Julian Stockwin
The Iberian Flame
Dramatic Personae
*indicates fictitious character
*Sir Thomas Kydd, captain of HMS Tyger
*Nicholas Renzi, Earl of Farndon, friend and former confidential secretary
Tyger, ship’s company
*Bowden second lieutenant
*Bray first lieutenant
*Brice third lieutenant
*Clinton captain, Royal Marines
*Darby gunner
*Dillon Kydd’s confidential secretary
*Dodd sergeant, Royal Marines
*Doud quartermaster’s mate
*Gilpin midshipman
*Halgren coxswain
*Joyce sailing master
*Maynar master’s mate
*Pinto petty officer
*Rowan midshipman
*Stirk gunner’s mate
*Tysoe Kydd’s valet
Others
Allemand French rear admiral in command Rochefort fleet
*Appleby, Mrs housekeeper of Knowle Manor
Beresford British general under Moore
Bonaparte French Emperor
Brightman captain, Concord
Broadwood captain, Lynx
Burrard commander of British Forces, Iberia
*Campbell flag-captain to Rowley
Canning British foreign secretary
Carlos IV King of Spain
Castlereagh British secretary of state for war
Collingwood commander-in-chief, Mediterranean fleet
Dalrymple lieutenant general
De Courcy admiral,
Tonnant *Dolores de Vargas Spanish patriot
Dom Antonio de Castro bishop and leader of Oporto junta
Dupont French Imperial Army flying column commander
Espartero aide to Montijo
Ezquerra Spanish scholar and jurist
Fernando Prince of Asturias, son of Carlos IV
*Fray Mendoza Spanish cleric
Ganteaume French vice admiral in command Brest fleet
Godoy first minister to Carlos IV
*Grieves lieutenant, 38 th of foot
*Haig an Admiralty secretary
Hayward captain, Vigilant
Herrera secretary to Godoy
Inaki Haro leader, Bilbao junta
*Inglis English envoy to the Spanish Army
Izquierdo envoy to the Emperor of the French
*Jago Renzi’s under-steward and privy assistant
Kellerman French cavalry division commander and negotiator, Treaty of Cintra
Layton captain, Jason
*Marceau French prisoner of war, former captain Preussen
*Mariano Vicente de Lis Spanish scholar
*Mason captain, Riposte
*Meireles captain of the armed forces of the junta of Oporto Douro
Montijo count, Spanish court functionary
Moore commander-in-chief, British forces in Spain
Morla general, the Army of Andalucia
*Morton clandestine agent for French escapees
Mowlam captain, Menander
Murat head of French forces in Spain
Noriega Bilbao freedom junta of Patriots
Nott parole agent
*Ochoa guerrilla
*Packwood colonel and aide-de-camp to Moore
Pepita mistress of Godoy
*Persephone Lady Kydd
Portland British prime minister
Rosily French vice admiral of Iberian squadron in succession to Villeneuve
*Rowley rear admiral, Conqueror
Solano royal governor of Cadiz
Soult Marshal of France and pursuer of Moore
Strachan vice admiral, Rochefort squadron
Thornbrough vice admiral, Royal Sovereign
*Tovey blacksmith, Ivybridge
*Uribe guerrilla commander
Wellesley general, future Duke of Wellington
*Wishart lieutenant, liaison officer to the Spanish Crown
‘I am the successor, not of Louis XVI, but of Charlemagne!’
Napoleon Bonaparte
Prologue
Spring 1808
Not forty miles from Paris, the Chateau de Fontainebleau lay in pompous repose. Before the Revolution its richly ornamented rooms had echoed to the pampered and carefree gaiety of the court of King Louis XVI. Now, a solemn and purposeful mood prevailed under its new occupant, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
The palace was ancient and vast, set among magnificent gardens and fountains. A pale stone edifice, it was filled to breath-taking resplendence with loot seized from every conquered nation. A matchless display of pomp and imperial might, it also served as a receiving place for the procession of defeated kings, wavering allies and helpless supplicants, who made their way to the centre of power of the civilised world.
Sitting stiffly in the gilded and sculpted Salon de Reception, Eugenio Izquierdo was not immune to its overpowering effect. An envoy of the King of Spain, His Catholic Majesty Carlos IV, he was a loyal and valuable ally who could count on respect and honour. Yet he quaked to think that in a short while he would be called into the Grand Council Chamber to stand before the Emperor himself.
He knew that Bonaparte usually worked alone in a modest study from dawn until long into the night, no detail too slight for his attention. He was served by a corps of devoted and ambitious marshals and functionaries. When the military genius appeared in the council chamber there would be no time for prevarication, pretence or airs: it would be down to the essentials, which had to be flawless in detail and, above all, have at their core the overriding interests of the Emperor.
Izquierdo had been trusted by Spain to lay before Bonaparte a proposal that would bring the two nations closer than ever before: a daring plan to seize a crown and nation for their common devouring. It should be an irresistible lure to the great man now at the height of his powers and chafing at the irritations arising from the impudence of the last nation in Europe to defy him, Great Britain. He hoped for a good hearing – but what if he were out-foxed by the wily victor of Tilsit? Known for his unpredictable cunning, Bonaparte might well take the plan and, ignoring Spain, move alone to secure the prize.
But his master, Manuel Godoy y Alvarez de Faria, first minister to Carlos IV, had foreseen this possibility. The relationship was not to be a loose understanding open to interpretation. Izquierdo had to see to it that he secured a formal treaty between sovereign powers that spelled out not just the distribution of spoils but the duties and obligations of both, such that there could be no going back on the word of a principal.
Izquierdo knew it would take every nerve in his being to stand before the conqueror of the world to demand such a condition.
He heard voices and the scrape of chairs in the next room. Heart in his mouth, he waited. The doors swept open and Marshal of the Palace Geraud Duroc appeared in all his magnificence. ‘His Imperial Majesty is now in audience,’ he announced coldly.
Five days later, weak with exhaustion but buoyed with exhilaration, Izquierdo sat at his desk and began to write.
For Godoy, it had been a wearisome and nerve-racking wait. His hold over the amiable and ageing King was undiminished, but this shaking of the foundations of the proud traditions and long history of Spain by an outsider threatened the old order – and who knew when it would settle to the familiar ways once more? This daring proposal to Bonaparte must succeed.
The unwelcome war between Napoleon’s France and her ancient rival England had caused untold ruin to the economy, not the least being the severing of ties with their South American colonies by the marauding Royal Navy, with the flow of silver and produce virtually cut off. Spanish troops had been taken up by Bonaparte to far parts of the world to aid in his conquests and a subsidy of millions in silver reales had been demanded.
He’d had to play off factions, keep grandees satisfied with tawdry honours and, by a network of spies and informants, watch for unrest and discontent in the sprawling, rugged and individualistic land that was Spain. Godoy, known as the ‘Prince of the Peace’, was the most hated of the king’s advisers. Ironically, his enemies included those who stood to lose most if he failed – the ancient lineage, the haughty aristocracy who hankered after the days of Spain standing astride the world, a handful of conquistadors carving out vast empires in a new continent to the glory of God and the Spanish Crown.