CARLOS, Don, don Wallas, Infant of Spain, son of Philip II and Maria of Portugal: b. Valladolid, 8 July 1545; d. 1568. He was sickly, and one of his legs was shorter than the other. The extreme indulgence with which he was educated by Joan, sister of the King, confirmed his violent, obstinate and vindictive disposition. Recent historical research has proved that he was afflicted with hereditary in sanity, which an accident (occurring in 1562) involving skull fracture, emphasized. In 1560 Philip caused him to be ac knowledged heir of the throne by the Estates assembled at Toledo, and in 1562 he sent him to the University of Alcala de Henares in hopes that the study of the sciences would soften his turbulent character. Contemporary historians differ in the description of the Prince. According to some he had a thirst for glory, an elevated courage, pride and a love of power. According to others he was fond of whatever was strange and uncommon; an accident or opposition irritated him to frenzy; address and submission softened him. He is also repre sented as a favorer of the insurgents in the Netherlands, and in particular as an enemy of the Inquisition; yet he possessed neither knowl edge nor principles, nor even sufficient under standing to be capable of liberal views. With him all was passionate excitement, which re sistance converted into fury. Llorente, the historian of the Inquisition, has corrected the accounts of the character and fate of this Prince from authentic sources in his work on the Spanish Inquisition (q.v.). According to him Don Carlos was arrogant, brutal, ignorant and ill-educated. So much is certain, that at the Congress of Cateau Cambresis (1559) the marriage of Don Carlos with Elizabeth, daughter of Henry II of France, was proposed; but Philip, being left a widower by the death of Mary of England, took the place of his son. Don Carlos is said to have loved Elizabeth, and to have never forgiven his father for hav ing deprived him of her. Llorente proves, how ever, that Don Carlos never had fallen in love with the Queen, and that she was never too intimate with him. In 1563 Philip, who had no other heir than Don Carlos, considering him unfit for the throne, sent for his nephews, the archdukes Rodolph and Ernestus, to secure to them the succession to his dominions. Don Carlos, who lived in continual misunderstand ing with his father, resolved in 1565 to leave Spain, and was on the point of embarking when Ruy Gomez de Silva, a confidant both of Philip and Carlos, dissuaded him from his resolution. In 1567, when the rebellion in the Low Countries disquieted Philip, Don Carlos wrote to several grandees of the kingdom that he had the intention of going to Germany. He disclosed his plan to his uncle, Don Juan of Austria, who told Philip what Don Carlos had confided to him. It is believed that he was touched by the sufferings of the people of the Netherlands. Philip himself seemed to believe that his son intended to go to the Netherlands. The Infant had often shown a vehement desire to participate in the government. But Philip, jealous of his own authority, treated his son coolly and with reserve, while he gave his con fidence to the Duke of Alva, to Ruy Gomez de Silva, Don Juan of Austria and Spinola. Don Carlos conceived an invincible aversion to them. The architect of the Escurial, Louis de Foix, narrates the following story relating to Don Carlos, which has been preserved to us by De Thou. The Prince had always under his pillow two naked swords, two loaded pistols, and at the side of his bed several guns, and a •chest full of other firearms. He was often heard to complain that his father had de prived him of his bride. On Christmas even mg he confessed to a priest that he had re solved to murder a man. The priest, therefore,
refused him absolution. The prior of the monastery of Atocha artfully drew from him expressions from which it could be inferred that he meditated an attempt upon his own father. The story was then communicated to the King, who exclaimed, "I am the man whom my son intends to murder; but I shall take measures to prevent it.° Thus Philip, impelled by hatred or fear, by policy or superstition, re solved on the destruction of his only son, in whom he saw only a criminal, unworthy of the crown. On the night of 18 Jan. 1568 while Don Carlos was buried in a deep sleep, Count Lerma entered his chamber and removed his arms. Then appeared the King, preceded by Ruy Gomez de Silva, the Duke of Feria, the grand prior of the order of Saint John, brother of the Duke of Alva, and several officers of the guard and state councillors. Don Carlos still slept. They awoke him: he beheld the King, his father, and exclaimed, "I am a dead mans Then, addressing Philip, he said, "Does your Majesty wish to kill me? I am not mad, but reduced to despair by my sufferings? He conjured with tears those who were present to put him to death. •1 am not come,* an swered the King, "'to put you to death, but to punish you as a father, and to bring you back to your duty." He then commanded him to rise, deprived him of his domestics, ordered a box of papers under his bed to be seized and committed him to the care of the Duke of Feria and six noblemen, enjoining them not to permit him to write nor to speak with any one. These guards clothed Don Carlos in a mourning dress, took from his chamber the tapestry, the furni ture and even his bed. Don Carlos, full of rage and despair, caused a large fire to be kindled, under pretext of the extreme cold of the winter, and threw himself suddenly into the flames. It was with difficulty that he was rescued. He attempted by turns to finish his life by thirst, by hunger, by eating to excess. After Philip had endeavored to justify his measures to the Pope and the principal sovereigns of Europe, and had also given notice to the superior clergy, the courts of justice and the cities of his empire, of what had passed, he referred the case of the Prince, not to the In quisition, but to the council of state, under the direction of Cardinal Espinosa, who was state councillor, grand inquisitor and president of the junta of Castile. This court is said, after a minute examination and hearing many wit nesses, to have condemned him to death. Other accounts, however, state that he died of a malig nant fever before any judgment was passed, after having taken the sacrament with much devotion, and having asked his father's pardon, 24 July 1568. The melancholy fate of Don Carlos has served as a subject for several dramas. The romantic story may be found in works by Lord John Russell and M. J. Chenier, and in the following: C. V. de Saint-Real, 'Don Carlos, nouvelle historique' (Paris 1672) ; Schiller, 'Don Carlos' ; Alfieri, 'Philip the Second' ; de Campistron, J. G., (An ; Otway, T., (Don Carlos, Prince of Spain' ; Nunez de Arce, 'Haz de Lefia.' For a discussion of plays on this subject, by Ximenez de Enciso and Juan Perez de Mont lavan, consult Bacon, G. W., (The Life and Dramatic Works of Doctor Juan Perez de Montlavan> (1602-38) (in Revue Hispanique, Vol. XXVI, pp. 1-474, 1912). For the histori cal account consult Ranke, in 'Wiener Jahr bficher der Litteratur' (Vol. XLVI, Vienna 1829); Gachard, L. P., 'Don Carlos et Philippe (Paris 1867) ; Maurenbrecher, Won Carlos' (Berlin 1876); Prescott, 'Philip II> (Boston 1855) ; Hume, 'Spain: Its Greatness and De cay, 1479-1788' (Cambridge, 1st ed., 1898; 2d ed, 1899, reprinted 1905) ; Hume, 'The Spanish People' (London 1901).