Chapter 8 Gonzalo de Illescas, The Second Part of the Pontifical and Catholic History (1606)[541] [542]

Foreword and translation from Spanish by Ana Pinto

The Historia pontifical y catholica is a lengthy work, by a Spanish cleric Gonzalo de Illescas (1521-1574/1575), which attempts to document all historical events connected with the popes and Spanish kings.

Part II has only one book, the sixth one, covering 31 popes—from Clement V up to Pius V (d. 1572). It was first published in Salamanca in 1573. This second part^[544] is of great interest because the writer was contemporary with the historical events from Paul III’s up to Pius V’s time, which implies that he was a witness to many of them, as he testifies throughout this sixth book, even though his point of view might be at times somewhat marred.

Judging from the many early editions of Illescas’s work,^[545] we can infer that it was widely read, a fact that can also be proved by the early expansion of its contents; four other parts were very soon added by others. The author of Parts III and IV was Luis de Bavia, Part V was written by Brother Marcos de Guadalajara, and Juan Banos de Velasco added Part VI. However, in spite of its popularity, the book did not escape the strict and ubiquitous eye of the Inquisition, for it was put on various Indices Librorum Prohibitorum [Indexes of Forbidden Books] for the years of 1569, 1583, 1590, 1612, 1632, and 1667.^[546]

Despite the widespread diffusion of Illescas’s work, and the brazen plundering of the work by later chroniclers,^[547] no one cared to write a profile of its author.

“OF ISMAIL THE SOPHY, KING OF PERSIA; AND OF SULEYMAN’S WAR AGAINST TAHMASP, ISMAIL’S SON, IN 1535”^[548]

I think that the curious reader would like to know what happened to our friend Ismail the Sophy,^[549] King of Persia, and his descendants, whom we have not mentioned for a while. I will briefly state the following facts in order to complete the historical account. After Ismail the Sophy’s wars and conflicts—which have already been told—against the Ottoman Sultans, Selim and Suleyman, Ismail the Sophy lived peacefully in his kingdom for some years until he died of sickness in 1525. He was outlived by four legitimate sons. The eldest one, who was called Tahmasp, inherited the Persian kingdom and the Sophy name, a title that has been used by these kings for some years until God may order otherwise. The second son, whose name was Bahram, was given the government of Media, Hiberia, and Albania. Alqas, who was the third son, was appointed governor of Babylon, Assyria, and Mesopotamia. The fourth son called Sam Mirza was given the Parthians’ kingdom. These four brothers were on very good terms with one another, but at the same time they were great enemies of the Ottomans, as their father had been before, and consequently they were good friends with the Christian princes and kings.

Tahmasp spent the first nine or ten years of his reign in securing his land and having continual skirmishes with the Hyrcanians and Kirghizians, who were neighboring peoples. The reason why he fought these tribesmen was a religious one and had to do with the way they understood their faith, as here we deal with the Lutherans.

These offenses and others (especially the question of different religious opinions) had provoked in Suleyman a desire to start a campaign against the Sophy in order to get rid of that annoying neighbor. But strangely he was hindered from accomplishing this enterprise by his own mother, on the one side, and, on the other, by his new wife Roxelana, whom he had recently married and by whom he had already had children. He was so captivated by Roxelana’s beauty, and—according to what people said—by her spells and enchantments, that he was reluctant to leave Constantinople and go far away from her. For this reason and others, such as the natural hatred the two aforementioned women felt against the Christians, Suleyman was persuaded that he was to make war against Hungary or any other Christian king and not against people of his own faith, as he was reminded how disastrous the wars against Persia had been for him and his predecessors in the past. He was also reminded of what had happened to the unfortunate Bayazid I, who was so wretchedly treated by the great Tamerlane. Only Ibrahim Pasha thought otherwise; his was different from the two ladies’ opinion. He had many reasons to think that making war against the Christians was not opportune, since they counted on a very lucky Emperor and three countries, such as the Spaniards, Italians, and Germans (among others), who were very valiant and dexterous with weapons.

[Narration of the successive battles and Suleyman’s defeatfollows. The first serious setbackfor Suleyman took place in Sultania as he was waiting for Tahmasp to begin the battle, and because of severe weather conditions (cold and snow), “many” Turks died. But Suleyman’s real defeat happened near Bethlis, at the foot of Mount Taurus [sic] when Tahmasp’s captain caught Suleyman’s men by surprise at night and “countless” Turks were killed, while 800 Janissaries and some distinguished men were made prisoners. This defeat took place on the 10^th of October, a date to be celebrated from then on, as it meant the Sophy’s triumph over Suleyman. ]

This enormous disaster was so painful for Suleyman that he immediately retreated from the war and returned to Constantinople with great fury and resentment in his heart against his great friend Vizier Ibrahim for having advised him to carry on that war.

Before reaching Constantinople, Suleyman came across Barbarossa and the Jew Sinan who told him about the loss of Tunis, which upset him greatly. But he did not show any symptoms of weakness; rather, he kindly consoled them and gave them hope that the disaster which had befallen them would be retaliated by greater ones he had in mind to inflict upon the Christians.

Meanwhile, feeling elated and not caring about what was going to happen to him later, Ibrahim had ordered a magnificent reception for Suleyman’s arrival in Constantinople. But this was not enough to appease the Sultan, for Ibrahim’s new services and old ones were of no use to root out from Suleyman’s heart the sense of indignation he felt because of what happened at war. Every day his indignation grew even further with what his mother and his wife would tell him, since they both were firmly resolved to precipitate poor Ibrahim’s downfall. The fact of being the Sultan’s great favorite was bad for him because this status usually engenders envy, and Roxelana wished his death because in everything Ibrahim favored Mustafa, Suleyman’s eldest son, over Bayazid, Roxelana’s son. She did everything in her power to have Bayazid designated as his father’s successor, but Ibrahim always advised Suleyman not to pervert the natural order of things. The combination of all these causes contributed to Ibrahim’s downfall. But none was more harmful for him than the suspicion that he was a secret Christian, and that

Gonzalo de Illescas, The Second Part of the Pontifical and Catholic History 171 he favored Christians in everything. Consequently, Suleyman began to feel such intense loathing for his former favorite that he decided to put him to death. In order to carry it out, but hiding his true purpose from Ibrahim, Suleyman called for him with the excuse that he had to inform him of some business. He stayed alone with Ibrahim in his chamber and from that day to this Ibrahim has not appeared either alive or dead. It was believed that on this occasion he was lavishly bestowed by the Sultan and was told to go to sleep; and when he was sleeping, Suleyman beheaded him with his own hands. He chose to kill him in that way, because a long time before that day when Ibrahim had told the Sultan not to be given so many favors, as they could be the cause of his downfall, Suleyman had solemnly promised not to kill him as long as his life lasted. And given that a sleeping person is neither alive nor dead, he thought that he would not break his promise. Ibrahim’s assets were seized with such rigor that, despite his wealth, his poor wife was hardly given her small dowry with which she could maintain her small children.

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