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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2015
Toward the end of the summer of 1594 King Philip II received from the hands of Sir Francis Englefield at the Escorial an Información, or report, written by Joseph Creswell, S.J. concerning English matters of significance for his régime in Flanders. Creswell did not claim to be the sole author for, together with Englefield's name, he mentioned in his first sentence that two other English Jesuits, Robert Persons and William Holt had also contributed to it and that Hugh Owen, a veteran observer of English affairs at the court in Brussels, vouched for its contents. Since Flanders was the province where the larger number of English Catholics lived overseas during the last decade of the reign of Elizabeth, the document translated and edited here for the first time can shed light on the situation facing them at that period. There are some questions that deserve attention first, about its origins, the experiences of the author and his collaborators which prompted them to prepare it, and above all the political and diplomatic crisis which seemed to give urgency to the report.
1 Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, Manuscritos Tomos 8695 and 775, ‘Diversos Papeles del Conde de Fuentes.
2 Tomo 8695 ff. 841–845v. In the Sala de Manuscritos of the Biblioteca Nacional there is a handwritten Indice (4 volumes) of names and subjects of manuscripts from the Palacio Real. This is noted (Tomo 1, p. 298v) ‘Padre Cresuelo, Relación del Estado de Inglaterra en el gobierno de la Reina Isabella.’
3 Archives of the Archdiocese of Westminster, Manuscripts, Series A volume 4, document 831 ff. 23 l-238v, See Knox, Appendix, document LXVI, pp. 401–408. The shelfmark manuscript reference printed in Knox should be ignored.
4 E 8341 f. 106, Creswell to Gondomar, Watten, 16 Aug 1620.
5 Borja de Medina, Francisco de, “Jesuitas en la armada contra Inglaterra (1588) Notas para un centenario”, Archivum Historicum societatis Jesu, 58 (1989) p. 29 Google Scholar n. 96.
6 Hicks, Leo, ed. Letters and Memorials of Father Roben Persons, S.J. 1578–1588, (C.R.S. vol.39, 1942) pp. lxii,Google Scholar lxx.
7 Renold, pp. 203–204 n.3.
8 Loomie, pp. 52–93.
9 Ibidem, pp. 14–51.
10 Digges, Dudley, The Compleat Ambassador (London, 1656) p. 268,Google Scholar cited in Wernham p. 324.
11 Wernham, R. B., List and Analysis of State Papers Foreign Series: Elizabeth I, vol.5 (London, 1989) para. 632.Google Scholar
12 See Hicks, pp. 7–11, 72–73, 87–89, 136–142. Later Paget wrote to Burghley declaring his ambition ‘to do a service agreeable both to the Queen of England and the King of Spain’ and recalling that he had talks about peace with both the Count of Mansfelt and Archduke Ernest though when he sent Thomas Barnes to Archduke Albert, ‘he was looked on as a spy’ (PRO S.P. 12 vol. 265, document 63, Paget to Burghley, 26 Dec 1597).
13 Lewkenor, Lewis, A Discourse of the Usage of the English Fugitives by the Spaniard (London, 1595,Google Scholar STC 15562) Sig D3–Sig E2.
14 E 600 ff. 76, 77 Avisos de Londres 23 May 1591; f. 117 Parma to Philip II, Brussels 19 Sept 1591; Wernham, R. B., List and Analysis of State papers Foreign series, Elizabeth I vol.2 (London 1989) paras. 12, 13, 29, 94, 360, 364.Google Scholar
15 Hammer, P. E. J., ‘An Elizabethan Spy Who Came in from the cold. The Return of Anthony Standen to England in 1593’, Historical Research 65 (1992) pp. 279–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16 Parker, pp. 228–231.
17 Knox, pp. 348–350; Renold, pp. 238–240.
18 Renold, pp. 243–244.
19 E 607 n.f. (4 pages) ‘Instrucción a Vos el Baron Maximiliano de Dietrichstein mi Cavallerizo Maior de los Puntos que haveis de tratar con el Rey mi Señor y Tio’, 12 April 1594.
20 Ibidem, page 4, ‘Dezir lo que se ha commencado a negociar sobre lo de la Pacificación y se yra siguiendo el negocio adelante, el qual para encaminarle con las esperanzas de fundamento para aguardar buen fin es menester que passe por las manos del Emperador … ‘
21 At this time Oldenbamevelt opposed a peace overture, see Tex, Jan den Oldenbarnevelt (Cambridge 1973) vol.1 pp. 199–200.Google Scholar
22 Loomie, A. J., ‘The Armadas and the Catholics of England’, Catholic Historical Review vol.59 (1973) pp. 390–393;Google Scholar Evans, R. J. W., Rudolf II and His World: A Study in Intellectual History 1576–1612 (Oxford, 1973) pp. 96–97.Google Scholar
23 Wernham, R. B., ‘Queen Elizabeth I, the Emperor Rudolf II and Archduke Ernest, 1593–94’, in Kouri, E. I. and Scott, T., edd. Politics and Society in Reformation Europe (New York, 1987) pp. 438–442.Google Scholar
24 E 607 f. 82 Elizabeth to Ernest, French copy, 21 Sept. 1594; f. 81, Ernest to Elizabeth, Spanish copy, 14 Oct. 1594.
25 E 607 f. 78 Ernest to Philip, 28 Oct. 1594 io que pudiese del estado de cosas aqui Y buscar caminar velar lo que pudiese alguna trama … de las que suelen …’
26 E 607 f. 118 French copy, Privy Council to Richardot, 20 Oct. 1594; f. 119 French copy, Richardot to Council, 28 Nov. 1594.
27 E 607 f. 105, Ernest to Philip, 20 Dec. 1594: ‘no se podia prometer de su conversación sino trayciones y inconvenientes …
28 E 607 f. 91, Fitzherbert to Idiáquez, Brussels 3 Nov. 1594 f. 92 (6 pages) ‘Discurso sobre la venida del Embaxador de la reyna de Inglaterra a estos estados de Flandes y quai debe ser su yntento.’
29 De Schepper, H., ‘Una Reacción Criptografica sobre la toma de Posesión del governo de Flandes por Fuentes, 1595’, Archives et Bibliothèques de Belgique 40 (1969) pp. 270–279,Google Scholar a letter of protest to the council of state in Brussels against the appointment of Fuentes from Mansfelt.
30 Pollen, J. H., ed. The Memoirs of Father Robert Persons, Miscellanea vol. 2 (C.R.S. 1902) pp. 12–18 Google Scholar and Miscellanea vol. 4 (C.R.S. 1907) pp. 1–161.
31 R. B. Wernham, art cit (note 23) pp. 443–49; Mac Caffrey, W., Elizabeth I, War and Politics, 1588–1603 (Princeton, 1992) pp. 194–195.Google Scholar
32 ‘Información … ordinada por los Padres Roberto Personio, Joseph Cresuelo y Guillermo Holt de la Compania de Jhus, confirmada por Hugo Ouueno y presentado a su Magestad por Francisco Ynglefilde.’ Knox, p. 401 omits the sentence.
33 Arabella Stewart (1575–1615). Her paternal grandmother, Margaret Douglas, was daughter of Margaret, elder sister of Henry VIII; Henry Hastings, 3rd earl of Huntingdon (1536–95). His paternal grandmother, Margaret countess of Salisbury, was neice of Edward IV; William Stanley 6th earl of Derby (1561–1642). His maternal grandmother, Eleanor Brandon was the elder daughter of Mary, younger sister of Henry VIII; Edward Seymour (1561–1612), son of the 2nd earl of Hertford. His maternal grandmother, Frances Brandon, was younger daughter of Mary, sister of Henry Vili. Bright, C., ‘Realpolitik and Elizabethan Ceremony: The Earl of Hertford's Entertainment of Elizabeth at Eltham, 1591’ Renaissance Quarterly 45 (1992) pp. 20–48,CrossRefGoogle Scholar argues that Hertford's rights to the throne were hinted in a public allegory.
34 The Información was written some time before his death on 16 Oct. 1594.
35 Charles Neville (1542/43–1601 ) 6th earl of Westmorland left England in 1570 and is included here because of his rank. In 1601 Albert, Archduke was warned ‘nothing of importance can be entrusted to him’, Loomie p. 255.Google Scholar
36 Before Creswell arrived in Spain Stanley had visited the court in Spain with a plan for an expedition to capture Alderney which was rejected, Loomie, p. 251.
37 Richard Hopkins (1546–1594) a close associate of Allen since 1580 and a pensioner under Parma had previously studied in Spain. Circulating in print at this time were his English translations of Luis de Granada's Of Prayer and Meditation (1582) and A memorial of a Christian Life (1586).
38 Gabriel Denis (1537–1626) had arrived in the Low Countries in 1561 and became a pensioner with military and advisory duties under Juan, Don (Loomie, p 248);Google Scholar Charles Browne (b. 1547) after service as a soldier was living with a pension to support a household of six. (Loomie, p. 244).
39 Cal.S.P. Spanish, 1587–1603, pp. 565–569 has an account of the trial of Thomas Morgan in 1590. For his intrigues against Allen see Hicks pp. 77–90. Morgan's links to Mary Queen of Scots began in 1574 when he was appointed Receveur of her French revenues; afterwards there was mistrust of him in Paris at the French court as well as among the English exiles, see M. Greengrass, ‘Mary, Dowager Queen of France’ in Lynch, M. ed. Mary Stewart Queen in Three Kingdoms (Oxford, 1988) pp. 171–94.Google Scholar Ernest, who had not been in Brussels for the trial ordered a three page memorandum about him to be sent to Philip at this time, (E 607 f. 117 ‘Sobre el Negocio de Morgan’; f. 105 Ernest to Philip, 20 Dec. 1594).
40 Claude Nau de Mauvissière, secretary for French letters and Gilbert Curie, personal secretary for the Queen of Scots. Their rôle in the household is described in Greengrass cited above. Later Nau was in the service of Charles Cardinal of Vendôme (d.1594) brother of Condé.
41 Gilbert Gifford (d. 1591) was a spy in the pay of Sir Edward Stafford in Paris from 1584 to 1588 (Bossy, J., Giordano Bruno and the Embassy Affair, London, 1991, pp. 67–68).Google Scholar When arrested in December 1588 he confessed he had been ‘persuaded’ by Morgan ‘to practice with the Huguenots of England and principally with Sir Francis Walsingham’ Cal.S.P. Domestic 1581–90 p. 563; Cal.S.P. Spanish 1587–1603 pp. 568–569; Peck, pp. 94, 210.
42 For his Imprisonment in Rome 1588–1593, see Renold p. 11; For the content of the books of Gifford and Grateley see Hicks, pp. 72, 138, 143; His ‘betrayals of Catholics appear to be politically motivated, (he) was though to be a convinced Protestant by April 1586’ Questier, M. C., ‘English Clerical Converts to Protestantism, 1580–1596’, Recusant History 20 (1991) p. 462 CrossRefGoogle Scholar n.60.
43 A Spanish copy of a letter from Morgan to William Chisholm II, former bishop of Dunblane (1561–69) and Vaison (1570–85) dated August 1589 was sent by Parma to Philip (E 598 f. 73) see also Hicks, p. 79.
44 Robert Poley, a spy formerly in the pay of Leicester and Walsingham, had a rôle in the recent death of Christopher Marlowe in London in May 1593. Nicholl, C., The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe, (London 1992),Google Scholar see Hicks pp. 90, 246–49; Peck p. 211. Michael Moody, before his imprisonment had been a spy in the pay of Stafford in Paris, Peck p. 294.
45 There is no record of a pension for Poley or Moody, however it is possible that a Spanish official used them as paid informants, see Hammer (art cit note 15) pp. 282–285; Loomie, pp. 62–66.
46 In 1594 Ranuccio Farnese (1569–1622) commanded a regiment of Cavalry in the Army in Flanders. By his mother Maria de Aviz, niece of King Manuel, he was linked to the royal house of Portugal and by his father to that of Castile. The rumour of a possible match with Arabella Stewart reached Rome in December 1591, Renold pp. 210–214. He later married in May 1600 Margarita Aldobrandini, niece of Pope Clement VII.
47 The Count of Mansfelt and the Count of Fuentes’, Knox p. 405; the peace overture of 1593 is noted in Renold, pp. 238–240, Knox pp. 348–350.
48 ‘who in effect are not more than four or five’, Knox p. 406.
49 Ralph Ligons had been a Spanish pensioner since 1570, by 1596 he was described as ‘elderly, troublesome’, Loomie p. 283.
50 William Tresham, cousin of the late Marquess of Northampton and a Gentleman Pensioner of Elizabeth (1578–81) was a companion of Robert Persons on his first visit to Spain in 1582. Later he was approved by Parma as a captain of infantry. He wrote to Archduke Albert in 1597 that he had ‘brought over here relatives and other gentlemen who have all died in the service of the king’. See also Loomie p. 261.
51 Thomas Throckmorton has been identified as the author of the French translation of Leicester's Commonwealth, Peck pp. 11,24,29. In Flanders he became a pensioner of Parma's retinue. Invited to Rome by Allen, he arrived after his death in 1594 but remained at the Spanish embassy as an adviser, where he died in 1595. Loomie, pp. 260–61.
52 John Stonor (b.1545) of the Oxfordshire recusant family which assisted Campion and Persons in 1580 with the printing press for their first books. After living in Flanders for twelve years he supported his family on the small pension of 25 escudos. Loomie, p. 259–260.
53 Lady Anne Hungerford, through Morgan's advice at this time, was urging her sister, the dowager Duchess of Feria, to come to Brussels to assume the leadership of the English Catholics in the absence of Allen. Fearing factions, her son, the 2nd Duke was strongly opposed. Loomie, pp. 112–118, 120–124, 251–252.
54 In 1594 Owen Lewis, already estranged from Allen for several years, sought to obtain the jurisdiction to grant faculties to all priests going to England, Renold pp. 19, 121, 247; Cleary, J. M., A Checklist of Welsh Students in the Seminaries (Cardiff 1958) pp. 4–5.Google Scholar
55 After the pacification of Ghent, Sir Edward Horsey (d. 1583) was sent to Don Juan (12 Dec. 1576–16 Jan 1577) to offer the queen's services as mediator and to urge acceptance of ‘reasonable requests’ from the Estates. Cal.S.P. Foreign 1575–77 pp. 442–444, 477.
56 Sir Thomas Leighton (d. 1611) came (20 Dec. 1577–5 Feb. 1578) to offer the queen's services again. Sir Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State, came with the same official orders (12 June–7 Oct. 1578) but his sympathies were with the Prince of Orange; Elizabeth arranged for mercenaries from Germany and substantial loans to Don Juan's opponents, Wernham pp. 330–336, Parker pp. 190–198.
57 Don Juan died of illness in Sept. 1578 while Walsingham was still in Brussels. After his return to England the trial of the Ratcliffe brothers occurred under the new governor (E 577 f. 5 Parma to Philip 5 Dec. 1578). Warnings from English correspondents to the governors of Flanders about plots to kill them were not uncommon. Luis de Requesens reported one (E 560 f. 155 Requesens to Phili, 8 July 1574); Don Juan told Wilson, Thomas of another (Cal.S.P.Foreign 1575–77, p. 577)Google Scholar in May 1577. Walsingham called the Ratcliffe affair ‘a villanous slander’ (Cal.S.P. Foreign 1578–79 pp 387–388).
58 Gresham negotiated with the bankers of Antwerp on behalf of the queen. For the local issues within Granvelle's leadership see Parker pp. 45–55; for English merchants's grievances see Wernham pp. 282–284; for English propaganda against him see Black, J. B., The Reign of Elizabeth 1558–1603 (Oxford, 1959) pp. 120–121.Google Scholar
59 The Alcabala, a tax proposed by Alba in 1569 was widely unpopular and difficult to collect, Parker pp. 114—117; The unexpected occupation of poorly defended coastal towns by the ‘Sea Beggars’ in the spring of 1572 was not by Elizabeth's intention, Wernham pp. 318–319.
60 An important addition which appeared only in the copy sent to Archduke Ernest, Knox p. 407. Probably because it criticized the Duke of Alba, the uncle and patron of the Count of Fuentes, it was omitted in the copy for Philip.
61 Feria hoped to be governor in 1566 and 1571 in place of Alba, his mistrust of Elizabeth was evident since her accession (See Rodriguez-Salgado, M. J. and Adams, S., ‘The Count of Feria's Despatch to Philip II of 14 November 1558, Camden Miscellany XXVIII, Roy.Hist.Soc. 1984, pp. 306–344).Google Scholar Alba was certain that Elizabeth was not hostile but wished: ‘to pass the rest of her days (as she is not believed to be long lived) in peaceful possession of her kingdom” (Epistolario vol.2 p. 801), Alba to Philip, 24 Dec. 1571). He was angry at the number of pensions granted to English and Scottish exiles ‘because the majority of them are spies’, while his own wounded soldiers had no relief. ‘This seems to me to take away the bread of the children and hand it to the dogs’ (Epistolario vol.3 p. 517, Alba to Gabriel de Zayas, 2 Sept. 1573).
62 Alba considered the Northern Uprising ‘ill timed and led by amateurs’ (Epistolario vol.2 p. 488, Alba to Philip, 15 Jan. 1571). Philip and Alba agreed that Ridolfi's invasion schemes came from “a very empty man” (Epistolario vol.2 p. 725 letter of 5 Sept. 1571). At Philip's request, Alba offered to pay Elizabeth a ransom of 10,000 escudos (ca, £2,500) for the earl of Northumberland from 1570 to 1572 (Epistolario vol. 3 p. 20 Alba to Philip 15 Jan. 1572).
63 ‘whom she called her rebels’, Knox p. 407. Luis de Requesens, the Commendador Mayor, ordered the expulsion after Dr. Thomas Wilson brought a list of names, including the students of the Douai College, under the terms of the Bristol agreement (E 559 f. 134, Requesens to Philip, 1 Dec. 1574; E 562 f. 68 Requesens to Philip, 12 March 1575; Wernham p. 327).
64 ‘After Humphrey Gilbert, Morgan and others were sent there as captains’, Knox p. 408. When Alba was governor, Burghley ordered hundreds of ‘volunteers’ to occupy part of the Zealand coastline to prevent the French Huguenots from entering on behalf of William of Orange, Wernham p. 321.
65 Don Juan accepted the Pacification of Ghent reluctantly; by it Spanish troops left Maastricht for Italy in April 1577, Parker pp. 179–86; Wernham pp. 329–330.
66 Parma had suggested his son to Philip as a candidate for the throne of Portugal after the death of King Sebastian, E 580 f. 184, letter of 20 March 1579.
67 ‘The Counts of Mansfelt and Fuentes’, Knox p. 408.
68 ‘Vuestra Magestad pueda facilmente remediar en mudar el gouierno y mandar que Carlos Pagetto se aparte de Flandes y que no se y trata mas con dichos espias dobles’. Instead Knox p. 408 has ‘The Most Serene Archduke will easily know what is best to be done with these people.’