IliHHn hw /• ■ ' .A' 4 " ,.:■ \l PUBLICATIONS OF THE SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY THIRD SERIES VOLUME VII FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE WITH MARIE DE LORRAINE, QUEEN OF SCOTLAND, 1548-1557 1925 FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE WITH MARIE DE LORRAINE QUEEN OF SCOTLAND FROM THE ORIGINALS IN THE BALCARRES PAPERS 1548-1557 Edited bv MARGUERITE WOOD, M.A. (Eimn.) EDINBURGH Printed at the University Press by T. and A. Constable Ltd. for the Scottish History Society 1925 Printed in Great Britain INTRODUCTION . vii LETTERS TO MARIE DE LORRAINE . I UNDATED LETTERS .... 288 APPENDIX — A. Letter from Henry Cleutin, Seigneur d’Oysei., the Queen Dowager 302 B. Scots Letters ..... 307 INDEX . 317 INTRODUCTION The correspondence of Marie de Lorraine comprised in this volume ends with the year 1557. In many places, there- fore, it leaves the story of her life unfinished ; there is no allusion to the difficulties she had to face as Regent of Scotland, nor to the arrangements for and accomplishment of the marriage of Mary Stuart, nor to the further employ- ment of French troops in Scotland. The rest of the un- printed manuscript in the fifth volume of the Balcarres Papers deals chiefly with accounts which concern the Queen’s person and household, the expenditure on the French armies in Scotland, and various smaller financial transactions. The correspondence is largely of a different character from the earlier letters, for comparatively few are personal, and many deal in more or less detail with ques- tions of state both in France and Scotland : many with the Queen’s money matters, which had become more diffi- cult with the need for a separate establishment for Mary Stuart suitable to her rank, and the constant drain conse- quent on the upkeep of the French army in Scotland, for which, judging from various letters and some lists of pay- ments in the fifth volume, the Queen herself was sometimes responsible. News of the family of Guise sent to the Queen Dowager is less ample than during the previous ten years. This difference may be explained by the visit of the Queen to France, and also possibly by the suggestions given in later letters that she might again return to France,1 perhaps, i See Letters CLXXIX., CLXXXIIL, CC. viii BALCARRES PAPERS after having reduced the kingdom of Scotland to order, even permanently. Also the members of the family were all older, and their occupations came more into the sphere of public life ; while Antoinette de Bourbon, after the death of her husband in 1550, withdrew almost entirely from the life of the Court. In 1548 she wrote 1 of the journey to Rome of Charles de Lorraine, Cardinal de Guise, and his brother Claude, Marquis de Mayenne. De Bouille places the visit of the Cardinal in the previous year, but gives no indication as to its duration, except that Charles de Lorraine was in France in October 1548. It is possible that the Duchess was referring to the visit after its com- pletion, for it cannot be an allusion to his attendance at the Conclave for the election of Julius m. towards the end of 1548. In the same year,2 the Duke d’Aumale wrote at some length to his sister about his approaching marriage, the preliminaries of which were in the hands of other members of his family while he was engaged in the sup- pression of the revolt in Guienne. This marriage, a triumph for the diplomacy of the Cardinal, his brother, and the French sympathies of the Duchess of Ferrara,3 Renee de France, over other proposed alliances, appeared a matter of indifference to him. He said nothing about his bride, Anne d’Est, except that she had been met by his father, the Duke of Guise, at Grenoble, but explained to his sister that marriage for him did not mean settling down : ‘ Some marry to rest at home afterwards, but I am not one of those.’ His nephew, Fra^ois d’Orleans,4 approved the lady when he saw her on her arrival at Court, ‘ who is one of the most beautiful and pleasant princesses who could be seen.’ The festivities on the occasion of the wedding were recorded by De Lorges,5 including a tournament, so 1 Letter VII. 8 Letter XII. 3 De Bouille, Hist, des Dues de Guise, vol. i. pp. 180-200. 4 Letter XIII. 6 Letter XIV. INTRODUCTION ix greatly favoured by the King. According to Francis and De Lorges it took place on the 16th or 17th Decem- ber 1548, although De Bouille gives the date as the 4th December. About that time the birth of a son 1 to Claude, Marquis de Mayenne, and his wife Louise de Breze was reported to the Queen, a matter of interest, as this was the first child born to a son of the house. The fondness of the members of the family for each other proved itself in their custom of meeting whenever it was possible. M. de la Brousse,2 in March 1548-9, told how the whole family, including the young Duke of Longueville, were to spend Easter at Reims. The death of Claude de Lorraine, first Duke of Guise, took place on the 13th April 1550 : before and at that time there is a gap in the family ! letters, perhaps explained by the fact that a special mes- senger was sent to Scotland with the news. It is referred to by Montmorency 3 alone in a letter which is graceful for one who had the reputation of being as rough of tongue as of conduct. After saying that the bearer, the Seigneur de Breze, would give all details, he continued, ‘ I am sure that I cannot sufficiently pity you, and were it not for the great prudence and virtue I know you possess, I would fear more how you would feel the sad and grievous | news.’ Only two of the sons were present at the death- bed of their father. The Cardinal de Guise and the Grand Prior were in Italy, the latter certainly in Rome; Claude, Marquis de Mayenne, who had been a hostage in England for the peace signed on the 24th March 1550, was even then on the way to Scotland ; Franyois, Duke d’Aumale, , and Rene, Marquis d’Elboeuf, were there alone. D’Aumale, i taken ill on the way to Joinville, was hardly in time to see j his father alive. The journey of Mayenne to Scotland may have been completed in the company of the bearer of the Letter XII. 2 Letter XXII. 2 Letter XLVII. BALCARRES PAPERS news of the Duke’s death. It was in any case a short visit, as he was obliged to return to France for the funeral of his father. Several entries in the Treasurer’s Accounts 1 concern his visit and the gifts made him by his sister, and a letter from D’Oysel,2 written ‘ from Dunglas where nothing is found but what is brought there,’ on the 14th May, gives a curiously graphic picture of the company waiting for the arrival of the Marquis in a country devas- tated by the English. An unsigned letter from London,3 possibly written by the Seigneur de Boisdauphin and dated the 13th June of that year, announced the return of Mayenne to France after a visit to the King at Green- wich on his way to take ship at Dover, a visit noted by Edward vi. in his Journal. Anne d’Est, Duchess of Guise 4 after 1550, wrote several times after her marriage : the first letter was merely an apology for previous omissions, excusing herself because of a fever which had made her too feeble to write; another 5 asked for news on behalf of the Queen, probably Mary Stuart, who was anxious for word, too long delayed, of the Queen Dowager. A sentence in this letter possibly alluded to the dismissal of Lady Fleming from Court: ‘ She has managed that the woman who was here has gone away and left yesterday : she only thinks of her and I assure you, Madame, because she hates her that people tell her so many things that it is pitiful.’ The writer also informed the Queen that she had been ill with an attack of measles ; and as there is a letter from Catherine de’ Medici6 to Anne d’Est of the 18th April 1551, in which she alluded to the prevalence of the disease, it is probable that Anne wrote not long after that date. A suggestion of difficulties at Court is given by the Duchess’s remark 1 Accounts, 1547-51, pp. 414, 416. 2 Letter XLVIII. 3 Letter XL1X. 4 Letter LXV. s Letter LXXIII. 6 Lettres de Catherine de Mtdicis, p. 39. INTRODUCTION xi that she has ordered the bearer not to show himself, as the Queen Dowager is surrounded by spies. Testimony to the favour in which the members of the House of Guise were held by the King was given by De I’Aubespine,1 who informed the Queen of the credit the Cardinal de Lorraine, her brother, enjoyed with the King : the writer, who had shared in his labours, knew how well deserved it was. He wrote again 2 in praise of Francois, Duke of Guise, approved by every one for his courage and boldness : so much even he could say without being taken for ‘ un clerc d’armes.’ From him Marie de Lorraine first learned of the capture of her brother Claude, Duke d’Aumale, by the Marquis Albert of Brandenburg outside Metz; he wrote reassuringly, though incorrectly, that he was well—he had been wounded—and that he could be ransomed.