"Your very humble and obedient servant, "CHRÉTIENNE. "November 20, 1535."[128] The messenger whom Stampa sent to Palermo on the day of the Duke's death missed the Emperor, who had already left for Messina, and the news did not reach him until he had landed in Calabria, on his way to Naples. It was not till the 27th of November that a horseman bearing letters from Cæsar arrived in Milan. Here intense anxiety prevailed among all classes, and the Spaniards were as much hated as the Duke and Duchess had been beloved. Accordingly, the relief was great when it became known that, although Signor Antonio de Leyva was appointed Governor-General, Stampa was to retain his post as Castellan, and the Duchess was to remain in the Castello. "The Duchess remains Duchess," wrote the chronicler, "and all the other officials retain their places. Above all, Count Massimiliano keeps his office, and the city is perfectly quiet."[129] [Sidenote: DEC., 1535] THE PRINCE OF PIEDMONT] Stampa now made a last effort to maintain the independence of Milan. He proposed that the widowed Duchess should be given in marriage to the Duke of Savoy's eldest son, Louis, a Prince of her own age, who was being educated at his imperial uncle's Court. A petition to this effect, signed by Chancellor Taverna and all the leading senators, was addressed to the Emperor, and Giovanni Paolo Sforza was sent to Rome to meet His Majesty and obtain the Pope's support. "Gian Paolo Sforza and Taverna," wrote the Venetian Envoy, Lorenzo Bragadin, "have begged Cæsar to give the hand of his niece, the widow, to the Duke of Savoy's son, and this is the wish of all the people of Milan."[130] Unfortunately, Giovanni Paolo fell ill on the journey, and breathed his last in a village of the Apennines, and before Charles left Naples he heard that the promising young Prince of Piedmont had died on Christmas Day at Madrid. His brother, Emanuel Philibert, was a child of seven, and although his ambitious mother, Duchess Beatrix, hastened to put forward his claim, nothing more was heard of the scheme.