Henri II: His Court and Times (45 page)

Everywhere the interlaced monogram "H.D." met the eye:
on the capitals of the columns, the frontals, the tops of the
entablatures, the friezes, the pavements, the inlaid floors, the
doors, the windows, the ceilings, the wainscots, the carpets,
the tapestries, the plate, the crockery, and even the books in
the library.
⁰⁹
Everywhere, too, the decorations recalled the
story of the goddess whose name the duchess bore. Above
the great gateway was a group representing the rash Actæon
struggling with his hounds, the work of Goujon. The
fountains playing in the side-courts were also embellished
with the attributes of Diana, and the basin of that to the left
was crowned by what is undoubtedly Goujon's masterpiece,
if not the masterpiece of all French sculpture — the celebrated
Diane chasseresse
, now in the Louvre.

"D
IANE
C
HASSERESSE
"
FROM AN ENGRAVING AFTER THE STATUE BY JEAN GOUJON IN THE LOUVRE

The goddess is represented perfectly nude and in a semi-recumbent posture, with her two dogs (Procyon and Sirius)
and a stag — around whose neck one arm is thrown, while in
the other hand she holds her unstrung bow. "What pride,
what gentleness in that pose!" exclaims La Ferrière. "To
see the half-formed bosom, one would call her a young girl;
but the body, in its full and robust contours, is certainly that
of a woman in all her maturity. The true character of the
beauty of Diane de Poitiers was strength and not delicacy.
In deifying the mistress of the King, the great artist has
remembered this."
¹⁰

Henri II was as interested in the construction and decoration
of Diane's fairy palace as the lady herself. "All that I did at
Anet," wrote Philibert Delorme after Henri's death, "was by
command of the late King, who was more anxious to learn
what was being done there than in his own residence, and
used to get angry with me if I did not go there often enough.
All that I did there was for the King."
¹¹

Once Henri II had crossed the threshold of Anet, he was
continually returning. He was at Anet in the first week of
August 1550 — only a few days after Catherine de' Medici had
given birth to the future Charles IX. It was from Anet
that he set out, two months later, to make his "joyous and
triumphant entry into his good town of Rouen," the splendours
of which almost rivalled that of Lyons; and on his way back
to Saint-Germain he paid it yet another visit. It was at Anet
that, in March, 1552, he received the English Ambassador, Sir
William Pickering, who describes it as "a wonderful fair and
sumptuous house." Diane desired that Pickering should be
shown all the splendours of her palace, with which the
Ambassador was duly impressed. "Madame de Valentinois
commanded that collation (as they term it) should be prepared
for me in a gallery, and that afterwards I should see all the
commodities of the house, which were so sumptuous and
prince-like as ever I saw."
¹²
In 1555, the King was twice at
Anet; in fact, not a year seems to have passed without the
Château being honoured by one or more royal visits.

That Henri II loved Diane de Poitiers and loved her with
a deep and enduring devotion to which the annals of royal
amours afford no parallel, is beyond dispute. It is attested
by the favours and honours heaped upon her, by the immense
influence which she enjoyed, by the testimony of a score of
trustworthy witnesses, and, if any further proof is needed, we
may find it in the few letters of the King to his mistress — all
signed with the famous monogram — which are preserved in the
Bibliothèque Nationale.

What a depth and sincerity of affection, what tenderness,
what respect, do they reveal!

"
Mamye
," he writes to her from Fontainebleau,
¹³
"I beg you to send me news of your health, because of the distress
with which I have heard of your illness, and so that I may
govern my movements in accordance with your condition.
For, if your illness continues, I should not wish to fail to come
and see you, to endeavour to be of service to you, and also
because it would be impossible for me to live so long without
seeing you. And, since I did not fear, in time past, to lose the
good graces of the late King, in order to remain near you, I
should scarcely complain of the trouble that I might have in
rendering you any service, and I assure you that I shall not
be at my ease until the bearer of this returns. Wherefore, I
entreat you to send me a true account of the state of your
health and to inform me when you will be able to start. I
believe that you can understand the little pleasure that I experience at Fontainebleau without seeing you, for, being far from
her upon whom all my welfare depends, it is very hard for me
to be happy. With which I will conclude this letter, from fear
that it will be too long, and will weary you to read it, and will
present my humble recommendation to your good graces, as
to that which I desire ever to retain. —
."

And, after receiving the anxiously-awaited letter:

"
Madame mamye
, — I thank you very humbly for taking the
trouble to send me news of yourself, which is the thing most
pleasing to me on earth, and entreat you to keep your promise
to me, for I cannot live without you, and if you knew the little
enjoyment that I find here, you would pity me. I shall not
write you a longer letter, save to assure you that you cannot
come as soon as is the wish of him who remains for ever your
very humble servant,
."

And here are two letters written from the army, the first;
during the Alsace campaign of 1552, the second during the
Flemish campaign six years later:

"V
ALDERSEN
(?),
May
, 1552

"
Madame mamye
, — I shall not write you a long letter, having
fully informed the bearer of this, and also because I have not
the leisure, since I find myself on the point of marching to pass
the River Sarre. I beg you to believe that my army is
splendid,
¹⁴
and animated by an excellent spirit; and I am confident that, if
it is intended to dispute the passage, Our Lord will aid me by
His grace, as He did at the first. I shall not tell you anything
else, but remit all to Monsieur d'Aranson, who is presently
returning; nevertheless, I entreat you to keep in your remembrance
him who has known only one God and one friend, and
to assure you that you will never be ashamed of having given
me the name of servant, which I entreat you to keep for
me for ever.
."

"P
IERREPOINT
(?),
August
13, 1558

"
Madame
, — I received yesterday, by Laménardyère, the letter
which you have written me, and also the chemises of Our Lady
of Chartres.
¹⁵
They
could not have arrived at a more opportune moment, for I intend
setting off the day after to-morrow,
in the expectation of reaching Mondidier in the middle of
August, where I hope to put myself into such condition that
I shall prove myself worthy to wear the scarf which you have
sent me. I shall not write you anything about our enemies or
my camp, as I have charged the bearer of this to inform you
of that; and nothing remains for me save to tell you that I am
sending Laménardyère back . . . and to entreat you always to
keep in remembrance him who has never loved, nor will love,
any one but you —
.
I beg you,
mamye
, to be willing
to wear this ring for the love of me."

On one occasion, his Majesty breaks into poetry, for, in
common with many other princes of the sixteenth century, he
had quite a pretty turn for verse-making:

To which the lady replies: