Chapter VIII: Death of Isabella (1)

Queen Isabella.--Her Relations with Carlos.--Her Illness and Death.--Her Character.

1568.

Three months had not elapsed after the young and beautiful queen of Philip the Second had wept over the fate of her unfortunate step-son, when she was herself called upon to follow him to the tomb. The occurrence of these sad events so near together, and the relations of the parties, who had once been designed for each other, suggested the idea that a criminal passion subsisted between them, and that, after her lover's death, Isabella was herself sacrificed to the jealousy of a vindictive husband.

[Sidenote: HER RELATIONS WITH CARLOS.]

One will in vain look for this tale of horror in the native historians of Castile. Nor does any historian of that day, native or foreign, whom I have consulted, in noticing the rumors of the time, cast a reproach on the fair fame of Isabella; though more than one must be allowed to intimate the existence of the prince's passion for his step-mother.[1539] Brantôme tells us that, when Carlos first saw the queen, "he was so captivated by her charms, that he conceived from that time, a mortal spite against his father, whom he often reproached for the great wrong he had done him, in ravishing from him this fair prize." "And this," adds the writer, "was said in part to have been the cause of the prince's death; for he could not help loving the queen at the bottom of his soul, as well as honoring and reverencing one who was so truly amiable and deserving of love."[1540] He afterwards gives us to understand that many rumors were afloat in regard to the manner of the queen's death; and tells a story, not very probable, of a Jesuit, who was banished to the farthest Indies, for denouncing, in his pulpit, the wickedness of those who could destroy so innocent a creature.[1541]

A graver authority, the prince of Orange, in his public vindication of his own conduct, openly charges Philip with the murder of both his son and his wife. It is to be noticed, however, that he nowhere intimates that either of the parties was in love with the other; and he refers the queen's death to Philip's desire to open the way to a marriage with the Princess Anne of Austria.[1542] Yet these two authorities are the only ones of that day, so far as I am aware, who have given countenance to these startling rumors. Both were foreigners, far removed from the scene of action; one of them a light, garrulous Frenchman, whose amusing pages, teeming with the idle gossip of the court, are often little better than a _Chronique Scandaleuse_; the other, the mortal enemy of Philip, whose character--as the best means of defending his own--he was assailing with the darkest imputations.

No authority, however, beyond that of vulgar rumor, was required by the unscrupulous writers of a later time, who discerned the capabilities of a story like that of Carlos and Isabella, in the situations of romantic interest which it would open to the reader. Improving on this hint, they have filled in the outlines of the picture with the touches of their own fancy; until the interest thus given to this tale of love and woe has made it as widely known as any of the classic myths of early Grecian history.[1543]

Fortunately, we have the power, in this case, of establishing the truth from unsuspicious evidence,--that of Isabella's own countrymen, whose residence at the court of Madrid furnished them with ample means of personal observation. Isabella's mother, the famous Catherine de Medicis, associated with so much that is terrible in our imaginations, had at least the merit of watching over her daughter's interests with the most affectionate solicitude. This did not diminish when, at the age of fifteen, Elizabeth of France left her own land and ascended the throne of Spain. Catherine kept up a constant correspondence with her daughter, sometimes sending her instructions as to her conduct, at other times, medical prescriptions in regard to her health. She was careful also to obtain information respecting Isabella's mode of life from the French ambassadors at the court of Castile; and we may be quite sure that these loyal subjects would have been quick to report any injurious treatment of the queen by her husband.

A candid perusal of their despatches dispels all mystery,--or rather, proves there never was any cause for mystery. The sallow, sickly boy of fourteen--for Carlos was no older at the time of Isabella's marriage--was possessed of too few personal attractions to make it probable that he could have touched the heart of his beautiful step-mother, had she been lightly disposed. But her intercourse with him from the first seems to have been such as naturally arose from the relations of the parties, and from the kindness of her disposition, which led her to feel a sympathy for the personal infirmities and misfortunes of Carlos. Far from attempting to disguise her feelings in this matter, she displayed them openly in her correspondence with her mother, and before her husband and the world.

Soon after Isabella's arrival at Madrid, we find a letter from the bishop of Limoges to Charles the Ninth, her brother, informing him that "his sister, on entering the palace of Madrid, gave the prince so gracious and affectionate a reception, that it afforded singular contentment to the king, and yet more to Carlos, as appeared by his frequent visits to the queen,--as frequent as the etiquette of a court, much stiffer than that of Paris, would permit."[1544] Again, writing in the following month, the bishop speaks of the queen as endeavoring to amuse Carlos, when he came to see her in the evening, with such innocent games and pastimes as might cheer the spirits of the young prince, who seemed to be wasting away under his malady.[1545]

[Sidenote: HER RELATIONS WITH CARLOS.]

The next year we have a letter to Catherine de Medicis from one of Isabella's train, who had accompanied her from France. After speaking of her mistress as sometimes supping in the garden with the Princess Joanna, she says they were often joined there by "the prince, who loves the queen singularly well, and, as I suspect, would have no objection to be more nearly related to her."[1546]--There is nothing improbable in the supposition that Carlos, grateful for kindness to which he had not been too much accustomed, should, as he grew older, have yielded to the influence of a princess whose sweet disposition and engaging manners seem to have won the hearts of all who approached her; or that feelings of resentment should have mingled with his regret, as he thought of the hard fate which had placed a barrier between them. It is impossible, too, when we consider the prince's impetuous temper, that the French historian, De Thou, may have had good authority for asserting that Carlos, "after long conversation in the queen's apartment, was often heard, as he came out, to complain loudly of his father's having robbed him of her."[1547] But it could have been no vulgar passion that he felt for Isabella, and certainly it received no encouragement from her, if, as Brantôme tells us, "insolent and audacious as he was in his intercourse with all other women, he never came into the presence of his step-mother without such a feeling of reverence as seemed to change his very nature."

Nor is there the least evidence that the admiration excited by the queen, whether in Carlos or in the courtiers, gave any uneasiness to Philip, who seems to have reposed entire confidence in her discretion. And while we find Isabella speaking of Philip to her mother as "so good a husband, and rendering her so happy by his attentions, that it made the dullest spot in the world agreeable to her,"[1548] we meet with a letter from the French minister, Guibert, saying that "the king goes on loving the queen more and more, and that her influence has increased threefold within the last few months."[1549] A few years later, in 1565, St. Sulpice, then ambassador in Madrid, writes to the queen-mother in emphatic terms of the affectionate intercourse that subsisted between Philip and his consort. "I can assure you, madam," he says, "that the queen, your daughter, lives in the greatest content in the world, by reason of the perfect friendship which ever draws her more closely to her husband. He shows her the most unreserved confidence, and is so cordial in his treatment of her as to leave nothing to be desired."[1550] The writer quotes a declaration made to him by Philip, that "the loss of his consort would be a heavier misfortune than had ever yet befallen him."[1551]

Nor was this an empty profession in the king, as he evinced by his indulgence of Isabella's tastes,--even those national tastes which were not always in accordance with the more rigid rules of Castilian etiquette. To show the freedom with which she lived, I may perhaps be excused for touching on a few particulars, already noticed in a previous chapter. On her coming into the country, she was greeted with balls and other festivities, to which she had been accustomed in the gay capital of France. Her domestic establishment was on a scale of magnificence suited to her station; and the old courtier, Brantôme, dwells with delight on the splendid profusion of her wardrobe, and the costly jewels with which it was adorned. When she went abroad, she dispensed with her veil, after the fashion of her own country, though so much at variance with the habits of the Spanish ladies. Yet it made her a greater favorite with the people, who crowded around her wherever she appeared, eager to catch a glimpse of her beautiful features. She brought into the country a troop of French ladies and waiting-women, some of whom remained, and married in Castile. Such as returned home, she provided with liberal dowries. To persons of her own nation she was ever accessible,--receiving the humblest as well as the highest, says her biographer, with her wonted benignity. With them she conversed in her native tongue. But, in the course of three months, her ready wit had so far mastered the Castilian, that she could make herself understood in that language, and in a short time spoke it with elegance, though with a slight foreign accent, not unpleasing. Born and bred among a people so different from that with whom her lot was now cast, Isabella seemed to unite in her own person the good qualities of each. The easy vivacity of the French character was so happily tempered by the gravity of the Spanish, as to give an inexpressible charm to her manners.[1552] Thus richly endowed with the best gifts of nature and of fortune, it is no wonder that Elizabeth of France should have been the delight of the courtly circle over which she presided, and of which she was the greatest ornament.

Her gentle nature must have been much disturbed, by witnessing the wild, capricious temper of Carlos, and the daily increasing estrangement of his father. Yet she did not despair of reclaiming him. At least, we may infer so from the eagerness with which she seconded her mother in pressing the union of her sister, Catherine de Medicis' younger daughter, with the prince. "My sister is of so excellent a disposition," the queen said to Ruy Gomez, "that no princess in Christendom would be more apt to moderate and accommodate herself to my step-son's humors, or be better suited to the father, as well as the son, in their relations with each other."[1553] But although the minister readily adopted the queen's views in the matter, they met with little encouragement from Philip, who, at that time, seemed more inclined to a connection with the house of Austria.

[Sidenote: HER ILLNESS.]

In the preceding chapter, we have seen the pain occasioned to Isabella by the arrest of Carlos. Although so far a gainer by it as it opened to her own posterity the way to the succession, she wept, as the ambassador Fourquevaulx tells us, for two days, over the misfortune of her step-son, until forbidden by Philip to weep any longer.[1554] During his confinement, as we have seen, she was not permitted to visit him,--not even to soften the bitterness of his dying hour. And how much her presence would have soothed him, at such a time, may be inferred from the simple memorandum found among his papers, in which he assigns her the first place among his friends, as having been ever the most loving to him.[1555] The same affection, however we may define it, which he had borne her from the first, he retained to the last hour of his life. All that was now granted to Isabella was the sad consolation of joining with the Princess Joanna, and the few friends who still cherished the memory of Carlos, in celebrating his funeral obsequies.

Not long after that event, it was announced that the queen was pregnant; and the nation fondly hoped that it would find a compensation for the loss of its rightful prince, in the birth of a new heir to the throne. But this hope was destined soon to be destroyed. Owing to some mismanagement on the part of the physicians, who, at an early period, misunderstood the queen's situation, the medicines they gave her had an injurious effect on her constitution.[1556] It is certain that Isabella placed little confidence in the Spanish doctors, or in their prescriptions.[1557] There may have been good ground for her distrust; for their vigorous applications savor not a little of the Sangrado school of practice, directed quite as much against the constitution of the patient as against his disease. About the middle of September a fever set in, which, though not violent, was so obstinate as to defy all the efforts of the physicians to reduce it. More alarming symptoms soon followed. The queen frequently swooned. Her extremities became torpid. Medicines were of no avail, for her stomach refused to retain them.[1558] Processions were everywhere made to the churches, and young and old joined in prayers for her recovery. But these prayers were not heard. The strength of Isabella continued rapidly to decline, and by the last of September her life was despaired of. The physicians declared that science could go no further, and that the queen's only hope must be in Heaven.[1559]--In Heaven she had always trusted; nor was she so wedded to the pomps and glories of the world, that she could not now willingly resign them.

As her ladies, many of them her countrywomen, stood weeping around her bed, she endeavored to console them under their affliction, kindly expressing the interest she took in their future welfare, and her regret that she had not made them a bitter mistress;--"as if," says a contemporary, who has left a minute record of her last moments, "she had not been always more of a mother than a mistress to them all!"[1560]

On the evening of the second of October, as Isabella felt herself drawing near her end, she made her will. She then confessed, partook of the sacrament, and, at her desire, extreme unction was administered to her. Cardinal Espinosa and the king's confessor, the bishop of Cuenca, who were present, while they offered her spiritual counsel and consolation, were greatly edified by her deportment; and, giving her their parting benediction, they went away deeply affected by the spirit of Christian resignation which she displayed.[1561]

Before daybreak, on the following morning, she had her last interview with Philip. We have the account of it from Fourquevaulx. "The queen spoke to her husband very naturally," says the ambassador, "and like a Christian. She took leave of him for ever, and never did princess show more goodness and piety. She commended to him her two daughters, and her principal attendants, beseeching him to live in amity with the king of France, her brother, and to maintain peace,--with other discourse, which could not fail to touch the heart of _a good husband, which the king was to her_. He showed, in his replies, the same composure as she did, and promised to obey all her requests, but added, he did not think her end so near. He then withdrew,--as I was told,--in great anguish, to his own chamber."[1562] Philip sent a fragment of the true cross, to comfort his wife in her last moments. It was the most precious of his relics, and was richly studded with pearls and diamonds.[1563] Isabella fervently kissed the sacred relic, and held it, with the crucifix, in her hand, while she yet lived.

Not long after the interview with her husband, the ambassador was summoned to her bedside. He was the representative of her native land, and of the dear friends there she was never more to see. "She knew me," writes Fourquevaulx, "and said, 'You see me in the act of quitting this vain world, to pass to a more pleasant kingdom; there, as I hope, to be for ever with my God. Tell my mother, the queen, and the king, my brother, to bear my death with patience, and to comfort themselves with the reflection, that no happiness on earth has ever made me so content, as the prospect now does of approaching my Creator. I shall soon be in a better situation to do them service, and to implore God to take them and my brothers under his holy protection. Beseech them, in my name, to watch over their kingdom, that an end may be put to the heresies which have spread there. And I will pray Heaven, in its mercy, to grant that they may take my death with patience, and hold me for happy.'"[1564]

The ambassador said a few words of comfort, endeavoring to give her, if possible, some hopes of life. But she answered, "You will soon know how near I am to my end. God has given me grace to despise the world and its grandeur, and to fix all my hopes on him and Jesus Christ. Never did a thought occasion me less anxiety than that of death."

[Sidenote: HER OBSEQUIES.]

"She then listened to the exhortations of her confessor, remaining in full possession of her consciousness, till a few minutes before her death. A slight restlessness seemed to come over her, which soon subsided, and she expired so tranquilly that it was impossible to fix the moment when she gave up the ghost. Yet she opened her eyes once, bright and glancing, and it seemed as if she would address me some further commands,--at least, her looks were fixed on me."[1565]

Not long before Isabella's death, she was delivered of a daughter. Its birth was premature, and it lived only to be baptized. The infant was laid in the same coffin with its mother; and, that very evening, their remains were borne in solemn procession to the royal chapel.[1566] The tolling of the bells in the churches and monasteries throughout the city announced the sad tidings to the people, who filled the air with their cries, making everywhere the most passionate demonstrations of grief;[1567] for the queen, says Brantôme, "was regarded by them not merely with feelings of reverence, but of idolatry."[1568]

In the chapel were gathered together whatever was illustrious in the capital,--the high ecclesiastics, and the different religious bodies, the grandees and cavaliers of the court, and the queen's ladies of honor. At the head of these stood the duchess of Alva, the mistress of the robes, with the duchess of Feria--an English lady, married to the Spanish ambassador at the court of Mary Tudor--and the princess of Eboli, a name noted in history. The coffin of the deceased queen, covered with its gorgeous pall of brocade, was placed on a scaffold shrouded in black, and surrounded with numerous silver sconces bearing wax tapers, that shed a gloomy lustre over the scene.[1569] The services were performed amidst the deepest stillness of the audience, unless when broken by the wailings of the women, which mingled in sad harmony with the chant of the priests and the sweet and solemn music that accompanied the office for the dead.[1570]

Early on the following morning the coffin was opened in presence of the duchess of Alva and the weeping ladies of her train, who gazed for the last time on features still beautiful in death.[1571] The duchess then filled the coffin with flowers and sweet-scented herbs; and the remains of mother and child were transported by the same sorrowing company to the convent of the barefooted Carmelites. Here they reposed till the year 1573, when they were borne, with the remains of Carlos, to the stately mausoleum of the Escorial; and the populace, as they gazed on the funeral train, invoked the name of Isabella as that of a saint.[1572]

In the course of the winter, Cardinal Guise arrived from France with letters of condolence from Charles the Ninth to his royal brother-in-law. The instructions to the cardinal do not infer any distrust, on the part of the French monarch, as to the manner of his sister's death. The more suspicious temper of the queen-mother, Catherine de Medicis, is seen in her directions to Fourquevaulx to find out what was said on the subject of her daughter's death, and to report it to her.[1573]--It does not seem that the ambassador gathered any information of consequence, to add to his former details.

Philip himself may have had in his mind the possible existence of such suspicions, when he told the cardinal that "his best consolation for his loss was derived from his reflection on the simple and excellent life of the queen. All her attendants, her ladies and maids, knew how well he had treated her, as was sufficiently proved by the extraordinary sorrow which he felt at her death. Hereupon," continues the cardinal, "he broke forth into a panegyric on her virtues, and said, were he to choose again, he could wish nothing better than to find just such another."[1574]--It was not long before Philip made the attempt. In eighteen months from the date of his conversation with the cardinal, the thrice-widowed husband led to the altar his fourth and last wife, Anne of Austria,--like her predecessor, as we have seen, the destined bride of his son. The facility with which her imperial parents trusted the young princess to the protection of Philip maybe thought to intimate pretty clearly that they, at least, had no misgivings as to the king's treatment of his former wife.

Isabella, at her decease, was but twenty-three years of age, eight of which she had been seated on the throne of Spain. She left two children, both daughters;--Catherine, afterwards married to the duke of Savoy; and Clara Eugenia, who became with her husband, the Archduke Albert, joint ruler of the Netherlands, and who seems to have enjoyed a greater share of both the love and the confidence of Philip, than he ever vouchsafed to any other being.

Such is the story of Queen Isabella, stripped of the coloring of romance, for which, in truth, it has been quite as much indebted to the pen of the historian as to that of the poet. From the whole account, it appears, that, if Carlos, at any time, indulged a criminal passion for his step-mother, such a passion was never requited or encouraged by Isabella, who seems to have felt for him only the sentiments that were justified by their connection, and by the appeal which his misfortunes made to her sympathy. Notwithstanding some feelings of resentment, not unnatural, when, in the words of Brantôme, "he had been defrauded of so fair a prize," there is yet little evidence that the prince's passion for her rose higher than the sentiments of love and gratitude which her kindness might well have awakened in an affectionate nature.[1575] And that such, with all his errors, was the nature Carlos, is shown, among other examples, by his steady attachment to Don John of Austria, his uncle, and by his devotion to his early preceptor, the bishop of Osma.

[Sidenote: HER CHARACTER.]

There is no proof that Philip was, at any time, displeased with the conduct of his queen, or that he regarded his son in the light of a rival. Least of all is there anything in the history of the time to show that he sacrificed his wife to his jealousy.[1576] The contrary is well established by those of her own countrymen who had free access to her during her lifetime,--some of them in the hour of her death,--whose correspondence with her family would not have failed to intimate their suspicions, had there been anything to suspect.

Well would it be for the memory of Philip the Second, could the historian find no heavier sin to lay to his charge than his treatment of Isabella. From first to last, he seems to have regarded her with the indulgence of an affectionate husband. Whether she ever obtained such an ascendancy over his close and cautious nature as to be allowed to share in his confidence and his counsels, may well be doubted. Her temper would seem to have been too gentle, too devoid of worldly ambition, to prompt her to meddle with affairs for which she was fitted neither by nature nor education. Yet Brantôme assures us, that she exercised a most salutary influence over her lord in his relations with France, and that the value of this influence was appreciated in later times, when the growing misunderstandings between the two courts were left to rankle, without any friendly hand to heal them.[1577] "Her death," he continues, "was as bitter to her own nation as it was to the Spaniards; and if the latter called her 'the Queen of Peace and Goodness,' the former with no less reason styled her 'the Olive-branch.'"[1578] "But she has passed away," he exclaims, "in the sweet and pleasant April of her age,--when her beauty was such that it seemed as if it might almost defy the assaults of time."[1579]

The queen occupies an important place in that rich gallery of portraits in which Brantôme has endeavored to perpetuate the features of his contemporaries. In no one of them has he traced the lineaments with a more tender and delicate hand. Even the breath of scandal has had no power to dim the purity of their expression. Of all that illustrious company which the artist has brought in review before the eyes of posterity, there is no one to whom he has so truly rendered the homage of the heart, as to Elizabeth of France.

But from these scenes of domestic sorrow, it is time that we should turn to others of a more stirring and adventurous character.

END OF VOLS. I. AND II.

LONDON C. WHITING, BEAUFORT-HOUSE, DUKE-STREET, LINCOLN'S-INN-FIELDS.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] It is gratifying to learn that before long such a history may be expected,--if, indeed, it should not appear before the publication of this work,--from the pen of our accomplished countryman, Mr. J. Lothrop Motley, who, during the last few years, for the better prosecution of his labors, has established his residence in the neighborhood of the scenes of his narrative. No one acquainted with the fine powers of mind possessed by this scholar, and the earnestness with which he has devoted himself to his task, can doubt that he will do full justice to his important, but difficult subject.

[2] "Post annum ætatis quinquagesimum, prementitras morbis, tantopere negotiorum odium cepit, ut diutius interdum nec se adiri aut conveniri præterquam ab intimis pateretur, nec libellis subscribere animum induceret, _non sine suspicione mentis imminutæ_; itaque constat novem mensibus nulli nec libello nec diplomati subscripsisse, quod cum magno incommodo reipublicæ populariumque dispendio fiebat, cum a tot nationibus, et quibusdam longissime jus inde poteretur, et certe summa negotia ad ipsum fere rejicerentur." (Sepulvedæ Opera, (Matriti, 1780,) vol. II. p. 539.) The author, who was in the court at the time, had frequent access to the royal presence, and speaks, therefore, from personal observation.

[3] A minute account of this imposing ceremony is to be found in a MS. in the Archives of Simancas, now published in the Coleccion de Documentos Inéditos para la Historia de España, (Madrid, 1845,) tom. VII. p. 534 et seq.

An official report of these proceedings, prepared by order of the government, and preserved at Brussels, in the Archives du Royaume, has been published by M. Gachard in his valuable collection, Analectes Belgiques, (Paris, 1830,) pp. 75-81.

[4] A copy of the original deed of abdication was preserved among the papers of Cardinal Granvelle, at Besançon, and is incorporated in the valuable collection of documents published by order of the French government under the direction of the learned Weiss, Papiers d'Etat du Cardinal de Granvelle, d'après les Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque de Besançon, (Paris, 1843,) tom. IV. p. 486.

[5] It is strange that the precise date of an event of such notoriety as the abdication of Charles the Fifth should be a matter of discrepancy among historians. Most writers of the time assign the date mentioned in the text, confirmed moreover by the Simancas MS. above cited, the author of which enters into the details of the ceremony with the minuteness of an eye-witness.

[6] "Erat Carolus statura mediocri, sed brachiis et cruribus crassis compactisque, et roboris singularis, ceteris membris proportione magnoque commensu respondentibus, colore albus, crine barbaque ad flavum inclinante; facie liberali, nisi quod mentum prominens et parum cohærentia labra nonnihil eam deturpabant." Sepulvedæ Opera, vol. II. p. 527.

[7] The speech is given, with sufficient conformity, by two of the persons who heard it;--a Flemish writer, whose MS., preserved in the Archives du Royaume, has lately been published by Gachard, in the Analectes Belgiques (p. 87); and Sir John Mason, the British minister at the court of Charles, who describes the whole ceremony in a communication to his government, (The Order of the Cession of the Low Countries to the King's Majesty, MS.) The historian Sandoval also gives a full report of the speech, on the authority of one who heard it. Historia de la Vida y Hechos del Emperador Carlos V., (Amberes, 1681,) tom. II. p. 599.

[8] Sandoval, Hist. de Carlos V., tom. II. pp. 597-599.--Leti, Vita del Catolico Rè Filippo II., (Coligni, 1679,) tom. I. pp. 240-242.--Vera y Figueroa, Epitome de la Vida y Hechos del invicto Emperador Carlos Quinto, (Madrid, 1649,) pp. 119, 120.

Sir John Mason thus describes the affecting scene:--"And here he broke into a weeping, whereunto, besides the dolefulness of the matter, I think he was much provoked by seeing the whole company to do the like before, being, in mine opinion, not one man in the whole assembly, stranger or other, that during the time of a good piece of his oration poured not out abundantly tears, some more, some less. And yet he prayed them to bear with his imperfection, proceeding of sickly age, and of the mentioning of so tender a matter as the departing from such a sort of dear and most loving subjects."--The Order of the Cession of the Low Countries to the King's Majesty, MS.

[9] The date of this renunciation is also a subject of disagreement among contemporary historians, although it would seem to be settled by the date of the instrument itself, which is published by Sandoval, in his Hist. de Carlos V., tom. II. pp. 603-606.

[10] Lanz, Correspondenz des Kaisers Karl V., B. III. s. 708.

Five years before this period Charles had endeavored to persuade Ferdinand to relinquish to Philip the pretensions which, as king of the Romans, he had to the empire. This negotiation failed, as might have been expected. Ferdinand was not weary of the world; and Charles could offer no bribe large enough to buy off an empire. See the account given by Marillac, ap. Raumer, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, (London, 1835, Eng. trans.,) vol. I. p. 28 et seq.

[11] "Favor sin duda del Cielo," says Sandoval, who gives quite a miraculous air to the event, by adding that the emperor's vessel encountered the brunt of the storm, and foundered in port. (Hist. de Carlos V., tom. II. p. 607.) But this and some other particulars told by the historian of Charles's landing, unconfirmed as they are by a single eye-witness, may be reckoned among the myths of the voyage.

[12] The last of Philip's letters, dated September 8, is given entire in the MS. of Don Tomas Gonzales, (Retiro, Estancia, y Muerte del Emperador Carlos Quinto en el Monasterio de Yuste,) which forms the basis of Mignet's interesting account of Charles the Fifth.

[13] Among other disappointments was that of not receiving four thousand ducats which Joanna had ordered to be placed at the emperor's disposition on his landing. This appears from a letter of the emperor's secretary, Gaztelu, to Vazquez de Molina, October 6, 1556. "El emperador tovo por cierto que llegado aqui, hallaria los cuatro mil ducados que el rey le dijo habia mandado proveer, y visto que no se ha hecho, me ha mandado lo escribiese luego à Vuestra Merced, para que se haya, porque son mucho menester." MS.

[14] Sandoval makes no allusion to the affair, which rests on the report of Strada, (De Bello Belgico (Antverpiæ, 1640,) tom. I. p. 12,) and of Cabrera,--the latter, as one of the royal household and the historiographer of Castile, by far the best authority. In the narration he does not spare his master. "En Jarendilla ameno lugar del Conde de Oropesa, espero treinta dias treinta mil escudos con que pagar y dispedir sus criados que llegaron con tarda provision y mano; terrible tentacion para no dar todo su aver antes de la muerte." Filipe Segundo Rey de España, (Madrid, 1619,) lib. II. cap. 11.

The letters from Jarandilla at this time show the embarrassments under which the emperor labored from want of funds. His exchequer was so low, indeed, that on one occasion he was obliged to borrow a hundred reals for his ordinary expenses from his major-domo. "Los ultimos dos mil ducados que trujo el criado de Hernando Ochoa se han acabo, porque cuando llegáron, se debian ya la mitad, de manera que no tenemos un real para el gasto ordinario, que para socorrer hoy he dado yo cien reales, ni se sabe de donde haberlo." Carta de Luis Quixada à Juan Vazquez, ap. Gachard, Retraite et Mort de Charles-Quint, (Bruxelles, 1554,) tom. I. p. 76.

[15] Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. I. cap. 1.--Vanderhammen, Don Felipe el Prudente, (Madrid, 1625,) p. 1.--Breve Compendio de la Vida Privada del Rey D. Felipe Segundo atribuido à Pedro Mateo Coronista mayor del Reyno de Francia, MS.--Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 69 et seq.

"Andauano sussurando per le strade, cauando da questa proibitione di solennità pronostici di cattivi augurii; gli vni diceuano, che questo Prencipe doueua esser causa di grandi afflittione alla Chiesa; gli altri; Che cominciando a nascere colle tenebre, non poteua portar che ombra alla Spagna." Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 73.

[16] Ibid., tom. I. p. 74.--Noticia de los Ayos y Maestros de Felipe Segundo y Carlos su Hijo, MS.

"Et passò i primi anni et la maggior parte dell'eta sua in quel regno, onde per usanza del paese, et per la volantà della madre che era di Portogallo fu allevato con quella riputatione et con quel rispetto che parea convenirsi ad un figliuolo del maggior Imperatore che fosse mai fra Christiani." Relatione di Spagna del Cavaliere Michele Soriano, Ambasciatore al Re Filipo, MS.

[17] Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. I. cap 1.--Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 97--Noticia de los Ayos, MS.--Relatione di Michele Soriano, MS.--Relatione di Federico Badoaro, MS.

Charles's letter, of which I have a manuscript copy, has been published in the Seminario Erudito, (Madrid, 1778,) tom. XIV. p. 156 et seq.

[18] Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. I. cap 1.

[19] Florez, Memorias de las Reynas Catholicas, (Madrid, 1770,) tom. II. p. 869.

[20] Ibid., tom. II. p. 877.

[21] "Tomo la posta vestido en luto come viudo," says Sandoval, Hist. de Carlos Quinto, tom. II. p. 285.

[22] The letter is given by Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. I. cap. 2.

[23] Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. I. cap. 2.--Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 132.--Sandoval, Hist. de Carlos Quinto, tom. II. p. 299 et seq.--Breve Compendio, MS.--Charles's letter, in the Seminario Erudito, tom. XIV. p. 156.

[24] Florez, Reynas Catolicas, tom. II. pp. 883-889.--Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. I. cap. 2.--Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 142.--Breve Compendio, MS.--Relazione Anonimo, MS.

For the particulars relating to the wedding, I am chiefly indebted to Florez, who was as minute in his account of court pageants as any master of ceremonies.

[25] Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. I. cap. 2.--Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. L pp. 166, 185 et seq.--Sepulvedæ Opera, vol. II. p. 346.

[26] "Non rispose che in sensi ambigui circa al punto essenziale, ma molto ampi ne'complimenti." Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I, p. 189.

[27] Estrella, El Felicissimo Viaje del Principe Don Phelipe desde España à sus Tierras de la Baxa Alemania, (Anveres, 1552,) pp. 1-21, 32.--Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 190.--Breve Compendio. MS.

[28] "Sua altezza si trova hora in XXIII. anni, di complessione delicatissima e di statura minore che mediocre, nella faccia simiglia assai al Padre e nel mento." Relatione del Clarissimo Monsig. Marino Cavallo tornato Ambasciatore del Imperatore Carlo Quinto l'anno 1551, MS.

"Et benche sia picciola di persona, e però cosi ben fatto et con ogni parte del corpo cosi ben proportionato et corrispondente al tutti, et veste con tanta politezza et con tanto giudicio che non si può vedere cosa piu perfetta." Relatione di Michele Soriano, MS.

[29] Marino Cavallo, the ambassador at the imperial court, who states the facts mentioned in the text, expresses a reasonable doubt whether Philip, with all his training, would ever equal his father: "Nelle cose d'importanza, facendolo andare l'imperatore ogni giornio per due o tre hore nella sua camera, parte in Consiglio et parte per ammaestrarlo da solo a solo, dicesi che fin hora a fatto profitto assai, et da speranza di proceder piu oltre, ma la grandezza di suo padre et l'esser nato grande et non haver fin qui provato travaglio alcuno, non lo farà mai comparirse à gran giunta eguale all'Imperatore." Relatione di Marino Cavallo, MS.

[30] This is the work by Estrella already quoted, (El Felicissimo Viage del Principe Don Phelipe,)--the best authority for this royal progress. The work, which was never reprinted, has now become extremely rare.

[31] Take the following samples, the former being one of the inscriptions at Arras, the latter, one over the gate of Dordrecht:--

"Clementia firmabitur thronus ejus." "Te duce libertas tranquilla pace beabit."

[32] "Assi fueron a palacio siendo ya casi la media noche, quando se vuieron apeado muy contentos de la fiesta y Vanquete que la villa les hiziera." Estrella, Viage del Principe Phelipe, p. 73.

[33] "Ictum accepit in capite galeaque tam vehementem, ut vecors ac dormienti similis parumper invectus ephippio delaberetur, et in caput armis superiorem corporis partem gravius deprimentibus caderet. Itaque semianimis pulvere spiritum intercludente jacuit, donec a suis sublevatus est." Sepulvedæ Opera, vol. II. p. 381.

[34] Raumer, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. I. p. 24.

Von Raumer's abstract of the MSS. in the Royal Library at Paris contains some very curious particulars of the illustration of the reigns both of Charles the Fifth and of Philip.

[35] "E S.M. di complessione molto delicata, et per questo vive sempre con regola, usando per l'ordinario cibi di gran nodrimento, lasciando i pesci, frutti et simili cose che generano cattivi humori; dorme molto, fa però essercitio, et i suoi trattenimenti domestici sono tutti quieti; et benche nell'essercitio habbi mostrato un poco di prontezza et di vivacità, pero si vede che ha sforzato la natura, la quale inclina piu alla quiete che all'essercitio, piu al reposo che al travaglio." Relatione di Michele Soriano, MS.

[36] "Rarissime volte va fuora in Campagna, ha piacere di starsi in Camera, co suoi favoriti, a ragionare di cose private; et se tall'hora l'Imperatore lo manda in visita, si scusa per godere la solità quiete." Relatione di Marino Cavallo, MS.

[37] "Pare che la natura l'habbia fatto atto con la familiarità e domestichezza a gratificare a Flammenghi et Borgognoni, con l'ingegno et prudentia a gl'Italiani, con la riputatione et severità alli Spagnuoli; vedendo hora in suo figliulo altrimente sentono non picciolo dispiacere di questo cambio." Ibid. MS.

[38] "Philippus ipse Hispaniæ desiderio magnopere æstuabat, nec aliud quam Hispaniam loquebatur." Sepulvedæ Opera, vol. II. p. 401.

[39] "Si fa giudicio, che quando egli succederà al governo delli stati suoi debba servirsi in tutto et per delli ministri Spagnuoli, alla qual natione è inclinato più di quello, che si convenga a prencipe, che voglia dominare a diverse." Relatione di Marino Cavallo, MS.

[40] Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. I. cap. 3.--Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. pp. 195-198.--Sepulvedæ Opera, vol. II. pp. 399-401.--Marillac, ap. Raumer, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. I. p. 28 et seq.

[41] Marillac, ap. Raumer, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. I. p. 30.

[42] Ranke, Ottoman and Spanish Empires in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, (Eng. trans., London, 1843,) p. 31.

[43] "Da cosi fatta educatione ne segui quando S. M. usci la prima volta da Spagna, et passò per Italia et per Germania in Fiandra, lasciò impressione da per tutto che fosse d'animo severo et intrattabile; et però fu poco grato a Italiani, ingratissimo a Fiamenghi et a Tedeschi odioso." Relatione di Michele Soriano, MS.

[44] Marillac, ap. Raumer, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. I. p. 32.

See also the characteristic letter of Charles to his sister, the regent of the Netherlands, (December 16, 1550,) full of angry expressions against Ferdinand for his ingratitude and treachery. The scheme, according to Charles's view of it, was calculated for the benefit of both parties,--"_ce que convenoit pour establir noz maisons_." Lanz, Correspondenz des Kaisers Karl V., (Leipzig, 1846,) B. III. p. 18.

[45] A copy of the instrument containing this agreement, dated March 9, 1551, is preserved in the archives of Belgium. See Mignet, Charles-Quint, p. 42, note.

[46] Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 199.--Mémorial et Recueil des Voyages du Roi des Espagnes, escript par le Controleur de Sa Majesté, MS.

[47] The letter, of which I have a manuscript copy, taken from one in the rich collection of Sir Thomas Phillips, is published at length by Sandoval, in his Hist. de Carlos V., where it occupies twelve pages folio. Tom. II. p. 475 et seq.

[48] "Quanto alla religione, sia certa V'ra Senta che ogni cosa può in loro l'essempio et l'autorita del Principe, che in tanto gl'Inglesi stimano la religione, et si muovono per essa, in quanto sodisfanno all'obligo de'sudditi verso il Principe, vivendo com'ci vive, credendo cioche ei crede, et finalmente facendo tutto quel che comanda conservirsene, più per mostra esteriore, per non incorrere in sua disgratia, che per zelo interiore; perche il medesimo faciano della Maumettana o della Giudea, pur che 'l Re mostrasse di credere, et volesse così; et s'accommodariano a tutte, ma a quella piu facilmente dalla quale sperassero o ver'maggior licentia et libertà, di vivere, o vero qualche utile." Relatione del Clarissimo M. Giovanni Micheli, ritornato Ambasciatore alla Regina d'Inghilterra l'anno 1557, MS.

[49] Soriano notices the courteous bearing and address of his countryman Micheli as rendering him universally popular at the courts where he resided. "Il Michiel e gratissimo a tutti fino al minore, per la dimestichezza che havea con grandi, et per la dolcezza et cortesia che usava con gl'altri, et per il guidicio che mostrava con tutti." Relatione di Michele Soriano, MS. Copies of Micheli's interesting Relation are to be found in different public libraries of Europe; among others, in the collection of the Cottonian MSS., and of the Lansdowne MSS., in the British Museum; and in the Barberini Library, at Rome. The copy in my possession is from the ducal library at Gotha. Sir Henry Ellis, in the Second Series of his "Original Letters," has given an abstract of the Cottonian MS.

[50] This agrees with the Lansdowne MS. The Cottonian, as given by Sir Henry Ellis, puts the population at 150,000.

[51] "Essendo cavalli deboli, et di poca lena, nutriti solo d'erba, vivendo como la pecore, et tutti gli altri animali, per la temperie dell'aere da tutti i tempi ne i pascoli a la campagna, non possono far'gran'pruove, ne sono tenuti in stima." Relatione di Gio. Micheli, MS.

[52] "Non solo non sono in essere, ma non pur si considerano gravezze di sorte alcuna, non di sale, non di vino o de bira, non di macina, non di carne, non di far pane, et cose simili necessarie al vivere, che in tutti gli altri luoghi d'Italia specialmente, et in Fiandra, sono di tanto maggior utile, quanto è più grande il numero dei sudditi che le consumano." Ibid. MS.

[53] "Sì come servi et sudditi son quelli che v'intervengono, così servi et sudditi son l'attione che si trattano in essi." Ibid. MS.

[54] "E donna di statura piccola, più presta che mediocre; è di persona magra et delicata, dissimile in tutto al padre, che fù grande et grosso; et alla madre, che se non era grande era peró massiccia; et ben formata di faccia, per quel che mostrano le fattezze et li lineamenti che si veggono da i ritratti, quando era più giovane, non pur'tenuta honesta, ma più che mediocremente bella; al presente se li scoprono qualche crespe, causate piu da gli affanni che dall'etá, che la mostrano attempata di qualche anni di piu." Ibid. MS.

[55] "Quanto se li potesse levare delle bellezze del corpo, tanto con verita, et senza adulatione, se li puó aggiunger'di quelle del animo, perche oltra la felicita et accortezza del ingegno, atto in capir tutto quel che possa ciascun altro, dico fuor del sesso suo, quel che in una donna parera maraviglioso, é instrutta di cinque lingue, le quali non solo intende, ma quattro ne parla speditamente; questi sono altre la sua materna et naturale inglese, la franzese, la spagnola, et l'italiana." Ibid. MS.

[56] "E in tutto coragiosa, et cosi resoluta, che per nessuna adversità, ne per nessun pericolo nel qual si sia ritrovata, non ha mai pur mostrato, non che commesso atto alcuno di viltà ne di pusillanimità; ha sempre tenuta una grandezza et dignità mirabile, cosi ben conoscendo quel che si convenga al decoro del Re, come il più consummato consigliero che ella habbia; in tanto che dal procedere, et dalle maniere che da tenuto, et tiene tuttavia, non si può negare, che non mostri d'esser nata di sangue veramente real." Ibid. MS.

[57] "Della qual humilità, pieta, et religion sua, non occorre ragionare, ne renderne testimonio, perche son da tutti non solo conosciute, ma sommamente predicate con le prove.... Fosse come un debol lume combattuto da gran venti per estinguerlo del tutto, ma sempre tenuto vivo, et difeso della sua innocentia et viva fede, accioche havesse a risplender nel modo che hora fa." Ibid. MS.

[58] Burnet, History of the Reformation, (Oxford, 1816,) vol. II. part ii. p. 557.

[59] Strype, Memorials, (London, 1721,) vol. III. p. 93.

[60] "Non si scopri mai congiura alcuna, nella quale, o giusta o ingiustamente, ella non sia nominata.... Ma la Regina sforza quando seno insieme di riceverla in publico con ogni sorte d'humanitá et d'honore, ne mai gli parla, se non di cosa piacevole." Relatione di Gio. Micheli. MS.

[61] Hall, Chronicle, (London, 1809,) pp. 692, 711.--Sepulvedæ Opera, vol. II. pp. 46-48.

Sepulveda's account of the reign of Mary becomes of the more authority from the fact that he submitted this portion of his history to the revision of Cardinal Pole, as we learn from one of his epistles to that prelate. Opera, tom. III. p. 309.

[62] Yet the emperor seems to have written in a somewhat different style to his ambassador at the English court. "Desfaillant la force pour donner assistance à nostre-dicte cousine comme aussy vous sçavez qu'elle deffault pour l'empeschement que l'on nous donne du coustel de France, nous ne véons aulcun apparent moyen pour assheurer la personne de nostre-dicte cousine." L'Empereur à ses Ambassadeurs en Angleterre, 11 juillet, 1553, Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. IV, p. 25.

[63] Charles, in a letter to his ambassador in London, dated July 22, 1553, after much good counsel which he was to give Queen Mary, in the emperor's name, respecting the government of her kingdom, directs him to hint to her that the time had come when it would be well for the queen to provide herself with a husband, and if his advice could be of any use in the affair, she was entirely welcome to it. "Et aussy lui direz-vous qu'il sera besoin que pour etre seustenue audit royaulme, emparée et deffendue, mesmes en choses que ne sont de la profession de dames, il sera très-requis que tost elle prenne party de mariaige avec qui il luy semblera estre plus convenable, tenant regard à ce que dessus; et que s'il lui plaît nous faire part avant que s'y déterminer, nous ne fauldrons de, avec la sincérité de l'affection que lui portons, luy faire entendre libéralement, sur ce qu'elle voudra mettre en avant, nostre advis, et de l'ayder et favoriser en ce qu'elle se déterminera." L'Empereur à ses Ambassadeurs en Angleterre, 22 juillet, 1553, Ibid., p. 56.

[64] Granvelle, who owed no good-will to the minister for the part which he afterwards took in the troubles of Flanders, frequently puns on Kenard's name, which he seems to have thought altogether significant of his character.

[65] "Quant à Cortenay, vous pourriez bien dire, pour éviter au propoz mencionné en voz lettres, que l'on en parle, pour veoir ce qu'elle dira; mais gardez-vous de luy tout desfaire et mesmes qu'elle n'aye descouvert plus avant son intention; car si elle y avoit fantasie, elle ne layroit (si elle est du naturel des aultres femmes) de passer oultre, et si se ressentiroit à jamais de ce que vous luy en pourriés avoir dit. Bien luy pourriés-vous toucher des commoditez plus grandes que pourroit recepvoir de mariaige estrangier, sans trop toucher à la personne où elle pourroit avoir affection." L'Evêque d'Arras à Renard. 14 août, 1553, Ibid., p. 77.

[66] "Quant je luy fiz l'ouverture de mariaige, elle se print à rire, non une foys ains plusieurs foys, me regardant d'un oeil signifiant l'ouverture luy estre fort aggréable, me donnant assez à cognoistre qu'elle ne taichoit ou désiroit mariaige d'Angleterre." Renard à l'Evêque d'Arras, 15 août, 1558, Ibid., p. 78.

[67] "Et, sans attendre la fin de ces propoz, elle jura que jamais elle n'avoit senti esguillon de ce que l'on appelle amor, ny entré en pensement de volupté, et qu'elle n'avoit jamais pensé à mariaige sinon depuys que a pieu à Dieu la promovoir à la couronne, et que celluy qu'elle fera sera contre sa propre affection, pour le respect de la chose publicque; qu'elle se tient toute assurée sa majesté aura considération à ce qu'elle m'a dict et qu'elle désire l'obéir et complaire en tout et par tout comme son propre père; qu'elle n'oseroit entrer en propoz de mariaige avec ceulx de son conseil, que fault, le cas advenant, que vienne de la meute de sa majesté." Renard à l'Evêque d'Arras, 8 septembre, 1553, Ibid., p. 98.

[68] "Vous la pourrez asseurer que, si nous estions en caige et disposition telle qu'il conviendroit, et que jugissions que de ce peut redonder le bien de ses affaires, nous ne vouldrions choysir aultre party en ce monde plus tost que de nous alier nous-mesmes avec elle, et seroit bien celle que nous pourrait donner austant de satisfaction." L'Empereur à Renard, 20 septembre, 1553, Ibid., p. 112.

[69] Ibid., pp. 108-116.

Simon Renard, the imperial ambassador at this time at the English court, was a native of Franche Comté, and held the office of _maître aux requêtes_ in the household of the emperor. Renard, though a man of a factious turn, was what Granvelle's correspondent, Morillon, calls "_un bon politique_," and in many respects well suited to the mission on which he was employed. His correspondence is of infinite value, as showing the Spanish moves in this complicated game, which ended in the marriage of Mary with the heir of the Castilian monarchy. It is preserved in the archives of Brussels. Copies of these MSS., amounting to five volumes folio, were to be found in the collection of Cardinal Granvelle at Besançon. A part of them was lent to Griffet for the compilation of his "Nouveaux Eclaircissemens sur l'Histoire de Marie Reine d'Angleterre." Unfortunately, Griffet omitted to restore the MSS.; and an hiatus is thus occasioned in the series of the Renard correspondence embraced in the Granvelle Papers now in process of publication by the French Government. It were to be wished that this hiatus had been supplied from the originals, in the archives of Brussels. Mr. Tytler has done good service by giving to the world a selection from the latter part of Renard's correspondence, which had been transcribed by order of the Record Commission from the MSS. in Brussels.