not to be confined in the choice of a Minister and Favorite by any thing without himself So that the earnest desire of promoting Philip of Croy was the thing that made him disagreeable and Charles the Terrible who in all appearance would have cast his eyes upon him had he not been spoke to about it would by no means do it because be had been recommended unto him In the causes of the disgrace of the Croyes He declared himself so briskly as to that that his Father thought it not convenient to press him any farther But the good Prince who had been only over sollicitous because of the extraordinary affection he had for the Croyes perceived that in respect of them he had made one of those politick steps which are irreparably hurtful when they do not succeed He was afraid that he had unseasonably given his Son an occasion of changing the indifference which he had shewed to the Croyes into an aversion and in prospect of that omitted nothing that he thought capable to insinuate them into his favours He was even of the mind that the young Prince his Son had too severely mortified the Croyes by his refusal and therefore that he might do what he could to please them he heaped favours and kindnesses upon them A Lady who was the last of the House of Bethune died not only without Children but also without any Kindred and without disposing of the vast Estate which she possessed By the right of ultimus haeres or Escheatage the whole Estate belonged to Philip the good and he made a Present of it to the Croys The liberality indeed was great but not extraordinary seeing that Prince had sometimes shewed the like nay and greater to those who had not served him so faithfully as the Croys had done however it passed for Prodigality and a piece of Injustice in the notion of Charles the Terrible He was already five and twenty years of age married Maria Heiress of Burgundy and the Father of one only Daughter which was all the Children he had In the mean time his Father who had no more Children neither but him had not as yet given him any thing in advance of the Low Countries which belonged to him in Succession He obliged him to live in the same Palace with himself to eat at Table with him follow the diversions that he did and to content himself with a small Pension for defraying his other Expences Charles who was to be one of the richest Princes in Christendom would not be more pinched nor stinted and omitted no opportunity of enlarging his Fortune Some Months before the death of the Lady of Bethune he had been informed that the fear of being poysoned by those to whom she might leave her vast Estate would infallibly hinder her from making a Will and therefore he begged the gift of it before-hand of his Father who freely granted it him But the good Prince had so wholly forgot it that he did not so much as remember even when his Son put him in mind of it He made answer to him in a positive manner that he had never promised in all his life time one and the same thing to two different persons and that seeing he had granted the Croys the Estate of the House of Bethune it must needs be that he never promised it to the Prince of Burgundy He continued so firm in that particular that the Croys had the gift But no sooner did those that envied them perceive how much the Prince of Burgundy was discontented thereat but that they inflamed his resentment by a rumour they raised in his Fathers Court that the Duke would not stop there and that he had only enriched the Croys with the Succession of Bethune that it might appear less strange in the World when he should devest himself and frustrate his only Son of the most important Province of the Low Countries by investing them in the Province of Namur in the same manner as he possessed it to wit in absolute sovereignty Thus affairs went already but bad enough at the Court of Burgundy for the Croys when an unexpected accident which at first was thought would retrieve all made every thing go worse and worse with them The Dauphin of France who was afterwards Louis the Eleventh stood in so bad terms with Charles the Seventh his Father that his Majesty drove him out of the Province of Dauphiné where he could not endure that whilst he was alive another should rule as a Sovereign Prince seeing there was no security for him in any other place in Europe but in the Low Countries no other State being in the humour to refuse the delivering him up to his Father in case he should demand him and that besides Philip the Good had sufficiently made it known to confirm the opinion that the Dauphin had of him that if he desired him to receive him at his Court he would not consent to it for fear of quarrelling with France but that if he entered the Low Countries without demanding permission Philip who gloried in Hospitality and had granted it to all sorts of People not excepting even the persons of Kings would not be so hard as to send him back again The Dauphin came as far as Brabant before it was known at the Court of Burgundy that he was upon his Journey His conjecture proved true and Philip though he was extremely troubled at his having such a Guest yet durst not desire him to depart out of the Low Countries His only care was how he might civilly send him back again and for that end chose the expedient of reconciling him to his Father He therein employed the Offices of his Agents and because so thorny a negotiation was not the business of one day he commanded the Croys to divert the Dauphin in the mean time and to link themselves in a strict friendship with him Obedience is never more readily performed than when the Orders of Sovereigns suit with the present interests of those who receive them The Croys were perswaded that there was no necessity of affecting any more a scrupulous complaisance for the Prince of Burgundy they had Estates in France they foresaw that the Dauphin would shortly be King and they stood absolutely in need of his prorection to secure them from the formidable Enemy whom they could not avoid but to have one day upon their backs In that prospect they omitted nothing that might win the Dauphin and succeeded therein the more easily that that Prince the most assiduous of his Age to make sure of those from whom he thought he might procure services on his part met them more than half way He had just before in some Conferences that he had had with the Prince of Burgundy experienced the strange Antipathy that was betwixt their two tempers He made no doubt but that it would one day be the cause of a War betwixt them that might last as long as they lived he thought it
much pains in cockering him during his infancy that there was no great appearance he could live long enough to beget Children The Archdutchess on the contrary was the most vigorous and jolly Princess of her Age and the Physicians were free enough to say that she would carry with her the rich Successions of Burgundy and Austria to the Family she married into besides a numerous Off-spring of which she gave no small hopes Ferdinand grounded upon that to get her into his Family and for that end laid the most Artificious and selfish Scheme that can be found in the Records of Spain He had one Son and four Daughters the Sons name was John from the Grandfather by the Father's side his eldest Daughters name was Isabella the seconds Jane the thirds Mary and the youngests Catharine The fundamental Laws of Spain gave to the Son all the Kingdoms of Arragon which his Father possessed and all the Kingdoms of Castile that his Mother had brought with her in Marriage his four Sisters having no Pretensions to any part of them and if he died without Children the eldest of his Sisters was to succeed him in full without sharing any thing with the younger Ferdinand was very willing that the States of Burgundy and Austria might enter into his Family but he would not have his own and Wifes Kingdoms to go into a foreign House That inconvenience seemed terrible unto him and he thought to remedy it by offering only to Maximilian his second Daughter for the Archduke because in all humane probability the marriage of the Infanto of Spain with the Archdutchess could not be barren and though by the greatest mischance imaginable it should happen to be so yet that of the eldest of the Infanta's of Spain designed for Manuel King of Portugal might not be and by consequent if the Succession of Ferdinand and Isabella went out of the House of Arragon it would not go out of Spain which by that means would be almost united into one sole Monarchy His Catholick Majesty then caused a double Alliance to be proposed to the Emperour with this disproportion that his only Son should marry the only Daughter of his Imperial Majesty and that nevertheless the only Son of his Imperial Majesty should marry but the second of his Daughters The Proposition was in it self ridiculous as contrary to the rules of Decency the advantage not being equal to both sides and nothing as yet pressing Maximilian to marry his Children It was nevertheless accepted by an extraordinary disposition of Divine Providence which intended to raise the House of Austria by ways unknown to Maximilian and Ferdinand The Emperour thought he had in that double Alliance with the Catholick King such as we have mentioned it to be a present interest which he could find no where else and which was strong enough to determine him We have already spoken of his eager desire of money and how it could not stay with him He was assured of raising three considerable Sums out of the hereditary Provinces of the House of Austria and of the Low Countries The two first Sums were to be given him as a Present for the Marriages of the Archduke and Archdutchess and the last for the Portion of the said Archdutchess He got all clear to himself without disbursing a Penny seeing in the Affair then in agitation the Portions of the two Archdutchesses went in exchange for one another and that besides he had no charges almost at all to be put to there being but very little Magnificence at that time in the Court of Spain whereas if the Emperour settled his Son and Daughter in any other Family of Europe first he would not find a double Alliance to be made and besides nothing of what the Flemings and Austrians might give would come into his Coffers In the second place the Charges of the Weddings would not be spared and the Emperour could have no pretext to excuse him from it The Subjects of his Imperial Majesty and of the Archduke acted not indeed in so interested a view but a consideration of honour inspired the same thoughts into them The Princess Isabella the eldest of the Infanta's of Spain was married very young to Alphonso the Infanto of Portugal She was not full Eighteen years of age when she was left a Widow but that hindered not the Flemings and those of Austria from looking upon it as a thing undecent that the Archduke Philip who was to be their Sovereign should be content with the leavings of the Infanto of Portugal Besides they knew that the Infanto's Grandfather by the Father's side was a Bastard the Son of a Jewish Concubine and seeing the People of the Lower Germany conspired with those of the Upper not to suffer their Princes to Allie into Families and with Persons that had the least blemish though Maximilian would have desired the eldest Infanta of Spain for his Son his own and his Sons Subjects would have universally opposed it Nor would the Princes of Germany have willingly suffered that he should have brought into the Empire the pernicious example of base Alliances And Maximilian would have cut out work for himself that he could not be able to make an end of So the Proposition of the Catholick King was without difficulty accepted and the two Marriages were concluded There was nothing particular in the Contracts that were made of them except that Chievres had the care of seeing them drawn and the Portion as well as the Dowry of the two Spouses was very moderate The King of France Charles the Eighth complained in vain of the infraction of his Treaty * In the Contracts betwixt Spain and Austria with Ferdinand and the answer which the Spanish Embassadour Ayala made him thereupon seemed to add Railery to the Injury He maintained that his Master the Catholick King was free to dispose of his Son and Daughter and that the Treaty mentioned could not tie his hands because it was contrary to good manners as well as the Law of Nations and seeing it would not be taken ill in Spain that the most Christian King should dispense with such an Obligation if it had been put upon him no more ought his most Christian Majesty think it strange that the Catholick King did the like Both Marriages were compleated much about the same time but they were not alike happy neither in their beginning nor in their consequences It may be observed in the Life of Louis the Eleventh that by the last Treaty of that Prince with Maximilian it was stipulated that the Archdutchess Margarite so soon as she was out of the Cradle should marry the Dauphin of France who was Charles the Eighth That she should bring him in Portion the Counties of Burgundy and Artois and lastly that it should not be in the power neither of the Father of the Princess nor of the Flemings to break their Marriage before she was of age to consummate it and that she should immediately
endeavoured to repair the fault The chief Gentlemen of that party wrote so submissive Letters to John d' Albert that in every line there appeared evident marks of sorrow for what was past and of more than ordinary obedience for the future They conjured him to return into Navarre assured him that assoon as he were over the Pyrenees he should find it all in Arms and ready to encrease his Forces They promised to make him Master at first of one half of the Kingdom and did not think the rest could hold out above two or three months longer But it is not always true that the mutual love of married persons surpasses that of their Country and there may be found in History almost as many Wives who have betrayed their Husbands for the good of their Country as have sacrificed their Country to the welfare of their Husbands The Hereditary Constable of Navarre Son and Successor to him who called the Spaniards into it had gone so far as to resolve in time and place convenient to put himself at the head of a party formed to drive them out of it It consisted of twenty thousand men and which was very strange there was not one Soldier of all that great number who discovered the conspiracy to the Spaniards Had the Constable married a Navarrese woman Navarre would not have been reduced unto a Province to Castille but his project was discovered by the Castillian whom his Father had chosen him for a Wife Pedro Maurique Duke of Nagera had a fair Estate in Castille upon the borders of Navarre The leading men of the Faction of Beaumont could find a refuge there in case they were too much pressed by the party of Grammont or by John d' Albert and the Constables Father had no other view but that in marrying him with Briande Daughter to the Duke of Nagera But that signified nothing to him when he had put Navarre under subjection to Ferdinand the Catholick King and to compleat the misfortune of the young Constable his Son it proved his utter ruine There was a necessity seeing he was to form a revolution in his Country that might repair his Fathers fault by restoring John d' Albert that he must write an insinite number of Letters and receive as many It is not known by what accident but one of them came to his Ladies hands who without deliberating and considering the consequences of what she was about to do carried it to Ferdinand d' Acugua Viceroy of Navarre who in all hast sent it to Ximenes The Cardinal perceiving that the Conspiracy was ready formed and that it would suddenly break out took two extream resolutions very hard to be excused especially in a man of his character He sent into Navarre all the Forces he could draw together under the command of Ferdinand Vilalva the best Officer in War that he knew and gave him orders at first to labour only to disperse the Faction of Beaumont without making the leading men prisoners to the end he might not lose the time which he might more usefully employ in guarding the passage of Roucevaux If he were so successful as to defend it and there to cut in pieces the Army of John d' Albert as the Gascons heretofore had defeated the Rear-guard of Charlemagne he had Orders upon his return only to raze all the strong places of Navarre except Pampelona which he should secure with a good Cittadel that if at any other time the Navarrese might have a mind to revolt against the Kings of Castille they might be diverted from it by the consideration that having no Fortresses they would be opprest by the Spaniards before the French could come to their succour But if he could not upon what occasion soever hinder John d' Albert from passing the Pyrenees he should in all hast march back again and set Fire to all the Towns Castles Burroughs Villages and Country-houses of Navarre to the end that the French finding no subsistance there might return as fast as they came Vilalva obeyed the Cardinal In the Chronicle of Vilalva and yet put in execution but the first of the Orders which he had received because the extraordinary confidence of his adversaries gave him an easier opportunity of overcoming them than he hoped for John d' Albert being come to the foot of the Pyrenees on the side of France divided his Army into three Bodies and gave the first wherein was almost the whole Faction of Grammont and the other Navarrese who chose rather to be banished than to be disloyal to him to be commanded by Don Pedro Peralta Mareschal of Navarre The second which was the main Body was commanded by the Count and Cardinal de Foix the Paternal Uncles of Queen Catherine of Navarre and John d' Albert who by the maxims of Military discipline at that time ought to have been there yet kept in the reserve He made a stop very unseasonably with the Rear to besiege the Fort of St. John when he ought to have followed close the Van and main Body to oblige them by his presence to stand the better upon their guard and the first Body knowing that the Faction of Beaumont was for them and by consequence not expecting to find the passages of the Pyrenees guarded marched with so little circumspection that they fell wholly into the Ambushes that Vilalva had laid for them The Spaniards besetting them on all hands forced them to yield upon discretion having scarcely fought for it Vilalva sent the chief of them with the Mareschal prisoners to Castille where by their own hands or through misery they perished He put the rest to the Sword because there needed more men than he had to guard them and falling immediately after upon the main Body he put it to the rout The fugitives coming to the reserve where John d' Albert was put them into such a consternation that they immediately raised the Siege of the Castle of St. John and retreated into the Principality of Bearn John d' Albert either could not or would not out-live a second misfortune He died for grief at Pau and the Queen his Wife lived but seven months after him Vilalva returning victorious obeyed but too punctually the Orders which he had received from Ximenes in demolishing the strong places of Navarre seeing it cost him his life Only one escaped his fury which was that of Marsilla It belonged to Anne de Velasco Marchioness of Falsez who was there when one of the Commissioners for the demolitions demanded entrance She refused him admittance and gave this reason for it that she would faithfully keep to the young Catholick King Charles the Oath which the late Marquess her Husband had taken to the late King of preserving to him the Castle of Marsilla in the condition he had received it The Constables Lady had so much credit with Ximenes by means of the Duke of Nagera her Brother to whom the Cardinal immediately after gave the Vice-Royalty of Navarre
in extreme danger Nevertheless the Emperour abandons him not and his cause at length prevails The Spaniards who kept their allegiance defeat the rebels in an open battel and the Soveraign authority is restored to all its splendor Chievres who waited on the Emperour into Germany provided there so advantageously for the Infanto Ferdinand by procuring him the Marriage of the Heiress of Hungary and Bohemia that that young Prince thinks no more of complaining that his Elder Brother had done him injustice in giving him no share in the Dominions of Queen Jane their Mother He gives so good orders also in Navarre that it as easily again recovered to the Spaniards as it had been lost by them and taken by the French. Nothing withstands the Lord Asparant and he becomes Master of it in less than a fortnights time But his good fortune blinds his judgment and he imagins that the conquest of Castile will cost him no more than that of Navarre He enters it suffers himself to be straitned for provisions there The Spaniards expect till his Army was weakened through hardships and attack him presently after He is overcome loses his sight in the sight taken prisoner and lived only after to be an instance that conduct in War is as necessary as courage The Revolted Spaniards are reconciled to their Master but they turn all their fury against Chievres They poyson the Cardinal de Croy his Nephew and fifty days after serve him in the same manner A PATTERN FOR THE EDUCATION OF PRINCES The First BOOK CONTAINING The most memorable Affairs that passed in Europe from the beginning of the year One thousand five hundred and six to the middle of the year One thousand five hundred and fourteen THe House of Croüy acording to the Ancient or of Croy according to modern Orthography pretends to be descended â—n a right masculine Line from the ancient Kings of Hungary by one Stephen whom others call Andrew third Son to King Bela and Brother to St. Elizabeth Countess of Thuringe who being forced out of Hungary In Pontuc Huterus fled for refuge into France in the year One thousand one hundred seventy and three during the Reign of Louis the Young but his Son setled himself in Gallia Belgica by marrying Catharine Heiress of Croy whose name he took and left it to his Posterity This House was afterward in succession of time allied by William the First of Croy to the House of Guines by James the First of Croy to the House of Soissons by James the Second of Croy to the House of Perguigny by William the Second of Croy to the House of Kenti by John of Croy to the House of Curton by Anthony of Croy to the House of Lorrain and by Philip of Croy to that of Luxembourg John of Croy transplanted his Family from Picardy into Flanders when he became the Favourite of Philip the Hardy first Duke of Burgundy descended of the second Branch of the Bloud-royal of France The Historians of that time have not taken pains enough to give us the Character of this Lord nevertheless he must have been a man of extraordinary parts seeing that during the whole course of his life he governed two Princes the most contrary in temper and humour and the most difficult to be persuaded that ever were Philip the Hardy and John without Fear his Son Dukes of Burgundy He was their chief Chamberlain and by an extraordinary Conduct and Policy though Philip the Hardy and John without Fear were for most part in continual variance with the Kings of France yet John of Croy continued to be the constant Favorite of the Dukes of Burgundy without ever giving them the least umbrage or suspicion of his fidelity notwithstanding he stood so well all his life-time at the Court of the most Christian Kings that they made him great Master of their House and suffered him to discharge the duties of that important place without ever accusing him that he had managed the interests of the Dukes of Burgundy against their Majesties This particular ought the more to be remarked that it is singular and perhaps in its chief circumstances not to be paralleled in the lives of â—he illustrious men of these last Ages and besides it is so advantageous to John of Croy that it seems nothing can be said greater in his favour In so happy a state he did not forget but that he might more easily tumble down than he had mounted up and foreseeing that at length the Kings of France and Dukes of Burgundy would become irreconcilable enemies and that in that case the House of Croy would be forced to declare for the one side or other he so disposed his Inheritance and the Purchases which he made that he had as much in the Dominions of the Kings of France as in the Territories of the Dukes of Burgundy to the end that to what side soever he might incline he should retain one half of his Estate and be in a condition of making the figure of a great Lord in either of the two Courts which he might prefer before the other Anthony of Croy his Son was so happy as to succeed him in the favour and to dispose so absolutely of Philip the Good third Duke of Burgundy that this Prince relished no Counsels nor Designs but what had either been proposed or approved by that Favorite But Philip of Croy the Son of Anthony fell into the disgrace which his Grandfather John of Croy had apprehended by an accident which is fit we should unfold in this place because it conduces to the understanding of the matters following Seeing Philip the good had from his Father John without fear received Anthony of Croy both for his chief Minister and Favorite without the least shew of repugnance whether he thought himself obliged to have as to that an implicite deference to his Fathers Will or that his inclination suited with the Person that was presented to him he imagined that his Son Charles the Terrible would comply no less with him and that he would gladly admit of Philip of Croy to the same rank with him that John and Anthony of Croy had held with his Father Grandfather and great Grand-father But the dispositions were not alike on both sides as they ought to have been for cementing a new confidence and favour There was nothing wanting on the part of Philip of Croy for the worthy discharge of the two places in question about Charles the Terrible But Charles was prepossessed with an opinion that his â—ather demanded too much of him and that he stretched the Prerogative of Nature farther than it ought to be That to take things aright a Minister and Favorite were no more in relation to a Sovereign than what a Steward is in respect of great men and an intimate Friend to any private person and for the same reason that great men and private persons have the liberty of chusing their Stewards and Friends a young Prince ought
convenient to prepare for it betimes He foresaw how useful the Croys would then be to him And that was enough to make him endeavour to gain them in a point which failed not to produce its natural effect which the Croys had not sufficiently apprehended since it encreased the hatred of the Prince of Burgundy towards them adding to the discontent disdain anger and resentment which he already entertained Jealousie in that he perceived they sought to fortifie themselves by protection against him He was so sensibly touched with this that he observed no more measures with those whom he regarded now far less than before since his Father pressed him no more to receive them as Domestick Servants He was informed that Charles the Seventh hearing that the Dauphin was retreated into Flanders had said that the Duke of Burgundy had received into his house a Fox that would destroy his Poultry and he took occasion to give it out by his Emissaries that his Majesties Prediction was fulfilled and that the Croys had with the Dauphin conspired the ruine of the House of Burgundy He openly threatned to be revenged on them after the death of his Father and seeing he was not as yet appeased when the Dauphin being become King of France left Brabant the Croys that they might prepare for themselves a Sanctuary incited his most Christian Majesty to recover out of the hands of the Duke of Burgundy the Towns of Picardy lying upon the River of Soam seeing the Treaty of * Concluded in the year 1405. betwixt Charles the Seventh and Philip the good Arras allowed it upon the payment of four hundred thousand Crowns This was a sast Sum considering the times which notwithstanding being quickly raised Philip the Good though it went against the grain with him to receive it yet durst not refuse it The Towns were honestly restored and though Philip's good will was not thereby lessened toward the Croys his Son made heavy complaints against them for it They continued with the Father and served him faithfully so long as he lived and when they perceived him brought so low and weak that he had but a few hours longer to live they demanded leave of him to withdraw to their Lands in France and obtained it They were long persecuted as much as lay in the power of the new Duke nevertheless they supported it with a moderation never before practised on the like occasions in the Low-Countries no complaining was heard to proceed out of their mouth nor any Manifesto in their favours from the Pens of their Friends They wisely considered that those two ways of easing great Afflictions were dangerous and that for the most part if those who were chiefly concerned were so moderate as not to mingle Invectives and Satyrs in them yet they were so unfortunate that others did it and that the Publick was unjust enough to impute them to those who were not the Authors of the same There appeared not so much as an Apology on the part of the Croys to justifie their innocence They kept themselves in a profound and respectful silence and during the Wars that followed betwixt Louis the Eleventh their Protector and the Duke of Burgundy their declared Enemy they neither acted against the King nor against the Duke but on such occasions wherein they could not civilly excuse themselves neither to the one nor to the other In acting or before they acted they used all the circumspection that might justifie their Proceeding and though Louis the Eleventh was so difficult to be managed in that Affair that the Constable of St. Paul could not succeed in it yet they behaved themselves so wisely as that their Conduct in so nice a Point was not at all suspected by his most Christian Majesty They waited for the return of their good fortune in peace and thereby deserved that their perseverance should triumph over their adversity It is not known precisely whether the Duke of Burgundy was touched with it or if the need he had of the Croys to get into the possession of Guelderland which was then made over to him by an abused * Uric Duke of Guelders Father in prejudice of his own Son †Adolphe obliged him to be reconciled to them but it is certain they were honourably re-established that they had great interests with the chief men of the Dutchy of Guelders that they contributed much to engage them mildly under the Dominion of the House of Burgundy and that if the change was introduced almost without effusion of bloud Charles the Terrible was obliged to the Croys for it They lived with him afterward in such a manner that if they gained not his friendship yet they prevented the remains of aversion that he might have concealed in his heart from breaking out against them and after he was killed before Nancy they again advanced to the chief place of favour in the Court of Mary of Burgundy his Heiress They had disposed her to the Marriage of the Dauphin of France though she was already twenty years old and the Dauphin but six and their gratitude to Louis the Eleventh was so sincere that they omitted nothing which might serve to persuade him by that Alliance to unite the Low Countries to his Family The blindness and obstinacy of that Prince in refusing the greatest advantage that could ever happen to him amazed them the more that they perceived him with extreme earnestness courting others incomparably of far less importance Nevertheless they were not thereby discouraged from obliging France but managed so well the credit which they had with their Princess Mary of Burgundy that she consented to marry Charles Count of Angoulesm who was afterwards the Father of Francis the First They supposed that if the irreconcilable hatred which Louis the Eleventh bore to the House of Burgundy so far transported him as not to admit of the Princess who inherited it into his Family yet it would not carry him so far as to suffer the Low Countries to go out of the Royal Family of France But they had no comfort remaining when they understood that his most Christian Majesty looked upon an Alliance of a Prince of his bloud with the Heiress of Burgundy as the greatest misfortune that threatned France by reason of the Interests that he might have and of the Civil Wars he might raise therein when he had a mind to it They admired Divine Providence in the limits that it sets to Monarchies and in the obstacles it raises against their growth and greatness and so thwarted no more the Marriage of Mary of Burgundy with Maximilian of Austria They negotiated for Philip of Austria their Son a Treaty * It is in the French King's Library with the Duke of Cleve which confirmed the Union of Guelderland with the Low Countries and their Affairs were in that posture when William de Croy Lord of Chievres third Son of Philip de Croy began by his rare qualities to signalize himself in
and seeing he had besides engaged in his Interests his hereditary Kingdoms of Arragon to which his Son-in-law had no pretension he would have hindered him from taking possession of Castile and would have reserved it to himself in spight of the Archduke had he been engaged in a War with any of his Neighbours whereas upon the certain advice that was brought into Spain that the administration of Chievres was so acceptable to the Flemings and their Neighbours that not only neither the one nor other had any mind to disquiet it but were also disposed to give the Archduke considerable assistances both in Men and Money upon the first sollicitation he should make for them Ferdinand gave over his Plea and lost it He renounced in favour of his Son-in-law the Testament which he had produced and caused to be Printed in all Languages he signed his dimission he departed almost alone out of Castile as he had entred it almost alone thirty four years before and retreated to Arragon But great Prosperities are many times followed by unexpected Misfortunes The Archduke was no sooner peaceable King of Castile but that he died there and that accident was so far from doing prejudice to Chievres that it was the chief occasion of his fortune The eldest of the two Sons whom the Archduke â—…ft was but six years old and was named â—harles He was destined for making up â—e most powerful Monarchy of Christenâ—om seeing he had already the Low-â—ountries and that besides three Sucâ—essions no less infallible in respect of him â—han great in themselves would one day make him the Master of a prodigious number of Provinces and Kingdoms From his Mother he expected Castile and the Crowns thereto annexed from his Grandfather by the Mother the Kingdoms of Arragon Valentia Naples Sicily Sardinia Majorca and Minorca and the Principality of Catalonia and from the Emperour Maximilian the First his Grandfather by the Father the ten Hereditary Provinces of the House of Austria in Germany besides his Pretensions to the Empire so well grounded that all the Forces Credit Money and rare personal qualities of Francis the First of France could not afterward hinder them from taking effect The Education of this young Prince who till the death of his Father was called Duke of Luxembourg and who afterward took the Title of Archduke was of such importance that hardly could there a man be found fit to take the care of it and if Chievres was not called to it by the unanimous Votes of those who pretended the right of appointing a Governour to the young Archduke yet at least he had this advantage that they approved the choice that was made of him Before we lay open so curious a mystery in Politicks it will not be amiss to observe in this place that Sandoval and other Spanish Historians who have reviled the memory of Chievres upon the motives that shall be mentioned in their proper place have not taken notice that their animosity against him turned to their own prejudice and that to blast the memory of a man In the first Tome of the Life of Charles the Fifth who in spight of their big Volumes will still continue blameless they have fallen into errors concerning the truth of matter of fact which nothing but a criminal indulgence can pardon seeing they brag of having searched the Originals They form a long debate betwixt the two Grandfathers of the Archduke by the Father and Mothers side to which of the two it belonged to â—ominate a Governour for him They â—uppose that the Grandfather by the Mother laid the matter so to heart that he threatened oftener than once to disinherit his Grandson if the care of his Education were not wholly left to him They â—dd that the Paternal Grandfather thwarâ—ed this with as much heat at least but with no other prospect than of making use of the Revenues of the Low Countries â—uring the minority of their Sovereign They affirm that the Paternal indeed â—arried it by his Dignity of Emperour and â—he consent of the Flemings accustomed to his administration and that his Imperial Majesty having too much to do in Germany to mind himself the institution and affairs of the Archduke appointed Chievres in his place to take the care of both In a word they will have all absolutely believe the truth of what they write pretending to pass for sincere and disinteressed Historians if there ever were any by reason of some disadvantageous particulars to their Nation which they relate taken from the weaknesses of Ferdinand in relation to his Domestick Affairs Nevertheless the same Authors err in matter of fact and are mistaken for want of having seen the piece which decides the question they treated about They knew not that the sudden death of their King Philip the First was not altogether unexpected and that that Prince had not only Civilly but according to Erasmus Christianly prepared for death though he was but seven and twenty years of Age when it hapned That he made a Testament in ample form and that the chief Article of that Authentick Act consisted in a most express recommendation of his Eldest Son Charles to the most Christian King Louis the Twelfth In the Testament of Philip the First and in an earnest desire to his Majesty to set over him the man whom he should think fittest to educate him The reasons of that disposition probably were that on the one hand Philip understood the inconstant and prodigal humour of the Emperour his Father and knew by experience that Maximilian could no sooner be Master of Money but that he squandered it away as fast and that nevertheless so soon as he was bare again he hunted after it with so much â—agerness and vehemence that what way soever he could come by it right or wrong all was alike to him That he had no other motive but that to make him after the death of Mary of Burgundy espouse â—…lanche Sforza the Daughter of a Father â—…d Mother both Bastards although the â—ermans entertained a terrible aversion to such a kind of base Alliance That he had Ostner than once sent and commanded in â—rson Troops in Italy for the service of â—…ose who paid him dearest for them â—…d that there was but little hopes that in â—s old age he would reform a fault which â—ll then had been his predominant Passion In the mean time if he lived after â—…s ordinary rate when he was Administrator of the Government of the â—ow-Countries he would the more easily â—ut all things into trouble and confusion that the People there were naturally inclined to revolt and that they must be governed with a tenderness that hindered them from perceiving that they enjoyed not entire liberty That the least extraordinary Tax that his Imperial Majesty might impose upon them would stir them up to sedition and that the constant Revenue could not entertain him one month of the year That the Flemings would be no less unwilling that
Father one of the most husbanding Princes that ever was refused to furnish him with Money and Forces for that purpose and that the Flemings his Sons Subjects would not engage in the quarrel of a Prince whom they look'd upon as a stranger since his Wife was dead and that he was no more but the Father of their Sovereign That after the death of Frederick when Maximilian had succeeded the occasion of revenge was lost by the Apoplexy which carried Charles out of the world at the age of twenty eight years but that the case was not alike neither in regard of the Archduke nor in regard of the Count of Angoulesm Towards the end of Philip de Comines That the Archduke was already Master of the Low Countries That his Subjects had so great a love for him that they would spend part of their Estates and their bloud in the quarrel That he would not want neither Spanish Gold nor German Soldiers and that in short the Count was of too strong a constitution to give any ground to fear that he would die before the Archduke had had the satisfaction he desired of him These discourses suiting with the revengeful humour of Charles and reiterated to him in an Age wherein the strong impressions that then are made commonly last as long as life had produced their effect and so animated the Archduke against the Count that he was impatient not to be in a condition of entering the Lists against his Adversary when Crievres foresaw the troublesom consequences that an enmity cultivated with so much care might have and thought it necessary to remedy it betimes though he made no doubt but that the Emperour and Catholick King would take it ill at his hands and prove his enemies if he succeeded in it He had formerly been acquainted in the Wars of Italy with Artas de Goussier Lord of Boisly Governour to the Count of Angoulesm and reckoned him the fittest man of the Kingdom for the Commission that was given him He was persuaded of his great integrity and promised himself from that to be seconded in the design of contracting a Friendship betwixt the Archduke and the Count which might procure to both a long repose and preserve to the Flemings and French the peace which they enjoyed He sollicited him to this by ways that are not known but it is to be believed that it was done without engaging the Archdukes honour and so prudently that neither the Count nor his Governour might draw any advantage from it in case the accommodation had not succeded Goussier on his part contributed thereto all that could be desired and laboured much to blot out of the Count's mind the dangerous impressions of the Archduke which were stamp'd in it as if he had been his most formidable enemy whilst Chievres on the other side acted efficaciously with the Archduke in convincing him by strong reasons that the injuries of Princes were not to be measured by the Standard of private persons and that he neither could nor ought to take it ill if the Count had done to him what he would have done to the Count if he had been in his place When the resentment was stifled on the one hand and diffidence removed on the other the two Governours sought an occasion to settle a commerce by Letters betwixt their two Princes which might entertain and encrease their good intelligence and took the first favourable opportunity that offered Mere chance brought it so about that it was on the Archdukes side and that he needed the offices of the Count in an affair of importance Henry Count of Nassau who possessed in the Provinces of Flanders Brabant Holland and Zealand fair remains of vast Estates which those of his Family had purchased there had so far insinuated himself into the favours of the Archduke that he would have been his Favourite if that Prince had been of an humour to have any and that to caution himself against that he had not taken the same measures almost which chast men commonly make use of to fortifie themselves against the lovely eyes of a Lady whom they are afraid to be smitten with he studied and played with his Master and Chievres was so far from opposing that he contributed to it because making it his business to place about the Archduke young Lords who might not corrupt the good seeds that he endeavoured to plant in him he thought Nassau not only one according to his mind but that also he might be useful in confirming the Archduke in the exercises of virtue by â—…ring him up by his example to the pracâ—… of it It was at that time the custom of the Low Countries to marry the eldest Sonâ— of Noble Families very young and Nassauâ— relations courted for him Elizabeth of Chalon Sister to the Prince of Aurange The Alliance was sutable and could not cause any umbrage for besides that the Families of France and of the Low Countries had full liberty to marry one with another without displeasing their Sovereigns if the House of Chalon had a great Estate in the Dutchy of Burgundy it had more in the French County and upon that account passed rather for a Flemish than French Family All the difficulty lay in the obtaining of the consent of the King Louis the Twelfth without which the Father of Elizabeth had discharged her to be given in marriage and there was but little probability that his Majesty would give it in favours of Nassau seeing it was contrary to the reason of State. Prince Philibert of Chalon the Brother of Elizabeth was the only Male of his Family He gave no promises of a long life in his youth though afterward be became very strong and Politicians looked upon his Sister already as the richest Heiress in Europe If Nassau married her he was a person powerfully setled in the Low Countries who would not change his Master though the Succession of Aurange should fall to his Wife and would spend in the Archdukes service the Revenue of the fair Estate of the House of Chalon in France whereas if the King gave to Elizabeth a French Husband the Estate would not go out of the Kingdom as neither to the rents nor property and the Husband would employ them in the service of his Majesty There needed then a strong recommendation to the King to prevail with him and Chievres advised Nassau to pray the Archduke that in this prospect he would employ the interest of the Count of Angoulesm with the King his Father-in-law The Archduke wrote obligingly to the Count about it and that Prince prepared by Goussier answered the Archduke in the same stile And seeing he already gloried in a generosity too high for the Age he lived in he granted more than was demanded of him and surmounted an obstacle which Nassau had not foreseen He thought it not enough to have obtained his Majesties consent but further won the Prince of Aurange in favours of Nassau who had and always
received investiture of them that it was not in the power of the Feudatary for any cause or pretext that might be to frustrate his eldest Son or the Male Children of that eldest Son by giving them to his other Children nor to deprive the Paternal Cousins how remote soever of the same in favours of their own Daughters Constant and uninterrupted custom had exactly agreed with these Laws and no instance could be given that they had ever been violated as to that particular in whole or in part It was not so in the Succession which the Archduke expected from the Catholick King and he had more reasons than one to fear that he might be disappointed of it though at first view it appeared to be full as sure as that of the Emperour For in the first place Ferdinand had sufficiently testified his displeasure that his Dominions one day should fall to the House of Austria by omitting nothing that could naturally be done to prevent it He acted not with so much sincerity as the House of Austria in the marriage of his Son (1) John of Arragon Prince of Spain and Daughter (2) Joan of Arragon surnamed the Fool. with the Son (3) Marguerite of Austria and Daughter (4) The Archduke Philip. of the Emperour and whereas Maximilian had given him an only Daughter he had only given to Maximilian for Philip of Austria the second of his four Daughters The Eldest he married in Portugal shewing by so publick a preference that he had rather his Succession should descend upon a Prince whose Grandfather was a Bastard and great Grandmother the Daughter of a Shoomaker Jew than be wanting in circumspection to remove his Son-in-Law the Archduke Philip from the succession to the Crowns of Castile and Arragon His forecast nevertheless was vain and in a very few years the Emperours Sons Wife became Heir apparent of so many Kingdoms Any but the Catholick King would in so sudden a revolution have adored the Order of Divine Providence and wholly submitted to it Nevertheless that Prince opposed it by a longer and more steady obstinacy than that of Jonas in declining to go to Niniveh His Wife was no sooner dead but that he married another in the sole prospect of having a Son by her and because he drew towards fifty years of age and that the disorders of his youth gave him ground at that age to distrust his own vigour he had his recourse to Physick and took Potions that were thought fit to supply that defect In the second place the Catholick King had lusty handsome Bastards and if he preferred them before the Children of his lawful Daughter in succeeding to the Throne he would in that do nothing contrary neither to the Custom of Spain nor the inclination of the Spaniards It was no new thing in that Country the remotest of Europe on the Affrican side to promote Bastards to the Throne in exclusion of lawful Children and Ferdinand himself descended in right Line from Henry the Second who was a Bastard There was besides another instance of that irregularity in his Family For his Uncle Alphonso of Arragon Elder Brother to John of Arragon his Father dying without Children by Testament which in that part was executed frustrated John of Arragon of the Kingdom of Naples and left it to a Bastard whom he had by a Person of quality Educated in that prospect In the third place the Catholick King could not only take from the Archduke Arragon and the Crowns that depended upon it but also he might by the way we shall now treat of hinder him from reigning in Castile and in the Monarchies annexed to it This young Prince drew his Title to Castile from Queen Isabella his Grandmother by the Mothers side and yet that Princess had not inherited it without violence and encroaching upon the most sacred and inviolable Laws of Civil Society Henry the Fourth her Brother King of Castile married the Infanta of Portugal and that Infanta during his marriage with her was brought to bed of a Daughter the most beautiful as they say that ever was born in Spain This Daughter by the Fundamental Laws of the State excluded her Aunt from succeeeding to so many Kingdoms because she was nearest by a degree and represented her Father Nevertheless the Aunt pretended that her Brother was impotent and that the Daughter that was fathered on him was begotten by his Favourite Don Bertram de la Cueva Duke of Albuquerque For that reason or under that pretext she made a great Party and raised a War in Castile But the Party of the Daughter proving the stronger the Aunt had her recourse to Ferdinand and gave her self to him having no other way to engage him to espouse her interest against her Neece Ferdinand having married the Aunt transported all the Forces of Arragon into Castile He overcame them who favoured his Wives Neece and dispossessed her of the Kingdom But was now in a condition to repay the injury which he had done her by recalling her into Castile where he had the Power raising her to the Throne and marrying her to one of his Bastards Upon the Reasons we have been mentioning Chievres made the reflections they deserved He long considered with himself the prejudice that might befal the Archduke by not entertaining an entire correspondence with his maternal Grandfather Nevertheless having put into the balance together the hurt that might redound to that Prince by breaking with France during his minority if he Leagued too strictly with the Catholick King and the injury the Catholick King might do him if he united not so closely with him he found the first alone to weigh far more than all the others put together and by the boldest result of prudence that is to be found in the History of Spain he judged it to be avoided rather than the rest He kept the Archduke in friendship with the French and Germans He thought it enough not to give the Catholick King any cause or pretext to complain of him in particular and in the following Books we shall find that his conduct in that point was as fortunate as it had been judicious The End of the First Book THE HISTORY OF Monsieur De Chievres The Second BOOK CONTAINING The most remarkable Occurrences in the Monarchy of Spain during the years One thousand five hundred and thirteen and One thousand five hundred and fourteen THat we may conceive the motives which induced Chievres to prefer the Paternal Grandfather of Charles of Austria his Pupil before the Maternal and that we may understand the advantages which Charles drew from that preference we must necessarily presuppose that Ferdinand the Catholick King who was the Maternal Grandfather spoken of here bounded not his ambition within Spain after he had entirely driven the Moors from thence by the conquest of the Kingdom of Granada It troubled him to be confined to one of the extemities of Europe without any appearance of
in that disposition contributed not a little as they say to keep him in it being assured to render himself necessary to his Master so long as it lasted There was no more Commerce betwixt the Father and Son in law but what could not civilly be discontinued and the Archduke to make a closer Union with the most Christian King against his Catholick Majesty made three agreements for the marriage of his eldest Son with Claude of France eldest Daughter to his Majesty But the Alliances which are most securely contracted in writing are not those which most frequently succeed best The death of Queen Isabella which happened the seventeenth of November One thousand five hundred and four was the cause or pretext that the three Contracts of marriage were not fulfilled and Ferdinand for all he was so politick a Prince could not ward a blow that was so disadvantageous to him and so favourable to his Son-in-law * In the Testament of Queen Isabella There was indeed a Testament of Queen Isabella found which ordained that the King her Husband during life should have the administration and Revenues of Castile but the Testament was no sooner examined than the Courtiers and Lawyers agreed in suspecting it to be forged The Archduke who had a mind to reign and saw himself excluded for a long time and perhaps for his whole life by an Act so inconsistent with Motherly affection had no regard to it and indeed it was hard to be believed that it could have been dictated and signed by Queen Isabella considering her humour all her life time in relation to her Husband for there hapned to that Princess what is but too common to Women who out of a Maxim of State marry Husbands as young again as themselves When Ferdinand and Isabella were married Ferdinand was but sixteen years old and Isabella two and thirty Her Jealousie of Ferdinand appeared soon after their marriage and it ought to be said here for her excuse that it was not without ground Ferdinand had slighted her and been often unfaithful though she was very beautiful and besides no woman living more scrupulous in the point of Chastity than her self He had loved other Ladies by whom he had the Archbishop of Sarragossa Don Alphonso d' Arragon and other Bastards who will be more properly mentioned in another place of this History Isabella had not therefore behaved her self the worse towards him but Injuries of that nature which are most patiently born with are not those for all that which make the smallest impressions in peoples minds and are soonest blotted out If Isabella had so much command over her self as during her life to dissemble the ramblings of her Husband it is not very likely that at her death she would reward him for them that is to say in a Juncture when there is no time for counterfeiting and when she was no longer to observe measures with him nor that she would have deprived her eldest Daughter of the enjoyment of the Kingdom of Castile which Nature Law Reason and the Custom of Spain gave to her to leave it to a fickle Husband who would not fail so soon as he should be a Widower to marry again nor to employ all sorts of means not only to secure to the Children of the second Marriage the Crowns of Arragon but also if possible to procure for them the Kingdoms of Castile in prejudice of the Children of his former bed Isabella had cause to fear it since the Father and Mother of Ferdinand had done as much for him and that the unfortunate Charles Prince of Vienne the Son of the first Wife of John King of Arragon had been poysoned to make way for the same Ferdinand who was only the Son of the second Be it as it will the Archduke was not amused by the Couriers whom his Father in law sent to stay him in Flanders under pretext that it might be prejudicial to the Archdutchess his Wife ready to lie in of a Daughter which was Mary Queen of Hungary He nevertheless departed with her for Spain in the month of January One thousand five hundred and seven and the new Queen of Castile had no prejudice by it Chievres was left Governour of the Low Countries and Manuel accompanied the Archduke Ferdinand was so ill informed of the course his Daughter and Son-in-law took that he went to wait for them at one end of Spain whilst they landed at the other All the great men of the Kingdom except two declared for them they were solemnly Crowned the People swore Allegiance to them without respect to the Testament of the late Queen and Ferdinand finding himself not to be the stronger caused an Accommodation to be proposed to his Son-in-law seeing he confided far more in his own management than in that of his Agents he sollicited with so much perseverance an interview with the King of Castile that he obtained it but it cost him dear and he must first pass through mortifications that were so much the more sensible to him as that he was the less accustomed to the like He was constrained to go to his Son-in-law trust himself in his hands to be satisfied with his bare word for a safe Conduct and to present himself in the posture of a Supplicant He appeared indeed in that manner accompanied with a small Retinue without Arms and mounted on Mules He could not have a private Conference with his Son-in-law and Manuel who was the man in the world he hated most because he imputed to him all the harshness he found in the King of Castile towards him made always a third person in the Conference Ferdinand at first lost his hopes of retaining the administration left him by his Wife and condescended at length to accept one half of the Revenues But he was positively denied any share and sent back extremely vexed that he had humbled himself in vain Cardinal Ximenes who was no less his Friend though he owed not his advancement to him mediated for him another interview with his Son-in law in the Vestry of the Church of Remedo a League from Vailladolid The two Kings discoursed alone without any other Witness but the Cardinal who kept the door They concluded at length that Ferdinand should absolutely renounce the administration of Castile upon two conditions The one that he should enjoy during life the three great Masteries of the Orders of St. James Callatrava and Alcantara The other that his Son-in-law should pay him yearly at Sarragossa whither he should immediately after the interview retire a moderate Pension which amounted but according to some to three Counts of Maravedis or to eight Counts at most according to others Ferdinand was no sooner in Arragon but that he laboured to be revenged for the pretended indignities received from his Son-in-law He supposed that the personal charms of that young Prince would indeed preserve to him the affections of the Castillians in time of Peace but he doubted that that
inclination would not continue in time of War. Upon this he grounded his conjecture that the King of Castile as shall be mentioned hereafter being excessively liberal there was no appearance that he would moderate that predominant inclination in the midst of Arms and when every moment he would have fresh occasions of giving In the mean time the Revenue of Castile and of the Crowns that depended on it were so scanty that they could not suffice to carry on a long War and at the same time supply the superfluous expensiveness of their King. His Majesties Treasury would thereby soon be drained and if the seeds of a Civil War could be sowed when money was wanting a general revolution would quickly follow and the same Philip who till then had been the Idol of the Castillians would become their aversion The measures to be taken for the execution of that project ought not to be managed but by a very cunning person and for that purpose Ferdinand employed the famous Raymond of Cardonna with the following instructions * In his life in Castillian It hath been mentioned in the preceding Book that Queen Isabella at first reigned not peaceably in Castile That her Brother Henry had by the Infanta of Portugal a Daughter the most beautiful and unfortunate of her age That Isabella had maintained that Henry was impotent That Bertrand de la Cueva Duke of Albuquerque was her Father and that by consequent she ought not to succeed to the Crowns of Castile The probability of that discourse was grounded upon this that Henry having no Children by the Infanta of Navarre his first Wife had divorced her and having been able to get none neither upon the second the report went that he had rather that his Favourite La Cueva should supply his defect than that he should be reckoned impotent He constantly owned the Daughter whom his Wife brought forth for his own and his Sister Isabella being too weak to make her pass for illegitimate had her recourse to Ferdinand and married him though she was thirty two years of age and he but sixteen upon condition that he would back her interest with the Forces that he could bring from Arragon Ferdinand in a pitch'd Battel routed those who maintained the Party of the Princess of Castile forced her to take refuge in Portugal obliged the Estates of Castile to declare her Bastard and maintained himself in the possession of these Kingdoms during the life of Isabella But after her death for his own sake he formed a design of repairing the wrong he had done and proposed to himself the marriage of the Princess of Castile to bring her back by force of Arms into the Kingdoms that had belonged to Henry the Fourth to raise her the Party there again which before he had suppressed and there to renew the Civil War in the opinion that as at that time when the Forces of Arragon in the dispute betwixt the Aunt and the Neece were sufficient to give the Monarchy to her of the two Pretendents they declared in favours of that is for the Aunt in prejudice of the Neece so they would be still sufficient to turn the balance on the Neeces side in prejudice of the Children of the Aunt when they should awaken the dormant Faction under the same pretext that had been before made use of which was that of marriage There appeared only two impediments which might cross his marriage to be surmounted for as to the third which was the aversion that the Princess of Castile had to Ferdinand because he had robbed her of her Dominions he made account that she would be reconciled to him so soon as he offered to re-establish her in the Throne and that she would chuse rather by marrying him to recover the fairest Monarchy of Spain than as a private person to spend the rest of her days in a forced continence The first Impediment in the judgment of Ferdinand would be on the part of Pope Julius the second an undertaking bold man and ambitious to signalize himself but scrupulous and reserved in granting favours upon the sole account of making them the more valuable It was to be feared that his Holiness would hardly be brought to consent that Ferdinand should marry the Neece of his deceased Wife and that he would absolutely refuse the dispensation demanded were it for nothing else but that he might not fall out with the House of Austria which would thereby be irreconcilably offended But the enmity that Julius entertained against the French and the resolution he had already taken by all means to engage Ferdinand to joyn with him for driving them out of Italy made a stronger impression in the mind of that Pope than the Canon Laws He gave intimation to Ferdinand that the dispensation should be no hindrance to the marriage that he had in his head and so all Ferdinands care was to get over the next difficulty It consisted in getting the Princess out of Portugal and by consequent in disposing Manuel to deliver her Ferdinand expected far less opposition to his designs on the part of that Prince than he had found from the Pope because Manuel was doubly his Son-in-law It hath been said before that Ferdinand gave him in marriage his eldest Daughter upon no other account but that he might hinder his Succession from falling to the House of Austria into which the second Daughter was married and it is to be added here that Ferdinand's caution proving ineffectual he farther gave his third Daughter to his Portuguese Majesty who by consequent by an odd singularity not as yet to be parallelled in these last Ages having for his first Wife married his Nephew's Widow for his second married the Sister of his former Wife * He married also for his third Wife the Daughter of the Sister of his two former Wives But what appears to Kings most feisible in speculation is not so always in practice because self-love sometimes represents to them the interests that sets them upon action more urgent than it seems to be to other Sovereigns who they think ought to second them in the execution Manuel King of Portugal was of the humour of Princes who come to the Crown by chance and without laying claim to it directly He was only the kinsman far remote in a collateral Line of John the second his Predecessour and by consequent he was afraid upon the smallest occasions to lose the good fortune that had happened to him contrary to his expectation He saw no advantage neither present nor future in the proposition made to him of delivering the Princess of Castile and on the contrary found in it present inconveniences and inevitable Wars afterwards If the Princess had Children by Ferdinand those of Manuel would be the farther removed from the Succession of Arragon if she had none and yet out-lived him she would transfer the Crowns of Castile to him whom she should chuse for a second Husband and if she
more facility that Maximilian the Emperour the Father of their late King desired no better than to be called in to supply the place of his Son during the minority of his Grandchild Thus Ferdinand more fortunate than he expected was invited to retake the Government of Castile which two and twenty months before had been ignominiously taken from him and did not lose so favourable an occasion The conjecture that had been made of his moderation proved to be exactly true and that politick Prince was so far from revenging himself on those who had thrust him out that he made it his particular care to gain them and the first places that fell void as well as the favours that came to be distributed were all for them So rare and judicious a procedure had the effect that Ferdinand expected from it The Castilians being persuaded that he generously pardoned because he affected to seem unmindful of their fault on their part remembred it no more neither but only to make amends for it and lived afterward in so exact a submission that during the Reign of Ferdinand they forbore to demand as it was their custom to do the Convocation of the Estates for regulating the Government of the Monarchy and if thereafter they were assembled it was at his desire None but Manuel who being more politick and by consequent more distrustful than the rest was of a contrary opinion to that of the publick and would never trust Ferdinand He thought that he had too highly offended him to refer himself absolutely to his diseretion without passing for an imprudent man and the instance of the Great Captain * Gonsalvo whom his Friends proposed to him as a signal proof of the clemency of the Catholick King wrought nothing at all upon him He chose rather to banish himself from Castile than to live under an offended Master and quitted the great preferments that he owed to the liberality of Philip of Austria that he might go live without employment in Flanders with the Archduke Charles Chievres who intended to make use of him for the execution of the designs that shall be related in the sequel of this History received him as the services which he had rendered to their common Master deserved and made him his intimate friend Ferdinand was the more incensed at the retreat of Manuel because he knew him to be a man capable of forming and keeping on foot dangerous intrigues against him in Castile though he was in the Low Countries and used all means to hinder him from doing so Nevertheless his Catholick Majesty thought it not fit to persecute him directly lest the other Castilians might take umbrage thereat but thought it enough to attack him by such ways as concealed private revenge under a cloak of publick good However he deprived him of what he had purchased in Spain and endeavoured as much as in him lay to reduce him to his first state The pretext which he took to impoverish him without startling the Castillians deserves to be known The profuseness of Philip of Austria had been so great that it had encroached upon the Crown-Rents of the Kings of Castile which till then had never been alienated In the revocations of Ferdinand Ferdinand took the occasion he sought for to revoke all the Grants made by that young Prince for what cause soever and reserved to himself the liberty of confirming those which should appear to him to be just The Castillians took no exceptions at that order because it excused them from supplying the ordinary charges of the State and Manuel thereby lost the great settlements that he had in Castile He thought it not convenient to make any attempt for retaining them for besides that he foresaw it would be fruitless he would not give Ferdinand the satisfaction of refusing him He suffered himself to be stript of all without complaining and revenged himself afterwards according to the manner of the most refined Politicians that is to say by the help and under the name of another He seconded Chievres in his design of thrusting Ferdinand once more out of Castile by opposing the Emperour Maximilian the First to him and the measures that were taken to bring that about were so just that had it not been for France they had succeeded The Emperour rejected no proposition that gave him occasion of getting much money with little pains and upon that weak side Chievres and Manuel attacked him They caused it to be represented to him by men that seemed zealous for his Interests that the Catholick King had doubly offended him first in putting upon him so great an affront that no ordinary Gentleman would sit down with without venturing his life to have satisfaction for it next in doing him a notorious piece of injustice equally contrary to the right of private men and to that of Sovereigns The affront consisted in this that the Catholick King struck at the Emperours reputation in supposing him incapable of the guardianship of the Children of the late King of Castilē his Son seeing he had taken from him the administration of the best part of their Inheritance which was the Monarchy of Castile that the injustice regarded the exclusion of the noble Sex and the substitution of the more ignoble in the most important of civil actions which was the Regency of States That all the Laws and Customs of Europe called the Fathers of young Sovereigns to that Regency even when their Sovereignties came by the Mother and that if there were no Father the Grandfather for the same reason was preferred before the Grandmother and the Paternal Grandfather before the Maternal Nevertheless the Catholick King was gone into Castile had received the Oath of the People had put himself into possession of the Guardianship of the Children and converted their Revenues to his own use That the People of the Low Countries had so universally acknowledged that they could not lawfully frustrate the Emperour of the Guardianship of his Grand-children that the seventeen Provinces had by common consent referred it to him and that if the Castillians had not imitated them the blame must be cast upon the cunning of Ferdinand who had over-reached them That there was no more needful to force him once more out of Castile but to represent to them that they were outwitted by him and that if notwithstanding they persisted to own him as Regent it was easie for his Imperial Majesty to bring him to reason by sending German Forces into the Kingdom of Naples by the Gulph of Venice The Emperour was so much the more sensibly moved with this discourse that it opened him a way of enjoying almost the whole revenues of his Grandsons the eldest being maintained by the Flemings and the younger needing only a small pension for maintaining him in the Colledge of Alcala where he was His Imperial Majesty sent Embassadours to Ferdinand to bid him leave the administration of Castile and to declare War against him if
of Oran the Capital of a Kingdom to which it gave the name was afterwards attacked and taken by storm Bugy where the University of the Moors was and the only place known in Affrica where they went to learn the little of Arts and Sciences which they have was as easily conquered The occasion that Ximenes had of seizing it deserves to be known were it for no other reason but to convince us that if Christians took as much care to be informed of the affairs of Infidels as Infidels take to learn what news happen amongst Christians we should get more by it than they and find a a great many favourable occasions which are lost for want of that application The Uncle of the King of Bugy by the Father a few days before the Spaniards drew near that Kingdom thought it not enough to dethrone his Nephew but also put out his eye-sight with a hot Iron that thereby he might render him incapable of reigning and prevent according to the Custom of the Country the designs of those who pretended afterward to re-establish him upon the Throne during the life of the Usurper or immediately after his death Ximenes accidentally was informed of so barbarous an action and presently resolved to make his advantage of it He sent word to the friends of the dispossessed King that he would exemplarily revenge the injury that was done if they would act in concert with him and there needed no more to raise in the Kingdom of Bugy a second revolution as great as the former The Party that was worsted took courage again and quickly setled secret correspondences with the Spaniards who they thought had offered themselves to them out of a principle of generosity They took so just measures with them that they facilitated the taking of places that were capable to hinder them from approaching the Capital City and then brought them into Bugy by means that were kept so secret after the execution of them that the Spanish Historians disagree about the manner This is certain that an accident supervened which was so much the more favourable to the Spaniards for winning that other Crown of Barbary that not being so skilful in medicine as they had been in the time of Averroes and Avienne they took it for a miracle The red-hot Iron that had been made use of to blind the King by holding it near his eyes a quarter of an hour had indeed deprived him of sight but had not wholly dried up the humours whether it was that the Ministers of the Usurpers cruelty had taken it out of the fire before it was hot enough for the intended operation or that it was not put near enough his eyes and held there a sufficient time for drying entirely up the humidity which serves to the functions of sight The Spanish Chirurgions perceived it and undertook to cure the Moorish King. The cure was long and difficult but at length it succeeded and was look'd upon as well by him upon whom it was wrought as by his Subjects as an evident mark that it was the purpose of heaven that they should be Tributaries to the Spaniards The Corsairs of Algiers In the relation of that Conquest who till then had with impunity destroyed the Christian Fleets and spoil'd the Commerce of Europe in Africa followed the example of those of Bugy and submitted to the payment of the same tribute In a word the Spaniards by an excess of good fortune which they have not had since in their Wars against the Barbarians made themselves Masters of the Kingdom of Tripoli and Ximenes returned to his Church of Toledo with so much glory and booty that Ferdinand durst think no more of molesting him In this manner the Archduke Charles reaped so much advantage from the quarrel of that Prelate and his Maternal Grandfather that three illustrious Kingdoms and a more famous Republick were thereby subjected to him and shortly after in the year One thousand five hundred and twelve the same good fortune brought under his Dominion the Kingdom of Navarre when neither he himself nor his Governour Chievres had any hand in it That Monarchy had often fallen to Daughters and by consequent had successively passed into several Families By that way it was transferred from the ancient House of Navarre to that of Leon from the House of Leon to that of Castile from the House of Castile to that of Champagne from the House of Champagne to that of France from the House of France to that of Evreux from the House of Evreux to the House of Arragon and from the House of Arragon to that of Foix-Grailly Gaston de Foix married Eleanor Queen of Navarre second Sister to the Father of Ferdinand the Catholick King by whom he had twelve Children of both Sexes The eldest Son died at two and twenty years of age he left a Son and a Daughter whom he had of Magdalen the youngest Daughter of Charles the Seventh The Son named Francis Phoebus reigned not long in Navarre and died before he was married The Daughter named Catharine became thereby the richest Heiress of Europe She remained under the Guardianship of her Mother who would never hear of marrying again though she was a Widow at the age of seventeen years There were but few Princes in Europe that courted not the Alliance of the young Queen of Navarre and the most considerable Husband that was proposed to her was the Insanto of Spain John the Son of Ferdinand who was much of the same age with her That Prince was the only Son of Ferdinand and Isabella and if he had married Catharine all the Monarchies of Spain had been reunited except that of Portugal Ferdinand and Isabella designed that chiefly by the Match But Magdalen of France had not so great an aversion to the House she was come of as to contribute to the raising in Spain a Power almost equal to that of France She absolutely refused her Daughter to the Prince of Spain but for all that she had not so much kindness for the House of France as to marry her Daughter into it as she had not so much affection for her Daughter as to marry her into a Sovereign Family She gave her to John Son of Alan d' Albert a powerful Lord indeed in Gascony but who possessed not a foot of Land but what held of the Kings of France in quality of Dukes of Guyenne Irregularities in Politicks are of more dangerous consequence than others and it is rare to be found in History that Queens of themselves have married Husbands inferiour to them in quality without having great occasions of repenting it John d' Albert seemed born to verisie the old Proverb That the best men are not always the best Kings He had all the qualities that could accomplish a private man but he wanted those which distinguish Sovereigns from those that are not and were not cut out for being so He delighted only in study and minded nothing by his good
to supplant Chievres It is unknown whether there was any neglect on the Deans part in not sending speedy enough advice into Flanders of what he had judged convenient to negotiate in Spain whether his Secretary was not faithful to him whether Chievres was not punctually informed by the Intelligences which he entertained at vast charges in Spain of what was hatching to his prejudice or whether Ferdinand by a Politick fetch which the Dean had not foreseen was the Author himself of Chievres his being acquainted with it in prospect of Governing in Flanders when he had set the two most faithful Ministers of his Grandson one against another But it is certain that Chievres was punctually advertised from other hands than the Deans of what he had transacted with Ferdinand to his prejudice and that thereafter there was no more solid friendship betwixt the Governour and Praeceptor of the Archduke However their misunderstandings appeared not but in such private occurrences as concerned the profit or satisfaction of either of the two and by the rarest event that perhaps can be found in any History it did not the least prejudice to the affairs of their Pupil Since it had only hapned by the overweening application of one of the two that is of the Tutor to the service of the Archduke Ferdinand reaped not from it all the fruit which he expected and the countenance which afterward he gave the Dean procured him many friends at Court because the Spaniards began to despair of his Catholick Majesties recovery He recovered notwithstanding and since he thought it necessary to deceive people by feigning to have recovered his former vigour he often changed his residence and used all the other exercises of those who are in health But the Physicians for all that whispered his friends in the ear that his Dropsie was come to a height and that some time or other it would carry him off Chievres was so well informed of it that he advised the Archduke not to be any longer so great a husband of his measures with his Maternal Grandfather but to use all necessary caution to hinder the effect of the kindness which he had for the Infanto Ferdinand The most important that he suggested to him was taken from the consideration that all the Sovereigns of Europe Leagued together in the Year One thousand five hundred and fifteen with the Catholick King against the new King of France Francis the First who succeeded to Louis the Twelfth with design to divert him from recovering the Dutchy of Milan This was the Count of Angoulesm of whom we have spoken in the First Book and seeing till then he had made a profession of friendship to the Archduke it ought not to be interrupted by his advancement to the Crown of France Gouffiers and Chievres the Governours of those two young Princes had united them principally in that prospect and if Francis was concerned to make sure of not being attacked by the Low Countries whilst he was employed in Italy Charles was incomparably more to be in a perfect intelligence with the French when ever the Succession of Spain came to be open For if his younger Brother were preferred before him by the last Will of the Catholick King and that he offered to the new most Christian King to restore Navarre to John d' Albert provided France entred into a League offensive and defensive with him against his elder Brother the Archduke would have no other way of reducing him but by the Ocean Sea the more unsafe that it was exposed to frequent tempests and besides it would be the more uneasie to get into Spain that way that all the Ports would be their Enemies If the Archdukes Fleet were disabled by the Winds or defeated by Ships of his younger Brother it would be impossible for him to fit it out again seeing the Netherlands were not of the humour to be at the charge of another and if the Forces that he landed were cut in pieces he would hardly find any others that would venture upon a second Expedition If the Catholick King left only the Monarchy of Arragon to Ferdinand he would keep it in spight of his Brother provided France were not against him In fine if the Infanto were omitted in his Grandfathers Will and nevertheless he did aspire to the Thrones which had been designed for him the Spaniards who desired a King by themselves would contribute what in them lay to raise him to them and the Archduke would not be in a condition of opposing it unless assisted by France whereas by contracting a firm Alliance with that King those who awakened the Ambition of the Infanto whilst they exasperated the Catholick King against the Archduke would refrain from both these designs when they saw no hopes of succeeding in them The Catholick King would not prefer a younger Brother before an elder when he saw that his preference would serve for no other end than to give occasion to the elder to oppress the younger The Infanto would submit to the Laws of Spain when all hopes of violating them securely were taken from him and whatever unexpected accident might happen all the Paternal and Maternal Dominions of the Archduke would be united in his person The Archduke being persuaded by these reasons sent Henry Count of Nassau to the French Court and Chievres framed his Instructions They consisted of three parts with relation to the three principal Affairs which then were to be adjusted betwixt the Archduke and the most Christian King with this Artifice that the most important of the three was put in the last place and appeared only as an accessary to the other two whereas the other two rightly taken were but an accessary to the last Chievres then represented in the first place that it was absolutely necessary for the repose of Christendom that the King of France and the Archduke to the friendship that was betwixt them should add a Bond that might render it indissoluble and that in the Juncture then no such Bond could be but the marriage of the Archduke with Renée of France second Daughter to Louis the Twelfth and younger Sister to the most Christian Queen The Count of Nassau was told that the chief business for which he was sent to Paris was only to make that Proposal and that there seemed only two Obstacles that could thwart it one arising from the Portion of the Princess and the other from her Person As to the first all men knew that Louis the Twelfth had but two Daughters alive by the Heiress of Bretagne Claudia Queen of France and Renée and that Claudia the Eldest whom the Salick Law debarred from the Succession to the Crown carried by birth-right the two Fiefs which were in deed and in pretension the Estates of their Father and Mother to which the younger Sister could lay no claim The Fief effective was Bretagne and the pretended the Dutchy of Milan which Louis had lost three years before his death and
to meet in the City of Compostella in Galicia there to hold a Chapter for receiving him in quality of Great Master conform to the Bulls sent him from the Pope The chief Commanders were his Kinsmen or Allies and besides it was so much their interest that the Great Mastery should be cut off from the Crown that they made no scruple to obey him seeing in that case there was none of them who might not hope to be raised to it either by merit or faction whereas they must all be frustrated if it continued united to the Crown However the Assembly could not be kept so secret but that the Cardinal had notice of it and since there was a necessity of carrying high to chastize the attempt of Porto Carero or not at all to meddle in it he sent the Alcaide Villafanno with Forces to put a stop to the Chapter by fair means or foul The Commanders who were not prepared to fight separated so soon as the Alcaide had signified to them the Orders of the Cardinal and pretended to submit willingly to the Authority which they would not have regarded if it had been unarmed The Cardinal having sent them back to their several Commanderies caused them to be so narrowly observed there that it was impossible for them afterwards to meet again till the new Catholick King had obtained from the Pope the three great Masteries as vacant by the death of his Grandfather But the counter-blows in Politicks are sometimes more dangerous than the blows The Nobility of Castille took it ill that the Cardinal had so imperiously dispersed the Assembly of Galicia and accused him for having in that particular usurped a power which was not given him neither by the Testament of the late King nor by the Laws of the Monarchy whereof he was the Regent The Grandees made it a point of honour not to suffer the continuance of a procedure so unsuitable to a Priest and Monk and took the first occasion that they found to shake off a yoke which they called Tyrannical The occasion was this It had come into Ximenes his mind at an unseasonable time to endeavour the reformation of three abuses which in all likelihood ought to have been born with in the absence of the Sovereign if the Maxims of common Politicks had been followed The first was of some Officers of Court who by favour had obtained an augmentation of their Salaries the second of Pensions granted to Courtiers of Castille and Arragon who were known not to be deserving or not to have merited them by honest courses and the third consisted in recovering Crown Lands that had been alienated upon occasion of the Conquests of Grenada Naples and Navarre Before Ximenes put his design in execution he had demanded the advice of Chievres who counselled him to stay till the Catholick King were come into Castille But whether it was that he thought himself strong enough to bring about so bold a project without the assistance of his Master or that he imagined Chievres envied him the glory which he might thereby obtain he went on still with his work He moderated at first with pretty good success the new augmentations of Salaries and the Grandees of Spain were very well pleased with the reduction of Wages to the Ancient standard because on the one hand the high Nobility had hardly any concern in that and on the other those who were prejudiced by the Cardinals regulation were satisfied to repine at it in secret The retrenching of Pensions caused him more trouble by reason that the murmuring was more universal and more publick But the recovery of the Crown Lands reached too high not to meet with terrible impediments at the very first step It was pretended that the Catholick King must not only enter again into the Lands sold at an under-rate or given in gratuities but also into those which the detainers could not make out to have been alienated by good Contracts and for lawful causes There were but few Lords of the high Nobility who possessed not some of this nature and if they had no favour shew'd them it was almost certain they would be excited to a Revolt Nevertheless they were summoned as well as others and a shortenough time assigned them for making good their Titles The indignation that this wrought in them gave occasion to Pedro Giron eldest Son to the Count of Vregna to think that the time was now come for recovering the Dutchy of Medina Sidonia which he had been turned out of For understanding this Affair which raised all Spain almost we must know that Don Juan de Gusman Duke of Medina Sidonia Espoused in first marriage the eldest Daughter of the Duke of Bejar by whom he had a Son called Henry and a Daughter named Mentia Henry was importent and Mentia married to the Count of Vregna had by him Pedro Giron The Duke of Medina Sidonia enjoyed not long his first Wife having lost her the third year after their Marriage He was still young and his first alliance had given him often occasion of seeing the second Daughter of the Duke of Bejar his Sister-in-Law He had been extreamly much taken with her and if the inclination that he had for her remained within the bounds of a bare respect so long as he was married to her Sister it degenerated into love so soon as he became a Widower He was without contradiction the richest Lord of Andalusia had lived very well with his former Wife offered to marry her Sister upon the same conditions that is to say without a portion The great men of Spain minded not much at that time the proximity of bloud in their Alliances and the Duke of Bejar had a numerous Family These five considerations moved Bejar to condescend to accept of Medina Sidonia for his Son-in-Law a second time and seeing all ways were taken for obtaining a dispensation from the Holy See in the most favourable Form that then was in fashion In the History of Medina Sidonia it was at length granted Of the second Marriage he had a Son famous in History by the name of Alvaro de Gusman and the Duke his Father bred him up as the next lawful Heir of his vast Estate so soon as the impotency of Henry de Gusman the only Son of his first Bed came to be known Alvaro grew to be so accomplished a Lord that the Catholick King Ferdinand pitched upon him for a Husband to Anne of Arragon lawful Daughter to Alphonso of Arragon his Majestie 's Natural Son But there are few signal Incests amongst Christians which wholly escape unpunished till the other World and God commonly begins in this by dreadful chastisements to shew his aversion to such promiscuous mixtures which he only suffered in the beginning of the World and for the multiplication of Mankind Pedro Giron eldest Son of Mentia Daughter by the first Marriage to the Duke of Medina Sidonia claimed to be sole and universal Heir to his
be acteâ— than one was aware of and the Chaplain only accepted it for fear of losing his place He went and fell on his knees before Ximenes and begg'd his pardon for the injury that he was constrained to do him Having used that caution he repeated word for word all that he was charged to tell him and the Cardinal who no less admired the simplicity than the blind obedience of the Church-man heard him as peaceably as if he had been speaking verses to his praise He did not interrupt him changed neither countenance nor posture and replied only two things with as moderate a tone as if what he had heard had been altogether indifferent to him first That a Priest as he was ought not to have undertaken a Commission so mis-becoming his character and next that he should make hast back again to the Duke and that he would find him sorry for the impertinent words that he had put into his mouth It is not known what ground there was for the prophecy but it is certain it proved true In the relation of that quarrel The Duke whose passion had hindred him from reflecting upon the command that he had given to his Chaplain judged it ridiculous so soon as it was over He chid those that were then about him for having suffered him to do it and hardly forbore punishing his Chaplain at his return for having so readily and faithfully obeyed him He sent him back immediately to make an Apology to Ximenes who still remembring the obligation that he had to the Duke for having refused to engage in the interests of Pedro Giron consented that the Constable of Castille should interpose for an accommodation It was no hard matter for the Constable to conclude it seeing both parties desired it with equal earnestness But just as the Articles were finished a circumstance intervened that was within an Ace of breaking it up in an irreparable manner The Cardinal and Duke had their interview at Fon-Carrallio where the two parties and Mediator judged it not fit to bring almost any body along with them to the end they might confer together with greater freedom The Cardinal had even concealed the matter from Don Juan de Spinosa Captain of his Guards who coming to know of it by another way thought that his place obliged him to go and Guard him at least upon his return since he would not be attended when he went. He caused his Troop to mount on Horse-back and arrived with it at Fon-Carrallio about the end of the interview The Duke and Constable no sooner heard the Neighing of the Horses and the Trumpet that sounded before the Troop but they imagined that Ximenes dealt treacherously with them and had ordered Forces to come and seize their persons They openly resented it and Ximenes who knew himself to be innocent fell a laughing at their panick fear He lookt out at the window perceived Spinosa made him a sign to come to him sharply reproved him for his unseasonable diligence threatned to turn him out if he did the â—ike again and sending him presently â—ack as fast as he came he returned some time after with the Duke and Constable He came not off so soon nor so easily â—n another clashing that he had with the Count of Vregna seeing in all appearance the poison that was given him proceeded from that There was a cause depending betwixt the Count and Quichada for the property of Villa fraâ—re near Vailladolid and the Count who was more powerful and of greater quaâ—ity than the other had by his own Authority put himself into possession of the controverted Estate So he pleaded with a full hand and Quichada who had the better title demanded that the Estate might be put into sequestration The Council of Spain granted the petition and Ximenes sent a Messenger and Serjeants to take up the Rent of Villa-fratre These inferiour Officers of Justice were abused in the execution of their Commission by the Son of the Count of Vregna assisted by his Friends whâ— were the Sons of the Constable Admiral and of the Duke of Albuquerquâ— The Messenger on whom blows had not been spared complained of it to the Court of Vailladolid which forthwith ordered the Militia of the Country to gâ— and be assistant to the Officers of Justice The Bishop of Malaga President of that Court went to command them and the Constable of Castille who saw his Son for company-sake engaged in an ugly business went himself to take it up aâ— Villa-fratre where the young Lords fortified themselves with their Fathers Vassals whom they had called to their assistance His Authority over his Son his perswasions to the other Lords hiâ— Prayers importunities and menaces prevailed upon them at length to comâ— out of the place and to leave the Bishoâ— in full liberty of executing the Sentence of the Court whereof he was Commissary and seeing that Prelate was a moderate man he stopt there that is to say there was no prosecution on his part against the young men who had beaten the Messenger and the Serjeants It is to be believed that if Ximenes had been of his humour there would have been no more of the matter But there was not in all the world two men of a more different temper though otherwise they were intimate friends Ximenes thought there could not be a more enormous fault in Politicks than any way or for any cause whasoever to connive at attempts against the Sovereign Power and in such a case never made any distinction betwixt high and low conditions The Bishop on the contrary was possessed with an opinion that there was flesh and bloud in actions against Sovereignty as well as in others and that though the consequence of the former required a greater severity to be used against them than against the latter yet it followed not from thence that pity and mercy should be absolutely banished from them So Ximenes ordered all those who had resisted Justice to be apprehended and sent the Alcaide Sarmiento to prosecute them with orders neither to make an end of nor desist in the Suit until the Criminals were brought to exemplary punishment and Villa-fratre which had served them for a place of retreat demolished By that means all the high Nobility were attacked because there was not a Lord in all Castille who was not related either in bloud or affinity to these four young Lords or at least who aspired not to be so And indeed the Criminals fearing to be apprehended in the Field or in the Castles of their Fathers returned to Villa-fratre which they defended stoutly enough But Sarmiento laid a formal Siege to them and in process of time reduced them to great extremities He bore with all the railleries that they put upon Him and Ximenes whose Images they dragg'd about the Streets and put them so hard to it that they were come to the last bit of Bread when finding by chance a quarter in the Lines worse guarded than
in one and the same Family she had two Lovers that deserved her who offered to take her without putting her Brother to any trouble for a Portion We have taken notice before that Manuel King of Portugal Espoused in first marriage his Nephews Widow eldest Sister to the Mother of the Catholick King by whom he had a Son who if he had lived would have put by the Catholick King from the successions of Castille and Arragon But the Mother dying of her first Child and the Child not surviving her above two years Manuel for his second Wife married the Sister of his former younger than the Catholick Kings Mother by whom he had five Sons and four Daughters She also had left him a Widower at the Age of forty nine years and seeing he was not of the humour to spend the rest of his life in Widowhood he courted for a third Wife the elder Sister of the Catholick King and Niece to his two former Wives But he was rivall'd by his own eldest Son John Infanto of Portugal who pretended to the Infanta Leonora upon better ground as being of the same Age with her So that the Catholick King was to chuse Father or Son which he pleased and Chievres inclined him in favour of the Father by representing to him that if he took the Infanto of Portugal for his Brother-in-law he could draw no assistance from him when he stood in need of it for canvassing for the Empire it being the custom of Portugal that the eldest Sons of the Kings had no more subsistence but their Fathers Table with a small Pension until the Law of Nature and of the State called them to the Crown That in the mean time they ate with their Fathers their Servants of whom they had but a small number were payed with the Kings and that they received for Cloaths and their small pleasures but about a thousand Crowns a month Whereas Manuel being the King of Europe that had most money and having been governed by his two former Wives he would give the third no less dominion over him and would not have the power to refuse her when she should desire him to lend the King her Brother the vast summs of money that he would stand in need of for disposing the more scrupulous Electors to give him their Voices The Catholick King being prevailed upon by that Argument employed Chievres to perswade the Infanta his Sister to prefer the Father before the Son and Chievres for compleating what he had begun had no more to do but to take the Infanta by her weak side which was ambition He represented to her that Manuel Amongst the Pictures of Portugal who had always been reckoned the handsomest Monarch of his Age had not as yet lost any of his personal Charms That few men of his Age matched him in vigour That he had all the signs of a long life and by consequence the Prince of Portugal must wait long before he could come to the Crown That the Princess that should marry him would be in danger of never being Queen whereas she that married his Father would be sure of it the first day The Infanta Leonora was of the Age wherein Maids are only taken with what glisters to their Eyes She considered nothing but the outside of Royalty was charmed with it and fancied that she could not too soon be a Queen So she willingly fell into the snare that Chievres â—aid for her and consented to marry Manuel She was not long left in that inclination without giving her satisfaction for fear she might change her mind and she was Crowned the same day she was married by Proxy though it was still the custom to delay such Ceremonies till the Marriage were in effect consummated The Catholick King being thus discharged of his Brother and elder Sister went merrily into Arragon where he found a fresh the usefulness of the Council that Chievres had given him of removing with all expedition and by all means the Infanto Ferdinand out of Spain The Estates of Arragon assembled at Sarragossa in the Palace of the Archbishop made greater difficulty of acknowledging the Catholick King for their King during the life of the Queen his Mother than the Estates of Castille had done They demanded in the first place that they might be allowed to give their Oath at the same time to the Infanto Ferdinand as presumptive Heir of their Monarchy and it was the more positively refused them that it was seen that they thereby sought a pretext of revolting when they pleased by refusing to put in execution afterwards the Orders of the Catholick King that might in the least seem uneasie to them upon the only account that the concurrence of the Infanto might be wanting to them The Estates solicited that Article with so much zeal as made it visible that they would never have yielded in it had that young Prince been still in Spain And the truth is they yielded not till it was slily insinuated to them that their efforts were so far from recalling the Infanto back into Spain that they would hinder him from ever setting foot there again as it happened The second proposition which they added to the former had no better reception They condescended to acknowledge the Catholick King but they pretended it should be as Guardian and Administrator of the Estates of his Mother during her infirmity and not in quality of King. It was easie to be seen that their design was to Reign amongst themselves during the life of the Queen and the Grandees of Castille who had in honour to the Catholick King waited on him to Sarragossa were so scandalized at it that some of them went to words about it with the Deputies of Arragon and raised quarrels which occasioned bloud-shed But at length Chievres appeased them and the Catholick King was acknowledged for Monarch of Arragon without any other condition but that of confirming the priviledges of the Country as he had been acknowledged in Castille The ceremony of it was performed in the beginning of May one thousand five hundred and eighteen and six weeks after Chievres had much ado to ward the reverse blow of the Infanto's travels into Germany so hard a thing it is in Politicks to give good counsels in one sence which are not bad in another The Infanto Ferdinand being come to the Emperor Maximilian his Grandfather to Vienna in Austria moved him with pity at his misery and affected him with the same sentiments that Ferdinand the Catholick had heretofore had for him His Imperial Majesty resolved to make over to him the Territories which the house of Austria possessed in Germany and to assure to him the Succession to the Empire He needed the consent of the Catholick King for putting in execution the first of these projects but not of the second and that made him delay the one that he might mind the other The Diet was summoned at Ausbourg against the end of the year
she was most besides her self They made her write and sign whâ—… 〈…〉 â—…ey pleased and seeing the comâ—… 〈◊〉 â—ople of Spain idolized that Princess 〈◊〉 easily believed the Seditious whâ— perswaded them that she had indeâ—…â—mmediately after the death of her Husband been subject to some disorders of mind occasioned by the extraordinary love that she had for him But that she soon came to her self again and notwithstanding she was still confined as before by a piece of injustice so much the more enormous that her own Father that he might Reign in Castille was the Author of it That Cardinal Ximenes had continued it to keep himself from succumbing under the aversion of the Grandees and that her Son persisted therein for the same reason that his maternal Grandfather had done it But that God who had not bestowed the Catholick Queen upon Spain to remain always useless to them had now set her at liberty and that her good and faithful Subjects would quickly see the astonishing effects of her wisdom in governing them The Cardinal of Tortosa gave the Emperor advice of all these particulars now related as fast as they happened and Chievres who did not think them dangerous before the Rebels had seized the person of the Queen was of another judgment when he had intelligence sent him that they were Masters of Tordesillas He was of the opinion that the Emperor should write to the Cardinal Constable and Admiral by all means to compose the trouble and to begin with mildness If the Rebels were not reclaimed by that they should next endeavour to divide them and if they continued firm in their confederacy they must if possible be fought in a pitched Battel before they should take full measures for a long resistance The three Governours punctually obeyed and they made offer to the Spaniards that for the future no Fleming should be preferred to any dignity Ecclesiastical or Secular in Spain provided those who already had such should enjoy them during life The proposition was not only rejected but also called ridiculous and the Rebels stood upon it so obstinately that all the Flemings should forth with be banished that now they excepted not Chievres as hitherto they had done nor yet the Cardinal his Nephew The Bishop of Zamorra aspired to the Archbishoprick of Toledo and there was not one of his listed Priests who promised not to himself the first vacant Benefice in the same Church So they had recourse to the second expedient which Chievres had proposed if the first failed and at first they addressed themselves to the Bishop of Zamorra That Prelate told his mind without much ceremony and assured them that if he renounced the Union it should only be to be Primate of Spain But that had been a way to reward Rebellion too liberally and it would have been a precedent of too dangerous consequence especially in Spain where the minds of the people being once set upon Rebellion are not so easily taken off of it as in France They made application in the second place to Padilla who was as untractable as the Bishop of Zamorra He was governed by his Wife whose capricious impiety is too remarkable not to find a place in this History She had need of money to send to her Husband who commanded the Forces of the League and the Purses of the Citizens of Toledo where then she was were drained under pretext that Queen Jean would punctually pay those who had contributed their money for raising her to the Throne The Plate of the Metropolitan Church was so well hid by the Treasurer who had the care of it that it had in vain been sought for in all places where it could be imagined it was There was no way of putting that Church-man to the Rack to make him confess where he had put that which was entrusted with him for besides that the priviledges of his Dignity and of his Church protected him from that the common people would not have suffered him to have been Racked But the Shrines of Reliques were not lock'd up because it was thought that the Sanâ—ity of the Bones that were shut up in them would be sufficient to keep them from being touched especially seeing the Wife of Padilla affected an extraordinary devotion But the good Lady having sometime considered what she had best do thought she had found out a rare expedient to adjust Sacriledge with Piety She went streight to the Church accompanied with the worst Church-men of the Bishop of Zamorra cloathed in their Priestly Habits and carrying in their hands lighted Torches She fell upon her knees before the Reliques made a speech to them prayed them with joyned hands not to take it ill that they were stript of their Ornaments for a very short time enlarged upon the reasons for so doing and solemnly swore one day to restore the double of what she was about to take Afterwards she caused the Reliques to be taken out of their Shrines wrapped up in clean Linen with Notes in writing to shew what Saints they belonged to put up again into the presses after they had been censed and having carried away the Shrines turned them into money It was no easie matter to reclaim a woman that was come to that excess and Padilla to whom she had been a Megaera if he had dared to have listened to proposals of agreement without her with her consent demanded the great Mastery of S. James without which he must not renounce the confederacy To this purpose he spake to those who founded him in name of the Governours and it was to no purpose to represent to him that the Dignity which he desired was annexed to the Crown not to be separated from it That he knew not what he demanded That his King would be jealous of him so soon as he should be great Master and that he would never quietly possess what he had obtained by the Sword. He continued notwithstanding so firm that they were forced to try whether Pedro Giron might not be more tractable They offered him ready money and the erection of his Lands of Ossuna into a Dutchy but he made answer that he was of too ancient a Family to be content with a new Dutchy That that of Medina Sidonia the ancientest of Spain belonged to him in right of his Mother That he should not fail to be thankful to those who would put him in possession of it but so long as he lived he would not lose his hopes of recovering it They pressed him no more at that time to declare for the Emperor because he went to lead the Rebel Army to the Siege of the Town of Medina de Riosecco where the Army of the Governours too weak to keep the Field was retired They began there to be in want of Provisions and Forrage and there needed no more but to persist in intercepting their Convoys to oblige them to render upon discretion which would have occasioned the entire loss of Spain to the
was punctually informed of all and seeing her Son was under age and that she expected to be Regent if at that time he had hapned to be King she thought she might lawfully anticipate the function in a Juncture that could not be more important All the Courtiers who were of the humour to prefer the rising Sun before the setting were her friends and amongst these was the Mareschal de * Rene of Rohan Gie. Gie was a compleat Courtier and the Favourite of two successive Kings Charles the Eighth and Louis the Twelfth which was rare and without losing the good opinion which the Publick conceived of his probity during his twofold favour which is rarer still He was a great lover of his Country and if heretofore he was the cause that the French at the Battel of Fornona did not cut in pieces all the Italian Forces who attempted to hinder their passage it was because he thought the Conquerours could not gain so much by far in obtaining a total Victory as they might lose in the sequel of the fight by reason of the person of Charles the Eighth who was too deeply engaged in the Conflict He knew that the Queen designed her Daughter for the Archduke and was sensible of what consequence it would be for the Kingdom to frustrate the accomplishment of it So the Countess had no sooner given him notice that Madam was embarked and sollicited him to stop her as she passed through his Government of Anjou but that he consented to it though he foresaw the troublesom consequences of so bold an enterprise in their full extent He omitted nothing that might sweeten the bitterness of it His respects were most profound in diverting Madam from prosecuting her Journey He used her and those of her retinue with extraordinary civility he contracted debts to defray her charges with greater Magnificence which afterwards encumbred his Estate but to be short if he served the Countess in what she most desired he provoked the Queen in the point she was most sensible in and rendered her irreconcilable to him Her Majesty took it so ill that a Breton born her Subject and descended of a Family so often allied to the House of Dreux should dare to oppose what she most ardently desired that at the very instant she swore she would be his ruine and endeavoured to be as good as her word upon the first occasion that offered The King contrary to all expectation recovered and by incessant importunities she forced that good Prince to abandon his Favourite Gie was brought to a trial In the Memoires of Bretagne and it appears in the Papers of the Chamber of accounts of Bretagne that the Queen laid out 35000 Livers for carrying on his Process which at that time was a vast Sum in the mean time she had but half of her revenge and the Mareshal was only sentenced to be banished and to end his days in the lovely House of Verger seated in the same Province of Anjou where he had the unhappiness to displease the Queen The Countess nevertheless obtained her ends seeing the chief Persons of the Kingdom being assembled by the King's permission presented to his Majesty a most humble and judicious Petition They earnestly begg'd of him to grant his loyal Subjects the favour which they most ardently and with great Justice desired which was the marriage of Madam his Daughter with the Count of Angoulesm to the end that that Princess being one day to inherit in full the Dutchy of Bretagne and her younger Sister having no claim but to a very little share in the other Estates of her Mother which might be valued at a Sum of Mony the whole Province might be so incorporated with the French Monarchy that for the future it could not be dismembred from it though the most Christian Kings should leave none but Daughters The Juncture was favourable seeing the French demanded nothing of Louis the Twelfth but what he could honestly and with a good conscience grant The Emperour and Catholick King were the first that had violated the Treaty which promised Madam to their Grandson and their prevarication in that point was so evident that all the Potentates of Europe were convinced of it So his most Christian Majesty being discharged of his Oaths listened to the Address with his accustomed goodness and pass'd his word that Madam should marry the Count of Angoulesm and that the Marriage should be consummated so soon as she was of age The Queen who could neither break nor defer a resolution which was so odious to her promised her self to frustrate the accomplishment of it and they who knew how easily the King had sacrificed to her his Favourite thought that she proposed nothing in that beyond her power but the Countesses good fortune levelled that difficulty when at Court it seemed to be insuperable The Queen who in all appearance and according to all the Rules of Physick was like to out-live the King and to hold out to an extreme old age nevertheless died before him at the age of thirty seven years The Countess found no more opposition to her designs at Court The Friends of the Queen courted her favour and she was presented with what fitted her best of the Furniture and Rarities of the House of Bretagne Her Son married Madam and that Princess entertained as great an affection for her Husband as possible could be though like that of most part of other women it bordered not upon Jealousie Most of the particulars we have now related hapned before Chievres was Governour to Charles and those who before him were about that young Prince failed not to represent to him upon all occasions according to the Orders they had received from his two Grandfathers that the Count of Angoulesm in taking his Wife from him had done him an irreparable injury That it was an affront not to be suffered without infamy nor revenged but by the bloud of him that had given it That the truth was the Count was at that time below the anger of the Archduke being but as yet a private person but that he would not be always so and that the Monarchy of France look'd upon him as Heir apparent That when once he was King he ought to call him to an account by the way of Arms which was the only course Sovereigns had when they intended to reduce Persons of their own quality to reason and that in the mean time it would be a disgrace to the Archduke to entertain any communication with him That he ought not to propose to himself the Example of Maximilian his Grandfather who shewed no resentment but in word when King Charles the Eighth robbed him of his Wife Anne of Bretagne for it was not for want of courage that Maximilian suffered it but out of an absolute impossibility of revenging himself in that he was under the power of a Father when the injury was done to him That the Emperour Frederick the Third his