Philip II. of Spain 14

Philip II. of Spain 14

Naples was put into a condition of defence, and Toledo, “bigger in

spirit than in body,” complained, and rated soundly, almost rudely, the

slow methods of his master in so great a crisis. At last, on May 19,

Piali Pacha and Dragut Reis, with a vast force of 100,000 men, appeared

before Malta. There were about a tenth of that number of Christian

fighting men on the island, but the isolated fort of St. Elmo, with a

garrison of 600 men, had to bear the brunt of the Turkish attack. After

a month’s hard fighting, when at length the Turks stormed the place only

nine Christians were left alive. From this point of vantage the siege of

the main fortress by the Turks was commenced, with the assistance of the

fleet. The Grand Master had continued to reinforce St. Elmo with his

best men until it fell, and now found himself short-handed. Fresh

prayers went forth to distant Philip and persistent Don Garcia de

Toledo. Strong swimmers carried the Master’s beseeching letters beyond

the reach of the Turkish ships. He could only hold out, he said, twenty

days at most. Sixteen thousand cannon-shots had been fired against his

forts in the first month. All Christianity looked on aghast whilst

Philip was spending his time in religious processions, fasts, and

rogations for the delivery of Malta. Don Garcia’s activity made up for

his master’s tardiness, and, thanks to him mainly, Malta was able to

hold out month after month. When at last a relief squadron was got

together somehow in Sicily, consisting of 28 galleys and 10,000 men,

storm and tempest scattered it again and again, and it was not until the

beginning of September 1565 that it approached Malta, landing its men

and provisions. The defenders were at their last gasp, but this relief

raised their hearts. Again Don Garcia returned with more men and stores,

and after one last attempt to storm the stronghold, the Turks gave up

the game and raised the siege. Malta was saved, but Philip complained

that he did not get full credit for it, because the Grand Master was a

Frenchman and the pope himself was jealous.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER IX

 

Troubles in the Netherlands--Granvelle’s unpopularity--William of

Orange and Egmont--Their resignation and protest--Margaret of

Parma--Assembly of the Chapter of the Golden Fleece--Riots at

Valenciennes--Discontent of the Flemish nobles--They retire from

government--Granvelle’s dismissal--The maladministration of the

States--Egmont’s mission to Spain--Philip’s policy in the

States--The Beggars--Orange’s action--Philip determines to

exterminate heresy in the States--Philip’s projected voyage

thither.

 

 

We have seen that Philip had left his Flemish subjects (August 1559) in

no very amiable mood. The opulent, independent communities of the Low

Countries held firmly by the liberties they enjoyed. Every ruler had to

swear--as Philip had done--to uphold and preserve them intact; on that

point nobles and burghers were at one, and amongst the rights they

prized most was that no foreigner should be appointed to any

administrative post. The Burgundian rulers, although foreigners, had got

on well enough with them, and so had the emperor. It was more a question

of tastes and manners than of blood; superabundant hospitality, heavy

eating, deep drinking, and rough speaking quickly commended a man to the

Flemings. The Spaniard of that day was, as he still remains, sober and

abstemious to the highest degree, reticent, sensitive, and proud, and

Philip was a Spaniard to the finger-tips.

 

The natural want of sympathy between sovereign and people arising out of

these circumstances doubtless began the trouble which ended in Spain’s

downfall. No part of Philip’s career shows so clearly as his treatment

of the Netherlands the limited and inelastic character of his policy,

the lack of adaptability of his methods; for how should a man be

yielding or conciliatory who supposed that he was part and parcel of

Divine Providence, the one man on earth selected by the Almighty to

carry out His irresistible decrees? There is no reason to suppose that

when he first decided upon the rearrangement of the Flemish dioceses he

desired to offend his subjects; it was probably only a step in his

persistent policy of bringing the clergy of his dominions under his more

immediate control. But in order to pay his new bishops he designed to

appropriate the large revenues of the conventual houses, and he thus

raised up against him all the cloistered clergy. The pope was bribed to

agree to the change, but the Flemings, already sulky, were willing to

listen to the monks, who denounced the innovations of the foreigner

which were to deprive them of their revenues, and what would have been

under other circumstances a not unwelcome reform became a fruitful

source of trouble. There is no doubt, moreover, that before the king

attended the States-General just prior to his departure he had every

intention of withdrawing the Spanish infantry from Flanders now that

peace had been made with France, and the men were badly wanted in

Naples, where his principal danger at present lay. But when the

States-General so roughly demanded of their sovereign the immediate

withdrawal of the troops, Philip’s heart must have hardened and his

pride revolted that these independent-minded Flemings should question

his omnipotence. Another difficulty was that the troops obstinately

refused to budge until they were paid, and the treasury was empty. The

Flemings, who had been bled freely during the war, professed inability

to find any more resources, and the Antwerp bankers shut their

money-bags until some of their previous advances were paid. When Philip

arrived in Spain, his sister Margaret, Duchess of Parma, governess of

the Netherlands, ceaselessly urged him to withdraw the troops. She

assured him that their further stay would cause trouble, and Granvelle

warned him gravely of the results. With the first half of his French

wife’s dowry of 400,000 ducats Philip was able to pay the troops in the

autumn of 1560, and they left in January 1561; but by that time the evil

seed had been sown, and Philip was pestered in every letter with

reminders of the various rights and privileges which he had sworn to

uphold in the respective states. Most of the unpopularity fell upon

Granvelle, who had to carry out the arrangements for the new bishoprics.

He found his task so difficult that before long he “wished to God that

the erection of these new sees had never been thought of,” although the

change made him Primate of the Netherlands, and gave the king the

advantage of thirteen nominated members in the Assembly of Nobles. This

latter fact, indeed, probably to a great extent was the original aim of

the project, and was certainly one of the principal reasons why the

Flemish nobles opposed it so bitterly.

 

Granvelle himself, be it recollected, was a foreigner, a

Franche-Comtois, and his luxurious, ostentatious mode of life was an

additional reason for his unpopularity. Margaret, on the other hand,

whose mother had been a Fleming, and whose masculine manners and purely

Flemish tastes commended her to her countrymen, was far from being

unpopular.

 

The nobles who had first distinguished themselves by resisting the

further stay of the Spanish troops were William, Prince of Orange, and

Count Egmont. The former was not a Fleming in blood or education, his

principality of Orange being in the south of France, and his descent

mainly German Lutheran. By his county of Nassau, however, he was a

Flemish prince, and had been brought up in the court of the emperor, of

whom he had been a great favourite. His historical name of “the

taciturn” gives a very false idea of his character, especially in his

youth. He was like a Southern Frenchman in manners, gay, fascinating,

prodigal, and voluble. His religious opinions, if he had any, were

extremely lax, and he was as ready to seek his advantage on one side as

another. His religion indeed was as purely political as that of Philip,

but as a statesman he must be ranked far higher, for he had all Philip’s

tenacity and foresight, with an opportunism almost as great as that of

Elizabeth herself.

 

Count Egmont, on the other hand, was a dashing and fortunate soldier,

chief of the Flemish nobility, handsome, vain, proud, and honest, but of

limited intelligence, and exceedingly credulous. The first overt step of

these two nobles was to resign the commands they held over the Spanish

troops, on the ground that, if they continued to hold them, they would

lose all influence in the country. When the Spanish troops had left,

Orange and Egmont continued, as usual, to attend the Flemish council of

state appointed by Philip to advise Margaret. But the king before he

departed had arranged that his own Spanish method of administration

should be followed, namely, that the regent and the secretary of state,

Granvelle, should practically manage everything, referring to the

council only such points as they considered necessary.

 

As time went on, and Granvelle became more unpopular about the

bishoprics, he referred less and less to the council, and in July 1561

Orange and Egmont wrote to the king resigning their seats and

complaining bitterly. They had, they said, to bear a share of the

unpopularity of the measures adopted, but had no part in controlling the

policy of the Government. To this Philip returned, as was usual with

him, a temporising answer. He would, he said, consider the matter and

reply at length when Count Horn returned from Madrid to Flanders.

 

Horn’s mission to Flanders was to endeavour to reconcile Granvelle with

the nobles, but this was a well-nigh impossible task. It was said that

the cardinal and his parasites were plundering right and left, whilst

public officers were unpaid and the treasury empty, that he was trying

to substitute the unobnoxious inquisition of the Netherlands by the

terrible tribunal of Spain, which certainly was not true, and that his

arrogance and tyranny had become unbearable. Granvelle indeed was the

scapegoat, and had become hateful both to the nobles and to “that

perverse animal called the people,” to use his own words. So Horn’s

mission was too late, like most of Philip’s attempts at conciliation,

and in the spring of 1562 Orange petitioned the Regent Margaret to

convoke the States-General. The regent herself, though full of praise

for the cardinal in her letters to Philip, had no desire to share his

unpopularity, and consented to summon, not the States-General, but a

Chapter of the Knights of the Golden Fleece, or in effect the high

nobility of Flanders. The pretext for the assembly was that Philip had

sent orders that a force of men should be raised in Flanders to be sent

to the aid of the Catholic party in France, now in the midst of their

first struggle with the Huguenots. The discontented Flemish nobles were

in no humour to aid in this, and before the assembly Orange held a

private meeting of them, to press upon them the undesirability of

allowing Granvelle to have the disposal of troops. This was known to the

regent, and she dismissed the assembly as soon as possible, an

arrangement being settled for sending a money subsidy to the French

Catholics instead of an armed force. But before the nobles separated

they decided to send as a delegate to Philip one of their number,

Florence de Montmorenci, Baron de Montigny, the brother of Count Horn,