Infanto upon the only account that Chievres had recommended him to him But because Tellez was then at Bruxelles whither the Catholick King had called him Ximenes in expectation of his return put in his place the Marquess of Aguilat who afterward got so much into his young Masters favour that he continued to be chief Governour The Infanto sometime after having begg'd of the King his Brother to continue him in the place he had about him which was granted All the other new Officers of the Infanto were chosen by the Cardinal who in an action of that importance trusted no man but himself None were preferred but for merit but in the preference of merit Ximenes followed two measures first that they should be of mean extraction and then that they should be obliged to no man but himself for their fortune He thought that these considerations would be sufficient to take them off from cabelling wherein their predecessors had imprudently engaged and if they were not sufficient yet on all hazards it would be the easier to turn them off also that they had no relations to protect them The Spaniards seemed very indifferent as to the alteration of all the Servants of the Infanto save only in the removal of the young Viscount of Altamira He was of the same Age with his Master and was placed about him as a Page of Honour They at first contented themselves to play together at the Infanto's vacant hours But afterward the Sympathy of their humours had linked them into a stricter friendship than their young years and the disproportion of their quality seemed to allow of The truth is the Viscount had extraordinary complaisant dispositions to engage his Master He was a perfect Courtier before he knew what was fit to be done to become so without any other guide but nature and his duty It was not enough for him to second the inclinations of the Infanto with all imaginable exactness but he prevented them by his foresight and he was observed never to have proposed any thing to him but what was agreeable The Infanto who on his part loved him most tenderly In the Elegics of the Altamites used all means possible to retain him He besought wept importuned and for the space of twenty four hours refrained eating and drinking But Ximenes was as inexorable upon the account of that Servant as he had been in respect of the rest The Viscount had an original sin which barred him from all favour He was the Nephew of the Bishop of Ozorio the Infanto's Tutor and if he had lived with that Prince he might have inspired into him such sentiments as his Uncle pleased The fear of this was not without ground and Ximenes sent the Viscount home to his Father with Orders to tarry there until the arrival of the Catholick King in Spain Thus the boldest action that was ever seen in Castille since the Mores made no more war against it was put in execution by a man who hardly shew'd any more signs of life but in enduring the sharp pains which he felt and that with such absolute Authority that he would employ none in it but himself alone Posterity perhaps will find it now difficult still to believe what we are about to relate But it is so true that there is no circumstance nor evidence of truth wanting to it Chievres had wisely apprehended that Ximenes was not powerful enough to change the Infanto's houshold at his pleasure and the reason of his fear was that the Governour and Tutor of that young Prince had for kinsmen and intimate friends two Spanish Lords of great credit and resolution who would not suffer without raising some Tumult that men from whom they expected much in case of a revolution in affairs should be turned out of place These two Lords were the Marquess of Astorga and the Count of Lemos both which allied to many Noble Families of the Country personally valiant and expert in War If they were to be kept in their duty it could only be by Letters which the Catholick King should write to them with his own hand to inform them that foâ— the good of the Monarchy he had resolved to order Ximenes to change all the houshold of the Infanto his Brother and that his Majesty looked upon the Marquess and Count as faithful Subjects who would be so far from opposing the execution of his pleasure that they would facilitate it as much as they could The two Letters were sent open to Ximenes and it was referred to his discretion to cause them to be delivered or to suppress them as he should judge convenient But he was offended at it answered haughtily that he could do very well without them and threw them into the fire It appeared in the sequel that â—e had no better opinion of himself than â—e ought to have seeing the Marquess â—nd Count did no more but murmur â—gainst him in secret and perceiving â—hemselves watched by Soldiers who â—vaited only for the least stirring on their â—art to apprehend them they took no â—xceptions outwardly at the disgrace of â—heir friends In fine Ximenes having preserved to â—pain the Town of Algiers had the good â—…ck also once more to save Oran which â—as besieged by the Mores He received â—he news of it a few days before he had â—he intelligence that the Catholick King â—ho had embarked in the beginning of â—eptember one thousand five hundred and â—eventeen in the Fleet which he had â—ent to him was about the end of the â—ame month landed in the Coast of the â—sturias He was so overjoyed thereat â—hat for some days he seemed to have reâ—overed his health He rose out of the â—ed where it was expected he should â—ave died said Mass applied himself â—o publick affairs and ate with the Corâ—leliers in their Refectory At that time â—e received a Letter from Chievres who â—onsulted him about two businesses of exâ—ream importance One to know what should be done with the Infanto and the other if the Catholick King should visit the Kingdoms of Arragon before those of Castille The reason why Chievres doubted of the first point was that it did not seem probable on the one hand that the Infanto could be left in a Country where he had been brought up in almost certain hopes of Reigning without exposing the people to a perpetual temptation of revolting And on the other hand it was not secure for his Brâ—ther the King to send him into any other of his Dominions For were it into the Low-Countries the Flemings would make him their Sovereign were it for no other reason but to hinder their Country from being reduced into a Province of the Spâ—nish Monarchy and if it were into It aâ—… they who loved their freedom would solicite the Infanto to seize the Kingdomâ— of Naples Sicily Sardinia Majorca anâ— Minorca to the end that in a Country which was heretofore head of the World there might be no foreign Sovereign buâ— the King
he should lend their Forces against their Neighbours with an emptier Purse than that of their Enemies and that which of the two hapned the Netherlands were almost in an equal danger of changing their Master during the time of a long minority On the other hand the Testator was altogether dissatisfied with the Catholick King Ferdinand his Father-in-law and to say the truth not without cause since the affront he had received from him struck directly at his honour For when the same Ferdinand resolved to drive the French out of half the Kingdom of Naples which two years before he had divided with them he well foresaw that his Forces being inferiour to theirs he could not be able to overcome them but by joyning Stratagem to Force He proposed to himself to amuse and deceive them and that they might not mistrust the snare he laid for them he thought it best to cloak his treachery under the faith of a Treaty which is the most sacred and inviolable type of Civil Society and chose his Son-in-law in quality of Plenipotentiary for the Instrument of his foul play thinking that if the French did upon any ground conceive suspicion they would entertain less of a Prince such as Philip who was their feudatary than of any other whom his Catholick Majesty might send unto them Accordingly Ferdinand entreated Philip to go to the Court of Louis the Twelfth and make peace betwixt France and Spain having for that end given him an unliâ—nited Commission Philip found Louis at Blois and treated fairly and squarely with him The accommodation was signed on both hands on condition that the division of the Kingdom of Naples betwixt the two Nations should continue and that which of the two did invade any part beâ—nging to the other should forthwith make restitution Louis who out of a â—rinciple of Religion avoided needless exâ—ence as much as he could dismissed the Troops that he had raised for maintaining his share and Ferdinand on the contrary having reinforced his they beat the French and drove them entirely out Louis complained of this to all the World But Ferdinand having obtained what he desired put off the Vizor He disowned what his Son-in-law had done and laughed at the credulity of Louis He still retained what he had so unjustly usurped when Philip died who if he had left the disposition of his Son to him would have given ground of suspicion that there had been a collusion betwixt his Father in law and himself and that he was not altogether innocent of a cheat which he or his might one day have the benefit of His memory would have been too much blasted thereby and the stain was so foul that he did not think he could shun it but by trusting what was dearest to him to the Probity of Louis and making by that means some reparation for the injury which he had received by his Ministry Besides he foresaw that if he left the administration of the Low-Countries to the Catholick King that Prince would employ their Forces against France with so much the more danger to the Flemings that if they were worsted he was too far off to assist them whereas by referring himself to the most Christian King in the choice of a Governour for his Son they would remain united with France and thereby maintain themselves in profound peace However it be the Flemings approved the Testament of Philip and Louis had full liberty to provide for the Education of Charles the young Archduke He determined in favour of Chievres and what hereafter follows will make it but too evident that he could not have done better for the Pupil who was recommended â—o him nor worse for the Monarchy of France Chievres employed the first years of his Charge in studying the Genius of the young Archduke and by an unconceivable assiduity and attention 〈◊〉 finding out in him the little ways and â—umours that discovered what groundâ—ork Nature and Sin had laid there for â—ertue and for Vice. The fruit of so long labour was that Chievres discovered that Charles resembled Lands newly dried after they had been long overflowed with the waters of the Sea which at first produce vast numbers both of good and bad â—rbs That in reality the chief perfections of his most illustrious Ancestors were descended into him but that in exchange 〈◊〉 likewise inherited the most remarkable of their imperfections For as to the Father's side if he had the activity of â—hilip the hardy he had also his inclination of always pursuing the end which he proposed by fetches and by-ways if he had the undertaking humour of John without fear In the Lives of the last Dukes of Burgundy he had likewise his pertinaciousness in pushing on to the last the most unjust enterprises If like Philip the good he loved to be familiar yet he did not like no more than he that his familiarity should raise or enrich those who were honoured with it If he was indefatigable in labour as Charles the terrible so he exacted as rigidly as he the reward of his labours If he was sometimes merry even to excess as the Emperour Maximilian so was he no less insupportable than he in a pensive melancholy that seized him upon the smallest occasions And if as his Father he was complaisant to those who instructed him he had nevertheless also a secret contempt of their Persons notwithstanding the good office they rendered him On the Mothers side if like Henry of Transtamare he had the knack of engaging men of extraordinary merit into his Interests and to keep them so engaged so long as he had need of them he had also the weakness to forget them as absolutely as if he had never known them so soon as they were no more useful unto him If like John the Second of Castile he employed more willingly men of low extraction than persons of quality yet he pardoned no more than he the least escapes they were guilty of in the execution of his Orders If in imitation of Henry the Third of Castile he prevented as much as â—y in his power the troubles which â—reatened the State he set about it also in the same manner as he by fomenting â—…e divisions that he found kindled â—mongst the great men or by his Emissaâ—es cunningly sowing the seeds of them â—hen the too good correspondence amongst these great men began to create suspicions in him If he was as happy as â—…hn the Second of Castile in finding men that gloried to sacrifice themselves to 〈◊〉 service yet he rewarded them no more than he but by caresses and praise If as John of Arragon he entertained no more freiendship for his own than what decorum â—…uired without going farther he cared as little as he if the Publick was acquaintâ—… with his defect of tenderness In a word if in imitation of Ferdinand the â—tholick he exacted from others a punctual performance of their word and if he could not endure no more than he
married not again Manuel and his Issue who were not next of kin to her would not inherit any thing of hers In the mean time seeing Ferdinand only demanded the Princess of Castile to hinder the House of Austria from settling in Spain If Manuel granted her he would raise a Civil War in Castile the success whereof it was impossible for him to foresee If the Arms of Ferdinand prevailed there his Majesty of Portugal would not be the better for it since his Father-in-law was neither liberal nor grateful but if Ferdinand succumbed Portugal would immediately after have upon its back besides the Forces of Castile those of Germany and the Low Countries which he would be the less able to resist that there was no communication betwixt the Kingdoms of Portugal and those of Arragon to receive Succours from thence So that the Princess of Castile was fairly * In the Manual of Osorio denied to Ferdinand who not being able to carry her despaired of having her for Wife At the same time he lost all hopes of getting the Kingdoms of Castile from the House of Austria but despaired not of excluding it from his own Succession and that he might compass that he chose rather to court the Neece of his greatest Enemy than to remain a Widower John de Foix Vicecount of Narbonne married Mary Magdalen of Orleans Sister to Louis the Twelfth King of France by whom he had two Children the incomparable Gaston de Foix who was afterward killed at the Battel of Ravenna and Germana de Foix whom the most Christian King caused to be brought up with his Daughters Ferdinand pitched upon her for his second Wife and seeing he commonly proposed to himself more than one end in his actions he had two in this as you shall see The first was that Germana might one day furnish him with a plausible pretext of usurping Navarre in that the Viscount of Narbonne the Father of that Princess was concerned in that famous case of conscience upon which Theology had always been consulted though the determinations thereof were never acquiesced unto but always decided by the Sword. This is not a proper place of giving instances of it and the business here is only to lay down plainly the matter of fact Gaston de Foix Prince of Bearn had a Son already of his own name Gaston by Leonora of Arragon his Wife at that time when she succeeded to the Crown of Navarre by the death of Charles Prince of Vienne her only Brother and of Isabella her eldest Sister without Children Leonora being settled in the Succession of Navarre was brought to bed of a second Son who was John Viscount of Narbonne John pretended to the Crown of Navarre in exclusion of his elder Brother as being the Son of a Queen and a King whereas his elder Brother was but the Son of a Count and Countess The difference could not be sifted to the bottom because the elder Brother having married Magdalen of France Sister to King Charles the Seventh was put into possession of Navarre and left it to his Children The Viscount left also his Pretensions to Gaston de Foix his Son and to Germana his Daughter Gaston was of so warlike a temper that it was easie to be foreseen that he would be slain and Ferdinand looked upon Germana as a presumptive Heiress that might bring him a Title to the Crown of Navarre which he well knew how to make the best of in time and place convenient The second end that Ferdinand proposed to himself in his marriage with Germana was to strike in with France in a Juncture when possessing no longer the Kingdoms of Castile he was not now strong enough to return what he had usurped upon Louis the Twelfth in Italy In the three views then that we have been mentioning he caused an offer to be made to his most Christian Majesty of treating with him upon two conditions the one that he would give him in Marriage Germana his Neece the next that if Male Children sprung from that Marriage that might live to be in a condition one day to Reign the Kingdom of Naples should belong to them with the consent of France which in that case should yield to them all the claim it had to it but if the Marriage were barren or at least as to Male Children capable of reigning that then the Kingdom of Naples should return to the Monarchy of France in exclusion of the Daughters of Ferdinand's first marriage and of their Posterity Louis accepted the offer of Ferdinand because he only considered it on the side it was advantageous to him His most Christian Majesty had been unfortunate in the Wars of Naples he had lost three great Armies there his Treasures were exhausted by the prodigious charges he had been at and his most courteous disposition hindered him from oppressing the People as must needs have been done to continue that War. The occasion that presented for recovering the Kingdom of Naples was favourable He had the greater reason to embrace it that it would not cost him one drop of bloud and though it was not altogether certain that it would succeed yet there was but little wanting to make it infallible The truth was Ferdinand was not old but his former incontinence had so weakened him that his Physicians durst not hope for any more Children from him He had entertained frequent and long correspondences with the Countess of Eboly by whom he had had the Archbishop of Sarragossa Alphonso d' Arragon and a Daughter married to Bernardin de Valesco Constable of Castile with the Lady Tole de Bibao by whom he had had a Daughter that was a Nun in the Monastery of Madrigal and with a Portuguese Lady of the House of Perreira by whom he had another Daughter that was a Nun as well as the former * In the Book of Mayerne It was to be presumed that that amorous inclination seconded by the plumpness and vigour of Germana would quickly send Ferdinand into the other world and that by consequent France would not long expect to enter again into the Kingdom of Naples In fine the interests of Arragon were for ever or at least for some time divided from those of Castile and France found its advantage in both these Junctures though it would have found it far more in the first than in the second The Marriage of Ferdinand and Germana was no sooner consummated but that Prince made a project of securing himself entirely in the possession of the Kingdom of Naples upon pretext of being in a better condition of fulfilling the Treaty which he had concluded with Louis the Twelfth That Crown had been partly conquered and partly usurped by the Castillians which gave them occasion to pretend that it was annexed to their Monarchy and not to that of Arragon The great Captain Gonsalvo de Cordova had not expelled King Frederick and the French from thence and seeing he was born a Subject of
he failed to do it within a time limited Ferdinand knew Maximilian too well to be afraid of him so long as none but he made War against him because he was sure that in that case his Imperial Majesty would do it but weakly and but for a short time too But he apprehended that when the French saw him once engaged in the Conquest of the Kingdom of Naples and reduced to an inability of pursuing his point through the want of money they might treat with him to buy the places he had taken and hire the Forces employed in forcing them for in such a Juncture it would be impossible for Spain to preserve that Kingdom In that prospect Ferdinand proposed to himself by the means of France to divert the storm that threatned him and had his recourse to the mediation of Louis the Twelsth to hinder Maximilian from making War once more in Italy Louis had received causes of dissatisfaction from the Republick of Venice that he could not think of pardoning It had hindered him from recovering the Kingdom of Naples wherein had it not been for that Republick he must have succeeded and they had plainly enough intimated by their Embassadours at Paris that they would engage in all Leagues that might be formed against the disturbers of the peace of Italy Since their politick resolutions were unalterable and that there was no other expedient to take them off from the execution of the Counsels taken in the Pregadi but by attacking them so powerfully that they should have business enough to defend themselves Louis laboured to turn against them the four most considerable Powers of Europe which were the Holy See France Germany and Spain In the causes of the League of Cambray The Union of so many Adversaries of so contrary humours and interests did not appear very difficult because there was none of them from whom the Republick did not keep Towns which they would be very glad to recover In the Ecclesiastical state they possessed the most Important places of the Province of Romania in the Dutchy of Milan the Towns lying upon the River of Adda Istria and Friuli the places which heretofore the House of Austria had held by engagement and in the Kingdom of Naples the maritime Towns of Apulia France secretly negotiated the Preliminaries of that League and they were almost agreed when Ferdinand represented to the most Christian King that if he prevented not the misunderstanding that was like to degenerate into an open War betwixt his Catholick Majesty and the Emperour the Union of the four Potentates would be interrupted and perhaps would not all be formed by reason of the distrust that Pope Julius the Second might have that if he joyned alone with the French seeing they had many more Forces than he they might alone make their prosit of all the spoils of the Venetians Louis assaulted on the weak side employed his Ministers to reconcile his two most inveterate enemies and bestirred himself in it so vigorously that by his patience and perseverance he surpassed the great dissiculties that he met with therein The Emperour and Catholick King by his mediation disposed of the Crowns of Castile to which neither the one or other had any other right but that of conveniency as if they had been uncontrovertibly their own and though the Laws of the Country called to the Government the eldest of their Grandchildren when he was compleat Eighteen years of age yet they put him off by their own private authority till he were five and twenty The Emperour rested content with a Pension of fifty thousand Crowns a year for all the pretensions he had to Castile in quality of Paternal Grandfather to the two young Princes who were the lawful Heirs of it and the Catholick King secured himself at so easie a rate to reign so long as he lived as absolutely in that Monarchy as he did in Arragon Chievres with extreme indignation received the news of the conclusion of so unreasonable a Treaty and laid two considerable intrigues to break it off before it began to be put in execution the one was at the Court of France by the Countess of Angoulesm the Mother of Francis presumptive Successour to Louis the other in Germany by Margarite of Austria whom we have mentioned before The Countess of Angoulesm represented to the most Christian King that the Accommodation which he had made betwixt Germany and Spain was equally contrary to the Justice which he owed to himself and to that which he owed to the most illustrious Feudatary of his Crown That the three attempts made by his most Christian Majesty for the recovery of the Kingdom of Naples in seven years time since he lost it were sufficient to convince him that he could not succeed in it so long as the Germans and Spaniards acted in concert to hinder him from entering it as on the contrary their dis-union would infallibly open to him the way and that notwithstanding his Majesty instead of taking all courses to set Maximilian and Ferdinand at variance and at least of taking the advantage of the division fallen out betwixt them without his having a hand in it as he might in Conscience have done had interposed to make them friends and that successfully too which was the more insupportable to all true Frenchmen that they were sensible that had it not been for that Mediation the Kingdom of Naples would have been entirely reunited to the French Monarchy That the late King of Castile had upon his death-bed left the disposition of his eldest Son to his most Christian Majesty that besides he held of him because of his Counties of Flanders Artois and Charolois that he had indeed provided for the Education of that young Prince but that it seemed at present he had repented of the good he had done unto him by procuring him at least as much hurt seeing he frustrated him for seven whole years of the possession of the Kingdoms of Castile which by nature and the Laws belonged to him These urgent reasons of the Countess made no impression upon the mind of Louis because his Majesty neither could nor would undo his own work and if Chievres was strangely troubled at it he had occasion to take comfort in that his Pupil had afterwards the Kingdom of Navarre which Ferdinand could never have seized had he not been King of Castile as well as of Arragon in the Juncture that offered four years after However he left not off to apply himself to the Emperour by the Mediation of Margarite of Austria whose third Marriage with the Duke of Savoy had neither been longer nor more happy than the former with the Dauphin of France and the Prince of Spain who represented to him that his Imperial Majesty had rendered the House of Austria the most powerful Family in Christendom first by his Alliance with the Heiress of Burgundy and since by the Alliance of his Son with the Heiress of Spain but that
will but collecting of Manuscripts and setting up Libraries There was not a House of any note in Europe but he could upon the spot blazon its Coat of Arms and deduce the Genealogy thereof and though no man knew better than he that Nobility is only the reward of merit and that he could not more sensibly affront the Gentry of Navarre than by introducing amongst them persons altogether undeserving yet he did but too often give them occasion of vexing at his conduct in that particular whether it was that he suffered himself to be wheedled by flattery or that he could not resist long importunities He had learned in Guyenne to treat with his Vassals as a simple Gentleman and that familiarity which was reckoned a virtue in him so long as he continued in France became his greatest vice when he was in Spain the People of that Country esteeming none more enormous than that which is most inconsistent with gravity Royal Majesty was to him insupportable in all the actions that were not of Ceremony At other times he loved to live in an equallity which he called the Cement of Civil Society He went willingly to such places where he was invited to eat provided the company consisted only of Gentlemen of breeding and the first thing he did when he was come was to forget for some time that he was King and to be willing that the Master of the House and the Guests should forget it as well as he seeing he was very pleasant company he contributed at least as much to their mirth as they did to his and when he came to know of any feast made in Pampelona the chief City of Navarre whether out of respect they durst not invite him he invited himself and put the People to no charges for then he went commonly alone He loved dancing the more that in it he excelled all the Princes of his Age and when upon a Journey he found by the way companies of Towns or Country people who diverted themselves that way he struck in and danced with them He had so great antipathy against State affairs when he found them thorny that he abandoned them entirely to the care of his Ministers who not having the same interest in them as he had ordered them many times according to their fancy The greatest abuse that proceeded from thence was that the Magistracies Benefices Offices and Governments of Navarre were given to strangers and that the Remonstrances made thereupon by the Estates of the Kingdom were fruitless There is nothing Princes ought more to fear than the hatred and contempt of their Subjects However they may boast that they are not altogether unfortunate when they fall but into the aversion alone or into the contempt alone of the same Subjects because if they have only lost their affection the reverence that remains is sufficient to keep them in obedience and if they have only lost the reverence affection supplies the defect but when there is neither reverence nor affection it is impossible to prevent revolutions in States and to hinder them from growing universal when once they are begun John d' Albert was no more respected by the Navarrese by reason of his too familiar way of living and for all that reigned no less peaceably because he was no less beloved of the meaner sort whom he treated as his equals nor of the great men who well enough foresaw that a Prince of that temper would never invade their Priviledges but so soon as he attracted the hatred of both by preferring before them strangers and persons of mean virtue nothing was then able to support him and he succumbed under the first attack that was made against him For many Ages Navarre had been divided into two almost equal Factions in power the one was that of Beaumont the other that of Grammont according to the old Titles of the House which still retains that name and of Grammont according to the modern The chief of the House of Beaumont was the Count of Lerin hereditary Constable of Navarre and the chief of the House of Grammont was Lord of Tutelle and High Marshal of the Kingdom The Count of Lerin had all the Qualities or to say better all the Vices that ancient and modern Histories have observed in extraordinary men who have made themselves Heads of Parties His mind was the more malicious that neither Humanity nor Religion retained it upon any occasion within bounds He had killed the Father and only Brother of the Count of Tutelle and for killing them had profaned what is most holy in the Catholick Religion The Cardinal de Foix during the preceding Reign had interposed to reconcile the Families of Beaumont and Grammont and thought he had accomplished it when he had obliged the Constable and Marshal of Navarre to promise solemnly that they would forget what was past and for the future live in perfect friendship After that he celebrated Mass divided the Host into two and communicated both Parties and yet this hindered not but that the Constable as soon as he came out of the Church went and way-laid the Marshal with a purpose to assassinate him He missed his blow indeed but left not off searching occasions afterwards of putting it in execution The Marshal on the contrary was a frank man and who in all appearance departed not from the Maxims of Religion but because he was not sufficiently instructed in them He supposed it was lawful to revenge the death of his Father and Brother and the murder attempted upon his own Person provided it were done publickly and without treachery The Constable and Marshal had engaged into their quarrel all the Nobility of Navarre and their private difference was insensibly degenerated into a Civil War wherein their Neighbours had taken the part that interest or inclination suggested to them The French declared for the Faction of Grammont and the Castilians out of pure antipathy espoused that of Beaumont which was actually the most powerful in the City of Pampelona when John d' Albert made his first entry into it He favoured those of Grammont before he married the Heiress of Navarre and the effects of it were so visible that the Common People had as little cause to doubt of it as the Nobility Thus the Constable had cause more than enough to distrust the new King and to fear being born down by him if he received him at first and without Conditions into the Capital City of the Kingdom He had thereupon the boldness to shut the Gates upon him and not to open them till after a Capitulation wherein John d' Albert obliged himself in writing not to meddle in the quarrel betwixt those of Beaumont and Grammont upon any ground or pretext whatsoever John d' Albert granted all that the Constable demanded of him because otherwise he could not have been Crowned with the common consent of the Nobility of Navarre but the affront seemed to him afterward to be too great to be
Austria in Germany it would be his own fault if he conquered not the Kingdom of France and that afterward the rest of Europe would make but a weak resistance whereas if the States to which the Archduke ought to succeed were divided and if the Testament of the Catholick King which continued him to the Inheritance of his Father and Paternal Grandfather held good in that particular If the Infanto Ferdinand had Spain and if by that means variance entred into the House of Austria not only the greatness of the Monarchy of Spain would be at a stand but also it would lose all that it held in Italy and in the Neighbourhood It was only then in that prospect and without any respect to the Archduke and his personal qualities that Zapata Carvaial and Vargas declared in his Favours and the advantage he reaped from it is no less singular for the causes of it than it is in it self The three Ministers represented to Ferdinand that seeing his Majesty thought fit that they should continue to speak to him with open heart as they had been wont to do He would still have the goodness to take in good part the liberty they took to tell him that he seemed to have changed his Conduct at the end of his life and by his last Will and Testament condemned his most considerable Actions and which had acquired him greatest Reputation That he had done them the honour to declare when he called them to his Council that his only intention in this World was the enlargement of his Territories and that though he had not expressed himself so plainly yet there needed no more but to study his past life to convince them of it That no Man in Europe was ignorant how Ferdinand the Catholick at the age of fifteen years had espoused the Party of the late Queen Isabella sister to Henry the fourth of Castile against the Infanta Jane the Daughter of that King in no other view but because Isabella by bestowing herself upn him had offered to unite the Crowns of Castile to those of Arragon and that if Jane had been so well advised as to have preferred his Alliance before that of the Prince of Portugal who sought her in Marriage her Party would not have succumbed and she had not past for a Bastard That after the union of Castile and Arragon for adding the Kingdom of Granada to them Division had been sown betwixt him who was King of it and his brother and the more powerful was so weakned by supporting the weaker against him that both at length were oppressed That for an accession also to Arragon by joyning thereto the Kingdom of Naples in the City of Tarento the Prince who carried the name of it and who was the only Son of the King of Naples was Besieged That he had been prevailed with to relie upon the Faith and Truth of the Spaniards whose General the Great Captain had sworn to him upon the Holy Sacrament to leave him in liberty and that notwithstanding he had been detained Prisoner and under a sure Guard sent into Spain where still he remained in Prison That in a word a pretended Bull from the Pope had been made use of for seizing the Kingdom of Navarre and for driving from thence John d' Albert who had Married the Heiress of it In the mean time his Catholick Majesty destroyed his own work by preferring the younger of his Grandsons before the elder and laid an everlasting impediment to the greatness that Spain began to be raised to by kindling betwixt the two Brothers a War which would not end but by the entire ruine of him that should be overcome and such a weakning of the Conqueror that Spain would be so far from expecting new Conquests under him that it would become a Prey to the first who should invade it That since the Spaniards had bestirred and delivered themselves from the Slavery of the Moors they had been oftener subject to Civil Wars than Foreign for no other reason but that the Nobles had been too powerful and more apt to give Laws to their Masters than to receive them from them That they had not behaved themselves more modestly nor reservedly under his Catholick Majesty but because after his Marriage with Queen Isabella the Nobility of Castile were apprehensive of succumbing under the Forces of Arragon which they doubted not but would pour in upon them and that the Nobles of Arragon had had a juster cause to fear their being run down by the Arms of those of Castile That if young Ferdinand were King one of the two would have time during his minority to take measures against him and would retain so little respect for his Person because he was but fourteen years of age and was not so well brought up as his elder brother that they would oblige him at least for some years to leave the publick administration to the Grandees of Castile and the chief of Arragon which would infallibly renew Civil Wars in Spain That if his Catholick Majesty suffering things to go according to their ordinary course called the Archduke to his Succession the Gentlemen of Castile and Arragon would want both a pretext and means of revolting A pretext in that the Archduke at sixteen years of Age was no less able to govern them than the wisest Kings of Spain have been And means seeing their Rebellion would instantly be crushed by the Forces which that Prince would raise in Flanders and Germany and might easily bring into Spain by occasion of the Treaty which he had ratified with the new King of France The Catholick King strangely surprized and nevertheless convinced with this discourse made answer that seeing he could not conveniently leave Castile and Arragon to the Infanto In the last Council given to Ferdinand He must at least resign to him the three great masteries of the Order of St. James Calatrava and Alcantara the Revenue whereof would be sufficient for the subsistence of a Prince of his quality That his Majesty at the same time he resolved to make him his Heir had written to the Court of Rome to have him invested into these three headships of Orders That the Affair had been negotiated first with Julius the second and since with Leo the tenth and that the chief difficulty that those two Popes had found in it proceeded from a Bull granted before by Julius to the Commander Padilla which assured him of succeeding to his Catholick Majesty in the great Mastery of Calatrava provided he outlived him That the Bull of Julius was insignificant since Padilla was dead and that so nothing now hindred the expedition of that which allowed his Majesty the resignation of the three Masteries in favour of the Infanto But the three Counsellors of State being encouraged by the success of their Remonstrances and perswaded that having obtained the chief point his Majesty would not long refuse to grant them what was but accessory replied to the Catholick
to the importunities of the two Heads of the Christian Religion for the Spiritual and Temporal till after he was convinced of the Maxim which Queen Isabelle his Grandmother had so often in her mouth Los Reyes no tienen parientes That those who were called to the Government of People had no Kindred That he was willing to acquaint the Spaniards with it not that he thought he needed their approbation but because he knew that his conduct in that particular would not be unacceptable to them and that he hoped to find them in a perfect submission The Letter was sent to Ximenes with orders to communicate it to the Spaniards after he had taken such necessary cautions as might hinder them from being exasperated by it but the Cardinal perceived at first that the words joyntly with the Queen which were inserted in it were only a cloak for the ambition of the Archduke seeing it was certain that so soon as the Spaniards had owned and sworn to him as King all the share of Royalty that he would leave to the Queen his Mother would only be to put her Name with his own to the beginning of publick Acts and in all things else he would Reign as absolutely as if he had no Mother at all That so no sooner would he have set his Foot in Spain but that the administration of Ximenes would entirely cease no greater part be allowed him in the affairs of State than what he had during the Reign of the late King from the time that he had refused to resign his Archbishoprick But whether it was that he foresaw that he should immediately die after the arrival of that young Prince in Spain as the Professors of the University of Alcala who have written his Life suspect or that he entertained such another thought as that of the famous Agrippina the Mother of Nero that she cared not though it cost her her life provided her Son Reigned he approved of the Letter which tended to his deposition and that he might compleat his victory over himself he employed all his credit with the Spaniards that it might obtain the effect which Chievres expected from it Wherein it cannot be sufficiently admired that this Prelate who had acted so many different parts for gaining an unlimited Authority during a Regency of short continuance and for maintaining himself independent of all when once he had acquired it could so easily and without constraint become in a trice so unlike to himself as to consent to a Recognition which he foresaw must reduce him to a private condition and which is worse to make himself the Solicitor of it as being convinced that it could never succeed but by his means All that can be said of it is that as there never was any machine which hath not sometimes been out of order or at least whose springs that put it in motion have not at some time been unbended so neither is there any Humane prudence which by involuntary irregularities that now and then escape it does not in spight of it self render homage to the wisdom of God which is so much the more eminently above that of Man as that it is always uniform in its conduct Ximenes presented the Archdukes Letter to the States of Spain with all the circumspection that makes the most difficult affairs succeed He made use of the Counsellor of State Carvaial mentioned before who by a premeditated discourse maintained in the Assembly that the Archduke demanded nothing that was unjust or new The first part of his Proposition he proved by the extraordinary high parts whereof that young Prince had given so many marks and by his Education which had rendred him at sixteen years of age as capable of Reigning as the ablest Princes who have governed at a more mature age He touched only by the bye at the infirmity of Queen Jean nevertheless he said enough to insinuate that her distemper was incurable and that by consequent there was ground more than enough to look upon that Princess as if she were no more in Being though she were still alive and in appearance like long to continue so He farther added That it was more to be feared that her folly would degenerate into madness and fury than it was to be hoped that it would lessen with age Thereby he pretended to oblige his Auditors to make this Conclusion That the unfortunate Queen was civilly Dead and that in respect of her the same measures were to be taken as if Spain had already lost her The second part of the discourse of Carvaial was grounded chiefly upon an example taken out of the ancient Chronicles of Spain which seemed exactly to quadrate with the case in question though to speak the truth it was much disguised Alphonso the Seventh King of Castille and Leon had been by the Estates put in possession and acknowledged for King of both the Kingdoms in the life-life-time of Queen Vrraca his Mother to whom they belonged They who were throughly acquainted with the History of Spain might have replied to Carvaial that he was not very knowing in the Politicks of his Country or that he impudently abused the honour which the chief Heads of Castille and Arragon did him in listening to his discourse For Queen Vrraca was only a fool in her love and acted only by that principle that is to say like a woman who had wholly renounced modesty She entertained in sight and to the extream vexation of her Subjects a simple Gentleman called Don Pedro de Lara She had got her self to be unmarried that she might live with him in all licentiousness She had proposed to her self to raise him to the Throne in exclusion of her own Son Alphonso and the misfortune of that young Prince who had deserved no such thing and who besides was of Age and very capable of Reigning had wrought upon the Estates of the Country They met together for preserving the Crown for him and seeing they could not do it but by dividing the Royal Authority betwixt his Mother and him In the History of Urraca by Moralez because if she had retained it wholly she would have infallibly made use of it to oppress Alphonso they acknowledged him for King joyntly with her There was nothing like to this in the affair of the Archduke in the manner as Carvaial had stated it Queen Jean thought so little of frustrating him of the Succession that in her greatest extravagancies she never failed when she spake of him to call him Prince of Spain that is to say that she acknowledged him to be her only next lawful Heir and though she had had a mind to disappoint him it was evident she could not do it her distemper not suffering her to dispose of her self and far less of her Crowns Besides she had till then led a life without reproach and her folly hindered her not from being still a pattern of Chastity The sad condition she was in spoke eloquently
an entire satisfaction to the most Christian King And that in fine when the Catholick King were once assured of obtaining what he desired by proposing it the matter should be varnished over with so plausible colours that if it were not frankly consented to yet at least it should pass in Form and without Sedition That the Catholick King expected an happy success in this provided he were suffered to take his own way in Negotiating it and that Chievres durst undertake for it upon two conditions one that his Master were allowed time to go to Spain and there to dispose the minds of the People and the other that the promise of restoring in convenient time the two Kingdoms to the most Christian King and John d' Albert should be kept so secret that no Spaniard might dive into it The discourse of Chievres if rightly taken was captious seeing he demanded a present and most important favour such as the security of the Low-Countries during the absence of Charles for hopes so much the more uncertain that the fulfilling of them was remote and would absolutely depend upon the faithfulness of his Catholick Majesty who having obtained beforehand all that he could have desired perhaps would not take much care of performing his promise Nevertheless whether it was that Gouffier did not sufficiently reflect upon that or that he yielded to the importunities of inferiour Ministers who were appointed to Negotiate under him whom Chievres had charmed with his caresses the Court of France committed an irreparable fault and suffered themselves to be choused by a man whom then they had but too great ground to distrust They consented that Gouffier and Chievres should confer together about finding out an expedient that might a little more bind the Catholick King and nevertheless leave him as much liberty as he desired for disposing his new Subjects to satisfie France Several were proposed and that which the two Plenipotentiaries at length agreed upon was that there should be two Treaties of Noyon of the same date one which should be kept secret by the Parties concerned until the time of its execution and another which should be made publick so soon as it was signed By the first In the two Treaties of Noyon Charles obliged himself not to lose any time in the restitution of the Kingdoms of Naples and Navarre after he had taken possession of his maternal Crowns and to do it himself by his own absolute Authority if he could not obtain the consent of the Spaniards But the second only contained that the most Christian and Catholick Kings should agree upon Arbitrators who within a prefixed time should declare whether the Crowns of Arragon and Castille had any right or not to Naples and Navarre That if these Arbitrators decided in favour of Spain the two Kingdoms should remain united to it and that if their Sentence were to the disadvantage thereof the Catholick King should instantly restore them The other Articles of the two Treaties were in all things alike which may have given occasion to think that there was but one The three most considerable were that until the Arbitrators should decide to which of the two France or Spain the Kingdom of Naples belonged the Catholick King should pay to the most Christian King one hundred thousand Crowns a year as a quit-Rent That the Catholick King should espouse Lovisia of France who was yet but a year old and that if that young Princess died before the Marriage were consummated the Catholick King should Marry another of the most Christian King's Daughters in case he had more and that if he had none the Marriage of the Catholick King with Renee of France Sister-in-law to his most Christian Majesty should be accomplished as it was agreed upon in the former Treaty That in fine the Emperor Maximilian should restore to the Republick of Venice the City of Verona with this caution that he should put it into the hands of the French who should immediately after deliver it over to the Venetians and that the Senate of that Republick should pay to the Emperor two hundred thousand Crowns to reimburse the charges he had been at in Conquering that City Gouffier in this matter concluded the Treaty of Noyon and Politicians judged that he lost in it as much reputation as Chievres had acquired And truly if we may judge of the satisfaction of the two Kings with their Plenipotentiaries by the reward which they gave them it is certain on the one hand that Gouffier received none of Francis the First and on the other that Chievres was so well recompenced by Charles that he became the richest Subject in Christendom Maximilian the First and Philip had already given him the forfeiture of the Estate of the house of Gaure the Government of Nivelle the Collar of the Golden Fleece the great Bailliage of Haynault and two thousand Crowns for his extraordinary Embassy in France in the year One Thousand Five Hundred and One where he had made himself known to Louis the Twelfth according to his value though there was nothing concluded in the Peace which he went to Negotiate betwixt his most Christian Majesty and Ferdinand the Catholick King. Charles added to these by his Letters Patents of the twenty third of June Câ—e Thousand Five Hundred and Seventeen the charges of High Admiral of the Kingdom of Naples of Captain General of his Armies by Sea of alâ— the Kingdoms Territories and Principalities of his Catholick Majesty oâ— High Chamberlain and of chief Minister of State and by other Letters Patents of the fifteenth of December the same year the Dutchies of Sovia and Atri iâ— the Kingdom of Naples the particulaâ— Government of the Town of Escluse it Flanders the erection of the Barony oâ— Arscot into a Marquisat a Company oâ— an hundred Armed men maintained iâ— time of Peace as well as War and lastly the erection of the Lands of Beaumont into a County The multitude of these favours is upoâ— two accounts remarkable First because Charles was not liberal and that besides he had the more reason to dividâ— his bounty amongst several persons thaâ— never Prince was so well served as he was and by consequence was obliged to give so many Rewards as he and secondly because Chievres as hath been observed before never begg'd any thing of him neither for himself nor his Relations and thought it enough to deserve from a grateful Prince the Favours that he heaped upon him Seeing the accommodation of Noyon had surmounted all the obstacles that could obstruct Charles in taking possession of his maternal Estates he had not so great cause any more to fear the excess of Authority which Cardinal Ximenes took to himself in Spain and Chievres was of the opinion that he should be let alone to do so provided his actions struck neither directly nor indirectly at the personal advantages of his Catholick Majesty The Cardinal on his side vied in gratitude and served Charles with as
that she saved her Husbands person and Estate Nevertheless she was so strongly perswaded that he would never pardon the offence that she had given him in discovering the Conspiracy whereof he was the Head that she left him presently after she had revealed it and went to her Brothers house where she continued till she died without ever suffering any motion to be made to her of returning to her Husband It appeared by the sequel that her fear was not ill grounded seeing the Constable having one day met Vilalva near his Castle of Lerin which they had been demolishing and silling up the Ditches of invited him to dinner in his House Vilalva at that time stood in extream need of such an invitation and besides he could not in civility refuse it He was but half way on his journey and had still a long way to go before he could come to the Castle of Eteille whither he was going He therefore accepted the Constables offer and dined in the Castle of Lerin But he had quickly cause to repent it seeing he died upon his arrival at the Castle of Eteille in the opinion of being poisoned There was no great care taken in sifting the matter and the Constable was thought sufficiently punished by the inability he and his Faction were reduced to of any more rising against the Castillians for want of places of retreat Thus Navarre was preserved to the Catholick King and neither his Majesty nor Chievres had any hand in it and Ximenes thinking nothing impossible for him after the success of such an enterprize thought he might take his own course and do his worst to the Queen Dowager Germana de Foix by wholly depriving her of what rendred her considerable in Spain after the death of King Ferdinand her Husband It hath been mentioned before that that Prince sent her to hold the Estates of Arragon and the certain advice that she received of the extremity to which he was reduced had obliged her to make all hast back again unto him She came only a few hours before he expired and nevertheless timely enough to represent to him that she was in great danger of being miserable and even of wanting necessaries for her subsistence if he provided not against it before his death That he was obliged to do so in Conscience seeing she was upon no other account deprived of the Estate which belonged to her Family in France but because she had married him That the late most Christian King Louis the Twelfth her Mothers Brother who had promised himself great advantages by marrying her to his Majesty had on the contrary found that that Alliance was more than one way fatal to him and that Francis the First his Successor looked upon her as another Helena who had brought Fire into her Country That the last of these Monarchs had given all the Estate which she ought to inherit to the younger Brothers of the * Lautrec Asparant and Lescun House and that there was no more support for her in France * Lautrec in the dâ—nations of Francis the First That all the Friends she had in her own Country were dead with Gaston de Foix her only Brother and that if his Catholick Majesty were taken from her she could find none neither in Spain under the Reign of young Charles seeing he would not look upon her but with horror when he should call to mind that she was within an Ace of depriving him of the Succession of Arragon and perhaps also of that of Castille which he would not have obtained if the Son she was brought to Bed of had lived to whom besides the Succession of Navarre was due That in fine to put so unwelcome an object out of her sight she earnestly besought her dear Husband to leave her in the remotest corner of his Kingdoms which was that of Naples an alimentary Pension sufficient to maintain her in Widowhood for the rest of her days according to her quality That there she would prepare to follow him to Heaven by praying incessantly night and day for him and by leading a life as much as lay in her power suitable to the purity of the Gospel So pathetick a discourse prevailed with Ferdinand to leave the Queen Germana besides her Dowry thirty thousand Ducats a year upon the Kingdom of Naples and the Article of the Testament as it was changed came immediately after that which gave Castille and Arragon solely to Charles But the three Ministers whom we mentioned before were not pleased with it though they thought it not proper at that time to oppose it the thing being but a trifle in comparison of what they had obtained of King Ferdinand which was the preferring of the elder of his Grandsons before the younger not only as to the Monarchies last named but also as to the three great Masteries Ximenes who had approved no more than they that Pension for life saw himself no sooner in a condition to revoke the grant made to Queen Germana by a Husband who otherwise had never been liberal but that without any scruple he both attempted and performed it It is true it was not done after his way that is to say openly and without fetching a compass seeing he thought it enough at first to pray Chievres to represent to the Catholick King that the Kingdom of Naples had been a long time French and that the Faction of Anjou was not as yet wholly extinct in it That it was too dangerous to suffer a French Queen to have any Revenue there because she might foment discontents in it and encrease the number of his Majesties Enemies That the thirty thousand Ducats ought to be allotted her upon another Fund and that Fund to be pitched upon in the middle of Castille That in all times the Towns of Arevalo Olmedo Madrigal and St. Mary of Nieva which came to the same Revenue had served for Dowry to the Dowagers of Castille That by good fortune they were not engaged to any Grandee of Spain and that Queen Germana could have no cause to find fault that they were given her in exchange for her Pension out of the Kingdom of Naples Chievres thought Ximenes was in the right and was confirmed in his opinion when he understood that Queen Germana weary of Widowhood thought of marrying the unfortunate Prince of Tarento the only Son of Frederick King of Naples whom the Great Captain had made prisoner and sent into Spain after he had sworn upon the Holy Sacrament to leave him in liberty The occasion that offered was the most favourable that could be desired because it was unseemly for the Catholick King to meddle with the Testament of his Grandfather which was so advantageous to him and for Chievres to propose it since he had Negotiated the Treaty of Noyon whereby the Kingdom of Naples was to return to France Whereas the Cardinal acting immediately of himself and of his own proper motion would solely also procure the envy to
he jumps with Chievres wherein the greatness of the Spanish Monarchy is concerned but he is always against him when the Low-Countries have any competition with the Monarchy of Spain Chievres as being a Fleming will have his Country to be the basis of the greatness to which the Archduke Charles aspires and that the others which he is to inherit by the distraction of his Mother and the death of his Grandfathers should only be the accessory Ximenes on the contrary pretends that Spain must always be the centre of the Archdukes Grandeur and the Low-Countries be reduced into bare Provinces Chievres represents to him in vain that they belong not to the Archduke by right of conquest and that if Philip his Father had not possessed them they would not have given him in Marriage the heiress of Spain Ximenes makes no satisfactory reply but he persists in his project and in that considers not that he thereby provokes the Governour of a young Prince who well quickly become his Master It is not easie to determine whether fortune did good or hurt to Doctor Adrian Florent in taking him out of the Colledg of Louvain whereof he was principal to raise him to all the Dignities of the Church not excepting the Papacy He had a Genius for the functions that render men famous in Vniversities but he went no farther and amongst the many employments that he had afterward there was not one that suited with him He had acquired reputation in the Schools and in the Pulpit His Commentary upon the Master of Sentences was admired and certainly if that Book was not the most subtil of the three hundred of the same nature which then were to be found in Libraries it was at least the clearest and most methodical His Harangues for the preservation of the priviledges of Scholars had had better success than he had promised himself and not only the Archduke Philip confirmed them but besides honoured the Vniversity of Louvain by being a member of it It was thereupon imagined that it would be a disgrace to the Flemings to suffer Adrian to continue longer in Louvain and it was not so much to do him justice as to satisfie the publick desire that Chievres took him to be Preceptor to the Archduke Charles He did not discharge his commission ill so long as his business was to instruct his Scholar But when he was sent into Spain to negotiate with the Catholick King he neither answered the expectation of Chievres nor of the Spaniards who took him for the ablest man of his Nation in Cabinet Councils He discovered at first that his Majesty was an irreconcileable enemy to Chievres and from that he concluded that it would do irreparable prejudice to the interests of the Archduke obstinately to defend his Governour how innocent soever he was for that reason alone he declared against Chievres and if he was not powerful enough to supplant him it was not his fault if he was not sent home to his house and the Spaniards intrusted with the supreme direction of the Council of the Low-Countries He shew'd his weakness asmuch after the death of the Catholick King when he had the occasion of making use of the Commission which he brought from Flanders for being Regent of Castile and Arragon in case of that death He suffered himself unseasonably to be prevented by Cardinal Ximenes who gained him by promising him the second place in the Councils of Spain He had indeed that place but he wanted the Authority that ought to have gone along with it He complained sometimes that the Cardinal consulted with him only about matters of small importance and that he dispatched the rest without him But that was all he did and thought not that he ought to fall out with him about the matter For that he had the Bishoprick of Tortosa and it was left to men to judg whether or not that was a recompence proportionable to the power that he was deprived of Death quickly rid him of Ximenes as it protected Ximenes from the Catholick King and he was afterward so happy that he ingenuously confessed he could not comprehend his own happiness Leo the Tenth made him a Cardinal in prospect only of gratifying Charles the Fifth and the Conclave having spent several Months without coming to agreement about the person who should succeed to Leo in spight chose him Pope whence it came to pass that the people of Rome loaded the Cardinals with reproaches as they came out and threw stones at them Till then the quality of common Father had been so respected that the Popes who had lived least exemplarily laid it not altogether aside and made a fair shew at least Adrian neglected it at first and when he went from Spain to go take possession of St. Peter's Chair he carried with him into Lumbardy the six thousand Soldiers who two years after took Francis the first before Pavia Instead of keeping the Balance even He took a side that he might rather cast it and if his Pontificate which lasted but two and twenty Months had been of longer duration it would have raised a schism in the Church more dangerous than that of Urban the Sixth and Clement the Seventh John Manuel was in reality the Politician of his age most crost by fortune but by his ability and patience he forced her at length to be favourable His extraction was low but his way of writing wonderfully well and yet very fast was the reason that when he was very young he was chosen under-Secretary of the Council of State of Castile He was not full eighteen years old when he grew weary of his Employment though at first he thought himself most happy in obtaining it He considered that the three chief Ministers of Spain Zapata Carvaial and Vargas were not much promoted and that the richest of them had not a thousand Crowns a year though they had long served the Catholick Kings Ferdinand and Isabelle with all imaginable zeal and that they had facilitated to them the conquest of the Kingdoms of Granada and Naples That was not a reward proportionable to the greatness of their services and the truth is it cannot be denied but that the Catholick Kings were too great Husbands in that particular if it be not pretended for their excuse that the Revenues of Castile and Arragon were not sufficient to gratifie the tenth part of their most faithful servants Manuel who saw nothing but Crowns above his ambition was satisfied to continue under-Secretary of State during the life of Queen Isabelle his Soveraign but he carried his desires higher when the Archduke Philip of Austria and Jane of Arragon his Wife went to Spain to get themselves declared apparent heirs of Castile Manuel was perswaded that that young Prince loved an easie life too well to trouble himself with the weight of affairs and that if he insinuated himself into his favour before all other Spaniards he might govern him at his pleasure and obtain
from him whatever he should desire He was the first Spaniard that made his court to him and won so much upon him that none afterward could equal him in favour The Archduke upon his return into the Low-Countries took him not along with him and had no cause to repent of it seeing he served him incomparably better in Castile than he could have done in Flanders He was his spie during the sickness of Isabelle and discovered or at least thought so that the Testament attributed to that Queen was forged He gave the Archduke private notice of it supplied him with means to prove the forgery encouraged him to make haste back again into Spain and promised to gain him a great party among the Grandees What he wrote was not very probable and it was rationally to be presumed that the Catholick King would take the start of his Son-in-law and make sure of the Nobility of Castile before the Archduke could be in a condition to sollicite them to own him Nevertheless there was greater deference had to Manuel than he deserved The Archduke at his bare sollicitation set forth on his journey and extraordinary good luck covered the fault which he committed so very well that it was scarcely perceived He found that Manuel had acquired him the friendship of all the Grandees except the Dukes of Alva and Medina Sidonia who more for shame than affection would not abandon the Catholick King. The party was too unequal and maugre the opposition of those two Dukes the Archduke was declared King. The efforts of the Catholick King for maintaining the pretended Testament were too weak and he himself admired the inconstancy of human affairs when he saw his whole Court reduced to fifty persons It seemed at that time that Manuel's head turned round so pleased he was to insult over a Prince who had been so long his Master He thought it not enough to draw up the Articles which his Majesty was forced to sign but it 's said he also joyfully beheld him when mounted on a Mule without other Equipage he went to wait on his Son-in-law The reign of the Archduke was so short that nothing fell during it which Manuel thought worth the accepting but the Government of Burgos He obtained it and it was at the feast which he made for his Master to thank him therefore that that Prince as they say had the poyson given him of which he died There were some contemplative heads that thought it was given rather to put a stop to the prosperity of Manuel than to make away the new King Philip. Certainly the revolution was compleat and Manuel all of a sudden fell from the height of favour into the greatest abjection He supposed that the Catholick King would be revenged on him upon the same ground that he would have continued to persecute the Catholick King if the life of Philip had been longer and he Embarked for Flanders before he was apprehended The Archduke Charles and Chievres received him very well and it was none of his fault but that the Emperor Maximilian had deprived the Catholick King of the administration of Castile But the Emperour could not set out a Fleet to transport him into Spain and the Catholick King having setled his Authority wrote to the Archduke his Grandson and to Chievres that he would disinherit the former and ruin the latter if they did not punish Manuel That was a terrible threatning and he that made it was not of a humour to be appeased nor patiently to take a denial But on the other hand Manuel had obliged Philip who having been Father to the Archduke and Benefactor to Chievres required that there should be more consideration had for a Minister whom he had cherished than for the Catholick King that hated him The Expedient which Chievres found out to avoid those two Rocks was to put Manuel into prison during the life of the Catholick King with this qualification that he should have all the satisfaction that he could desire except his liberty He proposed to himself also besides to secure the person of Manuel who would have run the risk of being stab'd even though he had been environed with Guards But Politicians are nicer than other men in the offences which they pretend to have received Manuel who reasoned so quaintly about matters of State never thought of the motives which induced Chievres to do him a little hurt to preserve him from a greater mischief He conceived as great an aversion to him as he had entertained kindness for him before and was not at all moved at the pains which Chievres took to come in person and set him at liberty so soon as the Courier who brought the news of the death of the Catholick King was arrived at Bruxelles Chievres had not afterward a greater enemy than Manuel and the good offices he did him exasperated rather than sostened him The Archduke who could not be without either of them kept Chievres at Court and sent Manuel into Italy where he succeeded in two most difficult Intrigues The business was not only to perswade the Pope and Venetians to take from the Most Christian King Francis the First the Dutchy of Milan which he had recovered and to send the French beyond the Alpes but also to make them consent that the Spaniards who already possessed the Kingdom of Naples should also conquer that Dutchy that so they might enjoy two Thirds of Italy and that keeping it inclosed within the two extremities they might wait for an occasion of subjecting the rest There was no appearance that the Consistory and the Pregady would endure that so disadvantageous a proposal shall be made unto them but the industry of Manuel supplied the seeming impossibility of success He got a wonderful ascendant over the mind of Leo the Tenth and concluded with him in the year One thousand five hundred twenty and one the famous Treaty which gained the Spaniards the Territories which they still possess in Lumbardie His Eloquence had no less effect upon the Venetians and by two such brave Negotiations he ended his days THE Arguments Of the Several BOOKS Of the First BOOK THE Archduke Philip being resolved to go to Spain to take possession of the Kingdoms fallen to his Wife chose Chievres to govern the Low-Countries who fully answered the good opinion that he had of him The disposition of Charles of Austria Eldest Son of the Archduke is left by Will to Louis the Twelfth King of France for reasons which could neither be more just nor more urgent and Louis in that particular gives a mark of moderation which hath but one example in Antiquity in the person of Ildegerge King of Persia He nominates Chievres for Governour to the young Prince without any regard to the prejudice which it did to the French Monarchy Chievres discharges himself of his Commission by instructing his Pupil in his true interests and by obliging him to exercise of himself the chief functions of Soveraignty
He endeavours in conjunction with Gouffier Governour to the Count of Angouleme to root out of the hearts of their two Pupils the seeds of aversion which the Marriage of the Count with the Heiress of Bretagne who was promised to Charles had sow'd there and in the extreme difficulty that presented of remaining united with the Emperour or Catholick King Chievres wisely prefers the German before the Spaniard Of the Second BOOK Chievres takes all necessary measures for governing in the Low-Countries during the absence of the Archduke Philip of Austria who was gone to Spain to take possession of the Kingdoms of Castile fallen to his Wife But the Archduke dies not long after he had been Crowned King and Chievres is by the King of France made Governour of the Archduke Charles Eldest Son to Philip. He labours but in vain to hinder his Maternal Grandfather from the administration of Castile He endeavours to have it given to Maximilian the Paternal Grandfather of that Prince But Louis the Twelfth opposes it contrary to his own interests and thereby augments the power of his most dangerous enemy Manuel Secretary to Philip is persecuted by Ferdinand the Catholick King because he had too well served his Son-in-law Manuel withdraws to Flanders and Chievres receives him well in hopes that he 'll hinder Ferdinand from disposing of Castile at his pleasure But Ferdinand sets so many Engines at work that at length Chievres is forced to abandon the protection of Manuel and even to commit him to prison where he continues during the life of Ferdinand Cardinal Ximenes is no better treated for his having remained Neuter betwixt the Father-in-Law and Son-in-law Ferdinand resolves to take from him the Archbishoprick of Toledo and the Cardinal hath his recourse to Chievres who makes the Archduke his Pupil interpose He offers Ximenes a retreat in the Low-Countries and Ferdinand is so much afraid of it that he lets the Cardinal alone Of the Third BOOK FErdinand sets the Governour and Tutor of his Grandson against one another He perswades Dean Adrian that he will frustrate the Archduke of the Monarchies of Spain if Chievres be not deposed and the Dean possessed with the fear of that signs a Treaty whereby he engages himself to bring Chievres into disgrace But Chievres is informed of it and guards himself equally both against the Catholick King and the Dean He negotiates with the French a Treaty at Noyon and gives it so cunning a cast that he turns the accessory into the principal and the principal into the accessory He thereby secures to the Archduke the Succession of Spain and Ferdinand is so vexed at it that he joines with England for undoing him But in that particular the Archduke has no more regard to the offices of the King of England than to the exhortations of his Maternal Grandfather and Chievres remains in greater favour with him than before This puts Ferdinand out of all patience A dangerous design is formed against the life of Chievres He hath notice of it He acquaints the Archduke with the same and at the same time advises him most prudently to keep the thing secret The event made appear that the Council was good and Ferdinand at his death puts not in execution the design which he had formed of disinheriting the Archduke Of the Fourth BOOK CHievres being informed of the death of King Ferdinand resolved to have his Pupil declared King of Castile and Arragon during the life of the Queen his Mother and begins so difficult an Intrigue by obliging first the Emperour Maximilian and then the Court of Rome to give him the title of King. He writes immediately after to Cardinal Ximenes to assemble the States of the two Monarchies and there to cause the Archduke to be declared King jointly with the Catholick Queen Ximenes finds many more difficulties in it than he imagined but at length he overcomes them partly by policy and partly by his haughty way of acting There remains no more then but to take possession of the two Monarchies and the Archduke could not go thither without being in agreement with France He mediates a negotiation in the Town of Noyon where the Governour of Francis the first and of the Archduke in quality of Plenipotentiaries labour to unite their Pupils Gouffier Plenipotentiary of France acts sincerely but his candour succeeds not with him and Chievres signs a Treaty with him ambiguous enough to give the Archduke pretext of waving the execution of it when he might have a mind Francis provoked that his Governour had been over-reached favours the arming of John d' albert for the recovery of Navarre but the imprudence of that dispossest King makes him lose the occasion of re-establishing himself His forces having been unseasonably divided are cut in pieces and he loses his hopes of remounting the Throne by losing his life Chievres is moved at the oppression of the Indians whom the Spaniards forced to dig in the Mines He offers to perswade them to employ Negro-slaves in that toilsom labour but Cardinal Ximenes opposes it upon interest of State and the matter continues in suspence Of the Fifth BOOK XImenes having obliged the Catholick King to share with him his power in Castile enjoys not long the advantage of his Politicks The Grandees support him with so much the less patience that he continued to carry towards them with extraordinary haughtiness and not being able to dispatch him by open force they have recourse to artifice They give him a slow poyson and he takes it a minutes time before he who came to warn him of it arrived He takes Antidotes which do not serve his turn but only prolong his life for some Months For all he saw himself so near his end yet he undertook one of the boldest of all his actions by removing from the Infanto all his servants only one excepted The matter was carried on without tumult and the Catholick King arrives fortunately in Spain The Courtiers of his Majesty of whom Chievres was the most considerable resolve to acquire and preserve the friendship of Ximenes but his sternness makes it impossible for them He persists obstinately in solliciting the King his Master to exclude them all out of the Council of Spain and by that means obliges them to unite for procuring his disgrace They obtain it of the Catholick King and the news that the Cardinal received of it affects him so sensibly that a few hours after he expires After his death the weight of affairs lyes upon Chievres who discharges himself of his trust to a wonder in two occasions the one by all means to get the Infanto Ferdinand removed out of Spain and sent into Germany and the other in disposing the Emperour Maximilian who would have yielded the Empire to the Infanto to change his design and chuse the Catholick King for his Successor Of the Sixth BOOK THE greatest part of Spain conspire together for the disgrace of Chievres and this great man is
as the ancient Patriarchs did in a continual Pilgrimage and so to distribute his cares time travels and presence that the Low-Countries Germany and Italy would have the better share oâ— them and Spain the least That there was no other way to ward so dangerous a blow than by insensibly bringing back the Catholick King into the course that Nature and the Law of Nations required of him and by convincing him by his own experience that the elder of his Grandsons deserved better to succeed to him than the younger and that so all that Charles had to do was to become more virtuous and better qualified than Ferdinand Chievres advised Charles in relation to the two other Crowns of Spain which were those of Navarre and Portugal that it would be convenient to continue the Project of the Catholick King for reuniting them to the â—est of the Spanish Monarchy by means of â—lliances but that there was but little appearance that that could be so soon accomplished seeing on the one hand Cathaâ—ine de Frix Queen of Navarre and â—ohn d' Albert her Son had such near Alliâ—nces with the Crown of France that â—ey would never dispose of their Children but with the consent and approbation of Louis the Twelfth And on the other hand Manuel King of Potugal had Five â—sty Sons by the Aunt of Charles his seâ—nd Wife and that by consequent the â—aughters of the same marriage could not â—pect to succeed so soon but that the â—gagement of the King of Navarre with tâ—e French might some time or other be â—…nare to him and that besides as the â—…sterity of Charlemain was extinct in the â—…ce of Eighteen years though it was so â—…merous that it consisted of thirty two â—…gorous Princes all married so that of Manuel might fail by a like or more unhappy Fate England was more important in all respects to Charles and his Governour advised him to look upon it at all times as a Kingdom able to do him great services and proportionably to hurt him for the Low-Countries in the condition they were then in needed not fear to succumb unless they had France for their Enemy and then they could not expect any assistance greater speedier more suitable to their necessity nor nearer at hand than that of the English That if the necessity of that assistance did not encrease after he came to the enjoyment of the Successions which he expected it would at least be as great seeing Spain would then become a Monarchy that might counterpoise France and none but England could be in a condition then to turn the balance to which side of the two it adhered That Charleâ— would always have the advantage of the French when he competed with them tâ— draw England over to his side since be sides the invincible antipathy betwixt the English and French Nation and the inveterate hatred fomented by so many Wars Henry the Eighth of England was marrieâ— to the last Infanta of Spain Sister to Charle his Mother and constantly favoured hâ— Father-in-law Ferdinand the Catholick against Louis the Twelfth In relation to Scotland it behoved Charles to reason from a quite opposite Maxime and that he must not expect upon any Juncture that could be offered to him to engage that King into his Interests The Alliance of that Nation with the French had without interruption continued seven hundred years from King to King and from Crown to Crown and though it had not been so old nor so strict yet it would be enough for the Scots that Spain courted the friendship of the English to make them declare against it for France though they had not as yet spoused any Party Italy came next in course into the thought of Chievres of which he only represented to the Archduke four principal Powers from whom the Inferiour were 〈◊〉 receive their influence to wit France â—pain the Holy See and the Republick of â—enice France held there the Dutchies of Genoa and Milan Spain the Kingdom of Naples â—…e Holy See ten Provinces besides the â—…ity of Rome and the Venetians the State â—hich is called Terra Firma The Italians â—…d no reason to fear that the Popes or â—enetians would trouble their repose because both had almost an equal interest to preserve it But if the French and Spaniards grew weary of Peace and took up Arms again they must infallibly have the same success which they already had that is to say that the Nation of the two which could get the Pope on their side would overcome and as the most Christian and the Catholick Kings did not conquer nor divide betwixt them the Kingdom of Naples but by the consent of Alexander the Sixth as the Spaniards had not driven the French from thence two years after but in pursuance of a secret Treaty concluded for that end betwixt the Great Captain and the same Alexander and as the Pope Julius the Second contributed most to hinder the most Christian King from recovering what he had lost by ruining the formidable Army of that Prince upon the side of the River of Garillan so the Spaniards in their turn would be driven out of the Kingdom of Naples whensoever it should be their misfortune to displease the same Julius or one of his Successours So that the Archduke in the sense of his Governour ought chiesly to apply himself to entertain his Holiness in the good disposition he was in in relation to Spain and if the matter was not difficult by reason that Julius hated Louis so much the more that formerly he loved him no more would it be in regard of succeeding Popes since on the one hand their State bordered immediately upon the Kingdoms of Naples and that they were next Neighbours whereas the Territories of divers Princes lay betwixt theirs and the Dutchy of Milan and that so the Court of Rome were not so much exposed to be surprised by an Invasion from the French as from the Spaniards and on the other hand it was not so much to be apprehended that the Spaniards would usurp all Italy if they retained the possession of Naples as it would be that France might reduce Italy into a Province if they added the Kingdom of Naples to the Dutchy of Milan because then they could march by Land into the Milanese having only the Alpes and Piemont to cross whereas the Spaniards could not go thither but by Sea and have a Voyage of five hundred Leagues to make The Republick of Venice according to Chievres was no less to be considered in matter of Politicks than the Court of Rome but for power it was not so much since the Holy See the Emperour France and Spain having entered into a League to ruine it Louis the Twelfth alone had defeated all its Forces at the Battel of Giaradadda and taken from it all it possessed in the Terra Firma It is true it afterward recovered part of that State but seeing it was not so easily regained as lost and that in all
appearance it would be long before the rest could be recovered The Venetians were too wise to engage in the mean time in any other Affair and if they were constrained to espouse a new Party it would rather be against France which had in one day stripped them of all that in the space of three hundred years they had acquired by extraordinary prudence conduct and charge than against Spain which rested satisfied with the recovery of the maritime places of Apullia and Calabria without repaying the vast Sums lent by the Republick to the last King of Naples for which they were morgaged There was but one King for the three Kingdoms of the North Sweden Denmark and Norway and that Prince was Christiern the Second of the House of Oldenbourg His Father and Grandfather had laid up vast Treasures for him he had for Allies most of the Princes and Hausiatick Towns of Germany He had a great deal of Authority in several Circles and especially in that of the Lower Saxony and if Charles needed not his sollicitation for obtaining one day the Empire yet it was of extreme importance to him that he should not thwart it because he was sure he could never be chosen so long as he was against him That was the reason why Chievres advised him to design one of his Sisters for a Wife to that Prince and the Alliance was the more easie to be concluded at that time because the barbarous numour of Christiern which made him lose his Kingdoms and die in a Prison was not as yet known Both Parties were equally persuaded that they would find their advantage in it because the King of Denmark who had had Territories in Germany proposed to himself not only to preserve â—ut also to enlarge them if the eldest Son of his House died without male Issue by marrying the Emperours Grand-daughter and the House of Austria also raised the Authority which it had in Germany considerably by disposing all the North to second the Emperour in the Pretensions which he already had of rendering the Empire Hereditary in his Family Vladislaus King of Hungary was also King of Bohemia and Charles was told 〈◊〉 his Governour that he was the most â—…oper Prince of all to turn and manage the Germans provided there were as much Art employed to appease him as there had been imprudence committed in offending him To make this secret of State the more obvious to Charles Chievres informed him that the Kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia were no less Elective than the Empire and that the House of Austria during the space of fourscore years had been thinking of appropriating them for two reasons first because they bordered upon the ten Hereditary Provinces and could defend and cover them and secondly if that the fundamental Laws of those two Crowns were changed without the raising of any tumult and effusion of bloud the Germans would insensibly be accustomend to the form of Government that might be introduced into their Circles and would not think it strange that their Aristocracy turned into an absolute Monarchy There is no mounting up to the Thrones of Monarchies who chuse their Masters by Plurality of Voices but by Parties and Factions and theâ— House of Austria had formed two soâ— powerful Factions in the Kingdoms oâ— Hungary and Bohemia that there was no ground to fâ—ar but when they came to be vacant it would obtain them Nevertheless the success did not fully answer so quaint a project and though the measures of the House of Austria had been long before concerted and laid down with all possible circumspection yet were they not the Juster for that Mathias Corvinus the Son of the famous Jogn Huniades the terrour of the Turks stood in competition for these Crowns and would not be diverted from his Pretentions neither by the most advantageous Offers nor most terrible Menaces He had nothing to pretend for himself but the high reputation and merit of his Father but that merit and reputation were so well setled that they were sufficient to gain the greater and sounder part of the Estates of Hungary and Bohemia The Faction of the House of Austria was constrained to submit and Maâ—hias was so fortunate that the House of Austria afterward desired an accommodation with him That House waited for another opportunity of competition and promised it self a more favourable issue Nevertheless it was as far out in the second â—s in the first conjecture It had Vlaâ—islaus for Competitor and if that Prince â—ame short of that which caused the Election of Mathias he had in lieu thereof â—ersonal Charms which Nature had deâ—…ied to all those of the House of Austria He had no fine nor piercing Wit and it was not for that that those who were more â—…genious than he esteemed him They admired in Vladislaus an open free sweet and condescending temper which won upon hearts for this reason alone that there was nothing extraordinary in him and that every one found in him something suitable to his own humour All the qualities which were found in him might prove advantageous to those who should chuse him for their King and he seemed to have none that they needed to be afraid of They were assured before-hand that he would not of himself alter any of the Laws which he found established and that if they expected any new Law to be made by him he must be entreated to do it So that the sollicitations of the House of Austria hindered him not from being recognized King of Hungary and Bohemia and put into the possession of the two Crowns but the Factions that are formed in Elective States cause always unexpected revolutions when care has not been taken to stiâ—le them so soon as they begin to appear The Party of the House of Austria in Hungary and Bohemia was grown so strong during the Reign of Mathias what pains soever that great Prince had taken to break it and the great men of the higher Nobility of the two Kingdoms who were engaged therein were so strongly possessed with the Maxims of the House of Austria contrary to the peace of the Publick which were fortified by the setled pensions that they duly received from thence that the Austrians hardly met with any opposition when they endeavoured to Arm them against their own Country They yielded to the first instance that was made to them for that effect and gave a new precedent in Politicks That no men are sooner persuaded to disturb the Peace of their own Country than they who are most concerned to maintain it They took the Field with flying Colours marched to joyn the Forces which the House of Austria kept in readiness upon the Frontiers to second their revolt they joyned them joyned them abandoned Hungary and Bohemia to their Pillage and surprising Vladislaus unprovided reduced him to such extremity that he was constrained to make a * In the Treaties betwixt Hungary and Austria Treaty with the Emperour Maximilian the First bearing
was offered to him a second time as the first had been without suing for it and these latter Ages had not produced any man so fortunate It would have been folly to have refused a Princess of twelve years of age the most beautiful of her time who bestowed her self upon him to save her Portion and Maximilian had wit enough to accept of her but he wanted heat enough to go and marry her in Person He was content to marry her by Proxy and the Bretons took exceptions at that negligence The person of greatest credit amongst them was the Mareshal de Rieux who had not favoured the House of Austria but because he had been ill treated by that of France He expected that Maximilian would have come into Bretagne with Forces and Money enough to snatch out of the hands of the French what they had taken in the Province but perceiving that none came in his name but one Lord so ill accompanied that he durst not make a publick entry into Reunes and so beggarly that the Heiress of Bretagne was obliged to maintain him he repented of what he had done and was not long in finding out means to make reparation for his fault He represented to the French the errour they committed in losing Bretagne by the same way that they had lost Flanders He let them know that offensive and defensive Arms were useless in a Juncture when the Weapons of love could overcome he composed the greatest animosities on both sides and disposed Charles the Eighth not only to become Maximilians Rival but also to prevent him So that whilst Maximilian sollicited the Merchants of Antwerp and Bruges to lend him money for his pretended Voyage into Bretagne Charles went thither won the heart of the Heiress banished from thence and supplanted Maximilian A Marriage solemnized by both parties in Person carried it over another that was on the one side only celebrated by Proxy Charles possessed the Heiress of Bretagne and her Country peaceably He had three Boys by her who all died Children and Louis XII who succeeded him married his Widow as much through inclination as reason of State. He had indeed the greatest Civil Interest to preserve Bretagne but besides he had loved the Heiress and his flame was easily kindled again though seven years of imprisonment had been used to extinguish it They add that he was reciprocally beloved and that the Widow of Charles the Eighth comforted her self for the loss of him in hopes that she should still reign in France She was not mistaken in her opinion and Louis that he might enjoy her the more speedily knowing that the dispensation to marry her had been granted him stayed not till the Legate delivered it into his hands He took the start and married and the two Daughters which he soon had persuaded him of a numerous Posterity and that after the Girls he would have Boys Trusting to that supposition he had twice promised his eldest Daughter to Charles the Grandson of Maximilian but his conjecture was only verified in part His Wife was brought to bed of some Male Children but they died almost as soon as they were born and he had none remaining alive but his two Daughters Reasons of State and Decorum required that the Count of Angoulesm should marry the Eldest and the honest Frenchmen pressed the King to it but the Queen had got so great an ascendant over the mind of her Husband as to keep him from disposing of his Daughter to any person without her consent The hopeful and lovely presence of the young Count was not disagreeable to her and besides in that particular she was inclinable enough to the Interests of France but the rebounds of the hatred of women commonly go farther than those of men The aversion of the Queen to the Countess of Angoulesm rebounded in a very strange and odd manner upon the Count her Son and her Majesty made no account of the singular qualities which distinguished him from other Princes of his age and procured him the admiration of the People She only considered him in the natural relation and affection he had to the Countess and as she was not ignorant of the deference that he had for his Mother so she thought of nothing for the future but that when he was King he would give her a great deal of Authority in the State and that so after the death of Louis the Twelfth the Countess would have as much credit as the Queen had had during his life Ambitious people behold nothing with so jealous eyes as those who are like to supplant them and the Queen was in that disquiet condition of mind at the time the King was so ill that the Physicians despaired of his recovery It is not certain whether the Queen obliged them to conceal nothing from her of what they thought of him or that she suspected the worst but it is certain that she took the same measures as if she had been persuaded of it She durst not or would not forsake a Husband that had been so loving to her but she dreaded as the greatest of miseries to fall into the hands of the Countess Yet her Majesty could not avoid it if her eldest Daughter continued in France until the death of the King seeing his Successour would not suffer her to depart out of the Kingdom but would marry her So she resolved to remove her before and send her into Bretagne whâ—…â—he might dispose of her according to her humour by marrying her to the Archduke of the Low Countries and by raising by virtue of that Alliance an Enemy that might torment the French Monarchy in such a manner that the Countess should not get much by her Sons becoming King. The Court was at Blois and it was not far from thence to Bretagne but most part of women are covetous and near and thereby often lose the occasion of executing great designs The fourteen Dukes of Bretagne had for the most part been magnificent and had left a vast quantity of most rich furniture The Queen had caused it to be transported into France and could not resolve to leave it there lest the Countess might make use of it and at her cost live in the luxury wherein she so much delighted That consideration preserved Bretagne to France because it hindered the Queen from sending her Daughter by Land with a strong Guard that could not be stopt Her Majesty thought it necessary that the young Princess should depart with the Baggage to the end that the respect which would be shewn her might keep it from being searched and seeing it was not sufficiently concealed neither as to the quantity nor value when carried by Land in Waggons it was thought more convenient to send it in Boats by Water but it seldom happens that one woman surprises another that mistrusts her and the Queen stood in need of too many people to keep her project hid so long as would have been necessary The Countess
Father one of the most husbanding Princes that ever was refused to furnish him with Money and Forces for that purpose and that the Flemings his Sons Subjects would not engage in the quarrel of a Prince whom they look'd upon as a stranger since his Wife was dead and that he was no more but the Father of their Sovereign That after the death of Frederick when Maximilian had succeeded the occasion of revenge was lost by the Apoplexy which carried Charles out of the world at the age of twenty eight years but that the case was not alike neither in regard of the Archduke nor in regard of the Count of Angoulesm Towards the end of Philip de Comines That the Archduke was already Master of the Low Countries That his Subjects had so great a love for him that they would spend part of their Estates and their bloud in the quarrel That he would not want neither Spanish Gold nor German Soldiers and that in short the Count was of too strong a constitution to give any ground to fear that he would die before the Archduke had had the satisfaction he desired of him These discourses suiting with the revengeful humour of Charles and reiterated to him in an Age wherein the strong impressions that then are made commonly last as long as life had produced their effect and so animated the Archduke against the Count that he was impatient not to be in a condition of entering the Lists against his Adversary when Crievres foresaw the troublesom consequences that an enmity cultivated with so much care might have and thought it necessary to remedy it betimes though he made no doubt but that the Emperour and Catholick King would take it ill at his hands and prove his enemies if he succeeded in it He had formerly been acquainted in the Wars of Italy with Artas de Goussier Lord of Boisly Governour to the Count of Angoulesm and reckoned him the fittest man of the Kingdom for the Commission that was given him He was persuaded of his great integrity and promised himself from that to be seconded in the design of contracting a Friendship betwixt the Archduke and the Count which might procure to both a long repose and preserve to the Flemings and French the peace which they enjoyed He sollicited him to this by ways that are not known but it is to be believed that it was done without engaging the Archdukes honour and so prudently that neither the Count nor his Governour might draw any advantage from it in case the accommodation had not succeded Goussier on his part contributed thereto all that could be desired and laboured much to blot out of the Count's mind the dangerous impressions of the Archduke which were stamp'd in it as if he had been his most formidable enemy whilst Chievres on the other side acted efficaciously with the Archduke in convincing him by strong reasons that the injuries of Princes were not to be measured by the Standard of private persons and that he neither could nor ought to take it ill if the Count had done to him what he would have done to the Count if he had been in his place When the resentment was stifled on the one hand and diffidence removed on the other the two Governours sought an occasion to settle a commerce by Letters betwixt their two Princes which might entertain and encrease their good intelligence and took the first favourable opportunity that offered Mere chance brought it so about that it was on the Archdukes side and that he needed the offices of the Count in an affair of importance Henry Count of Nassau who possessed in the Provinces of Flanders Brabant Holland and Zealand fair remains of vast Estates which those of his Family had purchased there had so far insinuated himself into the favours of the Archduke that he would have been his Favourite if that Prince had been of an humour to have any and that to caution himself against that he had not taken the same measures almost which chast men commonly make use of to fortifie themselves against the lovely eyes of a Lady whom they are afraid to be smitten with he studied and played with his Master and Chievres was so far from opposing that he contributed to it because making it his business to place about the Archduke young Lords who might not corrupt the good seeds that he endeavoured to plant in him he thought Nassau not only one according to his mind but that also he might be useful in confirming the Archduke in the exercises of virtue by â—…ring him up by his example to the pracâ—… of it It was at that time the custom of the Low Countries to marry the eldest Sonâ— of Noble Families very young and Nassauâ— relations courted for him Elizabeth of Chalon Sister to the Prince of Aurange The Alliance was sutable and could not cause any umbrage for besides that the Families of France and of the Low Countries had full liberty to marry one with another without displeasing their Sovereigns if the House of Chalon had a great Estate in the Dutchy of Burgundy it had more in the French County and upon that account passed rather for a Flemish than French Family All the difficulty lay in the obtaining of the consent of the King Louis the Twelfth without which the Father of Elizabeth had discharged her to be given in marriage and there was but little probability that his Majesty would give it in favours of Nassau seeing it was contrary to the reason of State. Prince Philibert of Chalon the Brother of Elizabeth was the only Male of his Family He gave no promises of a long life in his youth though afterward be became very strong and Politicians looked upon his Sister already as the richest Heiress in Europe If Nassau married her he was a person powerfully setled in the Low Countries who would not change his Master though the Succession of Aurange should fall to his Wife and would spend in the Archdukes service the Revenue of the fair Estate of the House of Chalon in France whereas if the King gave to Elizabeth a French Husband the Estate would not go out of the Kingdom as neither to the rents nor property and the Husband would employ them in the service of his Majesty There needed then a strong recommendation to the King to prevail with him and Chievres advised Nassau to pray the Archduke that in this prospect he would employ the interest of the Count of Angoulesm with the King his Father-in-law The Archduke wrote obligingly to the Count about it and that Prince prepared by Goussier answered the Archduke in the same stile And seeing he already gloried in a generosity too high for the Age he lived in he granted more than was demanded of him and surmounted an obstacle which Nassau had not foreseen He thought it not enough to have obtained his Majesties consent but further won the Prince of Aurange in favours of Nassau who had and always
received investiture of them that it was not in the power of the Feudatary for any cause or pretext that might be to frustrate his eldest Son or the Male Children of that eldest Son by giving them to his other Children nor to deprive the Paternal Cousins how remote soever of the same in favours of their own Daughters Constant and uninterrupted custom had exactly agreed with these Laws and no instance could be given that they had ever been violated as to that particular in whole or in part It was not so in the Succession which the Archduke expected from the Catholick King and he had more reasons than one to fear that he might be disappointed of it though at first view it appeared to be full as sure as that of the Emperour For in the first place Ferdinand had sufficiently testified his displeasure that his Dominions one day should fall to the House of Austria by omitting nothing that could naturally be done to prevent it He acted not with so much sincerity as the House of Austria in the marriage of his Son (1) John of Arragon Prince of Spain and Daughter (2) Joan of Arragon surnamed the Fool. with the Son (3) Marguerite of Austria and Daughter (4) The Archduke Philip. of the Emperour and whereas Maximilian had given him an only Daughter he had only given to Maximilian for Philip of Austria the second of his four Daughters The Eldest he married in Portugal shewing by so publick a preference that he had rather his Succession should descend upon a Prince whose Grandfather was a Bastard and great Grandmother the Daughter of a Shoomaker Jew than be wanting in circumspection to remove his Son-in-Law the Archduke Philip from the succession to the Crowns of Castile and Arragon His forecast nevertheless was vain and in a very few years the Emperours Sons Wife became Heir apparent of so many Kingdoms Any but the Catholick King would in so sudden a revolution have adored the Order of Divine Providence and wholly submitted to it Nevertheless that Prince opposed it by a longer and more steady obstinacy than that of Jonas in declining to go to Niniveh His Wife was no sooner dead but that he married another in the sole prospect of having a Son by her and because he drew towards fifty years of age and that the disorders of his youth gave him ground at that age to distrust his own vigour he had his recourse to Physick and took Potions that were thought fit to supply that defect In the second place the Catholick King had lusty handsome Bastards and if he preferred them before the Children of his lawful Daughter in succeeding to the Throne he would in that do nothing contrary neither to the Custom of Spain nor the inclination of the Spaniards It was no new thing in that Country the remotest of Europe on the Affrican side to promote Bastards to the Throne in exclusion of lawful Children and Ferdinand himself descended in right Line from Henry the Second who was a Bastard There was besides another instance of that irregularity in his Family For his Uncle Alphonso of Arragon Elder Brother to John of Arragon his Father dying without Children by Testament which in that part was executed frustrated John of Arragon of the Kingdom of Naples and left it to a Bastard whom he had by a Person of quality Educated in that prospect In the third place the Catholick King could not only take from the Archduke Arragon and the Crowns that depended upon it but also he might by the way we shall now treat of hinder him from reigning in Castile and in the Monarchies annexed to it This young Prince drew his Title to Castile from Queen Isabella his Grandmother by the Mothers side and yet that Princess had not inherited it without violence and encroaching upon the most sacred and inviolable Laws of Civil Society Henry the Fourth her Brother King of Castile married the Infanta of Portugal and that Infanta during his marriage with her was brought to bed of a Daughter the most beautiful as they say that ever was born in Spain This Daughter by the Fundamental Laws of the State excluded her Aunt from succeeeding to so many Kingdoms because she was nearest by a degree and represented her Father Nevertheless the Aunt pretended that her Brother was impotent and that the Daughter that was fathered on him was begotten by his Favourite Don Bertram de la Cueva Duke of Albuquerque For that reason or under that pretext she made a great Party and raised a War in Castile But the Party of the Daughter proving the stronger the Aunt had her recourse to Ferdinand and gave her self to him having no other way to engage him to espouse her interest against her Neece Ferdinand having married the Aunt transported all the Forces of Arragon into Castile He overcame them who favoured his Wives Neece and dispossessed her of the Kingdom But was now in a condition to repay the injury which he had done her by recalling her into Castile where he had the Power raising her to the Throne and marrying her to one of his Bastards Upon the Reasons we have been mentioning Chievres made the reflections they deserved He long considered with himself the prejudice that might befal the Archduke by not entertaining an entire correspondence with his maternal Grandfather Nevertheless having put into the balance together the hurt that might redound to that Prince by breaking with France during his minority if he Leagued too strictly with the Catholick King and the injury the Catholick King might do him if he united not so closely with him he found the first alone to weigh far more than all the others put together and by the boldest result of prudence that is to be found in the History of Spain he judged it to be avoided rather than the rest He kept the Archduke in friendship with the French and Germans He thought it enough not to give the Catholick King any cause or pretext to complain of him in particular and in the following Books we shall find that his conduct in that point was as fortunate as it had been judicious The End of the First Book THE HISTORY OF Monsieur De Chievres The Second BOOK CONTAINING The most remarkable Occurrences in the Monarchy of Spain during the years One thousand five hundred and thirteen and One thousand five hundred and fourteen THat we may conceive the motives which induced Chievres to prefer the Paternal Grandfather of Charles of Austria his Pupil before the Maternal and that we may understand the advantages which Charles drew from that preference we must necessarily presuppose that Ferdinand the Catholick King who was the Maternal Grandfather spoken of here bounded not his ambition within Spain after he had entirely driven the Moors from thence by the conquest of the Kingdom of Granada It troubled him to be confined to one of the extemities of Europe without any appearance of
in a very short time it could not admit of a third because the impression that they must have made upon the body and the extreme violence that the same body must have been put to in supporting of them would have exhausted so many spirits that there could not remain enough for a fresh application of so large an extent In a word that Prince made a farther reflection that if the functions of the Soul were weakened in three violent exercises of the same force they would be much more weakened when these exercises were not only different but also contrary because then the distance would be greater and the obstacles more difficult to be surmounted From these three Principles Ferdinand concluded that to prevent Queen Isabella from expiring upon the news of her Sons death she must first be put into an extreme grief upon a false ground that then she must be carried from the extremity of sadness to that of joy by setting before her sight what she bewailed as lost and giving her by that means the speediest and most agreeable consolation that she could be capable of that lastly the person that was dearest to her next to her Son should come and tell her that God had removed him and should sweeten the bitterness of the tidings by so many reasons and examples that the grief occasioned thereby might produce no extraordinary effects So the Catholick King having taken such just measures that his Wife could not be informed of the death of her Son but from him caused some persons of credit to go and tell her that the King her Husband was dead of a sudden death She believed it the more easily that he had almost all the symptoms of those that are subject to that kind of death She was as deeply afflicted as she ought to be and in that condition she was let alone about an hour Her first transports of sorrow were hardly over when Ferdinand whom she expected to see no more appeared in her sight She was thereupon so ravished with joy that she could neither think of complaining of the trick that was put upon her nor of quarrelling those that had imposed it Her Husband let her alone in this fit of Joy almost as long as she had been in grief and then with very elaborate mollifying expressions told her that their Son was gone She was indeed moved at it but not so much as if it had been done in another manner and some days after she found her mind so much at ease again as to apply her self to Affairs of State. The most important Affair was to prevent the Successions of Castile and Arragon from devolving upon a foreign Family and not a Spanish and seeing their Catholick Majesties could not compass this design after the death of their only Son but by marrying again their eldest Daughter in Portugal they intimated to Manuel who had newly mounted the Throne of that Kingdom that if he sought her in marriage he should have her Manuel was too ambitious to refuse the Match that was offered him and seeing at that time he had a design of conquering the Indies and that he foresaw the advantage that the Alliance of the Catholick Kings would afford him in the execution thereof in the sole prospect of hastening his Marriage he neglected the usual Ceremonies in the Alliances of Kings He demanded no security for his going into Castile but appeared at the Court of the Catholick Kings sooner than he was expected and there married the Infanta Isabella to the extraordinary joy of the Spaniards passionate for the greatness of their Country who thereby saw all their Monarchies except that of Navarre united into one The new married Princes were acknowledged for Heirs apparent of * In Caramnel Castile and presumptive of Arragon and Ferdinand was so afraid lest the House of Austria into which his second Daughter was married might pretend any share in the Succession that he obliged the Queen his Wife forthwith to assemble the Estates of Castile in the City of Toledo where the Queen of Portugal received the Oath of all the Deputies Immediatly after he called the Estates of Arragon at Sarragossa where the same Ceremony was performed The joy of the People was redoubled by the Queen of Portugals being with Child which appeared before they were dismissed The Catholick Kings were afraid that some inconvenience might befal her if she accompanied the King her Husband who was upon his return into Portugal and would not suffer her to depart from Sarragossa before she was brought to bed They chose rather to stay there with her and divert her in expectation that she should give them an Heir and in the mean time the Castilian and Portuguese Nations conquered the Antipathy that had continued betwixt them for so many Ages and promiscuously spent their time at play Dancing Turnaments and running at the Ring The hopes that seemed almost certain of their being one day united contributed much to it but there have been few of such Festivals wherein the conclusion answered the beginning The Queen of Portugal had had no Children by the Infanto Alphonso her first Husband She was already twenty eight years of age when she was first with Child Physicians affirm that on such occasions the pains of Labour encrease proportionably as the woman who is brought to bed the first time is advanced in age and these three reasons with a fourth which modesty obliges me to suppress were the cause that her Portuguese Majesty could not be a Mother but at the cost of her life She was brought to bed in due time and of a Son but she died of it and all the hopes of the Catholick Kings were confined to their Grandson who was Christened by the name of Michael His Grandfather and Grandmother caused him to be acknowledged by the Estates of Castile and Arragon but he was so sickly that the Spaniards began to look upon the Archdutchess of the Low Countries and Philip of Austria her Husband as the Heirs apparent of their Monarchy The Catholick Queen was so persuaded of it when she was informed that the Archdutchess was on the four and twentieth of February One thousand five hundred brought to bed of a Son who was afterward the Archduke Charles to whom Chievres was Governour that by a spirit of Prophesie she applied upon the spot these words of the Acts of the Apostles The lot fell upon Matthias alluding to the Saint whose Feast was that day celebrated in the Church to signifie that the Child was born in so favourable a Juncture that he would succeed to her Crowns as well as to those of her Husband The event soon followed the Prediction and Charles was not as yet compleat five months old when the Infanto Michael died the twentieth of July the same year at the age of two years The regrate of the Catholick Kings therefore was not equal though on both sides it was great because Queen Isabella seeing an absolute
inclination would not continue in time of War. Upon this he grounded his conjecture that the King of Castile as shall be mentioned hereafter being excessively liberal there was no appearance that he would moderate that predominant inclination in the midst of Arms and when every moment he would have fresh occasions of giving In the mean time the Revenue of Castile and of the Crowns that depended on it were so scanty that they could not suffice to carry on a long War and at the same time supply the superfluous expensiveness of their King. His Majesties Treasury would thereby soon be drained and if the seeds of a Civil War could be sowed when money was wanting a general revolution would quickly follow and the same Philip who till then had been the Idol of the Castillians would become their aversion The measures to be taken for the execution of that project ought not to be managed but by a very cunning person and for that purpose Ferdinand employed the famous Raymond of Cardonna with the following instructions * In his life in Castillian It hath been mentioned in the preceding Book that Queen Isabella at first reigned not peaceably in Castile That her Brother Henry had by the Infanta of Portugal a Daughter the most beautiful and unfortunate of her age That Isabella had maintained that Henry was impotent That Bertrand de la Cueva Duke of Albuquerque was her Father and that by consequent she ought not to succeed to the Crowns of Castile The probability of that discourse was grounded upon this that Henry having no Children by the Infanta of Navarre his first Wife had divorced her and having been able to get none neither upon the second the report went that he had rather that his Favourite La Cueva should supply his defect than that he should be reckoned impotent He constantly owned the Daughter whom his Wife brought forth for his own and his Sister Isabella being too weak to make her pass for illegitimate had her recourse to Ferdinand and married him though she was thirty two years of age and he but sixteen upon condition that he would back her interest with the Forces that he could bring from Arragon Ferdinand in a pitch'd Battel routed those who maintained the Party of the Princess of Castile forced her to take refuge in Portugal obliged the Estates of Castile to declare her Bastard and maintained himself in the possession of these Kingdoms during the life of Isabella But after her death for his own sake he formed a design of repairing the wrong he had done and proposed to himself the marriage of the Princess of Castile to bring her back by force of Arms into the Kingdoms that had belonged to Henry the Fourth to raise her the Party there again which before he had suppressed and there to renew the Civil War in the opinion that as at that time when the Forces of Arragon in the dispute betwixt the Aunt and the Neece were sufficient to give the Monarchy to her of the two Pretendents they declared in favours of that is for the Aunt in prejudice of the Neece so they would be still sufficient to turn the balance on the Neeces side in prejudice of the Children of the Aunt when they should awaken the dormant Faction under the same pretext that had been before made use of which was that of marriage There appeared only two impediments which might cross his marriage to be surmounted for as to the third which was the aversion that the Princess of Castile had to Ferdinand because he had robbed her of her Dominions he made account that she would be reconciled to him so soon as he offered to re-establish her in the Throne and that she would chuse rather by marrying him to recover the fairest Monarchy of Spain than as a private person to spend the rest of her days in a forced continence The first Impediment in the judgment of Ferdinand would be on the part of Pope Julius the second an undertaking bold man and ambitious to signalize himself but scrupulous and reserved in granting favours upon the sole account of making them the more valuable It was to be feared that his Holiness would hardly be brought to consent that Ferdinand should marry the Neece of his deceased Wife and that he would absolutely refuse the dispensation demanded were it for nothing else but that he might not fall out with the House of Austria which would thereby be irreconcilably offended But the enmity that Julius entertained against the French and the resolution he had already taken by all means to engage Ferdinand to joyn with him for driving them out of Italy made a stronger impression in the mind of that Pope than the Canon Laws He gave intimation to Ferdinand that the dispensation should be no hindrance to the marriage that he had in his head and so all Ferdinands care was to get over the next difficulty It consisted in getting the Princess out of Portugal and by consequent in disposing Manuel to deliver her Ferdinand expected far less opposition to his designs on the part of that Prince than he had found from the Pope because Manuel was doubly his Son-in-law It hath been said before that Ferdinand gave him in marriage his eldest Daughter upon no other account but that he might hinder his Succession from falling to the House of Austria into which the second Daughter was married and it is to be added here that Ferdinand's caution proving ineffectual he farther gave his third Daughter to his Portuguese Majesty who by consequent by an odd singularity not as yet to be parallelled in these last Ages having for his first Wife married his Nephew's Widow for his second married the Sister of his former Wife * He married also for his third Wife the Daughter of the Sister of his two former Wives But what appears to Kings most feisible in speculation is not so always in practice because self-love sometimes represents to them the interests that sets them upon action more urgent than it seems to be to other Sovereigns who they think ought to second them in the execution Manuel King of Portugal was of the humour of Princes who come to the Crown by chance and without laying claim to it directly He was only the kinsman far remote in a collateral Line of John the second his Predecessour and by consequent he was afraid upon the smallest occasions to lose the good fortune that had happened to him contrary to his expectation He saw no advantage neither present nor future in the proposition made to him of delivering the Princess of Castile and on the contrary found in it present inconveniences and inevitable Wars afterwards If the Princess had Children by Ferdinand those of Manuel would be the farther removed from the Succession of Arragon if she had none and yet out-lived him she would transfer the Crowns of Castile to him whom she should chuse for a second Husband and if she
of Oran the Capital of a Kingdom to which it gave the name was afterwards attacked and taken by storm Bugy where the University of the Moors was and the only place known in Affrica where they went to learn the little of Arts and Sciences which they have was as easily conquered The occasion that Ximenes had of seizing it deserves to be known were it for no other reason but to convince us that if Christians took as much care to be informed of the affairs of Infidels as Infidels take to learn what news happen amongst Christians we should get more by it than they and find a a great many favourable occasions which are lost for want of that application The Uncle of the King of Bugy by the Father a few days before the Spaniards drew near that Kingdom thought it not enough to dethrone his Nephew but also put out his eye-sight with a hot Iron that thereby he might render him incapable of reigning and prevent according to the Custom of the Country the designs of those who pretended afterward to re-establish him upon the Throne during the life of the Usurper or immediately after his death Ximenes accidentally was informed of so barbarous an action and presently resolved to make his advantage of it He sent word to the friends of the dispossessed King that he would exemplarily revenge the injury that was done if they would act in concert with him and there needed no more to raise in the Kingdom of Bugy a second revolution as great as the former The Party that was worsted took courage again and quickly setled secret correspondences with the Spaniards who they thought had offered themselves to them out of a principle of generosity They took so just measures with them that they facilitated the taking of places that were capable to hinder them from approaching the Capital City and then brought them into Bugy by means that were kept so secret after the execution of them that the Spanish Historians disagree about the manner This is certain that an accident supervened which was so much the more favourable to the Spaniards for winning that other Crown of Barbary that not being so skilful in medicine as they had been in the time of Averroes and Avienne they took it for a miracle The red-hot Iron that had been made use of to blind the King by holding it near his eyes a quarter of an hour had indeed deprived him of sight but had not wholly dried up the humours whether it was that the Ministers of the Usurpers cruelty had taken it out of the fire before it was hot enough for the intended operation or that it was not put near enough his eyes and held there a sufficient time for drying entirely up the humidity which serves to the functions of sight The Spanish Chirurgions perceived it and undertook to cure the Moorish King. The cure was long and difficult but at length it succeeded and was look'd upon as well by him upon whom it was wrought as by his Subjects as an evident mark that it was the purpose of heaven that they should be Tributaries to the Spaniards The Corsairs of Algiers In the relation of that Conquest who till then had with impunity destroyed the Christian Fleets and spoil'd the Commerce of Europe in Africa followed the example of those of Bugy and submitted to the payment of the same tribute In a word the Spaniards by an excess of good fortune which they have not had since in their Wars against the Barbarians made themselves Masters of the Kingdom of Tripoli and Ximenes returned to his Church of Toledo with so much glory and booty that Ferdinand durst think no more of molesting him In this manner the Archduke Charles reaped so much advantage from the quarrel of that Prelate and his Maternal Grandfather that three illustrious Kingdoms and a more famous Republick were thereby subjected to him and shortly after in the year One thousand five hundred and twelve the same good fortune brought under his Dominion the Kingdom of Navarre when neither he himself nor his Governour Chievres had any hand in it That Monarchy had often fallen to Daughters and by consequent had successively passed into several Families By that way it was transferred from the ancient House of Navarre to that of Leon from the House of Leon to that of Castile from the House of Castile to that of Champagne from the House of Champagne to that of France from the House of France to that of Evreux from the House of Evreux to the House of Arragon and from the House of Arragon to that of Foix-Grailly Gaston de Foix married Eleanor Queen of Navarre second Sister to the Father of Ferdinand the Catholick King by whom he had twelve Children of both Sexes The eldest Son died at two and twenty years of age he left a Son and a Daughter whom he had of Magdalen the youngest Daughter of Charles the Seventh The Son named Francis Phoebus reigned not long in Navarre and died before he was married The Daughter named Catharine became thereby the richest Heiress of Europe She remained under the Guardianship of her Mother who would never hear of marrying again though she was a Widow at the age of seventeen years There were but few Princes in Europe that courted not the Alliance of the young Queen of Navarre and the most considerable Husband that was proposed to her was the Insanto of Spain John the Son of Ferdinand who was much of the same age with her That Prince was the only Son of Ferdinand and Isabella and if he had married Catharine all the Monarchies of Spain had been reunited except that of Portugal Ferdinand and Isabella designed that chiefly by the Match But Magdalen of France had not so great an aversion to the House she was come of as to contribute to the raising in Spain a Power almost equal to that of France She absolutely refused her Daughter to the Prince of Spain but for all that she had not so much kindness for the House of France as to marry her Daughter into it as she had not so much affection for her Daughter as to marry her into a Sovereign Family She gave her to John Son of Alan d' Albert a powerful Lord indeed in Gascony but who possessed not a foot of Land but what held of the Kings of France in quality of Dukes of Guyenne Irregularities in Politicks are of more dangerous consequence than others and it is rare to be found in History that Queens of themselves have married Husbands inferiour to them in quality without having great occasions of repenting it John d' Albert seemed born to verisie the old Proverb That the best men are not always the best Kings He had all the qualities that could accomplish a private man but he wanted those which distinguish Sovereigns from those that are not and were not cut out for being so He delighted only in study and minded nothing by his good
dissembled He prosecuted the Constable first in the usual course of Law and then by Arms but in so just a quarrel he was not seconded as he expected to have been The Faction of Grammont repaired indeed to his Banner but the Constable also received assistance from two sorts of people which he thought ought rather to have declared against him than for him The first were those who feared to be plundered by the Faction that should entirely root out the other and the other those who being accustomed to live under a Monarchy where the Royal Power was almost as much limited as in the Kingdom of Navarre In the Collection of the Laws of Navarre would not have their King become absolute by the overthrow of the Faction of Beaumont or at least that he should be in a condition of growing so if occasion put him upon desiring it So that the Party was no less equal when the King sided with those of Grammont than it was when the two Factions subsisted only by their own Forces and the Civil War was no less drawn out in length John d' Albert being impatient to have an end put to it because it hindered him from his ordinary business listned to the first proposals of peace that were made to him though they came from a Court every way to be suspected Ferdinand the Catholick King being frustrated of his hopes of uniting Navarre to Arragon and Castile by the Marriage of his only Son with Catharine de Foix waited for an opportunity of seizing it by craft and finding no more lawful fomented unjust ways He wanted a pretext of medling in the quarrel of those of Beaumont and Grammont before the King of Navarre interposed in it because the Monarchs of that time had that deference one for another not to take notice of what was done in neighbouring Kingdoms unless they were sollicited to it But after that the King of Navarre had declared against those of Grammont and that the Constable their head apprehending at long run to succumb under the force of the Gascons who would flock in to the succour of John d' Albert had had his recourse to the assistance of the Castilians Ferdinand let not so favourable an occasion slip and managed it so cunningly that at length it produced the effect which he expected from it The Constable was his Brother-in-law as having married Eleanor natural Daughter to the late John King of Arragon and upon that consideration chiefly he grounded his offer of mediation to the King of Navarre for accommodating him 〈◊〉 his Constable The King of Navarre who perceived not the drift of such a Proposition willingly accepted it and Ferdinand had no sooner drawn him into the snare so cunningly laid but that he prepared another for him more dangerous than the former He passed insensibly in regard of his Majesty of Navarre from a Mediation to a Guarranty and over-reached him by representing to him by Agents wonderfully cunning that the Constable was not a man religious in keeping his word and seeing the most sacred and solemn Tie amongst Christians was not powerful enough to oblige him he ought to bind him by so considerable a Guarant that he durst not unsay That the King offered to take it upon him upon no other motive but of making and entertaining peace amongst his Neighbours and besides seeing there was no probability that Navarre could be long in repose if the Constable departed not out of it for some years his Catholick Majesty was willing to allow him a retreat in Castile supposing he should refuse to remove far from his Places for fear his Enemies might seize them in his absence He proposed in the mean time to keep them in Sequestration and to put into them Garrisons sufficient to maintain them In a word if nothing detained him in Navarre but the great Estates which he possessed there he would give him the Equivalentor better in Arragon and Castile That overture at first seemed not to proceed but from a meer Principle of generosity Nevertheless examine it narrowly and it could not be neither more advantagious for Ferdinand nor more prejudicial to John d' Albert. For the most powerful Subject of his Majesty of Navarre was confirmed in his revolt by making him treat on even terms with his Master and by giving him Castile and Arragon for Guarants of the Treaty which he should make occasion was given to the most formidable Enemy of Navarre to make the Constable at his devotion when he should be retired within his Territories that Neighbour was received into the very Centre and best Places of Navarre from whence he might easily usurp the rest of the Kingdom and which was the greatest shame in the world the King of Navarre must consent that the Constable sold himself if I may so say to the Catholick King since it was proposed that he should receive considerable Estates from his Majesty in recompence for his Revenues in Navarre Nevertheless John d' Albert signed the Treaty with all the above-mentioned conditions and Ferdinands Garisons took possession of the Places of the Constable who went and lived at the Court of his Brother-in-law The Catholick King was Surety for him that he should raise no stirs in Navarre and gave him not only the Revenue but also the Propriety of the Marquisate of Huescar in the Kingdom of Granada the Revenue whereof exceeded the Rents which he had in Navdrre All the Politicians of the Age foretold the ruine of John d' Albert because of that and to speak the truth it seemed that it could not otherwise he than as they had predicted But God Almighty does not always permit that Sovereigns who are not so skilful in the Art of Government suffer so soon the punishment of their imprudence as he does not always neither permit the more subtil in that Art to reap the fruit of their intrigues John d' Albert took a Journey into Castile to sollicite the restitution of some places in the Principality of Viane which the Predecessors of Ferdinand had usurped from the Ancestors of the Queen of Navarre There he found the Count of Lerin his Constable with whom he made so sincere a reconciliation that the Castilians were no less surprised than vexed at it The Constable who for alliance and gratitudes sake was engaged in the concerns of Ferdinand leapt all of a sudden and without reserve from the Interests of his Brother-in-law and Benefactor to those of his Master and advised John d' Albert not to listen to the Proposals of the Catholick King which he offered of money to be paid within certain terms for the places that the King of Navarre demanded from him It was the Artifice of Ferdinand that having no intention to restore them and finding as yet no pretext of detaining them he would defer the restitution of them to another time under colour that the War he was engaged in with the Venetians so employed him that he had no
the Court of the Catholick King so had the Catholick King at his who discovered by means which Historians disagree about that the Grandson was taken off from the Interests of his Grandfather and that he had even called him an Usurper by confessing that he had unjustly seized the Kingdom of Navarre and by obliging himself to restore it so soon as it was in his power They acquainted the Catholick King with it who confirmed himself in the resolution that as we said before he had already taken of undoing Chievres and frustrating the Archduke not only of what he had acquired by Conquest but also of what he could pretend to in Spain The first step he made in his revenge was to put Navarre in a condition that though the Archduke would restore it yet his own Subjects might have right to take him off from it and to oppose the execution of his intentions For understanding of his Intrigue we must call to mind that the Monarchy of Castile was much more powerful in Spain than Arragon was before their union and that since Queen Isabella had enlarged it by joyning thereto the Kingdom of Granada It was more able than Arragon to preserve the Kingdom of Navarre when once that Kingdom were joyned to it and that was the only motive that made the Catholick King who till then had held the Kingdom of Navarre annexed to the Crown of Arragon change his Conduct and seek ways how he might joyn it to those of Castile He knew that John d' Albert with consent of the most Christian King raised a great Army in the Provinces of France adjoyning the Pryenees for recovery of his Crown and seeing he needed an extraordinary strength to resist him the States of Arragon and Castile were assembled at the same time that under one and the same pretext he might raise great Contributions in both Monarchies The Union of Navarre was offered to both and it was offered upon so much the better ground that that Crown on the one side bordered upon Castile and on the other upon Arragon so that it lay equally convenient for both Seeing Ferdinand had a design to impose upon those of Arragon he would not go himself to Sarragossa where the Estates were to assemble but thought it enough to send thither the Queen Germana in his place That Princess who had the Art of caressing and who besides for better deceiving the Arragonese was her Husbands blind made great Journeys and hastened to Monçon where the Estates had assembled themselves the Arragonese having declared that it was there and not at Sarragossa where according to the priviledges of the Country the Estates ought to meet She gained the two most powerful Bodies which were the Clergy and Nobility She represented to them according to the Instructions which she had received from the Catholick King that Arragon was much weaker than Castile and that if heretofore it had resisted it there were two such concurrent assistances of Heaven in the case that it would be a tempting of God to trust to the hopes of their continuance the one that all the Kings of Arragon to the number of twenty eight were always more witty and valiant than those of Castile and the next that the Castilians could never make War against the Arragonese longer than two years at a time and that at the end of that at farthest they had new Enemies or new Civil Wars to take them up which had obliged or to say better constrained them to give peace to the Arragonese That Arragon indeed was at present united to Castile but that it might be again separated from it and that in that case it would again return to its former state That to prevent Castile from reducing it then into a Province no better course could be taken than to joyn Navarre to Arragon because that encrease would render it so equal in strength to Castile that the Castilians durst not any more attempt to subject it That the only means of obliging the Catholick King to that seeing Navarre was his Conquest consisted in supplying him with moneys for the preserving it this one time only that is to say during the Campaign One thousand five hundred and fifteen because John d' Albert could make no other effort but that once and if he succeeded not France being discouraged by so constant a misfortune would no more protect him The Arrogonese being persuaded by a discourse which carried the more probability with it that they presumed themselves to be better beloved of the Catholick King than the Castilians by reason he was their Country man born and their Hereditary King willingly taxed themselves and furnished a vast Sum of Money considering the barrenness of their Country So that Queen Germana would have acquired a great deal of glory by her Negotiation had it not been for an adventure from which persons of her quality might seem to be exempted Anthony Augustine of Arragonian extraction but born in Catalonia had through his merit raised himself to the dignity of Vicechancellour of Arragon according to most Historians or of Chancellour according to others His Faction and Cabal was then strongest in the States and if one was not sure to obtain by his means what was desired it was certain at least there was nothing at all to be obtained if he opposed it The Queen who knew this very well made it her particular care to gain him and succeeded therein beyond what she expected seeing she made the Chancellour in love only by endeavouring to encrease his zeal for his Masters service Princesses have this unhappiness as well as other of their Sex that are inferiour to them that they cannot always captivate those whom they would and catch sometimes those whom they would not The Queen was so free in her civilities to the Chancellour In the History of that Chancellour and the Chancellour so well disposed to love the Queen that he was not aware of the Trap when his passion already bordered upon extravagance And the truth is instead of striving against it he applauded himself therein and valued himself most when he ought to have reckoned himself a fool He flattered himself with the hopes of a success which he had neither ground nor occasion to promise himself and fell into the extremity of doting by fancying that the Queen would be overjoyed to cherish the flame which she had kindled That the Interest of that Princess concurred in a very nice point with the passion which she had raised That she had no Children and that there was a necessity that by all means she should That it was but too apparent that she could have none by her Husband but that if she had so much modesty as not to court the help of another perhaps she would not have enough to refuse it when freely offered That there were some Junctures wherein if necessity lessened not the Crime yet it served to render it more excusable and that the Arragonese
make him desirous of returning home to the Low Countries but his Majesty did not foresee that his own life would be too short to tire out the Deans patience He had desired heretofore his Horoscope to be cast and God who punishes Sovereigns that are addicted to Judicial Astrology more severely and universally than private persons either because he is more Jealous upon their account for the attribute which according to Scripture raises him highest above them I mean the knowledge of things to come or that the scandal they give in that particular is more insupportable to him deferred not the punishment of it till the next World. He began it in this by blinding the understanding of King Ferdinand and permitting the Astrologers to tell him part of the truth They assured him that he should die at Madrigal and that Prediction which seemed not at all equivocal was by his Majesty interpreted in the most natural sense He thought it ought to be understood of the Town of Madrigal in Castile upon so much the better ground that there was no other Town of that name in all Spain This put such fancies in his head that he thought he should not die but when he had a mind to it and to express it plainly in his own meaning that he should live till he were weary of life One of his Courtiers had confirmed him in that opinion by telling him that he had visited a Lady in the City of Avila whom the Publick had Sainted in her life-time and who in Spain was honoured as the Saints in heaven That he had had the happiness of a quarter of an hours discourse with her and that he had not failed to recommend the Catholick King to her Prayers That the holy woman had answered him that his Majesty should not die till he had conquered the Kingdom of Jerusalem and that she had not enjoyned him to keep that revelation secret There needed no more for taking off Ferdinand from seriously thinking on his latter end and to compleat his blindness that which ought to have excited him to it served only to divert him from the same After the drinking of the Love-potion we mentioned he had been often taken with such terrible fits that the Physicians thought he was ready to expire Nevertheless he came to himself again so well that next day after he employed himself in Affairs of State as formerly He thereupon fancied that the fainting fits that now and then seized him would be of no dangerous consequence and when Father Martin of Matience a Monk of the Order of St. Dominick his Confessour came to attend him on Holy days he asked him if he had any Memoires to communicate to him and no sooner had the Confessour answered no but that Ferdinand presently dismissed him Being thus prepossessed he was informed that the best Commandery of the Knights of Callatrava was vacant by the death of Guttierez of Padilla and resolved immediately to confer it upon Ferdinand of Arragon lawful Son to the Archbishop of Sarragossa his natural Son. He could not do it according to the Constitutions without calling the Chapter in that sole prospect upon the place In the institution of the Order of Callatrava and therefore he set out upon his Journey thither But about the end of the month of January One thousand five hundred and sixteen when he was come to the Hamlet of Madrigalejo through which he must of necessity pass unless he went a great way about his dissentery grew so great that it was impossible for him to proceed any further That Hamlet the least in all Spain stood within the Precincts of the Town of Trugillo and that was all which rendered it considerable Ferdinand was no sooner informed of the name of it but that he found his mistake in the interpretation he put upon his Horoscope and that he had in vain with so much care shunned to go to the great Madrigal since he must end his days in the little one Madrigalejo in the Spanish Tongue being a diminutive of Madrigal He sent for the knowing men of his Retinue enquired of them whether that Hamlet where he was had not always gone by the same name since Castile was delivered from the Tyranny of the Moors and when they had made him answer that it had never changed name and that it was so inconsiderable that no man durst venture to put it into the Map he told them then Ferdinand is gone He sent for his Confessor and discoursed him in good earnest about the affairs of his conscience and having ordered them he called for three of his ancientest and ablest Counsellours of State who were the Licentiat Zapata Doctor Carvaial and the Treasurer Vargas He asked them what he had more to do for the good of the Spanish Monarchy and told them that they might speak with all freedom These Spaniards were so aged that they could have no interest in the affairs that might happen after the death of Ferdinand They expected not to out-live him long and therefore his Successour was a thing indifferent to them They had no cause to fear any change in their fortune because they knew that the beginnings of the most severe Reigns were always easie and they expected to die in the beginning Besides they foresaw that which soever of the two Grandsons of the Catholick King should succeed to him he would not turn them out of his Council seeing if it were the Archduke he could not for a long time do it because of his absence and if it were the Infanto Ferdinand he could less do it by reason of his minority Nothing then swayed with them but the inclination which in latter Ages had been so absolutely predominant and is still so predominant in the Spaniards that hardly does History mention one who hath been free from it And that is so violent a love for their Monarchy that it always prevails with them over the most natural and just considerations which is of so vast an extent that it comprehends the whole Earth so constant that it encreases rather than is diminished by bad success and so nice and Metaphysical that it makes always a distinction betwixt the Monarchy and the Monarch and never confounds the inclinations for the second with the interests of the first The Catholick King during the two and forty years that he had Reigned had so accustomed those whom he admitted into his Councils to lay down the universal Monarchy of Spain for the ground of all their deliberations that the three Ministers whom he consulted agreed in this sentiment that now was the Juncture when Spain was to Reign all over Europe and that if the opportunity was not then nicked whatever might happen perhaps it would never offer again That we may more clearly express their thoughts they supposed that if the Archduke should to the Monarchies of Castile and Arragon unite the Low Countries the Empire and the Hereditary Provinces of the House of
in his voyage to Spain and the Flemings would not have assisted him in levying of more if they should have known that he only needed them for maintaining the usurpations of Naples and Navarre So they would have been exposed to the invasions of Francis the First and Charles would have lost incomparably more than the two Crowns we last named were worth Nevertheless in the juncture that then happened he could not restore them nor so much as pretend it was his intention without entirely forfeiting the Succession of his Mother For if he had attempted of his own Authority and without the consent of the Monarchies to which the two Kingdoms were annexed to write to the Viceroys to restore them they would not have obeyed him and if by Proxy he had demanded the consent of the Estates of Castille for the restitution of Navarre and the approbation of the Estates of Arragon for rendring Naples It would not only have been denied him but more the two Monarchies would have joyned in an interest common to both and passed immediately from Disobedience to a Revolt There was a necessity then of waiting till the Catholick King were in possession of his Kingdoms of Spain and till he had taken such just measures for the Restitutions in question as might assure him of success and upon so well grounded reasons Chievres wrote to Gouffier great Master of the Houshold to the most Christian King That it was absolutely necessary for preserving peace betwixt the two young Kings whom they had had the honour to Educate that they should have a conference together and that they should adjust a Treaty so advantageous to their Masters that neither of them might be â—empted to violate it what favourable occasion soever might present Gouffier â—hew'd the Letter to Francis the First â—ho thought it not enough to approve â—he interview but besides proposed the â—lace where it should be and for that â—nd named the Town of Noyon in Picarâ—y which was accepted of in the Counâ—il of Bruxelles Chievres on his part disposed Charles to â—…ve him an unlimited power and as if â—…e two Kings had agreed to leave to the â—…scretion of the two persons who had â—een their Governours all the prelimiâ—ary difficulties to the Negotiation they â—justed them after their own way to â—…e satisfaction of the Councils of both â—…ings In consideration of the more â—…vanced age of the most Christian King â—…e preference was given to Gouffier â—…at Chievres went to meet him at Noyon â—here he staid for him in the beginning of Summer One Thousand Five Hundred and Seventeen and their ancient Friendship hindred them not from maintaining with equal vigour the Interests of their Masters They were longer than was expected in agreeing about their Affairs and Gouffier pretended that the Crowns of Naples and Navarre should be restored before the Catholick King went over to Spain His Reasons were that his Catholick Majesty was engaged to it by the Treaty of the Count of Nassau and that it was not the business to Negotiate of new In the Negotiation of Noyon but only to put in execution what was in formal terms resolved upon That the honour of Francis the First was concerned in the speediness of the Restitution and that if it was deferred the delay would be imputed to the weakness of his most Christian Majesty and by consequence would redound to his shame That the Kingdoms of Naples and Navarre had both been Usurped the first by the Infidelity and the second by the Jugling of the late King of Spain and that the matter was so evident that no man in all Europe doubted of it what care soever that cunning Prince had taken to dazle the eyes of the World by Manifesto's stuft with Falshoods and the discourses of his Agents That it was enough to France that Naples was directly Usurped from them and that John d' Albert had lost Navarre upon the only consideration that he would not break with Louis the Twelfth to make them with equal zeal solicite that the first of the two last mentioned Kingdoms should be restored to the King of France and the second to his Ally and that seeing there was no appearance that France could be in a better condition for the future than it was then in for recovering them nor that the Catholick King could be in a worse state for maintaining them by the way of Arms as wanting both men and money Francis the First would be for ever blamed if he let slip so favourable an occasion and Gouffier would in History pass for a notorious Prevaricator if he contributed to it in any manner whatsoever Chievres who had no satisfactory answer to make directly to such solid motives thought it enough to reply indirectly that the King his Master had the best and most sincere intentions in the World as to the matter in hand and seeing he knew him better than any man else he ought more to be credited than those who might have insinuated contrary thoughts into his most Christian Majesty But that Sovereigns as well as other men were liable to necessities and that that to which Charles was then reduced was the more excusable in that it was extream That it was true indeed he had fallen to a very large Succession but that it would wholly escape him if it were not managed with all imaginable care and industry That Navarre lay so very conveniently for the Monarchies of Castille and Arragon that they had no cause of fear from abroad but from thence and that the Pyrenean Mountains and the two Seas secured them on all other hands That as their Enemies being Masters of Navarre could presently bring whole Armies into the heart of their Countries so without that they could but weakly attack their Frontiers That to judge things aright the Kingdom of Naples was of no less importance to them seeing if they lost it they were certain not to keep Sicily long That nevertheless that was the Kingdom from whence Spain had Corn in the frequent scarcities to which it was subject and that these two motives would be enough to engage the Spaniards in a general Revolt if their new King obliged them presently to restore Naples and Navarre That it would be thought stranger that he should meddle in so nice an Affair upon his coming to the Crown in that he was a stranger That during the space of a Thousand years Spain had not been governed by Monarchs of that kind That they had never as yet seen Charles and that hardly any thing could make them endure that an absent stranger before he had taken possession of his Crowns should cut them short by two That before any such thing was attempted an infinite number of cautions must be taken and that he must begin the work by obtaining from the Estates an unlimited Authority That afterward a powerful Faction should be formed in the three Bodies which make up his Estates for disposing them to give
great application as if he had been indebted to him for the Regency He obliged the Grandees of Castille to receive his Orders and to execute them with as much expedition and submission as if they had had their King in the midst of Spain and seeing he foresaw that those Grandees who had a design to revolt could find but two plausible pretexts for so doing one upon account of the Queen Germana and the other on the part of the Infanta he caused both to be so narrowly observed and yet treated them so civilly that he took from them no less the occasions of attempting against his administration than the grounds of complaining of him It hath been observed that Queen Germana de Foix was not tempted with ambition and coveted no more but to live pleasantly and without trouble in Feasting and Dancing The late Catholick King left her at his death by a Codicil fifty thousand Ducats of Rent besides her Dowry assigned upon the Kingdom of Naples and if she had not been punctually paid it the Arragonese would have taken it ill as an affront done to the memory of their Hereditary King and have revenged themselves by raising troubles in Castille or by fomenting those which they found raised there to their hand In the mean time King Ferdinand on the one hand had left the Royal Treasury empty and on the other the Kingdom of Naples as affairs stood then was not able to pay the Catholick Queen the Summ that it was Rated at because the French having marched into Italy for the recovery of the Dutchy of Milan Raimond of Cardonna Vice-Roy of Naples was apprehensive that they might march next against him and that he might not be surprised had made extraordinary levies of Soldiers which had drained not only the Revenues of the Crown but also the purses of all the private persons who had been willing to lend him money The question was how all these Creditors should be payed and if it had not been done with all expedition considering the juncture of a minority they would not have failed to have risen All that Spain had from Naples was set apart for their re-imbursement and Cardinal Ximenes as bold as he was durst not have employed so necessary a Fund for other uses Nevertheless the Queen importuned him to be payed quarterly and the only expedient he found to satisfie her was to pay her with his own money upon assurances which Chievres sent him under the hand of the Catholick King that what he laid out for his Majesty upon that account should be faithfully repaid him The Infanta put the Cardinal to greater trouble because he was still possessed with a fancy that he should one day Reign in Castille and that others laboured to feed him in that conceit Whilst he was a hunting an Apparition had presented it self before him in the shape of a Hermit which told him as from God that he should be Monarch of all Spain and presently disappeared having left him in an anxious expectation of the future His Vision he had communicated to the Marquess Denia his Governour and to the Bishop Alvaro Osorio his Tutor and as men easily believe what they desire and are not undeceived but very late so the Governour and Tutor promised themselves the chief Dignities of Spain upon that idle Prediction Their whimsey was not the less durable for being so ill grounded and neither the last Will of King Ferdinand nor the publick recognition of the Archduke Charles as King by the Estates of both Monarchies were sufficient to undeceive them They constantly solicited Ximenes to give them leave to carry back the Infanto to the Town of Simancas appointed for his Education and though this Cardinal did not as yet foresee their real design yet he suspected it and plainly told them that the person of the Infanto was so dear to him that there might be fault found with his administration if he let him go out of his sight It was soon after discovered that his distrust was not without cause and that it was the intention of the chief Officers of the Infanto to expect at Simancas the favourable juncture which Heaven had promised and in the mean time to engage into the parties of that young Princes as many of the Grandees as possibly they could without discovering themselves too much The Spies whom the Cardinal entertained about them informed him of all the proceedings of the Marquess and Bishop and in all appearance it was to make such reports continue that he long detained the Infanto at Madrid under various pretexts But when he would no longer amuse him he told him plainly that his presence was so necessary for the publick good that he would not absent himself from the place where the Council of State was kept without disobliging the Catholick King his Brother When he thus spake he observed the looks of the Marquess and Bishop and perceiving that it put them to extream pain he took measures to prevent the Infanto's being carried away from him The cautions that he used were so quaint that this young Prince and his Servants were under restraint without perceiving it So that there being no more danger from the two chief persons of the State the Cardinal in the following manner reduced into order the most considerable of the Grandees This was Don Pedro Porto Carero called the Deuff who had carried on a long intriegue to get himself chosen Great Master of the Order of S. James after the death of King Ferdinand In the motives of the disgrace of the Great Captain He was Brother to the Duke of Escalone and an intimate friend of the Great Captain Gonsalvo who had made him privy to the Bulls which heretofore he had obtained from Pope Julius the Second for that Mastery in case he out-lived the Catholick King. The Great Captain dying before his Majesty Porto Carero supposed that seeing the Court of Rome had granted Gonsalvo the Bulls we have been mentioning it appeared that that Court had a design by all means to disunite those three great Masteries from the Crown of Castille and that by consequence such a favour having been granted not so much in consideration of the particular merit of him that had obtained it as for fear of rendering the Kings of Castille too powerful Porto Carero had ground to hope for it though his personal qualities came not near those of the Great Captain He had credit at the Court of Leo the Tenth and he employed it so dexterously that he obtained from his Holiness Bulls conform to those which had been granted by Julius but upon condition still not to make use of them till after the death of Ferdinand He had not as yet received them when his Catholick Majesty died but a few days after they arrived and there being no juncture more favourable to him than the division betwixt the Cardinal and the Governours of the Infanto he wrote to all the Commanders of the Order
clean to the end no offence might be given to their Eyes and Noses That they must be received by her in great pomp and by consequence with good company That her Majesty gave access but to too few people about her and that she must admit of a more numerous Train That she ought to Eat in publick at least once a day and that that was the time when the Musicians desired by their harmony to dispose her stomach to a more quick and easie digestion He made her afterwards accept of certain pleasant companies of both Sexes instructed to imitate her extravagancies and above all things to contradict her in nothing directly and not to cross her humours indirectly but by making her believe that they suited not with the Majesty of the greatest Queen in the World. He so tamed her by that means that she was checked with the least wink of an eye of Ferdinand Talavera whom the Cardinal placed about her instead of Leo Ferriera too old and grave for the discharge of the Commission of Governing her which the late King had given him and at length they accustomed her on Sundays and Holy-days to hear Mass in a Church at some distance from Tordesillas upon pretext that she would receive by the way and on the place the acclamations of God save the Queen from people who were drawn thither out of curiosity to see her or who were desired to be there on purpose to the end her weak mind might be convinced that these were undoubted signs that she was acknowledged for their Sovereign Ximenes received for this more acknowledgments of gratitude than for any other of his actions though it was not the most important of all The Catholick King thanked him for it in writing Chievres complemented him in the same manner Spain resounded his praises and the Grandees were so satisfied with it that they were not heard to murmur any more against him But shortly after there happened a revolt in the Kingdom of Granada the more difficult to be quelled because the Council oâ— Bruxelles fomented it when they thought of no such thing It was the Law oâ— Spain that the Admirals of each Kingdom which reached to the Mediterranean Sea or to the Ocean should have their Judicatures fixed in the most frequented Ports of their Coasts and that their Judges should there try all Criminal and Civil Causes that happened to Sea-men Soldiers on board of Ships Passengers and to the Militia appointed for the guard of the Sea-ports But in process of time an abuse had crept in which grew daily more and more insupportable The Coasts of Spain upon the Mediterranean Sea were not now so much exposed to the incursions of the Infidel Pirats after that Ximenes had taken Oran and the other places on the Coast of Barbary which we have mentioned and by consequence had no more need of so many Vessels nor Soldiers to guard them So the number of Justiceable persons in the Admiralties was diminished and the multitude of their Officers not having been proportionably supprest their Courts for most part had nothing to do They were therefore reduced to seek for practice if they had a mind to exercise their Jurisdictions and they found some by a means that tended to the establishment of Impunity for all sorts of Crimes in the Towns where it was in use Those who had been guilty of enormous Crimes and were by Royal Justice condemned to Death found ways to prove that they had been Seamen Soldiers Passengers or Coastguards and under that pretext demanded to be referred to the Courts of the Admiralty It durst not be refused them because the Admiral would have immediately interposed in the affair for the preservation of his Priviledges and would have had it examined in the Supream Council of Castille and Arragon Nevertheless so soon as the Prisoner was removed unto the Prisons of the Admiralty he was almost sure of his life seeing a little money could always bring him off In the complaints of the Malaguins The Town of Malaga in the Kingdom of Granada had the greatest Traffick of any because of its excellent Wines and as strangers came there in greatest numbers so the Officers of the Admiralty there absolved also more Criminals The Burghers had often complained of it to King Ferdinand and had besought him entirely to abolish the Courts of Admiralty or to diminish the number of the Judges But his Majesty had had no regard to their petitions whether he feared to disoblige all the Admirals of Spain whose cause in that particular was common with the Admiral of Granada or that he thought the Burghers of Malaga would be too free and by consequence grow insolent if the Court they complained of were abolished But after his death the Burghers of that Town applied themselves immediately to the new Catholick King without first addressing themselves to Ximenes They demanded of him no more the alternative of the suppression of the Offices of the Admiralty or of their reduction to a smaller number but purely the total suppression and by their Deputies whom they sent to the Court of Bruxelles maintained that since the reasons which heretofore obliged the Kings of Spain to enlarge the priviledges of Admirals ceased these priviledges ought to be reduced to Common Law. The new King caused their â—proposition to be examined in his Council and Chievres thought it not convenient either absolutely to grant their petition or yet to defer the answering of it The first seemed to him to be too severe and mortifying and the next too uncivil He gave advice to answer the Malaguins that his Majesty at such a distance could not determine what was to be reformed in the Admiralty of Granada but that he would quickly be upon the places and there endeavour to give satisfaction to his good Subjects of Malaga The advice was followed and the Cardinal had no sooner learnt it but he wrote positively to Chievres that he had committed a considerable Error and that it would not be long before he had cause to repent it That he was not well enough acquainted as yet with the Genius of the Spaniards and that that Nation haughty towards all kinds of men became infallibly insolent towards their Superiors when they seem to be afraid of them by managing them with too much circumspection That he thought he had only written a complement in the last words of his answer to the Malaguins but that he would sooâ— see them explain those words as seriously as if they were part of the chief Article of a Treaty nay and give them a more ample signification than he had intended The event was more troublesome that Ximenes had predicted and the Malsguins imagined that they had obtained what they desired for this only reason that on the one hand it had not been refused them and on the other that they had been civilly answered They thereupon made an Insurrection banished the Officers of the Admiralty they
of France who holding nâ—thing there but the Dutchy of Milan might easily be driven from thence As to the other point Chievres represented that his Catholick Majesty having by storm been forced upon the Coast oâ— the Asturias in Castille and necessitated â—o land there the Castillians might think â—hemselves slighted if he went out of â—heir Country to go to Arragon before â—e were acknowledged amongst them That they would ground their disconâ—ents upon that pretext that their Counâ—ry was in all respects more considerable â—han that which was seemingly preferred â—efore it and that their grievances would be the more universal that they would be reckoned just But to look â—pon the reverse side of the Medal Arraâ—on dreaded nothing so much as to be â—o closely united to Castille that there was no more distinction made betwixt â—hem It had many times testified a diâ—trust of this to the late King who to remove the same had united the Kingdom of Naples to the Crown of Arragon notwithstanding it was chiefly conquered and preserved by the Forces of Castille It was to be feared that this apprehension might again be revived if the Catholick King held the Estates of Castille before those of Arragon seeing the Arragonese who would then suppose that the preference was due to them In the last Letters of Chievres to the Cardinal by reason that their Monarchy was more ancient than that of Castille would imagine that there was a design of incorporating them into one Whereas if they were first visited and the preservation of their priviledges solemnly sworn to whereof the principal was to leave them in the state they were in they would continue in that profound tranquillity which it was the Kings interest to maintain them in that so in the process of time and affairs they might not cross his designs Ximenes made answer that there was reason to consider what was to be done with the person of the Infanto and that that was the thing which had most perplexed him during his Regency That that young Prince alone had cut him out more work than all Spain together but that he ought not to create so much trouble to the Catholick King his elder Brother and Master That his Majesty would do well once for all to take a course as to that and that he agreed it was not fit to send him into any of the Dominions whereof he was actually in possession but that he ought to be sent and setled in Germany so that he might there render the house of Austria more considerable by forming a second branch which might constantly remain there whilst the first made its ordinary abode in Spain That the ten Hereditary Provinces were a very handsom allowance for a younger Brother and that the Infanto ought to rest satisfied provided his Catholick Majesty consented that he might have them upon condition that he should renounce the successions of his Father and Mother That by means of these Provinces the Infanto might marry the Princess of Hungary and Bohemia and one day facilitate the Election of the Catholick King to the Empire Whereas if he were disposed of in any other manner whatsoever the advantages would not be the same â—either as to the house of Austria in geneâ—al nor to the Spanish branch in particuâ—ar As to the Monarchy which the Catholick King ought first to honour with his presence Ximenes wrote to Chievres that it was not a thing to be deliberated about and that seeing it was the good fortune of the Castillians that he landed first in their Country they might have occasion to take it ill if he denied them that preference which the storm that forced him thither had given them That the same consideration would hinder the Arragonese from repining at it and that however it was his Catholick Majesty would never Reign absolutely in Spain unless he laid down this as a fundamental Maxim of Policy That Arragon was but as an accessory in respect of Castille which was to him in place of a principal and that since the two Monarchies were united and that Navarre was incorporated into Castille the Arragonese would be so invested by the Castillians that upon what occasion soever they might revolt the Forces of the Castillians alone would be sufficient to reduce them to obedience Whereas if the discontent of the Castillians might at any time break out into a Rebellion who just 〈◊〉 unjust soever the cause might be not only the Arragonese would be too weak 〈◊〉 quell them but besides no human means appeared capable to hinder the Arragonese from imitating them in their Insurrection and then his Majesty would utterly lose Spain without any hopes oâ— recovering it again The advice of Ximenes was exactly followed in these two Articles but thougâ— the Catholick King had so great a deserence for him yet it was very difficuâ— for the Spaniards who expected hiâ— death every minute to preserve the samâ— reverence towards him which till theâ— they had had Anthony de Rojas Bishoâ— of Granada President of the Council oâ— Castille bore envy to Ximenes which â—s but too common to those who having but the second place in a famous Society think however that they deserve â—he first He valued himself at least as much as he valued Ximenes and imagined that if that Cardinal had died before the coming of the Catholick King â—nto Spain he would have succeeded to â—im in the Regency He had been also â—etled that Ximenes had done a great maâ—y important businesses without commuâ—icating any thing of them to him and â—eeing the death of Ximenes would have â—eprived him of the means of resenting 〈◊〉 he resolved not to stay for that He â—id hold on the occasion that he judged â—ost proper for baulking Ximenes and â—epresented in Council when the Reâ—ent was not in a condition to be present â—hat seeing they had the Royal Authoriâ—y in their hands they ought to make â—ll hast to go meet the Catholick King to â—emand of him the confirmation thereof That it mattered not much whether Xiâ—enes was or was not at their head when they discharged themselves of that â—rst duty because his Regency also was â—xpired by the Kings arrival in Spain or â—t least so diminished that he was no â—ore to be considered but upon the account count of civility That the sickness of Ximenes afforded him a good excuse so long as he pleased for not rendring in person his duties to his Majesty but it was not the same case with the Council which ought always to be in action and lost proportionably its lustre as it continued absent from its Master It was not the Presidents interest alone who spake to this purpose to make all hast to Court the other Counsellors of State were no less earnest to appear there They knew that there had been a resolution taken of reducing their number to one half that as many Flemings might be put into their places and since none of them
favours â—he Catholick King who would not â—…at the Spaniards should suspect him of gratitude and foresaw not the hatred at he was about to draw upon Chievres â—earfully bestowed the Benefice in the â—astle of Tordesillas where he was gone out of a desire of seeing his Mother He was there almost alone and would see no body because nature inclined him to hide as much as he could the extravagances of a Princess of whom he held his life and Crowns Nevertheless his Uncle came thither being impatiently perswaded that he could not be soon enough Primate of all Spain in general as he was already of Arragon in particular because of the Archbishoprick of Sarragossa But he was denied entry into Tordesillas with the same severity that all others were treated whom the Catholick King had not brought along with him and he was bid as well as the rest to go and expect his Majesty at Vailladolid where the States were in a few days to be opened He loudly complained of this and pretended that his Birth had deserved some preference in that particular Nevertheless he obeyed and took his journey to Vailladolid and his Majesty was no sooner come thither but that hâ— begg'd of him the Archbishoprick of Tâ—ledo He answered him that he haâ— given it to the Bishop of Cambray anâ— that the Brief of it was expeded at Tordâ—sillas where the Grandees of Castille haâ— solicited him for that Bishop The vexâ—tion that that reply put the Archbishop of Sarragossa into made him entertain two thoughts equally false The one was that Chievres desiring to procure his Nephew the same Ascendant over the Clergy of Spain that he himself had at Court and not daring to do it directly because his ambition would thereby have been too visible had for that end employed the Marquess of Villena and the other Grandees who were with the King And the other that the entry into the Castle of Tordesillas had only been denied him by the intriegue of Chievres who needed all the time that the King spent there to dispose his Majesty to name his Nephew to the Archbishoprick and who foresaw that the presence of the Archbishop of Sarragossa would have been enough to have broken all his measures if he had appeared at Court before the expedition of the Brief What favours a designed revenge easily gets place in ones mind and the King's Uncle was so much comforted in his misfortune that he found the person he was to aim at that he gave himself no more trouble in examining whether his conjecture was well grounded or not He took his leave of the Catholick King so soon as he had been refused and the same day left Vailladolid upon pretext that he could stay no longer with honour since he had neither place nor rank in the Estates of Castille He went back Post into Arragon where his complaints against the Government were heard in all parts at the same time that the report was spread at Vailladolid that the Nephew of Chievres was Archbishop of Toledo The Deputies of the Towns and Commonalty of Castille who were come thither for the opening of the Estates were the more surprised at it that it was without example that the best Benefice of the Country should be conferred upon a stranger At first however they thought it enough to exaggerate their amazement to those who had a mind to hear them But afterward as there is no Nation in the World that trouble their heads more with what is to come than the Spaniards so through much reasoning about the future they apprehended that the Flemings encouraged by the success of their first essay would take a liking to the other Benefices of Spain and beg them as fast as they fell How to hinder them was a very great difficulty because on the one hand there was no standing Law against it and on the other there was no appearance that they could impose upon the new King a restraint from which his Predecessors had been exempted For understanding this mystery of Policy which employed the prudence of Chievres for six whole weeks it is to be supposed that the Kingdom of Castille having been at first one of the least of Spain had not thought fit to take measures to hinder strangers from enjoying the Benefices thereof seeing strangers went only thither to serve in the Armies as being Crossed and to return home again to the several Provinces of Europe from whence they came when the time was expired wherein they had made a vow to Fight if they stayed in the Country they were no more looked upon as strangers but as Castillians because they lived and commonly died there and their Children without contradiction enjoyed all the priviledges of Native Castillians Matters had continued in that state when Castille was enlarged because their conquests were made upon the Mores who if they would change their Religion became Castillians and if they persisted in the belief of the Alcoran were forced to go and live elsewhere The Lands which they left were given to Native Castilliâ—ns and it could not be taken ill that these should enjoy the Benefices of the conquered places because they themselves or their Ancestors had founded them In fine the disposition of Benefices had not been changed there when Isabelle married Ferdinand because that Queen had reserved it wholly to her self by her contract of Marriage and named none but Native Castillians to fill them But after that Charles of Austria had joyned the Low-Countries to Castille he two ways contravened the custom established in Castille concerning Offices and Benefices He provided Arragonese to Magistracies and Church-revenues lying in Castille with the same liberty as he reciprocally gave to the Castillians the Ecclesiastical and Secular dignities of Arragon and he nominated sometimes Flemings to Offices and Benefices of Castille and Arragon The Castillians received two prejudices by that Innovation one in that their Offices and Benefices being more numerous and of greater Revenue than the Offices and Benefices of Arragon for two Castillians that profited of the Ecclesiastical and Secular Revenues lying in Arragon twenty Arragonese profiteâ— of those of Castille The other prejudicâ— was that the reciprocal liberty established betwixt the Castillians and Arragonese concerned neither of the two Nations in regard of the Flemings seeing it was certain that the Catholick King durst nominate no Spaniard to the Offices and Benefices of the Low-Countries and if he had attempted to do it the Seventeen Provinces would sooner have revolted than suffered it The Castillians who were nothing short of the Flemings in haughtiness and far surpassed them in cunning resolved to maintain themselves as well as they in their ancient custom and there could not be a more ingenious device than they invented for accomplishing it They resolved to confound their ancient customs with their priviledges and amongst these they inserted that no stranger for what cause and under what pretext it might be should hold any
Magistracy or Benefice in Castille Nay their forecast went a little farther and seeing they knew that the Arragonese and Flemings aspired only to their Offices and Benefices that they might convert the vast Revenues that belonged to them into ready money and transmit it into their own Country They revived one of their ancient Laws which upon pain of death prohibited the Exportation of Gold or Silver out of their Country without the consent of the States They inserted both these into the Articles which the Catholick King was to swear before he was owned for Monarch of Castille and presented them to him altogether He examined them with Chievres who immediately made his Master observe the cunning of the Castillians He represented to him that they intended to oblige him to conditions unknown to his Predecessors and that if he condescended to them the consequences thereof would be very bad for the house of Austria in general and in particular for him who ought to be the head of it That that house indeed was in a fair way of making the most powerful Monarchy that ever was in Christendom since the Family of Charlemagne but that that Monarchy would have a defect to which that of Charlemagne was not subject seeing the Territories of the house of Austria would be too remote one from another to afford mutual assistance in time of urgent necessity That there was no other remedy for that but to do in the Monarchy of Spain with some proportion what God hath done in the making of the Body of man wherein the parts are engaged by their own interest for the preservation one of another That if the Flemings and Arragonese were frustrated of the Magistracies and Benefices of Castille they would not put themselves to the trouble of assisting the Castillians against the Turks and Mores as if the Castillians enjoyed not the same priviledges in Arragon they would not vigorously oppose the French who threatned to take Arms again for restoring the posterity of John d' Albert to the Throne of Navarre That it was not the same in respect of the Flemings who could not indeed neither assist nor be assisted by Spain by Land France lying betwixt them But passage was open by Sea and as the Maritine Forces of the Low-Countries infinitely surpast those of Spain so Spain had incomparably more need of the Low-Countries than the Low-Countries had of it That the custom of giving Offices and Benefices to the Flemings in Castille must not be broken off then though the Castillians might not reciprocally have the like priviledges in Flanders and by consequence his Catholick Majesty ought not to engage himself in any thing to the contrary The Council approved the Arguments of Chievres who was afterwards Commissionated to adjust with the Deputies of Castille the manner how the King before he was acknowledged should take his Oath to maintain the priviledges of the Country The first conference was not over before Doctor Zumel who in quality of Deputy of the City of * Burgos was as yet the capital City of Castille Burgos was the chief of the rest and by consequence had right to speak before them perceived that Chievres was so well informed of the Laws and Customs of Castille that it would be impossible to impose upon him For Chievres made appear by a discourse no less eloquent than solid that the Kings of Castille had never engaged themselves neither not to bestow the Offices and Benefices of the Country upon strangers nor yet to hinder the Transportation of Gold and Silver out of the Kingdom He added that there had been no ground neither on the Castillians part to impose that obligation upon their Kings nor on the part of their Kings to charge themselves with it and proved it invincibly because Castille was neither delivered from the Tyranny of the Mores nor erected into a Monarchy nor enlarged at the cost of the Insidels but by the assistance of the French English and other Nations which the Croisadoes had drawn thither and the Castillians were so far from discouraging them by Laws and Customs which frustrated them of the Offices and Benefices of the Country that on the contrary there was a famous example of Alphonso the beloved who to hinder Henry of Burgundy from returning into France gave him his Daughter and Portugal That that Prince whose memory was so precious to the Spaniards and the other wise Founders of the Monarchy of Castille would have gone directly contrary to their own interests if they had acted otherwise seeing their Subjects not sufficing to inhabit the Countries which from time to time they recovered from the Mores nor to maintain them if they had reserved the Magistracies and Revenues of the Church for the Native Castillians they would have encouraged but a few to become their Country-men Whereas by admitting indifferently to the Offices and Benefices of Castille strangers as well as Natives they engaged them to their Country by the same bonds that they themselves were engaged to it That the same conduct was no less necessary in respect of Silver and Gold seeing it was known that most part of the excessive summs which the Kings of Castille had spent in their Conquests were not drawn neither from the Revenue of the Crown nor out of the purses of their subjects but had been furnished by the voluntary contributions of strangers concerned in the enlargement of the Christian Religion and that these strangers would not have continued as they did for many Ages their liberalities if the Castillians who received so much Gold and Silver from other people had been so ungrateful as to suffer none of it to return back into the places from whence it came By this discourse Zumel found that the Mine had taken vent and spent no more time in maintaining that the Articles in question were not novel He turned the affair another way and only told Chievres that if the thing were rightly taken neither he nor his Nephew were any way concerned in it That a long while ago their Letters of Naturalization had past in Castille and that his great places of high Chamberlain high Treasurer Steward of the Kings House and Head of the Council were in no danger no more than the Archbishoprick of Toledo to which his Nephew was provided That Castille being for the future to be the Center of the Monarchy of the house of Austria it were fit that it should have some priviledge more than the other Dominions which in respect of it would only be lookt upon as Provinces and that it desired no other but that the Native Castillians might be assured of their Offices Benefices their Gold and Silver and the wealth that might come to them from the Indies Chievres could not endure the opinion that the Spaniards had of him as if interest were capable to sway him He cunningly replied to Zumel that he well knew that neither he nor his Nephew had any way solicited for the Letters
not have suffered her to take one in France Marquess George of Brandenbourg Brother to that Elector and the Elector of Mayence had courted her in the usual form but she refused him because that Prince being a younger Brother and by consequence poor could not have maintained a quarter of the Train she had and besides she dreaded the rigour of the German Climat having been brought up in the mild Climats of Guyenne and Spain No other Lover presented and in all probability she had died a Widow if Chievres had not perswaded the Catholick King to give her a Husband who thought as little of being her Husband as she thought of being his Wife It was already eighteen years since the unfortunate Ferdinand of Arragon Duke of Calabria only Son and Heir of the last King of Naples of the bastard branch of Arragon had been detained in Spain in a kind of Prison which though it was gentile was nevertheless strict enough They who had deprived him of his Crown and liberty so carefully observed his person and actions that he would not have failed of being shut up close upon the first sign he gave that he remembred the condition wherein God was pleased to send him into the world It is not clear whether his long abode in Spain under the constraint he was kept had cow'd his Spirit or that knowing the temper of the Spaniards who watched him he acted in all things with so great circumspection that nothing escaped him that could give them the least suspicion But it is certain that he had all along carried himself like a man who had wholly forgot what he was and minded nothing but to satisfie himself in two things the one never to engage in any affair that was in the least troublesome and perplexing and the other to take his pleasure as often as ever he found occasion for it Chievres who perceived him too much taken up in an easie and soft way of living to fear that he would change his course was of the opinion that he should be married to Queen Germana His reasons were that they would make the best matched couple in Spain and that the Queen would be so far from taking the Duke off of his pleasures that she would engage him more deeply in them That she would spare the publick the charges of Spies about him and that he might safely be left upon his word if once he had such a Wife That they would live together free from cares and that neither of them would ever think of troubling the publick peace provided their Pensions for life on which they subsisted and which were all their Revenues were duly paid them That it was thought strange all over Europe that Ferdinand the Catholick and Cardinal Ximenes should have obliged the Duke whether he would or not to lead a single life and that for avoiding the same reproach he ought to give him a Wife by whom there was no fear that he would have any Children The Catholick King approved the proposition and Chievres had orders from his Majesty to move it to the parties The Duke was ravished at it and the Queen seemed only to scruple the matter for fear of losing her rank But that was removed by assuring her she should not and the expedient that was used for that end was that the Cathoâ—ick King was at the wedding and after the celebration of it called Queen Germana Mother as he did before The Courtiers durst not but imitate their King and Germana thought her self so much obliged for it to Chievres that she â—referred him before all her kindred in a particular case too rare to be forgotâ—en She had an Estate in France And did â—ot think that Francis the First would â—ive her leave to dispose of it at her pleaâ—re since she had married the Duke of â—alabria without acquainting his most Christian Majesty with it so she made it over to Chievres by a free donation upon this supposition that none at the Court of Spain deserved it better than he and that if the King of France would condescend in favours of any stranger it would certainly be in favour of him The End of the Fifth Book BOOK VI. Containing the most remarkable Affairs that past in Europe during the Year One Thousand Five Hundred and Twenty and part of the Year One Thousand Five Hundred and Twenty One. THOUGH the Kings of France and Spain who stood Candidates for the Empire in their competition transgressed not the terms of civility it was nevertheless to be seared that it would breed ill bloud and sow the seeds of enmity betwixt Francis the First and Charles the Fifth which might last as long as themselves and trouble the repose of Europe at least during the life of one of the two if they descended not to their posterity Francis by being baffled in his pretensions received the rudest check of Fortune that could befal him and what care soever he took both in his actions and by Letters to his Ambassadors in Courts abroad to disguise it In the Letters of Francis I. in 1519. it was nevertheless discernable that it would not be long before he measured the length of Swords with his Competitor for no other reason than that he had been more fortunate than himself The truth is Charles had not the same causes of discontent but he had others of jealousie that no less animated him to the ruine of Francis. He wanted nothing now at Nineteen years of Age but Reputation and his design was to acquire it He could not do it by declaring War against Solyman Emperor of the Turks For besides that he must have absolutely left residing in Spain and fixt his setled abode in Germany to which the Spaniards would never have consented it was to be feared that the most Christian King and Henry d' Albert might have recovered from him the Kingdoms of Naples and Navarre when they saw him engaged with the Infidels It was then more difficult for the Emperor to refrain from exercising his Warlike disposition against France and that Prince was the more inclinable to it that he expected a more easie success therein seeing if good fortune wherewith he flattered himself proved so favourable to him as to bring France under his subjection it would have been nothing to him to conquer the rest of Christendom and afterward the Turks Whereas beginning with the Turks he would give the French leisure to render themselves so powerful that it would be in vain for him to attack them thereafter Gouffier and Chievres were the two who knew the inclinations of Francis and Charles the best They were too sharp-sighted not to foresee the effects thereof in their full extent and too religious not to use their endeavours to prevent them And indeed they procured from their Masters unlimited Commissions not only to maintain them in good correspondence concerning the differences that were betwixt them about Naples and Navarre but also to prevent all
causes of misunderstanding which the change of time and the malice of men might for the future raise to disturb their friendship They met in the Town of Montpellier in Languedock in the beginning of Autumn one thousand five hundred and nineteen and it is not doubted but that they would have concluded a Peace of long duration betwixt the two Monarchies if God who thought fit to chastise the French by the Spaniards and the Spaniards by the French had not broken up the Negotiation by the death of Gousfier The Spanish writers who here do double their calumnies against the memory of Chievres have not been sensible that they wronged themselves more than him They blame him in the first place for having accepted a French Town for the interview and for not having stood upon it that the Conferences should be held upon the Frontiers of the two Kingdoms But it is easie to answer them that a neutral place had been good if there had been open War betwixt the two Crowns But seeing at that time they were in Peace and that a rupture betwixt them was only to be feared for the future it was not the custom to use any caution for the place of the Assembly and though it had been the question was decided in the preceding Negotiation The same Plenipotentiaries met in the Town of Noyon in Picardie for the same reason that obliged Henry the Fourth of Castille to pass the River Bidasloa and Treat in Guyenne with Louis the Eleventh of France that is to say by reason of the pre eminence of the French Monarchy before that of Spain and nothing had supervened since that which exempted Gouffier and Chievres from that rule For Charles was only Emperoâ— Elect and not Crowned and though he had the Imperial Dignity hindering not but that he held the Counties of Flanders Artois and Charolois in Fee of the most Christian King the least thing he owed to his Lord superior was to send his Plenipotentiary into his Country The same writers in the second place accuse Chievres of having imprudently trusted himself in a Town of Languedock where he was not in full liberty to Negotiate as was necessary But they mention not that Chievres could not take more security than he did and that it was so far from being violated that the Bishop of Badajox and Doctor Carvajal who seconded him in the Negotiation of Montpellier never complained of it Lastly they find fault in the third place that Chievres put himself in danger of being stopt when the Conferences ended by the death of Gouffier and their blindness in that particular is the more ridiculous that they see not that the fault which they impute to Chievres reflects upon Charles the Fifth who twenty years after put himself into the hands of Francis the First by crossing over all France upon the word of that Prince upon no other motive but the appeasing of the tumult of Ghent What the same writers add that Chievres had been Arrested in Montpellier if he had not left it at the very instant that he heard of the death of Gouffier and escaped with all diligence to Roussillon is no truer than the rest For it appears by the Journal of the Conferences written by the Secretary Robertet who was present at them that Chievres stayed in Montpellier some days after the death of Gouffier that he paid his last duties to his friend That he did not break up the Conferences but because the power of concluding for France was committed solely to Gouffier who was dead and that before he departed he took leave of Poucher Bishop of Orleans Robertet and the rest of the French who were concerned in the Treaty of Montpellier as Subaltern Ministers He had one cause to regret the death of Gouffier which he had not foreseen and which all the advantages that Charles obtained afterwards over France were not able to repair Gouffier promised Chievres to procure for him from the most Christian King peaceable possession of the Estate of Gaston de Foix which Queen Germana had made over to him and the thing had infallibly been accomplished after the separation of the Plenipotentiaries and the signing of the Articles But these well-grounded hopes so totally evanished by the death of Gouffier that whatever Chievres could do afterward the Estate that Gaston had possessed was given to his three Cousin-germans by the Fathers side Lautrec Asparant and the Mareschal de Foix without any recompence made to the Heirs of Chievres The unsuccessfulness of the Negotiation of Montpellier obliged the Catholick King to use as great caution before he departed out of Spain as if the French had already declared War against him He appointed a whole Army for the Guard of the Pyrenees and hastened his Voyage for Germany that he might engage in his interests Henry the Eight his Uncle by touching at England He durst not leave a Grandee of Spain to govern the Country in his absence for the same reasons which diverted his Grandfather upon his death-bed from chusing one of them and seeing he had occasion to make use of Chievres in England and Germany whither he was going and that he had already as hath been said cast his eyes upon the Cardinal of Tortosa for discharging that office in conjunction with Ximenes he thought it his best to continue him both in gratitude and civility He had no regard in that particular to the Remonstrances which were made to him thereupon by the Castillians on the one hand and the Arragonese on the other when he assembled them with design to bid them farewel and the Agents whom he entertained at the Court of England having given him advice that Henry the Eight would be at Calais the first of June one thousand five hundred and twenty for an interview with Francis the First near the Town of Ardres he apprehended and not without reason that these two Monarchs might unite against him In that case England would have cast the balance to the side of France and upon the account only to take the King of England off of that he hastened his departure out of Spain He embarked in the Port of Corugna the twentieth of May and was so happy as to make his Voyage into England with so much expedition as was necessary to break the most Christian Kings measures with Wolsey Cardinal of York the Favourite of Henry A favourable Wind in six days time brought him in the very nick to Dover where he found the Court of England making ready to go over into France He conferred two whole days with Henry none being present but Chievres and the Cardinal of York the two chief Ministers of the two Princes and the effects of extraordinary civilities in interviews appeared as much in that rencounter as ever It seemed that the Catholick King had forgot that he was chosen Emperor so respectful he was to his English Majesty and his complaisance condescended so far as to call the Cardinal
of York Father though he was not ignorant that that Prelate was a Butchers Son. Chievres who had taught him the art of insinuating into the affections of men seconded him so well that if the Court of England could with honour not have gone over to Calais it would have immediately returned to London But matters being now too far advanced and the Court of France being already in the Frontiers of Picardie the Emperor was satisfied with the promise that the King of England his Uncle gave him not to conclude any thing to his disadvantage at Ardres whither he was going to confer with the most Christian King and afterwards to grant his Imperial Majesty a second interview wherein an Offensive and Defensive League betwixt Spain and England should be Negotiated The promise was fulfilled in its whole extent The Conferences of Ardres ended and no new engagement entered into by the English with France Henry received a second visit from the Emperor so soon as he had dispatched his affairs in Germany In the Treaties betwixt Charls the Fifth and Henry the Eight and Chievres so effectually perswaded his Majesty of England that it was his interest to have the French driven out of Italy that he promised in writing to contribute to it The fruit that Spain reaped from that was the conquest of the Dutchy of Milan But Chievres who lived not to see it lived long enough to see himself levelled at by the Castillians and Arragonese in the strangest manner that a Subject could be without falling It hath been already observed that the Spaniards could not endure that he should be President of their Council and their Treasurer and that it was chiefly to deprive him of those two Offices that they attempted to frustrate strangers of the Dignities and Benefices of Spain The Emperor had taken so little notice of it that they were offended thereat and seeing his Voyage into Germany in their opinion furnished a singular occasion of snatching from his Imperial Majesty by force what he would not grant them by fair means they engaged into a revolt for the space of two years by the following degrees The great men of the Country by their Emissaries and Agents disposed the Burghers and Country people of Castille first to complain in secret and then openly that their Laws were violated and no regard had to their priviledges That in less than three years time the Flemings had plundered Spain and transmitted into their Country so much robb'd and stoln money as amounted to the summ of six millions of Livres That no Office nor Benefice escaped them seeing if either the one or other were convenient for them they appropriated them and if they were not they procured grants of them for such of the Native Spaniards as offered them most mony That hitherto it had been suffered not only out of the reverence that they had for the Catholick King but also because they believed that his Majesty would condescend to the prayers and be moved with the Remonstrances of his most humble Subjects who begg'd him to deliver them from those Leeches But now that he was gone to Germany and had abandoned the Spaniards to the mercy of the same Flemings notwithstanding the infinite number of Petitions that had been presented to him to the contrary there was no other remedy for the evils which Spain actually suffered and for those wherewith it was threatned but that the Spaniards themselves should put in execution during the absence of their King what could not justly be denied them that is to say by their own Forces to recover their ancient Liberties The Burghers of the Towns of Andalusia moved at these discourses were the first that mutinied and in less than a fortnights time the revolt was propagated in the other Kingdoms of Spain They refused to receive the Orders of the Cardinal of Tortosa and the City of Segovia had the boldness to declare against them The Cardinal thinking to quiet the Sedition by dividing the power that had been given him with Native Spaniards shared it first with the Constable and afterwards with the Admiral of Castille But the Seditious who had now obtained part of what they demanded without drawing a Sword abused the easiness of the Cardinal and prest him with greater heat than before to be gone out of Spain and to carry with him all the Flemings who were there That instance was too audacious to be suffered and the Spaniards whom the Emperor had left to be Counsellors to the Cardinal thought it ought to be exemplarily punished and that the commission for doing it ought to be given to the boldest and severest Provost of Spain who was the Aclayde Ronchillo Upon that advice the Cardinal gave him Troops and commanded him to reduce the Segovians to their duty Ronchillo put it in execution the more punctually that the Order which he had received agreed best with his temper He marched streight to Segovia commanded the Burghers in a haughty manner to open the Gates to him threatned them with utmost extremity if they delayed a moment took the desire of some hours to deliberate in which they made to him as a premeditated refusal instantly began the Judiciary procedures prescribed by the Laws of Castille in such cases hastened the conclusion of them and had no sooner finished his verbal Processes but that he executed the Cardinals Orders more like a common Executioner than a Commissary He fell to burning demolishing oppressing killing and desolating in all the Territory of Segovia The Burghers of Toledo who waited only for a plausible pretext for an Insurrection took that of the Military executions which were practised in their neighbourhood and went out to put a stop to them with the greater licentiousness that as yet they had not a head their young Archbishop being gone with the Emperor They met Rouchillo when the Officers were in a negligent posture not apprehending that they had any to fight with but those whom they securely abused They defeat him returned back in triumph within their walls and that first advantage was enough to engage into a publick Rebellion the Towns of Burgos Vailladolid Salamanca Avila Zamorra Leon and Toro The Great men who had Estates in their Territories followed their example and the Cardinal of Tortosa who had chosen Vailladolid for the place of his ordinary residence and for the sitting of the Council that was left with him not being able to hinder the Town from confederating with the rest thought he could not with honour continue there He pretended to yield to the entreaties of Pedro Giron and John de Padilla who came to wait on him in name of the Inhabitants to assure him that he might stay in the house where he was That neither he nor his Servants should suffer any prejudice That they were perswaded of his innocence and that they had nothing to say against him but he gained a Priest who made his escape out of Vailladolid through a hole