Philip of Spain

by Henry Kamen

  Philip took time off to relax. Seville, which he visited on 1 May, turned out en masse to greet him. Triumphal arches were erected along the streets, and in the Guadalquivir the massed ships unfurled their sails. The king was dressed in black, still in mourning for his wife and son, but had a cheerful aspect. He walked through the streets, holding by his left hand the archduke Rudolf. Behind him came Espinosa, leading the archduke Ernst. As the royal group, accompanied by ministers and ambassadors, passed under the arches they were showered with rose petals.115 After ten days in Seville, Philip returned to Córdoba, where he received news from Don Juan that the Muslim leaders had agreed to capitulate. From Córdoba Philip moved on to Jaén at the end of May, and then to Ubeda. After Ubeda the royal party returned directly to Toledo.

  By the summer of 1570 the Morisco revolt was effectively over. Help from Muslims abroad – there were 4,000 Turks and Berbers fighting with the rebels in spring 1570 – was not enough to keep it going. What turned the tide was the mass import of arms from Italy, since the Spanish troops had few of their own. Guns and powder in quantity came from the factories in Milan.116 In August 1570 three more Morisco representatives met Don Juan's secretary and agreed in principle to surrender. By November, ‘it's all over’.117 Don Juan left Granada at the end of the month.

  It had been the most brutal war to be fought on European soil during that century. Luis de Requesens reported having killed thousands during the mopping-up. ‘I have become ruthless with these people … An infinite number have been put to the sword.’118 The deaths were not, for all that, the only terrible aspect of the war. In the late summer the decision was made by the king's council, under Espinosa, to expel a part of the Muslim population of Granada to other parts of Spain. The proposal was an old one; eight months before the rebellion the French ambassador reported that ministers were thinking seriously of removing the entire Muslim population from Granada and transferring it ‘to Galicia and the mountains’.119 The operation began on 1 November 1570. Over the subsequent months a total of probably 80,000 Moriscos, men, women and children, were forcibly expelled for ever from their homes. They were distributed through parts of Castile where their presence was till then unknown. Very many died of their hardships during the march. Don Juan, watching the exiles, could not repress his pity. It was, he wrote to Ruy Gómez, ‘the saddest sight in the world, for at the time they set out there was so much rain, wind and snow that mothers had to abandon their children by the wayside and wives their husbands … It cannot be denied that the saddest sight one can imagine is to see the depopulation of a kingdom.’120

  The expulsions aggravated rather than solved the religious and security problems raised by the Morisco presence. Years later, in 1579, the king commented that ‘it seems to me that the proper solution has not been applied’. He was particularly critical of ‘the protection given by certain nobles to these Moriscos. I think that this has been and is most harmful. To tell the truth, just to see what the Moriscos did at the time they rebelled, killing so many priests and other Christians, would be sufficient to justify a tough line with these people.’ A committee should look into possible solutions. ‘I think that among other ideas it would be good to order that children not be brought up with their parents.’121

  In Lisbon in mid-June 1582 he convened a special committee. They held sessions for three months, and took advice from all those who in previous years had spoken on the question. In September they were agreed on a course of action. The Moriscos were a threat to religion. They were also, as their bandit activity showed, a threat to public order. But above all they were a threat to the nation, because of their link with the Turks. The solution, decided upon was that all of them should be expelled from Spain.122

  Critics of such a solution were not wanting, either then or later. But the idea had powerful supporters, among them cardinal Quiroga. The hoary old Inquisitor-General felt that ‘at the time that they have to be expelled from Spain, there should be no delay because of the few who might genuinely convert, since far more important and more widespread is the harm they cause with their blasphemies’.123 There was, however, no way of putting the proposal into effect. An army would be needed to round up the Moriscos, and a navy to take them away: neither was available. After Philip's return to Madrid in 1583 the idea was virtually shelved. Attention reverted to the possibility of instructing Moriscos in the faith. In June 1587 the king set up a special committee to consider the question.124 Chaired by Quiroga, it included eight others, among them confessor Chaves and secretary Mateo Vázquez. Meetings were held regularly until the end of September. One may suspect that little new emerged. Thereafter the issue was never far below the surface. Morisco agitation in Valencia and Aragon inspired the creation of a new committee, in January 1591.125

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  Hostility to Spain's actions was the order of the day in virtually every European court. Ironically, at this period Philip looked for support to a nation with whom he had every cause to quarrel: Protestant England.

  Since Tudor times the dynastic link between Spain and England had created a special bond. Philip's marriage to Mary, intended to cement that bond, had the opposite effect of arousing tensions and severing the link. But neither the king nor his advisers ever gave up hope. Faced with an insecure Netherlands and an unstable France, Philip regarded England as an essential ally. He persisted, often against his advisers (notably Granvelle and Alba), in holding out the olive branch to Elizabeth. The French ambassador St Sulpice in the 1560s got the distinct impression that Philip's policy was pro-English and anti-French.126 Alba subsequently accused the king of being too much under the influence of the duke of Feria (an ally of Ruy Gómez) and his English wife, Jane Dormer.127 Some of Philip's ministers in the Netherlands were even more pronounced in their pro-English views: the suggestion that Don Carlos marry Elizabeth was made there. Even if Elizabeth turned out not to be amenable, Spain could count on the likely sympathy of her direct heir, Mary queen of Scots, and of the numerically significant Catholic nobles and population of England, Scotland and Ireland.

  The arrival in the Netherlands of a Spanish army under Alba wrecked hopes of an understanding. English commercial interests, as well as English security, felt threatened. Against this background several incidents deepened distrust. In 1568 five small Spanish pay-ships were sailing up- Channel to deliver bullion to the duke of Alba. Threatened by a storm, they took refuge on the English coast. Elizabeth impounded the ships and then seized the precious cargo. When the newly arrived Spanish ambassador, Guerau de Spes, protested, he was put under house arrest. Relations were further prejudiced by a parallel incident in September 1568 at the port of San Juan de Ulúa, in Mexico. A small group of seven ships under John Hawkins, trading illegally in American waters, was surprised in the port by the Spanish fleet and destroyed. Only one vessel, commanded by Hawkins and including among its crew the young Francis Drake, limped back home to tell the tale and complain of Spanish perfidy.

  A break with England seemed inevitable. The tension was exacerbated by the expulsion in 1568 of the English ambassador in Madrid, Dr Man, for undiplomatic remarks about the pope. Early in 1569 the Spanish authorities, in retaliation for the seizure of the pay-ships, embargoed all English ships and property in the Netherlands and in Spain. The English did the same to Spanish property. Furious at the loss of bullion, Philip still saw a bright side: the queen had gone as far as she dared. Elizabeth, he confided to Alba, ‘has gone so far that it makes me think, and in this I think the same as you, that she will not dare declare war or have me as an open enemy’.128 However, there were Spanish diplomats who felt that the only solution was a direct attack on Elizabeth, an ‘enterprise of England’. The phrase occurs for the first time in a report drawn up by Guerau de Spes.129

  There were various ways of dealing with England. But Philip refused to be dragged into the dangerous schemes implicating Mary queen of Scots, who fled into England from Scotland in 1568 and put herself under Elizabeth's protection. However,
Philip still saw her as a key figure in the politics of the Guise family, and had no intention of furthering their ambitions. Even more significant was his refusal to support the abortive rebellion that a group of Catholic earls in the north of England carried out at the end of 1569. Interference in English politics promised little benefit to Spain, which only wanted from Elizabeth her neutrality, and security on the seas. While apparently serious threats to the queen were emerging in England, Philip limited himself to supporting Alba's concern for good trade relations. He even blocked papal moves to excommunicate Elizabeth. None of this earned him thanks in London. In January 1570 he remarked to Alba that ‘we are in a virtual state of war’,130 since English corsairs continued to attack Spanish shipping. The following month the pope issued his excommunication of the English queen. Its publication infuriated Philip. Alba advised moderation, so as not to drive Elizabeth into French hands. This, rather than any pro-English sentiment, lay behind his advice of ‘war with the whole world, but peace with England’.131 Philip assented. His constant wish to stay friends with England was motivated by fear of France. In May 1570 he instructed his ambassador in France to tell the English ambassador that ‘on my side, I shall not break the ancient friendship and alliance between us’.132

  De Spes, unfortunately, got caught up in a plot inspired by an Italian adventurer named Ridolfi. The aim was to overthrow Elizabeth, proclaim Mary as queen, and send in a force from the Netherlands to support a rising by the Catholic nobles. Alba distrusted Ridolfi, and Philip made it clear that he was not interested.133 In Madrid the councillors of state were more enthusiastic,134 but stressed that nothing could be done until the king gave his support. This he did not do. Years later he complained bitterly to the Imperial ambassador Khevenhüller that rumour had falsely implicated him.135 It is likely that Ridolfi was a double agent in the pay of England's chief minister, the anti-Spanish Sir William Cecil. At any rate, the plot was revealed by Cecil's spies in September 1571. The nation's leading nobleman, the duke of Norfolk, was arrested for his apparent complicity, and later executed. De Spes was expelled from the country. There was still no open rupture with Spain, but the plot had decisive consequences. It broke once and for all England's traditional pro-Spanish connection. It pushed Elizabeth towards an alliance with France. And it confirmed the emergence of a pro-Protestant foreign policy in the English Privy Council.

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  Back home, the war in the Alpujarras had provoked differences of approach among the Spanish nobility, and it also brought to the fore the problem of Don Juan.

  Don Juan of Austria, born in 1547, was the fruit of Charles V's love affair with a burgher's daughter from Regensburg, Barbara Blomberg. He was brought up secretly in Spain on the orders of his father, and allowed to emerge only when Juana was regent in 1554. In 1559 Philip on his return was officially introduced to his half-brother. Don Juan was welcomed into the court circle, given a residence, and brought up in the company of Don Carlos and Alessandro Farnese. Philip was understandably intrigued by the prince, nearly twenty years his junior. But it soon became clear that their characters were not suited to each other. The king, forever seeking a son to whom he could give both his confidence and his affection, sought in others what God had not given him in Don Carlos. Don Juan, some felt, made a perfect heir. After Don Carlos's death in 1568, the question of a male successor to the throne became urgent. Without infant sons, the king could turn only to his nephews, the Austrian archdukes, or to the young heir of Portugal, Sebastian.

  Don Juan impressed all contemporaries. Energetic and handsome, with a touch of beard, long moustaches and long flowing blond hair, always elegantly dressed, he quite simply glittered. ‘He is agile, incomparable in riding, jousting and tourneys … He is learned, judicious, eloquent, gifted … His speech is all of enterprises and victories’136 A soldier- diplomat described him as ‘splendid’.137 He was a constant success with ladies, who gave him several bastard children. One of his daughters was Anna, who became involved years later in the Madrigal conspiracy. Though busy in love, he never neglected affairs of state. His correspondence was enhanced by his elegant handwriting, almost feminine in its perfection. He spoke French, and understood some Dutch and German. It is logical to suppose, as many have done,138 that Philip envied his charm and viewed him as a rival. This romantic version must be rejected. Philip merely saw in him an impetuous youth in whom he could not place entire confidence. Dashing in love, spirited in war, Don Juan was adventurous to the point of irresponsibility. In the spring of 1565, while the attention of the court was centred on the impending meetings at Bayonne, he could think of nothing but the hazardous state of Malta. His repeated requests to the king to be allowed to participate in the relief of the garrison there were turned down. Ignoring the king's wishes, he teamed up with a group of other young nobles (one of them the brother of Eufrasia de Guzmán) and galloped off to Barcelona.139 The gallants were detained there and sent back on the king's orders. The incident was typical of Don Juan's enthusiasm. The king never held back from giving him the role that befitted his rank as a prince, but always took care to place a more seasoned person at hand to advise. Don Juan, for his part, was resentful that despite his qualities and achievements, and his position as the son of his father, he did not yet possess his own titles and kingdom.

  In May 1568 the king appointed him, at the age of only twenty-one, captain-general of the Mediterranean fleet in succession to García de Toledo. He gave him handwritten instructions140 which touched primarily on the prince's weak points. He must set a good example, keep his word, avoid gaming, moderate his language, eat moderately, be courteous to others. The instructions given at the same time to the nobleman placed in charge of the prince are rather more specific about Don Juan's known weakness for women: ‘he should not go around at night, because Barcelona is noted for its women, and there's no lack of disease’.

  Immediately the Morisco rebellion broke out in Granada, Don Juan offered his services. Not until the spring of 1569 was he given supreme command. Philip warned him explicitly that he must always consult with his colleague and tutor, the grand commander of Castile, Luis de Requesens. The prince chafed at this rein on his actions. Impatient and haughty, he also fell out with the powerful Mendoza nobles who had always regarded Andalusia as their fief. Their spokesman, the marquis of Mondéjar, protested to Madrid and retired in disgust to his estates. Philip carefully distanced himself from these quarrels,141 which he disliked because they upset the very men whose support made stability in Spain possible.

  The resounding success of Don Juan at Granada was, in these circumstances, flawed. His correspondence shows him to be highly volatile and undisciplined.142 A possible heir to the throne, he never won support among the high nobility because of his manner. Philip, whom the prince regularly disobeyed, kept him at arm's length. When the king came to Córdoba for the Cortes, he did not respond to Don Juan's request to be allowed to come and see him. Six months after the campaign, the restless prince was once again given a job away from court. He was appointed to the highly desirable post of commander of the naval expedition which the Holy League was preparing against the Turks.

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  In the autumn of 1569 Philip made arrangements for the marriage with his niece Anna.143 Twenty-two years younger, she had been born in Spain in 1549 when Maximilian governed the realm during Philip's absence. It was at first intended to bring her to the peninsula via Genoa, but news of Turkish naval movements caused a change of plan. The final arrangements, drawn up by Philip while he was visiting Andalusia in the first half of 1570, were that Anna accompany her father to Speyer, where an Imperial Diet was to be held, and travel from there to the Netherlands, where Alba would organise her sea route to the Cantabrian coast. She was meant to arrive at Laredo, but the bad weather made her ships beach instead at Santander, on 3 October. She came accompanied by her younger brothers Albert and Wenzel. An immense welcoming party of 2,000 persons awaited her. Among them was a musical group of over a hundred mi
nstrels, who accompanied her for the rest of her journey to relieve the tedium.144

  After resting for ten days in Santander, Anna's retinue made their way to Burgos, where a sumptuous reception greeted them, and then to Valladolid. Just outside Valladolid they were met by the archdukes Rudolf and Ernst. They all then proceeded to Segovia, where Anna arrived on 12 November and was received with great pomp in the Alcázar, specially decorated for the occasion. The king delayed his own entry until that afternoon. Two days later, on the fourteenth, the formal wedding took place. The weather was bitterly cold, and the city was almost cut off by snowstorms.145 The royal couple managed to get through to Valsaín and some days later went off to visit San Lorenzo and El Pardo. On the twenty-third they made their formal entry into Madrid, where the fireworks, triumphal arches, fountains and musical displays outdid in magnificence the reception in Segovia.

  Philip was enchanted with his new wife and fell deeply in love with her. Petite and elegant,146 with a strikingly white complexion, deep blue eyes and flowing blonde hair, Anna could not have been more different from Elizabeth Valois. Philip expressed ‘my great joy and contentment that God has given me all the happiness I could wish for on this earth’, and spoke of ‘the great love there is between us’.147 A diplomat observed that ‘the king loves her deeply’.148 She became pregnant in the spring. On 4 December 1571 their first child, Fernando, was born. The throne had, at last, a male heir. The event was celebrated with great rejoicing. Titian subsequently produced a triumphal canvas which combined the theme of the birth with the other great news, known only a month before, of the naval victory at Lepanto. At the same time news came of the safe arrival of the richly laden treasure fleets from New Spain and Peru. Truly, the king's biographer commented later, the year 1571 was a happy one for the monarchy.149