Chapter VIII: Death of Isabella (4)

[431] One might wish the authority for this anecdote better than it is, considering that it is contradicted by the whole tenor of Philip's life, in which self-command was a predominant trait. The story was originally derived from Aubéri (loc. cit.). The chronicler had it, as he tells us, from his father, to whom it was told by an intimate friend of the prince of Orange, who was present at the scene. Aubéri, though a dull writer, was, according to Voltaire's admission, well informed,--"écrivain médiocre, mais fort instruit."

[432] "Carlo V. haueua saccheggiato la Terra, per arrichirne il Mare." Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 335.

[433] Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. V. cap. 3.--Sepulveda, De Rebus Gestis Philippi II., Opera, tom. III. p. 53.--Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 335.

[434] The editors of the "Documentos Inéditos para la Historia de España," in a very elaborate notice of the prosecution of Archbishop Carranza, represent the literary intercourse between the German and Spanish Protestants as even more extensive than it is stated to be in the text. According to them, a regular _dépôt_ was established at Medina del Campo and Seville, for the sale of the forbidden books at very low rates. "De las imprentas de Alemania se despachaban á Flandes, y desde alli á España, al principio por los puertos de mar, y después cuando ya hubo mas vigilancia de parte del gobierno, los enviaban á Leon de Francia desde donde se introducían en la península por Navarra y Aragon. Un tal Vilman librero de Amberes tenia tienda en Medina del Campo y en Sevilla donde vendia las obras de los protestantes en español y latin. Estos libros de Francfort se daban á buen mercado para que circulasen con mayor facilidad." Documentos Inéditos, tom. V. p. 399.

[435] For the preceding pages see Llorente, Histoire de l'Inquisition d'Espagne, tom. II p. 282; tom. III. pp. 191, 258.--Montanus, Discovery and playne Declaration of sundry subtill Practises of the Holy Inquisition of Spayne, (London, 1569,) p. 73.--Sepulveda, Opera, tom. III. p. 54.

[436] Llorente, Hist, de l'Inquisition d'Espagne, tom. I. pp. 470, 471; tom. II. pp. 183, 184, 215-217.

[437] McCrie, History of the Reformation in Spain, (Edinburgh, 1829,) p. 243.--Relacion del Auto que se hiço en Valladolid el dia de la Sanctissima Trinidad, Año de 1559, MS.

[438] The reader curious in the matter will find a more particular account of the origin and organization of the modern Inquisition in the "History of Ferdinand and Isabella," part I. cap. 9.

[439] See the Register of such as were burned at Seville and Valladolid, in 1559, ap. Montanus, Discovery of sundry subtill Practises of the Inquisition.--Relacion del Auto que se hiço en Valladolid el dia de la Sanctissima Trinidad, 1559, MS.--Sepulveda, Opera, tom. III. p. 58.

[440] McCrie, Reformation in Spain, p. 274.

[441] De Castro, Historia de los Protestantes Españoles, (Cadiz, 1851,) p. 177.

[442] "Nous recommandons de le traiter avec bonté et miséricorde." Llorente, Inquisition d'Espagne, tom. II. p. 253.

[443] Colmenares, Historia de Segovia, cap. XLII. sec. 3.--Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. V. cap 3.

[444] Llorente, Inquisition d'Espagne, tom. II. p. 236.

[445] The anecdote is well attested. (Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. V. cap. 3.) Father Agustin Davila notices what he styles this _sentencia famosa_ in his funeral discourse on Philip, delivered at Valladolid soon after that monarch's death. (Sermones Funerales, en las Honras del Rey Don Felipe II., fol. 77.) Colmenares still more emphatically eulogizes the words thus uttered in the cause of the true faith, as worthy of such a prince. "El primer sentenciado al fuego en este Auto fué Don Carlos de Seso de sangre noble, que osó dezir al Rey, como consentia que le quemasen, y severo respondio, Yo trahere la leña para quemar á mi hijo, si fuere tan malo como vos. Accion y palabras dignas de tal Rey en causa de la suprema religion." Historia de Segovia, cap. XLII. sec. 3.

[446] Llorente, Inquisition d'Espagne, tom. II. p. 237.

[447] Montanus, Discovery of sundry subtill Practises of the Inquisition, p. 52.--Llorente, Inquisition d'Espagne, tom. II. p. 239.--Sepulveda, Opera, tom. III. p. 58.

[448] Puigblanch, The Inquisition Unmasked, (London, 1816,) vol. I. p. 336.

[449] "Hallóse por esto presente a ver llevar i entregar al fuego muchos delinquentes aconpañados de sus guardas de a pie i de a cavallo, que ayudaron a la execucion." Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. V. cap. 3.

It may be doubted whether the historian means anything more than that Philip saw the unfortunate man led to execution, at which his own guards assisted. Dávila, the friar who, as I have noticed, pronounced a funeral oration on the king, speaks of him simply as having assisted at this act of faith,--"Assistir a los actos de Fe, como se vio en esta Ciudad." (Sermones Funerales, fol. 77.) Could the worthy father have ventured to give Philip credit for being present at the death, he would not have failed to do so. Leti, less scrupulous, tells us that Philip saw the execution from the windows of his palace, heard the cries of the dying martyrs, and enjoyed the spectacle! The picture he gives of the scene loses nothing for want of coloring. Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 342.

[450] How little sympathy, may be inferred from the savage satisfaction with which a wise and temperate historian at the time dismisses to everlasting punishment one of the martyrs at the first _auto_ at Valladolid. "Jureque vivus flammis corpore cruciatus miserrimam animam efflavit ad supplicia sempiterna." Sepulveda, Opera, tom. III. p. 58.

[451] Balmes, one of the most successful champions of the Romish faith in our time, finds in the terrible apathy thus shown to the sufferings of the martyrs a proof of a more vital religious sentiment than exists at the present day! "We feel our hair grow stiff on our heads at the mere idea of burning a man alive. Placed in society where the religious sentiment is considerably diminished; accustomed to live among men who have a different religion, and sometimes none at all; we cannot bring ourselves to believe that it could be, at that time, quite an ordinary thing to see heretics or the impious led to punishment." Protestantism and Catholicity compared in their Effects on the Civilization of Europe, Eng. trans., (Baltimore, 1851,) p. 217.

According to this view of the matter, the more religion there is among men, the harder will be their hearts.

[452] The zeal of the king and the Inquisition together in the work of persecution had wellnigh got the nation into more than one difficulty with foreign countries. Mann, the English minister, was obliged to remonstrate against the manner in which the independence of his own household was violated by the agents of the Holy Office. The complaints of St. Sulpice, the French ambassador, notwithstanding the gravity of the subject, are told in a vein of caustic humor that may provoke a smile in the reader: "I have complained to the king of the manner in which the Marseillese, and other Frenchmen, are maltreated by the Inquisition. He excused himself by saying that he had little power or authority in matters which depended on that body; he could do nothing further than recommend the grand-inquisitor to cause good and speedy justice to be done to the parties. The grand-inquisitor promised that they should be treated no worse than born Castilians, and the 'good and speedy justice'came to this, that they were burnt alive in the king's presence." Raumer, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. I. p. 111.

[453] The archbishop of Toledo, according to Lucio Marineo Siculo, who wrote a few years before this period, had jurisdiction over more than fifteen large towns, besides smaller places, which of course made the number of his vassals enormous. His revenues also, amounting to eighty thousand ducats, exceeded those of any grandee in the kingdom. The yearly revenues of the subordinate beneficiaries of his church were together not less than a hundred and eighty thousand ducats. Cosas Memorables de España, (Alcalá de Henares, 1539,) fol. 13.

[454] Salazar, Vida de Carranza, (Madrid, 1788,) cap. 1-11.--Documentos Inéditos, tom. V. p. 389 et seq.--Llorente, Inquisition d'Espagne, tom. II. p. 163; tom. III. p. 183 et seq.

[455] "En que se quemaron mas de 400 casas principales, y ricas, y algunas en aquel barrio donde él estaba; no solo no lo entendió el Arzobispo, pero ni lo supo hasta muchos años despues de estár en Roma." Salazar, Vida de Carranza cap. 15.

[456] Salazar, Vida de Carranza, cap. 12-35.--Documentos Inéditos, tom. V. pp. 453-463.--Llorente, Inquisition d'Espagne, tom. III. p. 218 et seq.

[457] The persecution of Carranza has occupied the pens of several Castilian writers. The most ample biographical notice of him is by the Doctor Salazar de Miranda, who derived his careful and trustworthy narrative from the best original sources. Llorente had the advantage of access to the voluminous records of the Holy Office, of which he was the secretary; and in his third volume he has devoted a large space to the process of Carranza which, with the whole mass of legal documents growing out of the protracted prosecution, amounted, as he assures us, to no less than twenty-six thousand leaves of manuscript. This enormous mass of testimony leads one to suspect that the object of the Inquisition was not so much to detect the truth as to cover it up. The learned editors of the "Documentos Inéditos" have profited by both these works, as well as by some unpublished manuscripts of that day, relating to the affair, to exhibit it fully and fairly to the Castilian reader, who in this brief history may learn the value of the institutions under which his fathers lived.

[458] So says McCrie, whose volume on the Reformation in Spain presents in a reasonable compass a very accurate view of that interesting movement. The historian does not appear to have had access to any rare or recondite materials; but he has profited well by those at his command, comprehending the best published works, and has digested them into a narrative distinguished for its temperance and truth.

[459] A full account of this duke of Infantado is to be found in the extremely rare work of Nuñez de Castro, Historia Ecclesiastica y Seglar de Guadalajara, (Madrid, 1653,) p. 180 et seq. Oviedo, in his curious volumes on the Castilian aristocracy, which he brings down to 1556, speaks of the dukes of Infantado as having a body-guard of two hundred men, and of being able to muster a force of thirty thousand! Quincuagenas, MS.

[460] "Avia gualdrapas de dos mil ducados de costa sin conputar valor de piedras." Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. V. cap. 7.

[461] "Elle répondit d'un air riant, et avec des termes pleins tout ensemble de douceur et de majesté." De Thou, tom. III. p. 426.

[462] We have a minute account of this interview from the pens of two of Isabella's train, who accompanied her to Castile, and whose letters to the cardinal of Lorraine are to be found in the valuable collection of historical documents, the publication of which was begun under the auspices of Louis Philippe. Documents Inédits sur l'Histoire de France, Négociations etc. relatives au Règne de François II., p. 171 et seq.

[463] Lucio Marineo, in his curious farrago of notable matters, speaks of the sumptuous residence of the dukes of Infantado in Guadalajara. "Los muy magníficos y sumpticosos palacios que alli estan de los muy illustres duques de la casa muy antigua de los Mendoças." Cosas Memorables, fol. 13.

[464] "J'ay ouy conter à une de ses dames que la premiere fois qu'elle vist son mary, elle se mit à le contempler si fixement, que le Roy, ne le trouvant pas bon, luy demanda: _Que mirais, si tengo canas?_ c'est-à-dire, 'Que regardez-vous, si j'ai les cheveux blancs?'Ces mots luy toucherent si fort au coeur que depuis on augura mal pour elle." Brantôme, OEuvres, tom. V. p. 131.

[465] In this statement I conform to Sismondi's account. In the present instance, however, there is even more uncertainty than is usual in regard to a lady's age. According to Cabrera, Isabella was eighteen at the time of her marriage; while De Thou makes her only eleven when the terms of the alliance were arranged by the commissioners at Cateau-Cambresis. These are the extremes, but within them there is no agreement amongst the authorities I have consulted.

[466] "Elizabeth de France, et vraye fille de France, en tout belle, sage, vertueuse, spirituelle et bonne, s'il en fust oncques." Brantôme, OEuvres, tom. V. p. 126.

[467] "Son visage estoit beau, et ses cheveux et yeux noirs, qui adombroient son teint...... Sa taille estoit tres belle, et plus grande que toutes ses soeurs, qui la rendoit fort admirable en Espagne, d'autant que les tailles hautes y sont rares, et pour ce fort estimables." Ibid., p. 128.

[468] "Les seigneurs ne l'osoient regarder de peur d'en estre espris, et en causer jalousie au roy son mary, et par consequent eux courir fortune de la vie." Ibid., p. 128.

[469] "La regina istessa parue non so come sorpressa da vn sentimento di malinconica passione, nel vedersi abbracciare da vn rè di 33 anni, di garbo ordinario alla presenza d'vn giouine prencipe molto ben fatto, e che prima dell'altro l'era stato promesso in sposo." Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 345.

[470] Brantôme, who was certainly one of those who believed in the jealousy of Philip, if not in the passion of Isabella, states the circumstance of the king's supplanting his son in a manner sufficiently _naïve_. "Mais le roy d'Espagne son pere, venant à estre veuf par le trespas de la reyne d'Angleterre sa femme et sa cousine germaine, ayant veu le pourtraict de madame Elizabeth, et la trouvant fort belle et fort à son gré, en coupa l'herbe soubs le pied à son fils, et la prit pour luy, commençant cette charité à soy mesme." OEuvres, tom. V. p. 127.

[471] Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. V. cap. 6.--Florez, Reynas Catolicas, p. 897.

"A la despedida presentó el Duque del Ynfantado al Rey, Reyna, Damas, Dueñas de honor, y á las de la Cámara ricas joyas de oro y plata, telas, guantes, y otras preseas tan ricas, por la prolixidad del arte, como por lo precioso de la materia." De Castro, Hist. de Guadalajara, p. 116.

[472] "Danças de hermosisimas donzellas de la Sagra, i las de espadas antigua invencion de Españoles." Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. V. cap. 6.

[473] "Por la mucha hermosura que avia en las damas de la ciudad i Corte, el adorno de los miradores i calles, las libreas costosas i varias i muchas, que todo hazia un florido campo o lienço de Flandres." Ibid., ubi supra.

[474] The royal nuptials were commemorated in a Latin poem, in two books, "De Pace et Nuptiis Philippi et Isabellæ." It was the work of Fernando Ruiz de Villegas, an eminent scholar of that day, whose writings did not make their appearance in print till nearly two centuries later,--and then not in his own land, but in Italy. In this _epithalamium_, if it may be so called, the poet represents Juno as invoking Jupiter to interfere in behalf of the French monarchy, that it may not be crushed by the arms of Spain. Venus, under the form of the duke of Alva,--as effectual a disguise as could be imagined,--takes her seat in the royal council, and implores Philip to admit France to terms, and to accept the hand of Isabella as the pledge of peace between the nations. Philip graciously relents; peace is proclaimed; the marriage between the parties is solemnized, with the proper Christian rites; and Venus appears, in her own proper shape, to bless the nuptials! One might have feared that this jumble of Christian rites and heathen mythology would have scandalized the Holy Office, and exposed its ingenious author to the honors of a _san benito_. But the poet wore his laurels unscathed, and, for aught I know to the contrary, died quietly in his bed. See Opera Ferdinandi Ruizii Villegatis, (Venetiis, 1736,) pp. 30-70.

[475] The sovereign remedy, according to the curious Brantôme, was new-laid eggs. It is a pity the prescription should be lost. "On luy secourust son visage si bien par des sueurs d'oeufs frais, chose fort propre pour cela, qu'il n'y parut rien; dont j'en vis la Reyne sa mere fort curieuse à luy envoyer par force couriers beaucoup de remedes, mais celui de la sueur d'oeuf en estoit le souverain." OEuvres, tom. V. p. 129.

[476] "Aussi l'appelloit-on _la Reyna de la paz y de la bondad_, c'est-à-dire la Reyne de la paix et de la bonté; et nos François l'appelloient l'olive de paix." Ibid., ubi supra.

[477] "Et bien heureux et heureuse estoit celuy ou celle qui pouvoit le soir dire 'J'ay veu la Reyne.'" Ibid., ubi supra.

[478] The difficulty began so soon as Isabella had crossed the borders. The countess of Ureña, sister of the duke of Albuquerque, one of the train of the duke of Infantado, claimed precedence of the countess of Rieux and Mademoiselle de Montpensier, kinswomen of the queen. The latter would have averted the discussion by giving the Castilian dame a seat in her carriage; but the haughty countess chose to take the affair into her own hands; and her servants came into collision with those of the French ladies, as they endeavored to secure a place for their mistress's litter near the queen. Isabella, with all her desire to accommodate matters, had the spirit to decide in favor of her own followers, and the aspiring lady was compelled--with an ill grace--to give way to the blood royal of France. It was easier, as Isabella, or rather as her husband, afterwards found, to settle disputes between rival states than between the rival beauties of a court. The affair is told by Lansac, Négociations relatives au Règne de François II., p. 171.

[479] "Elle ne porta jamais une robe deux fois, et puis la donnoit à ses femmes et ses filles: et Dieu sçait quelles robbes, si riches et si superbes, que la moindre estoit de trois ou quatre cens escus; car le Roy son mary l'entretenoit fort superbement de ces choses là." Brantôme, OEuvres, tom. V. p. 140.

[480] The MS., which is in Italian, is in the Royal Library at Paris. See the extracts from it in Raumer's Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. I. p. 104 et seq.

[481] "Don Felipe Segundo nuestro señor, el cual con muy suntuosas, y exquisitas fábricas dignas de tan grande Principe, de nuevo le ilustra, de manera que es, consideradas todas sus calidades, la mas rara casa que ningun Principe tiene en el mundo, á dicho de los estrangeros." Juan Lopez, ap. Quintana, Antiguëdad, Nobleza y Grandeza de la Villa y Corte de Madrid, p. 331.

[482] Ibid., ubi supra.--Sylva, Poblacion de España, (Madrid, 1675,) cap. 4.--Estrada, Poblacion de España, (Madrid, 1748,) tom. I. p. 123.

[483] I quote the words of a work now become very scarce. "De dos mil y quinientas y veinte casas que tenia Madrid quando su Magestad traxo desde Toledo á ella la Corte, en las quales quando mucho avria de doce mil a catorce mil personas,.... avia el año de mil y quinientos y noventa y ocho, repartidas en trece Parroquias doce mil casas, y en ellas trescientas mil personas y mas." Quintana, Antiguëdad de Madrid, p. 331.

[484] "No hay sino un Madrid."

[485] "Donde Madrid está, calle el mundo."

[486] "No se conoce cielo mas benevolo, mas apacible clima, influso mas favorable, con que sobresalen hermosos rostros, disposiciones gallardas, lucidos ingenios, coraçones valientes, y generosos animos." Sylva, Poblacion de España, cap 4.

[487]

"El aire de Madrid es tan sotil Que mata a un hombre, y no apaga a un candil."

[488] Lucio Marineo gives a very different view of the environs of Madrid in Ferdinand and Isabella's time. The picture, by the hand of a contemporary, affords so striking a contrast to the present time that it is worth quoting. "Corren por ella los ayres muy delgados: por los quales si[=e]pre bive la g[=e]te muy sana. Tiene mas este lugar gr[=a]des términos y campos muy fertiles: los quales llam[=a] lomos de Madrid. Por que cojen en ellos mucho pan y vino, y otras cosas necessarias y m[=a]tenimientos muy sanos." Cosas Memorables de España, fol. 13.

[489] Such at least is Ford's opinion. (See the Handbook of Spain, p. 720 et seq.) His clever and caustic remarks on the climate of Madrid will disenchant the traveller whose notions of the capital have been derived only from the reports of the natives.

[490] "Solo Madrid es corte."

Ford, who has certainly not ministered to the vanity of the Madrileño, has strung together these various proverbs with good effect.

[491] Balmes, Protestantism and Catholicity compared, p. 215.

[492] "Il y avoit bien 30. ans que ceux de Brusselles avoyent commencé, et avoyent percé des collines, des champs et chemins, desquels ils avoient achapté les fonds des proprietaires, on y avoit faict 40. grandes escluses..... et cousta dix huits cent mille florins." Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, tom. I. fol. 26.

[493] "Je vois une grande jeunesse en ces pays, avec les moeurs desquelz ne me sçaurois ny ne voudrois accommoder; la fidélité du monde et respect envers Dieu et son prince si corrompuz,..... que ne désirerois pas seullement de les pas gouverner,.... mais aussy me fasche de le veoir, congnoistre et de vivre.... entre telles gens." Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. IV. p. 476.

[494] Gerlache, Histoire du Royaume des Pays-Bas, (Bruxelles, 1842,) tom. I. p. 71.

[495] "Es menester ver como la nobleza se ha desde mucho tiempo desmandada y empeñada por usura y gastos superfluos, gastando casi mas que doble de lo que tenían en edificios, muebles, festines, danzas, mascaradas, fuegos de dados, naipes, vestidos, libreas, seguimiento de criados y generalmente en todas suertes de deleytes, luxuria, y superfluidad, lo que se avia comenzado antes de la yda de su magestad á España. Y desde entonces uvo un descontento casi general en el país y esperanza de esta gente asi alborotada de veer en poco tiempo una mudanza." Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS.

[496] Apologie de Guillaume IX. Prince d'Orange contre la Proscription de Philippe II. Roi d'Espagne, presentée aux Etats Généraux des Pays-Bas, le 13 Decembre, 1580, ap. Dumont, Corps Diplomatique, tom. V. p. 384.

[497] M. Groen Van Prinsterer has taken some pains to explain the conduct of William's parents, on the ground, chiefly, that they had reason to think their son, after all, might he allowed to worship according to the way in which he had been educated (p. 195). But whatever concessions to the Protestants may have been wrung from Charles by considerations of public policy, we suspect few who have studied his character will believe that he would ever have consented to allow one of his own household, one to whom he stood in the relation of a guardian, to be nurtured in the faith of heretics.

[498] See particularly Margaret's letter to the king, of March 13, 1560, Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 260 et seq.

[499] M. Groen Van Prinsterer has industriously collated the correspondence of the several parties, which must be allowed to form an edifying chapter in the annals of matrimonial diplomacy. See Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 202.

[500] Mémoires de Granvelle, tom. I. p. 251.

[501] Raumer, Hist. Tasch., p. 109, ap. Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 115.

[502] Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 284.

[503] It may give some idea of the scale of William's domestic establishment to state, that, on reducing it to a more economical standard, twenty-eight head-cooks were dismissed. (Van der Haer, De Initiis Tumult., p. 182, ap. Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 200*.) The same contemporary tells us that there were few princes in Germany who had not one cook, at least, that had served an apprenticeship in William's kitchen,--the best school in that day for the noble science of gastronomy.

[504] "Audivi rem domesticam sic splendide habuisse ut ad ordinarium domus ministerium haberet 24 Nobiles, pueros vero Nobiles (Pagios nominamus) 18." Ibid., ubi supra.

[505] "Rei domesticæ splendor, famulorumque et asseclarum multitudo magnis Principibus par. Nec ulla toto Belgio sedes hospitalior, ad quam frequentiùs peregrini Proceres Legatique diverterent, exciperenturque magnificentiùs, quàm Orangii domus." Strada, De Bello Belgico, p. 99.

[506] "Le prince d'Orange, qui tient un grand état de maison, et mène à sa suite des comtes, des barons et beaucoup d'autres gentilshommes d'Allemagne, doit, pour le moins, 900,000 fl." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 239.

[507] In January, 1564, we find him writing to his brother, "Puis qu'il ne reste que à XV. cens florins par an, que serons bien tost délivré des debtes." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 196.

[508] "Il estoit d'une éloquence admirable, avec laquelle il mettoit en évidence les conceptions sublimes de son esprit, et faisoit plier les aultres seigneurs de la court, ainsy que bon luy sembloit." Gachard, (Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II., Préface, p. 3,) who quotes a manuscript of the sixteenth century, preserved in the library of Arras, entitled, "Commencement de l'Histoire des Troubles des Pays-Bas, advenuz soubz le Gouvernement de Madame la Duchesse de Parme."

[509] "Sy estoit singulièrement aimé et bien vollu de la commune, pour une gracieuse façon de faire qu'il avoit de saluer, caresser, et arraisonner privément et familièrement tout le monde." Ibid., ubi supra.

[510] "Il ne l'occuperoit point de ces choses mélancoliques, mais il lui feroit lire, au lieu des Saintes-Ecritures, Amadis de Gaule et d'autres livres amusants du même genre." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 203*.

[511] "Il estoit du nombre de ceulx qui pensent que la religion chrestienne soit une invention politique, pour contenir le peuple en office par voie de Dieu, non plus ni moins que les cérémonies, divinations et superstitions que Numa Pompilius introduisit à Rome." Commencement de l'Hist. des Troubles, MS., ap. Gachard, Cor. de Guillaume, tom. II., Préface, p. 5.

[512] "Tantôt Catholique, tantôt Calviniste ou Luthérien selon les différentes occasions, et selon ses divers desseins." Mémoires de Granvelle, tom. II. p. 54.

[513] "Estimant, ainsy que faisoient lors beaucoup de catholiques, que c'estoit chose cruelle de faire mourir ung homme, pour seulement avoir soustenu une opinion, jasoit qu'elle fût erronée." MS. quoted by Gachard, Cor. de Guillaume, tom. II., Préface, p. 4.

[514] "No se vee que puedan quedar aquí mas tiempo sin grandissimo peligro de que dende agora las cosas entrassen en alboroto." Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VI. p. 166.

[515] "Harto se declaran y el Principe d'Oranges y Monsr d'Egmont que aunque tuviessen la mayor voluntad del mundo para servir en esto á V. M. de tener cargo mas tiempo de los Españoles, no lo osarian emprender si bolviessen, por no perderse y su crédito y reputacion con estos estados." Ibid., p. 197.

[516] Some notion of the extent of these embarrassments may be formed from a schedule prepared by the king's own hand, in September, 1560. From this it appears that the ordinary sources of revenue were already mortgaged: and that, taking into view all available means, there was reason to fear there would be a deficiency at the end of the following year of no less than nine millions of ducats. "Where the means of meeting this are to come from," Philip bitterly remarks, "I do not know, unless it be from the clouds, for all usual resources are exhausted." This was a sad legacy, entailed on the young monarch by his father's ambition. The document is to be found in the Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VI. pp. 156-165.

[517] "Dizen todos los de aquella isla que ántes se dexarán ahogar con ellos, que de poner la mano mas adelante en el reparo tan necessario de los diques." Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VI. p. 200.

[518] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 192.--Strada, De Bello Belgico, p. 111.

[519] "Hase con industria persuadido á los pueblos que V. M. quiere poner aquí á mi instancia la inquisicion de España so color de los nuevos obispados." Granvelle to Philip, Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VI. p. 554. See also Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I., passim.

[520] "Los quales, aunque pueden ser á proposito para administrar sus abadias, olvidan el beneficio recebido del principe y en las cosas de su servicio y beneficio comun de la provincia son durissimos, y tan rudes para que se les pueda persuadir la razon, como seria qualquier menor hombre del pueblo." Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VI. p. 18.

The intention of the crown appears more clearly from the rather frank avowal of Granvelle to the duchess of Parma, made indeed some twenty years later, 1582, that it was a great object with Philip to afford a counterpoise in the states to the authority of William and his associates. Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. VIII. p. 96.

[521] Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VI. p. 17.

[522] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 71.

[523] Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VI. p. 612.--Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 263.--Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 31.

By another arrangement the obligations of Afflighen and the other abbeys of Brabant were commuted for the annual payment of eight thousand ducats for the support of the bishops. This agreement, as well as that with Antwerp, was afterwards set aside by the unscrupulous Alva, who fully carried out the original intentions of the crown.

[524] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 77.

[525] "En ce qui concerne les nouveaux évêchés, le Roi déclare que jamais Granvelle ne lui en conseilla l'érection; qu'il en fit même dans le principe un mystère au cardinal, et que celui-ci n'en eut connaissance que lorsque l'affaire était déjà bien avancée." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 207.

[526] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. VIII. p. 54.

[527] "Il serait prêt à y contribuer de sa fortune, de son sang et de sa propre vie." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 189.

[528] "Veo el odio de los Estados cargar sobre mi, mas pluguiesse á Dios que con sacrificarme fuesse todo remediado.... Que plugiera á Dios que jamas se huviera pensado en esta ereccion destas yglesias; _amen_, _amen_." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 117.

[529] Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 63.

[530] Strada, de Bello Belgico, p. 88.

[531] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 52.

[532] Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II. p. 15.

[533] The nobles, it appears, had complained to Philip that they had been made to act this unworthy part in the cabinet of the duke of Savoy, when regent of the Netherlands. Granvelle, singularly enough, notices this in a letter to the Regent Mary, in 1555, treating it as a mere suspicion on their part. (See Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II., Préface, p. ix.) The course of things under the present regency may be thought to show there was good ground for this suspicion.

[534] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 195.

[535] Ibid., p. 197.

[536] "Que bien claro muestran muchos que no les pesaria de que fuessen mal, y que, si lo de allé diesse al través, bien brevemente se yria por acá el mismo camino. Y ha sido muestra dicha, que ninguno destos señores se haya declarado, que si lo hiziera alguno, otro que Dios no pudiera estorvar que lo de aqui no siguiera el camino de Francia." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 230.

[537] "Ce méchant animal nommé le peuple;"--the cardinal's own words, in a letter to the king. Ibid., p. 290.

[538] Strada, De Bello Belgico, p. 145.--Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 202.

[539] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. pp. 210, 214.

[540] "A qui ils imputent d'avoir écrit au Roi qu'il fallait couper une demi-douzaine de têtes et venir en force, pour conquérir le pays." Ibid., p. 203.

[541] "Lo principal es que venga con dinero y crédito, que con esto no faltará gente para lo que se huviesse de hazer coa los vezinos, y su presencia valdra mucho para assossegar todo lo de sus súbditos." Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VI. p. 562.

[542] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 91.--Mémoires de Granvelle, tom. II. p. 24,--a doubtful authority, it must be admitted.

[543] "It is not true," Philip remarks, in a letter to the duchess dated July 17, 1562, "that Granvelle ever recommended me to cut off half a dozen heads. Though," adds the monarch, "it may perhaps be well enough to have recourse to this measure." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 207.

[544] Strada, De Bello Belgico, pp. 78, 79, 133, 134.--Renom de Francia. Alborotos de Flandes, MS.--Meteren. Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 31, 32.

[545] "Qu'il n'étoit ni de son caractère ni de son honneur d'être le Bourreau des Hérétiques." Mémoires de Granvelle, tom. I. p. 304.

[546] Strada, De Bello Belgico, pp. 136, 137.--Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS.--Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. pp. 137, 138.

[547] "En las [cosas] de la religion no se çufre temporizar, sino castigarlas con todo rigor y severidad, que estos villacos sino es por miedo no hazen cosa buena, y aun con él, no todas vezes." Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VI. p. 421.

[548] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 207.

[549] Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VI. p. 280.

[550] "Quoiqu'elle ne puisse dire qu'aucun des seigneurs ne soit pas bon catholique, elle ne voit pourtant pas qu'ils procèdent, dans les matières religieuses, avec toute la chaleur qui serait nécessaire." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 240.

[551] Ibid., p. 202.

[552] Ibid., ubi supra.

[553] "C'est une grande confusion de la multitude des nostres qui sont icy fuis pour la religion. On les estime en Londres, Sandvich, et comarque adjacente, de xviij à xx mille testes." Letter of Assonleville to Granvelle, Ibid., p. 247.

[554] "Et qu'aussy ne se feroit rien par le Cardinal sans l'accord des Seigneurs et inquisiteurs d'Espaigne, dont necessairement s'ensuyvroit, que tout se mettroit en la puissance et arbitrage d'iceulx Seigneurs inquisiteurs d'Espaigne." Hopper, Recueil et Mémorial, p. 24.

[555] "Que, pour l'amour de Dieu, le Roi se dispose à venir aux Pays-Bas!.... ce serait une grande charge pour sa conscience, que de ne le pas faire." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 213.

[556] "Des choses de cette cour nous ne savons pas plus que ceux qui sont aux Indes..... Le délai que le Roi met à répondre aux lettres qu'on lui adresse cause un grand préjudice aux affaires; il pourra coûter cher un jour." Ibid., p. 199.

[557] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. pp. 236, 242.

[558] Philip's answer to the letter of the duchess in which she stated Granvelle's proposal was eminently characteristic. If Margaret could not do better, she might enter into negotiations with the malecontents on the subject; but she should take care to delay sending advice of it to Spain; and the king, on his part, would delay as long as possible returning his answers. For the measure, Philip concludes, is equally repugnant to justice and to the interests of the crown. (Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 237.) This was the royal policy of procrastination!

[559] "Conclusero una lega contra 'l Cardenal p'detto à diffesa commune contra chi volesse offendere alcun di loro, laqual confortorono con solennisso giuramento, ne si curarono che se non li particolari fossero secreti per all'hora; ma publicorono questa loro unione, et questa lega fatta contra il Cardle." Relatione di Tiepolo, MS.

[560] Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II. pp. 36-38.

[561] "Que en otros tiempos por menor causa se havia mondado a Fiscales proceder." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 151.

[562] "Que solos los de España sean legitimos, que son las palabras de que aqui y en Italia se usa." Ibid., p. 153.

[563] "Car ce n'est ma coustume de grever aucuns de mes ministres sans cause." Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II. p. 42.

[564] "S'estant le comte d'Egmont advanché aujourd'huy huict jours _post pocula_ dire à Hoppérus, avec lequel il fut bien deux heures en devises, que ce n'estoit point à Granvelle que l'on en vouloit, mais au Roy, qui administre tres-mal le public et mesmes ce de la Religion, comme l'on luy at assez adverty." Morillon, Archdeacon of Mechlin, to Granvelle, Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 247.

[565] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. pp. 256, 258, 259.

[566] "Il n'est pas icy question de grever ledict cardinal, ains plustost de le descharger, voire d'une charge laquelle non-seulement lui est peu convenable et comme extraordinaire, mais aussi ne peult plus estre en ses mains, sans grand dangier d'inconvéniens et troubles." Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II. p. 45.

[567] "Quant il n'y auroit que le désordre, mescontentement et confusion qui se trouve aujourd'huy en vos pays de par deçà, ce seroit assez tesmoinage de combien peu sert icy sa présence, crédit et auctorité." Ibid., p. 46.

[568] "Que ne sommes point de nature grans orateurs ou harangueurs, et plus accoustumez à bien faire qu'à bien dire, comme aussy il est mieulx séant à gens de nostre qualité." Ibid., p. 47.

[569] "Faisans cesser l'umbre dont avons servy en iceluy quatre ans." Ibid., p. 50.

[570] Mémoires de Granvelle, tom. II. p. 39 et seq.--Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 256.

[571] "Elle connait tout le mérite du cardinal, sa haute capacité, son expérience des affaires d'Etat, le zèle et le dévouement qu'il montre pour le service de Dieu et du Roi." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 266.

[572] "D'un autre côté, elle reconnaît que vouloir le maintenir aux Pays-Bas, contre le gré des seigneurs, pourrait entraîner de grands inconvénients, et même le soulèvement du pays." Ibid., ubi supra.

[573] Reiffenberg, Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 26, note.

[574] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 58.

[575] "Vous ne me reconnaîtriez plus, tant mes cheveux ont blanchi." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 268.

[576] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 274.

[577] "Moi, qui ne suis qu'un ver de terre, je suis menacé de tant de côtés, que beaucoup doivent me tenir déjà pour mort; mais je tâcherai, avec l'aide de Dieu, de vivre autant que possible, et si l'on me tue, j'espère qu'on n'aura pas gagné tout par là." Ibid., p. 284.

[578] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 190.

[579] "Hablándole yo en ello," writes the secretary Perez to Granvelle, "como era razon, me respondió que por su fee ántes aventuraría á perder essos estados que hazer esse agravio á V. S. en lo qual conoscerá la gran voluntad que le tiene." Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VII. p. 102.

[580] "Cada vez que veo los despachos de aquellos tres señores de Flandes me mueven la colera de manera que, sino procurasse mucho templarla, creo parecia á V. Magd mi opinion de hombre frenetico." Carta del Duque de Alba al Rey, á 21 de Octobre de 1563, MS.

[581] "A los que destos meriten, quiten les las caveças, hasta poder lo hacer, dissimular con ellos." Ibid.

[582] "Comme je l'ai toujours trouvé plein d'empressement et de zèle pour tout ce qui touche le service da V. M. et l'avantage du pays, je supplie V. M. de faire au comte d'Egmont une réponse affectueuse, afin qu'il ne désespère pas de sa bonté." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom I. p. 281.

[583] The letter--found among the MSS. at Besançon--is given by Dom Prosper Levesque in his life of the cardinal. (Mémoires de Granvelle, tom. II. p. 52.) The worthy Benedictine assures us, in his preface, that he has always given the text of Granvelle's correspondence exactly as he found it; an assurance to which few will give implicit credit who have read this letter, which bears the marks of the reviser's hand in every sentence.

[584] Mémoires de Granvelle, tom. II. p. 55.

[585] "Le prince d'Orange est un homme dangereux, fin, rusé, affectant de soutenir le peuple..... Je pense qu'un pareil génie qui a des vûes profondes est fort difficile à ménager, et qu'il n'est guères possible de le faire changer." Ibid., pp. 53, 54.

[586] "Causant l'autre jour avec elle, le comte d'Egmont lui montra un grand mécontentement de ce que le Roi n'avait daigné faire un seul mot de réponse ni à lui, ni aux autres. Il dit que, voyant cela, ils étaient décidés à ordonner à leur courrier qu'il revint, sans attendre davantage." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 283.

[587] "Il a pensé, d'après ce que le cardinal lui a écrit, qu'il serait très à propos qu'il allât voir sa mère, avec la permission de la duchesse de Parme. De cette manière, l'autorité du Roi et la réputation du cardinal seront sauvées." Ibid., p. 285.

[588] That indefatigable laborer in the mine of MSS., M. Gachard, obtained some clew to the existence of such a letter in the Archives of Simancas. For two months it eluded his researches, when in a happy hour he stumbled on this pearl of price. The reader may share the enthusiasm of the Belgian scholar. "Je redoublai d'attention; et enfin, après deux mois de travail, je découvris, sur un petit chiffon de papier, la minute de la fameuse lettre dont faisait mention la duchesse de Parme: elle avait été classée, par une méprise de je ne sais quel officiai, avec les papiers de l'année 1562. On lisait en tête: _De mano del Rey; secreta._ Vous comprendrez, monsieur le Ministre, la joie que me fit éprouver cette découverte: ce sont là des jouissances qui dédommagent de bien des fatigues, de bien des ennuis!" Rapport à M. le Ministre de l'Intérieur, Ibid., p. clxxxv.

[589] "M'esbayz bien que, pour chose quelconque, vous ayez délaissé d'entrer au conseil où je vous avois laissé." Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne tom. II. p. 67.

[590] "Ne faillez d'y rentrer, et monstrer de combien vous estimez plus mon service et le bien de mes pays de delà, que autre particularité quelconque." Ibid., p. 68.

[591] Abundant evidence of Philip's intentions is afforded by his despatches to Margaret, together with two letters which they inclosed to Egmont. These letters were of directly opposite tenor; one dispensing with Egmont's presence at Madrid,--which had been talked of,--the other inviting him there. Margaret was to give the one which, under the circumstances, she thought expedient. The duchess was greatly distressed by her brother's manoeuvring. She saw that the course she must pursue was not the course which he would prefer. Philip did not understand her countrymen so well as she did.

[592] "En effet, le prince d'Orange et le comte d'Egmont, les seuls qui se trouvassent à Bruxelles, montrèrent tant de tristesse et de mécontentement de la courte et sèche réponse du Roi, qu'il était à craindre qu'après qu'elle aurait été communiquée aux autres seigneurs, il ne fût pris quelque résolution contraire au service du Roi." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 294.

[593] "Con la venida de Mons. de Chantonnay, mi hermano, á Bruxelles, y su determinacion de encaminarse á estas partes, me paresció tomar color de venir hazia acá, donde no havia estado en 19 años, y ver á madama de Granvella, mi madre, que ha 14 que no la havia visto." Ibid., p. 298.

Granvelle seems to have fondly trusted that no one but Margaret was privy to the existence of the royal letter,--"secret, and written with the king's own hand." So he speaks of his departure in his various letters as a spontaneous movement to see his venerable parent. The secretary Perez must have smiled, as he read one of these letters to himself, since an abstract of the royal despatch appears in his own handwriting. The Flemish nobles also--probably through the regent's secretary, Armenteros--appear to have been possessed of the true state of the case. It was too good a thing to be kept secret.

[594] Schiller, Abfall der Niederlande, p. 147.

Among other freaks was that of a masquerade, at which a devil was seen pursuing a cardinal with a scourge of foxes'tails. "Deinde sequebatur diabolus, equum dicti cardinalis caudis vulpinis fustigans, magna cum totius populi admiratione et scandalo." (Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VIII. p. 77.) The fox's tail was a punning allusion to Renard, who took a most active and venomous part in the paper war that opened the revolution. Renard, it may be remembered, was the imperial minister to England in Queen Mary's time. He was the implacable enemy of Granvelle, who had once been his benefactor.

[595] Strada, De Bello Belgico, pp. 161-164.--Vander Haer, De Initiis Tumultuum Belgicorum, p. 166.--Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 53.--Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. pp. 294, 295.

[596] The date is given by the prince of Orange in a letter to the landgrave of Hesse, written a fortnight after the cardinal's departure. (Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 226.) This fact, public and notorious as it was, is nevertheless told with the greatest discrepancy of dates. Hopper, one of Granvelle's own friends, fixes the date of his departure at the latter end of May. (Recueil et Mémorial, p. 36.) Such discrepancies will not seem strange to the student of history.

[597] "Ejus inimici, qui in senatu erant, non aliter exultavêre quam pueri abeunte ludimagistro." Vita Viglii, p. 38.

Hoogstraten and Brederode indulged their wild humor, as they saw the cardinal leaving Brussels, by mounting a horse,--one in the saddle, the other _en croupe_,--and in this way, muffled in their cloaks, accompanying the traveller along the heights for half a league or more. Granvelle tells the story himself, in a letter to Margaret, but dismisses it as the madcap frolic of young men. Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VII. p. 410, 426.

[598] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 226.

[599] "Le comte d'Egmont lui a dit, entre autres, que, si le cardinal revenait, indubitablement il perdrait la vie, et mettrait le Roi en risque de perdre les Pays-Bas." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 295.

[600] "Je n'ay entendu de personne chose dont je peusse concevoir quelque doubte que vous ne fussiez, à l'endroit de mon service, tel que je vous ay cogneu, ny suis si légier de prester l'oreille à ceulx qui me tascheront de mettre en umbre d'ung personage de vostre qualité, et que je cognois si bien." Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II. p. 76.

[601] "Quiero de aquí adelante hazerme ciego y sordo, y tractar con mis libros y negocios particulares, y dexar el público á los que tanto saben y pueden, y componerme quanto al reposo y sossiego." Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VIII, p. 91.--A pleasing illusion, as old as the time of Horace's "_Beatus ille_," &c.

[602] Gerlache, Royaume des Pays-Bas, tom. I. p. 79.

[603] "Vélà ma philosophie, et procurer avec tout cela de vivre le plus joyeusement que l'on peut, et se rire du monde, des appassionnez, et de ce qu'ilz dient sans fondement." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 240.

[604] "Ilz auront avant mon retour, que ne sera, à mon compte, plus tost que d'icy à deux mois, partant au commencement de juing." Ibid., p. 236.

[605] This remarkable letter, dated Madrid, May 6, is to be found in the Supplément à Strada, tom. II. p. 346.

[606] Hopper does not hesitate to regard this circumstance as a leading cause of the discontents in Flanders. "Se voyans desestimez ou pour mieux dire opprimez par les Seigneurs Espaignols, qui chassant les autres hors du Conseil du Roy, participent seulz avecq iceluy, et présument de commander aux Seigneurs et Chevaliers des Pays d'embas: ny plus ni moins qu'ilz font à aultres de Milan, Naples, et Sicille; ce que eulx ne veuillans souffrir en manière que ce soit, à esté et est la vraye ou du moins la principale cause de ces maulx et altérations." Recueil et Mémorial, p. 79.

[607] Viglius makes many pathetic complaints on this head, in his letters to Granvelle. See Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 319 et alibi.

[608] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. pp. 312, 332, et alibi.

[609] "Il faudrait envoyer le cardinal à Rome." Ibid., p. 329.

[610] Ibid., p. 295.

[611] Morillon, in a letter to Granvelle, dated July 9, 1564, tells him of the hearty hatred in which he is held by the duchess; who, whether she has been told that the minister only made her his dupe, or from whatever cause, never hears his name without changing color. Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VIII. p. 131.

[612] "Viglius lui fait souffrir les peines de l'enfer, en traversant les mesures qu'exige le service du Roi." Ibid., p. 314.

[613] "Ils espèrent alors pêcher, comme on dit, en eau trouble, et atteindre le but qu'ils poursuivent depuis longtemps: celui de s'emparer de toutes les affaires. C'est pourquoi ils out été et sont encore contraires à l'assemblée des états généraux.... Le cardinal, le président et leur séquelle craignent, si la tranquillité se rétablit dans le pays, qu'on ne lise dans leurs livres, et qu'on ne découvre leurs injustices, simonies, et rapines." Ibid., p. 311.

[614] Ibid., p. 320 et alibi.

[615] "Ce qu'elle se résent le plus contre v. i. S. et contre moy, est ce que l'avons si longuement gardé d'en faire son prouffit, qu'elle fait maintenant des offices et bénéfices et aultres grâces." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 406.

[616] "Ipsam etiam Ducissam in suam pertraxêre sententiam, honore etiam majore quam antea ipsam afficientes, quo muliebris sexus facilè capitur."--This remark, however, is taken, not from his correspondence with Granvelle, but from his autobiography. See Vita Viglii, p. 40.

[617] The extortions of Margaret's secretary, who was said to have amassed a fortune of seventy thousand ducats in her service, led the people, instead of Armenteros, punningly to call him _Argenterios_. This piece of scandal is communicated for the royal ear in a letter addressed to one of the king's secretaries by Fray Lorenzo de Villacancio, of whom I shall give a full account elsewhere. Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II., Rapport, p. xliii.

[618] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I., p. 273 et alibi.

[619] Granvelle regarded such a step as the only effectual remedy for the disorders in the Low Countries. In a remarkable letter to Philip, dated July 20, 1565, he presents such a view of the manner in which the government is conducted as might well alarm his master. Justice and religion are at the lowest ebb. Public offices are disposed of at private sale. The members of the council indulge in the greatest freedom in their discussions on matters of religion. It is plain that the Confession of Augsburg would be acceptable to some of them. The truth is never allowed to reach the king's ears; as the letters sent to Madrid are written to suit the majority of the council, and so as not to give an unfavorable view of the country. Viglius is afraid to write. There are spies at the court, he says, who would betray his correspondence, and it might cost him his life. Granvelle concludes by urging the king to come in person, and with money enough to subsidize a force to support him. Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VIII. p. 620 et seq.

[620] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 317.

[621] Hopper, Recueil et Mémorial, p. 39.--Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 222.--Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 347 et alibi.

[622] The Spanish ambassador to England, Guzman de Silva, in a letter dated from the Low Countries, refers this tendency among the younger nobles to their lax education at home, and to their travels abroad. "La noblesse du pays est généralement catholique: il n'y a que les jeunes gens dont, à cause de l'éducation relachée qu'ils out reçue, et de leur frequentation dans les pays voisins, les principes soient un peu équivoques." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 383.

[623] "Se dice publico que ay medios para descargar todas las deudas del Rey sin cargo del pueblo tomando los bienes de la gente de yglesia ó parte conforme al ejemplo que se ha hecho en ynglaterra y francia y tambien que ellos eran muy ricos y volberian mas templados y hombres de bien." Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS.

[624] "Leur office est devenu odieux au peuple; ils rencontrent tant de résistances et de calomnies, qu'ils ne peuvent l'exercer sans danger pour leurs personnes." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 353.

[625] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, tom. I. p. 147.

[626] Ibid., ubi supra.--Strada, De Bello Belgico, p. 174.--Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. pp. 321-327.

[627] Strada, De Bello Belgico, p. 172.--Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 327 et alibi.

[628] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, tom. I. pp. 146-149.

[629] "La dépense excède annuellement les revenus, de 600,000 florins." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 328.

[630] "Quant à la moyenne noblesse des Pays-Bas, les Seigneurs l'auront tantost à leur cordelle." Chantonnay to Granvelle, October 6, 1565, Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 426.