All through the winter of 1541-42 preparations for war were actively carried on in France, and intrigue was rife among the Courts of Europe. Francis was determined to profit by his rival's misfortunes, in spite of the remonstrances of the Pope and of the deputies who were sent by the Imperial Diet to adjure him not to trouble the peace of Christendom while the Emperor was fighting against the Turks. By the end of the year he succeeded in forming a strong coalition, which included Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, and Cleves. The Palatine Frederic had once more pressed his wife's claims to the three kingdoms, with the result that Christian III. lent a willing ear to the French King's advances, and sent Envoys to Fontainebleau, where a secret treaty between France and Denmark was signed a few days after the Duke and Duchess of Lorraine had left Court. Francis was now exceedingly anxious to draw Lorraine into the league and induce Duke Antoine to take up arms against the Emperor. In May he set out on a progress through Burgundy and Champagne, taking the Queen and all the Court with him, to inspect the fortifications of the eastern frontier and enjoy some hunting on the way. "Tell the Pope," he said merrily to the Legate Ardinghelli, "that I do nothing but make good cheer and amuse myself, whether I entertain fair ladies or go a-hunting the deer." Paget and the other Ambassadors complained bitterly of the bad quarters "in peevish villages" which they had to put up with as they followed the King from place to place, wherever "great harts were to be heard of."[339] Fortunately, he found excellent sport at the Duke of Guise's château of Esclaron, where he spent three weeks, and declared that he had never been so happy in his life. "The King," wrote Duchess Antoinette to Mary of Scotland, "has found so many big stags here that he says he was never in a place which pleased him better, and that in spite of torrents of rain and God knows what mud! And you cannot think how fond he is of your father."[340]