Laws and that nothing is more necessary for the Common-weal than good institution and vertuous education of Youth CAP. IV. XImenes had not only a real Affection for Learning but a high esteem for its faithfull Attendants Honesty and Integrity though his affection to the one and esteem for the other terminated in Religion as the ultimate object of his best affections the Ascendant of his soul and Lady paramount of his passions To which he was so entirely devoted as to take the measure of his affection and esteem for Learning and Honesty from their usefulness to the advancement of Religion The zeal he had to propagate Christianity made him labour willingly and much for the Conversion of Infidels About the end of this year he attended the King and Queen in their Kingdom of Granada newly recovered from the Moors to give advice how this new Conquest might be best maintained and found time to preach so fervently to the Moors that in one day he converted three thousand of them to the faith of Christ And the multitude of the Converts making it impossible to baptize them all in the usual form within the compass of a day using aspersion instead immersion he sprinkled them all with baptismal water and so initiated them all the same day in the Christian Religion In memory whereof that day being the 16th of December was long kept Festival in Spain The Archbishop of Granada in his harangue to the Cardinal upon the Triumphs of that Kingdom amongst others hath this expression Sir I may say without incurring suspicion of flattery that your Victories surpass the King's for he gained Stones but you have gained Souls to God The greatest part of the unconverted Moors followed the example of a Prince of their Sect of the Royal Family of the Kings of Granada who became Christian and drew them with him to the knowledge of the true Religion These new Converts by the light of truth began to discover and detest their former errors and of their own accord laid at Ximenes feet five thousand Volumes of the Alcoran or Glosses and Explications of it all curiously bound neatly trimmed and exquisitely adorned with Claspes and Knots of Silver Gold and precious Stones which made out the Esteem that people had for the lying impostures of their Prophet Many Grandees of Spain became Suitors to Ximenes for one of those Books to adorn their Libraries but he refused and causing a great fire to be made exposed them all to the fury of the devouring flames except few that treated of Physick and had been found among the Alcorans Taking from these new Converts those objects which might renew the memory of the Errors in which they had lived most part of their time So frail and so fickle is our nature in good actions that our progress in the way of vertue is like that of Boats against the stream of a rapid Torrent which fall back in one hour more than they advance in a whole day This was not enough to contain them within the bounds of their duty some sighed for their lost liberty others relapsed into their old superstitions and taking up Arms resolved to force their way to both by fire and sword Ximenes who was yet in Granada stood the shock and bearing up bravely in a Sea of troubles that surrounded him sends an Express to the King And for better dispatch a Gentleman of Quality of the same City offered him an Ethiopian Slave so nimble and swift of foot that he would travell fifty Leagues a day But the brutish Sot having received the Pacquet instead of making haste overcharged himself so with Wine and Victuals at the second Inn he met with by the way that he slept there till the morrow after and he who should have been in two dayes at Sevil where the Court then was made it five ere he arrived there In the mean time the King had intelligence of the Revolt of the Moors of Granada from them who envying the greatness of Ximenes took care to send better Courriers than the Ethiopian and informed the King that Ximenes who through a rash and undiscreet zeal would have converted to Christianity in a moment men who were not only born and had lived but were for the most part grown old in the Profession of Mahometism had lost the Realm of Granada That he was utterly incapable to manage matters of State who proposed and made use of no other allurements to win over his Converts to submit their necks to the yoke of a new Government than the headstrong Capricchio's of his violent fancy and the rigorous Austerities he had practised in a Cloister Ferdinand believes them and remembring Ximenes had been introduced into Court and his Conduct extolled by the Queen his Wife goes to her Lodgings and all in a flame See now Madam sayes he the Triumphs of our Ancestors and our own purchased with the blood of the Nobles of Spain ruined in a moment by the humoursome follies of your Ximenes Ximenes by this time had intelligence from his friends of the negligence of the Ethiopian and the sense of the Court he acknowledges his fault to entrust the sottishness of such a Brute with an Affair of so great Importance And resolved for the future never to send Courriers on the like Occurrences but such as were persons of integrity and honest Repute which he observed making it his custom to honour and load with Presents such whom he imployed in dispatches of Consequence To retrive this miscarriage and remedy the present disorder of his Affairs he dispatched Roiiys his Companion of the Order to inform their Majesties of the Causes of the Revolt and the Remedies he had applyed The good estate of Granada quenched the fire of Ferdinands anger and displeasure against Ximenes and drew from him Letters of thanks to Ximenes for his great expence for the good of the publick in restoring peace to Granada and the dangers he exposed himself to to save his Cities from ruine and the Kingdom from destruction A Minister of State who labours with integrity to serve his Majesty ought by good Actions and patience to overcome the Envy and Calumnies of his Enemies which like thin mists are easily dissipated and being built on the sandy foundations of falseshood and lyes are soon shaken and moulder to nothing CAP. V. THE watchings and labours Ximenes underwent to suppress the Tumults of Granada had impaired his health into a Hectick Feavour so malignant that the Physitians could find no remedy for it A Moriseo-woman converted by him hears of this and sends him another woman of the same Nation to desire permission to cure his Feavour which being granted her within eight dayes by the use of Oyntments and some words she recited she restored him to perfect health This enabled him to go to Toledo to salute the Princess Joan Daughter and Heiress of Ferdinand and Isabel together with Philip of Austrich her Husband and Son to the Emperour
Maximilian who were lately come to Spain And thence to visit that glorious Temple of the Muses his Colledge of Arcala the love of Learning being inseparable from his soul insomuch that in the year 1502. in order to the Explication and Imprinting of the Holy Scriptures in Latine Greek Hebrew and Chaldee by persons of knowledge and skill in those Tongues at his charge in that City he bought up all the Manuscript Bibles he could hear of and caused most exact and correct Impressions to be made thereof in those Languages Seven Hebrew Copies cost him four thousand Crowns the Latine and Greek Manuscripts being eight hundred years old amounted to a greater summ besides a vast expence for maintenance and Salaries of Professors of those Languages and Correctors and Printers for fifteen years His design was to instruct the Priests in the Truths of the two Testaments and to leave the Church these Lights of the Holy Scriptures in their original purity As if he had foreseen that a few years after the perfection of this work Heresie would arise by false interpretation of Scripture to attacque the purity of Christian Doctrine And therefore he provided this Impression as a well furnished Armoury to defend the Church against the malice of her Enemies This great and painfull work being finished and the Printer presenting him with the first Copy of it with eyes and hands lift up for joy to Heaven My God said he I return thee immortal thanks for granting my desires of good success to this work Then turning to his Domestiques who were most familiar with him 'T is true said he my friends that God hath been pleased to crown my Labours with success in many important Affairs for the good of the State but there is not any thing in which ye ought to rejoyce with me more than for the happy accomplishment of this Impression and Explication of the Bible in the four Languages He had designed also a Translation of Aristotle's works and to adorn them suitable to the dignity of the subject And certainly since he thus revived good Literature 't is but just Learning should raise him to life again and that the Muses give immortality to his Name for he who labours for them ought in recompence of his Travels to receive from them the Auguste priviledge of never dying Much about this time Joan Heiress of Spain was delivered of her second Son at Arcala Ximenes layes hold of the opportunity for the glory of his Colledge and by the favour of this birth obtained for that City which he had made an habitation of the Muses exemption from Taxes and all manner of Impositions The inhabitants of Arcala in memory of the favour keep to this day the Cradle of that Prince and bless the name of Ximenes who procured it As he went out of his Lodgings the same day he met the Officers of Justice leading a Malefactor to the Gibbet he stops them and grants the wretched Criminal Pardon Telling them that though it was an Action beyond his Authority yet so much ought to be allowed his Dignity to hinder that day of general Joy to all Spain from being Capital to an Inhabitant of Arcala After this he built a Colledge for Maids of honest Families whom Poverty kept in ignorance and adjoyned to it a Nunnery for the entertainment of such who were inclined to bid farewell to the world with Provision that none should be taken into it but such as came voluntarily and as for those who desired to continue secular besides the vertuous breeding of the Colledge he gave them honourable portions and disposed of them in Marriage according to their conditions These works of Piety and the War against the Moors were the Treasury where he laid up those Riches Fortune cannot destroy CAP. VI. BEing at Medina Jerome Vianelli a Venetian â—ffered him a Jewell at 5000. Crowns and pressed him much to buy it though the price put upon it exceeded far the value of the Stone Ximenes liked well the neat glittering and sparkling brightness of the Jewel but I know sayes he to bestow the money better for in an urgent necessity I can relieve 5000. Souldiers with Crowns apiece his Levies for the Wars of Africk being then afoot The year 1505 Spain had great loss by the death of Queen Isabel the Most Illustious Princess of her Age no less Eminent for acquired habits of Goodness than Royal Extraction being as worthily adorned with the Crowns of Vertue as legally Crowned with the Diadem of Spain a Princess of Knowledge Piety and Generosity above the usual Capacity of her Sex She who had observed in Ximenes the Eminence of Rare Conduct attended with singular integrity made him Executor of her Last Will and Testament which was but a drop of that Ocean of honour those qualities procured him which rendered him so venerable in the State that never Minister was so much honoured in his life so much desired and missed after his death Every time he came to wait on his Master Ferdinand the King went out of his Chamber to meet him and at parting brought him to the Chamber-door nor would he siâ— till a Seat were given Ximenes So powerful are great Vertues as to obliege even the Scepters of the World to reverence them That Minister who is prudent and Generous whose designes tend only to the glory of his Master and good of the publick deserves the Surname of Guardian-Angel of the State and ought to be honoured as such by every one The death of Isabel gave Ximenes occasion to do Ferdinand good Service in Spain and to give new proofs of the greatness of his Conduct Isabel who was Queen of Castile had by her Testament made Ferdinand her Husband who was only King of Arragon Administrator general of the Kingdom of Castile Philip his Son in Law husband as was said of the sole Heiress of that Kingdom had other designes and by the instigation of some Grandees of Spain and presuming upon the amity of France intended to dethrone his Father in Law and take possession of Castile as the inheritance of his Wife He was at that time in Flanders with Joan about whom Ximenes had placed some persons of trust by whom she informed him of the designes of her Husband to trouble Spain and the ill usage she had from him for his Love to the Flemmish Ladies had divided the Husband and Wife and filled their Breasts with Jealousie and hatred of each other Joan writes to her Father the threats of Philip to drive him out of Castile contrary to the Testament of the Queen her Mother Philip surprizes Fernand's Embassadour with several Letters about him and without respect to his person caused him to be imprisoned Ximenes advertised of these threats and violences advises the Remedy for Ferdinand's service he knew Philip had Negotiations afoot in France to sollicite the Aid of that Court against his Father in Law Ximenes steps in and prevents it advises Ferdinand to a
advice and gather the same fruits from his conduct as have given my name and that of Queen Isabel the reputation and glory of having happily governed Spain and to the inhabitants of these Kingdoms the felicity they enjoy After this Enterview the Kings parted Philip went to dinner at Bimo Ferdinand at Remefid and Simenes at Requete three little villages within half a league of the Ermitage but the advantage of accommodation was on Philip's part as feasted before dinner with the Royal Collation of Ferdinands entertainment For the Sage advice for the Government of a Kingdom is a true aliment of Prince's spirit The affairs of Castile were at this time carried according to the passion of the high Treasurer Don John Manuel Philips favorite and the Revenue of the Kingdom which is the blood of the people squandered away by him which highly displeased Ximenes It hapned one day that Bertrand de Salto one of the Kings Treasurers who had formerly treated with Ximenes about several affairs in respect to him came to let him know that the King by advice of Don Mannel had farmed out the Revenue of the Silks of Granada for ten years at a price and that he had the Charters in his hand ready drawn to be delivered to the Seal Ximenes reads them and observing that they were much to the damage of the King tore them in pieces and gave the pieces to a page of his Chamber who stood behind him which are kept to this day among the records of Arcala for a monument of the couragious liberty of this Minister then turning to the Treasurer Salto said he were you not one of my friends the King should cause your head to be taken off Dare you make Grants so prejudicial to the State Then going to the Palace he informed Philip of this disorder and forced him to confess they had surprized him This Prince began to relish the excellency of Ximenes counsels and fully resolved to live for the future in better correspondence with Ferdinand but was suddenly taken with a great sickness which with his life ended his troubles Ferdinand was then in his voyage for Naples his new Conquest the Grandees of Spain assembled in Ximenes Chamber to consult about the Government of Castile divers opinions were hotly proposed The Constable the Admiral and the Duke of Alva advised to send speedily after King Ferdinand then at Sea and to desire his return into Spain to take the Government upon him The Earl of Benevent the Marquess of Villena and the Dukes of Infantado and Najar contradicted this advice with so much passion that they came to high words with those that proposed it Ximenes who had been all this while silent the better to discover the intention of both parties to prevent danger to the State by this Rupture and Divorce of Opinions and by Amusing the passion of the four last to divert and frustrate their designs of trouble spake as followeth My Lords King Ferdinand hath ruled these Kingdoms above forty years 't is now high time he should govern his own since God hath given Castile men capable to Govern it and such as can give a good account of their Actions The Assembly by common consent chose Ximenes the Constable of Castile and the Duke of Najar as a Triumnivat to Govern the State to be Guardians to the Queen and Tutors to Prince Charles afterwards Charles the fift Ximenes informs the King of these passages and believing him to be then at Barcelona beseeches him to return into Castile But the Courrier sound him at the Isle of Isbice and that having given Italy Advice of his voyage he held himself obliged to perform it But in truth his vehement desires to see Gonsalves outed from Naples being the main occasion of the voyage would not permit him to return till he had seen it done Therefore he writ to Ximenes to govern Spain in the mean time with the fidelity and integrity he alwayes found in him Now Ximenes resolves to sit alone at the Helm and notwithstanding the resolutions of the aforesaid Assembly is by the Council-Royal chosen sole Guardian of the State the Queen and the Infant Charles he puts himself immediately into the Posture of Governour of the Kingdom Raises and Armes Regiments of Horse and Foot for the Guards of the Princes and his own The Grandees of Spain astonished to see a man bred in a Cloyster use force and have recourse to Armes for Authorising his Conduct blamed him as a light spirited person But he who knew of what importance it was to Awe the factious and have forces in readiness to suppress innovations gave them leave to talk but prosecuted his design Queen Joan by the Travails of Child-birth or rather as 't is said by the Charmes and Inchantments with some poysonous druggs given her by a Flemish Lady King Philips Mistress had a great weakness in her senses and was much disordered in her rational faculty This made her wander up and down the Countries quitting B Burgos and great with Child taking a Journey to the Burrough of Benferriale where she was delivered of the Posthumous Princess Catharine afterwards marryed to the King of Portugal While she lay In the Citizens of Medina took up Armes and being divided into two parties had brought the City to the brink of destruction the Province of Granada was up in Armes at the same time and the Guards of the Sea-coste from Guards to Defend were become Enemies to Assault the Countrey Ximenes by his prudence opposed the one contented the other and made all quiet again Yet he was not in quiet for the Queen after Child-birth having recovered her strength but not her senses made him follow her through the Countrey to his great inconvenience by the incommodities he underwent in an Age fitter for repose than the Fatigues of the Court This Princess could not be perswaded to Lodge any where but in the fields with the whole Court in Tents or in the Countrey Villages Ximenes put her in mind how incommodious this was for her and and what disorder she put the whole Court in for want of Lodgings She answered a Widdow ought not to go into Towns but wander in the Fields and live in Villages Thus she past from one Village to another carrying with her the body of her dead Husband Philip embalmed fancying she enjoyed his Person by the sight of his Carcase and causing it to be laid in the Parish Church of every Village she Lodged in with a Guard to keep constant Watch at the Coffin under a strict charge not to permit a Woman to approach it So Jealous was she of a body without life and incapable then to raise these passions in the beholders which he had caused in his life time being possessed of those natural beauties and endued with goodness so excellent which charmed Ladies affections into a passionate Longing and men into an intire Love for him This Princess fool'd with the Love of
a Lump of dead flesh would by no means part with it till Ferdinand her Father returned from Italy caused it to be taken from her and buryed privately The journeys she made were Noctural by Torch-light which occasioned many inconveniences by sickness amongst her retinue Loss of her Baggage and falls of those on Horse-back Ximenes threw himself at her feet and begged on his Knees that since she was resolved to make the Court Errant and Itinerary she would at least Travel by day but she Wedded to her folly answered That a Woman having lost her Husband which is her Son ought to avoid the light of the Sun in the Firmament and make no journeys but by night The art of a skilful Pilot is often of no use amidst the fury of the Windes and Waves And the prudence and conduct of a Minister of State are thrown away upon such Soveraings as are incapable of good Advice During these extravagancies of Queen Joan Ferdinand returned from Italy with Germain de Foix his new Wife and tooke a voyage by Sea to Savona to see his Wives Uncle King Lewis the twelfth while he staid in Italy he obtained of Pope Julius the second a Cardinals Cap for Ximenes with the Tytle of Cardinal of Spain formerly given to Peter Cardinal Triasio under Henry the third and then to Peter Gonsalve Cardinal Mendoza under Ferdinand in token of the Popes especial favour So that in the sequel of our Story we shall call Ximenes by the name of Cardinal Together with this dignity he received that of Inquisitor General of Castile for the Inquisition had of long time got firm footing in Spain having been introduced by Ferdinand and Isabel in the year 1577. by reason of the mixture of Moors with Christians and the superstitions of the former deeply rooted in the heart of that Kingdom The Rigour of this Ecclesiastical Justice struck terrour into ill Christians but was so far from making them better that it rendred them only more subtle and refined Hypocrites Cardinal Mendoza was his immediate Predecessour in that Office and Thomas Torquemata superiour of the Covent of St. Dominick at Segovia the first that bore it These new honours altered not the manners of Ximenes the Love of Learning and Advancement of vertue had still the same place in his soul and were Continued in their former Station He finished his Colledge of Arcala constituted Laws and made Statutes for the regulation of it filled it with able Professours drawn from the famous Universities of Paris Salamanca Valadolid Bologina admitting none from meaner places endowing it with great Revenues adorned it with a rich Library and brought it to such perfection that Francis the first of France passing that way when the fortune of Warr made him experimentally know good luck doth not alwayes attend the valorous and seeing this admirable Colledge said that his University of Paris was the work of many Kings but Ximenes alone had Compleated a Royal work Charles the fifth King of Spain and Emperour being one day to hear Mass in the Colledge at Arcala quitted the Chair and Cloth of State provided for him at the high Altar and took his place in the Quire in the ordinary Seats of the Priests of the Colledge being for the most part publick Professours and all of them Learned men telling them he would not lose the glory of sitting that day among men of so great Learning and making one of the Quire with them Such are the fruits of great Ministers Labours for vertue and the publick good future Ages reverence their names the Greatest Kings of the world admire their glory and think themselves honoured to be sometimes of the number of those who possess the Offices of Learning they have founded Such is the Liberal Return of gratitude vertue makes to those who enlarge her Kingdome CAP. VI. THE Spirit of Ximenes was not only great and high but Comprehensive and Capable of all Affairs those of Warr as well as peace found it a proper receptacle to entertain them both together The same time that his thoughts were busily taken up with impression of Books founding Monasteries building Colledges endowing them with Revenues and furnishing them with Regents and Students he had in prospect the Warr of Africk formed designes and made preparations for it When the Kingdom enjoyed a Secure peace and flourished in a deep repose and undisturbed tranquility he Levied Soldiers issued Commissions and provided moneys for the better Assurance of the State It was his Maxime That the Spirits of men being naturally free cannot endure servitude and subjection but of force and compelled by necessity and he would often say That never Prince was feared abroad or honoured at home that had not levyed an Army and at least made all the preparatives requisite to carry on a Warr. The desire of extending Christianity into Africk and to free Spain from the incursions and Robberies of the Pyrats of that Countrey who were grown so bold as to Enter the Spanish Ports to Spoil and carry away the Vessels of Traffick engaged him in the enterprize of a Warr of such Consequence There was at that time in the Court of Ferdinand a Venetian named Jerome Vianelli well versed in the Voyages of Africk having often Sailed those Seas that he knew perfectly all the Ports and safe Landing places on the Coast This man had intelligence of Ximenes design goes to him informs him of all the Avenues of the Coast and particularly the great Port of Mersalcabir near Oran capable to receive a very great Fleet Ximenes hearkens to him and finding him serviceable for his designes prayed he would see him often and commanded his Porters to admit him at all times and give him Entrance as often as he desired it By the constant mode of Courts it hath been alwayes difficult to get entrance to great Ministers of State which Custome as it preserves them from an infinite trouble of importunate persons so it deprives them of the knowledge of many persons of merit and worth whose generosity will not permit them to begg admittance from Servants and leave to enter from Grooms and Porters And 't is seldome seen that the persons imployed in these Services either keep out the former or admit the latter to their Masters presence Vianelli having the priviledge of free access to Ximenes visits him often and acquaints him with what he had seen in Africk Ximenes the better to comprehend what he said commands him not only to make a draught in Paper but to imprint in Wax the figures of the places By this representation he saw a Castle scituate on a Rock almost inaccessible having a Lanthorn on one of the Towres not unlike the Grecian Phares to serve Marriners for a mark of direction how to steer their Course in dark nights to safe Harbour This Castle had on one side the Port of Mersalcabir and on the other the City Oran called by the Moors Guharran which in their Languge
money and would have borrowed it of the Cardinal but he refused to lend it telling him boldly the moneys arising from his Ecclesiastical Revenues were neither his nor his Majesties but belonged to the poor of the Arch-bishoprick of Toledo whose necessities could not give way to the Loan he proposed Nevertheless the Cardinals merit prevailed more with Ferdinand than the memory of this Refusal having mused awhile his mind altered and he tells the Councellors Were it possible to frame a person of purpose fitted with vertues proper for the Government of my Kingdoms he could not be more capable than the Cardinal to discharge it if we could mitigate the excessive severity of his nature and temper it with some sweetness of disposition he hath to this time acknowledged Queen Isabels favours and mine and will certainly retain a grateful memory of them for the future with that he declared him administrator General of Spain and presently after breathed his last This change of the Testament at Burgos alarm'd the Governours of Prince Ferdinand they perswaded him to take on him the Government of the Kingdom and dispatch Patents in his name to the Councellors of State requiring their attendance to advise him in the Government One of them upon receipt of his Letters made Answer We will go to the Prince to pay him our respects but we know no King but Caesar which allusion to that piece of holy Scripture proved Prophetical Charles then King being afterwards Emperour The Cardinal in the mean time enters on the Government of Spain where he was so absolute that having long since the purpose of the Church he wanted only that of a Monarch and the name of a King he held the Government two years which he managed with prudence integrity and magnanimity inseparable from his actions he bore up couragiously against the disturbers of the publick peace and wisely appeased the Troubles of Spain checked and suppressed the boldness of the great Ones and plucked out of their hands the estates of the meaner sort ravished from them by violence and injustice insomuch that Spain did then acknowledge and confesses to this day She never enjoyed so perfect repose so secure a peace as under the conduct of the Cardinal who made it appear that the happiness of the people is so far from being inconsistent with the glory of Administration that the direct way for a Minister of State to acquire glory and honour is by imploying his cares with prudence and generosity to procure and promote the good of the People CAP. X. THE first Action he did after opening King Ferdinand's Testament which declared him Regent of Spain was The taking of Prince Ferdinand into his care And having given him a Retinue befitting his birth he kept him alwayes neer him to prevent the great Ones of Spain from drawing him to their party and making him their head to follow the motion of the members and to be at the discretion of his pretended Vassals After this he took order for performance of the honours due to Queen Germaine and the Maintenance of her family suitable to her dignity The Crosses that rendred his Conduct more illustrious attacqued him early Adrian of Vtrecht Dean of Lorain was sent by Charles into Spain in Ferdinand's sickness with Patents for the Government of Spain in case Ferdinand dyed After his death Adrian declared his Charge published his Patents in full Council and would have taken upon him the Soveraign administration of affairs The Cardinal opposed it and Remonstrates that by the Testament of Queen Isabel King Ferdinand was made Regent of the Kingdom untill Charles should have attained the Age of twenty years that Ferdinand being dead before that time he was by his Testament to succeed in his room And therefore the Regency belonged to him alone Moreover that by the Laws of the Kingdom it was prohibited that a Stranger should Govern the State and that Adrian being a Fleming his birth excluded him from what he pretended to This Contest had Abettors and maintainers on both parts the Cardinal had the good Patriots on his side and Adrian was upheld by the ambitious Grandees who desired nothing more than trouble to gain by Charles who was in Flanders must determine the difference but while his Judgement was expected the Cardinal and Adrian Governed joyntly and both signed all Orders and Commands though Adrian was but the shadow to follow the motions of the Cardinal as the substance acting in the publick Affairs The first that by Armes disturbed the publick peace was Peter Porto Carrero Brother to the Duke of Ascalon whose Successours are at this day Marquesses of Villa-nova This man of great power among the Portuguese beyond the River Guadiana stirred up the people on that side the River to take up Arms and set all in confusion throughout that Province his design was to possess himself by force of the great Mastership of St. James which the great Gonsalve pretended to and attended so long till death put an end to his pretensions his hopes his life and his displeasures Porto Carrero had obtained the Pope's Bulls to succeed Ferdinand in case he survived him On the other side Prince Charles who was in Flanders had the Pope's Bulls for the three great Commanderies of Spain The Cardinal upon the first news of Carrero's Arming without more ado sent towards him some Troops of his men at Armes under the Conduct of Ville Fanno who restored peace to the Province and beat the feeble Mutineer into more wisdom for the future The best remedy for Troubles raised by particular persons is the Publick Force This first Cloud thus dissipated the Cardinal brought the Court and Council to Madrid as a place where the Liberty of the Regency would be more absolute against the Grandees of Spain A Courrier arrives there from Charles with Letters to Queen Germaine the Council and Grandees containing his promise of coming into Spain the next Summer with Order to all that owed him obedience to pay it in the mean time intirely to the Cardinal These Letters came attended with private instructions to Adrian to found their opinions of the new Title of King of Spain which he had assumed on the death of Ferdinand Adrian speaks of it to the Cardinal and Council they wonder at the Novelty and Answer That by Ferdinand's death Charles had acquired nothing in Spain That the Queen his Mother lived there sole Heiress of the Kingdoms In their Letters to Charles they remonstrate that his Assuming the quality of King might cause trouble in the State by furnishing seditious Spirits with a pretence to take up Arms and declare that it was not Just to suffer the usurpation of the Royalty during the life of their natural Queen Charles answered that having taken upon him the quality of King at the request of the Pope and by advice of the Emperour it would not become him to quit it but would be of prejudice to his Authority and derogatory
from the sentence of the Judges of the City to the Admiral of Castile the Soveraign Judge in places neer the Sea oft escaped the punishments due to his misdeeds the people in Armes ran into the places subject to the Admiral 's Jurisdiction demolish the Tribunals of his Officers of Justice beat down the Racks and Gibbets set up for marks of their Soveraignty and to maintain the sedition roll the Cannons off the Ramparts shut the City Gates and declare that if the Cardinal would use his ordinary Violences to the prejudice of their Liberties they knew how to defend them by Force The Inhabitants brought into one place all their Utensils of Brass and Copper and having melted them down Cast new Cannons with the Armes of the City and these words atop The Defenders of the Liberty of Malaga caused these Cannons to be Cast The Flemmings in Charles's Court thinking to draw the Envy and Blame of the Rebellion of Malaga on the Cardinal's Conduct who they said was too harsh and Rigorous for the people of Spain encouraged those of Malaga by Letters to defend themselves against his Violence promising them their Assistance with Charles But the Cardinal slighting the threats of the Flemmings carryed on his Affairs with Courage and Prudence and like a sage Pilot who scorns to forsake the Helm in a Tempest continued his Conduct and applyed the Remedies he thought proper for these Popular Commotions by sending 6000 Foot and 400 Horse of the Militia of Spain under the Command of Anthony Cueva directly to Malaga with Order to use the inhabitants as Enemies of the State Cueva marches with these forces and being within two dayes March of the City the Citizens better advised sent their Deputies to tender him Obedience He goes thither and enters the City disarmed the Rebels and Hanged five only for an Example and Terrour to others Thus without Expence without spilling the blood of the Subject whereof a Minister of State ought to be alwayes sparing the Cardinal quenched the fire of Rebellion kindled in a place from whence it might have easily dilated to the utter Consumption of the soundest parts of the State Of so great importance it is that the Authority of a Minister be intire and like that of the Soveraign's it represents The flames of Rebellion were no sooner quenched in one part of Spain but the Grandees blew them up in another and alwayes with design to charge the Cardinals Conduct with the blame of the Conflâ—gration They set up Velasio Cuellar high Treasurer of Spain and Superintendant of the Finances against the Cardinal and to engage him to Arm with more Ardour and Eagerness they make Mary Velasio his Wife of the party who perswaded him to seize Arevale which he did and Cantoned it with his Forces whom he disposed into several quarters Fortified by him in that Countrey The Admiral of Spain was the principal Boutefeu and main Incendiary and Ringleader of this new Commotion he foments it goes by Night to the Duches of the place speaks to the Inhabitants encourages them to hold out stifly promising them Succours of Men and supplyes of Money in case they were Assaulted And that he would come in person to defend them from the Violences of the Regent till the arrival of Charls into Spain for their deliverance The Cardinal knew of these Troubles and the Abettors thereof and fearing to lose Velasio a person of quality he tryed every way before that of force to reduce him he writ exhorted intreated and threatned if he obeyed not but all to no purpose This obliged him to send thither some Regiments of Horse and Foot with a train of Artillery under the Command of Cornelius The Forces arrived at the place and the Captain summoned Velasio to render himself declaring that in case of disobedience he would put all to Fire and Sword and him to death by the hand of a Hang-man and transmit to his posterity the infamy of his Crime Velasio seeing himself deceived by the Admiral and other Grandees who had made him promises of Forces and other Succours they could not perform consulted his own safety obeyed opened the Gates and received Grace and Pardon instead of the Punishment he deserved The Cardinal having appeased this Sedition also without Charge or Blood gave Charls Advice thereof and intreated him to cause the Admiral to be punished as the Author of all those troubles that arose in Spain whose proceedings confirm by a pregnant instance That th' Obedience due to Kings is a very brittle and frail thing if not upheld by fear and the reverence of Majesty To preserve which the Cardinal instituted the Militia in the Kingdom that he might have Armes ready at hand to resist the motions of Insurrections and suppress them in the birth without giving them time of growth and increase And to render the strength of the Militia more considerable he caused a great quantity of Artillery to be made and filled Arsenals with it in the four Corners of Spain for the Conveniency of drawing them where it should be necessary for defence of the Royal Authority with these fulminous Engines The Cannon is the last reason of Kings and if not the best yet certainly the best able to defend them CAP. XII THhough the Cardinal Regent of Spain after Ferdinands death had in his hand the Regal Authority yet hitherto you have seen him exercise only the Office of a Physitian to cure the distempers of it But now that he hath restored it to health and peace he bends all his thoughts to the exercise of Justice the principal business of Kings He began with the Governours of Towns and Cities sending Judges impartial and not subject to Corruption to inquire into their demeanour and inform him of their deportment and behaviour in their places and where he understood they were Tyrannical to the oppression of the poor who groaned under their violences he deposed them from their dignities and having made their names infamous left them more miserable than those they oppressed He of Toledo was the first example of his Justice The Officers of Justice who behaved themselves ill had the punishments they deserved some of them who had been more covetous than Just having sold the right of the Poor to the purse of the rich were whipped through the Streets of those Towns where they had been in Commission with a Hang-man at their backs and before them a Trumpet who proclaimed their shame in the Enormity of their Crime The like usage had they who in places of Judicature had exacted sees that were not due The greater Gentry who were Justices in the Countreys whereof they were Lords those Eagles which break through the Spider-webb could not escape the punishment due to their violences by being exempt from the Jurisdiction and power of the Judges for the Cardinal caused them to be handled with the Rigour they deserved Arrojou a Knight of the Order of Calatrava acted in his Commandery
Persons or the Publick advantage others by their Labours and excell them in the fidelity of their Services and the Dignity of their Vertues The Revenue of Princes though great in it self is alwayes too little for the necessities of State and passing through many hands is much diminished ere it arrive at their Coffers The Cardinal to provide against this inconvenience gave the Offices of the Finances to men fit for them persons under no necessity to tempt them to Rapine And chose for Surintendant of the Kings moneys a Lord by Birth one of the Noblest of Spain and in Estate the Richest in the Kingdom Spunges full of water take in no more though steeped in it Great Buildings without good Foundations swagg and come to Ruine The Cardinal laid three Foundations necessary for Royalty whereon as on firm pillars the Authority thereof relies The first is Justice when the King dispenses it to his Subjects impartially and without respect of persons when the Scepter affords relief to the poor and the weak against the injuries of the Rich and the Powerful The second when the King hath a respect and good value for the Men of Warr that give proofs of their Experience and Valour in the Service of his Warrs The third when the King doth not squander away his Revenue but by thrift and parsimony keeps a good stock in Reserve for Royal Enterprizes which ought to be his ordinary Exercises who that he may be great must do great things Experience had taught the Cardinal the truth of this sage Maxim for in four months of his Regency under Charles by help of his Treasure he had compassed his designs ended a Warr of great importance calmed the Commotions of Spain made sure of Navarr reduced Malaga to Obedience maintained strong Garrisons on the Frontiers assured the Sea-coast made incursions into Africk sent a Naval Army against Algiers and delivered Bugie Pignon and Melillo from the Siege of Barbarosse great Admiral of the Turks If I said he have done all these things notwithstanding the oppositions of my Enemies what cannot a King do by his absolute power if he leave in his Treasure a stock for Royal Undertakings Money being the sinews of Warr and the object of mens Affections the Monarch who is Rich becomes puissant in the one and absolute Master of the other The glory the Cardinal had acquired by his prudent management of the State and his good Actions to private persons was greatly augmented by the Violences of the Turks and misfortunes of Africk which brought a stronger King at his feet to implore his Assistance The King of Tunis Son and Heir of Jabet Albuzen was guilty of the Crime of being Neighbour to a Monarch more powerful than he and possessing a Crown convenient for the Ottoman This brought a Warr upon him Barbarosse who had command from the Turk his Master to oute him from his Throne was the more willing to attacque him in that he had obtained from the Ottoman Poste a promise to succeed in the Throne and Title of the King of Tunis in case he Conquered him on Condition nevertheless to hold it of the Crown Imperial of the Turks The Corsayre undertakes it and over-powering Tunis enters the City and drives out the King who dispoiled of his Estate embarks for Spain to seek relief in Christendome for his disasters in his passage he was set upon with Tempests and Storms which though less than those he met with at Land put his Vessel in danger but he escaped a wreck at Sea being reserved for a greater at Land which had already deprived him of his Crown his estate his repose and reputation and had more miseries in store for him during the rest of his life which the Sea might have swallowed up and therein all his Losses and Calamities He Arrived in Spain and threw himself into the Cardinals Arms who received him gave him Retinue befitting a King comforted his miseries with kind entertainment and promises of Re-establishment in his Throne The Minister that represents a King and holds his Scepter in his absence ought to do Royal Actions and to reach forth a helping hand to distressed Princes is one of the greatest of these for if the Man that helps a Man is a God to that Man the King who is a God on Earth and his Minister in his stead succouring a persecuted King is a God to a God CAP. XIII THE same Year John Rio a Spanish Pyrate returned from his Course having taken many Genoa-Vessels and Rich in Booty and Prizes and at Anchor in the Port of Carthagena Nueva where he enjoyed other mens goods by the Laws of Pyracy when some Ships of Warr arrived from Genes attacqued him in the Harbour and being well Armed and fighting for the interest of their Republick they took this Sea-robber and carryed away his person and Vessels But this Action done within a Port of Spain was an offence against the Majesty of the King the Cardinal resents it as such and publisheth an Edict commanding all the Genoese in Spain to depart the Kingdom within fifteen dayes upon pain of Confiscation of their goods and of their Lives and in the mean time caused seizure to be made of their Goods wherever they could be found This Alarum'd the Republike seeing their Commerce to which they owe their Maintenance and Grandeur broken on that side and their Allyance much altered They betake themselves to their remedy and send Ambassadours to Charles in Flanders to disavow the boldness of those Ships which in the Port of Carthagene had violated the respect due to his Crown which had met by the way the punishment they should have received from the Republick had they arrived at Genes which the Tempest prevented in taking from them both their Ships and their Lives Therefore they implored his Majesty not to impute that to their State which was the Act of two or three private persons Charles was satisfied with this submission and revoked the Edict published by the Cardinal But he being Jealous for the honour of his Master which had a greater share in his thoughts than the care of his own life holding the Genoese to be very Cautelous people and desirous to penetrate the depth of their intentions upon information received that they held intelligence with the French about the Kingdom of Naples deferred the publishing of the Revocation and Restitution of the Genoese goods till he had sent Ambassadours to Genes to clear the doubt but the Ambassadours finding the Genoese sincerely inclined to keep good Correspondence with Spain he made restitution to the Genoese of their Goods and their liberty of Commerce The Honour of Kings is their true Patrimony preferrable to their estates Their Ministers ought carefully to preserve and couragiously defend it for as bodies without souls which give them life are easily corrupted so Monarchies without Honour and Reputation decline and come to Ruine Spain had long since laid the Foundations of Dominion over
Italy and the house of Austria now entred into Spain carryed on the building Maximilian Grand-father of Charles passed the Mountains on that design Charles dispatched a Courrier to the Cardinal to demand his Advice in the Affairs of Italy the Cardinal sent it him and advised to divert Maximilian from the Siege of Breseia then in design and to turn his Forces against Milan for that City being once taken the other would be easily Conquered that to render himself yet more considerable in Italy he must gain the Popes affection and make use of him upon occasion to quiet the troubles of the Countrey and to serve himself of his Authority as a new Peru to furnish moneys for the Warr by obtaining Crusadaes for Spain which as usual would bring a Cross on Gold and Silver and raise him a Considerable Revenue He advised Maximilian to threaten the Pope into fear to force his Condescension to what he would not willingly grant and counselled Charles to make choice of a person Generous Vigilant and of great Authority to be Ambassadour at Rome and to gain from the Pope a person of innocent Manners and of a gentle and tractable disposition to be Nuncio in Spain For on this depends the good of all great Affairs and the peace of the Nation These Counsels the Princes of the house of Austria did then make use of to their great advantage and pursue the same to this day For the sage Answers of a great Minister consulted with in affairs whose like do often fall out in a State are the voice of an Oracle which foresees things to come and guides the designs of Posterity The Kingdom of Spain had been long infected with the falsity of Religions contrary to the Christian The Moors Preached there the Errours of the Alcoran and the Jews the sopperies of their Talmud and though they had woon the one and the other to the faith of Christ yet the Jews whose Religion is Obstinacy relapsed often to their former Worship Apostatizing from the faith they came to profess This exposed them to the rigours of the Inquisition being daily dragged before that severe Tribunal To deliver themselves from the pains they deserved they Deputed the principal amongst them to attend Charles in Flanders and beseech him to permit them to enjoy that which God gave man when he sent him into the World the Liberty of Choice in a Free will That Religion could not be imposed by force but instilled by Discourse And that he would grant them who were born in Judaism liberty to Judaise as their Fathers had done or become Christians at their pleasure In acknowledgement of this favour they offered him eight hundred thousand Crowns of Gold Charles assembles his Council to advise on this proposal they give their opinions in favour of the Jews and that in the necessity he was reduced to he should accept the eight hundred thousand Crowns The Cardinal Advertised by his Agent in his Masters Court of the Counsels of the Flemmings sent a Courrier to Charles advising him not to meddle with Gods right that Religion was above Crowns that Heaven knew to maintain its interest against his incroachments that he ought rather to imitate the Piety of King Ferdinand his Grand-father who in the necessities of the Warrs of Navarr had refused six hundred thousand Crowns of Gold offered by the Jews for the like indulgence Charles followed the Cardinals Advice That King is unworthy the Assistance of Heaven for preserving his estate who despises the Estate of God which is Religion and God who expelled out of the Temple the Tradesmen who made it a place of Merchandise outes those Monarchs from the Throne who sell for money the respect due to Divine Worship The interest whereof a good King and his Ministers preferr before the reason and interest of State Ill Customes never dye or grow old at Court though good ones presently make their Exit The Government of Provinces and Towns in Spain was heretofore committed to the persons best qualified and of greatest integrity in the Kingdom Time which carries away the best of things abolished this custome and made it absolete Favour brought in such men whose faults and defects the blindness of Court discovers not The Cardinal resolved to re-estabish what he found Just in the ancient Customes of Spain bestowed the same Governments on men whose nobleness of blood and integrity of life rendred them the most Considerable in the Kingdom But that the puissance of their Families and support of their Kindred being persons of quality might not debauch their integrity and encourage them to violence he Removed them to places distant imploying them in Governments of Towns and Provinces where they could expect no support but from their Vertue He who adds greatness of dignity to that of birth and quality tempts vertue and needs a Bridle to retain it within the bounds of Justice These eares of the Cardinal tended to the Glory of Vertue the aime and mark of his designs being the advancement of vertuous persons whose fortunes he raised in his Administration by his own beneficence or the Kings by his procurement He gave Adrian Florent of Vtricht Dean of Lovayn and his companion in the Government of Spain the Bishoprick of Tortosa with the Office of Inquisitor General of Spain which was an advantagious step for him to a Cardinalship and to mount him thence to the Papal Chair He preferred Alfonso Manriquez to the Bishoprick of Cordova And the Sieur Motta of Burgos a person well verst in Theology and Secretary to Charles to that of Badacos The advancement of Motta was great in appearance but in effect mean his Vertue and Learning had rendered him considerable in the Court of Charles and that of Rome After the death of Ximenes the King gave him the Archbishoprick of Toledo and the Pope a Cardinals Cap. But these Gifts were made him when he could not enjoy them and Fortune gave him only a View but no Livery and Seizen of the Grandeurs of the World The Letters of the King and those of the Pope which conveyed to him those eminent dignities sound him on his death-bed So that seeing himself on the brink of the Grave he took the Letters out of a Box and gave them one of his principal Domesticks to Read Having heard them he discoursed of the vain pretensions of Court and the cheating hopes of the World that the sutest course for a vertuous man to steer is to conform to the will of God and condoled their misfortune to see their expectations fall with him into the Dust But this care of the Cardinal to advance persons of merit evinces he was not guilty of retrenching the Pensions of the two Historians afore mentioned But rather that of Learned men the most knowing and Laborious for the publick are not the greatest favourites of Fortune whether it be for want of importunity in pursuing it or of Friends to introduce them into the Theatre of
Telodo as Primate of the Prelates so first of the Grandees of Spain and having precedence of all The Cardinal's answer was He would protect honest men and punish the wicked contemners of Justice and disturbers of the publick peace When they saw the Cardinal inflexible they sent to Charles in Flanders mis-represented the matter and obtained a prohibition to stay execution of the Judgement till he came into Spain Upon receipt of the prohibition the Cardinal and Council sent to Charles informed him of the truth of the Crime sent him the Process and remonstrated to him that having been appointed by God the Guardian and preserver of the Laws he ought to give Justice liberty in her functions and freedom and to do her duty intreated him to consider the Consequence of this Affair that if such Enormities were tolerated there should not be one King only in Spain but as many Kings as there are puissant great Ones Charles in Answer to the Cardinal and Council writ He had been mis-informed and that it was his intention Justice should be done The Judgement against the Offenders was Executed The Cardinal sending Regiments of Horse and Foot against Villas Hermanos where Giron's Son and several Young Lords of his quality Sons of the Grandees of Spain were assembled with some Forces and had added new insolences to the former Rebellion having caused the Effigies of the Cardinal to be drawn through the Streets in his pontifical habit with a Trumpet before it to publish the Ignominy But when they saw the Assailants they left their sport and betook them to their heels The Walls of the Town were beaten down to the foundations and they plowed up the houses fired and the places they stood on sowed with salt in token of malediction Seven men of the place who had said they knew no Lord but Giron were whipped by the hangman and with them some of Giron's Domesticks on a holy day that so important an execution might not be retarded To make Quixada amends and repair his damage in the loss of the Town they adjudged him Giron's Estate and proceeded further against his family and person To take from the Rebels all hopes of mercy this execution was confirmed by Letters Patents from Charles in Flanders This brought Giron to reason he humbles himself to the Cardinal and desires mercy and to make his prayers more effectual all the Grandees of Spain joyned with him The Cardinal by Letter interceded to Charles for a pardon that in bringing him to an exemplary humiliation and forcing him to begg pardon in person he had sufficiently punished him that the Grandees acknowledging their faults and truly humbled were not to be treated with the severities usual in other mens Cases The third puissant Enemy of the Cardinal among the Grandees of Spain was the Duke of Alva of great Authority of a great Family Illustrious in blood abounding in Riches powerful in Friendship and Allyance the Cardinal had his opportunity to bring him to reason as well as the others The Duke of Alva in King Ferdinand's life time in whose favours he had a great share obtained for Diegolus third son the Priory of St. John in Spain of the Order of Knights then at Rhodes now at Malta a Dignity of great revenue and equal Authority in the Kingdom Antony Alstuniga of an illustrious family was at that time in Legal possession but the Duke of Alva upheld by the Authority of the King and the great master of Rhodes took it from him by force contrary to Right and the Laws of Spain and setled his Son there who enjoyed it peaceably for six years till Ferdinand's death Astuniga seeing the Duke's credit buried with that Prince had recourse to Justice and summons the Usurper to a Legal Tryal The Process was decided at Rome and Diego enjoyned to make restitution of the Benefice Astuniga returns into Spain with the Decree implores the Cardinal's protection whom he knew to be the Defender of Justice and obtains it Charles in the mean time informed of this difference looked upon it as of importance to the State writes to the Cardinal and Council to put the Benefice in a third hand till farther order The Duke of Alva refuses to obey his Command believing it an invention to outt him from the Priory calls the other Grandees of Spain his Friends to his Assistance and fortifies Consabrona the principal place of the Priory The Cardinal seeing him act the King in Spain resolved not to endure it he commands forth a thousand Horse and 500 Foot of his Guards in the Suburbs of Madrid but at the instant falls sick to the danger of his life Madrid and all the Realm of Castile made publick Prayers for his Recovery on which as then depended the peace of Spain He Recovers and finding the Duke of Alva unwilling to obey resolves to force him but by the way proposed him a fair accommodation And it is remarkable this great Minister never took the way of Rigour till he had first tryed that of Sweetness and found it ineffectual to perform the duties of Justice in his Administration He proposed to the Duke That he should give the King a Gentleman of his Family to be answerable to his Majesty for the places of the Priory that should be put into his hands and to surrender them to the King if there should be cause when he had declared his Judgement by which means the Duke might have remained Master of the Priory and the Revenue The Duke stormed at this proposal and thinking that to accept it would have been to part with his own rejected it The Cardinal sends a leight Army to besiege Casabrona the Duke also sent thither a thousand Foot and some Horse with Victuals and Money The Cardinal's Troops met them by the way engaged and defeated them took their money and Victuals and marched to the place they were to invest The Duke of Alva's Son was within with a great number of young men of his Age most of them Sons of the Grandees of Spain All the Nobles of Toledo that had attained the age of 21 years assisting in the Defence The Herald summoned them to open their Gates and obey the King their Answer was high though not a word spoken for they set on the Walls of the place Biers covered with black to signifie tacitly their resolution rather to dye than yield The Duke of Alva this while was anxiously distracted in his thoughts On the one side he saw the shame that would attend his suffering a Piece of such convenience and profit to his Family to be wrested out of his hands and that his labours and great preparations would end in Affronts and greater Disgraces On the other side he beheld the thunderbolt hanging over his head ready to fall upon him to the ruine of his person and his house His Estate was already Confiscated by Decree of the Council which gave him fearful apprehensions of the Cardinal's severity as
Remove of Osorio and Guzman necessary for his Service Commanded it and writ to the Cardinal to that purpose The Master of the Courriers who received the dispatch instead of delivering it as addressed to the Cardinal carried the Pacquet to Dean Adrian who opened it though not directed to him and gives to Ferdinand his Brother's Letter where the young Prince saw the King his Brother's Command for Removing Osorio and Guzman He went to the Cardinal and with tears in his eyes entreated him not to make any change in his Family till his Brother's Arrival in Spain that Guzman and Osorio were very faithful to him and had great affections for him that they were given him by the hands of King Ferdinand his Grand-father and his Grand-mother Queen Isabel That to take them from him were to condemn the Judgement and vilifie the Memory of two Princes whom the whole world had honoured The Cardinal though surprized as not knowing of the Affair which Adrian had discovered to remove the Odium from himself exhorted the young Prince to obey the King his Brother on whom depended his Fortune and Grandeur that he ought to preferr the interest of Charles before that of his Domesticks and to conform to his will Ferdinand seeing that he gained nothing on the Cardinal's spirit gave him in choler this reparty Since you are resolved to destroy me and mine when you might have pleasured me in forbearing a little while to execute what is writ to you from Flanders I will take order my Servants shall not be Ruined as you have designed The Cardinal was moved at his threats but being Resolute and Couragious to maintain the interest of his Master told him Sir You may do what you please but before the Sun set to Morrow though all Spain stood against me the King shall be obeyed and you shall obey him the first of any Ferdinand neâ—â—ed at these words retired towards Aranda The Cardinal sent after him and gave the charge of his Person and of the Town to Cabanilla and Spinosa Captains of the Guards commanding them to be up all night with their Troops and not permit a person of the Princes Family to go out of the Town They obeyed him and on the morrow Osorio and Guzman were dismissed and the will of Charles was executed with Fidelity and Courage the principal qualities of a Minister of State in Affairs which concern the interest of the King with the Princes of his blood Some Grandees of Spain seeing the Cardinal proceed with absolute Authority against the Infant Ferdinand and themselves demanded of him a fight of his Commission The Cardinal pointed to the Soldiers of his Guards and told them Those Folks there with the will of the King are the power I have to command Castile then twisting on his finger the Cord of his Order wherewith he was girt This said he is sufficient to chastise proud Vassals and bring them to Reason A little after he caused some Cannons to be discharged and a Volley of Musquet-shot which was the last Answer but more terrible than the first This stopped their mouths and struck fear into these men who had been more curious than wise Scarce had the Cardinal ended this important Affair of Ferdinand's Family when a Courrier brought him news Medina Sedonia was taken by Peter Giron Son of Giron Lord of Vienna who took up Armes made himself Master of the Field and Siezed that place into his hands in Revenge of the injury of Villas Hermanos the Cardinal sent against him some Troops of the Militia then afoot under the command of Count Quignonio de Luna with order to take the Rebel and bring him alive or dead Another Courrier at the same time arrived from Charles to inform him of a design of the Turks against Oran For having set Sail from Flanders the ninth of September 1517. he met with some Corsayres by the way who informed him that an Army of Turks were upon their March to Oran this obliged him to advertise the Cardinal praying him to provide for the safety of that place with all Diligence possible as a Piece of great convenience for the Rendevouz of the Forces he designed to send to Africk for extending Christianity unto those Pagan Countries The Cardinal by the same Courrier assured him of his best care for preservation of Oran commended his design and advised him to pursue it that of so many Monarks who in past Ages had worn the Crown of Spain they only added a constant felicity to a long Reign who had laboured most in the propagation of Religion But Oran for this time had only an apprehension of the Turkish Armes for the Moors of Africk fearing the violences of the Turks obstructed their Passage and defeated their Army In the mean time Charles after a happy Voyage came to Villadichosa in Spain with the Princess Elenor his Sister afterwards Queen of Portugal and since that Queen of France by Marriage with Francis the first He gave the Cardinal notice of his Arrival and demanded his advice about his Entry into the Kingdom that he might make it like a King and be received of his people according to his desires and dignity The Cardinal advised him to Receive courteously such as came to meet him to compose his Countenance and order his Discourse and Habit suitable to the mode of Spain to send his Brother Ferdinand into Germany for that his presence in Spain was useless to his person and might prove prejudicial to his Authority that it concerned him to use his utmost dexterity in executing this Resolution to impute the cause to Maximilian his Grand-father and to appear much displeased at the separation the people of Spain having a passionate love for Ferdinand as bred amongst them and a perfect Spaniard in Language behaviour and inclinations That he would not come to any resolution against the Sicilians who had Massacred their Senators till he had first weighed the Condition of his Exchequer and the forces of his Kingdom That he would advance further into Spain and make haste to Madrid As to this last point the Flemmings relished it not but resolved to retain Charles in the remote parts of the Kingdom till the Cardinal's death which they were advised must shortly follow they desired nothing less than that this man should come to speech with the King apprehending a discovery of their rapines by his generous liberty and integrity to the King But Charles received those Counsels as lights for his Conduct and sent an Express to convey his thanks confessing himself much obliged by his cares his prudence and fidelity The Cardinal by the same Envoy Returns Answer That the services he had done him were of duty That he esteemed it his glory to have sustained the Envy of almost all the world in serving him That the predominant passion of his soul was his desire to see his Majesty and to put into his hands the Kingdom more sound and intire than he had
received it at the beginning of his Administration All Spain went to meet their new King the Constable Velasio was attended with seven hundred horse the Council made haste to tender him their duty and thinking they had no more to do with the Cardinal now Charles was arrived in Spain they took their journey without advertising the Cardinal But he out went them by his Courriers whom he sent to the King desiring his Majesty not to suffer a disorder of so ill example in the State that the Council the principal body of it should thus separate from their head and intreating him to command them back to Aranda Charles did so commanding the Council to return the way they came and go to the Cardinal that it would be more acceptable to him to see them together with him This put them in great disorder for having with them their Wives and Children they could not return without much inconvenience They sent to the Cardinal entreated him he would be pleased to permit them to attend his Majesty in the place the Courrier found them The Cardinal impatient of Contempt and highly offended at the slight offered him made no shew of Resentment but resolved not to bate them a step of their return to Aranda answers them That he was glad they were all in health that they all knew how punctual he had alwayes been in causing the obedience due to the King to be exactly performed And since his Majesty had advised them to return to Aranda it was his advice They should obey him with all the diligence in their power They as they parted rashly returned shamefully The respect due to a Minister of State is to be preserved even to Jealousie as that that maintains his Authority which Slights and neglects destroy At this arrival of the King in Spain the people were much moved and hotly demanded an Assembly of the States of the Realm The Cardinal was of opinion it ought not to be granted so soon but that the King must be first Received and Affairs setled in a quiet Posture saying It was of great concernment that Kings at their coming to the Crown should be received of their people with extraordinary reverence as a matter of great importance to their Authority This advice was slighted but the neglect cost Spain dear All the Kingdom was in trouble and the State in danger by the contests that arose about the place where the Estates should convene at last it was agreed the King should come to Valladolid for holding the Assembly There the envy of the Cardinal's enemies mustered all its force to affront his Person and attacque his Authority The harbingers of this great Minister having taken up a house for him the Marshals of the Kings Lodgings being Flemmings set on by the Grandees took it from them and for reason told them This Lodging must be marked for Queen Germain The Cardinal Jealous of his Authority and impatient of Affronts having discovered the practises of the Flemmings disputed it with them and carryed the Lodgings But he must shortly dislodge from the Court and the world though with the same honour he had lived there the Flemmings enter into a Cabbal to outt him the Court. Mota Bishop of Badaos a dignity he owed wholly to the Cardinal's favour to please Xeures the Kings favourite as the Spaniards say and his own interest advised Charles to remove the Cardinal from Court into his Diocess of Toledo Charles who was no less obliged to the Cardinal than to him who gave him the Crown of Spain forgot the services of this Grand Minister followed Mota's advice and by his inconstancy confirmed the Proverb that Services of great ones are no inheritance having sent a letter to the Cardinal the tenour whereof was this My Lord Cardinal I hold on my journey by Jurdefillas whereof I thought fit to advertise you that you may come to Mâ—jados the Bishop of Segorges House where I desire to see you and to receive your good Counsels not only for the conduct of my Estate but the ordering of my Family which I will regulate according to your sage Advice This is the last help I can receive of you in my Affairs for your long Services deserve repose and your Age requires it and I grant it willingly and advise you to retire to your house to enjoy it with more pleasure God alone can give you a just recompence for your long travels in the conduct of this Kingdom as for me I shall never forget them and will ever pay you the respects due from a good natured Child to a careful and bounteous Father This Letter of dismission by the trouble it gave the Cardinal cast him into a Feaver which brought him to his Grave though some Spanish Historians say that the Courrier who carryed it finding the Cardinal desperately sick delivered it not but that the Feaver holding him eighteen hours after whereas the Physicians advertised him he could not live above six hours he brought back the Letter to the Council and delivered it to Adrian Others write that he received it on his death-bed and called for pen ink and paper to answer it but that having written three or four Lines his strength failed him the pen dropt out of his hand and he soon after breathed his last These Lines or piece of a Letter were never published as if fate had been unwilling to discover to the world any thing imperfect to which this man had put his hand Certain it is the Cardinal perceiving he must shortly dye made an End worthy his good life Mustering up the force of his Spirit in the weakness of his body and discoursing piously and learnedly of the mercy of God the inconstancy of the World and the Vanity of the Court imbracing the Crucifix bedewing his face with tears he begged pardon from God for his sins and having protested he had not laid out one Rial of the Revenues of his Benefices for the advancement of his Kindred he received the Christian Viaticum the Holy Eucharist repeating often those words of David My God in thee have I put my Trust and went to enjoy in Heaven those Crowns which God gives them who govern people with prudence integrity and piety This happened on Sunday the ninth of November 1517. in the 80th year of his Age having worn the Mytre of Toledo 22. years and governed Spain as many under Ferdinand Isabel Joan Philip and Charles His body was interred in the Colledge of St. Idelphons in Alcala D' Henares which he had built his Tomb of white Marble and his Effigies of the same are to be seen at this day with this Epitaph worthy his illustrious Actions which comprehends in short both what he did before his Glorious Administration and his Acts in the State Condideram Musis Franciscus Grande Lycaeum Condor in exiguo nunc ego Sarcophago Praetextam junxi Sacco Galeamque Galero Frater Dux Praesul Cardineusque Pater Quin virtute Mea
Charge His Design for passing into Africk to propagate the Faith there diverted by Rouys his Companion He travels on foot and Beggs pag. 7. CHAP. III. Vpon the Death of Cardinal Mendoza King Ferdinand endeavours the promotion of his Natural Son the Archbishop of Saragosa to the Chair of Toledo But Queen Isabel prefers Ximenes to the Dignity He withdraws from Court to avoid the Investiture but upon the Popes Mandate Returns and Accepts it His Declaration not to admit of any Pension to be charged on the Revenue of the Archbishoprick He continues the plainness of a Religious life Mends with his own hands the Frock of his Order with other Evidences of Humility is complained of to the Pope who commands him to live more splendidly Ximenes obeyes is envied by the Monks of his order Their Generals extravagant address to the Queen His Brother Bernardin endeavours to stifle him in his Bed and leaves him for dead Ximenes recovers and perswades the King to ease his people of a heavy Tax called Alcabala and erects a Colledge at Arcala pag. 9. CHAP. IV. The Zeal of Ximenes for propagating the Faith He Converts three thousand Moores in one day The Manner of their Baptism The new Converts present him with five thousand Volumes of the Alcoran and Glosses thereon he burns most of them The Revolt of Granada charged on Ximenes by his Enemies the miscarriage of the Courrier he imployed The King expresses great Displeasure against Ximenes but he retrives all and obtains thanks from the King pag. 17 CHAP. V. Ximenes falls sick and is Cured by a Morisco Woman Bestows four thousand Crowns on seven Hebrew Copies of the Bible His great Care and Charge for a Correct Impression of the Scriptures He obtains great Immunities for his Colledge of Arcala and pardons a Malefactor led to execution He builds another Colledge pag. 21 CHAP. VI. The Death of Queen Isabel Ximenes Executor of her last Will and Testament The extraordinary Honors done him by the King The Dexterity of his Conduct in preserving Castille under the obedience of his Master Ferdinand The Arrivall of Philip Ferdinand's Son-in-Law in Spain The Enterview of Ferdinand and Ximenes's Advice to Philip. He attends them in their Conference and shuts out Don Philip's Favorite Ferdinand's Speech to Philip His Commendation of Ximenes His haughty Conduct in the Affairs of the Farm of the Revenews of the Silks of Philip's Death Ximenes the Constable of Castille and Duke of Najar undertakes the Government in Ferdinand's absence Vpon Ferdinand's Letter Ximenes resolves to Govern alone Is Chosen sole Guardian of the State The Distracted Vagaries of Queen Joan. The Troubles in Medina and Granada appeased by Ferdinand's Return Ximenes made Cardinal and Inquisitor-General of Castile The Honour done his Colledge of Arcala by Francis the first of France and Charles the Fifth Emperor of Germany pag. 24 CHAP. VI. The Cardinal's Design to invade Africk proposed to Ferdinand who excuses the enterprize for want of money The Cardinal furnishes money Mersalcaber is taken by Surrender The punishment of a Spanish Souldier for breach of the Articles Diego Ferdinando is made Governour of Mersalcaber and Deiasio his Lieutenant his extraordinary value pag. 37. CHAP. VII Ximenes resolves to pass in person into Africk in the head of an Army The raillery of the Court thereupon The Earl D' Olivarez by advice of the Great Captain made Lieutenant General The Officers of the Army retard and obstruct the Expedition The Cardinal complains to the King and if the Army should disband desires leave to retire into his Diocess The King gives new Orders for the Army to attend the Cardinal They mutiny the Cardinal employes Villaroel to advise Virnelli from his rigor against the Mutineers Viaanell's proud Answer Villaroel wounds him The Campmaster Salazars device to appease the Mutineers The Army lands They engage the Moores and after a stout resistance prevail Oran is taken the Cardinal enters Oran in triumph Divides the spoil amongst the Officers and Souldiers founds and endows an Hospital De Veras neglect in carrying the King News The Earl of Olivarez insolent carriage against the Cardinal his submission The Cardinal's return into Spain and the occasion Captain Arias's exemplary familiarity with death pag. 44. CHAP. VIII The Cardinal demands payment of the moneys he advanced for the War the Grandees and Officers strong opposition and Arguments against payment The Cardinal's Defence He prevails Lewys William made Bishop of Oran by the Pope is opposed by the Cardinal who makes fair offers of Accommodation which are refused by William in hopes of Sentence against the Cardinal his designs frustrated and he slighted The Cardinal prefers his friend Rouys to the Bishoprick of Avilas The Cardinal's advice to his friend before the promotion He disposes of his Nephew in Marriage His advice hereupon His Niece is married to a Nephew of the Duke D' Infantado The Cardinal breaks the Marriage The reason The Cardinal's respect to the Great Captain Extraordinary Honor done the Cardinal by Ferdinand The Cardidinal's Generous offer to assist Pope Julius the Second pag. 62. CHAP. IX A Peace with Africk New Honors done the Cardinal A War with France The Cardinal's Advice for the management His Discovery of the secret League between France and Navarr The Cardinal's Liberality in order to the King's health He builds several publick Granaries and a Magnificent Church and Monastery His famous Aqueduct which cost a Million of Gold The Pope demands Contribution from Spain towards building of St. Peter's in Rome The King consents but the Cardinal opposes and hinders it King Ferdinand's sickness and frowardness He alters his Testament made at Burgos and why Rejects the proposal of Ximenes for Governour of the Kingdom after his decease the reason He declares Ximenes Governour and dyes The Cardinal enters on the Government his excellent Conduct pag. 72. CHAP. X. The Dean of Lovain by Patent from Charles King of Spain claims the Government The Cardinal opposes him Reduces Porto Carrero and his rebellious Forces in Portugal to obedience Charles declares the Cardinal Governour is opposed in the new Title he assumed of King of Spain till address to the Cardinal who in spight of the Grandees Opposition caused Charles to be proclaimed King of Spain in Madrid and Toledo Peter Giroim takes up Arms but defeated by the Cardinal The Duke D' Infantadoes extravagant Speeches and Manifests against the Cardinal his submission The Cardinal's Forces The Grandees stirr up the people to Rebellion Valladolid Leon Burgos c. revolt Complaints to Charles against the Cardinal but frustrated by his prudence pag. 81. CHAP. XI The Cardinal's settlement of the Maritine affairs of the Kingdom He relieves the Islanders against the tyranny of the Spaniards His advice to Charles thereupon rejected but to the dammage of the Crown He stops the French and reduces Navarr to an entire obedience to Spain Malaga in Arms but reduced by the Cardinal's Forces Velasio High Treasurer
the Monastery being the Center A year was scarce elapsed but he was drawn out thence to take on him the charge of Warden of the Covent of Salceda where he kept the Fryars within the Rules of their Order more by the example of his good life than the commands of a Superiour But 't is the Priviledge of Courts to enter into Cloisters and take thence such men whom Fortune hath designed to partake of their Grandieurs Isabel Queen of Spain calles him to Court in the year 1492. and by the advice of Cardinal Mendoza Archbishop of Toledo makes him her Confessor In this eminent place he gave proofs of great vertues without any exception but that of intermedling with Matters of State wherein he exceeded his Call and strained beyond his Charge and his Frock This perhaps gave those of his Order occasion to draw him back from Court to a Religious imployment by choosing him their Provincial for three years And here he gave a most pregnant proof of the indifferency of his spirit for the affairs of Court and of the great love he bore his Order by going from Court more willingly than he had come into it and imploying his time in visiting the Religious Houses under his charge Coming to Gibraltar moved with a charitable zeal for the salvation of the Infidels he designed a Voyage into Africk at the peril of his life to instruct the Moors there in the Christian faith but a Fryar of his Order and in great esteem for Piety disswaded him assuring him God had prepared him a great imployment in Spain He travelled on foot and begged but was such a bungler at the Trade and begged so untowardly that he seldom carried any but an empty bagg which made Franeis Rouys his companion tell him he must give over begging for that no man was more certainly born to give to all and begg of none than he And had not the care of Rouys stood him in more stead than his begging Alms he had made more Fast-dayes than the Rules of his Order required So unfit to begg are Great Spirits being naturally disposed to Give not to Ask. CAP. III. FOrtune which had designed him for the prime Prelate of Spain took care soon after to furnish his strong inclinations for the Good of mankind with means competent to express his Good nature in acts of benificence answerable to the Greatness of his Soul Cardinal Mendoza Archbishop of Toledo laboured under two maladies the one incurable the other dangerous Age and a Feavour which induced him to go to Guadalfayre to take the benefit of that Ayre he drew at his birth Ferdinand and Isabel King and Queen of Spain went thither to visit him This honour had saved the Cardinals life if death had regarded the presence of Kings who are themselves his Homagers Mendoza now drawing near to his end gave his Master these three sage Counsels 1. To make peace with the King of France and keep it inviolable when made 2. To marry the Infant John Designed Successor of their Crowns to Joan since the wise of Alphonso King of Portugal pretendant to the Kingdom of Castile 3. To conferr the Archbishoprick of Toledo on a person of mean Condition but of great integrity and extraordinary Capacity That these qualities were apparently eminent in the person of Ximenes That the Grandees of Spain proud enough of the Titles they are born to become intolerably insolent by the addition of those of great Dignities These Princes slighted the first Advice to the prejudice and notorious damage of Christendom which smarted for their contempt of it as the Spanish histories ingenuously Confess The third they embraced which Coming to the Knowledge of Ximenes he remonstrates to them that the Dignity of the Archbishoprick of Toledo being the prime of the State as well spiritual as temporal which gave the person invested in it the priviledge of speaking next the King in the Council-Royal ought to be given to the most illustrious and Ancient Gentry of the Kingdom Cardinal Mendoza quitted his life and the Archbishoprick together in the year 1496. Ferdinand would have preferred his natural son Don Alphonso Archbishop of Saragosa to this great Benefice But Isabel who had right of Presentation to it as Queen of Castile preferred the vertue of Ximenes before the birth of Don Alphonso and the intreaties of the King her husband The year ensuing they presented Ximenes to succeed in this Grand Prelature no less in dignity than Revenue which amounts to two hundred thousand Ducats a year Ximenes forced by express Mandat from the Pope accepts it At his first nomination he left the Court and fled on foot to a Covent of his Order a great way from Madrid to avoid investiture in the Archbishoprick But returning in obedience to the Pope he declared to Ferdinand and Isabel that he would never consent that this Rich Benefice should be charged with one farthing pension as prejudicial to the dignity and liberty of the prime pastor of Spain Now hath he just cause to meddle in Affairs of the State as being one of the most considerable members thereof This sudden change of fortune shook not his Constancy nor altered his setled Resolutions of adhering to vertue Yet was he as free from mean and base Actions as from the Corruptions that usually attend great fortunes he made it appear that no dignity could be so great as to exceed his capacity no Grandure in the gift of fortune to which his soul was not commensurate though in his plenty of Fortune and Eminence of place he continued the plainness of a Religious life Piety hath brought plenty and abundance of Riches into the Church And by the disorders of the world the Daughter hath devoured the Mother so that there are more Ecclesiasticks Rich than Pious Ximenes was not of their number for amidst the Treasure of that Great Revenue he kept inviolable that poverty that exalts Great Personages above the height of fortune and consists in the contempt and sober use of these perishing enjoyments And as if he had been afraid to lose the least part of it he continued the practises of that Poverty which the Rules of Religion exact from its strictest votaries The Pomp of a Cardinal and Attendance of the Prime Prelate of Spain could not keep him from retyring into a private place from the eyes of his domestiques to mend with his own hands the frock he had wore among those of his Order so that after his death in a Box whereof in his Life-time he constantly kept the Key there were found needles thred and pieces of Gray Cloth of the Colour of his Frock which he laid up for that use He slept on a Friers pallet which he had hid in his Chamber where stood his Bed of state And that his family might not perceive it he made it his custom to go to bed and rise alone without attendants and his door shut When he was first made Archbishop he rid
excellent Captain Ministers of State endued with an excellent vivacity of Spirit and solid Judgement learn by little exercise the business of a Captain The Cardinal attained it so quickly and happily that had he lived in those great Republicks that triumphed over the best parts of the World they had to his name Ximenes added the Sirname of African CAP. VIII UPon the first design of the Warr of Africk the Cardinal furnished the King with money toward the Charge thereof on Condition of re-imbursement or case Oran were taken the King should grant it to the Arch bishop of Toledo unless he chose rather to pay the money The Voyage of Africk being generously accomplished and the Spaniards masters of Oran the Cardinal demands the money he advanced This gave his Enemies fresh occasion to attacque his reputation and calumniated his integrity The grandees of Spain who had designed to trouble the State after Isabels death and to take from Ferdinand the Administration of Castile saw their designs defeated by the Counsels of the Cardinal and themselves reduced to a private life in their houses with as little Authority as the meanest Burgesses of Madrid See here an opportunity of Revenge to out the Cardinal from Court and soon after with ease to Remove Ferdinand from the Administration they lay hold on 't and Remonstrate to Ferdinand that the Cardinals avarice was insatiable that there was no reason he should demand the money advanced having made vast gains by the richest part of the booty of Oran which he had reserved for himself in recompence of his Loans That the bravest warriers having lost their blood in battel returned with no greater felicity than that of being loaden with glory and Booty that the more generous contented themselves with the glory leaving the booty to the Soldiers But the Cardinal who had seen no Field but St. Michaels Chappel nor handled other Weapon than his Breviary while others with their Swords in their hands lay weltred in blood in the midst of their Enemies is not satisfied with the glory of Conquest and spoils of a City but must empty the Kings Coffers on pretence of a Lone which the King was not obliged to pay The King unwilling to drain his Treasures as what King is willing to do it approves of these discourses So easily do Monarks believe what they desire The Kings Officers spake almost to the same effect The Cardinal never daunted by the Crosses and Troubles of Court makes a generous defence alledges the Services he had done in the Warr that besides the money furnished to Levy the Army he had Conducted them to the place established order amongst them prevented the frauds and pilleries of the Captains at Musters which often proves the destruction of Armies for where the Soldier is not paid he must of necessity starve or disband That but for him Navarr had left the Cavalry useless in the Ships that the Combat had not been undertaken if not Counselled yea commanded by him As to the Booty of Oran he took only some Arabick Volumes for the Library of Alcala where they were bestowed That even that small parcel of the Booty was not for him alone but for the benefit of the whole Kingdom of Spain for whom he had founded the Colledge and Library and therefore he prayed his Majesty to pay him the money advanced or grant the City of Oran to the Church of Toledo according to promise Some of the Councel held this proposal reasonable and useful to the King in saving him the Charge of a Garrison at Oran Others had more generous sentiments and said that fear of expence ought not to Ravish the Crown of Spain of so important a place that the Cardinal in offering to maintain a Garrison there acted as a King and the King by refusing it to save his money should act as a private person and in derogation to his Royal Condition That honour is the true patrimony of Kings to which money ought to be subservient to preserve and increase it That by the Laws of the State no private person can hold a place of strength upon the Frontiers of the Kingdom that Agrede had been heretofore taken from the Earles of Montacute because it was scituate on the Confines of Arragon and the Village of Bâ—zâ— on the Sea side over against Africk from the Arch-bishops of Toledo That in Affairs of this Nature the History of Spain gives no encouragement to trust Priests more than men of other quality Oppo Arch-bishop of Toledo assisted Count Julian Governour of Granada to introduce the Moors into Spain who for many Ages shed the blood of the people pulled down the Altars destroyed the Temples And in several places established the Abominations of Mahomet The Cardinal patiently heard these several Opinions and saw they tended all to his Ruine but had before his eyes the Example of the great Captain Gonsalves who having Conquered the Kingdom of Naples and made it Subject to the Crown of Spain had no other Recompence but that of banishment in his own Countrey as living there without Office without imployment without any acknowledgement turning over his Beads at Valladolid or sometimes at Court where he was as inconsiderable For men how great soever their Vertues be are oftentimes in the hands of Fortune and of Kings as Counters in the hand of a Banker where that which now stands for a thousand presently signifies no more than one Yet Reason and Justice carryed the day the Cardinal had them on his side and the King caused payment to be made him of the moneys he advanced his Vertue which before defended his Authority against Envy and Obloquy preserved it still and triumphed over both and the Cardinal gave his Majesty thanks for altering those opinions which the envy of the Grandees his Enemies had once infused into his Majesty against him But this was not the only Trouble that sprung from the taking of Oran to the vexation of the Cardinal For among the conditions agreed on before the Warr one was that the Church of Oran should depend on that of Toledo in the quality of an Abby to which the Arch-bishop of Toledo and not the King of Spain should present Lewis William a Cordelier obtains a grant thereof by Bull from the Pope with the Title of a Bishoprick which he assumed but was hindred by the Cardinal from taking possession This man who leaving his Cloyster proposed to himself the glory of appearing in the World with the Mytre and Revenue of a Bishop frames a Process in the Council exclaims in the Court complains of the Cardinal protests against his Violence and proclaims to all the World that by the force of his great Authority he had Ravished a Bishoprick from him The Cardinal to stop the mouth of this impudent Monk who cared not what he said thought it prudence to propose a fair Accommodation makes him understand the Right accrued to the Arch-bishoprick of Toledo over the Church of Oran
to his honour He writes to the Cardinal to imploy his Credit to procure him the continuance of the name of King and to proclaim him King throughout Spain The Cardinal sitts about it and plyes it closely called an Assembly of the Notable persons of the Realm composed of Prelats Grandees of Spain and Counsellors of State and causes overtures to be made and the Affair proposed to them by Laurence Galiud Counsellor of State his Confident a man of great Learning and Eloquence Who declared to the Assembly the pittiful condition and miserable Estate of Queen Joan now besides her self and uncapable to Govern shews them the necessity of having a Prince who might at least in name fill up what she could not indeed possess That Authority was the soul of the Kingdom and since it could not be found in the person of Joan they must seek it in that of Charles That it was no new thing for the Infantes of Spain to bear the Title of Kings in their Parents life-life-time He cited Presidents in the Reign of the Goths and their Successours In the Close of his discourse he drew out of his bosome the Prince's Letters not demanding advice but commanding obedience and concluded it better By unanimous consent to gratifie him in his desires with Congratulation to him for the Title he had assumed than to refuse him That he had already taken and was resolved to keep The Bishops and Councellours of State were of his Opinion The Grandees of the Contrary Henry Almirante and Frederick D' Alva swore before the Assembly They would never endure such an Usurpation The Cardinal turns to them and with a face and voice full of severity sayes King Charles has no need of your Votes for the quality he Assumes nor did I assemble you to desire them but of my free inclinations for your good to give you this occasion by the freeness of your Suffrages and cheerful Consent to merit the good-will and favour of our Prince But since you conceive that to be due to you of Right which was done you of Courtesie I 'le make you know you are not so necessary in this business as you mistake your selves to be And going out of the Council he sent for the Governour of Madrid and commanded him to cause Charles of Austria to be proclaimed King of Castile by sound of Trumpet in every Street of the Town which was solemnly done the same day Toledo followed the Example of Madrid and joyfully made the like Proclamation Such was the fruit of the Cardinals Severity that the Grandees durst not attempt any thing to hinder it Where a Minister of State sees Discourse and Perswasions too feeble to prevail he must use severity and force to back his Authority The Kingdom of Arragon followed not the example of Castile Alfonso of Arragon Bishop of Saragosa was Governour there by the Testament of Ferdinand The Arragonois wonderful Jealous of the Laws of their State refused to give Charles the Title of King during his mothers life And to second the refusal with violence Peter Gironne eldest Son of the Earl of Vrenne takes up Armes attacques the Dutchy of Medina Sedonia pretending a right to 't and besieges Luzerre on the Sea side The Cardinal sends against him a light Army under the Conduct of Anthony Fonseca and with him a Minister of Justice to punish the Rebells with the Axe and Rope Fonseca goes directly to Luzerre raiseth the Siege and puts the Rebells to flight who not long after came from those parts to increase the troubles raised by the Duke of Infantade on his side Who keeping in mind the offence given by the Cardinal by breaking off as he said the Marriage between his Niece and the Duke's Nephew exclaimed against him in Words and Writing publishing in his Manifestoes that the Nobility of Spain were oppressed by the Cardinal whom he called an unfrock'd Monk That the grandees of Spain had ever defended the Crown that it was more reasonable the Cardinal should obey them as Protectors of the State than that they should submit to the Cardinal who had nothing worthy the taking notice of but the quality he owed to the gift of blind Fortune and knew no more than the severities and humoursome Vagaries the Monks practise in their Cloysters when they persecute one another The Cardinal who was excellently judicious slighted these Rodomantadoes knowing that Choler without Force is a Wind that makes a noise but cannâ—◠〈◊〉 That the Grandees of Spain spend their Revenues on their Vanity and Luxury to the last Farthing having nothing left but noise and exclamations the feeble support of their huffing and pride when he could pay an Army with the Revenue of his Benefices And leaving them thus to Champ on the bit he gave them leisure to acknowledge their fault and feebleness and by the Experience of his powerful Authority to come to themselves and return to their duty which most of them did and among others the Duke of Infantade who after so many sallies and freaks sent him Letters of Submission and testimonials of his Affection and Obedience For they saw this Man intirely fix'd and resolute in his designs when just then he had rendred himself capable to command Armies learning daily the Theory and practick of the Art of Warr entertaining himself with Discourses of all points thereof amongst the sagest and most Ancient Captains Besides he had a standing Army of thirty thousand men raised out of the Cities and Burroughs of Spain who had no other pay than Franchises and Immunities These Forces made him formidable to his personal Enemies and to the Disturbers of the publick peace As wings carry the Eagle to the glory of Combat so Armies the wings of Royal Authority carry it against the Enemies of the State to their ruine and confusion but to its own certain Victory and Triumph The next Year being 1516. the Cardinal sent to Charles in Flanders Diego Lopez Ajala a person in whom he reposed much confidence to procure Letters Patents to confirm Ferdinands Testament which gave him the Regency to approve his Conduct and to give him full Authority over the Council the Tribunals of Justice the Governours of Towns and the Receivers and Treasurers of the Finances Diego had in his Instructions To let the King know that the Grant of these things by Letters Missive to the Council was not sufficient This he did to take away all pretence from the Grandees for stirring the people against him on colour that his Actions were not approved of by the Prince For upon his setting a foot thirty thousand men of the Militia of the Towns and Cities which received Immunities only for pay the great Ones of Spain gave out that these violent Courses tended to the subversion of the State That he Armed the people against them and with design first to destroy them and then to ruine the People That his irregular Ambition and exorbitant Pride had transported him
a man whom he knew intire and immoveable in his resolutions The example of Villas Hermanos was fresh in memory and the image of it in his thoughts troubled him representing him as miserable as his friend Giron He resolved to bow rather than break goes to Madrid humbles himself makes means of Reconcilement to the Cardinal causes his Son to obey renders the place and obtains of Charles the moiety of the Priory for his Son the other moiety being left for Astuniga and enough for both Another difficulty arises in the enjoyment of the Benefice The great Master of Rhodes who had unjustly outed Astuniga to invest Diego in the place would not acknowledge any Prior but Diego gave him all the Authority of Grand Prior and sent him Orders for a general Assembly of all the Knights of the Order in Spain Diego summons them and would have had them assembled without other Authority than his the Cardinal hinders it sends for him and tells him If you were in the Isle of Rhodes you might do your pleasure but in Spain where I command know you must come to me and have my permission Thus he reduced to reason the three Grandees of Spain who had most opposed his Authority who having made a great noise had experience to their shame of the greatness of his Judgement the height of his Courage and his marvellous Address being compelled to throw themselves at his feet whose head they slighted and had in contempt The Fable of the Giants destroyed by Thunderbolts and buried under the Mountains they had accumulated instructs a Minister of State sometimes to use force and severity against potent men who to trouble the publick peace would by destroying his Authority attain the King 's These Crosses and the unwillingness of the great Ones to acknowledge the honour he had acquired in Spain with the ingratitude of the people whose ease he affected and procured the happiness they enjoyed gave him sensible displeasures and made him call to mind the tranquillity and sweetness of his Religious life in the Monastery of Castanet Neer which there was in view a little hill covered with Trees where he often went to search under their shadows the light of truth in Holy-Writt and after some hours reading kneeled and with hands and heart lift up to Heaven conversed with God in Prayer and Meditation then retiring immediately into a little Cabbin made with his own hands in imitation of those Angels of the Desart the ancient Hermits he fed his body with Bread and Water but his Soul with plentiful repasts of spiritual delicacies The holy pleasures of this solitude he panted after amidst the Crosses and oppositions he encountered in the State saying often to his greatest Confidents If I might obtain leave how willingly would I change this Palace for my Cabin at Castanet the Authority of Governour of Spain for the silence of that solitude and my Mitre of Toledo and Cardinals Cap for the habit of that poor place A Minister of State hath not in the troubles of Affairs a more solid comfort than that of Piety which is the Policy of Heaven if any be exercised there as well as part of the Politicks of this World Charles often advised by the Cardinal to come into Spain to enjoy his Crown and dissipate by his presence the Troubles that daily grew up at last leaves Flanders and by an Express to the Cardinal gives him notice he was Embarqued The Cardinal goes from Madrid and advances with the whole Court to meet his Master making choice of the Burrough of Alcande scituate on the Banks of the River Guadalayer to attend his coming and taking with him Prince Ferdinand under a strong Guard on which depended the peace and safety of Spain in his journey he passed through Bâ—zeguillas a Village on a Hill and Dined there but the worst Dinner he ever made for there the Spaniards generally believe he had that venomous Dose of Lingering Poison which destroyed his life which is the more probable for that the Provincial of the Observantines of St. Francis being on his way with some of his Order to go to the Cardinal a man on Hors-back came to them with his face muffled up in a Hand-kerchief to prevent their discovery and said Fathers if your business be to the Cardinal make haste to him before he Dines and advise him not to eat of a Pigeon that shall be served in to him for 't is poysoned Marquine the Provincial arrives at Bozeguillas and recounts to the Cardinal what the strange Gentleman told him The Cardinal having thanked him for his Care of him made him this Answer Father if I have been poysoned it was not this day but a while ago reading at Madrid a Letter from Flanders when me-thought I drew in poyson by my Eyes since which I protest I feel my self dye every day Nevertheless I am not so well assured of this as to exclude all doubt of the truth thereof We are all under the Conduct of Gods Providence which takes away and restores our health as he judges most necessary for our Salvation Let 's obey then those holy Decrees that are irreversible But when his malady came on him he returned to his former opinion telling his Physitians that he should perish by the Treason of those Wretches that attempted his life The Spaniards write that after Dinner at Bozeguillas his malady heightned so apparently that putrified matter broke out under his Nails yet this could not hinder him from imploying the small portion of life that remained in the service of the State He had written to Charles that it concerned him to command from his brother Ferdinand Alvarez Osorio the Dominican Bishop of Astozia the Prince's Tutor and Peter Gusman Grand Prior of the Order of Calatrave his Governour who apprehending the Arrival of Charles in Spain might give the young Prince Counsel to the disservice of the King it being long reported that these men would never brook the Flemings whom they hated and to avoid a meeting would retire to Arragon with Ferdinand and cause him to be Crowned King of that Kingdom But he was designed by Heaven for greater Fortunes and was Emperour after his Brother Charles the fifth and had the Royal Crowns of Hungary and Bohemia in right of Queen Anne his Wife Heiress to Ladislaus and Lewis her Father and Brother Kings of those Kingdoms he had four Sons and eleven Daughters of whom Joan d' Austria was marryed to Francis de Medicis great Duke of Tuscany of which Marriage was born Mary de Medicis Queen of France and Navarr Wife of Henry the Great and Mother of Lewis the thirteenth late Regnant a Princess of eminent Vertue singular goodness and incomparable magnanimity maternally descended from the Houses of France and Austria as well as those of Hungary and Bohemia for the Emperour Ferdinand her Grand-father was younger Son to Mary of Burgundy only Daughter of Duke Charles and Isabel of Bâ—urbon Charles judging the