strict Alliance on that side and to take to Wife Germain de Foix Niece to Lewis the twelfth The Marriage was accomplished and Philip surprized to see himself abandoned by them from whom he promised himself the greatest succour was forced to a Treaty of Accommodation with Ferdinand and agree to him the Administration of the Kingdom of Castile reserving to himself the honour only of being named joyntly with Ferdinand in all Letters Patents This Agreement quieted the Affairs of Spain though not long Philip comes thither with Joan his Wife visits the Cities of the Kingdom and acts as sole Master of it without seeing Ferdinand or permitting his Wife to see him Ferdinand though his Father in Law longs to see Philip and follows him from place to place but Philip flees from him till Ximenes by his prudence procured an Interview Philip instigated by the great ones desirous of novelties and envying the Authority of Ximenes appeared at the enterview in the Equippage of Conquest and Triumph not like a Son to meet his Father but marching with six thousand Warriers at his heels Ferdinand had only two hundred men of his houshold and retinue and mounted on Mules But this Flemish Bravado lasted not long the sage Advice of Ximenes made it vanish he goes to Philip at Burges shews him the injury he did himself to sow division in a State belonging to him that to raise Warr in Spain was to Assault his own House that Ferdinand had only the Administration of Castile and served only to keep it and improve it for him that the Counsels given him tended to his ruine that Don John Manuel his great Confident and Prime man of his Council was a person interessed and for his own advantage fomented divisions between him and his Father in Law that it concerned him in point of interest and for his own good to remove Manuel by some honourable Employment that an Embassy to Rome would be very fit for the purpose To remove from a Prince a pernicious favourite is to rid a Sick man of his Disease And because this Enterview is a principal piece of our Story I thought fit to give you the most remarkable particulars Philip going to meet Ferdinand had on his right hand Ximenes who went to him at Burges and on his left Don Manuel his High Treasurer those of his Court were in Armour and marched in a posture of Warr Ferdinands followers ridd on Mules as men of peace with Cloaks and Swords only the Principal Courtiers having forsaken him to attend Philip verified the old observation that Courtiers adore the rising Sun Ferdinand meeting the Troops of his Son in Law made a halt on a little rising Ground to give them way this place he chose as fittest in his judgement one of the sagest of his time to view and contemplate the disloyalty of the Court having of purpose taken up his standing in a narrow place where all those who had abandoned him to go to Philip must of necessity pass close by him And of them the Duke of Najar first presented himself mounted in Armour on a Spanish Jennet as for a day of Battel his Page carryed his Lance and one of his Captains led a Troop of men at Arms behind him Duke sayes Ferdinand you are ready for a Combat you alwayes carry a spice of the Captain It is Answered the Duke to serve the King our Soveraign Lord and your Majesty The next that came up was Garcia de la Vega Lord of Cnerva who had been Embassadour from Ferdinand at Rome and graced with his favours in a large measure Ferdinand a perfect Master of the Art of Dissimulation commonly called the Art of Reigning perceived by the Bunching of his Cloaths that he wore close Armour underneath and Embracing him said Garcia you were not so Gross a few dayes ago you are grown fat on the sudden These Embraces and Courtesies were smart Reproofs and cutting Exprobrations of their ingratitude and Ferdinand experimented in them that if the good fortune of the Court hath few sure Friends the â—ll fortune of it hath much fewer Philip upon the fight of Ferdinand would have alighted but Ferdinand spurting his Male prayed him not to Dismount Philip with Hat in Hand desired Ferdinands Hand to Kiss Ferdinand spreads his Armes and Embraces him Spain is so stored with Castles and fair Countrey-houses that in all that Road there was not one fit for the Conference of the two Kings which forced them to entertain one another in an Ermitage Ximenes followed them in and so did Don Manuel Philips Favourite Ximenes seeing him enter sayes to him Don John their Majesties would be private Let 's withdraw I will be Porter and keep the door for this time Manuel goes out somewhat displeased Ximenes re-enters and having shut the Door sits down with the Kings Ferdinands Counsels to Philip were the only entertainment of the Princes which were to this effect My Son the weight of a Crown is so great that a good King cannot bear it without help and the Government of people requires such continual care and incessant travels that a Prince hath need of ease by persons of fidelity and capable to manage publick affairs and herein the unhappiness of Princes is remarkable that they find few who mind more the honour of the State than their own profit or study the interest of their Master more than their own private advantages Take heed therefore my Son that you grant not to them you honour with your good will commonly called Favourites any thing to the prejudice of the people over whom God hath invested you with Soverain Authority whereof you must make good use and render him one day an account and undergo the sentence of an exact impartial Justice and abide the severity of its Judgement Think not that such men are called without cause the Leeches of the Court who hanging still at the Eares of their Prince yet ungrateful to their Benefactour have by their insatiable avarice base flattery and monstrous ingratitude merited those names of infamy and reproach of the vices they are infected with I had designed to have assisted you in the discharge of your Office knowing your Youth unexperienced in the Government of Kingdoms but since the great ones of Castile have perswaded you to the contrary I will retire and confine my cares to the Governmens of the States subject to the Crowns God hath given me but shall make it my Prayer to God to give you the Graces and Forces necessary for great Kings and during my absence from you I leave you another Father who will be of no less use to you than if I were with you in person I mean my Lord Arch-bishop of Toledo here present the many proofs and evident testimonies I have had of his fidelity and experience give me cause to Assure you that a King cannot be wrecked in the Government of his State where he sits at the helm May you believe his sage
Laws and that nothing is more necessary for the Common-weal than good institution and vertuous education of Youth CAP. IV. XImenes had not only a real Affection for Learning but a high esteem for its faithfull Attendants Honesty and Integrity though his affection to the one and esteem for the other terminated in Religion as the ultimate object of his best affections the Ascendant of his soul and Lady paramount of his passions To which he was so entirely devoted as to take the measure of his affection and esteem for Learning and Honesty from their usefulness to the advancement of Religion The zeal he had to propagate Christianity made him labour willingly and much for the Conversion of Infidels About the end of this year he attended the King and Queen in their Kingdom of Granada newly recovered from the Moors to give advice how this new Conquest might be best maintained and found time to preach so fervently to the Moors that in one day he converted three thousand of them to the faith of Christ And the multitude of the Converts making it impossible to baptize them all in the usual form within the compass of a day using aspersion instead immersion he sprinkled them all with baptismal water and so initiated them all the same day in the Christian Religion In memory whereof that day being the 16th of December was long kept Festival in Spain The Archbishop of Granada in his harangue to the Cardinal upon the Triumphs of that Kingdom amongst others hath this expression Sir I may say without incurring suspicion of flattery that your Victories surpass the King's for he gained Stones but you have gained Souls to God The greatest part of the unconverted Moors followed the example of a Prince of their Sect of the Royal Family of the Kings of Granada who became Christian and drew them with him to the knowledge of the true Religion These new Converts by the light of truth began to discover and detest their former errors and of their own accord laid at Ximenes feet five thousand Volumes of the Alcoran or Glosses and Explications of it all curiously bound neatly trimmed and exquisitely adorned with Claspes and Knots of Silver Gold and precious Stones which made out the Esteem that people had for the lying impostures of their Prophet Many Grandees of Spain became Suitors to Ximenes for one of those Books to adorn their Libraries but he refused and causing a great fire to be made exposed them all to the fury of the devouring flames except few that treated of Physick and had been found among the Alcorans Taking from these new Converts those objects which might renew the memory of the Errors in which they had lived most part of their time So frail and so fickle is our nature in good actions that our progress in the way of vertue is like that of Boats against the stream of a rapid Torrent which fall back in one hour more than they advance in a whole day This was not enough to contain them within the bounds of their duty some sighed for their lost liberty others relapsed into their old superstitions and taking up Arms resolved to force their way to both by fire and sword Ximenes who was yet in Granada stood the shock and bearing up bravely in a Sea of troubles that surrounded him sends an Express to the King And for better dispatch a Gentleman of Quality of the same City offered him an Ethiopian Slave so nimble and swift of foot that he would travell fifty Leagues a day But the brutish Sot having received the Pacquet instead of making haste overcharged himself so with Wine and Victuals at the second Inn he met with by the way that he slept there till the morrow after and he who should have been in two dayes at Sevil where the Court then was made it five ere he arrived there In the mean time the King had intelligence of the Revolt of the Moors of Granada from them who envying the greatness of Ximenes took care to send better Courriers than the Ethiopian and informed the King that Ximenes who through a rash and undiscreet zeal would have converted to Christianity in a moment men who were not only born and had lived but were for the most part grown old in the Profession of Mahometism had lost the Realm of Granada That he was utterly incapable to manage matters of State who proposed and made use of no other allurements to win over his Converts to submit their necks to the yoke of a new Government than the headstrong Capricchio's of his violent fancy and the rigorous Austerities he had practised in a Cloister Ferdinand believes them and remembring Ximenes had been introduced into Court and his Conduct extolled by the Queen his Wife goes to her Lodgings and all in a flame See now Madam sayes he the Triumphs of our Ancestors and our own purchased with the blood of the Nobles of Spain ruined in a moment by the humoursome follies of your Ximenes Ximenes by this time had intelligence from his friends of the negligence of the Ethiopian and the sense of the Court he acknowledges his fault to entrust the sottishness of such a Brute with an Affair of so great Importance And resolved for the future never to send Courriers on the like Occurrences but such as were persons of integrity and honest Repute which he observed making it his custom to honour and load with Presents such whom he imployed in dispatches of Consequence To retrive this miscarriage and remedy the present disorder of his Affairs he dispatched Roiiys his Companion of the Order to inform their Majesties of the Causes of the Revolt and the Remedies he had applyed The good estate of Granada quenched the fire of Ferdinands anger and displeasure against Ximenes and drew from him Letters of thanks to Ximenes for his great expence for the good of the publick in restoring peace to Granada and the dangers he exposed himself to to save his Cities from ruine and the Kingdom from destruction A Minister of State who labours with integrity to serve his Majesty ought by good Actions and patience to overcome the Envy and Calumnies of his Enemies which like thin mists are easily dissipated and being built on the sandy foundations of falseshood and lyes are soon shaken and moulder to nothing CAP. V. THE watchings and labours Ximenes underwent to suppress the Tumults of Granada had impaired his health into a Hectick Feavour so malignant that the Physitians could find no remedy for it A Moriseo-woman converted by him hears of this and sends him another woman of the same Nation to desire permission to cure his Feavour which being granted her within eight dayes by the use of Oyntments and some words she recited she restored him to perfect health This enabled him to go to Toledo to salute the Princess Joan Daughter and Heiress of Ferdinand and Isabel together with Philip of Austrich her Husband and Son to the Emperour
to his honour He writes to the Cardinal to imploy his Credit to procure him the continuance of the name of King and to proclaim him King throughout Spain The Cardinal sitts about it and plyes it closely called an Assembly of the Notable persons of the Realm composed of Prelats Grandees of Spain and Counsellors of State and causes overtures to be made and the Affair proposed to them by Laurence Galiud Counsellor of State his Confident a man of great Learning and Eloquence Who declared to the Assembly the pittiful condition and miserable Estate of Queen Joan now besides her self and uncapable to Govern shews them the necessity of having a Prince who might at least in name fill up what she could not indeed possess That Authority was the soul of the Kingdom and since it could not be found in the person of Joan they must seek it in that of Charles That it was no new thing for the Infantes of Spain to bear the Title of Kings in their Parents life-time He cited Presidents in the Reign of the Goths and their Successours In the Close of his discourse he drew out of his bosome the Prince's Letters not demanding advice but commanding obedience and concluded it better By unanimous consent to gratifie him in his desires with Congratulation to him for the Title he had assumed than to refuse him That he had already taken and was resolved to keep The Bishops and Councellours of State were of his Opinion The Grandees of the Contrary Henry Almirante and Frederick D' Alva swore before the Assembly They would never endure such an Usurpation The Cardinal turns to them and with a face and voice full of severity sayes King Charles has no need of your Votes for the quality he Assumes nor did I assemble you to desire them but of my free inclinations for your good to give you this occasion by the freeness of your Suffrages and cheerful Consent to merit the good-will and favour of our Prince But since you conceive that to be due to you of Right which was done you of Courtesie I 'le make you know you are not so necessary in this business as you mistake your selves to be And going out of the Council he sent for the Governour of Madrid and commanded him to cause Charles of Austria to be proclaimed King of Castile by sound of Trumpet in every Street of the Town which was solemnly done the same day Toledo followed the Example of Madrid and joyfully made the like Proclamation Such was the fruit of the Cardinals Severity that the Grandees durst not attempt any thing to hinder it Where a Minister of State sees Discourse and Perswasions too feeble to prevail he must use severity and force to back his Authority The Kingdom of Arragon followed not the example of Castile Alfonso of Arragon Bishop of Saragosa was Governour there by the Testament of Ferdinand The Arragonois wonderful Jealous of the Laws of their State refused to give Charles the Title of King during his mothers life And to second the refusal with violence Peter Gironne eldest Son of the Earl of Vrenne takes up Armes attacques the Dutchy of Medina Sedonia pretending a right to 't and besieges Luzerre on the Sea side The Cardinal sends against him a light Army under the Conduct of Anthony Fonseca and with him a Minister of Justice to punish the Rebells with the Axe and Rope Fonseca goes directly to Luzerre raiseth the Siege and puts the Rebells to flight who not long after came from those parts to increase the troubles raised by the Duke of Infantade on his side Who keeping in mind the offence given by the Cardinal by breaking off as he said the Marriage between his Niece and the Duke's Nephew exclaimed against him in Words and Writing publishing in his Manifestoes that the Nobility of Spain were oppressed by the Cardinal whom he called an unfrock'd Monk That the grandees of Spain had ever defended the Crown that it was more reasonable the Cardinal should obey them as Protectors of the State than that they should submit to the Cardinal who had nothing worthy the taking notice of but the quality he owed to the gift of blind Fortune and knew no more than the severities and humoursome Vagaries the Monks practise in their Cloysters when they persecute one another The Cardinal who was excellently judicious slighted these Rodomantadoes knowing that Choler without Force is a Wind that makes a noise but cannâ—◠〈◊〉 That the Grandees of Spain spend their Revenues on their Vanity and Luxury to the last Farthing having nothing left but noise and exclamations the feeble support of their huffing and pride when he could pay an Army with the Revenue of his Benefices And leaving them thus to Champ on the bit he gave them leisure to acknowledge their fault and feebleness and by the Experience of his powerful Authority to come to themselves and return to their duty which most of them did and among others the Duke of Infantade who after so many sallies and freaks sent him Letters of Submission and testimonials of his Affection and Obedience For they saw this Man intirely fix'd and resolute in his designs when just then he had rendred himself capable to command Armies learning daily the Theory and practick of the Art of Warr entertaining himself with Discourses of all points thereof amongst the sagest and most Ancient Captains Besides he had a standing Army of thirty thousand men raised out of the Cities and Burroughs of Spain who had no other pay than Franchises and Immunities These Forces made him formidable to his personal Enemies and to the Disturbers of the publick peace As wings carry the Eagle to the glory of Combat so Armies the wings of Royal Authority carry it against the Enemies of the State to their ruine and confusion but to its own certain Victory and Triumph The next Year being 1516. the Cardinal sent to Charles in Flanders Diego Lopez Ajala a person in whom he reposed much confidence to procure Letters Patents to confirm Ferdinands Testament which gave him the Regency to approve his Conduct and to give him full Authority over the Council the Tribunals of Justice the Governours of Towns and the Receivers and Treasurers of the Finances Diego had in his Instructions To let the King know that the Grant of these things by Letters Missive to the Council was not sufficient This he did to take away all pretence from the Grandees for stirring the people against him on colour that his Actions were not approved of by the Prince For upon his setting a foot thirty thousand men of the Militia of the Towns and Cities which received Immunities only for pay the great Ones of Spain gave out that these violent Courses tended to the subversion of the State That he Armed the people against them and with design first to destroy them and then to ruine the People That his irregular Ambition and exorbitant Pride had transported him
Reason would prefer the Noble yet was he far from abandoning or slighting vertue from which Nobility is derived and by which it is maintained The Gifts and Largesses he bestowed out of his proper stock on particular persons and the publick are worthy remarque His advancement of an infinite number of persons of integrity and merit to the Offices of Magistrature the Dignities of the Chureh and Charges of War preserve to this day in Spain the memory of the Grandeur of his Spirit and will remain an everlasting monument of Glory and Benediction to his name The Hospitals built at his Charge in Spain and endowed by him with Revenues the Religious Houses remaining there for durable works of his piety and bounty the publick Granaries stored with Corn for relif of the poor filled out of the Rents setled by him to that purpose the Seminaries and publick Nurseries of vertue for the Common-wealth where he provided for the education of youth of both Sexes left destitute of necessaries in that behalf declare and will record to perpetuity that the Grandeur of Ximenes consisted not so much in his Eminent and Great Employments as in his transcendent Liberality and extraordinary bounty The Temples of the Graces in the Cities of the Levant were by the Ancients built in publick places as in their Markets or near their Cirques and Amphitheaters to signifie that the Benefits and good Actions of great men ought to be not only open to private persons but communicated to the publick A Minister of State is a publick person constituted in the most eminent Dignity of a Kingdom next the Royal And if it be true that a good King is the Father of his people the Minister of State who is his Assistant ought to be a faithful Steward to dispence his favours and afford ready helps to the wants and necessities of the publick When Cinon the Athenian was grown Rich he caused the fences and inclosures of his Gardens to be laid open that the poor might have free ingress to gather the fruits he kept an open house and table for all that were in want and sent his servants loaded with Garments through the Streets of Athens to be distributed amongst them that were in want holding himself unworthy to possess a great Estate without imparting of it to others In like manner had Cardinal Ximenes when seised of that great Benefice whereby was vested in him the largest Revenue of that Kingdom filled his Coffers with Treasure and locked up there the Gold destined for other uses he had condemned himself as guilty of embezling and converting to his private benefit what ought to have been laid out in the Redemption of Slaves enlargement of Prisoners Cures of the sick comfort of the afflicted and sustenance of the poor But he made liberal destribution thereof suitable to the necessities of the several objects of his Bounty Certainly some good Kings are publick Springs whence the people have right to draw that is to have recourse to their Beneficence and good Ministers of State ought to be the pipes to those Royall Fountain to convey to the people the water of Relief The greatness of his vertues could not so exempt Ximines from Envy but that in his life time it attacqued both his Name and his Conduct though his death put a period to detraction and procured Reverence to his name honour to his memory and Elogies for his Government And 't is observable men never behold the Sun so earnestly as when he is Ecclipsed Innocence of all places of the world makes least Residence at Court where Ambition alwayes wars against eminent vertues This concludes it necessary for a Minister of State to fortifie himself with Constancy and Resolution to resist their malignity who would call him to account and charge him as answerable for all the sinister Accidents that fall out as if the Events of Affairs depended only on him Cardinal Ximenes had this vertue in the superlative alwayes like himself alwayes aquanimous alwayes firm stout and resolute in the beginning progress and end of his administration that he might have said of himself what the Roman Camillus once of himself in another sense That neither the Dictatorship had elevated nor Exile abated the height of his Spirit That neither the Archbishoprick of Toledo the Primacy of Spain the Cardinals Cap nor the Authority of Governour of a Kingdom had given him courage nor the crosses and misfortunes of Court taken it from him These great and heroick vertues have rendered him the compleat original and Architype of a perfect Minister of State which I propose to thir view who Govern the world under the Authority of Soveraign Princes that they may imitate his Zeal for the publick good his fidelity to his Prince his affection to persons of worth and wel-deserving his strong inclinations and vigorous actions for the good of the people and increasing the Glory and Grandeur of the State being the ends and principal marks aimed at in all Governments managed with wisdom and crowned with Success THE HISTORY OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF Cardinal Ximenes Prime Minister of STATE IN SPAIN KINGS who are Masters of the Goods of this world advantage men in their fortunes and improvement of their estates but 't is the Sun that King of Starrs and first of all second Causes that enriches them with the Gifts of Nature so that those Regions which are blest with the more favourable aspect of this Eye of Heaven produce things of greater excellency than other Countreyes and give birth to men of more eminent parts and endowed with the rarest qualities in Natures gift Spain by the happy advantage of her scituation lyes so full and open in the Eye of that great Luminary that as enamoured of her beauty he vouchsafes her the light of his countenance and by the large measure of his irradiation afforded her contributes to her production of eminent persons In her was born Francis Cardinal Ximenes of the Noble Family of the Cisneres who deduce their original from the Suburbs of Villaizar in the Diocess of Toledo His Father was Alphonso Receiver of the Tenths of the Clergy granted by the Pope to the King of Spain who taken with the beauty of a young Maid of an honest family and the same place married her and had by her several Children whereof Ximenes was the eldest At the Font he received with the Graces of Heaven the name of his Father Alphonso which he after changed in the Cloister into that of Francis In his Infancy he had his Education in the Town of Areula D' Henares where he learnt the principles of the Latine Tongue and of good manners from thence he was removed to Salamanca to study those Laws which regulate the Estates and possessions of men where by the advantage of his pregnant Wit he became so great a Proficient that in a short time he was capable to instruct others His Family was reduced to so low an Ebb of Fortune
the Monastery being the Center A year was scarce elapsed but he was drawn out thence to take on him the charge of Warden of the Covent of Salceda where he kept the Fryars within the Rules of their Order more by the example of his good life than the commands of a Superiour But 't is the Priviledge of Courts to enter into Cloisters and take thence such men whom Fortune hath designed to partake of their Grandieurs Isabel Queen of Spain calles him to Court in the year 1492. and by the advice of Cardinal Mendoza Archbishop of Toledo makes him her Confessor In this eminent place he gave proofs of great vertues without any exception but that of intermedling with Matters of State wherein he exceeded his Call and strained beyond his Charge and his Frock This perhaps gave those of his Order occasion to draw him back from Court to a Religious imployment by choosing him their Provincial for three years And here he gave a most pregnant proof of the indifferency of his spirit for the affairs of Court and of the great love he bore his Order by going from Court more willingly than he had come into it and imploying his time in visiting the Religious Houses under his charge Coming to Gibraltar moved with a charitable zeal for the salvation of the Infidels he designed a Voyage into Africk at the peril of his life to instruct the Moors there in the Christian faith but a Fryar of his Order and in great esteem for Piety disswaded him assuring him God had prepared him a great imployment in Spain He travelled on foot and begged but was such a bungler at the Trade and begged so untowardly that he seldom carried any but an empty bagg which made Franeis Rouys his companion tell him he must give over begging for that no man was more certainly born to give to all and begg of none than he And had not the care of Rouys stood him in more stead than his begging Alms he had made more Fast-dayes than the Rules of his Order required So unfit to begg are Great Spirits being naturally disposed to Give not to Ask. CAP. III. FOrtune which had designed him for the prime Prelate of Spain took care soon after to furnish his strong inclinations for the Good of mankind with means competent to express his Good nature in acts of benificence answerable to the Greatness of his Soul Cardinal Mendoza Archbishop of Toledo laboured under two maladies the one incurable the other dangerous Age and a Feavour which induced him to go to Guadalfayre to take the benefit of that Ayre he drew at his birth Ferdinand and Isabel King and Queen of Spain went thither to visit him This honour had saved the Cardinals life if death had regarded the presence of Kings who are themselves his Homagers Mendoza now drawing near to his end gave his Master these three sage Counsels 1. To make peace with the King of France and keep it inviolable when made 2. To marry the Infant John Designed Successor of their Crowns to Joan since the wise of Alphonso King of Portugal pretendant to the Kingdom of Castile 3. To conferr the Archbishoprick of Toledo on a person of mean Condition but of great integrity and extraordinary Capacity That these qualities were apparently eminent in the person of Ximenes That the Grandees of Spain proud enough of the Titles they are born to become intolerably insolent by the addition of those of great Dignities These Princes slighted the first Advice to the prejudice and notorious damage of Christendom which smarted for their contempt of it as the Spanish histories ingenuously Confess The third they embraced which Coming to the Knowledge of Ximenes he remonstrates to them that the Dignity of the Archbishoprick of Toledo being the prime of the State as well spiritual as temporal which gave the person invested in it the priviledge of speaking next the King in the Council-Royal ought to be given to the most illustrious and Ancient Gentry of the Kingdom Cardinal Mendoza quitted his life and the Archbishoprick together in the year 1496. Ferdinand would have preferred his natural son Don Alphonso Archbishop of Saragosa to this great Benefice But Isabel who had right of Presentation to it as Queen of Castile preferred the vertue of Ximenes before the birth of Don Alphonso and the intreaties of the King her husband The year ensuing they presented Ximenes to succeed in this Grand Prelature no less in dignity than Revenue which amounts to two hundred thousand Ducats a year Ximenes forced by express Mandat from the Pope accepts it At his first nomination he left the Court and fled on foot to a Covent of his Order a great way from Madrid to avoid investiture in the Archbishoprick But returning in obedience to the Pope he declared to Ferdinand and Isabel that he would never consent that this Rich Benefice should be charged with one farthing pension as prejudicial to the dignity and liberty of the prime pastor of Spain Now hath he just cause to meddle in Affairs of the State as being one of the most considerable members thereof This sudden change of fortune shook not his Constancy nor altered his setled Resolutions of adhering to vertue Yet was he as free from mean and base Actions as from the Corruptions that usually attend great fortunes he made it appear that no dignity could be so great as to exceed his capacity no Grandure in the gift of fortune to which his soul was not commensurate though in his plenty of Fortune and Eminence of place he continued the plainness of a Religious life Piety hath brought plenty and abundance of Riches into the Church And by the disorders of the world the Daughter hath devoured the Mother so that there are more Ecclesiasticks Rich than Pious Ximenes was not of their number for amidst the Treasure of that Great Revenue he kept inviolable that poverty that exalts Great Personages above the height of fortune and consists in the contempt and sober use of these perishing enjoyments And as if he had been afraid to lose the least part of it he continued the practises of that Poverty which the Rules of Religion exact from its strictest votaries The Pomp of a Cardinal and Attendance of the Prime Prelate of Spain could not keep him from retyring into a private place from the eyes of his domestiques to mend with his own hands the frock he had wore among those of his Order so that after his death in a Box whereof in his Life-time he constantly kept the Key there were found needles thred and pieces of Gray Cloth of the Colour of his Frock which he laid up for that use He slept on a Friers pallet which he had hid in his Chamber where stood his Bed of state And that his family might not perceive it he made it his custom to go to bed and rise alone without attendants and his door shut When he was first made Archbishop he rid
who spoke to him of it that these Turnaments were the remedy for recovery of the Kings health which he should buy very cheap since his Nephew had expended no more So willing was he to part with his estate for the good of his Prince or relief of the people 'T was at this time he made provision against that publick exigency to which Spain is often reduced for want of Corn At Toledo Arcala and Torrelaguce he built publick Granaries and filled them with Corn. The Senate of Toledo in acknowledgement of the benefit hath Consecrated the memory thereof to perpetuity by an Inscription engraven in the midst of the Palace and the people preserves the memory of it by a Marble Table which to this day shews the Character of his Liberality in the great Market of the City and yearly on the fifth of October they Celebrate their grateful acknowledgements in an Harangue made of the Vertues and merits of this great man Soon after he erected a magnificent Monastery and Church at Torrelagave for the perpetual Celebration of his praises whose bounty raised him to the height of his fortunes he adorned the Church with Sacred Vessels and Vestments and furnished it with all necessaries for the Service of God and Ornament of Religious Worship For the convenience of this holy place and the publick he clave Rocks and boared through Mountains to make Aqueducts for conveyance of water thither from a spring at great distance from the Church the Aqueducts were Arched and Wide and cost him by the computation of the Spaniards no less than a Million of Gold this place to this day testifies the Generosity of this Cardinal in his affections to the publick for great edifices without flattery report to posterity the Grandeur of the Builders But though he built of his own for the publick good yet would he not permit others to be Magnificent at the Spaniards charges Pope Leo the Tenth who succeeded Julius the second had a design at this time to build at Rome a Temple to St. Peter suitable to the dignity of the first Church of Christendome and because the charge of such a building amounted to vast summs of money he sent his Bulls into Spain to demand Contribution from the Spaniards King Ferdinand consented but the Cardinal being a severe man and inclined to ease the people though he commended the Popes design approved not his exacting Money by his Bulls but with all his power hindered the Execution thereof and with a generous liberty writ his thoughts thereupon to Rome and told them his mind Ferdinand approached the end of his Reign and his Life by the malady before mentioned which handled him so rudely at Burgos that he left that place imputing to the Ayre the cause of that distemper he carryed within him When he came to Arand he sent for the Cardinal who set out to attend him and drawing neer to the Court the King went in his Litter to meet him to the astonishment of all that were about him his disease having so weakened him that he could hardly stand and in a few dayes after was laid on his death-bed The Cardinal was very desirous to wait on his Master to the last moment of his dayes but thought fit to withdraw to avoid the suspicion his attendance might occasion if he were appointed governour of the Kingdom which would be attributed more to the Ambition of the Cardinal than the Judgement of the King or the advice of his Council This was the reason of his retiring to Arcala D' Henares while God disposed of this Prince according to the Decree of his will Ferdinand in the mean time felt himself dying yet could not believe he should dye of this sickness The holy women of Avila had deluded his reason by her pretended prediction that he should out-live the violence of his distemper he was so possest with conceit of the truth of her assertions that he rejected and put off Matreuse the Cordelier his Confessor who came to dispose his Conscience to part with this World and appear before him who Judges Kings without respect to their Crowns and said That Man came to see him not out of zeal of piety or devotion but ambition and in hopes to obtain some gift Prince Charles his young Son sent Dean Adrian of Vtretcht to Visit him in his Sickness but he could not get audience and when the Secretaries of State moved in his behalf and were urgent with the King to admit him to his presence he refused answering them in Spanish What comes he for it may be to see whether I am dead or not However he admitted him afterwards and received the complement of Charles The great ones of the world can hardly part with it nor is there any place men are more loath to leave than a Throne But Death is as inexorable as necessary She respects not Scepters nor fears Crowns The Physitians and principal Councellors of State advertise Ferdinand he was arrived at the last hour of his life that he had but a short time left to think of the Affairs of his Conscience and Kingdom this made him Resolved to admit his Confessor and believe the Saint of Avila had not received from Heaven the advice she gave in the Affairs of his Kingdom he told them that by his secret Testament made at Burgos he had ordered Ferdinand his younger son Brother of Charles to be Governour of Spain and appropriated to him as a peculiar Legacy the grand Master-shipps of the three principal orders of Spain those of St. James Calatrave and Alcantara The Councellors remonstrate to him the injury he did the Crown in the Alienation of those three orders which himself had judged necessary to be kept alwayes annexed to it That he gave them to a Prince who might when he pleased make use of them against the Crown that the best and surest inheritance he could leave Ferdinand was the love and good will of his brother Charles That it was dangerous to leave the Government of Spain in the hands of Ferdinand whose youth made him sussceptible of ill impressions from the great ones to the ruine of the State Upon these Remonstrances he altered his Resolutions and appointed Charles Governour during the life of the Queen his Mother sole Heiress of that Kingdom But in the absence of Charles there wanted an administrator to manage the publick affairs with prudence integrity and generosity Laurence Galinda Caravegal one of the Counsellors proposed the Cardinal as eminently endued with all these qualities Ferdinand turns his head and answers Know you not the severity of Ximenes his spirit no wayes fit to treat with men Thus did he Reject him whose conduct he admired whose person he honoured going to meet him every time he came to do him service such was the inconstancy of this great King But there was some though a very light cause for this disdain of Ferdinand against the Cardinal The King wanted a great summ of
of Zoritan like a Tyrant in the Countrey he Usurpes The Maids and Women whom Nature had made most Beautiful and Vertue most Amiable he Sacrificed to his extravagancies And what Love could not obtain Force ravished from them Those were taken from their Parents and these from their Husbands to serve the pleasure of this Beast The Cardinal sent a power Competent to Attaque him but by flight to Flanders he changed his place but escaped not his punishment The Cardinal by Letters signifies to Charles the Exorbitances and Enormities of this Ruffian and the punishment due to his Crimes and prayed him to make him an Example of his Justice by severity answerable to the heinousness of his Actions The Treasurers of the Finances who had embezelled the publick Moneys which are the blood of the people were strictly Examined and Narrowly sisted nor were these Spunges squeezed only but punished for their Rapines These Actions of Justice drew an universal Love to the Cardinal from the people of Spain who reverenced his Name and most of the Grandees sought his Friendship with Oaths and protestations to defend his Authority as their Lives and not without reason For Justice the Mother of other Vertues being the Daughter of Heaven and Queen of the Earth gains them that Exercise it the savour of God and good will of men The happiness of the Kingdom was this great mans Aim and in order to attaining a compleat felicity he continued the Exercise of his Justice in Reducing every part of the State into their proper bounds The military Orders of Knights in Spain are divers and of great Latitude the greatness of their power made them usurp on others within their Jurisdiction and abusively assume Priviledges not due to them But the Cardinal forced them to make restitution of what was not theirs Regulated their Jurisdictions and Abrogated the Priviledges they had arrogated to themselves The favour of Court having introduced more Members into the Council of State than Merit or Vertue had filled it with Persons unworthy that place But he who knew that the Ministers who serve in this Sacred Temple of Policy ought to be persons of the greatest experience and singular integrity purged it of all those who were unfit for that dignity and filled their places with better men Having reformed the Council he turned to the Train and Attendants of the Court where the importunity and impudence of the Mean and the Recommendations of the great Ones had introduced a multitude of men who had no other Vertue to boast of than a confident Miene a proud Gate and vain Discourse He resolved to Cashiere these dronish Lurdanes and stop those unprofitable Mouths that ate the Kings Bread but did him no Service which he did with one dash of his Penn Crossing out the Allowances made them who were so leight in their Vanities that they were blown away with a Feather That Monarch wants a Guardian to order his Affairs who by the Pensions he bestows feeds with the Bowels of his People such men as are neither necessary for him nor serviceable to the publick This Retrenchment was Just but his taking from two famous Historians of that time the Pensions given them as due to their Labours is marked as unjust in the History of his Administration Peter Martyr and Gonsales D' Oviedo were crossed out amongst the Retainers but revenged with their Penns the Loss of their Pensione staining his name with spots of so black a dye as the whole series of the past Age hath not been able to wash out But it may be he was forced to this By their example to take from others all cause of Complaint But what an example is this to robb them of their Reward who deserve it and take away the Pensions of two Learned men who served the publick Or if he thought this necessary to be done he should have made up their Pensions out of his own fortunes and paid them out of that estate which was sufficient to pay an Army Peradventure 't was Charls his pleasure it should be so Had he so little credit with Charles whose 〈◊〉 he preserved for him as not to prevail with him to continue the Pensions of two Historians who could have given Charles and his name immortal Glory This seems sufficient to condemn his Severity and call it Inconsiderate But the greatness of his Conduct in other matters his excellent Justice and singular favour and propensity to oblige men of Vertue make it hardly credible that so great a person who had done so much for Learning should commit so gross a sault but give cause to impute it to some other Minister whose enmity against these Historians might have engaged him in so foul a fact Thus Alvarez Gomez in the History of his life excuses him and observes that he lamented several times that occasion was often given him to exercise just Severities in taking from men what they unjustly possessed and not to express his Liberality in giving unto them those Largesses he esteemed due from him to Vertue To do good to men of merit is to pour Oyle into Lamps which proves no less usefull to others in the light they receive from them than beneficial to them in enabling them to impart it That the Exchequer be full and the Treasury of the Prince abound in Cash is certainly one of the things most necessary for the State this defends it this augments its Grandeur and renders it formidable to its Enemies The Cardinal who harboured in his heart as one common Center an extraordinary zeal for the Service of his Master and no less affection for the good of the people designed to fill the Treasuries of Spain to serve the glory of his Master but without any intention to inrich his King by the impoverishment of his people saying Thrift and Frugality Parsimony and good Husbandry were great Revenues to a monyed King as the King of Spain And that Gifts made without reason and against Justice are the Moths that eat through his Baggs and the Thieves that empty his Coffers Charles in four moneths of his Reign gave away to his Courtiers or rather Leeches of his Court two Millions of Gold This he said with grief to see so prodigious an excess of Profuseness and Lavishment Not but that he allowed Liberality place among the Vertues of a Prince but that he would have it exercised with Moderation and Justice Henry the Admiral Pacieco D' Ascalone and Henry Fortune had obtained of Ferdinand a million a piece of Lievres of Gold charged on the Revenue of Peru and should have received it at the return of the Plate-Fleet The Cardinal made void and annulled these Gifts And though Fortune was of Kin to his good Master Ferdinand he took from him his Million as well as from the others Kings said he ought to dispense the effects of their Justice indifferently to persons of all sorts but those of their Liberality to them only who serve their