two monarchs, and was soon followed by more friendly communications. When the news of Prince Edward's birth reached Spain, the Emperor held a long conversation with Sir Thomas Wyatt, the poet and scholar, who had been sent to the Imperial Court early in 1537. He expressed great pleasure at the news, laughing and talking pleasantly, inquiring after the size and goodliness of the child, and ended by saying frankly that he approved of the King's recent marriage as much as he had always disliked his union with Anne Boleyn.[165] These last remarks must have fallen strangely on the ears of Wyatt, whose old intimacy with the hapless Queen had nearly cost him his life, and whose death he lamented in some of his sweetest verse. But he was too good a courtier not to repeat them in his letters to Cromwell and the King. The news of the Prince's birth was shortly followed by that of the Queen's death, which took place at Hampton Court on the 24th of October.
"Divine Providence," said the royal widower, "has mingled my joy for the son which it has pleased God to give me with the bitterness of the death of her who brought me this happiness."
Cromwell wrote to inform Lord William Howard, the special Envoy who had taken the news of the Prince's birth to France, of Her Grace's death, and in the same letter desired him to bring back particulars of two French ladies who had been recommended as suitable successors to the late Queen, since His Majesty, "moved by tender zeal for his subjects," had already resolved to marry again. One of these was King Francis's plain but accomplished daughter Margaret, who eventually married the Duke of Savoy, although Cromwell, knowing his master's tastes, remarked that, from what he heard, he "did not think she would be the meetest."[166] The other was Mary, Duchess of Longueville, the eldest daughter of Claude de Guise, brother of the Duke of Lorraine. The charms of this young widow were renowned at the French Court, and the English Ambassador's reports of her modesty and beauty inspired Henry with an ardent wish to make her his wife. Even before Jane Seymour was in her grave, he attacked the French Ambassador, Castillon, on the subject, and suggested that both these Princesses, and any other ladies whom the King of France could recommend, might be sent to meet him at Calais.[167]
Francis, who was more gallant in his relations with women than his brother of England, laughed long and loudly when this message reached him, and sent Castillon word that royal Princesses could not be trotted out like hackney horses for hire! He quite declined to allow his daughter to enter the lists; and as for Madame de Longueville, whom the King was pleased to honour with his suit, she was already promised to his son-in-law, the King of Scots. This fickle monarch, who had courted Dorothea and Christina by turn, and finally married Madeleine de Valois, had lost his young wife at the end of six months, and was already in search of another. At the same time Francis sent his royal brother word that he should count it a great honour if he could find a bride in his realm, and that any other lady in France was at his command.[168] But Henry was not accustomed to have his wishes thwarted, and in December, 1537, he sent a gentleman of his chamber, Sir Peter Mewtas, on a secret mission to Joinville, the Duke of Guise's castle on the borders of Lorraine, to wait on Madame de Longueville, and find out if her word was already pledged. Both Madame de Longueville and her clever mother, Antoinette de Bourbon, returned evasive answers, saying that the Duke of Guise had agreed to the marriage with King James, but that his daughter's consent had never been given. This reply encouraged Henry to persevere with his suit, while Mewtas's description of the Duchess's beauty, in Castillon's words, "set the tow on fire." He complained that his brother had behaved shamefully in preferring the beggarly King of Scots to him, and was forcing the lady to marry James against her will. In vain Castillon told him that Madame de Longueville had been promised to the King of Scots before Queen Jane's death, and that Francis could not break his word without mortally offending his old ally and son-in-law. Nothing daunted, Henry sent Mewtas again to Joinville in February, 1538, to obtain Madame de Longueville's portrait, and ask if she were still free. This time his errand proved fruitless. The marriage with the King of Scots was already concluded, and the contract signed. Nevertheless, Henry still harped on the same string. "Il revient toujours à ses moutons," wrote Castillon, "et ne peut pas oublier sa bergère." "Truly he is a marvellous man!"[169]
Meanwhile Cromwell, who had no personal inclination for the French alliance, was making inquiries in other directions. Early in December, while Mewtas was on his way to Joinville, the Lord Privy Seal wrote privately to Hutton, desiring him to send him a list of ladies in Flanders who would be suitable consorts for the King. In a letter written on the 4th of December, the Ambassador replied that he had little knowledge of ladies, and feared he knew no one at the Regent's Court "meet to be Queen of England."
"The widow of Count Egmont," he wrote, "was a fair woman of good report, and the Duke of Cleves had a marriageable daughter, but he heard no great praise of her person or beauty. There is," he added, "the Duchess of Milan, whom I have not seen, but who is reported to be a goodly personage of excellent beauty."[170]
Five days later Hutton wrote again, to announce the arrival of the Duchess, who entered Brussels on the 8th, and was received by a great company of honourable gentlemen.
"She is, I am informed, of the age of sixteen years, very high in stature for that age—higher, in fact, than the Regent—and a goodly personage of competent beauty, of favour excellent, soft of speech, and very gentle in countenance. She weareth mourning apparel, after the manner of Italy. The common saying here is that she is both widow and maid. She resembleth much one Mistress Skelton,[171] that sometime waited in Court upon Queen Anne. She useth most to speak French, albeit it is reported that she can speak both Italian and High German."
The same evening Hutton added these further details in a postscript addressed to Cromwell's secretary, Thomas Wriothesley:
"If it were God's pleasure and the King's, I would there were some good alliance made betwixt His Highness and the Emperor, and there is none in these parts of personage, beauty, and birth, like unto the Duchess of Milan. She is not so pure white as was the late Queen, whose soul God pardon, but she hath a singular good countenance, and when she chanceth to smile, there appeareth two pits in her cheeks and one in her chin, the which becometh her right excellently well."[172]
The honest Englishman's first impressions of Christina were evidently very favourable. During the next week he watched her carefully, and was much struck by "the great majesty of her bearing and charm of her manners." At the same time he expressed his earnest conviction that, now peace was concluded between the Emperor and the French King, a close alliance between his own master and the Emperor was the more necessary, and suggested that a marriage between Henry and the Duchess, and another between the Princess Mary and the Duke of Cleves, would be very advantageous to both monarchs, who would then have all Germany at their command.
Cromwell lost no time in placing these letters in his master's hands. Hutton's account of the Duchess's beauty and virtues made a profound impression on the King, and, since Madame de Longueville was beyond his reach, he determined to pay his addresses to the Emperor's niece. With characteristic impetuosity, he wrote to Wyatt on the 22nd of January, saying that, as the Duchess of Milan's match with the Duke of Cleves was broken off, he thought of honouring her with an offer of marriage. This he desired Wyatt to suggest as of himself, in conversation with the Emperor and his Ministers, Granvelle and Covos, giving them a friendly hint to make overtures on behalf of the said Duchess.[173]
Strangely enough, two years before Charles had himself proposed this alliance between his niece and the King of England. In May, 1536, when he was hurrying northwards to defend Savoy against the French, the news of Anne Boleyn's fall reached him at Vercelli. Without a moment's delay he wrote to Chapuys, his Ambassador in London, saying that, since Henry, being of so amorous a complexion, was sure to take another wife, and it was most important that he should not marry in France, Chapuys might propose his union with one of the Emperor's nieces, either Queen Eleanor's daughter, the Infanta Maria of Portugal, or the widowed Duchess of Milan, "a beautiful young lady, very well brought up, and with a rich dower." And then, as if a qualm had seized him at the thought of sacrificing Christina to a man of Henry's character, he added a postscript desiring the Ambassador not to mention the Duchess unless His Majesty should appear averse to the other.[174]
By the time, however, that these letters reached London, it was plain that the fickle monarch's affections were already fixed on Jane Seymour, and nothing more came of the Emperor's proposal until, in January, 1538, Henry himself wrote to Wyatt. Sir Thomas, who knew his royal master intimately, hastened to approach the Emperor, and on the 2nd of February Charles wrote from Barcelona to Chapuys, saying that, although royal ladies ought by right to be sought, not offered, in marriage, the King's language was so frank and sincere that he was willing to waive ceremony, and lend a favourable ear to his brother's proposal. Before these letters reached the Imperial Ambassador, he received a message from Henry, saying that he wished to treat of his own marriage with the Duchess of Milan, being convinced that a Princess born and bred in Northern climes would suit him far better than the Portuguese Infanta. The next day Cromwell paid a visit to Chapuys, and confirmed every word of the royal message.[175]
On the eve of Valentine's Day Henry saw Castillon, and told him in bitter tones that, if his master did not choose to give him Madame de Longueville, he could find plenty of better matches, and meant to marry the Duchess of Milan and conclude a close alliance with the Emperor.[176]
On the same day the German reformer Melanchthon, writing from Jena to a Lutheran friend, summed up the situation neatly in the following words:
"The Widow of Milan, daughter of Christian, the captive King of Denmark, was brought to Germany to wed the young Duke of Juliers. This is now changed, for Juliers becomes heir to Guelders, against the Emperor's will, and the girl is offered to the Englishman, whom the Spaniards, aiming at universal empire, would join to themselves against the Frenchmen and us. There is grave matter for your consideration."[177]
II.
The ball was now set rolling, but, as Chapuys foretold, there were many difficulties in the way. For the moment, however, all went well. Henry sent Hutton orders to watch the Duchess closely, and report on all her words, deeds, and looks. In obedience to these commands, the Ambassador hung about the palace from early morning till late at night, was present at supper and card parties, attended the Queen out riding and hunting, and lost no opportunity of entering into conversation with Christina herself.
One evening towards the end of February a page brought him some letters from the Duchess's servant, Gian Battista Ferrari, who had friends among the Italian merchants in London, with a request that the Ambassador would forward them by his courier. The next morning, after Mass, when the Queen passed into the Council-chamber, Hutton took advantage of this opportunity to thank the Duchess most humbly for allowing him to do her this small service. Christina replied, with a gracious smile, that she would not have ventured to give him this trouble, had she not been as ready herself to do him any pleasure that lay in her power.
It was stormy weather. For three days and nights it had rained without ceasing, and courtiers and ladies alike found the time hang heavy on their hands. "This weather liketh not the Queen," remarked Christina, who was standing by an open window looking out on the park. "She is thereby penned up, and cannot ride abroad to hunt." As she spoke, the wind drove the rain with such violence into her face that she was obliged to draw back farther into the room, and Hutton, growing bolder, asked if it were true that the Duchess herself loved hunting. "Nothing better," replied Christina, laughing; and she seemed as if she would gladly have prolonged the conversation. But then two ancient gentlemen drew near—"Master Bernadotte Court, her Grand Master, who, next to Monsieur de Courrières, is chief about her and another"—and, with a parting bow, the Duchess retired to her own rooms.
"She speaketh French," adds Hutton in reporting this interview to Cromwell, "and seemeth to be of few words. And in her speaking she lispeth, which doth nothing misbecome her. I cannot in anything perceive but she should be of much soberness, very wise, and no less gentle."[178]
Among the ladies who came to Court for the Carnival fêtes, Hutton found a friend in the Duke of Aerschot's sister, Madame de Berghen, a lively lady whom he had known in the town of Berghen-op-Zoom, where he had spent much time as Governor of the Merchant Adventurers. The Dutch merchants in this city had presented him with a house, an honour which the Ambassador appreciated highly, although he complained that it led him into great extravagance, and that the furniture, tapestries, and pictures, necessary for its adornment, "plucked the lining out of his purse, and left him as rich as a newly-shorn sheep."[179]
One day Madame de Berghen saw Hutton in the act of delivering a packet of letters which Wyatt had forwarded from Barcelona to the Queen, and her curiosity was excited by the warmth of Mary's thanks. That evening she invited the English Ambassador to dinner to meet her kinsman the Bishop of Liége, "a goodly personage," remarks Hutton, "but a man of little learning and less discretion, and, like most Bishops in these parts, very unfit for his office." When this secular ecclesiastic retired, the Lady Marchioness, "whose tongue always wagged freely," asked Hutton if the letters which he had delivered to the Queen came from England, and confessed that she hoped they contained good news regarding the Duchess of Milan, whose beauty, wisdom, and great gentleness, she could not praise too highly. She told him that he would have been amazed had he seen Christina gorgeously apparelled as she was the day before, and confided to him that the Duchess was having her portrait taken by the Court painter, Bernard van Orley, and had promised to give it to her. Hutton begged to be allowed to borrow the picture in order to show it to his wife, and told Cromwell that as soon as he could secure the portrait he would send it to England. Accordingly, on the 9th of March the Ambassador received the picture, which Madame de Berghen begged him to accept as her gift, and sent a servant to bear it without delay to the Lord Privy Seal's house in St. James's. Late on the following evening, much to the Ambassador's surprise, a young Shropshire gentleman, named Mr. Philip Hoby, who had lately entered Cromwell's service, appeared at his lodgings, accompanied by the King's painter, Master Hans Holbein. At this time the German master was at the height of his reputation. Since 1536, when he entered Henry's service as Court painter, he had executed some of his finest portraits, including the famous picture of the King in Whitehall Palace, the superb portrait of Queen Jane, and that of Cromwell himself, which is so marvellous a revelation of character. Now the Lord Privy Seal sent him across the Channel to take a sketch of the Duchess of Milan, and bring it back with all possible despatch.
Hutton's first idea was to send a messenger to stop the bearer of the Flemish portrait, fearing it might give a wrong impression of the lady, "since it was not so perfect as the cause required, and as the said Mr. Haunce could make it." But his servant had already sailed, and the Ambassador could only beg Cromwell to await Master Hans's return before he formed any opinion of the Duchess. The next morning he waited on the Queen, and informed her how the Lord Privy Seal, having received secret overtures from the Imperial Ambassador for a marriage between the King's Majesty and Her Grace of Milan, thought the best way to approach the King was to show him a portrait of the Duchess.
"And forasmuch as his lordship heard great commendation of the form, beauty, wisdom, and other virtuous qualities, with which God had endowed the Duchess, he could perceive no means more meet for the advancement of the same than to procure her perfect picture, for which he had sent a man very excellent in the making of physiognomies."
After long and elaborate explanation, Hutton asked humbly if his lordship's servant might salute the Duchess, and beg her to appoint a time and place for the painter to accomplish his task.
Mary was evidently greatly surprised to hear of the Ambassador's errand. She started from her chair in amazement, but, quickly recovering composure, she sat down again, and listened attentively till Hutton had done speaking. Then she thanked him and Lord Cromwell for their good-will to the Emperor, and said that she had no objection to grant his request, and that he should see the Duchess herself. With these few words she rose and passed into the Council-chamber. Presently Christina entered the room, attended by two ladies. She listened graciously to Hutton's message, expressed her gratitude to Lord Cromwell for his kind intentions, and sent Benedetto da Corte back with him to meet the English gentleman. Fortunately, Philip Hoby was a pleasant and cultivated young man who could speak Italian fluently. He conversed for some time with Messer Benedetto, much to Hutton's envy and admiration, and at two o'clock that afternoon was conducted by him into the presence of the Duchess.
Cromwell had given Hoby minute instructions as to his behaviour on this occasion, and had composed a long and elaborate speech which he was to deliver to Christina herself.
"The said Philip shall, as of himself, express a wish that it might please the King, now a widower, to advance Her Grace to the honour of Queen of England, considering her virtuous qualities were a great deal more than ever was notified, and for a great confirmation of amity and love to continue between the Emperor's Majesty and the King's Highness."
Hoby was charged to take careful note of the Duchess's answers, gestures, and expression, and was especially to note if she seemed favourably inclined to these proposals, in order that he might be able to satisfy Henry's anxiety on the subject.[180]
Philip Hoby was too accomplished a courtier not to discharge his errand with tact and courtesy. The Duchess was graciously pleased to accede to his request, and at one o'clock the next day Holbein was ushered by Messer Benedetto into his mistress's presence. The time allowed for the sitting was short, but Master Hans was an adept at his art, and had already taken drawings in this swift and masterly fashion of all the chief personages at the English Court.
"Having but three hours' space," wrote Hutton, "he showed himself to be master of that science. For his picture is very perfect; the other is but slobbered in comparison to it, as by the sight of both your lordship shall well perceive."[181]
An hour afterwards Hoby and the painter both took leave of the Duchess and started for England. In order to avoid suspicion and observe the strict secrecy enjoined by Cromwell, Hoby did not even seek a farewell audience from the Regent, who contented herself with sending friendly greetings to the Lord Privy Seal, saying that he should hear from her more at large through the Imperial Ambassadors.
The precious sketch, from which Holbein afterwards made "the great table"[182] which hung in the Palace of Westminster until Henry's death, was safely delivered into Cromwell's hands, and shown by him to the King on the 18th of March. Henry was singularly pleased with the portrait, and, as his courtiers noticed, seemed to be in better humour than for months past. For the first time since Queen Jane's death he sent for his musicians, and made them play to him all the afternoon and evening. Two days afterwards he went to Hampton Court, and "gave orders for new and sumptuous buildings" at this riverside palace. After that he returned to Whitehall by water, accompanied by his whole troop of musicians, paid a visit to his brother-in-law's wife, Katherine, Duchess of Suffolk, and resumed his old habit of going about with a few of his favourites in masks—"a sure sign," remarked Chapuys, "that he is going to marry again."
The Imperial Ambassadors, Chapuys and his colleague Don Diego Mendoza, were now treated with extraordinary civility. They were invited to Hampton Court, where Henry entertained them at a splendid banquet, and showed them his "fine new lodgings" and the priceless tapestries and works of art with which Cardinal Wolsey had adorned this magnificent house. The next day they were taken to the royal manor of Nonsuch to see the little Prince, "one of the prettiest children you ever saw, and his sister, Madam Elizabeth, who is also a sweet little girl." Then they went on to Richmond to visit Princess Mary, who played to them with rare skill on both spinet and lute, and spoke of her cousin the Emperor in terms of the deepest gratitude. The French Ambassadors, Castillon and the Bishop of Tarbes, who arrived at Hampton Court just as the Imperial Envoys were leaving, were received with marked coolness, a treatment, as Chapuys shrewdly remarks, "no doubt artfully designed to excite their jealousy."[183]
The sight of Holbein's portrait revived Henry's wish to see Christina, and he pressed Chapuys earnestly to induce his good sister the Queen of Hungary to bring her niece to meet him at Calais. But on this point Mary was obdurate. She told the Ambassador that this was out of the question, and although she wrote civilly to the Lord Privy Seal, thanking him for his good offices, she complained bitterly to Chapuys of Cromwell's extraordinary proceeding in sending the painter to Brussels, and laid great stress on her condescension in allowing him to take her niece's portrait. So far Charles himself had never written fully to his sister on the subject, and Mary asked Chapuys repeatedly if these proposals really came from the Emperor, and if the King and Cromwell were sincere. As for her part, she believed these flattering words were merely intended to deceive her. Chapuys could only assure her that both Henry and his Minister were very much in earnest. When the courier arrived from Spain, the King was bitterly disappointed because there was no letter from Charles, and sent Cromwell twice to implore the Ambassadors, for God's sake, to tell him if they had any good news to impart. On Lady Day the Minister came to Chapuys's lodgings, and, after two hours' earnest conversation, went away "somewhat consoled." The next day Henry sent for the Ambassadors, and discussed the subject in the frankest, most familiar manner, ending by saying with a merry laugh: "You think it a good joke, I trow, to see me in love at my age!"
In his impatience, Henry complained that Hutton was remiss in his duties, and did not say enough about the Duchess in his despatches. Yet the excellent Ambassador was unremitting in his attendance on Her Grace, and spent many hours daily at Court, watching her closely when she danced or played at cards, and telling the King that he "felt satisfied that her great modesty and gentleness proceeded from no want of wit, but that she was rather to be esteemed wisest among the wise."[184]
From the day of Hoby's visit Christina treated Hutton with marked friendliness, and threw aside much of her reserve in talking with him. On the bright spring days, when the Queen and her niece hunted daily in the forest, the Englishman seldom failed to accompany them. He admired the Duchess's bold horsemanship, and was much struck by the evident delight which she and her aunt took in this favourite sport. By way of ingratiating himself with Mary, he presented her with four couple of English hounds, "the fairest that he had ever seen," and a fine gelding, which made Christina remark that he had done the Queen a great pleasure, and that she had never seen her aunt so well mounted. Hutton hastened to reply that, since Her Grace was good enough to admire the horse, he would do his utmost to secure another as good for her own use, which offer she accepted graciously.[185] All these incidents naturally provoked attention, and, in spite of the secrecy with which the negotiations were carried on, the King's marriage with the Duchess of Milan was freely discussed both in Flanders and in England.
"Few Englishmen," wrote the Duke of Norfolk to Cromwell on the 6th of April, "will regret the King of Scots' marriage to Madame de Longueville, hoping that one of Burgundian blood may have the place she might have had."[186]
And the report that after Easter the King was going to meet his future bride at Calais became so persistent that even Castillon believed it, and complained to his royal master of the strange alteration in Henry's behaviour, and of the marvellous haughtiness and coldness with which he was now treated.[187]
III.
On the 27th of March the Imperial Ambassadors dined at the Lord Privy Seal's house, to meet Archbishop Cranmer, Chancellor Audley, Thomas Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, the Lord High Admiral Southampton, and two other Bishops, who were the Commissioners appointed to treat of two royal marriages. One of these was the long-planned union of Princess Mary with the Infant Don Louis of Portugal, brother of the reigning King, which was the ostensible object of Don Diego's mission to England. The other was the King's own marriage with the Duchess, which Henry sent word must be arranged at once, since until this was concluded he absolutely refused to treat of his daughter's alliance with the Infant. As they sat down at table, by way of Benedicite, remarks Chapuys, the King's deputies began by rejoicing to think they had not to deal with Frenchmen, and pouring scorn on their mendacious habits. But before the end of the meeting many difficulties had arisen. First of all the English Commissioners demanded that the Count Palatine should renounce all his wife's rights to the crown of Denmark without compensation. Then the question of the Papal dispensation, which was necessary owing to Christina's relationship to Katherine of Aragon, was mooted, and, as Chapuys soon realized, was likely to prove an insuperable difficulty, since nothing would induce Henry to recognize the Pope's authority.[188]
During the next few weeks several meetings between the Commissioners took place, and the Ambassadors were repeatedly admitted to confer with the King and his Privy Council; but little progress was made, and Chapuys informed the Regent that there was even less hope of agreement than there had been at first. Henry on his part complained loudly of the coldness of the Imperial Envoys, and of their evident desire to push forward the Portuguese marriage and drop his own, which was the one thing for which he really cared.[189] An attempt to effect some mode of reconciliation between him and the Pope only incensed Henry, who sent two Doctors of Law, Bonner and Haynes, to Madrid, to protest against the meeting of a General Council, and to point out how the Bishops of Rome wrested Scripture to the maintenance of their lusts and worldly advantage. And he told Don Diego angrily that the meeting of a Council would do him the worst injury in the world, since if he refused to attend it he would be cut off from the rest of Christendom.[190] To add to the King's ill-temper, he was suffering from a return of the ulcers in the leg from which he had formerly suffered, and for some days his condition excited serious alarm.
On his recovery, Castillon, who had been looking on with some amusement while the Emperor's folk were "busy brewing marriages," approached His Majesty with flattering words, and tried to instil suspicions of Cromwell into his mind. Henry swallowed the bait greedily, and the French Ambassador's remarks on his favourite's "great Spanish passion" rankled in his mind to so great an extent that he sent for Cromwell and rated him soundly, telling him that he was quite unfit to meddle in the affairs of Kings. The wily Frenchman, satisfied that the only way of managing this wayward monarch was to make him fall in love, took advantage of his present mood to speak to him of the Queen of Scotland's sister, Louise de Guise, whom he described as being quite as beautiful as herself, with the additional advantage of being a maid, and not a widow. Henry, who was on his way to Mass when Castillon made this suggestion, slapped him familiarly on the back, and laughed, saying he must hear more of this young lady. The next day the Comptroller of the King's Household was sent to ask the Ambassador for particulars about Mademoiselle de Guise, and was told that she was so like Madame de Longueville that you would hardly know the sisters apart, and that a Scotchman who had seen both, wondered how King James could prefer Mary to so lovely a creature as Louise. The French Ambassador now found himself overwhelmed with attentions. The King sent him presents of venison and artichokes from his gardens, invited him to spend Sunday at Greenwich, and, when the plague broke out in London, lent him the beautiful old house in Chelsea which had belonged to Sir Thomas More, as a country residence.[191]
The wedding of King James was finally celebrated at Châteaudun on the 9th of May, and, hearing that the Duke of Guise and his fair daughter Louise had accompanied the new Queen to Havre, Henry sent Philip Hoby across the Channel to see Mademoiselle de Guise and have her picture painted. These orders were duly executed, and Louise's portrait, probably painted by Holbein, was placed in the King's hands. But, although Henry "did not find the portrait ugly," he was now anxious to see Louise's younger sister, Renée, who was said to be still more beautiful, and would not be put off when Castillon told him that she was about to take the veil in a convent at Reims.
"No doubt," remarked Montmorency, the Constable of France, "as King Henry has made himself Pope in his own country, he would prefer a nun to any other Princess."[192]
Nothing would now satisfy Henry but that the French King or Queen should meet him at Calais with the Duke of Guise's daughters, Mademoiselle de Lorraine, and Mademoiselle de Vendôme, who had all been recommended to his notice. When the English Envoy, Brian, proposed this to Queen Eleanor, she replied indignantly that she was not a keeper of harlots, and the Constable told Castillon once more that French Princesses were not to be trotted out like hackneys at a fair. At last the Ambassador, tired of repeating that this plan was impossible, asked Henry if the Knights of King Arthur's Round Table had ever treated ladies in such a fashion. This brought the King to his senses. He reddened and hesitated, and, after rubbing his nose for some moments, said that his proposal might have sounded a little uncivil, but he had been so often deceived in these matters that he could trust no one but himself.[193]
Still Henry would not give up all hope of winning the fair Louise, and towards the end of August he sent Philip Hoby on a fresh errand to Joinville. As before, he was to take Holbein with him, and, after viewing well the younger sister, ask the Duchess of Guise for leave to take the portraits of both her daughters, Louise and Renée, "in one faire table." Hoby was to explain that he had business in these parts, and that, since he had already made acquaintance with Mademoiselle de Guise at Havre, he could not pass Joinville without saluting her. On leaving Joinville he was to proceed to the Duke of Lorraine's Court, and inform him that the Lord Privy Seal, having heard that His Excellency had a daughter of excellent quality, begged that the King's painter might be allowed to take her portrait. On the 30th of August the travellers reached Joinville, as we learn from the following letter addressed by the Duchess of Guise to her eldest daughter in Scotland:
"It is but two days since the King of England's gentleman who was at Havre, and the painter, were here. The gentleman came to see me, pretending that he was on his way to find the Emperor, and, having heard that Louise was ill, would not pass by without inquiring after her, that he might take back news of her health to the King his master. He begged to be allowed to see her, which he did, although it was a day when the fever was on her, and repeated the same words which he had already said to me. He then told me that, as he was so near Lorraine, he meant to go on to Nancy to see the country. I have no doubt that he was going there to draw Mademoiselle's portrait, in the same way that he has drawn the others, and so I sent down to the gentleman's lodgings, and found that the said painter was there. Since then they have been at Nancy, where they spent a day and were well feasted and entertained, and at every meal the maître d'hôtel ate with them, and many presents were made them. That is all I know yet, but you see that, at the worst, if you do not have your sister for a neighbour, you may yet have your cousin."[194]
This time Hoby's journey was evidently unsuccessful. Louise was ill of intermittent fever, and Renée had already been sent to the convent at Reims, where she was afterwards professed; and it is clear from Antoinette's letters that she had no wish to marry either of her daughters to Henry. A month before, on the 3rd of August, she wrote to the Queen of Scotland: "I have heard nothing more of the proposals which you know of"; and again on the 18th: "I have begged your father to speak of these affairs to the King, that we may be rid of them if possible, for no one could ever be happy with such a man."[195]
As for Anne de Lorraine, in spite of many excellent qualities, she lacked the beauty and charm of her cousins, and, as her aunt Antoinette said, "elle est bien honnête, mais pas si belle que je voudrais."[196]
The result of these disappointments was to revive Henry's wish to marry Christina. Several times in the course of the summer Castillon remarked that this monarch was still hankering after the Duchess of Milan, and had repeatedly tried to induce the Regent to bring her niece to meet him at Brussels. "The King my master," said Cromwell to Chapuys, "will never marry one, who is to be his companion for life, without he has first seen and known her."[197] In a long and careful paper of instructions which Henry drew up for the Ambassador Wyatt, he lays great stress on this point.
"His Grace, prudently considering how that marriage is a bargain of such nature as may endure for the whole life of man, and a thing whereof the pleasure and quiet, or the displeasure and torment, doth much depend, thinketh it to be most necessary, both for himself and the party with whom it shall please God to join him in marriage, that the one might see the other before the time that they should be so affianced, which point His Highness hath largely set forth heretofore to the Emperor's Ambassador."[198]
But on her side Mary was equally inflexible. Nothing would induce her to take a step forward in this direction, and even Hutton began to realize how coldly the marriage overtures were received at Brussels. The Queen never failed to ask after the King's health or to express her anxiety for the strengthening of the ancient friendship between the realm of England and the House of Burgundy; but when the Ambassador ventured to allude to the subject of her niece's preferment, she invariably gave an evasive reply. Since both the Queen and the Duchess spent much of the summer hunting in the Forest of Soignies, or in more distant parts, Hutton seldom had an opportunity of seeing Christina. Her servants were still very friendly, especially the Lord Benedick Court, as Hutton calls the Italian master of her household. One evening in June, when Hutton had been at Court, Benedetto came back to supper with him, whether of his own accord or at his mistress's command the Englishman could not tell. As they walked along the street, Benedetto asked the Ambassador if he had brought the Queen any good news about the Duchess. Hutton replied that the first good news must come from the Emperor, and, to his mind, was a long time upon the road. The old man looked up to heaven, and said devoutly: "I pray God that I may live to see her given to your master, even if I die the next day. But," he added significantly, "there is one doubt in the matter." Hutton asked eagerly what this might be, upon which Benedetto explained that, as the King's first wife, the Lady Katherine, was near of kin to the Duchess, the marriage could not be solemnized without the Pope's dispensation, and this he feared His Majesty would never accept. The Ambassador replied warmly that he did not know what might be against the Bishop of Rome's laws, but that he was quite sure his master would do nothing against God's laws. Then they sat down to supper with other guests, and nothing further was said on the subject. But the old Italian knew what he was talking about, and the Papal dispensation proved to be the one insuperable obstacle which stood in the way of a settlement.[199]