THE HISTORY OF WILLIAM de CROY Surnamed the WISE, Governor to the Emporour CHARLES V BEING A PATTERN FOR THE Education of Princes. CONTAINING The Memorable Transactions that happened during his Administration in most of the Courts of CHRISTENDOM, from the Year 1506. to the Year 1521.  
In Six Books.  
WRITTEN In French by Mr. VARILLAS, Historiographer of France: And now made English.  
LONDON: Printed for George Wells, and Abel Swalle, at the Sun, and at the Unicorn, in S. Paul's Churchyard, MDCLXXXVII.   

THE AUTHOR'S ADVERTISEMENT.  
SEeing the public hath taken in good part both my boldness in offering to write the History of Charles the Ninth after 
The Historians are placed here according to the order of time they wrote in.  La Popilimore, Masson, Thuanus, Aubigne, Matthieu, Tortora, Davila, Dupleix, and Mezeray, as also the Preface in the new manner that I prefixed to the beginning thereof, perhaps it will not take it ill that I have made an essay upon a subject that hath not as yet been handled: That I give it now the Pattern for the Education of Princes, and that I add some illustrations upon the principal Manuscripts from which it hath been taken. All that I have to do before I proceed further is to intimate to the Reader, that he is not here to expect Regular Eulogies, but bare remarks, which I make not so much as curious but as being necessary to the understanding of what comes after.  
The Emperor Maximilian the first hath been the most singular Prince that wore a Crown in these last ages. He was dumb until the age of ten years; and as the skilfullest Physicians could not discover the cause of his distemper, so neither could they find a remedy for it; at the end of that time precisely his speech came to him; and by the volubility of his tongue, nature made amends for her slowness in allowing him the use of it. He was the Son of the Emperor Frederick the Third, and Leonora Infanta of Portugal, and he had almost an equal share of the predominant inclinations of his Father and Mother. Frederick loved money beyond what can be imagined, and Leonora loved as well to spend it. Maximilian was subject to both these failings; and as no man ever more solicitously sought out ways to fill his coffers when they were empty, so never any man was more impatient to empty them when they were full. He only received that he might give away by handfuls and without distinction; and resembled those pipes that never retain the water that comes into them, as if they only received it to spill it as fast. He had not one hundred Crowns when he went to marry the Heiress of Burgundy; and he was so happy as to have no other rival but the abominable Adolph of Gueldres, who was become the horror of mankind through the inhumanity he had practised towards his own Father. Maximilian was soon a Widower, and fortune offered him the Heiress of Bretagne for a second Wife: but his Father refused him money to defray the charges of his journey, and no man would lend him a farthing, had it not been for that Bretagne would have escaped from the French Monarchy, and been annexed to the Low-Countries. His prosperities were blended with some misfortunes. Maximilian continued long the prisoner of the Flemings: after they had set him at liberty they refused him the Guardianship of the Archdukes, Philip his Son, and Charles his Grandson; and forced him thereupon to write Letters, which are very far from the stile of his life, which he himself wrote afterwards. He strips himself of Majesty to demand from the Governors of the Archduke gratuities in ready money; and hath so forgotten his quality, that he would be vexed that one should think on't. It's all one to him whether these Gratuities were made as a due or a present; and that he might obtain them the sooner he consents to things misbecoming his dignity.  
Nothing can be more generous than the Letters of Lovis the Twelfth to Chieures, all Europe was informed that his most Christian Majesty had made him Governor to the Archduke; and the favour was so great that it could not sufficiently be acknowledged. Nevertheless Lovis seems to be apprehensive that Chieures may suspect that he hath not obliged him for nothing. His Majesty writing to him thinks no more of that favour which had been the most approved of all his kindnesses; and he is for having Chieures forget it as well as he: He never desires any thing of him but with such cautions as leave him fully to his liberty; nor does he neither apply himself directly to him upon the differences arisen betwixt the Provinces of Picardy and Champagne, and the Walloons: He makes him believe that he reserves him for better occasions, and chooses rather to write to the Council of Bruxelles, though he is not ignorant that Chieures is the head of it, and that nothing can pass therein but what is approved by him: He pretends to convince the most incredulous that he demands nothing of him but what the Flemings shall think reasonable; and by that means he is sure to obtain what he desires, and Chieures not to be suspected to have obliged him in granting it. Lovis follows not altogether the same Conduct in respect of the Archduke, and always remembers that he is his feudatary. Not but that in some rencounters he treats him as his equal, because the Monarchy of Castille belonged to him already, and that he was presumptive Heir of that of Arragon: but on other occasions his Majesty labours indirectly to put him in mind that he is not considerable but because of the Territories which he holds of the Crown of France, and that he may forfeit them in case of felony.  
The Catholic King Ferdinand of Arragon at first managed Chieures by all the ways that policy hath invented, and prudence permits, so long as he had any hopes of rendering him favourable unto him: But so soon as the Low-Countries had declared for the Emperor Maximilian, there was no more place for dissimulation, or it appeared so useless that it was neglected. Ferdinand proposed to himself to remove Chieures from his Grandson; and some relations are so malicious as to add, that it was none of his fault if revenge went not farther. Chieures had timely enough notice to remedy it; but he always confined his resentment within so narrow limits, that his Majesty had ground to imagine that he had safely offended him. Nor did he think neither that he ought to take greater liberty after that Doctor Adrian was raised up against him; and he discontinued not to respect the Maternal Grandfather of the Archduke, though he knew him to be the greatest and most formidable enemy that he had.  
Henry the Eighth King of England, neglected the Politics of his Predecessors, and took a way of his own that succeeded not with him. The five last Kings from whom he held the Crown, supposed that it was enough for them to keep in alliance with the House of Burgundy, to have the better on't as often as they attacked France; and they found it to answer their ends so well, that since the Battle of Azincour, till the fight of Hareas', their forces had always worsted the French that durst resist them. Henry offered at something more, and would needs give the Law to the Low-Countries whilst they were in minority. Chieures pleased him not for the very reason that he had been made Governor to the Archduke Charles by Lovis the Twelfth. He form then intrigues to have him deposed, and a Flemish Lord in whom he confided put in his place; and seeing he foresaw that he could not be powerful enough to succeed in it by his single authority, he joined with the Catholic King. The instances of both the one and other were so urgent, that it is strange how a Prince of nine years of age could be able to resist them. Chieures for all that stood his ground, and the ambition of Henry abated not for having been baulked in so famous a quarrel. He governed not the Low-Countries after his own way its true, but he took the quality of Arbiter betwixt France and Spain; and he caused himself to be painted holding in his right hand a Balance, in the two Scales whereof were the two Monarchies we have mentioned in so just a counterpoise; that it depended absolutely on him to cast the Scale into which he let fall the weight that he held in his lefthand. His presumption was the more ridiculous, that France and Spain were not then what they had been during the fourteenth and fifteenth ages. France was enlarged by the Provinces of Province, Burgundy, and Bretagne; and Spain wholly united into one, except Portugal. And indeed Henry found by experience that the English were no more in a condition of giving Laws to the French; and though when leagued with the Emperor, the Catholic King, the Suisse and the Pope, for reviving his ancient pretensions to Picardy, he took a great many Towns; yet he had so small hopes to keep them, that having plundered he either abandoned or burnt them. Nevertheless in his Negotiations he still retains some ascendant over the Archduke; and if he heat him not as his inferior, he takes the liberty to set him Lessons. He writes to Chieures with the greatest indifference imaginable; and by the manner how he solicits him it is easy to judge, that great men observe but very few measures with those whom they have a mind to undo.  
They who maintain that Charles of Austria changed his stile after the Battle of Pavia; and that whereas till then his Letters had been most civil, they afterwards scandalised all Europe by their extraordinary haughtiness, have not read that which gins with these words, My Viceroy of Naples. It is in French indeed, but never any King of Spain wrote so imperiously. There are others also that come very near, if they do not match it; and perhaps it may be true if one suppose here, that Charles practised wonderfully well what he had learned from his Governor, that he ought to treat with Nations with whom he had to do according to their Genius, and the need he stood in of them. Thus we find in the Letters which he writes to the Flemings and French, a condescension that seems to degenerate into a lowness; but as to the Spaniards and Italians he is so jealous of his Grandeur, that he is afraid to ruffle it by the least word of compleasance that might escape him. If he pray the Italians, it is but rarely and still backed with some order. To the Spaniards he never stoops so low; and though he think them not always obliged to do what he desires, yet he only proposes barely his will and pleasure; as if he cared not so much to be refused, as unseasonably to hazard his gravity.  
Julian de la Ronera Pope, by the name of Julius the Second, treats Charles and Chieures, with almost as much lostiness as if the Archduke were the Feudatary, and his Governor a subject of the Holy See. As he had changed the friendship which he had for Lovis the Twelfth into an extreme aversion, though his Majesty had given him neither cause nor pretext for it, so he gives himself no trouble to excuse his inconstancy. He will have all the Sovereigns of Europe to change in imitation of him; and cannot endure that the Archduke and Chieures represent to him with all imaginable respect that his Holiness had heretofore not only approved that the Flemings should live in a good correspondence with the French, but that besides he had laboured for almost fifteen years to reconcile those two Nations upon all occasions when they were ready to fall into variance. Julius' answers that what he did as Cardinal of St. Peter ad vincula ought not to be brought as an instance of what he ought to do as Pope; and there is a necessity of replying to him that the people of the Low-Countries are as uncapable of enjoying a full liberty, as of submitting to an entire slavery: That, to speak properly, they have no neighbours to be afraid of but the French; and that provided they keep peace with them, they are certain of greatest tranquillity: That they have indeed an extreme deference for the Holy See, but that that deference carries them not so far as to put them into bad intelligence with the Most Christian King: That if they be forced to it they will infallibly revolt; and that Julius who would push them upon that extreme, cannot be able to assist the Archduke neither with Forces nor Money to reduce them. Julius having nothing to answer to this, falls into passion, and threatens the Archduke and his Governor, but he dies before he found an occasion to do them hurt.  
John Angelo de Medicis, so famous by the name of Leo the Tenth, takes a course contrary to Julius in regard of the Archduke. He calls him the most affectionate Son to the Holy See: He considers him with proportion to what one day he foresees he will be, and respects him as much as he does any of the chief Monarches of Europe. He proposes to himself at first to turn the French out of the Duchy of Milan, and has not so good an opinion of himself as to hope to bring it about by his own Forces. The Emperor is suspected by him, because of his inconstancy, and the Catholic King for his infidelity. He knows that Chieures makes it his chief care to arm the Archduke against those two vices, and he would have the Court of Rome make advantage thereof. But the care of his Holiness is not altogether disinterested. He is very willing that the Archduke Charles assist the Italians in the recovery of the Duchy of Milan, but he desires not that he should have any other reward for it but the glory of having done such an action: He dissembles not but that Maximilian Sforza ought to be freely restored to the State which his Father and Grandfather have possessed; and will by no means have it represented to him that it would be to no purpose to act for him, seeing he could not maintain himself in it, and that the Italians would be forced to be continually in Arms for no other end but to oppose the Kings of France as often as they might have a mind to recover what they should lose.  
Of so many who since two hundred years have written the History of the Cardinal George of Amboise, it seems there is none that hath given him his true Character. Yet he had one so singular that it will be hard to find the like in the other Ministers of State of these last ages. It consisted in this that he laid his own Grandeur for the foundation of his Master's greatness. The design which he form was as ample and handsome, as Sully so pompously describes it to be at the end of his Memoirs.  
If it was not altogether necessary in the judgement of the Cardinal of Amboise that Christendom should be united under one sole Monarch, that so it might more easily resist the Infidels, he pretended at least that it ought to have one King so powerful as that he might alone be able to make head against the Armies of the Turks when they should advance to ravage the Countries which confined nearest upon the Empire, until the other Christian Princes might have time to arm and march to his relief. It behoved for that that Lovis the Twelfth having recovered the Duchy of Milan should still render himself the most powerful in Italy, and that he should have a Fleet there in a readiness to cruise upon the Coasts of Barbary, and his Majesty could not do that without he had the Court of Rome at his devotion. There were at that time so few French Cardinals in the Sacred College, that it was hardly to be expected that the resolutions of it would be advantageous to Lovis the Twelfth. To augment the number of them it was necessary to raise a Frenchman to the Holy See; and though no body accuses the Cardinal of amboise of having too good an opinion of himself, yet he imagined himself to be the fittest of his Nation for bearing the chief of all Ecclesiastical Dignities. He thought that the consideration, power and merit of the King his Master would infallibly obtain it for him; and if he took other measures, it was only to keep decorum. The Cardinal of St. Peter ad vincula owed his life and liberty unto him: during twelve years' time he had testified his gratitude for it which the sharpest sighted would have taken for sincere. He offered the Cardinal of Amboise to procure for him the voices which he wanted, and he was taken at his word. Nevertheless instead of keeping his promise, he hindered his Benefactor from being elected in the Conclave of Pius the Third, and in the following Conclave got himself chosen in exclusion of him. The Cardinal of Amboise was no less unfortunate in the third measures he took for attaining to the Papacy. The Catholic King had the art to make him sensible on the one hand that without him he could never obtain what he desired, and on 〈…〉 hand to persuade 〈◊〉 that he won●… serve him in good earnest. The Cardinal believed him though on several occasions be had found that his Majesty never stuck to his word but when he found 〈…〉. He continued in 〈…〉 his last breath; and the Ambassadors of Spain who almost ten years had been success 〈…〉 of him, kept him still from perceiving that he was deceived. He never was Pope, and his Master was so far from recovering the Kingdom of Naples that he kept not one foot of Land in Italy. However it is not impertinent to observe by the by that the Author of the illustrations concerning the conduct of the Cardinal of Amboise is not impartial enough for an Historian. He extenuates as much as he can the brave actions which he comments upon, and it hath been thought that he hath done so in design to raise the Minister of Lovis the Thirteenth 〈◊〉 on the ruins of the Minister of Lovis the Twelfth. If it be so his maliciousness is no way excusable; and he had enough to praise Cardinal Richlieu for, though he did it not at the cost of the Cardinal of Amboise. The Archduke and Chieure show a deference for him that 〈…〉 to that which they had for 〈…〉 was convinced that he had suggested to Lovis the Twelfth to make him Governor to the Archduke, and for the same reason the Archduke observes no measures in the praises which he gives to that Cardinal.  
The Spanish Gentleman who renounced the friendship of Francis de Cisneros Cardinal Ximenes when he saw him Minister of State was not so far out as men have imagined. He knew him thoroughly, and was not mistaken in his opinion that that new dignity would cause a strange alteration in him. Certainly so strange a Metamorphosis as that was is not to be found in the History of latter ages; and Ximenes whose thoughts till then were wholly confined to the Convent of Cordeliers of Talavera where he had made profession, were now filled only with notions that tended to the aggrandizing of the Spanish Monarchy. He remembered no more neither his Mediocrity nor his Birth, nor yet the frequent humiliations which he had practised in his Cloister. He minded nothing at least outwardly but Politic affairs; and he laboured more to reduce the Grandees of Castille to their duty, than to subdue his own passions. Not that he wholly neglected regular austerities, which he made sufficiently appear on this occasion. He was present at the Sermon of a Friar of his Order who made a long invective against him; and having sent for him as he came out of the Pulpit, he perceived that he wore a shirt contrary to his rule, and only rebuked him for it by showing him the haircloth which himself had on: but that was all that he retained of his ancient profession, and in all things else nothing appeared in his conduct of what he had been before. He treated as his equals the most considerable of the high nobility, not excepting the Dukes of Alva and Infantado. However he promised his alliance to the Duke of Infantado by giving his Niece in Marriage to the Duke's Nephew, but he soon repent it; and made amends for his fault in such a manner as made his parts more to be admired, than his ambition was blamed. He supposed that the power of the Catholic Kings ought to be sounded on the depression of the Nobles, and he laboured in that all his life-time without omitting any occasion. He obliged them in small matters, and was against them in great: But he had always care to make it appear he was in the right; and by that means all the Burghers and Peasants declared openly for him in all occasions when the Nobility conspired either to depose or assassinate him. In every thing he jumps with Chieures wherein the greatness of the Spanish Monarchy is concerned; but he is always against him when the Low-Countries have any competition with the Monarchy of Spain. Chieures as being a Fleming will have his Country to be the basis of the greatness to which the Archduke Charles aspires; and that the others which he is to inherit by the distraction of his Mother, and the death of his Grandfathers, should only be the accessary. Ximenes on the contrary pretends that Spain must always be the centre of the Archdukes Grandeur, and the Low-Countries be reduced into bare Provinces. Chieures represents to him in vain that they belong not to the Archduke by right of conquest; and that if Philip his Father had not possessed them, they would not have given him in Marriage the heiress of Spain. Ximenes makes no satisfactory reply: but he persists in his project; and in that considers not that he thereby provokes the Governor of a young Prince, who well quickly become his Master.  
It is not easy to determine whether fortune did good or hurt to Doctor Adrian Florent in taking him out of the College of Louvain whereof he was principal, to raise him to all the Dignities of the Church, not excepting the Papacy. He had a Genius for the functions that render men famous in Universities: but he went no farther: and amongst the many employments that he had afterward, there was not one that suited with him. He had acquired reputation in the Schools, and in the Pulpit: His Commentary upon the Master of Sentences was admired; and certainly if that Book was not the most subtle of the three hundred of the same nature which then were to be found in Libraries, it was at least the clearest and most methodical. His Harangues for the preservation of the privileges of Scholars had had better success than he had promised himself; and not only the Archduke Philip confirmed them, but besides honoured the University of Louvain by being a member of it. It was thereupon imagined that it would be a disgrace to the Flemings to suffer Adrian to continue longer in Louvain; and it was not so much to do him justice as to satisfy the public desire, that Chieures took him to be Preceptor to the Archduke Charles. He did not discharge his commission ill so long as his business was to instruct his Scholar: But when he was sent into Spain to negotiate with the Catholic King, he neither answered the expectation of Chieures, nor of the Spaniards who took him for the ablest man of his Nation in Cabinet Councils. He discovered at first that his Majesty was an irreconcilable enemy to Chieures; and from that he concluded that it would do irreparable prejudice to the interests of the Archduke, obstinately to defend his Governor how innocent soever he was; for that reason alone he declared against Chieures: and if he was not powerful enough to supplant him, it was not his fault if he was not sent home to his house, and the Spaniards entrusted with the supreme direction of the Council of the Low-Countries. He showed his weakness as much after the death of the Catholic King, when he had the occasion of making use of the Commission which he brought from Flanders for being Regent of Castille and Arragon, in case of that death. He suffered himself unseasonably to be prevented by Cardinal Ximenes, who gained him by promising him the second place in the Councils of Spain. He had, indeed, that place, but he wanted the Authority that ought to have gone along with it. He complained sometimes that the Cardinal consulted with him only about matters of small importance, and that he dispatched the rest without him: But that was all he did, and thought not that he ought to fall out with him about the matter. For that he had the Bishopric of Tortosa, and it was left to men to judge whether or not that was a recompense proportionable to the power that he was deprived of. Death quickly rid him of Ximenes, as it protected Ximenes from the Catholic King; and he was afterward so happy, that he ingenuously confessed he could not comprehend his own happiness. Leo the Tenth made him a Cardinal in prospect only of gratifying Charles the Fifth, and the Conclave having spent several Months without coming to agreement about the person who should succeed to Leo, in spite chose him Pope; whence it came to pass that the people of Rome loaded the Cardinals with reproaches as they came out, and threw stones at them. Till then the quality of common Father had been so respected, that the Popes who had lived least exemplarily laid it not altogether aside, and made a fair show at least. Adrian neglected it at first; and when he went from Spain to go take possession of St. Peter's Chair, he carried with him into Lombary the six thousand Soldiers who two years after took Francis the first before Pavia. Instead of keeping the Balance even, He took a side that he might rather cast it; and if his Pontificate which lasted but two and twenty Months had been of longer duration, it would have raised a schism in the Church more dangerous than that of Urban the Sixth, and Clement the Seventh.  
John Manuel was in reality the Politician of his age, most crossed by fortune, but by his ability and patience he forced her at length to be favourable. His extraction was low; but his way of writing wonderfully well, and yet very fast, was the reason that when he was very young he was chosen undersecretary of the Council of State of Castille. He was not full eighteen years old when he grew weary of his Employment, though at first he thought himself most happy in obtaining it. He considered that the three chief Ministers of Spain, Zapata, Carvaial, and Vargas were not much promoted; and that the richest of them had not a thousand Crowns a year, though they had long served the Catholic Kings Ferdinand and Isabelle with all imaginable zeal, and that they had facilitated to them the conquest of the Kingdoms of Granada and Naples. That was not a reward proportionable to the greatness of their services; and the truth is it cannot be denied but that the Catholic Kings were too great Husbands in that particular, if it be not pretended for their excuse that the Revenues of Castille and Arragon were not sufficient to gratify the tenth part of their most faithful servants. Manuel who saw nothing but Crowns above his ambition, was satisfied to continue undersecretary of State during the life of Queen Isabelle his Sovereign; but he carried his desires higher when the Archduke Philip of Austria and Jane of Arragon his Wife went to Spain to get themselves declared apparent heirs of Castille. Manuel was persuaded that that young Prince loved an easy life too well to trouble himself with the weight of affairs; and that if he insinuated himself into his favour before all other Spaniards, he might govern him at his pleasure; and obtain from him whatever he should desire. He was the first Spaniard that made his court to him; and won so much upon him, that none afterward could equal him in favour. The Archduke upon his return into the Low-Countries took him not along with him; and had no cause to repent of it, seeing he served him incomparably better in Castille than he could have done in Flanders. He was his spy during the sickness of Isabelle, and discovered, or at least thought so, that the Testament attributed to that Queen was forged. He gave the Archduke private notice of it: supplied him with means to prove the forgery; encouraged him to make haste back again into Spain; and promised to gain him a great party among the Grandees. What he wrote was not very probable; and it was rationally to be presumed that the Catholic King would take the start of his Son-in-law, and make sure of the Nobility of Castille before the Archduke could be in a condition to solicit them to own him. Nevertheless there was greater deference had to Manuel than he deserved. The Archduke at his bare solicitation set forth on his journey; and extraordinary good luck covered the fault which he committed so very well, that it was scarcely perceived. He found that Manuel had acquired him the friendship of all the Grandees except the Dukes of Alva and Medina Sidonia, who more for shame than affection would not abandon the Catholic King. The party was too unequal, and maugre the opposition of those two Dukes the Archduke was declared King. The efforts of the Catholic King for maintaining the pretended Testament were too weak; and he himself admired the inconstancy of human affairs, when he saw his whole Court reduced to fifty persons. It seemed at that time that Manuel's head turned round, so pleased he was to insult over a Prince who had been so long his Master. He thought it not enough to draw up the Articles which his Majesty was forced to sign; but it's said, he also joyfully beheld him when mounted on a Mule without other Equipage he went to wait on his Son-in-law. The reign of the Archduke was so short that nothing fell during it which Manuel thought worth the accepting but the Government of Burgos. He obtained it, and it was at the feast which he made for his Master to thank him therefore, that that Prince, as they say, had the poison given him of which he died. There were some contemplative heads that thought it was given rather to put a stop to the prosperity of Manuel, than to make away the new King Philip. Certainly the revolution was complete, and Manuel all of a sudden fell from the height of favour into the greatest abjection. He supposed that the Catholic King would be revenged on him, upon the same ground that he would have continued to persecute the Catholic King, if the life of Philip had been longer, and he Embarked for Flanders before he was apprehended. The Archduke Charles and Chieures received him very well, and it was none of his fault but that the Emperor Maximilian had deprived the Catholic King of the administration of Castille: But the Emperor could not set out a Fleet to transport him into Spain; and the Catholic King having settled his Authority, wrote to the Archduke his Grandson, and to Chieures, that he would disinherit the former, and ruin the latter, if they did not punish Manuel. That was a terrible threatening; and he that made it was not of a humour to be appeased, nor patiently to take a denial. But on the other hand Manuel had obliged Philip, who having been Father to the Archduke, and Benefactor to Chieures, required that there should be more consideration had for a Minister whom he had cherished, than for the Catholic King that hated him. The Expedient which Chieures found out to avoid those two Rocks, was to put Manuel into prison during the life of the Catholic King, with this qualification that he should have all the satisfaction that he could desire except his liberty. He proposed to himself also besides, to secure the person of Manuel, who would have run the risk of being stabbed even though he had been environed with Guards: But Politicians are nicer than other men in the offences which they pretend to have received. Manuel who reasoned so quaintly about matters of State, never thought of the motives which induced Chieures to do him a little hurt to preserve him from a greater mischief. He conceived as great an aversion to him as he had entertained kindness for him before; and was not at all moved at the pains which Chieures took to come in person and set him at liberty, so soon as the Courier who brought the news of the death of the Catholic King was arrived at Bruxelles. Chieures had not afterward a greater enemy than Manuel, and the good offices he did him exasperated rather than sostened him. The Archduke who could not be without either of them, kept Chieures at Court; and sent Manuel into Italy, where he succeeded in two most difficult Intrigues. The business was not only to persuade the Pope and Venetians to take from the Most Christian King Francis the First the Duchy of Milan which he had recovered, and to send the French beyond the Alps; but also to make them consent that the Spaniards who already possessed the Kingdom of Naples, should also conquer that Duchy; that so they might enjoy two Thirds of Italy, and that keeping it enclosed within the two extremities, they might wait for an occasion of subjecting the rest. There was no appearance that the Consistory and the Pregady would endure that so disadvantageous a proposal shall be made unto them, but the industry of Manuel supplied the seeming impossibility of success. He got a wonderful ascendant over the mind of Leo the Tenth, and concluded with him in the year One thousand five hundred twenty and one the famous Treaty which gained the Spaniards the Territories which they still possess in Lombardy. His Eloquence had no less effect upon the Venetians, and by two such brave Negotiations he ended his days.   

THE Arguments Of the Several BOOKS.  

Of the First BOOK.  
THE Archduke Philip being resolved to go to Spain to take possession of the Kingdoms fallen to his Wife, chose Chieures to govern the Low-Countries, who fully answered the good opinion that he had of him. The disposition of Charles of Austria  Son of the Archduke is left by Will to Lovis the Twelfth King of France, for reasons which could neither be more just nor more urgent; and Lovis in that particular gives a mark of moderation which hath but one example in Antiquity in the person of Ildegerge King of Persia. He nominates Chieures for Governor to the young Prince, without any regard to the prejudice which it did to the French Monarchy. Chieures discharges himself of his Commission by instructing his Pupil in his true interests, and by obliging him to exercise of himself the chief functions of Sovereignty. He endeavours in conjunction with Gouffier Governor to the Count of Angouleme, to root out of the hearts of their two Pupils the seeds of aversion which the Marriage of the Count with the Heiress of Bretagne who was promised to Charles had sowed there; and in the extreme difficulty that presented of remaining united with the Emperor or Catholic King, Chieures wisely prefers the Germane before the Spaniard.   

Of the Second BOOK.  
Chieures takes all necessary measures for governing in the Low-Countries during the absence of the Archduke Philip of Austria who was gone to Spain to take possession of the Kingdoms of Castille fallen to his Wife. But the Archduke dies not long after he had been Crowned King; and Chieures is by the King of France made Governor of the Archduke Charles Eldest Son to Philip. He labours but in vain to hinder his Maternal Grandfather from the administration of Castille. He endeavours to have it given to Maximilian the Paternal Grandfather of that Prince. But Lovis the Twelfth opposes it contrary to his own interests, and thereby augments the power of his most dangerous enemy. Manuel Secretary to Philip is persecuted by Ferdinand the Catholic King because he had too well served his Son-in-law. Manuel withdraws to Flanders, and Chieures receives him well in hopes that he'll hinder Ferdinand from disposing of Castille at his pleasure. But Ferdinand sets so many Engines at work, that at length Chieures is forced to abandon the protection of Manuel, and even to commit him to prison, where he continues during the life of Ferdinand. Cardinal Ximenes is no better treated for his having remained Neuter betwixt the Father-in-Law and Son-in-law. Ferdinand resolves to take from him the Archbishopric of Toledo, and the Cardinal hath his recourse to Chieures, who makes the Archduke his Pupil interpose. He offers Ximenes a retreat in the Low-Countries; and Ferdinand is so much afraid of it, that he lets the Cardinal alone.   

Of the Third BOOK.  
FErdinand sets the Governor and Tutor of his Grandson against one another. He persuades Dean Adrian that he will frustrate the Archduke of the Monarchies of Spain, if Chieures be not deposed; and the Dean possessed with the fear of that, signs a Treaty whereby he engages himself to bring Chieures into disgrace. But Chieures is informed of it, and guards himself equally both against the Catholic King and the Dean. He negotiates with the French a Treaty at Noyon; and gives it so cunning a cast that he turns the accessary into the principal, and the principal into the accessary. He thereby secures to the Archduke the Succession of Spain; and Ferdinand is so vexed at it, that he joins with England for undoing him. But in that particular the Archduke has no more regard to the offices of the King of England, than to the exhortations of his Maternal Grandfather, and Chieures remains in greater favour with him than before. This puts Ferdinand out of all patience. A dangerous design is form against the life of Chieures. He hath notice of it. He acquaints the Archduke with the same, and at the same time advises him most prudently to keep the thing secret. The event made appear that the Council was good, and Ferdinand at his death puts not in execution the design which he had form of disinheriting the Archduke.   

Of the Fourth BOOK.  
Chieures being informed of the death of King Ferdinand resolved to have his Pupil declared King of Castille and Arragon during the life of the Queen his Mother; and gins so difficult an Intrigue by obliging first the Emperor Maximilian, and then the Court of Rome to give him the title of King. He writes immediately after to Cardinal Ximenes to assemble the States of the two Monarchies, and there to cause the Archduke to be declared King jointly with the Catholic Queen. Ximenes finds many more difficulties in it than he imagined; but at length he overcomes them, partly by policy, and partly by his haughty way of acting. There remains no more than but to take possession of the two Monarchies, and the Archduke could not go thither without being in agreement with France. He mediates a negotiation in the Town of Noyon, where the Governor of Francis the first and of the Archduke in quality of Plenipotentiaries labour to unite their Pupils. Gouffier Plenipotentiary of France acts sincerely, but his candour succeeds not with him; and Chieures signs a Treaty with him ambiguous enough to give the Archduke pretext of waving the execution of it when he might have a mind. Francis provoked that his Governor had been overreached; favours the arming of John d' albert for the recovery of Navarre; but the imprudence of that dispossessed King, makes him lose the occasion of re-establishing himself. His forces having been unseasonably divided are cut in pieces, and he loses his hopes of remounting the Throne by losing his life. Chieures is moved at the oppression of the Indians whom the Spaniards forced to dig in the Mines. He offers to persuade them to employ Negro-slaves in that toilsome labour: but Cardinal Ximenes opposes it upon interest of State, and the matter continues in suspense.   

Of the Fifth BOOK.  
XImenes having obliged the Catholic King to share with him his power in Castille, enjoys not long the advantage of his Politics. The Grandees support him with so much the less patience that he continued to carry towards them with extraordinary haughtiness, and not being able to dispatch him by open force, they have recourse to artifice. They give him a slow poison; and he takes it a minute's time before he who came to warn him of it arrived. He takes Antidotes which do not serve his turn, but only prolong his life for some Months. For all he saw himself so near his end yet he undertook one of the boldest of all his actions, by removing from the Infanto all his servants only one excepted. The matter was carried on without tumult, and the Catholic King arrives fortunately in Spain. The Courtiers of his Majesty of whom Chieures was the most considerable resolve to acquire and preserve the friendship of Ximenes, but his sternness makes it impossible for them. He persists obstinately in soliciting the King his Master to exclude them all out of the Council of Spain, and by that means obliges them to unite for procuring his disgrace. They obtain it of the Catholic King; and the news that the Cardinal received of it affects him so sensibly, that a few hours after he expires. After his death the weight of affairs lies upon Chieures, who discharges himself of his trust to a wonder in two occasions; the one by all means to get the Infanto Ferdinand removed out of Spain and sent into Germany; and the other in disposing the Emperor Maximilian who would have yielded the Empire to the Infanto, to change his design, and choose the Catholic King for his Successor.   

Of the Sixth BOOK.  
THE greatest part of Spain conspire together for the disgrace of Chieures, and this great man is in extreme danger. Nevertheless the Emperor abandons him not; and his cause at length prevails. The Spaniards who kept their allegiance defeat the rebels in an open battle, and the Sovereign authority is restored to all its splendour. Chieures who waited on the Emperor into Germany provided there so advantageously for the Infanto Ferdinand by procuring him the Marriage of the Heiress of Hungary and Bohemia, that that young Prince thinks no more of complaining that his Elder Brother had done him injustice in giving him no share in the Dominions of Queen Jane their Mother. He gives so good orders also in Navarre, that it as easily again recovered to the Spaniards as it had been lost by them, and taken by the French. Nothing withstands the Lord Asparant, and he becomes Master of it in less than a fortnight's time: But his good fortune blinds his judgement, and he imagines that the conquest of Castille will cost him no more than that of Navarre. He enters it: suffers himself to be straitened for provisions there. The Spaniards expect till his Army was weakened through hardships, and attack him presently after. He is overcome, loses his sight in the sight, taken prisoner; and lived only after to be an instance, that conduct in War is as necessary as courage. The Revolted Spaniards are reconciled to their Master, but they turn all their fury against Chieures. They poison the Cardinal de Croy his Nephew, and fifty days after serve him in the same manner.    

A PATTERN FOR THE EDUCATION OF PRINCES.  
The First BOOK CONTAINING The most memorable Affairs that passed in Europe from the beginning of the year One thousand five hundred and six, to the middle of the year One thousand five hundred and fourteen.  
THe House of Croüy  to the Ancient, or of Croy, according to modern Orthography, pretends to be descended ●n a right masculine Line from the ancient Kings of Hungary by one Stephen, whom others call Andrew, third Son to King Bela, and Brother to St. Elizabeth Countess of Thuringe, who being forced out of Hungary, 
In Pontuc. Huterus.  fled for refuge into France in the year One thousand one hundred seventy and three, during the Reign of Lovis the Young; but his Son settled himself in Gallia Belgica by marrying Catharine Heiress of Croy, whose name he took, and left it to his Posterity. This House was afterward in succession of time allied by William the First of Croy to the House of Guines; by James the First of Croy to the House of Soissons; by James the Second of Croy to the House of Perguigny; by William the Second of Croy to the House of Kenti; by John of Croy to the House of Curton; by Anthony of Croy to the House of Lorraine; and by Philip of Croy to that of Luxembourg.  
John of Croy transplanted his Family from Picardy into Flanders, when he became the Favourite of Philip the Hardy, first Duke of Burgundy, descended of the second Branch of the Bloud-royal of France.  
The Historians of that time have not taken pains enough to give us the Character of this Lord: nevertheless he must have been a man of extraordinary parts, seeing that during the whole course of his life he governed two Princes, the most contrary in temper and humour, and the most difficult to be persuaded that ever were, Philip the Hardy, and John without Fear his Son, Dukes of Burgundy. He was their chief Chamberlain, and by an extraordinary Conduct and Policy, though Philip the Hardy and John without Fear were for most part in continual variance with the Kings of France, yet John of Croy continued to be the constant Favourite of the Dukes of Burgundy, without ever giving them the least umbrage or suspicion of his fidelity, notwithstanding he stood so well all his life-time at the Court of the most Christian Kings, that they made him great Master of their House, and suffered him to discharge the duties of that important place, without ever accusing him that he had managed the interests of the Dukes of Burgundy against their Majesties. This particular ought the more to be remarked, that it is singular, and perhaps, in its chief circumstances not to be paralleled in the lives of ●he illustrious men of these last Ages; and besides it is so advantageous to John of Croy, that it seems nothing can be said greater in his favour.  
In so happy a state he did not forget, but that he might more easily tumble down than he had mounted up; and foreseeing that at length the Kings of France and Dukes of Burgundy would become irreconcilable enemies, and that in that case, the House of Croy would be forced to declare for the one side or other, he so disposed his Inheritance and the Purchases which he made; that he had as much in the Dominions of the Kings of France, as in the Territories of the Dukes of Burgundy, to the end that to what side soever he might incline, he should retain one half of his Estate, and be in a condition of making the figure of a great Lord in either of the two Courts which he might prefer before the other.  
Anthony of Croy his Son was so happy as to succeed him in the favour, and to dispose so absolutely of Philip the Good, third Duke of Burgundy, that this Prince relished no Counsels nor Designs but what had either been proposed or approved by that Favourite.  
But Philip of Croy, the Son of Anthony, fell into the disgrace which his Grandfather John of Croy had apprehended by an accident which is fit we should unfold in this place, because it conduces to the understanding of the matters following.  
Seeing Philip the good had from his Father John without fear, received Anthony of Croy, both for his chief Minister and Favourite, without the least show of repugnance, whether he thought himself obliged to have, as to that, an implicit deference to his Father's Will, or that his inclination suited with the Person that was presented to him; he imagined that his Son Charles the Terrible, would comply no less with him, and that he would gladly admit of Philip of Croy to the same rank with him, that John and Anthony of Croy had held with his Father, Grandfather, and great Grandfather: But the dispositions were not alike on both sides, as they ought to have been for cementing a new confidence and favour. There was nothing wanting on the part of Philip of Croy for the worthy discharge of the two places in question about Charles the Terrible: But Charles was prepossessed with an opinion that his ●ather demanded too much of him, and that he stretched the Prerogative of Nature farther than it ought to be. That to take things aright, a Minister and Favourite were no more in relation to a Sovereign, than what a Steward is in respect of great men, and an intimate Friend to any private person; and for the same reason that great men and private persons have the liberty of choosing their Stewards and Friends, a young Prince ought not to be confined in the choice of a Minister and Favourite, by any thing without himself. So that the earnest desire of promoting Philip of Croy was the thing that made him disagreeable; and Charles the Terrible, who in all appearance would have cast his eyes upon him, had he not been spoke to about it, would by no means do it, because be had been recommended unto him. 
In the causes of the disgrace of the Croyes.  He declared himself so briskly as to that, that his Father thought it not convenient to press him any farther; But the good Prince who had been only over solicitous because of the extraordinary affection he had for the Croyes, perceived that in respect of them he had made one of those politic steps which are irreparably hurtful when they do not succeed. He was afraid that he had unseasonably given his Son an occasion of changing the indifference which he had showed to the Croyes, into an aversion, and in prospect of that, omitted nothing that he thought capable to insinuate them into his favours. He was even of the mind that the young Prince his Son had too severely mortified the Croyes by his refusal; and therefore that he might do what he could to please them, he heaped favours and kindnesses upon them.  
A Lady, who was the last of the House of Bethune, died not only without Children, but also without any Kindred, and without disposing of the vast Estate which she possessed. By the right of ultimus haeres or Escheatage the whole Estate belonged to Philip the good, and he made a Present of it to the Croys. The liberality, indeed, was great, but not extraordinary; seeing that Prince had sometimes showed the like, nay, and greater, to those who had not served him so faithfully as the Croys had done; however it passed for Prodigality, and a piece of Injustice in the notion of Charles the Terrible. He was already five and twenty years of age; married, 
Maria Heiress of Burgundy.  and the Father of one only Daughter, which was all the Children he had: In the mean time his Father, who had no more Children neither but him, had not as yet given him any thing in advance of the Low Countries which belonged to him in Succession: He obliged him to live in the same Palace with himself, to eat at Table with him, follow the diversions that he did, and to content himself with a small Pension for defraying his other Expenses. Charles, who was to be one of the richest Princes in Christendom, would not be more pinched nor stinted, and omitted no opportunity of enlarging his Fortune. Some Months before the death of the Lady of Bethune he had been informed that the fear of being poisoned by those to whom she might leave her vast Estate would infallibly hinder her from making a Will, and therefore he begged the gift of it beforehand of his Father, who freely granted it him: But the good Prince had so wholly forgot it, that he did not so much as remember even when his Son put him in mind of it. He made answer to him in a positive manner, that he had never promised in all his life time one and the same thing to two different persons; and that seeing he had granted the Croys the Estate of the House of Bethune, it must needs be, that he never promised it to the Prince of Burgundy. He continued so firm in that particular, that the Croys had the gift: But no sooner did those that envied them perceive how much the Prince of Burgundy was discontented thereat, but that they inflamed his resentment by a rumour they raised in his Father's Court, that the Duke would not stop there; and that he had only enriched the Croys with the Succession of Bethune, that it might appear less strange in the World when he should divest himself, and frustrate his only Son of the most important Province of the Low Countries, by investing them in the Province of Namur in the same manner as he possessed it, to wit, in absolute sovereignty. Thus affairs went already, but bad enough at the Court of Burgundy for the Croys, when an unexpected accident which at first was thought would retrieve all, made every thing go worse and worse with them.  
The Dauphin of France, who was afterwards Lovis the Eleventh, stood in so bad terms with Charles the Seventh his Father, that his Majesty drove him out of the Province of Dauphiné, where he could not endure that whilst he was alive another should rule as a Sovereign Prince, seeing there was no security for him in any other place in Europe but in the Low Countries, no other State being in the humour to refuse the delivering him up to his Father in case he should demand him; and that besides, Philip the Good had sufficiently made it known, to confirm the opinion that the Dauphin had of him, that if he desired him to receive him at his Court he would not consent to it, for fear of quarrelling with France; but that if he entered the Low Countries without demanding permission, Philip, who gloried in Hospitality, and had granted it to all sorts of People, not excepting even the persons of Kings, would not be so hard as to send him back again; The Dauphin came as far as Brabant before it was known at the Court of Burgundy that he was upon his Journey.  
His conjecture proved true; and Philip though he was extremely troubled at his having such a Guest, yet durst not desire him to departed out of the Low Countries: His only care was how he might civilly send him back again, and for that end chose the expedient of reconciling him to his Father. He therein employed the Offices of his Agents; and because so thorny a negotiation was not the business of one day, he commanded the Croys to divert the Dauphin in the mean time, and to link themselves in a strict friendship with him.  
Obedience is never more readily performed, than when the Orders of Sovereign's suit with the present interests of those who receive them. The Croys were persuaded that there was no necessity of affecting any more a scrupulous complaisance for the Prince of Burgundy: they had Estates in France: they foresaw that the Dauphin would shortly be King, and they stood absolutely in need of his prorection to secure them from the formidable Enemy whom they could not avoid but to have one day upon their backs. In that prospect they omitted nothing that might win the Dauphin; and succeeded therein the more easily, that that Prince, the most assiduous of his Age, to make sure of those from whom he thought he might procure services, on his part met them more than half way. He had just before in some Conferences that he had had with the Prince of Burgundy experienced the strange Antipathy that was betwixt their two tempers. He made no doubt but that it would one day be the cause of a War betwixt them that might last as long as they lived: he thought it convenient to prepare for it betimes: He foresaw how useful the Croys would then be to him; And that was enough to make him endeavour to gain them in a point which failed not to produce its natural effect, which the Croys had not sufficiently apprehended, since it increased the hatred of the Prince of Burgundy towards them, adding to the discontent, disdain, anger and resentment which he already entertained, Jealousy in that he perceived they sought to fortify themselves by protection against him. He was so sensibly touched with this, that he observed no more measures with those whom he regarded now far less than before, since his Father pressed him no more to receive them as Domestic Servants.  
He was informed that Charles the Seventh hearing that the Dauphin was retreated into Flanders, had said that the Duke of Burgundy had received into his house a Fox that would destroy his Poultry; and he took occasion to give it out by his Emissaries, that his Majesty's Prediction was fulfilled, and that the Croys had with the Dauphin conspired the ruin of the House of Burgundy. He openly threatened to be revenged on them after the death of his Father; and seeing he was not as yet appeased when the Dauphin being become King of France left Brabant, the Croys that they might prepare for themselves a Sanctuary, incited his most Christian Majesty to recover out of the hands of the Duke of Burgundy, the Towns of Picardy lying upon the River of Soam, seeing the Treaty of 
* Concluded in the year 1405. betwixt Charles the Seventh and Philip the good.  Arras allowed it upon the payment of four hundred thousand Crowns. This was a sast Sum considering the times: which notwithstanding being quickly raised; Philip the Good, though it went against the grain with him to receive it, yet durst not refuse it. The Towns were honestly restored; and though Philip's good will was not thereby lessened toward the Croys, his Son made heavy complaints against them for it. They continued with the Father, and served him faithfully so long as he lived; and when they perceived him brought so low and weak that he had but a few hours longer to live, they demanded leave of him to withdraw to their Lands in France, and obtained it. They were long persecuted as much as lay in the power of the new Duke; nevertheless they supported it with a moderation never before practised on the like occasions in the Low-Countries; no complaining was heard to proceed out of their mouth, nor any Manifesto in their favours from the Pens of their Friends. They wisely considered that those two ways of easing great Afflictions were dangerous; and that for the most part if those who were chief concerned were so moderate as not to mingle Invectives and Satyrs in them, yet they were so unfortunate that others did it, and that the Public was unjust enough to impute them to those who were not the Authors of the same. There appeared not so much as an Apology on the part of the Croys to justify their innocence. They kept themselves in a profound and respectful silence; and during the Wars that followed betwixt Lovis the Eleventh their Protector, and the Duke of Burgundy their declared Enemy, they neither acted against the King, nor against the Duke but on such occasions wherein they could not civilly excuse themselves neither to the one nor to the other. In acting, or before they acted they used all the circumspection that might justify their Proceeding; and though Lovis the Eleventh was so difficult to be managed in that Affair, that the Constable of St. Paul could not succeed in it, yet they behaved themselves so wisely as that their Conduct in so nice a Point was not at all suspected by his most Christian Majesty, They waited for the return of their good fortune in peace, and thereby deserved that their perseverance should triumph over their adversity. It is not known precisely whether the Duke of Burgundy was touched with it; or if the need he had of the Croys to get into the possession of Guelderland, which was then made over to him by an abused 
* Uric Duke of Gelder's.  Father in prejudice of his own Son 
† Adolphe. , obliged him to be reconciled to them; but it is certain they were honourably reestablished; that they had great interests with the chief men of the Duchy of Gelder's; that they contributed much to engage them mildly under the Dominion of the House of Burgundy; and that if the change was introduced almost without effusion of blood, Charles the Terrible was obliged to the Croys for it.  
They lived with him afterward in such a manner, that if they gained not his friendship, yet they prevented the remains of aversion that he might have concealed in his heart from breaking out against them; and after he was killed before Nancy, they again advanced to the chief place of favour in the Court of Mary of Burgundy his Heiress. They had disposed her to the Marriage of the Dauphin of France, though she was already twenty years old, and the Dauphin but six; and their gratitude to Lovis the Eleventh was so sincere that they omitted nothing which might serve to persuade him by that Alliance to unite the Low Countries to his Family. The blindness and obstinacy of that Prince in refusing the greatest advantage that could ever happen to him, amazed them the more, that they perceived him with extreme earnestness, courting others incomparably of far less importance. Nevertheless they were not thereby discouraged from obliging France; but managed so well the credit which they had with their Princess Mary of Burgundy, that she consented to marry Charles Count of Angoulesm, who was afterwards the Father of Francis the First. They supposed that if the irreconcilable hatred which Lovis the Eleventh bore to the House of Burgundy so far transported him, as not to admit of the Princess who inherited it into his Family, yet it would not carry him so far, as to suffer the Low Countries to go out of the Royal Family of France: But they had no comfort remaining, when they understood that his most Christian Majesty looked upon an Alliance of a Prince of his blood with the Heiress of Burgundy as the greatest misfortune that threatened France, by reason of the Interests that he might have, and of the Civil Wars he might raise therein, when he had a mind to it. They admired Divine Providence in the limits that it sets to Monarchies, and in the obstacles it raises against their growth and greatness, and so thwarted no more the Marriage of Mary of Burgundy with Maximilian of Austria. They negotiated for Philip of Austria their Son a Treaty 
* It is in the French King's Library.  with the Duke of Cleve which confirmed the Union of Guelderland with the Low Countries; and their Affairs were in that posture when William de Croy, Lord of Chieures, third Son of Philip de Croy, began by his rare qualities to signalise himself in the World. He came into it in the Spring of the year one thousand four hundred and fifty eight; and seeing he was but a younger Son of ●o numerous a Family that there were fourteen Children of them in all, and that nevertheless he found himself born to be ●…e day the honour of it, he proposed to himself betimes to be indebted only to himself next to God for the greatness to which he aspired, and of which he had ●…me secret forethought; and the measures 〈◊〉 took for attaining to it were the same, 〈◊〉 if he had neither Birth nor Fortune.  
His Body was strong enough to endure without inconvenience the toils & fatigues o● War, and nevertheless so well shaped, that 〈◊〉 might dispute for beauty and comeliness ●ith any man living. To eye him, though 〈◊〉 chance, was enough to convince one 〈◊〉 the first glance, that he was of the upper Rank in Civil Society; and had he lived in those times when the handsomest men were chosen to command others, the most flourishing Empire would have fallen ●o his share. But this outside served for nothing to him, save to inspire into those ●hat beheld him a desire of knowing what lodged within; since men left off to praise the Shape of Chieures, when by means thereof they had discovered some draughts of the sublimity and reach of his Wit. Both of these were so polite, that they abundantly supplied what study might have added to it: he was naturally furnished with what he could not without pains have learned from the best Author; and it was never so distinctly to be seen in any other of his time, that there are some Wits that can easily dispense with all that hath been invented, for improving Reason by Learning, or fortifying it by Experience. He was so sharp-sighted that there was no putting upon him: so firm and steady that he was proof against the most surprising emergences: so wise, that no troublesome accident happened to him, but that he foresaw it timely enough to correct its bitterness either in whole or in part: so just, that he inviolably preferred merit before all other humane considerations: so generous, that in so many different Offices which he discharged, he never swarved from decency, nor from his duty: so skilful in the Art of knowing men, that his Prince was never better served than by those he preferred to him: and so disinteressed that he never demanded any gratuity that might redound to his own profit.  
Seeing he had no Children by Mary Magdalen, whom others call Mary of Hamal, his Wife, he addicted himself the more willingly to the profession of Arms, and served the Kings of France, Charles the Eighth at the Conquest of Naples, and Lovis the Twefth in the recovery of the Duchy of Milan, having first obtained leave from his Master Philip Archduke of Austria, the only Son and Successor of Mary of Burgundy, who liked it very well that his Subjects should learn the Art of War at the expense of others, when he reckoned them otherwise so moderate as not to abuse it to the prejudice ●f their Country 
* In the Panegyric of that Prince. . The first rapture betwixt France and Spain happened shortly a●er; and the Wife 
† Joan of Arragon.  of the ●…rchduke becoming Heiress 〈◊〉 the last of these two Monarchies, ●hievres left off carrying Arms for the ●…ench, and lived at his ease in the Pro●…nce of Hainault when the Archduke ●…led him from thence to give him a Commission, which gave a sufficient proof ●…at that Prince preferred him before the ●…reatest Lords of the Netherlands.  
It hath been an indispensible Law of the spanish Monarchy, that he who would ●ne day reign there, and without opposition succeed to so many Crowns, must be owned by the States of the Country assembled for that end alone, for Prince of the Asturies, that is to say, for Successor and Heir apparent to the Crown. The Archduke was a Fleming, and his Wife at her Marriage had not expressly stipulated, that her rights to the Spanish Monarchy should be reserved to her, because she was so remote from it, that there was no appearance that ever she should succeed by the course of Nature: Nevertheless all those that precluded her were dead, and made way for her Succession. She had a younger Sister in Spain; and it was to be seared that the Spaniards marrying her at home, might use the Archdutchess as they had heretofore treated Queen Blanch of Castille, the Mother of St. Lovis, who being in France at the death of King Alphonso her Father, and having neglected to get herself acknowledged for Heiress apparent, the Estates of Castille had disappointed her of it, and conferred the same upon the Infanta Berenguelle her younger Sister. There was a necessity then for the Archduke and Archdutchess to go with all expedition into Spain; and though there was no instance that ever the Sovereigns of the Low Countries had removed so far out of that Country, yet Custom at that time yielded to Necessity, and the Subjects of the Archduke at length consented to it upon the solemn promise he gave them of a speedy return; and probably it was to remove from them all suspicion of failing in his word, that he left no Governor to supply his place in his absence. But after the death of Isabelle his Mother-in Law, and when there was a necessity of going a second time into Spain ●o take possession of the Crowns of Castille, Leon, and others that were united to them, the Archduke foreseeing that his abode there would be long, as, indeed, ●e never returned back more; and being constrained to choose an able man to supply ●is absence in the Low Countries, he cast his eyes upon Chieures. The choice was generally approved of all; and as the Archduke had no cause to repent of it, 〈◊〉 his Subjects had no occasion to find any ●ult with the same. The tranquillity ●nd quiet of the Low Countries was so profound, that nothing discomposed it ●either within nor without; and the Archduke was the more obliged to the Judicious Conduct of Chieures for that, that 〈◊〉 was the chief cause, as will appear in ●he sequel of this Work, which procured ●im the success that he had in the following enterprise, which was one of the most difficult that hath appeared on the Stage in these latter Ages.  
The Archduke claimed the Government of Castille immediately upon the death of his Mother-in-law, and grounded his Pretensions upon the Right and Custom received in that point all over Spain. Ferdinand, the Catholic King his Father-in-law, pretended on the contrary to the usufruct and administration of the same Government, and shown his Queen's Testament, which lest it to him in express terms. The Archduke made answer that the Testament was forged; and that if the truth was not altogether clear on his side, it was at least very apparent. Most of the Grandees of Castille were persuaded of it, and publicly declared for him. But Ferdinand had made the rest; and seeing he had besides engaged in his Interests his hereditary Kingdoms of Arragon, to which his Son-in-law had no pretention, he would have hindered him from taking possession of Castille, and would have reserved it to himself in spite of the Archduke, had he been engaged in a War with any of his Neighbours: whereas upon the certain advice that was brought into Spain that the administration of Chieures was so acceptable to the Flemings and their Neighbours, that not only neither the one nor other had any mind to disquiet it, but were also disposed to give the Archduke considerable assistances both in Men and Money upon the first solicitation he should make for them, Ferdinand gave over his Plea, and lost it. He renounced, in favour of his Son-in-law, the Testament which he had produced, and caused to be Printed in all Languages: he signed his dimission: he departed almost alone out of Castille, as he had entered it almost alone thirty four years before, and retreated to Arragon. But great Prosperities are many times followed by unexpected Misfortunes.  
The Archduke was no sooner peaceable King of Castille, but that he died there; and that accident was so far from doing prejudice to Chieures, that it was the chief occasion of his fortune. The eldest of the two Sons whom the Archduke ●…ft was but six years old, and was named ●harles. He was destined for making up ●e most powerful Monarchy of Christen●om, seeing he had already the Low-countries; and that besides, three Succession's no less infallible in respect of him, ●han great in themselves, would one day make him the Master of a prodigious number of Provinces and Kingdoms. From his Mother he expected Castille and the Crowns thereto annexed: from his Grandfather by the Mother the Kingdoms of Arragon, Valentia, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, Majorca, and Minorca, and the Principality of Catalonia: and from the Emperor Maximilian the First, his Grandfather by the Father, the ten Hereditary Provinces of the House of Austria in Germany; besides his Pretensions to the Empire so well grounded, that all the Forces, Credit, Money, and rare personal qualities of Francis the First of France, could not afterward hinder them from taking effect.  
The Education of this young Prince, who till the death of his Father was called Duke of Luxembourg, and who afterward took the Title of Archduke, was of such importance that hardly could there a man be found fit to take the care of it; and if Chieures was not called to it by the unanimous Votes of those who pretended the right of appointing a Governor to the young Archduke, yet at least he had this advantage, that they approved the choice that was made of him.  
Before we lay open so curious a mystery in Politics, it will not be amiss to observe in this place that Sandoval, and other Spanish Historians, who have reviled the memory of Chieures upon the motives that shall be mentioned in their proper place, have not taken notice that their animosity against him turned to their own prejudice; and that to blast the memory of a man, 
In the first Tome of the Life of Charles the Fifth.  who in spite of their big Volumes will still continue blameless, they have fallen into errors concerning the truth of matter of fact, which nothing but a criminal indulgence can pardon, seeing they brag of having searched the Originals. They form a long debate betwixt the two Grandfathers of the Archduke by the Father and Mother's side, to which of the two it belonged to ●ominate a Governor for him. They suppose that the Grandfather by the Mother laid the matter so to heart, that he threatened oftener than once to disinherit his Grandson, if the care of his Education were not wholly left to him. They ●dd, that the Paternal Grandfather thwarted this with as much heat at least, but with no other prospect than of making use of the Revenues of the Low Countries ●uring the minority of their Sovereign. They affirm, that the Paternal, indeed, ●arried it by his Dignity of Emperor, and ●he consent of the Flemings accustomed to his administration; and that his Imperial Majesty having too much to do in Germany to mind himself the institution and affairs of the Archduke, appointed Chieures in his place to take the care of both. In a word, they will have all absolutely believe the truth of what they writ, pretending to pass for sincere and disinteressed Historians, if there ever were any, by reason of some disadvantageous particulars to their Nation which they relate, taken from the weaknesses of Ferdinand in relation to his Domestic Affairs: Nevertheless the same Authors err in matter of fact, and are mistaken for want of having seen the piece which decides the question they treated about. They knew not that the sudden death of their King Philip the First was not altogether unexpected, and that that Prince had not only Civilly, but according to Erasmus, Christianly prepared for death, though he was but seven and twenty years of Age when it happened: That he made a Testament in ample form; and that the chief Article of that Authentic Act consisted in a most express recommendation of his Eldest Son Charles to the most Christian King Lovis the Twelfth, 
In the Testament of Philip the First.  and in an earnest desire to his Majesty to set over him the man whom he should think fittest to educate him.  
The reasons of that disposition probably were, that on the one hand Philip understood the inconstant and prodigal humour of the Emperor his Father, and knew by experience that Maximilian could no sooner be Master of Money but that he squandered it away as fast; and that nevertheless so soon as he was bare again he hunted after it with so much eagerness and vehemence, that what way soever he could come by it, right or wrong, all was alike to him: That he had no other motive but that to make him after the death of Mary of Burgundy espouse ●…lanche Sforza the Daughter of a Father ●…d Mother both Bastards, although the ●ermans entertained a terrible aversion to such a kind of base Alliance: That he had Ostner than once sent and commanded in ●rson Troops in Italy for the service of ●…ose who paid him dearest for them; ●…d that there was but little hopes that in ●s old age he would reform a fault, which ●ll then had been his predominant Passion. In the mean time, if he lived after ●…s ordinary rate, when he was Administrator of the Government of the low-countries, he would the more easily ●ut all things into trouble and confusion; that the People there were naturally inclined to revolt, and that they must be governed with a tenderness that hindered them from perceiving that they enjoyed not entire liberty: That the least extraordinary Tax that his Imperial Majesty might impose upon them, would stir them up to sedition, and that the constant Revenue could not entertain him one month of the year: That the Flemings would be no less unwilling that he should lend their Forces against their Neighbours, with an emptier Purse than that of their Enemies, and that which of the two happened, the Netherlands were almost in an equal danger of changing their Master during the time of a long minority.  
On the other hand, the Testator was altogether dissatisfied with the Catholic King Ferdinand his Father-in-law, and to say the truth, not without cause, since the affront he had received from him struck directly at his honour: For when the same Ferdinand resolved to drive the French out of half the Kingdom of Naples, which two years before he had divided with them, he well foresaw that his Forces being inferior to theirs he could not be able to overcome them but by joining Stratagem to Force. He proposed to himself to amuse and deceive them; and that they might not mistrust the snare he laid for them, he thought it best to cloak his treachery under the faith of a Treaty, which is the most sacred and inviolable type of Civil Society; and chose his Son-in-law in quality of Plenipotentiary for the Instrument of his foul play, thinking that if the French did upon any ground conceive suspicion, they would entertain less of a Prince, such as Philip, who was their feudatary, than of any other whom his Catholic Majesty might send unto them. Accordingly Ferdinand entreated Philip to go to the Court of Lovis the Twelfth, and make peace betwixt France and Spain, having for that end given him an unli●nited Commission. Philip found Lovis at Blois, and treated fairly and squarely with him. The accommodation was signed on both hands, on condition that the division of the Kingdom of Naples betwixt the two Nations should continue, and that which of the two did invade any part be●nging to the other should forthwith make restitution. Louis, who out of a principle of Religion avoided needless expense as much as he could, dismissed the Troops that he had raised for maintaining his share; and Ferdinand on the contrary having reinforced his, they beat the French, and drove them entirely out. Louis complained of this to all the World; But Ferdinand having obtained what he desired, put off the Vizor. He disowned what his Son-in-law had done, and laughed at the credulity of Lovis. He still retained what he had so unjustly usurped when Philip died; who if he had left the disposition of his Son to him, would have given ground of suspicion that there had been a collusion betwixt his Father in law and himself, and that he was not altogether innocent of a cheat which he or his might one day have the benefit of. His memory would have been too much blasted thereby; and the stain was so foul, that he did not think he could shun it but by trusting what was dearest to him to the Probity of Lovis, and making by that means some reparation for the injury which he had received by his Ministry. Besides, he foresaw that if he left the administration of the Low-Countries to the Catholic King, that Prince would employ their Forces against France with so much the more danger to the Flemings; that if they were worsted, he was too far off to assist them; whereas by referring himself to the most Christian King in the choice of a Governor for his Son, they would remain united with France, and thereby maintain themselves in profound peace.  
However it be, the Flemings approved the Testament of Philip, and Lovis had full liberty to provide for the Education of Charles the young Archduke. He determined in favour of Chieures, and what hereafter follows will make it but too evident that he could not have done better for the Pupil who was recommended ●o him, nor worse for the Monarchy of France. Chieures employed the first years of his Charge in studying the Genius of the young Archduke, and by an unconceivable assiduity and attention 〈◊〉 finding out in him the little ways and ●umours that discovered what groundwork Nature and Sin had laid there for virtue and for Vice. The fruit of so long labour was, that Chieures discovered that Charles resembled Lands newly dried after they had been long overflowed with the waters of the Sea, which at first produce vast numbers both of good and bad orbs: That in reality the chief perfections of his most illustrious Ancestors were descended into him, but that in exchange 〈◊〉 likewise inherited the most remarkable of their imperfections: For as to the Father's side, if he had the activity of ●hilip the hardy, he had also his inclination of always pursuing the end which he proposed by fetches and byways: if he had the undertaking humour of John without fear, 
In the Lives of the last Dukes of Burgundy.  he had likewise his pertinaciousness in pushing on to the last the most unjust enterprises: If, like Philip the good, he loved to be familiar, yet he did not like, no more than he, that his familiarity should raise or enrich those who were honoured with it: If he was indefatigable in labour, as Charles the terrible, so he exacted, as rigidly as he, the reward of his labours: If he was sometimes merry, even to excess as the Emperor Maximilian, so was he no less insupportable than he in a pensive melancholy that seized him upon the smallest occasions: And if, as his Father, he was complaisant to those who instructed him, he had nevertheless also a secret contempt of their Persons notwithstanding the good office they rendered him.  
On the Mother's side, if like Henry of Transtamare, he had the knack of engaging men of extraordinary merit into his Interests, and to keep them so engaged so long as he had need of them, he had also the weakness to forget them as absolutely as if he had never known them, so soon as they were no more useful unto him. If like John the Second of Castille, he employed more willingly men of low extraction than persons of quality, yet he pardoned no more than he, the least escapes they were guilty of in the execution of his Orders: If, in imitation of Henry the Third of Castille, he prevented as much as ●y in his power the troubles which ●reatened the State, he set about it also in the same manner as he, by fomenting ●…e divisions that he found kindled ●mongst the great men, or by his Emissa●es cunningly sowing the seeds of them, ●hen the too good correspondence amongst these great men began to create suspicions in him: If he was as happy as ●…hn the Second of Castille in finding men that gloried to sacrifice themselves to 〈◊〉 service, yet he rewarded them no more than he, but by caresses and praise: If, as John of Arragon, he entertained no more freiendship for his own, than what decorum ●…uired, without going farther, he cared as little as he, if the Public was acquaint●… with his defect of tenderness: In a word, if, in imitation of Ferdinand the ●tholick, he exacted from others a punctual performance of their word, and if he could not endure no more than he that they with whom he had to do should ●…eak promise to him, so neither, no more than he, was he a slave to his own word. Not that the perfections and defects which we have now mentioned, and which have been since objected to Charles, were already observed in him, or indeed that he was so soon capable of them: but that the penetrating Judgement of Chieures could even distinguish in the Soul of that young Prince his natural inclination towards the good things that charmed him, and towards the bad which were the effects of original sin; and that perspicacity was in some measure like the light which directs Philosophers in discovering effects in their causes, and Astronomers in finding out the insluences in the Stars. Chieures observed that Charles loved glory; and that it was enough many times to make him amend his faults, to threaten him with divulging of them. From thence he concluded that the study and reading of History were absolutely necessary for cultivating the good seeds we have mentioned, and for choking the bad.  
In the first of those two prospects he searched in the College of Louvain for a Tutor to the Archduke, and pitched upon Doctor Adrian who was in great reputation there, and who notwithstanding his want of Politeness, was nevertheless since promoted to the Papacy; but in the other prospect he was more reserved; and there might be ground to doubt of the truth of what we are about to write, if the Spanish Writers did not therein agree with the Flemings. Chieures looked upon History to be of so great importance for forming of his young Prince, that he durst trust none but himself to teach it him.  
For every thing else he assigned him Masters; but as for that he would have ●o foreign aid, but taught him himself. The truth is, he did it with this circumpection, that to hinder his Scholar from being tired out with the tediousness of the ●abour, and from pressing him from time 〈◊〉 time to break off, he pretended to stu●…y it with him, that he might regulate, ●s he said, his life at the expense of another.  
The order that he followed in it could ●…t be more methodical, because he be●…n by giving Charles a notion of History 〈◊〉 general, and then applied him to the ●…istories of the People of Europe with ●…hom one day he was to have affairs to ●…anage; but seeing his chief business was 〈◊〉 be in Spain and France, it was his Go●…rnours care to acquaint him thoroughly with the History of those two Monarchies. ●nder that of France the History of the ●ow Countries was at that time compre●…nded. He would have Charles also read every Author in his own Language and Style, and not to be discouraged by the barbarisms of most of them, nor by the superfluity of three parts in four of the things contained therein. He convinced him at first of this maxim, That to speak properly, there is nothing useless in matter of History; and that the matters of fact which serve for nothing at all in the notion that one hath in reading of them, will early or late serve for something or other in the notions that one may have hereafter.  
In the mean time the Spanish Authors were already too numerous; and those who have examined them in the Library of Cardinal Mazarin, know that the reading of them is not very pleasant, to say nothing more slightingly of them. The number of French Historians was not less: they had no Charms for that young Prince, whose mind was affected with nothing but what glittered to his eyes: Nevertheless he run them over; and it is to be observed in several passages of his life, that he cited them to purpose when occasion offered, and that he had retained what was most important in them.  
To make a deeper impression of them in his mind, his Governor failed not to make him observe that for the most part all the good and bad actions of his Ancestors met with even in this life the recompense or punishment which they deserved; And for instance, that Philip the Hardy, Duke of Burgundy, because of his dissimulation in all great actions, and his pretending to have followed the Counsels of others, though no man was more possessed than he of the infallibility of his own, had fallen into a quarrel with the King of Sicily his Brother, and the Duke of Orleans his Nephew, and left the same to his Posterity, which had a long time employed, and at last overwhelmed him. The Excess of his complaisance to the Heiress of Flanders his Lady, because of the Portion she brought him, made that Princess, who was already but too haughty, altogether insupportable, and he himself was even often constrained to bear her slights and affronts without daring to complain. He was so very revengeful, and nevertheless affected to appear so far from it, that on such occasions he always employed the hands of some unknown Assassins', who knew neither who employed them, nor what was the reason of it, and God Almighty suffered his Son to be killed almost by the same measures. That John without fear was so persuaded that Fortune would change her inconstancy in his favours, that he bragged he had married her; nevertheless she so far forsook him as to suffer him to mount a Scaffold. 
* After Bajazet took him Prisoner.  He admired the simplicity of those who trusted to his promises, and he died for having trusted to the promises of another. He had no more of Religion but an outside enough to amuse good men, and he had not time enough to repent of so prodigious an impiety. By extraordinary means he courted the affection of the Common People, and lost that of the Nobles. That Philip the good aspired to real Grandeur, and never any Sovereign under the degree of a King received so much honour as he, seeing he restored Popes, Emperors of Germany, and of Constantinople, Kings of England, and of the East. By several Mistresses he had nine Boys and five Girls; and by two Wives successively during the space of above fifty years, he could have but one Son who was the last of his Family. That in fine, Charles the Terrible sometimes reproved the Clergy of his Territories when he saw them perform Divine Service negligently; and God Almighty in acknowledgement of the care that he took of his Glory, rendered him one of the most famous and powerful Princes that never was King. He executed Justice amongst his Subjects with an exactness that cannot sufficiently be praised; and his Subjects conceived such veneration for him, that they could not believe that he died miserably before Nancy as they were told, but expected him six years, much after the manner that the Jews expect the Messiah: However on the other hand he was so cruel in War, as to be reckoned in the judgement of Posterity the first Christian Prince in these last Ages who limited the Law of Nations, at that time of larger extent in Military affairs than it is at present, resusing quarters to the conquered who with most profound submission begged it; and the Suisse who killed him, 
In the Journal of the Siege of Nesse.  so but cherously mangled his body that it was impossible afterwards to know it otherwise than by conjecture. He framed a design of restoring the Ancient Monarchy of Burgundy upon the ruins of the Monarchy of France: and he lost himself in attempting it by indirect means, when he could not succeed in it by direct.  
This was the way of Chieures to instruct Charles both usefully and Christianly in History, by making every considerable accident he learned contribute to the rendering him one day the better man; And Charles on his part, though he eagerly studied matters so prepared to his hand, yet did not ply his studies without laying violent constraints upon himself. His thoughts were very apt to ramble, and there needed a great deal of attention to apply so many different matters to their several particular ends, and to burden his memory with the heavy charge of using them in the nick of time. His rambling proceeded from his prodigious activity which could not continue a moment in repose. The famous Brothers Peter and James du puy have given a relation to this purpose which serves no less to inform us of the conduct of 〈◊〉 than the Temper of 〈◊〉. The Emperor Max●…li●n the 〈◊〉 had a m●nd to have the 〈◊〉 of his 〈◊〉 in the Gallery o● his Palace in 〈◊〉, and where to Cheeures 〈…〉 to the life as possibly he could, that he might accustom the ●…mans by times to the sight of a Prince destined to be their Head. Nothing was omitted that could be done in the punctual execution of the orders of his Imperial Majesty, and the famous Albert Durer was consulted about the choice of the Painter: he brought a great many, and all of them had the misfortune to be employed, and to draw one after another without success. They all agreed to lay the blame upon Charles, who still moving some part of his body, and changing his posture every minute, hindered them from drawing any true Lineament. So that the Picture had not been finished, though it was sketched by so many hands, if Chieures had not bethought himself of causing four Swords to be brought, and placed round Charles in so exact a manner, that he could not stir without wounding himself.  
The Historians of Spain have not dared directly to blame the assiduity which the Governor of Charles exacted of himself History, because the 〈◊〉 which 〈◊〉 Prince reaped from it would 〈…〉 to have 〈…〉 who would have struck at that ●oot. But they have 〈◊〉 and by another way pursued their 〈◊〉. They 〈…〉 ry to Charles; and that the time which he spent in the study of it, had not been all employed, if it had been done without prejudice to other things which in their opinion were at least as needful to him: but they add, that the knowledge of the Latin Tongue was no less necessary to Charles than that of History; and that nevertheless Chieures, whom they represent as the most complete Courtier that ever was, perceiving on the one hand that his Pupil delighted in History, and that on the other he had an aversion to the Latin Tongue, had greater regard to the inclination of his Prince, than to his own duty. That he wholly dispensed with his studying of Latin; and allowed him to spend the hours that were appointed for that in Dancing, Fencing, and Riding. That Charles paid dear for that negligence; and that when he was Emperor, he had occasion to complain of the slattering indulgence that his Governor had showed him. That a Latin Speech was made to him one day in Germany which contained matters of very great importance, that required a speedy and positive answer; and that nevertheless his Imperial Majesty was so far from answering the Speech, that he understood it not. That he bore very impatiently the affront which at that time he received; and that wanting an opportunity of revenging himself for it upon the Person of Chieures who was then dead, he did it upon his mernory, which he branded with an eternal reproach.  
It is strange that the aversion of these Authors should so far transport them as to make them heedlessly blacken Charles in the very places where they have made his Panegyric, provided the defect which they impute to him rebound upon Chieures; and for justifying both the one and the other, we need only distinguish what is true from what is false in their relation. It is true, Chieures employed Charles much more in History than in Latin: but it is not true that both these studies were equally necessary for shaping a young Prince; at least Chieures, who without doubt passed for a man of Wit, Judgement, Experience, and Forecast, was not persuaded of that. He thought it enough for Charles to understand the dead Languages, such as Latin; and that the study of the Elegancy and Politeness thereof, and the opinion of speaking it as it was spoken in Rome in the time of Augustus, should be left to the study of the Critics of Schools and Universities. He was not singular in his opinion; and most part of Persons of quality who lived in his Age, were of the same. It was long after him a Maxim at the Court of France which hath been always the most polished of Christendom, that it was not for the honour of a King to have it said of him that he was an excellent Latinist; and Henry the Fourth, whom no man dare accuse of ignorance in this particular, since Causabon says, 
In the Preface to his Commentaries upon Polybius.  that he had read and admired the French Translation which he made of Caesar's Commentaries, used sometimes in Raillery, to call James the First of Great Britain, Master James, because he valued himself too much upon his speaking and writing Latin well; and it is further said, that his most Christian Majesty being informed that that Prince who before was only King of Scotland, was become King of England also, He spoke his thoughts of it in his own words, C'st là un trop bon morceau pour un Pedant; That is too good a morcel for a Pedant.  
It is likewise true, that Charles had not so great an inclination for the Latin Tongue as for others; but it is not so, that he had an aversion to it, and that Chieures condescended so far to him, as to excuse him from learning it, seeing it is certain that Charles studied it not after the death of Chieures; and though he would have applied himself to it, yet the great and continual affairs that he had afterward, would not have allowed him the leisure. In the mean time the Germans know that he took pleasure in reading of Sleidan the most polite Latin Historian of his time; and that he used to say when he called for it, Bring me hither my Liar; Nor are the Spaniards ignorant neither, that when he retired to the Monastery of St. Just, he commonly read the Works of S. Bernard that were not then translated, which shows that at least he understood Latin; it being unlikely that he would lose the time which he set apart wholly for working out his own Salvation, and which he had bought with the price of so much worldly greatness willingly forsaken; nor that he would pretend to jeer a Father of the Church in the sense of St. Jerom, 
St. Jerom said on one, Non vis intelligi neque ego te intelligere.  by reading him constantly without understanding him.  
To be short, That Juncture, mentioned by the Spaniards, where Charles was put to a stand in Germany for want of Latin, and could neither conceive what was said to him, nor make a positive answer to it, bears more than one character of falsehood: For in the first place, we see that he understood Latin: In the second place, they who bring him in conferring immediately with a Germane about important affairs, know not that he never stooped the Imperial Majesty so low; and it is so far from being true that he abased it, as is pretended, by positive answers given upon the spot, and face to face in any matter of consequence, that he carried it incomparably higher than any of his Predecessors had ever done before him, or any of his Successors since. He heard all sorts of business in the public and private Audiences which he gave in Germany, without any other answer at the time than that he would examine them; and, in truth, he took time to speak of them to his Council, or to resolve by himself what he was to do, there being no instance that ever he did otherwise. Afterward the answer was brought, or sent in his name in writing to such affairs as could in that manner be dispatched, and for others that required answers by word of mouth, the Emperor sent for those who expected his answer, and made his Chancellor always give it them, even when he himself thought it convenient to be present. If the Chancellor was absent or indisposed, the Vice chancellor spoke for him; and both failing, he employed a Counsellor of State. So that the passage related by the Spanish Writers, would have been not only irregular, but singular in its kind; and seeing it is not mentioned in any Author of other Nations, and that it happened, as they would have it, in a Country far distant from theirs, they ought not to think it strange if we question the truth of their information. In the third place, there is no instance in latter Ages that Emperors have spoken Latin when they treated of affairs; and on the contrary it is very well known that Maximilian the Second, who spoke that Language as freely as high Dutch, yet never made use of it in public Affairs. In a word, all the Panegyrics of Charles, and the most biting Satyrs against his Memory, agree in giving him the testimony, that if he did not gratify Chieures as much as he deserved, yet he rewarded him after his way by praising him upon all occasions; and that he never let fall a word to his prejudice, which wholly confutes the matter objected.  
When Chieures by instructing the Archduke in History had given him those general lights that he needed for the conduct of his life, he descended to particular Maxims, in laying out to him his true Interests in relation to all the Powers of Europe. He proposed to him two sorts of them; which he represented as not only very different in themselves, but likewise in some manner so opposite, that he would run the risk of undoing himself by mistaking the one for the other. That he had present interests and future, and that the furure were the same with those of his Grandfathers by the Father and Mother's side, which one day he was to inherit, but that the present were directly contrary to them in that neither the Emperor Maximilian I. nor Ferdinand the Catholic King lived in good correspondence with Lovis XII. and that if Charles favoured them abroad, he would draw into his Territories the Arms of France, which would infallibly dispossess him of them before he could be succoured, the Catholic King being too remote, and the Emperor having neither Money nor Credit enough for the speedy raising of an Army in case of necessity. Chieures drew from so true a Principle this Consequence, that the Friendship of the French was absolutely necessary to Charles, so long as he was no more but what he was, that is, so long as he enjoyed no more but the Succession of Burgundy. That he ought to rest satisfied with external demonstrations of honour and civility, respect and submission in reference to his Grandfathers in all affairs that they might have to dispute with France, but at the bottom he should continue closely united with his most Christian Majesty. That he should carry fair with the Emperor Maximilian, because he could not succeed to him in the Empire if by his means he preserved not the long settled interests, which the House of Austria had with the several Members that composed the body of the Germane Empire; and that seeing the friendship of that Prince was to be bought and sold, it was better his Grandson should purchase it than another. That he should not therefore fail to send him as much money as he could; and that his liberality would not be unprofitable, provided it were managed with three precautions. First, That it should be frequent, because of the continual need of him that received it: Secondly, That it should only consist in small Sums at a time, seeing his Imperial Majesty was put into as good an humour by giving him but a little, as by giving him much: And lastly, That it should be secret, because it would be to be feared ●hat the People of the Low-Countries might mutiny, if they came to know that what was raised from them served for no ●ther end but to feed and entertain the prodigality of Maximilian, whose temper they knew to be such that their mo●ey would increase rather than cure the ●isease of that Prince. Chieures added, ●hat since Charles had much more cause to ●e afraid of Ferdinand the Catholic King than of the Emperor, he ought likewise to carry to him with greater Judgement and Policy. That the young Ferdinand of Austria, younger Brother to Charles, was born in Spain, and seemed to bring with him from his Mother's Womb all the Spanish Inclinations: That the Catholic King was his Godfather, and had given him his name; that he loved him tenderly, and that it was known from good hands that he had a design to make him King of Arragon, and perhaps of Castille also: That the Spaniards would the more willingly consent to it, that they pretended to have a King who might constantly live in Spain: In the mean time, if Charles were their King, the multitude of urgent Affairs that would happen to him in all parts of Europe, would oblige him to lead his life, as the ancient Patriarches did, in a continual Pilgrimage, and so to distribute his cares, time, travels, and presence, that the Low-Countries, Germany, and Italy would have the better share o● them, and Spain the least. That there was no other way to ward so dangerous a blow, than by insensibly bringing back the Catholic King into the course that Nature and the Law of Nations required of him, and by convincing him by his own experience that the elder of his Grandsons deserved better to succeed to him than the younger, and that so all that Charles had to do was to become more virtuous and better qualified than Ferdinand. Chieures advised Charles, in relation to the two other Crowns of Spain, which were those of Navarre and Portugal, that it would be convenient to continue the Project of the Catholic King for reuniting them to the ●est of the Spanish Monarchy by means of alliances; but that there was but little appearance that that could be so soon accomplished, seeing on the one hand Catha●ine de Frix Queen of Navarre, and ●ohn d' Albert her Son, had such near Alliances with the Crown of France, that ●ey would never dispose of their Children but with the consent and approbation of Lovis the Twelfth: And on the other hand, Manuel, King of Potugal, had Five ●sty Sons by the Aunt of Charles his se●nd Wife, and that by consequent the daughters of the same marriage could not spect to succeed so soon, but that the ●gagement of the King of Navarre with t●e French might some time or other be ●…nare to him, and that besides, as the ●…sterity of Charlemagne was extinct in the ●…ce of Eighteen years, though it was so ●…merous that it consisted of thirty two ●…gorous Princes all married, so that of Manuel might fail by a like or more unhappy Fate.  
England was more important in all respects to Charles, and his Governor advised him to look upon it at all times as a Kingdom able to do him great services, and proportionably to hurt him; for the Low-Countries, in the condition they were then in, needed not fear to succumb, unless they had France for their Enemy, and then they could not expect any assistance greater, speedier, more suitable to their necessity, nor nearer at hand than that of the English. That if the necessity of that assistance did not increase after he came to the enjoyment of the Successions which he expected, it would at least be as great, seeing Spain would then become a Monarchy that might counterpoise France and none but England could be in a condition then to turn the balance to which side of the two it adhered. That Charle● would always have the advantage of the French when he competed with them t● draw England over to his side; since be sides the invincible antipathy betwixt the English and French Nation, and the inveterate hatred fomented by so many Wars Henry the Eighth of England was marrie● to the last Infanta of Spain, Sister to Charle his Mother, and constantly favoured h● Father-in-law Ferdinand the Catholic against Lovis the Twelfth.  
In relation to Scotland it behoved Charles to reason from a quite opposite Maxim; and that he must not expect upon any Juncture that could be offered to him, to engage that King into his Interests. The Alliance of that Nation with the French, had without interruption continued seven hundred years from King to King, and from Crown to Crown; and though it had not been so old, nor so strict, yet it would be enough for the Scots that Spain courted the friendship of the English to make them declare against it for France, though they had not as yet spoused any Party.  
Italy came next in course into the thought of Chieures, of which he only represented to the Archduke four principal Powers from whom the Inferior were 〈◊〉 receive their influence, to wit, France, ●pain, the Holy See, and the Republic of ●enice.  
France held there the Dutchies of Genoa and Milan, Spain, the Kingdom of Naples, ●…e Holy See, ten Provinces, besides the ●…ity of Rome, and the Venetians the State ●hich is called Terra Firma. The Italians ●…d no reason to fear that the Popes or venetians would trouble their repose, because both had almost an equal interest to preserve it: But if the French and Spaniards grew weary of Peace, and took up Arms again, they must infallibly have the same success which they already had, that is to say, that the Nation of the two which could get the Pope on their side would overcome; and as the most Christian and the Catholic Kings did not conquer nor divide betwixt them the Kingdom of Naples but by the consent of Alexander the Sixth; as the Spaniards had not driven the French from thence two years after, but in pursuance of a secret Treaty concluded for that end betwixt the Great Captain and the same Alexander; and as the Pope Julius the Second contributed most to hinder the most Christian King from recovering what he had lost, by ruining the formidable Army of that Prince upon the side of the River of Garillan, so the Spaniards in their turn would be driven out of the Kingdom of Naples whensoever it should be their misfortune to displease the same Julius, or one of his Successors. So that the Archduke, in the sense of his Governor ought chiefly to apply himself to entertain his Holiness in the good disposition he was in in relation to Spain; and if the matter was not difficult by reason that Julius hated Lovis so much the more, that formerly he loved him, no more would it be in regard of succeeding Popes, since on the one hand their State bordered immediately upon the Kingdoms of Naples, and that they were next Neighbours, whereas the Territories of divers Princes lay betwixt theirs and the Duchy of Milan, and that so the Court of Rome were not so much exposed to be surprised by an Invasion from the French as from the Spaniards; and on the other hand, it was not so much to be apprehended that the Spaniards would usurp all Italy if they retained the possession of Naples, as it would be that France might reduce Italy into a Province, if they added the Kingdom of Naples to the Duchy of Milan, because than they could march by Land into the Milanese; having only the Alps and Piedmont to cross; whereas the Spaniards could not go thither but by Sea, and have a Voyage of five hundred Leagues to make.  
The Republic of Venice according to Chieures was no less to be considered in matter of Politics than the Court of Rome; but for power it was not so much, since the Holy See, the Emperor, France and Spain having entered into a League to ruin it, Louis the Twelfth alone had defeated all its Forces at the Battle of Giaradadda, and taken from it all it possessed in the Terra Firma. It is true, it afterward recovered part of that State; but seeing it was not so easily regained as lost, and that in all appearance it would be long before the rest could be recovered. The Venetians were too wise to engage in the mean time in any other Affair; and if they were constrained to espouse a new Party, it would rather be against France, which had in one day stripped them of all that in the space of three hundred years they had acquired by extraordinary prudence, conduct, and charge, than against Spain, which rested satisfied with the recovery of the maritime places of Apullia and Calabria without repaying the vast Sums lent by the Republic to the last King of Naples, for which they were mortgaged.  
There was but one King for the three Kingdoms of the North, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, and that Prince was Christiern the Second of the House of Oldenbourg. His Father and Grandfather had laid up vast Treasures for him: he had for Allies most of the Princes and Hausiatick Towns of Germany: He had a great deal of Authority in several Circles, and especially in that of the Lower Saxony, and if Charles needed not his solicitation for obtaining one day the Empire, yet it was of extreme importance to him, that he should not thwart it, because he was sure he could never be chosen so long as he was against him. That was the reason why Chieures advised him to design one of his Sisters for a Wife to that Prince; and the Alliance was the more easy to be concluded at that time because the barbarous numour of Christiern which made him lose his Kingdoms, and die in a Prison, was not as yet known. Both Parties were equally persuaded that they would find their advantage in it, because the King of Denmark, who had had Territories in Germany, proposed to himself not only to preserve, ●ut also to enlarge them if the eldest Son of his House died without male Issue; by marrying the Emperor's Granddaughter; and the House of Austria also raised the Authority which it had in Germany considerably, by disposing all the North to second the Emperor in the Pretensions which he already had of rendering the Empire Hereditary in his Family.  
Vladislaus, King of Hungary, was also King of Bohemia; and Charles was told 〈◊〉 his Governor that he was the most ●…oper Prince of all to turn and manage the Germans, provided there were as much Art employed to appease him, as there had been imprudence committed in offending him.  
To make this secret of State the more obvious to Charles, Chieures informed him that the Kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia were no less Elective than the Empire; and that the House of Austria, during the space of fourscore years had been thinking of appropriating them, for two reasons; first, because they bordered upon the ten Hereditary Provinces, and could defend and cover them; and secondly, if that the fundamental Laws of those two Crowns were changed without the raising of any tumult and effusion of blood, the Germans would insensibly be accustomend to the form of Government that might be introduced into their Circles, and would not think it strange that their Aristocracy turned into an absolute Monarchy. There is no mounting up to the Thrones of Monarchies, who choose their Masters by Plurality of Voices, but by Parties and Factions; and the● House of Austria had form two so● powerful Factions in the Kingdom's o● Hungary and Bohemia, that there was no ground to f●ar but when they came to be vacant it would obtain them. Nevertheless the success did not fully answer so acquaint a project; and though the measures of the House of Austria had been long before concerted, and laid down with all possible circumspection, yet were they not the Juster for that. Mathias Corvinus, the Son of the famous Jogn Huniades, the terror of the Turks, stood in competition for these Crowns, and would not be diverted from his Pretensions neither by the most advantageous Offers, nor most terrible Menaces. He had nothing to pretend for himself but the high reputation and merit of his Father: but that merit and reputation were so well settled, that they were sufficient to gain the greater and sounder part of the Estates of Hungary and Bohemia. The Faction of the House of Austria was constrained to submit; and Ma●hias was so fortunate that the House of Austria afterward desired an accommodation with him. That House waited for another opportunity of competition, and promised itself a more favourable issue: Nevertheless it was as far out in the second ●s in the first conjecture. It had Vla●islaus for Competitor; and if that Prince ●ame short of that which caused the Election of Mathias, he had in lieu thereof personal Charms which Nature had de●…ied to all those of the House of Austria. He had no fine nor piercing Wit; and it was not for that that those who were more ●…genious than he esteemed him. They admired in Vladislaus an open, free, sweet, and condescending temper, which won upon hearts for this reason alone that there was nothing extraordinary in him, and that every one found in him something suitable to his own humour. All the qualities which were found in him might prove advantageous to those who should choose him for their King, and he seemed to have none that they needed to be afraid of. They were assured beforehand, that he would not of himself alter any of the Laws which he found established, and that if they expected any new Law to be made by him, he must be entreated to do it. So that the solicitations of the House of Austria hindered him not from being recognized King of Hungary and Bohemia, and put into the possession of the two Crowns; but the Factions that are form in Elective States cause always unexpected revolutions, when care has not been taken to sti●le them so soon as they begin to appear. The Party of the House of Austria in Hungary and Bohemia was grown so strong during the Reign of Mathias, what pains soever that great Prince had taken to break it; and the great men of the higher Nobility of the two Kingdoms who were engaged therein, were so strongly possessed with the Maxims of the House of Austria, contrary to the peace of the Public, which were fortified by the settled pensions that they duly received from thence, that the Austrians hardly met with any opposition when they endeavoured to Arm them against, their own Country. They yielded to the first instance that was made to them for that effect; and gave a new precedent in Politics. That no men are sooner persuaded to disturb the Peace of their own Country, than they who are most concerned to maintain it. They took the Field: with flying Colours marched to join the Forces which the House of Austria kept in readiness upon the Frontiers to second their revolt: they joined them; joined them; abandoned Hungary and Bohemia to their Pillage; and surprising Vladislaus unprovided, reduced him to such extremity, that he was constrained to make a 
* In the Treaties betwixt Hungary and Austria.  Treaty with the Emperor Maximilian the First, bearing that Vladislaus should reign peaceably during life, and that after his decease the Estates of Hungary and Bohemia should choose a Prince to succeed him of the House of Austria: but that Treaty was filled with so many illegal absurdities, that no Lawyer who examined it judged it good in Law. Two foreign Princes in respect of Hungary and Bohemia had attempted by their own private Authority to overturn their fundamental Laws, and to abolish their Election, to take from the People the liberty of choosing their own Sovereign, and to subject them to the Dominion of Austria, without ask or receiving their approbation. And therefore that Treaty subsisted no longer than the violence that had produced it; and the Forces of Maximilian were no sooner dispersed for want of Pay, but that the Estates of Hungary and Bohemia, being well assured that for a long time he could not raise others, protested against the transaction made to their prejudice, without being called to it, as null. King Vladislaus was there discharged of the Oath which he had taken, and the two Crowns acted with the same independence as before in regard of the House of Austria. The People expected not till Lovis, the only Son of Vladislaus, were of Age to reign to secure him that he should succeed to his Father. They received him in reversion for all he was a Child, and in that particular violated the custom of their Ancestors, though what they had done might be used as a Precedent against their right of Election.  
Affairs were in this posture when Chieures informed the Archduke of his true Interests; and he told him that in so dangerous a matter to be stirred, it would not be prudence in the House of Austria to pursue any more by way of Arms its pretensions upon Hungary and Bohemia, and that it could not do it without occasioning a fearful scandal in Christendom, nor without arming all the Neighbouring Powers against it; but since Vladislaus had but one Son and one Daughter, and that his Son was transported with a rashness of courage that would certainly undo him before he had Children, it was extremely important by all means to negotiate and conclude a double Alliance betwixt the Houses of Austria and Hungary by marrying young Ferdinand, the Brother of Charles, and one of his Sisters with the Prince and Princess of Hungary and Bo●emia the Children of Vladislaus, to the ●nd that Ferdinand, or at least his Posterity, might be preserved to the succession ●f the two Growns when they came to be ●oid.  
In fine, Chieures obliged not the Archduke to make any particular reflection ●pon Sigismond King of Poland. He only told him that that Prince was so closely united with Vladislaus, that as the House of Austria was sure to have the one for Enemy if it attacked the other, so by a contrary conduct it might have both their friendship.  
The knowledge of the Families whereof Charles was already Master, or whereof he was one day to be, came immediately after the notices that had been given him of the disposition of Christian Potentates in relation to him, and he was particularly informed of the merit and several advantages of illustrious Families. He was given to understand that in that distinct knowledge all the Justice which he should render to the great men and Nobility of his Dominions would consist; and that thereby he would insinuate himself more into their affection, than by any other means: that they would not at all value his Liberalities nor the most singular favours that he might heap upon them, in respect of the care he took in maintaining the Lords in the several Ranks and Privileges which they enjoyed by Birth, and that in so nice a Point he could hardly commit a fault but which would be irreparable. Charles convinced by the force of these reasons learned so well, and so universally retained the honorary Rights of the Flemish, Spanish, Italian, and Germane Families, that never any action of that nature was brought before him, but that he was able to decide it upon the spot without the assistance of any other.  
The speculations we have been speaking of aught to terminate in practice; and Chieures had no sooner by them shaped the mind of the Archduke, but he put the young Prince upon the practical part of what he had learned, though he was but as yet in the age when nothing but pastime and recreation is talked of to those of his quality. He would have him not only be present in his Council, but also that he should be as assiduous in it, or more, than any of his Counselors of State. He charged him with the examining of all Petitions of consequence that were addressed to him from the Provinces of the Low Countries, and making report of them afterward to his Council; and least ●e might not heed the matter with all necessary attention, as waiting to deliver his mind concerning it until his Counselours had spoken, to the end he might take ●he advantage of their stating the affair, and of the reasons they might give to back their opinion, His Governor ob●ged him regularly to speak his Judgement first.  
When any important dispatch came from foreign Countries, Chieures made him lay all things aside to read it, nay, so far, as that if he were asleep, and that the matter required expedition, he awoke him, and obliged him to examine it in his presence. If the Prince happened to be mistaken in the manner he understood it, or the Judgement he passed upon it, he was immediately reproved and corrected by his Governor; and if he was so happy as to find out at first the knot of the difficulty, and the expedient for avoiding it, that did not serve his turn, seeing he must besides confirm what he had said by good reasons, and answer pertinently to the objections which Chieures never failed to make to him.  
When any long Negotiation happened, and when a foreign Prince sent an Ambassador into the Low Countries, Charles had double fatigue, because than his Governor never gave Audience but in his presence, did nothing without him, and dispatched no business but by him. If the Ambassador presented his Propositions in writing, Charles had the charge of informing the Council of them, and of declaring to them what might be said for or against the matter, to the end that they who spoke after him might give their opinion upon full knowledge of the Affair; and if the Ambassador was satisfied to make his Proposals by word of mouth, and that the Affair in agitation was too secret to be entrusted to Paper, Charles must remember precisely and distinctly what he heard, without forgetting one Syllable; otherwise his defect of memory would have been taken notice of in full Council, and his negligence censured in the place where it was his greatest ambition to purchase esteem. Chieures had a care not to inform the Public of the matters we have now represented, because he would have attracted the indignation of those who were not so sharp-sighted as to see at so great distance the mark he aimed at: But it is a thing almost impossible long to conceal the manner how great Princes are Educated, when it is not in all things conform to the Custom practised in their Age. The most Christian King Lovis the Twelfth had an Affair to be concerted with the Archduke, which required to be managed by so much the more skilful hands that the Emperor and Catholic King were concerned in it. Hangist of Geulis, one of the most noted and understanding Gentlemen of Picardy was chosen to negotiate it for two reasons, one because his Person was acceptable to the Flemings, and the other, that being Chieures his Kinsman he might the more easily accord with him; but Geulis was extremely surprised when he found himself obliged to treat hand to hand with Charles, who was then but fourteen years old complete. He was glad of it, nevertheless, at first, as hoping to make a better bargain of it; but when he found that the Archduke at the Age, and in the State he saw him in was already the ablest Prince of his time in the Art of Governing, he began to suspect the evils that that might occasion to France; and seeing it would not have been civil to have declared his thoughts as to that openly to Chieures, he only told him, that he did did not conceive why he put the Archduke upon so great an application to Affairs of State, since it neither agreed with his tender age, his quality, constitution, nor the profound Peace which the Low Countries enjoyed: that the temper of that Prince was all fire, and that his prodigious activity was a sufficient proof of it: that nothing was so contrary to People of that constitution than a too long and serious meditation; and seeing they spent incomparably more spirits than others in the exercise of their faculties, they proportionably wore out the Organs they made use of, and so hastened either their death, or from a continual speculation ran into madness: that the latter of these inconveniences was the more to be feared, that in respect of Charles it was a Family distemper; and that if his Mother was troubled with it without application, he had reason to foresee that the excess of application might produce in him the most terrible and most ignominious of its effects.  
Chieures gave Geulis an answer which the Spaniards have reason to match with the Apophthegms of Antiquity. He replied, that he had heretofore reflected upon all that he had said, and often considered of it; but that after all he was persuaded that it was the chief duty incumbent on him, and to which he was most obliged in conscience, according to the Commission given him, to put Charles, as soon as he could, in a condition not to stand in need of a Tutor; and nevertheless he must need one so long as he lived, if he did not accustom him in his younger years to take cognizance of his own Affairs; because if they expected till he was more advanced in age, he would never apply himself to that so much as was necessary, whether that he would find himself at first overcharged with the multitude of Affairs, or that he would be discouraged by the pains he must take in determining them being but a novice therein, and by the frequent impediments they would bring in the way of his pleasures and recreations. However Chieures read in the thought of Guelis, what care soever he took to conceal it, that he feared the Archduke might become too knowing, and laboured as much as he could to divert the prejudice that might redound to the Monarchy of France from the Education of the Prince. Nay, and at first he succeeded in it pretty fortunately; and if after he was dead the affairs which he had well disposed changed countenance, he is no more to be blamed for that than for the evils that happened before he was born; and those who out lived him gave him the testimony that if his life had been longer, France and Spain had never engaged together in War.  
Louis the Twelfth had no Son, and by consequent Francis Count of Angoulesm, first Prince of the Blood Royal, was by the Law of the State next to succeed him. This Prince was brought up at Coignac a Town of Angumeis, but Lovisia of Savoy his Mother was commonly at Court. She had quarrelled with the Queen for some reasons that make nothing for the clearing of this History; and there could not be a greater misunderstanding betwixt two Princesses, than when Lovis was so ill that the Physicians despaired of his recovery. His most Christian Majesty a few months before, had concluded two Treaties, the first with the Emperor Maximilian; and the second with Ferdinand the Catholic King: both Treaties carried in express terms, That the Archduke Charles of Austria should marry Claudia of France, eldest Daughter to the most Christian King. France in the present Juncture could not receive a greater prejudice than by that, seeing the Marriage agreed upon, would one day render it weaker than Spain, and by consequent would infallibly expose it to succumb under the first War that might happen betwixt them. Bretagne, a Province of vast extent, and important in situation had for many Ages been dismembered from the Monarchy of France, and with extreme difficulty had been reunited to it again. The Conduct of Philip Angust was signal in obliging the Dukes of Bretagne, Princes of the Blood, and of the Branch of Dieux, to perform a regular Homage to France; and when the debate for that Fief arose betwixt John of Montfort and Charles of Blois, King Charles the Fifth evocated the cause to his Parliament, and decided it.  
In a word, when there was no Males in the House of Bretagne, and that that Duchy fell to Female; France by an irregular Conduct of those who governed it under the Minority of Charles the Eighth was at the point of seeing that Duchy fall into the House of Austria. The French unseasonably declared War against the Bretons, pressed them with extraordinary violence in a time when the Laws of War were as yet exactly enough observed, attempted to seize the State of their Heiress without marrying of her, and thereby constrained them to cast themselves into the Arms of Maximilian of Austria. That young Prince by a strange good luck had married the Heiress of Burgundy, and by that means deprived the French of their hopes of adding the Low Countries to their Monarchy. His Wife lived no longer than was necessary to secure the property of the Low Countries to the House of Austria, seeing she died within a few years after their Marriage, leaving him only one Son and one Daughter. He was therefore in a condition to engage in a second Marriage with the Heiress of Bretagne, and again to border upon France by Normandy, Maine, Anjou, Touraine, and Poitou, as he bordered upon it by Picardy, Champagne, and Burgundy: That second Match the most considerable in Christendom was offered to him a second time, as the first had been, without suing for it, and these latter Ages had not produced any man so fortunate. It would have been folly to have refused a Princess of twelve years of age, the most beautiful of her time, who bestowed herself upon him to save her Portion; and Maximilian had wit enough to accept of her, but he wanted heat enough to go and marry her in Person. He was content to marry her by Proxy, and the Bretons took exceptions at that negligence. The person of greatest credit amongst them was the Mareshal de Rieux, who had not favoured the House of Austria but because he had been ill treated by that of France. He expected that Maximilian would have come into Bretagne with Forces and Money enough to snatch out of the hands of the French what they had taken in the Province; but perceiving that none came in his name but one Lord, so ill accompanied that he durst not make a public entry into Reunes, and so beggarly that the Heiress of Bretagne was obliged to maintain him, he repent of what he had done, and was not long in finding out means to make reparation for his fault. He represented to the French the error they committed in losing Bretagne by the same way that they had lost Flanders: He let them know that offensive and defensive Arms were useless in a Juncture when the Weapons of love could overcome: he composed the greatest animosities on both sides; and disposed Charles the Eighth not only to become Maximilians' Rival, but also to prevent him. So that whilst Maximilian solicited the Merchants of Antwerp and Bruges to lend him money for his pretended Voyage into Bretagne, Charles went thither, won the heart of the Heiress, banished from thence, and supplanted Maximilian.  
A Marriage solemnised by both parties in Person, carried it over another that was on the one side only celebrated by Proxy: & Charles possessed the Heiress of Bretagne and her Country peaceably. He had three Boys by her, who all died Children; and Lovis XII. who succeeded him, married his Widow as much through inclination as reason of State. He had indeed the greatest Civil Interest to preserve Bretagne, but besides he had loved the Heiress; and his flame was easily kindled again, though seven years of imprisonment had been used to extinguish it. They add, that he was reciprocally beloved, and that the Widow of Charles the Eighth comforted herself for the loss of him, in hopes that she should still reign in France. She was not mistaken in her opinion; and Lovis that he might enjoy her the more speedily, knowing that the dispensation to marry her had been granted him, stayed not till the Legate delivered it into his hands. He took the start and married; and the two Daughters which he soon had, persuaded him of a numerous Posterity, and that after the Girls he would have Boys. Trusting to that supposition he had twice promised his eldest Daughter to Charles the Grandson of Maximilian, but his conjecture was only verified in part. His Wife was brought to bed of some Male Children, but they died almost as soon as they were born, and he had none remaining alive but his two Daughters. Reasons of State and Decorum required that the Count of Angoulesm should marry the Eldest, and the honest Frenchmen pressed the King to it; but the Queen had got so great an ascendant over the mind of her Husband as to keep him from disposing of his Daughter to any person without her consent. The hopeful and lovely presence of the young Count was not disagreeable to her, and besides in that particular she was inclinable enough to the Interests of France: but the rebounds of the hatred of women commonly go farther than those of men. The aversion of the Queen to the Countess of Angoulesm rebounded in a very strange and odd manner upon the Count her Son; and her Majesty made no account of the singular qualities which distinguished him from other Princes of his age, and procured him the admiration of the People. She only considered him in the natural relation and affection he had to the Countess; and as she was not ignorant of the deference that he had for his Mother, so she thought of nothing for the future but that when he was King, he would give her a great deal of Authority in the State; and that so after the death of Lovis the Twelfth, the Countess would have as much credit, as the Queen had had during his life. Ambitious people behold nothing with so jealous eyes, as those who are like to supplant them; and the Queen was in that disquiet condition of mind at the time the King was so ill, that the Physicians despaired of his recovery. It is not certain whether the Queen obliged them to conceal nothing from her of what they thought of him, or that she suspected the worst: but it is certain that she took the same measures as if she had been persuaded of it. She durst not, or would not forsake a Husband that had been so loving to her, but she dreaded as the greatest of miseries to fall into the hands of the Countess. Yet her Majesty could not avoid it if her eldest Daughter continued in France until the death of the King, seeing his Successor would not suffer her to departed out of the Kingdom, but would marry her. So she resolved to remove her before, and send her into Bretagne, wh●…●he might dispose of her according to her humour by marrying her to the Archduke of the Low Countries, and by raising by virtue of that Alliance an Enemy that might torment the French Monarchy, in such a manner that the Countess should not get much by her Sons becoming King.  
The Court was at Blois, and it was not far from thence to Bretagne; but most part of women are covetous and near, and thereby often lose the occasion of executing great designs. The fourteen Dukes of Bretagne had for the most part been magnificent, and had left a vast quantity of most rich furniture. The Queen had caused it to be transported into France, and could not resolve to leave it there lest the Countess might make use of it, and at her cost live in the luxury, wherein she so much delighted. That consideration preserved Bretagne to France, because it hindered the Queen from sending her Daughter by Land with a strong Guard that could not be stopped.  
Her Majesty thought it necessary that the young Princess should departed with the Baggage, to the end that the respect which would be shown her might keep it from being searched; and seeing it was not sufficiently concealed neither as to the quantity nor value when carried by Land in Wagons, it was thought more convenient to send it in Boats by Water: but it seldom happens that one woman surprises another that mistrusts her; and the Queen stood in need of too many people to keep her project hid so long as would have been necessary.  
The Countess was punctually informed of all; and seeing her Son was under age, and that she expected to be Regent if at that time he had happened to be King, she thought she might lawfully anticipate the function in a Juncture that could not be more important. All the Courtiers who were of the humour to prefer the rising Sun before the setting were her friends, and amongst these was the Marshal de 
* Rene of Rohan.  Gie. Gie was a complete Courtier, and the Favourite of two successive Kings, Charles the Eighth, and Lovis the Twelfth, which was rare, and without losing the good opinion which the Public conceived of his probity during his twofold favour, which is rarer still. He was a great lover of his Country; and if heretofore he was the cause that the French at the Battle of Fornona did not cut in pieces all the Italian Forces who attempted to hinder their passage, it was because he thought the conquerors could not gain so much by far in obtaining a total Victory, as they might lose in the sequel of the fight by reason of the person of Charles the Eighth, who was too deeply engaged in the Conflict. He knew that the Queen designed her Daughter for the Archduke, and was sensible of what consequence it would be for the Kingdom to frustrate the accomplishment of it. So the Countess had no sooner given him notice that Madam was embarked, and solicited him to stop her as she passed through his Government of Anjou, but that he consented to it, though he foresaw the troublesome consequences of so bold an enterprise in their full extent.  
He omitted nothing that might sweeten the bitterness of it: His respects were most profound in diverting Madam from prosecuting her Journey: He used her and those of her retinue with extraordinary civility: he contracted debts to defray her charges with greater Magnificence, which afterwards encumbered his Estate; but, to be short, if he served the Countess in what she most desired, he provoked the Queen in the point she was most sensible in, and rendered her irreconcilable to him. Her Majesty took it so ill that a Breton, born her Subject, and descended of a Family so often allied to the House of Dreux should dare to oppose what she most ardently desired, that at the very instant she swore she would be his ruin, and endeavoured to be as good as her word upon the first occasion that offered.  
The King contrary to all expectation recovered, and by incessant importunities she forced that good Prince to abandon his Favourite. Gie was brought to a trial, 
In the Memoires of Bretagne.  and it appears in the Papers of the Chamber of accounts of Bretagne that the Queen laid out 35000 Livers for carrying on his Process, which at that time was a vast Sum: in the mean time she had but half of her revenge, and the Mareshal was only sentenced to be banished, and to end his days in the lovely House of Verger, seated in the same Province of Anjou, where he had the unhappiness to displease the Queen.  
The Countess nevertheless obtained her ends, seeing the chief Persons of the Kingdom being assembled by the King's permission, presented to his Majesty a most humble and judicious Petition. They earnestly begged of him to grant his loyal Subjects the favour which they most ardently, and with great Justice desired, which was the marriage of Madam his Daughter with the Count of Angoulesm, to the end that that Princess being one day to inherit in full the Duchy of Bretagne, and her younger Sister having no claim but to a very little share in the other Estates of her Mother, which might be valued at a Sum of Money, the whole Province might be so incorporated with the French Monarchy, that for the future it could not be dismembered from it, though the most Christian Kings should leave none but Daughters. The Juncture was favourable, seeing the French demanded nothing of Lovis the Twelfth but what he could honestly and with a good conscience grant. The Emperor and Catholic King were the first that had violated the Treaty which promised Madam to their Grandson; and their prevarication in that point was so evident, that all the Potentates of Europe were convinced of it. So his most Christian Majesty being discharged of his Oaths, listened to the Address with his accustomed goodness, and passed his word that Madam should marry the Count of Angoulesm, and that the Marriage should be consummated so soon as she was of age. The Queen, who could neither break nor defer a resolution which was so odious to her, promised herself to frustrate the accomplishment of it; and they who knew how easily the King had sacrificed to her his Favourite, thought that she proposed nothing in that beyond her power, but the Countess' good fortune leveled that difficulty when at Court it seemed to be insuperable. The Queen who in all appearance, and according to all the Rules of Physic was like to outlive the King, and to hold out to an extreme old age, nevertheless died before him at the age of thirty seven years. The Countess found no more opposition to her designs at Court: The Friends of the Queen courted her favour; and she was presented with what fitted her best of the Furniture and Rarities of the House of Bretagne. Her Son married Madam; and that Princess entertained as great an affection for her Husband as possible could be, though like that of most part of other women, it bordered not upon Jealousy.  
Most of the particulars we have now related, happened before Chieures was Governor to Charles; and those who before him were about that young Prince failed not to represent to him upon all occasions according to the Orders they had received from his two Grandfathers, that the Count of Angoulesm in taking his Wife from him had done him an irreparable injury. That it was an affront not to be suffered without infamy, nor revenged but by the blood of him that had given it. That, the truth was, the Count was at that time below the anger of the Archduke, being but as yet a private person; but that he would not be always so, and that the Monarchy of France looked upon him as Heir apparent. That when once he was King, he ought to call him to an account by the way of Arms, which was the only course Sovereigns had when they intended to reduce Persons of their own quality to reason, and that in the mean time it would be a disgrace to the Archduke to entertain any communication with him. That he ought not to propose to himself the Example of Maximilian his Grandfather, who shown no resentment but in word, when King Charles the Eighth rob him of his Wife Anne of Bretagne, for it was not for want of courage that Maximilian suffered it, but out of an absolute impossibility of revenging himself in that he was under the power of a Father when the injury was done to him. That the Emperor Frederick the Third his Father, one of the most husbanding Princes that ever was, refused to furnish him with Money and Forces for that purpose; and that the Flemings his Son's Subjects would not engage in the quarrel of a Prince whom they looked upon as a stranger, since his Wife was dead, and that he was no more but the Father of their Sovereign. That after the death of Frederick when Maximilian had succeeded, the occasion of revenge was lost by the Apoplexy which carried Charles out of the world at the age of twenty eight years, but that the case was not alike neither in regard of the Archduke, nor in regard of the Count of Angoulesm. 
Towards the end of Philip de Comines.  That the Archduke was already Master of the Low Countries. That his Subjects had so great a love for him that they would spend part of their Estates and their blood in the quarrel: That he would not want neither Spanish Gold, nor Germane Soldiers; and that, in short, the Count was of too strong a constitution to give any ground to fear that he would die before the Archduke had had the satisfaction he desired of him.  
These discourses suiting with the revengeful humour of Charles, and reiterated to him in an Age wherein the strong impressions that then are made commonly last as long as life, had produced their effect, and so animated the Archduke against the Count, that he was impatient not to be in a condition of entering the Lists against his Adversary; when Crieures foresaw the troublesome consequences that an enmity cultivated with so much care might have, and thought it necessary to remedy it betimes, though he made no doubt but that the Emperor and Catholic King would take it ill at his hands, and prove his enemies if he succeeded in it.  
He had formerly been acquainted in the Wars of Italy with Artas de Goussier Lord of Boisly, Governor to the Count of Angoulesm, and reckoned him the fittest man of the Kingdom for the Commission that was given him. He was persuaded of his great integrity, and promised himself from that to be seconded in the design of contracting a Friendship betwixt the Archduke and the Count, which might procure to both a long repose, and preserve to the Flemings and French the peace which they enjoyed. He solicited him to this by ways that are not known: but it is to be believed that it was done without engaging the Archdukes honour, and so prudently that neither the Count nor his Governor might draw any advantage from it, in case the accommodation had not succeeded. Goussier on his part contributed thereto all that could be desired, and laboured much to blot out of the Count's mind the dangerous impressions of the Archduke which were stamped in it, as if he had been his most formidable enemy, whilst Chieures on the other side acted efficaciously with the Archduke in convincing him by strong reasons that the injuries of Princes were not to be measured by the Standard of private persons; and that he neither could nor ought to take it ill if the Count had done to him what he would have done to the Count, if he had been in his place.  
When the resentment was stifled on the one hand, and diffidence removed on the other, the two Governors sought an occasion to settle a commerce by Letters betwixt their two Princes, which might entertain and increase their good intelligence, and took the first favourable opportunity that offered. Mere chance brought it so about that it was on the Archdukes side, and that he needed the offices of the Count in an affair of importance. Henry Count of Nassau, who possessed in the Provinces of Flanders, Brabant, Holland, and Zealand fair remains of vast Estates which those of his Family had purchased there; had so far insinuated himself into the favours of the Archduke, that he would have been his Favourite if that Prince had been of an humour to have any, and that to caution himself against that he had not taken the same measures almost, which chaste men commonly make use of to fortify themselves against the lovely eyes of a Lady whom they are afraid to be smitten with; he studied, and played with his Master; and Chieures was so far from opposing that he contributed to it, because making it his business to place about the Archduke young Lords who might not corrupt the good seeds that he endeavoured to plant in him, he thought Nassau not only one according to his mind, but that also he might be useful in confirming the Archduke in the exercises of virtue; by ●…ring him up by his example to the prac●… of it.  
It was at that time the custom of the Low Countries to marry the eldest Son● of Noble Families very young, and Nassau● relations courted for him Elizabeth of Chalon, Sister to the Prince of Aurange. The Alliance was suitable, and could not cause any umbrage; for besides that the Families of France and of the Low Countries had full liberty to marry one with another without displeasing their Sovereigns, if the House of Chalon had a great Estate in the Duchy of Burgundy, it had more in the French County, and upon that account passed rather for a Flemish than French Family. All the difficulty lay in the obtaining of the consent of the King Lovis the Twelfth, without which the Father of Elizabeth had discharged her to be given in marriage; and there was but little probability that his Majesty would give it in favours of Nassau, seeing it was contrary to the reason of State. Prince Philibert of Chalon, the Brother of Elizabeth, was the only Male of his Family. He gave no promises of a long life in his youth, though afterward be became very strong, and Politicians looked upon his Sister already as the richest Heiress in Europe. If Nassau married her he was a person powerfully settled in the Low Countries, who would not change his Master though the Succession of Aurange should fall to his Wife, and would spend in the Archdukes service the Revenue of the fair Estate of the House of Chalon in France: whereas if the King gave to Elizabeth a French Husband, the Estate would not go out of the Kingdom as neither to the rents nor property, and the Husband would employ them in the service of his Majesty. There needed then a strong recommendation to the King to prevail with him, and Chieures advised Nassau to pray the Archduke that in this prospect he would employ the interest of the Count of Angoulesm with the King his Father-in-law. The Archduke wrote obligingly to the Count about it; and that Prince prepared by Goussier answered the Archduke in the same stile. And seeing he already gloried in a generosity too high for the Age he lived in, he granted more than was demanded of him, and surmounted an obstacle which Nassau had not foreseen. He thought it not enough to have obtained his Majesty's consent, but further won the Prince of Aurange in favours of Nassau, who had, and always would have opposed him, if the Count had not concerned himself in it. There had been an ancient custom amongst the four chief Houses of Burgundy, which were Neuchatel, Vienne, Vergy, and Chalon, which in some manner resembled the agreement of some Sovereign Families in Germany touching their reciprocal Succession.  
The custom was that when any one of the four was in danger of being extinct it contracted no Alliance but with that of the three others which it liked best, that the Estates of both might be joined. Now the Prince of Aurange thought himself obliged in down right honesty to follow the example of his Ancestors. In the House of Vienne there was a young Lord who in all things almost sympathized with him in humour. He loved him entirely; and designed his Sister for him upon the same consideration that he would have made him his Heir, if she died before him. Nevertheless the Count of Angoulesm made his application to him in so taking a way, and so dextrously insinuated the pleasure he would do him in giving him an opportunity of obliging the Archduke in a thing that he seemed cordially to be concerned in, that the Prince of Aurange to comply with him strained himself extremely. He broke the custom we have been speaking of, and slighted the Lord of Vienne whom already he had treated as his Brother-in-law. He consented to the Marriage of his Sister with Nassau, and laid the foundation of the greatness to which that House has been since advanced. The Archduke thereupon testified all the acknowledgement to the Count of Angoulesm that Goussier and Chieures expected from him. He thanked him for it by Letters: He sent time after time Gentlemen to entertain a commerce with him: caressed extraordinarily those whom the Count sent to him again; and that correspondence was not as yet interrupted, when the Count succeeded to Lovis the Twelfth: but the cementing of that perfect intelligence we have been speaking of was not the chief business of Chieures out of the Low Countries.  
There were two others which demanded his more assiduous care, and troubled him most of any thing when the least irregularity was committed in them. And that was the friendship of the two Grandfathers of the Archduke, the more difficult to be entertained, that seeing these Princes were of a quite contrary humour, it was absolutely necessary to follow a different conduct with them, and nevertheless from that diversity both took occasion at every turn to complain of their Grandsons' Governor; for though their Atipathy could not be greater than it was, yet they expected to be treated after the same manner. The Emperor Maximilian was insatiable as to money, and pretended that men should find it for him as easily as he spent it. Ferdinand the Catholic King husbanded his Revenues so frugally that he passed for covetous in the thoughts of those who knew not that he had not the fourth part of what was necessary for the carrying on of his vast designs. He no sooner came to understand that the Emperor's wants were supplied with money from the Low Countries, but that he represented his own to Chieures, and desired his assistance. It did not serve Chieures his turn to lay before him that the Revenues of the Low Countries could not suffice both the Emperor and him, because than he spoke no more of money indeed; but instead of that desired the Archduke to engage in his quarrels. It lay upon Chieures then to consider in the impossibilities he saw himself in to comply with their Imperial and Catholic Majesties at the same time; which of the two Friendships it would be most important for the Archduke, that his Governor entertained.  
The Reasons for the Emperor were, that if Chieures resolved not to live with him in a most strict union, that Prince who could not endure to perplex his mind with the thoughts of what was to come; and who forecast no farther for the future, than what his present profit obliged him to, would insensibly discontinue to entertain the Party made in the Empire for the election of his Grandson in his place, and would give occasion to the Electors who favoured the House of Austria to change sides when they found themselves slighted: Besides if some time or other the French should have a mind to attack the Low Countries, it would be impossible for the Catholic King to hinder them from conquering them, and the Emperor alone would be capable to cross their design. In the mean while, if he were slighted by the Archduke upon account of striking in elsewhere; He would not do it, considering the temper he was of easy to be disgusted, and more easy still to push on to the utmost extremities the disgust which once he conceived; and though he would do it, yet he could not be any more in a condition, seeing the Germans who esteemed him not so much for his personal qualities as for the profit they were sure to make of him when they were so happy as to be at Court when money came in, would not sooner see the fountain head dried up by the cutting off his regular Supplies from Flanders, but they would begin to slight him, and take no more care of arming for him, nor of bringing Forces to his service when he desired it: whereas if his Grandson's Purse were kept open to him for the future, as it had been formerly, it would produce this odd effect, that the vice of one man would be the virtue of the Family from which he sprung. That the prodigality of Maximilian would become magnificence in the design of those of Austria in that it served to continue the Empire in their Family; and that the Germans would list themselves as readily, and with as little scruple mount on horseback to follow the Emperor into the Low Countries, as they did when he solicited them to accompany him in the War against the Republic of Venice.  
The Reasons that made for the Catholic King in the mind of Chieures, were that the Archduke had incomparably more to hope for, and more to fear from him than from the Emperor. His hopes were manifest, grounded upon the Crowns annexed to that of Arragon, as well in Spain as in Italy and the Coasts of Africa. The fear was more hid, but the subject of it was neither smaller nor less infallible. It consisted in this, That the Archduke, indeed, expected no other Inheritance of his Grandfather by the Father's side but the ten Provinces of the House of Austria: but that Inheritance was of such a nature that he could no ways be disappointed of it, provided he outlived his Grandfather, and that that Prince never disposed of him to his prejudice, neither by Donation, Alienation, nor Exchange. The Laws of Germany confirmed by all the Emperors who reigned since Charles the Fourth, and ratified in all the general Diets assembled since that time, bore in express terms, That the Imperial fees did so certainly belong to the Males of the House that held them, and had once received investiture of them, that it was not in the power of the Feudatary for any cause or pretext that might be to frustrate his eldest Son, or the Male Children of that eldest Son by giving them to his other Children, nor to deprive the Paternal Cousins, how remote soever, of the same, in favours of their own Daughters. Constant and uninterrupted custom had exactly agreed with these Laws, and no instance could be given that they had ever been violated as to that particular in whole, or in part.  
It was not so in the Succession which the Archduke expected from the Catholic King, and he had more reasons than one to fear that he might be disappointed of it, though at first view it appeared to be full as sure as that of the Emperor. For in the first place Ferdinand had sufficiently testified his displeasure that his Dominions one day should fall to the House of Austria, by omitting nothing that could naturally be done to prevent it. He acted not with so much sincerity as the House of Austria in the marriage of his Son 
(1) John of Arragon Prince of Spain.  and Daughter 
(2) Joan of Arragon surnamed the Fool.  with the Son 
(3) Marguerite of Austria.  and Daughter 
(4) The Archduke Philip.  of the Emperor; and whereas Maximilian had given him an only Daughter, he had only given to Maximilian for Philip of Austria the second of his four Daughters. The Eldest he married in Portugal; showing by so public a preference, that he had rather his Succession should descend upon a Prince whose Grandfather was a Bastard, and great Grandmother the Daughter of a Shoemaker Jew, than be wanting in circumspection to remove his Son-in-Law the Archduke Philip from the succession to the Crowns of Castille and Arragon.  
His forecast nevertheless was vain, and in a very few years the Emperor's Sons Wife became Heir apparent of so many Kingdoms. Any but the Catholic King would in so sudden a revolution have adored the Order of Divine Providence, and wholly submitted to it: Nevertheless that Prince opposed it by a longer and more steady obstinacy than that of Ionas in declining to go to Niniveh. His Wife was no sooner dead, but that he married another in the sole prospect of having a Son by her, and because he drew towards fifty years of age, and that the disorders of his youth gave him ground at that age to distrust his own vigour, he had his recourse to Physic, and took Potions that were thought fit to supply that defect. In the second place, the Catholic King had lusty handsome Bastards; and if he preferred them before the Children of his lawful Daughter in succeeding to the Throne, he would in that do nothing contrary neither to the Custom of Spain, nor the inclination of the Spaniards. It was no new thing in that Country, the remotest of Europe on the African side, to promote Bastards to the Throne in exclusion of lawful Children, and Ferdinand himself descended in right Line from Henry the Second, who was a Bastard. There was besides another instance of that irregularity in his Family; For his Uncle Alphonso of Arragon, Elder Brother to John of Arragon his Father, dying without Children, by Testament which in that part was executed, frustrated John of Arragon of the Kingdom of Naples, and left it to a Bastard whom he had by a Person of quality, Educated in that prospect. In the third place, the Catholic King could not only take from the Archduke Arragon and the Crowns that depended upon it; but also he might by the way we shall now treat of hinder him from reigning in Castille, and in the Monarchies annexed to it. This young Prince drew his Title to Castille from Queen Isabel his Grandmother by the Mother's side; and yet that Princess had not inherited it without violence, and encroaching upon the most sacred and inviolable Laws of Civil Society. Henry the Fourth, her Brother, King of Castille, married the Infanta of Portugal, and that Infanta during his marriage with her was brought to bed of a Daughter, the most beautiful, as they say, that ever was born in Spain. This Daughter by the Fundamental Laws of the State excluded her Aunt from succeeeding to so many Kingdoms, because she was nearest by a degree, and represented her Father: Nevertheless the Aunt pretended that her Brother was impotent; and that the Daughter that was fathered on him, was begotten by his Favourite Don Bertram de la Cueva, Duke of Albuquerque. For that reason, or under that pretext she made a great Party, and raised a War in Castille: But the Party of the Daughter proving the stronger, the Aunt had her recourse to Ferdinand, and gave herself to him, having no other way to engage him to espouse her interest against her Niece. Ferdinand, having married the Aunt transported all the Forces of Arragon into Castille. He overcame them who favoured his Wife's Niece, and dispossessed her of the Kingdom: But was now in a condition to repay the injury which he had done her, by recalling her into Castille where he had the Power, raising her to the Throne, and marrying her to one of his Bastards.  
Upon the Reasons we have been mentioning Chieures made the reflections they deserved. He long considered with himself the prejudice that might befall the Archduke by not entertaining an entire correspondence with his maternal Grandfather: Nevertheless having put into the balance together the hurt that might redound to that Prince by breaking with France during his minority, if he Leagued too strictly with the Catholic King; and the injury the Catholic King might do him, if he united not so closely with him, he found the first alone to weigh far more than all the others put together, and by the boldest result of prudence that is to be found in the History of Spain, he judged it to be avoided rather than the rest. He kept the Archduke in friendship with the French and Germans: He thought it enough not to give the Catholic King any cause or pretext to complain of him in particular; and in the following Books we shall find that his conduct in that point was as fortunate, as it had been judicious.  
The End of the First Book.   

THE HISTORY OF Monsieur De Chieures.  
The Second BOOK, CONTAINING The most remarkable Occurrences in the Monarchy of Spain during the years One thousand five hundred and thirteen and One thousand five hundred and fourteen.  
THat we may conceive the motives which induced Chieures to prefer the Paternal Grandfather of Charles of Austria his Pupil before the Maternal, and that we may understand the advantages which Charles drew from that preference, we must necessarily presuppose that Ferdinand the Catholic King who was the Maternal Grandfather spoken of here, bounded not his ambition within Spain after he had entirely driven the Moors from thence by the conquest of the Kingdom of Granada. It troubled him to be confined to one of the extemities of Europe without any appearance of growing greater, seeing he had the Pyrenean Mountains for a Barriere; and crossing that Chain of Rocks which Nature seemed to have laid to hinder the two most powerful Kings of Christendom from marrying together, he found on the other side France so powerful in that part where it bordered on him, that there was much greater cause to fear that it might take from him his Territories of Biscay, Arragon, and Catalonia if he attacked France, than there was hopes of conquering Guyenne and Languedock in it.  
He resolved then to weaken it before he attacked it; and seeing it had got footing in Spain by the acquisition that the most Christian King Lovis the Eleventh had made of the Counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne, from whence it might easily seize Catalonia, the places whereof were not at all fortified at that time; he made it his whole care to recover them, and succeeded therein by a way not before practised, Christian Princes having not been as yet accustomed to cheat under a pretext of Religion.  
Louis the Eleventh had bought of John King of Arragon, the Father of Ferdinand, 
In the Contract of Engagement.  the two Counties by a Contract of Engagement which bore that his most Christian Majesty should lend upon the Counties three hundred thousand Livers: that both should be put into his hands for security of the debt; That the King of Arragon should have full liberty to redeem them within nine years to be reckoned from the Date of the Contract, upon payment of the Principal and Interest; but that if he failed upon any cause or pretext whatsoever to do it within the limited time, he should lose his reversion, and the propriety of Roussillon and Cerdagne should remain to France. The King of Arragon let the time clapse through a mere inability of redeeming the Counties; and Lovis the Eleventh perceiving the ninth year almost expired without any offer from the King of Arragon of repaying his Money, observed a formality, which was not necessary, and served only to give him what in Law is called abundantiam Juris.  
He caused the King of Arragon to be summoned by a Herald to redeem the Counties; and that Prince not having done it, his most Christian Majesty united them to the French Monarchy, and left them at his death to Charles the Eighth his only Son. Charles had been already nine years in peaceable possession of them; and seeing by the Law of his State what had been united ten whole years successively could not for the future be dismembered, Roussillon and Cerdagne were no more alienable than the other Provinces of France, seeing two most Christian Kings had enjoyed them without molestation during the space of thirty years. But it had pleased Lovis the Eleventh to bring up Charles the Eighth in such a gross ignorance, that he had no knowledge of his own affairs; and Ferdinand taking that young Prince on his weak side, corrupted, as they say, by money Oliver Maillard a Monk of the observance his Confessor. That Cordelier represented to Charles, that Christian Charity allowed not Christians of what quality soever they were to take advantage from the misfortunes of others, and that notwithstanding that was a thing which the late King had done, and which his most Christian Majesty continued to do. That when Lovis the Eleventh had caused the late King of Arragon to be summoned to repay the money lent upon the Counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne, he found him in an utter incapacity of satisfying him, and that nevertheless his Majesty had therefrom taken all the advantages that are allowed by the Law of Nations: That the King of Arragon was at that time pestered in a Civil War and a Foreign War both at once; seeing on the one hand the King of Castille, incomparably stronger than he, had entered his Dominions with an Army, and on the other hand the Catalonians had revolted: That his Majesty of Arragon died before these Affairs were concluded, and that Ferdinand his Son was no more in a condition than he to redeem the two Counties, since he was forced to employ all his own Revenue and that of the Queen of Castille his Wife for driving the Mahometan Moor out of the Kingdom of Granada; and that by consequent the prescription expired not in respect of him, because he was taken up in a Holy War: That his most Christian Majesty therefore was no less obliged in conscience to restore him the Counties; and that though in the Court of Man he had a very good right to demand the Money and the Interest of the Debt which his Predecessor had lent; yet he had not so in the Court of Heaven, since France had recovered more out of the same Counties than amounted to the first Sum lent: That he must not neither make deduction of the Expenses that the late most Christian King was forced to be at in raising an Army of forty thousand men even according to the account of Spanish Authors, and sending them into Roussillon for the reduction of the Town of Perpignan that had revolted: That the Rebellion of that important place ought neither to be imputed to the late King of Arragon who had no hand in it, nor to Ferdinand his Son that had neither directly nor indirectly countenanced it; and that so Roussillon and Cerdagne ought without farther delay to be restored to him.  
Charles who was not sharp-sighted enough to distinguish the truth from the falsehood in this Discourse of his Confessor, obeyed the Father, but not so implicitly as the Cordelier pretended he should. His Majesty, indeed, restored the Counties without receiving either Principal or Interest of the money disbursed by his Father, but in return he required two conditions of Ferdinand which would have been no less troublesome to him than the payment of the money, had they been as faithfully performed as they were stipulated in a solemn Treaty 
* In the last Treaty of France for the Counties. . The first was that Ferdinand should enter into no League offensive or defensive against France; the other, that he should not marry any of his four Daughters neither in Germany, England, nor Flanders, and that he should not give them any Husbands without the consent of the most Christian King or his Successors; but before a year was over Ferdinand broke the first condition, and made no more scruple afterward to violate the second. Six months after, he entered into the Pyrenean League of Italy against Charles his Benefactor, and had the greatest hand in robbing him of his Conquests. Not long after he form the project of hedging in France on the side of Picardy, Champagne, and Burgundy, as he bordered it already on the side of Guyenne and Languedock, and made account of bringing into his Family the Low Countries, and the ten Hereditary Provinces of the House of Austria. That House was reduced to Maximilian the First the Emperor, the Archduke Philip, and the Archdutchess Margaret his Children. The Archduke was so tender, and had cost so much pains in cockering him during his infancy, that there was no great appearance he could live long enough to beget Children. The Archdutchess, on the contrary, was the most vigorous and jolly Princess of her Age; and the Physicians were free enough to say that she would carry with her the rich Successions of Burgundy and Austria to the Family she married into, besides a numerous Offspring of which she gave no small hopes. Ferdinand grounded upon that to get her into his Family, and for that end laid the most Artificious and selfish Scheme that can be found in the Records of Spain. He had one Son and four Daughters, the Son's name was John, from the Grandfather by the Father's side, his eldest Daughters name was Isabel, the seconds Jane, the thirds Mary, and the youngests Catharine. The fundamental Laws of Spain gave to the Son all the Kingdoms of Arragon which his Father possessed, and all the Kingdoms of Castille that his Mother had brought with her in Marriage, his four Sisters having no Pretensions to any part of them; and if he died without Children, the eldest of his Sisters was to succeed him in full without sharing any thing with the younger. Ferdinand was very willing that the States of Burgundy and Austria might enter into his Family, but he would not have his own and Wife's Kingdoms to go into a foreign House. That inconvenience seemed terrible unto him, and he thought to remedy it by offering only to Maximilian his second Daughter for the Archduke, because in all humane probability the marriage of the Infanto of Spain with the Archdutchess could not be barren; and though by the greatest mischance imaginable it should happen to be so, yet that of the eldest of the Infanta's of Spain, designed for Manuel King of Portugal, might not be, and by consequent if the Succession of Ferdinand and Isabel went out of the House of Arragon, it would not go out of Spain, which by that means would be almost united into one sole Monarchy. His Catholic Majesty then caused a double Alliance to be proposed to the Emperor with this disproportion, that his only Son should marry the only Daughter of his Imperial Majesty, and that nevertheless the only Son of his Imperial Majesty should marry but the second of his Daughters. The Proposition was in itself ridiculous as contrary to the rules of Decency, the advantage not being equal to both sides, and nothing as yet pressing Maximilian to marry his Children: It was nevertheless accepted by an extraordinary disposition of Divine Providence, which intended to raise the House of Austria by ways unknown to Maximilian and Ferdinand. The Emperor thought he had in that double Alliance with the Catholic King such as we have mentioned it to be, a present interest which he could find no where else; and which was strong enough to determine him.  
We have already spoken of his eager desire of money, and how it could not stay with him. He was assured of raising three considerable Sums out of the hereditary Provinces of the House of Austria and of the Low Countries. The two first Sums were to be given him as a Present for the Marriages of the Archduke and Archdutchess, and the last for the Portion of the said Archdutchess. He got all clear to himself without disbursing a Penny, seeing in the Affair then in agitation the Portions of the two Archdutchesses' went in exchange for one another, and that besides he had no charges almost at all to be put to, there being but very little Magnificence at that time in the Court of Spain: whereas if the Emperor settled his Son and Daughter in any other Family of Europe, first, he would not find a double Alliance to be made, and besides, nothing of what the Flemings and Austrians might give would come into his Coffers. In the second place, the Charges of the Weddings would not be spared, and the Emperor could have no pretext to excuse him from it.  
The Subjects of his Imperial Majesty and of the Archduke acted not, indeed, in so interested a view, but a consideration of honour inspired the same thoughts into them. The Princess Isabel the eldest of the Infanta's of Spain was married very young to Alphonso the Infanto of Portugal. She was not full Eighteen years of age when she was left a Widow; but that hindered not the Flemings and those of Austria from looking upon it as a thing undecent that the Archduke Philip, who was to be their Sovereign, should be content with the leave of the Infanto of Portugal: Besides, they knew that the Infanto's Grandfather by the Father's side was a Bastard, the Son of a Jewish Concubine; and seeing the People of the Lower Germany conspired with those of the Upper not to suffer their Princes to Ally into Families, and with Persons that had the least blemish; though Maximilian would have desired the eldest Infanta of Spain for his Son, his own and his Sons Subjects would have universally opposed it. Nor would the Princes of Germany have willingly suffered that he should have brought into the Empire the pernicious example of base Alliances. And Maximilian would have cut out work for himself that he could not be able to make an end of. So the Proposition of the Catholic King was without difficulty accepted, and the two Marriages were concluded. There was nothing particular in the Contracts that were made of them, except that Chieures had the care of seeing them drawn, and the Portion as well as the Dowry of the two Spouses was very moderate. The King of France, Charles the Eighth, complained in vain of the infraction of his Treaty 
* In the Contracts betwixt Spain and Austria.  with Ferdinand: and the answer which the Spanish Ambassador Ayala made him thereupon seemed to add Raillery to the Injury. He maintained that his Master the Catholic King was free to dispose of his Son and Daughter; and that the Treaty mentioned could not tie his hands, because it was contrary to good manners as well as the Law of Nations; and seeing it would not be taken ill in Spain that the most Christian King should dispense with such an Obligation if it had been put upon him, no more ought his most Christian Majesty think it strange that the Catholic King did the like.  
Both Marriages were completed much about the same time, but they were not alike happy neither in their beginning, nor in their consequences. It may be observed in the Life of Lovis the Eleventh, that by the last Treaty of that Prince with Maximilian, it was stipulated that the Archdutchess Margarite so soon as she was out of the Cradle should marry the Dauphin of France, who was Charles the Eighth: That she should bring him in Portion the Counties of Burgundy and Artois; and lastly, that it should not be in the power neither of the Father of the Princess, nor of the Flemings to break their Marriage before she was of age to consummate it, and that she should immediately after the signing of the Treaty be delivered into the hands of the Ambassadors of France, who should carry her to the Court of the most Christian King, to be brought up with the Dauphin till both were in a condition to live together. The Treaty was fully and faithfully executed; and there are some Memoires which mention, that not only the Archdutchess was brought up with the Dauphin, but that besides, the Ceremonies of their Marriage had been solemnised, and that there was nothing wanting but the consummation when it was broken off by this accident.  
Maximilian, Father to the Princess, in second marriage espoused the Heiress of Bretagne by Proxy; and thereby rendered himself so much the more formidable to the French, that his first marriage with the Heiress of Burgundy had brought the seventeen Provinces of the Low Countries and the Franchecounty into his Family. They found no other remedy than to oblige Charles the Eighth to prevent him by marrying the Heiress of Bretagne, and the Archdutchess was sent home to her Father, who married her, as hath been already said, with the Infanto of Spain. The Ceremonies of the Marriage were performed at Ghent in February One thousand four hundred and ninety seven, and the Princess embarked immediately after at Flushing on board the Admiral of the Fleet appointed to convoy her to Spain: but she was no sooner out at Sea, but that she had reason to prognosticate that her Second Marriage was not like to be more fortunate than the First. She was tossed in a violent storm, which still increasing surpassed the skill of the Seamen, and the experience of the Pilots; all were persuaded that they could not avoid being cast away, and intimated no less to the Passengers as much by their frighted and ghastly looks, as by their discourse. The Archdutchess alone seemed unconcerned at the dismal news, and feared so much the less to lose her life as she had greater interest than the rest to preserve it. Nay, in so sad a Juncture she was capable of a gay thought which seemed not suitable to an imagination that ought to have been scared with frightful apprehensions. She made a pleasant reflection upon the oddness of her adventures, supposing that the like had never happened in the world, and their singularity in her opinion deserved it should be acquainted with them. She thought that never any woman was twice married and yet died a Virgin, and therefore to inform Posterity of it she took the following course. She had the curiosity to make her own Epitaph, and in two Verses to express therein what was most remarkable in her Life. She had naturally a great disposition to Poetry, and so composed a Distich upon the spot. Manuscripts relate the words variously, though they agree in the sense, and it will not be amiss to transcribe them here as they have been found. The Spanish Manuscripts thus have him, 
Cy gît Margot, Noble Damoiselle,  
Deux fois mariée morte pucelle.  And the Flemish Manuscripts. 
Cy gît Margot la gente Damoiselle,  
Qu' eat deux maris, & si mourat pucelle.  The sense in English is, 
Here Maig, a Noble Lady's laid,  
Twice married, and yet dead, a maid,  It was not enough for the Archdutchess to have composed her own Epitaph, if she hindered not the Waters, wherein she expected to perish, from spoiling the Paper on which it was written, and therefore she wrapped it up in Cerecloath. Besides, it behoved her to oblige those on the shore, who might find her body and Epitaph where the Sea cast them out, to give a burial to the one, and cause the other to be engraven, and therefore she took out of the Box where her Jewels were the richest Diamond she had, and wrapped it up in the Paper. After all, care must be taken that that Paper should not be separated from her Body, and therefore the Archdutchess tied the Cerecloath wherein the Diamond and Verses were fast about her Arm. In that posture, without fear or changing her countenance, she expected when the Ship should sink to the bottom; but her last hour was not as yet come; and the Ship that carried her, after it had been long beaten and tossed by the Winds and Sea, run a shore upon the Coast of St. Andrews in Galicia. From thence she went by Land to Burgos, where the Catholic Kings then had their residence. Her marriage with the Infanto of Spain was there celebrated; and her big belly, which some time after began to appear, renewed the joy of the Court: but it continued but five or six months, for the Infanto fell sick in the City of Salamanca of a distemper whereof he died the four and twentieth of October the same year One thousand four hundred and ninety seven.  
The beginning and progress of his distemper was discreetly concealed from his Wife, but the same circumspection was not used at last. Instead of disposing her by degrees to receive so strange news, and gradually acquainting her with the loss of her young Husband, they told her plainly and point blank that she was a Widow. It is not exactly known who it was that was so imprudent as unseasonably to tell her the news, because she would never discover it, lest the party might have been too severely punished. But it is certain, that the unhappiness of her second Widowhood brought into her mind 
* In the Latin Panegyric of that Princess.  the injury she received when Charles the Eighth rejected her, and that the double grief she felt was so violent, that she was brought to bed before her time of a dead Daughter. Ferdinand the Catholic King supported the loss of an only Son, come to the age of ninteen years, three months, and six days, with a constancy of mind, which gave occasion to those who loved him not to suspect him of insensibility. He was convinced by long experience that his Queen Isabel had a mind as great as his own; and yet he thought she could not without falling down dead hear of the death of their Son, if the same fault were committed in acquainting her with it, that had caused the untimely Labour of their Daughter-in-law, and therefore he provided against it by a way that succeeded. He had no other Philosophy but what he had from Nature, and the violent grief wherewith he was then afflicted was the first of that kind that ever he had had: Nevertheless he thought that though the Catholic Queen were told but by degrees, and little and little of the death of the Infanto, all the Lenitives that could be used in that case, would not hinder the tenderness of a Mother so deeply wounded by so surprising an accident from producing in the body where it lodged an universal revolution, which putting the soul out of condition of exerting its chief functions there, would force it to be gone, and forsake its habitation. On the contrary, the Catholic King considered that if the same Soul could receive two excessive passions that might succeed one another in a very short time, it could not admit of a third, because the impression that they must have made upon the body, and the extreme violence that the same body must have been put to in supporting of them, would have exhausted so many spirits, that there could not remain enough for a fresh application of so large an extent. In a word, that Prince made a farther reflection, that if the functions of the Soul were weakened in three violent exercises of the same force, they would be much more weakened, when these exercises were not only different, but also contrary, because then the distance would be greater, and the obstacles more difficult to be surmounted. From these three Principles Ferdinand concluded, that to prevent Queen Isabel from expiring upon the news of her Son's death, she must first be put into an extreme grief upon a false ground: that then she must be carried from the extremity of sadness to that of joy by setting before her sight what she bewailed as lost, and giving her by that means the speediest and most agreeable consolation that she could be capable of: that lastly, the person that was dearest to her, next to her Son, should come and tell her that God had removed him, and should sweeten the bitterness of the tidings, by so many reasons and examples, that the grief occasioned thereby might produce no extraordinary effects.  
So the Catholic King, having taken such just measures that his Wife could not be informed of the death of her Son but from him, caused some persons of credit to go and tell her that the King her Husband was dead of a sudden death. She believed it the more easily that he had almost all the symptoms of those that are subject to that kind of death. She was as deeply afflicted as she ought to be, and in that condition she was let alone about an hour. Her first transports of sorrow were hardly over, when Ferdinand, whom she expected to see no more, appeared in her sight. She was thereupon so ravished with joy, that she could neither think of complaining of the trick that was put upon her, nor of quarrelling those that had imposed it. Her Husband let her alone in this fit of Joy almost as long as she had been in grief, and then with very elaborate mollifying expressions told her that their Son was gone. She was indeed moved at it, but not so much as if it had been done in another manner, and some days after she found her mind so much at ease again as to apply herself to Affairs of State.  
The most important Affair was to prevent the Successions of Castille and Arragon from devolving upon a foreign Family and not a Spanish; and seeing their Catholic Majesties could not compass this design after the death of their only Son but by marrying again their eldest Daughter in Portugal, they intimated to Manuel, who had newly mounted the Throne of that Kingdom, that if he sought her in marriage, he should have her. Manuel was too ambitious to refuse the Match that was offered him; and seeing at that time he had a design of conquering the Indies, and that he foresaw the advantage that the Alliance of the Catholic Kings would afford him in the execution thereof, in the sole prospect of hastening his Marriage, he neglected the usual Ceremonies in the Alliances of Kings. He demanded no security for his going into Castille; but appeared at the Court of the Catholic Kings sooner than he was expected; and there married the Infanta Isabel to the extraordinary joy of the Spaniards, passionate for the greatness of their Country, who thereby saw all their Monarchies, except that of Navarre, united into one. The new married Princes were acknowledged for Heirs apparent of 
* In Caramnel.  Castille, and presumptive of Arragon, and Ferdinand was so afraid lest the House of Austria, into which his second Daughter was married, might pretend any share in the Succession, that he obliged the Queen his Wife forthwith to assemble the Estates of Castille in the City of Toledo, where the Queen of Portugal received the Oath of all the Deputies. Immediately after he called the Estates of Arragon at Sarragossa, where the same Ceremony was performed. The joy of the People was redoubled by the Queen of Portugals being with Child, which appeared before they were dismissed. The Catholic Kings were afraid that some inconvenience might befall her if she accompanied the King her Husband who was upon his return into Portugal, and would not suffer her to departed from Sarragossa before she was brought to bed. They chose rather to stay there with her and divert her in expectation that she should give them an Heir; and in the mean time the Castilian and Portugese Nations conquered the Antipathy that had continued betwixt them for so many Ages, and promiscuously spent their time at play, Dancing, Tournaments, and running at the Ring. The hopes that seemed almost certain of their being one day united contributed much to it; but there have been few of such Festivals, wherein the conclusion answered the beginning. The Queen of Portugal had had no Children by the Infanto Alphonso her first Husband: She was already twenty eight years of age when she was first with Child: Physicians affirm, that on such occasions the pains of Labour increase proportionably as the woman who is brought to bed the first time is advanced in age; and these three reasons, with a fourth, which modesty obliges me to suppress, were the cause that her Portuguese Majesty could not be a Mother but at the cost of her life. She was brought to bed in due time, and of a Son; but she died of it, and all the hopes of the Catholic Kings were confined to their Grandson, who was Christened by the name of Michael. His Grandfather and Grandmother caused him to be acknowledged by the Estates of Castille and Arragon; but he was so sickly, that the Spaniards began to look upon the Archdutchess of the Low Countries and Philip of Austria her Husband as the Heirs apparent of their Monarchy. The Catholic Queen was so persuaded of it when she was informed that the Archdutchess was on the four and twentieth of February, One thousand five hundred, brought to bed of a Son, who was afterward the Archduke Charles, to whom Chieures was Governor, that by a spirit of Prophecy she applied upon the spot these words of the Acts of the Apostles, The lot fell upon Mathias, alluding to the Saint whose Feast was that day celebrated in the Church, to signify that the Child was born in so favourable a Juncture, that he would succeed to her Crowns as well as to those of her Husband. The event soon followed the Prediction; and Charles was not as yet complete five months' old, when the Infanto Michael died the twentieth of July the same year at the age of two years. The regrate of the Catholic Kings therefore was not equal, though on both sides it was great, because Queen Isabel seeing an absolute necessity that her Succession must devolve upon a Germane Family, readily submitted to the orders of Divine Providence, and with her own hand wrote to the Archdukes to hasten over to Castille, there to receive the Allegiance of the People as next and immediate Heirs, since she was past the age of having any more Children.  
On the contrary, King Ferdinand, who was sixteen years younger than his Queen, hoped to survive her, marry again, and of a second ventre have Male Issue that might exclude the Archdutchess from his Succession. Upon that account he delayed as much as he could to desire her to come into Spain, and did not do it till the last push, when his Wife told him that she would of necessity see her eldest Daughter recognized by the Estates of Castille. The Union form betwixt that Monarchy and the Monarchy of Arragon, required that the recognition should be made in the Capital 
* Sarragossa.  City of Arragon immediately after it had been made in the Capital 
† Burgos.  of Castille; and the Catholic King, who for reasons that shall be mentioned by and by, would not break it, at length consented to what his Queen desired.  
The Archdukes passed through France, and arrived in Spain about the end of February One thousand five hundred and two. They were extremely well received by the Catholic Queen, but the reception was not so frank on the part of the Catholic King. The pretext that Prince had to cloak his indifferency was, that the Archduke his Son-in-law brought, with him to the Court of Spain a man that he did not like. That was the famous John Manuel, of whom we shall speak at large in the sequel of this History. His birth was not illustrious; and he owed only to the sharpness of his wit, and the extraordinary talon he had of writing well and fast, the choice that Ferdinand had made of him for his Secretary in those dispatches that required expedition. He had not served long in that Station, before he gave proofs that he was capable of something greater, and his Master sent him Ambassador into Germany to the Court of Maximilian the Emperor, where he concluded the double Alliance of the two Children of his Imperial Majesty with the two Children of the Catholic Kings. He went afterward in the same Character to the 
* In the causes of the banishment of Manuel.  Low Countries, where he so dextrously managed the Archduke, that he became his Favourite. This success put it in his mind to devote himself to that young Prince immediately after the death of the Infanto Michael. He demanded leave to do so from Queen Isabel his Sovereign, who thought she ought not to refuse it him, because it was more ways than one convenient for him to have a Castilian about him, since after her death he was to Reign in Castille. But Ferdinand, who at that time began to make a distinction betwixt his own Interests and those of his Queen, liked not that a man who knew his secrets, and who besides was born a Subject of the Catholic Queens, should have the entire confidence of the Heirs of that Princess, because he foresaw that the desire of governing in his own Country as well as in Flanders, would incline him immediately after the death of Isabel to persuade the Archdukes, not to delay their taking possession of Castille till the death of their Father-in-law. In that prospect he omitted nothing that might oblige the Queen to recall Manuel from Flanders; but the Queen persisted in it that he should continue there; and Manuel on his part neglected nothing that might render his abode necessary at the Court of the Archdukes. He behaved himself there to the full content of his Sovereign; and Ferdinand thereupon conceived an aversion to him, which grew to that height that he could no longer dissemble it. He made it appear upon several occasions; and Manuel, who looked upon the enmity of that Prince as a torrent of no long duration, that would not overslow unless means were used to stem it, pretended not to take notice of the same. He made it only his business to inform the Archduke in those thirteen months that he was in Spain of the Grandees of Castille and Arragon whom he might win over from his Father-in-law to himself, and to teach him the means how he might gain them.  
The Archduke had all that was necessary for improving the Councils of Manuel. He was the most affable Prince of his age, and was accustomed to caress all the Flemings almost equally of what condition soever they were, if they had the honour to approach him: However he never made himself so familiar as to render himself contemptible to the Nobility of Spain, and on no occasion stooped so low as to lose that gravity which they so much esteem. He so tempered his civilities that they had all the success which he expected, and that they who were honoured with them preferred his rule before that of Ferdinand. And the truth is, he left Spain so generally beloved, that it was no more in the power of his Father-in-law to discredit him, though he might have had a mind to do it.  
Ferdinand suffered him to stay there but as short a while as he could; and though the Archdutchess was brought to bed in the City of Alcala of a second Son, who was afterwards Emperor Ferdinand the First, they stayed not till she was up again to give her Husband the satisfaction of returning in company with her. They would have him go before; and the pretext that was made use of for sending him back with so much precipitation, was the Commission he was charged with to negotiate at Blois where Lovis the Twelfth was, an accommodation of the clashing that had happened betwixt the French and the Spaniards about the dividing of the Kingdom of Naples. The Archduke, as hath been said in the former Book, treated like a Gentleman, and took all the care he ought in an Affair that nearly concerned him; since he was already assured to reap advantage from it.  
So soon as he set foot in France his most Christian Majesty and he vied in generosity. The King sent into Flanders eight chief Lords of his Court, there to remain as Hostages that no prejudice should be done to the Archduke in his passage; and the Archduke, that he might testify an entire confidence in the King's word, wrote into Flanders that they should send back the Hostages. The accommodation betwixt the two Nations was concluded and signed; but Ferdinand disowned the proceed of his Son in-law, and thereby put an affront upon him, which in the Maxims of the World was too great and too public to be pardoned. It was to no purpose for Ferdinand to represent to the Archduke that it was he who would reap all the fruit of the perfidious action he complained of, and that thereby he would have the Kingdom of Naples entire. The Archduke was nothing the less offended thereat; and Manuel finding him in that disposition contributed not a little, as they say, to keep him in it, being assured to render himself necessary to his Master so long as it lasted.  
There was no more Commerce betwixt the Father and Son in law but what could not civilly be discontinued; and the Archduke to make a closer Union with the most Christian King against his Catholic Majesty, made three agreements for the marriage of his eldest Son with Claude of France, eldest Daughter to his Majesty: But the Alliances which are most securely contracted in writing are not those which most frequently succeed best. The death of Queen Isabel which happened the seventeenth of November One thousand five hundred and four was the cause or pretext that the three Contracts of marriage were not fulfilled; and Ferdinand, for all he was so politic a Prince, could not ward a blow that was so disadvantageous to him, and so favourable to his Son-in-law. 
* In the Testament of Queen Isabel.  There was indeed a Testament of Queen Isabel found which ordained that the King her Husband during life should have the administration and Revenues of Castille: but the Testament was no sooner examined, than the Courtiers and Lawyers agreed in suspecting it to be forged. The Archduke who had a mind to reign, and saw himself excluded for a long time, and perhaps for his whole life by an Act so inconsistent with Motherly affection, had no regard to it; and indeed it was hard to be believed that it could have been dictated and signed by Queen Isabel considering her humour all her life time in relation to her Husband, for there happened to that Princess what is but too common to Women, who out of a Maxim of State marry Husbands as young again as themselves. When Ferdinand and Isabel were married, Ferdinand was but sixteen years old, and Isabel two and thirty. Her Jealousy of Ferdinand appeared soon after their marriage; and it ought to be said here for her excuse that it was not without ground; Ferdinand had slighted her, and been often unfaithful, though she was very beautiful, and besides, no woman living more scrupulous in the point of Chastity than herself. He had loved other Ladies, by whom he had the Archbishop of Sarragossa, Don Alphonso d' Arragon, and other Bastards, who will be more properly mentioned in another place of this History. Isabel had not therefore behaved herself the worse towards him: but Injuries of that nature which are most patiently born with, are not those for all that which make the smallest impressions in people's minds, and are soon blotted out. If Isabel had so much command over herself, as during her life to dissemble the ramblings of her Husband, it is not very likely that at her death she would reward him for them, that is to say, in a Juncture when there is no time for counterfeiting, and when she was no longer to observe measures with him; nor that she would have deprived her eldest Daughter of the enjoyment of the Kingdom of Castille, which Nature, Law, Reason, and the Custom of Spain gave to her, to leave it to a fickle Husband, who would not fail so soon as he should be a Widower to marry again; nor to employ all sorts of means not only to secure to the Children of the second Marriage the Crowns of Arragon, but also, if possible, to procure for them the Kingdoms of Castille in prejudice of the Children of his former bed.  
Isabel had cause to fear it, since the Father and Mother of Ferdinand had done as much for him, and that the unfortunate Charles Prince of Vienne, the Son of the first Wife of John King of Arragon had been poisoned to make way for the same Ferdinand who was only the Son of the second. Be it as it will, the Archduke was not amused by the Couriers whom his Father in law sent to stay him in Flanders, under pretext that it might be prejudicial to the Archdutchess his Wife, ready to lie in of a Daughter, which was Mary Queen of Hungary. He nevertheless departed with her for Spain in the month of January One thousand five hundred and seven, and the new Queen of Castille had no prejudice by it.  
Chieures was left Governor of the Low Countries, and Manuel accompanied the Archduke. Ferdinand was so ill informed of the course his Daughter and Son-in-law took, that he went to wait for them at one end of Spain whilst they landed at the other. All the great men of the Kingdom, except two, declared for them: they were solemnly Crowned: the People swore Allegiance to them, without respect to the Testament of the late Queen; and Ferdinand finding himself not to be the stronger, caused an Accommodation to be proposed to his Son-in-law, seeing he confided far more in his own management than in that of his Agents, he solicited with so much perseverance an interview with the King of Castille, that he obtained it: but it cost him dear, and he must first pass through mortifications that were so much the more sensible to him, as that he was the less accustomed to the like.  
He was constrained to go to his Son-in-law, trust himself in his hands, to be satisfied with his bare word for a safe Conduct, and to present himself in the posture of a Supplicant. He appeared, indeed, in that manner accompanied with a small Retinue without Arms, and mounted on Mules. He could not have a private Conference with his Son-in-law; and Manuel, who was the man in the world he hated most, because he imputed to him all the harshness he found in the King of Castille towards him, made always a third person in the Conference. Ferdinand at first lost his hopes of retaining the administration left him by his Wife, and condescended at length to accept one half of the Revenues. But he was positively denied any share, and sent back extremely vexed that he had humbled himself in vain.  
Cardinal Ximenes, who was no less his Friend though he owed not his advancement to him, mediated for him another interview with his Son-in law in the Vestry of the Church of Remedo, a League from Vailladolid. The two Kings discoursed alone without any other Witness but the Cardinal who kept the door. They concluded at length, that Ferdinand should absolutely renounce the administration of Castille upon two conditions; The one, that he should enjoy during life the three great Masteries of the Orders of St. James, Callatrava, and Alcantara: The other, that his Son-in-law should pay him yearly at Sarragossa, whither he should immediately after the interview retire, a moderate Pension, which amounted but, according to some, to three Counts of Maravediss, or to eight Counts, at most, according to others.  
Ferdinand was no sooner in Arragon but that he laboured to be revenged for the pretended indignities received from his Son-in-law. He supposed that the personal charms of that young Prince would indeed preserve to him the affections of the castilians in time of Peace: but he doubted that that inclination would not continue in time of War. Upon this he grounded his conjecture; that the King of Castille, as shall be mentioned hereafter, being excessively liberal, there was no appearance that he would moderate that predominant inclination in the midst of Arms, and when every moment he would have fresh occasions of giving. In the mean time the Revenue of Castille, and of the Crowns that depended on it, were so scanty that they could not suffice to carry on a long War, and at the same time supply the superfluous expensiveness of their King. His Majesty's Treasury would thereby soon be drained; and if the seeds of a Civil War could be sowed when money was wanting, a general revolution would quickly follow; and the same Philip, who till then had been the Idol of the castilians would become their aversion.  
The measures to be taken for the execution of that project ought not to be managed but by a very cunning person, and for that purpose Ferdinand employed the famous Raymond of Cardonna with the following instructions. 
* In his life in castilian.  It hath been mentioned in the preceding Book that Queen Isabel at first reigned not peaceably in Castille: That her Brother Henry had by the Infanta of Portugal a Daughter, the most beautiful and unfortunate of her age: That Isabel had maintained that Henry was impotent: That Bertrand de la Cueva, Duke of Albuquerque was her Father; and that by consequent she ought not to succeed to the Crowns of Castille. The probability of that discourse was grounded upon this, that Henry having no Children by the Infanta of Navarre his first Wife had divorced her; and having been able to get none neither upon the second, the report went, that he had rather that his Favourite La Cueva should supply his defect, than that he should be reckoned impotent. He constantly owned the Daughter whom his Wife brought forth for his own; and his Sister Isabel being too weak to make her pass for illegitimate, had her recourse to Ferdinand, and married him though she was thirty two years of age, and he but sixteen, upon condition that he would back her interest with the Forces that he could bring from Arragon. Ferdinand in a pitched Battle routed those who maintained the Party of the Princess of Castille, forced her to take refuge in Portugal, obliged the Estates of Castille to declare her Bastard, and maintained himself in the possession of these Kingdoms during the life of Isabel.  
But after her death for his own sake, he form a design of repairing the wrong he had done, and proposed to himself the marriage of the Princess of Castille, to bring her back by force of Arms into the Kingdoms that had belonged to Henry the Fourth, to raise her the Party there again which before he had suppressed, and there to renew the Civil War, in the opinion that as at that time when the Forces of Arragon in the dispute betwixt the Aunt and the Niece were sufficient to give the Monarchy to her of the two Pretendents they declared in favours of, that is, for the Aunt in prejudice of the Niece; so they would be still sufficient to turn the balance on the Niece's side in prejudice of the Children of the Aunt, when they should awaken the dormant Faction, under the same pretext that had been before made use of, which was that of marriage.  
There appeared only two impediments which might cross his marriage to be surmounted; for as to the third which was the aversion that the Princess of Castille had to Ferdinand, because he had rob her of her Dominions, he made account that she would be reconciled to him so soon as he offered to re-establish her in the Throne; and that she would choose rather by marrying him to recover the fairest Monarchy of Spain, than as a private person to spend the rest of her days in a forced continence. The first Impediment in the judgement of Ferdinand would be on the part of Pope Julius the second, an undertaking bold man, and ambitious to signalise himself, but scrupulous and reserved in granting favours, upon the sole account of making them the more valuable. It was to be feared that his Holiness would hardly be brought to consent that Ferdinand should marry the Niece of his deceased Wife, and that he would absolutely refuse the dispensation demanded, were it for nothing else but that he might not fall out with the House of Austria, which would thereby be irreconcilably offended. But the enmity that Julius entertained against the French, and the resolution he had already taken by all means to engage Ferdinand to join with him for driving them out of Italy, made a stronger impression in the mind of that Pope, than the Canon Laws. He gave intimation to Ferdinand that the dispensation should be no hindrance to the marriage that he had in his head; and so all Ferdinand's care was to get over the next difficulty.  
It consisted in getting the Princess out of Portugal, and by consequent in disposing Manuel to deliver her. Ferdinand expected far less opposition to his designs on the part of that Prince, than he had found from the Pope, because Manuel was doubly his Son-in-law. It hath been said before that Ferdinand gave him in marriage his eldest Daughter upon no other account but that he might hinder his Succession from falling to the House of Austria, into which the second Daughter was married; and it is to be added here, that Ferdinand's caution proving ineffectual, he farther gave his third Daughter to his Portuguese Majesty, who by consequent, by an odd singularity not as yet to be parallelled in these last Ages, having for his first Wife married his Nephew's Widow, for his second married the Sister of his former Wife 
* He married also for his third Wife the Daughter of the Sister of his two former Wives. . But what appears to Kings most feisible in speculation is not so always in practice, because self-love sometimes represents to them the interests that sets them upon action more urgent than it seems to be to other Sovereigns, who they think aught to second them in the execution.  
Manuel King of Portugal was of the humour of Princes who come to the Crown by chance, and without laying claim to it directly. He was only the kinsman far remote in a collateral Line of John the second his Predecessor, and by consequent he was afraid upon the smallest occasions to lose the good fortune that had happened to him contrary to his expectation. He saw no advantage neither present nor future in the proposition made to him of delivering the Princess of Castille; and on the contrary found in it present inconveniences, and inevitable Wars afterwards. If the Princess had Children by Ferdinand, those of Manuel would be the farther removed from the Succession of Arragon: if she had none, and yet outlived him, she would transfer the Crowns of Castille to him whom she should choose for a second Husband; and if she married not again, Manuel and his Issue who were not next of kin to her, would not inherit any thing of hers. In the mean time seeing Ferdinand only demanded the Princess of Castille to hinder the House of Austria from settling in Spain; If Manuel granted her, he would raise a Civil War in Castille, the success whereof it was impossible for him to foresee: If the Arms of Ferdinand prevailed there, his Majesty of Portugal would not be the better for it, since his Father-in-law was neither liberal nor grateful: but if Ferdinand succumbed, Portugal would immediately after have upon its back, besides the Forces of Castille, those of Germany and the Low Countries, which he would be the less able to resist that there was no communication betwixt the Kingdoms of Portugal and those of Arragon, to receive Succours from thence. So that the Princess of Castille was fairly 
* In the Manual of Osorio.  denied to Ferdinand, who not being able to carry her, despaired of having her for Wife. At the same time he lost all hopes of getting the Kingdoms of Castille from the House of Austria, but despaired not of excluding it from his own Succession; and that he might compass that, he chose rather to court the Niece of his greatest Enemy than to remain a Widower.  
John de Foix, Vicecount of Narbonne, married Mary Magdalen of Orleans, Sister to Lovis the Twelfth, King of France, by whom he had two Children, the incomparable Gaston de Foix, who was afterward killed at the Battle of Ravenna, and Germana de Foix, whom the most Christian King caused to be brought up with his Daughters. Ferdinand pitched upon her for his second Wife; and seeing he commonly proposed to himself more than one end in his actions, he had two in this, as you shall see: The first was, that Germana might one day furnish him with a plausible pretext of usurping Navarre, in that the Viscount of Narbonne, the Father of that Princess, was concerned in that famous case of conscience upon which Theology had always been consulted, though the determinations thereof were never acquiesced unto, but always decided by the Sword. This is not a proper place of giving instances of it, and the business here is only to lay down plainly the matter of fact.  
Gaston de Foix, Prince of Bearn, had a Son already of his own name, Gaston by Leonora of Arragon his Wife, at that time when she succeeded to the Crown of Navarre, by the death of Charles Prince of Vienne her only Brother, and of Isabel her eldest Sister without Children. Leonora being settled in the Succession of Navarre was brought to bed of a second Son, who was John Viscount of Narbonne. John pretended to the Crown of Navarre in exclusion of his elder Brother as being the Son of a Queen and a King, whereas his elder Brother was but the Son of a Count and Countess. The difference could not be sifted to the bottom, because the elder Brother having married Magdalen of France, Sister to King Charles the Seventh, was put into possession of Navarre, and left it to his Children. The Viscount left also his Pretensions to Gaston de Foix his Son, and to Germana his Daughter, Gaston was of so warlike a temper, that it was easy to be foreseen that he would be slain; and Ferdinand looked upon Germana as a presumptive Heiress that might bring him a Title to the Crown of Navarre, which he well knew how to make the best of in time and place convenient.  
The second end that Ferdinand proposed to himself in his marriage with Germana, was to strike in with France in a Juncture when possessing no longer the Kingdoms of Castille, he was not now strong enough to return what he had usurped upon Lovis the Twelfth in Italy. In the three views then that we have been mentioning, he caused an offer to be made to his most Christian Majesty of treating with him upon two conditions: the one, that he would give him in Marriage Germana his Niece; the next, that if Male Children sprung from that Marriage, that might live to be in a condition one day to Reign, the Kingdom of Naples should belong to them with the consent of France, which in that case should yield to them all the claim it had to it: but if the Marriage were barren, or at least as to Male Children capable of reigning, that then the Kingdom of Naples should return to the Monarchy of France in exclusion of the Daughters of Ferdinand's first marriage, and of their Posterity. Louis accepted the offer of Ferdinand, because he only considered it on the side it was advantageous to him. His most Christian Majesty had been unfortunate in the Wars of Naples: he had lost three great Armies there: his Treasures were exhausted by the prodigious charges he had been at; and his most courteous disposition hindered him from oppressing the People, as must needs have been done to continue that War. The occasion that presented for recovering the Kingdom of Naples was favourable. He had the greater reason to embrace it, that it would not cost him one drop of blood; and though it was not altogether certain that it would succeed, yet there was but little wanting to make it infallible. The truth was Ferdinand was not old, but his former incontinence had so weakened him that his Physicians durst not hope for any more Children from him. He had entertained frequent and long correspondences with the Countess of Eboly, by whom he had had the Archbishop of Sarragossa, Alphonso d' Arragon, and a Daughter married to Bernardin de Valesco Constable of Castille: with the Lady Tole de Bibao, by whom he had had a Daughter that was a Nun in the Monastery of Madrigal: and with a Portuguese Lady of the House of Perreira, by whom he had another Daughter that was a Nun as well as the former. 
* In the Book of Mayerne.   
It was to be presumed that that amorous inclination, seconded by the plumpness and vigour of Germana, would quickly send Ferdinand into the other world, and that by consequent France would not long expect to enter again into the Kingdom of Naples. In fine, the interests of Arragon were for ever, or at least for some time, divided from those of Castille; and France found its advantage in both these Junctures, though it would have found it far more in the first than in the second.  
The Marriage of Ferdinand and Germana was no sooner consummated, but that Prince made a project of securing himself entirely in the possession of the Kingdom of Naples, upon pretext of being in a better condition of fulfilling the Treaty which he had concluded with Lovis the Twelfth. That Crown had been partly conquered, and partly usurped by the castilians, which gave them occasion to pretend that it was annexed to their Monarchy, and not to that of Arragon. The great Captain Gonsalvo de Cordova had not expelled King Frederick and the French from thence; and seeing he was born a Subject of the late Queen Isabel, and that it was she that had given him the command of the Spanish Army which he had conducted with so much success, it was to be thought that he would have preserved the Kingdom of Naples for the Heiress of that Princess, as sixteen years before he would have had the Kingdom of Granada which he had conquered, united to Castille, the Infidels having been chief subdued by the castilian Forces. If any thing could hinder him from doing it, it must be the presence of Ferdinand, and that Prince upon that very account alone did not stand deliberating if he should go to Naples. He departed from Barcelona with his new Queen, and his Voyage was more prosperous than he expected. He found not in Italy the resistance which he expected; and the Great Captain instead of fortifying himself in the Kingdom of Naples against Ferdinand, who carried not along with him Forces enough to drive him out of it, preferred the Grandeur of the Monarchy of Spain before his own interests, merely upon the consideration that he had enlarged it by the accession of two Crowns. He foresaw that Ferdinand would have no more Children; and that his Grandson Charles of Austria succeeding to him, would become the most powerful Monarch of Europe. He also foresaw that if he resisted Ferdinand, Spain would lose the Kingdom of Naples, because the obstinate humour of that Prince would make him rather abandon it to France than leave it in the power of a revolted Subject.  
Upon two such Metaphysical Principles the Great Captain of his own accord laid down the Vice-royalty of Naples. He stayed not till Ferdinand should constrain him, but reduced himself to the condition of a private man: He came out of the Kingdom of Naples where he could do any thing; went as far as Genoa to meet the Catholic King, received him at the Harbour of that City, and wholly submitted himself to his discretion. That unexpected adventure was not the passage of the Reign of Frederick that most affected him; he had two others which supervened so pat, that he could not have drawn greater advantage from them, though he had been the Author of the same. The one was the death of the King of Castille 
* Philip of Austria.  his Son-in-law, and the other the madness of the Queen of Castille 
† Jane of Arragon.  his Daughter. The King of Castille remaining peaceable possessor of that Monarchy by his Fathers-in-law retiring into Arragon, minded nothing but his diversions, and lived in too great a freedom with his principal Subjects, not to give them occasion of abusing it. The Government of Burgos, the Capital City of old Castille, was fallen void, and the King gave it to his Favourite Manuel. Manuel had no sooner taken possession of it, but he invited his Master to a magnificent Feast. It is not known whether the King of Castille eat and drank more than was fit: whether any of his Enemies or Manuel found a way to convey Poison into the choicest dainties of the entertainment: or whether the great exercise which the King used immediately after so extraordinary a Dinner without giving his stomach time to concoct, ruined the health of that young Prince, which from his Infancy had never suffered any alteration: but it is certain that he played long at Tennis after he risen from Table; and that the same Evening, which was the nineteenth of September One thousand five hundred and six, he was taken ill of a Fever. Seeing there appeared a Comet at that time; and that the great men as well as the common people are persuaded that such Stars are not only the signs, but also the causes of the death of Sovereigns; it made so deep an impression upon the imagination of the King of Castille, that during his sickness, which lasted but seven days, he complained at every moment of the Comet. Nor did he lose the fancy of it in the height of a hot fit that seized him two days before he expired; and and when he became lightheaded, he cried out in French even to his last gasp with a lamentable tone, Ah Comet, ah Comet. He died the five and twentieth of September, One thousand five hundred and six, at the age of twenty eight years, when he had only reigned two years; and though he was a Germane by extraction, and a Fleming by birth, and that the Spaniards have a natural aversion to a Foreign Dominion, yet they never lamented the death of any of their Kings so bitterly as they did his. The shortness of his Reign was probably the cause of it; and there is ground to think by what follows, that if he had lived longer, he had neither been so much, nor so universally regretted. He gave by handfuls, and without distinction of persons. In the distribution of his favours he had not so much regard to merit and services, as to the diligence of those who first presented him their 
* In his Elegy.  Petitions; and it is reported of him, that his Council having one day asked him if he had granted the gift that they mentioned to him, he made answer, that he did not remember; but that they might easily know it of him who they thought had received it, if he had asked the same, seeing in that case he was sure he had granted it.  
Jane Queen of Castille loved him with too great a tenderness to be free from Jealousy. She understood whilst she was in Flanders that he loved and was beloved of a Lady of Brabant. That was enough to set her upon a revenge, which was the first sign she gave of a distraction of mind. She went to the place where her Rival was, and called her before her: She ordered two or three of her Servants to secure her hand and foot: She fell upon her; cut off her lovely head of hair, and with her Scissors so disfigured the lovely traits of her face, that the most charming beauty of the Low Countries durst not show herself any more abroad. The Archduke was extremely vexed at it: but he was constrained to dissemble his displeasure when he perceived that the more he upbraided her with it, the more enraged and furious she grew. He carefully afterward avoided the giving her the least occasion of Jealousy. By her he had two Sons, who were both Emperors, and three Daughters, who were the Queens of Hungary, France, and Portugal; he left her with Child of a third, who was also Queen of Portugal; and whether her grief for his death overcame her reason, or that it only stirred up in her the dispositions to madness which were transmitted to her with the blood of her maternal Grandmother Isabel of Portugal; it is but too true that she lost her Judgement in so dreadful a manner, that she never recovered a moment's use of it during the whole fifty years that she lived after. We leave it to Philosophers and Physicians to examine how the mad Isabel of Portugal could communicate to Jane of Arragon her Granddaughter the distemper of mind wherewith she had been afflicted, without any blemish to the Conduit that conveyed it; and by what frekishness of nature it happened that Isabel of Portugal in the time of her greatest extravagance, was brought to bed of Isabel of Castille, one of the wisest Queens that ever was: that amongst the Daughters of Isabel of Castille, the second only was subject to the distemper of her Grandmother; and that that distemper stopped so precisely at that second Daughter, that neither the two Sons and sour Daughters which she left, nor the numerous Posterity since descended from them have shown the least sign of it, unless it be her great Grandson the Prince Don Carlos.  
We shall only observe here, that the Queen, Widow of Castille, religiously kept the body of her Husband so long as corruption hindered her not from kissing it, and with much ado she suffered it afterward to be imbalmed, and to be put into a Leaden Coffin: but instead of sending it into the Church appointed for his burial, she kept it by her, and carried it about a long time all over Spain, as if her Frenzy had moved her to verify one of the oddest Prophecies that ever was. It hath been already said, that the King her Husband was one of the handsomest men of his Age; and it is very well known, that Princes, in whom that perfection sets off the lustre of their virtues, delight commonly to show themselves. Philip of Anstria was no sooner peaceable King of Castille by the accommodation that he made with his Father-in-law, which we mentioned before, that he went to see all the Towns and places any way considerable of his new Dominion. He joyfully received the acclamations of the People; but an old woman, having steadfastly beheld him, thought it not enough, as the rest of the Spanish women, to bloss the Womb of Mary of Burgundy that had born him, but she farther added, that it was to no purpose for him to travel over Castille in his life time; for that he should travel it much more and longer after his death. Which was punctually fulfilled. No less extraordinary was the garb that the poor Queen put herself into for conducting from City to City, and from Town to Town her Husband's body. She was clothed in plain ordinary Mourning; her head muffled up in a kind of Capuchins hood; her Sleeves covering her hands; and a black Veil much like to that of Nuns, save only that it was much thicker, hindered her no less from seeing than from being seen. She continued to wander up and down Spain till the King her Son shut her up in the Castle of Tordefillas under the care of the wise Don Ferrier of Valanca.  
Tordefillas' was a pleasant and delightful place, and besides nothing was omitted that might serve to dispel the melancholy of the Queen: Nevertheless she persisted obstinately in leading the most pitiful and wretched life that can be found in the Histories of Princesses of these latter Ages. She chose the least, darkest, lowest, and most incommodious Chamber of the Castle, there to abide day and night. There she lay upon the ground; and it was after much importunity that she suffered them to lay a board under her covered with a Carpet. She never warmed herself by a fire in Winter: and would not be thicker clothed in the coldest weather than she was in Summer. She continued frequently three days and three nights without eating or drinking; and when they spoke to her of taking any diversion, her constant answer was, that it was unseemly for a Widow, and upon that account alone would not. She charged them not to bring her her Victuals but in Earthen dishes; and when a great many dishes of that sort full of meat were brought to her, she would not suffer them to be carried away before she had touched them. Nor could she endure either to be made clean, or to have her Chamber kept neat. So that the meat corrupted there, and sent out a smell that none but herself could endure. She had no intervals in her distemper but when her Father the Catholic King was with her. The truth is, in his presence, and so long as he was there, she committed no irregularity: but in exchange the notion that she retained of the respect she ought to have for him to whom she owed her being was so strong, that being neither corrected nor moderated by reason, it degenerated into a kind of insensibility that rendered her immovable like a Statue, and took from her the use of her tongue. At other times she was mightily prepossessed with an opinion of the injustice that was done her in detaining her Prisoner; and the headstrong conceit she had of Grandeur, suffered her not to forget that she was Queen of Castille by her own right. When she was in her senses, and during the life of her Husband, she had suffered him to Reign, nay, and to Reign alone, and she took no exceptions at all that he gave her no share in the Government: Nevertheless she became excessively jealous of her Authority when she was no more in a condition of exerting it. Night and day she made her complaints to Heaven and Earth of the inhumanity of those who confined her to Tordesillas. She compared herself with her Mother, and thought at least that she had as much prudence as she had for governing. She knew that Ferdinand her Father had heretofore attempted to take upon himself alone the administration of Castille: That Queen Isabel had opposed it: That she had demanded Justice from the States, and that by them she had been solemnly maintained in the possession of her right; from whence Queen Jane concluded, that since she was no less Queen of Castille than her Mother had been, she ought upon stronger grounds to exert the Functions of Government by reason of her Widowhood; so true it is that though the desire of independence be the first inclination that takes possession of the heart of man, yet it is not the last that abandons it.  
The Castilians so soon deprived of their new King, and discouraged by the extravagance of their Queen, were forced to have their recourse to Ferdinand. There were some amongst them who made some difficulty of resolving upon that: but it ceased when they who knew Ferdinand best, told them that the joy which that Prince would conceive in recovering the administration of Castille would be so great, and that the need he stood in of the Forces of that Monarchy for securing his Dominion in Naples was so urgent, that though he might resent most deeply the sleight put upon him by the Castilians in preferring his Son-in-law before him, yet not only he would show no outward marks thereof, but would also for the future more cautiously manage that People. For than he would be apprehensive through his own experience that as they had once already shaken off his yoke when they found it too heavy, so they might again shake it off with so much the more facility, that Maximilian the Emperor, the Father of their late King, desired no better than to be called in to supply the place of his Son during the minority of his Grandchild.  
Thus Ferdinand, more fortunate than he expected, was invited to retake the Government of Castille, which two and twenty months before had been ignominiously taken from him, and did not lose so favourable an occasion. The conjecture that had been made of his moderation proved to be exactly true, and that politic Prince was so far from revenging himself on those who had thrust him out, that he made it his particular care to gain them; and the first places that fell void, as well as the favours that came to be distributed, were all for them.  
So rare and judicious a procedure had the effect that Ferdinand expected from it. The Castilians being persuaded that he generously pardoned because he affected to seem unmindful of their fault, on their part remembered it no more neither but only to make amends for it, and lived afterward in so exact a submission, that during the Reign of Ferdinand they forbore to demand, as it was their custom to do, the Convocation of the Estates for regulating the Government of the Monarchy; and if thereafter they were assembled, it was at his desire. None but Manuel, who being more politic, and by consequent more distrustful than the rest, was of a contrary opinion to that of the public, and would never trust Ferdinand. He thought that he had too highly offended him to refer himself absolutely to his diseretion without passing for an imprudent man; and the instance of the Great Captain 
* Gonsalvo.  whom his Friends proposed to him as a signal proof of the clemency of the Catholic King, wrought nothing at all upon him. He chose rather to banish himself from Castille than to live under an offended Master, and quitted the great preferments that he owed to the liberality of Philip of Austria, that he might go live without employment in Flanders with the Archduke Charles.  
Chieures, who intended to make use of him for the execution of the designs that shall be related in the sequel of this History, received him as the services which he had rendered to their common Master deserved, and made him his intimate friend. Ferdinand was the more incensed at the retreat of Manuel, because he knew him to be a man capable of forming and keeping on foot, dangerous intrigues against him in Castille, though he was in the Low Countries, and used all means to hinder him from doing so. Nevertheless his Catholic Majesty thought it not fit to persecute him directly, lest the other Castilians might take umbrage thereat, but thought it enough to attack him by such ways as concealed private revenge under a cloak of public good. However he deprived him of what he had purchased in Spain; and endeavoured as much as in him lay to reduce him to his first state. The pretext which he took to impoverish him without startling the castilians deserves to be known. The profuseness of Philip of Austria had been so great that it had encroached upon the Crown-Rents of the Kings of Castille, which till then had never been alienated. 
In the revocations of Ferdinand.  Ferdinand took the occasion he sought for to revoke all the Grants made by that young Prince for what cause soever; and reserved to himself the liberty of confirming those which should appear to him to be just. The castilians took not exceptions at that order, because it excused them from supplying the ordinary charges of the State, and Manuel thereby lost the great settlements that he had in Castille. He thought it not convenient to make any attempt for retaining them; for besides that he foresaw it would be fruitless, he would not give Ferdinand the satisfaction of refusing him, He suffered himself to be stripped of all without complaining; and revenged himself afterwards according to the manner of the most refined Politicians, that is to say, by the help, and under the name of another.  
He seconded Chieures in his design of thrusting Ferdinand once more out of Castille by opposing the Emperor Maximilian the First to him; and the measures that were taken to bring that about were so just, that had it not been for France they had succeeded. The Emperor rejected no proposition that gave him occasion of getting much money with little pains, and upon that weak side Chieures and Manuel attacked him. They caused it to be represented to him by men that seemed zealous for his Interests, that the Catholic King had doubly offended him, first in putting upon him so great an affront, that no ordinary Gentleman would sit down with without venturing his life to have satisfaction for it; next in doing him a notorious piece of injustice, equally contrary to the right of private men, and to that of Sovereigns. The affront consisted in this, that the Catholic King struck at the Emperor's reputation in supposing him incapable of the guardianship of the Children of the late King of Castilem his Son, seeing he had taken from him the administration of the best part of their Inheritance which was the Monarchy of Castille: that the injustice regarded the exclusion of the noble Sex, and the substitution of the more ignoble in the most important of civil actions, which was the Regency of States: That all the Laws and Customs of Europe called the Fathers of young Sovereigns to that Regency, even when their Sovereignties came by the Mother; and that if there were no Father, the Grandfather for the same reason was preferred before the Grandmother, and the Paternal Grandfather before the Maternal. Nevertheless the Catholic King was gone into Castille, had received the Oath of the People, had put himself into possession of the Guardianship of the Children, and converted their Revenues to his own use: That the People of the Low Countries had so universally acknowledged that they could not lawfully frustrate the Emperor of the Guardianship of his grandchildren, that the seventeen Provinces had by common consent referred it to him; and that if the castilians had not imitated them, the blame must be cast upon the cunning of Ferdinand who had overreached them: That there was no more needful to force him once more out of Castille, but to represent to them that they were outwitted by him; and that if notwithstanding they persisted to own him as Regent, it was easy for his Imperial Majesty to bring him to reason, by sending German Forces into the Kingdom of Naples by the Gulf of Venice.  
The Emperor was so much the more sensibly moved with this discourse, that it opened him a way of enjoying almost the whole revenues of his Grandsons, the eldest being maintained by the Flemings, and the younger needing only a small pension for maintaining him in the College of Alcala where he was. His Imperial Majesty sent Ambassadors to Ferdinand to bid him leave the administration of Castille, and to declare War against him if he failed to do it within a time limited. Ferdinand knew Maximilian too well to be afraid of him so long as none but he made War against him, because he was sure that in that case his Imperial Majesty would do it but weakly, and but for a short time too: But he apprehended that when the French saw him once engaged in the Conquest of the Kingdom of Naples, and reduced to an inability of pursuing his point through the want of money, they might treat with him to buy the places he had taken, and hire the Forces employed in forcing them, for in such a Juncture it would be impossible for Spain to preserve that Kingdom.  
In that prospect Ferdinand proposed to himself by the means of France to divert the storm that threatened him, and had his recourse to the mediation of Lovis the Twelsth to hinder Maximilian from making War once more in Italy. Louis had received causes of dissatisfaction from the Republic of Venice that he could not think of pardoning. It had hindered him from recovering the Kingdom of Naples, wherein had it not been for that Republic he must have succeeded, and they had plainly enough intimated by their Ambassadors at Paris, that they would engage in all Leagues that might be form against the disturbers of the peace of Italy. Since their politic resolutions were unalterable, and that there was no other expedient to take them off from the execution of the Counsels taken in the Pregadi, but by attacking them so powerfully that they should have business enough to defend themselves, Lovis laboured to turn against them the four most considerable Powers of Europe, which were the Holy See, France, Germany, and Spain. 
In the causes of the League of Cambray.  The Union of so many Adversaries of so contrary humours and interests did not appear very difficult, because there was none of them from whom the Republic did not keep Towns which they would be very glad to recover. In the Ecclesiastical state they possessed the most Important places of the Province of Romania: in the Duchy of Milan the Towns lying upon the River of Adda: Istria and Friuli, the places which heretofore the House of Austria had held by engagement; and in the Kingdom of Naples the maritime Towns of Apulia.  
France secretly negotiated the Preliminaries of that League; and they were almost agreed, when Ferdinand represented to the most Christian King that if he prevented not the misunderstanding that was like to degenerate into an open War betwixt his Catholic Majesty and the Emperor; the Union of the four Potentates would be interrupted, and perhaps would not all be form by reason of the distrust that Pope Julius the Second might have, that if he joined alone with the French, seeing they had many more Forces than he, they might alone make their prosit of all the spoils of the Venetians. Louis assaulted on the weak side, employed his Ministers to reconcile his two most inveterate enemies, and bestirred himself in it so vigorously, that by his patience and perseverance he surpassed the great dissiculties that he met with therein.  
The Emperor and Catholic King by his mediation disposed of the Crowns of Castille, to which neither the one or other had any other right but that of conveniency, as if they had been uncontrovertibly their own; and though the Laws of the Country called to the Government the eldest of their Grandchilds when he was complete Eighteen years of age, yet they put him off by their own private authority till he were five and twenty. The Emperor rested content with a Pension of fifty thousand Crowns a year for all the pretensions he had to Castille in quality of Paternal Grandfather to the two young Princes who were the lawful Heirs of it; and the Catholic King secured himself at so easy a rate; to reign so long as he lived as absolutely in that Monarchy as he did in Arragon.  
Chieures with extreme indignation received the news of the conclusion of so unreasonable a Treaty, and laid two considerable intrigues to break it off before it began to be put in execution, the one was at the Court of France by the Countess of Angoulesm the Mother of Francis presumptive Successor to Lovis, the other in Germany by Margarite of Austria, whom we have mentioned before. The Countess of Angoulesm represented to the most Christian King that the Accommodation which he had made betwixt Germany and Spain was equally contrary to the Justice which he owed to himself, and to that which he owed to the most illustrious Feudatary of his Crown: That the three attempts made by his most Christian Majesty for the recovery of the Kingdom of Naples in seven years' time since he lost it, were sufficient to convince him that he could not succeed in it so long as the Germans and Spaniards acted in concert to hinder him from entering it, as on the contrary their dis-union would infallibly open to him the way; and that notwithstanding his Majesty instead of taking all courses to set Maximilian and Ferdinand at variance, and at least of taking the advantage of the division fallen out betwixt them without his having a hand in it, as he might in Conscience have done, had interposed to make them friends, and that successfully too; which was the more insupportable to all true Frenchmen, that they were sensible that had it not been for that Mediation, the Kingdom of Naples would have been entirely reunited to the French Monarchy: That the late King of Castille had upon his deathbed left the disposition of his eldest Son to his most Christian Majesty; that besides he held of him, because of his Counties of Flanders, Artois, and Charolois: that he had indeed provided for the Education of that young Prince, but that it seemed at present he had repent of the good he had done unto him, by procuring him at least as much hurt, seeing he frustrated him for seven whole years of the possession of the Kingdoms of Castille, which by nature and the Laws belonged to him. These urgent reasons of the Countess made no impression upon the mind of Lovis, because his Majesty neither could nor would undo his own work; and if Chieures was strangely troubled at it, he had occasion to take comfort, in that his Pupil had afterwards the Kingdom of Navarre, which Ferdinand could never have seized, had he not been King of Castille as well as of Arragon, in the Juncture that offered four years after. However he left not off to apply himself to the Emperor by the Mediation of Margarite of Austria, whose third Marriage with the Duke of Savoy had neither been longer nor more happy than the former with the Dauphin of France, and the Prince of Spain, who represented to him that his Imperial Majesty had rendered the House of Austria the most powerful Family in Christendom; first, by his Alliance with the Heiress of Burgundy, and since by the Alliance of his Son with the Heiress of Spain: but that if he persisted resolute in the execution of a Treaty which he might break without being thought unfaithful, since not only he was cheated in it more than the half of the just value but also he reserved not thereby the hundredth part of what belonged to him, and would ruin the Family by dividing it, in such a manner as it could never be reunited again: That all Europe was persuaded that Ferdinand loved the younger Son incomparably better than the elder; and that there were such evident marks of that preference, that it could not be doubted, seeing he had given his name to the younger: That he took a particular care of his education: that he visited him time after time in the College of Alcala, where he studied: and that he brought him up in the hopes of being one day King of Castille and Arragon. That it would be very hard to hinder that odd design, if the Catholic King reigned in CAstile till the Archduke were five and twenty years of age complete, because that long space of time would be sufficient to settle the young Ferdinand so firm in Spain, that though his elder Brother had a mind to force him thence, yet he could not be able to do it; and the hatred of the two Brothers would become indelible, in that the elder would always lay claim to the Monarchies which his younger Brother had usurped from him; and the younger would still be upon his guard against his elder Brother, in the sole prospect of maintaining his Usurpation: whereas if the Emperor had the administration of Castille during the Minority of the Archduke, he would preserve that Monarchy for him, and his Ministers would from thence so carefully watch all the actions of the Catholic King, that it would be almost impossible for him to raise young Ferdinand to the Throne of Arragon. If contrary to all appearance the Affair might still succeed, yet young Ferdinand could not long sit on the Throne to which his Benefactor had raised him, and there would be so little proportion betwixt his Forces and those of his elder Brother, that he would be soon subdued: which could not befall him if he possessed the two Monarchies of Castille and Arragon, seeing in that case his elder Brother must cross over all France, to which the most Christian King would never consent.  
Maximilian had no more regard to the Remonstrances of Margarite of Austria, than the most Christian King had to those of the Countess of Angoulesm, whether it was that the word of his Imperial Majesty was already too far engaged, or that he apprehended not the inconveniences which Chieures foresaw. His Accommodation with the Catholic King was concluded: he had his fifty thousand Crowns a year that were promised him duly paid; and Ferdinand reigned so long as he lived with as much authority in Castille as Arragon, though he had no right over the Castilians and was lawful King of the Arragonese. But it seldom happens that private men concern themselves in the quarrels of their Sovereigns scotfree; for if the Party they adhered to get the better of the other, they seldom obtain a reward proportionable to the greatness of their services; and if they succumb, the unfortunate Prince for whom they declared, abandons them to the discretion of the happy Prince whom they have offended, or at least takes no care to comprehend them in his Articles of Agreement, which is almost the same as if he abandoned them. There was no mention neither of Chieures nor of Manuel made in the reconciliation of the Emperor and Catholic King; but the Archdukes Governor sustained no prejudice thereby, and all the storm broke upon the Favourite of his Father.  
Ferdinand durst not attempt to remove Chieures from his Grandson Charles, because Lovis the Twelfth, who had placed him there, would have been concerned in honour to have maintained him; and besides the People of the Low Countries would not have suffered him to have been deposed, with what pretext soever that change had been coloured. But Manuel, who had not so good a back, remained without a Protector: Maximilian sacrificed him without scruple; and Ferdinand made it a Principle of policy to drive him to the utmost extremity. By that means he thought to over awe the more restless spirits of Castille; and to render them so tractable that they would trouble him no more in the administration of their Monarchy. It happened however that the People of the Low Countries where Manuel had taken sanctuary seconded but in half the violence of his Catholic Majesty. They consented, indeed, that Manuel should be committed to Prison: but they would not comply with Ferdinand to bring him to a Trial before the Supreme Court of Flanders. In vain his Catholic Majesty declared himself Plaintiff, and offered to make it out in lawful form, that he had been the only cause of the misunderstanding that had been betwixt himself and the late King of Castille his son-in-law. They shifted his Proposition by sending him this positive answer, That it belonged not to the Subjects of the Archduke Charles, such as were the Judges of the Low Countries, to try an Affair that concerned another Subject of that Prince, born in a Country far remote from theirs, and over whom they had no Jurisdiction, the Crimes in question not having been committed in Flanders: That they were willing to believe upon the word of his Majesty that Manuel was guilty, because he had been so unhappy as to give him occasion to think him so; and that it was only upon that account that they had made sure of his Person, that they would keep him in safe custody, and be answerable for him. But that seeing the Archduke was concerned in the Affair by reason of his Father's reputation which might be blemished; there was a necessity of staying till he was of age, and that the Laws of Castille gave him Authority to assist at the Judgement of a Castilian.  
Ferdinand was not satisfied with that excuse: But it being impossible for him to obtain any more against Manuel, he did not complain; and the Flemings denied Manuel nothing which he desired to ease the irksomeness of a Prison. He continued there until the death of Ferdinand, and came out immediately after 
* In the last Negotiation of Manuel. . His gratitude to the Archduke, who went in Person with Chieures to take him out of Prison was such, that thereafter he stirred up in his favours all the Princes of Italy against the French, and gave him the occasion of taking from them the Duchy of Milan.  
The big belly of the Queen Germana was more than sufficient to comfort Ferdinand, for that the sole Castilian, whom he had proposed to undo, had escaped from his revenge. His Catholic Majesty had in the year One thousand five hundred and nine a Son, who without dispute ought to disappoint the Archduke of the Kingdoms of Arragon, Valencia, Majorca, Minorca, Naples, and Sicily. The late King of Castille agreed to that, and the Great Captain had approved for that end the transaction passed betwixt that Prince and his Father-in-law: But it is in vain for men to strive to avoid the Decrees of Heaven. Ferdinand's new Son lived but an hour; and the Catholic King was more sensibly touched with grief at the loss of him, than he had been affected with joy at his birth. He turned his resentment against the Person in the world who had most obliged him; and that Person defended himself in the way that ablest Courtiers take to avoid the indignation of their Masters, which is that of a diversion.  
Cardinal Francis de Cisneros Ximenes was the man of all the Spaniards whose outside best agreed with the inside, and in whose countenance, those who knew least of Physiognomy could very hardly have been deceived even though they would. He was of a goodly stature; a well proportioned body; a healthful constitution; steady gate; strong voice; grave countenance; his countenance was long and withered: his forehead large, and so smooth that age wrinkled it not: his eyes small and hollow, but quick and piercing, though they were always watery: his nose long and aquiline: his foreteeth set so far outward, that he went by the Nickname of the Elephant: his lips thick: his chest long, and his head without any future, as it appeared to them who found his Skull forty years after his death when they were repairing the Vault where his body was laid: to which are attributed those fearful headaches wherewith he was so frequently tormented; contrary to Cardinal Richelieu, who never felt any pain of the head, because he had in his Crown two little holes, through which the vapours exhaled.  
The prudence of Ximenes carried it from that of the Cardinal of Amboise, chief Minister of State to the most Christian King Lovis the Twelfth. It had always inclined the advantage to the Spanish side against France, when those two Monarchies fell into competition. The Spaniard was, indeed, slower in deliberation than the Frenchman, but to make amends for that he prevented him in the execution when once he had taken his side, and never remitted, as he did, till he had accomplished what he had begun: difficulties enlivened instead of discouraging him. Choler, to which he was subject, never so far transported him as to make him say any thing, or do any action, that he might have cause afterward to repent of. He was so punctual in keeping of his word, that it never went out of his mind till he had fulfilled it. His deep Melancholy obliged him to delight in the company of those who used to make Jests: but he himself never spoke any, and it was perhaps for fear of meeting with sharp repartees, for he was but the Son of a Proctor of Tortelaguna in old Castille, and he had spent his youth amongst the Cordeliers before that Order was reform. The sole consideration of his worth had advanced him to be Guardian and Provincial of his Order; and he actually discharged the last of the two when it pleased Queen Isabel to choose him for her Confessor. He endeavoured to have excused himself, and did not embrace it but because that Princess would needs have him to be the depositary of her greatest secrets. Nevertheless one of his most intimate friends pleasantly complained of it as of a piece of Infidelity committed towards him, and upbraided him that he forsook him to go to Court. Queen Isabel was sensible already of the reach and ability of his Genius, when by the following accident she was excited to give him the chief Ecclesiastical Dignity of Spain.  
Cardinal Hurtado de Mendoza was sick, and the Physicians despaired of his recovery. Ferdinand and Isabel, who were extraordinarily obliged to him, did him the honour to give him a visit, and Isabel privately conjured him to tell her ingenuously if he had no thoughts of any who he desired might succeed to him. The Cardinal answered, that it was indifferent to him, provided his Successor deserved the Archbishopric of Toledo. Isabel insisted: She conjured him to name to her the Castilian whom he judged worthiest, and the Cardinal without hesitation replied, that Ximenes was the man. Isabel ravished at that Authentic testimony, which gave her occasion to promote her Confessor to the Archbishopric of Toledo without giving offence to her Husband, caused his Brief to be expeded upon the death of the Cardinal, and shortly after brought him into the Council of State. He acquired a prodigious reputation there in respect that all the Counsels which he moved or seconded hardly ever failed to succeed; as on the contrary, those which he rejected were commonly unsuccessful: but in exchange he attracted the enmity of the greatest Nobility of Castille and Arragon. No Minister of State in Spain that ever went before him, possessed in so high a degree, that so rare a virtue in a Statesman which the holy Scripture calls hunger and thirst after righteousness. He could not endure that great men should oppress their Vassals; and when a poor Peasant applied himself to him to demand Justice for the oppression of his Lord, he rendered it upon the spot, if it depended solely on him, and procured it by all his credit if it was not in his own power without caring for what might follow. The murmur of the persons of quality were so much the greater at that, that for many ages they had been accustomed to treat their Inferiors according to their fancy. That abuse proceeded from the privilege the Nobles took to themselves because it was chief they who recovered the Country from the Moors. Upon that ground alone they were persuaded that all Castille belonged to them by the right of Conquest; and that they did no injury to Catholic Peasants, who lived only there by their permission, when they left them no more of the Crop they sowed and reaped, but what they pleased.  
The Kings of Castille and Arragon had always been indulgent to these petty Tyrants, whether it was that they feared to excite the great men to revolt, who otherwise were but too subject to it, or that they themselves had an interest in the continuance of that disorder, because in their own Lands they used the same violences that the Gentlemen committed in theirs. Therefore the Great men of Castille complained to Queen Isabel oftener than once of the Cardinal, and pressed her to send him home to his Church, where they thought he would not be any more so troublesome to them. But Isabel always eluded their desire by answering, that that Prelate was so useful to her, that though he were at Toledo she must of necessity dispatch a Courier with Orders for him instantly to repair to Court. Thereupon she imparted to them in general the important affairs which required the presence of that Prelate; and if she dismissed them not with satisfaction, yet she took from them the pretext of making Insurrections upon the account their desire had been refused. So they separated, and returned to their Castles without daring to attempt the person of Ximenes; 
* In the Life of Cardinal Ximenes.  for besides that he was more powerful than any one of them in particular, not excepting the Dukes of Alva and Infantado, and never went but well guarded; the People, who acknowledged him for their Protector, were in all places so well affected towards him, that the greatest Cowards in the place where he might have been attacked, would have made no difficulty to hazard their lives to save his. In this condition he continued till the death of the Queen his Benefactrice; and thereafter became so useful during the Reign of Philip of Austria for accommodating him with his Father-in-law, that Ferdinand durst not undertake to disgrace him: but after the death of Philip and the Accommodation betwixt the Emperor Maximilian and King Ferdinand, his Catholic Majesty thought that there was nothing wanting to gain the general good will of the Grandees of Spain, but to sacrifice to them Ximenes. He long considered how he might most securely disgrace him, and at length pitched upon the following method.  
He caused it to be represented to him that he had too much wit not to perceive that the hatred which the great men of Castille bore him was irreconcilable, and that it would not fail to break out in time and place convenient: That hitherto they had been restrained by the consideration they had for the late Queen, and their affection to Philip of Austria: but that now, that Prince was dead, that his Widow was distracted, without any hopes of recovery, and that Ferdinand only reigned in Castille with the Title of a precarious King, that is to say, as Administrator of that Monarchy during the nonage of his Grandchilds, his Catholic Majesty durst not promise to protect him for the future against such a multitude of potent enemies: that notwithstanding it would desperately afflict him to have failed in it for two reasons; first, because he was extremely obliged to Ximenes, and then that his weakness would appear too evidently when it should come to be known in Europe that Ferdinand could not snatch his Chief Minister out of the hands of incensed Castilians: That there was no other remedy for that inconvenience but the translation of Ximenes from the chief See of the Churches of Castille, where the Royal Authority would be no more respected than as it pleased the Grandees, to the first See of the Churches of Arragon where it was absolute, and all that could be done for Ximenes was to oblige the Archbishop of Sarragossa to exchange with him.  
Ximenes understood very well that Ferdinand had a mind to his Benefice, and prudently judged that it behoved him at first to put him out of hopes of it. He made answer to this purpose, That for his life he valued it not much, seeing he had taken, and what in him lay executed the design of spending it wholly in the Cloisters of Cordeliers: That the Catholic King knew very well how he was pulled out from thence to be made espouse of the Church of Toledo: and that his Majesty might very well remember that oftener than once he had protested to Queen Isabel, when she commanded him to take such a Wife, that he would never forsake her till death: that it was to no purpose then to speak to him of exchange, nor to press him to resign, since nothing would be got by it: That if the great men of Castille attacked him separately, they should meet with their match; and if they united against him, he had power enough to prevent himself from being run down at first, till he might have assistance from the King his Master; that if that assistance failed him not, as he had ground to hope it would not, he would easily bring his Enemies to reason; and if it failed him at a pinch, yet he would defend himself in his Archbishopric as long as he could, and if he were reduced to extremity, take Shipping and cross the Seas that he might find fanctuary in another Country at least, if he were not received there according to his quality. Ferdinand at first understood not the true meaning of the last words of Ximenes which were faithfully reported to him; but he understood them but too well in the sequel, when that Prelate wrote to the Emperor, and to the Archduke Charles of Austria, that there was an apparent design of turning him out of his Archbishopric, as a punishment for having been the first of the Castilians that owned Philip of Austria for their King, and because there was no hopes for raising to the Throne one of the natural Sons of Ferdinand in prejudice of the lawful Children so long as he was Primate of Spain. The Letters of the Cardinal grounded thereupon chief the protection which he demanded from those two Princes. But Ximenes wrote a third Letter to Chieures, acquainting him that the Archduke was chief concerned that he should remain at the head of the Clergy, and by consequent of the Estates of Castille, seeing Ferdinand would not sooner lose his hopes of raising his natural Son to the Thrones of Castille and Arragon, 
In the Letters of Ximenes to Chieures.  but that he would cast about to promote his younger Grandson in prejudice of the Elder. That in that second attempt he would infallibly succeed, if baffled in the first, if he made sure of him whom he should prefer in the place of Ximenes to the Archbishopric of Toledo, because that new Prelate being the chief of the Estates, would sway all the Propositions that might be made there: That the Castilians and Arragonese agreed in one point, though they had a terrible Antipathy in all things else; and that that Point was not to admit of a Sovereign, but of one that should always live in Spain: That Ferdinand, who knew their inclination, needed do no more to dispose first the Castilians, and then the Arragonese to subvert the order of Nature, but to represent to them, that if they took the Archduke for their King, the Imperial Dignity that was like to descend upon him after the death of his Paternal Grandfather, the hereditary Provinces of the House of Austria that he must necessarily enjoy as being the Eldest of the Family, and the Low Countries which he already possessed, would employ him so often, and so long, that very seldom he could come into Spain; and so soon as he were there, he would be pressed again to be gone: That on the contrary, if the two Monarchies of Spain took the Infanto Ferdinand for their King, seeing he would have no other States to govern, he would remain constantly in Spain, and not go into Italy but once at most, and that occasionally as his Maternal Grandfather had done: That the Castilians and Arragonese being convinced by that only reason would prefer the younger before the elder Brother; whereas if his Catholic Majesty were not sure of the Archbishop of Toledo, he durst not propose his intention to the Estates of Castille, because he might suppose he would be baffled in it; and that if the Affair passed not in Castille, it would not be in a condition to pass in Arragon.  
Ximenes thereupon renewed his Protestations of fidelity to the Archduke; and so convincingly persuaded his Governor of the necessity of maintaining him in the Benefice to which he was provided, that Chieures inclined the Emperor and Archduke to take infallible measures for protecting him against the Catholic King. And in effect these two Princes wrote in concert to Ferdinand that the reputation of Queen Isabel was concerned, that the only person whom she had raised highest should not be depressed; and that it struck also at the honour of the late King Philip, seeing if Ximenes were deposed, it would not fail to be said that it was for having given bad counsels to that young Prince. That if his Catholic Majesty pretended Ximenes had offended him, the Law was open to call him to an account for it; and that neither the Emperor nor the Archduke would take it ill if he brought him to a fair Trial: but that if he took a violent course, seeing he could not do it without raising a Civil War in Castille, and that it concerned the Emperor and Archduke to prevent it, he ought not to take exceptions if they laboured to do it in the manner they judged most proper.  
The threatening which was plainly enough intimated in the last words mentioned, put Ferdinand to a stand, and disarmed his resentment. He foresaw that seeing he had no lawful Male Issue he would commit an irreparable fault if he contented not himself with the administration of Castille, and in reigning peaceably during his life. He made reflection that he was about to deprive himself of both these advantages if he drove Ximenes to extremity: that in that case it would cost him more in Castille than he got out of it, and that he would hamper himself in a quarrel that must at least last as long as he: That he would, indeed, have the Nobility of Castille on his side, but that on the other hand, the People and honest men would declare for Ximenes: and that so the Forces being almost equal, the War would be long, and the Issue without doubt unfortunate. That if his Catholic Majesty were overcome, the high reputation which he had acquired would be wholly blasted; and the Spaniards would no more be obliged to him for the Conquests of Granada and Naples, because he would have caused them more prejudice by dividing them than he had done them good by making them great: besides the shame that would redound unto him by being beaten by a Cordelier. So that the least inconvenience that could befall him would be to be confined to Arragon for the rest of his days; and that he would have a continual vexation a thousand times worse than death, to see his victorious Adversary possessing in Castille the place which by his own imprudence he had lost. If he triumphed over Ximenes the glory of it would not be great; and seeing the dignity and profession of his Adversary would excuse him from venturing his Person, he would have no more to do after his Forces were defeated, but to take Shipping and fly to Flanders. That the Archdukes Letter gave sufficient intimation that he would be well received there, and that nevertheless he would not fail to do Ferdinand as much mischief from thence, as he would have done had he been victorious in Castille; that by his intrigues he would cross all the Projects of his Catholic Majesty: That he would raise him more business than he could make an end of: That by infinite pains and labour he would make him purchase the pleasure of administering the Dominions of his Grandchilds; and that perhaps he might dispose the Archduke, who for all he was so young was already through the care of his Governor be come fit to reign, not to stay till he were of age for going into Spain; and for constraining Ferdinand to deliver up to him the possession of the Monarchy of Castille as quickly and easily, as Philip of Austria had forced him to do it before.  
Princes, who comply best with the necessity of their affairs, are such as comply soon; and so soon as Ferdinand was convinced that he must be reconciled to Ximenes, he did it with good grace without employing a Mediator. Ximenes surprised to find himself so soon contrary to all expectation rid of so troublesome an Affair; and not trusting too much to Ferdinand, considered long what course to take for his own security. He sound no better expedient for avoiding the Jealousy of his Catholic Majesty, than at his own charge, and by his own credit to raise an Army of sixteen thousand men, and to command them in person for conquering the Ports of Barbary, that lay most conveniently for the Spaniards. He supposed that by that means he would deserve the universal approbation of Christians; and that if he appeased not the Nobility of Spain, he would take from them even the pretext of doing him any hurt. Ferdinand would have no more cause to envy his vast Revenues, nor to accuse him of ill employing them; and if nevertheless he did do so, he would purchase to himself the indignation of all men. The Vassals of the Archbishop of Toledo would be enured to War; and their Prelate being in the midst of them, would have no cause to fear any thing. If his enterprise in Africa succeeded, no man in Spain would for the future have the boldness to attack him; and if it succeeded not, he would at least have this consolation, that his design would meet with so much approbation, that they would still respect the Author though they should hear that he had miscarried in the enterprise.  
So Ximenes levied Forces, fitted out Ships, laid aside the Frock and Ecclesiastic Habit, armed Cap-a-pee, and crossed over fortunately into Barbary. The Military Profession was a new thing to him, and he understood no more of it but what he had heard discoursed of in the Council of Spain: yet it happened to him as to Lucullus which the Roman History cannot sufficiently admire. He became a Captain in the short time that he was passing over the narrow straits which divide Spain from Africa, 
In the relation of that passage.  and at first discharged the most difficult duty of a General, which is by his single Authority to quell seditions come to maturity. He was hardly landed when the most resolute of his Soldiers, who had thought it no small honour to be listed under his Colours, were ashamed actually to serve under a Cordelier. They took the first pretext that offered to decline it, and desired to be carried back to Spain. Ximenes was not startled neither at their multitude, nor their revolt: he rushed into the midst of them: took the boldest of the company by the Collar, caused him to be put to death upon the spot; and so terrified the rest, that they mutinied no more.  
The City of Oran, the Capital of a Kingdom to which it gave the name, was afterwards attacked, and taken by storm: Bugy, where the University of the Moors was, and the only place known in Africa, where they went to learn the little of Arts and Sciences which they have, was as easily conquered. The occasion that Ximenes had of seizing it deserves to be known, were it for no other reason but to convince us, that if Christians took as much care to be informed of the affairs of Infidels, as Infidels take to learn what news happen amongst Christians, we should get more by it than they, and find a a great many favourable occasions which are lost for want of that application.  
The Uncle of the King of Bugy by the Father, a few days before the Spaniards drew near that Kingdom, thought it not enough to dethrone his Nephew, but also put out his eyesight with a hot Iron, that thereby he might render him incapable of reigning, and prevent, according to the Custom of the Country, the designs of those who pretended afterward to re-establish him upon the Throne during the life of the Usurper, or immediately after his death. Ximenes accidentally was informed of so barbarous an action, and presently resolved to make his advantage of it. He sent word to the friends of the dispossessed King, that he would exemplarily revenge the injury that was done if they would act in concert with him, and there needed no more to raise in the Kingdom of Bugy a second revolution as great as the former. The Party that was worsted took courage again, and quickly settled secret correspondences with the Spaniards, who they thought had offered themselves to them out of a principle of generosity. They took so just measures with them that they facilitated the taking of places that were capable to hinder them from approaching the Capital City; and then brought them into Bugy by means that were kept so secret after the execution of them, that the Spanish Historians disagree about the manner. This is certain, that an accident supervened, which was so much the more favourable to the Spaniards for winning that other Crown of Barbary, that not being so skilful in medicine as they had been in the time of Averro and Avienne, they took it for a miracle.  
The red-hot Iron that had been made use of to blind the King by holding it near his eyes a quarter of an hour, had indeed deprived him of sight, but had not wholly dried up the humours; whether it was that the Ministers of the Usurpers cruelty had taken it out of the fire before it was hot enough for the intended operation; or that it was not put near enough his eyes, and held there a sufficient time for drying entirely up the humidity which serves to the functions of sight. The Spanish Surgeons perceived it, and undertook to cure the Moorish King. The cure was long and difficult, but at length it succeeded, and was looked upon as well by him upon whom it was wrought as by his Subjects, as an evident mark that it was the purpose of heaven that they should be Tributaries to the Spaniards. The Corsairs of Algiers, 
In the relation of that Conquest.  who till then had with impunity destroyed the Christian Fleets, and spoiled the Commerce of Europe in Africa, followed the example of those of Bugy, and submitted to the payment of the same tribute. In a word, the Spaniards by an excess of good fortune which they have not had since in their Wars against the Barbarians, made themselves Masters of the Kingdom of Tripoli; and Ximenes returned to his Church of Toledo with so much glory and booty, that Ferdinand durst think no more of molesting him.  
In this manner the Archduke Charles reaped so much advantage from the quarrel of that Prelate and his Maternal Grandfather, that three illustrious Kingdoms and a more famous Republic were thereby subjected to him; and shortly after, in the year One thousand five hundred and twelve, the same good fortune brought under his Dominion the Kingdom of Navarre, when neither he himself, nor his Governor Chieures had any hand in it. That Monarchy had often fallen to Daughters, and by consequent had successively passed into several Families. By that way it was transferred from the ancient House of Navarre, to that of Leon: from the House of Leon to that of Castille: from the House of Castille to that of Champagne: from the House of Champagne to that of France: from the House of France to that of Eureux: from the House of Eureux to the House of Arragon: and from the House of Arragon to that of Foix-Grailly. Gaston de Foix married Eleanor Queen of Navarre, second Sister to the Father of Ferdinand the Catholic King, by whom he had twelve Children of both Sexes. The eldest Son died at two and twenty years of age, he left a Son and a Daughter whom he had of Magdalen, the youngest Daughter of Charles the Seventh. The Son, named Francis Phoebus, reigned not long in Navarre, and died before he was married. The Daughter named Catharine became thereby the richest Heiress of Europe. She remained under the Guardianship of her Mother, who would never hear of marrying again, though she was a Widow at the age of seventeen years. There were but few Princes in Europe that courted not the Alliance of the young Queen of Navarre; and the most considerable Husband that was proposed to her was the Insanto of Spain, John the Son of Ferdinand, who was much of the same age with her. That Prince was the only Son of Ferdinand and Isabel; and if he had married Catharine, all the Monarchies of Spain had been reunited, except that of Portugal. Ferdinand and Isabel designed that chief by the Match: But Magdalen of France had not so great an aversion to the House she was come of, as to contribute to the raising in Spain a Power almost equal to that of France. She absolutely refused her Daughter to the Prince of Spain; but for all that she had not so much kindness for the House of France as to marry her Daughter into it, as she had not so much affection for her Daughter as to marry her into a Sovereign Family. She gave her to John Son of Alan d' Albert a powerful Lord, indeed, in Gascony, but who possessed not a foot of Land but what held of the Kings of France in quality of Dukes of Guyenne.  
Irregularities in Politics are of more dangerous consequence than others; and it is rare to be found in History, that Queens of themselves have married Husbands inferior to them in quality without having great occasions of repenting it. John d' Albert seemed born to verify the old Proverb, That the best men are not always the best Kings. He had all the qualities that could accomplish a private man; but he wanted those which distinguish Sovereigns from those that are not, and were not cut out for being so. He delighted only in study, and minded nothing by his good will but collecting of Manuscripts, and setting up Libraries. There was not a House of any note in Europe but he could upon the spot blazon its Coat of Arms, and deduce the Genealogy thereof; and though no man knew better than he that Nobility is only the reward of merit, and that he could not more sensibly affront the Gentry of Navarre than by introducing amongst them persons altogether undeserving, yet he did but too often give them occasion of vexing at his conduct in that particular; whether it was that he suffered himself to be wheedled by flattery, or that he could not resist long importunities. He had learned in Guyenne to treat with his Vassals as a simple Gentleman; and that familiarity which was reckoned a virtue in him so long as he continued in France, became his greatest vice when he was in Spain, the People of that Country esteeming none more enormous, than that which is most inconsistent with gravity. Royal Majesty was to him insupportable in all the actions that were not of Ceremony: At other times he loved to live in an equality, which he called the Cement of Civil Society: He went willingly to such places where he was invited to eat, provided the company consisted only of Gentlemen of breeding; and the first thing he did when he was come, was to forget for some time that he was King, and to be willing that the Master of the House and the Guests should forget it as well as he, seeing he was very pleasant company, he contributed at least as much to their mirth as they did to his; and when he came to know of any feast made in Pampelona the chief City of Navarre, whether out of respect they durst not invite him, he invited himself, and put the People to no charges, for than he went commonly alone. He loved dancing the more that in it he excelled all the Princes of his Age; and when upon a Journey he found by the way companies of Towns or Country people who diverted themselves that way, he struck in and danced with them. He had so great antipathy against State affairs when he found them thorny, that he abandoned them entirely to the care of his Ministers, who not having the same interest in them as he had, ordered them many times according to their fancy.  
The greatest abuse that proceeded from thence was, that the Magistracies, Benefices, Offices, and Governments of Navarre were given to strangers, and that the Remonstrances made thereupon by the Estates of the Kingdom were fruitless. There is nothing Princes ought more to fear than the hatred and contempt of their Subjects: However they may boast that they are not altogether unfortunate when they fall but into the aversion alone, or into the contempt alone of the same Subjects; because if they have only lost their affection, the reverence that remains is sufficient to keep them in obedience; and if they have only lost the reverence affection supplies the defect: but when there is neither reverence nor affection, it is impossible to prevent revolutions in States, and to hinder them from growing universal when once they are begun.  
John d' Albert was no more respected by the Navarrese by reason of his too familiar way of living, and for all that reigned no less peaceably, because he was no less beloved of the meaner sort whom he treated as his equals, nor of the great men who well enough foresaw that a Prince of that temper would never invade their Privileges: but so soon as he attracted the hatred of both by preferring before them strangers and persons of mean virtue, nothing was then able to support him, and he succumbed under the first attack that was made against him.  
For many Ages Navarre had been divided into two almost equal Factions in power, the one was that of Beaumond, the other that of Grammont according to the old Titles of the House which still retains that name, and of Grammont according to the modern. The chief of the House of Beaumond was the Count of Lerin hereditary Constable of Navarre; and the chief of the House of Grammont was Lord of Tutelle and High Marshal of the Kingdom. The Count of Lerin had all the Qualities, or to say better, all the Vices that ancient and modern Histories have observed in extraordinary men who have made themselves Heads of Parties: His mind was the more malicious that neither Humanity nor Religion retained it upon any occasion within bounds. He had killed the Father and only Brother of the Count of Tutelle, and for killing them had profaned what is most holy in the Catholic Religion. The Cardinal de Foix during the preceding Reign had interposed to reconcile the Families of Beaumond and Grammont; and thought he had accomplished it when he had obliged the Constable and Marshal of Navarre to promise solemnly that they would forget what was past, and for the future live in perfect friendship. After that he celebrated Mass, divided the Host into two, and communicated both Parties: and yet this hindered not but that the Constable as soon as he came out of the Church went and waylaid the Marshal with a purpose to assassinate him. He miss his blow, indeed, but left not off searching occasions afterwards of putting it in execution.  
The Marshal on the contrary was a frank man; and who in all appearance departed not from the Maxims of Religion, but because he was not sufficiently instructed in them. He supposed it was lawful to revenge the death of his Father and Brother, and the murder attempted upon his own Person, provided it were done publicly, and without treachery. The Constable and Marshal had engaged into their quarrel all the Nobility of Navarre, and their private difference was insensibly degenerated into a Civil War, wherein their Neighbours had taken the part that interest or inclination suggested to them. The French declared for the Faction of Grammont, and the Castilians out of pure antipathy espoused that of Beaumond, which was actually the most powerful in the City of Pampelona, when John d' Albert made his first entry into it. He favoured those of Grammont before he married the Heiress of Navarre; and the effects of it were so visible, that the Common People had as little cause to doubt of it as the Nobility.  
Thus the Constable had cause more than enough to distrust the new King, and to fear being born down by him, if he received him at first, and without Conditions, into the Capital City of the Kingdom. He had thereupon the boldness to shut the Gates upon him; and not to open them till after a Capitulation, wherein John d' Albert obliged himself in writing, not to meddle in the quarrel betwixt those of Beaumond and Grammont upon any ground or pretext whatsoever. John d' Albert granted all that the Constable demanded of him, because otherwise he could not have been Crowned with the common consent of the Nobility of Navarre: but the affront seemed to him afterward to be too great to be dissembled. He prosecuted the Constable first in the usual course of Law, and then by Arms; but in so just a quarrel he was not seconded as he expected to have been. The Faction of Grammont repaired, indeed, to his Banner, but the Constable also received assistance from two sorts of people which he thought ought rather to have declared against him than for him.  
The first were those who feared to be plundered by the Faction that should entirely root out the other, and the other those who being accustomed to live under a Monarchy where the Royal Power was almost as much limited as in the Kingdom of Navarre, 
In the Collection of the Laws of Navarre.  would not have their King become absolute by the overthrow of the Faction of Beaumond, or at least that he should be in a condition of growing so, if occasion put him upon desiring it. So that the Party was no less equal when the King sided with those of Grammont than it was when the two Factions subsisted only by their own Forces, and the Civil War was no less drawn out in length. John d' Albert being impatient to have an end put to it because it hindered him from his ordinary business, listened to the first proposals of peace that were made to him, though they came from a Court every way to be suspected.  
Ferdinand the Catholic King being frustrated of his hopes of uniting Navarre to Arragon and Castille by the Marriage of his only Son with Catharine de Foix, waited for an opportunity of seizing it by craft; and finding no more lawful fomented unjust ways. He wanted a pretext of meddling in the quarrel of those of Beaumond and Grammont before the King of Navarre interposed in it, because the Monarches of that time had that deference one for another not to take notice of what was done in neighbouring Kingdoms, unless they were solicited to it. But after that the King of Navarre had declared against those of Grammont; and that the Constable their head apprehending at long run to succumb under the force of the Gascons, who would flock in to the succour of John d' Albert, had had his recourse to the assistance of the Castilians; Ferdinand let not so favourable an occasion slip, and managed it so cunningly, that at length it produced the effect which he expected from it.  
The Constable was his Brother-in-law as having married Eleanor, natural Daughter to the late John King of Arragon, and upon that consideration chief he grounded his offer of mediation to the King of Navarre for accommodating him 〈◊〉 his Constable. The King of Navarre, who perceived not the drift of such a Proposition willingly accepted it; and Ferdinand had no sooner drawn him into the snare so cunningly laid, but that he prepared another for him more dangerous than the former. He passed insensibly in regard of his Majesty of Navarre from a Mediation to a Guarranty, and overreached him by representing to him by Agents wonderfully cunning, that the Constable was not a man religious in keeping his word; and seeing the most sacred and solemn Tie amongst Christians was not powerful enough to oblige him, he ought to bind him by so considerable a Guarant, that he durst not unsay: That the King offered to take it upon him upon no other motive but of making and entertaining peace amongst his Neighbours; and besides, seeing there was no probability that Navarre could be long in repose if the Constable departed not out of it for some years, his Catholic Majesty was willing to allow him a retreat in Castille, supposing he should refuse to remove far from his Places for fear his Enemies might seize them in his absence. He proposed in the mean time to keep them in Sequestration, and to put into them Garrisons sufficient to maintain them: In a word, if nothing detained him in Navarre but the great Estates which he possessed there, he would give him the Equivalentor better in Arragon and Castille.  
That overture at first seemed not to proceed but from a mere Principle of generosity: Nevertheless examine it narrowly, and it could not be neither more advantageous for Ferdinand, nor more prejudicial to John d' Albert. For the most powerful Subject of his Majesty of Navarre was confirmed in his revolt by making him treat on even terms with his Master, and by giving him Castille and Arragon for Guarants of the Treaty which he should make: occasion was given to the most formidable Enemy of Navarre to make the Constable at his devotion when he should be retired within his Territories: that Neighbour was received into the very Centre and best Places of Navarre, from whence he might easily usurp the rest of the Kingdom; and which was the greatest shame in the world, the King of Navarre must consent that the Constable sold himself, if I may so say, to the Catholic King, since it was proposed that he should receive considerable Estates from his Majesty in recompense for his Revenues in Navarre.  
Nevertheless John d' Albert signed the Treaty with all the  conditions, and Ferdinand's Garrisons took possession of the Places of the Constable, who went and lived at the Court of his Brother-in-law. The Catholic King was Surety for him that he should raise no stirs in Navarre, and gave him not only the Revenue, but also the Propriety of the Marquisate of Huescar in the Kingdom of Granada, the Revenue whereof exceeded the Rents which he had in Naudrre. All the Politicians of the Age foretold the ruin of John d' Albert because of that, and to speak the truth, it seemed that it could not otherwise he than as they had predicted: But God Almighty does not always permit that Sovereigns, who are not so skilful in the Art of Government, suffer so soon the punishment of their imprudence; as he does not always neither permit the more subtle in that Art, to reap the fruit of their intrigues.  
John d' Albert took a Journey into Castille to solicit the restitution of some places in the Principality of Viane, which the Predecessors of Ferdinand had usurped from the Ancestors of the Queen of Navarre. There he found the Count of Lerin his Constable, with whom he made so sincere a reconciliation, that the Castilians were no less surprised than vexed at it. The Constable, who for alliance and gratitude's sake was engaged in the concerns of Ferdinand, leapt all of a sudden and without reserve from the Interests of his Brother-in-law and Benefactor to those of his Master, and advised John d' Albert not to listen to the Proposals of the Catholic King which he offered of money to be paid within certain terms for the places that the King of Navarre demanded from him. It was the Artifice of Ferdinand that having no intention to restore them, and finding as yet no pretext of detaining them, he would defer the restitution of them to another time, under colour that the War he was engaged in with the Venetians, so employed him that he had no time to examine the question whether he ought in conscience any longer to keep the places they treated about.  
John d' Albert, who was not a man to make use of the occasion of constraining him to it, and who besides was not moved with the money which he saw not in ready Cash, returned to Navarre, and the Constable accompanied him thither; whether it was that he knew him so well as to confide in him, or that the love of his Country at that time prevailed with him over all other considerations of policy and convenience. It is not known neither if that frankness stifled all the remains of aversion that John d' Albert might still conceive against the Constable; or if that which is said of his Majesty of Navarre was true, that he easily forgot injuries received when he was persuaded that those who had done them remembered them no more; but it is certain, that after his return into Navarre he lived in so good a correspondence with the Constable, that he passed from one extremity to the other; and that whereas till then he had been of the Faction of Grammont; he entered into that of Beaumond which thereby recovered fresh strength. The Queen his Wife detesting his inconstancy continued firm in the Party of Grammont, but that made nothing the more for her interest, seeing the Nobility of Navarre, seeing the Royal Family divided, took Parties also; and the People thereby conceived a greater contempt of John d' Albert than they had had for the excess of his familiarity.  
It is said that Caesar Borgia Duke of Valentinois, Bastard Son of Pope Alexander the Sixth, who had 
Towards the end of the Life of Valentinois.  married the Sister of John d' Albert, having made his escape out of Ferdinand's Prisons, came at time into Navarre, and made an accommodation betwixt his Brother-in-law and the Queen: That he convinced John d' Albert that he had done wrong in abandoning the Faction of Grammont, and engaged him in it again: but if that be so, the Duke found the less resistance in it, that an unexpected accident wrought in that particular all that he could have promised himself from his Eloquence.  
John d' Albert sent an Officer to the Constable with an Order from his Majesty; and the Constable pretending that the Officer in the discharge of his Commission had not shown him the respect which was due to the chief Commander of the Armies, caused him to be cudgeled and detained Prisoner. The action in itself was insupportable: Nevertheless it is probable John d' Albert would have slighted the affront done him in the person of his Officer, or at least that he would not have driven his resentment so far as it went, if the Duke of Valentinois, whose Crimes God Almighty would no longer bear with, had not offered to chastise the insolence of the Constable, and had not obtained permission to do so. John d' Albert granted it more out of importunity than the desire of revenge, and the Duke laid siege to the Castle of Viane which held for the Faction of Beaumond. The Constable being resolved to raise it, cost what it would, advanced with his Forces within view of the Besiegers; and the Duke before he had resolved whether he should go out to meet him, or expect him, within his Lines, went out to view them. He met with three Troopers, who killed him, and John d' Albert being informed of his death, changed all of a sudden his inclination. He hastened to his Army, gave no quarter to those of Beaumond; took their Towns and Castles; hanged up or put to the Sword those that defended them; burned their Farm and Country houses; destroyed their Woods; and his anger transported him so far that in the Town of Lerin, which he took by storm, he ruined the stately buryingplace of the Constable's Ancestors.  
The Forces of Ferdinand came so late to the assistance of those of Beaumond, that the Constable after his overthrow found them in their march upon the road as he fled to Arragon. Seeing they were not strong enough to buoy up a forlorn cause, he sent them back, and confined himself with his Wife within the Town of Aranda, where some months after both died of grief. Louis of Beaumond, their eldest Son, went to the Court of Ferdinand to solicit an assistance capable to restore him to the rights of his Family; but he prevailed not until the year One thousand five hundred and twelve, when a favourable Juncture of usurping Navarre was offered to Ferdinand.  
The hatred which Pope Julius the Second bore against the French was grown to such a height, that being neither able to endure them in Italy, nor yet to drive them thence any other way than by the Arms of Ferdinand, 
In the last Treaty of Julius the Second with Ferdinand.  his Holiness acquainted him that he might expect any thing from him, provided he would enter into a League with the holy See against Lovis the Twelfth of France. Ferdinand made answer, that he would consent to it on condition the Pope caused a secret Bull of Excommunication to be expeded against John d' Albert and his Queen, as favourers of Lovis the Twelfth, the declared enemy of the Church, and that his Holiness sent it to his Catholic Majesty to be made use of in time and place as he should judge most convenient. The Bull, as it is said, was expeded, and was kept so secret that no man ever saw either the Original or a Copy of it. Ferdinand received it, or pretended he had, and raised a powerful Army, the Command whereof he gave to Frederick de Toledo Duke of Alva, under pretext of attacking Guyenne on the side of Bayonne, whilst Henry the Eighth, King of England, his Son-in-law, should make a descent in that Province at the mouth of the River of Garonne.  
John d' Albert was so little apprehensive of being attacked, that he had not so much as raised one Soldier, though the Maxims of good Government allowed him not to remain disarmed amidst all his Neighbours in Arms. He suffered the Duke of Alva to advance within Eight Leagues of Pampelona, and never took the alarm till the Catholic King, having without any difficulty brought all his Forces into the Centre of Navarre, and taken just measures with the Constable's Son, and with the remnant of the Faction of Beaumond, sent a Herald to tell the Queen and King of Navarre, that the King of France and all his Adherents were Excommunicated for having called and held a Council in the City of Pisa in Tuscany against the holy See. That the Pope had given their Dominions to him who could first possess them, and that his Catholic Majesty had confederated with the King of England for his seizing of Guienne, which lay equally convenient for both: that the English Fleet was to approach thither on the one side, at the same time when his Catholic Majesty entered it on the other; and that to the end Ferdinand might not fail at the appointed time, there was a necessity he should march through Navarre with what Baggage and Artillery were needful for him to lay Siege to the City of Bourdeaux: that the same passage was as necessary for his Armies marching back again to his own Territories; and that for securing it in case he succeeded not in his enterprise as he expected, their Majesties of Navarre must needs give him the places of Esteille, may, and St. John Pied de Port for Cautionary Towns: that he promised upon his honour if they were freely granted him, to restore them again faithfully so soon as his Forces were come back again into Castille and Arragon: but if they were absolutely refused, or not presently entrusted into his hands, they must not take it ill if he endeavoured to put in execution the Bull of Excommunication which Pope Julius the Second had just then thundered out against their Majesties of Navarre, as well as against Lovis the Twelfth of France. The Queen and King of Navarre gave Audience to the Herald in the Town of Tudelle where their Estates were assembled, and made him answer, That Navarre intended to observe an exact Neutrality betwixt the most Christian and Catholic Kings; and as the Catholic King might have ground to complain of their Majesties of Navarre, if they permitted the French to pass their Country for invading Arragon or Castille, so would the most Christian King also have, if they opened a passage through their States for the Spaniards to enter into Guienne.  
The Duke of Alva, who only waited for that answer, marched straight to Pampelona; and gave the signal to those of the Faction of Beaumond, who made in one day an Insurrection in all the other Towns of Navarre, in favours of the Spaniards, the two and twentieth of July One thousand five hundred and twelve. The Kings of Navarre hastened also to Pampelona, but by another way, where finding the Towns-people disposed to open the Gates to the Duke of Alva so soon as he appeared before their Walls, they had no other course to take but to fly into the Territories which they had in France None accompanied them in their retreat but the chief of the Faction of Grammont; because the others being assured that the Catholic King would receive them with open Arms, stayed at home quietly in their houses. What was very strange in so general a revolution, there was not one Town that shown their Loyalty to their Prince by enduring a Siege, and the Duke of Alva had no more to do but to appear before them one after another, to have the Keys delivered into his hands. Ferdinand having conquered so important a Kingdom, caused his Army to stay there for securing it, and failed in his promise both alike to the Pope, and to his Son-in-law Henry the Eighth of England, suffered the English to lie hover upon the Coast of Guyenne, and did not send them word till the end of the Campagne that they should stay no longer for him, and that if they pleased they might return home.  
The End of the Second Book.   

BOOK III. Containing the most memorable Affairs that passed in the Monarchy of Spain, during the Year One thousand five hundred and fifteen, and part of One thousand five hundred and sixteen.  
THE Spanish Historians, treating of the Invasion of Navarre, put it off with a false Jest. Their intention is to take their Readers off from observing too narrowly the manner how that Kingdom was united to their Monarchy; by pleasantly amusing them whilst as tenderly as they can they touch so nice a point; they say, that John d' Albert being come to the most distant place from which he might still see his Capital City of Pampelona, and turning about to take a full view of it, sell a crying bitterly; and that the Queen Catharine de Foix his Wife, offended at so unseasonable an act of tenderness, told him in a disdainful manner, 
In the relation of the flight of John d' Albert.  that he might very well cry like a woman for the loss of a Crown, which he could not defend like a man. But these Authors have not taken notice, That John d' Albert and his Queen departed not together from Pampelona: That seeing the King was more hated there than she, he was the first that consulted his own security by flying away about break of day; and that the Queen followed not her Husband till two days after, when he was already entered the Mountains of Aldude.  
Ferdinand, after the Conquest of Navarre, had a greater desire than before to have Children by his second Wife. He was not as yet superannuated; and his failings were only imputed to the disorders of his youth. The Physicians made no doubt but by their Art they might retrieve his former vigour for some time at least, and taught the Queen Germana how to make a love Potion, which in their opinion would prove infallible. The Queen, who would not venture upon any thing that she might be reproached with, spoke of it to Ferdinand, who bid her take the care of preparing it herself, that it might be kept the more secret. She only communicated it to her Ladies of Honour in whom she had greatest confidence, and they presented it one Evening to Ferdinand when he was going to bed at Carrousillo a house of pleasure, where he spent the spring of the year One thousand five hundred and thirteen. Ferdinand drank up the Potion to the very dregs; but whether the Dose was too strong for the weakness of his Constitution, or that it was not carefully enough prepared, it had a quite contrary effect to the intent of those that gave it. Ferdinand fell immediately sick upon it; and his Physicians, who knew the cause of his distemper, were at a stand as to the cure. They caused him to be removed to Megorada, where he was so long and so dangerously seized with all the symptoms that threatened an approaching end, that Chieures thought it time seriously to mind the Succession to the Monarchy of Arragon, and the possession of that of Castille.  
He was persuaded that his Majesty would use his endeavours to disappoint the Archduke Charles, and settle them upon the Infanto Ferdinand; and since that was the chief thing which he had proposed to prevent, he was of the opinion that the Archduke should send into Spain Adrian his Tutor, who was as yet but Dean of Louvain. The pretext of that Voyage was the Marriage which the People of the Low Countries desired for their own repose betwixt the Archduke and Renée of France, second Daughter of Lovis the Twelfth, King of France: but in reality the Dean had an Authentic Power, and many blanks signed for taking possession of the two Monarchies in case the Catholic King should die, and at least to preserve that of Castille for the Archduke, supposing Arragon should be given by Testament to the younger Brother.  
The dispatches were expeded with all imaginable secrecy; but the Catholic King was too mistrustful not to suspect the true reason of the intended Voyage, and seeing what Princes on such occasions do fancy passes in their minds for certain truth, the Catholic King received Adrian so very ill, and so many ways tried his patience, that he tired it out. The Dean for his first essay had undertaken a Negotiation a little too difficult; and he could not worthily acquit himself of it, without continual attendance at the Court of the Catholic King. In the mean time, his Majesty, who looked upon him as a Spy, would not permit him to wait upon him any whither: Nay, he would have him to return again to Flanders as often as he found himself any way better, so that he was in a condition of travelling abroad in the Country; which the Castilians took for an absolute cure. Insomuch as the Dean having to remain at Court exhausted all the excuses that had been suggested to him in his Instructions, found himself reduced to such straits as far surpassed the capacity of a man bred up in the Schools.  
The Courtiers whom he knew to be well affected towards the Archduke, augmented his trouble by acquainting him from time to time with fresh instances of kindness which the Catholic King shown the Infanto. They magnified them in their notes; took them for so many demonstrations of an infallible preference; persisted to press him that he would remedy it; and threatened that if it were not done with all expedition, they would abandon the Party of the Archduke, and strike in with the Infanto. In a word, the Dean in the short converse that he had had with the Catholic King, observed that that Prince had an extreme aversion to Chieures; that he imputed to him the little Authority which he had in the Low Countries: that he was persuaded that his Grandsons' Governor had hindered him from Reigning there in the same manner as he did in Castille; and that not being able to revenge himself upon the Governor, he would do it upon the Pupil: That that was truly the ground of the misunderstanding betwixt the Grandfather and Grandson, and that Chieures was the Victim to be sacrificed to the reconciliation of the two: That if he were removed from the Archduke, it was certain that the Catholic King would more willingly listen to Nature, which pleaded with him in favours of the elder of his Grandchilds, that what he said to him suited exactly with his Ambition: whereas if the Court of Flanders continued as it was, that is, in the inflexibility that it had always shown in giving satisfaction to the Catholic King; that Prince would complete what he had begun; and by his last Will settle the Infanto Ferdinand so firmly in the Monarchies of Castille and Arragon, that it would be impossible for the Archduke to dispossess him.  
This long train of reasonings engaged the Dean into a conduct equally contrary to his humour, and to the gratitude which till then he had manifested to Chieures his Benefactor. He thought at least that the Catholic King ought to be amused with the vain hopes of turning out the Archdukes Governor, if he were not fully satisfied in the point, and in that prospect caused it to be intimated to his Majesty, that if he would act jointly with him, he promised himself to supplant Chieures, and to put in his place the man whom his Majesty should design for the employment.  
The Proposition was so acceptable to Ferdinand, 
In the causes of the breach betwixt Chieures and Adrian.  that he sent for the Dean to discourse the matter with him hand to hand without Witnesses. The Dean who was prepared to remove, or at least to lessen the chief difficulties in the Affair, delivered himself after his way, and in Articles to his Majesty, that Chieures was not so securely settled but that he might be shaken; and that Lovis the Twelfth, who had given him the Commission which he discharged, would not live long enough to maintain him in it: That though his Pupil made a show of a great deal of friendship for him, that was not absolutely to be relied upon, seeing that young Prince was known already to excel in the art of dissimulation, and was besides resolved not to displease the Emperor Maximilian his Paternal Grandfather, with whom Chieures had always entertained a strict correspondence: but that at the bottom the Archduke was like other young people, and that there was never any Governor who sincerely gained the friendship of his Pupil when he discharged his duty with all strictness as Chieures had done: That many Flemish Gentlemen, Heirs of Families, took it impatiently that a younger Brother of the house of Croy should be preferred before them to the Education of their Prince; and that they would not only be well pleased at the disgrace of Chieures, but also with emulation contribute thereunto.  
The Deans discourse produced but part of the effect which he promised to himself. Ferdinand, who had listened to him with all the attention of a prejudiced man, to whom an expedient was offered of a revenge, which till then he had in vain sought for, conceived an extraordinary joy at it, yet not without the allays of fear and diffidence. He suspected part of the truth and guessed at the Politics of the Deans conduct. Nay, he thought him an abler Politician than indeed he was; and imagined that his design was not only to amuse him, but also to oblige his Prince to whom he had preserved his birthright, and Chieures whom he had served most advantageously by eluding the most terrible effects of the hatred of the Catholic King, under pretext of satisfying the same.  
So Ferdinand replied to the Dean, that he hearty accepted the offer he made him: But seeing the affair in hand was very ticklish in itself, it had need be seriously thought of before it was attempted to be put into execution, and that there was no succeeding in it unless such measures were taken as might not easily be subject to change. That the best way would be to put it down in writing by way of a Treaty betwixt his Catholic Majesty and the Archdukes Praeceptor, to the end that each of them having an Authentic Copy of it, they might have recourse to the same in all the doubts that might arise as to the particular circumstances that they should agree upon.  
The Dean very well perceived the snare that Ferdinand laid for him, in respect that the Writing which the Catholic King might give him would oblige him no more than his word, the Dean being neither of birth nor condition to force him to the accomplishment of it; whereas if Ferdinand had the Deans Writing in his hands, he might make use of it when he pleased to undo him, by showing that he had without Orders negotiated and concluded the Deposition of Chieures. Nevertheless since the Dean had proposed it; and by consequent that if there were any crime in it, he was the first that began to commit it, he went on, and treated with Ferdinand to supplant Chieures. It is unknown whether there was any neglect on the Deans part in not sending speedy enough advice into Flanders of what he had judged convenient to negotiate in Spain: whether his Secretary was not faithful to him: whether Chieures was not punctually informed by the Intelligences which he entertained at vast charges in Spain of what was hatching to his prejudice; or whether Ferdinand by a Politic fetch which the Dean had not foreseen was the Author himself of Chieures his being acquainted with it, in prospect of Governing in Flanders when he had set the two most faithful Ministers of his Grandson one against another. But it is certain that Chieures was punctually advertised from other hands than the Deans, of what he had transacted with Ferdinand to his prejudice, and that thereafter there was no more solid friendship betwixt the Governor and Praeceptor of the Archduke. However their misunderstandings appeared not but in such private occurrences as concerned the profit or satisfaction of either of the two; and by the rarest event that, perhaps, can be found in any History it did not the least prejudice to the affairs of their Pupil.  
Since it had only happened by the overweening application of one of the two, that is of the Tutor to the service of the Archduke, Ferdinand reaped not from it all the fruit which he expected; and the countenance which afterward he gave the Dean procured him many friends at Court, because the Spaniards began to despair of his Catholic Majesties recovery. He recovered notwithstanding; and since he thought it necessary to deceive people by feigning to have recovered his former vigour, he often changed his residence, and used all the other exercises of those who are in health. But the Physicians for all that whispered his friends in the ear that his Dropsy was come to a height, and that some time or other it would carry him off. Chieures was so well informed of it that he advised the Archduke not to be any longer so great a husband of his measures with his Maternal Grandfather, but to use all necessary caution to hinder the effect of the kindness which he had for the Infanto Ferdinand. The most important that he suggested to him was taken from the consideration that all the Sovereigns of Europe Leagued together in the Year One thousand five hundred and fifteen with the Catholic King against the new King of France Francis the First, who succeeded to Lovis the Twelfth, with design to divert him from recovering the Duchy of Milan. This was the Count of Angoulesm, of whom we have spoken in the First Book; and seeing till than he had made a profession of friendship to the Archduke, it ought not to be interrupted by his advancement to the Crown of France. Gouffiers and Chieures, the Governors of those two young Princes, had united them principally in that prospect; and if Francis was concerned to make sure of not being attacked by the Low Countries whilst he was employed in Italy, Charles was incomparably more to be in a perfect intelligence with the French when ever the Succession of Spain came to be open. For if his younger Brother were preferred before him by the last Will of the Catholic King; and that he offered to the new most Christian King to restore Navarre to John d' Albert, provided France entered into a League offensive and defensive with him against his elder Brother, the Archduke would have no other way of reducing him but by the Ocean Sea, the more unsafe that it was exposed to frequent tempests; and besides it would be the more uneasy to get into Spain that way, that all the Ports would be their Enemies. If the Archdukes Fleet were disabled by the Winds, or defeated by Ships of his younger Brother, it would be impossible for him to fit it out again, seeing the Netherlands were not of the humour to be at the charge of another; and if the Forces that he landed were cut in pieces, he would hardly find any others that would venture upon a second Expedition. If the Catholic King left only the Monarchy of Arragon to Ferdinand, he would keep it in spite of his Brother, provided France were not against him. In fine, if the Infanto were omitted in his Grandfathers Will, and nevertheless he did aspire to the Thrones which had been designed for him, the Spaniards who desired a King by themselves, would contribute what in them lay to raise him to them; and the Archduke would not be in a condition of opposing it, unless assisted by France: whereas by contracting a firm Alliance with that King, those who awakened the Ambition of the Infanto whilst they exasperated the Catholic King against the Archduke, would refrain from both these designs when they saw no hopes of succeeding in them. The Catholic King would not prefer a younger Brother before an elder, when he saw that his preference would serve for no other end than to give occasion to the elder to oppress the younger. The Infanto would submit to the Laws of Spain, when all hopes of violating them securely were taken from him; and whatever unexpected accident might happen, all the Paternal and Maternal Dominions of the Archduke would be united in his person.  
The Archduke being persuaded by these reasons, sent Henry Count of Nassau to the French Court, and Chieures framed his Instructions. They consisted of three parts with relation to the three principal Affairs which then were to be adjusted betwixt the Archduke and the most Christian King, with this Artifice that the most important of the three was put in the last place, and appeared only as an accessary to the other two: whereas the other two rightly taken were but an accessary to the last. Chieures then represented in the first place, that it was absolutely necessary for the repose of Christendom that the King of France and the Archduke to the friendship that was betwixt them should add a Bond that might render it indissoluble; and that in the Juncture than no such Bond could be but the marriage of the Archduke with Renée of France, second Daughter to Lovis the Twelfth, and younger Sister to the most Christian Queen. The Count of Nassau was told that the chief business for which he was sent to Paris was only to make that Proposal, and that there seemed only two Obstacles that could thwart it, one arising from the Portion of the Princess, and the other from her Person. As to the first, all men knew that Lovis the Twelfth had but two Daughters alive by the Heiress of Bretagne, Claudia Queen of France and Renée; and that Claudia the Eldest, whom the Salic Law debarred from the Succession to the Crown, carried by birthright the two Fiefs, which were in deed and in pretention the Estates of their Father and Mother, to which the younger Sister could lay no claim. The Fief effective was Bretagne, and the pretended, the Duchy of Milan which Lovis had lost three years before his death, and of which Francis the First was about to attempt the recovery by going into Italy in Person with a powerful Army. But that the Royal Family of Dreux, which for almost three hundred years had possessed Bretagne, and that of Visconti, which had held the Milanese as long, had purchased fair Estates there, with Towns and Castles from several private persons: That these Estates ought not to be considered as Crown Lands in the succession of Lovis and Anne of Bretagne, and that by consequent Renée of France ought to come in for a share with the most Christian Queen: That upon that account it might happen that Francis the First would refuse his Sister-in-law to the Archduke, 
In the Instructions of the Count of Nassau.  as apprehending that one day the Archduke might put him to it in demanding too rigorously his share, and in not accepting a valuable consideration, to the end he might reserve to himself entries into France by Bretagne, and into Italy by the Duchy of Milan, supposing France should reconquer it.  
The Expedient which Chieures found for that, and which he inserted in the Instructions, was to anticipate and declare beforehand to the Council of Francis the First that the Archduke and Princess Renée at their Marriage should renounce the Successions of her Father and Mother for a certain Sum of money; and all the circumspection that was required of the Count was to drive the Sum as high as possibly he could, without breaking up the Treaty. The second Obstacle consisted in that the Princess Renée was ugly and ill shaped; which made him fear that the French might take a pretext from thence to condemn her to a single life, for this reason that she would infallibly be slighted by him that should marry her. Whereupon the Count of Nassau had Orders to represent, that the Archduke was early convinced by his Governor, That Sovereigns married not for their private satisfaction, but for the good of their Subjects: That he was fully instructed in the duties of marriage; That the Princess and he were of the same age; and seeing the qualities of her mind made sufficient mends for the defects of her body, the Archduke would not fail to love her tenderly, and to use her as kindly as if she were a most charming beauty.  
The second Article of the Negotiation related to the restitution of Navarre, because Francis the First, upon his coming to the Crown had declared that he would have it restored to John d' Albert; and that if he could not dispose the Catholic King to it, he would break with him upon that consideration alone. Chieures obliged Nassau to wave as much as he could treating of so nice a point, by representing the impossibility of snatching that Crown out of the hands of his Catholic Majesty, by any other course than that of the Sword; and by adding that the Archduke had no hand in that usurpation, and that it depended no more on him than it did on the most Christian King, to restore John d' Albert: but if the Council of France stood upon it, and would not treat without that, Nassau having protested that his Master had no power upon his Maternal Grandfather, which was but too true; should say that the Archduke as to that particular could do but two things, and that he offered to the Christian King to do both. The first was sincerely to use his interest with the Catholic King to dispose him to restore Navarre, and the next to promise faithfully to restore it himself upon the death of his Maternal Grandfather.  
The third Article remained which was properly the soul of the Negotiation. It related to the assistance which the Archduke thought needful to him for obtaining the succession of Spain, and Chieures expressed it in the most civil and reserved terms that could be. No mention was made in it, neither of the Catholic Kings design of frustrating the elder of his Grandchilds of the Monarchies of Castille and Arragon in favours of the younger, nor of the youngers ambitious resolution by all means to comply with the kindness that his Grandfather had for him, though he was sufficiently sensible of the injustice thereof. It was only expressed in general terms, that if, according to the course of nature, the Archduke outlived his Maternal Grandfather, and that he should meet with difficulties in obtaining the Succession of that Prince from what hand soever they might happen; France, who acknowledged the Archduke for next, immediate, lawful, universal, and apparent Heir of the two Monarchies to which the Laws in that case called him to reign alone, and in exclusion of all others, should assist him with Forces and Ships till he were peaceably settled in the possession of those two Kingdoms, and should in no manner favour his Competitor, even though he, to engage the King of France more powerfully to his defence, should offer actually to restore Navarre to John d' Albert.  
The Count of Nassau acquitted himself of so thorny a Commission sooner and more easily than was expected at the Court of Bruxelles, because Francis the First persuaded himself that nothing could hinder him from recovering the Duchy of Milan provided his Expedition into Italy were not diverted by the irruption of the Flemings into Picardy and Champagne; and that then it would be at the option of his most Christian Majesty either to send an Army, or to go in Person for the restauration of John d' Albert. In that prospect he offered Nassau six hundred thousand Crowns for the Portion of his Sister-in-law; 
In the Treaties betwixt France and Austria.  and Nassau the more willingly accepted them, that he would have been content with four hundred thousand, if the Chancellor Du Prat, and the Commissioners who treated with him, had stood firm not to give him any more. The second Article was more disputed, because the French were positive that the Archduke should promise to declare for John d' Albert against the Catholic King, supposing he absolutely should refuse the restitution of Navarre. Nassau on the contrary maintained, that it was no less against nature than good manners that a Grandson should espouse the quarrel of a stranger against his own Grandfather. Francis was so impatient to conclude, that after long debates he remitted it; and the third Article was at length decided, his Majesty resolving to imitate the example of Charles the Fifth, his great great Grandfather, who, without the assistance of any other Sovereign, had at his pleasure disposed of the Crown of Castille by the Arms of his Constable Du Guesclin. So the Negotiation was ended at Paris in the beginning of the Summer One thousand five hundred and fifteen; and Stephen Poncher, who had been chief Minister of State to Lovis the Twelfth, was ordered to go to Flanders to be Witness to the Ratification of the Treaty. The Archduke was gone into Holland, and Poncher found him at the Hague. He was received there with more Joy than Pomp: but as the Archduke had Spies at the Court of the Catholic King, so had the Catholic King at his, who discovered by means which Historians disagree about; that the Grandson was taken off from the Interests of his Grandfather; and that he had even called him an Usurper, by confessing that he had unjustly seized the Kingdom of Navarre, and by obliging himself to restore it so soon as it was in his power. They acquainted the Catholic King with it, who confirmed himself in the resolution that, as we said before, he had already taken of undoing Chieures; and frustrating the Archduke not only of what he had acquired by Conquest, but also of what he could pretend to in Spain.  
The first step he made in his revenge was to put Navarre in a condition, that though the Archduke would restore it, yet his own Subjects might have right to take him off from it, and to oppose the execution of his intentions. For understanding of his Intrigue, we must call to mind that the Monarchy of Castille was much more powerful in Spain than Arragon was before their union, and that since, Queen Isabel had enlarged it by joining thereto the Kingdom of Granada. It was more able than Arragon to preserve the Kingdom of Navarre when once that Kingdom were joined to it; and that was the only motive that made the Catholic King, who till then had held the Kingdom of Navarre annexed to the Crown of Arragon, change his Conduct, and seek ways how he might join it to those of Castille. He knew that John d' Albert, with consent of the most Christian King, raised a great Army in the Provinces of France adjoining the Pryenees, for recovery of his Crown; and seeing he needed an extraordinary strength to resist him, the States of Arragon and Castille were assembled at the same time, that under one and the same pretext he might raise great Contributions in both Monarchies.  
The Union of Navarre was offered to both; and it was offered upon so much the better ground, that that Crown on the one side bordered upon Castille, and on the other upon Arragon, so that it lay equally convenient for both. Seeing Ferdinand had a design to impose upon those of Arragon, he would not go himself to Sarragossa, where the Estates were to assemble, but thought it enough to send thither the Queen Germana in his place. That Princess who had the Art of caressing, and who besides for better deceiving the Arragonese was her Husband's blind, made great Journeys, and hastened to Monçon where the Estates had assembled themselves, the Arragonese having declared that it was there, and not at Sarragossa, where according to the privileges of the Country the Estates ought to meet. She gained the two most powerful Bodies, which were the Clergy and Nobility: She represented to them according to the Instructions which she had received from the Catholic King, that Arragon was much weaker than Castille; and that if heretofore it had resisted it, there were two such concurrent assistances of Heaven in the case, that it would be a tempting of God to trust to the hopes of their continuance; the one, that all the Kings of Arragon to the number of twenty eight, were always more witty and valiant than those of Castille; and the next, that the Castilians could never make War against the Arragonese longer than two years at a time; and that at the end of that at farthest, they had new Enemies, or new Civil Wars to take them up, which had obliged, or to say better, constrained them to give peace to the Arragonese: That Arragon, indeed, was at present united to Castille, but that it might be again separated from it, and that in that case it would again return to its former state: That to prevent Castille from reducing it then into a Province, no better course could be taken than to join Navarre to Arragon, because that increase would render it so equal in strength to Castille, that the Castilians durst not any more attempt to subject it: That the only means of obliging the Catholic King to that, seeing Navarre was his Conquest, consisted in supplying him with moneys for the preserving it this one time only, that is to say, during the Campaign One thousand five hundred and fifteen, because John d' Albert could make no other effort but that once; and if he succeeded not, France being discouraged by so constant a misfortune would no more protect him.  
The Arrogonese being persuaded by a discourse which carried the more probability with it that they presumed themselves to be better beloved of the Catholic King than the Castilians, by reason he was their Country man born, and their Hereditary King, willingly taxed themselves, and furnished a vast Sum of Money considering the barrenness of their Country. So that Queen Germana would have acquired a great deal of glory by her Negotiation, had it not been for an adventure from which persons of her quality might seem to be exempted. Anthony Augustine of Arragonian extraction, but born in Catalonia, had through his merit raised himself to the dignity of Vicechancellor of Arragon according to most Historians, or of Chancellor according to others. His Faction and Cabal was then strongest in the States, and if one was not sure to obtain by his means what was desired, it was certain at least there was nothing at all to be obtained if he opposed it. The Queen, who knew this very well, made it her particular care to gain him; and succeeded therein beyond what she expected, seeing she made the Chancellor in love only by endeavouring to increase his zeal for his Master's service.  
Princess' have this unhappiness as well as other of their Sex that are inferior to them, that they cannot always captivate those whom they would, and catch sometimes those whom they would not. The Queen was so free in her civilities to the Chancellor; 
In the History of that Chancellor.  and the Chancellor so well disposed to love the Queen; that he was not ware of the Trap when his passion already bordered upon extravagance. And the truth is, instead of striving against it, he applauded himself therein, and valued himself most when he ought to have reckoned himself a fool. He flattered himself with the hopes of a success which he had neither ground nor occasion to promise himself; and fell into the extremity of doting, by fancying that the Queen would be overjoyed to cherish the flame which she had kindled: That the Interest of that Princess concurred in a very nice point with the passion which she had raised: That she had no Children, and that there was a necessity that by all means she should: That it was but too apparent that she could have none by her Husband: but that if she had so much modesty as not to court the help of another, perhaps she would not have enough to refuse it when freely offered: That there were some Junctures wherein if necessity lessened not the Crime, yet it served to render it more excusable; and that the Arragonese would not much care how they came by a Prince, provided they had one; because whoever he should be, he would serve their ends in dividing them from the Castilians with whom they could not endure to beunited, and give them a Master that would far more depend upon them, than they upon him.  
It is the blind side of love to believe the things which one desires, though never so incredible, as firmly as those whereof we are most convinced. The Chancellor observed no measures in declaring his passion to the Queen; and her Majesty though thereby provoked to the highest degree, yet durst not treat him as he deserved. She considered that her honour was concerned in managing dextrously so nice an affair, and that though the Criminal could never be sufficiently punished for the fault he had committed, yet the rebound of the punishment inflicted, if it were not kept very secret, would infallibly hit the person offended. In that prospect she thought it enough to let the Chancellor know immediately, and without being perceived, the just resentment she received of his impudence, and in all things else carried fair with him so long as the States of Monçon lasted: but after they were ended, she returned to the Catholic King her Husband, and informed him of the folly of the Chancellor. The King commended the Queen no less for her Prudence than her Loyalty. He waited for another opportunity of revenging himself upon that Minister; and caused his Conduct to be so narrowly observed, that some misdemeanours were found against him, which yet reached not his life. Upon the account of those he was arrested without violating the Privileges of Arragon, and clapped up in Prison, where he lay so long as Ferdinand lived, and Queen Germana was in authority.  
The Estates of Castille ended not so quickly as those of Arragon; and the Catholic King had got what he expected from these; when he proposed to the others what he really designed to do for them. He spoke big to them of his Conquest of Navarre, and declared that he had taken all that pains for them: He offered to them, without any condition, to unite that Crown to their Monarchy; and having gained them by a Present of that importance, conjured them to assist him in the preservation of it. Hereupon Navarre was in due form incorporated with Castille. The Estates gave the Catholic King thrice as much as he had received from those of Arragon, and that liberality served him for an excuse to his Hereditary Subjects for his breach of promise to them. He sent them word, that what they had granted him not being sufficient to defray the charges of the defence of Navarre, he had been constrained to accept the offers of the Castilians, and the condition they had imposed upon him: That he had, indeed, united Navarre to their Monarchy, but that he had done nothing in that but what his Councils of Conscience and State had advised him to: That his Counsel of Conscience had determined, that since the Kingdom of Navarre was conquered by a Castilian General the Duke of Alva, by an Army almost all native Castilians, and by the Money which had been contributed by the States of Castille, His Catholic Majesty could not, without an evident piece of injustice to them, refuse to unite to their Monarchy a Conquest made at their charges: That his Council of State had sesolved the same; though upon another Principle: That he foresaw that John d' Albert finding himself too weak for recovering the Crown of his Queen, would in despair be obliged to make over to France the Rights that he had to it; and that in that case France having none to make head against it but the little Monarchy of Arragon, would very easily snatch Navarre from them: whereas the most Christian Kings would find incomparably a harder labour of it, if they must fight a King of Castille, whose Dominions were as large as their own, since they comprehended two thirds of all Spain.  
It is to be believed, that the Arragonese were not satisfied with that off-come, and that they were not willing so to be paid for the ready money which he had filily drawn out of their Purses by the shamoffer of an imaginary promotion to Grandeur. But their resentment came not to the height of an Insurrection; and that which stopped their sliding into so slippery a Precipice, was the reparation for the injury done unto them, that they expected from the Successor of the Catholic King, perceiving him now drawing towards his end. We cannot but mention briefly in this place for the full clearing of this History, 
In the first Petition of the Arragonese to Charles the Fifth.  though the Occurrences which we are about to describe concern it but indirectly, that the Army raised by John d' Albert for the recovery of Navarre, had no success but in the beginning of Action: that is was afterwards unfortunate; that being unluckily divided, the Forces of the Catholic King beat part of it; that the rest perished by Famine; that John d' Albert died for grief upon it; and that Catharine de Foix his Wife outlived him but a few months; that their Succession descended upon the eldest Son of fourteen Children which they had, who was not then of age to carry Arms, and that in this world the good fortune of the Catholic King in his usurpations lasted as long as his life.  
The submission that he found in Arragon, inhabited by a people most jealous of their Privileges, on an occasion whereon no instance could be shown that they would have suffered any such thing from the Kings his Predecessors, fully persuaded him that he would meet with no opposition when he should demand of the Arragonese, that they would prefer the younger of his Grandsons before the Elder; and that then the Castilians would imitate their example in that particular, with so much the more facility, that it was no new thing to them, and that their History afforded an instance of a like ranversing of the of the order of nature. He thereupon, on the fifteenth of June One thousand five hundred and fifteen made an Authentic Testament after his own way, and couched it so artfully, that his intentions therein appeared exactly conform to the Precepts of the Gospel.  
In the beginning he premised that his affection for the Castilians and Arragonese whom he had governed two and forty years, overswayed with him all other humane considerations; and he took God to witness that what he was about to do, proceeded solely from that Principle: He added, that he had never seen the Archduke Charles; and that on the contrary, the Infanto Ferdinand could not be better known to him than he was: that he was born in his Palace; that he was his Godfather; had given him his name; bred him; placed about him such persons as would take care of his Education; and that above all things that could endear the Infanto to him, he was his own Picture, and much more resembled him than any of the Children whom he had immediately begotten: That he had his Air, Countenance, Shape, Humours, and even his Gate; and that all Courtiers observed his Genius to be the very same: but that nevertheless nothing of all that inclined him to prefer him before the Archduke That he had three such prevalent reasons for it, as he was willing to make public; to the end unprejudiced Posterity might judge of his conduct. The first was, because his Catholic Majesty had always been crossed in the care that he would have taken of the Archduke, and thence it was that that young Prince was not fit to govern the Spaniards: That in spite of him they had set over him Chieures a Fleming, who not only was unacquainted with the Spanish manners, but besides, had a fearful Antipathy to them: That this Governor had made it his whole design to get so absolute a sway over the Genius of his Pupil, that he was become all at once, his Governor, Chamberlain, High Steward, and Favourite: That if the Archduke Reigned in Spain, that Gentleman alone would make up his whole Council, and the Spaniards would be governed by a stranger, which never happened since the usurpation of the Moors: That their Laws and Customs would be changed, their Privileges abolished, their Magistracies sold, and the Commerce of the Indies transported to the Low Countries.  
The second reason was taken from hence, 
In the first Testament of King Ferdinand.  That if Castille and Arragon had stood in need of a resident King whilst these two Monarchies were divided, they had much more need of one since their Union; and there was no doubt to be made but that the absence of their Monarch would cause Revolutions amongst them, seeing it was a certain truth that they never failed to suffer Commotions that shook the very Foundations, when their Sovereigns were in the least absent. Nevertheless nothing was more certain than that the Archduke would neither live always, nor yet long at a time in Spain, supposing he were their King: That it would be unjust, and indeed foolish to expect it: That he possessed the Low Countries which lay too conveniently for France and England not to be usurped by one of those two Monarchies, if their Master budged from thence; and besides, he was in Germany to succeed to the ten Hereditary Provinces of the House of Austria, which would no less absolutely require his presence: whereas the Infanto his Brother, who was to have no more but the Monarchies of Castille and Arragon, would live six months of the year in one, and the other six months in the other.  
In fine, the third reason alleged, That it would be a greater prejudice to the Archduke to leave him the Monarchies of Spain than to frustrate him of them, seeing in the first case the Germans would be sure not to choose him Emperor in place of his Paternal Grandfather, and would ground his Exclusion upon their fear, lest being otherwise so powerful he might attempt the changing of their Aristocratical State into an absolute Monarchy, as it happened to all those Nations who had chosen Sovereigns that were able to subject them; whereas the Archduke having no more but the Low Countries, and the ten Hereditary Provinces of the House of Austria, though he was more powerful than any Prince of Germany considered separately, yet he would not be near so strong as all of them together; and by consequent durst not molest any of them, for fear they might all League against him, depose him, and having divided the Empire among themselves, dispossess him of his Hereditary States.  
In the next place, the Catholic King disposed of the Monarchies of Castille and Arragon by the chief Article of his Will, in the same manner as if they had both equally belonged unto him. He left them purely and simply to the Infanto Ferdinand his Grandson after the death of the Queen his Mother. He supposed that the Distemper of that Princess would last as long as she lived; and would have the Archduke to rest satisfied with the Succession of his Father, of which he was fully in possession, and that of his paternal Grandfather which he would not miss of; as if it had been in the power of his Catholic Majesty to make a lawful compensation of inheritances that did not at all belong to him, with these whereof he was but proprietor in part.  
The Testament was not kept secret, whether the Catholic King sought for an opportunity of revenging himself upon his elder Grandson and his Governor, by the trouble it might give them, or that he did not so much stand in awe of them as to conceal what he had done to their prejudice. The Infanto Ferdinand, his principal Servants, the Councils of State of Castille and Arragon knew it, and the news of it was soon brought into Flanders. All the Archdukes comfort was, that by the assistance of the French he might recover what was unjustly given away from him; and Chieures had not leisure to make all the Reflections which so extraordinary a Case deserved, because he was obliged to make it his business to break the most dangerous Conspiracy that ever was hatched against the favour of a man of his quality.  
It is not known whether the Catholic King looked upon him as the greatest Enemy that the Infanto Ferdinand could have, or that he judged it absolutely necessary to turn him out, not only of place but of life also, to the end that his Majesties Will might be punctually accomplished: But it is certain that no measures that could be taken were omitted to oblige the Archduke to put away his Governor, or for undoing the same Governor, in case his Pupil were obstinate in keeping him about his Person. The manner how this was set about deserves to be particularly mentioned, were it for no other end but to observe the degrees by which the malice of Man advances to the greatest of Crimes, when once it comes to deceive itself under a cloak and pretext of Devotion. It was impossible to reach Chieures by the way of Law and Justice, because his integrity that was known to all men secured him from any such attempt; though after a frequent and most critical examination of all that had been acted in the Low-Countries wherein he was concerned, notice was taken of the Ceremony which the Archduke by the advice of his Governor had established in admitting new Knights into the Order of the Golden Fleece.  
By the Laws of Institution of that Order approved by the Holy See, it is provided that the Knights should be chosen out of the Noblest Families; and it was pretended that Chieures had contravened this, by proposing to the Archduke in the last Chapter that was held for making of Knights, some whose Nobility was not sufficiently made out. 
In the constitutions of the Order of the Golden Fleece.  It could not be denied but that those Men were of greater merit than the others who had been excluded, because it was so evident a thing that it would have served to confound the Enemies of Chieures; but the words of the Institution must exactly be stuck to, and it was maintained that Chieures was guilty in not having exactly observed them.  
Upon this, these Cases of Conscience were proposed to several Divines of Spain: Whether Chieures by disposing his Pupil to give the Order to such kind of Persons had not mortally sinned against God: Whether there were not three different sorts of Injustice in the sin he had committed; first, in regard of his Divine Majesty, who is jealous that the Ordinances authorised by his Church should be punctually observed; secondly, against the Order of the Golden Fleece, of which the most important Statute was violated; and lastly, against the Nobles of Flanders accustomed to draw the chief proofs of their Nobility from those of their Ancestors who had had the honour to receive the Order of the Fleece: Whether Chieures was not obliged to make restitution of the Salaries paid to those undeserving Knights; and lastly, whether he was not an accomplice in the false proofs of Nobility which they had produced before they were received into the Order.  
The Divines decided all the Cases to the disadvantage of Chieures, and their resolutions were immediately sent into Flanders to the Ambassador of the Catholic King, who showing them to the Archduke pressed him on the part of his maternal Grandfather, that he would at least send the guilty person home to his house seated in the Province of Haynauld, if the Services which he had rendered him protected him from being punished in a more exemplary manner. The Archduke instead of having any respect to the Proposition of the Ambassador and the authority of the Casuists that backed it, defended his Governor upon the spot by two reasons; first, that if there had been any fault committed in the creation in question, he was as much to be blamed as Chieures, seeing they had examined the proofs together; and that if they had been surprised in it, the surprise was no less common to both: Secondly, that though Chieures were more guilty than he, yet it followed not that he ought to be banished the Court, and that a little mistake should make him forget the long and indefatigable pains of his Education. The Catholic King, who managed the whole Intrigue, though he acted only by such instruments as seemed to have no concerns with him, being unsuccessful in his first essay, changed Battery, and applied himself to Henry the Eighth, King of England his Son-in-law. He represented to him that the greatest interest of his English Majesty consisted in opposing by all means the Alliances betwixt the French and the Flemings: That the wisest of his Predecessors had laid down that maxim as a fundamental in their Politics: That they found the advantage of it so long as they practised the same, and that on the contrary, they lost all for having neglected it: That the late King, Henry the Seventh had exactly observed it in the beginning and towards the middle of his Reign; but that he had omitted it towards the end, when old age and the extraordinary infirmities it had brought upon him, had rendered him unable to apply himself long to business: that nevertheless that was the Juncture when he ought to have eluded the Article of the last Will and Testament of Philip of Austria which entreated Lovis XII. King of France to take the care of the education of his eldest Son: That his Majesty had opposed it with all his might because he foresaw the dangerous consequences thereof, but that he could not prevail for want of the assistance of England: That the most Christian King had placed Chieures about the Archduke; and that Chieures being in that nature obliged to France, strove to show himself but too grateful: That it was not enough for him to adjust all the affairs of the Archduke to the Interests of Lovis his Benefactor so long as that Prince lived, but that after his death he had continued the same conduct in regard of Francis the First his Successor: That the Treaty of Marriage of the Archduke with Renée of France was an undeniable proof of it: That there was no doubt to be made but that that Marriage would be accomplished, and that by consequence France and the Low Countries would act jointly so long as Chieures were about the Archduke: That his Catholic Majesty had made it his business to oblige the Archduke to remove him, and that there wanted only the Offices of the King of England for succeeding in it.  
Henry the Eighth, with extreme trouble understood that Francis the first, for his first Essay had recovered the Duchy of Milan. He imputed the easiness of that young Prince's Success to his having employed all the Forces of France in Italy without being obliged to leave Troops for the Guard of his Frontiers of Picardy and Champagne. The last Negotiation of Chieures with his most Christian Majesty was, in his Judgement, the cause of it, and the Marriage of the Archduke with the Sister-in-law of Francis the First, was like so to secure him in his Conquest, that neither Spain, Germany, nor Italy could snatch it out of his hands.  
These four considerations inclined his Majesty of England to send to the Archduke, and to represent to him by the Ambassador which he had at his Court, that seeing he had more wit for his age than any Prince mentioned in History ever had had, and that he was already capable of Reigning alone by himself, it was not only useless, but also disgraceful to him to retain at his Court such a man as Chieures, who so long as he continued there would eclipse his Reputation: That Politicians who could not call to mind that ever they had seen or read of a Prince that at the age of fifteen years, had more prudence, readiness of wit, address, and experience than the eldest Monarches of Europe had, would never believe that the Judicious Councils taken in Flanders about the nicest matters of State, came immediately from him: That they would always imagine Chieures to be the Author of them; that he suggested them; found out proper expedients for putting them in execution; and that being now satisfied with the glory which he had already acquired in Governing the Low-Countries during the nonage of the Archduke with so great wisdom that the Flemings had found no effects of the minority of their Prince, he acted like a complete Courtier in endeavouring to procure by times a high Reputation to his young Master by attributing to him all the projects and important resolutions that came from himself: whereas, if Chieures were consigned to his House in Haynauld whereof he carried the name, there to spend the rest of his days in quietness; or if it were thought fit to send him to the Emperor's Court there to manage the Germane Princes for the future Election of his Pupil to the Empire, Men would do Justice to the Archdukes merit, and nothing would hereafter hinder the People from admiring him as he deserved.  
Henry the Eighth added that he was his Neighbour, and more, his Uncle; and that in both these respects he could not endure that Chieures should continue at the Court of Bruxelles: That that Fleming, to say no worse of him, was too much French; and that as thereby he was become suspected to England, so Spain would less suffer him to remain the chief Minister and Favourite of him whom they looked upon as next apparent Heir of almost all their Kingdoms.  
The Archduke made answer to these so urgent reasons, that the fairest reputation he could acquire was that of being grateful, and that he neither aught, nor would be thought so, if he were not so in reality: That he could not tell whether he was more obliged to those who had given him life than he was to Monsieur de Chieures who had brought him up, and that it would not vex him if he continued all his life-time in that doubt: but that he knew very well that there was no man living to whom he had more disinterested obligations, and that he should be guilty of the blackest ingratitude, if he made it not known in the world, not only by words and declarations, but in effect and deeds: That the least of these effects was to continue not to undertake any important Affair without acquainting him with it; and that he was willing his Majesty of England should know that he was so punctual in concealing nothing from his Governor, that he had showed him the Letter which he had received from him: That he knew Monsieur de Chieures so well, that he would answer for him, that he was no more Frenchified than he had reason for; and that after all, God had been so gracious to him as to make him a Sovereign: That he was free to admit of such persons into his Council as he thought capable: That his Neighbours had no right to take exceptions at that, provided he did them no injustice in the case; and that his Majesty of England had far less than the rest, since he acknowledged in his Letter that Monsieur de Chieures was a man of parts and honesty notwithstanding all that he subjoined to his prejudice; That he had rather believe the best than the worst; and that the esteem which he had for his Majesty was concerned that he should do so.  
Nothing so much afflicts those who are extraordinarily sensible, as Kings for most part are, than when they see that their firm resolutions of ruining the fortune of a Favourite, increased instead of lessening the same. The Archdukes answer to Henry was conceived in such terms as made it sufficiently apparent that nothing was to be got by persisting to press him to remove Chieures; and they who examined it were so well convinced of that, that their hatred to him transported them to the utmost extremity. They resolved by all means to dispatch him; and seeing the extraordinary care that the Archduke took of his Governor from the time of the Letter we have been speaking of, put him without all danger of being assassinated, they had recourse to the way of Poison. Diligent search was made in Flanders for those who were discontented at Chieures, and seeing it was difficult considering the place he held, but that a great many thought they had reason to complain of him, because, as we shall see hereafter, the Archduke took pleasure to bestow the chief Charges and richest Benefices upon the Relations of his Governor without being solicited by him, there was a Conspiracy form to poison him. All measures for that end were taken; and the day appointed for putting it in execution drew nigh, when God, who suffers not always innocence to be oppressed, were it only that persons but of ordinary virtue should not be too much scandalised, permitted Chieures to be informed of the mischief that was a preparing for him. He acquainted the Archduke with it, but in so unconcerned a manner as if he had not spoken in his own Cause. He told him that he had bad news to inform him of, and that he would not do it but upon condition that he should show no more resentment of it than if he were ignorant of the same, or as if it did not at all concern him: That there were some crimes that out of a principle of Policy ought to pass unpunished; and that as God did not always punish the most enormous faults here in this world, so neither did he sometimes take it ill that Sovereigns should refer the punishment of them to him who would not fail to do exemplary Justice in the other world: That the Poisoning in question was one of these; and that it ought of necessity be winked at, seeing it must have been dissembled if it had taken effect: That the enquiry made into it must either be exact, or but superficial; if it were exact, it would be to no purpose on the one hand, because the quality of the parties guilty would of itself exempt them from all sorts of Process; and on the other hand it would do infinite prejudice both to the Archduke who might pretend to be offended at an unseasonable time, and to his Governor who would be exposed to a second attempt better concerted, and by consequent more inevitable than the former. If the enquiry were but superficial, it would still exasperate the Poisoners as much, and be no less inconvenient for him who had escaped their rage: That in an indictment and trial wherein the Public was so much concerned, informations and other proceed would go too far, and insensibly pass from the Actors to the Authors: That perhaps, these might be found to be so nearly related to the Archduke, that the disgrace inconsiderately put upon them would reflect upon himself; and that in a word, there was nothing to be done but to have a care for the future of the like inconveniences; that is to say, to be so vigilant and circumspect that if he must needs still fall, it might be by such an unavoidable fate as humane prudence could not prevent.  
The Archduke more out of compliance than inclination followed the counsel of his Governor: but though the matter was not brought to a trial, yet it broke forth, and was so well known, that the Historians of Spain have not dared to smother it, though they speak of it in most general, and consequently most insignificant terms. The rebound of so great a mischief nevertheless must needs hit the weaker Party, and it was the misfortune of Chieures to be in that case at that time. The Catholic King uncertain whom to be revenged on because Chieures was not banished, made Dean Adrian smart for it, whether it was that he suspected him of having thwarted his design, or that he accused him of not having seconded it with the credit which he had acquired at the Court of Bruxelles. He confined him to Guadalupa, where he hoped that his abode would be so uneasy as to make him desirous of returning home to the Low Countries; but his Majesty did not foresee that his own life would be too short to tyre out the Deans patience. He had desired heretofore his Horoscope to be cast, and God who punishes Sovereigns that are addicted to Judicial Astrology more severely and universally than private persons, either because he is more Jealous upon their account for the attribute which according to Scripture raises him highest above them, I mean the knowledge of things to come, or that the scandal they give in that particular is more insupportable to him, deferred not the punishment of it till the next World. He began it in this, by blinding the understanding of King Ferdinand, and permitting the Astrologers to tell him part of the truth. They assured him that he should die at Madrigal, and that Prediction which seemed not at all equivocal, was by his Majesty interpreted in the most natural sense. He thought it ought to be understood of the Town of Madrigal in Castille, upon so much the better ground that there was no other Town of that name in all Spain. This put such fancies in his head, that he thought he should not die but when he had a mind to it, and to express it plainly in his own meaning, that he should live till he were weary of life. One of his Courtiers had confirmed him in that opinion, by telling him that he had visited a Lady in the City of Avila, whom the Public had Sainted in her life-time, and who in Spain was honoured as the Saints in heaven: That he had had the happiness of a quarter of an hours discourse with her, and that he had not failed to recommend the Catholic King to her Prayers: That the holy woman had answered him, that his Majesty should not die till he had conquered the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and that she had not enjoined him to keep that revelation secret. There needed no more for taking off Ferdinand from seriously thinking on his latter end; and to complete his blindness, that which ought to have excited him to it, served only to divert him from the same. After the drinking of the Love-potion we mentioned, he had been often taken with such terrible fits, that the Physicians thought he was ready to expire: Nevertheless he came to himself again so well, that next day after he employed himself in Affairs of State as formerly. He thereupon fancied that the fainting fits that now and then seized him, would be of no dangerous consequence; and when Father Martin of Matience, a Monk of the Order of St. Dominick, his Confessor came to attend him on Holy days, he asked him if he had any Memoires to communicate to him; and no sooner had the Confessor answered no, but that Ferdinand presently dismissed him. Being thus prepossessed he was informed that the best Commandery of the Knights of Callatrava was vacant by the death of Guttierez of Padilla, and resolved immediately to confer it upon Ferdinand of Arragon, lawful Son to the Archbishop of Sarragossa his natural Son. He could not do it according to the Constitutions without calling the Chapter in that sole prospect upon the place, 
In the institution of the Order of Callatrava.  and therefore he set out upon his Journey thither. But about the end of the month of January One thousand five hundred and sixteen, when he was come to the Hamlet of Madrigalejo, through which he must of necessity pass unless he went a great way about, his dissentery grew so great, that it was impossible for him to proceed any further. That Hamlet, the least in all Spain, stood within the Precincts of the Town of Trugillo; and that was all which rendered it considerable. Ferdinand was no sooner informed of the name of it, but that he found his mistake in the interpretation he put upon his Horoscope, and that he had in vain with so much care shunned to go to the great Madrigal, since he must end his days in the little one, Madrigalejo in the Spanish Tongue being a diminutive of Madrigal. He sent for the knowing men of his Retinue; enquired of them whether that Hamlet where he was had not always gone by the same name since Castille was delivered from the Tyranny of the Moors; and when they had made him answer that it had never changed name; and that it was so inconsiderable that no man durst venture to put it into the Map, he told them, than Ferdinand is gone.  
He sent for his Confessor, and discoursed him in good earnest about the affairs of his conscience, and having ordered them, he called for three of his ancientest and ablest Counselors of State, who were the Licentiat Zapata, Doctor Carvaial, and the Treasurer Vargas. He asked them what he had more to do for the good of the Spanish Monarchy, and told them that they might speak with all freedom. These Spaniards were so aged that they could have no interest in the affairs that might happen after the death of Ferdinand. They expected not to outlive him long, and therefore his Successor was a thing indifferent to them. They had no cause to fear any change in their fortune, because they knew that the beginnings of the most severe Reigns were always easy; and they expected to die in the beginning. Besides, they foresaw that which soever of the two Grandsons of the Catholic King should succeed to him, he would not turn them out of his Council; seeing if it were the Archduke, he could not for a long time do it because of his absence; and if it were the Infanto Ferdinand, he could less do it by reason of his minority. Nothing then swayed with them but the inclination which in latter Ages had been so absolutely predominant, and is still so predominant in the Spaniards, that hardly does History mention one who hath been free from it. And that is so violent a love for their Monarchy, that it always prevails with them over the most natural and just considerations; which is of so vast an extent that it comprehends the whole Earth; so constant, that it increases rather than is diminished by bad success; and so nice and Metaphysical that it makes always a distinction betwixt the Monarchy and the Monarch, and never confounds the inclinations for the second with the interests of the first. The Catholic King during the two and forty years that he had Reigned, had so accustomed those whom he admitted into his Councils to lay down the universal Monarchy of Spain for the ground of all their deliberations, that the three Ministers whom he consulted agreed in this sentiment that now was the Juncture when Spain was to Reign all over Europe; and that if the opportunity was not then nicked whatever might happen, perhaps it would never offer again. That we may more clearly express their thoughts, they supposed, that if the Archduke should to the Monarchies of Castille and Arragon unite the Low Countries, the Empire, and the Hereditary Provinces of the House of Austria in Germany, it would be his own fault if he conquered not the Kingdom of France, and that afterward the rest of Europe would make but a weak resistance: whereas if the States, to which the Archduke ought to succeed, were divided, and if the Testament of the Catholic King which continued him to the Inheritance of his Father and Paternal Grandfather held good in that particular: If the Infanto Ferdinand had Spain, and if by that means variance entered into the House of Austria; not only the greatness of the Monarchy of Spain would be at a stand, but also it would lose all that it held in Italy, and in the Neighbourhood. It was only then in that prospect, and without any respect to the Archduke and his personal qualities, that Zapata, Carvaial, and Vargas, declared in his Favours, and the advantage he reaped from it is no less singular for the causes of it than it is in itself.  
The three Ministers represented to Ferdinand, that seeing his Majesty thought fit that they should continue to speak to him with open heart as they had been wont to do, He would still have the goodness to take in good part the liberty they took to tell him that he seemed to have changed his Conduct at the end of his life, and by his last Will and Testament condemned his most considerable Actions, and which had acquired him greatest Reputation: That he had done them the honour to declare when he called them to his Council, that his only intention in this World was the enlargement of his Territories; and that though he had not expressed himself so plainly, yet there needed no more but to study his past life to convince them of it: That no Man in Europe was ignorant how Ferdinand the Catholic at the age of fifteen years had espoused the Party of the late Queen Isabel sister to Henry the fourth of Castille against the Infanta Jane the Daughter of that King; in no other view but because Isabel by bestowing herself upn him, had offered to unite the Crowns of Castille to those of Arragon; and that if Jane had been so well advised as to have preferred his Alliance before that of the Prince of Portugal who sought her in Marriage, her Party would not have succumbed, and she had not passed for a Bastard: That after the union of Castille and Arragon, for adding the Kingdom of Granada to them, Division had been sown betwixt him who was King of it and his brother; and the more powerful was so weakened by supporting the weaker against him, that both at length were oppressed: That for an accession also to Arragon by joining thereto the Kingdom of Naples, in the City of Tarento the Prince who carried the name of it, and who was the only Son of the King of Naples was Besieged: That he had been prevailed with to rely upon the Faith and Truth of the Spaniards, whose General the Great Captain had sworn to him upon the Holy Sacrament to leave him in liberty; and that notwithstanding he had been detained Prisoner, and under a sure Guard sent into Spain where still he remained in Prison: That, in a word, a pretended Bull from the Pope had been made use of for seizing the Kingdom of Navarre, and for driving from thence John d' Albert who had Married the Heiress of it: In the mean time his Catholic Majesty destroyed his own work by preferring the younger of his Grandsons before the elder, and laid an everlasting impediment to the greatness that Spain began to be raised to, by kindling betwixt the two Brothers a War which would not end but by the entire ruin of him that should be overcome, and such a weakening of the Conqueror, that Spain would be so far from expecting new Conquests under him, that it would become a Prey to the first who should invade it: That since the Spaniards had bestirred and delivered themselves from the Slavery of the Moors, they had been oftener subject to Civil Wars than Foreign, for no other reason but that the Nobles had been too powerful, and more apt to give Laws to their Masters than to receive them from them: That they had not behaved themselves more modestly nor reservedly under his Catholic Majesty, but because after his Marriage with Queen Isabel the Nobility of Castille were apprehensive of succumbing under the Forces of Arragon which they doubted not but would pour in upon them, and that the Nobles of Arragon had had a juster cause to fear their being run down by the Arms of those of Castille: That if young Ferdinand were King, one of the two would have time during his minority to take measures against him; and would retain so little respect for his Person because he was but fourteen years of age and was not so well brought up as his elder brother, that they would oblige him at least for some years to leave the public administration to the Grandees of Castille, and the chief of Arragon, which would infallibly renew Civil Wars in Spain: That if his Catholic Majesty suffering things to go according to their ordinary course called the Archduke to his Succession, the Gentlemen of Castille and Arragon would want both a pretext and means of revolting: A pretext, in that the Archduke at sixteen years of Age, was no less able to govern them than the wisest Kings of Spain have been: And means, seeing their Rebellion would instantly be crushed by the Forces which that Prince would raise in Flanders and Germany, and might easily bring into Spain by occasion of the Treaty which he had ratified with the new King of France.  
The Catholic King strangely surprised, and nevertheless convinced with this discourse, made answer, that seeing he could not conveniently leave Castille and Arragon to the Infanto, 
In the last Council given to Ferdinand.  He must at least resign to him the three great masteries of the Order of St. James, Calatrava, and Alcantara, the Revenue whereof would be sufficient for the subsistence of a Prince of his quality: That his Majesty at the same time he resolved to make him his Heir, had written to the Court of Rome, to have him invested into these three headships of Orders: That the Affair had been negotiated first with Julius the second, and since with Leo the tenth; and that the chief difficulty that those two Popes had found in it proceeded from a Bull granted before by Julius, to the Commander Padilla which assured him of succeeding to his Catholic Majesty in the great Mastery of Calatrava, provided he outlived him: That the Bull of Julius was insignificant, since Padilla was dead, and that so nothing now hindered the expedition of that which allowed his Majesty the resignation of the three Masteries in favour of the Infanto. But the three Counsellors of State, being encouraged by the success of their Remonstrances, and persuaded that having obtained the chief point, his Majesty would not long refuse to grant them what was but accessary, replied to the Catholic King conjuring him to call to mind that when he and Queen Isabel his Wife had pressed the Holy See to unite in their Royal Persons the three Masteries in question, the most important reason specified in their address was, that if none of the great Masters separately were so powerful as their King, yet all three together were far more powerful. Whence it happened that when they who were invested in those dignities confederated together to turn against their Masters the Arms, Wealth, Vassals and Credit, which the Piety of Believers had left them for acting against the Infidels, they reduced them to the necessity of granting whatever they demanded without distinction and reserve. That the Pope at that time touched with the force of that reason had written to his Nuntio in Spain to inform himself exactly if the matter were indeed so: That the Nuntio had sent him answer that it was but too true, and that thereupon the three Masteries according as they became vacant, had been conferred upon his Catholic Majesty. Whereupon they took the liberty once more to remonstrate to the King that the brothers of Princes were sometimes so strongly tempted to Reign, that nothing hindered them from succumbing under so nice a temptation but the inability to which the Laws thought it necessary to reduce them, by cutting them short of the means of succeeding in it: That there were so many instances of it in all the Monarchies of Spain that 'twould be superfluous to allege them; and that without judging of the thoughts of the Infanto, it was sufficient to observe that if one day he might have a mind of revolting against his Elder Brother, no Prince ever had or might have a fairer pretext, or more infallible means of Success, provided he were invested in these three Masteries. That the pretext would be that the Infanto had right to demand a lawful share in the Succession of his Father actually dead, of his Uncle dead in Law, and of his Grandfathers when they should be no more in being: That neither the Roman Laws, nor those of the places where the Estates lay, nor the Customs which in such cases stand instead of Laws having precisely enough regulated that legal Portion, it would depend upon the good or bad inclination of the Infanto to raise his claim so high that his elder brother could not consent to it; and in that case the quarrel betwixt the two Brothers would degenerate into a Civil War so much the more to be excused on the part of the younger, as that he would only seem to demand his Portion. That he would not want means of getting men and money, seeing all the Commanders, Officers and Knights of the three Orders whom he had preferred to Places, and besides depended on him, would mount on Horseback upon the first notice he should give them; and bringing their Vassals with them would form so considerable an Army, that his elder Brother would have much ado to be able to meet him with the like: That it was impossible to divine what the success of that War might be; and all that could be affirmed beforehand was, that it would be an everlasting Reproach to the memory of his Catholic Majesty, that he had been at least the occasion of a War betwixt two Brothers by rendering the younger so powerful, that he might think himself in a condition of offending his elder Brother with safety.  
Though ambition be one of the first passions that takes possession of the hearts of great Men, yet it is the last that leaves them; and as that had always been predominant in the Catholic King, so it made its last effort upon him to stisle the favourable thoughts that remained in him to-towards the Infanto. Not but that he still loved him as much as possibly he could, nor that he had any inclination for the Archduke; but the Idea of an universal Monarchy, flattering him at that moment above what can be imagined, without great reluctancy he sacrificed the Infanto to the Archduke in the extremity of his sickness, when he foresaw that he could not long enough outlive what he was about to do to be in a condition to make reparation for it.  
We must however subjoin in this place that before he absolutely determined to disinherit the Infanto, he made another instance to his three Ministers in his favours. he told them that he was extremely troubled to leave him in so poor a condition; but they replied positively that the greatest and sole riches of the younger of his Grandsons ought wholly to consist in the favours of his elder Brother; 
In the relation of that Conference.  because that having nothing to pretend to but by that way, he would be the more diligent in acquiring them, and more assiduous in preserving the same. The Catholic King had hardly testified by his silence that he had nothing to rereply, when they went to his Cabinet to look for the original Will which he had made seven months before, and they burnt it before his face without any show of regret on his part. He dictated and signed a new Will, so disadvantageous to the Infanto that he made no mention of him, but only to leave him, as if he had been a Bastard, an alimentary Pension of fifty thousand Crowns upon some Lands in the Kingdom of Naples.  
The Archduke was declared sole and universal Heir of the Monarchies of Castille and Arragon, and of the Crowns annexed to them without any mention of the restitution of Navarre, whatever Historians, who are not Spaniards, say to the contrary. The three great Masteries were resigned to the Archduke; and the Infanto, who had been as near a Throne as one could be without mounting it, was put off with a Pension of fifty thousand Crowns, that bore no proportion to the vast Estates whereof he was disappointed.  
The Catholic King was not quitted for having stifled in his breast the three most violent of his inclinations, which were his affection for the younger of his Grandchilds, his indifference for the Elder, and his hatred of Chieures, who, next to the Archduke, profited most of any by the second Testament, seeing he was sure under him to govern Spain so long as he lived. Able Ministers never stop unseasonably in the middle of their enterprises; and Zapata, Carvaial, and Vargas, finding their Master in a disposition to grant them all that would have been denied them in another Juncture; pressed him in the last place to use a violence upon himself, which in probability must have cost him more than all the other three put together. It hath been observed in the foregoing Book that the Catholic King could not have a greater nor more deeply rooted aversion to Cardinal Ximenes than he had: That he had used all means to get him deposed: That he had raised persecutions against him of a very long continuance; and that the Cardinal had not so much maintained himself by his parts and reputation as by the advice which Chieures had given the Archduke to support in the person of Ximenes an intelligent and steady Minister, who would always oppose the designs of the Catholic King upon Castille if he found them not to be conform to the Laws of the Country. To speak the truth, His Majesty had succumbed in the quarrel, seeing he had been forced to let the Cardinal live in peace; and his enmity thereupon was increased towards him, whether he apprehended the resentment of that Prelate, or that he could not think of it with patience because it never came into his mind, but that it seemed to upbraid him with the want of power to undo him. Nevertheless these three Counselors took a resolution to oblige Ferdinand to pardon the Cardinal in the most glorious manner that could be imagined for that Prelate, that is to say, in leaving him the full administration of Arragon and Castille till the Archduke should arrive, and he put in possession of them. They thereupon represented to his Majesty that one thing still remained to be done by him for the entire tranquillity of Spain after his death, and for obliging the People whom he had so long governed in peace to bless his memory for ever: That the Archduke was not in Spain, and that in all appearance could not suddenly be, what diligence soever he might use, seeing it behoved him to give Orders for the Affairs of the Low Countries during his absence, Chieures being too much a Courtier to remain behind, and not to follow his Master: That in the mean time the Council of Spain having no more authority would no longer be sufficient for the Government of the Monarchies of Castille and Arragon, there being no instance that ever it had attempted to give Orders during the interval betwixt two Reigns, and before the lawful Successor had been owned for King in the Estates of the two Monarchies: That therefore it was necessary to name one or more Regent's: That if more than one were named, it would strike at the most important design of his Catholic Majesty, which consisted in uniting all the Monarchies of Spain in so strict a manner, that they could not for the future be divided again: That by disusing the Castilians and Arragonese from living under one and the same administration, they would call to mind that heretofore they had been two different Monarchies, and have reason to think that still they might be; and seeing both the one and other desired nothing more passionately than to return to their former state as to that particular, they would by that means be touched in the most sensible part, and seeds of revolting be sown amongst them which would not fail to break out in time: That nevertheless there was nothing more difficult than to find out a single person capable of the whole Government of Spain; and that if he were chosen from amongst those of inferior quality, the Nobility were too haughty to obey him: if he were taken out of the body of the Nobles, 
In the last Remonstrance of the three Ministers to Ferdinand.  he must either be a Grandee, or meaner Gentleman: If he were a Grandee, seeing there was no other Prorogative in that Order but only the erection into Grandeeship, the other Grandees if they were more ancient in dignity than he that should be Regent, would refuse to submit to him; and if they were not, they would pretend that the Regency which was but a transient Commission, would not sufficiently authorize him to command them: That thereby a plausible and lasting pretext would without minding it be furnished to the restless Spaniards of revolting, and to the wiser of forbearing to declare themselves till they saw to which side victory should incline: That to remedy that there was a necessity of pitching upon a man, who on the one hand was not noble, and on the other was raised above the Grandees by the eminent dignities which he might be invested with, and for which he was only indebted to his own merit, his incomparable personal qualities, and the important services which he had rendered to the State: That there was none other but Cardinal Ximenes, Primate of all Spain, in quality of Archbishop of Toledo; and that to make a true estimate of that great Man, either there would be no inconvenience in trusting him with the administration in question, or if there were any it would be incomparably less in him than in any other who might be preferred before him, whether within or without Spain.  
The Catholic King was never more surprised than when he heard Ximenes named to govern Spain after his death. He thought less on the injuries he had done than on those which he had received; and seeing he concluded that though the Cardinal and he were reconciled, yet he was still offended with him because he would have taken his Archbishopric from him, he did not look upon him as his friend. Upon that consideration his Majesty replied to the three Ministers in extraordinary disorder; That they must needs have forgot what had passed betwixt the Cardinal and him during some years, that they proposed to him of all Spaniards the person whom he had greatest reason to distrust: That he might tell them again upon his death's bed what he had so many times represented unto them, that Ximenes was an ungrateful man, who being obliged to him for all his fortune had refused him to make an exchange of the Archbishopric of Toledo for the Atchbishoprick of Sarragossa; but the Judgment-Seat of God, before which he was going to appear to give an account of his actions, put into his mind thoughts more abstracted from self-love: That he was willing at present to acknowledge that in the quarrel he had had with the Cardinal it was not altogether clear which of the two was in the right; nay, and if it were still alleged that his Majesty had been in the wrong, he was ready to acknowledge it: but that it was for the very same reason he maintained that of all the Spaniards Ximenes was the last whom he ought to design for the Government of Spain during the absence of the Archduke, seeing he was a person offended: that he had been put to it at an unseasonable time; that all means had been used to depose him, instead of giving him rewards suitable to his great Services, and that he had been reduced to sue for Foreign protection: That he would not fail to suspect when contrary to his expectation he should learn that he were named Regent, that it was only for fault of another subject as capable as himself of so different a Commission; and that therefore he would not only think himself not at all obliged to his Catholic Majesty for it, but would also think of revenging himself upon him in the persons of his Grandsons: That he might very well give way to the temptation of raising the younger to the Throne, were it for no other reason than in that particular to cross the last Will of his Catholic Majesty; and that though he might not be so bold as to attempt it, nor so wicked as to put the same in execution, yet the least inconvenience to be expected from him, would be that when he found himself in power, he would labour so to settle himself in the Government, that it would be impossible for the Archduke to take it from him when he had a mind to it; and seeing that Cardinal was a man of extraordinary ability, either the thing was absolutely unpracticable, or else he would succeed in it.  
The Counselors of State made answer that the probity of the Cardinal so well known to all men that even his own enemies agreed in it, made him incapable of so horrible a piece of injustice; and that though he were, yet his former conduct had put him out of a condition of governing Spain any other way than under the pleasure and authority of another: That he proposed to himself at first to cross the Grandees of Castille; and had attracted their aversion in so implacable a manner, that it would be impossible for him for the future to be reconciled unto them though he laboured it with all the policy and perseverance that are natural to him: That not having the Nobility on his side, 
In his life by the University of Alcala.  and that body the most considerable of the State failing him when he stood most in need of them; if notwithstanding he endeavoured to continue his administration as long as he lived, his efforts would only serve to make him succumb the sooner.  
The Catholic King agreed with them in the opinion of the Cardinal's integrity; and the Ministers finding him give that testimony to the truth, added that this Prelate had two other qualities besides which rendered him no less considerable; the one, that he had always had a great zeal for the enlargement of the Monarchy of Spain; and the other that he had no Relations, and that his Family ending with himself, as it had begun by him, nothing would take him off from procuring by all means the interests of the Archduke. The Catholic King pressed by his Conscience to be sincere at least in the last moments of his life, agreed also in the second and third commendations which his Ministers gave the Cardinal; and he had no sooner done so, but that they drew the conclusion from thence; That seeing there was no other Spaniard bred up in the Maxims of the present Government who had the same qualities, as he had, his Catholic Majesty ought for the good of the Spanish Monarchy which he had form, to sacrifice the small resentment which he entertained against Ximenes, and nominate him Regent of Spain during the absence of the Archduke.  
The nearer People approach to death, the less able are they to resist importunities, and the Catholic King at length yielded to the Solicitations of his Ministers. He put the last constraint upon himself; and pardoning him whom of all men next to Chieures he hated most, he trusted him with that which was dearest to him in this world, that is to say, the Supreme Authority. Three or four hours after he died; and it is not doubted but that if he had done what we have related by the motives of the Gospel his end had been happy. Sandoval, the Bishop of Pampelona, must needs have imagined so, since he positively affirms that Ferdinand went straight from little Madrigal to Paradise.  
They who had the care of the Education of the Infanto so little apprehended that the late King had suppressed and altered the Testament which he had made the seven and twentieth of June One thousand five hundred and fifteen in favours of that young Prince, and whereof he had sent them a Copy, that they thought themselves the Masters of the Government, when they were informed that his Catholic Majesty died an hour and a half after Midnight the three and twentieth of January One thousand five hundred and sixteen. They spent no time in considering with Christian contemplation, that a Monarch who had conquered three whole Kingdoms was dead in one of the wretchedest houses of all Spain. They left that reflection to those who had a mind to check their own ambition, and thought of nothing but of putting themselves as soon as they could into the possession of the Authority which they pretended to be devolved upon them. They framed a Letter for the Infanto to the Counselors of State of Spain, wherein he spoke to them as their Master, and commanded them to come to him to Guadaluppa.  
History and the Manuscripts have not retained the name of him to whom it was directed to be communicated to the rest, and no body can tell whether it was not to one of those three who had done the Infanto the bad office we have been speaking of; but it is certain, that he suffered not the Courtiers of young Ferdinand long to flatter themselves in their imaginary good fortune. However having conferred with his Colleagues he judged it not fit to answer in Writing, because that would have seemed in some sense to have approved the Contents of the Letter; and besides, it would have been very hard to have found terms that would not have given the Infanto ground of offence if the answer had been Categorical. The Minister therefore made answer only by word of mouth, that the Council should not fail to come with all expedition to Guadaluppa, and discharge themselves to the Infanto of the duty they owed to the only Brother of their Sovereign: but that seeing the Infanto was too much a Gentleman to pretend to any thing more, the Ministers took the liberty to tell him that they owned no other King but Caesar. So plain a Declaration that passed since for a Prophecy when the Archduke was chosen Emperor, so strangely surprised the chief Servants of the Infanto, that they remained immovable whilst the Council of Spain took necessary measures for establishing the Archduke in the Monarchy which they had saved for him. The Infanto himself, though too young to lay to heart discontents of the nature of that which he had received, was nevertheless so touched with it, that he fell into a quartan Ague, which held him a long time.  
The first care of the Council was in all haste to send for Cardinal Ximenes and Doctor Adrian, 
In the History of his Education.  who in Spain went by the name of the Dean of Louvain. So soon as they were come the Late King's Testament was opened in their presence; and the Dean was no less astonished to find no mention of himself in it, than the Cardinal was to see himself named Regent. The Dean supposed that since his Catholic Majesty at his death had rendered Justice to the Archduke, he should have crowned the work by leaving the administration of the Spanish Monarchy to the sole Minister of the Archdukes in Spain, which was himself; and the Cardinal could not sufficiently admire that good fortune had advanced him to a dignity, from which no man in Spain seemed more remote than himself. But at the very instant he intended to take possession of it, the Dean opposed it in a manner that would have long perplexed the Ministers, if he had not remitted after that it had been represented to him that an Affair of that importance so happily carried on till then, would go near to be discomposed by the least resistance on his part. However he showed them a Commission in ample form from the Archduke for governing in his name the Monarchies of Castille and Arragon in case the King his Grandfather should die; and demanded at least that he might be allowed to execute one half of his Commission with the Cardinal, seeing the occasion was come, and that they would not suffer him to execute it alone: But the Cardinal, who was not a man to yield, replied, that it should cost him his life, but that the Will of his Catholic Majesty should be fulfilled in its full extent. The Council of Spain, who knew him well, had no hopes of bending him, and did not indeed think it convenient to endeavour it. They thought it better to apply themselves to the Dean; and to tell him that in Spain they were so well satisfied with his great integrity, that they could make him Judge in his own cause, they were so well assured that he would condemn himself when he should be convinced of the badness of it. That they thought it not strange that he who was a Fleming, and by consequent born in a Country far distant from Spain, was ignorant, that Queen Isabel foreseeing the distemper of mind to which her eldest Daughter had some disposition, had substituted the Archduke her eldest Son to her, upon two conditions; first, that he should not reign in Castille before he were twenty years of age complete: and secondly, that he could not during his Minority trust the administration of that Monarchy in the hands of any stranger: whence it was necessarily to be concluded, that seeing the Dean was debarred from the Government of Castille by so plain an Exclusion, he could not as a man of honour pretend to it.  
They further added, that he was no less formally excluded from the administration of Arragon, seeing the late Catholic King to whom it belonged as Castille had belonged to the Queen his Wife, had left the Government of it to Cardinal Ximenes. That if notwithstanding he undertook to make use of his Commission which he brought with him from Flanders, he would raise a Civil War in Spain, and must answer to God for all the murders and other crimes that might be committed in it, as he himself had acknowledged beforehand in his excellent Commentary upon the Master of Sentences, where he taught that a man raising troubles in a State when he could hinder them without injury to his Conscience or his Honour, was answerable for all the evils that might thereupon ensue.  
We have taken notice before that the Dean was an honest man, and that he understood not fully the Trade he meddled in. He was so charmed with the deference that the Spaniards testified for him in referring to himself an Affair wherein he was a Party, and with the honour they did him in citing the Writings which he had heretofore dictated in the University of Louvain, and caused afterwards to be Printed, that he promised to submit to what the Council of Spain should determine, provided an expedient might be found to secure his reputation, and might not expose the Commissions of the Archduke to be thought ridiculous. The Council of Spain, who did not expect that the Dean would condescend so far, took him at his word, and proposed to him to be satisfied with some share that the Cardinal should give him in the Government. The offer was plausible in appearance, but in effect was doubly captious: For in the first place to share the Regency with a native Spaniard was to make him his Master, seeing his Sentiments in the Council of Spain would always prevail over those of a Fleming; and in the second place, the reputation of the Cardinal so far surpassed that of the Dean, that whatever might be his merit, yet it was only to foresee that if there were two Regent's, it would happen in Spain as it commonly happens in the Heavens, that the light of a higher Planet wholly obscures that of the lower Star, and that the Dean would have no greater share in the Government than if he were not at all associated in it.  
Nevertheless he condescended to the expedient on the terms proposed to him without desiring time to write about it to the Archduke and Chieures, and without waiting for the resolution which the Council of Bruxelles might take upon an Affair of that importance. And, indeed, he was the first that repent of his precipitancy, because he had no sooner consented that the Cardinal should act jointly with him in the administration of Affairs, than that Prelate left him no more but the name of Regent. He dispatched without him all Affairs that concerned not the Sovereign Authority, and for the others he did indeed propose them in the Council where the Dean was present, and they were exactly enough examined there. If the resolution that was taken in Council were equally conform to the mind of the Cardinal and Dean, 
In the Deans complaints to the Archduke.  it was the better for the Dean whose opinion was then followed. But if the Cardinal and Dean were of contrary opinions, as it happened but too often, the Dean must comply with the Cardinal's opinion, and if he did not, yet the business still went as the Cardinal decided in it. The Dean was then obliged to sign in the second place the Acts that passed against his advice; and if he persisted to refuse to set his name to the resolutions which he had disapproved, they were for all that put in execution. It was to no purpose for him to take exceptions at it: his complaints were patiently heard; and that was all the satisfaction he had, seeing after all there was no more regard had to them than if he had held his peace.  
They shown him a little more respect in the dispatches that were to be sent to the Low Countries, and none were sent thither unless he had signed them: but that Society was prejudicial instead of being advantageous to him, since most of the Affairs that were treated there were not moulded as the Archdukes Council would have had them. That Council instead of imputing all the fault to the Cardinal, who alone was concerned in it, attributed it to the Dean as thinking him sufficiently authorised to have prevented if he had pleased the Archduke from being importuned with such like dispatches.  
Chieures nevertheless spied in the Cardinals Conduct that it aimed at fixing himself during life in an administration which was only given him during the time of a short minority; and at rendering the Archduke contemptible upon his coming to the enjoyment of the two chief Monarchies of Spain, when he stood most in need of purchasing the esteem of his new Subjects. It was evident that a condescension in that case would have been equally mean and dangerous; and the expedient which Chieures devised to remedy it as quietly as he could, was to counsel the Archduke to multiply the number of Regent's in Spain. The reason he gave for it was, that so long as that dignity was only exercised by the Cardinal and Dean, the first of the two would always carry it over the second because he had the better of him in all respects. That nevertheless he must have a care not to recall the Dean, seeing the Spaniards being generally too acquaint and sharp-sighted in their conjectures, would presently guests that the Council of Flanders were sensible of, and endeavoured to repair the fault that they had committed in sending into Spain a man absolutely incapable of discharging the Commission that was put upon him: but that if a new Colleague more cunning in intrigues and expert in business than himself were joined with him, the Cardinal durst not dare to refuse the admitting of him into the Councils; and the Flemings having there two voices to one, would become the absolute Masters of all the resolutions that might be taken there.  
The chief difficulty that appeared, was the choice of the Minister that should discharge the place of a third Regent: and by this means it was mastered. The Archduke had no sooner been informed of the death of his Maternal Grandfather but that by the advice of Chieures he went and took John Manuel, of whom we have already spoken, out of the Prison where he had lain so long through the obstinate resolution of the Catholic King that he should be kept there: The pretext that was made use of for giving that Spaniard his liberty, was the kindness that the Archdukes Father had had for him, and the important services that he had rendered to him: but the true cause was, that Chieures intended to oppose Manuel to the Cardinal, and by means of this man to hinder him from taking to himself greater Authority in Spain than it was convenient for the interests of the Archduke that he should have. Chieures his conjecture was not ill-grounded, seeing the Cardinal had crossed, as much as lay in his power, the promotion of Manuel. He had attempted to have obliged Philip the First to turn him away: he had since openly persecuted him; and if he did not put the late Catholic King upon obliging his Grandson to commit, and detain him long in Prison, yet at least it was believed that he had been assistant in confirming his Majesty in the resolution he had taken about it: Nevertheless Chieures changed his opinion afterward, and thought he had reason to do so. It would be hard to tell precisely whether he did well or ill in that particular: but if he did well, Posterity ought not to find fault with his Conduct; and if he did ill, his fault was lessened by the cause that Manuel gave him not to look upon him any more as his friend.  
No men in the world are so impatient of imprisonment as those who are cut out for Intrigues, because they then reckon for lost all the Minutes of their life which have not been employed in actions that are inconsistent with a Prison. Manuel had been a Prisoner ten whole years, and that was more than enough to put him out of humour, and the rather that during so long a space he had lost all the acquaintance and correspondence that he had made and entertained in Spain and the Low Countries. He knew not whom to blame for it; and it was more for want of another object than the conviction of the pretended infidelity of Chieures that he suspected he had abandoned him. He thought that if there was no malice on the part of that Governor, yet at least there was negligence; and that in either case he was to be blamed, though nothing near so much for the latter as for the former. The friendship of Politicians is more inconstant than that of other men, because it is hardly ever proof against the least suspicion. Manuel quickly added a second thought to his former, much more disadvantageous to Chieures, in supposing that he had suffered him to languish in a Prison, for fear lest if he had taken him out, or that if he had procured his deliverance, he might have supplanted him by becoming the chief Minister and Favourite of the Archdukes as he had been of his Father. So that when Chieures went to wait upon the Archduke when he set Manuel at liberty, Manuel embraced him not so kindly as he used to do, and that was the first mark of his indifference. The second appeared in that he would have no particular correspondence with Chieures; and the third in that, that at the time when he was enlarged, finding the Archdukes Court divided into two Factions, one which stuck to Chieures and the other that had forsaken him, and owned the Bishop of Badajos for chief, Manuel, having regained his liberty, instantly took his Party, and declared for the Bishop against his Benefactor.  
That was enough to give Chieures cause to foresee that if Manuel were sent into Spain he would make his reconciliation with Ximenes: He would second his opinions in the Council, and render those of the Dean ineffectual. That was the real cause of the Archdukes refusing to give him the Commission, though he solicited it with extraordinary importunity; and the Archduke to comfort him told him, that he thought him so necessary about his person, to consult with concerning the dispatches that came to him from Spain, and the Answers that he was to make to them, that he could not resolve to part with him out of sight.  
So that for a third Regent was chosen the Lord de la Chau, of younger standing than the Dean in the Council of Flanders, but more knowing in Politics, and more accustomed to dissemble than he. La Chau was without difficulty received by the Cardinal and Dean for a Colleague; but he was not the more advanced for that, and Affairs went no better for the Flemings in the Council of Spain. Ximenes was no less powerful there than he had been before; and as his sole voice carried it from the Dean when he had no other Colleague but him; so it carried it still notwithstanding he had two Flemings against him in most Affairs that came under debate. The Dean was so well accustomed to that usage, that he was scarcely any more scandalized at it, and perhaps it was by that compliance that he obliged Ximenes to give him the Bishopric of Torlosa in Catalonia: But Lafoy Chau could not endure not to enjoy the full exercise of his Commission, after that his Letters Patents for it were verified. He complained of it next day after; and upon the refusal of the Justice which he demanded, he wrote to Chieures a full account of the affront which the Archduke received in his Person, and in the Person of the Bishop of Torlosa his Colleague.  
The Archduke and Chieures were put to an extraordinary plunge what to do. If they offended Ximenes, they would afford him the pretext which, perhaps, he looked for of revolting, by reducing him to a necessity of raising the Infanto to the Throne, to the end he might maintain himself in his Regency; and if they offended him not, they would give occasion to the Spaniards so to slight the Archduke, that that people persuaded naturally that Sovereigns ought not to suffer any thing but what they cannot avoid, would of themselves desire the Infanto for their King. There was much casting about for a mean that was equally distant from those two dreadful extremes, and Chieures having weighed the matter well, at length found out two.  
The first was to refuse Ximenes what he most solicitously demanded of the Archduke. This cannot be well understood without observing that the late Catholic King in complying with the advice of the three Ministers who counselled him to give the Regency to Ximenes, had done it after the manner of Kings, who are not much troubled that Posterity should know, that their last Wills have not been altogether free. He had limited the Regency of the Cardinal with so many restrictions, that hardly had he authority enough to make the Archduke be obeyed in Spain when he should send such Orders as required an extraordinary severity. The three Ministers perceived that very well, 
In the last Will of Ferdinand.  but they judged it not pertinent to insist upon the enlargement of the power of the Regent, either because they had no hopes of obtaining it, or that they thought Ximenes a man able enough in the process of time and affairs to give a sufficient extent to the Authority which was left him with too great limitation. The Catholic King died in the interim; and Ximenes having taken possession of the Regency had dispatched many Couriers to the Archduke, to desire that the restrictions whereof he complained, might be left out in the confirmation which was to be sent him from Flanders.  
He had represented that the Spaniards, who outwardly boasted of an entire submission, not only to their Monarches, but also to those who had the honour to represent them, were inwardly more reserved in matter of submission than any other People in Europe: That they would not punctually obey but in things that they could not avoid, and that in all things else the great Men of the Country would pretend the Royal Authority was devolved upon them, and that so there would be an Anarchy in Spain, from which the least mischief that could ensue would be a Civil War.  
The Archduke and Chieures did not disagree but that the reasons of Ximenes were strong and true; but they were so prepossessed with an opinion that that Cardinal would abuse the Royal Authority if it were wholly put into his hands, that the Letters of La Chau made them absolutely resolve to send no more to Ximenes but a bare confirmation of the power which he had from the Catholic King without addition, diminution, or alteration of any thing in it, and the Cardinal was as much nettled thereat as they who mortified him intended he should: but as on the one hand to show any resentment would have increased their Joy, and that on the other, he would have discovered thereby his weakness to the Spaniards, who would not have failed to make their advantage of it, so he hit upon an expedient which alone might rank him above all the Politicians that went before him. He pretended to have received from the Archduke an unlimited power, and governed in as absolute a manner as if he had really obtained it. In the mean time he doubled his instances at the Court of Flanders for procuring it in a more ample form; and plainly declared to the Archduke, that if it were obstinately denied him, he would neither answer for Castille nor Arragon. But the Grandees of Spain were too impatient to recover the credit they were fallen from during the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabel, to be long led by the nose by the Cardinal.  
Their Friends at the Court of Flanders gave them advice that the Prelate was not in so great favour there as they imagined; & that so far from enlarging the power which the Catholic King had left him, as with much ado it was confirmed, nay, & in danger of being recalled. This was pleasant News; and the Grandees no sooner received it, but they met to consult what use they should make thereof. They unanimously resolved, that three of the greatest quality, who were the Duke of Infantado, the Constable of Castille, and the Count of Benevent, should go to Ximenes, and ask him by what authority he who was but a Priest, and held the Regency only of a bare Administrator of Castille, yet disposed of all things as Imperiously as if he were the Archduke himself.  
Ximenes, who had Spies amongst them, was acquainted with the deputation almost as soon as it was resolved upon, and prepared to elude it in the manner following. He would not exercise the Regency in the City of Burgos, because he foresaw that his Person would not be secure there, and had chosen Madrid for that purpose, a Town which properly belonged to the Archbishopric of Toledo. He had put himself in a condition there of withstanding any Riot, and as to an open War he had taken other measures, as we shall see in the sequel of this History. The three above mentioned Grandees went to him there, and discharged their Commission after their way, that is, in a very haughty manner. Ximenes commanded his passion so much as not to reply to them in the same strain, & only told them civilly that he held his power of the late King of glorious memory, to whom the Monarchy of Spain was sufficiently indebted to oblige them to fulfil his last Will, though he was but Administrator of Castille. The Grandees were not satisfied with the answer of Ximenes, yet they durst not neither contradict it openly. They replied, that the Testament he spoke of did not give him authority to govern in a more absolute manner than the Catholic King had done, whose Commissioner nevertheless he only pretended to be, in derogating from the custom introduced by that wise Prince and Queen Isabel his Wife into the Council of State, by proposing matters there only superficially, and as of course, and then in deciding them by himself alone, without respect to the plurality of voices.  
Ximenes made answer without any greater heat, 
In the Collection of the Sentiments of the Cardinal.  that seeing the Order of the late King their common Master seemed not sufficient, he would show them another. Having spoken these words, he led them to a Window of the Hall of Audience, from whence might be seen what was in the back Court of his Palace, and there let them see ten or twelve Pieces of Cannon mounted on Carriages, and all sorts of fire-Arms ready to discharge. He had no sooner given the signal but they who expected it fired, and during the space of more than a quarter of an hour nothing was to be heard but a terrible noise. Ximenes and the Grandees changed countenance then, and the Cardinal looked as if he had been all on fire. He uttered not one word, but the sparkling of his eyes sufficiently supplied the use of his tongue; and made them sensible that they had provoked him as much as possibly he could be.  
The Grandees on the contrary were as low as they had been high before. They spoke no more than the Cardinal did, but their silence proceeded from another cause. They had declared themselves his enemies, forced him out of patience, come to his House to threaten him; and they judged their death the nearer that they had heard the most astonishing forerunners of it. But when the noise was over, Ximenes reassured them by telling them in a Magisterial tone that the Artillery which they saw was the amplest power that he had to show them. That they who would suffer him to act with that extent of power which was necessary for the good of Spain in general, and for the interests of the Archduke in particular, should have no cause to be afraid: but that he was willing to let them know and give them notice beforehand, that the Artillery whereof they had now heard the roaring, was designed to thunder against those who having no sufficient title to ask him a reason of his Conduct, were nevertheless so pragmatical as to do it. He thereupon dismissed the three Grandees, and such a bold action of a man bred up amongst Cordeliers as cannot be paralleled by any other in the History of Spain, was of no hurtful consequence to its Author.  
The other mortification that the Archduke and Chieures thought fit to give to Ximenes, was to render his Regency ridiculous by dividing it amongst too many. We have already mentioned that the Bishop of Tortosa and La Chau were put upon him for Colleagues; and these two Ministers being neither able to counterpoise his Authority, nor to lessen it by sharing therein, they gave him a fourth Colleague more daring than they, and less reserved when it came to the push of putting himself into the possession of the full power that might be given him. His name was Amerstorf, descended of one of the most ancient and illustrious families of Holland. He was a man of wit, and the humour of his Country inclined him never to give over what once he had undertaken. His arrival at Madrid was acceptable to Ximenes instead of being troublesome to him, because he furnished him with the pretext which he had been long looking out for of ridding himself of the Bishop of Tortosa and La Chau. The truth is these two Ministers though they were more submissive than he durst have promised himself, were nevertheless very uneasy to him, seeing it was still to be feared that they would shake off the yoke. He received then Amerstorf with as much civility as he had received the other two, and brought him into the Council of Spain; but afterward he took his time privately to represent to all the Spanish Ministers of State who had the honour to sit there; That the Archduke, who was not as yet their King, began to strike at the most considerable root of their Privileges, which consisted in not being governed by strangers: That already two Flemings and a Hollander were slipped into the Council; and if that encroachment were not instantly opposed, others would be sent over in so great number that they would exceed the native Spaniards: That the inconvenience could not be avoided but by hindering the Council of Flanders for the future from introducing into that of Spain as many persons as they pleased, which could not be accomplished but by two means: First, not to communicate Affairs of greatest importance to the three foreign Regent's; and secondly, not to suffer them to sign dispatches. That the first might easily be brought about by referring the most important matters to be adjusted in secret meetings which should be held in the Cardinal's Palace, and by reserving only smaller businesses for the Council of State. For the second, there needed no more but to make the Castilians complain of the multitude of persons who must sign all that was granted them in favour or in justice; and to put them in the head of grounding their grievances upon the op●…sition that their Predecessors made to the designs of the Catholic King, when after he had married Queen Isabel he would have signed with her the Grants and Expeditions that concerned the Monarchy of Castille.  
The Council of Spain acknowledged the expedients proposed by Ximenes to be necessary, and consented that there should be Cabinet Councils in the Cardinal's Palace. Soon after the Castilians were heard to murmur about the tediousness of expeditions which they imputed to the number of those who were to sign them, and thereupon Ximenes was prayed to sign them alone. None but the Bishop of Tortosa and Amerstorf opposed it; but the Council baffled their resistance by ask them the question if they were willing alone to bear the blame of an insurrection which was like to happen all over Spain, in case the people of that vast Country were refused the satisfaction which they desired.  
The Archduke and Chieures being informed of the attempt of Ximenes, and of the affront they received in Castille, bethought themselves a long time of means how they might punish the first, and revenge the second. But having reflected upon the matter as seriously as so nice an Affair deserved, they thought best at that time to wink at it; seeing all the threaten that could be employed without having power in hand to force them, would only serve to confirm the Spaniards in their bad intentions if they had any, and make them more remiss in the good which they might have. Immediately after an occasion offered wherein the Court of Flanders had so much need of the Cardinal's wisdom, and of the authority which he had acquired, and retained in spite of them, that though they had made a public rapture with him, they must have been forced to have courted his friendship. It ran in Chieures his head that so long as the Archduke was satisfied with the Title of Heir apparent of the Monarchies of Castille and Arragon, he would not be sure of succeeding to them; and that the Spaniards might think themselves in right to prefer his younger brother before him, founded upon this, that the case had not as yet happened since they had shaken off the yoke of the Moors, that a stranger had reigned over them. That it was convenient then to ply them on the side of conscience, and to oblige them to the Archduke by a particular Oath, engaging them to acknowledge him for their King, before he was actually so by the death of his Mother the Queen. That could not be done but by the resignation of that Princess; for though she had lost her judgement in so deplorable a manner that her ordinary employment was to fight with Cats, in which ridiculous Combat she received scratches that disfigured her face, yet she retained so lively and present an Idea of the Grandeur to which she was advanced by the death of her elder Brother and Sister without Children, that she continually thought on it, and never confounded it with any other fancy: as if it had been the design of God Almighty to show in her by the most evident and remarkable instance that ever was, that the deepest wound that ever was, that the deepest wound of original sin consists in the desire of independence, and that that remains when all the rest are cured, or cease through the incapacity of their subject.  
Jane the foolish in the height of her extravagnncies remembered very well that she was in her own right Queen of Castille and Arragon; and though the extraordinary love she had for her Husband kept her from taking it ill that he gave her no share in the Government of Castille, yet after his death she was not so complesant to her own Father; and told those who wondered at it, That near was her smock, but nearer her skin.  
Seeing it is the most usual mark of madness in those who are altogether so, to think themselves very wise; Jane could not endure that the Catholic King had confined her to the Castle of Tordesilas, and kept her there shut up contrary to her inclination. She called him her Tyrant instead of her Father: She called all the Castilians that came to wait upon her Rebels; she never beheld them without upbraiding them with disloyalty, and constantly expected that they should rise in Arms to deliver her out of captivity, and to place her on the Throne. Her passion to Reign instead of diminishing as she grew in age, increased by the death of the Catholic King, which was not thought necessary to be kept from her. Then she pretended to the Sovereignty of Arragon as well as to that of Castille; and when she was put to it, as many times she was, what share she would give her Children in it, it was her constant answer, that seeing she had long expected the death of her Father, who was but Administrator of Castille, that she might reign in it, it was but reason that her Children should wait for hers with so much the less impatience that she was equally proprietary both of Arragon and Castille, and that they had no right but by her to either of the two Monarchies.  
Chieures, who was ignorant of none of those particulars, well foresaw that the Queen could not be induced to resign her rights; and to say the truth, though she could have been prevailed upon to do it, yet it would have signified nothing, seeing the Spaniards would have judged it null, all that knew her being witnesses of her civil incapacity of contracting. There was a necessity then of making application to the States of Castille and Arragon, but in that Chieures foresaw no less difficulty in respect of the three bodies of which they were composed: For on the one hand it concerned them not to condescend to a sharing in their Sovereignty, which might give occasion to an infinite number of troublesome accidents; and on the other hand there had no like case happened since the Christian Religion had been established in Spain. The interest as to the Clergy consisted in the three Masteries of St. James, Callatrava, and Alcantara, which had been seized by the Catholic Kings Ferdinand and Isabel, though their Predecessors had left them to the ordinary course, and the use of those for whom they were designed. These dignities the richest and most considerable in Spain next to the Royal, because of the multitude of Commanderies they had the disposal of, had as well as the Commanderies always been reckoned Ecclesiastical Revenues and Preferments; and they who were invested in them in that quality had place in the body of the Clergy, and rendered it incomparably more powerful than the two other Estates. Nevertheless it was but too probable that the design of the Catholic Kings in impropriating those three great Masteries, was in process of time to secularise them, under pretext that they were no longer necessary after that the Moors had no more dominion in Spain. If that design were put in execution, the Clergy lessened to a half by so notable a retrenchment, would no more be respected in Spain, as it was wont to be, and would fall to be the last of the three Estates, from the first that it was before. If the Archduke succeeded to the Crowns of Castille and Arragon immediately after the death of his Maternal Grandfather, he would be powerful enough at the Court of Rome to obtain the entire secularisation of the three Orders: whereas if his Mother were inviolably maintained in her right of reigning fallen to her by Nature and Law, as it was known by experience that fools and mad people were long lived, so the Clergy would have time to solicit the holy See that these Masteries might be reestablished into their Primitive State.  
The Nobility had lost no less of their lustre than the Clergy, and were no less solicitous to recover it. They had been more the Masters than Subjects of their Kings before the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabel; and there needs no more but to read their History to be convinced that they oftener revolted against their Kings, than they had sought against the Moors. But they had been since constrained to show their Inferiors an example of an implicit submission to their Sovereigns; and their condition in that particular was become like to that of the meanest Peasants, though they had made it their glory to be distinguished from them principally in that they would securely revolt, and that others always bore the punishment of their rebellion. In fine, the people had been exceedingly burdened under the late Reign. He foresaw that the Archduke would not ease them, seeing he would flatter himself with the glory of prosecuting the ambitious designs of his Maternal Grandfather: whereas seeing all that was required of Spain during the Reign of Jane, was to maintain itself, the ordinary Revenues of Castille and Arragon would be sufficient for that Princess; and besides, they who should govern in her name would rather receive the Law from the Estates, than the Estates from them.  
The pretext was not a little plausible of refusing the Royalty to the Archduke, seeing it would be taken from the fundamental Laws of the two Monarchies, which so precisely called to the Crown the next Heir of the King deceased, that so long as that Heir lived it would be Treason to acknowledge a more remote for their Monarch. The Laws in that respect made no distinction betwixt Sexes; and so the elder Brother and Sister of Jane were n● sooner dead, but the three Estates of Castille and Arragon, assembled upon that sol● account, had acknowledged her for Hei● apparent in the presence of her Father an● Mother. She had come expressly from Flanders, where she was married into Spai● to receive their Oath. They had solemnly given it her, and nothing could discharge them from it so long as she lived. The Oat● had been confirmed immediately after th● death of Queen Isabel, and the right o● Queen Jane had been consummated whe● she took first with her Husband, and sinc● by herself alone, the actual possession o● Castille.  
The End of the Third Book.   

BOOK IU. Containing the most memorable Affairs that happened in the Monarchy of Spain during the rest of the Year One Thousand Five Hundred and Sixteen, and part of One Thousand Five Hundred and Seventeen.  
THE difficulties that I now mentioned were not so insuperable, but that Chieures procured the Archduke Charles to be acknowledged King of Castille and Arragon, du●ing the life of Jean his Mother, to whom ●…ese Monarchies belonged; and seeing 〈◊〉 nice an affair could not be brought ●…out by ordinary methods, Posterity perhaps will not take it ill that here I re●…te the singular course that was taken 〈◊〉 it.  
The first step was on the side of Maxi●…ilian the Emperor, to whom Chievres ●aving communicated his design, sent ●im word, that the greatest Humane ●…ncern his Imperial Majesty had, was ●o employ all his Power in the advancement of the Archduke his Grandson; and that he ought the more willingly to contribute to it, that what was desired of him was only a bare Title. That it was to be feared that the Archduke having frequent calls to go from Spain to Italy, the Low-Countries and Germany, if he were no more but Governor of Castille and Arragon for the Queen his Mother, the Spaniards impatient at his too frequent absence, might choose another Governor, who might in the sequel take measures for changing his Dignity into that of a Monarch. That there were but too many instances of the like attempt in Spain, and that the only way to avoid it, was to bind by a solemn Oath the Spaniards to the Archduke as soon as possible, and to oblige them presently to own him for their King; because no Nation in Europe being more jealous of their Reputation than that People, and less able to endure to be upbraided with the violation of a public Oath, they would be true to that which they made to the Archduke, what occasion soever he might give them by his ordinary removes. That in all times it belonged to Emperors to adjust the Titles of other Christian Sovereigns; and that it would not be thought strange if his Imperial Majesty made use of that right in relation to the Archduke. That in the mean time his example would pass for a Law all over Europe; and that other Potentates would not refuse to give the Archduke the Title of King, when they saw that the Emperor had done so.  
Maximilian found no inconvenience in the Proposition of Chieures; 
In the Letters of Maximilian the First to his Grandson the Archduke.  and for direction of the Letter which immediately after he wrote from Vienna to the Archduke the Twentieth of June, One Thousand Five Hundred and Sixteen, he wrote with his own hand, To the Catholic King, and in following Letters continued to give him the same Title. The rumour of it presently flew all over Europe; but other Sovereigns refused to imitate the Emperor, because it was not his Court then that the Reputation of Princes issued from, or that distributed the Titles of Honour which were due unto them, and that many Ages were already past since the Holy See was in Possession of that Prerogative. Chieures was sensible of the necessity of that, and in the second place addressed himself to Pope Leo X. He knew that his Holiness was extremely vexed that the French had recovered the Duchy of Milan the Year before, One Thousand Five Hundred and Fifteen, and that he sought for an occasion to drive them thence, as Julius his Predecessor had done. Chieures his Agents thereupon represented to him, that the execution of his design depended solely on the greatness of the Archduke; and that if that Prince were in possession of the Kingdoms of Castille and Arragon, without expecting the death of his Mother, he would be in a condition to help the Holy See to purge Italy of the French: Whereas if he were necessitated to follow the course of Nature, either he would not at all be King of Spain, the Infanta his Brother wanting neither Inclination nor Friends to supplant him; or it would be so late, that the French would in the mean time have more than enough of time so to fortify themselves in the Milanese, that it would be impossible afterward to get them out of it.  
The Reason of Chieures appeared to the Pope so solid, that he wrote to the Archduke, exhorting him to take the Title of Catholic King, and gave it him. There remained a third step which Chieures found to be incomparably more difficult than the former two. It stood upon the Spaniard's giving the Archduke the Title of King immediately after the Imperial Court and that of Rome; because if it had been demanded before of other Courts, and that they had refused it, the Spaniards, who were not very inclinable to grant it, would take that pretext for their excuse. Neither was it necessary in desiring that favour to give them ground to think that it depended wholly on them, because they would have drawn their advantage from that; and if once they refused it, there was no after attempt to be used, and there would have been a necessity to wait till the death of Queen Jean. But there are few Cabinet affairs, which a Prudence refined by long Experience cannot unravel.  
Chieures drew up a Letter so artificially, and got the Archduke to sign it, that on the one hand the Archduke intimated of what importance it was for the Spaniards, that they should give him the Title of King, yet without desiring it or exposing himself to a denial; and on the other hand, he so put them to it, that they could not excuse themselves without putting into compromise the thing in the world that was dearest unto them, which was the Glory of their Monarchy. He insinuated at first into their minds, without abating any thing of his Gravity, and then acquainted them, that his Grandfather the Emperor and the Pope had represented to him, that it was absolutely necessary for the honour of God, for the ease of the Catholic Queen in the infirmity wherewith Divine Majesty had thought fit to visit her: for the repose of the Monarchies of Castille and Arragon, and for preventing the designs of their Enemies, that he should presently jointly with his Mother, take the name of King, and discharge the duties of it: That he had put an extreme violence upon himself, 
Amongst the Letters of Charles to the Spaniards.  in consenting to it; and that he had not yielded to the importunities of the two Heads of the Christian Religion, for the Spiritual and Temporal, till after he was convinced of the Maxim which Queen Isabelle his Grandmother had so often in her mouth, 
Los Reyes no tienen parientes.  That those who were called to the Government of People had no Kindred: That he was willing to acquaint the Spaniards with it, not that he thought he needed their approbation, but because he knew that his conduct in that particular would not be unacceptable to them, and that he hoped to find them in a perfect submission.  
The Letter was sent to Ximenes, with orders to communicate it to the Spaniards, after he had taken such necessary cautions as might hinder them from being exasperated by it; but the Cardinal perceived at first that the words, jointly with the Queen, which were inserted in it, were only a cloak for the ambition of the Archduke; seeing it was certain, that so soon as the Spaniards had owned and sworn to him as King, all the share of Royalty that he would leave to the Queen his Mother, would only be to put her Name with his own to the beginning of public Acts, and in all things else he would Reign as absolutely as if he had no Mother at all. That so no sooner would he have set his Foot in Spain, but that the administration of Ximenes would entirely cease, & no greater part be allowed him in the affairs of State, than what he had during the Reign of the late King, from the time that he had refused to resign his Archbishopric. But whether it was that he foresaw that he should immediately die after the arrival of that young Prince in Spain, as the Professors of the University of Alcala, who have written his Life, suspect; or that he entertained such another thought, as that of the famous Agrippina the Mother of Nero, that she cared not though it cost her her life, provided her Son Reigned, he approved of the Letter which tended to his deposition; and that he might complete his victory over himself, he employed all his credit with the Spaniards, that it might obtain the effect which Chieures expected from it. Wherein it cannot be sufficiently admired, that this Prelate, who had acted so many different parts for gaining an unlimited Authority during a Regency of short continuance, and for maintaining himself independent of all when once he had acquired it; could so easily, and without constraint become in a trice so unlike to himself, as to consent to a Recognition which he foresaw must reduce him to a private condition; and which is worse, to make himself the Solicitor of it, as being convinced that it could never succeed but by his means. All that can be said of it is, that as there never was any machine which hath not sometimes been out of order, or at least whose springs that put it in motion, have not at some time been unbended; so neither is there any Humane prudence which by involuntary irregularities that now and then escape it, does not in spite of itself render homage to the wisdom of God, which is so much the more eminently above that of Man, as that it is always uniform in its conduct. Ximenes presented the Archdukes Letter to the States of Spain, with all the circumspection that makes the most difficult affairs succeed. He made use of the Counsellor of State, Carvaial mentioned before, who by a premeditated discourse maintained in the Assembly, that the Archduke demanded nothing that was unjust or new. The first part of his Proposition he proved by the extraordinary high parts, whereof that young Prince had given so many marks, and by his Education, which had rendered him at sixteen years of age as capable of Reigning as the ablest Princes, who have governed at a more mature age. He touched only by the buy at the infirmity of Queen Jean, nevertheless he said enough to insinuate that her distemper was incurable; and that by consequent there was ground more than enough to look upon that Princess as if she were no more in Being, though she were still alive, and in appearance like long to continue so. He farther added, That it was more to be feared that her folly would degenerate into madness and fury, than it was to be hoped that it would lessen with age. Thereby he pretended to oblige his Auditors to make this Conclusion, That the unfortunate Queen was civilly Dead; and that in respect of her, the same measures were to be taken, as if Spain had already lost her. The second part of the discourse of Carvaial was grounded chief upon an example taken out of the ancient Chronicles of Spain, which seemed exactly to quadrate with the case in question, though to speak the truth, it was much disguised. Alphonso the Seventh, King of Castille and Leon, had been by the Estates put in possession, and acknowledged for King of both the Kingdoms, in the life-time of Queen Vrraca his Mother, to whom they belonged. They who were throughly acquainted with the History of Spain, might have replied to Carvaial, that he was not very knowing in the Politics of his Country, or that he impudently abused the honour which the chief Heads of Castille and Arragon did him in listening to his discourse: For Queen Vrraca was only a fool in her love, and acted only by that principle, that is to say, like a woman who had wholly renounced modesty. She entertained in sight, and to the extreme vexation of her Subjects, a simple Gentleman called Don Pedro de Lara: She had got herself to be unmarried; that she might live with him in all licentiousness: She had proposed to herself to raise him to the Throne in exclusion of her own Son Alphonso; and the misfortune of that young Prince, who had deserved no such thing, and who besides was of Age and very capable of Reigning, had wrought upon the Estates of the Country. They met together for preserving the Crown for him; and seeing they could not do it, but by dividing the Royal Authority betwixt his Mother and him, 
In the History of Urraca by Moralez.  because if she had retained it wholly, she would have infallibly made use of it to oppress Alphonso, they acknowledged him for King jointly with her.  
There was nothing like to this in the affair of the Archduke in the manner as Carvaial had stated it. Queen Jean thought so little of frustrating him of the Succession, that in her greatest extravagancies she never failed when she spoke of him, to call him Prince of Spain, that is to say, that she acknowledged him to be her only next lawful Heir; and though she had had a mind to disappoint him, it was evident she could not do it, her distemper not suffering her to dispose of herself, and far less of her Crowns. Besides, she had till then led a life without reproach, and her folly hindered her not from being still a pattern of Chastity. The sad condition she was in spoke eloquently enough in her favours to oblige the Spaniards to preserve to her the Monarchies that were fallen to her by the Successions of her Father and Mother; and to take it strictly, they could not excuse themselves from doing so, without committing a great injustice, seeing by owning the Archduke for King during the life of his Mother, they put him actually in possession of a right, which by the consent of all civilised Nations, did not belong to him till after the death of that Princess.  
So that neither the factions of the Cardinal, nor the reasons of Carvaial were sufficient to render the Archdukes party the stronger. The Admiral of Castille, and Duke of Alva declared openly, that it was not in their power to grant the Archduke what he demanded: That twelve years ago, upon the death of Queen Isabelle, they had received and sworn Allegiance to Jean her eldest Daughter as their only Sovereign: That it would be a violation of their Oath to make her eldest Son her Colleague, who was not to Reign till after her death, and would furnish Historians an ample ground of blackening their memory: That the Archduke had gone too far in taking of himself the title of King; and that if the Queen recovered her health, Nature might very well make peace betwixt them, without any necessity of a Foreign mediation or intercession: But if the chief men of Castille and Arragon favoured him in that excess of boldness, they run the risk of being abandoned by himself, and by consequent of being looked upon as Rebels.  
The Marquis of Villena started a second Opinion more politic than prudent, and more proper for avoiding than resolving the difficulty. He said, that seeing the Archduke did not demand their counsel, he thought it not fit that they should give it him, nor that they should expose themselves to the inconvenience just before mentioned. The first of the two Opinions appeared to be so just, and the second so safe, that the one or other of them had infallibly prevailed in the Assembly, if the Cardinal, who foresaw it, had not put in practice a piece of boldness that succeeded with him. He interrupted the course of Voting, and told them that it was not the case in hand to deliberate about a thing to be done, but to approve of a matter already done. That if the Archduke had done him the honour to have proposed to him the design which he had of taking the title of King, he would perhaps have endeavoured to dissuade him from it; but since he had proceeded in it without communicating any thing of it to the Spaniards, their glory and interest were equally concerned, not to make a young Prince, born to be their Master, ridiculous upon his first entry into the World, seeing he was bred up in the best dispositions that ever were for enlarging one day the Spanish Monarchy. That to oblige him to quit the name and ensigns of Royalty when once he had taken them, would draw upon him the contempt of all the Nations of Europe; render him the object of their scorn, spoil his credit with them as long as he lived; and so balk his courage, that he would not dare for the future to undertake any thing, either for invading or resisting an Enemy. That he, Ximenes himself, thought it fit to take the Assembly off from committing a mistake, by informing them of that most important Truth, that in that juncture there was no mean betwixt taking from the Archduke the title of King, and declaring him absolutely incapable of Reigning one day in Spain when it came to his turn; and that if the Spaniards were so imprudent, as to make the first of those two steps in relation to him, it would be impossible for them to clear themselves of the second, and not to submit hereafter to the rule of a Prince, whom they had shamefully degraded.  
Ximenes having spoken in so positive a strain, gave not them the time of taking the Votes. He sternly commanded Don Pedro Correa, his intimate friend, whom he had made Corregidor of Madrid, To go and proclaim through the Town Queen Jean and Don Carlos her Son jointly Kings of Castille and Arragon. The Corregidor, who was one of the Assembly, and who apparently had put all things in a readiness for execution of the orders which he had received, went out immediately, and soon after the solemnity of the Proclamation was heard. The Deputies, who had not as yet given their Votes, seeing that if they spoke against what was actually a doing, they would instantly occasion a Civil War, for which they and their relations must be accountable, approved the Cardinal's discourse, and the Orders that he had given.  
Thus the boldest project that hath happened in the memory of man, 
In the act of Proclamation.  was brought about with little intrigue, and without any opposition; and the Bishop of Tortosa gave account of it to the new Catholic King, whom hereafter we shall name Charles, and to Chieures, without robbing Ximenes of the praise he merited by it. Both of them were so well satisfied with it, that they hearty pardoned that Cardinal for all that had displeased them in his former conduct; and all the business in Flanders was the hastening of Charles his voyage into Spain, for taking possession of the Kingdoms he now was installed in. They foresaw but one impediment to it, which concerned the Treaty concluded with France by the ministry of the Count of Nassau. It hath been said before, that Charles, when as yet but Archduke, had engaged himself to restore the Kingdoms of Naples and Navarre to the most Christian King, and to John d' Albert, so soon as the Catholic King his Grandfather were dead. The condition was come, and the French Ambassador at Bruxelles pressed the accomplishment thereof. There was no pretext of delaying the restitution of the two Crowns, seeing if Charles did not resolve to do it willingly, and frankly to perform his promise, Francis the First was in a better condition to force him to it by way of Arms, than ever he had been before, or perhaps, than ever he could be for the future. He had at the field of Warignan quelled the insupportable pride of the Swiss; and forced that warlike Nation, who thought they could domineer over Kings, to make peace with him as he himself had desired. He had recovered the Duchy of Milan from Maximilian Sforza. He had confirmed himself in that Conquest in the year One Thousand Five Hundred and Sixteen, by the utter overthrow of that formidable Army which the Emperor had led in person into the Milanese. The Forces of his most Christian Majesty, which he had opposed against that Army were still on foot; and it would have been easy for him to have taken Flanders, by causing them to march thither as soon as Charles were gone. In the mean time his Catholic Majesty was not in a condition to ward so dangerous a blow. He had no more Soldiers than were necessary for his Convoy in his voyage to Spain; and the Flemings would not have assisted him in levying of more, if they should have known that he only needed them for maintaining the usurpations of Naples and Navarre. So they would have been exposed to the invasions of Francis the First, and Charles would have lost incomparably more than the two Crowns we last named were worth. Nevertheless, in the juncture that then happened, he could not restore them, nor so much as pretend it was his intention, without entirely forfeiting the Succession of his Mother: For if he had attempted of his own Authority, and without the consent of the Monarchies to which the two Kingdoms were annexed, to write to the Viceroys to restore them, they would not have obeyed him; and if by Proxy he had demanded the consent of the Estates of Castille for the restitution of Navarre, and the approbation of the Estates of Arragon for rendering Naples It would not only have been denied him, but more, the two Monarchies would have joined in an interest common to both, and passed immediately from Disobedience to a Revolt. There was a necessity then of waiting till the Catholic King were in possession of his Kingdoms of Spain; and till he had taken such just measures for the Restitutions in question, as might assure him of success; and upon so well grounded reasons Chieures wrote to Gouffier, great Master of the Household to the most Christian King, That it was absolutely necessary for preserving peace betwixt the two young Kings, whom they had had the honour to Educate, that they should have a conference together; and that they should adjust a Treaty so advantageous to their Masters, that neither of them might be tempted to violate it, what favourable occasion soever might present. Gouffier ●hew'd the Letter to Francis the First, ●ho thought it not enough to approve ●he interview, but besides proposed the ●lace where it should be, and for that ●nd named the Town of Noyon in Picar●y, which was accepted of in the Councils of Bruxelles.  
Chieures on his part disposed Charles to ●…ve him an unlimited power; and as if ●…e two Kings had agreed to leave to the ●…scretion of the two persons, who had ●een their Governors, all the preliminary difficulties to the Negotiation, they ●justed them after their own way to ●…e satisfaction of the Councils of both ●…ings. In consideration of the more ●…vanced age of the most Christian King, ●…e preference was given to Gouffier, ●…at Chieures went to meet him at Noyon, ●here he stayed for him in the beginning of Summer One Thousand Five Hundred and Seventeen; and their ancient Friendship hindered them not from maintaining with equal vigour the Interests of their Masters. They were longer than was expected in agreeing about their Affairs, and Gouffier pretended that the Crowns of Naples and Navarre should be restored before the Catholic King went over to Spain.  
His Reasons were, that his Catholic Majesty was engaged to it by the Treaty of the Count of Nassau, and that it was not the business to Negotiate of new, 
In the Negotiation of Noyon.  but only to put in execution what was in formal terms resolved upon: That the honour of Francis the First was concerned in the speediness of the Restitution; and that if it was deferred, the delay would be imputed to the weakness of his most Christian Majesty, and by consequence would redound to his shame: That the Kingdoms of Naples and Navarre had both been Usurped, the first by the Infidelity, and the second by the Juggling of the late King of Spain; and that the matter was so evident, that no man in all Europe doubted of it, what care soever that cunning Prince had taken to dazzle the eyes of the World by Manifesto's stuffed with Falsehoods, and the discourses of his Agents: That it was enough to France that Naples was directly Usurped from them, and that John d' Albert had lost Navarre upon the only consideration that he would not break with Lovis the Twelfth, to make them with equal zeal solicit, that the first of the two last mentioned Kingdoms should be restored to the King of France, and the second to his Ally; and that seeing there was no appearance that France could be in a better condition for the future than it was then in for recovering them, nor that the Catholic King could be in a worse state for maintaining them by the way of Arms, as wanting both men and money; Francis the First would be for ever blamed if he let slip so favourable an occasion, and Gouffier would in History pass for a notorious Prevaricator, if he contributed to it in any manner whatsoever.  
Chieures, who had no satisfactory answer to make directly to such solid motives, thought it enough to reply indirectly, that the King his Master had the best and most sincere intentions in the World as to the matter in hand; and seeing he knew him better than any man else, he ought more to be credited than those who might have insinuated contrary thoughts into his most Christian Majesty: But that Sovereigns as well as other men were liable to necessities; and that that to which Charles was then reduced was the more excusable in that it was extreme. That it was true indeed, he had fallen to a very large Succession: but that it would wholly escape him, if it were not managed with all imaginable care and industry: That Navarre lay so very conveniently for the Monarchies of Castille and Arragon, that they had no cause of fear from abroad, but from thence, and that the Pyrenean Mountains, and the two Seas secured them on all other hands: That as their Enemies being Masters of Navarre could presently bring whole Armies into the heart of their Countries, so without that they could but weakly attack their Frontiers: That, to judge things aright, the Kingdom of Naples was of no less importance to them, seeing if they lost it, they were certain not to keep Sicily long: That nevertheless that was the Kingdom from whence Spain had Corn in the frequent scarcities to which it was subject; and that these two motives would be enough to engage the Spaniards in a general Revolt, if their new King obliged them presently to restore Naples and Navarre: That it would be thought stranger, that he should meddle in so nice an Affair upon his coming to the Crown, in that he was a stranger: That during the space of a Thousand years Spain had not been governed by Monarches of that kind: That they had never as yet seen Charles; and that hardly any thing could make them endure that an absent stranger, before he had taken possession of his Crowns, should cut them short by two: That before any such thing was attempted, an infinite number of cautions must be taken, and that he must begin the work by obtaining from the Estates an unlimited Authority: That afterward a powerful Faction should be form in the three Bodies which make up his Estates, for disposing them to give an entire satisfaction to the most Christian King: And that in fine, when the Catholic King were once assured of obtaining what he desired by proposing it, the matter should be varnished over with so plausible colours, that if it were not frankly consented to, yet at least it should pass in Form, and without Sedition: That the Catholic King expected an happy success in this, provided he were suffered to take his own way in Negotiating it, and that Chieures durst undertake for it upon two conditions; one that his Master were allowed time to go to Spain, and there to dispose the minds of the People; and the other that the promise of restoring in convenient time the two Kingdoms to the most Christian King, and John d' Albert should be kept so secret, that no Spaniard might dive into it.  
The discourse of Chieures, if rightly taken, was captious, seeing he demanded a present and most important favour, such as the security of the Low-Countries during the absence of Charles, for hopes so much the more uncertain, that the fulfilling of them was remote, and would absolutely depend upon the faithfulness of his Catholic Majesty, who having obtained beforehand all that he could have desired, perhaps would not take much care of performing his promise. Nevertheless, whether it was that Gouffier did not sufficiently reflect upon that, or that he yielded to the importunities of inferior Ministers, who were appointed to Negotiate under him, whom Chieures had charmed with his caresses; the Court of France committed an irreparable fault, and suffered themselves to be choosed by a man whom then they had but too great ground to distrust. They consented that Gouffier and Chieures should confer together about finding out an expedient that might a little more bind the Catholic King, and nevertheless leave him as much liberty as he desired for disposing his new Subjects to satisfy France. Several were proposed; and that which the two Plenipotentiaries at length agreed upon, was, that there should be two Treaties of Noyon of the same date; one which should be kept secret by the Parties concerned, until the time of its execution; and another which should be made public so soon as it was signed. By the first, 
In the two Treaties of Noyon.  Charles obliged himself not to lose any time in the restitution of the Kingdoms of Naples and Navarre, after he had taken possession of his maternal Crowns; and to do it himself by his own absolute Authority, if he could not obtain the consent of the Spaniards. But the second only contained, that the most Christian and Catholic Kings should agree upon Arbitrators, who within a prefixed time should declare, whether the Crowns of Arragon and Castille had any right or not to Naples and Navarre. That if these Arbitrators decided in favour of Spain, the two Kingdoms should remain united to it; and that if their Sentence were to the disadvantage thereof, the Catholic King should instantly restore them.  
The other Articles of the two Treaties were in all things alike, which may have given occasion to think that there was but one. The three most considerable were, that until the Arbitrators should decide to which of the two, France or Spain, the Kingdom of Naples belonged, the Catholic King should pay to the most Christian King one hundred thousand Crowns a year as a quitrent: That the Catholic King should espouse Lovisia of France, who was yet but a year old; and that if that young Princess died before the Marriage were consummated, the Catholic King should Marry another of the most Christian King's Daughters, in case he had more; and that if he had none, the Marriage of the Catholic King with Renee of France, Sister-in-law to his most Christian Majesty, should be accomplished, as it was agreed upon in the former Treaty: That in fine, the Emperor Maximilian should restore to the Republic of Venice the City of Verona with this caution, that he should put it into the hands of the French, who should immediately after deliver it over to the Venetians; and that the Senate of that Republic should pay to the Emperor two hundred thousand Crowns, to reimburse the charges he had been at in Conquering that City.  
Gouffier in this matter concluded the Treaty of Noyon; and Politicians judged that he lost in it as much reputation as Chieures had acquired. And truly if we may judge of the satisfaction of the two Kings, with their Plenipotentiaries, by the reward which they gave them; it is certain on the one hand, that Gouffier received none of Francis the First; and on the other, that Chieures was so well recompensed by Charles, that he became the richest Subject in Christendom. Maximilian the First and Philip had already given him the forfeiture of the Estate of the house of Gaure, the Government of Nivelle, the Collar of the Golden Fleece, the great Bailliage of Haynault, and two thousand Crowns for his extraordinary Embassy in France in the year One Thousand Five Hundred and One, where he had made himself known to Lovis the Twelfth, according to his value, though there was nothing concluded in the Peace which he went to Negotiate betwixt his most Christian Majesty and Ferdinand the Catholic King. Charles added to these, by his Letters Patents of the twenty third of June, C●e Thousand Five Hundred and Seventeen, the charges of High Admiral of the Kingdom of Naples: of Captain General of his Armies by Sea, of al● the Kingdoms, Territories and Principalities of his Catholic Majesty: o● High Chamberlain: and of chief Minister of State: and by other Letters Patents of the fifteenth of December the same year, the Dutchies of Sovia and Atri i● the Kingdom of Naples: the particular Government of the Town of Escluse it Flanders: the erection of the Barony o● Arscot into a Marquisat: a Company o● an hundred Armed men maintained i● time of Peace, as well as War; and lastly, the erection of the Lands of Beaumond into a County.  
The multitude of these favours is upo● two accounts remarkable: First, because Charles was not liberal; and that besides, he had the more reason to divide his bounty amongst several persons, tha● never Prince was so well served as he was, and by consequence was obliged to give so many Rewards as he: and secondly, because Chieures, as hath been observed before, never begged any thing of him, neither for himself nor his Relations, and thought it enough to deserve from a grateful Prince the Favours that he heaped upon him.  
Seeing the accommodation of Noyon had surmounted all the obstacles that could obstruct Charles in taking possession of his maternal Estates, he had not so great cause any more to fear the excess of Authority which Cardinal Ximenes took to himself in Spain; and Chieures was of the opinion, that he should be let alone to do so, provided his actions struck neither directly nor indirectly at the personal advantages of his Catholic Majesty. The Cardinal on his side vied in gratitude; and served Charles with as great application, as if he had been indebted to him for the Regency. He obliged the Grandees of Castille to receive his Orders, and to execute them with as much expedition and submission, as if they had had their King in the midst of Spain; and seeing he foresaw that those Grandees, who had a design to revolt, could find but two plausible pretexts for so doing, one upon account of the Queen Germana, and the other on the part of the Infanta; he caused both to be so narrowly observed, and yet treated them so civilly, that he took from them no less the occasions of attempting against his administration, than the grounds of complaining of him.  
It hath been observed, that Queen Germana de Foix was not tempted with ambition, and coveted no more, but to live pleasantly, and without trouble, in Feasting and Dancing. The late Catholic King left her at his death by a Codicil, fifty thousand Ducats of Rent, (besides her Dowry) assigned upon the Kingdom of Naples; and if she had not been punctually paid it, the Arragonese would have taken it ill, as an affront done to the memory of their Hereditary King, and have revenged themselves by raising troubles in Castille, or by fomenting those which they found raised there to their hand. In the mean time King Ferdinand on the one hand had left the Royal Treasury empty; and on the other the Kingdom of Naples, as affairs stood then, was not able to pay the Catholic Queen the Sum that it was Rated at; because the French having marched into Italy for the recovery of the Duchy of Milan, Raimond of Cardonna, Viceroy of Naples, was apprehensive that they might march next against him, and that he might not be surprised, had made extraordinary levies of Soldiers, which had drained not only the Revenues of the Crown, but also the purses of all the private persons who had been willing to lend him money. The question was, how all these Creditors should be paid; and if it had not been done with all expedition, considering the juncture of a minority, they would not have failed to have risen. All that Spain had from Naples was set apart for their reimbursement; and Cardinal Ximenes, as bold as he was, durst not have employed so necessary a Fund for other uses. Nevertheless the Queen importuned him to be paid quarterly; and the only expedient he found to satisfy her, was to pay her with his own money, upon assurances which Chieures sent him under the hand of the Catholic King, that what he laid out for his Majesty upon that account, should be faithfully repaid him.  
The Infanta put the Cardinal to greater trouble, because he was still possessed with a fancy, that he should one day Reign in Castille, and that others laboured to feed him in that conceit. Whilst he was a hunting, an Apparition had presented itself before him in the shape of a Hermit, which told him as from God, that he should be Monarch of all Spain, and presently disappeared, having left him in an anxious expectation of the future His Vision he had communicated to the Marquis Denia his Governor, and to the Bishop Alvero Osorio his Tutor; and as men easily believe what they desire, and are not undeceived but very late, so the Governor and Tutor promised themselves the chief Dignities of Spain upon that idle Prediction. Their whimsy was not the less durable for being so ill grounded; and neither the last Will of King Ferdinand, nor the public recognition of the Archduke Charles, as King by the Estates of both Monarchies, were sufficient to undeceive them. They constantly solicited Ximenes to give them leave to carry back the Infanto to the Town of Simancas, appointed for his Education; and though this Cardinal did not as yet foresee their real design, yet he suspected it, and plainly told them that the person of the Infanto was so dear to him, that there might be fault found with his administration, if he let him go out of his sight. It was soon after discovered, that his distrust was not without cause; and that it was the intention of the chief Officers of the Infanto to expect at Simancas the favourable juncture which Heaven had promised, and in the mean time to engage into the parties of that young Princes as many of the Grandees as possibly they could, without discovering themselves too much: The Spies whom the Cardinal entertained about them, informed him of all the proceed of the Marquis and Bishop; and in all appearance it was to make such reports continue, that he long detained the Infanto at Madrid under various pretexts. But when he would no longer amuse him, he told him plainly, that his presence was so necessary for the public good, that he would not absent himself from the place where the Council of State was kept, without disobliging the Catholic King his Brother. When he thus spoke, he observed the looks of the Marquis and Bishop; and perceiving that it put them to extreme pain, he took measures to prevent the Infantoes being carried away from him. The cautions that he used were so acquaint, that this young Prince and his Servants were under restraint without perceiving it.  
So that there being no more danger from the two chief persons of the State; the Cardinal in the following manner reduced into order the most considerable of the Grandees. This was Don Pedro Porto Carero, called the Deuff, who had carried on a long intriegue to get himself chosen Great Master of the Order of S. James after the death of King Ferdinand. 
In the motives of the disgrace of the Great Captain.  He was Brother to the Duke of Escalone, and an intimate friend of the Great Captain Gonsalvo, who had made him privy to the Bulls which heretofore he had obtained from Pope Julius the Second, for that Mastery, in case he outlived the Catholic King. The Great Captain dying before his Majesty, Porto Carero supposed that seeing the Court of Rome had granted Gonsalvo the Bulls we have been mentioning, it appeared that that Court had a design by all means to disunite those three great Masteries from the Crown of Castille; and that by consequence such a favour having been granted, not so much in consideration of the particular merit of him that had obtained it, as for fear of rendering the Kings of Castille too powerful, Porto Carero had ground to hope for it, though his personal qualities came not near those of the Great Captain. He had credit at the Court of Leo the Tenth; and he employed it so dexterously, that he obtained from his Holiness Bulls conform to those which had been granted by Julius, but upon condition still not to make use of them till after the death of Ferdinand. He had not as yet received them when his Catholic Majesty died, but a few days after they arrived; and there being no juncture more favourable to him, than the division betwixt the Cardinal and the Governors of the Infanto; he wrote to all the Commanders of the Order to meet in the City of Compostella in Galicia, there to hold a Chapter for receiving him in quality of Great Master, conform to the Bulls sent him from the Pope. The chief Commanders were his Kinsmen or Allies; and besides, it was so much their interest, that the Great Mastery should be cut off from the Crown, that they made no scruple to obey him, seeing in that case there was none of them who might not hope to be raised to it, either by merit or faction: whereas they must all be frustrated, if it continued united to the Crown.  
However the Assembly could not be kept so secret, but that the Cardinal had notice of it; and since there was a necessity of carrying high to chastise the attempt of Porto Carero, or not at all to meddle in it; he sent the Alcaide Villafanno with Forces to put a stop to the Chapter by fair means or foul. The Commanders, who were not prepared to fight, separated so soon as the Alcaide had signified to them the Orders of the Cardinal; and pretended to submit willingly to the Authority which they would not have regarded, if it had been unarmed. The Cardinal having sent them back to their several Commanderies, caused them to be so narrowly observed there, that it was impossible for them afterwards to meet again, till the new Catholic King had obtained from the Pope the three great Masteries, as vacant by the death of his Grandfather. But the counter-blows in Politics are sometimes more dangerous than the blows.  
The Nobility of Castille took it ill that the Cardinal had so imperiously dispersed the Assembly of Galicia, and accused him for having in that particular usurped a power which was not given him, neither by the Testament of the late King, nor by the Laws of the Monarchy whereof he was the Regent. The Grandees made it a point of honour, not to suffer the continuance of a procedure so unsuitable to a Priest and Monk, and took the first occasion that they found to shake off a yoke which they called Tyrannical. The occasion was this, It had come into Ximenes his mind at an unseasonable time, to endeavour the reformation of three abuses, which in all likelihood ought to have been born with in the absence of the Sovereign, if the Maxims of common Politics had been followed. The first was of some Officers of Court, who by favour had obtained an augmentation of their Salaries: the second of Pensions granted to Courtiers of Castille and Arragon, who were known not to be deserving, or not to have merited them by honest courses; and the third consisted in recovering Crown Lands that had been alienated, upon occasion of the Conquests of Grenada, Naples and Navarre.  
Before Ximenes put his design in execution, he had demanded the advice of Chieures, who counselled him to stay till the Catholic King were come into Castille: But whether it was that he thought himself strong enough to bring about so bold a project without the assistance of his Master, or that he imagined Chieures envied him the glory which he might thereby obtain; he went on still with his work. He moderated at first, with pretty good success, the new augmentations of Salaries; and the Grandees of Spain were very well pleased with the reduction of Wages to the Ancient standard, because on the one hand the high Nobility had hardly any concern in that; and on the other, those who were prejudiced by the Cardinal's regulation, were satisfied to repine at it in secret. The retrenching of Pensions caused him more trouble, by reason that the murmuring was more universal and more public: But the recovery of the Crown Lands reached too high not to meet with terrible impediments at the very first step. It was pretended that the Catholic King must not only enter again into the Lands sold at an underrate, or given in gratuities, but also into those which the detainers could not make out to have been alienated by good Contracts, and for lawful causes. There were but few Lords of the high Nobility, who possessed not some of this nature; and if they had no favour showed them, it was almost certain they would be excited to a Revolt. Nevertheless they were summoned as well as others, and a shortenough time assigned them for making good their Titles. The indignation that this wrought in them gave occasion to Pedro Giron, eldest Son to the Count of Vregna, to think that the time was now come for recovering the Duchy of Medina Sidonia, which he had been turned out of.  
For understanding this Affair which raised all Spain almost, we must know that Don Juan de Gusman, Duke of Medina Sidonia Espoused in first marriage the eldest Daughter of the Duke of Bejar, by whom he had a Son called Henry, and a Daughter named Mentia: Henry was importent, and Mentia married to the Count of Vregna, had by him Pedro Giron. The Duke of Medina Sidonia enjoyed not long his first Wife, having lost her the third year after their Marriage. He was still young, and his first alliance had given him often occasion of seeing the second Daughter of the Duke of Bejar his Sister-in-Law. He had been extremely much taken with her; and if the inclination that he had for her remained within the bounds of a bare respect so long as he was married to her Sister, it degenerated into love so soon as he became a Widower. He was without contradiction the richest Lord of Andalusia, had lived very well with his former Wife; offered to marry her Sister upon the same conditions, that is to say, without a portion: The great men of Spain minded not much at that time the proximity of blood in their Alliances; and the Duke of Bejar had a numerous Family. These five considerations moved Bejar to condescend to accept of Medina Sidonia for his Son-in-Law a second time; and seeing all ways were taken for obtaining a dispensation from the Holy See in the most favourable Form that then was in fashion, 
In the History of Medina Sidonia.  it was at length granted. Of the second Marriage he had a Son famous in History, by the name of Alvero de Gusman; and the Duke his Father bred him up as the next lawful Heir of his vast Estate, so soon as the impotency of Henry de Gusman, the only Son of his first Bed, came to be known. Alvero grew to be so accomplished a Lord, that the Catholic King Ferdinand pitched upon him for a Husband to Anne of Arragon, lawful Daughter to Alphonso of Arragon his majesty's Natural Son: But there are few signal Incests amongst Christians, which wholly escape unpunished till the other World; and God commonly gins in this by dreadful chastisements, to show his aversion to such promiscuous mixtures, which he only suffered in the beginning of the World, and for the multiplication of Mankind. Pedro Giron, eldest Son of Mentia, Daughter by the first Marriage to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, claimed to be sole and universal Heir to his maternal Grandfather, and alleged for his reasons, that Alvero de Gusman his Uncle was illegitimate: that he was the odious offspring of a monstrous conjunction: That Divine and Humane Laws equally condemned the Marriage of two Sisters; and that if they had been sometimes suffered in Christian Religion, it was only for causes that concerned the public, certain and present good of the State, and Royal Persons: That there was no such thing in the case in question, and that by consequence the Dispensation obtained from Rome was null. But for all that the Catholic King gave his Granddaughter to Alvero Gusman, and made answer to those who would have dissuaded him from it, that it belonged not to Pedro Giron to quarrel at the Dispensation obtained by his Grandfather; and that though there might be ground to find fault with it, yet the presence of his Majesty and of the Queen Isabelle, who signed the contract, had supplied all defects of Law and Fact that would have intervened.  
The Duke of Medina Sidonia died sometime after the Marriage of Alvero his Son, who took possession of all the Estate of the Family, without any other opposition than that of some protestations in writing made in behalf of Pedro Giron. But after the death of the Catholic King; when Alvero had lost in him his greatest supporter, Pedro Giron thought the time was come for him to take possession of the Estate of the Family of Medina Sidonia. He got of his Friends what money they thought fit to lend him: he implored the assistance of his nearest Relations, his Father excusing himself to engage in the quarrel, because of his great Age: He found a great many young men, who had known him in the Armies, disposed to assist him; and from those three stocks he procured Forces enough to lay a regular Siege before St. Lucar, one of the most noted Towns of Andalusia, because of the commodiousness of its Harbour. Seeing it properly belonged to the Dukes of Medins Sidonia, and that it was part of the Entail of their eldest Sons, which could neither be sold nor mortgaged; the Kings of Castille had no Garrison in it, and only kept one in the Castle which commanded the place, nor had they done so, till first they gave the Dukes of Medina Sidonia authentic Declarations, that it was not for any pretensions they had to it, but only for the security of the Coast of Andalusia, the most important of their Monarchy. Alvero put himself into the Town to defend it; and received there so great a re-inforcement by Pontio d'Ar●os his Cousin German, that Pedro Giron despairing to take it in a long time by the usual ways, endeavoured to corrupt Gonez de Solis, who commanded the Castle. Solis was inflexible; and all that Pedro Giron could draw from him, was that ●he late Catholic King, when he put ●im in St. Lucar, had commanded him ●o live in good correspondence with the Duke Alvero, and to act jointly with ●im in all things that were not contrary ●o the interest of the Monarchy of Spain ●n general, and of Castille in particular. He told him that he could not excuse himself from obeying that Order, until ●e had another from Flanders, or that ●he Cardinal commanded him to obey Pedro Giron; and that there was no other ●xpedients but these for entering into St. Lucar, unless he thought it better to ●orce his way in.  
Thus the Siege drew in length; and Kimenes being persuaded that the disposition of the late King must by all means ●e maintained, wrote to Chieures, that ●hat was the only way to hinder the Nobility of Spain from rising; and that as ●hey were naturally inclined to Idleness, so they would infallibly betake themselves to it again, when they saw their first attempt suppressed with as much authority in the absence of the Catholic King, as if his Majesty were present, and acted in person. The Cardinal then prayed Chieures to procure what he was about to do, to be approved in the Council of Bruxelles, and enclosed a Letter for the King, 
In the Letters of Ximenes to Chieures.  which contained the same thing expressed only in more respectful terms; and without any other caution, in a few days he mustered together the old Troops which he kept in several places in a readiness; and sen● them so suddenly to St. Lucar, that they fell upon Pedro Giron before he had notice that they were in the field. The consternation which seized the Besiege● at the sight of them, in a moment broke all the measures that had been taken for carrying the Duchy of Medina Sidoni● Don Pedro was abandoned of all his Soldiers, and himself forced to fly to a Countryhouse, where he was no● known to be, there to continue till his Friends should make his peace with Ximenes. The cause of so odd an adventure was, because most of the Besiegers were Volunteers, and only served in hopes, as they were made believe, that the Cardinal would approve what they did. They knew him to be extraordinarily jealous of his Authority, and inexorable when once he had been constrained to come to force. From thence they concluded, that if the Besiegers were defeated, those of them that remained would suffer by the hand of the Executioner. By their small number in comparison of those who came to the assistance of Duke Alvero, they judged that the match was not equal, and thereupon disbanded themselves, expecting till Pedro Giron could make his party stronger. They were not altogether mistaken in their conjecture; and the Enemies of Ximenes laboured with so much application and success to make him receive an affront in the affair of Medina Sidonia, that Giron thought, having got his Uncle the Constable of Castille, and many other Grandees to League with him, that he had no more to fear, and that he might securely brave the Cardinal. He went to Madrid, supposing that that Prelate extraordinarily nice in matter of offence, and easy to be provoked by slights offered to his Dignity, would send him Orders to be gone with all expedition, & thereby furnish him with a pretext, as he desired, to complain of him. But the Cardinal, who saw into Giron's thoughts, carried himself as if he had not known of his arrival at Madrid, or as if he had not been concerned at it. He gave him time to try his patience; and Giron finding his first trick baffled by the affected insensibility of Ximenes, invented a second. He sent word to the Cardinal, that he was come to Madrid, upon no other design, but to visit his Relations and Friends, and that he would return immediately after. He expected that the Cardinal would have replied to the Gentleman who brought him that word, That Giron was not so great a man, but that he might have come himself, and given him the first notice of his arrival: But the Cardinal dissembled still, and made no other reply but, In a good time.  
Nothing so much displeases those that seek for a quarrel, as a moderation practised most unseasonably as to them, that is to say, at the time when they are most exasperated. Giron whom Ximenes punished more severely by neglecting him than if he had put him in prison, resolved to have his turn, and to be even with him by a third way. He told before some, who he knew would acquaint the Cardinal with it, the true cause why he had not gone to see that Prelate, saying, that it was to put a difference betwixt the Catholic King and those who had the honour to represent his person; because the Grandees of Castille, as often as they passed by the place where their King was, were accustomed to visit him; and if they did so in respect of the Cardinal, the Catholic King might have cause to find fault with them for it. That was reported to Ximenes, who wondering no more at that than at all the rest, forced Giron to attack him in a fair way, by making a great party against him upon the old pretexts of discontent which the high Nobility had against him. The Constable of Castille was the first that engaged in it, because there was a talk of taking from him a Royal right which he had upon the Coasts of Andalusia: The Duke of Bonevento was drawn in next, out of spite, because he had been hindered to finish a Fort which he had begun in the Territory of Cigalez: The Duke of Albuquerque, and the Duke of Medina Coeli followed their example, because of Rents which they had out of the Crown Lands; and the Bishop of Signensca was the fifth, upon the account that being born in Portugal, he apprehended to lose his Bishopric lying in Castille, supposing the Cardinal might be inclined of himself, or might be desired to re-establish the castilians in the possession of one of their fairest Privileges, which consisted in that neither their Offices nor Benefices could be held by strangers.  
There remained no more to raise the other Heads of the high Nobility, but to gain the Duke of Infantado, the chief of the Family of Mendosa, to whom the other Lords of Spain yielded in Birth, Estate, Riches and Merit. It seemed no difficult thing to dispose him to a Revolt, by reason of what had passed betwixt Ximenes and him. He had heretofore courted the Alliance of that Cardinal; and had offered to him notwithstanding the extreme disproportion of their Families, to marry Diego de Mendosa his Brother's Son with Isabelle of Cisnero, the Cardinal's Niece. It is not known whether or no the Duke was tempted with ambition, or that he only intended to unite more closely with that Favourite; or lastly, if he acted in prospect of augmenting the vast Estates of his Family, by joining thereto the great Treasure which the Cardinal was thought to have, with his Heiress: But it is certain that the Duke himself one day made the proposition to the Cardinal; and that he surprised at the honour that was done ●im, incomparably greater than he durst ●ave hoped for, and wanting time to ●…ok upon the reverse of the Medal, which was shown him by the fair side, granted the Duke's desire. But he re●ented it so soon as going into his Closet, ●nd calling to mind what had befallen ●im; he found that he had made too much haste, and that self-love had so far blinded him, as to make him guilty of a ●ross fault against the maxims of quainest policy. He had exposed himself by ●iving his consent too soon to the jealous which Ferdinand the Catholic King ●is Master, who was then alive, had already conceived of him, when his Majesty ●hould perceive that he renounced his ancient maxims; and that instead of continuing to declare himself against the ●igh Nobility, he began at long run to Ally with them, by giving his Niece ●nd Heiress to the Nephew and Heir of ●he Duke, who had all the Lords of Spain for his Kinsmen or Allies: Whence Kimenes concluded, 
In the Eulogies of the House of Mendosa.  that if is Majesty had endeavoured to depose him, when he ●ad no reasonable cause for it, he would for the future set about it with so much the more ground, that all the Spaniards were persuaded, that if the Treasure of the Cardinal, which was given out to be sufficient to raise and maintain a formidable Army, were joined to the power and credit of the Duke of Infantado, the Heirs of both together might render themselves Masters of Castille, if they had the ambition.  
That was enough to make the Cardinal eat his words; and seeing he never wanted ways to retrieve a false step when he had time to do it, he excused the irregularity of his word in so many different manners; that if the Duke was no● fully satisfied, yet he had no sufficient occasion to break with him. They were then, to speak properly, neither Friend nor Enemies when Giron's party proposed to have the Duke to head them; and the six afore mentioned Grandees wen● upon that design to wait on him in the Town of Guada Caira, where he passed the Winter in the year One Thousand Five Hundred and Seventeen.  
They represented to him, that the Spanish Nobility had gained a great reputation in the World, by delivering their Country from the Tyranny of the Moors, but that they were about to lose it, i● they persisted in the insensibility that at present they were in: That they had already suffered but too long a man of base birth, who had judged himself so incapable of commanding, that he had made a vow of obedience so long as he lived; and who having only learned to govern in the Cloisters where Authority is wholly absolute, imagined that the Grandees of Spain were to be Ruled as absolutely, as Cordeliers of the strictest observance: That if the power he took to himself had any ground in the Laws of Spain, it ought to be submitted unto; but that these Laws favoured not a Monk, who had only raised and did maintain himself by violating them: That he could show no other title for his pretended Regency, but the Article of the last Will and Testament of the late Catholic King, which bequeathed it to him; but that there were three things to be found fault with in that Article, the least whereof was sufficient to evacuate the execution thereof. First, that it was suggested by Carvaial the Counsellor of State, to whom the Cardinal for reward had promised the Bishopric of Siguença, so soon as he had outed the Portuguese Prelate, who was provided to it contrary to the custom of Castille. Secondly, that the Cardinal stretched his power infinitely beyond what he said was given him, which stood in need of no proof, seeing it was a thing so public that no body was ignorant of it; and lastly, that granting it were true, that the late Catholic King had granted him the Regency in the full extent that he exercised it in, yet he ought not to be suffered to enjoy it, seeing by the fundamental Laws of the Monarchy of Castille, the Royal Authority devolved upon the high Nobility during the time of minority or infirmity of their Kings, when they were of long continuance; and if the Nobility condescended that the late King Ferdinand should retain the Government for life, yet it followed not that they had given him leave to dispose of it after his death.  
The Duke of Infantado answered, that he had at least as much ground to complain of the Cardinal, as any other Grandee of Castille; and that his Ancestors having left him considerable Estates of that nature, which was pretended to be Lands of the Crown; by consequence he had occasion to be apprehensive that they would begin at him in retrieving them, that others might think it the less strange when they were dispossessed next, that no favour had been shown to the most considerable Lord of Spain. But that notwithstanding he was not of the opinion that any thing should be attempted in prejudice of the last Will of the late King, nor contrary to the orders of the Catholic King Reigning, though it was known that they were only provisional in what concerned Ximenes: That that Cardinal had more experience and more ready money than they; and that there was no doubt to be made, but that he would root them out altogether, if they gave him occasion to put the people on his side, by letting them know that the Lords of Castille struck at the memory of the late King, who had chosen him for Regent, and at the Authority of the new King, who had confirmed the Regency unto him: That it was then absolutely necessary to find out another expedient, than that of violence for degrading of him; and that when such an one were found, the Duke of Infantado should willingly declare himself for the common cause against the Favourite.  
That was not an expedient to be fallen upon at first; 
In the Chronicle of the M●ndosa's.  and the Lords of Castille after many days thinking of it, found none other that could relish with the Duke of Infantado, but a Petition to the new King Charles, which all of them signed, beseeching him to give them another Regent than Ximenes. It was an easy matter to foresee that it would not be granted; and that his Majesty would wave giving an answer to it until his arrival in Spain, whither he promised to go day after day. The Cardinal was so sure of it, that he did not give himself the trouble of writing about it, neither to the King nor Chieures. Nay, his foresight went a little further; and as he was exceeding watchful to make the best of occurrences that were capable to increase his Power, so the Conspiracy of the Nobles offered him two means for that, which he did not let slip. The first was to lay before Chieures in a long Letter the absolute necessity of his Catholic majesty's sending him an● unlimited power, if it was expected that he should in a signal manner reduce so many malcontents to reason: And secondly, to put himself in a posture, not only not to be surprised, but also to stifle the Sedition so soon as it should begin to break out.  
Seeing it had been chief by the valour of the castilian Nobility that the Moors were driven out of Spain, they ●ad for a long time enjoyed the privilege of carrying Arms both for themselves and Attendants, which Townspeople and Peasants had not, but when ●hey were employed by Gentlemen. If ●hat custom had continued, the Cardinal ●ad one time or other been oppressed, because he could not be able in all places through which he was to go, to have Armed men enough in readiness to resist ●he frequent attempts of the Nobility up●n his person: Whereas if he put Arms into the hands of the Plebeians, he would prepare for himself in all places a vast ●umber of Guards, who would think themselves exceedingly obliged to him ●or that favour, and would not be wan●ing to him in time of need. He took ●he occasion from the descent that the ●amous Corsair Barbarossa had then made 〈◊〉 the Kingdom of Granada, from whence he had carried away several ●housand Spaniards; and thereupon he published an Edict in name of Queen ●ean and King Charles, hearing that since ●he Nobility whose Lands were upon the Coasts of Spain, and the Garrisons which ●he Catholic Kings were wont to maintain there, were not sufficient to hinder ●he spoils of the Infidels, it was necessary to remedy such surprises for the future, by opposing so many men capable of resisting the Turkish Pirates, that they should not dare to set foot on Shore in a Country which they should find so well guarded: That their Catholic Majesties had not thought it fit to Arm the Peasants, because that would take them off from labouring the Land, nor all the Inhabitants of Towns neither, by reason that Commerce might thereby be interrupted; but that they had only chosen the honest Burghers, who having much to lose, would take the greater care to keep it: That those who would list themselves in that Militia, should be exempted from the harder offices of the State: That they should afterwards have privileges granted to them proportionable to the Services which they rendered: That care should be taken to set Officers over them to instruct them; and that all that was demanded of them at present, was to perform exercise every Sunday.  
The Nobility at first perceived the intention of Ximenes, and with all their might opposed it. The Towns where they had got greater credit than he, would not suffer the Commissaries appointed for the Musters, to put the Edict in execution, and the others received them with open Arms; for besides that they were acceptable to the Burghers for the novelty of the Order which they brought them, they rendered them masters of the State, and opened to them the fair way, which was that of Arms, of raising themselves above the condition wherein they were born, and of meriting the most important charges in the Monarchy: which in progress of time would have so debased the Nobility, that scarcely would there have been any more talk of them.  
Thus Castille was divided into two Factions; and as there are Mountains that cut it almost into two equal parts, so the other side of the Hills was almost wholly for the Nobility, and this side for Ximenes. The Cardinal's party was not the least, seeing he had the bravest and most expert Soldiers of his Countrymen for him; and the only circumspection he was to use, was to hinder his Enemies from possessing the Court of Bruxelles with bad impressions of his design. In prospect of that he wrote to Chieures, praying him to represent to the Catholic King in full Council, that there was no other expedient than what he had put in practice, for preserving his two Monarchies entire for him, and without a farthing charge, until his arrival in Spain: That it was no new thing in Castille to Arm the People; and that the Kings his Predecessors had done it as often as it was necessary to stop or punish the insolency of the Nobility: That King Henry the Fourth, his Grandfather's Brother, had put it in practice; and that the Historians of Spain impute all the misfortunes that befell him to no other cause, but the pernicious counsel that was given him, and which he had followed, in disbanding the Plebeian Troops which he had raised, and putting Gentlemen in their place, who had shamefully betrayed him.  
Chieures approved the project of Ximenes, and got it to be approved by Charles, but it was for another reason than what the Cardinal had mentioned in his Letter. The actual possession of the Low-Countries, the Hereditary Provinces of the House of Austria in Germany, which were to fall to his Catholic Majesty after the death of his paternal Grandfather, and the Empire which he intended to canvas for, were three very important motives that suffered him not to make a long stay in Spain, and would in all appearance call him from thence as soon as he should be acknowledged there for King: Whence Chieures concluded, that it would be impossible then to conceal it from the Nobility, that they could not long enjoy the presence of Charles; and that in that case they would make it their whole care to deliver themselves from the subjection under which they pretended the late Kings Ferdinand and Isabelle had held them, and to re-establish themselves in the right; or to say better, in the licentiousness which they had taken to themselves many Ages before, of securely revolting when ever the whimsy took them in the head. Their Rebellions, indeed, had been frequent, yet they never proceeded to the deposition of Kings; because these Princes having never gone out of their Territories, came seasonably enough to the places where the Revolt had begun, to suppress it at first; and as they had always reserved to themselves Friends amongst the discontented Grandees, so their defection was never universal: Whereas if they had a mind to rise in the absence of Charles, nothing could cross their union; and the Infanto Ferdinand being amongst them, they would choose him for their King, which must needs give birth to a War that could not otherwise be ended, but by the death of one of the two Brothers, whom the castilian Nobility had set together by the Ears. It was therefore, in the opinion of Chieures, a masterpiece of State-policy, above all things to prevent that Revolt of the Nobility, by means the less suspected, that the Catholic King had no hand in it; and the means offered freely without being invented or sought out by the Council of Bruxelles. There was no more to be done, but to confirm by Royal Authority the Militia of the honest Burghers, which in every Town would oppose the attempts of the Nobility, and keep the People in duty; and as Ximenes denied not to be the inventor of it, so would he bear all the hatred, and all the benefit thereof would redound to his Catholic Majesty,  
This discourse animated with the vigour which Chieures used to back the propositions that he would have pass without contradiction, was applauded so in the Council of Bruxelles, and the conduct of Ximenes, as that the settling of the Militia of honest Burghers in Castille, was unanimously approved. He received praises for it; Letters were directed to the King's Officers to see it put in execution; and those that opposed the same, were declared guilty of High Treason, of what quality soever they were. Ayala was sent to the Cardinal to carry him the News; and the Nobles seeing themselves abandoned of the Court, were soon divided. The Constable was the first of them that made his reconciliation with Ximenes; and the rest, in stead of taking it ill that he had forsaken their company, prayed him to make their peace. He served as Mediator for the Grandees of his Faction; and the Cardinal having embraced them, thought it necessary for hindering them from ruining his work, when any occasion offered, to establish in every Town of Spain four new Syndicks, to take care of the subsistence of the Militia, and to inform the Court of any enterprise that might be made for suppressing it. It is amazing, that the greatest men as well as others should sometimes be subject to the fault of being more touched with injuries than favours, and more apt to take offence than to be grateful. Ximenes knew very well, that he owed the preservation of his Dignity, and perhaps of his Life also, to the last Letters written in his favours from Bruxelles; and that if they had not seconded him according to his desire, he must have been overpoured in the business of the Militia: But instead of taking it by that handle which showed his own weakness, he took it by another that pleased him. That was the obligation which the Catholic King had to him, for having so entirely brought under the Nobility of Spain, that his Majesty might for the time to come absent himself from his Maternal Dominions as long as he pleased, and take his own time to canvas for the Empire. He thought that having done so much for his Master, that young Prince ought to do any thing for him; and renewed his instances for obtaining an unlimited Power, not with an express declaration as he had hither to done, that he would take that savour as a pure grace of his Majesty, but in the strain that he used to demand those things which were his due.  
Chieures knew the temper of the Spaniards, to be apt to pass from a haughtiness that is natural to them, to an extreme contempt of their Sovereign, so soon as ever they think they have persuaded him that he cannot be without them. He told the Catholic King, that if in the present juncture he granted Ximenes what he desired, he would render him insupportable, and confirm him in an absolute independence on his Majesty. That he would consult him no more, but as in course; concerning what he was to do: That he would not read the Orders which he might receive from him; or if he did read them, it would only be after he had acted in his own way, and merely out of curiosity to see if they were conform to what he had done: whereas if the power of the Cardinal were at present left within the limits to which the late King confined it, & from time to time afterward augmented, according as circumstances might require, as had been done in the case of the Militia; the Cardinal would be more pliant, and the Gentlemen would not so impatiently bear his administration. The Catholic King judged the advice to be sound, and refused Ximenes, who suspecting that Chieures had been against him, reciprocally opposed Chieures in an affair that follows.  
The Indians were too weak to support the digging in Mines and other painful labour that the Spaniards put them to. They commonly died within six or seven weeks after they had been employed in that drudgery, and the strongest of them in that case did not outlive two months. Most frequently they were forced to labour; and the inhumanity of constraining them in this manner to shorten their days for the profit of others, obliged Chieures to look out for means of easing them. He hit upon a great many; and that which he most approved, because it was least chargeable to the Spaniards, was to procure them other slaves at a cheap rate. The greatest traffic on the Coast of Guinee consisted in Men, whom they went to buy from all parts of the World. Fathers sold their Children, and the Husbands their Wives. And these Slaves being Blacks, they were called Negroes: They were strong: labour, how hard soever, was no strange thing to them, because they were accustomed to it from their youth: They were subject to few diseases; and though they were exposed to all the injuries of the Seasons, yet they lived long, and by consequence enriched those who bought them for a Crown a head, provided they were not used with too much severity: But if they were so used, they immediately destroyed themselves, by stopping their own breath upon no other account but to vex their pitiless Masters. Chieures caused six hundred of them to be bought, and sent into America, where the Spaniards who lived in that new part of the World were informed of the advantage they might have in making use of those Black Slaves, seeing they might have them so cheap. But Cardinal Ximenes found a great deal to be said against it; and pretended that if the Spaniards by not making use of the Slaves of Guinee had the displeasure to see their Works many times unfinished, they had, to make amends for that, the satisfaction to be assured that the West-Indians, whom they brought into their Houses, would never wrong them, by conspiring and rising against them: Whereas the Negroes, who were as malicious as strong, would not sooner perceive themselves to be more numerous in the new World than the Spaniards, but that they would lay their heads together to put the Chains upon them, which now they carried for them.  
Ayala was sent back to the Court of Bruxelles to exaggerate that inconvenience, but Chieures was not satisfied with it. He thought it was something else that set Ximenes at work, and attributed to him a more refined consideration. He drew it from the jealousy of the Spaniards for the Indies, which went so far, as not to suffer any other Nation but themselves to set footing there, lest they might have a mind to divide the Wealth thereof with them. Nevertheless if Negro were transported thither, there was ground to foresee that they would increase and multiply much; hard labour and bad usage not hindering that people from being extraordinarily fruitful; and it being the interest of those who bought them to marry them together, thereby to augment the number of their Slaves: It would no longer then depend on the prudence of Spain to resist the multitude of Negroes. They would not sooner know their own strength, but that they would think of recovering their liberty; and if their Insurrection prospered in one Region of America, it would soon become universal, by the assistance that those who had freed themselves would give to the rest, to make them revolt after their example.  
Besides, the Spaniards were not sit for transporting of Slaves from one extremity of the World to the other, and had not shipping enough to supply America and Peru with sufficient numbers; whence it followed, that in that case they stood in need of the Flemings and Hollanders, the Subjects of the Catholic King; and that so those People getting more knowledge in the Indies than it was fit they should, would infallibly labour to settle there. However the Catholic King notwithstanding the Remonstrance of Ximenes, sent to the Island of Hispaniola the Negrees which Chieures had caused to be bought: But sive years after he had occasion to repent of it, because the Negroes revolted; and had infallibly taken the Island, if by singular good fortune just when their Rebellion broke out, two Spanish Captains, Melchior de Castro, and Francis d' Avila had not come, and more by cunning than strength put them again into Chains.  
That irregularity of Chieures was probably the cause that he afterwards seconded the Cardinal in the execution of a design which appeared not to be much juster, nor less interested, and of which nothing but humane malice hindered the success. The Indians complained that they were used by the Spaniards like Beasts, and the complaint was but too true. There was no Justice nor Magistrates for them: They preached the Gospel to them in a manner that might make them abhor it: No great care was taken to Baptise them; nor were they more kindly used after they had received it. Ximenes proposed the sending of Commissioners to them, Louis de Figueroa, Alphonso of St. John, Monks of the Order of St. Jerome, and the Alcaide Manzanedo, for settling amongst the Indians Subjects of the Monarchy of Spain, a Policy much like to that of the Peasants in Spain; as if the three persons named had been sufficient for a work of that importance. 
In the relation of the Fathers of St Jerome.  However Chieures got it to be approved in the Council of Bruxelles, and the Commissioners set fail from the Coast of Andalusia. They arrived without any hindrance in America; but there they found so great opposition from their Countrymen, that they put hardly any thing of the Order which they had received from Ximenes in execution; those who ought to have aided them by their Authority being the first that constrained them to Embark again, and return back to the place from whence they came.  
John d' Albert had no success in the recovery of his Kingdom of Navarre, though the Treaty of Noyon had facilitated his entry into it; and, indeed it must be acknowledged for the justification of Chieures in the juncture we are to speak of, that it was not his fault that that dispossessed King was not restored. The measures that had been taken for that great design were so just, that nothing hindered them from succeeding, but the ill luck or bad conduct of John d' Albert. King Francis the First had suffered him to raise in the Provinces lying betwixt the Loire and the Pyrenean Hills, an Army almost all old Soldiers, and so much the better disciplined, that they were punctually paid out of the moneys borrowed upon the Jewels of the Crown of N●varre. If it had marched into that Kingdom, the Towns and Forts would have striven who should first have opened their Gates; because four years' subjection to the Monarchy of Castille was sufficient to make those of Navarre come to themselves again, and find their deplorable mistake in delivering themselves up to their ancient and irreconcilable Enemies. They could not endure that their Kingdom should be reduced into a Province; and as it was the Faction of Beaumond which had been the cause of it, so they also were the first that endeavoured to repair the fault. The chief Gentlemen of that party wrote so submissive Letters to John d' Albert, that in every line there appeared evident marks of sorrow for what was past, and of more than ordinary obedience for the future. They conjured him to return into Navarre; assured him that assoon as he were over the Pyrenees he should find it all in Arms, and ready to increase his Forces: They promised to make him Master at first of one half of the Kingdom, and did not think the rest could hold out above two or three months longer. But it is not always true that the mutual love of married persons surpasses that of their Country; and there may be found in History almost as many Wives who have betrayed their Husbands for the good of their Country, as have sacrificed their Country to the welfare of their Husbands.  
The Hereditary Constable of Navarre, Son and Successor to him who called the Spaniards into it, had gone so far as to resolve in time and place convenient to put himself at the head of a party form to drive them out of it. It consisted of twenty thousand men; and which was very strange, there was not one Soldier of all that great number, who discovered the conspiracy to the Spaniards. Had the Constable married a Navarrese woman, Navarre would not have been reduced unto a Province to Castille, but his project was discovered by the castilian whom his Father had chosen him for a Wife. Pedro Maurique, Duke of Nagera had a fair Estate in Castille, upon the borders of Navarre. The leading men of the Faction of Beaumond could find a refuge there in case they were too much pressed by the party of Grammont, or by John d' Albert; and the Constable's Father had no other view but that, in marrying him with Briande, Daughter to the Duke of Nagera. But that signified nothing to him when he had put Navarre under subjection to Ferdinand the Catholic King, and to complete the misfortune of the young Constable his Son, it proved his utter ruin. There was a necessity seeing he was to form a revolution in his Country that might repair his Father's fault, by restoring John d' Albert, that he must write an infinite number of Letters, and receive as many. It is not known by what accident, but one of them came to his Lady's hands, who without deliberating and considering the consequences of what she was about to do, carried it to Ferdinand d' Acugua, Viceroy of Navarre, who in all hast sent it to Ximenes.  
The Cardinal perceiving that the Conspiracy was ready form, and that it would suddenly break out, took two extreme resolutions very hard to be excused, especially in a man of his character. He sent into Navarre all the Forces he could draw together under the command of Ferdinand Vilalva, the best Officer in War that he knew; and gave him orders at first to labour only to disperse the Faction of Beaumond without making the leading men prisoners, to the end he might not lose the time which he might more usefully employ in guarding the passage of Roucevaux. If he were so successful as to defend it, and there to cut in pieces the Army of John d' Albert, as the Gascons heretofore had defeated the Rearguard of Charlemain; he had Orders, upon his return only, to raze all the strong places of Navarre, except Pampelona, which he should secure with a good Citadel; that if at any other time the Navarrese might have a mind to revolt against the Kings of Castille, they might be diverted from it by the consideration, that having no Fortresses, they would be oppressed by the Spaniards, before the French could come to their succour. But if he could not, upon what occasion soever, hinder John d' Albert from passing the Pyrenees, he should in all haste march back again, and set Fire to all the Towns, Castles, Burroughs, Villages, and Country-houses of Navarre; to the end that the French finding no subsistence there, might return as fast as they came.  
Vilalva obeyed the Cardinal, 
In the Chronicle of Vilalva.  and yet put in execution but the first of the Orders which he had received, because the extraordinary confidence of his adversaries gave him an easier opportunity of overcoming them than he hoped for. John d' Albert being come to the foot of the Pyrenees on the side of France, divided his Army into three Bodies; and gave the first, wherein was almost the whole Faction of Grammont, and the other Navarrese, who chose rather to be banished than to be disloyal to him, to be commanded by Don Pedro Peralta, Marshal of Navarre. The second, which was the main Body, was commanded by the Count and Cardinal de Foix, the Paternal Uncles of Queen Catherine of Navarre; and John d' Albert, who by the maxims of Military discipline at that time, aught to have been there, yet kept in the reserve. He made a stop very unseasonably with the Rear to besiege the Fort of St. John, when he ought to have followed close the Van and main Body, to oblige them by his presence to stand the better upon their guard; and the first Body knowing that the Faction of Beaumond was for them, and by consequence not expecting to find the passages of the Pyrenees guarded, marched with so little circumspection, that they fell wholly into the Ambushes that Vilalva had laid for them. The Spaniards besetting them on all hands, forced them to yield upon discretion, having scarcely fought for it: Vilalva sent the chief of them, with the Marshal, prisoners to Castille, where, by their own hands, or through misery, they perished. He put the rest to the Sword, because there needed more men than he had to guard them; and falling immediately after upon the main Body, he put it to the rout. The fugitives coming to the reserve where John d' Albert was, put them into such a consternation, that they immediately raised the Siege of the Castle of St. John, and retreated into the Principality of Bearn. John d' Albert either could not or would not outlive a second misfortune: He died for grief at Pau, and the Queen his Wife lived but seven months after him.  
Vilalva returning victorious, obeyed but too punctually the Orders which he had received from Ximenes, in demolishing the strong places of Navarre, seeing it cost him his life. Only one escaped his fury, which was that of Marsilla. It belonged to Anne de Velasco, Marchioness of Falsez, who was there when one of the Commissioners for the demolitions demanded entrance. She refused him admittance; and gave this reason for it, that she would faithfully keep to the young Catholic King Charles the Oath which the late Marquis her Husband had taken to the late King, of preserving to him the Castle of Marsilla in the condition he had received it. The Constable's Lady had so much credit with Ximenes, by means of the Duke of Nagera her Brother, to whom the Cardinal immediately after gave the Vice-Royalty of Navarre, that she saved her Husband's person and Estate: Nevertheless, she was so strongly persuaded that he would never pardon the offence that she had given him in discovering the Conspiracy, whereof he was the Head, that she left him presently after she had revealed it, and went to her Brother's house, where she continued till she died, without ever suffering any motion to be made to her of returning to her Husband. It appeared by the sequel that her fear was not ill grounded, seeing the Constable having one day met Vilalva near his Castle of Lerin, which they had been demolishing and shilling up the Ditches of, invited him to dinner in his House. Vilalva at that time stood in extreme need of such an invitation, and besides he could not in civility refuse it. He was but half way on his journey, and had still a long way to go before he could come to the Castle of Eteille, whither he was going. He therefore accepted the Constables offer, and dined in the Castle of Lerin: But he had quickly cause to repent it, seeing he died upon his arrival at the Castle of Eteille, in the opinion of being poisoned. There was no great care taken in sifting the matter; and the Constable was thought sufficiently punished by the inability he and his Faction were reduced to, of any more rising against the castilians, for want of places of retreat. Thus Navarre was preserved to the Catholic King, and neither his Majesty nor Chieures had any hand in it; and Ximenes thinking nothing impossible for him after the success of such an enterprise, thought he might take his own course, and do his worst to the Queen Dowager Germana de Foix, by wholly depriving her of what rendered her considerable in Spain after the death of King Ferdinand her Husband.  
It hath been mentioned before, that that Prince sent her to hold the Estates of Arragon; and the certain advice that she received of the extremity to which he was reduced, had obliged her to make all haste back again unto him. She came only a few hours before he expired, and nevertheless timely enough to represent to him that she was in great danger of being miserable, and even of wanting necessaries for her subsistence, if he provided not against it before his death: That he was obliged to do so in Conscience, seeing she was upon no other account deprived of the Estate which belonged to her Family in France, but because she had married him: That the late most Christian King Lovis the Twelfth, her Mother's Brother, who had promised himself great advantages by marrying her to his Majesty, had on the contrary found that that Alliance was more than one way fatal to him; and that Francis the First his Successor looked upon her as another Helena, who had brought Fire into her Country: That the last of these Monarches had given all the Estate which she ought to inherit, to the younger Brothers of the 
* Lautrec Asparant, and Lescun.  House, and that there was no more support for her in France: 
* Lautrec in the d●nations of Francis the First.  That all the Friends she had in her own Country were dead, with Gaston de Foix her only Brother; and that if his Catholic Majesty were taken from her, she could find none, neither in Spain under the Reign of young Charles, seeing he would not look upon her but with horror, when he should call to mind that she was within an Ace of depriving him of the Succession of Arragon, and perhaps also of that of Castille, which he would not have obtained if the Son she was brought to Bed of had lived, to whom besides, the Succession of Navarre was due. That in fine, to put so unwelcome an object out of her sight, she earnestly besought her dear Husband to leave her in the remotest corner of his Kingdoms, which was that of Naples, an alimentary Pension sufficient to maintain her in Widowhood for the rest of her days, according to her quality: That there she would prepare to follow him to Heaven, by praying incessantly night and day for him, and by leading a life as much as lay in her power suitable to the purity of the Gospel. So pathetic a discourse prevailed with Ferdinand, to leave the Queen Germana, besides her Dowry, thirty thousand Ducats a year upon the Kingdom of Naples; and the Article of the Testament, as it was changed, came immediately after that, which gave Castille and Arragon solely to Charles. But the three Ministers whom we mentioned before were not pleased with it, though they thought it not proper at that time to oppose it; the thing being but a trifle in comparison of what they had obtained of King Ferdinand, which was the preferring of the elder of his Grandsons before the younger, not only as to the Monarchies last named, but also as to the three great Masteries.  
Ximenes, who had approved no more than they that Pension for life, saw himself no sooner in a condition to revoke the grant made to Queen Germana, by a Husband who otherwise had never been liberal, but that without any scruple he both attempted and performed it. It is true it was not done after his way, that is to say, openly, and without fetching a compass; seeing he thought it enough at first to pray Chieures to represent to the Catholic King that the Kingdom of Naples had been a long time French, and that the Faction of Anjou was not as yet wholly extinct in it: That it was too dangerous to suffer a French Queen to have any Revenue there, because she might foment discontents in it, and increase the number of his Majesty's Enemies: That the thirty thousand Ducats ought to be allotted her upon another Fund, and that Fund to be pitched upon in the middle of Castille: That in all times the Towns of Arevalo, Olmedo, Madrigal, and St. Mary of Nieva, which came to the same Revenue, had served for Dowry to the Dowagers of Castille: That by good fortune they were not engaged to any Grandee of Spain; and that Queen Germana could have no cause to find fault that they were given her in exchange for her Pension out of the Kingdom of Naples.  
Chieures thought Ximenes was in the right, and was confirmed in his opinion, when he understood that Queen Germana weary of Widowhood thought of marrying the unfortunate Prince of Tarento, the only Son of Frederick King of Naples, whom the Great Captain had made prisoner, and sent into Spain, after he had sworn upon the Holy Sacrament to leave him in liberty. The occasion that offered was the most favourable that could be desired, because it was unseemly for the Catholic King to meddle with the Testament of his Grandfather, which was so advantageous to him, and for Chieures to propose it, since he had Negotiated the Treaty of Noyon, whereby the Kingdom of Naples was to return to France: Whereas the Cardinal acting immediately of himself, and of his own proper motion, would solely also procure the envy to which his action might be exposed, and the hatred of Queen Germana. Chieures gave it that cast to his Catholic Majesty, who failed not immediately to write to Ximenes, that he might act in that point as he thought best, 
In the Letters of Charles the Fifth to Ximenes.  provided he acted as of himself, and without dipping the Royal Authority in the least in it. Ximenes immediately put the Officers of Queen Germana into possession of the four Towns which we have named, and reunited to the Revenue of the Crown the thirty thousand Ducats assigned to that Princess upon the Kingdom of Naples. But the Queen was beyond imagination vexed at it; and expressed her resentment with the less reserve, that she thought no body to be blamed for it, but Ximenes. She saw herself obliged to spend the rest of her days in Spain; and to make her Court to her Husband's Grandchilds, by whom she never expected to be well looked upon. She made no doubt, but that their design was to oblige her to a single life, by letting her see the impossibility of ever finding a Husband of the quality of the former: and as Women wounded in so nice a point, give way for most part to the temptation of having recourse to indirect means of revenge, when the direct are wanting; so Queen Germans, not being able of herself to hurt Ximenes, espoused the contrary party, and intriegued with his most dangerous Enemies, who were the Governor and Tutor of the Infanto Ferdinand. She promised to back them with all her credit against the Cardinal, and offered them the four Towns that were given her, to serve them for a refuge in case of necessity. But the Cardinal's Spies pried into the secret of that new intelligence, and made him sensible that he had committed a signal fault in matter of Politics. He ingenuously confessed it to the Catholic King and Chieures, in the first Letters which he thereupon wrote to them, and solicited both of them to help him with all diligence to repair it. He granted that his memory had been treacherous to him; and that he had not called to mind the example of John King of Navarre and Arragon, Father to King Ferdinand, and great Grandfather to his Catholic Majesty, who holding the four places which were given to the Queen, made use of their situation, and the Works that he added to them, for maintaining above thirty years a Civil War in Castille: That the same thing was to be feared from Queen Germana, and perhaps a worse in the present juncture: That she kept intelligence with those whom the late King had entrusted with the Education of the Infanto; and that the inconveniences which might arise from thence, to the disturbance of the public tranquillity, could not too soon be prevented.  
The Cardinal's Letter was examined in the Council of Bruxelles; and Chieures found the affair to be difficult, not only in itself, but also in respect of the persons that were concerned in it. For if the Testament of King Ferdinand were twice on end disappointed, his Successor would pass for ungrateful, and his Ministers for fickle, and not well seen in the interests of their Ma●…er. The Spanish Counsellors of State, who were already but too jealous of them, would thereby take occasion to decry them; and to render their conduct so odious, that their reputation would be lost when they accompanied his Catholic Majesty into Spain: Whence it would follow, that if he intended to satisfy his new Subjects, he would be obliged no more to consult the Flemings, whom he brought along with him. If the Cardinal were refused, they would provoke him at an unseasonable time, and discourage him from putting in execution the resolution which he had taken of opposing all that was great in Spain below the King, which was altogether advantageous to his Majesty during his absence: They would be exposed to the danger which Ximenes foresaw, and kindle a fire in Castille of long continuance before they could arrive to quench it.  
The expedient that Chieures found out to avoid splitting upon either of these two rocks, was to write an answer to Ximenes, that the Catholic King thought it not fit to meddle a second time with the affair in question, until he himself were arrived in Spain: But that nevertheless the Cardinal might put into Arevalo and Olmedo, which were the best of the four places, so many trusty persons, that he might be sure to be Master of them, in case Queen Germana attempted any stirs: That the two other places would be useless to her without them; and that the surest conduct that he could then follow in relation to that Princess, was to observe her narrowly, but without giving her cause or pretext of complaining.  
Ximenes was not satisfied with this expedient, yet nevertheless he put it in execution, because it answered in some measures his ends, by putting his adversaries out of condition of doing him prejudice. He made himself insensibly the stronger in Arevalo and Olmedo; and the intriegue he used for slipping into those two places near a thousand Soldiers disguised, of whom he was sure, was so neatly managed, that Queen Germana perceived it not. He visited from time to time Queen Jean in the Castle of Tordesillas, where the late King her Father had shut her up, and with extreme trouble found that the folly of that Princess increased with Age. The distemper was incurable; but for want of a cure, which was not possible to be effected by humane means, he found ways of easing the Patient. He attentively studied her humour, and observed that of all the passions to which she had been subject, whilst she had the use of reason, there remained none, now her Reason was gone, but Ambition, whether that had been then her predominant passion, or that the Organ that served to retain it was alone preserved free from the alteration wrought upon all the other Organs of the rational functions. By that he endeavoured to dispose her to suffer herself to be made clean from the filth she was encompassed with, 
In the last years of the life of Jean.  and that they might dispel at least for some hours of the day, that Hypochondriacal Melancholy which infested her, and which nevertheless she cherished instead of shaking it off.  
He caused several persons who had a way of fooling with them, tell her Majesty, that the castilians were sorry they had not acknowledged her for their only Sovereign from the time that Queen Isabelle her Mother died; and that the Arragonese were mad with themselves, that they had fallen into the same fault after the death of her Father: That both of them were about sending Deputies to beg her pardon for it, but that it behoved her also on her part to put herself in a condition to receive them, as it became a great Queen: That her Apartment was so nasty, that it would turn their stomaches to come into it; and that it would be convenient to begin by times to make it clean, to the end no offence might be given to their Eyes and Noses: That they must be received by her in great pomp, and by consequence with good company: That her Majesty gave access but to too few people about her, and that she must admit of a more numerous Train: That she ought to Eat in public at least once a day; and that that was the time when the Musicians desired by their harmony to dispose her stomach to a more quick and easy digestion.  
He made her afterwards accept of certain pleasant companies of both Sexes, instructed to imitate her extravagancies, and above all things to contradict her in nothing directly; and not to cross her humours indirectly, but by making her believe that they suited not with the Majesty of the greatest Queen in the World. He so tamed her by that means, that she was checked with the least wink of an eye of Ferdinand Talavera, whom the Cardinal placed about her, instead of Leo Ferriera, too old and grave for the discharge of the Commission of Governing her, which the late King had given him; and at length they accustomed her on Sundays and holidays to hear Mass in a Church at some distance from Tordesillas, upon pretext that she would receive by the way, and on the place, the acclamations of God save the Queen, from people who were drawn thither out of curiosity to see her, or who were desired to be there on purpose, to the end her weak mind might be convinced, that these were undoubted signs that she was acknowledged for their Sovereign.  
Ximenes received for this more acknowledgements of gratitude, than for any other of his actions, though it was not the most important of all. The Catholic King thanked him for it in writing: Chieures complemented him in the same manner: Spain resounded his praises; and the Grandees were so satisfied with it, that they were not heard to murmur any more against him. But shortly after there happened a revolt in the Kingdom of Granada, the more difficult to be quelled, because the Council o● Bruxelles fomented it when they thought of no such thing. It was the Law o● Spain, that the Admirals of each Kingdom, which reached to the Mediterranean Sea, or to the Ocean, should have their Judicatures fixed in the most frequented Ports of their Coasts, and that their Judges should there try all Criminal and Civil Causes that happened to Seamen, Soldiers on board of Ships, Passengers, and to the Militia appointed for the guard of the Seaports: But in process of time an abuse had crept in, which grew daily more and more insupportable. The Coasts of Spain upon the Mediterranean Sea were not now so much exposed to the incursions of the Infidel Pirates, after that Ximenes had taken Oran, and the other places on the Coast of Barbary, which we have mentioned, and by consequence had no more need of so many Vessels nor Soldiers to guard them. So the number of Justiceable persons in the Admiralties was diminished; and the multitude of their Officers not having been proportionably suppressed, their Courts for most part had nothing to do. They were therefore reduced to seek for practice, if they had a mind to exercise their Jurisdictions, and they found some, by a means that tended to the establishment of Impunity for all sorts of Crimes in the Towns where it was in use. Those who had been guilty of enormous Crimes, and were by Royal Justice condemned to Death, found ways to prove, that they had been Seamen, Soldiers, Passengers, or Coastguards, and under that pretext demanded to be referred to the Courts of the Admiralty. It durst not be refused them, because the Admiral would have immediately interposed in the affair for the preservation of his Privileges, and would have had it examined in the Supreme Council of Castille and Arragon. Nevertheless so soon as the Prisoner was removed unto the Prisons of the Admiralty, he was almost sure of his life, seeing a little money could always bring him off. 
In the complaints of the Malaguins.  The Town of Malaga, in the Kingdom of Granada, had the greatest Traffic of any, because of its excellent Wines; and as strangers came there in greatest numbers, so the Officers of the Admiralty there absolved also more Criminals. The Burghers had often complained of it to King Ferdinand; and had besought him entirely to abolish the Courts of Admiralty, or to diminish the number of the Judges: But his Majesty had had no regard to their petitions; whether he feared to disoblige all the Admirals of Spain, whose cause in that particular was common with the Admiral of Granada; or that he thought the Burghers of Malaga would be too free, and by consequence grow insolent, if the Court they complained of were abolished. But after his death the Burghers of that Town applied themselves immediately to the new Catholic King, without first addressing themselves to Ximenes. They demanded of him no more the alternative of the suppression of the Offices of the Admiralty, or of their reduction to a smaller number, but purely the total suppression; and by their Deputies, whom they sent to the Court of Bruxelles, maintained, that since the reasons which heretofore obliged the Kings of Spain to enlarge the privileges of Admirals, ceased, these privileges ought to be reduced to Common Law. The new King caused their ●proposition to be examined in his Council; and Chieures thought it not convenient, either absolutely to grant their petition, or yet to defer the answering of it. The first seemed to him to be too severe and mortifying, and the next too uncivil. He gave advice to answer the Malaguins, that his Majesty at such a distance could not determine what was to be reform in the Admiralty of Granada; but that he would quickly be upon the places, and there endeavour to give satisfaction to his good Subjects of Malaga. The advice was followed; and the Cardinal had no sooner learned it, but he wrote positively to Chieures, that he had committed a considerable Error, and that it would not be long before he had cause to repent it. That he was not well enough acquainted as yet with the Genius of the Spaniards, and that that Nation haughty towards all kinds of men, became infallibly insolent towards their Superiors, when they seem to be afraid of them, by managing them with too much circumspection: That he thought he had only written a compliment in the last words of his answer to the Malaguins; but that he would soo● see them explain those words as seriously as if they were part of the chief Article of a Treaty, nay, and give them a more ample signification than he had intended. The event was more troublesome that Ximenes had predicted; and the Malsguins imagined that they had obtained what they desired, for this only reason that on the one hand it had not been refused them; and on the other, that they had been civilly answered. They thereupon made an Insurrection; banished the Officers of the Admiralty; they converted to other uses the places of Judicature, threw down their Gibbets; and left neither in their City nor Precincts any mark of the Jurisdiction of the Admiralty. Ximenes made an offer of reclaiming them by mildness, sending peaceful men to represent to them, that seeing the Council of Bruxelles had referred them to the arrival of the Catholic King in Spain, they ought not till then have made any innovation: but the Malaguins persuaded that the Cardinal sent messengers to him merely out of jealousy, for the favour which they pretended to have obtained, grew more outrageous, and made their Rebellion public. They took Arms against the Government; chose Commanders; mounted upon their walls what Artille●ry they had; and cast a new Piece of a prodigious size and length, with this Inscription, 
In the relation of that Insurrection.  The defenders of the Liberties of Malaga will speak by my mouth.  
The Cardinal who at first had only used lenitive medicines to convince the Council of Bruxelles, that they would increase rather than cure the evil, sent strict orders to the Militia of the Kingdom of Granada, to draw together into a Body, and under the Command of Anthony de la Queva, an experienced Commander, march instantly to reduce the revolted Malaguins. The Militia drew out into the Field, with as much expedition, as if they had been a Body of old Troops separated for a week or a fortnight into quarters of refreshment. They advanced as far as Antequerra, in so good order, that the Malaguins all of a sudden changed from the extremity of presumption in their strength, into a general despair of being able to defend themselves. They prayed La Queva to put a stop to his march, and to permit them to send two Deputies to Ximenes, for imploring his mercy, and freely submitting to his discretion. La Quev● was for some time irresolute what to do, seeing on the one hand the Cardinal was of an inflexible temper; and on the other, it concerned the Monarchy of Spain not to ruin the richest Town of Traffic it had at that time, the Indieses not having as yet enriched Sevill. Nevertheless he inclined to clemency, and stopped till he should be informed of the effect of the Deputation. The two wretched Malaguins, who in a most humble posture presented themselves before the Cardinal, expected to be made Sacrifices for their Country, and in that prospect cast themselves at his feet. They begged his pardon in a discourse mingled with sighs at every word, and that he would vouchsafe at least to preserve Malaga from violence, blood, fire and plunder. The Cardinal who pretended to use indulgence, thought it enough to give the Deputies a severe reprimand, and sent them back to Malaga, with Orders to repeat the same to their fellow Citizens. Immediately after he wrote to La Queva to enter the Town; and after he had caused five of the most guilty Burghers to be hanged, and the Jurisdiction of the Admiral fully restored, to proclaim a general pardon there. La Quiva acted his part incomparably well, and the blessings of the Malaguins was not the only advantage that Ximenes got by remitting severity in such a juncture. He took besides, the liberty to represent to Chieures, and afterwards to his Catholic Majesty, that it was the interest of the Monarchy of Spain to support him in all things that were not contrary to the service of the King. He protested that so long as he were Regent, his Authority should go along with the Royal Authority: That the rebound of the one would infallibly glance upon the other: That his own and Master's Reputation went hand in hand; and that having so signally reestablished it in regard of the Malaguins, he had reason to hope, that if at any other time it were to be put into the balance, they would consider a little better on't first in Flanders.  
He went farther in the following Order which he received from the Catholic King; and it was upon so nice an occasion, that he let fall one of the best sayings that is to be found in the Chronicles of Spain, though those that have read them know they are full of such. His Catholic Majesty ordered him to reduce the expenses of the Crowns o● Castille and Arragon to their ancient state that is to say, to the rate they were at be fore they were united. He found it to be very hard; and complained of it with the more reason, that thereby he was rendered the object of all the Courtier's hatred, and constrained to fall out with those Friends he had still remaining i● both Monarchies, by cutting them short of what they yearly received out of the Royal Exchequer. Nevertheless he punctually obeyed; but before he set about it, he thought fit to acquaint the Catholic King, that it was not the want of foresight that made him so implicitly obedient to his commands. He wrote to his Majesty, That he did with him as God did with the Devil, and that he always made use of him when people were to be afflicted and punished, 
In the collection of his say.  but never employed him when there was a design to save or bestow favours upon them. He still continued for all that to Govern ●fter his own way, in rewarding merit ●ven when he discovered it in those ●hom he did not take to be his friends. He procured a Cardinal's Hat for the Bishop of Tortosa, who was afterwards ●ope, by the name of Adrian the Sixth; ●nd desired Doctor Mota for his Co-ad●tor in the Archbishopric of Toledo, ●hough he was persuaded that both of ●hem were in Spain upon no other acount, but to spy his actions, and thwart ●hem; which to speak sincerely, was ●…ue enough. The Order is still to be ●…en which Chieures for that end expe●ed to the Bishop, by command of the Catholic King; and as for Mota, he was a Spaniard, born in the City of Bur●os, of no Estate, but by his parts ca●…able of acquiring one. There was not ●n Castille a more profound Divine than ●…e, nor a Preacher more generally followed: He spoke his own Language elegantly and neatly; and that was principally the reason why Philip of Austria, Father to the Catholic King, who aspired to the purity of the Spanish Tongue, ●ook Mota for his Preacher, and for conversing familiarly with him at his leisure●hours. King Ferdinand, Philip's Father-in-Law, consented to it, and received no prejudice thereby, so long as Queen Isabelle his Wife was alive: But after the death of that Princess, he had cause to repent of it, seeing Mota was one of those who most zealously seconded Philip in the design of sending Ferdinand his Father-in-Law home to Arragon. That design was fully put in execution, but Mota, who had most contributed thereto, though only in secret, had not time to make his advantage of it. Philip died before he had done any considerable thing for him, and Ferdinand returned again to the administration of Castille. Mota finding himself exposed to his resentment, and there being no security for him to stay in his Country without support, bethought himself of looking out for a protector abroad: He wrote to the Emperor Maximilian, Philip's Father, that it belonged to him to Govern Castille and Arragon, during the infirmity of his Daughter-in-Law, and the minority of his Grandchilds: He suppsied him with a great many Articles of castilian and Arragonese Laws, which deferred the Regency to him in the case then in question: He gave him the instances of it, that were to be found in the History of the Country: And intimated to him, that his reputation would be blasted, if he suffered the Catholic King to supplant him. It is not known by what trick the Letter came to be intercepted: But certain enough it was; and that Mota being afraid of his life, or at least of his liberty, sought for a refuge out of Spain, though he well foresaw, that if he left his Country, he would deprive himself of the best quality he had for advancing himself, which was that of Preaching before those who perfectly understood Spanish. It came first into his mind to withdraw to Rome, but he rejected that notion, because King Ferdinand was too powerful there. Nor could he six upon France or Germany, where his Catholic Majesty was not beloved, because he was afraid not to find means of subsistence in either of them; but out of mere necessity chose the Low-Countries. All the caution he took for being the better received there, was to procure from the Grandees of Castille, Letters of recommendation to the Archduke and Chieures, to the end he might receive from the Son a reward for the services rendered to the Father. But his proceed were so nearly observed, that King Ferdinand knew upon the spot, from whom he had received his Letters of recommendation, and the Box he had put them in. His Majesty was not troubled that he went out of Spain, seeing he expected more hurt than good from him if he continued there. He valued him not so much as to get the ill will of the castilians, by stopping him, or attempting upon his life, and would not commit a crime upon his person. So that he thought it enough to frustrate him of his Letters of recommendation; and wrote to Bernardin de Velasco, Governor of Burgos, who had married one of his Natural Daughters, to take such measures, as that Mota might go out of Spain, without Letters of recommendation, and yet still believe he had them. 
Pickpockets in Spain are called Knights of Industry.  Velasco treated with some Knights of Industry, who pretended to travel the same way as Mots did, insinuated into his acquaintance, contracted a kind of intimacy with him: knew the Box by the marks that were given them: picked it, took out the Letters of recommendation, put as many Blank-papers made up in the same fashion in their place; locked the Box again with so much art, that it appeared no● to have been opened; took their leave civilly of Mota; returned to Burgos, and delivering to Velasco what he had demanded of them, received the money that they had agreed with him for. Mota continued his journey, and in Galicia embarked for Dunkirk, where he landed without any other misfortune. He went straight to Bruxelles; but when he was about to present his Letters, he found none in the Box where he had put them; and that had infallibly put him into despair, if Chieures, who was informed of the acciddent that befell him, had not been so civil as to comfort him. He got the Archduke to settle a considerable Pension upon him; and after the death of Ferdinand, procured him a Commission to go into Spain, where the Cardinal knowing his value, made him Bishop of Badajox, and endeavoured to make him Coadjutor of his Archbishopric of Toledo.  
There are but few people so illnatured as to envy the rewards which they see given to the rarest merit, and the Grandees of Spain made the promotion of Mota a pretext for letting Ximenes alone peaceably to Govern Castille and Arragon, so long as he was fortunate: But from the first misfortune that befell him, they took fresh occasion to endeavour his degradation. Horuc the elder Brother of Barbarossa, had seized Algiers in Africa: From thence he ravaged and molested the Coasts of Spain; and threatened to take from the Spaniards their Conquests in Barbary. He blocked up their places; and the Cardinal, who was the more zealous to preserve them, as that it was he that had conquered them, sent thither under the Command of General Vera, an Army, which without trouble, raised the Blocade of the Infidels, because Horuc not daring to stay, shut himself up in Algiers upon the approach of the Spaniards. But Vera instead of being satisfied with that success, pursued his advantage as far as Algiers, and laid Siege to it, without considering well enough if he wanted nothing that was necessary for a regular Siege in the modern way: Horuc who was an expert Soldier, at first amused the Besiegers: Then weakened them by frequent Sallies: Tired them out by false Alarms, which the Moors ever now and then gave them both by day and by night; and at length defeated them in a general Sally. With much a do Vera saved himself; and the Cardinal was more blamed for that vain attempt, than he was applauded for the Conquest of Oran, so unjust are men in their Judgements. His Enemies at the Court of Bruxelles stood not so much in awe as they had done till then: They moved that he might be sent home to his Church, and turned against him the greatest part of the Counsellors of State, who were offended that he would not share the principal Functions of the Regency with any one of their number, whom they had sent him for Colleagues.  
The Cardinal withstood not that shock in the same manner as he had hitherto maintained himself. He abated a little of his haughtiness; and justified himself from the slight which he was accused to have put upon his Colleagues, by showing Authentic proofs, that he had acted jointly with them, so long as his Dignity, which was no more esteemed than as he could make it to be valued, could suffer him; and that he had not separated from them, but by their own fault, and when he was constrained to it, that he might not break with the Court of Rome. He unfolded this little Court-mystery, by adding, that they had had the impudence to sign before him the dispatches of the Council of Spain, though one of them was as yet but a Dean, and the other a Layman: That if that injury against the Roman Purple, with which he had the honour to be clothed, had been suffered, there had been ground for divesting him of it; and that all Spaniards, as well in general as particular, not excepting his own Enemies, had so much approved that his Colleagues should be chastised, by hindering them to exercise their Commission; that none took exceptions at, or complained of it.  
As to the Regency the Cardinal wrote to the Catholic King, importuning him to discharge him of it, and to suffer him to withdraw to his own Diocese, there to mind the Spiritual concerns of himself and his Flock: That he had raised himself too many Enemies, to be for the future in a condition of rendering his Country the same services, which till then it had received from him: That he foresaw Civil Wars like to break out again in Spain, which for so many years had been so fatal to it, and yet so common; and that it was very decent for a Prelate, such as he was, to be no more but a spectator of them.  
The Catholic King, before he had examined the Letter of Ximenes in the Council of Bruxelles, showed it to Chieures, who supposed that since the Cardinal himself solicited his own deposition, he must of necessity have certain information that a storm was gathering in Spain, which he despaired of being able to dissipate: That if he judged himself unable to resist it, he was without doubt more convinced of the insufficiency of him that should be given him for Successor, and that by consequence, what way soever the matter were examined, there could be no hazard in continuing the Cardinal in the Regency; seeing if he appeased the Tumult he spoke of, there would be no cause to repent of having continued him in Office; and if he quelled it not, this would be their comfort, that it was certain none could have succeeded better in it than he. Upon that consideration then, his Catholic Majesty made answer to Ximenes, that Spain had more need than ever of his administration: That he prayed him as a Cardinal, and commanded him as a Spaniard not to abandon public affairs: That he promised him nothing of reward, because there was none but what was too low for him; and that he thought it enough therefore to tell him, that if he stood no more in need of his Catholic Majesty, his Catholic Majesty stood extremely in need of him.  
Ximenes of all the Ministers that went before him, or that came after, until Cardinal Richelieu the ablest in Negotiating with their Masters; called then to mind the Spanish Proverb, That well-grounded Fortunes are not safely shaken, and that every time men fail to overturn them, they fix them the more. He resolved to make his advantage of all the attempts that had been made to depose him; and the more earnest the Catholic King showed himself that he should retain the Regency, the more solicitous he seemed to be discharged of it. Many Letters went to and fro upon so new and nice a subject; and the end of the Comedy was, that the Cardinal condescended not to continue as he was, till after he had treated on even terms with his Master, and by the mediation of Chieures, articled with him, that the Catholic King should reserve to himself the disposal of Bishoprics, 
In the comparisons of the Cardinals Ximenes and Richelieu.  Comanderies, Benesices, Military Orders, and of the Revenue of the Crown Lands of Castille and Arragon; and that the Cardinal should have for his share the entire and unlimited disposal of Magistracies, places of Judicature, governments of Provinces, extraordinary Revenues, of the Soldiers and their Officers in both Monarchies. Ximenes kept the Catholic to his word so long as he lived, and yet never abused that half of Royal Authority which was given him: But Humane Providence is almost ever defective in those things which men think they have examined with greatest exactness. From that extraordinary power which the Cardinal had cunningly snatched from the Court of Bruxelles, there happened an inconvenience the more terrible, that it seemed God intended to show him, that he is as jealous of the Sovereignty which he communicates, as of that which he reserves to himself; and that he does no more willingly suffer, that men born for a private life should offer to Govern independently, than he endures Creatures to rob him of his Glory.  
No sooner had the Courtiers of Bruxelles had intelligence of the death of King Ferdinand, but that immediately they conceived hopes of dividing amongst them the chief Dignities of Castille and Arragon, as soon as they became vacant. The Regency of Ximenes had not undeceived them, because they thought it would cease upon the arrival of the Catholic King in Spain: But when they understood that his Majesty had tied his owns hands in favour of that Cardinal, and had remitted to him the more substantial part of the Government, until he was completely of Age, they were as much offended thereat, as if their Master had rob them of what he had put himself out of condition of granting to them. They foresaw that Ximenes would bestow no favours but upon Native Spaniards; and the fear they were in of dying before their Master was of Age, made them hasten to be rich before that happened. They knew that the Revenue of the Low-Countries would suffice to maintain him so long as he were in Flanders; and in that prospect they inclined him to grant them by way of gratuity almost the whole Revenue of the Royal Demain of Castille, the Revenue of Arragon remaining in the hands of the Estates of the Country, by the fundamental Laws of that Monarchy, till the new King went tither in person, and had solemnly sworn to maintain the privileges of the Arragonese.  
The money which the Counsellors of State of Bruxelles drew from Castille, increased their greediness instead of satisfying it; and gave the Spaniards the greater disgust, that they had never till then seen the public Revenue go out of their Country. They would have suffered it nevertheless without repining any other way but in secret, if the Flemish Courtiers had stopped there, and been satisfied with the Revenues which their trusty Receivers transmitted to Antwerp by Bills of Exchange: But shortly after they added the Sale of places and Simony to their avarice, in such an excessive manner as we shall now relate.  
Amongst the Graces which the Catholic Kings had reserved to themselves, there were many whereof Native Spaniards were only capable; besides the Commanderies which ought solely to be conferred on them by the Institutions of the Orders of St. James, Calatrava, and Alcantara. The Flemings though they could not be ignorant of this, yet for all that were not willing to consent that those two kinds of profits should escape them; and when they came to be vacant, and that Spaniards came to Bruxelles to sue for them, they prevented them by procuring blank Provisions, and afterwards filling them up with the name of him that offered most money. They acted almost in the same manner in relation to Benefices, not excepting Bishoprics; and when Ximenes complained of it, they stopped his mouth by answering him, that since he was not contradicted in the exercise of the share of Royal Authority, which had liberally been granted him, he had no reason to find fault that his Majesty took his own way in disposing the other part which he had reserved to himself, as a supply to his bounty and magnificence.  
The End of the Fourth Book.   

BOOK V Containing the most memorable Affairs that happened in the Monarchy of Spain, during the rest of the Year One Thousand Five Hundred and Seventeen, and the Years One Thousand Five Hundred and Eighteen, and One Thousand Five Hundred and Nineteen.  
THE Spaniards, who for want of money had not obtained the Charges and Benefices which they had gone to Bruxelles to solicit for; and those of the same Nation, who had straitened themselves by purchasing them for ready money, returned for most part both alike dissatisfied. They conspired in like manner to revenge themselves of the repulse they had sustained, and of the draining of their Purses, by publishing, that that which Jugurtha, a King of Numidia, said heretofore of the City of Rome in particular, That it was to be sold, was exactly true of the Monarchies of Castille and Arragon in general; and that it was the good fortune of Rome that it found no buyers: whereas to the ill luck of Spain, it's own Inhabitants consumed their Revenues, and impoverished themselves to purchase it: That Benefices were no more granted to Piety and Learning, 
In the first Manifesto of the Spaniards against the Flemings.  nor any favour depending on the Catholic King Charles of Austria, given as a reward of Virtue and Merit: That in the most eminent Functions of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy none for the future were to be seen but Simoniacal and Impious persons, nor in the chief Magistracies but unworthy men; and that the Flemings received too great profit from these counterband Goods, that it should be hoped they would refrain from that infamous Traffic for the time to come: That the Chancellor 
* John Savage.  of the Low-Countries alone had in the space of four months already got by it Five Hundred Thousand Crowns; and that if the rest of the Courtiers of Flanders made their advantage accordingly, Spain could not disagree about it, but that they would be reduced to slavery: That there was no other way to avoid that inconvenience, but to oblige the Catholic King to make no more use of Flemings for Counsellors of State and Favourites, and not to dispose of the Graces of Castille, but by the advice of the Council of Spain.  
These discourses at first whispered only in the Ear, and afterwards spread in public Assemblies, and even in Sermons, made so great impression upon the Cities of Leon, Burgos and Vailladolid, that they resolved to send Deputies to the Catholic King, for the universal and absolute removing of Flemish Ministers, and for the distribution of Grants by the advice of the Council of Madrid. It was to no purpose for Cardinal Ximenes to represent to them that they offered too much for the first Essay, by attempting to bind the hands of their Sovereign in such a manner as had never as yet been practised in Spain: That if he had not the liberty to choose those of his Council, nor to do kindnesses to whom he pleased, he would be more unhappy than the meanest of his Subjects, who fully enjoyed both these privileges; and that it was not always necessary for remedying of public no more than of natural evils, to cut off even to the root.  
So great was the obstinacy of the People, that the Cardinal not being able to bend it, imitated the skill of Pilots, who yielding in part to the violence of the Winds, make use of them for conveying them to the Ports they are bound for. He wrote to Chieures, that a Convocation of Estates must be allowed the Spaniards: But that it behoved also to be in such a manner as that the Catholic King might receive no disadvantage thereby: That it should be put off until his Majesty's arrival in Spain, which would not be before Autumn, One Thousand Five Hundred and Seventeen: That his Catholic Majesty in all appearance would be ready to part about the middle of Summer, and that upon that design a Fleet should be sent to expect him upon the Coast of Flanders: That the pleasantness of the Season would infallibly shorten his Voyage, and that on all hazards the Harvest Season was the most secure, provided it were in the beginning of it: That the Spaniards would be so charmed with the presence of their new King, that they would have no more thoughts of limiting his power, nor any thing else; and that the Assembly of the Estates would be wholly taken up in reciprocal civilities of the Deputies to his Majesty, and of his Majesty to the Deputies.  
The Convocation was in effect proclaimed to be held in the end of September the same Year, and the Spanish Fleet parted from the Coast of Galicia in July; But the Grandees of Castille, who did not foresee that the power of Ximenes would last no longer than till the coming of his Majesty, resolved to rid themselves of that Cardinal beforehand; and ●e of all others, 
The Duke of Infantado.  who till ●hen had appeared most moderate, put himself at ●he head of the rest. We have mentioned that Ximenes had disobliged the Duke ●f Infantado, by refusing his Niece to ●is Nephew; and it is to be subjoined 〈◊〉 this place, that a Lawsuit having ●appened betwixt the Duke and the Count of Castro, the Cardinal, who ●ould not let slip the occasion of exerci●ng his Authority in so rare a juncture, ●ould have the deciding of it. The ●uke, who took him for his Enemy, ●rote to Flanders to the Catholic King, ●aying him that he would suspend the ●…ecision of the cause, until his Majesty ●ere present in Council, where the mat●r should be examined. The King wil●…gly granted it: But the Cardinal hang complained thereof, as a contra●…ntion of the power which had been given him; and Chieures being of the opinion that he should be permitted to act, the case was decided, and the Duke cast. He did not presently resent it; but sometime after he took the occasion when the Cardinal sent a Promoter from the Town of Alcala where he was, to Guadalàj●a, about some formalities of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction. Bernardin de Mendoza the Duke's Brother, was Archdeacon of the place; and the Duke took a pretext, that the Promoter had invaded the Jurisdiction of his Brother. He caused him to be cudgeled, and threatened him with worse if he came again. The Promoter complained to Ximenes, who the more willingly promised him the Justice which he demanded, for that the Duke in causing him to be abused, had committed two crimes; one in opposing the execution of Ecclesiastical Justice, for which he had incurred the Censures: and another in using uncivilly an Officer of the Regent of Spain, in the execution of the Orders which he had received, and in becoming thereby guilty of Treason The Duke exasperated, that Ximenes ha● threatened him with a double punishment sent his Chaplain to tell him what th● most envenomed Satyrs reviled him with. It was a harder part to be acted than one was ware of, and the Chaplain only accepted it for fear of losing his place. He went and fell on his knees before Ximenes, and begged his pardon for the injury that he was constrained to do him: Having used that caution, he repeated word for word all that he was charged to tell him; and the Cardinal, who no less admired the simplicity than the blind obedience of the Churchman, heard him as peaceably as if he had been speaking verses to his praise. He did not interrupt him; changed neither countenance nor posture; and replied only two things with as moderate a tone, as if what he had heard had been altogether indifferent to him; first, That a Priest as he was, ought not to have undertaken a Commission so mis-becoming his character; and next, that he should make haste back again to the Duke; and that he would find him sorry for the impertinent words that he had put into his mouth. It is not known what ground there was for the prophecy, but it is certain it proved true. 
In the relation of that quarrel.  The Duke whose passion had hindered him from reflecting upon the command that he had given to his Chaplain, judged it ridiculous so soon as it was over. He chid those that were then about him, for having suffered him to do it, and hardly forbore punishing his Chaplain at his return, for having so readily and faithfully obeyed him. He sent him back immediately to make an Apology to Ximenes, who still remembering the obligation that he had to the Duke, for having refused to engage in the interests of Pedro Giron, consented that the Constable of Castille should interpose for an accommodation. It was no hard matter for the Constable to conclude it, seeing both parties desired it with equal earnestness: But just as the Articles were finished, a circumstance intervened that was within an Ace of breaking it up in an irreparable manner.  
The Cardinal and Duke had their interview at Fon-Carrallio, where the two parties and Mediator judged it not fit to bring almost any body along with them, to the end they might confer together with greater freedom. The Cardinal had even concealed the matter from Don Juan de Spinosa, Captain of his Guards, who coming to know of it by another way, thought that his place obliged him to go and Guard him at least upon his return, since he would not be attended when he went. He caused his Troop to mount on Horseback, and arrived with it at Fon-Carrallio about the end of the interview. The Duke and Constable no sooner heard the Neighing of the Horses, and the Trumpet that sounded before the Troop, but they imagined that Ximenes dealt treacherously with them, and had ordered Forces to come and seize their persons. They openly resented it; and Ximenes who knew himself to be innocent, fell a laughing at their panic fear. He looked out at the window; perceived Spinosa, made him a sign to come to him; sharply reproved him for his unseasonable diligence; threatened to turn him out if he did the ●ike again; and sending him presently ●ack as fast as he came, he returned some time after with the Duke and Constable.  
He came not off so soon, nor so easily ●n another clashing that he had with the Count of Vregna, seeing in all appearance the poison that was given him proceeded from that. There was a cause depending betwixt the Count and Quichada, for the property of Villa fra●re near Vailladolid; and the Count who was more powerful and of greater quality than the other, had by his own Authority put himself into possession of the controverted Estate. So he pleaded with a full hand; and Quichada who had the better title, demanded that the Estate might be put into sequestration. The Council of Spain granted the petition, and Ximenes sent a Messenger and Sergeants to take up the Rent of Villa-fratre. These inferior Officers of Justice were abused in the execution of their Commission by the Son of the Count of Vregna, assisted by his Friends, wh● were the Sons of the Constable, Admiral, and of the Duke of Albuquerqu● The Messenger on whom blows had not been spared, complained of it to the Court of Vailladolid, which forthwith ordered the Militia of the Country to g● and be assistant to the Officers of Justice. The Bishop of Malaga Precedent of that Court went to command them; and the Constable of Castille, who saw his Son for company-sake, engaged in an ugly business, went himself to take it up a● Villa-fratre, where the young Lords fortified themselves with their Father's Vassals, whom they had called to their assistance. His Authority over his Son his persuasions to the other Lords, hi● Prayers, importunities and menaces prevailed upon them at length to com● out of the place, and to leave the Bishop in full liberty of executing the Sentence of the Court, whereof he was Commissary; and seeing that Prelate was a moderate man, he stopped there; that is to say, there was no prosecution on his part against the young men, who had beaten the Messenger and the Sergeants.  
It is to be believed, that if Ximenes had been of his humour, there would have been no more of the matter: But there was not in all the world two men of a more different temper, though otherwise they were intimate friends. Ximenes thought there could not be a more enormous fault in Politics, than any way, or for any cause whasoever, to connive at attempts against the Sovereign Power, and in such a case never made any distinction betwixt high and low conditions. The Bishop on the contrary was possessed with an opinion, that there was flesh and blood in actions against Sovereignty, as well as in others; and that though the consequence of the former required a greater severity to be used against them than against the latter, yet it followed not from thence that pity and mercy should be absolutely banished from them. So Ximenes ordered all those who had resisted Justice, to be apprehended, and sent the Alcaide Sarmiento to prosecute them, with orders, neither to make an end of, nor desist in the Suit, until the Criminals were brought to exemplary punishment, and Villa-fratre, which had served them for a place of retreat, demolished.  
By that means all the high Nobility were attacked; because there was not a Lord in all Castille, who was not related, either in blood or affinity, to these four young Lords, or at lest who aspired not to be so. And, indeed, the Criminals fearing to be apprehended in the Field, or in the Castles of their Fathers, returned to Villa-fratre, which they defended stoutly enough: But Sarmiento laid a formal Siege to them, and in process of time reduced them to great extremities. He bore with all the railleries that they put upon Him and Ximenes, whose Images they dragged about the Streets; and put them so hard to it, that they were come to the last bit of Bread, when finding by chance a quarter in the Lines worse guarded than the rest, they forced through with Sword in hand, and so saved themselves in the mountains of the Asturias.  
Ximenes having miss the prey which had escaped from him, turned his anger against Villa-fratre, which he caused to be demolished to the very foundations. By his orders the place where it stood was Ploughed up, and Salt sown therein. Seven of the chief Burghers were whipped, for having affronted the Messenger whilst they were a beating of him; and a Servant of the Admiral of Castille was served in the like manner, for having carried Soldiers to his Masters Son. The Grandees of Spain incensed at this rigour, wrote both publicly and privately to their King in Flanders, importuning him by all means to deliver them from the tyranny of Ximenes. They prayed Chieures to join his credit to their requests; and this is a proper place to convict the Historians of Castille and Arragon of falsehood, who pretend that the Cardinal had not a greater Enemy at the Court of Bruxelles than Chieures. Certainly if his aversion had been such as they set it forth to have been, Chieures found the most favourable occasion that he could have wished for, for supplanting of Ximenes, seeing he needed not so much as to be seen in the disgrace of that Cardinal. He had no more to do, but to stand aside, and leave him alone to defend his Cause against so many Enemies combined for his ruin. He would infallibly have lost it, and the Catholic King seeing himself reduced to the necessity of discontenting irreconcilably the Nobility of Castille, or of sacrificing Ximenes unto them, would have preferred the second before the first: But Chieures forsook not the Cardinal at such a pinch, where he absolutely stood in need of assistance to save him from an utter disgrace. He represented to his Catholic Majesty, that now it was his true interest more than ever to support Ximenes; and if he yielded but the least in that point, he would immediately have cause of repenting it. That so long as the Cardinal was protected, the Royal Authority was in no danger in Spain, seeing on the one hand he would keep the Nobles in their duty, by a strict observation of the Laws; and on the other hand the People loved him too well, and were too much obliged to him for the Justice he rendered them against the Nobles, to make any Insurrection, or to second the discontents of the great men: But if it appeared that the Cardinal were no more in so great favour at Court, the Nobility would instantly rise in Arms, under pretext of deposing him, but in reality to raise the Infanto Ferdinand to the Throne; and the People beginning to despise the Regent, as they commonly do those who are out of favour what way soever their misfortune befall them, would be less reserved in following the example of the Gentlemen.  
Chievres' discourse had the effect which he promised himself; 
In the Letters of Charles the Fifth to Ximenes.  and the young King approved the Cardinals conduct so steadfastly, that the Grandees of Castille having in vain solicited the Citizens of Leon, Burgos and Vailladolid, who remained in obedience, were forced to receive the Law which the Cardinal was pleased to impose upon them. It appears not neither by the Orders which at that time he received from the Court of Bruxelles, nor by the Letters that Chieures wrote to him, that he was enjoined to manage the affair that then was upon the stage with more moderation than he was wont to do: Nevertheless he did it, and the clemency which he used was the more admired, that he had never till then practised the like, nor did ever any more for the future.  
He at first rejected the overtures of accommodation which his friends made to him in favour of the four Criminals; and seemed so inflexible to those who spoke to him of pardoning, that they despaired of disposing him to it. The Criminals were forced by their own Fathers to go and deliver themselves up to prison in Vailladolid, and to submit to what the Magistrate should order concerning their persons. The Sentence of the Judges was conform to the severity of the Laws; but Ximenes, who had the Royal Authority in his hands, grew milder when it was least expected. He not only suspended the execution which would have drawn tears from all Castille; but gave them an absolute pardon; and did it in so noble a manner, that the severity, whereof he had given so many instances, appeared not to be natural to him; and that if he used not indulgence often, it was because he thought it not possible to keep the castilians from abusing it under a Regency.  
He had the better on't also of the Duke of Alva, in a controversy they had together about the richest Priory of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem that was in all Spain. Anthony of Zuniga had been provided to it in the usual forms, but King Ferdinand had taken it from him by his own absolute power, and given it to Diego of Toledo, third Son to the Duke of Alva, by reason of the services which that Duke had done him in the Conquest of Navarre. Ximenes so much hated Injustice, that he could not suffer it even in his Master, though otherwise he was extremely obliged to the Duke. He heard favourably the complaint that Zuniga made to him, of being contrary to all right, turned out of his Benefice, and promised to do him justice. The Duke of Alva, who was sufficiently persuaded that the Cardinal would be as good as his word, would not suffer his Son to appear before the Council of Madrid, at the day to which he was cited by his adverse party. He evaded the decision of the Process by all the tricks of Law, and in the mean time made friends with the Catholic King, to have the Cause evocated to the Council of Bruxelles. He could not, indeed, obtain it, because his Majesty, as hath been said, was engaged to Ximenes, not to allow any more evocations from Spain to Flanders. But notwithstanding there was so great a faction. for the Duke of Alva, that the Kings of France and England wrote to the Catholic King in his favours; and their Ambassadors in their Master's names solicited Chieures to use his interest, that Diego of Toledo might not be molested. The same Kings pressed Ximenes also to suspend the decision of the Suit till the arrival of King Charles in Spain: But the Cardinal, who made no doubt but that Zuniga as being the weaker would be cast by the Catholic King, caused the Process to be tried before his Majesty's coming; and represented so strongly to the Judges, that they ought to consider nothing but right, that the Son of the Duke of Alva was cast by unanimous voice. However it was not so easy a matter to put the Sentence in execution as to pronounce it, because the Son of the Duke of Alva gathered together Forces, and took the Field to preserve his Priory: But the Militia of the Country falling upon him before he had taken his measures for the defensive part, so totally defeated him, that he was obliged in his turn to submit to the discretion of Ximenes, who used him with no greater severity than he had treated the four young Lords we mentioned before. That was the last action wherein the Cardinal employed all his power to make himself to be obeyed; and it so awed the Spaniards, that he found them afterward as flexible as if he had been their lawful Monarch. But it is with humane prosperities as with bodily health: The more settled they seem to be, the nearer they are to an alteration.  
Ximenes having sped out the Fleet from Spain, for convoying the Catholic King from Flanders to Galicia, was taken up about two necessary affairs; the first was to cause all the Seacoasts where his Master might land, to be exactly visited, that he might discover if the rumour that was spread abroad of the Plagues being there was true or not, that so he might give him notice in that case to put in at other places: And the other, to send into the Seaports that should be found clear from suspicion, all ●orts of refreshments, that so the Court might find them ready at hand in case ●hey put a shore there. Upon that design he came to Tordelagula, the place of his Birth, and went to dine in the Bourg de Bos-Eguillas, where he had sent word ●o Manguino Provincial of the Cordeliers, ●o come and meet him. The Provincial was upon the Road when he met a Horseman unknown to him, who bid him hasten his pace, and if it was possible get to Bos-Eguillas before Ximenes sat down to Table, that he might give him notice not to eat of a great Trout which would be served up to him, because it was poisoned: That if he came too late, ●he would exhort the Cardinal seriously ●o mind his Conscience, because there was no remedy for him. The Gentleman having said these very words, spurred a way so fast from the Provincial, that he was quickly got out of sight, and the Monk made so much haste, that he was all in a sweat: Yet he came not to Ximenes till he was just rising from Table, when the Fish had wrought its first effect, which was to draw from him a great deal of blood by the Ears, and the parts where the Nails touch the flesh. Carillo, who had tasted the Trout, was also ill; bu● because he had not eaten so much of that Fish, he recovered, after a long and dangerous sickness. The Provincial stil● out of breath, told Ximenes the adventure he met with; and the Cardinal being convinced by these three evidences, that his life was gone, answered like a Christian, that he was ready to part from it when it pleased God. He made no more of it; and employed himself as formerly, about business of State, during the intervals which the Poison he had taken gave him, till it had wholly bere●… his Body of his Soul: Which it did but slowly, because the constitution it met with was exceeding strong.  
It was certainly believed, though the matter was not made out, that Barracaldo, Secretary to Ximenes, had conveyed the Poison into the dish where the Trout was: Nevertheless the Cardinal still made use of him as before in his most secret affairs, until his very last breath. The great difficulty was, and still is, to know at whose solicitation it was that Barracaldo poisoned his Master. The Flemish writers maintain, that it was by the intriegue of the Grandees of Spain; and prove it as well by the quarrels which we related before, as by a Letter of the Constable of Castille intercepted by Chieures some days before. The Constable expressed himself, that he was not sincerely reconciled to the Cardinal; and that he was no less hearty his Enemy, though he had pretended to be neutral in the quarrel that his Son had had with him.  
The writers of Spain on the contrary publish, that the Flemish Courtiers of their King were the Authors of such a villainy; and in their turn prove it by a Letter of Ximenes to the Catholic King, wherein that Cardinal used all endeavours to dispose his Majesty to make use of none but Native Spaniards in his Councils and Negotiations. They add, that Ximenes the very same day that he eaten the poison at Bos-Eguillas, told those that were about him, that that was not the first time that it had been given him; and that two or three months before, opening a Letter that came to him from Flanders, in his Closet at Madrid, a very subtle powder which seemed to have been dusted upon the Paper to dry the writing, had by his Nose mounted up to his Brain; and that since he had been continually troubled with insupportable pains in the head, which increased with time rather than diminished, and that he told his Physicians over and over again, that he should die by the hands of strangers: But however it be, what follows will make it appear, that the Cardinal did not suspect Chieures to have had any hand in his poisoning, seeing he employed the last of his remarkable actions to satisfy him in the thing that he most ardently desired, which was to put the Infanto Ferdinand out of condition of pretending any thing in the succession of his maternal Grandfather and Grandmother.  
For understanding this intriegue which is not sufficiently cleared in the History of Spain, we must know that Ferdinand the Catholic King having a design, as hath been said, to raise the Infanto to the Thrones of Castille and Arragon, had placed thirty two Servants about him, picked out of the quaintest wits of Spain, to bring him up in that prospect. These Servants had not deceived him in the Commission he gave them; and seeing he had distributed the Offices of the Infantoes household according to the capacity of his Servants, 
In the History of the Education of the Infanto.  the four principal were given to men who discharged them to all the intents and purposes that were proposed in bestowing of them. The Governor of that young Prince was Pedro Nugnez de Gusman, already invested into one of the chief dignities of the Order of Calatrava, which is that of Claviary, or chief Chamberlain: His Tutor, Alvero Ozorio, Bishop of Astorga, who had been a Monk of the Order of St. Dominick: His Chamberlain, Gonsalo de Gusman; and the Steward of his household, Sancho de Paredez.  
Men never serve better, than when they act for their own interest in doing what they are bid; and the Servants of the Infanto being sure of the most important Offices of State, as fast as they fell, so soon as their young Master should be King, took all occasions to inspire into him the thoughts of Sovereignty which were desired he might have. They continued till the death of his Catholic Majesty, who by an omission, which it cost trouble enough afterwards to repair, put not into his last Will and Testament, that the Servants of the Infanto should be changed, a thing absolutely necessary, seeing he deprived him of the Crowns which he left him by his former Will; and in so contrary a disposition, policy required that such persons should be placed about that young Prince, as might make him forget what was past, and patiently support the strange revolution of fortune that had befallen him. It is not known whether the three Counsellors of State, who suggested the last Testament forgot to propose that caution; or that not judging it so necessary, as indeed it was, they thought it enough that they had obtained the chief, which was to exclude the Infanto from the Throne, and neglected the accessary that consisted in putting new Servants about him: But it is certain, that whatever Ximenes could do afterward, he could not wholly remedy that inconvenience: For though he obliged the Infanto to live always with him, and employed more time in observing the Servants of that young Prince, than in all the other affairs of State besides; yet he could not prevent but that Gusman his Governor treated secretly with the chief Lords of Arragon, who promised that if he could cunningly get his Pupil away from the Cardinal, and bring him to them, they would immediately place him upon the Throne, and acknowledge him for their King.  
The Bishop of Astorga, the Infanto's Tutor, Negotiated also with the Emperor Maximilian, to persuade him to come to Spain, and depose Ximenes, and proposed to him the two motives which he thought would be most prevalent to engage him to that expedition; one, the seizing of the Royal Treasury, which ●he frugality of Ximenes had filled; and the other the marriage of his Imperial Majesty with Queen Germana, whom the Bishop had entirely engaged into his interests, by promising to make her Empress.  
The two Treaties were already far advanced before the spies of Ximenes discovered that of Gusman with the Arragonese, and informed him of it, eight or ten days before it was to be put in execution. The Cardinal took two measures to render it ineffectual; one was to send a Copy of it to Chieures; and the other to double his diligence in observing the Infanto and his Servants.  
The Negotiation of the Bishop of Astorga was discovered by another way. Maximilian, who bordered upon sixty years of Age, was but weakly tempted to marry again; and to rouse him up to take Queen Germana for a fourth Wife, there was a necessity that she should have had for portion six hundred thousand Ducats in ready money, as Bonna Sforza his third Wife had; or that she should have brought along with her the Low-Countries and Bretagne, as Mary of Burgundy his first Wife, and Anne of Dreus his second had done. In the mean while Queen Germana, who was no less liberal in her way than Maximilian was in his had saved nothing of the gratuities that she had drawn from the Catholic King her Husband; and besides, though she had succeeded to the Estate of Gast on de Foix her Brother, who was killed at the Battle of Ravenna, yet Francis the First, as we shall see more at length in the following Book, would not consent that she should sell it and carry the money to the Emperor, for fear that Prince might take a conceit to lay it out to the disadvantage of France. Maximilian, moreover was as bare of credit as of money; 
In the Titles of the house of Foix.  and seeing he could not borrow so much money as he needed to make a journey into Spain, with an equipage suitable to his dignity, he was forced to lay aside his design of marrying Queen Germana. He was not very reserved naturally; and it being to no purpose for him to conceal any longer the intriegue of the Bishop of Astorga, he imparted it to Chieures; and by so doing absolutely convinced him, that for the interest of the Catholic King it was necessary to remove from the Infanto all the Servants whom the late King had placed about him, and to give him others that should be devoted to the Court of Bruxelles. He had written to Ximenes several times to that purpose, who acknowledged the necessity which Chieures represented to him, but excused himself from undertaking the execution of it so long as he was in health: Whether it was that he feared to attract the hatred that would rebound upon him from so rigorous an action; or that he foresaw that the Catholic King would not have so much need of him after that the Servants of the Infanto were sent home to their houses, as he had whilst these Servants were a Bugbear to the Council of State of Bruxelles. But when he found himself consumed by an internal heat, which the prodigious quantity of water and other cooling things he drank did but more and more augment, he observed no more measures, but sent word to Chieures, that he was ready to fulfil what was desired of him. The only condition which he required was, that the Catholic King should write him a Letter according to the draught that he sent, without altering a syllable in it. The draught contained an absolute and precise order to Ximenes, to remove from the person of the Infanto his Governor, Tutor, Chamberlain, and Steward of his Household, by making known to these four Servants, that if his Catholic Majesty sent them home to their houses, it was not that he was displeased with them, and that he approved not the conduct which they had hitherto observed in his Brother's service; but only because he had respect to their Age, and that he might not be accused of inhumanity, if he gave them not time to take their ease when the Infanto, who was entered into the sixteenth year of his Age, needed no more their presence about him: That he should remember their services, and reward them in such a manner as should show that he was not ungrateful.  
The draught added, That for the other Servants of the Infanto, his Majesty left it to the disposition of the Cardinal, to dismiss or entertain them as he should judge convenient. Chieures failed not to expede the Letter in the precise terms demanded, and to send it to the Cardinal. But too much caution had like to have spoiled all, not only by rendering the Letter useless, but also hurtful. Chieures who knew the importance of it, recommended it particularly to the Courier, who was to Post it through France, that he might carry it with greater expedition into Spain. The Courier discharged his duty, and delivered faithfully the Letter to the Postmaster: But withal forgot not to tell him, that Chieures had recommended it to his particular care; and upon that account alone the Postmaster imagined, that it was the advice which the Catholic King sent to Ximenes, that he was actually embarked for Spain. The Cardinal at that time was in the Monastery of Aguera, where it was a hard matter to speak to him, because he was under a course of Physic. The Postmaster took that pretext to excuse himself for not carrying him the Letter, and kept it full five days. He sent in the mean while to the houses of all the Grandees in Spain, to give them the false news that the King was at Sea, because it was the custom of the Spanish Lords, to make Presents to those who told them the news of any extraordinary good fortune, that concerned the State. That buffle-head to heighten his imprudence on the fifth day carried not the Letter directly, according to its address; but delivered it to the Bishop of Tortosa, thinking that Ximenes, who whilst he was in health, communicated to him none of the principal affairs of the Regency, would not take it ill that he were acquainted with them during his sickness, were it only to ease himself of so much pains. The Bishop instead of acknowledging the obligation which he had to Ximenes for the Cardinal's Hat, which he had procured him in the promotion of one and thirty Cardinals made by Leo the Tenth, thought it not enough to open the Letter, but besides, showed it to the Infanto, who on that sad occasion reflected with trouble upon all the displeasures he had received since the death of his Grandfather, and was convinced that he was about to be totally deprived of the infallible hopes, and even of the certain Inheritance which he had by Birth. He communicated the matter to his four principal Servants, who having greater interest ●n the affair than himself, and resolving ●o animate him for their own preservation as much as he could be; thought it not enough to confirm him in the opinion he had already, and which was so favourable to them. They added that the alteration in hand must not of necessity have come first, neither into the thoughts of the Catholic King, nor of Chieures, ●or of the Counsellors of State of Madrid; because if the matter had happened any of these three ways, the order for ●utting it in execution would not have ●een solely sent to the Cardinal, but to ●he two other Regent's with him, or at ●east to one of the two, that an alteration of such importance might not be left ●o the ministry of a dying man. They concluded that the overture came from Ximenes; and that he had made it to Chie●res his Correspondent in terms that intimated, that none but he was capable of putting it in execution. That he could not give a more evident proof, than that of his terrible aversion to the Infanto; seeing instead of employing in the works of Repentance the little time he had to ●ive, he lost it for ever, by spending it in reducing a young Prince born and bred up to Reign, to the condition of a private man.  
The Infanto by this discourse conceived the greatest indignation imaginable, and went instantly to make his grievances known to Ximenes. He resolved to have two at least to accompany him, who might serve for witnesses of what passed in the conference; and seeing his Governor was sick, he took his Tutor, and sent to pray the Cardinal of Tortosa to bear him company. The Cardinal declined it; and to say the truth, he wanted confidence to appear before Ximenes, having so offended him, though it was only by a mistake. He had opened the Packet, and showed it to the Infanto, without foreseeing the advantages which the Servants of that young Prince might draw from that previous light, in engaging their Master in their interests; and so soon as he was sensible of his fault, he had sent the Packet to Ximenes, with most humble excuses for having opened it. So that the Infanto having by all means essayed to get the Cardinal of Tortosa to accompany him, 
In the Life of Adrian the Sixth.  was forced to go with his Tutor, without him, to the house of Ximenes. He hardly had the patience to salute him, but made his complaint, with Tears in his Eyes, of the wrong he did him, by depriving him at an unseasonable time, and without cause of his good and faithful Servants. He added, that he would not have thought such a procedure so strange, if it had come from Chieures, or the other Ministers of Bruxelles, seeing he was born in Spain, and that it was but too well known in the World, what Antipathy there was betwixt the Flemings and Spaniards: but that it was insupportable to him to find himself ill used by Ximenes, whom he had till then looked upon as his best friend. He prayed him to leave those about him who were men without reproach, and with whom he was fully satisfied, and adjured him to do so by the memory of Queen Isabelle his Grandmother, to whom he had so often acknowledged, that he was solely indebted for his Fortune.  
Ximenes carried it high proportionably as the Infanto humbled himself: For besides, that he was persuaded that the affair must be managed with the height of Authority, and that he would spoil all, if he abated in the least; he was also of the opinion, and the event shown, that he was not mistaken, that if in so nice a juncture the Infanto was treated with as much severity as the other Subjects of the King his Brother, he would think on't so long as he lived, and that he would begin betimes to obey him as implicitly as if he were infinitely above him in birth. And, indeed, Ximenes spent no time in telling the Infanto the reasons why his Catholic Majesty would have him part from his Servants. He pretended that that young Prince ought as all other Spaniards, to suppose that all the resolutions flowing from his Majesty's Counsel were just; and upon that ground alone made him answer with a firm and sedate voice, that his condition was not so deplorable as he gave it out to be, and that what he judged at that time to be bad & insupportable, would one day redound to his Glory and advancement provided he cheerfully gave the other Subjects of the King his Brother an example of perfect submission, and taught them, that as he had the honour to be the first Subject of the Monarchy of Spain● so also he gloried in obeying his Monard more implicitly than the rest. That h● was not sensible of any injury done unt● him, by taking from him his old Servants, and giving of him new: That h● was old enough, and had sufficient experience in such kind of Politic affairs and that he ought not to be blamed for it, more than a great many others who were not so much concerned as he, for the real greatness of the Infanto: That the kindness he showed to his Servants would be commendable on other occasions; but that it was not to be put into the balance with the submission which he ●ought to have to the most powerful King of Christendom, 
In the relation of that conference.  whose Orders it was neither reasonable nor safe to resist; and ●hat, in short, if he persisted to complain out of time, and show his discontents at the last Order come from ●landers, he would endanger his Person, is Quality, his Hopes, and those whom ●…e obstinately protected.  
The Infanto, who was not accustomed ●o such free repartees, replied to Ximenes, That he had heretofore felt the effects of is good will, but that at present when ●…e stood most in need of it, he found him wholly changed as to him: That he had ●ense enough, as young as he was, to ●now that Ximenes was the Author of ●he affair in agitation; seeing by suspending for some time the execution of the order of Court, he would give the In●nto leisure to remove those dangerous ●mpressions which the Catholic King had of his Servants: That that was the only favour that was demanded of the Cardinal: And that if he refused it, he hoped he would not take exceptions if the Infanto and his Servants took their measures, for securing themselves against the ruin wherewith they were threatened.  
Ximenes not so much startled at this menace as he made show of being, cunningly made use of it to break up the conference. He pretended to be in so great a passion, that he could no longer continue it, and only told the Infanto, that he might do as he pleased; but that he swore to him by the life of the King his Brother, their common Master, that before to morrow night his Orders should be punctually obeyed. The Infanto perceiving that that was all he could get of him, left him, and returned to his house. He was no sooner at home again, but that Espinosa and Cabanish Officers of the Cardinal's Guards, invested him with their Soldiers in the same manner, as if they had had a design to force his house. Yet all they did was to hinder the Infanto and his Servants from coming out, and entertaining any communication with others abroad, and cause Victuals and all other necessaries to be brought them by trusty persons. The rest of the day and all the following night passed in a profound silence without, and in an extreme agitation within. Neither the Infanto nor his Servants went to bed, and he deliberated with them during all that time what he had best to do. The first hours were spent in threats against the life of Ximenes; and in this they continued till a more sedate temper gave them leisure to think that they were not in a condition of putting their menaces in execution. Then were proposed all sorts of expedients, good and bad, ordinary and extraordinary, rational and whimsical, lawful and prohibited, that could fall into the imagination of man for declining their obedience; but they stuck to none, whether that they disliked them, or that they judged them insufficient. One thing only was agreed upon, which was put in execution upon the spot. And that was, that the Infan●o should oblige himself in writing to every one of his Servants in particular, to take them again so soon as ever he had ●he liberty, and to reward them according to the services they had rendered ●im. He was a long time in signing ●hose promises in the Air, which were ●ever accomplished; and no sooner was it day, but that the two Officers of Ximenes his Guards pressed the Servants of the Infanto to leave the house, carry or cause to be carried out what things they had, to separate, and all return to the condition they were in before they entered into his service. Then had the Infanto recourse to his last expedient, which was to send and entreat the Council of State and the two Nuncio's of the Pope, who then were with Ximenes, to come to him. Ximenes suffered them to go; and the Infanto in as sad a posture as he had been in with the Cardinal the day before, but not with Tears in his Eyes, as he had then had, told the Council and the Nuncio's that the Catholic King his Brother had ordered all his Household to be changed: That he could not without putting extreme violence upon himself, comply with so strange an order: That nevertheless he would obey: But that in quality of Infanto of Castille he prayed the company by Letters to complain with him to his Catholic Majesty, of the injury that was done unto him, and to desire that the Order might be recalled The company willingly undertook that Office, which was but civil; and Ximenes immediately upon it sent for the Governor, Tutor, and Chamberlain o● the Infanto, who were now turned out, to come to him to the Monastery of Aguilleria. He there received them with looks that showed neither grief nor joy for their misfortune; and showed them what concerned them in the King's Letters, which they had sufficiently examined before. He listened to the complaints they made thereupon, and fell into a conference with them, wherein he made it his business to justify the conduct of the Court, which was indeed his own. He suffered them to reply; but his design was to have caused them all three to be arrested, if they had not before they took their leave of him seemed wholly submitted to his pleasure. The Officers of his Guards, who were present, waited only for the signal to seize their persons, and it is not known whether the Infantoes Servants suspected it or not: But it is certain there was no necessity of coming to that extremity, seeing they ended the conference with a protestation to Ximenes, that they were ready to do all that he commanded them; and that they only prayed him to have some regard to their honour and interests, when he should write to the Catholic King.  
At this rate they were suffered to go free out of the Monastery, and they faithfully performed the promise which they had made. All the other Servants were next sent a going, one only excepted, who by good luck was neither exposed to the aversion nor jealousy of Ximenes. And that was the famous Alphonso Castillego, who was in his time, what Lopes de Vega was in the time of our Fathers. As he was more happy than all other Spaniards in the Poetry of his Country, so he gave himself wholly to it, and spent therein all the hours wherein he was not obliged to attend the Infanto. For that end he lived in his Master's house much after the manner of a Hermit; and meddled in nothing but versifying, when he was in the vein, and in polishing them when his rapture was over. He was so far from intrieguing in other men's affairs, that he wholly neglected his own; and Ximenes, who knew him to be a man of that temper, had no mistrust that he could inspire into the Infanto any other sentiments but for the Muses. He continued him in his place of Gentleman ordinary, and augmented his Salary, that he might make it appear, that at the same time when he chastized the ambition of thirty two Servants of the presumptive Heir of the Monarchy, he also rewarded the moderation of the three and thirtieth. He cast his Eyes upon Alphonso Tellez, one of the wisest Signiors of all Spain, for succeeding to Gusman in the place of Governor to the Infanto, upon the only account that Chieures had recommended him to him. But because Tellez was then at Bruxelles, whither the Catholic King had called him, Ximenes in expectation of his return, put in his place the Marquis of Aguilat, who afterward got so much into his young Master's favour, that he continued to be chief Governor: The Infanto sometime after having begged of the King his Brother to continue him in the place he had about him, which was granted. All the other new Officers of the Infanto were chosen by the Cardinal, who in an action of that importance trusted no man but himself. None were preferred but for merit; but in the preference of merit, Ximenes followed two measures, first, that they should be of mean extraction, and then that they should be obliged to no man but himself for their fortune. He thought that these considerations would be sufficient to take them off from cabelling, wherein their predecessors had imprudently engaged; and if they were not sufficient, yet on all hazards it would be the easier to turn them off also, that they had no relations to protect them.  
The Spaniards seemed very indifferent as to the alteration of all the Servants of the Infanto, save only in the removal of the young Viscount of Altamira. He was of the same Age with his Master, and was placed about him as a Page of Honour. They at first contented themselves to play together at the Infantoes vacant hours: But afterward the Sympathy of their humours had linked them into a stricter friendship, than their young years and the disproportion of their quality seemed to allow of. The truth is, the Viscount had extraordinary complaisant dispositions to engage his Master. He was a perfect Courtier before he knew what was fit to be done to become so, & without any other guide but nature and his duty: It was not enough for him to second the inclinations of the Infanto with all imaginable exactness; but he prevented them by his foresight, and he was observed never to have proposed any thing to him but what was agreeable. The Infanto, who on his part loved him most tenderly, 
In the Elegics of the Altamites.  used all means possible to retain him. He besought, wept, importuned, and for the space of twenty four hours refrained eating and drinking: But Ximenes was as inexorable upon the account of that Servant, as he had been in respect of the rest. The Viscount had an original sin which barred him from all favour. He was the Nephew of the Bishop of Ozorio the Infanto's Tutor; and if he had lived with that Prince, he might have inspired into him such sentiments as his Uncle pleased. The fear of this was not without ground, and Ximenes sent the Viscount home to his Father with Orders to tarry there, until the arrival of the Catholic King in Spain. Thus the boldest action that was ever seen in Castille since the Moors made no more war against it, was put in execution by a man who hardly showed any more signs of life, but in enduring the sharp pains which he felt; and that with such absolute Authority, that he would employ none in it but himself alone. Posterity perhaps will find it now difficult still to believe what we are about to relate: But it is so true, that there is no circumstance nor evidence of truth wanting to it.  
Chieures had wisely apprehended that Ximenes was not powerful enough to change the Infantoes household at his pleasure; and the reason of his fear was, that the Governor and Tutor of that young Prince had for kinsmen and intimate friends two Spanish Lords of great credit and resolution, who would not suffer without raising some Tumult, that men from whom they expected much, in case of a revolution in affairs, should be turned out of place. These two Lords were the Marquis of Astorga and the Count of Lemos, both which, allied to many Noble Families of the Country, personally valiant, and expert in War: If they were to be kept in their duty, it could only be by Letters, which the Catholic King should write to them with his own hand, to inform them, that fo● the good of the Monarchy he had resolved to order Ximenes to change all the household of the Infanto his Brother; and that his Majesty looked upon the Marquis and Count as faithful Subjects, who would be so far from opposing the execution of his pleasure, that they would facilitate it as much as they could. The two Letters were sent open to Ximenes; and it was referred to his discretion to cause them to be delivered, or to suppress them as he should judge convenient. But he was offended at it, answered haughtily, that he could do very well without them, and threw them into the fire. It appeared in the sequel, that ●e had no better opinion of himself than ●e aught to have, seeing the Marquis ●nd Count did no more but murmur ●gainst him in secret; and perceiving themselves watched by Soldiers, who waited only for the least stirring on their ●art to apprehend them, they took no exceptions outwardly at the disgrace of ●heir friends.  
In fine, Ximenes having preserved to ●pain the Town of Algiers, had the good ●…ck also once more to save Oran, which ●as besieged by the Moors. He received ●he news of it a few days before he had ●he intelligence that the Catholic King, ●ho had embarked in the beginning of september one thousand five hundred and ●eventeen, in the Fleet which he had ●ent to him, was about the end of the ●ame month landed in the Coast of the ●sturias. He was so overjoyed thereat, ●hat for some days he seemed to have recovered his health: He risen out of the ●ed, where it was expected he should ●ave died, said Mass, applied himself ●o public affairs, and eaten with the Cor●leliers in their Refectory. At that time ●e received a Letter from Chieures, who consulted him about two businesses of extreme importance: One, to know what should be done with the Infanto; and the other, if the Catholic King should visit the Kingdoms of Arragon before those of Castille. The reason why Chieures doubted of the first point was, that it did not seem probable on the one hand that the Infanto could be left in a Country where he had been brought up in almost certain hopes of Reigning, without exposing the people to a perpetual temptation of revolting: And on the other hand, it was not secure for his Br●ther the King, to send him into any other of his Dominions. For were it into the Low-Countries, the Flemings would make him their Sovereign, were it for no other reason but to hinder their Country from being reduced into a Province of the Spanish Monarchy; and if it were into It a●… they who loved their freedom would solicit the Infanto to seize the Kingdoms of Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, Majorca an● Minorca; to the end that in a Country which was heretofore head of the World there might be no foreign Sovereign bu● the King of France, who holding n●thing there but the Duchy of Milan might easily be driven from thence.  
As to the other point Chieures represented that his Catholic Majesty having by storm been forced upon the Coast o● the Asturias in Castille, and necessitated ●o land there, the castilians might think themselves slighted, if he went out of ●heir Country to go to Arragon, before ●e were acknowledged amongst them. That they would ground their discontents upon that pretext, that their Country was in all respects more considerable ●han that which was seemingly preferred ●efore it; and that their grievances would be the more universal, that they would be reckoned just. But to look ●pon the reverse side of the Medal, Arra●on dreaded nothing so much, as to be ●o closely united to Castille, that there was no more distinction made betwixt ●hem. It had many times testified a distrust of this to the late King; who to remove the same had united the Kingdom of Naples to the Crown of Arragon, notwithstanding it was chief conquered and preserved by the Forces of Castille. It was to be feared that this apprehension might again be revived, if the Catholic King held the Estates of Castille, before those of Arragon; seeing the Arragonese, who would then suppose that the preference was due to them, 
In the last Letters of Chieures to the Cardinal.  by reason that their Monarchy was more ancient than that of Castille, would imagine that there was a design of incorporating them into one: Whereas if they were first visited, and the preservation of their privileges solemnly sworn to, whereof the principal was to leave them in the state they were in, they would continue in that profound tranquillity which it was the King's interest to maintain them in, that so in the process of time and affairs they might not cross his designs.  
Ximenes made answer, that there was reason to consider what was to be done with the person of the Infanto, and that that was the thing which had most perplexed him during his Regency. That that young Prince alone had cut him out more work than all Spain together, but that he ought not to create so much trouble to the Catholic King his elder Brother and Master: That his Majesty would do well once for all to take a course as to that, and that he agreed it was not fit to send him into any of the Dominions whereof he was actually in possession; but that he ought to be sent and settled in Germany, so that he might there render the house of Austria more considerable by forming a second branch which might constantly remain there, whilst the first made its ordinary abode in Spain: That the ten Hereditary Provinces were a very handsome allowance for a younger Brother; and that the Infanto ought to rest satisfied, provided his Catholic Majesty consented that he might have them upon condition that he should renounce the successions of his Father and Mother: That by means of these Provinces the Infanto might marry the Princess of Hungary and Bohemia, and one day facilitate the Election of the Catholic King to the Empire: Whereas if he were disposed of in any other manner whatsoever, the advantages would not be the same, ●either as to the house of Austria in general, nor to the Spanish branch in particular.  
As to the Monarchy which the Catholic King ought first to honour with his presence, Ximenes wrote to Chieures, that it was not a thing to be deliberated about; and that seeing it was the good fortune of the castilians that he landed first in their Country, they might have occasion to take it ill, if he denied them that preference which the storm that forced him thither had given them: That the same consideration would hinder the Arragonese from repining at it; and that however it was, his Catholic Majesty would never Reign absolutely in Spain, unless he laid down this as a fundamental Maxim of Policy, That Arragon was but as an accessary in respect of Castille, which was to him in place of a principal; and that since the two Monarchies were united, and that Navarre was incorporated into Castille, the Arragonese would be so invested by the castilians, that upon what occasion soever they might revolt, the Forces of the castilians alone would be sufficient to reduce them to obedience. Whereas if the discontent of the castilians might at any time break out into a Rebellion, who just 〈◊〉 unjust soever the cause might be, not only the Arragonese would be too weak 〈◊〉 quell them, but besides, no human means appeared capable to hinder the Arragonese from imitating them in their Insurrection; and then his Majesty would utterly lose Spain, without any hopes o● recovering it again.  
The advice of Ximenes was exactly followed in these two Articles; but though the Catholic King had so great a deserence for him; yet it was very difficul for the Spaniards, who expected hi● death every minute, to preserve the sam● reverence towards him, which till the● they had had. Anthony de Rojas, Bishop of Granada, Precedent of the Council o● Castille, bore envy to Ximenes, which ●s but too common to those who having but the second place in a famous Society, think however that they deserve ●he first. He valued himself at least as much as he valued Ximenes; and imagined, that if that Cardinal had died before the coming of the Catholic King ●nto Spain, he would have succeeded to ●im in the Regency. He had been also ●etled that Ximenes had done a great ma●y important businesses without communicating any thing of them to him, and ●eeing the death of Ximenes would have deprived him of the means of resenting 〈◊〉, he resolved not to stay for that. He ●id hold on the occasion that he judged ●ost proper for baulking Ximenes; and represented in Council, when the Re●ent was not in a condition to be present, ●hat seeing they had the Royal Authority in their hands, they ought to make ●ll hast to go meet the Catholic King to ●emand of him the confirmation thereof. That it mattered not much whether Xi●enes was or was not at their head, when they discharged themselves of that ●rst duty, because his Regency also was expired by the King's arrival in Spain, or ●t lest so diminished, that he was no ●ore to be considered but upon the account count of civility: That the sickness of Ximenes afforded him a good excuse, so long as he pleased, for not rendering in person his duties to his Majesty: but it was not the same case with the Council, which ought always to be in action; and lost proportionably its lustre as it continued absent from its Master.  
It was not the Precedents interest alone, who spoke to this purpose, to make all haste to Court, the other Counsellors of State were no less earnest to appear there. They knew that there had been a resolution taken of reducing their number to one half, that as many Flemings might be put into their places; and since none of them in particular were sure of staying in, all of them took their measures already, to go and solicit to be continued in Commission. So they all accepted the offer of their Precedent, who to render himself the more acceptable or to give a more authentic proof of his power, endeavoured to have carried the Infanto with the Council. But it was not in his power, as it would have been had Gusman been still Governor to tha● young Prince; and in that juncture the foresight of Ximenes was chief admired● for the Marquis of Aguillar, who hel● the place of Gusman, and found himself only indebted to Ximenes for his dignity, made answer to the Precedent of the Council, That the Infanto should not part without orders from the King his Brother, or from the Cardinal. The Precedent notwithstanding set out on his journey, until Ximenes stopped him, by sending him the King's Letters, which served for a regulation of the action he was about. His Majesty in express terms declared, that he would not see the Council, until Ximenes were in a condition to come at their head. The Precedent nevertheless obeyed not as yet, because he had his excuse ready, that Ximenes was so bad, that he could not be brought before his Majesty; and that in the mean while the Council of Castille thought it inconsistent with their dignity, to suffer, that many Lords of the Country should anticipate them, in rendering their duty to the King. But Ximenes being informed, that the Council went on in their journey, dispatched a Courier to Chieures, and complained to him of the slight put upon his person. He sent him word that the affront would reflect upon the King: He assured him, that the arrival of his Catholic Majesty ●n Spain, was the sole cause of the boldness of the Council in general, and of the Precedent in particular; protesting, that if before, they had had the boldness to disobey him, he would have instantly deposed them all, as he had changed the Servants of the Infanto; and desired that he might have leave to conclude his Regency with the same ascendant as he had begun, and till then continued it.  
Chieures found nothing in the Letter of Ximenes but what was just, and was of opinion, that the King should in that particular give him all the satisfaction he desired. His Catholic Majesty therefore sent commands to the Precedent and Council, to return back the way they came: To meet as formerly in the City of Aranda, near the Convent of Aguillera, where Ximenes lay sick; not to budge from thence without new orders; and above all, not to appear before him, unless Ximenes were at their head. This was an extreme mortification to the Precedent and Council; but Ximenes in stead of augmenting it, by insulting over them at their return, as they apprehended diminished it as much as possibly he could. The Admiral of Castille, and other Grandees being vexed at the affront which the Precedent and Council would have put upon him, offered to accompany him when he should go to wait upon the King: But Ximenes was too wise to run the risk of giving his Master jealousy, by accepting of an unseasonable attendance of persons of such quality. He thanked them for their civility; and told them, that as he had found fault, that the Council went without him to kiss the King's hand, so his Majesty's Council of State might have reason to take exceptions, if he went without them. He therefore prepared to part with the Council upon the first orders; and seeing he perceived his end drawing near, he could never have thought that his life should outlast his favour. In the mean time he found it but too true; and since it is in this place that the Spanish writers fall foulest upon Chieures, it is fit we should know what hand he had in the disgrace of Ximenes.  
It is certain that this Cardinal, whether it was that he had a singular affection for his Countrymen, or that he thought they could not suffer strangers to have any authority in Spain, had written oftener than once to the Catholic King, that he should bring with him no Flemings at all, or that he should bring so few as might give no umbrage. His Majesty, who kept nothing from Chieures, had showed him the Letters of Ximenes, and Chieures at first was not scandalised thereat, because he did not think they concerned him; whether he grounded his thoughts upon the alternative, contained in them, in these words, That his Majesty should bring no Flemings at all, or that he should bring but a few, and that he judged that that alternative aught to be understood of him, and the rather, because the Spaniards had no reason to think it strange, that their King was accompanied by him who had been his Governor, granting he were no Spaniard; or that he wholly confided in the friendship that Ximenes had expressed to him, and in the good offices which he had rendered him. But he changed his opinion, when he came to understand that Ximenes was out of all patience, that his Majesty before he parted from Bruxelles, had there chosen the Council, which he was to make use of in Spain, and named all the Ministers whom he was to employ in it. Not but that a great many Spaniards were chosen among the rest: But besides, that there were more Flemings than Spaniards; he had also admitted into his Council Germane, who were altogether as unacceptable to the Spaniards as the Flemings were.  
The Catholic King had done the same as to the principal Offices of Castille and Arragon that were not Hereditary; which was the more unsupportable to Ximenes, that during his whole life he had been extraordinarily jealous of the grandeur of his Nation. He thought it so great an evil, that in his opinion there was no other remedy for it, but to bar all strangers in general from place in Council, and from the Offices of the Monarchy of Castille, and to leave them none, but such as concerned the Catholic King, as he was Archduke of the Low-Countries. There was no appearance that Chieures was excepted out of that regulation, seeing he was the first that was provided for, and that he actually enjoyed the two fairest places of the Royal Family, which was that of high Steward, and of Comtador Major, which answers to that of Lord high Treasurer; and that by consequence, if the reformation began at him, the other Officers would have no cause to think it strange, that it came next to them: Whereas if any regard were had to his merit and services ●n so nice a juncture, the rest would not ●ail to pretend also that respect should be had to theirs.  
Thus Ximenes finding no mean betwixt those two extremes, fell a soliciting the Catholic King to send home to Flanders all the strangers without exception, who had accompanied him to Spain. He was the most forward man in the World, to put in execution what he undertook; and so soon as he had once opened his mind to his Master, he wrote to him so often about it, that he became troublesome. Chieures, whom Ximenes would have ruined, and wh●… could not maintain himself, but by undoing Ximenes, made his advantage o● the occasion, which he afforded him o● heaving at him by turn. He represented to the Catholic King, that the violence of Ximenes was become so excessive, that it concerned the Royal Majesty to put a stop to it: That it was convenient to suffer that Cardinal to act in his own way so long as there was no King in Spain because then the Sovereign Authority was to be entrusted into the hands of on● or other, and that there was no Spaniard in whose hands it run less risk: Bu● that at present, if his Majesty still acted by his Councils, his Countrymen would be accustomed to acknowledge no other King but him: That there was no instance in History, that a Sovereign had been constrained to change his Council and Household upon his succeeding to new Dominions; and that if his Majesty subjected himself to so hard a Law, he would be in a worse condition than private men, who take those whom they love for their Servants, and without distinction or reserve consult those whom they esteem: That he must betimes make the Spaniards sensible, that they ought to submit to the pleasure of their King, and not their King to receive the Law from them; and that the shortest and easiest way of accomplishing that, was to begin with Ximenes.  
The Catholic King had a particular kindness for his Countrymen; and though he used all imaginable circumspection to conceal it, yet those who saw him often, believed it to be no less than that which Ximenes had for the Spaniards. He was not as yet possessed with the Maxim of Queen Isabelle his Grandmother, That Kings ought not to be touched with the sentiments which Nature inspires. No body had put him upon the choosing of his Council after the death of his Grandfather. He had done it of himself; and the sequel made it apparent, that it was done with greater prudence than his Age seemed to allow. In the mean time he would have been reckoned imprudent, if he had turned off and sent home into the Low-Countries so many deserving men, from whom he expected no less services than his maternal Ancestors had received from the Spaniards. It would have so reflected upon his reputation in his entering into the World, that it would have been hard for him to have retrieved it again; and nevertheless it was absolutely necessary for him to have it unblemished in the design which he had already conceived of taking just measures for succeeding to his paternal Grandfather in the Empire.  
So that the answers he made to Ximenes were not positive; and that Cardinal being persuaded, that his Eloquence would carry what his Letters could not obtain, pressed the King to suffer him to come to him with all expedition; and to allow him long and secret Audiences, wherein he might inform his Catholic Majesty of many things, which he could not exactly learn but from his mouth. But his Majesty made answer, That his health was too precious to the State not to be minded, and that he thought it not fit to expose him to a long journey, which would too much incommode him. That the Court should suddenly draw near to the Monastery where he was; and that than his Catholic Majesty would not fail to see and confer with him as long as he should think it convenient, and to make use of his Councils.  
Ximenes perceived very well then that his desire was eluded, but he was better persuaded of it, when he was informed that his Catholic Majesty resolved to call the Estates of Castille without ask his advice about it. He concluded that he would not have been neglected in an affair of that importance, unless he had been disgraced; and nevertheless, the fault that they were about to commit, seemed to him to be so considerable, that ●…e thought he ought to make an effort for preventing it. He wrote not to Chieures, from whose hand he supposed the blow to come, but immediately to the King, to represent to him, that it was now more necessary in Spain than elsewhere, that the first interview betwixt a Sovereign and his subjects, should be on the one hand with much affection, and on the other with great submission; and that it had been ever observed in all the Country, and especially in Castille, that the Reigns had always continued as they ●ad begun: That in the mean time the castilians were not so calm as to be safely assembled; and that it was the more dangerous to grant them the Convocation of the Estates, that they were more pressing in demanding it: That they pretended to have the same liberty again, which they had before the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabelle, and that they had drawn up the Articles of it: That they would press his Catholic Majesty to sign them immediately after the opening of the Estates; and that if he signed them, all the labour of his Grandfather, Grandmother, and of the Regency, would be utterly lost; if he refused to sign them, he would engage himself in a civil War.  
Ximenes added, that the sole expedient to be taken, was to Reign absolutely at first: Not to grant the Spaniards the Convocation of the Estates; and so to accustom them to the yoke during the first years of his Catholic Majestie● Reign, that they should have no ground to think it strange, when they might have occasion to complain of it. It is no● known how Ximenes came to discover the disposition of the castilians, but i● the sequel it appeared to be but too true Nevertheless he was but little credited because it was thought that he had only written out of interest; and that he only endeavoured to put off the holding of the Estates, because he foresaw that all that could be done for lessening his Authority, yet he must still retain a good deal of it till then, the King without him not being able to determine the affairs of consequence that were begun during the Regency: Whereas he would be no longer necessary to his Catholic Majesty, after he had given an account of his administration in the Estates.  
His Majesty then persisted in the resolution of calling them; and it being out of the power of Ximenes to delay the execution of it, he laboured to obtain that at least a place that might be convenient for him might be chosen: He did not himself propose his Metropolitan City of Toledo; but he brought it about, that the Inhabitants of that City went and represented to the Catholic King, that they had been almost in continual possession of having the Estates, and desired that that favour might be continued to them. But it was not thought fit to call them in a place where Ximenes was too powerful; and it was feared that the Grandees, who were not fully reconciled to him, would take it ill. So that the City of Vailladolid was chosen; and Ximenes no sooner knew of it, but he sent to hire for him the house of Doctor Bernardin, commodious for a sick person, because it was out of the hearing of noise, and yet near enough the Hall where the Assembly was to sit: But Terremonde, a Flemish Gentleman, provided to the charge of high Marshal of the Court, appointed it notwithstanding for another; and that the Cardinal might have less pretext of complaining of it, that house was appointed for Queen Germana.  
Ximenes being persuaded, that since he had taken the Lodgings, he was concerned in honour to keep them, wrote to the King, and complained of the harshness of Terremonde, sending withal a Gentleman to Queen Germana, to pray her to have some respect to his indisposition. The King did him justice; and the Queen civilly sent him word, that she would rather lie in a Cottage than dislodge him. His house was then prepared for him; but Terremonde put another trick upon him worse than the former. He appointed Lodgings for Ximenes his Train in a little Town at a pretty distance from Vailladolid, to hinder his Servants from giving him the attendance that was necessary for a sick person; and Ximenes being informed that this last affront was put upon him at the solicitation of the Duke of Alva, 
In the relation of his disgrace.  was the less able to dissemble it. He lost patience, and was heard to say with a sigh, That he had never been so treated at Court, when he followed it in the bare quality of Confessor to Queen Isabelle, nor even when he was under the disgrace of King Ferdinand. That he had oftener than once been present at the Estates in those two times; and that his Servants were always left about him, though the Court of the Kings of Castille was then more numerous than that of their Grandson, and that they had more Horse and Foot Guards than he had: That that was not a reward suitable to the importance of his Services; and that calumnies must have been more believed than they ought, since he was used so ill.  
There is nothing more dangerous to disgraced Favourites, than to complain, because they who have supplanted them commonly envenom such kind of complaints. It is probable the same course was taken with Ximenes, since the disadvantageous relation that was made of it to the Catholic King, procured to the Cardinal that terrible Letter which dispatched him: But there is no positive proof that it was Chieures, rather than the Cardinal of Tortosa, the Chancellor Savage, Lanoy Master of the Horse, the Referendary Galtinara, and the other chief Courtiers of his Majesty, who knowing that Ximenes struck no less at them than at Chieures; and finding that they were not so able as he to maintain themselves, were so much the more concerned to prevent the dismission wherewith they were threatened, by the disgrace of him who demanded it.  
However it be, occasion was taken from the words which, as we said, had escaped Ximenes, to represent to the Catholic King, that that Cardinal was a man the more to be feared, that he could never be dispossessed of his prejudices; and that having once disapproved the Convocation of the Estates of Castille, he would endeavour, if he were present in them, to make it out, that his foresight was not vain, and by consequence would so bring things about, that they should not conclude to his Majesty's advantage. It was thereupon resolve● to hinder him from coming there; and the Catholic King drawing near th● place where he was, wrote him a Letter which ended not in the same strain as i● began. His Majesty having signified u●to him that he desired to see him at Moyadoes, to confer with him, and to receive his instructions and counsels how he ought to Reign in Spain, added, that he would also wholly discharge him from ●he weight of affairs, and immediately after send him home to his Church of To●edo, where he might end his days in greater tranquillity. That the services which he had rendered to Spain were so considerable, that none but God could ●eward him for them. That his Catholic Majesty would think of him as long ●s he lived, and always honour him as ●is Father.  
The Pill was no less bitter for being gilded, and it was the ill luck of Ximenes, ●o have relapsed into his Fever the day ●efore. He could never imagine that so ●uch ingratitude would have been ●hew'd toward him; and to complete his affliction, he found the Letter to have ●een written by Mota, whom he designed for his successor in the Archbishopric ●f Toledo, though it was signed by the Catholic King, and written in his ●ame. These four circumstances made ●uch an impression in the mind of Xime●es, as surpassed all which his experience ●nd reason could do to efface it; and his 〈◊〉 it so increased upon it, that within four or five hours after he died, the Ninth of December, one thousand five hundred and seventeen. His Enemies as well as Friends confessed, that he was the most eminent Minister of State in Europe, in having during the space of two and twenty months only that his administration lasted, brought the high Nobility of Spain to an entire submission: appeased the Tumults of Andalusia: taken from John d' Albert all hopes of recovering Navarre: publicly chastised the Rebellion of the Malaguins: found out the secret of keeping standing Forces in Castille and Arragon, without a penny charge to the King or State: cleared the Coasts of Spain: besieged Algiers with Forces able to have taken it, if they had been well commanded: defended Bugie, Melills, and Le Pegnon de Velez against the furious attacks of the Elder Barbarossa: preserved the Fortress of Arsilla to the Crown of Portugal; and paid the va●…debts of Ferdinand and Isabelle, without having imposed any Tax upon the People.  
The Archbishop of Sarragossa, natural Uncle to the Catholic King, who as hath been mentioned before, had pretended to the Archbishopric of Tolea● during the life of Ximenes, and was b● consequence the cause of his disgrace, imagined that the Benefice would not be refused him now it was vacant. He hunted it hard; but his diligence was prevented by the Marquis of Villena, and some other Grandees of Spain, who being desirous to procure the friendship of Chieures, demanded the Archbishopric for William de Croy his Nephew and Godson, whom he loved more than all his other relations. The Catholic King before he left Flanders, had procured for ●im, though he was but Nineteen years ●f Age, the Bishopric of Cambray, and ●iven him several other Benesices; and ●nce his Majesty's arrival in Spain, he ●ad dispatched a Courier to the Court ●f Rome to solicit the Pope for a Cardinal's Hat for him, which was granted ●…m at the next promotion. So that better settlement could not be wished ●…r him in Spain, than that of the chief ecclesiastical dignity of the Country, ●…d that was the motive which inclined ●…e great men to speak in his favours. ●he Catholic King, who would not ●…at the Spaniards should suspect him of gratitude, and foresaw not the hatred at he was about to draw upon Chieures, fearfully bestowed the Benefice in the ●astle of Tordesillas, where he was gone out of a desire of seeing his Mother. He was there almost alone, and would see no body, because nature inclined him to hid as much as he could the extravagances of a Princess, of whom he held his life and Crowns: Nevertheless, his Uncle came thither, being impatiently persuaded, that he could not be soon enough Primate of all Spain in general, as he was already of Arragon in particular, because of the Archbishopric of Sarragossa. But he was denied entry into Tordesillas with the same severity, that all others were treated, whom the Catholic King had not brought along with him; and he was bid as well as the rest to go and expect his Majesty at Vailladolid, where the States were in a few days to be opened.  
He loudly complained of this, and pretended that his Birth had deserved some preference in that particular. Nevertheless he obeyed, and took his journey to Vailladolid; and his Majesty was no sooner come thither, but that h● begged of him the Archbishopric of T●ledo. He answered him, that he ha● given it to the Bishop of Cambray; an● that the Brief of it was expeded at Tord●sillas, where the Grandees of Castille ha● solicited him for that Bishop. The vexation that that reply put the Archbishop of Sarragossa into, made him entertain two thoughts equally false: The one was, that Chieures desiring to procure his Nephew the same Ascendant over the Clergy of Spain, that he himself had at Court; and not daring to do it directly, because his ambition would thereby have been too visible, had for that end employed the Marquis of Villena, and the other Grandees who were with the King: And the other, that the entry into the Castle of Tordesillas had only been denied him by the intriegue of Chieures, who needed all the time that the King spent there, to dispose his Majesty to name his Nephew to the Archbishopric, and who foresaw that the presence of the Archbishop of Sarragossa would have been enough to have broken all his measures, if he had appeared at Court before the expedition of the Brief.  
What favours a designed revenge easily gets place in ones mind; and the King's Uncle was so much comforted in his misfortune, that he found the person he was to aim at, that he gave himself no more trouble in examining whether his conjecture was well grounded or not. He took his leave of the Catholic King so soon as he had been refused; and the same day left Vailladolid, upon pretext that he could stay no longer with honour, since he had neither place nor rank in the Estates of Castille. He went back Post into Arragon, where his complaints against the Government were heard in all parts, at the same time that the report was spread at Vailladolid, that the Nephew of Chieures was Archbishop of Toledo. The Deputies of the Towns, and Commonalty of Castille, who were come thither for the opening of the Estates, were the more surprised at it, that it was without example, that the best Benefice of the Country should be conferred upon a stranger. At first however, they thought it enough to exaggerate their amazement to those who had a mind to hear them: But afterward, as there is no Nation in the World that trouble their heads more with what is to come than the Spaniards, so through much reasoning about the future they apprehended, that the Flemings encouraged by the success of their first essay, would take a liking to the other Benefices of Spain, and beg them as fast as they fell. How to hinder them was a very great difficulty, because on the one hand there was no standing Law against it and on the other, there was no appearance that they could impose upon the new King a restraint from which his Predecessors had been exempted.  
For understanding this mystery of Policy, which employed the prudence of Chieures for six whole weeks, it is to be supposed that the Kingdom of Castille having been at first one of the least of Spain, had not thought fit to take measures to hinder strangers from enjoying the Benefices thereof, seeing strangers went only thither to serve in the Armies as being Crossed, and to return home again to the several Provinces of Europe, from whence they came, when the time was expired wherein they had made a vow to Fight; & if they stayed in the Country, they were no more looked upon as strangers, but as castilians, because they lived and commonly died there, and their Children without contradiction enjoyed all the privileges of Native castilians. Matters had continued in that state when Castille was enlarged, because their conquests were made upon the Moors, who, if they would change their Religion, became castilians; and if they persisted in the belief of the Alcoran, were forced to go and live elsewhere. The Lands which they left were given to Native Castillians; and it could not be taken ill, that these should enjoy the Benefices of the conquered places, because they themselves or their Ancestors had founded them. In fine, the disposition of Benefices had not been changed there when Isabelle married Ferdinand, because that Queen had reserved it wholly to herself by her contract of Marriage, and named none but Native castilians to fill them. But after that Charles of Austria had joined the Low-Countries to Castille, he two ways contravened the custom established in Castille, concerning Offices and Benefices. He provided Arragonese to Magistracies and Church-revenues lying in Castille, with the same liberty as he reciprocally gave to the castilians the Ecclesiastical and Secular dignities of Arragon, and he nominated sometimes Flemings to Offices and Benefices of Castille and Arragon. The castilians received two prejudices by that Innovation; one in that their Offices and Benefices being more numerous and of greater Revenue than the Offices and Benefices of Arragon for two castilians that profited of the Ecclesiastical and Secular Revenues lying in Arragon, twenty Arragonese profite● of those of Castille: The other prejudice was, that the reciprocal liberty established betwixt the castilians and Arragonese concerned neither of the two Nations, in regard of the Flemings, seeing it was certain, that the Catholic King durst nominate no Spaniard to the Offices and Benefices of the Low-Countries; and if he had attempted to do it, the Seventeen Provinces would sooner have revolted than suffered it.  
The castilians, who were nothing short of the Flemings in haughtiness, and far surpassed them in cunning, resolved to maintain themselves as well as they in their ancient custom; and there could not be a more ingenious device than they invented for accomplishing it. They resolved to confound their ancient customs with their privileges; and amongst these they inserted, that no stranger, for what cause, and under what pretext it might be, should hold any Magistracy or Benefice in Castille. Nay, their forecast went a little farther; and seeing they knew that the Arragonese and Flemings aspired only to their Offices and Benefices, that they might convert the vast Revenues that belonged to them into ready money, and transmit it into their own Country: They revived one of their ancient Laws, which upon pain of death, prohibited the Exportation of Gold or Silver out of their Country, without the consent of the States. They inserted both these into the Articles which the Catholic King was to swear, before he was owned for Monarch of Castille, and presented them to him altogether. He examined them with Chieures, who immediately made his Master observe the cunning of the castilians. He represented to him, that they intended to oblige him to conditions unknown to his Predecessors; and that if he condescended to them, the consequences thereof would be very bad for the house of Austria in general, and in particular for him who ought to be the head of it. That that house, indeed, was in a fair way of making the most powerful Monarchy that ever was in Christendom, since the Family of Charlemain; but that that Monarchy would have a defect, to which that of Charlemain was not subject, seeing the Territories of the house of Austria would be too remote one from another, to afford mutual assistance in time of urgent necessity: That there was no other remedy for that, but to do in the Monarchy of Spain with some proportion what God hath done in the making of the Body of man, wherein the parts are engaged by their own interest for the preservation one of another: That if the Flemings and Arragonese were frustrated of the Magistracies and Benefices of Castille; they would not put themselves to the trouble of assisting the castilians against the Turks and Moors; as, if the castilians enjoyed not the same privileges in Arragon, they would not vigorously oppose the French, who threatened to take Arms again for restoring the posterity of John d' Albert to the Throne of Navarre: That it was not the same in respect of the Flemings, who could not, indeed, neither assist nor be assisted by Spain by Land, France lying betwixt them: But passage was open by Sea; and as the Maritine Forces of the Low-Countries infinitely surpassed those of Spain, so Spain had incomparably more need of the Low-Countries, than the Low-Countries had of it: That the custom of giving Offices and Benefices to the Flemings in Castille must not be broken off then, though the castilians might not reciprocally have the like privileges in Flanders, and by consequence his Catholic Majesty ought not to engage himself in any thing to the contrary.  
The Council approved the Arguments of Chieures, who was afterwards Commissionated to adjust with the Deputies of Castille, the manner how the King before he was acknowledged should take his Oath to maintain the privileges of the Country. The first conference was not over before Doctor Zumel, who in quality of Deputy of the City of 
* Burgos was as yet the capital City of Castille.  Burgos, was the chief of the rest, and by consequence had right to speak before them, perceived that Chieures was so well informed of the Laws and Customs of Castille, that it would be impossible to impose upon him: For Chieures made appear by a discourse no less eloquent than solid, that the Kings of Castille had never engaged themselves, neither not to bestow the Offices and Benefices of the Country upon strangers, nor yet to hinder the Transportation of Gold and Silver out of the Kingdom. He added, that there had been no ground, neither on the castilians part to impose that obligation upon their Kings, nor on the part of their Kings to charge themselves with it; and proved it invincibly, because Castille was neither delivered from the Tyranny of the Moors, nor erected into a Monarchy, nor enlarged at the cost of the Insidels, but by the assistance of the French, English, and other Nations, which the Croisadoes had drawn thither; and the castilians were so far from discouraging them by Laws and Customs, which frustrated them of the Offices and Benefices of the Country, that on the contrary there was a famous example of Alphonso the beloved, who to hinder Henry of Burgundy from returning into France, gave him his Daughter and Portugal: That that Prince, whose memory was so precious to the Spaniards, and the other wise Founders of the Monarchy of Castille, would have gone directly contrary to their own interests, if they had acted otherwise, seeing their Subjects not sufficing to inhabit the Countries, which from time to time they recovered from the Moors, nor to maintain them; if they had reserved the Magistracies and Revenues of the Church for the Native castilians, they would have encouraged but a few to become their Countrymen: Whereas by admitting indifferently to the Offices and Benefices of Castille strangers as well as Natives, they engaged them to their Country, by the same bonds that they themselves were engaged to it. That the same conduct was no less necessary in respect of Silver and Gold, seeing it was known that most part of the excessive sums which the Kings of Castille had spent in their Conquests, were not drawn neither from the Revenue of the Crown, nor out of the purses of their subjects, but had been furnished by the voluntary contributions of strangers concerned in the enlargement of the Christian Religion; and that these strangers would not have continued, as they did for many Ages, their liberalities, if the castilians, who received so much Gold and Silver from other people, had been so ungrateful, as to suffer none of it to return back into the places from whence it came.  
By this discourse Zumel found that the Mine had taken vent, and spent no more time in maintaining, that the Articles in question were not novel. He turned the affair another way; and only told Chieures, that if the thing were rightly taken, neither he nor his Nephew were any way concerned in it: That a long while ago their Letters of Naturalisation had passed in Castille, and that his great places of high Chamberlain, high Treasurer, Steward of the King's House, and Head of the Council, were in no danger, no more than the Archbishopric of Toledo, to which his Nephew was provided: That Castille being for the future to be the Centre of the Monarchy of the house of Austria, it were fit that it should have some privilege more than the other Dominions, which in respect of it would only be looked upon as Provinces; and that it desired no other, but that the Native castilians might be assured of their Offices, Benefices, their Gold and Silver, and the wealth that might come to them from the Indies.  
Chieures could not endure the opinion that the Spaniards had of him, as if interest were capable to sway him. He cunningly replied to Zumel, that he well knew, that neither he nor his Nephew had any way solicited for the Letters of Naturalisation whereof he spoke, and that they had been sent to him before ever it had entered his thoughts to sue for them: That he thought it not proper to slight them, seeing they gave him an opportunity of serving his Master in Spain with the same privileges that he had served him in Flanders; but that he valued them not so much as to prefer them before the interests of his Catholic Majesty, whom they would so far debase, as to impose upon him Articles to be sworn to, which they never durst have offered to the Kings his Predecessors, even when they were no more but barely Kings of Castille: That if his word might be taken, the Catholic King would let them see that he was the most powerful Monarch of Europe; and that if till than he could be very well without them, he could for the future make them comply with their duty.  
Zumel being convinced by so smart and firm a reply, that he had driven Chieures too far, essayed to soften him again, and prayed him to find out an expedient, which on the one hand might not too much choke the castilians, and on the other should not too far engage the Catholic King; and Chieures having well considered on't, proposed one which was accepted. It was that the Estates of Castille should indeed present Articles to be signed by the King, wherein the two in debate should be inserted, but that his Catholic Majesty should only swear in general, to observe them in the manner that his Predecessors had been obliged to it. The Oath was taken on both parts with this qualification; and so soon as the Estates were dismissed, on the Seventh of February, one thousand five hundred and eighteen, Chieures advised the King, that then was the juncture for sending the Infanto Ferdinand his only Brother into the Low-Countries, and from thence into Germany; and that if he delayed it longer, it would be far more difficult for him to be acknowledged King by the Arragonese, it being the humour of that people to have a great respect for the Princes of the Royal Family, when they were present, and easily forget them when absent. The Fleet for transporting him was ready; and the Catholic King having visited the Infanto at ARanda, and kept him sometime at Court, told him, that it was absolutely necessary for the grandeur of their Family, that he should go to the Emperor their Grandfather, who, according to the opinion of Physicians, could not live above a year longer: That the presence of his Catholic Majesty in Spain was necessary for two or three years at least; and that if neither of the two of the Grandsons of his Imperial Majesty were with him at his death, it was to be feared that the Germans might not choose one of them for his Successor; and if the house of Austria lost the Empire, it could not long preserve the Hereditary Provinces belonging to it: That besides, it was incomparably more proper that the Infanto should be then in Germany, than that the Catholic King should; seeing his Majesty being resolved to give him these Provinces for his share, the Electors who would look upon him as a Prince of Germany, would prefer him before his Majesty, who possessing nothing longer amongst them, would be a stranger as to them, and would make them jealous, because of the greatness of his power.  
The Infanto listened not to this discourse with that submission which the Historians of Spain attribute unto him. He complained of the inhumanity that was used towards him: He affirmed that it came near to that of the Ottoman Emperors in regard of their younger Brothers: He upbraided his elder Brother, that having taken from him the Crowns of Spain, he would also deprive him of the only comfort that could remain to him, which was the hopes of succeeding to him one time or other: He seemed to slight the share that was proposed to him: He exaggerated the disproportion, or to say better, the prodigious difference betwixt the allowance of the Hereditary Provinces, and the lot of Spain and the Low-Countries; protesting against the violence that was done to him, and threatening upon the first occasion to resent it: But all the notice that was taken of him, was to let him safely discharge his Choler. There was no other answer made to him, but that he must obey; and that if he stayed till he were by force sent out of Spain, he would expose himself to the danger of obtaining neither the Hereditary Provinces, nor any thing else for his share.  
None dread poverty so much, as they who being upon the point of possessing vast Estates, are disappointed of them by sudden and unexpected accidents; because their distracted imagination never fails to represent to them, that the state wherein they are, is not so far distant from misery, as the mediocrity which they enjoy is from the plentifulness they thought themselves sure of. The Infanto, before he was fourteen years of Age, saw himself within a step of the Crown of Spain: He had fallen from his so well-grounded hopes by a mere trick of two or three Ministers of State with the Catholic King his Grandfather: In lieu of that he was offered the Hereditary Provinces, with hopes of marrying the Princess of Hungary. The establishment was far inferior to that wherewith he had been so long flattered; but after all, it was better to have that, such as it was, than to have nothing at all; and in that consideration only the Infanto submitted to his Brother's pleasure in such a manner, as nothing appeared outwardly of the constraint he felt within.  
Seeing the Spanish Servants, 
In the Voyage of the Infanto.  whom he might have carried with him into Germany, would not have been well received there, and that they could not easily have complied with the customs of the Country, he was obliged to admit of another change in his Family, and to accept of Flemish and Germane Servants. The Count of Buce, a near kinsman to Chieures, had the chief place in it, and the rest were only conferred upon those whom he thought most deserving. The Infanto sailed to Flanders with a fair wind, and stayed but a short while there. He hastened to the Imperial Court, where, as we shall see in the sequel of this History, he found the same fortune, that he had met with in Spain.  
Leonora of Austria, his eldest Sister was already marriageable; and the Catholic King, who had carried her with him from Flanders, thought of disposing of her in marriage. She was beautiful, and would bring with her into the House wherein she should Marry, the hopes of succeeding to all the Dominions of the Monarchy of Spain, failing her two Brothers. Margaret of Austria, her Aunt, had taken the care of her Education, and had inspired into her such early resolutions of sacrificing herself for the interests of her Family, as stuck to her so long as she lived. The Catholic King, her elder Brother, had no ready money to give her: Nevertheless in one and the same Family she had two Lovers that deserved her, who offered to take her without putting her Brother to any trouble for a Portion. We have taken notice before, that Manuel King of Portugal Espoused in first marriage his Nephew's Widow, eldest Sister to the Mother of the Catholic King, by whom he had a Son, who if he had lived, would have put by the Catholic King from the successions of Castille and Arragon. But the Mother dying of her first Child, and the Child not surviving her above two years, Manuel for his second Wife married the Sister of his former, younger than the Catholic Kings Mother, by whom he had five Sons and four Daughters. She also had left him a Widower at the Age of forty nine years; and seeing he was not of the humour to spend the rest of his life in Widowhood, he courted for a third Wife the elder Sister of the Catholic King, and Niece to his two former Wives: But he was rivalled by his own eldest Son John Infanto of Portugal, who pretended to the Infanta Leonora upon better ground, as being of the same Age with her. So that the Catholic King was to choose Father or Son, which he pleased; and Chieures inclined him in favour of the Father, by representing to him, that if he took the Infanto of Portugal for his Brother-in-law, he could draw no assistance from him when he stood in need of it for canvasing for the Empire; it being the custom of Portugal that the eldest Sons of the Kings had no more subsistence but their Father's Table, with a small Pension, until the Law of Nature and of the State called them to the Crown. That in the mean time they eaten with their Fathers; their Servants of whom they had but a small number, were paid with the Kings; and that they received for  and their small pleasures but about a thousand Crowns a month: Whereas Manuel being the King of Europe that had most money, and having been governed by his two former Wives, he would give the third no less dominion over him; and would not have the power to refuse her when she should desire him to lend the King her Brother the vast sums of money that he would stand in need of, for disposing the more scrupulous Electors to give him their Voices.  
The Catholic King being prevailed upon by that Argument, employed Chieures to persuade the Infanta his Sister to prefer the Father before the Son, and Chieures for completing what he had begun, had no more to do, but to take the Infanta by her weak side, which was ambition. He represented to her that Manuel, 
Amongst the Pictures of Portugal.  who had always been reckoned the handsomest Monarch of his Age, had not as yet lost any of his personal Charms: That few men of his Age matched him in vigour: That he had all the signs of a long life, and by consequence the Prince of Portugal must wait long before he could come to the Crown: That the Princess that should marry him would be in danger of never being Queen; whereas she that married his Father, would be sure of it the first day.  
The Infanta Leonora was of the Age wherein Maids are only taken with what glisters to their Eyes: She considered nothing but the outside of Royalty, was charmed with it, and fancied that she could not too soon be a Queen. So she willingly fell into the snare that Chievres ●aid for her, and consented to marry Manuel. She was not long left in that inclination without giving her satisfaction, for fear she might change her mind; and she was Crowned the same day she was married by Proxy, though it was still the custom to delay such Ceremonies till the Marriage were in effect consummated.  
The Catholic King being thus discharged of his Brother and elder Sister, went merrily into Arragon, where he found a fresh the usefulness of the Council that Chieures had given him, of removing with all expedition, and by all means, the Infanto Ferdinand out of Spain. The Estates of Arragon assembled at Sarragossa, in the Palace of the Archbishop, made greater difficulty of acknowledging the Catholic King for their King during the life of the Queen his Mother, than the Estates of Castille had done. They demanded in the first place, that they might be allowed to give their Oath at the same time to the Infanto Ferdinand, as presumptive Heir of their Monarchy; and it was the more positively refused them, that it was seen that they thereby sought a pretext of revolting when they pleased, by refusing to put in execution afterwards the Orders of the Catholic King, that might in the least seem uneasy to them, upon the only account that the concurrence of the Infanto might be wanting to them.  
The Estates solicited that Article with so much zeal, as made it visible, that they would never have yielded in it, had that young Prince been still in Spain: And the truth is, they yielded not till it was slily insinuated to them, that their efforts were so far from recalling the Infanto back into Spain, that they would hinder him from ever setting foot there again, as it happened.  
The second proposition which they added to the former, had no better reception. They condescended to acknowledge the Catholic King; but they pretended it should be as Guardian and Administrator of the Estates of his Mother, during her infirmity, and not in quality of King. It was easy to be seen, that their design was to Reign amongst themselves during the life of the Queen, and the Grandees of Castille, who had in honour to the Catholic King waited on him to Sarragossa, were so scandalised at it, that some of them went to words about it with the Deputies of Arragon, and raised quarrels, which occasioned bloodshed: But at length Chieures appeased them; and the Catholic King was acknowledged for Monarch of Arragon, without any other condition but that of confirming the privileges of the Country, as he had been acknowledged in Castille. The ceremony of it was performed in the beginning of May, one thousand five hundred and eighteen, and six weeks after Chieures had much ado to ward the reverse blow of the Infantoes travels into Germany; so hard a thing it is in Politics to give good counsels in one sense, which are not bad in another.  
The Infanto Ferdinand being come to the Emperor Maximilian his Grandfather to Vienna in Austria, moved him with pity at his misery, and affected him with the same sentiments that Ferdinand the Catholic had heretofore had for him. His Imperial Majesty resolved to make over to him the Territories which the house of Austria possessed in Germany, and to assure to him the Succession to the Empire. He needed the consent of the Catholic King for putting in execution the first of these projects, but not of the second, and that made him delay the one, that he might mind the other.  
The Diet was summoned at Ausbourg, against the end of the year one thousand five hundred and eighteen, and there was not much opposition expected to be made in it by the Electors of the Empire: For though Ferdinand was born in Spain, 
In the instruction of the Infanto.  it was not to be doubted, but that he would become German by the necessity to which his Brother would be reduced, of abandoning to him the Hereditary Provinces of the house of Austria in Germany for supporting the Imperial Dignity, if the Infanto were promoted to it: But the friends whom Chieures had made in the Empire, gave him timely enough notice of what was hatching to the prejudice of the Catholic King, for him to discompose the measures of it.  
The Relations agree not about the person, who was employed to Negotiate with Maximilian on the part of his Catholic Majesty, to persuade him to change his inclinations. The Spaniards name the Cardinal of Trent, and the Flemings choose rather to attribute it to the Cardinal of Zion: But to which soever of these two Prelates the instruction was addressed, it is certain Chioures framed it, and gave the reasons of it the full extent, of which this is the sum. He alleged that the Emperor was sufficiently convinced of the designs of the house of Austria, since the establishment thereof in the Low-Countries and Spain, not to attempt any thing that might in the least obstruct them; and he was only prayed to observe, that it was altogether necessary for the accomplishing of them, that the whole power of that House should be united in one single person. That the Catholic King was already so considerable, by the prodigious number, and vast extent of his Dominions, that he wanted nothing but the Empire to set him above all other Christian Princes, and by consequence to give them the Law when he thought fit to do it: Whereas if the Empire escaped him, the most Christian King Francis the First, would be his equal, and the counter-balance of France would keep him so long as he lived from making himself greater. That his Imperial Majesty had before his Eyes an example which he was the more obliged to imitate, that he was incomparably more concerned in it than he that gave it. That it was so much the less necessary for Ferdinand the Catholic to choose for his Successor the eldest of his Grandsons, that his Family, which was that of Arragon, ended in him, and the eldest of his Grandsons was also less able to restore it than the younger; and besides, he had brought up the younger, and had never seen the elder. Nevertheless he had preferred the elder before the younger upon no other consideration, but that Spain would thereby become more powerful; and that so Maximilian ought the more indispensably to stick to the preference of the Catholic King for the Empire, that he would be revived more gloriously in him than in the person of Ferdinand, and that his name and Arms would then more effectually be employed for the ruin of Infidels.  
Maximilian, who had all his life long been inconstant, as hath been already observed, was so still in the last of his most important actions; and was so after his own way, that is to say, in a very odd and whimsical manner. He was born with qualities both of body and mind quite contrary to those of Ferdinand the Catholic: He had a strange Antipathy to him; and it was enough heretofore to have taken him off of any action, to tell him that Ferdinand had done so: Nevertheless the example which for a long time he had abominated, seemed charming to him now; and he affected to imitate him when dead, whom he detested whilst alive. He was not satisfied only to renounce the design he had of advancing the younger of his Grandsons to the Empire: But farther, it is the opinion of the Spaniards, that he would have procured the dignity of King of the Romans for the elder, if Cardinal Cajetan, Pope Leo the Tenths Legate in Germany had not opposed it by orders from his Holiness, who had discovered the intriegue, and enjoined his Minister to cross it.  
Chieures lost no time during the six months that Maximilian lived after the Diet of Ausbourg. He supplied him with money, to the end he might entertain him in favourable dispositions towards the Catholic King; and so skilfully made his advantage of the extraordinary passion that Manuel King of Portugal had for his third Wife, that he drew from him two hundred thousand Crowns, which was sufficient to buy the Empire, so well that money was employed. The discontents of the Cardinal de la Mark, Bishop of Liege, and of Colonel Seguinguen, had alienated them from the King of France. The business was to engage them in the interests of the King o● Spain, and Chieures succeeded in it more easily than he thought he could: But he had a very hard work on't, to dispose● those two able Negotiators jointly to manage the affair which he absolutely referred to them. Either of them singly thought himself able enough by his own credit to raise the Catholic King to the Throne of the Empire, and by consequence would not in that particular admit, either of a superior or partner. Nevertheless Chieures was persuaded, that the Catholic King could not have too much of the intrigues of the Cardinal and Colonel for obtaining the Dignity he canvassed for, and the event made it appear, that he was not mistaken. He laboured long to oblige them to communicate to one another the measures that they had already taken, and those which they should take for the future; and he had hardly surmounted the difficulties that he found in it, when Maximilian died, about the beginning of the year one thousand five hundred and nineteen. The Kings of France and Spain pretended ●o the Empire, and the latter carried it, because the Faction which Chieures had ●ormed in the Electoral College was more early begun, and by consequence stronger than that which Bonnivet the favourite of Francis the First had made afterwards.  
This is not a place to speak more large●… of the Election of the Catholic King, which was performed at Franckfort the twentieth of June, one thousand five hundred and nineteen, because Chieures, who was above three hundred Leagues from it, contributed nothing thereunto, but in the manner just now described. But he acted directly, and by himself in the two following Negotiations, which he thought aught to precede his Majesty's Voyage into Germany for receiving the Imperial Crown, and certainly they were absolutely necessary for keeping peace in Spain during his absence: The one was the marriage of Queen Germana, and the other the Treaty of Montpellier.  
Queen Germana was weary of her Widowhood, and had openly declared, that she would not spend her life in that condition. She was neither now beautiful, nor young enough to hope to find a Husband of the quality of the former, and she would have been satisfied with a Prince: But there were none in Spain, and besides, the Catholic King would not have suffered her to take one in France. Marquis George of Brandenbourg, Brother to that Elector, and the Elector of Mayence had courted her in the usual form; but she refused him, because that Prince being a younger Brother, and by consequence poor, could not have maintained a quarter of the Train she had, and besides, she dreaded the rigour of the Germane Climate, having been brought up in the mild Climates of Guyenne and Spain. No other Lover presented and in all probability she had died a Widow, if Chieures had not persuaded the Catholic King to give her a Husband, who thought as little of being her Husband, as she thought of being his Wife.  
It was already eighteen years since the unfortunate Ferdinand of Arragon, Duke of Calabria, only Son and Heir of the last King of Naples, of the bastard branch of Arragon, had been detained in Spain in a kind of Prison, which, though it was gentile, was nevertheless strict enough. They who had deprived him of his Crown and liberty, so carefully observed his person and actions, that he would not have failed of being shut up close, upon the first sign he gave, that he remembered the condition wherein God was pleased to send him into the world. It is not clear whether his long abode in Spain, under the constraint he was kept, had cowed his Spirit; or that knowing the temper of the Spaniards, who watched him, he acted in all things with so great circumspection, that nothing escaped him that could give them the least suspicion: But it is certain, that he had all along carried himself like a man, who had wholly forgot what he was, and minded nothing but to satisfy himself in two things; the one never to engage in any affair that was in the least troublesome and perplexing; and the other to take his pleasure as often as ever he found occasion for it. Chieures, who perceived him too much taken up in an easy and soft way of living, to fear that he would change his course, was of the opinion, that he should be married to Queen Germana. His reasons were, that they would make the best matched couple in Spain; and that the Queen would be so far from taking the Duke off of his pleasures, that she would engage him more deeply in them: That she would spare the public the charges of Spies about him; and that he might safely be left upon his word, if once he had such a Wife: That they would live together free from cares; and that neither of them would ever think of troubling the public peace, provided their Pensions for life, on which they subsisted, and which were all their Revenues, were duly paid them: That it was thought strange all over Europe, that Ferdinand the Catholic, and Cardinal Ximenes should have obliged the Duke, whether he would or not, to lead a single life; and that for avoiding the same reproach, he ought to give him a Wife, by whom there was no fear that he would have any Children.  
The Catholic King approved the proposition, and Chieures had orders from his Majesty to move it to the parties: The Duke was ravished at it, and the Queen seemed only to scruple the matter, for fear of losing her rank: But that was removed, by assuring her she should not; and the expedient that was used for that end was, that the Catholic King was at the wedding, and after the celebration of it, called Queen Germana Mother, as he did before. The Courtiers durst not but imitate their King; and Germana thought herself so much obliged for it to Chieures, that she preferred him before all her kindred in a particular case too rare to be forgotten.  
She had an Estate in France: And did ●ot think that Francis the First would ●ive her leave to dispose of it at her plea●re, since she had married the Duke of ●alabria, without acquainting his most Christian Majesty with it; so she made it over to Chieures, by a free donation, upon this supposition, that none at the Court of Spain deserved it better than he; and that if the King of France would condescend in favours of any stranger, it would certainly be in favour of him.  
The End of the Fifth Book.   

BOOK VI Containing the most remarkable Affairs that past in Europe, during the Year One Thousand Five Hundred and Twenty, and part of the Year One Thousand Five Hundred and Twenty One.  
THOUGH the Kings of France and Spain, who stood Candidates for the Empire, in their competition transgressed not the terms of civility; it was nevertheless to be seared, that it would breed ill blood, and sow the seeds of enmity betwixt Francis the First and Charles the Fifth, which might last as long as themselves; and trouble the repose of Europe, at least during the life of one of the two, if they descended not to their posterity. Francis, by being baffled in his pretensions, received the rudest check of Fortune that could befall him; and what care soever he took, both in his actions, and by Letters to his Ambassadors in Courts abroad to disguise it, 
In the Letters of Francis I. in 1519.  it was nevertheless discernible, that it would not be long before he measured the length of Swords with his Competitor, for no other reason than that he had been more fortunate than himself.  
The truth is, Charles had not the same causes of discontent, but he had others of jealousy, that no less animated him to the ruin of Francis. He wanted nothing now at Nineteen years of Age, but Reputation, and his design was to acquire it. He could not do it, by declaring War against Solyman Emperor of the Turks: For besides, that he must have absolutely left residing in Spain, and fixed his settled abode in Germany, to which the Spaniards would never have consented, it was to be feared, that the most Christian King and Henry d' Albert might have recovered from him the Kingdoms of Naples and Navarre, when they saw him engaged with the Infidels.  
It was then more difficult for the Emperor to refrain from exercising his Warlike disposition against France; and that Prince was the more inclinable to it, that he expected a more easy success therein; seeing if good fortune wherewith he flattered himself proved so favourable to him, as to bring France under his subjection, it would have been nothing to him to conquer the rest of Christendom, and afterward the Turks: Whereas beginning with the Turks, he would give the French leisure to render themselves so powerful, that it would be in vain for him to attack them thereafter.  
Gouffier and Chieures were the two who knew the inclinations of Francis and Charles, the best. They were too sharp-sighted not to foresee the effects thereof in their full extent, and too religious not to use their endeavours to prevent them. And, indeed, they procured from their Master's unlimited Commissions, not only to maintain them in good correspondence concerning the differences that were betwixt them about Naples and Navarre, but also to prevent all causes of misunderstanding, which the change of time and the malice of men might for the future raise to disturb their friendship. They met in the Town of Montpellier in Languedock, in the beginning of Autumn, one thousand five hundred and nineteen; and it is not doubted, but that they would have concluded a Peace of long duration betwixt the two Monarchies, if God, who thought fit to chastise the French by the Spaniards, and the Spaniards by the French, had not broken up the Negotiation by the death of Gousfier. The Spanish writers, who here do double their calumnies against the memory of Chieures, have not been sensible that they wronged themselves more than him. They blame him in the first place, for having accepted a French Town for the interview, and for not having stood upon it, that the Conferences should be held upon the Frontiers of the two Kingdoms: But it is easy to answer them, that a neutral place had been good, if there had been open War betwixt the two Crowns. But seeing at that time they were in Peace, and that a rapture betwixt them was only to be feared for the future, it was not the custom to use any caution for the place of the Assembly; and though it had been, the question was decided in the preceding Negotiation. The same Plenipotentiaries met in the Town of Noyon in Picardy, for the same reason that obliged Henry the Fourth of Castille to pass the River Bidasloa, and Treat in Guyenne with Lovis the Eleventh of France, that is to say, by reason of the preeminence of the French Monarchy, before that of Spain, and nothing had supervened since that which exempted Gouffier and Chieures from that rule: For Charles was only Emperor Elect, and not Crowned; and though he had, the Imperial Dignity hindering not, but that he held the Counties of Flanders, Artois, and Charolois, in Fee of the most Christian King, the least thing he owed to his Lord superior was, to send his Plenipotentiary into his Country.  
The same writers in the second place, accuse Chieures of having imprudently trusted himself in a Town of Languedock, where he was not in full liberty to Negotiate as was necessary: But they mention not that Chieures could not take more security than he did; and that it was so far from being violated, that the Bishop of Badajox and Doctor Carvajal, who seconded him in the Negotiation of Montpellier, never complained of it. Lastly, they find fault in the third place, that Chieures put himself in danger of being stopped, when the Conferences ended, by the death of Gouffier; and their blindness in that particular is the more ridiculous, that they see not that the fault which they impute to Chieures reflects upon Charles the Fifth, who twenty years after put himself into the hands of Francis the First, by crossing over all France upon the word of that Prince, upon no other motive, but the appeasing of the tumult of Ghent.  
What the same writers add, that Chieures had been Arrested in Montpellier if he had not left it at the very instant that he heard of the death of Gouffier, and escaped with all diligence to Roussillon, is no truer than the rest: For it appears by the Journal of the Conferences, written by the Secretary Robertet, who was present at them, that Chieures stayed in Montpellier some days after the death of Gouffier; that he paid his last duties to his friend: That he did not break up the Conferences, but because the power of concluding for France was committed solely to Gouffier, who was dead; and that before he departed he took leave of Poucher, Bishop of Orleans, Robertet and the rest of the French who were concerned in the Treaty of Montpellier, as Subaltern Ministers.  
He had one cause to regret the death of Gouffier, which he had not foreseen; and which all the advantages that Charles obtained afterwards over France, were not able to repair. Gouffier promised Chieures to procure for him from the most Christian King, peaceable possession of the Estate of Gaston de Foix, which Queen Germana had made over to him; and the thing had infallibly been accomplished after the separation of the Plenipotentiaries, and the signing of the Articles. But these well-grounded hopes so totally evanished by the death of Gouffier, that whatever Chieures could do afterward, the Estate that Gaston had possessed, was given to his three Cousin-germen by the Father's side, Lautrec, Asparant, and the Marshal de Foix, without any recompense made to the Heirs of Chieures.  
The unsuccessfulness of the Negotiation of Montpellier obliged the Catholic King to use as great caution before he departed out of Spain, as if the French had already declared War against him. He appointed a whole Army for the Guard of the Pyrenees, and hastened his Voyage for Germany, that he might engage in his interests Henry the Eight his Uncle, by touching at England. He durst not leave a Grandee of Spain to govern the Country in his absence, for the same reasons which diverted his Grandfather upon his deathbed from choosing one of them; and seeing he had occasion to make use of Chieures in England and Germany, whither he was going, and that he had already, as hath been said, cast his eyes upon the Cardinal of Tortosa, for discharging that office in conjunction with Ximenes, he thought it his best to continue him both in gratitude and civility. He had no regard in that particular to the Remonstrances which were made to him thereupon by the castilians on the one hand, and the Arragonese on the other, when he assembled them with design to bid them farewell; and the Agents whom he entertained at the Court of England, having given him advice, that Henry the Eight would be at Calais the first of June, one thousand five hundred and twenty, for an interview with Francis the First, near the Town of Ardres, he apprehended, and not without reason, that these two Monarches might unite against him. In that case England would have cast the balance to the side of France, and upon the account only to take the King of England off of that, he hastened his departure out of Spain. He embarked in the Port of Corugna, the twentieth of May, and was so happy as to make his Voyage into England with so much expedition, as was necessary to break the most Christian Kings measures with Wolsey, Cardinal of York, the Favourite of Henry. A favourable Wind in six days time brought him in the very nick to Dover, where he found the Court of England making ready to go over into France. He conferred two whole days with Henry, none being present but Chieures and the Cardinal of York, the two chief Ministers of the two Princes; and the effects of extraordinary civilities in interviews appeared as much in that rencontre as ever. It seemed that the Catholic King had forgot that he was chosen Emperor, so respectful he was to his English Majesty; and his complaisance condescended so far, as to call the Cardinal of York Father, though he was not ignorant that that Prelate was a Butchers Son.  
Chieures, who had taught him the art of insinuating into the affections of men, seconded him so well; that if the Court of England could with honour not have gone over to Calais, it would have immediately returned to London. But matters being now too far advanced; and the Court of France being already in the Frontiers of Picardy, the Emperor was satisfied with the promise that the King of England his Uncle gave him, not to conclude any thing to his disadvantage at Ardres, whither he was going to confer with the most Christian King, and afterwards to grant his Imperial Majesty a second interview, wherein an Offensive and Defensive League betwixt Spain and England should be Negotiated. The promise was fulfilled in its whole extent: The Conferences of Ardres ended; and no new engagement entered into by the English with France: Henry received a second visit from the Emperor, so soon as he had dispatched his affairs in Germany; 
In the Treaties betwixt Charles the Fifth and Henry the Eight.  and Chieures so effectually persuaded his Majesty of England, that it was his interest to have the French driven out of Italy, that he promised in writing to contribute to it.  
The fruit that Spain reaped from that, was the conquest of the Duchy of Milan: But Chieures, who lived not to see it, lived long enough to see himself leveled at by the castilians and Arragonese, in the strangest manner that a Subject could be, without falling. It hath been already observed, that the Spaniards could not endure that he should be Precedent of their Council and their Treasurer; and that it was chief to deprive him of those two Offices, that they attempted to frustrate strangers of the Dignities and Benefices of Spain. The Emperor had taken so little notice of it, that they were offended thereat; and seeing his Voyage into Germany, in their opinion, furnished a singular occasion of snatching from his Imperial Majesty by force, what he would not grant them by fair means, they engaged into a revolt for the space of two years, by the following degrees.  
The great men of the Country, by their Emissaries and Agents, disposed the Burghers and Country people of Castille, first to complain in secret, and then openly, that their Laws were violated, and no regard had to their privileges: That in less than three years' time the Flemings had plundered Spain, and transmitted into their Country so much robbed and stolen money, as amounted to the sum of six millions of Livres: That no Office nor Benefice escaped them, seeing if either the one or other were convenient for them, they appropriated them; and if they were not, they procured grants of them for such of the Native Spaniards as offered them most money: That hitherto it had been suffered, not only out of the reverence that they had for the Catholic King, but also because they believed, that his Majesty would condescend to the prayers, and be moved with the Remonstrances of his most humble Subjects, who begged him to deliver them from those Leeches: But now that he was gone to Germany, and had abandoned the Spaniards to the mercy of the same Flemings, notwithstanding the infinite number of Petitions that had been presented to him to the contrary; there was no other remedy for the evils which Spain actually suffered, and for those wherewith it was threatened, but that the Spaniards themselves should put in execution, during the absence of their King, what could not justly be denied them, that is to say, by their own Forces to recover their ancient Liberties.  
The Burghers of the Towns of Andalusia moved at these discourses, were the first that mutinied, and in less than a fortnight's time, the revolt was propagated in the other Kingdoms of Spain. They refused to receive the Orders of the Cardinal of Tortosa, and the City of Segovia had the boldness to declare against them. The Cardinal thinking to quiet the Sedition, by dividing the power that had been given him, with Native Spaniards, shared it first with the Constable, and afterwards with the Admiral of Castille: But the Seditious, who had now obtained part of what they demanded, without drawing a Sword, abused the easiness of the Cardinal, and pressed him with greater heat than before to be gone out of Spain, and to carry with him all the Flemings who were there.  
That instance was too audacious to be suffered; and the Spaniards, whom the Emperor had left to be Counsellors to the Cardinal, thought it ought to be exemplarily punished; and that the commission for doing it ought to be given to the boldest and severest Provost of Spain, who was the Aclayde Ronchillo. Upon that advice the Cardinal gave him Troops, and commanded him to reduce the Segovians to their duty. Ronchillo put it in execution the more punctually, that the Order which he had received agreed best with his temper. He marched straight to Segovia, commanded the Burghers in a haughty manner to open the Gates to him; threatened them with utmost extremity if they delayed a moment; took the desire of some hours to deliberate in, which they made to him, as a premeditated refusal; instantly began the Judiciary procedures prescribed by the Laws of Castille in such cases; hastened the conclusion of them; and had no sooner finished his verbal Processes, but that he executed the Cardinal's Orders more like a common Executioner than a Commissary. He fell to burning, demolishing, oppressing, kill, and desolating in all the Territory of Segovia.  
The Burghers of Toledo, who waited only for a plausible pretext for an Insurrection, took that of the Military executions which were practised in their neighbourhood; and went out to put a stop to them, with the greater licentiousness, that as yet they had not a head, their young Archbishop being gone with the Emperor. They met Rouchillo when the Officers were in a negligent posture, not apprehending that they had any to fight with, but those whom they securely abused: They defeat him; returned back in triumph within their walls; and that first advantage was enough to engage into a public Rebellion the Towns of Burgos, Vailladolid, Salamanca, Avila, Zamorra, Leon, and Toro. The Great men, who had Estates in their Territories, followed their example; and the Cardinal of Tortosa, who had chosen Vailladolid for the place of his ordinary residence, and for the sitting of the Council that was left with him, not being able to hinder the Town from confederating with the rest, thought he could not with honour continue there. He pretended to yield to the entreaties of Pedro Giron, and John de Padilla, who came to wait on him in name of the Inhabitants, to assure him that he might stay in the house where he was: That neither he nor his Servants should suffer any prejudice: That they were persuaded of his innocence; and that they had nothing to say against him; but he gained a Priest, who made his escape out of Vailladolid, through a hole which he made in the walls that were nearest to his Garden.  
After he was gone, they cared not for detaining those of his Council; and they only narrowly observed the famous Vargas, to whom the Seditious imputed the cause of their calamities, because he had been one of the three who had persuaded Ferdinand the Catholic to recall his first Testament made in favours of the Infanto. It is not known whether it was the design of the Burghers of Vailladolid only, to make sure of the person of Vargas, to keep him for an exchange, in case one of the Lords, who had declared for them, should be taken; or that they delayed his punishment until the meeting of the Estates, which they intended should speedily be called: But it is certain, that Vargas impatient of living in so dangerous an uncertainty, seasonably bethought himself, that one of the first Commissions which heretofore he had had from Queen Isabelle, was to cause a Sink or common-Sewer in Vailladolid to be scoured. He had observed that the common-Sewer had been formerly an Aqueduct; and that there was room enough for the passage of the Conduit-maker, who had the care of the Waters, when he went to visit them. Vargas concluded from thence, that perhaps it would not be impossible for him to make his escape through that passage; and he caused a trial to be made by one of his skilfullest Servants, who having fortunately gone through, entered it again with him, and assisted him in passing it.  
The revolted Towns set up a kind of Republic among themselves, which gave but too much cause to judge, that they would not so soon lay down their Arms. In Avila they established a Council, much like to that which hath been since settled in the Low-Countries. Each of them sent thither a Deputy with a sufficient power: The high Nobility were invited to be there in person, or to send some in their name: The Lords who had espoused the party, retained their rank; and the others were proceeded against according to the forms of the Spanish Law. They were cited to come and take their places in the Assembly, which was not called, but only for the defence of the Laws and Liberty of the Country: Their failing to appear passed for a formal refuse: Thereupon they were proceeded against, and condemned as Traitors to their Country. So the Rector of Segovia was hanged betwixt two Lords, for having dared to say, that he owned not the Assembly for lawful. The house of Pedro Poncio, in the same Town of Avila, was razed to the Foundation, because he had left it, that he might not be constrained to sign the union. For the same reason the Constable of Castille, and the Count of Alva, lost all the Furniture they had in the City of Burgos; and the Family of Guevara was upon the point of being extirpated, because they would have deliberated, whether or not they should accept the Commissions that were given them by the Seditious.  
It was of extreme importance for the Rebels to have the Town of Medina del Campo, and chance contributed more than they to engage it into their interests. The Cardinal of Tortosa had need of Artillery, and the fairest in all Spain were in Medina. He sent Colonel Fonseca to fetch them away, and the Towns-people absolutely refused to part from them in the present juncture. Fonseca, who had not men enough to carry them away by force, used a stratagem. He caused the Town to be set on fire in several quarters, and especially where the richest Goods were, thinking that they who most withstood his design, would run to the putting out of the fire: But he was deceived in so probable a conjecture; and the Burghers of Medina chose rather to lose their most precious Goods, than to abandon their Artillery. What the fire consumed was of an inestimable value, and yet they prised it not so much, as to save it by dividing themselves. They stood to their Arms, as long as was necessary to make Fonseca be gone; and then when there was no more danger of him within, they divided themselves into two almost equal bodies, the one was employed for the guard of the walls, and the other run to put out the fire. Fonseca, who was not strong enough to besiege the Town, thought it enough to ravage the Country about; and when the Inhabitants saw themselves treated as Enemies, they entered into the confederacy so soon as the Rebels, to colour their cause, were gone to Tordesillas; where their design was not so much to raise Queen Jean to the Throne, as to Reign in her name, and to asperse their adversaries with the crime of High Treason. They presented themselves before that Princess in the posture of men, who were come expressly to set her at full liberty; and seeing we have already observed that her folly had not at all changed her in the matter of Ambition, she was so overjoyed to see herself treated as a Sovereign, that it hindered her from any extravagancies, so long as the Seditious were in her presence. She received John Padilla, who spoke to her in name of the rest, with the same haughtiness that she had heretofore seen Queen Isabelle her Mother receive the Deputies of Castille: She complained but transiently, that she had now been sixteen years kept prisoner: She imputed the evils wherewith Padilla told her Spain had been afflicted, to that horrible disloyalty of her Subjects: She sent Padilla and the other Deputies to consult with the Grandees about the means that might be taken to remedy them; and promised to approve if she found them just.  
They returned two or three days after with an Order which they had drawn up, for all the castilians and Arragonese to join in the union, and she signed it. Immediately they banished from her the Marquis of Degnia, who had been so long her Governor, and put in his place the most extravagant Guard that ever was. The Bishop of Zamorra was the most  of all the Conspirators, though he was already threescore years of Age. No man living was ever more unfit for the Ecclesiastical profession than he; for besides, that he was a Bastard-son of the Bishop of Burgos, a Gentleman of the house of Acugnia, he had no qualities, but what were Secular. He played and danced to admiration: He was equally good at all Military exercises: He led the most scandalous life in the world; and never uttered a word without Blasphemy: He had chosen out of his Diocese thirty or forty Priests fit to carry Arms, and had for a long time trained them up to them himself: He had rendered them the most accursed wretches of the party, by rendering them the best Soldiers in Spain; and it is reported of him, that he would have sound cudgeled them, if he had seen a Breviary in their hands.  
This Mitered Captain, and these irregular Soldiers were the Guard of Queen Jean, and out of mere maliciousness committed a thousand disorders, which she commanded them at the times when she was most besides herself. They made her write and sign wh●… 〈…〉 ●…ey pleased; and seeing the com●… 〈◊〉 ●ople of Spain idolised that Princess 〈◊〉 easily believed the Seditious, wh● persuaded them that she had, inde●…●mmediately after the death of her Husband been subject to some disorders of mind, occasioned by the extraordinary love that she had for him. But that she soon came to herself again, and notwithstanding she was still confined as before, by a piece of injustice, so much the more enormous, that her own Father, that he might Reign in Castille, was the Author of it. That Cardinal Ximenes had continued it, to keep himself from succumbing under the aversion of the Grandees; and that her Son persisted therein for the same reason, that his maternal Grandfather had done it: But that God, who had not bestowed the Catholic Queen upon Spain to remain always useless to them, had now set her at liberty, and that her good and faithful Subjects would quickly see the astonishing effects of her wisdom in governing them.  
The Cardinal of Tortosa gave the Emperor advice of all these particulars now related, as fast as they happened; and Chieures, who did not think them dangerous before the Rebels had seized the person of the Queen, was of another judgement, when he had intelligence sent him, that they were Masters of Tordesillas. He was of the opinion, that the Emperor should write to the Cardinal, Constable, and Admiral, by all means to compose the trouble, and to begin with mildness. If the Rebels were not reclaimed by that, they should next endeavour to divide them; and if they continued firm in their confederacy, they must, if possible, be fought in a pitched Battle, before they should take full measures for a long resistance. The three Governors punctually obeyed; and they made offer to the Spaniards, that for the future no Fleming should be preferred to any dignity Ecclesiastical or Secular in Spain, provided those who already had such should enjoy them during life. The proposition was not only rejected, but also called ridiculous; and the Rebels stood upon it so obstinately, that all the Flemings should forth with be banished, that now they excepted not Chieures as hitherto they had done, nor yet the Cardinal his Nephew. The Bishop of Zamorra aspired to the Archbishopric of Toledo; and there was not one of his listed Priests, who promised not to himself the first vacant Benefice in the same Church. So they had recourse to the second expedient which Chieures had proposed, if the first failed, and at first they addressed themselves to the Bishop of Zamorra. That Prelate told his mind without much ceremony; and assured them, that if he renounced the Union, it should only be to be Primate of Spain. But that had been a way to reward Rebellion too liberally; and it would have been a precedent of too dangerous consequence, especially in Spain, where the minds of the people being once set upon Rebellion, are not so easily taken off of it as in France.  
They made application in the second place to Padilla, who was as untractable as the Bishop of Zamorra. He was governed by his Wife, whose capricious impiety is too remarkable not to find a place in this History. She had need of money to send to her Husband, who commanded the Forces of the League; and the Purses of the Citizens of Toledo, where then she was, were drained, under pretext that Queen Jean would punctually pay those who had contributed their money for raising her to the Throne. The Plate of the Metropolitan Church was so well hid by the Treasurer, who had the care of it, that it had in vain been sought for in all places where it could be imagined it was. There was no way of putting that Churchman to the Rack, to make him confess where he had put that which was entrusted with him; for besides, that the privileges of his Dignity, and of his Church, protected him from that, the common people would not have suffered him to have been Racked. But the Shrines of Relics were not locked up, because it was thought that the San●ity of the Bones that were shut up in them, would be sufficient to keep them from being touched, especially seeing the Wife of Padilla affected an extraordinary devotion: But the good Lady having sometime considered what she had best do, thought she had found out a rare expedient, to adjust Sacrilege with Piety. She went straight to the Church, accompanied with the worst Churchmen of the Bishop of Zamorra, clothed in their Priestly Habits, and carrying in their hands lighted Torches. She fell upon her knees before the Relics; made a speech to them; prayed them with joined hands, not to take it ill that they were stripped of their Ornaments for a very short time; enlarged upon the reasons for so doing, and solemnly swore, one day to restore the double of what she was about to take. Afterwards she caused the Relics to be taken out of their Shrines, wrapped up in clean Linen, with Notes in writing, to show what Saints they belonged to, put up again into the presses after they had been censed, and having carried away the Shrines, turned them into money. It was no easy matter to reclaim a woman that was come to that excess; and Padilla, to whom she had been a Megaera, if he had dared to have listened to proposals of agreement without her, with her consent demanded the great Mastery of S. James, without which he must not renounce the confederacy. To this purpose he spoke to those who founded him in name of the Governors; and it was to no purpose to represent to him, that the Dignity which he desired was annexed to the Crown, not to be separated from it: That he knew not what he demanded: That his King would be jealous of him, so soon as he should be great Master; and that he would never quietly possess what he had obtained by the Sword. He continued notwithstanding so firm, that they were forced to try whether Pedro Giron might not be more tractable.  
They offered him ready money, and the erection of his Lands of Ossuna into a Duchy; but he made answer, that he was of too ancient a Family to be content with a new Duchy: That that of Medina Sidonia, the ancientest of Spain, belonged to him in right of his Mother: That he should not fail to be thankful to those who would put him in possession of it, but so long as he lived he would not lose his hopes of recovering it. They pressed him no more at that time to declare for the Emperor, because he went to lead the Rebel Army to the Siege of the Town of Medina de Riosecco, where the Army of the Governors, too weak to keep the Field, was retired. They began there to be in want of Provisions and Forage; and there needed no more, but to persist in intercepting their Convoys, to oblige them to render upon discretion, which would have occasioned the entire loss of Spain to the Emperor; but as he held it of a woman, who was his Mother, so it was preserved to him by another woman, the Countess of Medina.  
She was the near Kinswoman of Pedro Giron, and upon that pretext desired a Conference with him. Giron did not think he could civilly refuse the interview, and having consulted those of his party, granted it. The Countess represented to him, that all her Estate lay about Medina, and that the Army of the League would utterly ruin it, if they stayed a few days longer in the place where they were: That to prevent beggary, it had come into her mind to propose an accommodation, which she judged to be too reasonable not to be accepted: That the Town of Medina was no way considerable, but for the Army which defended it, and that it would always receive the Law from him who should be Master of the Field: That if the League had no other intention in seizing it, but to take from the contrary party a place of so small importance, the Town offered to submit to them, provided they would suffer those who had retreated thither to march out: That in the mean time they could not force them out; and that there was no instance of a Town defended by an Army of all old Soldiers, that ever was taken by Storm.  
Giron, who had not experience enough for the Generalship that he undertook, suffered himself to be overreached by the ambiguity that lay in the proposition of the Countess of Medina: For it is true, indeed, that Towns defended by Armies were not exposed to the danger of being lost, when these Armies found abundance of Provisions in them, or could have them from other places: But they were not so when the Armies were in want, and so straight blocked up, that they could neither enlarge their Quarters, nor receive Convoys, and nevertheless, that was exactly the case of the Imperial Forces in Medina. They neither had nor could make Magazines there for want of money: They were invested by the Army of the League, stronger by one half than they; they expected no relief; and Provisions and Forage being equally wanting, they must have been forced within a few days to render upon discretion.  
Nevertheless Giron looked upon the proposition of the Countess as most advantageous to his party. He spoke of it to the Bishop of Zamorra; who being no greater Captain than himself, was no less taken with it. These two got it to pass in the Council of War of the League, that the Confederate Army should draw off to Villalpando, provided the Imperialists marched out of Medina, and left it in its own possession, and that was the cause of their ruin; for the Imperialists so easily delivered from the danger that their weakness in number had put them into, made extraordinary good use of the neglect of their Enemy. They marched straight to the Town of Tordesillas, being persuaded, that if they could get the Queen out of the hands of the Rebels, they would deprive them of the best thing they had, and they proceeded with this circumspection, that they stopped and carried along with them all that they met upon the way. So they hindered the Rebels from having any intelligence of their design, which they might easily have disappointed if they had discovered it.  
The Garrison of the Town and Castle of Tordesillas consisted chief in the Bishop of Zamorras Priests, and in some of the Trained bands of the City of Vailladolid. They were in no preparation to maintain the assault that was made about break of day, the fifth of October, one thousand five hundred and twenty: Nevertheless it lasted from morning till night; and never was there before that any place attacked with greater heat, nor defended with more obstinacy than Tordesillas was, though it was one of the weakest places of Castille.  
The Count of Haro, an expert General, who commanded the Imperialists, perceiving his Infantry disheartened, because they had been thrice beaten back, made his Cavalry alight, and led them himself to the Assault. The Rebels startled not at all at it, and resisted with no less vigour nor order. A Priest, one of the best marks-men amongst them, had placed himself behind a Parapet, from whence he never miss any of the Assailants who clambered up on his side, when he saw them within distance to fire at them. He made the sign of the Cross upon them with the But of his Musket; and thereby pretended that he gave them the Absolution of their sins, and lessened one half, at least, of the crime he was about to commit: Then he took aim at them, and turned them down dead into the Ditch. In this manner he had killed eleven of the boldest Imperialists; but as he was performing his ridiculous ceremony towards the Twelfth, he received an Arrow-shot in the right Eye, of which he died, begging that the same favour might be done to him which he had done to others.  
About noon the Count of Haro despairing to carry the place at that part which he thought was the weakest, removed the Attack to the opposite side. His Infantry disdaining that the Horse should perform their duty, behaved themselves with greater eagerness, and in better order than before. Nevertheless both were beaten off till night, when a Navarrese Soldier of Cadaorra perceiving at the bottom of the Ditch a little door ill guarded, 
In the relation of the second taking of Fordesillas.  showed it to his Comrades, who helped him to break it open with Bars and Levers, and by it entered the Town.  
The respect which the Victorious owed to the presence of the Queen, having bragged that they were only come to deliver her out of the hands of Rebels, hindered neither the plundering of Tordesillas, nor the other cruelties that commonly attend it; and that Princess took no great exceptions at it, though on all hands she heard most dreadful noise, because care was taken not to divert her from her ordinary pastime, which was to pursue and run after Cats. In the mean time there was never a more sensible proof than at this time, that it is reputation which most frequently decides the quarrels in Civil Wars, as well as in Foreign: For the Spaniards, who strove who should first declare for the League, whilst they knew that their Queen was with the Confederates, no sooner came to understand that she was taken from them, but that they fell off in all places where they could safely do it.  
The example went even from the small to the great; and Pedro Giron publicly renounced the League upon a quarrel that he had with the Bishop of Zamorra, in which he obtained not that fatisfaction which he expected from the Council of the Party. His desertion quite broke the League, and there was hardly any doubt made on't, but that he had raised the Siege of Medina, with a design to betray those whom he forsook so soon afterward. They were confirmed in an opinion so disadvantageous to him, by the manner how the Emperor used him thereafter; when they perceived that his Majesty made rather a show of punishing him, than that he really did so; notwithstanding the constant and uniform practice of the Council of Spain, never to show favour to those who have been once engaged in a Rebellion. The truth is, he was afterwards suffered to live in his Country-houses, as if he had been confined to them, without allowing him liberty to come to Court, or enter into any Town, and that was all the severity used towards him. Colonel Lovis Bravo thought it not enough in imitation of Giron solemnly to renounce the League; but he went farther, and listed himself under the Emperor's Banner, becoming the greatest Enemy of the Faction, which he had had a hand in forming of.  
The Governors being convinced that the League began to decline, wisely concluded that an extraordinary effort, provided it were speedy, would be sufficient to ruin it, and in that prospect sent for the Forces that guarded Navarre. They got some also from the King of Portugal: And the high Nobility, who had continued Loyal, lent what money they had; so that at length, by so many different means, they set on foot an Army every way more considerable than that of the Confederates. The Count of Haro was still General, and marched with his Army straight against the Enemy, who refreshed themselves about Labaton. John de Padilla knowing that the Imperialists approached; and being informed by his Spies, that they were much stronger than he, thought it not fit to expect them in the post that he possessed. On the twenty third of April, one thousand five hundred and twenty one, he marched from thence in the morning, and with extraordinary diligence advanced towards Toro, a Town strong by situation, thinking that he might have refuge, and continue there until the considerable recruits that were coming to him from Vailladolid and Toledo, had obliged the Imperialists to divide their Forces, and send some to oppose them: But he was overtaken by that time he was got half way, and forced to face about. The Light Horsemen whom the Count of Haro sent after him, about noon came up with the Rear of the Rebels at Villanar, and stopped them there until the main Body of the Imperialists were arrived. Padilla, who stayed in the Rear the better to give Orders in case of necessity, caused his Artillery quickly to be advanced: But Maldonado, who commanded it, instead of obeying, mired it in a slough, out of which it was not possible to draw it, and fled to the Imperialists. Such an unexpected accident put Padilla, indeed, out of all hopes of victory, but it dampt not his resolution to defend himself to the last breath. At the head of his Rear he maintained the charge of the Imperialists, which was drawn up in one entire Body; being assured that if they broke the Body, which Padilla commanded in person, the other two would betake themselves to flight, as it happened. The Cannon of the Imperialists made the more terrible havoc, that the Enemy's Guns made no answer; and if they had given them but time to charge again, that alone would have been sufficient to defeat the Confederates. But the Imperialists were so furious, that they neglected it, nay, and covered their own Artillery; which made the Fight incomparably more bloody than it would have been, had not their courage so transported them. Padilla was not mistaken in his choice of those who fought about him. They fell in Rank and File; and so had he in company, but that he was discovered by the marks which he had taken to be distinguished by, when he gave his Orders to the Rebels. He was so particularly taken notice of by the first of the Enemies that engaged with him, that they took as much care to save his life, as he took to lose it: They environed, dismounted him, and seized his person; and delivered him to a Guard, who carried him to the next Castle, to the place where they Fought. The main Body and Van of his Army being informed that he was taken, made no defence: The Horse and Foot run for it by consent, and were pursued three Leagues and a half beyond Villanar. This was so complete a victory, that it utterly ruined the League: The leading men of it sell alive into the hands of the Imperialists, and were next day put to death without any form of Process; because the Council of Spain pretended that the crime was so evident, that there was no need neither of Accusers, Proofs, Evidence, nor Judges: 
In the relation of Nexia.  They were all beheaded, and Padilla, who had been their chief Commander, gave them an example of dying courageously.  
Seeing he knew the inexorable temper of his Countrymen, he neither demanded nor expected favour. He delayed not to prepare himself for death, till it was intimated to him; and he showed nothing that was singular in the last hours of his life, but that as he was going to suffer, having espied amongst the crowd of spectators the younger Brother of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, who made afterward the stem of the Counts of Olivarez, he called him to him; and prayed him to carry to Mary Pacheco of Mendosa his Wife, a Reliquary that he had as the last pledge of his Love, though he was not ignorant how she had treated the Relics of Toledo. That Lady abated nothing in her resolution of driving on the Rebellion as far as it could go, even when she saw her Husband dead, and her party ruined. She caused Padilla beheaded to be painted upon a pair of Colours; had them carried before her the first time she went abroad after the news of his Execution; carried in her arms a Son which she had by him in Swath-bands; and in this pitiful posture running up and down the Streets of Toledo, took the people off from the resolution of accepting, as Vailladolid and the other neighbouring Towns had done, the pardon that was offered them: She confirmed them in the Seditious sentiments that she had inspired into them, and kept them so almost a year; seeing it was not before the third of February, one thousand five hundred and twenty two, when the Imperialists having form a more powerful Faction than hers, by the means of Melinar, whom they had gained by the promise of a Cardinal's Hat, the Archbishopric of Barry, and the Bishopric of Songuetta, which he had afterwards, that Toledo all of a sudden returned to its duty. The widow of Padilla being abandoned of her party, for her own safety invented a wile that succeeded with her. She went out of the City mounted on an Ass, and so well disguised into a Countrywoman, that those who were set at the Gates with design to watch her, let her pass without knowing her: She took her journey into Portugal, and upon the Road escaped a great many dangers. The Portuguese received her civilly enough; and the King Don Emanuel, for all he was the Emperor's Brother-in-law, shown more generosity towards her, than she had ground to hope for. He thought the Sovereignty of Portugal was concerned to give a refuge to that illustrious Fugitive; and the instances of the Emperor's Ministers to him, to persuade him to order Padilla's Widow to look for a retreat elsewhere, were wholly ineffectual. He constantly replied, That since she had chosen his Dominions for her abode, she should be free to live there as long as she pleased.  
The Bishop of Zamorra, her Cousin, could not be at the Battle, because the Council of the League who expected not that they should have fought so soon, had sent him to a place some Leagues from thence. Upon the news of the defeat of his party he disguised himself, and fled to the Mountains of Castille, where he absconded near Eighteen months, without finding the occasion which he looked for, of going into Portugal. At the end of that time he was known in a Cottage where he was; there he was Arrested, and carried to Simancas, where he was shut up in the Castle of that Town, till a Brief might be obtained from the Pope to bring him to a trial. He was in the custody of an Alcaide, who treated him with all the respect that was due to his character: Nevertheless, as they were in discourse together after Dinner, the Bishop, who had a Knife hid in the cover of his Breviary, which was left him, drew it, closed with the Alcaide, threw him down, cut his Throat; and would have made his escape, had not the Alcaide's Son come running at the noise timely enough to stop him at the outer Gate: They put him hand and foot in Irons; and so soon as the Brief came, he was put to death in Prison.  
The Memoires of the Spaniards of that time agree not about the kind of his death, and make it apparent enough, by the diversity of their relations, that there was an express order to conceal it: But there are some also who affirm, that the Alcaide Ronchillo was sent to him, who caused him to be thrown down headlong from the Battlements of the Castle of Simancas. They agree better in relating the sad end of Don Pedro d' Ayala, Count of Salvatierra, Precedent of the Council of the League, who bragged to be descended from the Goths in a straight Line, without any mixture of Mihometan blood, as there was in the other Families of Castille. This is not a place to examine the truth of it; and it is enough that after he had been a long time in the Mountains, where he could find nothing to eat, but at a vast charge, because being proscribed, and those that should in any way assist him, becoming accessary to his crime, it was no small matter that would make people run the hazard of an Arrest, by relieving the misery of the last of the Rebels. He was taken and dispatched in a Dungeon, after he had long languished expecting the death that was intimated unto him. The people knew it not till they saw him carried to the Grave  and bare-faced. Athanasius Ayala his Son, was then actually the Emperor's Page, and had gone with his Majesty into Germany. There he was informed of the Proscription, and afterward of the Vagabond life of his Father; and seeing he was of an excellent sweet disposition, he was so moved at it, that he considered not the danger of his fortune in assisting him, who had given him being, in his extreme necessity. He had a Horse of considerable value, which served him for the great Saddle; he sold him, got a Bill of Exchange for the money; and directed it to a Spanish Gentleman, whom he knew to be so much his Father's friend, as to send him the money contained in it, in what place soever he were. The Governor of the Pages seeing young Ayala without a Horse, thought that he had sold him to get money to game with. From that mistake he fell into another, which notwithstanding served to find out the truth. He called together the Pages, of whom he had the conduct, who were five and twenty, or thirty in number, and before them all asked Ayala what he had done with his Horse. Ayala made no other answer, but that he had parted from him, and that it was for no ill end. The severity which the Governor used towards him to make him declare himself more clearly, could not draw one word more from him; and such an obstinate silence, and so unsuitable to the humour of Pages, increased the Governors' curiosity to find out the cause of it. He made so strict an enquiry into the matter, that he discovered all the particulars which we have mentioned.  
The Spaniards have subtilised more in the point of High Treason, than the ancient Roman Lawyers did, and what follows will be able to convince the least credulous of it. The Governor of the Pages thought it would blemish his reputation, to know that Ayala had sent money to the Count of Salvatierra his Father, if he acquainted not the Emperor instantly with it. He run and told it his Majesty, who having praised him for his diligence, had a mind to search into the bottom of the affair; but it was with another intent than the Governor imagined. He sent for the Page, and commanded him in a manner not to be disobeyed, that he should conceal nothing from him of his conduct in the matter whereof he was accused. The Page for all he was so young spoke with a most profound submission, and yet acknowledged not that he was guilty. He only said, That having learned by the public report to what dreadful straits his unhappy Father was reduced, he was so afflicted at it, that having nothing else but his Horse, he had sold him to give his Father assistance, being resolved to sell himself also upon the same design, if he could find any body that would buy him. The Governor thought that the Page had undone himself, by too ingenuous a confession, and that the Emperor was about to condemn him. He was confirmed in that opinion, when he perceived his Majesty extraordinary pensive: But they were not thoughts of revenge that run in his mind. He admired the dutifulness and constancy of the Page; and as he had learned from Chieures, that a Sovereign failed in the most indispensable of his duties, when he let an Heroic action pass without a reward, he cast about how he might acknowledge this as it deserved: But on the other hand, it had been done in a juncture wherein all that the Emperor could do to testify the value he put upon it, would turn to his own prejudice. The Count of Salvatierra was the guiltiest of all the Rebels: The Laws of Castille in that case prohibit his own Children to assist him: His Son nevertheless had done it; he confessed the same; and if a fault were crowned instead of punished, the Emperor durst not promise to himself the happiness of peace in Spain, though he stood in extreme need of it, considering the new affairs that the Empire was about to create unto him. It behoved then his Majesty to find out an expedient, which on the one hand might hinder him from being unjust; and on the other, might so discreetly divert the consequences of the Justice, which he should practise, as they might not be prejudicial to the State, and in so nice a point he took this course. He severely rebuked the Page before his Governor, yet pretended afterward to pardon him in consideration only of his youth. He sent him back to his exercises; and bidding the Governor stay, commanded him to buy another Horse for Ayala, as good at least as that which he had sold, under pretext that it would be an inhuman thing to turn him off at a time when his Father's rebellion had reduced him to beggary; and if he kept him still as a Page, it would be a shame if he were not as well mounted as the rest of the Pages, seeing there was none of them descended of a better Family than he. The Emperor did no more so long as the Civil Wars of Spain lasted: But when they were over, he took occasion of the first service that Ayala when he was past being a Page rendered to Spain, to reward him both for it and for his affection towards his Father.  
Ferdinand d' Avalos, though the most noted amongst the Rebels, was not so strictly searched after as the Count of Salvatierra, whether because he was not so guilty; or that the Council of Spain had respect to the great services which the Marquis of Pescara, his near Kinsman, who carried the same name, Surname and Arms, had already rendered, and might still render to the Crown. No notice was taken of him in the places where he had fled to: Several attempts that he made to get out of Spain were winked at, they let him go; and pretended not to know him when he appeared in disguise, with a purpose to go into France. He durst not stay there, however after the breach betwixt Francis the First and the Emperor, for fear of rendering himself more guilty than he was; and retired into Germany, where being reduced to misery, he was forced to try the friends that he had at the Imperial Court, if any pardon could be obtained for him. He wrote to them all severally, but most part refused to read his Letters; and the rest who were not so scrupulous, did not think fit to answer them. So general an indifferency did not wholly discourage him yet. He had been a Courtier; and knew the humours of the men he had to do with; he was sensible that sometime they bestirred themselves for disgraced Criminals, when they solicited them personally; but that they never concerned themselves for the absent. He thereupon form a bold design of going to the Imperial Court, and used all necessary circumspection to conceal himself from those to whom it was to no purpose he should be known: But he had made too many friends to have none amongst them unfaithful, in a place where friendship commonly is as unconstant as favour.  
D' Avalos discovered himself to a Spaniard, whom he took to be his friend, and indeed was not. The castilian relations name him not, nor agree about his character. Some make him a Counsellor of State, and others give him only the title of a Courtier, which in the Spanish Tongue signifies no great matter when it stands alone. However it be, that man who had just before promised d' Avalos with execrable Oaths, that he would hazard all to get him a pardon, went immediately after to the Emperor's Palace to work his ruin. He told his Majesty that he had news of great importance to acquaint him with; and drawing him aside, insinuated that he was no less obliged to him than for his life. He added, that d' Avalos had had the impudence to come to Court, and the imprudence to run himself into a snare, that he could never get out of again: He discovered the place where he lay hid, gave directions how to find him without being mistaken, and to apprehend him without noise: He supposed that he was not come so near his Imperial Majesty, but for putting in execution a Conspiracy form against him, whereof he was the Author or Accomplice; and omitted nothing that might fortify his conjecture.  
The Emperor heard him very attentively, and having thanked him for the care he took for the preservation of his person, dismissed him. The news bearer returned home extraordinarily well satisfied with what he had done, and persuaded that he had gained much by undoing d' Avalos. He thought it not strange that he was not rewarded upon the spot, because he supposed that the Emperor thought it convenient first to apprehend the person who was discovered, before he paid the Informer. In that thought he returned to Court at night, expecting that the first Courtier he met would whisper him in the Ear that d' Avalos was taken: But he was wonderfully surprised when he heard nothing of it in the way, nor in the Emperor's Antichamber. He cast about a long time with himself what might be the reason of it, and could think of none other, but that his Majesty had more urgent affairs. That satisfied him at first for the neglect that was put upon his advice: But when he found that it continued the second and third day after, and that he learned that d' Avalos solicited as before his pardon, from the place where he absconded, he changed his opinion, and imagined that the Emperor had forgot what he had told him. He had the impudence to put him in mind of it; and the Emperor not being able then to endure the treachery of the man, replied to him, You ought rather to go and tell d' Avalos that I am here, than to come and tell me again and again that he is there; because in the present state of affairs he had more reason to be afraid of me, than I of him. His Majesty having said so, made the Courtier a sign with his hand to be gone, and d' Avalos was neither looked after, nor put in prison: It is true, he was excepted out of the Oblivion that was granted for the Rebellion of the Spaniards.  
It was expeded in the manner of the Country which demanded it, that is to say, with exceptions that made it useless to the persons of quality who stood in need thereof. Two hundred were excepted in it by name and surname: But Chieures, who thought it not his part to oppose that ostentation of severity, rendered it almost wholly ineffectual by the way of execution, which he had reserved to himself for eluding it. He could not doubt but that the storm which now was calmed, had chief been raised against him: He had seen the public writings and private Satyrs that reviled him in so horrible a manner, that it is almost impossible to read them without conceiving indignation against the Authors: He was informed that the Rebels had engaged themselves by Oath never to make peace with the Emperor, if he delivered not up to them that Fleming who had been his Governor, and suffered them not to practise upon him and upon the Cardinal his Nephew, all that rage and malice could suggest to them: He understood the Spanish humour perfectly well, and knew that that people never part from a prejudice when once they have been possessed with it; and execute in secret the sentences which they have pronounced, when there is no security for them to do it otherwise. Nevertheless he chose rather to expose his person to continual Plots, than to permit the punishments which were only inflicted for his safety.  
Of the two hundred that had been excepted out of the Oblivion, there were but two punished, and Chieures obtained pardon for the rest. We shall see by and by, that that Heroic clemency much like to that of Caesar, was as unhappy as his; but the series of affairs requires, that we first treat of one of the most important services that Chieures rendered to the Emperor, which was the preservation of Navarre to him. It hath been observed that the Clergy, Nobility and People of that Country were become all equally sorry, that they had assisted the Spaniards to conquer their Country, and that they impatiently waited for an occasion to deliver themselves from the yoke which they had put upon their own necks. That presented as of itself, and yet the most favourable that could be desired. The Cardinal of Tortosa, the Constable and Admiral of Castille, standing in need of Troops to quell the Seditious, thought it not enough to draw out of Navarre the greatest part of those that were in Garrison there. They had also ordered the Artillery to be transported from thence into the Kingdoms of Arragon and Valentia, whether that it was absolutely necessary for them to batter down the Rebellion; or that despairing to preserve Navarre during the Civil War, they resolved at least to make the best of the Cannon that were there. The thing was fully put in execution; and the Navarrese wanting only an Army to second them in the defection which they were hatching, demanded one of the Countess of Chateanbrian, who at that time could do any thing in France. They represented to her that their Crown sprang from her house, and must return to it again: That her three brothers, Lautrec, Asparaut, and the Marshal de Foix, were the next Heirs to Henry d' Albert: That that Prince not being as yet of Age to carry Arms, had need that his Cousin-german should act for him: That the recovery then in agitation was neither doubtful nor difficult, that all that was necessary to be done was only to take a Frontier place, and then to appear in the heart of the Country, where they would be favourably received: That on the one hand they would have the hearts of the people, and on the other, no Enemy in the Field.  
Two of the Brothers of the Countess were employed. Lautrec was Governor of the Duchy of Milan, and the Marshal de Foix commanded the Cavalry there. 
In the Letters of the Marshal de Foix to the King.  Asparaut only remained, who having no less courage nor ambition than they, lived at home for want of an employment that he judged worthy of himself. The recovery of Navarre was the most signal opportunity of getting reputation that for some years had been offered. Glory there was enough to be acquired in case it succeeded, and no great honour to be lost if it succeeded not. So that the Countess employed her interest with Francis the First, to engage him in the War of Navarre. She told him, that it was his interest to do it, and that he might do so without breaking with the Emperor: That there was neither money nor Forces demanded from him, but that he would only suffer under hand men to be raised in the Provinces lying betwixt the Loire and the Pyrenees: That if the enterprise proved unfortunate, it would suffice for his excuse to disown it; and if successful, his Majesty might deliberate in Council, whether he should recall Asparaut, or assist him to pursue his Conquests in Spain, to the end France might in a Treaty of Peace exchange them with the Kingdom of Naples.  
The King had no more measures to be observed with the Spaniards, since the Emperor had refused to set on foot again the Negotiation of Montpellier. His most Christian Majesty had too publicly declared, that he would by all means have the house of Albert restored to the Throne of Navarre to neglect so favourable an occasion that offered of itself; and now the time was come when the two greatest Monarches of Europe were to begin a quarrel that was to outlast themselves, and expose Hungary to the invasion of the Turks.  
The Court of France thought it not enough to suffer the Families of Albert and Foix do as they thought best in Guyenne and Languedock, where both had vast Estates; but favoured them in secret as much as they could; and the young Gentlemen of Gasconny being persuaded that they would please their King by listing themselves under Asparaut, flocked to his Colours in great numbers. The Army was on foot before the Emperor knew that it was a levying; and the Historians, who agree that it was made up of choice men, do so vary about the number of the Soldiers, that it is not possible to reconcile them. Some reckon them only to have been Eight thousand; but others again swell them up to thirty. It is also more difficult to be decided, whether or not there was any intelligence betwixt Asparaut and the Rebels of Spain; for the Authors on the other side of the Pyrenees positively assert it, and prove it by fragments of several Letters, which they say were found in Asparaut's Cabinet. The French writers formally maintain the contrary: And certainly there is nothing of it, neither amongst the Records of the house of Foix, nor amongst the Papers of Robertet, who at that time discharged alone the office of Secretary of State under Francis the First.  
However it be, the enterprise of Asparaut was well enough conducted in the beginning. He made the best of the fault of the Marshal of Navarre, which was mentioned in the foregoing Book, and thought it not fit to engage himself in the mountains as he had done, leaving behind him the important place of S. John-Pie-de Port. He besieged it in the usual form; and seeing nothing withstands the first impetuosity of the French, the besieged at the end of five or six days capitulated, though they had all things necessary for maintaining a longer siege. Asparaut, who would lose no time, crossed over the Pyrenees by the memorable passage of Roncevaux, and at his descent was joined by all that remained in Navarre of the Faction of Grammont able to carry Arms. The Duke of Najara, Viceroy for the Emperor, had none of those qualities that serve to help men at a dead lift, when they are left in the lurch by other people's fault. He was superfluously cautious in all manner of affairs, and ventured nothing but what he was forced to hazard, as he said, to the discretion of fortune. He would not accept the Vice-royalty of Navarre, till they assured him that he should want nothing that was necessary for making a good defence, in case he were attacked: Nevertheless they had taken from him most part of his Artillery and Troops to be employed against the Rebels. He was so concerned at that, that at the same time he desired to be discharged of his Government; but it was not in their thoughts to remove from Navarre a Grandee of Spain, who possessed so fair an Estate upon the Frontiers of his Government, as might afford him means of preserving it during the Civil War.  
Chieures, by order of the Emperor, had written to him oftener than once, that his Majesty entreated him to continue his care in the Vice-royalty that was committed to him; assuring him that he should not be attacked: That the Spies whom he entertained in France had sent him word, that the Levies which were making there, were only to recruit the Army of Lautrec, that guarded the Duchy of Milan; and if they might have contrary designs, the Troops of Biscay and Guypuscoa should without fail be ordered to march into Navarre. The Duke obeyed in the opinion that the Emperor's Council was so well informed of what was in agitation out of Spain, that they could not be mistaken in the measures that they took for preserving it, 
In the last Letters of Chieures.  but he found himself to be mistaken, when he was informed of the siege of S. John-Pie-de Port. He stayed nevertheless in Pampelona after that he knew the place was surrendered, because he imagined that the Forces which he had sent to guard the passage of Roncevaux being reinforced by the Mountaineer, would beat back the French; or at least would stop them so long, till the Troops of Biscay and Guypuscoa should have time to come into Navarre; but he was as far out in his own supposition, as he was in the conjectures of others. The Mountaineer, who bragged that they alone had defeated the Rear of Charlemain, not only refused to assist the Spaniards in the defence of Roncevaux, but also offered to Asparaut to charge them in the Rear at the same time that he attacked them in the Front. They sent him word of this by several hands, one of which being surprised by the Viceroy's Scouts, just as he was about to enter the French Camp, confessed the truth.  
The Spanish Soldiers, who presumed not so much upon their own strength, as to be able alone to guard the passage, though they had had only to defend themselves on the Front, abandoned it before they were beset; and retreated with so much haste, that the Duke had the first news of their retreat from themselves. Upon seeing of them, he lost all hopes of saving Navarre; yet before he would imitate their example, he thought fit to try the Inhabitants of Pampelona, whether they were more affectioned to the Spaniards than the Mountaineer were. He employed Agents to speak to them, who brought him back word, that they could not be worse affected than they were towards the Emperor, and, indeed, they had reason for it too afflicting to be dissembled. All the Forts that environed the Town, and might serve it for a Rampart, had by order been demolished for the building of a Citadel, which was almost finished. If the Inhabitants delayed longer to make an Insurrection, they would lose their liberty; and if on the contrary they declared for Asparaut, they were assured that the first favour that he would grant them, would be to raze the Citadel that annoyed them.  
So that the answer of those of Pampelona was very ambiguous; and the Duke not finding it to be such as he desired, laid the blame upon the Emissaries. He had a better opinion of his own sufficiency than of theirs; and imagined that if he himself made a speech to the Burghers, he would persuade them to defend themselves to the last: He assembled them in the Marketplace, and made a very zealous discourse to them, to persuade them that Asparaut was a raw General, and his whole Army made up of Volunteers: That there needed no more to overcome them, but to balk their first furious onset; and that as it was not possible to do it in Navarre out of Pampelona, so there was nothing more easy than to accomplish it within so vast a City: That the success depended absolutely on the first assault; and that if the French were repulsed, they would return back again as fast as they came: That the truth was, it required Force to guard the breach that was made for the building of the Citadel; but that if the Inhabitants would undertake to defend the rest of their walls, the Soldiers that upon surrender marched out of S. John Pie-de Port, and those who returned from Roncevaux, were more than enough to maintain the Avenues by which the City had communication with the Citadel.  
The Duke had no sooner made an end of his speech, but that the Magistrate being already convinced that there was no more to be feared on the part of the Spaniards, answered with a blunt ingenuity, that he agreed as to the way how the first impetuosity of the French was to be baulked, but that he perceived no means to do it; and that if the Duke knew any, he would do him a kindness to tell him: That the question was not only how to beat off the attack of the French; but also to withstand those of the Citizens whom they had gained, who would infallibly declare for them in the heat of the Fight: That Pampelona so divided, was not in a condition to hold out against an Army, which a place regularly fortified at the foot of the Pyrenees, and the Pyrenees themselves were not able to put a stop to; and that as the capital City of Navarre, though there was no breach in the walls, had notwithstanding opened the Gates to the Spaniards when they were strongest, upon no other motive, but to avoid being plundered; so the Spaniards ought not to take it ill if it changed Master now they had reduced it to an impossibility of making a defence, by laying it open in the very place where before it was strongest.  
The Duke heard that Language with indignation: But passion is always ridiculous in those who are obliged to lay a constraint upon themselves, 
In the relation of the second taking of Pampelona.  that they may not follow the transports which it suggests unto them. The Duke was not the stronger in Pampelona, though he had Forces there; and if he had replied briskly to the Magistrate, it would have occasioned a sedition of a doubtful issue. If the Spaniards had been the stronger, they would have continued irreconcilable with the Citizens, without whose assistance nevertheless they could not have been able to defend themselves against Asparaut; and if they had been the weaker, the Duke would have been made prisoner by the Citizens, who would have delivered them up to the French, to make their peace again with them. The course he took in this perplexity, was to leave the Citizens of Pampelona to their fidelity; to draw out the Soldiers, who were not absolutely necessary for the guard of the Citadel; to send them to the Town of Esteille, which he thought more affectionate to the Spanish Monarchy; and to take Post to Segovia, where the Cardinal of Tortosa was, to give him an account of his conduct.  
Asparaut in the mean time advanced towards Pampelona, where the Citizens being forsaken by their Viceroy, sent Deputies to him, and offered to submit, provided they had an Act of Oblivion granted them in good form. They excused their former defection, in that John d' Albert when he left them, had allowed them liberty, as they understood it, to dispose of their City, and joyfully submitted to Henry d' Albert his Son. So Asparaut had no more to do but to entrench himself before the Citadel, and having summoned the Garrison who protested that they would bury themselves under its ruins, furiously to batter it: But the obstinacy of the Garrison lasted not above three days; and it was during that siege that S. Ignatius Loyala, the famous Founder of the Society of the Jesuits, who served in the place as a Volunteer, received the wound which put into his mind the first thoughts of forsaking the world. The Governor of the Citadel perceiving a considerable breach made, and his best Soldiers disabled from fight, capitulated, and Asparaut left about two thousand men to guard the place, and repair the breaches. He made haste with the rest of his Army to march straight to the Town of Esteille, his good fortune attending him. Those whom the Duke of Najara left there had not the courage to defend it; but surrendered it upon the first summons.  
Thus was Navarre recovered for the house of Albert, in the beginning of May, one thousand five hundred and twenty one, with as much ease as it was lost nine years before; and Asparaut had been the most fortunate subject of his time, if he had known how to be content when he had executed his enterprise, and gone no farther: But young men are not to be entrusted with the command of Armies, when there is no more to be put to the hazard. The Army of Asparaut after the conquest of Navarre was stronger than before; for besides that he had not lost many Soldiers before the places which he had besieged, all the Navarrese of the Faction of Beaumond had met to consult what conduct to follow as to him. They resolved that part of them should go and join him, and that the rest should stay till Asparaut sent for them. The inequality of his conduct, to speak properly, was the cause of his ruin, and it is in vain for Historians to have searched elsewhere the causes of the misfortunes that over whelmed him.  
Asparaut knew that Navarre had nothing to fear from abroad, so long as it was not divided at home; and that all the misunderstanding which had arisen there, was betwixt the Factions of Grammont and Beaumond. In the mean time they had been reconciled in his presence, and the agreement was made in such a manner, that it seemed nothing could alter it for the future. Both the one and other had learned by their own experience, that it was their discord which had subjected them to the castilians; and seeing they hated the castilians more than they did mutually one another, there was no appearance, that their quarrels would revive again; since they were convinced that they could not decide them but to the prejudice of their Country. So that there being no more cause of fear within Navarre, Asparaut turned his thoughts abroad; and was of opinion, that for obtaining from the Emperor a Peace wherein he should absolutely renounce his pretensions to Navarre, there was a necessity of taking an important place in Castille, and of keeping it so long as the War lasted. He proposed this to Arnauld de Grammont, who under him commanded the Cavalry of Navarre, and whom he esteemed more than the other Officers of his Army.  
Grammont, who was of a piercing wit, saw at first the fault that his General was about to commit, and endeavoured to divert him from it. He represented to him, that the course he intended to take for obtaining an advantageous Peace; would be good betwixt two Enemies, whose Forces were near equal; and who by consequent might not only have their interest, but also their reputation to manage: But that the case was not so betwixt the Emperor and Henry d' Albert, seeing he the Son of a Father and Mother almost stripped of all, had no other resource but the Army which he had then on foot: That an extraordinary occasion had offered itself for the recovery of Navarre, which was the Civil War amongst the Spaniards: That he had made use of it, and was therein more successful than he expected to have been. But that however he had but performed one half of what he intended: That it was not enough for him to be restored to the Throne of his Predecessors; but that he must also maintain himself in it, which could not be without much prudence and time, especially when he had to do with an Enemy infinitely more powerful than himself: That the truth was, the victorious Army was strong enough to maintain the new Conquest, provided it continued in the condition it was in, and went not out of Navarre, where the people refused not the Soldiers free quarters: But if it entered Castille, and were weakened by a siege, it could no longer keep the Field; and the charges of maintaining it being then double, the Navarrese would infallibly refuse to contribute thereto: That in fine, to maintain himself in Navarre, he ought to imitate the conduct of the Spaniards in conquering it, and that as the Duke of Alva, when he took that Crown from John d' Albert, pursued not his victory into the principality of Bearn, though it would not have been difficult for him to have seized that dependence of Navarre; so Asparaut aught to content himself with the Kingdom which now he had recovered, and to advance no farther.  
Asparaut found not Grammont's reasons to his liking. The Spaniards in his opinion had not made sufficient resistance in Navarre, to give him occasion of acquiring so much glory as he desired; and he thought that stopping short in so fair a career, he might deserve the character of a fortunate, but not of an excellent Captain. Besides, he was the younger Brother of a Family where there was not Estate enough for the younger: His birth and profession hindered him from acquiring a fortune any other way, but by the Sword; an extraordinary occasion presented; and if he lost it, seeing hitherto he had done nothing for himself, he was in danger of doing nothing as long as he lived. He had indeed taken a great deal of pains, but that was for Henry d' Albert his Cousin, who could reward him but meanly, and out of the Estate which he possessed in France; the Lands of Navarre not being of a nature to be held by strangers: Whereas if he advanced his conquests into Castille, he would at least retain them until the Peace; and in the mean time raise vast contributions from them, which might render him the richest Subject in Christendom.  
These selfish considerations of Asparaut were backed by the clamours of the young Officers of his Army, who importuned him that he would be as good as his word to them, when they were enroled, which was to let them have a brush with the Enemy. They added, that he had not so much as showed them the castilians, and that they were come into, and had recovered Navarre without a view of them. That if they stopped there, they would leave no marks of their valour to posterity: Whereas by entering into Castille, if they found the people still in Rebellion there, they would subdue them without trouble; and if they found them again reduced under obedience to the Emperor, they would still come to as good a Market, since the two parties would be so weakened by fight one against another, that hardly could they make any resistance.  
The most dangerous Counsels are most commonly followed in Armies, where young men have the chief Authority, Asparaut's Army was subject to that inconvenience, and it was resolved there that the French should march out of Navarre: That they should pass the River Ebre, which separates that Kingdom from Castille: That they should lay siege to the Town of Logrogno; and that having taken it, they should extend their conquests farther. The design was rash: Nevertheless the most expert in the Art confessed since, that it would have succeeded, if it had been as hastily put in execution as it was form. The Town of Logrogno, though the Council of Spain looked upon it as a key of Castille, had been ungarisoned as well as the Towns of Navarre, and not so much as a Soldier left therein. They had also taken the Ammunition out of it, and left there only the Provisions. For at least half an Age the Inhabitants had had no necessity of carrying Arms; and that long rest joynedto the fertility of their Country, entertained them in a softness that would have obliged them to surrender upon the first summons, if it had been made when there was no body to help them to defend the place. But Asparaut by a second fault less to be repaired than the former, made a stop three whole days to refresh his Army in the neighbourhood of the little Town of Arcos; and thereby gave time to the Nobility of Spain, who had continued loyal to the Emperor, to provide for the security of Logrogno. They put into it Pedro Velez Guevera, a prudent and expert Captain, with a strong Garrison, who at first made himself absolute Master of the place: He turned out of it all useless mouths, and caused them to be conducted farther in into Castille, to places where they might be maintained at public cost. He received in the nick of time the Ammunition he stood in need of, the Gentlemen of the Country having provided it at their own charges; and the Governor thought it not enough to dispute every inch of ground with the Besiegers, he besides drowned all the Fields about Logrogno by means of the Banks of the Ebre, which he caused to be cut; and so much the more confounded the French, that at that time they were not skilful enough in that part of Mathematics which teaches Besiegers how to defend themselves against waters. Asparaut, though he found upon his arrival matters in this state, yet for all that undertook the siege, and vigorously prosecuted the same: But besides the prodigious resistance he met with, there happened an impediment which he had not foreseen. The Civil War ceased so suddenly in Castille and Arragon after the Battle of Villalar, that the three Governors had time to send their own and the Rebel's Army, of which the Rear had only fought, to the relief of Logrogno; and the Emperor was informed, that that important place was besieged, at the same time when he had notice that an Army was marching to the relief of it.  
He communicated the news of both to Chieures, who was dissatisfied with Francis the First, ever since his most Christian Majesty had refused to approve the donation which Queen Germana had made to him of the Inheritance of Foix; and probably in that heat of resentment, Chieures counselled the Emperor to make use of the imprudence of Asperaut, in such a manner as would infallibly gain Spain the advantage over France. The Letters which the Emperor had received from the three Governors contained a particular, which they had inserted without any design. And it was this that when Asparaut first approached to Logrogno, a pair of Colours had been discovered in his Army with this Inscription, To the glory of the King of France and the Lilies. If the thing was true, and if the Spaniards invented it not, as the French pretended since, the Colours must have been made by some capricious Captain of Foot, without the knowledge of his General; since it is certain, and the writers of both Nations agree, that Asparaut when he entered Navarre and Castille, declared himself to be General of the Army of Henry d' Albert, and not of the Army of Francis the First, and that he executed the orders of the former of those two Kings, and not of the latter: Nevertheless Chieures took occasion from it to represent to his Master, that that particular well managed, would be enough to engage England in his interests.  
He put his Imperial Majesty in mind, that in the last conference which he had had with King Henry the Eight his Uncle, where he had the honour to be present, his Majesty of England had let fall a word, that if the War broke out again, betwixt France and Spain, he would declare for that Monarchy of the two, which should be first attacked. That though the word perhaps dropped from him as in course, and without deliberation, yet he ought to make his best of it, and send an extraordinary Ambassador into England to demand the performance thereof, and to exaggerate the ambition of Francis the First in the Court of England, whilst the Imperial Agents should every where give it out, that the French had not very long made use of the pretext of Henry d' Albert for entering hostilely into Spain, and for favouring the Rebellion of the Emperor's Subjects: That they had taken off the Vizor when they passed the River of Ebre, and had retaken the Flowers de Lice upon their entry into Castille: That under their own Colours they besieged the Town of Logrogno; and that so the juncture was come, wherein the King of England had promised to declare himself: That Spain was constantly attacked, and that it challenged the promise of England.  
The Emperor, who run no risk in following the counsel of Chieures, sent the Count of Raeux to London, with instructions drawn according to the reasons which we have now abridged. The Count, who was never before employed in any Negotiation, succeeded in this, which was his first Essay; but not altogether, because of his ability, though it was already very conspicuous.  
The King of England made no such account of the word, which, as was signified unto him, he had past, as to think himself obliged to keep it, but he set before himself other considerations, which were not in the Count's instructions. He examined which of the two, France or Spain, he had most reason to be afraid of as affairs than stood; and he found it to be France; for though the Emperor was raised to a prodigious power, and that there was none in the world comparable to it in extent, yet it was not suspicious to England, seeing the Emperor could not attack it by Land before he had conquered all France, which could never be in the opinion of the English; and as to the Sea, England would be always superior to Spain: Whereas if the French Monarchy having reestablished its Authority in Italy by the recovery of the Duchy of Milan, should enlarge itself beyond the Pyrenees, by conquering there the Country of the best Soldiers, which lay along the River of Ebre; it would not only not own the King of England for Arbitrator of the differences, which it had with the Emperor, but also might very well take the advantage of the first favourable occasion that should present and confine the English to their own Island, by taking from them what they still retained in France.  
Henry the Eighth concluded from that principle, that it was his interest by all means to hinder the Spaniards from taking footing upon the Banks of the Ebre, and upon that sole consideration signed a League Defensive and Offensive with the Emperor against the most Christian King; which he would not have done as he many times declared afterward, if Asparaut had stopped in Navarre; or that if he would have continued his Conquests, he had only carried them on along the Pyrenees, without advancing at first into the very heart of Spain.  
Before a fortnight was over, the King of England found that his fear was vain, and repent that he had declared so soon, but the Count of Raeux having obtained what he desired, was already gone from his Court, when the news was brought to England that the French were driven out of Castille. The Spaniards having joined the Rebellious Troops, as they called them, to those whom they named Obedient, made an Army of forty thousand men; and marched in good order to the relief of Logrogno at the time when the number of the Besiegers was so diminished, that it was no longer sufficient for guarding all the Avenues to the place. The Enemy perceived it, and took such good measures, that they put into it four thousand Foot. Having done so, with the rest of their Forces they cut off the Besiegers Provisions, and forced them to raise the siege, after they had made many unsuccessful assaults. Asparaut repassed the Ebre, and retreated in all haste to put himself under the cover of the Guns of Pampelona; there being no Town nearer where he could lie safely; and the Spaniards had almost suffered him to do it. There happened amongst them upon their coming into Logrogno a debate which would have hindered them from recovering Navarre, had it not been almost as soon ended as begun. Their chief Officers agreed easily in a Council of War, that the French must be close pursued in the Rear; but at first they could not agree about the choice of him, who should be their head after that they had passed the Ebre. The Count of Haro, who till then had commanded them, pretended still to the command; and alleged for his reason, that he being declared General against the French, his Commission could not expire till he had defeated them, or sent them beyond the Pyrenees: He added, that that Commission was indeed no more but an Accessary of that which Chieures had procured him to pursue the Rebels by Arms, and to resettle Spain in its former tranquillity: He maintained that the French had first entered Navarre, and then Castille through intelligence with the Rebels; and from thence concluded, that his command could not be taken from him without injustice, until Navarre should be recovered, or that the Emperor had given other orders.  
The Duke of Najara, on the contrary, said that he was actually Viceroy of Navarre, and that the Letters Patents which he had for it from the Emperor, were not recalled: That it was expressly mentioned in them that he should be General of all the Forces that acted in that Kingdom for his Imperial Majesty, for what cause, and upon what occasion soever they should be brought together; and that there was no limitation made in that particular: That the revolution which had since happened in Navarre, could do no prejudice to his power; and that in true policy it ought not to be considered, but in the sense that Lawyers look upon Torrents, which though for some time they overflow the Lands of private men, yet do not deprive them of their possession, nor so much as interrupt it when once it hath been lawfully established.  
The Count of Haro had no ground to question the Letters Patents of the Duke of Najara, but he alleged that the power thereby conferred had expired by the Duke's fault: That he had abandoned his Vice-royalty upon the approach of the Enemy; and that he had so absolutely lost it, that there was not so much as one Village in all Navarre where his Authority was owned: That that Kingdom having wholly changed its Master, the business was to conquer it of new; and by consequence to take such measures as no more concerned the Duke, than as he had never been Viceroy. The reason and inclination of those who gave their Votes, seemed to give the cause to the Count: Nevertheless he lost it, and the Duke was preferred before him by an effect of Spanish prudence, which hath hardly ever failed in the signal occasions of sacrificing justice to interest, when the good of the Monarchy was thought to be concerned. The Army which had relieved Logrogno, and earnestly desired to recover Navarre, was so wholly made up of Volunteers, that there was not so much as one Company of Foot, or Troop of Horse that had any pay from the Emperor. The Duke of Najara was the Grandee of Spain, who had brought most Soldiers to the Camp; and it was to be feared that these Soldiers, who only came upon his account, would return back with him if he withdrew, as he must be obliged to do in honour, if he obtained not the General command. His Son had gathered together five or six thousand men from the Provinces bordering upon the Mountains, and Don Gaspar de Butron his Son-in-law had raised almost as many more in the Provinces of Guypuscoa and Biscay. These were the choice men of the Spanish Army; and so great a desertion would have so weakened it, that it could not have been able to have pursued Asparaut.  
The Cardinal of Tortosa, the Constable and Admiral of Castille, foresaw that inconvenient, and by consequence made no scruple to discontent Haro, notwithstanding they were chief obliged to him for the taking of Tordesillas, and the victory of Villavar. They gave their Vote openly in favour of the Duke; and the Count, who was still very much displeased with them, though he would have done the same as they did, had he been in their place, left the Army in spite, and went home to his own house.  
So soon as the Duke had taken upon him the Command, he omitted nothing that might render him worthy of the favour they had done him. He pursued the French with so great diligence, that he never failed to dine in the same places where they had lain. He harassed them in their march by continual skirmishings; and at length came up with them near the Forest of Roniego, when they were but two Leagues from Pampelona. The relations which agree very well in what we have said, do so vary about this subject, that it is not possible positively to relate the matter of fact. The Spaniards maintain that their Camp was betwixt the French and the City of Pampelona: That being so Encamped, they took from them all communication with that capital City of Navarre, where nevertheless all sorts of Provisions were: That so though they were most advantageously posted, they wanted Bread, and that that was the only thing that made them hazard a Battle. But there is an objection to be made against that which cannot be answered. It is taken from the Letter that Asparaut immediately after his defeat, which we are about to relate, wrote to Francis the First; and common sense is sufficient to judge, that if he had been forced to fight, and the matter of fact asserted by the Spaniards had been true, that General might have had his excuse ready, by alleging that he was forced to give Battle, and his most Christian Majesty could have had nothing else to impute to him, but his misfortune. In the mean time he not only not mentions any constraint to have been put upon him, but more, he writes positively the contrary. He agrees that he had liberty either to fight or not to fight as he pleased: He affirms that the only motive which inclined him to give Battle, was the disorder that he saw in the Spanish Army, which he thought he ought to lay hold on: But he adds, that the disorder was too quickly over; and that nevertheless he had not been beaten, if his Foot had seconded the efforts of his Horse.  
The French relations, then, more probably affirm, that Asparaut's communication with the City of Pampelona was not intercepted: That the truth was, he had not as yet got any Provisions out of it, but that nothing hindered him from it: That he was Encamped in such a place as it was impossible to starve, force, or oblige him to fight whether he would or not; and that the Spaniards despaired of it when they had well considered his post: That they had brought no provisions with them; and that the Low-Country of Navarre, which the French had purposely ravaged upon their retreat, having nothing to supply their Enemies with, Asparaut needed to have done no more, but to have lain still at Roniego, and seen the Spanish Army dispersed in a few days, being neither in a condition to Assault nor Besiege the City of Pampelona; and that by that means he had infallibly secured to Henry d' Albert the conquest of Navarre. But that he committed a fault no more to be excused than repaired, seeing he hazarded a Battle without taking three measures so easy for winning of it, that he had them almost in his hands. The first was not to have drawn out the two thousand Soldiers whom he had left in Pampelona; and who might have sallied out in time of Battle with so much less danger; that the Citizens who were more concerned than they that Asparant should have gained it, would have willingly consented that they should have joined their General, and in the mean time taken upon themselves the defence of the walls. The second, that Asparant recalled not the Forces which he left to guard the Frontiers of Biscay, whilst he was to have acted in Castille. The Lord of Olla who commanded them, wrote of it to his General, and they could do no service where they were, since the Spaniards had recalled theirs out of Biscay for reinforcing their Army. They had been in no action, but at the Siege of S. John- Pie de Port, and had ever since been in quarters of refreshment. Their number which is not exactly known, and their experience which is not disputed, deserved very well that they should have been expected for giving a decisive Battle; and both parties agreed, that if they had been there, they would have infallibly inclined the advantage to the side of the French. In fine, Asparaut's third fault was, that he stayed not for six thousand Navarrese, who were to join him that very day, or at farthest the day following. The Country had raised them upon their own charges, and all their Officers were expert Soldiers: There was not one of them but would have died fight, rather than have yielded a foot of ground; because all of them looked upon it as the greatest of misfortunes, to fall again under the dominion of the castilians. If Asparaut had not trusted them so much as to have taken them into his Army, they might at least have made a Body of reserve; and in that manner supplied the defect, which according to all writers made the French lose the Battle, their Infantry having been only worsted, because there were no fresh Forces ready to assist them at a pinch: And the Spanish Body of reserve, who took their time to fall upon them when they saw them tired, and without support, having had a cheap bargain on't.  
However it be, there was nothing to be found fault with in the drawing up of the French Army, nor in the briskness of their first charge, though they were in number inferior to the Enemy by one half. Nothing was able to resist the furiousness of their right Wing; and the eldest Son of the Duke of Albuquerque, who commanded the left Wing of the Spaniards, made head against them to no purpose. His Squadrons were opened, and his Batallions broken: His Horse threw him, and fell upon him; and if he had not been remounted by his Servants, he must have been trodden to death by his Horses. But that disorder was presently rectified; and the Admiral of Castille appointed with five thousand Horse to second the left Wing, took his time to charge Grammont, when the Squadrons of that Lieutenant General of Asparaut's were disordered by the great effort they had made, and cut his way through them. Asparaut in the main Body seeing him in such extremity, advanced to cover him, till he should put himself into order again; and with much resolution resisted not only the Admiral of Castille, but the Duke of Najara also, whom he had to deal with, and the whole main Body of the Spaniards. The left Wing of the French led by Mauleon with no less courage, charged the Spanish Right, commanded by the Count of Benevento, and put them also to the rout. They did not offer to pursue them; but were marching straight to Asparaut's main Body to complete their victory, by disingaging their General from the danger he was in, when they were diverted by the Constable of Castille at the head of the Spanish reserve, who charged them in the Flank and opened them. Mauleon's Horse, who had neither been killed nor dismounted, wheeled about to rally again behind the Foot, and to prepare for a second charge; but the Spanish right Wing gave them not the time. They were almost as soon beaten as charged; and the Constable having no more to be afraid of on that side, endeavoured to cut in pieces a Batallion of a thousand old Gascon Soldiers, who guarded the French Artillery. He succeeded in it more easily than he had expected; and turning the ten Field-pieces which he had gained, against Asparaut, made a dreadful havoc in the main Body of the French Army. He broke into it by that means, and made himself sure of an entire victory.  
One of his Cavaliers, called Perrea, engaged singly him who carried the white Standard of the French; overthrew him, took the Standard, and carried it to his General, who afterward obtained permission from the Emperor for him to change his Escutcheon. Asparaut having lost all the brave men that were about him, was environed by the Squadron of the Count of Alva de Liste, and having received a wound by a Sword, which blinded him, he was dismounted. He rendered himself prisoner to Francis of Beaumond, who had ten thousand Crowns for his Ransom. The Victorious having left five or six thousand dead in the field of Battle, pursued the Fugitives to Pampelona, and took them there; the Inhabitants of that great City who had no more hopes of relief, having delivered them up, to obtain pardon for their Rebellion, which was granted them, in that consideration. The rest of Navarre was recovered by the Spaniards, with as great facility as they had lost it, and their Conquest remained so sure, that no attempt was made afterward to drive them out of it.  
There is so little betwixt an indirect War, and direct, that Chieures foresaw that the French and Spaniards would soon pass from the one to the other, if they were not prevented by something of greater consequence than all that had been till then Negotiated for making them friends: and as on the one hand he saw the most Christian King resolved to cause the Treaty of Noyon to be put in execution in its full extent, and on the other, he hoped to dispose the Emperor to accomplish his part of it, because of the advantages that the Empire had procured him over his most Christian Majesty; so he used all his Policy to take off the French from declaring War directly, by convincing them, that if they came to that, they would not only have all the Forces of Spain, and of two thirds of Italy, but also all the Princes of Germany against them. The Union of so many Powers, though of different Inclinations and Interests could not be crossed, but by the changes which Martin Luther an Augustin Monk had some four years before introduced into Religion; and these changes were already so great, that they could not be remedied but by a General Diet. The Emperor, by the Laws of Germany, was obliged to call one immediately after his Coronation; and the City of Ratisbone had for many ages had that preference, that for the first time it should be held there. Nevertheless in the Juncture of affairs at that time it could not be, seeing the Plague was in that Imperial City. There behoved then another to be chosen which was spacious enough for accommodating the Princes and Deputies of the Empire; and the same Laws which appointed Ratisbone, mentioning none other that might supply its defect, Chieures told the Emperor, that by Law the choice was his, & that by consequence it was in his power to name the place of Assembly. Besides, he represented to his Majesty that he ought to pitch upon a City near the Low Countries; for if he were but in the least distant from thence, if the French began the War again during his absence, they would make great Conquests there before he could return to their Assistance. Upon that ground Chieures added, that no City was more commodious than that of Worms, which was wholly Imperial, that is to say, that held of no Prince neither Secular nor Ecclesiastical: which was situated in a plentiful Country; and which moreover was so near the Low Countries, that no accident could happen but that his Majesty would have notice timely enough to remedy it.  
The Emperor, according to his custom, complied with that advice, and the Diet of the Empire was called at Worms against the beginning of May, 1521. Chieures attended the Emperor thither, and there lost his life, after he had lost that which was dearest to him in the world. It hath been observed before, that the Nephew whom he loved most, was the second Son of his Elder Brother, to whom he had given his Name, and who for his sake had been made Bishop of Cambray, Cardinal and Archbishop of Toledo. He had been bred with the Emperor; and the Sympathy of his humour with that of his Majesties, had contributed to his promotion, almost as much as the merit of his Uncle. He was not as yet full three and twenty years of age, and nevertheless he was already of all his Master's Councils. It was not doubted, but that sometime or other he would have held the place of Chieures; and that, according to the Memoires of the house of Croy, was either the cause or the occasion of his death.  
The Germans and Spaniards could not endure that these two Flemings should have a greater share in the Friendship of the Emperor, than all the rest of the Courtiers together; and the former of those two people who had taken no exceptions at all, that Maximilian the first, during the whole course of his life followed his own Whimsy, and changed his inclinations at every turn, took it ill that Charles his Grandson should follow the Counsels of the Wisest of men which had been so useful unto him; and that from his Infancy he had loved amongst his Subjects, the young Lords of his own age, whom he esteemed the most deserving. The other people imputed to Chieures and his Nephew, the Civil Wars of Spain which we have mentioned. They were persuaded that they had divided betwixt themselves, or given to their Creatures the Treasures of Cardinal Ximenes, and the Revenues of the Monarchies of Castille and Arragon, during the space of four years: they also supposed, that they had sold all the Offices and Benefices of these Monarchies: and in that particular, their prejudice was so much the more ridiculous, that it could neither specify the Fleets that had transported such prodigious sums out of Spain, nor the places where they had been kept, nor yet the purchases that had been made with them: Nevertheless so improbable a calumny, and so easy to be refuted, was received without examination or contradiction. It was generally spread abroad; and made so deep an impression on men's minds, that they were not undeceived in it, till upon the death of the two persons whom they had accused of that imaginary robbing of the public, it was found that they were no richer at their death, than they were when Charles became King of Spain. But the false opinions that are entertained of Favourites, are no less prejudicial to them, than true ones, when they are insinuated through an excess of Credulity; and when they who are capable to undeceive the people, think it their interest to let them continue in their error. The enemies of Chieures, and of the Cardinal de Croy, who expected to be enriched by their spoils, were so far from taking the pains to undeceive the Spaniards in their behalf, that they increased the aversion which they had to them; until both of them being gone out of Spain, & by consequence, having no cause to suspect that the Poison which was prepared for them, came from the Spaniards, they began with the Cardinal, and gave him a Dose that carried him off within a few days after the Emperor came to Worms.  
Chieures being thereby obliged contrary to the course of Nature to shut his eyes, from whom he expected that last duty, was the more afflicted at it, that he had a secret presentment that they would use him in the same manner as they had treated the Cardinal whom he looked upon as his Son. He prepared to follow him, and ordered both his Spiritual and Temporal affairs. He made his Wife the Executrix of his last Will and Testament, and she acquitted herself of it afterward with all imaginable care. Then he thought it his duty to employ the remaining part of his life in Action; and conceiving none to be more advantageous to the Catholic Religion, than the reclaiming of Luther, who was engaged in his Errors, out of spite to see the Augustin Monks frustrated of the profit that was to be made by the preaching up of Indulgences, he proposed to himself to finish his Course by that. He encouraged the Pope's Nuncio, to represent to the Emperor in full Diet, that the greatest evil wherewith Germany was then afflicted, was Heresy; & that by consequence before all things, a stop should be put to that: that the Emperor had the most formidable enemies in the world to fight with, who were the Turks; and that to make resistance against them, he had so much need of all his forces, that if they were in the least divided, he must infallibly succumb: That nevertheless Luther by his new Doctrine was about to divide them; and sow the seeds of a Civil War amongst the different parts of the Germane body, which the Infidels would not fail to make their advantage of. That the Holy See declared against that Heresiarch; and offered to prove that he was Scandalous, a disturber of public peace, disobedient to God and his Superiors, a Blasphemer, impious wretch, and a Calumniator: That the Pastoral charity of Pope Leo the tenth, obliged him to hunt the Wolf, hid under the Sheep's skin, out of the Sheepfold of Jesus Christ; and that if the Emperor, and other Germane Princes assisted not his Holiness in so laudable a design, he beforehand protested that they would be guilty before the Tribunal of God of all the evils that might happen.  
But there are no inconveniences that ought more speedily to be remedied than those which threaten a great State with an imminent Revolution, because their operation is quicker, and their effects of greater extent. It was already four years since Luther began to Preach against the Catholic Church; and his Declamations, which in the year 1517. served only to make sport for the curious, whilst they exaggerated the venality of Indulgences, had in the following years persuaded a vast number of people, when they passed from the abuse of the same Indulgences, to the power of the Church in granting them, and when they endeavoured to ruin all the foundation of that power. The great men had listened to that new doctrine as greedily, as the inferior people; and God who looked upon it as a scourge wherewith he intended to punish Germany, had suffered two Princes, whereof the one was the most Powerful, and the other the most Valiant Prince of the Empire, to be convinced of the truth of it. The most Powerful was Frederick Elector of Saxony, and the most Valiant Philip Landgrave of Hesse. Both had so great credit in the Diet of Worms, that they hindered any deliberation to be made about the Answer that was to be given to the Nuncio; and they made such strong parties the days following, that no positive Answer was given him. To divert the Deputies from that, they represented to them, that the Court of Rome had raised an imaginary Monster to fight with; and that the Nuncio had only made a speech to show his Eloquence in the most August Auditory of Europe; and to deserve a Cardinal's hat: That Luther, indeed, struck at the abuses that were crept into the Church, but that he neither meddled with the Faith, nor the Ancient Discipline: That it was no wonder to see the Pope his enemy, seeing he disputed his power; and the Ministers of the Court of Rome rise up against him, since he had disappointed them of two thirds of the profit which they proposed to make by the publication of the Indulgences: that it concerned Germany to let him preach after his own way, so long as he spoke of nothing but of exempting it from the pillage of the Italians; and that it would always be in a condition of imposing silence on him, if he went farther, and meddled with points of Faith.  
The Nuncio being discouraged at the bad success of his first attempt; and not knowing what part to act in the Diet, where he found by experience that the greatest part of the deputies were not for him, applied himself to Chieures, and asked his advice. Chieures made him answer, that in all appearance, that which had hindered the effect of his harangue, was, that he thought it enough to discourse; and that there behoved something more than words to move the Germans: That that Nation was too diffident to believe him upon his word, and too much prepossessed in favours of Luther to condemn him upon the bare deposition of a stranger: That in speaking to them, he ought to have convincing proofs in his hands, and that then they would hear with more Attention, and judge with greater Equity. The Nuncio to whom Chieures had suggested a thought which had not till then come into his mind, replied that it would not be difficult to put in execution what he had proposed, and that Luther had just published a book called The Captivity of Babylon, wherein he had declared himself openly against the Catholic Church, resumed all his ancient errors, and added a great many new: That the divines whom the Pope had given him to attend on him in his Nunciature, had examined the book; and that they had extracted out of it, forty such terrible propositions, that to hear them was sufficient to make them be abhorred: That he should cause them to be Transcribed in the very terms they were expressed in, and the pages where they were to be found quoted: That he should read them to the Diet; and press them to employ their authority for stopping the impudence of a Monk, which they had already suffered but too long.  
Chieures approved the Expedient, and the Legate put it in practice in the next Assembly of the Diet. He said, that it seemed to him, that the Diet had not reflected enough upon what he had represented to them, upon occasion of Luther; and drawing out of his pocket the forty Propositions we mentioned, he read them with an audible voice, and without either exaggeration or commentary. The effect proved to be as Chieures had foreseen, and immediately it appeared by the murmur which it raised amongst the Electors, Princes and Deputies of the Empire: There were already a great many Lutherans amongst them, but there were but a few that were so upon sufficient information. All of them for most part believed that Luther had neither preached nor written, but against the abuses which time and humane inconstancy had brought into the Catholic Church; and those who examined his doctrine more narrowly, thought that he had only undertaken to re-establish the ancient discipline in the important points wherein there was some relaxation. But when they understood that he had passed from the use of Indulgences to the very source of them, and that he questioned the power of the Holy See in granting them, and the Article of Purgatory which served for their groundwork: That he had denied , the merit of good Works, the perfection of the state of Virginity, and of a Single Life, five of the seven Sacraments, and the Transubstantiation in the Eucharist; their amazement was soon followed with indignation that they had been deceived, and the order that they were about to make for apprehending Luther, had been the sign of it, if the Elector of Saxony, who foresaw the blow had not prevented it, by rising and demanding to be heard.  
It could not be denied to a person of his degree, and he spoke, applying himself to the Legat. He maintained in formal terms, that the propositions which the Diet had heard, were none of Luther's; and that it came never into the thoughts of that Doctor, either to teach, or write them: That the Legate himself, or some others devoted as he was, to the Court of Rome, had invented them: That there was no other cause of the implacable hatred and revenge which his eloquent Sermons wrought in them, but the shameful and public commerce of Indulgences, against which, he had inveighed: That the Book of the Captivity of Babylon, out of which so many blasphemies were said to be taken, was none of Luther's; or if it was, he questioned whether any of the propositions that had offended the ears of the Assembly, were found in it.  
The Legate, who with his own eyes, had read the Propositions in the book of the Captivity of Babylon, and knew that Luther had not only written it, but also Corrected the Proofs from the Press, protested that there was nothing truer than what he had asserted, and demanded that he might be admitted to prove it Judicially. The Elector replied that he could not; and the dispute grew so hot, that the Emperor was forced to interpose his Authority to put a stop to it, and impose silence, both upon the Elector and the Nuncio, by offering to speak.  
He said in a few words, that the decision of the affair in hand, required that Luther should appear personally in the Diet, out of his own mouth to give an account of what he had done, because if he confessed that he had written the book of the Captivity of Babylon, the debate betwixt the Elector and the Nuncio would be at an end; and if he disowned it, than the Nuncio might be allowed to make it out. The opinion of his Imperial Majesty was so universally followed, that the Elector of Saxony with all his credit could not hinder but that Luther was sent for: but he soon started strange difficulties about the Security that should be given him. The Emperor offered a safe-conduct, but the Lutherans were not satisfied with that. The instances of John Huss, and Jerome of Prague, who were burnt notwithstanding the like assurance given, increased their distrust, when they called to mind, that both of them had repaired to the Council of Constance, upon the Security of a safe-conduct in good form, from the Emperor Sigismond; and yet for all that had been punished with the most dreadful of punishments. They knew besides, that the Council had not wanted Divines, who to excuse what it had done, had then, and since, maintained that Faith was not to be kept to Heretics; and that there were still Catholic Schools which actually taught, That the attempts of Luther, against Religion, and the Holy See, being of public Notoriety, it was not reasonable to suffer them; and that one might with a safe Conscience dispense with the breach of promise that might be given him, since he himself had neither kept his word to God nor man. From thence they concluded, that it would be the way to undo Luther, to consent that he should come into a place where his enemies would be the stronger, and that the Emperor should be Petitioned to be satisfied that Luther should answer in writing to the Accusations of the Nuncio: but the Catholic Deputies could not endure that any more should be required than a safe-conduct for a simple Monk such as Luther. They maintained that it was injurious to the Emperor, to suspect him of unfaithfulness on that occasion; and that they who sought extraordinary security for Luther, did him incomparably more hurt than good, because they turned against him, the prejudice of all disinterested persons, by giving them occasion to believe that they must needs think him not altogether innocent, seeing they were so fearful that the Law of Nations might be violated in respect of him in the securest place of the Empire.  
The Reasons of the Catholic Deputies had infallibly carried it from the Arguments of Luther's friends, if the Votes of these had not been fortified when it was least thought on by the Deputies of the Imperial Cities. One part of them had openly declared for Luther, and the other part had given secret instructions to their Deputies to favour him underhand as much as they could. They failed not to do it upon occasion of the safe conduct, and represented so strongly that it was not enough now, to have one expeded in the ancient form, since the Fathers of the Council of Constance had discovered a way how it might be safely violated, that the Emperor was forced to consent that a new one might be found out that should content the friends of Luther, and the Deputies of the Imperial Towns, without absolutely displeasing the rest of the Diet. Chieures had the Commission to do it, and acquitted himself in it with universal approbation, having used such strains of wit, as cannot be better expressed, than by the great blazes of a light when it is upon the point of going out.  
He had in the last Assemblies of the Diet wherein Luther was mentioned, observed those who were most favourable unto him; and seeing he made no doubt but that they would defend him in the Diet, at the peril of their lives, in case they offered to Arrest him, he thought there would be no danger in it to suffer them to be his Security; seeing as they were then disposed they would not fail to perform that duty, though it were not desired they should. He thereupon sounded the Elector of Saxony and Landgrave of Hesse, whilst the Emperor's ablest Agents sounded some of the Princes of Brunswick and Brandenbourg, whether they were in the humour to join their Guarranty with that of his Majesty, to assure Luther that he might come to the Diet, and return back again with all safety. These Princes, who expected not that such a thing should be demanded of them, granted it with the more joy, that it eased them of a great trouble: For so soon as they heard it moved, that Luther should be obliged to appear, they made no doubt but that the Diet would agree to it; and seeing they foresaw that the Emperor, to engage the Court of Rome in his interests against France, would Sacrifice unto them Luther, they supposed that his Majesty would seize the person of that Monk, whether he retracted or persisted in his new Doctrines; and send him into Italy under a sure Guard, where he would be tried as a broacher of Heresies. They had resolved by all means, to withstand that pretended violence with the assistance of Sequinguen a Lutheran Gentleman, who commanded a pretty considerable number of Soldiers in the neighbourhood of Worms, and had promised to stand by them if it were necessary. The only inconvenience which seemed to them inevitable, was the Judicial procedures, whereby the Emperor and Court of Rome would prosecute them with all vigour, so soon as they should have saved Luther. The Court of Rome would put their Territories under an Interdict, and the Emperor punish them with the Outlawry of the Empire. They were not very apprehensive of the Thunders of the Holy See; because there was no Army in readiness to Second them; but they feared so much the more to be proscribed by their Secular Magistrate, who was the Emperor, as that they knew that the Laws of Germany authorised the punishing of the attempt, which they had a design to commit. They could not be secured against those Laws, but by the Guarranty that was demanded; because if they granted it, and maintained the liberty of Luther, though by force of Arms, they would always be excused for having kept, even contrary to the Emperors will, a promise which they made not only with his consent, but more, at his solicitation; and if these two Pretexts were wanting, they could not avoid the Confiscation of their Lands, what other colour soever they might take for having rescued Luther from his Imperial Majesty.  
They made answer then to Chieures, that the Emperor did them too great an honour, to admit of them to join with him in promise, and that they consented to it with all their hearts. But Chieures not resting there, asked them, if they thought after that, that Luther would make any more difficulty to come; and the Elector of Saxony, bolder than the rest, because he had him in his Country, replied, that if he came not, he would fetch him himself, rather than that his Imperial Majesty should want the satisfaction of seeing and hearing him, seeing he seemed to desire it. Chieures having in this manner negotiated with the Lutherans, conferred with the Catholic Deputies; and represented to them, that the Nuncio and Elector of Saxony had brought the business of Luther to that pass, that it was absolutely necessary the Monk should come himself, and give the Diet an account of his Doctrine: That it signified nothing in what manner the safe-conduct were framed to be sent unto him, seeing it was the Emperor's intention to be punctual to him in his word, and could not violate it without kindling a Civil War in Germany; but he judged it convenient that there should be inserted in the safe-conduct, a condition which might be sufficient to secure the Catholic Religion from all prejudice: That the condition was to stipulate that Luther, neither upon his way from Wittenberg to Worms, nor during his stay there, should not preach, writ, or speak, in any manner, of the opinions which he had, contrary to the Sentiments of the Ancient Church. The Catholic Deputies approved the safe-conduct with the qualification proposed, and Chieures caused it immediately to be expeded: But humane frailty never moves those who seriously reflect upon it to greater compassion, than when they consider that the greatest men are so subject to failing, that though they be so happy as not to commit faults in projecting difficult affairs, yet they are not so in the execution of them. Prudence could do no more, as to the manner how Chieures had adjusted the safe-conduct; and it is acknowledged that no inconvenience would have ensued upon it, if it had been entrusted to faithful hands: But it was Chieures his misfortune, to make a bad choice of him who was employed to carry it to Luther. The Emperor had brought up a young Germane Gentleman called John Sturmie, who promised much. There were none at the Court of Bruxelles that applied themselves so much to study as he, and yet none had less than he contracted the imperfections of Students: it had rendered him neither more sullen, nor less gay, more vain, nor less charming in Conversation: He succeeded the best in all sorts of Exercise, and the politeness of his manners equalled that of his mind. Chieures, who esteemed him according to the merit that he observed in him, proposed him often to the Emperor for little Negotiations, till more maturity of age might make him capable of greater. He procured him the Commission of bringing Luther from Wittenberg, and conducting him to Worms, of defraying his charges upon the road, and of observing him so strictly, that he might not be able to contravene the condition of the safe-conduct, though he might have a mind to do it: But Chieures knew not that Sturmie was the unsittest person of the Emperor's Court for the employment he designed him for, and that he was in Judgement and Inclination a Lutheran, though he had till then dissembled his change of Religion. The Emperor's and Duke of Saxony's Letters to Luther were no sooner expeded, but Sturmie parted from Worms with a very Magnificent Train, having for that end added money of his own to that which was given him for the discharge of his Commission. Luther, who would not have budged, if they had sent one less affectionate to conduct him, or who at least would not have undertaken the journey, but with fear and trembling, and as a Criminal led to execution; joyfully set out upon the word of Sturmie, and traveled as in Triumph; his Conductor having intimated to him privately that a more favourable occasion could not be offered of spreading his doctrine in a trice all over Germany, by publishing it himself, with that extraordinary eloquence which was natural to him in the most August Theatre in Europe: That he had so little cause of fear to appear there, that his enemies dreaded nothing so much as to see him there: That they had used all manner of artifices to divert the Emperor from sending for him; but that at length the Solicitations of the Elector of Saxony, and the obligation which the Emperor had to that Prince, had carried it over the Officers of the Court of Rome: That the safe-conduct was such as it ought to be, and that Luther should not boggle at the condition therein inserted: That it was, indeed, granted to the importunity of the Papists, but that it bond no more than as he thought convenient; and that he assured him before hand, that he himself would not be called to an account for not having observed him.  
In this confidence Luther parted from Wittenberg with Sturmie, and took along with him three of the most famous Divines of that City, whom he had engaged in his party. He boldly traveled over the greatest part of Germany; and in all places found the road full of curious people who came out to see a Monk, who was so variously talked of in the world, and with so much heat. The crowd consisted of persons of quality as well as of those of inferior rank; and both sorts took notice that he loved Music and good Cheer. He never eat in public without one of the two, and most frequently without both together. After dinner sometimes he took his Lute, on which he played tightly well: He sailed not to Preach in the Towns where he made any stay; and by one Sermon he turned the Town of Ausdors wholly Lutheran. His Preaching in Erford was a continued satire against the Court of Rome upon occasion of Merit and the satisfaction of Good Works; and that it might produce the greater effect, it was no sooner preached, but that with Sturmie's consent it was Printed, which was a manifest contravention of the Orders he had received.  
Next day after Luther arrived at Worms he had Audience of the Emperor, who received him well: but his Majesty sent him word afterwards, that he should precisely Answer the Interrogatories that were to be put to him in full Diet, and not to enlarge, as his usual way was, in superfluous discourses. Luther obeyed that order no more than he had complied with the condition of the safe-conduct. He came into the Diet the Sixteenth of April, 1521, and the Adversary that was to encounter him was Ekius Provisor of the Archbishopric of Treves. Ekius told him, that he was sent for, for two things; the one to know from his own mouth, if he had written, and if he owned for his, the Books that were Printed in his name; and the other if he was ready to maintain all the Propositions contained in them, and if he intended not to retract any of them. The Demand seemed too wide to one of the three Divines whom Luther had brought with him from Worms, and he said, that the Books out of which the Propositions were taken aught to be specified, to the end that Luther might make a more Categorical Answer. Ekius thought the Objection reasonable; and seeing he foresaw that it would be made to him, he took out of his Pocket a Catalogue of Luther's works, with the date of the Edition, the name of the Towns and Printers. He read it distinctly and with a loud voice; and then turning to Luther, pressed him to explain himself without ambiguity.  
Luther then made Answer, that he could not but own for his, all the books that had been reckoned up to him. That the truth was, he had composed them: that he would never deny it; and that that was all that he had to say to the first interrogatory of Ekius: but that, as to the second, which concerned the Revocation of what he had written, he adjured all his Auditors to consider, that his rashness would be insupportable, if he complied with it upon the spot, and without convenient reflection upon the Subjects which he had handled, seeing the Salvation of Souls, and the Power of the Word of God was concerned. From thence he concluded, that he ought to be allowed time to Revise, what had dropped from his Pen during the space of four years; and that then he promised to answer with all necessary sincerity, for the discharge of his own Conscience, and giving the glory which belonged to God.  
Luther's answer perplexed the Diet; and the general murmur that followed upon it, was a proof of the same. The Emperor was but too sensible of it when the matter was put to the Vote; and he found the Voices so divided, that he had much a do to bring them to his own opinion, which nevertheless at length carried it. The zealous Catholics would have had Luther explain himself at the very instant, because they understood that he should be condemned and punished immediately after he had spokn. The Lutherans, on the contrary, being persuaded that the best of Luther's talents was his Eloquence, were for having him display it to the Diet in its full extent; and would by consequence have his answer delayed, until the conclusion of the Diet; to the end he might have time to prepare his harangue, and to render it more efficacious. The Emperor's opinion held a mean betwixt the two that we have mentioned; and contained all that was good in either of them, without running to extremes, in the point which was thought dangerous. His Majesty thought that Luther might have ground to complain that he was too rigorously dealt with, if he were forced to explain himself instantly, concerning so many novelties of which he was accused; but it seemed to him also, that a day might suffice him to come to a final resolution about matters which he could not but many times have thought on, and that if a longer time were granted him, he would but abuse it.  
The Emperor was so successful as to bring both parties to this; and then commanded Ekius to tell Luther that the Diet knew very well, that he was not come without being informed of the ground for which he was sent for, nor without having taken his measures, as to what he was to Answer, and that so his Majesty did him no injustice, though he granted him not the time which he demanded: That nevertheless, to take from him even the Pretexts of complaining, and to use him with all clemency, the Emperor allowed him four and twenty hours for the longest delay: That he should return then next day at the same hour; and that he should have Audience, provided he brought with him nothing in writing, and that he did only speak. Luther obeyed, and next day returned to the Diet at the time prefixed. He spoke two full hours, and made an harangue, which was the abridgement of his book of the Captivity of Babylon. Ekius being impatient to hear him out, and perceiving that he spoke nothing of retracting, interrupted him, and asked whether or no he persisted in maintaining the Propositions which he had owned for his own. Luther answered that he could not, nor would not revoke any thing of what he had written, until he were convinced of his error, by evident Texts of Scripture, and invincible Arguments: That these were the only Weapons that he pretended should be used against him, seeing he had no other to attack his Adversaries with. That he submitted not to the Authority of Councils and Popes, because he had observed an infinite number of cases, wherein both had been mistaken; and that it was no more in his power to retract what he had written, than not to believe it.  
It is probable that the blunder of Ekius discomposed the affair, which till then Chieures had successfully carried on; and that if that Divine had not interrupted Luther in the beginning of his speech, and before the Orator had observed in the countenance of his hearers the effect that it wrought upon them; Luther being doubtful of the success, and in the cool that men are commonly in upon such occasions, would not at all have declared, or at least not so plainly in Justification of his Writings. But after that a continued discourse of two hours long, had exceedingly warmed him, and that he observed that what he said pleased one half of the Assembly; his boldness increased, and drew from him what never would have come out of his mouth upon any other occasion. That which raised highest indignation in the Catholics was, that Luther added to what we have related, these words, which are the conclusion of all Oaths that are taken, So help me God, Amen; and that the Deputies of the Diet broke up upon it immediately without going to a Vote.  
Luther, as he went out, received such Applauses from those who favoured him, as he had not expected: many to do him honour waited upon him to his Lodgings, and Chieures who visited him the day following, laboured in vain to draw a Recantation from him. He excused himself under pretext of the Oath which he had taken; but the true cause of his Obstinacy was, that he thought himself engaged in honour to maintain as long as he lived, what once he had declared in full Diet. What we have now related happened about the end of April, 1521, and some days after Chieures was poisoned; or the poison that was long before given him began to work, if the relations of his death be more certain in the latter part of this alternative than in the former. He supported his evil with extraordinary patience: and died the Eighteenth of May, 1521. in the City of Worms, at the age of 63 years. The Duke of Ascot his Nephew and Heir succeeded him in his Places, and in the Emperor's favour, who by that evidenced more effectually than by the Tears which he shed, the regret that he had for his loss. The Judgement that was made of Chieures was, that he infinitely surpassed all the Governors of great Princes that went before him; and that if he had lived longer, the War that was not as yet directly broken out betwixt France and Spain, would have been by his care prevented, and would not have occasioned either the Conquest of the Duchy of Milan, or the Battle of Pavia.  
FINIS.