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8 Oct.
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147. Guerau de Spes to the King.
On the 30th ultimo I sent Medina, a Spaniard, to the duke of
Alba with letters for your Majesty, advising fully that Arundel,
Pembroke, and Lumley were detained by the Queen at Windsor.
They were judicially interrogated by Cecil and four other commissioners
as to who had initiated the plan of marrying the queen of
Scotland to the duke o f Norfolk, and they replied jointly that it
was the unanimous wish of all the Council. The interrogation
was mostly directed to inculpate the queen of Scotland, but they
all rightly exonerated her, although the commissioners showed
great desire to blame her, and passionate words passed between the
prisoners and them. In the meanwhile couriers and protests were
being constantly despatched by the Queen to the duke of Norfolk
urging him unceasingly to come into her presence. The Duke,
either to avoid the first fury falling upon his own head, or with the
idea that his friends were not yet ready, or else, as he himself says,
to avert the evident peril of the queen of Scotland, who is in the
hands of her enemies, or possibly confiding in the great promises
made by Leicester, to the effect that if he would pacify the Queen
by a show of obedience all his adversaries would promptly be
overcome and perhaps the road to his own marriage thrown open,
has abandoned, for the present, his attempts at revolt, and returned
with a few horse, and the gentlemen who accompanied him, to the
house of Thomas Selliger three miles from the Court, where nearly
all his servants took leave of him and where he is now detained.
He has been interrogated like the others. The prisoners expect to
be free shortly, and to take possession of the Court, although Cecil
and the Lord Keeper, his brother-in-law, do not agree with the rest
and want to send them to the Tower.
The friends of the prisoners, who are the earls of Northumberland,
Westmoreland, Cumberland, Derby, and many others, all
Catholics, are much grieved at this cowardice, if such it can be
called, of the duke of Norfolk, and they have sent Northumberland's
servant, who spoke to me before on the matter, to say that
they will by armed force release the Queen and take possession of
all the north country, restoring the Catholic religion in this country
and effecting a general restitution of the goods of your Majesty's
subjects within a year. They only ask that, after they have
released the Queen, they should be aided by your Majesty with a
small number of harquebussiers. To all this I have answered as
I did at first, without taking hope away from them, but referring
them to the duke of Alba. I feel sure that they will attempt the
task, and it will be better carried through by them than by the
duke of Norfolk as they are more fit for it, and the queen of
Scotland will have more freedom afterwards in the choice of her
husband. I advised them to send a person to the duke of Alba,
but I do not know whether they will soon have a chance of doing
so, or if they will resolve to attempt what they say first, the only
danger of which would be that those who have charge of the
queen of Scotland might make an attempt against her person.
I am advising the duke of Alba of this that he may instruct me
about it, as it really seems that great good may come to the cause
of God and your Majesty thereby. They have allowed the earl of
Shrewsbury to take part in the care of the Queen, whom they have
brought back to Tutbury, but by the copy of the letter from the
bishop of Ross enclosed, your Majesty will see the calamity and
misery in which she now is. They have granted me a passport for
this courier ; please God that it may not be to deceive me ! I
have no news about the bugler they sent to Gravelines to request
the captain there to inform the duke of Alba that the persons
who were to be sent hither should not come for the present, nor
have my servants heard of him from the Council.
Whilst Cecil governs here no good course can be expected, and
the duke of Norfolk says that he wished to get him out of the
government and change the guard of the queen of Scotland before
taking up arms. It is thought that they will not dare to take the
Duke to the Tower, although in this they may be deceived, because
they who now rule are all Protestants, and most of them creatures
of Cecil. Notwithstanding all this, the fleet for Rochelle is still on
the west coast.
Certain German gentlemen have landed in Dover coming from
the castle of Chatillon, and have gone to-day to the Court.
I heard yesterday that they have ordered the commissioners to
go and sell all the merchandise in the west country, which will be
a great evil, and I at once sent a letter about it to Cecil by a
servant of mine. I have no answer yet, but I have sent to the
duke of Alba asking for instruction, and whether your Majesty's
subjects are to be allowed to buy.
In a port in the north called Lynn one of the ships from the
flotilla of sloops has arrived, and is selling the plunder taken by
all of them. I am informed that amongst it are some silver
custodes taken they say from the isle of Texel and another island
near.—London, 8th October 1569.
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14 Oct.
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148. Guerau de Spes to the King.
Having an opportunity by this ship to St. Jean de Luz I have
despatched the present letter. They brought the duke of Norfolk
to the Tower on the 11th inst. He was very foolish, they think
here, to return to Court after having left it against the Queen's
will. He never thought to come to his present pass, and upbraids
himself for having believed the letters of Leicester and Cecil.
The councillors are puzzled to know what to do with Arundel,
Pembroke, and Lumley, who did no more than the rest of the
Council in approving of the marriage of the queen of Scotland
with an Englishman, and subsequently approving of Norfolk
himself. They are afraid that if they let them go the disturbance
will be all the greater.
They are trying to give the post of Lord Stewart, which
Pembroke filled, to the earl of Bedford, as he is such a great
heretic.
I heard yesterday that they had arrested Nicholas Throgmorton,
late English ambassador in France, a heretic, but such an enemy of
Cecil's that on this account he belonged to the queen of Scotland's
party.
I do not know what is being done by those in the north. I
have avoided encouraging them until I receive the duke of Alba's
orders. I also await the arrival of the marquis Chapin Viteli,
who is already at Gravelines, but I believe that in consequence of
the bugler having been sent from here to the governor of that
town to request that the Marquis should not come, and also of
events here, the duke of Alba may wish to hear further of the state
of feeling before sending him.
Antonio Fogaza, the Portuguese of whom I wrote, goes with
certain treaties to Portugal, and they have let him load a ship with
cloth under passport from the Queen and Cardinal Chatillon.
These rebel sloops have captured over thirty ships belonging to
your Majesty's subjects, mostly loaded with grain.—London, 14th
October 1569.
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23 Oct.
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149. Guerau de Spes to the King.
The marquis Chapin Viteli arrived in this island on the 15th,
although captain Leighton who had been sent by the Queen made him
leave all his company at Dover He proceeded to Greenwich and I sent
some people to Canterbury to conduct him, and had a servant of
mine sent to Court to know what was the order to be observed with
regard to him. We were told that we could come to Kingston, and
there confer as to what was best to be done. The Queen would not
allow me to be present at the first audience of the Marquis with
her, saying that she first wished to know what your Majesty had
written to her about the detention of the merchandise, and as the
Marquis and I agreed that it would be best for your service, we
thought we would let her have her way in this, so that we might
proceed to the more important question of restitution. We also
agreed that it would be best to speak to her mildly, smoothing
over what she might say against the duke of Alba. Yesterday was the
day of the audience, and the Marquis addressed her very prudently,
diverting her as much as possible from her complaints against the
Duke, and assuring her of the good wishes of your Majesty, and the
confidence you had in her, that she would not allow herself to be
withdrawn from your old friendship and alliance ; all of which may
be seen by your Majesty by the letter in French, which the
Marquis sends to the Duke. The decision of the Queen is that she
will appoint persons to examine the Marquis' powers, and in the
meanwhile, we are not to move from this place, both in order to
await her reply, and in consequence of the present unhealthiness of
London. We shall soon know whether these people will come to
reason. It may well be that the bad news they have from France
and the fear of further revolt here may make them do better now
than they have hitherto done.
The duke of Norfolk is still in the Tower. The Earls of Arundel and
Pembroke, Lord Lumley, and Nicholas Throgmorton, are prisoners
at the Court, or near to it, and the queen of Scotland is in the castle
of Tutbury, guarded by the earls of Huntingdon and Shrewsbury.
The earl of Northumberland's servant returned last night to
assure me that, whenever your Majesty wished, they would release
the queen of Scotland, would marry her to your Majesty's liking,
and try to restore the Catholic religion in this country. They only
want to be favoured by your Majesty. Your Majesty's orders now
received shall at once be carried out.—London, (fn. 1) 23rd October 1569.
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150. Chapin Viteli to the Duke of Alba.
By my last letters, your Excellency will have learnt of my arrival
at and departure from Dover, and what happened between me and
captain Leighton, a relative of lord Cobham, who was sent by the
Queen to conduct me to Kingston fifteen miles from the Court. Last
Monday I arrived at Rochester and at once wrote to Don Guerau de
Spes saying that, as in consequence of the plague, I could not go to
London to see him, I begged him to kindly meet me at Greenwich
the next day, in order to discuss my mission. I found him there
next morning and, after we had discussed together my instructions
and documents, we decided to meet again at Kingston, and, in the
meanwhile, to consider maturely the best course to take, whether
to proceed gently or otherwise.
Captain Leighton received letters from the Queen at Greenwich
conceding me six of my people, who had stayed behind at Dover,
and to Junglo and Secretary Latorre one servant each, the rest of
my people being allowed to come to Canterbury with the expectation
that, when I had seen the Queen, they might all be allowed to join
me.
On the following Wednesday the ambassador met us at Kingston
and we came to the conclusion, unanimously, that it would be best
to proceed gently. When this had been agree to, the ambassador
wrote to Cecil advising him of our arrival and begged him to say
when the Queen would grant us audience. On Thursday the man
came back with an answer welcoming us warmly from the Queen
and saying that she would willingly give us audience on the following
Saturday. In the meanwhile, so as to be nearer to her and
more comfortable, we could come and lodge at Colebrook, a league
from the Court at Windsor, she being very sorry that owing to the
smallness of her palace, she could not offer us a lodging at Windsor
itself ; but that, on my arrival at Colebrook, she would send me some
of her gentlemen to accompany me and conduct me to her, although
she did not wish the ambassador to be present at the first interview
with her, as she had complained of him to his Majesty for his
bad proceedings about the arrests, for which she was sure his
Majesty had given her satisfaction in the letters I brought, and
when she had seen them, she would decide what should be done in
subsequent audiences.
I asked the ambassador's opinion on this and in order not to
delay our audience, he agreed that it would be well to do as the
Queen wished, and for us to go without him. He accompanied us
however to this place, in order to be nearer to us and to be able to
consult with us afterwards as to the best way to forward our object
We therefore arrived all together the day before yesterday here at
Colebrook and the ambassador has made every effort to facilitate
our audience. He has also allowed me to be accompanied by nearly
all his household.
At two o'clock yesterday afternoon, captain Leighton, accompanied
by some of the principal gentlemen of the household, was sent to
conduct me to the Court, where we arrived at about 4 o'clock and
were received at the entrance by Lord Hunsdon, governor of
Berwick, a cousin of the Queen. He led us to the council chamber
to unboot and refresh ourselves a little, and he and many other
gentlemen then conducted us to the presence chamber, where we
found the Queen accompanied by the earls of Leicester, Bedford, the
Lord Chamberlain, Clinton, Admiral, the Lord Keeper, the Lord
Privy Seal, Lord Strange, Secretary Cecil, and many others. After
we had made due salutation to the Queen, I handed her in order his
Majesty's letters and that of his Excellency, which she read and
expressed her pleasure at receiving them, at least those from the King,
although they had arrived later than she could have wished. I
excused the delay and stated my errand to her in the best way I was
able, in accordance with the course we had agreed upon. When she
had heard me, she showed some disappointment that his Majesty
had referred the negotiation to your Excellency, and had not signified
his wishes in his own letters to her. She then went on to complain
of your Excellency, saying that although you were a valiant captain
and had prudently governed the Netherlands, as well as your own
household, you had, nevertheless, failed in the respect due to her
position and dignity, as you had, without provocation, arrested the
persons and property of her subjects, and had thus almost brought
about a quarrel between princes so friendly and closely united.
She added that she cast no blame upon the King, as she was
certain it had all been done without his knowledge, and that he was
innocent and she trusted him as she would herself. After much of
this talk, in which she showed that she took this injury much to
heart, she said she was determined not to do as we asked until all
the world was informed who had been the origin of these arrests
and where the blame really lay. She said, for her part, she had
never dreamt of touching his Majesty's money and she had not done
so. On the contrary, she had promised to give all help and favour
in conveying it to its destination, which she would have done with
her own ships, only that the ambassador had requested her to
retain it in order to prevent it from falling into the hands of the
French pirates. She, however, had been informed that the money
did not belong to the King but to certain Genoese merchants which
statement she wished to verify, and for this reason alone had she
deferred its departure for three or four days, and for no other reason,
as she did not want the money.
To this and all her other objections we replied modestly, as
instructed, especially as regards the complaints of your Excellency.
I tried my best, by many arguments and persuasions, to banish
from her mind all sinister impressions on this head.
Finally, after some little irritation on both sides ; seeing that the
Queen was somewhat getting over her anger, we ceased to retort, in
order not to incense her again, and she then brought the audience
to a close by saying that she would send some commissioners to us
to learn what powers we had from his Majesty to negotiate for the
restitution which we requested. We then took our leave. I have
thought well to send this account at once, in order that your
Excellency may see the exact state of our negotiations to date. I
will duly send accounts of all that may happen.— Colebrook,
23rd October 1569.
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24 Oct.
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151. Antonio de Guaras to —. (fn. 2)
As you will learn, the letters were detained and afterwards
recovered. I received mine dated the 1st, and I will endeavour to
deserve by my zeal the favour done to me in ordering me to write.
It is said the duke (of Norfolk) is so closely guarded that he is not
allowed to leave the one room in which he is, and that he is only
served by a single page in the Tower. His relatives and friends
are greatly scandalised. It is believed for certain that they will
take Lord Lumley to the Tower, and they have moved the earl of
Arundel to another house, where he is guarded by a gentleman.
Pembroke is in no more liberty than before. They have examined
the queen of Scotland's ambassador, the bishop of Ross, on several
points of this business, and particularly as regards certain sums of
money, but he is free. They have also examined Ridolfi, although
I have not been able to discover upon what points. He is still a
prisoner, but I hope will soon be released. Luis de Paz and
Cristobal de Amonte were at once released on bail. They have not
yet been examined. There are ten or twelve rooms in the Tower
prepared for prisoners, although who the prisoners are to be is not
yet known. It was said lately that they would be persons of great
position, but it has since been rumoured that for the present they
will not be arrested. Some of the Duke's friends and his secretary
are detained in the Court, and another of his secretaries has fled.
Throgmorton, who was ambassador in France, is also detained. He
is a great friend of the earl of Leicester, and although for several
reasons Leicester is no friend of the Duke's, he has been in his
favour in the matter of the marriage with the queen of Scots, and
he is suspected on this account by the rest of those who govern.
The total number of councillors who govern is sixteen. The Duke,
the Lord Treasurer, the earl of Pembroke, the earl of Arundel, and
the Lord Chamberlain, uncle of the Duke, five of them, do not
agree in religion or other things with the remaining eleven, who
are the archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the marquis
of Northampton, the earl of Leicester, the earl of Bedford, the earl
of Sussex, the Admiral, Secretary Cecil, sir Walter Mildmay, sir
Ralph Sadler, and Vice-Chamberlain Knollys, who all oppose the
others, especially on sectarian points. Some months ago the Duke
transferred all his estates to his son the earl of Surrey, which has
made him all the more suspected, particularly as the Master of the
Rolls, who is a person of great account here, advised him how he
might do it in accordance with the law. The Master of the Rolls
himself may be said to be under arrest, and he is being examined
on the subject. It is certain that they are coining money from our
treasure in the Tower lately. Four commissioners left here this
week, it is said, to sell what is left of our merchandise detained
here, for all the rest is stolen and sold before now. Fifty ships are
being prepared to go to Rochelle for wine and salt, and will take,
it is believed, artillery and stores thither and some money with
three of the Queen's armed ships. The jewels sent the other day by
the mother of Vendome, whom they call the queen of Navarre, were
pledged for some 60,000 crowns although they say they are worth
120,000. It is said that the queen of Scotland is in good health
God be thanked, and that all the armed men who were recently
put to guard her have been taken away, although she is not
allowed to leave her one room, and is still in the hands of the earls
of Shrewsbury and Huntingdon. A person has come from Hamburg
with letters for the English, and relates that since the flotilla
arrived they have not been able to sell anything and had no hopes
of doing so all the winter. They are all much dissatisfied with
trading there, recollecting their former business in Flanders.
Twenty German gentlemen have arrived here from the army in
France, and went to Court to offer their services. They went away
without arranging anything, and people at Court are now downcast.
They say the news from France is disappointing to them. The
Queen is tired of these changes, and the people so wonderstruck at
them that no tranquillity can be expected, although it is presumed
that matters will be dissembled during the winter. The summer
is usually the time when these people are disturbed. Lately they
have begun to equip 14 of the Queen's great ships, and it is said
they will complete the armament of them unless circumstances
should render it unnecessary. In the audience granted to the
Marquis, the Queen expressed her dissatisfaction at the action of
her ministers, to cover over her own share of faults in the business.
It is quite probable that the good news from France will make them
change their proceedings. The Queen said that the merchandise
should not be sold. She would not allow the ambassador to be
present, although since then the gentlemen who came over with the
Marquis have been allowed to come to Court.
This letter is very badly arranged, but I trust it will be excused
and taken in good part.
Postscript—The letter that accompanied your worship's letter is
dated the 1st. My desire is to serve well, but the danger causes me to
write in this confused manner. Pray excuse it as the object is only
to acknowledge receipt of the letters and cover the memorial for his
Excellency.—London, 24th October 1569.
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31 Oct.
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152. Guerau de Spes to the King.
Since my last letter the Marquis was given to understand that,
before anything was done, Cecil wished to see the power he brought,
in order to try to find some flaw in it or to allege its insufficiency,
his intention being to delay matters in order that they might carry
out their designs. On the 26th the Marquis went to see the
Queen, when she gave him the reply which your Majesty will see
by the enclosed letter in French. The Marquis met the Queen's
representatives yesterday at a house near here, but they could come
to no agreement and refused to allow me to be present, saying that
the Queen was not yet reconciled with me, and moreover that the
substitution of the duke of Alba's power was only in favour of the
Marquis. They would not allow either Dr. Junglo nor Secretary
Torre to take any part in the business, but made them sit apart
from the Marquis. The decision arrived at was not to proceed to the
question of the restitution until they brought under consideration
all questions left open at Bruges and others of subsequent date. The
Marquis insisted that a reply should be given to the point he had
submitted to the Queen, but, as they refused him, he will take
steps to get another audience. In the meanwhile I send this
report to your Majesty and the Duke, in order that instructions
may be sent. I am not sure that the councillors of this Queen
are coming to reason even yet, although the king of France has
gained so great a victory. (fn. 3) Those who usually oppose Cecil in the
Council are prisoners, whilst he is free, and can, with the help of
his brother in-law, the Lord Keeper, do absolutely as he pleases.
They have reason to fear, but they do not understand it, or else
they desire to delay this settlement with the idea that they can
always come to terms by making some sort of restitution. All else
is without change.—Colebrook, 31st October 1569.
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153. The Duke of Alba to the King.
[Extract.]
When Chapin arrived at Calais they received information that
Cobham, who is in charge at Dover, had written to the Governors
of Gravelines and Dunkirk saying, that if any gentleman of these
States was embarking there he was to be told that he (Cobham)
had orders from his Queen that no one was to pass. I at once sent
word to Chapin to stay his departure, and send over to Cobham
to ask whether the Queen had revoked her safe conduct, and if the
answer was yes, that he was to remain quiet and ascertain from
Don Guerau the cause of the revocation. Whilst this was going
on, Cobham sent over to Chapin saying that he could come and he
would be welcome. He at once advised me and I told him to go.
I have now just received news of his arrival at Court and of his
audience with the Queen, as your Majesty will see by his letter
and those of Antonio de Guaras enclosed. By one of these your
Majesty will learn in detail what took place at the beginning of
the arrests. Thomas Fiesco was informed by the Genoese, Benedict
Spinola, by means of whom, by my orders, he was trying to gain
Leicester and Cecil, that they had promoted Chapin's coming, and
that he found them ready to forward the negotiation in consideration
of a present. I have resolved to order Thomas to gratify
them and give them a handsome present, on account of the interested
parties, in order to get them (Leicester and Cecil) to
consent to the restoration of what is left of the property seized,
and that some earnest may be given on account of the rest. He
will also try to get the English whose goods are seized here to pay
some of these expenses, without their knowing that it is done with
my cognizance. Thus the matters remain and every effort will be
made to settle the differences.—Brussels, 31st October 1569.
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