Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-06
THE FAMED ESCUR|AL
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CONTINUED from First Page)
In Europe it extended from the British
channel to the Danube. from the North sea
to the Straits Of Gibraltar, including the
Netherlands. Belgium. the Kingdom of MI
Ian, the Kingdom of Naples, the Kingdom
of Sicily the southern part of Germany, all
Austria and a portion of what now is
France. Upon the American continent he
controlled everything except Brazil In Asia
he owned the Philippines and Sunda Islands
and part of the Malaccas. In Africa he
possessed Tunis. Oran, Cape Verde and the
Canary Islands. His army and his navy
were more renowned and numerous than
had ever been assembled. and, with the ex-
ception of Great Britain, Sweden and Nor
way Denmark and northern Germany, he
dominated the entire civilized world. Rus
STA was considered a barbarous nation in
those days; the Turks had been so thor
oughly whipped at the battle of Lepanto
that the sultan was practically under Span
ish control, while the Catholic princes of
France were dependent upon Philip for sup
a traitor to the church and a secret friend
of the Huguenots.
Philip inherited all this, but it was not
enough. Being a religious enthusiast, his
fanaticism prompted him to undertake the
subjugation of the world to the Church of
Rome. He could torture and burn his own
subjects who were unwilling to accept his
faith, but after thirty-five years upon the
throne he had been unable to fulfill the
mission to which he believed God had ap-
pointed him.
The Spanish Armada.
The execution of Mary Queen of Scots
determined him to humiliate dethrone and
bring to the cross the proud Protestant
Queen of England. Then Germany, Switz-
erland, Savoy, Denmark, Sweden and the
remaining Professionals of continental Eu
rope could be attacked in turn and con-
verified to the true faith. Pope SeXtus V
exhorted him to carry out his holy purpose,
the Duke of Guise in France and the other
Catholic chiefs agreed to cooperate with
him, and for that greatest of missionary
crusades he organized the Invincfbie Ar
mazda. fleet of 40 ships. manned by $4,000
sailors. A catalogue and description of this
navy is published in the first volume of
Hakluyt's Voyages with great detail.
/ have no time to tell the story of the
battle, Dut WIN tEe ana Oh TIE Wifu anu
the currents and the tides and a fleet of
stubborn Dutchmen Lord Eftingharl, Sir
Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake, Sir
John Hawkins and other bold Britons. with
only thirty ships, far inferior in size. ton
mage and arms, permitted only few yes
sells of the fleet to return to the Spanish
coast.
King Philip was sitting in his chair in the
Of ba at E'Scnri9l during
mass one afternoon in early August, 1888,
when Don Cristobal de Moura, one of his
secretaries, interrupted the service to an
nounce the total destruction of the Armada
and the defeat of the pious project upon
which the king had spent 800 ,00n,000 and
twenty years of his life. The stern old soul
did not culver, the expression of his face
did not change and he only said 7 thank
God for giving me the means to meet such
a loss without embarrassment and the
power to fit out another fleet of equal size"
And he directed that the service should be
resumed But ne was hit harder than he
knew. and from that day began the decline
of Spain. which has not been arrested until
the present moment. 1t has lost every col
ony; it's geographical limits are as narrow,
even narrower than they were during the
reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.
The Escurial like the Armada, is another
monument TO Philips folly, but an accurate
expression of his character-unyielding
cold. oppressive and gloomy.
The Chapel and Reliquary.
The chapel is splendid example of the
architecture of the period, and cost more
than a million dollars The altar is made
of precious marbles; the doors are of beau
tiful inlad mahogany; the pulpit is of ala
baster ornamented with gilt bronze. On the
gospel side is little chapel in which lie
the remains of the late Queen Mercedes,
who cannot be admitted into the great royal
sepulcher below because she was not the
mother Of a child On each side of the
altar knee1 groups of marble figures in gilt
robes, On tho left are Charles V, his queen,
Isabella. his daughter, the Empress Maria.
and his sisters. Eleonora and Maria. On
the right are the statues of Philip II, his
first wife, Donna Maria of Portugal; his
third wife. Isabella. and his fourth wife,
Anna. His second wife, the unloved Mary
of England, for some reason, is not repre-
scented. .
The reliquary. in which the relics Of the
saints are kept, was the richest in the
world before it was robbed by the French
hi