History of Civilization in England, Vol. 2 of 3

1220

‘It was to restore the Catholic Church that he desired to obtain the empire of Europe.’ Davies' History of Holland, vol. ii. p. 329. ‘El protestó siempre “que sus desinios en la guerra, y sus exercitos no se encaminauan á otra cosa, que el ensalçamiento de la Religion Christiana.”’ Vanderhammen's Don Filipe el Prudente, p. 125. ‘El que aspiraba á someter todas las naciones de la tierra á su credo religioso.’ Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. xv. p. 203. The bishop of Salamanca in 1563 openly boasted ‘que son roi ne s'étoit marié avec la reine d'Angleterre que pour ramener cette isle à l'obéissance de l'église.’ Continuation de Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, vol. xxxiii. p. 331. Compare Ortiz, Compendio, vol. vi. p. 204. ‘Este casamiento no debió de tener otras miras que el de la religion.’

1221

On this treaty, the only humiliating one which he ever concluded, see Prescott's Philip II. vol. i. p. 104. His dying advice to his son was, ‘Siempre estareis en la obediencia de la Santa Iglesia Romana, y del Sumo Pontifice, teniendole por vuestro Padre espiritual.’ Davila, Historia de la Vida de Felipe Tercero, Madrid, 1771, folio, lib. i. p. 29. According to another writer, ‘La ultima palabra que le salió con el espiritu, fue: “Yo muero como Catolico Christiano en la Fe y obediencia de la Iglesia Romana, y respeto al Papa, como á quien trae en sus manos las llaues del Cielo, como á Principe de la Iglesia, y Teniente de Dios sobre el imperio de las almas.”’ Vanderhammen, Don Filipe el Prudente, p. 124.

1222

Elizabeth, uniting the three terrible qualities of heresy, power, and ability, was obnoxious to the Spaniards to an almost incredible degree, and there never was a more thoroughly national enterprise than the fitting out of the Armada against her. One or two passages from a grave historian, will illustrate the feelings with which she was regarded even after her death, and will assist the reader in forming an opinion respecting the state of the Spanish mind. ‘Isabel, ó Jezabel, Reyna de Inglaterra, heretica Calvinista, y la mayor perseguidora que ha tenido la sangre de Jesu-Christo y los hijos de la Iglesia.’ Davila, Historia de Felipe Tercero, p. 74. ‘Los sucesos de fuera causaron admiracion; y el mayor y muy esperado de toda la Christiandad fue la muerte de Isabela, Reyna de Inglaterra, heretica Calvinista, que hizo su nombre famoso con la infamia de su vida, y perseguir á la Iglesia, derramando la sangre de los Santos, que defendian la verdadera Religion Catolica, dexando registradas sus maldades en las historias públicas del mundo, pasando su alma á coger el desdichado fruto de su obstinada soberbia en las penas del Infierno, donde conoce con el castigo perpetuo el engaño de su vida.’ pp. 83, 84.

1223

One of the most eminent of living historians well says, ‘It was Philip's enthusiasm to embody the wrath of God against heretics.’ Motley's Dutch Republic, vol. ii. p. 155. ‘Philip lived but to enforce what he chose to consider the will of God.’ p. 285.

1224

‘Personne vivante ne parloit à lui qu'à genoux, et disoit pour son excuse à cela qu'estant petit de corps, chacun eust paru plus eslevé que lui, outre qu'il sçavoit que les Espagnols estoient d'humeur si altiere et hautaine, qu'il estoit besoin qu'il les traittast de cette façon; et pour ce mesme ne se laissoit voir que peu souvent du peuple, n'y mesme des grands, sinon aux jours solemnels, et action necessaire, en cette façon? il faisoit ses commandemens à demy mot, et falloit que l'on devinast le reste, et que l'on ne manquast à bien accomplir toutes ses intentions; mesmes les gentilshommes de sa chambre, et autres qui approchoient plus près de sa personne, n'eussent osé parler devant luy s'il ne leur eust commandé, se tenant un tout seul à la fois près de la porte du lieu où il estoit, et demeurant nud teste incessamment, et appuyé contra une tapisserie, pour attendre et recevoir ses commandemens.’ Mémoires de Cheverny, pp. 352, 353, in Petitot's Collection des Mémoires, vol. xxxvi. Paris, 1823.

1225

These are the words of Contarini, as given in Ranke's Ottoman and Spanish Empires, London, 1843, p. 33. Sismondi, though unacquainted with this passage, observes in his Literature of the South of Europe, vol. ii. p. 273, London, 1846, that Philip, though ‘little entitled to praise, has yet been always regarded with enthusiasm by the Spaniards.’ About half a century after his death, Sommerdyck visited Spain, and in his curious account of that country he tells us that Philip was called ‘le Salomon de son siècle.’ Aarsens de Sommerdyck, Voyage d'Espagne, Paris, 1665, 4to, pp. 63, 95. See also Yañez, Memorias para la Historia de Felipe III., Madrid, 1723, p. 294. ‘El gran Felipe, aquel Sabio Salomon.’ Another writer likens him to Numa. ‘Hacia grandes progresos la piedad, á la qual se dedicaba tanto el Rey Don Felipe, que parecia su reynado en España lo que en Roma el de Numa, despues de Rómulo.’ Miñana Continuacion de Mariana, vol. ix. p. 241. When he died, ‘celebradas sus exêquias entre lágrimas y gemidos.’ vol. x. pp. 259, 260. We further learn from Vanderhammen's Filipe Segundo, Madrid, 1632, p. 120 rev., that the people ascribed to him ‘una grandeza adorable, y alguna cosa mas que las ordinarias á los demas hombres.’

1226

‘Habits of reverence, which, if carried into religion, cause superstition, and if carried into politics, cause despotism.’ Buckle's Hist. of Civilization, vol. ii. p. 117.

1227

‘More ballads are connected with Spanish history than with any other, and, in general, they are better. The most striking peculiarity of the whole mass is, perhaps, to be found in the degree in which it expresses the national character. Loyalty is constantly prominent. The Lord of Butrago sacrifices his own life to save that of his sovereign,’ &c. Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature, vol. i. p. 133. ‘In the implicit obedience of the old Spanish knight, the order of the king was paramount to every consideration, even in the case of friendship and love. This code of obedience has passed into a proverb – “mas pesa el Rey que la sangre,”’ Ford's Spain, p. 183. Compare the admirable little work of Mr. Lewes, The Spanish Drama, London, 1846, p. 120, ‘ballads full of war, loyalty, and love.’

1228

See some interesting remarks in M. Tapia's Civilizacion Española, vol. i. He observes that, though cruelly persecuted by Alfonso, the first thing done by the Cid, after gaining a great victory, was to order one of his captains ‘para que lleve al rey Alfonso treinta caballos árabes bien ensillados, con sendas espadas pendientes de los arzones en señal de homenage, á pesar del agravio que habia recibido.’ p. 274. And at p. 280, ‘comedido y obediente súbdito á un rey que tan mal le habia tratado.’ Southey (Chronicle of the Cid, p. 268) notices with surprise that the Cid is represented in the old chronicles as ‘offering to kiss the feet of the king.’

1229

‘Le xvie Concile de Tolède appelait les rois “vicaires de Dieu et du Christ;” et rien n'est plus fréquent dans les conciles de cette époque que leurs exhortations aux peuples pour l'observation du serment de fidélité á leur roi, et leurs anathêmes contre les séditieux.’ Sempere, Monarchie Espagnole, vol. i. p. 41. ‘Aparte de los asuntos de derecho civil y canonico y de otros varios que dicen relacion al gobierno de la iglesia, sobre los cuales se contienen en todos ellos disposiciones muy útiles y acertadas, la mayor parte de las leyes dictadas en estas asambleas tuvieron por objeto dar fuerza y estabilidad al poder real, proclamando su inviolabilidad y estableciendo graves penas contra los infractores; condenar las heregías,’ &c. Antequera, Historia de la Legislacion Española, p. 47.

1230

‘Loyalty to a superior is carried to a more atrocious length by the Spanish law than I have seen it elsewhere.’ … ‘The Partidas (P. 2, T. 13, L. 1) speaks of an old law whereby any man who openly wished to see the King dead, was condemned to death, and the loss of all that he had. The utmost mercy to be shown him was to spare his life and pluck out his eyes, that he might never see with them what he had desired. To defame the King is declared as great a crime as to kill him, and in like manner to be punished. The utmost mercy that could be allowed was to cut out the offender's tongue. P. 2, T. 13, L. 4.’ Southey's Chronicle of the Cid, p. 442. Compare Johnston's Civil Law of Spain, London, 1825, p. 269, on ‘Blasphemers of the King.’

1231

Thus, Montalvan, the eminent poet and dramatist, who was born in 1602, ‘avoided, we are told, representing rebellion on the stage, lest he should seem to encourage it.’ Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature, vol. ii. p. 283. A similar spirit is exhibited in the plays of Calderon and of Lope de Vega. On the ‘Castilian loyalty’ evinced in one of Calderon's comedies, see Hallam's Literature of Europe, 2d edit. London, 1843, vol. iii. p. 63; and as to Lope, see Lewes on the Spanish Drama, p. 78.

1232

‘His Majesty's horses could never be used by any other person. One day, while Philip IV. was going in procession to the church of Our Lady of Atocha, the Duke of Medina-de-las-Torres offered to present him with a beautiful steed which belonged to him, and which was accounted the finest in Madrid; but the King declined the gift, because he should regret to render so noble an animal ever after useless.’' Dunlop's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 372. Madame d'Aulnoy, who travelled in Spain in 1679, and who, from her position, had access to the best sources of information, was told of this piece of etiquette. ‘L'on m'a dit que lors que le Roy s'est servy d'un cheval, personne par respect ne le monte jamais.’ D'Aulnoy, Relation du Voyage d'Espagne, Lyon, 1693, vol. ii. p. 40. In the middle of the eighteenth century, I find another notice of this loyal custom, which, likely enough, is still a tradition in the Spanish stables. ‘If the king has once honoured a Pad so much as to cross his back, it is never to be used again by anybody else.’ A Tour through Spain, by Udal ap Rhys, 2d edit. London, 1760, p. 15.

1233

Madame d'Aulnoy, who was very inquisitive respecting these matters, says (Relation du Voyage d'Espagne, vol. ii. p. 411), ‘Il y a une autre étiquette, c'est qu'après que le Roi a eu une Maitresse, s'il vient à la quitter, il faut qu'elle se fasse Religieuse, comme je vous l'ai déjà écrit; et l'on m'a conté que le feu Roi s'estant amoureux d'une Dame du Palais, il fut un soir fraper doucement à la porte de sa chambre. Comme elle comprit que c'estoit lui, elle ne voulut pas lui ouvrir, et elle se contenta de lui dire au travers de la porte, Baya, baya, con Dios, no quiero ser monja; c'est à dire, “Allez allez, Dieu vous conduise, je n'ai pas envie d'estre Religieuse.”’ So too Henry IV. of Castile, who came to the throne in the year 1454, made one of his mistresses ‘abbess of a convent in Toledo;’ in this case to the general scandal, because, says Mr. Prescott, he first expelled ‘her predecessor, a lady of noble rank and irreproachable character.’ Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. i. p. 68.

1234

There is, however, one very remarkable old law, in the form of a canon enacted by the third Council of Saragossa, which orders that the royal widows ‘seront obligées à prendre l'habit de religieuses, et à s'enfermer dans un monastère pour le reste de leur vie.’ Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, vol. ix. p. 104. In 1065 Ferdinand I. died; and, says the biographer of the Spanish Queens, ‘La Reyna sobrevivió: y parece, que muerto su marido, entró en algun Monasterio; lo que expressamos no tanto por la costumbre antigua, quanto por constar en la Memoria referida de la Iglesia de Leon, el dictado de ‘Consagrada á Dios,’ frasse que denota estado Religioso.’ Florez, Memorias de las Reynas Catholicas, Madrid, 1761, 4to, vol. i. p. 148. In 1667 it was a settled principle that ‘les reines d'Espagne n'en sortent point. Le couvent de las Señoras descalças reales est fondé afin que les reines veuves s'y enferment.’ Discours du Comte de Castrillo à la Reine d'Espagne, in Mignet's Négociations relatives à la Succession d'Espagne, vol. ii. p. 604, Paris, 1835, 4to. This valuable work consists for the most part of documents previously unpublished, many of which are taken from the archives at Simancas. To the critical historian, it would have been more useful if the original Spanish had been given.

1235

See some good remarks on San Phelipe, in Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature, vol. iii. pp. 213, 214, which might easily be corroborated by other testimony; as, for instance, Lafuente under the year 1710: ‘Ni el abandono de la Francia, ni la prolongacion y los azares de la guerra, ni los sacrificios pecuniarios y personales de tantos años, nada bastaba á entibiar el amor de los castellanos á su rey Felipe V.’ (Historia de España, vol. xviii. p. 258); and Berwick (Mémoires, vol. ii. p. 114, edit. Paris, 1778): ‘La fidélité inouie des Espagnols;’ and, nine years earlier, a letter from Louville to Torcy: ‘Le mot révolte, pris dans une acception rigoureuse, n'a pas de sens en Espagne.’ Louville, Mémoires sur l'établissement de la Maison de Bourbon en Espagne, edit. Paris, 1818, vol. i. p. 128. See also Memoirs of Ripperda, London, 1740, p. 58; and Mémoires de Gramont, vol. ii. p. 77, edit. Petitot, Paris, 1827. All these passages illustrate Spanish loyalty in the eighteenth century, except the reference to Gramont, which concerns the seventeenth, and which should be compared with the following observations of Madame D'Aulnoy, who writes from Madrid in 1679: ‘Quelques richesses qu'ayent les grands Seigneurs, quelque grande que soit leur fierté ou leur présomption, ils obéïssent aux moindres ordres du Roy, avec une exactitude et un respect que l'on ne peut assez loüer. Sur le premier ordre ils partent, ils reviennent, ils vont en prison, ou en exil, sans se plaindre. Il ne se peut trouver une soûmission, et une obéïssance plus parfaite, ni un amour plus sincère, que celui des Espagnols pour leur Roi. Ce nom leur est sacré, et pour réduire le peuple à tout ce que l'on souhaite, il suffit de dire, “Le Roi le veut.”’ D'Aulnoy, Voyage, vol. ii. pp. 256, 257.

1236

‘And Olivarez had been heard to censure very severely the duke's (Buckingham's) familiarity and want of respect towards the prince, a crime monstrous to the Spaniard.’ … ‘Their submissive reverence to their princes being a vital part of their religion.’ Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, ed. Oxford, 1843, p. 15. For the religion of loyalty, in an earlier period, see Florez, Reynas Catholicas, vol. i. p. 421: ‘La persona del Rey fue mirada de sus fieles vassallos con respeto tan sagrado,’ that resistance was ‘una especie de sacrilegio.’

1237

These impediments to intercourse were once deemed almost invincible. Fontenay-Mareuil, who visited Spain in 1612, and was not a little proud of the achievement, says, ‘Au reste, parcequ'on ne va pas aussy ordinairement en Espagne qu'en France, en Italie et ailleurs; et qu'estant comme en un coin, et séparée du reste du monde par la mer ou par les Pyrénées, on n'en a, ce me semble, guere de connoissance, j'ay pense que je devois faire icy une petite digression pour dire ce que j'en ay appris dans ce voyage et despuis.’ Mémoires de Fontenay-Mareuil, in Collection des Mémoires par Petitot, vol. i. p. 169, 1e Série, Paris, 1826. Seventy years later, another writer on Spain says of the Pyrenees, ‘Ces montagnes sont à nos voyageurs modernes, ce qu'étoit aux anciens mariniers le Non plus ultra et les colomnes du grand Hercule.’ L'Estat de l'Espagne, Geneve, 1681 Epistre, p. ii. This work, little known and not much worth knowing, forms the third volume of Le Prudent Voyageur.

1238

‘Con razon se miró la conquista de Granada, no como un acontecimiento puramente español, sino como un suceso que interesaba al mundo. Con razon tambien se regocijó toda la cristiandad. Hacia medio siglo que otros mahometanos se habian apoderado de Constantinopla; la caida de la capital y del imperio bizantino en poder de los turcos habia llenado de terror á la Europa; pero la Europa se consoló al saber que en España habia concluido la dominacion de los musulmanes.’ Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. xi. p. 15.

1239

‘L'Espagne, long-temps partagée en plusieurs états, et comme étrangère au reste de l'Europe, devint tout-à-coup une puissance redoutable, faisant pencher pour elle la balance de la politique.’ Koch, Tableau des Révolutions de l'Europe, Paris, 1823, vol. i. p. 362. On the relation between this and some changes in literature which corresponded to it, see Bouterwek's History of Spanish Literature, vol. i. pp. 148–152, where there are some ingenious, though perhaps scarcely tenable, speculations.

1240

‘The holy war with the infidels’ (Mohammedans) ‘perpetuated the unbecoming spectacle of militant ecclesiastics among the Spaniards, to a still later period, and long after it had disappeared from the rest of civilized Europe.’ Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. i. p. 162.

1241

A learned Spanish lawyer has made some remarks which are worth quoting, and which contain a curious mixture of truth and error: ‘Comment la monarchie espagnole fut-elle déchue de tant de grandeur et de gloire? Comment perdit-elle les Pays-Bas et le Portugal dans le dix-septième siècle, et s'y trouva-t-elle réduite à n'être qu'un squelette de ce qu'elle avait été auparavant? Comment vit-elle disparaître plus d'une moitié de sa population? Comment, possédant les mines inépuisables du Nouveau Monde, les revenus de l'état n'étaient à peine que de six millions de ducats sous le règne de Philippe III? Comment son agriculture et son industrie furent-elles ruinées? et comment presque tout son commerce passa-t-il dans les mains de ses plus grands ennemis? Ce n'est point ici le lieu d'examiner les véritables causes d'une métamorphose si triste; il suffira d'indiquer que tous les grands empires contiennent en euxmêmes le germe de leur dissolution,’ &c. ‘D'ailleurs les successeurs de ces deux monarques’ (Charles V. and Philip II.) ‘n'eurent point les mêmes talens, ni les ducs de Lerme et d'Olivarès, leurs ministres, ceux du cardinal Cisneros; et il est difficile de calculer l'influence de la bonne ou de la mauvaise direction des affaires sur la prospérité ou les malheurs des nations. Sous une même forme de gouvernement, quel qu'il puisse être, elles tombent ou se relèvent suivant la capacité des hommes qui les dirigent, et d'après les circonstances où ils agissent.’ Sempère, Histoire des Cortès, Bordeaux, 1815, pp. 265–267. Of the two passages which I have marked with italics, the first is a clumsy, though common, attempt to explain complicated phenomena by a metaphor which saves the trouble of generalizing their laws. The other passage, though perfectly true as regards Spain, does not admit of that universal application which M. Sempere supposes; inasmuch as in England, and in the United States of America, national prosperity has steadily advanced, even when the rulers have been very incapable men.

1242

‘With Philip II. ends the greatness of the kingdom, which from that period declined with fearful rapidity.’ Dunham's History of Spain, vol. v. p. 87. And Ortiz (Compendio, vol. vii., Prologo, p. 6) classes together ‘la muerte de Felipe II. y principios de nuestra decadencia.’ The same judicious historian elsewhere observes (vol. vi. p. 211), that if Philip III. had been equal to his father, Spain would have continued to flourish. Several of the more recent Spanish writers, looking at the heavy expenses caused by the policy of Philip II., and at the debts which he incurred, have supposed that the decline of the country began in the latter years of his reign. But the truth is, that no great nation ever was, or ever will be, ruined by the prodigality of its government. Such extravagance causes general discomfort, and therefore ought not to be tolerated; but if this were the place for so long an argument, I could easily show that its other and more permanent inconveniences are nothing like what they are commonly supposed to be.

1243

‘Abstraido Felipe III. en devociones, amante Felipe IV. deregocijos, mortificado Carlos II. por padecimientos, cuidáronse poco ó nada de la gobernacion del Estado, y confiaronla á validos altaneros, codiciosos, incapaces, y de muy funesta memoria.’ Rio, Historia del Reinado de Carlos III., Madrid, 1856, vol. i. p. 33.

1244

‘Sans espérance de postérité.’ Millot, Mémoires de Noailles, vol. i. p. 419. ‘Incapaz de tener hijos.’ Ortiz, Compendio, vol. vi. p. 560. See also Mémoires de Louville, vol. i. p. 82; and the allusions in Lettres de Madame de Villars, edit. Amsterdam, 1759, pp. 53, 120, 164. She was ambassadress in Spain in the reign of Charles II. M. Lafuente, who, if I rightly remember, never quotes these interesting letters, and who indeed, with very few exceptions, has used none but Spanish authorities, ventures nevertheless to observe that ‘La circunstancia de no haber tenido sucesion, falta que en general se achabaca mas al rey que á la reina,’ &c. Historia de España, vol. xvii. pp. 198, 199, Madrid, 1856. According to the biographer of the Spanish Queens, some persons imputed this to sorcery, ‘y aun se dijo si intervenia maleficio.’ Florez, Memorias de las Reynas Catholicas, vol. ii. p. 973, Madrid, 1761, 4to.

1245

In 1696, Stanhope, the English minister at Madrid, writes: ‘He has a ravenous stomach, and swallows all he eats whole, for his nether jaw stands so much out that his two rows of teeth cannot meet; to compensate which, he has a prodigious wide throat, so that a gizzard or liver of a hen passes down whole, and his weak stomach not being able to digest it, he voids it in the same manner.’ Mahon's Spain under Charles II., London, 1840, p. 79; a very valuable collection of original documents, utterly unknown to any Spanish historian I have met with. Some curious notices of the appearance of Charles II. in his childhood may be seen published for the first time in Mignet's Négociations relatives à la Succession d'Espagne, Paris, 1835–1842, 4to. vol. i. pp. 294, 295, 310, 396, 404, 410, vol. ii. p. 130, vol. iii. pp. 418, 419, 423. See also vol. iv. p. 636, for an instance of his taciturnity, which was almost the only mark of sense he ever gave, ‘Le roi l'écouta, et ne lui répondit rien.’

1246

‘Le Roy demeuroit dans une profonde ignorance et de ses affaires et même des Etats de sa couronne; à peine connoissoit-il quelles étoient les places qui lui appartenoient hors du continent d'Espagne.’ … ‘La perte de Barcelone lui fut plus sensible qu'aucune autre, parce que cette ville, capitale de la Catalogne, et située dans le continent de l'Espagne, lui étoit plus connue que les villes de Flandre, dont il ignoroit l'importance au point de croire que Mons appartenoit au roi d'Angleterre, et de le plaindre lorsque le Roi fit la conquête de cette province.’ Mémoires du Marquis de Torcy, vol. i. pp. 19, 23, edit. Petitot, Paris, 1828.

1247

‘Fancying everything that is said or done to be a temptation of the devil, and never thinking himself safe but with his confessor, and two friars by his side, whom he makes lie in his chamber every night.’ Mahon's Spain under Charles II., p. 102. On account, no doubt, of this affection for monks, he is declared by a Spanish historian to have possessed a ‘corazon pio y religioso.’ Bacallar, Comentarios de la Guerra de España, vol. i. p. 20. The best notice of the exorcism will be found in Lafuente's Historia de España, vol. xvii. pp. 294–309, where there is an entire chapter, headed ‘Los Hechizos del Rey.’