The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Volume III Part 21

[10] Mariana, Hist. de Espana, lib. 28, cap. 12.--Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. vi.

lib. 6, cap. 5.

[11] Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. vi. lib. 7, cap. 6.--Guicciardini, Istoria, tom.

iv. p. 12, ed. di Milano, 1803.--Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, lib. 30, cap. 1.--Giovio, Vitae Ill.u.s.t. Virorum, p. 280.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 3, dial. 9.

[12] Giannone, Istoria de Napoli, ubi supra.--Summonte, Hist. di Napoli, tom. iv. lib. 6, cap. 5.--L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 187.-- Buonaccorsi Diario, p. 123.--Capmany, Mem. de Barcelona, tom. i. p. 152.-- "Este," says Capmany of the squadron which bore the king from Barcelona, "se puede decir fue el ultimo armamento que salio de aquella capital."

[13] Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iv. p. 30.--Machiavelli, Legazione Seconda a Roma, let. 23.--Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, lib. 30, cap. 1.

[14] Zurita, a.n.a.les, lib. 6, cap. 31.

[15] My limits will not allow room for the complex politics and feuds of Italy, into which Gonsalvo entered with all the freedom of an independent potentate. See the details, apud Chronica del Gran Capitan, lib. 2, cap.

112-127.--Sismondi, Republiques Italiennes, tom. xiii. chap. 103.-- Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iii. p. 235 et alibi.--Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom.

vi. lib. 6, cap. 7, 9.--Carta del Gran Capitan, MS.

[16] Zurita, a.n.a.les, lib. 6, cap. 11.

[17] "Il Gran Capitan," says Guicciardini, "conscio dei sospetti, i quali il re _forse non vanamente_ aveva avuti di lui," etc. (Istoria, tom, iv. p. 30.) This way of d.a.m.ning a character by surmise, is very common with Italian writers of this age, who uniformly resort to the very worst motive as the key of whatever is dubious or inexplicable in conduct. Not a sudden death, for example, occurs, without at least a _sospetto_ of poison from some hand or other. What a fearful commentary on the morals of the land!

[18] Philip's disorder was lightly regarded at first by his Flemish physicians; whose practice and predictions were alike condemned by their coadjutor Lodovico Marliano, an Italian doctor, highly commended by Martyr, as "inter philosophos et medicos lucida lampas." 'He was at least the better prophet on this occasion. Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist.

313.--Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. vi. lib. 7, cap. 14.

[19] Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 3, dial. 9.--Fortunately for Ferdinand's reputation, Philip's death was attended by too unequivocal circ.u.mstances, and recorded by too many eyewitnesses, to admit the suggestion of poison. It seems he drank freely of cold water while very hot. The fever he brought on was an epidemic, which at that time afflicted Castile. Machiavelli, Legazione Seconda a Roma, let. 29.--Zuniga, Annales de Sevilla, ano 1506.

[20] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 313, 316.--Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 206.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 66.--Carbajal, a.n.a.les, MS., ano 1506.--L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 187.--Sandoval, Hist. del Emp. Carlos V., tom. i. p. 11.

[21] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 187, 188.--Sandoval, Hist. del Emp. Carlos V., ubi supra.

Martyr, touched with the melancholy fate of his young sovereign, pays the following not inelegant, and certainly not parsimonious tribute to his memory, in a letter written a few days after his death, which, it may be noticed, he makes a day earlier than other contemporary accounts. "Octavo Calendas Octobris animam emisit ille juvenis, formosus, pulcher, elegans, animo pollens et ingesio, procerae validaeque naturae, uti flos vernus evanuit." Opus Epist., epist. 316.

[22] Garcila.s.so de la Vega appears to have been one of those dubious politicians, who, to make use of a modern phrase, are always "on the fence." The wags of his day applied to him a coa.r.s.e saying of the old duke of Alva in Henry IV.'s time, "Que era como el perro del ventero, que ladra a los de fuera, y muerde a los de dentro." Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. vi. lib.

7, cap. 39.

[23] Mariana, Hist. de Espana, tom. ii. lib. 29, cap. 2.--Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 206.--Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. vi. lib. 7, cap. 22.

[24] Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. vi. lib. 7, cap. 15.--Mariana, Hist. de Espana, tom. ii. lib. 29, cap. 1.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 317.--Zuniga, Annales de Sevilla, ano 1506.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 67.

[25] Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. vi. lib. 7, cap. 16.

I find no authority for the statement made by Alvaro Gomez (De Rebus Gestis, fol. 68), and faithfully echoed by Robles (Vida de Ximenez, cap.

17) and Quintanilla (Archetypo, lib. 3, cap. 14), that Ximenes filled the office of sole regent at this juncture. It is not warranted by Martyr, (Opus Epist., epist. 317,) and is contradicted by the words of the original instrument cited as usual by Zurita, (ubi supra.) The archbishop's biographers, one and all, claim as many merits and services for their hero, as if, like Quintanilla, they were working expressly for his beatification.

[26] The duke of Alva, the staunch supporter of King Ferdinand in all his difficulties, objected to calling the cortes together, on the grounds, that the summonses, not being by the proper authority, would be informal; that many cities might consequently refuse to obey them, and the acts of the remainder be open to objection, as not those of the nation; that, after all, should cortes a.s.semble, it was quite uncertain under what influences it might be made to act, and whether it would pursue the course most expedient for Ferdinand's interests; and finally, that if the intention was to procure the appointment of a regency, this had already been done by the nomination of King Ferdinand at Toro, in 1505; that to start the question anew was unnecessarily to bring that act into doubt.

The duke does not seem to have considered that Ferdinand had forfeited his original claim to the regency by his abdication; perhaps, on the ground, that it had never been formally accepted by the commons. I shall have occasion to return to this hereafter. See the discussion _in extenso_, apud Zurita, a.n.a.les, lib. 7, cap. 26.

[27] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 318.--Mariana, Hist. de Espana, tom. ii. lib. 29, cap. 2.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 71-73.

[28] Zurita, a.n.a.les, lib. 7, cap. 22.

[29] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 187.--Zuniga, Annales de Sevilla, ano 1506.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 317.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 68, 69, 71.

Shall we wrong Ferdinand much by applying to him the pertinent verses of Lucan, on a somewhat similar occasion?

"Tutumque putavit Jam bonus esse socer; lacrymas non sponte cadentes Effudit, gemitusque expressit pectore laeto, Non aliter manifesta putans abscondere mentis Gaudia, quam lacrymis."

Pharsalia, lib. 9.

[30] "Un re glorioso per tante vittorie avute contro gl' Infedeli, e contro i Cristiani, venerabile per opinione di prudenza, e del quale risonava fama Cristianissima, che avesse con singolare giustizia, e tranquillita governato i reami suoi." Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iv. p.

31.--Also Buonaccorsi, Diario, p. 124.--Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, lib.

30, cap. 1.

[31] Summonte, Hist. di Napoli, tom. iv. lib. 6, cap. 5.--Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iv. p. 31.--Giovio, Vitae Ill.u.s.t. Virorum, pp. 278, 279.-- Bembo, Istoria Viniziana, lib. 7.

[32] Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 210.--Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. vi.

lib. 7, cap. 20.--Giovio, Vitae Ill.u.s.t. Virorum, ubi supra.--Garibay, Compendio, lib. 20, cap. 9.

[33] Zurita, a.n.a.les, ubi supra.--Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iv. pp. 72, 73.

[34] Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, lib. 30, cap. 1.--Summonte, Hist. di Napoli, tom. iv. lib. 6, cap. 5.--Buonaccorsi, Diario, p. 129.-- Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iv. p. 71.

[35] Such, for example, was the fate of the doughty little cavalier, Pedro de la Paz, the gallant Leyva, so celebrated in the subsequent wars of Charles V., the amba.s.sador Rojas, the Quixotic Paredes, and others. The last of these adventurers, according to Mariana, endeavored to repair his broken fortunes by driving the trade of a corsair in the Levant. Hist. de Espana, tom. ii. lib. 29, cap. 4.

[36] If any one would see a perfect specimen of the triumph of style, let him compare the interminable prolixities of Zurita with Mariana, who, in this portion of his narrative, has embodied the facts and opinions of his predecessor, with scarcely any alteration, save that of greater condensation, in his own transparent and harmonious diction. It is quite as great a miracle in its way as the _rifacimento_ of Berni.

CHAPTER XX.

FERDINAND'S RETURN AND REGENCY.--GONSALVO'S HONORS AND RETIREMENT.

1506-1509

Joanna's Mad Conduct.--She Changes her Ministers.--Disorders in Castile.-- Ferdinand's Politic Behavior.--He Leaves Naples.--His Brilliant Reception by Louis XII.--Honors to Gonsalvo.--Ferdinand's Return to Castile.--His Excessive Severity.--Neglect of the Great Captain.--His Honorable Retirement.

While Ferdinand was thus occupied in Naples, the representatives of most of the cities, summoned by the provisional government, had a.s.sembled in Burgos. Before entering on business, they were desirous to obtain the queen's sanction to their proceedings. A committee waited on her for that purpose, but she obstinately refused to give them audience. [1]

She still continued plunged in moody melancholy, exhibiting, however, occasionally the wildest freaks of insanity. Towards the latter end of December, she determined to leave Burgos, and remove her husband's remains to their final resting-place in Granada. She insisted on seeing them herself, before her departure. The remonstrances of her counsellors, and the holy men of the monastery of Miraflores, proved equally fruitless.

Opposition only roused her pa.s.sions into frenzy, and they were obliged to comply with her mad humors. The corpse was removed from the vault; the two coffins of lead and wood were opened, and such as chose gazed on the mouldering relics, which, notwithstanding their having been embalmed, exhibited scarcely a trace of humanity. The queen was not satisfied till she touched them with her own hand, which she did without shedding a tear, or testifying the least emotion. The unfortunate lady, indeed, was said never to have been seen to weep, since she detected her husband's intrigue with the Flemish courtesan.

The body was then placed on a magnificent car, or hea.r.s.e, drawn by four horses. It was accompanied by a long train of ecclesiastics and n.o.bles, who, together with the queen, left the city on the night of the 20th of December. She made her journeys by night, saying, that "a widow, who had lost the sun of her own soul, should never expose herself to the light of day." When she halted, the body was deposited in some church or monastery, where the funeral services were performed, as if her husband had just died; and a corps of armed men kept constant guard, chiefly, as it would seem, with the view of preventing any female from profaning the place by her presence. For Joanna still retained the same jealousy of her s.e.x, which she had unhappily so much cause to feel during Philip's lifetime.

[2]

In a subsequent journey, when at a short distance from Torquemada, she ordered the corpse to be carried into the court-yard of a convent, occupied, as she supposed, by monks. She was filled with horror, however, on finding it a nunnery, and immediately commanded the body to be removed into the open fields. Here she encamped with her whole party at dead of night; not, however, until she had caused the coffins to be unsealed, that she might satisfy herself of the safety of her husband's relics; although it was very difficult to keep the torches, during the time, from being extinguished by the violence of the wind, and leaving the company in total darkness. [3]

These mad pranks, savoring of absolute idiocy, were occasionally checkered by other acts of more intelligence, but not less startling. She had early shown a disgust to her father's old counsellors, and especially to Ximenes, who, she thought, interfered too authoritatively in her domestic concerns. Before leaving Burgos, however, she electrified her husband's adherents, by revoking all grants made by the crown since Isabella's death. This, almost the only act she was ever known to sign, was a severe blow to the courtly tribe of sycophants, on whom the golden favors of the late reign had been so prodigally showered. At the same time she reformed her privy council, by dismissing the present members, and reinstating those appointed by her royal mother, sarcastically telling one of the ejected counsellors, that, "he might go and complete his studies at Salamanca." The remark had a biting edge to it, as the worthy jurist was reputed somewhat low in his scholars.h.i.+p. [4]

These partial gleams of intelligence, directed in this peculiar way too, led many to discern the secret influence of her father. She still, however, pertinaciously refused to sanction any measures of cortes for his recall; and, when pressed by that body on this and other matters, at an audience which she granted before leaving Burgos, she plainly told them "to return to their quarters, and not to meddle further in the public business without her express commands." Not long after this, the legislature was prorogued by the royal council for four months.