racy of this statement, 43 which is probably exaggerated; but we know that, between 1520 and 1550, he published a series of laws, to the effect that those who were convicted of heresy should be beheaded, or burned alive, or buried alive. The penalties were thus various, to meet the circumstances of each case. Capital punishment, however, was always to be inflicted on whoever bought an heretical book, or sold it, or even copied it for his own use. His last advice to his son, well accorded with these measures. Only a few days before his death, he signed a codicil to his will, recommending that no favour should ever be shown to heretics; that they should all be put to death; and that care should be taken to uphold the Inquisition, as the best means of accomplishing so desirable an end.45

London, 1841, vol. i. pp. 498, 499. Motley's Dutch Republic, London, 1858, vol. i. pp. 105, 104.

"It is doubted, if I rightly remember, by Mr. Prescott. But the opinion of that able historian is entitled to less weight from his want of acquaintance with Dutch literature, where the principal evidence must be sought for. On this, as on many other matters, the valuable work of Mr. Motley leaves little to desire.

44 Prescott's Philip II., vol. i. pp. 196, 197. In 1523, the first persons were burned. Motley's Dutch Republic, vol. i. p. 69. The mode of burying alive is described in Davies' History of Holland, vol. i. p. 383, vol. ii. pp. 311, 312.

45 He died on the 21st September; and on the 9th he signed a codicil, in which he "enjoined upon his son to follow up and bring to justice every heretic in his dominions, and this without exception, and without favour or mercy to any one. He conjured Philip to cherish the holy Inquisition as the best means of accomplishing this good work." Prescott's Additions to Robertson's Charles V., p. 576. See also his instructions to Philip in Raumer's History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. i. p. 91; and on his opinion of the Inquisition, see his conversation with Sir Thomas Wyatt, printed from the State Papers in Froude's History of England, vol. iii. p. 456, London, 1858. This may have been mere declamation; but in Tapia's Civilizacion Española, Madrid, 1840, vol. iii. pp. 76, 77, will be found a deliberate and official letter, in which Charles does not hesitate to say, "La santa inquisicion como oficio santo y puesto por los reyes católicos nuestros señores y abuelos á honra de Dios nuestro señor y de nuestra santa fé católica, tengo firme é entrañablemente asentado y fijado en mi corazon, para la mandar favorecer y honrar, como principe justo y temeroso de Dios es obligado y debe hacer."

The codicil to the will of Charles still exists, or did very recently, among the archives at Simancas. Ford's Spain, 1847, p. 334. In M. Lafuente's great work, Historia de España, vol xii. pp. 494, 495, Madrid, 1853, it is referred to in language which, in more senses than one, is perfectly Spanish : "Su testamento y codicilo respiran las ideas cristianas y religiosas en que

This barbarous policy is to be ascribed, not to the vices, nor to the temperament of the individual ruler, but to the operation of large general causes, which acted upon the individual, and impelled him to the course he pursued. Charles was by no means a vindictive man; his natural disposition was to mercy rather than to rigour; his sincerity is unquestionable; he performed what he believed to be his duty; and he was so kind a friend, that those who knew him best were precisely those who loved him most.46 Little, however, could all that avail in shaping his public conduct. He was obliged to obey the tendencies of the age and country in which he lived. And what those tendencies were, appeared still more clearly after his death, when the throne of Spain was occupied upwards of forty years by a prince who inherited it in the prime of life, and whose reign is particularly interesting as a symptom and a consequence of the disposition of the people over whom he ruled.

Philip II., who succeeded Charles V. in 1555, was indeed eminently a creature of the time, and the ablest of his biographers aptly terms him the most perfect type of the national character.47 His favourite maxim, which

habia vivido y la piedad que señaló su muerte." "Es muy de notar su primera cláusula [i.e. of the codicil] por la cual deja muy encarecidamente recomendado al rey don Felipe que use de todo rigor en el castigo de los hereges luteranos que habian sido presos y se hubieren de prender en España.' "Sin escepcion de persona alguna, ni admitir ruegos, ni tener respeto á persona alguna; porque para el efecto de ello favorezca y mande favorecer al Santo Oficio de la Inquisicion,' &c.

46 Native testimony may perhaps be accused of being partial; but, on the other hand, Raumer, in his valuable History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. i. p. 22, justly observes, that his character has been misrepresented by reason that historians have availed themselves by preference of the inimical narratives of French and Protestant writers." To steer between these extremes, I will transcribe the summing up of Charles's reign as it is given by a learned and singularly unprejudiced writer. "Tortuous as was sometimes the policy of the emperor, he never, like Francis, acted with treachery; his mind had too much of native grandeur for such baseness. Sincere in religion and friendship, faithful to his word, clement beyond example, liberal towards his servants, indefatigable in his regal duties, anxious for the welfare of his subjects, and generally blameless in private life, his character will not suffer by a comparison with that of any monarch of his times." Dunham's History of Spain, vol. v. p. 41. mency was the basis of his character,” p. 30.

"Cle

47"The Spaniards, as he grew in years, beheld, with pride and satisfac

forms the key to his policy, was, "That it is better not to reign at all than to reign over heretics."48 Armed with supreme power, he bent all his energies towards carrying this principle into effect. Directly that he heard that the Protestants were making converts in Spain, he strained every nerve to stifle the heresy ;49 and so admirably was he seconded by the general temper of the people, that he was able without risk to suppress opinions which convulsed every other part of Europe. In Spain, the Reformation, after a short struggle, died completely away, and in about ten years the last vestige of it disappeared.50 The Dutch wished to adopt, and in many instances did adopt, the reformed doctrine; therefore Philip waged against them a cruel war, which lasted thirty years, and which he continued till his death, because he was resolved to extirpate the new creed.51 He ordered that every heretic who refused to recant should be burned. If the heretic did recant, some in

tion, in their future sovereign, the most perfect type of the national character." Prescott's History of Philip II., vol. i. p. 39. So, too, in Motley's Dutch Republic, vol. i. p. 128, "he was entirely a Spaniard ;" and in Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. i. p. 155, "pero el reinado de Felipe fué todo Español.”

48 Prescott's Philip II., vol. i. pp. 68, 210, vol. ii. p. 26. Watson's Philip II., p. 55. Compare Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, vol. xxxiv.

p. 273.

49 "Como era tan zeloso en la extirpacion de la heregía, uno de sus primeros cuidados fué el castigo de los Luteranos; y a presencia suya, se executó en Valladolid el dia ocho de Octubre el suplicio de muchos reos de este delito." Miñana, Continuacion de Mariana, vol. ix. p. 212.

50 66

Thus

The contest with Protestantism in Spain, under such auspices, was short. It began in earnest and in blood about 1559, and was substantially ended in 1570.' Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature, vol. i. p. 425. See also M'Cric's History of the Reformation in Spain, pp. 336, 346. it was that "España se preservó del contagio. Hizolo con las armas Carlos V., y con las hogueras los inquisidores. España se aisló del movimiento europeo.' Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. i. p. 144, Madrid, 1850. M. Lafuente adds, that, in his opinion, all Christendom is about to follow the good example set by Spain of rejecting Protestantism. "Si no nos equivocamos, en nuestra misma edad se notan síntomas de ir marchando este problema hácia su resolucion. El catolicismo gana prosélitos; los protestantes de hoy no son lo que antes fueron, y creemos que la unidad católica se realizará."

51 Before the arrival of Alva, "Philip's commands to Margaret were imperative, to use her utmost efforts to extirpate the heretics." Davies' History of Holland, vol. i. p. 551; and in 1563 he wrote, "The example

dulgence was granted; but having once been tainted, he must die. Instead of being burned, he was therefore to be executed.52 Of the number of those who actually suffered in the Low Countries, we have no precise information;53 but Alva triumphantly boasted that, in the five or six years of his administration, he had put to death in cold blood more than eighteen thousand, besides a still greater number whom he had slain on the field of battle.54 This, even during his short tenure of power, would make about forty thousand victims; an estimate probably not far from the truth, since we know from other sources, that in one year more than eight thousand were either executed or burned.55 Such measures were the result of instructions issued by Philip, and formed a necessary part of his general scheme.56 The desire paramount in his mind, and to which he sacrificed all other considerations, was to put down the new creed, and to re-instate the old one. To this, even his immense ambition and his inordinate love of power were subordinate.

and calamities of France prove how wholesome it is to punish heretics with rigour." Raumer's History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. i. p. 171. The Spaniards deemed the Dutch guilty of a double crime; being rebels against God and the king: "Rebeldes á Dios por la heregía, y a su Principe á quien debian obedecer." Mariana, Historia de España, vol. vii. p. 410. "Tratauan de secreto de quitar la obediencia á Dios y á su Principe." Vanderhammen's Don Filipe el Prudente Segundo deste Nombre, Madrid, 1632, p. 44 rev. Or, as Miñana phrases it, Philip "tenia los mismos enemigos que Dios." Continuacion de Mariana, vol. x. p. 139. 52 Motley's Dutch Republic, vol. i. p. 229. Watson's Philip II., pp. 51,

52, 177.

53 Mr. Motley, under the year 1566, says, "The Prince of Orange estimated that up to this period fifty thousand persons in the provinces had been put to death in obedience to the edicts. He was a moderate man, and accustomed to weigh his words." Motley's Dutch Republic, vol. i. pp. 424,

425.

54 Watson's Philip II., pp. 248, 249. Tapia (Civilizacion Española, vol. iii. p. 95) says, "quitó la vida á mas de diez y ocho mil protestantes con diversos géneros de suplicios." Compare Motley's Dutch Republic, vol. ii. p. 423, and Davies' History of Holland, vol. i. p. 608.

55 Davies' History of Holland, vol. i. p. 567. Vanderhammen (Don Filipe el Prudente, Madrid, 1632, p. 52 rev.), with tranquil pleasure, assures us that "muriessen mil y setecientas personas en pocos dias con fuego, cordel y cuchillo en diuersos lugares."

56 El duque de Alba, obrando en conformidad á las instrucciones de su soberano, y apoyado en la aprobacion que merecian al rey todas sus medidas." Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. xiii. p. 221.

He aimed at the empire of Europe, because he longed to restore the authority of the Church.57 All his policy, all his negotiations, all his wars, pointed to this one end. Soon after his accession, he concluded an ignominious treaty with the Pope, that it might not be said that he bore arms against the head of the Christian world.58 And his last great enterprise, in some respects the most important of all, was to fit out, at an incredible cost, that famous Armada with which he hoped to humble England, and to nip the heresy of Europe in its bud, by depriving the Protestants of their principal support, and of the only asylum where they were sure to find safe and honourable refuge.59

Van

57"It was to restore the Catholic Church that he desired to obtain the empire of Europe." Davies' History of Holland, vol. ii. p. 329. “El protestó siempre que sus desinios en la guerra, y sus exercitos no se encaminauan á otra cosa, que al ensalçamiento de la Religion Christiana.' derhammen's Don Filipe el Prudente, p. 125. "El que aspiraba á someter todas las naciones de la tierra á su credo religioso." Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. xv. p. 203. The bishop of Salamanca in 1563 openly boasted que son roi ne s'étoit marié avec la reine d'Angleterre que pour ramener cette isle à l'obéissance de l'église.' Continuation de Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, vol. xxxiii. p. 331. Compare Ortiz, Compendio, vol. vi. p. 204. "Este casamiento no debió de tener otras miras que el de la religion."

58 On this treaty, the only humiliating one which he ever concluded, see Prescott's Philip II., vol. i. p. 104. His dying advice to his son was, "Siempre estareis en la obediencia de la Santa Iglesia Romana, y del Sumo Pontifice, teniendole por vuestro Padre espiritual." Davila, Historia de la Vida de Felipe Tercero, Madrid, 1771, folio, lib. i. p. 29. According to another writer, "La ultima palabra que le salió con el espiritu, fue : Yo muero como Catolico Christiano en la Fe y obediencia de la Iglesia Romana, y respeto al Papa, como á quien trae en sus manos las llaues del Cielo, como á Principe de la Iglesia, y Teniente de Dios sobre el imperio de las almas.'" Vanderhammen, Don Filipe el Prudente, p. 124.

59 Elizabeth, uniting the three terrible qualities of heresy, power, and ability, was obnoxious to the Spaniards to an almost incredible degree, and there never was a more thoroughly national enterprise than the fitting out of the Armada against her. One or two passages from a grave historian, will illustrate the feelings with which she was regarded even after her death, and will assist the reader in forming an opinion respecting the state of the Spanish mind. "Isabel, 6 Jezabel, Reyna de Inglaterra, heretica Calvinista, y la mayor perseguidora que ha tenido la sangre de Jesu-Christo y los hijos de la Iglesia." Davila, Historia de Felipe Tercero, p. 74. sucesos de fuera causaron admiracion; y el mayor y muy esperado de toda la Christiandad fue la muerte de Isabela, Reyna de Inglaterra, heretica Calvinista, que hizo su nombre famoso con la infamia de su vida, y perseguir á la Iglesia, derramando la sangre de los Santos, que defendian la verdadera Religion Catolica, dexando registradas sus maldades en las historias públicas del mundo, pasando su alma á coger el desdichado fruto de su obstinada

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