She herself went to Esclaron to receive her royal guest, taking the eight-year-old Duke of Longueville with her, to make his bow to the King and be petted by Queen Eleanor and her ladies. But the life of a Court lady, as she told her daughter, was little to her taste, and she returned to Joinville early in June, to keep the Fête-Dieu and prepare her husband's and sons' equipment for the war which was expected to begin immediately. Two days later, on the 10th of June, the Duke and Duchess of Bar paid the French King a visit at Esclaron, and were present at the reception of the Swedish Ambassadors, whom Gustavus Wasa had sent to sign the new treaty. The ceremony took place in a large barn hung with tapestries and wreathed with green boughs. The King and his guests sat on a raised daïs, draped with cloth of gold, under a canopy, while the Princes of the blood and the other courtiers, among whom were no less than six Cardinals, stood below. Here Francis listened patiently to a long Latin harangue from the Swedish Ambassador, and then, coming down from his seat, he mingled freely in the crowd of Cardinals and Princes, gentlemen and yeomen, who stood "all in a heap" at the doors of the barn, and showed himself very affable, although, in Paget's opinion, "his manner lacked the majesty which he had noticed in his own master on similar occasions."[341] [Sidenote: JUNE, 1542] THE FRENCH INVASION] Christina looked with curiosity at these Envoys from the Northern kingdom over which her father had once ruled, many of whom had known the captive monarch in old days. This time she and her husband had no cause to complain of the King's treatment. He was all courtesy and smiles, and assured them in the most cordial terms of the singular affection which he bore to all their house. But he soon saw that there was no prospect of inducing Antoine and his son to join him against Christina's uncle, and on the 12th of June he consented to sign an agreement by which he promised to respect the neutrality of Lorraine and the properties of the Duke's subjects.[342] After spending another week at Joinville, enjoying the splendid hospitality of the Guises, he left Eleanor with the Duchess, and went on to Ligny, a strong fortress on the borders of Luxembourg, where he gave orders for the opening of the campaign. By the middle of July four separate armies had invaded the Emperor's dominions. Guise and Orléans fell upon Luxembourg, Vendôme entered Flanders, the Dauphin attacked Roussillon, and the forces of Cleves, under the redoubtable Guelders captain, Martin van Rossem, laid Brabant waste with fire and sword. But they met with determined opposition in every quarter, and the heroism of the Regent and her captains saved the Netherlands from ruin.