This kind of pragmatic, though made doubtless in accordance with the

popular feeling, inferred a stretch of arbitrary power that cannot be

charged on those which emanated directly from the suggestion of the

legislature. In this respect, however, it fell far short of those

ordinances which proceeded exclusively from the royal will, without

reference to the wishes of the commons. Such ordinances--and they were

probably more numerous than any other class of laws during this

reign--are doubtless among the most arbitrary acts of which a monarch

can be guilty; for they imply nothing less than an assumption of the

law-making power into his own hands. Indeed, they met with a strong

remonstrance in the year 1579, when Philip was besought by the commons

not to make any laws but such as had first received the sanction of the

Cortes.[434] Yet Philip might vindicate himself by the example of his

predecessors--even of those who, like Ferdinand and Isabella, had most

at heart the interests of the nation.[435]

It must be further admitted, that the more regular mode of proceeding,

with the co-operation of the Cortes, had in it much to warrant the idea,

that the real right of legislation was vested in the king. A petition,

usually couched in the most humble terms, prayed his majesty to give his

assent to the law proposed. This he did in a few words; or, what was

much more common, he refused to give it, declaring that, in the existing

case, "it was not expedient that any change should be made." It was

observed that the number of cases in which Philip rejected the petitions

of the commons was much greater than had been usual with former

sovereigns.

[Sidenote: THE GUARDS OF CASTILE.]

A more frequent practice with Philip was one that better suited his

hesitating nature and habit of procrastination. He replied in ambiguous

terms, that "he would take the matter into consideration," or "that he

would lay it before his council, and take such measures as would be best

for his service." Thus the Cortes adjourned in ignorance of the fate of

their petitions. Even when he announced his assent, as it was left to

him to prescribe the terms of the law, it might be more or less

conformable to those of the petition. The Cortes having been dismissed,

there was no redress to be obtained if the law did not express their

views, nor could any remonstrance be presented by that body until their

next session, usually three years later. The practice established by

Charles the Fifth, of postponing the presenting of petitions till the

supplies had been voted, and the immediate adjournment of the

legislature afterwards, secured an absolute authority to the princes of

the house of Austria, that made a fearful change in the ancient

constitution of Castile.

Yet the meetings of the Cortes, shorn as that body was of its ancient

privileges, were not without important benefits to the nation. None

could be better acquainted than the deputies with the actual wants and

wishes of their constituents. It was a manifest advantage for the king

to receive this information. It enabled him to take the course best

suited to the interests of the people, to which he would naturally be

inclined when he did not regard them as conflicting with his own. Even

when he did, the strenuous support of their own views by the commons

might compel him to modify his measures. However absolute the monarch,

he would naturally shrink from pursuing a policy so odious to the people

that, if persevered in, it might convert remonstrance into downright

resistance.

The freedom of discussion among the deputies is attested by the

independent tone with which in their petitions they denounce the

manifold abuses in the state. It is honourable to Philip, that he should

not have attempted to stifle this freedom of debate; though perhaps this

may be more correctly referred to his policy, which made him willing to

leave this safety-valve open for the passions of the people. He may have

been content to flatter them with the image of power, conscious that he

alone retained the substance of it. However this may have been, the good

effect of the exercise of these rights, imperfect as they were, by the

third estate, must be highly estimated. The fact of being called

together to consult on public affairs gave the people a consideration in

their own eyes which raised them far above the abject condition of the

subjects of an Eastern despotism. It cherished in them that love of

independence which was their birthright, inherited from their ancestors,

and thus maintained in their bosoms those lofty sentiments which were

the characteristics of the humbler classes of the Spaniards beyond those

of any other nation in Christendom.

One feature was wanting to complete the picture of absolute monarchy.

This was a standing army,--a thing hitherto unknown in Spain. There was,

indeed, an immense force kept on foot in the time of Charles the Fifth,

and many of the troops were Spaniards. But they were stationed abroad,

and were intended solely for foreign enterprises. It is to Philip's time

that we are to refer the first germs of a permanent military

establishment, designed to maintain order and obedience at home.

The levies raised for this purpose amounted to twenty companies of

men-at-arms, which, with the complement of four or five followers to

each lance, made a force of some strength. It was further swelled by

five thousand _ginetes_, or light cavalry.[436] These corps were a heavy

charge on the crown. They were called "the Guards of Castile." The

men-at-arms, in particular, were an object of great care, and were under

admirable discipline. Even Philip, who had little relish for military

affairs, was in the habit of occasionally reviewing them in person. In

addition to these troops there was a body of thirty thousand militia,

whom the king could call into the field when necessary. A corps of some

sixteen hundred horsemen patrolled the southern coast of Andalusia, to

guard the country from invasion by the African Moslems; and garrisons

established in fortresses along the frontiers of Spain, both, north and

south, completed a permanent force for the defence of the kingdom

against domestic insurrection, as well as foreign invasion.

CHAPTER II.

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS OF SPAIN.

The Clergy--Their Subordination to the Crown--The Escorial--Queen Anne.

A review of the polity of Castile would be incomplete without a notice

of the ecclesiastical order, which may well be supposed to have stood

pre-eminent in such a country, and under such a monarch as Philip the

Second. Indeed, not only did that prince present himself before the

world as the great champion of the Faith, but he seemed ever solicitous

in private life to display his zeal for religion and its ministers. Many

anecdotes are told of him in connection with this. On one occasion,

seeing a young girl going within the railing of the altar, he rebuked

her, saying, "Where the priest enters is no place either for me or

you."[437] A cavalier who had given a blow to a canon of Toledo he

sentenced to death.[438]

Under his protection and princely patronage, the Church reached its most

palmy state. Colleges and convents--in short, religious institutions of

every kind--were scattered broadcast over the land. The good fathers

loved pleasant and picturesque sites for their dwellings; and the

traveller, as he journeyed through the country, was surprised by the

number of stately edifices which crowned the hill-tops, or rested on

their slopes, surrounded by territories that spread out for many a

league over meadows and cultivated fields and pasture-land.

The secular clergy, at least the higher dignitaries, were so well

endowed as sometimes to eclipse the grandees in the pomp of their

establishments. In the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, the archbishop of

Toledo held jurisdiction over fifteen principal towns and a great number

of villages. His income amounted to full eighty thousand ducats a

year.[439] In Philip's time the income of the archbishop of Seville

amounted to the same sum, while that of the see of Toledo had risen to

two hundred thousand ducats, nearly twice as much as that of the richest

grandee in the kingdom.[440] In power and opulence, the primate of Spain

ranked next in Christendom to the pope.

The great source of all this wealth of the ecclesiastical order in

Castile, as in most other countries, was the benefactions and bequests

of the pious--of those, more especially, whose piety had been deferred

till the close of life, when, anxious to make amends for past

delinquencies, they bestowed the more freely that it was at the expense

of their heirs. As what was thus bequeathed was locked up by entail, the

constantly accumulating property of the Church had amounted, in Philip's

time, if we may take the assertion of the Cortes, to more than one-half

of the landed property in the kingdom.[441] Thus the burden of providing

for the expenses of the state fell with increased heaviness on the

commons. Alienations in mortmain formed the subject of one of their

earliest remonstrances after Philip's accession, but without effect; and

though the same petition was urged in very plain language at almost

every succeeding session, the king still answered that it was not

expedient to make any change in the existing laws. Besides his goodwill

to the ecclesiastical order, Philip was occupied with the costly

construction of the Escorial; and he had probably no mind to see the

streams of public bounty, which had hitherto flowed so freely into the

reservoirs of the Church, thus suddenly obstructed, when they were so

much needed for his own infant institution.

[Sidenote: THE CLERGY.]

While Philip was thus willing to exalt the religious order, already far

too powerful, he was careful that it should never gain such a height as

would enable it to overtop the royal authority. Both in the Church and

in the council--for they were freely introduced into the

councils--theologians were ever found the most devoted servants of the

crown. Indeed, it was on the crown that they were obliged to rest all

their hopes of preferment.

Philip perfectly understood that the control of the clergy must be

lodged with that power which had the right of nomination to benefices.

The Roman see, in its usual spirit of encroachment, had long claimed the

exercise of this right in Castile, as it had done in other European

states. The great battle with the Church was fought in the time of

Isabella the Catholic. Fortunately the sceptre was held by a sovereign

whose loyalty to the Faith was beyond suspicion. From this hard struggle

she came off victorious; and the government of Castile henceforth

retained possession of the important prerogative of appointing to vacant

benefices.

Philip, with all his deference to Rome, was not a man to relinquish any

of the prerogatives of the crown. A difficulty arose under Pius the

Fifth, who contended that he still had the right, possessed by former

popes, of nominating to ecclesiastical offices in Milan, Naples, and

Sicily, the Italian possessions held by Spain. He complained bitterly of

the conduct of the councils in those states, which refused to allow the

publication of his bulls without the royal _exequatur_. Philip, in mild

terms, expressed his desire to maintain the most amicable relations with

the see of Rome, provided he was not required to compromise the

interests of his crown. At the same time he intimated his surprise that

his holiness should take exceptions at his exercise of the rights of his

predecessors, to many of whom the Church was indebted for the most

signal services. The pope was well aware of the importance of

maintaining a good understanding with so devoted a son of the Church;

and Philip was allowed to remain henceforth in undisturbed possession of

this inestimable prerogative.[442]

The powers thus vested in the king he exercised with great discretion.

With his usual facilities for information he made himself acquainted

with the characters of the clergy in the different parts of his

dominions. He was so accurate in his knowledge, that he was frequently

able to detect an error or omission in the information he received. To

one who had been giving him an account of a certain ecclesiastic, he

remarked--"You have told me nothing of his amours." Thus perfectly

apprised of the characters of the candidates, he was prepared, whenever

a vacancy occurred, to fill the place with a suitable incumbent.[443]

It was his habit, before preferring an individual to a high office, to

have proof of his powers by trying them first in some subordinate

station. In his selection he laid much stress on rank, for the influence

it carried with it. Yet frequently, when well satisfied of the merits of

the parties, he promoted those whose humble condition had made them

little prepared for such, an elevation.[444] There was no more effectual

way to secure his favour than to show a steady resistance to the

usurpations of Rome. It was owing, in part at least, to the refusal of

Quiroga, the bishop of Cuenca, to publish a papal bull without the royal

assent, that he was raised to the highest dignity in the kingdom, as

archbishop of Toledo. Philip chose to have a suitable acknowledgment

from the person on whom he conferred a favour; and once, when an

ecclesiastic, whom he had made a bishop, went to take possession of his

see without first expressing his gratitude, the king sent for him back,

to remind him of his duty.[445] Such an acknowledgment was in the nature

of a homage rendered to his master on his preferment.

Thus gratitude for the past and hopes for the future were the strong

ties which bound every prelate to his sovereign. In a difference with

the Roman see, the Castilian churchman was sure to be found on the side

of the sovereign, rather than, on that of the pontiff. In his own

troubles, in like manner, it was to the king, and not to the pope, that

he was to turn for relief. The king, on the other hand, when pressed by

those embarrassments with which he was too often surrounded, looked for

aid to the clergy, who for the most part rendered it cheerfully and in

liberal measure. Nowhere were the clergy so heavily burdened as in

Spain.[446] It was computed that at least one-third of their revenues

was given to the king. Thus completely were the different orders, both

spiritual and temporal, throughout the monarchy, under the control of

the sovereign.

A few pages back, while touching on alienations in mortmain, I had

occasion to allude to the Escorial, that "eighth wonder of the world,"

as it is proudly styled by the Spaniards. There can be no place more

proper to give an account of this extraordinary edifice, than the part

of the narrative in which I have been desirous to throw as much light as

possible on the character and occupations of Philip. The Escorial

engrossed the leisure of more than thirty years of his life; it reflects

in a peculiar manner his tastes, and the austere character of his mind;

and whatever criticism may be passed on it as a work of art, it cannot

be denied that, if every other vestige of his reign were to be swept

away, that wonderful structure would of itself suffice to show the

grandeur of his plans and the extent of his resources.

The common tradition that Philip built the Escorial in pursuance of a

vow which he made at the time of the great battle of St. Quentin, the

10th of August, 1557, has been rejected by modern critics, on the ground

that contemporary writers, and amongst them the historians of the

convent, make no mention of the fact. But a recently-discovered document

leaves little doubt that such a vow was actually made.[447] However this

may have been, it is certain that the king designed to commemorate the

event by this structure, as is intimated by its dedication to St.

Lawrence, the martyr on whose day the victory was gained. The name given

to the place was _El Sitio de San Lorenzo el Real_. But the monastery

was better known from the hamlet near which it stood,--_El Escurial_, or

_El Escorial_,--which latter soon became the orthography generally

adopted by the Castilians.[448]

[Sidenote: THE ESCORIAL.]

The motives which, after all, operated probably most powerfully on

Philip, had no connection with the battle of St. Quentin. His father,

the emperor, had directed by his will that his bones should remain at

Yuste, until a more suitable place should be provided for them by his

son. The building now to be erected was designed expressly as a

mausoleum for Philip's parents, as well as for their descendants of the

royal line of Austria. But the erection of a religious house on a

magnificent scale, that would proclaim to the world his devotion to the

Faith, was the predominant idea in the mind of Philip. It was, moreover,

a part of his scheme to combine in the plan a palace for himself; for,

with a taste which he may be said to have inherited from his father, he

loved to live in the sacred shadows of the cloister. These ideas,

somewhat incongruous as they may seem, were fully carried out by the

erection of an edifice dedicated at once to the threefold purpose of a

palace, a monastery, and a tomb.[449]

Soon after the king's return to Spain, he set about carrying his plan

into execution. The site which, after careful examination, he selected

for the building, was among the mountains of the Guadarrama, on the

borders of New Castile,[450] about eight leagues north-west of Madrid.

The healthiness of the place and its convenient distance from the

capital combined with the stern and solitary character of the region, so

congenial to his taste, to give it the preference over other spots,

which might have found more favour with persons of a different nature.

Encompassed by rude and rocky hills, which sometimes soar to the

gigantic elevation of mountains, it seemed to be shut out completely

from the world. The vegetation was of a thin and stunted growth, seldom

spreading out into the luxuriant foliage of the lower regions; and the

winds swept down from the neighbouring sierra with the violence of a

hurricane. Yet the air was salubrious, and the soil was nourished by

springs of the purest water. To add to its recommendations, a quarry,

close at hand, of excellent stone, somewhat resembling granite in

appearance, readily supplied the materials for building,--a

circumstance, considering the vastness of the work, of no little

importance.

The architect who furnished the plans, and on whom the king relied for

superintending their execution, was Juan-Bautista de Toledo. He was born

in Spain, and, early discovering uncommon talents for his profession,

was sent to Italy. Here he studied the principles of his art, under the

great masters who were then filling their native land with those

monuments of genius that furnished the best study to the artist. Toledo

imbibed their spirit, and under their tuition acquired that simple,

indeed severe taste, which formed a contrast to the prevalent tone of

Spanish architecture, but which, happily, found favour with his royal

patron.

Before a stone of the new edifice was laid, Philip had taken care to

provide himself with the tenants who were to occupy it. At a general

chapter of the Jeronymite fraternity, a prior was chosen for the convent

of the Escorial, which was to consist of fifty members, soon increased

to double that number. Philip had been induced to give the preference to

the Jeronymite order, partly from their general reputation for ascetic

piety, and in part from the regard shown for them by his father, who had

chosen a convent of that order as the place of his last retreat. The

monks were speedily transferred to the village of the Escorial, where

they continued to dwell until accommodations were prepared for them in

the magnificent pile which they were thenceforth to occupy.

Their temporary habitation was of the meanest kind, like most of the

buildings in the hamlet. It was without window or chimney, and the rain

found its way through the dilapidated roof of the apartment which they

used as a chapel; so that they were obliged to protect themselves by a

coverlet stretched above their heads. A rude altar was raised at one end

of the chapel, over which was scrawled on the wall, with charcoal, the

figure of a crucifix.[451]

The king, on his visits to the place, was lodged in the house of the

curate, in not much better repair than the other dwellings in the

hamlet. While there, he was punctual in his attendance at mass, when a

rude seat was prepared for him near the choir, consisting of a

three-legged stool, defended from vulgar eyes by a screen of such old

and tattered cloth that the inquisitive spectator might, without

difficulty, see him through the holes in it.[452] He was so near the

choir, that the monk who stood next to him could hardly avoid being

brought into contact with the royal person. The Jeronymite who tells the

story assures us that Brother Antonio used to weep as he declared that

more than once, when he cast a furtive glance at the monarch, he saw his

eyes filled with tears. "Such," says the good father, "were the devout

and joyful feelings with which the king, as he gazed on the poverty

around him, meditated his lofty plans for converting this poverty into a

scene of grandeur more worthy of the worship to be performed

there."[453]

The brethren were much edified by the humility shown by Philip when

attending the services in this wretched cabin. They often told the story

of his one day coming late to matins, when, unwilling to interrupt the

services, he quietly took his seat by the entrance, on a rude bench, at

the upper end of which a peasant was sitting. He remained some time

before his presence was observed, when the monks conducted him to his

tribune.[454]

On the twenty-third of April, 1563, the first stone of the monastery was

laid. On the twentieth of August following, the corner-stone of the

church was also laid, with still greater pomp and solemnity. The royal

confessor, the bishop of Cuenca, arrayed in his pontificals, presided

over the ceremonies. The king was present, and laid the stone with his

own hands. The principal nobles of the court were in attendance, and

there was a great concourse of spectators, both ecclesiastics and

laymen; the solemn services were concluded by the brotherhood, who

joined in an anthem of thanksgiving and praise to the Almighty, to whom

so glorious a monument was to be reared in this mountain

wilderness.[455]

[Sidenote: THE ESCORIAL.]

The rude sierra now swarmed with life. The ground was covered with tents

and huts. The busy hum of labour mingled with the songs of the

labourers, which, from their various dialects, betrayed the different,

and oftentimes distant, provinces from which they had come. In this

motley host the greatest order and decorum prevailed; nor were the

peaceful occupations of the day interrupted by any indecent brawls.

As the work advanced, Philip's visits to the Escorial were longer and

more frequent. He had always shown his love for the retirement of the

cloister, by passing some days of every year in it. Indeed, he was in

the habit of keeping Holy Week not far from the scene of his present

labours, at the convent of Guisando. In his present monastic retreat he

had the additional interest afforded by the contemplation of the great

work, which seemed to engage as much of his thoughts as any of the

concerns of government.

Philip had given a degree of attention to the study of the fine arts

seldom found in persons of his condition. He was a connoisseur in

painting, and, above all, in architecture, making a careful study of its

principles, and occasionally furnishing designs with his own hand.[456]

No prince of his time left behind him so many proofs of his taste and

magnificence in building. The royal mint at Segovia, the hunting-seat of

the Pardo, the pleasant residence of Aranjuez, the alcazar of Madrid,

the "Armeria Real," and other noble works which adorned his infant

capital, were either built or greatly embellished by him. The land was

covered with structures both civil and religious, which rose under the

royal patronage. Churches and convents--the latter in lamentable

profusion--constantly met the eye of the traveller. The general style of

their execution was simple in the extreme. Some, like the great

cathedral of Valladolid, of more pretension, but still showing the same

austere character in their designs, furnished excellent models of

architecture to counteract the meretricious tendencies of the age.

Structures of a different kind from these were planted by Philip along

the frontiers in the north and on the southern coasts of the kingdom;

and the voyager in the Mediterranean beheld fortress after fortress

crowning the heights above the shore, for its defence against the

Barbary corsair. Nor was the king's passion for building confined to

Spain. Wherever his armies penetrated in the semi-civilized regions of

the New World, the march of the conqueror was sure to be traced by the

ecclesiastical and military structures which rose in his rear.

Fortunately, similarity of taste led to the most perfect harmony between

the monarch and his architect, in their conferences on the great work

which was to crown the architectural glories of Philip's reign. The king

inspected the details, and watched over every step in the progress of

the building, with as much care as Toledo himself. In order to judge of

the effect from a distance, he was in the habit of climbing the

mountains at a spot about half a league from the monastery, where a kind

of natural chair was formed by the crags. Here, with his spyglass in his

hand, he would sit for hours, and gaze on the complicated structure

growing up below. The place is still known as the "king's seat."[457]

It was certainly no slight proof of the deep interest which Philip took

in the work, that he was content to exchange his palace at Madrid for a

place that afforded him no better accommodations than the

poverty-stricken village of the Escorial. In 1571 he made an important

change in these accommodations, by erecting a chapel which might afford

the monks a more decent house of worship than their old weather-beaten

hovel; and with this he combined a comfortable apartment for himself. In

these new quarters he passed still more of his time in cloistered

seclusion than he had done before. Far from confining his attention to

a supervision of the Escorial, he brought his secretaries and his papers

along with him, read here his despatches from abroad, and kept up a busy

correspondence with all parts of his dominions. He did four times the

amount of work here, says a Jeronymite, that he did in the same number

of days in the capital.[458] He used to boast that, thus hidden from the

world, with a little bit of paper, he ruled over both hemispheres. That

he did not always wisely rule, is proved by more than one of his

despatches relating to the affairs of Flanders, which issued from this

consecrated place. Here he received accounts of the proceedings of his

heretic subjects in the Netherlands, and of the Morisco insurgents in

Granada. And as he pondered on their demolition of church and convent,

and their desecration of the most holy symbols of the Catholic faith, he

doubtless felt a proud satisfaction in proving his own piety to the

world by the erection of the most sumptuous edifice ever dedicated to

the Cross.

In 1577, the Escorial was so far advanced towards its completion as to

afford accommodations not merely for Philip and his personal attendants,

but for many of the court, who were in the habit of spending some time

there with the king during the summer. On one of these occasions, an

accident occurred which had nearly been attended with most disastrous

consequences to the building.

A violent thunderstorm was raging in the mountains, and the lightning

struck one of the great towers of the monastery. In a short time the

upper portion of the building was in a blaze. So much of it,

fortunately, was of solid materials, that the fire made slow progress.

But the difficulty of bringing water to bear on it was extreme. It was

eleven o'clock at night when the fire broke out, and in the orderly

household of Philip all had retired to rest. They were soon roused by

the noise. The king took his station on the opposite tower, and watched

with deep anxiety the progress of the flames. The duke of Alva was one

among the guests. Though sorely afflicted with the gout at the time, he

wrapped his dressing-gown about him, and climbed to a spot which

afforded a still nearer view of the conflagration. Here the "good duke"

at once assumed the command, and gave his orders with as much promptness

and decision as on the field of battle.[459]

All the workmen, as well as the neighbouring peasantry, were assembled

there. The men showed the same spirit of subordination which they had

shown throughout the erection of the building. The duke's orders were

implicitly obeyed; and more than one instance is recorded of daring

self-devotion among the workmen, who toiled as if conscious they were

under the eye of their sovereign. The tower trembled under the fury of

the flames; and the upper portion of it threatened every moment to fall

in ruins. Great fears were entertained that it would crush the hospital,

situated in that part of the monastery. Fortunately, it fell in an

opposite direction, carrying with it a splendid chime of bells that was

lodged in it, but doing no injury to the spectators. The loss which bore

most heavily on the royal heart was that of sundry inestimable relics

which perished in the flames. But Philip's sorrow was mitigated when he

learned that a bit of the true cross, and the right arm of St. Lawrence,

the martyred patron of the Escorial, were rescued from the flames. At

length, by incredible efforts, the fire, which had lasted till six in

the morning, was happily extinguished, and Philip withdrew to his

chamber, where his first act, we are told, was to return thanks to the

Almighty for the preservation of the building consecrated to his

service.[460]

[Sidenote: THE ESCORIAL.]

The king was desirous that as many of the materials as possible for the

structure should be collected from his own dominions. These were so

vast, and so various in their productions, that they furnished nearly

every article required for the construction of the edifice, as well as

for its interior decoration. The grey stone, of which its walls were

formed, was drawn from a neighbouring quarry. It was called

_berroquena_,--a stone bearing a resemblance to granite, though not so

hard. The blocks hewn from the quarries, and dressed there, were of such

magnitude as sometimes to require forty or fifty yoke of oxen to drag

them. The jasper came from the neighbourhood of Burgo de Osma. The more

delicate marbles, of a great variety of colours, were furnished by the

mountain-ranges in the south of the Peninsula. The costly and elegant

fabrics were many of them supplied by native artisans. Such were the

damasks and velvets of Granada. Other cities, as Madrid, Toledo, and

Saragossa, showed the proficiency of native art in curious manufactures

of bronze and iron, and occasionally of the more precious metals.

Yet Philip was largely indebted to his foreign possessions, especially

those in Italy and the Low Countries, for the embellishment of the

interior of the edifice, which, in its sumptuous style of decoration,

presented a contrast to the stern simplicity of its exterior. Milan, so

renowned at that period for its fine workmanship in steel, gold, and

precious stones, contributed many exquisite specimens of art. The walls

were clothed with gorgeous tapestries from the Flemish looms. Spanish

convents vied with each other in furnishing embroideries for the altars.

Even the rude colonies in the New World had their part in the great

work, and the American forests supplied their cedar and ebony and

richly-tinted woods, which displayed all their magical brilliancy of

colour under the hands of the Castilian workman.[461]

Though desirous, as far as possible, to employ the products of his own

dominions, and to encourage native art, in one particular he resorted

almost exclusively to foreigners. The oil-paintings and frescoes which

profusely decorated the walls and ceilings of the Escorial were executed

by artists drawn chiefly from Italy, whose schools of design were still

in their glory. But of all living painters, Titian was the one whom

Philip, like his father, most delighted to honour. To the king's

generous patronage the world is indebted for some of that great master's

noblest productions, which found a fitting place on the walls of the

Escorial.

The prices which Philip paid enabled him to command the services of the

most eminent artists. Many anecdotes are told of his munificence. He

was, however, a severe critic. He did not prematurely disclose his

opinion. But when the hour came, the painter had sometimes the

mortification to find the work he had executed, it may be with greater

confidence than skill, peremptorily rejected, or at best condemned to

some obscure corner of the building. This was the fate of an Italian

artist, of much more pretension than power, who, after repeated failures

according to the judgment of the king--which later critics have not

reversed--was dismissed to his own country. But even here Philip dealt

in a magnanimous way with the unlucky painter. "It is not Zuccaro's

fault," he said, "but that of the persons who brought him here;" and

when he sent him back to Italy, he gave him a considerable sum of money

in addition to his large salary.[462]

Before this magnificent pile, in a manner the creation of his own taste,

Philip's nature appeared to expand, and to discover some approach to

those generous sympathies for humanity which elsewhere seemed to have

been denied him. He would linger for hours while he watched the labours

of the artist, making occasional criticisms, and laying his hand

familiarly on his shoulder.[463] He seemed to put off the coldness and

reserve which formed so essential a part of his character. On one

occasion, it is said, a stranger, having come into the Escorial when the

king was there, mistook him for one of the officials, and asked him some

questions about the pictures. Philip, without undeceiving the man,

humoured his mistake, and good-naturedly undertook the part of

_cicerone_, by answering his inquiries, and showing him some of the

objects most worth seeing.[464] Similar anecdotes have been told of

others. What is strange is, that Philip should have acted the part of

the good-natured man.

In 1584, the masonry of the Escorial was completed. Twenty-one years had

elapsed since the first stone of the monastery was laid. This certainly

must be regarded as a short period for the erection of so stupendous a

pile. St. Peter's church, with which one naturally compares it as the

building nearest in size and magnificence, occupied more than a century

in its erection, which spread over the reigns of at least eighteen

popes. But the Escorial, with the exception of the subterraneous chapel

constructed by Philip the Fourth for the burial-place of the Spanish

princes, was executed in the reign of one monarch. That monarch held in

his hands the revenues of both the Old World and the New; and as he

gave, in some sort, a personal supervision to the work, we may be sure

that no one was allowed to sleep on his post.

Yet the architect who designed the building was not permitted to

complete it. Long before it was finished, the hand of Toledo had

mouldered in the dust. By his death it seemed that Philip had met with

an irreparable loss. He felt it to be so himself; and with great

distrust consigned the important task to Juan de Herrera, a young

Asturian. But though young, Herrera had been formed on the best models;

for he was the favourite pupil of Toledo, and it soon appeared that he

had not only imbibed the severe and elevated tastes of his master, but

that his own genius fully enabled him to comprehend all Toledo's great

conceptions, and to carry them out as perfectly as that artist could

have done himself. Philip saw with satisfaction that he had made no

mistake in his selection. He soon conferred as freely with the new

architect as he had done with his predecessor. He even showed him

greater favour, settling on him a salary of a thousand ducats a year,

and giving him an office in the royal household, and the cross of St.

Iago. Herrera had the happiness to complete the Escorial. Indeed, he

lived some six years after its completion. He left several works, both

civil and ecclesiastical, which perpetuate his fame. But the Escorial is

the monument by which his name, and that of his master, Toledo, have

come down to posterity as those of the two greatest architects of whom

Spain can boast.

This is not the place for criticism on the architectural merits of the

Escorial. Such criticism more properly belongs to a treatise on art. It

has been my object simply to lay before the reader such an account of

the execution of this great work as would enable him to form some idea

of the object to which Philip devoted so large a portion of his time,

and which so eminently reflected his peculiar cast of mind.

[Sidenote: THE ESCORIAL.]

Critics have greatly differed from each other in their judgments of the

Escorial. Few foreigners have been found to acquiesce in the undiluted

panegyric of those Castilians who pronounce it the eighth wonder of the

world.[465] Yet it cannot be denied that few foreigners are qualified to

decide on the merits of a work, to judge of which correctly requires a

perfect understanding of the character of the country in which it was

built, and of the monarch who built it. The traveller who gazes on its

long lines of cold grey stone, scarcely broken by an ornament, feels a

dreary sensation creeping over him, while he contrasts it with the

lighter and more graceful edifices to which his eye has been accustomed.

But he may read in this the true expression of the founder's character.

Philip did not aim at the beautiful, much less at the festive and

cheerful. The feelings which he desired to raise in the spectator were

of that solemn, indeed sombre complexion, which corresponded best with

his own religious faith.

Whatever defects may be charged on the Escorial, it is impossible to

view it from a distance, and see the mighty pile as it emerges from the

gloomy depths of the mountains, without feeling how perfectly it

conforms in its aspect to the wild and melancholy scenery of the sierra.

Nor can one enter the consecrated precincts without confessing the

genius of the place, and experiencing sensations of a mysterious awe as

he wanders through the desolate halls, which fancy peoples with the

solemn images of the past.

The architect of the building was embarrassed by more than one

difficulty of a very peculiar kind. It was not simply a monastery that

he was to build. The same edifice, as we have seen, was to comprehend at

once a convent, a palace, and a tomb. It was no easy problem to

reconcile objects so discordant, and to infuse into them a common

principle of unity. It is no reproach to the builder that he did not

perfectly succeed in this, and that the palace should impair the

predominant tone of feeling raised by the other parts of the structure,

looking in fact like an excrescence, rather than an integral portion of

the edifice.

Another difficulty, of a more whimsical nature, imposed on the

architect, was the necessity of accommodating the plan of the building

to the form of a gridiron--as typical of the kind of martyrdom suffered

by the patron saint of the Escorial. Thus the long lines of cloisters,

with their intervening courts, served for the bars of the instrument.

The four lofty spires at the corners of the monastery, represented its

legs inverted; and the palace, extending its slender length on the east,

furnished the awkward handle.

It is impossible for language to convey any adequate idea of a work of

art. Yet architecture has this advantage over the sister arts of design,

that the mere statement of the dimensions helps us much in forming a

conception of the work. A few of these dimensions will serve to give an

idea of the magnitude of the edifice. They are reported to us by Los

Santos, a Jeronymite monk, who has left one of the best accounts of the

Escorial.

The main building, or monastery, he estimates at seven hundred and forty

Castilian feet in length by five hundred and eighty in breadth. Its

greatest height, measured to the central cross above the dome of the

great church, is three hundred and fifteen feet. The whole circumference

of the Escorial, including the palace, he reckons at two thousand nine

hundred and eighty feet, or near three-fifths of a mile. The patient

inquirer tells us there were no less than twelve thousand doors and

windows in the building; that the weight of the keys alone amounted to

fifty _arrobas_, or twelve hundred and fifty pounds, and, finally, that

there were sixty-eight fountains playing in the halls and courts of this

enormous pile.[466]

The cost of its construction and interior decoration, we are informed by

Father Siguenca, amounted to very near six millions of ducats.[467]

Siguenca was prior of the monastery, and had access, of course, to the

best sources of information. That he did not exaggerate, may be inferred

from the fact that he was desirous to relieve the building from the

imputation of any excessive expenditure incurred in its erection--a

common theme of complaint, it seems, and one that was urged with strong

marks of discontent by contemporary writers. Probably no single edifice

ever contained such an amount and variety of inestimable treasures as

the Escorial,--so many paintings and sculptures by the greatest

masters,--so many articles of exquisite workmanship, composed of the

most precious materials. It would be a mistake to suppose that, when the

building was finished, the labours of Philip were at an end. One might

almost say they were but begun. The casket was completed; but the

remainder of his days was to be passed in filling it with the rarest and

richest gems. This was a labour never to be completed. It was to be

bequeathed to his successors, who with more or less taste, but with the

revenues of the Indies at their disposal, continued to lavish them on

the embellishment of the Escorial.[468]

Philip the Second set the example. He omitted nothing which could give a

value, real or imaginary, to his museum. He gathered at an immense cost

several hundred cases of the bones of saints and martyrs, depositing

them in rich silver shrines, of elaborate workmanship. He collected four

thousand volumes, in various languages, especially the Oriental, as the

basis of the fine library of the Escorial.

The care of successive princes, who continued to spend there a part of

every year, preserved the palace-monastery and its contents from the

rude touch of Time. But what the hand of Time had spared, the hand of

violence destroyed. The French, who in the early part of the present

century swept like a horde of Vandals over the Peninsula, did not

overlook the Escorial. For in it they saw the monument designed to

commemorate their own humiliating defeat. A body of dragoons under La

Houssaye burst into the monastery in the winter of 1808; and the ravages

of a few days demolished what it had cost years and the highest efforts

of art to construct. The apprehension of similar violence from the

Carlists, in 1837, led to the removal of the finest paintings to Madrid.

The Escorial ceased to be a royal residence: tenantless and unprotected,

it was left to the fury of the blasts which swept down the hills of the

Guadarrama.

The traveller who now visits the place will find its condition very

different from what it was in the beginning of the century. The bare and

mildewed walls no longer glow with the magical tints of Raphael and

Titian, and the sober pomp of the Castilian school. The exquisite

specimens of art with which the walls were filled have been wantonly

demolished, or more frequently pilfered for the sake of the rich

materials. The monks, so long the guardians of the place, have shared

the fate of their brethren elsewhere, since the suppression of religious

houses, and their venerable forms have disappeared.

[Sidenote: QUEEN ANNE.]

Silence and solitude reign throughout the courts, undisturbed by any

sound save that of the ceaseless winds, which seem to be ever chanting

their melancholy dirge over the faded glories of the Escorial. There is

little now to remind one of the palace or of the monastery. Of the three

great objects to which the edifice was devoted, one alone

survives,--that of a mausoleum for the royal line of Castile. The spirit

of the dead broods over the place,--of the sceptred dead, who lie in the

same dark chamber where they have lain for centuries, unconscious of the

changes that have been going on all around them.

During the latter half of Philip's reign, he was in the habit of

repairing with his court to the Escorial, and passing here a part of the

summer. Hither he brought his young queen, Anne of Austria,--when the

gloomy pile assumed an unwonted appearance of animation. In a previous

chapter, the reader has seen some notice of his preparations for his

marriage with that princess, in less than two years after he had

consigned the lovely Isabella to the tomb. Anne had been already

plighted to the unfortunate Don Carlos. Philip's marriage with her

afforded him the melancholy triumph of a second time supplanting his

son. She was his niece; for the empress Mary, her mother, was the

daughter of Charles the Fifth. There was, moreover, a great disparity in

their years; for the Austrian princess, having been born in Castile

during the regency of her parents, in 1549, was at this time but

twenty-one years of age, less than half the age of Philip. It does not

appear that her father, the emperor Maximilian, made any objection to

the match. If he felt any, he was too politic to prevent a marriage

which would place his daughter on the throne of the most potent monarchy

in Europe.

It was arranged that the princess should proceed to Spain by the way of

the Netherlands. In September, 1570, Anne bade a last adieu to her

father's court, and with a stately retinue set out on her long journey.

On entering Flanders, she was received with great pomp by the duke of

Alva, at the head of the Flemish nobles. Soon after her arrival, Queen

Elizabeth despatched a squadron of eight vessels, with offers to

transport her to Spain, and an invitation for her to visit England on

her way. These offers were courteously declined; and the German

princess, escorted by Count Bossu, captain-general of the Flemish navy,

with a gallant squadron, was fortunate in reaching the place of her

destination after a voyage of less than a week. On the third of October

she landed at Santander, on the northern coast of Spain, where she found

the archbishop of Seville and the duke of Bejar, with a brilliant train

of followers, waiting to receive her.

Under this escort, Anne was conducted by the way of Burgos and

Valladolid to the ancient city of Segovia. In the great towns through

which she passed she was entertained in a style suited to her rank; and

everywhere along her route she was greeted with the hearty acclamations

of the people: for the match was popular with the nation; and the Cortes

had urged the king to expedite it as much as possible.[469] The

Spaniards longed for a male heir to the crown; and since the death of

Carlos, Philip had only daughters remaining to him.

In Segovia, where the marriage ceremony was to be performed, magnificent

preparations had been made for the reception of the princess. As she

approached that city, she was met by a large body of the local militia,

dressed in gay uniforms, and by the municipality of the place, arrayed

in their robes of office and mounted on horseback. With this brave

escort she entered the gates. The streets were ornamented with beautiful

fountains, and spanned by triumphal arches, under which the princess

proceeded, amidst the shouts of the populace, to the great

cathedral.[470]

Anne, then in the bloom of youth, is described as having a rich and

delicate complexion. Her figure was good, her deportment gracious, and

she rode her richly-caparisoned palfrey with natural ease and dignity.

Her not very impartial chronicler tells us that the spectators

particularly admired the novelty of her Bohemian costume, her riding-hat

gaily ornamented with feathers, and her short mantle of crimson velvet

richly fringed with gold.[471]

After _Te Deum_ had been chanted, the splendid procession took its way

to the far-famed _alcazar_, that palace-fortress, originally built by

the Moors, which now served both as a royal residence and as a place of

confinement for prisoners of state. Here it was that the unfortunate

Montigny passed many a weary month of captivity; and less than three

months had elapsed since he had been removed from the place which was so

soon to become the scene of royal festivity, and consigned to the fatal

fortress of Simancas, to perish by the hand of the midnight executioner.

Anne, it may be remembered, was said, on her journey through the Low

Countries, to have promised Montigny's family to intercede with her lord

in his behalf. But the king, perhaps willing to be spared the

awkwardness of refusing the first boon asked by his young bride,

disposed of his victim soon after her landing, while she was yet in the

north.

Anne entered the _alcazar_ amidst salvoes of artillery. She found there

the good Princess Joanna, Philip's sister, who received her with the

same womanly kindness which she had shown twelve years before to

Elizabeth of France, when, on a similar occasion, she made her first

entrance into Castile. The marriage was appointed to take place on the

following day, the fourteenth of November. Philip, it is said, obtained

his first view of his betrothed when, mingling in disguise among the

cavalcade of courtiers, he accompanied her entrance into the

capital.[472] When he had led his late queen, Isabella, to the altar,

some white hairs on his temples attracted her attention.[473] During the

ten years which had since elapsed, the cares of office had wrought the

same effect on him as on his father, and turned his head prematurely

grey. The marriage was solemnized with great pomp in the cathedral of

Segovia. The service was performed by the archbishop of Seville. The

spacious building was crowded to overflowing with spectators, among whom

were the highest dignitaries of the Church and the most illustrious of

the nobility of Spain.[474]

During the few days which followed, while the royal pair remained in

Segovia, the city was abandoned to jubilee. The auspicious event was

celebrated by public illuminations and by magnificent _fetes_, at which

the king and queen danced in the presence of the whole court, who stood

around in respectful silence.[475] On the eighteenth, the new-married

couple proceeded to Madrid, where such splendid preparations had been

made for their reception as evinced the loyalty of the capital.

As soon as the building of the Escorial was sufficiently advanced to

furnish suitable accommodations for his young queen, Philip passed a

part of every summer in its cloistered solitudes, which had more

attraction for him than any other of his residences. The presence of

Anne and her courtly train diffused something like an air of gaiety over

the grand but gloomy pile, to which it had been little accustomed. Among

other diversions for her entertainment, we find mention made of _autos

sacramentales_, those religious dramas that remind one of the ancient

Mysteries and Moralities which entertained our English ancestors. These

_autos_ were so much in favour with the Spaniards as to keep possession

of the stage longer than in most other countries; nor did they receive

their full development until they had awakened the genius of Calderon.

[Sidenote: QUEEN ANNE.]

It was a pen, however, bearing little resemblance to that of Calderon

which furnished these edifying dramas. They proceeded, probably, from

some Jeronymite gifted with a more poetic vein than his brethren. The

actors were taken from among the pupils in the seminary established in

the Escorial. Anne, who appears to have been simple in her tastes, is

said to have found much pleasure in these exhibitions, and in such

recreation as could be afforded her by excursions into the wild,

romantic country that surrounded the monastery. Historians have left us

but few particulars of her life and character,--much fewer than of her

lovely predecessor. Such accounts as we have, represent her as of an

amiable disposition, and addicted to pious works. She was rarely idle,

and employed much of her time in needlework, leaving many specimens of

her skill in this way in the decorations of the convents and churches. A

rich piece of embroidery, wrought by her hands and those of her maidens,

was long preserved in the royal chapel, under the name of "Queen Anne's

tapestry."

Her wedded life was destined not to be a long one,--only two years

longer than that of Isabella. She was blessed, however, with a more

numerous progeny than either of her predecessors. She had four sons and

a daughter. But all died in infancy or early childhood, except the third

son, who, as Philip the Third, lived to take his place in the royal

dynasty of Castile.

The queen died on the twenty-sixth of October, 1580, in the thirty-first

year of her age, and the eleventh of her reign. A singular anecdote is

told in connection with her death. This occurred at Badajoz, where the

court was then established, as a convenient place for overlooking the

war in which the country was at that time engaged with Portugal. While

there the king fell ill. The symptoms were of the most alarming

character. The queen, in her distress, implored the Almighty to spare a

life so important to the welfare of the kingdom and of the Church, and

instead of it to accept the sacrifice of her own. Heaven, says the

chronicler, as the result showed, listened to her prayer.[476] The king

recovered; and the queen fell ill of a disorder which in a few days

terminated fatally. Her remains, after lying in state for some time,

were transported with solemn pomp to the Escorial, where they enjoyed

the melancholy pre-eminence of being laid in the quarter of the

mausoleum reserved exclusively for kings and the mothers of kings. Such

was the end of Anne of Austria, the fourth and last wife of Philip the

Second.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] "Que ningun Moro ni Mora seran apremiados a ser Christianos contra

su voluntad; y que si alguna doncella, o casada, o viuda, por razon de

algunas se quisiere tornar Christiana, tampoco sera recebida, hasta ser

interrogada." See the original treaty as given _in extenso_ by Marmol,

Rebelion de los Moriscos (Madrid, 1797), tom. i. pp. 88-98.

[2] "Y que pues habian sido rebeldes, y por ello merecian pena de muerte

y perdimento de bienes, el perdon que les concediese fuese condicional,

con que se tornasen Christianos, o dexasen la tierra."--Ibid. p. 122.

[3] The reader curious in the matter will find a full account of it in

the History of Ferdinand and Isabella, part II. chapters 6, 7.

[4] Advertimientos de Don Geronimo Corella sobre la Conversion de los

Moriscos del Reyno de Valencia, MS.

[5] "Sin tratar de instruir a cada uno en particular ni de examinar los

ni saber su voluntad los baptizaron a manadas y de modo que algunos de

ellos, segun es fama, pusieron pleito que no les avia tocado el agua que

en comun les hechavan."--Ibid.

[6] Marmol, Rebelion de los Moriscos, tom. i. pp. 133-155.--Bleda,

Coronica de los Moros de Espana (Valencia, 1618), p.

656.--Advertimientos de Corella, MS.--Ferreras, Hist. Generale

d'Espagne, tom. ix. pp. 65, 68.--Vanderhammen, Don Juan de Austria, fol.

55.

The last writer says that, besides the largess to the emperor, the

Moriscoes were canny enough to secure the good-will of his ministers by

a liberal supply of doubloons to them also.--"Sirvieron al Emperador con

ochenta mil ducados. Aprovecholes esto, y buena suma de doblones que

dieron a los privados para que Carlos suspendiesse la execucion deste

acuerdo."

[7] Calderon, in his "Amar despues de la Muerte," has shed the

splendours of his muse over the green and sunny spots that glitter like

emeralds amidst the craggy wilds of the Alpujarras,

"Porque entre puntas y puntas

Hay valles que la hermosean,

Campos que la fertilizan,

Jardines que la deleitan.

Toda ella esta poblada

De villages y de aldeas;

Tal, que, cuando el sol se pono

A las vislumbres que deja,

Parecen riscos nacidos

Concavos entre las penas,

Que rodaron de la cumbre

Aunque a la falda no llegan."

[8] Senor de Gayangos, correcting a blunder of Casiri on the subject,

tells us that the Arabic name of the Alpujarras was _Al-busherat_,

signifying "mountains abounding in pastures."--See that treasure of

Oriental learning, the History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain

(London, 1843), vol. ii. p. 515.

[9] Such was the exemption from certain duties paid by the Christians in

their trade with the Barbary coast--a singular and not very politic

provision.--"Que si los Moros que entraren debaxo de estas

capitulaciones y conciertos, quisieren ir con sus mercaderias a tratar y

contratar en Berberia, se les dara licencia para poderlo hacer

libremente, y lo mesmo en todos los lugares de Castilla y de la

Andalucia, sin pagar portazgos, ni los otros derechos que los

Christianos acostumbran pagar."--Marmol, Rebelion de los Moriscos, tom.

i. p. 93.

[10] Such is the opinion expressed by the author of the

"_Advertimientos_," whose remarks--having particular reference to

Valencia--are conceived in a spirit of candour, and of charity towards

the Moslems, rarely found in a Spaniard of the sixteenth century.--"De

donde," he says, "colije claramente que el no sanar estos enfermos hasta

agora no se puede imputar a ser incurable la enfermedad, si no a averse

errado la cura, y tambien se vee que hasta oy no estan bastamente

descargados delante de Dios nuestro Senor aquellos a quien toca este

negocio, pues no han puesto los medios que Christo nuestro Senor tiene

ordenados para la cura de este mal."--MS.

[11] "Forzandoles con injurias y penas pecuniarias y justiciando a

algunos de ellos."--Ibid.

Mendoza, speaking of a somewhat later period, just before the outbreak,

briefly alludes to the fact that the Inquisition was then beginning to

worry the Moriscoes more than usual:--"Porque la Inquisicion los comenzo

a apretar mas de lo ordinario."--Guerra de Granada (Valencia, 1776), p.

20.

[12] Marmol, Rebelion de los Moriscos, tom. i. p. 135.

[13] Ibid. tom. ii. p. 338.--Ordenanzas de Granada, fol. 375, ap.

Circourt, Hist. des Arabes d'Espagne (Paris, 1846), tom. ii. p. 267.

The penalty for violating the above ordinance was six years' hard labour

in the galleys. That for counterfeiting the stamp of the Mendoza arms

was death. _Vae victis!_

[14] The name of Mendoza, which occupied for so many generations a

prominent place in arms, in politics, and in letters, makes its first

appearance in Spanish history as far back as the beginning of the

thirteenth century.--Mariana, Historia de Espana, tom. i. p. 676.

[15] M. de Circourt in his interesting volumes, has given a minute

account--much too minute for these pages--of the first developments of

the insurrectionary spirit of the Moriscoes, in which he shows a very

careful study of the subject.--Hist. des Arabes d'Espagne, tom. ii. pp.

268 et seq.

[16] Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. ix. p. 524.--Marmol, Rebelion de

los Moriscos, tom. i. p. 142.--Vanderhammen, Don Juan de Austria, fol.

55.

[17] Such was the judgment of the acute Venetian who, as one of the

train of the minister Tiepolo, obtained a near view of what was passing

in the court of Philip the Second.--"Levato di bassissimo stato dal re,

e posto in tanta grandezza in pochi anni, per esser huomo da bene,

libero et schietto, et perche S. M. vuol tener bassi li grandi di

Spagna, conoscendo l' altierissima natura loro."--Gachard, Relations des

Ambassadeurs Venitiens sur Charles-Quint et Philippe II. (Bruxelles,

1855), p. 175.

[18] This remarkable ordinance may be found in the Nueva Recopilacion

(ed. 1640), lib. viii. tit. 2, leyes 13-18.

The most severe penalties were those directed against the heinous

offence of indulging in warm baths. For a second repetition of this, the

culprit was sentenced to six years' labour in the galleys and the

confiscation of half his estates.

[19] "De los enemigos los menos."--Circourt gives a version of the whole

of the professor's letter, with his precious commentary on this text.

(Hist. des Arabes d'Espagne, tom. ii. p. 278.) According to Ferreras,

Philip highly relished the maxim of his ghostly counsellor.--Hist.

d'Espagne, tom. ix. p. 525.

[20] Cabrera, throwing the responsibility of the subsequent troubles on

Espinosa and Deza, sarcastically remarks that "two cowls had the

ordering of an affair which had been better left to men with helmets on

their heads."--Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. vii, cap. 21.

[21] Marmol, Rebelion de los Moriscos, tom. i. pp. 147-151,--Circourt,

Hist. des Arabes d'Espagne, tom. ii. p. 283.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne,

tom. ix. p. 535.

Dr. Salazar de Mendoza considers that nothing but a real love of

rebellion could have induced the Moriscoes to find a pretext for it in a

measure so just and praiseworthy, and every way so conducive to their

own salvation as this ordinance.--"Tomaron par achaque esta accion tan

justificada, y meritoria del Rey, y para sus almas tan provechosa y

saludable."--Monarquia de Espana, tom. ii. p. 137.

[22] "Y al fin concluyo con decirle resolutamente, que su Majestad

queria mas fe que farda, y que preciaba mas salvar una alma, que todo

quanto le podian dar le renta los Moriscos nuevamente

convertidos."--Marmol, Rebelion de los Moriscos, tom. i. p. 163.

[23] "Que el habia consultado aquel negocio con hombres de ciencia y

conciencia, y le decian que estaba obligado a hacer lo que

hacia."--Ibid. p. 175.

[24] "Que el negocio de la prematica estaba determinado, y su Magestad

resoluta en que se cumpliese."--Ibid, ubi supra.

[25] Ibid. p. 176.--Cabrera. Filipe Segundo, lib. vii. cap.

[26] "A estas y otras muchas razones que el marques de Mondejar daba,

Don Diego de Espinosa le respondio, que la voluntad de su Magestad era

aquella, y que se fuese al reyno de Granada, donde serio de mucha

importancia su persona, atropellando como siempre todas las dificultades

que le ponian por delante."--Marmol, Rebelion de los Moriscos, tom. i.

p. 168.

[27] An ordinance was passed at this time that the Moriscoes who had

come from the country to reside with their families in Granada should

leave the city and return whence they came, under pain of

death.--(Marmol, Rebelion de los Moriscos, tom. i. p. 169.) By another

ordinance, the Moriscoes were required to give up their children between

the ages of three and fifteen, to be placed in schools and educated in

the Christian doctrine and the Castillan tongue. (Ibid. p. 170.) The

_Nueva Recopilacion_ contains two laws passed about this time, making it

a capital offence to hold any intercourse with Turks or Moors who might

visit Granada, even though they came not as corsairs, but for purposes

of traffic. (Lib. viii. tit. 26, leyes 16, 18.) Such a law proves the

constant apprehensions in which the Spaniards lived of a treasonable

correspondence between their Morisco subjects and the foreign Moslems.

[28] Marmol Rebelion de los Moriscos, tom. i. pp. 223-233.--Mendoza,

Guerra de Granada (Valencia, 1776), p. 43.--Hita, Guerras de Granada,

tom. ii. p. 724.

[29] "Escrita en noches de augustia y de lagrimas corrientes,

sustentadas con esperanza, y la esperanza deriva de la

amargura."--Marmol, Rebelion de los Moriscos, tom. i. p. 219.

[30] Marmol, Rebelion de los Moriscos, tom. i. p. 235.

[31]

"La furia horrible de los torbellinos

Cada momento mas se vee yr creciendo;

Cubre la blanca nieve les caminos,

Tambien los hombres luego va cubriendo."

So sings, or rather says, the poet-chronicler Rufo, whose epic of four

and twenty cantos shows him to have been much more of a chronicler than

a poet. Indeed, in his preface, he avows that strict conformity to truth

which is the cardinal virtue of the chronicler.--See the Austriada

(Madrid, 1584).

[32] "Pocos sois, i venis presto."--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 47.

Hita gives a _cancion_ in his work, the burden of which is a complaint

that the mountaineers had made their attack too late instead of too

early:--

"Pocos sois, y venis tarde."

(Guerras de Granada, tom. ii. p. 32.) The difference is explained by the

circumstance that the author of the verses--probably Hita

himself--considers that Christmas Eve, not New Year's Eve, was the time

fixed for the assault.

[33] Marmol, Rebelion de los Moriscos, tom. i. p. 238.--Mendoza, Guerra

de Granada, pp. 45-52.--Miniana, Hist. de Espana, p. 367.--Herrera,

Historia General, tom. i. p. 726.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. ix

pp. 573-575.

[34] "Creyendo que lo uno y lo otro seria parte para que por bien de paz

se diese nueva orden en lo de la prematica, sin aventurar ellos sus

personas y haciendas."--Marmol, Rebelion de los Moriscos, tom. i. p.

239.

[35] Beni Umeyyah, in the Arabic, according to an indisputable

authority, my learned friend Don Pascual de Gayangos. See his Mohammedan

Dynasties in Spain, _passim_.

[36] "Era mancebo de veinte y dos anos, de poca barba, color moreno,

verdinegro, cejijunto, ojos negros y grandes, gentil hombre de cuerpo:

mostraba en su talle y garbo ser de sangre real, como en verdad lo era,

teniendo los pensamientos correspondientes."--Hita, Guerras de Granada,

tom. ii. p. 13.

Few will be disposed to acquiesce in the savage tone of criticism with

which the learned Nic. Antonio denounces Hita's charming volumes as

"Milesian tales, fit only to amuse the lazy and the listless."

(Bibliotheca Nova, tom. i. p. 536.) Hita was, undoubtedly, the prince of

romancers; but fiction is not falsehood; and when the novelist, who

served in the wars of the Alpujarras, tells us of things which he

professes to have seen with his own eyes, we may surely cite him as an

historical authority.

[37] "Usava de blandura general; queria ser tenido por Cabeza, i no por

Rei: la crueldad, la codicia cubierta engano a muchos en los

principios."--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 129.

[38] Ibid. p. 40.

The ceremonies of the coronation make, of course, a brave show in Rufo's

epic. One stanza will suffice:--

"Entonces con aplauso le pusieron

Al nuevo Rey de purpura un vestido,

Y a manera de beca le cineron

Al cuello y ombros un cendal brunido,

Quatro vanderas a sus pies tendieron,

Una hazia el Levante esclarecido,

Otra a do el sol se cubre en negro velo,

Y otras dos a los polos dos del cielo."

La Austriada, fol. 24.

[39] "Tal era la antigua ceremonia con que eligian los reyes de la

Andalucia, i despues los de Granada."--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p.

40.

[40]

"Que en la agricultura tienen

Tal estudio, tal destreza,

Que a preneces de su hazada

Hacen fecundas las piedras."

Calderon, Amar despues de la Muerte, Jornada ii.

[41]

"Tres anos tuvo en silencio

Esta traicion encubierta

Tanto numero de gentes,

Cosa, que admira y eleva."--Ibid, ubi supra.

[42] "Una cosa mui de notar califica los principios desta rebelion, que

gente de mediana condicion mostrada a guardar poco secreto i hablar

juntos, callasen tanto tiempo, i tantos hombres, en tierra donde hai

Alcaldes de corte i Inquisidores, cuya profesion es descubrir

delitos."--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 36.

[43] Bleda, Cronica de Espana, p. 680--"Robaron la iglesia, hicieron

pedazos los retablos y imagines, destruyeron todas las cosas sagradas, y

no dexaron maldad ni sacrilegio que no cometieron."--Marmol, Rebelion de

Granada, tom. i. p. 275.

[44] "Quemaron por voto un convento de Frailes Augustinos, que se

recogieron a la Torre echandoles por un horado de lo alto azeite

hirviendo: sirviendose de la abundancia que Dios les dio en aquella

tierra, para ahogar sus Frailes."--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 60.

[45] Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 271.--Ferreras, Hist.

d'Espagne, tom. ix. P. 582.

[46] "Y para darle mayor tormento traxeron alli dos hermanas doncellas

que tenia, para que le viesen morir, y en su presencia las vituperaron y

maltrataron."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 316.

[47] "Llego un herege a el con una navaja, y le persino con ella,

hendiendole el rostro de alto abaxo, y por traves; y luego le despedazo

coyuntura por coyuntura, y miembro a miembro."--Ibid. p. 348.

Among other kinds of torture which they invented, says Mendoza, they

filled the curate of Manena with gunpowder, and then blew him

up.--Guerra de Granada, p. 60.

[48] Of all the Spanish historians no one discovers so insatiable an

appetite for these horrors as Ferreras, who has devoted nearly fifty

quarto pages to an account of the diabolical cruelties practised by the

Moriscoes in this persecution--making, altogether, a momentous

contribution to the annals of Christian martyrologv. One may doubt,

however, whether the Spaniards are entirely justified in claiming the

crown of martyrdom for all who perished in this persecution. Those,

undoubtedly, have a right to it who might have saved their lives by

renouncing their faith; but there is no evidence that this grace was

extended to all; and we may well believe that the Moriscoes were

stimulated by other motives besides those of a religious nature,--such

motives as would naturally operate on a conquered race, burning with

hatred of their conquerors and with the thirst of vengeance for the

manifold wrongs which they had endured.

[49] "Murieron en pocos mas de quatro dias, con muertes exquesitas y no

imaginados tormentos, mas de tres mil martires."--Vanderhammen, Don Juan

de Austria, fol. 70.

[50] "Se adelanto un Moro, que solia ser grande amigo suyo, y haciendose

encontradizo con el en el umbral de la puerta, le atraveso una espada

por el cuerpo, diciendole: Toma, amigo, que mas vale que te mate yo que

otro."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 277.

[51] Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. ix. p. 617.

[52] "Fue gran testimonio de nuestra fe i de compararse con la del

tiempo de los Apostoles; que en tanto numero de gente como murio a manos

de infieles ninguno huvo que quisiese renegar."--Mendoza, Guerra de

Granada, p. 61.

[53] "Todos estuvieron tan constantes en la fe, que si bien fueron

combidados con grandes riquezas y bienes a que la dejasen, con ninguno

se pudo acabar; aunque entre los martyrizados huvo muchas mugeres,

ninos, y hombres que havian vivido descompuestamente."--Salazar de

Mendoza, Monarquia de Espana, tom. ii. p. 139.

[54] "Murieron este dia en Uxixar docientos y quarenta Christianos

clerigos y legos, y entre ellos seis canonigos de aquella iglesia, que

es colegial."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 297.

[55] "Estavan las casas yermas i tiendas cerradas, suspenso el trato,

mudadas las horas de oficios divinos i humanos; atentos los Religiosos i

ocupados en oraciones i plegarias, como se suele en tiempo i punto de

grandes peligros."--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 54.

Mendoza paints the panic of Granada with the pencil of Tacitus.

[56] Circourt, Hist. des Arabes d'Espagne, tom. ii. p. 322.

[57] "En un punto se mudaron todos los oficios y tratos en soldadesca,

tanto que los relatores, secretarios, letrados, procuradores de la

Audiencia entraban con espadas en los estrados, y no dexaban de pareseer

muy bien en aquella coyuntura."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p.

358.

[58] "Servian tres meses pagados por sus pueblos enteramente, i seis

meses adelante pagavan los pueblos la mitad, i otra mitad el

Rei."--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 53.

[59] Mendoza, with a few vigorous touches, has sketched, or rather

sculptured in bold relief, the rude and rapacious character of the

Andalusian soldiery.--"Mal pagada i por esto no bien disciplinada;

mantenida del robo, i a trueco de alcanzar o conservar este mucha

libertad, poca verguenza, i menos honra."--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada,

p. 103.

[60] "Toda gente lucida y bien arreada a punto de guerra, que cierto

representaban la pompa y nobleza de sus ciudades."--Marmol, Rebelion de

Granada, tom. i. p. 396.

[61]

"Muchos capitanos fuertes,

muchos lucidos soldados,

ricos banderas tendidas,

y su estandarte dorado."

Hita, Guerras de Granada, tom. ii. p. 63.

[62] Circourt, Hist. des Arabes d'Espagne, tom. ii. p. 326.

Seville alone furnished two thousand troops, with one of the most

illustrious cavaliers of the city at their head. They did not arrive,

however, till a later period of the war.--See Zuniga, Annales de Sevilla

(Madrid, 1677, fol.), p. 533.

[63] "Repartio los lugares de la vega en siete partidos, y mandoles, que

cada uno tuviese cuidado de llevar diez mil panes amasados de a dos

libras al campo el dia que le tocase de la semana."--Marmol, Rebelion de

Granada, tom. i. p. 404.

[64] "Paso este negocio tan adelante, que muchos Moriscos afrentados y

gastados se arrepintieron por no haber tomado las armas cuando Abenfarax

los llamaba."--Ibid. p. 407.

[65] "Apenas podia ir por ella un hombre suelto; y aun este poco paso,

le tenian descavado y solapado por los cimientos, de manera que si

cargase mas de una persona, fuese abaxo."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada,

p. 409.

[66] "Mas un bendito frayle de la orden del serafico padre San

Francisco, llamado fray Christoval de Molina, con un crucifixo en la

mano izquierda, y la espada desnuda en la derecha, los habitos cogidos

en la cinta, y una rodela echada a las espaldas, invocando el poderoso

nombre de Jesus, llego al peligroso paso, y se metio determinadamente

por el."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 410.

[67] Ibid. p. 410, et seq.--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, pp. 67,

68.--Herrera, Historia General, tom. i. p. 736.

Hita has commemorated the bold passage of the bridge at Tablate in one

of the _romances_, or ballads, with which he has plentifully besprinkled

the second volume of his work, and which present a sorry contrast to the

ballads in the preceding volume. These, which form part of the popular

minstrelsy of an earlier age, have all the raciness and flavour that

belong to the native wild-flower of the soil. The ballads in the second

volume are, probably, the work of Hita himself,--poor imitations of the

antique, and proving that, if his rich and redundant prose is akin to

poetry, his poetry is still nearer allied to prose.

[68] "Estuvo alli aquella noche a vista de los enemigos, que teniendo

ocupado el paso con grandes fuegos por aquellos cerros, no hacian sino

tocar sus atabalejos, dulzaynas, y xabecas, haciendo algazaras para

atemorizar nuestros Cristianos, que con grandisimo recato estuvieron

todos con las armas en las manos."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i.

p. 413.

[69] Ibid. p. 414.--Herrera, Historia General, tom. i. p. 737.--Bleda,

Cronica de Espana, p. 684.--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, pp. 69,

70.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. x. p. 17.

[70] "A la mano derecha cubiertos con un sierro, havia emboscados

quinientos arcabuceros i vallesteros, demas desto otra emboscada en lo

hondo del barranco de mucho mayor numero de gente."--Mendoza, Guerra de

Granada, tom. i. p. 71.

[71] "Ellos quando pensaron que nuestra gente iva cansada acometieron

por la frente, por el costado, i por la retaguardia, todo a un tiempo;

de manera que quasi una hora se peleo con ellos a todas partes i a las

espaldas, no sin igualdad i peligro."--Ibid. ubi supra.

[72] This poison was extracted from the aconite, or wolf's-bane, that

grew rife among the Alpujarras. It was of so malignant a nature that the

historian assures us that, if a drop mingled with the blood flowing from

a wound, the virus would ascend the stream and diffuse itself over the

whole system! Quince-juice was said to furnish the best

antidote.--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, tom. i. pp. 73, 74.

[73] Ibid. pp. 71-74.--Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, p. 554.--Marmol,

Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. pp. 416-418.--Herrera, Historia General,

tom. i. p. 737.--Bleda, Cronica de Espana, p. 684.

[74] "Mas la priesa de caminar en siguimiento de los enemigos, i la

falta de bagages en que la cargar i gente con que aseguralla, fue causa

de quemar la mayor parte, porque ellos no se aprovechasen."--Mendoza,

Guerra de Granada, p. 75.

[75] "Los Moros tomaron lo alto de la sierra, y no pararon hasta meterse

en la nieve, donde perecieron cantidad de mugeres y de criatura de

frio."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 437.

[76] "El Marques les dio a saco todo el mueble, en que habia ricas cosas

de seda, oro, plata, y aljofar, de que cupo la mejor y mayor parte a los

que habian ido delante."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 444.

[77] "No tomen, senores, a vida hombre ni muger de aquestos hereges, que

tan malos han sido, y tanto mal nos han hecho."--Ibid. p. 440.

[78] "El Marques se enternecio de ver aquellas pobres mugeres tan

lastimadas, y consolandolas lo mejor que pudo," &c.--Ibid, ubi supra.

[79] "Hubo muchos soldados heridos, los mas que se herian unos a otros,

entendiendo los que venian de fuera, que los que martillaban con las

espadas eran Moros, porque solamente les alumbraba el centellear del

acero, y el relampaguear de la polvora de los arcabuces en la tenebrosa

escuridad de la noche."--Ibid. p. 445.

[80] "De los Moriscos quasi ninguno quedo vivo, de las Moriscas huvo

muchas muertas, de los nuestros algunos heridos, que con la escuridad de

la noche se hacian dano unos a otros."--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p.

77.

[81] Ibid. ubi supra.--Bleda, Cronica de Espana, p. 685.--Herrera,

Historia General, tom. i. p. 787.--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i.

p. 441 et seq.--Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, p. 558.

[82] "Habia entre ellas muchas duenas nobles, apuestas y hermosas

doncellas, criadas con mucho regalo, que iban desnudas y descalzas, y

tan maltratadas del trabajo del captiverio y del camino, que no solo

quebraban los corazones a los que las conocian, mas aun a quien no las

habia visto."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 448.

[83] "Y volviendo a las casas del Arzobispo, las que tenian parientes

las llevaron a sus posadas, y las otras fueron hospedadas con caridad

entre la buena gente, y de limosna se les compro de vestir y de

calzar."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. ubi supra.

[84] "Los soldados no podian llevar a paciencia ver que se tratase de

medios con los rebeldes; y quando otro dia se supo que los admitia, fue

tan grande la tristeza en el campo, como si hubieran perdido la

jornada."--Ibid. p. 443.

[85] Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 455.

[86] Abderrahman--or, as spelt by Gayangos, Abdu-r-rhaman--the First,

the founder of the dynasty from which Aben-Humeya claimed his descent,

took refuge in Spain from a bloody persecution, in which every member of

his numerous family is said to have perished by the scimitar or the

bowstring.

[87] "Y como vio que los Christanos iban la sierra arriba, y que los

suyos huian desvergonzadamente, entendiendo que todo lo que Don Alonso

Venegas trataba era engano, echo las cartas en el suelo, y subiendo a

gran priesa en un caballo, dexo su familia atras, y huyo tambien la

vuelta de la sierra."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 460.

[88] Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 458 et seq.--Ferreras,

Hist. d'Espagne, tom. x. PP. 28-31.--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, pp. 80,

81.--Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, pp. 560, 561.--Herrera, Historia General,

tom. i. p. 737.

[89] The decision referred to was, probably, one in the last Council of

Toledo, A.D. 690.--See Mariana, Hist. de Espana, tom. i. p. 452.

[90] I quote the words of Marmol:--"Con una moderacion piadosa, de que

quiso usar como principe considerado y justo."--Rebelion de Granada,

tom. i. p. 495.

[91] Ibid. ubi supra.

[92] Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. pp. 465, 498.

Mendoza says they were all returned:--"a thing never before seen,

whether it arose from fear or obedience, or that there was such an

abundance of women that they were regarded as little better than

household furniture."--Guerra de Granada, p. 96.

[93] "Fue tanta la indignacion del Margues de Mondejar, que, sin

perdonar a ninguna edad ni sexo, mando pasar a cuchillo hombres y

mugeres, quantos habia en el fuerte; y en su presencia los hacia matar a

los alabarderos de su guardia, que no bastaban los ruegos de los

caballeros y capitanes, ni las piadosas lagrimas de las que pedian la

miserable vida."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 493.

[94] Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 482 et seq.--Mendoza,

Guerra de Granada, pp. 85-95.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. x. pp.

32-36.--Bleda, Cronica de Espana, p. 688 et seq.--Herrera, Historia

General, tom. i. p. 738.--Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, p. 589.

The storming of Guajaras is a favorite theme with both chroniclers and

bards. Among the latter Hita has not failed to hang his garland of verse

on the tombs of more than one illustrious cavalier who perished in that

bloody strife, and for whose loss "all the noble dames of Seville," as

he tells us, "went into mourning."--Guerras de Granada, tom. ii. pp.

112-118.

[95] "Que no habia osado parar en la Alpuxarra, y con solos cincuenta o

sesenta hombres, que le seguian, andaba huyendo de pena en

pena."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 464.

[96] The Castillian chronicler Marmol refuse his admission--somewhat

roughly expressed--to this brave Morisco,-"este barbaro," as he calls

him, "hijo de aspereza y frialdad indomable, y menospreciador de la

muerte."--(Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 503.) The story of

the escape of Aben-Humeya is also told, and with little discrepancy, by

Cabrera (Filipe Segundo, p. 573), and Ferreras (Hist. d'Espagne, tom. x.

pp. 39, 40).

[97] "Quando entendieron que peleaban contra el campo del Marques de los

Velez, a quien los Moros de aquella tierra solian llamar Ibiliz Arraez

el Hadid, que quiere decir, _diabolo cabeza de hierro_, perdieron

esperanza de vitoria."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 451.

Hita, who was a native of Murcia, and followed Los Velez to the war,

gives an elaborate portrait of this powerful chief, whom he extols as

one of the most valiant captains in the world, rivalling in his

achievements the Cid, Bernardo del Carpio, or any other hero of greatest

renown in Spain.--Guerras de Granada, tom. ii. p. 68 et seq.

[98] Circourt, Hist. des Arabes d'Espagne, tom. ii. p. 346.

[99] "Mas mugeres que hombres," says Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 83.

[100] "En menos de dos horas fueron muertas mas de seis mil personas

entre hombres y mugeres; y de ninos, desde uno hasta diez anos, habia

mas de dos mil degollados."--Hita, Guerras de Granada, tom. ii. p. 126.

We may hope this is an exaggeration of the romancer. Mendoza says

nothing of the children, and reduces the slain to seven hundred. But

Hita was in the action.

[101] "La soldadesca que andaba suelta por el lugar cometio crueldades

inauditas, y que la pluma se resiste a transcribir."--Ibid. p. 125.

[102] "El nino arrastrando como pudo se llego a ella, y movido del deseo

de mamar, se asio de los pechos de la madre, sacando leche mezclada con

la sangre de las heridas."--Hita, Guerras de Granada, p. 126.

[103] "Advirtiendo al mismo tiempo que hay tres mil hombres paisanos

suyos puestos sobre las armas, y decididos a perder la vida por

salvarle."--Ibid. p. 132.

[104] Hita has devoted one of the most spirited of his _romances_ to the

rout of Ohanez. The opening stanza may show the tone of it:--

"Las tremolantes banderas

del grande Fajardo parten

para las Nevadas Sierras,

y van camino de Ohanez.

Ay de Ohanez!"

[105] "Todos los caballeros y capitanes en la procesion armados de todas

sus armas, con velas de cera blanca en las manos, que se las habian

enviado para aquel dia desde su casa, y todas las Christianas en medio

vestidas de azul y blanco, que por ser colores aplicados a nuestra

Senora, mando el Marques que las vistiesen de aquella manera a su

costa."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 469.

[106] "Trayendose muchas Moras hermosas, pues pasaron de trescientas las

que se tomaron alli; y habiendolas tenido los soldados a su voluntad mas

de quince dias, al cabo de ellos mando el marques que llevasen a la

iglesia."--Hita, Guerras de Granada, tom. ii. p. 155.

[107] "Por manera que estaba la Alpuxarra tan llana, que diez y doce

soldados iban de unos lugares en otros, sin hallar quien los

enojase."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 498.

Mendoza fully confirms Marmol's account of the quiet state of the

country.--Guerra de Granada, pp. 96, 97.

[108] "Le suplicase de su parte los admitiese, habiendose

misericordiosamente con los que no fuesen muy culpados, para que el

pudiese cumplir la palabra que tenia ya dada a los reducidos,

entendiendo ser aquel camino el mas breve para acabar con ellos por la

via de equidad."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 483.

[109] "Que hiciese por su parte lo que pudiese, porque ansi haria el de

la suya."--Ibid. p. 470.

[110] "Dexar sin castigo exemplar a quien tantos crimenes habian

cometido contra la Magestad _divina y humana_."--Marmol, Rebelion de

Granada, p. 499.

[111] "El Marques," says Mendoza, "hombre de estrecha i rigurosa

disciplina, criado al favor de su abuelo i padre en gran oficio, sin

igual ni contradictor, impaciente de tomar compania, communicava sus

consejos consigo mismo."--Guerra de Granada, p. 103.

[112] Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 115 et seq.--Marmol, Rebelion de

Granada, tom. i. pp. 511-513.--Miniana, Historia de Espana, p.

376.--Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, pp. 573, 574.

[113] Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. ii. p. 8 et seq.--Mendoza,

Guerra de Granada, pp. 97, 128.--Miniana, Historia de Espana, p.

376.--Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, pp. 575, 576.

[114] "Otros, como desesperados, juntando esteras, tascos, y otras cosas

secas, que pudiesen arder, so metian entre sus mesmas llamas, y las

avivaban, para que, ardiendo la carcel y la Audiencia, pereciesen todos

los que estaban dentro."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 517.

[115] Ibid. ubi supra.

[116] "Los mataron a todos, sin dexar hombre a vida, sino fueron los dos

que defendio la guardia que tenian."--Ibid. ubi supra. See also Mendoza,

Guerra de Granada, p. 122; Herrera, Historia General, tom. i. p. 744.

[117] "Havia en ellos culpados en platicas i demonstraciones, i todos en

deseo; gente flaca, liviana, inhabil para todo, sino para dar ocasion a

su desventura."--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 122.

[118] "Las culpas de los quales debieron ser mayores de lo que aqui se

escribe, porque despues pidiendo las mugeres y hijos de los muertos sus

dotes y haciendas ante los alcaldes del crimen de aquella Audiencia, y

saliendo el fiscal a la causa, se formo proceso en forma; y por

sentencias y revista fueron condenados, y aplicados todos sus bienes al

real fisco."--Marmol, Rebelion de Granada, tom. i. p. 517.

[119] "Levanto un estandarte bermejo, que mostrava el lugar de la

persona del Rei a manera de Guion."--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, p. 118.

[120] "Para seguridad de su persona pago arcabuceria de guardia, que fue

creciendo hasta quatrocientos hombres."--Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, ubi

supra.

[121] "Siguio nuestra orden de guerra, repartio la gente por escuadras,

juntola en companias, nombro capitanes."--Ibid. ubi supra.

[122] This, which is two years later than the date commonly assigned by

historians, seems to be settled by the researches of Lafuente. (See

Historia General de Espana (Madrid, 1854), tom. xiii. p. 437, note.)

Among other evidence adduced by the historian is that of a medal struck

in honour of Don John's victory at Lepanto, in the year 1571, the

inscription on which expressly states that he was twenty-four years of

age.

[123] Vanderhammen, Don Juan de Austria, fol 3.--Villafane, Vida y

Virtudes de Dona Magdalena de Ulloa (Salamanca, 1722), p. 36.--See also

Lafuente, Historia de Espana, tom. xiii. p. 432.

This last historian has made the parentage of John of Austria the

subject of a particular discussion in the Revista de Ambos Mundos, No.

3.

[124] Vanderhammen, alluding to the doubts thrown on the rank of his

hero's mother, consoles himself with the reflection that, if there was

any deficiency in this particular, no one can deny that it was more than

compensated by the proud origin of her imperial lover.--Don Juan de

Austria, fol. 3.

[125] Lafuente, Hist. de Espana, tom. xiii. p. 432, note.

[126] Gachard, Retraite et Mort de Charles-Quint, tom. ii. p. 506.

In a private interview with Luis Quixada, the evening before his death,

the emperor gave him six hundred gold crowns to purchase the

above-mentioned pension.

[127] This interesting document was found among the testamentary papers

of Charles the Fifth. A copy of it has been preserved among the

manuscripts of Cardinal Granvelle.--Papiers d'Etat, tom. iv. pp. 499,

500.

[128] "Gastava buena parte del dia en tirar con una ballestilla a los

paxaros."--Vanderhammen, Don Juan de Austria, fol. 10.

[129] "Y puede ser llegase a sospechar, si acaso tendria por padre a su

esposo."--Villefane, Vida de Magdalena de Ulloa, p. 38.

[130] "Accion singular y rara, y que dexa atras quantas la antiguedad

celebra por peregrinas."--Vanderhammen, Don Juan de Austria, fol. 31.

According to another biographer, two fires occurred to Quixada, one in

Villagarcia and one in Valladolid. On each of these occasions the house

was destroyed, but his ward was saved, borne off by the good knight in

his arms. (Villafane, Vida de Magdalena de Ulloa, pp. 44, 53.) The

coincidences are too much opposed to the doctrine of chances to commend

themselves readily to our faith. Vanderhammen's reflection was drawn

forth by the second fire, the only one he notices. It applies, however,

equally well to both.

[131] Vanderhammen, Don Juan de Austria, fol. 16.

[132] Indeed, Siguenza, who may have had it from the monks of Yuste,

tells us that the boy sometimes was casually seen by the emperor, who

was careful to maintain his usual reserve and dignified demeanour; so

that no one could suspect his secret. "Once or twice," adds the

Jeronymite father, "the lad entered the apartment of his father, who

doubtless spoke to him as he would have spoken to any other

boy."--Historia de la Orden de San Geronimo, tom. iii. p. 205.

[133] Relation d'un Religieux de Yuste, ap. Gachard, Retraite et Mort de

Charles-Quint, tom. ii. p. 55.

[134] "Hallo tan publico aqui lo que toca aquella persona que V. Mtad

sabe que esta a mi cargo que me ha espantado, y espantame mucho mas las

particularidades que sobrello oyo."--Ibid. tom. i. p. 449.

[135] A copy of this interesting document was found in the collection of

Granvelle at Besancon, and has been lately published in the beautiful

edition of the cardinal's papers.--Papiers d'Etat, tom. iv. p. 495 et

seq.

[136] "Que pues su Mtad, en su testamento ni codecilo, no hazia memoria

del, que era razon tenello por burla, y que no sabia que poder responder

otra cosa, en publico ni en secreto."--Gachard, Retraite et Mort de

Charles-Quint, tom. i. p. 446.

[137] "La Princesa al punto arrebatada del amor, lo abraco, y beso, sin

reparar en el lugar que estava, y el acto que exercia. Llamole hermano y

tratole de alteza."--Vanderhammen, Don Juan de Austria, fol. 23.

[138] "Llego el caso a estado, que le huvo de tomar en bracos el Conde

Osorno hasta la carroca de la Princesa, porque le gozassen

todos."--Vanderhammen, Don Juan de Austria, fol. 25.

The story must be admitted to be a strange one, considering the

punctilious character of the Castilian court, and the reserved and

decorous habits of Joanna. But the author, born and bred in the palace,

had access, as he tells us, to the very highest sources of information,

oral and written.

[139] "Vuelto ya en si de la suspension primera, alargo la mano, y monto

en el caballo; y aun se dice que con airosa grandeza, anadio; Pues si

eso es asi tened el estribo."--Villafane, Vida de Dona Magdalena de

Ulloa, p. 51.