FOOTNOTES
[1] Mariana, Hist. de España, 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.
[3] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 486.—Chrónica del Gran Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 7.—Zurita, Anales, tom. vi. lib. 10, cap. 2.—Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, lib. 3, p. 288.
[4] Opus Epist., epist. 487.—Pulgar, Sumario, p. 201.
[5] Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, lib. 3, p. 289.—Chrónica 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.
[6] Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 30, cap. 14.—Giovio, Vitae Illust. Virorum, pp. 290, 291.—Chrónica del Gran Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 7, 8, 9.—Zurita, Anales, tom. vi. lib. 10, cap. 28.—Quintana, Españoles Célebres, tom. i. pp. 328-332.—Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 20.—Pulgar, Sumario, pp. 201-208.
[7] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1509.—Zurita, Anales, tom. vi. lib. 10, cap. 55.
[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., año 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.
[10] Zurita, Anales, tom. vi. lib. 10, cap. 93, 94.—Carbajal, Anales MS., año 1515.—Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 550.
[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.
[12] Giovio Vitae Illust. Virorum, pp. 271, 292.—Chrónica del Gran Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 9.—Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 560.— Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1515.—Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 20, cap. 23.—Pulgar, Sumario, p. 209.
[13] See a copy of the original letter in the Chrónica 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, Délices de l'Espagne, tom. iii p. 505.
[±7] Chrónica 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 Doña 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.
[18] Opus Epist., epist. 498.—Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, p. 292.— Pulgar, Sumario, p. 212.
[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. Brantôme, Oeuvres, tom. i. p. 75.
[20] Giovio, Vitae Illust. Virorum, p. 271.
[21] Ibid., p. 281.—Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, lib. 30, cap. 1, 5.
[22] Giovio, Vitae Illust. Virorum, p. 271.
"Amigo de sus amigos,
¡Qué Señor para criados
Y parientes!
¡Qué enemigo de enemigos!
¡Qué maestro de esforzados
Y valientes!
¡Qué seso para discretos!
¡Qué gracia para donosos!
¡Qué razon!
Muy benigno á los sugetos,
Y á los bravos y dañosos
Un leon."
Coplas de Don Jorge Manrique.
[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 España, lib. 28, cap. 8.—Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 5, cap. 72.—Quintana, Españoles Célebres, 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 Fouché, considered a blunder in politics as worse than a crime.
[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., años 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.
[27] "A la verdad," says Carbajal, "le tentó 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., año 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.
[29] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 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.
[30] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1516, cap. 2.
[31] Ibid., ubi supra.
[32] Ibid., ubi supra.
[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 España, ed. Valencia, tom. ix. Apend. no. 2.
[35] Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 3, dial. 9.—The queen was at Alcalá 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., año 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 rusticanâ obiit casâ, et pauper contra hominum opinionem obiit." Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 588.—Brantôme, (Vies des Hommes Illustres, Footnote: p. 72,) who speaks of Madrigalejo as a "meschant village," which he had seen.
[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.
[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., año 1516, cap. 5.
[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, à la fois d'une belle exécution et d'une conception noble." Laborde, Voyage Pittoresque, tom. ii. p. 25.
[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 él fablese, luego le amaba é le deseaba servir, porque tenia la communicacion amigable." Reyes Católicos, p. 36.
[44] "He tilted lightly," says Pulgar, "and with a dexterity not surpassed by any man in the kingdom." Reyes Católicos, 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.
[46] Pulgar, indeed, notices his fondness for chess, tennis, and other games of skill, in early life. Reyes Católicos, part. 2, cap. 3.
[47] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 182.—Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, 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 è più lodata la prodigalità, benche a quella sia annessa la rapacità, 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.
[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.
[54] "Disoit-on," says Brantôme, "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 eupidità 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.
[55] Guicciardini, Istoria, lib. 12, p. 273.—Du Bellay, Mémoires, apud Petitot, Collection des Mémoires, 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, Républiques 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 à 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 Católicos, 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.
[58] Machiavelli, Opera, tom. vi.—Il Principe, cap. 18, ed. Genova, 1798.
[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.
[60] Mémoires 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 à Ferdinand, que Louis XII. l'accusoit de l'avoir trompé trois fois, Ferdinand parut mécontent qn'il lui ravît une partie de sa gloire; Il en a bien menti, l'ivrogne, dit-il, avec toute la grossièreté du temps, je l'ai trompé plus de dix." (Gaillard, Rivalité, 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 longè maximorum nostrae tempestatis regum ingeniis, et turn liquidò et multùm anteà praclarè compertum est, nihil omnino sanctum et inviolabile, vel in ritè conceptis sancitisque foederibus reperiri, quòd, in proferendis imperiis augendisque opibus, apud eos nihil ad illustris famae decus interesset, dolone et nusquam sine fallaciis, an fide integrâ verâque 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, Républiques 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.
[65] Giovio, Hist. sui Temporis, lib. 16, p. 335.
[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 Doña 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, Monarquía, tom. i. p. 410.
[67] "Enfin il surpassa tous les Princes de son siècle en la science du Cabinet, et c'est à lui qu'on doit attribuer le premier et le souverain usage de la politique moderne." Varillas, Politique de Ferdinand, liv. 3, disc. 10.
[68] Brantôme notices a sobriquet which his countrymen had given to Ferdinand. "Nos François appelloient ce roy Ferdinand Jehan Gipon, je ne sçay pour quelle dérision; 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 là taxer ce prince de s'être laissé 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., año 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 Señora 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.
[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.
[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 virtù, e nel quale, se fosse stato constante nelle promesse, no potresti facilmente riprendere cosa alcuna." (Istoria, tom. vi. lib. 12, p. 273.)
See also Brantôme, (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 señalado," says the prince of the Castilian historians, in his pithy manner, "en valor y justicia y prudencia que en muchos siglos España tuvo. Tachas á nadie pueden faltar sea por la fragilidad propia, ò 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 España se deben mirar." (Mariana, Hist. de España, 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 solùm homines, sed ipsa tecta, et parietes urbis videbantur acerbum illius, qui omnibus charissimus erat, interitum lugere. Et meritò. Erat enim, ut scitis, exemplum prudentiae ac fortitudinis: summae in re domesticâ continentiae: eximiae in publicâ dignitatis: humanitatis praetereà, ac leporis admirabilis. ***** Neque eos solùm, sed omnes certè tantâ amplectebatur benevolentiâ, ut interdum non nobis Rex, sed uniuscujusque nostrûm genitor ac parens videretur. Post ejus interitum omnis nostra juventus languet, deliciis plus dedita quàm 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 aeximiâ 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 solùm nobis, sed Hispaniae cunctae, diuturnitas pacis otium confirmarit. Haec aliaque ejusmodi quotidie à nostris senibus de Catholici Regis memoriâ enarrantur: quae à rei veritate nequaquam abhorrent." Blancas, Commentarii, p. 276.