But not all Margaret's affection for Isabella and her children could reconcile her to the King's presence. Christian was, it must be confessed, a troublesome guest. His restless brain was always busy with new plots and intrigues. At first he announced his intention of taking Isabella to visit the Emperor in Spain, but, after spending some weeks in Zeeland fitting out ships, he suddenly changed his mind, and took Isabella, whose health had suffered from all the hardships and anxiety that she had undergone, to drink the waters at Aix-la-Chapelle. On his return he wished to settle at Ghent, but the Regent and her Council, fearing that his presence would excite sedition in this city, suggested that the Castle of Gemappes should be offered him instead. Charles replied that if the King lived at Gemappes he would certainly spoil his hunting, and thought that Lille or Bruges would be a better place. In the end Lierre, a pleasant city halfway between Malines and Antwerp, was chosen for the exiled Princes' home. Towards the end of 1524 Christian and his family took up their abode in the old castle which still goes by the name of _Het Hof van Denemarken_, or _Cour de Danemarck_. A guard of fifty halberdiers and a considerable household was assigned to them by the Emperor's order. A monthly allowance of 500 crowns was granted to the King, while the Queen received a yearly sum of 2,000 crowns _pour employer en ses menus plaisirs_. But Christian's reckless and disorderly conduct soon landed him in fresh difficulties. Isabella cut up her husband's old robes to make clothes for her little girls, and was reduced to such penury that she was compelled to pledge, not only her jewels, but the children's toys. Meanwhile Margaret's letters to her imperial nephew were filled with complaints of the Danish King's extravagance. She declared that he was spending 800 crowns a month, and perpetually asking for more. When she sent her _maître d'hôtel_, Monsieur de Souvastre, to set his affairs in order, he was confronted with a long list of unpaid bills from doctors, apothecaries, saddlers, masons, carpenters, tailors, and poulterers. But accounts of the straits to which the Queen and her children were reduced had evidently reached Spain, and Charles felt it necessary to remind his aunt gently that, after all, Isabella was his own sister, and that many pensioners whom he had never seen received many thousands of crowns a year from his purse.[52] [Sidenote: 1523-31] A ZEALOUS LUTHERAN]