The First Governess of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria Part 11

The following extract is from Margaret's memorandum of gifts and sacrifices made by her during regency:--

'1. To the Duke of Juliers, who had accompanied her on her return from Germany, a large silver-gilt goblet, weighing sixteen marks, which had been given to her by the town of Antwerp.

'2. To the Controller of Calais, who had come on an emba.s.sy from the King of England, half-a-dozen cups, two jugs, and two flagons, all of silver, weighing together fifty-five marks.

'3. To the English amba.s.sadors who came to treat about the marriage between her and the late King Henry VII., and who were afterwards sent to take part in the Peace of Cambray, viz., to the Count of Surrey a golden goblet out of which Madame drank every day, weighing three hundred golden crowns; to Richard Wingfield, second amba.s.sador, twenty yards of velvet, twenty yards of satin, and twenty yards of damask; to the third amba.s.sador... twenty yards of velvet and twenty yards of damask; and to their herald, twenty yards of damask.

'4. To Monseigneur the Legate at the Treaty of Cambray, by the advice of the Council, a very beautiful golden goblet, weighing nearly six hundred crowns, with a cover ornamented with large pearls, forming five trefoils of five pearls each, and between each trefoil a very fine bala.s.s ruby, each of the five table rubies valued at more than three hundred and fifty golden florins. The foot of the goblet had also five trefoils of medium-sized pearls and five bala.s.s rubies.' In short, this cup, surmounted by a great and beautiful emerald, was valued at more than four thousand golden florins. The Cardinal d'Amboise thought it so exquisite and beautiful that he considered he ought to present it to King Louis XII.

'5. To the Bishop of Paris, being an ecclesiastic, was given a beautiful and rich Book of Hours, which had been bought from Maillardet for the sum of four hundred golden crowns. It was ornamented with gold; and on both covers were two superb table diamonds, and to mark the place a large bala.s.s ruby, set clear, which was valued at more than a thousand florins, and to which were attached twenty-five silken cords, each one finished with a pearl.

'6. To the Count of Carpi, two large and rich silver flagons, which Madame had brought from Spain, each weighing twenty-two marks, of good workmans.h.i.+p.

'7. To the heralds, ushers, and other members of the French emba.s.sy, from four to five hundred gold crowns. "All given in order the better to nourish peace and love between France and this House, as the affairs of Monsieur require it." Other amba.s.sadors, officers, and gentlemen received various gifts and presents to the amount of five thousand florins.

'Item.--Madame has lent her money for State affairs, and has greatly reduced the expenses of her own household.... For three years, far from having a pension for her services, she spent her dowry as long as it lasted. It will also be found that during her government she never gave any gratuities to her dependants from the finances of Monsieur.'

This doc.u.ment, corrected in the margin by Margaret, is found in duplicate in the archives of Lille.

Magnificent fetes everywhere inaugurated Charles's coming of age. The Pope presented him with the Golden Rose; and Maximilian, writing to Margaret on the 8th of December, hopes that she will see that the Pope's amba.s.sador, who brought the gift, is well received by Charles, and orders that a sum of 700 be given to him.

M. Tailliar gives an interesting account of the young archduke's state entry into Douay, accompanied by Margaret: 'On the 15th of May 1516 Charles, King of Spain and Count of Flanders, having made his joyous entry into Douay, went next day, the 16th, to the market-hall to receive the oaths of fealty. The square in front of the hall was richly hung with velvet and cloth of gold. After hearing ma.s.s, the king appeared, accompanied by his aunt, Madame Margaret of Austria, and by his eldest sister, Madame. He took the oath in the prescribed manner, and likewise all those present swore fealty to him.'

King Ferdinand of Aragon had died on the 23rd of January 1516. By his will, Charles was excluded from the kingdom of Aragon, which was left to his younger brother, Ferdinand, who had been the old king's favourite; but in his last moments, repenting perhaps of this unjust arrangement, he made a codicil, in which he not only left Charles heir to all his estates, but also made him Grand Master of the Military Orders, leaving Ferdinand with a pension of 50,000 ducats a year.

Although Queen Joanna was still alive, Charles a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of King, and was first proclaimed Sovereign of Castile and Aragon, conjointly with his mother, at Brussels, where Ferdinand's funeral obsequies were celebrated in the cathedral of St. Gudule. 'Twice the king-at-arms of the Golden Fleece called aloud, "Don Ferdinand." Twice the answer came, "He is dead," and on this the great standard clattered to the ground. Then cried the herald, "Long live donna Jehanne and don Charles, by the grace of G.o.d Catholic kings," whereon Charles, doffing his mourning, received and brandished the sword of justice.'[52]

[52] Armstrong, _The Emperor Charles V._

In Spain this a.s.sumption of the royal t.i.tle was regarded as a breach of custom, and caused comment and discontent. Nevertheless Cardinal Ximenes had his young master proclaimed in Castile. The regency of Castile had been intrusted to him by Ferdinand until Charles's arrival, and that of Aragon to the late king's natural son, the Archbishop of Saragossa.

Before Charles succeeded to his Spanish kingdoms, his sister Mary had already left home for her short, though comparatively happy, marriage with the ill-fated Louis of Hungary, while Isabella had begun her miserable life with the brutal and licentious Christian II. of Denmark. His brother Ferdinand and his youngest sister Katharine were being brought up in Spain. Only Charles's eldest sister Eleanor remained at Brussels. About this time she seems to have had a rather serious flirtation with the handsome Count Palatine Frederick, who was the most accomplished n.o.bleman of the Court, and though seventeen years his senior, Charles's earliest personal friend. The affection between the count and Eleanor was mutual, and led to clandestine correspondence. Chievres set Charles on the track of one of the count's love-letters. Pretending to wish his sister good-morning, he s.n.a.t.c.hed it from her bosom before she had time to read it, and after a brief scrimmage secured the prize. 'Upon this his constancy into a like affair,' wrote Spinelli to Henry VIII., 'many do conject in him good stomak and couraggy, and how he will be fast in his determjnacions, and much extime the honnor of the worlde.' This singularly sound forecast of the character of the hitherto problematic boy of sixteen gives, perhaps, the first glimpse of his personality.[53]

[53] E. Armstrong.

Educated by the courtly William de Croy, Lord of Chievres, with Adrian of Utrecht as preceptor, Charles developed manners and characteristics, half patrician, half plebeian, which was probably due to his tutors' opposite influences. De Croy's courteous manners gave him a stately bearing, reserve, and dignity which subsequently attached him to the Spaniards; while from Adrian he acquired the popular, easy-going and simple ways which made him so beloved by his Flemish subjects.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHARLES V FROM THE PAINTING IN THE LOUVRE (FLEMISH SCHOOL)]

His intellectual faculties did not develop early--he even showed marked aversion for science and letters, and preferred military exercises to the study of government. De Chievres, however, made him study the history not only of his own kingdoms, but of those with which they were connected. He accustomed him, from the time of his a.s.suming the government of Flanders, to attend to business, and persuaded him to read all papers relating to public affairs, to be present at the deliberations of his privy-councillors, and to propose to them himself those matters concerning which he required their opinion. From such an education Charles contracted habits of gravity and recollection which scarcely suited his youth. The first openings of his genius did not show that superiority which its maturer age displayed.[54]

[54] Prescott.

The French envoy once expressed surprise at Charles's diligence before De Chievres, who replied: 'My friend, I am his tutor and master. When I die, I want him to be free, for if he does not understand his own affairs, after my death he will be obliged to have another tutor, and will always have to lean on others.'

Charles did not hurry at once to enter into his new possessions. He remained in Flanders until the repeated entreaties of Ximenes, and the advice of his grandfather, Maximilian, at last prevailed on him to embark for Spain. Before he set out he confirmed Margaret in the government of the Netherlands, and appointed a Council to a.s.sist her.

Accompanied by his sister Eleanor, De Chievres, his Prime Minister, and a splendid train of Flemish n.o.bles, he set sail from Flus.h.i.+ng on September the 8th, and after a dangerous voyage, landed at Villa Viciosa, in the province of Asturias. For six weeks Charles wandered through the wild mountainous country without entering any large town.

On the last day of October the Constable of Castile met him, and soon the Spanish n.o.bility flocked to greet their sovereign from all parts of the kingdom. But before Charles would show himself to his people he visited his mother and his youngest sister Katharine at Tordesillas.

Queen Joanna was surprised to find Charles and Eleanor grown up, and asked if they were really her children. A little later Charles tried to remove his young sister Katharine from her gloomy surroundings, but her secret abstraction caused her mother such grief that she had to be restored.

About this time Maximilian wrote to Margaret, sending advice to Charles, and begging her to continue to help him: 'My good daughter, thinking day and night about the affairs of my heirs, I have decided, chiefly for the good and honour of my son, King Charles, to write to my deputies who are with him, certain things concerning their good and that of their subjects. Knowing that you will be required by my said son to accomplish an honourable charge, we desire and we require that you should fulfil it; in so doing you will do a thing very pleasant and honourable to yourself, as you will more clearly understand from our deputies, Messieurs Andre de Burgo and Nycasy. And so 'A. Diu.'

Written on the 2nd of March by the hand of your good and loyal father, MAXI.'

Charles's arrival in Spain caused great excitement among high and low, and every one was speculating about his appearance, character, and accomplishments. The Bishop of Badajoz sent the following interesting, though somewhat exaggerated, description of the new king and his surroundings to Cardinal Ximenes: 'The prince,' he says, 'has good parts, but he has been kept too much isolated from the world, and, in particular, he knows too little of Spaniards. He does not understand a single word of Spanish. He obeys his councillors implicitly; but, as he has entered the seventeenth year of his age, it would be well if he took part in the discussions of his Council.

'Monsieur de Chievres is the most influential person in the prince's Court; he is prudent and gentle, but avaricious. The same may be said of the Chancellor of Burgundy. On the whole, love of money is the besetting sin of the Flemings. They buy and sell the Government offices, and it is to be feared that they will introduce the same custom into Spain.... Monsieur de Chievres is a Frenchman by birth, and keeps the prince very much under subjection to the King of France.

The prince signs his letters to the King of France, "Your humble servant and va.s.sal,"... and though he signs himself to others "Principe," he likes to be called king....'

Cardinal Ximenes' health was now rapidly declining. When the news of Charles's arrival in Spain had been brought to him he revived a little, and sent the young king letters of welcome, filled with good advice as to the best way of securing his people's affection. Charles answered in the most deferential manner, but his Belgian Ministers, fearing that the Cardinal would exercise too much influence over him, prevented their meeting by keeping the king in the north, and estranging him from Ximenes. Through their advice Charles wrote to the Cardinal in a very different strain, depriving him not only of the regency but of all share in state affairs. When the letter was brought to Ximenes at Roa he was dangerously ill. Adrian de Burgo was with him, but feared to tell him of the royal command, and the great Cardinal, who had preserved the kingdom of Castile intact for his master, pa.s.sed away without the knowledge of Charles's ingrat.i.tude. He died on the 8th of November 1517 in the eighty-third year of his age.

De Chievres had now no rival, and hoped to be as powerful in Spain as he was in the Netherlands.

CHAPTER X

DEATH OF MAXIMILIAN

On the 18th of November 1517, ten days after Ximenes' death, Charles, accompanied by a gorgeous train of n.o.bles, amba.s.sadors, and the flower of the Spanish army, made his state entry into Valladolid, the capital of Old Castile. The splendid procession slowly wound its way through the narrow streets of the town. First came thirty falconers, with birds on wrist, some wearing the king's livery of white, yellow, and red, others the red and green of Ferdinand, then two hundred of the royal guard, a contingent of Spanish Lancers, with the n.o.bles' drum and fife bands, followed by twenty led chargers from the king's stables. Behind rode three hundred Spanish and Flemish n.o.bles, then two hundred men-at-arms, with foreign amba.s.sadors and heralds; and lastly Charles appeared, a truly regal figure in surcoat of crimson silk and gold brocade over his steel armour, seated on a prancing horse, 'with the majority of its legs always in the air,' but, as an eye-witness observed, the king no more stirred nor swayed than if he had been glued thereon.'[55]

[55] E. Armstrong, _The Emperor Charles V._

Fetes and tournaments followed, and the people flocked from far and near to see their king; but beneath the rejoicings there were murmurs and discontent, for the chief posts were given to Flemings, to the exclusion of Spaniards, who naturally felt themselves slighted, and the clergy, to show their annoyance, rudely refused to quarter the royal suite. Jean le Sauvage, Grand Chancellor of Burgundy, was made Chancellor of Castile, and to De Chievres' young nephew, a mere boy, was given the archbishopric of Toledo, the wealthiest see in Spain.

Amidst general discontent the Cortes opened on February 2nd, 1518. The town deputies began by objecting to the new Chancellor presiding over their first meeting. After some stormy debates, the oath of allegiance was taken to Charles and his mother conjointly, but it was appointed that Joanna's name should be placed before that of her son in all public acts. A generous subsidy of six hundred thousand ducats was voted for three years. Charles was pet.i.tioned to marry at once, and to keep his brother in Spain until there was a direct heir to the throne.

To these requests he gave evasive answers, but when implored to learn Spanish, he replied that he had already begun to study the language.

As a matter of fact he only knew a few words, and his answers were extremely abrupt and hesitating. An Italian envoy who was present remarked: 'He says little, is not of much ability, and is entirely ruled by his Flemish governors'; whilst the Marquis of Pescara, who became one of his greatest generals, reported that in three audiences he had not said three words. But the young monarch was only biding his time, and was soon to prove that he was not such a cipher as he allowed himself to appear.[56]

[56] E. Armstrong.

When Charles became king, his Ministers were anxious to bring about a reaction against Maximilian and Margaret's hostile att.i.tude towards France, and for this end Charles hastened to inform Francis I. of his accession. The French king replied by sending the Sire de la Roche with his affectionate congratulations, and expressed the hope that their friends.h.i.+p would become still closer. In an enthusiastic letter to Francis, Charles said: 'Monseigneur, in order to continue the fervent love I bear you, I wished as a good son to a good father, to inform you of my prosperous accession here, which is such, that in giving thanks to our Creator, who directs all things, yesterday, after ma.s.s was solemnly celebrated in the temple of our said Creator, accompanied by many amba.s.sadors, yours amongst them, I was splendidly well received, and unanimously acknowledged lord and king of these my realms of Castile, Leon, Granada, and their dependencies, by the prelates, n.o.bles, and representatives of the said kingdoms, with such great reverence and goodwill that... nothing could be better....'[57]

But Charles had a long progress in front of him, and soon after left Castile and set out for Saragossa, the capital of Aragon, in order to attend the Cortes of that kingdom. On his way there he took leave of his brother Ferdinand, whom he sent to Germany on the pretext of visiting Maximilian. This prudent but unpopular manoeuvre probably saved Charles his Spanish dominions, for in the struggle that followed with the Cortes of Aragon the Spaniards would willingly have offered the crown to the younger brother, who had been brought up amongst them, and who was a favourite with all the people.

[57] _a.n.a.lectes Belgiques de M. Gachard._

All this time Margaret was anxiously following every movement of her beloved nephew, and was kept well informed of his reception and progress. In one of her letters to Maximilian she says: 'Yesterday I received letters from the king, my lord and nephew, who is very well, and behaves himself so wisely and discreetly, that it is to his great honour and profit. He is, I understand, thinking of sending his brother over here about the month of April, which I much desire.'

On July the 24th, 1518, Charles issued an edict from Saragossa authorising his aunt to sign all doc.u.ments in his name, giving her full power as though she was ruler, and causing the following announcement to be published in the Netherlands:--'By our letters-patent given in our town of Saragossa, on the 24th day of July last, and for the things contained therein, we have ordained that our very dear Lady and Aunt, the Lady Margaret, Archd.u.c.h.ess of Austria, Dowager of Savoy, etc., shall sign from henceforth all letters, acts, and doc.u.ments with her own hand, which are issued for us, and for our business over there, which ought to be sealed with our seal. Signing with these words: 'Par le Roy. Marguerite'; that she shall have the care of the seal of our finances, and that she _alone_ shall provide and dispose of the appointments of this our country, for we have given and left the disposal of them to her, a.s.sisted by the chief and other members of our privy council....'[58]

[58] _Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche._

Maximilian was delighted when he heard of Charles's renewed confidence in his aunt, and wrote to Margaret expressing his pleasure in the following letter, which was one of the last he was destined to write to her:--'Very dear and much-beloved daughter, we have received your letters of the 25th of October, and hear through them of the honour and authority that our good son, the Catholic king, has lately bestowed upon you, which gives us great pleasure, and we have good hope that you will so acquit yourself to the wellbeing, guidance, and direction of his affairs, that he may not only have cause to be pleased, but as your good nephew he will increase your said authority more and more. In doing which he could do nothing more pleasing to us.

This G.o.d knows, and may He, very dear and much-beloved daughter, have you in His keeping. Written from our town of Wels, the 12th day of December, in the year 1518. Your good father, MAXI.'[59]

[59] _Correspondance de l'Empereur Maximilien I._