The Fate Of A Reckless Prince
In 1568 died Don Carlos, Prince of Asturias, the son of Philip II. of
Spain; and in the same year died Isabella of Valois, the young and
beautiful queen of the Spanish monarch. Legend has connected the names of
Carlos and Isabella, and a mystery hangs over them which research has
failed to dispel. Their supposed love, their untimely fate, and the
suspicion that their death was due to the jealousy of the king, have
prov
fate of the two has passed from the domain of history into that of romance
and the drama, there being more than one fine play based on the loves and
misfortunes of Carlos and Isabella. But sober history tells nothing of the
kind, and it is with history that we are here concerned.
Carlos, the heir of the throne of Spain, was born in 1545. He was a bold,
headstrong boy, reckless in disposition, fond of manly exercises, generous
to a fault, fearless of heart, and passionately desirous of a military
life. In figure he was deformed, one shoulder being higher and one leg
longer than the other, while his chest was flat and his back slightly
humped. His features were not unhandsome, though very pale, and he spoke
with some difficulty. He was feeble and sickly as a boy, subject to
intermittent fever, and wasted away so greatly that it seemed as if he
would not live to manhood.
Such were the mental and physical characteristics of the princely youth
who while still young was betrothed by treaty to the beautiful French
princess Isabella of Valois. The marriage was not destined to take place.
Before the treaty was ratified, Queen Mary of England, Philip's wife,
died, and his name was substituted for that of his son in the marriage
treaty. The wedding ceremony took place at Toledo, in February, 1560, and
was celebrated with great splendor. Carlos was present, and may have felt
some resentment at being robbed by his father of this beautiful bride.
Romantic historians tell us that Isabella felt a tender sentiment for him,
a very unlikely statement in view of the fact that he was at that time a
sickly, ill-favored boy of only fourteen years of age. Shortly after the
marriage Carlos was formally recognized as heir to the crown.
Two years afterwards a serious accident occurred. In descending a flight
of stairs the boy slipped and fell headlong, injuring his head so severely
that his life was despaired of. His head swelled to an enormous size; he
became delirious and totally blind; examination showed that his skull was
fractured; a part of the bone was removed, but no relief was obtained. All
the arts of the doctors of that day were tried in vain, but the boy got no
better. Processions were made to the churches, prayers were offered, and
pilgrimages were vowed, all without avail. Then more radical means were
tried. The mouldering bones of a holy Franciscan, who had died a hundred
years before, and had always been the object of the prince's especial
veneration, were taken from their coffin and laid on the boy's bed, and
the cloth that had enclosed the dead man's skull was placed on his
forehead.
That night, we are gravely told, the dead friar came to Carlos in his
sleep, bidding him to "be of good cheer, for he would certainly recover."
Soon after, the fever subsided, his head shrank back to its natural size,
his sight returned. In two months from the date of the accident he was
physically well, his recovery being partly or wholly due to the skill of
an Italian surgeon, who trepanned him and by this act restored him to
consciousness.
Likely enough the boy was never cured. The blow may have done some
permanent injury to his brain. At any rate, he became strikingly eccentric
and reckless, giving way to every mad whim that came into his mind. The
stories of his wild doings formed the scandal of Madrid. In 1564 one of
his habits was to patrol the streets with a number of young nobles as
lawless as himself, attacking the passengers with their swords, kissing
the women, and using foul language to ladies of the highest rank.
At that time it was the custom for the young gallants of the court to wear
very large boots. Carlos increased the size of his, that he might carry in
them a pair of small pistols. Fearing mischief, the king ordered the
shoemaker to reduce the size of his son's boots; but when the unlucky son
of St. Crispin brought them to the palace, the prince flew into a rage,
beat him severely, and then ordered the leather to be cut into pieces and
stewed, and forced the shoemaker to swallow it on the spot--or as much of
it as he could get down.
These are only a sample of his pranks. He beat his governor, attempted to
throw his chamberlain out of the window, and threatened to stab Cardinal
Espinosa for banishing a favorite actor from the palace.
One anecdote told of him displays a reckless and whimsical humor. Having
need of money, Carlos asked of a merchant, named Grimaldo, a loan of
fifteen hundred ducats. The money-lender readily consented, thanked the
prince for the compliment, and, in the usual grandiloquent vein of
Castilian courtesy, told Carlos that all he had was at his disposal.
"I am glad to learn that," answered the prince. "You may make the loan,
then, one hundred thousand ducats."
Poor Grimaldo was thunderstruck. He tremblingly protested that it was
impossible,--he had not the money. "It would ruin my credit," he declared.
"What I said were only words of compliment."
"You have no right to bandy compliments with princes," Don Carlos replied.
"I take you at your word. If you do not, in twenty-four hours, pay over
the money to the last real, you shall have bitter cause to rue it."
The unhappy Grimaldo knew not what to do. Carlos was persistent. It took
much negotiation to induce the prince to reduce the sum to sixty thousand
ducats, which the merchant raised and paid,--with a malediction on all
words of compliment. The money flew like smoke from the prince's hands, he
being quite capable of squandering the revenues of a kingdom. He lived in
the utmost splendor, and was lavish with all who came near him, saying, in
support of his gifts and charities, "Who will give if princes do not?"
The mad excesses of the prince, his wild defiance of decency and decorum,
were little to the liking of his father, who surrounded the young man with
agents whom he justly looked upon as spies, and became wilder in his
conduct in consequence. Offers of marriage were made from abroad.
Catharine de Medicis proposed the hand of a younger sister of Isabella.
The emperor of Germany pressed for a union with his daughter Anne, the
cousin of Carlos. Philip agreed to the latter, but deferred the marriage.
He married Anne himself after the death of Carlos, making her his fourth
wife. Thus both the princesses intended for the son became the brides of
the father.
The trouble between Carlos and his father steadily grew. The prince was
now twenty-one years of age, and, in his eagerness for a military life,
wished to take charge of affairs in the Netherlands, then in rebellion
against Spain. On learning that the Duke of Alva was to be sent thither,
Carlos said to him, "You are not to go there; I will go myself."
The efforts of the duke to soothe him only irritated him, and in the end
he drew his dagger and exclaimed, "You shall not go; if you do I will kill
you."
A struggle followed, the prince making violent efforts to stab the duke.
It only ended when a chamberlain came in and rescued Alva. This outrage on
his minister doubled the feeling of animosity between father and son, and
they grew so hostile that they ceased to speak, though living in the same
palace.
The next escapade of Carlos brought matters to a crisis. He determined to
fly from Spain and seek a more agreeable home in Germany or the
Netherlands. As usual, he had no money, and he tried to obtain funds by
demanding loans from different cities,--a reckless process which at once
proclaimed that he had some mad design in mind. He went further than this,
saying to his confidants that "he wished to kill a man with whom he had a
quarrel." This purpose he confessed to a priest, and demanded absolution.
The priest refused this startling request, and as the prince persisted in
his sanguinary purpose, a conclave of sixteen theologians was called
together to decide what action it was advisable to take in so
extraordinary a case.
After a debate on the subject, one of them asked Carlos the name of his
enemy. The prince calmly replied,--
"My father is the person. I wish to take his life."
This extraordinary declaration, in which the mad prince persisted, threw
the conclave into a state of the utmost consternation. On breaking up,
they sent a messenger to the king, then at the Escorial Palace, and made
him acquainted with the whole affair. This story, if it is true, seems to
indicate that the prince was insane.
His application to the cities for funds was in a measure successful. By
the middle of January, 1568, his agents brought him in a hundred and fifty
thousand ducats,--a fourth of the sum he had demanded. On the 17th he sent
an order to Don Ramon de Tassis, director-general of the posts, demanding
that eight horses should be provided for him that evening. Tassis,
suspecting something wrong, sent word that the horses were all out. Carlos
repeated his order in a peremptory manner, and the postmaster now sent all
the horses out, and proceeded with the news to the king at the Escorial.
Philip immediately returned to Madrid, where, the next morning, Carlos
attacked his uncle, Don John of Austria, with a drawn sword, because the
latter refused to repeat a conversation he had had with the king.
For some time Carlos had slept with the utmost precautions, as if he
feared an attack upon his life. His sword and dagger lay ready by his
bedside, and he kept a loaded musket within reach. He had also a bolt
constructed in such a manner that, by aid of pulleys, he could fasten or
unfasten the door of his chamber while in bed. All this was known to
Philip, and he ordered the mechanic who had made it to derange the
mechanism so that it would not work. To force a way into the chamber of a
man like Carlos might not have been safe.
THE ROYAL PALACE. MADRID.
At the hour of eleven that night the king came down-stairs, wearing armor
on his body and a helmet on his head. With him were the Duke of Feria,
captain of the guard, several other lords, and twelve guardsmen. They
quietly entered the chamber of the prince, and the duke, stealing to the
bedside, secured the sword, dagger, and musket which lay there.
The noise now wakened Carlos, who sprang up, demanding who was there.
"It is the council of state," answered the duke.
On hearing this the prince leaped from the bed, uttering threats and
imprecations, and endeavored to seize his arms. Philip, who had prudently
kept in the background until the weapons were secured, now advanced and
bade his son to return to bed and keep quiet.
"What does your majesty want of me?" demanded the prince.
"You will soon learn," Philip harshly replied.
He then gave orders that the windows and doors of the room should be
strongly secured and the keys brought to him. Every article of furniture,
even the andirons, with which violence might have been done, was removed
from the room. The king then appointed Feria keeper of the prince, and
bade the other nobles to serve him, with due respect, saying that he would
hold them as traitors if they permitted him to escape.
"Your majesty had better kill me than keep me a prisoner," exclaimed
Carlos. "It will be a great scandal to the kingdom. If you do not kill me
I will kill myself."
"You will do no such thing," answered Philip. "That would be the act of a
madman."
"Your majesty," replied the prince, "treats me so ill that you drive me to
this extremity. I am not mad, but you drive me to despair."
Other words passed, and on the withdrawal of the king the voice of Carlos
was so broken by sobs that his words could scarcely be heard. That night
the Duke of Feria and two other lords remained in the prince's room,--now
his prison. Each succeeding night two of the six appointed lords performed
this duty. They were not allowed to wear their swords in the presence of
the prince, but his meat was cut up before serving, as no knife was
permitted to be used at his meals. A guard was stationed in the passage
without, and, as the prince could not look from his barricaded windows, he
was from that day dead to the world.
The king immediately summoned his council of state and began a process
against the prisoner. Though making a show of deep affliction, he was
present at all the meetings and listened to all the testimony, which, when
written out, formed a heap of paper half a foot thick.
The news of the arrest of Don Carlos made a great sensation in Spain. The
wildest rumors were set afloat. Some said that he had tried to kill his
father, others that he was plotting rebellion. Many laid all the blame on
the king. "Others, more prudent than their neighbors, laid their fingers
on their lips and were silent." The affair created almost as much
sensation throughout Europe as in Spain. Philip, in his despatches to
other courts, spoke in such vague and mysterious language that it was
impossible to tell what he meant, and the most varied surmises were
advanced.
Meanwhile, Carlos was kept rigorously confined, so much so that he was not
left alone day or night. Of the two nobles in his chamber at night, one
was required to keep awake while the other slept. They were permitted to
talk with him, but not on political matters nor on the subject of his
imprisonment. They were ordered to bring him no messages from without nor
receive any from him. No books except devotional ones were allowed him.
If it was the purpose of Philip to end the life of his son by other means
than execution he could not have taken better measures. For a young man of
his high spirit and fiery temper such strict confinement was maddening. At
first he was thrown into a frenzy, and tried more than once to make way
with himself. The sullenness of despair succeeded. He grew daily more
emaciated, and the malarial fever which had so long affected him now
returned in a severe degree. To allay the heat of the fever he would
deluge the floor of his chamber with water, and walk for hours with bare
feet on the cold floor. He had a warming-pan filled with ice and snow
brought him, and kept it for hours at night in his bed. He would drink
snow-water in immoderate draughts. In his eating he seemed anxious to
break down his strength,--now refusing all food for days together, now
devouring a pasty of four partridges at a sitting, washing it down with
three gallons or more of iced water.
That he was permitted to indulge in such caprices seems to indicate that
Philip wished him to kill himself. No constitution, certainly not so weak
a one as that of Carlos, could long withstand these excesses. His stomach
refused to perform its duty; severe vomiting attacked him; dysentery set
in; his strength rapidly failed. The expected end came on the 24th of
July, six months after the date of his imprisonment, death releasing the
prince from the misery of his unhappy lot. One writer tells us that it was
hastened by a strong purgative dose, administered by his father's orders,
and that he was really assassinated. However that be, Philip had little
reason to be sorry at the death of his lunatic son. To one of his austere
temperament it was probably an easy solution of a difficult problem.
Less than three months passed after the death of Carlos when Isabella
followed him to the grave. She was then but twenty-three years old,--about
the same age as himself. The story was soon set afloat that Philip had
murdered both his son and his wife, moved thereto by jealousy; and from
this has arisen the romantic story of secret love between the two, with
the novels and dramas based thereon. In all probability the story is
without foundation. Philip is said to have been warmly loved by his wife,
and the poison which carried her away seems to have been the heavy doses
of medicine with which the doctors of that day sought to cure a passing
illness.
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Spain for years past has had its double king,--a king in possession and a king in exile, a holder of the throne and an aspirant to the throne. For the greater part of a century one has rarely heard of Spain without hearing of the Carlists, for con... The Heroes Of The Alamo
On a day in the year 1835 the people of Nacogdoches, Texas, were engaged in the pleasant function of giving a public dinner to one of their leading citizens. In the midst of the festivities a person entered the room whose appearance was greeted with... The Hojo Tyranny
Under the rule of Yoritomo Japan had two capitals and two governments, the mikado ruling at Kioto, the shogun at Kamakura, the magnificent city which Yoritomo had founded. The great family of the Minamoto was now supreme, all its rivals being destro... The Horatii And Curiatii
Romulus was succeeded by a king named Numa Pompilius, of Sabine origin, who so loved peace that during his reign Rome had no wars and no enemies, so that the doors of the Temple of Janus were never once opened while he was on the throne. He built a ... The Humiliation Of Sparta
Thebes was free! But would she stay free? Sparta was against her,--Sparta, the lord of Greece. Could a single city, however liberty-loving and devoted its people, maintain itself against that engine of war which had humbled mighty Athens and now l... The Huns At Orleans
On the edge of a grand plain, almost in the centre of France, rises a rich and beautiful city, time-honored and famous, for it stood there before France had begun and while Rome still spread its wide wings over this whole region, and it has been the... The Hunting Of Braemar
In the great forest of Braemar, in the Highlands of Scotland, was gathered a large party of hunters, chiefs, and clansmen, all dressed in the Highland costume, and surrounded by extensive preparations for the comfort and enjoyment of all concerned... The Indian Massacre In Virginia
Friday, the 22d of March, of the year 1622, dawned brightly over a peaceful domain in Virginia. In the fifteen years that had passed since the first settlers landed and built themselves homes at Jamestown the dominion of the whites had spread, until... The Invasion Of Africa
As Italy was invaded by Gonsalvo de Cordova, the Great Captain, so Africa was invaded by Cardinal Ximenes, the Great Churchman, one of the ablest men who ever appeared in Spain, despite the fact that he made a dreadful bonfire of thousands of Arab... The Invasion Of The Tartar Steppes
Many as have been the wars of China, the Chinese are not a warlike people. Their wars have mostly been fought at home to repress rebellion or overcome feudal lords, and during the long history of the nation its armies have rarely crossed the borders... The Invincible Armada
During almost the whole reign of Philip II. the army of Spain was kept busily engaged, now with the Turks and the Barbary states, now with the revolted Moriscos, or descendants of the Moors of Granada, now in the conquest of Portugal, now with the...