History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain Part 63 (2/2)

”Los muy magnificos y sumpticosos palacios que alli estan de los muy ill.u.s.tres duques de la casa muy antigua de los Mendocas.” Cosas Memorables, fol. 13.

[464] ”J'ay ouy conter a une de ses dames que la premiere fois qu'elle vist son mary, elle se mit a le contempler si fixement, que le Roy, ne le trouvant pas bon, luy demanda: _Que mirais, si tengo canas?_ c'est-a-dire, 'Que regardez-vous, si j'ai les cheveux blancs?'Ces mots luy toucherent si fort au cur que depuis on augura mal pour elle.”

Brantome, uvres, 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.” Brantome, uvres, tom. V. p. 126.

[467] ”Son visage estoit beau, et ses cheveux et yeux noirs, qui adombroient son teint...... Sa taille estoit tres belle, et plus grande que toutes ses surs, qui la rendoit fort admirable en Espagne, d'autant que les tailles hautes y sont rares, et pour ce fort estimables.” Ibid., p. 128.

[468] ”Les seigneurs ne l'osoient regarder de peur d'en estre espris, et en causer jalousie au roy son mary, et par consequent eux courir fortune de la vie.” Ibid., p. 128.

[469] ”La regina istessa parue non so come sorpressa da vn sentimento di malinconica pa.s.sione, nel vedersi abbracciare da vn re di 33 anni, di garbo ordinario alla presenza d'vn giouine prencipe molto ben fatto, e che prima dell'altro l'era stato promesso in sposo.” Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 345.

[470] Brantome, who was certainly one of those who believed in the jealousy of Philip, if not in the pa.s.sion of Isabella, states the circ.u.mstance of the king's supplanting his son in a manner sufficiently _nave_. ”Mais le roy d'Espagne son pere, venant a estre veuf par le trespas de la reyne d'Angleterre sa femme et sa cousine germaine, ayant veu le pourtraict de madame Elizabeth, et la trouvant fort belle et fort a son gre, en coupa l'herbe soubs le pied a son fils, et la prit pour luy, commencant cette charite a soy mesme.” uvres, tom. V. p. 127.

[471] Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. V. cap. 6.--Florez, Reynas Catolicas, p. 897.

”A la despedida presento el Duque del Ynfantado al Rey, Reyna, Damas, Duenas de honor, y a las de la Camara ricas joyas de oro y plata, telas, guantes, y otras preseas tan ricas, por la prolixidad del arte, como por lo precioso de la materia.” De Castro, Hist. de Guadalajara, p. 116.

[472] ”Dancas de hermosisimas donzellas de la Sagra, i las de espadas antigua invencion de Espanoles.” Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. V. cap.

6.

[473] ”Por la mucha hermosura que avia en las damas de la ciudad i Corte, el adorno de los miradores i calles, las libreas costosas i varias i muchas, que todo hazia un florido campo o lienco de Flandres.”

Ibid., ubi supra.

[474] The royal nuptials were commemorated in a Latin poem, in two books, ”De Pace et Nuptiis Philippi et Isabellae.” It was the work of Fernando Ruiz de Villegas, an eminent scholar of that day, whose writings did not make their appearance in print till nearly two centuries later,--and then not in his own land, but in Italy. In this _epithalamium_, if it may be so called, the poet represents Juno as invoking Jupiter to interfere in behalf of the French monarchy, that it may not be crushed by the arms of Spain. Venus, under the form of the duke of Alva,--as effectual a disguise as could be imagined,--takes her seat in the royal council, and implores Philip to admit France to terms, and to accept the hand of Isabella as the pledge of peace between the nations. Philip graciously relents; peace is proclaimed; the marriage between the parties is solemnized, with the proper Christian rites; and Venus appears, in her own proper shape, to bless the nuptials! One might have feared that this jumble of Christian rites and heathen mythology would have scandalized the Holy Office, and exposed its ingenious author to the honors of a _san benito_. But the poet wore his laurels unscathed, and, for aught I know to the contrary, died quietly in his bed. See Opera Ferdinandi Ruizii Villegatis, (Venetiis, 1736,) pp.

30-70.

[475] The sovereign remedy, according to the curious Brantome, was new-laid eggs. It is a pity the prescription should be lost. ”On luy secourust son visage si bien par des sueurs d'ufs frais, chose fort propre pour cela, qu'il n'y parut rien; dont j'en vis la Reyne sa mere fort curieuse a luy envoyer par force couriers beaucoup de remedes, mais celui de la sueur d'uf en estoit le souverain.” uvres, tom. V. p. 129.

[476] ”Aussi l'appelloit-on _la Reyna de la paz y de la bondad_, c'est-a-dire la Reyne de la paix et de la bonte; et nos Francois l'appelloient l'olive de paix.” Ibid., ubi supra.

[477] ”Et bien heureux et heureuse estoit celuy ou celle qui pouvoit le soir dire 'J'ay veu la Reyne.'” Ibid., ubi supra.

[478] The difficulty began so soon as Isabella had crossed the borders.

The countess of Urena, sister of the duke of Albuquerque, one of the train of the duke of Infantado, claimed precedence of the countess of Rieux and Mademoiselle de Montpensier, kinswomen of the queen. The latter would have averted the discussion by giving the Castilian dame a seat in her carriage; but the haughty countess chose to take the affair into her own hands; and her servants came into collision with those of the French ladies, as they endeavored to secure a place for their mistress's litter near the queen. Isabella, with all her desire to accommodate matters, had the spirit to decide in favor of her own followers, and the aspiring lady was compelled--with an ill grace--to give way to the blood royal of France. It was easier, as Isabella, or rather as her husband, afterwards found, to settle disputes between rival states than between the rival beauties of a court. The affair is told by Lansac, Negociations relatives au Regne de Francois II., p. 171.

[479] ”Elle ne porta jamais une robe deux fois, et puis la donnoit a ses femmes et ses filles: et Dieu scait quelles robbes, si riches et si superbes, que la moindre estoit de trois ou quatre cens escus; car le Roy son mary l'entretenoit fort superbement de ces choses la.” Brantome, uvres, tom. V. p. 140.

[480] The MS., which is in Italian, is in the Royal Library at Paris.

See the extracts from it in Raumer's Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. I. p. 104 et seq.

[481] ”Don Felipe Segundo nuestro senor, el cual con muy suntuosas, y exquisitas fabricas dignas de tan grande Principe, de nuevo le il.u.s.tra, de manera que es, consideradas todas sus calidades, la mas rara casa que ningun Principe tiene en el mundo, a dicho de los estrangeros.” Juan Lopez, ap. Quintana, Antiguedad, n.o.bleza y Grandeza de la Villa y Corte de Madrid, p. 331.

[482] Ibid., ubi supra.--Sylva, Poblacion de Espana, (Madrid, 1675,) cap. 4.--Estrada, Poblacion de Espana, (Madrid, 1748,) tom. I. p. 123.

[483] I quote the words of a work now become very scarce. ”De dos mil y quinientas y veinte casas que tenia Madrid quando su Magestad traxo desde Toledo a ella la Corte, en las quales quando mucho avria de doce mil a catorce mil personas,.... avia el ano de mil y quinientos y noventa y ocho, repartidas en trece Parroquias doce mil casas, y en ellas trescientas mil personas y mas.” Quintana, Antiguedad de Madrid, p. 331.

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