PHILIP AND SPAIN
Persecution of the Protestants--The mystery of Don Carlos--Wars
against the Moors and Turks--Relief of Malta--Persecution and
Rebellion of the Moriscoes--Battle of Lepanto--Conquest of
Portugal--Internal Government of Spain and its dependencies
under Philip II.
§ 1. _Persecution of the Protestants--The Inquisition._
| Philip lands in Spain. Aug. 29, 1559.
At the date of the Treaty of Cateau Cambrésis (April 5, 1559), Philip
was in his thirty-second year. He had already wedded and lost two
wives. His first, Maria of Portugal, had died, in giving birth to Don
Carlos, on July 8, 1545; his second, Mary of England, on 17th November
1558. After having settled the government of the Netherlands (cf.
p. 319 ff.), Philip proceeded to Spain. A furious tempest greeted his
arrival; nine vessels of his fleet were lost; and the King himself
landed on the shores of his kingdom--which he was never to leave
again--in a small boat.
| He devotes himself to the extirpation of
| Protestantism.
Philip had not hitherto displayed those bigoted views of which he
henceforth became the exponent. During his brief residence in England
he had, in the vain attempt to conciliate the English, opposed
or pretended to oppose the policy of persecution adopted by his
unhappy wife. He had intervened to protect the Princess Elizabeth,
and after her accession had first proposed to marry her, and, when
that was refused, had continued on friendly terms. He even gave the
Calvinists of Scotland his tacit support against Mary of Guise and
her daughter. No sooner, however, did he finally settle in Spain than
all was changed. Spain was the representative of all that was most
fanatical in Europe, and Philip eagerly adopted the views of that
country. Henceforth the increase of his own authority, and the advance
of Catholicism, became identified; the reformed opinions were in his
eyes a gospel of rebellion and of opposition to authority, and to
crush out this pernicious heresy under his absolute rule became the
principle of his life.
During the early years of Charles V., a few Spaniards abroad
had adopted reformed opinions, such as Francis de Enzinas, the
translator of the New Testament into Spanish, and subsequently
Professor of Greek at Oxford (1520-1522); while in 1553 Servetus
the anti-Trinitarian suffered at Geneva. But it was not until the
year 1558 that Protestantism seems to have made much head in Spain
itself. By that time, however, not only had Spanish translations of
the New Testament and various Protestant books been disseminated in
Spain, but a considerable congregation of Reformers had been secretly
formed, more especially in the towns of Seville, Valladolid, and
Zamora, and in the kingdom of Aragon. On receiving intelligence of
this new nest of heretics, Pope Paul IV. issued a brief, February
1558, in which he urged the Inquisitor-General to spare no efforts in
exterminating this evil; and the dying Emperor, forgetting his dislike
of papal interference, besought the Regent Joanna, and Philip himself,
to listen to the Pope’s exhortations. Philip required no urging. He
published an edict, borrowed from the Netherlands, which condemned all
to the stake who bought, sold, or read prohibited books, and revived a
law by which the accuser was to receive one-fourth of the property of
the condemned. Paul enforced the law by his Bull of 1559, commanding
all confessors to urge on their penitents the duty of informing
against suspected persons. He also authorised the Inquisition to
deliver to the secular arm even those who abjured their errors, ‘not
from conviction, but from fear of punishment,’ and made a grant from
the ecclesiastical revenues of Spain to defray the expenses of the
Inquisition.
| The Inquisition.
| The Inquisition and the Spanish Church.
This terrible tribunal, which had been established in its final
form by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1478, and freed from appeal to
Rome in 1497, consisted of a Supreme Council formed of lawyers and
theologians, mostly Dominicans, an order to which Philip showed
especial favour. At the head of this Council stood the Grand
Inquisitor, appointed by the king himself, with numerous subordinate
tribunals, protected by armed ‘familiars.’ Their trials were conducted
in secret. Persons were tempted or forced by threats to denounce
their enemies, their friends, and even their relatives; a system
of espionage was resorted to; torture was freely used to extort
confessions from the accused; and the most harmless words were often
twisted into heterodoxy by the subtle refinements of the Dominican
theologians. They punished by forfeiture of goods, by penance, by
imprisonment, and in the last resort handed over the condemned to
the secular arm, to be burnt at an _Auto da fè_. Supported by this
unwonted harmony between Pope and King, the Grand Inquisitor, Don
Fernando Valdès, Archbishop of Seville, set vigorously to work. In
Seville alone, 800 were arrested on the first day, and on May 21,
1559, the first of the _Autos da fè_ took place in the streets of
Valladolid; another was solemnised on the arrival of Philip in Spain,
and a third amid the _fêtes_ attending his marriage with his third
wife, Elizabeth of France, in 1560. Indeed, no great ceremonial was
for some years considered complete unless sanctified by an _Auto da
fè_, and the Spaniards preferred one to a bull-fight. It may be true
that the cruelties of the Inquisition have been exaggerated; yet, at
least, opinions, which in other countries would have been tolerated,
were ruthlessly suppressed. Not only was all scientific speculation
tabooed, and Spanish scholars forbidden to visit other countries, but
the slightest deviation from the strictest orthodoxy was severely
visited. The Inquisition was even used against the Church. Although
the number of the clergy and the monks was very large, and their
wealth, especially in Castile, enormous, no Church in Europe was more
completely under royal control. The nomination to ecclesiastical
offices was exclusively in the hands of the king; papal interference,
unless by his leave, was stoutly resisted; and, if the Church
was rich, at least one-third of its revenues fell into the royal
coffers. The power of the crown was also enhanced by the devotion of
the Jesuits to the royal cause. It was, however, on the Dominicans
that Philip mostly relied. The ignorance and bigotry of the members of
this order of friars in Spain is only equalled by their subservience
to the royal will. They dominated the Holy Office of the Inquisition,
and subjected to its discipline not only Theresa, one of the most
devoted of Spanish saints, but the members of the powerful Society of
Jesus, and even the episcopal bench itself. No less than nine bishops
were condemned to various acts of penance; even Carranza, Archbishop
of Toledo, was attacked. This learned and zealous prelate, who had
taken an important part in some of the sessions of the Council of
Trent, and in whose arms Charles V. had died, was charged in August,
1559, with heterodox opinions. After his trial had dragged on for more
than seven years, Pius V. insisted on the case being transferred to
Rome. But the death of the Pope again delayed the matter, and it was
not until April 1576 that the papal decision was finally given. The
Archbishop was convicted of holding doctrines akin to those of Luther,
and was to abjure sixteen propositions found in his writings; he was
to do certain acts of penance; to be suspended from his episcopal
functions for five years more, and meanwhile to be confined in a
convent of the Dominicans, his own order, at Orvieto.
| The Inquisition used to punish political offences.
The efforts of the Inquisition succeeded in crushing out Protestantism
in Spain; and its success unfortunately refutes the comforting
doctrine that persecution is powerless against strong convictions. But
the success involved the destruction of all intellectual independence;
Spain soon became one of the most backward countries in Europe, and,
if we except Cervantes the author of _Don Quixote_, and Calderon
the poet, she gave birth to no writer of eminence. Nor did the
Holy Office confine itself to the extirpation of heresy, or to the
vigorous control of the clergy. Formed exclusively of nominees
of the crown,[59] it became an instrument in the royal hands for
financial extortion and for the pursuit of political offenders. Thus,
custom-house officers were dragged before the Inquisition for having
allowed horses to cross the frontier, on the pretext that they were
for the service of the Huguenots; Antonio Perez, the notorious
secretary of Philip, was arraigned before the Inquisition of Aragon;
and foreign ambassadors were enjoined to obey its orders. At times
the Pope remonstrated against these abuses of the Holy Office, which
trenched upon the papal claims. But Philip answered ‘that with his
scruples his Holiness would destroy religion’; and long after the
reign of Philip the Inquisition, as well as the Church, continued the
humble servant of royal prerogative.
§ 2. _The Mystery of Don Carlos._[60]
| Don Carlos. 1545-1568.
According to some authorities the zeal of Philip did not spare his
own son and heir, Don Carlos. The history of this unfortunate Prince
was so distorted by the enemies of his father Philip during his
own lifetime, and since then has become such a favourite subject
of romance, that on some points it is difficult to arrive at the
truth. Some declare that the estrangement between father and son was
caused by the suspicion of a guilty passion between the Prince and his
stepmother, Elizabeth of France, and this is the view which has been
adopted by those, like Schiller, who have made Don Carlos the hero of
a romantic tragedy.
| Reasons for his imprisonment. Jan. 1568.
We find that in the negotiations for the Treaty of Cateau
Cambrésis it had been suggested that Don Carlos should wed
the French Princess. The idea was dropped, and the hand of
Elizabeth was subsequently bestowed on Philip, the father of the
Prince. Nevertheless, it is asserted that Elizabeth had learnt to
love the son; that Don Carlos never forgave his father for having
robbed him of his bride; and that the jealous husband threw his son
into prison out of revenge, and finally procured the death by poison
not only of his son, but of his unfaithful wife. This tragic tale
must, however, be rejected. Don Carlos was only twelve years old at
the date of the Treaty of Cateau Cambrésis, and the story is not
supported by any contemporary authority. Even William of Orange, who
in his ‘Apology’ accuses Philip of poisoning both, is silent as to the
motive.
Less improbable is the story that Don Carlos had secret sympathy
with the Flemish malcontents, or at least some leaning towards
the Protestant heresy. This, it is said, explains the wish of Don
Carlos to be intrusted with the administration of the Netherlands,
the unwillingness of Philip to publish the reason of his treatment
of his son, and his letter to his aunt the Queen of Portugal, in
which he spoke of ‘sacrificing to God his own flesh and blood,
preferring God’s service and the welfare of his people to all human
considerations.’ These expressions are, however, quite compatible
with the third, and far more probable, hypothesis that Don Carlos was
mad. Two of his brothers had died of epilepsy. Don Carlos, who was
born in July, 1545, was a sickly child, subject to serious feverish
and bilious attacks; that as he grew in years he became, in spite of
a certain reckless generosity and an extravagant attachment to a few,
arrogant, violent, and unmanageable. A fall down a staircase on his
head, in April, 1562, which necessitated an operation of trepanning,
increased his violence, and from this moment his actions were those
of a crazy man. He insulted women of position with opprobrious
epithets. Twice he swallowed costly jewels. He forced a shoemaker to
eat stewed strips of a pair of boots because they did not fit. He
violently assaulted the Duke of Alva, because the Duke was sent to the
Netherlands instead of himself, and even Don John, to whom he was much
attached. He declared that he meditated killing a man whom he hated,
and sought for absolution beforehand. He attempted to fly from Spain,
and probably to rebel against his father. Of his insanity the Venetian
ambassador was convinced, and that this is the explanation of the
mystery gains confirmation from a secret letter of Philip to the Pope,
of which, although the original has disappeared, a translation has
been preserved, and in which insanity is pleaded as the justification
for the treatment of the Prince; while surely we cannot wonder that
Philip should be anxious to keep secret the fact that the insanity
of Joanna was reappearing in her great-grandson? Nor, as far as we
can see, does the actual treatment of Don Carlos, while in prison,
appear to have been exactly cruel. No doubt, he was most carefully
watched. He was not to be allowed to talk on politics, or to have any
news of the outer world; he was only allowed books of a devotional
character; but his guardians were men of good birth, they were
enjoined to lighten his captivity by conversation, and he was not
tortured or starved.
| Was he poisoned?
We have yet to deal with the accusation that the unfortunate Prince
was poisoned by the order of his father. This was plainly asserted by
William of Orange, and by Antonio Perez, who was at the time of the
death of Don Carlos in the service of King Philip, and the story was
believed by many contemporaries. Yet both William the Silent and Perez
were, when they wrote, the mortal enemies of the King, and although
Philip was unfortunately not above resorting to murder to attain
his ends, we may at least allow that the charge in this case is not
proven.
| Death of Don Carlos, 24th July 1568; and of Isabella,
| Oct. 3, 1568.
Don Carlos died on the 24th of July, 1568, and in less than three
months he was followed to the grave by Elizabeth, his stepmother, who
died in childbed, October 3, 1568. Two years later Philip married his
fourth wife, Anne of Austria, his niece, and daughter of the Emperor
Maximilian. She died on the 26th of October 1580. Of her children, all
died young except Philip, who succeeded his father.
§ 3. _Wars against the Moors and Turks.
The Rebellion of the Moriscoes._
| Condition of the Moriscoes.
By the ordinance of 1502, published by Ferdinand after the suppression
of the Moorish rebellion in Granada (cf. p. 96), the alternative
of baptism or exile had been offered to the Moors, and this had
been extended to Aragon, and its subordinate kingdoms Valencia and
Catalonia, in the early part of the reign of the Emperor Charles. To
further the work of conversion churches had been built in the
districts most occupied by the Moors, and missionaries despatched
thither. The attempt, however, met with scant success. The bitter
memories of the past, the deep racial hatreds, the imperfect
acquaintance of the preachers with the language of the Moors, the
differences of usage and of customs, presented insurmountable
difficulties. Accordingly, in 1526, coercion was attempted. An edict
was issued ordering the Moors to renounce their national usages,
dress, and language, and the Inquisition was intrusted with the
enforcement of the edict. Wiser counsels, however, for the time
prevailed. The edict was not enforced; and the government was fain to
rest content with an outward conformity, which was all that could,
under the circumstances, be looked for. The ‘New Christians,’ or
Moriscoes, as the Moors were called, at least did not disturb the
peace. Taking advantage of a strange clause in the Treaty of Granada,
which exempted them from certain duties paid by the Christians in
their trade with the Barbary coast, they devoted themselves to
commerce with that country. But it was as artisans and in agriculture
that they especially excelled. As artisans their skill was displayed
in many a handicraft; while by their irrigation and by their husbandry
they turned the slopes and uplands of the Sierras in Granada into one
of the most fertile parts of Spain. The fig, the pomegranate, the
orange, and the grape grew side by side with corn and hemp; their
flocks of merino sheep were famous; the mulberry tree formed the basis
of an extensive manufacture of silk. We may well deplore the fact
that this policy was abandoned; and yet amid the fanaticism aroused
by the crusade against the Protestants, the wonder perhaps is that it
continued so long. Moreover, at this moment, a renewal of the struggle
with the Moors of Africa and with the Turk in the Mediterranean
naturally revived the national antipathy to the Moriscoes.
| Expeditions against the Barbary Corsairs. 1560-1564.
| The relief of Malta. Sept. 1565.
| The Edicts of 1560-1567.
| Revolt of the Moriscoes. Dec. 1568.
The unceasing raids of the corsairs of the Barbary coast had not
only rendered the sea unsafe, but devastated the shores of Italy and
Spain. Accordingly, two expeditions were despatched against them
from Naples, which did not meet with much success. The first, under
the Duke of Medina Sidonia, Viceroy of Naples, was directed against
Tripoli, then held by a Greek named Dragut, who had been taken
prisoner by the corsairs in early life, and had turned Mahometan. The
Duke was forced to put back by stress of weather; his ships were
subsequently put to flight by a Turkish fleet under Piali, another
renegade, who sailed to the assistance of Dragut, and the island of
Jerbah (Gelves), which had been occupied, was retaken by the Turks
(June 29, 1560). The second expedition, which started in 1562,
was almost annihilated by a storm. In the following year (April
1563), the Dey of Algiers, encouraged by these disasters of the
Spaniards, attempted to drive them from Oran and the neighbouring
fortress of Mazarquivir (Mers-el-Kébir), two of the conquests of
Cardinal Ximenes, which, with Goletta near Tunis and Melilla in
Morocco, were the only remaining Spanish possessions on the African
coast. Mazarquivir was nearly lost, when, at the last moment, it was
relieved by a Spanish fleet on June 8, and in the two succeeding
years (1564 and 1565), the efforts of the Spaniards were somewhat
more successful. In September 1564, the island fortress of Peñon de
Velez, which lay to the west of the Spanish possessions, was taken
by Don Garcia de Toledo, who had succeeded Medina Sidonia as Viceroy
of Naples; and in the following year the estuary of the Tetuan,
another stronghold of the corsairs, was blocked up and rendered
useless. Further enterprise on the coast of Africa was now stopped
by the news that Malta was hard beset by the Turks. On the loss of
Rhodes, in 1522, the Knights of St. John had received the grant of the
island of Malta from Charles V. (1530); from that time forward they
had formed a bulwark against the Turk from the east, and had joined
in most of the late expeditions against the Barbary coast. Solyman
I., often urged to reduce this important place, at last despatched
a powerful fleet against it in May, 1565. Piali, the renegade, who
had already distinguished himself in 1560, shared the command with
Mustapha, a tried veteran of seventy, while Dragut of Tripoli also
added his contingent. In vain did the Grand Master, Jean de la
Valette, appeal for aid to repel the attack. Catherine de Medici was
at this moment intriguing with the Turks, and Venice was afraid to
arouse the anger of the Sultan. Even Philip did not seem inclined to
listen; the affairs in the Netherlands and in France demanded his
attention; perhaps he did not care to help an Order which, as it
happened at that time, was largely composed of Frenchmen. Finally,
however, he listened to the warning of Don Garcia de Toledo that
Malta, if once in Turkish hands, could never be recovered, and would
give the Sultan the command of that part of the Mediterranean; and
on September 8, 1565, Malta was relieved by Don Garcia when reduced
to the last gasp. That these events should have awakened the dislike
of the Spaniards for the Moriscoes at home, and that suspicions
were aroused of some correspondence between them and the Moors of
Africa, is not surprising. Nor under these circumstances can any
serious objection be brought against the first two ordinances;
that of 1560, forbade the Moriscoes to acquire negro slaves, on
the reasonable ground that thereby the number of the infidels was
constantly increased; that of 1563, prohibited the Moriscoes from
possessing arms without the licence of the captain-general. These
measures, however, did not satisfy Don Pedro Guerrero, the Archbishop
of Granada, nor the clergy of his diocese, and in pursuance of a
memorial which they presented, the government issued the following
astounding edict. The provisions of the ill-advised edict of 1526
were revived; the national songs and dances of the Moriscoes were
proscribed; their weddings were to be conducted in public according
to the Christian ritual, and their houses were to be kept open
during the day of the ceremony, so that all could enter and see that
no unhallowed rites were solemnised; their women were to appear in
public with their faces uncovered; and lastly, the baths in which
the Moriscoes delighted were ordered to be destroyed on the ground
that they were turned to licentious purposes. Still further, as if
to outrage the feelings of the Moriscoes, the edict was published
on January 1, the anniversary of the capture of the capital of
Granada. It appears that many of the local nobility protested against
the execution of this atrocious edict, and that the Marquis de
Mondejar, the captain-general of Granada, and even Alva himself,
were opposed to it. To expect that the Moriscoes would submit to
such interference with their most cherished customs--an interference
which did not even respect the domestic privacy of their homes--was
absurd, and if it was intended to seize upon disobedience as a
pretext for expelling them, the army should at least have been
increased. The Grand Inquisitor Espinosa was, however, above such
considerations, and the execution of the order was intrusted to Diego
Deza, auditor of the Holy Office, who was appointed President of the
Chancery of Granada. Finding all remonstrance vain, the Moriscoes
made preparations to revolt in June, 1569. Unfortunately some of the
more hot-headed, led by a dyer of the name of Aben-Farax, could not
brook delay, and in December, 1568, attempted a premature rising in
the Moorish quarter (the Albaicin) of Granada. ‘You are too few,
and you come too soon,’ said the Moriscoes of Granada, and refused
to move. Disappointed in seizing the city, the rebels retreated to
the country, where they met with more response, and signalised their
success by horrible ferocity. Neither sex nor age were spared; and
Christians, we are told, were sold as slaves to the Algerian corsairs
for a carbine a piece.
| Aben-Humeya elected King.
| Limits of the rebellion.
The Moriscoes now elected as their King Aben-Humeya, a young man of
twenty-two, a descendant of the ancient house that once had ruled in
Spain. The young King indeed dismissed Aben-Farax, and did something
to check the cruelties of his followers. The revolt was confined to a
somewhat limited area. Its chief stronghold was in the Alpujarras, a
low range of hills which lies between the higher peaks of the Sierra
Nevada and the sea; thence it spread to the neighbourhood of Almeria
on the east, and that of Velez-Malaga on the west. The Moriscoes held
no large towns, and only ventured on occasional raids upon the rich
plain of La Vega, in which the town of Granada lay, and upon the towns
on the sea-coast. Had the Sultan, Selim II., listened to the appeals
of Aben-Humeya, and thrown himself with energy into the struggle, the
rule of the Mahometans might have been re-established in Granada. The
Turks, however, were at this time too much engaged in the war of
Cyprus, and the Moriscoes only obtained some Turkish mercenaries
and some insufficient help from the Barbary corsairs; they were but
poorly armed, and their cause was ever weakened by internal feuds and
personal rivalries.
| The counsels of the Marquis de Mondejar rejected.
| Massacre of the prisoners at Granada.
| Don John appointed to supreme command. Spring 1569.
| The Moorish population of Granada removed into the
| interior.
Under these circumstances, if the advice of the Marquis de Mondejar
had been followed, the rebellion might in all probability have
soon been quelled. Unwilling to drive the Moors to despair, he
advocated a policy of conciliation, and attempted, though not
always with success, to restrain the fanaticism and cruelty of his
soldiers. Unfortunately, he was violently opposed by Diego Deza, who
urged a war of extermination. The wish of Diego prevailed, and the
Marquis of Los Veles, a nobleman of the district who held the office
of Adelantado of the neighbouring province of Murcia, was appointed
to the command of an army which was to operate from the east. The
stern old veteran proceeded to conduct the war with such ferocity
that he earned the name of the ‘Iron-headed Devil.’ The Spanish
soldiery, formed chiefly of local levies, retainers of the nobles, and
volunteers, were allowed to satisfy their unquenchable hatred of the
Moriscoes, and proceeded to rival, if not surpass, the atrocities of
the rebels. Even peaceful villages were sacked: the men were cut down
without remorse; the women, when they escaped a worse fate, were sold
into slavery. Meanwhile, in the town of Granada itself, some hundred
and fifty Moors, who had been arrested on suspicion, were massacred
in cold blood by the order of Deza (March 1569). Death in open war
was better than such a fate. The Moors, driven to despair, had no
alternative but to fight to the last. The war was not marked by any
great battles; the rebels, holding but few towns, and unable to meet
the enemy in the open field, betook themselves to the hilly districts,
where a confused though hard-fought struggle of races and creeds was
carried on. The government, however, was scarcely likely to succeed as
long as the bickerings between Mondejar and his rivals continued. In
the spring of 1569, Philip, anxious to check these cabals, appointed
Don John, his half-brother, the illegitimate son of Charles V., to the
supreme command. At the same time he was forbidden to take the field,
and as he was only twenty-two years old he was to be guided by a
council of war, of which Deza and Mondejar both were members. The only
result, therefore, of the change was that the quarrel was transferred
from the camp to the council, where finally the views of Deza
triumphed. In June, 1569, the whole of the Moorish inhabitants of the
town of Granada, amounting to some three thousand five hundred souls,
were ordered to leave the city for the interior, where they were to
find new homes. Mondejar, remonstrating at this act, was removed from
his post; and on the 19th of October, Philip, who had come to Cordova
to be nearer the scene of operations, issued an edict in which he
proclaimed that the war henceforth would be carried on with ‘fire and
blood.’
| On assassination of Aben-Humeya, Aben-Aboo succeeds.
Philip had now definitely committed himself to the views of Deza; yet,
owing to the incapacity of Los Veles, the royal army met with scant
success. At the close of the year, Aben-Humeya fell a victim to the
vengeance of one of the women of his seraglio. His death was no loss
to the cause of the Moriscoes, for although a man of much energy, and
of some ability, he had become intoxicated by success, and by his
jealousy, his selfishness, his licence, and his cruelty, had forfeited
the popularity he once enjoyed. Aben-Aboo, who succeeded him as King,
was a man of higher integrity and patriotism, and of greater constancy
and courage. He succeeded in obtaining the sanction of his election
from the Pasha of Algiers, in the name of the Sultan, and under his
rule the revolt spread eastwards to the very borders of Murcia, and
assumed a more formidable aspect than ever.
| Don John takes the field. Jan. 1570.
| Submission of Moriscoes. May 1570.
At last Philip, convinced of the inefficiency of Los Veles, removed
him from his command, and allowed Don John to take the field, assisted
by the Duke of Sesa, the grandson of Gonsalvo de Cordova. At the same
time, fresh levies were raised from the towns of Andalusia, and many
nobles, with their retainers, flocked to the standard of the young and
popular Don John, who at once marched to the district on the east of
the Alpujarras, and, in spite of several reverses, gradually wore down
the rebels. On January 28, the strong town of Galera was invested, to
fall on February 7, after a desperate struggle; the reduction of Seron
followed, and soon the whole country to the east of the Alpujarras was
re-won. Meanwhile, the Duke of Sesa had been equally successful in the
north. Gradually working his way across the Alpujarras, he secured
his conquests by a line of forts, and, in May, united his forces with
those of Don John at Padules. At the same time an amnesty was offered
to those who would lay down their arms. The cause of the Moriscoes was
now hopeless. On May 19, El Habaquin, a leading Moorish chieftain,
agreed, in the name of Aben-Aboo, to the severe terms imposed by the
conqueror. The ‘Little King,’ as the Moorish prince was called, was to
make public submission to Don John; the lives of the Moriscoes should
be spared, but, like their fellow-countrymen of Granada, they were to
be removed from their native district and distributed elsewhere in
Spain. At the last moment Aben-Aboo refused these humiliating terms,
and attempted to raise once more the standard of revolt, only to
fall by the hand of one of his subjects who had been bribed by the
government.
| The Moriscoes settle in other parts of Spain. Edict
| of Oct. 28, 1570.
The rebellion was now at an end. By the edict of October 28, every
Morisco from within the disturbed districts,[61] including those who
had remained loyal, was to be removed into the interior. Their houses
and lands were declared forfeited to the Crown; but their flocks,
their herds and their grain were, if they so wished, to be taken at
a valuation. It was, however, ordered that families should not be
divided, and the removal appears to have been effected in as humane a
way as possible. The districts appointed for their settlements were
in the territory of La Mancha, in the northern borders of Andalusia,
in the Castiles, Estremadura, and Galicia. Flogging and forced labour
on the galleys was threatened against any Moor who should leave his
abode without leave, and death to any one who dared approach within
ten leagues of Granada. The edict of 1566 continued in force; and
by a subsequent one, to keep an Arabic book was declared an offence
punishable with stripes and four years in the galleys. Andalusia now
became a desert. Meanwhile, in spite of these cruel laws, the exiles
enriched their new homes by their husbandry and industry until the
year 1609, when the fanaticism and national hatred of the Spaniards
led to the final expulsion of this unfortunate people from Spain
itself. The treatment of the Moriscoes by the Spaniards forms one
of the saddest episodes in history; yet, in justice, an Englishman
should remember that the treatment of the Irish by Cromwell, if it was
preceded by greater provocation, was fully as cruel.
§ 4. _Renewed struggle against the Turks.
The victory of Lepanto, 1571-1574_.
If the intolerance of Philip is responsible for the cruel proscription
of the Protestants and the Moriscoes, his political interests at
least did not lead him into such inconsistencies as those of other
European sovereigns. Indeed, when we consider the attitude of the
great Powers in Europe towards the Turks at this moment, we shall be
led to the conclusion that their policy with regard to heretics, as
well as to infidels, was guided rather by political, than by religious
considerations. The French, while they persecuted the Huguenots in
their own country, were ever allying themselves with the Turks to
oppose the Spaniard. Elizabeth of England, no doubt, gave grudging
aid to the Calvinists abroad, and established a form of Protestantism
in England; yet she proscribed the extreme Calvinists at home, and
at times sought the alliance of the Turk; whereas if Philip was
the persecutor of Protestants and infidels alike, the necessity of
protecting Italy and Spain at least made him the resolute opponent of
the infidel in the Mediterranean.
| League of Spain--Pope and Venice against the Turk.
| May 25, 1571.
The rebellion of the Moriscoes had not yet been crushed out, when
on May 1, 1570, the messenger of Pius V. reached Spain, praying for
the help of the most Christian King against the Turk. Solyman the
Magnificent had ended his long and triumphant career in 1566. Although
his successor, Selim II., possessed none of his father’s qualities,
the vigour of the late administration was still represented by the
Grand Vizier Mahomet; and at the close of the year 1569, Piali, one
of the commanders of the attack on Malta, and now brother-in-law of
the Sultan, had started on an expedition against Cyprus. Philip gave
a ready ear to the papal appeal, but meanwhile Nicosia, one of the
most important Cypriot fortresses, fell (September 1570). Venice in
despair attempted, though unsuccessfully, to make a separate treaty
with the Sultan; and it was not until the 25th of May, 1571, that the
difficulties and jealousies were surmounted, and that the League was
finally concluded. Venice had wished that the League should confine
itself to the protection of Cyprus; but Philip, not unnaturally,
was anxious to extend its scope; and accordingly Spain, the Pope,
and Venice agreed to form a perpetual alliance against the Moors of
Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers, as well as against the Turk. They agreed
to defend each other’s territories, and to make no separate peace;
each Power was to appoint a captain-general, and they should together
decide on the plan of operations, while the supreme command was to
be given to Don John of Austria. Finally, to defray the expenses of
Philip, Pius granted a _cruzada_, and an _excusado_.[62] The treaty
came too late to save the island of Cyprus; for on July 30, Famagusta
had fallen, when Bragadino, the chief in command, was flayed alive,
his skin stuffed and sent as a trophy to Constantinople. It was not
till the 16th of the following September, that the fleet of the
League finally left Messina. On reaching Corfu, intelligence was
received that the Turkish fleet was in the Gulf of Lepanto. Against
the advice of John Andrew Doria, who commanded the Genoese contingent,
Don John was eager to close with his antagonist. He was supported
in his opinion by the Marquis of Santa Cruz, the Grand Commander
Requesens, and the young Alexander of Parma, as well as by the other
captains-general, and on the 7th of October, the two fleets came
in sight of each other. That of the Christians was composed of 264
vessels of all sizes, with 26,000 soldiers and 50,000 rowers and
sailors aboard. That of the Turks, of some 300 vessels, and not less
than 120,000 men.
| The battle of Lepanto. Oct. 7, 1571.
In the action which ensued it was the object of the Turkish admiral
Piali to turn the wings of his adversary. This movement was, however,
foiled by Barbarigo, who commanded the Venetian galleys on the left,
and by John Andrew Doria on the right. They hugged the shore, and a
terrible struggle ensued, in which the allies suffered severely. At
last, the Venetians drove back their enemies, and though Barbarigo was
mortally wounded, his loss was compensated by the death of Mahomet
Sirocco, the Turkish admiral opposed to him. Meanwhile the centre,
led by Don John, after a desperate conflict at close quarters,
which resembled a fight on land rather than on the sea, was equally
successful. Piali fell, and most of the Moslem’s ships surrendered or
were destroyed. Finally Uluch Ali, the Dey of Algiers, who had been
severely handling the Genoese opposed to him, seeing that all was
over, took refuge in flight, and the Christians remained the victors
of one of the greatest naval combats of the century. The importance
of the battle of Lepanto, which lasted for more than four hours,
will be best appreciated when it is remembered that the Turks had
never hitherto been beaten at sea. Although an accurate computation
of the losses is not possible, it may with certainty be affirmed
that those of the Turks were more than twice as heavy as those of
their antagonists, and that not more than fifty of their vessels
escaped. Among the captives were found, we are told, 12,000 Christians
who had been condemned to the galleys.
| Delays and jealousies of the allies.
| Venice makes a separate treaty with the Turk. March
| 7, 1573.
Some now thought that this crushing defeat should be followed by an
immediate attack on Constantinople. The season, however, was far
advanced, and it was decided to postpone further operations until the
spring. The delay was fatal. An attempt was made to buy over Uluch
Ali, a Calabrian renegade, who had not forgotten his Christian parents
from whom he had been separated in youth. The offer was declined, and
Uluch shortly took the command of the new fleet which the Turks had
put on the sea with remarkable rapidity. Far different was the conduct
of the allies. In Spain there was the usual procrastination. Nor were
the interests of Spain and Venice the same; Philip desired to turn
against the Moors of Africa, and extend his conquests there; Venice
only cared to strengthen her position in the Levant. In vain did the
aged Pontiff attempt to reconcile these conflicting views. He died
in the following May, and although Philip’s fears, that a Pope in
the French interest would succeed him, were removed by the election
of Cardinal Buoncampagno (Gregory XIII.), the papal ‘Briefs of Fire’
were not of much avail. The allies, indeed, at last sent out another
expedition under Don John, which found the Turkish fleet off Modon
on October 7, 1572, the anniversary of the victory of Lepanto. But
Uluch Ali declined the contest; he remained under the guns of the
fortress, and at the end of the month the allies again dispersed. In
the following March all hope of concerted action was destroyed by the
news that Venice had come to terms with the Sultan; she surrendered
Cyprus, and agreed to pay a three years’ tribute to the Porte. The
Turks could scarcely have hoped for better terms if they had won the
battle of Lepanto.
| Don John reduces Tunis, Oct. 1573; but it and Goletta
| are retaken by Uluch Ali, Sept. 1574.
| The victory of Lepanto a barren victory.
Deserted by his allies, Don John, in the following October, sailed
to the African coast and easily reduced the town of Tunis. He now
dreamt of obtaining the investiture of the African kingdom from his
half-brother. The jealousy of Philip was instantly aroused; he urged
that the fortresses of Tunis and Goletta should be dismantled, and,
although this was not done, they were left with such an insufficient
force that Uluch Ali had little difficulty not only in retaking Tunis,
but in reducing the fortress of Goletta (Sept. 1574). Such were the
miserable results of the victory of Lepanto. It did not save the
island of Cyprus, which henceforth belonged to the Porte; it was
followed by the loss of Goletta, one of the few remaining conquests of
Charles V. on the coast of Africa; it only served to display once more
the jealousies of the European nations; and if for seventy years the
Turks made no further advance, and never again seriously threatened
the south-western shores of Europe, this was due far more to the
internal decay of the Ottoman Empire, than to the victory of Lepanto
itself.
§ 5. _The conquest of Portugal._
| Death of Sebastian, King of Portugal. Aug. 4, 1578.
| The Cardinal Henry succeeds; but dies. Jan. 31, 1580.
| Philip claims the crown, and sends an army under the
| Duke of Alva.
On August 4, 1578, Sebastian, the young King of Portugal, was
killed at the battle of Alcazar-Kébir as he was conducting a crazy
campaign against Abd-el-Melek, the Sultan of Morocco. The death of
the young King, who appears to have been half-mad, at once aroused
the determination of Philip to secure the crown of Portugal, and thus
finally unite the Iberian Peninsula under one hand. The successor
of Sebastian was his great-uncle, Henry. He was a Cardinal, and
over sixty-six years of age. Nevertheless, it was hoped that he
might yet have children, and the Pope was asked to authorise his
marriage. Philip declared his indignation at this interference of the
Papacy with what were ‘so clearly temporal affairs,’ but was relieved
from further apprehension by the death of the Cardinal-King on January
31, 1580. The only claimant whom Philip had now to dread was Antonio,
prior of Crato.[63] He was the illegitimate son, by a converted
Jewess, of Lewis, Duke of Beja, the great-uncle of Sebastian, but
he had been secretly legitimised by his father, had entered the
order of St. John of Malta, and was prior of the rich commandery of
Crato. If his legitimacy could be established, no doubt he was the
next male heir. Philip, however, refused to allow his claim, and
asserted his own right to the throne through his mother, the daughter
of King Emanuel. To enforce this claim an army had been collected on
the frontier under the Duke of Alva, which marched as soon as the
intelligence of the Cardinal’s death arrived. Those who did not submit
were treated as rebels, and when the town of Setubal offered some
slight resistance it was given over to pillage, ‘because to deny the
soldiers would have been a great injustice’ (July 16, 1580).
| Antonio proclaimed King.
| Lisbon capitulates to Alva.
| Philip enters Lisbon. June 29, 1581.
Meanwhile, Antonio had been proclaimed King by a motley assembly
of peasants at Santarem, and proceeded to Lisbon. In vain Pope
Gregory XIII. attempted to mediate. To propitiate Philip, who had
a passion for relics, he sent a most precious gift, part of the
body of one of the Holy Innocents; Philip accepted the gift, but
declined his mediation, and for once did not procrastinate. The
Marquis of Santa Cruz was despatched with the fleet to Setuval. There
he took the Duke of Alva and his troops on board, and sailed for
Lisbon. Antonio in vain attempted to resist. The citizens of Lisbon
would not fight; they asked for terms, but had to capitulate at
discretion; and Antonio, escaping with difficulty, reached Calais
after many wanderings. The city of Lisbon was partly saved from
pillage by Alva, but the neighbouring villages were sacked with such
relentless cruelty that it even surpassed all that Alva could have
imagined; and such was the insubordination of the soldiery that the
Duke declared rope would fail him wherewith to hang his mutinous
soldiers. At Oporto, the same scenes were repeated by the troops under
Sancho d’Avila, an officer who had already earned an evil reputation
for mutiny in the Netherlands. On the 29th of June, 1581, Philip
made his entry into Lisbon. Those few nobles who had dared to oppose
him were treated with relentless cruelty; the majority attempted no
resistance, and the people sullenly submitted. Antonio, with a price
set on his head, wandered from court to court begging for assistance
to regain his crown. In June, 1582, he succeeded in obtaining the help
of a French fleet, which sailed to the Azores. The fleet, however,
was dispersed by the Marquis of Santa Cruz; and for the rest of his
life the unfortunate pretender found an asylum for the most part in
England. Philip had gained his end, and Portugal was for a time united
with Spain. The Spaniards, however, had never been liked in Portugal;
the atrocities which accompanied the accession of Philip turned the
dislike to hatred; and it was not many years before Portugal again
threw off the hated yoke, and once for all declared her independence.
§ 6. _Internal Government of Philip II._
| The Government despotic; yet constitutional forms
| survive in Spain and its dependencies.
Although the government of Philip II. was practically a despotism, it
would be a mistake to suppose that no constitutional checks existed,
or that they were entirely futile. The Cortes of Castile and Aragon
still survived, and even in the subject provinces the old assemblies
were not done away with. In Castile, the Cortes nominally enjoyed
deliberative powers; no edict could constitutionally be issued except
on their petition, and no tax levied except by their consent. Yet
if Philip often summoned them, if he did not interfere with their
debates, if he listened to their petitions, these were constantly
disregarded on the plea that it was not expedient that they should be
granted; and, when occasion demanded it, royal ordinances were issued,
and fresh taxes imposed, without waiting for their assent.
| The revolt of Saragossa, 1591.
| Interference with the privileges of Aragon.
The constitutional rights of Aragon and its dependencies, Valencia
and Catalonia, were even more extensive. Any member of the Cortes
could present a memorial of grievances; until these grievances were
redressed the session could not be closed; and no law could be passed
or tax imposed except by the unanimous vote of the assembly. The
royal tribunals were subject to that of the Justiza, and any one
who set foot in Aragon could escape from the jurisdiction of the
royal courts by ‘manifesting’--that is, by appealing to his aid. No
foreigners could hold office in Aragon; the Inquisition, though
established, met with constant opposition. With these privileges
Philip came into open conflict when, in April, 1590, Antonio Perez,
his secretary, fled to Aragon and claimed the protection of the
Justiza (cf. pp. 307-9). On the pretext that Perez had, in the
justification which he had just published, been guilty of blasphemy,
he was, at the demand of the Inquisitors of Aragon, transferred to
their own prison. The citizens of Saragossa at once rose against
this violation of their ‘fueros.’ The Justiza was mobbed for having
surrendered the prisoner; the royal representative, the Marquis of
Almanara, was killed; and the Inquisitors, in fear of their lives,
restored Perez to the ‘Aljaferia,’ or Justiza’s prison. Four months
later, another attempt on the part of the Inquisitors (September 1591)
led to a renewed revolt, which was supported by the new Justiza, who
had been just appointed. Philip forthwith ordered an army to march
(October 24). The rebels had no army or organisation, and found little
support, except from some of the more violent of the peasants, who
betook themselves to brigandage. Accordingly, the royal army met with
no resistance; and when it reached Saragossa on November 12, 1591,
the city submitted without striking a blow. Although Philip published
an amnesty, all the leading men who had taken any part were excepted;
and the Justiza himself was executed, in violation of the law that
he could not even be arrested unless by the order of the Cortes. A
meeting of that body followed. In spite of the rule that it should be
presided over by the King himself, or a prince of the blood, the chair
was taken by Chinchon, the Archbishop of Saragossa, and the Cortes
consented to the following invasion of their privileges. The King was
to be allowed to nominate aliens as his viceroys; a definite time
was to be fixed for presenting grievances; except for the voting of
taxes, the right of any member to veto any measure was done away with,
and matters were to be decided by the vote of the majority of each
estate. This last concession practically made the King master of their
decisions, since he had the power of adding to the number of deputies
of each estate by summoning his nominees. Finally, for the appointment
of the deputies of the Justiza, a complicated system was established
which practically put the nomination in the King’s hands, and made
them the creatures of the royal will. Here, therefore, ended the
real independence of the Cortes of Aragon, and of its Justiza. True,
the country was not so severely taxed as Castile; yet, as in Castile
itself, the shadow of constitutional liberty alone remained, while the
reality had departed.
| Government of Naples, Sicily, and Milan.
An identical policy, although in a more exaggerated form, was pursued
by Philip in Sicily, in Naples, and in Milan. Satisfied with getting
the control of the central courts of justice, and of the supreme
executive, into the hands of his nominees, Philip allowed the old
assemblies, the feudal and municipal privileges, to continue. For the
rest the royal authority was maintained by the Viceroy. He made use of
class and local jealousies; he played off noble against burgher and
peasant, laity against clergy; he resorted to wholesale corruption,
and kept an army, mainly composed of Spaniards, to fall back upon in
the last resort; and, if at any time the Viceroy became too unpopular,
he could always be made the scapegoat and removed. It was in Naples
that the authority of the Viceroy was the least uncontrolled, that
corruption was deepest, and the taxation heaviest; while Milan
was protected by the privileges of the town and the pretensions
of the archbishop, more especially under the well-known prelate,
Carlo Borromeo; and in Sicily the feudal rights, and the municipal
privileges of such towns as Messina and Palermo, were too powerful to
be entirely overthrown.
| The Central Councils.
Under such a system of government as this, it was inevitable that the
real power should lie with the King and with those central councils
which controlled the administrative and judicial system in the various
parts of the empire. Of these there were as many as eleven,[64] of
which the three following were the most important: the Council of
State, the Council of Castile, and that of the Inquisition. The
Council of the Inquisition has already been described (p. 279). The
Council of State confined itself for the most part to foreign
affairs. But since Philip looked upon Castile as the centre of his
empire, it was but natural that the Council of Castile should become
the most important. Its functions were mainly judicial; it heard
appeals from inferior courts, and under Philip II. was mainly composed
of lawyers. It enjoyed, however, other powers; it kept the Church in
control, it drafted laws, and was generally consulted on all matters
of state interest. In fact, it became practically the Council of State
for the interior. The nomination of the members of these Councils
was exclusively in the hands of the King. With the exception of the
Council of State they were composed of ecclesiastics as well as
laymen, but the nobles rarely found a place there.
| Exclusion of nobles from political power.
Excluded altogether from the Cortes of Castile, and with a very
limited representation in that of Aragon,[65] the Spanish nobility
took but little part in political affairs at home. They had enormous
revenues; they were exempted from taxation; they filled most of
the offices in the royal household; they often commanded the royal
armies and fleets abroad; they acted as ambassadors, and as Viceroys
in the dependent states and in the colonies; but at home they had
little influence. They were no longer allowed to bear arms or levy
their retainers, except in the royal service; and, except on special
occasions, such as the rebellion of the Moriscoes, rarely appeared
in the field unless on foreign service. The time which was not spent
at court, was passed on their wide domains, where they copied on a
small scale the magnificence and the etiquette of the court. Living
thus in proud isolation, with much wealth but little power, they
refused to mix, or to intermarry with the lower classes, and rapidly
became a degenerate and useless class like the nobles of France in the
eighteenth century.
The Councils, then, depending as they did on the royal will, were
filled for the most part with the obsequious servants of a suspicious
master who could ruin them at his pleasure, unless, indeed, as was
sometimes the case, they were able to spread a net of intrigue round
the King which he was, for a time at least, unable to break. If Philip
usually asked the advice of his Councillors, he kept to his father’s
injunction, ‘to depend on no one but himself.’ He did not often appear
at their sessions; sometimes he altered despatches before submitting
them to his Councils; he generally received their opinions through a
committee, or more often demanded a written report, which he took to
his private cabinet and annotated with marginal comments. True to his
boast, that ‘with a bit of paper he ruled over both hemispheres,’ he
sat at his desk for hours together, sometimes assisted by a secretary,
sometimes by his favourite daughter Isabella, often quite alone,
and covered the state papers with notes in his crabbed hand with
the assiduity of a clerk, and not uncommonly with trivialities, of
which a schoolboy might be ashamed. Under these circumstances the
actual authority exercised by any individual depended on his personal
influence, and that of his clique, with the King. Although Philip
would allow his ministers considerable latitude as long as he trusted
them, his suspicions were easily aroused. He made use of one minister
against another; he learnt from each severally the views and opinions
of the others; he adopted the same system of espionage with regard
to them as he did, through his secret emissaries, abroad, and his
suspicion once aroused, the fall of the minister or viceroy was not
far off.
| The chief ministers.
| The Duke of Alva.
| Ruy Gomez, Prince of Eboli.
| Cardinal Espinosa.
Of the ministers who chiefly enjoyed his confidence the following
may be mentioned. At the beginning of his reign three men were
most influential: the Duke of Alva, Ruy Gomez de Silva, Prince of
Eboli, and Espinosa. The Duke of Alva had been a trusted adviser of
Charles, and had served him in his wars. Accordingly he recommended
him to his son as the ablest statesman, and the best soldier in his
dominions. Alva’s love of carefully weighing all sides before arriving
at a decision, coupled with his determination in carrying out the
royal will, made him a congenial spirit. He was Grand Steward of the
household, and a member of the Council of State, and for the first
few years had much influence. From the very first, however, he found
a rival in Gomez. This nobleman, descended from the younger branch of
a Portuguese family which had settled in Castile, had, as an imperial
page, become the favourite of Philip when prince. The ascendency
thus obtained he subsequently maintained by his knowledge of the
humours of his master, his pliability, his obsequiousness, and his
dexterity; while by his affability to others he succeeded in retaining
popularity. After his marriage with Anna Mendoza, Princess of Eboli, a
woman remarkable for her wit and for her beauty in spite of the loss
of an eye, he was created Prince of Eboli, and made a member of the
Council of State, and First Gentleman of the Bedchamber. Generally in
favour of pacific measures, he was opposed to the policy of repression
in the Netherlands, of which Alva approved. On this question Alva’s
advice prevailed; but with his departure to carry out the policy he
advocated, the influence of the Duke declined. The King perhaps had
learnt to resent his haughty demeanour; at all events Alva ceased to
play an important part in affairs of state.[66] The influence of the
Prince of Eboli was now supreme; and by his adroitness, and, if we may
believe some, by the complaisance of his wife to the attentions of
the King, he continued to retain his power till his death, in July,
1573. The third man of note during Philip’s earlier years was Diego de
Espinosa, who attracted the attention of the King by his extraordinary
capacity for work, and by his ability. He became President of the
Council of Castile and of the Indies; he was also Inquisitor-General,
a member of the Council of State, and Bishop of Siguença, and,
finally, was created Cardinal. This rapid rise, however, made him so
arrogant that he shortly incurred the dislike of his master, and on
being given the lie by the King in open council, Espinosa took to his
bed and died of chagrin, in September, 1572.
| Antonio Perez.
After the death of Ruy Gomez in July, 1573, his policy was continued
by the Marquis de Los Velez, the Queen’s major-domo, and by Antonio
Perez. The history of the latter is so characteristic of the dealings
of Philip with his ministers, that it requires more elaborate
notice. Antonio Perez, the illegitimate son of Gonzalo Perez,
Archdeacon of Sepulveda--one of the secretaries of state of Charles
V., and afterwards of his son--had learnt his business in the service
of the Prince of Eboli. On his father’s death, in 1566, Perez had
succeeded to some of his duties, and on the death of his patron, the
Prince of Eboli, he stepped into his place and continued his policy,
supported by the powerful advocacy of his widow. Blindly devoted to
the service of the King, and an adept at that system of espionage
which Philip loved, he sought for confidences that he might betray
them to his master, and flinched at no baseness to do him service. Of
these despicable acts, the dealings of Perez with Don John will
furnish the most flagrant example. We shall find (p. 353) that it
was Perez who fed the jealousy of Philip for his half-brother; that
he made use of Escovedo, Don John’s secretary, to tempt Don John
into rash statements, only that they might be communicated to the
King, and finally that it was he who saw Philip’s order to murder
the unfortunate secretary carried out. From that moment, however,
Perez knew no peace. His enemies in the council fostered the report
that he was the murderer of Escovedo, and implored the justice of
the King. Philip at first promised to support his instrument, or,
rather, his accomplice, but suddenly changed his mind, and had him and
the Princess of Eboli arrested (July 28, 1579). The explanation of
this strange conduct is still one of the mysteries of that reign of
mystery. The popular opinion, that it was due to the wounded pique of
the monarch, who was affronted because the widowed Princess of Eboli
preferred the embraces of the secretary to those of his master, is
not very probable. The report was based on vague surmises, and is not
supported by any definite proof; the Princess was now in years, and
the mother of ten children; the wife of Perez remained the constant
defender of her husband; nor is it easy to believe that Philip’s
confessor, Fray Diego de Chaves, would have shown such activity in the
matter had the reason for the persecution of Escovedo been of this
shameful character. It would appear more likely that Philip became
convinced that Perez and the Princess had deceived him in the matter
of Escovedo, and that, possibly to free themselves from a rival, they
had by their slanders compassed the death of the unfortunate man. The
conduct of the King seems to support this view. Afraid apparently of
compromising revelations with regard to his treatment of Don John,
and the murder of Escovedo, he at first seemed inclined to pardon
Perez, and even to recall him to his work; and it was not until
November, 1581, that, urged on by his confessor, he determined on
a more rigorous course. From that moment, the affair became almost
a personal struggle between the King and Perez. For five years the
ignoble matter dragged on, while Philip was collecting evidence
against his secretary. Perez was then (January 23, 1585) condemned
to a fine and to two years’ imprisonment, followed by eight years’
exile. Even then an attempt was made to get hold of all compromising
papers and letters. These had been hidden by the wife of Perez at the
commencement of the affair, but, though imprisoned, she refused to
surrender them, even after receiving her husband’s leave. Meanwhile,
Perez himself succeeded in escaping from his house, where he had been
confined, and took sanctuary. This was, however, violated, and Perez
was seized and put to torture. Nevertheless, on April 20, 1590, he
managed to escape from his tormentors, dressed in his wife’s clothes,
and fled to Aragon, where we have already met him (p. 300). On the
suppression of the revolt in that kingdom he once more succeeded in
escaping, this time to France. Philip still pursued him with fury;
he suborned agents to murder him; he tried to entrap him by means of
a woman of Pau, but all in vain. Perez subsequently went to England,
where he stirred up Elizabeth to send the expedition to Cadiz (cf.
p. 374). He finally survived his persecutor, and tried to make his
peace with Philip III. by offering to betray the state secrets of
the countries which had given him refuge. Philip, meanwhile, baulked
of his prey, took vengeance on the Princess of Eboli, and the heroic
wife of the secretary. The first was treated with increased harshness,
and died eighteen months afterwards (February 1592); the second was
imprisoned with her children, during the rest of Philip’s life.
| Change of Ministers and of Policy, after fall of
| Perez, 1579.
| Cardinal Granvelle, 1579-1586.
| Idiaquez and Christoval de Moura.
With the fall of Perez in 1579, the party originally led by Ruy Gomez
lost influence in the royal councils. Their places were taken by
Granvella, Don Juan de Idiaquez, and Christoval de Moura. Of these,
Cardinal Granvelle, son of the Chancellor of Charles V., and a native
of Franche-Comté, had already served Philip as a member of the
Consulta in Flanders, 1559-1563 (cf. p. 321). Since then he had filled
the post of Viceroy of Naples, where he had distinguished himself by
forming the league which led to the battle of Lepanto (cf. p. 293). He
was now appointed President of the Council of Castile. Idiaquez, son
of a secretary of state under Charles V., succeeded to Perez’ place
as secretary, while Moura, a Portuguese, was appointed member of the
Council of Finance, and took an active part in the conquest of his
native country (cf. p. 297). This change of ministry was marked by a
complete revolution in the policy of the King. Philip had hitherto
pursued a pacific policy in Europe; but from this moment he began to
embark on those attempts to make himself master of France and England
which finally ended in complete collapse.
| The Night Junta.
Granvelle soon found himself supplanted by his colleagues; and on his
death (September 22, 1586), Idiaquez and Moura with the addition of
the Count de Chinchon, an Aragonese, formed a triumvirate known as
the Night Junta, to which all important affairs from every department
were referred. Under the rule of this Junta, which lasted to the end
of the reign, the administration became more corrupt, and the quarrels
among the subordinates more frequent, while the irresolution and
procrastination of the King increased as his health began to fail.
| The King’s Confessors.
We should, however, fail to appreciate the influences which surrounded
Philip if we omitted his confessors. These were two Dominican
friars--Fray Bernardo de Fresneda up till 1577; from that date till
1595, Fray Diego de Chaves. Both these men added to their position
as confessors a post in the civil administration. The former--’the
fat Bishop of Cuenca,’--whom Cecil’s agent declared to be one of the
‘chiefest’ of the ministers, was appointed a member of the Council
of War, and commissary-general of the revenue derived from the
Cruzada. The second had even greater influence. Nominated a Councillor
of State in 1584, we find De Chaves taking a principal part in the
affair of Perez, in the suppression of the rebellion in Aragon, and in
the conquest of Portugal. He did not scruple to betray to his master
the secrets he learnt in the confessional, but in return for this
devotion he at times demanded obedience. Thus, in 1591, we find him
actually refusing the sacrament to Philip until the King should follow
his wishes with regard to the appointment of the President of the
Council of Castile.
| The beginnings of a standing army.
| The evils of the absolute rule of Philip.
To this despotic rule, one thing alone was wanting--a standing
army--and even there a beginning had been made. Although a large force
had been kept on foot by Philip’s father, it was only used on foreign
service, and was stationed abroad. For service at home, Charles
had depended on the militia levies from the towns, and the feudal
service of the nobles and their retainers. To these Philip added
the ‘Guards of Castile,’ a considerable force of men-at-arms with
their followers, together with some squadrons of light cavalry, who
were put upon a permanent footing, and retained at home. Henceforth
the government had an army at hand wherewith to quell any domestic
troubles. But if Philip’s rule may be justly called a despotism,
here too, as ever, that despotism involved the restraints and the
intrigues of a bureaucracy--a bureaucracy which, though appointed by
the King, sometimes became his master. Nowhere perhaps can a more
startling illustration be found of the evil results of absolute rule,
especially when placed in the hands of a man of small intelligence,
of narrow and bigoted views, and of suspicious temperament, yet with
a tenacious love of power, and with indefatigable though misdirected
industry. Charles had, indeed, ruled despotically, and with some
success. But the son resembled his father in one point only, his
self-control. Neither good nor bad news made him display any emotion;
at most, when some untoward event was announced, he was seen to clutch
his beard. For the rest, Philip had not his father’s gifts, and,
with such a man, the consequences of the system were disastrous. His
determination to hold the reins of government, at least in appearance,
necessarily caused delay; and, coupled with his unfortunate delusion
that ‘time and he were a match for any other two,’ led to that fatal
habit of procrastination and irresolution which often ruined his most
cherished schemes. Dearly as he loved power, he was not strong enough
always to take the lead himself; and hence his eager desire for the
opinions of his councillors. No doubt he fancied that the ultimate
decision lay with him; yet often, in reality, he was guided by the
individual who for the moment had his ear. Under these circumstances
it was inevitable that intrigue and corruption should gather round
him, until they were often too strong to be withstood. Meanwhile, in
the lower orders of the bureaucracy these evils grew apace, and were
even acknowledged by Granvella himself.
Nevertheless, since it is not to be denied that Philip decided what
influences should be near him, and thus gave the general tone to the
character of the administration, he must be held primarily responsible
for its harmful action. We have already shown how the isolation
of the nobility was fostered; how by the absolute authority which
Philip exercised over the Church, combined with the powers of the
Inquisition, all independence of thought was crushed; how by a narrow
bureaucratic system, the people were deprived of the substance of
political power.
| Philip’s Financial and Commercial Policy.
A few words remain to be said on the commercial and financial policy
of the reign. The view prevalent at that time in Europe that gold
and silver were the most desirable of all forms of wealth, and that
a country benefited when the imports of those metals exceeded their
exports, had a certain practical truth in it. It should be remembered
that, in the absence of paper money, the amount of metallic currency
required within a country would, relatively to the volume of trade,
be greater then than now. Moreover, since national loans were only in
their infancy, and a National Debt unknown, a well-filled treasury
was necessary to meet great emergencies, such as a war. Above all, in
those countries which did not themselves possess any mines, the only
way of obtaining the precious metals was in exchange for homemade
goods, or by trade. In such countries, therefore, the doctrine
tended to stimulate, not to cramp industrial enterprise. The case
of Spain, however, was different. The mines of the New World gave
her the precious metals, and therefore she was tempted to discourage
the imports of foreign countries, and even to forbid the exportation
of gold and silver. Nor was this all. Trusting to the produce of
the mines, the Spaniards both at home and in the colonies were
encouraged in their national dislike for the more laborious, though
more productive industries, and national indolence increased. The
mines, moreover, were not nearly so productive as was hoped, and
Philip soon learnt that the wealth turned out by the Flemish looms was
infinitely greater than that produced by the far-famed mines of Mexico
and Peru.
The absurd regulations with regard to trade, which were not however
new, led also to disastrous results. In the vain hope of keeping
prices down, the export of corn and cattle, and even dealing in
corn within the country, was prohibited; importation of any kind
from the Barbary coast was also forbidden. The effect of these and
other absurd restrictions was that the cultivation of the restricted
articles was checked, and that trade gradually fell into the hands
of foreigners. Many of these, in return for loans, obtained licences
from the King to export, while the demand for foreign goods gave the
foreigner the command of the import trade. All articles of luxury
came from abroad, and we know that the rebels of the Netherlands
carried on a thriving trade in those very munitions of war which
Spain used in her attempt to crush them. It has been computed that
five-sixths of the home, and nine-tenths of the Indian trade were
monopolised by foreigners. Thus Spain, by no means wealthy by nature,
failed to enrich herself by trade and manufactures, and remained
poverty-stricken. The evil was increased by the exorbitant taxation
necessitated by Philip’s wars, and by the expenses of the court. These
taxes fell more especially on Castile and Naples, and were collected
by such evil and corrupt methods that, while the people suffered much,
the government often received but little.
| General results of Philip’s Home Policy.
The general effect of Philip’s policy at home was to foster and
exaggerate all the worst traits of the Spanish character--its
intolerance, its ignorance, its indolence, and its pride; and if at
the beginning of his reign Spain seemed to have touched her pinnacle
of greatness, by the end of it she had made a long step towards her
future decline. We must now pass on to deal with Philip’s policy in
the Netherlands and abroad, to trace the failure of his attempt to
reduce these provinces to the condition of his other dependencies, and
the collapse of his wild idea of subjugating England and France to his
despotic rule.
[Illustration: THE NETHERLANDS]
FOOTNOTES:
[59] The Grand Inquisitors during the reign of Philip were:--
1. Don Fernando Valdès, Archbishop of Seville, 1547-1566.
2. Espinosa, the King’s Secretary, Bishop of Siguença, and
Cardinal, 1566-1573.
3. Quiroga, Archbishop of Toledo, 1573-1594.
[60] For the mystery of Don Carlos cf. Prescott, _Philip II._, c.
vi.; Forneron, _Philippe II._, c. xi.; Gachard, _Don Carlos et
Philippe II._
[61] There were Moriscoes in other parts of Spain, especially in
Murcia, Valencia and even in the Vega of Granada, who were not
disturbed.
[62] A _cruzada_ was a licence granted by papal dispensation,
allowing the eating of eggs and milk on certain days. This
licence was sold by the King, and to induce people to purchase
it, every one was forced to buy these articles whether they ate
them or no. An _excusado_ was the tithe upon one holding in each
parish in Spain, granted to the King.
[63] There were other possible claimants--Emanuel Philibert, Duke
of Savoy, and the sons of Alexander Farnese, who could claim
through the female line, but did not do so. Even Catherine de’
Medici affected to base her title on descent from a distant King
of Portugal, but did not at this time urge it. The question of
the succession, and the close relationship between the royal
families of Spain and Portugal will be best understood from the
following table:--
{ Isabella, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella.
=Emanuel of Portugal= = { Mary, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella.
| { Eleanor, sister of Charles V.
|
+-----------------+------+----------+-----------+
| | | |
=John III.= = Catherine, Lewis, =Henry, Isabella = Charles V.
1521-1557. | sister of Duke of Cardinal=, |
| Charles V. Beja. 1578-1580. |
| . |
+--+-------+ ................. |
| | . |
Philip II. = Mary Emanuel = Joanna, Antonio, |
of Spain. John, | sister of Prior of |
+1554. | Philip II. Crato, the |
| Pretender. |
=Sebastian=, |
1557-1578. +-----------+
| |
=Philip II.= Joanna =
Emanuel John.
[64] The others were:--
1. The Hazienda, for the administration of the revenue, and
for the trial of cases concerning it.
2. The Council of The Orders, for the administration of the three
Military Orders of St. Iago, Calatrava, Alcantara.
3. The Camera, originally a section of the Council of Castile,
subsequently became practically a separate council.
4. The Council of War.
5, 6, 7, 8. The Councils of Aragon, Italy, Flanders, and
Portugal. That of Portugal was created after the conquest of that
country. That of Flanders soon ceased to be of much importance.
9. The Council of Indies, for the general administration of the
Indies, and for the trial of cases, civil and ecclesiastical,
arising thence.
[65] Only eight titled houses of the Grandees could claim a seat.
Of the hidalgos, or lesser nobility, only those came whom the
king chose to summon.
[66] After the return of Alva from the Netherlands, a quarrel
broke out between him and the King about the marriage affairs of
his son, and he was ordered to live in retirement at Uzada, 1579.
There he remained till his services were required for the
conquest of Portugal, 1580. He died in December 1582.