Simancas: July 1586 | British History Online

Calendar of State Papers, Spain (Simancas), Volume 3, 1580-1586. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1896.

'Simancas: July 1586', in Calendar of State Papers, Spain (Simancas), Volume 3, 1580-1586, (London, 1896) pp. 589-597. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/simancas/vol3/pp589-597 [accessed 23 April 2024]

July 1586



2 July. Paris Archives, K. 1564. 119. French.	450. The Queen Of Scotland to Bernardino De Mendoza. The principal object of this note is to acknowledge the receipt of your last letters of 4th April, and to assure you that I do not in the slightest degree impute that the delay in the fulfilment of our designs is owing to any fault on the part of the Catholic King your master, my good brother, whose proceedings have always been so sound, both on the general ground of religion, and on those points which I have pressed as concerning my personal interests. I should be ungrateful, indeed, if I held any different opinion, and, since it is the will of God that I should suffer still, I am resigned to bend my neck beneath the yoke. On my conscience I do not regret this delay so much for my own sake, as for the affliction and misery in which I see daily plunged so many honest people in this country, for I resent more strongly the public calamity than my own. I have instructed my ambassador to speak to you, on my behalf, about the payment of some money advanced by Messrs. Paget, Arundel, and Morgan about three years ago, on the assurance of re-imbursement given to them in the name of his Holiness and the King your master. I beg you will endeavour to have them repaid, at it is not only reasonable but is important to me and my safety here, that they should have this money. God keep you in health.— Chartley, 2nd July 1586. Note.—The above letter is published in prince Labanoff's collection.
16 July. Paris Archives, K. 1564. 121. French.	451. The Duke Of Guise to Bernardino De Mendoza. I have requested the Scots ambassador to communicate to you an enterprise of which for a long time past I have been laying the foundation with great pains, but have been unable hitherto to bring to fruition. I have now brought the principal Scots lords to the resolution which will be communicated to you, and which I am sure you will embrace willingly, seeing the goodwill you bear to the advancement of the Catholic religion. You will also not fail to recognise the advantage which may result therefrom to his Catholic Majesty, in any designs he may entertain on England. I have made an ample dispatch of the matter, and send it to His Majesty by a Scots gentleman who had been addressed to me by the said lords. (fn. 1) I have sent him from here direct, both on account of the road being safer, and to avoid his being discovered on his way through Paris. I also beg you to write a favourable despatch, and aid the matter to the best of your ability with your recommendation, etc.—16th July 1586.
July. Paris Archives, K. 1564. 121. French.	452. Document accompanying the aforegoing letter. The Catholic princes and nobles of Scotland, in order to carry out the enterprise and resolution they have undertaken of re-establishing the Catholic religion in the country, driving out the English and liberating the King and his mother, humbly petition the Catholic King to grant them the following aid. 6,000 paid troops for one year only, to oppose the queen of England in case she should come against them. They (i.e. the Scots nobles) feel sufficiently strong themselves to overcome any opposition in the country itself. 150,000 crowns to meet the expenses of the raising of men and carrying on the war ; which money as an evidence of their sincerity, they do not desire to be delivered into their hands, but that it should be deposited, so that they may draw against it as required, pledging their lands as security. In order that they may be able to maintain their party, and oppose the designs of their enemies, they also pray His Majesty to be pleased to grant them such a further sum as he may think fit, for the two following years only. By the grace of God, and the aid they now crave, and confidently expect from His Majesty, they are certain of being able successfully to carry through their holy enterprise. They promise His Majesty that, in future, no levies of men against His Majesty, and in favour of the queen of England or others, shall be allowed to be made in Scotland. They promise also to deliver into His Majesty's hands, at once or when His Majesty may think fit, one or two good ports in Scotland near the English border, to be used against the queen of England ; and when their king is delivered from the custody of the rebels who force and hold him, they will make him again join the community of the church, to recognise the obligation he owes to his Catholic Majesty, and to enter into no marriage engagement except to the satisfaction of His Majesty.
18 July. Paris Archives, K. 1448. 50.	453. The King to Bernardino De Mendoza. [Extract.] With your last letter of 26th June, I received the copy of the letter written to you by the queen of Scotland, which I was very glad to read. She certainly has very greatly risen in my estimation, in consequence of what she there says ; and has increased the devotion that I have ever felt to her interests, not so much because of what she says in my own favour (although I am very grateful for that also) as because she postpones her love for her son, which might be expected to lead her astray, for the service of our Lord, the common good of Christendom, and particularly for that of England. You may send and tell her all this from me, and assure her that if she perseveres in the good path she has chosen, I hope that God will bless her by placing her in possession of her own. You will add that I shall be very happy to undertake the protection of her person and interests as she requests, and you will be careful to keep the matter secret, in accordance with her wishes. If you have provided a good way of transmitting to her the 4,000 crowns which I recently ordered to be paid to her, you may send from the first money forwarded to you, which will be either by this courier or the next, an additional 4,000 crowns, and so on by instalments of similar amount, until the whole 12,000 crowns I granted to her shall have been paid. My nephew the prince of Parma is being written to approving of what he did about Godfrey Foljambe, and telling him that when you advise him that it will be convenient to employ Godfrey in France he may be sent to you and paid his allowance. As the Queen also asks for an allowance for Morgan, I shall be glad to give him the 40 crowns you suggest, during my pleasure. You will pay him monthly out of the money in your hands, and put the amount to the account of extraordinary expenditure. As a way has been found of communicating to the Queen, you will do your best to encourage her, and convince her of the earnestness with which I long for the re-establishment of her affairs. You will report to me all you hear from her.—18th July 1586. Note.—In another letter of the same date as the above, the King urges Mendoza again very forcibly to send him constant and trustworthy reports from England. "I do not gather from your news that in addition to Drake's fleet, so many armed ships have left England, as is stated in the relation of a German captain who was a prisoner (fn. 2) amongst them, and recently arrived in Spain. I send you a copy of his relation, in order that you may have copied out the part of it which is true, and send it to me with all other particulars you can learn of their armaments."
19 July. Paris Archives, K. 1564. 124.	454. Bernardino De Mendoza to the King. [Extract.] The King and Queen-mother are quite convinced that the queen of England will come to terms with your Majesty, giving up anything your Majesty may like to demand, as she is not powerful enough to continue the war for any length of time. In order to prevent this they will not only promise her to make peace here, but they will use every stratagem they are able, to persuade her that they will not allow your Majesty to undertake the enterprise against England, which both the queen of England and people here say is the sole object of the fleet your Majesty is preparing. It is still asserted that one of the great difficulties in concluding terms of peace here is to settle matters between the princess of Bearn and her husband. (fn. 3) I understand that the Queen-mother lamented to Silvio the other day that M. de Le Nérac had stabbed to death in the chamber of the princess of Bearn, the son of an apothecary, the murdered man being so near the bed that it was stained with his blood ; and what made the matter worse was that it was said to have been done out of jealousy. I send herewith the advices I have from England given to me secretly by a Catholic adherent of the queen of Scotland who has gained entrance in the household of Secretary Walsingham (fn. 4) on the pretext of managing the money matters of his son-in-law. He will get everything out of Walsingham, who thinks he is a protestant. Catholic priests write that the seven ships fitted out by the earl of Northumberland (Cumberland?) (fn. 5) are really to give him a pretext to leave the country, as he is a schismatic Catholic, and they say he wishes to become reconciled to your Majesty and the Church.— Paris, 19th July 1586.
20 July. Paris Archives, K. 1564. 127.	455. Sampson's Advices. The Queen-mother was going to the prince of Bearn to treat of peace ; and Leiton consequently asked her, as the protector of his master Don Antonio, to advise him as to the best course to pursue at present to forward his interests. She replied vaguely and with coolness, saying that she was going to try and arrange a peace, and, if she was successful, Don Antonio's affairs should be considered. When Leiton asked what would be the best course in the meanwhile, in order that he might be prepared to avail himself of the good offices that the king of France and she were disposed to extend to him, she said he had better let Don Antonio remain where he was, although it behoved him to look to himself, as the king of Spain was arming stoutly against England. It was true, she said, that some of his designs would be frustrated by Drake, of whom she had news ; but she ordered Leiton not to repeat this or to mention that she had said such a thing, even if he wrote it to anyone, or she would be much displeased with him. She could tell him privately, however, that Drake had captured Cartagena (fn. 6) and was fortifying it. When Leiton said that recent letters from England had made no mention of this, she said the news did not come from England, but direct from the king of Spain to her son and herself.
22 July.	456. The King to Count De Olivares. The present letter will reply to yours about England, especially that of 24th February, which is the most important. Before proceeding further I cannot refrain from thanking you for the way in which you conveyed my reply to his Holiness. It was done with much prudence, care, and consideration, and in every respect as could have been wished. It was of high importance to point out to the Pope the inconvenience of the king of Scotland, who is a heretic, succeeding to the throne of England, and to keep constantly before his eyes the advisability of choosing some Catholic, who on the exclusion of the king of Scotland should take his place, and it was equally important to keep his Holiness in that opinion, binding him to agree to my choice of a successor to the queen of Scotland. Whenever you may have an opportunity of confirming him on these points you will do so. It was also well done to put on one side for the present all mention of the person I might nominate for the succession ; and, having in view what you say, I think it will be best for you to continue in the same course. You will, however, bear in mind that, if at any time the Pope, moved by his zeal, should talk about any other successor, you will remind him, before he gets wedded to his new idea, that he is pledged to agree to my choice in the matter, and so try to prevent him from breaking away, because upon this and the above-mentioned points it is most important that the Pope should not waver. I have therefore dealt with them in the first place, and enjoin great care in preventing any change in these respects. The contribution of 500,000 crowns which his Holiness offers in money would be fair for an enterprise of less cost and extent, but as the present will necessitate immense expenditure, it is evident that a larger and more promptly paid sum than he mentions will have to be found. The 500,000 crowns, instead of being spread over a year, would have to be paid in advance for the preparation of the armada, and be supplemented by other grants to furnish funds for the prosecution of the enterprise. If the business is to go through, this cannot be avoided, and the contributions must be proportionate to so great and difficult an affair. Before settling this point it will be well to disabuse his Holiness of the error under which he labours, that the robberies and insolence of the English will cause me to undertake the business on my own account, which may lead him to stint his aid. You will give him to understand that this is mere gossip hatched there (in Rome) by people who will have no hand in helping the business. I am well aware of what is best for me, and know the situation of England. I fully recognise how much it would grieve some people to see a change of government there, Christian zeal and a desire to see England Catholic not being so very strong in France and elsewhere as to outweigh other considerations. I am more bound to ensure my own dominions than to undertake foreign enterprise, and it is sufficient for me and my subjects to launch such navies as that which I have commenced, and please God will finish, for the purpose of clearing the sea of pirates protecting the Indian coasts and the flotillas, with the treasure they bring, and ensuring the safety of Spanish trade, which I can do at comparatively little cost. This apart, I know that the English are dying to come to terms with me, and they are attempting to do so in many directions, offering to mend their ways for the future. This being so, and all things easy to my hand, I have no reason to covet more territory or more reputation than I have, for by God's goodness I have enough of both to satisfy me. Let his Holiness consider whether I, for my part, might not well withdraw from this enterprise, and avoid the expense and difficulty it will entail. I have been moved to it solely by my zeal for the service of God, the persuasions of his Holiness, and the belief that there would be displayed in his time more ardour and energy than in past times Unaided, however, and burdened with all the cost, he and all the world knows that I cannot go beyond sympathy, now less than ever, in doubt, as I am, about the coming of the Indian flotillas this year, and whether my treasury will bear the cost of extraordinary enterprises. By these and other arguments which will occur to you, you will try to dislodge the Pope from his opinion that I shall budge without a great deal of help from him, and if God inspire him to give the necessary aid you may promise in my name that I will do my share, but without pledging me on the point of time, because the mistakes there (in England?), the exigencies of my affairs, and the secret preparations necessary, may cause delay. You will have to adopt my pace, and get as much help as you can, both in cash and in new grants and concessions, by the time I may undertake the enterprise. I must, however, be left free as to the period, as it must depend on my own affairs, and his Holiness will risk nothing thereby, as he is not asked to contribute his quota until the hour when the enterprise is to be undertaken. (fn. 7) You will conduct the affair in this way and with the utmost secrecy, as you will see how necessary it is nowadays when secrets are so hard to keep. Until you have settled the above points you can suspend negotiations about the mode of execution, and the reimbursement of the expenses I may incur, either by the concession to me of the fresh grants, until my expenditure be covered, or by the English Catholics undertaking to reimburse me as they promised, giving me pledges in the meanwhile. I need only add that, if the Pope persists in offering troops on account of his contribution, you will try to show him what a noise this would make, and how much casier it is to raise forces and fleets in Spain, under pretext of the Indies, than to send troops from Italy, of which the object would be public. Let his aid be all in the form of money and expedients to raise money. You will manage it all with your usual judgment, and you will let me know what is done. Some of Allen's countrymen here are pressing greatly about his hat, and although it had been agreed that it would be better to defer the matter until the time approached for the enterprise, I should like you to give me your opinion about it, and I will in the meanwhile consider the grant you think should be given to him.—San Lorenzo, 22nd July 1586.
23 July. Paris Archives, K. 1564. 127.	457. Bernardino De Mendoza to the King. [Extract.] There are letters from Scotland dated the 30th June, saying that, up to that time, they had not put into execution the levy of the 6,000 Scotsmen whom the queen of England wished to send to Holland, although some 300 or 400 had slipped over privately from Scotland to Holland. The rumour is current in the English embassy here that the Master of Grey is going over with 6,000 Scotsmen, the Queen having furnished him with the necessary funds.—Paris, 23rd July 1586.
23 July. Paris Archives, K. 1564. 129.	458. Bernardino De Mendoza to the King. Just as the courier was setting out I received the enclosed letter from Muzio (i.e. the duke of Guise), which caused me to detain him until I heard what the Scots ambassador was instructed to say to me. The substance of it was that Muzio, seeing the risk of letters written to your Majesty being seized and returned to France, he had decided to send him (Robert Bruce?) by way of Burgundy after Juan Iñiguez, with whom he would doubtless go safely through Spain. He (the duke of Guise) had filled in the blanks sent to him by Lord Claude Hamilton, the earl of Morton and the others, addressed to your Majesty, (fn. 8) and had himself written very warmly on the subject. He begged that I would do the same without a moment's delay by special courier, begging your Majesty to extend your customary favour to so holy an enterprise. The gentleman who takes the letters has been for some years secretary of the Scots' ambassador, and is a person who, he asserts, is worthy of all confidence. I send enclosed the heads of the instructions he has received from the ambassador, from whom I will ascertain whether the 6,000 soldiers to be maintained for a year are to be foreigners or not, a point which he was unable to elucidate. I will also enquire in whose hands the 150,000 crowns should be lodged. He told me that the Scotsmen promised to begin the execution of the business (as their messenger informed him) whenever Muzio gave word that the 150,000 crowns were ready, and they were assured of receiving aid. He made me take a note of this point, which seems to infer that the Scots nobles expected the aid to take the form of foreign troops, since no others could be sent from abroad. Probably Muzio did not like to state this in writing to your Majesty until he heard your intentions. The Scots Catholics, he said, had discussed for a long time whether they should make this appeal to the king of France, seeing the long standing alliance between the crowns ; but they finally adopted unanimously the opinion of the earl of Morton, namely, that they could hardly expect a King who did not strive to preserve the Catholic religion in his own realm to help them to establish it in theirs. I have been trying to get the full details of the business, and to come to close quarters with the ambassador, but he did not enlighten me much, which makes me think that the whole affair will have been left to Muzio. In consequence of this gentleman (Robert Bruce?) having declared himself strongly in favour of the jesuits, orders had been given for his arrest, if he attempted to embark from any port, and he was consequently obliged to go on board ship long before she sailed, the ambassador tells me at the beginning of April. There is no confirmation from Zeeland or elsewhere of the news I mentioned in my other letter, of the going over of Scotsmen to Holland. The only intelligence on the subject comes from the English embassy here.—Paris, 23rd July 1586.
27 July. Paris Archives, K. 1564. 133. French.	459. The Queen Of Scotland to Bernardino De Mendoza. You will have received in my last the acknowledgment of the letters from you which reached me through William (Paget), and since then your letter of the 19th has been delivered to me. It has been a matter of especial pleasure to me to see that my good brother the Catholic King is beginning to counteract the plots and attempts of the queen of England against him, not only on account of the good results I hope may follow to himself, but also especially for the maintenance of his reputation in Christendom, in which I am so deeply concerned. You cannot imagine how the news of these exploits of the earl of Leicester and Drake lifts up the hearts of His Majesty's enemies all over Christendom, and how much his long-suffering with this Queen had diminished the trust which Catholics here had always reposed in him. I will freely confess to you that I myself was so discouraged at the idea of entering into new attempts, seeing the failure that had attended previous ones, that I have turned a deaf ear to several proposal that have been made to me during the last six months by the Catholics, as I had no ground for giving them a decided answer. But now that I hear of the good intentions of the Catholic King towards us here, I have sent to the principal leaders of the Catholics a full statement of my opinion on all points of the execution of the enterprise. To save time I have ordered them to send to you, with all speed, one of their number sufficiently instructed to treat with you, in accordance with the promises given to you in general terms, and to lay before you all the requests they wish to make of the Catholic King your master. I wish, on their behalf, and in dependence upon their faithful promise given to me, to assure you that they will sincerely and truly, at the risk of their lives, carry out their undertakings, and those entered into for them by their representative. I therefore beg you to extend full credit to him as if I had sent him myself. He will inform you of the means for getting me away from here, which I will attempt to effect on my own account if I am previously assured of armed aid. Thank God my health is at present better than it has been for the last three months. I thank you most affectionately for your good offices with the King in the matter of the 12,000 crowns which he was good enough to grant me for my deliverance, in which the money shall be employed, and for no other purpose, and I am only sorry that the other 12,000 for Scotland produced so little result. I had received advices from London that Señor Tassis had been authorised in this matter, but except upon very urgent need I am unwilling to importune in things of this sort, and I am therefore all the more grateful to you for your care about it, and recognise that to you principally I owe the granting of this sum to me. Please help me to express to the King my deep sense of the obligation I am under to him for it, and the good-will I feel to try and repay it, if I ever have the means ; and I hope not to prove ungrateful to you personally. I have instructed my ambassador to receive the gentleman to be sent by the nobles. —Chartley, 27th July 1586. (fn. 9)