Philip of Spain

by Henry Kamen

  After first visiting Montserrat, he was met at Molins de Rei on 6 February by the city authorities. ‘He came on horseback, dressed in a velvet doublet, cloth cloak and hat of black taffeta with a white feather.’ He made a formal entry into a city bedecked with Renaissance arches and flowers. There were festivities and balls and Philip participated fully in the celebrations. He wanted to ‘cast off the melancholy of four and a half months in Monzón’, an ambassador commented. ‘There are frequent masked entertainments, when he goes mingling with everybody.’94 The visit coincided with Carnival, one of the king's favourite events. There were ‘dances, sounds, masks and costumes as never seen before’. The count of Aitona put on a great two-day feast in his house, ‘and the king went one day masked to visit the celebration and the ladies’.95

  The main reason for the royal visit was the postponed meeting of the Catalan Corts, which took place in Barcelona. Philip swore to the constitutions of the province on 2 March. Three days later, on 5 March, he attended an auto de fe held by the Inquisition in his honour. The ceremony, which lasted from dawn to lunchtime, two o'clock, was held in the Born, a square just outside the city. Philip and his attendants watched from a window overlooking the site. The sessions of the Corts dragged on, but final agreement was reached on 23 March.

  A secondary reason for the visit to Barcelona was the king's wish to receive personally his nephews the archdukes Rudolf and Ernst, who arrived in the port on 17 March.96 The two eldest children of the emperor Maximilian97 by Philip's sister María, the archdukes were aged eleven and twelve respectively in 1564. Philip may have been thinking of one of the nephews as a possible heir to his throne, though this had not been on his mind when he first suggested the visit three years before.98 The possibility of a Bohemian succession in Spain had been considered seriously in 1561, during Don Carlos's illness. The idea helped to keep Maximilian continually hopeful, and brought him more into line with Spain on religious matters. The archdukes disembarked to a full-scale government reception. Bewildered, they refused to give their hands to any of the dignitaries present.99 Philip became very attached to both boys, who were to remain in the peninsula for over seven years.

  After the closing of the Corts in Barcelona, the court set out immediately for Valencia. Here, once again, there were non-stop tourneys, balls and banquets. The night before the king departed, there was a big ball at which the ladies were ‘dressed as queens’, according to the French ambassador. Philip left Valencia on 25 April. On the way back to Madrid he stopped at Cuenca, as a gesture to honour the new bishop there, his confessor Fresneda.

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  Though Elizabeth of Valois certainly resented the king's infidelities, their domestic life appears to have been harmonious. In October 1562 Philip commented with pride to the French ambassador on his new residence of Valsaín in the woods of Segovia, praising ‘the hunting round about, and the enjoyable stay that he and the queen his wife and the princess [Juana] had had these past two months’. Elizabeth was fond of the place ‘because of the tranquillity of the galleries, garden and fountains, but above all because she saw the king more frequently there than here in Madrid, where he is occupied in business virtually the whole day long’.100

  From these months, domestic pleasures took second place to the momentous issues which pressed on the king's attention from every side. In Spain itself, a courtier reported that people were ‘all very dissatisfied with His Majesty’.101 Abroad, four problems stood out: the Netherlands, France, the council of Trent and the Turks.

  The Netherlands were approaching another crisis point. Removing Granvelle had not solved problems. The religious question, which affected the rights of the nobles within the areas they controlled, posed special difficulties. Many magistrates refused to implement the anti-heresy laws (the placards) and in December 1564 William of Orange made an impassioned speech in the council in Brussels in favour of liberty of conscience. The nobles decided that their complaints should be presented personally to the king by the count of Egmont. Philip did not want him to come, but consented once the council of State in Brussels had made the decision. Margaret wrote to him urging him to receive Egmont ‘with a happy face and Your Majesty's accustomed good will’. In these same weeks the king agreed to a top-level meeting with Catherine de’ Medici to discuss issues outstanding between France and Spain.

  Egmont travelled southwards through France, stopping in Paris for a few days. He arrived in Madrid on 23 February 1565.102 The Netherlands' most distinguished soldier, victor of St Quentin, charming and cultured, fluent in several languages including Spanish, Lamoral of Egmont was then aged forty-three. He brought with him a fifteen-page memoir in French listing the programme of the nobles, who wanted an increased role in the Brussels government, and moderation on the heresy laws. Though he resented being pressurised, the king was disposed to listen. When Egmont arrived at the palace Philip went to embrace him effusively and would not let him kneel to make the customary obeisance. Later Gonzalo Pérez sent the king the Spanish translation of the memoir and copies were supplied to Ruy Gómez and Alba. Philip carefully read and commented on every point of substance. Meanwhile, Egmont was entertained at Valsaín. He was in regular touch with his friends Eboli and Eraso, and also met Don Carlos and exchanged views.

  On 24 March the king convened a meeting of the council of State to discuss the matters raised, as well as a further brief memoir by Egmont. He then set about drafting an Instruction which Egmont was to take back with him and give to Margaret. Philip was irritated by the nobles' demands, and displeased with those at court who supported them. ‘I feel,’ he commented to Pérez on the day of the council meeting, ‘that there is reason to investigate the aims of those people, both there and here, who have encouraged Egmont to suggest these things.’103 His displeasure probably influenced his attitude to Ruy Gómez.

  Gonzalo Pérez unfortunately became bedridden with gout, forcing Philip to carry out most of the drafting of the Instruction himself. The king had before him the report of his advisers in council, but the approach he adopted was his own. He set out to reassure and mollify, rather than make outright concessions.104 He agreed, for example, on changes in the administration without specifying the changes in detail. To Egmont's proposal of a conference in the Netherlands to reconsider the heresy laws, he agreed but specified who should attend and that the meeting must not be public. Passing between Pérez and Philip, the text took two days and nights to prepare. In the early hours of 26 March Philip looked over the final version. He asked Pérez to correct any errors, because ‘it is one o'clock, and I am falling asleep’. He kept on writing until well past two in the morning.105

  The final Instruction, dated 2 April, was to be handed by Egmont to Margaret. Philip's notes to help Pérez with the drafting were clear enough. ‘In the question of religion, what most concerns me and what I can least permit is any change, and I should count it as nothing to lose a hundred thousand lives if I had them, rather than allow it.’ As for the proposed committee, it should ‘discuss whether there is any other way to effect the punishment of heretics, not to leave them unpunished for that is not my intention, but only that they should discuss to see if there is any other method of punishment’. Egmont saw and approved the text. He spent a few more days with the king, who transferred to Aranjuez on 3 April. Philip gratified several personal requests of the count. On 6 April Egmont left the court to begin his journey back. The king had made a major effort to accommodate him, and was exhausted by the meetings and by lack of sleep.106 Egmont, by contrast, wrote to Philip from Valladolid to say that he was the most contented man in the world. A courtier got the same impression. Egmont, he reported, ‘is very pleased over his own business and that of his friends, and was very well treated by His Majesty’.107

  The count was returning under the impression that the king was making concessions. He said as much to his colleagues when he arrived in Brussels. But on 13 May Philip signed letters for Margaret, drafted in Valladolid by his French-language secr
etaries Tisnacq and Courteville, which touched on the religious question and expressly ordered the execution of six Anabaptists whose plea for clemency had been referred to him. Any hopes of toleration vanished. There was a general outcry, and Egmont and the Flemish nobles protested that they had been tricked. Margaret wrote back to explain precisely why the nobles felt aggrieved. She also explained that the committee sanctioned by Philip had met and had recommended a policy of toleration, so that she was suspending executions for the time being.

  In Spain the king, his advisers, and the council, were startled by Egmont's claims. Philip had never intended to deceive.108 ‘My intention,’ he had told Pérez at the time, ‘is neither to resolve the count's demands at present, nor disabuse him about them … If we refused outright we would never see the end of him.’109 But the misunderstanding hardened attitudes on both sides. The council in Madrid affirmed that on the implementation of the heresy laws ‘there is little hope that Madame will do it, judging by her letters, since she is dominated by the gentlemen in those states’.110

  In a more detached tone, Gonzalo Pérez explained later that the misunderstanding arose out of Philip's policy of consulting on different matters with different secretaries and officials:

  In many things His Majesty makes and will make mistakes, because he discusses matters with several people, now with one then with another, hiding something from one but revealing it to others, and so it is no surprise that differing and even contradictory letters emerge, and this happens not just in Flanders but in other provinces as well. This cannot fail to cause great harm and many problems. Neither Tisnacq nor Courteville knew of my Egmont letter, nor did I and Ruy Gómez know about the letter they wrote from Valladolid.111

  For his part the king was never in any doubt about policy. During Egmont's visit he had, apparently,112 consulted a committee of theologians in Madrid over whether he must grant toleration in the Netherlands. They assured him that although in the circumstances it would be licit to grant it, he was under no obligation to do so. The king's marginal comments on the subsequent report from the Netherlands' theologians recommending toleration, leave no doubt about his views. ‘In these times one has seen from experience that whenever heretics have been treated with moderation they have taken greater liberties. And so it is my wish that the placards of the emperor be observed.’ The stance was far from being an ostrich-like defence of the old order. He was also preparing, in these weeks, to implement the decrees of the council of Trent in his realms. Reform, for him as for many other Catholic leaders, did not imply concessions to Protestants. Quite the reverse: reforms would make concessions unnecessary. ‘In carrying out the placards it is to be hoped that the evil will be best remedied, but at the same time one must attend to reforming the clergy and teaching the people.’113 He had before him the ideal of the new, reformed Church which was emerging from Trent. He urged on Margaret the need to implement its decrees. The old, corrupt Church would be reshaped and given new life; heresy would disappear.

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  Throughout Egmont's visit Philip was very busy with preparations for the meeting with Catherine de’ Medici which explains in part his impatience with his guest. The death of Catherine's husband Henry II had produced extreme instability in Spain's most powerful neighbour and traditional enemy. The Calvinists (known in France as ‘Huguenots’) were daily increasing in number. Their strength came in great measure from the support given by members of the aristocracy, notably the Bourbon family. After Henry's death the noble factions began to jostle each other for control of the monarchy. The young king, François II, reigned for barely a year, dying in 1560. His successor and brother Charles IX was only ten when he came to the throne. As queen mother, Catherine effectively controlled the government. But dynastic rivalry added to religious tension was an explosive mixture. The ‘massacre’ of Huguenots at Vassy in 1562 has traditionally been regarded as the beginning of the so-called ‘Wars of Religion’. It was a conflict that affected Spain's interests directly.

  The king wanted to persuade France to adopt a firm policy against the Huguenot leaders. He was drawing on his direct experience of what had happened in Germany with the Lutheran princes. Philip was also extremely concerned about France's barely disguised support for Turkish corsairs in the Mediterranean. For her part, Catherine wanted Spain's public support for her dynasty, menaced by conflicting noble interests. Both sides were aware of the very great gap that separated them. The French were actively in alliance with the Turks, and had ambitions in America; Spain was committed to obstruct both. The queen mother in 1564–5 was making a tour of the nation with the intention of securing the loyalty of the provinces to Charles IX. The venue eventually selected for a meeting with the Spaniards was Bayonne, close to Spain's frontier, which the royal party was due to reach early in 1565.

  Philip was sceptical of the advantages to be gained from a meeting, and from the first made it clear that he personally would not go. The event was instead given the official status of a reunion between Catherine and her daughter the queen of Spain. In March Philip decided that Eboli, who was due to accompany Elizabeth, might be too soft in his dealings with the French, and assigned Alba to take his place. Eboli protested and persuaded Saint-Sulpice to intercede for him with Philip,114 but to no avail. It was a clear sign of the hard line that the king was beginning to adopt. He informed Catherine that he would cancel the meeting if either Jeanne d'Albret queen of Navarre or the prince of Condé, both well-known Protestants, were present.

  Elizabeth's enthusiasm for the visit to her homeland and reunion with her mother was boundless. Philip gave her complete freedom to plan the journey as she wished. She took him at his word, and spent a fortune on clothes and jewels. Her chamberlain Juan Manrique in despair informed the king that ‘the queen has spent most of the money on clothes which she has ordered at great cost’.115

  The king and queen spent Holy Week in different monasteries, the king at Guisando, the queen at Mejorada. From 3 May they were in Valladolid together. The queen made excursions on most afternoons into the countryside, in the company of Don Carlos and Don Juan. Philip then accompanied her to Cigales, where he took his leave on 15 May. She made her way north with her numerous escort,116 which included one of her favourite painters, the Italian Sofonisba Anguisciola. Philip, meanwhile, had to deal with the Barcelona escapade (which we shall refer to later) of the impetuous Don Juan.

  At Bayonne Philip's emissaries, Alba and Juan Manrique, found themselves in the position of supplicants. The French nobles to whom they talked had differing views about the situation in France and the remedies required. Only the veteran soldier Blaise de Montluc saw eye to eye with Alba. The king, Charles IX, told the Spaniards that ‘taking up arms is not the solution, I would destroy my kingdom’. Catherine refused to meet Alba, complained about Philip's apparent distrust, and threatened that ‘this is the short-cut to war’.117 The two emissaries had no option but to turn to Elizabeth, who was asked to bring her mother into the talks. Although Philip felt that allowing his wife into the meeting ‘is not right’, Elizabeth proved her worth as a parry to her mother's outbursts. The talks were conducted in French, which Alba spoke. At the first full meeting Catherine accused Spain of mistrust. When Elizabeth denied it, her mother rounded on her: ‘You've turned into a right Spaniard (Vous estes devenue bien espagnole)!’

  Rather than coming to Bayonne with a clear set of demands which they might force on Catherine, the Spaniards were trying to formulate their own options in respect of France. Agreement with France would clarify what could be done about the Netherlands and the Turks. Alba was outspoken on the religious question. He had no doubt, after talking to Montluc and the rigid Catholics, that an immediate solution would be to ‘cut off some heads’, namely those of the Huguenot leaders. But, as he wrote to Philip, he told Catherine he was opposed to any general move against the Protestants: ‘I told her that I saw no reason at the moment for taking up arms, nor would Your Majesty advise it’. Elizabeth wanted to know
why her mother would not accept the council of Trent in France. Catherine replied that ‘the situation in France is different’, and that colloquies (or discussions between spokesmen for the two religions) were preferable and ‘were very necessary for the tranquillity of conscience of many in the realm’.118

  The talks were not all business. A huge amount of money was spent by Catherine and the king on celebrations. At a special dinner given by the king some 2,000 lords and ladies sat down to feast.119 The talks ended on 29 June, when a lavish tournament in costume was put on by the French.120 Charles IX dressed as a Trojan; the duke of Guise and his men dressed as ‘Scottish savages’. On 1 July the whole royal party set off towards the Spanish frontier at Irún. Though Philip expressed his ‘satisfaction’ with the meeting, no agreement nor even any coincidence of views emerged from it. The impression gained at the court in Madrid was that ‘nothing has been achieved’.121 Catherine came away with the conviction that any firm action she took would be supported by Spain. ‘But,’ she told Francés de Álava, ‘as you said to me the other day great caution is necessary, for many are already very agitated and afraid of what the future might bring.’122 Since the talks were held completely in private, the Huguenots quickly came to the conclusion that some sinister plot had been hatched between the crown and Spain. Philip, however, had gained nothing from the meeting except vague words and considerable expense. Unable to rely firmly on the French crown, he was obliged to make his own political agreements with those French nobles whose interests coincided with his.

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  Philip's pressure on France to accept the council of Trent touched on a vital issue of European politics. The pope, as leader of the Catholic Church, accepted the need for reform but tried to use its agents, principally the general council of the Church which had been meeting sporadically at Trent since the mid-1540S, to reaffirm papal authority. Some Catholic countries, such as France, were suspicious of papal interference and preferred to introduce reforms in their own way. Spaniards were no less suspicious of the pope. But Philip felt that acceptance of the decisions of Trent, where his own bishops had made a powerful contribution, was absolutely essential to any reform programme. The council, he and his bishops felt strongly, had a spiritual authority that was completely independent of the pope. Already in 1553 he was instructing his government to adopt each of its decrees as they emerged.123 In 1560 he subjected the French ambassador to ‘a long discourse on the value of general councils and how it would be difficult for a national council to deal with matters concerning belief.124 He made efforts to send the best possible men from Spain to the new sessions that began in 1561. They were by no means yes-men, and the king made little attempt to control them. Some of his nominees were accused by other Spaniards of supporting ‘excessive freedom in religion’.125 But this was typical of the broad range of opinions to be found both among Spaniards and in the council as a whole.