GRANVELLE COMPELLED TO WITHDRAW.
League against Granvelle.--Margaret desires his Removal.--Philip
deliberates.--Granvelle dismissed.--Leaves the Netherlands.
1562-1564.
While the state of feeling towards Granvelle, in the nation generally,
was such as is described in the preceding chapter, the lords who were in
the council of state chafed more and more under their exclusion from
business. As the mask was now thrown away, they no longer maintained the
show of deference which they had hitherto paid to the minister. From
opposition to his measures, they passed to irony, ridicule, sarcasm;
till, finding that their assaults had little effect to disturb
Granvelle's temper, and still less to change his policy, they grew at
length less and less frequent in their attendance at the council, where
they played so insignificant a part. This was a sore embarrassment to
the regent, who needed the countenance of the great nobles to protect
her with the nation, in the unpopular measures in which she was
involved.
Even Granvelle, with all his equanimity, considered the crisis so grave
as to demand some concession, or at least a show of it, on his own part,
to conciliate the good-will of his enemies. He authorized the duchess to
say that he was perfectly willing that they should be summoned to the
_consulta_, and to absent himself from its meetings; indeed, to resign
the administration altogether, provided the king approved of it.[557]
Whether Margaret communicated this to the nobles does not appear; at all
events, as nothing came of these magnanimous concessions of the
minister, they had no power to soothe the irritation of his
enemies.[558]
On the contrary, the disaffected lords were bending their efforts to
consolidate their league, of which Granvelle, it may be recollected,
noticed the existence in a letter of the preceding year. We now find the
members binding themselves to each other by an oath of secrecy.[559] The
persons who formed this confederacy were the governors of the
provinces, the knights of the Golden Fleece, and, in short, most of the
aristocracy of any consideration in the country. It seemed impossible
that any minister could stand against such a coalition, resting,
moreover, on the sympathies of the people. This formidable association,
seeing that all attempts to work on the cardinal were ineffectual,
resolved at length to apply directly to the king for his removal. They
stated that, knowing the heavy cares which pressed on his majesty, they
had long dissembled and kept silence, rather than aggravate these cares
by their complaints. If they now broke this silence, it was from a sense
of duty to the king, and to save the country from ruin. They enlarged on
the lamentable condition of affairs, which, without specifying any
particular charges, they imputed altogether to the cardinal, or rather
to the position in which he stood in reference to the nation. It was
impossible, they said, that the business of the country could prosper,
where the minister who directed it was held in such general detestation
by the people. They earnestly implored the king to take immediate
measures for removing an evil which menaced the speedy ruin of the land.
And they concluded with begging that they might be allowed to resign
their seats in the council of state, where, in the existing state of
affairs, their presence could be of no service.--This letter, dated the
eleventh of March, 1563, was signed, on behalf of the coalition, by
three lords who had places in the council of state,--the prince of
Orange, Count Egmont, and Count Hoorne.[560]
The last nobleman was of an ancient and most honorable lineage. He held
the high office of admiral of the Netherlands, and had been governor
both of Zütphen and of Gueldres. He accompanied Philip to Spain, and
during his absence the province of Gueldres was transferred to another,
Count Megen, for which Hoorne considered that he was indebted to the
good offices of the cardinal. On his return to his own country, he at
once enrolled himself in the ranks of the opposition. He was a man of
indisputable bravery, of a quick and impatient temper; one, on the
whole, who seems to have been less indebted for his celebrity to his
character, than to the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed.
On the day previous to this despatch of the nobles, we find a letter to
the king from Granvelle, who does not seem to have been ignorant of what
was doing by the lords. He had expostulated with them, he tells Philip,
on the disloyalty of their conduct in thus banding against the
government,--a proceeding which in other times might have subjected them
to a legal prosecution.[561] He mentions no one by name except Egmont,
whom he commends as more tractable and open to reason than his
confederates. He was led away by evil counsellors, and Granvelle
expresses the hope that he will one day open his eyes to his errors, and
return to his allegiance.
[Sidenote: LEAGUE AGAINST GRANVELLE.]
It is difficult to conceive the detestation, he goes on to say, in which
the Spaniards are held by the nation. The Spaniards only, it was
everywhere said, were regarded by the court of Madrid as the lawful
children; the Flemings, as illegitimate.[562] It was necessary to do
away this impression to place the Flemings on the same footing with the
Spaniards; to give them lucrative appointments, for they greatly needed
them, in Spain or in Italy; and it might not be amiss to bestow the
viceroyalty of Sicily on the prince of Orange.--Thus, by the same act,
the politic minister would both reward his rivals and remove them from
the country. But he greatly misunderstood the character of William, if
he thought in this way to buy him off from the opposition.
It was four months before the confederates received an answer; during
which time affairs continued to wear the same gloomy aspect as before.
At length came the long-expected epistle from the monarch, dated on the
sixth of June. It was a brief one. Philip thanked the lords for their
zeal and devotion to his service. After well considering the matter,
however, he had not found any specific ground of complaint alleged, to
account for the advice given him to part with his minister. The king
hoped before long to visit the Low Countries in person. Meanwhile, he
should be glad to see any one of the nobles in Spain, to learn from him
the whole state of the affair; as it was not his wont to condemn his
ministers without knowing the grounds on which they were accused.[563]
The fact that the lords had not specified any particular subject of
complaint against the cardinal gave the king an obvious advantage in the
correspondence. It seemed to be too much to expect his immediate
dismissal of the minister, on the vague pretext of his unpopularity,
without a single instance of misconduct being alleged against him. Yet
this was the position in which the enemies of Granvelle necessarily
found themselves. The minister acted by the orders of the king. To have
assailed the minister's acts, therefore, would have been to attack the
king himself. Egmont, some time after this, with even more frankness
than usual, is said to have declared at table to a friend of the
cardinal, that "the blow was aimed not so much at the minister as at the
monarch."[564]
The discontent of the lords at receiving this laconic epistle may be
imagined. They were indignant that so little account should be made of
their representations, and that both they and the country should be
sacrificed to the king's partiality for his minister. The three lords
waited on the regent, and extorted from her a reluctant consent to
assemble the knights of the order, and to confer with them and the other
nobles as to the course to be taken.
It was there decided that the lords should address a second letter, in
the name of the whole body, to Philip, and henceforth should cease to
attend the council of state.[565]
In this letter, which bears the date of July the twenty-ninth, they
express their disappointment that his majesty had not come to a more
definite resolution, when prompt and decisive measures could alone save
the country from ruin. They excuse themselves from visiting Spain in the
critical state of affairs at home. At another time, and for any other
purpose, did the king desire it, they would willingly do so. But it was
not their design to appear as accusers, and institute a process against
the minister. They had hoped their own word in such an affair would have
sufficed with his majesty. It was not the question whether the minister
was to be condemned, but whether he was to be removed from an office for
which he was in no respect qualified.[566] They had hoped their
attachment and tried fidelity to the crown would have made it
superfluous for them to go into a specification of charges. These,
indeed, could be easily made, but the discontent and disorder which now
reigned throughout the country were sufficient evidence of the
minister's incapacity.[567]
They stated that they had acquainted the regent with their intention to
absent themselves in future from the council, where their presence could
be no longer useful; and they trusted this would receive his majesty's
sanction. They expressed their determination loyally and truly to
discharge every trust reposed in them by the government; and they
concluded by apologizing for the homely language of their epistle,--for
they were no haranguers or orators, but men accustomed to act rather
than to talk, as was suited to persons of their quality.[568]--This last
shaft was doubtless aimed at the cardinal.--The letter was signed by the
same triumvirate as the former. The abstract here given does no justice
to the document, which is of considerable length, and carefully written.
The language is that of men who to the habitual exercise of authority
united a feeling of self-respect, which challenged the respect of their
opponents. Such were not the men to be cajoled or easily intimidated. It
was the first time that Philip had been addressed in this lofty tone by
his great vassals. It should have opened his eyes to the condition and
the character of his subjects in the Netherlands.
The coalition drew up, at the same time, an elaborate "remonstrance,"
which they presented to Margaret. In it they set forth the various
disorders of the country, especially those growing out of the state of
religion and the embarrassment of the finances. The only remedy for
these evils is to be found in a meeting of the states-general. The
king's prohibition of this measure must have proceeded, no doubt, from
the evil counsels of persons hostile to the true interests of the
nation. As their services can be of little use while they are thus
debarred from a resort to their true and only remedy in their
embarrassments, they trust the regent will not take it amiss, that, so
long as the present policy is pursued, they decline to take their seats
in the council of state, to be merely shadows there, as they have been
for the last four years.[569]
[Sidenote: MARGARET DESIRES HIS REMOVAL.]
From this period the malecontent lords no more appeared in council. The
perplexity of Margaret was great. Thus abandoned by the nobles in whom
the country had the greatest confidence, she was left alone, as it were,
with the man whom the country held in the greatest abhorrence. She had
long seen with alarm the storm gathering round the devoted head of the
minister. To attempt alone to uphold his falling fortunes would be
probably to bury herself in their ruins. In her extremity, she appealed
to the confederates, and, since she could not divide them, endeavored to
divert them from their opposition. They, on the other hand, besought
the regent no longer to connect herself with the desperate cause of a
minister so odious to the country. Possibly they infused into her mind
some suspicions of the subordinate part she was made to play, through
the overweening ambition of the cardinal. At all events, an obvious
change took place in her conduct, and while she deferred less and less
to Granvelle, she entered into more friendly relations with his enemies.
This was especially the case with Egmont, whose frank and courteous
hearing and loyal disposition seem to have won greatly on the esteem of
the duchess.
Satisfied, at last, that it would be impracticable to maintain the
government much longer on its present basis, Margaret resolved to write
to her brother on the subject, and at the same time to send her
confidential secretary, Armenteros, to Spain, to acquaint the king with
the precise state of affairs in the Netherlands.[570]
After enlarging on the disorders and difficulties of the country, the
duchess came to the quarrel between the cardinal and the nobles. She had
made every effort to reconcile the parties; but that was impossible. She
was fully sensible of the merits of Granvelle, his high capacity, his
experience in public affairs, his devotion to the interests both of the
king and of religion.[571] But, on the other hand, to maintain him in
the Netherlands, in opposition to the will of the nobles, was to expose
the country, not merely to great embarrassments, but to the danger of
insurrection.[572] The obligations of the high place which she occupied
compelled her to lay the true state of the case before the king, and he
would determine the course to be pursued.--With this letter, bearing the
date of August twelfth, and fortified with ample instructions from the
duchess, Armenteros was forthwith despatched on his mission to Spain.
It was not long before the state of feeling in the cabinet of Brussels
was known, or at least surmised, throughout the country. It was the
interest of some of the parties that it should not be kept secret. The
cardinal, thus abandoned by his friends, became a more conspicuous mark
for the shafts of his enemies. Libels, satires, pasquinades, were
launched against him from every quarter. Such fugitive pieces, like the
insect which dies when it has left its sting, usually perish with the
occasion that gives them birth. But some have survived to the present
day, or at least were in existence at the close of the last century, and
are much commended by a critic for the merits of their literary
execution.[573]
It was the custom, at the period of our narrative, for the young people
to meet in the towns and villages, and celebrate what were called
"academic games," consisting of rhetorical discussions on the various
topics of the day, sometimes of a theological or a political character.
Public affairs furnished a fruitful theme at this crisis; and the
cardinal, in particular, was often roughly handled. It was in vain the
government tried to curb this licence. It only served to stimulate the
disputants to new displays of raillery and ridicule.[574]
Granvelle, it will be readily believed, was not slow to perceive his
loss of credit with the regent, and the more intimate relations into
which she had entered with his enemies. But whatever he may have felt,
he was too proud or too politic to betray his mortification to the
duchess. Thus discredited by all but an insignificant party, who were
branded as the "Cardinalists," losing influence daily with the regent,
at open war with the nobles, and hated by the people, never was there a
minister in so forlorn a situation, or one who was able to maintain his
post a day in such circumstances. Yet Granvelle did not lose heart; as
others failed him, he relied the more on himself; and the courage which
he displayed, when thus left alone, as it were, to face the anger of the
nation, might have well commanded the respect of his enemies. He made no
mean concession to secure the support of the nobles, or to recover the
favor of the regent. He did not shrink from the dangers or the
responsibilities of his station; though the latter, at least, bore
heavily on him. Speaking of the incessant pressure of his cares, he
writes to his correspondent, Perez, "My hairs have turned so white you
would not recognize me."[575] He was then but forty-six. On one
occasion, indeed, we do find him telling the king, that, "if his majesty
does not soon come to the Netherlands, he must withdraw from them."[576]
This seems to have been a sudden burst of feeling, as it was a solitary
one, forced from him by the extremity of his situation. It was much more
in character that he wrote afterwards to the secretary, Perez: "I am so
beset with dangers on every side, that most people give me up for lost.
But I mean to live as long, by the grace of God, as I can; and if they
do take away my life, I trust they will not gain everything for all
that."[577] He nowhere intimates a wish to be recalled. Nor would his
ambition allow him to resign the helm; but the fiercer the tempest
raged, the more closely did he cling to the wreck of his fortunes.
The arrival of Armenteros with the despatches, and the tidings that he
brought, caused a great sensation in the court of Madrid. "We are on the
eve of a terrible conflagration," writes one of the secretaries of
Philip; "and they greatly err who think it will pass away as formerly."
He expresses the wish that Granvelle would retire from the country,
where, he predicts, they would soon wish his return. "But ambition," he
adds, "and the point of honor are alike opposed to this. Nor does the
king desire it."[578]
Yet it was not easy to say what the king did desire,--certainly not what
course he would pursue. He felt a natural reluctance to abandon the
minister, whose greatest error seemed to be that of too implicit an
obedience to his master's commands. He declared he would rather risk the
loss of the Netherlands than abandon him.[579] Yet how was that minister
to be maintained in his place, in opposition to the will of the nation?
In this perplexity, Philip applied for counsel to the man in whom he
most confided,--the duke of Alva; the very worst counsellor possible in
the present emergency.
[Sidenote: PHILIP'S LETTER TO GRANVELLE.]
The duke's answer was eminently characteristic of the man. "When I read
the letters of these lords," he says, "I am so filled with rage, that,
did I not make an effort to suppress it, my language would appear to you
that of a madman."[580] After this temperate exordium, he recommends the
king on no account to remove Granvelle from the administration of the
Netherlands. "It is a thing of course," he says, "that the cardinal
should be the first victim. A rebellion against the prince naturally
begins with an attack on his ministers. It would be better," he
continues, "if all could be brought at once to summary justice. Since
that cannot be, it may be best to divide the nobles; to win over Egmont
and those who follow him by favors; to show displeasure to those who are
the least offenders. For the greater ones, who deserve to lose their
heads, your majesty will do well to dissemble, until you can give them
their deserts."[581]
Part of this advice the king accepted; for to dissemble did no violence
to his nature. But the more he reflected on the matter, the more he was
satisfied that it would be impossible to retain the obnoxious minister
in his place. Yet when he had come to this decision, he still shrunk
from announcing it. Months passed, and yet Armenteros, who was to carry
back the royal despatches, was still detained at Madrid. It seemed as if
Philip here, as on other occasions of less moment, was prepared to leave
events to take their own course, rather than direct them himself.
Early in January, 1564, the duchess of Parma admonished her brother that
the lords chafed much under his long silence. It was a common opinion,
she said, that he cared little for Flanders, and that he was under the
influence of evil counsellors, who would persuade him to deal with the
country as a conquered province. She besought him to answer the letter
of the nobles, and especially to write in affectionate terms to Count
Egmont, who well deserved this for the zeal he had always shown for his
sovereign's interests.[582]
One is struck with the tone in which the regent here speaks of one of
the leaders of the opposition, so little in unison with her former
language. It shows how completely she was now under their influence. In
truth, however, we see constantly, both in her letters and those of the
cardinal, a more friendly tone of feeling towards Egmont than to either
of his associates. On the score of orthodoxy in matters of religion he
was unimpeachable. His cordial manners, his free and genial temper,
secured the sympathy of all with whom he came in contact. It was a
common opinion, that it would not be difficult to detach him from the
party of malecontents with whom his lot was cast. Such were not the
notions entertained of the prince of Orange.
In a letter from Granvelle to Philip, without a date, but written
perhaps about this period,[583] we have portraits, or rather outlines,
of the two great leaders of the opposition, touched with a masterly
hand. Egmont he describes as firm in his faith, loyally disposed, but
under the evil influence of William. It would not be difficult to win
him over by flattery and favors.[584] The prince, on the other hand, is
a cunning and dangerous enemy, of profound views, boundless ambition,
difficult to change, and impossible to control.[585] In the latter
character we see the true leader of the revolution.
Disgusted with the indifference of the king, shown in his
long-protracted silence, the nobles, notwithstanding the regent's
remonstrances, sent orders to their courier, who had been waiting in
Madrid for the royal despatches, to wait no longer, but return without
them to the Netherlands.[586] Fortunately Philip now moved, and at the
close of January, 1564, sent back Armenteros with his instructions to
Brussels. The most important of them was a letter of dismissal to the
cardinal himself. It was very short. "On considering what you write,"
said the king, "I deem it best that you should leave the Low Countries
for some days, and go to Burgundy to see your mother, with the consent
of the duchess of Parma. In this way, both my authority and your own
reputation will be preserved."[587]
It has been a matter of dispute how far the resignation of the cardinal
was voluntary. The recent discovery of this letter of Philip determines
that question.[588] It was by command of the sovereign. Yet that command
was extorted by necessity, and so given as best to save the feelings and
the credit of the minister. Neither party anticipated that Granvelle's
absence would continue for a long time, much less that his dismissal was
final. Even when inditing the letter to the cardinal, Philip cherished
the hope that the necessity for his departure might be avoided
altogether. This appears from the despatches sent at the same time to
the regent.
[Sidenote: PHILIP'S LETTER TO GRANVELLE.]
Shortly after his note to Granvelle, on the nineteenth of February,
Philip wrote an answer to the lords in all the tone of offended
majesty. He expressed his astonishment that they should have been led,
by any motive whatever, to vacate their seats at the council, where he
had placed them.[589] They would not fail to return there at once, and
show that they preferred the public weal to all private
considerations.[590] As for the removal of the minister, since they had
not been pleased to specify any charges against him, the king would
deliberate further before deciding on the matter. Thus, three weeks
after Philip had given the cardinal his dismissal, did he write to his
enemies as if the matter were still in abeyance; hoping, it would seem,
by the haughty tone of authority, to rebuke the spirit of the refractory
nobles, and intimidate them into a compliance with his commands. Should
this policy succeed, the cardinal might still hold the helm of
government.[591]
But Philip had not yet learned that he was dealing with men who had
little of that spirit of subserviency to which he was accustomed in his
Castilian vassals. The peremptory tone of his letter fired the blood of
the Flemish lords, who at once waited on the regent, and announced their
purpose not to reënter the council. The affair was not likely to end
here; and Margaret saw with alarm the commotion that would be raised
when the letter of the king should be laid before the whole body of the
nobles.[592] Fearing some rash step, difficult to be retrieved, she
resolved either that the cardinal should announce his intended
departure, or that she would do so for him. Philip's experiment had
failed. Nothing, therefore, remained but for the minister publicly to
declare, that, as his brother, the late envoy to France, had returned to
Brussels, he had obtained permission from the regent to accompany him on
a visit to their aged mother, whom Granvelle had not seen for fourteen
years.[593]
The news of the minister's resignation and speedy departure spread like
wildfire over the country. The joy was universal; and the wits of the
time redoubled their activity, assailing the fallen minister with
libels, lampoons, and caricatures, without end. One of these
caricatures, thrust into his own hand under the pretence of its being a
petition, represented him as hatching a brood of young bishops, who were
crawling out of their shells. Hovering above might be seen the figure of
the Devil; while these words were profanely made to issue from his
month: "This is my son; hear ye him!"[594]
It was at this time that, at a banquet at which many of the Flemish
nobles were present, the talk fell on the expensive habits of the
aristocracy, especially as shown in the number and dress of their
domestics. It was the custom for them to wear showy and very costly
liveries, intimating by the colors the family to which they belonged.
Granvelle had set an example of this kind of ostentation. It was
proposed to regulate their apparel by a more modest and uniform
standard. The lot fell on Egmont to devise some suitable livery, of the
simple kind used by the Germans. He proposed a dark-gray habit, which,
instead of the _aiguillettes_ commonly suspended from the shoulders,
should have flat pieces of cloth, embroidered with the figure of a head
and a fool's cap. The head was made marvellously like that of the
cardinal, and the cap, being red, was thought to bear much resemblance
to a cardinal's hat. This was enough. The dress was received with
acclamation. The nobles instantly clad their retainers in the new
livery, which had the advantage of greater economy. It became the badge
of party. The tailors of Brussels could not find time to supply their
customers. Instead of being confined to Granvelle, the heads
occasionally bore the features of Arschot, Aremberg, or Viglius, the
cardinal's friends. The duchess at first laughed at the jest, and even
sent some specimens of the embroidery to Philip. But Granvelle looked
more gravely on the matter, declaring it an insult to the government,
and the king interfered to have the device given up. This was not easy,
from the extent to which it had been adopted. But Margaret at length
succeeded in persuading the lords to take another, not personal in its
nature. The substitute was a sheaf of arrows. Even this was found to
have an offensive application, as it intimated the league of the nobles.
It was the origin, it is said, of the device afterwards assumed by the
Seven United Provinces.[595]
[Sidenote: HE LEAVES THE NETHERLANDS.]
On the thirteenth of March, 1564, Granvelle quitted Brussels,--never to
return.[596] "The joy of the nobles at his departure," writes one of the
privy council, "was excessive. They seemed like boys let loose from
school."[597] The three lords, members of the council of state, in a
note to the duchess, declared that they were ready to resume their
places at the board; with the understanding, however, that they should
retire whenever the minister returned.[598] Granvelle had given out that
his absence would be of no long duration. The regent wrote to her
brother in warm commendation of the lords. It would not do for Granvelle
ever to return. She was assured by the nobles, if he did return, he
would risk the loss of his life, and the king the loss of the
Netherlands.[599]
The three lords wrote each to Philip, informing him that they had
reëntered the council, and making the most earnest protestations of
loyalty. Philip, on his part, graciously replied to each, and in
particular to the prince of Orange, who had intimated that slanderous
reports respecting himself had found their way to the royal ear. The
king declared "he never could doubt for a moment that William would
continue to show the same zeal in his service that he had always done;
and that no one should be allowed to cast a reproach on a person of his
quality, and one whom Philip knew so thoroughly."[600] It might almost
seem that a double meaning lurked under this smooth language. But
whatever may have been felt, no distrust was exhibited on either side.
To those who looked on the surface only,--and they were a hundred to
one,--it seemed as if the dismissal of the cardinal had removed all
difficulties; and they now confidently relied on a state of permanent
tranquillity. But there were others whose eyes looked deeper than the
calm sunshine that lay upon the surface; who saw, more distinctly than
when the waters were ruffled by the tempest, the rocks beneath, on which
the vessel of state was afterward to be wrecked.
The cardinal, on leaving the Low Countries, retired to his patrimonial
estate at Besançon,--embellished with all that wealth and a cultivated
taste could supply. In this pleasant retreat the discomfited statesman
found a solace in those pursuits which in earlier, perhaps happier, days
had engaged his attention.[601] He had particularly a turn for the
physical sciences. But he was fond of letters, and in all his tastes
showed the fruits of a liberal culture. He surrounded himself with
scholars and artists, and took a lively interest in their pursuits.
Justus Lipsius, afterwards so celebrated, was his secretary. He gave
encouragement to Plantin, who rivalled in Flanders the fame of the Aldi
in Venice. His generous patronage was readily extended to genius, in
whatever form it was displayed. It is some proof how widely extended,
that, in the course of his life, he is said to have received more than a
hundred dedications. Though greedy of wealth, it was not to hoard it,
and his large revenues were liberally dispensed in the foundation of
museums, colleges, and public libraries. Besançon, the place of his
residence, did not profit least by this munificence.[602]
Such is the portrait which historians have given to us of the minister
in his retirement. His own letters show that, with these sources of
enjoyment, he did not altogether disdain others of a less spiritual
character. A letter to one of the regent's secretaries, written soon
after the cardinal's arrival at Besançon, concludes in the following
manner: "I know that God will recompense men according to their deserts.
I have confidence that he will aid me; and that I shall yet be able to
draw profit from what my enemies designed for my ruin. This is my
philosophy, with which I endeavor to live as joyously as I can, laughing
at the world, its calumnies and its passions."[603]
With all this happy mixture of the Epicurean and the Stoic, the
philosophic statesman did not so contentedly submit to his fate as to
forego the hope of seeing himself soon reinstated in authority in the
Netherlands. "In the course of two months," he writes, "you may expect
to see me there."[604] He kept up an active correspondence with the
friends whom he had left in Brussels, and furnished the results of the
information thus obtained, with his own commentaries, to the court at
Madrid. His counsel was courted, and greatly considered, by Philip; so
that from the shades of his retirement the banished minister was still
thought to exercise an important influence on the destiny of Flanders.
* * * * *
A singular history is attached to the papers of Granvelle. That
minister resembled his master, Philip the Second, in the fertility
of his epistolary vein. That the king had a passion for writing,
notwithstanding he could throw the burden of the correspondence,
when it suited him, on the other party, is proved by the quantity
of letters he left behind him. The example of the monarch seems to
have had its influence on his courtiers; and no reign of that time
is illustrated by a greater amount of written materials from the
hands of the principal actors in it. Far from a poverty of
materials, therefore, the historian has much more reason to
complain of an _embarras de richesses_.
[Sidenote: THE GRANVELLE PAPERS.]
Granvelle filled the highest posts in different parts of the
Spanish empire; and in each of these--in the Netherlands, where he
was minister, in Naples, where he was viceroy, in Spain, where he
took the lead in the cabinet, and in Besançon, whither he retired
from public life--he left ample memorials under his own hand of his
residence there. This was particularly the case with Besançon, his
native town, and the favorite residence to which he turned, as he
tells us, from the turmoil of office to enjoy the sweets of
privacy,--yet not, in truth, so sweet to him as the stormy career
of the statesman, to judge from the tenacity with which he clung to
office.
The cardinal made his library at Besançon the depository, not
merely of his own letters, but of such as were addressed to him. He
preserved them all, however humble the sources whence they came,
and, like Philip, he was in the habit of jotting down his own
reflections in the margin. As Granvelle's personal and political
relations connected him with the most important men of his time, we
may well believe that the mass of correspondence which he gathered
together was immense. Unfortunately, at his death, instead of
bequeathing his manuscripts to some public body, who might have
been responsible for the care of them, he left them to heirs who
were altogether ignorant of their value. In the course of time the
manuscripts found their way to the garret, where they soon came to
be regarded as little better than waste paper. They were pilfered
by the children and domestics, and a considerable quantity was sent
off to a neighboring grocer, who soon converted the correspondence
of the great statesman into wrapping-paper for his spices.
From this ignominious fate the residue of the collection was
happily rescued by the generous exertions of the Abbé Boissot. This
excellent and learned man was the head of the Benedictines of St.
Vincent in Besançon, of which town he was himself a native. He was
acquainted with the condition of the Granvelle papers, and
comprehended their importance. In the course of eighty years, which
had elapsed since the cardinal's death, his manuscripts had come to
be distributed among several heirs, some of whom consented to
transfer their property gratuitously to the Abbé Boissot, while he
purchased that of others. In this way he at length succeeded in
gathering together all that survived of the large collection; and
he made it the great business of his subsequent life to study its
contents and arrange the chaotic mass of papers with reference to
their subjects. To complete his labors, he caused the manuscripts
thus arranged to be bound, in eighty-two volumes, folio, thus
placing them in that permanent form which might best secure them
against future accident.
The abbé did not live to publish to the world an account of his
collection, which at his death passed by his will to his brethren
of the abbey of St. Vincent, on condition that it should be for
ever open for the use of the town of Besançon. It may seem strange
that, notwithstanding the existence of this valuable body of
original documents was known to scholars, they should so rarely
have resorted to it for instruction. Its secluded situation, in the
heart of a remote province, was doubtless regarded as a serious
obstacle by the historical inquirer, in an age when the public took
things too readily on trust to be very solicitous about authentic
sources of information. It is more strange that Boissot's
Benedictine brethren should have shown themselves so insensible to
the treasures under their own roof. One of their body, Dom Prosper
l'Evesque, did indeed profit by the Boissot collection to give to
the world his Mémoires de Granvelle, a work in two volumes,
duodecimo, which, notwithstanding the materials at the writer's
command, contain little of any worth, unless it be an occasional
extract from Granvelle's own correspondence.
At length, in 1834, the subject drew the attention of M. Guizot,
then Minister of Public Instruction in France. By his direction a
commission of five scholars was instituted, with the learned Weiss
at its head, for the purpose of examining the Granvelle papers,
with a view to their immediate publication. The work was performed
in a prompt and accurate manner, that must have satisfied its
enlightened projector. In 1839 the whole series of papers had been
subjected to a careful analysis, and the portion selected that was
deemed proper for publication. The first volume appeared in 1841;
and the president of the commission, M. Weiss, expressed in his
preface the confident hope that in the course of 1843 the remaining
papers would all be given to the press. But these anticipations
have not been realized. In 1854 only nine volumes had appeared. How
far the publication has since advanced I am ignorant.
The Papiers d'Etat, besides Granvelle's own letters, contain a
large amount of historical materials, such as official documents,
state papers, and diplomatic correspondence of foreign
ministers,--that of Renard, for example, so often quoted in these
pages. There are, besides, numerous letters both of Philip and of
Charles the Fifth, for the earlier volumes embrace the times of the
emperor.--The minister's own correspondence is not the least
valuable part of the collection. Granvelle stood so high in the
confidence of his sovereign, that, when not intrusted himself with
the conduct of affairs, ha was constantly consulted by the king as
to the best mode of conducting them. With a different fate from
that of most ministers, he retained his influence when he had lost
his place. Thus there were few transactions of any moment in which
he was not called on directly or indirectly to take part. And his
letters furnish a clew for conducting the historical student
through more than one intricate negotiation, by revealing the true
motives of the parties who were engaged in it.
Granvelle was in such intimate relations with the most eminent
persons of the time, that his correspondence becomes in some sort
the mirror of the age, reflecting the state of opinion on the
leading topics of the day. For the same reason it is replete with
matters of personal as well as political interest; while the range
of its application, far from being confined to Spain, embraces most
of the states of Europe with which Spain held intercourse. The
French government has done good service by the publication of a
work which contains so much for the illustration of the history of
the sixteenth century. M. Weiss, the editor, has conducted his
labors on the true principles by which an editor should be guided;
and, far from magnifying his office, and unseasonably obtruding
himself on the reader's attention, he has sought only to explain
what is obscure in the text, and to give such occasional notices of
the writers as may enable the reader to understand their
correspondence.