he asked for Mary Tudor's hand, King Henry told him that he could not insult his good friend and cousin by offering him a bride born out of wedlock.[113] Now Ferdinand, unwilling to lose so valuable an ally, suddenly proposed that the Palatine should marry his niece Dorothea, saying that both he and Charles would rejoice to see him reigning over the three northern kingdoms. At first Frederic hesitated, saying that he was a grey-headed man of fifty, little fitted to be the husband of so young a lady, and had no wish to reign over the turbulent Norsemen. Mary, however, welcomed her brother's proposal, regarding it as a means of strengthening the Emperor's cause in Northern Europe. In Denmark the succession of Frederic's son Christian III. was disputed, and a Hanseatic fleet had seized Copenhagen, while Christopher of Oldenburg, a cousin of the captive King, had invaded Jutland. With the help of these allies it might be possible for the Palatine to recover his wife's inheritance. But the execution of this plan was full of difficulties, as Prince John's old tutor, the wise Archbishop of Lunden, told Charles V. in a letter which he addressed to him in the autumn of 1534: "MOST SACRED CÆSAR,--I know Denmark well, and am convinced that the Danes will never recognize Christian II. as their King. Count Christopher's expedition will prove a mere flash in the pan, and when he can no longer pay his men, the peasants, who flocked to his banner at the sound of their old King's name, will return to their hearths. Then the nobles will have their revenge, and the proud Lübeck citizens will seize Denmark and establish the Lutheran religion in the name of Christopher or King Henry of England, or any other Prince, as long as he is not Your Majesty; and if they succeed, the trade of the Low Countries will be ruined."[114] The bait held out to the Palatine, however, proved too alluring, and he easily fell a victim to the snare. The Emperor sent him flattering messages by Hubert, the faithful servant who has left us so delightful a chronicle of his master's doings, and promised his niece a dowry of 50,000 crowns. It was late on New Year's Eve when Hubert reached his master's house at Neumarkt, on his return from Spain, and Frederic was already in bed; but he sent for him, and bade him tell his news in three words. The messenger exclaimed joyfully: "I bring my lord a royal bride, a most gracious Kaiser, and a sufficient dowry." Upon which the Palatine thanked God, and bade Hubert go to the cellar and help himself to food and drink.[115]