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| April 5. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
340. Marco Venier, Venetian Ambassador in Constantinople, to the Doge and Senate. |
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I have been advised to see that the present to the new Sultan is worthy of him, and not inferior to that which the other Ambassadors will make. I enquired which nation gave the finest presents, and the answer was, France. |
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Dalle Vigne di Pera, 5th April 1595. |
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[Italian; deciphered.] |
| April 7. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
341. Marco Venier, Venetian Ambassador in Constantinople, to the Doge and Senate. |
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The Ambassador of France granted me a sequestration order on the goods of Paulo Mariani in Egypt, on the ground of Mariani's debt to your Serenity. Mariani now goes about saying that the order was not made at my request, but that the Ambassador, moved by hatred and wishing to annoy him in every way, issued the order by himself. The Ambassador now wishes me to write to your Serenity to beg you to bear evidence of the truth to his Majesty through M. de Maisse, French Ambassador in Venice. I promised to oblige him. As regards Mariani, I foresee that he will deny the debt, as he is aware that no proof of it exists in this Chancery. How he has this knowledge I cannot imagine; but there is no document except the one I enclose in which no debtor is named but merely the letter N written. |
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Dalle Vigne di Pera, 7th April 1595. |
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[Italian.] |
| April 8. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
342. Piero Duodo, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Doge and Senate. |
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A colony of Hollanders has been sent to the Indies; this will cause great annoyance to Spain, which, up to the present, has enjoyed pacific possession. |
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In England forty ships are ready to sail for the West Indies, twelve belong to the Queen and the rest to private individuals. It is known that sixty Portuguese ships are out to protect the gold ships, and the English are resolved to fight. There is a rumour that the English, at Panama have captured a great number of mules which were bringing gold from the Pacific to the Atlantic. |
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Paris, 8th April 1595. |
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[Italian.] |
| April 15. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
343. Piero Duodo, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Doge and Senate. |
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I received the other day a letter from the noble gentleman Zuanne Bassadona in England, dated the 18th of last month. He enclosed a letter for the Ambassador Vendramin in Spain, asking him to seize at San Lucar, a Dantzig ship laden with corn, belonging to your Serenity. I received the letter on the 8th of this month and I hope that in four days it will have reached Lyons. |
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Paris, 15th April 1595. |
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[Italian.] |
| April 21. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
344. Francesco Vendramin, Venetian Ambassador in Spain, to the Doge and Senate. |
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On all sides I hear that the English fleet was to sail in the first days of this month. Its route lies for the Azores and thence to Havana. Some recommend that the India fleet should be stopped at Havana, where it can lie under cover of the fortress, until the English are forced to withdraw. Others hold that the fleet must have sailed already, and as this will throw out the English calculations, it is certain that the fleet will escape the enemy. The betting among the merchants is a hundred to thirty that the fleet does not reach Seville within the month of May. |
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The marriage of the Infante to a Princess of the house of Austria seems assured. It is said that the Duke of Medina Sidonia will be sent to bring the bride to Spain. His journey will likely be delayed till autumn because of the English fleet. |
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Madrid, 21st April 1595. |
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[Italian.] |
| April 22 Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
345. Francesco Vendramin, Venetian Ambassador in Spain, to the Doge and Senate. |
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While the news is insistent here that a large English fleet will be sent out, Lisbon was thrown into a panic and the city has been abandoned for the last two weeks; a great number of the inhabitants have removed inland with their wives and goods, in dread of a sack. The report is that the English fleet has orders, after
attempting to capture the gold ships, to effect a landing in Portugal with a view to doing all the mischief it can. His Majesty-has given orders that all the Portuguese nobility is to assemble in Lisbon during the present month, and there is to be a muster of foot and horse militia as well as of the Castilian lances, in addition to the infantry that is already on the march. Munitions and provisions are being collected with all speed. |
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Some Flemish vessels which were off the port of Setubal to lade with salt, having learned that other vessels in port were under an embargo, sent to demand a safe conduct. This was refused, and they sailed away to the open sea, all except eight, which, being driven close in by the wind, were forced to enter the port and were seized at once. The King intended to release them all, but it was presently rumoured that Holland and Zealand, in concert with France and England, were going to send out a large fleet to harass the gold ships and the kingdom of Portugal, and his Majesty gave orders to detain the vessels. The depositions of the sailors show that after agreement between England and Flanders had been concluded the matter fell through, owing to certain difficulties, and so the Dutch ships proceeded with their ordinary traffic. |
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A few days ago Don Alonzo de Vargas, one of the finest officers of this Crown, died here at Court; he died of sheer grief at seeing that his services were neither employed nor rewarded. |
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Madrid, 22nd April 1595. |
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[Italian.] |
