Series 3 > Foreign correspondence with Marie de Lorraine, Queen of Scotland, from the originals in the Balcarres papers > Volume 4

XIV
BALCARRES PAPERS
Of the sisters, apart from Louise there is little said ; in
fact, only M. de la Brousse finds it worth mentioning when
Renee de Lorraine, Abbess of Saint Pierre de Reims, took
over her abbey.1 He writes of meeting her on her way
from Fontevraud on another occasion,2 which he probably
remembered because he tried to obtain from her a nomina¬
tion for one of his daughters to her abbey.
During the last years of Francois ller the members of
the family of Guise were not so prominently concerned
with the court: the King appears to have become alarmed
at the ambition and growth of the family. So the Duke
retired more and more to Joinville, where the Duchess
Antoinette made her home with the younger members of
the family and Fran§ois d’Orleans her grandson.
In 1546, however, the Duke, Duchess, and grandson
were at Fontainebleau 3 for the christening of ‘ Madame ’
Elisabeth, eldest daughter of the Dauphin and Catherine
de’ Medici; and in the same autumn the King, in the course
of a journey through Burgundy and Champagne, visited
Joinville,4 where many ladies of the House welcomed him.
After the death of Fran5ois lIer, on the 31st March
1547, the very names of the places from which the various
letters are dated mark a change : the family again follow
the court and write from Saint Germain-en-Laye and
Fontainebleau. The tone of d’Aumale’s communications
changes to one of more conscious authority,5 which must
have comforted his sister with hope of effective assistance.
A letter from Quincarnon,6 one of Marie de Lorraine’s
officers in France, dwells upon the honours conferred on
various members of the House of Guise at the time of the
King’s coronation—the list was even printed !
M. de la Brousse, an effective correspondent, gave
1 Letter LXXXVI. 2 Letter CXIV.
3 Letter CVII. 4 Letter CXIV.
f Letter CXX1II, « Letter CXLVII.