D. John returned from Aquila on the 3rd of March, according to the diary
of Fr. Miguel Servia, so much pleased with his sister that the next day
he wrote to Gian Andrea Doria:
"Yesterday, after dinner, I returned from Aquila, from having
visited and made the acquaintance of one of the bravest and most
prudent women known; and although I love her as a sister and a
friend, it is not affection which makes me say this, but because
it is so, and much more so than the world says."
D. John was not equally pleased with the news in Naples. It was
whispered, without anyone knowing where the rumour sprang from, that the
Venetians were retiring from the Holy League, and making a shameful
peace with the Turk; and it was also said that this peace had been
negotiated by the Huguenot bishop Noailles, Ambassador of the French
King, Charles IX, at Constantinople. D. John did not give a thought to
this gossip, and went on actively arming the fleet, and it was almost
ready when he retired, for Holy Week, to a Carthusian convent. "Tuesday
in Holy Week, the 17th of March," says Fr. Miguel Servia in his diary,
"His Highness retired to the monastery of St. Martin, which is of
Carthusians, and Wednesday he sent for me and the other fellow-confessor
to go to the said monastery, and so we did. His Highness confessed the
night of Easter Eve, and communicated on the morning of Easter Day.
Father Fr. Fee confessed many gentlemen of his Highness's household. On
Easter Day His Highness and all his household went up to dine at the
castle of Sant' Elmo, where we took leave of His Highness and returned
to our convent. His Highness came down on the 3rd day of the festival
after dinner."
And directly D. John came down from the castle he knew for certain that
the rumours which had been going about Naples were as true as they were
disgraceful. The Venetians had made peace with the Turk, without telling
the Pope or Philip II, just at the moment when everything was preparing
for a third campaign, and the expedition was already beginning to be
settled. D. John was furious at such villainy. He went at once, followed
by the gentlemen of his household and a crowd of people crying out
against Venice, and ordered that the flag of the League, on which were
the arms of Venice, should be torn down, and the Royal Standard of
Castille hoisted in its place. The indignation of Gregory XIII was also
great. He refused to receive the ambassador, Nicholas de Porta, whom the
Venetians had sent to pacify him, and gave vent, in public Consistory,
to hard words, saying that the Venetians were little religious, and had
kept ill their word and faith and oath to the Apostolic See. Philip II,
however, although he was no less annoyed, received Antonio Tiepolo,
entrusted to give him the news, with impenetrable calm, contenting
himself with saying that if the Republic acted thus in its own interest,
he had acted for the good of Christendom and the same Republic, and that
God and the world would judge.
The Holy League once dissolved, there remained a problem to be solved, a
most important one for D. John, to which, however, he could give no
answer. What was to happen to the powerful fleet, so fully equipped at
the cost of so much labour and expense? Should it be disbanded without
honour or benefit to anyone? Or should it alone, without the help of the
Venetians, go to seek fresh advantages on the Turkish coast and fresh
glory for the arms of Spain? It was the theme of all the talk of Naples,
and great and small, wise and ignorant, gave their opinions, discussing
warmly, conquering kingdoms and annihilating Turks, with the reckless
daring of the vulgar of all times, who in one second settle the most
difficult questions of war and government. But these wild ideas were all
more or less harmless talk at that time, as happily then there were no
newspapers to pervert opinion in their interests and to belittle
legitimate authority.
The grave men of the Council were also divided, and three opinions
principally prevailed. Some, with the Duque de Sesa, wished to take the
fleet to sea to fight the Turk, wherever they might find him, as at
Lepanto. The Marqués de Santa Cruz thought that the fleet should go at
once against Algiers, because, once this kingdom conquered and free from
the yoke of Selim, Tunis and Tripoli would yield, and the Mediterranean
would be free of Turks. The third opinion, which was that of D. John,
preferred first to attack Tunis, as most easy and feasible, leading to
the results the Marqués de Santa Cruz proposed. D. John, on this,
received a secret message from the Pope Gregory XIII, telling him to
attack Tunis, and that he ratified the promise of St. Pius V to invest
D. John with the crown of that kingdom. The Pontiff much desired to
found a Christian empire in Africa, which could gradually extend its
limits and thus realise the policy of the great Cardinal Ximénez de
Cisneros, set out in the will of Isabel the Catholic. This was the most
opportune occasion, and, if they had profited by it, perhaps the
destinies of Africa would be different to-day. But no orders came from
the Court, and not knowing what to do, D. John sent his secretary Juan
de Soto to Madrid, which caused great comment in Naples. Fr. Miguel de
Servia says, "This same day (May 22) the secretary Juan de Soto left in
a galley for Spain, sent by His Highness. Nobody knows why. It has
caused great astonishment." D. John notified the departure of Juan de
Soto to his sister Donna Margarita in this way: "The reason of not
having written to Y.H. for some days has been that all, and especially
myself, have been in suspense, without anything settled, waiting (to
hear) from the Court, where I have sent the secretary Juan de Soto, to
give account, as one so well informed of things past and future, and to
learn what we are to do in the time and circumstances in which we find
ourselves."
Meanwhile Juan de Soto had been received in Madrid with concealed
suspicion on the part of Philip II, and with feigned want of confidence
by Antonio Pérez, who was slowly preparing the dark perfidy which was to
end in the mysterious assassination of Escovedo and the misfortune of D.
John of Austria. But to understand better the crafty plans of the
deceitful secretary, it will be necessary to make things plainer, and to
recall some past events to fix in the reader's mind the state of the
case at the time when the gloomy drama began to unfold itself.
For more than twenty years two parties had divided the Court of Philip
II, which disputed for his favour and intimacy. One was led by Ruy Gómez
de Silva, Prince of Évoli, who was for diplomacy, settlements and peace;
the head of the other party was the Duque de Alba, who, on his side, was
for frank declarations, extreme resolutions and war, as a last resource.
For reasons we have given before, D. John was attached to the first of
these parties, and Ruy Gómez and his followers placed great hopes in the
young Prince. At that time good Juan de Quiroga was D. John's secretary,
appointed by Philip, in agreement with Luis Quijada, when he arranged
his brother's first household. By reason of D. John's youth, this
appointment had no importance then; but Juan de Quiroga saw D. John grow
up and his great gifts develop. He became devoted to him, attracted by
his good temper and frank, loyal manners; and on the first opportunity,
which was the Moorish war, encouraged and decided D. John to ask for the
command of the campaign, certain that the eaglet had sufficient feathers
and strength, and only needed to beat the powerful wings of his genius
and take his lofty flight. Juan de Quiroga did this out of his
disinterested affection for D. John, and out of respect for Doña
Magdalena de Ulloa, whose opinions about him we already well know. The
Prince of Évoli, on his part, Antonio Pérez and all his gang, approved
the conduct of the secretary Quiroga, aiding him with their efforts and
enthusiastically applauding this first flight of D. John, which placed
him on the level of the greatest captains of the Kingdom, and was
already gaining envy for him.
Good Juan de Quiroga died at Granada before D. John set out on the
campaign, and Ruy Gómez and Antonio Pérez hastened to place a new
secretary at D. John's side, one of their creatures, who would guide him
according to the interests of their party. This new secretary was Juan
de Soto, a capable, active man, very skilful in business, and a great
friend of Ruy Gómez; but his judgment was at the same time independent,
and his generous heart scorned selfishness and injustice.
Soto served D. John in the Moorish campaign and in that of the
Mediterranean against the Turks, and was present at and studied and, so
to speak, saw the internal workings of the great glories and triumphs
which in so short a time made D. John the terror of the Moor and Turk,
the hero of Christendom, the man of Providence, the "John sent from
God," that the Pontiff, at all costs, wished to see settled on a throne.
Soto was as captivated by D. John's real merit as Quiroga had been. The
offer of Albania and Morea seemed to him the most natural thing in the
world, and the promise of Gregory XIII to give D. John the Kingdom of
Tunis the just payment of a debt, and the most sure and certain way of
planting the Empire of the Cross in Africa. But the fact was that the
offer of these crowns did not have the same effect on Philip II, Ruy
Gómez or Antonio Pérez. D. Philip was full of jealousy of D. John, not,
as some have alleged, because he envied D. John—he was much too great to
envy anyone—but because these plans frustrated his policy, and, above
all, threatened to take away from him that strong and brilliant
instrument with which he had accomplished such glorious enterprises, and
counted on accomplishing more in the future. He wished to keep his
brother all to himself, flying as high as he wished or could, but always
subject to Philip's will, and without other ideas of his own or those of
other people besides his brother's.
Ruy Gómez died on the 27th of July, 1573, when the drama began to
unfold, but Antonio Pérez remained heir to his favour and power, and
master of the King's ear, and chief of the party erstwhile led by the
Prince. His jealousy of D. John, for different reasons, was very unlike
Philip's. The secretary counted on the King never allowing his brother
to wear a crown. He had seen for a long time that D. John's brilliant
victories and applauded triumphs were separating him more and more from
the peaceful policy of his (Pérez's) party, and feared that,
disappointed, D. John would join the party of the Duque de Alba, more in
sympathy with his own warlike tastes, or create a following for himself,
which, given his personal popularity and the great help he could count
on in Rome, might well absorb and annihilate all other parties.
It was necessary, then, to provide against these contingencies; and the
bad conscience of Antonio Pérez devised means of being forewarned
against everything; to poison Philip's jealousy by painting D. John's
ambitious ideas first, with a tinge of independence and then of treason,
which would for ever discredit the hero of Lepanto in the mind of the
King. It was necessary, however, to be very cautious in daring anything
with Philip II. This care Antonio Pérez used, and it is, in our opinion,
the most convincing proof of his false talent, cunning cleverness and
wonderful audacity. He was very careful not to attack D. John of
Austria, and confined himself to whispering to Philip that Juan de Soto,
carried away by his great affection for D. John and his own interests,
was inflating D. John's imagination with plans which went far beyond the
ideas of Philip II. Antonio Pérez, consequently, thought that it was
imperative to remove so dangerous an adviser from the side of D. John,
and to put in his place a temperate, energetic man, who would know how
to calm these ambitious ideas. In this may be seen the first drop of
venom for poisoning Philip's mind against his brother. Antonio Pérez
made him out to be a bold, ambitious boy, who could only be relied on
while under the rule of an energetic and temperate tutor.
Such was the situation which Juan de Soto found at the Court, when sent
by D. John with a public mission to ask instructions from the King about
the way the fleet was to be employed, and a secret one to tell him about
the proposals of Gregory XIII, respecting Tunis, of which in Madrid they
had had some secret advices from the Ambassador in Rome, D. Juan de
Zúñiga. Philip II could therefore verify the plain truth of what his
brother's secretary said, who tranquillised him with respect to the
loyalty of the ambitions of both. But the warmth with which Juan de Soto
advocated the project of Gregory XIII, and the promptitude with which he
explained away the arguments Philip cunningly urged against it,
confirmed the stories of Antonio Pérez about stirring up D. John's
ambitions, and decided the King to act according to the advice of Pérez,
and to separate Soto from D. John. But knowing D. John to be very fond
of Soto, and not wishing to alarm or annoy him, nor having reason for
not making use of Soto's services elsewhere, D. Philip at once appointed
him a naval contractor, and sent him back to Naples, with the
instructions for which D. John begged, waiting to relieve him of the
duties of secretary, and to separate him from D. John, until the
temperate, energetic man Antonio Pérez talked of was found.
The orders for the fleet were precise. They were to attack Tunis, take
this kingdom from the Turks, and place on the throne Muley Hamet, son of
the former Moorish King Muley Hacem, under the protection and dependence
of Spain, and to see quietly if it would be well to dismantle the town
completely, throwing down the fortifications, a policy to which the King
inclined.