56 



CARLOS. 



whom he liad written would not omit to inform the 

 king. This was, in fact, done ; anil, indeed, don 

 Juan himself told Philip wliat don Carlos had con- 

 fided to him. It is believed tliat lie was touched by 

 the sufferings of the people of the Netherlands ; tliat 

 he had been invited by them to place himself at their 

 head, and tliat tins plan, from its bold and extravagant 

 character, had gained his approbation. Philip himself 

 seemed to believe tliat his son intended to go to the 

 Netherlands. The baron Montigny lost his head on 

 this account. The infante had often shown a vehe- 

 ment desire to participate in the government. But 

 Philip, jealous of his own authority, treated his son 

 coolly and with reserve, whilst he gave his confidence 

 to the duke of Alva, to Ruy Gomez de Silva, don 

 Juan of Austria, and Spinola. Don Carlos conceived 

 an invincible aversion to them. He could not bear 

 that Alva should have received the government of 

 Flanders, which he had requested for nimself. The 

 architect of the Escurial, Louis de Foix, gives the 

 following facts relating to don Carlos, winch have 

 been preserved to us by De Thou. The prince had 

 always under his pillow two naked swords, two loaded 

 pistols, and, at the side of his bed, several guns, and 

 a chest full of other fire-arms. He was often heard 

 to complain, that his father had deprived him of his 

 bride. On Christmas evening, he confessed to a 

 priest that he had resolved to murder a man. The 

 priest, therefore, refused him absolution. The prior 

 of the monastery of Atocha artfully drew from him 

 expressions, from which it could be inferred that he 

 meditated an attempt upon his own father. The 

 confession was then communicated to ths king, who 

 exclaimed, " I am the man whom my son intends to 

 murder; but I shall take measures to prevent it." 

 Thus Philip, a jealous husband, a gloomy and suspi- 

 cious king, and an unfortunate father, impelled by 

 hatred or fear, by pob'cy or superstition, resolved on 

 the destruction of his only son, hi whom he saw only 

 a criminal, unworthy of the crown. On the night of 

 Jan. 18, 1568, while don Carlos was buried in a deep 

 sleep, count Lerma entered his chamber, and re- 

 moved his arms. Then appeared the king, preceded 

 by Ruy Gomez of Silva, the duke of Feria, the 

 grand prior of the order of St John, brother of the 

 duke of Alva, and several officers of the guard, and 

 state councillors. Don Carlos still slept. They 

 awaked him : he beheld the king, his father, and ex- 

 claimed, " I am a dead man." Then, addressing 

 Philip, he said, " Does your majesty wish to kill me r 

 I am not mad, but reduced to despair by my suffer- 

 ings." He conjured, with tears, those who were 

 present to put him to death. " I am not come," an- 

 swered the king, " to put you to death, but to pun- 

 ish you as a father, and to bring you back to your 

 duty." He then commanded him to rise, deprived 

 him of his domestics, ordered a box of papers under 

 his bed to be seized, and committed liim to the care 

 of the duke of Feria and six noblemen, enjoining 

 them not to permit him to write, nor to speak with 

 any one. These guards clothed don Carlos hi a 

 mourning dress, took from his chamber the tapestry, 

 the furniture, and even his bed, leaving him nothing 

 but a mattress. Don Carlos, full of rage and de- 

 spair, caused a large fire to be kindled, under pre- 

 text of the extreme cold of the winter, and threw 

 himself suddenly into the flames, for the purpose of 

 suffocating himself. It was with difficulty that he 

 was rescued. He attempted, by turns, to finish his 

 life by thirst, by hunger, by eating to excess ; he 

 also attempted to choke himself by swallowing a 

 diamond. After Philip had endeavoured to justify 

 his measures to the pope, and the principal sovereigns 

 of Europe, and had also given notice to the superior 

 clergy, to the courts of justice, and to the cities of 



his empire, of what had passed, he referred the case 

 of the prince, not to the inquisition, but to the coun- 

 cil of state, under the direction of cimlinal Fspinosa, 

 who was state councillor, grand inquisitor, ami pre- 

 sident of the junta of Castile. Tlu's court is said, 

 after a minute examination, and hearing many wit- 

 nesses, to have condemned him to death. But it is ;i 

 mistake to suppose that the sentence was executed by 

 means of a poisoned soup, or that his arteries \MT<: 

 opened in a bath, or that he was strangled. Fcrre- 

 ras and other Spanish historians report, tliat he died 

 of a malignant fever, after having taken the sacra- 

 ment with much devotion, and having asked his fa- 

 ther's pardon. According to Llorente, the king 

 signed, March 2, the judicial order for the formal 

 arrest of the prince, for whom the pope, and all the 

 princes to whom Plu'lip had written, in particular the 

 emperor Maximilian II. , had interposed in vain. The 

 execution of the order of imprisonment was committed, 

 by Philip, to Ruy Gomez de Silva, prince of Evoli. 

 The prince displayed all the violence of his passion- 

 ate disposition. He obstinately refused to confess, 

 lived irregularly, and lu's ifury inflamed his blood to 

 such a degree, tliat even ice-water, which he used 

 daily, could not refresh him. He ordered a great 

 quantity of ice to be laid round his bed, went naked 

 and barefoot upon the stone floor, and, for eleven 

 days in June, took no food but ice. The king then 

 visited him, and addressed to him some words of con- 

 solation ; after which, the prince eat to great excess. 

 This brought on a malignant fever. Meanwhile, 

 don Diego Bribiesca de Mugnatones, member of the . 

 council of Castile, conducted the trial. The prince 

 had not the slightest official notice of it. In July, 

 Mugnatones drew up a report to the king, from the 

 testimony of the witnesses, and from the papers of 

 the prince, which had been seized, stating that don 

 Carlos was guilty of treason, in having plotted 

 against the life of liis father, and in having attempted 

 to make himself master of the government of Flan- 

 ders by a civil war ; but that it must depend on the 

 king whether he would have the infante judged ac- 

 cording to the common laws of the kingdom. Philip 

 declared that, as king, his conscience did not permit 

 him to make any exception from the laws in favour 

 of a prince who had shown himself so unworthy of 

 the throne. He believed that the recovery of the 

 prince's health was not to be expected; and tliat, 

 therefore, he ought to be permitted to take food 

 without any restraint, wlu'ch would cause his death ; 

 that he ought, however, to be convinced that his 

 death was inevitable, in order to induce liim to con- 

 fess, and secure his eternal welfare. The judicial 

 records make no mention of this resolution of the 

 king ; no judgment was written or signed ; and the 

 secretary Pedro del Hoyo observes, in a note, " that 

 the judicial process had proceeded thus far, when 

 the prince was carried ofj^ by sickness, and that, 

 therefore, no judgment was rendered." With thi.s 

 the written accounts of other persons, who were em- 

 ployed in the palace of the king, agree. In conse- 

 quence of the declaration of the kuig, the cardinal 

 Espinosa and the prince of Evoli thought it advisa- 

 ble to leave the death of the prince to the progress 

 of the disease. To the physician of the king, Oli- 

 varez, who had the care of the prince, this purpose 

 of the prince of Evoli was communicated. On the 

 28th of July, he administered a medicine to the pa- 

 tient, after which the disease appeared to become fa- 

 tal, and advised the infante to prepare himself for 

 his approaching death by taking the sacrament. This 

 don Carlos did, July 21, and asked pardon of the 

 king, his father, through his confessor. Philip 

 granted it, and also his olessing. Upon this, don 

 Carlos received the sacrament, and made his will. 



