“I send with this galley Don Michele de Velasco and with him three quarter-masters whom His Highness the prince desires to have forwarded in advance of himself, for reasons which you will more fully learn from his ambassador, Figuerroa. Their mission as you will learn is to prepare lodgings for this court. It seems expedient for me to write you these few words, as a citizen, praying you to give me pleasure by issuing orders that these quarter-masters be allowed to accompany Don Michele, and assigning them without delay all the lodgings which may be necessary.
“Receive them with such marks of esteem as you are accustomed to give when the honour of princes and the glory of the city are concerned, in order that His Majesty and this Illustrious Prince, his son, may know that, not only in this, but in matters of much greater moment, you are delighted to render him service. For, besides the general repute which your excellencies will gain by such a course of conduct, the favour of His Majesty and His Highness will be much greater towards you, and their love for the Republic will be increased so that they will the more cheerfully aid her in the hour of need, as hitherto. Your Excellencies should remember that we have no other light or support but the great goodness of His Majesty which permits us to live within his kingdoms without any sense of subjection, and that for this reason alone the whole city ought to do spontaneously whatever is required in these circumstances, and all the more that in these matters which require small sacrifices we shall gain large favour and induce His Majesty to grant us privileges of greater importance. I know well that our citizens will interpose obstacles as they are accustomed to do in such emergencies; but your Excellencies, knowing the convenience and importance of the matter, will strive to remove all difficulties, compel all to preserve order and obedience and punish whoever makes opposition in such a way as to render them a warning and example to all the rest. I have nothing more to add on this subject; for I am sure that you, as wise men, will carefully reflect on the duty we owe the emperor, and voluntarily and cheerfully give those orders that are required; the more that the stay of the prince will be only for a few days, and small as the favour will be, His Majesty will reckon it a great one and always remember your good will and that of the city towards Himself. His Highness will also be gratified for your prompt good service and all his suite will leave you greatly pleased by your hospitality. M. Domenico Doria, the bearer of this letter, will speak more fully of this concernment to your Excellencies, to whom I commend me with affectionate solicitude.”
These simultaneous requests removed the doubts of the senators. They showed an admirable firmness in refusing quarters for the soldiers of Gonzaga and Medici. Gonzaga renewed his request and the senate replied that if he appeared at the gates with more than twenty horses he would find them shut in his face. He came with three hundred infantry and two companies of cavalry, but he was obliged to quarter himself outside of the walls, in Sestri. Cosimo, seeing the firmness of the senate, relinquished the design of coming. But no one dared resist Doria, and his Spaniards were received in the city.
While these events were transpiring Don Phillip sailed out of Spain with a fleet of fifty-eight galleys, of which nineteen belonged to Prince Doria and six to Antonio Doria, two to the prince of Monaco and two to Visconte Cicala. There were forty other vessels of which six were Genoese. Don Phillip took passage on board the admiral’s galley, a vessel wonderful for her size, construction and equipment. The designs of the embellishments were made by Pierino del Vaga, and executed by Carota and Tasso, Florentine artists. The standards were painted by Vaga. The gilding, the satins and the rich brocades rendered the vessel a marvel of beauty. The young prince, astonished by this magnificence, was prodigal of honours and marks of affection to Andrea, hoping to captivate the old man and secure his coöperation in the plot against the Republic. As they neared our coasts, Phillip inquired of the admiral where he would be quartered in Genoa. The admiral responded that he hoped to have that honour for his palace in Fassiolo, where the emperor had been his guest. The young Prince showed dissatisfaction at the response and rejoined that he wished to reside in the Ducal palace. “That,” replied Andrea “Is not in my power. Your Highness may ask it of the senate, though I am of opinion that those who live there will not willingly evacuate it.” These frank words enraged Phillip, and his wrath was yet more inflamed immediately after by letters of Gonzaga which reported that their plan could not be put into execution. The young prince broke out into angry imprecations; but his preceptor, the Duke of Alba conjured him to conceal his displeasure lest the suspicions of the Genoese should be increased, and Phillip constrained himself to a complacent reception of the messengers of the Republic.
He landed at Savona and was entertained by Benedetta Spinola, a beautiful and courteous widow. After a brief stay he proceeded to Genoa. The princess Peretta received him in the Doria palace with the highest honour. The Doge and the senators, the Genoese cardinals Doria and Cybo, Lord Bishop Matera, envoy of the Pope, and the ministers of other nations went to pay him homage.
We shall not dwell on the sumptuous reception of Phillip by the nobility, or the splendour which Doria displayed with his open court and princely banquets for the Spanish barons. The luxury of the decorations, the richness of the furniture, the splendour of the carpets and service of every kind and the wealth sunk in the banquets of that palace were then the marvel of Italy. Don Phillip and his suite were filled with admiration by the magnificence of their reception.
The Genoese populace did not participate in these festivities. They could ill brook these servile attentions towards those who were conspiring, not merely to deprive them of political power, but to take away the independence of the Republic; and, looking on with ill-concealed rage, they were more than once on the brink of revolution. On the 3rd of December at midnight, the people rose at the cry of “Ammazza, Ammazza”—kill them, kill them—and rushed to attack fifty of the Bisogni who were in a tavern of the mole; and they would have despatched the Spaniards, if Colonel Spinola had not arrived on the ground with a strong body of infantry in time to quell the tumult. But the rage of the populace continued. Don Phillip had requested the city police to arrest a certain Don Antonio d’Arze, a Spaniard guilty of homicide. After the arrest, he sent eighty Spanish arquebusiers to conduct the criminal from the prison on board a galley. Near the Ducal palace, this body of Spaniards met the city guard. The Bisogni had their matches lit, and the guard, believing that the imperial troops came to assault the palace, prepared to make a desperate resistance, and in fact drove the Spaniards back by force. Many of the latter were wounded and some lost their lives. In a twinkling, the rumour ran that the Spaniards had attacked the Ducal palace; the people collected in crowds and would have put the Spaniards to the edge of the sword if the Doge and two governors of the palace had not mingled in the crowd and soothed the irritation. Prince Doria himself was carried in a palanquin through the most populous quarters, and besought the people to lay aside their hostile intentions. The populace was held in subjection by force and supplications; but the Spaniards lost no time in returning on board their ships, and Don Phillip departed dissimulating his animosity against the city.
We must here speak of an incident which occurred while Don Phillip was the guest of the city; though Bandello places it some years earlier.
In one of the many descents of the Turkish corsair upon the Riviera, they had captured a Genoese girl about ten years of age, belonging, says the chronicle, to the illustrious family of the Calvi. Being of remarkable beauty she was sold by the pirates at a high price to a merchant who carried her into Spain. Here she grew more beautiful with years and inspired a son of the Duke of Alba with an ardent passion which he found means to satisfy. When Don Phillip came into Italy, the young man was obliged to accompany the cortège; but not wishing to leave the young woman, he took her on board one of the vessels and brought her to Genoa. Annina had never forgotten her parents and her native city; and as soon as she landed, she induced her pages by rich presents to find her lodgings on the piazza Maruffi, near the palace of Stefano Fieschi and in the residence of the Calvi. Annina entered her father’s house with joy, and, seizing a moment when her lover was occupied with Don Phillip, she dismissed her domestics and revealed herself to her parents. The embracings, the tears, the transports of tenderness, cannot be described. But the noble girl broke off these demonstrations of affection. “It is time that I think of my liberation. Though loaded with ornaments, I have been hitherto only a slave, and I owe it to my dignity and my blood to atone in the shadow of the altar for my dishonourable though forced manner of life. Take me to a convent before my master learns that I belong to you, and put me in a cell where none may ever hear my name pronounced.” Her parents approved her choice and at once sent her to a monastery near the city, where she was received under another name. She had scarcely departed when the knight came to find his mistress, and, inquiring for her, he read in the silence of the pages that she had fled. He was at the first moment about to wreak his anger on these servants; but he restrained himself and demanded of the Calvi the restoration of the girl. An angry contention arose which raised a tumult in that part of the city. In a few moments the piazza was full of men of both nations. Among the first to enter the house of Calvi to succour the Genoese was Giovanni Lavagna, allied by blood to the Fieschi. He was one of the most reckless warriors of his time. Encountering the Spanish knight at the head of the staircase surrounded by armed men and threatening the bystanders, he demanded the cause of his discourteous manners. Alba replied:—