by Henry Kamen
Since Philip had never run a tyrannical regime, the opinions were a sad verdict on the extent to which he had failed to project his image. All his great protagonists – Elizabeth of England, William of Orange, Henry of Navarre – became legendary heroes in the memory of their own people. They did so in part because of their opposition to him. Philip alone failed to leave his mark. Roughly from the 1580s, when Spain and Portugal were united under him, he had done everything to relax royal control. Royalist public ritual and monarchic imagery all but disappeared. The title of ‘Majesty’ was dropped from official correspondence. The tasks of government were shared out. At the centre ad hoc committees deliberated on everything; in the provinces the nobles were confirmed in their control of authority.19 Great care was taken to respect the claims of the regions within Spain, a policy interrupted by the events in Aragon.
The late king had always hated war and yearned for peace, but the criticism from his own people was pitiless. They blamed him for the fruitless wars against the Dutch, the English and the French. Little credit was given him for the attempts to put Spain's naval power in the Atlantic on a firm footing, or for his tireless defence of the peninsula.
The day-to-day conduct of affairs changed almost immediately after the king's death. The late king had virtually ceased to use the government councils, preferring to work instead through the juntas. After 1598 Philip III and his chief minister the duke of Lerma restored the old councils to their traditional role.20 With the councils the aristocracy returned to power. Several other about-turns were made. Perhaps the most tragic of them was the renewal of the decision to expel the Morisco population of Spain. The new regime, though staffed with many of the old king's ministers, notably Juan de Idiáquez, clearly had a new outlook on politics.
Looking back on those years, it seems pointless to assess the king's role in terms of success or failure. Philip was never at any time in adequate control of events, or of his kingdoms, or even of his own destiny. It follows that he cannot be held responsible for more than a small part of what eventually transpired during his reign. To many spectators, he was the most powerful monarch in the world. In the privacy of his office, he knew very well that this was an illusion. ‘I don't think that human strength is capable of everything,’ he mused in mid-reign; ‘least of all mine, which is very feeble.’21 For all his power, he had been unable to stop his realms being sucked into a whirl of war, debt and decay. The spectre faced him already in 1556. It was still there, larger than ever, in 1598.
He was ‘imprisoned within a destiny in which he himself had little hand’.22 He could do little more than play the dice available to him. Condemned to spend his days sorting out the workings of his vast web of a monarchy, he was among the few who had access to a broad perspective on its problems. But he was unable to turn that perspective into a vision that might inspire his people. Cosmopolitan and European in his aspirations, he became tied down to the peninsula by the necessities of politics. Eminently efficient and practical, he struggled always with the immediate and the possible. At a time when his disappointed ministers sought inspiration, he offered them only the burden of sacrifice. His reassurance to himself was that he had played his part to the fullest. His conscience was clear. If ruin lay ahead, ‘I expect that I shall not see it, because I shall have gone to carry out my duty’.
List of Abbreviations
AE:CP, MD Archives des Affaires Etrangères, Paris,
Correspondance Politique, Mémoires et Documents
AGS Archivo General de Simancas, Valladolid
AGS:CC AGS, section Cámara de Castilla
AGS:CJH AGS, section Consejo y Juntas de Hacienda
AGS:CR AGS, section Casas Reales
AGS:E AGS, section Estado
AGS:E/K AGS, section Estado, serie K
AGS:G AGS, section Guerra y Marina
AGS: PR AGS, section Patronato Real
AGS: SP AGS, Secretarías Provinciales
AHN Inq Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid, section Inquisición
AP Arxiu del Palau, Sant Cugat
ARSI Epist.Hisp Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu, Rome, Epistolae Hispaniae
BCR Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome
BL British Library, London, manuscript room
BL Add. BL Additional MS
BL Cott. BL Cotton MS
BL Eg. BL Egerton MS
BNM Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, manuscript room
BNP Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, manuscript room
BP Biblioteca del Palacio Real, Madrid
BZ Biblioteca Zabálburu, Madrid, manuscript collection
CODOIN Colección de Documentos Inéditos para la Historia de España
CSP Calendar of State Papers
CSPV Calendar of State Papers, Venice
Favre Collection Favre, Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire, Geneva
HHSA Haus-, Hof-, und Staatsarchiv, Vienna
IVDJ Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan, Madrid
leg. legajo (file)
MZA: RAD Moravský Zemský Archiv, Brno: Rodinný Archiv Ditrichšteinu
Notes
1. The Formative Years 1527–1544
1. Philip to Charles V, Valladolid, 17 Sept. 1544, AGS:E leg.641.
2. Cited Joseph Pérez, La Révolution des ‘Comunidades’ de Castille (1520–1521) Bordeaux 1970, p.592.
3. The imperial ambassador, cited March, I, 20.
4. J. M. March, ‘El aya del Rey Da Leonor Mascareñhas’, Boletín de la Sociedad española de Excursiones, 46, 1942.
5. Letters of Isabel to Lope Hurtado de Mendoza, 14 June and 7 July 1532, BZ 114 ff.108, 111.
6. March, I, 46–7.
7. The humanist was Dr Busto, ‘maestro de los pajes de su Majestad’: ibid., 68–9.
8. The Siliceo letters that follow are cited from March, I, 68–78, unless otherwise stated.
9. J. Subirá, Historia de la música española, Barcelona 1953, pp.210–11.
10. 1540 letters from Siliceo to Charles V, in AGS:E leg.50 ff.47–8.
11. March, II, 31.
12. Calvet always wrote his name thus. For some inexplicable reason, Spanish writers call him Calvete.
13. Quotations from the Zúñiga letters that follow are from March, I, 226–70, unless otherwise stated.
14. Ibid., 221, 249.
15. González Palencia, I, 108.
16. Antolín, p.341.
17. AGS:CR leg.78.
18. March, II, 334.
19. Estefania de Requesens, ibid., 327.
20. In 1543–4, March, I, 259, 261.
21. March, II, 345.
22. Sandoval, p.76.
23. The statement by Parker, Philip II, p.6, that ‘the young prince led the funeral cortege from Toledo to Granada’, is incorrect. The statement is repeated by several other historians. Philip remained in Toledo, where he had to stand in for Charles at official functions. For his movements, see Vandenesse, II, 150–1.
24. March, II, 100.
25. Sandoval, p.76.
26. The anonymous ‘Expédition de Charles-Quint à Alger’, in Gachard, Voyages, III, 403.
27. AGS:CR leg.35 f.24: ‘Casa Real del Principe 1543’.
28. Statement of costs for 1543, AGS:E leg.59.
29. AGS:CR leg.76, ‘Libro de la despensa del principe’, Valladolid 1544. There is no justification for the claim, found in most books, that Philip did not touch fruit or vegetables.
30. AGS:CJH leg.18 f.233, ‘Sumario de la despensa hordinaria de Su Alteza del mes de Junio 1549’.
31. AGS.CR leg.78, ‘Sumario de la despensa’ for 1551.
32. Several historians (Prescott and Bratli, among others) speak of Philip going to Perpignan and participating in the siege. This incident is mythical. Vandenesse, II, 211 lends no support to it. Nor does the near-contemporary life of Alba: Ossorio, pp.53–6.
33. Zúñiga to Constable of Castile, 15 Sept. 1542, ‘Ayer juraron los catalanes al principe’: CODOIN, XLIII, 268. The Catalans swore to the princ
e on 14 Sept., the Valencians on the twenty-third, and the Aragonese, last, on 6 Oct.
34. Vandenesse, II, 244.
35. I use the versions printed in March, II, 7–34.
36. Ibid., 71–2.
37. Zúñiga to Charles, 8 June 1543, AGS:E leg.60 f.201.
38. Zúñiga to Charles, 11 May 1543, ibid. f.56.
39. Ibid. leg.59.
40. Siliceo to Charles, 6 Aug. 1543, ibid. leg.60 f.183.
41. Instructions to council of Finance, 1 May 1543, ibid. leg.60.
42. Council of Indies to Charles, 19 Aug. 1543, ibid. leg.59.
43. Mondéjar to Charles, 25 Aug. 1543, ibid. leg.60 f.191.
44. Note by king, 28 Dec. 1574, BZ 144 f.39.
45. Valdés to Charles, 9 Oct. 1543; Cobos to Charles, 7 Aug. 1543; in AGS:E leg.60 ff.78, 174.
46. Alba and Cobos to Charles, 7 Aug. 1543; and Tavera to same, 17 Sept. 1543: ibid. ff.162, 147.
47. Keniston, pp.257–61. The source is cited as BNM MS. 10,300, which I have not consulted. He dates it to before Sept. 1545.
48. A sample: the correspondence for 1544 in AGS:E leg.66.
49. Cobos to Charles, 7 Aug. 1543, ibid. leg.60 ff.174–82.
50. Philip to Charles, 7 Aug. 1543, ibid. f.24.
51. Philip to Charles, 4 Feb. 1544, ibid. leg.642 f.402.
52. Philip to Charles, 17 Sept. 1544, ibid. leg.641 f.57.
53. Cobos to Charles, 17 Sept. 1544, ibid. f.66.
54. Keniston, p.171.
55. Conde de Cifuentes, AGS:E leg.642 f.253.
56. March, I, 162.
57. Chabod, ‘¿Milán’, prints the texts, which I have also consulted in Simancas. An English version is in CSP, VII, 478–96.
58. Prince to Borja, 4 Nov. 1544, AGS:E leg.291 f.6.
59. Philip to Charles, 13 Dec. 1544, ibid. leg.641 f.80
60. Philip to Charles, 27 Dec. 1544, ibid. f.62.
61. Philip to Charles, 25 Mar. 1545, ibid. leg.69 ff.20–6. Printed in part in March, I, 181–4.
62. Philip to Charles, 14 May 1545, AGS:E leg.69 ff.102–8.
63. Parker, Philip II, p.22, unaware of the early activity, dates to much later (1551) the moment when Philip ‘began to take a direct share in government’. Other scholars choose even later.
64. March, II, 74–5.
65. Ibid., I, 322–4.
66. Pérez to Juan Vázquez, 5 May 1544, González Palencia, II, 377.
67. AGS:E leg.641 f.28; Cobos to Charles, 17 Sept. 1544, ibid. f.66.
68. Ibid. f.175.
2. The Renaissance Prince 1545–1551
1. Philip to Charles, 25 Mar. 1545, AGS:E leg.69 ff.20–6.
2. St Teresa, Life, trans. J. M. Cohen, Harmondsworth 1957, chap.37, p.282.
3. Alvarez, p. 134.
4. Ibid.
5. Ambrosio de Morales, Las anti-güedades de las ciudades de España, Alcalá 1575, p.49.
6. Linda Martz, Poverty and Welfare in Habsburg Spain, Cambridge 1983, pp. 21–3. The poor law was issued in 1540, but not printed until 1544.
7. The Soto and Robles books both appeared in 1545, with dedications to the prince. For the controversy between these two see ibid., pp.23–30.
8. BZ 158, f.33.
9. In Catalonia his works were on sale until late in the century: Kamen, Phoenix, pp.416–18.
10. For postal mail, see Braudel, I, 355–74. Some useful details also in C. Alcázar, ‘La política postal española en el siglo XVI’, in the volume Carlos V, pp.219–32.
11. AGS:E leg.641 f.80. For a full survey of the debate, see Chabod, ‘¿Milán’.
12. The bestowing of Milan on Philip was repeated by Charles in 1546.
13. He had once before, in 1540, offered Milan to France: see Merriman, III, 268.
14. The count of Cifuentes in Sept. 1545, the count of Osorno in Jan. 1546, and cardinal Garcia de Loaysa of Seville in Apr. 1546.
15. Mondéjar was viceroy of Navarre. He was made president of the council of the Indies and member of the councils of War and State.
16. Keniston, p.275.
17. AGS:E leg.73 ff.224, 230.
18. Keniston, p.291.
19. Philip to Charles, 20 Dec. 1546, AGS:E leg.73 ff.158–9. Note the quite mistaken transcription given of this passage in Keniston, p.292.
20. Philip to Charles, 17 Sept. 1544, AGS:E leg.641 f.72 is devoted entirely to Aragonese affairs.
21. Las Casas to prince, 20 Apr. 1544, CODOIN, LXX, 519.
22. ‘La peticion q dio Orellana y los pareceres del Consejo’, AGS:E leg.61 f.19.
23. Calvete de Estrella, Rebelión, I, 98.
24. The beautifully measured instructions reveal Charles at his best as a statesman. They are printed in CODOIN, XXVI, 274–84, but erroneously attributed to Philip.
25. Philip to Gasca, 4 May and 14 May 1547, CODOIN, XLIX, 86, 91. Hernando, the other remaining Pizarro brother, had come to Castile with some gold to influence the emperor. Charles ordered his arrest, and Philip wrote: ‘I ordered him taken into custody and that justice be done without prejudice in his case’: AGS:E leg.75 f.72.
26. Philip to council of Indies, 17 Oct. 1554, AGS:E leg. 808 f.45.
27. Report by Francisco de Luzón, AGS:CR leg.247 f.30.
28. Incident reported by an attendant of the emperor to Jean Lhermite: Lhermite, I, 101.
29. Checa, p.34.
30. Philip to Charles, 25 Jan. 1547, AGS:E leg.75 f.302.
31. Philip to Charles, 1 June 1547, ibid. leg.75, 72–9.
32. These disagreements are unduly exaggerated in the study by Rodríguez Salgado.
33. BZ 114 f.55–6.
34. Alvarez, p.23.
35. ‘With well-deserved enthusiasm,’ says the chronicler: CODOIN, LXX, 161.
36. Ibid., 212, 543. Philip to Las Casas: ‘As you will see, I have ordered it to be named True Peace.’
37. The candidate was the famous religious leader Juan de Avila: cited in Kamen, ‘Limpieza’, in Crisis and Change, p.330.
38. Unless otherwise noted, the material that follows is from AGS:CC leg.291 f.1.
39. Philip to Lope Hurtado de Mendoza, ambassador in Lisbon, 11 Dec. 1547, BZ 114 f.57.
40. Cabrera, I, 47.
41. Braudel, II, 904.
42. The various texts of the Instructions of 1548 are considered in Berthold Beinert, ‘El testamento político de Carlos V de 1548’, in Carlos V, pp.401–38. No original of the Instructions exists; Beinert opts for the version in Sandoval as the most genuine.
43. A preliminary draft of Alba's instructions is in ‘Ce quil semble se devra observer pour lencommen-cement du service de son Alteze a la mode de Bourgoigne’, Favre, 59 ff.341–60.
44. Christina Hofmann, Das Spanische Hofzeremoniell von 1500–1700, Frankfurt 1985.
45. Cortes antiguos, V, 355.
46. Sandoval, p.337.
47. F. Nicolini, ‘Sul viaggio di Filippo d'Absburgo in Italia (1547–48)’, Banco di Napoli. Bollettino dell'Archivio Storico, 9–12, pt 1 (Naples 1955–6), p.209.
48. Sandoval, p.340.
49. Prince to emperor, Valladolid, 5 Sept. 1548, AGS:E leg.76 f.52.
50. Alvarez, p.17.
51. Calvete de Estrella, 1552, p.5. There were also a number of other vessels for transporting servants and horses.
52. Letter of 30 Nov. to his father, printed in CSP, England and Spain, IX, 318 (from Simancas); and of 1 Dec. 1548 to Lope Hurtado de Mendoza, in BZ 114 f.63. The letters were written by Gonzalo Pérez.
53. Report by the Mantuan envoy Strozzi, Dec. 1547, cited in Nicolini, ‘Sul viaggio’, p.214.
54. Alvarez, p.43.
55. Brown, p.30.
56. Alvarez, p.56.
57. Calvete de Estrella, 1552, ff.30–1, 49.
58. Venetian envoy Soranzo, in 1565: Alberi, ser.1, vol.v, p.112.
59. Calvete de Estrella, 1552, f.52.
60. Ibid., f.54.
61. Alvarez, p.65.
62. Ibid., p.70.
63. Calvete de Estrella, 1552
, f.56.
64. Alvarez, p.71.
65. Philip to Gonzaga, Heidelberg, 8 Mar. 1549, AGS:E leg.645 f.30.
66. Alvarez, p.77.
67. Cited Gachard, Retraite et mort, Introduction, 18.
68. Alvarez, p.79.
69. Gachard, Retraite et mort, II, lxxii.
70. Cited Forneron, I, 11, from Venetian ambassador.
71. AGS:E leg.645 f.1.
72. Motley, p.71.
73. Philip to Prince Palatine, Brussels, Aug. 1549, AGS:E leg.645 f.36.
74. On Binche, Calvete de Estrella, 1552, ff.182–205.
75. Alvarez, p.112.
76. Calvete de Estrella, 1552, f.281.
77. Letters in autograph from Philip to Maximilian, July–Nov. 1549, HHSA Spanien, Hofkorrespondenz, karton 1, mappe 3, ff.143–4.
78. To king of Denmark, Jan. 1550, AGS:E leg.645 f.14.
79. Alvarez, pp. 117–18.
80. Calvete de Estrella, 1552, f.325. Fresneda became confessor to Philip, Constantino was later denounced as a heretic, and Cazalla was burned in an auto de fe in Valladolid in 1559.
81. Alvarez, p.119.
82. Ibid.
83. Ibid., p.120.
84. Philip to Maximilian, autograph from Cologne, HHSA Spanien Hofkorrespondenz, karton 1, mappe 3 f.161.
85. Merriman, III, 406.
86. Bishop of Arras to Margaret of Hungary, 13 Oct. 1550, CSP, England and Spain, X, 156.
87. Alvarez, pp.131–2.
88. Philip to Juan Hurtado de Mendoza, Augsburg, 12 Sept. 1550, AGS:E leg.645 f.81.
89. Ibid. f.87.
90. Braudel, II, 915.
91. Antoine's father, Nicolas Perrenot, cardinal Granvelle, had died in August 1550. Antoine replaced him as chief adviser to Charles V.
