Don John of Austria, or Passages from the history of the sixteenth century, MDXLVII. MDLXXVII

Front matter

DON JOHN" OF AUSTRIA, or Passages "from. the "Histovy oi' the^S^eenth Century, ■» 1547-1578, by the lato Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, Bart., author of " The Cloister Life of Charles V." etc. With very numerous Wood Engravings, Consisting of Portraits, Illustrations of Armour, Medals, etc. 2 fine and large vols, royal 8vo. cloth, £1. 15s The following is a Selection from the list of Portraits : — Don John of Austria (IS portraits). The Emperor Charles V. of Austria, King Philip II. of Spain, Pope Pius V., Pope Gregory XIII., Don Carlos, The Regent Juana, The Sultan Selim, Mahomet Sokolli, Henry IV. of Prance, Margaret of Valois, Anne of Austria, Francesco de Medicis, Catherine de Medicis, i'h. Marnix da St. Aldegondc, Queen Elizabeth of England, Mary Queen of Scots, Ottavio Eamese, Alexander Earnese, Margaret of Austria, The Emperor Maximilian, Cosviswde' Medicis, William the Silent, Prince of Orange, Archduke Matthias of Austria, Luis Qaixada, Andrea Do/iai,, Marc Antonio Colonna, Sebastian Veniero, Doge of Venice, Cardinal Granvelle, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedrs, ' Pietro Loredano, Doge of Venice, Duke of Alba, Moeenigo, Doge of Venice, Don Luis de fiequesens.

Amongst other engravings are illustrations of the Armour, Weapons, Art- Workmanship, Medals, and Naval and Military Equipments of the Time, including Galleys, Erigates, and Ships of the Sixteenth Century ; also devices throwing light on the Manners, Employments, and Amusemc,'.'.ts./it.'.th.'i.A«e..<i!.ud.fl.J.nj:rcB.uuailip.vj?f Ornamental Letters.

Cornell University Library

CHAPTER XVIII. Dissolution of the Holy League; from November 1572 to

Don John of Austria.

Frnm a print probably executed at Venice about the time of the Battle of Lepanto.

V

viii

Don John of Austria. Head (full size) from the print in J.

Schrenckius ; Aug. Imp. Regum, etc., Imagines. CEniponti, 1601.

Fol. ; within a wreath from Heinrich Vogtherr's Kunstbiichlein ;

Strasburg, 1538. 4? . . . . Title-page

Stirling -Maxwell Arms, within a border from G. Braun and

F. Hogenberg; Civitates Orbis terrarum. Col. Agr. 1579. page

6 vols. Fol. . . . . . iv

Head -Piece. Preface. From Spits-Boeck der Gout en Silversmeden.

Initial Letter T. From F. M. Grapaldus; De Partibus SEdivm ,

Parmse (O. Saladus et T. Ugoletus), 15 16. 4? Tail-Piece. From engraving of 16th century in my possession Head-Piece. Contents. From Spits-Boeck der Gout en Silversmeden.

[Amst], 16 1 7. 4?

Tail-Piece. From engraving of 16th century, in my possession Don John of Austria. From a print probably executed at Venice

about the time of the Battle of Lepanto . . . .

Head -Piece. Illustrations. From Spits-Boeck der Gout en Silversmeden. [Amst.], 161 7. 4?

Don John of Austria. From a print by Jean Rabel . Label. From Vita di Carlo Qitinto Imp. descritta da M. Lodovico

Dolce. In Vinegia, appresso Gab. Giolito de' Ferrarii, 1567. 4? Initial Letter T. From F. M. Grapaldus ; De Partibus ^Edium ;

Parmfe (O. Saladus et T. Ugoletus), 15 16. 4? Don John of Austria. Medal struck in honour of the Victory at Lepanto, 157 1 . • • • •

Don John of Austria ; Half length. From a picture (life size) by Alonso Sanchez Coello, in my possession ....

Medal with Serpent. Struck by the Duke of Alba at Utrecht, in 1569 . . ... ...

Luis Quixada, Guardian of Don John of Austria. From a picture by Titian in the possession of the Conde de Onate at Madrid .

xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

The Emperor Charles V. From a print by Virgilio Solis . . 8 Andrea Doria. Medal . . . . . . • 9

The Infanta Dona Juana, Princess of Brazil. Medal . . . 1 1

The Emperor Charles V. From a woodcut 12^ inches high

by 9I inches wide, by Melchior Lorch 16

Device of Don John of Austria. Diamond ring, with motto, Macula Carens. From his portrait by Wolf Kilian ; Austria. Ducum, archiducum, etc., Genealogia. Aug. Vin. 1623. Fol. . 23 Frieze. From Flos Sanctorum, Sevilla, 1580. Fol. . . -24

Initial Letter A. From Xenophon's Commentarien . . . durch Hieronym. Boner auss dem Latein inns Theutsch gebracht . . . Getruckt zu Augspurg durch Heinrich Stainer. 154°- Fol. . 24 The Infanta Dona Juana, Princess of Brazil. From the print of

Peter Mericinus . . . . • • • • • 2S Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Parma, Regent of the Netherlands. Medal ... 3°

Badge of the Golden Fleece. From CI. Paradin ; Devises

Pennon of the Order of the Golden Fleece. From A. Jubinal;

Armeria Real de Madrid. Vol. ii. pi. 1 8 . . . 3 1

Philip II. King of Spain. From a picture (life size) by Alonso

Sanchez Coello, in my possession ..... 33

Isabella of Valois, third Queen of Philip II. From a miniature

by Felipe de Liafio, in my possession . . . . -35

Honorato Juan, Preceptor of Don John of Austria. From Ath.

Kircher's Splendor et gloria domus Joannice. Amstelod. 1672. 4? 40 Helmet of the Emperor Charles V. In the Armeria Real at

Galley under Sail. From Joan Stradanus ; Venationes. Antverpise,

Initial Letter E. From Lorengo de Niebla ; Summa del Estilo de Escrivanos y herencias y particiones. En Sevilla, en casa de Pedro Martinez de Banares, 1565. Fol. . . . -5°

The Infant Don Carlos, Prince of Spain. From a print of the time 6 1 Frigate ... .... . . 84

Frieze. From Novum Testamentum [Grcecum], Lutetise, ex. off.

Initial Letter W. From Nicolai Florentini Sermonum Libri Scientice Medici nee. Venetiis. Per Dom. L. A. de Giunta, 1515. Fol . 85

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Ship with three Masts ... .... 87

Galley firing her Forecastle Guns. From Kurtze Erzeichniss wie Keyser Carolus der V. in Africa dem Konig von Thunis . . . zur hulffe komt, 1535. Plate 3. The attack on the Goletta 89

Ship — Stern View. From Fronsperger's Kriegsbuch, 157 1-3. 3

Galley and Frigate. From Civitates Orbis terrarum. Col. Agr.

Frieze. ^Eneas Vicus .... ... 106

Initial Letter D. From Nicolai Florentini Serm. Libri Scientice

Medicines. Venetiis. 1515 . . . . . .106

Don John of Austria ; Full length. From F. Tertius ; Auslriacoz

Gentis Imagines. CEniponti, 1569. Fol. . .107

Galley lowering Sail . .112

Frieze. From Novum Testamentum \_Gr<zcum\ Lutetiae, ex. off.

Initial Letter W. From Nic. de Cusa ; De Concordantia Catholica Libri III. In asdibus Ascensianis, 1514, fol.; and other books from the press of Jodocus Badius, 1501-1535 . 113

Frieze. From Novum Testamentum [Gracuni], Lutetiae, ex. off.

Initial Letter T. From Le Metamorfosi di Ovidio ridotte da Gio. And. dell' Anguillara in ottava rima. Venetia (presso

Don Luis de Requesens, Grand Commander of Castille ; Lieutenant of Don John of Austria in the War of Granada, and at Lepanto ; and afterwards Regent of the Netherlands. From a print by

Arms of Don John of Austria. From LI Austria de Ferrante

Frieze. From Novum Testamentum [Grcecum], Lutetiae, ex. off.

Initial Letter A. From F. M. Grapaldus ; De Partibus Mdium ;

Parmas (0. Saladus et T. Ugoletus), 15 16. 4? . .172

Alonso de Cespedes. From the print by Juan de Noort, in Rod. Mendez Silva ; Compendio de las hazaiias del Capitan Alonso de Cespedes. Madrid, 1647. Sm. 8? . . . 175 xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Bombshell and Fire-ball. From G. H. Rivius ; Architectttr.

Niirnberg, 1547. Fol. . 192

Frieze. iEneas Vicus . . • 193

Iitial Letter T. From P. Virgilii Maronis Opera. Venetiis, apud

Don John of Austria ; Full length. From J. Schrenckius :

August. Imperatorum Regum atque Archiducum, etc., imagines

spiciuntur. CEniponti, 1601. Fol. . .197

Frieze. German Woodcut. 1 6th century . . .212

Frieze. y£neas Vicus . . . . -213

Initial Letter S. From Guillelmi Caoursin Obsidionis Rhodia

urbis Descriptio. Imp. Ulmse per Joan. Reger, 1496. Fol. . 213

Don John of Austria. From a picture, now at Keir, supposed to be an old copy of the portrait by Alonso Sanchez Coello, formerly in the Portrait Room at the Pardo, destroyed by fire in 1604 . . . ..215

Gun and Gunner . 236

Frieze. From Novum Testamentum \Grxcum\ Lutetian, ex. off.

Initial Letter D. From Lorenco de Niebla ; Summa del Estilo

de Escrivanos. Sevilla, 1565 . . . . .237

Fernando Gonzalvo de Cordoba, Duke of Sesa. From the print

Arms of Don John of Austria. From Jean Bapt. Maurice; Blason des Armoiries de tous les Chevaliers de I'ordre de la Toison d'or. La Haye, 1667. Fol. p. 272 . .261

Frieze. Fr. Brendel, 1550 . . . .262

Initial Letter A. From G. Braun and F. Hogenberg; Civitates

Orbis terrarum, 1579. 6 vols. Fol. . . . .262

Victory. From the large portrait of the Emp. Charles V. by ^Eneas

Frieze, ^neas Vicus . ... 288

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xvii

PAGE

Sultan Selim II. From a print by Domenico Zenoi . . . 289

Mahomet Sokoixi, Grand Vizier of Selim II. From J. Schrenckius ;

Aug. Imp. Regum, etc., Imagines. CEniponti, 1601. Fol. . 300

The Emperor Maximilian II. From a print by Martin Rota . 302

Pietro Loredano, Doge of Venice from October 1568 to May 1570.

Reduced from a contemporary print . . . . . 307

Astor Baglione, Venetian Commander at Famagosta, slain by the Turks after the surrender. From J. Schrenckius ; Aug. Imp. Regum, etc., Imagines. CEniponti, 1601. Fol. . . . 313

Francisco Duodo, Commander of the Venetian Galeasses at Lepanto. From J. Schrenckius ; Aug. Imp. Regum, etc., Imagines. CEniponti, 1601. Fol. ........ 313

Marc Antonio Colonna, Commander-in-Chief of the Papal fleet

at Lepanto. From a print bearing the date 1569 . . -316

Giovanni Andrea Doria, Commander of the Squadron of Sicily at

Lepanto. From a print . . . . . . . 318

Pope Pius V. From a print by N. Nelli . . . . -326

Frieze 345

Initial Letter P, with portrait of Pius V. From Aldo Manucci ; Vita di Cosimo de' Medici primo granduca di Toscana. In Bologna, 1586. Sm. fol 345

Alvaro Bazan, Marquess of Santa Cruz, Commander of the Squadron of Naples at Lepanto. From Val. Carderera y Solano ; Iconografia Espanola. Madrid, 1855-64. 2 vols. fol. vol. ii. pi. lxxxii. bis. Copied from the frescos at the Palace of El Viso, built by Santa Cruz himself 34§

Catherine de Medicis, Queen - Dowager of France. From a

print by N. Nelli. 1567 349

Francesco de Medicis, Prince of Tuscany. From a Medal. . 350

Antoine de Perrenot, Cardinal Granvelle. Medal struck in honour of the presentation of the Holy Banner of the League to Don John of Austria 359

Sebastian Veniero, Commander-in-Chief of the fleet of Venice at Lepanto, afterwards Doge. From J. Schrenckius; Aug. Imp. Regum, etc., Imagines. CEniponti, 1601 362 xviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Ascanio della Corgnia, Chief Engineer in the Spanish service at Lepanto. From J. Schrenckius ; Aug. Imp. Regum, etc., Imagines. CEniponti, 1601 ......... 378

Sforza, Count of Santa Fiore, General of the Papal troops at Lepanto. From J. Schrenckius ; Aug. Imp. Regum, etc., Imagines. CEniponti, 1601 . . . . . . . . -379

Frieze. From Novum Testamentum [Gracurn], Lutetiae, ex. off.

Sebastian Veniero, Commander-in-Chief of the fleet of Venice at Lepanto. From a contemporary woodcut, 15 inches high by 10J inches wide, by Cesare Vecellio, in the' Print Room of the British Museum . . . . . . . 386

Don John of Austria. From a print probably executed at Venice

about the time of the Battle of Lepanto . . . . . 40 1

Miguel de Cervantes. From the head of a boatman, supposed to be his portrait, in the picture of the Fathers of the Redemption, by Francisco Pacheco, in the Museum of Seville, No. T9. The very plausible presumption in favour of the authenticity of this portrait is stated by D. Jose Maria Asensio y Toledo, in his Nuevos Documentos para la Vida de Cervantes. Sevilla, 1864. 8? pp. 67-94 424

Collar and Badge of the Golden Fleece. From Pirro Ant

Anne of Austria, Fourth Queen of Philip II. From the print by A. Campi in Cremona . . . rappresentata . . . et illustrata. Cremona, 1502. Fol.. ....... 442

Pope Pius V. Medal struck in honour of Lepanto . . . 448

Don John of Austria. 157 i. From a German woodcut . .452

Don John of Austria. Statue by Andrea Calamech, erected at

Messina in 1572. Front view . . . . . .458

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xix

PAGE

Don John of Austria. Statue at Messina. Side view . - 45 9

Don John of Austria. Statue at Messina. Back view . . 460

Shield, said to have been presented to Don John of Austria by Pius V., and now preserved in the Armeria Real at Madrid, as imaginatively restored by M. Jubinal ; La Armeria Real de Madrid. Paris, 2 vols, fol., ii. pi. 16 462

Shield (see p. 462) as it actually exists 463

Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma. From a print in Adrian van Meerbeeck ; Chroniicke van de gantsche Werelt. Antwerpen, 1620. Fol. . . . . . . . . 478

Initial Letter I. From Homeri /lias per Laur. Vallen. in Latinum

sermonem traducta. Venetiis (Joan. Tacuinus), 1507. Fol. . 478

Jacopo Soranzo, one of the Venetian Commanders at Lepanto. From J. Schrenckius ; Aug. Imp. Regum, etc., Imagines. CEniponti, 1 60 1. Fol. ........ 480

Giacomo Foscarini, Commander-in-Chief of the Venetian fleet, 1572. From the original picture by Dom. Tintoretto, presented by Foscarini himself, on his election as Procurator of St. Mark, 24th Feb. 1580; formerly in the Procuratia di Ultra, and now in the Ducal Palace at Venice . . . . . .487

Pope Gregory XIII. Medal struck by him in honour of the

Massacre of the Huguenots, 1572. . . . . -494

Arms of Alvaro de Baqan, Marquess of Santa Cruz. From the title-page of Joan Ochoa de la Salde ; La Carolea. Lisboa, por Marco Borges, Ant. Ribero e Ant. Alvarez, 1585 ; a book dedicated to Santa Cruz ....... 496

Frieze. ^Eneas Vicus 503

1489. Without name of place or printer 4° 503

Ludovico Mocenigo, Doge of Venice from May 1570 to June

1577. Reduced from the contemporary print by Ferando Bertelli 505

CHILDHOOD OF DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA, 1547-1558.

m

P»Ni^Ajn

xy^A

B

HE 24th of February, the feast of St.

Matthias the Apostle, was reckoned by the Emperor Charles V. as the most memorable among the auspicious days of his life. Born on that day in the castle of Ghent, he received on the same day of the same month, from the hands of the Pope at Bologna, the crown of the Holy Roman Empire.

On the same day one of his generals, Prosper Colonna, routed the French under Lautrec in the important field of Bicocca; and another, Charles de Lannoy, received the sword of the captive King of France beneath the walls of Pavia. And on the same day, in the year 1547, it is said that there was born to him at Ratisbon the son to whom descended much of his capacity for command, and whose brief career forms the last brilliant page in the history of those princely houses which were united in the person of Charles under the name of Austria.

Although Don John of Austria was the acknowledged son of the most famous monarch of the age, the facts of his early life are veiled in much obscurity. Until within the last few years historians have accepted 1545 as the date of his birth,1 notwithstanding the evidence of the medal struck in honour of his victory at Lepanto, in which his age is given as twenty-four, in 1571.

1 Vanderhamraen : V.Juan de Austria, 4to, Madrid, 1627, fol. 2. VOL. I. B

DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA.

Chap. I

More conclusive testimony has recently been found * in the records of the Cortes held at Toledo in February 1560, where it appears that Philip II. granted to Don John a verbal dispensation, in virtue of which, although still under the age of fourteen prescribed by law, he was permitted to swear allegiance and do homage to his nephew, Don Carlos, as heir-apparent of the Crown of Spain. Considerable doubt still hangs round the name and

DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA. MEDAL STRUCK IN HONOUR OF THE VICTORY AT LEPANTO, 1571.

rank of his mother. History has been accustomed to call her Barbara Blomberg, daughter of a noble family at Ratisbon, and unmarried at the time she became a mother. She owed her introduction to the Emperor to her fine voice, and was brought to play and sing to him during one of his visits to Ratisbon, to divert the melancholy under which he long laboured after the death of his Empress Isabella. The personal charms of the musician are said to have tempted him to a closer intimacy, which resulted in the birth of Don John of Austria. The historian Strada, on the other hand, was told by Cardinal de la Cueva that he had himself heard from the lips of the Infanta Arch-Duchess Isabella, the favourite daughter and confidant of Philip II., that her famous uncle was the son, not of his reputed mother, but of a lady of princely degree.2

There is no doubt, however, that Barbara Blomberg was generally reputed to be the mother of Don John, and that she was treated as such by Charles V. and Philip II. If the boy was born on the 24th of February 1547 the connexion between her and his father must have existed at Ratisbon, where the

1 By Don Modesto Lafuente, and cited in his Historia General de Espana, vols, i.-xviii., 8vo, Madrid, 1851-57; xiii. p. 437, note.

2 Famiana Strado : De Bello Belgico, 2 torn. sm. 8vo, AntverpiEe, 1640, i. p. 563.

CHAP. I.

CHILDHOOD OF DON JOHN.

Emperor resided in 1546, from the 10th of April to the 4th of August,1 occupied in preparing his forces for the campaign against the Elector of Saxony and the Protestants, which was closed by the victory at Muhlberg. Whatever its nature, the connexion between Barbara and Charles was not of long duration. The child was removed from her soon after its birth ; and the only subsequent occasion when the Emperor is recorded to have noticed her, was on his deathbed, when he bestowed on her an

1 Itinerary of the Emperor Charles V. 1519-1551, by Vandenesse, translated from the Flemish, and appended to Bradford's Correspondence of the Emperor Charles V., 8vo, London, 1850, p. 555.

DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA.

CHAP. I.

MEDAL WITH SERPENT.

STRUCK BY THE DUKE OF ALBA

AT UTRECHT, IN 1569.

annuity of two hundred florins. She became the wife of one Jerome Pyramus Kegel, a gentleman of the Imperial Court, who obtained the post of Commissary at Bruxelles and died there in 1569. It is at the commencement of her widowhood that contemporary and authentic records begin to afford us any clear glimpse of the Emperor's mistress. The Duke of Alba, the Governor of the Netherlands, on the 30th of June 1569 wrote to Philip II. that he had sent to inquire into her circumstances, and had found her poor and in debt ; that of two children whom she had had by Kegel, one had been lately drowned ; and, he added, that as it was a matter of public notoriety that she was the mother of Don John, it would be necessary to do something to improve her condition.

Various later despatches prove that the Duke found her a most troublesome charge.1 He proposed that she should quit Bruxelles, but she was most unwilling to leave that capital. To Mons, the retreat at first suggested, she refused to go, on the plea that she understood no French, nor any language but her own, which seems to render it probable that she was Flemish and not German by birth ; and it was not without much difficulty that she was persuaded to retire to Ghent. There she was provided with a house and a liberal establishment, consisting of a housekeeper and six women, a steward, two pages, a chaplain, an almoner, and four other men-servants. Alba was, however, much annoyed by her extravagance and her perverseness. She had no sooner received money than it was spent in feasting ; and she was surrounded by suitors, whose attentions sorely perplexed the Duke, seeing that he was instructed by the King that she was on no account to be allowed to marry again. Philip, who at first wished her to remain in the Netherlands, now thought of transporting her to the seclusion of a Spanish nunnery ; but on being sounded as to a journey to Spain she said she knew how women were immured there, and that she would be cut in pieces rather than go. In September 1571 the baffled Duke was contemplating the possibility of getting her inveigled on board a vessel, on pretence of going to Antwerp, and conveying her by force across the Bay of Biscay. But it was not until

1 Gachard : Correspondance de Philippe II sur les Affaires des Pays Bos, torn. i. ii. 4to, Bruxelles, 1848-51 ; ii. Nos. 884, 905, 912, 960, 969, 987, 1025, 1054.

chap. I. CHILDHOOD OF DON JOHN. 5

some years had elapsed, and after the arrival of her son as Governor of the Low Countries, that she could be induced to submit herself to the King's will, and remove to Spain.

The precise name bestowed in baptism on Don John has not been recorded ; but the name which he made famous was not the name which he bore in early youth. For some years of his life he was called Jerome, an appellation affording one of many proofs of the Emperor's devotion to the great doctor of Bethlehem, in one of whose religious houses he at last ended his days.

While still at the breast, the little John or Jerome was placed under the care of the eminent man who afterwards watched over his youth with all the affection of a father, and all the vigilance which became the trusted counsellor of a great Prince. Luis Mendez Quixada was head of an ancient baronial house of Old Castille, which for five centuries had furnished good knights and true to the courts and camps of the descendants of St. Pelayo. His father, Gutierre Quixada, a gallant soldier, had been a favourite of Philip the Handsome during his brief reign in the realm which his Queen had inherited from Isabella the Catholic ; and two of his sons had fallen in battle in the service of Philip's son and successor, the Emperor Charles. Luis himself, who had begun life as the Emperor's page, was also a soldier of reputation ; and both in Africa and the Low Countries, in the breach and in the field, he had led the famous infantry of Spain. Rewarded with the rank of Colonel, and with the post of Vice-Chamberlain of the Imperial household under the Duke of Alba, he had long attended the Emperor's person, and enjoyed his entire confidence. In 1549 he had married Dona Magdalena de Ulloa, a lady of birth equal to his own, and of a nature as gentle and lovely as any which ever graced the Court or the story of Castille.

Soon after the Vice-Chamberlain's return from being married in Spain, and from settling his bride in his family mansion at Villagarcia, the Emperor informed him of his wish to send the foster-son whom he had given him to be educated in Spain. Quixada proposed that the child should be confided to the care either of his wife at Villagarcia, or of Bautista Vela, a trusty retainer of his house, who was curate of Leganes, a village near Madrid. The Emperor made his election in favour of the priest.

Meanwhile a favourite musician of the Emperor, one Francisco or Francisquin Massi, whose violin had for many years solaced his leisure hours, asked leave to retire from the Imperial service. A Fleming by birth, Massi had accompanied his master to Spain,

DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA.

CHAP. I.

when he first visited the country in I 5 1 7, and some twenty years afterwards he had married at Toledo a Castillian wife with some property. This woman, Ana de Medina, being home-sick, they had determined to return to Spain and spend the remainder of

HSiiliSS

DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA.

their days in a house which she possessed at Leganes. To the care of this couple the Emperor resolved to entrust Don John, that he might travel with them to their village, and live with them there, while the parish priest continued to be his pedagogue. They were told that the boy was the son of Adrian de Bues* or

CHAP. i. CHILDHOOD OF DON JOHN. 7

Dubois, one of the gentlemen of the Imperial chamber, and they and their son Diego were required to sign the following curious document, of which a copy is preserved among the State papers of Cardinal Granvelle : — l

I, Francisco Massi, viol player to His Majesty, and Ana de Medina my wife, we acknowledge and confess that we have taken and received a son of the Sefior Adrian de Bues, groom of His Majesty's chamber (ayuda de camera), whom we have taken at his request, that we should take, keep, and bring him up as if he were our own son, and that we should not tell any person whosoever whose son he is, because the said Sefior Adrian desires that neither his wife nor any other person should by any means know of the child, or hear him spoken of. Wherefore I, Francisco Massi, and Ana de Medina my wife, and our son Diego de Medina, we swear and promise to the said Sefior Adrian that we will not tell or declare to any living person whose the said child is, but that I shall say he is mine, until the said Sefior Adrian shall send me a person with this paper, or the said Sefior Adrian come in person. And because the Sefior Adrian desires to keep this matter secret, he has asked me, to do him a kindness, to take charge of the said boy, which we do with very good will, I and my wife ; and I acknowledge to have received of the said Sefior Adrian for the expense of conveying this boy on horseback, and for his equipment and maintenance for a year, the allowance which he gives me, one hundred crowns. It is also agreed that the said year shall count from the 1st of August of this present year 1550. In consideration of which payment I hold myself content and reimbursed for this said year ; and for this reason I hereby sign this paper, I and my wife ; and because my wife cannot sign I ask Oger Bodoarte to sign her name for her. And henceforth the said Sefior Adrian is to give me fifty ducats for every year for the boy's maintenance. Done at Bruxelles on the 1 3th day of the month of June, One thousand five hundred and fifty years.

At the date of this contract the Emperor was at Cologne on his way to the diet about to be held at Augsburg.2 He had left Bruxelles, however, only a fortnight before, on the 31st of May, and it is therefore reasonable to suppose that the agreement with Massi had previously received his consideration and approval. As the musician and his wife intended to travel to Spain under the protection of Prince Philip, the heir-apparent, they probably soon followed the Imperial Court to Augsburg.

In that city the Emperor passed the autumn and winter of 1550, and the spring of 1551, watching with great anxiety the proceedings of the great council of the empire. Philip, who was also there, had just completed a progress through the northern portion of the vast dominions which he was one day so cruelly

1 A copy of the Spanish original is preserved in the archives at Besancon, and has been printed by M. W. Weiss, in his Papiers d'kal du Cardinal de Granvelle, torn.

2 Itinerary of the Emperor Charles V. 1519-1551, by Vandenesse ; Bradford's Correspondence of Emperor Charles V., 8vo, London, 1850, p. 572.

DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA.

CHAP. I.

to misgovern. He had received from the various states the oath of allegiance as his father's heir. The Netherlands had received him with peculiar honour. Their rich and flourishing cities had vied with each other in the splendour of the pageants with which they had welcomed him, and the vice-queen, Mary, Queen of Hungary, although fond neither of extravagance nor of her nephew, showed her devotion to her brother by entertaining him

THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.

and his son at her favourite palace at Binche with festivities which recalled the reckless magnificence of Duke Charles and Kaiser Max. But in Germany Charles failed in securing for Philip the reversion of the Imperial crown, one of the favourite schemes of his life. Neither the King of the Romans, nor his son, nor the electors, could be brought to entertain the proposal ; and after a winter spent in fruitless intrigue and angry expostulation, Philip returned from the field defeated, and confirmed in his dislike to all things German.

A pension was bestowed on Massi, and he and his wife received from Quixada their last instructions and a letter for the curate of Leganes, recommending the young Geronimo to his kindness and educational care.

As the musician kissed the Emperor's hand in taking leave, Charles said to him : " I hear that Quixada has given you a " commission. Remember that I shall consider the fulfilment of

CHAP. I.

CHILDHOOD OF DON JOHN.

" his wishes as good service done to myself." It does not seem that the secret of Don John's birth was as yet entrusted to Philip, or that he was aware that amongst his followers he had a young brother, who was to become one of the chief glories of his reign.