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BOOK XIII
THE RETURN TO LORRAINE
1559-1578

I.

During the last year the Duke of Savoy had repeatedly begged to be relieved of his post as the King's Lieutenant in the Low Countries. By the Treaty of Câteau-Cambrésis he recovered his dominions, and set out on the 15th of June for Paris with a great train of gentlemen and servants, to celebrate his marriage with King Henry's sister. At the same time, the death of the Emperor made Philip's return to Spain necessary. The appointment of a new Regent of the Netherlands became imperative, and everyone expected the Duchess of Lorraine would be chosen to fill the vacant office. A Habsburg by birth, she inherited the capacity for governing which distinguished the women of her house, and had proved her fitness for the post by the wisdom with which she administered her son's State during seven years. Her popularity with all classes of people in the Netherlands was an additional advantage, and when, in the summer of 1558, it had been doubtful if Mary of Hungary would consent to return, the Duchess was the first person whose name was suggested. The Venetian Suriano remarked that the only doubt as to her fitness for the office was that she hardly possessed her aunt's extraordinary vigour and energy.[572] But these doubts had been dispelled by the admirable manner in which she had conducted the negotiations at the recent Conference and the immense credit which she had acquired on all sides. Unfortunately, she had made an enemy of the Bishop of Arras, and excited his jealousy by her private consultations with the Cardinal and Constable, and still more by her friendship with the Prince of Orange. Both Orange and Egmont disliked the Bishop almost as much as they hated the King's Spanish favourites, and lost no opportunity of showing their contempt for the "meddling priest," as they called Philip's confidential counsellor. And both of these proud nobles, seeing no hope of themselves obtaining the Regency, supported the Duchess's claims strongly.[573] But the very popularity which Christina enjoyed, the acclamations which greeted her return from Câteau-Cambrésis, had the effect of arousing Philip's jealousy. He lent a willing ear to Arras and Alva when they spoke scornfully of the Duchess's French connection and of the influence which the Prince of Orange would gain by his marriage with her daughter. Then, in an evil hour both for himself and the Netherlands, the Bishop suggested the name of the Duchess of Parma. Margaret was closely related to the King, and would be far more pliable and ready to follow his counsels than Christina. Philip liked his sister, and shared the Spaniards' jealousy of the great Flemish nobles, more especially of the Prince of Orange, whose intimacy with Christina he regarded with growing suspicion. His mind was soon made up, and when the French Commissioners came to Brussels in May, the appointment of the Duchess of Parma to be Governess of the Low Countries was publicly proclaimed.[574]

The announcement was the signal for an outburst of popular discontent. Orange and Egmont protested loudly at this affront to the Duchess of Lorraine, and complained of the indignity offered to the nation by giving them a ruler of illegitimate birth, whose interests and connections were all foreign, and whose husband had actually borne arms against the late Emperor.

To Christina herself the blow was heavy. She had suffered many trials and disappointments at her enemies' hands, but had never expected to be treated with such ingratitude by the King, who had always professed so much affection for his cousin, and was so deeply indebted to her.

It is scarcely to be wondered at if Christina never wholly forgave Philip for the cruel wrong which he had done her, and if in all her future correspondence with him we trace a strain of reproachful bitterness. Her resolve to leave the Netherlands was now fixed. She could not bear to see another Regent at Brussels, and was not even sure if she cared to live as a subject at her son's Court. Her thoughts turned once more to Italy, and, since the Castles of Tortona and Vigevano were not available, she addressed a petition to Philip through her Italian secretary, asking him to give her the duchy of Bari in Calabria. This principality, once the property of Lodovico Sforza, had been lately bequeathed to Philip by the late Queen Bona of Poland, on condition that he would discharge a considerable debt owing to her son, King Sigismund. The beauty and salubrity of the spot, as well as its association with the Sforzas, probably prompted Christina's request, which ran as follows:

Here the petition breaks off abruptly, the rest of the page being torn off; but we see by Philip's reply that it contained a bitter complaint of the injustice which he had done Christina by refusing to make her Regent. He wrote to Arras, desiring him to see that the Duchess ceased to repeat these perpetual recriminations on the subject of the Regency, which were as derogatory to her dignity as they were injurious to his interests. He regretted that his own pressing needs made it impossible for him to do as much as he should wish to help her. At the same time he said that, besides the revenue of 4,000 crowns which he had already offered her, and which she had neither refused nor accepted, he was ready to give her another yearly allowance of 10,000 crowns, to be charged on Naples and Milan, pointing out that she could raise money on this income to satisfy her creditors.

This offer, however, did not commend itself to Christina. In spite of its ancient castle and beautiful situation, Lecce was not an independent principality, and had no connection with her family. She replied curtly that she would follow His Majesty's advice and return to Lorraine, as soon as her creditors were satisfied and her affairs sufficiently arranged for her to leave the Netherlands with honour. Upon this, Philip sent the Duchess a sum of 21,000 crowns to defray the expenses of her journeys, and a further substantial advance on the additional revenues which he had assigned her.[578]

But while he was outwardly endeavouring to atone for one act of injustice, he was secretly doing the Duchess another and a more serious injury. The marriage of the Prince of Orange with her daughter Renée had been practically arranged at Câteau-Cambrésis, but some difficulties had arisen regarding the settlements already made by the Prince on his two children by his first marriage, and the heavy debts which he had incurred by his extravagance, amounting, it was said, to 900,000 crowns. Up to this time Philip had openly encouraged the Prince's suit, but both he and Arras looked with alarm on a marriage that would make Orange more powerful and more dangerous than he was already, and were secretly plotting against its conclusion. One day, when Philip was walking in the park at Brussels with the Prince, he told him how much he regretted to find that Madame de Lorraine was strongly opposed to his marriage with her daughter, and had begged him to inform the Prince that she must decline to proceed further with the matter. The King added, in a friendly way, that he had told him this in order that he might look about for another wife while he was still young. The Prince was naturally much annoyed at this unexpected communication, and replied proudly that, if this were the case, he would promptly seek another alliance in Germany, where he had already received several offers of marriage. He was deeply wounded, not without reason, and went off to Paris a few days later, with Egmont and Alva, to remain there as hostages until the conditions of the treaty had been fulfilled. It was not until many months afterwards that he discovered how he had been duped. Christina meanwhile remained in her convent retreat, unconscious of what was happening in her absence, and heard with some surprise that the Prince of Orange had left Court without informing her of his departure.

All eyes were now turned to the Palais des Tournelles in Paris, where the Catholic King's marriage to Elizabeth of France, and that of the Duke of Savoy to Margaret, were about to be celebrated. Alva represented his master at the wedding, which was solemnized at Notre Dame on the 22nd of June, and his old enemy Guise proclaimed the new Queen's titles at the church doors, and flung handfuls of gold to the applauding crowds. But their joy was soon changed into mourning. King Henry was mortally wounded by a splintered lance in the tournament that followed, and, after lingering for ten days, breathed his last on the 10th of July, two days after the marriage of his sister and the Duke of Savoy had been quietly solemnized in the neighbouring church of St. Paul.

The news of his father-in-law's death reached Philip at Ghent, where he was preparing for his departure. Here Christina joined him on the 19th, and was greeted with the liveliest demonstrations of affection from both Court and people. Before leaving Brussels, she saw an English gentleman, who was on his way to Italy, and brought her a pressing invitation from Queen Elizabeth to pay a visit to England.[579] Elizabeth had evidently not forgotten the Duchess's friendly intentions on her behalf when she came to London in Mary's reign, nor her more recent conversation with Lord Howard. After her arrival at Ghent, she received frequent visits from Chaloner, the newly appointed Ambassador, and from the French Envoy, Sébastien de l'Aubespine, who had been one of the delegates to the Conference, and could not speak too highly of Madame de Lorraine's goodness and ability. Through him she sent affectionate messages to the young King Francis II. and his Scottish wife, thanking them in the warmest terms for their kindness to her son. Nor was Philip lacking in his attentions. He met the Duchess on her arrival, paid her daily visits, and seemed to fall once more under the old spell. On the 24th he and Christina were both present at a Requiem for the King of France, and dined together afterwards. The same afternoon Philip rode out to receive the Duchess of Parma.[580] The next day the Duke of Savoy returned from Paris, bringing with him the Prince of Orange and Egmont, who were released on parole, and attended the Chapter of the Fleece held by the King in the Church of St. John. On the 7th of August the States met, and the new Regent was formally presented to them. But many voices were raised to protest against the powers conferred upon her, and the States refused to grant the aids demanded unless the Spanish troops were withdrawn. This act of audacity roused Philip's anger, and in his farewell interview with William of Orange he accused him of being the instigator of the measure.

Before leaving Ghent, the King arranged a meeting between the two Duchesses in the garden of the Prinzenhof, and afterwards invited Christina to visit him at Flushing, where he spent some days before he embarked. They dined together for the last time on the 12th of August, and seem to have parted friends.[581] Then Christina returned to Brussels to prepare for her own departure, and Chaloner wrote home:

During the next two months Christina had much to endure. She found a marked change in the Prince of Orange. He treated her with profound respect and courtesy in public, but kept aloof from her in private, and appeared to have transferred his attentions to Margaret of Parma. All idea of his marriage with Renée—"the Duchess of Lorraine's soundlimbed daughter," as she was called by Chaloner—seemed to be abandoned, and in September he left Court to attend the French King's coronation at Reims. There was a general feeling of discontent abroad.

The States refused to grant the subsidies asked for, and the people clamoured for the removal of the Spaniards. The nobles showed their displeasure by retiring to their country-houses, and the ladies absented themselves from Margaret's receptions to meet in the Duchess of Lorraine's rooms.[583] This naturally provoked quarrels and jealousies, which, as Arras remarked in his letters to Philip, might easily prove serious.

When Arras wrote these words, Christina was already on her way to Lorraine. Philip received a letter from her at Toledo, informing him of her final departure, and wrote to tell Arras that all strife between the Duchesses was now at an end.[585] In the same month a marriage was arranged between William of Orange and Anna of Saxony, the Elector Maurice's daughter. Arras was greatly alarmed when he heard of this alliance with a Protestant Princess, and used all his powers of persuasion to induce the Prince to return to his old suit and marry Mademoiselle de Lorraine. But it was too late. The Prince knew that the Duchess would never forgive the studied neglect with which he had treated her, and, as he told the Bishop, his word was already pledged. A year later he married the Saxon Princess, but lived to repent of this ill-assorted union, and to realize that he had been the dupe of Philip and his astute Minister.[586]

II.

Christina's return to Lorraine took place at an eventful moment. The death of Henry II. and the accession of Francis II. placed the supreme power in the hands of the Guise brothers. As the saying ran, "So many Guise Princes, so many Kings of France." The elder branch of the House of Lorraine shared in the triumphs of the younger. The reigning Duke, Charles, had grown up with the young King and Queen, and was tenderly beloved by them. Francis could not bear his brother-in-law to be absent from his side, and after his coronation at Reims, on the 18th of September, he and Mary accompanied the Duke and Duchess on a progress through Lorraine. The festival of the Order of St. Michel was held at Bar, where Charles kept open house for a week, and his aunt, Anne of Aerschot, came to join the family party and meet the daughter of her old companion, Mary of Guise. The charms of the young Queen won all hearts in her mother's native Lorraine, and Francis indulged his passion for sport in the forests of Nomény and Esclaron.[587]

Here, at this favourite hunting-lodge of the Guises, the royal party were joined by the Duke's mother. Christina reached Esclaron on the 11th of October, and was received with every mark of respect and affection. At first, if Brantôme is to be believed, the Duchess-mother was inclined to stand on her dignity, and refused to yield precedence to the youthful Queen; but Mary's grace and sweetness soon dispelled all rivalry, and Christina became the best of friends with both the King and Queen. General regret was expressed at the absence of the young Princesses, whom their mother had left at Brussels; but Christina was aware of the Cardinal's anxiety to arrange a marriage between Renée and the Prince of Joinville, and had no intention of consenting to this arrangement.

At the end of the week Christina went on to Nancy with her son and daughter-in-law, leaving the King and Queen to proceed to Joinville, where Mary was anxious to see her beloved grandmother. She had already appointed Antoinette and her three daughters-in-law to be her ladies-in-waiting, and, as a further proof of affection, had given her grandmother the present which she received from the city of Paris on her state entry. From Blois, where the royal pair spent the autumn and winter, Francis II. sent his brother-in-law the following letter, which throws a pleasant light on the happy relations existing between the two families:

The young Duke and Duchess were both of them longing to accept this pressing invitation and return to the gay French Court. Charles as yet took little interest in public affairs which required serious attention. Confusion reigned in every department. In many instances the ducal lands had been seized and their revenues appropriated to other uses, while the whole country had suffered from the frequent incursions of foreign troops, and famine and distress prevailed in many districts. Under these circumstances the help of the Duchess-mother was sorely needed. Vaudemont, having neither health nor capacity to cope with these difficulties, had retired into private life, and by degrees Christina resumed most of her old functions. She applied herself to reforming abuses and restoring order in the finances, and at the same time helped her son and daughter-in-law in entertaining the nobles who flocked to Nancy to pay them homage. Her daughters came to join her at Christmas, and she settled once more in her old quarters in the ducal palace. In March the Duke returned to the French Court, and his mother was left to act as Regent during his absence.[590]

After visiting Remiremont and Bar, Charles and his wife went on to spend the summer with the King and Queen at Amboise, where they gave themselves up to hunting and dancing, and enjoyed suppers at Chenonceaux and water-parties on the Loire. But this joyous life was rudely disturbed by the discovery of a Huguenot conspiracy, which was put down with ruthless severity, and was followed by continual alarms. The King and Duke had to be escorted by 500 men-at-arms on their hunting-parties, and the Cardinal of Lorraine never left his room without a guard of ten men bearing loaded pistols. On the 10th of June Mary of Guise died in Edinburgh Castle, and her remains were brought back to her native land and buried in her sister's convent church, St. Pierre of Reims. The whole Court went into mourning, and Throckmorton was so moved by the young Queen's tears that he declared "there never was a daughter who loved her mother better."[591] Meanwhile the aspect of affairs grew daily more threatening. There were riots in the provinces, and rumours of plots at Court. The Duke of Lorraine was present at the Council held at St. Germain for the defence of the realm, but left for Nancy when the Court moved to Orleans in October.

Two months later the young King died there very suddenly. He fainted at vespers one evening, and passed away at midnight on the 5th of December, 1560. His brother Charles, a boy of ten, was proclaimed King in his stead, and his mother, Catherine de' Medici, assumed the Regency. Three days afterwards Throckmorton wrote that the late King was already forgotten by everyone but his widow, who, "being as noble-minded as she is beautiful, weeps passionately for the husband who loved her so dearly, and with whom she has lost everything." The young Queen behaved with admirable discretion. On the day after the King's death she sent the Crown jewels to her mother-in-law, and, as soon as the funeral had been solemnized, begged leave to go and visit her mother's grave at Reims. After spending three weeks with her aunt, Abbess Renée, Mary went to stay with her grandmother at Joinville, where she was joined by Anne of Aerschot, the one of all her mother's family to whom she clung the most closely, calling her "ma tante," and consulting her in all her difficulties.[592]

Christina herself was full of sympathy for this young Queen, whose early widowhood recalled her own fate, and she joined cordially in the invitation which the Duke sent Mary to pay a visit to Nancy. "The Queen of Scotland," wrote Throckmorton to Elizabeth on the 1st of May, 1561, "is at Nancy with the Dowager, whom here they call Son Altesse." Christina rode out with her son to meet their guest on the frontiers of Lorraine, and her uncles, the two Cardinals, Aumale, Vaudemont, and the Duchess of Aerschot, all accompanied her to Nancy.

The touching beauty of the young widow created a profound sensation at the Court of Lorraine. Brantôme describes her as "a celestial vision"; Ronsard sang of the charms which transfigured son grand deuil et tristesse, and made her more dangerous in this simple white veil that rivalled the exquisite delicacy of her complexion than in the most sumptuous robes and dazzling jewels; and Clouet drew his immortal portrait.[593] The Duke arranged a series of fêtes to distract the young Queen's mind and help to dry her tears. There were masques and dances at Nancy, hunting-parties and banquets at Nomény, where Mary stood godmother to the Count Vaudemont's youngest child; and the Court was gayer than it had been for many years. But intrigue was once more rife at the French Court, and all manner of proposals were made for the young widow's hand. The King of Denmark, Frederic III., the Prince of Orange, the Archduke Charles, the Dukes of Bavaria and Ferrara, were all suggested as possible husbands. The fascination which Mary had for the boy-King Charles IX. was well known, and Catherine de' Medici, who had never forgiven Mary for calling her a shopkeeper's daughter, was secretly plotting to keep her away from the Court, and yet prevent her marriage to Don Carlos, whom she wished to secure for her youngest daughter, Margot. The Cardinal of Lorraine was known to be eager for the Spanish marriage, and both Christina and Anne did their best to forward his scheme, which was the subject of many letters that passed between Granvelle, the Duchess of Aerschot, and Mary herself. But Philip, without actually declining the offer, always returned evasive answers, whether he shrank from placing his sickly and wayward son in an independent position, or whether he feared the power of the Guise faction.[594]

In the midst of the festivities at Nancy, Mary fell ill of fever, and as soon as she was fit to travel returned to Joinville, to be nursed by her grandmother; while Christina accompanied her son and his wife to Reims for the new King's sacring on the 15th of May. The magnificence of the Duchess-mother's appearance on this occasion excited general admiration. Grief and anxiety had left their traces on her face, but, in spite of advancing years and sorrow, Christina was still a very handsome woman. Among all the royal ladies who met in the ancient city, none was more stately and distinguished-looking than Madame de Lorraine. As her chariot, draped with black velvet fringed with gold, and drawn by four superb white horses of Arab breed, drew up in front of the Cardinal's palace, a murmur of admiration ran through the crowd. The Duchess sat at one window, clad in a long black velvet robe, and wearing a jewelled diadem on her head, with a flowing white veil and cap of the shape that became known at the French Court as à la Lorraine, and was adopted by Mary, Queen of Scots, for her habitual use. At the other sat her lovely young daughter Renée, the coveted bride of many of the Princes who were present that day, while on the opposite seat was the Princess of Macedonia, an august white-haired lady, with the chiselled features of the proud Greek race to which she belonged. The Queen-mother, Catherine de' Medici, stood at a window of the Archbishop's palace to watch the entry of the Lorraine Princes, and as she saw the Duchess alight, she exclaimed: "That is the finest woman I know!" Then, descending the grand staircase, she advanced to meet Christina with a stately courtesy, and thanked her for the honour she was doing her son.

The Duke of Lorraine bore the sword of state at the great ceremony on the morrow, while Francis of Guise held the crown on the boy-King's head, and his brother, the Cardinal, anointed his brow with the holy chrism. "Everything," as Charles IX. wrote to the Bishop of Limoges, "passed off to the great satisfaction of everyone present;"[596] and when all was over, Madame de Lorraine and her children accompanied the King and his mother to a country-house belonging to the Cardinal in the neighbourhood, and enjoyed a week's repose in delicious spring weather. Then the Court went on to St. Germain, where the Queen of Scots came to take leave of her husband's family, and with many tears bade farewell to the pleasant land of France, which she had loved all too well for her own happiness.

III.

On the death of Christian II. of Denmark, his elder daughter, Dorothea, the widowed Electress Palatine, assumed the royal style and title. But as she was childless herself, and lived in retirement at Neuburg, in the Upper Palatinate, the faithful subjects who still clung to their rightful monarch's cause turned to Christina, the Duchess-Dowager of Lorraine, and begged her to assert her son's claims to the throne, saying that they regarded him as their future King. Chief among these was Peder Oxe, an able public servant who had been exiled by Christian III., and came to visit the Duchess in the convent of La Cambre at Brussels in 1559, soon after the captive monarch's death. Peder tried to enlist her sympathies on behalf of her father's old subjects, and assured her that the recovery of Denmark would be an easy matter, owing to the unpopularity of the new King, Frederic III. At first Christina lent a willing ear to these proposals, but her friend Count d'Aremberg succeeded in convincing her of the futility of such an enterprise, while both Philip and Granvelle firmly refused to support the scheme.[597] Peder Oxe, however, followed Christina to Nancy, where he became a member of the Ducal Council, and did good service in restoring order in the finances.

Other Danish exiles sought refuge at the Court of Lorraine, where their presence naturally revived Christina's dreams of recovering her father's throne. All manner of rumours were abroad. In March, 1561, Chaloner heard that the French King and the Duke of Lorraine were about to invade Denmark. Three months later Mary, Queen of Scots' faithful servant, Melville, wrote from Heidelberg that the Duchess-Dowager of Lorraine had come there to persuade her sister, the old Countess Palatine, to surrender her rights on Denmark to her nephew, the Duke of Lorraine. Christina spent some time with her sister, and was joined in September by the Duke, who came to escort her home.[598] The Palatine Frederic's successor, Otto Heinrich, had died in 1559, and his cousin, the reigning Elector, Frederic of Zimmern, the brother of the Countess Egmont and her sister Helene, was deeply attached to Dorothea, and, like his predecessor, professed the Lutheran faith. A year after Christina's visit Dorothea died suddenly at Neuburg, and was buried by her husband's side in the Church of the Holy Ghost at Heidelberg. The Palatine Frederic erected a fine monument over her grave, with the following inscription:

Dorothea's tomb was destroyed with that of her husband and many others when Louis XIV.'s armies sacked and burnt Heidelberg in 1693, but an English traveller who visited the castle and Church of the Holy Ghost thirty years before, preserved this inscription in his diary.[599]

Christina came to Heidelberg with her son and both her daughters in the autumn of the year 1562, and was present at Frankfurt on the 24th of November, when her cousin Maximilian was crowned King of the Romans. On this occasion the Emperor Ferdinand collected as many of the imperial family as possible around him. The Dukes and Duchesses of Bavaria and Cleves were present, as well as most of the Electors and Princes of the Empire; while Ibrahim Bey, the Sultan's Ambassador, brought camels and rugs and Persian jars as gifts from his master. Among the old friends whom the Duchess met at Frankfurt were the Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont and Jacques d'Aremberg. They greeted her with renewed friendliness, and from their lips she heard how badly things were going in the Low Countries, and how unpopular the Regent and her Minister, the newly-created Cardinal de Granvelle, had become with all classes of people.[600] The Emperor and all his family returned to Heidelberg after the coronation, and were splendidly entertained by the Palatine, who was anxious to arrange a marriage between one of his sons and Mademoiselle de Lorraine. But Frederic's strong Lutheran tenets were a serious obstacle to this plan. At the recent coronation he had refused to attend Mass, and had remained in the vestry of the cathedral until the service was over.

Meanwhile religious strife was raging in France, and Christina returned to Nancy to find that civil war had broken out. Earlier in the year the massacre of a peaceable congregation at Wassy, near Joinville, had excited the fury of the Huguenots, and a fierce struggle was being waged on the frontiers of Lorraine. The Duke's own kindred were divided. Condé was the leader of the revolted party, while his brother Antoine, King of Navarre—l'Échangeur, as he was called, because he was said to change his religion as often as he did his coat—was mortally wounded, fighting on the King's side, in the siege of Rouen. A month later the Constable de Montmorency was made prisoner in the Battle of Dreux, by his own nephew Coligny. On the 21st of February, 1563, Christina and her son were attending the baptism of the Duke of Aumale's son Claude, when a messenger arrived with the news that the Duke of Guise had been stabbed by a Huguenot fanatic in the camp before Orleans. After a public funeral in Notre Dame, the remains of Antoinette's most illustrious son were buried at Joinville, amid the lamentations of the whole nation.[601]

Fortunately, the duchy of Lorraine escaped the horrors of civil war. On the 18th of May, 1562, Charles made his long-deferred state entry into Nancy, and took a solemn vow to observe the rights of his subjects before he received the ducal crown. But he still consulted his mother in all important matters, and treated her with the utmost respect and affection.[602] His own time and thoughts were chiefly occupied in enlarging and beautifying the ducal palace. He extended the Galerie des Cerfs, and built a fine hall, adorned with frescoes of the Metamorphoses of Ovid, a translation of which had been dedicated to his grandfather, Duke Antoine, by the poet Clement Marot. At the same time he rebuilt the old Salle du Jeu de Paume on the model of one at the Louvre, and made a picture-gallery above this new hall, which he hung with portraits of the ducal family.[603]

Christina also devoted much attention to the improvement of her estates. She rebuilt the salt-works at Les Rosières, which had been abandoned in the last century, and placed an inscription on the gates, recording that in February, 1563, these salt-works were erected by

Several indications of the active part that she took in affairs of State appear in contemporary records. In 1564, with the Pope's sanction, she concluded an agreement with the Bishop of Toul, by which he made over his temporalities to the Duke of Lorraine. Christina, as she explained to Granvelle, had taken this step to avoid the see from becoming the property of France; but her action roused the indignation of her uncle, the Emperor Ferdinand, who rebuked his good niece sharply for venturing to meddle with the affairs of the Imperial Chamber.[605]

On the 8th of November, 1563, the Duchess Claude gave birth to her first child, a boy which was named Henry, after her father, the late King of France. Both Charles IX. and Philip II. consented to stand godfathers, and the French King announced his intention of attending the child's christening in person. His visit, however, was put off, as the young Duchess fell seriously ill of smallpox, and was eventually fixed to take place at Bar after Easter. There was even a rumour that King Philip, whose presence in the Low Countries was earnestly desired, would visit Lorraine on his journey, and meet the French monarch on the 1st of May. The prospect of seeing Catherine and her son with an armed force in Lorraine filled Christina with alarm. The Queen-mother, as she knew, was very jealous of the Duchess-Dowager's influence with her son, and neglected no means of placing French subjects in positions of authority at the Ducal Court;[606] while her recent intrigues with the Huguenot leaders might lead to the introduction of Protestant rites at the ceremony. Before the date fixed for the christening, however, Christina received an unexpected visitor in the person of Cardinal Granvelle, who had been compelled to bow to the storm and leave the Netherlands. In a private note which he sent to Granvelle on the 1st of March, 1564, Philip had desired the Cardinal to retire to Besançon on plea of paying a visit to his mother, whom he had not seen for nineteen years. The desired permission was readily granted by the Regent, and, to the great satisfaction of the nobles, the hated Minister left Brussels on the 13th of March. "Our man is really going," wrote William of Orange to his brother Louis. "God grant he may go so far that he can never return!"[607]