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1559
10 Jan. |
7. The King to the Count de Feria.
Councillor Wotton presented to me yesterday the Queen's credential
letter of 1st instant and in virtue of it gave me two messages from
her. The first was her desire not only to preserve the brotherhood,
friendship, and perpetual alliance between us, but also, if such was
my wish, to confirm them by celebrating anew the treaties and
capitulations which were executed by the Emperor and my
predecessors with her country. To this I replied fittingly, saying
I thanked the Queen for this proof of her goodwill and assured her
that my wish always was and would be to observe the treaties we
had with England, and indeed to serve and satisfy her in every way
as I had written and sent verbally by Cobham.
The second matter was to let me know that the French had made
an attempt, although not openly, to commence peace negotiations,
and although she thought they would not return to the subject she
wished me to be assured, in case they did, that she would not listen
to them nor depart from the line she had taken up, namely to carry
on the negotiations jointly with us, and to agree to nothing with
the French without my knowledge and co-operation.
I replied to this also thanking the Queen for advising me as to
what had happened, and saying I was sure she would do as she
said, knowing, as she did, the way I had acted in these peace
negotiations and the care I had taken of English interests, in respect
of which alone I had refrained from concluding peace with the
French with whom I was quite agreed on all other points. Only their
decision is awaited to conclude peace, and although no doubt, Wotton
will advise the Queen of this, I think well to let you know, both
for your information and that you may thank her heartily from me
and satisfy her on these points as opportunity offers in accordance
with my wishes which you know. You may if you please, use for
this purpose the letter I enclose, which as you will see, accredits you
on these and the other matters on which you have to treat with
them. I am sure you will have done what was necessary, as I wrote
to you, to get these people to decide about the peace. The matter
only awaits their answer, and as the time is now so short and it is
most important that their decision should arrive in time, you had
better press them again as if of your own accord, in the sense I wrote
to you before, and urge them very strongly to make up their mind
as to what is to be done and let me know at once what they resolve.
—Brussels, 10th January 1559. |
10 Jan.
Simancas.
B.M.
Add. 26056.
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8. The Same to the Same.
You will have noted what I said in my two last letters respecting
the Queen's marriage, and that I highly approved of the course you
had adopted in persuading her and her Council that it was not to
her interest to marry a subject. You will continue to do your
utmost to prevent this. As regards myself, if they should broach
the subject to you, you should treat it in such a way as neither to
accept nor reject the business altogether. It is a matter of such grave
importance that it was necessary for me to take counsel and maturely
consider it in all its bearings before I sent you my decision. Many
great difficulties present themselves and it is difficult for me to
reconcile my conscience to it as I am obliged to reside in my other
dominions and consequently could not be much in England, which
apparently is what they fear, and also because the Queen has not
been sound on religion, and it would not look well for me to marry
her unless she were a Catholic. Besides this such a marriage would
appear like entering upon a perpetual war with France, seeing the
claims that the queen of Scots has to the English crown. The
urgent need for my presence in Spain, which is greater than I can
say here, and the heavy expense I should be put to in England by
reason of the costly entertainment necessary to the people there,
together with the fact that my treasury is so utterly exhausted as
to be unable to meet the most necessary ordinary expenditure, much
less new and onerous charges : bearing in mind these and many other
difficulties no less grave which I need not set forth I nevertheless
cannot lose sight of the enormous importance of such a match to
Christianity and the preservation of religion which has been restored
in England by the help of God. Seeing also the importance that the
country should not fall back into its former errors which would cause
to our own neighbouring dominions serious dangers and difficulties,
I have decided to place on one side all other considerations which
might be urged against it and am resolved to render this service to
God, and offer to marry the queen of England, and will use every
possible effort to carry this through if it can be done on the conditions
that will be explained to you.
The first and most important is that you should satisfy yourself
that the Queen will profess the same religion as I do, which is the
same that I shall ever hold, and that she will persevere in the same
and maintain and uphold it in the country, and with this end will
do all that may appear necessary to me. She will have to obtain
secret absolution from the Pope and the necessary dispensation so
that when I marry her she will be a Catholic, which she has not
hitherto been. In this way it will be evident and manifest that I
am serving the Lord in marrying her and that she has been
converted by my act.
You will however not propose any conditions until you see how
the Queen is disposed towards the matter itself, and mark well that
you must commence to broach the subject with the Queen alone
as she has already opened the door to such an approach.
In my marriage treaty with the late Queen it was stipulated that
my Netherlands dominions should pass to any issue of the marriage,
but as this condition would be very prejudicial to my son (Carlos)
it must not be again consented to.
Nothing has been said to the Pope nor is it desirable until the
Queen's consent has been obtained.—Brussels, 10 January 1559. |
| 13 Jan. |
9. The Same to the Same.
There seems to be considerable delay in the arrival of an answer
to my long letter of 28th December, treating in detail the question
of peace, and giving you instructions how to proceed with the Queen
and Council, and although I know that no time has been lost on
your part, and that you will not have failed in diligence, I wrote to
you again on the subject in my letter of the 10th instant, and have
determined to send the present courier with this letter only, the
time fixed being now so very short. If on the arrival of this letter
no resolution has been adopted, you will as if of your own accord
press them most urgently to decide what is to be done. As upon
this matter alone depends the conclusion of peace, if their answer
with terms of conciliation acceptable to the French do not arrive in
time, it is useless for the Commissioners to meet on the day arranged,
as nothing can be done without this foundation for which all is at
a standstill. I have already written to you that the object is to
get them, as if of their own action and without pressure on my
part, to agree to terms which the French can accept, and in order
to push them to adopt such terms I still think the best way will
be to tell them that if they cannot agree to conditions of peace they
must immediately tell you in detail and distinctly to what extent
they are prepared to contribute for their share of the war, which
must be carried on with the king of France, I for my part being
willing to carry out all my treaty obligations with them. You
must give them to understand how willing I am to help them, and
how I look upon their affairs as my own ; but although great
demonstrations must be made to this effect, the object of course must
be to persuade them with the skill and tact you possess to find some
way of settling the question of Calais and concluding peace of which
christendom has so much need. From what I have already written
you know my wishes, and I need not enlarge further, except to
enjoin you to press the matter forward as much as possible, and let
me know as speedily as you can what is done.
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Note in the King's handwriting :—
You will well understand the importance of a decision in this
business as it will not suit me to have any more prorogations, and
I must know how I am going to stand in all my affairs and most
of all in this. If they do not decide soon in London I am not sure
that I shall not have to resolve as suits me, it being needful for my
affairs. About the matter contained in my last letter also I must
have a decision so that I may act accordingly. You must advise
me frequently of everything, as I cannot help being very anxious.—
Brussels, January 13, 1559. |
| 13 Jan. |
10. The Count de Feria to the King.
Lord Grey has arrived here, as your Majesty has heard, and
the Queen has sent two of her Council to say that she will be glad
if your Majesty will favour him in the exchange of the baron de la
Rochefoucauld for him. I write in obedience to the Queen's desire,
and I have no doubt as this is a matter which will please Her
Majesty, you will command such steps to be taken as will best tend
to obtaining his freedom, and I humbly beg your Majesty to do so.
—14th January 1559.
Document endorsed : Copy of letter written to His Majesty in
favour of my Lord Grey.—Dureplaz (Durham Place), 13th January
1559. |
| 20 Jan. |
11. The King to the Count de Feria.
The ambassador to my very dear nephew the king of Portugal
has complained to me of the delay that has occurred in settling the
business respecting which I have written to you on several occasions
and lastly on the 14th November, as you will have seen, touching
the English ships that had arrived at Portsmouth laden with gold
and pepper, which they had brought from the coast of the Mina, (fn. 1) to
a greater amount than was covered by their sureties for 1,500
crowns. He says that notwithstanding all his efforts he cannot
obtain justice, nor have they delivered to him any of the merchandise
from the ships, or executed the bond, and he begs me to write to
you again and to the Queen on the matter which I do most willingly,
as I look upon his affairs as my own. I enjoin you therefore to
use your best endeavours to obtain a settlement as soon as possible,
and have the share that is declared to belong to the King handed
to the person appointed by the ambassador for the purpose. You
will speak to the Queen about it in my name in fulfilment of the
letter of credence sent herewith, and will assure her how glad I shall
be for a speedy and favourable decision to be arrived at in the case.
—Brussels, 20th January 1559. |
| 28 Jan. |
12. The Same to the Same.
A memorial has been presented to me here by certain merchants,
named Cristobal Pruner, Francisco Velati, Paulo Timmerman, Henrico
Zomer, Francisco Bridon, Johan de Has, Huberto de Zande, and
John Hoens, complaining greatly of the bad treatment they have
received from the English, who have recently taken from them
certain ships with their valuable cargoes as they have from many
others of our subjects. Although the Queen and Council are well
aware of the justice of the case no restitution can be obtained, and
the merchants petition me very urgently to take some steps in the
matter. I cannot well refuse this, and I have ordered a letter to
be written to you which will be handed to the parties, containing
the petition and a list of the ships and merchandise seized. Do
what you can in their favour, but if on receipt of my letter you
think the broaching of the matter will be injurious to our principal
affair you can postpone it till a more favourable opportunity. You
can extract from the memorial what you think best, but you will
see on reading it that it will be better not to show the memorial
itself. I have also given the Portuguese ambassador letters for you
and the Queen about the English ships that went to the Mina.—
28th January 1559. |
| 31 Jan. |
13. The Count de Feria to the King.
I wrote to your Majesty by a post despatched on the 20th, giving
an account of events to that date. Since then I have only seen the
Queen once, in the little chamber leading out of the privy-chamber.
She conversed with me very gaily. She has not been very well
lately and the opening of Parliament was postponed in consequence
from the 23rd to the 25th, on which latter day she went thither
between 10 and 11 o'clock, but would not allow the abbot and monks
of Westminster to receive her as is usual, but went to the hall of
Parliament itself. She returned thither some three or four days
after in the afternoon. They have proposed three things, first that
the religion should be reformed or changed ; secondly, that all laws
recently passed should be revoked ; and thirdly, to ask for money.
The Catholics are very fearful of the measures to be taken in this
Parliament. The members of the Council who are foremost in
upsetting things are Cecil and the earl of Bedford, and the earl of
Sussex is the worst of those outside. I understand that the
Councillors are beginning to be convinced that she does not wish to
marry in the country, and this is causing them to hurry on the
heresy business. But after all everything depends on the husband
she chooses, for the King's wish is paramount here in all things.
On this occasion I did not revert to the pending discussion, nor
have I done so since as I thought best to wait for the Parliament to
press the Queen to marry, as I hear from her that they will, and
she wishes to await it, although I do not believe she will declare her
choice whilst Parliament is sitting, because if the person chosen is
not to their liking they could use the national voice to stop the
affair. But another reason is that she was suffering from a bad
cold when I saw her, and has been almost ever since. I await your
Majesty's letter to press her further on the very first opportunity, as
I am exceedingly anxious to see the end of this business, and it is
most important that your Majesty should know the result as soon as
possible. By last post I wrote your Majesty that I had been told
that the Queen took the holy sacrament "sub utraque specie" on the
day of the coronation, but it was all nonsense. She did not take it
at all. The Chamberlain left on the 18th. He did not go before
as the ship struck, and he was nearly killed. They sent a post to
the bishop of Ely and Wotton telling them to go on to the place
of meeting without waiting for the Chamberlain, and begin the
negotiations.
The person I told your Majesty had been in hiding in the
Treasurer's chambers in the palace, I know now to have been Guido
Cavalcanti. I believe the departure of the Chamberlain was delayed
to await the answer this man would bring from France, but up to
the present he has not returned. I am having him well watched so
that directly he puts foot on shore they will let me know, and if
your Majesty wishes even for some trick to be played on him it can
be done.
The Catholics in this country, who are many, place all their hope
in your Majesty, and it is curious how anxious they are to know
what I am doing. When we have to come to close quarters they
will all be on your side and against the king of France as they think
they will be ruined if he gets his foot in here. The heretics
announce that your Majesty is going to Spain, and the Queen asked
me if it were true the last time I saw her, saying that she had been
told you had written to that effect to the late Queen, I said I was
not aware of it. In Scotland I believe they are ill-treating the
English. I am sure they are not doing it so much as I could
wish.
I beg your Majesty to send me the letter for which I ask.—
London, 31st January 1559.
Endorsed : "Copy of the letter written to His Majesty." |