These dreams, pondered over during those two years, determined for ever the great qualities and perceptible faults of D. John of Austria. While he was in this state of mind he learnt, we do not know how, that his brother D. Philip had begged a Cardinal's hat for him from the Pope Paul IV, but this was not really the wish of Charles V, as expressed in his will; because the Emperor never orders that D. John should be forced into the Church, or even adorned with the purple of a Cardinal; but only desires "that he should be well guided, that of his free and spontaneous will he should take the habit in some house of reformed friars, to which he shall be led without undue pressure or extortion whatever."
The sorrow and indignation of D. John on learning this news was boundless, and he hastened to tell it to the good and discreet Doña Magdalena, bemoaning his lost illusions with all the bitterness and despair of youth.
Doña Magdalena understood the enormous mistake it would be, and the dangers to which the soul of D. John would be exposed, were he forced into a career for which God had given him no vocation; and with the independent spirit of strong and saintly souls she earnestly besought him to do all in his power to prevent the hat being given to him, and in case of not being able to prevent it, openly to resist the King with as much respect as firmness.
Conscience and honour are outside vassalage, and the noble dame, like many others of the time, shared the feeling of Calderón, who, making himself the echo of this race, already so degenerate in his day, said:
Al Rey la hacienda y la vida
Se debe; pero el honor
Es patrimonio del alma
Y el alma es solo de Dios.[[5]]
Encouraged by this, D. John said no more about the matter, even to Doña Magdalena, and nobody could have suspected that he knew what was on foot.
D. Philip returned to Madrid shortly afterwards from the Cortes de Monzón, which he had been attending, bringing with him his two nephews, the Archdukes Rudolph and Ernest, sons of the Emperor Maximilian and of the holy Empress Maria, sister of Philip and of D. John of Austria. D. John went at once to greet the King and welcome the Archdukes, and he met them at the castle of Valsain, away in the wood of Segovia. There was nothing else talked of at the Court, or in the town, but the formidable attack of the Turks on the island of Malta, and the heroic defence made by the old Master of the Order, Juan Parissot de la Valette. The leader of the strong Ottoman squadron was Admiral Pialy, with those two terrible pirates, Hassen and Dragut, with whom were 45,000 men to be landed, led by Mustafa Pacha. The Grand Master de la Valette, only having 600 knights of the Order and 4500 soldiers to defend the whole island, earnestly sought help from the Princes of Christendom, but specially from the Pope and the King of Spain, the one being particularly interested in the defence of the faith, and the other in the preservation of his dominions in Africa and Italy, which were safeguarded by the island of Malta.