[The following is in regards to Dr. Roderigo Gonsaez de Puebla, Spanish diplomat to the English court at the time of King Henry VII. For context, it should be noted that, at the time, what was to be done with Catherine of Aragon, who had briefly enjoyed an unconsecrated marriage to the heir to the English throne (Henry VIII’s elder brother) until his untimely demise, was an open discussion. She was still in England following the death, and whether she would stay and remarry, solidifying something of an alliance, or leave for Spain, was a hot diplomatic issue. Also for context, during this trying time, Catherine had believed the court gossip that the Spanish ambassador, Dr. De Puebla, was really working against her interests and plotting against her. What she would not discover in his lifetime is that he really worked tirelessly, and thanklessly, in her best interests. But she never believed it. As a lesser-known figure in history, I would call him an unfortunate and pitiable man.]
Nevertheless, the little Doctor did his level best for his Princess. Many of his letters survive, and there is not a word in any of them unfavorable to Catherine’s interests, none of the lies she felt sure he was writing.
He pleaded her case with Henry and with Ferdinand [Catherine’s father], urged repeatedly that her dowry be sent and her debts be settled, struggled manfully to hold together the shreds of Anglo-Spanish friendship. Short of quarreling with Henry, a futile gesture, De Puebla neglected in his efforts to help the Princess none of the dodges learned in a long experience of diplomacy.
[…]
But though Henry still consulted him sometimes on European problems, even granted him an occasional small mark of favor, De Puebla knew very well that the King was the last man to let such mild sentiments influence his statecraft. There was nothing to be done for Catherine. She must wait out the doldrums like other people.
The ambassador was growing old and tired. More clearly than Catherine, he saw the dwindling of Spanish interests, the gradual undoing of a life work. He was so ill he had to be carried to court in a litter (the only fact of importance which his letters suppressed) but though he knew it was futile he continued to go there. When Catherine stormed at him his eyes filled with tears – the Princess was no longer moved by his tears – and his gouty old hand trembled so afterwards that his always crabbed handwriting became almost illegible. But Catherine mistook helplessness for indifference or treachery. De Puebla’s sickness, she wrote her father, was the cause of all the trouble.
Source:
Mattingly, Garrett. “Part I: A Spanish Princess (1485-1509); Chapter Four, Section i” Catherine of Aragon. New York: Quality Paperback , 1990. 91-2. Print.
Further Reading:
Harri Tudur / Henry VII of England
No comments, yet...