[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 lordships 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.
[382] Histoire des Provinces-Unies des Pas-Bas, (La Haye, 1704,) tom.
I. p. 88
[383] Guicciardini, Belgicae Descriptio, p. 225 et seq.
[384] "Ut in multis terrae Provinciis, Hollandia nominatim atque Zelandia, viri omnium fere rerum suarum curam uxoribus saepe relinquant."
Ibid., p. 58.
[385] "Majori gentis parti nota Grammaticae rudimenta, et vel ipsi etiam rustici legendi scribendique periti sunt." Ibid., p. 53.
Guicciardini, who states this remarkable fact, had ample opportunity for ascertaining the truth of it, since, though an Italian by birth, he resided in the Netherlands for forty years or more.
[386] Schiller, Abfall der Niederlande, p. 53.--Vandervynckt, Histoire des Troubles des Pays-Bas, (Bruxelles, 1822,) tom. II. p. 6.--Groen Van Prinsterer, Archives ou Correspondance Inedite de la Maison d"Orange-Na.s.sau, (Leide, 1841,) tom. I. p. 164*
[387] The whole number of "placards" issued by Charles the Fifth amounted to eleven. See the dates in Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe II. sur les Affaires des Pays-Bas, (Bruxelles, 1848,) tom. I. pp. 105, 106.
[388] "Le _fer_, la _fosse_, et le _feu_." Ibid., ubi supra.
[389] Meteren, Histoire des Pays-Bas, ou Recueil des Guerres et Choses memorables, depuis l"An 1315, jusques a l"An 1612, traduit de Flamend, (La Haye, 1618,) fol. 10.--Brandt, History of the Reformation in the Low Countries, translated from the Dutch, (London, 1720,) vol. I. p. 88.
[390] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 108.--Grotius, Annales et Historiae de Rebus Belgicis, (Amstelaedami, 1657,) p. 11.--Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. p. 88.
[391] Viglius, afterwards president of the privy council, says plainly, in one of his letters to Granvelle, that the name of _Spanish_ Inquisition was fastened on the Flemish, in order to make it odious to the people. "Queruntur autem imprimis, a n.o.bis novam inductam inquisitionem, quam vocant Hispanicam. Quod fals populo a quibusdam persuadetur, ut nomine ipso rem odiosam reddant, c.u.m nulla alia ab Caesare sit inst.i.tuta inquisitio, quam ea, quae c.u.m jure scripto scilicet Canonico, convenit, et usitata antea fuit in hac Provincia." Viglii Epistolae Selectae, ap. Hoynck, a.n.a.lecta Belgica, (Hagae Comitum, 1743,) tom. II. pars I. p. 349.
[392] Grotius swells the number to one hundred thousand! (Annales, p.
12.) It is all one; beyond a certain point of the incredible, one ceases to estimate probabilities.
[393] Histoire de l"Inquisition d"Espagne, (Paris, 1818,) tom. I. p.
280.
[394] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. pp. 123. 124.
[395] "Donde che l"Imperatore ha potuto cavare in 24 millioni d"oro _in pochi anni_." Relatione di Soriano, MS.
[396] "Questi sono li tesori del Re di Spagna, queste le minere, queste l"Indie che hanno sostenuto l"imprese dell"Imperatore tanti anni nelle guerre di Francia, d"Italia et d"Alemagna, et hanno conservato et diffeso li stati, la dignita et la riputatione sua." Ibid.
[397] "Et per in ogni luogo corrono tanto i denari et tanto il s.p.a.cciamento d"ogni cosa che non vi e huomo per ba.s.so et inerte, che sia, che per il suo grado non sia ricco." Relatione di Cavallo, MS.
[398] See an extract from the original letter of Charles, dated Brussels, January 27 1555, ap. Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I.
p. cxxii.
[399] It is the fine expression of Schiller, applied to Philip on another occasion. Abfall der Niederlande, p. 61.
[400] "Il se cachait ordinairement dans le fond de son carosse, pour se derober a la curiosite d"un peuple qui courait audevant de lui et s"empressait a le voir; le peuple se crut dedaigne et meprise."
Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 17.
Coaches were a novelty then in Flanders, and indeed did not make their appearance till some years later in London. Sir Thomas Gresham writes from Antwerp in 1560, "The Regent ys here still; and every other day rydes abowght this town in her cowche, _brave come le sol_, trymmed after the Itallione fa.s.shone." Burgon, Life of Gresham, vol. I. p. 305.