History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain Part 61 (1/2)

[363] Charles, however willing he might be to receive those strangers who brought him news from foreign parts, was not very tolerant, as the historian tells us, of visits of idle ceremony. Ibid., p. 541.

[364] Carta del Emperador al Secretario Vazquez, 9 de Julio, 1558, MS.

[365] ”Si me hallara con fuercas y dispusicion de podello hacer tambien procurara de enforcarme en este caso a tomar cualquier trabajo para procurar por mi parte el remedio y castigo de lo sobre dicho sin embargo de los que por ello he padescido.” Carta del Emperador a la Princesa, 3 de Mayo, 1558, MS.

[366] ”Yo erre en no matar a Luthero, ... porque yo no era obligado a guardalle la palabra por ser la culpa del hereje contra otro mayor Senor, que era Dios.” Sandoval, Hist. de Carlos V., tom. II. p. 613.

See also Vera y Figueroa, Carlos Quinto, p. 124.

[367] ”Vocatur quoque synechdochice, per universam ferme Europam, Flandria, idque ob ejus Provinciae potentiam atque splendorem: quamvis sint, qui contendant, vocabulum ipsum Flandria, a frequenti exterorum in ea quondam Provincia mercatorum commercio, derivatum, atque inde in omnes partes diffusum; alii rursus, quod haec ipsa Flandria, strictius sumta, Gallis, Anglis, Hispanis, atque Italis sit vicinior, ideoque et notior simul et celebrior, totam Belgiam eo nomine indigitatam perhibent.” Guicciardini, Belgicae, sive Inferioris Germaniae Descriptio, (Amstelodami, 1652,) p. 6.

[368] These provinces were the duchies of Brabant, Limburg, Luxembourg, and Gueldres; the counties of Artois, Hainault, Flanders, Namur, Zutphen, Holland, and Zealand; the margraviate of Antwerp; and the lords.h.i.+ps of Friesland, Mechlin, Utrecht, Overyssel, and Groningen.

[369] Basnage, Annales des Provinces-Unies, avec la Description Historique de leur Gouvernement, (La Haye, 1719,) tom. I. p.

3.--Guicciardini, Belgicae Descriptio, p. 81 et seq.

The Venetian minister Tiepolo warmly commends the loyalty of these people to their princes, not to be shaken so long as their const.i.tutional privileges were respected. ”Sempre si le sono mostrati quei Popoli molto affettionati, et amorevoli contentandosi de esser gravati senza che mai facesse alcun resentimento forte piu de l'honesto.

Ma cos come in questa parte sempre hanno mostrato la sua p.r.o.ntezza cos sono stati duri et difficili, che ponto le fossero sminuiti li loro privilegii et autorita, ne che ne iloro stati s'introducessero nuove leggi, et nuova ordini ad instantia ma.s.sime, et perricordo di gente straniera.” Relatione di M. A. Tiepolo, ritornato Ambasciatore dal Sermo Re Cattolico, 1567, MS.

[370] Basnage, Annales des Provinces-Unies, tom. I. p. 8.

[371] Ibid., loc. cit.--Bentivoglio, Guerra di Fiandra, (Milano, 1806,) p. 9 et seq.--Ranke, Spanish Empire, p. 79.

The last writer, with his usual discernment, has selected the particular facts that ill.u.s.trate most forcibly the domestic policy of the Netherlands under Charles the Fifth.

[372] ”Urbes in ea sive mnibus clausae, sive clausis magnitudine propemodum pares, supra trecentas et quinquaginta censeantur; pagi ver majores ultra s.e.x millia ac trecentos numerentur, ut nihil de minoribus vicis arcibusque loquar, quibus supra omnem numerum consitus est Belgicus ager.” Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 32.

[373] Guicciardini, Belgicae Descriptio, p. 207 et seq.

The geographer gives us the population of several of the most considerable capitals in Europe in the middle of the sixteenth century.

That of Paris, amounting to 300,000, seems to have much exceeded that of every other great city except Moscow.

[374] ”Atque hinc adeo fit, ut isti opera sua ea dexteritate, facilitate, ordineque disponant, ut et parvuli, ac quadriennes modo aut quinquennes eorum filioli, victum illico sibi incipiant quaerere.”

Guicciardini, Belgicae Descriptio, p. 55.

[375] Relatione di M. Cavallo tornato Ambasciatore dal Imperatore, 1551, MS.

The amba.s.sador does not hesitate to compare Antwerp, for the extent of its commerce, to his own proud city of Venice. ”Anversa corrisponde di mercantia benissimo a Venetia, Lavania di studio a Padova, Gante per grandezza a Verona, Brussellis per il sito a Brescia.”

[376] ”Liquido enim constat, eorum, anno annum pensante, et carisaeis aliisque panniculis ad integros pannos reductis, ducenta et amplius millia annuatim n.o.bis distribui, quorum singuli minimum aestimentur vicenis quinis scutatis, ita ut in quinque et amplius milliones ratio tandem excrescat.” Guicciardini, Belgicae Descriptio, p. 244.

[377] ”Quae ver ignota marium litora, quasve desinentis mundi oras scrutata non est Belgarum nautica? Nimirum quant illos natura intra fines terrae contractiores inclusit, tant ampliores ipsi sibi aperuere oceani campos.” Strada, De Bello Belgico, lib. I. p. 32.

[378] Schiller, Abfall der Niederlande, (Stuttgart, 1838,) p. 44.

[379] Ibid., ubi supra.

[380] Burgon, Life of Sir Thomas Gresham, (London, 1839,) vol. I. p. 72.

[381] ”In quorum (Brabantinorum) Provinciam scimus transferre se solitas e vicinis locis parituras mulieres, ut Brabantinas immunitates filiis eo solo genitis acquierent, crederes ab agricolis eligi plantaria, in quibus enatae arbusculae, primoque illo terrae velut ab ubere lactentes, ali dein sec.u.m auferant dotes hospitalis soli.” Strada, De Bello Belgico, lib. II. p. 61.