her held a consistory at which he created
four cardinals and devoted them to the king,--to wit: Cardinal Le
Veneur, formerly bishop of Lisieux and grand almoner; the Cardinal
de Boulogne of the family of la Chambre, brother on the mother's
side of the Duke of Albany; the Cardinal de Chatillon of the house
of Coligny, nephew of the Sire de Montmorency, and the Cardinal de
Givry."

When Strozzi delivered the dowry in presence of the court he noticed
some surprise on the part of the French seigneurs; they even said aloud
that it was little enough for such a mesalliance (what would they have
said in these days?). Cardinal Ippolito replied, saying:--

"You must be ill-informed as to the secrets of your king. His Holiness
has bound himself to give to France three pearls of inestimable value,
namely: Genoa, Milan, and Naples."

The Pope left Sebastiano Montecuculi to present himself to the court
of France, to which the count offered his services, complaining of
his treatment by Antonio di Leyva and Ferdinando di Gonzago, for which
reason his services were accepted. Montecuculi was not made a part
of Catherine's household, which was wholly composed of French men and
women, for, by a law of the monarchy, the execution of which the Pope
saw with great satisfaction, Catherine was naturalized by letters-patent
as a Frenchwoman before the marriage. Montecuculi was appointed in the
first instance to the household of the queen, the sister of Charles V.
After a while he passed into the service of the dauphin as cup-bearer.

The new Duchesse d'Orleans soon found herself a nullity at the court of
Francois I. Her young husband was in love with Diane de Poitiers, who
certainly, in the matter of birth, could rival Catherine, and was far
more of a great lady than the little Florentine. The daughter of the
Medici was also outdone by Queen Eleonore, sister of Charles V., and by
Madame d'Etampes, whose marriage with the head of the house of Brosse
made her one of the most powerful and best titled women in France.
Catherine's aunt the Duchess of Albany, the Queen of Navarre, the
Duchesse de Guise, the Duchesse de Vendome, Madame la Connetable de
Montmorency, and other women of like importance, eclipsed by birth and
by their rights, as well as by their power at the most sumptuous court
of France (not excepting that of Louis XIV.), the daughter of the
Florentine grocers, who was richer and more illustrious through the
house of the