History of The Reign of Philip The Second King of Spain History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain Part 51

[Sidenote: HER OBSEQUIES.]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Sidenote: HER CHARACTER.]

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

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

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

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

END OF VOLS. I. AND II.

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

FOOTNOTES:

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

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

[3] A minute account of this imposing ceremony is to be found in a MS.

in the Archives of Simancas, now published in the Coleccion de Doc.u.mentos Ineditos para la Historia de Espana, (Madrid, 1845,) tom.

VII. p. 534 et seq.

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

[4] A copy of the original deed of abdication was preserved among the papers of Cardinal Granvelle, at Besancon, and is incorporated in the valuable collection of doc.u.ments published by order of the French government under the direction of the learned Weiss, Papiers d'Etat du Cardinal de Granvelle, d'apres les Ma.n.u.scrits de la Bibliotheque de Besancon, (Paris, 1843,) tom. IV. p. 486.

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

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

527.

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

Historia de la Vida y Hechos del Emperador Carlos V., (Amberes, 1681,) tom. II. p. 599.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gachard, Retraite et Mort de Charles-Quint, (Bruxelles, 1554,) tom. I.

p. 76.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

p. 869.

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

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

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