Christendome thought it better for him to ende the peace with some aduauntage theÌ„ that the Turke should begyn the warre with too much strength therfore in sommer .1550 he sent Iohn de Vega Viceroy of Cicile Andrea Dorea into Barbaria who wan the strong towne of Affrica from Dragut Raies sometyme a Pirate and now the Turkes chief doer in all the affaires of Affrike and mare mediteraneo This Court raised vp other rumors of this brech with the Turke how that this enterprice was made for Seripho sake a hethen kyng But the Emperours frend in Barbaria to whom Dragat Rayes had done great wrong yet men that knew the truth and are wont also to say it haue told me that the towne of Affrica stode so fit to annoy Spayne for the Turke when he lift that the Emperour was compelled to seeke by all meaner to obtaine it much fearyng lest when he was absent in Germany the Turke would be too nigh and to homely a gett with hym in Spayne whensoeuer the peace should be expired The whole story of winnyng Affrica ye may read wheÌ„ you list beyng wel written in Latin by a Spaniard that was present at it Affrica was earnestly required agayne by the Turke and fayre promised agayne by the Emperour but beyng in deede not deliuered the Turke for a reuenge the next yeare first assaulted Malta and after wan Tripoly from whence the Turke may easely and soddenly whensoeuer hee list set vpon Cicelie Naples or any cost of Italie or Spayne and most commodiously what soeuer the Emperour doth hold in Barbary â–ª so that the gayne of Affrica is thought nothyng comparable with the losse of Tripoly When Tripoly was besieged by the Turkes Monsieur Daramont was sent Ambassadour to Constantinople from the French kyng and ariuyng by the way at Malâ—a hee was desired by the great master of the order to go to Tripoly and for the frendshyp that was betwene Fraunce and the Turke to treat for the Christians there Daramont did so and had leake of the Turkes generall to enter the towne and talke with the Captaine And by this madnes they within yelded on this condition to part safe with bag and baggage which was graunted by the generall But assoone as the Turkes entred the towne they put old yong man woman and child to the sword sauing two hundred of the strongest men to be their Galley slaues for euer The generall beyng asked why he kept no promise made this aunswere If the Emperour had kept faith with my master for Affrica I would not haue broken with them of Tripoly and therefore sayth he with Christen men which care for no trothe promises may iustly be broken This Turkish crueltie was reuenged this last yeare in Hungary when lyke promise of lyfe was made and yet all put to the sword the Christians biddyng the Turkes remember Tripoly To such beastly crueltie the noble feates of armes be come vnto betwixt the Christen men and the Turkes And one fact of either side is notable to bee knowen yet horrible to be told and fouler to be followed and it is pitie that maÌ„s nature is such as will commonlie commend good thynges in readyng and yet will as commonly follow ill thynges in doyng The Bassâ— of Budâ— tooke in a skirmish a geÌ„tleman of the kyng of Romanes for whose deliuery men for entreaty and money for hys raunsome were sent to Budâ— The Bassâ— appointed a day to geue them aunswere and at time and place assigned called for them and sent for the gentleman likewise And soddenly comâ— out two hangmen bare armed with great butchers kniues in theyr handes bringing with them certaine â—andoggeâ— musled kept hungry without meate of purpose the Bassa bad them do their feate who commyng to the gentleman stripped him naked and bound him to a piller after with their kniues they cut of his flesh by gobbets and flang it to the dogges Thus the poore gentlemaÌ„ suffred grief great for the payne but greater for the spight nor so tormeÌ„ted in feelyng his fleshe mangled with kniues as in seyng him selfe peece meale deuoured by dogges And thus as long as hee felt any payne they cut him in collops and after they let their dogges lose vpon him to eate vp the residue of him that the grief which was ended in him being dead might yet continue in his frendes lookyng on They were bad depart and tell what they saw who ye may be sure were in care enough to cary home with them such a cruell message Not long after this three Turkes of good estimation and place were taken by the Christen men for whose raunsome great summes of gold were offred Aunswere was made to the messenger that all the gold in Turky should not saue theÌ„ And because ye Turkes will eate no swines flesh you shall see if swine will eate any Turkish fleshe And so likewise great bores were kept hungry in sight of the messenger the three Turkes were cut in collops and throwne amongest them For these foule deedes I am not so angry with the Turkes that began them as I am sory for the Christen men that follow them I talked with a worthy gentleman this day both for his great experience and excellent learnyng Marc Anthonio d'Aâ—â—la Ambassadour of Venice with the Emperour who told me that the great Turke him selfe Religion excepted is a good and mercyfull iust and liberall Prince wise in makyng and true in performyng any couenant and as sore a reuenger of troth not kept He prayed God to kepe him long aliue for his eldest sonne Mustapha is cleane contrary geueÌ„ to all mischief cruell false gettyng he careth not how vniustly and spendyng he careth not how vnthriftely what soeuer he may lay hand on wilye in makyng for his purpose ready to breake for his profite all couenantes he is wery of quietnes and peace a seeker of strife and warre a great mocker of meane men a sore oppressor of poore men openly contemnyng God and a bent enemy agaynst Christes name and Christen men But to go forward with my purpose The Turke beyng onest disclosed an open enemy to the Emperour many meane men begaÌ„ to be the bolder to put out their heades to seeke some open remedy for theyr priuate iniuries Fraunce beyng at euery mans elbow to harten and to helpe whosoeuer had cause to be aggreued with the Emperour And first Octauio Duke of Parma much agreued as nature well required with his fathers death besides that fearing the losse not onely of his state but also of his lyfe fell from the Emperour in the end of the yeare .1550 Pietro Aloysio Farnesio sonne to Papa Paulo tercio Duke of PlaceÌ„tia father to this Duke Octauio Duke of Parma which maried the Emperors base daughter and to Horatio Duke of Castro who of late hath maried also the French kynges base daughter and the two Cardinals Alexandro and Ramusio Farnesy was slaine men say by the
meanes of Ferranto Gonzaga gouernour of Millan by whose death the state of Placentia belōging then to the house of Fernesia came into the Emperour handes The whole processe of this mans death is at length set out in the stories of Italie my purpose is onely to touch it because hereby rose such a heate betwixt the whole famely of Fernesia and Don Ferranto Gonzaga as hath stirred vp such a smoke in Italy betwixt the Emperour and Fraunce as is not like to be quenched but with many a poore mans bloud as Horace noteth wittely out of Homer saying What follies so euer great Princes make The people therfore go to wrake Octauio beyng sorest greeued with his fathers death and beyng best able to reuenge it was so feared of Gonzaga that he thought hym selfe neuer assured for Petro Luis death as long as Octauio his sonne should lyue for men neuer loue whē they haue iust cause to feare but must nedes still mistrust without all hope of reconcilyng whom they haue before hurt beyōd all remedy of amendes And yet I heard a gentlemā of Millan say who was sent hether to the Emperour by Gonzaga that Octauio is such a Prince for good nature and gentle behauiour that he supposed there was not one in Italy but did loue hym except it were his maister Gonzaga These two Princes beyng neighbours the one at Millan the other at Parma shewed smal frendshyp the one to the other But Octauio was euermore wrong to the worse by many and sundry spites but chiefly with dayly feare of hys life by poysoning for the which fact certain persons in Parma were taken and layd fast Neuertheles Octauios nature is so farre from seekyng bloud and reuenge and so geuen to pitie and gentlenes that although they went about not onely to geue away his state by treason but also to take away his life by poysonyng yea and after that the deede was proued playnly on them and sentence of death pronounced openly agaynst them yet he gaue them lyfe and libertie which would haue taken both from hym And when Monsieur Thermes earnestly told him that where the euill were not kept in with feare of Iustice the good should neuer lyue in suretie and quietnes his aunswere was that he so abhorred the sheddyng of bloud in others as he would neuer wash his handes in any let his enemies do to him the worst they could Addyng that he thought it his most honor to be vnlykest such for his gentlenes which were misliked of all mē for their crueltie wherby he hath wonne that he which of good nature can hurt none is now of right loued of all and onely hated of him whō no man in Italy for his cruelty doth loue And this talke is so true that it was told in an other language but in the selfe same termes at an honorable table here in Bruxels by a gentleman of Millan an agent in the Court a doer for Gonzaga who the same tyme was prisoner in Parma And although Octauio by good nature was harmeles in not seekyng reuenge yet he was not careles by good reason in seekyng hys remedy but made oft great cōplaintes of his grieues to the Emperour which were not so hotely made but they were as coldly heard that at lēgth Octauio findyng least comfort where of right he looked for most ayde seyng that displeasures could not be ended in Gonzaga nor could not be amended by the Emperour then he compelled agaynst his nature turned his hate due to Gonzaga to reuenge this vndeserued vnkyndnes in the Emperour euen as Pausanias dyd with Phillip kyng of Macedonie who conqueryng with pollicie and power all outward enemyes was slayne when and where he thought him selfe most sure of his dearest frēd for vnkindnes because Phillip ought and would not reuēge Pausanias on him that had done him a foule displeasure Octauio seyng what was done to his father euen when hys graundfather was Byshop of Rome thought that now as his house decayed so his iopardy encreased And therfore agaynst a desperate euill began to seeke for a desperate remedie which was set from Rome a shop alwayes open to any mischief as you shall perceiue in these few leaues if you marke them well Octauio cōplained to Iulio tercio of the wrōges of Gonzaga of the vnkindnes of the Emperour desiryng that by his wisedome and authoritie he would now succor him or els not onely he should leese his life but also the Church of Rome should lose her right in Parma as she had done before in Placentia The Byshop gaue good eare to this talke for he spied that hereby should be offred vnto him a fit occasion to set the Emperour and Fraunce together by the eares He thought the Emperour was to bigge in Italy hauyng on the one side of Rome Naples vnder his obedience on the other side Siena Florence and Genoa at his commaundement besides Placentia Millan Monteferrato and a great part of Piemount The Emperour beyng thus strong in Italy the Byshop thought his own state to be his so lōg as it pleased the Emperour to let him haue it therfore if Parma were not left an entry for Fraunce to come into Italy he might ouersoone be shut vp in present miserie when all outward ayde should be shut out from him The Popes counsel was that Octauio should put him selfe vnder the French kynges protection whom hee knew would most willingly receiue him Parma lying so fit for the French kyng when soeuer he would set vpon the enterprice of Millan This practise of the Pope Monsieur de Thermes the French kynges Ambassadours dyd vtter before the consistorie of Cardinals at Rome prouing that the Pope not the kyng his master was the occasion of that warre When Octauio with the whole house of Farnesia became thus Frēch the Emperour more fearyng the state of Millan then lamentyng the losse of Octauio persuaded on his side the Byshop of Rome to require Parma as the Churches right to punish Octauio as the Churches rebell promising that he him selfe as an obedient sonne of the Church would stretch out his arme and open his purse in that recouery of the Churches right neuertheles the Byshop must beare the name of the warre because hee might not breake peace with Fraunce Thus Princes openly cōtenācing quietnes priuily brewyng debate although they got others to broch it yet God commōly suffreth thē selues to drinke most of the misery thereof in the end The Byshop seyng that he must either begyn the mischief or els it would not on so fast as he wished to haue it set lustely vpon it and first cited Octauio after excommunicated him and shortly after besieged Parma ayded both with mē and money by the Emperour which thyng the French kyng began to stomach thinckyng that the Emperour dyd offer him both wrong dishonor in not suffring him beyng a kyng to helpe a poore man that fled to his ayde And thus these two Princes first
priuate cause to say wel on him do speake it boldly and openly that he was such a one as neuer could content his couetousnes with money nor neuer satisfie his crueltie with bloud And so by this foule meane many gentlemē in Naples haue lost some theyr liues but moe theyr liuynges and almost all theyr libertie And there be at this day as men say here that know it a good sort of thousandes Neapolitanes named Foriensuti who beyng spoyled at home by violence robbe other abroad for neede which comber so the passage betwixt Rome and Naples as no man departeth commonly from Rome without company which commeth to Naples without robbyng The whole body of the kyngdome of Naples was so distempered inwardly with this misorder with a litle outward occasion it would easely haue burst forth into a foule sore A lesse matter then the rauishyng of Lucrece A meaner ayde then the helpe of Brutus was thought sufficient to haue stirred vp this inward grudge to open reuenge But see how God prouided for the Emperour and the quyet of that kingdome For God in takyng away one Spanyard hath made Naples now more strong then if the Emperour had set xx thousand of the best in Spayne there for euen this last Lent. 1553. Don Pietro di Toledo dyed at Florence by whose goyng away mens hartes in Naples be so come agayne to the Emperour as he shall now haue lesse neede either to care for the fyne fetches of Fraunce or to feare the great power of the Turke A gentleman of this Court a true seruaunt to the Emperour sayd merely in a company where I was that his master the Emperour had won more in Naples by the death of the Uiceroy then he had lost in Lorraigne by the forgyng of Metz. But to my purpose not many yeares agoe diuers in Naples made their cōplaint to the Prince of Salerne of their griefes who was thought would be most willyng for his good nature and best able for his authoritie to seeke some remedie for them by way of intercessiō to the Emperour The Prince beyng here at Bruxels humbly besought hys Maiestie to pitie the miserie of hys poore subiectes who by this sute gat of the Emperour for hys cliantes wordes without hope and of the Uiceroy for him selfe hatred without ende The Prince yet alwayes bare hym selfe so wisely that he could not without some sturre be thrust downe openly and ridyng on his iourney he was once shot with a dagge secretly Thus he seyng no ende of displeasure in the Uiceroy no hope of remedy in the Emperour when he saw the Turke on the Sea the French kyng in the field Duke Maurice and the Marches vp and a good part of Italy either risen or ready to rise thinkyng the tyme come of theyr most hope for helpe by the Princes and of least feare of punishment by the Emperour came forth to play his part also amongest the rest who whē flying first to the French kyng and after by hys counsell as it is sayd to the Turke is compelled to venture vppon many hard fortunes And what succes he shall haue either of helpe in Fraunce or comfort of the Turke or mercy of the Emperour I can not yet write But this last winter he hath lyen in the I le of Cio and now I heare say this sommer he is on the Sea with 63. Gallyes of the Turkes at his commaundement what enterprice he will make or what successe he shall haue when we shall heare of the matter I trust I shal either by some priuate letter from hence or by present talke at home fully satisfie you therin ¶ Albert Marches of Bradenburge ALbert Marches of Bradenburge in the begynnyng of his sturre .1552 wrote a booke and set it Print wherin he declared the causes of hys fallyng from the Emperour wittely alledgyng common misery as a iust pretence of hys priuate enterprise makyng other mens hurtes his remedy to heale his own sores and common wronges hys way to reuenge priuate displeasures shewyng liberty to be last and Religion to be defaced in all Germany lamentyng the long captiuitie of the two great Princes and all the dispossessyng of hys father in law Duke Otto Henrick sore enueyng against the pride of the Spanyardes and the authoritie of straungers which had now in their handes the seale of the Impiere and in theyr swynge the doyng of all thynges and at their cōmaundement all such mens voyces as were to be called the Imperiall Dietes cōpellyng the Germanes in their owne countrey to vse straunge toungs for their priuate sutes wherin they could say nothyng at all or nothyng to the purpose vsing Camera Imperialis at Spires for a common key to open all mens coffers when they listed and these were the chiefest points in Marches booke The Marches also sore enueyed agaynst Luice de Auila for writyng and agaynst the Emperour for suffring such a booke as Luice de Auila wrote wherein the honor of Germany and the Princes therof by name Marches Albert who was in the first warres on the Emperours side was so defamed to all the world yea the Marches was so throughly chafed with this boke that when I was in the Emperours court he offred the combat with Luice de Auila which the Emperour for good wil and wise respectes would in no case admit Not onely the Marches but also the Princes at the Diet of Passan this last yeare made a common complaint of this booke I knew also the good old Prince Fredericke Palsgraue of the Rhene in September last when the Emperour lay at Landaw beside Spires goyng with his great army to Metz complayned to the Emperour hym selfe and to his counsell of a certaine spightfull place in that booke against him The good prince told me this tale him selfe at hys house in Heldibirge whē I caried vnto him kyng Edwardes letters the Lord Ambassadour him selfe beyng sicke at Spires And wise men say that the Duke of Bauiere also is euill contented for that which is written in that booke agaynst his father when he deserued of the Imperials to haue bene rewarded rather with prayse and thankes then with any vnkynde note of blame and dishonour of whom the Emperour in his warres agaynst the Lansgraue and the Duke of Saxonie receiued such kindnes as no Prince in Germany for all respectes in the case was able to affourde hym as first he had his whole countrey of Bauiere for a sure footyng place to begyn the warre in and had also both men and vittaile of hym what he would and at lēgth should haue had that countrey his onely refuge if that in warre he had come to any vnderdele as he was like enough to haue done But it was Gods secret will and pleasure to haue the matter then go as it did And for that cause men say Duke Albert of Bauiere that now is that hath maryed the Emperours niece was more straunge this last yeare to the Emperour