his illustrious Mother have been pleased to give us the victory over
the Turkish fleet, and His omnipotence hath been most clearly made
known, inasmuch as this proud and great armada hath been broken and
conquered. We fought valiantly some two or three hours; many of our
galleys were engaged with two, three, or four of the enemy's vessels.
The number of the Turkish vessels, as far as I could learn, amounted
to about 270, rather more than less; in the which they had stowed as
many men at arms as they could collect in all Greece, both cavalry and
infantry, the best they could find; and they were directed to come in
search of us--for such were the orders from Constantinople. Some of the
vessels of the armada, and some foot-soldiers, having been despatched
on the approach of Don John of Austria, to consult with the Turk as to
what was to be done, the Seignior ordered the Turkish fleet to seek
until it found us. Nor had they much trouble therein: for the very
same morning on which they left the port with this intent, namely,
on Sunday the 7th October, the day of St Mark, Pope and Confessor,
the two fleets came in sight of each other, near some islands called
Le Corcholare, (?) whither they were coming with the same intent as
ourselves, namely, to anchor. When we made this mutual discovery,
nothing was to be done save to prepare for action. The Turks were
amazed at the smallness of our number, and thought that we should fly;
but they were speedily undeceived, and very much to their cost; for, in
the short space of time I have mentioned, not a vessel of theirs but
was taken, sunk, or burnt, or had fled. Many escaped by running their
smaller vessels ashore, and Uchali,[32] with a part of his galliots,
escaped. The Admiral Pasha died fighting, but his two young sons were
taken. Many other notorious corsairs were likewise taken or killed.
I cannot exactly say the number of vessels taken or destroyed; but I
think for certain they are above two hundred; and the best is that, of
our squadron, no captain-general or person of any importance is missing
or even wounded; of the others I only know of Captain Francisco de
Cordoba, the nephew of the Marquis of Santa Cruz, who was killed by an
arquebuse-shot; of other folk but few are killed or wounded. It is the
work of God and not of man. You will be pleased to hear that not one
of our vessels but has another in tow, which it has taken, and that we
all did well. The galley in which I was did the least of all; we fought
the Turk who was opposed to us, attacked the infidels' vessel by the
poop, throwing into it shot, stones, and fire until it surrendered; and
we captured two flags which hung at the stern. Some soldiers got good
booty in clothes. After this we secured some others, and drove so many
ashore that it is a shame to tell; and in all our vessel we had not
so much as six wounded, and not one killed. Many of our galley-slaves
who were released fought like lions, and restored to liberty an
infinite number of Christian captives who were in the Turkish fleet;
among these were more than 2,000 Spaniards, and many women and children
whom the Turks had seized in Cephalonia and other parts. Had not the
season been so far advanced, we might have gone safely as far as
Constantinople; at any rate we might have taken all Greece and the
Morea; but it is already winter, and, moreover, we have not sufficient
provisions aboard.
"Don Bernardino de Cardenas died of a spent ball from an arquebuse,
which struck him on the breast; although the ball did not enter the
flesh, Don Bernardino fell and never rose again. The Count de Bianco,
and a few other gentle folks, likewise fell fighting valiantly. Captain
Juan Rubio is safe and sound, after performing marvels with his crew;
for he fought with three large galleys at once, and made them all
yield; but neither he nor I have got a single maravedi. It would have
been no bad thing to have stumbled across a good purse full of ducats.
But you, sir, will remember your servants; we have no hope from any
one after you but in God, who we pray may keep you and your house in
that health and in that increase of wealth which we, your servants, do
desire. From Le Corchorale, this 9th October 1571. Illustrious sir,
I kiss your hands. I entreat you to send a servant with this, on the
first opportunity, to my brother the canon. I take this liberty as the
affair is of importance."[33]
Two years after the battle of Lepanto, Don John of Austria gained
fresh laurels at Tunis and Biserta: and these victories seem to have
confirmed him in his ambitious projects of obtaining an independent
kingdom. Juan Soto, a man of much experience in military matters,
who, at the time of the expedition to Grenada, had been placed about
his person as secretary by Ruy Gomez de Silva, Prince of Eboli, and
who had served with Don John all through the Moorish and Italian
campaign, appears to have much encouraged Don John in these ambitious
aspirations. By allusions to the former pomp and splendour of ancient
Carthage, Juan Soto inspired Don John with the idea of erecting Tunis
into an independent kingdom; the Pope even was induced to recommend
this scheme to Philip II.'s favourable consideration. But the monarch
had no wish to lose so able a general as Don John, to whom he looked
for the extension of the Spanish monarchy; still less could he think
of establishing a rival and independent kingdom at Tunis. A despatch
was therefore forwarded to Don John, in which all the reasons for the
dismantling of Tunis were urgently put. But Don John disobeyed orders,
and fortified the town, in the vain hope of erecting Tunis into the
capital of his future kingdom. Shortly afterwards, the town fell again
into the hands of the Turks. Juan Soto was shrewdly suspected at
head-quarters of advising this act of disobedience to royal orders. It
was therefore deemed expedient to remove the scheming and dangerous
secretary; but some prudence was necessary lest Don John might see
through the suspicions of the Spanish court. Juan Soto was accordingly
rewarded by promotion, and made Proveedor-general of the armada. Juan
Escovedo, a creature of Philip II., who, as we shall subsequently see,
became far more dangerous than his predecessor in office, was placed
about Don John as his secretary. Soto, however, was too useful to
Don John to be so easily parted with, and we still find him acting,
in conjunction with Escovedo, in the capacity of secretary, as late
as 1577. Philip II. soon discovered to his cost that the change of
secretaries brought no change of policy; nay, Escovedo proved a more
willing tool, and inspired Don John with far loftier schemes of
ambition than Soto, his predecessor in office, had ever conceived.
In the year 1576 Philip II. thought fit to take Don John of Austria
from the scenes of his triumph in the Mediterranean, and to remove him
from his dreams of independent kingdoms at Tunis into the midst of
European intrigues. Don John was sent to take command of the forces
in the Low Countries, where the ferocious and iron rule of the Duke
of Alva, and of his successor, Don Luis de Requesens, the commendador
mayor of Castile, had plunged the Flemings deeper into rebellion, and
had obliterated the little loyalty to the crown of Spain which still
lingered in the Low Countries. Don John was selected for this post
from his likeness to his father, the late Emperor Charles V., whose
memory the Flemings still cherished, and from his connexion with the
country, his supposed mother belonging to one of the best families in
Flanders. For these reasons, this appointment was held likely to be
popular, and to lead to good results. Don John was ordered to proceed
without delay to his new government; and his secretary, Escovedo, came
to Madrid to procure money and other matters necessary for his master's
new office.
While Escovedo was in Madrid, apparently engaged in these details,
Antonio Perez, Philip's confidential secretary, accidentally discovered
from the Pope's nuncio, who asked him if there was about the court
such a person as one Escovedo,[34] that Don John's ambitious views
were by no means extinguished. As his brother's policy would not
permit him to found a new empire at Tunis, the Pope, the Guises, and
Don John had planned an expedition for the conquest of England. Mary,
queen of Scots, was to be released from prison; Elizabeth dethroned;
England brought back to the bosom of the Catholic church under the
guidance of Mary, queen of Scots, and her new husband, Don John of
Austria--for this marriage formed part of the project. Here was a
scheme to captivate an ambitious, chivalrous young prince! The nuncio
in answer told Perez that, in a despatch which he had received from
Rome, he was instructed to interest Philip II. in this expedition,
and to request the Spanish monarch to aid Don John in this meditated
attempt upon England. This was not quite new to Perez; some vague
surmises had already been excited against the doings of Escovedo and
Don John, by hints thrown out by Don Juan de Zuniga, the Spanish
minister in Rome, whose suspicions had been excited by the frequent
communications between Escovedo, the Pope, and the Guises. Antonio
Perez, now that he held the threads of the plot in his hand, instantly
informed Philip of the whole project. At this inauspicious moment Don
John himself, against Philip's peremptory orders to proceed direct to
the Netherlands, reached Barcelona, with two fast-sailing galleys, and
hurried on to Madrid, where he found his brother Philip fully apprised
of his scheme. But such was Don John's manly air, such the influence
which his straight-forward conduct exercised over the suspicious nature
of Philip II., that the Spanish monarch yielded a reluctant assent
to his brother's plans of aggrandisement, and promised to allow him
to make use of the Spanish veterans in aid of his expedition against
England, after he had pacified the Low Countries. Perez says that
Philip consented to this scheme with the view of encouraging Don John
of Austria to use greater diligence in Flanders. Full, therefore, of
his new government and of his own ambitious projects, Don John left
Spain; and on the 17th October 1576, we find the following letter from
him to his friend and adviser Don Garcia de Toledo, Marquis of Villa
Franca, whose reputation as a general was founded upon the capture from
the Moors of the impregnable fortress of El Peñon de Velez.
"....Concerning my own journey I desire to say as much as the time will
allow me, leaving to others to tell you more at length how I shall go.
I journey to Flanders in disguise through France, and, next to God, the
disguise will save me. I go, not a little contented to be able to do
you some service;--(Don John had busied himself much in procuring for
Don Garcia the promise of a grandeeship of the first class);--"desiring
to encounter perils, and by no means fatiguing myself with these
new labours which I have undertaken. Money is short, and my present
necessities great. In the end God hath to take up this his cause in
every way, and to aid me individually with a miracle. You must let me
know where I shall receive your letters, and I will advise you, God
willing, of my safe arrival: and I beseech you to tell me alway of your
health, and to advertise me, as is your habit, of your opinion as to my
doings; and to make use of me in all ways as a sincere friend, and as
such I congratulate you on the marriage of Don Pedro, and on the state
in which the Señora Doña Elvira is; and may it all turn out as you may
best desire. From the Pardo, the 17th Oct., 1576. At your service, DON
JUAN."[35]
We gather the particulars of his journey through France from Brantôme,
who says that "Don John without any great suite, and in order to go
with greater certainty, rode post with six companions only; having with
him Señor Don Otavio Gonzagua as his confidant, and a French postilion,
whom he found in Spain, as his guide; the latter was, moreover, an
excellent companion, and knew every road, lane, and bye-path in France.
This man led Don John across France in most dangerous and unquiet
times: in Guyenne they were on the eve of a war, which indeed broke
out some three months after. Don John arrived in Paris, and got off
his horse at the hotel of the Spanish Ambassador in the street of St
Anthoine."[36] That same night he seems to have gone to a great ball
at the Louvre, where he was much struck with the beauty of the Queen
of Navarre, before whom he stood like one entranced. The following
day, Don John, still full of Marguerite of Navarre, saw the palace
and the other sights of Paris, and started again on his journey,--no
one having an idea, till he was gone, that he had been in Paris at
all. He travelled again in disguise, and on horseback, to the Duchy of
Luxemburg, and thence to Flanders, where he found that Antwerp had just
been taken and sacked. Shortly after his arrival peace was concluded;
one of the first conditions of which was the departure of all Spanish
troops by land. We shall see that they were forced to go to Italy
instead of by sea to England, and were said to be so charged with booty
that they could scarce walk. We find Don John writing in the following
terms to Don Garcia de Toledo, on the 21st February, 1577, after peace
had been concluded.
"Most illustrious sir,--Not to tire you with a long letter, I will
refer you to my secretary, Juan de Soto, who will inform you of the
state in which things are here, and by the grace of God they are better
than could be expected, as every thing was, when I came, as bad as
possible. To God be rendered thanks, in that he hath given me patience
to suffer what it appeared impossible for any human creature to bear,
before this blind people could be brought out of their passion, which
kept their minds so hardened against their own peace and quiet. But
since his Divine Majesty has permitted things to come to this pass, I
trust that with time the whole machine will come round to its proper
place. The moment any thing of consequence occurs I will let you know;
and I entreat of you to inform me of the state of your health, of which
I have heard nothing since I reached Luxemburg, which is now more than
three months and a half. I know not how to account for this, as I do
not hear that the passes are closed.... Some of the conditions of this
peace are hard, most hard; but necessary to save religion and to ensure
obedience. Time will do something, and already much has been done by
the grace of God. At your service, DON JUAN."[37]
But now, when Don John fully expected to reap the benefit of peace,
and to employ his Spanish veterans in the conquest of England, he saw
all his hopes frustrated. The states of Flanders steadily refused to
allow the Spanish troops to be embarked on board ally vessels in their
harbours, lest they should be used against Zealand and Holland, but
demanded, in a peremptory tone, that the troops should be instantly
despatched by land, according to the treaty. Moreover, Philip resisted
the pressing appeal of the Pope's nuncio to interfere in this matter.
Thus was England saved from the horrors of an invasion,--curious that
for once in their lives Elizabeth of England and Philip of Spain should
have had similar interests at heart![38]
Don John's ambitious spirit still drove him to seek some means of
acquiring an independent kingdom, either in the East, in England,
France, or Spain. Much to Philip's disquiet, Don John now held constant
communication with the Guises; emissaries went to, and came frequently
from, Rome, without Don John ever acquainting his suspicious brother
with his intrigues. Escovedo was exceedingly busy, and Perez was
employed by Philip II. to worm out the secret, which he did by the
most dishonourable artifices. He entered into a secret correspondence
with Escovedo, and, after blaming Don John's secretary for writing to
the Pope without Philip's knowledge, Perez assured Escovedo that their
correspondence should be kept profoundly secret from the king. All this
time the wily secretary of state showed all the letters and despatches
to Philip, who frequently amended the drafts of the minutes with his
own hand. Nay, to obviate suspicion, Perez occasionally put in some
abuse of the monarch.[39] Don John, in moments of disappointment, wrote
to Perez--For the sake of his life, of his honour, of his soul, he
must quit Flanders--he would leave his post when people least expected
it--although this crime might be punished with blood.[40] He talked of
entering France "at the head of a band of adventurers, consisting of
6000 infantry and 2000 horse."[41] Moreover, Don John was frequently
heard to say, "Escovedo and money--money and Escovedo." The latter
became exceedingly bold, and said that, after conquering England, it
would be easy to gain Spain: that with the ports of Santander and
the Peña de Mogron, a footing might be gained in Castile. But what
brought matters to a crisis was the demand made by Escovedo, who
was now in Spain, to be instantly appointed governor of the Peña de
Mogron. Philip, seeing in this demand confirmation strong of his worst
suspicions, thought Escovedo too dangerous a person to be allowed to
live, and Perez was ordered to despatch this intriguing emissary.
Poison was administered in vain; at last Escovedo was stabbed in the
streets of Madrid by one Insausti, on the 31st March 1577. But for
the whole of this most curious chapter in the history of Antonio
Perez, whose airs of authority had made him detested,--for a full
comprehension of Don John's ambitious views,--of the part which
Escovedo played in this drama,--of his murder by the command of Philip,
and the manner in which the guilty accessary, Antonio Perez, was made
the scape-goat of the whole transaction, and offered up as a sacrifice
to the long-cherished hatred of Escovedo's family, and of his rival
Mateo Vasquez--of the insurrection in Arragon, and other matters
connected with this transaction,--we must refer our readers to Mons.
Mignet's interesting work on Philip II. and Antonio Perez, where they
will find the whole story handled with admirable precision by a master
of his art.[42]
The murder of Escovedo must have opened Don John's eyes, and shown him
that Philip would never allow him to acquire a separate and independent
kingdom. Don John's ambitious spirit seems now to have preyed upon
itself, and his constitution to have suffered from this internal
struggle: he had frequent fits of melancholy, accompanied by attacks
of low fever; and occasionally expressed an earnest desire to leave a
career for which he daily felt an increasing dislike, and to be allowed
to retire into some monastery. This feeling was much aggravated by the
failure of the negotiation in the Netherlands, and by the prospect
of a long and lingering war, in which none of those bold dashes and
brilliant adventures, which formed so great an attraction to one of
Don John's chivalrous and enthusiastic nature, were to be expected.
At length, after several small successes, after a victory at Namur,
Don John was seized with the putrid fever, of which he died on the
1st October 1578, in the 33d year of his age, and with him perished
all his ambitious designs. On opening the body, Don John's heart was
found much diseased, and his skin was as if it had been burnt; many
attributed his death to poison. His last dying request was to be buried
in the Escurial, near the bones of his father, the Emperor Charles V.
We cannot better close this slight sketch of one so early snatched from
a career of glory, than by quoting an interesting and detailed account
of his last hours, written by his confessor, an eye-witness of his
death.
"TO HIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY.
"Your Majesty will have heard, by letters from the Prince of Parma and
from Prince Octavio Farnese, the trouble which it hath pleased God
to bring upon us by the death of Señor Don John of Austria: and to
accomplish that which he hath so many times commanded me to do, during
his life, as well as somewhat to relieve the grief which I know will
seize upon your Majesty's royal heart, I will relate the prayer which
Don John desired me to make to your Majesty in his name, and with all
humility, for the repose of his soul, the which I believe, and do dare
to affirm, is now in the enjoyment of that crown of glory which all
who sacrifice their life for the law and the gospels in the service
of their king, are wont to receive as their reward. And no one went
through greater or indeed equal labours and troubles than did this most
Christian and obedient gentleman.
"All the time, most powerful Sir, that his highness Don John was in
the castle of Namur,--or, at any rate, most of the time,--he passed
in making his peace with God, and in ordering his worldly affairs. He
manifested unto me many times his strong wishes therein, entreating me
to beseech God, by the merits and zeal of the invincible Emperor, his
father and master, to employ his person in the defence of the Catholic
faith, and to allow him to die before he should do, or suffer any thing
to be done, which should offend God even in the smallest matter. He
even said more: that he never could think of your Majesty, his father
and master, without ardently desiring to assist in the defence and
spread of the holy Catholic faith, and in enforcing obedience to your
Majesty, who, he hath told me an infinite number of times, was his
master, his father, his brother, and his whole wealth on this earth.
"Two days before the victory of Gemblours, Don John sent for me and
told me that, although he did not then intend to engage the enemy,
still, considering the many chances of war, he desired to make a
general confession from the time when he could first remember to have
had the use of his reason. This was the more easy for his highness,
from the frequency with which he hath attended the holy offices of the
church since he hath been in these parts: as rarely a month passed that
he hath not communicated and confessed twice,--nay sometimes thrice.
Thus on that night, after having made a clean breast, and disposing of
his affairs as if he were truly about to render an account unto God at
that moment,--as in fact he did in the spirit--his highness, with an
appearance of deep feeling and great humility said, as he walked up and
down the room, 'Reverend Father--in order that you may, once for all,
know my last will and testament, and my wish in other matters besides
those of which I have lately discoursed while I was at your feet, and
that you may never put to me any other questions, for I have nothing
further to say--I beg you will observe these three matters:--1st, My
soul I commend unto God, and to my father.--2d, As to what regardeth my
body, I well know how little it availeth where it lie until the day of
judgment: but I wish you, in my name, to entreat his Majesty the king,
my master,--looking to what the Emperor my father requested of his
Majesty, as well as to the way in which I have served him,--to grant me
this favour--that my bones may rest somewhere near those of my father.
In this guise my services will be amply satisfied and recompensed.--3d,
As to these old rags which I have here, I know not how to dispose of
them; but as I am the Emperor's son, and the Emperor recommended me
as such to his Majesty, and as I die in his Majesty's house, and in
his service, let him, like a true father and master, dispose of my
possessions--not only as if they belonged to his son, but to his
servant and slave; and I would do the same were the whole world mine.'
"Don John entreated me most fervently to beg your Majesty, in
consideration of this his expressed wish, to pardon him if at any time
in Italy or elsewhere he hath used your Majesty's moneys more than was
fitting. He said very many other things to the same effect, the which,
although I remember me of them, I will not write, in order not to wring
your royal heart any further; and thus in that same night he repented
him of his sins with as much fervency as if the last hour of his
life had actually come, desiring to have some opportunity to receive
the most holy sacrament on the following morning: this, however, was
not possible until two days after that most famous and miraculous
victory. The Saturday before the day of Pentecost, while we were before
Philippeville,--acting upon the leave which his highness had formerly
given me, I did entreat him almost with reproaches not to place a
life, so useful to the church and to his brethren, in such frequent
and imminent danger, nor to take upon himself labours to which his
bodily strength was unequal, whatever his wishes and courage were. His
highness replied; 'Reverend father, this life and much besides I owe to
God, and to the king my master, to whom, as I have oftentimes said and
now repeat, I leave my bones and all I possess, should I die here in
his territories.'
"On the first of August--for I pass over many details in order not
to weary your Majesty; the night before his highness (who is in
heaven) bestirred himself against the enemy before Malines, he made a
general confession of his sins, placing himself in the hands of God,
preparatory to receiving the most holy sacrament on the following day;
confessing again afterwards, and saying that that was a good testament
when a man commended his soul to God, his body to the company which he
loved best, namely that of his father and master, and his property in
the hands of him who knew better than he how to take the burden of it.
And, in truth, his highness only used it in your Majesty's service.
"Finally, the second day on which he sickened, he said that although
the physicians declared his malady not to be dangerous, he did,
nevertheless, feel himself exceeding ill and worn. But what gave him
infinite pleasure was to see that he was so poor that nothing on earth
could prevent him from speedily being with God, more especially having
his Lord and father in heaven, and on earth your Majesty as his lord
and brother. And he was most confident that, if his affairs were left
in your Majesty's hands, they would have that end and success which was
proper. This same day he did ask me many questions touching the virtue
of martyrdom, desiring to have some share of its merits, giving signs
of his having many times entreated God for martyrdom.