HumanitiesWeb.org - History Of The Reign Of Ferdinand And Isabella, The Catholic. (Death Of Gonsalvo De Cordova.--Illness And Death Of Ferdinand.--His
Character.
) by William H. Prescott
History Of The Reign Of Ferdinand And Isabella, The Catholic. Death Of Gonsalvo De Cordova.--Illness And Death Of Ferdinand.--His
Character.
by William H. Prescott
1513-1516.
Gonsalvo Ordered to Italy.--General Enthusiasm.--The King's Distrust.--
Gonsalvo in Retirement.--Decline of his Health.--His Death and Noble
Character.--Ferdinand's Illness.--It Increases.--He Dies.--His Character.
--A Contrast to Isabella.--The Judgment of his Contemporaries.
Notwithstanding the good order which King Ferdinand maintained in Castile
by his energetic conduct, as well as by his policy of diverting the
effervescing spirits of the nation to foreign enterprise, he still
experienced annoyance from various causes. Among these were Maximilian's
pretensions to the regency, as paternal grandfather of the heir apparent.
The emperor, indeed, had more than once threatened to assert his
preposterous claims to Castile in person; and, although this Quixotic
monarch, who had been tilting against windmills all his life, failed to
excite any powerful sensation, either by his threats or his promises, it
furnished a plausible pretext for keeping alive a faction hostile to the
interests of the Catholic king.
In the winter of 1509, an arrangement was made with the emperor, through
the mediation of Louis the Twelfth, by which he finally relinquished his
pretensions to the regency of Castile, in consideration of the aid of
three hundred lances, and the transfer to him of the fifty thousand
ducats, which Ferdinand was to receive from Pisa. [1] No bribe was too
paltry for a prince, whose means were as narrow, as his projects were vast
and chimerical. Even after this pacification, the Austrian party contrived
to disquiet the king, by maintaining the archduke Charles's pretensions to
the government in the name of his unfortunate mother; until at length, the
Spanish monarch came to entertain not merely distrust, but positive
aversion, for his grandson; while the latter, as he advanced in years, was
taught to regard Ferdinand as one, who excluded him from his rightful
inheritance by a most flagrant act of usurpation. [2]
[1] Mariana, Hist. de Espana, tom. ii. lib. 29, cap. 21.--Zurita, Anales,
tom. vi. lib. 8, cap. 45, 47. 834.
[2] Zurita, Anales, tom. vi. lib. 10, cap. 55, 69.--Peter Martyr, Opus
Epist., epist. 531.
Ferdinand's suspicious temper found other grounds for uneasiness, where
there was less warrant for it, in his jealousy of his illustrious subject
Gonsalvo de Cordova. This was particularly the case, when circumstances
had disclosed the full extent of that general's popularity. After the
defeat of Ravenna, the pope and the other allies of Ferdinand urged him in
the most earnest manner to send the Great Captain into Italy, as the only
man capable of checking the French arms, and restoring the fortunes of the
league. The king, trembling for the immediate safety of his own dominions,
gave a reluctant assent, and ordered Gonsalvo to hold himself in readiness
to take command of an army to be instantly raised for Italy. [3]
[3] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 486.--Chronica del Gran Capitan,
lib. 3, cap. 7.--Zurita, Anales, tom. vi. lib. 10, cap. 2.--Giovio, Vita
Magni Gonsalvi, lib. 3, p. 288.
These tidings were received with enthusiasm by the Castilians. Men of
every rank pressed forward to serve under a chief, whose service was
itself sufficient passport to fame. "It actually seemed," says Martyr, "as
if Spain were to be drained of all her noble and generous blood. Nothing
appeared impossible, or even difficult, under such a leader. Hardly a
cavalier in the land, but would have thought it a reproach to remain
behind. Truly marvellous," he adds, "is the authority which he has
acquired over all orders of men!" [4]
[4] Opus Epist., epist. 487.--Pulgar, Sumario, p. 201.
Such was the zeal with which men enlisted under his banner, that great
difficulty was found in completing the necessary levies for Navarre, then
menaced by the French. The king, alarmed at this, and relieved from
apprehensions of immediate danger to Naples, by subsequent advices from
that country, sent orders greatly reducing the number of forces to be
raised. But this had little effect, since every man, who had the means,
preferred acting as a volunteer under the Great Captain to any other
service, however gainful; and many a poor cavalier was there, who expended
his little all, or incurred a heavy debt, in order to appear in the field
in a style becoming the chivalry of Spain.
Ferdinand's former distrust of his general was now augmented tenfold by
this evidence of his unbounded popularity. He saw in imagination much more
danger to Naples from such a subject, than from any enemy, however
formidable. He had received intelligence, moreover, that the French were
in full retreat towards the north. He hesitated no longer, but sent
instructions to the Great Captain at Cordova, to disband his levies, as
the expedition would be postponed till after the present winter; at the
same time inviting such as chose to enlist in the service of Navarre. [5]
[5] Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, lib. 3, p. 289.--Chronica del Gran
Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 7, 8.--Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V., fol. 38.--Peter
Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 498.--Pulgar, Sumario, p. 201.
These tidings were received with indignant feelings by the whole army. The
officers refused, nearly to a man, to engage in the proposed service.
Gonsalvo, who understood the motives of this change in the royal purpose,
was deeply sensible to what he regarded as a personal affront. He,
however, enjoined on his troops implicit obedience to the king's commands.
Before dismissing them, as he knew that many had been drawn into expensive
preparations far beyond their means, he distributed largesses among them,
amounting to the immense sum, if we may credit his biographers, of one
hundred thousand ducats. "Never stint your hand," said he to his steward,
who remonstrated on the magnitude of the donative; "there is no mode of
enjoying one's property, like giving it away." He then wrote a letter to
the king, in which he gave free vent to his indignation, bitterly
complaining of the ungenerous requital of his services, and asking leave
to retire to his duchy of Terranova in Naples, since he could be no longer
useful in Spain. This request was not calculated to lull Ferdinand's
suspicions. He answered, however, "in the soft and pleasant style, which
he knew so well how to assume," says Zurita; and, after specifying his
motives for relinquishing, however reluctantly, the expedition, he
recommended Gonsalvo's return to Loja, at least until some more definite
arrangement could be made respecting the affairs of Italy.
Thus condemned to his former seclusion, the Great Captain resumed his late
habits of life, freely opening his mansion to persons of merit,
interesting himself in plans for ameliorating the condition of his
tenantry and neighbors, and in this quiet way winning a more
unquestionable title to human gratitude than when piling up the blood-
stained trophies of victory. Alas for humanity, that it should have deemed
otherwise! [6]
[6] Mariana, Hist. de Espana, tom. ii. lib. 30, cap. 14.--Giovio, Vitae
Illust. Virorum, pp. 290, 291.--Chronica del Gran Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 7,
8, 9.--Zurita, Anales, tom. vi. lib. 10, cap. 28.--Quintana, Espanoles
Celebres, tom. i. pp. 328-332.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30,
cap. 20.--Pulgar, Sumario, pp. 201-208.
Another circumstance, which disquieted the Catholic king, was the failure
of issue by his present wife. The natural desire of offspring was further
stimulated by hatred of the house of Austria, which made him eager to
abridge the ample inheritance about to descend on his grandson Charles. It
must be confessed, that it reflects little credit on his heart or his
understanding, that he should have been so ready to sacrifice to personal
resentment those noble plans for the consolidation of the monarchy, which
had so worthily occupied the attention both of himself and of Isabella, in
his early life. His wishes had nearly been realized. Queen Germaine was
delivered of a son, March 3d, 1509. Providence, however, as if unwilling
to defeat the glorious consummation of the union of the Spanish kingdoms,
so long desired and nearly achieved, permitted the infant to live only a
few hours. [7]
[7] Carbajal, Anales, MS., ano 1509.--Zurita, Anales, tom. vi. lib. 10,
cap. 55.
Ferdinand repined at the blessing denied him, now more than ever. In order
to invigorate his constitution, he resorted to artificial means. [8] The
medicines which he took had the opposite effect. At least from this time,
the spring of 1513, he was afflicted with infirmities before unknown to
him. Instead of his habitual equanimity and cheerfulness, he became
impatient, irritable, and frequently a prey to morbid melancholy. He lost
all relish for business, and even for amusements, except field sports, to
which he devoted the greater part of his time. The fever which consumed
him made him impatient of long residence in any one place, and during
these last years of his life the court was in perpetual migration. The
unhappy monarch, alas! could not fly from disease, or from himself. [9]
[8] They are detailed with such curious precision by Martyr,--who is much
too precise, indeed, for our pages,--as to leave little doubt of the fact.
Opus Epist., epist. 531.
[9] Carbajal, Anales, MS., ano 1513, et seq.--L. Marineo, Cosas
Memorables, fol. 188.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 146.--Sandoval, Hist.
del Emp. Carlos V., tom. i. p. 27.
"Non idem est vultus," says Peter Martyr of the king in a letter dated in
October, 1513, "non eadem facultas in audiendo, non eadem lenitas. Tria
sunt illi, ne priores resumat vires, opposita: senilis aetas; secundum
namque agit et sexagesimum annum: uxor, quam a latere nunquam abigit: et
venatus coeloque vivendi cupiditas, quae illum in sylvis detinet, ultra
quam in juvenili aetate, citra salutem, fas esset." Opus Epist., epist.
529.
In the summer of 1515, he was found one night by his attendants in a state
of insensibility, from which it was difficult to rouse him. He exhibited
flashes of his former energy after this, however. On one occasion he made
a journey to Aragon, in order to preside at the deliberations of the
cortes, and enforce the grant of supplies, to which the nobles, from
selfish considerations, made resistance. The king failed, indeed, to bend
their intractable tempers, but he displayed on the occasion all his wonted
address and resolution. [10]
[10] Zurita, Anales, tom. vi. lib. 10, cap. 93, 94.--Carbajal, Anales MS.,
ano 1515.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 550.
On his return to Castile, which, perhaps from the greater refinement and
deference of the people, seems to have been always a more agreeable
residence to him than his own kingdom of Aragon, he received intelligence
very vexatious, in the irritable state of his mind. He learned that the
Great Captain was preparing to embark for Flanders, with his friend the
count of Urena, the marquis of Priego his nephew, and his future son-in-
law, the count of Cabra. Some surmised that Gonsalvo designed to take
command of the papal army in Italy; others, to join himself with the
archduke Charles, and introduce him, if possible, into Castile. Ferdinand,
clinging to power more tenaciously as it was ready to slip of itself from
his grasp, had little doubt that the latter was his purpose. He sent
orders therefore to the south, to prevent the meditated embarkation, and,
if necessary, to seize Gonsalvo's person. But the latter was soon to
embark on a voyage, where no earthly arm could arrest him. [11]
[11] Zurita, Anales, tom. vi. lib. 10, cap. 96.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon,
tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 23.--Giovio, Vitae Illust. Virorum, p. 292.
In the autumn of 1515 he was attacked by a quartan fever. Its approaches
at first were mild. His constitution, naturally good, had been invigorated
by the severe training of a military life; and he had been so fortunate,
that, notwithstanding the free exposure of his person to danger, he had
never received a wound. But, although little alarm was occasioned at first
by his illness, he found it impossible to throw it off; and he removed to
his residence in Granada, in hopes of deriving benefit from its salubrious
climate. Every effort to rally the declining powers of nature proved
unavailing; and on the 2d of December, 1515, he expired in his own palace
at Granada, in the arms of his wife, and his beloved daughter Elvira. [12]
[12] Giovio Vitae Illust. Virorum, pp. 271, 292.--Chronica del Gran
Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 9.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 560.--
Carbajal, Anales, MS., ano 1515.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 20,
cap. 23.--Pulgar, Sumario, p. 209.
The death of this illustrious man diffused universal sorrow throughout the
nation. All envy and unworthy suspicion died with him. The king and the
whole court went into mourning. Funeral services were performed in his
honor, in the royal chapel and all the principal churches of the kingdom.
Ferdinand addressed a letter of consolation to his duchess, in which he
lamented the death of one, "who had rendered him inestimable services, and
to whom he had ever borne such sincere affection!" [13] His obsequies were
celebrated with great magnificence in the ancient Moorish capital, under
the superintendence of the count of Tendilla, the son and successor of
Gonsalvo's old friend, the late governor of Granada. [14] His remains,
first deposited in the Franciscan monastery, were afterwards removed and
laid beneath a sumptuous mausoleum in the church of San Geronimo; [15] and
more than a hundred banners and royal pennons, waving in melancholy pomp
around the walls of the chapel, proclaimed the glorious achievements of
the warrior who slept beneath. [16] His noble wife, Dona Maria Manrique,
survived him but a few days. His daughter Elvira inherited the princely
titles and estates of her father, which, by her marriage with her kinsman,
the count of Cabra, were perpetuated in the house of Cordova. [17]
[13] See a copy of the original letter in the Chronica del Gran Capitan,
(fol. 164.) It is dated Jan. 3d, 1516, only three weeks before Ferdinand's
death.
[14] Peter Martyr notices the death of this estimable nobleman, full of
years and of honors, in a letter dated July 18th, 1515. It is addressed to
Tendilla's son, and breathes the consolation flowing from the mild and
philosophical spirit of its amiable author. The count was made marquis of
Mondejar by Ferdinand, a short time before his death. His various titles
and dignities, including the government of Granada, descended to his
eldest son, Don Luis, Martyr's early pupil; his genius was inherited in
full measure by a younger, the famous Diego Hurtado de Mendoza.
[15] The following inscription is placed over them.
"GONZALI FERNANDEZ DE CORDOVA,
Qui propria virtute
Magni Ducis nomen
Proprium sibi fecit,
Ossa,
Perpetuae tandem
Luci restituenda,
Huic interea tumulo
Credita sunt;
Gloria minime consepulta."
[16] Navagiero, Viaggio, fol. 24.
On the top of the monument was seen the marble effigy of the Great
Captain, armed and kneeling. The banners and other military trophies,
which continued to garnish the walls of the chapel, according to Pedraza,
as late as 1600, had disappeared before the eighteenth century; at least
we may infer so from Colmenar's silence respecting them in his account of
the sepulchre. Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, fol. 114.--Colmenar,
Delices de l'Espagne, tom. iii p. 505.
[17] Chronica del Gran Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 9.--Giovio, Vitae Illust.
Virorum, fol. 292.
Gonsalvo was created duke of Terra Nuova and Sessa, and marquis of
Bitonto, all in Italy, with estates of the value of 40,000 ducats rent. He
was also grand constable of Naples, and a nobleman of Venice. His princely
honors were transmitted by Dona Elvira to her son, Gonzalo Hernandez de
Cordova, who filled the posts, under Charles V., of governor of Milan, and
captain general of Italy. Under Philip II., his descendants were raised to
a Spanish dukedom, with the title of Dukes of Baena. L. Marineo, Cosas
Memorables, fol. 24.--Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V., fol. 41.--Salazar de
Mendoza, Dignidades, p. 307.
Gonsalvo, or, as he is called in Castilian, Gonzalo Hernandez de Cordova,
was sixty-two years old at the time of his death. His countenance and
person are represented to have been extremely handsome; his manners,
elegant and attractive, were stamped with that lofty dignity, which so
often distinguishes his countrymen. "He still bears," says Martyr,
speaking of him in the last years of his life, "the same majestic port as
when in the height of his former authority; so that every one who visits
him acknowledges the influence of his noble presence, as fully as when, at
the head of armies, he gave laws to Italy." [18]
[18] Opus Epist., epist. 498.--Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, p. 292.--
Pulgar, Sumario, p. 212.
His splendid military successes, so gratifying to Castilian pride, have
made the name of Gonsalvo as familiar to his countrymen as that of the
Cid, which, floating down the stream of popular melody, has been treasured
up as a part of the national history. His shining qualities, even more
than his exploits, have been often made the theme of fiction; and fiction,
as usual, has dealt with them in a fashion to leave only confused and
erroneous conceptions of both. More is known of the Spanish hero, for
instance, to foreign readers from Florian's agreeable novel, than from any
authentic record of his actions. Yet Florian, by dwelling only on the
dazzling and popular traits of his hero, has depicted him as the very
personification of romantic chivalry. This certainly was not his
character, which might be said to have been formed after a riper period of
civilization than the age of chivalry. At least, it had none of the
nonsense of that age,--its fanciful vagaries, reckless adventure, and wild
romantic gallantry. [19] His characteristics were prudence, coolness,
steadiness of purpose, and intimate knowledge of man. He understood, above
all, the temper of his own countrymen. He may be said in some degree to
have formed their military character; their patience of severe training
and hardship, their unflinching obedience, their inflexible spirit under
reverses, and their decisive energy in the hour of action. It is certain
that the Spanish soldier under his hands assumed an entirely new aspect
from that which he had displayed in the romantic wars of the Peninsula.
[19] Gonsalvo assumed for his device a cross-bow moved by a pulley, with
the motto, "Ingenium superat vires." It was characteristic of a mind
trusting more to policy than force and daring exploit. Brantome, Oeuvres,
tom. i. p. 75.
Gonsalvo was untainted with the coarser vices characteristic of the time.
He discovered none of that griping avarice, too often the reproach of his
countrymen in these wars. His hand and heart were liberal as the day. He
betrayed none of the cruelty and licentiousness, which disgrace the age of
chivalry. On all occasions he was prompt to protect women from injury or
insult. Although his distinguished manners and rank gave him obvious
advantages with the sex, he never abused them; [20] and he has left a
character, unimpeached by any historian, of unblemished morality in his
domestic relations. This was a rare virtue in the sixteenth century.
[20] Giovio, Vitae Illust. Virorum, p. 271.
Gonsalvo's fame rests on his military prowess; yet his character would
seem in many respects better suited to the calm and cultivated walks of
civil life. His government of Naples exhibited much discretion and sound
policy; [21] and there, as afterwards in his retirement, his polite and
liberal manners secured not merely the good-will, but the strong
attachment, of those around him. His early education, like that of most of
the noble cavaliers who came forward before the improvements introduced
under Isabella, was taken up with knightly exercises, more than
intellectual accomplishments. He was never taught Latin, and had no
pretensions to scholarship; but he honored and nobly recompensed it in
others. His solid sense and liberal taste supplied all deficiencies in
himself, and led him to select friends and companions from among the most
enlightened and virtuous of the community. [22]
[21] Ibid., p. 281.--Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, lib. 30, cap. 1, 5.
[22] Giovio, Vitae Illust. Virorum, p. 271.
"Amigo de sus amigos,
iQue Senor para criados
Y parientes!
iQue enemigo de enemigos!
iQue maestro de esforzados
Y valientes!
iQue seso para discretos!
iQue gracia para donosos!
iQue razon!
Muy benigno a los sugetos,
Y a los bravos y danosos
Un leon."
Coplas de Don Jorge Manrique.
On this fair character there remains one foul reproach. This is his breach
of faith in two memorable instances; first, to the young duke of Calabria,
and afterwards to Caesar Borgia, both of whom he betrayed into the hands
of King Ferdinand, their personal enemy; and in violation of his most
solemn pledges. [23] True, it was in obedience to his master's commands,
and not to serve his own purposes; and true also, this want of faith was
the besetting sin of the age. But history has no warrant to tamper with
right and wrong, or to brighten the character of its favorites by
diminishing one shade of the abhorrence which attaches to their vices.
They should rather be held up in their true deformity, as the more
conspicuous from the very greatness with which they are associated. It may
be remarked, however, that the reiterated and unsparing opprobrium with
which foreign writers, who have been little sensible to Gonsalvo's merits,
have visited these offences, affords tolerable evidence that they are the
only ones of any magnitude that can be charged on him. [24]
[23] Borgia, after his father Alexander VI.'s death, escaped to Naples
under favor of a safe conduct signed by Gonsalvo. Here, however, his
intriguing spirit soon engaged him in schemes for troubling the peace of
Italy, and, indeed, for subverting the authority of the Spaniards there;
in consequence of which the Great Captain seized his person, and sent him
prisoner to Castile. Such, at least, is the Spanish version of the story,
and of course the one most favorable to Gonsalvo. Mariana dismisses it
with coolly remarking, that "the Great Captain seems to have consulted the
public good, in the affair, more than his own fame; a conduct well worthy
to be pondered and emulated by all princes and rulers!" Hist. de Espana,
lib. 28, cap. 8.--Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 5, cap. 72.--Quintana,
Espanoles Celebres, pp. 302, 303.
[24] That but one other troubled him, appears from the fact (if it be a
fact) of Gonsalvo's declaring, on his death-bed, that "there were three
acts of his life which he deeply repented." Two of these were his
treatment of Borgia and the duke of Calabria. He was silent respecting the
third. "Some historians suppose," says Quintana, "that by this last he
meant his omission to possess himself of the crown of Naples when it was
in his power!" These historians, no doubt, like Fouche, considered a
blunder in politics as worse than a crime.
As to the imputation of disloyalty, we have elsewhere had occasion to
notice its apparent groundlessness. It would be strange, indeed, if the
ungenerous treatment which he had experienced ever since his return from
Naples had not provoked feelings of indignation in his bosom. Nor would it
be surprising, under these circumstances, if he had been led to regard the
archduke Charles's pretensions to the regency, as he came of age, with a
favorable eye. There is no evidence, however, of this, or of any act
unfriendly to Ferdinand's interests. His whole public life, on the
contrary, exhibited the truest loyalty; and the only stains that darken
his fame were incurred by too unhesitating devotion to the wishes of his
master. He is not the first nor the last statesman, who has reaped the
royal recompense of ingratitude, for serving his king with greater zeal
than he had served his Maker.
Ferdinand's health, in the mean time, had declined so sensibly, that it
was evident he could not long survive the object of his jealousy. [25] His
disease had now settled into a dropsy, accompanied with a distressing
affection of the heart. He found difficulty in breathing, complained that
he was stifled in the crowded cities, and passed most of his time, even
after the weather became cold, in the fields and forests, occupied, as far
as his strength permitted, with the fatiguing pleasures of the chase. As
the winter advanced, he bent his steps towards the south. He passed some
time, in December, at a country-seat of the duke of Alva, near Placentia,
where he hunted the stag. He then resumed his journey to Andalusia, but
fell so ill on the way, at the little village of Madrigalejo, near
Truxillo, that it was found impossible to advance further. [26]
[25] The miraculous bell of Velilla, a little village in Aragon, nine
leagues from Saragossa, about this time gave one of those prophetic
tintinnabulations, which always boded some great calamity to the country.
The side on which the blows fell denoted the quarter where the disaster
was to happen. Its sound, says Dr. Dormer, caused dismay and contrition,
with dismal "fear of change," in the hearts of all who heard it. No arm
was strong enough to stop it on these occasions, as those found to their
cost who profanely attempted it. Its ill-omened voice was heard for the
twentieth and last time, in March, 1679. As no event of importance
followed, it probably tolled for its own funeral.--See the edifying
history, in Dr. Diego Dormer, of the miraculous powers and performances of
this celebrated bell, as duly authenticated by a host of witnesses.
Discursos Varios, pp. 198-244.
[26] Carbajal, Anales, MS., anos 1513-1516.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol.
146.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 542, 558, 561, 564. Zurita,
Anales, tom. vi. lib. 10, cap. 99.
Carbajal states, that the king had been warned, by some soothsayer, to
beware of Madrigal, and that he had ever since avoided entering into the
town of that name in Old Castile. The name of the place he was now in was
not precisely that indicated, but corresponded near enough for a
prediction. The event proved, that the witches of Spain, like those of
Scotland,
"Could keep the word of promise to the ear,
And break it to the hope."
The story derives little confirmation from the character of Ferdinand. He
was not superstitious, at least while his faculties were in vigor.
The king seemed desirous of closing his eyes to the danger of his
situation as long as possible. He would not confess, nor even admit his
confessor into his chamber. [27] He showed similar jealousy of his
grandson's envoy, Adrian of Utrecht. This person, the preceptor of
Charles, and afterwards raised through his means to the papacy, had come
into Castile some weeks before, with the ostensible view of making some
permanent arrangement with Ferdinand in regard to the regency. The real
motive, as the powers which he brought with him subsequently proved, was,
that he might be on the spot when the king died, and assume the reins of
government. Ferdinand received the minister with cold civility, and an
agreement was entered into, by which the regency was guaranteed to the
monarch, not only during Joanna's life, but his own. Concessions to a
dying man cost nothing. Adrian, who was at Guadalupe at this time, no
sooner heard of Ferdinand's illness, than he hastened to Madrigalejo. The
king, however, suspected the motives of his visit. "He has come to see me
die," said he; and, refusing to admit him into his presence, ordered the
mortified envoy back again to Guadalupe. [28]
[27] "A la verdad," says Carbajal, "le tento mucho el enemigo en aquel
paso con incredulidad que le ponia de no morir tan presto, para que ni
confesase ni recibiese los Sacramentos." According to the same writer,
Ferdinand was buoyed up by the prediction of an old sybil, "la beata del
Barco," that "he should not die till he had conquered Jerusalem." (Anales,
MS., cap. 2.) We are again reminded of Shakespeare,
"It hath been prophesied to me many years
I should not die but in Jerusalem."
King Henry IV.
[28] Carbajal, Anales, MS., ano 1516, cap. 1.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, ubi
supra.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 565.--Sandoval, Hist. del Emp.
Carlos V., tom. i. p. 35.
At length the medical attendants ventured to inform the king of his real
situation, conjuring him if he had any affairs of moment to settle, to do
it without delay. He listened to them with composure, and from that moment
seemed to recover all his customary fortitude and equanimity. After
receiving the sacrament, and attending to his spiritual concerns, he
called his attendants around his bed, to advise with them respecting the
disposition of the government. Among those present, at this time, were his
faithful followers, the duke of Alva, and the marquis of Denia, his
majordomo, with several bishops and members of his council. [29]
[29] Carbajal, Anales, MS., ano 1516, cap. 2.
Dr. Carbajal, who was a member of the royal council, was present with him
during the whole of his last illness; and his circumstantial and spirited
narrative of it forms an exception to the general character of his
itinerary.
The king, it seems, had made several wills. By one, executed at Burgos, in
1512, he had committed the government of Castile and Aragon to the infante
Ferdinand during his brother Charles's absence. This young prince had been
educated in Spain under the eye of his grand-father, who entertained a
strong affection for him. The counsellors remonstrated in the plainest
terms against this disposition of the regency. Ferdinand, they said, was
too young to take the helm into his own hands. His appointment would be
sure to create new factions in Castile; it would raise him up to be in a
manner a rival of his brother, and kindle ambitious desires in his bosom,
which could not fail to end in his disappointment, and perhaps
destruction. [30]
[30] Carbajal, Anales, MS., ano 1516, cap. 2.
The king, who would never have made such a devise in his better days, was
more easily turned from his purpose now, than he would once have been. "To
whom then," he asked, "shall I leave the regency?" "To Ximenes, archbishop
of Toledo," they replied. Ferdinand turned away his face, apparently in
displeasure; but after a few moments' silence rejoined, "It is well; he is
certainly a good man, with honest intentions. He has no importunate
friends or family to provide for. He owes everything to Queen Isabella and
myself; and, as he has always been true to the interests of our family, I
believe he will always remain so." [31]
[31] Ibid., ubi supra.
He, however, could not so readily abandon the idea of some splendid
establishment for his favorite grandson; and he proposed to settle on him
the grand-masterships of the military orders. But to this his attendants
again objected, on the same grounds as before; adding, that this powerful
patronage was too great for any subject, and imploring him not to defeat
the object which the late queen had so much at heart, of incorporating it
with the crown. "Ferdinand will be left very poor then," exclaimed the
king, with tears in his eyes. "He will have the good-will of his brother,"
replied one of his honest counsellors, "the best legacy your Highness can
leave him." [32]
[32] Ibid., ubi supra.
The testament, as finally arranged, settled the succession of Aragon and
Naples on his daughter Joanna and her heirs. The administration of Castile
during Charles's absence was intrusted to Ximenes, and that of Aragon to
the king's natural son, the archbishop of Saragossa, whose good sense and
popular manners made him acceptable to the people. He granted several
places in the kingdom of Naples to the infante Ferdinand, with an annual
stipend of fifty thousand ducats, chargeable on the public revenues. To
his queen Germaine he left the yearly income of thirty thousand gold
florins, stipulated by the marriage settlement, with five thousand a year
more during widowhood. [33] The will contained, besides, several
appropriations for pious and charitable purposes, but nothing worthy of
particular note. [34] Notwithstanding the simplicity of the various
provisions of the testament, it was so long, from the formalities and
periphrases with which it was encumbered, that there was scarce time to
transcribe it in season for the royal signature. On the evening of the 22d
of January, 1516, he executed the instrument; and a few hours later,
between one and two of the morning of the 23d, Ferdinand breathed his
last. [35] The scene of this event was a small house belonging to the
friars of Guadalupe. "In so wretched a tenement," exclaims Martyr, in his
usual moralizing vein, "did this lord of so many lands close his eyes upon
the world." [36]
[33] Ferdinand's gay widow did not long enjoy this latter pension. Soon
after his death, she gave her hand to the marquis of Brandenburg, and, he
dying, she again married the prince of Calabria, who had been detained in
a sort of honorable captivity in Spain, ever since the dethronement of his
father, King Frederic. (Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 4, dial.
44.) It was the second sterile match, says Guicciardini, which Charles V.,
for obvious politic reasons, provided for the rightful heir of Naples.
Istoria, tom. viii. lib. 15, p. 10.
[34] Ferdinand's testament is to be found in Carbajal, Anales, MS.--
Dormer, Discursos Varies, p. 393 et seq.--Mariana, Hist. de Espana, ed.
Valencia, tom. ix. Apend. no. 2.
[35] Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 3, dial. 9.--The queen was
at Alcala de Henares, when she received tidings of her husband's illness.
She posted with all possible despatch to Madrigalejo, but, although she
reached it on the 20th, she was not admitted, says Gomez, notwithstanding
her tears, to a private interview with the king, till the testament was
executed, a few hours only before his death. De Rebus Gestis, fol. 147.
[36] Carbajal, Anales, MS., ano 1516.--L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol.
188.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 148.
"Tot regnorum dominus, totque palmarum cumulis ornatus, Christianae
religionis amplificator et prostrator hostium, Rex in rusticana obiit
casa, et pauper contra hominum opinionem obiit." Peter Martyr, Opus
Epist., epist. 588.--Brantome, (Vies des Hommes Illustres, Footnote: p.
72,) who speaks of Madrigalejo as a "meschant village," which he had seen.
Ferdinand was nearly sixty-four years old, of which forty-one had elapsed
since he first swayed the sceptre of Castile, and thirty-seven since he
held that of Aragon. A long reign; long enough, indeed, to see most of
those whom he had honored and trusted of his subjects gathered to the
dust, and a succession of contemporary monarchs come and disappear like
shadows. [37] He died deeply lamented by his native subjects, who
entertained a partiality natural towards their own hereditary sovereign.
The event was regarded with very different feelings by the Castilian
nobles, who calculated their gains on the transfer of the reins from such
old and steady hands into those of a young and inexperienced master. The
commons, however, who had felt the good effect of this curb on the
nobility, in their own personal security, held his memory in reverence as
that of a national benefactor. [38]
[37] Since Ferdinand ascended the throne he had seen no less than four
kings of England, as many of France, and also of Naples, three of
Portugal, two German emperors, and half a dozen popes. As to his own
subjects, scarcely one of all those familiar to the reader in the course
of our history now survived, except, indeed, the Nestor of his time, the
octogenarian Ximenes.
[38] Zurita, Anales, tom. vi. lib. 10, cap. 100.--Blancas, Commentarii, p.
275.--Lanuza, Historias, tom. i. lib. 1, cap. 25.
Ferdinand's remains were interred, agreeably to his orders, in Granada. A
few of his most faithful adherents accompanied them; the greater part
being deterred by a prudent caution of giving umbrage to Charles. [39] The
funeral train, however, was swelled by contributions from the various
towns through which it passed. At Cordova, especially, it is worthy of
note, that the marquis of Priego, who had slender obligations to
Ferdinand, came out with all his household to pay the last melancholy
honors to his remains. They were received with similar respect in Granada,
where the people, while they gazed on the sad spectacle, says Zurita, were
naturally affected as they called to mind the pomp and splendor of his
triumphal entry on the first occupation of the Moorish capital. [40]
[39] Zurita, Anales, ubi supra.
The honest Martyr was one of the few who paid this last tribute of respect
to their ancient master. "Ego ut mortuo debitum praestem," says he, in a
letter to Prince Charles's physician, "corpus ejus exanime, Granatam,
sepulchro sedem destinatam, comitabor." Opus Epist., epist. 566.
[40] Anales, tom. vi. lib. 10, cap. 100.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist.,
epist. 572.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 24.--Carbajal,
Anales, MS., ano 1516, cap. 5.
By his dying injunctions, all unnecessary ostentation was interdicted at
his funeral. His body was laid by the side of Isabella's in the monastery
of the Alhambra; and the year following, [41] when the royal chapel of the
metropolitan church was completed, they were both transported thither. A
magnificent mausoleum of white marble was erected over them, by their
grandson, Charles the Fifth. It was executed in a style worthy of the age.
The sides were adorned with figures of angels and saints, richly
sculptured in bas-relief. On the top reposed the effigies of the
illustrious pair, whose titles and merits were commemorated in the
following brief, and not very felicitous inscription.
"MAHOMETICAE SECTAE PROSTRATORES, ET HAERETICAE PERVICACIAE EXTINCTORES,
FERNANDUS ARAGONUM, ET HELISABETA CASTELLAE, VIR ET UXOR UNANIMES,
CATHOLICI APPELLATI, MARMOREO CLAUDUNTUR HOC TUMULO." [42]
[41] Mem de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Illust. 21. According to Pedraza,
this event did not take place till 1525. Antiguedad de Granada, lib. 3,
cap. 7.
[42] Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, lib. 3, cap. 7.--"Assai bello per
Spagna;" says Navagiero, who, as an Italian, had a right to be fastidious.
(Viaggio, fol. 23.) The artist, however, was not a Spaniard; at least
common tradition assigns the work to Philip of Burgundy, an eminent
sculptor of the period, who has left many specimens of his excellence in
Toledo and other parts of Spain. (Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. p.
577.) Laborde's magnificent work contains an engraving of the monuments of
the Catholic sovereigns and Philip and Joanna; "qui rappellent la
renaissance des arts en Italie, et sont, a la fois d'une belle execution
et d'une conception noble." Laborde, Voyage Pittoresque, tom. ii. p. 25.
King Ferdinand's personal appearance has been elsewhere noticed. "He was
of the middle size," says a contemporary, who knew him well. "His
complexion was fresh; his eyes bright and animated; his nose and mouth
small and finely formed, and his teeth white; his forehead lofty and
serene; with flowing hair of a bright chestnut color. His manners were
courteous, and his countenance seldom clouded by anything like spleen or
melancholy. He was grave in speech and action, and had a marvellous
dignity of presence. His whole demeanor, in fine, was truly that of a
great king." For this flattering portrait Ferdinand must have sat at an
earlier and happier period of his life. [43]
[43] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 182.
Pulgar's portrait of the king, taken also in the morning of his life, the
close of which the writer did not live to see, is equally bright and
pleasing. "Habia," says he," una gracia singular, que qualquier con el
fablese, luego le amaba e le deseaba servir, porque tenia la communicacion
amigable." Reyes Catolicos, p. 36.
His education, owing to the troubled state of the times, had been
neglected in his boyhood, though he was early instructed in all the
generous pastimes and exercises of chivalry. [44] He was esteemed one of
the most perfect horsemen of his court. He led an active life, and the
only kind of reading he appeared to relish was history. It was natural
that so busy an actor on the great political theatre should have found
peculiar interest and instruction in this study. [45]
[44] "He tilted lightly," says Pulgar, "and with a dexterity not surpassed
by any man in the kingdom." Reyes Catolicos, ubi supra.
[45] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 153.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon,
tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 24.--Sandoval, Hist. del Emp. Carlos V., tom. i. p.
37.
He was naturally of an equable temper, and inclined to moderation in all
things. The only amusement for which he cared much was hunting, especially
falconry, and that he never carried to excess till his last years. [46] He
was indefatigable in application to business. He had no relish for the
pleasures of the table, and, like Isabella, was temperate even to
abstemiousness in his diet. [47] He was frugal in his domestic and
personal expenditure; partly, no doubt, from a willingness to rebuke the
opposite spirit of wastefulness and ostentation in his nobles. He lost no
good opportunity of doing this. On one occasion, it is said, he turned to
a gallant of the court noted for his extravagance in dress, and laying his
hand on his own doublet, exclaimed, "Excellent stuff this; it has lasted
me three pair of sleeves!" [48] This spirit of economy was carried so far
as to bring on him the reproach of parsimony. [49] And parsimony, though
not so pernicious on the whole as the opposite vice of prodigality, has
always found far less favor with the multitude, from the appearance of
disinterestedness, which the latter carries with it. Prodigality in a
king, however, who draws not on his own resources, but on the public,
forfeits even this equivocal claim to applause. But, in truth, Ferdinand
was rather frugal, than parsimonious. His income was moderate; his
enterprises numerous and vast. It was impossible that he could meet them
without husbanding his resources with the most careful economy. [50] No
one has accused him of attempting to enrich his exchequer by the venal
sale of office, like Louis the Twelfth, or by griping extortion, like
another royal contemporary, Henry the Seventh. He amassed no treasure,
[51] and indeed died so poor, that he left scarcely enough in his coffers
to defray the charges of his funeral. [52]
[46] Pulgar, indeed, notices his fondness for chess, tennis, and other
games of skill, in early life. Reyes Catolicos, part. 2, cap. 3.
"Stop and dine with us," he was known to say to his uncle, the grand
admiral Henriquez; "we are to have a chicken for dinner today." (Sempere,
Hist, del Luxo, tom. ii. p. 2, nota.) The royal cuisine would have
afforded small scope for the talents of a Vatel or an Ude.
[48] Sempere, Hist. del Luxo, ubi supra.
[49] Machiavelli, by a single coup de pinceau, thus characterizes,
or caricatures, the princes of his time. "Un imperatore instabile e vario;
un re di Francia sdegnoso e pauroso; un re d'Inghilterra ricco, feroce, e
cupido di gloria; un re di Spagna taccagno e avaro; per gli altri
re, io no li conosco."
[50] The revenues of his own kingdom of Aragon were very limited. His
principal foreign expeditions were undertaken solely on account of that
crown; and this, notwithstanding the aid from Castile, may explain, and in
some degree excuse, his very scanty remittances to his troops.
[51] On one occasion, having obtained a liberal supply from the states of
Aragon, (a rare occurrence,) his counsellors advised him to lock it up
against a day of need. "Mas el Rey," says Zurita, "que siempre supo gastar
su dinero provechosamente, y nunca fue escosso en despendello en las
cosas del estado, tuvo mas aparejo para emplearlo, que para encerrarlo."
(Anales, tom. vi. fol. 225.) The historian, it must be allowed, lays quite
as much emphasis on his liberality as it will bear.
[52] Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 24.--Zurita, Anales,
tom. vi. lib. 10, cap. 100.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 566.
"Vix ad funeris pompam et paucis familiaribus praebendas vestes pullatas,
pecuniae apud eum, neqne alibi congestae repertae sunt; quod nemo unquam
de vivente judicavit." (Peter Martyr, ubi supra.) Guicciardini alludes to
the same fact, as evidence of the injustice of the imputations on
Ferdinand; "Ma accade," adds the historian, truly enough, "quasi sempre
per il giudizio corrotto degli uomini, che nei Re e piu lodata la
prodigalita, benche a quella sia annessa la rapacita, che la parsimonia
congiunta con l'astinenza dalla roba di altri." (Istoria, tom. vi. lib.
12, p. 273.)
The state of Ferdinand's coffers formed, indeed, a strong contrast to that
of his brother monarch's, Henry VII., "whose treasure of store," to borrow
the words of Bacon, "left at his death, under his own key and keeping,
amounted unto the sum of eighteen hundred thousand pounds sterling; a huge
mass of money, even for these times." (Hist. of Henry VII., Works, vol. v.
p. 183.) Sir Edward Coke swells this huge mass to "fifty and three hundred
thousand pounds"! Institutes, part 4, chap. 35.
Ferdinand was devout; at least he was scrupulous in regard to the exterior
of religion. He was punctual in attendance on mass; careful to observe all
the ordinances and ceremonies of his church; and left many tokens of his
piety, after the fashion of the time, in sumptuous edifices and endowments
for religious purposes. Although not a superstitious man for the age, he
is certainly obnoxious to the reproach of bigotry; for he co-operated with
Isabella in all her exceptionable measures in Castile, and spared no
effort to fasten the odious yoke of the Inquisition on Aragon, and
subsequently, though happily with less success, on Naples. [53]
[53] Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 24.--L. Marineo, Cosas
Memorables, fol. 182.--Zurita, Anales, lib. 9, cap. 26.
Ferdinand's conduct in regard to the Inquisition in Aragon displayed
singular duplicity. In consequence of the remonstrance of cortes, in 1512,
in which that high-spirited body set forth the various usurpations of the
Holy Office, Ferdinand signed a compact, abridging its jurisdiction. He
repented of these concessions, however, and in the following year obtained
a dispensation from Rome from his engagements. This proceeding produced
such an alarming excitement in the kingdom, that the monarch found it
expedient to renounce the papal brief, and apply for another, confirming
his former compact. (Llorente, Hist. de l'Inquisition, tom. i. pp. 371 et
seq.) One may well doubt whether bigotry entered as largely, as less
pardonable motives of state policy, into this miserable juggling.
Ferdinand has incurred the more serious charge of hypocrisy. His Catholic
zeal was observed to be marvellously efficacious in furthering his
temporal interests. [54] His most objectionable enterprises, even, were
covered with a veil of religion. In this, however, he did not materially
differ from the practice of the age. Some of the most scandalous wars of
that period were ostensibly at the bidding of the church, or in defence of
Christendom against the infidel. This ostentation of a religious motive
was indeed very usual with the Spanish and Portuguese. The crusading
spirit, nourished by their struggle with the Moors, and subsequently by
their African and American expeditions, gave such a religious tone
habitually to their feelings, as shed an illusion over their actions and
enterprises, frequently disguising their true character, even from
themselves.
[54] "Disoit-on," says Brantome, "que la reyne Isabella de Castille estoit
une fort devote et religieuse princesse, et que luy, quel grand zele
qu'il y eust, n'estoit devotieux que par ypocrisie, couvrant ses actes et
ambitions par ce sainct zele de religion." (Oeuvres, tom. i. p. 70.)
"Copri," says Guicciardini, "quasi tutte le sue eupidita sotto colore di
onesto zelo della religione e di santa intenzione al bene comune."
(Istoria, tom. vi. lib. 12, p. 274.) The penetrating eye of Machiavelli
glances at the same trait. II Principe, cap. 21.
It will not be so easy to acquit Ferdinand of the reproach of perfidy
which foreign writers have so deeply branded on his name, [55] and which
those of his own nation have sought rather to palliate than to deny. [56]
It is but fair to him, however, even here, to take a glance at the age. He
came forward when government was in a state of transition from the feudal
forms to those which it has assumed in modern times; when the superior
strength of the great vassals was circumvented by the superior policy of
the reigning princes. It was the dawn of the triumph of intellect over the
brute force, which had hitherto controlled the movements of nations, as of
individuals. The same policy which these monarchs had pursued in their own
domestic relations, they introduced into those with foreign states, when,
at the close of the fifteenth century, the barriers that had so long kept
them asunder were broken down. Italy was the first field, on which the
great powers were brought into anything like a general collision. It was
the country, too, in which this crafty policy had been first studied, and
reduced to a regular system. A single extract from the political manual of
that age [57] may serve as a key to the whole science, as then understood.
"A prudent prince," says Machiavelli, "will not, and ought not to observe
his engagements, when it would operate to his disadvantage, and the causes
no longer exist which induced him to make them." [58] Sufficient evidence
of the practical application of the maxim may be found in the manifold
treaties of the period, so contradictory, or, what is to the same purpose
for our present argument, so confirmatory of one another in their tenor,
as clearly to show the impotence of all engagements. There were no less
than four several treaties in the course of three years, solemnly
stipulating the marriage of the archduke Charles and Claude of France.
Louis the Twelfth violated his engagements, and the marriage after all
never took place. [59]
[55] Guicciardini, Istoria, lib. 12, p. 273.--Du Bellay, Memoires, apud
Petitot, Collection des Memoires, tom. xvii. p. 272.--Giovio, Hist. sui
Temporis, lib. 11, p. 160; lib. 16, p. 336.--Machiavelli, Opere, tom. ix.
Lett. Diverse, no. 6, ed. Milano, 1805.--Herbert, Life of Henry VIII., p.
63.--Sismondi, Republiques Italiennes, tom. xvi. cap. 112.--Voltaire sums
up Ferdinand's character in the following pithy sentence. "On l'appellait
en Espagne le sage, le prudent; en Italie le pieux; en France et a
Londres le perfide." Essai sur les Moeurs, chap. 114.
[56] "Home era de verdad," says Pulgar, "como quiera que las necesidades
grandes en que le pusieron las guerras, le facian algunas veces variar."
(Reyes Catolicos, part. 2, cap. 3.) Zurita exposes and condemns this
blemish in his hero's character, with a candor which does him credit. "Fue
muy notado, no solo de los estrangeros, pero de sus naturales, que no
guardava la verdad, y fe que prometia; y que se anteponia siempre, y
sobrepujava el respeto de su propria utilidad, a lo que era justo y
honesto." Anales, tom. vi. fol. 406.
[57] Charles V., in particular, testified his respect for Machiavelli, by
having the "Principe" translated for his own use.
[59] Dumont, Corps Diplomatique, tom. iv. part. 1, nos. 7, 11, 28, 29.--
Seyssel, Hist. de Louys XII., pp. 228-230.--St. Gelais, Hist. de Louys
XII., p. 184.
Such was the school in which Ferdinand was to make trial of his skill with
his brother monarchs. He had an able instructor in his father, John the
Second, of Aragon, and the result showed that the lessons were not lost on
him. "He was vigilant, wary, and subtile," writes a French contemporary,
"and few histories make mention of his being outwitted in the whole course
of his life." [60] He played the game with more adroitness than his
opponents, and he won it. Success, as usual, brought on him the reproaches
of the losers. This is particularly true of the French, whose master,
Louis the Twelfth, was more directly pitted against him. [61] Yet
Ferdinand does not appear to be a whit more obnoxious to the charge of
unfairness than his opponent. [62] If he deserted his allies when it
suited his convenience, he, at least, did not deliberately plot their
destruction, and betray them into the hands of their deadly enemy, as his
rival did with Venice, in the league of Cambray. [63] The partition of
Naples, the most scandalous transaction of the period, he shared equally
with Louis; and if the latter has escaped the reproach of the usurpation
of Navarre, it was because the premature death of his general deprived him
of the pretext and means for achieving it. Yet Louis the Twelfth, the
"father of his people," has gone down to posterity with a high and
honorable reputation. [64]
[60] Memoires de Bayard, chap. 61.--"This prince," says Lord Herbert, who
was not disposed to overrate the talents, any more than the virtues, of
Ferdinand, "was thought the most active and politique of his time. No man
knew better how to serve his turn on everybody, or to make their ends
conduce to his." Life of Henry VIII., p. 63.
[61] According to them, the Catholic king took no great pains to conceal
his treachery. "Quelqu'un disant un jour a Ferdinand, que Louis XII.
l'accusoit de l'avoir trompe trois fois, Ferdinand parut mecontent qn'il
lui ravit une partie de sa gloire; Il en a bien menti, l'ivrogne,
dit-il, avec toute la grossierete du temps, je l'ai trompe plus de
dix." (Gaillard, Rivalite, tom. iv. p. 240.) The anecdote has been
repeated by other modern writers, I know not on what authority. Ferdinand
was too shrewd a politician, to hazard his game by playing the braggart.
[62] Paolo Giovio strikes the balance of their respective merits in this
particular, in the following terms. "Ex horum enim longe maximorum nostrae
tempestatis regum ingeniis, et turn liquido et multum antea praclare
compertum est, nihil omnino sanctum et inviolabile, vel in rite conceptis
sancitisque foederibus reperiri, quod, in proferendis imperiis augendisque
opibus, apud eos nihil ad illustris famae decus interesset, dolone et
nusquam sine fallaciis, an fide integra veraque virtute niterentur." Hist.
sui Temporis, lib. 11, p. 160.
[63] An equally pertinent example occurs in the efficient support he gave
Caesar Borgia in his flagitious enterprises against some of the most
faithful allies of France. See Sismondi, Republiques Italiennes, tom.
xiii. cap. 101.
[64] Read the honeyed panegyrics of Seyssel, St. Gelais, Voltaire even, to
say nothing of Gaillard, Varillas, e lulti quanti, undiluted by
scarce a drop of censure. Rare indeed is it to find one so imbued with the
spirit of philosophy, as to raise himself above the local or national
prejudices which pass for patriotism with the vulgar. Sismondi is the only
writer in the French language, that has come under my notice, who has
weighed the deserts of Louis XII. in the historic balance with
impartiality and candor. And Sismondi is not a Frenchman.
Ferdinand, unfortunately for his popularity, had nothing of the frank and
cordial temper, the genial expansion of the soul, which begets love. He
carried the same cautious and impenetrable frigidity into private life,
that he showed in public. "No one," says a writer of the time, "could read
his thoughts by any change of his countenance." [65] Calm and calculating,
even in trifles, it was too obvious that everything had exclusive
reference to self. He seemed to estimate his friends only by the amount of
services they could render him. He was not always mindful of these
services. Witness his ungenerous treatment of Columbus, the Great Captain,
Navarro, Ximenes,--the men who shed the brightest lustre, and the most
substantial benefits, on his reign. Witness also his insensibility to the
virtues and long attachment of Isabella, whose memory he could so soon
dishonor by a union with one every way unworthy to be her successor.
[65] Giovio, Hist. sui Temporis, lib. 16, p. 335.
Ferdinand's connection with Isabella, while it reflected infinite glory on
his reign, suggests a contrast most unfavorable to his character. Hers was
all magnanimity, disinterestedness, and deep devotion to the interests of
her people. His was the spirit of egotism. The circle of his views might
be more or less expanded, but self was the steady, unchangeable centre.
Her heart beat with the generous sympathies of friendship, and the purest
constancy to the first, the only object of her love. We have seen the
measure of his sensibilities in other relations. They were not more
refined in this; and he proved himself unworthy of the admirable woman
with whom his destinies were united, by indulging in those vicious
gallantries, too generally sanctioned by the age. [66] Ferdinand, in fine,
a shrewd and politic prince, "surpassing," as a French writer, not his
friend, has remarked, "all the statesmen of his time in the science of the
cabinet," [67] may be taken as the representative of the peculiar genius
of the age. While Isabella, discarding all the petty artifices of state
policy, and pursuing the noblest ends by the noblest means, stands far
above her age.
[66] Ferdinand left four natural children, one son and three daughters.
The former, Don Alonso de Aragon, was born of the viscountess of Eboli, a
Catalan lady. He was made archbishop of Saragossa when only six years old.
There was little of the religious profession, however, in his life. He
took an active part in the political and military movements of the period,
and seems to have been even less scrupulous in his gallantries than his
father. His manners in private life were attractive, and his public
conduct discreet. His father always regarded him with peculiar affection,
and intrusted him with the regency of Aragon, as we have seen, at his
death.
Ferdinand had three daughters, also, by three different ladies, one of
them a noble Portuguese. The eldest child was named Dona Juana, and
married the grand constable of Castile. The others, each named Maria,
embraced the religious profession in a convent in Madrigal. L. Marineo,
Cosas Memorables, fol. 188.--Salazar de Mendoza, Monarquia, tom. i. p.
410.
[67] "Enfin il surpassa tous les Princes de son siecle en la science du
Cabinet, et c'est a lui qu'on doit attribuer le premier et le souverain
usage de la politique moderne." Varillas, Politique de Ferdinand, liv. 3,
disc. 10.
In his illustrious consort Ferdinand may be said to have lost his good
genius. [68] From that time his fortunes were under a cloud. Not that
victory sat less constantly on his banner; but at home he had lost
"All that should accompany old age,
As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends."
His ill-advised marriage disgusted his Castilian subjects. He ruled over
them, indeed, but more in severity than in love. The beauty of his young
queen opened new sources of jealousy; [69] while the disparity of their
ages, and her fondness for frivolous pleasure, as little qualified her to
be his partner in prosperity, as his solace in declining years. [70] His
tenacity of power drew him into vulgar squabbles with those most nearly
allied to him by blood, which settled into a mortal aversion. Finally,
bodily infirmity broke the energies of his mind, sour suspicions corroded
his heart, and he had the misfortune to live, long after he had lost all
that could make life desirable.
[68] Brantome notices a sobriquet which his countrymen had given to
Ferdinand. "Nos Francois appelloient ce roy Ferdinand Jehan Gipon, je ne
scay pour quelle derision; mais il nous cousta bon, et nous fist bien du
mal, et fust un grand roy et sage." Which his ancient editor thus
explains: "Gipon de i'italien giubone, c'est que nous appellons
jupon et jupe; voulant par la taxer ce prince de s'etre laisse
gouverner par Isabelle, reine de Castille, sa femme, dont il endossoit la
jupe, pour ainsi dire, pendant qu'elle portoit les chausses." (Vies
des Hommes Illustres, disc. 5.) There is more humor than truth in the
etymology. The gipon was part of a man's attire, being, as Mr. Tyrwhitt
defines it, "a short cassock," and was worn under the armor. Thus Chaucer,
in the Prologue to his "Canterbury Tales," says of his knight's dress,
"Of fustian he wered a gipon
Alle besmotred with his habergeon."
Again, in his "Knighte's Tale,"
"Som wol ben armed in an habergeon,
And in a brest-plate, and in a gipon."
[69] When Ferdinand visited Aragon, in 1515, during his troubles with the
cortes, he imprisoned the vice-chancellor, Antonio Augustin; being moved
to this, according to Carbajal, by his jealousy of that minister's
attentions to his young queen. (Anales, MS., ano 1515.) It is possible.
Zurita, however, treats it as mere scandal, referring the imprisonment to
political offences exclusively. Anales, tom. vi. fol. 393.--See also
Dormer, Anales de la Corona de Aragon, (Zaragoza, 1697,) lib. 1, cap. 9.
[70] "Era poco hermosa," says Sandoval, who grudges her even this quality,
"algo coja, amiga mucho de holgarse, y andar en banquetes, huertos y
jardines, y en fiestas. Introduxo esta Senora en Castilla comidas
soberbias, siendo los Castellanos, y sun sus Reyes muy moderados en esto.
Pasabansele pocos dias que no convidase, 6 fuese convidada. La que mas
gastaba en fiestas y banquetes con ella, era mas su amiga." Hist. del Emp.
Carlos V., tom. i. p. 12.
Let us turn from this gloomy picture to the brighter season of the morning
and meridian of his life; when he sat with Isabella on the united thrones
of Castile and Aragon, strong in the love of his own subjects, and in the
fear and respect of his enemies. We shall then find much in his character
to admire; his impartial justice in the administration of the laws; his
watchful solicitude to shield the weak from the oppression of the strong;
his wise economy, which achieved great results without burdening his
people with oppressive taxes; his sobriety and moderation; the decorum,
and respect for religion, which he maintained among his subjects; the
industry he promoted by wholesome laws and his own example; his consummate
sagacity, which crowned all his enterprises with brilliant success, and
made him the oracle of the princes of the age.
Machiavelli, indeed, the most deeply read of his time in human character,
imputes Ferdinand's successes, in one of his letters, to "cunning and good
luck, rather than superior wisdom." [71] He was indeed fortunate; and the
"star of Austria," which rose as his declined, shone not with a brighter
or steadier lustre. But success through a long series of years
sufficiently, of itself, attests good conduct. "The winds and waves," says
Gibbon, truly enough, "are always on the side of the most skilful
mariner." The Florentine statesman has recorded a riper and more
deliberate judgment in the treatise, which he intended as a mirror for the
rulers of the time. "Nothing," says he, "gains estimation for a prince
like great enterprises. Our own age has furnished a splendid example of
this in Ferdinand of Aragon. We may call him a new king, since from a
feeble one he has made himself the most renowned and glorious monarch of
Christendom; and, if we ponder well his manifold achievements, we must
acknowledge all of them very great, and some truly extraordinary." [72]
[71] Opere, tom. ix. Lettere Diverse, no. 6, ed. Milano, 1805. His
correspondent, Vettori, is still more severe in his analysis of
Ferdinand's public conduct. (Let. di 16 Maggio, 1514.) These statesmen
were the friends of France, with whom Ferdinand was at war; and personal
enemies of the Medici, whom that prince re-established in the government.
As political antagonists therefore, every way, of the Catholic king, they
were not likely to be altogether unbiassed in their judgments of his
policy.--These views, however, find favor with Lord Herbert, who had
evidently read, though he does not refer to, this correspondence. Life of
Henry VIII., p. 63.
[72] Opere, tom. vi. II Principe, cap. 21, ed. Genova, 1798.
Other eminent foreigners of the time join in this lofty strain of
panegyric. [73] The Castilians, mindful of the general security and
prosperity they had enjoyed under his reign, seem willing to bury his
frailties in his grave. [74] While his own hereditary subjects, exulting
with patriotic pride in the glory to which he had raised their petty
state, and touched with grateful recollections of his mild, paternal
government, deplore his loss in strains of national sorrow, as the last of
the revered line, who was to preside over the destinies of Aragon, as a
separate and independent kingdom. [75]
[73] Martyr, who had better opportunities than any other foreigner for
estimating the character of Ferdinand, affords the most honorable
testimony to his kingly qualities, in a letter written when the writer had
no motive for flattery, after that monarch's death, to Charles V.'s
physician. (Opus Epist., epist. 567.) Guicciardini, whose national
prejudices did not lie in this scale, comprehends nearly as much in one
brief sentence. "Re di eccellentissimo consiglio, e virtu, e nel quale, se
fosse stato constante nelle promesse, no potresti facilmente riprendere
cosa alcuna." (Istoria, tom. vi. lib. 12, p. 273.)
See also Brantome, (Oeuvres, tom. iv. disc. 5.)--Giovio, with scarcely
more qualification, Hist. sui Temporis, lib. 16, p. 336.--Navagiero,
Viaggio, fol. 27,--et alios.
[74] "Principe el mas senalado," says the prince of the Castilian
historians, in his pithy manner, "en valor y justicia y prudencia que en
muchos siglos Espana tuvo. Tachas a nadie pueden faltar sea por la
fragilidad propia, o por la malicia y envidia agena que combate
principalmente los altos lugares. Espejo sin duda por sus grandes virtudes
en que todos los Principes de Espana se deben mirar." (Mariana, Hist. de
Espana, tom. ix. p. 375, cap. ult.) See also a similar tribute to his
deserts, with greater amplification, in Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib.
20, cap. 24.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 148.--Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V.,
fol. 42.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. ix. p. 426 et seq.--et plurimis
auct. antiq. et recentibus.
[75] See the closing chapter of the great Aragonese annalist, who
terminates his historic labors with the death of Ferdinand the Catholic.
(Zurita, Anales, tom. vi. lib. 10, cap. 100.) I will cite only one extract
from the profuse panegyrics of the national writers; which attests the
veneration in which Ferdinand's memory was held in Aragon. It is from one,
whose penis never prostituted to parasitical or party purposes, and whose
judgment is usually as correct as the expression of it is candid. "Quo
plangore ac lamentatione universa civitas complebatur. Neque solum
homines, sed ipsa tecta, et parietes urbis videbantur acerbum illius, qui
omnibus charissimus erat, interitum lugere. Et merito. Erat enim, ut
scitis, exemplum prudentiae ac fortitudinis: summae in re domestica
continentiae: eximiae in publica dignitatis: humanitatis praeterea, ac
leporis admirabilis. ***** Neque eos solum, sed omnes certe tanta
amplectebatur benevolentia, ut interdum non nobis Rex, sed uniuscujusque
nostrum genitor ac parens videretur. Post ejus interitum omnis nostra
juventus languet, deliciis plus dedita quam deceret: nec perinde, ac
debuerat, in laudis et gloriae cupiditate versatur. ***** Quid plura?
nulla res fuit in usu bene regnandi posita, quae illius Regis scientiam
effugeret. ***** Fuit enim aeximia corporis venustate praeditus. Sed
pluris facere deberent consiliorum ac virtutum suarum, quam posteris
reliquit, effigiem: quibus denique factum videmus, ut ab eo usque ad hoc
tempus, non solum nobis, sed Hispaniae cunctae, diuturnitas pacis otium
confirmarit. Haec aliaque ejusmodi quotidie a nostris senibus de Catholici
Regis memoria enarrantur: quae a rei veritate nequaquam abhorrent."
Blancas, Commentarii, p. 276.
