[65] So in March 1538 Holbein was despatched to Brussels to take a portrait of Christina, the widowed Duchess of Milan, and daughter of Elizabeth of Denmark, sister of Charles V. (see vol. i. page 26, note 2), for whose hand Henry VIII. had been negotiating. She is reported to have declined his offer, saying, ‘if she had had two heads one should have been at the service of the King of England, but as she had only one, she preferred to keep it on her own shoulders.’ Holbein’s portrait now belongs to the Duke of Norfolk, and was exhibited at the Winter Exhibition of the Royal Academy in 1880. The lady afterwards married Francis Duke of Lorraine, and became the mother of Charles Duke of Lorraine and Dorothea, the wife of Duke Eric of Brunswick. Hence came the connection between the Houses of Austria and Lorraine, alluded to on page 59, Maximilian II. being Christina’s first cousin. Similarly Holbein, in the following year, was again sent abroad to take a portrait of Anne of Cleves.—_Froude,_ ch. xvii. [66] ‘Le dimanche 19^e juing arrivèrent à Paris M. le duc de Lorraine et M. de Vaudemont, père de la Roine, pour achever le mariage du Marquis de Nomenie, fils aisné dudit seingneur de Vaudemont aveq la damoiselle de Martigues. En congratulation et resjouissance des venues de ces princes, se firent à la Cour plusieurs jeux, tournois et festins magnifiques, en l’un desquels la Roine-Mère mangea tant qu’elle cuida crever, et fust malade au double de son desvoiement. On disoit que c’estoit d’avoir trop mangé de culs d’artichaux et de crestes et rongnons de coq, dont elle estoit fort friande.’—_De l’Estoile_, i. 64. [67] The Ilsings or Ilsungs were an ancient Swabian family, several of whom had been burgomasters of Augsburg. The person mentioned in the text was probably George Ilsing von Lichtenberg, Privy Councillor to Charles V., Ferdinand, Maximilian, and Rodolph, and Statthalter in the Duchy of Würtemberg. [68] The Princess Charlotte de Bourbon was compelled to take the vows before she had arrived at the legal age. She became Abbess of Joüarrs; but ran away in 1572, and took refuge with the Elector Palatine. The Prince of Orange saw her at Heidelburg and fell in love with her. St. Aldegonde conducted her to Brill, where the Prince met her. They were married June 12.