The Story of Don John of Austria by Luis Coloma (e books for reading txt) 📖

virtue of his trust, to forbid it, and to have countenanced it would have been to incur the annoyance of the Monarch. So it was most prudent to be silent, and this is what D. John had been. CHAPTER V

The news of D. John's spontaneous departure for the island of Malta to fight the Turks caused such enthusiasm among the people of Madrid that they went shouting through the streets, applauding the worthy son of Charles V.

The nobility, for their part, then paid to this lad of eighteen the most sincere homage which can be paid to the perfect man, set up as our model, that of copying him. The greater portion of the young nobles hastened to embark with D. John at Barcelona, some only with their swords and good intentions, having nothing else to bring; others, at their own cost, brought men-at-arms to fight against the Turk, the constant nightmare of the Europe of that day.

The most important of these gentlemen was D. Bernardino de Cárdenas, Lord of Colmenar de Oreja; D. Luis Carillo, eldest son of the Conde de Priego, and his uncle D. Luis with a great company taken at his charge of gentlemen, kindred, captains, and servants; D. Jerónimo de Padilla, D. Gabriel Manrique, son of the Conde de Osorno, D. Bernardino de Mendoza, brother of the Conde de Coruña, D. Diego de Gúzman, Steward to the Queen, D. Lorenzo Manuel, D. Francisco Zapata de Cárdenas, D. Pedro de Luxán, D. Gabriel Niño, Juan Bautista Tassis, afterwards Conde de Villamediano, and a lot of other Castillian, Andalucian, and Aragonese gentlemen.

There arrived also at the last moment four of Prince Carlos's gentlemen, of whom one was afterwards the famous Marqués de Castel Rodrigo, D. Christóbal de Moúra.

All this made Philip II think, and from that moment he gave up the idea of forcing his brother into the Church, understanding that he would gain more from D. John by using his prestige and courage in matters of war.

Meanwhile D. John was flying from the hat in search of glory, with such bad luck that on arriving at Torija he had to stop, ill of a tertian fever. He was cared for as well as they could manage in a castle that the Conde de Coruña had there, and, more plucky than cured, he went on his way to Frasno, five leagues from Saragossa. Here the fever returned with such force that he could go no further. This place belonged to the Conde de Rivagorza, the Duque de Villahermosa, D. Martin de Aragón, a great gentleman who experienced shortly afterwards, in the person of his eldest son, the most tragic disaster, perhaps, in all the history of the Grandees.

This nobleman was the widower of Doña Luisa de Borja, sister of St. Francis; after fighting in Flanders, and much distinguishing himself at the battle of St. Quintin, he was then living in retirement with his sons in the town of Pedrola. The Duke was told of the illustrious guest on his property, ill in the miserable inn of Frasno, and he hastened to send eighteen mules with everything necessary for the use of a prince, even to beds and coverings, and a complete set of hammered plate.

Not satisfied with this, the Duke went to Frasno with two of the doctors in his service, and pressed D. John to move to his country house at Pedrola or to his castle of Benabarre, the principal place of the county of Rivagorza, where he could be attended to and looked after with the greatest care.

D. John had not time to accept the invitation of the first Grandee of Aragón, because the Archbishop of Saragossa, hearing of his illness and being at Frasno, at once sent the Governor of the town, with many other noble gentlemen, to fetch D. John and carry him off to be well looked after in his own palace.

This Archbishop was D. Hernando of Aragón, grandson of King Ferdinand the Catholic, and was respected as much for his age as for his illustrious lineage.

So D. John was moved with many precautions by mules and litters belonging to the Duque de Villahermosa, who accompanied him with great courtesy until he left him installed in the Archbishop's palace.

The Archbishop received him outside the palace, and the people ran to see the Emperor's son, and to show by their applause their sympathy with him in his youthful escapade.

D. Pedro Manuel had arrived in Frasno, and no sooner did he see D. John a little better, than he hastened to give him D. Philip's order, adding, on his own account, "that he could not go on unless he wished to make the King angry, as the galleys in which he could have sailed had left Barcelona."

To which D. John answered gravely, that the undertaking was in the service of God and of the King his lord, and that this being so, he could not give it up with honour; so he sent D. José de Acuña to Barcelona, to see if there was a galley for his passage. The Archbishop and Governor and many gentlemen also begged him "to go back to Madrid, as they had orders from the King to stop him."

But to this D. John would not give in either. The Archbishop, accordingly, with the King's letter in his hand, notified him "that he should not go further," but D. John, without losing his calmness or politeness, persisted in his wish. Then the Archbishop, Governor, and notables of Aragón, who had hurried to Saragossa, were so charmed by the audacity and firm purpose of this lad of eighteen, that they begged him, if he still persisted in going, "to take 500 arquebusiers for his guard, as it was not right to go alone, and that the Kingdom would pay for them, as long as the expedition lasted." To which D. John replied that, "if he embarked, he would accept their offer." Then they offered him a great sum of money in crowns, but D. John gratefully and courteously refused this.

With an enthusiastic farewell from everyone D. John set out from Saragossa for Belpuche, where he lodged with the Viceroy of Naples. Then he went to Montserrat, to visit the celebrated sanctuary, and the monks, in league with the Viceroy of Catalonia, who was the Duque de Francavilla, arranged to amuse him in the monastery until the galleys for Malta had set sail from Barcelona.

Then the Viceroy, the Duque de Francavilla, with the magistrates, the Archbishop of Tarragona, and the Bishop of Barcelona came to receive him in Montserrat, begging him to return to Madrid in accordance with the King's will as the galleys had sailed for the island of Malta. To which D. John answered imperturbably that, if there were no galleys in Barcelona, he could easily find one by crossing France, as he thought of doing, to seek one in another place.

Puzzled what to do, the Viceroy accompanied him to Barcelona, with much honour and a great following, and entertained him there with feasts, rejoicings and balls, in order to give time for the last resource, which was an autograph letter from the King to D. John, ordering him to return at once, without delay, to Madrid, under pain of his royal and lasting displeasure.

D. John bowed his head to such a conclusive threat, and returned at once to Madrid, with as much applause from everyone for his obedience as for his first brave resolution.

He was received with great enthusiasm in Madrid, and the first to go and meet him was Prince Carlos, who gave him a gold ring with a magnificent diamond, the work of Jacome Trezzo, which cost 800 ducats.

The King was not then in Madrid, having gone to Segovia and Sepulveda to meet the Queen Doña Isabel, his wife, who was returning from the celebrated conference of Bayonne.

Their Majesties' return was announced for the 30th of July, and Prince Carlos and D. John went three leagues from the town to receive them.

The King and D. John had not met since the latter's prank, and the interview promised to be embarrassing.

But good Queen Isabel's prudence and cleverness, however, gave it a more pleasant turn, for, as soon as she saw D. John, she made him approach, and, without giving him time to say anything or make any sign, she asked him, with a sly smile, if the Turks of Malta had seemed brave to him. The would-be champion became as red as a poppy, and answered bitterly that, to his great sorrow, he had not been able to find out.

At this D. Philip laughed, and affectionately embraced his brother, whispering to him to have patience, that very shortly the armada would be ready to go against the pirates of the Mediterranean, of which he had already decided to make D. John Generalissimo.

CHAPTER VI

This adventure made D. John the fashion, as we should say now, a thing which existed in the sixteenth century without being so called. He became the spoilt child of the Court and the idol of the people, to such a degree that many of them wished him to be the heir to the crown, in default of D. Carlos.

D. John's good looks had much to do with this; he was then only nineteen, but was already perfectly developed.

He was of a good height, slim and altogether graceful, because neatness was as much a part of him as flexibility is of fine-tempered steel.

He had fair hair, brushed up to the left in the form of a toupee, a fashion made common by his imitators and called "à la Austriaca"; his beard, the same colour as his hair, was thin; his complexion pale, but rather sunburnt, which gave him a pleasing, manly appearance; big blue eyes, always clear and bright, which could be smiling and loving or grave and severe, as he wished.

He was debonair and very nice in his person, and ostentatious in his dress, which was always in the extreme of fashion, as may be seen in some of his pictures.

That which radiated from him and made him so irresistible was that "je ne sais quoi" belonging to very superior men, which attracts, enchants, and subjugates, and, according to a very profound writer, consists in the mysterious combination of grace, talent, and desire to please.

Such was the attractive figure of D. John when he began to be a real personage at the much-discussed Court of his brother.

Certainly that Court was not then, if it ever was, the gloomy, austere convent, represented to us by those who believe, or seem to believe, in an awesome legendary Philip II, surrounded by holocausts and gallows, and Inquisitors and friars.

Nor was it either the united family of devout maidens and saintly matrons, venerable old men and immaculate pages, which those make out who would, in all good faith, imprison the colossal Philip II in the rickety form of a devout monk.

The Court of Philip II was certainly the strictest of its day, but it was also the most magnificent, sumptuous and full of harmless amusement and the knight errantry of those times, without lacking, as was natural, intrigues, plots and scandals between gallants and ladies. These D. Philip sometimes put down openly with a firm hand, at others corrected secretly, and not a few he pretended not to notice, for reasons which must always remain unknown.

The Court was divided, as nearly always happens, into two absolutely different camps—the courtly and the political.

The principal personages of the former at that time were two princesses, as remarkable for their virtue as for their beauty, and united by the bonds of the tenderest friendship. They were the Queen Isabel de Valois and the widowed Princess of Portugal, Doña Juana, the first aged only twenty and the other thirty at this date.

Their circle included the numerous ladies of both their suites, belonging to the highest Spanish nobility, although the Queen's included a few Frenchwomen and the Princess's several Portuguese, and these foreigners were always at war with the Spanish women.

The Queen's ladies numbered over fifty, all spinsters, and they only remained at the palace until the King had found advantageous alliances for them.

There were also ten duennas of honour, all widows and ladies of high rank, and at their head the Camarera Mayor, who had to be a lady of quality, and was, at that time, the Dowager Condesa de Urena, Doña Maria de la Cueva, a matron of great judgment and experience and the mother of the first Duque de Osuna.