Such are some of the most interesting traits and personal anecdotes I have been able to collect of the man who, for nearly forty years, ruled over an empire more vast, with an authority more absolute, than any monarch since the days of Charlemagne. It may be thought strange that I should have omitted to notice one feature in his character, the most prominent in the line from which he was descended, at least on the mother's side,—his bigotry. But in Charles this was less conspicuous than in many others of his house; and while he sat upon the throne, the extent to which his religious principles were held in subordination by his political, suggests a much closer parallel to the policy of his grandfather, Ferdinand the Catholic, than to that of his son, Philip the Second, or of his imbecile grandson, Philip the Third.
But the religious gloom which hung over Charles's mind took the deeper tinge of fanaticism after he had withdrawn to the monastery of Yuste. With his dying words, as we have seen, he bequeathed the Inquisition as a precious legacy to his son. In like manner, he endeavored to cherish in the Regent Joanna's bosom the spirit of persecution.[365] And if it were true, as his biographer assures us, that Charles expressed a regret that he had respected the safe-conduct of Luther,[366] the world had little reason to mourn that he exchanged the sword and the sceptre for the breviary of the friar,—the throne of the Cæsars for his monastic retreat among the wilds of Estremadura.
The preceding chapter was written in the summer of 1851, a year before the appearance of Stirling's "Cloister Life of Charles the Fifth," which led the way in that brilliant series of works from the pens of Amédée Pichot, Mignet, and Gachard, which has made the darkest recesses of Yuste as light as day. The publication of these works has deprived my account of whatever novelty it might have possessed, since it rests on a similar basis with theirs, namely, original documents in the Archives of Simancas. Yet the important influence which Charles exerted over the management of affairs, even in his monastic retreat, has made it impossible to[{146}] dispense with the chapter. On the contrary, I have profited by these recent publications to make sundry additions, which may readily be discovered by the reader, from the references I have been careful to make to the sources whence they are derived.
The public has been hitherto indebted for its knowledge of the reign of Charles the Fifth to Robertson,—a writer who, combining a truly philosophical spirit with an acute perception of character, is recommended, moreover, by a classic elegance of style which has justly given him a preëminence among the historians of the great emperor. But in his account of the latter days of Charles, Robertson mainly relies on commonplace authorities, whose information, gathered at second hand, is far from being trustworthy,—as is proved by the contradictory tenor of such authentic documents as the letters of Charles himself, with those of his own followers, and the narratives of the brotherhood of Yuste. These documents are, for the most part, to be found in the Archives of Simancas, where, in Robertson's time, they were guarded, with the vigilance of a Turkish harem, against all intrusion of native as well as foreigner. It was not until very recently, in 1844, that the more liberal disposition of the government allowed the gates to be unbarred which had been closed for centuries; and then, for the first time, the student might be seen toiling in the dusty alcoves of Simancas, and busily exploring the long-buried memorials of the past. It was at this period that my friend, Don Pascual de Gayangos, having obtained authority from the government, passed some weeks at Simancas in collecting materials, some of which have formed the groundwork of the preceding chapter.
While the manuscripts of Simancas were thus hidden from the world, a learned keeper of the archives, Don Tomas Gonzalez, discontented with the unworthy view which had been given of the latter days of Charles the Fifth, had profited by the materials which lay around him, to exhibit his life at Yuste in a new and more authentic light. To the volume which he compiled for this purpose he gave the title of "Retiro, Estancia, y Muerte del Emperador Carlos Quinto en el Monasterio de Yuste." The work, the principal value of which consists in the copious extracts with which it is furnished from the correspondence of Charles and his household, was suffered by the author to remain in manuscript; and, at his death, it passed into the hands of his brother, who prepared a summary of its contents, and endeavored to dispose of the volume at a price so exorbitant that it remained for many years without a purchaser. It was finally bought by the French government at a greatly reduced price,—for four thousand francs. It may seem strange that it should have even brought this sum, since the time of the sale was that in which the new arrangements were made for giving admission to the archives that contained the original documents on which the Gonzalez MS. was founded. The work thus bought by the French government was transferred to the Archives des Affaires Etrangères, then under the direction of M. Mignet. The manuscript could not be in better hands than those of a scholar who has so successfully carried the torch of criticism into some of the darkest passages of Spanish history. His occupations, however, took him in another direction; and for eight years the Gonzalez MS. remained as completely hidden from the world in the Parisian archives as it had been in those of Simancas. When, at length, it was applied to the historical uses for which it had been intended, it was through the agency, not of a French, but of a British writer. This was Mr. Stirling, the author of the "Annals of the Artists of Spain,"—a work honorable to its author for the familiarity it shows, not only with the state of the arts in that country, but also with its literature.
MEMOIRS OF CHARLES.
Mr. Stirling, during a visit to the Peninsula, in 1849, made a pilgrimage to Yuste; and the traditions and hoary reminiscences gathered round the spot left such an impression on the traveller's mind, that, on his return to England, he made them the subject of two elaborate papers in Fraser's Magazine, in the numbers for April and May, 1851. Although these spirited essays rested wholly on printed works, which had long been accessible to the scholar, they were found to contain many new and highly interesting details; showing how superficially Mr.[{147}]
Stirling's predecessors had examined the records of the emperor's residence at Yuste. Still, in his account the author had omitted the most important feature of Charles's monastic life,—the influence which he exercised on the administration of the kingdom. This was to be gathered from the manuscripts of Simancas.
Mr. Stirling, who through that inexhaustible repository, the Handbook of Spain, had become acquainted with the existence of the Gonzalez MS., was, at the time of writing his essays, ignorant of its fate. On learning, afterwards, where it was to be found, he visited Paris, and, having obtained access to the volume, so far profited by its contents as to make them the basis of a separate work, which he entitled "The Cloister Life of Charles the Fifth." It soon attracted the attention of scholars, both at home and abroad, went through several editions, and was received, in short, with an avidity which showed both the importance attached to the developments the author had made, and the highly attractive form in which he had presented them to the reader.