I remembered that Spain included Castile, Aragon, the overseas possessions and colonies, as well as Naples and Sicily: a multitude of territories.
Shall we, ev 'ry one of us, be equal to the onerous task that awaits us? O, Silvio, Silvio! who in thine early years hast found the fates propitious, I tell thee, too early wit has ignorance for fruit.
I was utterly astonished. Why in the letter was Atto called by the name of Silvio? And whatever could those expressions signify which seemed to accuse Abbot Melani of ignorance and immaturity of mind?
The letter then came to an end on a no less cryptic note:
Tell Lidio that with respect to that whereon he questions me, I have no answer to give. He knows why.
I continued reading. Attached to the letter was a precise summary in the form of an appendix:
A Conspectus Of The Present State Of Affairs
It contained a mixture of information and, in sum, detailed the troubled progress of the Spanish succession in recent times.
Spain is in decline and no one thinks of the Catholic King with the same just terror as when the mind turns to the Most Christian King of France, Louis the Fourteenth, First-born Son of the Church. Yet the Sovereign of Spain by the Grace of God is King of Castile, of Aragon, of Toledo, Galicia, Seville, Granada, Cordoba, Nursia, Jaen, of the Algharbs of Algeciras, Gibraltar, the Canary Isles, the Indies, and of the Islands and Terra Firma of the Mare Oceanum, of the North, of the South, of the Philippines and of whatsoever other islands or Lands have been or may yet be discovered. And, through the Crown of Aragon, the Heir will succeed to the Throne of Valencia, Catalonia, Naples, Sicily, Majorca, Minorca and Sardinia; without counting the State of Milan, the Duchies of Brabant, of Limburg, Luxembourg, Guilderland, Flanders and all the other Territories which in the Nether Lands belong or may belong to El Rey. He who sits on the Throne of Spain will truly be the Master of the World.
The King of Spain, or El Rey, as he was called by the mysterious epistler, was dying without direct heirs and this was what rendered so difficult the problem of determining who was to inherit all those enormous possessions scattered across the whole world, which made of the Spanish crown the globe's greatest kingdom. Until not long ago, as I learned from the remainder of the letter, there had in fact been an heir designated for the succession to the Spanish throne: this was the young Prince Elector of Bavaria, Joseph Ferdinand, who was in terms of blood relationships without a doubt best entitled to succeed to the throne of Spain. Yet, little over a year before, Joseph Ferdinand had suddenly died: a death so unexpected and so weighed down with consequences that a suspicion of poisoning at once spread through the courts of Europe.
There now remained two possibilities: the dying Sovereign of Spain, Charles II, could name as his heir a nephew of the French Sovereign, Louis XIV or a subject of the Emperor of Austria, Leopold I. Both solutions, however, were beset with risks and uncertainties. In the first case, France, which was the most feared military power in Europe, would also become the greatest monarchy in Europe and in the world, uniting de facto with its own overseas possessions those of the crown of Spain. In the second case, if Charles were to nominate a subject of Vienna, this would signify the rebirth of that empire which only the glorious Charles V had been able to unite under his sway: from Vienna to Madrid, from Milan to Sicily, from Naples to the distant Americas.
This second hypothesis was the more probable of the two, for Charles II was a Habsburg like Leopold of Austria.
Hitherto, the letter went on to explain, France had succeeded in maintaining equilibrium with its enemies (meaning, all the other states of Europe). The peace with Spain was indeed long-standing; and with England and Holland a pact had been agreed for the future partition of the enormous Spanish possessions, seeing that it had long been realised that Charles II was in no condition to have children. When, however, the partition pact had been made public, about a month previously, the Spaniards became furious: the King of Spain could not accept that the other states should be preparing to divide his kingdom among themselves as the centurions divided the raiment of Our Lord on the cross.
The report therefore concluded:
If El Rey dies now, there is a risk that the situation may become explosive. The pact of partition has become too difficult to implement. On the other hand, France cannot accept encirclement by the Empire. Nor can the others, from the Emperor Leopold I to the King of England and the Dutch heretic William of Orange, allow her to swallow Spain in a mouthful.
The next letter was written in another hand; it was Atto's reply, for which I had searched so hard. As I expected, it was not yet sealed, pending Buvat's preparation of a copy for the Abbot's archives:
Most Clement Madame,
As you well know, in these months, the Ambassadors of all the Powers and their Sovereign Lords are losing their heads utterly because of the Spanish Succession. All ears and all eyes are constantly on the lookout, hungry for news and for secrets to seize from the other Powers. All gravitates around the Ambassadors of Spain, France and the Empire; or Penelope and her two Suitors. All three Kingdoms await the opinion of the Pope concerning the Succession: France or the Empire? What will be the advice of His Holiness to the Catholic King? Will he choose the Duke of Anjou or the Archduke Charles?
All was now clear to me: in Rome would be decided the fate of the Spanish Empire. Evidently, all three powers were prepared to accept the judgement of the Holy Father. The noblewoman's letter had, in fact, spoken of mediation by the Pontiff, not of an opinion.
Here in Rome, the air is pregnant with a thousand turmoils. All this is further complicated by the fact that, as you know, all three Ambassadors of the great Powers, namely Spain, France and the Empire, are new to these parts. Count Leopold Joseph von Lamberg, Ambassador of His Caesarean Majesty Leopold I of Habsburg, Holy Roman Emperor, arrived here some six months ago.
The Duke of Uzeda, a sharp-witted Spaniard, has been in post for about a year.
The same is true of the French diplomatic representative, Louis Grimaldi, Duke of Valentinois and Prince of Monaco, a great polemicist, who does more harm than good and has already argued with half Rome over stupid questions of etiquette. So much so that His Majesty has been obliged to pull his ears and remind him above all to cultivate fruitful relations with the nation whose guest he is.
That one can do little for France. Fortunately, the Most Christian King need not count only on him.
But let us change the subject to ourselves. I hope that you are now in perfect health and will ever continue so to be. Alas, I cannot say the same of myself. Today, upon my arrival at the Villa Spada, a bizarre incident befell me: I was stabbed in the right arm by a stranger.
And here the Abbot, in truth exaggerating a little, dwelt at some length upon the blood which had stained his white shirt and the operations of the chirurgeon which he had borne heroically, and so on and so forth, rising to a paroxystic crescendo…
Ah, cruel stilet which pierced my tender side… Alas I'm tired! This painful wound makes me so weak I can't support me longer. The wound still stabs at me, and that most grievously.
Did Atto wish to impress this Maria? The tone of the letter seemed to conceal a seductive intent.
Abbot Melani went on to write that, despite the fact that the sergeant of the villa was certain that it had been only a beggar, he, Atto, feared that he had not been a mere accidental victim but rather the target of an attempt on his life organised by the opposing faction; for which reason he intended to request a private audience with Ambassador Lamberg as soon as he — who was also among the guests at the wedding of Cardinal Fabrizio's nephew — arrived at Villa Spada.