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
On the 7th of April Mary left for Brussels, after giving an audience
to Morosyne, who saw that "she was in the dumps," although she
smiled two or three times and tried to hide her feelings.[438] By
this time she had probably realized how fruitless all attempts to
conciliate the German Princes would prove. The Electors unanimously
declined to sanction the agreement which had been the cause of so many
heart-burnings, and it remained a dead letter. The Archbishop of Treves
declared that there could only be one Emperor in Germany and one sun in
heaven. The Palatine, says Morosyne, like the wise old fox that he was,
replied that so important a question needed time for consideration, and
Joachim of Brandenburg vowed that he would never consent to a scheme
which would be odious to all Germany.[439] Philip returned to Spain at
the end of May, and the Emperor was reluctantly compelled to accept the
inevitable, and surrender the long-cherished hope that his son would
succeed to his vast empire.
VI.
While the eyes of all Europe were fixed on the imperial family at
Augsburg, Christina waited anxiously for news in her palace at Nancy.
She had sent two of her Italian secretaries, Innocenzo Gadio and
Massimo del Pero, to wait on the Queen of Hungary, with strict orders
to keep her informed of all that was happening. Gadio's cipher letters
have unluckily disappeared, but some of those addressed to him by
Niccolò Belloni have recently been discovered in a private library
near Pavia.[440] Belloni belonged to a good Milanese family, and had,
at his parents' entreaty, been retained by the Duchess in her service
when she left Italy. He had succeeded Benedetto da Corte as master of
her household, and followed Christina to Lorraine. Niccolò enjoyed his
mistress's complete confidence, and his letters to Messer Innocenzo
reveal all that was passing in her mind at this critical moment. On the
2nd of January, 1551, he writes:
"HONOURED FRIEND,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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