to tell it me that I might disclose it to Doctor Sampayo fearing least he might die burdened with so great a secret as concerned the good of all Christendome holding his conscience greatly charged with the weight thereof coniuring me seriously to deliuer it safe to Doctor Sampayo meane while if it please God to take him out of this transitorie world it might be lawfull for me to publish it openly before my death This and such other like speeches being ended he began to vnbosome his conceit in this manner It was my chaunce to meete with a Gentleman in this towne my countriman betweene the which and me there had bene auncient amitie after many dayes conference at secret meetings he told me that Dom Sebastian the King of Portugale was not dead wherat the said Godigno seemed to be astonished and said he did not beleeue it vntil he had seene him aliue with his owne eyes and then said he I may haue reason to be of your mind Which the other promised should be effected and to that purpose caried him to dinner to the house where Dom Sebastian was lodged which was as I remember in S. Iames his streete or in harpe streete whether the first or second day or shortly after he had vsed to that place he could not certainely name the time but a friend of his a Portugal came and inquired at the house for Dom Sebastian King of Portugal and as he was comming vp the stayers Godigno hasted downe the stayers to stop his passage and tooke occasion to carie away his friend faining some other affaires with him because he would preuent the King from discouery who was very iealous of publicke notice But the morrow after the same gentleman came againe about his former businesse and inquired earnestly for the King and being there denied him ceased not to aske of euery one he met throughout all the citie for Dom Sebastian King of Portugale but not preuailing at all he fell into an extreme agonie and desisted not from inquisition to litle purpose and surprised with great care what to do was at length inspired with a motion frō God to professe a solitarie life and take vpon him the habit of an hermite so being disguised trauelled towards Spaine and arriuing at the Court made meanes to speake with the Catholicke King saying that he had matters of great importance to reueale vnto him and to none but the King And after long attendance he was admitted to the Kings presence to haue audience to whom he protested he had lately seene Dom Sebastian in Paris and confirmed it by many signes and tokens of veritie The King presently forbad him by any meanes to vtter it to any man liuing and willed him to go abroade euery where to search out and discouer what he might possibly allowing him present money to beare his charges deliuering him a letter to D. Bernardin Mendosa then his ledger Ambassador in France to giue him any money he should haue cause to vse not signifying vnto him for what cause or intent and thereupon he shewed me letters which made the matter euident that he had bene in Spaine as is aforesaid but for the particularities of the said letters I do not well remember but that I hold my selfe satisfied thereby that he had bene in Spaine c. but to continue his tale he told he had trauelled so long that his money being well wasted he was forced to go to Mendosa to be supplied in his necessitie to whom when he would not reueale the cause of his comming into those parts and hauing letters of intelligence out of Spaine from some great man that he should deliuer that Godigno no more money being but an impostor and a deluder as they termed him Mendosa was soone confirmed in that parsimonie intending before to shut vp his liberalitie and to giue him neuer a deneere at which deniall this Godigno began to lament and burst forth into bitter teares as I iudge his lamentation was because he was crost and preuented for comming to the type of his enterprise In the end protesting before God and his Angels and by vertue of that holy Sacrament he had that day receiued that all that he had vttered to me was true in the end without protestation of beleeuing or shew of incredulitie I promised him my secrecie as he desired some few daies after this conference he returned vnto me as he vsed to do inquiring what news I heard of father Sampayo to whom I answered I vnderstood of him no more then before Meane while I was as it were distracted in conceit seeing this Gentlemans relation a paradoxe aduerse to the fame and vulgar opinion of Dom Sebastians death and weying this Gentlemans integritie zeale and communication with the lacobins could not in my cōscience condēne him for a lier But whether it were true or false according to my promise I concealed it though it were in some sort an offence so to do It came to passe in some litle space after in the house of an Apothecarie dwelling in the suburbes called S. Germaine neare the gate whose house was razed at the siege of Paris that this man died Here is all that I can say concerning this subiect which I neuer opened to any man sauing to Doctor Sampayo which was a good while after but the time I do not iustly remember and one cause why I was loth to speak of it was for that I was afraid to be thought deluded And me thinks this I haue written vnto you may seeme very strange notwithstanding the cōmon report at this houre is that Dom Sebastian was seene aliue two yeares after he was detained in Venice but I tell ye the greater part of the world suppose that he is a counterfeit suborned c. God knowes what he is who euer send you happie and long life so with my humble recommendations to your reuerend self I leaue you From Annisi the last of September anno 1601. I forgot to tell you that Emmanuel Godigno added to that before mentioned that the Catholicke King gaue him in especiall charge to tell Dom Sebastian that the Catholike King requested him by any meanes to hasten his returne without delay to him desiring nothing so much as to render him the possession of his Realme and kingdome and to bestow his eldest daughter vpon him in mariage I am farther to desire you of so much fauour as to send me these bookes from Lions here mentioned in a catalogue inclosed in this letter and I will faithfully repay whatsoeuer you shall lay out to that purpose Here follow the titles All the workes you can find De regno Christi temporali I beseech you salute for me Monsieur le Feure recommending my faithfull seruice vnto him of whom if it please you you may craue assistance in my businesse for he is a man multae lectionis Good Lord I had forgotten my dutie to Monsieur de Tyron to Monsieur Pelle jay to
Auiz Which being ouer-heard by some of his followers whom she tooke no heed of hearing and seeing what the wench had both said and done came no sooner into their Lords lodging but they reported vnto him what they had heard a young frolike wench say and seene her do Wherewithall this noble gallant being stirred sent for her presently and finding meanes to haue her secretly vpon her begot a sonne And this maide was a shoomakers daughter of that town very rich and of good account who vnderstanding that his daughter was sent for to such a noble man and being informed that her owne speech and light behauior was the first cause and being assured she was defloured by her owne franke consent took it so hainously that at her return home he reuiled her with most opprobrious and despitefull words and beate her out of his doores openly and to manifest vnto the world how much he was inwardly vexed with the spoile of his daughter he neuer after would eate at any table nor sleepe in a bed nor put on any shirt neuer pared his nails pol'd his haire nor cut his beard which grew so long that the people called him Barbadon for it continued vncut till it reached beneath his knees This malcontent liued so long that his grand child called D. Alphonse grew to be a man and Duke of Bragance created by the great Auize maister his father who by the election of the people afterward became King of Portugale and for his worthie acts was surnamed memorable and Barcelos by the right of his wife the sole daughter and inheritor to the Constable of Portugale This towne of Veyros stāds betweene 7 or 8 other towns belonging to the said Duke and is distant but foure leagues from Villa Vicosa where his pallace is This vicinitie was the cause that he had perfect intelligence of the shoomaker his grandfather the reports he heard of him made him so desirous to see him that he determined to go seeke him out himself in his owne town where meeting him in the streets he alighted frō his horse and kneeled downe before him bare-headed and desired him to giue him his hand and his blessing withall The shoomaker hauing an eye to the Dukes traine that attended vpon him and seeing his base humblenesse and hearing his speeches amazedly conceiued him to be some great personage vnknowne to him said Sir do you mocke me The Duke answered So God help me I do not but in earnest I craue I may kisse your hand and receiue your blessing for I am your grand child and sonne to Ines your daughter conceiued by the King my Lord and father Assoone as the shoomaker heard these sayings he clapped his hand before his eyes and said God blesse me from euer beholding the soone of so wicked a daughter as mine was Yet forasmuch as you are not guiltie of her offence hold take my hand and my blessing In the name of the father c. But neither the Duke nor his followers could perswade him to pull away the hand that couered his eyes so confident this old man was in his discontentment neither would he talke any longer with the Duke Shortly after this old man died and before his death he tooke order for a tombe to couer him whereupon he communded to be ingrauen all manner of tooles that belonged to a shoomaker with this Epitaph This sepulcher Barbadon caused to be made Being of Veyros a shoomaker by his trade For himselfe and the rest of his race Excepting his daughter Ines in any case I haue heard it reported by the ancientest persons that the fourth Duke of Bragance D. Iames soone to Donna Isabel sister to the king D. Emmanuel caused that tombe to be defaced being the sepulcher of his fourth grandfather As for the daughter after she was deliuered of that son continued a very chast and vertuous woman all her life and the king made her Commandresse of Santos a most honorable place and very plentiful to the which none but Princesses are admitted liuing as it were Abbesses and Princesses of a Monastery builded without the walles of Lisbone called Santos that is Saints founded by reason of some Martyrs that were there martyred And the religious women of that place haue libertie to marrie with the Knights of their order before they enter into that holy profession the order is called S. Iames bearing the same Crosse In this Monasterie the same Donna Ines died leauing behind her a glorious reputation for her vertue and holinesse Obserue gentle Reader the constancie that this Portugale a shoomaker continued in lothing to behold the honourable estate of his grand child nor would any more acknowledge his daughter hauing bene a leud woman so purchasing aduancement with dishonour This considered you will not wonder at the Count Iulian that plagued Spaine and executed the King Rodrico for forcing his daughter la Caua The example of this shoomaker is especially worthie the noting and deeply to be considered for beside that it makes good our assertion it teaches the higher not to disdaine the lower as long as they be vertuous and louers of honour It may be that this old man for his integritie rising from a vertuous zeale merited that a daughter comming by descent from his grand child should be made Queene of Castile and the mother of great Isabell grandmother to two Emperours Charles the fifth and Ferdinando and confute the prouerbe in Spaine De cien en cien an̄os los Reyes villanos Y de ciento en seyes los villanos Reyes which is From a hundred to a hundred yeares Kings become villains and from a hundred to sixe villaines become Kings so here the plough was conuerted into the Scepter in lesse then three score and ten yeares For the proofe of my second proposition I must necessarily referre you to the historie expressed in the discourse of the twelfth letter intituled Admirable aduentures c. concerning Dom Sebastian the true and lawfull King of Portugale where it is reported of D. Alphonse the African King of Portugale that seeing King Lewis the sixt deluded him in not giuing him aid according to his promise made at the beginning when he first arriued in France by which meanes for two yeares space he left Portugal not being able for want of power to bring his purpose to any good passe for his rteurne being ashamed to be seene of the Portugals for that he lost a battell against the Castilians determined with himselfe to steale as vnknowne out of France secretly and place himselfe in a Monastery neare vnto Rome And to effect that dissigne he disguised himselfe in a strange habite taking with him but two of his people to accompanie him but he and they were intercepted and taken by the way by Robinet termed the Oxe of Normandy which Philippus Comineus also confirmeth with this addition that king Lewis was much offended with Robinet for that peece of seruice forcing him to supply him with
Piemontoise borne also who often vsed to checke and reprooue his sonne in law for going so much to the King saying he was am impostor and a counterfeit and his son in law boldly defended the King by all the meanes and reasons he could deuise During this contention betwixt the father and the son in law the old man said Come hither heare me Emanuel Philibert Duke of Sauoy sent an Ambassador to Dom Sebastian king of Portugal his nephew sonne to his cosin germaine which Ambassador brought him a present and returned backe againe from the said King with answer and another present from the King to the Duke the Ambassadors name was Dominico Belli whose seruant I was at that very instant by meanes whereof I saw and was priuie to all the parcels and placed them my selfe in the casket and likewise saw aduisedly what was returned from the King Now sit if you can perswade that man that says he is D. Sebastiā c. to tel me what parcels those were that were sent to and fro directly you shall bring me to be of your mind and to confesse that he is the very same man he nominates himselfe to be Iohn Bassanesse hearing these words bethought himselfe which way he might come to haue conference with the King to vnderstand the right of this matter as he was studying how to bring his purpose about he dreamed of a stratageme which should effect his designe which was that he wold perpetrate some light crime in hope therfore to be cōmitted to the prison where the king was wherupō he resolued to take a cudgel vnder his cloake go to the Realto the chiefest place in Venice and there quarel with one or other and bastinado him vntil he had drawn bloud of him for which act he doubted not but to be committed he proceeded according to his secret determination and when he was come neare the Realto he met with a friend of his who perceiuing by his countenanee that he was troubled in mind said vnto him Sir I see by you there is somewhat amisse Iohn Bassanesse being wel assured that he was a faithfull seruant to the King laid open his intention vnto him who found a meanes to get a note in writing vnder the kings hand of all the parcels that passed from the one to the other This memorandum was put into the hands of one Lecnardo Donato one of the Sabio grande that first examined the King and was thought to owe him litle good will but after he surueyed his cause and found it so iust true trauelled earnestly to the Senate to pronounce him Dom Sebastian the true king of Portugal All this I haue heard confirmed by many very worthy persons the originall I could not bring with me for that Donato at my being there was employed as Generall of fiue and twentie thousand foote and fiue thousand horse in the countie of Brosse which force the Siegniorie had leauied the yeare before for their defence vpon some intelligence c. But as soone as Iohn Bassanesse had got the writing he hyed him home to his father in law and they agreed betweene them that one should stand at one end of the table and the other below and the father wrote the peeces he knew and the son by his note was able to informe the old man of diuers parcels that he had forgotten and the old man said it was hast made him ouerslip somewhat those foure white horses said he I did not well remember but I thinke verily it was true and the old man wondred not a little how his sonne came by this intelligence and said he had deuised it himselfe but seeing himselfe vanquished said to his sonne Visit the King my son at your pleasure and do him what good you may and I beseech God to assist him Forasmuch as I know the curious sort of people desire to view the particulars and to make our proofe the more autentical I haue here set thē down in order as they were inuentoried The parcels presented by the Duke to the King A case full of silkes of diuers colours Another full of cloth of siluer of diuers sorts and colours Another full of cloth of gold of diuers colours A diamond set in a ring An auncient garment of very great value being a trophe taken from the French at S. Quintaines embrodered garnished about the necke with many iewels foure white horses which the old man had forgotten and diuers other peeces not named Those parcels that were sent from the King to the Duke A great chaine of gold of very good value two peutrils two bits two paire of stirops all garnished with diamonds rubies and other stones of great price One diamond set in gold which Bartholomeo Veneti said was as big as the naile of his right thombe Many East-Indian dishes of sundrie colours with other rich things of good esteeme For the second of the last proofes being the fourth and last you shall vnderstand that there be foure merchants at Venice men indued with wealth honour estimation and charitie that in my hearing haue named these foure witnesses Barnaba Rizzo Iean Bassanesse Constantin Nicoli who keeps in his hand the original letter of D. Raimond Marqueti by which it is manifest that D. Sebastian is one man and Marco Tullio Catizzone another which letter he shewed publickely at S. Markes to conuince the falshood of the Castilians and their adherents for the which and such other like seruices the Spaniards could not be appeased without reuenge The nineteenth of October I had intelligence by letters that one came into this honest mans shop his seruants being sent all out of the way and cut him on the head with a curtelaxe and in diuers other places so dangerously that he was in great perill of his life The malefactor escaped vnknowne The fourth and last is called Baptiste Dolphine and these foure haue bene euer good friends to the King both by entertaining him and trauelling in his affaires to the vttermost of their power to set him at libertie without intermission of any minute of oportunitie that might be spent in his profitable seruice But the Castilian Agents considering and knowing the zeale of these personages and obseruing their constancie that both with all their might and maine defended the cause of the King my maister seeing that neither faire promises perswasions nor threatnings could make them desist from their vowed fidelitie and assistance entred into this diuellish practise First they beganne to publish these witnesses to be fooles cosiners and rogues and perswaded certaine bankers and brokers to lay wagers with them that the prisoner was not Dom Sebastian the King assuring them that they might offer to giue a thousand for one if euer it were prooued or published for that they knew assuredly that he was a Calabrian a Sodomite a theefe a cosiner and a counterfeit and that ere long they should see him hanged vpon one of the pillars of S. Markes
Church These vsurers beleeuing this to be true and desirous to make gaine of any thing beganne to enter into the course of laying wagers as the Castilians had aduised them The witnesses hearing they offered so franckly a thousand for one if the prisoner were iudged to be Dom Sebastian c. knowing certainly that it was he beleeuing that the Senate in regard of such especiall markes tokens and proofes would not refuse to publish him what they had found him were easily drawne to bargaine with these bankers to some of the which the simple and honest men gaue out twentie some thirtie some fiftie some ten some fiue crownes in hope to be paid a thousand for one so that they had giuen out some three hundred crownes or more and shortly after they found out the wrong and hindrance they had done to the poore Kings cause by their mony they begun to repent themselues exceedingly of their folly the account was cast that the repaiment would amount to three hundred thousand crownes And the bankers seeing themselues ingaged for so great a sum of monie and if the Senate should chance to publish that which they knew to be true that they were like to be stripped of the greatest part of their substance began to complot and oppose themselues to counterchecke the truth which fell out to be a great preiudice and barre to the King my maisters cause for that many chiefe men and the factors of many principall houses were interested in this hazard of indemnitie as those of the house of Astroci Caponi Baglioni Labia Iacobo Begia Antonio Simone Pietro Tobon Bastian Garinoni and many others of their parents and allies for their sakes among which were diuers that bare office in the common-weale as Iacobo Fuscurini a proctor in S. Marke that was euer enemie to the King my maister In the end this diuellish inuention and Castilian pernicious pollicie wrought vs much woe and multiplied our enemies infinitely for it was so commonly knowne and spoken that litle children as they went for mustard could say that this was the principall cause why the Senators would haue had Dom Sebastian say he was not Dom Sebastian but a Calabrian and they promised straight to set him at libertie and not that fauour alone but they would do what else for him he could or would require Whereupon he wrote a letter to the Pope complaining iustly vpon the Senators of Venice for requiring at his hands so vnlawfull a thing to whom he declared in his letter that he answered them that he had rather die a tortured death then confesse so palpable an vntruth to gaine an ignominious life and libertie O that it were possible for me to speake all that is true in this case but I must let passe infinite iniuries least the reuealing all might rather aggraute then relieue my maisters miserie If I durst this discourse should haue bene more ample and better vnderstood if it were lawful that I might say what I could say that the Monarks and Princes of Christendome haue done the King my Lord secretly and openly much good and ill and are vnwilling either of both should be manifested to the world in writing Notwithstanding I will neuer burie in silence an answer that a grand Sabio of this commonwealth made to a magnificent Prince in Europe of great vnderstanding but of no great antiquitie This Sabio going to visite this Prince was intreated by him to tell him what ground the Seigniorie of Venice had to proceed vpon the prisoner in that forme which called himselfe Dom Sebastian King of Portugale for said he if they found him to be a Calabrian why did they set him at libertie without chastisement And if it were verified vnto them by good proofes and euidence that he was Dom Sebastian King of Portugal why did they vse him in that maner The grand Sabio publikely made this answer in the presence of many Sir forasmuch as the affaires concerned the estate of Spaine the Seigniorie would not presume to iudge whether it was he or not This man was committed for disobeying a commaundement the Seigniorie laid vpon him and therefore restrained two yeares of his libertie to the end he might repent him of his fault and after the expiration of two yeares againe dismissed him vpon the like commaundement And to be plaine with your Excellencie the man would follow no good aduice but was wilfull turbulent and of ill gouernement by which meanes much ill is come vnto him That word ill aduised might haue bene well interpreted for that he would not denie himselfe to be that which vndoubtedly he was It was not my fortune to be present at this act being elsewhere employed out of those parts but at my returne it was related to me by a learned person that was there in present which afterward the same Prince himselfe did ratifie vnto me assuring me that the answer of that Sabio grand did verily induce him to beleeue that that prisoner was Dom Sebastian the very true King of Portugale for if the Seigniorie had held this man to be a Calabrian said this Prince to what purpose did the Sabio hold me with such a long discourse publickely considering he knew the priuitie of the affaires if he had bene proued a Calabrian it had bene sufficient to haue said in a word Sir he was a Calabrian an impostor and a cosiner without any more ado But you see how the world fares and how it swayes abruptly and so ends my pitifull narration aduising intreating and coniuring you gentle Reader to shun the snares and trips of these subtill enemies for I can assure you by the testimonie of a good conscience that they be those that S. Chrysostome terme the Pharises Qui portabant mel in ore fel in corde they will flap you in the mouth with honie which when you begin to chew perhaps you shall taste sweete but in the digestion you shall find it most bitter in operation Farewell FINIS