[4] In the original the place is given as ‘Augustæ’ = Augsburg; but from the first line of the letter it appears it was written at Speyer. ‘Augustæ’ is probably a mistake caused by ‘Augusti’ following immediately.
[5] Nearly twelve years have elapsed since we parted company with Busbecq on his return from Turkey. A sketch of his life during this interval will be found in vol. i. pp. [59]-64. We there expressed some doubt as to whether there was any trustworthy authority for his visit to Spain in attendance on the younger Archdukes; we have, however, since obtained evidence of it in the Archduke Albert’s decree, creating the Barony of Bousbecque. In it are recited Busbecq’s services, and amongst them this visit is mentioned. The date of the decree is September 30, 1600, and it states that the visit took place twenty-five years before. This is obviously an error, as we can account for his time from August 1574 to February 1576; in all probability the true date of the visit lies between the years 1570, when Albert and Wenceslaus went to Spain with their sister Anne on her marriage to Philip II., and 1572, when we find Busbecq residing at Vienna. See vol. i. p. [62].
[6] That is, about thirty-five English miles. See note, vol. i. p. [80].
[7] For an account of this interesting lady, who was at this time barely twenty years of age, see note to Letter [XXXVI.]
[8] After Henry III.’s flight from Poland, he stayed some time at Vienna, where Maximilian, through Pibrac, made overtures to him, offering the hand of his daughter, the widowed Queen. Henry was under such great obligations to Maximilian, that he was disinclined to give a downright refusal. Thuanus, iii. p. 8. The following quotation from an account of Busbecq’s Queen will show what these obligations were. ‘Or, estant veufve, plusieurs personnes d’hommes et dames de la Court, des plus clair voyans que je sçay, eurent opinion que le Roy, à son retour de Pologne, l’espouseroit, encore qu’elle fust sa belle sœur; car il le pouvoit par la dispense du Pape, qui peut beaucoup en telles matieres, et sur tout à l’endroit des grands, à cause du bien public qui en sort. Et y avoit beaucoup de raisons que ce mariage se fist, lesquelles je laisse à deduire aux plus hauts discoureurs, sans que je les allegue. Mais, entre autres, l’une estoit pour recognoistre par ce mariage les obligations grandes que le Roy avoit reçeues de l’Empereur à son retour et depart de Pologne; car il ne faut point douter que, si l’Empereur eust voulu luy donner le moindre obstacle du monde, il n’eust jamais peu partir ny passer ny se conduire seurement en France. Les Polonnois le vouloient retenir s’il ne fust party sans leur dire adieu; car les Allemans le guettoient de toutes parts pour l’attrapper (comme fut ce brave roy Richard d’Angleterre, retournant de la Terre Saincte, ainsi que nous lisons en nos chroniques), et l’eussent tout de mesme arresté prisonnier et faict payer rançon, ou possible pis; car ils luy en vouloient fort, à cause de la feste de la Sainct Barthelemy, au moins les princes protestans.’—Brantôme, v. 298-299.
[9] Henry of Navarre is generally spoken of in these letters as the Duke of Vendôme, or at most, the titular King of Navarre. The greater part of the kingdom had been seized by Ferdinand the Catholic in 1515, and has ever since been held by the Kings of Spain. Henry’s power was derived from his position as a great French noble, the first Prince of the blood after the King’s brother, and from his vast possessions in France, and not from the fragment of Navarre from which he derived his title. Subjoined is a short sketch of his family:—
| Charles de Bourbon, Duc de Vendôme, descended from the sixth son of Louis IX. | ||||
| │ | (Saint Louis) | |||
| ┌─────────────────────┬──────────┐ | ||||
| Anthony, Duc de Vendôme | = Jeanne d’Albret, │ Queen of Navarre │ │ │ | Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, killed at Jarnac, 1569 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ | Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon, set up as King by the League after Henry III.’s death under the title of Charles X. | |
| ┌────────┐ | ||||
| Henry Duc de Vendôme afterwards Henry IV. | Catherine = | Henri, Duc de Bar, eldest son of the Duke of Lorraine | ||
| ┌──────────┬──────┬────────┐ | ||||
| Henri, born 1552, Prince de Condé. | François, Prince de Conti, born 1558. | Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon, born 1562. | Several other children. | |
[10] Montmorency, the eldest son of the famous Constable Anne de Montmorency, and himself Duc de Montmorency and Marshal of France. He was born in 1530, and fought at St. Quentin, and at the taking of Calais. He and Cossé were suspected of being implicated in the rising of Shrove-Tuesday, 1574, concerted between Alençon and the Huguenots, and were imprisoned in the Bastille. His wife was a natural daughter of Henry II. by Diane de Poitiers, who had been legitimated. He died without issue in 1579. His four brothers were, Damville, Monsieur de Montbéron, killed at the battle of Dreux in 1562, Monsieur de Méru, and Monsieur de Thoré. See note page [11], and also note page [16].
Cossé took part in Guise’s famous defence of Metz in 1552, was appointed surintendant des finances in 1563, and Marshal in 1567. He fought at St. Denis and Moncontour, but was defeated by Coligny at Arny-le-Duc in 1570. He died in 1582, aged 70. According to Brantôme (ii. 434), he remarked on his imprisonment: ‘Je ne sçay pas ce que M. de Montmorency peut avoir faict, mais quant à moy, je sçay bien que je n’ay rien faict pour estre prisonnier avec luy, sinon pour luy tenir compagnie quand on le fera mourir, et moy avec luy; que l’on me fera de mesmes que l’on faict bien souvent à de pauvres diables, que l’on pend pour tenir compagnie seulement à leurs compagnons, encor qu’ilz n’ayent rien meffaict.’
[11] ‘Le peuple de la ville, n’agueres partisan de cette famille, les reçeut avec injures et contribua 800 harquebusiers de garde tant que leur prison dura.’—Aubigné, Histoire, vol. ii. bk. ii. ch. vi.