The Rival Queens (28 page)

There was a short delay involving her transportation to Liège, the next stop on her journey before arriving at Spa, so she was obliged to stay over an extra day. Don John again exerted himself to the very best of his abilities to entertain her in grand manner. There were two balls, with dancing late into the evening, and a wonderful boat ride on the river. “
In short, Don Juan
manifested, by every mark of attention and politeness, as well to me as to my attendants, the very great pleasure he had in receiving me,” Marguerite recalled.

The next day the barges necessary to transport her party were ready, and the queen of Navarre made preparations to leave. Don John personally escorted her to her vessel “
and there took a most polite
and courteous leave.” As Marguerite and her entourage floated away to begin the last leg of their trip, Don John offered a final adoring salute from the bank of the river.

No sooner was she out of sight than he rode out at the head of a well-armed company, attacked the region surrounding Namur, arrested a number of high-ranking people, forcibly took possession of the strongest castle in the region, and, in the parlance of Cold War espionage, rolled up her networks.

H
AVING NO INKLING THAT
anything was amiss, Marguerite arrived at Spa and stayed six weeks, the customary length of the water cure. Although her sojourn was marred by tragedy—the teenage daughter of Madame de Tournon, Margot’s first lady of the bedchamber, was stricken with terrible chest pains en route to Liège and died two
days later of an unknown ailment
^*
—on the whole the queen of Navarre enjoyed herself greatly at the resort. “
I was every morning
attended by a numerous company to the garden, in which I drank the water, the exercise of walking being recommended to be used with them,” she noted. “From this garden we usually proceeded to the place where we were invited to dinner. After dinner we were amused with a ball; from the ball we went to some convent, where we heard vespers; from vespers to supper, and that over, we had another ball, or music on the river.” Vacation destinations devoted to health being invariably self-contained and remote, their purpose being to promote wellness in body and soul through the avoidance of terrestrial cares, very little news of the outside world reached the queen of Navarre and her companions while she was preoccupied with her cure.

It therefore came as something of a shock, as she prepared to return to France, to learn of Don John’s duplicity. She got her information firsthand from a thoroughly frightened noblewoman from Mons who had only just escaped the Spanish governor’s clutches herself.
^*
And coming hard on this unsettling information was an equally disturbing letter from François, specially delivered by messenger. It seemed that in her absence her favorite brother’s fortunes had taken a turn for the worse. In his missive, François complained that, despite having successfully routed the Huguenots, as he had been requested to do by the king, upon his return to the court “
he had found it entirely changed
, so that he had been no more considered than if he had done the King no service whatever.” Reading further, Margot found that the real purpose of her brother’s letter
was to warn her that “
the King had repented
of giving me leave to go to Flanders, and that, to counteract my brother, a plan was laid to intercept me on my return, either by the Spaniards, for which purpose they had been told that I had treated for delivering up the country to him, or by the Huguenots, in revenge of the war my brother had carried on against them, after having formerly assisted them.” So Henri III had betrayed her yet again, and now, of the three opposing factions in Flanders openly at war—Catholics, Protestants, and Spaniards—two were after her. “
I found I was in great danger
of falling into the hands of one or other of these parties,” Marguerite conceded soberly.

There then settled upon the queen of Navarre the anxious uncertainty universal to spies left out in the cold. What to do? Should she make a run for it or stay put and chance arrest or capture? If she chose to flee she would require aid in the form of safe houses, guides, and protection. But whom to trust and whom to fear?

She began with Mondoucet, whose bright idea it had been to undertake this dangerous mission in the first place. Seeking to neutralize at least one of the enemies allied against her, she sent him to the prince of Orange, the head of the Protestant party, to request a safe passage through Flanders, “
as he [Mondoucet] was acquainted
with the Prince and was known to favor his religion.” The result of this endeavor was not encouraging. “
Mondoucet did not return
, and I believe I might have waited for him until this time to no purpose,” she stated flatly.

Having failed with the Protestants, she turned to the Catholics. She was extremely fortunate that her host, the bishop of Liège, within whose jurisdiction the town of Spa fell, and “
who most certainly acted towards me
like a father,” offered tangible aid in the form of horses and his own grand master, the ranking member of his household, to accompany her on the homeward journey. But of the allegiance of some of the members of her own entourage she was less certain. She was particularly wary of her chief steward and her treasurer, both cohorts of the unfaithful Mondoucet. The two men
strenuously opposed any plan to escape and insisted instead that she stay where she was. When she overruled their objections, they tried to keep her at Spa by pretending that there was not enough money to pay the bill she had amassed during her visit and that consequently the management intended to keep her horses. “
I suspected a plan
was laid to entrap me,” Margot noted grimly.

But the princess of Roche-sur-Yon, in whom Marguerite had also confided, came to the rescue. Being an extremely wealthy woman and having no desire to see either the queen of Navarre or herself fall into enemy hands, the princess loaned Marguerite the money necessary to settle her accounts. Margot retrieved her elaborate coaches and livestock and set off with her company at once, attended by the bishop’s men.

It was immediately apparent that she was in fact in grave danger. The mood of the countryside, unsettled by the prospect of war, was ugly. In Huy, the very first town where she stopped to rest for the night, the citizenry, despite owing allegiance to the bishop of Liège, were terrifyingly hostile and threatening. “
They paid no respect
to the grand master of the Bishop’s household, who accompanied us, but knowing Don John had taken the castle of Namur in order, as they supposed, to intercept me on my return, these brutal people, as soon as I had got into my quarters, rang the alarm-bell, drew up their artillery, placed chains across the streets, and kept us confined and separated the whole night,” Margot recalled. Still, to detain a member of the French royal family against her will was a significant offense and might invite repercussions. By daybreak, when Don John did not appear to relieve them of their prisoner, the townspeople obviously reconsidered. “
In the morning we were suffered
to leave the town without further molestation, and the streets we passed through were lined with armed men,” she concluded tensely.

The next stop, Dinant, despite being only about twenty miles south of Namur, was staunchly allied with the Catholic party and opposed to both Don John and the prince of Orange. The municipality ought to have been a safe haven, but even there the inhabitants
armed themselves at her approach and shut the gates of the city against her. Nor could she establish communication with the local government, as it turned out that she had arrived on election day. “
In consequence… it was a day
of tumult, riot, and debauchery; everyone in the town was drunk, no magistrate was acknowledged,” Marguerite despaired. With darkness coming on quickly and nowhere else to go, she sent in an advance squad of servants to entreat the local officials to allow her to stay for just one night, but the men were immediately arrested. “
They bawled out to us from within
, to tell us their situation, but could not make themselves heard,” Margot observed in frustration. “At length I raised myself up in my litter, and, taking off my mask, made a sign to a townsman nearest me, of the best appearance, that I was desirous to speak with him… I represented that it was far from my intention to do them harm… I only begged to be admitted to go into their city.”

It was agreed that Marguerite and her women, and some of the elderly men, including the grand master, who was eighty, could stay the night. But no sooner had the queen of Navarre and her attenuated entourage passed through the main gate than the bishop’s representative was recognized. Unbeknownst to Marguerite, the entire town had a grudge against the old man, and they moved to attack him. The queen of Navarre, the princess of Roche-sur-Yon, Madame de Tournon, and the other women of her party had to surround the venerable grand master to protect him. “
At length I got him into my lodgings
,” recounted Margot, “but the mob fired at the house, the walls of which were only plaster.”

At her wits’ end, Marguerite went to the window and, braving the threatening rabble, begged to speak to someone—
anyone
—in authority. “
At length, after much bawling
from the window, the burghermasters came to speak to me, but were so drunk that they scarcely knew what they said. I explained to them that I was entirely ignorant that the grand master of the Bishop’s household was a person to whom they had a dislike, and I begged them to consider the consequences of giving offence to a person like me, who was a
friend of the principal lords of the States.” In her desperation, Marguerite began naming the Flemish lords of her acquaintance, which naturally included the comte de Lalain.

This turned out to be an inspired move. “
The principal person amongst them
asked me, with some hesitation and stammering, if I was really a particular friend of the Count’s,” Margot reported. “Perceiving that to claim kindred with the Count would do me more service than being related to all the Powers in Christendom, I answered that I was both a friend
and
a relation.” (Under the circumstances she may perhaps be forgiven this small falsehood.) “They then made me many apologies, stretching forth their hands in token of friendship; in short, they now behaved with as much civility as before with rudeness.”

She had won over the town, but the relief from peril was only momentary. For in the morning appeared an envoy named Du Bois, representing Don John. Henri III had expressed his concern for his sister’s safety to the Spanish governor, Du Bois revealed. Don Juan had thoughtfully sent Du Bois and a troop of armed horsemen, led by one captain Barlemont, to escort Marguerite and her party to the castle of Namur, where they would again become guests of Don John’s hospitality. All that was necessary, said the smiling Du Bois, was for the queen of Navarre to explain the situation to her hosts and prevail upon them to let the soldiers into the city so that they could adequately protect her and her small company and begin their journey to safety.

It seems that Don John, as a result of his initial encounter with Margot, had formed a rather indifferent opinion of the queen’s abilities. In this he seriously underestimated her. Marguerite was not fooled by the ambassador’s solicitude. “
Thus had they concerted a double plot
; the one to get possession of the town, the other of my person,” she observed grimly.

Returning Du Bois’s smile, she excused herself for a moment and went to find the cardinal of Lenoncourt, one of her original companions from France. In a few hushed words, she outlined the situation.
The cardinal was no more desirous of becoming Don John’s prisoner than was she. They worked out a plan of action together. He would keep Du Bois occupied while she sought out the principal magistrates of the town and asked for their help. “
Accordingly, I assembled as many
as I could, to whom I represented that if they admitted Barlemont and his troop within the town, he would most certainly take possession of it for Don John,” reported Marguerite. “I gave it as my advice to make a show of defense, to declare they would not be taken by surprise, and to offer to admit Barlemont, and no one else, within their gates.” Margot then quickly explained how she intended to circumvent Don John’s men without risk to the city. The magistrates “
resolved to act according to my counsel
, and offered to serve me at the hazard of their lives,” she remembered appreciatively.

The inhabitants of Dinant did as she suggested, and there then occurred an elaborate bit of theater by the city gates. Barlemont was ushered cordially into the town, but as soon as he had entered the great doors were slammed shut and bolted behind him, leaving the rest of his force waiting impotently outside the thick walls. “
Hereupon, the citizens flew
into a violent rage, and were near putting him [Barlemont] to death. They told him that if he did not order his men out of sight of the town, they would fire upon them with their great guns. This was done with design to give me time to leave the town before they could follow in pursuit of me,” Marguerite explained. Completely outnumbered and in fear for his life, Barlemont had no choice but to order his men to draw back a substantial distance from the city.

Meanwhile, the queen of Navarre had once again assumed the role of innocent royal princess on holiday. She graciously allowed Du Bois and Barlemont to convince her of the necessity of allowing Don John’s soldiers to escort her and her helpless companions to the safety of Namur. Of course, being a devout great lady, she had to hear Mass first, which was then followed by a short repast to prepare her for the hardships of the road. This gave the townspeople a chance to organize, so that when she was finally packed and ready to go,
the Spanish envoys found the queen of Navarre “
escorted by two or three
hundred armed citizens, some of them engaging Barlemont and Du Bois in conversation. We all took the way to the gate which opens to the river, and directly opposite to that leading to Namur. Du Bois and his colleague told me I was not going the right way, but I continued talking, as if I did not hear them,” she observed sweetly.