[457] The persecution of Carranza has occupied the pens of several Castilian writers. The most ample biographical notice of him is by the Doctor Salazar de Miranda, who derived his careful and trustworthy narrative from the best original sources. Llorente had the advantage of access to the voluminous records of the Holy Office, of which he was the secretary; and in his third volume he has devoted a large space to the process of Carranza which, with the whole mass of legal documents growing out of the protracted prosecution, amounted, as he assures us, to no less than twenty-six thousand leaves of manuscript. This enormous mass of testimony leads one to suspect that the object of the Inquisition was not so much to detect the truth as to cover it up. The learned editors of the "Documentos Inéditos" have profited by both these works, as well as by some unpublished manuscripts of that day, relating to the affair, to exhibit it fully and fairly to the Castilian reader, who in this brief history may learn the value of the institutions under which his fathers lived.
[458] So says McCrie, whose volume on the Reformation in Spain presents in a reasonable compass a very accurate view of that interesting movement. The historian does not appear to have had access to any rare or recondite materials; but he has profited well by those at his command, comprehending the best published works, and has digested them into a narrative distinguished for its temperance and truth.
[459] A full account of this duke of Infantado is to be found in the extremely rare work of Nuñez de Castro, Historia Ecclesiastica y Seglar de Guadalajara, (Madrid, 1653,) p. 180 et seq. Oviedo, in his curious volumes on the Castilian aristocracy, which he brings down to 1556, speaks of the dukes of Infantado as having a body-guard of two hundred men, and of being able to muster a force of thirty thousand! Quincuagenas, MS.
[460] "Avia gualdrapas de dos mil ducados de costa sin conputar valor de piedras." Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. V. cap. 7.
[461] "Elle répondit d'un air riant, et avec des termes pleins tout ensemble de douceur et de majesté." De Thou, tom. III. p. 426.
[462] We have a minute account of this interview from the pens of two of Isabella's train, who accompanied her to Castile, and whose letters to the cardinal of Lorraine are to be found in the valuable collection of historical documents, the publication of which was begun under the auspices of Louis Philippe. Documents Inédits sur l'Histoire de France, Négociations etc. relatives au Règne de François II., p. 171 et seq.
[463] Lucio Marineo, in his curious farrago of notable matters, speaks of the sumptuous residence of the dukes of Infantado in Guadalajara. "Los muy magníficos y sumpticosos palacios que alli estan de los muy illustres duques de la casa muy antigua de los Mendoças." Cosas Memorables, fol. 13.
[464] "J'ay ouy conter à une de ses dames que la premiere fois qu'elle vist son mary, elle se mit à le contempler si fixement, que le Roy, ne le trouvant pas bon, luy demanda: Que mirais, si tengo canas? c'est-à-dire, 'Que regardez-vous, si j'ai les cheveux blancs?'Ces mots luy toucherent si fort au cœur que depuis on augura mal pour elle." Brantôme, Œuvres, tom. V. p. 131.
[465] In this statement I conform to Sismondi's account. In the present instance, however, there is even more uncertainty than is usual in regard to a lady's age. According to Cabrera, Isabella was eighteen at the time of her marriage; while De Thou makes her only eleven when the terms of the alliance were arranged by the commissioners at Cateau-Cambresis. These are the extremes, but within them there is no agreement amongst the authorities I have consulted.
[466] "Elizabeth de France, et vraye fille de France, en tout belle, sage, vertueuse, spirituelle et bonne, s'il en fust oncques." Brantôme, Œuvres, tom. V. p. 126.