History of Civilization in England, Vol. 2 of 3

by Henry Thomas Buckle

[1205] Grotius says, 100,000; Bor, Meteren, and Paul say 50,000. Watson's History of Philip II., London, 1839, pp. 45, 51. Davies' History of Holland, London, 1841, vol. i. pp. 498, 499. Motley's Dutch Republic, London, 1858, vol. i. pp. 103, 104.

[1206] It is doubted, if I rightly remember, by Mr. Prescott. But the opinion of that able historian is entitled to less weight from his want of acquaintance with Dutch literature, where the principal evidence must be sought for. On this, as on many other matters, the valuable work of Mr. Motley leaves little to desire.

[1207] Prescott's Philip II., vol. i. pp. 196, 197. In 1523, the first persons were burned. Motley's Dutch Republic, vol. i. p. 69. The mode of burying alive is described in Davies' History of Holland, vol. i. p. 383, vol. ii. pp. 311, 312.

[1208] He died on the 21st September; and on the 9th he signed a codicil, in which he ‘enjoined upon his son to follow up and bring to justice every heretic in his dominions, and this without exception, and without favour or mercy to any one. He conjured Philip to cherish the holy inquisition as the best means of accomplishing this good work.’ Prescott's Additions to Robertson's Charles V., p. 576. See also his instructions to Philip in Raumer's History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. i. p. 91; and on his opinion of the Inquisition, see his conversation with Sir Thomas Wyatt, printed from the State Papers in Froude's History of England, vol. iii. p. 456, London, 1858. This may have been mere declamation; but in Tapia's Civilizacion Española, Madrid, 1840, vol. iii. pp. 76, 77, will be found a deliberate and official letter, in which Charles does not hesitate to say, ‘La santa inquisicion como oficio santo y puesto por los reyes católicos, nuestros señores y abuelos á honra de Dios nuestro señor y de nuestra santa fé católica, tengo firme é entrañablemente asentado y fijado en mi corazon, para la mandar favorecer y honrar, como principe justo y temeroso de Dios es obligado y debe hacer.’

The codicil to the will of Charles still exists, or did very recently, among the archives at Simancas. Ford's Spain, 1847, p. 334. In M. Lafuente's great work, Historia de España, vol. xii. pp. 494, 495, Madrid, 1853, it is referred to in language which, in more senses than one, is perfectly Spanish: ‘Su testamento y codicilo respiran las ideas cristianas y religiosas en que habia vivido y la piedad que señaló su muerte.’ … ‘Es muy de notar en primera cláusula [i.e.] of the codicil

[1209] Native testimony may perhaps be accused of being partial; but, on the other hand, Raumer, in his valuable History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. i. p. 22, justly observes, that his character has been misrepresented ‘by reason that historians have availed themselves by preference of the inimical narratives of French and Protestant writers.’ To steer between these extremes, I will transcribe the summing up of Charles's reign as it is given by a learned and singularly unprejudiced writer. ‘Tortuous as was sometimes the policy of the emperor, he never, like Francis, acted with treachery; his mind had too much of native grandeur for such baseness. Sincere in religion and friendship, faithful to his word, clement beyond example, liberal towards his servants, indefatigable in his regal duties, anxious for the welfare of his subjects, and generally blameless in private life, his character will not suffer by a comparison with that of any monarch of his times.’ Dunham's History of Spain, vol. v. p. 41. ‘Clemency was the basis of his character.’ p. 30.

[1210] ‘The Spaniards, as he grew in years, beheld, with pride and satisfaction, in their future sovereign, the most perfect type of the national character.’ Prescott's History of Philip II. vol. i. p. 39. So, too, in Motley's Dutch Republic, vol. i. p. 128, ‘he was entirely a Spaniard;’ and in Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. i. p. 155, ‘pero el reinado de Felipe fué todo Español.’

[1211] Prescott's Philip II. vol. i. pp. 68, 210, vol. ii. p. 26. Watson's Philip II. p. 55. Compare Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, vol. xxxiv. p. 273.

[1212] ‘Como era tan zeloso en la extirpación de la heregía, uno de sus primeros cuidados fué el castigo de los Luteranos; y á presencia suya, se executó en Valladolid el dia ocho de Octubre el suplicio de muchos reos de este delito.’ Miñana, Continuacion de Mariana, vol. ix. p. 212.

[1213] ‘The contest with Protestantism in Spain, under such auspices, was short. It began in earnest and in blood about 1559, and was substantially ended in 1570.’ Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature, vol. i. p. 425. See also M'Crie's History of the Reformation in Spain, pp. 336, 346. Thus it was that ‘España se preservó del contagio. Hizolo con las armas Carlos V., y con las hogueras los inquisidores. España se aisló del movimiento europeo.’ Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. i. p. 144, Madrid, 1850. M. Lafuente adds, that, in his opinion, all Christendom is about to follow the good example set by Spain of rejecting Protestantism. ‘Si no nos equivocamos, en nuestra misma edad se notan sintomas de ir marchando este problema hácia su resolucion. El catolicismo gana prosélitos; los protestantes de hoy no son lo que antes fueron, y creemos que la unidad católica se realizará.’