D. John of Austria received the news of his appointment in a letter from
the King, written on the 8th of April, 1576, just as he had sent the
secretary Juan de Escovedo to Rome, having been importuned by further
appeals from Gregory XIII about the English expedition. D. John,
therefore, deferred replying to this letter until the return of the
secretary, presuming with reason that his acceptance or refusal would
depend on the news brought from Rome by Escovedo. This delay, however,
joined to the information he had received of the secretary's journey and
of his interviews with various personages, gave Antonio Pérez an
opportunity of continuing his evil work of setting the King against his
brother. On the 16th of June he wrote with this intention to Philip, "I
am rather worried, Sir, at the way D. John's messenger tarries, because
ours must have arrived forty-two days ago, and I have seen a letter of
the 8th of May, from Naples, from Lorenzo Spinola, in which he answers
those written to him by the post by land and by Santiago; so that more
than twelve or fifteen days have gone by without answering, which is a
great delay, and makes one suspect the affair is being disputed over by
the leagues and congregations there, not that I doubt the obedience of
the Lord D. John, but the delay will cause trouble."
On the margin of this letter Philip replied: "Certainly there is much
delay about this answer and it is very annoying, since I am hoping that
everything will be settled by it, and this delay is very bad for Flemish
matters, principally because I had hoped to send this decision by the
Marqués de Havré; but as the answer does not arrive and he must start, I
am sending someone by whom to forward it, and thus he must go with a
promise, which it will be very undesirable not to fulfil with all
dispatch."
Antonio Pérez narrates, with much cynicism, in his "Relaciones" that the
King ordered him to pretend to favour the plans of Escovedo and D. John,
in order to learn their secrets, if there were any. He needed no command
from Philip to do this; but whether or no he had one, it is certain that
at this date he was already playing this vile part, as the following
letter to Escovedo proves, in which can be seen all the falseness and
perfidy of the man, who a few days previously had been advising the King
to invest D. John with a priest's dress.
"Truly, Sir, with reference to that of England (the projected
expedition), about which your Grace was employed in Rome, I
thought that it would be well for H.H. to be at hand and
occupied in such serious business for H.M.; the more because I
wish to see the Lord D. John in some great appointment, in which
he would be master of all, so that H.M. might know his worth,
and the good account he would give of such a government, free
from embarrassment or rivalry of other Ministers; and it is not
a small thing for H.H. to see himself quit of this."
The King sent D. John of Austria his commission and instructions to
Lombardy, ordering him to go direct from Milan to Flanders with the
haste and caution that the disturbance of these States demanded. But
this, however, was not D. John's idea; he wished, beyond anything, to
come to Spain, and, avoiding the dishonesty of intermediaries, to treat
in person with his brother about the resources on which he might count,
and the soldiers he could dispose of in his new and difficult command;
he wished also to learn D. Philip's schemes about the English
expedition, of which the Nuncio had already spoken to him a second time,
because, although it was D. John's greatest wish, he did not desire to
do anything in the least against his brother's will; and, lastly, he
wanted to plead for his recognition as "Infante," in order to have some
rank which would give him sufficient authority as Governor of Flanders,
also in England, if the expedition took place. So he wrote to Antonio
Pérez announcing his arrival; but the secretary, fearing frank and clear
explanations between the two brothers, as much as the King himself did,
planned, with him, to stop D. John's arrival by this letter from D.
Philip:
[Illustration:
ANTONIO PÉREZ
_By Sir Antonio More_
]
"I sent you a messenger by land ordering you to prevent this,
and, above all, your coming here, because of the great mistake
it would be. I wish to repeat here, and to charge you that in
nowise or for any reason whatever you should come, and when your
coming will be suitable, nobody will know it or inform you
better than I."
D. John, however, was so firm in his intention that, without hesitating
even after such a peremptory order, he sent Escovedo on ahead with
letters to announce his coming, and himself embarked at Genoa in a
galley belonging to Marcelo Doria, with another as escort, so as to
arrive at the beginning of September at Barcelona. D. Philip showed his
displeasure by sending the following note to meet him:
"Last night Escovedo gave me your letter and advised me of your
arrival at Barcelona, and I cannot help saying that great as is
the pleasure and wish to have you here, you have taken away much
of the joy that it will give me."
D. Philip did even more; he was at the Escorial, where he had spent the
summer with his family, and he prolonged his stay later than usual, in
order not to be in Madrid when D. John arrived, bidding Antonio Pérez
receive and lodge him in the latter's celebrated country house "La
Casilla." This is how Antonio Pérez refers to this remarkable incident
in the "Memorial": "And truly I must add here, without waiting to go
into details, that the reason why Antonio Pérez was the host of D. John
in his "Casilla" for a few days was, that the King did not wish to
concede the title of Infante, or refuse it, because hope would give D.
John better heart to settle things in Flanders. It is a usual habit of
princes to obtain fruit from hopes, as it is found in those inspired by
them and is generally wanting when the favour has been granted. And
since D. John had naturally to be in Madrid for his own private affairs
and did not wish to be in a hired house, but in the Palace, as a
beginning of his treatment as Infante, the King resolved not to return
to Madrid until D. John had left for Flanders, so that in this way and
at Antonio Pérez's expense the blow to D. John's hopes should be
disguised."
Accordingly Antonio Pérez set out to meet him, going as far as
Guadalajara, where the Duque del Infantado already awaited D. John,
together with the Duque's brothers D. Rodrigo and D. Diego, the Conde de
Orgaz, the Duque de Medina de Rioseco, and other intimate friends, who
escorted him all that day's journey until they left him at Antonio
Pérez's "Casilla." This was the celebrated villa, the wonder of the
Madrid of that day, which stood on the site at present occupied by the
convent of St. Elizabeth, in the street of the same name. It is now
hardly possible to imagine that it was then surrounded by shady gardens,
big orchards, and by a green, dark wood more than a league in
circumference. The house was large and square, with four towers at the
corners, and its big windows with their beautifully wrought gratings
opened in two symmetrical rows; the entrance was by a great paved
courtyard, in which were rough-stone seats and two cisterns of granite
and many iron rings, in the form of heads of wild beasts, horses and
dogs, fixed in the wall for tieing up animals. The dining-room and rooms
for gaming and diversion were on the right hand; on the left were the
guest chambers, and the front of the house was taken up by a suite of
saloons, furnished as no house belonging to a Grandee in Madrid, was,
with pictures, tapestries, Venetian glass, furniture of precious woods
and massive silver, and thousands of other valuable things which made
the house an object of wonder and gossip for the whole Court: they asked
each other how Antonio Pérez could afford luxury greater than that
displayed by the most powerful Grandee, as he had no fortune either
acquired or inherited, and they whispered about, and even plainly
mentioned, bribes, falsehoods, intrigues, and infamous mean acts, the
truth of which was proved, years afterwards, in the celebrated trial of
the secretary.
It was in the five front rooms that D. John was lodged; they were
furnished with all that was best and richest to be found, and as a
perfidious compliment from the false Pérez to the future King of
England, he placed canopies and attributes of royalty in each of them.
In the first room there was a rich gold and silver tapestry of the
sacrifice of Abraham and a canopy of tawny velvet, adorned with plates
of gold and hammered silver. In another room, arranged for the times
when D. John wished to dine alone, there was a similar tapestry with the
story of Joseph, a canopy and chairs embroidered in different colours,
and a wooden dais with a rich carpet. Then came the ante-room with gold
and silver tapestry, with scenes from the Æneid, and a canopy of gold
and silver embroidered in relief in different colours, and inlaid
writing-tables with their implements of gold and silver beautifully
wrought. The bedroom was next, with tapestry of brocaded green gold
(verde auro), a silk carpet, and tables and chairs of silver; the bed
was also of silver, with angels on the posts holding tablets with this
inscription: "The Lord D. John sleeps. Enter softly." Joining the alcove
was a closet, hung with gold and silver tapestry, which did not reach
the ground, with a bath with perfumes, a dressing-table of silver, and
all the necessary implements of the same metal. All over the house were
scent-burners with different sweet perfumes, even the courtyard held two
of them, under the care of as many lackeys, who perfumed the cloths of
the horses as they came in and out. "And to such lengths," says Luis de
Zapata de Calatayud naïvely, "did his luxury and ostentation reach, that
there was the wherewithal to clean the shoes of those who entered his
house on foot, who did not fail to leave them at the door, as the Moors
do on entering a mosque."