affection enforced her to discover to his Majesty what perhaps many others durst not for human respects The King giving her leave to speak freely she represented unto him the generall affliction of his people the calamity of his Kingdoms the abuses committed in his Revenues the many losses on every side and the sad condition of the whole Monarchy of Spain shewing him that these evils were the judgments of God upon him for suffering the government of his Kingdoms which God had appointed for him onely to continue in the hands of another that now it was high time that his Majesty should be out of his minority and that he should not incense the wrath of God against him by suffering his poor subjects to be abused at least that he would have compassion on the Prince his Son who ran an hazard to be simple King of Castile or lesse concluding that if she had offended his Majesty by her liberty of speech she was ready to receive punishment being well content having given her milk for the good of her King to sacrifice her blood for the good of the Realms of her Prince The King having hearkned unto her with much attention answered Haveis hablado verdades You have told me the truth After this appears upon the Stage for perfecting the Catastrophe of the Dukes Tragedy the Infanta Margarite de Savoy Dutchess of Savoy who had been so roughly handled by the Duke both before after her leaving Portugall being secretly come from Ocania where she had been in a manner confined and arrived at Court the Duke did his utmost to debar her audience with the King and to discredit her in the Councell of State and would not vouchsafe to visit her Neverthelesse the Queen invited her to come to her Lodgeings and took order that she should have opportuity to speak with the King for two hours space The Infanta gave God thanks for her safe deliverance out of the hands of the Portugals that after so great sufferings she might once more appear in the presence of his Majesty to make known her innocence and the failings and errors of others made a brief Relation of all things past in Portugall making it appear that she was innocent and that the losse of Portugall was to be attributed to the carelesnesse and negligence if not to the intention of the Duke The Queen in the mean time failed not to help out the Infanta in all her discourse which left so deep an impression in the heart of the King that it may truly be said That the mortall wound was given that very day to the favour of the Duke To dispatch him the sooner it was represented to the King what little respect the Grandees bare now to his Majesty not waiting upon him as they were wont but all retiring themselves The King asked the Marquess of Carpio what was the reason hereof Who replied That being little accounted of by the Duke they judged it more meet to forbear the services they owed to his Majesty then to lie under the suspition of the Duke and to give him occasion by their residence at Court to make them feel the effects of his jealousie To help forward there happened a memorable accident in Segovia where six men masked entring by force into the Governors house who imagining them to be Robbers offered them money and all that he had so they would not defile his wife and defloure his daughters One of them answered That they were not come to rob him but to serve the King and delivering a paper into his hands told him that if he would save his life t he should go immediatly to Madrid and present this Writing not to the Duke but to the King himself that it contained affairs very secret and of great importance to the State and to the service of his Majesty and would not depart till they saw him upon his way to Madrid threatning to kill him if he performed not that whereto he was obliged as a subject and as a Minister of the Kings Being arrived he had audience of the King and so was sent back to his Government It was judged by the circumstances that the contents of the Writing was very prejudiciall to the Duke Hereunto may be added one thing more that might probably have a strong influence upon the spirit of the King for the removall of his Favourite The Marquess of Grana Ambassador in Madrid for the Emperour bringing with him the hereditary valour of the House of Caretti the courage prudence and conduct of Affairs whereof he hath given sufficient testimonies in the military imployments which he hath had many years in Italy in Flanders and in Germany together with his great gift of five Languages which he speaks as if they were all naturall hath gained him a great esteem with all men And the liberty which he used in speaking of the affairs of the State although it proceeded from the natural ingenuity and zeal towards the interest of the House of Austria rendring him odious to the Duke whose ears had been accustomed to hear onely applauses full of flattery and not the plain sincere truth having now an opportunity to revenge himself with Justice did it to the purpose For having received a letter from the Emperour to the King that the affairs of the House of Austria grew worse and worse every day so that if speedy order were not taken all would be ruined that his Majesty ought to consider wel the quality of the person that had made him lose Portugall Catalonia and so many other Dominions c. He presently communicates the same to the Queen together with his instructions that he had a part of what he should doe therein for the Letter was open and so had audience of the King where it may well be imagined with what violence and ardor he prest the affair against his enemy To all these assaults that came upon the neck one of another this was none of the least that the Prince Don Balthazar Carlos the only son of the King was now going into the fourteenth year of his Age yet to the great astonishment of all the world he continued under the tuition of Women without any Officers and servants given him after the manner of Princes whereas at the same time one of the Kings base sons of the same age had a Court formed him was declared Generalissimo of Portugall Prince of the Sea and Grand Prior of Castile for the order of Malta and named Don John de Austria and had the Marquess of Castanieda given him for his Governor whereat the people murmured greatly For this Don John was begotten upon a Woman of base Extraction called la Calderona a Comedian not handsome but of extraordinary pleasantness who is since made a Nunne The Youth being of excellent parts and like to make a gallant Man was much affected by the King though he be quite of another complexion The King having before been earnest to have
that the person of Don Duarte should be secured and how much it behoved his Imperial Majesty in this particular to shew his affection to the Catholick King his brother and to the whole house of Austria shewing that this Prince was the main prop of the house of Braganza that God had left this only remedy in the hands of the house of Austria whereby Portugal may be reduced to obedience that it would be a great error not to make use of this opportunity that if he should escape out of their hands he might by his great insight in Warlick affairs assist his brother and thereby much infest the Catholick King The Emperor having heard this discourse of Mello was at first so farr from being perswaded that he answered him he abhorred the breach of publick Faith and the violation of Hospitality that this would be against the Liberties of the Empire and against his own honor to imprison a Prince for no fault but on the contrary that had deserved so well of the Empire and to whom his Majesty confessed himself very much obliged The Arch-Duke Leopold brother to the Emperor did so farr detest the motion that he said he washt his hands of so foule and shamefull an act yet Mello not at all discouraged pursues his design corrupting with sums of money the Count of Tratmansdorff and some other pensioners to the Crown of Spain but they at length ashamed of the imployment Mello resolves upon a more subtil invention which was to perswade the Emperor to hearken to one Father Diego de Quiroga who of a Souldier turned Monk and was now Confessor to the Empress this Father being wont to give his opinion of such actions as these according to the rules of Interest of State would perswade the Emperor not only that with good conscience he might secure the person of Don Duarte but that for divirs reasons of State he ought to do it His Imperial Majesty at first very unsatisfied in the business was resolved not to do it but by the importunity of Mello and the ghostly perswasions of Quiroga he was at length induced to alter his resolution and to give order to D. Lewes Gonzaga that he should go to Leipen the Princes quarters and to summon him to Ratisbon in the mean time to prevent the ill impression that this would cause in the minds of all men of honor and honesty it was reported abroad that D. Duarte was fled for some misdemeanor and thereupon proposal was made of sixteen thousand crowns to any man that could bring him alive or dead of which the Prince being ignorant escaped very narrowly the hands of some of those people that went searching for him in hopes of the proposed reward when he was com to Ratisbon he was cast into a vile prison appointed only for persons of mean quality and all his Servants imprisoned D. de Francisco de Mello not content herewith now sollicites the Emperor afresh that he may be delivered into the Spaniards hands and sent prisoner to Milain whereto his Majesty would not hearken but on the contrary sent a message to D. Duarte promising upon his word not to deliver him into the hands of the Spaniard but to procure speedily his liberty But his ill usage increasing D. Duarte made all the means possible to get audience of the Emperor which would never be granted nor was it any wonder for there is no face mere ugly or more terrible to the offender tehn the face offended hereupon the Infante made his protestation calling God and man to witness the wrong and injurie done unto him by the Emperor to whom he was neither subject by any obligation or birth that when his brother was made King of Portugal he was in the Emperors service wholly ignorant of any designe of his brothers that if the King of Spain was offended he might revenge himself upon the person offending that that business no way concerned the Emperor All which particulars were acknowledged by his Imperial Majesty by a messenger sent to Don Duarte in prison assuring him again that he should not be delivered into the hands of his enemies yet that his liberty could not be granted for some reasons of State whereupon D. Francisco de Sosa Coutigno Ambassador extraordinary from Portugal to Swethland in the name of the King his Master represented at large to the Diet at Ratisbon the whole proceeding requiring justice and libirty for the Infante But nothing can prevail against Interest the effects of all Manifesto's Petitions and Intercessions were that the Infante was removed from place to place and sent farther off where he had still harder usage only the Emperor seemed yet immutable in his resolution not to deliver him into the hands of the Spaniard untill the most powerfull means in this world to conquer all difficulties was used which is money for upon promise of forty thousand crowns the Emperor contrary to the immunities of the Empire to the rules of hospitality to the priviledge of free Princes to the Law of Nations and contrary to his word and promise so often reiterated yeilded that the most innocent Prince should be sent whether the Catholick King should think meet so he was hurried away towards the State of Milain to remain prisoner in that Castle by the way as he entred into the Spanish Territories he was received by the Count de Siruela the Governor of that state wherethe Commissary of the Emperor took his leav to return to whom D. Duarte said openly Tell thy Master that I am more sorry that I have served so unworthy a Prince then to see my self a prisoner sold into the hands of my enemies but that the just Judg of the World will one day suffer the like dealing towards his children who are no more privildged for being of the house of Austria then my self that am of the blood royal of Portugal and that posterity will judg of him and of me The Emperor in his instructions to those that convoyed the Infante gave express order that in case their prisoner made any attempt to escape they should kill him upon the place Being arrived at Milain he was clapt up in the prison where all the Rogues and Banditi are to be kept with a guard in the same chamber so rude that he could hardly take any sleep Any man of honor would have been pierced to the very soul with this harsh treaty how much more a Prince of so high blood who knew himself descended from so many glorious Kings and allyed to the greatest Princes of Europe for which cause the Kings ever treated the house of Braganza much different from the Grandees of Spain giving them the respect due to soveraign Princes in so much that Philip the second who desired to a base that Family always received the Duke of Braganza under the same cloth of State within the Royal Curtain in all publick Assemblies allowing him always a chair with a cushion and as oft as
Orders of Knighthood which were worth to him 40000 Crowns per an' made himself great Master of the Kings Wardrobe Master of the Horse Great Chancellor of the Indies which three Offices were worth him 200000 Crownes per annum but much more considerable were the vast sums received from the Indies for when the Fleet set sail from Sevill and Lisbon he caused to be shipt abundance of Corn Wine and Oyle Custome-free which he sent from his County of Olivarez and selling the same in the Indies at four times their worth in Spain caused the Moneys to be employed in Spices Jewels Indigoes c. which are there at a low price bur of great value in Europe so that without cousening the King hee hath this way gained many Millions which Wise men perswade themselves were never spent in the Kings service As for his zeal to augment his Masters greatness some are of opinion That the excess of so eminent a Vertue was in him a Vice which produced great Mischiefs for he was so passionate in the pursuance of that designe that he feared not to discontent the People the Nobility the Princes the Queen her self so hee might content the King and carry on his design First for the People whose Love is the main foundation and strongest prop of Monarchies This blind passion carryed him away so far as to endevor to abolish in Spain divers priviledges and Liberties to the end hee might render the King more absolute over his Subjects Hee extorted from the Laity and Clergy by the Mediannates an invention of his own which was the Payment of half an years Revenues of all Offices and Benefices that were bestowed also by abasing and raising the value of Coyne an intollerable grievance to the Subject and by many other Impositions raised above Two hundred and sixteen Millions of Gold Such like endeavours were the first ground of the totall revolt of the Catalonians who together with the people of Aragon had so great Priviledges and Liberties that they passed rather for a people recommended then subject to the Kings of Spain whence it hath ever been Arcanum Imperii amongst the Kings of Spain to endeavor to infringe those Priviledges that rendred suspitious the Loyalty of those people Insomuch that in all the Wars with France the Kings of Spain durst not suffer their Armies to march that way Those of Aragon in that notable business of Don Antonio Perez were by Philip the second not without much craft and force brought into absolute subjection but the Catalonians continued stedfast in the maintenance of their Priviledges and very difficult to be reduced to such subjection because being borderers upon France by sea and land they could commodiously receive thence assistance or succour Nevertheless the said zeal of the Conde Duke put him upon that attempt so that at a Parliament holden at Barcellona the chief Citie of Catalonia the jealous Catalonians took no small distaste that the Duke endeavoured to invade their Privileges by not suffering their Commissioners to be covered in his presence which had used to be covered in the Kings presence After this the Duke proceeding in the like attempts to diminish their Priviledges yet to keep them in obedience quartered Souldiers upon them after the fashion of Lombardy but the Catalonians not being able to endure the insolence of the soldiers took Arms killed drave away their soldiers killed also their Vice-Roy the Conde di Coloma put themselves under the protection of the French Thus was lost the most populous part of all Spain a Countrey above 800 miles in compass and the onely Countrey of all Spain wherein is to be found all materials necessary for making and rigging ships The Castles Manors Villages great Towns and Cities stand so thick that they seem rather one continued Citie then a Province To this may be added the inexpressible losse of the Kingdome of Portugall with all the dependencies upon that Crown in the East and West Indies Africa and Tercera Islands by the miscarriage of the Conde Duke in discontenting that Nation which shall be related at large as a most remarkable History There have ever been a certain Antipathy enmity betwixt the Spaniards and Portugals as great as between the Spaniard and French But since they have been subject to the Kings of Spain have been so averse from the Government that the Parish Priests and Preachers at the end of their Mass and Sermons were wont to exhort the people publickly to say two Ave Maries to the end that it would please our Saviour and the blessed Virgin to deliver them from the Tyranny as they termed it of the Castillians expecting always some favourable occasion to make an universall Revolt Notwithstanding in the year 1636. the new Tax called the Fifth part was generally imposed that is Five per Cent. upon all Estates and Merchandise which being judged not only very grievous but also most unjust gave occasion to all the Southern part of Portugall to rise in arms and had no question set the whole Kingdom on fire had it not been quencht by the great care of the Infanta Margarita of Savoy the Kings Aunt then Governess The Court of Spain observing hereupon the inclinations of that people to an universall revolt resolved to use the best means to secure it In the first place to allure forth the great Duke of Briganza who for Riches power number of Tenants affection of the people and kindred was the chief Nobleman not onely of Portugall but of all Spain and which was more then all had an undoubted right to the Crown of Portugall and therefore certainly it was a cruell pity in Philip the second to seiz upon this Kingdom and yet to leave the pretender to the Crown not onely alive but greater and higher then ever he was It being an infallible Maxime That nothing can bee sufficient to secure his Loyalty who hath power enough to justifie disloyalty To make sure of the Duke they first offred him the Government of Milan which he modestly refused resolving not to stirre forth of Portugall Hereupon the Conde Duke was resolved to try all ways imaginable to which the Rebellion of Catalonia seemed to offer a fit opportunity for this design for the Conde Duke politickly gave out that the King was to goe in person against the Catalonians and therefore that all the Nobility in the Kings dominions were to appear within 4 Months at Madrid to wait upon the King in this Expedition But the Duke of Braganza wel knowing the affection of the Portugals and suspition of the Castillians to the end that hee might take off the one and assure the other retires himself to his Countrey house there to follow his hunting excusing himself to the Conde Duke that his affairs at present were in so bad a condition that hee could not appeare abroad with that splendor and dignity that became a person of his Quality and that he was confident he could doe his
formed a Family and Officers for the Prince the Conde Duke alwayes hindred the same because first hee feared that the Prince who was of a most lively spirit would then finde out that abroad whereof the King was kept ignorant at home Secondly to gain an opportunity by prolonging the time for Don Henry his Bastard to fashion himself for the Court and by his Match and Honours conferred upon him be at length reputed fit to bee Governor to the Prince and succeed in the grace and favour of the King At length the King being earnestly sollicited by the Queen formed a List of the Servants that were to serve the Prince in his Court now to be erected because he was of the Age of Fourteen years giving notice to the Duke that provision might be made of al things necessary for a Court The Duke tooke the List and changed a great number in the same which displeased the King extremely having been before for other reasons sufficiently moved after the King spake of the Princes Lodgings desiring to know the Dukes Opinion who answered That his Highness would be very well in the Lodgings of the Infante Cardinal deceased But why my Lord replyed the King will not He be better in those Lodgings you are in at present which are the very Lodgings that my Father and I had being Princes The Duke was with this struck dumbe perceiving well that his disgrace drew neare for certain it is That his extreme insolence hastned as much as possible the Resolution that the King had taken For that very Evening his Majesty wrote him a Billet with his own Hand whereby hee forbad him to meddle any more in the Government and from henceforward hee should retire to Loeches not farre from Madrid untill farther Order should bee given The Duke read this Billet without any disturbance resolving in a matter of that weight not to discharge his minde but to his Wife only to whom he sent the Note by a Post to Loeches Next day she came weeping to her Husband and after two houres discourse went to speak with the King who soon dispatcht her the same day shee cast her self with teares at the Queens feet beseeching her to intercede for them in consideration of the many services and sincere faithfulness of the Duke her husband The Queen gave her a short answer Lo que han hecho Dios los vasallos y los malos sucessos no lo puede deshazer el Rey in ye What God the people and evill successes have done the King nor I can undoe This businesse was not known Friday and Saturday to any but Don Lewis de Haro of whom the King made use to talk with the Duke about some secret affairs This Don Lewis de Haro is Nephew to the Duke but so hated by him that lately his mother dying who was sister to the Duke he would not once send to visit him notwithstanding Don Lewis carried himselfe so Nobly in this occasion that casting himselfe at the kings feet he beseeched him that in regard the Dukes removall was irrevocable yet that it would please his Majesty at least that it should be done with all the mildness and with as little diminution of his Honor as the Justice of his Majesty could permit The King hereupon granted that the Duke should continue three days in his Palace that hee should assist at the Councels and Assemblies and give Audience for his particular affairs Also it was permitted to the Duke that in presence of the chief Notary and of Secretary Carnero hee should review all his Papers and burn what hee pleased which he did Though the King were thought too indulgent therein The same day as some came to have Audience of the Duke he bad let them know That he was a little indisposed and suffred none to enter Saturday morning the King sent to demand the Key wherewith he entred the Kings Lodgings at his pleasure but hee sent to demand Audience of the King which Hee granted him in publick before the Patriarch and divers Gentlemen of his Bedchamber where he spake more then a quarter of an hour and whereas the King was wont to heare with attention those that spoke hee now seemed to be careless of what the Duke said who having made an end went immediatly into a Junta where he shewed himself as rigorous as ever and handled so roughly two of the Secretaries that they said afterwards one to another Que Diablo tiene el Conde en la Cabeâ—a nos ha tratados como trapos viejos What the Devill aileth the Count He hath handled us like Scullions The same day some Ambassadours demanded audience of him but had not admission under pretence that he was not well Finally that evening being St. Anthonies day the disgrace of the Duke began to be noised in the Palace but with such excess of joy as that the next morning was found a paper stuck up at the Palace gate with these verses En el dia de Sant Antonio Hisieronse milagros dos Empeço a reinar Dios Y del Rey se echo el Demonio Upon the day of Saint Anthony God did his reign begin The Divell on the same Saints day Was cast out of the King Next day being Sunday the joy was so universall that had it not been a little curbed by the fear that men had that the Duke by his craft would regain the Kings favour there would have been publick fires of joy however all that day the Fruterers Bakers threw their Wares to those that would have them without taking any money to testifie their excess of joy and contentment Munday the King Queen Prince Infanta and Dutchess of Mantua passing all in one Coach towards the Carmelites a great multitude of people followed crying Viva el Rey por lo que ha hecho viva el Rey y muer a el mal govierno God save the King for what he hath done let the King live and the ill government die There arrived also an infinite number of people to participate of the common joy which was taken for the disgrace of the Duke Tuesday the Dutchess with extraordinary submissiveness attempted again to make an accomodation but all in vain whereat the Duke was so enraged against the Queen whom he looked upon as the sole cause of his disfavour that as soon as the King was departed to goe to the Escuriall he carried himself in the Councels and Junta's in such a manner that he made the world believe he was yet to stay which not onely cooled the generall joy but amazed the Queen so greatly that that night she wrot a most pressing letter to the King concerning him Thursday evening the King returning towards Madrid met on the way ten Grandees of Spain and asked them what was happened at Madrid that made so many come together Don Melchior de Borgia answered him That the time was how come that his Majesty might know the true devotion of the Grandees towards the Crown and that
Michael Molina to be hanged on a gallowes and his goods to be confiscated to the Kings use the execution whereof they leave to the Lord Judge D. John de Quinnoues and this is their will and pleasure This sentence was made known to the prisoner upon the first of August and execution done accordingly in the Plaça Major of Madrid the third day following at which time and place the Proclamation usually made at the execution was thus THis is the Justice which the King our Soveraigne Lord commandeth to be done upon this man for having committed high treason and published falsities forgeries and horrible cheats on the affaires and grave ministers of state for which he commands that he be hanged by the neck till he die to the end that it may be to him for a punishment and to others an example then concludes Quien tal haze tal pague He that thus doeth let him thus pay for the same As he stood upon the ladder ready to be turned off he delivered in writing to father Andrew Emanuel of the Society of Jesus a declaration the contents whereof ensueth word for word LOyall subjects of our soveraigne Lord the King I am Michael de Molina born at Cuenca the grievousnes of my crimes is so great that a punishment can hardly be invented to equalize mine offences against God against our soveraigne Lord the King whom God preserve against the Emperour against my native country against the Lord Duke de Olivarez and Sant Lucar against the most grave faithfull and loyall Ministers of state whom I have discredited with my forgeries and lies The clemency of the King our soveraigne whom God preserve hath been very eminent in sentencing me so mercifully God grant to whom I now goe to render a strict account that there be found mercy for me in the life to come and that I then pay not for the clemency shewed me here I do here declare and confesse upon mine own free will that not having the feare of God nor man before mine eyes I have been the cause of the gretest part of the mischiefes that this Monarchy suffereth and of those calamities and miseryes which you faithfull people yet suffer for which I humbly beg pardon of all those that are absent as well as of you here present For I am the man that feigned that the King our soveraigne Lord whom God preserve and the Emperour instigated thereunto by the Lord Duke of Saint Lucar and fomented by him did plot the death of our most holy father Urban the 8 th Pope head of the Church and vicar of Christ for which purpose I invented and contrived orders of the King our soveraign and of the Emperour letters from the Duke Orders instructions and judgments of the Counsellours of State with letters from Vice Royes and Embassadours with purpose to abuse and deceive the Nuntio and the Embassadours of severall Princes and thereby to get money from them not caring for the dammage might arise and accrue from thence to the world and to this Monarchy and not contented here with I invented that in case the said death could not be effected that then endeavour should be to call a Councell and to depose the Pope or make a schisme in the Church I invented and forged that the Lord Duke did by order from the King the Emperour and the Counsell of state endevour to kill the Cardinal Richelieu Favorit to the most Christian King of France for which purpose and for the death of the Pope I feigned persons that were to have been instruments of the same I gave notice to the Ambassadours hereof shewing them letters and Orders which I feigned as I judged meet I made them believe that I was an Officer of the Counsell of state and that by that means I came to the knowledg of these plots and conspiracies whereby I have disturbed the world caused jealousyes and suspitions amongst all the Princes of Europe and the mischiefs that this Monarchy now suffereth I also advertised the Embassadours and the enemies of this state of letters consults orders and decrees made by the King and Counsell for driving the French out of Piemont the Correspondencies of the Cardinal of Savoy with the subjects of that state for effectuating the same the coming of Prince Thomas from Flanders to Savoy for the same purpose and to lay siege to Casal of an Army to be raysed and maintayned in Alsatia of an intention to kill Duke Bernard de Weimar General of the Swedes the intentions of the King our Soveraign with the states of Venice and Genoa concerning Piemont and Casal the purpose of supplies which both states of Venice and Genoa would send to France and Holland and the intentions of the Pope to assist France against Spain the intent of England to â—â—gue with Spain the purpose that the French and Hollanders had to joyn their fleets to hinder all succours of Flanders and to surprise the plate fleet and infect the coasts of Spain the design that the Hollander had upon Antwerp in the year 1638. the successe of Fontarabie whereupon I feigned letters from the Prince of Conde and from the Duchesse de Cheverâ—use also concerning the imprisonment of Don Gualterio Peni Secretary and Resident for France in this Court with whom I had intimate friendship which was the ground of all these disasters of the secret compliance between the Cardinall Infante and the Prince of Orenge of the conspirarcy by the Prince of Orenge to kill the Cardinal Richelieu the design of Holland that the States of Flanders should be independent of Spain and our King should renounce his right to the Cardinall Infanta to the end the Hollanders should receive him and subject themselves to him of the capitulations and agreement twixt the King our Sov and the Duke of Modena whereby I feigned that the said Duke was to assist with six thousand men at his own charge against France and that the King was to give him the charge of Viceroy of Catalonia and twenty thousand souldiers to enter into France by Catalonia which was the first ground of the warr at Salsas and Perpignian the key of Catalonia of the general resolutions of the year 1639. in order to the affayres of Germany Flanders and Italy of the purpose to take away the Nuntio's Court in these kingdomes for the disorders and excesses of the same of the great resentments of the King our soveraign against the King of France for his leagueing with the Swedes his confederation with the Turks and Protestant Princes of Germany for his protection and league with Holland for his commerce with Venice and Genoa to the great discommodity of Spain for the disunion which he endeavoured to make between Spain and England of the resentment that the King our Soverain had against the Pope for his amity and assisting of France and not his endeavouring rather as a father of the whole Church to pacify the warres by all meanes possible of the
race of the Portugals who have made us Kings by their own valour without forreign assistance by their own valour and with the effusion of their own blood This law was put in execution after the death of D. Fernando the 9 King of that race whose daughter Donna Beatrice being married out of Portugal to the King of Castile D. John the first was excluded from succession and a new election made from which new election that we may hasten to our purpose lineally descended D. Emanuel the fourteenth King of Portugal who had six sonns and two daughters in this following order 1 The Prince D. John 2 The Infanta Dona Beatrice married to the Emperour Charles the fift by whom she had Philip the second 3 The Infanta Dona Beatrice married to Emanuel Duke of Savoy by whom she had Philip Duke of Savoy 4 The Infanta D. Lewis who left only Don Antonio illegitimate 5 The Infante Don fernando died without issue 6 The Infante D. Alfonso Cardinal Archbishop of Lisbon and Abbot of Alcobaza never married 7 The Infante D. Henry Cardinal and Arch bishop of Braga 8 The Infante D. Edward who left two daughters the eldest was Mary married out of the Kingdom to Alexander Farnese Duke of Parma the yonger was Catherine married in the Kingdome to John Duke of Braganza After the death of King Emanuel succeeded his eldest sonne Don John called King John the third whose only sonne that had issue called Prince John dieing before his father left D. Sebastian who succeeding his Grandfather was slain before he was married in that Signal battell in Africa famous for the deaths of three Kings anno 1578. where were unfortunatly lost with their King most of the Nobility and Flower of Portugal Upon the death of King Sebastian the crown returned to the eldest survivour of his Granfathers brothers which was D. Henry the Cardinal whose function for he was a priest rendred him as uncapable of marrying as his age for he was 67. years old rendred him unable for generation so that during his raigne which lasted not two years the chief discourses and debates not only of Portugal but of all Christendome was who rightfully and who probably should succeed King Henry There were some pretended right but wanted power others had power but wanted right and there were some pretenders that had neither right nor power First The People claymed jure Regni to have the right to elect their own King Secondly the Pope challenged jure Divino to be the arbitratour if not donour in all controversies for Crownes and that Alfonso the first King to obtain the title of King became Tributary to the sea of Rome Thirdly Don Antonio illegitimate sonn to the Infant D. Lewis pretended that his mother was lawfully wedded as well as bedded with his father Fourthly Catherine de Medicis widow of Henry the 2. King of France as descended from the King of Portugal D. Alfonso the 3. and for that all since that King have raigned unjustly Fiftly Philbert Duke of Savoy sonne to Beatrice younger daughter to Emanuel would not lose a Crown for want of laying claym thereto knowing that of all the pretenders that were not natives he was looked on as the fittest to resist King Philip not only for his personal valour but also for his dominions bordering on the Dutchy of Milan which in case of need he might invade by the assistance of the French his neighbours upon the other side 7 Reinuce the yong Prince of Parma laid claim to this Crown in right of his Mother Mary lately deceased alleadging that jure primogeniturae the male line was to be served before the female so that untill the line of his Grandfather the Infante D. Edward were wholy extinct neither Philip the 2. nor the Duke of Savoy could have any right Seventhly Catherine Dutches of Braganza pleaded that in all successions there are to be considered these four qualityes in the persons pretending viz thâ— line the degree the sexe and the Age that the better line is first to take place although others should have advantage in the other three qualities That in succession of Crowâ—es the last possessour is to be succeeded jure hered latis which allowâ—s the benefit of representation that she representing the Infante D. Edward the better line did by her representation precede Rainuce for the law allows not a Grandchild that benefit and by her better line exclude King Philip who descended from a daughter lastly by the fundamental Lawes of the Kingdom she was to be preferred before all other the pretenders for that she was both born and married within the Kingdome Eighthly Philip the 2. after all resolved that so faire a Crown lyeing so conveniently for him should not escape him yet because force is of harder digestion first to make triall of the most gentle meanes to effect his proposed ends to this purpose he employes the best wits of all the Vniversityes in Christendom to prove his and disprove all other claymes After much bickering it was alledged in favour of King Philip first against the Prince of Parma and the Dutchess of Braganza that successions of Crowns were to be decided by the Law of Nations not of the Empire upon which onely her jus representandi patrem was grounded that the neerest male in degree to the last possessour ought to succeed that the Infante D. Édw. being deceased before his brother Henry was King could have no right in himself therefore could derive none to his posterity for nemo dat quod in se non habet That it was very unreasonable that Catherine should be lesse prejudiced in her self for her sex then King Philip should be in his Mother Next it was alledged against the Queen of France that prescription of above 300 years whereas Lawyers allow 100 years a sufficient Title for any Kingdome lay most evidently against her Against the people it was answered That untill the Royall Line of a Kingdome be quite extinct there can be no right of election in them But the main Argument whereby King Philip confuted these and all other pretenders was his sword wherewith like another Alexander he cut that Gordian knot wherefore not to lose time nor opportunity whilst the University invented the most powerful Arguments he made all preparations possible for a powerful Army to be ready in the mean time wrought so effectually with Father Leon Henriques a Jesuit and Confessor to King Henry and Frier Ferdinando Castillo a Dominican that all intentions prejudicial to King Philips designes were craftily diverted as from declaring the Dutchess of Braganza next heir whereunto King Henry was most inclinable also from marrying in hopes of issue whereto he was once so farre perswaded as to endeavour a dispensation from Rome but his hopes and intentions were soon after cut off by death the newes whereof arriving to King Philip he marched away immediatly with an Army of above twenty thousand old Souldiers towards Lisbon where he found no
by the death of the last King was derived jure haereditario non sanguinis because the succession of Kingdomes was to be regulated by that ancient way whereby all things descended by inheritance The other way of succession being not known until later Ages nor ever practised either in Spain or Portugal in such cases Briefly in behalf of Catherine it was urged which by the Castilians can never be denied or answered that she was no stranger but a Native of the kingdom to whom alone according to the Laws of Lamego the Crown of Portugal can appertain This is the simple Title of the House of Braganza against which the Castilians have forged a thousand Titles for the House of Austria as being the tenth or twentieth Grandchild of such a King or such a Prince c. which if sufficient Title against the next allies certainly the King of Castile is not onely King of Portugal but all Europe for there is scarce a Prince from whom he is not descended and happily this is the ground whereon he builds his hopes to be universal Monarch unless perchance he may esteem himselfe so by Will from Adam as some have imagined When the King had received and deliberated upon the writing he gave order that they should be conducted to London with all solemnity convenient disposed of in a Palace ready prepared for them after which with great ceremony they received audience of his Majesty in a most stately fair Hall where his Majesty was placed on a Throne raised two steps on each side Latices within which stood his Nobles at the Ambassadors entrance as they made their reverence the King uncovered himself and would not be covered untill the Ambassadors were so too To the Proposals made by Don Antonio de Almlda the King answered he should be very glad to find out a way to be friend to the King of Portugal and to renew the anâ—ient amity of the two Crowns without 〈◊〉 with Spain Some days following the Ambassadors went to visit the Queen who being placed under a cloath of State upon the entrance of the Ambassadors rose up and came forward down as farr as the Carpet extended making a low reverence at all three times that the Ambassadors bowed and being come neerer her Majesty made them be covered then uncovering themselves again they spake with their hats in their hands which ended the Queen told them that she much desired to keep strait amity with her Majesty the Queen of Portugall c. Don Alon so de Cardenas Ambassador Ordinary in the Court of England for the King of Spain laboured still by friends by moneys by promises even to to the restitution of the Palatinate so that the peace might not be made with Portugal but in vain for upon the 13 of June 1641 the peace was concluded The Commerce and correspondence that have always been between the kingdom of Portugal and Denmark induced King John to send Ambassadors thither but the greater correspondence with the House of Austria and some dependence upon the Emperour hindred the reception of that Ambassage yet the King and all the principal of the kingdom desiring not to break with Portugal gave all other satisfaction possible by extraordinary courtesies and respect to the Ambassadors who from thence went into Swethland where they were received with much solemnity and rejoycing by the whole kingdome Their reception at the young Queens Court at Stockholm was very magnificent where a league was soon concluded and the Ambassadors dismissed as the manner is there with chains of Gold and her Majesties portrait in a Medall of Gold With the like readiness did the States of the Low-Countries receive the Ambassage brought thither by that worthy personage Tristano de Mendoza Hurtada and a Truce of ten years made with Portugal not a peace because the Hollander having conquered many places in Brasil Angola c. whilst those countries were under the King of Spain that neither side might be prejudiced the King of Portugal would not approve of the conquests because they were places depending on the Crown of Portugal nor could the States promise restitution because they now belonged to their West Indy Company who since have often violated the Articles of this Truce to the great dishonor of the States to whom so long as they neglect to punish the transgressors of their own Capitulations no State will treat or trust for the future seeing them so shamefully break their word without the least occasion given It was long debated in the Court of Portugal whether an Ambassage should be sent to his Holiness at Rome or else a more opportune conjuncture of time expected Some were of opinion that an Ambassage was to be sent thither without further delay because thereby they clearly testifying their duty and respect to his Holiness as he was Head of the Catholick Church Portugal should gain his good favour and an acknowledgement that his Majesty Don John was rightfull King of Portugall which would be of very much importance to the affairs of the Kingdom But these considerations seemed to others rather things desirable then feasable First because the King of Spain was at present powerful at Rome to oppose the reception of their Ambassador Secondly because the Pope although he was never in heart a Spaniard yet he would never yeeld to shew himselfe an enemy to the Catholick King Moreover the Spaniard cunningly fomenting the opinion which all the world had entertained That his Holiness did in all things incline to the French interest would from such a reception draw as much as they could ever ask or desire for this cause the Pope that he might not seem their enemy alwayes granted them what ever they demanded Therefore it was alledged That it would be better first to sound the mind and inclinations of his Holiness then to run the hazard of some disgrace and afront to his Majesty and the whole Nation And in case the Pope should resolve not to receive the Ambassage to whom could they appeal for the injury done to the Crown We see many Popes so bewitched with the interest of their own families as to give occasion to the world to believe that their aim is not what is absolutly the best but what is best for themselves An example hereof we have in Pope Gregory the thirteenth so affectionate to the kingdom of Portugal at first that he imployed the utmost of his power to hinder King Philip the second from usurping it yet shortly after for the interest of his own family approved all that was done by the same King Who hath more to give or at least to promise then the Catholick King Therefore in any business of competition he must necessarily have the advantage against all others Nevertheless the French promising their assistance at Rome and their intercession with his holiness it was at length resolved by the major part that an Ambassage should be speedily sent to Rome His Majesty hereupon made
choyce of D. Michael de Portogallo son to Count Vimioso of the blood Royall Bishop of Lamego and Pantableone Rodriguez Bishop of Elvas personages of abilities suitable to so high an employment Upon the newes of their landing in Italy the Spaniards in Rome on the one side provided to oppose their entrance at least hinder their reception the French Portugals and Catalonians on the other side resolved to venture their lives in the Cause His Holines fearing a petty war should be kindled in his own bosome and the dishonor that would accrue to him in case that the person of an Ambassador should be violated as it were in his own house gave order to all his Officers Guards to prevent al intended violences Whereupon the Spaniard openly protested that if his Holiness received the Portugal Ambassador they with their Ambassadors would immediatly leave Rome Notwithstanding all oppositions in Novem. 1641 the two Portugal Ambassadors being met by divers Cardinals Princes and Cavaliers well armed entred into Rome and were conducted to the palace of the French Ambassador who with much courtesie received them at his gate always giving them the precedence Hereupon the Spanish Ambassadors the Marquess de los Velos D. John Chiumazzero scattered abroad their Manifestos wherin they labored to prove that his Holiness ought not to receive the Ambassadors of the Duke of Braganza as they stiled him First because he was a tyrant and usurper of a kingdom that had been in the quiet possession of the Catholick kings the space of sixty years Secondly because the Duke was a Rebell and a perjured person having before sworn allegeance to the Catholick King Thirdly that the reception of these Ambassadors would be very much prejudiciall to the Catholick King by giving encouragement to others to attempt the like Rebellions c. The Ambassadors in the mean time lost no time in endeavouring by themselves and by the French Ambassadour who had expresse order for the same from his master to incline his Holiness to admit their Ambassage but his Holiness who had ever shewed himself very timerous to give any disgust to the Spaniard lest they should take occasion to do his Holiness a displeasure or revenge themselves hereafter upon his Nephews resolved to refuse the Ambassage pretending certain violations of the Church Rites in Portugal and that he was much unsatisfied in their King for his detaining in prison the Archbishop of Braga and other Ecclesiasticall persons although his Majesty had most just cause so to doe as shall hereafter appeare So soon as the Spaniards understood this resolution of his Holiness whilst the Portugals were labouring to prove their cause by Declarations Allegations and Arguments as well Political as Legal they resolved to make a quick dispatch of the business and for that purpose had drawn together above two hundred Banditi with intent o seize upon the Bishop of Lamego and carry him away to Naples as they had done the Prince of Sans who was there put to death but the Marques de loâ— Veles was understood by some of his servants that it would be better taken to give the Portugal Ambassadors some high affront upon some encounter in the streets which being communicated to the rest of the Nation whereof there are alwaye many in Rome some to obtain dispensations of marriage others to get spiritual livings they flocked to the Spanish Ambassadors Palace well provided of Army and that they might not be looked on a Souldiers went under the name of Fooâ— men to the Marquess whereof the Poâ—â— taking speciall notice made it known the Marquess that these proceedings in peaceable Citie were much distasted an at the same time sent a Messenger to assure the Bishop of Lamego that he should not fear any thing for that upon the word of his Holiness he should walk the streets untouch't yet upon the 20 of August 1642 the Bishop going to visit the French Ambassador was followed by a Spy of the Marquess to see whither he went which being observed by some of the Bishops retinue they sent a counter-spy to see what they did at the Marquess House and finding there great preparation of Coaches and Men news thereof was brought to the French Ambassador whereupon the French Portugals and Catalonians were soon assembled with their Pistols and Firelocks to convoy home the Bishop who by the way after Sun set was met by the Marquess guarded with â—bove sixty Footmen and eight Coaches full of Captains and Officers called hither from Naples besides divers others and subjects of that Crown So soon as they spied the Bishops Coach the Spaniards â—ried aloud Si fermassero all Ambasciatore â—i Spagna that they should stop for the Ambassador of Spain whereto the Portugals answered che si fermassero loro that they should stop whereupon all leaped out of their Coaches with their naked swords and making a stand discharged one Gun which was followed by both sides with a most gallant volley of shot There were slain on the Portugal part a Knight of Malta and one Lacky that belonged to the French Ambassador together with one Italian and a Portugal Page besides divers wounded On the Spanish part there were eight slain in the place and about 20 wounded the Marquess leaving his Coach and Horses dead crept forth not by the Boot but behind the Coach between the two wheels and fled into the next shop without his hat without any colour in his face or spirit in his body and from thence was carried to the Palace of the Spanish Cardinal Albornoz his Coach standing upon the place till the next day The Bishop of Lamego went back to the house of the French Ambassador and thence to his own House His Holiness much disquieted at these insolencies commanded a guard of Souldiers to be presently put upon the house both of the Marquiss and the Bishop who not long after was by the King of Portugal called home after he had again pressed and urged the Pope by a large memorial of the reasons wherefore he ought to be received and had been again refused About this time was with much artifice contrived and most shamefully effected the imprisonment of that most gallant Prince the Infante Edward called by the Portugals Don Duarte brother to the King now reigning who for divers years before his brother had any thoughts of a Crown had served the Emperor in his Wars with eminent gallantry and as eminent success Upon the newes of the revolt of Portugal this Prince was in the Emperors service being resolved there to continue untill he was betrayed by Don Francisco de Mello a Portugal then Ambassador in the Emperors Court for the Catholick King who notwithstanding all his obligations to the house of Braganza yet with intent to build his fortunes upon their ruine most earnestly sollicites the Emperor to seize upon his person and deliver him up to the King of Spain alleadging how much it concerned the Interests of the Catholick King
in the kingdom of Congo and Angola the great Island of St. Laurence of Soffala and Mozambique on the Continent thence passing the mouth of the red Sea they have setled a Trade with Socatra and Calaiate thence passing the Bay of Persia and the mouth of the great river Indus which gave occasion of the name to those countries they subdued Calecut Cochim c. the Island of Goa Cial Daman c. thence towards the river Ganges they conquered Ceilam Malacca Sumatra Solor Larantuca c. thence farther forward they entred into the kingdome of Pegu into Juva major and minor into the kingdome of China where they held a strong place called Macao In summe the Kingdoms Provinces Islands Cities that the Nation of Portugal hath conquered abroad may be compared to the ancient Roman Empire nor hath their valour been much inferior to that of the Romans if we consider the warre they have made with the King of Cambaia who for puissance riches and military courage surpaspassed Xerxes Darius or Pyrrhus the warre they have made with Isamalucco Idalcam in the kingdom of Decam both equall to mighty Kings whose Armies consisted of Persians Turkes Janizaries Arabs Moors and the best warriers of all the East the warre they have waged with the Moores of Malacca Sumatra and Molucco who were as well provided of Artilry as any of the Princes of Europe also with the Kings of Bengala Peug Siam many other formidable powers It is true that during the time that Portugal was under the Catholick Kings many places were lost yet there remains to this day under the command of K. John the fourth above fifty Towns and Forts accounted impregnable as Mozambique Cuama Monomotapa Mombaza Mascale Diu Damam Bazain Chiaul Onor Barcelor Mangalor Cananor Cranganor Cochim Coulam Negapatan Meliapor the Isle of Ceilam the kingdome of Jafanapatan the Cities of Manac and Nombre de Jesu then more Northward Azarim Danu Agazim Maim Trapor and many other places in all which are maintained Governors and Souldiers besides in the head Citie Goa there is a Viceroy with all Courts of Justice whither many Kings of the East send Tribute and Ambassadors to maintain amity with the King of Portugall insomuch that the Portugall Trade extends itselfe into the East neer four thousand leagues by which are maintained all the Garrisons all the ships whereof there are oftimes two or three Fleets and much wealth sent home every yeare Upon the coast of Africa the Crown of Portugall yet possesseth divers places so well fortified that the neighbouring Moores could never yet recover them In America the famous country of Brasile belongs to the King of Portugall one thousand foure hundred leagues on the coast thereof containing 14. governements whereof the head City is Saint Salvadar But to return to the Frontiers of Portugal where we left the Portugals and Castillians making inrodes wasting the Country surprising the Towns ofts kirmishing but never yet in any set Battel untill the year 1644. where both Armies met upon the borders of Portugall in a plain called Campo-Mayor The Spanish Army consisting for the most part of strangers was under the conduct of the Marquess de Torrecusa and the Portugal Army consisting of Natives with some few Hollanders were under the command of Matthias de' Albuquerque The batail was fought with as much order as courage on both sides but the Spaniard being more numerous especially in Horse after severall furious charges put the whole Army of Portugal into disorder seised upon all their Artillery and Baggage killed Albuquerques horse under him and took many prisoners yet after all the Generall being mounted upon another horse rallied some of his best Souldiers and charging afresh recovered all put to flight the whole Army of their Enemies and chased them above 3 miles Of the Spanish Army there were slain 1600 men upon the place amongst whom was the Lieutenant General the General of the horse and the General of the Artillery 5 Campmasters 2 Adjutants of horse 3 Sergeant-Majors 23 Cornets the Count de Montixo together with very many Cavaliers of the Orders of Saint James Calatrava and Alcantara there were taken 4000 Armes and above 1000 Horse Of the Portugal Army were slain not above 300. amongst whom 2 Campmasters and one Sergeant Major one Captain of horse and eight of Foot but there were taken prisoners divers Noblemen Commanders and Officers which were hurryed away by the Castillians in their flight Not long after was imprisoned in Lisbon the Marquess de Montalban D. George Mascarenas Lord Treasurer President of the Councell of the Indies and a Councellor of State together with some others upon suspition of a conspiracy against his Majesty but upon Examination it being discovered that the suspicion was cunningly raised by the Castillians with intent to deprive his Majesty of the service of his most able Ministers and to make the World believe that the Portugall Nobility were discontented with their King they were set at liberty and their honors repaired by his Majesties Proclamation In this condition stood the King and Kingdom of Portugall in the year 1644. and in this condition it may probably continue for many years First because the Catholick King will not probably quit his pretences here sooner then he hath done in the Netherlands Secondly because the Nation of Portugall beareth such extraordinary affection to the whole Family of their present King and such exceeding hatred to the Castillians that they will choose rather to be extirpated and destroyed then bee brought again under the yoke of the Catholick King Thirdly because the Catholick King is not able during the warr with France to gain any thing upon that Kingdom either at home or abroad as hath bin evident ever since King John the Fourth came to that Crown Fourthly because it is so much the interest of France to keep the Crown of Portugall apart that the peace with Spain will never bee concluded without including Portugall Lastly supposing that by all the States of Christendom contrary to their owne interest the Kingdom of Portugal should be abandoned to the fury of the Spaniard and granting that Philip the second made himself master thereof by force yet if their then impuissance and distractions be remembred and their present power and unanimity be consider'd it must necessarily be concluded That the Re-union of Portugal with Castile is morally impossible FINIS * A Grandee of Spain is any Nobleman that hath the priviledg to be alwayes covered in the Kings presence as all Noblemen had before the time of Charls the fifth
were covered Amongst other discourse D. Francisco de Mello told her Majesty that he feared his Embassy would not be acceptable for that his Master had deprived her brother of one of his Kingdoms whereto her Majesty replyd that although she was sister to the King of Spain yet she was wife to the King of France and thereupon began to speak Spanish which the Ambassador observing demanded wherefore her Majesty had not vouchsafed them that favour sooner it being a language better understood by them the Queen answered for fear they should be daunted to hear her speak Spanish the Ambassador to improve the jest replyd Como a tam grande Senora si pero como a Castillana no. It was true considering her greatness but not her Countrey whereat her Majesty smiling went on promising them all favour and wishing many happy dayes to King John and the Prince his son thus having delivered to her Majesty a Letter from the Queen of Portugal they took leave to go visit the most Eminent Cardinal Richelieu who being advertised of their coming came forward to the third chamber to meet them and there received them with expressions of great affection after which he conducted them into his own Chamber where all three being sate his Eminence a personage for his most admirable abilities worthy to live many ages discovered divers affairs of importance to the Ambassadors and they oâ— the other side made his Eminence understand how highly it imported that the two Crowns of France and Portugal should be united by an indissoluble league and amity considering that the primary and principal aim of the house of Austria whose branches were spread over Europe was not only to be the greatest but the only Monarch of Christendom for which end it never made scruple to usurp Kingdoms and States upon the weakest pretences imaginable as have appeared in the Kingdoms of Naples Sicily and Navarre the Dutchy of Milan and several other States more lately in Germany the seizing upon the Valtelline that so being Master of that passage he may upon any opportunity lead an Army of high Germans into Italy Moreover considering the vast power and interest this Family hath not only in all the other States of Italy and Germany and in the Low Countries but also in almost all America it must be confessed that they have a large foundation of their imaginary universal Monarchy yet no one thing gave them so great hopes as the possession of Portugal First because by the addition of that Kingdom they became absolute Masters not only of all Spain but of all the East Indies of all the Eastern Trade of Ethiopia Persia Arabia China Iapan and all that incredible wealth that was raised out of the Portugal Traffique whereby the Austrian greatness if not their Monarchy was principally sustained therefore that it much concerned all States to endeavour not only to put a stop to the growth of that monstrous tree but to cut off some arms thereof that it may the less damnify and annoy the lesser trees that grow by it that to do this none was more concerned or more able then the Kingdom of France united with the Kingdom of Portugal which having bin reputed the right arm as Catalonia was the left of that huge Austrian Colossus and now separated from it and joyned with France will be able to do as great service against it as ever it hath been forced to do for it not only by assaulting the Spaniard at home in his own house but by intercepting the Plate-Fleet which coming from the West Indies must necessarily pass by the gates of their Enemies the Tereera Islands and so run a hazard to be lost or else be at the charges of an extraordinary Convoy Having thus discoursed with his Eminence of those and other weighty affairs he was pleased to offer not only all the assistance of the most Christian King but that he would disburse of his own for the Service of Portugal that he would presently send thither a Fleet of twenty Sail with his Nephews Admiral and Ambassador extraordinary whereupon the Ambassadors taking leave they were accompanied by his Eminence as far as the stairs which the Ambassadors endeavouring to hinder the Cardinal told them that the Ambassadors of Portugal were to be treated with no less respect then those of the Emperor or Pope Some few days after in the house of the Grand Chancellour there was appointed a Junta of the Ambassadors with his Majesties Commissioners together with the Secretary Chavigny where was soon concluded a peace and league between the Crown of France and Portugal and the Ambassadors with much courtesie and satisfaction dismissed It very much concerned the kingdome of Portugall to maintain amity and peace with the Crown of England not only for the Navigation and Commerce of both States but also for other particular ends in the present conjuncture of affairs principally to break the good correspondency that was at present maintained between the Crowns of Spain and England For this purpose in March 1641. were dispatcht for England Don Antonio de Almada and D r Francisco de Andrada Leiton personages of great abilities who arriving safe in spite of the Dunkerkers that chased them in England were received with demonstrations of great courtesie notwithstanding the earnest labouring of the Spanish Resident to the contrary It is true that his Majesty of England was so tender of his honour and conscience that he answered D r Antonio de Sosa Secretary to the Ambassadors sent before to make way that he would be first satisfied by what right and title his Master was made King of Portugal before he would accept of the Ambassage Whereupon the Secretary being one of the most exquisite wits of this age in the space of twenty four hours drew up and presented to his Majesty a writing which declared at large what here in substance ensueth Upon the death of King Henry the Cardinall without issue many pretended together with the Infanta Donna Catherine Dutchess of Braganza and Grandmother to this present King to the Crown of Portugal but all their pretences wanting foundation soon fell except that of Philip the second King of Spain who propt up his with force King Henry was Uncle equally neer to both but with this difference Catherine was the daughter of a son named Edward and Philip was sonne of a daughter named Isabella brother and sister to King Henry King Philip pleaded that he being in equall degree with Catherine was to be preferred for his sex Catherine replyed That the constitution of that kingdom allowing females to succeed and withall the benefit of representation in all Inheritances she representing Edward must exclude Philip by the very same right that her Father if he were living would exclude Philips mother This conclusion is infallible in jure whereto Philip answered That succession of kingdoms descending jure sanguinis there was allowed no representation Catherine destroyed that foundation alledging That the succession
design of changeing the commanders in cheife of all the Emperours armies and the Spanish thereby to make the people desperate because of the failing of faith and credit of the recruiting and arming the Gallies of Spain Sicily and Naples for the maintaining commerce secret intelligence in Toulon and Marseilles of the capitulation of the Venetian with the grand Turke and the meanes whereby they drew the Turke to assent to their demands and the little security the Turke had from them all which I invented feigned and contrived together with many more letters Cyphers Papers c. without any intelligence correspondence or amity with any officer or Minister of state of this kingdome but that I alone without the helpe or assistance of any other have feigned and invented all the foresaid designs whereof I gave information to the Nuntio and his secretary to the said Ambassadours and to Monsiuer de Peny with whom I have kept correspondence in France since the breaking forth of the warre the which as a truth I sweare before God and declare it for discharging my conscience I aske of God forgivenes also of the King our soveraign whom God preserve of the Emperour of the Lord Duke against whom I directed most of those forgeries of the Duke of Medina las Torres of the Marques of Leganés of the Duke of Villahernosa of the Count of Oniate of the Marques of Villa Franca of the Marques of Mirabel of the most illustrious Lord Inquisitour Generall the father Confessour of the most Eminent Cardinals the Cardinal Borgia and Cardinal Spinola and Cardinal of Sandoval of the Lord Don Geronimo of Villanueva Pronotary of Arragon and secretary of state of Don Andrew de Rojas secretary of state of the Ambassadour of Genoa and of all the rest whom I have falsely defamed by these forgeries and Impostures and also I aske pardon of all the faithfull and loyall subjects of these kingdomes charging them to take example by me And to the end that it may be manifested to all times I thus make declaration that God may pardon me and for the satisfaction of this and all other Nations which I have disturbed with the wickednes of my inventions In witnes whereof I have hereunto set my name Dated in the Plaça Mayor and place of Execution in Madrid the 3 of August 1641. Thus ended Michael de Molina in whom the Refran or Spanish proverbe was verified Quien en un ano quiere ser rico al medio le ahorcan He that will be rich in one year shall be hanged at halfe yeares end FINIS THE RIGHT TITLE OF The present KING OF PORTUGAL Don John the Fourth With the most Memorable Passages of his Reigne LONDON Printed for Tho. Heath 1653. THE RIGHT TITLE OF The present King OF PORTUGALL Don John the fourth With the most memorable Passages of his raigne FOr the more cleare discovery of the Title whereby the present King of Portugal holds that Crown it will be necessary to know the fundamental constitutions of that Kingdom as well as the peâ—igree of that King In the year of our Redemption 1139. an Army of four hundred thousand Moors under the conduct of five Kings threatning as a vast deluge to overflow at once all the Country of Portugal were totally discomsited by a small handfull of Christians in the plains of Ourique where immediatly before the battel the people chose their Generall Don Alfonso for their King for before they were under the protection of the King of Castile Leon who after the fight called an Assembly of the three Estates in the City of Lamego where was solemnely enacted as followeth In the name of the most holy Trinity Father Son and holy Ghost Amen I Alphonso sonn of Count Henry c. by the grace of God lately advanced to the Royall Throne have called together the Bishops Nobles and Deputies of Cities in the Church of Saint Mary Almacave in Lamego where sitting upon my Royal Throne without any ensignes of Royalty my Deputy Lorenzo Venegas stood up anâ— spake thus You are assembled by the Authority of King Alfonso to see the Popes letters and resolve to confirm him for your King whereat all with one voice cried We will that he be our King The Deputy demanded shall he only be King and not his sonns after him They answered he so long as he lives and his sonns after his death then said the Deputy give him the Royall ensignes we give them answered they in the name of God So the Archbishop of Braga placed the Crown upon the Kings head who drawing his sword said Blessed be God that hath been my helper with this sword have I delivered you and overcome our enemies and now that you have made me your King let us make lawes for the government of the Kingdome they answered so will wee dread soveraigne we wil make such lawes as shall seem good to you and wee and all our children and posterity are wholy at your command we will first make lawes for the succession of the Crown as followeth 1 God save King Alfonso let him be master of the Kingdome and after him that there may be no trouble of choosing a King let his sonn raigne after him his grand child and so from father to sonn in secula seculorum 2 If during the fathers life the eldest sonn die the next brother shall be King and so forward 3 If the King die without sonns having a brother he shall succeed but not his sonn after him unlesse the Parliament will have it so Then Lorenzo Venegas the Kings Deputy desired the States to aske the King if the daughters should enter into the Succession of the Kingdome after some debate thereon it was resolved Because the daughters are of the Royall stock as well as the Sonns they should succeed on this manner 4 If the King have only Daughters the eldest shall be Queen after her father upon condition that she be married to a native of the Kingdome and that he be a Nobleman who shall not take upon him the name of King untill he hath a sonn born nor wear a crown on his head nor take the right 〈◊〉 of his wife 5 Lastly which most concernes the ensuing discourse it was thus enacted Sit i st a Lex in sempiternum quod prima filia Regis accipiat maritum de Portugale ut non veniat Regnum ad extraneos si casaverit cum principe extraneo non sit Regina quia nunquam volumus nostrum Regnum ire for de Portugalensibus qui nos sua fortitudine Reges fecerunt sine adjutorio alieno per suam fortitudinem cum sangine suo That is Let it be a law for ever that the Kings eldest daughter marry a native of Portugal that so the Crown may never descend to strangers and in case she should marry to a Prince that is a stranger let her not be Queen for wee will never have our Kingdom goe out of the