Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 12, 1554. Originally published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1949.
This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved.
'Spain: July 1554, 1-15', in Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 12, 1554, (London, 1949) pp. 300-312. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/spain/vol12/pp300-312 [accessed 25 April 2024]
July 1554, 1–15
| July 2. Vienna, E. 22. | Simon Renard to the Emperor. |
|---|---|
| Sire: I have carried out the instructions your Majesty was pleased to convey to me by your letter of June 27th; and it was well that I was able to give the first account of the taking of Marienbourg, for the French and heretics are trying to make out that your Majesty has fled from Brussels in despair of being able to withstand the French army. When the Queen heard the news she retired to her devotions, and to-day has received the Sacrament. I see that the report I transmitted to you about the French having reconnoitred the place was true, as also what Wotton wrote of their intention to fall on you before your forces were all gathered together. | |
| I have spoken to the Privy Council as your Majesty ordered me to about the King of the Romans' ambassador taking precedence of the French ambassador, whom the Council will not allow to assist at the celebration of the marriage if he still insists on passing before the other. | |
| I heard this morning that the pest had broken out on board the ships from Seville and Portugal that are waiting to accompany his Highness, and that there were not sufficient supplies for the horses at Corunna; all of which is delaying his Highness's coming. This is most unfortunate, for provisions are giving out here, the Queen is in despair, the disaffected are given time to intrigue, the Admiral of England's gentlemen are mutinying, the soldiers on board your Majesty's ships refuse to serve any longer because of the dearness of food, the well-intentioned are dismayed by the account of affairs in the Low Countries as given by the French, and indeed I dare not express myself fully as to the changes that might be brought about by this delay. | |
| A Neapolitan gentleman, called Giulio Cesare Brancacio (Brancazzo), has arrived by the post at this Court, and at once declared that he had come to present to the Queen a page who played very well upon the lute; and that your Majesty had commanded him to return to Naples within four months, but he would rather die than go back, and he did not intend to ask for the help of any of your Majesty's ministers. As soon as I heard of this I warned the Queen not to give him audience and also expressed an opinion to the Council that he ought not to be allowed to stay in England, for there was reason to fear he had been sent by the French to attempt some outrage on the Queen's person, and as he had been ordered back to Naples it was not seemly to permit his presence here; so he had better be arrested until I had had time to obtain instructions from your Majesty as to what should be done with him. One of my motives was that he was reported to have spoken strangely about the government of Naples, talking of tyranny there in a manner that might do harm here. So the Council first had him arrested, and then gave him six days to leave the country, in spite of which he has sent me the enclosed petition, (fn. 1) and says he would rather go to prison than be sent away. Then he told the Chancellor that he threw his money overboard, for he was pursued by the French in the Channel and lost his baggage, which is all a made-up story. He has seven or eight servants with him; and I have again pressed the Council to turn him out, offering to pay the expenses of his journey to Gravelines rather than let him stay here. | |
| A friend of mine tells me that Brancacio was heard to say that Ascanio Cafarello advised him to address himself to one of the women of the Queen's chamber, Barbara by name, from Antwerp, who plays the spinet and would get him access to her Majesty's presence. This roused suspicions over here, because Barbara is already suspected on other grounds. I will await your Majesty's orders and be guided by them. | |
| I am told that his Highness has 3000 or 4000 good soldiers whom your Majesty might employ, and that if you wanted foot or horse from here you might have as many as you pleased. | |
| I have to-day received 5000 crowns sent to me by the Queen of Hungary for the revictualling of the fleet. M. de Wacken has already had 3000 crowns, and I am keeping the rest to give to him when he asks for it. Your Majesty will hear more about this question of revictualling from the bearer. | |
| Farnham, 2 July, 1554. | |
| Signed. French. The first three paragraphs in cipher. | |
| Printed, from a minute at Besançon (C.G. 73), by Weiss, Documents Inédits, Vol. IV. | |
| July 2 Vienna, E. 22. | Simon Renard to the Queen Dowager. |
| Renard acknowledges the 5000 crowns for revictualling the fleet, as in the foregoing letter, and adds: | |
| I foresee that the delay in his Highness's coming may cause considerable harm, as your Majesty will gather from my letters to the Emperor. | |
| Farnham, 2 July, 1554. | |
| Holograph. French. | |
| July 2. (fn. 2) Vienna, E. 22. | Giulio Cesare Brancazzo to Simon Renard. |
| I have sworn to the Provost of Catalonia in Brussels to present myself in Naples within three months; and it was seventeen days ago that I gave this oath. I have come hither to implore the Prince, our Lord, and the Queen to intercede with his Majesty to absolve me from my oath, all the more because I feel I have a sore grievance against his Majesty on account of this ordering me to Naples, and I will justify myself here with documents in hand. I should have been very glad if I had been able to obtain the favour I ask for. If not, I would have been at Naples by the stated time, for I gave my word, which as honourable a gentleman and as faithful a vassal and servant of his Majesty as I am would never break were he to live a thousand lives. So I came hither to present to the Queen certain things that would have given her the greatest pleasure, and on the way was pursued by the French and thrown ashore near Deal castle, having lost all I possessed, as the captain of that castle bears witness in a letter which I presented to the Earl of Arundel, although it was addressed to the High Treasurer, who is not here. I expected to receive compensation for my losses and some recognition of thirteen years' service, two arquebuse wounds, the expenditure of 20,000 crowns and the destruction of what riddled and mortgaged property as I had left, and in exchange I find myself betrayed and assassinated, and you, evilly informed about me, writing to the Emperor things as far from the truth as were ever spoken in this world, for his Majesty has never had a more devoted servant than me, and this I will swear by my native land, the Spanish nation and his Majesty's entire court. You wrote that I had come hither, but did not explain my reason, whence his Majesty will think that I have refused to go to Naples and will quite rightly be angry with me; and I know that my everlasting destruction will be the result, simply because he was not informed of my reason for coming nor of my intentions. And especially so because you say that I have, here and in London, spoken about matters at the very thought of which I tremble, let alone their execution. I am so honourable a servant of his Majesty that it is shameful that any minister of his should think of me otherwise than he would think of the Prince, our Lord; and indeed I will almost venture to say that I am as good an Imperialist as God Himself (e quasi quasi diro che non meno imperial di cose son io che iddio santo e giusto). | |
| To be brief, when do you propose to restore me my honour, which you snatched away on the first word you heard against me? What prizes, what rewards will ever suffice to compensate me for so great a wrong? Remember that you are a gentleman, a Christian and a great minister of his Majesty, wherefore you ought not unjustly to oppress other oppressed gentlemen. No wonder if you do not yet know me well, for, God be praised, his Majesty has so many states and realms that we, his servants, can hardly retain the provinces', let alone each others' names. But when you do know me, you will repent of having been moved to blacken me so furiously in his Majesty's eyes and ruin me for all time; and if you do not now send him a fresh and truthful report about me, the time will come when you will wish to remedy it, and will not be able to do so. I pray you by the faith and service you owe to God and his Majesty to take pity on a blameless man who, as all the world knows, has most faithfully offered up his property, his blood and his life in his Majesty's cause. Only give me audience, and then do as you think fit. Know, moreover, that my name is Giulio Cesare Brancazzo, (fn. 3) and nothing else, a name to which no man alive ever heard me fail to answer, for on the contrary. I wish it to be known to all men, even as my virtuous actions shine forth before all the world. | |
| If you will do me the favour I demand in this letter, which, and especially the audience, you cannot and ought not to refuse me, I shall be obliged to you. If not, God and my right will hold me up as a universal example of the cruel tortures that are now the share of his Majesty's best servants. | |
| Holograph. Italian. | |
| July 3. Simancas, E. 107. | Prince Philip to the Emperor. |
| When I left Valladolid, on May 12th, I wrote to your Majesty in reply to the letters received from you up to that date, and again from El Pardo on the 15th of the same month; and both despatches were taken by the Marquis de Las Navas whom, as I wrote to your Majesty, I sent to England with instructions to forward them from there. I then went on to meet my sister, the Princess of Portugal, and give her the information that she appeared to me to need for her guidance. I met her in the enjoyment of good health at Alcantara, and after we had travelled on together for two or three days we parted company, she making for Valladolid and I for Corunna. On my arrival at Santiago, I found the Queen's ambassadors awaiting me there, to whom I gave audience and satisfaction by once more ratifying the articles (fn. 4) granted by your Majesty, for they desired me to do so again although I had already sent off my ratification by the Marquis de Las Navas. This done, I proceeded to Corunna, where the whole fleet is gathered together and the supplies were being set on board pending my arrival; so now my household, servants and horses are so rapidly embarking that all will be ready in a few days, and then we will wait for nothing except a good wind in order, with God's blessing, to set sail for England. I had meant to send off a boat to carry these tidings to your Majesty; but as the ambassadors are sending one to England I decided to let it carry my letters, which are addressed to the Marquis de Las Navas and will thus go safely. We know that the Marquis landed at Plymouth on June 10th, and it is said he was well received there and the kingdom was perfectly tranquil and everyone greatly looking forward to my arrival; all of which gave me much pleasure. I feel sure your Majesty will have received my letters taken by the Marquis de Las Navas, a duplicate of which went by land via Irun, and as I wrote in detail of the state of affairs here, I will not repeat it all now for the third time. Before I arrived at Santiago I received a letter from Juan Vásquez enclosing another from Eraso, dated May 18th, which had been brought by merchants and gave news of your Majesty's good health. I had also heard of it from other sources, and thank God for it, praying Him to make it lasting. I am well, praise be to Him, and hear that the Princess, my sister, and the Infante, my son, are also well at Valladolid . . . . . . | |
| (Matters concerning the government of Peru, and the administration in certain places in the north of Spain.) | |
| Corunna, 3 July, 1554. | |
| Holograph. Spanish. | |
| P.S. In the hand of Juan Vásquez de Molina: The Queen's ambassadors have pressingly urged me to give leave to export a large sum of money from these realms in accordance with an agreement arrived at by her Majesty with certain merchants; and in spite of grave difficulties caused by the shortage of coin here, I thought I had better allow them, for the Queen's sake, to take a sum not exceeding 200,000 ducats. | |
| July 3. Vienna, E. 23. | Prince Philip to Simon Reward. |
| Repeats the substance of the foregoing letter. | |
| Corunna, 3 July, 1554. | |
| Signed, Yo el Principe; countersigned, Vásquez. Spanish. | |
| July 3. Vienna, E. 23. | The Bishop of Arras to Simon Renard. |
| The Emperor has received your letters of the 28th of last month, and I am writing this line to accompany his instructions (fn. 5) to you. At the same time, his Majesty is writing to the Prince to make no scruple about accepting the Order of the Garter which, as you write, the Queen intends to offer him, and I hope the letter will reach him in time, for I take it she will not present the Order to him until he has landed and the marriage has been celebrated and consummated. If the news we have from Spain are true, his Highness cannot possibly delay as long as you say in your letter; but I am not surprised to hear that this lingering makes people angry in England and gives the Queen pain, for we feel it in precisely the same way here. But as the wind seems to be favourable and the crossing is so short, I trust that by the grace of God he will already be in England by now, or at any rate that a fair breeze will shortly bring him safely to that shore. | |
| You mentioned the arrival of the Marquis de Las Navas, and added in the same letter that he had executed his orders in a very satisfactory manner; but his Majesty would like to have a more detailed account of his audience of the Queen, how she received him, what presents he brought and for whom, as well as their value and in what spirit they were accepted. The Marquis has said nothing about all this; but you might answer these questions the next time you write. | |
| You said in your last letters that the English vessels that set out on a voyage to the Indies on Cabot's advice came to grief. His Majesty desires to know what course they sailed and whither they wandered, and wishes you to find out if you can what object they had in view, how far they got and where they lost their course. Detailed information on these points might be of great use in case any undertaking contrary to Spanish interests had been planned. | |
| His Majesty's last letters and my own have apprised you of the fall of Marienbourg. The enemy has not stirred from that place as yet, (fn. 6) and it seems certain that he finds it difficult to decide what he is to do with the great and costly army he has got together, now that the season is advancing and no help is to be looked for from Margrave Albrecht, who since I last wrote has lost Planenburg (Planen-in-Vogtland) with all his artillery, his baggage and the rest of his belongings inside, so that now he has not a foot of land left in all Germany. All his papers will be found, and we shall discover the reasons of all his fine doings. It now seems certain that the Switzers have received orders from their superiors not to march against his Majesty's dominions. The men of Liége have allowed Spanish troops to garrison Dinant castle, and large presents have been made in that quarter. Our camp is daily growing stronger, and looks as if with God's help it would soon far outstrip the enemy's. | |
| We wrote to you a short time ago about Italian and Mediterranean affairs. Since then Strozzi made a sortie from Siena with 4000 foot and three companies of horse, and inflicted a defeat on the country-folk, whose leaders were taken prisoners. Strozzi's design is to join the Grisons and Italians who are coming to relieve him, but the Marquis of Marignano is after him with a force double as strong as his and has nearly caught him up with 1000 Italians. And if Bon Juan de Luna is as active with the force of Germans, Italians and men-at-arms he is leading, he must be further on the way to meet Strozzi than the Grisons and Italians who are marching towards Siena. | |
| The Captain of Marienbourg was not killed, as was said at the time, but there are reasons for suspecting him of having had an understanding with the Constable, and of having surrendered the place without a blow and before a single breach had been made in the walls; and now full reports have come in, this seems to be what really happened. I have no doubt that the French will talk very loud about this feat, as well as the three villages and three churches they have seized in the Ardennes; but you know the saying that he laughs best who laughs last. I assure you that all those who have seen their troops say they are nothing but a rabble. | |
| Brussels, 3 July, 1554. | |
| Minute. French. | |
| July 4. Vienna, E. 22. | Simon Renard to the Emperor. |
| Sire: News have reached me from France that on the 28th of last month the King, being then at La Marcheys, a place belonging to M. de Longueval, heard that Marienbourg had surrendered to the Constable. He told all the ambassadors and had them informed that, as the way into your Majesty's dominions now lay before him, he intended to set out in a day or two for his camp to follow the victorious road which God had opened to him. He was leaving the Queen of France at Rheims, and Cardinal de Tournon with her to carry on affairs in his absence and negotiate when necessary with the ambassadors and others. Rejoicings in France are great, and the King's plan is not to waste time before Avesnes, Le Quesnoy or Mons, but, as Maubeuge and Nivelles are the only places that stand between them and Brussels, push on to Brussels or Liége. The Constable has informed the King that he will be able to inflict grave harm on your Majesty before you have got your forces together, for M. de Nemours and Marshal de St. André have raided to within a short distance from Namur and driven off great numbers of cattle without meeting with any resistance. | |
| I am told that it is being openly stated in the King's court that his Highness will not be able to come hither so very soon, for while he was delaying on his way all the stores on board the ships were eaten up and the pest broke out. This is in accordance with the news I lately sent to your Majesty; and it seems probable that something serious is keeping his Highness back, for we have heard nothing of his embarking, nor even where he is. The Queen is so anxious about all this that it is feared she may fall ill. | |
| Mason, when writing about the taking of Marienbourg, depicted that event to the Council as if the whole of the Low Countries were lost, holding forth in general terms about the pusillanimity of the inhabitants and the slowness and avarice of the princes, a fertile cause of trouble. The country, he says, is perturbed and disgusted, and it is feared that Liége is not going to give the desired proofs of devotion. When the Chancellor read this despatch, he remarked that an ambassador would have done better not to write such things without being surer of what he was saying. Mason also says that there were two companies of foot in Marienbourg. | |
| The fleet from Andalusia passed by off Calais the day before yesterday, and I expect it has reached Holland by now. | |
| Both nobility and people here take it from French accounts that your Majesty's affairs have come to a desperate pass, and are saying that you arranged the marriage in order to help yourself out; wherefore faces are looking glum and the popular temper is uncertain. | |
| I forgot to enclose Brancacio's petition in my last letters, but am sending it now. He refuses to clear out, although he has been ordered to, which looks as if some of the discontented members of the Council were keeping him back. If your Majesty wishes me to do so, I will demand his extradition and have him sent back; and indeed, Sire, he is a most resolute and scandalous man. | |
| We sent a boat to Spain twelve days ago to get news of his Highness, but it has not come back yet, although the wind has been favourable for both voyages. | |
| Cristoforo da Carcano, who was bringing to England ten cases of armour at the request of Southwell, captain of the artillery and master of the Queen's armoury, has sent word to the Queen and Council that the cases have been stopped at Antwerp by the customs officials. The Council have begged me to write and request your Majesty to have them released, and I expect they will have written to Mason to the same effect. I am told that Cristoforo's servants were to blame in that they took their cases aboard ship before obtaining licence; but I have told the Council I would write to your Majesty on the subject, with which you will deal according to your good pleasure. | |
| Farnham, 4 July, 1554. | |
| Signed. Partly cipher. French. | |
| Printed by Weiss, Documents Inédits, Vol. IV, from a badly mutilated minute at Besançon (C.G. 73). | |
| July 7. Besançon, C.G. 73. | The Queen Dowager to Simon Renard. |
| By our former letters we requested you to supply M. de Wacken with all he needed in order to revictual his ships while awaiting the Prince's coming, and he has now written again asking for means to revictual his and the other captain's ships once more. We are replying as you will see from the copy of our letter to him, and we now request you to borrow as much money, over and above what you have already handed over to M. de Wacken, as he needs for revictualling his fleet, which, if it so please God, will not now have long to wait. You will inform us from whom you have borrowed the money, and we will at once cause the sum to be repaid. In this you will be doing good service, for M. de Wacken must on no account abandon the Admiral of England for so petty a reason at the very time when the Prince's coming is looked for. | |
| Brussels, 7 July, 1554. | |
| Signed. French. | |
| July 9. Vienna, E. 22. | Simon Renard to the Emperor. |
| Sire: Your Majesty will remember what I wrote to you from Richmond about Cardinal Pole's attempts to urge the Queen to move your Majesty to make peace, and also the reply made by the Queen. Yesterday two of the Cardinal's servants arrived here with letters in answer to her Majesty's, again advising her to intervene. The Cardinal's argument is that peace is as necessary to your Majesty as to the King of France, commissioners might easily discuss the points at issue, and a truce would be no less advantageous to your Majesty than to the King. Both sides are in financial straits and are of equal strength, and the sufferings of the people are as grievous in one country as in the other. Your Majesty has several times tried to invade France and strike down the enemy; but God has not yet desired either combattant to be defeated, nor that peace should come as the result of the overthrow of either. He knows that your Majesty has never had more cause to fight France than you now have, but all his ponderings on the present state of affairs in Christendom in general, and in your Majesty's and the King's dominions in particular, lead him to the conclusion that you both stand in need of peace. He believes your Majesty will have the stronger army, but God is He Who gives the victory, and “judicia diu abissus multa.” The war has now lasted three or four years, a thing never known in the days of the late King Francis, and though the King is said to have no money he always manages to attack first, and it seems he is better advised than his father was; indeed, the Cardinal hints that he is as well or perhaps even better advised than your Majesty. Thus he brings forward all the reasons he can conjure up why the Queen should write to your Majesty on the lines of a letter he has sent to her; and he adds that peace is essential to the establishment of her own rule, to safeguard the success of the marriage, to guarantee the restoration of religion and the preservation of her own crown. When he left France, he says, the King told him that he would welcome the Queen's mediation. Over and above all this, he has instructed his emissaries to repeat the same verbally to her Majesty and tell her of the dismay caused in the Low Countries by the fall of Marienbourg and the French invasion. | |
| When the Queen handed me this letter, I bethought me of the Constable's definite statement to Wotton, that as the Queen and his Highness were now one and the same thing, her intervention in the cause of peace would be suspicious, and told her I thought she had better inform the Cardinal of this statement, which might perhaps give him pause. Hostilities were very far advanced, and I did not feel at all sure your Majesty would like her to write in the tenor of the Cardinal's letter, but I would at once send off a courier to ascertain your pleasure. I have observed one thing, namely that the Cardinal makes no reply whatever to what the Queen said in her letter to him about the suitability of handing over the places that had been seized by both sides before opening negotiations, which clearly shows that the Cardinal well knows the King's intentions as to this point. So may it please your Majesty to signify to me your commands; for I believe the Queen will answer the Cardinal, but not write to your Majesty until she has heard your wishes. The Cardinal has also sent copies of two letters, one addressed by him to his Highness to congratulate him on his marriage, and the other to the Queen to the same effect, and informing her that he has chosen a gentleman called Throckmorton, who has been here since last Christmas, to present it to her in his name and make a verbal declaration. The Pope, he adds, has commanded him to have a man sent over here on purpose to present his felicitations to the Queen, with all the discretion rendered advisable by the present condition of religious affairs. | |
| A few days ago a Spaniard here received a letter from Spain in which it was said that his Highness was not to sail before the 15th instant, because he had some business waiting for him at Santiago which must be attended to; and as we are getting on for the 15th these news are probably true, and his Highness will not be here before the end of the month. This delay is most inopportune, for an astounding amount of intrigue is going on here among the nobility and malcontents. Each day that passes brings out such indications as that the Earl of Arundel is planning to marry his son to the Lady Elizabeth, seeking to find means to set her at liberty and keeping alive the rivalries in the Council. Paget is an author and adviser of conspiracies, and between the two they are bribing as many as they can of the Queen's faithful servants, like the Earl of Derby, Lords Talbot, Wharton and others whose names have been reported to me. Clinton and the Admiral are with them; and it is public property in the realm that Arundel is aiming at the Crown for his son. I am also told that Paget has intrigues going on in France, and that they will avail themselves of the King's help if they need it. They have now been encouraged by the news about Marienbourg; they have spies everywhere to find out what is being done and said and shape their course accordingly; and were it not that it is feared to perturb the realm on the eve of his Highness's arrival, Paget would already be in the Tower yielding up certain information about all these plots. Moreover, all this waiting for his Highness discourages everyone, especially as he has sent no one before him to explain his delay or give any certain news of his coming, and the Queen is obliged to leave here next Wednesday for Bishop's Waltham because provisions are giving out. The Council did not approve of her moving in the direction of London, but thinks she had better spend ten or twelve days at Bishops Waltham, where preparations had been made to welcome his Highness, but he is now to go straight to Winchester, without passing through Bishop's Waltham, which is about seven miles from Southampton and the same distance from Winchester. The Admiral of England is very angry at the delay and says that his men are devoured by vermine and unpaid; and that he would not again put up with all he has gone through were he to be given the whole realm of England. The officers appointed for his Highness's service have been living at Southampton at great expense for a long time, and are now beginning to leave that place, speaking strangely of his Highness. Seditious prophecies are being published in London to the effect that his Highness regrets having agreed to the match, that the Spaniards will not let him come, and other assertions calculated to make the people discontented and rebellious. | |
| The Marquis of Las Navas's instructions were to visit the Queen on his Highness's behalf, make known to her how glad his Highness was that she had consented to the match, report his Highness's arrival at Corunna, which seems to have taken place at about the end of June, thank the Councillors for their good offices, and present to the Queen a diamond, larger, longer and also thicker than the one your Majesty sent, and valued 50,000 crowns. Other instructions had he none, nor did he bring other presents. He did have letters (fn. 7) for the Councillors, but I did not consider their contents suitable, so I decided that he should thank them verbally in virtue of his letters of credence; and this he did in the Queen's presence. | |
| I am trying to obtain a written account of the English ships' voyage to the Indies; and will send it to your Majesty. | |
| I have received the letter in which your Majesty gives his Highness leave to accept the Order of the Garter, and will present it to him on his landing. | |
| A proposal is to be brought before the Privy Council to-day to send the Lady Elizabeth to the Queen (Dowager) of Hungary's court for a time, if her Majesty will have her. The object of this is to find out certain persons' secret inclinations, in order to be forewarned. A servant of Elizabeth has been sent for to bring up the matter in the course of the deliberations, but it is feared the malcontents will not agree. If your Majesty and the Queen of Hungary consented, and it could be arranged, it would be an excellent way of providing for the Queen's and his Highness's security. | |
| Brancacio (Brancazzo) left this place at midnight to go to Southampton in defiance of the Council's orders, for he had been told to leave the kingdom within four days. So the Council have now had him arrested at Southampton and are sending him to Gravelines in the custody of two archers. I am writing to M. de Vandeville to admonish him to go to Naples and obey your Majesty's commands. | |
| Farnham, 9 July, 1554. | |
| Signed. Partly cipher. French. | |
| July 11. Vienna, E. 22. | M. De Courrières and Simon Renard to the Emperor. |
| Sire: An English gentleman named Kemp arrived last night at Farnham from Spain, bringing letters from his Highness, addressed to the Lieutenant of Amont and dated July 3rd. (fn. 8) We are sending them on to your Majesty, in order that you may see what he says about his journey, and we are also enclosing a letter (fn. 9) written by Secretary Petre to the Lieutenant, which will inform you that the English ambassadors in Spain are going to send a zabra, or light boat, with more precise news as to his Highness's arrival, which we will send on with all possible despatch to your Majesty. The Admiral of England, when apprised of the contents of these letters, said he would set aside all memory of the pains and trouble he had been put to, but on one condition: namely that your Majesty and his Highness would remember that no Admiral of England had ever been so long at sea with such a commission. We are sure the Queen and all her Court will be greatly relieved, for they were in sore anxiety, as the Lieutenant has written to your Majesty. | |
| Southampton, 11 July, 1554. | |
| Signed by both. French. | |
| P.S. In Renard's hand: | |
| Sire: I left Farnham yesterday with the Chancellor to come hither, and the Marquis de Las Navas was to have followed to-day. I will speak with him about the point mentioned by his Highness, but suppose it is only to apply in the case specified. (fn. 10) | |
| The Queen has given the Marquis a chain enriched with rubies and a topaz, with an agate one side and a diamond on the other; and has presented three chains to three gentlemen who came with him. | |
| July 11. Brussels, L.A. 64. | Sir William Petre to Simon Renard. (fn. 11) |
| I am sending to you by this messenger letters that arrived last night from Spain, which will give you the ardently desired tidings of his Highness's arrival at Corunna, and of the preparations carried on there with the greatest diligence. I have nothing more to tell you, except that we are expecting from day to day a little vessel that the Queen's ambassadors are to send when the Prince's ship sets sail. I commend myself to you. | |
| Farnham, 11 July, 1554. | |
| Holograph. Latin. | |
| July 12. Simancas, E. 103. | Juan Vásquez de Molina to Francisco de Eraso. |
| You will have received a letter I wrote to you by the vessel sent by the English ambassadors to announce his Highness's arrival here on the 3rd instant. Since then we have received the letters brought by the Portuguese who passed by on their way to Portugal, and I am writing this reply myself so that Hoyos may send it off as soon as he lands (in England). The letters delivered by the Portuguese, and others that have come by way of England, tell us that his Majesty is in good health, for which we thank God, and pray Him to continue so to grant it. His Highness has gone on board (fn. 12) to-day, Thursday, so as to sail this evening with the fair wind that has sprung up; for he was waiting for nothing else. The ambassadors are sending off another vessel to carry the news to the Queen, and in case it arrives before his Highness I am sending this on to the Marquis de Las Navas, asking him to pass on the tidings to his Majesty, and tell him that his Highness is well and is accompanied by a fleet that astonished the Englishmen, with numbers of gentlemen and good troops. God give them a prosperous journey! I believe his Highness will try to land at Southampton if the weather permits, and we hear the Queen is there waiting for him, all the kingdom peacefully looking forward to his coming; and he has been proclaimed king, as you doubtless know. I am going back to Castile as soon as I hear they are well on their way; and although every man in Spain regrets his Highness's absence, I promise you I never in my life felt sadder nor more lonely than I do this day. | |
| Corunna, 12 July, 1554. | |
| Minute. Spanish. | |
| July 12. Simancas, E. 103. | Juan Vásquez de Molina to the Marquis de Las Navas. |
| Repeats the tenor of Juan Vasquez's letter to Eraso, of the same date. | |
| Corunna, 12 July, 1554. | |
| Draft. Spanish. | |
| July 13. Brussels, E.A. 66. | Sir John Mason to the Bishop of Arras. |
| My Lord: A courier has arrived here this afternoon bringing letters dated July 11th from the Queen. The news are that, late on the evening of the 10th, there arrived at Court a gentleman named Kemp, who was sent from Corunna on June 27th by my Lord Privy Seal, with the tidings that the Prince's Majesty reached Santiago on the 22nd, and there gave audience to our ambassadors and treated them with the utmost courtesy. After having ratified, confirmed and sworn to observe the marriage treaty, he departed for Corunna, where he arrived on the 27th, and immediately caused a proclamation to be read out to the sound of trumpets, ordering the embarkation to take place at once. So it seems probable that within three or four days after the date of the Queen's letters, which are of the 11th, he may arrive in England. God sent him good wind and weather! I am ordering the same courier who brought these letters to present himself before you; and I have no doubt that in a short time you will have fuller news from your ambassador in England. | |
| Brussels, 13 July, 1554. | |
| Copy. French. | |
| July 15. Brussels, E.A. 66. | The Queen Dowager to the Emperor. |
| (Extract.) | |
| . . . . I am returning to your Majesty the letters from the ambassador in England. | |
| 15 July, 1554. | |
| P.S. In the Queen Dowager's own hand: | |
| As for the Lady Elizabeth, it is quite possible that our characters may be different; but if your Majesty's interests would be served by sending her to me, I should be quite satisfied, and would never refuse to do anything that might improve the general state of affairs. | |
| Signed. French. | |