The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Volume III Part 23

[7] Ximenes equipped and paid out of his own funds a strong corps, for the ostensible purpose of protecting the queen's person, but quite as much to enforce order by checking the turbulent spirit of the grandees; a stretch of authority, which this haughty body could ill brook. (Robles, Vida de Ximenez, cap. 17.) Zurita, indeed, who thinks the archbishop had a strong relish for sovereign power, accuses him of being "at heart much more of a king than a friar." (a.n.a.les, tom. vi. lib. 7, cap. 29.) Gomez, on the contrary, traces every political act of his to the purest patriotism. (De Rebus Gestis, fol. 70, et alib.) In the mixed motives of action, Ximenes might probably have been puzzled himself, to determine how much belonged to the one principle, and how much to the other.

[8] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 351.--L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 187.--Lanuza, Historias, tom. i. lib. 1, cap. 21.--Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. vi. lib. 7, cap. 19, 22, 25, 30, 39.--Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iv.

p. 76, ed Milano, 1803.--Robles, Vida de Ximenez, cap. 17.--Sandoval, Hist. del Emp. Carlos V., tom. i. p. 12.

[9] Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, lib. 30, cap. 1-5.--Summonte, Hist. di Napoli, tom. iv. lib. 6, cap. 5.--L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 187.

--Buonaccorsi, Diario, p. 129.--Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 210.

--Signorelli, Coltura nelle Sicilie, tom. iv. p. 84.

The learned Neapolitan civilian, Giannone, bears emphatic testimony to the general excellence of the Spanish legislation for Naples. Ubi supra.

[10] Giovio, Vitae Ill.u.s.t. Virorum, p. 102.--Chronica del Gran Capitan, lib. 3.

[11] Machiavelli expresses his astonishment, that Gonsalvo should have been the dupe of promises, the very magnitude of which made them suspicious. "Ho sent.i.to ragionare di questo accordo fra Consalvo e il Re, e maravigliarsi ciascuno che Consalvo se ne fidi; _e quanto qual Re e stato piu liberale verso di lui, tanto piu, ne insospettisce la brigata,_ pensando che il Re abbi fatto per a.s.sicurarlo, e per poterne meglio disporre sotto questa sicurta." (Legazione Seconda a Roma, let. 23, Oct.

6.) But what alternative had he, unless indeed that of open rebellion, for which he seems to have had no relish? And, if he had, it was too late after Ferdinand was in Naples.

[12] Chronica del Gran Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 3.--Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. vi.

lib. 7, cap. 6, 49.--Giovio, Vitae Ill.u.s.t. Virorum, p. 279.

"Vos el il.u.s.tre Don Gonzalo Hernandez de Cordoba," begins the instrument, "Duque de Terra Nova, Marques de Santangelo y Vitonto, y mi Condestable del reyno de Napoles, nuestro muy charo y muy amado primo, y uno del nuestro secreto Consejo," etc. (See the doc.u.ment, apud Quintana, Espanoles Celebres, tom. i. Apend. no. 1.) The revenues from his various estates amounted to 40,000 ducats. Zurita speaks of another instrument, a public manifesto of the Catholic king, proclaiming to the world his sense of his general's exalted services and unimpeachable loyalty. (a.n.a.les, tom. vi.

lib. 8, cap. 3.) This sort of testimony seems to contain an implication not very flattering, and on the whole is so improbable, that I cannot but think the Aragonese historian has confounded it with the grant of Sessa, bearing precisely the same date, February 25th, and containing also, though incidentally, and as a thing of course, the most ample tribute to the Great Captain.--Comp. also Pulgar, Sum., p. 138.

[13] Tacitus may explain why. "Beneficia eo usque laeta sunt, dum videntur exsolvi posse; ubi multum antevenere, pro gratia odium redditur."

(Annales, lib. 4. sec. 18.) "Il n'est pas si dangereux," says Rochefoucault, in a more caustic vein, "de faire du mal a la plupart des hommes, que de leur faire trop de bien."

[14] Giovio, Vitae Ill.u.s.t. Virorum, pp. 280, 281.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 20, cap. 9.--Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, lib. 30, cap. 1.-- Summonte, Hist. di Napoli, tom. iv. lib. 6, cap 5.--Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iv. p. 72.--Chronica del Gran Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 4.

[15] "Spettacolo certamente memorabile, vedere insieme due Re potentissimi tra tutti i Principi Cristiani, stati poco innanzi si acerbissimi inimici, non solo riconciliati, e congiunti di parentado, ma deposti i segni dell'

odio, e della memoria delle offese, commettere ciascuno di loro la vita propria in arbitrio dell' altro con non minore confidenza, che se sempre fossero stati concordissimi fratelli." (Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iv. p.

75.) This astonishment of the Italian is an indifferent tribute to the habitual good faith of the times.

[16] D'Auton, Hist. de Louys XII., part. 3, chap. 38.--Buonaccorsi, Diario, p. 132.--St. Gelais, Hist. de Louys XII, p. 204.

Germaine appears to have been no great favorite with the French chroniclers. "Et y estoit sa femme Germaine de Fouez, _qui tenoit une marveilleuse audace_. Elle fist peu de compte de tous les Francois, mesmement de son frere, le gentil duc de Nemours." (Memoires de Bayard, chap. 27, apud Pet.i.tot, Collection des Memoires, tom. xv.) See also Fleurange, (Memoires, chap. 19, apud Pet.i.tot, Collection des Memoires, tom. xvi.) who notices the same arrogant bearing.

[17] For fighting, and feasting, and all the generous pastimes of chivalry, none of the old French chroniclers of this time rivals D'Auton.

He is the very Froissart of the sixteenth century. A part of his works still remains in ma.n.u.script. That which is printed retains the same form, I believe, in which it was given to the public by G.o.defroy, in the beginning of the seventeenth century; while many an inferior chronicler and memoirmonger has been published and republished, with all the lights of editorial erudition.

[18] D'Auton, Hist. de Louys XII., part. 3, chap. 38.--Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., ubi supra.--Bembo, Istoria Viniziana, lib. 7.--St. Gelais, Hist. de Louys XII., p. 201.

[19] Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iv. pp. 76, 77.--Giovio, Vitae Ill.u.s.t.

Virorum, p. 282.--Chronica del Gran Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 4.

"Ma non dava minore materia ai ragionamenti il Gran Capitano, al quale non erano meno volti gli occhi degli uomini per la fama del suo valore, e per la memoria di tante vittorie, la quale faceva, che i Franzesi, ancora che vinti tante volte di lui, e che solevano avere in sommo odio, e orrore il suo nome, non si sazia.s.sero di contemplarlo e onorarlo. ***** E accresceva l'ammirazione degli uomini la maesta eccellente della presenza sua, la magnificenza delle parole, i gesti, e la maniera piena di gravita condita di grazia: ma sopra tutti il Re di Francia," etc. Guicciardini, ubi supra.

[20] Brantome, Vies des Hommes Ill.u.s.tres, disc. 6.--Chronica del Gran Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 4.--Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iv. pp. 77, 78.-- D'Auton, Hist. de Louys XII., ubi supra.--Quintana, Espanoles Celebres, tom. i. p. 319.--Memoires de Bayard, chap. 27, apud Pet.i.tot, Collection des Memoires, tom. xv.--Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 210.-- Pulgar, Sumario, p. 195.

[21] D'Auton, Hist. de Louys XII., part. 3, chap. 38.--Buonaccorsi, Diario, p. 133.--Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V., fol. 36.

[22] King Ferdinand had granted him the t.i.tle and territory of Oliveto in the kingdom of Naples, in recompense for his eminent services in the Italian wars. Aleson, Annales de Navarra, tom. v. p. 178.--Giovio, Vitae Ill.u.s.t. Virorum, p. 190.

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

lib. 8, cap. 4, 7.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 358.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 74.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS.

[24] Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 75.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist.

363.--Zurita, a.n.a.les, lib. 8, cap. 49.--Sandoval, Hist. del Emp. Carlos V., tom. i. p. 13.

Philip's remains were afterwards removed to the cathedral church of Granada; where they were deposited, together with those of his wife Joanna, in a magnificent sepulchre erected by Charles V., near that of Ferdinand and Isabella. Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, lib. 3, cap. 7.-- Colmenar, Delices de l'Espagne et du Portugal, (Leide, 1715,) tom. iii. p.

490.

[25] Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. vi. lib. 7, cap. 26, 34; lib. 9, cap. 20.

See the bold language of the protest of the marquis of Priego, against this a.s.sumption of the regency by the Catholic king. "En caso tan grande,"

he says, "que se trata de gobernacion de grandes reinos e senorios justa e razonable cosa fuera, e seria que fueramos llamados e certificados de ello, porque yo e los otros caballeros grandes e las ciudades e alcaldes mayores vieramos lo que debiamos hacer e consentir como vasallos e leales servidores de la reina nuestra senora, porque la administration e gobernacion destos reinos se diera e concediera a quien las leyes destos reynos mandan que se den e encomienden en caso," etc. (MS. de la Biblioteca de la Real Acad. de Hist., apud Marina, Teoria, tom. ii. part.

2, cap. 18.) Marina, however, is not justified in regarding Ferdinand's subsequent convocation of cortes for this purpose, as a concession to the demands of the nation. (Teoria, ubi supra.) It was the result of the treaty of Blois, with Maximilian, guaranteed by Louis XII., the object of which was to secure the succession to the archduke Charles. Zurita, a.n.a.les, lib. 8, cap. 47.

[26] Giovio, Vitae Ill.u.s.t. Virorum, p. 282.--Chronica del Gran Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 4.

[27] Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. vi. lib. 8, cap. 10.--MSS. de Torres y de Oviedo, apud Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Il.u.s.t. 6.--D'Auton, Hist.

de Louys XII., part. 3, chap. 38.

The Catholic king was very minute in his inquiries, according to Auton, "du faict et de l'estat des gardes du Roy, et de ses Gentilshommes, qu'il reputoit a grande chose, et triomphale ordonnance." Ubi supra.

[28] Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 210.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 363.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 75.--Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. vi. lib. 8, cap. 15.

[29] "Montiliana," writes Peter Martyr, "illa atria, quae vidisti aliquando, multo auro, multoque ebore compta ornataque, proh dolor!

funditus dirui sunt jussa." (Opus Epist., epist. 405.) He was well acquainted with the lordly halls of Montilla, for he had been preceptor to their young master, who was a favorite pupil, to judge from the bitter wailings of the kind-hearted pedagogue over his fate. See epist. 404, 405.

[30] Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 215.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 392, 393, 405.--Giovio, Vitae Ill.u.s.t. Virorum, p. 284.-- Zurita, a.n.a.les, tom. vi. lib. 8, cap. 20, 21, 22.--Carbajal, a.n.a.les, MS., ano 1507.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 20, cap. 10.--Chronica del Gran Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 6.--Sandoval, Hist. del Emp. Carlos V., tom. i.

p. 13.

[31] Giovio, Vitae Ill.u.s.t. Virorum, p, 282.--Pulgar, Sumario, p. 197.

[32] Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 210.--Giovio, Vitae Ill.u.s.t.

Virorum, ubi supra.--Chronica del Gran Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 5.

[33] Quintana errs in stating that Dona Elvira _married_ the constable.

(Espanoles Celebres, tom. i. p. 321.) He had two wives, Dona Blanca de Herrera, and Dona Juana de Aragon, and at his death was laid by their side in the church of Santa Clara de Medina del Pomar. (Salazar de Mendoza, Dignidades, lib. 3, cap. 21.) Elvira married the count of Cabra. Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V., fol. 42.

[34] Bernardino de Velasco, _grand_ constable of Castile, as he was called, _par excellence_, succeeded in 1492 to that dignity, which became hereditary in his family. He was third count of Haro, and was created by the Catholic sovereigns, for his distinguished services, duke of Frias. He had large estates, chiefly in Old Castile, with a yearly revenue, according to L. Marineo, of 60,000 ducats. He appears to have possessed many n.o.ble and brilliant qualities, accompanied, however, with a haughtiness, which made him feared, rather than loved. He died in February, 1512, after a few hours' illness, as appears by a letter of Peter Martyr. Opus Epist., epist. 479.--Salazar de Mendoza, Dignidades, ubi supra.--L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 23.

[35] Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, pp. 282, 283.

[36] Giovio, Vitae Ill.u.s.t. Virorum, pp. 284, 285.--Chronica del Gran Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 6.--Pulgar, Sumario, p. 208.

[37] The inscription on Guicciardini's monument might have been written on Gonsalvo's.

"Cujus negotium, an otium gloriosius incertum."

See Pignotti, Storia della Toscana, (Pisa, 1813,) tom. ix. p. 155.