Part 14

“These concessions, which, at the time of his leaving Spain, would have fully satisfied the people, came now too late to produce any effect. The Junta, relying on the unanimity with which the nation submitted to their authority, elated with the success which hitherto had accompanied all their undertakings, and seeing no military force collected to defeat or obstruct their designs, aimed at a more thorough reformation of political abuses. They had been employed for some time in preparing a remonstrance, containing a large enumeration, not only of the grievances of which they craved redress, but of such new regulations as they thought necessary for the security of their liberties. This remonstrance, which is divided into many articles relating to all the different members of which the constitution was composed, as well as the various departments in the administration of government, furnishes us with more authentic evidence concerning the intentions of the Junta, than can be drawn from the testimony of the later Spanish historians, who lived in times when it became fashionable and even necessary to represent the conduct of the malcontents in the worst light, and as flowing from the worst motives. After a long preamble concerning the various calamities under which the nation groaned, and the errors and corruption in government to which these were to be imputed, they take notice of the exemplary patience wherewith the people had endured them, until self-preservation, and the duty which they owed to their country, had obliged them to assemble, in order to provide in a legal manner for their own safety, and that of the constitution: For this purpose they demanded that the king would be pleased to return to his Spanish dominions and reside there, as all their former monarchs had done; that he would not marry but with consent of the Cortes; that if he should be obliged at any time to leave the kingdom, it shall not be lawful to appoint any foreigner to be regent; that the present nomination of Cardinal Adrian to that office shall instantly be declared void; that he would not, at his return, bring along with him any Flemings or other strangers; that no foreign troops shall, on any pretence whatever, be introduced into the kingdom; that none but natives shall be capable of holding any office or benefice either in church or state; that no foreigner shall be naturalized; that free quarters shall not be granted to soldiers, nor to the members of the king’s household, for any longer time than six days, and that only when the court is in progress; that all the taxes shall be reduced to the same state they were in at the death of queen Isabella; that all alienations of the royal demesnes or revenues since that queen’s death shall be resumed; that all new offices created since that period shall be abolished; that the subsidy granted by the late Cortes in Galicia shall not be exacted; that in all future Cortes each city shall send one representative of the clergy, one of the gentry, and one of the commons, each to be elected by his own order; that the crown shall not influence or direct any city with regard to the choice of its representatives; that no member of the Cortes shall receive an office or pension from the king, either for himself or for any of his family, under pain of death, and confiscation of his goods; that each city or community shall pay a competent salary to its representative for his maintenance during his attendance on the Cortes; _that the Cortes shall assemble once in three years at least, whether summoned by the king or not_, and shall then enquire into the observation of the articles now agreed upon, and deliberate concerning public affairs; that the rewards which have been given or promised to any of the members of Cortes held in Galicia, shall be revoked; that it shall be declared a capital crime to send gold, silver, or jewels out of the kingdom; that judges shall have fixed salaries assigned them, and shall not receive any share of the fines and forfeitures of persons condemned by them; that no grant of the goods of persons accused shall be valid, if given before sentence was pronounced against them; that all privileges which the nobles have at any time obtained, to the prejudice of the commons, shall be revoked; that the government of cities or towns shall not be put into the hands of noblemen; that the possessions of the nobility shall be subject to all public taxes in the same manner as those of the commons; that such prelates as do not reside in their dioceses six months in the year, shall forfeit their revenues during the time they are absent; that the ecclesiastical judges and their officers shall not exact greater fees than those which are paid in the secular courts; that the king shall ratify and hold, as good service done to him and to the kingdom, all the proceedings of the Junta, and pardon any irregularities which the cities may have committed from an excess of zeal in a good cause; that he shall promise and swear in the most solemn manner to observe all these articles, and on no occasion attempt either to elude, or to repeal them; and that he shall never solicit the pope or any other prelate to grant him a dispensation or absolution from this oath and promise.

“Such were the chief articles presented by the Junta to their sovereign. As the feudal institutions in the several kingdoms of Europe were originally the same, the genius of those governments which arose from them bore a strong resemblance to each other, and the regulations which the Castilians attempted to establish on this occasion, differ little from those which other nations have laboured to procure in their struggles with their monarchs for liberty. The grievances complained of, and the remedies proposed by the English commons in their contests with the princes of the house of Stuart, particularly resemble those upon which the Junta now insisted. But the principles of liberty seem to have been better understood, at this period, by the Castilians, than by any other people in Europe; they had acquired more liberal ideas with respect to their own rights and privileges; they had formed more bold and generous sentiments concerning government; and discovered an extent of political knowledge to which the English themselves did not attain until more than a century afterwards.

“But the spirit of reformation among the Castilians, hitherto unrestrained by authority, and emboldened by success, prompted the Junta to propose innovations which, by alarming the other members of the constitution, proved fatal to their cause. The nobles, who, instead of obstructing, had favoured or connived at their proceedings, while they confined their demands of redress to such grievances as had been occasioned by the king’s want of experience, and by the imprudence and rapaciousness of his foreign ministers, were filled with indignation when the Junta began to touch the privileges of their order, and plainly saw that the measures of the commons tended no less to break the power of the aristocracy, than to limit the prerogatives of the crown. The resentment which they had conceived on account of Adrian’s promotion to the regency, abated considerably upon the emperor’s raising the constable and admiral to joint power with him in that office; and as their pride and dignity were less hurt by suffering the prince to possess an extensive prerogative, than by admitting the high pretensions of the people, they determined to give their sovereign the assistance which he had demanded of them, and began to assemble their vassals for that purpose.

“The Junta, meanwhile, expected with impatience the emperor’s answer to their remonstrance, which they had appointed some of their number to present. The members intrusted with this commission set out immediately for Germany, but having received at different places certain intelligence from court, that they could not venture to appear there without endangering their lives, they stopped short in their journey, and acquainted the Junta with the information which had been given them. This excited such violent passions as transported the whole party beyond all bounds of prudence or of moderation. That a king of Castile should deny his subjects access into his presence, or refuse to listen to their humble petitions, was represented as an act of tyranny so unprecedented and intolerable, that nothing now remained but with arms in their hands to drive away that ravenous band of foreigners which encompassed the throne, who, after having devoured the wealth of the kingdom, found it necessary to prevent the cries of an injured people from reaching the ears of their sovereign. Many insisted warmly on approving a motion which had formerly been made, for depriving Charles, during the life of his mother, of the regal titles and authority which had been too rashly conferred upon him, from a false supposition of her total inability for government. Some proposed to provide a proper person to assist her in the administration of public affairs, by marrying the queen to the prince of Calabria, the heir of the Aragonese kings of Naples, who had been detained in prison since the time that Ferdinand had dispossessed his ancestors of their crown. All agreed that, as the hopes of obtaining redress and security merely by presenting their requests to their sovereign, had kept them too long in a state of inaction, and prevented them from taking advantage of the unanimity with which the nation declared in their favour, it was now necessary to collect their whole force, and to exert themselves with vigour, in opposing this fatal combination of the king and the nobility against their liberties.

“They soon took the field with twenty thousand men. After some success and many mistakes in their military operations, the Junta was finally defeated at Villalar, April 22d, 1522, and Padilla, their General, was taken prisoner, and put to death the next day without even the form of a trial. He spent the night in writing two letters, one to the city of Toledo, and one to his wife.” They are his sufficient eulogy, and we shall insert them here.

_The Letter of Don John Padilla to the City of Toledo._

“To thee, the crown of Spain, and the light of the whole world, free from the time of the mighty Goths: to thee, who, by shedding the blood of strangers, as well as thy own blood, hast recovered liberty for thyself and thy neighbouring cities, thy legitimate son, Juan de Padilla, gives information, how by the blood of his body, thy ancient victories are to be refreshed. If fate hath not permitted my actions to be placed among your successful and celebrated exploits, the fault hath been in my ill fortune, not in my good will. This I request of thee as of a mother, to accept, since God hath given me nothing more to lose for thy sake, than that which I am now to relinquish. I am more solicitous about thy good opinion than about my own life. The shiftings of fortune, which never stands still, are many. But this I see with infinite consolation, that I, the least of thy children, suffer death for thee, and that thou hast nursed at thy breasts such as may take vengeance for my wrongs. Many tongues will relate the manner of my death, of which I am still ignorant, though I know it to be near. My end will testify what was my desire. My soul I recommend to thee as to the patroness of Christianity. Of my body I say nothing, for it is not mine. I can write nothing more, for at this very moment I feel the knife at my throat, with greater dread of thy displeasure, than apprehension of my own pain.”

_The Letter to his Wife._

“SENORA,

“If your grief did not afflict me more than my own death, I should deem myself perfectly happy. For the end of life being certain to all men, the Almighty confers a mark of distinguishing favour upon that person, for whom he appoints a death such as mine, which though lamented by many, is nevertheless acceptable unto him. It would require more time than I now have, to write anything that could afford you consolation. _That_ my enemies will not grant me, nor do I wish to delay the reception of that crown which I hope to enjoy. You may bewail your own loss, but not my death, which, being so honourable, ought not to be lamented by any. My spirit, for nothing else is left to me, I bequeath to you. You will receive it, as the thing in this world which you value most. I do not write to my father Pero Lopez, because I dare not; for though I have shown myself to be his son in daring to lose my life, I have not been the heir of his good fortune. I will not attempt to say anything more, that I may not tire the executioner, who waits for me; and that I may not excite a suspicion, that, in order to prolong my life, I lengthen out my letter. My servant Sosia, an eyewitness, and to whom I have communicated my most secret thoughts, will inform you of what I cannot now write, and thus I rest, expecting the instrument of your grief, and of my deliverance.” Sandov. Hist. vol. i. p. 478.

Padilla’s widow, Donna Maria Pacheco, showed herself worthy of her husband, and prosecuted that cause in defence of which he had suffered.

“Respect for her sex, or admiration for her courage and abilities, as well as sympathy with her misfortunes, and veneration for the memory of her husband, secured her the same ascendant over the people which he had possessed. The prudence and vigour with which she acted, justified that confidence they placed in her. She wrote to the French general in Navarre, encouraging him to invade Castile by the offer of powerful assistance. She endeavoured by her letters and emissaries to revive the spirit and hopes of the other cities. She raised soldiers, and exacted a great sum from the clergy belonging to the cathedral, in order to defray the expense of keeping them on foot. She employed every artifice that could interest or inflame the populace. For this purpose she ordered crucifixes to be used by her troops instead of colours, as if they had been at war with the infidels and enemies of religion; she marched through the streets of Toledo with her son, a young child, clad in deep mourning seated on a mule, having a standard carried before him, representing the manner of his father’s execution. By all these means she kept the minds of the people in such perpetual agitation as prevented their passions from subsiding, and rendered them insensible of the dangers to which they were exposed, by standing alone in opposition to the royal authority. While the army was employed in Navarre, the regents were unable to attempt the reduction of Toledo by force; and all their endeavours, either to diminish Donna Maria’s credit with the people, or to gain her by large promises and the solicitations of her brother the Marquis de Mondecar, proved ineffectual. Upon the expulsion of the French out of Navarre, part of the army returned into Castile, and invested Toledo. Even this made no impression on the intrepid and obstinate courage of Donna Maria. She defended the town with vigour, her troops in several sallies beat the royalists, and no progress was made towards reducing the place, until the clergy, whom she had highly offended by invading their property, ceased to support her. As soon as they received information of the death of William de Croy, archbishop of Toledo, whose possession of that see was their chief grievance, and that the emperor had named a Castilian to succeed him, they openly turned against her, and persuaded the people that she had acquired such influence over them, by the force of enchantments, that she was assisted by a familiar dæmon which attended her in the form of a Negro-maid, and that by its suggestions she regulated every part of her conduct. The credulous multitude, whom their impatience of a long blockade, and despair of obtaining succours either from the cities formerly in confederacy with them, or from the French, rendered desirous of peace, took arms against her, and driving her out of the city, surrendered it to the royalists. She retired to the citadel, which she defended with amazing fortitude four months longer; and when reduced to the last extremities, she made her escape in disguise, and fled to Portugal, where she had many relations.

“Upon her flight, the citadel surrendered. Tranquillity was re-established in Castile; and this bold attempt of the commons, like all unsuccessful insurrections, contributed to confirm and extend the power of the crown, which it was intended to moderate and abridge. The Cortes still continued to make a part of the Castilian constitution, and was summoned to meet whenever the king stood in need of money; but instead of adhering to their ancient and cautious form of examining and redressing public grievances, before they proceeded to grant any supply, the more courtly custom of voting a donative in the first place was introduced, and the sovereign having obtained all that he wanted, never allowed them to enter into any inquiry, or to attempt any reformation injurious to his authority. The privileges which the cities had enjoyed were gradually circumscribed or abolished; _their commerce began from this period to decline_; and becoming less wealthy and less populous, they lost that power and influence which they had acquired in the Cortes.”

Meanwhile there was civil war in Valencia, carried on by the Germanada, to whom Charles had formerly granted the use of arms, against the nobility, with whom he was, at the time of the grant, angry. At first he left the nobles to fight their own battle, but after the victory of Villalar he dispatched to their assistance a body of Castilian cavalry; the insurrection was put down, and the republican government that had been established was overthrown, the leaders suffering most cruel deaths.

There were also disaffections in Aragon, and a formidable insurrection in Majorca, and it seems as if it was only to the circumstance, that the several kingdoms of Spain did not make common cause, that Charles owed the preservation of his Spanish crowns.

On his return to Spain, after these commotions, he acted with the cool prudence characteristic of him. After a rebellion so general, scarcely twenty persons were punished capitally, and this clemency, together with his care to avoid giving more offence, conciliated the war-wearied people. The nobles also supported his authority against the commons, whose late movements had been to them no less terrific than to the emperor.

But it was only because Charles had not the power to do otherwise, that he showed this clemency. In 1539, when wanting money to pay the Imperial army, which had served him in Italy and elsewhere, “he assembled the Cortes of Castile at Toledo, and having represented to them the extraordinary expense of his military operations, together with the great debts in which these had necessarily involved him, he proposed to levy such supplies as the present exigency of his affairs demanded, by a general excise on commodities. But the Spaniards already felt themselves oppressed with a load of taxes unknown to their ancestors. They had often complained that their country was drained not only of its wealth but of its inhabitants, in order to prosecute quarrels in which it was not interested, and to fight battles from which it could reap no benefit, and they determined not to add voluntarily to their own burdens, or to furnish the Emperor with the means of engaging in new enterprises, no less ruinous to the kingdom than most of those which he had hitherto carried on. The nobles, in particular, inveighed with great vehemence against the imposition proposed, as an encroachment upon the valuable and distinguishing privilege of their order, that of being exempted from the payment of any tax. They demanded a conference with the representatives of the cities concerning the state of the nation. They contended that if Charles would imitate the example of his predecessors, who had resided constantly in Spain, and would avoid entangling himself in a multiplicity of transactions foreign to the concerns of his Spanish dominions, the stated revenues of the crown would be fully sufficient to defray the necessary expenses of government. They represented to him, that it would be unjust to lay new burdens upon the people, while this prudent and effectual method of reëstablishing public credit, and securing national opulence, was totally neglected. Charles, after employing arguments, entreaties, and promises, but without success, in order to overcome their obstinacy, dismissed the assembly with great indignation. From that period neither the nobles nor the prelates have been called to these assemblies, on pretence that such as pay no part of the public taxes, should not claim any vote in laying them on. None have been admitted to the Cortes but the procurators or representatives of eighteen cities. These, to the number of thirty-six, being two from each community, form an assembly which bears no resemblance either in power, or dignity, or independence, to the ancient Cortes, and are absolutely at the devotion of the court in all their determinations. Thus the imprudent zeal with which the Castilian nobles had supported the regal prerogative, in opposition to the claims of the commons during the commotions in the year 1521, proved at last fatal to their own body. By enabling Charles to depress one of the orders in the state, they destroyed that balance to which the constitution owed its security, and put it in his power, or in that of his successors, to humble the other, and to strip it gradually of its most valuable privileges.”

Thus coolly, and without a groan of sympathy, does Robertson relate a crime which extinguished a great nation.