Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan and Lorraine, 1522-1590Cartwright, Julia
History
Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan and Lorraine, 1522-1590
Cartwright, Julia
Christine, Duchess, consort of Francis I, Duke of Lorraine, 1521-1590; Europe -- History -- 1517-1648
The common practice of buying and selling serfs was prohibited,
Burgomasters and Town Councils were appointed to carry out the laws,
and a system of tolls and customs was established. Schools and
hospitals were founded, inns were opened in every town and village
for the convenience of travellers, piracy and brigandage were sternly
repressed. An Act was passed ordering that all cargoes recovered from
wrecks were to be placed in the nearest church, and, if not claimed by
the end of the year, divided between the Crown and the Church. When the
Bishops complained of the loss thus inflicted on them, the King told
them to go home and learn the Eighth Commandment. Still greater was
the opposition aroused when he attempted to reform clerical abuses.
Early in life Christian showed strong leanings towards the doctrines of
Luther, and on his return from Sweden he asked his uncle, the Elector
of Saxony, to send him a Lutheran preacher from Wittenberg. Although
these efforts at proselytizing met with little success, the King openly
professed his sympathy with the new Gospel. He had the Bible translated
into Danish, bade the Bishops dismiss their vast households, issued
edicts allowing priests to marry, and ordered the begging friars to
stay at home and earn their bread by honest labour.[28]
All these reforms could not be effected without vigorous opposition,
and the discontent among the nobles and clergy became every day more
active. In the spring of 1521 a young Swedish noble, Gustavus Wasa,
raised the standard of revolt in Dalecarlia, and led his peasant bands
against Stockholm. Upon this Christian decided to pay a visit to the
Low Countries to meet the new Emperor, who was coming to be crowned at
Aix-la-Chapelle, and seek his help against the citizens of Lübeck and
the Swedish rebels. The government was once more placed in the hands
of Isabella. A few months before this, on the 10th of November, 1520,
while Christian was absent in Sweden, the Queen had given birth to a
daughter, named Dorothea after the King's grandmother, the able and
ambitious Princess of Brandenburg, who married two Kings of Denmark
in succession. Now she followed her husband with wistful thoughts as
he started on his journey, attended only by his Chamberlain, Anton de
Metz, and three servants, and rode all the way to her old home in the
Netherlands.
On the 20th of June nine Danish ships sailed into the port of Antwerp,
and a few days afterwards Christian II. rode into the town. His fine
presence and the courage which he had shown in riding through Germany
with this small escort excited general admiration.
"I noted," wrote Albert Dürer in his Journal, "how much the
people of Antwerp marvelled at the sight of this manly and
handsome Prince, who had come hither through his enemies'
country, with these few attendants."[29]
[Sidenote: 1513-23] KING CHRISTIAN AT BRUSSELS]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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