



Produced by Al Haines








[Frontispiece: Philip IV at the age of 55.  _From a portrait by
Valazquez in the National Gallery, London._]




  The Court of
  Philip IV.

  SPAIN IN DECADENCE


  BY

  MARTIN HUME

  EDITOR OF THE CALENDARS OF SPANISH STATE PAPERS
  (PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE)
  LECTURER IN SPANISH HISTORY AND LITERATURE
  PEMBROKE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.



  _Vuestras augustisinas Soberanias vivan_, O GRAN
  FELIPE, _inclitamente triunfantes, gravadas en los Anales
  de la Fama, pues sois sólida columna y mobil Atlante de
  la Fe, unica defensa di la iglesia, y bien universal de
  vuestras invencibles reinos_



  LONDON
  EVELEIGH NASH
  1907




{v}

PREFACE

"I lighted upon great files and heaps of papers and writings of all
sorts....  In searching and turning over whereof, whilst I laboured
till I sweat again, covered all over with dust, to gather fit matter
together... that noble Lord died, and my industry began to flag and
wax cold in the business."


Thus wrote William Camden with reference to his projected life of Lord
Burghley, which was never written; and the words may be applied not
inappropriately to the present book and its writer.  Some years ago I
passed many laborious months in archives and libraries at home and
abroad, searching and transcribing contemporary papers for what I hoped
to make a complete history of the long reign of Philip IV., during
which the final seal of decline was stamped indelibly upon the proud
Spanish empire handed down by the great Charles V. to his descendants.
I had dreamed of writing a book which should not only be a social
review of the period signalised by the triumph of French over Spanish
influence in the civilisation of Europe, but also a political history
of the wane and final disappearance of the prodigious national
imposture that had enabled Spain, aided by the rivalries between other
nations, to dominate the world for a century by moral force unsupported
by any proportionate material power.

{vi}

The sources to be studied for such a history were enormous in bulk and
widely scattered, and I worked very hard at my self-set task.  But at
length I, too, began to wax faint-hearted; not, indeed, because my
"noble Lord had died"; for no individual lord, noble or ignoble, has
ever done, or I suppose ever will do, anything for me or my books; but
because I was told by those whose business it is to study his moods,
that the only "noble Lord" to whom I look for patronage, namely the
sympathetic public in England and the United States that buys and reads
my books, had somewhat changed his tastes.  He wanted to know and
understand, I was told, more about the human beings who personified the
events of history, than about the plans of the battles they fought.  He
wanted to draw aside the impersonal veil which historians had
interposed between him and the men and women whose lives made up the
world of long ago; to see the great ones in their habits as they lived,
to witness their sports, to listen to their words, to read their
private letters, and with these advantages to obtain the key to their
hearts and to get behind their minds; and so to learn history through
the human actors, rather than dimly divine the human actors by means of
the events of their times.  In fact, he cared no longer, I was told,
for the stately three-decker histories which occupied half a lifetime
to write, and are now for the most part relegated, in handsome leather
bindings, to the least frequented shelves of dusty libraries.

I therefore decided to reduce my plan to more modest proportions, and
to present not a universal {vii} history of the period of Spain's
decline, but rather a series of pictures chronologically arranged of
the life and surroundings of the "Planet King" Philip IV.--that monarch
with the long, tragic, uncanny face, whose impassive mask and the
raging soul within, the greatest portrait painter of all time limned
with merciless fidelity from the King's callow youth to his sin-seared
age.  I have adopted this method of writing a history of the reign,
because the great wars throughout Europe in which Spain took a leading
part, under Philip and his successor, have already been described in
fullest details by eminent writers in every civilised language, and
because I conceive that the truest understanding of the broader
phenomena of the period may be gained by an intimate study of the mode
of life and ruling sentiments of the King and his Court, at a time when
they were the human embodiment, and Madrid the phosphorescent focus, of
a great nation's decay.

The ground was practically virgin.  John Dunlop, three-quarters of a
century ago, wrote a stolid history of the reign, mainly concerned with
the Spanish wars in Germany, Flanders, and Italy.  But that was before
the archives of Europe were accessible; and, creditable as was Dunlop's
history for the time in which it was written, it is obsolete now.  The
Spanish reproduction in recent years, of seventeenth-century documents,
for the most part unknown in England, has added much to recent
information; whilst numerous original manuscripts, and old printed
narratives and letters of the time, in Spanish, English, and French,
have also provided ample material for the embodiment {viii} in the text
of first-hand descriptions of events.  The book as it stands is far
less ambitious than that originally projected; but it contains much of
the contemporary matter which would have provided substance for the
wider history; and though it is limited in its scope, it may
nevertheless render the important period it covers human and
interesting to ordinary readers who seek intellectual amusement, as
well as intelligible to students who read for information alone.

The book--"a poor thing, but mine own"--owes nothing to the labours of
previous English historians, except that in describing the Prince of
Wales' visit to Madrid I have referred to two documents published by
the Camden Society under the editorship of the late Dr. Gardiner.  With
these exceptions the material has been sought in contemporary
unpublished manuscripts and printed records and letters, in most cases
now first utilised for the purpose.  Whatever its faults may be--and
doubtless the critical microscope may discover many--it is the only
comprehensive history of Philip IV. and the decadent society over which
he reigned that modern research has yet produced.  May good fortune
follow it; for, as the Bachiller Carasco sagely said: "_No hay libra
tan malo que no tenga algo bueno_," and I hope that in this book, at
least, the "good" will be held to outbalance the "bad."

MARTIN HUME.

LONDON, _October_ 1907




{ix}

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY--PHILIP'S BAPTISM, 1605--THE ENGLISH EMBASSY--EXALTED
RELIGIOUS FEELING--DEDICATION OF PHILIP'S LIFE TO THE VINDICATION OF
ORTHODOXY--STATE OF SPAIN--EFFECTS OF LERMA'S POLICY--POVERTY OF THE
COUNTRY--EXPULSION OF THE MORISCOS--PHILIP'S CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH--HIS
BETROTHAL--FALL OF LERMA--THE PRINCE AND OLIVARES--DEATH OF PHILIP III.


CHAPTER II

ACCESSION OF PHILIP IV.--OLIVARES THE VICE-KING--CONDITION OF THE
COUNTRY--MEASURES ADOPTED BY THE NEW KING--RETRENCHMENT--MODE OF LIFE
OF PHILIP AND HIS MINISTER--PHILIP'S IDLENESS--HIS
_APOLOGIA_--DISSOLUTENESS OF THE CAPITAL--VILLA MEDIANA--THE AMUSEMENTS
OF THE KING AND COURT--A SUMPTUOUS SHOW--ARRIVAL OF THE PRINCE OF WALES
IN MADRID--HIS PROCEEDINGS--OLIVARES AND BUCKINGHAM


CHAPTER III

STATE ENTRY OF CHARLES INTO MADRID--GREAT FESTIVITIES--HIS
LOVE-MAKING--ATTEMPTS TO CONVERT THE PRINCE--THE REAL INTENTION OF
OLIVARES--HIS CLEVER PROCRASTINATION--CHARLES AND BUCKINGHAM LOSE
PATIENCE--HOWELL'S STORY OF CHARLES AND THE INFANTA--THE FEELING
AGAINST BUCKINGHAM--ANXIETY OF KING JAMES--HIS CORRESPONDENCE WITH {x}
"BABY AND STEENIE"--CHARLES DECIDES TO DEPART--FURTHER DELAY--THE
DIPLOMACY OF OLIVARES--BUCKINGHAM AND ARCHY ARMSTRONG--DEPARTURE OF
CHARLES--HIS RETURN HOME, AND THE ENGLISH DISILLUSION


CHAPTER IV

FOREIGN WAR RENDERED INEVITABLE BY OLIVARES' POLICY--ITS EFFECTS IN
SPAIN--CONDITION OF THE COURT--WASTE, IDLENESS, AND OSTENTATION OF ALL
CLASSES--EXTRAVAGANCE IN DRESS--PHILIP'S EFFORTS TO REFORM
MANNERS--RETRENCHMENT IN HIS HOUSEHOLD--THE SUMPTUARY ENACTMENTS--THE
_GOLILLA_--THE INDUSTRY OF OLIVARES--HIS CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE--HIS
MAIN OBJECT TO SECURE POLITICAL AND FISCAL UNITY IN SPAIN--THE
DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF THIS--THE COMEDIES--THEATRES IN
MADRID--PHILIP'S LOVE FOR THE STAGE--AN _AUTO DE FE_--LORD WIMBLEDON'S
ATTACK ON CADIZ--RICHELIEU'S LEAGUE AGAINST SPAIN--SPANISH
SUCCESSES--"PHILIP THE GREAT"--VISIT OF THE KING TO ARAGON AND
CATALONIA IN 1626--DISCONTENT AND DISSENSION--PHILIP'S LIFE TRAGEDY


CHAPTER V

RISE OF THE PARTY OPPOSED TO OLIVARES--THE QUEEN AND THE INFANTES
CARLOS AND FERNANDO--OLIVARES REMONSTRATES WITH PHILIP FOR HIS NEGLECT
OF BUSINESS--PHILIP'S REPLY--ILLNESS OF THE KING--FEARS OF
OLIVARES--PHILIP'S CONSCIENCE--ASPECT OF MADRID AT THE TIME--HABITS OF
THE PEOPLE--A GREAT ARTISTIC CENTRE--MANY FOREIGN
VISITORS--VELASQUEZ--PHILIP'S LOVE OF ART, LITERATURE, AND THE
DRAMA--CONTEMPORARY DESCRIPTION OF A PLAYHOUSE--PHILIP AND THE
_CALDERONA_, MOTHER OF DON JUAN OF AUSTRIA--BIRTH AND BAPTISM OF
BALTASAR CARLOS--PHILIP'S FIELD SPORTS--GENERAL SOCIAL DECADENCE


{xi}

CHAPTER VI

RENEWED WAR WITH FRANCE, LATE IN 1628--RECONCILIATION WITH ENGLAND--THE
PALATINATE AGAIN--COTTINGTON IN MADRID--HIS RECEPTION AND NEGOTIATIONS
WITH OLIVARES AND PHILIP--FETES IN MADRID FOR BIRTH OF THE PRINCE OF
WALES--DEATH OF SPINOLA--TREATY OF CASALE--A "LOCAL PEACE" WITH
FRANCE--SPAIN AND THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR--POVERTY AND MISERY OF THE
COUNTRY--UNPOPULARITY OF OLIVARES--HIS MONOPOLY OF POWER--HIS GREAT
ENTERTAINMENT TO THE KING--HIS INTERVENTION IN PHILIP'S DOMESTIC
AFFAIRS--"DON FRANCISCO FERNANDO OF AUSTRIA"--THE BUEN RETIRO--HOPTON
IN MADRID--HIS DESCRIPTIVE LETTERS--THE INFANTES--PHILIP'S VISIT TO
BARCELONA--DISCONTENT OF THE CORTES--THE INFANTE FERNANDO LEFT AS
GOVERNOR--DEATH OF THE INFANTE CARLOS--DEATH OF THE INFANTA ISABEL IN
FLANDERS--THE INFANTE FERNANDO ON HIS WAY THITHER WINS BATTLE OF
NORDLINGEN--GREAT WAR NOW INEVITABLE WITH FRANCE


CHAPTER VII

INTRIGUES TO SECURE ENGLISH NEUTRALITY--HOPTON AND OLIVARES--SOCIAL
LAXITY IN MADRID--CHARLES I. APPROACHES SPAIN--THE BUEN RETIRO AND THE
ARTS--WAR IN CATALONIA--DISTRESS IN THE CAPITAL AND FRIVOLITY IN THE
COURT--PREVAILING LAWLESSNESS--THE RECEPTION OF THE PRINCESS OF
CARIGNANO--SIR WALTER ASTON IN MADRID--THE ENGLISH INTRIGUE ABANDONED


CHAPTER VIII

FESTIVITIES IN MADRID--EXTRAVAGANCE AND PENURY--NEW WAYS OF RAISING
MONEY--HOPTON AND WINDEBANK--BATTLE OF THE DOWNS--VIOLENCE IN THE
STREETS OF MADRID--REVOLT OF PORTUGAL--FRENCH {xii} INVASION OF
SPAIN--REVOLT OF CATALONIA--PHILIP'S AMOUR WITH THE NUN OF ST.
PLACIDO--THE WANE OF OLIVARES--PHILIP'S VOYAGE TO ARAGON--INTRIGUES
AGAINST OLIVARES--FALL OF OLIVARES


CHAPTER IX

DEATH OF RICHELIEU AND OF THE CARDINAL INFANTE--PHILIP'S GOOD
RESOLUTIONS--HIS CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE NUN OF AGREDA--PHILIP WITH HIS
ARMIES--DEATH OF QUEEN ISABEL OF BOURBON--THE WAR CONTINUES IN
CATALONIA--DEATH OF BALTASAR CARLOS--PHILIP'S GRIEF--HE LOSES
HEART--INFLUENCE OF THE NUN--HIS SECOND MARRIAGE WITH HIS NIECE
MARIANA--HIS LIFE WITH HER--DON LUIS DE HARO--NEGOTIATIONS WITH
ENGLAND--CROMWELL'S ENVOY, ANTHONY ASCHAM--HIS MURDER IN
MADRID--FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN PHILIP AND THE ENGLISH
COMMONWEALTH--CROMWELL SEIZES JAMAICA--WAR WITH ENGLAND


CHAPTER X

MORAL AND SOCIAL DECADENCE IN MADRID--PHILIP'S HABITS--POVERTY IN THE
PALACE--VELAZQUEZ--THE MENINAS--BIRTH OF AN HEIR--THE CHRISTENING--THE
PEACE OF THE PYRENEES--PHILIP'S JOURNEY TO THE FRONTIER--MARRIAGE OF
MARIA TERESA--CAMPAIGNS IN PORTUGAL--DON JUAN--DEATH OF HARO--PHILIP
BEWITCHED--DEATH OF PHILIP PROSPER--BIRTH OF CHARLES--FANSHAWE'S
EMBASSY--LADY FANSHAWE AND SPAIN--ROUT OF CARACENA IN
PORTUGAL--PHILIP'S ILLNESS--THE INQUISITION AND WITCHCRAFT--DEATH OF
PHILIP


INDEX




{xiii}

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PHILIP IV. AT THE AGE OF 55... _Frontispiece_

_From a portrait by_ VELAZUEZ _in the National Gallery, London._


ISABEL DE BOURBON, FIRST WIFE OF PHILIP IV

_From a portrait by_ VELAZQUEZ _in the possession of Edward Huth, Esq._


PHILIP IV. AS A YOUNG MAN

_From a contemporary