An account of Simier—His mission to the Queen—Her strange relations with him—Leicester’s jealousy—Simier’s negotiations on behalf of Alen?on—Rochetaillé’s mission—Leicester’s attempts to have Simier murdered—Alen?on’s first visit to England—Elizabeth’s infatuation for him—His departure and letters to the Queen—Exhaustive discussion of the marriage negotiations by the English Council—The Queen announces her determination to marry Alen?on—Philip Sidney’s remonstrance.

Jean de Simier, Alen?on’s Master of the Wardrobe, and one of his firmest friends, was a consummate courtier steeped in the dissolute gallantry of the French Court, and, above all, a persona grata of Catharine de Medici. He arrived in London on January 5, 1579, having gone through Paris on his way to England, and presumably can hardly have been at the moment in a very happy frame of mind. During his absence with Alen?on his wife had been guilty of infidelity with his young brother, and on Simier’s arrival home the intrigue was divulged to him. He sent his men ahead to kill his brother at the gate of the chateau before his arrival, and his wife died, probably of poison, perhaps of grief, soon afterwards, and the avenged husband then went his way and came on his mission to England. He was lodged and entertained at the Queen’s cost,200 and brought with him twelve thousand crowns’ worth of jewels to win over the courtiers to his master’s cause. At his first interview with the Queen on the 11th of January she was not very cordial, and said that Alen?on could not have been very eager, as Simier had tarried three months on his way since his coming was first announced, but she soon melted under the influence of the envoy’s dulcet words and the casket of jewels he handed her from his master. After the interview Leicester entertained him at supper, and the same night a grand ball was given by the Queen in his honour, at which we are told there was an entertainment in imitation of a tournament between six ladies and a like number of gentlemen who surrendered to them. Young La Mole had charmed Elizabeth with his language of French gallantry, but Simier was a much more experienced hand at the game, and artfully made violent love to the Queen under shelter of his master’s name. The sober ambassador, Castelnau de la Mauvissière, even could not avoid seeing the effect upon Elizabeth, and wrote to the Queen-mother: “This discourse rejuvenates the Queen; she has become more beautiful and bonny than she was fifteen years ago. Not a woman or a physician who knows her who does not hold that there is no lady in the realm more fit for bearing children than she is.”103

On the 16th of January, only a few days after her first interview with Simier, the Queen wrote a letter to Alen?on, in which her delight at his envoy is clearly indicated. She says that she is so pleased201 with him that no other advocate is necessary to make his peace with her. Alen?on’s own words, she tells him, are worthy not of being written on parchment, but graven on marble. She bids him consult his wisest friends about coming over, but if he thinks his honour will suffer the least thereby she would not have him come for untold gold. She assures him of her eternal friendship. She has never, she says, broken her word in her life, so that as constancy is rare amongst princes she is offering no common thing. She ends by hoping that he will reach the years of Nestor, and that all his foes may be confounded.104

This was a pretty good beginning, but the correspondence thereafter daily becomes more affectionate. On the 8th of February the Queen writes a long letter to her lover, in which she says: “Je voy clair la constance rare résider en vostre c?ur qui ne se diminue par quelque ombre d’ingratitude, qu’est asses de preuve pour m’assurer de vostre affection sincère.” She then goes on to point out to her tres cher that her people are strongly opposed to the match, and it will be best for Alen?on and herself to settle the conditions before commissioners are sent. The meaning of this was that Simier, to whom even thus early she had given the punning pet name of her monkey (singe), was trying to get better terms for his master, especially in the matter of religion. In vain the young Prince flatters her by saying that he should sink under his troubles but for “l’imagination de vos beautés, et lesperance que j’ai de vos bonnes grases”; in vain he says he202 will leave every other point to her sole discretion, but cannot give up his religion, and so offend God; but Elizabeth and her advisers were firm, and things dragged on month after month. In the meanwhile Alen?on was obliged to cross the border and re-enter France, and in March made a voyage of semi-reconciliation to see his brother in Paris. Simier at the same time was pressing him warmly to come over to England at once, strike the iron whilst it was hot, and marry the Queen offhand; but the Queen’s own letters persistently threw cold water on this proposal, as did Castelnau, the French ambassador, who was bitterly jealous of Simier; and Alen?on, for the present contented himself with staying at his town of Dreux awaiting her favourable decision as to the conditions “for which hope alone he lives.” But he was more loving than ever in his letters, and writes on the 22nd of March: “Je garde vostre belle pinture, qui ne se separara james de moi que par la fin de mes os. C’est ou je fes mes auresons et pase la pluspart du tans en ladoration des divintés qui y sont. Je supplie tres humblement vostre majesté pardonner a mes pations (i.e., passions) si trop presontuheuzement je dis se qui est dans mon ame.” It is evident that the Queen was playing with him again, but she must have deceived many of her ministers as well, for in the Hatfield Papers there exists a whole series of documents, mostly in Burleigh’s hand, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the match from every conceivable point of view at prodigious length, at which grave State papers doubtless her Majesty and Leicester laughed heartily in their sleeves. The Queen told the Spanish ambassador203 that it “was a fine idea for an old woman like her to talk about marriage,” and more than hinted to him that the negotiations had only been undertaken for the purpose of getting the French out of the Netherlands, as she did not want them there. She assured him that nothing would be arranged about the marriage unless Alen?on came. All through March the negotiations for Alen?on’s visit continued, whilst the Puritan pulpits rang with denunciations of the proposed popish match, and London was in a fever of apprehension of the coming of a French King consort. At last it was settled that the Prince should come over in April; and it was then considered necessary to secure Leicester’s neutrality at least. He and Hatton had very soon got jealous of the bewitching “monkey,” who rarely left the Queen’s side now, so Castelnau, the ambassador, had to be the intermediary. Some letters signed by the King of France, but really concocted by Castelnau in London, were delivered to the Queen and Leicester, saying that Alen?on would come in May, and assuring Leicester on the King’s word that the marriage should in no way injure his honour or position. Leicester urged that Alen?on should come whilst Parliament was sitting, even though the conditions were not agreed upon beforehand, and said he would move the House to demand the marriage. As the match was extremely unpopular in London, this was about the very worst advice that could be given, and was meant to be so. Whilst the proposed conditions were being discussed with Alen?on’s special envoy, Rochetaillé, in April, and the marriage was looked upon in London as inevitable, some persons told the Queen204 that papers had been found in the late Chancellor Sir Nicholas Bacon’s office, proving that when the affair was under discussion before, the object of the French was only to ruin the country, kill the Queen, and place Mary of Scotland on the throne. If Elizabeth had been in earnest she would have taken fright at this; but she only smiled and passed it over. Both she and Leicester, however, were now ostentatiously in favour of the match, as also were Leicester’s enemies, with a very different end in view. Great preparations were made at Court for the Prince’s coming; new clothes as fine as money could buy them were brought from far and near. Leicester himself wrote to his “cousin,” Davison, in Flanders, to send him 4,000 crowns’ worth of crimson, black, and coloured velvet, satin, and silk, and ￡400 worth of gold and silver tissue “or such-like pretty stuffs”105; but Philip II. was still incredulous, and continued to assure his ambassador that it was “a mere invention.” During the billing and cooing personally with Simier, and in writing with his master, an occasional cloud of distrust passed over. Once, late in April, 1579, news came of a possible French naval expedition to Scotland in the interest of Mary, and the dispatch of a papal expedition from Spain to the Catholic insurgents in Ireland; and the Queen was in a panic for a day or two and even turned her back on Simier. On such occasions as these bribes found their way from Mendoza to the Queen’s ministers to large amounts, to induce them to impede the marriage; Burleigh, Sussex, Crofts, Leicester, and Hatton, all got their share, but seem to have given very little value for it,205 for they were just as heavily bribed by the French on the other side.

The new conditions demanded by Simier and Rochetaillé in the interest of Alen?on were, first his coronation immediately after marriage, secondly the association of him with the Queen in the government, and thirdly the granting to him of a life pension of ￡60,000 per annum. These new demands had been strenuously resisted by Cecil and Sussex and the other councillors, but at length Simier began to get restive and threatened to leave unless a decided reply were given within two days. Representations were being made to the Queen from all quarters, and especially from the Spanish ambassador and his creatures as to the danger she would incur if the match were effected, but, says Mendoza, “she expresses to Simier such a strong desire to marry that not a councillor, whatever his real opinion may be, dares to say a word against it.” At length she could procrastinate no longer, and started for a short stay at Leicester’s house at Wanstead, in the last days of April, taking Simier and Castelnau with her for the purpose of giving them an answer. As usual she desired to free herself from personal blame, and ordered each member of her Council to give her his opinion on the match in writing. This they all refused to do, and confined themselves to stating the arguments on both sides, leaving her to draw the conclusion. During the stay at Wanstead, almost day and night, Sussex, Leicester, Burleigh, and Walsingham remained in conference, but could come to no conclusion; and the Court had to return with the Queen to London still without an answer206 being given. At Whitehall on the 3rd of May, a full meeting of the Council was held to finally discuss the conditions, and Simier was invited to be present. The second demand of the association of Alen?on with the Queen in the government and distribution of offices was at once declared to be impossible, and was abandoned by Simier after some demur; but the other two conditions were insisted upon by him. Simier then retired to an adjoining room whilst the Council discussed these points. The first councillor to speak was the new Lord Chancellor Bromley, who set forth the danger of the match, in admitting Frenchmen, their traditional enemies, into the country, its unpopularity and the improbability of there being any issue, and ended by declaring uncompromisingly against the marriage. In the end the whole of the Council except Sussex agreed with him, and word was privately sent to the Queen that the Council was well-nigh unanimously unfavourable. Then Simier was called in and told that his new demands were such as had never been made before, and were absolutely inadmissible. The Frenchman’s suavity suddenly left him, and he flew into a great rage, flinging out of the room before Sussex could reach him, banged the door after him in a fury, and went straight to the Queen, who was in the garden.106 She professed great sorrow at her Council’s decision, swore to Simier that she would marry in spite of them all, assumed an appearance of settled melancholy in his presence, and sent a loving letter to the Prince by his secretary, de Vray, who was despatched the same night to his master with the Council’s reply.

207 But Alen?on was not lightly put off. Rochetaillé was already on his way back to England with handsome presents for Leicester and the rest of them, and de Vray returned at the end of May with his master’s answer. He would, he said, marry her on her own terms, and only timidly stipulated that he should be allowed the private exercise of the mass in his own apartments, concluding by announcing his approaching visit to the Queen to press his suit in person. This was by no means welcome news to Elizabeth, who at the time certainly had no intention of marrying him, and who feared the visit might either force her hand or throw upon her personally the responsibility of breaking off the match. The Council, however, decided unanimously that the Duke should not be affronted by a refusal to receive him, and that the Queen could not decently draw back now without at all events seeing her suitor. So it was settled with Simier that his master should come to England in the middle of August, and the Queen’s ships and safe-conduct should await him at Calais. When this was decided the Queen desired to be left alone with Simier, and Leicester was obliged, however unwillingly, to take Castelnau out hunting. When they returned three hours afterwards Simier and the Queen were still together, and whilst Castelnau supped with Leicester Simier took his evening repast at the Queen’s table.

Castelnau, writing an account of affairs to the Queen-mother,107 says that all was now going as smoothly as ever: “Not a day passes that she208 fails to send for him (Simier). On one occasion she came in her barge to my lodging to fetch him before he had read his despatches, and when he was not dressed. He was obliged to come out to see her with only his doublet on, and she took him with her. Those who are against it are cursing him, and declare that Simier will cheat her, and has bewitched her.” Castelnau now quite believed in the marriage. The Queen told him she really was convinced that the Duke was seeking her for herself alone, and not for her crown, but she feared that, however much he might esteem her, he would only love her for a year or two. She would, however, promise before God that if he was a good husband to her she would be the best wife in the world.

It is probable that by this time the Queen’s feelings were really getting the better of her judgment, and that the satisfied vanity of having a young prince at her feet was carrying all before it. The whole country was ringing with the strange news of her close intimacy with Simier, who had, it was said, bewitched her with a love philtre; and afterwards Mary Stuart, in her prison, imprudently made herself the echo of the scandal by writing to the Queen the outrageous letter published by Labanoff, accusing her of immorality with both Simier and Alen?on. The murmurs were industriously fostered (and paid for) by the Spanish ambassador, who did his best to stir up trouble and make the match unpopular. He writes to his King at the end of June: “Although there is no binding undertaking about the marriage, the Queen gives every sign of being most anxious for it, and affirms that she will never marry a man whom she has not previously209 seen. She is burning with impatience for his (Alen?on’s) coming, although her councillors have laid before her the difficulties which may arise, the other side having her support, has carried the day. She herself is largely influenced by the idea that it should be known that her talents and beauty are so great that they have sufficed to cause him to come and visit her without any assurance that he will be her husband.”108

Leicester, who knew her better than any one, was quick to see whither she was drifting, and became violently jealous. When the time came for signing the passport for Alen?on, at the end of June, he made a fervent appeal to the Queen not to sign it; but Simier was too strong for him, and the passport was sent, whereupon Leicester went and sulked at Wanstead, feigning illness, ............