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A Spanish Statesman of Appeasement: Medina De Las Torres and Spanish Policy 1639–1970

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

R. A. Stradling
R. A. Stradling
Affiliation:
University College, Cardiff
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Extract

In spite of the current renaissance of interest and research in the history of Habsburg Spain, very little of significance has yet appeared in English on the post-Olivares period of Spanish government and policy – the period in which the Spanish monarchy declined from a position of European hegemony to that of a second-rate power, the virtually helpless prey of her continental and maritime adversaries. The nineteenth-century histories of Dunlop and Hume, which interspersed sections of court diaries with superficial, descriptive chronicles of foreign and military affairs, were not substantially improved upon by R. Trevor Davies' (admittedly posthumous) study of Spain in Decline. The more recent I studies by Professors Elliott, Lynch and Domínguez Ortiz tend to be somewhat exiguous on the years following the great crisis of 1640 (albeit to differing extents) whilst displaying a common freshness of approach and presentation. This is quite understandable, since the situation in Spanish historiography itself is not much better. The uniformly dismal, perhaps still humiliating, features of this period are a natural deterrent to study in contemporary Spain. Domínguez Ortiz and Valiente apart, researched monographs are non-existent, and it has been left to the Anglo-Saxons to venture, on a modest scale, into the uncharted territories of administrative and monetary history.

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Articles
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The Historical Journal , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , March 1976 , pp. 1 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

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References

1 Dunlop, J., Memoirs of Spain in the Reigns of Philip IV and Charles II(2 vols., Edinburgh, 1834)Google Scholar; Hume, M. A. S., The Court of Philip IV: Spain in Decadence (London, 1907)Google Scholar; Davies, R. Trevor, Spain in Decline, 1621–1700 (London, 1957). I wish to thank Professor H. Hearder for reading an earlier draft of this article, whilst in the preparation of the final version the advice and assistance of Professor J. H. Elliott was invaluable.Google Scholar

2 Elliott, J. H., Imperial Spain,1469–1716 (London, 1963)Google Scholar; Lynch, J., Spain and America, 1598–1700 (vol. II of Spain under the Habsburgs, Oxford, 1969)Google Scholar; Ortiz, A. Dominguez, The Golden Age of Spain, 1516–1659 (London, 1971).Google Scholar

3 Ortiz, A. Domínguez, Política y Hacienda de Felipe IV(Madrid, 1960)Google Scholar; Valiente, F. T., Los, Validos en la Monarquía Española del Siglo XVII (Madrid, 1963)Google Scholar; Hamilton, E. J., War and Prices in Spain, 1651–1800 (Cambridge, Mass., 1947)Google Scholar; Kamen, H., The War of Succession in Spain, 1700–1715 (London, 1969), esp. ch. II.Google Scholar

4 I use these terms with the distinction suggested by Valiente, (op. cit., pp. 53–4).Google Scholar

5 Castillo, A. Cánovas del, Estudios sobre el Reinado de Felipe IV(2 vols., Madrid, 1888–1889), II, 371–3Google Scholar; Marañón, G., El Conde-Duque de Olivares: La pasiín de mandar (3rd edn, Madrid, 1952), pp. 275–84Google Scholar; Pfandl, L., Carlos II (trans. Galiano, M., Madrid, 1947), pp. 137–48.Google Scholar

6 Earlier scholars were careful to recommend caution in the treatment of Medina for the reason above stated. See Carlos de algunos…de la Compañía de Jesús… entre los años de 1634 y 1648 (7 vols., Madrid, 1861–1865), VII, 426Google Scholar, and Cánovas, , op. cit., II, 371.Google Scholar

7 Gamazo, G. Maura y, Carlos II y su Corte (2 vols., Madrid, 1911),I, 54–5.Google Scholar See also, for example, Bleye, P. Aguado, Manual de Hisloria de España (10th edn, Madrid, 1969), II, 823Google Scholar; and marques de Saltillo, ‘Don Antonio Pimentel y la Paz de los Pirineos’, Hispania, VII,26 (1947), 24–124 (at page 40 n). Maura's book was later completely rewritten as Vida y Reinado de Carlos II(2nd edn, 2 vols., Madrid, 1954). which remains the standard work on the political history of the reign.Google Scholar

8 A fact admitted even by Maura (loc cit. and Ibid., p. 122).

9 Cánovas, , loc. cit.Google Scholar; Pfandl, , op. cit., p. 138.Google Scholar

10 The following section relies on Cánovas and Marañón, (loc. cit.)Google Scholar and other biographical sources cited above (notes 5–7), except where otherwise noted.

11 de Atienza, J., Nobiliarioespa–ol. Diccionarioheráldico…(2nd edn, Madrid, 1954), p. 976Google Scholar; Wadsworth, J., The Present Estate of Spayne… with a Catalogue of all the Nobility with Their Revenues (London, 1630), p. 2.Google Scholar Wadsworth, an apostate Jesuit and anti-Spanish propagandist, also noted the family motto, haughty and dismissive even by Castilian standards, Reyes de nos y nos no de Reyes (‘Kings come from us, not we from kings’).

12 ‘Instructión del Conde Duque de Olivares para su yerno’, 9 08. 1624Google Scholar, cited by Elliott, J. H., ‘The Statecraft of Olivares’, in The Diversity of History (Essays in honour of Sir Butterfield, Herbert, ed. idem, and Koenigsberger, H. G., London, 1970), p. 121.Google Scholar This document, impossible of access to me at present, is in the Bancroft Library of the University of California (Berkeley). I am much indebted to this, and another recent essay of Professor Elliott (‘England and Europe: a Common Malady?’ in The Origins of the English Civil War, ed. Russell, C. (London, 1973), pp. 248–57), which helped to crystallize some of my thoughts on Medina.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13 Marañón, (op. cit., p. 283)Google Scholar explicitly pointed this out; but see also Pinuela, J. Deleito y, El Declinar de la Monarquía Española (3rd edn, Madrid, 1955), pp. 113–14.Google Scholar Doña María was marquesa de Heliche in her own right, but Don Ramiro does not seem to have used this title (nor his own original one of Toral) after her death. It later passed, probably as a result of the Haro-Medina litigation over Olivares' testament, to the eldest son of Don Luis.

14 Inventario General de Manuscritos de la Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid, vol. IX (1970), pp. 201–2.Google Scholar

15 Feeling ran so high at court on this appointment that the Admiral of Castile (Don Juan Henríquez), who had aspirations to this office, protested publicly to the king, who replied that ‘he to whom I have given it is as good as you’. See Novoa, M. de, Historia de Felipe IV (Madrid, Colecciín de Documentos inéditos para la Historia de Espa–a (CODOIN))), LXIX (1878), 39Google Scholar ff. Novoa was a keen opponent of Olivares, and these pages illustrate his sympathy with the grandees over these disputes. On the vital importance of the sumiller's role, see below, pp. 23–4.

16 This famous piece of scandal has survived through the writings of the gossip-mongering Madame d'Aulnoy, whom Mara–ón, (op. cit., p. 39)Google Scholar calls ‘a picturesque impostor’, adding that the whole story ‘was, without doubt, invention’. See Memoirs of the Court of Spain…, trans. Brown, T. (London, 1692), p. 9Google Scholar, and The Letters of the Travels into Spain (2nd edn, I London, 1692), pp. 71–4.Google Scholar Though this version is preposterous, its point was widely credited and very persistent. The earl of Sandwich was apprised of it soon after his arrival in Madrid I in 1666 (MS, Journal of Edward, 1stearl of Sandwich (Mapperton, Dorset), III, 668). Philip later made Medin responsible for the upbringing and education of the child, and always consulted him on Don Juan's welfare (Mara–ón, , p. 279 n.Google Scholar; Pfandl, , op. cit., pp. 98–9)Google Scholar. The curious may compare portraits of the prince (e.g. the two reproduced in Soldevila, F., Historia de España, 2nd edn (Barcelona, 1963), IV, 287, 356)Google Scholar, with those of Medina (between pages 280 and 281 of Marañón, , edn. cit.) and Velázquez's studies of Philip IV.Google Scholar

17 Elliott, J. H., The Revolt of the Catalans (Cambridge, 1963), p. 256.Google Scholar

18 Maura, Carlos II y su Corte, I, 54. By this time, the fortunes of Olivares' young star were the subject of interest outside Spain. Charles I, questioning the Venetian envoy on the Carafa engagement in 1633, ‘seemed to know about the duke of Medina Lastores’ (Calendar of State Papers Venetian, 1632–6, p. 133).

19 ‘Instructión del Conde-Duque…’(1624), quoted by Elliott, ‘The Statecraft of Olivares’, lot. cit. Professor Elliott has also generously provided me with the other MS references in this paragraph.

20 Memo. by Olivares, 13 Aug. 1634, Archivo General de Simancas (A.G.S.), Sectión de Estado, Legajo 3332.

21 List dated 20 Dec. 1634, Ibid. The Naples appointment unfortunately involved the displacement of Monterrey, another kinsman and nominee of the count-duke, which put a further strain on Guzmán unity when Medina left to take up the post in 1637. By this time, however, the quarrel with Olivares himself had been patched up, and they parted, according to one observer, very amicably (Cartas… de la Compañía de Jesús, 1, 361, 382,467).

22 Medina's Viceroyalty has lately been examined by Villari, R. in La Rivolta Anlispagnola a Napoli, 1585–1647 (Bari, 1967)Google Scholar, esp. chs. IV-VI. Extremely harsh treatment of Medina and spouse, based on a chronicle by one Capecelatro, victim of the viceroy's displeasure, is Reumont, A. de, The Carafas of Maddaloni: Naples under Spanish Dominion (London, 1854), pp. 154 ff.Google Scholar For more balanced accounts, see notices of Medina, in Diccionario de Historia de España (and edn, Madrid, 1968), 11, 297–8;Google Scholar and CODOIN, XXIII (Los Virreyes Lugartenientes del Reino de Nápoles), 521–2.

23 Pinuela, Deleito y, op. cit., p. 115.Google Scholar Medina's riches were not all due to peculation, though his record as a raiser of funds was impressive and valuable. His Italian rents were vast (see the list of his lordships, Villari, , op. cit., p. 271Google Scholar - no fewer than thirteen titles). Resentment against Monterrey posed Medina severe problems (Ibid., pp. 273, 258–9).

24 For example, by Cánovas, in an earlier work, Bosquejo Histórico de la Casa de Austria (and edn, Madrid, 1911), p. 270.Google Scholar The fact that the post was now obtained for the Admiral of Castile, one of the chief antiolivaristas, does it is true conduce to the assumption.

25 Philip, to Medina, , 20 Jan. 1643Google Scholar (copy) Archivo Histórico Nacional (Madrid), Libro 869, fos. 63–4. (I owe this reference to the kindness of Professor Elliott.) See also Marañón, , op. cit, p. 358 n.Google Scholar

26 Chamberlayne, E., The Rise and Fall of… the Count Olivares… (London, 1652), p. 31.Google Scholar

27 Novoa, , Historia… (CODOIN, vol. LXXXVI), pp. 290 ff.Google Scholar; Penney, C. L. (ed.), Printed Books of the Hispanic Society of America, 1468–1700 (New York, 1965), p. 250.Google Scholar

28 Pellicer, J., Avisos Históricos (Madrid, Semanario Eruditode Valladares, vols. XXXI-XXXIII, 1788), 111, 95, 100, 245Google Scholar; CODOIN, vol. LXXXII (correspondence of the envoys at Munster), pp. 117–19; Novoa, Historia…(Ibid., vol. LXXXVI), pp. 92, 156. Even this last, hostile, observer commented on the inconsistency of the government attitude (Ibid., p. 465).

29 Sor María to Philip, 13 Oct. 1643, Silvela, F. (ed.), Carlos de la venerable Sor María de Agreda y del Señor Rey Don Felipe IV (2 vols., Madrid, 1885–1886), I, 5–6.Google Scholar For Medina's costly insurance with the king, see Ortiz, A. Domínguez, La Sociedad Española en el Siglo XVII (2 vols., Madrid, 1963–1969), I, 248–9.Google Scholar

30 Indeed he was actually appointed at this juncture to the presidency of the Consejo de Italia, which since January had been critical of his Neapolitan administration (Cánovas, Estudios…, II, 373; Villari, , op. cit., p. 236).Google Scholar

31 This conclusion is based on the negative evidence of council and Junta attendance (1643–8) to be found in CODOIN vols. LXXXII-LXXXIV and xcv, passim.

32 Over the projected marriages of the infante, Baltasar Carlos, and Philip himself in 1646, letters of 17 Jan. and 24 Dec. (copies), British Library (formerly British Museum), Egerton MSS, 339, fos. 30–45. Sor María was merely informed of the king's decision in the latter case (Silvela, , op. cit., I, 180).Google Scholar

33 Pinuela, Deleito y, op. cit., p. 147Google Scholar; Marañón, , op. cit., p. 365.Google Scholar

34 Proceedings over the count-duke's fortune continued sporadically almost to the end of the century, involving at some stage all the various branches of the family (Marañón, , op. cit., pp. 477–81).Google Scholar For some errors in the ascription of the main honours see Pinuela, Deleito y, op. cit., p. 151Google Scholar; Bleye, , op. cit., p. 798Google Scholar; and the complete confusion in Valiente, , op. cit., pp. 20–1, 100, 202–4. Since the title Conde Duque de Olivares was often accorded to Don Luis by sycophants, and even at times the king (see Philip to Haro, July 1647, CODOIN, vol. XCVI, p. 471), this assumption, too, is understandable. Cf. Pellicer, Alma de la gloria de Espa–a (Madrid, 1650), p. 37.Google Scholar

35 CODOIN, LXXXII, 244, 372.

36 See below, section V.

37 Soldelvila, , op. cit., iv, 351Google Scholar; Pfandl, , op. cit., pp. 95, 112.Google Scholar

38 Davies, Trevor, op. cit., pp. 72–3; CODOIN, XXIII, 529.Google Scholar

39 These events receive fuller treatment below, pp. 14 ff. Pfandl, (op. cit., p. 152)Google Scholar regards Medina's death as one of the major Spanish setbacks of this epoch.

40 The best summaries are those of Reglà, J., ‘La Época de los dos últimos Austrias’, in Historia de España y América, ed. Vives, J. Vicens (2nd edn, 5 vols., Barcelona, 1971), II, esp. 250–353Google Scholar; and Vives, J. Vicens himself, ‘The Decline of Spain in the Seventeenth Century’, in Cipolla, C. M. (ed.), The Economic Decline of Empires (London, 1970), pp. 121–95. Very relevant to themes treated in this article is A. Dominguez Ortiz, ‘Espa–a ante la Paz de los Pirineos’, Hispanic, XIX (1959), 545–72.Google Scholar

41 Stradling, R. A., ‘Spanish Conspiracy in England, 1661–63’, English Historical Review, LXXXVII (1972), pp. 269–86CrossRefGoogle Scholar, provides the background to Anglo-Spanish diplomacy after the Peace of the Pyrenees. claim, Hamilton's (op. cit., p. 124)Google Scholar that these years ‘were characterized by peace and domestic tranquillity’ is invalid. Though mainly defensive in nature, military operations on the Portuguese front were continuous, and the effect on resources and morale can hardly be overestimated. See Domínguez, Política y Hacienda…, pp. 79–86.

42 Quoted by Villari, , op. cit., p. 124.Google Scholar

43 Quoted Ibid., pp. 129–30.

44 Medina, to Philip, , 20 02. 1640 (abstract), Indice de la Coleccion de D. Luis Salazar y Castro, XXXIX (Madrid, 1970), 226.Google Scholar

45 Marañón, , op. cit., pp. 283–4.Google Scholar

46 See above, pp. 5–6.

47 He is said to have directed two productions at court of plays by Lope de Vega in 1631 (Shergold, N. D., A History of the Spanish Stage, Oxford, 1967, p. 278).Google Scholar

48 Domínguez, Sociedad Española…, 1, 290. According to Reglà, (op. cit., p. 302), Medina was also an admired writer himself.Google Scholar

49 Cf. (e.g.) Marañón, , op. cit. (1st edn, 1936), p. 148Google Scholar, and Cánovas, , Estudios…, II, 373.Google Scholar

50 Quoted in Elliott, , Imperial Spain…, p. 338.Google Scholar

51 See, for example, the barely suppressed desperation of the Junta de Estado in a consulla of Oct. 1647, after four years of inconclusive negotiations (CODOIN, LXXXIV, 21–2).

52 Domínguez, ‘La Paz de los Pirineos’, pp. 549 ff.

53 Consulta of the Consejo de Estado, 12 04 1654 (abstract), Guizot, F. P., History of Oliver Cromwell and the English Commonwealth (trans. Scoble, A. R., 2 vols., London, 1854), II, 441–45.Google Scholar See also, 1, 362–3. Philip's reaction to pressure on the Ascham case is a perfect illustration of his general attitude to political realities - ‘there shall be no hurry, and no reason of state shall cause more to be done than is just and right. I would rather lose my dominions than fail in doing that which is my first duty, and my Council of State will never advise me to do otherwise’ (Ibid., pp. 366–7).

54 Stradling, R. A., Anglo-Spanish Relations, 1660–1666 (unpub. Ph.D. thesis. University of Wales, 1968)Google Scholar, Introduction. See also, Crabtree, R., ‘The Idea of a Protestant Foreign Policy’, Cromwell Association Handbook (1968–1969), pp. 2–19.Google Scholar

55 Routledge, F. J., England and the Treaty of the Pyrenees (Liverpool, 1953), p. 72Google Scholar; idem (ed.), Calendar of the Clarendon State Papers (vol IV, Oxford, 1932), p. 91.Google Scholar

56 Voto of 10 July 1659, printed by Saltillo, (op. cit., pp. 102–22)Google Scholar from A.G.S. Estado Francia, K. 1618, no. 6. See also, Dominguez. ‘La Paz de los Pirineos’, pp. 571–2.

57 The appointment of the English ambassador, Sir Richard Fanshawe, dates from the autumn of 1663, Public Record Office, State Papers Spain (series 94), vol. 45, fos. 173–89 (hereafter ‘ Spain’). For Medina's appointment of the count of Molina to London, Consulta of Consejo de Estado, 31 July 1664, A.G.S. Estado Inglaterra, legajo 2532 (hereafter ‘Inglaterra’; this series is unfoliated). All subsequent consultas refer to the Consejo de Estado unless otherwise noted.

58 Bennet met Medina in Madrid during his sojourn as Charles II's envoy before the Restoration. For their collaboration against severe opposition in both capitals at this juncture, see the exchange of letters in Sept.-Oct. 1663, Spain 45, fos. 99 and 113. The English motives for detente are examined in Stradling, Anglo-Spanish Relations…, esp. pp. 99–139.

59 Voto del Señor Duque de San Lúcar en materias de Inglaterra, 23 Feb. 1663, Inglaterra, 2532.

60 See, for example, Anotación de los Capitulos de 12 Sep. (1665), and consulta of 7 Oct. 1665, Ibid., 2534, 2535.

61 Sandwich MS Jnl., 11, 202–6 (June, 1666); consullas of 20 and 31 July 1666, Inglaterra, 2538. doubt

62 Sandwich to Arlington, 21 Sept. 1667, Spain 53, fos. 55–8; Sandwich MS Jnl., v, 527–8; ‘Discourse of What Advantages His Majesty May Further Have from Spain by a League', Nearer, Hispania Illustrate or the Maxims of the Spanish Court… (London, 1703), pp. 93á105.Google Scholar

63 Commercial concessions by Spain are examined in Stradling, Anglo-Spanish Relations…, esp. chs. III and VIII (see also vm and Conclusion); and McLachlan, J. O., Trade and Peace with Old Spain, 1667–1740 (Cambridge, 1940).Google Scholar For the colonial issues see Thornton, A. P., West India Policy under the Restoration (Oxford, 1956), esp. ch. III.Google Scholar

64 Pfandl, , op. cit., pp. 118–19.Google Scholar

65 Lisola, born a subject of the Spanish monarchy, published his famous pamphlet? against Louis, Le Bouclier d'Ètat, in 1667. See his tribute to Medina, recorded by Sandwich in April 1666; ‘he is a man governed by true maxims for the good of Spain, and will always be persuaded when reason isshewed him’ (Sandwich MS Jnl., 11, 143).

66 These attitudes are synthesised in Medina's great voto on the Portuguese war of Aug. 1666, Inglaterra, 2538. This document, deeply admired by Canovas, was reproduced almost verbatim in his Estudios… (11, 513–45, to which reference is made hereafter) and paraphrased by Pfandl, (op. cit., pp. 138–47)Google Scholar, who says of it: ‘one cannot encounter in the whole bibliography of sources for this period…any example in which a contemporary has given an account of the politics and society of his country with such clear vision, expressed with such sincerity’.

67 Their joint obsession with the doctrine of the immaculate conception dominates the exchanges of this period, during which only occasional and routine expressions of regret indicate the king's awareness of his subjects' sufferings (Silvela, op. cit., passim).

68 Saltillo, , op. cit., pp. 116–17.Google Scholar The king's conscience was, however, immovable on this point, which he actually succeeded in carrying at the peace conference.

69 Veto of Aug. 1666, Cánovas, , Estudios…, II, 524–5.Google Scholar

70 Consulta of 17 July 1664 (copy), Egerton, 347, fos. 188–94.

71 Saltillo, , op. cit., pp. 105–6.Google Scholar

72 Ibid., p. III.

73 Voto of Feb. 1663, loc. cit. For examples of ‘appeasement’ in negotiations with Fanshawe, see consulta of 9 Oct. and Royal Order of 13 Oct. 1664, Inglaterra, 2533.

74 Medina to Don Diego de Prado, 28 Nov. 1667, Egerton, 338, fos. 470–505.

75 Above, n. 62.

76 Consulta of 21 Jan. 1668, Inglaterra, 2542. For the significance of this diagnostic technique, see Elliott, ‘The Statecraft of Olivares’, pp. 125–7.

77 See the account by the anonymous author of the Apéndice to the Avisos de Jerónimo deBarrionuevo(Madrid, BiblioUcade Autores Españoles, vols.CCXXI-CCXXII, ed. A. Pazy Melia, 1968–9), 11, 306.

78 Cánovas, Bosquejo…, p. 294

79 Like other unofficial records of this period, Barrionuevo's Avisos contain several references to Medina's role as the heir to Olivares (e.g. 1, 87, 123) and to his flamboyant displays of wealth (e.g. Ibid., 93, 201–2, 210, 214, 243). For the political dependence on the king caused by chronic insolvency among the nobility, see Jago, C., ‘The Influence of Debt on the Relations between Crown and Aristocracy in Seventeenth-Century Castile’ Economic History Review, 2nd Series, XXVI (1973), 218–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

80 Barrionuevo, , op. cit., I, 123Google Scholar (where the bitter rivalry of Haro and Medina is explicitly noted), and H, 104, 308. See also, Dunlop, , op. cit., I, 364.Google Scholar Other supporters included Don Ramiro's kinsmen, Monterrey and Ponce de León, and the marquis of los Balbases, son of the great Spínola (Guizot, op. cit., appendixes, passim; Saltillo, , op. cit., pp. 41–5).Google Scholar Most of these had been associated with the government of Olivares; Oñate and Velada had served the policy of friendship with England as envoys in the 1630s. Deleito y Pinuela's statement (op. cit., p. 155) that Haro, essentially good-natured, was prepared to tolerate this opposition, may have some truth; but it appears that his patience, and that of Peñaranda, his main lieutenant, often wore very thin (Barrionuevo, , op. cit., I, 76, 307).Google Scholar

81 Valiente, , op. cit., pp. 17–20 and 97–101.Google Scholar Haro's house, the scene of many Junta meetings and repository therefore of many documents, was twice seriouslv damaged by fire in the 1650s, and his collection has subsequently suffered other ravages (Barrionuevo, , op. cit., I, 88, 220).Google Scholar

82 Valiente, , op. cit., pp. 100, 185.Google Scholar I have found one instance of Don Luis's attendance (with Medina) dating from March 1659 (fndice…de D. Luis Salazar y Castro, xxv, 359).

83 Valiente, , op. cit., pp. 50, 99.Google Scholar

84 Cánovas, , Estudios…, I, 267–8, 295Google Scholar; 11, 279 ff.

85 Valiente, , op. cit., p. 90.Google Scholar

86 Ibid., p. 20.

87 Cánovas, , Estudios…, I, 295–7Google Scholar (see also, pp. 257–8). It seems to me that these pages in Cánovas's book refer specifically to the post-Olivares era, and their argument does not necessarily apply to any earlier period (see, however, Carter, C. H., The Secret Diplomacy of the Habsburgs, 1598–1625 (London, 1964), pp. 71–2).Google Scholar

88 Clarendon, , History of the Rebellion (ed. Macray, W. D., 6 vols., Oxford, 1888), v, 92–3.Google Scholar

89 Cánovas, , Estudios…, I, 297, 11, 280Google Scholar; Domínguez, , Políticay Hacienda…, p. 63.Google Scholar

90 Novoa, , Historia… (CODOIN, vol. LXXXVI), pp. 92 ff.Google Scholar; Pellicer, , Avisos Históricos…, III, 238.Google Scholar

91 For Lerma, , Williams, P., ‘Philip III and the Restoration of Spanish Government, 1598–1603’, English Historical Review, LXXXVIII (1973), pp. 751–69.Google ScholarMrWilliams, considers that the appointment ‘formally confirmed Denia's status’ as valido (at pp. 757–8).Google Scholar

92 Novoa, , Historia… (CODOIN, vol. LXXVII), p. 147.Google Scholar It is possible, as Professor Elliott pointed out to me, that this effective resumption of the sumiller's prerogatives by Olivares may have been as much a result of his quarrel with Don Ramiro.

93 On the ritual importance of the sumiller, see Bottineau, Y., ‘Aspects de la Cour d'Espagne au XVIIe siècle: l'Etiquette de la Chambre du Roi’, Bulletin Hispanique, LXXIV (1972), pp. 138–57. By 1623 this office and that of camarero were regarded as indistinguishable (at pp. 139–40, n. 7). M. Bottineau's article is based on a consulta commissioned from Medina by the king in August 1646, in which he attempted to redefine the situation after Olivares' tampering.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

94 Guizot, , op. cit., I, 385Google Scholar; Cánovas, , Estudios…, I, 265.Google Scholar

95 Clarendon, , op. cit., v, 93–4.Google Scholar

96 Valiente, , op. cit., n. 271 to p. 99.Google Scholar

97 Cal. Clar. S.P., iv, 114, 117, 120Google Scholar; Saltillo, , op. cit., pp. 41–5Google Scholar; a clear example of his freedom of action as early as June 1651 is noted in Calendar of State Papers, Venetian (1647–16452), p. 182.Google Scholar In 1659 he reacted strongly against an attempt by Philip (or Haro?) to discipline Estado (see the documents printed by Valiente, , op. cit., pp. 202–5).Google Scholar It seems to the present writer that Medina's friendship with the king is better attested than that of Don Luis (for two examples see Marañón, pp. 279 and n. 37, 358 n. 2 of 1952 edn; there are many others, too numerous and scattered to cite here). Indeed, the latter relationship seems to rest mainly ‘on Philip's explanation to Sor María in 1647 - desde muchacho se crió conmigo - (Silvela, , op. cit., I, 183) which merely indicates that they were ‘brought up’ together.Google Scholar

98 This union brought him not only the title of count of Oñate (Doña Catalina's husband - Medina's ally - died in 1658) but the offices entailed with it. It meant, furthermore, a stronger tie with the powerful house of Guevara; though conversely, it risked a strain on that with the Toledo family (Alba), of which the deceased count had been a member: see Reglá, , op. cit., p. 298Google Scholar; Saltillo, , op. cit., p. 40Google Scholar; Barrionuevo, , op. cit., II, 210.Google Scholar

99 On Caracena, Stradling, ‘Spanish Conspiracy’, loc. cit.: on Medinaceli, a redoubtable kinsman of the Haros, and governor of Andalusia, see Spain, 45, fos. 99, 109 (intercepted letters); consultas of Hacienda and other anti-English plans (copies), Egerton, 332, fos. 22–31; and Medina's rebuke to the king for his countenancing same, Quenta del Señor Duque de San Lucar (April 1665), Inglaterra, 2535: on Peñaranda, see Pfandl, , op. cit., pp. 113–15 and the Apuntes Biográficos in CODOIN, LXXXIV, 563–70.Google Scholar

100 Negotiations leading to this abortive agreement are described in Stradling, AngloSpanish Relations, ch. v.

101 Maura, , Carlos II y su Corte, II, 122, 127Google Scholar; Pfandl, , op. cit., p. 137.Google Scholar

102 Consultaoi 23 Oct. and voto by Medina, 6 Nov. 1665, Inglaterra, 2535.

103 Consultas of 8 Feb. and 15 April 1666 (with enclosures), Ibid., 2536. Medina's plan for a ‘grand alliance’ against France, which he described as ‘a thing of paramount importance’, earlier approved despite Pe–aranda's protests (consulta of 3 Jan. 1666, Ibid.) was thus shelved. Comments on the duke's predicament in these months can be found in Fanshawe's correspondence (British Library, Harleian MSS, 7010).

104 Sandwich MS Jnl., II, 28 ff.; Royal cédula of 17 June 1666, Inglaterra, 2538.

105 Consultas of 22 March, 6 April, 1666 (and Medina's warning in a further votooi 16 March), Ibid., 2536. See also Pfandl, , op. cit., pp. 141–2.Google Scholar

106 Consulta of 20 July 1666, Inglaterra, 2538.

107 Sandwich MS Jnl., 11, 143 ff.; Fanshawe, letters of 15 April and 10 June 1665, Spain, 48, f. 61, Harl. 7010, f. 282 (see also f. 307). For the development of Peñaranda's scheme, his memo, of 26 April 1665, Inglaterra, 2533.

108 For the ‘ideological’ background, see Jover, J. M., 1635. Historia de una polémica y Semblanza de una Generatión (Madrid, 1949)Google Scholar, esp. ch. VII. Particular comments are in Domínguez. Golden Age, p. 65; Roper, H. R. Trevor, ‘Spain and Europe, 1598–1621’, in New. Cambridge Modern History, vol. IV (ed. J. P. Cooper, 1970), passimGoogle Scholar; and Kamen, H., The Iron Century: Social Change in Europe, 1550–1660 (London, 1971), pp. 234–7.Google Scholar

109 Several contemporary copies of this treatise are extant in the U.K., an indication of its wide circulation and popularity. It is transcribed in the pages of Sandwich's journal (ll, 381–411) and twice in MS collections of the British Library (Harleian, 4520, fos. 117–20, and Egerton, 347, fos. 546–51, in the latter instance bearing the title Discurso sobre si convieru más a España la liga con Inglaterra 0 Francia). Another pro-Peñaranda pamphlet on the same theme is in Biblioteca Nacional (Madrid) MS 1004, erroneously attributed in the General Index to the count himself. An answer to these arguments, citing Charles V's famous maxim 'guerra con toda la tierra, y paz con Inglaterra', is in Sandwich MS Jnl., Ibid., pp. 199–221. Further contributions to the debate (on which see also Maura, Vida y Reinado…, 1, 95–6) can be found in Egerton, 347, fos. 552–87 and Ibid., 367, fos. 198–215.

110 See Marañón, op. cit., ch. vn. Castrillo, Peñaranda, Medinaceli, Aytona, and at least one clerical member of the Junta de Gobierno, were original antiolivaristas. On clerical and aristocratic grievance in the 1630s, see also Davies, Trevor, op. cit., pp. 75–7Google Scholar; Domínguez, Política y Hacienda, pp. 302–6. Medina had already been excommunicated at least once for his attitude towards the dignitaries of the Church (Reumont, , op. cit., p. 173).Google Scholar

111 See the estimates (probably from the early 1660s) in Egerton, 567, f. 95.

112 Medina to Prado, Nov. 1667, loc. cit. In this letter, too, the duke relates a conversation with Nithard in which he (i.e. Medina) confessed himself 'unworthy and incapable of the valimiento', an admission which, it must be said, is distinctly at odds with the general tone of this document.

113 See, for example, Harl. 7010, f. 534; Cánovas, , Estudios…, II, 371.Google Scholar

114 Soldevila, , op. cit., iv, 351–4.Google Scholar

115 Vida, v Reinado…, I, 58.Google Scholar Cf. Pfandl, , op. cit., pp. 113–16.Google Scholar

116 Medina, to Prado, , Nov. 1667, loc. cit.Google Scholar

117 Ibid. The intense divisions in government referred to at length here were further I complicated by the growing pretensions of Don Juan José, who was admitted to the Consejo de Estado in 1666. At this point, ‘sessions became more like tavern squabbles than the deliberations of an organ of state’ (Pfandl, , op. cit., pp. 132–3).Google Scholar The prince's interventions: were mostly in favour of Pe–aranda, who was later to be one of his main supporters. Medina, on the other hand, was (like Philip) distinctly critical of these aspirations, perhaps for reasons touched on above (n. 16), certainly through fear that they might include the revival of all the old imperial shibboleths and commitments. In what was probably his last letter, on public affairs, he reminded Don Juan (somewhat tactlessly in the circumstances) that he had always promoted his interests, ‘as if they were those of my own son’, but warning, against any attempt on power: Medina (estando malo) to Don Juan (Nov.) 1668, Egerton, 353..F. 452

118 Pfandl, , op. cit., pp. 116–17.Google Scholar

119 Boto supuesto de Monsieur de Lionny, Secretario de Estado del Rey Luis X11II de Francia…Autor es M. Torres, Egerton, 353, fos. 538–46 (see also Ibid., 367, f. 217). Lionne himself, later accused Lisola of its authorship (Sandwich MS Jnl., n, 396).

120 Consulta of 9 Sept. 1666, Inglaterra, 2538 (an enclosed voto by the ambassador in Paris, Fuentes, strongly confirmed the duke's assertions).

121 For this collection of opinions, variously dated July-Sept. 1666, see Inglaterra, 2538, passim. In addition to Medina's, Cánovas printed those of Caracena and Alba (Estudios…, 1, 354–66) which condemn his policy. The latter, previously a lukewarm supporter, was heavily influenced by family considerations, his ancestor, the great duke of Alba, having of course been the ‘conqueror’ of Portugal in 1581. A more loyal figure, Velada, was overruled by his own Consejo de Flandes, whilst León gave his support from Milan, where he was governor (Egerton, 2050, fos. 207–9). Nithard's volo took the form of a massive quasi-theological treatise under no fewer than 280 heads. The only neutral member of the Junta de Gobierno was Aytona.

122 Sandwich MS Jnl., iv, 146. See above, pp. 9–10.

123 Medina was outraged that this important duty should be assigned to a reprieved traitor, but made no mention of his family allegiance (Medina, to Prado, , loc. cit.).Google Scholar In fact, Heliche's conspiracy of 1662 had been directly brought about by the Haro-Medina quarrel, and the young man's determination to maintain honor against the duke, in this case in the world of the performing arts (Shergold, , op. cit., pp. 325–6).Google Scholar