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                          CHRISTINA OF DENMARK

                     DUCHESS OF MILAN AND LORRAINE

                               1522-1590

[Illustration: _Christina, Duchess of Milan_]




                          CHRISTINA OF DENMARK
                         DUCHESS OF MILAN AND
                               LORRAINE

                               1522-1590


                          BY JULIA CARTWRIGHT
                              (MRS. ADY)

        AUTHOR OF "ISABELLA D'ESTE," "BALDASSARRE CASTIGLIONE,"
                   "THE PAINTERS OF FLORENCE," ETC.

      "Dieu, qu'il la fait bon regarder,
    La gracieuse, bonne et belle!
    Pour les grans biens qui sont en elle,
    Chacun est prest de la louer.
      Qui se pourrait d'elle lasser?
    Toujours sa beauté renouvelle.
    Dieu, qu'il la fait bon regarder,
    La gracieuse, bonne et belle!
      Par deça, ne delà la mer,
    Ne sçay Dame ne Damoiselle
    Qui soit en tous biens parfais telle;
    C'est un songe que d'y penser,
      Dieu, qu'il la fait bon regarder!"

                          CHARLES D'ORLÉANS

                                NEW YORK
                       E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY
                                  1913




PREFACE


Christina of Denmark is known to the world by Holbein's famous portrait
in the National Gallery. The great Court painter, who was sent to
Brussels by Henry VIII. to take the likeness of the Emperor's niece,
did his work well. With unerring skill he has rendered the "singular
good countenance," the clear brown eyes with their frank, honest gaze,
the smile hovering about "the faire red lips," the slender fingers of
the nervously clasped hands, which Brantôme and his royal mistress,
Catherine de' Medici, thought "the most beautiful hands in the world."
And in a wonderful way he has caught the subtle charm of the young
Duchess's personality, and made it live on his canvas. What wonder
that Henry fell in love with the picture, and vowed that he would
have the Duchess, if she came to him without a farthing! But for all
these brave words the masterful King's wooing failed. The ghost of his
wronged wife, Katherine of Aragon, the smoke of plundered abbeys, and
the blood of martyred friars, came between him and his destined bride,
and Christina was never numbered in the roll of Henry VIII.'s wives.
This splendid, if perilous, adventure was denied her. But many strange
experiences marked the course of her chequered life, and neither beauty
nor virtue could save her from the shafts of envious Fortune. Her
troubles began from the cradle. When she was little more than a year
old, her father, King Christian II., was deposed by his subjects, and
her mother, the gentle Isabella of Austria, died in exile of a broken
heart. She lost her first husband, Francesco Sforza, at the end of
eighteen months. Her second husband, Francis Duke of Lorraine, died in
1545, leaving her once more a widow at the age of twenty-three. Her
only son was torn from her arms while still a boy by a foreign invader,
Henry II., and she herself was driven into exile. Seven years later she
was deprived of the regency of the Netherlands, just when the coveted
prize seemed within her grasp, and the last days of her existence were
embittered by the greed and injustice of her cousin, Philip II.

Yet, in spite of hard blows and cruel losses, Christina's life was
not all unhappy. The blue bird--the symbol of perpetual happiness in
the faery lore of her own Lorraine--may have eluded her grasp, but
she filled a great position nobly, and tasted some of the deepest and
truest of human joys. Men and women of all descriptions adored her, and
she had a genius for friendship which survived the charms of youth and
endured to her dying day. A woman of strong affections and resolute
will, she inherited a considerable share of the aptitude for government
that distinguished the women of the Habsburg race. Her relationship
with Charles V. and residence at the Court of Brussels brought her
into close connection with political events during the long struggle
with France, and it was in a great measure due to her exertions that
the peace which ended this Sixty Years' War was finally concluded at
Câteau-Cambrésis in 1559.

Holbein's Duchess, it is evident, was a striking figure, and her
life deserves more attention than it has hitherto received. Brantôme
honoured her with a place in his gallery of fair ladies, and the sketch
which he has drawn, although inaccurate in many details, remains true
in its main outlines. But with this exception Christina's history has
never yet been written. The chief sources from which her biography
is drawn are the State Archives of Milan and Brussels, supplemented
by documents in the Record Office, the Bibliothèque Nationale, the
Biblioteca Zelada near Pavia, and the extremely interesting collection
of Guise letters in the Balcarres Manuscripts, which has been preserved
in the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh. A considerable amount of
information, as will be seen from the Bibliography at the end of
this volume, has been collected from contemporary memoirs, from the
histories of Bucholtz and Henne, and the voluminous correspondence of
Cardinal Granvelle and Philip II., as well as from Tudor, Spanish, and
Venetian State Papers.

In conclusion, I have to acknowledge the kind help which I have
received in my researches from Monsignor Rodolfo Maiocchi, Rector
of the Borromeo College at Pavia, from Signor O. F. Tencajoli, and
from the keepers of English and foreign archives, among whom I must
especially name Signor Achille Giussani, of the Archivio di Stato
at Milan, Monsieur Gaillard, Director of the Brussels Archives, and
Mr. Hubert Hall. My sincere thanks are due to Count Antonio Cavagna
Sangiuliani for giving me permission to make use of manuscripts in his
library at Zelada; to Monsieur Leon Cardon for leave to reproduce four
of the Habsburg portraits in his fine collection at Brussels; and to
Mr. Henry Oppenheimer for allowing me to publish his beautiful and
unique medal of the Duchess of Milan. I must also thank Sir Kenneth
Mackenzie and the Trustees of the Advocates' Library for permission
to print a selection from the Balcarres Manuscripts, and Mr. Campbell
Dodgson and Mr. G. F. Hill for the kindness with which they have placed
the treasures of the British Museum at my disposal. Lastly, a debt
of gratitude, which I can never sufficiently express, is due to Dr.
Hagberg-Wright and the staff of the London Library for the invaluable
help which they have given me in this, as in all my other works.

                                                        JULIA CARTWRIGHT.

        OCKHAM,
  _Midsummer Day, 1913_.




CONTENTS


  BOOK I
                                                                    PAGE
  ISABELLA OF AUSTRIA, QUEEN OF DENMARK, THE MOTHER
  OF CHRISTINA: 1507-1514                                              1

  BOOK II

  CHRISTIAN II., KING OF DENMARK, THE FATHER OF
  CHRISTINA: 1513-1523                                                17

  BOOK III

  KINGS IN EXILE: 1523-1531                                           36

  BOOK IV

  CHRISTINA, DUCHESS OF MILAN: 1533-1535                              71

  BOOK V

  THE WIDOW OF MILAN: 1535-1538                                      111

  BOOK VI

  THE COURTSHIP OF HENRY VIII.: 1537-1539                            144

  BOOK VII

  CLEVES, ORANGE, AND LORRAINE: 1539-1541                            207

  BOOK VIII

  CHRISTINA, DUCHESS OF LORRAINE: 1541-1545                          256

  BOOK IX

  CHRISTINA, REGENT OF LORRAINE: 1545-1552                           298

  BOOK X

  THE FRENCH INVASION: 1551-1553                                     354

  BOOK XI

  CHRISTINA AT BRUSSELS: 1553-1559                                   382

  BOOK XII

  THE PEACE OF CÂTEAU-CAMBRÉSIS: 1557-1559                           419

  BOOK XIII

  THE RETURN TO LORRAINE: 1559-1578                                  450

  BOOK XIV

  THE LADY OF TORTONA: 1578-1590                                     496

  APPENDIX: A SELECTION OF UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS                     516

  BIBLIOGRAPHY                                                       528

  GENEALOGICAL TABLES                                                533

  INDEX                                                              541




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                            TO FACE PAGE

  CHRISTINA OF DENMARK, DUCHESS OF MILAN                  _Frontispiece_

     By HOLBEIN (National Gallery).

  CHARLES V.                                                           4

     By B. VAN ORLEY (Cardon Collection, Brussels).

  ELEANOR OF AUSTRIA                                                   6

     By B. VAN ORLEY (Cardon Collection, Brussels).

  ISABELLA OF AUSTRIA, QUEEN OF DENMARK                               12

     By B. VAN ORLEY.

  CHRISTIAN II., KING OF DENMARK                                      30

     London Library.

  THE CHILDREN OF CHRISTIAN II., KING OF DENMARK                      54

     By JEAN MABUSE (Hampton Court Palace).

  FRANCESCO SFORZA, DUKE OF MILAN                                     92

     British Museum.

  CHRISTINA, DUCHESS OF MILAN                                         92

     Oppenheimer Collection, London.

  FREDERIC, COUNT PALATINE                                           106

     Ascribed to A. DÜRER (Darmstadt).

  MARY, QUEEN OF HUNGARY                                             188

     By B. VAN ORLEY (Cardon Collection, Brussels).

  GRANDE PORTERIE, PALAIS DUCAL, NANCY                               260

  CHARLES V.                                                         322

     By TITIAN (Munich).

  HÔTEL-DE-VILLE, BRUSSELS                                           332

  S. GUDULE, BRUSSELS                                                332

  PALAIS DUCAL, NANCY                                                364

  PHILIP II. AND MARY                                                412

     By JACOPO DA TREZZO (British Museum).

  ANTOINE PERRENOT, CARDINAL GRANVELLE                               412

     By LEONE LEONI (British Museum).

  MARGARET, DUCHESS OF PARMA                                         412

     By PASTORINO (British Museum).

  WILLIAM, PRINCE OF ORANGE                                          456

     By ADRIAAN KEY (Darmstadt).

  MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS                                               466

     By FRANÇOIS CLOUET (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris).

  CHARLES III., DUKE OF LORRAINE                                     472

     British Museum.

  THE THREE DUCHESSES                                                508

     Prado, Madrid.

                          CHRISTINA OF DENMARK




BOOK I

ISABELLA OF AUSTRIA, QUE