by Henry Kamen
Philip was leaving little to chance. Already by the end of January 1579 he was informing Moura of ‘how we are, secretly and discreetly, taking the necessary measures for all eventualities’. ‘You may be sure,’ he wrote, ‘that although I hope that none of this will be necessary, on my side nothing is being overlooked.’170 Moura agreed on the need for military preparations. ‘I have great hopes,’ he wrote to the king, ‘that though the swords are ready there will be no need to draw them.’171 Philip supervised plans for a possible military and naval intervention. In the spring and summer of 1579 the galleys of Spain were assembled, and a further number of ships brought from Italy under the command of admiral Doria. The joint force, totalling some sixty galleys, was assembled off the coast of Andalusia, under the command of the marquis of Santa Cruz. The ships from Italy brought with them detachments of Italian and German soldiers, as well as a force of Spanish tercios, veterans of the war in the Low Countries. Intensive recruitment of Spanish troops took place in Andalusia and the provinces neighbouring Portugal. In October the cavalry troops were put under the command of the Flanders veteran Sancho Dávila. Santa Cruz was to sail for Lisbon immediately on hearing of the death of cardinal Henry. The duke of Medina Sidonia, seconded by other nobles whose estates bordered Portugal, was to help raise troops for a land invasion. The mobilisation was in theory secret, but Philip made sure that the Portuguese knew of it. ‘Even if it doesn't come to a use of force,’ he informed Moura in April, ‘it would be all the more helpful to press ahead with negotiations while keeping up the threat of arms.’172 He added that when the Portuguese ambassador came to him to complain of the mobilisation, ‘I replied that the preparations and military exercises on the frontier were not being done by my order’.173 It was a truly professional diplomatic lie.
He then, in March 1579, convened the Castilian Cortes. In May, the whole history of the Portuguese succession was presented to the assembled deputies, who responded with enthusiasm. They were less forthcoming over money. Sporadic sessions of the Cortes were held over several months. The assembly was not dissolved until 1582.
On the eve of the Portuguese campaign, pressure on other fronts eased up. In the Netherlands the new commander Alessandro Farnese was to prove himself one of the most brilliant generals of the time. Aged thirty-three when appointed, the son of Margaret of Parma (and consequently nephew of Philip) had been educated in part at the court of Spain, but remained Italian in outlook. He was able to profit from the growing political split, based on religion, in the Netherlands. Early in 1579 a group of northern provinces, led by Holland and Zealand, formed themselves into a Calvinist-led Union of Utrecht. At the same time some of the southern provinces, led by Catholics, formed a Union of Arras. In May this Union, consisting now of six provinces,174 signed a treaty accepting the authority of Spain. The accord guaranteed all their privileges, but reaffirmed the exclusive position of the Catholic religion. Parma backed up this success by capturing, in June, the important stronghold of Maastricht. ‘Good news has now come from Flanders,’ Philip wrote cheerfully to Moura in June, asking him to spread the information in Portugal.175 The return of the provinces to Spanish obedience would confirm him in Portuguese eyes as a successful, but also liberal and magnanimous, monarch.
There was also good news from the Mediterranean. Peace negotiations were in progress which led, in March the following year, to a renewal of the truce between Spain and the Ottoman empire. The king was free to devote himself exclusively to Portugal.
He instructed Osuna and Moura to tell the Portuguese they should not fear any threat to their liberties. Taxation would not rise. In Castile the alcabala tax had recently been increased only ‘because it had not risen in over forty years’. In Aragon the liberties were fully protected; in terms of taxes, ‘they pay none’. As for the union of the crowns in one person, that did not imply any union of the realms. ‘Uniting some realms with others does not follow from having the same ruler, since though Aragon and Castile have a single ruler they are not united, but as separate as they were when they had different rulers.’176 Never before in the history of Europe had a pretender to a crown been so obliged to present his credentials. Even his more unpopular actions in Flanders could be disavowed. Alba, responsible for the repression there, was in disgrace. His name did not feature among the roll-call of nobles who were asked in July 1579 to raise men for the Portugal campaign.177
When cardinal Granvelle arrived at San Lorenzo in August 1579, accompanied from Italy by Juan de Idiáquez, Portugal was one of the first matters to be placed in his hands. All through the year cardinal Henry lingered on the point of death, but refused stubbornly to designate a successor. The succession was nonetheless largely resolved in favour of Philip II, who had won (or bought) the clear support of the majority of clergy and nobles in the Cortes held at Almeirim in January 1580. But the situation was no longer simple. Antonio of Crato had active support among very many Portuguese, who hoped for help from abroad, particularly from France. The longer the delay, the greater the risk of foreign intervention.
Philip spent September to mid-October with his family in San Lorenzo. From 11 to 23 September, unfortunately, he was ill in bed. A few days later he suffered a swelling in his right wrist which put him back in bed for four more days. The following weeks, from mid-October to early December, the royal family spent in El Pardo. They went hunting: Philip killed forty rabbits, Anna thirty. On one of the evenings they held a masked ball in the portrait gallery of El Pardo.178
During all these weeks the court was busy with activity resulting from the detention of Pérez and La Eboli. It was a wet December in 1579, with continuous rain. This may have helped Philip decide to spend Christmas, for once, in the Alcázar. He busied himself with his papers, with Flanders, with ordering the transfer of La Eboli from her prison at Pinto to the more spacious fortress at Santorcaz. ‘He is as shut up as if he were in a monastery,’ an observer said of the king, ‘only the chamberlains and gentlemen of the household see him.’179 He was also waiting for the news, expected at any moment, of the death of cardinal Henry. Meanwhile, he fussed over his pregnant queen. On 14 February 1580 she gave birth to a girl, María.
Cardinal Henry died at last on 31 January. ‘Nothing else can be attended to until the matter of Portugal is settled,’ the king observed.180 Although he had made a great effort to bring together the men, supplies and arms needed for an invasion, he now opposed any hasty military move. ‘I think that everything humanly possible must be done so that a resort to arms is not necessary,’ he warned Moura on 6 February.181 Philip urged his agents in Portugal that ‘everything now should be done, I think, very delicately’.182 By contrast his advisers, headed by Granvelle, felt that invasion was unavoidable. They also urged him to bring Alba out of retirement and put him at the head of the troops.
Alba was in disgrace for what appeared to many to be a small matter. In 1578 his son Fadrique de Toledo, who had a distinguished record of service in Flanders, secretly married his cousin, the daughter of García de Toledo, marquis of Villafranca, against the express orders of the king. Don Fadrique, twice a widower and a well-known gallant, was already pledged to marry a lady-in-waiting of the queen, Magdalena de Guzmán. The matter had caused problems before.183 Philip's rigidity over questions of marriage among the aristocracy was not new.184 In 1577 the duke of Feria had been placed under strict house arrest over a similar issue.185 When Philip learned that Alba had given his approval to the marriage, he ordered Don Fadrique's arrest.186 Both father and son were banned from court, and the three grandees assisting at the marriage – prior Don Antonio, Fernando de Toledo, and the marquis of Velada – were placed under house arrest.187 The issue was not simply a matter of the king's preferences. Relationships among the higher aristocracy were always delicate, and nowhere more than in questions of marriage. The king played an essential role as arbiter between the great families. There were hot tempers at court over Don Fadrique's action and the duke waited nervously for the king's respo
nse. In September 1578 he embarrassed the king's secretary in the palace at Madrid by taking him aside and complaining about his treatment, ‘demanding justice, saying that he could not go on, and that he had to speak to Your Majesty, and that he would leave here, and mentioned going to live in another country’.188 In November the president of the council, Pazos, threatened Alba verbally.189 It was not a good year for the Alba family. In July 1578 the young count of Fuentes, brother of the duchess, was thrown into prison because of a quarrel.190 In January 1579 the duke, duchess and their retinue left Madrid for the tranquillity of house arrest at Uceda, one of Alba's towns. Foreign dignitaries, including the king of France and the pope, pleaded in his favour, but the king, displaying his well-known stubbornness, refused to relent. For him it was a matter of disobedience that brought its own consequences. He studiously excluded the duke from any of the deliberations over Portugal.
Twelve months later, when it became clear that a commander for the Portuguese campaign must be appointed, Philip was faced with the embarrassing prospect of having to choose Alba. His councillors were unanimous that only Alba had the necessary reputation and prestige. The president of the council on 15 February 1580 informed him that ‘the council believes that no other person we know is more fitting and suitable than the duke’. The special committee for Portugal191 sent its secretary Gabriel Zayas to inform Philip that their unanimous choice was the same. The king refused to give way. He wrote to Moura the next day that ‘last night Zayas told me that everybody is of the opinion that I must appoint the duke of Alba’. Moura offered no comfort. He wrote stressing that the ‘man from Uceda’ was the most likely to terrify the opposition in Portugal.192
Browbeaten by his advisers, Philip recalled the old duke, now aged seventy-three and (in his own words) ‘frail and finished’,193 to active service. Alba received the king's letter at 10 p.m. on 22 February, and replied on the spot. He was grateful ‘to be back in the good graces of Your Majesty, which is what I most desired’.194 The king brushed aside Alba's request to come and pay his respects, and instructed him to proceed within three days to Llerena, where the army was assembling.
Some felt that one way to avoid invasion was, as suggested by both the pope and the five regents who ran Portugal in the interim since cardinal Henry's death, for Philip to submit his claim to arbitration. The king was willing to talk to the regents. On 1 March 1580 he had the Cortes swear to prince Diego as heir, in a little ceremony in the chapel of the Alcázar. The royal family left Madrid on 5 March and made their way to the monastery of Guadalupe, where they spent Holy Week and Easter. Philip met the regents later that month. He refused arbitration, for this would have been to admit the possibility of a doubt over his rights. In any case, prior Antonio was also unlikely to accept any decision based on arbitration. In these circumstances the preparations for an armed strike went ahead.
In May the court transferred itself to Mérida. Alba arrived there on 12 May. The king, who was despatching letters with secretary Zayas, saw him arriving. He immediately sent Sebastián de Santoyo down to tell the duke to come up. When Alba strode in the king refused to let him kneel down. ‘He raised him up, embraced him, and with great contentment asked him how he was, and other things.’195 During the next three days the two men were locked in discussion, morning and afternoon. On 15 May Alba left for Badajoz. The king and queen left three days later.
On 12 June Philip issued the orders appointing Alba as captain-general of the invading army. The opening sentence of the orders reflected the king's decisive stance. The original draft had read: ‘Whereas I am the direct and rightful successor to the realms of Portugal, they belong to and devolve on me.’ Philip struck out the limp phrase after the comma, and wrote in: ‘I have determined to take possession of them’.196 Strangely, for a nation weary of war abroad, most Castillans warmed to the idea of a conquest at home. An imperialist dream began to take shape. Among the few dissonant voices was that of Teresa of Avila, who commented that ‘if this matter is pursued through war, I fear great harm’. A leading Jesuit lamented that Christians should be fighting Christians: ‘This realm [Castile] is ailing and has little wish to see any growth in His Majesty's power.’197
On 13 June the king, the queen and the Infantas, flanked by Alba and the archduke Albert, reviewed the forces, numbering some 47,000,198 on an open plain before the camp near Badajoz. A shelter protected the royal group from the burning sun. Alba, who had been ill in bed the day before, was in good spirits. The file-past, which went on all day, left admiring observers almost speechless. ‘It is something to see, even as I am writing this,’ reported one.199 The Portuguese, he felt, were crazy even to think of resisting. ‘It was a fine sight,’ commented a seasoned soldier, ‘a great many men, all in good order.’200 Half the army consisted of Spanish soldiers and veterans from Flanders (among them Sancho Dávila); the other half were German and Italian mercenaries.201 The land force was to be given naval support by a fleet under the marquis of Santa Cruz. This sailed from Cadiz on 8 July, with orders to make its way up the Atlantic coast.
On 18 June the frontier fort of Elvas surrendered without a fight. On the twenty-seventh the army, after another march-past before Philip and his generals, crossed the frontier in force. Don Antonio had been proclaimed king by dissident Portuguese, but there was little effective resistance to the Spanish army. Meanwhile an army raised by the Spanish nobles whose lands bordered Portugal, protected the rear of the royal forces. In a letter to the pope in July, the king claimed that he had sent the troops in because of the threat of intervention by foreign powers. They were there ‘not to wage war against that realm but to save it from oppression and restore it to peace and tranquillity’.202 In practice, plunder, outrages and brutality occurred throughout the process of occupation. ‘We are beginning to feel pity for all the harm that is being done to these poor people,’ an officer wrote.203 Alba hanged the guilty when he could. Setúbal, besieged by land and sea, capitulated on 18 July. The fleet under Santa Cruz sailed in two days later and gave support to the land forces.204 In Lisbon there was stiff street-by-street resistance, but the city finally surrendered in the last week of August.
Don Antonio fled. He took refuge in the north and was eventually rescued by an English ship. ‘Here, Sir, you can forget about the war,’ Alba wrote to the king.205 Coimbra surrendered on 8 September as the forces moved north. Philip was lost for words. ‘I don't know how to express the gratitude that I owe you for all this,’ he wrote to the duke.206 On 12 September he was proclaimed king in the capital.
During the weeks of campaigning, he remained behind in Badajoz. An epidemic of influenza was raging through most of the peninsula in the summer of 1580. In Catalonia ‘very many are dying’.207 The outbreak ravaged Madrid, where ‘there are so many dead that no one takes note of them, and the deaths continue’.208 Cardinal Granvelle fell gravely ill, and many members of the administration died. The court in Extremadura did not escape. Philip, prince Diego and Catalina were all laid low, but recovered, thanks in part to the efficiency of Dr Vallés.
Queen Anna was not so fortunate. She was well into another pregnancy when the epidemic caught her. She suffered several days of fever, and had to be bled. ‘The doctors say that her illness shows no signs of being dangerous,’ reported a court noble on 14 October, ‘but as she is six months pregnant they are being careful with her.’209 Shortly before dawn on the twenty-sixth, at the age of thirty-one, she died in the epidemic. The king was grief-stricken. His love for her had been very great.210 Saddened and depressed, he felt that he was about to follow her. He sent instructions to his ministers ‘in case I should go’ and looked over his testament: ‘the queen is not here, and this is what has made me look at this now’.211 The loss was to mark him permanently: he never married again. For years afterwards, Anna remained present in his thoughts. Her body was taken to San Lorenzo. The king ordered his children to be taken back to the Alcázar.
The death soon afterwards of prince Diego (in 1582) h
alf convinced the king that he should remarry, in order to guarantee the male succession. There was no assurance that Philip, now the only male heir, born in April 1578, would survive. But the king's advancing years, bad health and heavy work schedule meant that he was not keen on the idea.212 Several candidates were suggested and approached. For one reason or another none of the proposals came to anything. The king, as he preferred, remained a widower.213
Events in Portugal had to await the end of a short period of court mourning. The king's intended departure from Castile encouraged a group of Moriscos in Andalusia to plan a rising in Seville. It was discovered and dealt with opportunely by the city,214 leaving the king without worries in his rear. On 4 December he left Badajoz for the frontier. At Elvas he was officially received by Portuguese representatives. From here he issued summons to the Cortes of Portugal to assemble in April at Tomar, selected because Lisbon was suffering an epidemic.
The Cortes of Tomar, which met in April 1581, were a historic occasion. They confirmed the union of the whole peninsula under one crown. The Cortes swore fealty to the king and recognised prince Diego as his successor. In return, Philip confirmed all the privileges and the independence of Portugal, on terms similar to those which had united the other realms of the peninsula with Castile over a century before. The Portuguese overseas possessions fell in line with events at home and accepted Philip. Only in the Atlantic islands of the Azores, where prior Antonio held out with the help of a French force, was there resistance. In July 1582 a fleet was sent out under the command of Santa Cruz, and inflicted a bloody defeat on the French ships. A further engagement took place in the summer of 1583 off the island of Terceira, confirming Spain's control over the islands.
Alba had been appointed at the insistence of those who saw him as the desired symbol of a truly Castilian enterprise. He had also been invaluable for the quantity of men he helped to raise for the campaign. The king was grateful. When the duke intimated in the spring of 1581 that his job was done and he wished to withdraw, Philip protested: ‘when you say that you are not needed there I do not agree, for you are much needed’. He went on to thank him profusely for his services.215 But tensions between the two continued. When Philip appointed an official to inquire into excesses committed by the soldiers during the occupation, Alba pointedly refused to collaborate with him. The king gave in, but complained that ‘the duke's arrogance is on a par with his loyalty’.216 The duke was seriously ailing and died in 1582 in Tomar. The king visited him during his illness and listened to his last words of advice.217 His passing, and the break-up of the Eboli grouping with the arrest of Pérez and the princess in 1579, marked the end of an era. By coincidence, in 1582 another famous Spaniard, Teresa of Avila, also passed away.218